52nd Week@XIMB

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 June - A day of the rest after a long travel. I traveled in non AC compartments in the last few weeks. I met and talked with people. We talked about importance of Entrepreneurship spirit even of pan shop vendor to Education qualification of the children of the political leader. There was growing concern that income inequality had grew rapidly in the last decade, but consumption of public goods inequality did not. Whatever economic philosophy, the public deserves an accurate presentation of the reasons for the change in income distribution. And people are asking for it.

05 June - My stint with the MP government is nearly finished. Only few administrative and financial formalities have to be finalized. The disconnect between official rhetoric and lived realities is vast.

Working with the government was altogether different. Hope for this nation lies in the fact that tomorrow it may be run by individuals who know what they will do and they have a clear idea of what they want to say and whom they are addressing it.

06th June - Allama Muhmmad Iqbal - Words, without power, is mere philosophy. The threat of consultant to extend our internship without backing of MP govt backfired with our dissents. I was applauded for searching by consultant for District level Health Facility GIS Maps and Indices. I also came to knwoe through Nafees about Madhya Pradesh Education portal In end, everything was sorted with the cool head.

07th June - I submitted a copy of the Disaster management plan to the Technical consultants. I started journey back to Lucknow that night. With the end of these two months it was reconfirmed that to err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.

08th June - I mailed one more edited version of the final report. That was the end of my attachment to the district Bhind who is named after the mythological Hindu saint Vibhandak Rishi. There was a long talk with my father about development and government. We agreed at few but mostly disagreed. I kept silent to control the outburst of emotions.

09th June - I downloaded episodes of Business Sutra. Here is first episode for preview.

Business Sutra EP#1 Seg 1(Is there an Indian way of doing)



Business Sutra EP#1 Seg 2(Purpose of a Corporation)



Business Sutra EP#1 Seg 3(Short Term Vs Long Term)

51st Week@XIMB

51st Week@XIMB - 27th May to 2nd June, 2012

27th May - I find one more good articles on MPWPCL in Business Standard :- MP women`s poultry co-op to up production.

One more website was explored : BELL Teaching Case Studies - BELL teaching cases explore sustainability related business challenges and capture business decisions that identify environmental challenges as business development opportunities. They are now freely available via the catalog below.

Navjyoti is a community based-paced-managed-owned enterprise system in Padmapur Block, Rayagada district. XIMB is one of the patron of this enterprise. Navajyoti as a Community Enterprise System is a Producer’s Company that is being assisted by NABARD-XIMB-Sustainability Trust.

Fasal is an easy to use yet sophisticated SMS based platform which gives actionable information on price, potential buyer info, weather to the farmers make more money.

28th May - NGOBOX and SAMS Jobsonline are good website for recruiter of the Development sector. That I discovered in one more sleepy day at Bhopal.

29th May - The mid term review came quite late. I was applauded for having good understanding about the subject(disaster management), still the report needs focus on the missing data. I like the part of conceptual clarity mentioned in the mail.

30th May - And as they say ‘politics knows no logic'. There was good news for XIMB regarding media front. The survey puts the B-Schools in 14 hierarchical categories and XIMB was placed in Business Standard's top B-school bracket of SUPER LEAGUE 1. Many elite colleges have not participated in this ranking and it is based on analysis of data collected through a questionnaire.

31st May - I started for Bhind district for the last time. While heat waves were making the jorney tougher and Bharat Bhand was providing relief with less crowded buses and trains.

1st June - There was a imaginary pressure on me for planning a review meet on plan with District Magistrate. There was even visit of Prabhari Mantri on the same day. If one don't panic, one can think better. This is where experience helped me. With some talking tactics and a little bit of discourse, everything was done perfectly. I even reviewed the plan with the nodal officer. The day was hot and I even lost temper on a rude peon.

2nd June - I meet with Area commander Homegaurd who was mine nodal officer for first few days. Yet the gossip level of the place was a bit too much for mine temper. I started for Bhopal in the afternoon.Working days in the land of Bhindak Rishi was over. I only reached to the conclusion : Deference to elders and authority is so deeply ingrained in the administrative hierarchy that an outsider has a little chance of modifying the behaviour.

