The Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said India’s ongoing transformation has positive aspects like increased consumption, rural connectivity, high representation in electoral process and increased participation through self-help groups and negatives like “collapse of public health system, ecological poverty, poor sanitation leading to malnutrition and poor hygiene and tribal deprivation”.

Addressing the 32nd Annual Convocation of the Institute of Rural Management-Anand (IRMA) at Anand, as chief guest, he motivated the premier body to build institutional linkages with the Ministry of Rural Development. He urged the graduating IRMAns to see how to sustain these positive changes and work towards mitigating and reversing the negatives in rural India.

Prof. Jeemol Unni, Director of IRMA, said the institute has set up the Dr. Verghese Kurien Memorial Lecture series in the memory of its founding father who passed away last year. She said the IRMA Five Year Plan envisages the scaling-up and building brand-IRMA in order to be more effective at the national and international level. IRMA has increased its flagship PRM batch strength by 60 seats and is expected to launch a Masters’ programme in rural development in 2014-15.

In order to remodel IRMA as an institution of knowledge creation and dissemination, it has also launched four Centres of Excellence in sustainable livelihoods, social entrepreneurship and enterprises, policy and local governance, and for rural infrastructure and CSR.

The Ministry of Rural Development has extended a grant of Rs 25 crore to IRMA in 2012 for this expansion plan.

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