RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

Rural Industrialisation

V.A. Pai Panandiker

and

Arun Sud
Consultant :

P.K.J. Menon

FundedbytheR&DFund State Bank of India

oxFoRD &IBH PUFLISHING CO. PVT: LTD'

New

Delhi

PombaY

Calcutta

rsBN

81-204-0119+0

'4& IBH Publkhing

AT

Co. pvt. Ltd.,

]0 032

Foreword

for the Rural Industrialisation the pdlitical leaders and planners, that the of the country by programme has acquired .a great deal of significance in the alleviation of poverty and the development of the weaker sections of the Indian society. The Sixth Plan (1980-85) provided for about Rs. 17,300 crores fot the weaker sections under the
So much has been

laid in store

various heads, and the Seventh Plan provisions are of the order ol Rs. 34,267 crores. The Committee on the Development of Backward Areas of the Planning Commission under the Chairmanship of Shri B. Sivaraman has recently examined, inter alia, the question of

rural industrialisation in great details and

has reached some

very basic policy recommendations. The present study was a product ol action-research in a single backward district of Alwar of Rajasthan state' While its conclusions cannot be extended to the whole country' w be have no doubt that the problems faced elsewhere will not

materially very different. The study therefore calls for the attention of all those interested in this field' We wish to record our deepest appreciation of the financial and other assistance rendered by the State Bank of India' Shti P.C.D. Narhbiar, the then chairman of the SBI, and Shri later the R.P. Goyal the then Deputy Managing Director and unstinted support' So did Shri G'S' chairman, gave us their SBI' Ir fact' Srivastava, Chief General Manager, Delhi, of the petsonally visited the proboth Shri Goyal and Shri Srivastava ject work place during the action-research ph'ase which helped a gr.ut a.uiin bank financing of the rural artisans' We also wish io record our appreciation of the help rendered by Shri G' SBI at Jaipur' Kathuria, the Chief Regional Manager of the

vt

FOREWORD

Bhanot, the Indugtries Secrerary as the successive District Coll able help. We record our deep

vernment of Rajasthan at Chief Secretary Shri G. K.

d Director Industries as well

at Alwar gave us invalu-

ation of this help. Shri P.K.J. Menon, former , who acted as our Cone help in approaching the various stages. Niloy Bhattacharya, Field and had a first hand taste and industrialists; they

the villages around Alwar. to live through the ould have missed a great

It is our hope that the results benefit the Governmental policy bt states and the banking industry.
Centre for Pol.icy F[esearch New Delhi June l986

the

at the centre and in the

V.A. Par
PANANDIKER

action-research will

Director

I I
I
i

Prefuce

for this study originated when the Government of India announced an unprecedented allocation of Rs. 1'410 crores in its Draft Sixth Five Year Plan (1978-83) for the pro' motion of village and small industries sector. This amount represented an increase of 176 per cent over'the plan allocation for this sector under the Fifth Plan, and in nominal terms represented an increase larger than the total funds allocated for the promotion of this sector under all the previous plans put together. The programme was considered the toar de force of
The idea the rural develoPment Programme. When we disoussed the possibility of the study with seniot officials of the State Bank of India, we received a great deal

of encouragement. Especially to conduct an in-depth inquiry into the level of preparedness of the rural areas to translate the Plan targets into actual performance. Our idea of undertaking this project was thus mooted partially by a desire to assess the rationale behind the major governmental commitment to the rural sector and partially towards public policy making in developiag a feasible model of rural industrialisation which could be
replicated,

One of the fundamental considerations

research strategy for the study was therefore,

as possible,

systematic

in evolving the to have, as best representative and non-arbitrary

approach which could, through a face to face encounter with the lowest level of problems throw up increasingly reliable data to instead ofthe usual 'hit-and-run' kind of survey research, we decided to adopt the 'action research' method which in essence stands for studying the effects of change as it happens.

aid decision-making.

It

was with these considerations that

[n

implementing

an

'action-research' project

on such

vlll
major topic as rural

PRBFACE

dent or indigenous prororype,

And we did, in amp encounter with these very highlighting certain heretofore
problems.

rural industrialisation. Some of relate to the conduct of program research, For instance, the field activists who have a first hand which the measurements were ro further compounded by inhospita ptessure and matetial constraints. I we were at time folrced to hasten th unavoidable shorttcuts. Such shor knowledge of what the implicatiotrs ject flndings. Thesb were inevitable
We had selected the project

without adequate preceanticipated running into measure. But through an the project succeeded in lored problem areas of more important ones faced g the 'action' part of action of locating well-trained of the cultural context in taken. The problem got field conditions, time spite of our best intentions, procedures and resort to ts were taken with full would be for the final oroblems.

"rural industrialisation" and decided to exebute it in At district under the classic 'natu1al endowmerlt' premise that if necessary infrastructure. ' raw materials, instirtutional support d other industrial inputs existed, then given a direction and I push by a sound policy, rural industfies would sprin up at a reasonable pace in the villages. Alas, our Alwar experi ce showed that life is very much more complioated. One of t crucial things we found was that more tharj anything else, a well educated and well trained class of entfepreneurs is the ost critical input in any progra1nme of rural industrialisati . To the extent that creation of entrepreneufship rules out y short-term solutions, the suocess of ambitidus plans tci ckly industrialise thc backward areas will be prima facie susl till the absorptive capa. ' cities of such areas are adequatelv t up. This homework was dot ben done in Alwar and we t in most of the districts of the country. We are well aware that it may difficult to face up to the implications of such a conr-'lrr<ion conclusion. owever, some of us having stayed for two long years in the vi of Alwar and actually . having lived with the people, who can give concrete shape to the Plan objectiv6s, we feel all more in a -position to stress the point we 4re trying to ma And that also enables
u8

to s8y a word albout the

adopted by us namcly,

PREFACB

ir

'intrsduction and observation of planned social change. In a country, where the distance between the policy'maker and the small man in the street f;or whom the policies are made is so large,and areas of .darkness so vast in comparison with the few patchee of knowledge'in the realm 'of development administration, we think that more and more action oriented researches would be useful. It is true that 'action'research' presents its own peculiar problem, but it is through an encounter with these very problems that one can have a feel of the operational diffi' culties faced at the grabsroots level in introducing planned For instande, in Alwar we found that the best times to contact the maximum number of pe.rsons in a village was either to meet ihem before 6.30 ia the morning that is' before they went out to the fields or after 7.30 in the evening after they returnEd from the fields and ate their evening meal. No wonder exten' sion functionaries of most development agencies with ten-to' five working hours report more than half the population as "not available at site". In most of the distant and otherwise inaccessible vitlages our field activists had to stay overnight in order to contact tfoe maximum number of people both in the evening and the next morning. . Since public transport in Alwar district is virtually a tr'tzl, sur field activists had to use a motor cycle. Even the strurdy 'bike' broke down under the trying conditions forcing the field activists to spend many a night in the villages. On all such occasions they had to take shelter either in the " Panchayat Gksr" it therc happened to be one, or in the house of a 'Sar' panch, Panch, Panchayat Secretary, Village level worker, or whosoever agreed to play the 'host'. At least in Alwar we found that large parts of the district failed to attract the attetrtion of the extension workers of most development agencies simply because the approach roads (often
social interventions.

dirt tracks) leading to these areas get flooded for a few months each year rendering servicing of loans, if at all given, well nigh impossible. In addition, both in Ramgarh and Mandawar we came across such villages where the intervening terrain could not be traversed even on a motor cycle and we had to take recourse to the only other means of transport available-our

PRBFACB

own feet. It wa$ action"walking on two legs," literally ! In retrospect however, we feel that every moment of toil, often accompanied by half cups of heavy and sugary tea in every village visited during o years of field work was well worth it all. We gratefully acknowledge tho and co-operation not
also of the various officers , the Block Developand Mandawar blocks. commercial banks. We workers of tbe industries department and the Khaili and. Industries Board who readily accompanied us to the as early as 6 a.m. in the mornings and as late as 7 p.m. and in the evenings. If we have sometimeg been critical these functionaries, it is essentially to locatq the structural institutional weaknegses rather tban to blarte the indivi

At the Centre fior Policy Shri N.K. Mukarji, Shri Pran gupta were among the many from deal. We owe a Shri Trimbak Rao and other the CPR, who typed and retyped
benefited a great $ages.

our senior colleagues

and Dr. Bhabani Sen suggestiotrs we haye debt of gratitude to

in the Typing Pool of manuscript at various.

V.A. Per PeNetorrsn
ARUN SUD

Centre for Policy Research

New Delhi

Contents

Foreword
Preface

I 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7

Chapter
Chapter

Prologue

vii I
26
34 57 74

Introduction
The Setting and the Sample The Exploratory Phase

Action

Phase

Financing Rural Industries Technical Skills Development and Upgradation Follow-up Overview and Principal Conclusions
Socio-Fconomic Profile of Artisan Entrepreneurs Socio-Economic Profile Entrepreneurs in the

ll8
163
18?

Chaptr I Chapter 9 Chapter l0 Epilogue Appendix

2t0
226

I II III

234

Appendix

of
240 246
249

Non-traditional Sector
Appendix
Index Project Report-Tractor

Repair Unit

'Cneprrn

Prologue

ROLE OF INDUSTRIAL PIOLTCT: TNTERNATIONAL

PE.RSPECTIVE

An overview of the third world eeono*ric scenario in the postcolonial era positively indicbtes the decisive lole that industria' lisation has played in the context of natioflal development, Mind-boggling riddles of underdevelopment can be seen to have been tackled much mere ,effectively by such countries which opted for rapid industrialisatiort than those which did not. Indus. trialisation and resultant utbanisation greatly facilitateil,their economis by providing marketS for primary products, supplying consumer goods at competitive prices, relieving pressure on agricultural land and generating employment in the non.farm
sector.

The levels of indusftialisation achieved varied greatly even, emongst countries with simllar huroan and natural endowrnent$; size and geographic location; and equal access to markets, capital and technology. Their performaace varied according to the type of policy.pursued*a factor too often slighted by econorfilc tndowment enthusiasts. The critical role of industrial policy in determining the use of available resources and in the development of latent resources, in shaping the technical and economic structure of manufacturing and therefore, in'givilrg a$ cconomy a distinct direction, can hardly be overlooked. On their libe'ration, .howovef, the most obvious example of rapid indhstrialisation beforc developing countries was that of

the centrally directod Soviet industrialisation model; but, by that time the great depression of 1930's had also dtmonstratcd

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

that even market economies we that government intervention i evitable. As a rebult, with a few

not self-equiliberating and one form or another was inons, most such countries

of

government intervention

ide the social and physical and other development. In it nascent States generally
accepted the central role theY w

alisation as part of their

development:

to have to play in industrifor overall growth and

not mean
abandoning Pria handful of countries. notand Cuba. Most developing

Such recognition however,

vate enterprise altogether except ably, the People'f RePublic of Cl countries chose to imPlement

investment allocbtions and exPl even whn the prlblic sgctor was t
onus of manufacturing fell on the one such country.

plans through a mix of industrial policies, where play a major role, the mair
entreprer:eurs. India is

ir

the extent to which GovernThe theoretiqal discussion for optimal industrial ment control and direction is growth has not {dvanced great} in the last three decades but two outstanding cases actual experience has however srt -Second World War period, perfQrmance in the I ofindustrial controlled'.' Japanese model In market econofsies the "hi1 while in centrally planned has outshone all others in its
to be most impressive. It will. to draw any mea0ingful two countriesl but it will of industrialisation'l followed by nevertheless be instructive from the Indian standpoint where still invariably fails to go the discussion crin industrial urban or for thet matter beyond .the hiatu$ between rural
ed

programme is often acclaimdoubtedly be a futile exercise ion from the "optimal paths

small versus largo-scale

Japanese Industrihl f,xperience

The spectacular icome-back of J

industrialised War offers both the industrialist look et that sEmcient reason tp

after the Second World

well as developing countries

inquisitive intrs$t. As

rai'

ls iqdustrial policy with mqny a government in the

PROLOGUE

recent past has been tempted to seek inspiration and guidance in formulating its own policies. The industrial policy mix of Japan as ofl any society.for that matter is dictated by certain psychological, historical, traditional, and geographic locational factors peculiar to that country which can neither be replicated nor artificially reproduced elsewhere. Notwithstanding its limited relevance, it will nevertheless be a worthwhile exercise to examine some of the specific policy thrusts of the Japanese industrial policy in the post.war reconstruction era. From the Indian standpoint it will be speciflcally pdrtinent to have a look at her industrial location policy, and the relative shares of different industrial sectors. The process of industrialisation in the four industrial nervecentres of Japan, namely, Tokyon Osaka, Nagoya and.Kita_ Kyushu started as early as the'Meiji.Restoration of l86g in the form. of setting up government-owned factories in the four cities. This early activity laid the foundations of the modern_ day industrial Japan. During the post-war reconstruction years, the government concentrated on the development of these four areas mainly which spearheaded the process of Japanese industrialisation leadingto the reconsolidation of Japan's industrial base as well as the unprecedented spurt in industrial production tbat subsequently followed. Even while the problems ofexcessive industrial concentration had begun to manifest themselves by mid-1950's, the process of industrialisation in and around these industrial districts was allowed to continue unabated. Even the ambitious Income Doubling Plan, 1960, followed by National Comprehensive Development Plan, 1960, reinforced the leading role played by the existing inductriat ccntres as it was contende4 that more than anything else the "Flans were concerned with the emcient perfor_ mance of the economy:"l The Comprehensive Development plan in particular, while suggesting measures for reducing gaps in industrial development between various regions, recommended establishing new "Industrial Cities,l'r which through a repercussion eftct could stintutate ddyelopment of the regions in which they were located. What is portinent to note for rural industrialisation protagonists in.India is the fact that in spite ofa very high tempo of industrialisation and other infrastructure facilitiqs, including p very bigh levet ofedusationtbroughout.that

RURAL INDUSTRIALTSA{IOI{

country, emphadis was laid oo establishing industrial'cities' rather 3hsa hintefland industrial
awareness

land.man dawned long

agd. As a result, e'{'en as early as the turn of this century the Japhnese industry hfd beeun to be largely export in particular, masses of oriented. During the inter-war and other miscellaneous qualitY gadgets, toYs, low merchandise were shipped to all lorners of the globe. But after of International Trade and the Second World War the entirely in favour of indusIndustry (MITI) changed thts
tries which reqrlrired intensive employment of capital and technolosv suchl as steel, oil-leFning, petro'chemicals, autotechnologY
mobiles, aircraftl electronic
and industrial machinerY rnass sales, and la.rge-scale technology were accorded the

of all sorts. Thub' mass investments for development

highest PrioritY

of

for

enhanclng

competitivity ol

Although in terms of the clat cal comparative costs of Piostrategylwould have appeared most induction argument such a strateg refl factor endowment, but from annrooriate in vlew of Japanfs ri approPriate precisely the industries a long-range vlewPoint, these was high, technological Prowhere income elasticity of gress rapid and labour Productivi could rise fast. "It was clear

Japanese Produots.

iniustries."t Shduld that country have adoptd the sirnple doct,rine of free tradf and entrusted lts future to the theory of comOermanntly ha'le been disabled

d be difrcult to emPloy a it mlrion an$.diii popuration of I d0 .,Tr: :11{4 -11 111ii9.1: ih"t of Eutopt or America with Fight industries alone; whether right or wrong Japan had to h]ave these heavy and chemical
that without
these industries

lfrom breaking away from the

v ?vr !J.

Asian pattern of stagnation and

post-war years dmply proves the

cursory leview of

JaPan?

moting large-sc[le and cxamination ofl the'ihdividlal

ttrat tho outPut

industrial performance in the ionale of the policy of proive industrial sector. An

acturing industries shows ohenical industries f,egisterd

bf

tho'havy

PAOLOGT'B

a marked increase when compared to Small indubtry. During the period 1955-68, while total production rose 7.1 times, the output of heavy and chemical industries expanded 9.5 times aad that of light industries only 5.2 times. As a result the share of heavy and chemical indus{ries rose from 45 to 60 per centa in the total manufacturing production of Japan.
China's Industrial Policy

World over, scholars and academics in generat have a tendency to draw comparisons between India and China if only because the two Asian giants with the largest population in the world, have predominantly agrarian economies and are amongst the poorest in the world. Indeed, even the Government of India can be found frequently referring, in its various policy pro-. nouncements and planning documents, to China's outstanding performance and achievernents,E especially in the eottage and small-scale industry sectols. But a certain degree ofcautioo needs to be exercised while attempting to draw 'lessons' for India from the Chinese experience since the so-called 'achievements' may have a limited relevance after all, if only because of altogether different socio-economic and political systems obtainable in the two. For instance, comparisons are often drawn between the line. of reasoning adopted by the Indian Planning Commission for the simultaneous development of agrioulture and village industries and their interdependent relationship, and that of China where it is best explained in terms of the policy of "walking on two legs". The explanation for adopting such a policy goes like this in the Chinese context: "China is still a large agricultural country and a majority of her population lives in the countryside. Agriculture must be rapidly developed in oider to meet requirements for food, clothing and . industrial raw materials. Agriculture is also a potential market for industrial products However, agricgllural devglopment depends on the suppord of industry which can provide farm machinery, electricity, chenicel fertilisers, and insecticides which are needed in large quartities. Thus, industry and agriculture must be developed simultaneously ae they complement each other."e Ooe of the very significant characteristics. of China's rural industrial development experi:

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

ence, which has

country's peculiar social, t. the rural industries tend and urban workei. Factory to narrow the gapl between the live in rural villages and draw wages not workers continue to too different lroml their farming underlying assumptions of The rationale and some of need to be clarified while rural small-scale industry in ( ian experience in this field, drawing comparisons with the in so far as rural industrialisatiol in the former is conditioned by certain factors peculiar to that ,? such as: (a) excesproduced in the modern sive demand for agricultural sector in the local rural areas; (b) very poorly developed transportation system iand high costs; (c) the quality quantity of rdw materials; labour skills; (e) producer's and goods; (f) the difficulty of mob; and using the locally availtn tne moo( id the modern able resources ; (g) financial resources at (h) wi availability of small outthe local levet; and small for large-scale devecroppings of ioal and limestone,

iits origins in

economic and polltical system, is

lopment. China's rural oommercial ordinarily not frec to go to the

under which communes are

also reinforces the need to

Thus even if a coinmune saves up of machinery, it 4ay get it faster

for buying heavy machinery rural small-scale industrv. money to buy a piece
it builds its owns rather than authorities to buy the same proximity of the rural that of the larger units also and meet the needs of the ters produced in one proighbouring province becauge

wait for sanctions fronr the hi from the city. Moreover, geol units to their cliedtele compared facilitates them to understand local people. For instance, rice vince may have n0 utility in the of a different crolping pattern.

y, one of the most impoiIoping rural small-scale

bringing modern technology than waiting until urban developnrent proceeds to a poiflt where its methods begin to trickle out into the rural areaS.e , But a ceitain degree of caution ing lessons for India from the Chi

scale industrialisation. Thre.'

part of it

oan be seen in

fRoLoGOt

county towns, nor all that 'small' as the number of persons employed in each of these units can vary between 50 and 500. The definition of rural small-scale industry in China varies accordingly as a particular unit fits into the peculiar Chinese administrative system rather than by its location, size or scale of operation. In addition, profitability, which is tbe sine qua ion of any enterprise whether codmercial or indirstrial in the outside:world, is the least of considerations in the case of China's rural smsllscale industry. "A meaningful analysis of the raticinality or efficiency of snall-scale industry in China," observed the American Rural Industry Delelation, "should address itself to the much more important question as to: how effectively are the Cbinese utilising the resources available to them to achieve their objectives."lo Together with this, the logic of, what tbe Chinese term as "time-path of production"-a typically oriental argument of learning by mistakes and experience-is rather intrigu: ingly difrcult to comprehend According to this argument, a small plant itself goes from small to big size, from indigenous to modern, and high cost to' low cost. Implicit in this formulation is tbe assumption that a plant cannot be big, modern and low cost in the future if it does not go through the necessary industrial experience-like mobilising the masses in technological renovation and the capital funds from profits in the meantime. Eqfaly notewortby in the context of China's rural industrial sector is that, unlike India where the accent on rural industrialisation is for employment generalion per se, there, agriculture is the foundationll and as such in peak agricultural season, factory workers are promptly despatched to the rural areas to work on the farms.rz As the American Rural Industry Delegation to China observed: "... it is rural industry's impact on farm yields that provides the main reason for that industry's eiistence."l3 Given the backdrop of peculiar circumstances obtained in China, any attempt to draw lessons for India's rural industrialisation programme can only be misleading. Except for the'fact that in both situations the intention is to check rural-to-urbaa migration, ensure widEr dispersal of industrial units, and greator utilisation of locally available skills and resources, the raison d'etre for promoting this sector in thetwo countries is vastly

N,URAL INDUSf RTALI$ATIoIT

fertiliser, cement and farm ies in the rural industrial q6etor, while in India all the three commodities are produced in
thq
me

dium, and large-scale

a

Mare iqrportapllY, while in

employment generation is

for prompting the cottage and a in the only rationale for their village industries isectors, agriculture. l' industry's main priority qristence is to serye that deprive agriculture of is to serve agriculfure' . . . Activi extent at least not serving part of its labour force are, to industry units in China agriculture."tb Often rural without any major increaare "under PressuPe. to erPand diametrically opposed sas in gqtployme4t."re In this np thryst for exploiting tle employment potential of to tLe India& rural industries sector, in labour intonsive tochniques in t the "mgdsr of those very techni' China the accent is on ques in a capital-intensive di mind, while trying to draw Equally important to bear parallels betweenr the two si is the fact that while in the rationale for the existe of rural industrial units is China judeBd by the eftent to which succeed in attaining selfin Prod4cer goods, in $ Indian situalion, producer reliance goods are complptely out of th purview of rual industries diference in the sector. Indeed if one grasps the in the two countries, then defrnitionsls of rufal industry look self-defeating. any exercise in conrparing the.two "weightlY condideration"t
EVOLUTION QF RURAL Devel,oping coust4ies can broadly POLICY IN INDIA

in terms of the aPProaches to

them.

Those whQ focusPed on co

involved assemblY of irnPorted ma ed the "basic industries appraach rasontng for the former was assambli-og industries woqld be

divided into two categorieg followed by industries that mai4ly and those who followsuch as Iadia. While the
the capital gained through. elled towards basic induseffort would demand less was thgt high returns in the the burden of initisl hrgh

tues, so that thP i eapitql ini.tially; that of the long-run would b$ sufficient to
inyss-Cmeqt:.

PAObOGUE

Indeed the question of qapital formation was daliberated in greal detail by the architects of Indian planqing. Free from the, ideologiqal compulsions of the centrally planned societies, and' also aware qf the dangets inh?rent in allowing the economic ,relations to develop frpely in response to the working !f nnarket forces whic.h would not only have hindered economiQ development but even aggravated the existing inequalities further, the planners in India opted fol an approach often referred to as the

"policy of gradualism". This policy believes that the fruits of economic growth should be shared by the working classes ag well. Although the process of transformation of an underdeveloped econorny into a self-genetating one may take a littlo longer, the present generation should not be made to bear the entire burden of economic growth by forcing it to keep extremely low levels of consumption, and a part of its burden should' be transmitted to the future generations. For achieving this, though the major portion of the capital formation should be provided by domestic savings, yet a part can be financed by the. receipt of foreign aid from friendly countries. Justifying this line of approach, the First Five Year Plan oategorically stated: 'ilf it is not desired to secure a high rate of ca.pital formation right at the start at a cost of excessive privation which a reduction in the initial levels of consumption would entail, the goal of policy must be to ensure that a high portion of the additional incomes that accrue as a result of. development is saved and invested. This will, no doubt meari that the rate at which the initial levels of consumption can be allowed to go up will rise only slowly, but the pressure on consumption standards will at least be no worse thatr before and it might rvell become possible to permit moderate improvements. In other words, such a progtamme for stepping up capital formation calls for sustained austerity rather than excessive degree of privation and suffering."te
Industrial Policy Resolution 1948

The Industrial Policy Rqsolution of

1948 vindicated what the resolution termed as the "elucidation of Govemment of India's intentions on fun$amental aspects of industrial policy." While stressing the need for strengthening agricultural produotiou.

tn
which could form fihe backbone of laid particular edphasis on the "In the present btate of the of the people are tfelow the subsi tion, "the emphasis should be on t

RUNAL INDUSTRIALISAfION

economy, the Resolution ion of basic industries:

's economy, when the mass level," states the Resolu-

expansion

particular on the production of capiltal equipment ol goods satisfying the basic needs of the pe4ple and of con ties the exoort of which will increase eariings of foreign exchange."zo Beside arms and ammunition, &tomic energy railway transport, which would be the explusive m of the Central Government the state also took upon iteelf absolute responsibility of establishing new undertakings io six basic industries.2r The rest of the indusfrial field was [, open to private enterprise, though even in this sphere it u made clear that the state

both agticultural and industrial; and

in

of

production

would "progressivoly participate".

While spelling out the Resolution assignbd a very promi small-scale industrial sector as it for , employment generation, industrial concent[ation, and for national wealth. flhe Resolution as a generator for activising middle class for inivestment in i the firm opinion that this sector distribution of inpomes originat through a large number of factors the Resolution clearly scale industries have "a very economy,":2 offeritrg as they do, cooperativeenterptis. Moreover, cularly suited fot the better utili for the achieventent of the local certain types of essential and agricultural implements. Aware of the dangers posed to sector from the large-scale cular stress on protecting it
instancen

of

the industrial sector the

t place to the cottage and

considered most conducive

tralisation of economic and equitable distribution of

thp small-scale sector

small-sized savings of the al ventures and was of
facilitates

more even

from the marketing sector outlets. In view of all these

er

that cottage and smallrole in the national for individual, village or these industries "are partiof local resources and :sufficiency" in respect of
goods like food, clothing

cottage and smallscale

the Resolution laid parti-

was catFgorically stated be taken to elsure as to "ho* the t

it

undue competition. For suitable measures would 'mill industry can be

PROLOGUE

ll
to, rather than competitive with the hdndbest

made complementary

loom industry, which is the counfiy's largest and the

organised industry."ts

The Industrial Policy Resolution of

emphasis on the principle

cooperation in organising the cottage and snrall-scale industries in the country. Taking a ledf from the successes of the Chinese cooperative rnovement in its struggle against Japanese itnperialism, the Resolution asserted that: "One of the niaiir objectives will be to give a distinctly cooperative bias tci this (cottage and small.scale industries) field
the last war, even a predominantly agricultural country like China showed what could be done in this respect, and her mobile industrial cooperative units were of outstanding assistance in her struggle against Japanl The present international situation is likely to lessen to a marked degree our.chances of getting capital goods for largescale industry and the loeway must be made up by having recourse to small-size industrial cooperatives throughout the
country.2a

of

1948 also laid special

of industry." During and before

In this manner the very first industrial policy pronouncement independence, while fully appreciating the role of heavy and basic industries, also assigned the household, cottage and small-scale industrial sector a

of the Government of India after

very prominent

place. Some of the main arguments in support line of thinking are: (a) for every rupee of value added of this in this sector, capital required is roughly one-third of tbat needed in the large industty; (b) for providing employment to one berson, average investment required is apptoximately six to ten times more in the large-scale sector than in the smallscale sector: (c) for a large and overpoprilated country like India, only the small-scale sector can provide a viable and
progressive decentralised sector

of economy providing opportunities of work and income all over the country; (d) it can ensure more equitable distribution of national income and also avoid the hazards of unplanned urbanisation; and (e) as the industrial experience of Japan has proved that small enterpris can in most cases be as productive as the large industrial units, then given the paucity of resources in this country, it is definitely more prudent for India to opt for the expansioh of
this sector rather than the capital-intensive large-scale sectof.

fi2

huRAL r isDustRral,is,{fi o}il

.

Rrst Five Yerr Plhn (f951-1956)

The policy direction showed by the Industrial Policy Resolution through the First Five of 1948 was giv{n practical con the Harrodmodel, though it laid Year Plan. Based on

more stress on the devel sector,z6 it also astsigned agricul . wards the fulfilment of the .'
such as maximum production, full of economic equality, and aohievement of those objectives the rcgognised the crubial role which tries could play, and declared

"central place" in rulal {evelopr*

went

to the

extent

of

assigning

importance as agricultural of village industries should be as

as the increase

in &gricultural

of "high-growth modern. the topmost Priority":e 1objectives of planning yrnent, the attainment justice,"2? Towards the Planning Commission also cottage and village indus: village industries have a progxamme.zs Indeed, it village industries the same itself: "the development a matter of State action on. Indeed one cannot
or
perhaps even

be separated from the other."2e

In the

Indian gituation, equall important

employment generation, has been the socioj-economic al; in promoting the cottage and village indust{ies sectors, in so as rural arts and crafts constitute an "es$ential element" o in preserving the organic unity and culture of the villagers. As such the First Five Year Plan not only dqmarcatred the e spheres of responsibility of the Centtal and State C vernments3r with respect to village and small,-scale industrie but also suggested with for their revival, such as meticulous care q series of step organisation, statq policy, raw materials, research, and marketing assisteehnical guidance; supply of
lance.

more important qonsideration

Similarly, the document v4rious stepss3 to be taken in undue competition with the spscial developmept programmeg tries.sa The follolving is the list special village industries l) Village oil ifdustry 2) Soap-makiqg with neem oil

in considerable detail to protect this sector from sector, and also outlined for selected village indusof industries identified for

{fidrc,i3uB

la

'

3) Paddy husking 4) Palm-Gur industry 5) Gur and khandsari 6) Leather industrY 7) Woollen blankets 8) High-grade hand-made PaPer 9) Bee-keeping l0) Cottage batch industry

ll)

Khadi

| 2) Coir

promotional as well as protective measuresss. for promoting rural industrialisation. Perhaps no better evidence can be given in support of the government's earnestness in promoting this sector than tbe First Plan's unreserved declaration that it should get the same pribrity ds agriculture, transport or industry.tt It was therefore declared that "Finance for the

In this manner, the Planning Commission suggested

both'

probletn development of village industries has to be viewed as a liiseparable from finance for agriculture'"s? Furthermore, being aware of the fact that the pattern of distribution of the fruits of development invariably follows the pattern of distri' bution of assets, the dopument laid particular emphasis on organising the rural artisans on cooperative lines so as to ensule that ttre poor may nbt be left out' Unless the "State Govern'ments ensure that the artisans are sufficiently organised.to be

oUt" to avail of technical and financial assistanc-e" deClared the document "the srhall-scale industries pfogEamme cannot for the iucceed."s8 And the bst way to 6nsure this would be provide as far as possible cooperatively State governments "to for their essential requirernents", the ' From the foregoing discussion it is thus amply clear that was 'and small-scale industries sector importance of the village recbgnised at the outset by' the architects- of Indian Planning ooi i"fy out of pure economic considerations but also for its part of the sdciosocial signiflcance as it forms an inseparable crittot"t-*ltito of the rural society in India' In recognition'of ifi., bspects of village and small-scale industrlcs sector were "fr lone into considerable detail by thb Planning Commisslolt while formulaiing the Firit Five Year Plan of independent
India.

t4
Indeed, as one sees the through various policy pron during the last three decades of that the First Five Year Plan laid the foundations for all the future tions, a distinct continuity of out the history of planning in trialisation in pdrticular, over been with regard to ever increasin of this sector.
.

RURAL INDUSTRIALI$ATION

policy of lndia unfold ents and Plan documents

deveiopment, one finds the basic guidelines and Except for minor deviacan be discerned throughIn respect of rural indusyears the only change has emphasis on the promotion

Industrial Policy Besolution 1956

of society" was for the first licy pronouncement of the Industrial Policy Resoluticn without mincing words that henceforth the Industrial Policv India "must be governed by.... the objectives of sociali "'e In the context of rural industrialisation, this change did however bring about any significant shift ip policy. F dng in the footsteps of its predecessor-the Ilrdustrial Policy esolution of 1948-the 1956 Resolution also peclared lhat . Government of India would.... stress tfie role of cotl village and small-scale industries in the developmgnt o the national economy." In specific terms the 1956 Policy Resi on stated, "They (village and small-scale indusllies) p1sti immediate large-scale employment; they offel a method of ing a more equitable distribution of the national income. they facilitate an eflective mobilisation of tesources of . ca and skill which might otherwise remain unutilised. Some f the problems that unplan-

al production all
While highlighting the
need

be avoided by the establishover the

attention"4r towafds the promoti, again recommended a series of st ag, protectiverz fo4 the faster and rural industries. Similarly as in the of 1948, tho need for promoting

Government's o'constant of this vital sector, it once both promotional as well rre widespread growth of ial Policy Resolution

PROLOGUE

15

once again stressed. ,,The principle of cooperation should be applied wherever possible" declared the Resolution and went on to say that "a steadily increasing portion of the activities ofthe private sector should be developed along cooperative lines."lr In this manner maximum emphasis was given on .,encouraging the cooperatives in every way.,,44
Second Five Year Plan (1956-6f)

The Second Five Year plan based on the Mahalanobis model (which in turn was itself based on Feldman's model for the first Russian Five Year Plan), like its predecessor, laid more empha_ sis on the development of basic and heavy industries.as Buithis was not done at the cost of the village and smafl industries sector. Indeed, guided by the principles of..socialistic pattbrn of society" aimed at decreasing inequalities in incomes and. wealth,ao Plan outlay for this vital sector was increased by more than 548 per centaT over its predecessor. The Planning Commission considered the village and small industries sector to be of such immense importance that it set up a separate village and small-scale industries (Second Five Year Plan) Committee in June l95j to study the problems and suggest programmes for the development of this sector. The Committee, commonly known as the Karve Committeeas laid special . emphasis on technical improvement in the sphere of village and traditional industries, and called for greater econo-

mic decentralisation throughout the country. Among oiher things, the Committee very strongly recommended that .,what_ ever the villagers can undertake by way of improved industry
in their own village, should be organised on a village basis."{, Accordingly, the Second Five Year plan categorically stated that the "sector of village and small-scale industries is not to be viewed as a static part of the economy, but rather as a progressive and efrcient decentralised sector. .. ."so The plan there_ fore, laid great hopes on this sector for employment generation through the use of labour intensive techniques,Er and indeed, total transformation of the rural society in course of time. Jt stated "As the rural industry develops, technical changes lvill take place in different fields and correspondingly, the pattern of r$ral iodustrialisation will also change from simple crafts meet-

16

RURAL INDUSTRIALi3ATION

to
Thlrd Five Year SIan (196156)

es based on steadily satisfy the needs of a

down for all

In the Third Five Year Plan

the economic

during the plan Poriod "the natio

it

ffve years as has been achieve

and Second Plan."63 The onlY Frbdecessors was in respect of asCi

agriculture indtead of heavy indus lhean that the laiter was ignored, "principal aims"55 of the Plan,

ambitious targets were laid and it was announced tbat sets out to achieve as much in the ten years of the First change in this Plan from its "the first priority"s4 to . This however does not

it

sustaining the prolcess of develop during the earlier two Plans; was of the Plan.53 industries the Planning In the sPherd of village and Working Groups and ComCommission apPointed a number during the earlier two plans mittees to study the Progress Accordingly, great emPhaand make suitabld recommendati was laid in the Third Plan for "encouraging the further sis growth of industrfes in rural areais and in small towns" with the ties of income and employobjective of Providing "oPPc the countrv."67 Plan outment in a disPersd manner all by nearly 5l per centor ldv for this sectbr was also over the Seeond Plan.

still constituted one of the d indeed the importance of t of this vital sector beguh hlighted throughout the text

Fourih five YearrPlan (1969-197

Even in the Fourth Five Year
made except thatlthe centrally sP

ject (RIP) Prografnme which wab

in 1962-63 with the of small industries in the intention of intdnsive develop nrral areas was Wound up as thc progress made was not considered,'encouragirlg'6D enough by e Commission. Besides, one nding up tiie programme was of the main cotrsiderations for that it had not hdlped in any way d stemmi g tb tide of industrial
consentrdtidn

no basic shift in policy was Rural Industries Pro-

in big cities

"wris one of its

prirnry

fnol@rlB

l7

objcctives. With the intent of reversing this process the Fourth Plan heralded the era of cotcessional finaoce and liberal aid for industrial decentralisation in the rural areas.o In addition, the plan also laid great emphasis on technical improvement in the village and small industries sector. Commenting on technological runemployment which would result from the adoption of improved techniques of production the document observed: "the country cannot afford to freeze the existing technological, situation merely for the sake of avoiding unemployment or providing additional employment. Such action olly postpones the problem to a later date when its solution may become even more dimcult."6l The Fourth Plan clearly recognised the need for providing increasing opportunities of employment in non-farm activities in the rural areas. Particularly in view of the grave danger of long term costs8s of expanding urban industrial centres, the "Fourih Plan rilso imreased the outlay for the village and small Mustries sector from Rs. 264 crores in the Third Plan to Rs. 293 crores in the Fourth P1an"6t-an increase of nearly 11 percent, Government of India decisions on Industrial Policy issued in February 1973 once again reiterated that: "Government's policy will continue to encourage competent small and medium enterprises in all industries"'Ba Similarly Government's stand on promoting industrial coopratives especially in industries producing agricultural inputs or processing agricultural raw mater'ials66 was also vindicated through these decisions.

Fiftb Five Year Plan (1974-79)

Financial outlay for the promotion of village and small industries was considerably increased by more than 82 per cent ovel the previous plan period, a$ it increased from Rs. 293 crores to Rs. 535.03 crores, But the,basic thrust of the policy in respect of this sector continued to be the same as in all the previous five year plans.
Statenrent of Industriel Policy (Decembe

23, 1977)
1977

However,

with the cliange of the national government in

l8

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

in the form of thE Janata P4rty' oscent to power, a change in the industrial policy of the of India was discerned for the first time. In its first p pronouncement issued in December 1977 tble new natioual declared that: "the emphasis of Industrial Policy sd 'ar has been mainly on large industries, negleoting cottage iff completely relegating small industries to a minor role. It is the firm policy of this govarnment to change this appror "06 The basic tenet of the new policy was that whatever cor d be oroduced in the smdllscale sector must necessarily be The government was so of village and smAll industries

produced.

ted increase of 163.5 per cent

iastic about the promotion it announced an unprecedenthe financial outlay for the ies. "It is the policy of t. "to see that no worthindustry is given up for want
suggested included:

K.V.I.C.
items to more than 800 items:68 b) Bxtended the criteria of tries sector in tfre same way

expanded from 180

on to the cottage indus-

in the

case of small-scale

the facilitiis of promarketing survey, pur70

and developniett of

appropriate technblogy;?r and

of urban

' d)

Prescribed negative

industrialisation?l

and suggested

District Industries
industrialisation.T3

Centres to

for curbing the expansion the setting up of k after all aspects of rural

all the peopls."zr A review of the above factors to with a number of other measures recommpnded for ing rural iridustrialisation shows that for the first time a tilt was given to the industrial policy of' the government ia vour of village and small.

to the industrial policy of that "the new direction that is being given to the industrial policy of the country will help ih the creation' a just and equitable society in which the beneftts of industrial will be shared by
With . these btoad features
the country the Jahata Governmen fondly hoped

PROLOGUE
scale

T9

"the focal point of development for small_scale and cottage industries will be taken away from the big cities and State
capitals to the district headquarters."

industries sectot as the policy cateloridally declared that

Draft Five Year Ptal (1928-83)

Since the Janata Government had committed itself to the policy that "whatever can be produced by small and cottage industries must only be so produced,"le the Draft Five year plan l9?g_g3. proceeded to give concrete content to such policy declarations, Therefore, the Draft clearly stated that the village and small industries sector will receive a "very high priorily."r Accordingly, financial outlay for this soctor was increased by more ,than. 176 per cent from Rs. 510 crores in the Fifth plan to Rs. 1,,41O crores. Compared to this ttle outlay in the large aad mediuslscale sector registered an ingrease of mere 37 por cent fiorn. R.s.. 5,297 crores in the Fifth Plan to Rs, 7,252 crores?6 in accordance with the declared policy of the Janata Government that ....... investment in the organised industrial sector with its high capital to employment ratio . , . . must get a lower level of

priority."Te Industrial Pollcy Statement (July 23, 1980)

With the return to power of the

Congress Party in January

1980, a new Industrial Policy Statement was issued in July 1980 in which no serious attempt was made to break away from the

direction given to the industrial policy by the Janata Government. In respect of village and small-scale industries is 'particular, the new policy following in the footsteps of its predecas, sor,. declared that: "Government is determined to promote such
a form of industrialisation in the country as can generafe econol mio viability in .the .villages. Prorirotion of suitable industries in ,

rural areas will be accelerated. ... Handloom, handicraftg, khadi ard other village industrics will receive greater attention
to achieve a faster rate of growtb in the villages.'lso

20

RURAL INDUSTRIAU$ATION

Sxtt

Fho Yeer FIrn (1980{5)

In *sordance qith the PolicY

the Sixth Five Vear Plan (l! steps for the Plomotion of sector. It was categorically stated

by the government, recommended a series of and small-scale industries

tiotr of these indulstries

thb document that Promo"cont ue to be an important elestrategy."sr Among other nent in the national devel of production and earnings, in the things; "imProvement declared to be one of the particul arlY of the artisans,"s' objectives of the plan. What is significant to most imPortant the Sixth Plan attempt to note is the fact that not onlY ialisation programme by given to rural rversr the shift strengthened the acc6t but it the Janata Govornment, by allocating adother Rs' 3?0 res over and above what the in the Draft Five Year Plan previous govrn ent had Pro al outlay for the develof(19?8-83). In thls manner, the by more that 26 per cent of this vitall sctor rvas I mont and a jump of nearly 250 the Draft Sif,th Five Year owr per ent ovr therFifth Plan. process of the industrial An overiew of the thus shows that today, as policy of the Government of nditions for the promotion of never before, mo|t favourable have been created. Table I indus village and sma'.ll-scale outlays from one plan to shows the ever-lncreasing ge and small-scale industries ano{her for the Pfornotion of

will

setor.

Tbo flgures irX Table I speak fi themselves and clearly indiGovernment in promoting cate the arnestpess of the Cen this vital sctor df the Indian ect my. From the First to the Sixth Plan the fidancial outlay fi village and small-scale indusincrease of 6492 per cent. tries registered pn un Even in ternrs of constant money allowing for 80 per cent devaluation of the Rupee since 1950), the increase is an impressive 1548 per cent. .Indaed, thc fasic philosoph of rural industrialisation as indicated in ihe ipirial policy of the Government of India in 1948 and 1956, the direction given by the First Five Year Plan never chan and one can see a distinct history of planned ilduscontinuity in pattern throughout

PftOA,OGUE

2te
:i

I t
!r

.s

,8

iFs ,{

5F( 6v

.=

*f;. iF{
i\c)

a
.{,
I
iE

t $R-

liss
sis s $t*
$tSs
{
;F s
g

(D

t
s I .:
q
.=

a0

iss
::

{!

r: s -9 -te

s$t

.T

s B ^.r q p -ts :& ::s

G;i

E ? .g

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

From

one Plan to another went on increasing which coming into power of the

even the

return of Congress further momentum to the

rural industrialisation in

on
India has been as much on social consideration ultimately pldge contained in the that: "The State shall strive to prOr by securing and $rotecting as'efi in which justice, Pocial, economid the institutions of national life." particular, direct its Policy ship and control of the material so distributed as best to the operation of the economic concentration of wealth and
,

economic reason as for at vindicating the solemn to the Constitution of India te the welfare of the people y as it may social order

of

And that the

political, shall inform all State shall, in securing: "that the ownerof the community are

the common good; and that

svstem does not result in the

of production to

the

common detriment."sa
NOTES AND

l. 4. 5.

2. 3.

7.

cy of Japan, Paris, 1972. OECD, The Industrial p. r73. Ibid., p.174. Ibid., p. 15;16. Ibid.,p.4q,41, 110. Governme t of India: Mi stry of Industry-Guidelines for Industfies, Section-Il, Industrial Policy Resolution, 1948, pp. 3-8. Sigurdson, Jon. "The of Small-Scale and Rural Industry and its If with Agriculture and LargeScale Industry in China." Economic Research Institute at the Stockhblm Schi of Economics, Stockholm, Inly, 1974 (Mimeo), p. l. Sigurdson, Jon. "Rural Planning", in Michel Development Experience, Oksenberg (ed.), China

I'RoLoGUE
Proceedings

23

'8.

Academy of political Science, New York, Vol. 31, No. 1, March l9?3, pp. 63-?9. The American Rural Small-Scale Industry Delegation. 'lRural Small-Scale Industry in the people's Republic.of China", London: University of California press, l9?2, pp. 5-6.

of the

9.
10.

lt.
t2.
13.

Ibid., p.8. Ibid., pp. 56-57. Ibid., p. 194. Ibid., pp.238-39. Ibid.,p. L94
Planning Commission, First Five year plan, p. 325.
Supra, n. 17, p, 8.

14.
1,5.

16. 17.
18.

19. Supra,n.23,p. 17. 20. Supra, n. 14, Sec II-1.2. 21. Ibid., Sx II-l-2.4. 22. Ibid., Sec II-3.8. 23. Ibid., SecII-3.8.
24. Ibid., Sec II-3.8. 25. Supra,n. 23,p. 44, 47. 26. Ibid., p. 44,46.

Ibid., p. 8. Ibid., p.8. While in India the term "rural industry', is applied according as the size of the unit, its geographic location, the use of power, and level of technology etc., (See Supra, n.23, p. 325. l-2),.in China, none of these considerations are. taken into accbunt while defining a rural industrial unit as it is defined according to how it fits into the Chinese Administrative system-county, commune, brigade etc., (See Supra, n. 17, p. 63).

27

28. Ibid., p. 315.1. 29. Ibid., p. 315.1. 30. Ibid., p. 3t5.3. 31. Ibid., p. 316.7. 32. Ibid., p. 316.4. 33. Ibid., p.317-8.10. 34. Ibid., p. 321.20. 35. Ibid., p. 325.2.

Ibid., p. 28.1.

24

RURAL INDUSTR,IALBAIX}II

K.
37.

rbid., p. 326.s.

38, 39. 40.

1956. Sec II.

4t.
42.

43. .Ibid., Sec II-7.5, 8.10.

44. 45. 46. 47.

