Millet Mission Odisha wins two SKOCH Awards

The Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas (Millet Mission Odisha) has won the SKOCH Award 2017 - Silver, and the SKOCH Order-of-Merit. These were conferred at the 50th SKOCH summit held at Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, 20-21 December 2017.

Millet Mission Delegates with SKOCH Order-of-Merit Award at Constitution Club of India, 20 December 2017.
Left to Right: Ms Diptimayee Jena, Dr Chitta Ranjan Das, Mr Pankaj Kumar, Mr Rameswar Mirdha, Prof Srijit Mishra, Mr Sadananda Majhi, Mr Ramani Ranjan Nayak, Ms Rashmi Rekha Samal.

The SKOCH Order-of-Merit was conferred to the Millet Mission Odisha for being among the top 30 Transformational Innovation Projects in India. From among these, Millet Mission Odisha was selected and conferred the SKOCH Award 2017 - Silver at the concluding session of the 50th SKOCH summit. The selection for these awards went through a rigorous process: scrutiny of application, jury evaluation based on presentation, on-line voting, and experts opinion plus delegates voting at the Summit.

SKOCH Award 2017 - Silver conferred to Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas being received by Prof Srijit Mishra, Director, NCDS on 21 December 2017, Mavlankar Sabhagrih, Constitution Club of India, New Delhi.
Left to Right: Mrs. Manisha Kochhar, Mrs Pratibha Phatak, Dr Gursharan Dhanjal, Dr. DB Phatak, Mr. NK singh,
Mr. Sameer Kochhar, Dr. M Ramachandran, Prof.Srijit Mishra, Prof. VN Alok, Mr. Rohan Kochhar, Mr. Nirmal Bansal.

The innovation for the Programme lies in the institutional architecture where Government of Odisha (through Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment under the aegis of Planning and Convergence Department), Civil Society (led by Watershed Support Services Network (WASSAN) as Programme Secretariat) and Academia (Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS) as State Secretariat) have come together to complement and supplement each other for a people-centric initiative to facilitate nutrition security and address climate resilience.

In this endeavour, Government, Civil Society and Academia have come together from day one starting from conception, to planning, to preparing guidelines, to implementation. The institutional architecture has been designed to draw upon the advantages of each entity, but also by providing space for flexibility that is required for a collective endeavour and to address emerging concerns.

To address the demand versus supply mismatch (or Chicken-Egg paradox), a framework with concurrent emphasis on production, consumption, processing, and marketing has been designed

The implementation of the programme brings together science and tradition. The knowledge of improved agronomic practices (line transplantation and system of root intensification) and use of suitable equipment (for instance, weeder) was superimposed on the understanding of local biodiversity and existing agricultural practices.

In its first year of implementation (Khari 2017), the programme is operational in 28 blocks across seven districts (Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nuapada, and Rayagada) and  Millet production has been taken up in 7,444 acres by 13,457 farmers. The Project Director, Agricultural Technology Management Agency (PD, ATMA) is the nodal agency at the district level who along with the Programme Secretariat work at each block with the Facilitating Agencies (FAs) to implement the programme through the Community Based Organisations (CBOs). The crop cutting experiments have been promising with yield measured at 4-8 quintals/acre for line transplantation and at 6.5 to 14 quintals/acre for system of root intensification. The Government of Odisha is planning to extend the programme to 27 additional blocks in Kharif 2018.

Initiatives are being taken for pilot inclusion of millets in State Nutrition Programmes (SNPs - Anganwadi's, Mid-day Meals and Ashram Schools) and linking them to the Public Distribution System (PDS). An urban internship has been launched to spread knowledge on the health benefits, create awareness on contemporary as also traditional recipes, and provide a market for the produce.

Millet Mission Odisha will be an important partner in the initiative on National Nutrition Mission and in spirit is with the Government of India's call to the United Nations to make 2018 as the International Year of Millets.

The application for consideration of SKOCH Innovation Award 2017 was submitted by NCDS the State Secretariat for the Mission. The Director of NCDS, Professor Srijit Mishra who is also spearheading the activities of the State Secretariat had made the presentation for jury evaluation in November 2017. He has received the two awards at the 50th SKOCH summit on behalf of all the stakeholders of Millet Mission Odisha.

