~-

January

1-15, 1982
Re.1

"

..... "

'\-' .

..
/

.
-,.!-

:~_..-~

'" ."z:-?,

. . ':' . --. . .

also
Rural development through ,banks
Need for rural development education
How I.R.D.P.is changing the rural scene

-' -..!:""'-:,-

... /: .;<"' .

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 !fpent on 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 the floodforecasting
.oganisation (s proposed to be strengthened during the Sixth Plan.
,
I,-

An

area of 400 lakh. hectares is

prone to floods in our count,.),.

________

Vol. XXX
No. 7

Editorial

1, 1982'
Pausa 11, 1903

January

has come to be known

R;I.!~AL,DEVELOPMENT

Hurukshelro
(India's journal

of rural development)

CONTENTS

sine qua non of national development.

as

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

munity comprising three-fourth of

rural

our

com-

population.

Ever since we undertook development work

under

the Five Year Plans, eradication of rural poverty and

RURAL DEVELOPMENT:
PLANNING AND
IMPLEMENTATION;
A. R. Patel'

7 RURAL DEVELOPMENT

NEED FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

EDUCATION
M. P. Borayan

12

HOW I.R.D.P. IS CHANGING THE

RURAL SCENE
J. M. L. Mathur

14

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO RURAL

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

17

priority.

B. Subramaniyan,

B. Ramakrishna Rao and

A. Babu Rao

RURAL TELEVISION:

assigned

the

highest

achieve as high targets as we desired to but the all.there for everyone

t<!

ITS PROGRAMMES
AND AUDIENCE

THEY SHOW THE WAY ...

EDITOR
(MRS.) RATNA JUNElA

ASSTT. EDITOR
N. N. SHARMA

SUB-EDITOR

Frankly, shortfall that has come in the. achievement

of targets has been due to a little less than

JIVAN

ADAUA

~nquiries' _regnrd-hi~ Subs~riptions~ Agencies. etc.,

Business Manager, Publications Division
Pa"tiata House, New DeJl.:i-l10.ooi
Tel: 387983'

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

total

invol\'ement of the people as well as erratic implementation of the programmes.

Periodic reviews con-

firmed' this and indicated that the situation

far Qlore intensive .efforts .to concep:trate

required
on

target

. groups accompanied by a number of special measureS.

of

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 implementation 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.

PARAMJEET G. SINGH

. COVER '

is

see.

As a result, the' prindple

HANDICAPS OF INDIAN HMIDICRAFTS

Anand Kumar Jaiswal

21

been

It is true that we have not been able to

-.~'

19

have

round progress and 'improvement in life quality

THROUGH BANKS
Navin Chandra Joshi

10

backwardness

<

"

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

subject. of rural development which

rei&yance and imp'or~an~e of

planning

elucidates
an9

imple-

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

ace' sure out readers
immense. value ..

will find

this

the

exposition

We
of

","

,. 384888 & 382406

Editoi-'s Residence: 615920'

Teiephori"

SUBSCRIP1'ION

SINGLE COPY:
FOR:ONE YEAR:

Re. 1
Rs.20

'Kin.rukshetra' wishes its esteemed .reade.'.s. a

happy and prosperous New Year
-_.

--

--

Rural development:
planning and, implementation
A.R. PATEL
Bank of Baroda, Central Office, Bombay

ANDHIJI WANTED'TO
PROMOTE health and vigour
of India's villages and wanted to develop thcm
as village system, An ideal village of Gandhiji's conception was such as "to lead it~elfto perfect sanitation,
its cottages should have sufficient light and ventilation, 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, ru co-operative dairy, primary "nd secondary
schools in which industrial education will be the
central factor and its own panchayat for settling disputes. 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 innovations were introduced and experimental or pilot l1rojects 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 in
Madras (1946), Etawah Pilot Project in Uttar Pradesh (1948), the Community Development Programme (1952), Intensive Agricultural District Programme (1960-61) and other projects covering SFDA,
DPAP, CAD etc. While these programmes have recorded appreciable achievements, they have suffered
from many handicaps such as hick of proper identification of the potential beneficiaries on the basis of
objective criteria; flaws in the implementation process
because of lack of dedicated and committed implementing machinery; and pressure from the relatively
well-to-do and influential sections of the population in
the rural sector to corner the benefits oli these to tnemselves. Thus, while few areas have witnessed prosperity, 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 unemployment, 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 squalor that the attainment of even the
basic necessities seems to be difliculi. The United Nation Conference on Human Settlement held at Vancouver,
Canada in May-June 1976, recommended that the
developing countries pay special attention to the improvement of rural areas where a majority of their
population reside. In general, it backoned membercountrics 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 development 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

