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City parks and forests not only keep the ecological balance but also provide healthy environs to the city dwellers.

Improving the environment

Deforestation leads to various natural hazards like Iand-slic('s

and loss of fertile soil.' Hence the need to preserve them.

The problem of t!Ilvironmental pollution in

india is as severe in rural areas as in urban.

Environmental problems in rural areas are largely

due to misuse of natural resources because of

sheer poverty and .'ack of alternatives and

awareness. The denudation of forests and vege-

tative cover due to indiscriminate coUection for

firewood, overgrazing by cattle and other live-

stock, non-availability of adequate systems for

community wastes have all led to the impoverish-

ment of t!Ilvironmental resources and insanitary

living conditions causing various health hazards.

Considering the ill-effects of t!Ilvironmental

pollution on public health, the GOl'ernment has

constituted a National Committee On Environ-

mental Planning antI Co-ordination (NCEPC) in1972 to identify and investigate, the problems

of improving the human environmmt. Special

emphasis is also being laid on improving the

environmental contIitions of slums, all stipulated

in the new 20-po/i't programme.

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'.

V,ot 'XXXI :No., 17

June 1, 1983

Jyaislha 11, 1905

1

.: l'

..Hurukshi! tra Editorial(lndia;s jou~nal ~frural development) ,

4 ',,-

CONTENTS'.WHITHER RURAL INDUSTRIAUSATION?

. A,.K. Rajula Veyi

INDUSTRL\LISING BACKWARD RURAL

, . AREAS: SOME CONSTRAINTS

Navin Chandra Joshi

Exeous TO. THE 'CITIES and urban areas ha;' beenthe ~.e of our rural scene sinee long. People

from rural aleas _after gettirig' edueation:-general or

. professional-mi'graw t,o t~wns an

employment there or practise there. Very few'choose-,

10 stay in the village and Use the kn;wledge and skin.

acquired by them.for the betterment af the rural areas

ar the society araund them; , -

'.

,.

. FISH AND PRAWN FARMING IS QUITE. . ~W ARDh"'~

M: Rajeswara Rao and G. Savaraiah-, ,

Over the years, a whale array of schemes have been

tried with th~ abjective af keeping the rural people- .

. including educated and skilled amang thein-in the

village so that thc villages d~velop and the people do

not migrate to cities and create sOcial, economic and .

.ecological problems at both' the ends.' It is not. to

deny that. the industrialisatian of rural areas has made

good progress in the recent years, but stilI the' picture

\ its a 'whale is not encouraging beCause the develop-'t . ~ .."mcnt is restricted to few pockets. and areas anly and

is n(ltevenly spread. -:',Steps like having an el\t~nsion

afficer (Industry) at the block level, simplifying cr

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~.

' .

, '

, .

.'.

\

I

,

. \', W hither

tural industrialisation?-~ - . .. .

A.K. RAJULA nEVI ,

facnlly of R.ral Indoslries, and _ploymoot,NIRD, Hyderabad'

,\ -

, ' .

-A carefUl scrutiny of the different progranunes taken

up duriug the. five year plan periods.embradng nearly

- three -decades of 'planning', shows that the main ,'0bjec-- 'tives initially were like increased food production and

that the stress in, different plans had been on certain

aspects of development. Throughout, but' particularly

frOm the mid-sixties,' there 'has been emphasis on the

generation of employment 'avenues, promotion of dis-~,

puring the Fifth Plan (1974-78)" the 'Govermnent~ - ~ . '

Of India:,introduced several Area development and Ex-tensiou programmes, including the Drought Prone Area

Programme (DPM), Hill Areas rie~elopment Prog-, /ramme (HADP), Trib_al', Areas Development Prog-

ratnme (TADP),Rural Artisan Programnie J(RAP)

an"dthe Integtated' 'Rural D~velopment Programme

(IRDP) with thecobjective cif 'developing, ways 'and

mean;; for enlisting and, enhancing people's participa-

tion: in rural development projects. .

and finding solutions to ilie problems of ,those.mdus-,tries. ' ' '

During the Thir:d Plan period (1962-66), fhe Rural

,Pilot Projects were replaced by Rural Industries Pro-

,'j jects (RIP) under which, the possibilities of -briJiging

, .about tecluiologlcal irilprovements' and productivity

in,creases were explored apart from mobilising instittl-

Houal fuiance and istroducing a pilot credit guarantee

scheme. The period witnessed certain improvements'

to Ambar Charkbas,Power Ghanis, Coir spirining

eqnipment, handlooIllJ!, etc., ~s alsO the expansion of

tra1ning facilities, managerial subsidy, etc..' I .

In the FoUrth Plan (1969-73), the reconimenda-

. tions of the Ashok Mehta and Pailde Committees led

to the importance being attached to the development,

of appropriate technology, introduction of new designs

in order to irllprove the quality' of handicraftS and'

othe~' village products and, more important, attention

...,as devoted to plans for iiJ.dustrial' development of

227 districts which had been declared as 'backward'.

'A S PER the' Rural Labour Enquiry ,1974-75, ,the

, estimated' number of full ,days of employment in

the rural sector on an all India basis for '1964-65 and

1974-75 showbd a,consistent decline, This trend,waS

evident, unfort]Ulately, both in agriculture as well as

in no-farm rural occupations. During thjs decade,

. agri~ultural work for men declined from 208 days in

a year to 185 and in non-farm from 27 to 25 ' days,

This trend is going on since long' and ,shows no 'im-'

provement. 'Its cutnclative' effect evidently spells

hunger' and unemployment to a large numoer' of 'rural

,families. It iSIto ;change this situation that theGandhians stress-'!! on the role or village and small.

industries.'

Work during the plans

THE FIRST FfVE YEAR, PLAN (1951-56) stressed'

, the reviWl of the traditional rural industries' like,

khadi, handloom,' handicrafts and other village indus-

tries, and orientation of artisan development prog-

ranunes, apart from envisaging aemahd' generatio!, of.

agro-based products like met)J.ane gas from cowdunglind soap from non-edible, oils. However, desI'itethe

rescrvation of certain products for the cottage sector,

and introduCtion of other' commillly development

prograinmes, village industries did not receive much

importanCe during the firs!.plan p~riod./

, ,During the SecOnd Plan (-1957-61); the Karve Come

mittee conceived of an operational framework for in-

creasing the rural employment, poleritial through the

development- of' village and small industri~s sector,

and by shifting emphasis from ~the vi1!age artisans in

genertll to cottage' and. village industries_which. coUId.be adjuncts to, the small industries.. Industrial cOope-

ratives received encouragement and a number, of Rural

Pilot Projects (RPP) came to be established ,with' the

, objective of ,developing cottage and small industries in

a coordinated ,manuer with the people's participation. ~

..

4

'. ,..

'- 'KURUKSHETAA JUne, 1,.1983.' .

,,;.. -

" - .

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Artisans are willing to adopt' improved techno-" logy. ' . ,

A high percentage of artisans are opp,?sed to 001-lectivisation. "

Organised effort appear to find favour' with ihe

artisans to the extent ,they appreciate the need fortraining in ,use of )mproved technology and, facing

market conipetition. ' "

Dependence on middlemen appears to be a major,faCtor in marketing.

Decentralised sectors'

TilE PROFILE of an artisan,. unfortunately is very . r

depressrng:, An analYSISmade on the basIS of a

survey of 1300 artisan households in different. parts

of the country during 1973-74 by the Adnrlnistrative

stiff College of India (Hyderabad)" highlights the

folloWingaspects of village artisans. .,' ,',

The village artisan has to support a large family

, (averag~size5.7). < , /The village indnstry being his sole occupation;

- there' is 'a definite need' for the industry .10 pay for

. ,the artisan, if he is to eke outa living and support ".his family.' ' ,

Most of the artisans live below the poverty line

CRs. 40 per capita Rer'month). -..:"'., " J' - . ",'

Food ,and clothes appear to be the major ele.

ments in their exPenditure. Education is .totallyeliminated. " ,

More than 80 per ce!!t of artisans oWntheir hou-'

ses,'cycles and radios seem to be very coritmon in-spite of p~veity, .

