NETWORK - irma.ac.in · 7 Project Management Jul 23-28, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt 8 Removing Poverty: Constraints, Opportunities and Strategies Jul 24-27, 2012 Mukul Kumar 9 Waste Management

Quarterly Publication of IRMA January - March 2012 Volume: 16 No. 1

NETWORK

Institute of Rural ManagementPost Box No. 60, Anand – 388 001, Gujarat, IndiaPhone : (02692) 260177, 260181, 260186, 260391, 260264, 261502Fax : (02692) 260188Gram : IRMAE-mail : [email protected] :http://www.irma.ac.in

Prabhat Patnaik delivering Rajan Memorial lecture in IRMA. See news in page 11.

MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES (April 2012 – March 2013)

Sr. No.

Title of the ProgrammeDates Co-ordinator(s)

1 Project Proposal Writing Apr 17-20, 2012 Mukul Kumar2 General Management Programme Jun 11 - Jul 6, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt3 Workshop on Survey Data Analysis Using SPSS

Jun 18-20, 2012Anand Venkatesh, Preeti Priya

4 Energy Management in the Manufacturing Sector Jul 10-14, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt5 Finance and Accounting Management and Control for

Dairy Co-operatives Jul 16-20, 2012Shiladitya Roy, Paresh J. Bhatt, Asmita H. Vyas

6 Logistics Approach to Supply Chain Management Jul 18-20, 2012 MV Durga Prasad7 Project Management Jul 23-28, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt8 Removing Poverty: Constraints, Opportunities and

StrategiesJul 24-27, 2012 Mukul Kumar

9 Waste Management in the Manufacturing Sector Aug 22-25, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt10 Effective Selling Skills Aug 23-25, 2012 Pratik Modi11 Integrated Watershed Management and Collective

EnterprisesAug 27-31, 2012 KV Raju

12 Effective Leadership, Organizational Communication and Conflict Resolution

Aug 28-31, 2012 SN Biswas

13 Enterprise Information Systems Infrastructure Management

Sep 3-6, 2012 Harekrishna Misra

14 Communication for Effective Management Sep 4-8, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt15 Distribution and Channel Management Sep 6-8, 2012 Pratik Modi*16 Managing Rural Domestic Water Supply and

Environmental Sanitation EffectivelySep 10-15, 2012 Pramod K. Singh

*17 IRMA Module of the 1st ICA-Japan Training Course on Fostering Core Leaders of Agricultural Co-operatives 2012

Sep 10 - Oct 7, 2012 Madhavi Mehta

18 Marketing Essentials for NGOs Sep 20-22, 2012 Pratik Modi19 Managerial Effectiveness Sep 24-28, 2012 Madhavi Mehta20 Finance Decisions (Strengthening Tools)

Sep 24-28, 2012Shiladitya Roy, Paresh J. Bhatt, Asmita H. Vyas

*21 Governing Rural Domestic Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Effectively

Oct 4-6, 2012 Pramod K. Singh

22 Women in ManagementOct 8-11, 2012

Ila Patel, Nivedita Kothiyal

23 Governance and Management of Producer OrganizationsOct 8-13, 2012

KV Raju, Harekrishna Misra

24 Quality Management for Personal and Organizational Growth Oct 9-13, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt25 Contemporary Developments in the Field of Finance and

Accounting Oct 15-19, 2012Shiladitya Roy, Paresh J. Bhatt, Asmita H. Vyas

Contd..p...31

Editorial

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NETWORK, IRMA.

In the famous Einstein-Tagore conversation (of 1930) there is a long discussion on creativity within musical systems:

TAGORE: “It is like the musical system in India, which is not so rigidly fixed as western music. Our composers give a certain definite outline, a system of melody and rhythmic arrangement, and within a certain limit the player can improvise upon it.”

EINSTEIN: “That is possible only when there is a strong artistic tradition in music to guide the people’s mind. In Europe, music has come too far away from popular art and popular feeling and has become something like a secret art with conventions and traditions of its own.”

Recently, when Kolaveri made ripples not just in India, but across globe, how Indian musical system was being crafted by popular culture was explicated.

Lesson from creative capacity within musical system has important implications for entrepreneurs within rural management. Being a ‘class apart’ has attractions of its own. However, it will stifle creation by bringing prescriptions and rules. NETWORK allows two worlds to exist together. To maintain the identity of ‘class apart’ on the one hand, and to lusciously connect with each other. In other words, network creates its own rules in the process of interaction. Hope IRMA Network through this magazine evolves to be a web of individuals of ‘class apart’ to hold rural management profession intact.

Sony Pellissery

(Editor)

3NETWORK January -March2012 Vol. 16 •No. 1

ContentsEnabling models of microfinance: praxis and lessons- H. S. Shylendra ............................................. 4

“The perverse transformation”Rajan memorial lecture by Prof. Prabhat Patnaik ..........................................................11

A civil servant’s role model- Prof Y. K. Alagh ........................................... 14

Alumni SpeakMr. P S Appu : Some Memories- Anand Kumar .............................................. 16

Participants SpeakAn evening with Dr.Verghese Kurien ... 18

Is smart card really smart?- S Sarath ........................................................21

IRMA NEWS ............................................... 25

- Publications- Campus Placement- IRMA gets 25 crores

Network is a quarterly publication of IRMA aiming to generate communication among alumni, wellwishers and present participants of IRMA. Send the materials for

consideration of publicaion in Network to : [email protected]

Editorial CommitteeSony Pellissery (Editor)Susamma T (Secretary)

([email protected])Nikita Bankoti, PRM 31 (Member

Saurabh Sharma, PRM 31(Member)Parneet K Kahlon, PRM 32 (Member)Shubham N Tomar, PRM 32(Member)


ENABLING MODELS OF MICROFINANCE: PRAXIS AND LESSONS

H.S. Shylendra1

Introduction

Microfinance which has emerged in the recent decades as a popular and a widespread phenomenon has evoked strong responses in the discourse which are either supportive or derisive of its role and the manner of delivery. About its role, those supportive identify it as a powerful tool with a potential to end poverty. Easy access to credit which microfinance interventions ensure is believed to help poor tap economic opportunities widely available in the unorganized sector. Those critical of microfinance have argued that the claims about microfinance are almost evangelical bereft of clear understanding about ways of ending poverty and inequality.

Equally contested are the arguments over the manner of delivery of microfinance. The arguments here indicate a major schism that exists over the issue of balancing the apparently contradictory objectives of outreach and sustainability in microfinance. In this regard, there are some who are keen to integrate microfinance with the mainstream financial system and want the microfinance interventions to assume proper form different from civil society origins so that they can attain the much needed efficiency to scale-up and be sustainable. Microfinance interventions

are suggested to shun subsidies and be on their own through cost recovery, even if it means charging higher rates of interest, excluding very poor, and be minimalist in the delivery of financial services. The contrary view is that microfinance cannot be fully diverged from its civil society moorings and that poor have to be reached out proactively through appropriate subsidies and a more integrated approach in delivery.

Despite mixed evidence about the role of MF and the efficacy of different delivery methods, the prevailing scenario, however, depicts dominance of the school advocating financial and commercial orientation both in theory and praxis. The dominance would have been complete but for a series of failures encountered by microfinance institutions (MFIs) following such an approach in India and elsewhere. MFIs following commercial approach have come under serious scrutiny of policy makers, regulatory authorities and vigilante groups over their practices of charging high interest rates, rigid and coercive repayment norms, and excessive profit orientation resulting in an increased debt burden for the poor. These MF interventions have been even criticised for ignoring the primary developmental concerns for which microfinance originated.

1 Professor, Institute of Rural Management, Anand E-mail: [email protected]

5NETWORK January -March2012 Vol. 16 •No. 1 55

These limitations of microfinance have given raise for serious thoughts on ways reforming it. A few even argue that microfinance can never succeed in its goal of inclusion and poverty alleviation given its inherent contradictions. Others would like microfinance to regain the lost ground both in terms of its purpose and approach through certain reforms. They are arguing for reforms which emphasize on issues like ‘bring development back to microfinance,’ and `promote social over financial cause.’ How far and in what way these alternative methods can be incorporated in microfinance is still a moot question given their diverse nature and inadequacy of evidence over such practices. The article is based on a study carried for INAFI-India to document the emerging experiences of the microfinance interventions focusing on an alternative methods. The study was based on the case study of eight partners of INAFI-India representing diverse models spread across different regions of the country. These eight organizations included Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra, DHAN Foundation, Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, People’s Rural Education Movement, Pragathi Seva Samithi, People’s Education and Development Organization, Shramik Bharti and BAIF Development Research Foundation. The preliminary findings of the study are summarized below.

