61st Week@XIMB

61st Week@XIMB - 5th August to 11th August, 2012

5th August - Professor Dilip Soman from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, speaks at a conference about behavioral economics and mental accounting.

Fear of Finance: Financial Literacy and Planning for Post secondary Education



6th August - One of our faculty is an IRMA alumnus. She shared a valuable insight about rural management course. IRMA has no case studies as reading material in its early years. Faculty, students and visiting fellow of the institute thrived hard to develop their own case research material. Today, we all are benefiting from their ground work. As long as basic principles of reliability, rigour, precision and validity are followed, the research quality will always be good. There is a great and valuable resource of Working Papers (228) on IRMA website useful for rural managers. These working Papers provide an opportunity for IRMA faculty, visiting fellows and students to sound out their ideas and research work before publication and get feedback and comments from their peer group.

Rural management student must check this page of International Journal of Rural Management for latest developments. The International Journal of Rural Management (IJRM) is the first international journal that focuses exclusively on rural management as opposed to rural or community or sustainable development.

7th August - ESM: Agriculture should be looked from the livelihood point of view rather than contribution to GDP. Industrialized farming is not sustainable and there is hidden cost of subsidy with health issues. There are success stories built on sustainable agriculture. With dedicated investment of time and energy for three years, Rajeev Baruah has proved this fact. There is no need of crazy maverick backed with foreign aided NGO to do this job.

Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986 and expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 150 countries.

8th August - We have already news of weak monsoon rains that can slow down sowing of key crops. There is also a story of public private partnership in Maharashtra. Maharashtra govt join hands with PepsiCo, Unilever and others to develop value chains for vegetable crops. FMCG companies are shifting focus from premium products because consumers will be trading down due to inflation and low income due to uneven rains. As per India Meteorological Department(IMD) Rainfall deficiency is large in Punjab, Haryana, west Rajasthan and Saurashtra and Kutch.

9th August - ESM: There was full on discussion on Watershed Management as a strategy for managing natural resources. There was presentation of documentary of Waterworks India: Four Engineers and A Manager. The camera travels from the remote cold desert of Leh to far south in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, then visiting two outstanding rural engineers in Rajasthan.

No talk of Water Management is complete without mention of Rajendra Singh
known as "waterman of India". He won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2001 for his pioneering work in community-based efforts in water harvesting and water management.

Water Mangament Workshop by Rajendra Singh-Part 1


2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Part of the talk can be viewed on the you-tube.

India Water Portal is an open, inclusive, web-based platform for sharing water management knowledge amongst practitioners and the general public.

10th August - There was talk given by three eminent fellows:
1- Debashish Sen - Head, Natural Resources Management at PSI attached
2- Dr Nagesh Kolagri on participatory GIS in empowering rural communities.
3- Dr. Baharul Islam Mazumdar (Sr. Agronomist, Tripura) on SRI

There was a batch meet called by placement committee on the scenario. It was an eye opener for those sleeping with cushion of brand name XIMB. It's time to buck up and start revising their knowledge stock and flow !

11th August - Only two closing lectures of immersion course ensured a peaceful weekend.

60th Week@XIMB

60th Week@XIMB - 29th July to 4th August, 2012

29th July - Sunday is celebrated through a video on rural marketing sharing experiences of Airtel, M&M, and Hero Honda in rural India



Eyeing on the monsoon reality, farmers in northern India always use the proverbs of Ghagh aur Bhaddari for weather forecasting. There has been a research paper - Farming proverbs: analysis of Their Dynamics and Farmers' Knowledge by Ranjay K Singh and A Dorjey.

The linkage of good monsoons and the Indian market is too close still we keep ignoring the reality of the rural market. With inadequate monsoons rural consumption falls and so do the overall sales of agri-input companies. There are many more companies whose sales are indirectly dependent on the agricultural cycle but with the poor monsoon that will also go down. Farmers try to maximize their returns in times of drought through the use of local, non-hybrid seed varieties and cheaper micro-irrigation.

30th July - A two-day workshop on “Markets That Empower Farmers (& Consumers)” has started today at XIMB. This learning and brainstorming workshop is jointly organized by XIMB and ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) and is coordinated by Prof. Shambu Prasad. There was detailed coverage on the blog of Kisan Swaraj.

My Learning:-

1- People have lost many years doing wrong things. But you have to do wrong for long enough to realize this. It's worthwhile to do something not for the sake of money and pleasing society.

2- Too much consumer centric approach has diverted our attention from the problems of primary producers and rural livelihood. Policy, Market, and Technology are currently used for agri-business rather than agriculture. Farmers are in crisis, not farming.

3- Diversity is the key concept for sustainable agriculture. Sustainability should be the keyword for the next green revolution. More collectivization of farmers is required to increase bargaining power. Bina sanskar nahin sahkar, bina sahkar nahin udhar (without morals no cooperation, without cooperation no uplift).

Fact: 5000 liters of water is required for rice in comparison to negligible irrigation for millet. Per capita yield must be matched with the per capita nutritious value of the crop.

31st July - There were guest speakers in the ESM class: Joseph Thomas, Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, IITM,  and Sridhar Radhakrishnan who runs a Zero Waste Center in Kovalam, recycling local waste and converting it to useful products, thereby generating livelihood for locals. Both of them were critical of the engineers. One of them was about the design of sewage systems design and the other was about the use of incinerators for the disposal of solid waste.

One quote mentioned in the slide quite touched my emotional chord: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

The concept of waste management is good and useful for assessment of product life cycle assessment. While the whole class was very vocal in their support of organic farming, I found that response quite shallow. The core message of organic farming forms an antithesis for the students looking for their bright future in fertilizer giants like Monsanto, DSCL, Tata Rallies, etc. I will support my assumption by quoting Upton Sinclaire: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

1st August - M-CRIL is Micro Credit Rating International Ltd. M-CRIL is a global leader in the financial rating of micro-finance institutions and sectoral advisory services.

2nd August - Prof Nonita Yap, Professor in Rural Planning and Development at the University of Guelph delivered a talk on "Greening the economy - opportunities through cleaner production and industrial ecology" at XIMB. She touched on the topic of Decarbonisation of the whole energy sector, Industrial Symbiosis at Kalundborg, and the "Quasi Cyclic" economy. There was criticism of the cluster approach of industries in her talk as these clusters concentrate pollutants. In India, industries rarely see waste as a resource.