,

Around 61 per cent of the artisan houselJ,olds'areindebted. '

,The problem

THE PROBLEM of imemp1oyment'inthe rUral areas, has phenomenal dimensions. It is estimated"thatiit 1978 the number of unemployed had touched 16.5

million persons in, rural areas. Furpter, annual addi-

tions to the 'ranks of the unemployed are in the range

of 5 million.' Thus by t!J.;year,'2000.A.D., the total

number of unemployed would possibly cross 126.5

million uuless remedial measures are taken during this.

period.

Against t1)is'backdrop, during .1979-80, . nearly' 32

crore people in mdia were living below the poverty lfue

with an: average mo;'thly per capita, consumption of

Ri. 52.80 (at 1979-80 prices).' T]J.eTask Force on

Projection of Minimum Needs and EffectIVeQmsump-.

tiqn Demand set up by, the Planning Commission,'in

197.7 defined 'poverty line' as ,the mid-point of the -

.monthly per' capita expenditure clflss having a daily

'calorie intake of 2400 per' person in, rUral areas J!nd

21(iO in urban ,areas. At '1919.80 prices, these mid-

points are'RB. 76 in rotal a~d Rs. 88 in urban ar~s.

During'1979-80, nearly 26 crore people in rural'areas

Dad an a~erage per capita.- monthly expenditure of

RB: 51.27 and:nearly siX crore people in the urban

, areas had a per capita monthly consumption expendi.,

ture of Rs'- 59.75. If'all the redistributive measures

envisaged in the Sixth Plan (1980.85) are carried out;

the num!>et of people below the poverty lfue by the

end of the plan, would still be 21.5 crareS. or abI1ut

30 per cent ,of the then estimated population of CJ,1.7 '

crores. According to the pi;lI\Ullg Commission, "the

majority: of the poor live in the rural areas and belong ,

to the categories of landless'labourers, sniall and mar-gmal farmers, rural artisans including fishermeIi' and

backward classes and backward tribes. These peOple

have either no assets or assets with very l~w producti-

"ity;,few relevant skills and no regular full-time jobs

or very low paid jobs".

/Thrring 1970-71, 'the poorest ten 'per cent of the

rural p()Pulationaccounted for 3.9 per cent of the total

privat, consumpti9n expenditure. By 1977-7fJ their

share hild come down' to 3.7 per cent. On the other

hand the share 'of th~ richest ten per cent of the rur3I

:population went up from 23.3 per cent of the total pri-vate consumption~xpenditure in 1970-71 to 25.6 per,

cent duri,."g197fl~78. '

BefOrethe,advent of 'B;itish rul~, 40 per cent of our/'

population was engaged in rural crafts, indusiril'S and.f - -, ~"_ _

p~r~al of indUstries, encourageme.nt of ancillary 'and' occupations; only 60 per . cent, were dependent;m

agro-based units and in respect of the rural sector, agricultUre, The, percentage of the industrial' po!,!ula-

development and upgradation of artisans skills . etc., ' .:: tion decr~edtol25 per cent with the start Ofthe' pre-

.From the ~arly seventies, emphasis has been on the sent dnturi"and' gradually declfued'to 10 per ceut.

productioll. ~f. mass consumption goods an d also On' During the decade 1961-71, there appeared to have

the p~oduction of such. of t1:J.oseproducts having a been. a sign).ficantdeclfue.in the number of persons en:

good potential 'for' exports, like handicrafts. gaged in household'industries, while during the: period

1951-71, the, percenbge--of agricultural labour in the

work force increased from 19.7 per cent 'to 26.3 per

cent. The 27th ,ind32nd rounds ofNSS results show

a further rise in the, prqportion of casual agricultUral

labour to the extento~3,4 per cent during the period ,between 1972-73 to 1977-78. It has been 'estimated

that for ,the rural poor, the manufacturing sector 'coo-

.tributes five per cent of !heirin.ome, while 'agriculture

conl\:ibutes as much as, 63 per Cent, services 30 per

cent and others two .per cent, whereas in urban areas

manufactUring h~s a share of 25. per, cent of poor ,m an 's "in com e. ..

KURUKSHETRA June 1, 1983 5

. ""

"

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Handlooms

KURUKSHETRA June 1;' 1983

THE 'HA.."IDLOOM -I~o.USTRY provides direct and-.

indirect employment. in. rural' and tcibalareas -_,I

and is a principal: mea~ of livelihood of most eco-

nomically backward co=unities: The current hand- ,

, loom production. in the country is valued at abou!

.Rs. 120,000 million of which about .Rs. 25,000 rnillion

is prOduCed in' the cooperative sector. :To meet the

clothing needs of the Inasses, it is'targeted to increase

'th"tprriduction from the current ligute of about 29-00

million metres to,4100 miJ.li6n'metres' by the end of'

',SiotthPlan. The demand for textiles in 1984"85 is

cstimated at 13,300 million metres and :the handloomsector will be developed'to contribute 4100, milliqn

metres. Thus, about 30 per cent of the total, needs

.of te;ttiles will be met by. the handloom sector. Hand-

loom .products are exported to 130.countries allover

the world.. In 1979-80, e;tports reached a ligureof

Rs 310 crore,;,' .

Employment ,in this sector'during 1979-80 stood

at . 11 lakliS in Khlidi sector and 18 lakhs in the

village industries sector. The 'bulk .of employmlmt,

however, is ~f ~ part-time nature, Full;time employ-

. ment in this sector stands at 9 lakhs and part-time.

;1t,20 lakhs. 'There .has, however, been anihcrtase

. in favQur' of full-time' employment and it is visnalised

. that. during the' cu.trent plan employment could be

provided to another two million Persons?, .'

'.1- . Hardly 30 per cent of th~ looms in the' country

, are within the cooperative' fold. .The Sivaraman

Committee l ias suggested that 60 per 'cent of the.

~looms should be brought, within thi: cooperative fold

by ,the end of the current-plan .. AlthQugh tlJis' is ~a

labour-intensive industry, yef the n-ony is that out

of the global demand' of Rs. i2,OOOcrores, Oln.dia

\ is hardly meeting one-'and:a-half per cent' orlhe total

world .requiremen(!l: 'It IS, therefore, .appropriately'

suggested .that the expor:ts' should go 'up fmm the.

present .level of Rs. 341.'crores during 1980-81 to

Rs. -481 crores during, 1984"85,', .~ - ;/'~ .

Production in this 'sectorhas a direct bearing 'OU"

the'employment. '. Out of 3.8 million ha~dlooms in

the countIy, 3.5 million looms produCe.c0~on cloth.. , It has been estimated that every loom on au averagc

" l'mploys 1.3 persons ou actlJal w'egving'and 1.5 per.

"sons o n pt:e-wcaving. operatio~s. -To this, one'm a y

: add anothcr 20 per cent to' cover. operatiol1s. ,like,

has increased almost tenfold compared '.to the 'Ffrst

'Plan.' It rose'from'Rs. 11.6 cror

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on Handicrafts, SixthAll India Handicrafts

Employment coverage

, fln lakh persons)

1979-80 1984-85 ,

,

.11.24 15.40

18'2] 35.]0

16'00 21'50

:61'50 87'00

20.30 28.00

5-59 80.00

132'~,

195'00TOTAL:

S ou rce :-Report of th e Sub-group

Five Year' PIan, 1980-85,

. :a.oard,New Delhi.

6 - , Coir

S. Handicrafts

S. Industries

INo.

Cou(

' T " Wo.THIRD~'of the ~~ and. ~oir ~rodu~s in, theworld are produced ill India, therr mam conce!1-

tration is to be found in Kenlla, particularly .of the

"golden fibre which accounts for 61 per cent of coco-

nut' production and 85 per cent of coir products.

_However, develoPlUent of this industry has not been

that significantas 50 per cent of the coconut husk goes

~as waste or used as fuel. ' It is visualised that during

the Sixth plan, the industry would .be revita1isedby

forming cooperatives and by diversifying products. The

outlay for the sector under the current Sixth plan has

-been targeted at Rs. 26.7 crores compared with Rs.