URAL

sed

DEVELOPMENT

_as

HAS NOW

come to be reali-

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 development of the rural communities of which our nation
comprises; to dispel ignorance and poverty, and assist
the 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

increase in GNP or even per capita income. The increase 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 ownership 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, dependable and convenient energy supplies, adequate transport 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 multidimensional approach which would have components
such as (i) multi-sector involving sectors which constitute all the aspects of the rural economy; (ii) multisectional 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

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

HE

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 distribution system; (iv) augmenting the duration and productivity of employment of-the poor and under unemployment 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 organisations in order to protect the interest of the poor;
(viii) building up of appropriate organisation of the
rural poor espccially to protect them from the exploitation and (ix) promotion of a progressively more
egalitarian structure of ownership of assets,
KURUKSHETRA January 1, 1982

therefore have to firsu

- identify/locate those villages/rural--areas which
have. acute problems of r~
unemployment and
underemployment have no basic developmental infrastructure 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 indicate 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 resources to seek soluti~ns of these problems.
LANNING

EXERCISE

MAY

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 facilities. 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.
HE

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 providing ,fruits, fuel, fodder and forest trees (vi) a developmental-school basep on 'ening while learning' principle and oriented
to develop a cadre of selfemployed'and dedicated workers in the area of human,
animal, plant and soil-health care and (vii) a residential 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

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
GOVERNMENT
AND THE PANCHAYAT
RAJ
institutions have a significant role to play in initiating/accelerating the process of rural development.
However, while the Government has bui1t"in limitations in pro.~iding the effective adm4tistration, organisation, 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 supplementing the efforts of the Government in these vulnerable 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, adopting 74000 villages, sponsoring 912 Farmers' Service Societies, 1424 large-sized multipurpose .socie-

HE

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 institutions in close collaboration with the willing industrial/
business/ commercial house,s, voluntary and social service organisations. Trusts can identify the 'Growth
Centres' in order to initiate the rural development
process. These organisations can set up 'Development 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, implement 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 formulate projects of rural development based on scientific surveys, or can get studies conducted such as techno-

economic studies of agro-based industries, groundwater potential, cadastral surveys, processing,

storage

marketing studies etc. It can promotetlie cooperative

socie~i~which can create community assets. Lift irrigation schemes,

community

irrigation, water supply,

gobar gas, fodder development,

6

cattle feed, custom

service umts for the beuefit of small/marginal farmers,

artisans, labourer, ;tc. 'and can effectively supervise
the working of these societies by providing management 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-ely take
up rural development programme on a smaller scale..
Using local resources and talents. they can take up
spec.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, afforestation and fodder development works organise bal.
waris, medical camps etc.

There should also be a Project Review & Monitoring 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:
provide leadership
P Jll Identifymg thc potenllal growth
centres in the
UBLIC

SECWR

BANKS SHOULD

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, problems of development, familywise survey, identification
needs, formulation and implementation of area
specific schemes, building rapport with Government and Panchayat institutions for creating socioeconomic infrastructure etc. With the professional
management forthcoming from the banks and industrial
houses the working of the project should be improved 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 backward 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 income, 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.
KURUKSHETRA January 1, 1982

Rural development
through banks
NAVIN CHANDRA

Josm

Motila! Nebru College, Vul,verslty of Delhi

taking care of
agriculture,- animal husbandry, fisheries and forestry, 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.

URAL

DEVELOPMENT

INVOLVES

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 enrichment 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 implementation of the existing community development projects. The various sectors iricluded in it are agriculture, 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 categories of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
It is true that in any scheme of things pertaining to
area 'approach in development or' agriculture, three
KURUKSHETRA

January 1, 1982

sectors are principally involved viz., the co-operative

seclor, the commercial banking sector and the government 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 agriculture is now accepted as inevitable. But then, the
various agencies working at the same time have resulted in wastage and misuse of scarce resources due to
lack of co-ordination and proper rapport among theni'.

