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From the Director’s Desk Congratulations to

the CRICKET

(Centre for Rural

Innovation, Capacity

Building, Knowledge

management, Entrepreneurship and

Technology) Team on the successful launch

of the first Newsletter. I appreciate the

initiatives taken and efforts made by the

team to publish the Newsletter. We

established CRICKET at IMT Ghaziabad in

2011 with the objective of engaging the

faculty members and students in action

research related to the management of social

issues in the Indian context. CRICKET is a

platform for IMT students to broaden their

horizons and implementing their creative

ideas with professional guidance from IMT

faculty and external stakeholders. Through

the forum of CRICKET, students explore

the segments of rural innovators and micro

and small enterprises to acquire a learning

experience, which is inclusive and not

restricted to the corporate sector.

I believe there has been a very enthusiastic

response till date to the proposed

ICRICKET (the International Conference on

Rural Innovation, Capacity Building,

Knowledge management, Entrepreneurship

and Technology) being organized by

CRICKET on 2nd

& 3rd

January 2013. My

best wishes for the upcoming Conference,

and for all future endeavours of the

CRICKET team.

.

Dr.Bibek Banerjee, Director IMT Ghaziabad

& Academic Mentor, IMT Group

CRICKET Newsletter: The

Beginning of a New Journey

PROF. SURINDER BATRA, Dean Research & Head, CRICKET, IMT Ghaziabad

The grass root level

action research

initiative of IMT Ghaziabad, symbolized by

CRICKET (Centre for Rural Innovation,

Capacity Building, Knowledge

management, Entrepreneurship and

Technology) has taken several leaps forward

since 2011. The activities of CRICKET

were soft-launched in April 2011 itself, but

an official inauguration of CRICKET took

place on 17th

March 2012 when the

Honourable President of Team, Shri Pranab

Mukherjee (the then, Honourable Finance

Minister, Govt. of India) formally released

the CRICKET souvenir at the convocation

of PGDM 2010-12 batch.

Several faculty members and PGDM

students have contributed to the activities of

CRICKET since its inception. Four research

projects were completed in the last academic

year and two more research projects have

begun in the current academic year. Many

more are on the anvil. Kudos to the spirit of

research into the rural landscape of the

country, and creating innovative solutions

for the disadvantaged groups of the society!

ICRICKET, the upcoming International

Conference on Rural Innovation, Capacity

Building, Knowledge management,

Entrepreneurship and Technology, on 2nd

and 3rd

January 2013 will showcase many

Newsletter Vol. 1, Issue 1 August 20, 2012

Center for Rural Innovation & Capacity Building through

Knowledge Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology

Let’s Play CRICKET!

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more creative pursuits of highly esteemed

professionals working on these themes in

India and abroad. We expect a galaxy of

participants from foreign and Indian

business schools/ management institutes,

International Development and Research

Agencies and Government Organizations to

grace the occasion. Watch out for action. If

you wish to participate, please let us know

soon. For details, please see “Plan the New

Year 2013 Celebration with ICRICKET” at

http://www.imt.edu/Cricket/ICRICKET2013

.aspx

This CRICKET Newsletter is a new

initiative spearheaded by CRICKETCOM, a

body of student volunteers from PGDM

Second and First Year batches. It is an

attempt to reach out to all those to whom the

themes of CRICKET strike a chord. Please

feel free to give your feedback and

suggestions. The journey has just begun, and

we want you to be our partners in this

journey.

From the Coordinator’s Desk

Dr. NEERAJ AWASTHY, Manager Academic Programs and Coordinator, CRICKET

“India is a country with large rural economy

serviced effectively by its vast unorganized

sector. With CRICKET we are trying to

bring management education closer to the

real face of India by shifting the focus from

the class room teaching to field experience

working with myriad of unorganized

players. This has provided ample

opportunities to the students and

academician to work more closely with this

sector and enhance their learning. We have

received very encouraging feedback from all

our partners and this would not have been

possible without the effort of CRICKET

committee. This newsletter will further help

us in sharing our ideas, thoughts and build

community around it. I would like to thank

CRICKET team to come up with such a

good idea and believe that it will help us

achieve our objectives effectively.”

