At Chanakya, engagement with society is a core academic responsibility. This belief shaped the recent NGO Round Table on Urban Poverty and Slum Intervention, where grassroots practitioners, CSR leaders, and faculty came together to plan the collective efforts.
The dialogue was anchored by Shri Venkatesh Murthy of Youth for Seva, with substantive inputs from Smt. Savitha Sulugodu (CEO, SVYM), Dr. Sathish Kattimani (Allstate CSR), and Mr. Sudarshan (Prakarsha Academy). Their sessions focused on practice and how programmes should be designed.
Organised by the Centre for Social Impact, the round table reflected the Centre’s vision, articulated by Dr. Sudeshna Mukherjee, of grounding academic knowledge in lived realities. Prof. Bhavani M. R., Registrar (Evaluation), located this work within the University’s larger commitment to addressing social challenges.
Twelve NGOs working across education, women’s empowerment, child protection, disability inclusion, sanitation, rehabilitation, and media advocacy shared field experiences from Bengaluru’s urban poor communities. The programme concluded with reflections by Prof. Sushant T. Joshi, Registrar.
