IRMA envisions era of revival after grey patch

The acting director of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), Neelima Khetan, has admitted that IRMA's affairs have turned out to be more complex than expected.

While hinting at the recent controversies surrounding the institute, Khetan said that even though external constraints to IRMA's renewal were manifold, internal constraints had also contributed to the institute's loss of momentum.

Khetan was speaking at IRMA's 26th convocation which saw 72 students students pass out from the post management programme in Rural Management offered at the institute. The occasion was presided over by Somnath Chatterjee, Lok Sabha Speaker and Y K Alagh, Chairman of IRMA. Khetan, who is an IRMA alumnus, drew accolades from Chairman Alagh and the audience for saying that IRMA's success created its own contradictions.

"The harsh realities of rural development work and the growing disparity in salaries began to take a toll on students. Senior faculty gained recognition and moved on elsewhere to take up newer challenges. IRMA, for a number of reasons,found it difficult to stay on course, " Khetan said.

She said that institutional ethos had not been able to sustain excellence and leadership within the faculty. However, she made it clear that from a period of drift, she was now able to see the stirrings of revival.

"Legal matters and boardroom differences that marred faculty morale are now behind IRMA. IRMA's vision to get the best and brightest in our society to work for those less privileged remains valid. No doubt the means to achieve this vision have to be revisited, " she added.

Speaking on 'Rural India:Developmental Challenges', Somnath Chatterjee, the chief guest on the occasion,announced that the Parliament was examining the Constitution (106th) Amendment Bill, 2006 which seeks to insert a new part 9B in the Constitution, providing for greater autonomy, accountability, professionalism and transparency in the functioning of co-operative societies.

"Once this Bill becomes an Act, I am confident, it will re-invigorate the co-operative sector and enable it to compete in a highly competitive scenario, " Chatterjee said.

He also voiced concerns over the winding up of rural branches by nationalised banks as part of their restructuring excrescence. "This has made availability of credit to poor farmers even more difficult, " he insisted.

Y K Alagh, who was chairing his first convocation at IRMA, talked about how the institute could turn its knowledge into advantage by dealing with developmental concerns and paradigms.

"Rural development is not possible without the development of effective institutions. Surely the vision of a good life has to be larger than calorie intake. Institutions like IRMA have to gear themselves to define these challenges and ways to meet them," Alagh said.