See two earlier related blogs

Millet Mission at 50th SKOCH summit

Millet Mission Nominated for SKOCH Award

Nir-Aadhaar

In discussing Aadhaar, this note raises concerns on the possibility of abdication of responsibility by the Government, on possible collusion between the executive and the legislature, on silence with regard to exclusion errors, and on violation of a basic concept of jurisprudence. Hence, not ruling out denial of entitlement, or, Nir-Aadhaar.  

I have already written about Aadhaar earlier. These are with regard to Aadhaar, Radiagate and Cablegate,  If a Lie is told Three Times, Right to Privacy, Aadhaar and Democracy (also re-posted at LSE blog), and Aadhaar Interim Order Calls for Some Clarification. All these were written before the Aadhaar Act 2016 and before a nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India gave an unanimous judgement that Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right.

The concerns on privacy raised in my earlier blogs have been vindicated by the Supreme Court Judgement. However, the judgement was not linked to legality of Aadhaar, privacy or otherwise, as that is to be dealt by an independent bench. These are matters of procedural propriety. As an aside, one wonders, whether Artificial Intelligence (AI), in a Digital+ world could reduce the associated time lapses. Nevertheless, before we concede ourselves to an AI world (Aadhaar-linked or otherwise), I would like to raise some additional concerns from a human or, should I say, humane perspective. 

The Abdication of Responsibility by the Government 

It is worrying to note that, as in the right to privacy adjudication, it is a motley of individuals who took up the case for their rights. As against them, the Government was arguing that the Constitution of India does not confer any right to privacy. The Government took a position by interpreting an earlier judgement where 'right to privacy' was denied when an individual or entity used it to hide some illegality. It is true that such conflicts can always arise when there are multiple concerns that the Government has to address. But, the question that props up is should it not be the Government's responsibility to have suo moto taken an initiative to address the relevance of right to privacy over policing/regulatory concerns. In such sensitive matters, if the Government takes a one-sided position then should it not be construed as an abdication of their responsibility.

This abdication of responsibility should also be true in the case of Aadhaar because while the Government considers it to be a tool to facilitate provisioning of entitlements, it is designed to address policing/regulatory concerns and in so doing it gives a greater emphasis to aspects that facilitates exclusion over inclusion. I will come to a discussion on exclusion versus inclusion concerns later. But, before that, it is important to raise concerns on a possible collusion between the executive and the legislature.

Collusion Between Executive and Legislature  

There are no two opinions about the need for different organs of the State to complement and supplement each other. But, this coming together should be for the people. Unfortunately, the coming together can also be used to subvert the in-built checks and balances. This is particularly so between the executive and the legislature, as the executive head of the Government also has a command over the legislature. Besides, it can even bypass the Judiciary by amending existing statutes or by making new ones. 

In the case of Aadhaar, the legal sanctity has been provided through a money bill. Its initial articulation for provisioning of entitlements has become secondary as such provisioning also entail monetary transactions. The Central as also the State Governments are all in sync and want to link all entitlements to Aadhaar. 

Advantages argued in favour of Aadhaar-linked transactions is that it would enable direct cash transfer to the intended individual, it would reduce transaction costs with respect to procedures, and it would reduce leakages. This gives the impression that the linking will foster inclusion, but is silent on possibilities of exclusion. This is surprising because, in provisioning of entitlements, greater importance should be given to exclusion errors.  Hence, it does raise eyebrows on whether the silence on exclusion errors is deliberate. Even if the silence is an oversight that is not deliberate and even if the intentions are well-meaning, it does show that through an articulation that is seemingly inclusive there emerges an implicit collusion between the executive and the legislature that is numb to exclusion.

Exclusion versus Inclusion Errors  

An exclusion error happens when a deserving person is excluded whereas an inclusion error happens when a non-deserving person is included. Between the two, the former is considered serious, that is, no deserving person should be excluded even if in the process of ensuring this some non-deserving persons get included. Now, if a programme or scheme is universal (for instance, mid-day meals in schools for each and every child) then every child is included and there is no exclusion error. As against this, if a programme or scheme is not implemented (say, no mid-day meals in a school because there was no ration) then there is no inclusion error (no possibility of a non-student partaking mid-day meals). 

In reality, both errors are possible. Sometimes inevitable. For instance, some students could not get mid-day meal because they came to school late just at the mealtime and food was not cooked for them and there could be instances where some authorities partake mid-day meals cooked at schools to ensure that quality is maintained. But there can be situations where these errors are intentional - denial of mid-day meals to some children so that authorities can partake.

