Diary of a Rural Manager!

What is a social audit ? It is better to have an idea of the concept in the first place.  Social_Audit_Report is uploaded to the NREGS website. But almost all of the community seems to be completely unaware of the documentation part. The best part of these meetings is the opportunity to meet office bearers and government officials on the same day. When the government makes the schedule for a social audit in October, it reviews work done/in progress from April to September. SA was originally scheduled in October, but due to a cyclone, it was completed in December. Advertisements were given in three Oriya newspapers, giving dates and locations of the social audit meeting. Local NGO was invited to attend the meetings, yet no provision of funds was available for community mobilization through local NGOs. This was all done when Gram Rozgar Sevak (GRS) [working personnel for NREGS at the Village level] were on strike. Their online petition is worth a read on the problem faced at the...

I reported at DRDA office, Ganjam district on 18th November 2013. I was relived from previous duty for PHAILIN rehabilitation work. Emergency relief work had already been finished in most of the block. Hence, rehabilitation work is not included in my role at Ganjam District. I was assigned to work at Bhanjanagar block exclusive for Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM).  Bhanjanagar block is a non intensive block as per OLM guidelines. A new proposal to change this into intensive block has been sent to the central government. That means a lot of action under coming months but not now. Revolving fund to SHGs, e-NRLM (MIS)and SHG Bank Credit Linkage are the focus area  in job profile. OLM  , Panchayat Samiti Office, Bhanjanagar Work Station Every person worth its salt always knows how to correct itself, and eventually does. I feel vulnerable against myself. The trait of punctuality is leaving me even with the minor load of the government job. Hoping to maintain this...

Jargon is not monopoly of B School students, as they are also used excessively in the development sector. That is why practitioner doesn't read academic literature. The funny part is that the jargon such as 'Sustainable' and 'Strategy' in daily vocab as student is not coming any use to me. Development academics are known for their penchant for creating jargon where there is need for none, points out Pulitzer-Prize and Oscar-winning cartoonist and novelist Jules Feitter in his inimitable style. “I used to think I was poor . Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy . Then they said needy was an expression that is self defeating, I was actually deprived . Then again they said deprived created a bad image, I was actually underprivileged . Now they say underprivileged is inaccurate. I am actually disadvantaged . I still don’t have a dime, but I sure have a rich vocabulary!” – Jules Feitter

"I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."- Richard Feynman ; That is why, despite knowing  the theoretical concepts on the Producer Groups , there were some practical lessons gained in the field. I had worked with Producer Groups farming Groundnut, Onion, & Pulses (even one group was doing business of NTFP) at Balanagir district, Odisha. I was guided under the able supervision of Kamalendu Paul, Zonal Manager, ORMAS (Orissa Rural Development and Marketing Society). The document Community Enterprise System Manual prepared by Prof. Amar KJR Nayak came helpful during work. All producer groups were having women members only. No producer group has been registered under any act till now. However, credit was given to them based on mutual trust between the government and Producer Groups. The legal process will be initiated soon. We were also unable to do protect farmers under the crop insurance scheme till this year. Or...

"Where the poor participate as subjects and not as objects of the development process, it is possible to generate growth, human development, and equity, not as mutually exclusive trade-offs but as complementary elements in the same process." --- Meeting the challenge, Report of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation, 1992. The problem with the modern outlook of business education is to view rural/urban citizens as target consumers. Instead, if we enable them as producers, that will surely boost the economy and well-being of our producers. Most of the producers are caught in the vicious circle of poverty and even fully dependent on the monsoon for a good harvest. The government has reworked its strategy of helping marginal and small producers in breaking out of the cycle of poverty by organizing them into producer groups. The concept of Producer Group has been lifted from the cooperative societies. This concept is based on voluntary cooperation as the r...