Civil Society Background and Altruism

Essentially microfinance is the response of the civil society to issues of market and state failures in addressing the

financial services needs of the poor. The cases clearly indicate the attempt made by the organizations studied to respond to the emerging need they identified while working with the poor and needy. All the promoting organizations have primarily NGO background and have come up based on their own ideological or social work concerns of working with the poor. In the course of working with their target groups, these organizations have realized the need and importance of meeting the credit needs of the poor in its own right and to complement the work they are already into. It is this need-based entry into providing access to credit is one major driving force that has created the difference in their approach to microfinance and its subsequent growth.

Another key element that goes with the above thrust in initiating microfinance is the pursuance of multiple developmental activities by these agencies along with microfinance. All of them have remained as multi-activity NGOs with range of interventions like agricultural development, natural resource management, livelihood promotion, health, education and advocacy. MF has been carried out along with other activities. The multi-activity focus has apparently given certain advantages. It has enabled these organizations to tackle poverty and other developmental challenges through a multi-dimensional approach bringing in a more integrated perspective.

Altruism is an essential characteristic of any civil society movement; profit and other self-seeking goals cannot be

6NETWORK January -March2012 Vol. 16 •No. 1 6

the primary goals. The experience of these agencies brings out the strengths displayed by them even while pursuing an intervention like microfinance which inherently poses several contradictions for a typical NGO. Despite such a challenge, these agencies have tried their best to sustain a not-for-profit approach in their microfinance interventions. In cases where the NGOs themselves have directly taken up delivery of MF, they have adopted largely the principle of operational sustainability to meet the essential costs rather than pursue the excessive surplus generation. Moreover, whatever the surplus they have generated, they have tried to either plough it back into programme or use it for other developmental interventions. Those promoting community based organizations (CBOs) for delivery have left it to the CBOs to decide the issue of profit earning based on community needs.

Delivery Models

Broadly, three types of models have emerged under MF in the Indian context. These three models can be identified as the on-lending model, the linkage model, and the enabling model. Under the on-lending model, NGOs have taken up provision of microfinance on their own mobilizing resources from donors and financial institutions. Under the linkage model, NGOs have tried to link groups promoted by them to banks and financial institutions for accessing credit, savings and insurance services. Under the enabling models, NGOs have tried to promote CBOs which can

take up financial intermediation role on their own.

The assessment based on the cases reveals that the organizations studied have adopted some combination of these models in trying to deliver MF. Most of the organizations have tried to promote enabling models with a window for linkage model. The enabling model has been attempted mainly by way of creation of CBOs either in the form of federation of SHGs or member-based cooperatives.

Two key drivers could be identified having an influence in the creation such enabling models. These organizations consider that promotion of CBOs can be greatly empowering for the communities. Secondly, it also provides easy scope for NGO withdrawal. The enabling models also combine elements of linkage model giving scope for diversified approach to financial intermediation by these CBOs. One more dimension in this regard is the recent emergence of agency model for insurance services. Most of these organizations have attempted incorporation of micro-insurance in partnership with insurance companies. Here again as per the prominent model being practiced, the organizations have either on their own taken up the agency role or allowed the CBOs to take up delivery of micro-insurance.

Group-based Microfinance

A common approach discernable across the cases is the group based delivery of microfinance. The case studies reveal attempts by the organizations to adopt


and innovate with groups including integrating them at higher levels to reap benefits of collective action. SHGs are the prominent types of groups that are being promoted by these organizations. Partly, this is attributable to the launch of SHG bank linkage programme and the support that is available to the formation and nurturing of SHGs. The interventions have followed certain commonly advocated principles in building SHGs like homogeneity of membership, self-selection in member enrollment, framing of own rules, self-management, and rotational leadership. Relevant capacity building efforts have been made through training and exposure visits. The groups are being involved in assessing loan needs, monitoring loan use and repayment, pooling savings to build own resources and to leverage for external support. SHGs are also being used as channels for discussing other social issues and delivering other development schemes.

Further, a clear attempt to integrate SHGs at a higher level can be seen in almost all cases. SHGs have been brought together at local level with further integration at block or district level in the form of formal CBOs. The promotion of such collectives itself can be seen as a major achievement of these organizations. These higher level organizations are emerging as autonomous agencies to take up financial intermediation and other roles.

Outreach and Services

In terms of coverage, while all the organizations have focused prominently

in targeting the needy in rural areas, many have identified the need to work with the poor in urban areas also. Tribals, dalits, small and marginal farmers, laborers, and artisans are the major disadvantaged groups targeted by these agencies. A common denominator has been reaching out to women by all them, especially under their microfinance programmes. In fact some are even carrying out microfinance as women development programme.

About the scale of operations a mixed picture emerges. All the organizations studied are multi-activity NGOs. The extent of outreach under microfinance has been determined to a significant extent by the outreach and jurisdiction of their primary programmes. Though, overall scenario from the cases depicts moderate level of achievement , a few strengths of such an outreach needs to be identified. The composition of the outreach is one of needy and disadvantaged groups. At the same time, there is an attempt to build quality groups. Moreover, the tagging of microfinance outreach to the primary programmes is helping in combining credit with other developmental assistance. No doubt some of the organizations have faced constraints in terms of resources and professional capacities for scaling up, apparently a restrained approach has been adopted instead of expanding at any cost.

In terms microfinance services, to the extent possible the organizations have attempted to ensure all the key concerns of service delivery like diversity,


accessibility, and affordability. One common service that is offered by all organizations is promoting group level savings as per the capacity of the local members. The members are encouraged to save regularly in small amounts to enable the group members to build-up own resources to pursue internal lending for emergency purposes and to leverage of accessing external funds. Credit is another prominent service being offered. Across all cases, groups are resorting to internal lending to meet small and emergency needs of members based on their savings. The groups are considering this as an important achievement. Groups are able to earn some returns on this activity by charging interest. In terms of external loans wide variations can be seen in the loans offered across organisations. Diverse and bigger loans are being delivered by those organizations which have enabled access to larger resources Further, combining multiple models have helped groups and members to tap multiple sources of loans like SHGs, Federations and banks.

Coming to the key issues of rate of interest and repayment methods, the practices indicate prevalence of diverse scenario. About rate of interest, the organizations have tried to give their best given several constraints. The bank linkage models have offered relatively lower rates than others given the cheaper access provided by the banks. The on-lending and enabling models have a mixed scenario. The enabling models have in many cases left it to the wisdom of members to decide about rates of interest based on the demand and other

local consideration. About loan recovery, while all the interventions have shown overall good recovery, a common positive feature noticeable is the absence of coercive methods both in lending and recovery. This is attributable largely to the adoption of need based microfinance rather than one driven by commercial considerations.

Credit-Plus Services

Delivery of credit-plus services is a challenging task as it needs an integrated perspective. The cases indicate to a scenario where in sincere efforts being made to establish linkages between microfinance and other services needed by the members. Though the extent of coverage is limited, but some of the initiatives throw up useful insights into the issue of linkage. As multi-activity NGOs, the organizations are pursuing variety of activities which are also targeted at microfinance groups. In this way, the developmental interventions and microfinance are being combined for integrated delivery and impact.

Besides, there are attempts to provide additional services needed by the microfinance participants to make better use of their credit. A common service seen across the organizations is the provision of training to the members of the groups pertaining to SHG management and income generating activities. Simultaneously, many of these organizations are trying to arrange support services for book-keeping and auditing of SHGs on payment basis. Linkages are being established to enable SHGs to pursue livelihood improvement


activities health awareness, PDS and mid-day meal schemes. A few organisations have made efforts to set up specialized institutions to provide livelihood improvement services and linkages. Though such examples are limited but are pointer to the possibilities that exist for integrated development when the needed perspective is present.

Constraints

Constraints of various nature are experienced when organizations try and deliver microfinance combining developmental focus. Though challenges have varied across different models, some prominent ones highlighted here. For those following the enabling model, a major constraints has been identifying an appropriate legal form for promoting CBO. There are variations in the legal forms adopted. While some have adopted NGO form (trust or society) for promoting CBOs, others have followed cooperative form. Though diversity may be useful but NGO forms have certain constraints in ensuring proper ownership and control by members. At the same time, needed resources to help develop the capacities of these CBOs have not been easily forthcoming. For the linkage model the response and support of the banks and financial institutions have been of a varying type bringing uncertainty in sustaining the linkage.

