By Sandeep Kumar
The annual Budget Watch and Dialogue on the Union Budget with Development Perspective has been organized by the Tata-Dhan Academy for the last six years. The dialogue is conducted on the same day that the Finance Minister presents the Union Budget in the Indian Parliament, and includes a pre-budget discussion and post-budget reflection.
By Shanti Gupta
Tata-Dhan Academy is an institute which provides opportunities for students to visualize their professional life as development managers. But the lessons we learn don’t all come from the classroom or the field–sometimes, even a traditional celebration helps bring new perspectives for the development professional.
India culture and heritage is incredibly rich. At the Academy, the students in PDM 11 and 12 represent both northern and southern states, providing an opportunity to experience and learn more about this rich culture. For example, in the northern states, Holi, a festival of colours, is widely celebrated. Last year, with PDM 10, we had a good celebration, and building on this, we decided to celebrate with some value addition. This year, for example, we did Holika Dahan and an ethnic lunch.
By Shweta Hegde
On 26 January 2012, the PDM 12 batch awoke early to a nice cold breezy morning. We all put on white clothes and walked over to the front of our Academy where we were welcomed by the pleasant sound of patriotic songs. Each of the Academy’s students and staff who were present, several DHAN Foundation staff (who were participating in a short-duration “Development Management Appreciation Training” programme), and the villagers who had joined us, pinned an Indian flag over their hearts.
By Amarendra Kumar
There is saying that “practice makes a man perfect.” I realized the truth in this when I got a chance to observe and understand fish farming. The person we met with runs a very successful fish farm despite not having any background in fisheries.
His name is V. H. Ahmad Mohideen. He studied economics in Madurai, and then received a diploma in marketing from Mumbai, and took his first job as an executive manager in Saudi Arabia. He has now returned to his home because of the peaceful environment here.
Today, development practitioners, bankers, scholars, media professionals, and the public gathered to watch a live telecast of the 2011-12 Union Budget and engage in a reflective discussion on the development perspective of the budget. The event, organized by Tata-Dhan Academy, is the fifth annual event of its kind. It serves three purposes: educating participants about the budget, analysing the budget and offering suggestions, and disseminating the outcomes of the discussion so it can benefit a larger audience.
By Shanti Gupta
For the past five years, I have been thinking that the way I’ve always celebrated Republic Day is insufficient. In my college and in many formal and informal institutions, the “traditional” way of celebrating Republic Day has become simply gathering in a common place, saluting the flag, talking about our great leaders for a couple of minutes, and at last having some sweets; but, is this enough? I thought about it, and felt that “Oh, I’m a student. So, my responsibility is to study and respect my parents. These are my duties.” In this way, I satisfied myself. But this satisfaction was short-term. Another national festival would come every August, and again, subconsciously, I used to ask myself what I could do for the country’s development. I felt that I had the potential to serve under-represented members of society, but to do so, I would need a platform to enhance my knowledge and skill on how to develop the country.
Continue reading “Jai Hind, Jai Bharat: Is a salute enough for development?”
Early in August 2010, eight students graduated from the Tata-Dhan Academy to enter into their careers in the development sector. They represented our ninth batch of graduates. To date, more than one hundred students—117 students from 17 states to be precise—have moved on from the Academy to help to improve the lives of thousands of people throughout India. These graduates are working on diverse projects ranging from primary education to water management to self-help group promotion to environmental protection to… well… at the Tata-Dhan Academy, we like to think that our graduates would be able to handle anything that is put in front of them!
Continue reading “A Decade’s Experience of Development Management Education”
The DHAN Academy 