Vrikshamandir

Year: 2019

RK Nagar Writes; Doubling farmers income

Doubling farmers income by 2022; a change in perspective is needed

The stated objective is most laudable. Farming- dairying included, is the largest employment generator in Indian economy and therefore anything that boosts farm income is bound to have a cascading effect on the other sectors of economy by way of increased demand for goods and services.

Mr. Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister while presenting the budget allocation for agriculture and animal husbandry mentioned that “We consider agriculture as an enterprise and want to help the farmer produce more from the same land parcel at lesser cost and simultaneously realize higher price for their produce”.

Clearly the government wants to double the income using a two pronged strategy- reduce cost of cultivation and increase production per unit of cultivated land, alongside a support price mechanism. Major allocations are geared towards this strategy.

Mr. Jaitley also announced the plan “Operation Greens” on the lines of “Operation Flood”-the program conceived in 1969 and implemented by the National Dairy Development Board of India, under the leadership and watchful eyes of Dr. V. Kurien, the father of white revolution. Operation Greens is intended to address “the challenges of price volatility for perishables crops like potato, tomato and onions”.

Now the issues: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’s reaction on this part of the budget is worth noting. He felt that the objective is unrealistic and unachievable in the given time frame. It is a simple arithmetic-to double the income in 5 years means an average annual increase of 20%. How much of it can be achieved by way of support price mechanism is a matter of debate given the fact that, to attain this kind of increase across the board covering all the crops, we need a very robust implementation machinery.

Going by the past experience, schemes to increase productivity and incomes, however well-intentioned cannot and have not been successfully implemented by the government machinery. There are two glaring examples of these failures; one, Small Famers Development Agencies (SFDA) and Marginal Farmers and Landless Agriculture laborers agency (MFAL) both conceived and implemented in early ‘70s by the central government disappeared without a trace in just few years after the launch.

The second and more recent example is that of ‘Technology mission on edible oils’. This was one of the 7 technology missions launched by late PM Mr. Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. He was very concerned with ever growing imports bill of edible oils that was robbing resource poor oilseeds farmers of India of the potential to increase their income. In 1989, Market Intervention Operation (MIO) was added in the program and linked it with the NDDB’s on-going oilseeds growers’ cooperatives program to speedily take the country on the path of self-sufficiency. So concerned was Mr. Rajiv Gandhi that the project was directly monitored by PMO. NDDB was chosen to implement MIO because it had successfully implemented ‘Operation Flood’ and demonstrated that the principles of empowering the farmers, when implemented with right focus can bring about spectacular results in no time.

The desired results were achieved. By the end of the 5 year period of MIO, India did become self-sufficient in edible oils. The days of regular commercial imports to augment supplies were over. The success of MIO has been briefly noted by Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s advisor on technology missions Sam Pitroda on his website (www.sampitroda.com) in following words;

“India was importing one billion dollars of cooking oil each year, when large portions of Indian land are well suited to growing oil crops. Farmers did not grow these crops because they found other crops were more profitable. This was causing India costly economic situation.

Their goal was to make farmers see the benefits of planting oilseeds.

Kurien, who handled buffer stocks, described his plan as such: “We move into areas where there is gross exploitation and try to restructure the marketing system so that the small producer is not fleeced by middlemen or the oil kings.”

Once the intervention on oil was complete, India was exporting oil cake at the rate of 600 million per year.”

Now comes the catch. The Government of India did not extend the program (MIO) to consolidate on the nascent self-sufficiency in edible oils. It did not give another 5 years for the bond between the oilseeds growers’ cooperatives and NDDB (that was handling the marketing operation for the oil processed and packaged by the cooperatives) to strengthen. Political compulsions got better of the need to help and empower oilseeds farmers and the net results are for all of us to see. Today almost two-thirds of edible oil demand of India is met through cheap imports. Imagine the scale of lost income opportunity for the oilseeds farmers over the last 22 years.

I therefore view with apprehension any initiative of the government that keeps the strings in its own hands. Even the best intentioned plans can get botched either in the absence of a proper institutional mechanism to implement (like SFDA/ MFAL) or due to political compulsions (MIO). Mr. Jaitley’s announcements therefore need to be viewed in light of these experiences and absence of a credible institutional structure to implement the plans.