Institutional finance
HE !NSTITUTIONAL

FINANCE

provided to the farm-,

ing sector has not been commensurate with the

T
priority accorded to it. For instance, in Britain about
four percent of the national income comes from agriculture 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 resources
from 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, prospects 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

the institutional infrastructure for promoting and facilitating group action in certain vital areas of agricultural 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 endeavour 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-competitiveness 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.

T"

HE

Expansion, of rural banks

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 commercial 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 agricultural finance, the progres~ of such financing seems to be
rather tardy. According to the Report of the Committee 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 action 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'nhibiting 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 without formulating bankable schemes, but not co-operatiVe 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"ordination between State Government officials and banks
would help banks in extending credit facilities to a
larger section of rural popnlation than hitherto ..

,
I.
, Of

Implementation of credit schemes

OF the impressive increase

in the flow
commercial banks credit to the agricultural
sector and the progress made' in evolving arrangements
to provide, increasing qnantum of, credit to agriculturists, there are still a 'number of shortcomings in the
N SPITE

modalities of formulation,

content and implementation

of agricultural credit schemes." An expert group on

aoricultural credit schemes of commercial banks (headed by G. M. Desai), in its report to the Reserve Bank,
has emphasised that' many of the present credit 'Scheme~ would be valid irrespective of whether the commercial banks themselves directly disburse loans' to
agricuiturists or do sci through intermediaries such. as
primary' agIicultu"raI credit societies and' farmers' service societies- "The
h'as' commended' the 'area
approach' in'the 'formulation -of credit sche-mes, tak-

group

inginto account the functional linkages between activities 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 involveme'nt of the State Governments, the lead banks and
district consultative committees" in the f9rmulatiOll a'ml
implementation 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

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

also underlined the importance of diversifyingthe purpose for which credit schemes are being formulated
by extending the range of activities covered and developing credit schemes for unconventional purposes.

extension of need-based credit to all viable and potentially viable farmers in that area .
This approach facilitated the formulation of intecould be available to a large mass,of the rural populacould be available to a large mass of the rural population. The major accent in formulating the area ap.
proach Was on providing the small/marginal farmers

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

industries. The linking up of the village eConomywith
urban market centres also needs_ to be strengthened.

As various projects take time to fructify, the unemployed rural masses have to be provided with some
special schemes of u'nemployment from time to time.
A beginning towards this was made i'n the form of rural
works programme in the Third Plan (1961-66) but
it was abandoned after the Plan. In recent years,
some employment-cum~producti'on 5Ghemes such a6
the small farmers's development agency, marginal
farmers 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

coverage

and a new dimension need to be given

eradicate unemployment,from the rural sector.

a

much more imaginative

and concerted

to

While

effort has

to be made, banks' activities should become a second

string 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 significant instrument for economic

dev(::lopment.

Banks

were increasingly involved in the development programmes 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

initial efforts of the bank revealed the need for an
approach which would ensure systematic as well as
intensive coverage. It was felt that a pack'age of credit 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
farmers. It in~olves select~on of a compact as well as

contignous area comprising a cluster of villages and

KURUKSHETRA January 1, 1982

and other weaker sections with a variety of

services,

apart from the mere provision of credit. The State

Bank of India is now having two major schemes in the
form of the agricultural development branches expansion 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 achieving the objectives of the i~egrated rural development schemes that hold so much p<omisefor improving 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 mas
now 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 development. In short, the banking infrastructure should he
shaped to support the disperSed pattern of develop-'~
ment.

Some problems
HEREARECERTAIN
PROBLEMSwhich 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 handling 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 credit but by whether the outflow of rural people from the
countryside to urban areas has been effectively checked as a result of the many new opportunities created for them through the instrument of our
banking system,

,9

Need for rural development

education
M.P.BORAYAN
Rural University,

India the level

and rate of national development is d~~ctly determined by the level of rural development. Rural development and national development are inextricably interrelated 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 process 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.

N, DEVELOPING

Over.

COUNTRIES

LIKE

the- 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 development enjoys wider recognition and' greater importance
in the policies and programmes of developing countries than any time in the past,

The human factor

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
URAL'

DEVELOPMENT

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 determine' the utilisation of available ' natural and financial resources as well _~s initiation of governmental
action. The human input offsets the inadequacies
and 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

Gandbigram

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, formulating viable plans, launching effective development programmes, rationally investing the meagre resources and implementing the programmes efficielltly
and thereby make the benefits percolate to the intended 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~, techuology 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 disciplines. But their perception, comprehensiou and performance 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

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.

