CHAPTERS

IMPACT OF SELF HELP GROUPS ON RURAL POVERTY IN KALAHANDI: EMPIRICAL RESULTS

This Chapter provides a brief description about the historical background of Kalahandi

district, social composition of the tribal villages, caste and class structure, pattern of land

ownership, the existence of gountia culture and the status of implementation of NREGS and

other development programmes. In general it highlights the Kandha-pana ethnic divide, the

process of conversion, and the rise of left-wing extremism in KBK region from a sociological

perspective. The primary purpose of this chapter is to present the field research findings

about the impact of SHG based microfinance programmes in alleviating poverty among the

beneficiaries of Thuamul Rampur block. The study covers 9 WSHGs which spread across 6

villages in Kerpai, Gunpur and Nakarundi Gram Panchayat and 63 SHG beneficiaries were

interviewed to explore the poverty and food insecurity, trend of migration, aspects thrift and

credit aspects; income generating activities undertaken by various SHGs, participation of the

members in the group meetings, drop outs, the pattern of loan repayments, dealing with the

default borrowers; the collective and organizational efforts in resolving social issues and

community problems; status of women in the household after joining SHGs, impact of SHG

on income, asset creation, education and health and the role SHG members play at the Gram

Sabha/Ward convention meetings; whether having elected women representatives at the

Gram Panchayat level etc.

While making his first visit to Orissa in 1921, Gandhiji described "Orissa as an epitome of

India's poverty."205 He wrote on Orissa's poverty in the Harijan in March 1921. What

Gandhiji said regarding Orissa's poverty in those days, is true evev today, after sixty years of

India's independence. Post independence scenario of Orissa is a total disappointing one. It is

an irony that Orissa is most rich state in natural resources but the poorest state living with the

people in the Indian federal system.206 The phrase 'poverty amidst plenty' sounds appropriate

here. In Orissa, 24 per cent of the population of Orissa is adivasi compared with 9 per cent of

the national population. Most of these tribal groups are to be found in remote, forested rural

areas in the poorer southern districts rather than in the more prosperous coastal districts.

205 Cited in Rout, S.C., Impact of Globalization on Indian Political Sub-Culture in Mohanty et.al. (ed.) 2007, Political Economy of India: Retrospect's and Prospects, A.P.H Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, p. 210. 206 Ibid.

246

Poverty in Orissa was 47 per cent compared with a national level of 26 per cent. However, it

was 87 per cent in the rural southern districts and 92 per cent among adivasi groups in these

districts. While being located in the more prosperous coastal areas did have the effect of

reducing poverty among adivasis to 67 per cent, it was still higher than the 32 per cent

incidence of poverty for the coastal districts as a whole (de Haan and Dubey 2004).

Compared to the coastal region, the incidence and persistence of poverty is even higher in

Southern Orissa, which comprises Kandhamal, Gajapati and Koraput, Balangir, and

Kalahandi (KBK) districts. Furthermore, the percentage of rural families living below the

poverty line is substantially higher in the State (66.37 per cent, as per estimate made by the

Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Orissa, in 1997) as compared to the rest of the

country (34 per cent).

The southern districts have remained underdeveloped largely because of a lack of political

involvement and bureaucratic apathy. "Past government policies made these people's lives

harder. Harvesters were forced to sell to the Government or private companies the

Government signed contracts with, which gave them a monopoly."207

Over the years, though there is political stability in terms of the regional party of Biju Janata

Dal holding its base in the state, due to persistence of high poverty and failed development

models in the state there is rise of Naxalism in extreme form. Thus, the failure of the state in

promoting equitable development in the state has led to the growing influence of Left Wing

extremists (also known as Naxalites)208 belonging to the erstwhile People's War Group

(PWG) and Maoist Communist Center (MCC) 209 along the borders of the eastern State of

Orissa has, today, after decades of being ignored by the administration, become a cause for

considerable alarm. Under pressure in some of its neighbouring States, the Naxalites have not

only established bases, but are, reportedly, expanding and consolidating their hold in Orissa's

southern and north-west districts.210 The inaccessible hilly terrain, dense forests, lack of

development, grievances of the tribals and poor, and the absence of administration have been

conducive to the spread of left-wing extremism in Orissa. The Naxalite movement in Orissa

emerged in the early 1960's as a peasant movement in the Gunpur Subdivision of the then

207 N. C. Saxena, "From Monopoly to De-Regulation of NTFPs: Policy Shifts in Orissa (India)," lntematiorwl

Forestry Review, Vol. 5 No.2, 2003, pp. 168-76. 208 The statement made by Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) PWG Orissa Secretary, Sabyasachi Panda, in 1996. 209 See South Asia Terrorism Portal, www.satp.org. 210 Sanjay K. Jha, "Naxalite Consolidation in Orissa", South Asia Intelligence Review, Vol. 2, No.3, August 4, 2003, South Asia Terrorism Portal, www.satp.org.

247

undivided Koraput District, under the banner of the Communist Party of India (CPI). It now

has influence over 12 of the State's 30 Districts.

Ma of Naxalite-affected areas in Orissa, 1996-2005

r:::::l !ftghly~

c:::l M!lt'giMIJy Affected

liDT~

Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal, www.satp.org

5.1 Historical Background

From a historical perspective, the area in eastern India some of which is now Orissa has been

characterized by distinctive geographies and a corresponding variety in tenure arrangements

such as tributary states in the hills; permanently settled estates towards the coast; and flat,

fertile rice-growing areas. Following the Rajput conquest of Orissa, the latter tract become

the demesne of the Raja, who granted portion of land under his control to mainly chiefs,

courtiers, ministers and priests. Over the succeeding centuries, hereditary officials with fiscal

duties became landlords in their own right exercising de facto ownership rights over pasture

lands, fisheries, jungles and forests (Baden-Powel, 1909 cited in Sahu et.al. 2004).211 This

diverse tenure pattern - comprising, among others, small landlord estates, revenue-free

holdings, and village heads who became proprietors - was consolidated by the British during

the period of colonial rule (ibid.). An important consequence of this late nineteenth century

consolidation of property rights and the land revenue policy at the centre of the colonial

administration was that poor peasants in Orissa became increasingly indebted to landlords.

As the twentieth century began, therefore, they were trapped in a vicious circle of borrowing

and distress sales, leading to the enforced commercialization of their crops, land and labour.

During the first two decades of the twentieth century this involved the enforced sale by

indebted peasants in Orissa of three things such as first of the crops they grew, then of the

211 Sahu et.al, Credit Constraints and Distress Sales in Rural India: Evidence from Kalahandi District, Orissa, Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 31, Issue 2 January 2004, pages 214-217.

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land itself and finally of their labour ( Choudhury, 1985). The final resort of those who were

now landless was to leave the village and migrate to Assam, where they worked as indentured

labour in the tea gardens. A strictly legal definition of a distress sale in India at that time took

the form of a compulsory sale then is a sale which is forced upon an unwilling vendor and the

price are fixed by any contact him .... The owner's right is confined merely to the sale­

proceeds (Dutt, 1915: 4). The Protective legislation passed by the Orissa Congress

Government in the late 1930s attempted to improve the position of smallholders (ryots), most

of whom possessed no title to the land they cultivated, and were thus deemed a credit risk by

formal lending institutions. The issue of peasant worthiness remained central to the post­

independence rural credit survey conducted by the Reserve Bank of India(1954: 180ff).

Kalahandi district, located in the western Orissa, has an almost paradigmatic profile for

impoverishment not just in the Third World and India but also in the already economically

backward northeastern region, and is a location associated historically and currently with

widespread illiteracy, famine, starvation deaths, and recurring droughts.212 The economic

backwardness of the district can be traced to the nineteenth century land revenue settlements,

which led to the emergence of a bipolar rural class structure. At the top of the rural hierarchy

were the gountias, village headman who collected land revenue for the state during the pre­

colonial period, and whose power was consolidated and legitimized by the colonial

government. Over the time, gountias came to wield ever-larger influence over their villages,

where they occupied the best land and gained control over wasteland resources. Their power

was based on the fact that they leased out the land on behalf of the colonial rulers; those

villagers who lacked ownership rights to cultivated land became increasingly dependent on

gountias, both for the land itself and also for credit. Land revenue settlements during the

colonial period generated widespread indebtedness among peasants (Das, 1932, 1962), and

the gountia-cum-moneylender was the principal architect of this development. As important

for the power wielded at village level by the gountias was the fact that both the credit market

and the product market was interlinked; the crop in the field was usually purchased by the

moneylender himself during the harvest time at a nominal rate and the price was adjusted

against the loan including the interest on the credit (Government of Orissa, 1980).

212 Sahu et.al, Credit Constraints and Distress Sales in Rural India: Evidence from Kalahandi District, Orissa,

Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 31, Issue 2 January 2004, pages 210-241.

249

However, the economic backwardness is not uniform in all the parts of the district. While

comparing with the hilly tracts pursuing a rained agriculture, the areas processing flat and

fertile paddy fields receive water from the lndravati river (presently through an irrigation

system constructed across the river) permit a more advanced form of agricultural production.

Of the 13 blocks in the district, six fall within the advanced region, while the rest are found in

the backward region.

During the past decade, three major problems have been noticed in the region.213 Firstly, the

DRDA operates through the BDO who administers funds despite the existence of panchayat

Samiti. The channelizing of funds is such a bureaucratic process that funds reach much after

the scheduled time and in small quantity .. It.is pointed out that because the state government

is not able to give its share of 25 per cent, the central fund does not get released. Secondly,

the power nexus at the ground level siphons the funds away from its targets. The party in

power, the bureaucrat and the contractor manipulates the construction projects. In many

places in Kalahandi the influential local leaders have continued to control the implementation

of projects (Sainath, 1996)214• The third problem is the meagre quantum of development

support to the poor. Very often construction works provide employment to the distress

population not more than one or two weeks (ibid). In recent years though NREGS work has

been initiated by the district administration, however, 100 days of wage employment is not

sufficient for the poor households and there is more demand for wage labour through

NREGS.

Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS)215, Delhi, conducted a survey in May­

June 2007 to assess and evaluate the performance of NREGA in the state of Orissa. The

survey was carried out in 100 villages spread over six districts of KBK (Kalahandi- Bolangir­

Koraput) region, namely: Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and

Rayagada . The CEFS survey revealed that the NREGS scheme in Orissa has been virtually

hijacked by officials responsible for the implementation of this scheme. Further the survey

explored that there is participatory loot, plunder and pillage in Orissa's rural job scheme.

There is open loot of taxpayers' money, there is plunder of poors' right to guaranteed wage

employment for 100 days and there is pillage of every single norm of democratic governance

and administrative accountability. Kalahandi is widely known as the hunger capital of India.

213 Mohanty, Manoranjan, NGOs to PDOs: Structural -Political Approach to Poverty Eradication, UNESCO Poverty Project 'Ethical and Human Rights Dimensions of Poverty: Towards a New Paradigm in the Fight Against Poverty' Philosophy Seminar- India International Centre, New Delhi, September 2003, p. 200. 214 Sainath, P. 1996 as cited in Manoranjan Mohanty, 2003. 215 Centre for Environment and Food Security, New Delhi, 2007, Rural Job Scam: Survey Report on Implementation of NREGA in Orissa, available at: http://www.cefsindi a.org/

250

It is only logical to g1ve top priority to this district in terms of fund allocation,

implementation and monitoring of the rural employment guarantee scheme. However,

implementation of this high-profile rural job scheme in Kalahandi has created new records of

corruption and financial bungling in India. The total number of job cards issued in Kalahandi

is 190092. The district was allocated Rs 111 crore to implement NREGA in the district

during 2006-7. As per official records, this district spent Rs. 72 crore and provided a total of

61.76 lakh person days of employment to 121517 households in the district. In other words,

each of the 121517 families has been given on an average 50 days of wage employment. The

total number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 9074

during the year. However, the survey in 18 villages of the district revealed a different story.

The ground reality in the villages of Kalahandi is absolutely dismal (ibid).

Study of tribal villages in the lines of sociological and anthropological village studies is

mostly concerned with multi caste or tribe villages.Z16 Baring a few, (i.e., Jay, 1968, Roy

Burman, 1973 b; Sachidananda, 1968) studies of "tribal villages" as such are, in spite of a

rich anthropological heritage of ethnographies of different tribes. Anthropologists , be they

are from the same or from different tribes have focused on the most distinctive aspects of

tribal lives such as the tribal character, tribal attitudes, tribal value systems , tribal identity,

tribal way of life etc. The reference point has always been made to a particular tribe or a

section of a tribe such as Kandh, Maria, Naga, Lepcha or others. Similarly, anthropologists in

the 1970s have been studying inter-tribal and tribal-non-tribal interactions and the

consequences of such interactions accounting for the changes in the tribal organizations and

tribal life as a whole.

A tribal village is traditionally understood as the homogenous settlement inhabited by

members of one single tribe with certain functional castes (Sachidananda, 1968:9). Since, at

the same time, the tribal inhabitants form the majority of the village the role of the minorities

is often neglected in the research endeavor. The relation between two status categories ·of a

village is simply looked at as being functional in the sense that the tribal people depend on

goods and services not produced by them on their own but typically supplied by other status

groups. Alternatively, as Jay (1968) explored concepts of "activity fields" and" networks" in

his study of tribal villages in middle India , the relationship between the tribal and other

216 Mishra, Amrita, Insiders and Outsiders: Studying Tribal Kandha Villages, in Deepak Kumar Behra et.al. (eds.) 2008, Contemporary Society: Tribal Societies, Vol. VII, Concept Publishing company, New Delhi, p.79.

251

groups can be looked upon as belonging to the "Outside world" being characterized by

friendship and contrasted with the intra-tribal relationship based on kinship.

The Hinduisation of the tribals has been well documented by G.S Ghurye 217 in his work on

'The Aborigines So-called and Their future' pronounced that the tribals of 'hither India' were

backward Hindus and assailed the isolationist stance taken by anthropologists and

administrators in regard to tribal affairs. He held that assimilation rather than integration and

isolation should be the watchdog.

Similarly, the coexistence of Hinduisation, peasanti-sation, kshatriyaisation, Oriyaisation,

with the colonization of Orissa has . been documented by scholars such as Harmann Kulke,

Surjit Sinha, Sumit Guha and others. Harman Kulke focused on the issue of Kshatriyaisation

in the context of medieval Orissa and extends its relevance upto the 17th- 18th century A D.·

He emphasized this as more useful/relevant than brahminisation and the functional reality?18

Surajit Sinha,219 viewed that the diffusion of the Rajput model of the state and the indigenous

developmental processes could gain ground only among those tribal groups who had attained

the technological level of settled agriculture. Thus, as he puts it, we do not find shifting

cultivating groups like the Juangs or the Hill Bhuiyas of Orissa developing a kingship

supported mainly by their primitive technique of cultivation. However, he makes it clear that

it was not essential for the use of plough to determine the rise of kingship. Sumit Guha220,

also refered to certain aspects of 'rajputisation' affecting some of the adivasi communities.

Biswamoya Pati (2001)221 viewed that the subject of religious conversion is rarely studied

with reference to Hinduism. On the other hand, reports of adivasi 're-conversion' imply that

their Hindu identity is taken for granted, justifying in tum the need for re-conversion. As a

further contradiction, while Hinduisation involves their integration with the V ama order, they

are simultaneously regarded as outcastes - a process that involves hegemony and exploitation

of the adivasis and outcastes. He refered to the writing of O'Malley who explored that the

gonds of Sambalpur in Orissa inventing new legends to re-locate them-selves within the

217 Ghurye, G.S. (1943), 'The Aborigines So-called and Their future' in K.S Singh, 'G.S. Ghurye, Verrier Elwin, and Indian Tribes' in A.R. Mornin (ed.), 1996, The Legacy of G.S. Ghurye: a centennial festschrift, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, p. 39 - 46. 218

Harmann, 'Kshatriyaisation and Social Change: A Study in Orissa Setting', in S D Pillai (ed), Aspects of Change in India: Studies in Honour of Professor G S Ghurye, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai 1976. 219 Sinha, Smjit, 'State Formation and the Rajput Myth in Central India' in Hermann Kulke, The State in India, 1000-1700, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1995. 220

Guha, Surnit, Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, 110-16. 221

Pati, Biswamoy, Identity, Hegemony, Resistance Conversions in Orissa, 1800-2000, Economic and Political Weekly, November 3, 2001, 4204-4212.

