, ..

ri'

::

,
L

'

-'"

'-",:'

. ,- .

~.
-

--..,

'~.'

'-".

.,
'\

'

..

~".

'-

. , .ED

"I~m

.
. -,

..-.;::"

..

Need for
...... "reordering

credit
.d~eliv~ry
system.

. ....for
'.'

,"

..

."

"

...

...

..

IRDP

,
:i"

"

"

if ...

".
.

i:l'

"

I
,

;),

r'

:F
.(

...

.. j".

"

Keeping milcb-animals is a dependable means ofsupplcmcnting

income. besides meeting their own daily necds~

Adding

to fanners'

the fanners'

InCOlne

Agriculture is the maillstay af our rural ecollomy, providillg IivelillOodto aboUl three-fourth
of our rural popt'ialioll. NOII.avaiiability of work opporWllilies ill rural areas parlicularly
durillg slack seaSOIlof farming is a major problem for the poor smal/ farmer.
A IlUmber of
programmes like SFDA, M FAL, SLPP hal'e beell implemented through lRDP wilh the maill
aim of improving their ecollomic condition and keepillg them busy.
Besides agriculture, callie farming, poultry keeping, piggery development andsheep-breed,lIg,
dairy and bee-keeping, vegetablefarming and serieulture are some of the subsidiary occupatiolls
wMell can be adopted by the small farmers to sllppl,menl Iheir income derillg leall periods.

A good number of small farmers and agricultural labourers are being

assisted under the Sp:cial Livestock Production Programme.
,.

,":

,i

~
;'

,y...>
__ -t!
~-

,
-Vol. XXXJ
No. 16
May 16,1983
Vaisakha 26, 1905

Editorial
\
THE HARDNUTSwill

TH~UGH

Hurukshelra

'era when poor farmers

lhe' Government

'

"

REORDERING
DELIVERY

CREDIT
'SYSTEM

development
,

A. R: Patel
ISN'T

INSnfUTIONAL
CREDn
A
COSTI,Y 4FFAIRS?
B. Sambasiva Raoalld C. Srinivasa Rao

WORK

BURDEN

,OF FARM
.

WOMEN:
A STUDY

C. B. Singh and Ush" Rani

INSTITUTIONAL

13

~..

SOME
,

ASPECTS
.

OF RURAL
HOUSING

H. T. Pare~h

mOUGHTS

ON COMM(JJIHTY
PARUCIPATION

T.K. Ray
TRIBAL

DEVELopj"mNT'
THROUGH
MILCH
ANIMAL" SCHEMES
N. Venkataanarasimha Rao and S. Rtlv'jndt:r.'

BANGLADESH:
EFFORTS
AND

DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL CHANGE

Md. Habibur Rehman

-. THEY

SHOW"mE
,

WAY ...
EDITOR

EDITOR

N. N.

SHARMA'

sUB.EDITOR
PARAMJEET

G.

SINGH

COVER
M. /1:1.

PARMAR

E:lquiries regarding Subscriptions, Agencies. etc.,

,Business M3n3gcf, Publica~on Division,
Pl1ltiab HOll!'e. New Delbi-ll0001'
Tel, 3879~3,
bijrori:l! Office:
l

Krishi Bhav3u, New Delhi-IlOOOl

Telephones:
.

SUBSCRIPTION

384f>88 &: 382406

.
,

been the centre

"- of

the 'richer farmers

extent.

of

'tlle
to

too to a good

is that the very en-

rural countryside ,now reverberates with

a spirit of ambitious
amount

of an

that

have travened

but to other farmers

What is more important

vironment

attention

It may be said'

benefits of these, in greater measure,

of planning

optimism

that

~ven

the right

and inputs, there is no upper Jimit

to achievement or accomplishment.
"

Of the inputs that a farmer

basic.

Ove.r the years,

j~ined by ~lationalised
introduced

needs, credit is the most

the Government

agencies-

banks in the late sixtie8---"llave

several -innovations

in the sphere

credit with a 'view to' ensuring

that the

of rural

weaker

sec-

tions - of the' 'Society bene'fit from the credit and other

I '

needs.

'

Establishment

of

institutions
r,\

starting

PACS, FSS, LAMPS etc. to

with

nationalised

,DJ

banks

t~stimony
IRDP

and the regig-p-~l rural

of efforts

made in\; this

j<'

now being extended

<"

'" ~::.

poverty;

croppers,

of. 'millions
rural 'artlsans,

castes/tribes

du-eetion.

With

blocks in

~;.

test

we, through

win he

and' pr~ed~res,

expectations

'1/;i

and the "big

with this Programme

'inst,itutions

we are how weH;Ls_etto, ~:make a big dent

the country,

whether

:p"

the
is a

hanks

fa an the 5011

",.

. into the rural

RATNA JUNEJA

ASSTT.

to their help~

Ever since the plans began,

programmes:,

developmental

for help.

. have

the farmers

CONTENTS
FOR

used to reconcile

lessness and ,an0'r, ..their agriculture to deteriorate from

,
year to, year but fight shy of approaching
anyone in

Gndia's Journa)
of rural development)
,

NEED

be hard to please, the

.fact is that we have come a long way from the

of our poor
,

would be
the- existiw;!

.abl~ to 'meet the

farmers, ~ share-

village craftsmcp,

_scheduled

or whether there is a need to reorder

the

credit delivery system so that the beneficiaries under

the IRDP receive credit facilities on uniform terms and
simp].j.fi~d procedures

in walkable

throngh at least one ag~ncy with"

distance.

'

It is a crucjal. p.oillt and merits

serious. consideration.

'.

I-I~this issue, we c?rry a purposeful

"tion whether

there is a need to

,study

reorder

Editor's Re~idence:' 615'920

delive~y ~ystem of 'what more -innovations

SINGLP COPY: Rt. I

FOR ON~ VEAR,' R. 20

to -make it really dclivcr"goods.

w:II benefit by this study.

on the questhe

credit

are" required

We hope our readers

. I

':. ,

Need) for reordering

credit delivery s:ystem

"

A.R. PATEL
Manager (PMEC), , Ba!1k of Baroda, Central Office.
, Bombay

HAS from time to time introduced

several new innovations in the 'sphere of rural

OVERNMENT

credit with a view

'.

to ensuring that the weaker sections

of the society benefit from credit and secure other .development needs.. Instances of these innovations have to
be found in ceding Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) to the commercial, banks, setting up
Farmers' Service Societies (FSS), Large-sized Multipurpose Agricultural Societies (LAMPS) ~ro tribals,
setting up Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and. }he
like. However, with the implementation of Integrated Rural Development. Programme all over the country in 5011 blocks from October 2, 1980, we may
. ask ourselves whether (i) these institutions as envisaged in the programme are able to meet the expectations
of our millions of sharecroppers, rural artisans, village
craftsmen, Scheduled castes/tribes; (li) beneficiaries
,
under IRDP throughout the country are. receivingcredit facilities on uniform terms 'and simplified p,oce,
dure"through at least one agency within walkable and
manageable distance; (iii) overlapping/duplication of
efforts for dispensation of credit and competition
rather than bridging the credit gap, by many agencies
. in one or several villages has been reduced; (iv) all
the 5,76,126 .villages in the country are now covered
by the' credit insiitutions; (v) credit has b,"en linked
with services and supplies so that. nltimately output
and income increases; (vl) these institutions enable
every rural family to involve participate effectively in
the process of development, deriving its reasonable
share in the generation of GNP 'lnd increase in the per
capita net earnings or income/purchasing. power; (vii)
the pernicious problem of overdues has been solved.
Thus, it is against, this backgronnd an attempt is
made in this paper to focus the attention of the administrators,
4

planners,

academicians and those ,man~

ning

various credit agencies on the urgent need

for.

restructuring the institutional credit structure at the

grass-root level in such\ a way as to maKe it an eillcie'nt institution for converting credit into service~ and
at the same time overF0ming most of the problems if
not all, experienced by the beneficiaries, institutions
and the Government.

Strengthening grassroot operatives

T however, reveal that farwhilegaindby

the

the bankers,.
RBI provides
refinance to the cooperatives and RRBs and ARDC
performs the functions of development and refinancing
instituion, the rural credit structure at the grassroot
levels/botiom has become weak, moriburid and ,.is be-',
comi.ngweaker and weaker day by day to perform the
functions expected of it. Thus, with the ~etting up
of the NABARD at national level" policy changes
should be brought about at the grassroot level of
.credit structure' which. has been faced with unsurmountable and pernicious problems. It .i~ true that
one single credit agency may not be in a position to
provide all the needed credit in the country for a~hieving the desired development in the rural areas. As
ihere has been a huge credit gap in aI;"ost all th>
"di~triCts of our country, multi-agency approach has
to be necessarily accepted .in principle to seek additional sources of credit a'od continu~usly provide funds
for development projects initiated in all the villages.
However, in the present system of mnlti-agcncyapproach concept,. a farmer secures credit. from various
sources locaied around his' village viz. branch of a
Commercial Bank/R~~onaJ Rural Bank, 'Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS), Primary Land Development Bank (PLDB) or Farmers' Service Societie
HE'

EXPERIENCES"SO

(FSS).
Not only the multi-agency
approach in the
preseht form has created plenty of pernicious problems,
but this approach has leI! out a large number of farmers,
villages, activities, schemes, projects and progrp,tnp1cs
from the purview of credit. Thus, . wliile multi-agencr
approach has to be accepted as a concept for meeting
large scale demand for credit and development in our
rural ~.reas in an organised. way, it is utmost esser.tial and urgent that the rural credit structure at the
. grassr<Jot leve\lvillage level which has becn' .ihe urga-'
. nic link with the ultimate
borrowers/beneficiaries
iIi
the vilJage needs to be totally
revamped.
Besides,
there
is also a growing need' for redefining the' relationship betwecn the grassr'oot level credit agency
and' financing and refinancinj( institutions
such that
a continuous flow of credit to the vilJages, recyclihg of
funds and conspicuous impact on the life of the .benee
ficiaries is sustained.
In order to achieve this end,
it is necessary that a group of three to four PACS at.
the village level covering 15; to 20 vilJages ~hould be
merged, amalgamated
and developed into Farmers'
Service Societies,
As on today there are about 94000 '
. P ACS covering all the villages in the 'country and they
have been close to the .tural faniilies and identified
themselves
with 'the rutal families .. Thus,
On an
average one PAC covers 4 to 5 villages. The role of
these
societies
should
be,
as suggested by the
National Commission on ~gricu1ture,
to co~vert
credit into services and output.

Bigger role for FSS

.1

this society should cater to tbc require- '

ments of all the rural households-farmers.
labourers,'
artisans, ,scheduled castes/scheduled
tribes
etc,-in
(
the village in respect of credit, inputs, raw materials ..
technical,gilidance,
storage, proce-ssing
and markct.ing facilities, repair;;, a~d other services.. This ....
may
'also include provision of controlled commodities.steel, c,ement, etc: for' the- farmers as. also consumable stores for weaker sections of the society. It may
also be considered sU,itabIe outlet at village. level for
public di'stribution system, Thus, there should be one
FSS at least for a group of 20 to 25 villages depending
upon the needs of, the rural houseb'olds.
This FSS
should be linked with' either commercial banks.
or
Disirict Cooperative Bank (DeB)
or Regional Rural'
Sank (RRB) for the purpose of receiving short, medium and long term credit and expertise for 'formution of projects.
Thus, FSS should be the only one
delivery system at the: :village level. And commercial
bank of DCB,or RRB at the higher level should furm
a second "tier to. provide finance mid expertise to the
FSS sponsored by them.
The area ,of
the district
should be so geographically demarented amongst each
of the banks-'Commercial,
Coopemtivc and' Regional
Rural Bank~th"t
each one is enabled to provide
credit facilities and expertise to the FSS. The num-'
N SHORT.