Operation Flood: Mr. Jaitley announced that the GOI wants to implement the program to handle the price volatility in the ‘perishables’ (Potato, Tomato, Onions) on the lines of ‘Operation Flood’. Here it is important, for the benefit of the uninitiated, to recall a few important points about ‘Operation Flood’. If today India is world’s largest milk producer and if the dairy sector is the highest contributor to GDP above grains, it is due to these important reasons and this journey was by no means quick and easy.

1.     It was world’s single largest “empowerment program”. It empowered millions of small resource poor farmers by (I am quoting Dr. Kurien) “placing the instruments of development in their own hands”. The success of Operation Flood (OF) was due to un-wavered focus over 30 years on empowering the farmers by creating institutions that are owned and managed by the farmers themselves.

2.     The focus was on transferring the benefit of value addition to the milk producers. Farmers own the entire value chain- from production to processing and marketing. They own both the infrastructure and the institution supported by well designed and implemented management systems.

3.     The program was not dependent on government funding and therefore, in a way remained immune to any political interference as also any possibility of derailment (like MIO).

4.     The first phase took a good 10 years to implement in 10 states against originally planned 7 years, as most states were unwilling even to try a development model that was successfully implemented in Gujarat and was already well known all over India as AMUL brand of dairy products, especially table butter.

The MIO, on the other hand took only 5 years purely because it had access to the institutions and infrastructure created over 10 years under NDDB’s “Oil project”.

Therefore, when we come to this laudable intend to double farmers’ income by 2022 through a slew of budgetary provisions, one has to ask “what is our state of preparedness to achieve the objective?” Who will implement the programs? Who will effectively deliver inputs for increased production? Are we prepared to address practical issues associated with handing perishables- fruit and vegetables? Do we know how to handle a heterogeneous mix of vegetables that the farmers grow? Who is going to invest in processing and marketing infrastructure? Will the farmers have a share in the processing infrastructure? If not, what is the guarantee that the benefits of value addition will percolate down to the producers? What is the guarantee that the farmers organizations, in the absence of any stake in processing, do not end up merely as just the basic link in the supply chain?

I am raising these concerns because even in the case of non-perishables like wheat, rice and pulses, where the price support system is well established, the benefit of value addition does not go to the producer. He has to contend with the price of the raw produce, more likely just the support price.

A beginning however is to be made somewhere somehow. This budget spells the intend of the government to make a beginning in the right direction. Let us hope that this time around the farmers do get the benefit of value addition and not just the support price.

RK Nagar worked with the National Dairy Development Board of India from 1969 to 1998 as a part of the senior management team in project planning, project management and operations of commodity business. He is currently a free lance Management Consultant, Value Chain Design and Development Specialist in Agribusiness and Rural Development. He is based in Toronto.

December 11, 2019
Who am I and why I am here

“Who am I” is a difficult question to answer to oneself or to others.

I have a name, a family, a position, certain status or lack thereof in life, owner of worldly possessions etc. But can the question “Who am I?”be answered fully by referring to any of the attributes referred above.

Before attempting an answer this question let me bring in another perspective

One thought that it is easy to even answer a simple question question that others often ask us “Who are you?”

Yes, we do answer but are our answers same or consistent all through our life.

Let me explain.

To find an answer to the question “Who are you?” don’t we need first find answer to the question “Who am I“ ? Because unless I know who am I, how can I answer the question “Who are you?”

However, it is only after or around the middle age some of us seriously start looking for answer to the question ”Who am I?”.

In real life we provide different answer to different people depending upon the stage of our life as well as when and by whom the question “Who are you ? was asked. This is because no serious thought has been given to find an answer to the question “Who am I?”

As a child we are son or a daughter of our parents, member of a family, or resident of a village or a resident of some part of a city. As we grow older our identity and our answer to the question “Who are you? “ keeps changing.

I was born in a farming family in a small village in Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh in India. Since our village home was under a huge Pipal tree we were known as “Pipre tar ke babu”.

Babu was a endearing term widely used and applied universally. I was called Babu by my parents, grand parents great grand father and other family members.