7.i crores' during 1974-79. The' employment is ex-pected to rise from 5.6 13.khpersons dUring 1979-80

to 8 lakh persons during 1984-85.

Ou~lookin the'~ixthplan

l. Kbadi

!'2 . Village Indtlsttie~

3. Sericulture

4. HandIoom.s

,T HE EMPLOYMENT in' the entire decentralised ,s~tor has been estimated.to be around 13.3 million

persons during 1979-80 which may go up to 19.5

million by the end of the eurrentPlan. Against the

a,bsorption of, 23.5' million persons in ~he ~age and

small industries sector; the large and me4lum scale

wouid bar'd1y employ 4.5 million persons in the cur-

re~t plan: This sector also aCcounts for more ,than

one-third of exports. ' Hence, it is very appropriat.e for

the current strategy fo pay special attention to the uti-,

lisation ~f one of the most crucial inputs in the pro- 'duction 'process, 'namely the labour, force. The plan

highlights that there would be substll!!tial improve-

ment in the levels of production aDd earnings through ,

the improvement of the skills, injeCtionof aI?Pri'pfi!lte

technology etc. Greater weightage ba~ been laid on

artisans and small entreprellenrs. The position of tbe

decentralised sector in terms of employment genera-

tion stands a~ followS: I

THE 'PRODUCTION of 'lliindicrafts has gone up

from Rs. 1065 crores to Rs. 2050 crares during

he period 1974-80. Handicrafts mainly cater to

he export market which increased from Rs. 195

crores in 1973-74 to a pbenomena!.figure of Rs. R35

crotes during 1979-80. Eniployinent during this

riod increased froin 1.5 million to 2 million.,. It

estimated that dUring the 'current plan' production

ill increase to Rs. 3200 crores exports to Rs.( 1315,

rores and, employment to 2.8 milli9n.-< '

SericuIture

bleaching, d.l'eing, printing, reeds and trading yarn

and cloth. Taking' all these' component. together, t!Ie. emploYment at the beginning at the .'annuaLplan. is .

estimated to be around 6.2 million whit:h may go up ,

to 9.7-inillionby the end 6fthe current.plan provid-

ing additional employment. to' the extent of 3.5

milliim in terms of fuller employment. Wbile em-

ployment depicts one side of, the .story, the other

'side is that there are marked.differences in the wages

of handloom weavers from state to state-it is as

low as a';'und 40 paise per square metre in Bihar,

105 paise in Karnatak~ and 147 paise in Andhra

Pradesh.5 Still the potential' of employment gopera- -

tion through this sector cannot be questioned.

URING THE SIXTH PLAN, production of raw silk

is expected to increase from 48.13.khkgs., during

79-80 to 94 lakh kgs., in 1984c85. Exports are

pected to shoQt up from the present level of

s. 48 crores toRs. 100 croTes ,and employmentm 1.6 million to 2.1 million persons. Extension'

hemes have been taken up for the production of

kworm seed in Karnataka, Wesi Bengal, Tami1nadud Andhra Pradesh.

,

Handicrafts

As far as this industry is concerned, the greatest

chievement in planning of, handicrafts is the deve-

opment of skills through training. Massive.. pro-

ammes were launche

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,,.."

. ,

Outlay for the decentralised secior g't;nds a5'fol/

.Iows: ','

S. Industries 1979 - 80 19S ( ) - 85

No. (Rs. crores) (Rs. crqres)

1.. K h ad i a nd Vil1~geIndustries 93 . 31 547 . 09

"2. HandIooms 4 8 . 5 9 310 . 93

3--.Sericulturc 16 ' 62 164 . 56

4. Handierafl, , 23 ' 18_ 110 . 90

5 . Coir 2 ' 32 . 26. 72

I

TOTAL: 184 . 02 1 , 160 ' 20

Thu~, the outlay for the decentralised sectC)rcover-

ing KVI, himdlooms, sericulture, handicrafts and coir

stood. at Rs: 1,160 crores for the Sixth Plan. This

sector is expected to have a 'growth rate of 7.3 per

cent. The additional emplOYment generation in the

,decentrafued sector will be of the order of around 6

million.,

The Plan has taken into acco~nt emploYmellt occur~

ring as a result of production activity in the sub-sectbrs,

of the decentralised sector. .,It prol1ably does, not take

" into account semce type of units which coulli come

up as a result of the growth in small and dccentralis-

ed sector., No doubt"production will give rise to

additional number of persons io be engaged. in storage, .'

raw materials,. ,transportation, marketing etc. Auto-

, matically, there will be a spiral increase in the service

type of units due' to the general 'development of the;

area. Many 'enterprises will come up like restaurants, .

tea staUs. laundry, cycle rickshaw. watch ,repairing 'etc.,

one can thus easily assume that for every pers9n who

, is engaged 'i~ any production activity, an equal num-

ber of units will come up in the tertiary sector. Thus

'small and cottage units mav give rise to emplOYment

to not less than 5 to 6 million perSons in the servicesector. - . .

. .

_ The DICswere set nP with twin objective of cover~

ing the entire rural hinterland and to provide, neces-

sary facilities to an entrepreneur under one roof.

Earlier, .there were Rural Industries ~rojects (RIPs)

iii 111 districts and covered settlements whose' popu-

lation did not exceed 25.000. 'The whole idea. of

replacing, RIPs through DICs was to ensure that rural

areas in all the distriCts are covered ',md"promoiional

measures are carried to a block an'd to clusters of in-,

dustrial activity. The Programme' was ,launchcd on

May 1, i978. Out of 406 districts. 382 districts have

been covered witli the programme." Besides the General

Manager. the staffing pattern 'suggested seven' func-'tional managers in the fields' of (i) Economic investi.

getion: (ii) Machinery,l:lnd equipment; (iii) Rese~rch,

Extension and Training; '(Iv) Raw materials; (v)

Credit; (vi)' Marketing and (vii) Kh~di.and V:llage.

Iadustries and rural artisans programmes .However,

, \

,,

r ,

the national scene ,offersimixed' pic~e 'inasmuell as'

all states' do not have a Functional Manager for Rural-

'Ind~stries with the r~ult the rural industrial scene

continues to be neglected in spite 'of the setting 'up ci

,DICs. Again, some states have extension officer- of

Industries at the block level but many did away witI:

this institution because under' the' central assistance

programme, the assistance "'as provided to cov"," the

'recurring expenditure on salaries of Functional Mana-

gers and General Manager. In many states, therefore,

-the progress has been, in the reverse direction. inas-

much as even' one Extension Officer-howsoever' a

poor sub~titute he may b~oes not exist in a block:

TRYSEM and-ISB

THE BASIC THRUST of the scheme, ~tarted in 1979"is to train rural youth who are below the poverty, line and who could possibly by absorbed in secondary

. and 'tertiary sectors. Earlier this scheme covered an. . ,blocks in the country and was independent of IRD

which. was confined to IRD biocks. only.' However,

IRD has a, component for development of enterprises

in'secondary and ternary sectors and is covered through

the programme of Industries, Services' and. Busines

, (ISB).' With.the 'coverage of the entire -c~untry unde

IR.DP; TRYSEM has become a,part of IRDP. Initially

it _was'visualised that under this programme 40 you

. would be trained in . an year' in every. block in tli'f '. -

'country. This target. has been raised to 100 and.on

of ~OO beneficiaries.to be identified under the .