National Institute of Rural Development (Hyderabad)

and Vlswa-Bharati (Sriniketan) offered Rural Development 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
URAL DEVELOPMENT,
now in its infant stage, is
productive progra=es
aud implementing them. caregradua)ly being recognised ~ a .discipline and an
fully, Voluntary organisations need workers to carry
emerging profession which is yet to develop in its
out their developmental activities, mobilise people's
~rea~t.hIand .!ength. ~urald~velopmen~Vsot,
.a?-. I IparticiPation, organise the socilly and economically
exclusIVe:subject but a blend of both'soCial sciences) ~ disadvantaged and establish close functional contact
~~:. ~ec?~~~~.s';o~oc!olpgy,
~ps;ychology,. political
with the villagers in order to escalate their socio-ecosclence,~education, 'dei:nography,.management science .
nomic status.
If.l~.re,c,lJnk1ll.
di~iplines like agriculture, engineering,
medicine, 'chetrnstry, physics and so on. Policies and
Considering the magnitude of the problem and
programmes of the government regarding rural deveefforts planned for future, the availabilitY of trained
lopm~nt, the problems and difficulties encountered in .
experts .inrural -development;js", grossly inadequate.
their implementation: approa~hes.and' strategies' adoptTherefore, at. present the country 'needs to establish
ed by thousands of voluntary organisations and indimore
~ural Development Institutes in vario~s, aspectS,
Viduals, the' overall impact of all the above iiI iinprovat
~atIous
places, offering, Rlll'a:l,Development _as . a
ing t,he ~uality of life. of the rural people and strengS!JbJecL
j)
",
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. _
.~, ,;
r:
theni]1g the base of the rural econOmy,and' the' nature
I':.
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,.
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...
and extent of participation by the People form the core
" ...."
Rural development education
of rural development curriculum. A comhination of
both soitware and' hardware aspects of social 'sciences
The University Grants Coi:Iunissionshould urge all
and technical subjects, with a heavy dose of practical
the Universities to establish a Department of Rural
experience incorporated in' the subject,.' distinguishes
Development, exppse tli, students tp ~uraLrea)ities by
rural development from other disciplines,"Thus, rural
ad,dmg papers on this subject, taking themto ' villages'
development is an integrative, practic~l, atid developperiodically and making them, study auy one of the
ment oriented subject that needs to be taught. by a
c':,'t\caIrural issues and submit a research paper which
chorus of experts with a slant towards making the
will enhance their understanding of the ruraL situation
learners participate in 'the actual implementation of the
and awareness' of the Sf.te of Indian "';oriomy.:
.
tasks of rural development during the ,course work
and" after:
"';~~l

"I"

PRESENT,

rural development is offered at the

A graduate and post-graduate levels only in a handful of places throughout India. . In Gujarat, ,South
Gujarat University.. (Surat) offers Rural Studies and
the Institute of Rural Management of the National
Dairy Development Board (Anand) offers Rural Man,
agement at ..the post-graduate level. .,In .;\ndhra Pradesh, 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 Development Science.in; two' of its affilj,ltell colleges. (Karumathur and Usilampatty) at the 'under-graduate 3eveL
The Gandhigram Rural, University. (Gandhigram),
pioneer in India, offers-Rural Services at .the graduate
level and Rural Development, Rural Econ"mics and
Extension Education. and Rurah.Sociology and Pan,
chayati Raj at the post-graduate level, Recently; ,the.

KURUKSHETRA January),,1982

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' counteracting
so 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 stereotyped 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 .development is basically a function' of trained' experts in
this field apd 'ihe pattern of ,'rural development in
l\Jtui-ewill be significantly,moulded .by'rural develop!

URAL DEVELOPMENT

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At1sitALAYA, AMIDDLE-AGEj) WoMAN of the Depal.

pUr vil'age in liidore district of Madhya Pradesh
was
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 training in silkworm,rearing. 'Under a scheme jointly
chalked out by Madhya Pradesh Textile Corporation
and Rural Development Departmeilt, landless agricultural labourers, particularly H:arijan families are trained in silkwohn rcaring. the teXtile Corporation has
its .Extension Farms where mulberry .plants are grown,
training is iIhpartedi,and cacoons are purchased.

