Monthly Archives: February 2020

The world has progressed exponentially but the way forward is to select carefully from the creative method that applies to one’s context

The world progresses because it has pioneers. To be deemed a pioneer, a person must be able to do something which was never quite done before. It may be a discovery, creation or developing an insight. Illustratively, the Wright Brothers were pioneers when they built the world’s first practical fixed-wing aircraft. They were pioneers in making the first powered, controlled and sustained flight over 100 years ago. Every pioneering activity tries to negotiate the unknown. Path-breakers create opportunities to discover, explore, improve and basically deal with harnessing possibilities. There are some institutions born with a pioneering and innovative belief and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) is one of them. It is rooted in the understanding that much of the forest produce has yet to be completely discovered and fully harvested. Often, even when people have gathered or “discovered” forest produces, they do not know how to convert them into progressively more worthwhile products. By adding value to the produce, by eliminating some of its attributes or adding new elements, it becomes more useful and meets […]

The overarching dominance of the Planning Commission and then the NITI Aayog have blurred the focus on regional development

The change in nature of markets has created several universes within its fold, so as to almost require an interpreter to talk from one segment to another. Yet in a country like India, all marketing instrumentalities, from hawking to internet communication, seem relevant. Their pertinence in the social segment in which they operate determines the robustness of that economy. Each segment has its own significance and it determines to a large extent the prosperity of the region where it operates. This economic growth is central to the community’s welfare because livelihoods depend on that. However, there remains a catch-22 situation as each marketing method in a socio-economic segment can and does evolve. Leaving it frozen at a given level is unwise for the overall well-being of that division. Nature, being what it is, will induce change and its own evolution does not need a policy decision. But this progression may be slow and may be excluding migrant segments of that given economic division from returning to it for their livelihood and with a level of comfort. Thus it is that remaining migrant groups […]