Sparsh

1- In economics, the Dutch disease is a concept that explains the apparent relationship between the increase in exploitation of natural resources and a decline in the manufacturing sector. There is an over-dependence on exports of primary products pushes up the value of its currency, leading to a downward spiral in its manufacturing productivity and competitiveness. Same analogy in reverse notion can be put in the case of placement of rural managers. Unless the economy is worse, most of the rural managers are placed in either Banks or Sales job. With the expansion of the batch size and recession in Indian economy forced them to diversify their target organizations. Thus it has resulted in the placement of rural managers in diversified sector. 2- There is no placement week but a placement season. 3- Attendance falls drastically in this trimester. There are just different reasons before and after getting placed. 4- As per Prof Banikant : Ans. Nowadays the students are brighter but th...

I didn't come down to XIMB to oversleep. I've worked below what I am capable of. Here in 5 points what I learnt in last 3 months: 1- Generally, the clashes within lobbies of students are less real than the ones between the outsiders and system who find themselves in places where they are not a good fit. There are few people in our batch whose distinct and peculiar view make them to stand out from the rural manager's community. 2- College should be able to assist a student because they had structures in place for people seeking entrepreneurship. We lack an ecosystem to discuss social barriers for an entrepreneurial activity. Climbing corporate ladder is respectable but exploring new venture seemed as "worst fears" come true where person is tagged as "confused". 3- In life, as one achieves success, the ability to take risks falls in almost the same proportion. Hence, it is better to throw away some securities in the search of unknown territories. I am ...

An IRMA Prof. Arunathan always ask a very profound question on poor and rural managers : “Why we are here and why they are there? ” There must a greater emphasis on individuality and questioning the status quo in very academic program. Continuing from the 3rd part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 4th part of the learning in the field of Rural Management. Here in 10 points what I learnt in last 3 months: 1 - RM student could barely handle the stress when the pile of assignments came to them. They devolve from sensible students to the frenzy morons looking for their grades. 2 - The exposure to the American just do-it culture can produce entrepreneurs rather than a MBA degree. MBA is only as mandatory prestige tag for sure success in industry. 3 - Everything that we do, revolves around the singular concept of landing up with a great job. And the fact is no matter what we do, we will end up with a decent enough job in a corporate environment. 4 - Marketing is...

What is unofficial tagline of Brand Rural Management Programme at XIMB : “We Try Harder” A simple question is asked by an aspirant, “Why does anybody ever want XIMB-RM as first choice in admission ?” Yes, we all know that “XIMB-RM is only No. 2.” Yet the reply is simple: “ We try harder in nurturing our budding rural manager because we have to make a point. It's always the second ranker who works harder and learns a lot more in the process.” The origination of the answer is not to create a cute, gimmick, but instead it was – and is -- a business philosophy that every XIMB-RM students holds true. Each and every student of rural management knows that he must work harder and learn extensively than their counterparts. XIMB - RM focus on frank and truthful statements about our ranks and education philosophy. This institution is a Sangam (confluence) where we seek to find balance between mainstream business and development of people on margins. As I write this, I'm enj...

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 Management.  Here in 6 points what I learnt in last 3 months: 1- Integrity and Humility are more necessary to success than the knowledge. Only creating assets and giving knowledge is not enough but the spirit of service is far more essential for a rural manager. 2- For-profit firms, they argue, often face pressure to abandon social goals in favour of increasing profits. Non-profit firms and charities are needlessly restricted in their ability to raise capital when they need to grow. There should be a third way of developing the objectives of both firms. 3- There is a misplaced tendency to look at "progress" through the eyes of people in power or in powerful economic institutions. There lies a great assumption that if they do well, wealth/prosperity will trickle down into the lives of ordinary people. This approach is one of the many ...

Later Addition (Jan 2020): Diary of Rural Manager !  on the jobs, career prospects, and life of a rural management graduate. I was an aspirant for the rural management program last year. I applied for both XIMB and IRMA. I tried to write down a possible list of the question that may be asked by the interview panelists. Please customize the questions as per your needs. 01- Describe yourself in 3 words? 02- Tell us about yourself and your family background. 03- What is success according to you? 04- What is an Urban area? 05- Why do you think you are suited for RM? 06- Why you pursued Engineering at graduation? 07- Why do you switch to the IT industry after a degree in mechanical engineering? 08- What is Development? What is development according to you? 09- Why IRMA/XIMB/TISS? 10- Would you like to ask any questions from us? Would you like to ask any questions from us? 11- Why Rural and What is Rural? Why did you think about rural? 12- Why prepare for rural managemen...

Continuing from the 1st part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 2nd part of the learning in the field of Rural Management. Looking into mine MBA and engineering curriculum, I can easily conclude that it is heavily influenced by American model and lacks novelty. Despite of mine low academic orientation, I have not seen really good books from an Indian author. Most of the books are from western universities. Hence, there is dire need to dejargonise and accept superfluos nature of our education. During this trimester of PGDM-RM (rural management) at XIMB, I asked this question again and again :- why one chooses any course or college ? Whether one prefers a brand or academic learning or mere placement records of the college for routing the career path. Any college should have these aspects for growth : Creation of knowledge through research, Application of knowledge within the industry through commercializaion and Dissemination of knowledge through classroom l...

John Stuart Mill is right here: there is no development, democratic or economic, without an educated citizenry. Hence with this statement, I will shade mine myopic narrative of the last 3 months of the education. Roughly, the things I am doing out here is to fight the common perception between development and management. During this trimester of PGDM-RM (rural management) at XIMB, the question that was constantly asked by me was how much of it is “Development” and how much “management” ? With rural India in the context, this issue becomes a divergent for many budding rural managers. The purpose of nearly all writing is to communicate easily. Here in 10 points is what I learnt in 3 months: 1- The first lesson towards developing an understanding that development is not merely about subsidies, urbanisation and poverty but also about being sensitive to the people. 2- As an aspiring rural managers should have understanding that must encompass history, sociology and th...