Contents CRICKET Newsletter: The Beginning

of a New Journey 1

From the Coordinator’s Desk 2

Experiential Learning through Action

Research at KCIPLIP 3

It’s SIX 5

Joy of Altruism 5

Waste to Energy: The two sides of the

coin 7

Genetically Modified Crops: No easy

answers 8

Conscious Capitalism: A Concept 8

Team Behind CRICKET 10

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Experiential Learning through Action Research at KCIPLIP

NUPUR GURBUXANI

The essence of

learning from and

participating in a

PGDM course is to

be able to apply all

we learn to real life

problems- real problems that surround us in

practicality and not ones that are merely

hypothesised.

I got such an opportunity during my second

year at IMT Ghaziabad by being a part of

the Kellogg CRTI – IMT Collaborative Peer

Learning Internship Program (KCIPLIP),

2012. Action research is the basis for this

internship program, and collaboration in

research with students from a world-class

business school lends it uniqueness in every

which way. ‘The program spans over a

period of ten weeks and Kellogg CRTI

(CRTI is the Centre for Research in

Technology and Innovation of Kellogg

School of Management, North Western

University) students are paired with IMT

students on action research projects for

specified host organizations in India. The

fellowship ensures an experiential

component of voluntary placements at the

identified host organizations and the

students apply their academic learning and

practical experience to address the needs of

the organizations.’

From the point of view of a management

student, I got the opportunity to do

marketing research through observation and

interviews during field visits, learnt how to

do the market analysis for prospective

business ideas and understood the

importance of improvisation in exploring

and conducting business that can only be

learnt through participation in action

research.

My experience as a participant in this

program goes beyond the learning through

my project. The mid-term retreat planned by

Sevayatra, a US based social organization

which is the program manager for this

internship, organized a visit to CHIRAG

(Central Himalayan Rural Action Group), an

NGO based in the Kumaun region of

Uttarakhand. CHIRAG works in almost 200

villages in Nainital, Bageshwar and Almora

districts. The activities organized as part of

the visit gave us a glimpse of how the NGO

works for the betterment of the people in

and around that area. Engagement activities

such as farming, visit to their local school

and an introduction to their B2R initiative

were planned for us. These activities made

sure that we worked in groups, interacted

with fellow interns and appreciated the

efforts made by the NGO in the

development of the local people in the

region.

The best part about collaborative learning is

that the participants get to learn from each

other, which can be an eye-opener to both

your capabilities and shortcomings. The

lessons that I carry with me from this

internship will not end with my course at

IMT, but will be impactful in every which

way in the work that I will do further on in

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life. Overall, being a participant of the

KCIPLIP internship is a holistic learning

experience- it gives a chance to explore the

rural sector within the ambit of the project

and provides an opportunity for rigorous

academic research.

(Nupur Gurbuxani is a student of PGDM 2011-

13. A member of editorial committee of

CRICKET, and is a Kellogg CRTI IMT Peer

Learning Program Intern)

It is SIXER DR. RANJANA AGRAWAL

CRICKET is making

waves! A research

study being done by a

team led by Prof.

Ranjana Agarwal is in

news for all the good reasons. Three

students of the team, Pawan Lodhi, Pallavi

Kumar and Manish Pruthi have received a

congratulatory letter from Ms Urmila Ekka,

Sr. Manager, Tribal Cultural Society, and

Tata Steel for their contribution in the

project on Sustainable Livelihood Options

for the Primitive Tribal Group of Patamda

Block, Jamshedpur in the state of Jharkhand.

In the language of CRICKET, they have hit

a SIXER!

In its endeavour to promote innovative

ideas, CRICKET is also contributing in

areas of Social issues and Inclusiveness. The

team from IMT did a study of livelihood

options for Primitive Tribal Groups in

Jharkhand. The field work was done during

June 10-20, 2012. Two primitive tribal

groups, Sabars and Birhors were the focus of

the study. Along with livelihood options, the

study also covered other main building

blocks affecting their lifestyle as health,

education and training on handicrafts. The

study attempted to bring up the tacit

knowledge of these PTG specifically

“Birhor” and “Savar” and how can this

knowledge be enhanced to build up a

sustainable system, which can help in

development of their society.