It is even possible to show additional ghost entries in school attendance and siphon-off funds apportioned towards mid-day meals. Technically, this is an inclusion error. But, in plainspeak, this is a matter of corruption. It is touted that an Aadhaar-linked attendance system can address such concerns. Well, and good! But, then, what about the possibilities of exclusion errors. What if a student does not have Aadhaar? What if a student's Aadhaar does not match? What if there is no electricity or no internet connectivity? And, so on and so forth.

Invoking A Basic Concept of Jurisprudence

A basic concept of jurisprudence is to err on the side of innocence, that is, many culprits may go unpunished, but no innocent should be punished. This is akin to being lenient for inclusion errors but there should be no single case of exclusion error. In other words, no deserving person should be excluded from the intended programme or scheme.

Privacy or not, there are umpteen evidences where Aadhaar-linked transactions can lead to exclusion. It may be argued that a system trying to correct irregularities may have some costs. Unfortunately, these costs are to be borne by those for whom the entitlements are intended.

For instance, in the mid-day meals scheme nearly 10 crore (or 100 million) children are entitled to receive noon meal every day. Now, if for whatever reason there is one child for every 100 who is denied food then it implies that one lakh children would be denied food per day. Such exclusions could be higher for children in schools without access to electricity or internet where, incidentally, the incidence of under-nutrition are relatively higher. Even if such exclusion is limited to only one child per day then also it is akin to punishing an innocent. In other words, Aadhaar cannot rule out exclusion, and hence, does fail the test of a basic concept of jurisprudence. It is about denial of entitlement, Nir-Aadhaar.

Conclusion
A reading of the path taken by the Government with regard to Aadhaar (or, even privacy) conveys that there has been an abdication of responsibility. It is worrying that this path surmounts to a collusion by the executive and the legislature. This is so because in its efforts to do away with inclusion errors it is silent on exclusion errors. Even if unintentional, this violates a basic concept of jurisprudence, as it could deny entitlements. Or, in the guise of Aadhaar, it is Nir-Aadhaar.

[The views expressed are that of the author and not that of the institutions/organisations that the author is associated with. Comments are welcome.]

Millet Mission at 50th SKOCH summit

The Millet Mission Odisha (Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas) has won the SKOCH Order-of-Merit, which will be conferred during the 50th SKOCH summit being held at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, during 20-21 December 2017. This was based on Jury evaluation from a presentation (also see SlideShare and video from 24 minutes onwards).  The Mission is also in the race for SKOCH Award 2017, which is also dependent on the delegate votes. Hence, this is a request to delegates at the summit on why you should at least visit our booth (#24) and be a part of the millet mission.

• The programme is based on an Institutional Architecture that brought together three pillars of progress - Government, Civil Society and Academia for a people-centric initiative to facilitate nutrition security and climate resilience.
• It will be an important partner in the Government of India's call to UN to make 2018 as the International Year of Millets and in the initiative on National Nutrition Mission. 
• To address the demand versus supply mismatch (or Chicken-Egg paradox), a framework with concurrent emphasis on  production, consumption, processing, and marketing has been designed.
• It brought together science and tradition. The knowledge of improved agronomic practices and use of suitable equipment was superimposed on the understanding of local biodiversity and existing agricultural practices to facilitate climate resilient agriculture that is sustainable.
• Initiatives are being taken for pilot inclusion of millets in State Nutrition Programmes (SNPs)  and the Public Distribution System (PDS).
• There is scope to scale these initiatives both within and outside the state and also to converge it with other agricultural schemes.
• Its urban internship is meant to spread knowledge on the health benefits, create awareness on contemporary as also traditional recipes, and provide a market for the produce.