50th Week@XIMB

50th Week@XIMB - 20th May to 26th May, 2012

20th May - I came to know the concept of Producer Company. A Producer Company is a means to bring together the small and marginal farmers and other small producers in the village level to build their own business enterprise that will be managed by professionals. In addition, to regular and sustainable source of income, a PC can give the rural producer (a) Identity, (b) Capacity or competence, (c) Brand, (d) Empowerment, (e) Equity, and (f) Dignity.

I heard two good quotes from Ashish that inspired him. Sharing those quote with an anecdote to all....

Service can have no meaning unless one takes pleasure in it. When it is done for show or for fear, it stunts the man and crushes his spirit. - Mahatma Gandhi

IRMAns will go where they are most needed not where they are most rewarded. - Dr. Verghese Kurien

When a journalist asked him what made Dr. Kurien settle down in a small village like Anand, when he had a Masters degree from a US university. With a gentle smile he replied, “True development is the development of men and women, and this idea made me stay in this little town for more than 50 years as an employee of farmers, and I was never able to give this up for what many call a better life. I hope to enthuse young women and men to adopt my passion as theirs”.

As a member on the board of management of IIM, Ahmedabad, Dr Verghese Kurien suggested IIM–A students should serve the nation for at least three years before going in search of greener pastures. Upon hearing this, one of the members on the board, who was a top industrialist from Ahmedabad, took his cigar out of his mouth and said, “So, Dr Kurien, you want our graduates to go and milk cows?” Dr Kurien stood up and replied: “No, you continue to teach them how to suck on cigars”, and then resigned from the board. This event led to the birth of a unique institution — Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

21st May - I visited retail shop of Sukhtawa chicken and assessed business of retail outlet. There is a famous idiom that If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys hold true for every company. Any company that pays less than market standard will eventually get crooks and thieves as their employees.

22nd May - Working as an intern for government project, I closely observed that you need privileges to prosper in India. Otherwise, you're simply lost in burecratic and political hurdles. While in power one need only will power and independent mind to get things done. While not in power you need guts to challenge system with awareness, strong social network and information in India today. Even then they can survive but not prospser except in few metro cities...

I had collected almost all data available, hence there is no usage of going back to Bhind. Many people see this as unethical but I had a different view. If stretching 1 day work to 7 days and playing solitaire at office comes under the definition of work, then I am much ready to spare time at Bhind.

23rd May - I read an old article Flying in the Face of Flu that focused on Tribal and Dalit women make a success story out of a poultry co-operative and fight the bird flu scare. The story was based on the work of MPWPCL.

24th May - A waste day ! Yet, there is lot of cribbing on the facebook due to petrol price rise. There is a nice article that comments on the differential price policy pursued by the government vis a vis petrol and diesel.

It Takes a Village to Raise an Entrepreneur : In the first large-scale, quantitative study of nascent social entrepreneurs, researchers from Harvard Business School and Echoing Green examine the rise of hybrid organizations that combine aspects of nonprofits and for-profits and the challenges hybrids face as they attempt to integrate traditionally separate organizational models.

25th May - It could have been another waste day. I used this day to learn a little about break even analysis.

There was mail from consultants inquiring for an urgent information from all about the final DDMP review date fixed in the distt, with DC Office and nodal authorities. I am planning to finish the report and finalize it with DC office.

26th May - On this auspicious day, I observed as neutral third party final presentation of interns of MPWPCL. They have done a fair job and had a good knowledge of chicken market.

49th Week@XIMB

49th Week@XIMB - 13th May to 19th May, 2012

13th May - DB city mall was inspected in this short tour of Bhopal. I read a good article 'Doing Development Better' that brought together both macro development and micro development practitioners together. I was also busy in making arrangements of the room for stay of 10 fellow interns for few days.

14th May - The new apartment was not upto the standard due to sanitation and cleaning facilities. We decided to leave the apartment next day.