Ibid., Sec II-9.14. Planning Commission, Seco Ibid", p.2/.3. Planning Commission, Third Five Year Plan, p. 6 48. Supra, n. 34, p. 432.6. 49. Ibid., p. 412.7. 50. rbid., p. 429.t. 51. Ibiil., p. 25,8. 4t Ibid., p. 429.r. 53. Planning Qommission, 54. Ibid., p. 49,4. 55. Ibid., p.44.1. 56. Ibid., pp. 50.5, 63.19 and 57. Ibid., p. 415,22. 58. Ibid., p. 67.27. 59. Planning Commission,
13.30.

Five Year Plan, p.24,6

Five Year Flan, p. 82.29, aild

.27.

Five Year Plan, p. 5414.

.20.

Five Year Plan,p.29t-

60. Ibid., p. 287-r3.r2. 61. Ibid., p. 303-14.15. 62. Ibid., p. 303-14.14.

Sec

63. Ibid., p.289-13.16 and Su 64, Supra, n. 14, Industrial

n.

63,

65. Ibid., t4.9" 66. .IbrZ, Statement on 67. Ibid., Sec II, il.10. 68. Ibid., Sec I, 1.5. 69. Ibid.,SecII, 11.8. 70. Ibid., Sec II, t2.tl. 71. Ibid.,SecIl, 12.15.

II,

p. 67.27. vernment Decisions,

13.7.

Policy-lfil,

Sec

II,

10.5.

PROLOGUB

25

72. Ibid..,SeeII, 15.31. 73. Ibid..,Sec II, 11.9. 74. Ibid.,Sec II, 17.38. 7 5. Ibid., Sec I,2.7 . 76. Ibid.,Secl, 1.5. 77. Planning Commission, Draft Five
23-1.146.

Year Plan

(1978-33)

78. Ibid., 17-Lll4. 79. Ibid., p.22-1.143. 80. Supra, n. 14; Industrial Policy Statement*July 23, 1980.
Sec

II,

Planning Commission, Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85), o. 188-12.7. 82. Ibid.,p. 188'12.7 (i). 83, Data Computed from First Five Year PlaE (1951-56)" p.82-29: Third Five Year Plan (1961-66t p. 67.27; Fouth Five Year Plan (1969-74), p. 289-l3.l6f; Draft Five Yean . Plan.(1978-83), p. l?;l.ll4i and Sixth Five Year Flan (1980.85), p. 57. 84. Proamble, to the Constitution of India.

81,

P. '14.17.

CneprsR 2

Introd,uetion

In

come to be recognised as recent years 'pction-research" its flexible and sensiscience input an appropriate social I Stated simply, it is the as it unfc tive response to chbnge the observation of its introduction of planned chaage Action-research is thus a results by participant rens. .A relatively receot study of.the effects of change as itr social" sciences closer to phenomenon, it is an attmpt to making and action. the precipice of advocacy for deciei tion which specifies all the It is difrcult rto offer a without making the criteria of an action-research on of action-research definition too widet. However, the adopted for the punpose of the Pret t project may be described area. research is underas a process whereby, in a given problem in its particular specify the dimensions of taken to a possible solution is context; on the basis of this on with a view to solving formulated, and is translated into to evaluate the the problem; resdarch is then in this sense, effectiveness of the action taken. challenging application of becomes a convenient tool for problems "by combining social science as a solution to of social science both the knowledge and research scientific evidence of their to discover solutions and to Pro

efficacy".

Under the action-research Pro emphasis ha5 been on making the

a view t<i

on rural industrialisation, of applied research dealing directly or inby feeding back research ; the process of change

INTRODUCTION
thus generated then becamp. team to consider.

a further topic for the research

institutions dealing with rural industrialisation activities, the use ofresearch to generate and then study action. became a further railying point for the project team to put (o praetical test seme of its hypotheses about the working of various ground level institutions engaged in the ryral industrialisation process. More importantly, the nature of the subjects with which the project was concerned, .mealt that the solutions which it was required to ofer had to have general relevance. For, although the project operated within specific selected localitiesRamgarh, Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks of the industrially backward district of Alwar in Rajasthan, the problqms with which it was concerned-broadly, problems of rural industrialisation-depended not only on location, specific conditionsn such as poorly developed infrastructure and extreniely low levels of education and technical skills, but on the social structure which generates them, and upon the pattern of industries extension services available to deal with them. . Neither the social structure nor social services can be changed permanently by efforts in the local context within which an action-research project must operate. Consequently the present study also becomes a demonstration of "what is possible" and "what is not possiblg" by setting up some test situations which showed the value of a new nre&sure implemented by action and validated by research. The Action-Research Project on Rural Industrialisation in Alwar, thus presents concrete evidence which can be fairlv generalised as the basis for national policy on rural industrialisation. The study was financed by the State Bank of India under its Research and Development Fund. The State Bank actively participated in operationalising the .action' part of the
study. Obiectives of the Study

Apart from benefiting the grassroot level

The 'action.research' project was launched with the following

broad objectives: a) Study the circunlstaoces under which the process of rural

\l

2&

RURAL RURAL TNDUSTRIALISA?ION

best iation io&rstrialisati oII an be best accelerpted; tinancial lore b) Explore the extent to which {he services of the fnanciatr sucb{ssfully institutionss of the area can be sucb$ssfully tapped for furthering the rural industrialisation efrorts; i ndustriaiisation efforts;

'

rn a[d c) Loarn the organisational and institutional mechanics

be speedily
achieved;

under which rural industrialisation can lh and d) Develop policy options and

of rural industriaof the project were to develop feasible which could be

lisation.
The theoreticall and policy
ves

help government and flnancial progrbmme models of rural replicable socially and eco
Naturc of Stuily The study was conducted in three i

A.

ExPLoRAroRx PHASE

primarily with the Exploratory rosearch was ud( iotent of programme developmer that is,' information for improving progremme formulatio[ and planning. It comprised all prirnary and sePondary data activities related to new programme All relevant information developing financial institutions engaand data about the govrnment ged in rural industrialisation, industrial and related industrial potential and development efforts, and also of for the Sixth Plan period, addition a series of discusnational, State and district ving programme ideas. level agencies for evolving and became programme models The same programme ideas in (in terms of investment and ) which were later on of implementation and refined further through succeeding, (i.e.,'action' evaluation of effectiveness during . The exploratory $tage was and 'follow-up') phases of the of the actionthus instrumental in the basic the progradrrne inl[ nelp research proJect res&rcn project as it helped irt puts through innovation and at the grassroots level.

INTRODUCITON

of the project, like most development programmes consisted of interventions into community lifr during which period services were delivered to the selected rural community through a planned institutional proceEs or delivery
The 'action' phase
system conoprising:

B.

AcrroN Psese

a) An implementation process-of installation and maintenance in the community;

b)

socio-cultural process-of community reaction aud

adjustment; and

c) An evaluation process-for simultaneous intervention

the study. team actively participated in the execution of District Industries (Action) Plan for a period of more than two years. The tgam contiauously acted as a liaison-interface between the people and the govenlment, between podsible benefciaries and finaacial institutions, and also between government agencies and financial institutions, and monitored the entire process of interaction between the various actors involved in the execution of the district industries plan, beginning with arousing the conscientiousnsss of the rural popu,lace till the actual disbursement of the delivery outputs.

technique improvement. During the course of the project therefore,

C,

For"low-up

phase in the form ofan informal evaluatioa of general programming constituted one of the most important links of the 'action-research' project. Such last stage programme evaluation was considered particularly necessary for jqdging overall effectiveness of the intervention, and also from the point cf view of assessing the social and economic feasibility of its replication for the pufpose rof future programme planning. {n this manner, overall 'stock-taking' appraisal conducted during this phas greatly facilitated the inferring of eause and effect relationships between combinations of programme inputs/outputs and the recipients. In addition to this, the last stage follow-up survey also enabled comparison ofthe baseline (before measurement with the later (after) measurement, repeated under comparable conditions for the same set of people for the purpose of evaluating changes dlre to programming.

The'follow-up'

30

RURAL TNDUSTRIALISATION

Strategy of the Acliotr-Resertch

Aetion-research; ds stated, is ut of developing socidl intervention

imperative for action-oriented reliable, non-arbitrarY and economic and effec' decisions so as to achieve the most tum of investment, and types and tive location of setvices, turn, requires a knowledge prediction of likelY effects' This, nurnber, sPecifications, and of relationshiPs between the and the time, number' costs of units of !'rogramme in1 delivery outputs in so far as specifications and costs of units of programmes, locations the desired serviceloutcomes bY
.

primarily ,in suPPort vefy systems. Hence, it is projects to provide a tative basis for Planning

and reciPients are Pre-eminentlY Programming and research

research

dent upon them.; for the present action-

project dn rural

sclecting

by

typeb, quadtitis'

rural industrialisdtion wbich favourable outco le for rbencl locations; eliciting local partici

of; executing the {ame through tions ofthe area; and then ment, banking aN financial it to programme interven-, studying the causles and effects ves. the action and research obj tions. In view Of all these project in Alwar district, process for the rural industriali took broadly the following' course: in consultation with the a) Identificatlon and t of Rajasthan, and the Government of kldia, State -sotting which had induspotntial; itional and non{raditional ving locational promise; village, cottage arld tiny industries onal training courses for c) Ideritificatlon of various th literate and semi-literate promoting industrial skills youth of the iselected rural d) Identificatlion and selecti of possible recipients both and technical skills develop' with appropriate govrnfient,agoncies at
.

on therefore, involved costs, such programmes of likely to produce the most es by programmes and bY on in implementation thereve collaboration with govern-

INTRoDUCTIoN
for

3l

ofthe projeci ;il;;. government, developmental agencies of the areainthe implementation of the programme; and g) Anrin-depth inquiiy into the causes and effects related to programme intrvantion with a view to evaluatlng the overall performance ofthe' action.reseafch project, and iie sociat ana economic feasibility bf its replication.
Research Methodology

. f). Active participation banking and,rother

national, State and district levels to .lend .necessary assistancc operationarising the programme, both in respect of stting ''p ruralindustrial units, as.well as i"*g"ii.i"e,litlit" tr"tni -'" cal training courses for the identified *.-"f yorii,

32

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATON

thet it greatlY helPtd the Projecr ccpts oeces6itating a series of c i age and cootot of Programma 2) The'actiod' stage ofthe use of research fo generate at The second add mlost vital Phase sed the active palticipation of its mentation of the rDistrict phase which stretched well over I with all the actors.involvod in th tion -the bureaucracY, the and the PeoPle-4ccomPlishing a) Determined in consultat new and banking agedcies such the gtion likely to Produce selected rural communtty; b) Guided and mobilised o groups of rural Youth desirous
Establishsd ProPer li invoived in the Plocess of rural dsbursement or i qcsrrEu 4 tlisbursement of desired
and

in rdfirring some of its con' both in resPect of covet' and then studY iti effects.
as stated, involved the

the studY therefore, ompri' ' contingent in the imPleAction Plan' Duting this

years, it closelY interacted of rtrral industrialisaand financial institutioN' following: with approPriote .govrn{neflt of rural ir,dustrialifavourable outcomes for th!
entreprencurs and learning new technical skills;
between the various actors

c)

to

resulting ia the the identified grouPs of

artisans and rural Youth' 3) The thir4, that i$, the 'after' measure :was used fPt relating to Programme lmPl the oveiall Perfofmance of the P consistcd mainlY of keen and

'

phase designed as the

beneficiaries, suPPlemented bY i In addition, a selies of {neeti[gp

the causes and effects with a view to evaluating The mode of enquirY ipant observation of the intsviews with them.
discussioos wcre also beld goverantrent agencies er$ assessing their reactions vis-

with the represFntatives of fmancial institutions vith a vtew

a-vis Project imPlementation'

of ladia, the Sbte Govm-

Bank of lldia, tho actionthg .nortlr-northeastern region' of tls rqral sQtting w.s8 $u[I)e'

INTRODUCTION

sive and based entirely on non-random criteria and practical constraints. Some of the more important ones among them being: (a) latent potential of the district for rural industrialisation with its reasonable levels of agricultural production and
relatively better developed infrastructure facilities; (b) constrpipts of human and financial resources at the disposal of the project; and (c) proximity of,. tlre region to the project hea@uarters at New Delhi so as to reduie logistical problems. In addition,'one ofthe leading considerations in the choice of Alwar district as the desired rural setting has been its being a "declared industrially backward district" which entitles it to a special central subsidy for industrialisation projects. Though' initially it 'was planned to cover all the five blocks fplling in the north-nsrtheastern igion of Alwar district the scope of programme coverage, howwer, had to !e restficted to only three blocks, namely, Ramgarh, Kishangarh and Mandawar in view of limited resources both, human and financial as wcll
as

limited time at our disposal. A total of 108 villages? spread

over these three blocks were finally covered under the project.
NOTES ANb REFERENCES

1.

Some

of the more irnportant works which have givon e detailpd treatnent to the concept of 'action-research'

eds,, Third World Surveys: Survey Research in the Developing Countries (Delhi: The Macmillan Company of

methodblogy are: Albert Cherns, Using the Social Sciences (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979)' and Martin Bulmer, ed., Soeial Policy.Research (London: The Macn millan Press Ltd., 1978). For actitin researbh. methodology and techniques in the particular context of the developing countries refer: Gerald Hursh Cesar and Prodipto Roy,

Cnesrsn

The Settlng and t e Sample

One of the im$ortant, though derations in thQ selection of launching the Project, w&s' as n proximity of the setting to New Delhi. Alwar district met the full support of the State State Bank of India. In viow human and finaIcial, the scoPe restricted to thp comprising Ranlgarh, Tijara blocks.
r

necessarily primary consi-

suitable rural community for

oned, earlier, geographical study team's headquarters at of tbe criteria and elicited of Rajasthan and the of the limited resources, both project coverage was further

ern region

of Alwar district Mandawar, Kotkasim and

Alwar District SSil Its Setting:

The district

Historical Context

State

capital at Delhi, its peoPle geographic proxlmitY to the natia movement with its continwere exposed eafly to the naJio$t of responsible government gent demands fQr the establishn' and free press. The rumblings of is movement were heard for the first time in the Year l93l rr en the people of Alwar raised their voice for , the restoration Biswedari rights in .Iagir and' assessment rates after which Muafi villages ar[d for reduction the people of Alwar.'2 Not was [o looking back event there boleheartedly in the national did the PeoPle Particil only ion and Quit-India but also level movementg like Non-C t. on their own. For instance, sucn move organrsed several

of Nwar, formerly part of the erstwhile PrincelY in its preseot form on of Alwar came into November I, 19$6.1 On accoun of its strategic location and

TTIS SETTING

AND THE

SAMPLN

35

same year and indeed a never-ending chain of strikes and sdtyagrahas throughout the State3 that ultimately paved the way for the establishment of responsible government in Alwar. So much ro that the national govemment was forced to advise the ruler of Alwar to merge witb the princely States of Bharatpur, Dhaulpur and Karauli and form a union to be known as the United States of Matsya. The city of Alwar was made th capital of the new union and Raj Rana Udai Bhan Singh of Dhaulpur, its first Raj Pramukh.q Besides an impressive record of political participation, the district has also an illustrious history of public life and the growth and expansion of social service and voluntary orgauisations. For example, the Arya Samaj, which opened its branclr at Alwar as early as 1900, has left an indelible imprint on the social and cultura-l life of its people. Similarly, the establishment of the first ever voluntary youth organisation of Alwar-the Arya l/eer Dal in the year 1943, and of four Kasturba Gandhi Gram Seva Kend.ras by the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust, have played a very important role in the socio-economic life of

movements like "Anti-Repression Day" on February g, t 946, and "Irresponsible Ministers Quit Chairs" on August l0 of the

Alwar.

Educational facilities on modern lines also developed early in Alwar with the establishment of Alwar High School in 1842 aod the Thakur School in 1871. But these schools were meant only for the wards of royal blood and the scions of Thakurs. With a view to spread education among the common people at least 16 teis schools ard 44 halkabandi schools were established in the 1870's by the rulers of Alwar. With the establishment of the United Presbyterian Mission in Alwar in 1891, at least nine new schools were opened of which one had the dis: tinction of being the first ever girls school of the district. The provision of medical and public health services also has a long history, with modern medical facilities being introduced in Alwar nearly ninety years before independence. For instance, an allopathic dispensary was set up in the State of Atwar as early as 18!9. It was later upgraded and converted into a general bospital. The first female dispensary was also opered i.n 1889. By the year 1892 the State had two full-fledged hospjtals ip Alwef fqr the imperial troops and five dispensaries,

t6
located one each at Rajgarh, ard Behror. Sut the rural r

RI'RAL . INDUSTf, IATISATION

Thanagzi, Lachhamangarh

were poorly equippcd

were developed more in the

g the pre-independence Period political consciousness and a Alwar had a fairlY high level relatively bettdr developed sd al infrastructure. The socioplace during that era created political develoPments that tt on the post-indePendence whicli had a crucial a clirlrate

reconstruction ivork.

the northeast of Rajasthan northeast by Gurgaon district

ct of Rajasthan, on the north'

west by Mahendragarh district

by Jaipur and Sawai M

spread from soxrth

area of the district is , it is divided into four sub7,65,106hectarcs. A namelY, Alwar, Behro , Rajgarh and Tijara, lO tehsils' divisions, samitis znd 439 village seven sub,teftbils, 14 Pancha The Aravali hill ranges funrbti oning in l92l panchayats feature of the district and run Parallel liom are a conspicuous The average height is 365 east to west end north to of the district is drY, charactetmetres from sea level. The annual rainfall is 61.16 ised by a short monsoon. The 5"C to 45'C. cm. The temPerature varles by road and rnetre gauge The district is verY well and the coultrY. The total rail with other irarts of the ot ing through the district is 110 length of the railwaY line tis 1,384 km including 31 km. Total road length in tbe and telephone facilities national highwaY. Te km of the important Places in the [n PracticallY are available also available in PlentY. The district, Water and Power

to north is

Haryana, on the Southwest districts of Rajasthan. The 137 km and that from east

to west 110 km. The total

and Bhakhra systems dishict gets hYPel Power from Powa Project, Kota. and also from Rajasthan based district. Whcst, Alwar is an impoltent agr seeds and mustard etc. aF gram. jowar, baira' 5 barley, The district is also-rich in iome of the mriin croirs of the quartz;,calcite, oqppcr claY'' t mineral wealthf China glass $and clay arc" impo{tant xiinorc, limestone, marble,

!
'ro

\_tlgJn

I
)

(/
,1.

te r.\rp
trr.r

/'l
(

^L*
.J I I

Ct

/
S MADHOPUR DISTT

MAP OF
ALWAR DISTT.
IN
I

'-:::l-:l-::r l Y::---STATE BOUNDARY -.-DISTRICT BOUNDARY SAMITI -.PANCHAYAT BOLX\IOARY

@I DISTRICT HEADQUARTER

TEI'{SIL
HTOHWAY

_IMPORTANT -|i/ATIOML
-;R411_vv4v O CITY

r'*at

ROADS

. ^ PANCHAYAT SAMITI HEADOUAR1ER ! ^-RIVERS

NURAL INDUSf RIALISATION

and

it is a surplus district in the

backward district where
15

The livestock population of

industrial units on fiied 5 lakhs per unit. But in case

of

scheduled cEste &nd

tribe
of fixed

entrepreneurs the

units is 25 per cent of which Government. Interest free

assets \ryere granted

Sales Tax departments which were established The loan could be utilised

yment of loan and interest facilities conducive for a In addition a number of faster pace of industrialisation such as, loans under Central finance from the Rajasthen Government schemes, concession ict Industries Centre, the . State Governmdnt through ttre I Development Corpora. State Industrial and I Rajasthan ies Board, etc., subsidised and tion, the Khadi dndVillege
development programme free consultancY setvices, from octroi br a certain period, and power schemes, exemption subsidies, etc, also exist. Alwar district of RajasFrom this account it is clear location as well as resource than, both becarlse of its
r

thereon.

gllu\rwrut,u|,t rt r4i endowment, is fast develoPittg centle of the State.

into an important industrial facilities necessary for rapid

blocks of the district.

industrialisation are
necessarily evenly sPread

well developed, though not

in all

The North-northeastern Region

Preliminary investigatlons in
North-northeastern region, relal with infrastructr[re facilities for

district revealed that its

speaking, is better endowed

industrialisation in comparison with alll other regions o the district. From the point of programme therefore, it was view of the pre$ent action-resea Ramgarh, Kishangarh and decided to ground the study in blocks falling in this lvlandawar

tIIB

SETTING

AND

TTIE

SAMPLE

39

Geographic homogeneity, similar physiographic characteristics and a relatively well-spread network of banking and finan' cial institutions were a few of the leading considerations in selecting these blocks' As regards restricting programme coverage

to only

three blocks, the following were the main teasons

influenciog our decision in favour of such a strategy: a) The desirability to make a concerted effort instead of spreading the limited resources at our disposal over a broader
area; ano
deeper insight into the intricacies of programme implementation at the grassroots level, so that ic the light of experience gained, the research and'action' strategies could be suitably modified, if necessary, and even extended to other parts of the district, if possible.

b)

The felt necessity

to

gain better understanding and

account of the physical resource-base, infrastructure develop' and social environment, ment and industrial possibilities in the north-northeastern region of Alwar district is being given.

In the following pages a detailed

Physical Environment
LocATIoN

The north-northeastern region of Alwar district is bouaded by Gurgaon district of Haryana on the north and northeastern sides and by other panchayat samitis of Alwar on the westertr,
southwestern and southern

sides' Spread over a total of 2'863 sq km this region constitutes mole than 34 per cent of the total land area of Alwar district. The north-northeastern region, like tbe district at large, is traversed by the Aravali range of hills runniag east to west and north to west. River Sabi, a non-perennial river runs along the extreme northern borders of Mandawar and Kotkasim blocks and normally flood$ parts of the latter during the rainy season. On the southem gide of the region, river Ruparel, also a seasonal river, runs along the extreme southern boundary of
Ramgarh block' The region is also char&cterised by a diy climate and a short monsoon. The average rainfall of the region is 61.16 cm and the temperature varies from 45o C maximum to 5' C minimum,

4.6

RUI,AL INbU$TRIALTSATTON

e
.tr,

.gts='

q9'

$J""'

...,

'li-,-

T
.ft 1

;';h;>"*;E

vnp or r.roRtH/

PANCHAYATSAMITI

|{ORTH EASTERN REGIC}{ OF ALWAR DISTflICT

-.-DrsTRlCt BOUND4RY
-/\PANCHAYAT . .BOUNDARY SAMITI

HADQUARTERS

^/R]VERS E POST OFFCE

H H|GH/HIGHER sEcoNDARY
SCHOC'L

M MTDDLS SCHOOL -/
@ HOSPITAL

TEHSlL HE ADoI+RTER
HIGHrTAY

+ DISPENSARY
O POST&TELEGRAPITTLF}TOT{'

-NAT{ONAL RO4OS _IMPORIANT *RA|IWAY L INES

W

o FOLTCE STAITON
O MAN DI 6 MARKE]

ctr\

clicrRcu,r nousE'

TdE SSIIING AND TTIts SAUPLB

1l

In a year ofgood monsoon like 1976, the actual rainfall record_: ed at each of the three panchayat samitis included in the survey was as follows:
Trble

l.

Strbrnemt showfuU rainfslt reconlert In lg76 In Rangorh, Kishaggarh and lllrnrtawar blocks

Panchai'at

Normal

samiti
Ramgarh

Actual

rainfall
55.25 55.68

rainfall

{*)

Kishangarh
Mandawar

79.70 %.00 83.80

the area is

above (-) below Normal rainfall

(+) n.45 (+) 40,32 (+) 20.91

Physiographically,

plains. The soil of the

cheracterised

though the two rivers Sabi and Ruparel'pass iirougfr tle region, no irrigation is possible from either of them. As a rsult, agriculture in this region is solely dependent on irrigation from wells. Together the three blocks cover an area of 1,g43 sq km which constitutes neatly 22 per cent of the total geographical area of the district. The headquarters of the thrJe panchayat samitis included in tbe study, namely, Ramgarh, fishangarh and Mandawar, are linked by pucca roads and iheir distance, !9m the District headquarters is 22,35 and l5 km. respectively. There are 87 village panchayats in these blocks, of which 29 are in Ramgarh,2T in Kishaqgarh and 3l in Mandawar. Of tha total villages comprising the region, 405, that is, g4.4 per .429cent had been electrified by March, 19g2.

some parts the soil is sandy but in other parts of the regioa, the soils are sandy loam anil clay loam.. The water level is high and except for a few pockets in .the rgron, is generally of good quality and available in abundance, At some places the water level. is 'as trilh as ten feet. The avrage water level for the region as a whole, however, is about 40 feet. - Wells are the only source of iriigation in the region. Though there ar three important minor irrigation tanks in the district none of them falls in the region. Similarly, as stated earlier

region is sandy and sandy

by alluvial loam. In

42

RURAI, INDUSTRIALTSATION

Socld Environmeni
DBMocRAPHY eNu PoPur-e.noN

At the l97l

census, the

had a PoPulation of 2.86

lakh which constituted 20.5 Per' of the district. Thus, while the cent of the total goographical area per cnt of the district's PoPulat of population in this region is alm density for the district as a whole The following statement of population for the R'ajasthan northeastern region of the
samitisi
Table

of the district, it has 20.5 on. With the result, densitY the same as the average that is 166 Per sq km)'
separately

of the total Population is spread over 2l Per

the distribution

Ahvar district, northand for t}lLe three panchaYat

population' arel cnil ilensitY
sq

2'

-*ise ilistribution
Total

StateldistrlctJ panchayat samili

Area km
8,382 2,863 743 526 574

DensttY

per sq km
166

Alwar
North-northeastern lregion

of Alwar district
Ramgprh
Kishangarh Mandawar

r58

na
159
.186

'

centre, Khairthall in the K population in this town' works out to a PaltrY 4.5 Per the corresPonding figures for the

The region ls

Predon

rural with only one urban

block. With a mere 12,987 population for the region which is much lower than 9.1 per cent and the level of urban growth is development of industrY and
considerablY in comParison Rajasthan gbnerallY.

workers constituted 27.98

ing figures for the three Pan florth-northeastern region are

known that they stand out

district. Though corresPondnat samitis situated in the

in

separately available it is comparison with the dis'

tHE SEfTING ANb TfiE

SAMPLE

43

as scheduled tribe populations are we spread and can be found in all the panchayat samitis. In Mandawar tehsil, howeve4 s,

trict (27.98) as well as the State (31.24) averages. The per_ centage.of workers is higher in the rural, areas than in the ulban centres due to somewhat larger participation of females in the former. As iegards the distribution of population occupationally, once again the exact data are not available separately for tle region, but it is also known to follow the district pattern, namely, 76 to 80 per cent in agriculture, g to i0 per cent in transport, storage and communication, 3 to 4 per cent in household industry, approximately 2 in other, induitrier, 3.to 4 per cent in trade and commerce, and the remaining in livestock, fishing, forestry, construction, and mining andrqualrryrng, etc. The overwhelming dependence ofthe people of this region on agriculture and allied activities bas been clearly highlighted by the above figures. Although Ramgarh panchayat samiti is fairly rich in minerals, the percentage of workers engaged in mining and quarrying is very low which clearly underscores the fact that the development of mineral resources of the region has yet to make a meaningful start. The percentage of workers empoyed in construction is also very low, which is once again an indication of a very low level of developmental activities in the region. At.the 1971 census, 19:73 per cent of the population was literate. Among the males 30.28 per cent were literate and among females only 7.83 per cent were literate, As might be expected, the literacy rate was rnuch higher in.the small urban sector.(47.52 per cent) than in rural areas (16.94 per cent). Of the three. te&si/^r of the north-northeastern region, literacy data are being given for the two reisrls-Kishangarh and Mandawar_ included in the survey, in Table 3. In 1971, scheduled castes constitut ed 17.3,per cent of the total population of the district and 5.91 per .cent of the total population of scheduled castes in the State, The scheduled tribe population likewise, was nearly 8 per cent of the total popula_ tion of Alwar and 3.55 per cent of the total population of sche_ duled tribes in the State. Together, the two of them thus repre_ sent more than 25 per cent of the total population of the district. In the area under study also, the,scheduled caste as well

RUR,^L INDIISIRIALiSATI0N Tablc

3,

PdrtcntaSo- litcr$cy ih

anil utbrtr'trcas
Percentage literacY

Female
Mandawar

TotalgoPulatton 2t.76
21.16
18.68 40.43

lt
T
Rur4l Urbdn

7<

6.34 6.34 6.20 28.30 7.89

3515

Kishsngarb

29.{l
50.90
31,53

Total
tBlock-wise data not {vailable.'

20.37

greater concentratlon of comparison with the other two te

region. The Resource Base
LAND

tribes is

to

be found

ia

of

the north-northeastern

The region covdts an &rea of 1, 2l per cent of the iotal land area area- per capita wofks out to a littl Of the total 1,84,300 hectar( ?4 per cent is the det iown ares, I for cultivation, approximately I pe about 1.8 per cent ls under
cent.is currentlY fallow

3 sq krn
,

which constitutes

Alwar district. The land

over 0.63 hectare. area of the region, nearlY per cent is not available cent of the land is fotest' pastufs, nearly 2 Par comprises other uncult! than'?5 Per cent of the

vated area, It is clear that

and the

2 per cent is used as total area is under cultivation and is not available for cultiremaining 23 Per pastures. The vation out of which 5 Per cent comprises other cultivable area nearly 22 Per cent waste land. out ofl the total net gross irrigated ' area is is net area under irrigation. cropped area. Althougb approximatelY 17 fer cent of the to gross croPPed area is the percentage of gross irrigated a for additional irrigarather low there is not much i region is verY fertile. As tional resources as the land of source of irrigation. In thie stetd earlier, weflls are the gh, tubwells (bored wells) tegion the watr level being quite open wells as their cost are more cornmon lin comParison smell holdings can have of constructiotr is.\terY low 46d
1

TIIB $ETNNG AND TTIB

SAMPLB

independent source of irrigation in the shape of a based well. The main crops ofthe region are barley, gowgr, jowar and fodder crops. Vegetables, especially onions and tomatoes, arc also extensively grown in the region, Nearly 1,200 hectares in the region are under onion cultivation which is the main vegetau. ble crop of this area and a source of good income to the cult! vators. In. tems of percentage, 30 per cent of the gross crop ped area is under bajra; 24 per cent under gram; 15 per cent under wheat; and 1l per cent uader mustard seed in a normal year. The region .is an agricultural surplus area and a major portion of the local produce is sent out to other parts of the district and neighbouring States. The following statement shows separately for. each of the three panchayat ssmitis, annual production of .major erops and the surplus exported out

an

of.the region:
Table

4.

Bloc}-wise prcduction fuures for main crotrls

(In

towres)

Naaa of crop

Ramgarh

Kishangarh
,ion

Mandawar

Ric.e

Maize
Pulses

Wheat
Bad,sy

tion 200 100 32 20 400 300 l1,0oo 5,600 1,600 640

5,400

Produc-

Surplur

Produc- Surplus Produc- Surphs

tion

-.

t,u5
L2AO

945 600
2,O{ro

6,000
9,000

8,307 3,500 5,988 2,000

15,189

;116

80

Gram . Tilhan Groundnuts Mustard and

Tarameera
Sugarcane

350 103

4,m0

5,000

t75

t35 ', -.
2,000

10,225

3,500

Go*ar

seeds

600 1,050

t,7so
180 s25

r,000
300

500 100

3,778

FoREsr REsouRcEs

As mentioned earlier, a mele one per cent of the total land area of the district is under forests, As such, there is not atu:h spope for exploiting the forest resources in this region.

The only worthwhile forest resource which also grows in all ths three panchayat samitis is the fibre sarkanda. The fibre

46

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

is of good qualit!
There is, thereforF,
reed.

and.

is

ava

a good sco

existing units as wqll .as for setting

e in sufficient quantities. for the expansion of the new units based' on this

Wersn Rnsouncns ed regarding volume Information has already been system in this region. and distribution of rainfall and the both the rivers-Sabi as Since no canal network is possible, well as Ruparel (*hich skirt the northexn border of southern border of RamMandawar panchayot samiti and garh panchayat sqmiti respect: ), are non-peronnial, the be increased only. through irrigation resources of the region As stated earlier, noae the provision of mdre wells and ti in, the district falls in out of the total thrQe government dependent on this region so that irrigation ts area of the tegion accordwells. Table 5 shows the net irriga ing to resources:
,

Table.5.-

sources of

'

iftigation
(Hectaras) Net iffigoted area

Wells

&

Tatks

Others

Ramgarh

Kishangarh
Mandawar

283
1

8,848' r4,o36 8,329

As is clear frorn Table 5, almo$t the entire irrigation of this region is dependent on wells. In ttie absence of any altornative
sources

of irrigatipn, irrigational

tial of

the region ean

b[ digging more water level in thiF part of the

be increased only

Moreover, since the is quite high, the cost

of digging wells is lelatively low.

,rvBsrocK REsouRgEs Animal husbandry is a guppleme .large portion of the population ir 'upplement the incdme of the smail
source of livelihood to

this region.

It helps to marginal farmers a*d activities, As per the

TIIB SBTfiNG AND TIIB SAMPLE

47

' region which is.nearly 21. per cent

1972 livestock census there arc 2,95,152 heads of cattle in the of the total livestock popula_ tion of Alwar district. Thetblook-wise distribution of livestock in the region is given in Table 6.
Table

6..

Block-wlse strtcment of livestock rtdoutles

Ramgarh 8%500 17,800 23,WO

Aaimal htsbandry

Kishangarh
1,2,444
50,626 33,998

Mandawar
93,248 29,467

Total population
Cattle

Buffalo
Sheep

24,2s3
8,O74

5,000

6,236
31,193

Goats
Camels

30,0m

Horses Donkeys
Pigs

l
J

26,732 3,281 J)/

1,054

11,000

332

Animal husbandry has been for long, one of the most importhe people of the region. Its importance, io terms of providing a supplementary source of livelihood, has'been next only'to agriculture in this region. Table 7 shows separately for each of the three blocks the quantities of the important products of animal husbandry produced in this region.

tant subsidiary occupations for

Table 7, Stotorncnt shonlng block-wise production of animat

husbandry products Products from

husbandry
Milk (ks.)
Bones

antmal
!

'

Ramgarh

Kishangarh
4,000 8.00 58 4.7 70,000

Mandawar

4,200
8.00 58 o,7

Hides (m. tonnee)

4,5t0
9.50

(m, tonnes)

Wool and tlair (m.t.)

Egeis (nos.)

.@
1.5

55,000

Considering the significance of animal husbandry to the ecoof an &veragg rural household, there is every need to strengthen and org4nise the. programme on scientific lines. The scope for setting up animal. husbandry-based industries is also

nomy

immense. ..

48

RURAI INDUSTRIALISATTON
RBSoUROBS

with minerals as the rest The region is rlot as well block'has mineral reserof th3 Alwar distrlct. OnlY marble ate the imPortant gYPsum and b ves. Granite, minetal resources of Ramgarh. Sufficient reserves of these Geological SurveY of India minerals have been rePorted bY in the mining and quarpercentag& of workers. but the indicafes that the exPloration rying operations iir Ramgarh e. Mining operations in is not being done Pn an adequate up, which, in turn can Ramgarh, therefofe, need to be stt rea$ily pave the rtay for the settin up of a few granite-based units. industrids and black marble polish
Infrmtructure DeveloPment and Policy is an important requi-

MNsnAL

Availability of a sound i site for the economic devqloPmen

revealed that the three blocks are

a region. Our survey

y well-endowed with it can hardly be termed iufrastructure, thou developmental adequate. The tiansport and con munication facilities, availaand educational facilibility of energy, rpedical and play a vit4l role in develo ent. A detailed account ties all of the state of develoPment of eaih of these in the region is
eiven.

Tnlxsponr The region epjoys both,

though they are not adequate. gauge railway lind traverses the war, southeastern Parts of K western region of Kishangarh
panchayat samiti and Khairthal which is also an imPortlnt mandi

as well as road facilities,

Delhi-Ahmedabad metre stern parts of Manda-

im block and the extreme Harsoli irr the Kotkasim the Kishangarh panchayat

the district. are t\r o of the

railway stations of important rail

linel

is region falling

along this

are' also well linked by road other neighbouring areas. the district headqudrters with Radgarh block fall on thc Delhi-JaiPur national For'instance, well as the mineral Produce highway so that the agricultural fiqd an easy ou from the regiou, Similarly, of this block

fIIB.SBTTING AND THB

SAMPLE

49

approach roads, not only do the farmers have to fbce great difrculty in bringing their produce to the assembling centres, but it also acts as an effective deterrent to the banks in making advances in the interior regions. Lack of adequate approach facilities seriously jeopardise the efrcacy of financial agencies especially banks, in controlling their advances. Rural upliftment ofthe region, therefore, can be accelerated at a desired pace only if the road transport, especially in the interior villagcs, is substantially improved.

other panchayat samitis of the region are also very well interlinked with each other and other neighbouring blocks of the disrict. Trade and commerce is thus comparatively better developed due to this linkage. Khairthal is an important mandi of the district which is well-linked with the district headquarters at Alwar and other tehsil headquarters of the region, such as Kishangarh and Mandawar. Our survey, however, revealed that the interior villages, oot only in this region but in the entire district as such, are not connected by good roads. This is a serious handicap for the development of the rural areas. In the absence of good

Errcrnrcrry
Electrical energy or power is another most important input in the development of any area. In fact, it is difficult even to conceive of any meaningful programme of industrial development in the absence of assured electric supply. The state of power development has been found to be reasonably satisfactory in Alwar generally and the region in particular. The district is fed by a 132 KV line from the Bhakra Nangal Dam, a 220 KY line from the Badarpur Power Station, and a 2x22 MW line from the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, Kota. Therefore, there is little fear of any serious shortage of electrical energy in the near future in this district. of the total 429 inhabited villages in the three blocks, 405, i,e., more than 94 per cent villages had been electrified by March 31, 1982. Among the three panchayat samitis of the region Kishangarh and Mandawar st4nd out with nearly 100 per cent electrification,

50

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

CnBotr Fnclr,ttle$
There has beeF raPid oial Bank which is the Lead Bank of a well-designed cfedit Plan for agriculture, animfl husbandrY' In the three blo0ks under

banks in the district

since

of the network of commer' 912. The Punjab National

district has also PrePared

oting the develoPment of

and transPort sectors'

there are 32 branches of of the Alwar State the position of banking

commercial anil co-operatife Kishangarh anil Mandawar Name of the block

Table

E.

Block-wke statement
offices in

Parliculars Total number of

Branches Branches

Khhangarhbas Mandawar 12,

banks banks

12.
11
,.

of of

II

*Out of th" total 29 banking ofnces Ramga(h, four in Kishangarhbas and outside these blockd, provide banking
blocks.

commercial banks, one branch in in Mandawar, though located in certain villages of these

It is clear frotn Table 8 that banking facilities are reasonin Mandawar and ably adequate if,r the region, the ambitious programme Kishangarhbas blocks. In view for rapid industrilalisation of the region, expansion of banking facilities has takqin Place at a ft pace. The setting up of the as per the new Industrial District Industribs Centre at A most of the difficulties has Policy of the Government
faced by small entrepreneurs rn but there were occasional attitudes adoi2ted bY the bra The top levei mqinagements of themselves cogniiant
steps

credit from the banks,

of these for re-orienting the mi

staff of commercial banks. banks are, however, ems and are taking suitable of their ofrcers and simPh-

about lomewbat rigid

fying the Procedtrres.

.i

i i

THE SETTING AND THE SAMPLE

5l

Government Policy

Government policy in the sphere of industries is governed by the Industrial Policy Statement which was laid before Parliament by the then Union Industries Minister, George Fernandes on December 23, 1977. The main thrust of this new policy was on efective promotion of cottage and small industries widely dispersed in rural areas and small towns. As a result, the list of industries exclusively reserved for the small sector was extended to more than 500 items. Special attention was to be given to units in the tiay sector, that is, units with machinery and equipment of up to Rs. I lakh and situated in towns with a population of less than 50,000. Margin money assistance, concessional finance and a lot of other facilities were also to be provided to tiny units in the small-scale sector as well as to cottage and household
industries.

Following this policy an agency known as District Indus-

up in each district. Alwar was one of the nine districts in Rajasthan where a District Industries Centre was set up. All the services and sqpport required by small and rural enfiepreneurs, for example, investigations of raw material resources' supply of machinery and equipment, provision of raw materials, credit facilities, marketing, quality control, research and extension, were to be provided under a
village industries was set
single roof.

tries Centre to deal with

all the

requiremenis

of

small and

Local EntrepreneurshiP
Though local entrepreneurship was not much in evidence, there were strong indications that. the trading communities in the

district, as also some of the landowners could be motivated to take interest in industrial ventures. It was felt that a good deal of attention would have to be given to the selection and training of local entrepreneuts. Some industrial know-how, and certain technical skills were available but in small measuro. Therefore, a need to inculcate new skills among the young people in the district through development 4n{ expansion of facilities for tecbnical and

52

RURAL INDUSTRIAI,ISAiYT*T

13 ,t

t6llll

tltl

rI\

x I
'd
L

rili6

t=tttllltl
r*tlltl
I I I I
I

lk
2

X
dl

sI
I I

lr trq ts : r{i
ll+a

< ..t

!!

! .s

p tF
\oN I li

14

\E
I

c
.E

Itt

[\
I

.+|.|\o\o.+ F +.n-

I | | | | | | I

I I

t
c

s
s &

la'
.\.l v) oo cn

f- I I | |

lE

!D

'B

'6

E6 BSg >!z-P

.g s *.^5
J

* :
V)

g; le t= ;E;
\d rod

#AsEEEsdSS

oi o ,.: ..i..i e vi

IHB SbItII.6 ANb fHE

SAM,fLB

53

vocational education and on-the-job training in existing or new industries was strongly felt. Existing Industries
Survey ofthe region revealed that in spite of locational advantage and easy availability of infrastructure facilities, and the inclusion of some parts of this region in the National Capital Region Plan resulting in the creation of a relatively favourable climate for the growth of small-scale and medium industries, the progress of industrialisation in this region was confined only to the tiny sector, and village and cottage industries. Table 9 gives a detailed aocount of the existing number of units by industry group, total employment in each of these groups in each of the three blocks included in the study. An analysis of the rural artisans in the three panchayat samitis :ulrder review, as given in Table 9 clearly shows that cottage end village industries had played the most important role in the industrial development of this region. Lack of timely finance and adequate marketing facilities were found to be the two rnain difficulties faced bv these industries.

Industrial Possibilities

A comprehensive survey was conducted by the District Industries Centre, .dlwar, with a view to underline the industrial possibilities of each of tbe 14 panchayat samitis of the district. Table l0 shows separately, for each panchayat samiti included, in the study, the number of units that could be set up, investment required and employment likely to be generated. Table l0 clearly shows that in the tiny and village industries sectors agro-based, forest-based and animal husbandrybased units can be set up in all the three blocks of the region. Thus, as per the survey referred to above, as many as l9l units could immediately be set up with a total investment of Rs. 22.11 lakh giving employment to more than 450 persons. Table ll shows the number of uuits in each industry group, total irvestment requlred and employment likely to be generated as a result of this in the three blocks. The overall impression gathered from this survey was that

54

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

,i)

It
al ol
el ., I o!l

TQN
E

lE
I

=aR g8
Vi

eFR

ol
tD

lsE ld R t,
I

|.|0@ \o \p
<$

r tl

trl
' ^o

IBF
lE

.rr ^ o\ rxc.r
:<

-rON
at

tsc t.:

its

.a O q\

.)

-: ts1E

s9o

r.rX=
a{

tl*
I

Irt txHi
l{*
c lis

,ar?o
t5

r:

,ri

'83
66O

t* i. lsri

Ct vt

3gR
oQo -5N d cl

oQR

l$s
I

ldN li"E r\'d

(!
ID

=ES r.r
at-

9FR
o

t
(9

'Eq "E a6-

bEE

s; s -EFE EE EF EZOFI :;6,E

$ece

b;x

EE' ;E,

s;5

E.eg

suee

l
I

THB SEITING

AND TIiE SAMPLB

Statement showlng industrial posslbilities by mrjor industr.v group in the North-nortbeastern rcgion of atistrict Alwar Number

))
of units
JJ J) 50

Tsbls

U.

Industry group

Inyestment Likely
(Rs.

rcqutrcd employin lakhsJ ment

6.00 1.70 98 70

Agro-based
Forest-based

Animal husbandry-based
Textile industry Chemical ind6try Engineering industry

2.W
1.30

t5
30 27

l5
12 19

r.05
1.80

Building material
Miscellaneous

4l
8

2.66 5.60

102

Total

t9l

22.11

the region had good infrastructural facilities for industrial development. Land and water were available at reasonable prices, and 405 villages out of a total of 429 in the region were electrified. The region enjoyed rail and road links, though inadequate. Trade and commerce was comparatively better developed. Khairthal in the Kishangarhbas block was an
important mandi which had a railway station and was also well linked with the neighbourin g tehsil headquarters like Kishangarh, Tiiara and Mandawar. In the matter of banking facili-

ties also the region was better placed than the rest of the district. There were in all 32 banking offices in this region of which at least four were that of the Alwar State Cooperative Bank.
'

NOTES AND REFERENCES

The State of

Alwar, a constituent unit of the erstwhile

Matsya Union formed by the merger of the four princely States of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dhaulpur and Karauli, joined the United States of Rajasthan-a larger union of the princely States of Rajputana, on April 25, 1949 and came to be known in its present form only after the demarcation

of district

boundaries of the nelvly created Rajasthan State on November 1, 1956. See Manorama Year Book

1983, (Kottayam : Manorama Year Book, 1983), p. 649, A lot of historical data pertaining to the district of Alwar

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

are drawn flom the Distrist Gazetteer. Although, a bit out dated it iprovides informption not merely about the

historical development of

thf district and its forrnatioa

after Indepdndence

but als{ on various

developmental

aspects like agriculture, edu{ation, health services, industry, transpotlt and commerce etc. For a detailed account refer to the R ajasthan Distri{t Gazetteers-Alwar (Jaipur: Bharat Printers, 1968).
4.

Ibiil., p. 679. Ibid., p. 68O.