The Millet Mission initiative also resonates in spirit with most of the Jai Hind Keynote lectures of the 50th SKOCH summit. To wit:

• Millet Mission will facilitate 'Naya Grameen Bharat' being envisaged by Narendra Singh Tomar, Honourable Union Minister of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development and Mines.
• It will transform tribal areas, similar to the story of 'Transforming Madhya Pradesh' by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Honourable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
• It does combine science and technology to facilitate new agronomic practices and in that sense is also about 'Transformational Technological Changes for India 2030' by YS Chowdary, Honourable Minister of State for Science and Technology.
• It is about climate-resilient sustainable agriculture along with a new institutional architecture to facilitate governance and hence does echo 'Sustainable Development and Indian Economic Governance' by Ashok Chawla, Chairman, TERI.
• Being a pro-people agricultural intervention, it also echoes the sentiments of 'Agricultural Growth and Poverty Elimination' by Ashok Gulati, Infosys Chair Professor, ICRIER.
• Focusing on interventions that are knowledge-intensive, it is also about 'Enhancing Indian Investments' by Suresh Prabhu, Hounourable Union Minister for Commerce and Industry.
• With a focus on marginalised population, it will have some lessons from below for 'A Macro Economic View for India for 2030' by Indira Rajaraman, Economist.
• Bringing together a host of civil society groups and volunteers working pro bono, it does reflect 'Legitimising Lobying and Advocacy' by Dilip Cherian, Founding Partner and Group Chairman, Perfect Relationsc.
• In enhancing of livelihood for tribal farmers the mission will also contribute to 'The Road to a $10 Trillion Economy' by Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
• Emphasis on capabilities of local population and small enterprises would be in sync with 'Job Generative Economic Agenda' by Bijayant Jay Panda, Honourable Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha.
• A programme that by design is inclusive does have an audience for 'Universal Basic Income' by Haseeb Drabu, Honourable Finance Minister, Jammu & Kashmir. 
• The proposed urban internship may draw on lessons from 'Urban Development India 2030' by M Ramachandran, Former Urban Swcretary and Distinguished Fellow, SKOCH Developmet Foundation.
• Protection of tribal livelihoods from unforeseen influences is akin to 'Protecting Virtual Borders' by Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator.
• Concern for people (or, economy) may get echoed in 'Monetary Policy and Fiscal Framework: The Route of India 2030' by Ashima Goyal, IGIDR and Part-time Member, Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister. 
• A people-centric policy initiative for the excluded cannot not be part of 'Political Economy: Requisites for New India' by Lord Meghnad Desai, Founder and Chairman, Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics.
• The need to engage with multiple stakeholders and an approach that acknowledges diversity in cropping patterns and agro-climatic conditions would in some tangential sense may benefit from the lessons from 'Multilateralism and India 2030' by Shaktikanta Das, G20, Sherpa, and Member, 15th Finance Commission.
• The plans to pay farmers through direct benefit transfer after validating practices through mobile apps would fit into 'A Digital Path to India 2030' by Pranjal Sharma, Member, Advisory Board, PACI, World Economic Forum.
• To go beyond urban and to bring in the excluded could be important concerns for 'FinTech Power India' by S Ganesh Kumar, Executive Director, RBI.
• Larger concern for the excluded, or as we say on scheduled crops for scheduled population may have important lessons for 'Fiscal Federalism and India 2030' by NK Singh, Chairman, 15th Finance Commission.

In summary, one may mention that the Millet Mission is a people-centric initiative involving Government, Civil Society and Academia for climate resilience and nutrition security. In doing so, it also gives us lessons on a host of other things that include inclusiveness, convergence, and governance among others. 

An earlier note on the Millet Mission that also discussed about challenges and the strategies to overcome these challenges is available here.

Millet Mission Odisha Nominated for Skoch Award

Kudos!

Millet Mission Odisha (Special Programme for Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas) has been nominated for Skoch Awards. In this connection, a presentation (see SlideShare, and video in Facebook from 24 minutes onwards) was made before the jury on 9th November 2017.  It is now open for popular voting through twitter and votes will be polled till 1700 hours of 18th November 2017.  You are requested to vote for your Millet Mission with ID_106.

Unique Features of the Mission

• The setting up of an Institutional Architecture that brought together three pillars of progress - Government (Krushibibhag and P&C Department, Odisha), Civil Society (WASSAN and a host of other partners) and Academia (NCDS, an ICSSR institute) from Day One.
• It addressed the Chicken-Egg paradox of who comes first by agreeing on a framework with concurrent emphasis on four verticals - production, consumption, processing, and marketing.
• It brought together science and tradition. The knowledge of improved agronomic practices and use of suitable equipment was superimposed on the understanding of local biodiversity and existing agricultural practices.
• Initiatives are being taken to pilot inclusion of millets in State Nutrition Programmes (SNPs) like Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), school Mid-Day-Meals (MDMs), and Ashram Schools and also for its procurement through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Challenges

