1. Management Traineeship Segment
The Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) was established in 1979 at Anand, Gujarat
with the support of the Government of India, the State Government of Gujarat, the National Dairy
Development Board (NDDB) and the erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation.
The Mission
IRMA's mission is to promote professional management of democratic and sustainable institutions for
eco-friendly and equitable socio-economic development of rural people. It strives to achieve this
mission through creating a new breed of professional rural managers having appropriate values and
ethos; helping rural organisations and institutions in professionalizing their management; empowering
rural people through self-sustaining processes; building new rural management knowledge and
theories through action-oriented and problem-solving research and consultancy; and influencing
public policies.
The Activities
IRMA is engaged in a range of educational, research and consultancy activities, which are:
• The two-year Post-Graduate Programme in Rural Management (PRM), which prepares young
women and men for managerial careers in rural organisations.
• The Fellow Programme in Rural management (FPRM) equivalent to Ph.D, which prepares the
participants for academic, research and consulting careers in rural management.
• The four-week International Management Appreciation Programme for Voluntary Agencies
(VOLAG-MAP) provides exposure to current management principles to development
professionals from India and overseas.
• Short-duration Management Development Programmes (MDPs), Seminars and Workshops offer
specialised management training in finance, marketing, production, computer applications, human
resource management, and development perspectives to a large number of rural development
professionals.

2. • Research and Consultancy projects undertaken by the faculty. These have a strong field-based
and multidisciplinary focus with added emphasis on policy implications and development action.
Post-Graduate Programme in
Rural Management
Rural organisations, unlike their corporate counterparts, operate in a complex environment.
Managing rural organisations, therefore, offers different challenges than those in managing corporate
organisations. There is a growing need for well-trained professional managersin rural organisations.
Recognising this, IRMA imparts management education to students through its Post-Graduate
Programme in Rural Management (PRM) to undertake challenging responsibilities in rural
organisations.
The PRM is a full time two-year residential programme with four distinct yet mutually supportive
segments -classroom, fieldwork, organisational traineeship, and management traineeship. The
Classroom segment exposes students to theory and concepts; during fieldwork students are exposed to
the complexities of rural life and development issues; organisational traineeship (OTS) strengthens
students’ exposure to rural organisations, while the Management Traineeship Segment (MTS) gives
students hands-on experience of working in rural organisations. By design, the programme structure
permits continuous switching between classroom and field-based traineeship to provide linkages
between theoretical concepts and practical experience. The PRM programme structure has acquired a
distinct identity as 'The IRMA Model'!
1Management Traineeship Segment
Objectives of MTS
The Management Traineeship Segment is designed to benefit the students, the host organisations and
IRMA.
MTS provides students the opportunity to:
• Study and demonstrate the role of a professional rural manager in an organisation.

3. • Develop appropriate attitudes, values and skills required of a professional rural manager.
• Test the applicability of management concepts and techniques.
• Develop an integrated understanding of a functioning rural development or rural producers'
organisation.
Through MTS, the host organisations can:
• Undertake a diagnostic analysis of select aspects of managerial functions such as procurement,
processing, marketing, accounting and costing, finance, human resources, etc.
• Undertake projects/studies that may not otherwise be possible for want of professional managerial
resources.
MTS enables IRMA to:
• Develop case leads, field projects/problems as inputs to the PRM curriculum.
• Be responsive to the needs of rural producers' and rural development organisations
• Use feedback from management traineeship experience for PRM curriculum improvement.
MTS for PRM 2004 - 2006
The MTS is of approximately 10 weeks duration. During MTS, the students work on projects
pertaining to managerial concerns under the supervision of a Reporting Officer and a Faculty Guide.
They spend the last week at the Institute finalising and presenting their reports to the faculty and their
fellow classmates. MTS forms part of the PRM's second year curriculum. MTS is evaluated and is
treated as other credit courses.
This year, 87 students having diverse academic background at undergraduate level are available for
MTS. MTS is scheduled between 24-10-2005 to 07-01-2006 (inclusive of last one week at the
Institute for finalizing and presenting their reports) after completion of 4 class-room terms
covering various courses in management, the rural action component of the fieldwork segment, and
organisational traineeship segment (OTS) which familiarise the students with the realities of rural
areas and organisations working in these areas. MTS aims at integrating knowledge from advanced