The delivery models in the NGO form have also faced few constraints. There is the eternal dilemma of providing credit services by a charitable institution. The need by poor and the acuteness of the exclusion problem has compelled

them to take up the activity. Second is the regulatory challenge more so about savings and insurance. Regulatory provisions have made them fragment or curtail their savings and insurance services. A key issue observed is wide variations in the interest rate on loans across these interventions. In certain cases, they are relatively high by formal standards having implications for affordability. Lack of availability of cheaper funds for lending to poor is the key constraint. About collateral, though some of the organizations are offering larger loans, collateral is being insisted highlighting the limitation of group method.

Implications

The study very clearly brings out the relevance of enabling models of microfinance. Enabling models provide several advantages. By bringing community issues to the fore they help resolve to a great extent many contradictions that go with microfinance. The community based structures when orgnised well bring in additional advantage through their ability to mobilize resources for effective financial intermediation and for pursuing other developmental activities. Enabling models make these happen in a much more decentralized and participatory way.

The second major lesson that emerges is the continued relevance of NGOs and other civil society agencies for microfinance. The role for NGOs remains important both for financial and social intermediation as long as financial


exclusion persists. Developmental NGOs with multi-activity focus can help bring the needed links between microfinance and other area. Continued involvement of NGOs is also useful for social intermediation process of promoting and nurturing groups and community based organizations. Given the reality that NGOs are playing a significant role in delivering financial services for the poor, there is a need to clarify their regulatory

positions more clearly. Further, social intermediation by way of formation of groups and CBOs needs considerable resources. State, banks and other public agencies must make investment here. State must also ensure the availability of adequate cheaper funds to meet the loan fund needs of the microfinance sector. These measure can help microfinance become more social and wholistic.

THE HOMECOMING!This yearMilaap, the annual alumni meet, was held on 21st and 22nd January.Thiseventwasspecial forPRM12as itwas their ‘BeesSaalBaad’. It surelybringsthememories backwhen you visit your almamater after twenty long years. SohappenedwithPRM12.Theythoroughlyenjoyedthetwodaysofrelivingcherishedmoments of the past with their friends, teachers and batch mates; a chance tostrengthen the old ties and build new ones. About forty alumni from PRM 12attendedMilaap.Alongwith them, there were alumni from different batches ofPRM. The reunion was attended by about 100 alumni from all over the world,includingJapan,Indonesia,andUSA.

The event began with an inaugural address by Director of IRMA, Prof. JeemolUnni, followed by awelcome note from Prof. PratikModi (alumni coordinator).Themediacommittee(PRM31and32)hascomeupwithabook“TheIRMAStory:APRMPerspective”whichwasreleasedattheinauguralfunctionoftheevent.Aninteractivesessionwiththealumnion(a)PRMReview,(b)CorpusEnhancement,and(c)IncreasingMDPRevenuewasconductedonthefirstday,wherein,alumnisharedtheirinputswiththeiralmamater.TheeveningwascelebratedwithagrandculturalperformancefromPRM32.Thejampackedauditoriumwasatestimonytothevisualdelightpresentedbytheparticipants.ThefunnevercametoendduringMilaapasthealumnienjoyedthe‘FunFiesta-thefroliccarnival’thatcomprisedofdifferentgames,alongwiththeirfamiliesandchildren.

The second day began with the annual marathon – The Anand Run – to raisesupport for the Ektanagar Education Initiative, which provides basic educationfacilitiestothepoorslumchildren.ShriR.S.Sodhiflaggedofftherace,andprizesweredistributedtothewinners.About1000personsparticipatedinthemarathon.The event concluded by the enthralling performance by music maestros from SPICMACAY.

EditorialCommittee


“THE PERVERSE TRANSFORMATION”

RAJAN MEMORIAL LECTURE BY PROF. PRABHAT PATNAIK

T.S. Rajan Memorial Lecture is a lecture conducted annually at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand. T. S. Rajan was an alumnus of the Institute. He had met with an unfortunate accident on 19 January 1990. The annual lecture series was instituted by Mr. Rajan’s parents in his fond memory to mark his sincere dedication to his work and to the rural development, the qualities he had imbibed at IRMA. The T. S. Rajan Memorial Annual Lecture series seeks to bring renowned developmental professionals and practitioners in the rural sector to address the current participants of the IRMA and interact with them.

This year, the 22nd T. S. Rajan Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Prabhat Patnaik. The topic of Professor Patnaik’s lecture was, “The Perverse Transformation”.

Professor Prabhat Patnaik is an Indian Marxist economist and a political commentator. Born in Jatni is Orissa in Spetember 1945, he is an alumnus of St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi from where he did his Economic Honours. He also went to the famous Oxford University in 1966 on a Rhodes Scholarship, studied at Ballilol College and then later at the Nuffield College. This way he got his B. Phil and D. Phil degrees from the Oxford University. After completing his

studies, Professor Patnaik joined the Faculty of economics & politics at the famous Cambridge University, UK in 1969 and got elected as a fellow at the Clare College, Cambridge. In 1974, he returned to India and joined as an assistant professor at the newly established Center for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, (JNU), Delhi. He became a professor at the Center in 1983 and finally took a retirement in 2010. At the time of his retirement from JNU, he was holding the prestigious Sukhamoy Chakravorty chair in planning and development at the Center for Economic Studies and Planning. His specialization is macroeconomics and political economy. He has written a number of books and articles in this field. He has also served as the Vice chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board from June 2006 to May 2011. He has also been part of the task force of the United Nations to recommend reform measures for the global financial system. Professor Patnaik is a strong critic of the neoliberal economic policies and is well known as the social scientist of Marxist-Leninist persuasion.

The title of professor’s lecture was inspired by Karl Polanyi’s classic book titled, “The Great Transformation”. He wishes to emphasize and explain the massive shift of workforce in


the so-called advanced capitalist world, from rural to urban areas, from areas of scattered settlement to areas of concentrated settlement, from agriculture to secondary and tertiary activities, and from small scale individually owned production units or petty production units to capitalist production. This inter-related set of changes is what Professor Polanyi calls as the great transformation. He says that this destruction of small scale individual production is what Karl Marx refers to as the process of primitive accumulation of capital. The workforce that gets idle because of the dispossession and destruction of the petty producers then simultaneously gets absorbed by the capitalism. These two processes occur simultaneously in a very vibrant fashion in the advanced economies. The second process could occur over a period of time and may not be immediate. There is a marked difference in the income levels of the capitalist sector production owners and the dispossessed individuals. However, during this course of time when the individuals got dispossessed and till when they got absorbed as workers of the capitalists there was an increase in their average income levels. Professor Patnaik attributes this rise to the fact that towards the end of the nineteenth century, there was a massive unionization whereby these individuals got organized, stood up for higher wages and they even managed to squeeze out higher wages as the overall productivity was on the rise. These efforts of the unions to get a

larger share of the productivity gains in the economy would not have been successful, in the view of Professor Patnaik, had there been a widespread unemployment in the economy.

Professor Patnaik explains that today, most developing economies are undergoing this situation of what Professor Polanyi refers to in his book as the Great Transformation. He feels that the protests that took place in Singur when Tata planned to open its manufacturing plant for Nano there, raising a voice against the dispossession of the peasants there were unnecessary and the issue was not something one needed to be deeply worried about. He quoted one of his own teachers who had said that when Manchester and London had come up as major industrial centres, a similar dispossession had taken place even then, but eventually the entire dispossessed workforce had been absorbed into the economy, and witnessed much higher levels of living than before. So a similar occurrence would take place at Singur as well. So he opines that a lot of great economists of our time are of the opinion that today India and China are undergoing a situation which is in a way quite similar to what Professor Polanyi describes in his book as the Great Transformation in the advanced capitalist countries.

However, the situation is not so very similar to Polanyi’s great transformation. For instance, in India, a large number of peasants who have got dispossessed have faced intense economic distress which has led to large scale of suicides


among them, a feature that is not existent in the great transformation process. More and more peasants today are finding agriculture to be an unviable activity and are leaving agriculture in search of employment opportunities outside. A similar situation also exists in China, where every year around 80000 incidents of resistance take place between the peasants and system, in opposition to the dispossession of the peasants.

However, contradictory to the process of the Great Transformation, in countries like India and China, though the process of primitive accumulation of Capital is going on normally, the people who are victims of this process of primitive accumulation of capital and are migrating outside in search of employment, are not getting sufficient opportunities of employment. They are swelling the labour reserves instead of being absorbed in the economy. This swelling of the labour reserves manifests itself among other things as an increase in the informal sector employment. So the labour market is losing its tightness. This in turn in Professor Patnaik’s opinion affects the real labour wages. In fact, the shares that the average income levels of the members of this swelled labour reserves who have given birth to the informal sector of employment, are considerably lower than the income levels of the peasants that they were, who have now got dispossessed! So there is a decline in average income in three categories – organized labour, peasants of the countryside and the swelling labour

reserves. This leads to an increase in absolute poverty. The extent of hunger and malnutrition has also gone up.