Programme. 200 are to be identified for, ISB. Th

Programme visualises that the youth selected wt1l,un

dergo a,training normally Mt e:>;ceedinga: year. Th

trainee gets a: stipend 'of Rs. 100 per 1J10nthand th

training institution/master craftsmen gets his hollora

rium. . The pro)!fllmme of TR YSEM ,'attempts to uti

lise the available infrastructure 'of training 'institution

like ms, polytechnics and similar organisations ru

by voluntary agencies. . . I'

The Committee on 'Training for Fuller Empl0Ym.enhad earlier' identified eight trade's' viz., tractor. an

,'.farm mechanic, auto mecbanic, rural electrification

bakery, tailoririg and embroidery, leather goods ma

king, carpentry and furniture. making, blacksmith

sheet metal and welding. This list has beenfurth

enlarged and. covers. items which predominantly ba

rural demand. -

At this 'juncture. it should be noticed that trainip

;\"niral yo~th alone will not p\lve the g,.ound for th

setting up of an enterprise. Trainin'; is iust:one 'a!pec

of the total spectrum. 'A prospective entrenreneuhas to be appronriately oriented and moti~ated to se

up a commercial' unit. Unfortunatelv this "spect ha

, not been take,n care of by any agencv in a distric

situatio'n.'T while training has t!ained sdrne roomenother follow_up me~sure~ are' ;niserably lacking. "Fo

- " - . .

:KURUKSHETRA JUne, I, 198

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~xamjlle,.neither a iraiD.eenor !hose,who ar~ conncC-

ted>with the programinehave done any thinking on

rhe marketing aspect of TRYSEM products; same is

the case with the Antyodaya beneficiaries, \l prog-

ramme that seeks t~ uplift five millibn familjes'through

non-agricultural occupations (as the IRDP does)-

one major area of neglect highlighted in the PEO study'

relates to the provision of marketing support.s Ano-

ther neglected issue is to find out a workshed' for a

rural entrepreneur. And it would be a !llemorable day

n his life, that a rural youth, who is below the po-

verty line and t6 whom no financing agehcy advances

loans without ,security would be able.to tap block and ,

district agencies : and procure a workshed, What is '

needed, therefore, is a package deal where tr~ing

aiid'l1ost-trairung meaSUresresult in .!h~ e:tablishment

of a unit>

could be defi~eda; one whose total credit require.. I

ments do not exceed Rs. 25,000./ . . '/

Pe;hap~, one of the weakest links in the organisa-

,tio~al set-up is the absence of Extension Officer (In-

dustries) at a block level. Under ISBjTRYSEM,

'about 200 enterprises are likely to come up every

y,ar 'in a block. This would certainly mean that,during the current plan periotl about 1,000 rural entre-

preneurs have to be promoted in secondary .ana ser~

vice type of avocations.' Moreover some level of in-

dustrial activity would be there in :in average block.

This dearly indicates that at the block level, there'

should be 'a)l Industries Officer with two Extension

Officersat least who would be_incharge of the ongoin&

as well as ISB/TRYSEM proi7ammes.- .

Regarding the marketing of rural industries products, '

the suggested format by the All India HandicraftsBoard might be an answer, ~here basic raw materials

could be stored and marketing outlets are made, aval1-

able. Rural Marketi~g Centres (RMCs) 'would be

- able to negotiate on beiJalf of arti~ans' with purcha-

smg agenCies, which woutd need therr praliuft,s and

where a rural artisan IS not in a posllIOn,to bargam.

RMCs would be able to recommend deSIgns for prq-

ducts, which wO,uldimprove the ,marketability at' pro- '

.. ducts mid also ensure that products of nght .quality

are manufactured. Where bulk orders are expected .~

partlculady from i'!Stitutions and govermnent depart-

ments,-a marketing agency would be able to negotlate

more effectlvely ihan the unorganised 'and helpless,. ,artisans.,

Unlike the large and small scale sectors, 'rural in-

. du.tries' < I ' ; not enjoy any policy support, Not onlymore than 800 items are entirely reserved for the small

-scale sector, but there are items which are entirely

purchased from them. Under ISB/TRYSEM, 33 pro-

jects ;lTe aiready identified which could be mannfac-'

tured with simpler technology., 'This list could be fur-

ther developed. The whole approach of developing

this list would' be to link rural production centres with

~ban demanch _Such an ,!pproach alone can ensure

/ fl~w of incomes from the sophisticated urban,markets

to hitherto neglected areas. ,RUral industries are not

, suppor.ted.by anY,appropriate, policy infrastr~cture; it

'is"capitalhungry andtechnolog;cally lagging. With"

all these constraints, it' is still the only sector which

will g,merate maximum employinent with minimum in-

vestme.nt. Hence appropriate policy support should '

be accorded for the Rnral Industries sector too.

, - No technology so far has' attracted an artisan type

of unit in the far remote corners of the country, eithe!'

i~ te.rms, of improving his 'producti~n process, or

. \ (Contd~ on Page 22)

TRSEM and ISB attempts' to promote what is callea

he tertiary sector. 'Perhaps one of the,groups which

is receiving rathe! less weightage in terms of potential

s what is classified as tertiary sectot in \he past. But

here is-vast potential for develbpmg serVice-type of

units, Production of goods by rural'enyepreneurs m

a smaller settlement would 'automatically crea!e' the

necessity of marketing these products to iarger settlc:...

ments (blocks, dismcts and even state ciipmlls), In

smill settlements'marketing vendors could i?epromoted,

who could transport these goods from centres of pro-

duction ,to centres of marketing., In this way, sales

vendors and~tnarketiiig agents could be promoted, Theoth~r side of the picture is that with the commutation

of traders, customers and businessmen will demand

facilities,like lodges, tea stalls, repairing shops etc; ,If

greater ,attention is devoted to this group of enterpri-

ses 'it would' on one side fill a gap and on the other

cre~te tr~Dlend~Usopportunities for'starting enterprises

under "Self-employment. Arnajor loophole of TRY:"

EM/ISB programme is' that it is run by IRD, agen-

ies 'whose expertise so far has been in the field of

agriculture and other allied activities.. Unless. IRD

gencies are thoroughly equipped from the 'angle, otltdustrial ext~nsion, a follow-up of TRYSEMIISll,

a y be difficult to achi!

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Ind~strialising backward rura l, areas !some constraints.. . .

, NAVIN CHANDRA JosHi., Lec:turer, Molibd Nehru College, University of Delbi, .Delhi

Incentives

, .KURUKSHETRA JUne I, 1983

. ,

By the end of the sixties, more positiv.e steps were

taken to foster industrial development iJ! backward

regions. Since lack of infrastructural' facilities came

in the way, creation of theSe fadlities became an integ- '

ra! part of. the State ,Plans.' :Further, the scheme ,of,

providing incentives 'for developing the backward areas

was launched in 1970 by the Union Gov~rmnent The

major planks of the scheme are concessional finance

and inve;;tnient subsidy provided to entrepreneurs in

these areas. It has been found that direct financialincentives have played an important role in attracting

industrial 1Jhi~sto the backward areas.' '

' A ' LL INDUSTRIAL UNITS, other, than those run, departmentally and located in the areas identified

as backward by the Union Govermnent are .eligible to

claim 15 per Cent of therr' inv,estrnent as an outright

grant, subject toa maximum of Rs. 15 lakhsper unit.

At present, of ih~ 247 districts declared backward 'by"

the PIanoing eominission, -,!!ore !pan, 100 dlstricts/areas have been selected to qualify for the central in;

vestment subsidy. ,The Planning eom;mssion 'had

apPo4Ited ~ high level National Committee on Deve-

lopment of .Backward Areas under the chairmanship

of B. Sivaraman to make rcommendations on evolv-

_ ing appropriate strategies for the development of back-

ward areas. The Comn;tittee made a comprehensive

study of the 'different aspeCts of the problem and sub-

!Iritted 11 reports on the various facets.' The Coni-

mittee also fOqJssed on the misuse of governnient

fun!", earmarked for bringing abOut. balanced regionaldevelopment in the country. The beriefits meant for

J, - .