4. courses like Strategic Management, Project Management, Public Systems Management and Managing
Co-operatives. By the time MTS begins, students are in a position to undertake complex projects,
which are integrative in nature.
2IRMA has been able to respond to the needs of rural organisations by providing faculty supervised
professional support while building an extensive knowledge base of the rural sector. The Ravi J
Matthai Library at IRMA has maintained all earlier MTS reports and these form part of the library's
collection. These reports provide considerable scope for the students to do preparatory work before
they report to the organisations for their MTS projects.
To date, more than 1550 students have completed over 1754 MTS projects sponsored by a large
number of cooperatives, government and other developmental organisations. The MTS coverage has
been wide and diverse in terms of regions, sectors, and functional areas of management.
The process of MTS
Sponsoring organisations forward their project proposals to IRMA. The proposals are scrutinised
for completeness in details and learning opportunity provided before being released to the
students. The students choose the projects and their Faculty Guide through a well-defined procedure,
3-4 weeks prior to joining the sponsoring organisations. Upon joining the organisation, the students
rely on the Reporting Officer for guidance while keeping the Faculty Guide informed of their
progress.
On completion of the preliminary analysis, the students present their findings to the organisation and
submit a draft report after incorporating changes suggested during their presentation. Any significant
revisions suggested by the Faculty Guide are communicated to the organisation in the final report.
The draft report is considered final if there are no major revisions suggested by the Faculty
Guide.
The Institute takes pride in the growing popularity of the MTS and the students have a wider range of
projects to choose from each year. This system has helped in extending the benefits of MTS to a large

5. number of IRMA's designated organisations. An attempt will be made to match student qualifications
with the project requirements.
The Institute expects the organisations to pay a stipend of Rs.6000 per student for the duration of
MTS with free accommodation or Rs.8000 without free accommodation and meet all the relevant
expenses involved in carrying out the work.
Expectations from the Organisations
Pre-Project Stage
1. Send the request for participation in the enclosed form.
2. Ensure that the project proposals reach IRMA before the deadline i.e. 31/08/2005.
3. Provide adequate project details in the form to enable students and faculty guides to have a clear
understanding of the problem. All project proposals will be scrutinised for adequacy of
details and learning opportunities for the students.
4. Indicate whether the qualification and language requirements are essential or desirable
requirements. Indicate whether the requirements apply to one or all the students taking up the
project.
5. Ensure that the officer nominated as guide has sufficient time for guiding students.
6. Do not entertain individual student requests for MTS projects. Students are not authorised to
solicit projects on behalf of the MTS Co-ordinator.
7. Please note that for any given MTS project, no more than three students will be assigned.
3During the Project
1. Do not change projects or make substantial alterations in the scope of the submitted project
proposal.
2. Ensure that the students follow the rules and norms applicable to officers of your organisation.
The students are not entitled to any leave except designated holidays. Kindly report leave
availed or absence, if any to the MTS Co-ordinator.

6. 3. The students may be provided with free accommodation or assisted in finding inexpensive
accommodation. Timely arrangements will help students to concentrate on their project.
4. Please ensure to pay a stipend of Rs.6000 with free accommodation or Rs.8000 without free
accommodation to each student for the duration of MTS. Other facilities like subsidised lodge
and board may also be provided to our students.
5. First class/II or III AC sleeper class to and fro train fare or actual expenses incurred, whichever is
less, between Anand and the place of reporting is to be reimbursed to the students.
6. During the project period, the host organisation is expected to reimburse the following expenses:
- First class/ II or III AC sleeper class to and fro train fare or actual expenses incurred,
whichever is less, for all tours arising out of the project work.
- Boarding and lodging allowances as per the norms of the organisation, for all tours arising out
of the project work.
- All incidental expenses such as local conveyance while on tour, survey expenses, etc.
- Typing, photocopying and other facilities may be provided to the students and/or costs
reimbursed if such services are obtained from outside for preparation of MTS report.
- Advise the students clearly on the rules of the organisation, the permissible expenses and
procedures involved in settling the claims. This will prevent any confusion at a later stage.
7. All activities -- from project initiation to final report preparation and presentation-- may be
planned in advance to keep pace with the time allocated for MTS.
8. Ask the students to submit a copy of the draft report and ensure that a presentation is made to the
concerned officers in your organisation during the MTS itself.
9. Settle all accounts before the departure of students.
10. Forward to us your feedback and relieving report in a sealed envelope through the
students. Under any circumstances, feedback, relieving report, payment of stipend and
other expenses can not be withheld.

7. 11. Any incident of student misconduct or absence must be immediately reported to the MTS
Coordinator.
12. The student is required to submit a copy of the report and make a presentation at IRMA for
the purposes of evaluation. All MTS reports maintained in the library have public access
unless they are requested, in writing, to be placed as confidential. The Institute will
4ensure that such reports cannot be accessed without the explicit written permission of the host
organisation.
MTS Time Schedule for PRM 2004-2006
Activity Scheduled Dates
Last Date for receipt of
Participation forms 31-08-2005
Leaving IRMA for MTS 22-10-2005
Reporting at Organisation 24-10-2005
Relieving Date from
Organisation 31-12-2005
Report to IRMA 02-01-2006
Presentations at IRMA January 05-06, 2006
Please address all your correspondence regarding MTS To:
Prof. Jayant Negi
MTS Co-ordinator
Or
Mr. Alpesh Macwan, MTS Office
Institute of Rural Management, Anand
Post Box No. 60, Anand 388 001(Gujarat)
Phone (Office): 02692-260391/260186/260181/260246/261502

8. Fax: (02692) 260188
Email: jnegi@irma.ac.in, alpesh@irma.ac.in
Website : http:/www.irma.ac.in
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