Since, almost all of the data was collected at district level. I decided against going back even after review. Rather than spending unfruitful time at Bhind, I hope to learn few new tricks with my friends. On my request, Aditya arranged me one week unofficial stay and learning with their organization MPWPCL. Management at MPWPCL had happily accpeted their

MPWPCL- Impact on Life



15th May - The PGDM (RM) Programme consists of 72.0 core course credits and a minimum of 33.0 elective course credits, totaling 105 credits. We have already finished 65 credit core courses in 1st Year. All of us were checking AIS for the options of the electives. Electives of all 4th, 5th and 6th term were floated on AIS. A student is required to take electives equivalent to a minimum of 33.0 credits to complete the Programme requirement. Students are allowed to take extra electives on extra payment. I have decided for working in development sector for two years before ging for further studies. Hence, I am selecting subjects with careful discussion with batch-mates for choices.

16th May - An internship is an opportunity to show one's stuff. The bright, motivated and curious will get automatically noticed in the work. Even with this quality, each company looks for a candidate with humility and strong work ethic. Generally, Summer internship project investigates some significant aspects of a managerial problem for MBA students. How much one had read in books, there is no substitute for witnessing firsthand how a business works in the field. A paid or unpaid internship in any field can greatly expand one’s knowledge, experience, contact base and chances of future career success. There are no shortcuts to the top, people having valuable insights of business usually "start at the bottom".

In this time of economic crisis, few companies use interns as a full time employee for their projects. And the number of unpaid or interns on mere wages have increased in this economic crisis scenario. Interns are not substitute for full time employee and no one should be exploited as free labor. But thing happen for sure : The unpaid/low paid internships weed out the ones who aren't willing to pay the price of admission.

Regarding my project, I had finished most of the secondary data required for the analysis. I assume that this practical experience of Summer Internship will help in planning mine career.

17th May - There was mid term review meeting of the progress achieved in Summer Internship. And the special bone of discontent were consultants. I understand perfectly why detest consultant. The jargon and complex language was making a simple task unbelievably incomprehensible. Consultant were helpful yet they want every minute data on platter. Yet, no intern can get every minute data for risk analysis. There were genuine problems faced by interns in each district. I am listing some of them---

1) While doing our work, the district management unofficially declare their district as disaster free place. Our inspection for hazards and vulnerable areas was like searching for negative perspective of the district in their eyes. Detail maps of each block were not available at block level in most district.

2) Most of the data collected by us in one month was quantitative in the nature. That was obtained with much resistance and slow pace. Qualitative data will require many rounds of both productive as well as formal meetings with various nodal officers of all departments. That goes beyond the time period of 6 weeks allotted to intern.

3) Consultants were suggesting for a meeting of the government officers at district level. That was tough but not impossible part. The impossible part was to involve them on brainstorming for disaster management. Without urgency and pressure, bureaucracy don't even blink eye lids. Also, we were external to the system and either 'children' or 'tourist' in the eyes of elder officers. It may sound unprofessional from our side but truth is often unpalatable.

4) Some officers were so reluctant to share data that they informed one intern : Data related to the history of past disaster had been burnt due to lack of proper storage facilities. Another department even ask one intern to file RTI for the information.

5) Even industries and various departments were not informed about various safety and disaster acts.

18th May - SGGPA gave us opportunity to have first hand experience to deal within Indian administrative services. And all of the interns were exposed to to the complexity of the governance and administration. A senior officer applauded all of us for our work and not to loose steam in middle. Two days of seminar was over. I preferred to stay in Bhopal for few days.

19th May - I traveled with Aditya and Ashish to Itarsi for getting firsthand knowledge of supply chain of the poultry business. I learnt about Sukhtawa Chicken in short and more about poultry market in detail through discussions with people involved in business.

1) Information network, bargaining power and demand-supply chain concepts were good in the analysis of the the whole poultry business.

2)Its never about MBA knowledge but only man management that can run the business.

3) Mentality of the dealer involved, Intuition of the Rate variation and estimation of everyday price are important attributes required for marketing and sales.

4) There are credit issues, criminal activities and loyalty factor dominating in this business. Loyalty increases more in religious and family dealings.

5) Monopoly is maintained in this business through giving retailers a lot of end product on credit. Yet, it requires muscle power to extract money from them. Through this dealers can make retailers their bonded employee.