,- the' backward areas, it felt, accrued to a small number

of districts, mostly in. the west and thesouth,which

are a!~o in close prorimity to relatively develOped in-, ' dustrial cen,lIes. '

.:..., It, ~

I

10

INTI,IE TOTALITY OF economic development in the

cOuntry, the development of backward areas

which exist in the rural 'regions' of the-country .has, '

assumed a,'special significance, Any scheme of, such~ ' ,

, development would essentially focus on the location

and ,suCcessful implementation of industrial ventures

irrespective of size, - Unless a major thrust is givin to

industrial development of our backward areas, not

much improvement can be affected in the economic life ,-

-of these rural areas. It is heartening to note Jhat theUnion Govermnent ,has been doing ,a good job in this

direction and in recent years; lot of tliinking and action

bave gone into the aspect' of 'backward areas develop..

ment. In fact, 'such development is now Considered

as the catalyst for bringing' about balapced regiOtiaI

developm~nt of the country. '

Industrial 'Policy Resolution of 1956 specifically

stated that "in order that industrialisation may benefit.

the economy of the country as a whole,' it is important

that disparities in levels of develop~ent between diffe-

rent regions should be progressively' reduced." This

policy recognises the fact that only by securing'a

balanced and coordinated development of the indus-trial and' agricultural economy' in each 'region; could' , .

the entire country attain higher' standards of living.',

The Govermnent adopted a deliberate poli~yto

locate il!dustries in relatively backward 'areas wherever

choice existed for such location, without seriously

distorting the econ,?mic viability of such industries. IIi

. the initial stages, a' two-pronged. strategy' was devised,

for locatfug central public sector ,projects in, backWard:areas and for denying licenc~ in existing metropolitan

cities and' large towns. Wliile the Govermnent has,

been able to inlluence the locational decisions' of entre-

preneurs as a reSult of this strategy, much still needs. - . ' ~

to be done for 'making' an appreciable impac1!., "

, "

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In fact, in the concessional finance extended by the

term-lending institutions, the share of the' industri.ally

backward States was found to be 'proportionally very

low. ,'Maharashtra, Tamil ~adu and Kamataka, the

three advanced States, accounted for as much as 31

,per cent ,of the total disbursements. 'Even. though

direct finance on concessianal terms from the Indus-

trial Development Bank of India (IDBI) was of equal

rriagmtude as that of refinance, the geographical cov(}-

rage was quite meagre. Such operations needed to be

extended to more areas for wider co,:era~e..

It is worth noting that the Estimates Committee of

Parliament had recently" ili-its report, deplored the

continuin~.reverse transmission Of funds from rural '

branches of banks to the 'urban and metropolitan

centres. The Committee regretted that the credit- '

deposit ratio 'of banks in rural areas continued to be

unsatisfactory. Arid this happened in spite of.the'fact

" that the public sector banks were advised to step u pdisbursal of credit throu~h their rural and semi-urbanbranches to achieve a credit-deposit ratio of at least 60

Per cent. The Committee, therefore, asked the Goveru-

ment to take ur~ent steps to arrest the trend of reverse

fransmis~ion of funds so that deposits of rural areas,

most ~f which are backward, are deployed largely for

the development of these areas. At present, th~ 'share

of commercial banks in the total refinance on eonces-

sional terms is about 18 per cent which.indicates the

need for increased participatio~ of these banks in the

backward areas.

Encouraging private entrepreneurs

IT IS WELL-KNOWN that private entrepreneurship is

lacking in backward areas. Even a small industry te>-.

day requires a capital investment of more than RS.25

to 30 lakhs allowing for the capital goods and the

workin~ capita!. The experience of ~mall industries

all over the country has been that our banks have not

been helpful to the desired extent. The problem is

more acute in the backward areas ;where even the

basic capital that the entrepreneur can put up will bemuch less than in the urban areas. Wl,ile bulk Of the

labour in backward areas is local SKilledlabour often

comes from outside the district. So also entrepreneur-

ship for medium and lar~e units generally comes from

outside the area though small entrepreneurs are mostly

local. The Sivaraman Committee found that with a

few exceptions, the industrial estlltes programme has

not helped to .relocate industries away from the deve:-

loped areas to new centres. It, therefore, suggested

that employment benefits from new manufacturin~

activity promoted in, backward areas should accrue topersons, from those areas 'and that the secondary or

ertiary benefits that flow out of industrial develOpment

and the high wages are availed of by local entrepreneure

and local labour. The Committee inade an hnportznt

ecommendation in that the strategy for industrial

UKSHETRA June 1, 1983

development in backward areas should give a leading

role to the public sector. It also su~~ested the or~ni-

sation of 100 new industrial estates jn backward areas,

consistin~ of 10 units each. When linked with the

public sector it was hoped that they would ~et the

necessary support' in all the 1000 units in a period offive years. '

Oli the implementation side it has been observed

that due.to lack of adequate infrastructure facilities,

.entrepreneurs who e~iablish units for availin~ ~overn,

ment incentives, ~enerally l~te t.hemnear metrOpoli-

tan cities. As such, most of their .time is wasted in

going and comin~ to the factory and home. The

frequent breakdown of these facilities, particularly the

transport, has had an adverse effect on the perform-

ance of ancillary milts which are located mainly in

backward or underdeveloPed parts of the country. The

problem gets compounded by the already poor state of

transport facilities in certain states. Further, after,availin~'the incentives, units which function well, dec-

lare themselves as losing units. Some units increase

the number of establishments which get facilities and

incentives. Consequently, the purpose of attractiri~

units from other ,areas to backward areas cannot 'be

fully achieved. Something needs to be done soon by

the Government in this direction for plul!.gingthe loop-

holes and for checking the mmpractices.

It is re,vealingto note.that lar~er units with invest-

ment of Rs. 50 lakh and above accounted for 53.3

, per cent of the total investment subsidy disbursedwhile' the medium units (with investment of Rs. 10 to

,Rs. 50 lakh) accounted for 25.2 per 'cent and small

units (Wiih irivestment less than Rs. 10 lakb) the re-

maiuing 21.5 per cent. These fi~res relate to the

year 1981 when of the total number of units assisted

by investment subsidy the iar~r, medium arid smaller

units formed 304, 5.4 and 91.2 per cent respectively.

All this shows that the pace of develOpment is rather

slow as not many large units are coming up in the

backward areas.

. Nucleus plant.approach

T.'.'HE NUC'LE~S PLANT APPROACH adopted in theIndustrial Policy Statement of July 1980 of the

Government of India Is one further' step in the promo-

tion of development of industrially backward areas.

Under this programme,. a momentum of industrial.

,growth is to be bl1iltup in the backward areas in the

soope of ancillaries. Filty growth centres are being

developed through nucleus plants. The objective is

to set up lar~e or medium projects with pre-deter-

mined ancillary Iinka~es in identified backward loca-

tions. Such an integrated industrial structure, it is

hoped, would give the necessary starting momentum

for industrialisation in these areas. This approach

has, been 'adopted in recognitiog of the fact that areas

, (Contd: on P . age 15)

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- . Impact of land reforms!- a study

\ D'. SHANTHUDU

~_ ~te; Natlonal Institute of Rura1_Development,Hyderabad

-1\-If ANYDEVELOPMENT~FFORTS have been made-1VI in the country to eradicate poverty _and-unequal 'distribution of wealth in the society through iiic~ease in

production and productivity in agricultural sector.

However, the fruits of development hRve_ not _yet

reached the poorer sections af the society aild the, gap

between the rich and the popr has further widened.

-Many legislative measures have_been enact

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the taM:. The taluk consist mostly of unirrigated area"

with patches of irrigated dry scattered in different parts

of .the block. The crops l;rown in the taluk are mQ'itly

rainfeil and the major crops are : paddy, bajra, jowar

and cas~r. There are no major sources of-irrigation.

Cropping Intensity.--,-roppingintensity is one of

the indicators of development. The cropping intensity

amqng FECand FNECcategories is presented in.

Table 2. '\,Table 2 :"Cropping Intensity among FEC and FNEC

_._._------~-~--------'-

The extreme low intensity of cropping is due to the

high dependence of cultivationO n monsoon and ex-

treme drought conditions of the area' in bofu the cases

is discernible. However, the percentage of cropping

intensity is high among FEe category only.

