Why MBA degree in Rural Management has better career prospects than PGDM in HR / Marketing / Finance?

The MBA Rural Management is a unique programme, in addition to traditional management topics such as Human Resource Management, Marketing, Finance, Project Management, Strategic management, Accounting, Quantitative Techniques, Managerial Analysis and Communication, it also provides deep understanding of concept helpful in managing transformations that directly and indirectly impact 68% of population living in 65% of Indian geography.

About 60 per cent of the population still live in rural areas. 47% of our economy is dependent on the Agriculture Sector. Further, Industry and Service sector accounts for 25% and 28% contribution. So, real corporate action is taking place in rural India. The future of corporates lies with tier 2 & 3 areas, which directly require rural specialization to be effective.

The MBA Rural Management strives to provide better understanding of rural population in order to understand human capital based on the fundamental concepts of human resource management. The field understanding and additional rural concepts helps in managing the people well and hiring the right human resource for right job to achieve organization goal. This additional understanding creates student of MBA Rural Management to stand out in the crowd and do better.

All concepts of marking are also covered by the MBA Rural Management in addition to new concepts of rural marketing, agricultural marketing and other specifics of the expanding rural market. Rural orientation allows MBA RM student to market the product and services better and to be a good marketer. This additional understanding creates student of MBA Rural Management to stand out in the crowd and do better.

With huge amount of businesses taking place in rural India has generated demand for finance candidate with understanding of rural society and economy in order to manage the finance well which tries to capture 65% of India. MBA Rural management in addition to fundamental financial management concept also provide knowledge of rural banking and finance, accounting, processes of costing, forecasting and many more. This additional understanding creates student of MBA Rural Management to stand out in the crowd and do better.

Dr. Sazzzad Parvez

School of Development Studies

IIHMR University, Jaipur

Nearly 1 Million Injury Deaths Per Year in India - Dr. Ellen J. MacKenzie

Dr. Ellen J. MacKenzie, Dean JHSPH at IIHMR University

Jaipur, 25 February: “Nearly 1 million injury-related deaths occur in India per year. For every injury death, there are 135 people that are treated and survive and many more that are not registered or not treated. Globally, 83% of all injury deaths occur in Lower Middle Income Countries (LMIC). For every injury, there are 10-50 survivors who sustain temporary or permanent disabilities,” said Dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, Dr. Ellen J. Mackenzie, as she delivered the keynote address at the prestigious P.D. Agarwal Memorial Lecture on the topic “Towards Zero Preventable Death and Disability from Injury: A Systems Approach”. The program was held in association with Bhoruka Charitable Trust (BCT) and IIHMR University at Maharana Pratap Auditorium, Jaipur on February 25, 2019.

Highlighting the disease burden from injuries in India, Dr. Mackenzie further added that a third of burden resulted from Road Traffic injuries with India facing about 250,000 deaths per year. Suicide is an underappreciated cause of death falling under the category of Self-Harm related injuries with a whopping 230,000 deaths per in India. The age group between 15 and 49 years of age comprise two-thirds of the disease burden in the country.

Talking about the status of trauma care in India, a way forward, she said that ‘112’ emergency has only partial coverage, limited to on-seen care and ambulance transport, gaps in definitive hospital trauma care, poor coordination, limited surveillance, among others are the drawbacks of the current Indian healthcare system. Establishing a Regionalized System of Trauma Care is key to getting the right patient to the right level of care in the right amount of time. This can be done by – reliable communications, pre-hospital care, timely triage and transport to the right hospital care, seamless transfer to rehabilitation, among others. Trustee of IIHMR & BCT, Dr. Ashok Agarwal gave an introduction of Late Shri P.D. Agarwal saying, “Shri P.D. Agarwal was a pioneer and visionary philanthropist who considered work his duty.” On the occasion, he also shared several anecdotes about P.D. Agarwal that highlighted his fair-mindedness, magnanimity and altruism which has also been a great source of inspiration to this family, employees and peers.