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framework of Hinduism, and the gond zamindaris wearing the 'sacred thread'.222These not

only implied a degree of Hinduisation, but also a strategy to cope with the agrarian

interventions. Here one can also mention the Kandhas of Ranpur (princely state) who

preferred to be identified as 'Oriya Kandhas' that indicates an allied component of the process

- Oriyaisation.223

Hinduisation/peasantisation which was intimately associated with the process of conversion

has been analyzed in the context of the Jagannatha cult in Orissa. This coexisted with drives

to build Hindu temples in parts of western Orissa. The scheme involved building a

Sibamandira (temple for Shiva) in 1855 at Bisipara. In fact, it was not built only by the

people of Bisipara, but by people of the Khondmals region through bethi.224 In this way,

Hinduisation made deep inroads into western Orissa. The Kutia Karidha worship Dharma

Pinnu the Hindu goddess who was seen as the source of smallpox and worshipped at all

agricultural festivals. Interestingly, she was identified as an Oriya (Hindu) goddess living in

the lap of luxury. Ceremonies were performed in her honor just before sowing in the hill

clearings. The invocations at her special ceremony were made in Oriya and the offerings

were not the normal millet and rice beer but milk, ghee, rice and mahua liquor. 225 That this

reflected a part of a broader survival strategy of the indigenous people to negotiate with the

process of Hinduisation becomes clear since even the didayi also invented their goddess

'Mata', who represents a close parallel of the Dharma Pinnu of the kandhas.226

While conducting field work in Thuamul Rampur, it was noticed that the paraja Kandha

worships the Hindu goddess such as Duma Devta, Budha Raja etc who has been considered

as the goddess of fever and disease. Kandha tribe worships the goddess during the Tokimara

parab and during the harvesting festivals. As Thuamul Rampur comes under the hill tracts of

Kalahandi districts, suffering from malaria is a common disease. Due to inadequate medical

facilities and ignorance and illiteracy, the Kandhas worship the Duma Devta and give animal

sacrifice to appease the goddess to get cure from diseases. Through OTELP an awareness

campaign has been initiated by the Antodaya NGO, in most of the tribal villages in this

222 L S S O'Malley, District Gazetteers: Sambalpur, Superintendent of Government Press, Patna, 1932, 70. Nilamani Senapati and B Mohanty (eds) Orissa District Gazetteers: Sambalpur, Orissa Government press, Cuttack, 1971, 117 refer to gond zamindars wearing the 'sacred thread'. 223 G N Singh, Final Report on the Original Survey and Settlement Operations of the Ranpur Ex-State Area in the District of Puri, Berhampur, 1963, 10. 224

Bailey, The Civility, 18-19; 'bethi' means forced labour. This coexisted with the drive to build Jagannatha temples. 225

N A Watts, The Half Clad Tribes of Eastern India, Orient Longman, Bombay, 1970 in Biswamoy Pati, 2001. 226

Uma Guha, et al The Didayi: A Forgotten Tribe of Orissa, Anthropological Survey of India, Delhi, 1968.

253

region. Posters and writing on the walls was noticed during the field visit regarding how to

keep clean the surrounding, information about minimum wages under OTELP etc The

message to the villagers was: 'Masa machhi ama rogara ghara Duma Devata ke kahinki

dara' which means mosquito and flies are home for disease, there is no point to be worried

about the Duma Devata. Kandha feels that anything which goes wrong the family and

neighborhood means Duma Devata is angered upon them and they need to worship the

goddess and they must offer animal sacrifice before the Duma Devata. Thus, the major

intervention of the NGOs working in these villages is to initiate the awareness campaign

before going to start any development activities in these villages.227 However, in recent years,

the most important trend that has emerged is the assertion of tribal identity in the linguistic

sphere.228 The Kandhas have started developing the script of Kui language; the tribal artists

are at work seeking self expression through arts arid paintings. They also demand for

imparting education at primary level in the tribal language which would help them to

maintain self respect and identity. Thus, tribals are returning to their own religion over the

last two censuses, howecer, yet on a smaller scale. There are movements for self rule to

enable the tribes to maintain their control over resources and manage institutions that

promote their own development while maintaining their culture and identity.229

5.2 Conversions to Christianity and Kandha-Pana Ethnic Divide

The kandha-pana ethnic divide in KBK region is a complex social problem. Historically,

kandhas, the original inhabitants of Kandhamal, due to their control over land, perceived

themselves as 'rajas' (kings) and the migrant landless panas from the plains as their 'prajas'

(subjects). This sense of superiority was extended to the social and cultural spheres as well.

However, colonial intervention changed this scenario by introducing new land relations and

depriving the kandhas of their traditional rights over the forest land. Though the Kandhas

were

cut-off from the mainstream world, this provided an opportunity to the panas, both material

and political. They became exploitators and snatched away the land from the tribals in terms

227 Primary Observation during filed visit to tbe tribal villages in Thuamul Rampur. 228 Chako, P.M. (ed.) 2005, Tribal Communities and Social Change, Themes in Indian Sociology, Sage Publication, New Delhi, p.l2.

229 Ibid.

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of mortgage of the former. Though the kandhas used the panas as middle men, they depicted

panas as liars, cheaters and hypocrites.230

In the post-independence period this got further crystallized with the perception that the

panas, with the help of the state as well as the church, have been cornering the maximum

benefits of constitutional reservation due to their educational and economic advantage. The

kandhas, however, allege that the panas hide their Christian identity and even claim to be

scheduled tribes (ST) or Hindu scheduled castes (SC) by producing forged certificates. The

panas, they fear, are out to dominate them economically, politically and culturally. The

emergence of the panas as an assertive community has become an eyesore to the upper caste

Hindus, not only in Kandhamal but also in other parts of Orissa. Thus, stereotypes of the pana

as "betrayer", "cunning", "deceitful", "exploiter", etc, has entered into the caste discourses in

Orissa. The upper caste Hindus who considered the panas as untouchables and panchamas,

found it difficult to digest the growing assertion of the panas. The Hindutva organisations

such as Sangh parivars in collaboration with the upper caste elite and middle caste petty

bourgeoise are engaged mobilizing the kandhas (tribals) to convert to Hinduism while

accusing Christian missionaries of forcing the dalits to convert. Due to high persistent of

poverty and oppressive casteist order the dalits are converting to Christianity where the

missionaries are taking interest in establishing schools and providing health care facilities in

the remote villages.Z31

5.3 Social Composition of the tribal villages in Kalahandi

Due to an increasing process of detribalization, the tribal people (mostly Kandha) are

concentrated only in two blocks of Kalahandi, i.e., Lanjigarh and Thuamul Rampur. The

Dangaria Kandha usually lives on the top of the hills and have very little interaction with the

plains. They come down only during Bali yatra or occasionally during the weekly market

days. The dominantly Kutia Kandha live in villages of the plains and the hills, with a size

varying between eight and sixty households.

The intra-tribal identity beyond villages and districts is important and is reinforced through

the rituals. Thus, the Kandha rituals create and recreate the Kandha society by asserting the

Kandha identity on the one hand and excluding the "outsiders" on the other. The Kutia

23° Kanungo, Pralaya, Hindutva's Fury against Christians in Orissa, Economic & Political Weekly, September 13,2008, p. 17. 231 Ibid. p.l7.

255

Kandha considers the Damba and Sundhi as outsiders in the sense of being vagrants.

Damba's are considered as impure once who have a fleeting presence, drawing sustenance

from Kutia land. The cultivation of land for the Sundhi and Dambas as the Kandha perceives

as merely a source of economic activity where as for the Kandha's it is the most important

marker of identity guarantying and reassuring their belongingness to the soil. Sundhi are a

traditionally a distiller caste (distilling liquor which is made out of Mahua flower). Their role

as merchants and in large commercial dealings in Phulbani districts in Orissa has been

discussed by F.G. Bailey (1957 & 1960). They have emerged as sahukars (money lenders) in

most parts of western and southern Orissa. Sundhi are infamous for their high credit rates.

Popular notions view them as shrewd and cunning with a great potential of manipulating the

interest rates. The sundhi in Lanjigarh are known as the Dakhinia or those who are from

south but were the earlier immigrants compared to the Grujatia found in other parts of

Kalahandi. They have been settled in the Kandhmals since long and the latter they belonged

to the princely states of western Orissa, i.e., the Grujats.

The Damba are like Pana of Phulbani district who as Niggemeyer ( 1964:245) described as

tradesman mediating between the Kutia Kandha and outside the world. The colonial

administrative accounts including the district gazetteers refer to the category of Damba in an

extremely derogatory fashion though needless to mention such documents needs to be treated

with cautaion. The few remarks in anthropological studies also confirm to a stereo-type

negative image of the Damba( Fuhrer- Haimendorf, 1943; Elwin, 1950). While such

derogatory image might not be the generalized pattern in the contemporary context as some

of the studies have shown (Berger 2003), at least in most of the sample villages in Kalahandi,

the negative attitudes towards the Damba by the other Oriya castes and the Kandha continue.

The perception of the villagers associate the Dambas with being cunning, manipulative,

exploitative and low caste. Most of the Dambas in these villages are economically much

better off than the Kandha. They are involved in agriculture, trading of cows and buffaloes,

making and selling of country liquor made of Mahua flowers and rice. Apart from their

economic roles, the Damba continue to play their traditional role of drummers, who play

drums on occasion of death and wedding rituals. However, this service is utilized by other

Oriya castes and never by the Kandha , who take pride in their own musical traditions.

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Poverty in Kalahandi232 is paradoxical in nature. The district is rich in natural resources like

forests and minerals, and has a large labour force. The landholding size is larger than the

average size of landholdings in Punjab; it receives more rain than Punjab, and the cropped

area in the district is the highest in Orissa (Mahapatra et al. 2001). Yet, people here are

trapped in a vicious circle of poverty. Kalahandi is well known for its backwardness, hunger,

starvation deaths and all other social maladies. The district came into prominence in the

national and international developmental discourse in the 1980s when the people of the lower

strata faced serious economic and social deprivation and were driven to eat inedible roots and

grasses (ibid.245).

5.4 Caste and Class Structure in Kalahandi

Kalahandi has a high concentration of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST)

populations. About 93 per cent of its population live in rural areas where the level of poverty

is very high. A major challenge for development officials has been that of finding ways to

reduce the chronic poverty among the people. The basic elements of an economy are

economic structure (aspects of ownership and control of resources), economic activity

(pattern of utilization of resources) and economic performance (measure of what the

economy results in). Economic change reflects change in the three aspects of the economy

and the interaction among them (Kurien et al. 1979). Economic development is not possible

without the productive use of the rural population. In Kalahandi district, the agricultural

sector is traditional and backward and is a source of livelihood for a large number of people.

It is relevant to consider how the excess rural population can be absorbed into other

productive occupations.

5.5 Land Distribution Pattern in the District The land distribution pattern in Kalahandi district is highly skewed in nature. 233 Table 5.1

shows the changes in the pattern of distribution of operational holdings between 1970-71 and

1990-91. The average land area operated in the district has declined from 3.97 hectares (ha.)

in 1970-71 to 1. 94 ha in 1990-91. More then 50 per cent of the households owning less than

232 Mishra, Sunil Kumar, Poverty and Economic Change in Kalahandi, Orissa: The Unfinished Agenda and New Challenges, Journal of Social and Economic Development July- Dec. 2001, p. 249.

233 Ibid.

257

3 hectares of land operated 20 per cent of the total land area in 1970--71, whereas the

corresponding figures for 1990--91 were 82.09 per cent and 49.78 per cent respectively. The

figure for the operational holdings of the highest class (more than 10 ha. of land) shows that

4.69 per cent of all the holders operated 21.92 per cent of the total land area. The

corresponding figures for 1990-- 91 were 1.10 and 8.24 per cent respectively. The

concentration ratio shows a smaller variation from 0.452 and 0.444. This reflects a high

concentration of land area. The inter-class concentration ratio (ICC) 3 shows concentration of

land for all classes of landholding. It is noticed that the ICC of all the size classes has gone up

in both the periods. But the absolute increase of the upper size class is higher than that of the

lower classes. Here the ICC of the top group, i.e., those owning land above 20 ha., interpreted

as the upper size class, had 870 per cent of \\'hat they would have been entitled to had the

distribution been equal in 1970--71. This figure increased to 1,320 in 1990--91, which

indicates that the concentration of land area has increased (Table 5.1 ).

T bl 51 0 a e . : Jperationa IH ld" 0 mgso f L d . K lab d" D" . t 1971 d 1991 an m a an 1 IStriC , an %of area avg. area

Size class( % of households operated operated ICC

hectare) 70-71 90-91 70-71 90-91 70-71 90-91 70-71 90-91

less than 1 17.40 39.94 2.76 11.70 0.63 0.56 15.90 29.31

1-3 37.48 42.14 17.84 38.08 1.89 1.75 47.59 90.35

3-5 14.97 10.71 14.30 21.42 3.79 3.88 95.51 199.86

5-10 25.42 6.08 43.99 20.53 6.87 6.56 173.02 337.71

10-20 3.66 0.99 12.10 6.73 13.10 13.21 329.81 680.71

Greater than 20 1.03 0.11 8.99 1.51 34.54 25.65 869.35 1320.34

Total 100 100 100 100 3.97 1.94

Source: Calculated from District Statistical Abstract for Kalahandi District, Bhubaneswar, and Directorate of Economics and Statistics 1970-71, 1990-91.

Thuamul Rampur is a tribal dominated backward block in Bhawanipatna sub-division of

Kalahandi District. It is an ITDA block. It is situated in the southern part of Kalahandi

district. It is bounded by Kashipur block on the south, Jaipatna block in the west and

Lanjigarh block on the east. It is situated in the hill tract region of Kalahandi district. It forms

part of the drainage basin of Indravati river. The area can be divided into hills, pediment and

valleys. The climate of the area is sub-tropical monsoon in type. The rainfall pattern in the

block is erratic in nature. The block stretches over an area of 1072 sq. kms. It has a large

forest area. There are twelve Gram Panchayats and 278 inhabited villages in the block. The

demographic feature of the block shows the tribal character of the block. According to the

258

2001 Census, the total population of the block is 65,767. The sex ratio shows a tilt in favour

of women i.e., 1,025 female per 1000 male population. The ST Population is 37,850 which is

57.6 per cent of the total population. Similarly, the SC population is 16,872 and it is 25.7 per

cent of the total population. The density of population is 164 persons per sq.km.

The majority of the inhabitants of the block are from Kandha tribes. Most of these tribals

resort to "slash-and-bum" cultivation and practice agriculture on stream beds. Slash-and-bum

cultivation and agriculture provides livelihood (consumption) for about 8 months in a year.

Most of the households experience seasonal shortage of food. They also try to partially fulfill

the shortages by depending upon collecting forest produce basically non-timber for both

consumption and marketing. Collecting non-timber forest produce is significant to a tribal's

basic living condition as otherwise they have to either seek a consumption loan or seek daily

wage earning employment. While dependency on collecting minor forest produce for

marketing is so significant to the very survival of tribal household, the tribals in general and

women in particular, who engage themselves with collecting and marketing, did not even

know about the basic aspects of processing, marketing and prices(price fixation) at the

policy-making level etc. With the active involvement of the voluntary organizations such as

Sahabhagi Vikas Abhiyan (SV A), Antodaya, Gram Vikas and Parivartan who have

established their field resource centre· at the village level, play a vital role in providing market

linkage for the goods and commodities the villagers produce and provided training through

DRDAs for making hill brooms, processing Kandula dal etc.

T bl 52 D a e . . h" I d" t f K I h d" n· t . t emograp Ic n 1ca ors o a a an 1 IS nc Crude Birth Rate(2004-SRS) 22.7 Per 1000 Population Crude Death Rate(2004-SRS) 9.6 Per 1000 Population Infant MortalityRate(NFHS-3) 65 Per 1000 Population

358 per I ,00,000 live Maternal Mortality Rate(2004-SRS) births Total Fertility Rate(NFHS-3) 2.4 Couple Protection Rate(NFHS-3) 50.7% Life Expectancy at Birth(l996-2001) 61.64 years

.. Source: http://kalahandJ.ruc.m

Table 5.2 presents the demographic trends such as the birth rate, death rate, infant and

maternal mortality rate etc. in Kalahandi district based on the Sample Registration System

(SRS) of 2004 and National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3). It is clear from the above table

that as per 2004-SRC, the cruade birth rate is 22.7 per 1000 population and the crude death

259

Gram

rate is 9.6 per thousand population in the district. The trend data of 2004-SRS report declares

that MMR in Kalahandi as well as in Orissa is 358 per one lakh population where as it is 301

in all India level.

According to NFHS-3 estimation, the IMR rate in Kalahandi and Orissa is 65 compared to

the national infant mortality rate of 57 (per 1000 births). It is therefore pertinent to declare

that infant and MMR reduction needs the utmost priority in MDGs and state intervention in

enhancing the health care system in the state.

T bl 5.3 D a e : h" p iii fth s emograpJ JC ro eo e l Vill ample ages

sc ST Panchayat Total Total Total Total Popu sc sc ST ST Fern Name Village Name Households Population Male Female lation Male Female Population Male -ale

Kachalekha 71 282 135 147 139 65 74 138 65 73

Kerpai Kerpai 43 176 84 92 0 0 0 174 82 92

Kirkicha 25 115 50 65 22 12 10 79 33 46

Madangguda 45 200 104 96 0 0 0 200 104 96

Gunpur Ranapur 66 292 154 138 35 21 14 253 131 122

Nakarundi Turibhejiguda 31 152 71 81 0 0 0 151 70 81

Total 281 1217 598 619 196 98 98 995 485 510 Source: Data compiled from District Census Handbook: Kalahandi, 2001

T bl 5 4 S R f f th S a e . . ex a 10 o e 1 v·u ample I ages Total Total Total

Villages Population Male Female Sex Ratio

Kachalekha 282 135 147 1089

Kerpai 176 84 92 1095 Madang guda 115 50 65 1300

RanaPur 200 104 96 923

Turivejiguda 292 154 138 896

Kirkicha 152 71 81 1141

Total 1217 598 619 1035 Source: Data compiled from District Census Handbook: Kalahandi, 2001

Kachalekha comes under Kerpai Gram Panchayat located in Thuamul Rampur block of

Kalahandi district. It is about 30 kms from the nearest town of Kashipur. This village is

situated between the border of Kalahandi and Rayagada and 95 kms. far away from the

district headquarters. According to Census 2001, the total population of the village is 282.

The sex ratio of the village shows a favour towards women i.e. 1089 females per 1000 male

population. The total ST population in the village is 138. Out of which 63 male and 73 female

population. Similarly, there are 139 people in the village out of which 65 male and 74 female.

The neighbouring village of Kachalekha is Kerpai. Kerpai is a 100 percent tribal dominated

village. Total population of the village is 176 and the sex ratio is 1095 female per 1000 male

260

population. Thus, the sex ratio is 1035 females per 1000 females which are much higher

than its male counter parts especially in the tribal villages of Thuamul Rampur (Table 5.3 &

5.4).

