BHUBANESWAR: Seven years after he took on the mantle of building a world-class skills ecosystem for the state’s youth, renowned tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Subroto Bagchi on Thursday stepped down as chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) citing personal reasons.
Invited by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2016, Bagchi had agreed to helm OSDA and harmonise various skill initiatives of the state government with an aim to create employable skills for 1.5 million youth by 2024. It was a full-time assignment in the rank of a cabinet minister.
Subroto Bagchi steps down as OSDA chairman
He, though, was receiving a token salary of only Rs 1 per year. The Mindtree co-founder informed that chief executive officer of World Skill Centre Alka Arora Misra will be taking over as new chairperson of OSDA. Announcing his decision to step down through a social media post, Bagchi thanked the chief minister for his confidence in him and the state officials for their unstinted support. He was also grateful to people of Odisha for their love and acceptance.
Speaking to The New Indian Express from New York, Bagchi said it was a well-thought-through decision. “Going forward, a few personal priorities require me to spend a lot of time outside Odisha. The role of OSDA chairman is a full-time job and one cannot do justice to it from far away. I had requested the CM to put in another hand and Misra is a great choice who would build on the strong foundations built,” he said.
Bagchi said, he has been successful in some way or the other by making people believe that they are indeed way beyond their self-perception of who they are. “Show them the purpose, and they will rise up to be giants. That is what played out in the last seven years,” he said.
Bagchi is credited with giving a new direction to skill development in the state by his inspiring leadership. He led the Skilled-in-Odisha brand and made government ITIs vibrant and proud institutions.In addition to the skill development initiatives, he was known for his philanthropic activities and entrepreneurship leadership for attracting industrial investment into the state.
In 2021, he pledged `340 crore to set up a cancer hospital and a palliative care centre in Bhubaneswar in association with Sri Shankara Cancer Foundation and Karunashraya respectively. About his future plans, he said: “Our cancer projects are our gifts to people of the land we belong to. They will always bring us back. We also have the IISc project under execution in Bengaluru.
It is very big. Hopefully, these projects will pave the path for other things in the future. We will see what destiny desires.” This was the second time that he quit his role in OSDA. In 2019, he had resigned to protect his company Mindtree from hostile takeover. He returned after the IT company’s merger with L&T Infotech.