Diary of a Rural Manager!

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 3... : Continuing from the 2nd part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 3rd part of the learning in the field of Rural Manag...

43rd Week@XIMB - 1st April to 7th April, 2012 1st April- REPP effect was conglomerating the senses. Various thoughts were springing in the mind. Like : Until Ordinary humans of the first world will become economically destitute, and will be reduced to the state of the third world, they will not rise in solidarity with all the dispossessed by colonilaism and neo imperialism. 2nd April- The last day of exam. Exam is over still two assignments are pending. The extent of stress is always relative to our current level of growth, hence satisfied with the performance. 3rd April- The assignments and packing had make the day hectic. Still, I am enjoying the marathon named MBA. 4th April- A nice day with final packing done for our summers. Seasons come and go. I’ve witnessed the beauty of XIMB campus in the rains, as well as enjoyed even a foggy night here. Although most of my schedule was occupied with classes and , I still found some time walking around the school in night to adm...

42nd Week@XIMB - 25th March to 31st March, 2012 25th March - This Sunday has been devoted to assignments and presentation. I take a long nap instead of all this hectic schedules. I also talked to GM about doing PHD in public policy from any foreign university. The complex question of Distribution and Creation of the wealth always intrigued me. Merit, Network, Violence, Open Society, Distributive Justice and Reservations are few vague key words around which I want to focus my work. To imagine a long life and planning for 20-25 years down the years is an extreme example of the unrealized luxury. Only elites can have insurance, coping strategies and resources for mitigating future risk required for such plans. There remains a deep aura of uncertainty  in the life of aam aadmi . What I felt deeply that future exists, may be for a day or week for most of the people living on the fringes. People are living from hand to mouth situation having much vulnerabilities like health, disp...

41st Week@XIMB - 18th March to 24th March, 2012 18th March - Prosperity of any nation depends on youths. Change requires individuals with grasp on realism, courage, willingness to change, and a readiness to support change, particularly among those who have the greatest means to do so. Jesuits are known for their work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits, and for their missionary efforts. Jesuit Society is producing Business and Rural Managers at XIMB. There is no shortage of highly capable and qualified students who want to work for the development of the country. Yet, the managers from XIMB all need job for waving off loan and sustaining economically after MBA education. The selection process, curriculum, quality of faculty, pedagogy and the farce called placement are all oriented towards are not creating independent minds and risk takers. The warning of Prof Cornel West is coming in mine mind: "a...

40th Week@XIMB - 11th March to 17th March, 2012 11th March - A reading day on MBA education :- What they don't teach you at Indian B-schools : In emphasising western theories and concepts, management education is curtailing innovation & Are you absolutely sure that you want to study an MBA? : Guest writer and IIM Ahmedabad student SG Shrinivas believes that the actual life as an MBA student is far from what is portrayed in the media, and those preparing for admissions should not base their decisions on sensational placement reports. 12th March - MP: There was discussion around fiscal decentralization with ensuring efficiency and identification of beneficiary at the ground level. Hoping to go in more details soon. UDO: There was again discussion on Leadership qualities. XIMB values many factors such as your leadership traits, knowledge and genuine interest in course apart from past academic records. "Are leaders 'born' or 'made' ?" was the c...

39th Week- 4th March to 10th March 2012 3rd March - I was burnout, hence enjoyed Saturday night alone. I had applied for a live project at RMAX. Let's keep the finger crossed. I gave a thought about the phenomenon of 'class participation in the grading system. Approximately 10-20% of overall marks in each subject are attributed to class participation. That is quite a difficult proposition for introverts until the topic of discussion is not very close to their heart. Unfortunately, I have realized that 'class participation' refers solely to speaking in class. Sometimes, 'Participation' is wrongly interpreted as saying stuff as much as you can as opposed to attentive listening and thinking. There may be less correlation between 'Best Orator' and 'Best Idea'. 4th March - Life at b-school is a complete antithesis of life at any engineering college. You have to redefine your work aesthetics and utilization of time. It's always a hectic sc...

38th Week- 26th February to 3rd March 2012 26th February - Mid-term papers of OM and CMIB were over till evening. I am trying to stop multi-tasking for achieving better concentration and productivity. Even if I do well or don't do well. I have realized that there are certain things that are important in life. I am trying to live as per them. Patience, Curiosity, and Irreverence have always remained the guiding tools for learning. Knowledge with fear in the heart is a quality to despise. Hence, I am sharpening the courage for defiance as it will ultimately lead me in standing for something. If we don't take a stand for a cause in the protected academic institution, what are really our chances to face injustice bravely in the real world? Standing for something isn’t just about writing it down. It’s about believing it and living it. 27th February - IRV and REPP papers were over. Currently, the whole batch is on the verge of rapidly going to 'Tragedy of Commons' ...

