Diary of a Rural Manager!

Public policy should be an outcome of democratic practice, a data-driven approach, and professional expertise. While data poverty has been attributed as one of the major challenges in framing policies for development, the democratic representation of the population can be attained through quota reservations in the decision-making process. Dealing with the thorny issues around quotas, meritocracy, social justice, inclusion, and opportunity leads to huge public debate with implications extending beyond the electoral politics realm. Since the social change is intrinsically political, data on caste is crucial because, in the absence of it, the only evidence we have is anecdotal. Evidence-based policymaking based on caste census data is a better approach leading rather than arbitrary decisions lobbied by a dominant group and populist narrative. Caste-based data can reveal disparities in education, employment, healthcare, and other socio-economic indicators among different caste groups. ...

In a feat of digital procurement, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) witnessed a staggering Rs 1 lakh crore procurement in FY 23-24 through Government e-Marketplace (GeM). A commendable achievement. Now, that the good news is settled, we will be discussing insights on public procurement below: Given the enormous size and the stakeholders' vested interests, public procurement is entangled in unfair practices. This leads to an entry barrier and a cause for significant transactional costs arising from, for example, delays in payments and bribery required to get them released. One can read Insights into cartels, bid rigging, fr, ads and other corrupt practices: Collusions in Public Procurement (cag.gov.in) . Among the serious issues highlighted by private companies that work on government projects is receivables because the Indian government is an all-powerful entity with the ability to delay/deny payment. Pavithra Manivannan and Bhargavi Zaver who are the researchers at the C...

The study of colonialism is incomplete without understanding the role of export agriculture, land control and plantation economy. The hidden factors behind the industrial revolution and the advent of the modern era have a dark history of racial slavery, imperial violence, and oppressive economic exploitation of natural resources to extract exceptional profits from the colony.  Colonialism was an economic prescription, a set course of augmenting European profits and markets by extracting natural resources (such as food, rubber, minerals, and lumber) and people (through slavery and indentured servitude) from colonized regions. The key facets of colonial-era agriculture were forced consolidation of land-holdings, slavery and servitude, and the increased globalization of foods, all of which modified people’s access to different varieties of food, altered people’s subsistence patterns, and entwined peasant farmers into the global capitalist economy. [ Source ] Tobacco, Spices, scent...

What is the objective of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs)?  The government of India has set up 727 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) to  undertake significant activities  across the country with the mandate of technology assessment and demonstration for its application and capacity development. KVKs organize training programs for farmers including rural youth and women farmers for their knowledge and up-gradation of their skills in agriculture and allied sectors.    Besides these, various agro-clinical services like soil, water, leaf, and petiole analysis for effective nutrient utilization and disease and pest analysis are also provided by the KVKs.  KVKs are envisaged to provide the necessary technical input and development initiatives under the District Agriculture Plans.  KVKs contribute along with  ICAR and the state agriculture universities (SAUs)   to the preparation of the District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACP), recommending locatio...

Access Development Services Access Livelihoods Consulting Action for Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra (AFARM), Pune Action for Food Production (AFPRO) Action for Social Advancement (ASA) AFC INDIA LIMITED Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development Basix Krishi Samruddhi Limited Bhartiya Sammrudhi Investments and Consulting Services Limited (BASICS) Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) Centre of Agriculture and Rural Developments (CARD) CTRAN Consulting Limited Dhan Foundation Dvara Trust Ek Lavya Foundation Harsha Trust Heifer India Indian Farm Forestry Dev. Co-operative Ltd. (IFFDC) Indian Grameen Services (IGS) Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR), Hyderabad Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) Indo Global Social Service Society KRISHI VIKAS SAHAKARI SAMITI LTD. (KVSS) Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation Madhya Bharat Consortium of Farmers Producer Co Ltd. Maha Farmers Producer Company (MAH...

1. FPOs created by NABARD and SFAC 2.  Operational Guidelines for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations 3.  Strategy Paper for promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)   4. Frequently Asked Questions for FPOs:  SFAC , NCDEX , ICSI &  E-NAM   5.  Farmer Friendly Handbook For Schemes & Programmes 6. Guidebook of Training Modules for FPO by BIRD, Lucknow 7. Live Quotes of Future Prices of Commodities 8.  Circular on Early Pay-in Facility for Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) 9.  Plan for utilization of regulatory fees foregone by SEBI 10.  NCDEX under its price dissemination policy offers you to avail the SMS facility .  11.  State-wise List of the Warehouses Registered with WDRA 12. Resource Book on Formation and Functioning of Farmer Producer Companies 13. Guidelines for promotion of Producers’ Enterprises Under DAY-NRLM 14. Financing for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) ...

Previous Posts: Vocational Orientation and Counseling in Skill Development and Youth Mobilization Process in Skill Development can be accessed here. At present, developed countries don’t have the demographics to support their labor market and will need to depend on the rest of the world.  India has a working population of 400.7 million with a thriving education sector. India’s demographic dividend can be leveraged to meet the requirements of developed countries across diverse sectors. For the last 30 years or so, India’s youth have been part of the workforce across the Middle East, Canada, and the United Kingdom.   Yet the proportion of formally skilled workers in India is extremely low, at 4.69% of the total workforce, compared to 24% in China, 52% in the US, 68% in the UK, 75% in Germany, 80% in Japan, and 96% in South Korea.  Hence, the skills ecosystem should not only cater to the existing Indian industry requirements but should have a definite room for the int...