2008-03-24 (7)

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2008-03-24-7 1/24

January 1-15, 1982

Re.1

"

..

••

'\-'.

/

-

.

~-

•

-,.!- • :~_..-~ '" ."z:-?, -'. . ' : ' . • - - . • . • . - . . ! : " " ' - : , -

- . . . • . . "

••... /: .•;<"' .

alsoRural development through ,banks

Need for rural development educationHow I.R.D.P.is changing the rural scene

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


Thousands of vilJag~rs are

rtndered homeless by the

fury of floods. Villagers

wading through knee-deep

,-. water.

i,

Floods

Floods have been playing havoc with mankind ever since the dawn of history, 'Flood danger

grew with the increase in IlUmanhabitation along the sides of huge flood-prone ril'ers,. In India, the

p;oblem is dggr~vated by two other vagaries of nature: the cyclones and sea-erosion, Hundred per

cent immunisation from floods is simply impossible, for floods do nol strike at 'the same place every

year, According to 'Rashtriya Barh Ayog,' an area of 400 lakh hectares isprone tofloods in our

. country. Upto the end of the Fifth Plan, Rs, 730 crores have been !fpenton flood control measures.ihe-SixthP(an envisages an outlay of Rs. 1592 crores including 200 croresfor loan assistance.,

FloodJorecasting and warning of floods wasfelt essential toforewarn the people to take timely

and appropriate action to reduce the damage to life and property. Furthermore thefloodforecasting, .

.oganisation (s proposed to be strengthened during the Sixth Plan.,

I, -

A n area of 400 lakh. hectares is

prone to floods in our count,.),.

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


Vol . XXX

No . 7

January 1, 1982'

Pausa 11, 1903

Hurukshelro(India's journal of rural development)

CONTENTS

4 RURAL DEVELOPMENT: PLANNING AND

IMPLEMENTATION;

A. R. Patel'

7 RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH BANKS

Navin Chandra Joshi

Editorial

R;I.!~AL,DEVELOPMENT has come to be known as

sine qua non of national development. It is so

because the problem of development and eradication

of poverty is not merely one of the rural areas but

essentially of the development of the rural com-

munity comprising three-fourth of our population.

Ever since we undertook development work under

the Five Year Plans, eradication of rural poverty and

backwardness have been assigned the highest

priority. It is true that we have not been able to

achieve as high targets as we desired to but the all-

round progress and 'improvement in life quality is

.there for everyone t< ! see.

10

12

14

17

1 9

21

NEED FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

EDUCATION

M. P. Borayan

HOW I.R.D.P. IS CHANGING THERURAL SCENE

J. M. L. Mathur

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO RURAL

RECONSTRUCTION

I. A. Pad,,!anabha Roo and J. Gouripathi

HANDICAPS OF INDIAN HMIDICRAFTS B. Subramaniyan, B. Ramakrishna Rao and

A. Babu Rao

RURAL TELEVISION: ITS PROGRAMMES

AND AUDIENCE

Anand Kumar Jaiswal

THEY SHOW THE WAY ...

EDITOR

(MRS.) RATNA JUNElA

ASSTT. EDITOR

N. N. SHARMA

SUB-EDITOR

PARAMJEET G. SINGH

. COVER '

JIVAN ADAUA

~nquiries'_ regnrd-hi~ Subs~riptions~ Agencies. etc.,

Business M anag e r , Publications Division

Pa"tiata House, New D eJ l . : i - l10 .ooiTel: 387983'

Frankly, shortfall that has come in the. achievement

of targets has been due to a little less than total

invol\'ement of the people as well as erratic imple-

mentation of the programmes. Periodic reviews con-

firmed' this and indicated that the situation required

far Qlore intensive .efforts . to concep:trate on target

. groups accompanied by a number of special measureS.

As a result, the' prindple o f deveiop.ment with social

justice was propounded. and emphasis was. shifted

from mere increase in production to the all-round . -.~' . .. . , . .' .,:..." -

development of rural commumty. Programmes. of

development were recast to reach out target groups and

area.<;. A new vigour was pumped into the implemen-

tation of the development programmes and speedy

betterment of the rural.poot.

The paramou.nt ~mportance of correct and matter-

of-facl planning and proper implementation .are now

accepted as 'the cOre of the dcvelopment effort" by all

concerned, And that is ho,v it should be.

• < "

In. tpis .issue, w~sarry a very learned article on the

subject. of rural development which elucidates the

re i& yan ce and im p 'o r~ an~ e of planning an9 imple-

m:~nti:tionvis.-a-vis'achi~vement of desired results. We

ace' sure out readers will find this exposition of

. EditOrial Office: Krlslii Bhavao, Ne~ Delhi-lIttOn! immense. value ..

Teiephori" ,. 384888 &382406

Editoi-'s Residence: 615920'

","

SINGLE COPY: Re. 1

SUBSCRIP1'ION FOR:ONE YEAR: Rs.20 I'Kin.rukshetra' wishes its esteemed .reade.'.s. a I

happy and prosperous New Year -_. - -- --

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


Rural development:planning and, implementation

A.R. PATEL

Bank of Baroda, Central Office, Bombay

GANDHIJI WANTED'TO PROMOTE health and vigour

of India's villages and wanted to develop thcm

as village system, An ideal village of Gandhiji's con-

ception was such as "to lead it~elfto perfect sanitation,

its cottages should have sufficient light and ventila-

tion, they 'should be built of local materials, its lanes

and 'streets should be free of dust. It should have

wells according to need and access, houses of worship

for all, a common meeting place, a 'villagecommon for

grazing, r u co-operative dairy, primary "nd secondary

schools in which industrial education will be the

central factor and its own panchayat for settling dis-

putes. This model village will have its own water

works ensuring clean water supply and a com!Julsory

service of village guards." (Rarijan, January 9, 1937).

Several programmes were undertaken, new innova-

tions were introduced and experimental or pilot l1ro-

jects were launched in past to achieve the objectives of

rural development and modernise our villages. The

more well-known among lhem were the Martandam

project (1921), ,Rural Reconstruction project in

Baroda (1932), Firka Development ,Scheme inMadras (1946), Etawah Pilot Project in Uttar Pra-

desh (1948), the Community Development Pro-

gramme (1952), Intensive Agricultural District Pro-

gramme (1960-61) and other projects covering SFDA,

DPAP, CAD etc. While these programmes have re-

corded appreciable achievements, they have suffered

from many handicaps such as hick of proper identi-

fication of the potential beneficiaries on the basis of

objective criteria; flaws in the implementation process

because of lack of dedicated and committed imple-

menting machinery; and pressure from the relatively

well-to-do and influential sections of the population inthe rural sector to corner the benefits olithese to tnem-

selves. Thus, while few areas have witnessed pros-

perity, a large number of population in roral areas

4

has' been experiencing abject poverty, gross inequality

in the distribution of wealth and income, chrof!ic un-

employment, squalor, want, ignorance and appalling

insanitary and sub-human conditions of living.

'This problem has been so much deep-rooted in

the developing countries where 40 percent of the

population live in absolute poverty and their life is so

degraded by disease, illiteracy, malnutrition and squa-

lor that the attainment of even the basic neces-

sities seems to be difliculi. The United Nation Con-

ference on Human Settlement held at Vancouver,Canada in May-June 1976, recommended that the

developing countries pay special attention to the im-

provement of rural areas where a majority of their

population reside. In general, it backoned member-

countrics to enlarge employment opportunities to the

rural poor; extend public services and improve the

!evels of living of those living in the rural areas. The

Conference also callC!1upon to improve the physical

environment and thus enhance in general the quality

of life. It is against this background an aHempt is

made here to, appreciate the c0l'cept of rural develop-ment and the need for a mechanism to identify the

nceds and problems of rural poor iind by which the

objectives of rural development can be achieved.

R.D. : the urgency

R URAL DEVELOPMENT HAS N OW come to be reali-

sed _as a sine qua nOll for national . develop-

ment and social welfare. The problem is not merely

one of development of rural areas but of the develop-

ment of the rural communities of which our nation

comprises; to dispel ignorance and poverty, and assistthe process of creating self-reliant and self-sustaining

healthy modern little communities. Thus, rural deve- •

,lopment can no longer be identified with mere

KURUKSHETRA January 1, 1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


increase in GNP or even per capita income. The in-

crease in income is expected to be so distributed as to

result in insignificant <:WJ:.unltiou"of ;;;eq~alities of

income and wealth. In short, every rural family

should have its reasonable share in the generation of

GNP and increasing per capita income. The major

objective has been to develop and reconstruct the rural '

economy such that incomes Jlowing from the owner-

ship of productivc assets, skills and labour would be

automatically distributed more equitably. This fact

therefore focuses the need, urgency and importance of

building viable rural commnnities of functional rural

clusters with improved dwellings, clean water and

modern sanitation, .a ~ongenial environment, depend-

able and convenient energy supplies, adequate trans-

port and communication facilities that link it to the

larger world, suitable health and educational services,

access t6 credit and markets, culturally invigorated

and no longer compartmentalised by barriers of castes

and feudal distinctions based on land ownership or occupation. Thus, this programme will have a multi-

dimensional approach which would have components

such as (i) multi-sector involving sectors which con-

stitute all the aspects of the rural economy; (ii) multi-

sectional involving weaker sections of the society; (iii)

multi-level requiring planning, at various levels; and

(iv) multi-agency involving the participation of the

Government, Panchayat administration,' financial

institutions, commercial/business/induslri~l houses,

voluntary and service organisations, trusts etc.

Progress under plans

THE ENTIRE PLANNING EXERCISE needs to be

geared up and given so much importance that it

h~s to be weighed in favour of (i) optimum utilization

of the grmvth potential of the area to increase income,

employment and production; (ii) ensuring that a

larger than proportionate gains of development'accrue

to the weaker sections of the population; (iii) fulfilling

the minimum needs programme-health and 'medical

facilities, drinking water, housing, edu~tion, supply

of essential commodities through a public distribu-tion system; (iv) augmenting the duration and pro-

ductivity of employment of-the poor and under un-

employment in their existing occupation, inter alia,

through upgrading of technology, imparting of skills

and setting up of non-exploitative institutions for

credit, marketing and services; (v) alleviating chronic

unemployment through employment on public works

under Nalional Rural Employment Programme; (vi)

building up of a social and economic infrastructure;

(vii) rc-orienting the existing institutions and organi-

sations in order to protect the interest of the poor;

(viii) building up of appropriate organisation of therural poor espccially to protect them from the ex-

ploitation and (ix) promotion of a progressively more

egalitarian structure of ownership of assets,


•

PLANNING EXERCISE MAY therefore have to firsu

-identify/locate those villages/rural--areas which

have. acute problems of r~ unemployment and

underemployment have no basic developmental infra-

structure and have considerable development potential

. but no scientific and technological institutions have

so far begun to work. For this purpose, it would be

necessary to (i) compile an integra!ed resource in~ventory on the basis of data available from a variety

of sourc"s/surveys etc., (ii) initi~te a malady-remedy

analysis that c~n pinpoint specilic constraints that

affect the life and work o~ the rural poor, and to indi-

cate the appropriate way by which these con~traints

could be overcome and 10, ,! ,1 resources optimaUy

utilised, (iii), formulate- a draft action-plan through

fillJdvisits to be under!aken by inter-disciplinary teams

and securing the suggestions of the local communities

and (iv) direct the scientific and technological re-

sources to seek soluti~ns of these problems.