My son too was initially called Babu and now my grandson is our Babu.

My family was known as Pipre Tar ke Babu meaning the Babu or elders of the village who lived in a house under a Pipal tree.

To any one outside our family any member of our family was known and addressed as as Babu. But I couldn’t answer the question “Who are you?” by saying “I am Babu”.

Because if more than one of us from the our family was present it became imperative to be identified individually by a name or a nick name. I was called Shail babu and my uncle Munna babu.

If someone asked me the question “ Who are you?” I had to be careful as the answer couldn’t be “I am Babu” even though every one called me Babu!

We were all Babus!

For some reason my father was called Bengali Babu not Jaibax Babu. When I grew up I was told that my father had hair that made him look like a Bengali. My grandfather was called Bhaiya or a brother.
I

This was because my grandfather’s younger brother Vindhyachal Babu (whom I called Baba) Used to address his elder brother as Bhaiya every one started addressing him as Bhaiya not only the family members but and later as my grand father grew older every one in the village called him Bhaiya. Even my father and “I” his grand son both called him Bhaiya! He was known by the name Bhaiya in the village A’s also among our relations residing in other villages.

When I moved to the city for education after fifth standard to a school in Delhi no one called me Babu. I became Shailendra to people outside the family, Shailendra Kumar Singh in official school records and Babu within the family.

Babu was superimposed by Shailendra. Uncles continued to call me Babu. Sisters and mother too continued addressing me as Babu as they do so even today. Many of my friends started calling me Shailu and their sons and grand children Shailu uncle.

Does that mean that I changed over time and depending on who was addressing me. No I am same. I remained the same. Identifier of “I” changed. Did I change well yes and no. My body has undergone change, my thinking has changed, my way of living has changed but I feel that I remain “I”.

So “Who am I ?” I really don’t know. Do you ?

Now the second part of the question. Why I am here ?

Well I will attempt to answer that question once I know who am “I”.

I hope, some day I when I find an answer I will be able to revert as these questions have made me seriously 🤔 think!

December 8, 2019

Identity
मानव संसाधन विकास
अगस्त 1999 में लिखी यह गद्य कविता खो गई थी । बरसों बाद मिली । इसे 2020 नवंबर में वृक्षमंदिर पर प्रकाशित किया गया था ।

“नीयत” और “नियति“ की कश्मकश की धुँध मे जब ज़िंदगी को कुछ सूझता नहीं, समझ में नहीं आता तब चल पड़ती है ज़िंदगी , “नियति” द्वारा “नियत” किये गये रास्ते पर ! क्यों कि चलते रहना तो ज़िंदगी की नियति है ! चरैवेति चरैवेति

जीवन के संध्या काल में समझ में आता है, कि मानवी को जब यह निर्णय न कर पाये कि ज़िंदगी की डगर पर अब कैसे आगे बढ़ें , मन बुद्धि दिग्भ्रांत हो जाये तब “नियति” ही निर्णय करती है और अपने द्वारा “नियत” राह पर चलने को कहने लगती है और चलना ही पड़ता है !
मानव संसाधन विकास