48th Week@XIMB

48th Week@XIMB - 6th May to 12th May, 2012

06th May - Kudos to Aamir Khan for Satyamev Jayate. Satyamev Jayate doesn't need us. We the people need the TV programs like this. It is educating the public by destructing our sweet lies and false notions of Indian society. Our safe, middle-class morality and India rising campaigns should be re-examined with time making us think hard even our definition of traditions, social justice and cultural values. No one has paid attention to the same cause of stopping female foeticide that had been taken by various human rights activists from years. Now with Satyamev Jayate, everybody is talking about it. It tells us a lot about our society. Tasleema Nasreen aptly summarized this as : The truth is female foeticide is a symptom, not a cause. It's a symptom of the disease that treats women as 2nd class citizen.

The rage on FB and Twitter may have caused revolution in the middle east but it is still in prevailed by ignorant youths. While FB is full time killing machine. its full of young, school-educated, urban Indians who don't know anything about the forces shaping their nation's destiny. We campaign to save our Tigers but none of us know that there is another endangered breed called as the Farmers. I don't know how we will unburden the well educated youths of its collective ignorance about India. In this age, I really find difficult to find a youth icon. There are only few like P Sainath, Medha Patekar, Aruna Roy who are indifferent to the structures and censure of society. I admire them precisely because of their refusal to kowtow before the alter of power.

In my view, the only speech worth having is free. Otherwise, its a farce democracy. The free speech and gender issues had been violated previously in India. Going through the blogs and news posts of the journalist and human righ activists, the conditions in India had been demotivating for free minds. There are cases of gross hman rights violation all over country. If it was going on in small town of Chhattisgarh... who cares about Chhattisgarh? Many people have not even heard the NAME Chhattisgarh. If it is happening in Imphal, who cares? -- only few chinkis are involved. We tend to small pieces of humanity are involved. This blind Ashwamedhi horse of development by state must be knuckled by the youth of this nation only.

07th May - Lucknow is no longer land of elephants(symbols) as Mayawati had been showed exit from the CM throne in elections. The number of scams and corruption cases in UP have crossed the limit of the common man. The caste system is deeply affecting the election outcomes. There is no sign of politics based even on the name of development. While neighboring states have shown remarkable progress in recent years, the situation of UP has deteriorated with the time. With new government of Akhilesh Yadav, there is a bleak ray of hope for its citizens. Hoping for a more clean and accountable governance this time.

08th May - There is no provision of holiday in the internship. But,there are enough unproductive days in this one month.

09th May - Meeting with DM is tough yet not impossible for common citizen now. I had meeting with DM, Bhind today. The meeting was short and swift. But not much data was made available. The district magistrate is mostly handling law and order situation.

10th May - Internet services are hampered all over government offices from last two days in this district. Even BSNL network was not working. I was badly out of coverage and communication.

11th May - This was one of the most productive day in the government services. A lot of useful data regarding water level at various dams was gathered at Irrigation department. I started journey for Bhopal to day for mid term review.

12th May - Bhopal is safe and sound for two days of relaxation. But, I have my share of lessons in 4 Weeks at MP:

- A person from east UP is considered intellectual and cultured by people in Bhind.

- There is no disaster plan in the district. Face it, Cope it and Manage it. Such is the scenario.

- One need to assert power and position for getting weightage in the government work done. I was treated lightly as an intern but paid much attention when introduced as Disaster Management Officer.

- The problem of corruption is more structural not personal in the government machinery.

- Application written in English is preferred over application in Hindi by peons.

47th Week@XIMB

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. I always have a choice to study for survival or learner; To be grades oriented or be average in each subjects. Still, I had divereted focus from the studies later on and become too much relaxed. I have few ideas at the back of my head for recovery. There will be planning and implementation of the new ideas for next academic sessions for better outcomes. A change didn't just mean survival this time, it also meant the maturity to evolve endlessly.

2nd May - Its more togh to write daily progress report while working in the government organization. I was searching Internet whole day and taking assistance from the fellow interns over the making of district disaster plan. I hope our fellow consultants and nodal agency are aware of the bottle necks and ground realities of the working in the fields.