3rd August - The immersion course Agribusiness Value Chain Finance (AVCF)and Carbon Management and Carbon Trading (CMCT) started today.

4th August - I was sick with a fever and still managed to attend a few classes of immersion courses. With the weekend looming, enjoy this video!

Making the Market Work for the Poor: This session was moderated by Elliot Gerson, Executive Vice President, The Aspen Institute USA, and the panelists included Adarsh Kumar, Executive Director, All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association; Lakshmi Venkatesan, Founding Trustee and Executive Vice-President, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST); Deepender Hooda, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha (Indian National Congress); and Amitava Chattopadhyay, The L'Oreal Chaired Professor of Marketing-Innovation and Creativity, INSEAD, Singapore.

The majority of Indians are still not reaping the benefits of liberalization. While there seems to be a growing consensus that the trickle-down theory is not working for India, is there a way that markets can be made more responsive to the rural poor in particular? Beyond NGO activism, how can the poor buy into the market economy?

59th Week@XIMB

59th Week@XIMB - 22nd July to 28th July, 2012



22nd July - Sunday was gone in studying for mid term exams.

Raising an Olympian - MARY KOM : As the Proud Sponsor of Mom, P&G presents a series about the Mom behind each Olympic athlete.







23rd July - ESM exam is over.The big news was about Hindustan Unilever Ltd. HUL increased its net profit by 112 per cent for the first quarter of 2012-13 to Rs.1,331.2 crore, thanks largely to a one-time gain on sale of property amounting to Rs.607 crore.

Hindustan Unilever Profit More than Doubles on Strong Sales and Speaking at company AGM, HUL Chairman Harish Manwani lays emphasis on role of corporate in financial inclusion.

24th July - Tuesday was a holiday. I came across an article: How Hindustan Unilever is making every employee a marketer.

25th July - Mid Term exam of MFM was more analytic than based on rote learning. With Q2 session results are coming, companies are coming up with reports. Here a positive news from agri-business sector: ITC's e-choupal boosting company's FMCG business. ITC typically organises 60,000 Pradharhan Khets and 6,000 Choupal Haats in a year. There is a general criticism that its expansion has benefited only large farmers as their produces could be sold at somewhat better prices and perhaps quickly through e-choupal. But, they are ignoring the ITC is market development initiative with its huge cash piles against nexus of caste based strong lobby of traders and middle men.

26th July - CM quiz was last one and that finishes mid term on happy notes. Let us watch a conversation with Wharton Marketing Professor Jagmohan Singh Raju .

Multinational Corporations and Rural India:





27th July - Lectures started after the mid term. That was a boring stuff. I am also struggling with facebook addiction and attention deficit disorder.

28th July - This was a sleeping day still I was lucky enough to read Report of the Nair Committee on Priority Sector Lending. There was also news of RBI enforcing foreign banks to raise their priority sector lending (PSL) portion to 40 per cent from 32 per cent currently. The move will impact only four of 55 foreign banks, which have over 20 branches. Only four foreign banks — Standard Chartered Bank (94 branches), Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (50 branches), Citibank (42 branches) and Royal Bank of Scotland (31 branches) would come under the ambit of the new norms. Another foreign lender, Deutsche Bank, has 16 only branches. That's a welcome move by RBI.

Some loans that would be classified as priority sector -:

• Loans up to Rs 1 crore to micro and small service enterprises
• Loans to food and agro processing units
• Loans to distressed farmers indebted to non-institutional lenders
• Overdrafts up to Rs 50,000 in no-frills accounts
• Loans to individuals other than farmers up to Rs 50,000 to prepay their debt to non-institutional lenders
• Loans up to Rs 25 lakh for housing in metros having population above 1 million
• Loans up to Rs 15 lakh for housing in cities having population less than 1 million
• Education loans up to Rs 10 lakh for studying in India and Rs 20 lakh for studying abroad

While doing AMDA assignment on Multicollinearity, I read about Demonstration effect (Keeping up with the Joneses) and Cobweb model. I also made inquiry about Co-variance and correlation. The problem with covariances is that they are hard to compare due to metric units. Notably, correlation is dimensionless hence more author friendly.

Why Do I Love IRMA ? : The memoirs of an IRMA alumnus in one page article is beautiful reading on this weekend.

58th Week@XIMB

58th Week@XIMB - 15th July to 21st July, 2012

15th July - Sunday is always wasted in some entertainment and long sleep. Today there was Individual Profile verification for Brochure and work ex certificate submission by placecom.


16th July - In QRM lecture, there is lot of emphasis given on ethical behavior of the researcher. A researcher must not opt either for socially desirable or biased answers for personal economic benefits. Such type of researchers /journalist are hard to find these days.


17th July - Rural poverty can be attributed a lot to ecological poverty or in easy terms biomass scarcity available for commons. Hence, a rural development program must be quite eco-specific. Auxiliary benefit of NREGA includes eco-restoration & regeneration of natural resources.Once upon a time, World Bank sees NREGA as policy barrier hurting economic development and poverty alleviation.


18th July - One opportunity for XIMB is to track performance in state livelihood missions. It’s happening in Bihar, Odisha government is also now planning. If students take this opportunity, XIMB can possibly look to become sole leader in this space, something like IRMA is in so many.

PRADAN has an advanced course on livelihoods and they have an intensive workshop lasting around 18 days. They get experts from across the country and collecting different curriculum from across schools.

19th July - Neo-urbanization is a new mega-trend rising in India and other parts of the world. It is the extension of traditionally urban benefits and opportunities to semi-rural and rural communities. Neo-urbanization can transform market needs by empowering people in many ways. These are the views of global telecommunications equipment corporation Alcatel-Lucent.

Neo Urbanization - the new paradigm shift




I will not call this paradigm shift like the company promoting this video. This was a gradual change with the development of infrastructure connecting periphery of urban centers and rural area. Foreign companies have been slow in realizing the emergence of rurban area in India. For beginners, the new land development between a rural area and the EDGE of a developed suburban area is called rurban.

