Rural Management

The emphasis on rural development is gaining momentum worldwide. There is an increased stress on formulating new schemes for rural development. There are many who are willingly partnerning these scheme formulation including national and international NGOs and local bodies.
 
India is predominantly an agrarian economy with 70 per cent of its total area falling under rural category.  The government of India as well as the state governments are now stressing on rural development and launching new schemes for the same. The central government is granting outlays in the consecutive budgets and running several schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Bharat Niraman, Indira housing, etc. Increasing emphasis on rural development has created many new job opportunities in rural management which is in turn creating demand for rural managers.
 
Work
Rural manager helps in planning and executing rural development schemes, thus lending a hand to develop the lives of people in the rural areas. Rural management professionals also responsible for the growth and profit increment of their company. They are in charge of managing and maintaining their units. In a rural consultancy firm a rural manager is involved in planning, budgeting, marketing, inspection and even recruitment.

Qualification
Most of the management institutes offer a PG diploma or the MBA course in Rural Management. The candidate should be a graduate from a recognized university to seek admission in this course.

Income
Generally rural management graduates get a package of about Rs. 4-5 lakhs per annum.

Opportunities
There is no dearth of jobs in this field.  NGOs, development agencies, cooperative banks, insurance companies, retail companies like Future Group, Reliance, Godrej Agrovat, Bharti, RPG, multinational company or rural consultancies like ITC E Chaupal, SCS Group, Grossman and Associates offer lucrative positions in rural management.. Some NGOs which hire rural management graduates are as follows: Action for Rural Development, Association for Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development, Aagha Khan Rural Support programme, BIF, Chiragh, Development Alternatives and Echotech Service. The jobs can also be sourced in international NGOs, government development agencies, e.g.  DRDA and SIRD, and academic and research institutes. It has proved to be one of the recession proof areas of employment.

Process of Admission
For admission in this course, the concerned institutes normally hold entrance test. After clearing the entrance exam the candidate has to pass through group discussion and a personal interview.

Institutes
 1. Anand:- For admission in the two year PG rural management course of this institute the candidates have to appear for a written test which has four sections – English comprehension, quantitative ability, reasoning and analytical skill.                                                                                                                      2. Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar: It offers a PG programme in Rural Management and for admission in this course the candidates are required to undergo IRMA/XAT test score, GD and interview. Graduates can appear for this test.
3. Indian Institute of Rural Management, Jaipur: MAT, XAT are compulsory for admission in this institute. Final selection is done on the basis of score in these tests and also in the GD, personal interview and academic record.                                                                                                                                 4. Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
5. Amity School of Rural Management, NOIDA
6. National Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
7. Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujrat
8. Rural Research Foundation, Jaipur, Rajasthan
9. National Institute of Management, Kolkata
10. National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad
11. Xavier Institute of Social service, Ranchi, Jharkhand
12. Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
13. KIIT School of Rural Management, Bhubaneswar, Orissa