ISM director DC Panigrahi felicitates ministry of tribal affairs secretary and chief guest Vibha Puri Das on the foundation day in Dhanbad on Sunday. (Gautam Dey)

Leading institutions of higher education must play a pivotal role to not only fashion young minds on campus but also develop the human and natural resources around.

Secretary in the Union ministry of tribal affairs Vibha Puri Das said this at the 87th foundation day celebrations of ISM-Dhanbad on Sunday, adding absence of an approach to assume responsibility for all-round development would otherwise show on graduates.

Das, the chief guest at the function at ISM’s Golden Jubilee Lecture, stressed that educational institutes should adopt a global perspective in a world that is flat, less hierarchical and more collaborative than earlier, with boundaries of work, home, pleasure and business blurring gradually.

“The world has moved beyond narrowly defined mono-disciplined technical education,” said Das, adding that plural cultures and methodologies of engaging with a diverse population is a feature India is justifiably proud of.

“But this feature needs constant refining and working so as to be in sync with modern times,” she added.

Earlier, North Chotanagpur commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni emphasised on the importance and ethics and values. “In the last week, we have witnessed incidents which compel us to take serious note such as the killing of teenager in Mumbai for trying to take on eve teasers,” said the guest of honour.

“Are we witnessing a social upheaval of sorts?” asked Kulkarni, adding India was known for its value-based society. “We need to establish the pre-eminence of values and ethics in our society,” he said.

Das gave away long service awards to eight ISM employees — teachers Phalguni Sen, P.K. Chakraborty, P.S. Gupta, Nikkam Suresh, N.R. Mandre and Kalayan Kumar Ghosh and two non-teaching staffers Pavitra Sarkar and K.C. Nandi — for completing 25 years.