This way Professor Patnaik explains why he believes that there is a fault in this transformation. He feels that in the Great Transformation, the two processes – the primitive accumulation and the absorption process took place, if not simultaneously, then with some delay. However, this is not the case with countries like India. Here, there is large scale primitive accumulation of capital, where by a huge number of peasant and others are faxing economic distress and are getting dispossessed.

The lecture was indeed very enlightening and explained a process that is occurring all around us, and we only see one side of the picture. It helped us gain better insights and understanding of the fundamental economic process of primitive accumulation and absorption.

We at IRMA, express our heartfelt gratitude to have had Professor Prabhat Patnaik take the Rajan Memorial Lecture and share with us his enlightening words.

This summary of the event was prepared by Bhavi Patel (PRM32)

Dear Alumni,

Please register and update your details on the alumni page of IRMA website (https://www.irma.ac.in/alumni/alumni_services.php) to continue to receive Network even if you change your address. Encourage other alumni, those not receiving Network, to register at the earliest.

Editor


The passing away of P.S. Appu is a great loss. I worked with Appu from the time when we were both young men, both at home and abroad. They do not make them like him very often. Highly informed and well read, fully focused, a man with great integrity, he left his mark wherever he went.

In 1974, I was invited for my first job in the Planning Commission. A feudal African country had a coup. The general who led it was trained in India and wanted assistance in the security area, economic planning and land relations, and rural development. A general who was the director of the Military Academy was asked to lead this delegation, Appu was the land reforms expert and I was the planner. In the limited time that we were there, with the extraordinary attention that he could pay to detail, Appu summarised the situation in precise, telling language. He checked their revenue records. He read everything that had been written on rural organisations in the kingdom and summarised the path ahead. A young officer in the military regime trained in France was critical about land relations in India, Appu was frank, modest as well-informed persons are, and said that the reforms that he was talking about were not a picnic either in his country or ours. 1 This was first published in Indian Express on 04 April 20122 Chairman, Institute of Rural Management, Anand

A CIVIL SERVANT’S ROLE MODEL1

Prof Y. K. Alagh2

In the Planning Commission, Appu was to digest a very large number of land reforms studies done by the Committee on Plan Projects of the Planning Commission in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He kept on hammering away at the leakages “Personal Cultivation” provisions in the legislation led to.

I remember in the Planning Commission, one of his seniors said that the political system had changed and was in favour of land reforms. Appu quoted Dantwala’s classic piece in the Economic Weekly saying that the major political parties in India were against land reforms because while the zamindar and the raja were loyal to the imperial power, the younger brother was joining the freedom movement and so we find it very difficult to bring about the reform in land relations General MacArthur had done in Formosa and the Shah of Iran was doing. His seniors found it difficult to face this kind of barrage.

Much later, as a member of the Planning Commission, I was to organise a meeting on land reforms. My friend V.N. Dandekar and I, based on our experience of Gujarat and Maharashtra, were arguing for legalising tenancy. Appu, together with B.D. Sharma, with their experience of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, massacred Dandekar and me


and prevailed on the land to the tillers slogan and the implementation of ceiling on land holdings. Asha Swarup wrote the preface to that publication and the policy reviews on how Dandekar and Alagh retired hurt.

Appu was to have a stint as chief secretary in Bihar and as the director of the Academy in Mussoorie. He invited me to inaugurate a course for the freshers, and in the exchange that took place, he was severe on those who did not understand that they were a select lot and had great protection from the Constitution, but that demanded complete dedication to the nation’s social goals.

He demanded a lot, but was the perfect example. In the first decade of

this century, I was asked to work on recruitment and training of the higher civil services in the country. There was in that report a chapter on the requirements from the services of the future. Another civilised civil servant, Tejinder Khanna, wrote the draft of that chapter and we worked on it. It started with a page which listed any endeavour of national activity in which a civil servant played a major role, and many names were there. Appu, by any standard, would be in that hall of fame. But, of course, as we said, they were the exceptions. The challenge is to make the average that way. Progress on that would be a great tribute to stalwarts like P.S. Appu.

JATRA -2012“Letthetribalwarbegin!”ThiswasthesloganofJATRA2012,thetwo-dayannualinter-blockcompetitionthatwasheldon8th and 9thJanuary.Theeventstartedonthemidnightof7thJanuary,2012fromtheAmulChimeswith‘JATRARUN’-theofficialtorch-lightingceremony.Prof.RakeshSaxenastartedtherun,andthetorchwasthencarriedforwardbytherepresentativeparticipantsofeachhostelblock,finallyreachingthechimes.

Thenext twodayswerefilledwithunmatched fun and rivalry.While the IRMATreasureHuntsawtheparticipantshuntingforcluesaroundthecampus,AD-MADhad them acting for advertisements for out-of-the-world fictitious products! The‘Sell-your-block’competitiontestedthemarketingacumenoftheparticipantswhotriedhardtoconvincethejudgesaboutthesuperiorityoftheirrespectiveblocksovertheothers.Thecreativityoftheparticipantswasinfullswingwhentheysanggroupsongsintheirblock’spraise.Theeveningspromisedmuchsonganddancewithsomefascinatingstageeventsthat includedfashionshow,mock-rockandADAPTUNE.Butthesurpriseelementwasthetug-of-war,wherethegirlsofB-blockbeattheresttowinandthefashionshowbythemavericksoftheG-block.Thecommonthingamongallthesediverseeventswastheblockcheers,whichbolsteredthecourageoftheparticipants.

The event concluded with D block bagging the first position, B-block standingsecondandAwiningthethirdposition.

Editorial Committee


Alumni Speak

Mr Appu arrived in IRMA in late 1986, after, we, the incoming batch, had already spent some time without a Director. Not that we realised anything – we had arrived only a few months ago, and were finding our way around, simultaneously coping with the sudden pressure of demanding academic requirements. We did feel deprived though, as we had heard innumerable stories about the outgoing Director, Sri R N Haldipur, and how he had shaped IRMA.

We, all youngsters, fresh out of college, did not know anything about him when he arrived. We had heard that he had been the Director of the IAS Academy at Mussourie, and was coming to IRMA at the insistence of Dr Kurien. Otherwise, he had wanted to return to Kerala, and lead a retired life.

He arrived late on Diwali night, and went around the campus in the dead of the night. The area around the Mess was profusely littered with trash from burst crackers and fireworks. His reported reaction to this sight was ‘what kind of rural managers are we grooming, if they cannot even keep their own surroundings clean?’ This remark made a great impression on the

MR. P S APPU : SOME MEMORIES

Anand Kumar1

students with both supporting and contradicting views.

There were few occasions when the students interacted with the Director, occupied as they were with the demanding academic requirements and related stress-busters. Nevertheless, on the few occasions that we did interact with him, he inspired confidence with his gravitas and measured speech.

We felt reassured. IRMA, as an institution, is pulled, almost violently, between its two identities – its ‘management identity’ and its ‘development identity’. Students, full of ideas and revolutionary fervour, immature, out to make their mark on the world, but deeply anxious about their own future, are not just caught in the vortex, but actively contribute their energies to it. There was change in the air: the economy had been growing at a higher rate since the early eighties, the reforms initiated in the late seventies, were showing results. People had expectations, more so the young. The Balance of Payments Crisis was less than five years away, and there was rapid political change in several parts of the country. The hope, the despair, the confusion in the environment was

1 Anand Kumar, PRM 86-88, [email protected]


Alumni Speakrather heightened. As students, and that too at IRMA, we were caught in these whirling currents. The presence of Mr Appu was a calming influence in all this. We felt that with him at the helm, irrespective of the processes employed, we will not be

short-changed because of ideological confusion in IRMA.

Unfortunately, for us, he left within six months or so. As a batch, we spent most of our time in IRMA without a full-time Director, feeling as some kind of orphans

Obituary: Mr. Manoharan (PRM-87-89)Mr.Manoharan (PRM-87-89)whopassed awayon 27 Feb 2012.Hewasdetectedwith stomach/liver cancer 6months back andwas undergoingtreatment.Heissurvivedbyhiswife,Durga,andhisdaughter,Venilla.

