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.