K in

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 by
e;(tenSi6~ fatIDS.at pre-fixed price. At this Stage, 50
pet cent price 'is recovercii agaillst the price of mUlbety 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 Development Programme. .One-third of this .amount is available as subsidy and two-third 'as bank loan .. State
BanK Onnd6te h'aSpfc;vid&l ioan io mosf;'f the trained 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 i980 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 estimated 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 progt~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 specific
assistance 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 productive Msets, and skills to inake their economic activity

viiiole,.

1-

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... 'o.

,'.

Reaching out to p'oor farmers

DEVELOPMENTBLOCK,after a recent
. survey, it is esiiniaied thaI of the 19,400 families of
the' block, 6,otl0 fliiiiilies 'belting to small and marginal
farmers,
agtictaltillaJ' hi15bliterS and tUtal artisans
groups. Durin,g 1980"81; abOUt 300 families have
bee'n benefited by viirions pr6grnnimes of minor irriN DEPALPUll.

...
c,.:.,

.'

KURUKSHETRA

~'~"':"'-i ..
~"'.'-~---'

January -1,,1982

district. Motor rewinding and tailoring are the popular 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.

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 sericulture, 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, MangiIal
a carpenter and Vasudev a barber.
NOTHERCOMFORTABLE
FEATURE
I found in Indore
district is of hofding Credit Camps where the
development and revenue functionaries, as well as bank
officials and applicants assemble at one place. 'Loan'
applications are immediately processed and loan sane"
tions'are issned. fAt
camp'ill SaW"i BlocJ<;I saw'
State Bank and Development Block officials processing
loan applications qUICkly
Within two hours 61
appiicants were sanctimi'edlo~ns totalling Rs. 1,12,000.

one

and

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 District 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. Sehore being
near to the capital city oLBhopal has very.good scope
for .vegetable growing.
.
I saw a faTIn~rnha~arji'\';ho wa~ ;m agricultural
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 rice, sugarcane and
.... +'
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',"
.'
papaya. He takes three crops in a year: He 'has paid
off ali his loans.. So is Mahesh Prashad Rai at another
tMini who' has .ertgdgeo 'liis tWo Sons!,a .gra'duate'anil
another '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.
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Training .programmes for rural youth

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ESIDESagnculture, tratillng programmes for rural

youths aud women are -alSo going on in Sehore

".!.~,'i.l.~

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KURUK~HETRAJanuary ;1,,1982

,.

N DEWASDISTRICT,NOTEWORTHY
work has been
I
.
done in rehabilitating handicapped persons. Perhaps

fl

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 include
tailoring, motor rewinding, blacksmithy, carpantry'arid
bricksmaking. Banks have also come forward to help
the poor tostiindr". on their '6wiIlegs. In a village aboUt
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
sells
t,->" .;~
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:~ I'":
!'.-"V,''bangles worth ,Rs. 300 per -month:~' Her' hUsbiUid
,t.,._" ~
;t
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 during
Diwali seasO)1. Perhaps inost commendable work i.
going at a village called Siya where 50ptircent population 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.

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

gomg on to trJU11
tnbal couples. At village Kirathpur about.8 kms frpm Itarsi, 14 couples from tribal
areas are undergoing training,in iinproved methods of
~niinal ~usbanilry. These couples are living in premises
.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
Wife Lila 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 wW be wven financial assistance of
Rs; 3,090, half of whicIiwillbe loan and hali a s~bsidy.. A'bat~h 'of l2co\'pl4 Was trained iast year and
th~y Uj'ehappy in their villages eqUipped with new
techniques and added incOI'lefrom g(,ats.
IS

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""N~lIA
IS A L~NDOF ViLLAGE~
and ~i~ty percent
the 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 unsophisticated simplicity, combined With an 'astuteness . of
observation of strangers and new ideas. They have
frugal way of life contmued witli a calm resignation
that 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, villages become vital" that need to be .first developed.
Rural 'reconslrnction' does not simply.mean mere economic development but integrated development' of the
economic, social, educational and psychological aspects
of people living in these 'areas.
,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
should be linKed with 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

be

.~.