20th July - I was busy whole day in lectures.There was a scuffle between workers and management employees at Manesar plant of Maruti on 19th July. Awanish Kumar Dev, a manager in the Human Resources department of the Maruti Suzuki Manesar Plant was killed. Maruti Suzuki management has not even constituted the Grievance Redressal Committee and the Welfare Committee at its Manesar plant which was agreed upon after the last dispute in October 2011. So who can prevent such violent outrages of the workers.

21st July - XSYS interview for the selection of the shadow members were conducted.

57th Week@XIMB

57th Week@XIMB - 8th July to 14th July, 2012

08th July - The rest-day must be utilized in watching good video from you-tube. So, here comes a video where with wisdom, eloquence and wit, Anupam Mishra talks about the amazing feats of engineering built centuries ago by the people of India's Golden Desert to harvest water. A simple as yet a very accurate presentation of the actual state of Rajasthan.

Anupam Mishra: The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting



09th July - There was discussion on a case study :- ICICI Bank: Challenges in Rural Banking in SDM lecture. Abstract : ICICI Bank challenge is to set up and ran an effective sales and distribution system (that is primarily non branch based) for rural Banking lending business and to scale up and so profitably.

10th July - Our Ecological Footprint is growing larger. Ecological Footprint is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. This means the average world citizen has an eco-footprint of about 2.7 global average hectares while there are only 2.1 global hectare of bioproductive land and water per capita on earth. Humanity has already overshot global biocapacity by 30% and now lives unsustainable by depleting stocks of “natural capital". Hence, business as usual is not an option anymore.

11th July - There was launch of Rural Managers` Association of XIMB (RMAX) today and Systems Committee of XIMB (XSYS).

12th July - The Biosphere Rules (Harvard Case Study) - The rules for the biosphere’s operating system are built upon bio-logic, which nature uses to assemble life and structure ecosystems. There is complete reading of 8 pages at Scribd.

13th July - There was team presentation on Maharashtra State Co-Operative Sugar Factories Federation in CM lecture.

FMCG firms draw up fallback plans : Following deficient rains, a demand slowdown, especially in rural areas, looms large.

14th July - Even I was learning Data Analysis from long time, I learnt about Goodness of fit quite later. Better later than never.

56th Week@XIMB

56th Week@XIMB - 1st July to 7th July, 2012

1st July - There was an interactive session with Mr. Paul Polak, Founder and Director of IDE (International Development Enterprises)in the Auditorium. Paul Polak‘s latest adventure is Spring Health, which plans to provide access to clean water to 10 million people within four years. I am embedding TED talk delivered by the Paul. He wrote a book 'Out of Poverty' on his tryst with poverty.

TEDxMileHigh - Paul Polak - The Future Corporation


Quote: “Talk to the people who have the problem and listen to what they have to say.”

2nd July - I have still a lot to catch up in writing a priori reasoning and null hypothesis in AMDA. Yet, I am happy to learn in details about forecasting and estimation method. Mathematical model is helpful in making decision with a holistic view of economy. Thanks to IndiaStat for amass of data to experiment with.

3rd July - Learned about financial and social inter-mediation of Micro-finance Institutions.

4th July - Missed QRM lecture due to sleep.

5th July - Agropedia is a comprehensive, seamlessly integrated model of digital content organization in the agricultural domain. It aims to bring together a community of practice through an ICT mediated knowledge creating and organising platform with an effort to leverage the existing agricultural extension system.

6th July - I searched a new website for freetime pleasure reading : GoodNewsIndia- News from India of positive action, steely endeavour and quiet triumphs. Salute to the website of D V Sridharan for documenting us news that is little known.

7th July - Those rural management students interested in selling fertilizers must be aware of NPS (Nutrient Based Subsidy).Until 31.3.2003, the subsidy to urea manufacturers was being regulated in terms of the provisions of the erstwhile Retention Price Scheme (RPS). Under the RPS Retention Price was fixed for each unit by the Govt. The difference between the Retention Price of Urea and the maximum retail price of urea was paid as subsidy. Details can be obtained from studying fertilizer policy of the government.

55th Week@XIMB

55th Week@XIMB - 24th June to 30th June, 2012

24th June - Sunday was spent with some business analysis news and listening to Mr. Prabhat Patnaik on the topic "The Perverse Transformation"..

Reebok is revamping the branding strategy with an inspiration from the Dominno's Pizza. After all, what was the market for home-delivered pizzas before Domino's began operations? Zero. The most efficient, most productive, more useful aspect of branding is creating a new category. Start something totally new. Hence, the learnings were clear: "Ask not what percentage of an existing market your brand can achieve. Ask how large a market your brand can create by putting resources behind creating a category."

Aditya Birla Nuvo to invest Rs 1,600 crore in Kishore Biyani's Pantaloon Retail. That is a big story to be watched in the coming years. Launched in 1997, the Pantaloon format is spread in 35 cities with 65 stores and 21 factory outlets covering total retail space of over 2 million square feet. As per my assumption, this move has been done to bring a consolidated position in multi brand retail market where the government may soon notify 100 percent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail. (Source) Rapid expansion of the retail chain with high cost of real estate became unfeasible to finance. The interest rates were higher, hence there was failure of big brands in retail sector.

22nd Rajan Memorial Lecture - by Prabhat Patnaik @ IRMA



The 22nd T S Rajan Memorial Lecture was delivered by Mr. Prabhat Patnaik on the topic "The Perverse Transformation". The memorial lecture seeks to bring renowned development practitioners in the rural sector to address the participants and interact with them.

25th June - Theory building is mostly qualitative work and require a lot of triangulation of the data. QRM lectures are getting more boring with each passing day.

26th June - Conclave on MDGs is being organized tomorrow which will be attended by prominent speakers. There was talk of N C Saxena, Dr. John Oommen and Professor Peppin delivered in Odisha MDG Forum presentations.

HRM (Human Resource Management)classes are boring but revised Delphi method.

27th June - While reading about Cooperative Model in India, the role of registrar comes under scrutiny.

28th June - There was use of term Markov Analysis in HRM class. In QRM class, there was a long monologue of Professor on Philosophy of research and Reality. That reminded me back again to the folk story of Blind men and an elephant, Rashomon effect and Stereotyping. Humans have habit of hasty generalization that define their belief structures. Interpretation of reality must address the manifold nature of truth.