साल रहा होगा उन्नीस सौ सडसठ अड़सठ

कहा संस्था से सरकार से

धन्ना सेठ के खाते पीते परिवार से

मुझे नही जानना तुम चाहते या माँगते क्या हो

हम मानेंगे जो कहोगे कहेंगे जो चाहोगे

बस हम चाहते हैं एक अदद नौकरी ।

क्योंकि

जीवन से कराती है साक्षात्कार नौकरी

नून तेल लकड़ी का करती है इन्तज़ाम नौकरी

वर वधू संबंधों को मधुर बनाती है नौकरी

सड़क छाप लौंडे को भी बेटा कहलवाती है नौकरी ।

ख़ैर जब नौकरी दी एक संस्था ने

लगा जैसे वीराने मे सब्ज़बाग़ की बहार दी

तब कहा गया था

ईमानदारी, प्रामाणिकता और प्रतिबद्धता होंगे सोपान प्रगति के

आकांक्षाओं की लहरें जब करे विचलित तब विचार करना उनका जिन्हे नही मिली नौकरी ।

कहाँ गये वो दिन जब एहसास था संस्था चलती है हम से ,

जीवन के संध्या काल के जब बचे दिन थोड़े शेष

कार्य संपादन, मानव संसाधन विकास, संस्था विकास,

उत्पादन, विपणन, निवेश, ईर्ष्या , द्वेष

आने वाला था शताब्दी का अंत

न आगे बढ़ने की होड़,

पीछे न हटने का मोह,

देखे सब

दौड़ता जीवन रुक सा गया

आपाधापी मारामारी

पर

अब भी ईमानदारी, प्रामाणिकता और प्रतिबद्धता

नामधारी प्रगति के सोपानों की खोज है जारी ।

ईमानदार है वह जो सम्मानित हो,

प्रामाणिकता बाँधती है

प्रतिबद्धता मूर्खता का पर्याय बन चुकी है

कार्य कुशलता बाज़ारों मे बिकती है

बिकते हैं, ख़रीदते है और बेचते हैं

कार्य कुशलता

मानव संसाधन के विकास के लिये

वही जिन्हे है नसीब अब भी नौकरी

8/8/1999
December 4, 2019

HRD, Human Resource Development
गिरना

सब गिरना ही तो है

Photo by Dan Cristian Pădureț on Pexels.com

ऊँचाई से नीचे आना

गिराया जाना, परदे का

ख़ुद को खुद की नजरों में गिर जाना

दंडवत होना, श्रद्धावश अथवा क्षमा माँगते हुये ही सही

सब गिरना ही तो है

जैसे

नाले का नदी का मे गिरना

नदी का समुद्र मे मिल जाना

ह्रास शक्ति का

सम्मान खोना

प्रभाव के अभाव मे स्तरहीन होना

December 4, 2019

कविता
Resources and Links to Web Pages
https://archive.org/stream/BrickByBrick-StoryOfIimAhmedabadIndia/brickbyredbrick-150_djvu.txt

Portraits of ….

over the years..

My mothers recipes
https://fromammaskitchen.blogspot.com/

Hindi Poetry

https://chakradhar.in/kavi-sammelan/poets/

Books on and by Dr Kurien
AMUL: An Experiment in Rural Economic Development Story, 1981 by Singh, S.P. and Paul L. Kelly, Macmillan India Ltd.
Management Kurien Style: The story of the white revolution, 1989 by MV Kamath published by Konark Publishers.
An Unfinished Dream – a compilation of all the speeches made by Dr Kurien available till 1997 (when the book was published by Tata McGraw Hill ) with a forward by Norman Borlaug
I too had a Dream, 2005 by Gouri Salvi and a forward by Ratan Tata published by Roli Books
The man who made the elephant dance, Audio book published by Times Group
- AMUL: An Experiment in Rural Economic Development Story, 1981 by Singh, S.P. and Paul L. Kelly, Macmillan India Ltd.
- Management Kurien Style: The story of the white revolution, 1989 by MV Kamath published by Konark Publishers.
- An Unfinished Dream – a compilation of all the speeches made by Dr Kurien available till 1997 (when the book was published by Tata McGraw Hill ) with a forward by Norman Borlaug
- I too had a Dream, 2005 by Gouri Salvi and a forward by Ratan Tata published by Roli Books
- The man who made the elephant dance, Audio book published by Times Group
Links to research papers and news items

1- DairyIndia Yearbook

https://indiadairy.com

2- “Embeddedness and the Dynamics of Strategy Processes: The Case of AMUL Cooperative, India” by Abhijit Ghosh published in 2010.

http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1575057321992~777

3- Analyzing the effectiveness of a Dairy Cooperative/“ Pen State University Repository 2011 by Parth Shah

http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=sire

4- https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/economy/story/19840115-nddb-scientists-officials-resign-in-protest-against-operation-flood-article-mps-remark-770328-2013-07-12

5- https://indiadairy.com/expert-article/an-improbable-dream-verghese-kurien-was-a-transformational-leader/

6- http://indiapolicy.org/lists/india_policy/1998/Oct/msg00283.html

7- http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/school-inspired-leadership-elevates-mr-shailendra-kumar-board-member