KLlRUKSHETRA

May 16, 1983

'

ber and spread ,of.FSS to be financed by these banks

should also be' decided in terms of specific number of
villages and their resource capabilities.
Thus,
FSS
, shou!tl'provide
al1 the credit needs of the rural households-short,
medium ,,",dlong term-includihg
consumption needs of the weaker sections of the society.
The commercial/ cooperative/Regional
Rural
Bank
providing
all the
needed credit
to
their
FSS
should
be
refinanced by the
NABARD.
Thus,
N ABARD at the national level should
provide
refinance to these banks.
NABARD as the third tier
in the institutional credit, structure should provide new
direction and dynamism to the second and ground
leV,el tier as discussed in the later part of this paper.
Thus, there cannot be overlapping areas as also areas
left out from the purview~of
credit aRcncies.
Today quite ~a large number of viJ1ages are not financed
simply because they are far away from the branch of
the commercial bank and the PACS located in tbese
villages are either
moribund or weak.
Then, tbere
are villages,
which are within/surrounded
by a network of branches of cO'mmercial bank.
The lending
procedure,
terms ef financing (rate of interest, margin, security etc.) application forms, documents to be
executed by the
borrowers,
sbould
be unifprm
throughout the country and ~ommon' for all Farmers'
Service Societies irrespective of the fact that FSS is
financed by a Commercial/i::oo~erative/Regional
Rural
'simk.
This will ovcrcome the adverse effect of disuniform terms adopted in the same
district/block/
village for same group of .be'neilciaries.
The lending
procedure especially the application
forms, accompanying certificates,
seellrity documents etc, should
be so simplified tbat the borrower should not find it
difficult to understand
its implications.
The concept.
of one borrower-one
credit agency should be accepted and accordingly the assets aud liabilities of the
borrower. should be made knOVin to the credit aj(ency
to estimate and fix the credit limit.
TIle property
s.uch as land and structure possessed by .the farmer~,
artisans irrespective of the size of the holdings should
be .equitahly mortgaged
to .tlle credit agency.
The
mortgage of property to the FSS would prevent the
borrower to create cbarges On tbis land/property
in'
favour of moneylender for further additional borrowings (when it is not secured by' the FSS) which will
jeopardise the repaying capacitv of the
borrower.
Besides, property i.e. land so mortgaged to the moneylender will deteriorate in its productivity in the long

run as no further investment would be possible

on

thIS land.
Consequently,
there cannot be additional
return/surpIus/saving/reinvestment.
Of course,
the
'Government
will have to simplify the proc~dure
of
various mortgages-to be executed in "favour of institutional cre-dit agencies.
.

The FSS should be manned by adequate number

of staff so that all the functionsconneeted.
with the

i '
5


dispen~ation of credit, supply of inputs, 'raw materials~ technical guidance,' marketing facilities, repairs
and after sale s~rvices of the farm equipment/village
industries, follow-up, supervision of the end use of
credit, recovery etc. could be performed efficiently.
Thus, adequ,ate number of field officers in the important areas

of

cooperative

credit,

agricuItU;Ie,

animal husbandry, village industries etc. should be

provid~d. This staff should be provided thorough
training in the areas' of agriculture, rural credit, rural
de~elopment, resource management, public rela"
tions etc. There should be a cadre /0\ such field' offic
cers who can manage the affairs ~f FSS on the sound
principles of ~business and management. It would be
worthwhile if local staff recruited for this 'purpose is ,
trained at th; Institute of Rural Management, Anand
to perform their functions efficiently. In faCt, root canse
of the failure of the'existing PACS, FSS and branc~es
of Coinmercial/Cooperative/Regional
Rural Bank to
li~e to the expectations of the farmers, Government and
bank management has to be found in inadequacy'of
field officers, lack of training and guidance, lack of
mobility, unawareness of job role and re:'ponsibiIities etc. The problem of constraint ,of the farmer/rural,'
artisan in the-adoption of new technology and raising
his farm output has to be found iu 'the lack of effort
on the part of credit agency to (i) transfer the viable
-technology, (ii) provide mauagerial assistance,,d
(iii) undertake marketing of his produce. Ther,~ is
utter confusio'n on this area of responsibilities that
who should perform these,functions, whether Govern- ..
ment ot the Bank. In the prOCess the farmer and
batik both have to suffer.

.-

\ ,.
\

'N0W

. Linkage \\!ith extension agencies

\

has introduced pi"aCtically in all th~ states the 'Training and Visit
System' under which one Village Extension Worker;s
provided to look after 600 farm families in a group
of three to fonr villages and ten VL Ws in each
block are proposed to be provided under lRDP,
there is an urgent need to prepare. familyvvise "farm
plans and farm budgets". Thus, there shoul~ be
effective linkage between FSS, VLW and beneficIanes
in the rural areas for achieving c"mmon goals.
TIlis will help the FSS to appreciate to what extent
the potential for fann development could be exploited on the basis of" available resources-land,
irrigaTHAT THE GOVERNMENT

tion. lubbur, live-stock; skill, tecllnol'(gy etc. Farm

budgeting exercise will ~sure ,(i) opti~um utilisa-

t.ion .of these 'scarce resources, (ii) effiCIent deployment of funds; (iij) generation of employment and
income at desir~d level;

(iV1 improvement

in

the

viability of the scheme; and (v) strengthening the

l~isk-bcaring capacity etc,

In the pre~ent syst;'pl this asp~ct is totally neglectcd as a result of which a marginal farmer /vtllage

craftsman is not 'in a position to generate .additional

income out of his farm activity, or cottage industry.'
Farm Planninao and F,um Budgeting exercise
will
,
enable the farmer, Village Extension Worker and
the FSS to' appreciate whether his present resoutces
have the 'potentialities for generating additional income from. which 'he' can repay the Joan instalment, pay .interest and retain appreciable sum fer
his consumption. This would assist the beneficiary'hmilies ',to adopt "crop-cum-livestock-cuin-acquac',31-'
ture system approach" whiCh will engage the falmer
"and his entire family in diversified activities and
relieve him from risk: The farmers/artisans would
also be identified, by the staff and provided trainin
so that they can 'lean;' Iietter i;'chniques and acquire
skill for improving their output and income. Womenfolk who have so far been neglected in the proces,
of developm~nt can also be identified and provi~e
training in respect of self emplo)'ment-generallo
. scheme~airy,

cottage industries; processing and the

lilie. H~side~, child, care, applied nutrition, publi

hygiene and sanitation, volut,taiY adoption of smal
family norm, literacy, programmes can also find'
favour with womenfolk and they can be mvolved
increasingly in this.' area ,for. betterment of huma
society. The FSS and the financing bank would then
be in a better position to make use of the infrastructure created for agricultural develop]l1ent by the
Government in the ~onntry viz.' Research, Exten
sian,' Education etc. Hesides, '{F,~nn-Planning, an
Farm Budgeting' exercise will enable the FSS an
the fillancing batik to determine the genuine and
wilful defaulters. ' The line of credit in case of thos
who are genuine defaulters can immediately, b
,tarted with "proper built-in mechanism and linkages.
There are also a good number of farmers who are
indebted either to cooperative bank or money-lenders
and ,have suffe~ed on account oJ, natural calamitie
in a series of years. ' At present not that thes
farmers are not financed by the bank, but so far
no effort has been =de to' appreciate thei'T problems
and assist them. Their land had already deteriorate
in productivity because of the operation of t!'
theory of yicious circle 'no investme~t means n
pmc1uction'., These farmers would under Far
Planning and Farm Budgeting e"ercise be Identlfi
and a careful study of their' bala;]ce sheets. (assets
and 'liabilities) would be useful for developing :i Ion
term plan in,,'olving 'crop:-cllm-livesto~k~cum-villag
industries' system approach which would augmen
their income every year from which a small suni ca,

b~ spared to redeem old ?ebt as also present borro:"

ings and appreciable amount could be used for farrul
consumption. AIl this requires a detailed househ",l
exercise which can only be done by the experts 0
I FSS a~d the fina~cing!refinancing institutions.
Onl
then our aQTiculture would sustam and prOVIde ceo

nomic stre;gth/r;sk
\'

bearing capacity to the family.

,

KlJRUKSHETRA

May 16, 1983

'Developmental role

draw refinapce from refil1~ncirig histitutions. It Is

this area ,,'hich challenges the NABARD and focusses its attention' to devise
system whereby' the
deteriorating ,recovery' position is arrested
and' .
recycling of funds.is continuously sustained. For. this
purpose, resche,duling the repayment period shonld
be adopted. . risk stabilisation' funds mav'
. have
to be created, rural insurance' ,,,ill have ,to be made
compulsory, DIC/GCI cover should be extended to
a,n..the important activities. in' a simplified procedure.

ARMI!RSSERvrCESOCIETIESset up' at the' grass

, root level, would pe financed by the Commer"_cial or Cooperative or Regional Rural Bank. Thus,
this financing institution would be ,an organic link
between the FSS anhe
grassroot, level and the
NABA~D' at the national level. ' This institution will
have, therefore, to be,' drastically restructured such
that it is enabled and fully equipped to, play the role
of the development in a inore committed manner
,While these steps would help geuuine .defaulters,
rather than .merely' providing finance.' Today, 'the
exemplary punitive measures would' have to be rePACS, branches of Commercial, Regional Rural Bank,.
sorted, to against wilful defaulters through suita15le
District Central Cooperative ,Bank.,fud the Land Deveenactments,/amendments in the ,existillg laws. .While
'Iopment bank hive inadequate field staff. Besides,
national
stabilisation fund 'proposed to be maintained
they are not properly trained and exposed . to the
by NABARD 'should be judiciously utilised 1'0 .reha- '
concept' of rural lending operations. Their "mobility
bilitate .tIie victims of "continued. natural ,calamities,
, is restricted under the groimd'thatniral
lendin'g is :a
Innovations
may nave to be introduced from. time to
Jqsing' proposition and 'their profitability is e~oded..
time
to
overcome
the problems of ovel'dues from
These financing instituions m'ay ~tave to be, manned
genuine
,d
faulters.
.,'
-,
"
by experts in the" area, of crop production, agricul7
f',
~.
tural engineering, fisheties".anim1l.1 'husbandry, plan"
taliori, horticulture; management,' rural ' industries
etc. They should be in a position to, fonnrilate,
R&D wing
'~I
implement and monitor .farm and rural development
AllAR.!' may have to be fully
equipped with
projects suCcessfully and show results.' With the

,
highly
.qualified
,
and
'experienced
persons" whO'
help, Of latest' managen;.nt tools they should be able
to conduct technical, economic and financial appraimay. have teclinical-cum-banking-cum-management' ex, pertise essel1t.iallyrequired for' farm and rural dev,,",
sal of the' loan proposals and advise the top manage",
lopmoot . prognimme. ' Their . rich experience" , and: .
ment at the central office to 'take .quick' decision.
knowledge 'should enable tr,em to proyide expertise
They should continuously: remain in touch 'with the
in formulati",g projects which l1~e feasible and. which
latest developments ,taking . place in their respective
. can he' implemented under . Indian situation with
field/disCipline in India.and other advanced counmaximum degiee of success. They' should 'lie able
tries. They should analyse.'the' 'economic banking,
and 'marketing trends in ,)ndia and 'guide the FSS:
.to provide 'comprehensive' guid~ines 'to the 'financing
They should coordinate the effort, of various ,inslitU-
institutions for formulating, implerrienting and moni: _
tions/agencies . at the state level in implementing the.
toring the development projects.' - NABf\RD may
.have to accord priorities to' the projects such ,as
develOPment projects successfully. While, profitabiIi(y and ,cost'consciousness should be the considera-',
those relating . .to' new' and renewable sources", of
tion of a commercial institution, effort has to be
energy; 'soil and moisture cl,lllservation, diy land
farming, desert, development, rural 'and cottage indusmade to' optimise the Beturn on the investment to be
tries, ~grO:service centres, SDcbl and ,farm forestry,
made for rural de,wlopment by continuou<ly improvipastu~e and .fodder development, larid ,deveioprrient
ing the methOds and techniques of project formula"
- and reclamation, canning and processirig, agro-based"
tion" and appraisal. Often' ' the staff at the branch'
, industries -including recycling of" agricultUral and
reg;on and central office level has been busy iii
animal husbandry waste, economic utilisation of
rontine banking work and, collecting 'innumerabie
"'statistics and t~bulating them in .vario~s fonnats for
fibres etc. which are of urgent national importance'
and develop ,.guidelines for their succ~ssful execution.
submissiort to RBI, Governm~nt offices and different
forums for discussion. ,New reporting sys!!"m devise
At .present such projects are not formulated
as
expected in, view of lac!,. of expertise' with the Bank
ed by the RBI is an, expmple. Thus, unless this is
.ectified,lcorrected, the staff is ,less .likely to perform
and Government. For this pnrpose NABARD may
developmental role .. There is a growing need for Com-.
have to set up a ful1~tIedged R&D wing. Besides,
puteIisatiori of priority sector accounts. and lending
this wing should 'conduCi intensive research in the
which may have to be' initiated by NABARD
at
area of "Rural Credit and Rural D"eveJopment"
on
,
national level. Mounling overdues at all 'levels with,
I
all the' banks have dried. up the loanable resources
of financirig .instituions.and madte ,hem ineligible to
(contd. on page 14)
,,

N.