THE GROWTH CENTRE EXERCISE, in this endeavour,

can be a powerful instrument for assisting th~

policy-makers and the plamaers in improvi!Jg the

weU-being of the popu4tions. The growth cenlre

project can provide blue-prints iridicating the possible

locations for education, health and such .other facili-

ties. Based on the principle of "equal accessibility"

Ihe, growth ,centre approach can bring several com'

munity facilities like health, education, transport and ,

communication, local administration etc., within easy

reach of all the populations.

These growth centres should necessarily be

equipped with all the required facilities which may

help the rural population to get their work done in

the area itself rather than visiting cities/towns such ,! S

(i) a permanent training centre to impart practical

-training in the area of agriculture, cottage and village

industries and agro-based industries, (ii) a mobile

training-cum-demonstration unit to' provide on

the spot training and rePair, service and maintenance

facilities for agricultur~ and inclustrial machineries,

(iii) a rural service society to provide credit, inputs

of productioo, custom-hiring of farm equipments and

machineries, (iv) , a marketing-eum-warehousing

components-that can provide safe storage and efficient

marketing of farm produce and cottage industries

products, (v) a forest and, grass n~ery for provid-

ing ,fruits, fuel, fodder and forest trees (vi) a develop-

mental-school basep on 'e¥ning while learning' princi-

ple and oriented to develop a cadre of self-

employed'and dedicated workers in the area of human,

animal, plant and soil-health care and (vii) a residen-

tial component to provide basic housing facilities for

workers in the project arca.The growth centres may have to be selected on

the basis of important criteria such as existence of

a -progressive and modern agriculture, (ii) availability

5

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


of irrigation, (iii) existence of a network of roads and

communication, (iv) prevalence of trade and banking

facilities, (v) establishment of small industrial units,

(vi) establishment of cooperative institutions, (vii)

availability of public. health facilities and (viii)

effective local participation.

Developmental agencies

THE GOVERNMENT AND T HE PANCHAYAT RAJ in-

stitutions have a significant role to play in initiat-

ing/accelerating the process of rural development.

However, while the Government has bui1t"inlimita-

tions in pro.~idingthe effective adm4tistration, organi-

sation, operational elliciency and budgetary resources,

the panchayat raj institutions are either non-existent

in most parts of the country' (backward and tribal

areas) or in the moribund state. Thus, the .role of

other institutions and industries becomes all the while

more important nm,; than before at least in supple-

menting the efforts of the Government in these vulner-able areas.

For the first time in the history of .India, the

commercial banks have provided one of the best

and most needed infrastructure in rural and semi-urban

areas by opening a large number of branches, adopt-

ing 74000 villages, sponsoring 912 Farmers' Ser-

vice Societies, 1424 large-sized multipurpose .socie-

ties, prepared impressionistic survey reports and fo~-

mulated district credit plans for each of the blocks.of

all the districts in the country. The credit institu-

tions in close collaboration with the willing industrial/business/ commercial house,s, voluntary and social ser-

vice organisations. Trusts can identify the 'Growth

Centres' in order to initiate the rural development

process. These organisations can set up 'Develop-

ment Agency' manned by experts in the area of agri-.

culture, animal husbandry, rural engineering, social,

education, rural industries, ~anagement, marketing

etc. This agency should provide all the assist<ince.to

the rural poor, secure bank credit, maintain rapport

with the Government departments to draw subsidy

and build up infrastructure, formulate schemes, imple-ment the projects monitor the progress etc. The

first task of tlie agency is to (i) identify families

below .the poverty line, (ii) classify the families in

terms of annual per capita income groups and (iu)

formulate production programmes for each family in

consultation with the head of 'the household with a

view to raising -its income above thE::poverty line.

The agency with the hclp of industrial house can for-

mulate projects of rural development based on scienti-

fic surveys, or can get studies conducted such as techno-

economic studies of agro-based industries, ground-

water potential, cadastral surveys, processing, storage

marketing studies etc. It can promotetlie cooperative

socie~i~which can create community assets. Lift ir-

rigation schemes, community irrigation, water supply,

gobar gas, fodder development, cattle feed, custom

6

service umts for the beuefit of small/marginal farmers,

artisans, labourer, ;tc. 'and can effectively supervise

the working of these societies by providing manage-

ment expertise. These agencies should' be motivated

towards the well-~eing of the rural poor and free

from bureaucratic, political and procedural limitations.

With purely service motive, they can sincer-elytake

up rural development programme on a smaller scale..

Using local resources and talents. they can take upspec.ial interest in the supply of inputs, consumer

goods, organisation of crop demonstrations, imparting

training, educating the people on their problems of

health and social aspects, construction of rmids, wells,

bundhs, semi-weirs, deepening of tanks, afforesta-

tion and fodder development works organise bal.

waris, medical camps etc.

There should also be a Project Review & Moni-

toring COI;l1m~ttee consisting of representatives of the

bank, indu~trialhouse, voluntary/service organisation,

Govermuent departments, Panchayat administration,

Farm Universities/research instituqons to review the

progress under the project and take corrective steps to

improvc the working of various schemes.

Conclusion:

PUBLIC SECWR BANKS SHOULD provide leadership

Jll Identifymg thc potenllal growth centres in the

area of their operation. The development of rural

growth centres and their promotion should constitute

a basic approach to the process of rural dcvelopment.With the active involvement of industrial houses and

voluntary organisations the potential growth centre

sh,ould be developed as a full-fledged growth centre

which can provide all the much needed services and

facilitics to the farmers, artisans and other rural

communities to m;prove their .skill and productivity.

The Development Agency to be sponsored by them

should undertake detailed survey of resources, prob-

lems of development, familywise survey, identification

needs, formulation and implementation of area

specific schemes, building rapport with Govern-

ment and Panchayat institutions for creating socio-

economic infrastructure etc. With the professional

management forthcoming from the banks and industrial

houses the working of the project should be improv-

ed from productivity, profitabijity and production

point of view. This approach may not be considered

to be an academic exercise as the public sector bank

in close cooperation with the industrial house and the

Trust has implemented the projects in the most back-

ward and tribal areas. of Baroda and Btilsar distri,ts

which have shown eucouraging results, Not only the

fan~lics below poverty line have increased their in-come, but a few of them have crossed the poverty line

also. Thus there is no doubt about the efficacy of

'Growth Models' in accelerating the process of rural

development.


7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


R URAL DEVELOPMENT INVOLVES taking care of

agriculture,- animal husbandry, fisheries and fores-

try, rural village anf:!cottage industries, tertiary sector,

skill development and labour-mobility. About a decade

ago, commercial banks tended to shy away from

financing agricultural operations and anything that

related to rural ,areas and their development. Today,

the situation has changed with the major thrust given

to the development of rural areas not only in respect

of their economy but also in various other spheres of

rural life.

With the lannching of the integrated rural develop..

ment (JRD) programme, a new dimension has been

added to the activities of our conimercia1 bankS, The

significant characteristics of IRD are (i) the enrich-

ment of the total quality of life and the reduction of

disparities in wealth and employment, (ii) realising

these objectives by implementing progriiinmes like the

minimum 'needs programn:i"e, development of social

services and infrastructure, (iii) the creation of a

hierarchy of service centres for the on-going projects

of the Government agencies and (iv) the planning and.implementation of schemes for rural development on

an area basis and with locality' specifics.

IRD is a multi-level, muiti-secto~and multi-section

concept encompassing rural development at vanous

levels in the spatial hierarchy as created by the imple-

mentation of the existing community development pro-

jects. The various sectors iricluded in it are agricul-

ture, industries, education, health and transportation.

As regards the different sections, it covers development

projects for the benefit of the rural poor, landless

labour, artisans, small and marginal farmers and cate-gories of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

It is true that in any scheme of things pertaining to

area 'approach in development or' agriculture, three


L

Rural developmentthrough banks

NAVIN CHANDRA JosmMotila! Nebru College, Vul,verslty of Delhi

sectors are principally involved viz., the co-operative

seclor, the commercial banking sector and the govern-

ment sector 'at different levels. ' However, the present'

rural scene presents a somewhat confused picture in

so far as credit is concerned. Due to the large credit

gaps, the multi-agency approach to credit for agricul-

ture is now accepted as inevitable. But then, the

various agencies working at the same time have result-

ed in wastage and misuse of scarce resources due to

lack of co-ordination and proper rapport among theni'.

Institutional finance

THE !NSTITUTIONAL FINANCE provided to the farm-,

ing sector has not been commensurate with the

priority accorded to it. For instance, in Britain about

four percent of the national income comes from agri-

culture and yet commercial banks provide 9.8 per cent

of rural credit. In India, on the other hand, about

50 per cent of GNP comes from the farming sector

but commercial banks meet only 94 per cent of the

rural credit. It is, therefore. imperative that the

Gove(nment should mobilise more financial resourcesfrom the farm sector So that public investments may

be stepped tIP in it.

The Sixth Plan has emphasised rural development

and labour-intensive forms of production. In some

cases good results have been achieved. For instance,

in pursuance of the new textile policy involving shift

in emphasis on handlooms, there has beeb a 50 per

cent increase in the co-operativisation of lIandloom

units. The number of handlooms under c(H)peratives

has gone from 8,10,000 to 12,31,000 societies. With

the establishment of the distriCt industrial centres, pro-spects for decentralised industrial production have

improved though the actual results are yet to be known

and evaluated. It may be noted that the absence of

7

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


the institutional infrastructure for promoting and faci-

litating group action in certain vital areas of agricultu-

ral managentent is a major constraint in improving

crop and animal productivity both in most irrigated

and rainfed areas.

Agricultural management must comprise activities

that an individual farmer can' undertake prolitably as

also the activities that only a group of farmers living

in rural areas can adopt effectively. Harvesting and

recycling, soil-conservation, raising energy plantations

integrated post-management, integrated nutrient supply

and improved post-harvest technology are such where

group or' community action is essential for successful

adoption.

In institutional devices in j,rOl;'lOtingcollective en-

deavour and for helping poor farmers to overcome

their handicaps are not adopted timely and scientific

farm ope-rations are not developed soon in our villages,the agricultural sector will have a low cost-competi-

tiveness and there .will be' a big gap between potential

and average yields. There is,-therefore, an urgent need

for effectively dovetailing the agricultural schemes for

credit ~ith commercial banks and also with credit

schemes fOl~other supporti'og activities in order to

enhance'the be-nelits of loans given to cultivators.,

Expansion, of rural banks

T"HE CREDITABLE .PERFORMANCE OF commercial

' banks in lending to agriculture has been made possible because of the ,]argo.scale spread of branches

of banks in rural areas. The number ~f offices of all

scheduled commercial banks rose from 8262 at the end

of June 1969 to 31889 at the end of March 1980, a

nearly ,threefold increase. The number of offices

opened in unbanked centres was 12,814 or 54.2 per

cent of the total increase during the period. The tempo

of branch expansion in the rural areas was faster with

more than sevenfold increase from 1832 in June 1969

to 14669 in March 1980. The share of rural offices

'in the total number of offices of all scheduled commer-cial banks has increased during the same period from

22.1 per cent to 46.1 peT'cent.