• The concerns before the government was:
• to select credible Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as Civil Society partners to work as facilitating agencies at the block level, 
• to ensure replicability of the programme, and 
• to build ownership within the department.
• The concerns of Programme Secretariat, WASSAN, was 
• to address the delay in the signing of agreements with the facilitating agencies, 
• to ensure capacity building and orientation of community based organisations, 
• to facilitate timely release of funds, and 
• to conduct regular review.
• NCDS had to address the requirement of 
• real-time policy feedback, 
• exploring collaboration with others, and 
• developing a baseline.

Strategies

• The Government addressed the concerns by
• instituting a three-level selection process (evaluation of applications on pre-determined parameters, presentations before Officials under the Chairmanship of the Collector-cum-District Magistrate, and verification of claims through field visits),
• meticulous development of guidelines, and 
• regular involvement of senior bureaucrats and participatory orientation. 
• The Programme Secretariat addressed the challenges by
• active follow-up on a daily basis,
• involving the facilitating agencies in selection, orientation and capacity building of community based organisations,
• helping in the preparation of documents including the monthly participatory implementation plans, and
• working in close coordination wit the Department officials and ownership by the officials that facilitated regular review.  
• NCDS addressed its requirement by
• regular state/district level consultations and providing feedback through channels that are conventionally not considered academic,
• exploring collaboration with other academic bodies and networks, and
• developing a participatory baseline.

Scaleability and Replicability

The emphasis was given at the design stage to work out the details in the guidelines for implementation at the block, district and state level. Besides, the strengths of Government, Civil Society and Academia were identified to complement and supplement each other to facilitate nutritional security and climate resilience.

Response to the programme in its first year has been positive and the Government, in principle, has agreed to extend the scheme to another 25 blocks. Moreover, the design of the programme has been been such that the additional 25 blocks are now to be considered under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Independently, there are queries and/or talks with Governments in Rajasthan and Maharashtra as also Civil Society groups in Chattisgarh and Jharkhand, and also Government of India.

There are also plans to converge this programme with other programmes of Integrated Farming and Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).    

Why you should vote?

This is one of the rare initiatives where Government, Civil Society and Academia have come together to address nutrition security and climate resilience. 

This is also a rare opportunity for an initiative from an ICSSR institute to be nominated. Thus, social scientist should feel that extra urge, but scientist should also see the merit because the proposed intervention for academia goes beyond social science.

The intervention is working through a convergence mode, both within and between, for all stakeholders. As such, it is possible that you also end up being a part of this initiative.

It is likely to bring in a sense of pride in you (perhaps because you appreciate this innovative initiative or you have some nostalgia with Millets or you empathise with traditional/sustainable agriculture  or you happen to be from Odisha or for something that is beyond all these), and hence, you need to support.

How you can vote?  

Voting is possible either through a twitter account or through your email. You may open a twitter account if you do not have one. To vote, follow the following steps:

• Go to the link at skoch.tk/voting. To register enter your name, agree to the Terms and Conditions and click on the Confirm button.
• Sign in using either your twitter account (use twitter user_id and password and allow Skoch access to your twitter account, you can remove the access at a later date) or email (first create and account by providing your email id, phone no and a password - note that this password need not be your email password).
• Signing-in will take you to Skoch 50th Summit Popular Vote. Scroll to the right and click on View Nominations.
• From the 157 nominations, scroll down to ID/Sl.No. 106 for the Special Programme for the Promotion of Millets in Tribal Areas (or Millet Mission). Scroll to the right and click on the corresponding Vote.
• You have to vote before 17.00 hours of 18 November 2017

Do vote and do share this pro people initiative.

Academic Opportunities at NCDS

Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS)

(an ICSSR institute in collaboration with Government of Odisha)

E.mail: ncds_bbsr@dataone.in, Tel: 0674-2300471, 2301094

Academic Opportunities

Date of Advertisement: 01/May/2017

Last Date: 29/May/2017, 5.00 pm (India time)

NCDS invites applications for Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors in different disciplines/specializations.

