– A Student in IRMA dies on a Study Segment in Orissa!!

IRMA is my alma mater and cradle of the NGO and Coop movement in India.. and of recent, it has degenerated into a bedrock of NGO politics.. masterminded by the megalomaniac – Dr. Kurien!

The people who swear by working for the well being of the poor cannot care for their own hapless students!

Here is an email of a student who had offered his condolensces and shared his sorrow with the alumni and detailed a recent incident of a guy who on the Fieldwork Segment – an innovative segment where the students stay in villages (often backward and the poorest villages!) to work with the villagers for the real life feel of the work involved in the future careers.

Great idea but poor implementation! The students arent taken care of.. Faculty gets their research done and put students to harms way… without adequate measures!

Here are some questions that I have:

1. What is IRMA’s policy on students’ wellbeing during ANY of its study segments? Bibhudatta was on Fieldwork segment! Why wasnt he taken to the best hospital in the region as soon as the problem was detected or proper medical help brought in?

2. This is for the guys on the field trip – was IRMA informed? What was their response? Was ANY of the IRMA’s admin/faculty staff there at the hospital?

3. Are there any other students currently sick on field work? Any measures being taken for their wellbeing??

4. Were the students vaccinated before the field trips in view of the floods and water problems due to rains recently? What precautions were taken?

IRMA is an educational institute.. NOT a COMMANDO TRAINING CAMP that the students need to be thrown in the wild and asked to take care of themselves! Often the students are MILES away from “civilization”, and their own homes.. or any medical help! It is the DUTY of the IRMA faculty to be in touch with the students at all times.. and THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SUCH INCIDENTS!

Bibhudatta Pdhai,PRM 26 who had gone for his FWS passed away in the early morning today.He was suffering from brain malaria for last few days .And for last one week he was in comma stage in the hospital.He was an excellent man with more than 10 years of experience in NABARD and had come from Orissa to IRMA to do the PRM course here .He was doing his FWS in gajapati district of Orissa…