'

KURUKKHETM M,y 16, "83

r\

.Isn't institutiona1 credit,

. a costly aflair ?

""'i.

B; SAMBASIV A RAO aDd

C: SRINIVASA

Deptt~of Coop. and App._Economics, Andhia Universif,

- .;. '"

of planning in India has

been to raise the llving standards of its people.
--Snch realisation depends, to a large; extent, ~n the,
agricultnral sector, because 70 per cent" of India's
population derive, their sustenance from the same sector. The availability of capital mostly constraints the
tempo of agricultural development. This is"particularly so in countries like India in which a majority
of.the farmers in the agricultural sector revolve round
the vicious circles of poverty. It is often contended
that, because of their low incomes, their savings 'are,
low anq hence ,low investment to finance the needed
~nputs in agricnlture. As such provision of credit to
meet such requirements would determine the ,speed of
agricultural developm"t.
This aspect would assume
_ greater importance in the presence of technologica!
changes in the agricultural sector.

HE

MAJOR

1. Real interest rates will be obtained by adding cost of credit

,component to the contractual interest rates. Cost of credit
includes the expenditure .incurred on' travelling. cq9ts,
application fee, days of work lost. etc. in. securing the
loan.
0'
"r

..

Objectives .ofthe' study

OBJECTIVE

So far much emphasis has been' focussed' on both,

demaQd and supply aspects of institutional credit. Due
attention' is also given to the utilisation of borrowings
and structure of interest rates of both institutional and
non-institutional markets. Bnt in analysing the strnc,ture of interest rates of institutional' agencies' only
contractual interest rategare taken into consideration
leaving the real interest rates.' So a modest attempt
has"been made in this paper to' analyse the differences
between the contractual and real interest rates of
institutional market.

RAO

Waltair

1. To compute the real ,interest rates, ,and

1

'1",

~.

2. To compare the contractual and' real interest

rates prevailing in institutional agencies,
I

"
'

.Methodology

~.
HE VILLAGE, MADALA in Ountur District of
Andhra Pradesh was selected fOr the study.' A
sample of 47 farms comprising of 17 marginal' farms
(below 2.50 acres), IS sm-all (2.51 to 5.00 acres), 7'
medium (5.01 to 10 acres) and 8 big farins -(above
10.01 acres) have been selectedpasing ,on stratified
ra'ndom sampling technique. The .'reference year of ~
the study is 1981-82. A schedule specifically designed
(or this purpose was conyassed among. the samplehouseholds;
"

Findings of the study

an 'attempt is made
A to analyse the offlowtheofstudy,
funds (from 'both institus

A BACKDROP

tional and non-institution~ sources) to different categories of borrowers_ It is observed that ,per acre borrowing,; on an average (Table 'I) ,is Rs. 970 and it
is ijie highest on marginal farms (Rs. 1323) anci
lowest on big farms (Rs. ,904).
It, appears that
- there exists an inverse relation between per =e borrowings and farm size, This may be an indication of
the.higher demand (or credit by farmers with relatively
lower size of holdings caused' by deficiency of owned
, funds for farm investments.
KURlJK'HETRA M~ 16""

Table!

Percentage Distribution

-;

of Burry"iogs

by Source aod ~ize Group

Institutional

Non~in.Jt}tutional

Grand

~ize Group

Total
Commer- Coop-

etal
banks

Intensive
Farmers Manure,
Deve~ Schemes

Land

Small

eratives Devea.
lopmrnt
banks

Total

Moneylenders

Pralessionar
Moneylenders

Agrl.

lop-

Rela.

Traders. Total

lives;

friends

me(lt

Agency .
39,65 .

5.7\

3.73

34.28

7.86

18.45

.Medium Farmers

31'99

17 '34

20,96"

. Big F~rmers '

15.95

6 '52

25 .73

. 8 .67

Marginal Farmers
SmaU Farmers! .. '

Overall

6.23

6.41

61.93

26'77-

6.91

3.07

"I .32

38.07

100.00
(1323 '0)

3 '31<

6.97

70.87

17'68

419

6.83

0.43

29,13.

100.00
(979 '00)

10.10

80 .39

9'93

5'98

. 1 '35

2'36

19.61

100.00
(914 '00)

3.26

68'03

17.05

12.98

1.29 .

0.65

31'97

100.00
(OO'!.'00)

5 ..67

69.98

17.23

9 '19

2'58

l-(J2

30'02

100.00
(970 '00)

42 .30

28 .41

(Figures in brackets indicate per'accl? borrowings

1.50

in .ruP~) ,

Also al>put 70 percent" of the borrowings,' orr an

average, is provided by institutional agencies and the
share of institutional credit to total credit is the highest
on medium farms (about 80 per cent) and lowest on
margn,al farms (about 62 per cent). These higher
;proportions of institutional finance may be considered
as an indication of th eaccessibility of the farmers to
these ,institutions.

Regarding the structure of interest rates the noninstitutional interest rate -on ah" average is about 26
per cent and that of institutional agencies is below 12
per cent which. indicate the .wider margin between the
institutional and non-institutiOlial'lnterest fates. But
there exists a criticism that if w~ consider the real
interest rates, the gap between institutional and nohinstitutional interest rates will be narrowed dow~ or
iii some cases the .real interest" rates,of institutional

market may even exceed .the non-institutional interest

rate. To examine the severity of this problem real
interest
rates are computed.
.
"

"

T IS OBSERVED
that the real and contractual interest
rates are same in non"institutioDal market as the
farmers doesn't incur any expenditure oh transportation, work days lost, etc. sO the differl;nce is found'
in institutional market, as most of those institutions
are situated putside
the study . village. .The details"
.
regarding the real and contractual' interest rates of
institutional ag~;"cies are presented in Table 2.'

I,;

The tilble reveals that the real and contractual rates

.'in Primary ".Co-operative Societies are, same. Similady, iii'regard to commercial banks, there exists mar.
ginal difference mainly due to travelling costs incurred
in getting the toano
.
.

Table 2
Comparison, between Real and Contractual Interest Rates of Institutional

Credit

.,

.'

"Work burden of farm women!

a study
\

-'

C. B. SINGH and USHA RANI

Divn. of Dairy Economics, Statistics add Management, NDRI, .~al ~ar,.aD~

'I

that 'Women have been playing a

vital role in the households since ages. They have'
worked as one of the wheels of family qullock cart
and tried to put household's economy on the sound
iooting. It 'has been stated that women ~nd girls together constituted about half of the world's population.
They put in two-third of the world's work hours and
receive only' one-t"nth ' of its income. Normally they
are engaged in a wide range of activities in addition
to their routine' domestic work. But the time spent
and the value 'of these services rendered by-lhem is
never computed. Various' jobs done by women are
not recognised as productive work and, therefore, they
are' engaged in a ,,:ide range of activities in ~ddition
to their routine domestic work. But the time spent
participation of rural women in' various development
programmes.

Methodology

T IS WELL KNOWN

It has been observed that the most oL the dairy

operations are done by f~rm women in many areas.
Among the employed rural females, about 89 per cent
'are engaged; in the primary sector like agriculture, .
livestock, forestry etc. and most of !hem belOlig. to
,'the poorer sections of the rural community. Thcrefore, it is vcry important that all the development programmes should aim at optimum utilization of human
re.sources both men and women for increased' produc'
tion and welfare of the society.
Various kinds of jobs perfqrmed by the farm women,'
and the magnitude of employment provided by different activities including domestic chores not only vary
from one 'ca!egory of household\o a~other but also
differ in different months of the year. The present
stndy was, therefore, tak~n', np to examine the work
burden on a female of weaker sections and analyse
the magnitude of. her under/over employmellt during
the year.
,,'

,'T of the 27 villages adopted

was' conducted in the three
under the Operational
HE P;E~EiH

STUDY

Research Project of the National Dairy Research In-'

, stitute, Karual by. selecting rand~mly 75 households
of weaker sections ,consisting of landless labourers,
'marginal' farmers having operatioual hplding upto 1
hectare and small farmers having 1.01 to 2.0 hectares.
Data on various aspects of female participation in
different activities were colle<etedby survey method in
a well designed questionnaire through personal visits
to each sample household. The ~nqnlry is related to
die period January to December, 1979 ..

Findings of the study

T IS IMPORTANT to know the general background of

the sample households selected for the study. Therefore, some' of the socio-economic paranieters . were
analysed and a~ presented in Table I.
'

It may, be observed from Table I that the size of

fainily, number of male and female workers were
higher in the housellolds of marginal farmers .as compared to those of' others. The marginal farmers also
registered higher number of milch animals particularly
buffaloes. , However, landless labour households had
, higher number of local cows as compared to other
categories of households.

\"

1. FEMALE LABOUR EMPLOYMENT

,

The participation rate of farm women in varia

activities is not known., Therefore, ari attempt. wa
made to examine the average ferriale labour employ
ment in different jobs and months during,! year. Th
average hOurs of iemale labonr utilize\l per day i
"

KURUKSHETRA

May 16, 198

. each month- for performing different activities were

worked' ont and are brought out in Table II.
A close examination of Table II reveals that there
was a great varialion in female labour employment in ,..
different months 'which ranged from 6.20 hours per
day in' a month of May to 11.13 hours per day. in
April, the average being 8.12 hours. The months of
April, June, October and January registeredhil<her
work hours performed by farm women as compared
to other mOnths. This could be attributed to various
.farm, operaiions performed
by women during peak
periods' of the crop seasonS. It was observed that the
- domestic work consumed the highest female labour
hours followed by dairyfng activity accounting for
.'about 47 and 24 per 'cent 'of the total work hours per
day in all the activities.

Table I
Socio:-Econooilc

Profile"of Sample HoUsehold!

Particulars '

'Sr.

Categories of households

No.

J. Average size of family

Landless Marginal Small

labourer' Farmer- Farmer
5 .24
6.80
5.14

2. Average size of Operational hold~

iog (ha)

-3. Average number of Male workers

. 4. Avera~enumber of Female workers.
S. Average number of Milch animals.
"
(a) Buffalo
(c) Crossbred cow
(c) Local cow

1.72
1 .36

0.60
1.92
I .52

1.85
I .68
1.48

0.92
0-()4
0.60

1 .44
0'16
0'56

0.]2
0'48

Hi

Table II

..

Average ,Female Labour Employment;in

DiB:'erent Activities
(Hours per. d~y)

Months

Activities

"-

Crop.

Dairying ,
I

JailUary
February
March
April

May
June
July
August

September
October

November
IJec<:mber
Overall Average
Percentage to total

"Production
3

Labour

Domestic

Total

~ork

2.08
2.11
2.]0
2.07
\"19
2..02
2 -06
2.06
1:99
1.84
1'26
2.02

1.64
0.40 .
0.35
1.78
6'39
1.19
0.51
0.32
0.30
1 -43
0.26
0'30

2.52
0'76
0.48
4.02
0.57
4.02
1.25
0'43
0.42
4.05
0.66
0-41

3.65
3.91
3.96
3'26
4.05
3.34
3.81
4.17
4.06
3.41
4.17
4,02.

