october - december 2012nirdpr.org.in/nird_docs/jrd/jrdoct-dec2012.pdf · 2016-06-16 · journal of...

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October - December 2012

Dr. R.R.PrasadProf. & Head (CESD)NIRD

RURAL DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS 2011-12

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Journal ofRural Development

Vol. 31 October - December 2012 No. 4

CONTENTS

1. MYRADA’S Capacity Building Intervention : Creating Social 373

Capital in the Communities in Southern India

– Anita Singh and T. Babu

2. Status of Tenancy in Uttar Pradesh : Some Facts from the Field 393

– Fahimuddin

3. Affordability of Streetlight Services by Gram Panchayats In 419

Karnataka : Status, Determinants and Ways Forward

– D Rajasekhar and R Manjula

4. Macro Management of Agricultural Schemes in Karnataka : 435

An Assessment of Impact

– M. Mahadeva and K. Keshavamurthy

5. Farmers’ Behaviour Towards Risk in Production of Fruit and Vegetable Crops 457

– Pradeep Kumar Mehta

6. Regional Dimensions of Food Security in Maharashtra 469

– Nitin Tagade

7. Social Mobilisation, Savings Habit and Access to Credit for the 495

Poor through SHGs in Odisha

– Edakkandi Meethal Reji

8. Food Security and Nutrition in Kerala : An Exploratory Approach 513

– Mohammed Kasim C.

BOOK REVIEWS

1. Whose Sustainability Counts? 535

by Malcolm Harper, Lalitha Iyer and Jane Rosser

– Dr. B.K. Swain

2. Disaster Risk Management : Conflict and Cooperation 536

Edited by Suman Ranjan Sensarma and Atanu Sarkar

– Dr. K. Suman Chandra

3. Education, Employment and Empowerment of Rural Women in India 538

by T. Sudha

– Dr. Y. Gangi Reddy

4. Socio-Economic Scenario of the North East India 539

by R.K. Das Choudhury

– Dr. R. Murugesan

5. Technology and Rural India 541

Edited by S. V. Prabhath and P. Ch. Sita Devi


6. Empowerment of Indian Muslims: Perspectives, Planning and Road Ahead 542

Edited by Mirza Asmer Beg & A. R. Kidwai

– Dr. Shankar Chatterjee

7. Tribal Education-Implications For Development 544

Edited by S.N.Chaudhary

– Dr. N.V.Madhuri

8. Rural Development – Under Decentralised Governance 545

Edited by M. R. Biju

– Dr. S.N. Rao

Anita Singh* and T. Babu**

Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. (4) pp. 373 - 392NIRD, Hyderabad.

* Faculty (Human Resource), M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Management, M.S.R. Nagar, MSRIT Post, Bangalore -560 054, Karnataka, India.

** Assistant Professor, Minds, Bangalore, e-mail : [email protected]

The authors are grateful to Myrada Project Office in Hanur, in the Southern Indian State of Karnataka, andespecially to Mr. Rajachary, Mr. R. Ramesh and the CMRC Managers (Lalitha, Sowmya, Nagarathna, Manjunath,Abdul and Nagaraj) for discussions and their support in carrying out this research. They would also liketo thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

ABSTRACT

Capacity building is a recent concept that emerged in the lexicon of internationaldevelopment and is included in the programmes of most international organisationsthat work in development. However, no shared definition of what capacity buildingmeans has yet been developed. Probably this concept calls for a fundamentalrethinking in the form of practice and approach. Arguing that capacity building, moreso in the context of working with rural marginalised and poor communities cannotbe studied in isolation, the purpose of this paper is to focus on capacity building andsocial capital simultaneously. To this end, it first outlines the fundamental shifts inthe meaning of development through the evolution of the concept of capacitybuilding; critically analyses the capacity building intervention by MYRADA, a SouthIndian development agency; and finally presents a framework which could be usedin a developmental work with communities. The study indicates that communitycapacity building is enhancing social capital, more importantly they are mutuallyreinforcing in the South Indian State of Karnataka.

MYRADA’S CAPACITY BUILDINGINTERVENTION : CREATING SOCIALCAPITAL IN THE COMMUNITIES INSOUTHERN INDIA

Introduction

Today capacity building is included inthe programme of most internationalorganisations that work in development, forexample the World Bank, the United Nations(UN), and Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs) like Oxfam International. The termcapacity building (Sena & Booy, 1997) hasevolved from enhancing technological andcapital investment in the 1950s and 1960s,

to development for the people in the 1960sand 1970s, to development with the peoplein the 1980s and 1990s.Till the 1980s, aidand “western consultants” providing trainingto the local people under “technicalassistance”1 were the major means ofdevelopment. Since 1990, began the newera of development where the emphasis wason empowering people as owners of thedevelopment process by developing localcapacity. By 1991 the term had evolved and

374 Anita Singh and T. Babu

Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 4, October - December : 2012

transformed into capacity building, and by1992, it had become a central concept inUnited Nation Conference on Environmentand Development (UNCED) agreements.