Madangguda village comes under Gunpur Gram Panchayat located in Thuamul Rampur. It is

about 45 kms far away from the district head quarter. Madangguda is a tribal dominated

village. As per Census 2001 data, the total population ofMadangguda is 200 and the sex ratio

is 1300 females per 1000 males.

Ranapur village comes under Gunpur Gram Panchayat. The total population of the village

292 and the sex ratio is 923 per 1000 male population. The total population from Domba

(SC) is 35, out of which 21 are male and 14 female. ST population in the village is 253, out

of which 131 are male and 122 female.

Turivejiguda village falls under Nakarundi Gram Panchayat which is one of the remote tribal

villages. Total population of the village is 152 and the sex ratio is 152 and sex ratio is 896

females per 1000 males.

Kirkicha village comes under Gunpur Gram Panchayat and total population of the village is

115 and sex ratio is 1141 females per 1000 males. Kandha tribe is the dominant group in the

village and their population is 79 out of which 33 male and 46 are female. Total number of

SC population in the village is 22 out of which 12 male and 10 females. Thus, it is found that

the female sex ratio is very high in the tribal villages of Thuamul Rampur.

5.6 Socio-Demographic Profile of the Sample Villages The total number of SHG beneciaries at the household level under study was 63 those who

belong to various social groups in 6 villages of Thuamul Rampur block. Village-wise

distribution of the sample households are shown in Table 5.4. The number and percentage of

households covered from Kachalekha village in Kerpai gram Panchayat was 9 (14.3 per

cent). In the neighbouring village Kerpai, 10 households (15.9 per cent of the sample

households) were interviewed during the field study. Total number and percentage of

households under study in 3 villages in Gunpur Gram Panchayat was 18 (28.6 per cent) in

Kirkicha, Madangguda 8 (12.7 per cent) and from Ranapur 8 (12.7) of the total sample. In

Nakarundi Gram Panchayat, total number and percentage of households under study was 10

(15.9 per cent).

261

Tabl 5 5 n· .b ti e . IStn U fS ono IH ampJe ouse o s >y a h Jd b Vill es Number of

Villages Households Percent Kachalekha 9 14.3 Kerpai 10 15.9 Kirkicha 18 28.6 Madangaguda 8 12.7 Ranapur 8 12.7 Turivejiguda 10 15.9

Total 63 100 Source: Pnmary InformatiOn

T bl 5 6 n· t .b ti f H a e . : IS n u ono hldbS ·1G ouse o S >y OCia roups Categories:

Villages SC/ST/OBC/General OBC sc ST Households

Kachalekha 0.00 100.00% 0.00 9 Kerpai 0.00 0.00 100.00% 10 Kirkicha 5.60% 44.40% 50.00% 18 Madangaguda 0.00 0.00 100.00% 8 Ranapur o.oo 37.50% 62.50% 8 Turivejiguda 0.00 0.00 100.00% 10 Total 1.60% 31.70% 66.70% 63

The sample households comprise of 66.70 per cent Scheduled Tribes (STs), 31.70 per cent

Scheduled Castes (SCs), and 1.60 per cent belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The proportion of STs is significantly higher in Kerpai, Madangguda, and Turivejiguda with

100 per cent of the households belonging to this category (Table 5.6).

Table 5.7: Size of the Household HH Size Frequency Percent

2 3 4.8 3 11 17.5 4 12 19 5 16 25.4 6 10 15.9 7 8 12.7 8 3 4.8

Total 63 100

Table 5.7 and 5.8 shows that the average size of the sample households is 4.8 per cent.

a e . . T bJ 58 A vera,e Izeo e s· fth s J H amp1e h Jd ouse o s Average Std.

N Range Minimum Maximum HH Size Deviation HH SIZE 63 6 2 8 4.873 1.5605

In total, all the sample households have 308 persons, 148 male and 160 female. The sex ratio

(female/male) for the population in the sample households works out to be 1081 per 1000

262

males. This varies from 1324 in Kirkicha and 1167 in Turivejiguda to 842 to 1042 in other

four villages. This suggests higher sex ratio among the villagers in study area (See Table 5.9).

T bl 59 P I ti a e . : opua on an dS R ti ex a oamon g s I H ampJe ouse h ld 0 s

Male Female Total Sex Village 0-6 yrs Population Population Population Ratio

Kachalekha 10 24 25 49 1042

Kerpai 6 22 21 43 955

Madangguda 1 19 16 35 842

RanaPur II 22 21 43 955

Turivejiguda 8 24 28 52 1167

Kirkicha 21 37 49 86 1324

Total 57 148 160 308 1081

Among the surveyed households, 59 households i.e. 93.7 per cent of the sample households are

male headed and hardly 4 households (6.4 per cent) of the surveyed households are female headed

ones. Thus, majority of the households are male head households (Table 5.1 0).

Table 5.10: Head of the Households Head of theHH Frequency Percent Female 4 6.4 Male 59 93.7 Total 63 100

Table 5.11: Possession of Ration Cards Type of Ration Card

Without Village AAY BPL Card

2 7 0 Kachalekha (3.2) (ll.l) (0.0)

0 7 3 Kerpai (0.0) (11.1) (4.8)

6 8 4 Kirkicha (9.5) (12.7) (6.3)

0 5 3 Madangaguda (0.0) (7.9) (4.8)

0 4 4 Ranapur (0.0) (6.3) (6.3)

3 6 1 Turivejiguda (4.8) (9.5) (1.6)

11 37 Total (17.5) (58.7) 15 (23.8)

263

Most of the sample households are below poverty line. However, 58.7 per cent households

have BPL cards, and 17.5 percent households have AA Y cards. 23.8 per cent households are

not having ration card.

Ration Cards issued by the Government, provide the means to purchase subsidized food

grains from designated shops. Possession of ration cards is an important resource for poor

households. The BPL and AA Y card holders those who have ration cards and use to get rice

and kerosene on monthly basis from PDS shops. Due to non-finalization of BPL list in the

state some families are deprived of TPDS. The deciding factor to possess the BPL card was

in accordance with the 1997 census and not the 2002 census, which excluded many families

from the BPL category. OTELP has introduced a system of giving 2.5 k.g rice, 200 gram dal

and Rs.9.00 in lieu of wage for man-day to reporting individual adult for manual work.

T bl 5 12 T d f M. f f a e . : ren 0 Igra Ion rom th s e I Viii ample a2es

Total Reason for M~ants T rpeof Miwation miwation

Intra- Inter- Wage Study Villages Male Female district district Inter-State Labour purpose

Kachalekha 4 3 1 2 2 2 1

Kerpai 2 0 1 2 2 1 2

Kirkicha 5 0 1 2 2 1 2

Madangaguda 0 0 9 9 9 9 9

Rana Pur 0 0 9 9 9 9 9

Turivejiguda 0 0 9 9 9 9 9 Source: Pnmary InformatiOn

Note: Codes used for two columns i.e. type & reason for migration: 1 for yes; 2 for No, 9 for Not Applicable.

All these six villages fall under the hill-tract of Kalahandi district. The forest dwellers are less

likely to migrate as their livelihood is dependent upon the forest eco-system. However, due to

the depletion of the forest, pressure of increasing local population on land, the mobility of

forest dwellers is on the rise, intra-district migration among the sample households have been

observed in three villages such as Kachalekha, Kerpai and Kirkicha for search of wage

employment etc. except other three villages. However, inter-state migration is not prevalent

among the villagers in the study area. Despite of high incidence of poverty, interstate

migration in Orissa is relatively low as compared to other states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,

and Rajasthan. The mobility of the forest dwellers is constrained by physical remoteness, lack

of financial and social capital supporting migration (Shah et. al 2006).

264

However, from an anthropological perspective, low trend of migration among the

forest dwellers especially among the Kandha tribes of Thuamul Rampur could be related to

the study on "The Maler : A Study in Nature-Man- Spirit Complex of a Hill Tribe by L.P.

Vidyarthi (1963). Vidyarthi observed that the Maler tribe in the Eastern District of Bihar was

dependent upon the forest economy, slash and bum culture, having strong kinship network,

worshiping the spirit, their deity and static in nature. Like the Maler, the Kandha tribes have a

high degree of attachment to their land, cattle, their fellow-beings and dependent upon the

bum and slash cultivation, dependent upon the forest for maintaining their livelihood. Thus,

they hesitate to migrate to distant places, hence trapped by chronic poverty and

malnourishment as the forest resource is decreasing over the years. Wage employment

through the NREGS in this region has helped the villagers to get manual jobs within their

villages; as a result it has reduced the rate of migration ~ng the older people not to migrate

to distant places. However, the trend of migration among younger generation from the tribal

community as well as among the SCs is increasing for search of wage employment within

and outside the district as well as the state. Children's after attending the tribal Ashram

schools promoted by the NGOs such as Antodaya etc. in this region, around 80 per cent of

those who drop out from these schools instead of returning to their homes , migrate to other

states in search of wage employment, rickshaw pulling and working in factory.

Lack of urbanization is the push factor which forces the worker to migrate to other villages

and cities in search of jobs. Recurring droughts 234 may be the chief cause of migration.

People used to migrate to Raipur (Chhattisgarh) in search of jobs in times of drought. Dash

and Behura, in their study (in 1998) of two villages of Nuapada (a part of undivided

Kalahandi district), found that the non-tribals preferred to migrate to Raipur district in search

of factory jobs, whereas the tribals, who were strongly attached to their birthplace, got by on

minor forest produce and whatever local employment was available. Migration also has

adverse consequences on the education of the worker's children (Dash et al. 2000). Earlier

people used to migrate to Raipur in Chhattishgarh as their find the Chhattisgarhi language

almost similar with the language of the people of western Orissa.

234 Kalahandi district is badly affected by drought, and partial crop failure is a general phenomenon. The drought of 1884, 1885, and 1886led to a severe food scarcity. The district faced the same situation in 1919, and again in 1922-1923, 1925-1926, 1929- 30, 1954-55, 1965-66, 1986--87, 1987-88 and 1988-89 (Dash et al. 2000).

265

Recent studies conducted by ActionAid estimates that approximately 2 million people

migrate from the predominantly tribal districts of Western Orissa (Bolangir, Nuapada,

Kalahandi, Bargarh, and Sonepur) to brick kilns surrounding major cities of Andhra Pradesh

(ActionAid, 2005). Majority of the migrants are children who were at elementary school age.

While the bulk of this migration is to Andhra Pradesh, some migrants also go to Mumbai,

Surat, V aranasi, Raipur and other cities to work in construction sites, in weaving units and

hotels, and as rickshaw pullers?35

5.6.1 Social-Cultural aspects

In the sample villages majority of the households belong to Kandha {STs) and Domba (SCs).

According to the social system, generally the general caste people take food from the Domba

and Tribal houses but the tribal people in the village don't take food from the Domba

households. Though the villagers celebrate the festivals together, but they have caste based

differences. According to the social custom the son live separately after marriage. The

language of the tribal's is Kui. However, they can speak and understand in Oriya as well.

People from Domba caste speak in Oriya. The main festival of the tribal's is "Toki Parab".

Earlier they use to sacrifice young virgin girls to apace near "Dharani Pith" the tribal deity

during the Toki Parab every year. Now-a-days, they sacrifice the sheep. Deepabali is the

main festival of Domba caste people. In the month of Deeal(October ) all the Domba people

wear new dress, drink alcohol and enjoy in the festival. People .. from the general caste

celebrate "Nabama"(Nuakhai) as their main festival during the harvesting-·season. While

Kandha's celebrate Pusa Parab {Toki parab), Bihan Topa festival during Chaita (March) ,

Rani parab during Shrawan(July) month, Domba's celebrate Deeyal( Deepabali) and people

from the milkman caste eat the newly harvested crops.

5.6.2 Village Level Organizations

In all the surveyed villages there exists a village organization. Members from all the family

are the member of this organization. Every month they conduct a meeting, in this meeting

they discuss the problems of the villagers, regarding the festivals and take decision how to

promote the socio-economic development in the village.

235 Smita, Distress Seasonal Migration and its impact on Children's Education, Creative Pathways to Access , Research Monograph no.28, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, May 2008, p.ll.

266

5.6.3 Educational A venues in the Sample Villages

To spread education and awareness among the Domba and Adivasi children, the state

government has started the primary schools under the District Primary education programme

(DPEP). To motivate the parents and children, the school teachers visits the village with the

school going children. With the effort from Antodaya an NGO, slates are provided to each

children at free of cost. Antodaya is also running Child labour schools to educate the child

laborers.

a e . : T bl 513 Ed ucationa IS f b Viii tatus o t e agers m e u 1y . th St d A rea Range of

Educational Range of Range of Senior Senior Facility in Primary Primary Middle Middle Secondary Secondary

Village Name the Village School School School School School School

Kachalekha 1 1 0 1 0 2 3

Kerpai 2 0 1 0 1 0 3

Madangguda 1 1 0 0 2 0 2

Ranapur 1 1 0 2 1 2 1

Turibhejiguda 2 0 1 0 2 0 2

Kirkicha 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 Source: Pnmary Information

Note: Codes used for-- (YIN) or (A/NA) are-- Value is: 1- for Yes or Available; 2- for No or Not Available and 0- for Nil information/Not Available Codes used for giving distance by ranges where amenities are not

available are-- Range Code 1 for < 5 Kms; Range Code 2 for 5 to 10 Kms and Range Code 3 for > 10 Kms.

Kachalekha village comes under Kerpai Gram Panchayat. There is a government primary

school under Sava Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the village; children's from neighbouring

villages from Kerpai come for study. Prakalp Upper Primary School is established in

Kachalekha village with hostel facility for the students who come from other villages. There

is no grid electricity connection to these villages, one solar street light has been fixed in the

village through ITDA for children' study. However, there is no senior secondary school/high

school in Kerpai Panchayat, students go to Gunpur high school which is 22 km far away from

the village.

Under the Education Guarantee Scheme, Anandamaya Primary School been established in

Madangguda village in 2002. The Middle School and Senior Secondary Schools are at

Saisuruni within 1 0 kms distance to the village. This village has been declared as the habitat

village by the chief minister of Orissa. Under the Rural Health and Environment Programme,

community water tank, sanitary toilets and bathroom, drainage , villagers live in their own

pucca houses constructed with support of an NGO called Madangguda with housing loan

from H.D.F.C . There is a grain-bank in the village, where villagers gather their extra food

grains and lend among themselves during agricultural lean period. The A WC Centre is also

established in the village for institutional care for the children's.

267

The Primary School is in Ranapur village, however, the middle school and high schools are at

Gunpur which is 5 kms. far away from the village. Turivejiguda village is a remote village,

where there is no primary school. The primary school is at Nakarundi which is 2 kms far

away from the village. The Middle School and High School is at Saisuruni which is 10 kms.

far away from the village.

There is no primary school in Kirkicha village. Children's go to Mohangiri village which is

about 2 kms. far away from Kirkicha. The Middle School and High School is at Gunpur

which is 6 kms. far away from the village. Most of the households have reported that Mid

Day Meals are being served in the school and girls are provided school dress and books

where boys are provided books at a free of cost. Non governmental organizations like Gram

Vikas operates four residential schools for adivasi children since 1982. The Kerandimal M.E

School (1982) and Gram Vikas High School (1988) in Konkia, Ganjam district, provides

education up to Class X. The Mahendra Tanaya Ashram School (1992), Koinpur, Gajapati

district, Gram Vikas Shiksha Niketan (1998) at Kumudabahal under Thuamul Rampur block

of Kalahandi district and Gram Vikas Vidya Vihar (2001) cater for education upto Class VII.

Over 700 adivasi children are enrolled in these schools. Similarly, Antodaya & Parivaitan

NGOs under National Child Labour Project (NCLS) have established schools in Kaniguma

and Ranpur village for those children's who have either dropped out or not enrolled in school

and working as child labourers in others house. The enrolment ratio of the children in NCL

School has increased over the years, the children's are provided with Mid Day Meals and

Rs. 100 as stipend which attracts them to study. After 3 years of their study children's get the

stipend and used it get admission in higher schools.

5.6.4 Health Status of the Villagers

Kalahandi is a district with several deficiencies in services and infrastructures. Especially in

the Thuamul Rampur Block where people are deprived of basic services such as health care

and education facilities. Thuamul Rampur is in an area of difficult terrain and therefore

prevents the community from access to the few facilities that are available. The people of

Thuamul Rampur are more exposed to malarial attacks, matnutrition, and unsafe delivery of

women are major health problems in the sample villages. During FGD it was recorded that

most of the women rely mainly on elderly women from the hamlet for delivery. With the

introduction of ASHA and TBA the situation has shown some improvement. Services of

268

private doctors, or government doctors and nurses are rarely sought as a result of which tribal

folk healers and village quacks get the advantage.

The relatively greater vulnerability to poverty of scheduled castes and tribes, especially in

remote locations is well documented (Mehta and Shah 2001; Thorat and Mahamalick 2006).