1.91

0.75

1.64

3.82

8'12

23.52

9'24

20.20

47.04

100.00

2. AVERAGE WORK BURDEN

The average work burden ,on a female of dilIerent
categories of weaker sections was estimated to examine
their work participation in various jobs by aggregating
the figures of female labour use in each month'. of the
year and are given in Table III. '
The close perusal of Table ill reveals that o,verall
average annual work burden on a female was as high
as 2964 hours in a year. The female of landless labourers had the highest work burden (3037 hours). It was
observed that work participation of a women of small
farmer amongst all the categories recorded the highest.
participation in dairy;,;g activities. The participatiol)
f females in dairying ranked third after domestic and
abour (wage earning)n case of landless labourers

whereas it ranked second after domestic

marginal and small farmers' categon.,,;.

9'89
7 '18
6.89
11.13
6'20
10.57
7.63
6.98>
6'78
]0.73
6'35
6.76

,.

work

for

.' Considering the average norm of 225 days per annum fo; women, it cali he concluded that females are
over-burdened With work in all the catego!ies of households.
3.

UNDER - EMPLOYMENT/OVER-EMPLOYM;ENT.

With a view to assess the extent of under-employment or over-employment of a. female worker in different categories of households of weaker sections, two
approaches were attempted, one by exclnding the total
work days for'dome.tic work and the other by including the work days for domestic work, considering the
norm of 225 days for women.
.

ulliter-eIIlployment of women WllS ~e higl:uisLqn small

fMtn5 while it was the lowest in I~~ la1:lb'Ur~t~
gory. ' Thus' the ext~nt ef ~cier-einployment. r~ged
from 6 ~r cent for a, woman of Iinidless labour category to about 11 per cent on small farms' ilie average
being 13 per cent...

Table III
A mge

Work BDtden on A Female

in Differe.t Montb.

(Hours/day)
Category

ol.households
Overall

Landless' Marginal Small

labour
farmer' farmer

9.02
7'30
7..00'
11',78
6'12

7.66
7.40
11.22
6'42
9.90
7'42
7.05
6.82
10.05

8 '10'

6.87
0.55
11.95

6.76

6'17

6.86

6'41

'8.32

8 -04,
2934'60

Total hours in 8. year 3036-SO

10.42
6,00'
10,43'
7'42
7.00
6.94
10 .30
6.12
7.04

9.89
7.18
6.89
11,13
6.20
, 10.57
7.63
6.98
6.78
10,73
6.35
6.76

7 ,96

8'12

10'77
6.59

9 '81

11 '46

Conclusion

0'28

1905.40

with work. Women of landless laboUl1'r category were

most over"burdened followed py one' of marginal category indicating about 69 and -63 -per cen.! of over-eIl1Ployment respectively. This suggested that provision
of extra employment opportunity to iliem would further
aggravate their burden and worsen their condition.
. Nevertheless in view of their 'active participati'1n in
various operations of dairying, some provision should
be made to impaJ:1iliem trainihg in scientific dairy faro.
'ming at village/local level so as to make them efficient
in decision making and job perform~nce. This could
go a long way in harnessing the female labour of weaker
sections more effectively which would simultaneously
increase family labour incomes through , improved
d!tirying.
i

2963,80

Table IV shows the -extent of under-employment/

over-employment of a female in' different categories
Of households. The perusa~ of Table IV reveals, that

Table IV

.Extent
Sr. No.

the domestic chores performed by' ii

'ONSIDI!RING

woman in ilie household, it appeared iliat women

C
of all the categories of households were over-burd,ened

'

of under-employmentlover-empJoyment of A Female Worker

.

.'

Underwemp/oyment when domestic

work excludes
r

Categorya/households

Days of under-

Percentage of .

employment in

,mder.employment

the year

1. Landless labourers
2; Marginal farmers
3. Small farmers

)-

,2

13 .30
36 .03
37.48
28.81

Overall

PLAN YOUR
DELA ~ THE FIRST

Percentage of
Days 0/ over.
employment in _o!er~employment
the year
5

5.91
16.01
16,60

154,60
142.82
183 -18

6~ .71
63'48
61,,41

12.80 _ .

145 .60
,

64'71

"

Ove",:,employment wh"J t!0meatic

work Included

FAMILY
SPACE THE SECOND

STOP THE THIRD

",

KURUK~H:I!TItA May 16, 1983

"

In~tituti0nal aspects of
/ rural housing
. ehainDllD, Houl!Dli

H,'

OUS1NG is a bag as well as complex problem in

. India. It has two major facets-urban
and
rural. More attention is paid to urban housing because
of the pressure otgrowing numoors and the need to
meet the'requirements of slum"and pavement dwellers
as well as urban renewal. In the process, rural housing gets neglected though the greater part of the population livl~sin villages and smaIl towns.

In a: study prepared .by the International Union of

Building Societies and Savi.ngs Associations, Chicago,
- 'The t~ase for housing in the developing count.ries',
Harold Hobinson 'writes: "Rural or small town' housing
.may be needed at times to slow down an excessive
country-to-town movement. .Lack of housing in rural
areas creates a 'push' to the city equal to that of the
city's pull and thereby creates additional urban housing
problem. Attempts to raise the standard. of living in
rural ;ueas are sometimes designed, therefore, to
counteract this movement rather than to create employment or manpower problem."
The latest estimate or housing shortage in the country
is o,",r 200milliori, units - 15 'million in rural areas
and.five million in urban.
, The Sixth Plan has stressed the need for providing
.'Sitesfor ilie landless rural worker and has referred to
a small subsidy given for rural housing. It has also
talked of the need'to ~upply protected water andsanitation. It has budgeted for an investment 'of
Rs .. 12,900 crores for housing during the Plan .period,
the distribution of this amount being Rs. 3,500 crores
ill rural areas and Rs. 9,400' crores in urban ;ueas.
This will provide for 13 milli6n rural housing units and
six million urban units. More ilian 80 per cent of the
total investment will be in the private sector and the
,alance in the public sector.

nOl.p

It.t. paRK
c;e. ~

t rr

. While the share. in hOUlliIiginvestment betwcien ronil

and urban area. are in the ratio of.2: I, t.I1eirshares
are in the reverse. ratio in respect of the number of
.units to be built. If the rural .hare is ~tepPed up. to
,half ill the coming years, rural housing can be stimulated a great deal.
Much srilaller capital. per capita
is required to stimulat" rural housin~
.Land does not pose a,nJitractable and costly a pro\).
lem in the countrysi.de as in cities and towns.
The
costs involved in high rise buildings such as.for foundation and lifts are absent in rural housing. Whatever
local construction materials are available can be readily
used while labour. is much cheaper.
.

In urban housing there are high overheads:' like

contractor's margin and architect's fees. The costa elf
basic amenities like drainage and water are enormoUll. .
Any action taken for rural housing at present is concentrated on grant of a small subsidy and .some IOrt
of site allotment and homeconstructiOil by the Government for the 'landless poor; These are neCessary but
they do not go far enough . They need to be supplemented' by provision 'of housing finance to the small
farmers who have some kind.of a borne but who can .
use
the
funds
to
improve
their
living
. conditions. A housing policy for the rural population
should cover all aspects of rural housing and should be
implemented in an integrated and not in an isolated
manner.

R'.

States' role

URAL HOUSING is ~sentially a State problem ud

deserves a muc!) higher priority. Rural housiDI
finance is more productive and hence I8rgc fiDaDcial
resources' are justified.

}'3'

The Housing and Urban Development Corporation

and the Housing Development Finance Company are
examples of specialised institutions which provide
housing loans for urban req;mements. HUDCO has
also entered rural housing in a linrited way. There are
also urban cooperative honsing finance societies. In
,addition to what the governments are doing to provide
subsidies for construction of homes for the homeless,
and housing for their own employees, institutional facilities should be created exclusively for the rural
popl,llation.
A carefully planned institutional framework of
financial institutions for rural housing should be created.
State finance corporatiens which have been dominated
by the State Governments have worked under a great
deal of political influence and pressure without vitality,
professioniilism and .creativity. Each State should have
a rural housing finance 'corporation sponsored by
agencies such as HUDCO and HDFC and with the
State 'Government's support. The initial capital should
be shared equally by the banks, insurance companies,
Unit Trust, cooperative banks, housing boards and
financial institutions.
The State Governments need not. put in equity blit
can provide an interest-free advance initially for 10 to
20 years so as to enable these l'orporations to make a
proper start and set up a sound organisation. The
State Government can have two directors on the Board
but no ,responsibility and obligation to sele{:t and

appoint the chairman and the chief executive. These.

" responsibilities ,can be belter handled jointly by

HUDCOand HDFC.
Channelling of rural savings
the proposed new housing financeinstitutions, rural savings will be increasingly used for
rural housing. Any means. by which rural savings are
encoUraged and inveSted in housing deserves maximum
support. The average subsidy provided in the Sixth
Plan for a rural family is Rs. 500 but this is hardly
sufficient. Perhaps the best way to use such subsidy
is to keep the interest rate on housing loans low in
rural areas.
. One important point that reqnires' emphasis is that
communications of the .State rural. housing finance
corporations should be ouly in the language of tho
State. The farming community can then understand
. and appre{:iate the value of their' services. These
. corporations should have branches in every district,
which would do the actual lending.

HROUGH

Housing finance is institutionalised all over the world.

In India, this process has started particularly after
RODCO came on the scene; since the start of HDFC
five years ago there has been further progn~s. However, without 'active steps to institutionalise rural
housing finance; no real progress can be made in this
vital sphere of social welfare.
(COURTESY:

The Hindu'Survey of Indian Industry)

(Contd. from page. 7)

a continuing basis and findings of these research
studies shocld be. utilised for evolving guidelioes as
well as amending the provisions of certain acts for
accelerating the flow of rural credit for rural development. Comprehensive evaluation sludies should
be undertaken by NABARD on a continuing basis
to evaluate the benefits of projects and estimate the

14

.1

extent of benefits. NABARD should havll a very

effective liaison with the departments of the Union
Ministries and those of State Ministries. It should
be able' to impress upon State Governmen~; to play
a positiv~ and dynamic role in removing the caDstraints coming in' the way of developmer~t in a
time-bound programme.

KURUKSHETRA

May 16, 1983

'

Some thoughts. on,

community participation
T. K.RAY

"p'

THE SiMPLEST WAY the practical meaning

and implicatio!,s of community participation -can
be explained f~bm the example of a case study on
Balwadi Teachers by Gandhigram Trust, Gandhigram
(Tamil Nadu). ,"After getting training in,child nutri,tion, child psychology, management of children etc"
we found the teachers very meticulously applying themselves to the task of l1lIl.Itingthe balwadis efficiently.
The children looked clean, triple antigrenvaccines were
given, the weight of the children was recorded regularly
every month which ,showed increase due to good nutritious food given to them, the children of COurse(did
sing, speak well and did learn also alphabets and numbers. A balwadi teacher was absent for about a week.
On her return, the mothers sUrrounded, the balwadi
teacher accusing' her of having deserted the children
who now looked so unclean, untidy, with dishevelled
hair and dirty clothing. A week's absente'resulted in
the relapse of the <:hildrento their old habits".
EimAPS

the decision-making process in planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and benefits, Last five
elements culntinate in total participation. Eaiticipation
also means a self-sustaining mechanism which does not
end. with completion of a project. People's partiCipation is the people's iiritiative to assert themselves willi ,
dignity and self-respect. Participation stimulates desire
for change and encouraging the belief or creating selfconfidence that change can be realised. It envisages
man's ability to act, to' change and control his environment. People must, develop and educate themselves
through a process of thinking, problem-solving and
acting. And the goal of this process should he liberation from prejudices, oppression, exploitation and
acquirin~ of increased socio-economic power over the
community's life-style and environment.