“We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” -Werner Heisenberg

29th June - There was discussion on The Myth of Kalahandi in ESM lecture. 19th Century travelogues mentioned Kalahandi Granary of east and this place supplied food at Bengal famine. Kalahandi became a classic case of environmental degradation leading to poverty and deprivation. Why have things changed? Rain never failed Kalahandi. Mismanagement did. In 1946, traditional structures irrigated 38,684 ha, 1970 to 8,007 has 80% drop with declining forest cover 67% (1900) to 13%.

Johl Committee Report, 1986, recommended diversification within farming away from wheat-paddy rotation to the extent of 20 per cent in favour of fruit and vegetable, fodder and oilseeds crops. Here is an clip of his interview where talks about the importance of the policy environment for the conservation of water in India, and effective techniques.

SS Johl Interview at Columbia Water Center, New York


30th June - Individual Photo session for placement brochure. Closing the week with a quote of Martin Luther King - Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Over the bleached bones of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: Too late.

54th Week@XIMB

54th Week@XIMB - 17th June to 23rd June, 2012

17th June - I started traveling for Bhubaneswar from home. Traveling in the various compartments of the train makes our interaction different class emerging and present in India. A 8 hour journey in jam pack general compartment of the train makes one tough and bares grim reality of poor infrastructure of this developing country. Yet if we can choose, we can live in the world of comforting illusion.

18th June - The train was late in the arrival just by 2 hours. Rain and storm welcomed me back to the educational institute of east India. There was new batch roaming around in XIMB. A new group of budding rural managers were going to start their journey.

In my opinion nearly all students who enter this prgramme with a certain amount of idealism and desire to serve the public, but after two years of competition and loan.
And slowly everybody care for nothing but the right job with the right company where we all can get in top level management in coming years and earn big bucks. May be this is required for our own sustainability.

19th June - There was first lecture of CM (Cooperative Management)in which history of the cooperative movement were discussed. The modern cooperative movement can be said to have started in 1844, with the creation of the Rochdale Principles.

Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904 was the first Incorporation that later lead to the development of Cooperative Societies Act, 1912. Post Independence, the Committee on Cooperative Law under the chairmanship of Shri S.T.Raja in 1956 recommended a Model Bill for consideration of State Governments. In 1990, an Expert Committee, under the chairmanship of Choudhary Brahm Perkash, was appointed by the Planning Commission to make a rapid review of the broad status of the cooperative movement, suggest future directions and finalize a Model Cooperatives Act. The Committee submitted its report in 1991. Report of the High Powered Committee on Cooperatives can be studies in much details.

20th June - I came to know about Mousetrap Fallacy theory that is held in high esteem in marketing. The additional sophistication may increase measuring ability and effectiveness yet may be unusable at such cost. This was taught interestingly in the 2nd lecture of QRM.

The video aims at explaining the foundation of sustainable development planning, i.e., each policy and investment decision must take into equal consideration its economic, social and environmental impacts.

The Future We Want


21st June - I didn't attend the first lecture of ESM (Ecosystem and Sustainability Management) where there was screening of the movie 'The call of Bhagirathi' that was winner of the national award as the best investigative film in 1992. It revolves around the big costs of big dams, a film by Anwar Jamal.

A trailer -The call of Bhagirathi



There was kick off start of the official interaction (viva) session with the PGPRM 2012-2014 batch since has arrived in the campus.

22nd June - RM Knowledge depository was restored on the XSYS-server. Thanks to seniors and XSYS team for this feat.

CM - ICA provided the information about co-operatives worldwide that is the apex organization. UN proclaims 2012 International Year of Co-operatives: "Co-operative enterprises build a better world"

There were five acts necessary for managers working in India. They are - Indian Trust Act, Indian Societies Registration Act, Trade Unions Act, The Companies Act and The Co- Operative Societies Act.

FAQ - A Non Profit Organisation can be registered in India as a Society, under the Registrar of Societies or as a Trust, by making a Trust deed. A third option is registration as a section-25 Company under the Companies Act, 1956.
Whether a trust, society or section-25 company, the Income Tax Act, 1961 gives all categories equal treatment, in terms of exempting their income and granting 80G certificates, whereby donors to non-profit organisations may claim a rebate against donations made.

23rd June - Placement Batchmeet was held for the placement season coming soon this year. In this depressing economy, there is challenge

A mail was floated for the suggestions by Team Placecom. There was a bottom line in the mail that inspired me. That ended week on the high note. "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success".

53rd Week@XIMB

53rd Week@XIMB - 10th June to 16th June, 2012

Arbeit macht frei is a German phrase, literally "labour makes (you) free" . The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. These last 52 weeks were not tedious labour yet occupied me with several assignments.

This was full vacation week away at home from anything related to academics. I visited to Varanasi for a retrospective tour. I celebrated one year of satisfied student life.

13th June 2011 was the last working day and I was out of the front gate of CSC. Within two minutes of final settlement, the mental pain of incompetency in the software arena sublimed. Bye bye team meetings, bye bye security pass, bye bye management. I posted an awesome resignation email to all my team mates.

The sun has never shone so bright, the air has never tasted so sweet, I have never felt lighter, than that moment. I was free. I was free. I was so ecstatically free I could smell the trip to new adventure!

Yes, I was neck deep involved in packaging for XIMB. Work Experience taught me other than discipline and career planning familiarity with the words such as competency, change management, paradigm, bell curve, KRA etc. I strongly suggest a newbie wanna be joining MBA program to mandatory serve a stint in operations to get hang of the business.

Any positive or negative employment experience help in our learning curve. With all sort of the questions, comments, concerns, appraise, complaints, feedback, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, allegations, accusations and inputs has mad me tough and more open to new challenges.

I was not knowing whether my decision to XIMB was right or wrong. We can only analyze the forces shaping the future, but not the way it will turn out. I read a great line that gave me solace : ‎"I don't believe in taking right decisions. I take decisions and then make them right" - Ratan Tata.>

52nd Week@XIMB

52nd Week@XIMB - 3rd June to 9nd June, 2012

03rd June - I reached to Bhopal early in the morning. In the whole journey, I was thinking about Bhind district from socio-cultural perspective. Growing up in the cities like Varanasi, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kanpur is a completely different than Bhind. The people here are more simple yet rigid in their world view. The religious and caste bias runs deep down than one city boy can imagine. Politics at grass-root level is caste dominated, bullet-ridden and blood soaked. The more unjust and arbitrary a system is, the greater the impression that one has to fight for one's own survival. Hence, one can think of bullying of upper caste with violence. A society without a caste system does not and cannot exist – especially when it is free, heterogeneous, and complex. When a highly respected institution like caste and religion that’s a powerful player in cultural life rewards a representative for intolerance, there’s reason for concern.