The forest dwellers living in most of the 6 villages are largely multi-dimensionally deprived

with low levels of adult literacy, poor quality of water, lack of connectivity, poor health and

education facilities and dearth of livelihood opportunities.

a e . : eat T bl 514 H I h S tatus o t e 1 agers r h v·u whether pregnant mothers and

Households whether children's children below 6 having health in the family years utilized card immunized benefits of the SNP

Villages Yes No Yes No Yes No 0 9 9 0 6 3

Kachalekha (0.0) (14.3) (14.3) (0.0) (9.5) (4.8) 0 10 9 I 2 8

Kerpai (0.0) (15.9) (14.3) (1.6) (3.2) (12.7) 2 16 16 2 9 9

Kirkicha (3.2) (25.4) (25.4) (3.2) (14.3) (14.3) 0 8 7 I 4 4

Madangaguda (0.0) (12.7) (11.1) (1.6) (6.3) (6.3) 0 8 8 0 8 0

Ran a pur (0.0) (12.7) (12.7) (0.0) (12.7) (0.0) 2 8 10 0 8 2

Turivejiguda (3.2) (12.7) (15.9) (0.0) (12.7) (3.2) 4 59 59 4 37 26

Total (6.3) (93.7) (93.7) (6.3) (58.7) (41.3) Source: Pnmary Information

The sample villages which falls under Thuamul Rampur is surrounded by dense forest where

people are more exposed to malarial attacks, malnutrition and hazardous conditions. The

skewed land distribution compels the rural poor to face food insecurity for about 4 to 5

months a year which in tum manifolds the difficulties. Of the sample households hardly 4

households (6.3 per cent) from Kirkicha and Turibhejiguda replied that they have health card

which has been issued by Antodaya NGO under Swasthysshree Health insurance Scheme run

by women federation Banashre Mahila Sagathan. The annual premium for the coverage of

children age between 0 - 14 years for both male and female under the scheme is Rs. 25, for

female between 15-50 years of age is Rs.50, for male age between between 15 -50 years is

Rs.75 and for the persons both male and female having more than 50 years of age is Rs.100

per annum. In the scheme the insured persons are provided with an insurance coverage card

and its validity is for one year. During the coverage period if any health problems occurs and

269

the person consults with doctor, all her/his expenditure (excluding fooding and travelling

expenses) is being reimbursed on produce of the prescription and medicine bills. An insured

person gets reimbursement up toRs. 2000 per annum. However, 93.7 per cent households

under study do not have health card. Around 94 per cent households viewed that children's

being immunized and feed pulse polio every year. Similarly, 58.7 per cent of the households

replied that the pregnant mothers and children below 6 years have utilized the benefit from

the special nutrition programme. Pregnant women have received calcium and iron tablets and

children have been provided with cooked food, urmix, rice at the A WC.

Under the supervision of Gram Vikas NGO in Madangguda village under Gunpur Gram

Panchayat through Rural Health and Environment programme (since 1992) involving 100%

families of each village, wherein creation. of a corpus fund, construction of toilets and bathing

rooms and supply of protected piped drinking water to all families in the village are key

components of the programme. In the 105 villages (over 8,089 families) covered so far, the

communities take care of effective use and maintenance of the infrastructure. Water and

sanitation is the core rallying element bringing communities together and a springboard for

collective action in other spheres as well. In an innovative Habitat programme since 1985

wherein Gram Vikas developed disaster proof housing and community infrastructure with a

view to improving living conditions in villages. Over 3500 families across 170 villages have

been supported with loan funds and technical support in cost effective construction

technologies for building disaster proof houses (45 sq.m.). The programme is linked with

livelihood promotion activities to improve the income and food security of the families.236

5.7 Food Security

Poverty and food security are complex and multidimensional in nature. Poverty leads to

under nutrition and food insecurity by limiting poor people's access to food. About three­

fourth of India's population living in the rural sector is reeling under abject poverty,

illiteracy, ill-health, unemployment, low quality of life and so on. Though absolute poverty in

India has reduced to significant extent, but food insecurity is pervasive in rural areas. This is

linked to the persistence of poverty, especially in some states and locations, for some

occupations, and excluded groups (Mehta and Shah 2003).

236 Web page: http://www.gramvikas.org/

270

Food security is linked with availability, access and absorption. As subsistence agriculture is

the source of livelihood of the tribals and Domba's in the surveyed villages, in most cases it is

forest dependent. During the course of primary survey it was observed that the tribal

households ensure food security for 4- 12 months depending on the asset base. The food

deficit is met with the targeted PDS, special schemes under food safety net and rural

development schemes like SGRY, NREGS, and OTELP etc. The existing food security as

assessed from household survey is displayed in Table 5.15.

Around 22 households (34.9 per cent) have reported that they have secured food for 12

months. However, a major portion of the sample households were in food stress. About 29

households which constitute 46 per cent of the total households have food insecurity for 3 to

5 months in a year. Similarly 9.5 per cent households have deficit of food grains and the

period ranges from less than 3 months to 6 to 11 months in a year. As a whole,· 41 households

which constitute 65.0 per cent of the sample households reported that food insecurity persists

for the specified periods in a year. Food insecurity in directly linked to the defective land

holding structure and the gountia culture in the region. Landlessness, marginal and small land

holdings and lack of irrigation facility in the sample villages are the major cause of food

insecurity.

Table 5.15: Period of Food Security Month Frequency Percent Food stress less than 3 months 6 9.5 Food stress for 3 to 5 months 29 46 Food stress for 6 to 11 months 6 9.5 Secured food for 12 months 22 34.9 Total 63 100 Source: Primary Survey

271

Figure 5.1: Period of Food Security

9.5·

o Less than 3 months • 3 to 5 months o 6 to 11 months o For 12 months

5.7.1 Food Security through Community Grain Bank: A Successful Practice from Thuamul Rampur Grain bank as a concept has been traced from the "Kutumba panthi" means collective village

fund. People store/save food grains to give in terms of obligatory exploitation if Revenue

Inspector (R.I), Forest officer or Police visits the village. This fund was in the hand of some

influencial persons in the village and there was mismanagement and conflict among the

villagers. Under the active guidance of non-governmental organizations like Antodaya,

Parivartan, Gram Vikas, Sahabhagi Vikas Abhiyan, SHGs have established grain banks as a

hedge against starvation deaths in most tribal villages Thuamul Rampur block. Women self

help group are managing this. If somebody has taken grain loan, she/he has to pay 25 per cent

interest for instance per 1 kg rice/mandia they have to repay 1kg 250 grams of food grains.

There is also flexibility in repayment, if the members are not able to pay the food grain they

have borrow, they can give hill brooms, or imli(sour) in return. SHG members keep it and

sell these when the price of this in market is higher and share the profit among themselves. In

the mean while, government sponsored schemes like ITDA also tried to form one grain bank

by taking each 100 families so that it would disburse 66 quintile food grains to the members.

But a hilly area like Thuamul Rampur, it was difficult to find 100 families in one village, so

they include 4 to 5 village to form one grain bank which lead to conflict and

misunderstanding among the members. So ITDA scheme was not that much successful in

promoting grain bank activities. Even after decentralizing the grain bank ITDA scheme was

not that much successful. Then NABARD innovative scheme in the nineties considered grain

saving as saving , gave loan to those SHG members having grain and cash as saving unlike

272

the earlier bank policy where the banks, cooperative societies didn't consider the grains as

saving. This Scheme is running well at present. With a view to synergize the concept of Grain

Banks with that of the Small help Groups (SHGs), two projects were supported by

NABARD, one each in Orissa the following objectives:

a) To explore the possibilities of monetizing the savings in- kind in the form of grains to explore the possibilities of building synergy between SHGs in a village. b) To understand the issues in participatory management of Grain Banks in some of the disadvantaged areas. The Grain Bank project was piloted in the Rampur block of the Kalahandi district with a

mission of exploring the possibility of synergizing the traditional practice of maintaining

grain banks with the SHG. The pilot envisaged monetizing savings in the form of grains by

SHGs enabling participatory management of grain banks by members and securing the . availability of food grains and seeds especially in the post monsoon period. A total number of

17 villages of Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district were covered under the project.

Out of the 353 households in the 17 villages and hamlets, 263 belong to ST category, 42 to

SC and 4 are of OBC category.

The land in this area is hilly land without irrigation facility. The livestock are mostly in the

form of goats and cows. The income level of most of the household is quite low. It was

observed that the food stress period is for about nine months. The agricultural produce meets

the food requirement for onty 2-3 months. A major portion of the produce is used for

liquidating the loan from the moneylender. The lean season of food availability is from May

to September of the year and the food scarcity becomes acute during rainy season. People get

into the clutches of the moneylenders during this period. The nearest bank branch is at

Gunupur about 25 km away.

Three Grain Banks were constructed in Silet, Sikerguda and Maltipadar. All the three are in

active operation in 17 tribal villages of Kerpai and Nakarundi GPs of Thuamul Rampur block

of Kalahandi district.

o Three Grain Bank Committees were constituted with members from different SHGs. o 29 SHGs were promoted by the NGO, Antodaya. 0 SHGs started savings in cash and grain. Savings mobilsed by the SHGs from

members was Rs 1,59,025 and grain of 5,330 kgs (approximately). o The district administration took keen interest in implementing and monitoring the

project. SHGs have received support from external sources such as ITDA and Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Project (OTELP) to an extent of Rs 1.45 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh.

o Cash in hand were to the extent of Rs 11,865, cash in Bank were Rs 3,44,124 and the amount involved in internal lending were of Rs 1,36,642 by the end of May 2008.

o Grains totaling 963 Kgs (rice, paddy, ragi and small millet) have been saved by the groups. Kalahandi Anchalika Gramin Bank provided loan aggregating Rs 3.75lakh to

273

the groups. o The implementation of the pilot project for Grain Bank among others highlighted the

area so much that the Government of Orissa selected it under Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Project (OTELP). The micro watersheds are being developed and livelihood programme are being implemented under the project. Roads are being constructed to improve the connectivity. The flow of funds and the wages in the form of grain and cash have facilitated better standard of living for the people. The scarcity of grain has been reduced to a great extent. But the people are keen to continue with the Grain Bank as the OTELP project will be there for two more years.

At the pre-development stage, about 97% of the families were under food stress during 5-6

months and were under the clutches of money lenders. In the post intervention period no

family was going to the mahajan or the money lender for food grain during scarcity

period.For cash loan the bank linkage is proving adequate. However, occasionally few

families still go to money lenders as the nearest branch is situated 40 km away which gets cut

off during monsoon. People have gained confidence and can hold on to their produce for a

month or so by availing loan from the SHGs. Last year they could sell kandul dal (wild arhar)

at higher price and sold tamarind for Rs 6 per kg as against Rs 2-3 per kg hitherto. The

training programme under the project as well as frequent visits by NGO personnel, Bankers

and NABARD officials have enhanced awareness level among the people of this inaccessible

area. They have succeeded in presentiJ;Ig their problems before the district authorities and

getting their work done.

o There was a campaign against alcoholism in Sikerguda to Maltipadar villages by the women SHG members in December 2007.

o All women members are covered under Swasthyashree Health Insurance Scheme run by women federation Banashree Mahila Sangathan supported by Antodaya.

Encouraged by the successful establishment and maintenance of the Grain Banks by SHGs

formed by tribal communities, NABARD sanctioned another project in the predominantly

tribal areas of Chhattisgarh state involving a grant assistance of Rs. 0.24 million for

construction and establishment of 5 grain banks each in Mylibeda and Merkatola villages of

Bastar and Kanker districts involving SHGs. As at the end of March 2006, 29 SHGs have

been formed under the project and have been provided training on running the grain banks.

5.8 Income from Major Activities

Table 5.15 presents estimates of average income from different sources across categories of

households and villages. Average annual income per household by social groups is calculated

by dividing the total income of the household by the size of the households. Annual income

of the household from cultivation of crops is estimated through the minimum support prices

274

fixed by agricultural department, Govt. of Orissa for the crop year 2009. The value of non­

timber forest produce is estimated through the current market prices. As the sample villages

comes under the Karlapat wildlife sanctuary and the forest department has restricted the

villagers not to go for raising livestocks in the forest, thus, due to lack of encouragement

from government to for rearing livestock hardly few households have livestocks. The value

of the products of livestock is not calculated here as these are mainly used for consumption

purpose.

The average annual income is calculated from all sources including cultivation, wage labour,

non timber forest produce and others (which include income from petty business, renting out

livestocks, renting agricultural implements like power tiller and pension for old people).

Estimated average annual income from all sources for all the sample villages across. social

groups is Rs. 2412.54 per household and the per capita income is Rs.533.99. As the

livelihood of local tribals and Domba's is based upon subsistence agriculture, income from

agriculture is very low and it is nearly Rs.448.62 per annum for all villages across the

categories. Among the social groups, average annual income of STs from cultivation is Rs.

537.03 per; among SCs it is Rs.266.26 and among the OBCs, it is Rs.383.00 per annum.

Thus, the annual income of STs from cultivation is higher than the other categories.

The highest per capita income from all sources is in Kirkicha village. Similarly, Ranpur has

the highest per capita income from cultivation among the STs and again highest across the

categories and other villages of the study sample. This village is having relatively better

irrigation facility through watershed projects implemented in Thuamul Rampur block.

Further, the average annual income from agriculture is higher in three tribal villages such as

Madangguda, Turivejiguda and Kerpai than Kirkicha village which is a less remote village.

Turivejiguda has the highest average income from forest as this village is situated to the hill

tract relatively having better forest resources. This is followed by Madangguda, Ranpur and

Kerpai which has better market linkage through the NGOs such as Gram Vikas, Parivartan

and Sahabhagi Vikas Abhiyan (SSA). It is important to mention here that SCs have relatively

higher than the average per capita income in two villages such as Kirkicha, Kachalekha

except Ranpur. Other three villages are 100 per cent tribal dominant villages. SCs have

highest average annual income per household in two villages such as Kachalekha and

Kirkicha except for Ranapur. As a whole the sample households have an average annual

income of Rs. 2412.54 per household and annual per capita income of Rs.533.99 which is

significantly low than the official poverty line for the district.

275

Villages

Kachalekba

!Kerpai

IKirkicha

Madangguda

Ranapur

ifurivegiguda

All Villages

T bl 516 A a e . : verage A nnua II ncome per H h ld b S ·a1 G ouse o y OCI roups Average Annual Income (All Sources)

rwtivation !waee Labour Forest Others Per llli

sc 118.26 1361.11 62.00 1716.67 3258.22

A_11 118.26 1361.11 62.00 1716.67 3258.22

~T 443.70 1134.00 80.70 90.00 1748.40

~I 443.70 1134.00 80.70 90.00 1748.40

PBC 383.00 2250.00 50.00 350.00 3033.00

sc 470.10 1750.00 72.75 179.00 2472.00

ST 377.93 1625.56 73.78 0.00 2077.22

~II 419.18 1715.56 72.00 99.00 2305.78

ST 605.68 1725.00 89.50 62.50 2482.75

All 605.68 1725.00 89.50 62.50 2482.75

sc 166.67 1365.00 47.00 222.00 1800.67

~T 1082.45 1860.00 110.00 115.00 3167.60

~II 739.03 1674.38 86.38 155.13 2655.00

ST 445.92 1555.00 111.60 145.00 2257.60

All 445.92 1555.00 111.60 145.00 2257.60

OBC 383.00 2250.00 50.00 350.00 3033.00

!i_C 266.26 1517.25 64.05 877.40 2725.10

ST 537.03 1538.57 91.74 81.55 2248.93

All 448.62 1543.10 82.29 338.46 2412.54

Table 5.17: Ownership of Land by Villages

Villages

Kachalekha

Kerpai

Madang guda

Rana Pur

Turivejiguda

Kirkicha

Total

Landless

33.3 (3)

0.0 (0) 0.0 (O)

12.5 (1)

10.0 (1)

5.6 (1)

9.5 (6)

Marginal Farmer(l-2 Acres)

66.7 (6)

40.0 (4)

50.0 (4)

50.0 (4)

80.0 (8)

72.2 (13)

61.9 (39)

276

Small farmers(3-5 Acres)

cw (0)

60.0 (6)

25.0 (2)

25.0 (2)

10.0 (1)

11.1 (2)

20.6 (13)

Large farmers( 6+Acre)

0.0 (O) 0.0 (O)

25.0 (2)

12.5 (1) 0.0 (O)

11.1 (2)

7.9 (5)

Total

100.0 (9)

100.0 (10)

100.0 (8)

100.0 (8)

100.0 (10)

100.0 (18)

100.0 (63)

Percapita

641.66

641.66

453.71

453.71

433.29

649.34

505.08

565.21

557.64

557.64

380.40

621.60

531.15

444.55

444.55

433.29

605.54

502.32

533.99

As it is observed that 57 out of 63 i.e., 90.5 per cent of the sample households had reported

ownership of land. However, 6 households were landless and were depended upon wage

labour and other sources for maintaining their livelihood. Majority of 39 i.e., 61.9 per cent of

the sample households were marginal farmers possessing 1 to 2 acres of land; 13 households

i.e., 20.6 per cent of the study sample are small farmers those who possess 3 to 5 acres of

land and finally households i.e., 7.9 per cent of the sample households are large farmers who

possess more than 6 acres of agricultural land. Thus, it is clear that majority of the households

belongs to the marginal land holding categories.

T bl 518 0 a e . : hi f L d b C te/T .b wners 1po an y as n e

Marginal Small Large Farmer(l- farmers(3- farmers(

Caste/Category Landless 2 Acres) 5 Acres) 6+ Acre) Total

25.0 70.0 5.0 0.0 100.0

Domba/SC (5) (14) (1) {0) {20) 0.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 100.0

Gouda/OBC {0) {1) {0) {0) {1) 2.4 57.1 28.6 11.9 100.0

Kandha/ST {1) {24) {12) {5) {42)

9.5 61.9 20.6 7.9 100.0

Total (6) (39) (13) (5) (63)

Ownership of land by social groups in the Table.5.07 shows that among the Kandha tribe, 24

i.e., 57.1 per cent of the sample households possess 1 to 2 acres of agricultural land; 12

households i.e., 28.6 per cent of the sample households possess 3 to 5 acres of land and 5

households i.e., 11.9 per cent of the study sample are large farmers possessing more than 6

acres of land. Hardly, 1 Kandha household is in the category of landless labourer. Where as

among the Domba (SCs), 5 households i.e., 25 per cent of the sample households are landless

labourer; 14 households (70.0 per cent) owned 1 to 2 acres of land and hardly 1 household

possess 3 to 5 acres of land. One household from Gouda (OBC) of the study sample falls

under the marginal land holding category merely possessing 1 to 2 acres of land.