" ,

'

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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'
approach.

~ork

14

'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
"

,.

The vil1~gt:community

not be viewed as
VILLAGECOMMU~rryshould
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 responsible 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.
, -It is a matter ofcomm~n observation that the people
change 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 programme 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 importlmt 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 people
do 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.
KURukSHETRA

January'l,

1982

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 there
are 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 frustrated and withdraw their participation. Some programmes 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 in
development.
.

Leadership

Fconstruetion
OR THEOPERATION
of any programme in rural rethe human element.is of great iroportanee. 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 Govenment 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 in
Indian 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 programmes beeause they have be.eome leaders 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 importance
in social reconstruction.

The pancbayati raj system, formal and informal

edu~ation, medical and health ~ervices, voliuitary agenKURUKSHETRA January 1,1982

cies, khadi and Villageindustries, seience and technology, youth and woman clubs are some of the main
forces which should be the major responsibilities of the
rural reconstruction.

Panchayati Raj
RAJ institutions were organised in the
PANCHAYATI
eountry to involve people in rural reconstruction
and development. Panehayati raj ensures socio-economie 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 responsibilities through extension of educalion programmes. 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
edncation, 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 be
suggested 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 faetionalism in the villages. They are often found guilty
of nepotism, favouritism and corruption. The follow"
.ing steps may be suggested in this regard:

1
Offieers-in-eharge of. the various departments
should be specially trained, atleast two years in
this 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.

3
Election procedures should be ehanged to involve
the people to participate upto a distriet level and
they should be conducted in rigl;tt time. . This
will remove the presenee of unwanted elements
15

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,are

without saying that Health and Development

closely intertwined. So health is a basic
facility, denial of which is to deny one the right to
live. ' This till very recently did not gain much
import~nce in rural reconstruction.
The rich urban
mInorities have mobilised the health services. Medical edu~ation which is heavily subsidized is only cateringto the needs of, urban minority. This should 'bc
discouraged. and rural health services should be
d~veloped and strengthened.
T GOES

Health makes possible the effective intake of

~nd its utilisation for the rural good. It
helps in iricreasing the number of working days and
the, productivity. Para-medical staff is to be developed, 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.

,~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 business 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 at
the Business Community thaI, they have risen to the
occasion and are indicating th~ir eagerness to contribute to the qnickening at the pace of rural development. 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,

ttainillg

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"

in the fields of science and

technology are being directed towards rural development. It will be interesting to recall the deliberations 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 contribute to the effective implementation of rural programmes. Science should' help the, village to ntilise
the indigenous materials and develop the cultivation
of more nutritive and cheap foods. Besides contributing to the wgricultural development, Science
should also, help development of technology to suit
the Indian environment and Indian soil.
,HE

SKILLS

DEVELOPED

Industry
OF the business community in rural
'developmerii Work asa strategy for improving the
socio...economic conditions of the rural people is now

'I'NVOLVEMENT

16

Yollth participation

PARAMOUNT importance ?f the youth parlic~pation 111 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
of
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 vulnerable 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. :rroHE

grammes- in tile nature _of Small Farmers

Deveiop-

ment Agencies, Integrated Rural Development, Drought

Drought Prone, Area Programme, Desert Development
Prqgramme,
Common Area Development
Programme, TR YSEM and the like; aim at resource
development on individual or area basis. As 'for the
object of providing supplementary employment opporhniities, a b~ginning was made in this directioUo:
(Continued on p. 18)

KURUKSHETRA

January I, 1982

r"

Handicaps of Indiap.
.
handicrafts
B. SUBRAMANIYAN,

represent the synthesis of the culture

of all communities of a country.
The growth of
handicrafts in the society is an indication of the cultivation 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 jewellery. silver jewellery." stoneware etc.
ANDICRAFTS

The genesis of Indian handicrafts goes back somewhere into the mists of antiquity and the story of man
itself began to be articulated when the capacity of the
~ands to create was' respected and eVen revered.
Indian handicrafts flourished through the ages stimulated by a vigorous folk tradition. a be'nign culture and
in an age when individualism was cherished and precision 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 importance without artisans and craftsmen~ The industry 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 handicrafts sector excluding gems and jewellery reached
Rs. 225 crores during 1979-80 repre"senting about 3.5
per cent in the total exports of the country.
Further
it ise~timated that the exports have increased to Rs.
232 crores during 1980-?1.
KURUKSHETRA

January

1, 1982

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 actually
grabbed by the usurious money lenders and exortionate 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 sufficient 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 continuing 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
conditions '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 employment elsewhere.
The craftsmen have- also expressed
,that they do not favour to put their children in the
same line of activity.