Many studies have been conducted oncapacity building and social capital. WhileFitzgerald et al.’s (NA) guide focused on localNGO capacity building in conflict affectedsettings, the World Bank (2005) focused oncapacity building of public sectors in Africancountries as they can play a role in reducingpoverty, accelerating economic growth, andproviding better services to their citizens. Incase of a municipality in highland Ecuador,organisational capacity building, first atcommunity and subsequently at federatedlevels has led to its transformation from landdominated by elites, to one owned byindigenous people, municipal governmentbecoming more accountable, andrelationships of synergy being createdbetween government, federations andcommunities (Bebbington and Carroll, 2000).A study of Community Driven Development(IFAD, 2009) focused on making thecommunity based organisations capable offully participating in the design, contracting,supervision and management of social andproductive infrastructure and otherdevelopment activities-including ruralfinancial services-that they may want toundertake for themselves. Drawing lessonsfrom several cases, Bebbington and Carroll(2000) concluded that external interventionssuch as NGOs, churches, government, andnational peasant movements have played animportant role in building capacity andcreating social capital as they help accessresources, and within the federation buildexternal bridges with other actors, marketsetc., and invest in human and administrativeresources. In India, social audit (2009) ofNational Rural Employment GuaranteeScheme in Andhra Pradesh showed that thiswas primarily achieved through capacity

building of all stakeholders from topmanagement to those working in thegrassroots through a series of activities,training programmes, training manuals, andguides. A study (Maikhuri et al. , 2011) in ruraland marginal areas of the difficulttopographies of the Himalayan regionhighlighted that natural resources weremanaged through simple and appropriatetechnological interventions through large-scale demonstration, on-site training, capacitybuilding and skill development of user groupsto overcome poverty, drudgery and naturalresources degradation. Basargekar’s study(2010) of Self-help Groups suggested thaturban microfinance programme createdsocial capital which had an empoweringeffect on its members. It suggested thatcreation of social capital requires a deliberateeffort where organisations implementspecific policies such as capacity buildingprogrammes, and develop decision makingabilities.

The purpose of this field-based researchis two-fold:First, the brief literature reviewhighlights the need for an in-depth study oncapacity building intervention as a systemicprocess. In addition, there is little availableliterature on capacity building interventionand its relationship with social capital, whichwe explore in this research. By taking theperspective of community basedorganisations (CBOs), we hope to shed lighton various theoretical and practical issues ofcommunity development. Second, incommunity development literature, the poorand marginalised communities from ruralareas in Southern India have received littleattention from academia. We thus aim to fillthis gap through this study.

Via single-case study design of capacitybuilding intervention by MYRADA, this paperpurports to answer a few research questions:How is MYRADA building the communitycapacity? Why there is a gradual shift from


MYRADA’S Capacity Building Intervention .... 375

exogenous to endogenous capacity buildersand what roles can an external agencycontinue to play? How does capacity buildingintervention enhance social capital andempower CBOs? Yin (1994) points out thatcase study is the preferred strategy when“how” and “why” questions are posed (citedin Zucker, 2009).

A central focus for community researchthen should be to develop an understandingof how successful communities buildcapacities to assist community developmentprofessionals and others in their developmentefforts. In the light of these concerns, we setout to examine capacity building interventionand social capital in MYRADA, a South Indiandevelopment agency.

Capacity Building and CommunityDevelopment

Capacity building is a relatively recentconcept in the field of development researchand practice. It has been defined differentlyby different researchers and organisationssince the early 90s. UNDP and theInternational Institute for Hydraulic andEnvironmental Engineering (1991) definedcapacity building as a long-term andcontinuing process; creation of an enablingenvironment with appropriate policy andlegal frameworks; institutional development,including community participation (ofwomen in particular); human resourcesdevelopment; and strengthening ofmanagerial systems. Building capacity - whichneeds to be addressed at three inter-relatedlevels, namely individual, institutional, andsocietal-is possible only with the participationof all stakeholders, from ministries, localauthorities, NGOs, water user groups,professional associations, academics, togeneral public. UN (2006) too definedcapacity building as encompassing thecountry’s human, scientific, technological,organisational, institutional, and resource

capabilities. It stressed on enhancing thecountry’s capabilities to evaluate, and addressthe crucial questions related to policy choicesand modes of implementation amongdevelopment options, based on anunderstanding of environment potentials andlimits, and on needs perceived by the peopleof the country concerned. Other internationaldevelopment agencies, such as Concern2

emphasised enabling and strengthening ofindividuals, groups, organisations, networks,and institutions to increase their ability tocope with crisis and to contribute long-termto the elimination of poverty.