The tribals were given training on making

handicraft items. This art of making

artefacts uses “Kasi Grass” (an indigenous

grass) and “Bamboo” as raw material which

is found in abundance in this region. There

is no problem of availability of labour; still

this system faces problems in terms of

sustainability, marketing and supply chain

issues. The students were requested to give

managerial suggestions regarding marketing

of these handicrafts items.

The team Ranchors from IMT under the

leadership of Manish gave their

recommendations on” Livelihood options

for tribals” to Tribal Cultural Society, (Tata

Steel-Jamshedpur) & Saraikela district

Collector.

For the team’s mentor, Dr. Ranjana Agarwal

it was a proud day as her teams

recommendations received wide

appreciation .This is a positive output for

IMT students and I am sure this will inspire

others to work under CRICKET. The

District Collector of Saraikela made a

special request to hold presentation by IMT

students as it would help them in

administration and policy implementation.

He was also impressed by the students’

performance and requested them to continue

giving inputs in marketing issues.

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Apart from research, the students have put

great efforts in shooting a documentary. The

documentary will showcase the lifestyle,

culture, aspirations and livelihood options

for tribals. The students will be presenting

the final edition of the documentary (after

editing) before IMT fraternity in end of

August. An exhibition (under the guidance

of Co –project leader Dr. Neeraj Awasthy)

of handicrafts prepared by tribals will be

held at IMT shortly. This will to spread

awareness about their products and lead to

the cause of employment and income

generation.

(Dr. Ranjana Agrawal is Assistant Professor

of Economics and Strategy Area. With

CRICKET she has worked on multiple

Projects which Include Delivery Model for

PURA and her Latest project being Tribal

Project)

Joy of altruism

PARASARAN SRINIVASAN

It is quite common

in the non-profit

and alternative

thinking circles to

hear of the

corporate world

being described as the big bad machine that

is taking over society. I have to admit, it is

often comforting to see the universe neatly

divided into teams of good and bad guys.

But we all know it doesn't work that way.

Just like you might meet not so 'nice' people

in the most beautiful communities, or

witness negative thoughts in the purest of

people, in the same way, there is always that

little ray of light in the darkest of spaces.

Our summer internship program experience

described hereafter, has been enlightening

and enriching in numerous ways. For the last

two months, the three of us had completely

immersed ourselves in the largest slums of

Gujarat, as a part of our summer internship

program. We worked towards the

implementation of a medical project for an

NGO based in the Gandhi Ashram. And, as

rightly stated by our associate, Mr.

Siddharth Thalekar, it is not the incentives

of a perfect salary and work opportunities,

but the willingness and dedication shown in

such projects that keeps people devoted to

these works going in their journeys. Our

clean, pressed black suits that hung unused

in the Ashram volunteer accommodation

stood witness to just how much of a

contrasting scenario we found ourselves in.

From the comfort of an air-conditioned

corporate office, we were sharing chai in the

houses of varied people in the slums. You

might think 40 plus degree temperatures

would force us to call it a day every

evening, but our enthusiasm kept us going -

from sampling all the different street foods

of Ahmedabad to serving at Seva Café at

night .A simple conversation with us while

washing dishes would tell the people how

much we had absorbed and grasped just

through the willingness to explore new

environments.

In the words of Siddharth,” I believe it is

these people that help reduce perceived

barriers between different sections of

society. For me they have helped me see

how anyone can create value where ever we

are or however hopeless the situation

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seems.” .It is like learning to practice

Altruism in the temple of Greed. No matter

how hostile the environment or the world

around us, there is always an intuitive and

loving voice within us that whispers to us to

keep giving.

(Parasaran Srinivasan is a student of PGDM

2011-13. He is member of CRICKET, and also

Placement Committee. He has written cases

selected in Richard Ivey School of Business Case

Compendium)

Waste to Energy: The two sides of the coin

CHANDAN KUMAR SINGH

Can Waste-to-

Energy (WtE)

concept be a strategy

to achieve

sustainable growth in

India that faces huge

energy deficit of 11% or is just another fad

that may manifest as hogwash. It is

extremely imperative for select energy

thinkers to put in efforts to evaluate the WtE

facilities on parameters that will result in

value addition leading to a sustainable

solution.