Thus, the land ownership pattern among the major social groups shows that Kandha

(STs) are the major land owning groups in the sample villages compared to SCs and OBCs.

As Thuamul Rampur is an ITDA block, it's the Kandha tribe who is the main inhabitant of

this region; they possess physical assets such as agricultural land and also practice shifting

cultivation such as pulses (Kandul). As the Kandhas took the help of the Damba's in terms of

trading agricultural produces and assist them in agricultural activities, latter on land

transactions through leasing, sharing and mortgaging has been reported by a small sections of

the tribal households during crisis such as crop failures, health problems in the family etc.

277

Thus, tribal land alienation has been a continuous process in the district. The historical

perspective of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods illustrates two important

processes: (i) encroachment of tribal (Kandha) land by Kultas, which led to the control of

productive assets by gountias, money-lenders, traders, middlemen and rich farmers mostly

belonging to higher castes, and (ii) disentitlement, which deprived tribals of their rights over

land, forest and water (Suranjita Ray 2010).

5.9 Ownership of Assets

There is a need to move efforts to measure poverty dynamics beyond mere income and

consumption to more multidimensional concepts and measures of poverty. This might

involve assets, or more ambitiously, using concepts of human development or well-being

(Hulme and Kanbur, 2009). Asset accumulation serves as a potential exit avenue for chronic

poverty. Assets also help individuals reduce their vulnerability to shocks in that with assets,

individuals are less subject to fluctuations in the short and medium term (Hulme and McKay,

2005). SHGs may also lead to asset dilution through their demand for frequent repayment

installments. In order to meet this demand, households may borrow from other sources,

liquidate assets prematurely, or invest in an inefficient amount of liquid assets. Studies on

SHGs in India and else where shows that Self Help Group participation on a long term

positively impact asset creation. Indian Self Help Groups (SHGs) are unique in that they are

mainly NGO-formed microfinance groups but later funded by commercial banks. The results

reveal that longer membership in SHGs positively impacts asset creation, robust to various

asset specifications. The impact occurs primarily through livestock accumulation and savings.

Members move away from pure agriculture as an income source towards other types of

income. Training by NGOs positively impacts asset creation but the type of SHG linkage per

se has no effect (Swain and Varghese, 2008).

The present study employs the Household Wealth Index to capture the impact of SHG

participation in asset creation among the sample households in different villages. The Wealth

Index calculated which reflects that among the sample villages Madangaguda (Habitat

Village) comes under high asset owned category compared to other villages. Forty two per

cent of the sample households from this village come under the high asset owned category,

hence having a better quality of life. In the second category 28.6 per cent households comes

under the medium asset owned households from Ranpur village. Nineteen per cent

households come under the medium category from villages like Kachalekha, Kerpai and

Kirkicha respectively. The poorest households in terms of possessing low assets are observed

278

to be in villages such as Kirkicha (47.8%), Turivejiguda (26.1%) and Kerpai (21.7%). Thus,

it is clear that Madangguda village performs better in terms of asset accumulation which

comes under high wealth index and Kirkicha and Turivejiguda poorest in asset creation

performs low in wealth index and finally Ranpur, Kachlekha and Kerpai comes under the

medium asset owned households and medium in the wealth index (See Table 5.19).

Tabl 519 n· t "b ti fH h ld b W lth I d e . : IS n u on o ouse o s )!_ ea n ex an d Village Village Percentage Wealth Index

Low Medium High Total Kachalekha Count I 4 4 9

%within Wealth Index 4.30% I9.00% 21.10% I4.30%

Kerpai Count 5 4 I 10 %within Wealth Index 21.70% I9.00% 5.30% I5.90%

Kirkicha Count 11 4 3 I8 %within Wealth Index 47.80% I9.00% I5.80% 28.60%

Madang Count 0 0 8 8 guda %within

Wealth Index 0.00% 0.00% 42.IO% I2.70%

Rana Pur Count 0 6 2 8 %within Wealth Index 0.00% 28.60% 10.50% I2.70%

Turivejiguda Count 6 3 I 10 %within Wealth Index 26.IO% I4.30% 5.30% I5.90%

Total Count 23 2I I9 63 %within Wealth Index 100.00% 100.00% IOO.OO% IOO.OO%

T bl 5 20 n· t "b . fH h ld b W I hI d a e . : IS n ution o ouse o S)l'_ eat n ex an dCt a egory

Category

OBC sc ST Total

Wealth Index Low Count 0 5 18 23

% within category .0% 25.0% 42.9% 36.5%

Medium Count 1 8 12 21

% within category 100.0% 40.0% 28.6% 33.3%

High Count 0 7 12 19

% within category .0% 35.0% 28.6% 30.2%

Total Count 1 20 42 63

279

Category

OBC sc ST Total

Wealth Index Low Count 0 5 18 23

% within category .0% 25.0% 42.9% 36.5%

Medium Count 1 8 12 21

% within category 100.0% 40.0% 28.6% 33.3%

High Count 0 7 12 19

% within category .0% 35.0% 28.6% 30.2%

Total Count 1 20 42 63

% within category 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Social group wise SCs comes under the medium and high asset owned households category

after joining SHGs. Forty per cent households belong to medium and 35 per cent households

belongs to high asset owned households among SCs. Majority of 42.9 per cent households of

the sample study belong to STS are from low asset owned households category. Thus, the

possession of assets among SCs are more than the STs. Considering the asset impact, the

study finds positive impact for borrowers in relation to a control group of non-borrowers

(Table 5.20).

5.10 Government Schemes

Government schemes & programmes such as District Primary Education

Programme(DPEP), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Orissa Tribal

Empowerment and Livelihood Programmes(OTELP), Orissa Rural Employment Guarantee

scheme are some of the major schemes implemented in Thuamul Rampur block through the

district administration. We made enquries about the impact of these schemes in terms of the

number and beneficiaries in the area (See Table.5.21).

Table 5.21(a): Benefit from Government Schemes Financial Assistance

Housing PDS Schemes Health

Housing( Indira Loan Janashree A was from Access Old age Bima

Category Yojana Bank) toPDS Pensions Yojana I CDS 1 8 58 3 0 30

Yes (1.6) (12.7) (92.1) (4.8) (0.0) (47.6) 62 55 15 60 63 33

No (98.4) (87.3) (23.8) (95.2) (100.0) (52.4)

From various government schemes, only one household (1.6 per cent) got Rs.22,000 for

construction of house under Indira Awas Yojana(IAY); 8 households(12.7 per cent) from

280

Madangguda village got housing loan from H.D.F.C. bank with the help of Gram Vikas NGO

working in the village. Under the public distribution system, 58 households (92.1 per cent)

have reported that they have access to ration from the fair price ration shop; however, 15

households (23.8 per cent) revealed that they don't have access to the ration shop as they

don't possess ration card. Three households which constitute 4.8 per cent of the study sample

reported that the old persons of their household are getting pension of Rs. 200 per month

under Madhubabu Pension Y ojana of the state government. No household reported getting

benefit from Janashree Bima Yojana. Under the ICDS scheme, 30 households which

constitute 47.6 per cent of the study sample reported that their children are provided with the

institutional care and nutritious food etc. However, majority of 33 households (52.4 per cent)

of the study sample viewed that villagers are deprived of such institutional care from ICDS

schemes as these villages are situated in n remote location. Thus, it is clear that the outreach

of the schemes to these remote villages is very much limited in nature.

T bl s 2t(b) v·n a e . : I age WISe w age E I m pJoymen t b d"ffi n 1 eren tS h c emes ITDA

Food for Schemes/ road Forest Watershed Work construction in department/

Village NREGS OTELP management Pr~amme the tribal areas Wage labour

Kachlekha 89 62 0 7 0 0

Kerpai 40 104 0 0 0 0

Madang guda 60 49 15 0 20 15

Ran Pur 128 0 39 0 7 0 Turivegiguda 82 70 0 0 12 0 Kirkicha 176 96 17 5 5 4

Total 575 381 71 12 44 19

Table 5.21(b & c)- provides information on employment by different schemes i.e., NREGS,

OTELP, Watershed management, food for work programme, construction of roads through

ITDA and wage labour through forest department. It is observed that 111 workers (principal)

belonging to 63 households have worked under various schemes implemented in the region.

Together, these workers were engaged for 17 days per household. The average number of

days thus works out to be 9 per worker. Thus, it suggests that development schemes and

programmes implemented in the region are not sufficient to generate wage employment for

the villagers as per the survey.

281

T bl 5 21( ) P a e . c : erson D fE ayso b d"ffi mp10yment »y 1 eren tS h c emes Days per worker engaged in particular

Villages HHs Worker Days DaysperHH activity 9

Kachalekha (14.3)* 10

Kerpai (15.9) 8

Madangaguda (12.7) 8

Ran Pur (12.7) 10

Turivejiguda (15.9) 18

Kirkicha (28.6) 63

Total (100) Notes: *Percentage of Total HHs ** No. of workers per households

5.11 Sources of Credit

13 (1.4)** 158 17.6 12.2

18 (1.8) 144 14.4 8.0

19 (2.4) 159 19.9 8.4

17 (2.1) 174 21.8 10.2

18 (1.8) 164 16.4 9.1 26

(1.4) 303 16.8 11.7 111

(1.8) 1102 17.5 9.9

Villagers depend on credit for 4 to 5 months. This loan is taken in terms of money and food

grains. If somebody lends Rs.l 000, she/he has to pay Rs.500 as interest at the end of the year.

If five mana( mana unit of weighing 1 mana= 3 to 3 Y2 Kg) food grains are borrowed, then one

is supposed to return 10 mana rice at the end of the year. If the loan is not repaid at the end

of the year, one has to pay 2 per cent interest including the amount borrowed. Now-a-days

villagers are taking less amount of loan from the money lenders. Earlier villagers need not to

keep anything in terms of mortagage for lending, at present they have to keep utensils', silver,

gold, land documents in terms of mortgage to get loan from the village money lender.

a e . : T bl 5 22 S fF dM ources o 00 ana em en tth rougJ e hth y ear

Forest Agriculture & products for Loan for Loan

Months Podu Cr()}!_s food W~es food Repayment

Magha(Jan-Feb) 30 days 30 days - - -

Phagun(Feb-Mar) 30 days 30 days

8-10 days in Chait(Mar-Apr) -- 5-7 days shape of grain 15 days --

Baisakh(Apr-May) -- 20 days -- 10 days --Landi(May-Jun) -- 20 days -- 10 days --

Gundicha(Jun-Jul) -- 20 days -- 10 days --

282

I 0 days in shape Shravan(Jul-Aug) -- 5 days of grains 15 days

Bhodo(Aug-Sep) 20 days -- 5 days in grain 5 days

Dashara(Sep-Oct) 10 days 15 days -- 5 days

Deel, Pando, Pusha(Nov-Dec) 60 days+ 10 days --

150 days 155-157 days 23-25 days 70 days *People take loan dunng May-June and repay dunng next December-January-February

Source: Based on focus group discussion with the villagers

--

--

--

Repayments

Table 5.22 shows the sources of food management of the villagers throughout the year. The

agriculture or podu cultivation provides food security only for 150 days in a year; for another

157 days people are dependent upon forest resources. They collect the non-timber forest

produce such as Jhudang, Kandul, Kating, Alsi, mustard etc. Public works like construction

of road, watershed works etc. provides wage employment for 25 days in a year. To meet food

requirements, during the agricultural lean period, villagers take loan from the local money

lenders. For seventy days in a year villagers are dependent upon loan to purchase food grains.

Villagers take loan during agricultural lean period from the money lender and return it during

the harvesting period i.e., in November to December (See Table 5.22).

5.12 Produced Food grains and the Rural Market

Villagers depend upon agriculture. Except this they also depend upon the minor forest

produce, manual labor and credit from formal and informal sources for maintaining their

livelihood. Majority of the households are below poverty line. All the villagers are dependent

upon the local market that is situated at Saisuruni and at Bhawanipatna, the district

headquarter. Here the villager's purchase the food items and sells the minor forest products in

these two markets. Saisuruni market is a weekly market. In this local market self-help group

members sell Jhudang, Kandul, Kating, Alsi, mustard. Some women self-help group

members are running the public distribution system under which they sell kerosene and salt.

Innocent and illiterate villagers are being exploited in various ways by the businessman.

While purchasing the NTFP products and food grains, the businessman tries to show their

smartness and exploited them.

283

5.13 Monthly Per capita Expenditure and Poverty Estimates

Table 5.23(a) presents estimates of poverty among the various categories of poor such as

severe poor, medium poor, moderate poor, and non-poor respectively. As per the MPCE

analysis, the major portion of the sample households are the non-poor (54%), where as 19%

belong to the category of moderate poor, about 14 % belongs to severe poor category and

rest 13% of the sample households belong to the medium poor. Thus, the distribution of

poverty level among the sample households shows that the percentage of non-poor

households under the study sample are higher to all categories of poor.

Table 5.23 (a):

Severe Poor 9 14.28 Medium Poor 8 12.69 Moderate Poor 12 19.04 Non Poor 34 53.96 Total 63 100

Figu-e: 5.2 Distribution of Poverty Level in the Sample Household.

a Severe Poor

,/ \._~4%

aM::> derate Poor -.. -... _

aNon Poor

Table 5.23(b) presents estimates of poverty among the sample households. It is observed that

14 per cent of the households belong to the category of severe poor, where as about 13 per

cent households belong to the category of medium poor. Together they constitute hard core

poor in the region, where the consumption expenditure level is > 25 per cent below the

poverty line. This leaves about 73 per cent of the households, out of which only 19 per cent

are moderate poor and highest 54 per cent are non-poor.

284

Table 5.23 (b): Incidence of Poverty amon~ Sample Households

MPCE (Rs.) Severe Medium Moderate Non

Name of Villa~es Poor Poor Poor Poor Total

Kachalekha 0.00 0.00 33.30 66.70 100.00 % (n) ( 0) (0) (3) (6) (9)

Kerpai 10.00 20.00 10.00 60.00 100.00 % (n) (1) (2) (1) (6) (10) Kirk.icha 27.80 5.60 22.20 44.40 100.00 % (n) (5) (1) (4) (8) (18)

Madangaguda 0.00 12.50 25.00 62.50 100.00 % (n) (0) (1) (2) (5) (8)

Ranapur 37.50 0.00 0.00 62.50 100.00 % (n) (3) (0) (0) (5) (8) Turivejiguda 0.00 40.00 20.00 40.00 100.00 % (n) (0) (4) (2) (4) (10)

All Villages 14.30 12.70 19.00 54.00 100.00 % (n) (9) (8) (12) (34) (63)

Note: Figure m parentheses mdtcate number of households

5.13.1 Incidence of Poverty among the Social Groups in the Sample Villages

The incidence of poverty among the SCs and STs gives a clear picture of the respondents in

the sample villages. Majority of the tribal households in the study sample are the land owning

groups as Thuamul Rampur comes under the ITDA block and they have better access to the

wage employment programmes from government Schemes meant for them. Thus, it is found

that based on the ownership of assets mostly agricultural land and the monthly per capita

expenditure ST households can be divided into non-poor, moderate poor, medium poor and

severe poor. Secondly, though the major portion of SCs are marginal and land less

households, however, they are mobile in terms of searching wage employments and

undertaking petty business in the respective villages, thus based on their monthly

expenditure and living standards, major portion of them are either non-poor or moderate

poor and others as severe poor. However, the percentage of severe poor households among

the SCs are marginal compared to the STs. Thirdly, in the study sample hardly one member is

from OBC category and the economic condition of this household is far better than the SC

and ST household, hence it falls in the moderate poor category.

a e . c : T bl 5 23 ( ) MPCE G roup JY as an b C te d Viii ag~ MPCE(Rs.) Total

Villages Caste Severe Poor Medium Poor Moderate Poor Non Poor Kachalekha sc 0.00 0.00 33.30% 66.70% 100.00%

All 0.00 0.00 33.30% 66.70% 100.00% Kerpai ST 10.00% 20.00% 10.00% 60.00% 100.00%

All 10.00% 20.00% 10.00% 60.00% 100.00% Kirkicha OBC 0.00 0.00 100.00% 0.00 100.00%

285

sc 12.50% 0.00 25.00% 62.50% 100.00% ST 44.40% 11.10% 11.10% 33.30% 100.00% All 27.80% 5.60% 22.20% 44.40% 100.00%

Madangaguda ST 0.00 12.50% 25.00% 62.50% 100.00% All 0.00 12.50% 25.00% 62.50% 100.00%

Ranapur sc 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00% 100.00% ST 60.00% 0.00 0.00 40.00% 100.00% All 37.50% 0.00 0.00 62.50% 100.00%

Turivejiguda ST 0.00 40.00% 20.00% 40.00% 100.00% All 0.00 40.00% 20.00% 40.00% 100.00%

All Villages OBC 0.00 0.00 100.00% 0.00 100.00% sc 5.00% 0.00 25.00% 70.00% 100.00% ST 19.00% 19.00% 14.30% 47.60% 100.00% All 14.30% 12.70% 19.00% 54.00% 100.00%

It is observed from the Table 5.23 (c) that among the SCs 5 per cent households belong to the

category of severe poor, where as 25 per cent belong to the category of moderate poor and

majority of the households (70%) within this category are non-poor. Among the STs about 19

per cent of households belongs to severe poor and medium poor category, where as 14 per

cent households belongs to moderate poor and 48 per cent belongs to non-poor category.