President of IIHMR University, Dr. Pankaj Gupta said that the visionary P.D. Agarwal believed in creating wealth with not just money but with meaning. He further said that the P.D. memorial lectures have witnessed many eminent personalities in the past and that he is very thrilled to be associated with Dr. Ellen J. Mackenzie this time.

On the occasion, Trustee of IIHMR-U, Dr. S.D. Gupta introduced the keynote speaker and said that this memorial lecture is an initiative to commemorate Late Shri P.D. Agarwal’s contribution to society. The program was followed by a Q&A session where the guests had the opportunity to interact with the panel.

Talk of Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Kolkata at IIHMR University

Dr Pankaj Gupta with Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa and Manesha A Agarwal at IIHMR University, Jaipur

 A Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Kolkata, was organised for Faculty, Research Officers and Staff of IIHMR University on 3rd April 2019 in the Auditorium, between 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM. Important dignitaries who attended the session included Dr. Ashok Agarwal, Trustee - BCT & IIHMR, Mrs. Manisha Agarwal, Board of Trustee, BCT, & Dr. Pankaj Gupta, President, IIHMR University, Jaipur. 

Dr. Pankaj Gupta, Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa, Mrs. Manisha Agarwal on the Dice at Old Audi. 

Dr. Pankaj Gupta, President IIHMR University, started the session with his welcome address. He introduced Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa as doing melodious Kirtans, a teacher for Bhakti Management classes, member of National Management Counsel, Kolkata Rath Yatra Chairman, leading the Wellwishers forum, Chairperson of the Communications of Eastern India Division Counsel (EIDC), also one of the mastermind behind developing the Srinida Prabhupada places. He said that we are trying to integrate this in our curriculum, so that students get self-awareness, knowing who they are, and understanding the potential of they are there in this earth. We have launched courses on Happiness, Mindful leadership, Spritual Awakening, Ancient Wisdom, with the objective of going in this path. He said that with Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa here and with your address we would be learning many things and with this welcome address he invited swamiji for his ashirvachan (आशीर्वचन - शुभ र्चन). 

Swamiji started his talk by saying Hare Krishna and said that he is very happy that he could serve IIHMR University, in this Holy land of Jaipur, and that it is Krishna willing that he could come here and deliver this talk. He said that for us as Vaishnavas, Jaipur is very holy land as our main five deities, were brought from Vrindavana to Jaipur, hence Jaipur is called Guptavridavan. He said that he will share some of his realizations that he had learned from his Spiritual masters. He said that according to scriptures that if we do something according to guidelines it becomes very auspicious. He said that when we were small there was Robin Blue, then came Ujala, and now in the washing powder it is added, and so things keep on changing but somethings remain same which are our scriptures. He recalled Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (famous in Bengal) who said that we have taken birth in Holy land of India, let’s do something good for others. He explained the meaning of Bharata as Bha means Knowledge and Ratha means those who are interested to know about themselves and spirituality and knowledge. Hence this country is called Bharata. We are Bharat vasi and it is very auspicious to be here. 

He said that in this age of modern civilization we are all disturbed and everyone of us is searching for happiness and the whole world is trying to make our lives more comfortable. He said that are we comfortable now or 40 years back without our mobiles, and gadgets (fans, ACs, washing machines, etc) for improving ourselves. He said that the reason why we are using gadgets is to save time but are we having time for our family, ourselves? He also reminded Rabindranath Tagore song in Bengali that I am searching happiness in this world as a musk deer (कस्तूरी मृग) is searching happiness outside. He said male musk deer has a very beautiful fragnance (substance – कस्तूरी - Kasturi) in his navel. The Kasturi is so much fragmented that it makes the deer mad, as it is searching it outside, which actually is inside his body. He reiterated this fact by referring Ramayan and Mahabharat which also says that Our Journey for searching happiness outside is never possible. Then he asked a question on the main difference between animals and humans. He said that animals can have logic (as we trust more on dog for guarding our home), Maharana Pratap Chetak horse (who saved his life in the battle of Haldighati), they can also have intelligence (a cat steals the milk when no-one is there in the room), weaver bird's nest (no-body have taught them), also have light in night, Elephants have emotions (when one elephant die, the rest of the herd cries (mourns) that death), and they also share words. He then recited a shlok of Mahabharat and asked everyone to recite that with him: 

Swami Ananga Mohan Dasa at IIHMR University

                      

human or animal, what is the difference? 

