This document summarizes a report from students who visited Thenur village as part of a rural development program. They found that while infrastructure was improving with roads and lights, issues remained like the lack of nearby schools and hospitals. Education levels were low due to poverty and the cost of higher education, causing migration to cities. The village president had implemented useful programs, but more awareness raising was needed. Disconnect between rural and urban areas stems from differences in opportunities, lifestyle, education access, and government prioritization of development.

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THIAGARAJAR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
REPORT ON ANALYZING
SOCIAL ENTITLEMENTS THROUGH LOCAL
GOVERNANCE
AT PANCHAYAT INSTITUTION
VILLAGE : Thenur
COLLEGE : THIAGARAJAR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
TEAM NO : 4
Aravindh Vijaya Kumar Ramanan
Deepak Shivakumar
Jenifer Srishnath
Kevinkumar Swetha
Manoj subramanian
OriSacs
Vishwesh

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Overview:
The Rural Stint is an integral part of a manager's development program. By sending young
managers to spend time in Indian villages, sensitising them to the ground realities that many
of them never get a feel of while growing up in large cities. The experiences we have
in these villages stay with us through our careers and it will go a long way in making us more
human managers. The Rural Stint has been a part of the management training program and
certainly has a role to play in the quality of leadership.
The PGDM (first-year) students of TSM had a once-in-lifetime opportunity to experience,
live and learn about the finer aspects of life in the rural areas of South Tamilnadu as part of
their Development Immersion Programme. This unique initiative has been instituted with
the aim to sensitize the budding managers and entrepreneurs of this premier institute
towards the various schemes undertaken by the government in villages and to study and
analyze their execution and effectiveness. Spread over a week the programme proved to be
an eye opener by throwing light on various dimensions of rural life while also dispelling
several stereotypes associated with villages.
The main agenda of the village visit programme was to help students garner information on
governance and development in villages- both from the perspective of the administrative
side as well as that of the inhabitants. On interacting with the Government officials of the
villages, we obtained first-hand information on schemes like the Mukhya Mantri Grameen
Awas Mission, the Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana, the Nandan Phalodyan (under NREGA), the
mid day meal scheme and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. They also gleaned insights on the
challenges faced by the administration in executing these schemes.
Equipped with a basic knowledge of the schemes, we were then given a detailed tour of
villages, showcasing the practical implementation of most of the schemes. The mid day meal
scheme emerged as the most effectively executed one across all schools. In addition to
providing a nutritious lunch to the school kids, it also serves as an important tool in uplifting
the living standards of rural women, by giving them an employment opportunity. The Indira
vaas yojana is beneficial to people below the poverty line, by offering them cost effective
housing solutions. The most persistent problems observed pertained to land disputes, water
scarcity.
Villages left the students pleasantly surprised owing to their rapidly developing
infrastructure and technological advancements. While Thenur plays host to well connect
roads and panchayat offices, Schools in Thenur employs computer facilities and the internet
to teach students even at the primary level.

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WHY RURAL DEVELOPMENT IS IMPORTANT?
Our economy is developing fast, Industries and big corporate are going globalised, with
liberalization, tremendous changes are being felt in IT, manufacturing, Service sector, but
nobody thinks of the rural development to make it as fast as in these sectors.
Then what all this progress and development means? Benefitting to 30% in the total
population, already developed and above poverty does not mean any development.
WORK PLAN OF THE VISIT
INTRODUCTION
When we entered Thenur our thinking was all about the scanning and skimming of
development of those people in various aspects of education, exposure, employment and
implementation of government schemes. Our team’s main aim was to explore the reason
behind the words of our father of nation “INDIA’s heart lives in villages”. When we started
exploring the village, we found that Thenur was with mixed emotions. Those people suffer
from poverty yet they are happy and united. Best thing about Thenur is that they are free
from Security concerns. They are well aware about their own livelihood .Not other than
that. Our aim was to create as much as awareness mainly about children education to the
people so that they get their adequate resources to pursue their livelihood activities and my
fellow mates in the team has the same view like me. So we started searching for their
problems.
OVERVIEW
OBJECTIVE OF
STUDY
IMPORTANCE
OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT
KEY STRATEGIES
& POLICES
LIMITATION CONCLUSION

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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:
QUESTION: 1
While we have international fully air conditioned schools in our cities, the schools in villages
still don’t have benches and chairs, leave alone computers.
We have a huge shortage of teachers in rural areas, and the school dropout rate is huge.
WHY RURAL AREAS LAG BEHIND CITIES BY DECADES?
QUESTION: 2
In cities, we have wide roads, flyovers and underpasses while many villages still don’t have
proper roads. Urban-rural road links can play a vital role in rural growth.
WHY RURAL AREAS LAG BEHIND CITIES IN GROWTH?
QUESTION:3
Employment opportunities are hardly there in villages which forces youth to move to cities
creating imbalance in the ecosystem and leaving the villages deprived.
WHY LACK OF OPPORTUNITY IN RURAL AREA?
QUESTION: 4
While we may have numerous hospitals, nursing homes and medical facilities in cities,
villages neither have health awareness nor health facilities. Many of villagers have to flock
to cities for even basic treatments.
WHY RISING DISCONNECT BETWEEN CITIES AND VILLAGES?
Discussion with Panchayat president to figure out the Government services provided to the
families. Confirming the above mentioned questions and finding out what is the barrier and
problems with the native people. Analyzing the abilities and skill set of school children and
strengthening their aim.