Need for ch'ange in outlook

NOUR COUNTRY realising the importance of commuThe above clearly brings ont that from the. concepnity participation, we had to begin with the e>,tentual stage in any planning the entir~ gamut of the sociosion workers with subsequent enlargement of the pro-"
economic system should be thoroughly analysed with,
cess by introduction of Panchayati Raj Institution
implications and repercussiqns, with the people befare
CPR!) for all Community Development Schemes. Indeciding on the action plan. As in the above case the ./ spite of this awareness and all efforts to involve the
balwadi teachers were not given the proper perspective .
people in all ongoing schemes, we find that during the
to regard balwadi as only an instrument to bring about
last three de~ades the .effectiveness of partiCipation is
changes in the homes of the children and through the
still a distanc.t cry 'aud the', people still feel tbat 'the'
homes the village which the reachers failed to perceive
I gov.ernment gives and we take', 'schemes
are of the
and consequently the .effects brought about. in ,the
,government etc.'-=-a feeling of parasitic and dependent '
child,ren did not reach their homes,
outlook. Of COurse there have been commendable
results in many parts of the country consequent to
Commnnity or poople's partiCipation is a very diffieffective participation but perhaps notupto the dcsired
cult, complex and challenging task. There are various '
expectations of the pianners, implementors and tile
interpretations to what is commonly referred to as
people in general. Is it due to our varying conception
'commnnity partiCipation'" PartiCipation of local
and mterpretation of community particiPation or is it
experts, participation by labour, money or materials, ,
due to lack of proper organisation at the grass-root
participation in local .organisation, and partiCipatio~ in
level or failure of such otganisaticm due to lack of pro,"

KURUKSHETRA May 16, 1983

15

~er leadership? Or is it that we have faiied'to involve

the people' due to lack of effective communication? ~
Or is it due to improper selection and employmen1or
inadequacy of chaniC aaents, animators or ineffective
functioning of the delivery mechanism? One could
go in asking many more such questions, No doubt, .
the lack of effective participation is attributable to the
cumulative effects of all these or some of these but"we
cannot just sit back and reflect on these. We have to
find workable alternatives and make concerted efforts
at all I'<.velsand organisations ,to make the process
more dynamic and people the centre. In attempting
to evolve workable alternatives, perhaps the factors in
the succeeding paragraphs ~e relevant
need consideration.
.

,u,d

Preconditions to participation
or animators seem to approach
T the development activities
with the promise that
HE

CHANGE AGENTS

they are competent enough and everything is alright

with them to get the people's participation. To what
extent such assumptions are justified? Without knowing 'whether people accept them or whether they have
gained credibility Or not, are they justified in organising
. and promoting activities assuming that people's participation will be automatic and fortbroming? Perhaps
the reply may be in affirmative as long as the people
dcrive benefits specially ecOI).OmiC
from such actions,
But then can the change. agents really call such action
plans as truly with people's participation? Experience
invariably shows that development activities in 'such
cases arc not continued or sustained by the:people once
thc organisation or the change agents are out of the
scenc, Therefore, the primary requirement in securing
people's participation will be to identify with their
socio-economic and cnltural lifestyle and. be one of
them, acquirc adequatc jrnowledge abo)lt the people,
the barriers and exploitative forces operating. One
must remembe:r the influence the social custOms and
beliefs play indirectly on the overall village life and.
consequently affecting projects/schemes. In' other
words the change agents/animators should at the commencement explore and identifY, them kindle confidence, hopes and aspirations withiil themselves (people)
and proceed as equal partners for the amelioration of
the causes of poverty gradually'so that eventually the
people take full control of their affairs.
Communication with.a sound feed-back system
as a tool has a very important role in securing
such participation. In rural India people living in
villagcs lack sufficicnt information, knowledge, skill
about thc need and means to improve or. niodernde their life-style. They lack scope and opportunities to organise themselves' and consequently
due t6 lack. of self-Confidence and power they are
unable to have control over their living, Educated
youth from rural areas do not get opportunities for
16

II
cmployment, get frustrated. and lose faith -in the
system and tend to undel:rate of. attach little; impol1<!ncein the. value sntem. _ WClIICIlhardly have .
any say. AJJ.yparticipation in this milieu c~!Jllfor
a most intimate and ellective system of inI'onnation, education, communication
and, feed.back.
Correct interpretation,' effective application'l and.
prompt feed-back of this complex process ii, the
main plank of effective communication. cOlnmUnicatio,n cannot solve all problems but it can help
when there is mix of orglJDisation, schemes and
people. Goals of communication should be to
promotc atl1tudes for greater receptivity to 'c!langc;
for community integration and co-operative .fri.!lctioniTIg; for groWth, conJrol .and manageIQ!~ntof
resources and reduction of tensiort and confuct in
the co~unity,.
QUalities and role .% cqmmlmicators are relevant and' very important for' ensuring
participation. Inter-Personal and other' traditional
and mass media methods of communication ~:lay a
key role in effecting intrimare participation. 'i Frequent dIscussion" demonstratiop., cfuI.logue during
planning, implementation, monitoring and eval,CJauon
have been found useful and brmgs both the aniraators
and the people closer. Wc are .not ouly to iru.prove
communication fron:.top . dtlwnwards but also' the
feed-back frOJ!lthe grass-root level to the tOI) and
alSo horizontally for well coordmated and integrated
resultsJ The following examples will c1arifY'l the
need:.
(a) In one particular area in North India the
District Agriculture Officer felt that if the VLWs
were concentrating in distribution of. fertilizilrs, it
meant that they w"re educating farmers for its use,
telling them about crpp rotal1on patterns, ct,;. II
theywcre unable to sell fertilizers, it meant. they
had failed to educate the farmers about ext<:nsiOn'
work. The result was that targets of distribution of
fertilizers were unposed not r!"lating to the heeds
nor ensuiing whether there was adequateirti~(ation
facilities. VLWs were never, even C(\IlSult;:l<1in
fixaton of targcts. Matter went to such extreme
that their' (VLWs) annual character, role entry' was
made on the basis of targets achieved! What ciUlb~
expecie4 from 'snch.communicators to enSure pe6ple's
participation ?
' , I

(b) It is often heard from the animators both in

the gove=ent and voluntary organisations that :ifthe
plaus have to be finally approved at the BDO/Coordinator's level then why waste time by making the,
grass-root leaders plan the same since most of 1hem
are' ignorant and illiterate? .. Can ~ucli coihIiltlnicators "nsute peOple's' participation? .
PRESENT
FOCUSof ihe cOnUnunic.ators: on
'time', 'target',. 'mput' and 'expenditure':1 can
hardly involve peOple.. This appIoa~/~ud,'
Oil

HE

KURUKSH:eTRA
May 16, 1983
.
,
I

i~
!i

extension workers/animators as communicators compels. them to approach the influential and powerful in
the villages for the sake of targets and quick results
which poor and weak require time to achieve. These
components (communicators) forming part of the
delivery mechanism are the weakest link in the chain.
This kind of communicators cannot ensure people's
participation. The increase in the number of special
programmes in the country makes the urgent need
for not only effective two-way communication . but
also for effective, good and adequate number of
communicators. .We must remember that effective
communication is one of the major instruments for
community participations, which will make the' people
feel that the schemes are theirs.

nitiO'll,status and and cohesive strength as a community. It gives them accessibility to information and
resources, check exploitation and injustices and. effect
fait distribution of resources. Such organisations
sho.uld establish linkage with .similar organisation in
the neighbourh~lOd for gaining additional strength.
They should develop dedication, good leadership
within, political' will and administrative competence.
Leadership plays an important role in the functioning
of the organisation. Women's organisation is also
necessary for development of WOmenand their homes.
All such organisations should also encourage cultural
and sports activitie~.
Effective participation also needs integration of
components/activities and their proper and timely coordination. . That is functional relationship between
inter-acting and mutually supportive clements through
the administrative process/mechanism (co-ordination)
to bring about unity of purpose in order to achieve
common objective. For eXaIuple health. literacy, agricultural activities should be properly integrated
to
form part of one sch~me.

ExTIMPORTANT
.factor for securing people's participation is the formalJon of people's'organisation
and group actions. It is important to remember that the
.special nature of human relationship in rural milieu
the people's organisation needs influence, . co-oper~"
tion and. also flexibility in operation -in adopting to
changing environments. Environment factors are also
not within the control of implementing. agencies.
Integration envisages that programmes should be
For example, implementation of an agriculture. pro- ~. analysed as system in which. all component processes
ject needs seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation faciare operatiilg optimally. The integrated .approach
lities etc. There may be adequate knowledge and'
views community participation as a necessary part of
caromunication 'skills' with the farmers. But the
education for development in conjunction with orgaproject also needs skills and ability' to influence other
nisational decentralisation and training' components.
Purpose of co-ordination is. to achieve smooth and
related activities such as input 'supplies, marketing
efficient functioning, remove bottlenecks, avoid waschannels etc., without whose cooperation efforts will
tages due to overlapping and duplication, ensure better
not be successful. Similarly the social customs aud
relationship between, various components.
beliefs which sometimes affect implementation should
also be taken into account in ensuring cohesion within
Decentralisation of the
. decision-making machinery
the organisation. Again there are other economic
(depending ,on the area of operations) in aU spheres
and administrative faclors such as pricing policy, budis equally important to develop leadership and configeting, 'delayed dccisions etc., which directly or
dence, and to obtain qnick results for participation. If
iIidirectly affect the inter-relationship and inter-action
the operation is over a large area, then the developwithin the organIsation creating many a time dison-'
ment is spread over a large number of dispersed rural
ance, .effects of which can be reduced through proper
communities and it is only through a decentralised
and timely co-ordination, whether the organisation is
approach that it will be qnicker to reach them. While
formal or informal, it is preferable to operate inf~a centralised approach reflects the priorities'of
the
malIy. since inter-personal relationship plays ani
plannets, it is the decentralised approach which enimportant role in functioning unlike the people's
ables the reflections of the priorities and feIt-needs
organisation in organised sectors. It is preferable to
,of the people. This also enables more intimate partiform groups, profession/vocation-wise
such as.
cipati0!l of the people and mobilisation of
the reseparately for agriculture, fisheries, artisans etc., and
sources. Finally it helps in bOOdingup local'organifederating all such groups into a larger group or an
sations, enduriug leadership" entrepreneurship in the'
apex body. Since people of same profession/vocation
rural community by working as a school of education;
have cultural and work-style affinities, their group
in the art of decision-making and administration ..Howactions are likely to be cohesive with common interest
ever, at all levels in the organisation constant monitorin their approach to problems and decision making.
ing and frequent evaluation should be the 'watch-dog'
For social problems, it is advisable to have a comof all activities necessitating review/modificatiO'lls of
posite body for the village consisting of opinion lea'
the plans from time to time when needed.
ders, priests, teachers, headmen. etc.. both old
and
IELD oJ; RURALDEVELOPMENT
.is a highly exploityoung. People's organisation be it formal or informal
ed system with strong vested interests which are
gives them the power to negotiate and bargain, recogasserting themselves .against any inroads into their

KURUKSHETRA May 16, 1983

'0

17

'11

power and operational strncture. There has to be a

delivery system for all inputs to reach the poor and
weak of the rural areas which cannot be. cornered
or appropriate by the vested interests who have. bee.n
mainly responsible. for not allowing the benefits of
development reach them (poor). Evolvement of such
a machinery has to be multidiscipli~ary. There has to
be an adequate and dedicated extension service prefe,ably locally recruited which can carry tlie . message
and input to the poorest man in the village.
There has to be a co-ordinate decision-making stmc-

turc of the poor with sufficient aut9nom)!1for quick

results. with supportive financial structure: People's
participation i, a cumulative and continu011s process,
which has to be nurtured and gradually'! developed
with the help of the people themselves through c1u,e
rapport,

cornmunication'/their

organisation;: decentra- -'

lised and integrated approach so thai the tempo of

development not only reaches a crescendo but is also
sustained.
II
[COURTESY:. World Lutheran Service
,i . (India) 1
I!
. II

(Contd .. from Page 9)

As far as land development banks are co'ncerned,
there are wide differences among different size groups;
The big farmers with, their high economic' status are
getting the loans with loW cost of credit, while marginal famiers secure the loan with a relatively higher
cost of credit.
Interestingly, wider differences are found in the case
of subsidies given by SFDA. ActuaIly, the main ob.iective in establishing this agency wa;; to give s~bsi~ies
Jin the form of interest free non-repayable amount)
to small and. marginal 'farmers. UsuaIly, the agency
gives a subsidy of 33.33 per cent to marginal and 25
per cent to ~mall farmers while the remaining propor-

~!

tion is met by the sponsoring agencies at 'nominal rates

of interest. .The findings of the present study furtber
reveal that the farmers are not getting the subsidies
. without. pleasing the officials. The problem is too
severe that to get a subsidy of Rs. 100, the" marginal
and small .farmers have to incur about Rs. 55 and
Rs. 52 in the form of transportatiQn costs, pleasing of
officials, etc., (of which tbe amou'nt spent for pleasing
of officials is too high). The pertinent qnestion is that
if a small. farmer or marginal farmer
, spend about 50
per cent to get the subsidy wbat lie will do ,with the
re~aining . amonnt. of subsidy or even with ,the 10an.1
(either cash or . kmd) ,?
.