Thus, the estimates in Table 5.23 (c) indicates that the incidence of poverty is highest among

the STs (52.30 per cent), followed by SCs (30 per cent). Majority of 19 per cent households

among STs belong to severe poor category as compared to 5 per cent households in the case

of SCs. Together(both severe and medium poor) 38 per cent constitute hard core/chronic

poor among the STs.

5.14 Women's Self Help Groups

The starting point of formation of SHGs is either thrift and credit or education and health.

SHGs are expected to focus on poverty alleviation and women's empowerment, specifically

including the asset-less poor who are considered non-bankables and have been by-passed by

the banking system. However, it can not assume that all the SHG members are poor family or

all those by-passed by the banking system are "absolute poor" ?37 According to the Census of

India (2001), 70% of the total rural population does not have access to banking services

(savings or credit through the formal banking system). If we compare this with the estimates

of poverty in India - 25-50% of the rural population. Thus, it is clear that it is not only the

poor who are excluded from banking services.

237 Self Help Groups in India: A Study of the Lights and Shades, A Joint Initiative of CARE, CRS, USAID & GTZ, 2006, p.31.

286

5.14.1 General SHG Profile

Before analyzing data for the SHG members, it is here important to look at the SHP A

approaches to targeting and to group formation in the sample villages. A Self Help Group

(SHG) has an average size of about 15 people from a homogeneous class. They come

together for addressing their common problems. Nine Self-help groups were studied which

were selected from six villages in three different gram panchayats such as Gunpur, Kerpai,

Nakarundi. All the self-help groups are in the name of tribal God/Goddess. The range of the

SHGs is lowest 10 and highest is 19 because the SHGs exceeding the number of SHG

members above twenty needs to be registered.

Table 5.24 provides the profile of the SHGs promoted by different SHPis, federation of these

groups at the block level etc. The details of income generating activities undertaken by

different SHGs is shown in Table 5:25.

Kachalekha village comes under Kerpai Gram panchayat and it has a SHG named as Maa

Bhagawati. Total number of SHG members is 10 out of which nine respondents were

interviewed. The name of the cluster is Banashree Mahila Sangh. The SHG members have

undergone training for making hill brooms, make leaf plates, processing Kandul dal with the

machine provided to them and sell them in the nearest market at Saisuruni and presently

SHGs also running PDS outlets.

In Ke!J>ai Gram Panchayat there is one SHG named as Sarala. Total number of SHG

members is 18 out of which 10 respondents were surveyed during the field visit. The name of

the cluster of this SHG is Banashree Mahila Sangh. Sahabhagi Vikas Abhiyan and the

DRDA's Utkal Gramya Bank have provided training and guidance for starting micro­

enterprises such as poultry and raising livestock. Other SHG members have taken land in

lease and engaged in vegetable and oil seed cultivation like cabbage and sun flower etc.

Machine is provided to the SHG members to process Kandul (pulse). Like the SHG members

in Kachlekha, women members of the SHGs have been provided training to prepare hill

brooms and sell these in the local market. Cattle shed is made for keeping goat and all SHG

members were about to get goat through loan from the Gramya bank.

Madangguda which is the model village and the chief-minister visited the village in 2002 and

declared this village as a habitat village. Under the guidance of Gram Vikas NGO and

through Rural Health & Environment Programme, various development activities have been

initiated in this village. Villagers are provided with drinking water facility through tape

water, proper drainage system, and internal road has been constructed for the villagers. Semi­

pucca houses are constructed for the villagers through the cooperation of Gram Vikas NGO

287

and supporting the villagers to avail housing loan from H.D.F.C. bank. Villagers are engaged

in vegetable and paddy cultivation through stream water. There is a SHG named as

Budharaja. Total numbers of SHG members is 10 and one member has drop out from the

group. Total number of respondents surveyed from this village is 8. Most of the SHG

members who have taken loan have gone for cultivation and petty business.

The name of the SHG in Ranpur village is called Maa Dokri Women SHG. Total number of

SHG members is 18 out of which one member had dropout due to migrating to the

neighbouring village. Total numbers of respondents are eight. Name of the cluster is

Banabasi Anchalika Mahila Cooperative. The SHG members are engaged in raising

livestock, banana cultivation, making hill brooms, selling bangles etc for earning.

Turivejiguda falls under Gunpur Gram panchayat, there are three SHGs named Khandwal (12

members), Dokri (15 members) & Thangigadi (14 members). Ou~ of 41 self help group

members only 10 members were present from this village during the field study. The SHG

members had a campaign against alcoholism. SHG members have started some petty

business in poultry and raising livestock, selling dry fish, chili and minor forest products and

hill brooms in the nearest market.

In Kirkicha village there are 2 SHGs named as Brundabati and Sindhusuta and each SHG is

comprised of 9 members. These SHGs were formed by the Integrated Child Development

Scheme and Watershed Department by the district administration. Name of the cluster is

Banashree Mahila Sangathan. The SHG members have started petty-business such as

purchasing dry fish and sell it in the neighboring villages; others sell the bangles etc. after

getting loan from Utkal Gramya Bank, Gunpur Branch. Other members are engaged in

cultivation of crops and infrastructure for cultivation. Training and guidance is provided to

these SHGs by Antodaya NGO to the SHG members to starting the income generating

activities.

288

a e : IY T bl 5 24 Stud S ample: S lD SIX V 1 SHG . ill ag_es With SHG

Name of the SHPA federation/ Bank Sl SHG& Name of Name of the Name of Category: Cluster Linkage Year of Type of No members theGP village the Block NGO/Govt. association with Formation Group

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Utkal

Brundabati Banashree Gramya (7), Sindhu Th. Antodaya, Mahila Bank,

1 Suta (11) Gun pur Kirkicha Ram pur ICDS Sangathan Gun pur 2001 Female

Ban a basi Utkal Anchalika Gramya

Budharaja Th. Mahila Bank, 2 (10) Gunpur Madangaguda Ram pur Gram Vikas Samabaya Gun pur 2002 Female

Ban a basi Utkal Anchalika Gramya

Maa Dokri Th. Mahila Bank, 4 (18) Gun pur Ranapur Ram pur Parivartan Samabaya Gun pur 2002 Female

Khandual (12), Dokri Utkal (15), Banashree Gramya Thangigadi Turi Th. Mahila Bank,

5 (14) Nakrundi Bhejiguda Ram pur Antodaya Sangathan Gun pur 2001 Female Utkal

Maa Sahabhagi Banashree Gramya Bhagawati Th. Vikas Mahila Bank,

6 (10) Kerpai Kachalekha Ram pur Abhiyan Sangh Gunpur 2003 Female Utkal

Sahabhagi Banashree Gramya Th. Vikas Mahila Bank,

7 Sarala (18) Kerpai Kerpai Ram pur .. Abhiyan Sangh Gun pur 2003 Female ..

Source: During F1eld VJSJts Source: Compiled from the filed data

T bl 5 25 A ti ·r U d rtak Aft G tf L a e . : c VIleS n e en er e mg oan

Groups Activities

Name Cultivation Micro-enterprise

I 2 3

Making hill brooms, leaf plates, processing Kandul dal, MB - running PDS outlets

Vegetable, oilseed and SA paddy cultivation Poultry, raising livestock

Paddy cultivation, infrastructure for

BR cultivation Raising livestock, petty shop

Paddy & banana MD cultivation Making hill brooms, selling bangles, raising livestock

Paddy cultivation, KL,DK & infrastructure for Purchase & sell of dry fish, chili and minor forest products

TG cultivation & making hill brooms, poultry & raising livestock

Paddy cultivation, infrastructure for

BB,SS cultivation Purchase & sell of dry fish , petty shop

289

Table 5.26 gives membership details and drop out rates from the sample SHGs. Hardly 2

members have dropped out from Budha Raja(BR) SHG of Gram Vikas and another from

Parivartan. The reasons for leaving out the group is mainly migration( left the village).

Table 5.26: Membership Structure of Sample SHGs

No. of SHG No. of

Total Members SHG Members drop out Members in the from the Interviewe

NameofSHGs SHPA/NGO Groups group d Sahabhagi Vikas

Maa Bhagawati (MB) Abhiyan 10 . 0 9 Sahabhagi Vikas

Sarala(SA) Abhiyan 18 0 10

Budha Raja(BR) Gram Vikas 10 1 8

Maa Dokri(MD) Parivartan 18 1 8 Khandual( KL), Dokri (DK), Thangigadi (TG) Antodaya 41 0 10

Brundabati(BNB) Sindhu Suta(SS) Antodaya 18 0 18

Total 115 2 63 5.14.2 Age Composition

Data on the age composition of the respondents shows that SHGs have concentrated more on

the younger age groups. Data on age composition of the respondents shows that maximum

women SHG members under the study were of age group between 31 to 45 years which

account for 44.4per cent of the total members (Table 5.27). On the other hand, 19 members,

accounting 30.2 per cent of the total sample are coming under the age group between 15 to

30, while 25.4 per cent members, belong to the age group of 46 and above.

T bl 5 27 Cl "fi f SHG M b di h . A a e . : ass1 1cabon o em ersaccor ng tot e1r ~ge

Age(in years)

15-30 31-45 46& Total

Village Name of the WSHG above

5 3 1 9 Kachalekha Maa Bhagawati (MB) (7.9) (4.8) (1.6) (100.0)

3 6 1 10 Kerpai Sarala(SA) (4.8) (9.5) (1.6) (100.0)

1 3 4 8 Madangguda Budha Raja(BR) (1.6) (4.8) (6.3) (100.0)

2 4 2 8 Rana Pur Maa Dokri(MD) (3.2) (6.3) (3.2) (100.0)

Khandual( KL), Dokri (DK), Thangigadi 4 3 3 10

Turivejiguda (TG) (6.3) (4.8) (4.8) (100.0)

Brundabati(BB) 4 9 5 18 Kirkicha Sindhu Suta(SS) (6.3) (14.3) (7.9) (100.0)

19 28 16 63 All (30.2) (44.4) (25.4) (100.0)

Note: F1gures m brackets are Percentage Share of the Total

290

At the SHG level, majority of younger age group SHGs are concentrated in Maa Bhagawati

(MB) and Khandual( KL), Dokri (DK), Thangigadi (TG) who come under the age group 15

to 30. SHGs like Sarala(SA), Maa Dokri(MD) and Brundabati(BB) Sindhu Suta(SS) have

maximum women members those belongs to the age group of 31 to 45. However, in Budha

Raja(BR) majority of the members belongs to the age group of 46 and above.

5.14.3 Level of Education

Education has a vital role in getting access to modes and channels of awareness generation.

Village women are generally illiterate. Thus, the study analyses the social role played by the

women SHGs not only to enhance level of awareness and reasoning, but also in increasing

the confidence and moral boosting of the program participants especially among the Dalit and

Adivasi women.

Table 5.28: Classification of SHG Members according to their Education

Education(in Years)

llliterate Read 1st- 5th Total Name of the & Primary

Village WSHG Write

Maa Bhagawati 2 6 1 9 Kachalekha (MB) (3.2) (9.5) (1.6) (100.0)

8 2 0 10 Kerpai Sarala(SA) (12.7) (3.2) (0.0) (100.0)

Madang 5 2 1 8 guda Budha Raja(BR) (7.9) (3.2) (1.6) (100.0)

3 4 1 8 Rana Pur Maa Dokri(MD) (4.8) (6.3) (1.6) (100.0)

Khandual( KL), Dokri (DK), 2 8 0 10

Turivejiguda Thangigadi (TG) (3.2) (12.7) (0.0) (100.0)

Brundabati(BNB) 7 9 18 Kirkicha Sindhu Suta(SS) (11.1) (14.3) 2 (3.2) (100.0)

27 31 5 63 All (42.9) (49.2) (7.9) (100.0)

Note: Figures in brackets are Percentage Share of the Total

It is found that 42.9 per cent SHG members are illiterate (Table 5.28). On the other hand,

who can read and write only, have highest share (49.2 per cent of the total members) than

291

members having formal education (7.9 per cent). This shows that 92 per cent of the members

have not attended any school.

The higher share of illiteracy (12.7 per cent) is observed among the members in Sarala (SA)

SHG in Kerpai Village. While in Brundabati(BNB) Sindhu Suta(SS), the share of members

having formal schooling (3.2 per cent) which is higher than other SHGs. Majority of 12.7 per

cent of the members from Khandual ( KL), Dokri (DK), Thangigadi (TG) can read and write

through they have not got any formal education. Thus it is clear that all the SHGs are

heterogeneous groups in respect of their education which could have differential impact on

income generation, loan disbursement among and others.

5.14.4 Social Composition of the SHG members

Caste plays an important role in the social system and politics in India. Caste has become an

instrument to promote economic interest through political and social mobilisation. As the

main objective of the study were to explore the micro credit requirements of the

disadvantaged groups like SC and ST women. Majority of the respondents interviewed

during the field visit belong to the Kandha tribe (STs), Domba (SCs) and only one household

is from other backward caste (OBC).

Table 5 29 n· t "b ti . : IS n u on o em ers JY as f SHG M b b C teffribe Caste/Category Frequency Percent

Domba/SC 20 31.7

Gouda/OBC 1 1.6

Kandha/ST 42 66.7

Total 63 100

Social composition of SHG members shows that the major part of respondents belonged to

Kandha/STs (66.7 per cent), followed by Domba/SCs (31.7 per cent) and backward castes 1.6

per cent (Table 5.29).

5.14.5 Marital Status

Of the 63 respondents, 81 per cent were married members and only 7.9 per cent were

unmarried members. The sample constituted of 11.1 per cent widows (Table 5.30).

292

Table 5.30: Marital Status of the SHG Members

Marital Status Frequency Percentage

Single 5 7.9

Married 51 81.0

Widow 7 11.1

Divorcee 0 0.0

Separated 0 0.0

Total 63 100

5.14.6 Member's Position in the group

Since the group formation, of the 63 SHG members, 29 respondents (46.0 per cent) are

the office bearers such as President, Secretary, Treasurer etc. who are selected in the rotation

basis by the group members (Table 5.31 a ). Another 34 members (54.0 per cent) are the

members of the group. 15 respondents (51.7 per cent) are in the post of President, 11

respondents (37.9 per cent) are in the post of Secretary, 3 respondents (10.3 per cent) are

Treasurers in different groups in the sample villages.

T bi 5.31 ( ) om b · h a e a: ICe earer m t e group Category Frequency Percent

Yes 29 46.0

No 34 54.0

Total 63 100.0

Table 5.31 (b): Position of the SHG Members Frequency Percent

President 15 51.7

Secretary 11 37.9

Treasurer 3 10.3

Total 29 100.0

Village level organizations such as Mahila Mandai, Youth organizations, A WC, NGOs

working at the village were existent observed in the sample villages before the SHG

formation. Of the study sample, 16 members who constitute 25.4 per cent have joined these

organizations. However, a majority of 47 respondents (76.6 per cent) were not the member of

any organization. Of the 16 respondents, 2 members were working as ICDS worker, 8

293

members were member in the Mahila Mandai, 4 respondents have joined the youth

organization, 1 member each have membership as President in the existing Anganwadi Group

and member of the NGO (Sahabhagi Abhiyan) which is working in Kerpai Gram Panchayat.

e orejoinin Table 5.32 (a): B ~ SHG whether jomed any 2ro up/organization Category Frequency Percent

Yes 16 25.4

No 47 74.6

Total 63 100.0

Tab 2 le 5.3 (b): Hyes then name of the 2roup/or2aniz ation Category Frequency Percent

ICDS worker 2 12.5

Mahila Mandai 8 50.0

President in Anganwadi 1 6.2

Group

NGO Staff 1 6.2

Youth Organization 4 25.0

Total 16 100.0

5.14. 7 Occupational Status The occupational classification of the SHG members gives an idea about the nature of work

of the SHG members and the economic status of the family members.

Table 5.33 (a) Pri : mary 0 f h d ccupation o t e respon ents b oth before an te d af r joining SHG

Name of the villa_ge Agriculture Wa_ge Labour Petty Business

7 2 0 Before (11.1) (3.2) {0.0)

7 0 2 Kachalekha After (11.1) (0.0) ( 3.2)

10 0 0 Before (15.9) (0.0) (0.0)

10 0 0 Kerpai After (15.9) {0.0) (0.0)

8 0 0 Before (12.7) (0.0) (0.0}

8 0 0 Madang guda After (12.7} (0.0} {0.0}

7 1 0 Before (11.1} (1.6} (0.0}

7 0 1 Ranapur After {11.1} (0.0} {1.6}

9 1 0 Turivejiguda Before {14.3} {1.6} {0.0)

294

9 0 1 After {14.3) {0.0} {1.6}

17 1 0 Before (27.0} {1.6) {0.0}

17 1 0 Kirkicha After (27.0} {1.6} {0.0}

58 5 0

All Villages Before {92.0) {8.0} {0.0}

58 1 4 After {92.0} {1.6} {6.4}

Note: Figures in brackets are Percentage Share of the total

Primary occupation of the members of the sample households can be broadly categorized into

agriculture, wage labour and petty business etc. Majority of 58 households which constitute

92.0 the sample households are involved in agricultural activity as their primary occupation

both before and after SHG formation. Wage labour as primary occupation was reported by 5

households (8.0 per cent) before the SHG formation, however, after becoming SHG

members, 4 households (6.4 per cent) have shifted from wage labour as the primary

occupation to petty business as their primary source and 1 household (1.6 per cent) still

depends on manual wage labour ( Table 5.33 (a)).

