Kurien moots people-oriented development measures

Stating that governments are unable to ensure good governance, Institute of Rural Management, Anand, chairman V Kurien on Tuesday emphasised the need to put instruments of development in the hands of the people to facilitate development.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a six-day symposium on `Governance in development: issues, challenges and strategies', that kicked off at the IRMA campus from Tuesday.

The symposium was inaugurated by President A P J Abdul Kalam.

Kurien, however, clarified that people do need governments in certain important areas. "Our governments are unable to ensure good governance. Development interventions have become a means to create and sustain dependency on government and not nurturing self reliance that is the foundation of a strong democracy," the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) chairman said.

He said: "I have always believed that to facilitate development of people, it is necessary to put the instruments of development in the hands of the people."

According to Kurien, an excellent example of good governance meant for India's rural people is the GCMMF, a federation of milk unions in Gujarat.

Today, Kurien said, the GCMMF is India's largest firm in the food sector with an annual turnover of Rs 2,900 crore.

"Even in the challenges posted by the post-1991 policy shift towards liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the farmers' organisation has broken the farmers' organisation," he said, adding that this was because it was based on the three principles of participation, accountability and transparency.

Lauding the work being done by IRMA, Kurien said its uniqueness is rooted in its mandate to serve the rural sector through professionalising the management of rural organisations.

"To be helpful to the rural poor, one has to have the heart in the right place along with the skills of an astute manager. The combination is what IRMA tries to create through its academic programmes," the IRMA chairman said.

Commenting on how he, along with others set up IRMA on the same day 25 years ago, Kurien said: "As the Anand model of dairy development began to be replicated in other parts of the country under the Operation Flood programme, we realised that managers stepping out of management schools were neither willing nor equipped to serve farmers' organisations. This prompted us to set up an institute, the IRMA, in 1979."