| Institute of Rural Management Anand | |
|---|---|
| Motto | That which liberates is education |
| Established | 1979 |
| Type | Autonomous |
| Chairman | Prof Y. K. Alagh |
| Director | Prof. Jeemol Unni |
| Location | Anand, Gujarat, India |
| Campus | Urban, 60 acres (240,000 m2) |
| Website | www.irma.ac.in |
Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) (founded 1979) is an autonomous institution in Anand in Gujarat, India with the mandate of contributing to the professional management of rural organisations. It was founded at the initiative of the National Dairy Development Board and the support of Government of India, Government of Gujarat and Swiss Development Co-operation. IRMA works closely with co-operatives, NGOs, governments, Indian national and international agencies.
IRMA has become a frontrunner in professionalising the development of India’s rural sector. Over the years it has provided management training, support and research facilities to students committed to rural development; in this process it has brought within its ambit several co-operatives, non-government organisations, government development agencies, international development organisations and funding agencies.
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IRMA was set up in 1979 with a mandate to professionalise management of rural producers’ organisations and create a body of knowledge in the field of rural management. In a short span IRMA has come to be recognised as a premier centre of teaching and research in rural management and has successfully created a new discipline of rural management which is being replicated by many other institutes.
Beginning with co-operatives, IRMA has reached out to the rural sector through development organisations engaged with issues of rural life such as natural resource management, especially water and forests, rural health, local governance institution, livelihoods and migration, deploying IT for rural areas, and so on. IRMA’s vision to work for the rural people was vindicated in the early years when rural organisations — from co-operatives, NGOs, government and business sectors — began to make demands on IRMA.
Except for the business sector, IRMA openly welcomes all these organisations. The argument is that business organisations are served by over 800 business schools in India, and there is only one IRMA to serve the co-operatives, NGOs, and people’s organisations; therefore, IRMA has chosen to direct its energies and output to these designated sectors. Ever since, the focus of IRMA has been on strengthening the management capacities in organisations which are controlled by users of their services rather than capital centred, and organisations which are controlled by users of their services rather than by capital suppliers. It this commitment which defines IRMA and gives it the identity unique among the management institutes.
The Programme in Rural Management (PRM) was initiated as a 12-month course to be followed by a year’s apprenticeship in rural producers’ organisation, the programme evolved into the two-year diploma.
The focus of research, consultancy and management development programme was on building rapport with rural organisations and networking in the rural sector. Dairy and other agri-product co-operatives being set up by NDDB were the starting point to foray into rural sector. These efforts were articulated through research papers and seminars of the faculty.
PRM became the flagship programme of IRMA with a stimulating mix of course work and out of classroom training in three modules: fieldwork segment and two management traineeship segments.
Increasing demands began to be made on the institute by a wide variety of rural development organisations for recruitment, research and consultancy and short-term management training.
The research and consultancy portfolio expanded to include co-operatives (dairy, oil, fruit and vegetables, sugar, tobacco); aspects of agriculture such as cattle insurance and irrigation, water use, water markets, watershed management, lift irrigation co-operatives, drought; rural development programmes, public health system, common property resources management, co-operative banking, handloom and handicrafts, biogas and rural energy.
In 1988-89 IRMA launched its publication programme with three series: Research Paper Series, Case Studies Series, and Workshop Reports Series. Seminars became a regular activity with the launch of TASS: Thursday Afternoon and Special Seminars.
A decadal review in 1989-90 led to redrawing priorities for future growth. PRM was reviewed which led to strengthening and fine-tuning of PRM and a one-year programme (OYP) was launched for development practitioners.
An international symposium on ‘Governance and Management of Rural Co-operatives was held December 7–11, 1992. It consisted of 10 workshops covering aspects of managing co-operatives. The workshops were grouped in three broad categories: functional management, strategy/policy workshops and interface workshops. The symposium was a result of year-long networked research and became a major step in becoming a repository of specialised managerial and social science knowledge specific to co-operatives and rural producers' organisations.
PRM and OYP merged into an Integrated PRM with flexibility for sponsored candidates to complete the programme in two spells of one-year each.
By 1999 the faculty had carried out nearly 100 research and consultancy projects for several clients including international agencies.
The 55th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (November 23–25, 1995) was hosted by IRMA. IRMA organised a three-day national seminar on rediscovering co-operation (November 19–21, 1996).
A client survey was initiated in 1999 to strengthen the MDP portfolio and became a biennial activity with inputs being used for planning and fine-tuning MDPs for the designated sector. The same year, IRMA organised a national symposium: Building and Managing Organisations for Rural Development in the New Millennium (December 13–14).
A Fellow Programme in Rural Management (FPRM) was launched in 2001.
A silver jubilee symposium, ‘Governance In Development: Issues, Challenges and Strategies (December 14–19, 2004), comprised 16 concurrent workshops grouped under four broad themes.
The institute launched the International Journal of Rural Management in 2005.
IRMA’s mission is to promote sustainable, eco-friendly and equitable socio-economic development of rural people through professional management of their institutions.
IRMA was founded with the belief that the key for effective rural development is professional management. Professionalising the management of rural organisations calls for matching the specific unmet needs of the sector with the formal techniques and skills of management professionals. Linking the two are the ‘rural managers’ prepared by IRMA through its two-year diploma (PRM) in rural management.
This programme prepares young talented managers to undertake challenging responsibilities in the rural sector and the development organizations. It is a two-year residential programme leading to a post-graduate diploma in management (PGDM). The participants of this programme are highly valued in local, national and international co-operatives, NGOs, corporates, development organizations, and funding agencies.
This is a doctoral-level residential programme for people who need specialized knowledge, skills and attitudes for positions requiring conceptual and visioning skills in the co-operatives and development organizations. Each participant of the programme receives a fellowship and contingency grant.
CRM is a one-year course for professionals working in cooperatives, development organizations and in other rural sector organizations.
A Certificate Programme in Dairy Management (CPDM) of one-year duration is offered starting with the first programme in November 2008. IRMA and the sponsoring organisation GCMMF selected the candidates jointly. The programme will be open to all other cooperative dairy federations and unions; other milk producers organisations and dairy development promotional organisations form the next batch onwards.
Programme will be managed by a committee of five faculty members from IRMA, who will also be responsible for curriculum development, engagement of faculty from external and internal sources apart from developing such rules, regulations, norms and guidelines for effective conduct of the programme
The campus is fully residential and equipped with student hostels, mess, lecture halls, seminar rooms, library, faculty and administrative offices, auditorium, executive training and development centre, faculty and staff housing, dispensary, and other support facilities. The IRMA staff co-operative store caters to the residents’ daily necessities. Faculty and staff live in the campus quarters provided, thereby providing facilities for interaction with the participants beyond classrooms.
A co-operative store on the campus is open in the evenings six days a week and provides all the items required by the residents on the campus. It is well stocked with provisions and stationery.
A campus dispensary is readily accessible for any basic medication. The honorary medical officer visits the campus for an hour every day, and a staff nurse resides on the campus to attend to medical emergencies.