In the context of the aggregate needs for agricultu-

ral finance, the progres~ of such financing seems to be

rather tardy. According to the Report of the Commit-

tee on Functioning 'o'f Public Sector Banks, the tardy

progress has' to be ascribed to a number of impedi- ..

ments which come in the way of banks in deploying

credit to agriculturists. Broadly, these can be grouped

into four major types, viz. (i) those 'which arise from

the traditiohal n~ture of fanning in the country and the generally poor holding power of the' majority of

agriculturists, (ii) those which depend on help or ac-

tion by the State Governments; (iii) those'which arise

from the operations of commercial bankS and (iv)

8

those which arise from the inherent weak structure of

agricultural credit institutions in the country.

The report states that the low credit, absorptiob

capacity of the small agriculturists is a major i'nhibit-

ing factor in the rapid expansion of bank cre(Jit. The

boldings are small and the farmers very poor so that

tbe ten_dencyto spread on consumption rather than to

invest in improvemeht of land is strong among them.Again though intelligent and quick to grasp knowledge

on new methods of farming the India!! farmer has to

be given convincing guidance on profitable marketing

of the products. The Report adds that it is here that

the State Governments' Agricultural Departments can

play a siguificant role to edncate the farmers about

the application of modern !J1ethods of cultivation and

to persuade them to make the best use of the available

facilities for improving the yield from land. It is stated

that very often, the State Government officials are

enthnsiastic in encouraging banks to grant credit with-out formulating bankable schemes, but not co-opera-

tiVe in the follow-up action after lending the money

to the borrowers. This resulted in accumulation of

overdues over a period of years a'nd_co~s_equent un-

willingness on the part of branch managers to make

frcsh loans to the new borrowers. Effective co"ordi-

nation between State Government officials and banks

would help banks in extending credit facilities to a

larger section of rural popnlation than hitherto ..

Implementation of credit schemes

I,. N SPITE OF the impressive increase in the flow

, O f commercial banks credit to the agricultural

sector and the progress made' in evolving arrangements

to provide, increasing qnantum of, credit to agricultu-

rists, there are still a 'number of shortcomings in the

modalities of formulation, content and implementation

of agricultural credit schemes." An expert group on

aoricultural credit schemes of commercial banks (head-

ed by G. M. Desai), in its report to the Reserve Bank,

has emphasised that' many of the present credit 'Sche-

me~ would be valid irrespective of whether the com-

mercial banks themselves directly disburse loans' toagricuiturists or do sci through intermediaries such. as

primary' agIicultu"raI credit societies and' farmers' ser-

vice societies- "The g ro u p h'as' commended' the 'area

approach' in'the 'formulation -of credit sche-mes, tak-

inginto account the functional linkages between acti-

vities financed, the infrastructural support, and other

complementary activitie:s which have a bearing on the

viability of the 'schemes.

The aforesaid group has alSo urged greater involve-

me'nt of the State Governments, the lead banks and

district consultative committees" in the f9rmulatiOll a'mlimplementation of credit schemes, strengthening . of

banks' technical and other staff at the l'ural branches

as well as at the regional and head office levels, and

compilation of adequate and reliable district-wise data

.KURUKSHETRA January 1, 1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


on loan operations of credit institutions, etc. I! has

also underlined the importance of diversifyingthe pur-

pose for which credit schemes are being formulated

by extending the range of activities covered and deve-

loping credit schemes for unconventional purposes.

With regard to the problem of unemployment and

underemployment in rural areas, it is felt that a perma-

nent solution should be found with the help of modern

farm operations as also through intensive agricultural,

.

development ahd promotion of village and small-scale

ndustries. The linking up of the village eConomywith

urban market centres also needs_ to be strengthened.

As various projects take time to fructify, the unemp-

oyed rural masses have to be provided with some

special schemes of u'nemployment from time to time.

A beginningtowards this was made i'n the form of rural

works programme in the Third Plan (1961-66) but

t was abandoned after the Plan. In recent years,

some employment-cum~producti'on 5Ghemes such a6

the small farmers's development agency, marginalfarmers and agricultural labourers ahd drought prone

area programme were introduced. Since these .schemes

have had a limited scope, it is now feit that a wide

overage and a new dimension need to be given to

eradicate unemployment,from the rural sector. While

a much more imaginative and concerted effort has

to be made, banks' activities should become a second

tring to the bow of the Govermnentin various States

for .solvingthe problem,

Ih 1969, when the major commercial banks were

nationalised, almost 80 percent of the banking system

came under the public sector. The banking system

of the country, therefore, emerged as the most signi-

icant instrument for economic dev(::lopment. Banks

were increasingly involved in the development pro-

grammes launched in the country. They were also

associated with programmes such as SFDA.

MFAL, etc.. directly or indirectly. The performance

of the State Bank' of India has been outstanding in this

direction.

The State Bank of India, in April 1968, laid down

a detailed policy for financing all types ot agricultural

operations-from sowing to harvesting, storage, mar-

keting. ahimal husbandary, dairy farming, etc. The

nitial efforts of the bank revealed the need for an

approach which would ensure systematic as well as

ntensive coverage. It was felt that a pack'age of cre-

dit goes well with other supporting' extension serviees.

The bank adopted an 'area approach' for ensuring

effective and intensive coverage of a large nu~ber of

armers. It in~olves select~on of a compact as well as

contignous area comprising a cluster of villages and


extension of need-based credit to all viable and poten-

tially viable farmers in that area .

This approach facilitated the formulation of inte-

could be available to a large mass,of the rural popula-

could be available to a large mass of the rural popula-

tion. The major accent in formulating the area ap.

proach Was on providing the small/marginal farmers

and other weaker sections with a variety of services,

apart from the mere provision of credit. The StateBank of India is now having two major schemes in the

form of the agricultural development branches expan-

sion and the village adoption scheme.

I! can reasonably be hpped that the future growth

of banking in the country would now be in the direction

of achievingthe objectives of the i~egrated rural deve-

lopment schemes that hold so much p<omisefor improv-

ing the economy and the well-heing of our rural areas.

The extension of the public distribution system in the

countryside will also mitigate the hardships of the rural

masse, to a large extent. The banking structure masnow to keep itself in readiness to accept any kind of

challenge in inhking the scheme a great success.

Although it has had an array of policy options so far

the major element in its policy must be rural develop-

ment. In short, the banking infrastructure should he

shaped to support the disperSed pattern of develop-'~

ment.

Some problems

THEREARECERTAINPROBLEMSwhich banks face

in their operations in rural arcas. -For example,there is th,elack of proper and up-lo-date la'nd records.

In the case of tenant cultivators, the problem ,is more- - .\

acute as there are no records of te!lancy righte at all.

I! is, therefore, necessary that suitable administrative

support should come in the shape of updating of land

records, consolidation of land-holdings, r.egistration of

the rights of shanxroppers, etc. The commercial

banks should now strive at making the lowest level of

agriculture a functionally p'roductiveunit. They should

help in creating enough managerial flexibilityfor hand-

ling agricultural and manpower resources. They need

, to help the IRD programmes cast a new mould for

optimising inter-sectoral pay-offs through maximum

production.

The' success of our commercial banks will now be

judged not 'by the amount of money they give as cre-

dit but by whether the outflowof rural people from the

countryside to urban areas has been effectively che-

cked as a result of the many new opportuni-

ties created for them through the instrument of our

banking system,

,9

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


Need for rural developmenteducation

M. P. BORAYAN

Rural University, Gandbigram

I N, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LIKE India the level

and rate of national development is d~~ctly deter-

mined by the level of rural development. Rural deve-

lopment and national development are inextricably in-

terrelated whereby the goals and components of both

are alike. Rural' development is an integral part as

well as a driving force of the entire development pro-

cess and. lies at the heart of national development.

Withou! the support of the rural sector in feeding the

growing population with food and income to fend for the!Jlselves.' Nearly 45 percent of the Indian industry

with' basic raw materials which energise the growth

of economy; national development would be a mirage.

Over. t h e - years, agriculture has established an "orga-

nic-link" with the national economy and formed a

complex nexus inseparable from ,the life of' people.

Piedsely for the above reasons, today rural develop-

ment enjoys wider recognition and' greater importance

in the policies and programmes of developing count-

ries than any time in the past,

The human factor

R URAL' DEVELOPMENT heavily draws from the

strengtiI and ulilisation of natural and financial

resources, skills and ,participaiion' of the people and

the' will ahd action of the government. Compared to

the" availability- of natural and finan~ial resources and

governmental ~ction, the human fac!or weighs heavy.

In 'fact, the skills and participation of people deter-

mine' the utilisation of available ' natural and finan-

cial resources as well _~s initiation of governmental

action. The human input offsets the inadequaciesand adjusts the imbalances in other inputs by diligently

diagnosing the missing links in the process of rural

development and properly filling the vacuum with right

requirements. This demands for a well-developed

10

human resources in the field of rural development with

specialisation in various aspects.

Trained manpower in rural development is a sine

qua non for identifying the intensely felt needs, for-

mulating viable plans, launching effective develop-

ment programmes, rationally investing the meagre re-

sources and implementing the programmes efficielltly

and thereby make the benefits percolate to the intend-

ed target groups. Viewed thus, lack of trained rural

development' manpower is one of the major reasons

for the' deteriorating living standards of the rural poor

and widening disparity between the rich and poor. At

, present, there are woefully inadeqiIat~ number of such

experts which is uot in commensurate with the vast

magnitude of the problem aud massive amoWrtof tasks

to be performed iu order to resurrect and rejuveuate

the sickly rural parts of the country. Educating and

training human resources is therefore, a desideratum

which calls for a fuller uuderstanding of the need for

such humau resources aud thrash out strategies by the

educationists, politicians and the public.

Agricultural uuiversities, veteriuary college~, tech-

uology aud iudustrial iustitutes, medical colleges, social

work, training and r~esearchinstitut~s and a plethora

of colleges aud universities are, no doubt, playing a

vital role in trainiug experts in their respective discip-

lines. But their perception, comprehensiou and per-

formance tend to centre around the narrow bouudary

of their respective specializations in i~olation with each

other,_as a ,result of which their contribution towards

the task of rural development, whicp is a complex

group process and multi-discipliuary in nature, has

been disproportionately low to the actual requirements.

Further, their training and practice which is mostly

urban-biased, make them confiue to only urban areas

KURUKSHETRA January I; 1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


and even agricultural graduates or ruralites pull out

from the rural areas at the first available opportunity.