आहार ननद्रा भय मैथुनं च सामान्यमेतत् पशुभभनवराणाम् । धमो हह तेषामधधको वर्शेष: धमेण हीनााः पशुभभाः समानााः ॥ 

आहार, ननद्रा, भय और मैथुन – ये तो इन्सान और पशु में समान है । इन्सान में वर्शेष केर्ल धमव है, अथावत् बिना धमव के लोग पशुतुल्य है । 

food, sleep, fear and mating, these acts of humans are similar to animals' | of them (humans), dharma (right conduct) is the only special thing, without dharma humans are also animals || 

He said that it is Dharma is the only thing that makes a person differ from animals. Then he explained what he meant by Dharma. He said that Dharma of Fire is producing heat and light, Dharma of Sugar is sweetness. Then he said what is the Real Dharma of Human beings is to love someone and get loved by someone. Love can be with your family, son, daughter, grandson, people, country, animals, pets, and is unconditional i.e. without any expectations. We suffer in this world because of our expectations. He said that here comes the importance of Spirituality. He said that Spirituality starts with hearing. He said that Chanakya pandit says that if a person wants to be intelligent and those who are seekers and want to happy in their life they must spend time in three categories - for character building read Ramayan in the morning, Mahabharat in day, Bhagwat Gita in the evening. He said to be happy in life one should read these scriptures. 

He said that we have two ears and one mouth so the ratio of hearing to speaking is 2:1, but we do opposite. That is why we face problem. He said that our speech should be controlled without giving any pain to someone. He said that one should speak truth if it is good, and untruth with politeness. He said that to learn something new one must hear. One should speak which is good for everyone and should hear only that for someone which would make good relation with that person. 

He said that our culture is like that in evening we had Kirtans, and there are many beautiful examples of Rajasthan culture like Haldighati, Panna Daic etc. He said culture could be changed by hearing good as when we hear good, as it changes our thoughts, thoughts become words, words become action, and action becomes habit, habits become nature, and nature becomes character. 

He said that according to Ramayan - Pain is inevitable but Suffering is optional (if you have faith). He requested everyone to read and understand the Vedic Wisdom which is there in our blood. Our blood group is Bhakti, Devotion, Bhavna, Chetna and Gyan and in that way we have been born and brought up. We are all trying to become happy, but material world will always give us problems as a challenge and makes us worry. He said that we all worry but statistics shows that 85% of the worry would not be going to happen only 15% is going to happen, which is real worry. That 85 % includes that which has happened, still worrying, something is happening, you can have hold on that, called as Chinta. He about Chinta as : चिता चििंता समाप्रोक्ता ब िंदुमात्रिं विशेषता। He said "Chita" and "Chinta" are said to be same still there is a difference of a dot. Pyre (chita) burns the dead while Worry (chinta) burns the alive. He said that Chinta is like a Rocking Chair which never takes you anywhere. He said that when you read scriptures (specially Bhagwat Gita) with faith, it gives you Hope and Enlightenment. In the end he said that the main thing that he wished to convey that Spirituality is not Ritualistic, it comes from Heart, and no-one can force you and if you read scriptures one will find that the world is blissful. This happens as one’s perception towards life changes by reading Bhagwat Gita. 

After which “Shawl” and Memento (small pot with plant) were given to felicitate the guests who are engrossed in the task of spiritual upliftment of others and to honour the guests as a mark of respect. 

MoU Signed between Kandahar University and IIHMR University

·         Kandahar University is one of the Afghan Republic’s leading academic institutions with 3 research centers, 12 faculties, and 10,000 students, while IIHMR is recognized as an ‘Institute of Excellence’ by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

·         The partnership will focus on faculty and student exchange, conducting joint research, seminars and academic meets, exchange of academic materials and other information, conducting short-term and long-term programs and pursuing efforts to generate funds for these activities.