Tb .3 aleS 3(b): s econdary 0 ccupation of the respondents both before and after joimn2 SHG

Wage Wage Vegetables Labour!NTFP Petty Raising Cultivation/Raising

Name of the village labour Collection Business Livestock Poultry Livestock

4 5 0 0 0 0 Before (6.3) (7.9) {0.0} {0.0) {0.0} {0.0)

2 3 3 1 0 0 Kachalekha After (3.2) (4.8) {4.8) {1.6) {0.0} {0.0)

0 10 0 0 0 0 Before {0.0} {15.9} {0.0} {0.0) {0.0} {0.0}

0 6 0 0 2 2 Kerpai After {0.0} (9.5) {0.0} {0.0} {3.2} {3.2)

0 8 0 0 0 0 Before {0.0} {12.7} {0.0) {0.0} {0.0} {0.0}

0 5 1 1 0 1 Madang guda After {0.0) (7.9) {1.6} {1.6} (0.0} (1.6)

0 8 0 0 0 0 Before (0.0) {12.7) {0.0} {0.0} {0.0} {0.0}

0 1 2 5 0 0 Ran a pur After {0.0} {1.6} {3.2} (7.9) {0.0} {0.0}

0 10 0 0 0 0 Before {0.0) {15.9) {0.0} {0.0} {0.0} {0.0)

0 6 0 3 1 0 Turivejiguda After {0.0) {9.5) (0.0} (4.8) {1.6) {0.0) Kirkicha Before 0 18 0 0 0 0

295

(0.0) (28.6) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) 0 12 2 4 0 0

After (0.0) (19.0) (3.2) (6.3) (0.0} (0.0) 4 59 0 0 0 0

All Villages Before {6.3) ( 93.7) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0) (0.0)

2 33 8 14 3 3 After {3.2) (52.3) (12.8) (22.2) (4.8) (4.8)

Note: Figures m brackets are Percentage Share of the total

The secondary occupation of the sample households can be classified into wage labour,

NTFP collection, petty business, livestock raising, poultry, and vegetable cultivation etc.

Wage labour and collection of NTFP as secondary occupation is majorly practiced by 59

households which constitute 93.7 per cent of the sample households and 4 households

depends on only wage labour before the SHG formation in the entire village. However, 33

households i.e. 52.3 per cent of the sample households depend on wage labour and

collection of non-timber forest produce as a secondary occupation and 14 households (22.2

per cent) have adopted livestock raising as a source of income generation, 8 households (12.8

per cent) have started petty business, 3 households each have started vegetable cropping and

poultry raising as the secondary occupation. However, 2 households (3.2 per cent still

depends on wage labour as their secondary occupation after the SHG formation. Thus, it

shows that there is diversification of livelihood activities after the SHG formation period in

the respective villages.

5.14.8 Group Savings

Savings habit is created and members are encouraged by the SHPis to save out of the income

of their expenditure since the beginning of group formation. The sample SHGs made it a

convention to deposit the savings with the group on monthly basis. Out of the 9 SHGs, each

member of eight groups saved Rs.lO per month while another one group saved Rs.20 per

member per month. While the average monthly saving of these eight groups were Rs.550

ranging between a minimum of Rs.lO and a maximum of Rs. 20, the average monthly saving

of the, other group was 220 and this is within the range of Rs. 20 to 50. Members of the

different groups reported that they save the amount from different sources such as wage

labour, the expenditure of their husband's income. As per the SHG Registers, the total

amount of group savings of 9 SHGs were Rs. 1,65,957 since the formation of these groups.

The highest group savings are observed to be among the Maa Dokri (MD) WSH in Ranpur

village as promoted by Parivartan NGO, where as the second highest group savings is with

the Budha Raja (BR) promoted by Gram Vikas NGO in Madangguda village. The details of

savings are given in Table 5.34 (a).

296

a e . a : avmg a T bl 5 34 ( ) S . P tt fS erno I SHG ample s

Average Per member monthly Monthly No. of Percentage savings per Percentage Savings (Rs.) SHG ofSHGs Members group(Rs.) of members

5 0 0 0 0 0

10 8 89 55 550 87

20 1 11 8 220 13

Total 9 100 63 770 100

T bl 5.34(b) SHG S . a e : avmgs

SHG Group

Village SHGs Saving(Rs.)

Kachalekha MB 13,417

Kerpai SA 8300

Madangguda BR 35,000

Ranapur MD 50,085

Turivejiguda KL,DK&TG 19,000

Kirkicha BNB&SS 40,155

Total (Rs.) 1,65,957 Source: Compiled from the Primary Data (SHG Registers)

Apart from collection of cash towards thrift the members of 4 groups practiced saving of rice.

This practice is usually known as Muthi Chaulo in local language, which means "a fistful of

rice". The SHGs usually practiced Muthi Chaulo at the initial stage of their formation. Under

this practice a member keeps aside a handful of rice everyday and she deposits it with the

group in SHG meetings. On an average a member deposited one kilogram of rice every

month. This rice deposit is stored in a dry place at a member's house. During summer season

needy members borrow from the group. Otherwise it is sold to rice traders. This system

helped the members of SHGs to manage their food during summer season. Based on the

principles of Muthi Chaulo, the system of 'Grain Bank' was developed in Kalahandi district.

Two SHGs were saving hill brooms. Each member was depositing 10 hill brooms with the

group every month which were being sold at nearby weekly haats or sold to a trader and the

amount was accumulated in the corpus of the group.

All members tried to be regular in paying their monthly contribution. All the SHGs have

introduced a system of penalty (Rs.5) for late payment. In case, one failed to pay the monthly

savings contribution on the meeting day due to some genuine reason, another member would

pay for her and would collect later from the person concerned. Usually, the SHGs collected

297

the monthly contribution on the meeting day. The amount of savings was uniform and

decided unanimously at the meeting. The groups were strict that the monthly saving would be

collected on the same day and all members would pay it regularly. In addition to their regular

savings, they saved more during the cropping and harvest seasons when they would earn

more by way of wages, etc.

a e . : T bl 5 35 M eetmg ,y e b th SHG s Number of meetings attended in the last three months by Penalty for non

Meeting Duration Meeting Venue SHGmembers attendance No. of No. of Frequency of No. of No. of

Days groups Meeting Place groups meetings members Rs. groups

President/Members No 10 0 residence 5 2 times 9 Penalty 9

Village Common 15 1 room 1 3 times 42 2 0

20 0 School building 2 4times 2 3 0

Under tree shades at 30 8 outskirts of village 1 6 times 5 5 0

The groups conduct the regular meetings every month. Of the sample groups, 8 SHGs were

holding the meetings once in a month while another one group holding it every fortnight.

(Table 5.35). Groups were usually meeting at the Secretary's! President's place for the

meeting. However, some groups were holding the meetings at village common room, school

buildings, under tree shades at the outskirts of the village, etc. Though group member's

participation is a must in every meeting, however absence of group members relating health

problems and other problems are considered by the groups. There is no penalty system in any

of these groups and members participate voluntarily.

All important decisions including savings, loan, interest, sanction, disbursement and

repayment of loan, dealing·with the default borrowers etc. were decided in the meeting.

Group members were taking active part in making decisions on a particular issue. In the end

of the meeting, members are informed about the total amount of thrift collected and the

amount each individual has in her SHG account. Members are provided with Pass books and

it is updated every month while the group members go to deposit the money collected in the

meeting. Majority of SHGs were maintaining the records and writing their proceedings by

either the President or to Secretary of the group or with the help of any family member of a

group member. In few cases the coordinator of the respective NGOs maintains the SHG

records on payment basis.

298

Table 5 36 (a)· Loan Status of the Beneficiaries . . Category Frequency Percent Yes 50 79.4

No 13 20.6

Total 63 100

Table 5.36(a) shows that majority of 50 respondents (79.4 per cent) of the study sample have taken loan from various sources. However, 13 respondents (20.6 per cent) of the study sample are non­borrowers.

a e . : T bl 5 36 (b) Po rposeo ftaki L ng oan Categories Frequency Percent Purchasing livestock & poultry 17 34.0 Petty Business

9 18.0 Agricultural activity, purchasing equipments 9 18.0 Medical treatment

4 8.0 Expense during festivals, Marriage 10 20.0 Education of children 1 2.0 Total 50 100.0

Out of the 50 loanee respondents, 17 respondents (34.0 per cent) have taken loan for

purchasing livestocks and poultry for income generating activities through livestock raising

activities; 10 respondents i.e., 20 per cent of the study sample have taken loan during the

Tokmimara parab and Pausa parab and during marriage for consumption purpose; 9

respondents (18.0 per cent) each have taken loan for agricultural activity and purchasing

agricultural equipments and petty business respectively. Other 4 members (8.0 per cent) have

taken loan for medical treatment and hardly 1 member has taken loan for providing education

to children (Table 5.36 b). Thus, majority of the respondents have taken loan for productive

purpose such as livestock raising, agricultural activity and petty business. Secondly, a number

of households have taken consumption loans and marriage.

299

8.0

Figure 5.3 : Purpo!'.-e of Loan r se

34.0

• Purchasing I vesto·:k & poultry

• Petty B u~i ·1e~~

• Ag riCL IL1rJI Jctiv i ty, purchasing cquipmcntS

• Medical t 'ea tment

• Expense during fcs t iJJis, M<lrri~gP

Ed u·:at ionof chi d rcn

For external borrowings from Gramya Banks, few members have submitted their land

documents as collateral; others who are still availing Joan from local money lenders have

mortgaged ornaments, and get loan on the basis of their standing crops. However, for getting

Joan from SHG account, there is no need for keeping assets in mortgage. It's the group

members who select the members who need loan on priority basis and charge interest rate as

per the loan amount. Peer pressure plays an important role in loan repayments. Majority of 46

respondents (92.0 per cent) who have borrowed from within the group account and from the

microfinance institutions are not required to keep anything in terms of mortgage. However, 4

respondents who have reported of lending from banks and money lenders have kept assets

like land documents and jewelry and standing crops in mortgage (Table 5.36 c). ·

External borrowings refer to loans borrowed by an SHG usually directly from a bank, in

some cases through the intermediation of a federation. SHGs become eligible for a bank loan

after six months of functioning, following an assessment carried out by the bank or by SHPA

staff which covers regularity of savings, meetings, internal lending, repayments and records.

A bank loan to an SHG usually starts at Rs 10,000, with repayment within six months to one

year. Subsequent loans follow, on repayment of the previous loan, and as a ratio of the group

savings deposit, with larger amounts of loan Rs 25,000, increasing through subsequent loans

up to Rs 2 lakhs and longer pay-back periods (3-5 years). Banks charge 8-12% interest on

loans to SHGs. Federation loans to SHG groups who are part of the federation are similar,

with amounts from RslO,OOO increasing up toRs 90,000, and rather variable rates of interest

(6-24%) depending on the source of funds .

300

Table 5.36 ( c): Whether mortgage an thin!! to get the loan

Category Frequency Percent

No 46 92.0

Yes 4 8.0

Total 50 100.0

Table 5.36 (d)· Current status of the Loans

Frequency Percent

Fully Paid 16 32.0

Not Repaid 16 32.0

Partly Paid 18 36.0

Total 50 100.0

Table 5.36 (d) shows that out of the study sample 16 respondents (32.0 per cent) have fully

repaid their loans and 18 respondents (36.0 per cent) have partly paid their old debt form

various sources. However, 16 respondents have not paid their loans and are in debt trap.

Table 5.36 (e): Interest rate paid by Members to the Group Interest Money rate Total SHG/NGO Bank Lender

N 50 40 7 3

12% 24% 10% 14%

24% 54% 54%

36% 16% 16%

60% 6% 6%

SHGs lend to members within their groups at an average rate of interest of around 24% a year

(2% a month). Fifty-four percent of the sample lends at this rate, or less; sixteen percent lend

at 36% (3% a month). Ten per cent of the sample lends at 12% a year (1% a month). The

pattern is to charge higher rates in the early stages of group formation, with an emphasis on

growing the group fund; with rates sometimes reducing over time. In case of individual

members lending from the Gramya bank at an interest rate of 12% in a year. Six percent of

the sample lends from the money lender at 60% a year. It is clear that the rate of interest

charged by the money lender is very high in rural Kalahandi district (Table 5.36: e).

Table 5.36 (1): Number of borrowines since eroup formation < 3 years 4-5 years 6+ years

Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

N 11 17.5 40 63.5 12 19.0

1 5 7.9 28 44.4 12 19.0

2 to 3 6 9.5 12 19.0 0 0.0

>3 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

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The number of borrowings increases with time since group formation, but not uniformly.

Taking older groups ( 4-5 years), 44.4 per cent have had taken loan once, 19 per cent have

had 2 to 3 loans, however the number of group borrowings does not exceed more than 2 to 3

times in all three classified years since group formation(< 3 years, 4-5 years and 6+ years).

The number of borrowings however, increases while comparing the years between < 3 years

and 6+ years.

Taking the younger groups ( < 3 years), 7.9 per cent have had just 1 external borrowings; in

case of oldest groups(6 +years) it is 19 per cent, thus there is an increase in the number of

lending between <3 years to 6+ years. Number of borrowings between 2 to 3 times (<3 years)

is 9.5%, in case of the oldest group (6+ years), there is no evidence lending (Table 5.36: f).

Table 5.37 (a): Collective and Organizational Efforts in Resolving Social Issues and Community Problems

Statement Yes(%) No(%)

Scarcity of safe drinking water 51 49

Insufficient basic infrastructure facilities 65 35 Unequal wages 13 87 Drop outs from school 24 76

Atrocicy against women 24 76

Eve teasing II 89

Child abuse 6 94 Child labor 71 29

Alcoholism 92 8

Drug addiction 54 46

Domestic violence 43 57

The SHG members discuss among themselves in the meeting regarding the major problems

in the locality such as alcoholism, child labour, insufficient infrastructure facilities and

scarcity of drinking water etc. Through thrift collection and SHG activities are the core of

discussion in every meetings, 73 per cent members viewed that they also discuss about the

problems in their villages and their neighbouring villages.

Table 5.37 (b): How ft th o en ese [>1"0 e ISSUeS bl ms/. di ussed in the meeting sc Categories Frequency Percent

Very Often 9 14.3 Sometimes 46 73

Never 8 12.7

Total 63 100

302

Members generally discuss about these problems in the SHG meeting in every month. SHGs

which are little educated and have awareness about what is happening starting from the

village level to the Gram Panchayat level, they very often discuss about the issues and

challenges in the monthly meetings. As majority of the SHG members are illiterate, their

main concern is how to take an initiative to start the income generating activities through the

micro-credit and always have the tension about the loan repayment (Table 5.37: b).

Table 5.37 (c): Whether any action ever organized in respect of such issues and bl pro ems

Type of Response Frequency Percent

Yes 21 33.3

No 42 66.7

Total 63 100

About 33 per cent respondents viewed that all women members in their groups from

Turivejiguda and nearest villages have collectively protested against the alcohol drinking

shop (mada bhati) and against child labour problems in their locality(Table 5.37: c ).

There were three wine shops (mada bhati) nearby the road side at Kermanji, Gunpur, and

Amthaguda. Those who establish wine shop in this area have taken license from the district

administration and they always prefer to set up their shops in the area which is accessible to

all and better sell. However, it has an adverse impact on the rural youth who become addicted

to it and women are often harassed on their way from the weekly·haat to home. With active

support from the social workers from different NGOs working in the region and Sarpanch,

the Women SHGs with the Sarpanch have protested against wine shops (mada bhati) at the

collectoriate, Bhawanipatna. After the public objection, the collector asked these shops to

take away the shops to distant places. Though these wine shops were shifted to distant places,

but still there is always tussle between them and SHG members demand to the district

administration not to encourage mada bhati in their gram panchayat.

Child labour was a major issue before the SHG members. SHG members along with women

members from neibouring villages demanded to fee the children who were working as

domestic workers. With the financial help of Action AID, Antodaya established the Nagabali

Shishu Shramika Vidyapitha at Mohangiri village in Kaniguma in 2001. There is a mini­

library called Saleem Farooq Janashiksya Pathagar for the children's study. Through

303

Antodaya's initiative school children are provided with slates and books at free of cost. Apart

from this, girls are imparted vocational training such as tailoring.

5.15 SHGs and Women Empowerment

In India, women are not the only marginalized section of the society. The scheduled castes

and scheduled tribes are still largely under-privileged in terms of wealth, education and

access to basic services, in particular health services. The sociological analysis by Andre

Beteille (1999), shows that India is the contradiction case of egalitarian political order and is

a hierarchic social structure. Thus, economic and social inequalities rooted in traditions and

cultural norms need to be changed as political measures alone cannot bring empowerment.

He points out that empowerment is invoked in the context of economic weakness and

insecurity, particularly of marginalized, unorganized and other disadvantaged groups.

In an orthodox and highly conservative society especially in rural Orissa, women usually did

not play a major part in the decision making even in family matters. However, studies on

SHG movement in Orissa and elsewhere in India shows that SHG based activities has

empowered the rural women with dignity, identification, recognition and respect. They were

able to borrow, invest and earn. The male members and other members of the family changed

their attitudes towards the women folk with the SHG movement taking off in the rural

areas(Nayak, 2006).

The empowerment index drawn highlights changes that has taken place among the SHG

members after joining the respective groups both social group-wise in terms of participating

in the SHG meetings, speaking in the public meetings, taking leadership position in the group

writing minutes of SHG meetings, keeping the accounts of SHG, Performing the bank

transactions, going to government office/police station and talking to government

officials/police and finally raising their voice for the development of their village.

The study shows that a majority of 25 per cent SC women are highly empowered compared

to STs where it is 19 per cent of the study sample. In the second category, 52.4 per cent ST

women are medium empowered than the SC women (44 per cent). In the third category, a

large portion of 30 per cent SC women are low empowered compared to ST women where it

is about 29 per cent(Table 5.38:a).