!herefore, grooming a stock of experts, well-trained

tn all or most of the aspects of rural development and

well-versed with rural realities is an imperative that

should be materialized on a war-footing.

R URAL DEVELOPMENT, now in its infant stage, is

gradua)ly being recognised ~ a .discipline and an

emerging profession which is yet to develop in its

~rea~t.hIand .!ength. ~urald~velopmen~Vs¥ot, .a?-. IexclusIVe:subject but a blend of both'soCial sciences) ~

~~:.~ec?~~~~.s';o~oc!olpgy,~ps;ychology,. politicalsclence,~education, 'dei:nography,.management science .

If.l~.re,c,lJnk1ll.di~iplines like agriculture, engineering,medicine, 'chetrnstry, physics and so on. Policies and

programmes of the government regarding rural deve-

lopm~nt, the problems and difficulties encountered in .their implementation: approa~hes.and' strategies' adopt-

ed by thousands of voluntary organisations and indi-

Viduals,the' overall impact of all the above iiI iinprov-

ing t,he ~uality of life. of the rural people and streng-

heni]1gthe base of the rural econOmy,and' the' nature

and extent of participation by the People form the core

of rural development curriculum. A comhination of

both soitware and' hardware aspects of social 'sciences

and technical subjects, with a heavy dose of practical

experience incorporated in' the subject,.' distinguishes

rural development from other disciplines,"Thus, rural

development is an integrative, practic~l, atid develop-ment oriented subject that needs to be taught. by a

chorus of experts with a slant towards making the

earners participate in 'the actual implementation of the

asks of rural development during the ,course work and" after: "';~~l

AT PRESENT, rural development is offered at the

graduate and post-graduate levels only in a hand-

ful of places throughout India. . In Gujarat, ,South

Gujarat University..(Surat) offers Rural Studies and he Institute of Rural Management of the National

Dairy Development Board (Anand) offers Rural Man,

agement at ..the post-graduate level. .,In .;\ndhra Pra-

desh, the Autonomous. Post-graduate ".Centre of Sri

Venkateswara University (Anantapur)' \lffers Rural

Development at the post-graduate level. In TamiInadu,

Madurai-Kamaraj University offers Rural Develop-

ment Science.in; two' of its affilj,ltellcolleges.(Karum-

athur and Usilampatty) at the 'under-graduate 3eveL

The Gandhigram Rural, University. (Gandhigram), a

pioneer in India, offers-Rural Services at .the graduate

evel and Rural Development, Rural Econ"mics and

Extension Education. and Rurah.Sociology and Pan,

hayati Raj at the post-graduate level, Recently; ,the.

KURUKSHETRA January),,1982

National Institute of Rural Development (Hyderabad)

and Vlswa-Bharati (Sriniketan) offered Rural Deve-

lopment at the M,Phil. level for two batches.

Educational and research institutions require trained

hands to teach the students, train the workers, study

the problems, evaluate development programmes and

suggest viable alternatives. Government machinery

needs experts in formulating sound policies, launching

productive progra=es aud implementing them. care-

fully, Voluntary organisations need workers to carry

out their developmental activities, mobilise people's

IparticiPation, organise the soci••lly and economically

disadvantaged and establish close functional contact

with the villagers in order to escalate their socio-eco-

nomic status.

Considering the magnitude of the problem and

efforts planned for future, the availabilitY of trained

experts .inrural -development;js", grossly •inadequate.

Therefore, at. present the country 'needs to establish

more ~ural Development Institutes in vario~s,aspectS,

at ~atIous places, offering, Rlll'a:l,Development _as . a

S!JbJecL j) ", "I" d.. . _ .~, ,; r:

I':. 'I." ; ,. . r • ;l ..•.

" ...." Rural development education

The University Grants Coi:Iunissionshould urge all

the Universities to establish a Department of Rural

Development, exppse tli, students tp ~uraLrea)ities by

ad,dmgpapers on this subject, taking themto ' villages'

periodically and making them, study auy one of the

c':,'t\caIrural issues and submit a research paper which

will enhance their understanding of the ruraLsituation

and awareness' of the Sf•.te of Indian "';oriomy.: .

R URAL DEVELOPMENT education' aims at imparting

basic knowledge about the rural society, the fabric

of complex inter-meshed social structure, the economic

texture, the huioan ecology and the issues that emerge

out of their, inter-action and injecting them with skills

and techniques by educating them in' counteractingso as to make the .learners comprehend. the rural scene

and,participate.in the tasks of rural development. It

offers au efficacious cure for .the malady plagning the

present (jay. education system .,in the form 'of stereo-

typed theoretical learning, divorced far from realities

which makes the,' products unusable 'a'nd keep them

idle, Rural developm~nt education.is thus, completely

tailored to therealities,need-b~,., acti~u-oriented,

job-orientoo and' development-centred; , Rural .deve-

lopment is basically a function' of trained' experts in

this field apd 'ihe pattern of ,'rural development in! ,7 ~. ,,'.'" _ ~• -,.'-~, .•

l\Jtui-ewill be significantly,moulded .by'rural develop-" ,",. '. . .•' l

. mel)t"education.. '::t:~:~' ~H '. ..f'

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


'.

" .. .,,

J J • . ' . . .

~.

• •

. ".

'" , ,

, . .'"1

•• I . ,

, .

. ' ~,, u r b ' , , , " . . . " , " . -

'!'~; 'I • T. I.}~ ,.~ <~~1i<i.1 '1' .,,~' " I ~'-I

'How I.R.D.P. is changing, , " ' . . L ,, ; : ' • . e,tlle,r4Jra,1 :s (: e n e

" ' .

K~~At1s i tALAY A, AM IDDLE-A GEj) W oM AN of the Depal-. pUr vil'age in liidore district of Madhya Pradesh

was i n deep financial misery only a year back. Her

family was £tom '~e~ker sections of the society. Her

husband, major earniI)g member, after an accident, be:

came handicapped and was throw.!!out of employment.

On being approached by oilida:~bf Sericulture and

Block Development, she agreed for two-months train-

ing in silkworm,rearing. 'Under a scheme jointly

chalked out by Madhya Pradesh Textile Corporation

and Rural Development Departmeilt, landless agricul-

tural labourers, particularly H:arijan families are train-

ed in silkwohn rcaring. the teXtile Corporation has

its .Extension Farms where mulberry .plants are grown,

training is iIhpartedi,and cacoons are purchased.

In January last, Kaushalaya and II other women

of Depalpur and. other adjoining villages were trained

in setlculture. They ;;resupplied silk wohtisl'aised

upto haif 0 \ their llie",yde, free. of cost.. They re~i

these Wotm~;adheiI"owjt"iio1ises. "wiihl15 days, cto'p

or cacooll; ;is 'teady::" Th<!~e:(j~i:6Ohs'~te' ~rin;haSea b y

e;(tenSi6~ fatIDS.at pre-fixed price. At this Stage, 50 pet cent price 'is recovercii agaillst the price of mUl-

bety leaves supplied earlier. Duringthtee monthS from

J4ly to September, 'llJ8i, Ka,)shalaya teaped aboui

7 '3 kg. of caM6ns and on 'saleg6t around Rs. ,50.

Now, she g a happy Indy aDd het monthly !hcome is

about ' RS.240 whl!e before ttailing it wns below

Rs. 100. CU'ttentiy. '22 other womcn,16 of them

Hadjans, are und~rgoing similar training. 'the trained

pets(jii.~ateeiititle\J:t,jCHnafiGial'fujsistfuc'e of Rs; 3,000 .

(Rs. 2400 fOr setting upa rearing'shedand 'Rs. 600

for equipment) under the Integrated'Rural Develop-

ment Programme. .One-third of this .amount is avail-able as subsidy and two-third 'as bank loan.. State

B a n K Onnd6te h'aSpfc;vid&l ioan io mosf;'f the train-

ed women. Not only in Depalpur, but in ail 'the '459

.12

development blocks in Madhya Prade.;h and all the

blocks in the country efforts are going'on to',help the

poor .people of, fjlral ,areas to cross the poverty' line.

Although Integrated Rural Development' Programme

was launched ,in, 197.8"79'.beginning with '2300 blOCks

since 2nd October i9 8 0 ali the Deveioi'ment Blocks

of the' country have' been brought under its purview.

A number 'of programmes like S.F.D.A., KPALfor.

helping rural poors were in operation with muJtiplicity

of implementing .agencies •but none, of, the ,Programme

covered whole of the country and piaoned approach

was' lacking. IRD Programme has been conceived essentially as an anti'poverty programme. It is esti-

mated that of the 350 million people below the poverty

line 'in the country, around 300'million are in the rural

areas. These consist'largeiy of the land;ess labourers

small and marginal farmers, rural artis,!"s and other

workers. Under the IRD programme, 600 families per

year per block are to be covered. Out of which, 400

are. to be covered under agriculture and allied pro-

gt~inmes, lob uilder ltie smali .•n\itislties ana other 100

under setvice anu busineSS sectors. Thus, in Sixth

Five Year Plan period it is proposed to provide specificassistance to 3,000 families an an average in each

block atid IS miGion families in whole courttry to corne

above poverty line. In Madhya Pradesh, 2754 lakh

families are'being coveted this year.cUrtder IRD, the

,?bject is to ,enable poorest families t6 acquire produc-

tive Msets, and skills to inake their economic activityviiiole,. '.i' ...•'o. , • ,'. .

Reaching out to p'oor farmers

1- N DEPALPUll. DEVELOPMENTBLOCK,after a recent

. survey, it is esiiniaied thaI of the 19,400 families of

the' block, 6,otl0 fliiiiilies 'belting to small and marginalfarmers, agtictaltillaJ' hi15bliterS a n d tUtal artisans

groups. Durin,g 1980"81; abOUt 300 families have

bee'n benefited by viirions pr6grnnimes of minor irri-

••...c,.:., •. - - .' ~'~"':"'-i ..~"'.'-~---'

KURUKSHETRA January -1,,1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


district. Motor rewinding and tailoring are the popu-

lar trades. In Budni Ghat on the bank of Narmada

river, some youths are also undergoing training at

Gov!. of India's Tractor Training and Testing Station,

Budni, in different aspects of tractor repairing and

repairing of agriculture equipments.

I N DEWASDISTRICT,NOTEWORTHYwork has been

. done in rehabilitating handicapped persons. Perhaps

this is the ouly district in the country where on the

eve of International Disabled Year, a systematic survey

was carried in the district to ascertain the number of

handicapped and the type of help they required. About

30 persp'ns have been absorbed in private or Govt.

employment and about 70 persons have bo..,en given

loans for self-employment. Under the IRD pre>-

gramme, household survey was in progress. However,

under TRYSEM, 21 youths were trained in various

trades and some of them have started their own work.

