Vibin Kurakar and G. Dhanlakshmi, MBA 2007 students, spent their summer in Andhra Pradesh working on a path- breaking initiative in micro-insurance with Tata-AIG, as part of their summer internship. Vibin shares with us here some of the incredibly rich learning from summer 2006.
FROM KERALA TO ANDHRA: A TRAVELOGUE
It was quite an exasperating journey from the warm, breezy and humid Kerala to a drastically different agro-climatic zone of Andhra Pradesh and one couldn’t resist noticing this cultural, economic and agricultural divergence. From lush green, undulating topography to a relatively plain mass of land; from a place of suburban sociocultural setting to a place where rural-urban divide was more than noticeable. Andhra Pradesh provided me with a new experience. The one I will caress in my memory throughout my life.
Andhra, with the posh elite areas of Begumpet, Secunderabad, Hyderabad at one side and the poverty-stricken, down the strata areas of Nalgonda, Guntur and Vijayawada at the other, portrayed a perceptible picture of rural-urban divide. Even the pace of life differed in these parts of AP. Looking back, I feel that my summer internship was a string of learnings; learnings that mushroomed from the grassroot and grew deep into my heart and remained there. Borne, educated and lived in Kerala and with not more than a couple of short term experiences in other states, this was an unforgettable patch in my life where I learnt, experienced and touched a new life, a new culture and a new traditional ancestry. As said “Experience is a difficult teacher, it gives the test first and then the lessons.” I was tested, examined and questioned throughout the sixty days of the project. At the end what remain is, a vast fortune of knowledge, the unfeigned story of India and a much broader picture of what life is, what living is.
Starting from day one, the bulk of work associated with the project haunted me. Much bigger were the nightmares about my first field visit; to an unknown place with an unknown language. Would I survive the cyclone? Staying in one of the moneyed residential colonies in Hyderabad, ‘Kundan Bagh’, I could feel the richness of the city and the money gushing into the market. The expenditure pattern, lifestyle and fast pace of life reiterated the developmental phase of townships and urban niches of India. With beer, bar and car, Hyderabad cried, laughed and danced. With late night parties, drums and whistles, traffic and dirt, growing city centres, rising townships and malls, sky high mansions, tight security passages, uncompromising policemen, eat’n joys, coffee hubs, Hyderabad is evolving as one of the finest metros in India.
Situated in Wills Lifestyle Building in Begumpet, the Tata AIG Life Zonal Office was a great business centre in this particular place. Whoever visits the office could never resist observing a separate department within the busy and rushy Tata AIG Life Office. This is the rural and social team, formulated for marketing micro insurance policies in the rural areas. Committed to social well being, for gaining market share in the long run, gratifying corporate and social responsibility and fulfilling IRDA regulations, the rural and social team launched an alternate channel (CRIG Model) which will help the team in catering to the needs of the rural customers. As part of the summer project, I visited different villages in Nalgonda, Guntur and Vijayavada districts of Andhra Pradesh.
It was an abrupt shift from the genteel, high class society of Hyderabad to the rural arena of Andhra Pradesh. Blessed with rice fields, palms and other seasonal crops, these areas are regarded as important agro zones of this state. The socio cultural settings, economic aspects and living standards were very much different from what I really imagined. Majority of the families belonged to the lowest strata of the Socio Economic classification. Transport facilities were phenomenally less and living standards unrefined. Goods lorry and paid auto service were regarded as primary transport means. Getting a bus or rented auto service sounded out of imagination. As I visited many places in the transport vehicle of Tata AIG Life during the initial days, life seemed to be great. But during the fag end of the project, travelling by other means became a necessity. While walking for hours through the kacha roads of these interiors, I used to feel: Is this the place where the corporates aim to enter? What can be the potential of this vast majority of rural folk?
They are poor in cash, but bigger in heart, hearty in smile and clear about their thoughts. They live for today and not for tomorrow. They enjoy every moment, whether it is work, leisure or drinks. The loving and caring attitude towards the visitor, be it a member among the same society or an outsider like me, clearly conveys the collectivistic culture impregnated in the minds of the rural poor. There were many instances where they regarded me as one among them and I was surprised by the love and affection showered on me. They believe your smile and respect your status, even though as from the concrete urban culture we smile at them with business mindedness and profit mileage expectation. It is this smile and heart that the corporates are aiming at. So it is not only about economic big gains and greater market share, but also about humongous corporate responsibility.