A'.

Workin!!~,conditions of craftsmen
I

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"
MAJORITY

17

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 usurious money-lenders or master craftsmen both for busi- ,
ness as well as for subsistence. The performance of
the cxisting institutional infrastructure both for financing and marketing of handicraft items is far from
s~tisfactory. Co-operative movement has also not
developed on sound lines. A majority of the cooperative societies which are founded primarly for
marketing the products are found to be in bad shape
throughout the country.
NDERTHESECIRCUMSTANCES,
the craftsmen have
I no 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 considered to bea helping-hand, a job-creater and a moneypurveyor. 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 go
hand in hand with education. Froduction' and gainful 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. Unless 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
OLUNTARYORGANISATIONS
have become an integral part of our culture. They have a prominent
role tei play 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-

'18

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 favourable 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 Governments 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 cooperative societies in the country arc almost in defuuct 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 purchase directly.from the middlemen. Consequently the'
industry is confronting many jerks and jolts. If the
metamorphosis of craftsmen, the Hamlet of the Handicrafts Industry, is brought about successfully, its economic 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 comprehensive survey of craftsmen covering all aspects,
such as their working conditions, s~urces of 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. Govermnent 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, prosIitution, beggary, etc. Caste Councils, Village Voluntary 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 education. 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 participation
from the people. Programmes like non-formal education have to be planned taking into consideration the
social, family and individual needs of the people
concerned.
,~,
-~ -

- -~:
..,

KURUKSHETRA JanuJiry 1, 1982

Rural television: its programmes

and audience
ANAND KUMAR JAISWAL
National

YDERABAD

TELEVISION

WHICH

was inaugurated.

in October, 1977, forms part of the SITE'

Institute

of Rural Dcyelopment,

Hyderabad

as a medium of awareness in rural cleve10pment." An

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

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

its audience.

covered by satellite transmission will continue to receive

telecast through a terrestrial system.
The focus of the programme is towards development; 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

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

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.

rural areas.

In principle, it assumes an efficient and effective service.

The range of the 10 kw transmitter is an area spread

over a radius of 80 kms. arou'nd Hydcrabad. The population covered is nearly 4 million, of which half resides
in the city and the other half in 1,600 villages in the
surrounding jive districts: Hyderabad, Rangareddy,
Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Medak and Waranga!.
Within the broad objective of education lie several
specific' objectives. The hard core instructional objectives are the promotion of improved practices in the
area of agriculture, health, hygiene, nntrition and
family welfare.' Catering to such purposes within the
purview of education and instruction is an "avowed
objective of radio' and television in India"."

However, SITE was one of the few first instances

of a medium deliberately planned and executed 'for
just such a purpose. Though the SITE experience is
too short to prove 'anything conclusively, it has at least
demonstrated 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
darshan, February 1978, Vol. 1, Chap. 15.

and Door- .

3. SITE Evaluation through Holistic Study, Space Applications

Centre, lndian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad
(memeo), 1976.

1982

The effectiveness

of

the

medium

aSi

continuity.

In practice, the least it needs'is planning and coordiresearches 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

nation among field

or efficient programme is one that is relevant in content) 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"d COI11-

plete.

In 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.

0"

The study of various programmes

WERE
MADE ABOUT
the precise
nature and content of three progra=s
telecast
on different days. All these were educational and one
BSERVA nONS

.19

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 cultivation, spraying, fertilizer application, etc., were
demonstrated. The programme was obviously meant
to 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 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.

onclusions
1

useful to thelJl would be on infrastructure, facilities ahd

procedure. Another aspect lacking in the programme
was 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 studiobased and used a number of charts supported by commentary. 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-

the programme on dryland cro~s

discussed earlier would not have been put out If
its producer had been responsive to the audience profile and local agricultural season. The programme used
words in English as well as charts labelled in English.
Obviously, rural audiences cannot even begin to understood such programmes.
2
The burden cast upon Hyderabad Television is undoubtedly heavy. The extension services in the state
are not strong enougb to communicate single handed,
and television must support their effort. Fo~ example
in 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 meaningfulness 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 development 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

minous crops', 'centimetre', etc.

in future programmes.

in service zone . Though the runni.ng commentary was

in Telugu, several English words were used. This programme 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 commentary 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 eggproduction. 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.

but on a
M low scale less than a dozenrearbirdschicks,
per house. If'
ANY

PEOPLE

IN VILLAGES

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

scale in order to make it income-generating,

information

Many technical words

T IS LIKELY

THAT

KURUKSHETRA January 1, 1982

20

'.

