Diary of a Rural Manager!

The agriculture ministry on 22nd May released the Model Contract Farming Act, 2018 . Mr. Ashok Dalwai, CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority has chaired the committee that drafted the model law. Contract Farming: Contract farming is a container concept that covers a wide range of contractual arrangements, which makes it difficult to draw overly general conclusions. Under contract farming, agricultural production (including livestock and poultry) can be carried out based on a forward agreement between buyers (such as food processing units and exporters), and producers (farmers or farmer organisations) frequently at predetermined prices. The Model APMC Act, 2003 provided for contract farming however, only 14 states notified rules related to contract farming, as of October 2016. Only Punjab has a separate law on contract farming. The NITI Aayog observed that market fees and other levies are paid to the APMC for contract framing when no services such as market facilities and infrastruc...

Crowd-funding is a relatively old practice commonly known as “friends and family financing.” The transparency and scalability of Web 2.0 technology has emerged as a social media-based funding mechanism leading to development of Peer to Peer platform. Crowdfund investing (CFI) is the investment alternative to pledge-based crowdfunding. This term, which describes securities based equity and debt fundraising through crowdfunding platforms, has recently emerged as an alternative to more traditional funding tools such as bank loans, angel or venture capital (VC) investments for financing entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Debt crowdfunding is more popular and commonly known as peer-to-peer lending (P2P lending). It is the practice of matching borrowers and lenders through online platforms. This is an innovation in entrepreneurial finance that can fuel the Rise of the Rest globally. In the developed world, most platforms are donation and perks-based. The early suc...

A recent study of more than 600,000 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and athletes found that high performers are 400 percent more productive than average ones. Steve Jobs summed up talent’s importance with this advice: “Go after the cream of the cream. A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.” But only big 4 Consulting firms and donor agencies have power over the candidate with good monetary compensation and brand value. The other organizations have to design better HR retention strategy as they don't have deep pockets. Being a leader at development organization is a tough task. There are essentially three basic ingredients that teams expect from a leader: Direction, Trust and Hope. Hence, building high impact team is tough as each individual require set of smart goals, timely feedback, progress monitoring, and supporting mechanism in the team. Yet, being a leader can lull one into a state of complacency. In that state one tend to ...

A Development Consultant’s primary role is to own and give technical advisory to the client projects and to facilitate research, in-depth analysis, and insightful problem-solving. It is common for clients/consultancy firms to find social consultants through personal links and alumni networks, and while this may be effective, it is weak in terms of competition, transparency, and accountability. The best way is to reach a range of potential consultants is to use free digital networks like Face-book Groups or LinkedIn or pay to advertise on job portals like NGOBOX. This improves the impartiality, build the credibility of the recruitment process, and creates chances of diversity in the organization. The sure way to build pipeline of talent is to build good relationships with one or two recruitment partners who can provide access to quality talent and help benchmark against the industry. The recruitment process must also include advertising the post through personal networks, asking colleag...

Providing interest-free loans and tax holidays is a subsidy. In fact, the corporates thrive on such subsidies. Corporations use most of the loopholes and tax dodges to avoid their taxes that may be technically ‘legal’ in the sense as the tax law allows them. But those subsidies got into the tax code because corporations lobbied to put them there. Saying something is ‘legal’ doesn't mean that it’s ethical. The difference being, these subsidies are called ‘incentives for growth’. But, strangely, it is always subsidies for the poor/farmers that come under the scanner. Even big individual agriculturists are not taxable in this country, whereas when they collectivize themselves, they were being taxed. Institutions promoting FPOs and Union agriculture ministry were seeking income-tax exemption for FPOs for a long time. Union Budget has proposed that FPCs, registered under the Companies Act, having an annual turnover up to INR 100 crore need not pay tax on profits derived from farm-relat...

Development solutions are inherently difficult, every individual in this field experiences failure at some points. Even when it comes to mundane work, everyone needs advice. Whether one isn't sure how to tackle an assignment or want to talk through an interesting job offer, there’s nothing better than having a few mentors to help you out along the way. As an individual gaining new skills by working with a mentor, one can take on more ambitious projects; As one recognize new problems to address, one can work with the mentor to develop additional expertise. Being mentored helps in the career from 'sleepwalking into slow terminal decline'. And, on the job mentoring is much more effective than formal training programs. Mentor-ship is given when someone with expertise and experience takes an aspiring individual under their wing, to share their knowledge and advice, and to provide support and guidance in career development. It's hard to praise boss and credit him/her as a m...

Indian Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) laws have only set minimum standards, but have not created an impetus for positive action. The reported expenditure on CSR projects doesn't give a good metric of societal welfare. Issues are emerging in the Indian CSR model that is worth being paid much attention to. At present, the fate of most CSR can be termed as similar to the glorified IRDP scheme. There is a huge noise but nobody to verify the impact measured. The characteristics of the Indian CSR model: Integration of business objectives with CSR: A study by Macarthur Foundation has found that CSR spending is highly agenda-driven and closely aligned to the corporation’s business strategies, competencies, and brand recognition. Tata Motors started a safe driving program. ITC went in and realigned its supply chain to help farmers. HUL works with children in schools and mothers through health clinics to educate them about hygiene behavior. The scope of CSR is limited as it is s...