04th June - A day of the rest after a long travel. I traveled in non AC compartments in the last few weeks. I met and talked with people. We talked about importance of Entrepreneurship spirit even of pan shop vendor to Education qualification of the children of the political leader. There was growing concern that income inequality had grew rapidly in the last decade, but consumption of public goods inequality did not. Whatever economic philosophy, the public deserves an accurate presentation of the reasons for the change in income distribution. And people are asking for it.

05 June - My stint with the MP government is nearly finished. Only few administrative and financial formalities have to be finalized. The disconnect between official rhetoric and lived realities is vast.

Working with the government was altogether different. Hope for this nation lies in the fact that tomorrow it may be run by individuals who know what they will do and they have a clear idea of what they want to say and whom they are addressing it.

06th June - Allama Muhmmad Iqbal - Words, without power, is mere philosophy. The threat of consultant to extend our internship without backing of MP govt backfired with our dissents. I was applauded for searching by consultant for District level Health Facility GIS Maps and Indices. I also came to knwoe through Nafees about Madhya Pradesh Education portal In end, everything was sorted with the cool head.

07th June - I submitted a copy of the Disaster management plan to the Technical consultants. I started journey back to Lucknow that night. With the end of these two months it was reconfirmed that to err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.

08th June - I mailed one more edited version of the final report. That was the end of my attachment to the district Bhind who is named after the mythological Hindu saint Vibhandak Rishi. There was a long talk with my father about development and government. We agreed at few but mostly disagreed. I kept silent to control the outburst of emotions.

09th June - I downloaded episodes of Business Sutra. Here is first episode for preview.

Business Sutra EP#1 Seg 1(Is there an Indian way of doing)



Business Sutra EP#1 Seg 2(Purpose of a Corporation)



Business Sutra EP#1 Seg 3(Short Term Vs Long Term)

51st Week@XIMB

51st Week@XIMB - 27th May to 2nd June, 2012

27th May - I find one more good articles on MPWPCL in Business Standard :- MP women`s poultry co-op to up production.

One more website was explored : BELL Teaching Case Studies - BELL teaching cases explore sustainability related business challenges and capture business decisions that identify environmental challenges as business development opportunities. They are now freely available via the catalog below.

Navjyoti is a community based-paced-managed-owned enterprise system in Padmapur Block, Rayagada district. XIMB is one of the patron of this enterprise. Navajyoti as a Community Enterprise System is a Producer’s Company that is being assisted by NABARD-XIMB-Sustainability Trust.

Fasal is an easy to use yet sophisticated SMS based platform which gives actionable information on price, potential buyer info, weather to the farmers make more money.

28th May - NGOBOX and SAMS Jobsonline are good website for recruiter of the Development sector. That I discovered in one more sleepy day at Bhopal.

29th May - The mid term review came quite late. I was applauded for having good understanding about the subject(disaster management), still the report needs focus on the missing data. I like the part of conceptual clarity mentioned in the mail.

30th May - And as they say ‘politics knows no logic'. There was good news for XIMB regarding media front. The survey puts the B-Schools in 14 hierarchical categories and XIMB was placed in Business Standard's top B-school bracket of SUPER LEAGUE 1. Many elite colleges have not participated in this ranking and it is based on analysis of data collected through a questionnaire.

31st May - I started for Bhind district for the last time. While heat waves were making the jorney tougher and Bharat Bhand was providing relief with less crowded buses and trains.

1st June - There was a imaginary pressure on me for planning a review meet on plan with District Magistrate. There was even visit of Prabhari Mantri on the same day. If one don't panic, one can think better. This is where experience helped me. With some talking tactics and a little bit of discourse, everything was done perfectly. I even reviewed the plan with the nodal officer. The day was hot and I even lost temper on a rude peon.

2nd June - I meet with Area commander Homegaurd who was mine nodal officer for first few days. Yet the gossip level of the place was a bit too much for mine temper. I started for Bhopal in the afternoon.Working days in the land of Bhindak Rishi was over. I only reached to the conclusion : Deference to elders and authority is so deeply ingrained in the administrative hierarchy that an outsider has a little chance of modifying the behaviour.

50th Week@XIMB

50th Week@XIMB - 20th May to 26th May, 2012

20th May - I came to know the concept of Producer Company. A Producer Company is a means to bring together the small and marginal farmers and other small producers in the village level to build their own business enterprise that will be managed by professionals. In addition, to regular and sustainable source of income, a PC can give the rural producer (a) Identity, (b) Capacity or competence, (c) Brand, (d) Empowerment, (e) Equity, and (f) Dignity.

I heard two good quotes from Ashish that inspired him. Sharing those quote with an anecdote to all....

Service can have no meaning unless one takes pleasure in it. When it is done for show or for fear, it stunts the man and crushes his spirit. - Mahatma Gandhi

IRMAns will go where they are most needed not where they are most rewarded. - Dr. Verghese Kurien

When a journalist asked him what made Dr. Kurien settle down in a small village like Anand, when he had a Masters degree from a US university. With a gentle smile he replied, “True development is the development of men and women, and this idea made me stay in this little town for more than 50 years as an employee of farmers, and I was never able to give this up for what many call a better life. I hope to enthuse young women and men to adopt my passion as theirs”.

As a member on the board of management of IIM, Ahmedabad, Dr Verghese Kurien suggested IIM–A students should serve the nation for at least three years before going in search of greener pastures. Upon hearing this, one of the members on the board, who was a top industrialist from Ahmedabad, took his cigar out of his mouth and said, “So, Dr Kurien, you want our graduates to go and milk cows?” Dr Kurien stood up and replied: “No, you continue to teach them how to suck on cigars”, and then resigned from the board. This event led to the birth of a unique institution — Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

21st May - I visited retail shop of Sukhtawa chicken and assessed business of retail outlet. There is a famous idiom that If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys hold true for every company. Any company that pays less than market standard will eventually get crooks and thieves as their employees.