8- https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2827915/PGDM/SOIL%20School%20of%20Business%20Design%20-%20Brochure.pdf

9- http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/898971468771698566/pdf/multi0page.pdf

10- http://www.indianet.nl/a870719.html

11- https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/economy/story/19840131-national-dairy-development-board-verghese-kurien-faces-worst-attacks-on-his-credibility-802725-1984-01-31

12- https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/economy/story/19840115-nddb-scientists-officials-resign-in-protest-against-operation-flood-article-mps-remark-770328-2013-07-12

13- https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/nddb-chief-meets-pm-wants-to-quit/

14- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46442058_Rural_and_urban_linkages_Operation_Flood’s_role_in_India’s_dairy_development

15- https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/golwalkar-told-kurien-that-it-was-actually-just-politics/292210

16- https://indiadairy.com/?s=Michael+Halse&p_type=ea

17- https://openthemagazine.com/society/the-limits-of-good-behaviour/

18- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312174197_Recent_Demand-Supply_and_Growth_of_Oilseeds_and_Edible_Oil_in_India_an_Analytical_Approach

19- Restructuring Edible Oil and Oilseeds Economy of India

M. L. JhalaEconomic and Political WeeklyVol. 19, No. 39 (Sep. 29, 1984), pp. A111-A113+A115-A117+A119-A121+A123-A128Published by: Economic and Political Weekly https://www.jstor.org/stable/4373618

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/vishwa-hindu-parishad-plans-panchavati-in-every-village-to-plant-tulsi/articleshow/46174558.cms

IIMA
December 3, 2019
क्या हनुमान ने सूर्य को सचमुच लील लिया था ?
जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू
लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू

तथाकथित “लिबरल” “सेक्यूलर” “आधुनिक” शिक्षा ने,भारत जैसे देश मे जिसका हज़ारों साल का इतिहास और परंपरा रही है, रैशनल थिंकिंग के नाम पर जुमलेबाजी और परंपरा का उपहास करना तो ख़ूब सिखाया पर कोई आलटर्नेटिव सोच देने मे असमर्थ रही है। फलस्वरूप शाब्दिक अर्थ तथा अपनी सीमित सोच और पुस्तकीय ज्ञान के तथा ”लिबरल” “सेक्यूलर” “आधुनिक” शिक्षकों द्वारा प्रशिक्षित “सुधी जन” किसी भी दूसरी तरह सोचने मे असमर्थ ही नही वरन सोचने का प्रयत्न भी नही करते।

अपने को लिबरल माने वाले वास्तव मे ख़ुद ही कंज़र्वेटिव ( रूढ़िवादी )हैं । यहाँ रॉबर्ट कॉन्क्वेस्ट की राजनीति के तीन नियमों ( https://www.isegoria.net/2008/07/robert-conquests-three-laws-of-politics/) का उल्लेख उचित रहेगा ।

1-हर कोई उस विषय मे में रूढ़िवादी है जो विषय वह जानता है।

2-कोई भी संगठन स्पष्ट रूप से दक्षिणपंथी नही है वह जल्द ही या बाद में वामपंथी बन जाता है।

3- किसी भी नौकरशाही संगठन के व्यवहार की व्याख्या करने का सबसे सरल तरीका यह माना जाता है कि वह अपने दुश्मनों के एक कैबेल ( चालबाज़ गुट) द्वारा नियंत्रित होता है।

वैसे इस बात पर भी विवाद है कि क्या वास्तव में राबर्ट जी ने ही इन नियमों का प्रतिपादन किया था 🤔
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/38217/did-robert-conquest-ever-state-his-three-laws-of-politics
….कोई प्राथमिक स्रोत नहीं मिल रहा है, सब कुछ स्वयं संदर्भित हो रहा है।

ख़ैर जो भी हो सो हो पर पहला नियम इन अपने को “लिबरल” मानने वालों पर वास्तव मे “रूढ़िवादियों पर पूरी तरह लागू होता है ।