3rd May - I had collected most of the available data in the district within the accessible reach. Bhind district is more effected by floods for which an emergency relief work was always required. I left for Lucknow to compile the data in peace.

4th May - I was informed that arond 10th May, a mid term review meeting may be hold for appraisal. I am not much hopeful for any positive out comes.

5th May - The weekend at Lucknow was more fun than work from home.Why I gave up on 'social activism' was a nice article send by Drasti for a glance. I was much impressed by the article even though I don't have much communist leaning. There were moments of retrospection on liberal path of thinking yet I also want to be active on social issues.

46th Week@XIMB

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 is bothered either about me or my work there. Its just a paper work for them!

24th April - I reached Bhind today. 35 Km road distance between Etawah and Bhind was covered in 3.5 hours with sufficient intake of dust particles. The infrastructure development of rail and road is going on slowly around Bhind region in last 10 years. 65 years of the Independence and the rail connectivity is not established between these two districts. It simply tells story of the development of rural hinterland in an independent India.

No luck related to work today. RTO officer was absent and there was no response from Public relation office. Some of the data is obtained in Revenue department. There is no provision of transport from government to me. I have moved to new hotel due to the lack of proper accommodation facilities. Hotel Satkaar near District hospital is a nice and safe place to stay.

25th April - Health Department was covered today. The access part is easy but getting data is tough job. Most of the people around here are cooperative in the words, that's my only solace.I visited city market for a getting a brief idea of the rural market. There were shops of daily goods, jewelers and clothes. I was delighted to see few cyber cafes and computer shop. I am more convinced about cluster based activities be it production or retail shops. Cluster based activities not only initiate competition but helps in developing market.

26th April - Agriculture and Homeguard Department were on the target today. One department doesn't have photocopy machine and other doesn't have photocopy machine in the working condition. How can a government employee work efficiently without such facilities ?

27th April - I collected all the available data on the internet about Bhind district. Not much is available but a decent staff at NIC provided me with all their data. ADM was on in inspection in the district and few government employee were caught sleeping.

28th April - It was last working day of the week. I was still busy in collection of the data. The time duration and working speed can affect to the quality of final draft of the report. Phone number of Blood bank is not working and there is not even registration of marriage houses in this district. What to say more, this is the end !

45th Week@XIMB

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 one whose enemy is living". People of Bhind depends more on agriculture. The moral minor disputes and rivalry on the land holdings prepares the ground of revenge. As the education level is also low, people are not afraid of committing heinous crimes like murders become dacoits.

As per the records of 2006, there are 23,000 licensed fire weapons in the district. Nearby districts Shivpuri has 11,000 and Morena 15000 licensed guns. Due to much demand of guns for settling out disputes, the transference of illegal arms is too much. This also ease dacoits to avail those arms. Land disputes, conflicts on irrigation means and caste rivalry are major causes of murder and crime in this region. To escape from the law, outlaws find their way to the ravines. Near the banks of these rivers forest and ravines are situated. There are invisible difficult paths which provide favorable circumstances for and other criminals. Those who can not dare to go there and take their revenge, help the law flaunting fugitives and in return fetch their aid to solve their rivalries. People even earn living through assisting dacoits.

The socio - political scenario of the region is case-study to deeply look and ponder upon in India of the 21st century. Without looking into this violence and risk prone, we deny our self a full portrait of India.

16th April - I sat nearly 3 hours in the district meeting at DM. Nodal officer was finally appointed. I will start work from the tomorrow. The government machinery is slow in responses and yet lethargic in performing any non monetary work. I attended two marriages with a nodal officer for the cultural adjustment. I was also told about murder of the IPS in the neighboring district (Morena) last year. The native narrator was no way related to the incident, yet there was no sign of remorse or shame in the statements. One officer was killed on duty and the reaction of a common man here was surprising for me. The officer was becoming strict to maintain law and order in the district. Hence, he deserved such punishment. Such a cycle of perpetual violence can only led to further degradation of the society. A society fails when its citizen operate under dysfunctional government laws, which don't provide them even social or economic security necessary for survival. Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher Jean Piaget declared in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual". The backwardness of Bhind can be much attributed to this lack of education and failure of rule of law.