In the history of internationaldevelopment, attention to the role of localcommunity and the need for capacitybuilding has come at the same time aseconomic globalisation and weakening of thestate or “weakening of the social contract”referred to by Robinson (1995): a decline inthe role of government service delivery,especially since the 1980s when investmentsin the public sector in many countries fellprey to structural adjustment measures tooffset the debt crisis (cited in Foster & Mathie,2001). India was no exception to this; itopened the gates of the country looseningrestrictions on import, encouraging export,and opening up the market throughliberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation.This weakening of the state, combined withrecognition of the disempowering effects ofearlier development models, challenged thecommunity development practitioner toidentify strategies for communities to drivetheir own development, forging linkagesbeyond the community, while callinggovernment to account for services to whichits citizens are entitled (Foster & Mathie,2001).

There is also a resurgence of interestand growing empirical evidence in the socialdimensions of development, particularlysocial capital. The poor people’s organisations



embody a very important form of structuralsocial capital which is indispensable inmaking development possible. Asemphasised by Coleman, unlike humancapital, social capital is embedded instructures, not in individuals. This capital,which is embodied in relationships andgroups of people, constitutes a potentiallyimportant asset and plays a significant role inreducing poverty. Social capital is thusrelational and embedded in social structure.Popularly introduced in his work BowlingAlone (2000), Putnam believes that socialcapital is integral in facilitating development(cited in Yee, Just, Stahov & Ehlinger, 2008).The economist, Douglass North (1990)argued that formal and informal institutionsare crucial to understanding economicperformance; political scientist, RobertPutnam (1993) noted role played by densityand scope of local civic associations indissemination of information and trust; andOstrom (1990) and Uphoff (1992) highlightedthe importance of social relations to themaintenance of common property resources(all cited in Woolcock, 2001). Though socialand behavioural researchers and practitionershave debated over meaning, interpretation,and utility of social capital, what is clear isthe potential power of social capital to“socialise and humanise” (Carroll, 2001)development discourse and practice. It is nowalso recognised that the traditional types ofcapital (natural, physical, and human capital)determine only partially the process ofeconomic growth because they overlook theway in which the economic actors interactand organise themselves to generate growthand development. This is social capital, themissing link (Grootaert, 1998); the trust,reciprocity, norms, and networks of civicengagement in a society that facilitatecoordinated action to achieve desired goals(Carroll, 2001).

Given that community development isstill an evolving field of practice, it might be

best to avoid a narrow or an overly dilutingdefinition of capacity building. In this research,the definition of capacity building is basedon one proposed by Groot and Molen (2000):‘the development of knowledge, skills, andattitudes in individuals and groups of peoplerelevant in the design, development, andmaintenance of institutional and operationalinfrastructures and processes that are locallymeaningful’. The above definition reflects thebasic assumptions on which this study isbased: (1) capacity building is viewed as aprocess; (2) the development of relevantknowledge, skills and attitudes in individualsas well as groups; and (3) local participationin design, development, maintenance andevaluation of locally meaningful projects. Inthe context of community development,though the concepts of “participation” and“people-driven” development emerged in the1980s and was practised throughParticipatory Rural Appraisal (PRA),Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) etc.,the focus remained on need-based orproblem-solving approach. While themarginalised and disadvantaged communitiesdo have problems, the focus is on only needsthat can make them disregard theirachievements, capabilities and strengths.Hence, since the beginning of the 1990s,development practitioners have beenchallenging the disempowering “deficit mind-set” (Foster & Mathie, 2001). Our definitionfocuses on positive approach, whichcomplements the participatory approaches todevelopment.

Since mid-1990s these positiveapproaches in the field of communitydevelopment have evolved in differentregions: Asset-Based CommunityDevelopment3 (ABCD) in North America; andAppreciative Inquiry4 (AI) approach in manyother parts of the world- World VisionTanzania, PACT Nepal, and Global Excellencein Management (GEM) initiative in Liberia. In



1999, Appreciative Inquiry was introduced inMYRADA through a two-and-half yearpartnership with Canada’s InternationalInstitute for Sustainable Development (IISD)and funded by the United Kingdom’sDepartment for International Development(DFID), to field test what was then a newparticipatory development approach called AI.Since then AI has become part of theInstitutional Capacity Building (ICB) helpingcommunity based organisations (CBOs) todevelop vision for their group. This descriptivestudy is part of ongoing research studying theimpact of Appreciative Inquiry training byMYRADA on the CBOs.

MYRADA : A South Indian DevelopmentAgency

Mysore5 Resettlement and Develop-ment Agency (MYRADA) was founded in 1968to assist the Indian Government in resettlingTibetan refugees. When this programmeended in the early 1980s, MYRADA startedfocusing entirely on the poor andmarginalised in rural and drought-prone areas.As a group of autonomous societies,companies, trusts, and informal institutions allunder the umbrella of MYRADA, it is presentlymanaging 19 projects, in 20 backwarddistricts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh. In collaboration with otherinstitutions, MYRADA is promoting the rightsof the communities to build and manage theirown institutions, develop their own livelihoodstrategies, lobby effectively to changeoppressive relations, access resources, andbuild linkages.