·         Because communication methods are expanded and international travel has become easier, academics and researchers are finding it convenient to collaborate with their foreign counterparts, and the exchange of academic ideas has become much simpler to organize.

New Delhi: Aiming to prepare students for the globalized working environment of the future, leading healthcare and allied management institution, the Indian Institute of Healthcare Management & Research University (IIHMR U) has tied up with Afghanistan’s Kandahar University (KDRU) to enable faculty and student exchange and other allied activities that foster globalized learning experiences.

Kandahar University is one of the Afghan Republic’s leading academic institutions with 3 research centers, 12 faculties, and 10,000 students. IIHMR University’s proven track record and recognition as an ‘Institute of Excellence’ by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in the fields of public health, health and hospital administration, pharmaceutical management and rural management will help the fledgling republic build capacity while improving India-Afghan relations.

“The partnership will focus on faculty and student exchange, conducting joint research, seminars and academic meets, exchange of academic materials and other information, conducting short-term and long-term programs and pursuing efforts to generate funds for these activities. We may also cooperate in creating joint courses for the benefit of our respective students. Because the goal of education is to prepare students for an international workplace, students value a travel experience while learning greatly and at the same time helping the university understand Afghan culture, closely allied as it is to India’s. Also, it is said that one in five scientific papers are co-authored by international collaborators”, said Dr. Pankaj Gupta, President, IIHMR University.

Because communication methods are expanded and international travel has become easier, academics and researchers are finding it convenient to collaborate with their foreign counterparts, and the exchange of academic ideas has become much simpler to organize. Skills such as scrutinizing, debating and combining experiences is critical to academic and scientific accomplishment. Constructively challenging established opinions and ideas is at the heart of development, and international collaborations help make this possible. Such tie-ups have contributed regularly to academic and scientific progress.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently given in-principle approval for an MoU between India and Afghanistan directed toward cooperation in developing the country’s human resources through the online SWAYAM learning mode.

About IIHMR University:

IIHMR University is a leading knowledge institution of the country engaged in teaching, research and training in the domains of public health, health and hospital administration, pharmaceutical management and development studies. Set up in 1984, IIHMR became a university in 2014.  Over the past thirty-five years IIHMR has carved a niche for itself among management institutions, both in India and abroad. The institute is the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for strengthening Health Systems based on Primary Care and is termed as an ‘Institute of Excellence’ by the Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. IIHMR has already conducted more than 500 research projects and studies on the health, social and developmental systems and policies in India and wider South-East Asian Region.

First Distinguished Academic Leadership Series Program, involving academic and research talks

First Distinguished Academic Leadership Series Program, involving academic and research talks, addressing students and faculty, by three distinguished academic leaders Prof. Krishna Ladha, Prof. Rani Ladha, and Prof. Subhashis Gangopadhyay, was organized on Oct 25-26, 2018, at IIHMR University, Jaipur.

Speakers at the Inaugural Session:

First Speaker was Prof. Krishna K. Ladha, who has been working as Senior Professor, Goa Institute of Management, Ph. D. in Economics from Carnegie-Mellon University, apart from PGDM from IIM Calcutta. His research interests are Economics, Politics, Law, Business, and Public Policy.

The second speaker was Dr. Rani S Ladha, who has worked as Professor in Finance at Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, apart from two decades of experience at senior strategic positions in Financial Services at Wells Fargo, Philadelphia; JP Morgan Chase, New York; and Citicorp, St. Louis.

