Chief Guest Shri SM Vijayanand's Convocation Address
IRMA Convocation 2019
Respected Chairperson, Shri Dilip Rath; respected Director and my friend, Prof. Hitesh Bhatt, the young graduates, Board of Governor members, the faculty, guardians and others… I must confess that this is the most important function to which I have been invited as a Chief Guest in my entire career (applause). I am a fan of IRMA’s, ever since I came as a young IAS probationer in 1982- when IRMA was in its early stages of development. This must be the most pleasurable repetitive task I have done in my entire life. As bureaucrats we only do repetitive things. But this was really pleasurable to the mind and the soul because I see in each of you a potential Verghese Kurien (applause)!
I must also confess that AMUL as a model of development, which combines the best of socialism and capitalism, is somehow not pushed politically to the extent it should be- at any point of time in India’s history. I think this kind of cooperative ownership – which is real ownership – not political cooperative, not bureaucratic cooperative… real ownership rests with the last farmer.
I read about Dr. Kurien’s fears when India went on a liberalization spree. It hit organizations like AMUL. But AMUL has not only survived, but excelled in this highly competitive – sometimes unethically competitive environment (applause). So, we need to push this as a viable model of development, mainly to address the biggest crisis we have now, particularly that of farmers in rain-fed areas.
I enjoyed my tenure as a member of the Board of Governors and I was hugely impressed by the work of IRMANS. I have come across thousands of IRMANS. Mr. Sodhi’s name comes first. Then there is Mr. Vivekanand of the first batch with whom I work closely, even now after retirement. The kind of work that he has been doing for the fishermen of India needs to be documented. I have interacted very closely with Matthew Cherian, Prof. Sriram, and Soumen Biswas who worked with me for three years. There are tens of others who have excelled and deserve mention. There is a young chap called Sajid, I don’t know which batch he is from; he works with Kudumbashree which is a different model in Kerala. There is another young girl called Annie working for the UN in the coastal areas on Kerala floods. I have worked with many young professionals, particularly in NRLM which has many young IRMANS.
I tried telling the Chief Minister of my state (Kerala) if I should try and get IRMANS to work for me, free of cost- if they were willing to volunteer. So he did a search and 60 odd IRMANS were identified from Kerala. We sent out a message to all requesting them to provide services free of cost. This meant no out of pocket expenses but everything else was free. After some 30 odd people volunteered we set up a group. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy did not see the worth of using them as intensely as they should have.
So, this is the kind of model that you can follow- IRMANS working for different causes collectively. And you can do this perfectly in this electronic age. One of my self-appointed missions was to get IRMA interested in Panchayats. So, way back in the 90s, we got IRMA to do a study in Kerala. This was on Kerala’s Panchayati Raj, which is rated as the best in the country. I was very happy when the Ministry of Panchayati Raj gave them the state of Panchayats’ task report. I was Secretary of the Panchayati Raj in the Government of India and I was very happy with the reports. I must say that the best reports produced were by those from IRMA (applause). For technical reasons we could not continue.
So, the quality of work, the mission… it is all there.
I must also mention some of the failed initiatives that I pushed but somehow, the bureaucracy did not understand. One was a big thing to push- it was for three IRMA kind of institutions in India. We had a lot of money, the Minister was willing… yet somehow it did not take off. It would not have cost a lot. I calculated and found out that would have cost Rs. 300 crore per institute. We were surrendering some Rs. 5000 crore from our own allocation.
When I was a member of the Board of Governors, I tried to get a funding of Rs. 100 crore from the Ministry for persons going to work in NRLM and other missions following Dr. Kurien’s original model. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy did not understand.
Anyway… rural management is something for which all of us need to lobby continuously. Not ordinary lobbying, but activist lobbying. This is not management by any sense of the term. I have tried talking – unsuccessfully to AICTE telling them that “this is not management”… it is factually problematic since it is either “rural” or “management”. The word “management” is accidental. So, we can’t say that this is conventional management as the question of objectives is involved. This is totally transformative. It is also taming or re-shaping the markets in rural areas, not just rural markets. More important: rural management is a question of values, attitudes, empathy, altruism, and volunteerism. It involves the ethics of being pro-poor.