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New Delhi;,"llOOOl.
II
18

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I

Tribal dev~lopment through.

milch' aniiual schemes
/

N.VENKA'fANARAS1MHA
RAO'and S. RAVINDER
Kakallya UJiiTersily, Warangaf(A.P.)

.T

\.

of 39 million at the time

of 1971 census increased to A2. millions with
the Amendment' Act of 1976 when the area
res(riction within a state was removed.
HE TRIBAL PO PULA nON

Tribals .constitute .about. seve~ percent. of the total

population of our country. There is a heavy concentratiOn of 422 Tribal communities speaking~about
105 languages in Orissa, ,Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan:
The maximum percentage (24 perc<ent) of tribals is
to be found in'Madh~'a Pradesh, In the Sixth Plan.
period, some further areas of tribal concentration were
sought
to be a<!f)ectto
the sub-plans
by identifying
,
.
.
pockets of 10,001l population, living ontiguously, of
whom at least '50 percent are tribals.
The schednled tribes live mostly in hills and dense"
forest areas which are, not' easily accessible. They
are mostly backward, poor, illiterate and indebted.
Uneconomic ;hifting cnltivation and exploitation of
forest products characterised their backwardness and
prodnctivity with yields, insnfficient to meet the basic'
. requirements of this life. They are tbe chief victims .
of exploitation by tlie middle men. They do not get
reasonable price for. tlieir forest products.

Prior to Independence and the launching of Five

Year Plans, Mahatma' Gandhi .. arid -Thakkar" Bapa
pioneered. the efforts' towards tribal development.
But it ,is. only after Independence
that
efforts 'were
.
.
. started to bring the tribals into .the mainstream of
national life and economy. For proIl!.otingthe welfaoe
of scheduled tripes and .tribal areas to that of state

"levcl; the Constitution (Article 275) provid~ grants to'.

the states for implementing the' de~lopmenta1' programmes. For "this purpose, the Central government"
had provided special funds in each Five Year Plan
for the welfare of scheduled tribes, as a part of. the
welfare of the backward classes.
A <considerable expenditure has been incurred for
the .welfa~e of scheduled tribes under various' welfare
programmes, bnt as compared to the magnitnde
of the problems of tribal development and the total
si?e of the plans, -the amounts provided are very'
meagre. The plan-wise amounts spent for the welfare
of STs .and itspe;centage to .total.plan outlay is presented ill the below table (Table I). It can be clearly
seen that the percentage of amounts allotted for tribal
welfare programmes gradually de~reased from plan to
plan.
.
.
.
Amount Sput for the Development of S.T.'s Under
Fj,e Year Plans .
(Rupees in Cror~s)
Plan period
_
(Five Year Plans)

Total Plan
outlay

Amount spent Percentage

for delJe/op.
,ment ofS.T's

. 1,960

19.83

1.0%

4,672

42.92

0..9%

50.32

0'5%

80.89

g.4,%

1. Socio-Economic impact of rural' electrification in the tribal

areas of A.P ..~ M.P. and Ori8sa~ Indian Institute of Erono.mics, Hyderabad"4. 198J.
__

. KURUKSHETRA May 16,.1983

First p1ar:t
Second plan
I

Third plan

8,577

Fourth plan

15,902 .2

Source :-Compiled from Five year pian documents .

19

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'tribal development efforts

HE GOVERNMENTOF INDIA felt that there is' a
strong need to set up special machinery for the'
effective implementation,of the tribal development programmes.. The special multipurpose tribal development blocks were' launched during the Second Five
Year Plan to bring about rapid improvement in the
economic and social conditions of ~blils. A.,eording
to Elwin Conuni1tee report, certain changes wer/!'made '
and they were renamed as Tribal Development (TO)
Blocks during the Third Plan Period? After the
. failure of tribal development blo~k approach to achieve
the desired' results, the government felt the need for a ..
comprehensiye' and. integrated strategy for the tribal
development. with a bid, to give facilities for tribal
development programmes to all tribal belts i~ the
country. Hence, the special programmes of Integrated
Triltal Development Agency were started in 1971 on
an experimental pilot basis, in the second' half of the
Fourth Five Year Plan, in tribal Oa of Srikakulam
.district in: Andhra'Pradesh, Singhbhum in Bihar aud"
Ginjam
Koraput. district in Orissa .. Later
. district and
.
on, two more projects in the Keonjhar aiId l'hulbani
distriCts of Orissa were initiated. Afterwards some
more projects were started by government of India in
the last year of Fourth Five Year Plan, Le" in 1973;74.
.All these ITDA projects had been sanctioned up to
31st March, 1979.

..
,

. To eliminate. the major problems faced by the

'tribals like indebtedness, bonded labour, u,nemployment, poverty, land alienation and marketing difficulties, the lTOA will undertake the various developmental 'pr"grarnmes
for
the' tribals.
The
main tribal development programmes of ITDA
schemes pertain to
agriculture, land develop-'
ment. horticulture, sericulture, rehabilitation of shifting cultivatio'n,' minor Jrrigation, schemes of animal'
husbandry and development of forest-based industries.
The programmes are implemented through a society
registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1960
called the "Integrated Tribal Development Agency",
consisting of members with the.District Collector as
the Chairman to the governing body and all the district level heads of general sector departments as
members and Project Officer as secretary. The
future' programme of action will also be determined
at the periodic review meetings. The members of
iegislative assembly and Parliament have been included
in the' governing body to ensure people participation,
~uflng the plan making. implementation and 'review.
.' The nUA programmes are gimerally implemented
through the normal development departments, which
2 Evaluation of ITDA, Keonjhat .dist.dct Orissa NIRD
. Hyderabad:
'.

'/

'

..

qre strengthened with additional staJl' by State Government and with marginal staff support .from ITDA.
They will directly execute only some social programmes.

Case study of 'Palern' JlTDA "

HE PRESENT,STUDYdeals. with' the impact of
milch animal scheme directly implemented by the
ITDA ' "Palem"s._ The "Palem" ..' integrated Tribal
Development Agency was registered under societies
registration act in the month of February, 1975. The
District . Collector is the Chairman and the ProjeCt
OIlicer ,is the Chief Executive to this ageBc:y. This
agency is expected to cover the tribal areas ,)f Palem
diStrict: There are 3,88,7:>2 schednled tribespopulation in the district Ij'hich.forms about 235 percent
of total population of the district. About 98 percent
,of the total scheduled tribes popnlation. resides in the
rural and dense forest areas of the distri.ct. This
"Pale~" ITDA was established seven years back and
undertook the programmes in sectors like; Agriculture, Irrigation, Animals . husbandry, Co-operalion,
Industries, Education, Medical and Healtt, facilities
etc, for the development of tribals since its"inception.
In the animal husbandry ""ctor; 504 cross..bred heifers, 90, pigs, 6,590 poUltry birds, 725.'milch animals,
73 breeding bulls and, 745 pairs of plough bullocks
were supplied benefiting the 3,000' members of sche:
dnled tribes since its inception. Besides these schemes, two' milk collection centres a~e. established by
incurring a sum of Rs. 10 lakhs. The total cost of
Rs.. 52.25 lakhs was spent on the animal husbandry
sector,' Out of 725' milch animal beneliciaries, -10
,percent of sample beneficiaries" (i.e. 72) selected,for
the study. These 71 respondents were selected randomly in the project area.

,,

,'.',

HE RESPONDENTS
received two types" of she-buff~
"'
aloes Le, iocal type of buffaloes (60:i and Murra
she-buffaloes (12). Out of a total iif 72 beneficiaries only. 20 beneliciaries were' cons,ulted by the
officials in the selection of animals at the time of purchase, These aJiimals were supplied on 50 to 75
percent of subsidy by the agency.'Onry
the 30 ,respondents felt satisfied with the selection; while rest of
the 42..:vere very much dissatisfied with :the quality a
animals supplied to them. Out of 72 animals supplied
to sample beneliciaries only 52 are alive, and the
'rest of 20 are said to have died, due to unsuitable
climatic conditions of the area and lack of knowledge,
on the part of beneficiaries, as to how to maintain

(3) "Pseudo name'" of the district ..

(4) Palem Agency base paper prepared in ronnection with
,the visit of central team.

KURUKSHETRAMay

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16, 1983

them properly. The local type of animals. gave betler

profits with less expenditure in comparison to the murra
bUJIaloes; \vhich yield less milk with more expendinrc. The average milk yield per ailimal . per day
is 2 litres from local, buffaloes, wbereas it is 1.75
ilres from Murra-buffalDe?, even though this type of
animals should yield at least 5;to' 6 litres per day.

The beneficiaries were not 'interested iI< the scheme

and they were not satis/icd ~ith the quality' of
animals given to them.

The respondents thought. that the animals supplied

by ITDA were free gifts from the bank. The tribals
are not aware of "the efforts of ITDA or took it as
granted. Lack of infrastructure facilities is one of rhe
major problem faced by the beneficiaries, Adequate
S MENTIONED
earlier, 52 animals are alive out of
veterinary
,facilities are not provided in these villages
12 animals, In' these 52 ,ailimals (~2 respondents)
,or
iir
tile
;'earby'villages.
But the milch animals reo
nly (21) 40 percent of the respondents are benefitquire
intensive
medical
and
health care. Some exed with this schemes.; On an average~ income genepressed
that'
the
veterinary
facilities
where available
ated by ,this ,.,.scheme per .respondent is only.Rs: 99
does
not
possesss
the
required
medicines.
Supplying
per 'month. In "Pally'" villagein the year of 1975, 10
one
milch
animal
is'
"not
a
proper
scheme
to
generate
ilch animals were sup'plied to, 10 beneficiaries on 50
sufficient income to the. fumily. Their economic posi.lrcent subsidy by the ,Palem ITDA.' Rest of. ,the
tion is very low and hence tIiey are unable :to maino percent on the basis of loan was given by the
tain the animals properly. They are not having aderameena Bank. '.From 1975 to 1978 Le. for three
'.' quate land to graze the cattle. Hence looking after
ears
the
responderlts
benefited
with
'the
milch'
aili.
.
.
the other needs of beneficiaries very )mportant
for
als and they got additional income on an average
the success of the programme. The beneficiaries poins. 120 per month. In the ye"r'1979, ,Grameena
ted outthilt they"couid not 'benefit from this' proank forced, the tribals to, repay the 50pereent loan
gramme as it was not their traditional profession. The;
omponenL At that-time the middle nien instigated
poor' economic conditions of the beneficiaries contri'he tribals' not iO'iepay the loans to Grameena Bank. .
, bilted to the ineffectiveness of the programme. Acaken in'by theseunsc~pu1ous people, thetribals reo'
cording to "sOmeof the bendiGiaries they disjJosed off
sed tei repay'the loan, 'This controversy 'continued
the animals~andspent the money for the purpose 'of'
upto .1981. Tribal;' told with bank autborities:,
domestic
and social ceremonies:'
e don't pay money to bank if you want money you
may tnke over tbe animals." Tben the authorities of
rameena Bank"seized the animals 'ani! Jhey adjiIst,Conclusion
d tlie money to tbe loins of tribals: Then ITDA
NY PROGRAMME mining at the development of
fficials were ,not involved, in these matters. After,
target groups must. take into account the problems '
,,~rds the tribals realised', that they were at' loss due
and
the
social conditions existing in the ar"" and
a tl,e advice of middlemen. "
with the target group. Benefits of the programmes
percol:,t~ to the target groups, only when they
are
The rest of the' respondents '24 expressed that the
accepted by tlie target groups an\l implemented effeCcherne - is useless to them' and they encountered a'
tively by the Government, authorities' concerned.
number of 'problems., The beneficiaries'. consent waS;.
'TribaIs' in, our, c'ountry require a special approach to'
at taken into consideration at the'tinie 'of purchaso
their development ,which is. to be based on a' 'prefect
fanimals:'.",
1
',-,
understanding
of
sensibilities
are to
.,'
. the tribal
.
~
, if we ~
.
.
success~JIy
solve
their
problems.
"
(5) Pseudo~name of the village.
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'

~-:

A SMALL FAMILY IS A 'HAPPY FAMILY

URUKSHETRA

May 16, 1983

21

"

'Bangladesh : developlnent
efforts and social 'change
MD. ,HABIBURRAHMAN
AsSociate Professor, pep. of Social.W~rk,RajshahfUni,ersity .(llIangladesh)

as a new nation in December, '1971. Though a small country with an. area,
of 55,126 square miles it is among . the most
densely populated parts of the .world, 'ranking
eighth in respect of population. Like many other developing countries the economy of Bangladesh is predominantly agricultural. About 90 per cent of the coun-.
try's population is rural and 75' per cent of these are
engaged in agriculture 'and related Occupations. The .
mit put of agriculture makes up more than 56 per.
cent of the nation's gross domestic product. Agriculture is -the backbone of the economy of Bangla'"
desh.
"

ANGLADESH EMERGED

Bangladesh is a new nation with a'l:1old' heritage.

