For IIM Ranchi, commitment to tribal issues is a ‘social responsibility’

NEW DELHI: Till 2021, the tribal women of Khunti, Lohardaga, Ranchi and Gumla districts of Jharkhand, gathered forest products like imli (tamarind) and mahua (Madhuca longifolia) and sold them to middlemen. It was hard work for very little pay. Then, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ranchi stepped in.

IIM Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Centre for Tribal Affairs (BMCTA) started training tribal women in processing, adding value to what they gathered along with packaging and marketing it.

“We train them at Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) so that they can add value to those forest products. The programme focuses on …transforming them into entrepreneurs. We provided training to Didis (women) associated with the Self Help Groups (SHG) on how to make imli jam and package it for the market,” said Renjith R, the centre’s chairperson and himself a member of a tribal community in Kerala.

While IIM Ranchi is part of a network of top business schools with students joining top Indian corporations and multinationals, the BMCTA is committed to addressing issues of the local tribal communities.

Established in February 2021 as part of the institute’s “social responsibility” initiative, BMCTA engages in activities and implements government policies aimed at promoting development of tribal communities, said Renjith.

“Jharkhand is home to a large tribal population, and alongside providing management and business education, IIM Ranchi felt the need to embrace a social responsibility role. This led to the establishment of the BMCTA to specifically address tribal concerns,” Renjith, also an assistant professor of economics in IIM-Ranchi, told Careers360.

According to the 2011 Census (the most recent available), Jharkhand’s Scheduled Tribes (ST) population stood at 8.64 million, making up 26.2% of the state's total population. Jharkhand holds the 12th largest tribal population in India, accounting for 8.3% of the country’s overall ST population, as per data from the Tribal Research Institute, Jharkhand.

Former Jharkhand governor and President Droupadi Murmu had virtually launched BMCTA on February 23, 2021, and lauded IIM-R for venturing into the field of tribal research and studies as part of its academic responsibilities. BMCTA is chaired by Renjith who belongs to a tribal community in Kerala.

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Tribal centre at IIM Ranchi

BMCTA works in five Jharkhand villages under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, a flagship programme of the union ministry of education, aimed at enabling institutions of higher education to work with rural communities to address the development challenges of rural India.

“We are finding out what the problems are in those villages and providing solutions for them,” said Renjith.

BMCTA is also implementing ‘Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana’ or PMDVY, an initiative of the union ministry of tribal affairs and the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) launched in 2018. PMDVY aims to promote sustainable livelihoods for tribal communities by harnessing the wealth of forest produce, also known as “minor forest produce” (MFP).

“Under this programme, we are providing training to Jharkhand’s tribal women who have easy access to MFP like imli,” Renjith said.

The centre is working towards establishing community-based enterprises.

“Currently, tribals are selling their products to intermediaries and they are not getting a good price. By establishing community based enterprises, they will actually become entrepreneurs or owners of the establishment. We are planning to conduct enterprise training programmes, not only for the tribal enterprises but also for aspiring entrepreneurs. We will train them in marketing, value addition, and financial management,” he said.

Running a tribal center at IIM

Apart from Renjith, the BMCTA members include Gaurav Manohar Marathe and Rohit Kumar, both assistant professors at IIM Ranchi.

“BMCTA’s funding is separate from the IIM funding. Both state and central governments promote our tribal entrepreneurship in line with their plans and our project proposals are being accepted for funding,” he said.

Earlier, the centre had applied to the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the union ministry of science and technology and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), but it did not receive any funding.

When asked about research projects at BMCTA, Renjith said, “We do not have any specific researcher at the centre. As an institution, we have faculties doing research work on tribal populations. And they can take help from the centre.”

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According to Renjith, the “major problem” that the centre faces in implementing its projects is “lack of awareness” regarding business among tribal populations. “Tribals are not aware that if they add value to their products and package them well, it can fetch them good money. That is the reason we are planning for bigger training programs for tribal enterprises as well as aspiring entrepreneurs,” he said.

Renjith said that the centre will work towards empowerment of tribal communities through entrepreneurship.