COMMUNITY BASED ORGANISATIONS (CBOs)

CBOs are homogenous andmembership groups of poor people at thevillage level, federated at the second level,under resource centres managed by thecommunity itself. The next section willdiscuss the following CBOs : Self-Help Affinity

Groups (SAGs),Watershed ManagementAssociations (WMAs), Federation of SAGs, andCommunity Managed Resource Centres(CMRCs).

Self-Help Affinity Groups : They are smallgroups of 15-20 poor men or women relatedby affinity, where their members use savings,credit and social involvement as instrumentsof empowerment. These groups, mainlywomen’s SAGs are a major component ofMYRADA’s strategy for social, economic,village and environmental development ofthe communities, at both institutional andindividual level.

The process6 of SAG formation whichmay take up to three years passes throughthree phases : identification and formation,group stabilisation, and withdrawal. Anexperienced MYRADA field staff identifies anaffinity group which already exists in thevillage, and develops it into an SAG (Todayhowever, seeing the success of other SAGsin the village, many groups come forward ontheir own and request MYRADA to help themform an SAG, said Ramesh, the field staff ).This process involves collection of informationregarding credit needs, income, availability ofnatural resources (through Participatory RuralAppraisal methods), skills and markets; andunderstanding people’s perception of povertyand interveners. If it is a women’s group,then the staff also meets the men to explainthe purpose of SAGs and benefits that willaccrue to the family through theseinstitutions. Consequently, the members holdseveral meetings, give an identity to theirgroup, raise issues concerning family andvillage, debate matters regarding savings andlending, and agree to abide by groupdecisions and trust each other. In the groupstabilisation phase MYRADA plays a key rolein training the groups, supports the processof group growth by attending all meetingsof SHGs and intervening only when required.As the groups take on major role in



organisational maintenance, MYRADAgradually withdraws–it reduces its attendanceat weekly group meetings, and SAGs slowlypay for the maintenance services. MYRADA,however, ensures regular feedback and helpsthem assess their overall performance.

Watershed Management Associations :They are associations of poor farmers andother groups who live on or own land in asmall, geographically contiguous area. In theIntegrated Watershed DevelopmentProgramme, “integration” was consideredessential to the sustainability of theintervention. This necessitated theemergence of institutions of stakeholders inwatershed. With the objective to build asustainable base for livelihoods of thepoor,WMAs are involved in planning for soiland water conservation”making the waterwalk ”, natural resource managementactivities, agriculture development” bringingthe soil back to life”7, thus adopting an overallstrategy of low external input sustainableagriculture approach (LEISA), and non-farm-based livelihoods. MYRADA’s role in theprocess of WMA formation is similar to thatof SAGs.

Federation of SAGs : It is a close networkof 10 to 20 well-functioning SAGs whose

representatives (one member is nominatedfrom each group) meet regularly. During theinstitutional capacity building (ICB) training,SAGs are introduced to the concept offederation.

Community Managed Resource Centres:Integral to MYRADA’s withdrawal strategy(elaborated later under ICB), and hencepromoted by the organisation, they are socialenterprises owned and managed by theirmembers, providing demand based servicesto an average of 120 SAGs and WMAs, and toothers in a compact geographical area for afee. The ICB training introduces this institutionto these groups to which later they seekmembership.

SCALING UP OF CBOs

Figure 1 presents the three layeredstructure of the CBOs : SAGs and WMAs atthe base level; Federation of SAGs at the nextlevel; and CMRC at the top level. It thus,illustrates the scaling up of informal villagelevel CBOs (not registered, have no office orfull time staff ) into the second level informalinstitutions of federation of SAGs, and finallythe latter and WMAs into formal institutionsat the supra-community level- CMRCs(registered societies).

CMRC

SAG Federation SAG Federation

SAG SAG WMA SAG WMA SAG

> >

>

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Figure 1 : Scaling Up of CBOs



These scaled up CBOs embodystructural social capital (Singh et al. 2011).Among the base level CBOs linked by trustand mutual support, affinity is the strengthof the group and forms the basis foragreements, rules, regulations and sanctions.Since the groups bond the poor peopletogether, it is an indication of social capital,bonding with no hierarchy. At a higher level,federations of SAGs represent the horizontaldimension of social capital. These federationswhich are a link between the SAGs and theCMRC, change oppressive power relationsand create a level playing field in asustainable, non-violent manner, looking atissues individual SAGs are unable to achieve.Finally, CMRCs unite a number of base levelCBOs at a supra-community level. It embodiesboth the dimension of social capital : bondingand bridging. The CMRCs develop internalrelations, horizontally linking SAGs and WMAs,and federation of SAGs within and amongthem, and at the same time build bridges,developing external links with governmentdepartments, private individuals, industries,banks, and insurance companies; voluntaryorganisations, NGOs, donors; and localcouncils.

Methodology

This is a descriptive case study ofCommunity Based Organisations (CBOs) inthe MYRADA Kollegal Hill Area DevelopmentProject (MKHADP)8 in Karnataka, which coversthe time period from January 2010 to March2011. It studies 25 CBOs: a) 20 informal baselevel institutions (16 SAGs and 4 WMAs) fromnine villages, and 5 supra community levelformal institutions (CMRCs).

