On the eve of Amritavarsham 63, the Amritapuri campus of Amrita University hosted a High Level Panel Discussion on Making Sustainability a Reality: from Policy to Successful Practice on September 25, 2016. Smt Sunita Sanghi, Advisor, NITI Ayog, New Delhi, who delivered the Special Address at the event had an informal chat on lunch, prior to the Panel Discussion.

Smt Sanghi, a post graduate in Economics from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, who got into the Indian Economic Service in mid-1980s, has been with NITI Ayog and its earlier avatar, Planning Commission.

A day earlier, she said that she met Amma at the Darshan Hall and the experience was unbelievable. During the course of her visit to the Amrita University campus, she got to learn about the wide range of work done under the auspices of the Math and the varsity.

Smt Sanghi was particularly impressed with the wide variety of work done in the area of Women Empowerment. She indicated that one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which she was actively involved with is SDG 8 :”Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”

She was happy to get to know the numerous initiatives that Amrita was undertaking to facilitate impoverished women to learn relevant skills, which they could utilize in their own environments, creating Empowerment through Employment.

When asked how a person who never completed schooling could inspire the stunning array humanitarian work as envisaged by international fora, Smt Sunita Sanghi remarked that you don’t have to be a Ph.D to inspire talented people to do undertake great missions.

She is confident that institutions like Amrita could go a long way in these noble missions.

-Sushil