Showing posts with label Lucknow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucknow. Show all posts

Saturday, February 2, 2013

86th Week@XIMB

86th Week@XIMB - 27th January to 2nd February, 2013

I am away from the laptop, internet and XIMB for a complete week on a trip to home. I was becoming stoic calm proof against vicissitude of academic pressure.

The power of "rural": A special on rural marketing

Saturday, June 16, 2012

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.>

Saturday, June 9, 2012

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)

Saturday, May 5, 2012

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.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

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 !

Saturday, April 21, 2012

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.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

17th Week @ XIMB

17th Week- 2nd October to 8th October

It was a week that I spent completely at home. I was on the offline mode regarding XIMB. Hence, I will put down some videos for learning purpose for rural managers.

Rural Development - The Challenge of Livelihood and Poverty

Although there appears to be an enduring concern with India's poor within the policy circle and in public discourse, is this debate leading to new and innovative ideas on how to pull millions of Indians out of grinding poverty? What is the way forward? Should the emphasis be on skills development, agricultural development, microfinance, market access etc? What other models of rural development do we need to examine?



How to avoid the pitfalls of rural marketing?

PART1

PART2

PART4

PART5

PART6

PART7