Cnlpmn

The Erploratory Phase

The exploratory. stage was primarily concerned with, what may be termed as basic 'path-finding' activities for the projoct, in that it was to a great oxtent responsible for systematically destroying some of the most important project h-vpotheses and in turn, throwing up an altogether different set of plausible rival hypotheses. The background investigations carried out during this period thus, brought a series of relevant problems to the fore and necessitated the designing of appropriate exper! mental changes and the setting up of corresponding suitable indicators for subsequent evaluation. . The exploratory research for the project which was carried out, for the most part, in the Ramgarh block of Alwar district

during June-September 1980, dealt broadly with the following variables, necessitating seriou5 departures from the scheme of action as originally envisaged, and corresponding adjustments: a) identification of villages; b) identification of beneficiaries;

c)

pre-test for

the

mode of approaching a village commu-

d) identification and selection of industries having locational promise; and e) operational strategy for the action phase. ,As already indicated, the exploratory phase was designed with the intent of developing a programme prototype for the project. This was accomplished under the present study by initiating programme implernentation in the Ramgarh block, so that the .pfototype could be subsequently improved into a work able programme model for the remaining two blocks nameln

nity;

fb
Kishangarh and Mandawar. H testing and evahlration of the block.

RI.JRAL II\DUSIRIALTSATION

are the results of the

otype

in the Ramgarh

initial

Identifcation of Villages

for the proinotion of rural industries Posed one of t trickiest problems that the to make the programme study team faced. While we wan certainly in no position to as possible, we I as broad-based disposal -mainly humanspend the meagre resources at
Identification and selection of

of the block. Our discussions over the entire letgth and with the Industrles Department, the Panchayat Samiti Ofrce, Development Branch. option to go by: identified growth centres a) Concentrdte only on the and Oontwal. to the narnely-Naugaoir, MaujPur, M constituting the block; exclusion of the remaining 158 identified bv the Block b) Take up dach of ihe 147 showed a concentration of Office, out of the total 162, whi two or more artisans in the villal ;or c) Cover onfy such villages rs had been identified by the
Ramgarh, as Potential growth

of India's Agricultura Development Branch(ADB) and had also been adopdevelopment. The the bank fbr intensive tedby
State Bank

number of such adoPted villages As a result of discussions bankers and the block level r dropped in favouf of the third. which had also bqien suggested in ally envisaged, was given uP programme too tarrow-based. ed by the Panchayat Samiti Ofr

the Ramgarh block was 47.

programmers, researchers,

the first two options were option mentioned foremost, project proposal as originit would have made the second option, as suggestwas dropped on account of

t of two to five artisans mav or may not be ea6ilY approac of development in the block, . b) In view of the overall lacking in basic i nfrastrtrcmost such villageN were found to ture facilities-sol essential for t y meaningful.programme of pral industrialisaltion; and finally

the following rea$ons : a) All villag0s having a

t,HE EXPLORATORY

PdASb

59

c) The constraints of resources-both human and financialincluding the limited time at our disposal restrained us from opting for this line of action. Under the circumstances our choice very natuially fell on the third option as suggested by the State Bank of India (ADB) Ramgarh, for the criteria taken into consideration by .the Bank before adopting a village were, by and large, similar to those laid down for the project: a) Easy approachability; b) Reasonable levels of infrastructure development; and
candidate villages from the point of view of the project, However, in addition to the villages adopted by the State Bank of India, the team also decided to take up any other villages of the block which may have potential for the development of rural industries. The following is the list of villages

c). Reasonably managdable number (47) of

finatly selected and visited by the project team during the course of the 'action' phase.
Aooprno Vnuces or rsn SurB Blnr or lNpre (ADB) R,quclnn l. Bandholi 20. Kola Kalan 2. , Nangla Bankirka 21. Bagad Rajpur . 3. Sareta 22. Khilora

. 4. Ramgarh 5. Tikri 6. Kheri 7. Bera Bas 8. Nivali 9. Dohli

.t0.

ll.
12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Poothi

Doli Ka
Alavada Barod
Chauma

Bas

Lalawandi Gauha

Khojaka Mohamadpur Ka Bas Chidva

23. Sahdoli 24. Nangla Alif 25. Alarnpur 26. Manaki 27. Tisgar 28. Kota Khurd 29. Naugaon. 30. Mubarikpur 31. Nangal Nangli 32. Raswada 33. Jakhopur 34. Bakayanka 35. Nakhnoul 36. Jugrawar 37. Bilalpur 38. Moondpur

NU*,AL INDUStruAL$A1I6N

Hajipur 40. Nadka

39.

47. 44.
45

41. 42.

Neekach
Beejwa

46 47

In addition to the above-listed team also visited the following t3 to it by various functionaries
ootential for rural findustries: l. Churoti 2. Khuteta Kbla

Sainthali Bamboli Khuteta Khurd Jatpur Nangla Balaiya adopted villages the study

the block office

Chakoli Mandapur

which were suggested as having a

3. Dabri 4. Oontwal 5. Milakpur 6. Doli Ka B4s . Dessoola

7

Kariria Maujpur
Raghunathgarh Pata

In this way a total of 60 per cent of the poPulation of the by the project team for intensive
phase.

covering a little over 40 garh block were identified

ld

work during the 'action'

DBprg Sruov or

Frw

Rnpr.nspnra

VrLr-lcss
stage that the sixty villages rural settlements of almost

included in the list comPrised every possible detcriPtion. 'It

considerably in reqpct of caste tional distributiort of the wc etc. With a view to giving a ments in the distridt we are giving

We may however, clarify at

large villages having no more than 20

of

these villages also varied

religious divisions, occupa-

and levels of development

picture of the village settlelow a brief account of five t of the 60 villages visited

different villages chosen randomly by the project tearn.

2,665 acres

2. 3. 4,

M
Population
Scheduled castes Soheduled tribes 1,766 289

I,s03

F Total 3,269 246 535

fI{B B'IFLORATORY

PIIASE

6t

5. 6,

Workers

Non-workers

904 1,434 2,338

862 69

931

Distribution of llorkers by Occuparion

,S.

/Vo. Occupation M F Total 1 Cultivators 606 15 621 2. Agriculturallabourers 23 t0 33 3. Live stock, fisheries, forestry and hunting 31 334 4. Mining and quarrying 4-4 5. Manufacturing and servicing (household industry) 26834 6. Processing and repairs 43 20 63 7. Construction 23 23 8. Trade aod commerce 32r33 9. Transport, storage and communication
n-

.10.

Other services' Total:

67 t2
862
69

I
79

93r

II.

VrLLece DoLr KA BAs

Area Population
Scheduled castes

1,048 acres

M
2. J. 4.

F
305

Total
642
94 189

337 46

48

Scheduled tribes

f.
6.

Workers Non-workers

r73 t64

t6
289

453

Distribution of Workers by Occupation

S,

No.

l. 2. 3.

Occupation

Cultivators

M
r52
6

F
I I

Total
r53

1.

Agriculturallabourers Live stock, fisheries, forestry, hunting Mining and quarrying

RURAL TNDUSTRTALTSA-TION

t4

13

27

8. g.
10.

Trade and commerce Transport, storage and

oommunic4tion

I
rl

Other services

t73 16 ilI.
Vtllecs NrnKlcn
Area
PoPulation
Scheduled castes

189

1.

M
675
65

2. 3, 4. 5. 6.

Scheduled tribes Workers Non-workQrs

bY

344
331

F Total 580 r,255 76 l4l ? 347 577 908

Total
237

Distribution of llarkers
S.

ifo. OccuPatian I . Cultivators 4. 5.

8, 9. . 10.
Mining arld quarrying Manufacturing and servi
(household industrY) Processing and rePairs

237

MF r73

20

6. 7.

2-2 3-3 l-l 7'l 344

--

l-l

Construction
Trade and commerce Transport" storage and

cation

Other sertices

77 347

THE BXPLORATORY PHA$E

63

IV. VrLr.,lcBMalo.lpun l. Area 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

jVo.
Population
Scheduled castes Scheduled tribes

577 acres

M
193

F
206

Total
399

l0
96
97

l1

Workers Non-workers

;
206
303

Distribution of lAorkers by Occupation

,S.

. 2. 3.
I

Occupation

Cultivators

4. 5, 6. 7. 8. 9.
10,

Agriculturallabourprs Live stock, fisheries, forestry, hunting Mining and quarrying Manufacturing and servlcing (household industry)
Processing and repairs

M F 92 4 .'

Total
92 4

Construction
Trade and commerce Traosport, storage and commuqi-

cation Other services

. V.
Vtrlecp Mrlexpun
Area Population
Scheduled castes Scheduled tribes Worker5

Total:

96

96

328 acres

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Total
169

T
45 50

v
I
I3

46
123

Non-workers

64

RURAL ITIDUSTRIAL'SATION

Distribution of ilorkers by

8. fio. Occupatlan t. Cultivatohs Agricultrlral labourers Live stook, fisheries, fi and hunting Manufacturing and 4.
(househcild industrY)
6. 8. 9.

F I

Total

v
2

L^a

Mining and quarrying Processirlg and rePairs

Construction
Trade

ald

commerce

10.

Transpott, storage and cation Other services

45

46

Er,sctnrFlcnrtoN tN

Tr{E

lrrvs vlu.A,crs
identified above onlY four still waiting for its turn.
representative rlllages

Of the five rePresentative were electrified while Neekach

Table

l.

Electrifrcation In

of

bloct
S.

No.

Village

T!pe

electical cowtection
Domes- Commer- Indus- Total

frT,", wrut works tube

well

tic
99
35

cial

tti^l
155

l. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Alavada

t-

Doli Ka Bas
Mandapur MilakPur
Neekach

25 8

4 38 l-39 l-14
40

TI

t{l

Frorn the foregoing details of of Ramgarh block selected includes villages of a wide varie

five representative villages

y, it is clear that the sample As regards size theY have

iHB EXPLORAIORY

PHASB

55

been found to vary from 328 acres (Milakpur) to 2,665 acres (Alavada). Similarly, representation of wornen in the total work force of a village in the repreqentative villages varied greatly going as high as 8-46 per cent in Doli Ka Bas to no representation at all in Mandapur.

PnorrI,s oF AN AVERAGE VTLLAGE rN ALwAR Drsrnrct The above discussion about the five villages of }tamgarh block thus gives us a broad profile of rural settlements in the block. The exercise was undertaken primarily to evolve a fairly good idea of an average village in the district. Randomly selected, these five villages of Ramgarh, as later research in the

Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks also corroborated, were

found to be fairly representative not merely of an average village ln the block but of the entire district of Alwar at large. Table 2 gives a rough approximation of an average village in the district worked out on the basis of the five villaees discussed.
Table S,

2.

Proffle of an average village

of

Remgadr blok

No,

Particulars

Aia- Doli
vada

Bas kach pur

1048

Ka Nee- Manda- Mllak-

pur

Average

-t. erea (in acres) 2665 2. Population 1in Nos.) 3269 93t 3. Workers (Nos.) 4. Workers (per cent) 28.47 5. Women workers 69 (Nos.) 6, Women workers (Per 7.41 cent) ?. ' Workers in agriculture and allied activities 688 (Nos.)
Workers in agriculture and allied activities (per cent) 73.00 Electrical connections of all description
155

642

189

1554 1255 347

29,43

27.64
3

577 328 1234.4 399 169 1146.0 96 46 321.8 21.M 27.21 28.47 I 2.17
96 44
17.8

16 8.46
168

0.86

3.78

2+9

95.62

74.06

100.00 95.62
t4

85.46

9.

(NosJ

41

an aYerage village of Alwar distr'ict as from the above &ccount is that of a village scttleit emerges ment with a population of about 1,200 persoas' of whioh p
Thus ,the profile of

66

RURA'L INDUSTRTALISATION

mere 28.47 lter cent are The population constituting the predominantly agricultural 185 per cent). Thus, the female their homes and hearths and per cent) is engaged in anY econo ln a total PoPulation of 5'73 included in the s4mple, nearlY 8 remaining 19 Per cent, the M minority with nearlY 10 Per cent ed by Sikhs 3 Pe{ cent, Jains 1.

in an economic

activity.

work force in the villages ts per cent) and male (96.22 lation remains confined to rery small percentagq (3.78
c activity. persons in the five villages per cent are Hindus. Of the
largest

the total population, followper cent, Christians 1.5 per

cent, Buddhists .$9 Per cent and me other communities. 12.75 per cent scheduled In an averago village there ng the caste Hindus, tbe castes and .no s<iheduled tribes. bi) have been found to be Brahmins, Rajputs and Khatris the dominant cagtes bolh econo cally and politicallY. The economy is predominant agriculture based with more engaged in agriculture and than 85 per cent of the populati ialisation is pitia'blY low allied activities. The level of development and lack on account of poor i both an adequate entrepreneurial and educational base. In a of ising tbe five representative universe of 819 households .co than a mere 28.68 per cent under diScussion, no villages Alwar could boast of near were electrified. Thus, even per cent electrification rural areas, only a fraction hundred of the population has been able to actually procure electrical connections and benefit from it. Out of nearly 15 per cent c'f the population engaged in an activity other than agriculture, nly a small fraction, a mere ies. More than 9'7 per cent 4.31 per cent is engaged in i of the industrial lunits fall in the traditional sector i.e.. housesector. hold, artisan and cottage i Iilentificat ion of Beneficiaries

Preliminary field work in the a near absence of entl decided to make a significant the 'action' phaqe as originally beginning, hor Ever humble it

of Ramgarh block rcvealed

technical skfl/s. Hence we from the strategy of ged. In order to make a

ight be in the direction of

THE EXPLORATORY PHASE

67

building up an entrepreneurial base, it was decided in consultation with the district authorities and the State Bank of India to launch a technical skills development prograrnme for the educated unemployed youth in the villages, side by side with the industrial development programme. As a result of this, by the time the project team actually launched the 'action' phase in Ramgarh block in September, 1980 it had to devise a thrge-pronged programme to cater to the needs of three kinds of possible beneficiaries:

l) traditional sector entrepreneurs; 2) non-traditional sector entlepreneurs; and 3) educated unemployed youth for technical skills develop-

ment pfogramme. In view of the above divisions, it was decided to adopt a two-fold strategy for the 'action' pbase. As regards the setting up of industrial units, both in the traditional and the nontraditional sectors, education of the rural populace about the need for industrialisation was accorded top-most priority. It was realised that unless the entire programme could be taken to the people on a participatory basis, it had little or no chance

Similarly, in respect of the technical skills development pfogramme as well, the team was convinced that unless the semi-literate, unemployed and disgruntled youth in the villages
could be sumciently enthused to improve their lots by improv-

of

success.

skills, the project had little cbance of sudcess. As a result, rather than imposing the programme from above as an outside intervention, the team decided to start by arousing a desire among the youth to learn to improve their lot by acquiring new skills. To overcome the above problems and simultaneously to introduce the programme on a participativc basi$, complete identification of the members of the project team with the prospective beneficiaries was crucial. The modus operandi adopted for reaching the identified villages comprised broadly the following steps with minor adjustment$ to $uit the local condi-

ing their levels

of

tions and circu$stange$,

of the project to the village head With a view [o pre-test the ntodus operandi for approaching the village, the tdam tried out thrpe different introductions for itself at such ocbasions. These were: a) Ask the accompariying government functionary to introduce the tearn as a research team with close linkages both with the State and the district adrfrinistratiorl, and explicit consent of both to implement the rural industries plan of the district: or b) Be introdtrced as an agericy which had close linkages with the State B&nk of India (ADB), Ramgarh, and was being encourapjed by the bank to pf$rnote rural industries in the Ramgarh block; or c) The team used to ask th,e accompanying government functionary to introduce the tear$ as a non-official organisation engaged in villdge developmerit work, which was working heither gn behalf of the National, State or district government nor on behalf of any particular !ank, but which had linkages at each ofthese levels and ,eveh their tacit consent including that of the State Bank of Indip. (ADB) Ramgarh to try to acoelerate the pace of rural r ialisation in Alwal district. The experiment was tried in 12 ofthe total 60 villages identified for intensive field As expected each of the three approaches elicited wi vaiying responses from.the village headmen so contacted. We may add that in each of ' or his substitute was the 12 pre-test villages, the never alone at sqch meetings, The responses evoked by three different images of

fH8 BXPLoRATORY

PHASB

69

the project team presented to the village headman in the 12 pre-test villages, fall broadly in one of the following categories: a) When the project tearn's closer linkages with the. Srate Government and the district administration were emphasised,

the reactions varied from outright rejection to a patient disinterested listening.

b) In villages where the introducef identified the project, team more w.ith the bank (State Bank of Jndia), either their enthusiasm slumped or evon when curiosity remained, an elernent of lack of faith in the intentions and seriousness of the project team about its purported objectives would shroud tho gathering. c) Only rvhen the field officers ofthe project repeatedly and. emphatically stated that they were nejther directly concerned with the government nor with the bank, but they were a Delhi-based organisation engaged in village development work who had the 'means' and 'influence' to get things done by either of them for the sake of the people, that the atmosphere of reserve aud general mistrust of the outsiders would begin to fade out gradually. Such a line of action adopted by the team thus accomplished, what would not have been otherwise possible, namely, identifying itself with _the interest of the villagers rather than those of the government or any othet 'outside' agency.
Selection of Industries Having Locational Promise

Having surveyed the physical and social environment and gained sorne idea of the industrial climate of the district, which the team found to be congenial for a rea$onable pace of growth of industries in the district, we started intensive work in the direction of obtaining first hand knowledge of the industrial possibilities in the rural areas. The task of identification and selection of the right type of industries for promotion in the rural areas was thus assigned considerable importance by us, for it was realisecl that the success of the 'action' programme hinged more on this single factor than anything else. Consequently, it was decided to thrash out the matter at each of the three levels, viz., pblicy making, policy implementing and the people themselves before

?0

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATiON

reaching the final decision. As a result, ddtailed di missioner of the Khaili and Villa levell with the Chief SecretarY' Industries, the Diiector of I

were held with the ComIndustries at the national

and Special SecretarY and the Director of Khadi level; with the Collector, and Village Indrlstries at the S of the District Industries f)irector dnd other Joint Block Development Ofrcer, Centre at the district leveli with Extension Officer, Agri ture Extension Officer and lndustries other functionaries of the block ofrce at the block level; and panchayat secretaries at the with the village Xevel workers village level. Keeping in view the vailability of locally produced raw materialls, the level of infrastructure development, skills, two separate lists and locally available ional and the non-tradiof industries-one each for the tional sectors weie PrePared:

A)

TneotnouAll SEcroR l) Leather industry 2) Pottery 3) Carpentr$ 4) Fibre (Mdonj-ban) ind 5) Handloom dyeing aud 6) Blacksmithy 7) Basket making 8) Oil expelling (Telghani) 9) Sculpture 10) Weaving ll) Durry mdking

Carpet mFking Hand-made paper 14) Cottage rhatch industry '15) Gur khand.sari industry

l2) l3)

B)

Nos-rneorrrfilllr- SncroR

l)

Power ghani
Saw

mill 2) 3) Flour milll 4) Dal mill 5) Ice candy'

TTTB

BXfLORATORY PHASB

v1

6) SoaP factorY 7) Lathe 8) Welding 9) ComPressor

10) Candle making I i) Steel furniture l2) Woollen garment kilitting 13) Ready-made garments 14) Stone crusher 15) Auto servicing workshoPs As regards the choice of industries included in the two lists, we would like to clarify at this point that the resource base of the selected comrnunity-human, physical and material

-,- serVed as the leading criteria. That is, nearly eighty per cent of the industries included in the two lists were such with which the people were already familiar and for wbich demand also existed. In other words, the selected industries were both need-based, as well as resource'based: However. in the case of both the lists we decided to include, even if tentatively, at least three industries each, for which physical as well as material resources existed, but the entrepreneurial ability remained to be explored. Such industries were hand-made paper, cottage match and Gur khandsari in the case of thb traditional sector, and candle making, woollen garment knitting and ready-made garments in the case of the non-traditional sector. These industries were enlisted purely out of an academic interest which led us to find out anJ record people's reactions and reservations about setting up industries which even though both resource-based and needbased, were unfamiliar to them.
Operational Strategy for the Action Phasc

With a view to sharpen the focus and make the siguificance of likely project contributions more readily and easily reco' enisable, we felt it necessary to thrash out the strategy for ihe second that is, 'action' phase in consultation both with the various levels of policy planning as well as policy imple' mentation. As a result, before launching the 'action' phase we held a series of meetings with senior officers of the $tate

IZ

RURAL INDI'STRIALISATION

and district adrqinistrations, onalised banks, and the extension workefs of various elopmental agencies active in the area. Such an exercise itated several departures both in respect of programme co ano pfogramme content from the strategy for the 'action' as originally envisaged. The following are some of the m important project variables which tvere redefined by us in the ight of insights gained during
the exploratory phase. a) Our concern for making
spreading the meagre resources at our disposal over a larger geographic arba, fesulted in restri Ing the programme coverage to tlree contiguoUs blocks out of total of five in the northnortheas{ern region of Alwar b) Further, lteeping in view e rather promethean nature of the research methodology by the Centre for this projct, it was decided in with policy planners and specialists inrthe field of industrialisation. to select

concerted effort instead of

on to begin with. The rationale for such a gy being to gain sufficient experience in programme impleme tation so as to modify the approach for thp remaining bl if necessary. It was, therefoie, dccided to start i field work in the Ramgarh bloc'k which also had the added advantage, from the point of view of the project, of the of an Agricultural Development Branch (ADB) of the State Bank of India at
only one block for programme i

c) In view of th limited both human and financial-and the limited tirne at ur disposal, it was decided to corEentrate r$ainly on th industries-local resource based industries in the tiny cottage sectors, to be mo.re precise, both traditional and non d.) Furthei, preliminary fie work in the villages of Ramgarh having revealed a abse.nce of entrepreneurial base as regards non-traditional i es, we also decided to give greatest possible to the traditional industries falling mainly in the cott&ge End san sectofs. e) I-ack of ah adequate ial base and a near ebspnce of iskilled or even semi-sl technicians in the block neco*sitatd one of the most s t departures from the o*iginal -scheme,fdr the 'action' In order to ma.ke a

Ramgarh.

THE EXPLoRATORY PHASE

it

entrepreneurial base,

locationally relevant training programmes in various technical skills for the literate and even semiliterate unemployed youth in the villages of Ramgarh panchayat samiti. The various training programmes offered are: (i) Tractor mechanic, (ii) Motor winding, (iii) pump-set repairs, (jv) House wiring, (v.l Tailoring, (vi) Lathe machine, (vii) Carpet weaving, (viii) Shqe making, and (ix) Blanket making. f) Finally, in view of limited response for the nontraditional industries and a rather encouraging response in the traditional sector, necessary conditions for the promouoo of which were found to be present in a good number of villages
possible and not concentrate merely on growth centres, as brigiDally envisaged.

district authorities and the State Bank of India to organjse

beginning, however humble, in the direction of building up an it rvas decided in consultation with the

of this block, it was.decided to cover as many villages as

the .identified, four

Cnlrren

Action Phase

Industrial DeveloPment The 'action'Phase

of the Project block and sP in the Ramgarh Jt, ttbz, s months uP to MaY 31, 1982' duri two blocks of Kis'hangarh and

October, 1980 a total period of twenty which time the remaining war included in the study Of these, the first were also for intensive field work were spent exclusively eight months, i.e'; uP to tvtlV Jt, twelve months were in the Ramgarh block, while the 'action' Programme simulspent in the imPlementation of t Follorv-uP taneously in the Kishangarh and andawar blocks. the Ramgarh block was in of the reciPients of the Pro that carried out between June 198 and May 1982, while also remaining six during the for the latter two blocks it was of active field wor between June and November, months Period
enced
1982.

in

deliberate exPeriment, a series almost inevitablY involved. In stage imPlementation of the 'acti garh block, made us revisit study, and forced us to

In

anY action''research Project

a controlled
'- programme

and

experimental changes are present Project too, the first

in the Ram-

of the major Premises

of the our strategy both in respect

technical skills develoPment/
e two

blocks, Kishan'
exPerience,

more important dimensions

the Ramgarh
for implementation in these bl 1) As regards the rural

are as follows: development programme,

ACTION PHASE

]5

two main changes were made after the Ramgarh experience: i) In respect of identification and selection of villages, it. was decided to cover only such villages in the Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks which had a concentration of ten br more artisan households. The policy of taking up all the villages 'adopted' by a comrnercial bank, as followed in the base of Ramgarh was dropped due to the following reasons: a) Scattered loaning of artisan units jn the Ramgarh block was found unfeasible from the bank's point of view as servicing of widely dispersed small advances in the 'adopted' villages was
highly uneconomical; and b) It was found that all the 'adopted' villages may or n]ay not have artisan inhabitant$, and the so-called 'adoption' might
have taken place solely because of.the agricultural potential of the village. As such it was decided to hand-pick only such villages in Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks, which had a sizeable population of artisan com munities.

ii)

Taking into view the lack

of

sufrcient technical skills

required for non-traditional industries, inadequately long period of time (two to three years) required for obtaining an electrical coonection for setting up a non-traditional unitl and the then prevailing credit squeeze policy of the Reserve Bank of India, it was decided to concentrate mainly on the traditional sector for which the conditions were much nrore favourable. 2) Together with modification in the strategy for setting up rural industrial units, crucial changes were brought about in the selection criteria for skills development/upgradation programmes, in sequel to.the experiences gained while attempt-

follows : i) In view of certain operational problems faced in organising skills development/upgradation for the youth of the Ramgarh villages, it was decided to enlist the participation of rural youth for such training programmes only which fell strictly within the purview of government criteria, i.e., DIC and SFDA (now DRDA-District Rural Development,A,gency) criteria;
4nd

ing to organise such training programmes in the Ramgarh blogk. Two of the more important modifications in the modus operandi in this aspect of the 'action' programme are as

16

ft.tJRAL I\IDUSIRIALISATION

infrastructure in. organising ii) IneffectivEness cif the programmes, as observed technical skills development trei team to cut the range in the Ramgarh block, forced the offered to the rural youth, vocational courses bei of such three in both Kishangarh from eight in the Ramgarh block dnd Mandawar. Having satisfabtorily comPlied with all the decision-point oriter.ia laid dor{n for the expl ratory phase; pre-tested the ements and duly effected mode of gaining 4ccess into rural. suitable modifica, ions ir.r the ' ion' strategy, the field-contowards the next and the tigent of the project team most vital step-identifications an then disbursement of assisassistance i. e., financial and tance to recipients of both types of these in the three technical trainingr Field work in following course: under study, took broadly blocks
Frnsr Vrstr

in October, 1980 tin the Ramgarh the team, consitsting normally

ive beneficiaries started During the first visit, of a Field Activist and a of the 'adopted' villages in Research Associate, would visit the company ofl the Industries Extension Officer or Village . On reaching the village, Level Workers, or Panchayat by about the whereabouts of enouiries were mode from :, of an alternate village the sarpanch, or i]n case of his ious aopointment was made elder. As stated earlier, no
The task

of

identifying the

for

such meeting$.

With the result these meetings informal atmospllere in the village chaupal, the village a tree with a few cots sPread out on the site choben for the varied from five to l5 persons. found alone in some of the escorted the team to him and a f sather around out of sheer curi presence in the vlllage. The government functionary team in terms of a non-official work and develoPment of the

took

place.

in a completely
Depending

lat ghar. sarpanch's house, , or sometimes simply under

br the visitors.
ing, the size ofthe gatherin! ven when lhe sarpanch was the person or persons who passers-by would invariably / to know the purpose of our
then introduce the project and also

ion engaged in social that the organisa-

AcTroN

PrrAsE

77

b) Setting up and/or expansion of industrial units in the non-traditional sector; and c) Organising training programmes both in the traditional as well as non-traditional sectors so as to impart new sklls or improve ihe existing levels of skills of the village literate and semi-literate unemployed young men and women. Having explained this, the team would then ask the village sarpanc h felder to call a general meeting ofthe village so that the message could be conveyed to everybody in the village. Nor_ nrally, such meetings were called within a day or two of the first contact meeting. In a number of srnaller villages or hamlets such meetings were organised the same eveninglas of the first contact. But in villages where the team was asked to come ar & later date, the time given was either in the mornings b;i;.;;i; a.m. or after 7.30 p.m.
Sscol.ro Vrsrr

traditional sector;

government. . .A three-faceted..programme for improving industrial activity rn the concerned village was put forth by the team: a) Setting up and/or expansion of industrial units in the

and never in terms of the team's desire to implement the developmeqt including industrial development plans of the

them. One of the team members then used to take over the conversation there onwards. He rvsuld once again clarify the status of the team vis-a-vis the State Governmenl the district adminis_ tration, and the State Bank of India, and then explain the pur_ pose of the project. The objective was always stated rn tetms of setting up village industries with a v.iew to provide employment to the people so that their own living standards would improve

tion had selected the Alwar district for its work in Rajasthan. With a view to elicit attentive listening the functionary would specifically mention that although th" ug.n"y had.contacts, at the highest levels in the government and ihe banks (State Bank of India in particular), it was representing neither of

The field staff would thed visit the village on the appointed day and time. At suih meetings the projectleam was not neces_ sarily acconpanied by a goveinment fuirctiofrary.

a"t ir,

"nr"

it

78 was. then the

IURAL

INDUSTRIALISATION

initi|l introductions

the team and its objec-

tives were stated hY him.

meetings was mornlngs or Whether the time fixed for site of the ProPosed meet' evenings, the team used to reach occasions ing at least half ah hour in advan . ExcePt on a few p3rsons normallY, in the we rarelY found qtore than two to our rvould alreadY be assemblcompany of the villlage headman, ' ion. Quite often we found I ed and rvaiting at the ProPosed the sarpanch or the village none at all and we had to contact ngers to fetch the People. elder who would then send out coming in grouPs varYing in The villagers would then ups were invariablY foirnd size from two to 15. The larger or otherwise of lower castes to be those of scheduled . The Process normallY engaged in the salme trade or i e in the village, who was took an hour cir so before interested or eve$ curious, assem gers in this manner was The Practice df sending out soon discovered to be PartiallY ineffective. ln no less than ed by the team, especially twenty per cent of the villages a tendencY to eave out the scheduled castes the larger villages, found prevalent among the or some other b4ckward castes ed that it was invariablY at or other dominant caste t visit the lorv caste hutments ally on the outskirts of the the main dwellings of the set apart village or otherrqise

upper caste com{nunities. In each of the villages visited ask the village elder if in his village had been intimated about

of the team members would

on every community in the

meeting and whether each villages where the strength er low caste communities was lds, this problem was never villages-seventeen during to leave out the lower

restricted to twq to five faced. It was onlY in the case of studY the course of this studY---:that communities wab discerned. Our queries from various whether everyofle was Present' r..^iw matteped body who mattened from the f we oould assembled and

/village headmen as to
they announced that everyof view of the project had ahead with the Proceedings,

lthat

ACTION

PHASB

19

elicited cold or at best evasive responses from them. During the course of our field work we came across one or. all of the follow_ ing three explanations and excuses most commonly employed

b) They (the SCs and other low castes) are not/will rlot be interested in whatever the-team might have to offer to them: c) They (a particular SC community) cannot be trusted as the entire community is more or less nomadic and criminal. Therefore, they "will never" repay whatever assistance is provided to them. Soon the team discovered that there was no use in pushing this point further and decided to individually contact membrs of such communities as were left out during such meetings. All the villagers having gathered (total strength varying from frve to 25), the accompanying governrnent functionary or in his absence the village elder would call people's attention and ask them to listen 'carefully' to the visitors. One of the team members then used to take over the conversation. As regards introducing the team and its objective in the concerned village, as stated, he would introduce the team as representatives of an organisation engaged in rural development
practice whatever the team proclaimed, its.contacts' even at the highest level of government were. pointedly stated, in no case was the team presented in the manner of an agency representing the administration. Similarly, as against stating the objective of the project directly in terms of its desire to promote rural industrialisation. an indirect appeal was made to elicit people,s participation in the implementation of industrial developmeirt schemes which already existed. The idea was to frrst educate the people about the need as well as the practicability of industrialising the

by the village headman: a) They (the SCs and such other low castes) do not understand or will not understand what the team might have to say;

work. Further, although from the point of view of winning over people's confidence in the team's capacity to put into

villages. The strategy employed comprised two sets of questions, each posed one after the other to the entire assembly at large. The questions were deliberately so framed that the first set invari_ ably elicited ninety per cent or more negative responses, while

80

RURAL INDuSTRIALISATIoN

per cent the second set eli0ited positive response in nearly cent of the cases. l

aware ihat the government has declared your district (Alwar) as a backwarp district, and has' therefore' provided for sevetal typqs of assistbnce for your upliftment' not

A. l)

Are you

ordinarily available to people in dther districts? 2) Are you aware that th government provides 15 per cent subsidy (25 per cent in the ca]se of scheduled caste/schedul' ed tribe enrepreneurs) to new uni[s on fixed capital?' 3) Are you aware that the District Industries Centre prov.ides composite loans of up to R.si 15,000 to rural artisans at a nominal rite of interest of 5.5 per cent (46 paise sainkara mahavari), of which the working capirial loan is for five years while that for fixed capital for 15 yealsf 4) Are you dware that artise+s and craftsmen among you can get a loan frdm the governmelrt at a nominal rate of interest of 4 per cent?3 5i Do you know that to the $ducated unemployed the State Government even provides margiri money loans at a liberal rate of interest of 4 per cent per alhnum, repayment of which is required to be made only after thf PrinciPat loans from other frnancial institutions have been repayed? B. l) Do you agree that mdst of the people in the village ara poor either because they have no land, or if they have land' it isloo small or otherwise inadeduate to afford them two square meals a daY? 2) Do you agree that among fou thele are quite a ferv good artisans in this villlage who are eitlier out of work, or if they have work. unable to earn a decent livfng because of lack of sufficient
capital?

Would You not consider industrial units of the description would there be another fullY
son added to thd village,

3)

also make the availabilitY of readily available and less goods/services oo Produced both' village? expensive for evorYbodY else in if the educated unemPlbYed 4) Would You not corl who at present do PracticallY vi young boYs and girls of the skills A. B or C for instane, nothing, wre suitably trained to theit families and alsq woulJd evcntually becomo g(oat

some of you could start or C for instance, not only B, and self-suPPorting Per-

if

it w

Aclroilr PIlASi

8l

who should we really blame-the government or. ourselves?n In response to these questions we found that in nearly g0 per cent of the villages, most people had heard about the piovi_ sion of 15 per cent subsidy. In the remaining villages people including the semi-literate among them had oold.u ofany such facility being provided by the goveinment. But even among the villages where people .knew.', the general impression was th&t such facility was available only for,the purchase of buffaloes.b The usual reaction which the above discourse provoked in, practically all the villages visited by the team, was that of silence for a few moments before each person broke into' hushed_tone conference with the person/persons sitting next to him, getting, louder and louder gradually. Such a state of affdirs used to continue until they were intercepted and invited by one of the team members to express thoir reactions. Once again silence would prevail before one of the villagers spoke generally assuming to be representing the consensus of the fellow villagers. Their responses . generally used to be from anrongst the following. The number of villages falling in each by these response-types is also being indicated against each in
brackets:
I

th.e village whether they started their indefendent unit in the village- or found employment in the neighio;ing towns with the help of the skills so acquired? 5) If, in spite of all tire facilities provided by the government as stated above, we do not avail of them und ,t"y poor,

No interest in the programme (22 villages); Interbst in the training piogramme if there was an assurance of subsequent employment (20 villages); 3) A specific enquiry by an individual about a particular type of,industry (l I villages); ' 4) Asked for more time to consider it among themselves (42 villages); 5) Continued silence until further provocation (13 villages), in which:case five villages expressed no interest while rn three villages the people wanted more time to discuss the matter among themselves. ' Thus, whatever the individ0al reactions, the general.consensus of the people after such oeetings used to be either continued lack of interest in the programEe, or a desire to get more time

2)

82

hURAL INDUSTRIALISATION'

so as

among themselves. In of the villagers, the study eitter eventuality; ibefore taking lea ith a promise to visit the team used to further reassure them ys of this visit. village again within two Io three

to discqss and reconsider the

CoNracrtNc ScuEourrn Ca'srn/ As stated, in sPme of the bi certain grouPs of PeoPle be were normallY lef! out either beca
veyed to them

C.qsrn
e

Anttslx

GnouPs

villages visited bY the team,

to low caste communities the message was not conpersonal cYnicism and dis-

because of interest.in developmental schemes tion about such grouPs of PeoPle

or

the'

accomPanYlng PanchaYqt

all descriPtion' Informacollected with the help of SecretarY or village level

worker.

to visit the hamlets of these rnost cases the team assembly. AlternativelY, people immediatelY after -the either directlY or through a i -"rtug. was conveYed to t visiting their hutments the be messenger that the team would list of villages and communidaY' Table I shows following village assemblies bY the ties contacted separately from

In

the team. The basic aPflroach for groups remained the same

an awateness amongst these

AS IN

ih" tung. of industrial Possib remained restricted to the

Even in resPect of imParting new restricted to verY elementary groups. Table 2 shows the near absence of lliteracY among nging to those communities educational levels of the Persons who were contacted bY the team' scheduled caste Thus out of the 450 Persons loriging to the bY the team' only and other backward communities contacted te. Of these, nedrlY 67' 82 persons (18.22 Per cent) were remaining 33 Per cent could Der cent could ohlY read while ' educational trevels ' attained read as well as rtirite. As

village assemblies' OnlY es offered to these People they were 4lreadY Pursuing' ' ills. the choice had to. be trades because of the

by'them, 47 Persbns 157.12Pet

had attended school but

of

schooling; 22 Persons
13

.fifth standard, and onlY

to reach the eighth stan-

ACTION PHASE Table

,S.

83

l.

Llst of vlltags where separate [estings ryer arransd witb

Schedoled/Backward Castes comnunifies
Name of village

Na.
2.

Block
Ramgarh

A1.

Community
Weevers and. hsrijans Chamars and haijans

Alavada

Bamboli
Chidwa

Milakpurr
5. 6,

Oontwal
Sainthali Naugaon Bahadurpur Baskirpalnagar

Moonj-ban workerc Basketmakers Moonj-ban workers

86.

7.

Harijans Harijans
Weavers Weavers

Kishangarh

9,
10. I l.

Bolni
Chamrauda Khanpur Mewanr Mandawar

12.

Moonj-ban workers Moonj-ban workerg

13.

14.
15.

Nangal Maujia Nangal Bawla'

Seelgaon

Harijans and, carpenters

Sir&i makers Moonj-ban workerc Moonj-ban workers Moonj-ban workerc
Shoe makers

16. 17.

Tatarpur

Tinki-Roodi

Basket making trade in Milakpur is caried out enttiety by young girls and women of the punjabi families, who rfused to attend the common village assembly held at the panchayat ghar. With the result the team had to approach this group of artisans separately. 2. Out of households o{ carpentets in this village, the saryanch introdg,_ ced the team to only one family-economically the most prosp".ou. on" with nearly 25 bighas of irrigated land, three prcca houses, a tractor and a large number of cattle heads. The other seven farnilies though less prosperous, indeed even poor and needy, were ignored by the sarpanch on the pretext that "No mattr how much the government tries to improve their lot, they won't care one way ol the other." 3, In Nangal Bawla, the majority of the population belongs to one of the two communities-shoe makers or moonj-ban workers. But since the former are economically and politically stronger than th latter. their messengrs failed to contact their households and returnd with th information that the "Goarias (a scheduled caste community engaged in moonj-ban work) do not want any loens."

l.

to be much more pro ounced among these communities.

Distrust of the outsiders and resistance to change were found

The

initial reaction of each of these towards the project_team and the developrnent programmes offered by it was an :emphatic 'No'. When provoked further, the leader among them would come up with a'what you say must be right, but as far as we are concerngd, we do not want anything from the government'.

RURAL INDUSTMALISATTON
Tablo

2.

f:ddcrttotr.t bvdt'of' in No, of

'persons

Caste artissns

rogtor ot Alflsr ilistrbt

Bloekl Village

No.

of

tale

contac' ted

ffi

school stan- dard and dard above

Rangarh 1. Alavada 2. Bamboli

,)

38
J

I
1

3. Chidwa 4. Milakpur
5. Naugaon 6. Oontwal 7. Sainthali

2
35 39
15

I
J .,
1

1-

42232 5r 2lll

4r

Kishangarh

8. Bahadmflr 74 9. BaskirPal'
10.

t2

nagpr Bolni

l0
30

I
5

105 1r
a,

11. Chamrauda 25 12. Khanpur 13. Nangal

q
3

2 2

I
2

Mewan Maujh

15

Mandawar 14. Nangal Bawla 15. Slgaon 16. TatarPur 17. Tinki-

344 25 18
t4

321
1

r-l

Total

13

Our best atte+Pts to exPlain I

government had no effect usual Une of argument tesm did not nPresnt the
seen amongst

there was a stalemate a$ aoy kind of stated above rand tbe Project eam feiling to make and comments it nordent in thoir resistance, thQ by the peoPle while discusmally overheard beiqg Put used to be on the following sing the mattgr among ther

[hem." 'or

we were not repfesenting the on thes Poople. The by these People was "if the up ent, it had no business to be

lines:

ATTTON

PITASEi.

B'

'

I) If the governrnent is actually giving all these facilities then there has to be a 'catch' somewhere; 2) Ifthe government gives, it also knows hbw fo take it back; 3) No harm in accepting a genuine offer of help, but who has the time to run'from pillar to post in order to get it; 4) You are well aware (one villager explaining to other), "I already have rnore than enough work to keep me busy; starting anything new is simply unthinkable for me"; or 5) We are just the two of us-what do we need exfta work for? In the face of such a,defensive attitude, the study team invariably returned from the groupb of scheduled/backward

caste cornmunities, without any results during the first visit. Surprisingly, with a few exceptions, the type of excuses and arguments made by these cornmunities werc practically the same in each of the village$ visited. In each ofthese villages only one person spoke on behalf .of- everyone else whether the question was addrcssed to the assembly as a whole or to a particular person. The spokesmirn for. the community would never ask for the opinion of others before expressing his views. When one of tbe project members asked if everybody else agreed with whatever one of their numbers had just said, the mply of the group was invariably in the affirmative in each village. Though considerably discouraged.by the attitude of these groups, we however decided to probe the matter further. With a viqw to have a deeper understanding of the psycho-socioeconomic barriers which were preventing these groups from participating in the programme, we decided to contact each of the persons individually instead of speaking to groups. Our Field Activist therefore, started contacting the merhberb belonging to thes communities individually, whenevei anil wherever they were available for a frank discussion. On an
average ten to fifteen persons of a group could be idterviewed in a single day,. gn1t one of the team members used to be presnr during such interviews. Basically two types of iriformation was gathered during these person.to-person informal sessions: Data about the socio-economic characteristics of the

a)

incumbent; and

86

RUhAL INDUSIRiAiISAIION

b)

Personal fears and tes

ons

ln

accepllng

any kind

rssistance of assistance with the helP of Table 3 sho*s the age, edu,

five persons each selected caste communities from two Ramgarh, Kishangarh and M

project team. ion, property and livestock of y out of scheduled/ backward each in the three blocksunder study. socio-economic profile of the

from amongst scheduled caste/ six villages, two each from ndawar blocks falling in the district thus clearlY shows north-northeastern region of Al lowest strata of the rural that these PeoPle belong to cal relevance this data also society. APart from their and living styles highlights peculliar demographic rural India. For the region different artiSan communities of as a whole, the average size of family works out to 6.8 members of which loss than half (48. 3 per cent) are working while dependent. But within thts 5l .9? per cent are non-working ratio varies widely from 36: woirker: non-wo universe the 12 for moonj -baz Sikh workers of village Chamrauda in the Kishangarh block, to 5:24 f a scheduled caste shoe-making la in the Mandawar block, community of village Nangal that can be discerned from Another characteristic fe: artisan groups is that the the socio-economic Profiles of economically much worse off artisans in the Ramgarh block and Mandawar blocks. For compared to those in Kishan of Alavada in Ramgarh to in the Kishangarh block, we find that in the former onlY two of the five artisans have a other three do not have even kucha hut of their own while families own pacca houses. that. in the latter all the when we comPare the moonj-ban artisans of. village Similarly Sainthali in Ramgarh block t those of Chamrauda in the the latter not only have morg er wo dly possessions and and livestock etc., than e economic performance of tical trade over diffefeul large extent to the levels of attributed to a blocks can be in each. infrastructural develoPment

i i.

AetroN FhAsli

81

t
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.r E cts?r *.s-:s r< 6r
\oN

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-a .c
R

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0\

s * z-{ EA -\+ eZE -E

-lo.:

.s-'aP =$g=s

c
.E .E

9E

'6

-E ,-r.
'

'l
u)

),-, Eo
z.z ;AO E9

e
.s

$ a'l

, |

hi 6 E, tr El

| |

h
|
|

r.{

o
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!)

I g s3 I
*? "s,1 E ;S - th E9 *!n =F E <5 gE EE EtS .;
p -^ |<ii

C.l

99*

o0

Fl

v)
q)

T
{L

"a:

t,a

(.)

x (!

/i

ss tF !

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88

RURAL INDUSIRI{LISATIOI.I

IE lrl
I

6tx

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$iE
.9 -9 9()()

l<
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I I

(., Eaala d8ilii 'ii

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to

ze zE ;;*Fs < .$d*t .{:c:!

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.9

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ACTbN pHAsB

89

F--* '
^3 i:!]