Tlie Portuguese the Dutch, the French and the Engiish
all wanted footholds in this part of the sub-coittinent.
The. British was the last to come-and after trying different. parts of Indi~, decided to concentrate on Bengal.
The British and the local trading community jointly
exploited the Bengali masses upto August, 1947 and
during Pakistan period the country was exploited by
West Pakistan. Bangladesh's basic problem is 'limited
land and too much of population that is depende'l:1ton
it. r:.atura1 resources and raw materials are many and
varied but weak, energy resources and meagre industrialization have stood in the way of economic development. In addition to these characteristics, before the new
country emerged in 1971, there was political disorder
followed by .the war of liberation resulting in human
and physical losses, So, it had to start from the scratch.
As there have been enchanting evolution starting ,
from our. traditional conservative society initially in-'.
iluenced by colonlal heritage rolling info partition of
the' sub-continent and' thenAo our liberation war.
.

Historically speaking, the mai!, formo! wealth, in

. pre-Bllit,sh .Bengal was land and the !'lain economy
.

22

was agriculture. The agricultural economy was organi-'

sed on the basis oL village communities. In 1830, Sir
Charles Metcalfe, one of the ablest British officials in
India, described the village conuiJ.u;Uties a, follows :
"The vill'age communities are little republic:s, having
nearly. everything they wam within themsl~lves and
almost independent of any foreign relations. They
seem to last where nothing el~e lasts. Dynasty lifter
dynasty tumbles down; revolution succeeds
revolutjOll; . Hindu, Pathan, Mughal,
Mharatha, Sikh
and < English are mastefl; ih. turn but the village.'
communitieS rerriain the same
,
"
The development of commerce had led to the break
~p of traditional character of the village even before
the British rule .. But the British rule in the then India
began to affect vitally the village organization ilnd con<:equently'today it is difficult to find the traditional village
communities, Until the beginning of the Btitish rule the
different functional groups in the village maintained an .
unchanging division of labour .. The process of industrialization', urbanisation, and the introduction of the
improved means of communication have gone a long
way toward breaking down the isolated character of the
villages. This has also made the labour inore mobile.
I'n recent years, the control over ecpnomic lire by' the
village community h~s greatly declined. The vill~ge
community controls social aspect of life more than lh,e '
economic aspect. The village organisation in spite of,
its decline still performs .certain necessary social control
functions. A~ribed status to individuals and classes
has been replaced by achi~ved .st~tus.
The social changes have been profriundly. affected
by the Second World War and .by the after-effects of
the independence of India and Pakistan. The war of
liberation in 1971 and the emergence of Bangladesh
as asovereign and independent state has fnrther accelerated the' process .. the dornina!iol\, .by Pakistan. and
KURUKSHETRA

May 1.6, 1983

,But it is not the case today--e1en in the bouse he has

to remain ready to ~eceive pe~ple as a ,modern man.
Most of the houses in the urban areas have the media
of radio, T:V., newspapers etc. and they are helping
in changing the atmosphere of the traditional house.
large number of people listen to. radio and watch T.V.
This has revolutionised the society and has also penetrated into the rural society.

their attempts to distort Bengali langnage,' , culture,

heritage ahd even economy gave birth to lIberatIOn
war and its successfnl culmination in the blfth of.
sovereign Bangladesh 'with new social order.

'.

The pilCe of development

-M' ANIFOLDDYNAMIC>developments through spread

of education, youth movement, ema'nclpation' of
women have greatly affected the society. At present,
the principle of self-reliance throUgh "Swanirvar"
(Self-reliance) movement has given new outlook tG
people. Various nation-building Depa:tments .hke Integrated'Rural Development, CooperatIve, SoCIal We~fare, Family Planning, Youth Development, Women s
Affairs etc. through their' creative and mnovallve programme,; of socia-economic development utilising ~an, power and other community resources havc been brmging necessary changes in our social arcna, The older
order of society based on feudal ownership'of land and
'aclilated by religious mode of thought is breaking
down under the impact (If 'new economic forces and
scientific ideas.

PAST,RURALpeople were seldom affected by

Ithe. changes
of Government and they lived in t~eIT
NTHE

closed societies but now they are becoming consc,ous

of their rights and obligations. Industrialization and
urbanisation have also affected the lives of the vast
'millions of people living in the rural areas. The cash
money 'earned by the workers at home and abroad is,
going 'to ,the villages resulting in a new standard of
life there. The rural people do not like to depend
on nature only for rain for sowing seeds, they no'V
demand power pumps for irrigation.
In the traditional culture of Bangladesh women were
largely ignored. Women have overcome many obstacles and they may be proud of their accomplishments.
Now-a-daJ"Sthe women of Bangladesh have entered a
transiti&nal'phase, their roles are nolonger static bnt
dynamic. ,Urban middle class women are, _joining
white collar jobs while rural women are participating
as day labonr in food for work activities, Changes in
behaviour and attitude, take place as they seek and
find new work. On April 14, 1976 the Government
in a press note declared that 10 per cent of all jobs in Govermnent and private sectors would be reserved for
,,;omen provi,ded that they fulfil the necessary quali- '
fication criteria.

The society is on the t1Jreshold of industrialisation

t
t
There is a switch-over from an agranan economy a
an agro-industrial economy, ,The migration of people
from rural to urban arell<lis changing the pattern
of society, The society - is passing through a
transitory period, This has ' also affected the
strucwe
of family,
The rural society retains
much of the old traditiou an!! customs il) matters, of
family life, marriage and other social functions and
festivals, The old joint family system ISbeing liquidated'
giving place to single and extended family. There is a'
significant growth of individualism. A new patt~rn of
relationship is growing between parent,s and children
, and such' changes are also noticeable in husband-\vife
relationship. The present day youths havc lost the
moorings, Old valves are no more there, the respect
for old culture 1Svanishing.
I

The older generatiQn grew up under the influence

of traditio~al patterns which consisted of a very
powerful ]ocal cultural and religious influences; They
were brought up in a way of life and for a waY.Df
life which was quite different from what the younger
generation sees around them today. Social patterns
are changing so rapidly today that even those who have
prepared themselves for the change's, sometimes
feel bewildered and lost. Traditionally, power elite
was a static group and power was exercised by semifeudal families which was later on controlled by poli"
ticians and political parties.- Now the power c:1ite j$ /
composed of those. men who have mastered the
technical skills demanded by modern society,'
During the British rule it was' possible for a persbn
to be modern and westernized in his public life and
to retire to a traditional and oriental life in his home,

KURUKSHETRA May 16, 1983

<-

With the Dacca Metropolitan Police Act of 1976,

provision has been made for the recruitment of women
-to the newly constituted" Metropolitan Police, They
were first given training the 'Ansars' in 1977. A new
profile of Bangladeshi women different from the traditional 0\le is emerging, To promote socio-economic
status of women and to inclnde them in the total plan
of development, a Women's Affairs Ministry was establi~hed on December 1, 1978.
\
The .Government -sponsored cooperative

movement,

the swanirvar movement and the integrated'rural development programme which have helped women to
play more t!Jan domestic role and in the motivating . women
to turn
their
subsistance
level
\.

activities

into

commercial

activities.

food for work programme

wlllch
began
1975 has also helped WOmen to come out

The

In
of
tor

their traditional setting in order to earn' money

their basic needs. Thus, women' have also been inte-

grated with thc development process_ The Department of Sodal' Welfare has established mothers'
(Comd. on p. 26)

Thi." feature is based on Sllcc:ess stories l,'iz. achievements ,gailled in .variOl{S

spheres of rural development
by jarJ11CfS; im;tltutiofiS.
expuimenters
and indivi. duals.
There- is hardly an argument over the fact that dedication and ;:.cal to
put ill hard ->orkcan achieve anything.
And one acldevement irispirt!j. and shows
the way to others!

rvc hope our esteemed. readers 'wi:ll send us tlzf!ir own experiences in the
field so that-other '.call benefit by them to usher ill a better
life jor,ow' rural
peop/.e.

(EDITOR)

ii

IRDP a,nd the rUfal poor

'a sm~ll ~y. Village of .Theevattip~tti "
block of Salem Dlstnct m the TalDll Nadu, bemg"
situated at 19 kms accessible only after trekking nearly
2 kms of rocky path.
The village mostly dominated
by scheduled tribes has about
150
families.
The
main sources of their income is deriv['d .from sellin!
firewoqd collected from hills. On many "occasions they
have to return back to plain without anything"leaving
yet another bl~k day rehind them.
The Manager,
Indian Bank (Lead Bank for Salem District Theevatti"
patti branch) paid a visit to this village and he was
appraised of the pr~vailing condition of the village-rs.
The Manager
considerill!!.~ the
apathetic
stand of the
.
'I
.
poor villagers not only told them of the various schemes
means for the upliftment of the downtrodden but aI,,,
take initiative with great zeal and selected 19 villagers
for issue of. ~oans. They were enrolled as membors" of
K. Morur Milk I?roducers' Co-operative Society.

ANNAPPADI,

_The area was, some time back 1,lnoccupied "poromboke" "(government

land) where marauding
and burrO\~ing bandicoots he:d the sway.

jackals

Government made arrangements

for this d"serted
land to be converted into a colony for people. of the
Scheduled Castes and Tribes., Eighty la",lless families

were selected to form the nucleus of a settlement:: Each

" fanrily was allotted five>..to ten cents of land.
Hon;e
building assistance With a grant content of Rs. !2 500
was provided to each family. '
:1
.

'

In the middle of June, 1981 butfaloes were delivered

as soon as the poor villag~ mcmbe~s started
earning income every week and repaid. the bank lOiln
promptly.
In December,
1981. another 35 villagero
were given buffaloes.
At -pre-sen: on an average they
earn Rs." 200 per month while they were previoush'
. struggling so much for~unning thejr live-so
}~

:0 'them

This ThecvaHipatti .branch of Indian Bank ;]'ad advanced Rs. 14 lakhs under Integrated Rural Development Progamme" (IRDp)
during "the ye,ir 1981,82
cov~Jing the' poor community and the branch is :stepping up to make:the people to "help themselves.
-1'1. TAMIL V ANAN
Offic~ of DIe" of Field Publicity,
Sale,,! (Tamil Nndu)

"

Srip~dam is blesseq
.

-literally m~ans the feet.of Lakshmi. the

Goddess of prospenty.
In re,11ty, It is a ,man
village some 20 kms away from Tri.yanc1rum.

"RIPADAM

24

(Top) A typical homestead in Sri'padam: (hottom}'

Tapioca and coconut plantations..