भारतीय परंपरा मे ज्ञान सिर्फ़ किताबी ही नही वरन रूपक, अन्योक्ति, छद्म रूप से भी कहा, सुना और समझा जाता है ।गुरू बाहरी हो अथवा अपने अंदर बैठे गुरू का आह्वान कर हम समझने का प्रयास करते हैं । हिंदू परंपरा किताबी परंपरा नही है। हमारी परंपरा खुला आमंत्रण देती है अन्वेषण कर अपना अर्थ निकालने का ।

इसी लिये हम परंपरागत रूप से अरूढिवादी रहे हैं । आजकल की प्रजातांत्रिक राजनैतिक होड़ मे जो विकृतियाँ हो रही है यदि उनसे हम अपना ध्यान हटा कर देखे तो सही माने मे हिंदू या सनातन सोच ही लिबरल सोच है । तभी तो सभी प्रकार मे मत मतांतरों, दर्शनों को अपने मे समावेश कर यह परंपरा अब भी जीवित है । ऐसे परिवेश मे जब इस परंपरा को नासमझ, उपहास उड़ाने वाले रूढ़िवादी , ब्राह्मणवादी,स्त्रीविरोधी, प्रतिक्रियावादी और न जाने किन किन नामो से पुकारने लगे हैं। हताशा तो इस बात की है कि तथा कथित आधुनिक हिंदू धर्म परंपरा रक्षक भी ऐसा व्यवहार करते है जैसा किताबी धर्मों के कुछ बेवक़ूफ़ अनुयायी !

बताये कौन सा धर्म या परंपरा यह डंके की चोट पर यह कहती है

इदं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् ।

एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निम् यमं मातरिश्वानमाहु:।।

ऋग्वेद-1/164/46

अर्थात

एक ही सत् को सत् को जानने वाले ज्ञानी जन इन्द्र, मित्र, वरुण, अग्नि , सुंदर पंख वाले गरुड, यम तथा मातरिश्वा के नाम से पुकारते हैं ।

क्या अन्य मतावलंबी ऐसा कहेंगे। उनका रास्ता उनका ही है या जो अन्य माने उनका । बाक़ी जायें भाड़ मे ।

यदि कोई हनुमान जी की सूर्य को निगलने की बात को पाखंड माने तो ठीक है । जिनकी श्रद्धा है हनुमान जी के प्रति वह तो मानेगा । अब वह या तो शाब्दिक अर्थ लेगा नही तो गहराई मे जायेगा । जो गहराई मे जायेगा वह उसका अर्थ तीसरे प्रकार से से लेगा । दोनो या तीनों ठीक हैं अपनी अपनी दृष्टि से ।

“इस संदर्भ में, सूर्य इस सापेक्ष विश्व-स्वर्ग में सर्वोच्च प्राप्ति का प्रतीक है। साधन दो है सकाम कर्म या प्रवृत्ति मार्ग (कर्म या कर्मों का फल भोगने का मार्ग) या निवृत्ति मार्ग या भीतर की ओर मुड़ने का मार्ग है।

जब आकाश में एक चमकदार फल होने का विश्वास करते हुए, एक बच्चे के रूप में, हनुमान जी सूर्य की ओर बढ़े और उसे निगल लिया, तो आकाश के स्वामी इंद्र ने उसे अपने वज्र ( प्रवृत्ति का बल) से संसार को घोर अंधकार से बचाने के लिए प्रहार किया। इससे हनुमान जी के अभिमान की प्रतीक ठुड्डी टूट गई ।हनुमान यानि जिसकी ठोड़ी टूटी हो !

साधक का ध्यान हनुमान का नाम ही -यानि वह जिनकी ठोड़ी टूटी हुई है – बरबस विनम्रता की ओर ले जाता है । विनम्रता ही भक्त की साधना का वह महान गुण है जो भक्त को मुक्ति के उसके लक्ष्य तक ले जाता है यानि निवृत्ति या अंतर्मुखी होने का मार्ग ।

-स्वामी ज्योतिर्मयानंद की टिप्पणी पर आधारित, “हनुमान चालीसा की गूढ़ व्याख्या”

In this context, the sun is the symbol of the highest attainment in this relative world-Swarga or heaven-the goal of sakamya karma or pravritti marga (the path of enjoying the fruits of one’s karma or actions). When, as a child, Hanuman bounded towards the sun and swallowed it, believing it to be a shining fruit in the sky, Indra, the lord of the heavens, struck him with his thunderbolt (the force of pravritti) to save the world from utter darkness. This broke the chin of Hanuman (symbolic of breaking his pride). Thus, the very name Hanuman (broken chin) beckons the mind of the aspirant to humility, a supreme devotional quality that leads the devotee to the highest goal-that is a desire to follow nivritti marga or the path of turning inward to seek liberation.