304

a e a : T bl 5.38 ( ) C ategory-w1se E mpowerment I d n ex Category

OBC sc ST Total

Empowerment Low Empowered Count 0 6 12 18 Index % within category .0% 30.0% 28.6% 28.6%

Medium Empowered Count 1 9 22 32

% within category 100.0% 45.0% 52.4% 50.8%

Highly Empowered Count 0 5 8 13

% within category .0% 25.0% 19.0% 20.6%

Total Count l 20 42 63

% within category 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Village-wise analysis of empowerment of women shows that Kerpai, Madangaguda, Ran Pur

and Kirkicha villages are medium empowered villages compared to other two villages. Thus,

it is clear that though there is positive impact on poverty through SHG intervention, the

process of empowerment is poor (Table 5.38: b).

a e . : T bl 5 38 (b) V illage-wise Empowerment mdex of Social Groups Village Empowerment Index

Low Medium Highly Empowered Emoowered Emoowered Total

Kachalekha Count 4 3 2 9 %within village 44.40% 33.30% 22.20% 100.00%

Kerpai Count 1 7 2 10 %within village 10.00% 70.00% 20.00% 100.00%

Kirkicha Count 5 9 4 18 %within village 27.80% 50.00% 22.20% 100.00%

Madangguda Count 2 5 1 8 %within village 25.00% 62.50% 12.50% 100.00%

Ran a pur Count 1 5 2 8 %within village 12.50% 62.50% 25.00% 100.00%

Turivejiguda Count 5 3 2 10 %within village 50.00% 30.00% 20.00% 100.00%

Total Count 18 32 13 63 %within village 28.60% 50.80% 20.60% 100.00%

Table 5.39 summarizes the status of women who are the member of different SHG, as

revealed by themselves in six villages under Thuamul Rampur block. Hundred per cent

305

members expressed that they have control over the expenditure of their own income and keep

with themselves; similarly 100 per cent members viewed that they keep the expenditure of

their husband's income among themselves. Ninety two per cent respondents reported that

they take decision alone to purchase jewellery out of their own income from the SHG

activities. Seventy one per cent respondents viewed that they play a major role in taking

decision for health care of the family members. Eighty eight per cent members expressed that

they don't need to take permission from their family members to go to market for petty

business, shopping etc. after the SHG intervention. This shows that women members of the

sample study enjoy the freedom of moving around. However, marginal change or no change

has been observed among the SHG members in taking decision about the number of children

for the family, still they need to take permission to go to stay at their parental houses and to

visit friends or relative house. Women members in the family are found to be involved in

domestic works including cooking and household core, hence there is no change in this

sphere.

Table 5.39: Status of Women in the Household both before and after SHG formation SINo. Status of Women in the Household Unit Before(%) Mter (%) Cham~e (%)

% 1 Decision to cook members 95 97 2

% 2 Decision in obtaining health care members 24 71 47

% 3 Taking decision about the number of children members 91 91 0

% 4 To purchase jewellery members 81 92 11

Permission required to go to stay in parental % 5 house members 75 75 0

% 6 Whether permission needed to go to market members 91 3 88

Whether permission needed to visit % 7 relatives/friends members 97 97 0

Whether the respondent keeps the % 8 expenditure of husbands income members 79 100 21

Whether the respondent is entrusted with the % 9 safe kee.l'ing of her own income members 79 100 21

Whether the respondent controls expenditure % 10 of the her own income members 78 100 22

306

Table 5.40: Perception of Members regarding Improvement after Joining SHGs ( h h ld) ~er cent ouse 0 s

improvement in the interest Improvement

Increase in Increase in towards in Health Category Income asset education Condition

44 16 53 34 Yes ( 69.8) (25.4) (84.1) (54.0)

19 47 10 29 No (30.2) (74.6) (15.9) (46.0)

Total 100 100 100 100

With regard to the impact of SHG on increase in income, asset creation, improvement in

health and education the opinion of the beneficiaries from the sample households from

different villages were gathered during the field survey. Around 70 per cent households·

opined that there is an increase in the level of income among the programme participants

after joining respective SHGs in the sample villages. However, the increase in income has not

shown satisfactory result in asset accumulation. Hardly 16 (25.4 per cent) households

reported that they have purchased utensils, ornaments, food grains and livestocks out of the

income from the SHG activities.

However, in education and health sphere, positive changes have been noticed for

instance, family members now-a-day~ keen to send their children to school. Nearly 84 per

cent of households viewed that there is improvement in interest of the programme

participants as well as the villagers towards education. Earlier, rural parents do not prefer to

send their girl children to school outside the village; however, due to the establishment of

primary schools in the village and the implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the

tribal villages, they have started sending their children to schools. The Mid Day Meals

facility at school and provision of school dress, school bags, books at free of cost for girls

and books for boys has attracted the village children to attain school. Further, participation of

the family members in the SHG meetings, health related awareness campaigns by community

mobilizers from different voluntary organizations has played a vital role creating an

conducive environment in the sample villages. The common disease in these villages are

malaria. If somebody fell ill in the family, the tribal and Domba people in the villager use to

believe that Duma Devta (Duma deity) is angry with them and they used to worship the

deity. In coming days, they have realized that malaria- fever is a disease which needs

medical treatment. The awareness campaign through OTELP in the tribal villages and the

influence of the community mobilizers has helped in eliminating the blind beliefs that were

307

prevailing in the village. Villagers are visiting the nearest Phc for health care. Around 54 per

cent sample households viewed that the health condition of the village has improved over the

years.

Table 5.41(a): Whether the IGA has increased the work-load of the beneficiaries

Type of Response Frequency Percentage

Yes 40 63.5

No 23 36.5

Total 63 100.0

Out of 63 SHG members under the study, 40 respondents (63.5 per cent) viewed that the

income generating activities undertaken through SHG has increased the work-load of the

beneficiaries. SHG members are not only the programme participants; they are the

housewives and members of the family as well. They have to take care of their children and

do the household work along with attaining SHG meetings and engage in the income

generating activities.

Jpinion rel!ardinl! which cate2ory of wo Table 5.4l(b): 0 men are happier Category of Women Frequency Percentae:e

Loanee 6 9.5

Non-loanee 43 68.3

Both 14 22.2

Total 63 100

One category of women within the SHG are those who are simply the member of the group

and not taken loan from the SHG account so far. They have a kind of feeling that the loanee

women have always tension about the repayment of the loan. A majority of 68.3 per cent

SHG members viewed that non-loanee members are happy compared to the loanee ones

because loanee women are in stress to repay the loan. Around 9.5 per cent respondents of

the total sample viewed that loanee women has an advantage over the non-loanee one, as she

has access to credit for starting the income generating activities. However, 22.2 per cent

respondents have a mixed kind of response that both loanee and non-loanee women are happy

in their own respective positions.

5.16 Participation of SHG Members at the Gram Sabha As it is mentioned earlier that Thuamul Rampur block comes under the ITDA block, under

the Provisions of Panchayats to the Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 panchayats have been

extended to this block. At the village level, Panchayati Raj institutions provide a platform that

is made by government to make people's participation effective at grassroot level. As SHGs

308

are active group of women members, they may participate as a group in the Gram Sabha's, or

help other women contestants, or themselves try to be the contestants and so on( Srivastava,

2004). Studies from Gadbada village of Jhabua district (Madhya Pradesh) shows that women

have started realizing and exercising their strength as a group at the panchayat level (Bandhu,

2003).238 Thus, the study included this aspect to understand the role of the SHGs and its

members in terms of participation and empowerment at the gram panchayat level.

Table 5.42: Participation of respondents in Grama Sabha!Ward convention both befor d ft SHG F f (P t dents) ean a er orma ton er cen respon

Type Yes No Total

32 63 Before (50.8) 31 (49.2) (100.0)

56 7 63 After (88.9) (11.1) (100.0)

The overall data reveal that out of the study sample (63) among nine SHGs, only a few

respondents ( 50 per cent) women members from different villages reported for participating

in Gram Sabha/ward convention before the SHG formation period, however, their

participation has increased to significant extent after the SHG formation. Around 89 per cent

members from different SHGs are attaining the Gram Sabha Jlleetings and have played. a

major role in decision making about the development their villages.

5.17 Sustainability of the Self Help Groups Though SHGs have positive impact on poverty alleviation, asset creation and improvement in

health and education, long run sustainability of these groups is a matter of concern. The

sustainability of the SHGs is ensured through regular meetings, creation of common assets,

NGO contribution and training and sustainability of promoting institutions. Here an attempt

is made to discuss theses aspects in this section. Up to 40 percent= Low Sustainability

41- 60 per cent of positive response -Moderate Sustainability 61- 100 per cent of positive response- High Sustainability

238 Bandhu, Rajendra, 2003, "Mahilayoen Ne Banaya Apna Bank", Samaj Kalyan, June 2003, pp. 24-25.

309

a e . : eve o us na 1 ly 0 e e etp T bl 543 L I fS tai b·lit fth S lfH I G roups

Percentage of members Level of Sustainability of the SHGs KL,

DK KL, & BB, DK BB,

Indicators MB SA BR MD TG ss All MB SA BR MD &TG ss All

Regular savings 66.7 60.0 87.5 87.5 80.0 77.8 65.1 H M H H H H H

Regular repayments 77.8 50.0 50.0 62.5 70.0 66.7 49.2 H M M H H H M

Participation in the group meetings 44.4 60.0 50.0 87.5 60.0 6).) 47.6 M M M H M M M

Participation in training 66.7 70.0 50.0 100.0 60.0 50.0 54.0 H H M H M M M

Note: L =Low, M =Moderate, H =High It is found from the table that all the sample households have high level of sustainability in

terms of regular savings. Regarding regular repayments MB, MS, KL, DK, & TG have high

level of sustainability SA and BR have moderate level of sustainability in terms of regular

repayment of loans in the SHGs. Participation of members in the group meetings shows that

all the SHGs except MD have medium level of sustainability. Finally, MB, SA, MD have

high level of sustainability where as BR, KL, DK & TG and BB, SS have moderate level of

sustainability in the indicators like participation in training programme in SHG by different

development agencies. Thus, this table reveals that all the SHGs have high sustainability in

case of regular savings and (except SA). However, other three indicators show varied level of

sustainability by the different SHGs.

The effectiveness of self-help groups (SHGs) would be considerably enhanced if a symbiosis

could be worked out between them and panchayati raj institutions (PRis). The key to this is

the integration of SHGs with the democratically elected and empowered panchayats when the

requisite devolution of powers, functions and authority to the latter takes place. A proposed

scheme which will allow SHGs and PRis to work in tandem and reinforce each other's

work.239

Thus, convergence of programmes by empowering the SHGs and PRis would possibly enhance the

effectivity of these programmes in the sample villages.

239 Bandyopadhyaya, D., et.al. Convergence of Programmes by Empowering SHGs and PRis, Economic and Political Weekly June 29, 2002, p. 2556.

310

5.18 Summary

Thuamul Rampur block is surrounded by inaccessible terrain and forest and is mostly

inhabited by Kandha tribes. Most of the tribals do not have lands and depend on shifting

cultivation and forest produce for subsistence. The area is dreaded for malaria and the basic

health and education services are lacking. Though there is Government Primary school or

Education Guarantee Scheme School in some village, but the strength of the schools are very

poor because of lack of awareness about education, absent of teachers and defunct village

education committee.

Tribals of the block face severe food shortage during lean agricultural season. Food insecurity

and starvation deaths are major problems of the area. In the forest regions like Thuamul

Rampur Various Women Self Help Groups have been formed under ICDS government

department at the block level through Anganwadi which is at the village level, the watershed

department, SGSY groups formed and assisted by DRDA and the Gramya Bank staffs,

Gunpur have also initiated in forming th SHGs, so far the result in the field is concerned has

not shown the satisfactory results due to weak monetary mechanism which is not

strengthened and the capacity building of the theses groups are not strengthened. The major

factor behind the satisfactory growth of SHGs is the role of NGOs and SHPis as they are constantly

making efforts to supervise and in the process engaged in capacity building of the groups to make

them efficient to go for undertaking income generating activities.SHGs in the villages are mainly

engaged in cultivation of crops and vegetable (banana cultivation) and entrepreneurial

activities like making hill brooms, leaf plates, processing kandul dal and selling them to the

traders and supply to the ICDS department. Others are involved in raising livestock, poultry,

running petty shops. The SGSY assisted groups are running PDS i.e., women members are

purchasing kerosene and selling them in their respective Gram panchayat; similarly others are

involved in Mid Day Meal programmes. Few SHG members' visits village to village for

selling bangles and others sell dry fish, chilly. Taking a before and after approach and while

examining the socio-economic status of the villagers it is found that the level of income of the

SHG members increased because of SHG intervention, earlier the SHG members were selling

the NTFPs to the traders in a very cheap rate, after getting training and guidance from the

NGOs, the WSHG members are free from the middleman who used to take maximum share

of profit and the group members have gained the self-confidence to conduct any business. At

the block level women members formed the Banashree Mahila Sangathan and Banabasi

Mahila Samabaya and registered it and through the Sangathan they sell and purchase the

NTFPs in a reasonable price. These cooperatives have played a major role in forming SHGs

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in the respective villages. Paschima Odissa Mahila Mahasabha (POMM) is the regional level

women's forum. This forum has emerged since 2004.The members of different women

groups of Western Orissa have joined this forum. The objective behind supporting this

programme is to facilitate the solidarity building process women at the regional level that

would ultimately help in addressing the women issue by the greater force of women. It is an

open stage for poor tribal women of Western Orissa to place the issues and to building the

exercise/develop the strategy to address this issue. In these meeting woman members from

different SHGs promoted by various organization shares their issue and success in different

field with other participants. This process enables the women members of POMM to analyse

the issue of women in Western Orissa and discuss the role of POMM in addressing those

issues and developing the vision, mission and strategies of POMM.

The study conducted in six villages of Thuamul Rampur provides a holistic view about the

impact of the SHG based intervention among the program participants on various aspects

such as credit and saving, income generation, asset creation, improvement in the interest

regarding education, health awareness, participation of women members decision making

regarding the development of the village in the Gram Sabha meeting etc.

Social composition of SHG members shows that the major part of respondents belonged to

Kandha/STs (66.7 per cent), followed by Domba/SCs (31.7 per cent) and backward castes 1.6

per cent. Though all the surveyed households are from below poverty line, a majority of 58.7

per cent sample households have BPL cards, .I 7.5 percent households have AA Y cards. 23.8

per cent households are not having ration card. Thus, the study shows that the memberships

of these SHGs are drawn from below poverty line households. The occupational

classification of the SHG members shows that there is diversification of livelihood activities

after the SHG formation period in the respective villages.

The loan status of the beneficiaries shows that majority of 50 respondents (79.4 per cent) of

the study sample have taken loan from various sources, where as, 13 respondents (20.6 per

cent) of the study sample are non-borrowers. Eighty per cent respondents have taken loan

from SHG account, 14 per cent members of the sample SHGs have taken loan from the

Gramya bank and only 6 per cent of the respondent's still availing loan from the local money

lender. Thus, the study shows that after the SHG intervention, dependency of villagers on

money lenders has declined the monopoly of the local money lenders who charges about 60

per cent interest for providing loan to the villagers and exploits them in various ways. Thus,

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the SHG formation and credit disbursement has certainly led to indebtedness reduction

among the villagers unlike the previous years.

Out of the 50 Joanee respondents 34.0 per cent) have taken Joan for purchasing livestocks and

poultry, 20 per cent of the study sample have taken loan during the Tokmimara parab and

Pausa parab and during marriage for consumption purpose; 18.0 per cent each have taken

loan for agricultural activity and purchasing agricultural equipments and petty business

respectively. Other 8.0 per cent respondents have taken Joan for medical treatment and only

2.0 per cent members have taken loan for providing education to children. Thus, majority of

the respondents have taken Joan for productive purpose such as livestock raising, agricultural

activity and petty business. Secondly, a number of households have taken consumption loans

and marriage. This shows, diversity of the credit requirement of the SC and ST women, not

only for consumption purpose, but also for a number of income generating activities. The

study shows that out of the study sample, 32.0 per cent have fully repaid their loans and 36.0

per cent have partly paid their old debt form various sources. It shows that there is high

repayment ratio of the SHG members suggesting that poor Dalit and Adivasi women are

credit worthy or bankables.

Asset accumulation serves as a potential exit avenue for chronic poverty. Assets also help

individuals reduce their vulnerability to shocks in that with assets, individuals are Jess subject

to fluctuations in the short and medium term (Hulme and McKay, 2005). Around 70 per cent

households opined that there is an increase in the level of income among the programme

participants after joining respective SHGs in the sample villages. However, the increase in

income has not shown satisfactory result in asset accumulation. Only 25.4 per cent

households reported that they have purchased utensils, ornaments, food grains and livestocks

out of the income from the SHG activities.

The participation of WSHG member has increased been increased after SHG formation. Two

women members from BRand Dokri WSHG were elected as Sarpanch from 1997 to 2005 in

Gunpur and Nakrundi Gram panchayat and played a vital role in bringing the issues

challenges of the village community to the front and with the Gram Panchayat and NGO

intervention have initiated various development activities in the respective gram panchayats.

Thus, the study confirms to the Krishna's (2003) findings that apart from the grass root

associations and local networks that constitute resources for local collective action, another

set of factors, which he terms 'capable agency' which includes various aspects of social and

political connectedness, such as the presence of effective local councils, active politicians and

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caste associations that reach outside the village to influence decision making at higher level

and promote development in the village. Thus, the SHG intervention shows that creating a

conducive environment by giving an opportunity, village women have the capability to

emerge as true leaders of the village community to promote development. Here, Amartya

Sen's work on capabilities is applicable where he emphasizes on "what counts is not what

poor people possess, but what it enables them to do".

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