37th Week- 19th February to 25th February 2012 19th February - RLLE is an integral pedagogical component of the PGDM-RM course at XIMB. The objective of this live experience of one month is to develop respect for the poor and rural people while living with them and listening to their joys & sorrows, and appreciating their capacity to lead their life with dignity amidst several odds. We worked with the International potato Center on the phase of area identification of the project "Root & Tuber Crops for Food Security in the Asia Pacific ". We had done the work in two phases: Secondary data collection, Household listing and Field visit for identification of villages for the project area intervention & Primary data collection and analysis using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools in the selected villages. This field learning and experience from rural India was a joy of our life and definitely unforgettable for us. We want to share our moments through th...

36th Week- 12th February to 18th February 2012 12th February - It was a lazy Sunday morning. I visited  Balihanta Haat for the survey with my RIM group. That was a different perspective of the markets often neglected by the mainstream. We were sent an e-book of the Statistical Year Book India 2012 . The present issue of the Statistical Year Book India 2012 is the 45th edition of the publication in the series. The present volume of the publication contains comprehensive data on economic and social sectors, spread in 44 chapters covering more than 350 tables. The data includes the latest state-wise indicators. In addition, a variety of graphs and charts have been given to represent pictorial data. [Official Source] 13th February - There was systematic preparation of the pictorial representation of the vision statement of any organization in the UDO lecture. The Mentorship Program for the XIMB aspirants-2012 was rolled out and I am involved in this initiative. I had als...

35th Week- 5th February to 11th February, 2012 5th February - IRMA has declared their GD-PI list one month ago. XIMB-RM cut off for rural management course had been declared now. This year CAT, XAT & IRMA scores are valid for the entrance from this year. I welcome this diversification of application with different scores. Lot of debate and analysis will go again in the rural management community.It is a course that has unique fusion of rural development and business management. Rural Management is a different course whose people are convinced of the superiority of their mission and are obsessed with the inferiority of their merit on CAT/XAT scale. As per mine opinion, a rural manager must be more professional and learned as comparison to the normal MBA college manager as one has less capital and more complex problems to deal with. More about rural manager as per point of view of an IRMA   at pagal guy. I respect IRMA for their immense work in th...

34th Week- 29th January to 4th February, 2012 29th January - The whole day passed in the train journey back to the college. I was retrospecting about my career shaping at XIMB. It was the right question that led Atanu Dey to a different career. His question: “Why is India poor?” . Asking the right question can make all the difference. Critical thinking is the most effective approach towards learning and self discovery. I have initiated that process 3 year ago with the series of failures and wrong choices. We all know that streak of losses can be self-perpetuating. And one start to wonder where that elusive win will come from. One start blaming luck and all other external factors. One start hating the crowds and find oneself in that rut but until, one starts to win/gain even a small achievement. I am feeling confident with good academic record and grasping of the subjects in the rural management program. Atleast now, I am asking the right questions. 30th January - IRV assignment...

33rd Week@XIMB- 22nd January to 28th January, 2012 22nd January :  I wasted two of the three holidays in sleeping, web surfing and playing computer games. I have the old habit of procrastination in the cases of assignments. 23rd January : Nothing much substantial except learning about Non-Governmental Development Organization (NGDO). 24th January : I learned about Madhu Viswanathan in RIM lecture who has founded and directs the Marketplace Literacy Project a non-profit organization that offers marketplace literacy programs in subsistence marketplaces. 25th January : UDO lecture begins with Dalai Lama Quote : Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. There was emphasis on compassion in the organization. There were three TED video shown : Joan Halifa x, Karen Armstrong and Daniel Goleman where I was having neutral, negative and positive feedback towards there views. I am reproducing here talk of Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence who asks why ...

32nd Week- 15th January to 22nd January, 2012 15th January :  Sunday is mostly celebrated as perfect reading day by me. Pagalguy had some really interesting articles on their portal. I will put here two articles - 1- India’s latent entrepreneurship potential lies untapped because of life skills that aren’t taught and social expectations that aren’t set right. By addressing these problems in India’s bright youngsters through their curriculums, b-schools could lay the seed for innovative businesses that scale to become billion dollar companies, says Vijay Anand, Head of IIT Madras’s Incubation Center and Founder of popular startup event ‘Proto.in’. Read more here .. 2- The popular method of measuring the average salary against the fees to calculate the Return on Investment of an MBA program has no fundamental basis by any concept of Finance, says IMI Delhi’s Admission Chairperson Prof Himadri Das. He suggests a more sound method to calculate the RoI and demonstrates how it is...

31st Week-  8th January to 14th January 2012 8th January: A busy day in the assignments. There was a public lecture by Prof Norman Uphoff , Director, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA) and Professor of Government and International Agriculture on “ Public Policy Opportunities for Food Security (and Poverty Reduction) in a Climate-Stressed World: Building Upon Our Learning from Agroecology and SRI (system of rice intensification ).” There was a headband of "JAI SRI" (Joint Action Initiative on System of Rice Intensification). The students of the 3 Continent Global Management Program also attended The System of Rice Intensification , assembled in Madagascar over a 20-year period and gaining application internationally since 2000. As per my knowledge, PRADAN started introducing SRI in rainfed areas of the Eastern Gangetic Plains in 2003. He stressed the point of diminishing return obtained in the genetic input and external input after few seasons of cultivatio...