>

KURUKSHETRA May
'-~

"

'

'Besides, the Animal HusbandI:y Depar!!J1ent will be

supplying concentrated Cattie feed from Sangam and
Vadlamudi feed-mixillg plants on ~ubsidy basis. Health
care and artificial insemination for ,the cattle is now
attended to by Pedanindrakolanu livestock ~upervis0lJ;
unit.
'
The' chara~teristic feature' of these cross-bed heifers
is they come to heat normally in about 15 to 18- months
and after gililing 250' kgs. of weight and they are nor, mally heavy milk'yielders. The geographical and climatic conditions are qnite snitable to these animals to
thrive in Ganapavaram area on an average for a lacta'tion period 'Of300 days; they yield about 2000 to 2500
,litres ":;,'d the dry period ,is only two to'three 'months.
While the, age of maturity of local nondescript breeds
is 36 tD 42 months and the milk yield which is very,
low varies from 250 to 300 litres for a la~tation period
of 200 days, the dry period among the iocalbreeds i,
co~paratively ,higher;
,
It is estin;latedthat a cross-bred pregnant cow at the
age of just above two year~ would fetch a price of RE.

3000 to Rs. 3500 and the'iben<;ficiary would repay tlte

entire loan 'with interest by selling away two cows re_taining oile, cow and a calf for himself to supplement,
his family's income otherwise. 'After selling away of
'I the two cows, the beneficiary would surrender the fodder plot to the Samitbi so that others could be benefited through the scheme.
ResultS.- The results are already forth i:omi!lg.
Other better placed farmers, have already brought some
heifers on their own farm BlUlgaloreand. other places,
>. This novel scheme successfully implemented in Gana-'
pavaram Panchayat Samitbi deserves emulation by the
other Panchayat Samitbis in the ,State.

G.NAGESWARA RAO,
Deputy Directur
Informlltion and Public Relations Department
Vijayawada (A.P.)

-----'
.-"

(Colltd. from 1!age 23)

clubs in vill~ges under its Rural Social Service Programme with the objectives of imRarting useful skills
to poorer rural women, .encouraging them to come
out of their homes and offering,a range of services to
rural mothers including health care, family' planning,
social educa ti'Onetc. The girl students are also getting ,
themselves admitted not only in the general u~iver,
sities but also in Medical and Engineering Colleges in '
large n~mbe;s,

Integrated
rural development
,

.T~-iE
. has started some pilot women'~ cooperative
INTEGRAT:pD

RURAL- ~~velopment.

Programme

pro-

jects in a few selected areas for training <;lndeducating

women to become economically', productive and to'

m~ke them able to parti<:ipate meaningliilly in' changd'
takingplac~ around them. .
_ The Foundation for Women's Welfare and Rehabilitation ba~ organised programmes ranging from
\ sec~etarial courses to cooking .in order to prov.ide. ,
women wfih a skill which w:iH enable them to earn
r'

their living independently.

Numerous women,'s co.,
operati'Ves ,have be~n set 'up and they lare produchlg

handicrafts, inade. of jute, cane arid wool by women

. during ,their spare. time.

In many cases women them-

selves are marketing their' products and keeping

acctmnts. In many "Swanirvar" (Self-reliance) and.
multi-purpose

vities

cooperatives

women participate"

in

acti-

concerning

ali develoi:,ment fields. It is

i'Dt~'resting to note how rural women are coming out
of seclusion
7.6

to. work for food for work

programme

requiring physical labonr.

,Economic hardship

has

caused social change among women also.

I

'

The: people 'of Bangladesh arc trying to bring about

necessary changes in the economic situation of the
country in the shortest possible time. As (he resource;
av..~ilable at their disposal, being, limited, it has been'
decided t"o mobilise human resou-tces in various nationbuilding works 'so that the pace of development can
be accelerated. The rural,population"are traditionally
imbu~d: with the idea of voluntary participation
111
small scale community' development w,,!:k ,in the vl1lages, One snch example 'is the Ulashi-Jadunathpur
project in-the district of Jessore where hundred ~ and
thousands' of people volnntarily contributed their 'mite'
to divert the course of a river and as a result of which
the annnal yield of crop increased to
great extent.
A number' of similar projects have' also been undertaken through out the country: It is hoped that if these
projects are. ma~erialised, most of the" single-crop areas

can bc turned

into d?uble-cropping

ones ..

The progra~e
of voluntary ma;s participation has ,
been confined to the fields like irrigation, drainage,
flood control, embanklnents, npds, .small bridge-~, 1ish
,
re~servoirs (Plantatio'n of trees along roadsides etc. The

projects are undertaken in response to local needs,

sponsored and implemented by local people themselves,' The fundament"l principle of',self-reliance is
built around the concept of the maximnm utilization of
human resources in the development process. ' It basicallY,aims at improving the quality of ,life by utilizing
. unused

'and under-used

hUffiC1:n

resources.

KURUKSHETRA

May 16. 1983

-Within no time, Sripadam became a beehive of activity. Brickwalled, houses 'with tiled roofs, capab:e of
withstanding the heaviest downpour sprang up everywhere. Wells were dug for drinking. water and' for
,irrigation. '

Imaginative Schemes.-But
th~ story jn Ganapa:'
varam Panchay,,!: Samithi'in West Godavari District is
different and novel from other sch~mes. Due to the'
imaginative approaCh of SOO Yesubabu, Samithi Chief
and Shri S. Y. Hussain, Block D,evelopment Officer
a well-coordinated pr~gramme of distributing 129
cross,bred; heifers to 43 weaker section families was
taken up in four .villages. The' eiltire scheme i~ finan.;
ced by the Andhra Bank in which three. cros~-brec]
heifers at a cost of Rs. 8,930 are supplied to "eaeb
beneficiary on loan basis of which one-third is, giver,'
as subsidy by DRDA. The S.c. and B.C. Corporatiori
would give 20 percent as marginal money.

.After testing the soil;)the A~cultural Department

came forward with liberal schemes of assistance. Each
fa~iy got at least eight coconut seedlings to plant on
the larid allotted to them. Pepper cuttings Were provided free of cost so that they Could cultivate vineyard,
of black gold. Quality tapioca 'cuttings were also supplied as the soil Was found suitable. Tapioca tubers.
it may behame in mind fonD. a substantial pill of'
'the poor man's diet in Kerala.

,.

The cross-breds selected are Jersy; tIolsteiri

Fressian, Red-Dane, Holstein-Fressian
KelTYcross,
which ~re hig,'l-yielding; the scheme has now got off the
ground in 'Nagulamilli, Nidamarni. Seethararnpuram'
and :Pedauindrakolanu villages.

To encourage .agriculture, toolS like spades and pickaxes were- supplied free along with fertilisers for. the
crops.
, The windswept

WI,

":d that- was Sril?adam is. no more.

To infuse confidence among ihe beneficiaries a com;!'"

fi}ittee was constituted/ with representatives "of benefi ..

,<::;oconutpahns, -tall and graceful, gently dance in the

breeze. Pepper vines lend a spicy fragrance to the air.
As long as tapioca grows and diascoreas mature, nObody need starve. And pepper and coconuts, give
them' enough money to buy little comforts of life.

clarles, Animal. Husbandry .Depailment, . DRDA.

S.C" and B.c. Corporation, Andhra Bank' who wenT
round

Srlpadam is now a full-fledged "ettlement of the people of Scheduled Castes' and Tribes. But even the
most discerning won't notice it. Its well dressed peo. pIe, clean and industrious, its lush little plots full of
healthy crops, Sripadam has certainly been blessed
wilh the lotus feet of Lakshmi.
-Press

Chittcor,

Bangalore

and surrounding

areas

to

purch2.se the calves. All the 43 beneficiaries are frum

S.Cs.. H.es .. and other econo'mically weaker sections"
'and the ~ignificant feature is ~nof them are agricultural
labourers.

Information Bureau

Help with a difference

\vhen
T were used"as medium of exchange.
HERE

\VAS A T1ME in history

cows a'nd horse,S

These domestic animals were considered mobile property and morc

precious than valuable metals and even today, next to
agricultnraf land, cattle wealth plays a pivotal role in
rural economy.
.
r

The Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Corporation has initiated schemes for' oollect;on and sa:e of
'milk wi'h opening of milk collection centres in villages,
the farmers, weaker sections and the agriculttirallabou'rers are benefited with remunerative price for the milk
produced by them. The rearing of milch animals hllb
now become a profitable profession which supplements the income of farmers and" other ,,,eaker sections.
Various schemes were initiated by" the Government

mider Dis!rict Rural Development Agency (DRDA),

Integrated Rural Deve:opment Progromme (IRDP)
and Scheduled Caste and, Backward Caste CorPoration
for creative self-employment and more or less these
programmes

are common in all districts,"

Calf-rearing project at Nidamarni of Ganapavaram

panchayat:samitbi is m'!king great strides.

Faciiities.-To
house the cattle locally, available
material was procured ond for raising fodder an extent of 22 acres of land of the Panchayat Samithi at ':
Nidamarru village five' miles off from Ganapavaram,'
was allotted-which is centrally located where the bene-'
ficiaries of the four villages were se:eeted. The land
which..ha~ good irrigation" and drainage facilities was
known earlier as 'Mclarinpet' named after a British

Officer who strived for the welfare of the poor in the

area. Each beneficiary was aliotted 40 to: 50 :cents
of land for raisi'ng paragrass fodder which is quite
sufficien( to "feed tht:ce a'nimals throughout the 'yf.~r",

Poultry-keeping not only can add

to farmers income but also keep
them busy during the lean periods.

Adding to
farmers'

Income

The marginal farmers and agricullurallabourers can avail of mullifaceted assistance under
the Special Lio'estock Production Programmes of the Gmtral and Slate GOI'e;nments.Under lhese
programmes are covered the puchase and keep of cross-bred animals and even ancil/a;y o'cCtipalions like poultry, .piggery,goat
and sheep-rearing. AI present 99 projecls of cross-bred
heifers. 68 of poultry, 51 of sheep-reartllgOlld 50 of piggery are under ope;alion' in 2/
States al/d " UI/iol/ Territories.
Food subsidy of 50 per cel/t is given to smail and.margil/al
farmers al/d that of 66-2{3 per cent 10.agriculturallabourers for 'cross-bred,calf-rearil/g. Besides,
]5 per cel/t subsidy is given to small farmers and 33-1/3 per cent to marginal farmers and agriculturallabol/rers taking to poultry, piggery and sheep-rearing.
. More and more emphasis is being laid On such anciJlary occupations like shcep..bf'C\;ding, 1>ce.keepin,
etc., as th"y generate substantial employment and income opportunities for the rural poor.

,
'1',- .

... ~
.;..

,;

>
::".cO?

,
Ii

.of

/:,

l'-

._"'_"_."_"

Regd, No .0 (.oN) /39

(Licensed under U(DN)-54 to post without prepayment at Civil Lines Post Office, Delhi),

RN702/57

Fisheries provide a means of livelihood for aboui one million people residing mar coastal areas.

Adding to farmers' Income

AvocatiollS like dairying, pOI:!try, bee-keepiltg etc, can prol'ide employment and steady income
.,'en to landless labourers who do not own land and are unemployed during the agricultural offseasons, Fisheries affords livelihood to about one milli!l" people IMng lIear coastal areas and lately
about 4200 jishfarmers "al-e been imparted trainillg in modemteclmiques of in!andjish farming:
Sericlliture and vegetable farmillg call also be adopted as a subsidiary occupation by small
farmers al/d Itelps them in raiSing their i/lCOI;resbesides keepillg Ihem gailifully busj"
Vegetable-fanning is not only a paying subsidiary occupation but is a good pastime too ..

,'.
I

~'

PUBUSHED
AND

BY THE

PRlNl1:D

BusiNESS.

"

"it
DIRECTOR,

PUBLICATiONS

BY THE MANAGER, GOVERNr.1ENT

MANAOER"~" S. L. jAIS~A.L

ASSlT.

DIVISION,
Of

NEW

INDL'

DIRECTOR (p):-

DELHI-ll0001,

PRESS.
K.

FARIDABAll.

R. KRiSHNAN