Manoharan is oneof the batch toppers ofPRM87-89.A fewyears afterpassing from IRMA, he decided to follow his calling and work in thedevelopmentsector.HejoinedACCORD,anNGOthatworkswithtribalcommunitiesinTheNilgirisinTamilNadu,inthe1990sandbasedhimselfinthetownofGudalur.Andthisiswherehespenttherestofhislife.

Hedisplayedhisvaluesindeedratherthanword,livinganextremelysimplelife,workingforthebettermentofabackwardanddowntroddencommunity,anddedicatinghislifetowardsthis.TheIRMAcommunityhaslostamemberwhosymbolizesavaluesystemthatisnotoftenondisplayintoday’sworld.

UDAAN 2012 – ‘HIGH SPIRITS WE HAVE, GRAVITY WE FLOUT’ThisyeartheannualBusinessfestivalUDAANwasheldon25th and 26thFebruary2012.Itoffersarichbouquetofeventsrangingfromcasestudycompetition,quizzing, tobusinessplansandculturalnights.Themuchawaitedandcovetedfestivalwasheldonthesetwodaysprovidingarichlearningopportunityandplatformfortheexchangeofideas.Overtheyears,UDAANhaswitnessedhugeparticipationfromthevariouspremierbusinessschoolsliketheIIMs,XLRI,TISS,XIMB,FMS, IIFT,NITIE,etc.Thevarious teamsbattledout in thecasestudy,quizandB-plancompetitionsbesidesactivelyparticipatinginthedebatesanddiscussionsbyeminentspeakers.Thisyearitbroketherecordswhenduringthethreedayonlinequizzesevent,itsawthehighestnumberofteamsparticipatingwiththepeakof1134teamonday1ofthequizitself.Inallaround3100teamsfromdifferentb-schoolparticipatedinthe3onlinequizzes.Theeventofferedaneclecticmixofeventsandactivitiescateringtotheinterestsofall.Itofferedeight events comprising print ad making, case study, Business plan, quiz, panel discussion,innovationworkshop,photographycompetition,andsimulationgame.Thetotalprizemoneyforthe studentevents inUDAAN’12wasworthRs.2 lakh.The festivalwas sponsoredbyAMUL,AdaniWilmarandSBI.The chief guest for the event wasMr. Pradeep Kashyap, CEO ofMART. The events includeeminent speakers from thedomainsof innovationandnationalwelfare issues.The innovationworkshophasrenownedspeakerslikeProf.RakeshBasant,ChairpersonofCentreforInnovation,IIMAhmedabad,ArunKPande,HeadTCSInnovationLabs,Col.VijayBhaskar,CountryHead,MelindaFoundation,andotherdiscussingsomekeyaspectsinthedomainofinnovation. ThepaneldiscussionledbyPadmaShriSumanSahai,torchbearerofGenemovement,Ms.ManishaVerma, Senior IAS, Director of NationalAdvisory Council, Biraj Patnaik (PRM 19), PrincipalAdvisortotheSupremeCourtCommissionersontheRighttoFood,andProf.AjayDhandekar.ThemainissueforthediscussionwastheNationalFoodSecurityBilltabledintheParliament.

Participants Speak


PRM-31 had an interactive evening with Dr.Verghese Kurien (VK) on 8th March, 2012 at AMUL Auditorium. Following is a transcription of the conversation with him.

VK: “I like meeting students because some of their youth gets transferred to me. I am 90 years old and I need frequent transfers of youth to me. The Institute of Rural Management was set up in Anand so that the youth in Anand may remember and appreciate their youth.”

Q1: Sir, Can you tell us the story of establishment of IRMA and its episode with IIM, Ahmedabad?

VK: “I wondered that there should be some arrangements in Anand for training young people to become rural managers. I asked IIM Ahmedabad that whether they can arrange to produce students of rural management. IIM said that you want to produce rural managers to milk cows! That put me off because their concept of rural managers was those who milked cows. I said that I don’t want rural managers to milk cows. I want them to look into the rural problems that beset India and find solutions to these problems.”

“I had a cousin who worked in Ahmedabad. He happened to be the Director of IIM Ahmedabad- Ravi Mathai. He said that rural managers cannot be produced easily. They

must learn all the problems of rural areas and possibly evolve solution to those. So why don’t you start your own Institute of Rual Management? He said I can help you teach rural management to the students you may admit into. So they agreed to help me and this led to the starting of Institute of Rural Management. Ravi J Mathai unfortunately passed away when he was still young. So it is that I was left without the man I had selected to help me. The only thing I could do was to talk to Prime Minister and invited and persuaded him to dedicate the library of IRMA to be institute’s library. So that is how IRMA got built. You are all lucky to be students in this Institute of Rural Management, a creation of Prof. Ravi Mathai.”

Q2: Sir, your suggestions to the outgoing batch who will be starting their careers in one month’s time?

VK: “Those suggestions are to be found by yourself. You have to find your own solutions, I cannot teach you.”

Q3: Madam (directed to Mrs. Kurien), you are the person who backed him and made him. Can you help us understand how Sir operated and how you had contributed to it?

Mrs. Kurien: “I was just a housewife. The only thing I could do was to support him, nothing more than

AN EVENING WITH DR.VERGHESE KURIEN

Participants Speak


that. He knew that I was there for him.”

Q4: Sir, Whether you knew that whatever you are going to do will turn out to be a successful model?

VK: "I do not start anything unless I am sure of its success. Everything I started had to be successful.”

Q5: Sir, What is your expectation from IRMAns?

VK: "I expect the Institute of Rural Management to turn out graduates who would work for rural development. India is a rural country. It has a no. of people, no. of regions, religions and plenty of scope for rural development to be taken up. My expectations from you would be that you should create Institutes of Management throughout the country. India is a very big country, it has many religions, castes, creeds and to develop them in a uniform manner is not going to be an easy job. You will have to play an important role in doing that. If you need any help for that, you can approach Professors; they are here in order to help you. And if that does not happen then you will have to look at libraries and many other places from where you can derive some help. There is no other Institute of Rural Management in my knowledge in India. This is the only institute so the responsibility on you is very high."

Q6: Sir, for people like us, handling one job itself is very difficult! But you

were the MD of GCMMF, Chairman of NDDB, Chairman of IRMA and also many other boards at the same time, how did you manage your time?

VK: "Why do you say that you are not able to handle even one task! You come from a place like Anand where institutes and people of different types are there and you can find satisfaction in developing those people. I feel students of IRMA should find satisfaction in their job. It should be possible for you to find satisfaction in the jobs you are asked to do. You all are bright young students. If you cannot decide, I do not know what professors are here for, whom they are going to satisfy!”

Q7: Sir, How did you expertise in handling different roles at a time?

VK: “I don’t transfer it to them (students). They should be able to find it themselves.”

Q8: “Great success comes with great involvement”. Sir, how are you able to be involved in everything that you do?

VK: “May be I am a very versatile man! If there are people who know more than me, I learn from them. You must be always prepared to learn. It is not difficult to learn if you set your mind to it. And in a place like Anand where there is so little you can do other than to learn.”

Q9: Sir, What should IRMAns be, future leaders who leads and make others to follow or better managers

Participants Speak


who mingles and walk along with the team?

VK: "Students of IRMA are supposed to lead. Of course when you lead you have to walk with others. You cannot lead unless you walk with others."

Q10: Sir, What is that which distinguishes us from other managers like those from IIM, Ahmedabad?

VK: “Have you been to IIM, Ahmedabad? Tell me how is your accommodation? (Participants answer- “Very nice”). What about the fact that you are given single rooms? (Participants answer- “Excellent”). All these were not done accidentally. The students of IRMA are given the best facilities to stay, to study, to work."

Q11: Sir, Why were chimes put up in IRMA?

VK: “All educational and religious institutions I had seen had chimes and bells. It is a sign of educational institutions. So I decided to have chimes and to have chimes is not easy. I had to get it imported from Netherlands. When it came here I got into trouble as nobody could tune it. So I had to call someone from Netherlands to come here and chime these bells. But when you build anything, you have to build into it character. You don’t build institutions without character. I asked one of the best architects in India that whether he can build

character into it. He said let’s see. And what we today see is an Institute of character.”

Q12: Sir, What was the motivation behind doing all these?

VK: “I was born to create. And fortunately for me when I joined Amul in 1949, I decided to work under a man called Tribhuvandas Patel. He inspired me! You must find such people who inspire you and Tribhuvandas was that man for me. He was a simple man but he was able to inspire me. First and foremost he was a man of character. Shri. Jawaharlal Nehru was another person. I was fortunate to have such people.”