::g

o (J
<

q o: di =>s.-, v o 5"9
HiN

+t
o:

fr

r g:c

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I FsEegE $
--.:
!-c Es 'a I

.t - "idE I o -

; u;$:

E".A so E .i " :3 5 d:o E :lE r.o

- | S 6,4

ellz: ss=iss=ss*;
vdl:! N

.o{

q *,E ^r 6s{

l'-sE

r
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a.l

a-

Fc.l

.a{

atatO

.:
00 oo

v)

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a lir

v) v)

-ad
x-q {a <\>
Q

d:

ESS i*i FJ;i

EEF

I
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90

ituul

NpusrniALrsAtroN

g*a
.l

sEg

*.1

aEe;rr * clITE t
&
ri
t)

g
F

EE

iix
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3?*
$s$

:S$i: s

r-i

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V)

.E! ES

ax!
ll
Q'a c.. rq
to
(A

.+*

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t s* :

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F.,

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cl ': !:tr xd

a:

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t:s
*:=
x $E
R.

du

Actl6t,i iiiesB

91

If we analyse the above data we find that in a universe of 30 artisan families in the north-northeastern region of Alwar district 50 per cent families are landless, of which, 40 per cent are in Ramgarh block, 26.66 per cent in Kishangarh block and 33.34 per cent in Mandawar block. Similarly, can be seen that among these artisans, only 1l families (36.66 per cent) have a pucca house, 14 families (46.67 per cent) have a kucha htt while the remaining five (16.67 per cent) do not even have a dwelling of their own. Further, thdt nearly 36 per cent of the kucha hotse owners and 80 per cent of the houseless are from Ramgarh block alone.

it

Among other worldly possessions like movable items of property, we find that of the total eight families who do nor own any such property, at lea$t 50 per cent are from Ramgarh alone. Similarly, in telms oflivestock possessions also it can be seen that nearly 60 per cent of all such'families.who do not own any livestock are from Ramgarh alone.
rauda in Kishangarh,

of artisans-.landowning as well as the landless (-) depended on agricultural labour work to a very great extent to earn their living. In the spare time, provided the requisite raw mirterial was available in the neighbourhood and the people had the means to purchase it, they would pursue their artisan vocation, or else waste their time doing nothing. Separate interviews with individual mehbers belonging to these communities to explore the personal reasons of each for the non-acceptance of any kind of assistance elicited universally identical responses irrespective of the caste, creed, location or vocation of the incumbent. These interviews, which were conducted in a very intimate atmosphere and'given a highly personalised treatment comprised of open-ended questions and took broadly the following course: a) Apprising the villager in the simplest possible mannef ofthe objective of the project team. in terms of the types of assistance it could help him obtain. In a conversational situa" tion at the field level it took broadly the following form: ..We came to know (the sougce of such knowledge was neither sought nor volunteered) that the people in this district are very poor, We rvere also told that the government and the banks

With the only exception of moonj-ban artisans of Chamit was found that both types of families

hURAL rNDUsrRtALrsAfioN

in this area had reserved upliftment of the Poor, but it was how. The governrtlent and the

money esPeciallY for the reaching the needy sdmc' complain that the poor for the moneY earmarked people never aPProBch them and ) have come to your for them. Therefore, we ithe sttdY needy like yourself, get village to make surg that the Poor t whatever is rightfully from the banks and the gov meant for Your betterment.l' confirmation that what Response: Silent aPProval' or

his opinion, whatever we minimisilt the cost both in terms of have been doing, such as government depart. time and money sPbnt in visiting ments and financial institutions for btaining a loan; and ruling took the form of out the possibility of bribes (which . tikhai.padhai-ka-palsa-clerk's fee f reading and writing), was the right thing to do from the Poin of view of the Poor like him. Response: Verbal approval thalt wbat the team was doing was the right thing to do. c) Asking the incumbent the type of assistance which in his opinion could makb him earn more firom the craft he knew so well, and thereby improve his persrofral income and standard of living. Response: Timely monetary assistance for the purchase of enough raw material when it w4s available cheapest in the
neighbourhood. the Asking the incunrbent if he had any reservations same assistance was provided to hiin through the efforts ofthe study team. ' Response: None, if everybody else in his group accepted the assistance. Asking as to why he would hot be the first to do it from

the team was doin$ was indeed n b) Asking the incumbent, if in

d)

if

e)

amongst his group.

Response:
accePted.

He could not acceflt until and unless others

f)

Asking if everybody else in fris group waited

body else to make a beginning, norle

for someof them might get aryj

would be a consenous.

thing; would that $e advisable, Respowet.He $ouldn't helP

itlthat

ACTION

PIIASE

9T

Asking the incumbent to let his name be enlisted only temporarily, so that it could be included later on rvhen othbrs of his group accepted the offer of assistance'
Response: Let others

g)

of his group get themselves to

bnlisted

cooperate on grounds that he would get enlisted only after the group's spokesman and/or other members of the group did likewise, he was asked if in his opinion the group or its leader could obtain for him the kind of facilities being provided through the project.

frst,

h)

Since the incumbent refused

, i)

Response:

Nil.
has not been done so far?

If 'Yes', why it
Nil.

j) If 'No' then whY would he

through the Project?
Response:

Response:

not

accept the assistance

Nil.

Having apprised the villagers ofthe project objectives and the types of assistance the team could help them obtain from the government and the flnancial institutions, we paid a third visit within a couple of days. The Industries Extension Officer, whenever available, was requested to accompany the team;

Tnlno VIstr

the

assistance

of the village level worker or

it

the Panchayat

Secretary was not sought as

was felt unnecessary during such

During these visits the villagers were approached in groups where possible and individually where necessary, but more often the former. In most of the bigger villages two to three meetings separately for individual groups of artisans (potters, basketmakers, weavers, moonj-ban workers, etc.) were held. But in the smaller villages all the people were asked to assemble at one
place.

visits.

One of the team members would once again explain the pro. ject objectives in detail and then depending upon the particular interest of the group/individual concerned, apprise them of the new innovations or possibilities of expansion for the existing units; and about the types of industries which bad locational promise. As stated earlier, in view of the lack of sqfroient technical.

94

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

skills, a near absenoe of an entre

traints

a rather limited range of rials and underdevefoped infrastruct ted marketing outlets--the team har possible industries rfrainly to the arti
level non-traditional industrial

of

al base. and the cons. y available raw matefacilities including limito restrict the choice of and a very elenrentary
industries in the tradi-

The following are the lists of tional and non-traditional sectors, the villages of Ramgarh block:

to

the people in

A) TneorrroNer SBcron i) Leather indubtry ii) Pottery iii) Carpentry iv) Fibrc (Mooni,-ban) industry v) Handloom dyeing and printin vi) Blacksmithy vii) Basket making
viii) Oil expelling (Telghani) ix) Sculpture
x) xi) xii) xiii) xiv)
xv) B)
.

Weaving

Durry making
Carpet making Hand-made paper Cottage match industry Gur-khandsari industry NoN-rnn ottrohrlr, Sscron Power ghani

i) ,ii) ii;) iv) v) vi) ;vii) v|ll) I ix)

x)

Saw mill Flour nill Dal mill Ice candy Soap factory Stone crushing

Lathe

Welding
Compressor

xi)
,xii)

Woollen garmdnts
Readymade gafments
.

ACTION

PHASI

95

xiii) Candle making xiv) Steel furniture xv) Auto servicing workshop
Besides apprising the villagers of the broad project profiles of various types of units, particularly of such industries which had immediate potential in the village concerned, the study team also used to satisfy personal queries on specific issues. In the traditional sector, the most frequently posed questions revolved around: (a) quantum of loan amount; (b) rate of interest; (c) number of instalments in which the amount was to be repaid; (d) if the interval between instalments could be adjusted according to their own convenience; and (e) whether they could get an identical loan in the next season when the raw material would be available and also if sucha thing (periodical timely loaning) could be continued year after year. In the notr-traditional side, nearly all the persons who showed some interest in setting up a unit of their own, invariably had some previous practical work experience in the type of industry for which they were applying. Most often such an experience used to be in the form of an earlier employment in a neighbouring urban centre. As a result, there was rarely a query on any technical aspects of the industry of their choice. They were found to be normally aware of: (a) the type of machinery to be purchased; (b) the place to buy it from; (c) the type of motor and its horsepower etc. Thus on the non-traditional side as well, most sf the queries revolved around: (a) the amount of loan; (b) the rateof interest; (c) mode of repayment; (d) subsidy a6ount; and (e) whether the amount of subsidy would be given before or after the purchase of machinery.

CorgrlcrrNc Scsrourno Clsrr/Low ClsrE AnrrseN GRoups* (SEcoND Vrslr) Having failed to make any headway with these groups, the team decided to let sorre tim pass before rnaking.the next contact with them. As a result, at lgast three weeks were allowed, to pass before they were approached again. During the intervening period, we discussgd the problom , with the concerned Block Development Ofrcers, the Agriculture Extension Officers, the patwaris, sarpanches, and a number of

EG

RURAL TNDUSTRIALISAfIoN

group leaders thsmselves. Even these discussions failed to provide any cleaf guidelines to !o by. But, the consensus in each of them was to let the matter test for some time till these groups saw for themselves how their fellow villagers were benefiting through the efforts of the teafn' We however docided to make adother attempt using a different technique this time. Withorft any forewarning, the team approached the salpanch of Sainth{li in the Ramgarh block in his hbuse at about 5.30 a'm. and rdquested him to speak to the rinoni-ban workers on its behalf. +{is immediate tdaction was trying to convince those that jit was a shber waste of team thought it could people, but he r1/ould come if
he1p.

to accompany thd leam to. Reluctantly the sarpanch ving reached, he called out the mooni-ban workers' hutments. loudly the narne of the community' elder and asked hirn to call utes all the men-folk came everyone else. In less than ten and huddled ound the cot spread for the out' of their'hutd
sarpanch, The sorpanbh started his speech without wasting any time on preliminaries. What he spoke w[s very brief, to the point, pt to conceal a tinge of and very direct without anY i contempt and to an extent anger in his' voice. We are repro'

ducing below the few sentences {re spoke: :'These people (the dre giving loans. They will team) have come tb helP You. wilf also be spared likhaideliver it at Youf doorsteP' name of clerkls fee for padhai-ka-paisa (bribes given So accept whatever help reading and writing) in this i is type of chance doesn't is being given b3y these PeoPle. come time and again"' We could see that the sarpanch' brief nonologue had been had a hushed.toned confceflective. The mertbers of the spokesman of the group a few moments and then rence for : they wanted some time to on behalf of everyone spoke lves and would let their'. rsconsider the matter amolngst the next .morning. sarPanck dScisiop be known to the the next morning, it was went lo Saint When the team workers wantbd o se them. On rcaching told the 4oonj-ban the naines of seven of the tbsre the,SroDp's loader alreadY. .i jthe grouP for l5 men-folk

ACTION 8HAS6

91

Having succeeded in breaking the ice, the team decided to try out a similar strategy for the remaining groups as well. But in this instance, it met with only partial success. Subsequent enquiries revealed that resistance &mong other groups had been for a variety of reasons other tban the mere fear of the outsiders.

In the Ramgarh block the three villages in which the team was eventually successful are Chidwa, Milakpur and Alavado. In Milakpur the sarpanch's assurance to the basket-making Punjabi settler community, worked exactly in the same manner as in the case of Sainthali. The team succeeded in enlisting lg households wanting financial assistance to buy the raw material for making baskets. Among the moonj-ban workers of Chidwa, the presence of the sarpanch did not have as much effect as the information volunteered by the team that their kinsmen of Sainthali village had also enlisted their names for financial assistancE. When a few names of the Sainthali moonj-ban workers were read out to the group, it had an immediate effect in softening their attitude towards the projeet. Even so, they declined to give away tbeir names immediately and asked the learn to come two days later so that they could first discuss the matter among thgmselves. Obviously, they were not interested so mgch in discussing the matter among themselves as in confirrning the facts fmm their Sainthali kinsmen. The Alavada weavers who are copsidered gdept craftsmen in making the traditional Rajasthani prigri had reasons of. their owo in refusing any outside assistance. Earlier the Soup had been approached by the District Industries Centre wjth an offpr of financial assistance subject to the condition that they would diversify and statt weaving cloth other-than the traditional pugri. But since the group considered itself fully employed in their present vocation they had declined the offer. The DIC on the other hand had been adamant that since due to limited Drarketing outlets for the traditional pugri, lhe we&vers were not being able to earn a decent living, they would tre sarictioned assistance only if they agreed to diversify. The weavers of Alavada had refused to cooperate with the study team sirnply.on grounds that if they offered-to accept any asEistanoe? they iyp$d again be asked to diversify. {hat was why

98

RURA' INDUSTRIALISATION
had either relused to listen present instance onlY when, and the Industries Extension they would not be 'forced' they themselves wanted to

during all our prelvious attempts

or remained non-oommittal. In in the comPany of the

Officer. the team assured thm

to weave anythin$ other than weave, did they agree to cooperat vers individuallY; During

of participation in the Prostarted contacting the weasuch meetings the economic disad-

vantage of the traditional Pugri at length to each of these indivi

bility of diversifying into

instance, was exPlained

in detail' dual concerned to commit would simply show ail the into other kinds of cloth, the the individual to give it a pros and cons of the oPtions and for a few daYs and then r ide whatever he thought was thought best for him. lengthy informal sessions Our in-depth Probes during and hesitation with respect to revealed that their teservations basically emanated from diversifying into other types of cl
two sources:

ving activity was exPlained Side-by-side the profitatowels and bed-sheets, for rer than asking the indiviright away for diversifying

i)

On ttre pslchological On the eoonomic Plane, I

feels

the fear ofleaving

a tradition

ancl deviating frQm the ancesfial

ii)
paths.

tainty the human mind

fear arising from the uncerbre treading on uncharted

hariians of botb Bamboli The chamars bf Bamboli and problem of their own. Both and Naugaon Presented a uni would only accept a loan these communities insisted that of persuasion or exhortation a 'temPo'.t No for running . They were adamant to the could make a deht in their re asked how so many tempos ol being obstinate. extent would the5, ply them ifl at all be sanctibned and w could sanctioned-their response was: ey would run it jointly and share the profits even if onlY one tempo was sanctioned to
them.
These groups were aware, Transport Authority revealed, issued in the district for pl
as

later query from the District permits were no longer being tempos, as th full quota had

ACTION PHASB

99

possibility of issuing fresh permits. The moonj-ban workers of Oontwal, a cluster of about 20 households on the periphery of the village, presented yet another case of extreme orthodoxy and granite obstinacy, As stated, this group was lound to be the poorest from amongst all the groups in the block pursuing an identical vocatioa. After the success with the moonj-ban workers of Chidwa. whose attitude had been mellowed by a mere mention of their
Sainthali brethren having agreed to cooperate, the team approached the Oontwal group in high spirits and optimism. But this

in the forthcoming two to three years, the Transport Authority felt there was no

already been sanctioned and issued. Even

strategy did not work in the case

of the .Chidwa group.

The

only group of their type in the entire district-and their cus_ toms; traditions and even the technique of making rope from moonj \tas entirely differenl from all the others pursuing a similar vocation in the neighbouring villages. Apart from Gopal, there was another character in this group-a 50-55-year old maulvi who assumed the role of the spokesman for the group along with Gopal. The maulvi used to teach the childrdn in the village mosque. His position was unique, Not only was he pursuing an altogether different vocation than the rest ofthe households he even came from a different religion. Yet he had his hut in the middle of this

spokesman ofthe group, Gopal, asserted that they came from an entirely different stock than the rest of the moonj-ban workers in the district, and they were not concerned in any way with the others. In fact, he assured the team that thy were the

After all methods of persuasion had been exhausted. the team decided to approach the maulvi and take his opinion. His response, though reve4ling, was one of the most surprising experienced during the courso of this project. His reply was brief: "Sir, these people afe stupid" (Saab yeh log to gadhe ftarn). (Although the entire group, inoluding Gopal, was present when this statement was made, nobody objected.) "You cau tell them a million times to do something, they will npt budge if they have decided not to. They are the descendants of Maharatra Pratap and are amongst a handful of groups coming from fhat linp rrybo abandoned their nomadic life'two generations ago qqd

settlement, and cornrlanded great respect from its members.

roo
decided to sbttle down, Their

ft.unll

rnnusthIALrSATIOll

changed. Therefofe, instead of people, you bettef go to some This small spdech was made of everyone concerned, but n

s once made c&o never b any more time on these

the maulvi

in the Presence

objected or spoke a word. the team members contacted ImmediatelY after this meett the leader of the grouP' five members including at least The team then decided to but without aclr,ieving anY resul qf Oontwal alone. quit and leave the moonj-ban rological reasons, such afl Besides illitedacy and socio: emanates from a reaction to attitude of the Pdorer commun may have had with tbe flany of whatever interac,tion . During the course of this agents' in the so called 'change project, a verY lange Pefcentage ( the scheduled/backward caste d to have develoPed a firm communities cottected were f government can and indeed actuatlY does conviction that the defraud the pooF 'intentionally" Given here is the case of the block, and of manY Bahadurpur weavers in the Kishangarh and Mandaartisans in groups of moonj'b8t? war.

the main target group the t

Panchayat Bhawan was mation about those artisans.

charge frequentllr made bY the cluster of about 70 households

r
P

found to be the most vocal hich they alleged, cheated the schemes. This is a serious poor. In BahadurPur, a ing a weaver's Yocation was had in mind. As usual the

for collecting initial infor'

recently elected sar Panch-a -big agriculturist-cumwell-ofl village PhYsioi rathet the least i erest in us and even lesser rn birsinessman-showed the progranime. I He howevet serl for the leader of the weavers. In less than ten minutes, M Singh, a JJ-year old, shortstatured man 6lad in a dhoti and oollen coat' arrived: Taking for the weaver settlement' leave of the'sarlanch the te*st On the way, the purPose of Man Sing in the comPan! 'of He gave a patient hearing" the visit was exPlained in . deiai intdfjecting with: "I is indeed very noble work Sir: occasionally of, kind people like you." we destitutes are.alwaYs at the Man Singh, who turned out had we fioished, w Hardly

to be an ex-wholesale

Pagri

for the village, owner of

ACTION 'FfiASE

l0l

of irrigated land and a pucca hoase, and the father Industries Extension Officsr in the neighbouring block of an (Lachmangarh) came up with : "It is all very well to do social welfare work, but it wilt be 'better' if you go away from us and try in soms other . village." When asked why, he narrated the follorving episode : In the wake of the 20-point programme, twelve of his kinsm:n including himself were persuaded to discard the pit-type looms and were supplied with large-sized flyshuttled (iron) handlooms by the Khadi and' Village Industries Board (KVIB) with the apsuraoce that half the cost of the handloom would be. subsidised and that the government would ensure both, supply of raw materials at feasonable rates as well as'the pirrchase of .the firaished goods by.paying the artisans spot cash for their produce. Howeler, the KVIB could supply them with only . two . iustalments ,of yarn and was forced to shelve the scheme as it was found to be.uneconomical and thsrefore unviable.. Since the looms rvere big and each required a minimum of forty kilogrames of yarn to be operational which the weavers could ill-afford, the machines had been lying
bighas
.

ll

unused ever since.

out of 'the commitment', the weavers refused to pay back the money to the concerned bank (Stste Bailk of Bikaner and Jaipur of Kishangarhbas) both because they were neither 'willing nor in a position to repay. The bauk having waited fot more than five years finally sued the group. The people wgre angty at the government's highhandedness, and therefore could not.be persuaded to accept any loans or assistance in any form from anyone. The team was therefore advised that it would be better for them to go back undor sueh circurnstances. Howover.when the team pfsisted, Man Singh led the way to the wepver settlement*a cluster of about 50 households on the periphery of the village. At the entrance to the $lum, were a handful of idlers basking in the afternoon ssn. For a beginning, it was decided to concenfate on this group, and to call the rest later on, if successful. Hardly had the researcher explained the objective of the visit, that one ofthe squatters began cursing the government for the earlier episode. He repeated whatever had been aamated by Man Singh earlier, about'the govenrment 'tricking' thdir people.into accE)ting the sqhem, and bow they had now
Since the 'government' ,backpd

i0,
been sued

AURAL INDUStRIALISATIoN

for no fault of theirs. m about 50 years old and Meanwhile twb women, one df the other abottt 22 years old with one-year old child clinging to her waist, also jolned the group th their pallavs covering one side of the face arld their backs t us. As soon as they arrivthe younger wbman started ing us vociferously. Though cd kinsmen on the plea that she was asked to stop by some of

the visitors wero not

concerned

with the KVIB eoisode.

thE

one of the KVIB loanees angry woman whose husband was and recently suedl in the court of l , refused to listen and conti"these people" come in all nued with her di{tribe retorting t all the same. " Meethi-meethi garbs and shapes but are ajaaven, phir dhar detn garib baatein kar pate rlrein ghus topi (they lure. innocent people with their kay galay pay chhuri" their throat). She was howsweet talk and thbn Put a knife came out from one of the ever silenced by a young man around, and dragged the few pucca houses that could be older woman followed. angry womau inslde the house. By this time d ctowd of about -half of them childrenelderly persons advised us had gathered around us. One of irs and to leave them alone. not to waste our time as well as one last attemot with all was then that our researcher It

his persuasive. p$rver : "B your people in thlis village are

persuaded some df you

we have learnt that all of

an1

to

with the government which

aocept

the loans and later

backed

has sued vou in the court of law for no fahrlt ofl yours. I y be you are right. As fo1 ourselves, we ate here neither as agents of the bank nor as rgpresentatives of the governmen We are from a Delhi-based we have neither loans nor research organisation. Therefi you. The purpose of this any handlooms to distribute am ideas on your problems." visit is only to have an exchange as cracks began to appear This soeech hbd the desired e in their resistance. One of the high-school going boys also pointed out that our vehicle (mot -cycle) bore a Delhi number. from amongst the gathering Besides, a couple of other neither from the bank nor also broke out : 1'If they say they from the governrhent, then there no harm in at least listening to what they have to saY." In the meanwhile we could see the coming out of his hut husband of the angry young

out of its commitlment, and the

_i_

AETION

FHASE

103

is to find where the fault lies-with the government, the or the people themselves. The money in the banks with the government is the people's-your money. The or purpose of opening a bank in your village is also to ensure that poor artisans like you could benefit from it. If only you would agree to have a frank discussion with us on all your problems then may be we could help in making the bank's
banks,
services more readily available."

silently, somewhat apologetically and joining the group. Finding their attitudes softening and mellowing down, one of the researchers then $tarted : "The government and the banks (in Rajasthan) claim at the end of every year that much of the money reserved for the upliftment of the poor artisans remains unutilised. Artisans everywhere claim that they cannot increase productivity and incomes due to shortage of funds to buy the raw materials. The only objective of our visit to this village

This short speech led the villagers to ask the project team to visit them later in the evening when most of the weavers who had gone out to fields and other places of work would also be around. Just when the team was about to leave a tenyear old girl volunteered that there were two other weaver settlements at the other end of the village. When we tried to make further enquiries about these settlements from Man Singh, he shooed away the little girl and assured the team that though people in those settlements also belonged to the same caste, they were no longer in the prolession and were dependent on agricultural labour work and other vocations. Nevertheless, we decided to visit these groups as well. On reaching there we found the two settlenents quite close to each other and to our surprise all twenty-one households except on were engaged in the weaving profession. When the people from both the hamlets were called for an assembly, we were given an altogether different version of the KVIB handlooms episode. We were informed that out of the total twelve handlooms, as ftany ag eleven had been allotted to Man Singh's group, and that it was Man Singh who had insiigated the recipients not to repay the bank on the pretext that ihe government had failed to fufil its commitment of supplying the yarn. We were also informed that whenever an individual, under fear oflegal action in response to the bank's notics (both verbal and written) tried to

104

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATON

by Man Singh and repay the loan Atnount, hc was dire consequences. Both the his cronies with social boycott workers and big goYerngfortps complaindd that 'mosf ext arrd visited only Man raxeiy approached ment officials groups volunteered a list the Singh's settlement. Together, assistance. of seVen weavers lwho wanted finl ih the evening fi obvious reasons, took place The meeting his Industries Extension 'in Man Singh's house' He along Ofhcer son, gave an unexPeotedlY warm welcome in his newlv and served tea aRd sweetbuilt and freshlY Painted Pacca
meats immediatelY

on

our

young boys were $ent out to call meeting. [n less than tetl minutes ore front of the hsusd. When oEe of desire to explain tihe objectives of Singh assr.ird "us tlhat he had alrea fully explained thb PurPose of our the pieliminaries 4nd get down to cants. I{e volunteered his own of an unemPloyed Postgfaduate pagri 1rradrng and not forward otit of a group of nearly persuasion bY the team

our

Ofrcer *nd Man $ingh himself

men assembled in researchers expressed a project to the group, Man spoken to'each of them and it and that we could avoid task of enlisting the appli, first, fol.lowed by the narne who wanted assistance for But no other person came persons. Every type of the Industries Extension to make a dent in their

f6rtv

resolve.

learnt everything that had and the members of the between the Project transpired in retaliation instructed hrs two weaver settlements dher team. As for himself and own people to re ain awaY frornr his name, the group was boY who volunte the postgraduate fdr aPPearance sal and that they too intended told it was onlY to withdraw in due course. All our subsequent visits during th with individuals where which contacts uiere established, clusters of artisang here possible, failed to bear necessary and any fruit.

Later enguiries from different ources

in

the village reveal-

ed that Mirn Singh had

The mootj-ban trade (rnaking lv availablO local reed moonj), practised bY lower'l-caste

'.

rope ban from an abuddant already reported, is widely in the entire north-nort&-

AC?ION

?EASB

TO5

eastern region. For years the industries department has been trying to persuade these artisans to adopt the mooniban machine .developed by the Khadi md Village Industries Commission' .which is claimed to more than double the output of an average crafisman. For a variety of reasons, moonj'ban workers all over the district have rejected the machine, in spite of all kinds of incentives offered and demonstrations arranged by the Khadi and Village Industries Board. The local District Industries Centre, however, claims to have

of such machines uniCer a package programme of a total loan of Rs. 1,200 of wbich the cost of the'
distributed at least 400

'

machine is Rs, 400, while the rernaining Rs. 800 is provided for workin_g caPital' During a period of nearly two years of extensive field work in the villages of this region our project team did not come acrosr even a single mooni'ban mzchine which was operational Indeed during the first stage, implementation of the action programme in Raqgarh block, the team had also developed a programme of financial assistance to mooni1rbaz workers under which the sanction of loans was made conditional to the accptance of a moonj-ban machine, and met with hundred lrr cent failure.. As a result the team was forced to delink the moanj' ban.machine component of the assistance package. Our investigations in the field from the recipients of the KVIB loan revealed that in more than eighty per cent of the eases the artisans had not been informed that the Rs. 1,200 &ssistance package also included Rs. 400 worth of a moonj-ban machine for which .they ihad no use. It. was only at the last stage of actual disbursement of the assistance that they realised that in accepting the KVIB loan they had inadvertently .purchased the machine as well. Though well-intended, the result of such shrewd tactics adopted by some of the extension workers rflas that whole groups of mooniban workers in.tho district have been alienated and they accuse the governmnt of having rvilfully cheated them. As could well be expected, they left the. machines untouched 4nd haq no intention to pay the price for somethi.ng they 'sou16 not use. Our discussions with the extension workers responsible for tnplemgnting this perticular ,echenre in the,three blocks elitited

RURAL rNDUSfRlALrSAltoN

a) When stridt insttuctions handed down to them from the higher level to atta;n certain targets in a fixed period, being the active Arms of the at the field level, they are forced to device their strategies to meet the goal; non-compliance or non-achi of the set targets being a stigma.on their efrciency and a on their career; and b) If the end objective (i.e. i proving the lot of the poor) is noble and the people iannot this out of sheer ignorance and illilteracy, thdn a little machination on the part'of the governscent is justified. More respondtints were found the former category than in the latter. However, typical of latter respons category are the comments Of a particular year old Khadi andYillage
,

Industries Supervilor reputed to boys of the department: Sahab kay karyon main ypdi thoda-bahut to katrana nahin chahiya (Sir, this development work, if necessary, little bit of force). Implied in the dbove statement fying the means. But we must motivation and invblvement as in an exception that a rule though tension workers too whose actions the same though they were not as usual refrain in sudh cases being are so ignorant that they do not them, then it is obligatory for the
'see'.

one of the most brilliant

vikas karya

hai.
to

Vikas

ka prayog bhi karna paday development work, and in

should not hesitate
use a

a suggestion of ends justithat such a high level of above instance is more of did come, across other ex-

'implication amounted to

ocal or explicit. The mosr t if the people themselves what is good for government to make them

Founrn Vrstr Normally withiir three to five used to reach the village on the a visits mainly comprised where possible (in the case of pursuing the same vocation, for necessary (as in the case of traditional industriles). . At these meetin$s besides

of

the villagers in clusters groups from a village ) and individually where ve entrepreneurs for non_
g data on the basic sooio-

the last visit the tearir day and time. Such

ACridN

Pil^Sb

l0?

economic characteristics of the person concerned, the level of skills and capabilities of the incumbent to run the project efficiently and the economic viability of the project in the given set of circumstances was also assessed before taking dortn their names for financial assistance. As a result of intensive field work carried out during Octobdr 1980 to January 1981 in the Ramgarh block, and from June l98l to May 1982 in the Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks, a a total of 314 prospective entrepreneurs were identified who wanted financial assistance either for setting up a new industrial unit or for the expansion of an existing one. Of these, 268 applicants. i.e., more than 85 per cent opted for a traditional industry while the remaining 46 entrepreneurs, that is, nearly l5 per cent fell in the non-traditional sector. Block-wise break-up of these possible programme recipients, by typg ,of industry
opted is shown in Table 4.
Table

4,

List of entrepienafis lilentifted for Snoncial sssisttice

Prosryctiee entrepreneursidentified Total

Sr.
No.

Type of industrY

@
63 18
26

in blotk

A. Traditional Sector |' Carpentry 2, BlacksmithY 3. Moonj-ban 4. Basket making 5. Durry making 6. Waving 7, Shoe making 8. Sculpture 9. Sirki making 10. PotterY . B. t. t
4.
6.

t:
29

23

1
;:

87

26 .,4

r7 130
29

l-

lt

li

60.
29 6

, -:

Total Non-traditional Sector Lathe, welding and

comprssor

ro2

2
7 7

mill Flour mill Oil mill

Saw

l9 18
4

Dal mill Ic c4pdy

I
I

.l

I
I

Lims kiln

108

RURAL INDU$TRTALISAtION T4ble

TWn of industty

d ) PersWcti\e enlreprcneursidentiied Total

ly'o.

8. Stone crusher i 9. Electricalsrvitchds. 10. Soap factory 11. Candle making -r' 12. Plastic mouldi*B 13. Auto works_hop l 14. Kniuing pacli$ 15, Sewing macbine -' 16. Steel furniture 17. ,RGtaurant 18. Bbycle repairs
. l

I I

I
2

:
I

I
.'

Tdtal

'

I
314

Grand Tdtal

the marginal response onal sector was in more that was received 'for thO non. a very elementary level of than sixty per cent of the cases . service industries like flour mill and sarv mills. Another the break-up of proscharacteristic featule that emerges
.

An analysis of Table 4 shows tional sdctor was tremendous;-j non'traditional sectpr., Moreovey,

the response in.the tradisix times more than in the

pective beneficiaries as between

brent blocks

in the traditional as well as the response in the Ramgarh block

pared with Kishangarh or Manda sector in particular, Ramgarh accot ted for more than 7l per in the traditional sector, cent of the total aPplicants.
,

is that both .traditional sectors the much better when com. In the non-traditional

were from this block alone nearly 43 per cent of the for no more than while together the other two blockb 57 per cent of the total applicants. Lower response levels from been due mainly to the Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks following two reasons: content as well as straa) Chinges in both pro Itegy of identifications in these afler the first stage irnpler mentation of the action phase in the Ramgarh block; and facilities, espcb) Relatively bbtter spread of ,cially of banking industrY in the and Mandawar

ACTTON

FHAS'

IO9

blocks as a result of which people had greaier acceis to credit facilities in comparison with their counterparts in Ramgarh
block.

Frrrn Vrsrr
The next visit was normally made within two-to-ihree weeks of the preceding one to re-check if any more people were interested in enlisting their names with the project team. The modas operandi adopted most frequently during such visits comprised approaching the sar panch I village headman whenever available, or individual or groups already identified for financial assistance or technical training. These meetings were conducted in the manner of informal friendly talks with the villagers. Questions were generally asked if there had been dny change in the villagers' attitude towards the project during the 15-20 days between the last visit and the present one. Also, if there had been any more persons who had expressed a willingness to get enlisted with the team. In respect of both the queries, the villagers' response was found to be non-committali as if to say that what could they say until something actually happened. In most of the villages visited, the team was assured that there were already a few persons who would like to avail of the financial assistance, but were waiting' to see the outcome for those already enlisted. As a result, thc general impression formed during these re-check vidits was dhat ]got themselves enlisted for although these people had willingly financial assistairce or technical training'under the project, some doubt and suspicion .invariably lingered at the back of

their rninds.
Srxrn Vrsn

Wlthin two or three days of the re-check visit the team would bring a representative ach of the appropdate l0fding agehcy and the Industries Department to the doordtep bfthe prospective artisan entrepleneuls to discuss each case separately' The accompanying official would make general bnquirids frohr the appticants so as tb verify the credentials of each and assess "the econornic viability of the project.' The applicants were' also asked if they expected any problems in obtaihirig a "No Ducs' certificate from various ledding agencies of tl area, so es to be

ll0
eligible to obtain a loan under the

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

As regards othef appliaants for

on project. y units in the non-tradition-

prospective entrepreneurs al sector. the team would advise t to disiuss their regpective projects ith the bank andior other concerned agencieb so that financi viability of each could be meetings the villagers individually ascrtbined. During were also briefed about the formali es to be completed for obabout the agencies/pertaining the desiredi assistance, and any problems in doing so. sons to be contacted in case they fa
The next step cqmprised

t observation by the team ts, the village elite, the inivolved-the af of all the actors govemm functionaries, particularly bank officials, and the es departments. This those of the revepue and the in stage, frequently also comprised tn efing, encouraging and advising the applicants and often even actually helping them overcome the difficulties faced, if any.
Teclrnical Skills Dqvelopment

ing Institute ITI have b:en estab shed in Alwar to train the high-school leaversj in various te< ical trades. The former. g, electrical engineerwhich awards diplornas in civil en1 ing and mechanical engineering w established in 1960 with didates, In view of mountan annuel student in-take of 225 diploma-holders of the ing unemployment pmong the brought down to 105 in polyteclnic, the student in-take slnce. 1966 which has rerqained the same the polytechnic are done Admissions to yarious courses last admission for the puroly on the basiq of merit, and at 82.5 per cent aggregate l982rl983 session r{as reported to markg .ir1 the que.lifying exeminatior Though the institute does

Industrialisation in any given settin presupposes a steady flow quantities. This entails labour of requisite skills in requ brmation regarding manthe collection and {issemination of power fesources, the correct apprl iof the different types of facilities for training of skills requireri and the provision and to make up for workers both to increase their nical personnel. deficiency in particular branches of With a v.iew to provide technic: skilled labourers to the one polytechnic collp and one Industrial Traincollp loca! industry,

of

ACTION PIIASE

lll

not maintain any record of its outgoing graduates, no unemployment is reported among them as more than 95 per cent of the successful boys are clairred to be absorbed imuediately in various government . departments, mainly the State Public Works Department, and the State Electricity Board. The diploma holders are reported to have a distinct preference for government jobs and it is only as a second choice, (for instance, when faced rvith unemployment) that they opt

for private industry. Surprisingly, the desire to set up one's own industrial unit after graduating from the polytechnic is

reported to be almost absent. Whatever little tenporary unemployment is faced, resulting in the taking up of jobs in the private sector, is found to be largely amongst the diplonra holders of mecbanical engineering because of insufficient openings for them in the government departments. In view of the lack of adequate employment opportunities in the mechanical trade: the polytechnic has also tailored its recruitment policy to suit the local conditions. As a result, of the total 105 boys recruited each year, sixty are taken for civil engineering, thirty for electrical engineering and only fifteen for the mechanical trade. The Industrial Training Institute of Alwar enrolls 240 students every year in ten different trades: electrical, radio mechanic, fitter, wireman. turner, machinist, welder, carpenter, stenographer (English language), and motor mechanic, The qualifying examination for all of these trades is of tbe eighth class except for the electrical and radio mechanics course for which it i s matriculation and stenography for which it is higher secondary. Except for stenography, for which admissions are done on merit basis (last admission for 1982-1983 session was done at 58 per cent marks), it is on the first-come-first served basis ia the case of all other trades. It is thus clear that theoretically the curriculum of the Industrial Training Institute has been so designed as to become an effective instrument for imparting technical skills to the lite. rate and semi-literate youth of the district, and thereby serve as a feeder institution of skilled workers to the local industry. In practice however, this has not been found to be happening. Unemployment and resultant frustration are widespread among the diploma-holders of ttre institute.

TI2
As stated earller, in

RURAL INDUSTRIALT3AIION

vie* of a dear absence of entrepreneu' and technical skills in the villages of Ramgarh block, we rial had decided to start a parallel p{ogramme of technical skills developrnent along with industries development. As such, along with enlisting tho villagers to tale up industrial ventures, the team also encouraged and motiv4ted literate and semiliterate unemployed young boys and girls to learn some technical skill so as to become bredd earnerg in due course. But the task of enlisting the vi[hge youth for various train' ing programmes proved to. be mdst hazardous and the team haC to use all its persuasive powEr to motivate them' In each of'the villages ths young boys rri.anted an assurdnce that the team would get them some employment after the training was over. The reason for such an attitride was found to be prevalent among the youth as also their cldfrs because of the presence of unemployed ITl:trained boJys in .lrlast of the larger
villages.
.These villagers had, over the l.years, come to firmly believe , if it did not carry with it a tfiat mere trainin! was of no n, into a job, Finally, whe4 guarentee of immediate some boys to get enlisted the team did succeed in Pers motor winding, pumpset for cartain traini4g 'pro!f,a me$ came up with another repairs and house wiringr'the made arrangements with that the tearn ebjection when told pfogramfnes. They would the Alwar ITI for conducting programm conduptdd have nothing to do with anY by the local ITI: Inquiries from the ITl-trained boys and others in the villaproved to be ofno practical ges revealed that ithe training use in most cases. The boys had been lured by the stipend of Rs. 80 per month offered bY the , but the training was never boys had.ndt learnt anyseriously. As a result conducted which could bave been simplyf wasted their .ti thing, and lds or on any other family more fruitfully utilisd. in the

vocauon.

give ao assurance to. circumsta,sce s, wo had als'o to their parents. though we could not give thc boys as

Under

the

to

any guarantee we would try to protramme outside the local ITI. literate youth, tho project team

conduct the training the literate ond semiseught the participatioa of

to

ACTION ?HASB

rt3

lsuch persons in the

rural aras who had neither any technical skill nor any practical expei'ience of r.unning a particular industry, but were otherwise desirous of setting up a new industr,ial venture aftrr taking the required training. But in both the cases only a limited range of specific technical ski s was offered, which if learnt, cquld help the individual become a breadearner in due course. However, on account of the pathetically low levels of education throughout the region, the range of techuical courses which could be offered to the rural aspirants, had to ba restriated to a rather rudimentary level. The following is the list of various vocational training/skill upgradation courses offered under the project:

(i) Tractor mechanics (ii) Motor winding (iii) Pump-set repairs

(iv) Auto mechanic (v) House wiring (vi) Tailoring (vii) Lathe machine (viii) Carpet. weaving (ix) Blanket weaving (x) PotterY glazing (xi) Leather goods and shoe making Field wort in identification of rural youth for vari6us training programmes was carried out side-by-side with the identification of prospective entrepreneurs. Village-wise break-up of
such persons by the type of traioing requirod is given separately for each of the blocks in Table 5. It can be seen from Table 5 that of the total 199 young persons who expressed a willingness to learn some techilical trade, nearly 44 per cent were from the Ramgarh block alone, about

38 per cent from Kishangarh, while only 18 per cent from Mandawar. Such a wide variation in the response levels from the three blocks, as already explained, has been due mainly to the successive changes brought about in both the coYerage atrd content of the technical training package ofered to the youth in the latter two blocks. Evep in the case of Ramgarh, if tailoring, which elicited maximum re sponse (nearly 53 per c8tr1. of the total 87 hopefuls), is excluded, then the response for all

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

rfim@t Fr dt

Fi

F q

6rnSr^t.a I l{ur('|C.l llc{ri

Eg

rtlltll tttttrl

tllttl
lll*lll
root llllFl llol

R!.

^-.s

tttttl tllttl lllttl

I
I

$e
.s *

-tlllll
I li
rat Ol

's

\a @

ttrltl
$

.:
& {". .:
s?

t*llll

lrrttl
ltttll
'-.N
I

:r

r
x

rllllll -,llllll

I II

$
d t.,

tllltl
l\o-.N l$
I

d.r

E'i

I INH

oo

E? :: E$
t"E

=.?R6.-ttH
c

E.o

EE::T <EiUQMZ
.j .i.'i + vi \d

E
'+j

.-

,s! c

Di*

-9 -i!qj

:;'='= qi: ii ri?ia ai'd g.d9;;.59 V' ,r'11 F. AF1

H"e

iF

-4 E rE.?

:8,

F b

i .i o,i..i +,.i.d

ACrtoN

PHASE

ll5
to\ o\

o\vlaolr{.ic.to\s 6r.!iNo\-

lif

ct\

ttttrrttl
lrlllttll tllllttll tltllttlN ttlllttll trlttttrl tll-rttll ttlllttll
ltlllttll

lrl-rttr.rE
o

t{

Ss$=Fsu=g
l,F Ol .n $..r \9 l.F9\

r16
other training categories Put
candidates.

RURAL INDTJsTRIALISITION

works out to a mere 41

Similarly, an overwhelming cent of the total number of i from the remaining two blocks leather goods amd shoe has to a verY l4rge extent be of education in the entire n district. Since the minimum the case of these trades,

of more than 85 Per cations (112) was received r a specific technical tradeSuch a pattern of response to the miserably poor levels region of Alwar onal level prescribed in .and leather-goods and shoe with the ability to count making, was very low-bare than 7l oer cent of the total or mere primarY education training identified from the 199 possible reoiPients of techni h' project, opted for them. three blocks under the 'action however. since the miniin the case of most other But level required of the incumbents was at least mum educational for tbe remaining eight catematriculation, the total gories of technical trade out to a merc 28.6 per cent. lost sight of was the relative Another factor which could not about the employment ignorance of the prospective potential of these trades.
NOTES AND

t.

In Kishangarh and M where the level of moti

neur in the non-traditi and esserrtial prelimi application for el
quotation lists etc., had team enlist a prospective
tance.

blocks only in such cases of the prospective entrepresector was sufficiently high, such as acquisition of land, , connection, and obtaining of been done, did the project for financial assis-

2.

The terry?s 'subsidy' and the villagets as 'concessi ki tar4J sey chhoot), (Machinery aur auzaar)

capital' were simplified for from the Government' (Sarkar 'machinery and implements'
ively,

J.

In a

good number of villages 4 per cent interest was pd out by the villagers ab'four readily translated and Rupees per hundred per nronth' (C&ar rupaya saiakata mahvari)i The reason g that in all the private money-

ACTION

PHASE

II7

lending business in the villages, interest is computed on monthly basis only-the rate of interest varying from 18 per cent to 30 per cent (Dedh rupaya sainkara ot Adhai rupaya sainkara when translated in the local language). With the result while the people could not rule out 48 per cent chaar rupaya sainkara mahavari completely frorn the realm of possibility, their initial reaction was that of shock and bewilderment. So, in all the villages visited subseguently, the team used to compute the monthly rate of inteper cent rate of interest under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRD Scheme for instance, was translated as '33 paise per hundred per month' (33 paise sainkara mahavari). Throughout the course of our field work, the expressions"you people" or "you villagers" were never used. Instead,
expressions,. "we people" and "we in the villages" were employed by our field activists. The reason for such a belief being that in the recent past

rest. Four

. 4. 5.

the

6. ' 7.

(1978-80), the Small Farmer Development Agency (SFDA) had sanctioned and disbursed b great deal of loans for purchase of buffaloes under the Integrated Rural Development and Antyodaya Schemes of the State Government.

Information as to how many persons had actually passed

the standard claimed to have been attained by them could not be obtained in most oases. In their version anyone who had reached eighth standard, meant he had attained

it. Nearly 95 per cent of the chamars in Ramgarh block have lbft their traditional vocation--'shoe making' for good. Families still pursuing this vocation are socially
boycotted by those who have abandoned it and marriages between the two are also strictly prohibited.

Cnnrrnn 6

Financing Rural

ustries

nistrative procedure prior the modus operandi of tbe motivating and identithis chapter deals enance of the intervention and interaction between the rural industrialisation-the beneficiaries, the governmental A total of 513 possible ben,
were successfullv identified.

of
exp
1

per cent wanted financial assistanr

trial unit or fof the expansion

that is, about {0 per cent
technical

The steps taken the desired benbfits to the two each of the three blocks under

skill.

cracy, and the banks. from tbe three blocks m 314, that is, a little over 60 for setting up a new indusof an existing one, while 199, a desire to learn some the team to make available of possible beneficiaries in y, are given separately in the

following pages.
Industrial Develolment Of the total 314 bpplicants for
268 (85.34 per cebt) opted for Sector)

f
tl

asslstance, as maDy as traditional sector industries.

The village-wise, industry-wise h -up of entrepreneurs in each of the three blocks is given in T le l. After the Ramgarh experience was initially decided that in ks, only such villages which Kishangarh and Mandawar could volunteer groups of eight ten artisans would be enlisted. However, this condition had to be waived partially and fewer

l_-

FINAI.ICING RURAL INDUSTRIES

119'

\Ort\c)O\!.-<l(.)Hata{ fla
-

nl

3Ng3

rtttttttttl
.Et)

;l

rrtl
lttt trll ll*l

il
s)

t|tlrltlll tttRlllrlll
o\

e e
dl

{)

I
s

t-.ltilltlll s'' l I | | I | | |
|

v,

c
E

.3

.. |

g
ID

$ .:
E

F.

l-lttlltllt tllltl:lll$ llsll-tll"'il tlll-lll-ll t--t-,lt-tli

.s.
@

tlll ttll
II

cl

\o

I tt
F
d,

I too(n

o!

il^l -lll

E$

ds
"i*

$EE$*sseeEHs Sg$'E
<-:
c.idi

vi \d r.:.d

oig j

tri

-i dd -f

120

NURA', TNb{JSTRIALISATION.

*Nooo,-rl (\
-11
.,i

il

lllll INIII lllll

or

ttl ttl
cl

ol,

trl
-lr

al

I loog\H tl

lllll
N

ttl
I

c{

':
o
\o

tltll
lllll -llll lllll 'llll
F
cl

lll lll tll tll l'i

N

6l

a.t

\o

at

i.o

ES &i*
,rl.
CO.! z-7/ u)
rl)

dL

s9 t5=

$es

A o*:F: EggfElggE
vi

\b a-

od

oi

(} .i.ei-.i.

