Mangalore: St Aloysius College Hosts Rural Fair 'Milan - 09'

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Apr 2: Milan-’09, Rural Fair organized by the marketing students of AIBA, St Aloysius College was inaugurated by Dr  Devaraj K, principal, SDM College of Business Administration on Thursday April 2.

Milan-’09 is a gateway for the rural artisans to the urban consumers in and around Mangalore. This has given the rural artisans and people an opportunity to exhibit their skills through their products and also market their products. This event has helped in building the confidence levels of the rural people, as they get a platform to sell their innovative rural products to urban consumers. It also acts as a medium in building the bridge between rural producers and the urban consumers, and help them to find a wider market for their products.  This event is the first-of-its-kind, being conducted by the students of AIBA.

Event coordinator, Vincent Lucas welcomed the gathering and introduced the chief guest Dr Devaraj K, principal, SDM College of Business Administration here.

Prof Devaraj in his address mentioned that the concept of Rural Fair is perhaps the first of the kind, being organized by any MBA student groups. He thus appreciated the efforts put in by the students of AIBA for conducting the event that has given an opportunity to the rural artisans located at various places both near and far, to showcase their rural products. He said, the only place which was not affected by the depression is the Rural India, and hence it is important to give a platform for this developing sector of India.

This event has brought to the lime light the rich Indian heritage. As explained in the book by N K Thingalaya, “Rural India is Real India”, we need to provide more and more opportunities for the rural people to showcase their products and thus ensure that rural India is true India. By organizing such fairs, we could exploit the huge potential of markets for rural produce. . He also said that the event has been motivating, and thanked the marketing students of AIBA for organizing this event and encouraged them to continue organizing such events even in the future. He also conveyed the regards on behalf of Dr H V Manjunath and Dr Veerendra Heggade.

Fr Denzil Lobo S J, director, Aloysius Institute of Business Administration, also addressed the gathering. He spoke about the importance of developing rural India. Being the one who always encouraged his students to do something creative, he considered this fair as an important step towards the integration of urban and rural markets in an unique way, that is bringing the urban consumers to the rural market instead of selling the MNC products to the rural consumers and he congratulated the students and wished them all the success in conducting this event.

Faculty coordinator Girish, who initiated Milan-’09, spoke about the importance of bringing together the urban consumers and the rural market.

Marketting Association head, Hasan Zakiyy Maroof, proposed vote of thanks for the event and concluded the inauguration.