Q13: Sir, One thing you still want to create?

VK: “If I do not create, I will not be happy. Each one should have an inspiration to create and you should give full commitment to that inspiration.”

This transcription was prepared by S Sarath, PRM31

Network is a quarterly publication of IRMA aiming to generate

communication among alumni, well-wishers and present

participants of IRMA. Send the materials for consideration

of publication in Network to [email protected]

Participants Speak


Cards in all districts of the State under ‘One bank – One district’ model/ Service Area approach. The work estimates and wage payments are also handled to enable timely payments and atleast 100 days of wage employment to a wage seeking household within a year. In Andhra Pradesh there are two systems of wage payment a) Manual and b) Electronic benefit transfer system (EBT). In manual system there are some issues related to leakage and delay of payment. To address these issues and to bring transparency, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh partnered with private sector to pay all MGNREGA wage payment and SSP through EBT. The Government has entered into MoU’s with several banks and also Department of Posts for implementing the Smart Card Project. The Banks in turn have engaged services of various Technology Providers and Business Correspondents for implementing the project. This is arguably the most significant biometric payment system in the country with 19 million beneficiaries in 22000 villages across all 23 districts and a record off over Rs.3300 crores already paid. Inspite of significant achievements made so far, the systems and processes needed to be substantially improved

IS SMART CARD REALLY SMART?

S Sarath1

1 PRM 31 participant, Email:[email protected]

As part of Management Traineeship Segment (MTS) I attended a workshop on smart cards along with Piyush Singh (PRM31) at the office of Commissioner of Rural Development (CRD), Department of Rural Development, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Our MTS project was “Comparative study of different payments systems for disbursement of MGNREGS wages and Social Security Pensions” under the guidance of Prof. Atulan Guha. During this period, we along with others who went to CRD got an opportunity to attend the State Level Workshop. This short write-up summarises the insights from this workshop.

An overview of Smart Cards

Before getting into the details of the workshop, I would like to give a brief overview of Smart Card project in A.P. GoAP through Rural Development Department implemented a Financial Inclusion Initiative to set up banking outposts in the villages in concert with various banks to disburse government entitlements including National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme – Andhra Pradesh (NREGS-AP), Social Security Pensions Scheme (SSP) as well as other financial services through Smart

Participants Speak


to make this project a national standard and sustainable model in financial inclusion.

As per the terms of MoU, 100% carded payments should commence in all the GP’s allotted to the Bank within 6 months from the date of signing the MoU. In most of the districts, Government has not been able to achieve 100% enrollments and 100% biometric payments, in spite of the constant follow up made by them with all the stake holders and support extended financially by way of payment of service charges and sanction of the cost of POS machines as a grant to willing agencies. This is done in addition to the support extended by way of full-fledged Smart Card Project Team at State level and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) coordinators at the district level. Most of the banks were not able to complete the payments within the stipulated 14 days which puts the beneficiaries to hardship. Thus the workshop was conducted with the following objectives:

1. To achieve biometric authentication of all payments;Eliminating the scope for frauds arising out of manual payments; Enabling instant enrolment at village level;Enabling instant biometric payment after enrolment.

2. Completing MGNREGA payment within 4 days of receipt of funds and e-Pay Order.

3. To provide for timely feedback and control systems.

4. To visualize a transaction-based MIS and Decision Support System.

5. To enable prompt reconciliation and sharing of disbursement data.

6. To promote a sense of purpose and synergy among the stakeholders.

The Workshop

A State level Workshop on “Best Practices and Re-engineering of Processes for Smart Card Project in A.P” was conducted by Commissioner of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development, Government of A.P. The two day programme on 16th and 17th Novemeber, 2011 held at Tungabhadra Conference Hall, Dr.Marri Chenna Reddy HRD Institute of A.P, Hyderabad was beneficial in the sense that it not only gave insights to develop our MTS report but also it dispelled some of my myths about the so called Governance deficit when I saw the State Government taking pro-active measures to correct and rectify the problems in discussion along with all stakeholders. Key functionaries and decision makers from Government of A.P, Banks, Technology Service Providers and Business Correspondents from Central Office, State and District Levels were a part of the workshop.

Day 1 started with a welcome address by Additional Commissioner, RD. Major agenda of the day was to focus on Process Re-engineering. Three panel discussions were the highlight of the day. Panel I was

Participants Speak


on “Instant Enrolment, Account Creation & enabling Biometric Payments.” Panelists included CEO of FINO, ALW, Atyati, AP Online, Project Manager (FI) of ICICI, GM Corporation Bank and Project Director, Medak District. Panel II was on “Capacity building and Coordination among the different Stakeholders.” Panelists included Project Director, Krishna District, CEO of Integra and ALW, Deputy Vice President AXIS, Deputy GM Andhra Bank and Chairman APGVB. Panel III discussed and presented on “Completion of wage payments within 4 days.” Panelists included PMG-Dept of Posts, DGM-UBI, AGM of SBI and SBH, VP-FINO and Project Director of Vizianagram District. These discussions and presentations did bring out the lacunae in the system and how to plug those upto certain extent.

Day 2 was devoted for Field level issues and coordination problems. It started with district wise presentations made by the EBT Coordinators. It was followed by district wise presentations by the Coordinators of Technical Service Provider. An open discussion was held on submission of disbursement data, reconciliation and return of undisbursed amounts by the bank to the Department. Action Plans by the District Coordinators were discussed. Some other issues raised were on timely payment of remuneration to CSP’s and delivery of basic banking services & allied services to the villagers. The closing

remarks were given by the Project Manager (Smart Cards), A.P.

Take-away

Certainly there were many take-aways from the Workshop. Best Practices for adoption and improvement in implementation of A.P Smart Card Project were identified and conveyed across the various stakeholders. Gaps were identified in failure to reconcile the payments vis-à-vis releases and return of unspent money to avoid systematic frauds and audit objections. Revamping of cash supply procedures and tracking and monitoring mechanism for cash supply by Department of Posts were accepted as strategy to improve upon. Technical Service Providers were advised to get the list of un-enrolled beneficiary data & communicate the enrollment schedule to mandals and MPDOs for motivating the beneficiaries for enrollment on schedule dates. To complete the 100% conversion to Smart Cards, they were expected to expedite the campaign mode Laptop door to door enrollment in Agency Mandals. The delay compensation system wherein the penalties will be imposed on the party delaying the payment process to beneficiaries was also accepted across the hall. The workshop ended on a promising note that all stakeholders would improve upon their processes so that these 22,000 villages in A.P can set themselves as examples for the 6 lakh villages in India to follow.


IRMA NEWSBidding Adieu!Dr. Himadri Roy Chaudhuri, who has been assistant professor in the area of Marketing since 4th September 2009 resigned from the institute on 27th Mach 2012. During his tenure in IRMA he taught courses such as Consumption Culture and Market (CCM), and Brand Management and Communication (BMC) for PRM. He also taught a course on Marketing of Milk and Dairy Products (MMDP) for CPDM. He had also been warden of hostels for some time. NETWORK wishes him every best in future assignments. Publications

Publication/ReviewsModi Pratik (2012), "Market Orientation in Nonprofit Organisations : Innovativeness, Resource Scarcity and Performance," Journal of Strategic Maketing, Vol. 20, Issue 1, pp. 55-67.Vanita Yadav (Jan 2012). ‘Why not rob that myth?” – Toward a study of demystification of social entrepreneurship from below’, ‘Ba creation and Ba expansion in social entrepreneurship partnerships’, ‘Creating Digital Fashion Brands: The Effect of Emerging Entrepreneurial Practice’, ‘Accounting for stakeholders: Perspectives from strategy, entrepreneurship and accounting’: all four of them were Review for 2012 Academy of Management Annual Conference-AoM, Boston, USA.Seminars/Conferences/WorkshopsJeemol Unni presented a paper titled, “Wages and Informal Labour Markets in India: Whither Premiums on Human Capital Investments” in a Symposium on

Prof. M. V. Durga Prasad in the area of Production Operations Management pub-lished a book titled Operations Research with Cengage Learning (2012). Operations research (OR) techniques in this book con-tains various applications in numerous fields. OR techniques help in understand-ing and taking the right decisions at right time. This book intends to help students of management, science, commerce, char-tered accountant, Production engineering, Industrial engineering etc. It deals with both deterministic and non deterministic models. It is also a balance between the conventional and the contemporary. Other than students and academics, the book will also be of interest to general readers with a liking for popular sports like cricket. Cer-tain decision making problems using mi-crosoft excel were also presented.