Qualitative data for the study werecollected from a) eight focus groupdiscussions (FGDs)- five with women SAGsand three with WMA members (mixed, butmostly men) ; b) eleven in-depth individualinterviews - seven women (SAG) and four

men (WMA) members; c) observation of fourCBO meetings and two capacity buildingtraining; d) observation of five CMRCmanagers’ (3 women, 2 men) and twowomen Community Resource Persons’9

(CRPs) interaction with the communitymembers; e) meetings and discussions withnine staff from the field - one staff (man)from MYRADA Kollegal Hill Area DevelopmentProject (MKHADP), two staff (men) fromCentre for Institutional Development andOrganisational Reform (CIDOR)10, and sixCMRC managers (3 women and 3 men). Twoformal meetings were held in the Projectoffice. In addition, several informal discussionswere held with the field staff (he also servedas interpreter for English to Kannada-theregional language - and vice versa) whoaccompanied while travelling from one villageto another, over lunch, and tea time. Finally,the study is also based on several pieces ofelectronic correspondence with staff fromMKHADP office.

To undertake this study, three visits weremade to Hanur, the project location. First, aone-day visit to understand MKHAD Project,then a one-week long stay, and another one-day visit. The sample was chosen with theexpert help of the nine MYRADA field staffin MKHADP, because being in close contactwith the CBOs, they have all the recordsregarding groups (SAGs, WMAs, CBO name,village, membership details in terms ofnumber of members and gender, capacitybuilding training received) under the project.For this study, active members of CBOs werechosen who had the ability to understanddiscussions and questions and expressthemselves. The FGDs which lasted around40 minutes to an hour were conducted withgroups of 12-15 members of 2-3 CBOstogether (however, SAGs and WMAsseparately). Group identity and cohesivenesswas observed (women members of 2 SAGscame in their uniform sari for discussion), the



participants took turns to express their views,most of the discussions were whole groupwith little simultaneous discussions amongthemselves, and finally a few members weremore outspoken than others ( the facilitator-researcher asked them to speak too). Thepurpose of the FGDs was to find out theprocess of capacity building training andimpact on their personal as well ascommunity life.

The interviews with 11 knowledgeableCBO members (7 women, 4 men) lastedapproximately one and half to two hourseach. Primarily, they were asked questionsregarding the different institutional capacitybuilding training; which ones did they finduseful and why; what were the changes theyperceive in themselves, group, andcommunity in general. The interviews andFGDs were held either in the village temple,school courtyard, under a large tree,community hall or anganwadi.

Supplementing this qualitative primarydata were secondary data from a) CBOrecords such as books11, and vision buildingcharts12 of eleven SAGs and five WMAs; b)MYRADA Agency profile 2010;c) AnnualReport 2008-9; d) SAG and WMA trainingmanuals; and e) several other publiclyavailable documents on MYRADA.Thisinductive study examines capacity buildingintervention and its impact on the CBOs.

MYRADA’s Capacity Building Intervention

Over the past few decades research ondevelopment has increasingly illustrated thatinvolving the community in its owndevelopment is critical for sustainability andthis is only possible by building their capacity.The fickle availability and timing of funds andwithdrawal of a funding agency (OneWorldcapacity building guide, n.d.) as donorschange their priority leading to abrupt projectclosures, leaving development agencies

highly vulnerable, is a real issue. Though theMYRADA CBO members possess expertunderstanding of the community soimportant to development projects, thisvaluable expertise however, is not enough toprotect them from their own Achilles heel ofincapacity. Hence MYRADA felt the need tobuild capacities of the CBOs beyond creditand group process management. This needwas greater because most of the membersare illiterate women who never stepped outof their homes unaccompanied, let alonemanage their SAG in a sustainable manner.Under these circumstances the agencydecided to focus on institutional capacitybuilding (ICB), thus facilitating sustainabilityof the CBOs in the long-run, making themindependent of not just an outsider donorproject finance, but MYRADA as well.

CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING

MYRADA focuses on developingknowledge, skills and attitudes of the CBOmembers appropriate to build their owninstitutions, empower them, and worktowards sustainable communitydevelopment. This handholding of the CBOsthrough capacity building to eventuallyenable them to stand on their own feet iscarried out in a systemic way at three inter-related levels, namely institutional, individual,and community level.

