In a bid to include rural perspective in decision making at the middle and senior managerial levels of the corporates and agri-businesses, the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) will soon launch a 15-month Post Graduate Diploma Programme for executives.
The programme, which is likely to be launched from January 2019, will have a strength of 60, out of which 30 will be sponsored by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and be for suitable and qualified candidates recommended by the Farmer Producer Organisation (FPOs) or cooperative dairies.
“The rest of the 30 participants will be given placement assistance on completion of the course. A minimum of four years’ experience will be required in any domain. The 15-month course will have one year of classroom teaching and three months of project work or internship,” said Prof Hitesh Bhatt, Director of the institute.
Notably, in 1990-91, IRMA was among the first to launch a one-year diploma programme in rural management, which was sponsored by NDDB and the dairy cooperatives, primarily to meet the requirements of dairy professionals under Operation Flood.
“After the third phase of Operation Flood ended in 1996, the one-year programme, popularly known as OYP, was also suspended. This created a vacuum for a course suitable for executives who were interested in pursuing rural management. The new course will be unique in its structure,” said Prof Saswata Biswas, Organsational behaviour and HR.
What is it?
Operation Flood was launched in 1970 to help dairy farmers strengthen their own future by way of organised dairy farming. Rolled out in three phases, the last phase of the programme was aimed at enabling dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen infrastructure to procure and market milk.
According to Biswas, the new executive programme will have broader applications, beyond dairy sector. It will have three key components — functional areas of management, perspective building for rural management and social marketing (such as marketing of social goods such as health, sanitation and mother and child care, among others).
Admission
Screening for the new course will take place through a score of common admission test (CAT) or XAT. This will be followed by IRMA’s own internal test, ISAT — IRMA Social Aptitude Test, group discussions and personal interview.
Currently, IRMA offers a two-year Post Graduate Diploma in rural management (PGDRM, equivalent to masters), a fellow programme in rural management (equivalent to doctoral programme) and a certificate programme in rural management, with total student strength of 360.
Institute of Rural Management, Anand, IRMA, Post Graduate Diploma Programme for Executives, National Dairy Development Board, Farmer Producer Organisation, Cooperative Dairies, Dairy Farmers, Operation Flood