Institute of Rural Management Anand

Institute of Rural Management Anand
Motto	Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktye"(Sanskrit)
Motto in English	That which liberates is knowledge.[1]
Established	1979
Type	Autonomous
Chairman	Deep Joshi
Director	Prof. Jeemol Unni
Academic staff	25 [2]
Students	210 (2013)
Location	Anand, Gujarat, India 22°32′18″N 72°58′22″E / 22.5384°N 72.9729°E / 22.5384; 72.9729Coordinates: 22°32′18″N 72°58′22″E / 22.5384°N 72.9729°E / 22.5384; 72.9729
Campus	Urban, 60 acres (240,000 m2)
Website	www.irma.ac.in

Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) (founded 1979) is an autonomous institution located in Anand in Gujarat, India with the mandate of contributing to the professional management of rural organisations. IRMA was founded with the belief, borne out by Dr. Verghese Kurien’s(Father of White Revolution) work in the dairy co-operatives which revolutionised the dairy industry in the country, that the key to effective rural development is professional management.^[3]

It was founded at the initiative of the NDDB ( National Dairy Development Board) and the support of government of India, government of Gujarat and Swiss Development Co-operation. IRMA works with co-operatives, NGOs, governments, Indian national and international agencies.

IRMA provides 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.

History

Dr.Michael Halse, then a Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) planning advisor with NDDB,.^[4][5] was one of the people, responsible for conceptualizing this new discipline of rural management.^[6] Another person involved with the institute was the Organizational behavior academic Dr.Kamala Chowdhary,^[7][8][9] who also served briefly as the Director of the Institute and played a key mentoring role, in its formative years.^[10] The former director of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Mr.Ravi J. Matthai also contributed; through his documented learnings from the Jawaja experiment.^[11] Mr. Ravi Mathai had stressed the need for a new type of management education, different from the conventional Indian Institute of Management one: for working on rural development problems.^[12] The Institute was initially budgeted as a center for management and consultancy for rural development, under the second phase of the Operation Flood program. Under the chairmanship of Dr.Verghese Kurien; IRMA evolved quickly to enlarge its mandate to professionalize management of rural producers’ organisations and create a body of knowledge in the field of rural management.

One of the pioneering and senior faculty in the initial years, was anthropologist and feminist scholar Leela Dube. One of her studies through field work in five South East Asian countries, put the organisation on the international social science research map.^[13]

^[14]

Beginning with co-operatives funded by the NDDB, 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, microfinance, and deploying IT for rural areas.

Since inception, the focus of IRMA has been on strengthening the management capacities in organisations which are controlled by users of their services; rather than the conventional capital investor centred business corporates. The institute claims that it is this commitment that gives it an identity that is unique among management institutes.^[15]

Evolution of the two year postgraduate program in rural management

The Programme in Rural Management (PRM) was designed as a 12-month course to be followed by a year’s apprenticeship in a rural producers’ organisation, funded by Operation Flood. The program evolved into the present two-year postgraduate diploma. Dr. Leela Dube, a sociologist, pioneered a course for the first batch in 1980, termed then "Rural Environment"; a foundation course which attempted to push a "business management techniques program design" towards asking questions about village society. It was also designed as a preparatory course to the "village field work segment"; which followed after the first semester. This pedagogy was an innovation for business schools in India: as the integration of a "fieldwork" segment, into a postgraduate business management curriculum, had never been attempted in the conventional IIMs (Indian Institute of Management), and in university sponsored MBA. This structure continues. The course has been developed further and split, for example the 2012 program structure, offered three half credit courses in the first semester: termed "Rural Society and Polity","Rural Livelihood Systems", and "Rural Research Methods"; and is structured as a preparation to the village field work segment that follows.^[16] The present structure of the field work segment, which follows after the first term, is a ten week exposure to "rural reality".^[17]

Another innovation of IRMA, was the introduction of two internship segments - instead of the normal one - as in conventional Master of Business Administration programs. This emphasis on the practical - appears to be intended to create a learning philosophy of a Praxis (process). The validity of classroom theories and teaching, is sought to be put to actual test by PRM students- through applying these theories and learnings, to shape managerial action in rural organisations.