All this doesn’t come automatically. It doesn’t come through teaching. It comes through – what the old anthropologists called – immersion. It involves going and spending time with the poor, as Dr. Kurien did in his initial days. Only by living with them (the poor) will you understand. Textbooks are mere supplements. Not even that sometimes. So, real learning comes from need and values like fairness. I recently read an interview by a friend – Jean Deis who said that economics doesn’t cover many topics such as exploitation, fairness of age. These are topics that economist and no manager have covered but these are very important. So rural management and rights’ based development … just because you are a human being you enjoy certain rights… it’s all there in the Constitution but beyond that are universal truths. So, rural management should cover all this. Textbooks, somehow, are redundant.
Another topic of importance these is environment. Probably, when AMUL began environment was not that critical. Kerala has faced the worst floods this year, which was (earlier) unimaginable in that state. And now, it is faced with one of the worst droughts and heat waves. There were never any heat waves ever in Kerala. I have been living in my (tiled) house for the last 44 years and, for the first time, I have been sweating while sitting inside my house. So, these are all the realities that we need to consider while learning from the communities.
We all use the word ‘mission’ very loosely. I use that word combining two meanings. The old mission meant giving your life working for the poor. Volunteerism- the model mission, the best example of which is NASA that sticks to precision: “On this day, by 1970, an American will land on the moon.” You work backwards. At the time, there was hardly anything. But they worked backwards and they landed in 1969.
So, we have a lot of missions, not all of which are successful.
But Operation Flood was not called a mission, yet it was really successful. So, this model mission is very important in rural management in this context. This is, in a sense, social work infused with development. I can go on defining but I do not want to take up your time. This is a task which we, that is all of us who believe in rural management, should not stop doing.
I think the Supreme Court verdict is only technical. We need to agitate this issue and convince people. And I think it can be done.
Having spent my entire life – barring 2-3 years – in rural development voluntarily and consciously, mostly in Panchayati Raj, I can suggest some new directions for IRMA and IRMANS.
First, the Self Help Groups- I don’t know how many of you have interacted with Self Help Groups. They are as fascinating, if not more fascinating than cooperatives. They are live entities and highly homogenous, with full of hope. They are democratic; the democracy is neither deliberative nor participatory alone. There is another version of democracy which is communicative democracy, whereby you communicate, interact, and involve everybody’s views. It is totally inclusive and absolutely engendered, because that is the only way.
I worked with Kudumbashree from Day One. I was its Chairperson of the Executive Committee for 13 years. So, conceptualizing Kudumbashree is another thing for the SHG movement. I could observe that somebody needs to do an empirical analysis of a ladder of empowerment of the SHGs. Start with what’s called social capital- sitting, acquiring confidence, sharing, chatting, and sharing woes. Nothing economic. So the social capital keeps expanding.
Then there is savings- financial capital. I am using the word common to NRLM. Then comes physical capital- building a small coop for the hens. Then, green capital- working in agriculture and improving livelihoods.
This is followed by human capital through which children study better and health improves. Then, if I may use the word, comes economic capital. One starts micro enterprises, one is in the formal economy which is beyond the agricultural economy.
Then there are two other types of capital, which I added when I was in Delhi. One is the civic capital. That is- your power as a citizen when you realize rights.
The last capital is the political capital. Not that you become politicians but you take decisions in the allocation of resources; be it in the Gram Sabhas or SHGs. Incidentally, I found in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala that a large number of SHG women had entered Panchayats at different levels. So, it is a huge projection: from micro-credit to livelihoods, to micro enterprises to clusters.
One of the interactions I had with Dr. Kurien occurred when I accompanied my friend, now the Finance Minister of Kerala Dr. Thomas Isaac, to discuss with him the possibilities of ownership by SHGs, but management by professionals. The same principle as applied by AMUL: ownership by cooperatives but management by professionals.
I think the potential is huge. A specialty of SHGs is a concept called community resource persons: you yourself are an expert. Kerala experimented with, what is called, micro enterprise consultants. You go and talk to them they will be as well-versed in the basics of an economic enterprise as you. They get trained and learn by experience, they learn by interacting; they know real-life situations. I asked them about the problems with enterprises. Their lectures beat any kind of learning I have had with enterprises during my training or later on. There is a huge potential for service deliveries, accessing rights and entitlements, micro planning and so on. There is a potential for caring and compassionate management. A lot of IRMANS are into it already. Now, I understand that the livelihood units cannot afford the new salaries of IRMANS, unfortunately. But that shouldn’t be a concern. I do not wish for you to spend your lives in livelihood missions –three or five years; maximum two to three years.