The third distinguished speaker was Prof. Subhashis Gangopadhyay, who is Managing Trustee and Research Director, India Development Foundation and Professor of Emerging Market Finance, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

                                                                    

On Day 1, October 25, 2018, first talk was on Introduction to Game Theory by Prof. Krishna K Ladha. The focus of the session was on three ideas - Prisoner’s Dilemma game, Credible commitment, and Games of incomplete information. He said that the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) is a common situation analyzed in game theory that can employ the Nash Equilibrium, in which both players to betray each other, leading to the worse outcome. He said that PD is an example that punishment is Individually rational but collectively irrational. He also took games King v Merchants with King having two strategies Short-term focus (Confiscate), and Long-term focus (Do not confiscate) and Merchants having the strategy of Low volume trade and high-volume trade. He said that strategies adopted by merchants are Low volume trade and Short-term focus, instead of High-volume trade and Long-term focus. He also took a game on Government vs. Institutes in which the outcome of the game is greater monitoring and short-term focus, instead of greater freedom and long-term focus. He also took the Game of Credible Commitment i.e. teaching through Bollywood song “Dil Lagaane Ki Sazaa To Na Doge Tum” of the movie Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love, featuring Akshay Kumar & Karishma Kapoor. He said that it is an example of Signaling game with incomplete information.

Dr. Rani S. Ladha took the next session on “Heuristics and Biases”. She said that in healthcare decision making is at various points and by various individuals - physicians, patients, clinicians. She said that Heuristics and biases lead to judgment errors and could be mitigated by greater awareness to such possibilities and by reaffirming these concepts through continued monitoring, managing workload, and education. While explaining decision making she said that Experiments have shown that individuals do not update information in a systematic manner and Information overload may lead to incorrect decisions. She said that individuals are rational in that they are adaptive and update beliefs and information, but because of cognitive and emotional reasons they may fail to do so on several occasions, in several situations’ individuals are ‘predictably irrational’. She took some experiments on Predictability of ‘irrationality’ indicating that Everything is relative, avoid information overload, Experiment on the Framing Effect, Experiment on Anchoring bias, Card Experiment and Prospect Theory in healthcare. She also explained the concept of Nudge as right information at the appropriate time. She concluded her session by the points that Medical errors are of concern and need to be addressed, Nudge could be a way to influence individuals in their decision making and always needs to be used with caution, checklists help as a way to standardize processes, but needs to be monitored and revised, as needed, depending on the context, culture, and environment and Healthcare management would benefit from understanding how people behave and operate.

Next session was taken by Prof. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay on Game Theory demonstrating how to manage effectively a game of complete information. He said that almost everything we do is an example of game theory and individuals interact with each other and because people are rational and therefore in all these interactions they depend on each other’s action. This happens in economics, polities and almost all the social sciences. He said that each player has a set of actions and the player chooses an action which maximizes its payoffs or gain. He explained the payoff matrix with two players and strategies that are used and the concept of Nash equilibrium in game theory. He also explained the prisoner’s dilemma and moral hazard in healthcare project and explained the concept through decision tree analysis using probabilistic decision-making approach. He also took the concept of Incentive compatibility.

This was followed by Faculty – Distinguished Speakers interaction and Lunch at MDP Centre. After the lunch, there was Distinguished Speakers and faculty interface depending on research interests.

On day 2, October 26, 2018, the first research talk was on “Limits to Gains from Accreditation” by Dr. Rani S. Ladha. She started her session by introducing about Healthcare scenario in India. She said that in India, healthcare accounts for only 4% of government expenditure and 1.02% of the GDP, and India ranks 130 out 189 in the 2017 Human Development Index. She said that there is severe excess demand and ‘unmet need’ of patients and given the acute shortage of health services several private institutions have emerged. She said that quality and equity have become critical issues in healthcare. She took a case of Aravind Eye Care System (AECS) and evaluated the trade-off between cost and quality. She explained the Accreditation Game and said that the If NABH adopts western standards W for all, the elite hospitals would seek accreditation whereas non-elites would not resulting in loss of opportunity to improve the quality at non-elites. She said that For non-elites, NABH can influence the quality of care by choosing a quality level such that a sizeable number of hospitals comply. She concluded that accreditation can be considered a choice of standard with a focus on the trade-off between cost and quality, keeping in mind the people. A high but costly standard may preclude many patients from availing the treatment. For eye care, the AECS model seems better suited for providing quality care along with greater equity, and accreditation standards may need to be country, economy, and context specific.