Presently, the first internship segment, named Development Internship Segment, is after the first year of education in the PRM- which includes three semesters and one field work segment.This internship is for seven weeks.^[18] The second internship named Management Traineeship Segment, is for ten weeks, and is scheduled after the fourth term.^[19]

The PRM program has grown from the initial batch size of 48 in the first batch(1980-1982), to 103: who graduated in the 32nd convocation in 2013^[20] The Institute has planned to increase the PRM batch size by another 60, from the academic year 2013-14. This has received approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).^[21]

Philosophy

IRMA was founded with the belief that the key to effective rural development is professional management. Professionalising the management of rural organisations calls for matching the unmet needs of the sector with the 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.

Academic programs

Program in Rural Management

The programme prepares young managers to undertake responsibilities in the rural sector and the development organizations. It is a two-year residential programme leading to a postgraduate Diploma in Rural Management (PGDRM).

Fellow Program in Rural Management

This doctoral-level residential programme is for people who need specialized knowledge, skills and attitudes for positions in the co-operatives and development organizations. Each participant of the programme receives a fellowship and contingency grant.

CRM

CRM is a one-year course for professionals working in cooperatives, development organizations and in other rural sector organizations.

Certificate Programme in Dairy Management (CPDM)

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 is open to cooperative dairy federations and unions; other milk producers organisations and dairy development promotional organisations form the next batch onwards.

The programme is managed by a committee of five faculty members from IRMA, who are responsible for curriculum development, and engagement of faculty from external and internal sources.

Later on in the year 2012, the programme came to an abrupt end.

Programs

• A doctoral-level programme, the Fellow Programme in Rural Management (FPRM), for students and professionals seeking careers in research, teaching and specialised knowledge-based positions in cooperatives and development organisations.
• A post-graduate Programme in Rural Management (PRM) for those who wish to undertake challenging managerial responsibilities in the rural co-operative sector and development organisations. PRM is recognised as equivalent to a Master’s degree by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and is approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
• Management Development Programmes for in-service managers/officers working with co-operatives, NGOs, and government and semi-government organisations engaged in rural development.
• Research and Consultancy for enriching the quality and content of teaching and training activities as well as helping IRMA’s clientele identify and resolve their management problems.

Campus facilities

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.

• The Ravi J Mathai Library supports the mission of IRMA through the provision of information resources and services. The library provides the academic community with information for fulfilling research requirements, coursework assignments, and professional development. This is achieved through collection development, networking, electronic information retrieval, instruction in search strategy and assisted access to an array of resources and data.
• Executive Training and Development Centre (ETDC), where the executive training programs and seminars are held, has 35 single-occupancy air-conditioned rooms, four suites, a dining hall, a lounge, conference and syndicate rooms with audio-visual equipment and a computer laboratory which is networked with the institute's main computer center. This facility is available for executive training programmes and conferences planned by the faculty.
• IRMA Auditorium, with a seating capacity of 400, is used for major events of the institute and for entertainment. Movies are screened for the participants of programs and the residents of the campus. It is used for musical concerts hosted by the Society for Promotion of Indian Culture and Music amongst Youth (SPIC-MACAY) and the cultural programs hosted by the students.
• The Students Activities Center (SAC) has a gym-cum-sports complex, with facilities for a workout, badminton and table tennis courts.

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 stocked with provisions and stationery.

A campus dispensary supplies medication. The medical officer visits the campus for an hour every day, and a staff nurse resides on the campus to attend to medical emergencies.

Notable alumni

Social development

• Sanjay Ghose, founder URMUL Rural Health Research and Development Trust and Charka Development Communication Network^[22]
• Sankar Datta^{[23][24][25][26]}

Information Technology

• Satish Babu (PRM3), Director, International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS).^[27][28]

Journalism

• Raju Narisetti ^[29][30]
• Mitu Jayashankar, Former Contribution Editor, Forbes India ^[31]

Politics

• Sandeep Dikshit. Member of Parliament of 14th Lok Sabha and 15th Lok Sabha representing East Delhi^[32][33]

Behavioural sciences

• Vidyanand Jha, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta ^[34]

Citations

External links

• Official website
• Sambandh (extracurricular)
• Alumni registration
• IRMA Alumni Association website