The second concern is the FPOs which, from what I could understand from Prof. Bhatt’s introductory remarks, you are already into them.
I first started looking at FPOS in Kudumashree but now I am doing it out of personal interest.
It is a promise not realized. We have to structure it from the grassroots with the same precision as Dr. Kurien’s for the milk cooperatives. And it can be done, common-sense wise, with any understanding in economics or rural, I cannot see why it cannot go all the way up to the district or state or up to the national federation level. Maybe we should have more SHG kinds at the local level and more AMUL kinds (of cooperatives) at the top level. There is a huge potential for anyone of you – or for all of you – to exploit. It is doable- you have learnt the tools of the trade.
I have been fascinated by a couple of examples. One is the Andhra Pradesh example of the natural farming; it has reached in five lakh acres covering five lakh farmers within two-and-a-half years. And Andhra Pradesh is a traditional green revolution state using fertilizers, ground water, and all kinds of chemicals. Now they (the farmers) have has shifted on their own, but not due to any pressure from the state. They said, “Let the farmer decide.” And the farmers seem to have decided.
So, there is huge potential not only for our farm crisis but also for our climate change issues. I am told it conserves water: 80,000 litres per acre; it reduces carbon emissions and all kinds of things.
Kerala came out with a small experiment calling it “greenomy”, which is a name to be expected in that state! Greenomy is the concept of skilled agricultural labour. We dub our agricultural labourers as unskilled workers. This is to skill an agricultural unit. So, teams were formed; they owned certain machines and there is a piece rate for the farmer. So, there is no haggling involved. Kerala government wages are unbelievably high. They (farmers) do everything; nobody needs to supervise. Production has increased by at least 20%-30%; wages have gone up, and everybody is happy. For the landless agricultural labour, this offers a potential.
I saw a small incident in the marketing part called the Nagpur Naturals. I saw the case study. All this shows that there are huge lessons that can be drawn from SHGs and FPOs to address the multiple problems of rural India- developmental, economic, ecological, social, and political.
The third item includes – as I had mentioned in the beginning – Panchayats. Somehow, we have a wrong understanding of Panchayats. We have 2, 4800 Panchayats. They get huge money. They didn’t earlier; but after the 14th Finance Commission they have been getting a lot of money. The 14th Finance Commission alone has given two lakh crore rupees to Gram Panchayats! Add to this, NGREGAs which have given another two lakh… they have been spending Rs. 4 lakh crore since 2015-20! So, it come to Rs. 1 lakh crore a year. Which is a huge amount, but they are not spending it properly. That is because they don’t have the capacity. We cannot dismiss them. There are huge arguments in favour of Panchayats. I do not wish to get into an argument regarding the existence of Panchayats: India is a tragic tale of missed opportunities.
I always feel that Gandhi ji was right when he emphasized that Panchayat was the way forward. Ambedkar, too, was right when he criticized Panchayats for their casteism, localism, and corruption.
I was born in 1957 but I have interacted with a lot of India’s freedom fighters. Who were these freedom fighters? They were teachers, lawyers, students of higher education, farmers, and some agricultural workers. After Independence they returned to their villages to pursue their vocations. Just imagine if they had become Panchayat leaders and Panchayat presidents! Gandhiji would have been proved right and casteism would have disappeared. India would been different. But now there is no point in crying over this: it appears we have missed all our chances of reviving Panchayati Raj.
Now, there is a small, faint chance. We have the resources and we have the Constitution. Can we have management there? It’s a new genre. There is no management of Panchayats. Urban local governance itself is an emerging discipline, even in the West. Managing a tiny Panchayat means managing with the people- it’s called power width. There is huge potential with the people and the elected representatives. They should all work together- the Panchayats, SHGs, and FPOs. They are all rural institutions. One is an institution of the people and the other for the people. If they come together – this is not idealism – India can be transformed. For this you need to put the small things together.
My long experience with Panchayati Raj tells me this is possible. I keep lecturing about the Panchayati Raj to young officers at the Mussoorie Academy and they just switch off their minds. All my lectures had fallen flat, till I came out with a new point: there is no developed country without an elected local governance system. Reflect on that.
