Dr. Deepak Mohanty, Chairperson of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) delivered the third Ranjit Kumar Dutta Leadership Lecture at Dibrugarh University on March 4, 2024. The annual lecture is organized by the Centre for Management Studies, Dibrugarh University. Dr. Mohanty in his lecture underscored the importance of leadership in getting things done through cohesive teamwork and bringing about a collaborative environment. He said that a leader must have a strong professional acumen and that a leader is first a follower. He mentioned about the economic progress of the county and that for the young students who will be graduating, it is an exciting time full of opportunities as well as challenges and that the demographic dividend must be harnessed. He also provided valuable insights into PFRDA while referring to the issue of pension security and the myopic vision we have when we talk about retirement savings.
Earlier, the Chairperson of the Centre, Prof. Pratim Barua gave the welcome address where he went down memory lane to recall the contributions of Late R K Dutta to the Centre. He said that the Centre will always be grateful to the magnanimity of Late Dutta and that the Centre feels privileged to host the lecture in his memory since 2022. Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Prof. Jiten Hazarika inaugurated the lecture through a remote address to the audience. The vote of thanks was given by Mr. S K Barua, trustee of the Endowment Fund which sponsors the lecture.
In the same event, the Bhubaneswar Barman Memorial Award 2022 was presented to Ms. Basobee Sreemoyee of the MBA (FT) 2020 Batch as the Girls’ topper of her batch. The award was presented by Mr. Pranjal Changmai, Managing Director of Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), Dibrugarh. The award carries a memento, a certificate and a cash award of ₹ 10,000/-. She is the eighth recipient of the award.
The lecture was attended by students, teachers, and administrative staff of the University along with executives of PSUs and other leading citizens of Dibrugarh. Brigadier Surendra Prasad from CENERS-K, a Kolkata based strategic thinktank with which Late R K Dutta was closely associated also spoke briefly in the event.
