Academics and Rural Development - Lessons from the Dharampur Project

Vyas Vijay Shankar

IIMA Working Papers from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department

Abstract: There is a growing demand on the educational institutions to contribute to the development process, particularly in the rural areas. The academicians have responded to this demand in a favourable manner. In the IIMA a faculty group is working on an action research programme titled ‘Rural Development for Rural Poor’. The experiences of this project have brought in relief the comparative advantages and handicaps of academics as ‘activists’. Acceptability by bureaucrats and public at large, objective and independent approach to problems, freshness of outlook and approach in resolving issues, possibility of building bridges between different institutions, and capability of mobilising young and enthusiastic support, constitute favourable features of an action programme that is sponsored by the academics. At the same time the academics have serious handicaps. These include a conflict between career goals and ideological predilections; their difficulty in working as a member of team, inability to relate simultaneously to multitude of agencies and actors, reluctance to take decisions which have political connotation, and, desire to approximate the realities in the framework of a model. Some of these handicaps can be minimised and the comparative advantages be enhanced if the academicians’ action is organised in a well conceived institutional framework.

Date: 1979-08-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iim:iimawp:wp00362

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IIMA Working Papers from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().