Institutional Capacity Building :Institutional capacity building (ICB) forms themajor component of MYRADA’s interventionsince 1995. Its objective is more to releasethe potential as individuals and as membersof an institution so that they can contributeto not just the development of their ownfamily, but also their CBO and community ina more responsible way. Based on itsexperiences with these institutions, MYRADAhas produced a training manual13 comprising24 modules-spread over four years- as a base(others are added depending on the focus



and function of the group), not toindoctrinate them all in a certain MYRADAway of thinking, but to retain the strengths-of affinity, self-help, discipline, effectivefinancial management, financial inclusion forthe poor, and empowerment- behind thesegroups. In addition, these modules are flexibleenough to be adapted to different groupsand situations. ICB focused on the educationof the members, who are mostly women, toparticipate in public and private spaces aregiven to groups of 15-20 members. It helpsCBOs grow into institutions which providethem with the space to set their own agendaand to take steps towards poverty alleviationthrough a livelihood strategy in which thewhole family is involved. In the IntegratedWatershed Development Programme, not

just the private cultivated lands, but the entireland surface of the micro watershed needsto be treated and managed; this calls forbuilding the WMA’s capacity in managing thewatershed programme in the long-run to: a)decide where treatment measures need tobe implemented and how; b) respond toemerging needs such as larger and morediversified inputs; c) seek for higher qualityservices in the areas of agriculture and animalhusbandry; d) develop more effectivelinkages with supporting institutions; e) lobbywith government to provide and improveinfrastructure like roads, storage, andtransport; and f ) change oppressive relations.Table 1 briefly describes the ICB of the SAGand WMA members, and CMRC managers.

Table 1 : Institutional Capacity Building Training

CBO Society/ Community/ Understanding Institution Human ProcessEnvironment and Institution BuildingAwareness

SAG Structural analysis of SAG concept, Communication,society, and of local conducting SAG conflict resolution,credit sources. meeting, vision consensus and

building (Appreciative collective decisionSensitising to gender Inquiry workshop), making.relations in family SAG rules andand community. regulation, roles and

responsibilities ofmembers, book keepingand auditing, leadership,common fundmanagement, SAGgraduation, linkagewith other institutions,building credit linkages,federation of SAGs

WMA Understanding natural WMA concept, roles and Collective decisionenvironment, responsibilities of WMA making, conflictintegrated watershed members, conducting resolution.management concept, meetings, WMA rules andwatershed treatment. regulations, book keeping



Sensitising to vulnerable and auditing, leadership,and marginalised groups ensuring equity in asuch as landless and watershed programme,women, and gender establishing linkage,issues in a watershed management of commonprogramme property resources,

vision building and actionplanning.

CMRC CMRC concept. Negotiation,Administrative skills like communication,CMRC registration process, leadership, conflictdocumentation, conducting resolution, decisionBoard and Annual General making.Body Meeting, resourcemobilisation, maintainingaccounts, and filing taxation.Appreciative Inquiry Approach.

Table 1 : (Contd)

With the movement of several donorsaway from South India, MYRADA is workingwith budget constraints, at a time when thenumber of SAGs needing capacity buildingservices has increased many-fold. This ledMYRADA to set up CMRCs as its withdrawalstrategy. The latter are slowly increasingly

becoming viable-as the staff once paid byMYRADA is now fully supported by themember CBOs. Figure 2 illustrates that overthe last three decades, there is a movementfrom exogenous to endogenous capacitybuilders.

Figure 2 : Capacity Builders : From Exogenous to Endogenous

Exogenous (MYRADA) Endogenous (CMRC)

Role from 1984- 2004

1. Mentoring, monitoring, and supporting No role, as CMRCs did not exist.base level CBOs (SAGs, WMAs).

2. Building capacity of CBOs and bank staff.

Role since 2004

1. Mentoring, monitoring, and supporting 1. Mentoring, monitoring, and supportingCMRCs. base level CBOs (SAGs, WMAs).

2. Building capacity of CMRC and other 2. Building capacity of base level CBOs,local council members, school teachers, agencies.college students, and local governmentofficers.

3. Providing services to the community.



The first column of Figure 2 illustratesthat between 1984 and 2004, MYRADA, asan external agency was building CBO capacity,while the second column shows that since2004, the role played by MYRADA inmentoring, monitoring and supporting SAGsand WMAs has been taken over by theCMRCs. Since CMRCs are people’s institutions,they have been referred to as endogenouscapacity builders. As exogenous actor,MYRADA has however been ‘training thetrainers’ thus building the CMRC staff capacity.Again, as base level CBOs- especially SAGs-are growing exponentially in numbers theCMRC managers are not able to handle them.They in turn identify literate people from thecommunity, willing to work as resourcepersons [Community Resource Persons(CRPs)] for the CMRC. MYRADA trains theCRPs too in book keeping, auditing, legal,reproductive, and women and child healthissues. Today, as endogenous actors, CMRCmanagers and CRPs are together buildingcommunity capacity.

Individual Level : Capacity building atthe individual level is a by-product ofMYRADA’s institutional capacity building. Thisgroup training leads to individual membersbuilding their capacity in leadership,advocacy, organising, book keeping(representatives of CBOs receive additionaltraining in book keeping), negotiation, andliteracy (literates revive their reading andwriting competence, while illiterates learn tosign). This is developing human capital.

Community Level : To achievesustainable community development,participation of community stakeholders isnecessary but not a sufficient condition; it istherefore, an imperative to build theircapacity- and capacity of all and not just of afew people or groups in the community- sothat they can participate in a moremeaningful way. With this objective, MYRADAhas been building the capacity of variousstakeholders as described in Table 2.