Cropping Pat/ern.-Major crops grown in the case"

of the respondents are, paddy, bajra and castor. Thedetails of the cropping pattern in both the selected

categories is presented in Table 3. '

I. Operation holding

2. Gross cropped area .

3. Cropping intensity

. 'Size of Ho/ding.-The average size of the holding

among F.E.C. 'is 21.83 hectares while it is 19.30 hec-tares amo';g F.N.E.C.Of 'the total size of the' holding

14.55 per cent of the area among FEC and 7.51 per

cent of the area"among FNEC is irrigated dry under

wells and tauks. Table-l presents the average size of

the holding among the selected households.

Table 1 : Size of holding among F. E. C. and F.N.E.C.

SI.' Item Area in Hectares Per CentNo.

FE C FNEC FEC FNEC

I. Irrigated dry 3.18 1.45 14.55 7.51

2: Unirrigated 18.65 :17.85 85.45 93.49,"

TOTAL: '. 21,'83 19.30 -100"00 100.00

SI. No. ,Item

436.65

331.77

76,00.

FNEC

386.01

277.12

.; 71,79"

(Area.in hectares)

F.N.E. C.

~abl

13 '16

(51 '20)

12.14

(47 '24)

0' 40, (1 '56)

Total

56'83

(20 '51)

103;52

(37.36)

, 101.24.

(36 '53)

l S ' 5 3

(5 '60)

A"MONa FEe CATEGORY highest percentage of 1I1'ea A comparative look mto the cropping pattern of the'in kharif season is under castor (41.21 per cent)

FECand FNEC groups shows thi.t b~jra is the domi-followed by paddy (27.64 ~r cent). and hajfa (25:49 lIant crop followed by castor and paddy in the case of

per cent). During rabi season the percentage distri~ " FNEC group while castor is the dominant crop folloW;-

bution of the area under paddy, bajra and castor is ed by paddy and bajra ,in the case of FNEC group. '

almost equal with over 32 per cent. The gross cropped "1

area shows that n;'aximum area is under castor (39.3 . Cost and Return.-Three major crops grown by the

pe: cent) followeil by, paddy (28.96 per cent) an.d'm e '" , , " respondents name.ly , paddy, bajra and castor were

baJra (27.!O ~r cent). i c c " ': taken for calculatIOn of per hectare cost and return of

111 the case of FNEC group"highest percentage area each crop. While calculating the cost of production of

,is under bajra (41.17 per cent), followed by castor ,theselected crops; the cost of hired labour, hired bul-

(35.44 per cent) and paddy (17.37 per cent), whi!e Jock labour, hired machinery, -seeds,' fertilisers, and'

in rabi season both paddy and castor is sharing almost."., ...insecticides are considered for the purpose.. 111 theequal percentage of area. The gross cropped area' case of value of production, the market value of the

indicates that highest percentage of the area is under I produce of each crop is taken. The cost and return of

bajra (37.36,per eent) followed by castor (36.53 per the selected major crops grown by theFEe andFNEccent) and paddy (20.51 per cerit).: are presented in Table 4. '. ,

. ' .

~

KURUKS!ffiTRA June 1,.19S3 13

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SI. Crops \..N o . .

I.

Pa

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, .with th~ tote! investment in ab~olule terms among ,FEe group compared to !he other group. Thehigher the investmen! on farm the higher wouldbe the return is true in absolute terms in this casc.However, ~ ~tIO between' per hec/llfe cost and r~turn 011!he fimn ~ a.J.most~WI1with 1 ; 2.9. i!J.

bo!h the q~gQrieli;

2

The reasons for high crop production in the studyamong both FEe and FNEC groups ar~ .due tointensIVe farming of the crop, use' o~ HYV seed,

I fertijisers and pesticides and good mar~ priceand ~ low cfoP production is due to ~jl;:ofinterest.

3

The above findings bring out ,that the implemen-tation of land reforms do not adven;ely affect theproductioIi and productivity of the area in anycase. It is appropriate to add at this' juncture a

few field observations. The' Government had takenover 2593 acres of land from the farmers abovethe land ceiling limit in the laluk. Out of this 1289(49.71 per cent) acres were' found to be unculti-vable. 'The rest of the fand consisting of 1304"(50.29 per cent) acres is 'mostly cultivable waste,and permanent pastilfes. This part of land avail-able for cultivation, which could be distributedto the landleSs where farming could be practiced

only after strenllous offorts of' land developmentahd ,'other agronomic measures. While ~uch landi.!ibrought under cultivatioll, by the landless be~Iiciar1es wiili ,their strenuo~ effo~, ",Inch wliSearlier yielding no returns at all, !hi!>results inincreasing the area under cultivatibn !h~~by im-

. proviDi the !O!al~roduction of !he ~~

'\ '

, ,

What is required is tJuit, while implemen!ing !heland' reforms along wi!h other development pro-gr~es necessary infrastructural fl!Cilitieslikeseed, fertiliser, pesticides centres, agro-servingcentres, credit, transport, market and warehousiBgservices 'should be made, available at reasonainetravel distance. In addition to this intensive exten-' ,sion service should be neceSS

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How panchayats can promotesocial forestry

. AMITABH TEWARI

'Deptt. of Eoonomics, Auabab.d Degree College, Allababad (U.P.)-. .-

/

"

,

T"HE NATIONALFORESTPOLlCY(i952) had/ecom-

. mended that atleast one third of the total land

, area of the country should be put, under forests. The

.idea behind this .expansion was that forestry develop:

ment will meet the increasing dem~nd for forest produce

an,d will help in' maintaining as well as improving the

quality of environment and .will also provide substan-

tial employment opportunities' particularly to the

weaker sections

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"

KURUKSHETRA June 1, 1983

" ,5. Meeting recreational needs by increasing

greenry.

~The objectives of the . scheme of social forestry

,make it clear that the concept of social' forestry im-

plies rational afforestation and , deforestation compa-

tible with, economic and social needs and valnes of

the concerned. communities. Emphasising the im-

portance of this scheme of social forestry specially for

the rural areas, the National Commis~ion on Agri-

cn1ture has remarked that "Few programmes can

have greater socio-economic impact on the rural com-

munity as well as on the management of forest

resources than'those relating to raising trees, 'grasses

. aud fodder in the farmers' own lands, village conimon

lands, waste lands and degraded forests close to habi-tation." ~ '

To FULFIL

the objectives of the scheme of social. forestry, various' programmes have been included

in it. These programmes have been formulated on the

basis of the' consumption that the social and individual

support, which is necessary for the successfnl imple- "

mentation of the scheme, will be available'in the Village.

The scheme of social forestry thus consists of following

programmes : \

(a) Farm Forestry.-The concept' of farm fores-

. try has' been developed ~n the assumption that

forestry 'and agricUlture are two complementary activi- ,

ties and' so they can be purs)led together. Accordirig,'to the Forest Research Institute, farm forestry is defined

. as "the practice of forestry in all its aspects .on farms

. or village Hmds' generally. integrated with .other farm

operations." Thus, the concept of farm forestry directs

the farmer to adopt tree 'plantation as an integral part

of his farm practices. This illtegration of forestrY with

agriculture not only aims to avert the consequences of

disruptive forces of nature like soil erosion, evaporation,

transpiration etc. but will also build up a potential, , '

, source of green manure, fuelwood, timber and fodder.

In this way a.well conceived programme of farm fores-

try is likely to become an important supplementary

source of income to farniers. The easiest way of

practising farm forestry is to encourage farme~ \0 plant

selel;ted species of trees on the boundaries of their

agricultural fields. But every' programme of farm'

furestry should be chalked out with utmost care. Every

effort should be maM -to select only, those species of

trees for plantation on the boundaries of agricultural

fields which do not hamper growth ,of crops sown in

the field. Here the role of scientists and forestry

experts gains crucial .importance, They should

discover and develop those species of trees -yybichhave.flimsy and sleazy shades and whose roots go deep in

the suh-soil instead of expanding horizontally.

It is obvious that if the programme of farm forestrY

is de.eloped. properly and is implemented vigorously it ', ,

\

17

,

(i) It increases the production of fuelwood and

timber, to meet the requirementS of individual

farmers.

, (ii) It supplements the supp!.y of green fodder for

animals which are used'by the farmers in variousagricultural activiti~.

(iii) If provides free green manures for crops.

