Diary of a Rural Manager!

It is a popular quote by Friedrich Nietzsch : All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth. Elite and educated Indians have high obsession with two parameters for judging development in India either GDP growth rate and numbers of stock exchange. I will discuss about GDP and similar indicators. GDP is a good indicator but doesn't show up complete picture. It does not take into account income distribution. Let us talk about Per Capita Income. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate (such as GDP or GNI) and dividing it by the total population. So, its just an average ! Hence, increase in wealth of Tata, Birla and Ambani can show up good figures for India but can't really reflect development of a common citizen. Let us use three global indices of development for comparison: 1. GCI (Global Competitiveness Index): issued by World Economic Forum, and is base...

NREGA funds are used for natural resource management activities by generating wage employment for the poor as well as strengthening their livelihood resource base. I will ask readers to go through these two articles :[ Rural job scheme: Can we get it right? and NREGA social Audit: Myths and Reality ] on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) before going forward. There is a social audit of MNREGS going on in Balangir district from 22-10-2013 to 26-10-2013. I attended three such meetings as an observer only. I attended social audit at Kutenpali, Jharmunda and Kandajuri Gram Panchayat of Loisingha Block. Loisingha Block consist of 18 G.Ps with 108 Villages and is 22 km away from district headquarter. The officers, Sarpanch and GRS were present for the meeting on time. Yet, there was lack of people attending the meeting held at Panchayat Bhavan. The registered person data is taken from NREGA website for the financial year 2013-2014. I have given distance ...

[ This post has been taken from 2013 edition of Dhwani, the annual journal of published by RMAX [ Rural Manager's Association of XIMB (Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar)]. Content has not been tampered but published without prior permission. Please contact blogger in the case of any dispute/offence/copyright issues. ] Author : Mr. Shouvik Mitra, World Bank Consultant The development sector has seen a sea change over the last four decades starting from the Sarvodaya movement, primarily inspired by the Gandhian philosophy in the early sixties to the professionalization of the sector in the mid eighties where NGOs like PRADAN and MYRADA came into existence to the near corporatization in the first decade of this century. Thus, with the evolving scenario the role o f r u r a l m a n a g e r s h a s c h a n g e d drastically. When Dr. Kurien established IRMA in 1979, the goal was to develop professionals to work for the sector in general and for AMUL/ GCMMF in particular. T...

All claims of the development by the government appear to be a hoax ...obviously! Because we always see huge margin of difference between announcement and implementation. Let us redefine government for our own understanding. It is a crucible of interest groups, rather than a black box of noble intentions. So, the responsibility of failure of schemes lies with various stakeholders in the development process. Growth can never be inorganic, and the system needs to learn before they grow. Now replace the system’ with a ‘welfare scheme’. Example: Gradual improvement (IRDP - SGSY - NRLM) is better approach for development. Not all schemes are so much lucky. They are renamed and often termed as ' old wine in new bottle '. Sometimes if any scheme is a completely prone to the corruption, we have hinged for its immense benefit to power holders. Bad schemes are like giving perpetual gifts that has made people into beggars rather than partners. India's government programmes are riddl...

There are two factors that affect the lives of farmers - Lack of financial planning and Information Asymmetry. Let us roughly cash flow of the marginal farmer (as owner or tenant or share cropper who cultivates agricultural land up to 2.5 acres) that will fall into low-income households. The cash out flow of the household is throughout the year and peak-out during festive season, marriage or birth) and bad patches (accident/death) in the family. The farmer gets cash inflow with sales of produce only. Hence, the borrowings of the farmer limits the growth option for the household. Let us take an excerpt from the paper -  Why Don‘t We See Poverty Convergence? by Martin Ravallion  - "Banerjee and Duflo (2003) provide a simple but insightful growth model with borrowing constraints. Someone who starts her productive life with sufficient wealth is able to invest her unconstrained optimal amount, equating the (declining) marginal product of her capital with the interest rate. But ...

Livelihoods Initiative at CMF has compiled a list of government schemes that focus on livelihoods promotion, broken down by state that is updated by latest August 2013. I am updating here name of schemes implemented in Odisha. Social Security Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) Annapurna Scheme Anganwadi Karyakartri Bima Yojana Emergency Feeding Programme State Old Age Pension (SOAP) Scheme National Social Assistance Programme for Social Security Pensions National Old Age Pension Scheme National Family Benefit Scheme Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY) Jana Seva Divas - Streamlining of the process of Pension Payment Programme for Care of Older Persons Day care Centre Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse. Scheme for Welfare of Orphan and Destitute Children Orissa Disability Pension (ODP) Scheme Welfare Rehabilitation of distressed women Balika Samridhi Yojana State commission for Women MVSN An Integrated programme for Street Children Training & Rehabilita...

I saw two vans simply parked around in block office compound at Balangir district. I don't know which department/agency own the vehicles. Both are marked with the sign of UNICEF. And they are rusting like a junk. Our tax money and foreigners aid money, earned though hard work, in this case are hardly put at work. These vehicles are mere extension of wastage of public goods by our government. Vehicle at Muribahal Block Office Vehicle at Titlagarh Block Office, The most reliable way to save an asset at government workplace? Make sure it is used. End Notes : *Photographs are taken by personal phone camera in July 2013. **No offence to the local governance ! :)