Vadodara/Anand: Before staking its claim as a global superpower, the country needs to address challenges that it is facing in rural sector. This is what experts opined at TEDxIRMA that was organized by students of The Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Anand on Sunday.TEDxIRMA was organized on the theme of — ‘Reimagining Rural’ — with an idea to give special emphasis to innovation in rural areas to aid transformation. Distinguished personalities from various fields of practice covered diverse topics, including banking and finance, technology and innovation, social enterprise and CSR and social development.The event featured speakers like national film awardee Parveen Morchhale, Rohit Bansal, who is a distinguished fellow at Asia’s highest rated think tank from India - the Observer Research Foundation- and Abhishant Pant, who is a Fintech expert known for his startup - Cashless Journey.“The image of ‘rural’ is a giant contradiction. On one hand, it represents the glorious past of India that has been instrumental in her rise as a superpower and on the other, it is a reminder of the challenges we face and must confront before staking our claim as a superpower on the stage that is the world,” said IRMA’s director professor Hitesh Bhatt, who inaugurated the event. He remembered the institute’s founder Dr Verghese Kurien, in his speech, as Sunday also marked the sixth death anniversary of India’s milkman.“Everyone who needs credit, farmers, small enterprises, students, will over time be able to access a variety of special lenders in form of payment banks. This is one of the ways to reimagine rural,” said rural finance expert Andy Mukheerjee, while talking about the importance of rural credit system.The event also featured a startup run by the students of IRMA, within the campus, called – ‘Jooz-i’.

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