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
And one achievement inspires and shows

put in hard work can achieve anything.

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

HE 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 functionaries 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 Agencies or state level officers dealing with the IRD ~:()~,
gramme ..

On 29th October, 1981, the team of officers met

Shri Zafar Saifullah, Secretary, Rural Development,.iri
, his office in the Kamataka Secretariat. Bangalore. In

I_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 administrative arrangements for implementing rural development

programmes in Karnataka. He mentioned that Karnataka was Ol1e of 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 societies 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 Ministry. The participating officers were urged to study
the methodology and innovations adopted by the district and block level machinery in Karnataka for implementi'ng the IRD Programme. Their attention was
specifically drawn to the procedure adopted for identifying 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 between the various agencies for providing infrastructur;li

. support of.this programme. The officers asked a nnmber of questions and these were clarified .

HE

VISITING

OFFICERS

were divided into

groups and they were sent to the

three

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

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 participants had also a'n occasion to visit
commercial
banks, co-operative banks and Gramin Banks and to
discuss with their officers details relating to the provision of eredi). On the whole, the partieipants obtained 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 beneficiaries, An attempt has been made to identify the beneficiaries 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 providjn~ 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 family
from various sources. Annual Action Plans for pWviding assistance: to these families have been completed
and assistance has started flowing. to the beneficiaries.
NE

SIGNIFICANT

FEATURE

of the implementatio"n

O of the IRD Programme in these districts in Karnataka is the cordial relationship prevailing between
the District Rural Development Soeietics al1d
the
Development Blocks on the one hand' and banking institution's
the olher. Credit camps have been successfully organised~
Belhiry
district in particular.
The' Stale Bl1nk 'of India' (ADB) Bellary a'nd the
Tiingabhadra '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 single 'exeidse and this has enabled the'
beriefi'ciarks - to "obtain cre"dit without -havi'ng to visit
the banks indi'vidualiy with documents Clc.-

on

in

'n

. Many" of

the

'~neficiaries

"are receiving

"as'sistanceO

under the Differcntial'Rate of Interest Scheme at a

nomfnat'inte'rest' -rate~ -Bulk of the 'assistance 'is' provided t'o'tne"weaKer sectio~s~forprcj:>ari'ng .n~'il.ch0';'i111als, .
sheep units, bullocks.' bullock carts etc, By acquiring
22

these assets, it' is expected that these families would

substantially inercase their incomes, The Govt. agencie-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 Neundi

T

HE VILLAGE OT"D MAN---Shri Dulal Chandra

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. So
he 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 Priniary 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.

.D. Mohanta~Neundi

It is all due to, the vigilance and sincerity of Shri

Dula1 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, magazines 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. A
long 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 interest in all the developmental work for tbe village.
HI"': 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.,
KURUKSHETRA

Keonjhat.

January i, 1982

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 100 !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,

about Rs.8,30,600 lakhs.

Floods have. played havoc

with life .mid .prbperty.

From 195310 1980, Ihe lolal damage is calculaledlo have been

Regd. No. D(DN)/39

RN 702/57

(LICenced under U(D)-54 to post without prepayment 'at Civil Lines Post Office, Delhi),

.,

.'

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 bll 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 [11 the field of jloodcolltrol.'

\..

..

'

C O/lst rfletioll
,

of embankmell1S is

..,

the cheapest and practical

"method of flood control.

','
~".

PU1.iUSllED

BY'..TUE

DlREcrOR:-PUULlCATlON~;- DlVlslhN,

A.ND PRINT!!:D BY THE MANAGER, GO.....

ERNME:"IT

OF

NEW DELH.i~11()()(}i.

1:--;01.-\PRESS.

FARtn"BAD.