India, having 17% of the world population

and only 2.2% of the world land area has to

strategically manage its Municipal Solid

Waste (MSW) efficiently and effectively

lest it will run out of land for dumping the

waste. Every year, about 55 million tonnes

of MSW and 38 billion litres of sewage are

generated in the urban areas. With the

expanding Indian economy and swelling

income levels, the migration of population

to urban areas is exponentially increasing

resulting in the amplified consumption

levels, eventually increasing the amount of

waste generated, which is estimated to grow

at a per-capita rate of 1-1.33% annually.

This is snowballing into the issues of waste

disposal, economic costs of collecting,

transporting waste, and the environmental

consequences of increased MSW generation

levels. These calls for an urgent resolution

vide a long term sustainable action plan.

With shortage of coal, India’s prime fuel

widening to 142 million tonnes, India is

forced to innovate and come with alternative

fuels and technologies to bridge the deficit.

Waste-to-Energy (WtE) as a concept fits in

very well, serving both the purposes of

managing municipal solid waste as well as

reducing energy deficit. However, the

paradox stands wide open; the solution

seems to be far from being sustainable. The

mass incineration of waste has its own ill

effects on the environment as this is

accompanied by emissions of dioxins, which

causes chloracne, a severe skin disease,

besides causing rashes, discoloration and

excessive body hair and specific kinds of

cancer. Further, unwholesome aggression by

the neighbouring residents has been reported

owing to discomfort caused by such plants,

located within the towns to achieve

economic viability, besides take away jobs

of the 2 million waste pickers who make

their living by collecting recyclable waste,

in Delhi alone.

When India is looking for a sustainable

solution to management of solid waste and

energy deficit, WtE facility cannot be an

unquestioned solution. It calls for dedicated

efforts from the side of project developers,

government bodies and the local community

representative to work together and shape

the mix of fast economic and social

development, technological improvement

and the concerns arising out them so as

achieve sustained development.

(Chandan Kumar Singh is a student of PGDM

2011-13. He is member of CRICKET and a

Kellogg CRTI IMT Peer Learning Program

Intern)

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Genetically Modified Crops: No easy answers

DEVDATTA KOTULKAR

Years have passed

since Mendel, the

father of Genetics,

resumed his favorite

pastime of cross-

breeding pea plants.

Genetics have evolved a long way since

then. From human genome project to

creating test tube babies, innovation in

Genetics has given a far reaching edge. It’s

most visible uses include disease prevention

in embryo stage, sustaining draught

conditions with Genetically Modified (GM)

Crops. Many famed environmentalists and

social environmentalists like Dr. Vandana

Shiva are working relentlessly to phase out

inconsistencies in GM Crops, and in turn

GM seeds.

Genetically modified seeds are artificially

engineered to produce greater harvest, better

tastes, herbicide resistant variety which also

sustains diverse weather conditions.

Examples are soybean, corn, canola, rice,

and cotton seed oil. Seed and Agrochemical

companies are trying to enter in newer

countries to extend their current monopoly

in GM seeds Business. Monsanto India is a

subsidiary of Monsanto group of companies

from U.S.A. They propose to improve

farming sustainability in India under their

three pronged program of producing more,

conserving more and improving lives.

Whether Monsanto shall succeed in

penetrating seed market in India, only time

will tell.

Among all the promises of greater yield,

increased herbicide resistance, superior taste

and on the whole, sustainable agriculture, a

survey conducted by Bharat Krishak Samaj

in 2012 tells a different story. They tested

the performance of Bt Cotton vis-à-vis

traditional cotton in two districts of

Maharashtra. 70 per cent of the farmers

stated that irrigation expenditure was more

on BT cotton than on non-Bt cotton. Though

it came along with the claim that

productivity increased by 4.49 per cent from

the pre-Bt to post-Bt period, it has increased

costs: especially fertilizer costs, which

increased from 29 per cent in the pre-Bt

period to 71 per cent in the post-Bt period.

There have been claims that GM seeds

produce a higher yield but their first yield

creates inferior seeds, which are not

sustainable in for more than 2 sowing

cycles. Ultimately, farmers get tangled with

GM seeds forever, as they can use one

purchase of GM seeds only in limited

sowing cycles. GM crops are engineered to

be pest resistant, thus forcing even stronger

genes in pests. Crop pests also improve in

accordance with resistant genes. To defend

these pests we would now require more

powerful pesticides. Thus the use of GM

seeds would lead to producing more toxic

pesticides, ultimately affecting the nutrition

value of crop harvest. Seed patents and seed

piracy are new words which are now

prominent and infamous in US agribusiness.