22nd May - Working as an intern for government project, I closely observed that you need privileges to prosper in India. Otherwise, you're simply lost in burecratic and political hurdles. While in power one need only will power and independent mind to get things done. While not in power you need guts to challenge system with awareness, strong social network and information in India today. Even then they can survive but not prospser except in few metro cities...

I had collected almost all data available, hence there is no usage of going back to Bhind. Many people see this as unethical but I had a different view. If stretching 1 day work to 7 days and playing solitaire at office comes under the definition of work, then I am much ready to spare time at Bhind.

23rd May - I read an old article Flying in the Face of Flu that focused on Tribal and Dalit women make a success story out of a poultry co-operative and fight the bird flu scare. The story was based on the work of MPWPCL.

24th May - A waste day ! Yet, there is lot of cribbing on the facebook due to petrol price rise. There is a nice article that comments on the differential price policy pursued by the government vis a vis petrol and diesel.

It Takes a Village to Raise an Entrepreneur : In the first large-scale, quantitative study of nascent social entrepreneurs, researchers from Harvard Business School and Echoing Green examine the rise of hybrid organizations that combine aspects of nonprofits and for-profits and the challenges hybrids face as they attempt to integrate traditionally separate organizational models.

25th May - It could have been another waste day. I used this day to learn a little about break even analysis.

There was mail from consultants inquiring for an urgent information from all about the final DDMP review date fixed in the distt, with DC Office and nodal authorities. I am planning to finish the report and finalize it with DC office.

26th May - On this auspicious day, I observed as neutral third party final presentation of interns of MPWPCL. They have done a fair job and had a good knowledge of chicken market.

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.

44th Week@XIMB

44th Week@XIMB - 8th April to 14th April, 2012

8th April- I was dehydrated and tired on reaching Bhopal. Yet, journey in Sleeper compartment help me to reconnect with lower middle class of India. A more acute and clear cut picture of India emerges in 35 hours of journey.

9th April- I reported with my college mates to New Narmada Bhavan for the first day of internship. A short and concise meeting was over with brief office work. SEEDS India, UNDP and MP government are the major stakeholders of the complete project. Two days of reading time is given ahead for learning about district. I am allotted Bhind District for next 6 weeks for the work. SEEDS consultancy is overlooking the project at state level.

10th April- All of XIMBians who were intern at SGGPA were accommodated in Administrative Academy. It was a luxurious arrangement. I learned a little about Bhind through district website. I roamed around Bhopal lake and visited science museum also. I was accompanied by Aditya and Ashish who were doing internship at MPWPCL.

11th April - A day utilized in studying and sleeping.I want to bring Buddha and Marx both together in this India. It is time to stop listening to what state say, and start focusing on what they do. Hence, signing off for today.

12th April - First Day of Meeting and brief summary of the disaster and its terminology. There were 31 interns with 30 officers together. I was the lucky-one for whom no has arrived from the respective district. The respective District commandment homegurad has been transferred few months ago.

13th April - This was 2nd day of the meeting and much more technical in the nature. Hazard, Vulnerability, Risk, Capacity (HVRC) Analysis and role of various department were discussed by the consultant. There was no officer/representative today also from Bhind district. This is a cause of worry as this can led to zero assistance in the working area. Most of us were forced to leave Bhopal to their nodal districts even next two days were holidays. There was no arrangement of stay and travel in the working area till this moment of time.

14 April - I traveled from Bhopal to Bhind and the whole day has passed in the journey. With much difficulty, accommodation was made available at circuit guest house.

Let me introduce the basic profile of Bhind district.Bhind is the Northernmost District of Madhya Pradesh,north east of Gwalior, situated at 26°34'50" latitude and 78°48'05" longitude. There are 6 Development blocks in the District namely Ater , Bhind Mehgaon, Gohad, Roan and Lahar. With 95% of the population practicing Hindu religion, there are Jain traders also. Castes of the upper strata like Brahmans and Rajputs dominate the social structure. The proportion of working women (2%) is much less, as compared to the State (19%) indicating a high degree of economic dependence of women on their men counterparts. As per 1991 Census, the district is having 39.06% literacy. 53% of the male population is literate and female literacy is 22%,that is apparently much lower than anational figures. Agriculture and Dairy are the main occupation of the people in the District. Hence, I can assume to be placed and will be working in a deeply feudal society.

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 3...

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 3...: Continuing from the 2nd part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 3rd part of the learning in the field of Rural Manag...

43rd Week@XIMB

43rd Week@XIMB - 1st April to 7th April, 2012

1st April- REPP effect was conglomerating the senses. Various thoughts were springing in the mind. Like : Until Ordinary humans of the first world will become economically destitute, and will be reduced to the state of the third world, they will not rise in solidarity with all the dispossessed by colonilaism and neo imperialism.

2nd April- The last day of exam. Exam is over still two assignments are pending. The extent of stress is always relative to our current level of growth, hence satisfied with the performance.

3rd April- The assignments and packing had make the day hectic. Still, I am enjoying the marathon named MBA.

4th April- A nice day with final packing done for our summers. Seasons come and go. I’ve witnessed the beauty of XIMB campus in the rains, as well as enjoyed even a foggy night here. Although most of my schedule was occupied with classes and , I still found some time walking around the school in night to admire the hidden loveliness of the campus. But looking at what I’ve been through, I feel happy that I’m here. It has been amazing, and I’m looking forward to more exciting experiences.

I am now habitual of seeing my MBA friends around all time, and I miss them. Their smiles are simply everywhere, in the classrooms, the mess, XCafe, GR2 and even the elevator. Two and Half months to the new semester seems to be a long time to wait, but I know our eagerness to meet one another again will be much greater after a long break. Thank you my friends. You all make XIMB so special to me!!!

5th April- It took a special train journey of 30 hour to reach Bangalore. There is 5 day break before joining organization for summer internship.

6th April- Bangalore, you are special to me. MG road looks like New York to me. I said in my mind that its not that everyone should have the same but that each should have enough in the life.

7th April- A day in the train...

