The students from the first year PGP of IIM Indore went on “MP Darshan” for about a week recently in which they visited different districts of Madhya Pradesh to understand “Bharat”, study various government schemes, identify rural problems and offer recommendations to the local authorities. Around 200 students went to 19 districts of MP such as Satna, Panna, Guna, Katni etc. Along with this, 50 students visited BSF camps in Amritsar, Kolkata and Siliguri.

The exercise was part of the Government Immersion Program where students resided in districts and villages, analysed and tried to find solutions to the problems. These problems include those related to livelihood, rural economy and industries. As the students visited the districts at a time when the Panchayat elections were being held in some of these districts, they had an opportunity to experience the whole process first hand.

Sumant Wattas, a student of IIM Indore said that the experience was really enriching as this was the first time that he saw these proceedings so closely. He was amazed by the high turnout of the voters as it alluded towards the importance that the villagers gave to these elections.

The students learnt about various government schemes such as NREGA, Indira Awaas Yojna, Kapil Dhara and many more. They felt that the schemes laid out by the government were very inclusive in nature but their success depends on the ground level implementation.

Gaurav Mathur, a member of a group that visited Dewas district said that the practical implementation is much more difficult than what seemed on paper. A general observation of the groups was that the villagers are not very receptive towards the government schemes and it is difficult to imbibe a sense of ownership for the government-developed property amongst them. A communication programme to motivate villagers to develop a sense of ownership might go a long way in improving the effectiveness of the programme.

Students also visited various self help groups formed under the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana which provides assistance to the poor families living below the poverty line in rural areas for taking up self employment. The visit acted as an eye opener for the students, a majority of whom come from the urban India as they realised the value that the rural people give to basic amenities such as water, electricity etc. They also looked into the possibility of PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas), a pet project of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam in his visit to IIM Indore had motivated students to develop PURA plan for different districts of Madhya Pradesh.

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