\dF oj ol g

=:l I

HNANCII$C.

RURAL,INDUSTRIES

1'I1

applicants had to be acceptod, in the case of all such villages in which the concerned branch of a commercial banking office already had borrowers of the sdme trade. As a result of t[is, out of the totalz3 villages from which a positive response in the two blocks was received,, ten villages offered less, than the minimurn prescribed number of artisans. Of the remaining 25 villages visited in these two blocks, a positive response was received in no less than fourteen (78 per cent) of them but no participants could be enlisted because the number of possiblo recipients could not meet the minimum prescribed, and the banking offices of the area had not given any financial assistance of this nature in these villages. An analysis of the data in Table I shows that the two trades moonj-ban and shoe making accounted for more than 55 per

total number of identifications in the traditional sector, while the share of all the remaining categories put together worked out to a bare 45 per cent. Such a trend, has obviously been due largely to the easy availability of both the
cent ofthe

concerned raw materials, as well as the requisite skills for these trades. One of the special features of the above data is that while the moonj-ban artisans are more or less evenly spread over the region comprising the three blocks, those of the leather trade were forind mainly in the Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks. It nray be interesting to note that although the population of leather trade artisans (chamars) in the Ramgarh Block was

nearly equal to that in the latter two blocks, the majority ofthe households in the former had abandoned this trade for good because of the stigma attached to it. The movement had become

so strong that any of their

members who did not leave their

ancestral. profession were socially boycotted by the others. Such a phenomenon was found in Kishangarh and Manda'

war too, but not as well pronounced. But even

these blocks one did come acr.oss several clusters of chamars who had.left shoe making and changed over to other economic activities. For instance, in most villages where these people. have discarded leather work, depending upon the financial status of the indivi' dual, tbey have diversifred into agricultural labour work, keeping donkeys f,or rural transport or plying camel-oarts or tempos. It was interesting to note how this community had shown a distinct preference for the different modes of rural transportation, and

in

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

rmprovlng economlc status individuals gradu4ted frorn keepirl donkeys to camel-cart and finally to plying ar tempo. Another chardcteristic feature that emerges is that, even
over-all response has been

from amongst the members for such a phenomenon, as and ignorance, made worse developmental intervention ent. Even the best of our and we could not completely remove the fear and suspici from the people's minds due to their conditioning over the The poorest and the illiterate- most of the artisan groups in these blocks rlvere found to I ost universally voiced their doubts and suspicions as felt that if so nruch was being offered to thlem for nothingo there had to be a 'catch' somewhere. We wbre also told in ite a few villages that some of the artisans suspected they were 'lured' into accepting financial assistance so that the gov could grab whatever little land they possessed. As a result the task of motivating and porsuading the poorer es to accept any type of assistance proved fo be quite
Socio.economic Prgfile of Artisan

ing to identify and enlist possible recipients bf the interventi n, it is important to have a broad idea of their soci c characteristics. We are. therefore, giving in Table 2 the socio-economic profi les
universe of the artisans identified in the
blocks.
cs

With a View to $ive a clear from which we \ryere

of

the constituents of our

A revierv of thq socio-economic

entrepreneurs identified under the blocks of Alwar district clearly

of 268 artisan

ject from three different ghts the homogeneity of the north-northeagtern region w the present study was implemented. It can be seen from able 2 that except for minor
variations in certain aspects, the An analysis of the progf,amme suggests that the ma
were identical.

of the

recipients

of

the

of applicants (46 per cout)

FINANCING RIJT,AL INDUSTR1ES

Tsble

t23

2.
of

Socio-econooh profile of artisan eDarepleneurs

(North.northeastern region)
Name of block Ramsarh xiChS4CSth Agntuyq!

Sl.

Particulars

TotallAwrage

No, artisan

entrepreneurs

N;m--%
ber

Num-

ber

Yo Num- %
ber

t"Lt&t4Cltn
Number

/"

7,
A. Ase l. 25-35 yrs 2. 3650 yrs 3. 51{0 Yrs
57
JJ

IO

12

55.9 29 37.7 32.t 31 4A3 lt.8 t7 22.O

55.9 25.5 9.8 8.8

37
31

2l

4t.6 123 46.0 34.8 95 35.4 23.6 50 18.6

4r.6
40.4
14.6

B. Education 57 1. Illiterate 26 2. Primary l0 3. Middle 4. Matriculate 09 5. Graduate C.

Size of FamilY

47 26 I 2
I

6r.0
33.8 1.3

2.6
1.3

37 36 13 3

3.4

l4t 52.6 88 32.8 24 9.0 t4 5.2 | _ 0.4 t<J'r<t

4,20
4,20

(lverage per family)

l. Working 2.39 2. Non-working 3.85 D. La.nded Property l. Prcc4 house 2. Mud housc 3. Rented hut
14 68

3.18 3.93 66i7 43 t9i6 8 27.r l0 2,L 7 7

45.8 20.8 4,2

1.79

4.82

1.3.7 26

33.8 55.8

20

10,4

Q 41 8 9

44.9
46.1

9.0

rsz 36
32

80

29.9
56.7

13.4

E. Land (Irieated) l. 0Q, bighas 13 I 2. 3-5 bEhas 1. f.l0 Ughas F, l. 2. 3.

Land (Non-iniSated)

21.3 14.9 14.9

18.8

6,2

8 l0

22,4 5.6 7.0

G2

3-5 btehas GlO bighas

biehas

?2
10

t9 q,4 4 8.5

23 6

47,9 64 44J 14.6 2t t4.7 r2-5 8 5.5 11.8 4.4 1.5 . 58.8
31 81

C. Livestock 1. 0-2 goats ' 19 38.0 4 2 4.0 2. 3-5 goats 3. 6 or moi goals I 2.0 1 4. I cow/buffalo 25 50,0 16 5. 2 or more heads ' of cattle 20 3 6.0

'j
2.4 39.0 48.8

8
J

I
40

5 3

19.5 3.1

1.9 51.0

16 23.5 39 ?A.S

hURAL
'NDUSTRIAI"I$A{ION. Table 2.r ( )

H,

MOvable

l.
.,

Ilieycle
Trs.nsistot radio Wrisl watch Any other*N
1t.l

tl
l7
I
12

u
I

44 30

tx
53

59
15

4,

l3

Percentage cannod be worked out as than one of thse assets.

of applicants hold more included one hand-

four handlooms, three sewing

and one diesel engine in

fell in

tle

25-35 year age group,

grixtp (35.4 per ccnt) and the 5l year age group (18.6 per cent). Except in tho case of from where a large majority of fhe appliiantn (nearly 56 per ) belonged to the 25-35' yeat age group, the behaviour of three blocks in other age
communities is still at More than 52 cent of the artisans wer found to be illiterate. Of the g 48 per cent, nearly, 33 per cent were merely literate having the ability to count and write their names. Out of a total of 268 prospective entrepreneurs identified under the only 14 applicants, or a mere 5 per cent had completed high It is nevertheless heartening tr find that even among the poorest of communities compris scheduled/low caste secItions qf the society, the rate of is nearly, 48 per cent. ;Considering that these people g to the lowest strata of rrural society, 48 per cent literacy sound rather high. This can. perhaps be explained. with help of the following two
groups is quite similar. The. spread of eduoation among

by the 36-50 year age

a very low level.

a) Out of 127 literates in the rnearly 70 per cent had had no mo

as many as 88, that is, than two to three years of,

ihat only the frbm amongst the artisan 'sons

partiiipdte in the prpgramme. Yet another explanatiqu

schooling; and b) It is possible

y more educated percame forward to

that, since the spread of

hN*ttcttlc

RURAL

INDusTRIEs

125

education among the younger age'groqp (25-35 years) is relatively higher than in the other two groups and also because this group is better represented (46 per cent of the total) in this jn a rathr sample in comparison with the others, it had resulted included in the inflated literacy rate for the artisan entrepreneurs
sample. An riverage family in this sample of 268 artisan households had five to eight members of which 2'52 were working while 4'20 were dependent or non-working. A, review of the data for individual blocks suggests that the ratio of non-workers or dependent

members to the working members rvas highest in Mandawar and the lowest in Kishangarh; This can perhaps be explained by the fact that there were fewer Punjabi settlers in the formr than the other two :blocks. Although, a higher number of workers per family was true of almost all lcjw-caste artisan groups' this trcfd was found to be particularly pronounced in the case of most villages with larger Punjabi populations' For instance, the worker non-worker ratio for fbur predominantly Punjabi villages in our sample-Alavada and Milakpur in Ramgarh block and Bolni and Chamrauda in Kishangarh block works out to 3'99: 3.13 compared with 2.581 4.07 for all the remaining 16 villages from these two blocks inoluded in the sample' We are in no position to make any generalisations on the basis of the aboie data alone, as it is equally true that the latter category of artisans engage their lsnryear-olds in the family vocaiion too' But the data do suggesi the possibility of a more widespread
existence of such a trend'

Economically, the aftisan communities were found to be among the poorest. Out of a total 268 applicants, 125 (nearly Ram4.7 per cent) were landless. As regards individual blocks; artisan househo{ds (nearly 53 per cen) garh with 54 landless

topped the list, I followed by Mandawar (46 per cent) and Kishtirlgarh (39 per cent). Of the rernaining 53.4 per cent householtts Who held some [and, more than 87 per cent were small and marginal farmets. As many as 67 per cent'of the total 143 landowner families had lbss than two bighas of land. Moreover, more than 65 per cent of the total landholdings belonging to the iitisan households identified under the project were unirr!
gated,

Amorrg individual blocks, the Kishangarh and Mandawar

RURAL INDUSIRIALISATION

block.

Similarly, 75 per cent of of the same size fqll in the Manc

placed than their Ramcent of all irrigated land, fell in the Kishangarh non-irrigated landholdings

block.r

As regards other possessions of artisans, 56.7 per cent had a mud house, 29.9 per cent had a brick house, while the remaining 13.4 pel cent did not have that and were living in rented huts. The Ramgarh had the highest percentage of mud houses (56.7 per cert) rented buts (19.6 per cent) followed by Kishapgarh (55.8 per and 10.4 per cent) and Mandawar (46.1 ppr cent and 90 cent). In respect of owning pacca houses too, Mandawar was uch ahead with nearly 45 per cnt, as against 33.,8 per cent for garh and a mere 13.7 per cent for Rarngprh. Dairy farming is one of the iml rtant subsidiary occupations for the agriculturists and artisans i this region, Of the total 268 recipients idenfified under the as many as 159 entrepreneurs, that is, more. than 50 cent had livestock of one description or the dther. In thir rr too, Rangarh comp&res poorly with both l{ish4ngarh and war. As against 76.40 per cent and,53.24 per cent li -owning artisan families in Mandawar and Kishangarh resper y, in Ramgarh only 49.01 per cent had any livestock. And the three blocks were compared by the type of livestock then the gap becomes
r

even

wider. For instance, of

the

total 102 beneficiaries from had only one or two goats other two blocks were per cent for Kishangarh. also stand out in respect
Table 2. As regards owning ahead with 58.8 per cent

artisans compared wjth 39 per cent cent for Ramgarh. r Similarly, in

Kishangarh and 50 per of owning two or more

families was way ahead of 's puny 6 per cent. -scale dairying was catcha result of which even the belonged to the lowest

adopting it as a

FINANCING RURAL

INDUSTRIBS

I27

subsidiary occupation to supplement their extremely low incomes

from their trades.

Among movable items of property, besides the tools and of the artisans, bicycle, transistor radio and wrist watch were the most commonly found. From among this group of 268 households, at least 128 bicycles, 53 transistor radios and 59 wrist watches were reported. More than 90 per cett of the artisans possessing a wrist watch had a bicycle and a radio but more often it was the former, Thus an average artisan's priority for movable property seemed to be a bicycle, a transistor and wrist watch in that . ordor. A bicycle, for those who could afford it, was considered more of a necessity than a luxury item. Other movable assets reported by this group included five handlooms, frve diesel engines, tbree sewing machines and two tongas. It may be interesting to oote that more thalr half the radioreceiver sEts and wrist watghes, and nearly 20 per cent ofthe bicycles owned by these groups were reported not to have been bought by the present owners of these items. Sometimes voluntarily and at other times on specific enquiries from the incumbents, it was found that most often these items had been received as dowry. Especially among the chamars (shoe-makers), even if one could afford to buy these items, if there was a member of marriageable age in the family they would wait for the dowry. Even bicycles were reported to be quite a common. item to be expected as dowry, but unlike the transistor radio or wrist watch, one did not always wait for the marriage, but
other equipment bought

it if the

need arose and the necessary funds existed.

Industrial Development (Non-traditional Sector)

In this study the non-traditional sector was given as much, ifnot more, attention as the traditional sector. But, due to factors already explained in the preceding chapter, the team received rather a lukewarm response for the former as compared to the lattef, As against 268 prospective recipients in the traditional or arti. san sector, in the modern or non:traditional, there were only 46 applicants. Of these 46 applicants too, as many as 33 (nearly 72 per cent) of the recipients were from Ramgarh alone. The share

r28

RI.'RAL INDUSTRIALTSATTON

the other two blocks worked of which eight of the entreprene the remaining five from Manc these entreprenerirs by type of i separately for eadh of the three Table 3 clearlY indicates that
of pfeneurs wanted bssistance fof a ed by applicantb for bicycle Most of the iildustries opted '

out to a trivial

13 recipicnts,

were from Kishangarh and . Village-wise break-up of opted for is being given in Table 3. maximum number of entrew-mill or a flour-mill, follow-

r units and weldins-sets. by the recipients, though

Gor-traditional. fbll in the service industry sector. The highest number of applicants-six, was the village Alavada is with five applicants, Ramgarh block fbllowed by Mu number from Raibka in also in the same block and an the Kishangarh block. Acceptance of newer and setting up of indtrswas based, apart from tries requiring non-traditional increased profrtability, on relative advantages of non-traditional and labour. Reasons for industries in respoct of yield, ti personal and environmenrejeotion on the dther hand inclu tal characteristics. Such factors expiained a great deal as to why two persons in an identical p vslco-economrc envlronment differed in their tbchnology on behaviour. Table4eivesadetailed on of the imDortant socioeconomic charactleristics of the -traditional sector entreDrenurs, so that thdy could later be compared with those of their
counterparts in the traditional

and allow generalisations

to be made on tllat basis.

The data

oo

the

ic

number of illiterates (thrce in a fairly low. Of fqfty literates, drgp-outs with t$o to four years cent each had pfssed the

neurs in the non-traditional sect ed rural middle dlass.'] More cants were young and fall in the ity of the applicahts 193 per cent)

suggests a

leatures of the entreprefairly well-endowthree-fourths of the 'appli35 years age group. Majorattended school, and the

of
40 per

43 recipients) was

cent were school-

examinations; and there was also Ramgarh block. countetparts

schooling; more than 25 per standard and rnatriculatiorr graduate candidate from the

Economically too, they were in lhe tfaditional

off

compared

to their

More than

65 per cent

i
I

i__..__

FTXA}IQ{NC &URAL INDUSTRIBS

\O N E r-r N a'l Fr |') .4 r+ *

t29
a.l

loro,tr

N
a(

tlrsold

lltllltlrtrr
lltlttlttlll

iT

-ryok otnY
co

doqs

I'
I

tttttlttlttt
lllllllllllr

F-

\p
G'

ltlttltllNlt
ftol

ttltrlrtl-ll
c.t

-tol doos
saqttlltrs

IArUtzala
Jaqs

tllttrttl-tt ttltrltt-ttl ttlttlrtlt*l rrlttrt-'rltl

9\

9
ql
c)

-ru) auQts wH awlI

(punp

aI
tpo

l
J.

E!

ilrw uo lw

lll*-tl-llll *trtttlltltl *tltttlltll rllt-tllllll -'-.llltl-rl*l

'*|_ll|**N|*t
c.
a.-

{olt

FI

-* | I tr l* I l-^ -tllt-llllll
aSq

l\colq

-F65ii

SH

Hs=s !.8EEE
g

$$'$5Egggssg;E
?;Cuv,.i\eF.*"iE=d

130
-{ N

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

V'.

o\

l"rl lll tll

nll

al
I

E>1 a'2
FS Oqn

a)

\
\o

:
I

dt 9\ .)

3
N \o

tll lltll lll lll lll lll lll ttl lll lll
irl rlrl tll
tl

<E
I

trd
!A :<
^!r
a

l
I

l
I

la.

t?
oa qE
3() F
.o

.P
I

e
I
I

I o .ii It o. lda

lo{
t=

l=
l}l:

a6

lEo

t13-:

ss*_ *EEi
XEZ& 6.i..i;
F

:
E O

IFts lH .9

lg s lF,I

FINANCING RURAL INDUSTRTES

r31

Table 4. Socio-economic proffle of the non_traditional sector entrepreneurs (North-northeastern Region)

Sl,

No. non-traditional

Name of bbck _ @ sectorentrepre-@

ber

Particuhrs of the

ber

ber

ffi

foto| or"roge i;;-tne r"gion

l. 2. 3. L 2. 3.
B)

A)

Aee 25-35 years 36-50 years 51-60 years Education

23 76.7 7

3 10.0 1 4 13.3

87.5 12.5

3 2

60.00
40.00

JJ

IO.

14.0

9.3

lliterate
Primary Middle Matriculate
Graduate
Size of family

13 43.4 4

'4,

5.

1 3.3 2 2s.O 50.0 7 23.3 1 12.5 8 26.7 1 12.5 I 3.3

3 17 3 60.00 11 2 40.00 t1 |

7.O

39.5 25.6 25.6

2.3

C)

l. Working 2. Non-working D)
Landed

(Average per family)

1.93

6.05

J.OO L55

2,00

4.20

2.53 2.53 5.19 5.19

propertl

l. Puccahoase Zl 70.00 2. Mud house 9 30.00 3. Rented hut

(ii)

(i) Dwelling unit

3 37.5 3 37.5 2 25.0

I":
I I
'2

80.0

28 13 2
7 6 8
6

65.1

3o.2

4.7

l. 0-2 bighas 5 2. GlO btghas 5 3, ll bighas or morc 4

(iii) Land (non-b risak

Land (iryieated)

17.8 17.8 14.3

lr*
tri
1l
3

20.0 20.0

17.9 15.4

20.5

1. 0-2 bighas 2. 3-5 bighas 3. 6-lO bighas El l. 2.

Movable property

4
)

A
t4,3
'7

''

40.0
20.0

l<,r

8
17

28.6

lo

t<.,

5.1

Bicycle

Transistor radio

1l

)-

tt2
Table ,t'
1S

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION
ontd.) 7

4.

Wrist watch Any other

11 Diesel

Diesel I Diesel

5-25

17

engine
1

engine

engine

Flour

F) Livestock
1.

G2 goats
3-5 goats
6-10 goats
1

i_
47.8 52.2

l
18

,"
<1 L
45.1

J.
A

cow/bufralo ll
12

2 2 28.6 2

50.0 50.0

).

2 or more hejads of cattle

t6

ofthecandidatbs had a more than 90 fer cent were ll ing entrePreneqrs, 21, that is' land while 18 applicants had ficant to note that as many 3 had landholdiri gs of 1l bighas 44 per cent also enjoYed irrigal Dairying wa,s also one of tions of this grouP of reciPit more than 8l Per cent) out of description or {he other. Of cow or buffalo, while all the had two or moie heads of ca owned bY this grouP of en l? transistor t'adios, 25 wrist pump-sets, twd tlactors and Comparinglthe broad

(brick and cement) house, and wners. Of the 39 landownly 54 per cent had irrigated

n-irrigated land. It is signi18 entrepreneurs (46 Per cent) above, of which more than
facilities.

important subsidiarY occupaand as many as 35 (that is, total 43 had livestock of one 18 (51.4 per cent) had one ining households excePt one
Among other economic assets

there were 33 bicycles, 14 diesel engines with flour-mill. omic characteristics of this entrepreneuts, one finds that in more than one respect. cent of the entrepreneurs in traditional sectot, there were -traditional sector. SimilarlY, more than 76 der cent in the t much higher in the former the number of illiterates was (7 per cent). Though thp family wal the same iu the two

filriANcrN6 RURAL

rrtlDustans

133

groups, that of the dependent members was higher among the non-traditional sector entfepreneurs. A relatively better economic well-being of the applicants for tiny and small-scale units was also equally well reflected in their owning both, immovable as well as movable items of property. It was possible that the actual number or quantity of such items might be much higher than what was reported. For instance,

in the case

of

artisans, quite a few

of the

respondents were

ofl entrepreneurs for tiny and small-soale industries many of them considered wrist watches and bicycles to be too insignificant to be reported as their economic assets, and merelv laughed at such a suggestion.
case

reluctant to divulge their actual economic assets because of the fear that, if reported, they might later be asked to mortgage them to the lending agency while sanctioning the loans. In th6

Financing the Entrepreneurs (Traditionat Seetor)

iv) Disbursement of assistance. The strategy adopted by the study team in respect of the8e steps was greatly modified for the latter two blocks, namely, Kishangarh and Mandawar as it was felt that certain prejudices in findings might have crept in during the implementation stage in Ramgarh. Accordingly, we shall first relate our Ramgarh expefince and then only go On to the other two blocks as per the changed strategy.
FtNANcrNc oF RAMGARH AntseNs

The procedure for financing entrepfeneurs in the traditiondl sector is fairly simple and it oomprises the following stqrs prior to the actual disbursement ofassistance: i) Filing of an application for a loan with the appropriate lending agency of the area; ii) On-the-spot investigations and verification of the econo_ mic viability ofthe project and of the credentials of the candi_ date artisan by a representative each of the concerned bank and the district Industries Departrnenq iii) Preparation of a no-dues-certificate; and

All the field work prep4ratory to

enlisted entrepreneurs

in Ramgarh having

actually financing tte been completed by

r34 the last week of January 1981' a general meeting of all the Pr<

RURAL INDUSfRIALISATION

project team decided to call lvo entreDreneurs lof ascerseparately. The meeting was of each taining the viabilitY Director. the Chief General attended bY the DePutY Managi sem officials of the State Bank of Manager, Delhi and other Manager from Jaipur, offiIndia including the Chief Regio ment Branch (ADB) of the SBI cials of the Agricultural ' the District Industries Centre. at Ramgarh, th$ Joint Director ies of various developmental Alwar, the ext0nsion f block and the CPR's study agencies oPerating in the The represestatives of the tate Bank of India and those of the District Industries Centre interviewed each of the appliify the viability of each procants individually, to further d capacity of each applicant to the caPability ject and to assess completion. The questions see the Project tthrough its suc interviews revolved mainly most frequentlY asked during ific skills of the incumbent. around the level of industrY ment of the incumbent's The idea being to make an rally, and of his understanding awareness abou[ the Project and knowledge about various aspects of management and marketing related Problems purpose. On the one hand, This meeting served a two-fi
team.3

it resulted in the rejection of furnish satisfactory replies a

the other, it grPatlY enhanced only in the eYes of those alread among those who had been of assistance or the other, but sitting on the fonce on account I some lingering doubts in their
minds.

rin applicants who could not their respective projects, on credibility of the project not enlisted with us for one form

i)

Filing Loan lPPlications Most of the doubtful already been eliminated both non-traditional sectors during

of

possible financing having

as the

the traditional as well

Ramgarh meeting, relatively done in respect of filing the little was rlow required to very Bank of India, Agriculture application forms with the loan All the hooefuls were Branch (ADB)' f)eveloPment the SBI within the next three to aPProach the branch asked ts of financial assistance. days, and file their resPective req

t]

FINANCING RTIRAL INDTJSTRIES

135

All work in this stage was completed within the prescribed limit. Basically, it comprised filling up the loan application forms separately for each candidate with the following
time information:

a) Name and address of the incumbent; b) Type of industry proposed to be set up; c) Amount of financial assistance required; d) Asking if the applicant could obtain a no-dues certifi-

cate; and

e) Fixing an appointment with the villager 'spot verification by the concerned agencies.

for

an on-the-

ofthe applicants in the traditional sector in their respective villages for an on-the-spot verification by the Bank and the

From February I, 1981, our field activists accompanied by an official of the State Bank of India (ADB) Ramgarh, and the Industries Extension Ofrcer, started visiting individually each

ii)

On-the-Spot Verification

District Industries Department. During these visits each of the prospective entrepreneurs was questioned by the accompanying officers from the point of ascertaining separately the viability of each project and the credentials of the applicant to execute it. In this operation, at least eight of the remaining 9l applications (eleven applications having already been eliminated as a result of the preliminary interviews during the Ramgarh meeting) were rejected as the concerned artisan entrepreneurs failed to furnish satisfactory replies to the queries made by the bank ofrcial and the Industries Extension Officer. Thus, out of the 102 applicants originally identified, 83 applications were finally selected for financial assistance. How' ever, during the on-the-spot verifications another 33 artisans and craftsmen came forward to enlist their names for financial assistance, who had been hesitant and even skeptical initially, both about the bona fides of the project team and the seriousness of the 'action' Programme. In this manner, a list of 116 artisan entrepreneurs selected from 11 villages of Ramgarh block was prepared, who had been encouraged and motivated by the project tea4 to start a aew industrial venture or expand an existing one'

136

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATIO({

iii)

Preparation of No-dues The next step, usually the

of view 6f an aveiage villager, is

tricky of all, from the point to obtain a no-dues ertifi-

and various banking and cate from the Revenue funding agencies operating if, thE area. It is at this stage thal by indifferent and frequenthe villagers are irfvariably in considerable wastc of tly unsoupulous bfrcials, entrepreneurs. time and money for the than 95 per cent4 ofthe 16 The initial experience of to approach the approartisan entreptenehrs who were ues certificate could not be priate agencies for obtaining the any different even in this instance. An oftcial of a oarticular get the certiffcatisn dofe government depaitment refused usval likhai.padhai-ks would be paid to him,6 utrless the artisanh in the instance had been strict$ Since the advised not to pay any bribos they turned with their respectirre when first approached by tales of woe. Thd official in quest to acknowledge that he one of the team rrtembers, flatly
had been approached by the for no-dues certifioates. Instead,
entrepreneurs with a request

'Within minutes off this, howover, a 'third person to th4 concerned teatl members that the ofrcial in question had giveil his assurance th he would cooperate wholeexpected that he should heartedly but at tbe same time he : given whatever was "his due". be our field activists. in In order to overcome this (ADB), Ramgarh, thc India consultation with the State Bank ofrcials of various other District Industrieb Centre aud developr-nent agemcies operating in the area, decided to prepare a comprehensive list of all the 16 artisans in the traditional of sending each of thern sector for no-dues certification, ins individualll'. Suchl a stratogy paid, considerably as the entirc job was finished in less than a k and rro-dues certificates were obtained for all of the 116 I licants,

the artisans as Possible, in

offered to help as many of the desired certific&t. was conveyed by a

iv) Disbursement bf I'oan

The no-dues cdrtificate for each of the I l6 prospective artisan once obtaiaed, the remai{. entrepreneurs in tle traditional seo ing procedure Prior

to

Procuring

sanctioned loan amount

FIXANCINO t'URAL INDUSTRIES

131

with the State for each was relatively simple' In consultation was ;;; "i India (ADB), Ramgarh, a time-tablecould -prepared ar handle com' which the bank to the numbet of applicants a result, it was decided to send to the i.rtaUty each day' As two lant IS-ZO applicants per day from a single village or from amount'or more villages for obtaining the loan "''a;;;i;;as done, the field activists started anotber round -uiff"g"s and began seflding the entrepreneurs in batches of iiu all ri-io p"ii"v to the sBI (ADB) Ramgarh'. In this wav' traditional sector were ifr.-iou"t'fot thl applicants (116) in the disbursed bY FebruarY 20' l98l' (including 33 Financial assistance to all the 116 artisans dlsbur*r"r'oi on"tn.-spot financing) having been satisfactorily procoss rJ wtff in time, the team decided to reView the entire possiblE it *i"ri"g with the first contact meeting motivating theand take ;;;i;il; leading finallv to disbursement of loans) causes and effects related to programme idtplehen-iJ

ii

tation. '---Wltn

"i,il.

this objective in view the entire study team held a

,.rir.-of

"i.r-gouatn*.ni oiit.i. ait"or.ions

the district ofrcials including the Collector' officer ii" J"it, Director (Industries), the Block Developrnent representatives of also the ;;;';. extension' functionaries, asRamealh, SBI Arvanagar' bank from SBI (ADB) llr" "oo"rrn.d Chief Regional Manager's Offioe if*"t *a also from the SBItwo crucial variables of inte(ventioa ;;:;ilt, all highlighted which could possibly have prejudiinstallation and management

meetinis with the officials of all the concerned agenas well as non-government'. During the course

ced the project indings' These wete: entlepleneurs a) During the course of assisting the artisan. the assisin cornpleting the necessary formalities for obtaining

the it"*,- ift" tJam might unconsciously have overstepped and ends observant presence

iiooa, *tt.t"

u"tl*

""0 in a sort of deliberate spoon'feoding to the recipients'

never the intention of the project; and

mere catalytic and biased participation begins'

This may have resulted

which was

which was b) The Ramgarh mBeting of January 1981' to-t of the senior-most officials conducted in the presenc of ;;; fut Bank oi lrrdia, and of the district administretioa' .ieit h;". t*ulted in biasing the opinions of both the eniplo'

i38
yees of the SBI (r{DB) Ramgarh and the artisans who were to the one hand jn 4n uncalled-for

,RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

ho had to disburse the loans

Thus, resulting on the part of the bankers to implepent the pro me, and on the other, generating among tte recipients an ostentatious fervour to parti_ cipate in the programme.

them.

on

Since

this was neither in

replicated, most df the participantr in these discussions expressed their doubts abouf the wider appli ion of the project findings. In view of these observations. t, crucial decisions were taken in respect of the implementation for the rernaining two blocks, namely, Kiishangarh and war: a) That henceforth the field of the project would act strictly as a participant with incumbent liaison function between the various involved in the process of rural industrialisation I and b) That in the remaining two ocks, the study team would maintain a low profile throughout, ing the various actorsthe beneficiaries, the burea the banks and financial

nor could ordinarily be

institutions-interact in their

style.
WAR ARTISANS

Field work in identification o prospective entrepreneurs was completed and lists of appli s for financial assistance were prepared .by Jlanuary 31, 19g2, in the case of Kishangarh, and August 31, 1982, in the of Mandawar. In all. 179 possible recipients--85 (72 in the itional sector and eight in the non-traditional sector) from garh and 94 (89 in the traditional sector and five in the traditional sector) from Manddwar-were delected for ial assistance during the second leg of project implenentati The strategy adopted by the project team in terms of guidelines discussed in the previous section comprised the follo g steps: a) Apprised thd District In Centre (DIC), Alwar. which is the overbll authoritv f the implementation of all industrial schemes within the disr of the objectives and strategy of the secotrd stage implem, tation of the project, and submitted the lists 4f prospective en preneurs identified from the two blocks fot financial assi by different commercial
banks.

FrlreNcrNc on KrstrreNcanq .aNo

FINANCING RIJRAL

TNDUSTRIES

I39

to establishing the credibility of the project responsible for in the eyes of those who would be immediately project. team was .uortio"i"g and disbursing the loans' the i"t1"au."i to the villagers by the agency of the immediate .ro.tiott of the concerned bank' In the case of the lead bank' iiii-ir, ,rt" Punjab National Bank (PNB) it wasinaccomplisheda Alwar; by *l,tt ,tt. help of the lead bank officer located Office' Jaipur' Chief Regional Manager r"*"Ui" officei from the Jaipur (SBBJ); in ifl" ,ur. of the State Bank of Bikaner and (Bank Finance) located in the tt the Deputy Director ""J InJuttriet Clntre (DIC) Alwar' in the case of all other ;;r;

b) With

a view

banks. "*.'J'On

step (b)' apprised the banks of the project concerned branch managers of various ;j;;,t"". generally, and the number of artisans identified for faliing within nouo"iut Jssistance from amongst the villages, branch' particularly' m" lt.u of operation of the concerned showing the type of AccorAingty, separate lists of entrepreneurs tn" loan requirement of each were submitted to the inOtrtry
successful implementation

of

""a concerned branches.

d) Filing of loan aPPlications' e) On-the-sPot verifications' f) Preparation of no-dues certificates' g) Disbursement of loans' Rbmgarh phase' Foifo*ioe the guidelines finalised after the comprised largely of ,t"'J. oi"rf,. lroject't field cootingent required liaison betn:.i , i*,uttlng and thett maintaining the

weenthevariousactolswithoutinterferingtoomuchinthe of entreprene' ufuit. ol .irft"t. Accordingly, ten separate lists Officer' utr *"t. submitted to the DIC, the Industries Extension Khadi & Village Industries Supervisor' Mandaiirhanguth, the the concerned banking offices between February 1 and *ut, "oi 10, 1982 in the case of Kishangarh and between f"t.uuty
September

and September 15, 1982 in the case of Mandawar' nuring tle same periods copies of the lists of all such loan from the two blocks, falling within the jurisdiction of were also submit"ppfi*tt, uuriout ttan"hes of the Punjab National Bank the lead bank oficer for necessary actiol' t.J n tnt office of ih. follo*ing are the lists of different banks approached by the the number of prospective team showing against each of them

l'40

RUft,AL Ii\ibUSTiUALISAfiOfi

entrepreneurs,

both, traditiorlal

finansed by each:

non-tradjtional,

to

be

A.
St.

Kishangarh Blobk

No. Name of btuk and viilage

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Kisftangarh, I . Baskirpalnalgar 2. Chamrauda 3. Kishangarh (ganj)

No. of applicants
indicated

I.

t9
(1)
,)

4. Nangal Mar[jia 5. Noornagar

10-(2)

iII.

l. il.
:

Purjab Natibnal Baak, Alwar Raibka

14-(5)

I.
2.

Punjab National Bank, Bdhadurpur Bahadurpur Sheikhpur

ll
Total

l0

2l

ff.

Punjab Natidnal Batrk, Khanpur Meban l. Khanpur Me*an 2. Bolni

4 12

Total
Total

16

85

FIIIAN6I}{G NUNAL INPUSTRIBS

*41

B,

Mandawar Block

Sl. No. Name of bank and village

No. of applicants
indicated

L l.

State Bank ofBikaner

& Iaipur,

Mandawar. Mandawar

(l)

2. MoondPur 3. Seelgaon 4. Shirod Khurd

5. Todarpur

ll

l0_{l)

Total:
l.
Punjab National Bank' Jat Behror

24

Birod

(l)
7

2. Gaduwas 3. Jalawas 4. Maulawas 5. Palava

Total:

6 I
5

III.

Punjab National Bank, Harsoli

1. Tinki-roodi

ll
25-(rj
4

w.

.|

l.

Unitqd Commercial Bank, Khairthal Nangal Bawla

Pahel

Total:

v.

New Bank

l.

of India, TatarPur Tatarpur Alwar-BharatPur Gramin Aanchlik Bank, Jindoli Jindoli

3-(l)

142

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

Note:

Figures in parentheses tional industries.

applicants for non-tradi-

Havirig given these lists to all concerned agencies--the District Industries Centre which is apex governmental body ' for implementing all schemes of industrialisation within the District, the extenslon functionaries of the department at the . block level, the development of the lead bank. and the concerned bran0hes of various al banks, the study team, in terms of the guidelines discussed earlier, started a careful monitoring of all developm ts in respect of steps (d) to (g). The following are some of more important observa_ I tions made in each 6f the two bloc

A.

Kishangarh

As stated, in Kishangarh
commercial banks itrdicated 85

these 51 applicants fell within branches of the Punrjab National ' ing 34 within that of the State
(SBBJ), Kishangarh.

different branches ,of two of possible financing. Of purview of three different (PNB) while the remainof Bikaner and Jaipur lists the lead bank office

Immediately on receipt of the :deputed one of thbir Technical old freshly appointed Tamilian scarcely express hitnself in Hindi Mewat dialect-to prepare the I applicants and file them with the 'located at Alwar, Bdhadurpur and K rTechnical Officer had to do the iob he took nearly 50 days to Lr^,.,^.,^However, :- +L^ l^-. week of March in the last report to his office:
Total no. of applicants No. of applicants not a c. No. of cases found ineligible for loan D. No. of cases indicated to the three branchps of pNB
B.

e Engineer who could

and least of all in the local three branches of the pNB

twenty-three year

applications for the 5I

pur Mewan. Since this ides his normal duties, each of the applications. e submitted the followine

A.

5l at site

2l

FINANCING RURAL TNDUSTRIES

r+3

Village-wise break-up 'of the 23 cases recommended for financial assistance by the type of industry is as follows:

,S.
No.

Village

National Bank at
5

Total

t.

Raibka Bolni

(shoe making)

7
(moonj-ban)

l0
(snoe maKlng,
I

3.

Sheikhpur

10

4. BahadurPur

(weaver)
11

Total

23

As regards such applicants which were reported not available at the site, only three persons from village Khanpur confirmed that thp! had heard of a certain bank ofrcial trying to locate them, while hll the iemaining 18 persons assured the team that noone ever approached'them or even tried to reach them' As regards the remaining 2l artisans whose cases had been 'recommended' to various banks by the aforesaid technical ofrcer, no foliow-up action was taken by the concerned banks for on-thespot verifications between March 1982 and April 1983 in spite of more than ten visits by the study team. Most frequently ailvanced reasons responsible for such inaction included among
oihers: a) the branch concerired had already over-shot the targetted number of small loans; b) insufficient staff in the branch as the official responsible for on-the-spot verifications was on leave; c) not interested in small advances to a particular village as

it was too far off.6 In spite of repeated contacts maintained both with the concerned branches as also their immediate superior in the form of the lead bank officdr located in Alwar, not a single case of financial assistance was reported either out ofthe total 51 indicated by the project team or out of the 21 cases recommended by the techiical officer oftheir own bank until April 1983.

144
Besides the thiree brapcheo 6f other banking office eontacted by

&URAI TNPqET*IALT$ATIOIJ

PNB as discussgd, tbo qnly

team for financing artisang State Benk of Bikaner and ong with others, 3.4 c&ses of ta this braach in February

in the Kishangarh block was

ln
the

Jaipur locatod 4t Kishangarh.

of an ahnost

once-a-week

no action was taken

till

SBBJ branch bv 1982, did not of sufrcient staff in the iable excuse of the bragch routine visit by one of the headquarters in Jaipur, wlo also happened to be aware of the current project and its objecdisbursement of loans to out of the total 34 from five vtllages indicpted to tne b villages lndrcoted the advances in Au.gust, 1982 After the disbursement of wheg the concernpd branch was subsequently approached by the fleld activist, the Branch furnished the following

Augqst, 1982. In this partic{lar case even the senior mernbers of the study

visit to the

in March

reportl
A.
B.

Total nu$rber of applican

34

l.
+.
5.

Number gf artisan entreqr Number of loans disbursr Previous ilefaulters of the Number of artisans not Numbqr Of artisans not a at the sitd

3l l0
ed
1e

2 4

Nqnber qf artisans who cial assistbnce in the mor of NoveEber

t finan-

l3
bout the pending or rejected

Later enquiriep by thq tgem

applicants revealqd the fa

Noornagarof applying for fresh loaps, None of thg repro$entatives

-makers from

an-the-$pqt verifiqatiqp.

___L

trINANCING RUR,AL

INDUSTRIES

145

b) Four artisans, two shoe makers from Noornagar and two from Baskirpalnagar, reported to be ,.not r.nterested', in getting a financial assistance informed the team that they
weavers

c) Similarly, both artisans from village Nangal Maujia re_ ported by the bank as "not available at site" also stated that they had not left the village on the day and tinre on which thev were, supposedly approached by a representative of the bank. Our enquiries from the village also confirmed that neither the incumbent's family members nor any other person in the village
was awaro

were not approached by any member of the bank,

of any

such .tfield visit" by the bank representa,

tive.

d) As regards 13 pendi:ng cases from village Chamrauda. the bank had reported that the incumbents were not interested in a loan at that time of the year (August) as it would be uneconomical for them since the rary material (,moonj') was not readily available and that they would be automatically sanction_ ed the required loans in November, I9g2, when the iaw mere_ rial would be available in abundance and also at the cheapest rate. Enquiries from the possible recipients revealed that thev were never individually approached by the bank, and it was only at the suggestion of one of their panches (himself one of the six recipients of loan in August; lggl) that the bank had decided to.postpone the disbursement of assistanc to the remaining thirteen applicants. It is true that raw material (moonj) is available cheapest in the month of November each year. But, if it is true that its non'availability was the only reason for keeping the decision about l3 applicants pending, then it was difficult to understand how the concerned bank chose to make an exception in the case of six others who got the loan in August, 19g2. Thus, even in this case, the grounds on which loans were not disbursed. remain dubious and the explanation weak.
Mandawar Just as in Kishangarh, in Mandawar also a total of 94 cases (89 in the traditional sector) of prospective entrepreneurs were indicated to six banking offices of four differeit commercial banks, And here also, as in the case of the previous block, the project team's participation io th9 implementatign process rprasiq-

B.

t46
ed at a minimal lbvel-re stricted to both, the Posslble reciPients a etl-with a view to finding out the intervening Ptriod. Out of the six difrerent team, as manY a$ five, whenever

RURAL INDUSTRTALISATION

y to once-a-week visits the banking offices concernprogress made, if any, in omces contacted by the

came up with the response as in Kishangarh, namely, that the branch had same and that the loan applica' no special staff for field and unless the ProsPective not be PrePared tions could the branch for a loan. As cntrepreneurs thdmselves Bank of Bikaner and JaiPur' that is' the S regards the sixthi Branch Manager showed Mandawar, each time the stepso he invariablY exon account of temPorarY er consecutive visit to the

tion forms in

team that if the Khadi and prepare the loan applica' Sach case then the bank might be able to
ously.

accomplish the romainder

The concerned KVIC

loan application forms for four

promptly prepared the

the total six applicants identified from village TodarPur and submitted them to the bank. were also taken exPeditious-

of Rs. I .000 each were

by the first week of NovemSuch efBciency however, was remaining 18 aPPlicants indi

other

five banking offices wi

ot practised in the case of the to the same branch or the the block. In the subsequent
was approached, he suggested

weeks each time a bank the KVIC SuPefvisor Prepare the concerned btanch did not because they exsected the SuPt already done in the case of one On his part, the KVIC o

applications both because

sufficient field staff, and also r to reDeat what he had

countered that preparation banks was not a part of his of loan apPlicatilon fbrms for by the banks themselves. duties and should rightfullY be an exception for the TodarWhen asked as to whY he had pur carpenters, he could not gi any satisfactory reply except that the bpnefici|ries in questio happened to visit him person-

FINANCING RURAL

INDUSTRIES

I47

moment, he did not mind preparing

at his residence and since he was relatively free at the their applications. Enquiries from other employees of the Block Development Oftce suggested that the ofrcial was invariably more cooperatiye to
ally

a certain group of artisans on acoount of caste affiliations. Another equally interesting case of a government official's over-zealous response to implement a developmental interven_ tion solely on account of caste affiliations was also recorded

in the same block.

In this

instance,

an

and not the rest. Therefore, the ofrcial directly as well as indirectly tried to influence us to submit the list ofa group of more than ten artisans to the branch even when technically. the village did not fall within the purview of this branch.
Financing the Entrepreneurs (Non-traditional Sector)

the Block Development Office, on seeing that four advances had been promptly disbursed by a certain bank surmised that the study team had influence only over that particular branch,

important official of

On the non-traditional side, only 43 entrepreneurs (Ramgarh 30, Kishangarh 8, and Mandawar 5) could be identified, beca. use of, as clarified earlier, miserably poor levels of education and. exceptionally low levels of technical and entrepreneurial skills throulhout the region. Even so, most of the units identi. fied in this sector fell in the low-technology and very elemen, tary level ofthe non-traditional or modern industries sector. The following are some of the important formalities required to be completed prior to setting up an industrial unit in the tiny and small-scale sectors in Alwar district: i) Preliminary negotjations by the prospective entrepreneur with the banker for financing the intended industrial
venture;

ii) Temporary registration .of the unit with the District

Industries Centre; iii) Preparation Officer;

of the project profile by an official of the District Industries Centre, usually the Industries Extension
iv) On-the-spot verification by an official of the concerned the viability of the project, and preparation ofa 'fpalibility report';
bank for ascertaining

148

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

v) Obtainidg a no-dues vi) Obtainidg price lists equipment and submitting the vii) Disbur$ing the loan In the following Pages ed treatment td each of the however, elabofate onlY on present the outbome of differ
the other two blocks, namelY reasons for such a coursg

the requisite machinerY ard to the bankl and

we propose

to give a detail-

orescribed above. We shall,

Ramgarh experience and try to
stages

on space and tl[e fact that w in the 'test' bloPk (Ramgarh), more true in thle other two

in a nutshell as regards and Mandawar. The the need to economise both, shortcomings were noticed found to be equally or even
sarh

i)

in setting uP a tiny/

PreliminarY. Negotiations In normal course, a

the Bankers

the bank and dliscuss his any other suit4ble official of During such a meeting the b the project and advises the et

entrepreneur interested unit, is expected to -aPproach with the branch manager or bank deputed for the PurPose. makes an overall assessment of about the'bank-ability'

ofthe scheme. In the Presont instance, traditional seotof discussed along with the
Ramgarh meeting in
Jan series of industry-specific questi

the projects of the nonfrom Ramgarh block were

sector apPlicants at the 1981. During this meeting a were asked to elicit sufficient t's technical and managerial experience, if anY. During
were rejected as the entrePre-

information about the incum skills as welt 4s his Previous

this meeting tvio of the aPPli neurs could nof furnish
28 applications,

the

requests

for immediate

financing

This decision was taken onlY

the five cases oould be rate of interest (DRI) sche me.
preneurs,

sector, Provided theY fulfill

replies. Of the remaining five were cleared bY the bank with those of the traditional all otber eligibility criteria. view of the fact that each of under the differential
certificates for these five entreincluded in the same list as that such, five of the total 30 aPPll-

of the artisan QntrePreneurs'

FINANEING RURAL

INbUSTRTES

U9

cations for financial assistance from Ramgarh block in the nontraditional sector, were finalised $y February 20, 1981.