Is there any country in the world which does not have an elected local governance system? Somehow, I think, this not much analyzed in development, but it is required. So my request to IRMA is this: look at the three together and their coverage, their magnitude, the population, the potential resources. Look at the knowledge application in those areas and the professors need to look at new knowledge generation and what will be its impact? It will be AMUL manifold; if we can try this even in one district.
These are some action points… include these in your curriculum. Do some action research on this. Mentor Panchayats who are willing- in the vicinity; you do not have to travel very far. I know you get students from Kudumbashree. You engage in relevant knowledge creation.
Network with similar organizations including NGOs and CSOs. If you can be proactive, I can tell you from my long years of experience that your contribution will be greater than the AMUL achievement.
IRMA is an institution that is capable of molding the minds of youngsters in the 21st century. Where people talk about five and six figure salaries, IRMA still continues to instill certain values. I have seen only two other institutions doing that. One is the Tata Institute of Social Sciences- my son is an alumnus. The other is Christian Medical College in Vellore. They get high salaries, yet 20 to 25 per cent of CMC graduates are working in the interiors (which don’t even have a name) comprising very poor marginalized sections.
I am not requesting you to devote a lifetime- only a few years. So, even if you end up managing Artificial Intelligence projects, you will do them better. Your performance, even in a hi-tech area will be better if you have served in rural areas. I cannot give you scientific reasons for this, but it is a reality.
All of you are placed, so I cannot influence you but do a sabbatical. One year should be enough. I have seen young people from the US doing this. We launched a program called PMRDF for which we had 4-5 people who left jobs giving them ten lakh rupees worth of salaries to work in these so-called left wing and extremist areas.
I am a student of English Literature. Wordsworth says: “That best portion of a good man's life; His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”
So do not go for big start-ups; I can say this after a long career in the civil services. I may not remember anything, but maybe I helped a small petitioner or wiped a tear, solved a small problem. I did a lot of work in Panchayati Raj with Kudumbashree, but more than that I remember my 11 months- the best part of my civil services’ career in which I was Secretary and Chief Secretary to the Government of India. Yet my best memories do not include my stints in these two roles but in the ITDC as an equivalent of the BDO in a tribal area when I was young. I am not boasting but that is it. These kinds of things can make a fuller professional of you. Try it.
I would like to conclude with Gandhiji’s words. They are most repeated, especially in government offices. I saw them in my rural development office in Delhi. But we don’t reflect on them.
I will not read the whole thing. When you are in doubt… professionals and managers are never in doubt. Civil servants, too, are never in doubt. But when self gets too much of managers or civil servants, what are you supposed to do? Look at the poorest and weakest person and ask: will my action be of any use? Will that person gain? I reflected on that.
Gandhi ji said, “Restore to control over life and destiny.” That’s capabilities. You have control over your life and destiny. What is life? The present. What is destiny? The future. If you can do that, then that is real ‘swaraj’. Not only that, your Self will melt away. Reflect on this. Read it several times. It will do you good even if you are doing a high-end project.
As a teenager I read a poem written by a Sufi poet whose name I cannot recall. He said, “Destroy religious institutions. Burn the symbols, religious books. Disobey all the commandments…” An extremely religious person, he said finally, “Do all this but do not hurt a human soul.” The worst sacrilege is hurting a human soul. So, as managers, please keep this last point in mind. This is what my Director… last Dr. Verghese Kurien, we had an iconic Director. Mr. Dilip Rath would have had the same Director in the Mussoorie Academy. Mr. PS Appu. He gave us two pieces of advice: “Don’t think IAS officers should be professionals in industries and finances. There is one section of Indian society that does not have professional support- these are the poor of India. So the task of an IAS officer is to work for the poor of India, nothing else. Not finance, industry, or tourism”. He made this very clear. The last point that he made hit us close to our hearts. He said, “If ten per cent of you practice ten per cent of what we teach you, the job is done.”
So, if ten per cent of you try to follow what I told you (applause) the job will be done. You will be remembered. The institution will be remembered by you. When I was a small child my father quoted a line from thiruvellarai: “The greatest contribution a child can give to a parent is seeing a child grow up as an adult; if people say ‘if this is such a great man, what greater persons would have been his parents’.” (Applause)
When people see an IRMAN at work, they should say “what a great institution would have produced such persons. (Applause)
That is my advice. Thanks a lot and, once again, I feel really honoured. Thank you!