Next session was off on “Healthcare Economics” by Prof. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay. He explained a Family planning Policy Advocacy and explained that numbers make an action. He took data of unwanted children per women for four states and benchmarked for Kerala and demonstrated that the amount saved in rearing unwanted children could be justified as amount budgeted in family planning.

Next Research Talk was on “Quality, credible commitment and the liability law” by Krishna K Ladha. He took the example of implementing credible commitment on how people should cast their votes freely.  He also explained the game of Government v University. He said that commitment requires an irreversible action diminishing one’s own choice such that non-fulfillment either worsens one’s own payoff or is not permitted by a third party that has an interest in the fulfillment of the commitment and the power to enforce it. He referenced that commitment is a strategic move, a move that induces the other player to choose in one’s favor.  It constrains the other player’s choice by affecting his expectations.

Next Research Talk was on “Quality, credible commitment and the liability law” by Krishna K Ladha. He took example of implementing credible commitment on how people should cast their votes freely.  He also explained the game of Government v University. He said that commitment requires an irreversible action diminishing one’s own choice such that non-fulfillment either worsens one’s own payoff or is not permitted by a third party that has an interest in the fulfillment of the commitment and the power to enforce it. He referenced that commitment is a strategic move, a move that induces the other player to choose in one’s favor.  It constrains the other player’s choice by affecting his expectations

This was followed by Faculty – Distinguished Speakers interaction and Lunch at MDP Centre, followed by the meeting of distinguished Speakers with the Chairman and the President.

IIHMR University Felicitated with the Prestigious Brand Leadership Award

IIHMR University was awarded with the Brand Leadership Award at the ‘Rajasthan Best Brand Awards 2018’ held at Hotel Radisson Blu Jaipur, today. The University received this award for it's robust brand awareness which stands out in the education sector. IIHMR University which comes with the legacy of a three and half decades old knowledge institution that is credited with introducing Health Management as a stream on this side of the globe, now offers MBA programs in Hospital and Health Management, Rural Management and Pharmaceutical Management. 

The award was presented by member of the Legislative Assembly, Rajasthan, Mr. Suresh Singh Rawat to the Acting President, IIHMR-U Dr. P.R. Sodani, who received it on behalf of the University. 

On the occasion, Dr. Sodani expressed gratitude on receiving the award and said that such accolades further inspire the team to work dedicatedly. The University has been working progressively to provide quality education to the students through innovative techniques in an encouraging environment. 

IIHMR University is a premier knowledge institution specializing in research, postgraduate education and training exclusively in the healthcare and development sectors. The University aims to generate new knowledge to provide evidence and inputs for developing effective policies and health interventions and strategies. Besides research and education through its MBA programs the University offers capacity building programmes for professionals and executives in healthcare and allied areas.

On the occasion, Minister of Higher Education, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Kiran Maheshwari and Rajasthan Women's Commission chairperson, Ms. Suman Sharma were also present to honour the brands and organisations who have achieved extraordinary success from innovative and effective marketing practices in the State.  

Other brands awarded on the occasion were Arch Academy of Design, Fortis Hospital, Data Infosys, Four Points by Sheraton, Hotel Clarks Amer and Bridge Convention, JK Cements, Jaipur Rugs, Lemon Tree Premiere, Bandhan Bank, among others.

IIHMR University Amongst the Top Universities of The Country-India Higher Education Rankings

Premiere institute of MBA in Rural Management, Hospital and Health Management and Pharmaceutical Management, the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR-University) was felicitated at the EW India Higher Education Rankings Awards 2018-19 on June 23 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangalore for standing 2nd amongst the top private universities of Rajasthan.

The awards are organised by the Education World magazine and are given to felicitate the country’s top-ranked private universities, private engineering institutes, B-schools, EMBA B-schools & multidisciplinary colleges. The criteria for these rankings are based on specific parameters of education excellence ­­like faculty competence, research & innovation, placement, industry interface, amongst others.