In 1981-82, upto 30th September, 79 youths have

been helped to start their own trade, which includetailoring, motor rewinding, blacksmithy, carpantry'arid

bricksmaking. Banks have also come forward to help

the poor tostiind on their '6wiIlegs. In a village aboUt• '. J I, v • r". I '..~. _ _' " . , ' .. '

40 kms from Dewas, I met Radha Bai who with the

meagre.wan of ~. 1,000 from bank has increased

he~.wo~k odoc:himgles substantially and now sellst,->" .•;~ ", , -,f , ' •• _, ; ~'<:'_... ' 1.1. i~- - J .'-r,');:", :~ I'": !'.-"V,''-

bangles worth ,Rs. 300 per -month:~' Her' hUsbiUid -~ '.',."_.&c ' , t . , . _ " ~ to. ;t1• ,,,:. '\

m~ves.from villige to :village, to. sell these bangles.

Similai;ly,.k:i.ilashof the saine village has iricreased

his ,trade "fpreparing colourful colton garlands for

cariJ~whk~ are sold in the area 1ik~hot cakes duringDiwali seasO)1. Perhaps inost commendable work i.

going at a village called Siya where 50ptircent popu-

lation is of Harijans. Here, State Khadi Boam runs

a. centre to train "Rarijan women in spinningpolyster

yarn:, CUrrently, 16 HarijanWomen are receiving

training and they earn -Rs. 3 to Rs. 3.50 per day for

eight hOur job.

I N .HOS:r:ANGABAD D~STR:C~ ~ AN interesting experiment

IS gomg on to trJU11tnbal couples. At village Kirath-

pur about.8 kms frpm Itarsi, 14 couples from tribal

areas are undergoing training,in iinproved methods of ~niinal ~usbanilry. These couples are living in pre-

mises .of state Govt's anini31 breedina farms since. ~ .. , . 1:'

Angust 81 are paidRs. 5 per head per day. I talked

to a 0bal you(h Mehtab of about 28 years and his

WifeLila who first,time in their life travelled by tram

to Itarsi ~tiori' to join, Kiratpnr. camp. Mter the

training, these couples will gp back to their villages and

will be given .goats as additional source of income.

Under. IRD,they w W be wven financial assistance of

Rs; 3,090, half of whicIiwillbe loan and hali a s~b-

sidy.. A'bat~h 'of l2co\'pl4 Wastrained iast year and

th~y Uj'ehappy in their villages eqUipped with newtechniques and added incOI'lefrom g(,ats.

• 'I' ;, .01 . " ".,,, '" .• ' ".

. oj •.i.. • ..Training .programmes for rural youth

_.,:~, • '.. ._ ._0," '. _., ;'. '" .•••. , ~

B ESIDESagnculture, tratillng programmes for ruralyouths aud women are -alSo going on in Sehore".!.~,'i.l.~ ' .; .; - ,.

The close tie-up between Development Project

officials and ;Bank'authorities noticed in Indore District

wllSmissing in. Sehore District. . Before .26th January.

-1979,this district was;part of SFDA, Bhopal and since

January'l98l it haS been'.declared as a separate Dis-

trict Rural'.Development Agency.. In Sehore,. each' of

the five'b~ockshave been'divided into four c:usters and

one cluster from each block will be covered each.year.

Action plan for this year is ready. In the District,

4,400 families below poverty line have been identified

for being coveredjJndei various schemes. Sehorebeingnear to the capital city oLBhopal has very.good scope

for .vegetable growing. .

I saw a faTIn~rnha~arji'\';ho wa~ ;m agricultural~I .",

labourer till 1970-71. He purchased ,a plot of about

four and a half acres by .1m.nsfrom his relatives and

got loan under SPDA project forpump-mo!or ahd well

in 1974-73. Through assurea irrigation, he grows

almost .all. the .vegetabies besides r i c e , sugarcane and . . . . + ' _,-_1'''~1_ r: .".. '," .'

papaya. He takes three crops in a year: He 'has paid

off ali his loans.. So is Mahesh Prashad Rai at another

tM ini who' has .e rt g d g e o 'liis tWo Sons!,a .gra'duate'anilanother 'a Higher Secondary boy on his farm. Neither

of them is now willing to take awhite"collar job in

city. They also grow all the vegetables plus wheat

and gram thtough 'Well-irrigation and have installed

electtic"Uy operated pump sets. Recently, Rai sold

diiili~fiowers worth 'Rs: 'S;Ooo.atrd:tomaro (worth

Rs. 8,000. His net income from tbe farm is about

Rs.. 12;1>00a year. '

A NOTHERCOMFORTABLEFEATUREI found in Indore

district is of hofding Credit Camps where the

development and revenue functionaries, as well as bank flofficials and applicants assemble at one place. 'Loan' •

applications are immediately processed and loan sane"

tions'are issned. fAt o n e camp'ill SaW"i BlocJ<;I saw'

State Bank and Development Block officialsprocessing

oan applications qUICklya n d Within two hours 61

appiicants were sanctimi'edlo~nstotalling Rs. 1,12,000.

gation, animal.husbandry etc. During six months of

the current year 130 families have been provided

with assistance. One of the redeeming features of

Depalpur Block is that avenues other than agriculture

and allied activities have been explored. Besides seri-

ulture, Durri weaving and tailoring has been adopted

as trades. In Gopalpur village, a landless Harijan

Hema is happy with buffalo given under IRD. So

are, Kalukhan a blacksmith, Hiralal a potter, MangiIala carpenter and Vasudev a barber.

KURUK~HETRAJanuary ;1,,1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


I.~ ~ ; : , . ' - : • • ' \ J i : : .

Anjntegrate.d'~ DProachto .tural ~recdfistruclion

. . -'~- ,-' ~'- '.' .. - - -'

~ ,"" -. ~, ". "'.- -.. r;. '. .. r. A. PADMANABHA RAO and J. GOURIPATIll

II .', ~r ,". 'J:' .' ~ ~

Ferro 'Alloys Corporation Ltd., Vizianagaram

. ~ '

.~'.

" '

'F" .

Jr. l'~

;., ' " t:

'.1.

, .

.I'.

, .i

".

r

,'[,1{1 .t,1 L

.r{~•••.'. f . .

, -, ,:1 ' :.

".j-

-.1.

ii

.'~

'Thi;~prograinnies iIi rural'reconslrndion range from

establishment of schools m villages to the programmes

of national importance." Ii is evident that' the .country

as a whole will not progress unless the 'rural areas

progress. In all the rural reconslrnction programmes,

the rural community has .'to be the basic unit of dey~Iopment. ~ ." ,t. :h

VILLAGECOMMU~rryshould not be viewed as

bemg a beneficiary merely for the programme of

rural reconslrnction but as a "subject and agent of

change.. Th~ people of the village.are called to utilise

the opportunities available 'for them and to be res-

ponsible to build their future. They, are asked to

create for themselves an enviromnent which will help

them in developmg themselves. The people of the

community should be mvolved m the' decision-making

process and m sharing the responsibilities and work.

, -Itis a matter ofcomm~n observation that the peoplechange only' at times of stress 'and stram or if some

external force. compels them (0 accept. Whenever a

programme is launched the time and need of the pro-

gramme launched go a long:way m makillg it success-

.fuL'.. "Whenever'there is a compelling force to.adopt

change,;the change becomes inevitable. People. accept

it. '" So in programmeimplementatioo, one of the im-

portlmt points is the starting pomt and .this is very lrne

in the Indian context. It is not ver!! easy to bringm

changes m our rural society when superstitions and

traditions'rule m"minds.of the people.' Village peopledo not easily accept change unless there is something

whi~h"is realiy compeIiirig.' . " '~. ' 1' ,1 . r" ."' .,"~,.._" I~ ,.;••- ,,'- , 1 - ! . . .

All constructive programmes m the community

should be connected with the existiug value system.

1""N~lIAIS A L~NDOF ViLLAGE~and ~i~ty percent 0 tthe Indians live m villages. Indian villages have

a pr~ominantly agrarian econbmy notWithStandingtJllit

in some, a majority of the mhahiumts 'are 'cowherds,

shepherds or' even hunterS m the case 'of'some tribal

villages. Onr villagers are knoWn for. their unsophis-

ticated simplicity, combined With an 'astuteness . of

observation of strangers and new ideas. They have

frugal way of life contmued witli a calm resignationthat would willingly" accept circumstances' beyond . . " . - .their control as godsent. They follow a slow pace of

life in conso~ance and with the rythm of nature..~. ,: - .

In' any ellort aimed at national reconstruction, vil-

lages become vital" that need to be .first developed.

Rural 'reconslrnction' does not simply.mean mere eco-

nomic development but integrated development' of the

economic, social, educational and psychological aspects

of people living in these 'areas. . . t,I •

F. L. Bryne opmed. that ,runil reconstruction i~nothing more or less than the revival of old fashioned

virtues. of hard work, thrift, self-respect .and mutual

respect. This wou1<1mean revolutionary, change m

the. outlook of' the viilager towards his work and

resources, 'his cattle; his family, his ~arn:', his neigh~

bours and. his. Govermnent, RuraI' Development• • _ .~. , " , ' ~ A _ f

should be linKedwith an overall.national development.

It should at the same time be linked.with sociai justice

aimed at rural reconstruction' and shbcld not be merely

economic development programmes but they: are;,to

b e integrated with ~soci~ecbri,omic activities" tempered

with justice. People 'should' be free. t;' decide what

is best for them to meet the~ needs to liberate the;".

~el~es from hu.nger, disease~ oppression, expIQitation;"

illiteracy, discrimination' and this requires sociai' ~ orkapproach.

" ,.

The vil1~gt:community

14 KURukSHETRA January'l, 1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


They should be such that they respect the individual

first and then the existing value system and create a

sense of feeling that by adopting such a measure the

iudividual is ouly enhancing the value system.

The programmes designed should be able to rouse

a sense of r>ridein those who follow it and they should

not think that they are compelled into cheap imitation

of urban way of life. With castes, 'sub-castes, and

other petty goups and fractions iu the villages thereare always prejudices, fears and an~eties within the

village cOlllJ.llunity. National unity as a value is to be. .

iuculcated in oroer to enable the villagers to pool their

resources and to work together for nation building at

large. Social recoustructiou cannot be immediately

measured. The villagers should be educated to be in

a position to understand that there is growth and

development and thus help to keep in them the spirit

of participation and invdlvement without getting frus-

trated and withdraw their participation. Some pro-

grammes which attract some immediate attention of

the people also will help in furthering the participation

of the people in rural reeonstruction and eombating

superstitions. Some may not respond favourably to

ehange due to sur>erstitionsand suspicion of their being

exploited by others, who are already well plaeed

socially. In sueh cases what is more important is to

make thorn realise that they will be the beneficiaries in

the end and they should therefore become partners indevelopment.