Seed piracy is a unique actionable claim that

US GM crop makers enforce upon the

farmers whose produce is genetically

modified without paying out royalty. There

are frequent investigations held over seed

piracy. Around 140 farmers in USA have

been victim to this claim. GM seeds in

neighboring farms affect the produce in

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farms where traditional seeds are used. This

happens due to close proximity and cross

pollination from GM crops.

Adoption of GM seeds to sustain growing

population has been a real dilemma to the

Indian Government due to the reasons stated

above among many other reasons. The

failure of Bt Cotton in India and growing

number of suicides related to it puts GM

crops adoptability in India at further risk.

But should we be satisfied with the current

production levels of India’s most important

agricultural sector?

(Devdatta Kotulkar is a student of PGDM 2012-

14)

Conscious Capitalism – A Concept

HARSH AJMERA

With due respects to growth, we should also learn to say on someday, with a smile, “Enough is enough!” Because if not now, it

shall never be.

While contemplating this thought, a few

things that immediately come to mind are

growth, development, evolution and

exploitation. Conceptually these are

different, but the question today is, are the

differences blurring?

Theoretically speaking, there is only a thin

line of difference between growth and

exploitation. Growth is a progression from a

simple form to a more complex form. It is a

process of becoming larger or more

numerous or more important or all. Growth

is an act of making something more

profitable, productive and useful.

Exploitation again has similar intentions.

But what essentially differentiates growth

from exploitation, are the desired end goals,

the approach towards these desired goals

and the underlying intentions. Superficially,

growth and exploitation might appear to be

headed in the same direction vis-à-vis the

aforementioned parameters but there exists a

very fine line of difference between the two.

Growth is prudent, provident and has

positive intentions. The intentions that drive

growth are foresight, scruples, and a

consideration for multifaceted issues. It

takes into account all the stakeholders of the

environment so that the growth is inclusive.

On the other hand, exploitation does not take

into account all the stakeholders. The

intentions are short-sighted, unscrupulous,

and often cunning. Exploitation is generally

characterized by the philosophy, ‘the end

justifies the means’.

Exploitation gives prime importance to the

end result and herein lays the biggest

differentiator between exploitation and

growth. Exploitation is only concerned with

being the best. While the true focus in

growth is on the process of becoming the

best and becoming the best is collateral to

this process.

The knowledge of these differences between

growth and exploitation, and wanting to

excel and achieving excellence shall lead us

towards consciousness. And entrepreneurs

who are aware of these differences shall lead

us to conscious capitalism.

A conscious capitalist realizes the fact that

the greater goal is to touch the lives of the

people, to add to their quality of life. He

realizes that this is the only sustainable way

of business. He realizes that the betterment

of the society would lead to the betterment

of oneself and therefore spares a thought for

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● ● ●

UPCOMING RESEARCH

Title: Common service centres – Analyzing

their capability in bridging rural India

governance gap

Areas: Rural innovation, government policy,

technology & innovation, data Management,

Social Entrepreneurship and technology

Objective: “study the functioning of PPP

(Public private partnership) model for CSR

project.

Leads: Prof. Kaushik Datta, Dr. Neeraj

Awasthy

● ● ●

all the stakeholders before making any

decision. He realizes that the best business is

the one in which the business keeps the

business in business in a thoughtful and

considerate manner. He realizes that there is

nothing wrong with earning

profits but he also realizes the

importance of the ways and

means of earning them and

would never tread on a path

that doesn’t let him have a

peaceful sleep at night. The

conscious capitalist is not

bothered by how the world

views him or what the world

says about him. It is not

necessary for him to keep on

competing with the set

benchmarks, but to keep on setting them, not

for someone else, but for himself. The point

must be reiterated that the benchmarks are

not being set for another entity, but for

oneself ‘alone’, because if it were not so,

growth would turn into exploitation.

Psychologically speaking, ambition is

nothing but ceaselessly remembering to get

those things that we can then afford to

forget, but a conscious capitalist is, for want

of better rephrasing, above ambition. He

values the process of creating more than the

creation. His reward lies in the joy of

creating, the process. The end result would

automatically be excellent, but it is this

obliviousness to the end result and the focus

on the process alone that lets him excel.