Temporary registration of the unit is a prerequisite for any entrepreneur wishing to set up an industrial unit. The normal procedure for this is that the prospective entrepreneur fills up an application form, available on payment from tbe District Industries Centre or the Industries Extension Officer located at the Block headquarters, requesting the Department to register his unit temporarily. Upon reviewing the completed applica-

ii) Temporar!

Registration of the tJnits

tion the District Industries Centre deputes one of its ofrcials, usually the Industries Extension Officer in the case of rural industries, to inspect the site of the proposed industry and submit his report. If the report is favourable, the District Industries Centre considers the unit fit for temporary registration and enters the same as such in its records. In the present instance, 22 of the remaining applicants in the non-traditional sector (five entrepreneurs having already
been financed

under the DRI scheme

in

February, 1981, for

which registration of the unit was not required; two, having been dropped after the Ramgarh meeting; and one entrepre-. neur fiom village Alavada had his industry registered prior to approaching the present team) were advised to obtain the requisite application

forms from the Industries Extension Ofrcer,

Ramgarh, and get their units registered temporarily. The entire month of March and also the first half of April, 1981 , the IEO in question did not register eveD a single unit. Of the 22 applicants who approached the concerned ofrcial during this period, at least 16 wqre told that the requisite application stationery was out of stock; therefore, they should come again and enquire after 15-20 days. As regards the remaining six entrepreneurs, they were. asked by the concerned official to pay an application fee which was nearly five times higher than the officially prescribed fee.

'

Since all the entrepreneurs identified under the 'Action' project had been advised not to pay the us;ual likhai-pailhai-kapaisa, none of the units could be registered. The project team, therefore, brought the matter to the notice of the immediate superior of the offcial in queetioq.

150

RURAL INDTJSTRIALISATION

The superioS in turn neitl

nor disbelieve it but preferred to

appeared

to believe the story perfectly non-committal.

Throughout tho dialogue he stationery must in reality be out garh. When o[re of the team on the exorbitairtly high fees fr demanded frord six of the waived it off as a rumour spread to malign his dopartment. In the face of all this the pushing the issub further, and a a way out. The concerned offici get as many apltication forms t itself, only it wduld have to wa the team members suggested purchase the re{uisite number c the DIC and hahd them over to that this could dot be done, dure for doing everything and
ed.

intained that the application

stock with the lEO, Rambers asked him to comment

registration which had been the suoerior ofrcer by unscrupulous enttepreneurs

members saw no

point in
suggest

the DIC official

advised

to

that the team

could

it liked from the Block Office for a few days. When one of if they could themselves
forms on cash payment from concerned IEO, he was told
there was a particular Proceprocedure needs to be follow-

In tbe last week of April

1981. the Industries Extension

Officer, Ramgarh, when formed us that dhe requisite and that he woulld start days' time. When aPProached a

by the project team, inion forms had been receivec the units within two to three the IEO informed that it reeister the units before 20th periods he would be 'busy' programme of Integrated
1981, our team tried

implementing a "strictly time Rural DeveloPdent (IRD). When in the last week of Jt touch with the nEO, Ramgarh,

to get in

were infbrmed that immediafield work for the Integrated the ofrcial had proceeded on

three weeks' lelave. When we

the Joint Director,

an alternate Industries Exten-

ish the task of temporary

units, we were told that do anything in the matter on

at

Ramgarh was in a posi

FINANCINO RURAL

INDUSTRIES

I51

tion to do justice to the applicants, both because of his knowledge of the territory and of the people concerled; and b) The DIC was already short of staff; therefore, it would require ordets from the Directorate of Industries, Jaipur, to provide a substitute for the IEO, Ramgarh. However. on his return lrom leave, the IEO did not create any more problems and completed the temporary registration of the 22 industries in the non-traditional sector within a week's
time.

registered with the the department is required to preDistrict Industries Centre, pare a detailed project profile. The "Project Profile" in broad terms is a statement of the total capital requirement of a particular industry indicating separately the amount required fot fixed capital anil for working capital. In the case of rural industries this statement is required to be prepared by the Industries Extension Officers who usually have a printed manual for ready reference which contains all the relevant information required for preparing a 'Project

iii)

After an industrial unit is temporarily

Preparation of Project Profile

Profile'.
As regards the present project, the team' together with asking the Industries Department to register the 22 units temporarily, had also been trying to persuade the IEO, Ramgarh, to prepare the project profiles so that they could be submitted to the bank

for completing other formalities. But the

insisted that

concemed ofrcial

unless the prospective entrepreneurs could show sources for funding their respective projects, he was him their

unable to prepare the project profiles. Such a stand by the official actually amounted to asking the entrepreneurs to obtain their respective banker's approval and sanction of loans even before the project profiles were submitted to the bank' However, as a result of the persistent efforts and persua-

sive appeals made by us, the IEO softened considerably' With the result that he prepared all the 23 project pro6les and sub'

mitted thenl to the State Bank of India (ADB)' Ramgarh'

iv) Preparation of Feasibility Reports

The feasibility report is prepared by a representative ofa

152

RURAL INDIJSTRIALISAITON

lending agency with a view ro the credibility ofthe scheme. Normally, the banker the following factols irto consideration in the preparation of a) easy availaSility of the te raw materials;

b) industry-specific c) the levels of1 skills and

sorundness

development;

preneur to run the industrv

of the prospective entrethe incumbent to contribute the

d) financial

seed money as well as sufficien smooth take-off ofthe unit; and

of

working capital to ensure a

e) ea*y accessibility of mark outlets for the produce. Five out of thei total 30 appli ons in the non-traditional sector for financial assistance were iven finance along with the artisa.d entrepreneurs, and another were rejected during the course of preliminary dialogue the entrepreneurs. The study team then nequested the e Bank of India (ADB), Ramgarh, in March, 1981, to feasibility reports for the remaining 23 units. In to this we were informed that the bank was unable ro the feasibility reports until each of the 23 units was t y registered and project profiles of each submitted to bank. We were further inf,ormed that it was only .on the s of these two 'essential' formalities that the bank could be reasonably sure that the industries department had no on in getting these units started in the rural areas. , this would also ensure that the proposed units got the subs dy in time. Such a stand by the bank amounted to a virtual stalemate from tho point of vi of the project, because as stated, the industrieb department insisted on just the opposite of this, namely, feasibility first and project .profile and temporary registration later. As a result, we gave up all hopes of getting thd bank to prepare the feasibility reports before the Indastries dxtension Officer the project profites and registered the units temporarilv. However, even after the IEO eted the temporary registration and submitted the projeot profiles for each of the 23 non-traditisnal indulstries, the bank; the exception offinancing one unit,lo failed to take anv in the case of the other 22 units till April, 1983.

FINANCING RURAL INDUS1RTES

153

v) Obtaining the No-Dues Certificates A no-dues certificate is an essential document which every applicant for financial assistance from any financial institution is required to produce. This certificate is required to be signed
among others by the revenue department 4nd all other banking and financial institutions operating in the area. Immediately after the preliminary dialogue between the entrepreneurs and the bankers in January, 1981, each of the 23 entrepreneurs in the non-traditional sector rvas asked by us to

obtain their respective no"dues certificates. By February 15, 1981, at least six of the entrepreneurs reported that they had obtained the certificates, Out of the remaining 17, another nine obtained their certificates by March 10, 1981; and yet another two entrepreneurs between March 10 and July 15, 1981, and accordingly reported to the team. The remaining five entrepreneurs never made any attempt in this direction. They were either skeptical from the beginning or their enthusiasm slackened when they saw nothing being done for those who had completed all the formalities. vi) Procuring the Quotations of Prices Every entrepreneur is required to procure the quotations of prices from the dealers/rnanufacturers of the requisite plant and machinery and submit this information to the lending institutions. These quotations serve as the basis on which the bank ascertains the quantufir of assistance to be given to each
.

entrepreneur.

Eleven out of the total 23 entrepreneurs in the non-traditional sector had obtained the quotations for their plant and machinery by March 15, 1981. Since the programme had come to a virtual standstill as no action was being taken either by the bank or the industries department, the enthusiasm of the

remaining entrepreneurs wps considerably dampened, As a result, no attempt was made by any of these entrepreneurs to obtain the quotations.

vii) Disbursemenr of Loans When all other formalities like temporary registration of the industry, completion of a satisfactory "feasibility report", obtaining of the no-dues certificate, and the quotations for machinery

t54
acceptable to the bank, are compl dered eligible for pbtaining the In the present instance,

RiJRAL INDUSIRIALISATION

the entrepreneur

is

consi-

only one out of the remainthis block in the non-tradithis stage. Apparently, this tional sector could manage to rvas possible only because the en eur had not only tempoobtained the quotation and rarily registered his unit but on Officer to prepare the managed to get the Industries project profile for his unit, prior t coming into contact with us. As such. all that was to be done in this particular prior to actu[lly disbursing loan, was merely to have case rqport prepared y the bank. Even this the the feasibility wada managed to accomenterprising entrbpreneur from plish through hib persistent efl and sin ele-mindedness of

ing 23 entreprerleurs selected

purpose.

It is indeed a sad com

industrialisation ds well as the April 1983, only one loan (besi

on the state of both rural banking system that until the five disbursed under the
o

DRI scheme in February, 1981) March 1981 for firrancing in the

sanctioned and dibbursed.

t of the total 23 indicated in traditional sector. had been

of the total eight applicants already discussed their respective projects with the concern banks, and had remained in touch with theni for the Dast months. but without anv results. As regards the remaining hree entrepreneurs, each had applied for a loan to set up a cycle repair unit and they all belonged to the sdme village, Since the loan requirements in each chse were less Rs. 2,000 the project team advised the concelned bank, PNB, Alwar, in this instance, to accommodate thefn under the DR scheme. But as with other applicants of the traditional secto indicated to this particular branch by the team, in this too, no follow-up measures whatever, were tal<en by the bank. As regards Mandawar, two of entrepreneurs, one each for a saw mill and lathe mac had already got their units temporarily registered and were iting in each case for their prepared by the Industries the IEO's position had been and the KVIC Secretary

In the Kishahgarh block fi' in the non-traditional sector h

ftNANCINC RI]RAL INDIJSTRIES

155

for doing the job was neither equipped nor available to do the work, no action had been taken in both the cases till APril 1983. Of the remaining three applicants, one of them, a widow from village Tddarpur had been trying unsuccessfully for several months to get financial assistance for buying a knitting machine' Having tried in vain to get a loan under Antyodaya, then under Integrated Rural Development (IRD), and finally KVIC, the worian became totally disgusted with all development agencies and agents and when under the present project the concerned bank ianctioned four advances to the artisans of the same vil' lage, the widorv was reported to be'unavailable' at each ofthe two visits paid by a representative of the bank for on-the-spot
supposedly responsible

verifications. Of the remaining two applicants, one from village Birod who paid no wanted financial assistance to start a soap factory' had and less than four visits to the block headquarters at Mandawar as the required application each time returned empty-handed stationery for temporary registration was said to be "not available" with the official concerned' We contacted the entrepreneur on six different occasions at his village shop, and each time the incumbent in question pleaded with our field researchers to delete his name from the list' He complained that each time he went to the block office at Mandawar about 30 km away from his village he lost at least Rs 50 (Rs. 10 travel expenses plus the Rs. 40 he would have earned had he kept his shop open). Wtrat the applicant was specifically infuriated about was that each time the application form was not available or could not be obtained at the block headquarters, he was asked to return the following week. During the team's last two visits' the at hopeful entrepreneur was so embittered that he would scoff

uoyoo"
schemes.

tryin! to

implement the governmeot's development

from this block had not done any homework for loan and happened to be a young man from Mandawar itself' who wanted a loan of Rs. 2,000 for setting up an auto repair unit. Since the incumbent was already running such a unit and we listed happened to be a skilled worker (informally trained) accordingly informed the concerned bank renderhis name and

The last of the five applicants

in the non'traditional

sector obtaining a

156
I

hURAL INDUSfRIAiISAfION

ing linancial

assis(ance under

vlslls Dy tne tncumbent visits by the incumbent to the t formalities like on-tbe-spor project profile had failed to yield an In this manner, ln spite of all on behalf of the prospective entr ,level of motivation of the entre sector in both Kishzringarh and M case of financial assittance to the non ised. In either insta,nce, it is doorstep of one agency or the tainly more complex than a mere tions involved.
lBeneficiaries-Traditionat Sector

DRI

scheme. Repeated bank office for further

the

on, and approval of results till April 1983.

efforts made by the team and a rather high urs in the non-traditional dawar blocks, not a single traditional sector materialto put the blame at the and the problem is cering of the institu-

Of the total 268 gntrepreneurs tance, only 103, that is a mere 38.4 Table 5 gives the details by type of
entrepreneurs oniginally i a.pplications rejected; (c) the nurn

ntified for financial assiscent could be benefited.

bf

the number of casps of on-thenumber

of

pending applications ip each

; (b) the number of of units financed; (d)

fnancing; and (e)

of : (a) the number

of

the

covered under the present project. The data in Table 5 present a so gards the traditional sector. Of the

the three blocks

state

of

affairs as re-

ce in spite of all the r the project. Again, as already stated, ofthe total 130 re ents, as many as I 16 (nearly 90 per cent) &re from Ramgr h alone, while the combiaed share of the other two blocks w ks out to a little over l0

under the project, more than half, applicants failed to get the desired

268 artisans identified is, 54.49 per cent of the

fesources that could

be

mustered

After the experience in Kishaa and Mandawar, we found ourselves in tro position to a guess as to what the fate of the project wpuld have been in Ramgarh, were it not fbr a very high level participation t both the bank and the district administration. The outoome f our efforts in the latter tilvo blocks also reinfqrced this feeliol as in each case the concprned branch manqgers moved after tbey learnt both,

Per cent.

FINANCING RURAL INDUSTRIES

Tabte

t57

5.

S.

Blockl No. type of

industry

Statement showing numbers of cases talentifed' pe$ding anil reiected itr tbe traditional sector Total no. of unirs

fied

ted

d.ing out of the

idefiirted

on the originelly spot

)
l.

fnanced

A, Ramgarh l. Carpentry 6 2. BlacksmithY 4 3. Mooni-ban 18

4,
.6,
Basket making 26

I
2
1

I
3

t4 t9 t4

;
8

27
27

5.

Weaving 17 7. Shoe making 1 8. Sculpture 29

Total
102

Durry making I

:
l0

t7

I
29

116

B.

l.

2, 3. Moonj'ban

Kishangarh CarpentrY Blacksmithy

4. Weaving 5. Shoe making 6. S,?ki making

31221129236lt 3022442-277

6.
1l

Total
C. Mandawar 1. Carpentry 2. Mooni-ban 3. Shoe making 4. PotterY

l0

10

14 40 29-29 6-'689

10
40

Total
Grand Total

268

14
that

157

130

directly and indirectly

we

had 'contacts'

at

the highest

i*.t

of

tt"

bank and governmental hierarchy'

Beneff

ciaries-Non'trarlitional Sector in its

The situation

i.ri"i ino"

hardly in the rron-traditional sector is perhaps

traditional counterpart' This is

any
due

158

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

mainly to the fact that the number completed in this cdse are much

in comparison with the latter. Or ofinfrastructure ddvelopment, tr)

banking services avdilable at the m ped to efrciently deal with all trial development in rhe rural
Table

formalities required to be and also too complex , we can say that the level
er with the extension and t, is too poorly equipof non-traditional indusTable 6 gives the blockcases identifieit,

6. Statement showing number

rejecteil
int

peniling and
Total no. of units

the non-trailitional sector

Number

S.

Blockl
industry

No. type of

fed

ted

ding

out of the on the originally spot identified

fnanced

l.

A.

2. Saw mill 3. Flour mill r4. Oil mill ' 5. Dal mill '6. Ice candy . 7. Lime kiln 8. Stone crusher 9. Electrical
switches

Ramgarh Lathe, welding and compressor

',_ 4llt3l
I

6 4

I
I

10. Soap factory t 11. Sewing machine I 12. Steel furniture l

lr l-l

f3.
14.

Restaurant

I Bicycle repairs
Total

,_

.8, Kishangarh il, Iathe I 12. Flour. mill I i3. Plastic moulding 2 t4. Candle making I 15. Bicycle repair 3 Total 8

I
2

FTNANCING RURAL INDUSTRIES Table

159

6.

(Contd.)

c,

Mandawar

l. t
4. 5.

Lathe
Saw mill Soap factory

Candle making Knitting machine

Total Grand Total

financed, or wise details of the total number of units identified, sector' reiected in the nqn-traditional Thus, of the total 46 units identified in the non'traditional less than sector, only five units were financed, an achievement of this number comprises 11 per cent for the entire region. Even

twJ cylcle repair units, one road-side dhaba, one sewing machine, and one flour mill' Of these' except for the one mentiqned last, none can be considered as a non-traditional industry in the true sense of the trm. The only case of on-the-spot financing likewise, is that of a sewing machine' The follow-up orrurur.i taken for the pending cases is given a detailed treatment in a subsequent chaPter. project' Under the financial assistance aspect of the action from a total of Rs. 1,42,500 was disbursed to 136 entrepreneurs

three blocks comprising the north-northeastern region of Alwar district. Out of this Rs. 7,300, that is a mere 5'12 per cent. was distributed to six units in the non-traditional sector' per cent was while the remaining Rs. 1,35,200 or nearly 95 sector' A village-wise given to 126 units in the traditional iescription of all the loans sanctioned and disbursed both in the traditional and the non-traditional sectors is given in
Table 7.

It can be seen from Table ? tbat the maximum amount tradisanctioned and disbursed per unitwas Rs' 1'500 in the tional sector, while that in the non-traditional sector it u'as Rs' 2,300. Of the total 132 loans disbursed under the study' 38 loans were of Rs. 1,500 each; 431oans were of Rs' 1,000 each; 28 loans were of Rs. 900 each; 221oans were of Rs' 500 each
and only one loan was of Rs' 2,300.

I60
Table

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

7. Statemeht showhg tdtal unit stoiitioned onil Disbr

of
s.
No.

of loam and amoutrt per in the North-Northeastem Region

Loan sanctioned Total amount per unit (Rs,) disbursed (Rs.)

district
No, units

Blockl
village

of
lndustry

A.

Traditional sector

I. Ramgarh l. Alavada Weaving 17 2. Chidwa Moonj-ban Zl 3. Chauma CErpentering I . Shoe making 3 4. Doli-ka-Bas Sculpture 32 5. Milakpur Bbsket making 5
I

r,000
9@
1,000 1,000
1,5C0

t 7,000

18,900

r,000
3,000 48,000 5,000 900

6. Naugaon C&rpentering g 7, Neekach BlFcksmithing 8. Sainthali ldbonj-ban 6 9. Tikri Babket making 19

1

1,000 900 1,500 500

r,500
500 8,000

I,000 I,000
900
500

I,000
5,400
9,500 1,19,700

Total

rl6

lL Kishangarh l. Chamrauda Mbonj-ban 2. Noornagar Shpe making

Total

6 4

I,000
1,500
r

6,00c 5,500* I,500

l0
1,000

One

of tbe udits was sanctioned

olly.

III. Mandawar l. Todarpur C.atpentering

Total Grand Total

1,000

4,000

4,000
130

t,35,2N

'PTNANCING RURAL INDU$TRIES

161
7.

\able

(Contd.')

B, l. 2. 3, 4.

No 4raditiorsl sector

l.

Ramgarh

Alavada Chauma Neekach Ramgarh

Flour mill
Tailoring Tailoring
Restaurant Bicyple Repairs

I
I
1

2,3@ 500
500

I
2

|,500
1,500 1,000

2,300 500 500 1,500 1,500 1,000 7,300

Total

-.: 6

II. lll.

Kishangarh

Mandawar

Total
Grand. Total 132

7,300
1,42,500

NOTES AND REFERENCES

l.
2.

For further information on block-wise data on land-holdings of the artisans identified under the project, see Appendices I (i), (ii), and (iii). Information on the socio-economic characteristics of these entrepreneurs, see Appendices II (i), (ii) and (jii)'

The commitment of the State Bank of India was aptly reflected by the faot that the then Deputy Managing Director (Planning Development) Shri R. P. Goyal who later beoame Chairman of the bank, personally attended the meeting. So did Shri G. S. Srivastava, the Chief General Managgl of lhe Lccal He ad Ofrce of the Stale
Bank. Delhi.

162
4.

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

5.

One person who managed happened to be known 'knew' the official responsib The official in question bel ment and demanded Rs. 5

get the 'No-Dues' certifrcate

the Sarpancb, who in turn

for makine mischief.

to the revenue departcertification.

branch manaqer was
encourage fresh accounts a few account holders from

In all such cases when the asked as to why he would

since the branch already

the village, we were told

7.

only in relatively bigger as it was a bit far off from The field headquarters of across the road from the The Branch Manager in through his Kishangarh had contacts with the hi

t the branch was interested in the village concerned

branch headquarters. study team was located right inq uestion. ion had somehow learnt that the project team ups and was actually capable
wished.

9.

10.

of putting on pressure if it Since the post of Industries war was not filled during visor also u$ed to look may be of interest to note this post (IEO's) at the b ablyremained unoccupied considered to be verv the IEO, Kishangarh is of the IEO, Mandarvar, as KVIC Supetvisor who has over and abpve the duties upon him irt that capacity. The unit is that of an who was already temporaril Industries Centre for install

Extension Officer in Manda-

days, the KVIC Superthe functions of the IEO. It ever since the creation of level, it has almost invariMandawar. as the block is and remote. Technically to perform the duties , but in practice it is the looking after this work, d responsibilities incumbent

from village Alawada registered with the District g a flour mill.

Cneprsn 7

Teehnieal Shills Deuelopment and Upgradation

Any worthwhile programme of rural industrialisation especially ofthe non-traditional variety presupposes ready availability of skills, such as factory operatives, machine tenders, skilled mechanics, and industrial craftsmen. In Alwar too, at least two technical training institutes were opened to fulfil this need of the loca1 industry. However, the experience in this regard has not been happy so far. These training cantres were established without much understanding of the actual need for trained people in the local industry. With the result a large number of trained man-polver remained either unemployed or were forced to seek employment outside the district, Further, even the quality of training imparted was found to be wanting in more than one way. It was due to these considerations that we dacided to tdke adequate steps to promote industrial talent backed by suitable training programmes. However, in view of rather poor educational levels, we had to limit the range of vocational training
courses to a very elementary level.

The list of various training programmes offered to the village

of Alwar district, and the corresponding minintum educational levels required for enrolment in each case is given as follows:
youth

l. Tractor mechanics 2. Motof winding

3, Pumpset repairs

Trade

Miilimum Eilucational Level

Matriculation Matriculation Eighth standard

r64

RURAL'NDUSTRIALISATION

4. Auto r[echanic 5, House-wiring 6. Lathe gechanic ?. Tailorihg 8. Carpet weaving 9. Blanket rveaving 10. Leather goods and
As can

Eighth standard
Literacy

sh

be

seen above.

tional qualifications rather low, the response was eligibility conditions had to the motivational level was fo

though the minimum educato be elieibte for enrolment were from encouraging. Even these waived in certain cases where to be exceptionally high, even

previous chapter, a total of 199 in this sector-87 from and 37 from Mandawar. Nearly three-fourths bf the applicants in this category were in the 18-25 unemployment ranging from
Consideri4g that the m rvere victims of underemplo and constituted the bulk of

rity of these hopeful recipients ent or ghronio unemployment

potentially explosive element in the rural areas, it is pertir to have a look at the distribution of this group by age, educational attainments and the nature and dxtent of unem faced in each case. In Table I therefore, we are gi the relevant data of the above

variables. An analysis of the data in Table I, reveals that ofthe 199 young personf identiffed for technical skills development/ upgradafion frogrammes, mr than 78 per cent were in the 18-25 years a$e group, nearl! 19 per cent in the 26-35 years age group, ahd a mere 2 per , t in the 36-45 age group. It is thus interestirig to note that I )n when the elderly generation are not satisfidd with their ov levels of stills, they are reluctant to join ady training , both on account of ecog skepticism about the effinomic reasonq as well .as a lil cacy of suchi programmes. they were found to be quite willing to sen{ their children o learn new skills. A liitle over. three per cent of lhe cases om amongst the 36 ypars and

TEEHNrcAL SKIi,tS DEVELOPMENT AND

UPdRADAfION
l3l* l.',cnd
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166

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TECHNICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND

UPGRADAfION

161

above age-group were found to be from among such persons who volunteered to participate either because they were sufrciently economically sound or chro:rically unemployed' The number of literate persons among the members of this group works out to a respectable 145 which is nearly 67 per cent of the total applicants. However, on a closer look at the levels of educational attainment of these, one finds that the bulk is formed of persons with three-to-five years of schooling (27.23 per cent), followed by those with eight years of schooling (nearly 23 per cent) afld the matriculates (l?.68 per cent). It is also interesting to note that in a group of nearly 200 possi-

ble trainees, there was only one graduate candidate. This should not, however, be misinterpreted that rarely does any person reach the degree level from amongst the poorer artisan communities; in fact the majority of persons with graduate
qualifications from amongst the scheduled/low caste communi' ties prefer to join government service rather than pursue the
ancestral trade. The data also suggests semi-literate rural youth is perhaps the worst affected by unemployment. Out ofthe entire group, only 22 persons, that is, a mere 12 per cent, are reported to be fully employed; 54 persons reported partial employment; while the remaining 123 applicants, that is, about 62 per cent are reported to be chronically unemployed. The condition of those chronically unemployed is rather grave as nearly half of them are reported to have never beeD emp' loyed all their lives. Similarly, at least 30 persons' that is, 24.39 per cent were found to have been unemployed for more than five years, 23 (tbat is nearly F9 per cent) had remained unemployed for periods ranging from three to five years, and the remaining 12 (9.75 per cent) had been unemployed for less than

that the literate and

two years. As in the case of the immediate focus of the action'research project, namely "rural industrial development", so also in the case of its secondary objective, that is "technical skills develop' ment"; our experience in the 'test' block-Ramgarh-charte d the path and helped us modify the strategy for the remaining two blocks-Kishangarh and Mandawar' We shall, therefore, deal first with the outcome of our efforts in the former and only then recount our experience in the latter blocks.

168

ftURAL INDUsTRIALISATIoN

Oryadsing Tecbqical Skilh

Ramgarh Bloek

hogra rnes-

Negotiations.with the appropriate ncies for organising var! for tbo Ramgarh youth were undertaken with efect from March. I . But on account of several rasons. the task was found beset multiple problems. With the exception of the tractor mec cs training, the District Industries Centre (DIC) and the dustrial Training Institute (lTI), Alwar, wer0 the only appr e agencies for organising these training programmes. But headway was rnade in either for various reasons. As regards the local ITI which i the proper agency. for organising training prqgramrnes like wiring, lathe and welding, motor winding', md pumpset repai the possibility of approachiug it was rrded. obt as all the : enlisted for vocationatr training had eSressod a unwillingness to join the
ous training progtammes

institute.

The District nndustries erpressed its helplessness in o it found itbelf tied down goveraing the setting rip of trai Tte rules which hindered the pro
mes, as

(DIC) on the other hand, g these tra.ining programcertain rules and regulations centres in the rural areas.

(a) the DIC critefia which be found in close proximity of successf,ul sompletibn of the tr potential. for the person so remunemrtively in fihe village Developnent Agency (SFDA) orit under no circumstances themse owning moe than eight bigbas of Firstly, the nature of the projr d"dtes were scatterbd all over the dificult to, get combact groups. S available in a cluster-prospecti Bamboli village fof instance-no found among the villagers could eaoh of the candiddtes, even if aad rur his unit, supcessfullv in the The SFIA criteria similarly

ork in this instance are: that the candidates must other and also that, upon
there should be sufrcient to pursue the vocation and (b) the Small Farmer that the ca didates must own or belong to a family was such that the candiyat sarniti, and it was 15r, even rvhen they were

tailoring candidates from t of human ingenuity

the department that would be able to set up itself.

at the roots of all aftempts

TECIiNICAL sKILLs

DEVET

oPMENT AND

UPCRADATIoN

169

made in the direction of organising vocational courses for the rural youth. The nature of the training courses being opted

for, required the candidates to be educated. Only the retatively rich could afford to send their children to school, and since most candidates' families happened to possess more than 3 bighas of land, they were ineligible for enlisting in any training
programme as Per regulations. Thus, all our attempts to organise the training programme through the various channels provided for by the government having failed, one was faced with the task of finding alternative channels for accomplishing the objective. We started exploring the possibilities ol conducting these training programmes with the help of M/s Eicher Goodearth Limited, who had expressed their willingness to cooperate with us in imparting the tractor mechanics training to boys identified under our project. By September 1981, Eicher had agreed "in principle" to help the project in organising the training programmes, but it wanted to take up the task in stages. We were assured that once the tractor mechanic's training programme was launched, Eicher could work out the details for its further involvement in the project. Oiganising Tractor Mechanics Training

During the course of our field work for enlisting unemployed young persons for various vocational ourses, the tractof

ing programme in the villages of Ramgarh block. However, only 13 boys drawn from foul villages could be enlisted, as most of the others desirous ofjoining this training failed to
satisfy the m nimum educational qualification criteria, namely, matriculation, laid down for the course. Negotiations for orgatrising this training programme were undertaken with Eicher, who had expressed willingness to participate in the programme, in March 1981. However, not much headway was rnade until September 1981, as the company needed the intervening. period to work out the finarcial implications and finalise the operational details of the training progf amm.

mechanics course turned out

to

be the most sought after train-

Io the first week of Septernber,

1981 the company intimated

l?0
us that the requisi{e arrangements gramme had been made and effect from September 28, 1981. for different stagps of the

RURAL INDLISTRIALISATION

starting the training pro-

it could be larinched with The tentative time schedule Mechanics Training Prowas as follows:

gramme as preparqd by Eicher

Stage

ProgramineContent

Familiarising the candi-

with technical ter minology and various

dates

uration Location onth M/s Eicher Goodearth Ltd., Engine

Plant, Matsya Industrial Area, Alwar (Rajasthan)

tractor components.

il

Imparting theoretical 2 knowledge about tractor

mechanics,

M/s Eicher

Good-

earth Ltd., Training School, Faridabad (Haryana)

III

On-the-job training.

practical

onths Various workshops

of M/s Eicher Goodearth Ltd., located in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Thus, the traifilng programme to be conducted in three months and three months different stages of one month, er, the duration of each duration respectivoly. As stated phase was only tentative, and be varied, depending on the trainers, decision. In additi it was also decided to pay a stipend of Rs. 100 per month to of the trainees to cover the cost of daily tr&nsportation their village to the Eicher Engine Plant locatdd at Matsya Ind Area, Alwar. finalised, th,e company All operationall details having I each of the candidates deputed one of it$ officers to intei' Programme individually for the Tractor Mechanics Trai In the first week of and finalise a list of at least ten activist oaid a visit to each September 1981, therefore. our villages-Bamboli, Ch 'ti. Dabri and Neekachof the four identified, and asked them from which the aPPlicants had

TECIINICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND

UPGRADATION

I7I

appear for a personal interview at the Block Development Ofrce on a certain fixed daY. Accordingly, as against the l3 candidates originally identified, at least 18 aspirants of the Tractor Mechanics Training Programrne showed up at the Ramgarh Block Office on the appointed day and time. This number comprised eight new applicants from village Bamboli alone. As regards the remaining ten boys, six had come from Bamboli, two from Neekach, and one each from Dabri and Churoti. In this manner, at least three of the possible reeipients, trvo from Neekach and one from Dabri frorn amongst

to

the originally identified did not show up for the

interview.

lack of proper transport facilities from their village to the Matsya Industrial Area*the tentative location for conducting the training. The boy from village Dabri could not come for the interview, because he had been dissuaded by his family on

Later queries front these boys revealed that both the boys from Neekach had decided against joiniog the training because of

account of the pressuro of work in the fields and because of the problem of daily transportation frorn the village. However, those who did turn up that day were interviewed by an Assistant Manager in the Personnel Department of Eicher Goodearth Limited, Alwar, in the presence of our field activist and the Industries Extension Officer (IEO), Ramgarh Block' Most of the questions were asked by the Eicher representative and were aimed at assessing two traits of the incumbents: (a) general aptitude of.the candidate, and (b) the level of motivation of the incumbent. In addition, the applicants were also speci{ically asked if it would be possible for them to attend the full training course and whether proper transport facilities existed to commute every day from their respective v.illages to the site of the training centre. As already stated, Eicher had decided to give each of the selected trainees a stipend of Rs. 100 per month to cover the daily transportation costs. But, the interviewees were not informed accordingly on that day. Instead, they were told that the question of stipend was still under consideration and they may or may not finally get any monetary assistance to undertake the training. The intention of such a strategy was only to weed out such candidates who might have ofered to join the

tn2

URAL INDl]STRIALISATION

tlaining in the lure of the stipend. tive as five of the applicants dropped idteresting to note thAt each of these fi and. Neekach and three from Bamboli n&lly identiffed. i Another freasure itaken after the sure that only the rhost highly finally join the training prograrnm r{maining l3 boys to sign a declarati effect that none of them would leave irtg. Such a suggestion by the forth an amazing re4ction which sup the boys from village Bamboli showed above announcement and produced n4mes, addresses and signatures of bQys, written neatly on the bottom paper, and informed the interviewers tiyely decided to tender a single company could fill in anything t
bohalf.

is move

did

out at this stage.

prove effecIt is

e each from Dabri

to the origierview to make doubly vated candidates might was to ask each of the on a plain paper to the :-way through the trainrepresentative brought

everyone. One of
p within minutes of the foolscap sheet rvith the of the remaining 13

ft-hand corner of the the boys had collection and that the liked on their (boys')

gu&rantee-explicit or implicit-of a supcessful completion Of the training; I 9) Each of the tr{inees would go ing programme under ill circumstan In this manner, th{re was a final litprate rural youths ofl Ramgarh block thg tractor mechanic's course. In lieu howevero each of the gandidates was i ve{y liberal assistance in setting up his on successful completion of the training Although Eicher had provision to ta , at A time, it was decidrid to call each o. da{es to keep a margirl for potential r potential

them was prepared to irndertake the , a) They will undertake the trai dqcided that no stipenfl was to be paid I b) The training programme did

; To make an assess{nent of the enth asm and level of motiv4tion ofthese l3 prospective recipi of tractor mechanic trfining, it is pertinent to note the cor itions on which each of
lng:

even if it was finally

them;

not cafry with

rption in a job on the

ough the entire train-

it

any

of l3 literate and semiho wished to undertake f absorption in a job, ividually promised

wn tractof-repair unit

a batch of l0 trainees the 13 selected candi-

ts.

The trainees

TBC1TNTCAL SKTLLS DEVEI"OPMENT

AND

UPGRADATION

L73

were accordingly asked to reach the location ofthe training 'As expected, only Il boys centre on September 28, 1981. (10 frorn village Bamboli and one from village Churoti) finally showed up to join the training on the appointed day and time. The two who did not come belonged to villages Bamboli and Neekach, the former on account of some domestic problems and the latter for the s&me reason as the earlier three from his village ( ) the lack of adequate transport facilities. The training programme finally commenced on September 28, l98l with 11boys. Soon after the trainees joined, they were informed that each of the trainees would be entitled to a stipend of Rs. 100 per fnonth and would also be given tea twice a day at company expense. Besides, they were also informed that instead of one month, the Alwar phase of the training programme would be three months, and the one at Faridabad, one month instead of two. During the first fortnight after the commencement of the programme, three more boys-two from Bamboli and the lone candidate from village Churoti-dropped out on accoirnt of various reasons. We maintained a regular contact with the organisers of the training programme throughout its entire duration to get up-to-dlate information about the progress made by each trainee. At each of such meetings both, the organisers of the programme and the instructors expressed their satisfaction with the performance of the trainees, especially the level of motivation of each. A.t the end of three months the trainees were given a test in which each ofthe trainees passed with an "above average" grade. Such a performance from these boys people. . surprised us and the Eicher On successful completion of the first phase, the trainees were sent to the tractor training school ofthc company at Faridabad where they were inducted to lessons in theory and practical work experience of tractor repairs. At Faridabad, in addition to the monthly stipend and twice a day tea, the boys were also provided with a free mid-day meal and fully subsidised residential accommodation for the entire duration of the course. ltrere too the trainees were given a test towatds the end of the course, and here too each one of them passed with high grades. At the end of the course, a1l ooncerned, &e 'project team, the trainers and the trainees, were highly satisfied with fhs pro-

URAL INDLISTRIALISATION

it was decided to call a m ihvolved. According[y, each of fbr Policy Research; New Delhi, day and time. Among others, the
lramme,
U,y

of the project, and eagerly $ep. With a view tb make an or

gress

training, we persuaded training free of cost and g facilities during the such as travel and decided that the trainboarding, after detaildd discussions it the costs. Though, the eqs themselves should be asked to (roughly Rs. 600/- per te) was small, we felt amount sum would be a good the trainees' willingness to incur that t. At this stage of the of their level of commi irtdicator pdogramme in partioular, we felt it was necessary that the train-

Bangalore-the location of Escorts all the necessary facilities existed. S multi-cylinder tractors was in decided to send the boys to Bangalore tlle Escorts Training Institute. As regards funds for conducting the Escorts Institute to conduct to provide the trainee$ with free lod; course of the training. For other ex

some of the senior faculty mem Research, and a few fepresentatives ([-ocal Head Offce), New Delhi. r One of the most important in ons of this get-together !i,as to chart out the future course of on for the recipients their tractor-repair units and work out the details for settine course of discussions in the rural areas of Alwar. During viabilitv of such units. the boys expressed thoir doubts about only a fraction of Thev claimed that Eicher Tractors district, and since the the total tractor population within or, such workshops fbrmer was the only single cylinder the trainees were would not be econdmically viable tiained in repairing multi-cylinCer tractors. Since all the participants insisted, it was decided t give them further trainibg in multi-cylinder tractors. ; As a result, M/s Escorts Ltd. approached to organise ly at Alwar itself or in course for these boys, prefi artraining ganise such a course, it Haryana. While Escorts agreed to any other place except expressed its helplessness to do so

forward to the next the prog of all the three parties assembled at the Centre a previously appointed irig was also attended of the Centre for Policy the State Bank of India
assessment of

raining Institute, where a limited exposure to for the boys, it was br a brief crashcourse at

TECI{NICA.L SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND UPGRADATION

rls

ees too should be made to have a stake if the entire operation. Accordingly, one of the team members visited village Bamboli in person and informed the boys to prepare themselves for joining the training. The response of each of the trainees however turned out to be a bit lukewarm in the beginning and utterly cold and negative at the end. None ofthe candidates was prepared to join the training at Bangalore under those conditions. The excuses (reasons) put forth by the incumbents were as follows: a) Cannot arrange the entire amount 3 boys required to undertake the training b) Too much pressure of work in the 2 bovs fields c) The venue of the training is too far and alien d) Cannot leave wife atd children behind since having a nuclear family I boy It is difficult to classify the group in terms ofthese categories alone, as each of the boys invariably came up with a series of reasons for not being able to join the training. Indeed at one stage or another of the conversation, each of the trainees invariably brought up the issue of financial hardship together with all the others mentioned above, with varying degree of emphasis on each. When the field activist had exhausted all his resources, he decided to discuss the mattor with the respective heads offamily of each of the seven trainees who were living in joint families. Accordingly, the fathers of six of them and the etder brother of the seventh were called for a meeting in the village chaupal (chhapra in local language). Our activist addressed this entire group of elderly people in the presence of the trainees and some thirty odd hangers-on. Besides explaining the objective of the entire training programme, the activist also clarified the position of the study team vis-a-vis the candidates. Emphasis was particularly laid on the future possibilities open to each of the boys if they opened their own workshops on successful completion of the training. In addition, all possible cooperation to the boys in the matter of setting up such units was also repeatedly
assured.

176

R,URAL INDUSTRIALISATION

Though not fully convinced, discussing among themselves hangers-on, reluptantly agreed
Bangalore training. As such, fl names and requeqted our activist

Bangalore on t[eir behalf. the money for failway

amount would be returned to him As regards the remaining fi

to participate and for them to pay the money either is Dertinent to have a look at characteristics of each of the trai
lessness

afe

giving separately for

The data

each

data on age, edugation, marital

parents of these boys after prompted by some of the send their wards for the of the boys volunteered their get their seats booked for however asked him to spend ns and assured him that the their arrival in Delhi. , they expressed their hdlpthat it would not be Dossiblc or later. At this point it of the broad socio-economic In Table 2 therefore, we of the candidates, relevant occupation and property

in

Table

give

fairly good idea of the socio-

economic status

of the tractor

Bamboli. All the boys fell in the studied up to high school. At ed, of whom two were unmarri married and had children. very common a$d nearly 90 farnilies. The ldne candidate nuclear family wals also the one w any other worthdhile item of some land either individually or boys belonged to families owning Similarly, all tbg candidates but a bicycle, or some other movable seen from Table 2 there was anong acceptors and two pumps, non-acceptors. Dairying was also except for a lone trainee, all

ic trainees of villaee -32 years age group and had four of them were unemployjoint family
while the other two were system was still were members of such cent of these eight who had a did not have either land or

en

All other trainees owned or both. Four of the or more bishas of land.
,

e mentioned earlier, owned item of property. As. can be diesel engine and pumpset and two tractors among the uite commonly practiced and had one or more heads of

economic assets of the two were financially te,rparts, yet they refused to on the pretex! of economic
-acceptors

had more land

TECHNICAL

t?1

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178

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

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TECHNICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND

UPGRADATION

i79

and hence more responsibilities at home, but if one considers very people who had suggested additional training and even agreed to join at Bangalore, then it becomes clear that their refusal at this stage was due only to their reluctance to make any financial commitments. While discussing the socio-economic status of these trainees, it is pertinent to give a brief account of candidate 'A' among the acceptors. This particular incumbent, a 31-year-old Brahmin having a wife and three dependent children (two of them school going) was the highest educated among the group, and also the only one who had a nuclear family. He possessed neither land nor any movable item of property. The only other source of in. come besides his meagre earnings as a daily wager in the Post and Telegraphs Department was a milching cow. Yet he had decided to sell the cow in order to be able to undertake this

that these were the

training.

Since candidate

'A'

was better educated and more mature

assume the role

than the rest ofthe boys, he would invariably

of a spokesman for the entire group, The activist.therefore asked him in private why the boys were backing out at the last stage of the training. His response, though brief, summed up the typical reaction of, if one may use the expression 'pamperedl villagers (especially in those villages which are easily accessible and also relatively better developed), who, over the years had become so used to extension functionaries begging at their doorsteps to help them fulfil their targets that as and when and to the maximum extent possible, they (the villagers) resorted to arm-twisting tactics. This was precisely, explained candidate 'A', what these boys were trying to do with the project team. They (the trainees) were convinced that more than themselves, the study team itself had a stake in the successful completion of the training. As such, through their non-participation, they were
pressurise the team into paying them whatever expenses might be required to join the training at Bangalore. Since the economic hardships argument did not hold good in most cases, we had already seen through their game, but when this was confirmed by one of the recipients themselves, we decided to go ahead with only four of the boys who had offered to join the training at their own expense. Os rgtq$ing to Dclhi, the aetiyist booke4 fqqr r4ilway seats

trying

to

180

hURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

'

'

for the acoeptors a{ projeot expense, to be recovered later from arrive nor did we receive them. However, deither did the any communicatiof on their behalf ill the last moment. FinallY, the reservations had to be village Bamboli and quesOnce again the aotivist vtsi tioned the boYs. This time wi ut westing much time, the that in consultation with spokesman for the grouP info those who had refrfsed to participa during the last visit, and that since they had started the village elders, ilt had been deci training togethler, they (a11 the ight boys) must swim or the not prepared to incur the sink together. And since all Bangalore training. none would join expenses involved, however revealed an investlgations in the Further volte-face on the Part of reason for such altogether different the group. It was discovered that i the intervening Period, one of the senior most ofrcials of the strict Industries Centre in the course of one df his routine vis to the village, had assured go to such a far-off Place the group that thefe was no need at such an exhofbitant cost as t could be organised locallY' Not only would the incumbents n be required to spend anyalso be paid a handsome thing from their Pockets, they ible for a total aboutstipend. This apparentlY had been t participants, turn by this grouP of alreadY y exhausted and there Since all the tresources were no reasPo to PlaY this game, the Bamboli Tractor appeared Mechanics cliapter was closed. H , within two days of this, project's hadquarters at 'C' and'D' appeared at asceptors were prepared to underDelhi and gave thd assurance that the Bangalofe training on th terms and conditions origitake nally notified to them. Though mewhat unwillingly, once made for their training again the necessary arrangelrrents salore. The trainees were Escorts Training Institute, at the intensive three-weekcourse thereafter sent to Bangalore for traotor repair a on multi-cylinder and capable of setting Since both thesie boys seemed ts, a comprehensive project tlactor rePalr up independent for such a unit and profile (see APPendix III), was with the State Bank to negotiations were co necessary pletion of the three-week finance these units. On successful at Bangalore the boys returned, the intgF$iv9 training

TECI,TNICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AI'JD

UPdRADAtION

I8I

activist approached them again to apprise them of the necessary formalities to be gone through for setting up the tractor repair
units.

