Diary of a Rural Manager!

86th Week@XIMB - 27th January to 2nd February, 2013 I am away from the laptop, internet and XIMB for a complete week on a trip to home. I was becoming stoic calm proof against vicissitude of academic pressure. The power of "rural": A special on rural marketing

53rd Week@XIMB - 10th June to 16th June, 2012 Arbeit macht frei is a German phrase, literally "labour makes (you) free" . The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. These last 52 weeks were not tedious labour yet occupied me with several assignments. This was full vacation week away at home from anything related to academics. I visited to Varanasi for a retrospective tour. I celebrated one year of satisfied student life. 13th June 2011 was the last working day and I was out of the front gate of CSC. Within two minutes of final settlement, the mental pain of incompetency in the software arena sublimed. Bye bye team meetings, bye bye security pass, bye bye management. I posted an awesome resignation email to all my team mates. The sun has never shone so bright, the air has never tasted so sweet, I have never felt lighter, than that moment. I was free. I was free. I was so ecstatically free I could smell th...

52nd Week@XIMB - 3rd June to 9nd June, 2012 03rd June - I reached to Bhopal early in the morning. In the whole journey, I was thinking about Bhind district from socio-cultural perspective. Growing up in the cities like Varanasi, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kanpur is a completely different than Bhind. The people here are more simple yet rigid in their world view. The religious and caste bias runs deep down than one city boy can imagine. Politics at grass-root level is caste dominated, bullet-ridden and blood soaked. The more unjust and arbitrary a system is, the greater the impression that one has to fight for one's own survival. Hence, one can think of bullying of upper caste with violence. A society without a caste system does not and cannot exist – especially when it is free, heterogeneous, and complex. When a highly respected institution like caste and religion that’s a powerful player in cultural life rewards a representative for intolerance, there’s reason for concern. 04th J...

47th Week@XIMB - 29th April to 5th May, 2012 29April - A sunday in the life again. I planned for the compilation of the report. I am planning to visit Malanpur Industrial Growth Centers 625 Hectares. Most of the Large and Medium scale industries with Industrial giants like Cadbury, Godrej, Hotline etc are present there. Yet, the problem of funding of diesel and even availability of vehicle is hindered here. 30th April - Monday was not so much different from any other day. There is NOTHING to update today. What a waste of precious time ! 1st May - Let me wish everybody happy labours day. Let us ungrateful managers remembers great persons like Marx and Engels without whom workers right would never have been heard. The office work is slow and no progress is happening here. Grades of the few subjects of 3rd term came today. I was disppointed with my performence. There is an urgent need to find root cause of the problem. There is a gradual decrease in the Grades over semester....

46th Week@XIMB - 22nd April to 28th April, 2012 22nd April - Sunday is a day of relaxation and updating with new changes in the community of rural managers. The result of XIMB 2012-2014 batch is declared few days. Currently, I am hopeful for the wait-list movement till 40 as the intake capacity is only 60 this year. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on 16th March allocated Rs 25 crore to Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) , for revamping the institute, in the General Budget for financial year 2012-13. I hope, they will capitalize on this grant and 'must' open their subsidiary in another part of the India. There is dire need to form a network of various schools of development and rural management. IRMA, XIMB and TISS are only big names in this playground. XISS, NIRD, XIDAS,IIRM and Azim Premji University need to collaborate together for forming a strong network of institutions. 23rd April - I took a day off from work and stayed in Lucknow only. No one i...

45th Week@XIMB - 15th April to 21st April, 2012 15th April - I am enjoying a day break in the circuit house.There is a old saying - Everybody enjoys proximity of the power. While nearly the whole city was in darkness, I am enjoying facilities of circuit house. The district has its share of news through local dacoits and army men. Many countless movies on dacoits lifted there plot from this region. It can be recent hit like Paan Singh Tomar or Sunil Dutt starring Mujhe Jeene Do . The district lies in the valleys of Chambal and the Sind, between the Kunwari and the Pahuj rivers. The ravine lands extend along both sides of the rivers and their tributaries. These ravines were the ideal shelters and bypass routes of dacoits. The problem of Dacoits has its root in culture and economic structure of the society. Natives of the district are filled with strong emotions of revenge passing through generations. The value system is filled with the moral that "A life is a abuse for the on...

17th Week- 2nd October to 8th October It was a week that I spent completely at home. I was on the offline mode regarding XIMB. Hence, I will put down some videos for learning purpose for rural managers. Rural Development - The Challenge of Livelihood and Poverty Although there appears to be an enduring concern with India's poor within the policy circle and in public discourse, is this debate leading to new and innovative ideas on how to pull millions of Indians out of grinding poverty? What is the way forward? Should the emphasis be on skills development, agricultural development, microfinance, market access etc? What other models of rural development do we need to examine? How to avoid the pitfalls of rural marketing? PART1 PART2 PART4 PART5 PART6 PART7