Table 2 : Community Capacity Building

Groups Capacity Building

School teachers and college students Prevention of HIV and anemia

Local council officials Documentation, programme planning andimplementation, audit sharing with community,prevention of HIV and anemia, mother and child,and reproductive health

Bank (nationalised, private, and Concept of SAG, importance of bank linkages tocooperative banks) staff SAGs, credit support through SAGs, documentation

requirement by SAGs, SAG selection criteria forlending money, and building repayment cultureamong SAGs

Voluntary organisations, NGOs, and Concept and function of SAG, watershed, andother agencies people’s institutions, reproductive and child health,

PRA, PLA, building registered societies, legal, bookkeeping and auditing, gender, health, agriculture,Appreciative Inquiry approach and institutionbuilding.



PROCESS OF CAPACITY BUILDING

Methods of Capacity Building Training :It is not the capacity building per se, but thetraining process that is empowering.Conducted in the village premises, capacitybuilders lead the CBO members throughguided dialogue, brainstorming, lecture,energizers, games, role play, and fish bowlexercise and storytelling. This processencourages the group members to interactwith each other, to decide on the problemsand solutions on their livelihood strategies.Being experiential, it makes individual andinstitutional capacity building and sustainablecommunity development a self-fulfillingprophecy. In addition, the PRA technique-where the trainers as well as the participantsuse instruments like sticks, stones, seeds andrangoli, i.e. coloured powders (which is easilyavailable and with which local people aremore familiar) to draw and understandconcepts-creates involved-participants, ratherthan passive-listeners. Other trainingmethods, such as interaction with a guest,field visits, and documentary shows,communicate the importance of training. Theinvited guests are often members of a well-functioning CBO who share their experienceswith the trainee group; field visits to matureCBOs, for example, to see the benefits of aparticipatory watershed programme; andvideo14 and slide shows of capacity buildingintervention in other CBOs which facedsimilar challenges and were able to convertthem into opportunities. This method on theone hand gives exposure to participant CBOsand on the other hand ensures credibility ofthe outcome. In addition, sub-groupdiscussions encourage participants to discussfamily, group, and community, social andpolitical issues without fear. The confidencethat members, especially women gain is trulyempowering.

Enabling an Environment : Beyondtraining, capacity building intervention is also

about enabling an environment whereeverybody shares best practices andinformation, and tests newly acquired skills.

Jayamma and other members of ShriVidya SAG have given valuable inputs whichhave been incorporated by the schoolauthorities. Trees have been planted by themembers so that children have shade whileplaying in their school. They have contributedtowards books and uniform for children fromeven poorer families.

Besides the training sessions, duringformal (SAGs and WMAs have weekly, andCBO Federations and CMRCs have monthlymeetings) and informal CBO meetings too,knowledge is created in scaled up CBOs asmembers constantly share their learning, andexperience with each other. Traditional, oftenneglected or even forgotten practices inwater and soil conservation are being revivedby ensuring the presence of at least an olderperson who communicates them. Again,through story telling, members share bestpractices, unexplored potentials, andachievements making them the common andexplicit property of all. In addition, CMRCmanagers, also keep in touch with thegovernments departments to have up-to-dateinformation (on best prices of seeds, fertilisers,crop, and about various government schemesfor the poor) which is then disseminated toother CBOs and local people. This also helpsCBOs forge external linkages and improvetheir financial transactions.

Irrespective of their gender, participantsare encouraged to test, improve and practisetheir leadership, negotiation, communication,meticulous record keeping skills. In addition,nomination by rotation of a CBOrepresentative to the Federation and CMRCenhances leadership qualities of members.Moreover, nominating them six months inadvance gives them ample time to build upthe required capability and confidence thus,



ensuring CBO sustainability, and its eventualweaning away from MYRADA.

IMPACT OF CAPACITY BUILDING INTERVENTION

Capacity building intervention helpsmembers and other stakeholders understandand appreciate the concept of people’sinstitutions, and develop their skills,facilitating their participation in communitydevelopment by initiating, planning,analysing, and developing projects on theirown. In MYRADA, this intervention seems tobe effective for three reasons. First, it is asystemic approach involving all communitystakeholders and not just capacity builders,village leaders (who may be rich farmers, ofhigher caste, powerful, or well networked),and representatives of the base level CBOs(who are literate, or better off than others).Second, and more importantly, it is thesimultaneous capacity building of scaled upCBOs as well as other stakeholders from thecommunity. Just as when stone is thrown inwater, capacity building intervention triggersripples of incremental impact at all levels.Third, this intervention does not end with thelast module in the training manual; it is anon-going process (CBO members inBasappanadoddi village said that as and whenthey need to learn a skill or awareness oncertain issues, they are themselvesapproaching CMRCs).

