Page 77 - EducationWorld October 2020

Institute of Rural Management, Anand

n alumnus of IIT-Delhi and the
Ablue-chip Georgia Tech Univer-
sity, Atlanta (USA) with professional
experience in Reliance Industries,
Mafatlal Industries and the Sunflag
Group (Tanzania), PROF. HITESH
BHATT signed up in 2010 with the In-
stitute of Rural Management, Anand
(IRMA, estb.1979), Gujarat, founded
by the legendary Dr. Verghese Kurien,
and was promoted to the director’s
office in 2017. Excerpts from an
interview:

By common consensus, IRMA is ranked
India’s #1 agriculture/rural India B-school.
What in your opinion are the major
achievements of IRMA?
Institute of Rural Management
Anand (IRMA) was established in
1979 by Dr. Verghese Kurien, father
of India’s White Revolution. The IRMA campus. Inset: Prof. Hitesh Bhatt
philosophy behind the institute was
to professionalise managements of
organisations that serve underserved Over a period of 38 years, IRMA has public demand. India’s agriculture
sectors of our economy. The unique been able to attract the best students universities and IRMA have all con-
strength of IRMA is our ability to as well as the best corporates and tributed to increased productivity and
develop managers with capability voluntary organisations for campus management of farm produce.
to nurture agriculture-focused recruitment. This is because of the
institutions and organisations. Over high pedigree of our faculty members What’s your take on the new legislation
the past 40 years, IRMA has certified and excellent rural development passed by Parliament to liberalise and
3,500 nation builders and global curriculum. IRMA’s commitment to deregulate Indian agriculture?
leaders who have been awarded knowledge creation has led to its re- The three Bills passed by Parliament
our two-year postgraduate diploma invention as a knowledge institution recently will enable farmers to sell
in rural management to fulfill Dr. as opposed to a mere hub for teach- their produce freely to any purchaser
Kurien’s dream. ing, training and research. rather than bind them to highly
Some of our most notable alumni cartelised APMCs. Moreover, cash-
are: Dr. R.S. Sodhi, managing direc- Despite 60 percent of India’s population starved farmers can now lease their
tor of the Gujarat Milk Marketing being engaged in agriculture/farming, land to individuals and companies
Federation (Amul); V. Vivekanandan, this sector contributes only 17 percent of on contract basis to earn rents and
CEO, South Indian Federation of annual GDP. How do you explain the low perhaps a share of income. Farmers
Fishermen Societies; Alkesh Kumar productivity of Indian agriculture? can sign farming agreements with
Sharma, IAS; Sanjeev Asthana, CEO, This is a misreading of the situation. agribusiness firms, processors,
Ruchi Soya; Angshu Mallick, COO, It’s not agriculture production and wholesalers, exporters etc, for sale
Adani Wilmar Ltd; Girish Menon, productivity that has gone down. It of farm produce at mutually pre-
CEO, ActionAid UK; Sivakumar is because the share of the services agreed prices. The resistance to
Surampudi, CEO, ITC (e-Choupal sector in the economy has risen ex- the legislation is mainly from large
initiative); Andy Mukherjee, business ponentially. Until the mid-1980s, the farmers in the agriculture states in
journalist, Bloomberg; Rajiv Khan- contribution of the services sector to the north who are assured minimum
delwal, co-founder and executive GDP was negligible. But currently, support prices (MSP) for their
director, Aajeevika Bureau; Mayank its contribution is over 50 percent. produce. However, it’s important to
Midha, co-founder and CEO, GARV Therefore, the contribution of agricul- bear in mind that only 6 percent of
Toilets; Apoorva Oza, CEO, Aga Khan ture to GDP has declined. However, the country’s foodgrains is given MSP.
Rural Support Programme (India), agriculture production and produc- The remainder is sold in the market
Anusha Bharadwaj, executive direc- tivity has risen steadily. Foodgrain anyway. Now farmers have the
tor, Voice4Girls, among others. production has quintupled since 1950 freedom to sell to the APMCs/mandis
and there’s been great progress in at MSP or to anyone else. Competition
How satisfied are you with the growth and recent years of poultry, fisheries and among buyers will result in better
development of IRMA? dairy products in response to shifting prices for farm produce.

OCTOBER 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 77