“Rethinking Informal Labour in Globalising and Urbanising Contexts” organized by the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), Chennai in collaboration with the School of Habitat Studies (SoHS) at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and the Hyderabad Urban Lab Program, supported by the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, at Chennai, during January 9-11, 2012.Jeemol Unni was a Panelist in the Thematic Workshop on “Overcoming the Constraints on Faster Agricultural Growth” in the Global Summit on Changing Bihar: Forging Partnerships for Development, 2012, organized by the Institute for Human Development (IHD), Bihar Foundation and Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), at Patna during 17-19, February 2012,Sony Pellissery participated in the project meeting of the ‘Shame of poverty’ research during 26 February 2012 to 14 March 2012, and presented a paper on ‘Human dignity as the focus of poverty reduction’ during the stakeholders workshop on 01 March 2012 at the University of Oxford, U.K. Sony Pellissery presented a paper on ‘Contestations on climate change science in the development context’ during the annual conference of Association of Asian Studies at Toronto, Canada during 14-18 March 2012.Vanita Yadav presented a paper on ‘Role of Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development’ during the International Conference on ‘Planet Under Pressure 2012: New Knowledge Towards Solution’, London UK, 26-29 March 2012. Other EngagementsJeemol Unni delivered a keynote address titled “Is Labour a Resource in Globalising World”, in the Conference on Livelihood Issues in a Globalising World, Seminar in honour of Dr. Verghese Kurian, organized by MILMA and Central University of Kerala, Kasargod, Kerala on January 11, 2012.Jeemol Unni delivered a keynote address on “The Shrinking Rural Consumer: But Optimism Prevails” in the National Seminar on “Understanding the Indian Rural Consumer” organized by the Post-Graduate Department of Business Management, G.H. Patel Postgraduate Institute of Business Management, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, on February 17, 2012.Sony Pellissery was resource person during the workshop on Social Network Analysis organized at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai during 20-24 February 2012.New Projects/ResearchIndia Rural Development Report (IRDR) is a comprehensive state of affairs report that is planned and commissioned by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to be brought out from 2012 every successive year. The report is prepared by large number of scholars spread in the Rural Development Network, which is initiated by Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC). IRMA is a network partner in writing this report along with other partners such as Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai, and Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad. From


IRMA, Prof. Jeemol Unni, Prof. Rakesh Saxena, Prof. Sony Pellissery and Prof. Atulan Guha contributes to this report in the year 2012. The agreement was signed by the Minister of rural development, Jairam Ramesh and partners of Rural Development Network (IDFC, CESS, IRMA & IGIDR) on 26 March 2012.

MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES (MDPs)“Everybody Wins: Negotiating Skills for Managers” coordinated by Prof. Nivedita Kothiyal during January 16-20, 2012 was attended by 12 professionals from forest department, NGOs, and dairy cooperatives.“IRMA Module of the 2nd ICA-Japan Training Course on Fostering Core Leaders of Agricultural Cooperatives 2011” coordinated by Prof. SR Asokan during February 20 – March 16, 2012 was attended by 16 professionals from various cooperatives from 11 Asian countries including India.“Team Building” coordinated by Prof. SN Biswas during February 27 – March 1, 2012 was attended by 14 professionals from NGOs, dairy & fertilizer cooperatives, and academic institutions.“Enhancing Interpersonal and Managerial Skills for Officers of Government of Rajasthan” coordinated by Prof. Madhavi Mehta during February 27 – March 2, 2012 was attended by 25 professionals from Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation Functionaries of Government of Rajasthan.“Developing Leadership Skills” coordinated by Prof. Madhavi Mehta during March 13-16, 2012 was attended by 27 professionals from NGOs, dairy & fertilizer cooperatives, forest department, and academic institutions.“Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Alleviation” coordinated by Prof. Mukul Kumar during March 19-22, 2012 was attended by 10 professionals from NGOs, academic institutions, and CSR.“Enhancing Interpersonal and Managerial Skills for Officers of Government of Rajasthan” coordinated by Prof. Madhavi Mehta during March 19-23, 2012 was attended by 27 professionals from Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation Functionaries of Government of Rajasthan.“Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Transformation” coordinated by Prof. KV Raju during March 16-20, 2012 was attended by 7 professionals from NGOs, academic institutions, and CSR.

IRMA SEMINARSProf. HS Shylendra, (IRMA) presented a paper titled, “Microfinance and the Cooperatives: Can the Poor Gain from Their Coming Together? on January 02, 2012. Dr. Subhash C Ray (University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA) presented a paper titled “Measurement of Productivity Growth: What Do We Actually Measure and How?” on January 06, 2012.Prof. Parthapratim Pal (IIM, Calcutta) presented a paper on “International Commodity Prices and Inflation in India: Challenges for Policymakers in an Open Economy” on January 17, 2012.


Professor Ganesh N. Prabhu (IIM, Bangalore) presented a paper on “What is Strategy?” on February 23, 2012.Shri R S Sodhi (GCMMF), Shri Sangram Singh Chaudhary (NDDB) Shri Rahul Kumar, (AMUL) were on a Panel Discussion on “Challenges before Cooperative Dairy Industry in India in a Globalised World” on March 07, 2012. The session was chaired by Prof Rakesh Saxena.Prof. Arunava Sen (Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi) presented a paper on “The Field of Game Theory and Applications?” on March 12, 2012. FPRMPublicationsSarma K Sushanta, “Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work? The Destructive Rise of Local Neoliberalism” by Milford Bateman, Vikalpa,Vol.36 (4).FPRM Doctoral Colloquium/SeminarBhavani Shankar, “Marketing Facilitation and Tribal Livelihoods” on January 13, 2012. Ateeque Shaikh, “A paradigmatic and methodological review of researches on market orientation” on February 21, 2012. Ardhendu Shekhar Singh, “Buyer-supplier relationship: An Exploration of Handicrafts in Gujarat” on February 24, 2012. Shashibala Rai, “Behaviour Change in health related Social Marketing Programmes: Examining the role of individual and Programme level factors” at International Conference in Marketing’s Doctoral colloquium organized by Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow during January 12-14, 2012.Visitors to IRMADuring the quarter of January-March 2012 around 600 graduate and post-graduate students visited IRMA campus for exposure and learning. These students came from the institutions of Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Post Graduate Institute of Agri-Business Management, Latur, Maharashtra; Gogte Institute of Technology, Belgum, Karnataka; Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of cooperative Management, Pune, Maharashtra; Dairy Science college, Kerala; College of Agri. Engineering, Raichur; Gurunanak Khalsa College, Mumbai; University of Horticultural Sciences, Arabhavi. Karnataka; College of Forestry, Ponnampet, Karnataka; Dairy Science Institute Aarey, Goregaon, Mumbai and Aditya Institute of Management, Pune; Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur. Apart from students, working professionals and managers from following companies also visited IRMA: United India Insurance Co. Ltd.; Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Islampur, Sangli; Kerala Progressive Farmers Group, Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development, New Delhi; Rallis India Ltd., Mumbai; Other visitors included four members of Indian Economic Services, New Delhi;


two members from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Ahmadabad; 18 members of the Indian Administrative Service (Bihar Cadre); ten member delegation from Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Government of Myanmar; Director of BIM and 39 members from Cooperative Union, Talassery, Kerala.IRMA Campus Placements 2012The week long Placement Week was wrapped up in 3 days with all of the 105 candidates of the 31st Batch landing up in meaningful jobs in diverse sectors with equally diverse profiles. More than 50 % of the batch was placed on the first day of the placement week. True to IRMA’s core mission of providing trained professionals to the rural development sector, all the organizations chosen to participate in the placement process, as well as the jobs they offered, had a social cause at its heart irrespective of their organizational form. In all, 65 organizations announced a total of 225 offers out of which 105 offers from 30 organizations were accepted in the process. Once again dairy sector was the major recruiter followed by organisations from agribusiness, rural livelihood sector and rural finance. The placement week witnessed some of the core partners of IRMA coming back to the campus with offers that reaffirmed their faith in IRMA graduates. The major recruiters in this category were Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Mother Dairy, Agha Khan Rural Support Programme (I), Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Govt. of Andhra Pradesh and ITC | e- Choupal to name a few. However, a highlight of the placement season was the presence of many first-time recruiters who were able to attract the graduating batch with profiles designed specifically for IRMA graduates. Prominent amongst them were The Govt. of Bihar’s Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS) which hired 16 candidates for their livelihood intervention “Jeevika”. Kancor Ingredients Limited, Cochin was another major recruiter which made 9 offers with profiles ranging from Supply Chain Management to Strategic Business planning. The salaries ranged from Rs 4.0 to 15.0 lakhs per annum with an average salary of Rs. 8.1 lakhs per annum. Many offers were made for state level positions which involve carrying immense responsibility. Recruiters were thoroughly impressed with the diverse quality of talent they found in the candidates. The batch of 105 consisting of students from Agriculture, Engineering, Arts, Commerce, Veterinary Sciences, Pharmacy, Mass Communication, Business Studies, etc offered an exciting mix to choose from. To quote one of the recruiters, “We found the participants very confident about working in rural areas; their practical learning from the field was apparent in their responses. Their understanding of demand side challenges in developmental context is incredible and that makes them uniquely different from graduates of other business schools” IRMA gets 25 croreThe Finance Minister in his budget speech of 2012-13 announced a grant of Rs. 25 crores to the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).