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About the location:
Thenur panchayat comprises of five small villages namely Thatchamuthu,
Vaithiyanaathasaalai, Kattapallinagar, Chanthai and Thenur. Whereas Thenur village is the
larger in size with respect to land area and acquires more population comparing the
remaining four places. Population of these locations account to 8000. Agriculture and 100
day’s working scheme are the main livelihood for them apart from this some people has got
involved in livestock activities too
Leading person:
Head of the Thenur village panchayat is Mrs.Logasundari. She has been leading the
village as a president of the panchayat from the year 2011, irrespective of her
responsibilities and the position she has got reputation and recognition among the village
people as a good human being.
MEASURES TAKEN UNDER HER PERIOD OF GOVERNANCE:
When we had a discussion with the president, we are able to found that the
monetary fund allocated to that village is properly invested and it is continuing,
1. Under the scheme of “Thaai thittam”, a major investment was done on providing
proper street lights to eradicate the unethical and theft activities which
happened around the village. Totally new 159 setup of lights have been provided
across the 5 villages. Now total of 360 lights are available which is considered to
be enough.
2. Improper roads were corrected and cement roads were lied to facilitate proper
public transport facilities into the village.
VAITHIYANATHA
PURAM
KATTUPULI
NAGAR
THATCHAMUTHU TABETAR SHANDI
THENUR

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3. 31 syntax tanks have been placed and direct water pipelines were erected to
ensure the efficient water supply for the people for day-to-day activities.
4. Given proper training to woman in a wider scope to turn them as a self-
employable person which ultimately will help their family economy to improve.
For eg : Tailoring classes for new learner’s.
5. RO (Reverse – Osmosis) Plant for purifying the drinking water is under progress.
6. Almost all the people have opened their own bank accounts, where the daily
wages got deposited in a respective manner.
7. People have benefited with monetary fund given by the government (both State
and the Central) to built their own house for living and this is provided to the
people who are mentioned under the list of Below the Poverty Line.
8. With respect to State government, fund of Rs. 2,10,000 and the Central
government Rs.1,20,000 amount of rupees is given to support their dream to
have their own house.
LAG BEHIND:
There are few things in which the village is lagging behind, they are
1. Absence of elementary and primary school made the students to travel a long
distance to get education.
2. Similarly absence of a hospital, made them to get attracted towards private
hospitals or clinics at Samayanallur and Solvanthaan.
THEIR OWN SPECIALITIES:
The village has got its own specialities like,
1. It earns higher level of Recognition during the festival of “Azhagar Kovil
Thiruvizha”. Since Thenur was the first place where this festival got originated.
2. Once a long back, People of Thenur served as a major influence for Mahatma
Gandhi to turn into simplicity
Apart from this, People of that village have enough awareness about the importance of
education to their children and their benefit, but they need a proper direction for their
children to achieve their aim.

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PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS:
As from our team observation and discussion with village heads the major people related
problems were
 Traditional way of thinking.
 Poor understanding.
 Low level of education to understand developmental efforts and new technology.
 Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
 Lack of confidence.
 Poor awareness.
 Low level of education.
 Existence of unfelt needs.
 Personal ego.
ADMINISTRATIVEPROBLEMS:
The administrative problems in Thenur was also a major problem in implementing the
beneficial schemes to the village people
 Political interference.
 Lack of motivationandinterest.
 Unwillingnesstoworkinvillages.
 Improperutilizationof budget.
 No propermonitoringof programsandlackingtheirimplementation.
PROBLEMS &SOLUTION - OUR EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION-THEMAJOR CONCERN
 Five out of 10 school students of class V in rural India cannot solve simple arithmetic
problems, says a nationwide survey on education
 The decline in reading levels is more visible among children in government schools as
compared to those in private schools.
 Learning deficit from primary school influence learning outcome at the secondary
school level
Education institutions were not much developed in the village, so far from our team
observation the children were accessible to primary Education, only one Government School
was available. In most of the families the poverty level dependency factor was Education.
The cost of higher education has forced many families to remain in their traditional
business. But still some families prefer to send their children to send to nearby
Matriculation schools which were not an easy affordable option for them. This current
trending is due to peer pressure from neighbours and relatives.