However, both the boys expressed their inability to do so as they felt that they wero not experienced enough to start
independent ventures. Moreover, they claimed that they did not have the necessary seed money to start a workshop even if they were sanctioned a loan by the bank. When told that the team could persuade the Bank to waive the condition regarding 'seed money' both the boys reverted to the other excuse that they were not confident about their own ability to set up and run independent workshops successfully. As no amount of encouragement or persuasion could make a dent in their resolve, the activist decided to leave them alone and return. Just about that time the younger of the two boys made a request to the activist to help him get a job with Eicher Tractors. Before leaving the village the activist decided to contact thc remaining six boys too to note their reactions. Only.a few questions concerning: (a) progress made in organising the training

through the District Industries Centre; (b) the future planr of the incumbents; and (c) the overall impression formed' about the project's efforts frorn the beginning to the end, were asked from each of the six boys. The responses from each of tlre
trainees were almost identical. a) The group was quite enthusiastic in the beginning and used to depute someone from amongst themselves to visit the DIC and make necessary inquiries regarding starting a separate tractor repair training course for them. But each time one of them went to the DIC, either the concerned ofrcial could not be contacted due to one reason or another, or he was sent away w.ith evasive replies and vague promises. By now the enthusiasm had waned to a great extent and they were all relwtant to visit the DIC, as it not only cost more than ten rupees per visit, but one also lost a whole day. They decided to visit the DIC only if one of them was visiting ,A.lwar for some other errand. b) There were no plans for the future . except to stay and stagnate wherever each of them had been prior to getting in touch with the study team. Their only hope in each case was either to be helped by the study team to get a job in Eicher, or ta be selected by the company on the basis of their training and

182

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

experience,

in

case

of any recru

t drive by it in the near

future.

c) The project had certainly tri to do a good turn to them and brought a ray bf hope into th lives, but they had missed the train due to thdir own igno and foolishness. It was typical of this group that of them openly expressed his disgust bdth, with him as well as the group as a whole but did not blame anyone e Some of them were particularly irked as they had becom frequent targets of snide er, worth mentioning that though they had agreed successful comoletion of the training, in their heart of h rts they were never in any
doubt that Eicher would absorb the: performance.
Organising Technicrl Skills Kishangarh and Mdndawar Blocks in jobs, seeing

their

good

Programmes-

Of the total 199 applicants for the hnical skills development/ upgtadation progralmme identified m the region, 75 (37.68 per cent) were from Kishangarh 37 (18.59 per cent) from Mandawar. As already stated. the of technical courses offered had been considerably shortened aft the Ramgarh experience. As such, these I 12 applicants had ted for one of the follow, ing trades: a) Tractor mechanic; b) Pump set repair; c) Lathe machilre; and d) Leather goo{s and shoes, As regards the ffrst three categr es, the team approached Eicher again who hhd already their willingness to increase the range of their participa in the implementation of the skills developmont aspect of the oject. Accordingly,after winding up the identification ons in the Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks. we subrnitted a li of 16 boys selected from these blocks to thpm. While the mpany assured us of their full cooperation in prganising the rr site training programmes for these boys, it informed us that management would however prefer to defer its linal decisiop till it learnt about the outI

tECflNIcAL sKtLLS bEVELOPMENT AND

UiCRADATION

I83

us of all possible cooperation

come of the Bamboli boys. Thus, while the company assured in the matter, it made its support in this instance concomitant to the shaping up ofthe boys already trained by it. As detailed in the previous section, since

the earlier batch had already run into grave difficulties, we could not pursue the matter any further with Eicher. Instead, it was decided to submit the lists of boys from these two blocks to the District Industries Centre, Alwar, which is the appropriate agency for organising such training courses. Such a course ofl action was further necessitated by the fact that the Joint Director, Industries, had already showed similar inter-

est

in the Bamboli boys. Accordingly, two separate lists of pdssible recipients of tecbnical training from these two blocks
were submitted to the Joint Director, DIC,

Alwar, in Novemer, 1982. Together the two lists comprised l0 applicants for the tractor mechanic's course; three for the pump set repair course; two aspirants for lathe machine training; and one for the auto
mechanic's course.

Organising Leather Goods and Shoe Making Trainlng

The north-northeastern region of Alwar district has an abundance of both leather hides and skins as well as of communities traditionally associated with leather work. As already
noted

in earlier sections of the text, this industry/craft is fast disappearing in this region because of the social stigma attached to it due to its caste association. During the course ofour field work in the three blocks there were many instances where individual families, groups of families or sometimes even whole villages of this caste had either already boycotted the trade completely or were on the way to doing so. Except for stray instances here and there, renunciation of this trade was found to be near total in the Ramgarh block. A similar process was found to have set in Kishangarh and Mandawar too, but it was not as widspread as Yet. Under such circumstances when these communities were approached by the activists in the Kishangarh and Mandawar blocks, the reactions varied from outright rejections to lukewarm response. In village Chor-basi, a village inhabited by chamars in the Kishangarh block for instance, our activists'

i8r
query from one of the women as pursuing the shoe making vocati

RURAL INDUstRiALtsAtT6N

in that
ing

the number of households village, elicited the

following responsqs : "... ...... around here ? Nobody ever made are Harijan housebolds. You be Later queries revealed that making was the only occupation o ing the hamlet, but ever since naking trade, nonF of their that shoe making had ever proudly proclaim themselves to starve than go back to their Under these circumstances it we \Yere able to petrsuade 96 boys wat who enrolled themselves for of these boys were either illiterate ably unernployed, ps they, along neYer to take up slroe making even face of such a defonsive attitude motivated them by educating to them if they learnt how to purses and bags itrstead of shoes elicit a promise of participation selected from twelve different vi Mandawar blocks for leather Negotiations $ith the Indnstries Centre (DIC), Alwar; stit.ufe (SISI), Jaiprlr; the Office
sioner, Small Scale Industries (DC1 of Industry, New Deihi, were

? Who makes shoes in this village. These

get lost and try.elsewhere." mere three years ago shoe

the thirteen families inhabit-

they relinquished the

shoe

even so much as mentions

their vocation. They now Ilarijans and would rather

vocauon.

with great difficulty that Kishangarh and Mandagoods training. Most or semi-literate. and invari-

th their

elders had vowed f they had to starve. In the these groups, our activists

about

the possibilities open leather goods like hand We had been able to these 96 young persons of the Kishangarh and

and not shoe makine.

iate agencies-the District

Small Industries Service Inthe Development CommisI); and the Union Ministry

in earnest in March, 1982, operations in Kishangarh. itable financial institutions to provide sufficient funds for the leather goods' training was also isitiated usly by the project team. During a period of more than months between March" 1982, and January,r 1983, we scores oI agencles rn the public and pfivate sectors t organise suitable training prograrnmes for the identified of Kishangarh and Mandawer, but without ahy success, ;ially considering that the st'u$ teacr. did not spar6 any and explorcd the possibi.
after the completion of identi Similarly the process of contacting

tnctrNrcAl sKILLs DilvELorMENT AND

IJPGRADATION

185

lities of starting these training courses at the highest levels in the Union Ministry of Industry, the failure in the matter looks

even more glaring. Here is the list of various agencies aAproached by the project team. showing against each the various reasons due to which the desired training course could not be

conducted: s/. Name and location SISI, JodhPur

of

Reasons

No. the Agencyl lnstitution

for ot conducting the Training Course

l.

lnstitute lying defunct for several years in the absence of (a) trainer; (b) sewing
machines

Leather training wing of the

and some imPle'

2.

SISI, Jaipur

ments; (c) work-benches. Facilities for starting leather

goods training courso not

available.
Shortage of space to accommqdate the Alwar boYs.

SISI, Agra, Central Footrvear

4.

Trainirg Centre

SISI, New Delhi, Extension Centre, Rewari (Haryana)

No provision for imParting training in leather goods; facilities available only for imPart-

ing training in imProved variety of traditional village

shoes (desi

Jootis); and inabsorb more than ability to four boys from amongst the

boys identified under

project.

the

5. 6.

Bharat Leather CorPn. 'l

I

No provision for organising special training programmes

Bata Shoe Co.

J

for unskilled
artisans,

and semi-skilled

The foregoing statement thus gives proof of our efforts in organising leather goods training courses for the Kishangarh and Ma^rdawar boys. We, however, do not clainr to have ex-

haustively explored all

the

possibilities available within the

160

hun.ll iNpuSinrAlrsAiroN

country for organising these tra' courses, as we were also restricted by the ueed to keep the travelling costs for the trainees at a minimum level. In n, after our experience with the Ramgarh boyb and their : repairs trainin g at Bangareparfs tralnlng ttangalore. we were conVinced that if some arrangements could be made at sorne distant place the incumbents just might refuse to undertake the course. Ev n when we were advised by the DIC, Alwar, tb contact Kora endra, Bombay, and by the DC, SSI to approach the Central Leather Research Institute, Madras, we did not consider i worthwhlie to explore these
possrbrlrtles.

It is thus ampfy clear that the official agencies, the state of

in organising and conducting development/upgradation trainin condition. In spitp of all the resr to push through these training prc which are not ordlinarily available level situation, we failed to make to which the basio inlrastructure f nical skills is lacl4ing in the rural ther proof than the fact that the this sector remainbd a pitiable tw
efforts and resourdes.

trary to all claims made by

at the grass roots level e of the most basic skillscourses is in a lamentable that rve could muster
es for thb Alwar youth, n a routine district or block uch headway. The extent imparting elementary techareas, perhaps needs no furotal rate of achievement in per cent irrespective of all

Cgeprsn

Follow-up

of the most vital stages the overall effectiveness of the intervention as well to evaluate as the social and economic fbasibility of its replication for the
The follow-up survey constitutes one

Furpose of future programme planning. Briefly stated this phase of the project was intended to serve the following objectives:

a) to monitor the installation, growth and expansion of the units financed under the 'action' phase; and b) to monitor follow-up steps taken by each ofthe actors involved-the official bureaucracy, the banks and the beneficiaries, in respect of the pending applications out of the originally iderrtified entrepreneurs in each block.
TOLLOW.UP OF UNITS FINANCED

The numbers of artisans and tiny/small-scale entrepreneurs falling in each of the above two categories monitored between March and September, 1981, in the case of Ramgarh; between September 1982 and April 1983 in Kishangarh; and between October 1982 and April 1983 in the Mandawar block, are
as follows:
,S.

ifa.

Block and categorY of

particiPants

N e.

!f-g!t9!-

ng nt19! e d i n

Traditional Non-tradiSector tional Sector

A.

Ramgarh

1. Number of units financed 2. Number of pending cases

116 926

i88

ft.uiui rNousrrrlLrslrroN
l0

B. Kishangarh

l. Number of units financed 2. Number of pending cases

678 485

C. Mandawar

1 Number of uiiits financed 2. Number of pending cases

The follow-up steps taken -the recipients as well as the are being given here for indivi
sary, and groups of artisans w Follow-up of Units Financed in Region of Alwar District

both categories of persons g cases, in the three blocks

entrepreneurs where necespossible.

North-Northeastern

by us of the beneficiaries activity and carefully monitoring

and groups to tapkle the We may, at this btage clarify
made

The modus operandi adopted for pulpose of a follorv-up of the 122 units financed in the first round of financing under the 'action' project involved a keen and participant observation

under the 'action' o mill at Alavada viltage) fell in true non-traditional sector, while of the remaining 135 (including five loans in the non-traditional sector) each one fell in the Diferential Rate of Interest (DRI) Scheme In each such DRI case the advancing was invariably for the purpose of working

expanding their industrial steps taken by individuals and other related problerns of the total t36 advances , only one applicant (flour

up

capital. Village-wise {escription by

measures taken

by the te each block, both fbr the tradi

of industry, of the follownal and the

is given here separately for

non-traditional

the

sectors. We may, at this stage, add in the case of Ramgarh besides the 'on-gQing' or interim evaluation carried out durine

first six motrths (February

bursement

of

ember,

financial

summative evaluation

of

the

l98i) after the disanother "late stage,, or effectiveness of the inter-

POLLOW.UP

89

vention was also carried out in the months of March-April' 1982, that is exactly one yeaf after making the advances'

Traditional Secto] Rltr.tcens Blocr In Ramgath, a total

A.

sector-all of them under the Differential Rate of

of

116 advances were made

in

this

Interest

(DRI) Scheme, and each one was to be utilised as working capital. Village-wise details according to the type of industry sei up during the follow-up period of Februray-September,
1981, are given as follows:

lleaver s of Alavada There were about 30 households of weavers living in a cluster in village Alavada, who had been manufacturing the tradi' tional Rajasthan i Pugri on handlooms through the centuries' persuasion and enAs already stated, after a gteat deal of couragement the team had succeeded in advancing Rs' 1,000 each to l7 such households in February, 1981' get

Prior to obtaining the loan each of these weavers used to the raw material from an Alwar dealer on the condition ihut th" finished product, the Pugri, would be sold to the same dealei. and thus he would tret approximately Rs' 3 a piece in the bargain. Discussion with the weavers of Alavada revealed that even the best of craftsmen could not earn more than Rs' 5 to 6 Per daY in tlris manner' After obtaining the loan, 15 of these weavels immediately purchased a good quantity ofthread, prepared the Pugris and then tried selling them in the open market at competitive rates. Such an arrangement worked out quite satisfactorily as they .were able to earn a profit of Rs. 6 to 7 per piece. The remaining two, apparently misutilised the assistance as one of them spent the money to buy a brass band and shifted to another village, while the other spent the money on his son's marriage. The rest of the 15 were regular in the re-payment of the loan, though as per bank rules most had been declared defaulters because of delays in the repayment of the rnonthly instalments. No outstanding affears were, however' reported excePt for the two erlant cases.

190

RURAL INDIiSTRTALISATION

State Bank of lrpdia (ADB)

Greatly impgessed with by these weavers, the State Br prepare a schetre for their furt the SBI (ADB) in consultation

for Alavada Weavers an encouraging performance

Centre (DIC) 4nd rhe Small (SFDA) preparpd another schi

development of these weavers, time this report was started. a) training the weavers for

er development. Accordingly with the District Industries

Development Agencj' for the further economic was partly executed by the
scheme involves:

of India was persuaded to

household; c) constructing sheds of l0'x 0' for each household for the installation of larger handlooms; d) installing larger handl for preparing diferent varieties of cloth othe$ tha'o pugris. Iu April 1981,12 ofthese were sent to the Ambica Textiles Co-operptive Mills at N for a month's training. A stipend of Rs. 100 per month also paid to each of these

versifying .into other kinds of cloth; b) providing further financial assistance of Rs. 6,500 to each

the cost of the shed, the loom,

April

least 25 househblds of weavers 1983, no follow-up acti

matter.

TRYSEM scheme. The SBI to its regional office at t of Rs.6,500 (to cover for working capital) to at Alavada. However, as of has been reported in this

Moonj-ban Artisayts of Chidwa Chidwa has a cluster of I 6 lds, all belonging to the scheduled castes, engaged in the moonj-ban industry. All of them are landless who work as a1 labourers during the harvesting seasonl and make rope ing the rest of the year if the moonj-- the raw material for rope making-and the necessary funds for purchasing it, available.

A total of 2l advances-each unting to Rs. 900 were made to them in February 1981. They all purchased moonj in bulk during April-May and rel busy in rope making throughout the yefr. including the monsoon season when the raw material becornres scarce. As result not only did the daily

TOLLOW-UP

191

earnings of an average artisan increase from Rs. 7 to 8

per

to Rs,

12

to

15 but he was

year, Marketing ofthe produce presented no problem as there is always a great demand for this rope in Alwar town. The entire group was quite regular in the repayment of the loan both,
during the 'on-going' and 'summative' evaluation stages.

also able

to

day

earn throughout the

Sculptors of Doli-Ka-Bas Doli-Ka-Bas is a small hamlet along the Delhi-Alwar highway inhabited aimost solely by Brahmins. Sculpture of idols had been a traditional trade of this village through the centuries but it had died down during the past few generations. Most of the households had either left sculpting altogether or migrated to Jaipur and continued the vocation there. In the last few years the art had once again been revived and had become a flourishing business of this hamlet. This was why most of the sculptors, nearly 90 per cent of them, were in the 15-20 years age group. A.total of 32 loans each amounting to Rs. 1,500 were disbursed to these sculptors in February 1981, under the DRI Scheme. These advances helped these sculptors considerably, insofar as five to six boys pooled in their loan amounts and purchased a truckload of stones which cost about Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000. With the result that they got the raw material at considerably lower costs than before, when they used to buy the stone in small quantity. Seeing the immediate and easily perceptible difference that the advanoes had made in the industrial activity of this village, the bank was encouraged to make further advances of bigger amounts to four master craftsmen and at least three other entrepreneurs in the village. As a result, a total of seven loans, three of Rs. 7,500 each, two of Rs. 5,000 each, one of Rs. 4,500 and one of Rs. 4,000, were sanctioned and disbursed in March, 1981. These recipients immediately purchased a truckJoad each of stone and expanded their existing activity. Discussions with these sculptors revealed that their existing practice of marketing the produce in a semi-finished state was the mo.st uneconomical activity of the trade. From ancient times these people had been selling their produce in a semifinished state to the traders from Jaipur who made a fortnightly

192

RURAL INDUSTRTALISATION

round of all sculpting groups in entire produce at very nominal and polishing of the marble

district and purchased the . Since the entire finishing

was concentrated in Jaipur centuries, thebe sculptors had o choice other than to sell for unerative prices. their oroduce to the traders at un in the village was therefore, One of the master persuaded to trY doing the fin bing job in the village itself, instead of selliqg his Products in a semi-finished state to the this sculptor prepared an idol dealers from JaiPur. Accordin

finishing and polishing himDelhi dealer for Rs. 5.000 at he sold it in the semi-finished a net profit of Rs. 1,200. barely Rs. 500 to Rs. 600. state, his earningb would have that these efforts brought significant diff Another li-Ka-Bas was that now inthe sculPture trade of about in stead of selling their produce only to Jaipur dealers, the sculpg direct contact with the tors had succeeded in esta sell at competitive rates. The dealers, and were able Varanasi gular in the repayment of entire group was reported to be evaluation in April 198 3, at the time of lateloans. Indeed reported to have repaid the at least three bbneficiaries taken a fresh advance from entire loan in less than a Year of the Goddess Durga and did self. This, he wa$ able to sell to
the bank. Basket Makers of MilakPut Milakpur is a medium-sized thickly inhabited by Punjabi

ge of about 500 households,

Basket-making from Palm lea pation for the women and Young
they migrated hefe. Until recently they used to from the nearby villages and the were bought fronl Alwar, and th in their respectitve huts. The t middleman who Would collect it a 50 paise a Piece. The middla to Jaipur and sell them to the

gees from West Pakistan. had been a subsidiary occu-

of these settlers ever since

the leaves in small guantities lours for dyeing the leaves they would make the baskets oduce was sold weekly to a their doorsteps at the rate of would then carry the baskets pkeepers

at Re. 1 a

piece,

who

in turn

would retail

these baskets

at Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 per

piece. In this whole operation good worker never came to more

total earnings per day Rs. 1.50,

of

t_

FOLLOW-UP

r93

To end this form of exploitation, a series of discussions with the women workers as well as the menfolk rvere held, educating them about the advantages of marketing the baskets
themselves and motivating them to pool

in the produce of each ' household weekly and sell it directly in Jaipur or Delhi rather

than through the middleman. In this instance too the team succeeded in its efforts in ample measure.. A total of eight advances were made to the basket makers of Milakpur under the DRI Scheme. Five of these loans amounted to Rs. 1,000 each and the remaining three were of Rs. 500, Rs. 900 and Rs. 1,500 respectively. The first step these people took in the direction of improving their respective incomes was to buy the raw materials-palm' leaves and dyeing colours in bulk rather than buying in small quantities. As for the former they collectively leased the produce of palm leaves in the adjacent villages instead of buying the leaves ofeach tree piecemeal, and distributed the total produce proportionately among themselves. The colours and dyes were also bought in quantity by one person from Alwar and they distributed them equally among themselves. The whole opera' tion resulted in reducing the cost of raw materials by 25 to 30
per cent.

Similarly, for tackling the marketing problem, the group was persuaded to depute olre person each week who would take the produce to Jaipur and sell the produce at a oompetitive price. This arrangement was reported to have subsequently the stopped due to personal diferences among the menfolk of
communitY.
these efforts considerably improved the earnings of these households so that instead of earning between Re' I and Rs' 4 1.50 per day, each of the women workers was now earning Rs'

All

per day, on an average. Except for some delays, no case of wilful default payment of the loan was reported from this village'

in the re-

land-owning 30 of these households belonged po4lnu.nity' As against t[9 small farmers pf tle sghedqled gastes

Bosket Makers of Tikri Tikri is a small-sized village of about a trundred households and is located 20 km arvay from the block headquarters at Ram-

garh. Nearly

to

194

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

basket makers of Milakpur, here

the branches of the palm trees

baskets were prepared from

of leaves. Moreover.

rather than the *omen. basket is an important subsidiary occupation for the menfolk this group. As in the case of the Tikri people also used to collect the raw material from the or buy the branches of palm trees in the adjoining at a piece-rate basis. A good craftsman, after putting in an ei -hour day, could prepare two baskets a day. which during the. season would fetch an income of Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 a and Re. I to Rs. 1.50 a piece in other months. A total of 19 artisans from were financed under the DRI Scheme in February 1981. T assistance helped these people, as those, of Milakpur, buying the raw material in

quantity on a collective basis.

basket fetched them a profit In this mannen the main

result, all these people

went into production at full speed

and April and stored-the produce

ing the months of March harvesting time when each

3

to Rs. 3.50. faced by these artisans, (that of lack of timely for working capital) having been solved, itw4s possible for th to earn at least 50 to 60 per cent more tha[ what they to earn previously from this
subsidiary vocation. Production baskets from this village had also increased co4siderably as the oung boys in these families were also getting ongaged in this ivity in their free time when the older people were engaged agricultural or any other

of

acllvlIy.
Repayment of loan at Tikri found to be regular during the interim evaluation and r not single case of default was reported, During the late stage ion in September 1982 however, at least $ix such cases by two to six instalments beco Moonj-ban and Sitki Artisans of Sainthali is a small hanllet holds, about 25 kms from the reported who had defaulted
everdue for payment.

hali approximately fifty househeadquarters

There are 1 | famllies of castes in the villige who are engaged in lhe moonj-ban and industry. All the families are landless, and their men and -young and old, including children-are pngaged in this Besides rope and

at

Ramgarh.

FoLLow-uP
nearby villages.

195

sirki-making, these people work as agricultural labour in the

As with other craftsmen and artisans discussed earliei, the main problem faced by the inoonj-ban workers of Sainthali, was a lack of sufrcient working capital. In this case also it was found that the raw material used by them was seasonally available, and these artisans had to remain idle most part ofthe year because of the lack of raw material. A total of six advances, each amounting to Rs. 900 were made in this village during the month of February, 1981. Timely assistance helped them to buy the raw material in good quantity and enabled them to remain busy throughout the year, which improved their earnings considerably. As against an average daily earning of Rs. 6 to Rs. 7 during the season, these artisans were enabled to earn Rs. 10 to Rs. 12 round the year. - All the six beneficiaries from this village were reported to be regular in the repayment of the loan during both stages of monitoring.
Carpenters of Naugaon

farmers lrom the neighbouring villages including a few in Haryana, come here for their requirements. Eight loans amounting to Rs. 1,000 each were sanctioned and disbursed to the carpenters of Naugaon in February 1981. The loan amount was utilised by each of them to purchase wood, and in two cases partly to purchase tools. The assistance also helped in creating additional employment for at least six semi-literate young boys, who, on ready availability of raw material in the family workshops engaged themselves in the family activity in right earnest. One of the applicants, who had two of his sons trained but idle because of non'availability of raw material, was able to manufacture and sell a bullock cart at a remunerative price in less than a month's time. The garpenters of Naugaon havq beqn copsiderably encou'

Situated 15 kms from the block headquarters at Ramgarh, Naugaon is the second biggest town of this block along the Delhi-Alwar highway. It is an important trading centre of the block and the carpentry industry plays a promioent role in its economy. Manufacture of rural agricultural implements includ' ing manufacture of bullock carts is centralised in Naugaon and

RURAL INDUSTRIAL;}3AIION

least two of them are already

a saw
wood lathe. During the inferim as also thp beneficiaries of Naugaon were tual in rePaying the loan'
Neekach

mill andior

evaluations, all eight

ed to be regular and punc-

Neekach is a Pedium-sized 'l and is situated 12 kms from Nau headquarters at Ramgarh. Agri of this village. It is inhabited Pakistan, a great majoritY of w
as agricultural labourers.

of nearly 200 households, and 27 kms from the block is the main occupation Punjabi setllers from West bave no land and they work
is also amoirg the poorest of Educational levels also were
e beneficiary,

the villages the tdam came acros$'

blacksmith,

block in FebruarY 1981. A loan under the DRI Scheme for the

the belp of this working

caPi

materials in reasonably suffiaient started making small agricultural irnpkments and rfrarketing them On account pf sickness this the first two instdlments of the 1o

with other artisans of the Rs. I ,000 was given to him of iron and coal. With the beneficiary bought raw quantities from Alwar. He d other everyday use iron Mubarikpur or Naugaon. blacksmith could not repay in time, but became regular

after that.
Chaanra

This is a small hamlet of

from Ramgarh.

It is a

neither electricity nor a direct

forty houses, situated 30 kms secluded village and has to link it with rhe surround-

where the field activists the people. Persistent efforts artisans were successfully identified-three shoe makers a carpenter-for financial aesistance. In eaoh case the was found to be a skilled praftsman and ooly needed funds o pursu his vocation. details the measure of our \Ve would lif,e to give in

FoLLow-uP

.19'l

success in this village, particularly in respect of two of the shoe makers who, though they refused to participate in the pro' gramme during our earlier visits, however, came forward to accept financial assistance at the last moment. These two artisans, chamars by caste, had been in a dilemma for more than five years as a result of the social transformation movement of the chamar community sweeping through the length and bretdth of the district' In the wake of this movement both the artisans had abandoned. their .tools five years ago and decided not to do leather rvork ever again' But since they had neither land nor any othet means of income, both had been

leading a most wretched existence ever since. When we apptoached them with an offer of genuine financial assistance, they found thernselves at a crossroad. On the. one hand, they saw a chance of earning their livelihood by returning to their ancestral trade, while on the other, the prospect of a social boycott by the rest of the community stared them in the face. At last, their desire to at treast make an attempt to earn two square neals a day for themselves and their familiqs proved stronger; and both these artisans came fotward to accbpt fnancial assistance to start their ancestral voca' tion, shoe making, again. . Alt the three shoe makers from Chauma utilised their loan

alnounts

themselves.

of Rs. 1,000 each to purchase leather and engagod in making the traditional joall. Each of these
a week and
sells them

artisans now makes 10-12 pairs of shoes

in the Sunday Haat

Rs. 6 a Piece.

at Ramgarh netting a profit of Rs,

to

The carpenter from this village, who was also given a loan of Rs. 1,000 utilised the entire amount to purohase wood and started making agricultural implements and other wooden articles of.everyday need in the rural areas. The repayment of the loan by each of the four beneficiaries of Chauma was also reportpd to be satisfactory'

B.

KTSHANGARH BLocK

finanoed by the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Kishangarh. In both village s the advances were made under the DRI Scheme,

In this block ten artisans selected from two villages were

the purpos

for

of

workiog

capital. The

details

of f'ollow-up

i98 of these artisans by type of

villages.
i

RURAL TNDUSTRIALISAIIoN

for lvhich the loans were

given separately for the two

sanctioired and disbursed are

Moonj-ban Aftisans of Chamrauda

Village Chamrauda is si the block headquarters at Bhiwadi highway. It is a settl holds of which a [arge majority West Pakistan. llhey are a
farmers owning snrall and medium

about ten kilometres from along the main Alwar-

-knit group of progressive

of about seventy houseSindhi Sikh refugees from

landholdings. Dairying

and moonj-ban are imporrant sr majority of the t'ainilies in this gr a couple of Muslitrn households in
the

idiary occupations for the

Besides the Sindhi Sikhs is village are also pursuing

mo onj -ban voc&tion. The technique followed by the is only slighrly different from that follorped by the local artisans, but the productivity of the formel with the help minors (even six-year-o1d) is nearly two hundfed per. cent thbn that of the latter. As a result of this au average worker in this conmunity earns no less than Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 per da compared to Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 per day earned by his local coun Chamrduda was thus fbund to the only village where the moonj-ban artisanb formed a well-off rural middle class unlike all other groups in district pursuing the same vocation who were still invariably ow the bread-line. Again, they were found tb be the only 1 who, instead of selling their produce locally or in Alwar were exporting it to far of places like Ahmedabad and Bo bay. Out of 19 artisdns identified fro this village only six were sanctioned loans of Rs. 1.000 each the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), Kishangarh, the month of September, 1982. Soon after the receipt of. these artisans purchased, moonj in br.ilk and went into production. Bvt as moonj lvas not a readily in September (the wild moonj crop is harvested twice a in the months of March and November) they had to pay t to fifteen per cent extra for it. However. bince most of th moonj-ban activity was at a stand-still in thb village and parts of the district, these artisans were able.to sell their at remunerative prices
1

l-

_i

FOLLoW.UP

r99

and nlake up for the initial loss. The banks did not report any difficulty in the recovery of loan from these artisans, during the follow-up survey in April 1983.
of Noornagar Noornagar is a small-sized village with about 150 households, most of them belonging to the chamar community. Situated midway between Kishangarh and Khairthal, it is ideally located for both business and industry. However, most of the artisans in this village were found to be landless and living in appalling poverty. As a result shoe-making is the only source of incor.re for the majority of the households. During the very first visit to this village, a good number of artisans expressed a desire to apply for sorne kind of financial assistance. When thby were told that the study team was not a funding agency in itself, and it could only help them obtain the loans from SBBJ, Kishangarh, quile a few prepared to leave. Later queries from such persons revealed that they had taken financial assi$tance from this branch in the past, and indeed some of their accounts with the bank were as old as the branch itself. But on account of some lapses in repayment.by some o[ their compatriots, the branch had declared the entire village as defaulter and stopped giving fresh advances. The concerned balking ofrce had however made an exception in the case of three or four persons and renewed their loans from time to time. However, when we assured the artisans that the project team would ensure impartiality this time, ten persons volunteered their names for financial assistance. In the month of September, 1982, three artisans were sanctioned loans of Rs. 1,500 each, and one was sanctioned Rs. 1,000. Each of them utilised this assistance for the purpose of working capital and purchased leather with the loan amount. Since the lean season (months of July and August, when all shoe-making activity comes to a standstill due to monsoons) had just been over, they were able to sell the produce at remuShoe Makers

nerative prices. As they had all experienced tbe consequences of delay in repayment ofbank money, and actually suffered on account of it, they were reported to be very punctual in the repayment of their monthly instalments. During follow-up survey even the

2oo

RURAL INDUSTRIALISAfION

on with the new recipients

MANDAwAR BLocK tion operations in this block, Soon after winding up identi were submitted to the lists of prospective entrepror the offices within the ock in the month of Seotemvarious banking offices contacted by us ber 1982. Out ofi six different bar to the 82 prospecfor the purpose of giving financial only one, the State Bank tive entrepreneurs from nine villal war, sanctioned and disof Bikaner and J{ipur (SBBJ), M ge Todarpur. bursed loans to fotur artieans of

C)

Carpenters

of Tddarpur Todarput is a hnedium-sized

ge of about 300 households, k headquarters at Mandawar ing the monsoon seaFon, it f the block, There is only

Mandawar. Since most of

op

bicycle,

Toda is, however, electrified, and has a post omce and a middle of carpenters in the village There were abbut ten house out of which at least seven were identified for financial assisunit cannot be economitance. Since an independent sawcally viable, all the applicants w ted financial assistancd for working capital. Even in this " some of the artisans had

it.

and tractors can be plied

As a result even those peo

le who could easily afford

do not buy one.

or already had similar either had loan accounts in the the team. aecounts at the tiine they approac As village Todarpur in general this community in partiwere reputed to be 'good' clients in the bank (SBBJ, cular hesitate in sanctioning the Mandawar) circle$, the latter did last week of October, 1982, advances in this vlillage. During
ioned and disbursed loans therefore, the codcerned branch of possible financing from to four applicanfts out of ten ( the block, indicated to it the village and a total 24 cases previotrrs month. during the Msst of the obrpenter familios in the village have small or except in a few instanoes, rEsrginal landholdings.

FOLLOW.UP

20i

for these carpentry becomes an impoltant subsidiary occupation people whenever necessary funds to purchase the requisite raw material are available. The financial assistance of Rs' l'000 each to four of these artisans helped them buy the wood from

Mandawar, where both wood as well as a saw nrill to cut it enabled were readily available. Thus each of these artisans were time from agricultural pursuits' more fruitto utilise their spare

fully and thereby increase their incomes' the Except for one instance, in whose case the repayment of account of sickness, the entire first instalment was delayed on group was found to bb regtr,lar in returning the loal'

II.

Non-traditional Sector
sector, forty-six entrepreneurs selected

In the non-traditional

from the three blocks, Ramgarh, Kishangarh and Mandawar falling in the north-northeastern region of Alw-ar district were identified under the project. Of these, nearly 72 per cent were per cent were selected from Ramgarh while merely l'1 and ll selected
akeady detailed in Chapter 6 only six units out of these could be financed due to various leasons. Even out of these six units, as many as five could hardly be

from Kishangarh and Mandawar respectively'

As

considered as real non-traditional industrial units, as each of them required a very elementary level of skills, was neilher power-operated nor generated any employnrent excpt for the incumbent himsell As such, each of these was accommodated under the DRI Scheme in February 198 t , along with I 16 other

artisan entrepreneurs financed under the project. Follow-up survey of these units was also conducted side by side with that of artisan entrepreneurs from this block. Out of these five, except for the tdiloring unit of village Neekach where Rs. 500 disbursed for the purchase of a sewing machine were misappropriated as a result of impersonation, all other uirits

were found to be functioning properly, both during the 'ongoing' as well as the late-stage evaluations conducted by us' Of the remaining four applicants, three had taken a loan for expanding their existing units (one a restaurant' (dhaba), and twt bicycle repair units). while only one wanted to start a new venture, a tailoring shop in his village Chauma. In each case

,6i
the assistance holped the and. in at least two instances

RURAL INDUSTRIIiISETION

increase

their

incornes.

in a city and start a business in own respective villages. The only unit financed under project -which can, to some extent, be called, a non-traditi industry is that of a flour mill unit of village Alavada in May, I 981 . Even this comes in the very lowlevel service-industry sector, but since it fulfils some of the ther prerequisites of a nontraditional unit, we propose to it in some detail. Other considerations for giving an ela te account of this case being that it is the only one of its kind the project and because it is illustrative of the overall nonitional industries scene in the rural areas,

them to leave their iobs

from the appropriate agencies

Mill, Alavada The entrepreneur was a young unit (composite runit of flour mi cotton ginning) terinporarily regist
Flour
o

oil

of 28 years who had his expeller, telghani, and

and

no-dues certificate

contact with the project team in the prospective entrepreneur was mill at Rs. 400 a month. While own unit in his native village, Ala

all the other formalities, he expec{ed his unit to financed before all the others. Accordingly he the SBI (ADB), Ramgarh, twice each in the rnonths of Novem and December. The first three times when fre requested to the bank's oftcer incharge of sanctioning all types of oans to village Alavada, he was asked to come pext week as concerned olficial claimed

In October, 1980, when the contact with us, ho was quite disl his efforts to get his unit financed National Bank, Allavada and the R amgarh. He was greatly could get the requi$ite assistance if of eligibility for obtaining financi While his name was listed by us, with his job. Since this person had already

holding on to his job in Delhi.

prror to coming into , 1980. At rhat time ployed in Delhi in a flour was trying to set up his he was simultaneously

depressed as all failed both at the puniab Bankoflndia (ADB), when told by us that he

ed and

first came into

fulfilled all the conditions

assistance from a bank. was advised to continue

FoLLoW-uP

i:ot

to be "very busy" in the current week. Since the entreprcneur was employed in Delhi, he could not visit the bank more than twice a month. The fourth time that the bank official was asked to visit the site and prepare a feasibility report for the proposed

industry, the prospeitive entrepreneur was assured that his unit would be financed together with the others identified under the project. In the second week of February, 1981, when the SBI (ADB), Rarngarh, disbursed as many as l2l loans under the DRI Scheme, the concerned official had still not inspected the site and prepared the feasibility report. By this time the young entrepreneur had already resigned from his job as he was finding it difficult to pursue the matter with the bank and continue with the job simultaneously. In the last week of February, the bank.informed him that he need not come daily to the bank as his loan would be sanctioned together with those of the other applicants in the non-traditional sector, and,would be done soon. In the second week of March, 1981, the official in-charge of sanctioning loans in village Alavada visited the site, prepared a favourable feasibility report and submitted it to the bank. In accordance with the rules the entrepreneur was asked to submit a no-dues certificate. When it. was submitted it was found to be outdated as it had been obtained in Septernber, 1980, and had ceased.to be valid as six months had elapsed. As a result the entrepreneur was asked to obtain a fresh no-dues certificate. The process of getting the certificate afresh took another month and a half. It was submitted to the bank in early May, 198 I, and within a week,s time a loan of Rs. 2,300 for the purchase of a flour mill was released. It may be of interest to note that even after ali the time and money spent in finally getting the bank to sanction the loan, only one part of the composite unit of a flour mill, oil mill and cotton ginning machine for which the entrepreneur had applied was actually sanctioned and released. The bank,s reasoning for doing this, as explained to one of the project members was, that the bank wanted to see if the entrepreneur was capabie of pro_ periy running the. one unit sanctioned to him. If the entrepreneur succeeded in the venture, he could always approach thE bank for sanctioning a fresh loap.

204

hiinel rNoustnuirsatroN
actually succeeded in this within a couple of months in this chapter.
APPLICATIONS

That the young venture and applled for a fresh of the former, will be discussed
FOLLOW-UP OF

the beginnilg of thi chapter, at least 200 of the total 336 applicarits (291 in the itional sector and 45 in the non-traditional sector) identified for financial assistance had not been financed till the tirne o our winding up field-work operations in Alwar in Novem 1982. Industries sector-wise break-up of these 200 prospective frorn the three blocks is given in Table 1.
As stated in

I.
S.

Block-wise list

penaliog applicants

No.

Industries slctor
Kishangarh

Total 9
26 J)
67 8

A B

Traditional sector
Non-traditibnalsector

l6l
39

Total

A follow-up of these cases w in Ramgarh and Ebout three mo Mandawar blocks throws

lasted

for about six months

in Kishangarh and light on the overall rural

each

industrial scene. The survey revealed that the bllow-up measures taken by Ramgarh artisans and were much more.persistent and vigorous as compared the other two blocks. This must have been dte only to the n that in Ramgarh financing of the 122 entrppreneurs had t accomplished rather speedily and with quite p bit of fanfare if unintended. As a result the relatively easy availability of a loan heightened an average applicantfs expectations. If one were to view the
people's reaction against the

and resignation encountered by

identification stagqs, then one can
siastic behaviour. As against this, in the latter

rop of their initial cynicism study team during the

appreciate their enthu-

gntrepreneurs did not flnd anvt

out of the ordinary in

blocks, the prospective

__L

FOLLOW-U?

2O5

getting themsglves enlistedl for just another programme' As stated earlier, in some of the easily accessible villages, it was not uncommon to find certain entrepreneurs (artisans generally) who had been enlisted for financial assistance under three to four different programmes. As for the beneflciaries themselves, tbey did not even know the names of the various programmes or the various agencies implementing them. It was only an occasional educated person inthe village ota Sarpanch who
explained the different developmental schemes under which the individual beneficiary nright have been enlisted. Thus we came across several individuals who neither knew not cared to know as to who the study team was. In many instances they voiunteered

their narnes only because the extension functionary, in the company of the village Sarpanch or some other elders, begged for their help. We would like to elaborate this point later in this chapter as it is illustrative of the rural psyche generated in the wake of multiplicity of prograrumes and pro-

gramme agencies. For the present, we shall only try to give th actual account of the follow-up measures taken in each of the three blocks by the various actors involved in the process of

rural industrialisation. After the first round of financing in the Ramgarh block in February, I 981, the remaining applicants were quite optimistic and pursued their cases enthusiastically. For instance, during the subsequent months-March to July, l98l (-) the frequency of visits paid to the State Bank of India (ADB), Ramgarh, by these entrepreneurs was generally more than once each month. However, each time they came to the bank, they were turned away on one pretext or the other. Some of the most frequently employed pretext being : 1) The particular field officer (out of the total three in the bank) responsible for all types of loans in the concerned village was either on a field visit (attending camp), or not available in the branch due to some other reason, or simply too busy. In each case the artisan was asked to come next week rather than the next day. 2) Each of the entrepreneurs who approached the bank after April 15, 1981, was asked to come in July as the entire branch would be busy implementing the Integrated Rural pevelopment Programme during May-June, 1981'

206

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

had been finaneed, the respon invariably was: "Nobody approached the bank." When th concerned oficial was oointedly asked whether he was by a particular artisan on a particular day at a lime, a slightly apologetic response would oome in the tl ng form: "You see how
busy we are over here-every day there is a camp or something beyond our limits...moreover this branch is meant basi y for agricultural loaning. Would you mind sendr'ng the over to me next week...? We will surely look into it." The artisans were accordin asked to approach the con cerned field omcer on a day with the advice that if the field officer refused to on any ground whatsoever. they should seek the hetp of branch manager. All such er'ltrepreneurs who dared 1o the help of the bank official, invariably got the following and stereotyped response: "Don't you know you are not to bother me when there are special officers inted by the bank to look into these matters ? Go to officer A'." 'ere beyond We did not find it fit to this point in the working of the bank. While we pt a keen and constant watch on the hopeful beneficiaries and bank, always advising and encouraging the fornrer and ing the latter, we carefully avoided the prosdect of becoming decisive factor in the rela. tions between the bank and its pective clients. Result.....-t None ofthe pending 35 cases had financed till our summa_

3) The concorned bank expressing a desire to visit the applicant's village to re-check his bona fldes. Invariably the time given for srlch a visit was at a week later. which. however, did not materialise in a srn Each time one bf us asked the bank if any of the applicants

else...we are overloaded with

It was reported to us by pending applicants when approached during the summative that they had pursued their respective cases vigorously g the first few months but when neither the bank nor the Industries Extension Officer (1vhen approached) gave any indi ion of hope, they stopped 'harassing' the ofrcials involved. After the inirial few futile visits, each one ibecame reco to the fact that after the study team moved out, the situati went back to 'normal' and

tive visit in April; 1982.

TOLLOW-UP

207

therefore nothing would happen, no matter what they did. In the case of Kishangarh and Mandawar, since from the beginning we had decided to let the various actors involvedthe beneficiaries, the barks and the bureaucracy-work out their own equations after the lists of prospective entrepreneurs had been submitted to the concerned agencies; even this much could not be accomplished. In both these blocks, except for a few instances in each case where the prospective entrepreneurs pursued theit cases persistently, most others did not take any concrete steps except an occasional visit to the concerned bank or government functionary when they 'happened' to be in town on some other errand. Even the more persistent entrepreneurs happened to be from amongst such villages which were easily approachable. For instance, in Kishangarh besides the Noornagar (5 kms from Kishangarh) shoe-makers and the candle industry applicant from Kishangarh itself, the only other entrepreneurs who frequently approached the bank, the IEO or one of our team members, were from Chamrauda (about I I kms from Kishangarh). Among these the candle industry applicarit-a scheduled caste, was found to be the most persistent, both because he was fully unemployed and also because he could easily approach the bank. He had had his unit registered, quotation lists obtained, project profile prepared and submitted to the bank long before coming into contact with the project team. At the time of approaching us only three things were awaited : (a) sanction of the loan; (b) sanction of a quota for purchase of wax; and (c) release of subsidy. For the first he was dependent on the bank, and for the other two he was at the rlercy of the industries department. While the former insisted the quota of wax be sanctione{ first, the latter claimed the loan must be sanctioned prior to getting the licence for wax. Between these two the prospective entrepreneur had already lost one business season (the 198i Deepavali festival in October when the demand for candles is at its peak every year), and was almost on his way to losing the next (1982) when he approached us. Eventually he did lose out as both agencies did not alter their respective startds and continued the inevitable dilly-dallying. The experience in Mandawar too turned out to be no better;

208

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

perhaps worse, because the in this block were quite far usually not easily accessible. from the block headquarters Moreover since this blook had fp years not seen the services of people tended to be even less an Industries Exfension Officer, for rural industries vieorinclined to pursue their aPplic in this case were the chamars ously. The only pxceptions fou of Tinki-Roodi, the carPenters o Todarpur, and the sole appliop from Mandawar itself. cant for setting Up an auto the applicants, rather than Strangely, in e{ch of these appro4ched one of the Block approaching the concerned ba officials.

Punjab National Bank, Harspli ( the incumbent's village rightful only after word about the fina spread, that he lecame a regular ment Omcer of Mandawar. As same caste as the applicants man succeeded i4 persuading the

done as appare4tly many Tiuki-Roodi werb former they had turned to the BDO, ing our team to get the names SBBJ, Mandawan, could not be the most inaccessible villages Todarpur, as stated, is one in; even when distance from becaruse of sandY in the block rtive ol this, the spokesman 12 kms. Mandawar is onlY grouP found to be almost a dailv for the carpenterb of this on first name terms with and visitor to the Block Office its entire staff. ous chapter, he was the only As already st&ted in the from his village, who pursuone fron amongst all the ed the matter with the SecretarY, Khadi and Village Industries sanctioned and disbursed to Board (KVIB). 0nce tbe ioans four of the appliqants (including ) from Todarpur, the frequency his , KVIB, was also reduced ouencv of his vi$its to the Sect and oo further efforts were made in respect of the pending five

of chamars identipproach the manager of the whose alea of operation comes) even once. It was ing of Todarpur carpenters visitor to the Bloc.k DevelopBDO happened to be ofrhe m Tinki-Roodi, their spokesDO to 'influence' the project brred from PNB, Harsoli, to revealed that this was being holds of this community in of the branch. As a result , except lor casually request these artisans transferred to much help to them.
oodi group

FoLLow-uP
cases

2a9

liom the village. The follow-up by these entrepreneu$ revealed that the toans had been disbursed only to those amongst them who had better relations with the person who worked as a liaison interface between the group and the KVIB ofrcial. The auto-mechanic applicant frorn Mandawar, it was found, had been in touch with the bank more thao two years before getting enlisted under the project, without any results. Since his make-shift 'workshop' happened to be right in front ofboth, the BDO office and the SBBJ, he conveniently increased the frequency of his visits to each after he was enlisted by the team. However, even by the Late-Stage Survey of the block iri April, 19E3, his efforts had borne no fruit.