Perhaps this should be the next trend in our

society where all are internally competing

with self to be a better person, to bring about

a positive change in the entire environment.

In the society we are seeing a movement

towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial

activities, and people becoming their own

bosses, in a way becoming more and more

aware about themselves and taking more

conscious steps.

This interestingly is also a move towards

bringing sustainability - sustainability in the

environment, business and activities. It is

about time we stopped looking at

sustainability as just a noun but move on to

sustaining, the verb. In other words, it is

time to translate sustainability into action.

However the act of

sustainability should not only

be about creating or co-

creating to, but it should also

be able to realize when to say

enough is enough, when to

strip down all the walls and

recreate. It is essential to

understand that creation is

preceded by destruction. And

it again precedes destruction.

Getting educated about when

to stop, when to strip off, and

when to destroy and start over again leads us

to sustainability.

Consciousness therefore lies in knowing the

other side before picking one.

(Harsh Ajmera is a student of PGDM 2011-13.

A member of editorial committee of CRICKET,

he has also worked on Exploratory Research of

establishing PURA in Behraich District among

other research activities)

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Team behind CRICKET

Chandan K. Singh

My experience with

CRICKET has helped me

develop holistic

perspectives on concerns

and interests of poor section

of the society that goes

unaccounted at many times.

Shilpi Pachauri

Pharmacist.Traveller.HR.

All rolled into one.

CRICKET fulfils my aim to

touch a million lives through

project engagements.

Amritanshu Mehra

The ingenious brains at

work in the CRICKET

team have enhanced my

experience working with

the committee.

Anshul Gautam

Apart from the enhanced

knowledge and skill set, being

a member of CRICKET, I

have earned attributes like

diligence, confidence and

most importantly being a

team player.

Manish Pruthi

CRICKET has given me

the opportunity to explore

the other side of corporate

culture which lies in rural

India."

Nupur Gurbuxani

CRICKET is a platform

which has allowed me to

realize my potential in

research in my own way-

the limits if any are set only

by my own capability here.

Vinita Chaudhary

CRICKET has given me

the opportunity to explore

social entrepreneurship,

an experience that is

valuable in shaping my

interest into reality.

Gourav Mukherjee

Through my association

with CRICKET, I am

looking to get to know the

rural Indian market, which

today is one of the biggest

untapped markets.

Shubhi Tripathi

CRICKET allowed me to

ideate and implement a

project which studied the

rural marketing nuances

in the white goods

segment.

Pranjal Gururani

CRICKET provided me

with insights into rural

market of the country

which I would not have

been able to otherwise

garner through classroom

discussions.

Page 12

Krishna Koundinya

CRICKET has taught me

team building skills,

leadership skills & not to

forget "passion" to do

something that impacts the

society in a positive way.

Sukriti Tayal

CRICKET fulfils my dream

of doing research work and

has opened new insights of

what all innovations can be

done with the help ideas

generated from the various

projects handled.

Kunal Arora

CRICKET has taught me

action-research- beyond

theoretical learning it is

the experiential learning

which we have here in

CRICKET.

Ritwik Vijayan

Working with CRICKET

gave me an opportunity to

interact with like minded

peers who were passionate

about exploring development

opportunities at the grass root

level

Parasaran Srinivasan

CRICKET gives me a

chance to work with the

like minded student

managers on a common

platform that would

contribute towards the

empowerment of rural

markets which would aid the development

of our nation in the long run.

Harsh Ajmera

CRICKET gives me a

chance to mix my

creativity and

managerial acumen and

in process of doing so I

feel I am becoming a

better Manager. Thanks IMT for giving this

once in a lifetime opportunity.

Abhishek Kumar

Having worked in the

PURA project from October

2011 and working on action

research related to the

neglected segments of

society through CRICKET

has been one of the biggest

highlight of my MBA and has been an

extremely fulfilling experience.

Kush Agrawal

India needs “Financial

Inclusion”, “Rural

Innovation” and “Capacity

Building” to achieve 9.5%

growth rate. We at

“CRICKET” have our

goals aligned with our

country goals and thus will make it come

true with the support of faculties and

colleagues associated with CRICKET.

For any Queries or

Suggestions Please feel free to mail us at

cricket@imt.edu