Leadership

FORTHEOPERATIONof any programme in rural re-

construetion the human element.is of great iroport-

anee. Proper leadership is neeessary for the. ideal

functioning of the programme in rural development. It

can be very eonfidently said that the leadership is one

social faetor. whieh determines the very content of the

programme. Leadership is .again two-fold: formal

leaders consisting of Political leaders and the Goven-

ment personnel and informal leaders comprising the

rest. With Proper leadership, not only will the east be •..

within reasonable limits but the gains also will be

substantial. Proper leadersbij:l is more essential inIndian seene because some kind of enforcement from

the leaders side is neeessary to overcome the force of

superstition and eustom. Some times the identificatioll

of the national leaders in the villages by the Programine

Officials will not help the implementation of tLc pro-

grammes beeause they have be.eomeleaders by virtue

of being rigidly adherent to custom and tradition. Thus

the identifieation of leadership in a village eommunity,

which is essential and without whieh the programme

does not funetion properly, assumes great importancein social reconstruction. .

The pancbayati raj system, formal and informal

edu~ation, medical and health ~ervices,voliuitary agen-

KURUKSHETRA January 1,1982

cies, khadi and Villageindustries, seience and techno-

logy, youth and woman clubs are some of the main

forces which should be the major responsibilities of the

rural reconstruction.

Panchayati Raj

PANCHAYATIRAJ institutions were organised in the

eountry to involve people in rural reconstruction

and development. Panehayati raj ensures socio-econo-mie justiee to all the seetions of the people in rural

areas and especially to the socially and eeonomically

baekward sections. Panehayati raj tries to ereate an

aw!,reness among the people of their rights and res-

ponsibilities through extension of educalion prog-

rammes. The programmes are organised to solve

the problems of the society. But it is often

eritieised that Panchayati raj. administration has been

weak. The reasons for this. may be many.

Some of them are poverty, lack of ednca-

tion, non-availability of funds, trained personnel.Poverty and laek of education result in the lack of

civic sense in lhe people. As the citizen is too poor

and illiterate to appreciate the ideas of reeonstruction,

he cannot discriminate and is not in a position to uti-

lise his vote in the right direction. Sourees of revenne

at the disposal of the local bodies and mass lax evasion

of the rural people are responsible for failure to mobi~

lise funds adequately 'for' the various programmes.

Often trained people are not recruited. The staff'

many'a tiroe lack the requisite orientation towards

these programmes, and may be in a Iielpless condition

to solve the problems of the people. Her'e it may besuggested that people tr'!ined for two years in the field

for graduation be placed in' charge oJ' the affairs in

order to develop the right kind of motivation in the

people to partieip;te' in the programmes'. Added to

these things, Panehayati raj has brought in group fae-

tionalism in the villages. They are often found guilty

of nepotism, favouritism and corruption. The follow"

.ing steps may be suggested in this regard:

1Offieers-in-eharge of. the various departments

should be specially trained, atleast two years inthis field before .they are appointed at various;

levels.

2

. Panehayati raj bodies should be eneouraged to

mobilise more of loea1 resourees than look for

, outside help. Ineentives in the form of matehing

grallls:should be ereated for this.

3Election procedures should be ehanged to involve

the people to participate upto a distriet level and theyshould be conducted in rigl;tt time. . This

will remove the presenee of unwanted elements

15

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


irr the irrstructions from tiine to time and help the

newly ejected bodies to function effectively and

,withou! fault or favour to any. -

Medical and health services

I,T GOES without saying that Health and Development

are closely intertwined. So health is a basic

facility, denial of which is to deny one the right tolive. ' This till very recently did not gain much

import~nce in rural reconstruction. The rich urban

mInorities have mobilised the health services. Medi-

cal edu~ation which is heavily subsidized is only cater-

ingto the needs of, urban minority. This should 'bc

discouraged. and rural health services should be

d~veloped and strengthened.

Health makes possible the effective intake of

ttainillg ~nd its utilisation for the rural g o o d . It

helps in iricreasing the number of working days and

the, productivity. Para-medical staff is to be deve-loped, In view of the work and the imp9rtance of

the work which' the 'para.medical staff does in the

villages, their standard of training and their number

should be geared up. Main aspects of community'

health should' take .jnto consideration, sanitation,

drinking water snpply, immunisation, nutritional

staildard arid supply of preventive medicines.

Regarding family planning, it is observed, that the

individual approach is more appealing than the other

methods as rural people hesitate to discuss problems

openly.

Science and technology

T",HE SKILLS DEVELOPED in the fields of science and

technology are being directed towards rural deve-

lopment. It will be interesting to recall the delibera-

tions of the 63rd National Science Congress which

h'ad' the 'focal theme 'Science and integrated Rural

De~elopment'. Smt. Gandhi in her address said

ihat science should give itself a rural bias

because we live mostly in villages. She also said that rural life should be so enriched as topre,vent the

migration of people and resources from villages to

towns. The advancement of science should contri-

bute to the effective implementation of rural pro-

grammes. Science should' help the, village to ntilise

the indigenous materials and develop the cultivationof more nutritive and cheap foods. Besides contri-

buting to the wgricultural development, Science

should also, help development of technology to suit

the Indian environment and Indian soil.

Industry'I'NVOLVEMENT OF the business community in rural

'developmerii Work asa strategy for improving thesocio...economic conditions of the rural people is now

16

,~idely recogrnsed both by the Goverriment and the

business community. The recerit amendment to the

Finance Act 1961 offerillg fiscal incentives to the

Business Companie<; undertaking rural development

work is a 'positive step in this direction and refiects

'the policy of the Government to involve the busi-

ness community in the belter management of the

transfer of science and technology to the benefit of

the rural people. It must be said to' the credit atthe Business Community thaI, they have risen to the

occasion and are indicating th~ir eagerness to contri-

bute to the qnickening at the pace of rural develop-

ment. There is "intensive realisation everywhere .in

the country; that unless the -rural sector prospers the

nation cannot progre"s. A number of business

houses have, beeu active in undertaking social welfare

measures in the villages,

Yollth participation

THE PARAMOUNT importance ?f the youth parlic~pa-

tion 11 1 the rural reconstruction needs no mentIOn.

The abundant energies and dynamism of the youth

should be utilised for this purpose. Progress in this

respect is very meagre so far. The importance o f organisin.g youth programmes have been recognised

ever since the inception of community development

programmes, Youth have 'always been encouraged

and organised to render servic~ in the villages.

Recent prqgrammes of youth like the youth against

famine, youth against dirt and diseases in the

National 'Service Scheme, have revealed the hidden potentialities of the youth.

Rural unemployment also will be solved by' this.

The probleni of employment in rural areas is mainly

of seasonal unemployment and underemployment.

Fu]]er employment opportunities for the rural work

force will in the main have to be found within the

agricultural and allied sectors themselves through

intensification and diversification of agriculture based

on expansion of irrigation facilities and improved

,technology. However the very dimensions of the

problem call for. multi-pronged strate,gy which 'aims

on the' one hand at resource, development of vulnera-

ble sections of tile population and, on the other, '

provide, supplementary employment opportunities to

the rural poor particularly during lean periods in

a mamler which will at the same time contribute

directly to durable assets for the community. :rro-

grammes- in tile nature _ of Small Farmers Deveiop-

ment Agencies, Integrated Rural Development, Drought

Drought Prone, Area Programme, Desert Development

Prqgramme, Common Area Development Pro-

gramme, TR YSEM and the like; aim at resource

development on individual or area basis. As 'for theobject of providing supplementary employment oppor-

hniities, a b~ginning was made in this directioUo:

(Continued on p. 18)

KURUKSHETRA January I, 1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


HANDICRAFTS represent the synthesis of the culture

of all communities of a country. The growth of

handicrafts in the society is an indication of the culti-

vation of sensitivity and the stirring and mellowing of

humanism. Articles made by hand are known as

handicrafts. They il)clude a wide range of products

such as carpets, hand-printed textil~s, art metalware-s,

cane and bamboo articles, wood work, dolls and toys.

shawls, ivory products, embroidered goods, gold jewel-

lery. silver jewellery." stoneware etc.

The genesis of Indian handicrafts goes back some-

where into the mists of antiquity and the story of man

itself began to be articulated when the capacity of the

~ands t o create was' respected and eVen revered.

Indian handicrafts flourished through the ages stimul-

ated by a vigorous folk tradition. a be'nign culture and

in an age when individualism was cherished and pre-

cision valued. Handicrafts play" a vital role in the

economic life of the country. In Indian economy,

handicrafts 'constitute an importaht segment of the

decentralised sector,; which provide employment to

neady two million artisans scattered all Over the

country. Hardly is there a village or city of any im-

portance without artisans and craftsmen~ The indus-

try is both rural and urban. It tninscends sectarian.

linguistic and communal barriers. Thus the problem

of the handicrafts industry is that of the premier home

industry, national in its ~ignificance .and cosmopolitan

in its range. Indian handicrafts. are also popular in

the foreign markets: The exports from the handi-

crafts sector excluding gems and jewellery reached

Rs. 225 crores during 1979-80 repre"senting about 3.5per cent in the total exports of the country. Further

it ise~timated that the exports have increased to Rs.

232 crores during 1980-?1.


r"

Handicaps of Indiap.. handicrafts

B. SUBRAMANIYAN, B. RAMAKRISHNA RAO

ami A. BABU RAO

Andhra University, 'Waltair

Notwithstanding the pre-eminent position enjoyed

by the handicrafts in the Indian ecohomy and

the statutory protection extended by the Govem'-

ment, they are" not at all immune from handicaps at

present. Though their contribution to the exchequer

as well as to the Indian culture prejents a rosy picture.

an observation of the socio-econorpic and working

conditions of the artisans .in the country leaves much

to be desired. The fruits of the industry are actuallygrabbed by the usurious money lenders and exortion-

ate middlemen. A few pilot studies conducted" by

visiting certain important craft-centr~s in the country

brought to the light that a Illiljority of the craftsmen

are not craft-conscious and averse to their present

activity. The return from the craft. is scarcely suffi-

cient to sustain their subsistence. Even with the

combined earnings of the husband and wife, the family

income is t90 low to lift the household above misery,

squalor, dirt and disease. Howeve~, they are conti-

nuing their present activity not be~~use they like 'it

but becanse they have no other alternative. It is hear'

temng to note that a large number of artisans have

"been perpetually on the look out for an alternative

job: A survey conducted on 'Socia-economic con-

ditions 'of craftsmen in Lacquerware toy industry in

Etikoppaka' revealed that a majority of the craftsmen

prefer to part with the craft if they are given employ-

ment elsewhere. The craftsmen have- also expressed

,that they do not favour to put their children in the

same line of activity.

Workin!! conditions of craftsmen~, I

A'.MAJORITY of the craftsmen in the co~ntry are in

fact illiterates albeit adept in their own line of

activity. Because of their inadequate earnings from the"

17

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


craft, they are not financially sound enough to carry

on the business with their own funds. Time and

again, they have to depend invariably on local usuri-

ous money-lenders or master craftsmen both for busi- ,

ness as well as for subsistence. The performance of

the cxisting institutional infrastructure both for financ-

ing and marketing of handicraft items is far from

s~tisfactory. Co-operative movement has also notdeveloped on sound lines. A majority of the co-

operative societies which are founded primarly for

marketing the products are found to be in bad shape

throughout the country.