There are some instances which still remain afresh in my memory. Once when I visited a village called Sripuram in Guntur, I couldn’t meet my guide who was supposed to come. I was so desperate that I needed to complete the job which was in hand, as there were not many days to go. There was nobody from the office with me and to add to my woes, I couldn’t understand the language. I should identify the houses with the address extracted from the data base and visit the houses, analyse the situation and dig out problems buried in their minds. Standing in midst of appalling darkness I thought. Who can help me? There was a silver lining in the dark clouds which surrounded me. Probably the post man could be of help. I somehow found out the post office and conveyed my need to the post man. He smiled benignly and promised to help. On our way to the village, I slipped a Hundred Rupee note into his pocket. He was so much surprised and emotional that he almost touched my feet. I was totally embarrassed by his action. In my mind, it was just a pay for the good work he was doing; But for him it was a huge amount. The average income of a working adult in this part of the world is Rs30/ per day. I was totally taken aback by the horrendous condition prevailing there. How could a person live with this small an amount? How could he sustain his family? How could he fetch his daily food and needs? For us Rs 30/ is nothing. But for them it is hard earned. It is here were the corporates and government should interfere.
There is a huge business opportunity and a much bigger corporate responsibility lying unexplored. Even though they earn only little, their spending for normal activities is also less. Hence, if saving habit can be cultivated in the mind of these rural customers, it will certainly help them and inturn the organisation involved in the same. We could bring in Micro Deposit along with the emerging concept of Micro Credit, hence benefiting both ends of the channel.
Lack of education and lack of awareness among the villagers about what might be happening in the other part of the world is really embarrassing. But even then, there lies a huge market. The job of a rural marketer is challenging, it is all about creativity, it is all about innovations, constant changes and high class monitoring. If we fail, a bad name is on the fore. If we win, we enter the market through their minds. These are some memories which remain anew in my mind. But if I fail to mention the help delivered by my guides, it would be a felony. The energy exhibited by them in visiting houses, interacting with people and trying to sort out the problems addressed by them shows the humane nature of these villagers. He was a social being by all sense and a family person at every inch. Value of family and personal relations stays at the zenith in this part of our country and in this community.
Another instance which remains afresh in my memory is about a woman under the veil. She was a Tata AIG agent and was regarded as one of the smartest and efficient agents of the organisation. I was surprised, when I saw the agent. She was a conventional Muslim woman with all the religious sentiments and beliefs. I became sceptical about her efficiency and was double minded about her real capability and worthiness of being a Tata AIG agent. Couldn’t it be difficult for her to carry out her duties effectively in this conservative society? I thought. But interactions with her and the way she dealt with the villagers erased away even the slightest doubt. Tata AIG has really empowered the villagers, and here is an example of an entrepreneur hidden under the veil. It is here that other corporates who fear to take the risk of entering the rural arena should give a standing ovation for the pains taken by the Rural and Social Team to cater to the needs of the society. They saw it as a market and as the place where they could fulfil their corporate responsibility.
I tried to highlight some aspects which I personally found regarded as eye openers when I travelled through these villages. Leaving aside the veracity of villages as clear huge markets and looking at the ground level reality, the increasing number of suicides due to fall in agricultural production, increasing AIDS cases, divorces and shattered family lives etc. depict unhappy images about the rural life. But as we all know, villages of India are rich. They are rich by tradition, they are rich by culture, they are rich with beautiful hearts and now they are becoming rich by increasing income levels or disposable incomes. Opportunities which are still unutilised or which remain unexplored are manifold. Rural Tourism is one among such unexplored potentials. Every place in the rural settings does have a peculiarity. There is something special about the rural and socio cultural settings. There is something unique about the landscape, the topography, agro-climatic conditions, sceneries, water bodies and even more. We just have to identify its beauty realise the potential, manage it, and market it. It will help in the development of the villages, remove the divide and increase the overall growth of India. But for this we need a pure vision, a vision without blinkers, and a vision which is not blurred by immediate profits. If the corporates could aim that, if Government could direct and support that, the dream of India as a developed nation is not far away.
I still feel that I have not unveiled many aspects regarding the true conditions prevailing in the Indian villages. We forget, life still moves on.. We remember later, life just moves on.. yet we are lucky, happy and blessed..
But remember..
“When half the world laughs, the other half weeps!!”
Vibin Varghese Kurakar
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