42nd Week@XIMB

42nd Week@XIMB - 25th March to 31st March, 2012

25th March - This Sunday has been devoted to assignments and presentation. I take a long nap instead of all this hectic schedules. I also talked to GM about doing PHD in public policy from any foreign university. The complex question of Distribution and Creation of the wealth always intrigued me. Merit, Network, Violence, Open Society, Distributive Justice and Reservations are few vague key words around which I want to focus my work.

To imagine a long life and planning for 20-25 years down the years is an extreme example of the unrealized luxury. Only elites can have insurance, coping strategies and resources for mitigating future risk required for such plans. There remains a deep aura of uncertainty  in the life of aam aadmi. What I felt deeply that future exists, may be for a day or week for most of the people living on the fringes. People are living from hand to mouth situation having much vulnerabilities like health, displacement and social risk. Majority of their time and wages is spent in food. Yet, they plan and save with much difficulty for marriages, festivals and fatal accidents. The vulnerability of commons is due to the wrong policies of the major institutions. The economic and social institutions are not designed by mistake but exists only for the benefit of the elite. There is a huge gap between what people want and what the government is prepared to give in the doamin of public services  and goods(education, health, clean water, sanitation). State policies have no meaning unless they consider the weakest person of the society. Salute to aam aadmi who is a portrayal of resilience and vulnerability in the same skin.

26th March - I had change in daily schedule and more behaving as an nocturnal animal. This mutation can be contributed to hot summer days of Orissa.

27th March - Convocation day. There was convocation address by Harsh Mariwala of Marico.

28th March - CID exam was a disaster. And yet, I am satisfied with my preparation level.

29th March - OM and CMIB exams were much better than previous examination. Exhaustion is approaching due to lack of long of sleep and stress.

30th March - RIM exam was tough yet viable. UDO exam was based on RLLE and bring out the writing bug in every student. The abstract concept of development and vision were flowing from the nip of the pen. The creative tension between mind and aching hand produced the answers of high creativity and innovation.

31st March - MP exam was over. Answer sheet with limited space are doing wonders for me and curbing the habit of muggers to vomit their data. Three exams more to go....

The Spirit of Invisible - Kalyan Akkipedi offers a quick peak into the heart of rural India peppered with lessons learnt from traditional healers, contemplation on co-operation between religious factions and the story of salt. Best Lines Read in the article: “Nature is unique in every region, and so are the ways to exist in synergy with it. Understanding this way of existence is knowledge. Knowledge is omnipresent in the region, but can’t be explicitly articulated. Traditions of a region preserve this knowledge in codified ways. Lifestyle in any given region evolves along these traditions. And, lifestyle interactions of a community weave cultural fabric. Therefore, each region has a unique culture. Without this uniqueness, there's no diversity.”

41st Week@XIMB

41st Week@XIMB - 18th March to 24th March, 2012

18th March - Prosperity of any nation depends on youths. Change requires individuals with grasp on realism, courage, willingness to change, and a readiness to support change, particularly among those who have the greatest means to do so. Jesuits are known for their work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits, and for their missionary efforts. Jesuit Society is producing Business and Rural Managers at XIMB. There is no shortage of highly capable and qualified students who want to work for the development of the country. Yet, the managers from XIMB all need job for waving off loan and sustaining economically after MBA education. The selection process, curriculum, quality of faculty, pedagogy and the farce called placement are all oriented towards are not creating independent minds and risk takers. The warning of Prof Cornel West is coming in mine mind: "a market-driven technocratic culture has infiltrated university life, with the narrow pursuit of academic trophies and the business of generating income from grants and business partnerships taking precedence over the fundamental responsibility of nurturing young minds." The emphasis of any university, college or school should be on fostering curiosity rather than only competitive excellence.

19th March - I was not able to see Budget 2012 today. How to read the union budget was a nice initiative from Indian government for educated citizens. I was only able to read article No green signal yet for the Yuva Kisan by M. S. Swaminathan. Commenting on the poverty line will be like muddling on the pile of deadwood. I came to conclusion now that everyone believes what they want to. So depending on one's ideology, poverty in India has reduced or increased. There are lies, damn lies and statistics. What a true statement it is !

20th March - REPP: There was very good lecture on Globalisation with focus on value chain analysis. Joseph Stiglitz and Thomas Friedman were the main writers to be read for an introductory level to understand pros and cons of this phenomenon. I came to know about new term : Risk Society what Ulrich Beck defines it as "a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernisation itself."

Analysis of any case can be done in two frame work : Predictive and Explanatory. There is no need to write summary of the text for the academia. Learning can only happen when we embrace our errors. I came to know more about Collaboration Curves through an article posted on google group.

Social science is not a leftist hobby that we can do without. Today, MBA student has no sense of the history. As per me, there should be equal focus on IQ, EQ ( Emotional Quotient), and SQ ( Social Quotient) while selecting candidate for any B school in India. There is no use of economic progress that brings prosperity to few. And for that change, it requires socio-political awareness in the business managers community.

Global Mindset is much relevant to the rural managers. It develops a healthy skepticism of market fundamentalism, growth, reforms and offers immense opportunities. With the help of the global mindset, a rural manager can recognize paradoxes and complex realities with their nature of arguments, their origins, contexts, backgrounds etc.

21st March - MP: While urban planning focus spatial plan, rural planning is based on the sectoral plan. There was good discussion spatial planning and Central Place theory. Central Place Theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. This reminded me of the cluster theory. Cluster are linked by commonalities and complementarities and they increase the productivity; Cluster and networks reduce the cost of economic transactions. They also give easier access of skilled workforce and offer a rich information flow environment.

22nd March - There was presentation on Haat and Xavier Vending zone in RIM class. We all are exhausted by the massive assignments and presentations with their deadlines approaching in each 24 hours.

23rd March -Confused positioning of RM program between development and corporate can be labeled on both students and faculty. Even with good educational opportunities, people have always prized opportunity over equality. There was talk of inclusion of few more subjects as an elective next year. Since students were also consider stakeholders, they were asked opinion first time in the history of RM course of XIMB. The process was not an administration initiative but a clear cut strategic plan of handful of students.

