A speaker at the National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Feb. 1: Even after six decades of Independence, 60 million people in India live below the poverty line and the country houses about 60 per cent of the world’s poor.

This is just one of the many facts that the audience at the concluding day of the National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship at the XLRI got to know.

The two-day conference was organised by Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (Sigma) of XLRI, where the theme was “providing access for sustainable development”.

The purpose of the conclave was to showcase innovative social entrepreneurship ventures by individual entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporate executives and government agencies.

“As far as development is concerned, we have only focused on technological advancement in the country. About two-third of the people in the country live in poverty and are neglected in terms of proper healthcare, sanitation and education,” said Verghese Jacob, the lead partner of Hyderabad-based NGO, Byrraju Foundation.

The conference highlighted the real challenges in sustainable rural development and what can be done to bring about positive changes.

Startling facts like government pumping in Rs 1,20,000 crore for rural development schemes where the outcome has been pathetic because of corruption came to the fore during the course of the day.

“We know there are resources but it does not reach the grassroots. The social conference has made us aware on innovative projects to bring about change in society but there is a lot more to do. There are many students who would like to work in the social sector after attending the conference,” said Madhukar Shukla, the professor of organisational behaviour and chairperson of Social Entrepreneurship Trust at XLRI.

While on the first day experts spoke on access to credit, education, healthcare, hygiene and financial services the focal point on the second day was livelihood opportunities, access to market and rural access to societal resources.

About 150 professionals attended the conference. The conclave was organised in association with Ashoka, an association of social entrepreneurs, and IndianNGOs.com, a portal on social development of India.