17th April- I didn't go to the office due to ill-health. I spent the whole day in the room only. I am becoming habituated as slow and lazy with each passing day. Life is also difficult without internet. The connectivity factor is also barred by the lack of local mobile SIM. I had to vacate government guest house and stay in the private hotel. All other government facilities were either booked or far from city. There was more question of security than transport for nodal officers assisting me.

18April - I am late in office and the clock is showing 11 hours. Yet, no worries ! The nodal officer is on the field visit, hence chances of gathering any data has became dim. This was my first opportunity to gain experience in a government machinery under the guidance of an private consultants. Yet, the office gave me chance to use internet. A luxury in the that part of India.

19th April - I visited office on time. Another officer with whom further project was linked was on the field visit. The hidden frustration with the pace of work was creeping my mind. The execution of target was going against weekly plan. The clueless and dysfunctional government machinery about disaster management

20April -A little bit of progress has been achieved today in the matter of work. While inquiring on past cases of either drought or flood due to rainfall , a lady in the revenue department joked that everything is under control in their records. I feel like character 'Mussadilal' of TV serial Office Office.3rd Saturday is holiday declared by the MP government. I took a bold initiative of covering 300 km in hectic travel schedule of 10 hours.

21st April- I am at home 00:30 hours. There is not much to write about Lucknow. I feel like returning to the civilization of Tahzeeb and Tameez.

44th Week@XIMB

44th Week@XIMB - 8th April to 14th April, 2012

8th April- I was dehydrated and tired on reaching Bhopal. Yet, journey in Sleeper compartment help me to reconnect with lower middle class of India. A more acute and clear cut picture of India emerges in 35 hours of journey.

9th April- I reported with my college mates to New Narmada Bhavan for the first day of internship. A short and concise meeting was over with brief office work. SEEDS India, UNDP and MP government are the major stakeholders of the complete project. Two days of reading time is given ahead for learning about district. I am allotted Bhind District for next 6 weeks for the work. SEEDS consultancy is overlooking the project at state level.

10th April- All of XIMBians who were intern at SGGPA were accommodated in Administrative Academy. It was a luxurious arrangement. I learned a little about Bhind through district website. I roamed around Bhopal lake and visited science museum also. I was accompanied by Aditya and Ashish who were doing internship at MPWPCL.

11th April - A day utilized in studying and sleeping.I want to bring Buddha and Marx both together in this India. It is time to stop listening to what state say, and start focusing on what they do. Hence, signing off for today.

12th April - First Day of Meeting and brief summary of the disaster and its terminology. There were 31 interns with 30 officers together. I was the lucky-one for whom no has arrived from the respective district. The respective District commandment homegurad has been transferred few months ago.

13th April - This was 2nd day of the meeting and much more technical in the nature. Hazard, Vulnerability, Risk, Capacity (HVRC) Analysis and role of various department were discussed by the consultant. There was no officer/representative today also from Bhind district. This is a cause of worry as this can led to zero assistance in the working area. Most of us were forced to leave Bhopal to their nodal districts even next two days were holidays. There was no arrangement of stay and travel in the working area till this moment of time.

14 April - I traveled from Bhopal to Bhind and the whole day has passed in the journey. With much difficulty, accommodation was made available at circuit guest house.

Let me introduce the basic profile of Bhind district.Bhind is the Northernmost District of Madhya Pradesh,north east of Gwalior, situated at 26°34'50" latitude and 78°48'05" longitude. There are 6 Development blocks in the District namely Ater , Bhind Mehgaon, Gohad, Roan and Lahar. With 95% of the population practicing Hindu religion, there are Jain traders also. Castes of the upper strata like Brahmans and Rajputs dominate the social structure. The proportion of working women (2%) is much less, as compared to the State (19%) indicating a high degree of economic dependence of women on their men counterparts. As per 1991 Census, the district is having 39.06% literacy. 53% of the male population is literate and female literacy is 22%,that is apparently much lower than anational figures. Agriculture and Dairy are the main occupation of the people in the District. Hence, I can assume to be placed and will be working in a deeply feudal society.