(iv) It provides necessary, protection to agricultural

lands against soil erosion by' winds .

(v) It helps in bringing a balance in the eco-system.

will benefit the whole rural community in genelil and

farmers in particular. Some of major benefits of this

programme ,inay be thus listed ': ,

..

(b) Extension Forestry.-It has been estimatedthat in rural ;rndia abnoSt 20 per cent of agricultural

land is not used for 'cn1tivation and is left' unused in'

the form of trenches, pIts, 'bunds etc. 'Plantation ofquick' growing and useful species of trees. in this un-

used land has been given the name of extension foreS-

try. In other words, the concept. of extension forestry

refers to the intensive plantation of appropriate vari~

ties of trees over village waste lands like panchayat

land, road sides, sides of railway lineS. pits and bunds

etc. Therefore, the idea of extensiou forestry is based

. on the aSsumption of voluntary participation of mal

people.in develo~g trees and pastures in the available'

waste lands as well as village common lands. .The

Nation",l CommiSsion on Agriculture has found the ideaof extension forestry extremely useful for the iural peo-

ple and so it has expressed the view that there is no

harm if the existing "'land use pattern needs to be

changed for the purpose of the development of exten-

sion forestry. With this line of tliought the National

Commission 6n Agriculture has gone to the extent of

suggesting that au area of 20 hectares should be left

untouched for the development of, extension forestry.

It is necessary that the species~of the trees to be plan-

ted under the extensiou forestry programme be chosen

on the basis' of scientifically made plan' so that the

need of various forest produce of the village community

is met. Actually, the selection of trees will be made on

the basis of the requiremeJ,lt of forest produce of the

society as well as on the quality land and other facilities

like irrigation.' Obviously, this' scheme Of extension

forestry will provide a number of benefi~ to the rural

poor apart from contribution in improving the environc

ment. Some of them may be listed as under : ".. . .'

(i) It will improve the financial returns from .the-land. .

(ii) It will help in regnlaong the supply of fuelwood'as weU as medium quality timber in the rural.area. .

( i l l ) It will provide green fodder ,for aJ).imalsand .green manUre for crops. '

Different programmes '"- ,

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(iv) It will create new j~b opjiorluilities in the village

/ itself.

(v) It will lead to better uti1iSation of the available

. laud in the village.

. (c) Reforestation in Degraded Forests.-Along with

the schemes of farm forestry and extension forestry,

the social forestry programmes lays due emphasis on

the task of rea!forestition in degraded forests. In our

country the indiscriminate felling of trees by vested

interests has denuded the forest land causing immense

loss in the form of timber and soil erosion. This haS

resulted in degradation of existing forests. So;there is

an immediate need of an intensive rea!forestation of

degraded forests to maintain the ecological balance.

This crucial task is being performed under'the scheme

of social forestry.

-(d) Recreation Forestry.-A progcimme for the

development of recreation 'foresiry .has also been in-cluded in the scheme Of socialforestry. The basic idea

behind this concepi of recreation forestry is that plan-

tation of appropriale species of vanous beautifying

plants wiIl not only help in improving environment

but will also make the surronnding areas attractiVe and

green. Thus, under this programme of recreation

- forestry an intensive drive for Plantation of various

fnitt:bearing and shady trees ,'as well ~s OfIIamental

shrubs and trees will be launched. In'this way, places

of public recreation like parks, ,gardens and greeu belts ,

are to be developed under this programme. Incidentallythis programme 'aims to Provide a ,belping himd in the

task of beautification of cities and the adjoining areas., 0>,

The analysis of the scheme of social forestry makeS it

clear that it is a broad scheme which iiims to begin an

intensive programme of plantation of sped/ic species

of Jrees not-only to provide new indu;;trial material,

timber imd fuelwood but also to mcrease the supply of

green fodder and green manure as well for providing

, a protection of land through soil and water conserva-

tion, which is a crying need in' our' country. ' Alongwith these bene.fits, this, scheme also gives a helping

hand in the beantification of cities and improvement in

environment. Moreover, it will also create new em-

ployment opportunities and will help in generation of

additional inoome specially in the rural areas of the

country.

The scheme of socim forestry has been given a new

orientation, in the Sixth Five Year Plan (19iO-85).

Under the Sixth Plan, the scheme of social foreslry,

will be implemented in 100 selected districts of the

country and an outlay of 'Rs. lOOp Crores has been ~

allotted for this scheme. In addition to the on-going

, programmes, a new p rog ramme ~ IA Tree for Every

Child' has been started in the Sixth Plan to ooos! up

the plantation work. Moreover the Plan 'envisages (i) ,

formation of an Eco-development force conSisting

18,.

mainly of sx..servicemeri for the purpOse of restoring

damagcdeco-system specially in hill areas, (ii) organi-

sation of eco-development camps for undertaking ex- '

tensive tree plantiug, programmes by college and ]Jni-_

versity students and (iii) implementation of an Agro-

forestry Progranuue jointly undertaken by fotest depart-'

ments and the Iudian Council of AgricnlturalResearch.

In this way it can be concluded that adequate emphasishas ,beeu acCorded on the multi-faceted programme of

social forestry in the Sixth Five Year PIau:

1

What village panchayats can do?

,T HE ANALYSIS of the concept aud programme of, social forestry malees it clear that this programme

will provide immense benefit. to the rural people of

the country. The scheine of social forestry has ,been

.formulated in such a way that it will not ouly improve

and regulate the supply of fuelwood, timber, green

fodder, green manure but will.also help in employment '

and income generation in the rural areas. That is

,why the government" ismakirig conscious e!forts to

implement this' scheme in its proper pel'spective. But

no programme of social forestry can be implemented

successfully intlie absence of active people~s'participa-

-tion. Thus, it is ot utmost importance tMt people

take the programme to their heart and gird up tbeir .

loins' tei meet the challenges posed by this programme.

In fact, the social forestry programme basically caterS

to the family needs

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Secondly, the, vi1lage piinchaYl\.t will 'have to pooi

a v'!iJable forest or revenue land, and privately owned

uncultivated land together for this progranime. As large

foreSt land is, not avaiiabIe in most of the villages, if

is necessary to' encow:age tree plantation in priv,ately ,

' owned cultivable waste land and in unproductive grass ,

land. Besides, a large _proportion of village land, is

left hi the form of pits, bunds, trenches, roads;firegaps

etc. 'It will be the responsibility of Village panchayats

to encourage rural people' to undertake massive plan-

tation'drive. Here again;' various educational instjlu-.

tions and voluntary agencies can provide much needed, ,

~idance and help.

Thirdly, the village panchayat being the apex institu-

tion at'the village levl;!, Will also have to provide neces- '

sary guidance to rural people in,"the process of selec-

tion of appropriate species of trees for plantation under

,various programmes of the social forestry scheme. This _

can be done easily with the help of the forest depart-

'mell!. Moreover, village panchayat can maintain nur-

series on" panchayat land and village common Jand,

These nurseries should provide, appropriate variety of

saplings to ~g persons free ~f cost or~at ,nominal

cost for'plaJitationin their fields and o1he~placeS. FUr-

ther,panchayats willi the help of 'the forest department

personnel can arrange' for shoit 'duration trainirlg ,in

various forestry programmes in the village itself. The

basic idea of this' training programme should be to.

enable the rural peOple to perform the assigIi.ed taskproperly and scj,mtifically.

FourtWy, the village panchayat will have to playa

crucial role in providing necessary protection' to newly, '

, 'planted sapiings.:As the Bche~ ~f social forestry in-

tends to benefit the village community as a whole, it

,has the implied obligation to' protect the area under

sociai forestry as a community intereat. For Ibis pur-

pose the village pancbayat

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.., I

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"

EmploYll1entgeneration'in rutalareas

\ 'v. P. BATRA

The Bhagwati Committee examined' the ; nsources. of data, on employment and- unemployment a.