Table 1: Academic Opportunities across Disciplines for Different Positions at NCDS
Disciplines	Positions
	Professor	Associate Professor	Assistant Professor
Development Studies or allied/relevant	1 (One) [desirable specialization - Sustainable Development {Unreserved}]	1 (One) [desirable specialization -Political Philosophy/ Political Economy, {Unreserved}]	2 (Two) [desirable specialization -Tribal/Dalit Studies, {Scheduled Tribe}], [desirable specialization -Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies {Unreserved}],
Economics or allied/relevant	1 (One) [desirable specialization - Public Policy, {Unreserved}]	1 (One) [desirable specialization - Applied Development Economics, {Unreserved}]	1 (One) [desirable specialization - Poverty and Human Development, {Unreserved}]
Anthropology/ Sociology or allied/relevant	1 (One) [desirable specialization - Sociocultural, {Unreserved}]	-	-
Population Studies/ Demography or allied/relevant		1 (One) [desirable specialization - Public Health, {Unreserved}]	-
Notes: The content in round parenthesis (...) indicates the number of vacancies in that position for that discipline in words, the content in square brackets [...] indicates the desirable specialization in that position for that concerned/allied/relevant discipline, and the content in braces {...} indicates if the post is reserved for a specific category of population as per statutory requirement mandated by reservation policy of Government of Odisha, or, is unreserved. Applicants with evidence of work on desirable specialization from core/allied/relevant disciplines can apply.  For instance, in Development Studies the work on the desirable specialization indicated may come from different social science fields while not being limited to them. Similarly, the work on the desirable specialization of Public Health may also come from some other relevant disciplines and this may hold for other desirable specializations too.

                                                            

1. Eligibility Criteria and Qualifications:

The eligibility criteria and qualifications should satisfy University Grants Commission (UGC) Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, Regulations, 2010, and its subsequent amendments. The relevant API score (category III) of 4th amendment (at p.25-26) is applicable. Further, as permissible under UGC Regulations (see Clarification on FAQs), NCDS has additional qualifying standards as also desirable conditions without deviation from the minimum qualifications prescribed by UGC. The eligibility criteria and qualifications for Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors are elaborated below.

1.1. Professors

A.(i) An eminent scholar with PhD qualification(s) in the concerned/allied/relevant discipline and published work of high quality, actively engaged in research with evidence of published work with a minimum of 10 publications as books and/or research/policy papers.
(ii)  A minimum of ten years of teaching experience in University/College, and/or experience in research at the University/National  level Institutions/Industries (this experience of teaching/research will be at the post-PhD level equivalent to that of Assistant/Associate Professor of which it would desirable if at least two years should be equivalent to that of Reader/Assistant Professor stage III/Associate Professor), including experience of guiding candidates for research at doctoral level (evidence of at least two candidates having successfully obtained PhD degree under the guidance of the applicant is to be submitted with the application). 
(iii) Contribution to educational innovation, design of new curricula and courses, and technology – mediated teaching learning process.
(iv) A minimum score of 400 points as stipulated in Academic Performance Indicator (API) based Performance Based Appraisal System (PBAS) in category III  as per 4th Amendment (at pp.25-26) to relevant section from UGC Regulations of 2010. An API score proforma (attached to the application form to help the applicant provide verifiable self-assessment based API scores) along with a curriculum vitae that provides all the information used to compute the API score and all relevant self-attested documents to validate the same should be submitted with the application form.

(v) The minimum of 10 publications indicated under [1.1. A. (i)] above should count towards her/his API score indicated under [1.1 A. (iv)] above. Further, from these 10 publications, at least five should be refereed publications from the concerned/allied/relevant discipline/specialization in the UGC specified Journal list notified on 13 April 2017. The applicant should also submit copies of these five refereed journal articles with the application.

(vi) Evidence of being the Project Director/Principal Investigator/Team Leader for at least one research project at the national level, or, as one of the team members for a research project at an international level. 

(vii) It would be desirable if the candidate would have received fellowships and awards from national/international bodies at a post-PhD level.

OR

B. An outstanding professional with established reputation in the relevant field, who has made significant contributions to the knowledge in the concerned/allied/relevant discipline/specialization, to be substantiated by credentials.

1.2.  Associate Professor

(i)     Good academic record with a PhD Degree in the concerned/allied/relevant disciplines.

(ii)   A Master’s Degree with at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed).