There must be choices of the stream at masters level, not the enforcement of ideas of few in administration.Ours handful of students came with good list of courses. Whole batch was included for their opinion but nothing concrete came out of their suggestions. As a community, we need to keep questioning and understand the hidden power of protest and voice. One must taking stand before the excessive power of the few imposes even larger costs on everyone else.

The protest of habitual dissenter is never taken much in consideration but that brings out discontent of the community. Unrest is, in reality, discontent. This discontent is a very useful thing for community mobilization. As long as a person is contented with his present and and behave like a frog in the well, so long is it difficult to persuade him to come out of it. Therefore it is that every reform must be preceded by discontent. I didn't see critical mass in the community who can take a stand even with their bounded rationality.

24th March - I am bunking lectures from last few days due to frustration with the assignments and quizzes. I am busy less productive. Still, I attended placement meeting called by our placement officer.

CID : It was the last lecture of Prof Banikanta Mishra. But we get only 15 minutes of his talk about values. He correctly lay emphasis on sincerity rather than brilliance. Humility appears in the person when one realize oneself lucky seeing poverty all around. He was second person after my father who lay emphasis on secularism.

He reminded me a quote of Bhagat Singh- "Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking." What more can I say, listen from him only.

XIMB - Prof.Banikant Mishra - The last Lecture

40th Week@XIMB

40th Week@XIMB - 11th March to 17th March, 2012

11th March - A reading day on MBA education :- What they don't teach you at Indian B-schools : In emphasising western theories and concepts, management education is curtailing innovation & Are you absolutely sure that you want to study an MBA? : Guest writer and IIM Ahmedabad student SG Shrinivas believes that the actual life as an MBA student is far from what is portrayed in the media, and those preparing for admissions should not base their decisions on sensational placement reports.

12th March - MP: There was discussion around fiscal decentralization with ensuring efficiency and identification of beneficiary at the ground level. Hoping to go in more details soon.

UDO: There was again discussion on Leadership qualities. XIMB values many factors such as your leadership traits, knowledge and genuine interest in course apart from past academic records. "Are leaders 'born' or 'made' ?" was the core question. The idea that leaders are born and cannot be made is a dangerous in context of India where there is tradition of dynasty politics and nepotism. The assumption of born leaders takes away focus from the development of leadership qualities. The main thrust then remains on finding innate leaders with the required qualities and hone them in a conducive ecosystem.

Yet, I like concept of the shared leadership. Its just like an extension mentor and trainee relationship to an altogether level. Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez are individuals who for one reason or another were unable to develop a shared leadership or even a team. Prof. Satish Dhawan's years as ISRO chief is a good example of leadership. Prof Dhawan's management philosophy was that when success comes in after hard work, the leader should give the credit of the success to the team members. When failure comes, the leader should absorb the failures and protect the team members.

13th March - RIM: There was discussion on community based marketing initiative and need of the ecosystem required for sustainability of the innovative product. Modern day technologies don't work for the small farmers as the repair and maintenance technology is absent from the ecosystem of the village. There was mention of a new documentary in the class.

Documentary : Tomorrow We Disappear (Trailer)


RS recommonded me video of discussion between Amartya Sen, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Prannoy Roy at Budget Battleground.

14th March - MP: There was discussion around fiscal decentralization; Backwardness of any region can be judged by PCI, Per Capita Availability of services and Per Capita Investment. There is no much support between fiscal decentralization and economic efficiency. Local government had ability of better revenue mobilization and pricing of local services. As we had already seen in the case of developing countries like India where there is insufficient percolation of benefits to the poor and socially disadvantaged sections, despite laucnh of the several poverty alleviation programmes.

As Oates (1993) explained, "the basic economic case for fiscal decentralization is the enhancement of economic efficiency: the provision of local outputs that are differentiated according to local tastes and circumstances results in higher levels of social welfare than centrally determined and more uniform levels of outputs across all jurisdictions.Although this proposition has been developed mainly in a static context (see my treatment of the "Decentralization Theorem,' 1972), the thrust of the argument should also have some validity in a dynamic setting of economic growth." Fiscal Experts have also concluded that decentralized government poses a threat to the macroeconomic stability and is incompatible with prudent fiscal management. (See Prud’homme, 1995; Tanzi, 1996). Among the fiscal experts a broad consensus has been arrived in the context of Musgrave’s trilogy of public functions, namely, allocation, redistribution, and stabilization, that the function of allocation can be assigned to lower level of governments, the other two would be more appropriate for the national government. Therefore, the macroeconomic management, particularly stabilization policy largely consider as clearly a central function (Musgrave, 1983; Oates 1972). [OP Vohra : Fiscal decentralization and devolution of financial resource]

15th March - CMIB : There were questions raised in my mind about sustainability of institutions created by projects. I never asked them in the lecture today. Even then, I had a doubt that most of the time, academician evade reality in order to fit various doctrines, instead of transcending theories in order to explain reality. The lack of pro-efficiency in philosophy and social sciences barred me from reaching any hasty conclusion.

RIM : There was discussion on Sarvodya Samiti Case Study. This case presents the situation faced by Pradip Mohanty, Coordinator of Sarvodaya Samiti, an NGO, which is involved in the production, processing, and marketing of honey. There is already diagnosis of the case provided by two IRMA professors here. Interesting point was the analysis of case through Ted London's Base of the Pyramid Impact Assessment Framework.

Guest Lecture by Rishikesha Krishnan
There was more focus on lack of innovation in the field of research and dearth of people filing patents. He strssed on the stock exchange for smaller firms for the growth of the new companies. There is no synergy of Capital, Idea and Talent required for new companies at present in India. More of his views can be captured in his TED talk :
Rishikesha Krishnan: From jugaad to systematic innovation


16th March -MP: There is shift in the public policy of the welfare states; They are moving towards rights based approach from basic needs approach. Demand Projection, Minimum Norms and Productive Area area given importance in planning with importance of both equality and efficiency.

17th March -CMIB : It was finally concluded that two programs/seminars can't generate empathy for poor. Personal belief of people are hard to change until backed by economic incentives in MBA education.

RM program in India doesn't have much heightened cultural awareness and global perspectives that rural managers need. There are still ghetto and commune of region /colleges operating within rural managers community. I can only recall importance of brotherhood from the french revolution : Any man aspires to liberty, to equality, but he can not achieve it without the assistance of other men, without fraternity...