U- NDERTHESECIRCUMSTANCES,the craftsmen have

Ino alternative but to dispose their entire output

to: the local' middlemen who iu turn sell at higher

prices. A craftsman who makes a beautiful piece 'of

ivory work having, a sale price of Rs. 5,800 and a

margin of profits of 'around Rs. 4000 would get only

Rs. 600 as labour charges. They are sometimes forced to effect distress sale of their output to keep the wolf

from the door, as in the case of individual weavers in

nandloom industry who are often in the clutches of

the 'master-weavers. Further, it is the ubiquitous

money-lender who provides finance to the craftsmen at

usurious rates of interest, both for production and

subsistence. As a matter of fact, the local middleman

is often looked higher, because of his sound financial

status in the village. The local middleman is consi-

dered to bea helping-hand, a job-creater and a money-

purveyor. However, the artisans are not aware of the

(Conld., from p. 16)'The prevalence and content of education decides

not only the economic status of the community but

also the type of society oblaining them. Formal

education is highly institutionalised. It has proved

itself inadequate and irrelevent in the Indian context.

InfomIal education is given through a number of

institutions which vary widely both in objectives and

systems. However, this is not to under-estimate the

importanc~ of formal educatiop.. Training should gohand in hand with education. Froduction' and gain-

ful work should be developed with educational

development. ,Education should not alienate the

student from the rural scene. It should be made to

reach the unpreviliged sections of the Society. Un-

less some radical change is brou~g-ht.about in this

regard, the utility. of the prese~t educational system

is going to be very bleak.

Voluntary organisations

VOLUNTARYORGANISATIONShave become an integ-ral part of our culture. They have a prominent

role teiplay and have played too in the past. They may

nol be organisations of the 'masses always. Gandhiji

once said "Swaraj" is a sorry 'affair if people'look up-

other side of the coin. Owing to their ignorance and

helplessness, the craftsmen cannot assert themselves

in price-fixation. The indebted craftsmen are qnite

often placed under an obligation to sell the output

to the local money-lenders at prices invariably favour-

able to the latter. Thus taking the advantage of their

ignorance, illiteracy and pODr finapcial status, the

dealers or thc middlemen enrich themselves at the

cost of the craftsmen: , Though the various State Gov-

ernments have established a network of their own

emporia to purchase different varieties of handicrafts

produced in the country, the latter are ,not purchasing

directly from the artisans. Since most of the co-

operative societies in the country arc almost in de-

fuuct state, the emporia face handicaps in procuring

the items of handicrafts regnlarly from the former.

Eventually, instead of procuring the items from the

.societies, the emporia have been compelled to pur-

chase directly.from the middlemen. Consequently the'

industry is confronting many jerks and jolts. If themetamorphosis of craftsmen, the Hamlet of the Handi-

crafts Industry, is brought about successfully, its eco-

nomic consequences will be unmixed blessing to tbem.

To know the present state of affairs in detail under

Ihe prevailing conditions relating to the Handicrafts

Sector, there is an imperative need to undertake a com-

prehensive survey of craftsmen covering all aspects,

such as their working conditions, s~urcesof finance,

sources of raw materials, and their supply, production,

process and market outlets.

_on to it for the regulations of every detail of life".

To enconnter such a tendency, Voluntary Agencies

will have to get involved in the development. Gov-

ermnent cannot undertake all the programmes.

Voluntary organisations provide the means for people

to participate in the development programmes. Rural

Youth Class, Youn.g Farmers Clubs, Mahila Mandai;

and other such organisations should help solve social

problems as juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, pros-

Iitution, beggary, etc. Caste Councils, Village Volun-tary Force, Village Cooperatives are some of the

important agencies which will go a long way in helping

the rural development programmes. 'Our history

speaks out' that people mostly have learnt social,

economic and political skills through non-formal educa-

tion. The nature and content of the non-formal

education varies 'according to the situation. In India,

systematic approach to non-formal education has not

been developed. Non-formal education should be

viewed as a part of the integrated approach. It is like

learning by doing. This requires lot of participationfrom the people. Programmes like non-formal educa-

tion have to be planned taking into consideration the

social, family and individual needs of the people

concerned.

' 18 ,~,-~ - - -~:. ., .

KURUKSHETRA JanuJiry 1, 1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


Rural television: its programm esand audience

ANAND KUMAR JAISWAL

National Institute of Rural Dcyelopment, Hyderabad

H YDERABAD TELEVISION WHICH was inaugurated.

in October, 1977, forms part of the SITE' C

Continuity sc-heme, under which rUfal areas previou::Jly

overed by satellite transmission will continue to receive

telecast through a terrestrial system.

The focus of the programme is towards develop-

ment; the purpose is education. SITE Continuity is,

as its name implies, an effort to continue the one-year

experiment (SITE) On mass communication for' the

development of isolated and traditionally backward

ural areas.

The range of the 10 kw transmitter is an area spread

over a radius of 80 kms. arou'nd Hydcrabad. The popu-

ation covered is nearly 4 million, of which half resides

n the city and the other half in 1,600 villages in the

urrounding jive districts: Hyderabad, Rangareddy,

Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Medak and Waranga!.

Within the broad objective of education lie several

pecific' objectives. The hard core instructional objec-

ives are the promotion of improved practices in the

rea of agriculture, health, hygiene, nntrition and

amily welfare.' Catering to such purposes within theurview of education and instruction is an "avowed

bjective of radio' and television in India"."

However, SITE was one of the few first instances

f a medium deliberately planned and executed 'for

ust such a purpose. Though the SITE experience is

oo short to prove 'anything conclusively, it has at least

emonstrated the potential and feasibility of televisioh

*Satellite Instructional Television Experiment.

1. SITE objectives which have been adopted by SITE .Conti~nuity.

2. Working Group on Autonomy for Akashvani and Door- .darshan, February 1978, Vol. 1, Chap. 15.

3. SITE Evaluation through Holistic Study, Space ApplicationsCentre, lndian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad(memeo), 1976.

as a medium of awareness in rural cleve10pment." An

important aspect of it is TV's importance in informinl'i

its audience. The effectiveness of the medium aSi

obser~ed under SITE was a factor which led to SITE

continuity.

A television service needs a steady output of

programmes relevant and interesting to its . audiencc.

For such an efficient flow' of programme, research,

content and production must be constantly coordinated.

In principle, it assumes an efficient and effective service.

In practice, the least it needs'is planning and coordi-

nation among field researches who study audience,

subject-matter experts who provide necessary content

and producers who actually prepare a. programmc.

Keeping in mind the objective of television, an ideal

or efficient programme is one that is relevant in con-

tent) comprehensive in form and, in an instructional

programme, disseminates information th~t is usable" in "-

practice.

With the experience of SITE and SITE Continuity,

the local TV 'station must have acquired a certain

direction towards producing programmes of this nature,Even if a programme is not instructional with regard

to methods of work, an average educational pro-

gramme is one which at least presents information that

is relevant to people's lives, comprehensive an"dCOI11-

plete.

I n order to gather some impressions about the

nature and effect of the educational programmes, three

programm'cs werc studied. One of these was viewed in the actual setting of a village.

The study of various programmes

0"BSERVAnONS WERE MADE ABOUT the precise

nature and content of three progra=s telecast

on different days. All these were educational and one

1982.19

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


was instructional. The three subjects dealt with were

(a) sunflower cultivation, (b) upgrading of local sheep

and poultry and (c) fertilizer for dryland crops.

(a) The programme showed methods of sunflower

cultivation and was evidently intended for farmers who

already grew it. All the processes P!eparatory to cul-

tivation, spraying, fertilizer application, etc., were

demonstrated. The programme was obviously meantto impart detailed knowledge of operation.

The programme did not touch many relevant points

such as plant protection measures, cost and profit,

type of soil required and suitable season for cultivation.

In addition, the sunflower crop was shown to require

good irrigation facilities, which may be difficult to find

in service zone .• Though the runni.ng commentary was

in Telugu, several English words were used. This pro-

gramme was repeated on different dates.

(b) Another programme studied was on upgrading

of local sheep and poultry. The first segment of the programme tried to explain advantages of upgrading

local sheep. The assurance of the programme was if

the procedures shown were followed, lhe quautity of

mutton could be increased as well as the quantity and

quality of wool. The language used in the commen-

tary was simple and understandable as in the previous

programme, certain important details were omitted such

as where crossbr...edrams are available, their cost and

facilities of loans and subsidies.

The, segment on chick rearing also dealt with the

advantages of large scale enterprise and of purchasing

day-old chicks for better results and higher egg-

production. The programme focussed on providing

balanced feed, cleau water and timely vaccinations,

etc. The language used in the program'me was not

easy enough to understand all components of the

message.

MANY PEOPLE IN VILLAGES rear chicks, but on a

low scale less than a dozen birds per house. If'

they are to be motivated to take to this on a large

scale in order to make it income-generating, information

useful to thelJl would be on infrastructure, facilities ahd

procedure. Another aspect lacking in the programmewas how quality chicks can be identified and how best

locally available feed may be utilised in an emergency.

(c) The programme on "Fertilizing Dryland Crop"

was of 20 minutes' duration. It was mostly studio-

based and used a number of charts supported by com-

mentary. The programme began by shots of dryland

for about five minutes, and lapsed into a series of

labels in English. Though the commentary was in

Telugu, many English words were used, such as 'legu-

minous crops', 'centimetre', etc. Many technical words

20

' .

in Telugu used in the commentary were clearly not

capable of being understood by a rural audience.

Examples are zariya paddathi, kendriya eruvu, etc.

One problem in the programme was its timing, it was

telecast after the harvest of dryland crops.

onclusions1

IT IS LIKELY THAT the programme on dryland cro~s

discussed earlier would not have been put out If

its producer had been responsive to the audience pro-

file and local agricultural season. The programme used

words in English as well as charts labelled in English.

Obviously, rural audiences cannot even begin to under-

stood such programmes.2

The burden cast upon Hyderabad Television is un-

doubtedly heavy. The extension services in the state

are not strong enougb to communicate single handed,

and television must support their effort. Fo~ examplein the programme on sunflower cultivation, a reference

to local extension agency promoting the idea could

have helped to make it a more useful. If such

promotion by extension did not exist, the programme

was obviously too ambitious and not very relevant;

the programme on raising sheep/rams and poultry

could have been become more useful and relevant if

tied in with situations obtaining locally, rather than

present a cheerful picture of animal husbandry with

very little practical value.

3

The audience of Hyderabad TV service zone are

not a large part of the national population. They are

only a fraction of it and yet, precisely because of its

"smallness" Hyderabad TV can achieve what many

nationally-spread media' have failed to. Hydenibad

Doordarshan Kendra is an instance ",here a medium

can be predominantly rural. Relevance and meaning-

fulness are well within its scope, if only it is properly

attuned to its role.

It must be remembered that television realises its

development goal when it moves with existing deve-

lopment effort and supports extension. If however,television programmes are found wanting, the state

01'the medium can well be imagined. With all' its

limitations of being a one-way medium without the

advantage of simultaneous feedback, television can

still be used as a potent tool.