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Many of them working are educated. One of the people we met was a Diploma in
mechanical engineer. He came back to agriculture because of monetary issues for higher
education. One more person is Diploma in catering. He came back to village because of
same financial constraints. This shows that they want to go for higher education but lack of
infrastructure in village and economic issues they stick to their traditional business.
I had a interaction with the village’s head about the various aspects which leads to this
thought among the adults in the village. He replied me that this is due to 2 simple reasons
* No good educational institutions around thenur
* Financial constraints
We insisted them to use the educated knowledge to enhance their business technically. We
stressed the fact that “EDUCATION IS WEALTH”. We were happy that we have taught
something what we learnt from our education.
BARRIER TO AGRICULTURE
The people in the village have their exposure level minimum in most of the areas. In terms
of Education, business, technology, general awareness and government subsidies their
exposure levels have to be more improved. The lack of exposure is mainly due to lack of
education, exposure is a dependent factor.
It clearly showed that people in the organized setup who are guided by good leaders
showing more positivity towards the work. On the other side people who are working in
unorganized setup is also having lots of business opportunities but lack of exposure is a
barrier to them.
1-5th Std 5th-10th Std 10th-12th Std U.G

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MIGRATION-THEBIGGESTDEVIL
After some age most of the people migrated to the urban areas to lead their life. As a result
of this educated people who are the major contributor of village growth migrates to urban
areas and the people who are poor and uneducated gets stagnant over there in village. So
the growth of village is at a very slow rate.
My team created awareness about the importance of educated people in the village’s
growth. It was useful to educated people inside the village. But our experience was like
giving awareness to people in the village is not sufficient. We need to give awareness to the
people who are settled in urban areas. They need to return back to their birth place and
they need to contribute to the growth of their own village.
CONCLUSION: REASON FOR DISCONNECT BETWEEN CITIES AND VILLAGES
The main reason of this disconnection is the difference in way of life in urban and rural
areas. People in cities get accustomed to the comfortable way of life that they are not even
ready to visit villages for vacation. The reason behind this is cities get expanded and more
opportunities are made available for the people flooding in. New ventures, experiments and
socializing happen in cities. The doors for each opportunity are more open in cities when
compared to villages and therefore the facilities and comfort would be different from what
you may find in villages.
The opportunities are made use by people in cities because of the education facilities. This
education is not available for villages because they do not understand the importance and
prefer to let the children work in fields than in study in classroom. Even if some parents are
open minded to educate their children, they send them out to cities for higher studies or
job.
When coming to the kind of food habits that people of both these places follow; people
living in cities are more vulnerable to many diseases because of their sedentary lifestyle and
fast food intake. With inappropriate exercising and large intake of fast food, the fast moving
crowd compromises on their health which would have to be heavily paid off later in life.
However, in villages, people stick to the old homemade food habits and since transportation
is still to be up to the mark, a lot of exercising happens and this helps them to remain fit and
healthy in the long run.
Coming to the health of people in regard with pollution. Since cities are heavily populated
and each member having vehicles, the amount of pollution is extremely high in cities and
this has led to great amount of pollution and allergic diseases, even in small kids.
However, in villages the question of pollution does not come up to that level of what it is
there in cities and hence fresher and less polluted air is available, which is good for both

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health and mind. People are more systematic and scheduled and get their work done by
themselves rather than calling up or outsourcing the day to day household chores.
The villagers are seen as poor and helpless people who approach urban people with
expectations only, but as a matter of fact villagers are kind and humble to point out the
mistake of civilized people of cities. Villagers are eager and talented to learn new things but
the facilities always reach them late than cities hence leaving them backward. This not the
mistake of people in villages but that of the government that does not treat the cities and
villages equally.
Benefits & Metrics
The time young managers spend in rural areas transformed our perspectives on leadership
and management in many ways that can't really be measured.
1. By living with rural consumers, young managers acquired an intimate understanding of
their consumption habits and culture. This would help them many years later when
launching new products and campaigns.
2. In participating in socially relevant projects, they were able to understand the gravity of
their situation and act with responsibility when in positions of power later in their careers.
3. In living in the same conditions as the poorest sections of society, they would acquire a
sense of meaning in the work they were doing.
Lessons
The key lessons from this Programme are as follows:
1. The greatest leadership lessons are imparted by having people stand up and lead in real
life situations. Throw young managers like us into a remote village and charge them with a
challenging task and you will be surprised with what they come up with.
2. Leadership training is most effective when you start early. It is when a manager begins his
career that he / she is most open to ideas and receptive to challenge. Later on, people are
largely closed to new ideas and have their comfort zones in terms of leadership styles.
3. Insights that fuel innovation are only generated when there is real intimacy with the
consumer. By living with consumers, the quality of insights one can access is of a different
order altogether.
4. A firsthand experience of how a company's products can transform the lives of people
goes a long way in imparting meaning to what a young manager is doing. There is a new
purpose to the work they are committing themselves to.