Cnaprrn

O:ueraiew and

Prirt ipalConclusions

Policy Framewofk

The "action-research" studv

than was designed with the princi

the Alwar district of

Rajas-

objectives of examining the industrialisation can best be

fnancial institutions can the organisational lessons of

and measures for rapid rural the available policy options strialisation. The policy of rural industriali ion in India was projected by
of the Government beginning lution to the Industrial Policv Five Year Plan 1980-85 as and income gerreration in economy. In its chapter

the various policy pronouncem 1948 Industrial Policv Statement of July 1980 and the the principal instfument of empld the non-agricultulral sector of the on Policy PerspeNtive, the Na1

from the

'r

Committee on the Develop ment of Backwalrd Areas (Si an Committee) in its Report on Village and Cottage Ind submitted in March 1981. stated: "In our setting, with an vercrowded agriculfure sector and plenty of manfower, the lopment of an effective decentralised sector in village and industries rvilh a close scale industry, is absolutely lies in the fact that it with immediate effect and
me distribution and therebv

unemployment."r

pfoblems of poverty and

e is carried out under a large

OVBRVTEW

AND PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS

2lt

number of plan schemes and programmes especially meant for the weaker sections. The total plan outlay during the Sixth Five

Year Plan (1980-85) for the weaker sections

Table

is

given in

l.
1.
Sixtb Plan public sector outlays for tbe weaker sectionss

Table

Schemelprograntme

Afihy in

Rs, crores

I. 2. 3. 4,

IRDP/NREP

3486.64

Hill and Tribal Areas

Minor Irrigation Projects

1030.00 18r0.30 and

KVIC, Handloom, Sericulture, Coir,

Handicrafts 5. SC, ST, and Backward Classes 6. Minimum Needs Programme (MNP) 7. Special Employment Progralnme of States 8. Cooperation 9. North Eastern Council 10. Backward Areas ll. Labour and Labour Welfare 12. Social Welfare

1t60,20
1560.00

5807.00
610.65

914.24 340.00 110.00

199.64

271.97
:

lotal

11300.94

ildication.of the magnitude of the total outlay on this poverty eradication programme for the weaker sections. Obviously, the scale of financial commitment of the nation to these programmes is enormous and its success is vital not only for the economic well-being of the weaker sections but to the economy and the Indian polity as a whole. Or as a corollary, a large
an

The total plan outlay of Rs. 17300.94 crores is neariy 18 per cent of the total Sixth Plan outlay of Rs' 97'500 crores giving

failure on this
disaster.

front could spell a major national

economic

home stark truths. The study was subjected to, -a tftree-stage evaluation: formativi:, intensive, and summative' 'While the first stage identified problems prior to implementation, the second recirded programme effects, and the third lauged the overall effectiveness of the interverrtion and of the social and egonontio feasibility of its rePlicabilitY,

Viewed in these perspectives' the action-research study brings

212

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

the rural industrialisation

, (2) the governmental incapacities. It is neither birarchy among these three that the sklll problematique
is fundamental. stated, "As the rural industry place in different fields and

industrialisation will also elementary needs to small ving techniques and designed

to satisfy the needs of a more ad The study indicated that aft

planning, there
w&s a

profound

character,"s more than three decades of nce of anything but the most in the Alwar district. The technologies had not arrived ent potential of rural indusIronically, Alwar, under

this fundamental $roblem of social programmes alth$ugh we find it.r in our piesentatiop. The skill gap rtas both techno Admittedly entrepireneurial skill camplex task and needs an even ml effort than the tbchnical skills. \ done in the directibn of developing would meet the lodal requirements.

by 1930. . In some respedts the problem v as bigger in the sense that the basic social development o[ the people had not yet taken them out of the m[re of illiteracy, i , casteism, and disfunctional attitud{s. It was, howey , not our effort to <ieal with
development facing planned ifficult to ignore the problem ogical

early as 1842 and a college

and entrepreneurial.

far more difficult and re complicated development ery little had, however, been such entrepreneurial skills as

skills is, however, a sad develop the educational es of the development plans despite some early starts in Alwar . The present institutional structqrg in Alwan district poses i big problem as to whether
:

The poor development of rech reflection of the inpdequate efforts and vocational. trbining programn

i
I

OVERVIEW AND PRINCTPAL CONCLUSIONS

2t3
necessary

skills are either irrelevant or inadequate and inefficient or altogether absent. As a result, the level of skills'available in Alwar district for rural industries is extremely rudimentary and of very low technology, such as basket weaving, rope making. Qnly in rare instances were the rural skillS of a slightly higher nature in
the for.m of stone carvings. Nowhere is the centrality of this issue expressed better than by the two eminent Japanese scholars Kazushi Ohkawa and Muttou Tajima of the International Development Centre of Japan. They stated:

the ITIs or the educational facilities for imparting

. .

"The traditional elements which have historically developed. differ from one country to another and we have to pay attention to their function. For example, Japan had craftsmen's skills of techniques oflocal indigenous industries, such as Arita, Kutani and Setoyaki ceramic industries, Yuzen printed silk and Bishijin silk industries; Nambri iron kettle casting, gunsmith and swordsmith iridustries and others, all inherited from the Tokugawa era. It may be said that their highly trained skills and techniques were the basis of the rapid adaptation of many sniall and medium enterprises to the transplanted industfies during the iflitial growth phase in Meiji Japan."r

While there are many parts of the country where perhaps the more advanced traditional skills and crafts abound, in Alwar district the level of traditional skills was rather rudimentarv and very little had been done to upgrade them over tire years. . Our Ramgarh experience with attempts to esiablish small tractor repair units in the viliages ofthe Ramgarh block illus'of hard core unwillingnesi to take to trates the nature selfemployment and a fear of takirig risks on the part of the local people. It was a case of relatively young persons afraid to venture into self-employment and a family and social milieu unable to encourage them or support the progress of newer skill and entrepreneurial development. The failure was not only of the action-research project, it was of a whole procesS of development after more than three decades of planning. The skill problematique in many ways reflects the goverf-

214

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

nrental inadequ{cies

in

Alwar.

Government had launched a maj

Alwar-perhaps due to its prq

mental infrastrucfure for programme was less than adequat

c the fact that the State progranme of industrialising

ity to Delhi-the governg the policy into a workable

Ultimately thp programme of on solid local foundati of actions that croate the conditi can succeed. The$e conditions i including powerr transport, co trained skills. Whlile power had n, ment' (irregular sripply was), almo sites were absenf. Transport and were so woeful thflt is was an the district or to convey goods and
based
much advertised Matsya did not have a direct telephone metres away causigrg imqense
as well as the

'

dustrialisation, if it is to be had to be backed by a series in which such a programme industrial infrastructure. munications and above all yet become a major impedimost of the other prerequicommunications for instance.

to travel within or

outside

. Illustratively, in the

Estate, the industrialists still to Alwar city just six kilo-

to the entrepreneurs

offioial agencies. We have alrepdy commt upon the skillJevel of the peoPle of Alwarr It is very to understand how a programme of rural or even other of industrialisation can benefit the people of Alwar .tbe local skills, commopsurate with the prOgramme of in sation,'.are develope{. Indeed the benefipiaries ofthe pr, t programme of industrislisation in Alwar {,ere going to be entrepreneurs ol Delhi aqd perhaps Haryana. This process will not only have sown the seeds of future social tqnsions but mofe portant than that the local people of Alwar wJere likely to.pay very heavy price for it. . The manner in which the o ial machinery dealing rvith rural indusftialisatlon operated in t district leaves much to be desired. The multiplicity of fu ies of the various devglopmeital agencies with the ir y conceived and implemellted developmental schemes crea so much confusion that the average poor villager was a id to gel involved in thB labyrinth. The District Inpustries Centre IC), set up with so much fanfare and of which so much w expected, did not seem to have helped mucfr. The DICs lr hed in May I 978 rvere to provide qnder .a single all the services and supFeant

OVERVIEW AND PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS

215

port at pre-inVestmen; and post-investment stagps to small and cottage units. they *ere to undertake economic investigation ofthe potential for the total development ofthe district inclu' ding its raw materials, demands, skills and othei resources' 'identification of entrepreneurs, 'selection of suitable items of production, registration of utrits, preparation o.f project profiles' raw mate' assistancc in procurement of machinery and equipment' makin g effective arran gemeirts rials and infrastructural facilities, for credit facilities, quality control, research extension' and entrepreneurial training and rendering marketing assistance'5 The DIC, Alwar, was recognised as one of the better orgathe years nised DICs. Our study, however, showed that during performance' since its creatio , the Alwar DIC was yet to reach, wise, anywhere near'the goals set before it' It had neither been personnel able to evolve approprlate policies nor develop effective Indeed necessary for ihe ambitious plans of industrialisation' been able to develop any effective performance in the DIC had not identifying the location specific industrial development poten' of skill tiat in ifre Atwar disrict or even to suggest a strategy the industriali-sation of the district' Jevelopment necessary for of the DIC as Ind]eed as the study reveals, the ciedibility and programmes was so low with well as other official agencies the people that they were both unwilling and sometimes'hostile people-oriented ,o ,ir.*. Rural industrialisation is ultini'ately a are unwilling to parti' programme. When the people themselves be ex;n the official propirammes, the latter can hardly "ipu't" to make much headwaY' pected problematique' We now turn to the third dimension of our of the financial n4mely, the institutional incapacities especially years tho institutions and the commercial banks' In recent Development Bank of financial institutions like the Industrial and Rural India (IDBI), the Natiorial Bank for Agriculture operations and o.u.top-toi (NABARD), through refinancing have the commercial banks, most of which ar: nationalised' and rural developed a major commitment to rural development As already industiialisation especially for the weaker sections'

,fro*olnTablel,thesixthPlanoutlayontheweakersection
in several

prigrutt., was to the tune of Rs' 17,300 crores-a massive comturn made huge -itir.nt. The commercial banks alone have in For instance' by of these programlnes'
"o.olnit*"rrt*

RURAL INDUSIRIALISATION

Rural Development pfobanks lendings stood at Rs. 3,000 erores by the end, of
nmercial banks to agriculture 967 vith government control oygf banks and these commit )nt$ have increasingly grown !!p9s then. The griority $ector r( ived 41.3 per cent of the loans
fro.qt commqrcial banks

lf":flt.""d

fqilple coyld lead to a banking ar lea{ tC tlp pqst-g4tionalis4tion I 4*l twaP a strgire commitment respgnsibilities. fhe bighest ech firm commitmenis to the new p( h4ve issued Polic' sr

advancqs standitg at Rs. to the agricultqral and rural-cUm-small industr segment is very large indeed. While thg succesq in this sector uld bring enormous econprr 9, soglar 4nq polttlcal cllvid mi9, social 4nd political dividr ls to the country, a major
17941.14 crores bs of Marcb 19

and small-scale industries/lusi 80 per cgnt. Witfr commercial

by

Mr

of which agriculrure accounted for more tlan

1985

, the exposure

national disastQr. iod, he banking industry its broader social role and of th banks have made ies of rural investrnent 4nd lines and instructio4q down

T49 ggPstion lhat arises out f&r are the bankis equipped and colqgqal and indefd the complex tr lgqCipg to the rurFl sec{or? Thg has been written about so much I

qsp.qcially sqpervi$gry, prob cp;nq-e,qted upqq.1 In addition, the

riqf

q*,qttqn an]t furt$er. Sirnilarly, tl pftqq inaccassi$r 9!!: A

Ii$

3ea,

OVERVIEW AND PR,INCIPAL CONCLUSIONS

2t1

effective or productive, Despite the strong commitmelts made by the commercial banks at the highest levels, the orgarnisational capabilities at the rural branch level have not been developed adequately to rnatch the lending effort involved. As the study . shows, the branch personnel is inadequate for the tasks, the skills required are insufficient, the branch infrastructure necessary {o supervise the credit is deficient, and the attitudes of the

branch staff are not commensurste with the management's policy pronouncements and commitments. We do not wish to blame the branch staff. What we wish to point out is that under the present loan dispensation system the banks, prpssurised as they are by the government to fulfil their rural lending targets, will resort to blind lending-ill-prepared,

ill-organised and indeed ill-conceived. The resulting damage to the banks and the national economy could be severe. Inadequate organisation of.the delivery system in the programme will thus be the gravest limitation of the banking industry to fulfil its tasks in'rural development and rural industrialisation. The borrowing habits of the rural artisan community must also be considered. Contrary to the popular belief that rural people jump at the slightest opportunity of obtaining financial assistance from public sources, w found that in Alwar the poorer artisans were very conscious of the fact that a debt is a debt, be it from the government, a bank or a bania. It should be avoided as far as Possible. Furihermore, most of the rural artisans and the other weaker sections calculated very carefully the total cost of a loan not rnerely in terms of the declared rate ofinterest but what it would actually cost them for getting and repaying the loan. Since the governmental or bank credit invariably entailed several visits, often five to ten, to gct the sanction, and as many for repayment, many of the rural borrowers computed the daily wages lost, the travelling, and the incidental costs to calculate the effective rate of interest they would actually have to pay. Invariably, the effective rate came to prohibitive levels. On the other hand, the traditional and much maligned village moneylender, often a bania, delivered credit at the doorsteps of the borrowers with the simplest ol procedures, in a r4anler understood by the local people, providing the smallest

218

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

largest amountb according to s, and saving the entire bother of commUtidg to a bank or o(tce either for loan or for repaym$nt. Above all, moneylender's treatment of the borrower wab considered far ore acceptable by the rural people than the high and mighty itudes ofl the bank staff or the governltent ofrbials. In so far a the recovery tactics of the moneylender were concerned, the people felt that it was no worse than that of the gove ent or the banks. In fact. most respondents fslt that the mc ylender was more considerate of the reasorls for 'default' i Ioan repayment than the banks or the goverrlment. And flrr y, the effective rate of two or rhree per cent pef month of mort lenders was in the eyes of the respondents lebs than what t effective rate of bank or
governmental borrolwing entailed. These observatidns lead us again to the organisational issue of delivering credit to the rural by the banking system about which we have already writte earlier. Many a problem at the operational ldvel arises from ively trivial matters and could be easily resolved without m effort or exffa cost.

to

The Positive Findings

Our catalogue of the problems s from some of the fiajor positive financial institutional structures at the village level is at once a potential. The geographical pen

problem of obtaining credit is development. With the rural had 68 branches exdlusive of-16

not in any way detract gs. The creation of the e district, block and everr change with tremendous ion of the countryside by soclo-economrc lnlrastrucwill be increasingly possipresent variety in Alwar only a few years ago. The a ajor impediment to rural network in Alwar, which
1

perative Bank branches as of economic financing earlier. ons in Alwar and the from the government to it-ratio is leading the

g opportunities. By their

OVERVIEW AND PRINCI"AL

CONCLUSIONS

219

local presence, the banks in Alwar were also helping the rural economy to get better integrated with the national econony through the various linkages of commercial, trading and industrial nature. Our study also suggests that there is immense and immediate potential for the development of the traditional rural industrial sector. The Alwar experience indicates that the most important problem faced by this sectol is not only marketing as is generalty believed but also credit' The village moneylenders and the middlemen were able to block the marketirg channels for the rural artisans only to the extent that the latter were dependent on the moneylenders and middlemen for ,their credit needs especially to buy the necessary raw materiirls. The Alwar results show that given an assured supply of periodically replenishable credit at moderate rates of interest, the rural artisans were quite capable of devising their own marketing strategies and selling their produce only as and when it fetched the maximum price. Commercial bank credit saved them from selling tbeir produce at untemunerative prices during the 'off-season' when they needed money most for purchasing raw materials as well as for their consumption needs. They could now sell their produce whether in Alwar or elsewhere when they got the maximum price.

The Alwar study also clearly derironstrated that the small rural artisan was a good investment risk if carefully selected and supervised. Follow up studies demonstrated that most of
the borrowers used the credit cafefully and efficiently and had a good repayment record of the dues. Indeed in most cases the bank credit had a sizeable 'income-effect' on their earnings. A majority of the borrowers increased their earnings by 50 to 75 per cent, thanks to commercial bank credit. In the short run this had no mean effect on their consumption and savings levels. Indeed the fact that this class of people could be brought under the umbrella ofthe banking system and thus integrated in the national economy was a mas$ive gairi socially' economically and even psychologically. A sust[ined effort to reach such people in the rural areas would lead to a matked change in the attitudes and performance of these people. We were generaily pleased that barring one community of shoe-making chamars which had given up their traditional

220

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

vocation due to social stigm4, munities were both optimistic crafts to pass on lhe tradition to
The Failures of Pdlicies

the other groups and comconfident enough of their

younger generation.

In its report on the Strategy Development of Village and Cottage lndustried, the National mmittee on Backward Areas stated that '!the ntrmber of those mployed in this sector has definitely shrunk during the 196l-71. Despite rhe conceptual problems Of comparing the figures in the Census. onb can safely conchqde that contrary to our desire, the sector has certainly not proviped grcater em ryment over a wholg decade. The stated objectite has not been The reason is not far to seek. The p{oblem has not studied in any depth and the remedies have not been souglrt This, in essence, represents the bilure of public policy with respect to the devdlopmept of and cottage industries. The failure relates priqarily to the wror g assumptions on which the present policies ari based: Uritil assumptions are fully explicated, examirled and reformql there is little prospect for any major imp4ct on the entire The Alwar stud]y was essentiall. limited to be able to comment on the overalfl policy of rur4l industrialisation. Even so some of the lessong are apparent. I instance, the assumptions that reservation of a few items for village and rural ind ustries. like the DlCs to deal provisions in financial terms is sector dealt with the most The village artisans and could take little comfort
technologically mQre advanced tiveness of the backward rural potential of severAl of the tra inadequate locally available ski whether of the gov{rnment or the face of the rural in{ustrial sector, these issues and the problem a
constant onslaught of the products, the unattraclogies, the low income

al crafts, the woefully the poor delivery system,.

stated harshly
least in

Alwar.

in the As long as

already explained earlier

OVBBVIEW AND PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS

221

are not carefully .studied and attended to, as the Sivaraman Committee has pointed out, there is little that will happen to open the prospects for the future of rural industrialisation. In fact, the rural industrial sector will recede putting more people out of employment in this sector and creating a greater imbal'' ance in the rural economy. It is in this context that the late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi's comment that many existing imbatances in the industrial map of the country were, "a result of the implementation of the very scheme which was eipected to develop backward areas industrially,"T (emphasis' idded) assumes a poignant reality. The Alwar study makes it quite apparent that low technology-iow-skill village and rural industrial sector can only have a bleak future. The Second Plan s hope that "As the rural industry develops, technical ohanges will take place in different fields and correspondingly t'he pattem of rural industrialisation will also change from simple crafts meeting elementary needs to srnall industries based on steadily improving techniques and designed to satisfy the needs of a more advanced character" has The time has c'learly come for the planners both at the national level and at the state level to take a fresh and hard look at their policy approaches and assumptions and to take rernedial steps before the'rural industries collapse under the economic and technological onslaught on them which is but inevitable in,.p fast develloping country such as India. Quite simply, rural . industrialisation rvill not succeed in its present condition of weakness. It will succeed only when it has a strong
base.

been belied.

sector will push out more and more people towards the urban , areas creating more congestion, squalor and population concent' ra.tions where they are most unwanted. On the other hand, uirder such conditions, the programmes like the IRDP involving huge outlays,and commeroi4l bank credit will collapse bringing the national economy and the commercial banks under great
strain.

If remedial steps are not taken soon' the rural industrial

222

RURAL INDUS'IRIALISATION

Foci for Action

Tbe problems we

have

issues we have raiSed bv

rural industrialisa{ion, the go initiate immediate action to d( the local people. lThe develop
traditional sector.
The existing eCqcational and

remedial action at least in Alwar. tunity of listing some of the action In the absence of adequate, gth amongst the rural people in a district like Alwar, a deal of responsibility inevitably falls on tte government both at the Centre and at the State level, especially the latter. Apart from taking a fresh look at the various policies and basic policy framework of

earlier and the various for ven so, we take the opporsuggest the crucial foci

at both levels

has

to

and upgrade the skills

of

skills is especially important in the upgradation of the local skills is

of the appropriate level of -traditional sectors. The ial for the survival ofthe

in the Alwar district are simply not number of the Technical Training to put it strongly, 4 farce. The facl training facility id a traditional st in Rajasthan or evon in Agra speatr a craft at the Centdal Leather Inst to non-option for the local people The experience of the industri in Alwar'clearly indicates that even and other skills, they had to i Alwar district. And yet neither the Government had lecn galvanised towards the development of skills re The institution4l infrastructure dealing with electridity supply, indu incentives, credit, marketing, etc., that will help the gnowth of the one of them andtheir procedures dial action taken. While such to take place through the existing ship, relentless prespure on the I so that the benefits of the progl

up to the mark.

institutions and facilities

large

Institutes in the. district are. we could not get any like leather in Alwar. or volumes. Training for such at Madras is tantamount Alwar.

br

at the industrial estates elementary mechanical labour from outside the

to

local DIC nor the State any worthwhile action

to Alwar. of the State, Government licences and permits,

hardly the infrastructure industries in Alwar. Each to be studied and remeive action is unlikelv itico-administrative leaderapparatus

will be necessary

at

least percolate down

OVERV'EW AND PRINCTPAL OONCLUSIONS

223

to the local grassroot levels, even if partially. More specifically the institutions like the DICs should be compelled to perform the functions for which they were designed. If they cannot develop location specific programmes of rural industrial development, especially technical and other skills, the question should be asked whether the DICs serve any useful function. On their part, the comrrercial banks' can do a great deal 'more than they have done so far. As commercial institutions, they aie far better equipped to help the rural industrial development of the country than perhaps the government. They are and should be in much greater contact with the people concerned and should be an effective link between policies, technologies and their delivery to the rural people. This could be in most areas, including the programmes for skill development,. For this purpose, the banks have to organise themselves immediately. The existing organisational system at the rural branches is inadequate to deal with the complexity of rural and village industries both traditional and non-traditional. The staffing itself is inadequate. And more so the type of skills required for the development of rural industries. Here again, the banks will have to develop more location-specific organisations. What is useful in Alwar may not necessarily be useful, say, in the Bikaner district of Rajasthan. The current strategy of administrative decentralisation in the commercial banks must be followed by a further organisational decentralisation to tako care of the local needs for banking services and facilities. In particular it is desirable that training facilities for field staff are developed closer to the field levels. Since the needs' of rural industrial skills vary from district to district' and sometimes within a district, much more training effort including or-the-job training, which is location specific" is desirable. We need .hardly re-emphasise the problems of attitude of bank personnel towards rural industries. As we have repeatedly pointed out in the study, the policies. of the top managements of the bank vis-a-vis the rural sector, especially the weaker sections, are not adequately shared by the local branch staff, Perhaps they have some reasons for their reservations. But until this hiatus between the top managements' policies and the

224

RURAL INDUSTRIALISAfiON

attitudes of the locd branch staff is resolved, much of the rural lending will either $ot take place ac rding to the plans, or witl take pldce blindty ulnder targets fixe( by the government. The problems of rural branch inl ircluding transport arrangementsJ rules, regulati( prbcedures, even absence of stationery and afpl.ication formd ve all been commented upon in the text. We only need to that each of them is an impediment and commercial institu can hardly justify nonaction or even slow laction to resolv them. They call for simple resol mcasures which ade

well within

or any external

competence of the banks agency

the right staff in the rural boys and girls as rural

:
,

field statr sirnply {oes not work. slightly greater ruial background.
personnel is absolutply the sine-quo

,nately, there is enoqgh experience l 'lop the type of skills needed. The land the banking in{ustry is well ad'

right staff necessitates a above all, training such of rural banking. Fortu-. in the country to devenowever, rs enolmous to have a well .coordi-

lnated programnoe'pf rural and s ni.urban based recruitmnt l and an enlarged training progrrmm for the development of the
lrequisite skills. I And last but notlthe least, the ;and what they ean db. Obviously, in :the countervailing pdoples' institutii tsocial and economic developmental
I

of .the people theniselves backward area like Alwar are few, The educational.
are rather poor. Even

iso the people can help themselv ivarious benefits urdbr the programn for devqloplng thei[ skills and abi exactly easy, an effoft to organise activities involved in rural' indusl
,while.

more by availing of the

meant for them especially

And although it is not

for the various on would be wortheconomically marginal , hbwever, they have

UnfortonatelY tht large illiteratd r of the Alwar hnass

the case of the balket

have been significant.

OVERVIEW AND PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS

225

Policy Options

The policy options in Alwar thus relate to specific action towards the development of new skills, upgradation of traditional skills, institutional review especially at the State Government level, specific steps by the commercial banks towards
greater organisational preparedness, and perhaps a greater effort by the people of Alwar themselves. While some of these steps will help in Alwai, it is abundantly clear that the policy of rural industrialisation needs a fresh look along with all its assumptions. We would also do well to take a leaf from the remarkable Japanese experience of industrialisation of the backward areas as well as of rural industrialisation. All this requires a greater consciousness of the issues and problems involved before making policy pronouncements or even financial provisions under the plan. Since the problem involved has massive implications for national development generally, but more particularly for rural development, a fresh review of the policy is now desirable.
NOTB,S AND REFERENCES

l. 2.
J. 4.

National Committee on the Development of Backward

Areas, Report on Yillage and Cottage Industries, New Delhi,

the Planning Commission, 1981, Para 2.1.

6.
,7

Planning Commission, Sixtlt Five Year Plan (1980'85), (New Delhi: Planning Commission, l98l), pp. 57, 19O' 12.10 and 223-14-10. Planning Commissioq, Second Five Year Plan, New Delhi' 1956,Para 429.L Quoted in National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas, Report on Village and Cottage Industries, 1981, Para 4.10. See National Committee on Development of Backward Ateas, Report on Indusftial Organisation, Para 6.3. National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas, Report on Village and Cottage Industies, Para 4. l. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Times of India, November 5, 1982.

Cnaprnn

l0.

Epilogue

llaving spent a good part of four years on the Action, Research Project, it was found necessary tl pursue the findings further. a series of discussions were
ministries and the Planning

project report was widely

In addition, even within the rounds of in-house discussions po study lngs ines ofthe studv had several p in the fitness of things to di

November-December. 1983. for Policy Research several held. We felt that the findimptications and it would be them with a select group of

Industryn Comrdrerce and F which had actively participated the 'action' part of the Project, 'its senior ofrcialb.Shri B. At the outset
.

finally organised a meeting the CPR Proiect team and of the Planning for Rural Development, The State Bank of India. funding and operationalising
also represented by three

of

a former Cabinet Secretarv Centre for Policy Research, logical study and invited the g session", He went on to findings and practical probisation programme. First of to the fast dwindlover the country and stressing numbers of active craftsmen to evolve a suitable policy so cd that there tvas an urgent

EPILOGUB

227

to check' if not reverse this trend' and the per' Expressing his concern at the loss of credibility public institutions at the grassroots vasiveiress oi corruption in that it i"u.t u, ,tto*o by the Alwarproject, Shri Sivaraman said policy'makers of the country to was for the planners and the Among his ffi;;i uod *.nn, for correcting this situation' of the rural issues other observations some of the substantive put before irJ"t,tiofit"ti"n effort raised by Shri Sivaraman and the group for a discussion were: '^^'ii-6rg"oiration for village and tiny indrrstries from the .district level, is in a state of flux-' How can natital tJvn to ;hh-;; resolved andwhat specificsteps needto betakenfor this PurPose? "'^;;-Ti; District Industries Centres' in spiteof claims made
as

bvthestatecovertrments,havefailedtodeliverthegoodsas ;Jr;;;t;ill;;. and tinv induitries' How can this situation be

can be ."?."t"0, uid *hut concrete policy recommendations made in this context? "'-ij'--Spt""a of technical know-how being the only way that can be made viable and sustain' the rural industries programme highly ,ft" existing infrastructure for this purpose being

"a. ""0 ;;il;l; il;;it;;;;;

to the rural modalities for imparting trjchnical skills vouth can be tried out? 'rn. '"-ar ar*ar Project Report and other suohxperiences have of small loans by artisan indicated good repayment records industry has not geared itselfto yet ihe banking ""l"tt"i,iIt, sector' In view of this' how can the banks res' this ;;;i;i,h sector? p"ra t" ," effectively meet the credit needs of this are very small' even ". ''-t Sio.. the credit needs of this sector prohip*ty, ti":t"i"f cost of procuring a loan tends to become crafts' for individual bitive and therefore, acts as a diiincentive banks for financial assistance' In view of r""i" "ppt""ch the tntermediary system of-small- loans-be this, can an alternatlve is' then what viable ;;;fu for the rural areas? Is itout? and if it specific modalities can be worked of rural "";'-;;;; of considerable geographic penetration banks, the failure ofthe banking industry UV "ot*ercial 9f YiUagg industries has been due largely "r.u', i" ** ,. the needs

what specific steps ned.tobetakento what and strengthen the existing institutions' and

irt.,u,t,

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

to ineffective persDnnel. How parallel cadre o[ lersonnel to

loped? If np1,, what alternare open to the countfy to resolve the

this be resolved? Can a the rural branches be devespecific policy options are

These observations by Shri Si detailed discu.ssion bn all aspects programme. Some of the morb i

raised above and observations bv discussion were as follows:

Several participants felt that fi sector hds remained virtually wi

were followed by a the rural industrialisation t responses to the isstres various participants of the long the village industries
the guidance of any depart-

ment at the national level. The Commission which is officially

reasons best known to it, its efforts and resources on

and Village Industries

ment

of other rtral
the rulal

crafts.

As

approach,

g nearly eighty per cent of g khadi alone to the derria result of this lop-sided
programme had been

e of this sector has been

for

considerably harrfled.

It

was pointed out by the

office

that in orden to strengthen

of

the

DC,

SSI's

ing the village indr[stries Eector at Governments had been advised to three Project Officers in each of the Distnict Industries (one of .which would be responsible for looking after aspects of village industribs programmes). But, in spite of repr reminders, none of the State GovernrnentsJ had heeded'the dvice. He.felt that once this post was filled, tfre area of vill industries would no longei tmain unattended at the district and viable location-speci, fic programmes for ..the of this sector would be
developed.

infrastructure for promotdistrict 1evel, all the State

The inadequacy of the existing infrastructure for technical {nanpower training was dlso in great detail. While there was no diverqity of opinions to the desirability of consi_ itutions (the Polytechnics parrlclpants were of the greater experimentation in ,Schemes,

Rural (TRYSEM) Schemo, MobilE Train the.like,

Training

of

the Master Craftsman

for

Self-Empioyment

Carnps . Programme and

EPTLOCUE

229

The failure of the commercial banks to tackle the problem of finance for the village aod tiny industries also received considerable attention. Participants were of. the opinion that. the failure had been due largely to the absence of a well-defined personnel policy for manning the rural branches. It was also pointed out that dichotomy between the policy pronouncements made at the top management level ofthe banking industry and those pursued at the branch lgvel, was a direct result of ineffective personnel unused to the rigors of village life and unw.illing to stay and serve in the rural areas. In view of this, it was agreed that the whole question of evolving an alternate cadre to man the rural branches treeds to be thoroughli studied and each of its implications gone into in much greater detail so as to throw up a viable personnel policy for rural branches, At the end of the discussions Shri Sivaraman felt that since the Seventh Five Year Plan of the country was in the offing and the sphere of village industries so vital from .the point of. view of creating additional employmenl in the rural areas, there was need to discuss all its major aspects in much greater detail. Ftre therefore, proposed that a broad-based national serninar be held for this purpose in the near f,uture. It was also agreed. that the national seminar should be held. under the. auspices of the Planning Commission. This meeting at the Centre for Policy Research thus served a basic purpose of direct dialogue with the policy-making levels of the Planning Commission, the concerned Union Miaistries and the Banking Industry, thereby creating an awareness among the policy personnel of some of the pressing problems of rural industrialisation. On its part, the Planning Commission agreed on the need to hold .a broad-based seminar on rural industrialisation and to host such a seminar in New Delhi. The problem areas of rural industrialisation were divided for the purposes. ofthe seminar into four sub-sectors. These were: a) Policy Frame and Infrastructural Support; b) Technology and Training Needs of Rural Industrialisation; c) Marketing; and d) Financing of Rural Industries. The seminar was scheduled for October 2l-22, .1984 and was

230
designed as a 'path-finding' objective was not merely to rural industrial policy, but also to changes at various levels for during the Seventh Plan period.

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATTON

for

the Seventh

Plan. Its

the overall parameters of suitable organisational g the objectives of policy

The sub-groqps appointed oach of the asdects of rural

significant reco$mendations impact on the fural industrial
Seventh Plan period. The serni 1984, as scheduldd, at the Vigl series of recorimbndations were

the seminar delved into and made some would have a far-reaching of the country for the was held on October 2l-22, Bhavan, in New Delhi and a

In particular, the Alwar pro recommendation for suitably strengthening the District Centres (DICs) for the purpose of evolvi,ng and operati ing location-specific indusrural areas, and building trial development schemes for potentidl for smooth essential of technology, was very well received by the seminar, S milarly, there commendation for creating a lechnical and en ial base in the rural the grassroot infrastructure areas by considerfably strengthenir for technical training, was also incorporated in the seminar on "Financing of Rural recommendations, The Industries" deliberated at great length the entire question of personnel for nlanning the branches of the commerciabanks and recomhnended that it necessary to take a sefious look at the recruitment and trainir policies of these institutions. And finally, the rble ofthe State G in rural industrialisation engaged the attention of concerned group for a considerable length of time. As by our'action-research' project, the need for a ing study and an immediate ining the institutional infraremedial action fbr suitably stnrcture of the Srtate dealing with electricity, industrial licences and permits, credit and marketing etc. was also very well reflected irl the recommendations of the
seminar. Thus. some of the more Alwar study implnging on recommendations of the
issues

of rural industriali-

sation, were endorsed by the pretended to be qriginal nor new Some of the dther salient reco

even when they neither

of the four sub-

EPILOGUE

231

groups which could give a new direction to the rural industrial! salion programme of the country, were as follow$l

the
was

primary responsibility for promoting rural industrialisation' It new euen exprest"d the view that the question as to whether structures need to be created at the State level institutional specifically to cater to the needs of this sector, should be left to the . discretion of the State Goverdments' The group "'rrii*fv there should be no central law regulating the setting up felt that of rural, tiny and small'scale industries and recommended that "high priority" should be accorded to these industries in the matter of provision of funds, supply of raw materials' and other inirastructural support. Recoglising the lack of suitable insti' tutional infrastructure for a proper dissemination of appropriate technologies as one of the major stumbling blocks' the

of

sob-group on Policy Frame and Infrastructural Support tbe view that the States should continue to have the

'

iroup .r.Ongly

recommended the

linking of the

Science and

iechnology Councils of the States to the Council for the Adof the Government vancemenl- of Rural'Technology (CART)' of India The CART was also assigned a major role in the rural second subindustrialisation programme of the country by the Training N":{t]. . This group g*up on "Technology and I.pttati.ta the need to have a single Central Ministry of Rural Iniustrialisation which would have the overall responsibility and Village io regutate and monitor the activities of the Khadi inAuJtti.t Comrnission (KVIC), the Council for Scientific and discussed industrial Research (CSIR), and the CART' It also Technology for ut f"ogtft the question of organisational set-up nt th" Stut" and district levels and recommended and T-raining at the State level and ttre setting up of full-fledged Departments at the district level' It even recognised the ie"trnololy C"rrtr", block level who should ' importance of the extensioh agent at the the technologies but also give a continuooi oofy disseminate ous feedback to the District Technology Centres' of the funde-. The sub-group on marketing felt that one industrial sector was to have a mental neeis oi the rural exclusive production of ' comprehensive reservatios policy for a false ,orJ p.oau"t*. It however, felt that reservatiorr breeds Thereand drive' .J"tl of t."utlty and thereby kills initiative

232

RURAL INDUSTRIAI,ISATION

foro,

it

rccommended fre

to two most important take care of the marketing problems of this sedtor: (i) devisiug ways and for introducing professionalism in the marketing of 'produce; and (ii) setting up of separate institutibns at district level which could directly or indireclly servjce the in the supply of inputs
steps needed

bind itself to any Bingle markot, its search for ne,w markets. the government should pay its

and inparting of managerial inputs to the incumbents, also felt that preferential prrchase of the ptoduce of this or by the governntent agencies was also essential at tho stage of its development. The group howevor felt that even provisioa of this package of facilities was insufficient to survival of this sector. In srder to overcqme its handir it should therefore never ,
secure, but continue all these steps could help,

each sector. Besi{es, the group roartr in. respect df artisan grol

between units within

the cluster app-

to

marking of al,locations for this as a first step. It also felt that the financlal powers of branch managers of banks should be iacreased in the issue quantum of s*nction. The group also felt tbat in order to get State Financial Corporatiotrs to play a prominent role in industrialisation, adequate mechanisms at the di$trict for saoction and disbursement of loans need to te .evolvod, ing its concern at the dubisusness ofthe district credit it strongly recommended that the credilt plans should ve a specific focus on the requirements of tlhe village, and the tiny sector. In addition, the group recommended highly subsidised insurance cover to each of thp entrepreneurs ho adopt new technology. And finally, the group expressed i unanimous view that over and above all othet measures. it essential to establish an cqsiig futd for meotiog the credit of the cottage, village

and marketing of produce. The various issues connected the subject of availability of finance to the vlllage and small sector, its adequacy and delivery systems, engaged the attention of sub-group IV. A near absence of reliable data the actual frnancial needs of this sector was oonsidered to be one of the main drawbacks which frustrated all attempts at ic financial planning for this sector. The group recommended the ear-,

EPII,OGUE

IJJ

and the tiny sector. Through a comprehensive and critical review of all aspects of rural industrialisation, the seminar not only facilitated a true assessment of the extent to which the government's policies have been conceptualised and operationalised over the years, but also suggested a series of measures to tone up the institutional arrangements for organising production and distribution

of the decentralised sector during the Seventh Plan period. It suggested specific policy thrusts and recommended a series of measures for ensuring effective institutional arrangements for supply of essential inputs, cheap credit including consumption credit, constant upgradation of techniques. of production and skills, consumer-oriented responsive marketing strategies and above all, a more personalised service. Ttre task, lor obvious reasons, is a stupendous one and it would be wishful thinking on our part to think that the path to rural industrialisation is now clear. But, to the extent that the seminar eschewed the more tempting option of shying away from it and decided to face the hard facts, we at the CPR feel rewarded that the findings of our Alwar study helped in some small way in at least creating an awareness about some of the more serious issues involved in rural industrialisation. Ultimately the nation will have to make the decision whether, and if so, which ofthe rural industries have a future and how. If not, what options are available to provide the necessary employment opportunities in the rural areas and with what technologies.

234

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

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RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION

Appendix
profle of
.Yo.

II

(Contd.)
in the non-trailitiond scetor

Particulars of entrepreneu$

villape
Raibka
5

Tatal

1,

4. 1; 2. 3. B. l" 2, 3. 4l 5.

age
25-35 Years 36-50 Years 51-60 years

Education

Iliterate
PtimatY Middle Matriculate
Graduate

C. Size of familY 1, working (average pr 2. D. 1, 2.

family) Non-working(average per family)
Landed ProPettY 2.00 8.00 3.00 8,00

4.20 6.00

3.66
,JJ

(i')

Dwelling qnit

Pacca house Mud house

t?
al)

13

.3.1 Rented hut/house

(ii)

L 2. 3. l. 2. 3. E. l. 2.

Land (irrigated) O-5 bighas 6-10 bishas 11 bighas or morc

(iii\ Lanil (non- irr igat ed)

O-5 bighas
6-lO biehas 11 biehas or $rore

Moveable profiertY Bicycle

1l

Transistor radio

APPENDIX

24',1

Appendix
2
2 2
3

lll

(Contd.) Rs. 39.50 each 79.00 Rs. 140 each 280.00

Rs.

Suantit!
Clutch facing Clutch Plates

Rate
175 50

Anount

Ring

set

Gear box bearings .set Valve guide Hose pipe kit Fan belts Water bodY

I
2
10

Body seat
Body bearing

I )

l0

each 350.00 each 150.00 Rs. 250 each 250.00 Rs. 35 each 70.00 Rs. 30 each 300.00 Rs. 250 each 250.00 Rs. l8 each 90.00 Rs. 25 each 250.00
Rs.

Total
C.
Working capital

Rs.3,800.00 Rs. l'000'00 Rs. 10,000.00

Grand

Total

Inder

Action phase of Projects' 29' :I4 Action research, 26,27, 30 Agriaultural Development Brancb/

B. Sivaraman, 226' 227,228,229

Candle making, 95 Carpentry, 94 Carpet making, 94
Castism

ADB, 134, 136 Alavada weavers, 97 Alwar District,

36

Agriculture, 36 Animal husbandrY, 47 Credit facil itie's, 50 Divisions, 36 Electricity, 49 Industrial Possibilities' 53
Industries,;53

Role played in financing, 147

Central Leather Rsearch Insti' tute, Madras, (CLRI)' 186

Centre

for Job Policy

Research,

174,226, 233

Coir,

13

Literacy data, 44
Local entrepfeneurship, 5l Fhysical environrneDt, 39, 4l
Scheduled castes/tribs, 43

Commercial Systm-rural, 6 Contacting

Artisans,95
Scheduled castes, 82

Co-operative Banks, 218

Ambica Textile
Mills, 19 Arya Veer Dal,
35

Transport,

48

Co-operative

cottage Match Industry, l3 Council for Advancement of Rutal

' Technology (CART), 231 Council for Scientific & Industrial
Research (CSIR)' 231 Coverage of studY, 32 Credit deposit latio, 218

Apprai$ing villagerc, 91,92, 93 Artisans, 86, 91 Socio-economic Profile' 122 Auto servicing workshop, 95 Bata Shoe Company, 185 Backward distticts (Alwar), 38 Basket making, 94 Bee keeping, 13 Beneficiaries Loan disbursed, 158, 161 Nontraditional sctor, 157 Traditional sector, 156, 157 Bharat Leather Corporation' 185 Blacksmithy, 94

Dal mill, 94 Defaulters, 144 Development Commissioner, lE4'

228

Disbursement of loan, 136, 139 Dispensaries,35

Behror,36
Lachhamangarh, 36

Rajgarh, 36
Thanagezi,36

Tijara 36

250

RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION
PIan.
168, 83

District Industries Action

32 180,
r

District Industries Centre, 38,

183, 184, 190, 214, 2t5, 220 , 222, 223 , 227 , 228, 230 Different Rate of Intprest Scheme

8l,

t3,94
13,94 Bandi schools, 35 paper, 13, 94

(DRI Scheme) 149, 154,

188,

Development Agency (DRDA), 75 District Technology Centres, 231

District Rural
94

193, 194, 196,201 , 1,16

candy,94

tion of
57, 66, 76

Durry making,

57,69

Educational level Scheduled castes/tribes, g4 Eicher, 169, 170, 171, 174, 182, t83

illages,57,58 Gandhi,221 I Dvelopmerit Bank of

(rDBr),215

Entrepreneurs (forfirlancial assistance), 107,

180

108

Escorts Training Inlstitute, l24,

Feasibility report, criteria for, 152

Development policy, 48, 5l Expericnce, Japan;2

policy, 19

India, 8,

ll

l5t

Policy Resolution 1948,

10,

u,
14

210

Financing Artisans entreprene$rs, t33, 138

143, 145, 147, 148, 152, 154, 156

policy statement, 17, 18,

210 process, 20

Equity funds, 232 Subgroup, 230 Five Year Plan

Training Institute Alwar

111, 112, 168

Draft,28,83
First, 12, Third,
16 16

Second, 15, 212

Sixth, 70
Seventh, 2t

l,

229, 230, 233

Flour mill, 94 Followup phase of project, 29 Followup survey, 187 Kishangarh block. 197, 199
I

sector, 70, 127 sector, 70, ll8 Rural Develoomnt

Rural
6,
221

Development

(rRDP), 150, 205,

evaluation, 188, 196 Intemational Development

Mandawar block, 200 Nontraditional sectof, 201 Pending cases, 204

Ramgarh block, 189 Traditional sector, 189

Government control, 2i of Rajasthan, 30, 32) 34

Gandhi Gram
35

Scva

Ohkawa,2l3

INDEX
Khadi,

251 Quotation lists,

Industries
103,
153

13

Khadi and Village

Board
105

(KVIB), 101' 102,

185.

Research

Methodology, 37
Strategy, 30 Resistance to change, 83 Resource base Kishangarh, 44 Mandawar, 44 Resource invettories, 27,
.

Kora Kendra Bombay,

Leather goods training, 183 I-eather industry, 13, 94. Loan applications, 134' 139 Matsya industrial arca, 170, 214 Medical public health services, 35

3l

Rural industrialisation, 22' 27t 28'

Meiji, 213
Mooni-ban trade, 104' lO5 lvfoonj-ban workers 96, 97, 99,
100,

Rural industrY, 7, 8,
27,94
Saw
87

30

14,

It

16,

I2l

mill,

94

Moneylender, 212, 218' 219

SchedulEd caste communities, 86' Sculptors, 191 Sculpture, 94 Self-employment, 213

Shoe maki,rg, 183, 196, 197, 220 Sivaraman Co mmiltee, 22Q, 221

Muttou Tajima, 213

National Board of Agriculture &

Rural Development

(NABARD)'

215

Nationalists movement, 34 Non CooPeration' 34 Quit India, 34

SatYagrahas' 35 No dues crtificate' 136' 153' 203

Skill problematique' 212, 213

Small Farmers

Development Agency, 168, 169, 190

Non-traditional sector entrepreneurs, 129

Smalllndustri! Service Institut (srsl), 184

Agra,
185

Jaipur' 184, 185

Oil industrY, 12' 94

Jodhpur, 185

Operationdl strategY' 57, 7 | Paddy husking'

128
13

New Delhi, 185

Small-scale industries Rural, 6, 7, 14; 15, 16
Soap making, 13

Physido-conomic environment, Planning Commission, 226' 229

Policy options'
225

State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur'

198, 199, 200, 208 State Bank of India (SBI)'

30'

32'

Pottery, 94
PreliminarY negotiations, 148
PrincelY rule,212 PrioritY sector, 216

Branch, l5f, 190, 2O2, 203, Steel furniture, 95

Stone crushing, 24

Agriculture &

34, 134,136, 137

Development
2O5

Project Pro6les, 15l' 215 Psycho-socio economic barrier, 85 Punjab National Bank

Alwar, 154 Harsoli,208

Technical skills Development, 110

Etigibility criteria' 163' 164

Willingness, 164

Temporary registration, 149 Delays, l5l,215

Fees, 150

Three-faceted prografnmc for industrial activ'tly, 77 Tractor mechanics, 169 Project pro6le, 180 Self-employment, lZ5 Socio-economic profile, lZ7

Stipend, 173 Treining schedule , 170 Training of Rural yourh for Slf_

Employment {TRYSEM),
190,228

23,

Union Ministry