The agenda for this year’s conference— the fourth such review— was an introduction to the conference, a brief opening speech by the president of DA, presentations by units on 1997 highlights, group strategy review and planning, presentations by units on the strategic plan for 1998-2001, the organisational business plan, a discussion on key areas that emerged during the conference, evaluation by participants of the DA group and concluding observations by the DA president.

"The purpose of DA is to create livelihoods for the poor. This can happen only if we have a sense of urgency," said Dr Ashok Khosla, president of DA. After 15 years of existence, he said, it was time for DA to take a cue from Silicon Valley, USA, which comes up with a product innovation every six months. "Can we say we have been able to do something different in terms of creating new technologies and livelihoods?...The question we need to ask ourselves is whether we can speed up the delivery of products and services."

The three days of the conference gave all the groups and units—the Technology Systems Branch (TSB), Environment Systems Branch, Information Unit, Communications Unit, Computer Systems Unit, DA/ TARA, Jhansi, TARAGram, DA Bangalore,, TARA Nirman Kendra, DESI Power, TARA-BKF Rural Technologies, administration, finance, TARA, the small grants programme and the corporate planning team— to brainstorm with each other on objectives, strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, achievements, and future business plans.

A particularly interesting discussion was held on the new DA missions that would be initiated in 1998— a water mission, resettlement and rehabilitation, training, impact monitoring, and livelihood creation in Madhya Pradesh and TARAGram. Enthusiastic volunteers put forward their names for the new projects and a mission leader was chosen for each of them.

Equally enthusiastic was the evaluation of the vital indices of the organisation. Based on individual written responses to nine vital indicators— DA’s achievements vis a vis last year’s projections, impact created, synergies created, multipliers, level of ownership of employees, sensitivity, client responsiveness of individual units, business sense and client satisfaction—the general conclusion was that the organisation was in fine fettle, while it could streamline a few areas.

An impartial assessment of the organisation was given by Dr N K Jain, former director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and an authority on tea in India. He is currently associated with the National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS). Describing the conference as one of the most interesting in-house discussions that he had attended in the 44 years of his professional life, Dr Jain said that he had observed a high level of commitment to the organisation among the personnel. However, he felt that DA could further hone its marketing skills by tapping all available opportunities. Among the examples he cited was that of DA’s handmade paper which could be marketed in chain stores in the US.