Present paper seeks to analyse the system of face to face programme delivery adopted by Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) for its distance learners over a period of two and half decades. The paper also analysed that with the growth in student enrolment, new schemes of face to face programme delivery was developed and implemented and some of them have made significant contribution in developing a suitable network. However, the scheme originally launched on the philosophy of institutional networking, resource sharing, collaboration and convergence was highly successful and mainly responsibly for the growth of ODL in India. The schemes of learners support centres launched subsequent only supplemented the existing scheme. Attempt has also been made to critically analyse the pros and cons of each of the scheme offered for ODL learners for face to face interaction and how a particular scheme was more acceptable.

Present article seeks to analyze the impact of training programmes on the professional development skills of the academics working primarily at the Regional Centers of Indira Gandhi National Open University spread across the country. Article also seeks to analyze how the issues pertaining to the academics which include educational, administration, student support, supervision and maintenance of study centers. monitoring, staff development, survey and research activities, development of self instructional material, admission, examination, teleconferencing, interactive radio counseling, gyanvani, tele-learning center activities, maintenance of database, financial and administrative matters were taken up while imparting training. Interrelationship among the variables was also analyzed in order to asses the impact one variable on the other variables by using regression technique, i.e while dealing with the issues pertaining to educational administration the impact of training on monitoring was also assessed.

PurposeThis research study aimed to collect feedback from the learners on the usefulness and effectiveness of the online counselling sessions organised during COVID-19 lockdown through online platforms to provide academic support to the learners.Design/methodology/approachThe link of a questionnaire designed in a Google Form sent to IGNOU learners of the January 2020 session enrolled under the jurisdiction of IGNOU Regional Centre (RC) Chandigarh through email as well as SMSs. Total responses received were 487, out of which 445 responses were complete, roughly 8% of the total registered learners during the January 2020 session. The questionnaire contained questions on a cross-section of online counselling issues, besides questions on the learners' profile.FindingsMajority of the learners were satisfied with the input provided while organising online counselling sessions during COVID-19 lockdown in India. A significant proportion of learners (88%) used smartphones for attending counselling sessions. Facebook page of the RC rated as a relatively better option than other online platforms. However, more than 50% of learners faced Internet connection problems and found them a significant hurdle for smooth viewing of online counselling sessions. The proportion of learners who encountered difficulties in handling electronic devices was insignificant. The learner's feedback on many attributes such as usefulness and effectiveness of the online counselling sessions, interaction with the academic counsellors, e-content used in the counselling was significantly positive. A significant proportion of the learners have reported that face to face counselling could be replaced with online sessions in future, considering its flexibility in terms of place and schedule of learning and availability of recording of such sessions.Research limitations/implicationsThe research study was conducted under Chandigarh region of IGNOU which has a predominantly urban population. Thus the results of the study are limited to Chandigarh region and the region with similar socio-economic settings. This certainly limits the scope of the study.Practical implicationsThe study certainly provides valuable feedback to the ODL policymakers to consider replacing face-to-face counselling with an online mode in a phased manner. Online counselling options will be highly cost-effective, easily manageable, and provide flexibility for learners and resource persons, resulting in addressing learners' non-attendance related issues in the face-to-face counselling sessions.Social implicationsIn the analysis of our finding it is clearly stated that the Internet connectivity and availability of electronic devices is an important issue to provide online counselling support to socially and economically disadvantaged groups. Therefore, the research study also identifies such social issues as a major challenge for providing online counselling support to the learners.Originality/valueThis is an original empirical research study and data collected is used in the analysis for the first time. This analysis is based on the feedback gathered from the learners registered at IGNOU RC Chandigarh during the January 2020 session. The data and derived results not used in any other study.

Haryana is a small state having 4.4 million hectares of land only, yet it has become pioneer in production of food crops in the country. The time series data collected from the secondary sources of information from 1966-67 to 2015-16 showed a significant increase in total cropped area, irrigated area and cropping intensity. The production of major crops of wheat, rice, sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds and productivity of food crops of wheat and rice increased progressively due to adoption of high-tech agricultural practices but the productivity of wheat and rice decreased in later years due to change in agricultural practices including adoption of organic farming. The state government has taken several initiatives to protect and better management of resources for the sustainability of production and productivity of major crops.

In the present paper an attempt has been made to develop an e- learning programme delivery mechanism model for distance mode of learning so that effective student support services could be ensured by making online learning possible in the diversified socio-economic and geo-physical settings of a country like India. The paper also seeks to analyze the growth of the distance and open learning in India with special reference to Indira Gandhi National Open University. Attempt has also been made to analyze the delivery mechanism of IGNOU for providing better students support services. The paper finally concludes that networking of the system through information and communication technology will not only reduce the operational cost to a great extent, particularly in the long ran, but also bring revolution in the field of higher education in a developing country like India by ensuring effective and efficient online learning to those having poor access to electronic mode of learning.