IRMA has had a year-long exercise of visioning and drawing up a plan for the next phase of growth. This plan envisions IRMA as a Knowledge Institution with the ability to create knowledge that is truly transformative. This plan includes significantly ramping up the campus facilities to enable greater intake of students; offer diverse programmes both short and long duration and contribute to the professionalization of management of programmes oriented towards growth of the rural areas and rural enterprises and creation of centers of excellence in research. This new role will include providing professionals to people-centred institutions (where IRMA has already played an impressive role), as well as support for the professionalization of these institutions through research, training and consulting. Towards these ends, IRMA has to remodel itself as an institution of knowledge creation and dissemination. This necessitates rethinking IRMA’s size and structure to effectively pursue the newly articulated goals.The ‘IRMA Plan for the Future’ envisages a total budget of Rs 100 crores. It was in this context that IRMA had requested a one-time grant of Rs. 25 crores from the Union Budget. The rest of the funds will be raised from other sources through as well thought out resource mobilization plan.ABSTRACTS OF IRMA PUBLICATIONSWP – 229CO-OPERATIVE FARMING: A CASE OF GAMBHIRA COLLECTIVE FARMING SOCIETYN T Sudarshan NaiduAgriculture by small farmers is being rendered increasingly unviable owing to downsizing of land holdings, inept resource deployment, farmers’ low investment capabilities and the adverse effects of terms of trade. The Gambhira Collective Farming Society created with this rationale in 1953, has successfully overcome the problems associated with unviable holdings by means of collective action. The 291 members of the Gambhira Collective Farming Society have been collectively cultivating an area of 526 acres by forming 30 groups of eight to 14 members each. The land and other assets belong to the society and the members, individually, do not have ownership rights either on assets or cultivation decisions. The society undertakes primary tillage, purchase of inputs, irrigation and marketing of produce. WP – 230UNDERSTANDING ICT ENABLED DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS WITH MDG PERSPECTIVES IN INDIAN CONTEXT: A STUDY IN PANCHMAHAL DISTRICT Harekrishna Misra Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are being pursued in most countries today. In the United Nation (UN) Millennium Summit 2000, 191 countries adopted the Millennium declaration. The role of Information and Communication


Technologies (ICT) has been identified as a critical element in achieving the suggested targets under MDG. MDG-specified deliverables notwithstanding, almost all the countries implementing MDGs today have recognized the larger role of ICT in managing polices as well as strategies related to development processes and their implementation. Efforts are on to deploy ICT enabled tools for the conceptualization, development, incubation, and alignment of development-oriented services with country-specific needs. In many regions like the European Union (EU), ICT enabled processes have been standardized for large scale deployment. In some countries maturity has been attained with regard to providing insights vis-à-vis critical success factors and key learning. However, there are many pitfalls in managing ICT-oriented development processes. There have been a number of instances across the globe showcasing the design-reality gaps in the entire project life cycle. Since MDG has accepted ICT as a contributor for achieving the desired goals there is a need to appreciate the opportunities and limitations while deploying ICT enabled processes for the purpose. This paper discusses the UN’s mandate on MDG with ICT as component. In order to appreciate the design-reality gaps in adopting ICT for development sustainably a framework has been presented. As a case, a district in the state of Gujarat in India has been cited for the study as per the framework to validate its applicability.

WP-231THE ROLE OF SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURES IN MANAGING CITIZEN-CENTRIC E-GOVERNANCE INITIATIVES IN INDIA: AN EVALUATION FRAMEWORKHarekrishna Misra Globally, e-governance systems have gained wider acceptance. Almost all countries have embraced e-governance as part of their long-term policy. Contemporary e-governance systems argue in favour of convergence with appropriate scale-up strategies. These strategies include convergence among businesses, the government, citizens, civil society, etc. in the country, and connection between international agencies, for better networking. In the case of organisations like the European Union (EU), convergence has become very important because of member-driven benefits. Availability of growth-oriented e-governance infrastructure in developing countries has encouraged agencies to incubate and roll out converged services to citizens in rural and semi-urban areas. Notwithstanding these varied approaches, there is a felt need to understand the architectural behaviour of convergence at the national level. This is because e-governance efforts need huge capital investments, require longer life cycles, and involve multi-agent service orientation. In this paper, e-governance architectural issues are discussed in a conceptual framework, with three examples drawn from the Indian scenario. This framework aims to examine the possibilities of architectural convergence for national-level scale-up.


*26 Participatory Management and Governance of Decentralized Rural Domestic Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation

Oct 15-20, 2012 Pramod K. Singh

27 Finding and Evaluating Growth and Investment Opportunities

Oct 29-31, 2012 Girish K. Agrawal

28 Team Building Oct 29 - Nov 1, 2012 SN Biswas29 Enterprise Value Chain Management in Rural Enterprises

Nov 1-3, 2012Harekrishna Misra, KV Raju

30 Development Discourse: Training Workshop for Practitioners and Policy Makers

Nov 5-9, 2012 HS Shylendra

31 21st International Management Appreciation Programme for Voluntary Agencies

Nov 19 - Dec 14, 2012

Nivedita Kothiyal

*32 Governance of Decentralized Rural Domestic Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation

Dec 3-8, 2012 Pramod K. Singh

33 Workshop on Survey Data Analysis Using SPSSDec 10-12, 2012

Anand Venkatesh, Preeti Priya

34 Corporate Social Responsibility and Development Dec 17-19, 2012 Nivedita Kothiyal35 PERT/CPM Techniques Dec 17-19, 2012 Girish K. Agrawal36 Adaptive Leadership Dec 18-21, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt37 Team Building Jan 2-5, 2013 SN Biswas38 Areas of Cost Reduction in Dairy Co-operatives Jan 7-9, 2013 Paresh J. Bhatt*39 Governance and Service Delivery Issues in Rural

Domestic Water Supply andEnvironmental Sanitation

Jan 7-12, 2013 Pramod K. Singh

40 Personality Development Jan 16-18, 2013 SN Biswas41 Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Alleviation Jan 16-19, 2013 Mukul Kumar42 Everybody Wins: Negotiating Skills for Managers Jan 28 - Feb 1, 2013 Nivedita Kothiyal*43 Governance and Service Delivery Issues in Rural

Domestic Water Supply andEnvironmental Sanitation

Feb 11-16, 2013 Pramod K. Singh

*44 Rural Development through Dairy Co-operatives in India Feb 12-14, 2013 Ila Patel*45 IRMA Module of the 2nd ICA-Japan Training Course on

Fostering Core Leaders of Agricultural Co-operatives 2012

Feb 19 - Mar 16, 2013

Madhavi Mehta

46 Decision-Making Tools Using Microsoft Excel Feb 26-28, 2013 MV Durga Prasad47 Gearing for Competitive Challenges – Making

Organizations More Efficient Mar 4-7, 2013 Girish K. Agrawal

48 Developing Project Proposal Mar 4-8, 2013 Mukul Kumar49 Developing Leadership Skills Mar 11-14, 2013 Madhavi Mehta50 Workshop on Marketing Data Analytics

Mar 11-14, 2013Preeti Priya, Anand Venkatesh

51 Project Management Mar 18-23, 2013 Hitesh Bhatt52 Data Management Skills

Mar 20-22, 2013Anand Venkatesh, Preeti Priya

* Sponsored Programme

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Network offers heartfelt tributes to P.S. Appu (Director, IRMA during 03 November 1986 to 31 March 1987) Who died on 29 March 2012. See obituaries in pages 14-17.

1 Associate Professor at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand; [email protected]

Documents

NETWORK - irma.ac.in · 7 Project Management Jul 23-28, 2012 Hitesh Bhatt 8 Removing Poverty: Constraints, Opportunities and Strategies Jul 24-27, 2012 Mukul Kumar 9 Waste Management