Rural Innovations

In a country like India innovations are more referred as “jugaad”. Though the dictionary does not explain such kind of words, but every person in India understands the importance of jugaad. India has one of the largest systems for agricultural research in the world. However this system has focused predominantly on strengthening of cereal production under irrigated conditions. It would be essential that they participate in all decision making which cater to overall development of rural india. India also needs to increase its efforts to tap into the rapidly growing stock of global knowledge through channels such as FDI, technology licensing, importation of capital merchandise that embody knowledge, as well as advanced products, components, and services. This chapter analyses and focuses on various innovative practices done with the help of Government, Public Private Partnership, private Players, Individuals, NGOS, etc

Revitalizing ICDS

ICDS-Integrated Child Development Services is India's only government program for combating the rampant malnutrition prevalent in young children. In this chapter, the authors aim to examine the need and scope of ICDS scheme, its services and countrywide reach; considering that every fifth child in the world lives in India, this scheme is critical to ensuring that today's children who are our citizens of tomorrow are well nurtured and nourished, thus securing the country's future. Also its efficacy in achieving stated objectives is assessed through analysis of vital parameters such as nutritional status, mortality rates etc. Further, the bottlenecks facing the scheme such as lack of adequate sanitation facilities and supervisory staff etc. are studied and the initiatives taken by the government to revitalize it are also examined. The transformation into Mission Mode has ushered in programmatic, institutional and management reforms and renewed thrust on creating awareness through an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign.

Study of Carbon Footprint in Organizations

With the ever increasing intrusion of humans in the environment, it is imperative that individuals and organizations as a unit contribute to an ecologically sustainable environment. With the awareness about carbon emissions and their long term effects increasing; more and more companies are investing in achieving greener ways of production This chapter aims to study how socially/ environmentally conscious today's corporations are, and what courses of action are being taken towards a greener and carbon neutral society in terms of saving basic equivalents of resources such as paper, water, electricity etc. In this chapter we have conducted a survey to analyze the major sources of carbon emission in corporate offices and discuss how corporations can be engaged in contributing to a greener environment.

The Impact of Kisan Call Centers on the Farming Sector

The Indian Agriculture has been an area with varied challenges. This sector is responsible for the growth rate and generating a per capita income. This sector generates a whopping 28% of the total GDP of India and over 15% of the total exports. The usage of Internet and phone technology can fill these gaps to a large extent. A continuous two way interaction among the farmers and agricultural scientists will ensure agricultural extension. A landmark step was taken on January 21, 2004 when the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, launched Kisan Call Centers (KCC) with the help of the extensive telecom industry to deliver extension services to the farming community. The main purpose of these call centers is to answer the queries raised by the farmers in their local language, on continuous basis. At present the Kisan Call Centers are running from 14 locations all over India. In this chapter, we are trying to analyze how this strategy to help the farming community was introduced and how it is being implemented.

Feasibility Study for Setting up a Community Radio

In this chapter the authors have tried to identify the feasibility of setting up a community radio station in agriculture hubs in India to create awareness about various agriculture credit schemes, government sponsored schemes, best farming practices and weather information amongst farmers. The authors are of the opinion that a more informed farmer will lead to better planning and stave off farmer suicides. While the community radio program could be an effective medium for disseminating information, its penetration and acceptance in a rural community depends upon some key factors such as proximity of the place to an urban location where visual media enjoys a wider audience. The chapter attempts to bring forth the challenges faced in establishing a CR program in Raghunathpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh and sheds light on why the initiative may not be viable. Finally the authors conclude the study by suggesting other alternatives of empowering the Indian farmer in such locations.

Regional Economic Imbalances

The importance of inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in economic development of India is widely known, analyzed and well accepted in the post-liberalization era. But such inflows have created regional disparities within India owing to their concentration in select geographical locations (states) only. This should be brought into socio-economic discourses and policy formulation and as such, this chapter is an attempt to understand the linkage between FDI and regional economic growth of India. The chapter is divided into three parts.Part-1presents phases of evolution of FDI policies that made an impact on the business condition in India post independence,Part-2presents economic condition of various states and also discusses the FDI inflows to these states since 1991.In Part-3, some policy measures has been suggested to remove this anomaly in our development process so as to make economic development with FDI more stable and inclusive.

Talent Management

Changing of the world scenario, blurring boundaries in international and national markets and shifts in demographic profile of people have opened a new chapter of management thinking on ‘strategies for retention of talent'. Skill unavailability, employee poaching, high costs of training and development, absolute necessity of international exposure are the alarming signals for organizations to shrug off their complacency-nap and get going for talent management. Talent Management is a wide function encompassing strategic planning, talent staffing, development-focus, performance management, compensation management etc. to manage retaining talent in the organization. This review paper is an attempt to throw some light on this vista.

Tackling Energy Issues in Rural India

India is an energy deficient country and this deficiency is more felt in the rural villages of India. More than half of the villages are not electrified. Villages have many renewable resources and if these resources are put into effective use, the energy crunch can be mitigated. Such a renewable resource is rice husk which is perceived as a waste product. In this chapter, the authors have studied the potential of rice husk as a source of electricity for the rice producing villages of India. A particular village in the state of Uttar Pradesh was chosen to conduct the research to analyze the viability of a rice husk power plant. Various methods of converting biomass into energy have been discussed and based on research the biomass gasification method has been suggested as the most appropriate. The various advantages and challenges of using this technology, uses for by-products are discussed in this chapter. A workable business model has also been outlined along with future strategies and implications.

Mapping the Rural Retail of India

The case here tries to sensitise its readers towards what is one of the largest privatized and yet highly unorganised retail store formats in the world. The case in question talks about how the backward integration and adoption of set standards by the small time retailers can in turn benefit the end consumer tangibly as well as intangibly. Our research, first entailed, outlining the methodology and the singling out the markets of Greater Ghaziabad catchment areas in Uttar Pradesh for our research. The study is diversified according to various parameters like the age of business, & the customers these businesses are targeting. All in all the chapter tries to communicate to its readers, the importance of understanding the dynamics of doing business in rural retail sector of India, whether relatively organised or unorganised.

Solar Micro Grids

Like most of the developing countries, India also has a large number of off-the-grid villages. In spite of government's efforts at rural electrification, many villages cannot hope for grid power in the near future because the cost of setting up the distribution infrastructure. But when these villages come on grid, they place an additional demand on the distribution network and most states are already facing several hours of power cuts because conventional electricity is scarce. Thus these villages remain un-electrified for the simple reason that electricity is not available. This case study deals with the innovative business model of the company “Mera Gao Power” which sets up “Solar Micro Grids” in villages. It further analyses the impact of Solar Power on the socio-economic parameters of the villages where the project has been implemented. Further it discusses the various challenges faced by MGP in sustaining and expanding this business model.