(iii) A minimum of eight years of experience of teaching and/or research in an academic/research position equivalent to that of Assistant Professor in a University, College or Accredited Research Institution/Industry excluding the period of PhD research with evidence of published work and a minimum of eight publications as books and/or research/policy papers.

(iv) Contribution to educational innovation, design of new curricula and courses, and technology-mediated teaching learning process with evidence of having guided doctoral candidates and research students (evidence of at least one candidate having successfully obtained PhD under the guidance of the applicant is to be submitted with the application).

(v)    A minimum score of 300 points as stipulated in the Academic Performance Indicator (API) based Performance Based Appraisal System (PBAS), in category III as per 4th Amendment (at pp.25-26) to relevant section from UGC Regulations of 2010. An API score proforma (attached to the application form to help the applicant provide verifiable self-assessment based API scores) along with a curriculum vitae that provides all the information used to compute the API score and all relevant self-attested documents to validate the same should be submitted with the application form.

(vi) The minimum of eight publications indicated under [1.2. (iii)] above should count towards her/his API score indicated under [1.2. (v)] above. Further, from these eight publications, at least four should be refereed publications from the concerned/allied/relevant discipline/specialization in the UGC specified Journal list notified on 13 April 2017. The applicant should also submit copies of these four refereed journal articles along with the application.

(vii) It would be desirable if the candidate would have received fellowships and awards from national/international bodies at a post-PhD level.

1.3. Assistant Professor

(i) Good academic record with at least 55% of the marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the Master’s Degree level in a relevant subject from an Indian University or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign University. However, relaxation of 5% marks, that is, from 55% to 50% is allowed for candidates having PhD degree and those who passed their Master Degree prior to 19 September 1991.

(ii) Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, the candidate must have cleared in the concerned/allied/relevant subject/discipline the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC, CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET.

(iii) Notwithstanding anything contained in [1.3. (i)] and [1.3. (ii)], candidates, who are, or have been registered for their PhD after 11 July 2009 to 04 May 2016 and have been awarded a PhD Degree from an Indian University in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards for the Awards of PhD Degree) Regulation, 2009, and so adopted by the concerned university, shall be exempted from the requirement of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor. Provided further, the award of PhD degree to candidates registered for the PhD programme in India prior to 11 July 2009  shall be exempted from the requirement of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor subject to the fulfilment of the following conditions: (a) Ph.D. degree of the candidate awarded in regular mode only; (b) Evaluation of the PhD thesis by at least two external examiners; (c) Open PhD viva voce of the candidate had been conducted; (d) Candidate has published two research papers from her/his PhD work out of which at least one must be in a refereed journal; e) Candidate has made at least two presentations in conferences/seminars, based on her/his PhD work. And, (a) to (e) as above are to be certified by the Vice-Chancellor/Pro-Vice-Chancellor/Dean (Academic Affairs)/Dean (University instructions). In addition, candidates who have been registered for their PhD on or after 05 May 2016 and have been awarded a PhD Degree from an Indian University in accordance with the UGC (Minimum Standards for the Award of PhD Degree) Regulations, 2016, and so adopted by the concerned university, shall be exempted from the requirement of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor. Besides, PhDs from accredited foreign universities would also be exempted from the requirement of NET/SET/SLET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor.

(iv) A relaxation of 5% may be provided at the Graduate and Master’s level for the Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Differently-abled (Physically and Visually differently-abled)  categories for the purpose of eligibility of educational qualification and for assessing good academic record during direct recruitment to teaching positions. The eligibility marks of 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) and the relaxation of 5% to the categories mentioned above are permissible, based on only the qualifying marks without including any grace mark procedures. Rounding off of marks to make it to 55% or 5% is not permissible.

(v) A minimum of one refereed publication from the concerned/allied/relevant discipline/specialization in the UGC specified Journal list notified on 13 April 2017. The applicant should also submit a copy of this refereed journal article along with the application. If the applicant so desires, she/he can also submit two additional refereed publications along with the application.

2. Other Conditions

2.1. Evidence of research, teaching and other engagements in the specialization indicated will be desirable. These should be evident from the selected publications submitted, the statement of purpose, and other details provided in the application.

2.2. Applicants desirous of applying to multiple positions should submit separate applications for each position.

2.3. The application form duly filled in by the candidate must be supported by self-attested copies of all required documents.

2.4. NCDS may request soft copies of some of the documents at a later date.

2.5. Applications received incomplete in any respect are liable to be summarily rejected and no correspondence on that score shall be entertained.