हनुमान चालीसा

Search for:
November 28, 2019

Culture, Religion, Spirituality
Why this website and these blogs
How it all began

Who am I ? don’t know but I know that I was born in a small village Banduari in eastern UP in a farming family known for being “just” given the times that we lived in those days and depended upon agriculture and animal husbandry and also for love of wrestling. I am told that our ancestors lived in that area for hundreds of years …But….

Like my father and his two younger brothers, I too left the village when I was about 21 years old. Prior to that as family stories go my great grand father sent my grand father to study beyond fifth standard to the city some 30 kilometres away. However, after 10-15 days my great grand father started missing his son and undertook a journey to go to the city and get back his son on his pony. Father and son met some halfway in between and came back to the village. That was end of story as far as my grand fathers formal higher education was concerned!

I was considered “good” in studies. My father was the first one in the family to pass matriculation examination and the first post graduate in our village. I also studied as I was expected to get a job and see the world and support the family.

I left the village but the village has never left me.

It was the same case with my father. He too lived away from our village most of his life but kept visiting the village regularly.

My father took the most unproductive ancestral land in the village and made it productive by hard work and investments over a decade and planted hundreds of trees trees and named this small plot of land as VrikshaMandir.

I attempt to continue the work started by my father by planting more trees undertaking agricultural activities and am attempting to develop this place so that it is used by the community especially school going students. .

Some old and recent pictures of Vrikshamandir
Banduari to Anand

My first job was with the National Dairy Development Board of India (NDDB)

NDDB has a website and the address is https://nddb.coop .

I was perhaps the 14th employee and I had the kitchen of a two storied two bedroom building ( Waghasia Building) that existed in 1968 next to AMUL dairy in Anand.

NDDB Office 1968

NDDB campus 1970 some pictures
A major change occurred in my professional life and outlook. In 1974 I was appointed as Executive Assistant to Dr. V Kurien the founder Chairman NDDB, Anand. Although my career graph grew and changed but connection with Dr. Kurien’s office in one way or the other continued till he left NDDB in 1998. NDDB Annual reports have a tradition of publishing name of officers on the rolls of the organisation in different functions. I would find my name appearing in two places a line function like Head of Oilseeds and Oil Wing or Head of Human Resource Development and a staff function like the Office of the Chairman NDDB. I did not last long in NDDB after Dr. Kurien left. That’s a long story and it is better kept for some other time .

Anand to Gurugram

Next seventeen years were once again start from the scratch. In the year 2000 my friend Anil Sachdev had just started Grow Talent Company Limited (GTCL) and I became second employee of GTCL. The company started the School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL https://www.soilindia.net) in 2008.
I have been associated with this organisation since 2000. I will be posting a separate blog on this novel experiment in leadership development higher education with the vision To Develop Leaders with Character, Competence ans Enthusiasm.

The story isn’t complete yet

I decided to launch this website and post blog for documenting life experiences, incidents, and insights observed and reflected upon from time to time by me as well as of those whom I came in to contact with; some of whom deeply impacted the course of my life journey. I am deeply indebted to them. There will be pages on this website and blogs dedicated to their life stories written by me or contributed by them.

Depending upon time of the year I can now be found at Gurugram, Toronto, Gorakhpur and at Vriksha Mandir in my village or any other place on the planet!

Dr MPG Kurup and RK Nagar are already contributing blogs on this website. Many other friends and former colleagues have said that they too will contribute. I hope they will do so soon. I am excited.

I would like to end this by a link to a mantra from Rig Veda. These Mantras are recited at the convocation of the Institute of Rural Management at Anand ( IRMA).
November 7, 2019

AMUL, Anand, Dr V Kurien, Operation Flood, Vrikshamandir