The fact that Hyderabad Doordarshan has began

terrestrial telecast as a part of SITE Continuity is a

proof of its rural focus. However, only the use of

regular and qualitative evaluation can eliminate pitfalls

in future programmes.


7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


They show the way •••

This feature is -based Oil success stories viz. achievements gained in various

spheres of rural development by farmers, institutions, experiments and indivi-

duals. There is hardly all. argument over the fact ~hat dedication alld zeal to

put in hard work can achieve anything. And one achievement inspires and shows the way to. others!

.-We hope Our esteemed readers will send us their own experiences in the

. field so that others can benefit by them to 1Isher ill a beuer life for our rural people. (Editor)

I,R,D,P. in Karnataka

THE INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT Program-

. me is under' implementation in all development

blocks in the country from 2nd October, 1980. The

District Rural Development Agency is responsible for formulating block plans for providing assistance to

families living below the poverty line. The target is

to assist on an average 600 families in every block in

the course .of a year with a view.to ~aisingthe incomes

of the beneficiaries to a level well above the poverty

line. Project Officers of District Rural Development

Agencies have a crucial role to play in 'achieving these

objectives. In this context, it was felt that these func-

tionaries should have an opportunity to see the work

being d.one under this programme in districts and

states other' than their own. Study tours of Project

Officers drawn from various parts of the country to

selected states are being organised in this context.

The Government of Karnataka readily agreed to host

such .a study tour by a team of officers selected from

other states. 13 officers from the states of Assam,.

Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh participated in' the

study tour along with a representative of the Ministry

of Rural Reconstruction. The participants were mainly

Project Officers of District Rural Development Agen-

cies or state level officers dealing with the IRD ~:()~,

gramme ..

On 29th October, 1981, the team of officers metShri Zafar Saifullah, Secretary, Rural Development,.iri

his office in the Kamataka Secretariat. Bangalore. In

K_UR_UK_S_HE_TRA __ J_an_u_a_ry_,, _ 1 _ 9 _ 8 _ 2 _

a briefing session, Shri Saifullah welcomed the team

of officers to Karnataka and explained the administra-

tive arrangements for implementing rural development

programmes in Karnataka. He mentioned that Kar-nataka was Ol1eof the first states in the country to

set up District Rural Development Societies in every

di,trict for co-ordinating the implementation of

various rural development programmes. These socie-

ties CDRDS) arc now in po.sition in every district in

Karnataka. The objectives of organising the study

tour were explained by the representative of the Mini-

stry. The participating officers were urged to study

the methodology and innovations adopted by the dis-

trict and block level machinery in Karnataka for im-

plementi'ng the IRD Programme. Their attention was

specifically drawn to the procedure adopted for identi-

fying the beneficiaries! steps taken in the formulation

of block level plant and for effective mobilisation of

credit, arrangements for monitoring the implementation

of the programme and for studyillg ihe impact of the

.programme on the beneficiaries and the relationship bet-

ween th e various agencies for providing infrastructur;li

. support of.this programme. The officers asked a nnm-

ber of questions and these were clarified .

THE VISITING OFFICERS were divided into three

groups and they were sent to the districts of

Mysore,Mandya and Bellary. District Officers from

these three districts accompanied the teams to their

respective districts. Local visits and discussions were

21

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


arranged by the District Rural lXvelopme'nt Soeieties

.in Mandya, Mysore, and Bellary. The Project Officers

and their colleagues .in these distr.iets took great pains

to explain the activities of the DRDS to the visitors.

The participants got an opportunity to visit rural

arcas and to have discus-si.onswith the beneficiaries of

the IRD programme in their own villages. The parti-

cipants had also a'n occasion to visit commercial

banks, co-operative banks and Gramin Banks and todiscuss with their officers details relating to the pro-

vision of eredi). On the whole, the partieipants ob-

tained some understandi'ng of the current state of the

TRD programme in the districts visited by them.

They also had occasion to identify some of the limI-

, .ting factors in the effective implementation of this

programme.

Thoul;h this was (he first year 'since 'the extension at' "

the IRD Prograimne to the whole country. the Dis-'

triet Rural DevelopmentSoeie'ties,"jn 'Karnataka h:1Ve

already been ablc" fa complete' preparalr>ry' Steps.for providing assistance to the targeted beneficia-

ries, An attempt has been made to identify the bene-

ficiaries on the basis Of detailed household surveys,

with the assistance of village level workers and block

level officers. Families below the poverty-line have

been covered by such surveys and they have been

grouped into various income brackets, The pooresf

among these families are being selected first for pro-

vidjn~ assista'ncc. Each family is provided a "Vikas

Patrika" both as a document for identification and as

a record of, subsidies. loans etc, provided to that familyfrom various sources. Annual Action Plans for pW-

viding assistance: to these families have been completed

and assistance has started flowing. to the beneficiaries.

O NE SIGNIFICANT FEATURE of the implementatio"n

of the IRD Programme in these districts in Kar-

nataka is the cordial relationship prevailing between

the District Rural Development Soeietics al1d the

Development Blocks on the one hand' and banking ins-

titution's o n the olher. Credit camps have been suc-

cessfully organised~ i n Belhiry district in particular.

The' Stale Bl1nk 'of India' (ADB) Bellary a'nd theTiingabhadra 'Grameen Bank are intimately involved

with ihe 'implementation of the IRD Programme in

BellatyDistrIet.. In the credit cam"s, bank's officers

and' potentfal" beneficiaries have 'been present a'nd

passbooks have 'been distriblited to the beneficiaries on

the .spoi. All'the 'documentation, verification etc, are

completed in ' n single 'exeidse and this has enabled the'

be riefi'c iarks - to "obtain cre"dit without -havi'ng to visit

the banks indi'vidualiy with documents Clc.-

. Many" of th e '~neficiaries "are receiving "as'sistanceO

under the Differcntial'Rate of Interest Scheme at anomfnat'inte'rest' -rate~ -Bulk of the 'assistance 'is' provi-

ded t'o'tne"weaKer sec t io~ s~ for pr cj :> ar i'n g .n~'il.ch 0';'i111 als, .

sheep units, bullocks.' bullock carts etc, By acquiring

these assets, it' is expected that these families would

substantially inercase their incomes, The Govt. agen-

cie-s are taking act.ion to provide adequ~te support for

the success of these ventures,

-C. N. S. NAIR

Director,

Ministry of Rural Reconstruction

Grand old man of NeundiTHE VILLAGE OT"D MAN---Shri Dulal Chandra

. D . Mohanta~Neundi village under Cbampua Block

of District Keonjhar, Orissa .is known and respeeted

for' his noble contribution towards the development

of hIS village.

One of such .inlportant contributions is the village

schooL About ,thirty years back there was no school

in this backward tribal village, One had to walk

miles to reach, a schooL So education for the poor

villa".ers \vas 'a matter of dream, Dula] Mohanta also

. suff~~~eda lot to get minimum education in his life. Sohe took upon himself w.ith strong determination the

difficult task of establishing a: school hi his village. 'He

had to struggle a lot 'for this. Individually he aTso

rendered bard manual labour for the construction of

the school building. Thanks to his efforts, the Pri-

niary School which was first started by him turnoo

into a fuU-fledgcd M.E. School in course of time. The

School ba, occupied a place of honour in Keonjbar

District for its regular good results. Every year it

bags one or two scholarsbips.

It is all due to, the vigilance and sincerity of ShriDula1 Chandra Mohanta, He ha.s been the guiding

spirit behind all noble work. He took all' initiative to

organise the village youth. Thus the village Yuvak

Sangha was' formed. The viHage library was also

established. Now the library has a good reading room

where the villagers read newspapers, books, maga-

zines and listen to radio programmes, Two years

back he took leading roTe to deClare the village a

Savings villa'ge.

Without taking any Government help,' he inspired

the villagers to take up a minor irrigation' project. Along Kachha bandha has been built by sbramdan of

villagers to make a 'smaU reservoir of water coming

through ' a small nallah and from tbe nearby hillocks

and uplands.

Stiri Olllal Mohanta is at present on the wrong side

of seventy. Still he is very active. He takes active in-

terest in all the developmental work for tbe village.

H I " ': continues to be the ,yard member. President of

village M: E. Seh~ol, Chief adviser ;~ the Yuvak

Sangha and the Village Mukhia. His advice is sought

for each and everything, He is said to be the friend, philosopher and guide to the viHagers.

-F.P.O., Keonjhat.

22 • KURUKSHETRA January i,1982

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


A..erial view of Macllc1lU-l1 Dam.

About 3700 /t of earthen

embankment lwl'e beel!

washed away .by floods.

Flood damage

A very vast area is flood-prone in our coulltry.. The area affected ill any given. year is between

74 lakh and 186 lakh heclares depending upon Ihe exlenl and inlensity of Ihe monsoon i~ Ihat year.

C;op 'area affecled is belween 3 I lakh heclares and 1 00 !akh heclares depending UPOl! Ihe particular

year. Average annual direct damage has been about Rs. 30,700 lakh a year w~ich has risen to over

1,45,500 lakhsin any gil'en year, From 195310 1980, Ihe lolal damage is calculaledlo have been

about Rs.8,30,600 lakhs.

Floods have. played havoc

with life .mid .prbperty.

7/25/2019 2008-03-24 (7)


(LICenced under U(D)-54 to post without prepay-

ment 'at Civil Lines Post Office, Delhi),

Regd. No. D(DN)/39

RN 702/57

. , . '

Flood control" work ill progress.

,

." t .• • • " : .. . .1 ;- ( ' . . . . :; • • • .

Flood control

The Centml GOl'crnmenf has drawn up a comprehensive and coordinated programme jor flood

... control. The programme taken up in three phases includes investigation Gnd collection of data.

immediate work for the protection of iowns and also some embankments in/he most 'Vulnerablereaches,

construction of embankments, channcl improvement, raising of vil/ages and protection of, more areas.

Upto M aich 1980, some 4,700 vii/ages have beell 'raised bbove jlood level alid 297 to)l;ns 'have been'

afforded reasonable pi'otectiOl~ against jloods. AbO/it 1l',870 kms. of new emballkmel1ls, 21.370

kths. of drainage~.channels have also been built. '. . .

To give natiollal directioll io jlooicolltrol efforts ill tl;e 'co~llIry, a Cei1lr~1F.ood 'C~ntroi '13oard

was constituted. State Flood Control ,Boards assisted b ll Teclmic"al Advis'~fll .COl;miluees ~n~er~.

also cOllstitllted ill alijlood-prolle arcas. Sillce the laiJflchini of the Naiional Food coiiif'oiPrograllime,

considerable l1:ork has beell done by the Staies and variOllS orgallisatiolls [ 1 1 the field of jloodcolltrol.'

, ..

\.. '

CO/lst rfletioll

, .

o f e m ban km el l1S i s ..,

the cheapest and practical

"method of f lood control.

','

~".

2008-03-24 (7)

Documents

Transcript of 2008-03-24 (7)