2.6. Applications received after the last date will not be considered.

2.7. Merely fulfilling the minimum qualification does not entitle a candidate to be necessarily considered or shortlisted for the subsequent stages of the selection process, or, if considered or shortlisted for the subsequent stages it does not entitle a candidate to be necessarily selected to the position.

2.8. No deputation allowances shall be paid.

2.9. No Travelling Allowance (TA) or Dearness Allowance (DA) will be paid to attend the different stages of the selection procedure or to join at NCDS after selection.

2.10. Canvassing in any form by or on behalf of the applicants will be considered as disqualification.

2.11. Applicants who are not Indian citizens will have to satisfy additional requirements by Government of India/Government of Odisha and subject to other rules and regulations, as mandated by law, if selected.

2.12. NCDS reserves the right to not fill up any of the vacancies advertised if the circumstances so warrant.

2.13. Notwithstanding, anything mentioned above, NCDS reserves the right to reject any or all the applications received without assigning any reason thereof.

2.14. The applicants are required to deposit a non-refundable application fee of Rs.1000/-(Rupees one thousand) only either through National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) to (Account No.450501110050004, IFS Code: UBIN 0562602) and submit necessary proof or by Demand Draft/crossed Account Payee cheque of  any nationalized bank in favour of “Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies” payable at Bhubaneswar. For reserved posts candidates are required to deposit a non-refundable application fee of Rs.500/- (Rupees Five hundred) only. Hard copies of application forms not submitted before the deadline and not enclosed with requisite application fee or its proof  will be summarily rejected. 

3. Salary

Table 2: Scale of Pay across Different Positions at NCDS
Positions	Scale of Pay + Academic Grade Pay (AGP)
Professor	Rs.37,400-Rs.67,000/- + AGP Rs.10,000/-
Associate Professor	Rs.37,400-Rs.67,000/- + AGP Rs.9,000/-
Assistant Professor	Rs.15,600-Rs.39,100/- + AGP Rs.6,000/-
Note: Dearness Allowance (DA), House Rent Allowance (HRA) and other allowances are admissible as per NCDS rules.

4.  Age of Superannuation: 60 Years

5. Application Procedure

5.1. Application form may be downloaded from NCDS website http://ncds.nic.in at Opportunities and the duly filled in form send to Secretary, Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar-751013 by Speed Post/Registered Post so as to reach by 29/May/2017 before 5.00 pm (1700 hours), India time. The institute will not be responsible for any delay in receipt of applications.

5.2. The envelope containing application should indicate "Application for [Position applied for] in [Discipline/Specialization]".

5.3. The last date for receipt of application form complete in all respect is 29/May/2017 before 5.00 pm (1700 hours), India time.

5.4. Forwarding of application by the employer (if employed) to be received on or before the date interview.

5.5. Applicants who are in service can send their applications as advance copy.

6. Checklist of Documents to be Submitted by the Applicant

6.1. Filled in application form with relevant self-attested documentary evidence.

6.2. A five-hundred word 'statement of purpose' conveying why the applicant is the best suitable for the position applied for and also briefly explaining the plans/activities that the applicant would like to take up, if selected (format included, as part of the application form).

6.3. For Professors and Associate Professors only: API score in category III as per 4th Amendment (at pp.25-26) to relevant section from UGC Regulations of 2010 with relevant self-attested documentary evidence. An API score proforma to help the applicant provide verifiable self-assessment based API scores along with necessary pages from the 4th Amendment is attached to the application form.

6.4. A curriculum vitae providing details of research publications, research projects, fellowships/awards, invited lectures/papers in seminars/conferences, and any other academic activities. This can be used by applicants for the position of Professors and Associate Professors to provide all the information used to compute their API score in category III as per 4th Amendment.
6.5. Applicants should submit discipline/specialization-specific selected refereed publications: five for Professor, four for Associate Professor and one for Assistant Professor. The applicant for Assistant Professor can submit two additional refereed publications if she/he so desires.
6.6. Non-refundable application fee by Demand Draft/Crossed Account Payee Cheque or proof of payment by NEFT.

Link to Short Advertisement in PDF, in the Samaj, TNIE.

Link to Detailed Advertisement in PDF

Link to Application Form in PDF
Link to Application Form in Word