Yogakshemam 23102020
Navaratri. Durgaasthami.
Many triggers. Analyses. A year-plus period of reflection. IRMA offered admission. Facilitated Bank of Baroda loan. 24-hour long train journey from Hyderabad. Probably the first such long journey. Landed at IRMA. New foundation has begun to be laid. 8 Terms (12-14 weeks each) over two years. 2 Class terms, Field term, Class term, Management Traineeship term, Class term, Management traineeship term 2, Class term. We were fortunate to be involved on a national scale rural opinion survey when were in field term.
2 Class terms. These terms begin with 1-2 week induction, giving an option to the student to stay or leave. These two terms provide the theoretical foundation and basics. These include: Analysis and Communications; Economics; Accounting and Finance; Research and Statistics; Behaviour; Organizations; Human Resources; Society and Polity; Livelihoods; Operations; Marketing; Information. Field term puts us in the field for all 4-5 weeks at a stretch followed by 4-5 weeks of field tasks in/for an organization. It uses the tools learnt in the class terms and the grasp so obtained would help in discussions in subsequent Class terms.
Remaining three Class terms discuss advanced tools, concepts, concept-tool application and management of organizations, projects and the resources. Costs, Law, Systems, Development (Organizations, Projects, Schemes, Practice), Collectivization (Action, Collectives and Enterprises), Agri-business, projects, strategy et al. Management traineeship terms are sandwiched between Class terms. These traineeship terms help in appreciating management realities in projects, organizations; and help in solving in some issues in a given time period, either individually and/or in a group.
Reading 500+ books of significance, living in a small community, multiple cases, individual and group tasks, discussions with peers and teachers, field-organizational reality appreciation and tasks have prepared for the real life in development.
Placement time gave several options – policy analyst at Development Alternatives to work directly with Ashok Khosla; executive at PRADAN to be deputed to work with handlooms in Uttar Merur (TN); and Dairy Board. Sought to be Executive Assistant with Chairman. The committee consisting of Dr Aneja and Miss Patel persuaded not to press for it and instead be on something more exciting. Yet the work with Dr Kurien would be guaranteed. Could not say ‘no’.
Post-course, much before the convocation, joined Dairy Board to work in the core team on Market Intervention Operation on edible oilseeds and oils, to maintain the prices within the price band agreed with Government of India. Core team was chaired by Dr V Kurien. Joined one-day before the day MIO has been started at the instance of Government of India. 6 April 1989. Dr Aneja the team, some six of us joined, welcomed with a saying “This is new for us. Let us learn together. You will have free access to come to me any time”. Thus the work in Dairy board started. Development Deeksha was initiated, and there was/is no turning back. It is already more than three decades.
In due course, I have become a development/ livelihoods leadership/management lifeworker.
Apart from MIO including support in buying and selling up to 3 Million MT oil/year, Dairy Board work introduced the entire architecture from management and leadership lens, being in the close quarters of leadership. AMUL and Anand Pattern Cooperative structure in dairy and oilseeds; AMUL, Amulya, Dhara et al brands; Salt and Electricity Collectives; Value-chain from pre-production, production, post-production, processing, all the way to the consumer for Milk and Oilseed-Oil; Bhavnagar Vegetable Oil Products; Operation Flood and Operation Goldenflow; Mother Dairy; F&V Project; IRMA; HPCL and IDMC; Indian Immunologicals; NCDFI; NTGCF.
We will discuss Dairy Board and IRMA that shaped me into a lifworker sometime soon.
Let us be ready and go all out. Stretch to the hilt. Then leave it to the other to stretch, reach out and connect. The other has to. Then only the coexistence within the community of practitioners happens. In N, with N.
This is the stretch for coexisting usefully locally. For 7L.
Join us in the world of yoga of stretching into lifework of useful local coexistence – utthanayoga for 7L.
G Muralidhar