. also' the concepts involved in 'the measurement of these

two econo)llic variables. It broadly. approved the

measures suggested by !hebantwala Coininittee 'with .

the concepts and defiuitions in dynaritic conditions.'

they have to be reviewed periodically, Moreover i.r

. The National Sample Su~ey Organisati~D, (NSSO)

had 'conducted a new labour force survey' during ,its

27 rpund making use of new"concepts anddefinitious'. ' ,

suggested by the Dantwala Committee. The'Dantwala '

Comrilittee was followed by the appointment of the

C.omrilittee on Unemployment (December 1970) by

the Government of. India with Shri B. Bhagvati asChairman. The CoIDmittee was asked to assess the

extent of unemployfuent and un,deremployment in'the

light of, the reommendations of the, Dantwala Com.

ritittee and ~o.~ugg~t suitable strategies for' emplo~,

,ment gene~ation, specific prograuames for the .promotion

of productive employment and suitable machinery for .,,,assessing changing employment, and ,manpower sltua ...

tion and long-term demand and supply af manpo .t.

'Providing work to 'all. f . _ . ' ' " _ ~ ~

ACO~RECTASSESSMENT of the overall. employment

- posl1lOnISby no means an easy task especially

because we do not still.have' at our command ade.

, quate data. AgaiI! there is no. ~onsensus of 'opinion

, about the definition of unemployment. However, 'for

, our purpose, unemployment 'in Indian 'situation cari

be classified in two different categories. In the first,

come iliose -wh.o are chroriically unemployed while inthe. second category are those ~who. can find' employ-

,ment for sometime ;md not'always. The former can,

be m9asured in terms of the' number of persons whol-Iy unemployed. .

,T HE 'NEED 'FOR PROVIDiNGmaximum employmentoppoltunities has, no, doubt" been reognised as

one of the objectives of planning ever since the First

p1

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.

.

. .{

an adequate and meaningful assessment.of unemploy-

ment and ullderemployme,!t, mo~e intensive data

would"be'required. For this pmpose it suggested cer-

. taill sp~ial studies for dis~ggregation of employment

and unemployment data. ~

According to this ConIDtittee .the number of. un",

employed persons in the country in 1971 was

roughly estimated to be of the order of 18.7 miliion

including 9.7 million who worked for .less than 14

. liours a week and thu~ .treated. at par with the nn- .

employed., This figure of 18.7 million was estimated

to include 16.1 miIIion persons in. ruraf areas (7.6'

miIIion ina'les and 8.5 .million females) and 2.6, mil-

lion persons in urba'~areas (1.6 inillitln males and l.million females). "

, The solution for rural' unemployment. lies in the, '

overall development of, the eCO'llomiesin the long term

and. tJirough undertaking l'Ufal work programme and.

create employment for the existing unemployed in the

short run.. Moreover, rural works prograrinne should

be- selective in character. They should., be so

designed as to increase the stock of rural capitaL

The rural labour may be employed during the .slack

season .to construct roadi and dig tubewells which wi11

'undoubtedly help to, improve the econoiny of the rurala r e a s . .

/ .21

Wit.h regard to rural industries and agro-based in-

dustries, the coopetativ"form of production is likely

.0 play aifseful role in "nsuring regular supplies of

raw-materials and 'remunerative.prices of.end .products '

thus helping to. sustain the higher levels ofincome.,.

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; ,

Tlie , TRYSEM '

' I T IS HEARTENINO' that a 'National Scheme of Train- 'ing yout)l to r SeIf-Employment,(TRYSEM) has been

- included in the Sixth Plan. This scheme is' under im-

plementation throughont the country as ail integral part

of the Integrated Rural Development Programme. The

sche1he takes care of the needs of the unemployedrural,youth who 'do not get wage' employment, 'parti-,

cularly in the"organised sector and is being administer-

. ed by the Ministry of Rural Development. Training

Iunder TR YSEM is provided in sdected trades suitable

to .fuose areas of activity which can lead to'self-em-

ployment in agriculture and allied sectors, small in-

dustries and serviCe sectors. Training is imparted by

the existing traiDing "iitstitutions such as Gram Sewak

Training Centres, Farmers Traiuing Centres, Krishi

Vigyan Kendras, Agricultiir~ and other Uuivesities., , '

"

"I

(Con/d. from p. 9)

upgradation of, machinery. The contention that tradi-

tional industries will continue to dominate a rural set-ting (say) a block is getting eroded in certain areas -

A study' hig/ilights that intermediate goods and other

,capital goods 'which \ise low cost technology are being

produced'in iural areas: In a block there isno agency'to advise an artisan ,as towbat type of machinery

, could be procured, or which type of process could be

the most suitable. While the choice of machinery is

one aspect, choice of 'balancing equipment and, addi-.,

tional. equipment which would improve the 'producti-

vity of the uui! is also totally missing; nobody is

there to advise him on' the deslg1!.of a particularproduct. tO t ~.~~

ITIs and other existing State and Central Organisa-tions and .uitabl~ voluntary orgam.ations.

The basic need of the' I).ew employment strategy

seems to'be that more people will have to be provided'

jobs in the rural areas 'where majority of people live.

Mere change in technology and mode of production -

unless aceompanied by land reforms will nqt eI)able

agricultural o!,!,ration . to sustain additional lapo,ur.Small scale industrial developmeut in -rural areas mU!it

be linked with loCal.resources and skill to 'have an-

impact' on the employment' situation.' -',

In the process of employment generation, .speCialattention ,needs to be given to the employment of theweaker, classes/areas in particnlar and of the. women,workers in gener;il. The present financial, fiscal in-centives directed towards the dispersal of industries;development of industries to_the backWard areas arid.reservation of vacanCies, of weaker Classes 'have tob e enforced' and .strengttlened wherever possible.

. .

'L~stly, it is credit which plays a crucialro,!,e in ace--

derating the pace of rural industrialisation. National"figures clearly indicate that a rural artisan procmes

his loans- from n

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-/., ) ", - ' " -\

'"!' 3. _ 9

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Lack of b:lsic amenities like

drinking water, community baths,

proper drainage etc, has leadsto insani,tary living conditions and

causes numerous he~lth hazards.

Improving the environment

Surveys conducted by the National Environmental Research Institute and a number of vo'untary agencies

have shown thot the atmosphere OJmajor cities of Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Madras and Kanpur is heavi'y poliuted.

The prob'em of pollution in these areas is acute due to a number nf factors such as industria' affluents,

domestic sewage, phenomenal increase in urban areas, mushroom growth of slums, unp'annedurbanisation,poor

maintenance of automobiles, improper environmental education, lack of environmental planning in respect ofIndustries and irrigation projects and use of 101V quality fuel etc.

A Central scheme for environmental improvement in slum areas have been launched to bring about improve-

ment of environmental conditions in slum areas ill ten major cities of the country.

~-

A numbe=."of schemes have been

launched to improve living con-

ditions in the slum areas both in

rural and urban areas.

f

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(Licensed under U(DN) -54 to post without prepay-

ment at Civil Lines Post Office, Delhi).

Regd. No D (DN) /39

RN702/57

If everyone of us does his. bil

to keep our environs clean, it wiIt

go a long way.

~ < :.;

:

Improving. the environmentThe National Committee on Environmental Planning and Co-ordination (NCEPC) has done a commendable

job in providing guidelines for environmental planning. The committee dealS: with special problems relating to natural

resources and their management) industry, environment education, human' (rural and' urban) settlement$, environ-

mental awareness through a numb"; ~f sub-commiitees. Consideraticn of project proposals for research and deveiop.

ment alld action progrtlll,me for demonstrating environmental management measlires by Environmental Research.

Committee (ERC) and Biosphere Research Committee are constituted by. Departmrnt of science and Technology.

Besides, a new Department of Envifonmmt was constituted by the Government of h,dia in 1980 to make

indepth review of administrative machinary and legislative measures for environmemal protect.ion. It also serves as

the ca-ordinat.ing agency for protect.ing environment.

Trees. not only absorb noise but

give an aesthetic touch to the

surroundings.

PUBL.lSHED BY THE' DIRECTOR,

PUBLICAl10NS DMSION'. NEW

DELHl-11 0001 , AND PRINTED BY

. THE MANAGER, GOVERNMENT of