CBO Empowerment : MYRADA’scapacity building intervention helps CBOsgrow into institutions which provide themwith the space to set their own agenda andto take steps towards poverty alleviationthrough a livelihood strategy in which thewhole family is involved. The dynamics ofinteraction among various stakeholders buildsskills to negotiate and resolve conflict.Women are taking the space traditionallyoccupied by men, such as initiating incomegenerating activities (tea shops, beautyparlour etc.) on their own; attending village

meetings; questioning the political andvillage leaders; making decisions for theirfamilies, their CBOs, and for their village tosome extent. They have been earning respectfrom their husbands and other members ofthe community.

In Chinchally village, after interviewingthe CBO members, we were invited to havelunch in the small “hotel” owned by one ofthe women members of Ganesha SAG.

CBO members, more so, women havebecome savvy in financial transactions andare able to maintain their CBO common fundaccount, meet and talk to the bank officers,deposit their CBO savings, and ask forloans.The intervention has also created aculture of repayment (to group common fundand banks), which is not an easy taskespecially when working with poor,marginalised, and disadvantaged people. Inaddition, managing their SAGs has madewomen better managers compared to theirhusbands, especially in financial matters. Therigour of bookkeeping and recordmaintenance-considered important fortransparency, accountability, commitment,and finally the sustainability of the CBOs- isimpeccable in mature CBOs. They even keepmeticulous record of the meetings.

In a WMA meeting in Gujjalanathavillage, the representative introducedme to the group, recorded mypresence in the meeting register, andat the end of the meeting requestedme to sign. A woman member ofBeereshwara SAG from Basappandoddivillage said that they put socialpressure on other members not justto spend less on their children’smarriage but more importantly againstchild marriage of their daughters.

Again, all CBO members have learnedto sign. Although adult literacy among CBO



members has not increased, their childrenespecially girls are finishing school and someare even going to colleges, this isempowering the second generation. The poormembers are also overcoming the “what willpeople say” mindset and spending less onweddings (as reflected in most SAGs’ visionchart). Finally, CBO meetings offer space fordialogue, intra and inter-group dialogue andthe dynamics of this discussion graduallygenerates confidence to change relations athome and in society at their own pace. Thisis a remarkable achievement for women, whohad earlier never come out of their homeswithout a male accompanying them, let alonelobby for their rights, and question politicians.

Creation of Social Capital : Ostrom(1990b) points out that the massive infusionof physical capital (and to a lesser extent ofhuman capital) into the rural areas of post-colonial countries has proved to beineffective largely because little attention hasbeen paid to social capital and asserts that infact, a massive destruction of social capitalmay have occurred during colonisation (citedin Carroll, 2001). With this objective in mind,since mid-1980s, MYRADA has been focusingon promoting CBOs to address issues relatedto gender, equal distribution of resources,oppression and harassment at home and

outside. Social capital thus is creating theseintangible assets (rather than focusing onmaterial and tangible aspects of theorganisations). Documentation on communitydevelopment initiatives (Uphoff, 1997;Ostrom, 1990b, cited in Carroll, 2001),especially those involving NGOs, too hasdemonstrated the developmental potential ofpromoting and strengthening micro-levelassociations and organisations.

MYRADA’s seamless capacity buildingintervention empowers CBO members,facilitates cooperation to act together,simultaneously creating social capital.Coleman too (1990, p. 598) defined socialcapital as ‘… not a single entity, but a varietyof different entities having two characteristicsin common: They all consist of some aspectof social structure, and they facilitate certainactions of individuals who are within thestructure’ (cited in Grootaert&Bastelaer, 2001).In addition, enhancement of human capitalthrough individual capacity building has alsobeen held to some extent sociallyaccountable for the creation of social capital.It is being used to mobilise resources not justfor the family, the CBO, but also thecommunity, facilitating collective action forthe development of the collective whole.

WMA Vision Chart



SAG Vision Chart

The above photographs depict that theWMA and SAG members have developed thecapacity to build vision for their members,group and village. The planning, facilitatesthem to act together for a common purpose,be it construction of village road, treeplantation, improving village school, cleaningcommon water tank and drainage, organisingawareness camps on health, legal and socialrelated issues, and lobbying for electricity.Again, capacity building and creation of socialcapital seem to be simultaneous moments. It

is not that first the capacity building takesplace, and once this process is over, thensocial capital is formed. Over the last twodecades, there has been a paradigm shift indevelopment as external change agents haverealised that capacity building is neitherbringing in new technology nor externalconsultants. As a result, MYRADA is investingdirectly in affinity groups as social capitaltools, which in turn interact with other factorsfurther enhancing social capital.

Figure 3: Model Showing Reciprocal Relation Between Capacity Building and Social Capital

Tool Factors Outcome

Scaling up of CBOs

Capacity building intervention Social Capital

Capacity building training

Number of stakeholders’ involvement

CBOs Different levels of stakeholders’ involvementSocial Capital

Process of capacity buildingCreation of enabling environment Social Capital



As illustrated in Figure 3, social capitalas an outcome depends on scaling up ofCBOs and capacity building intervention.MYRADA’s capacity building interventionleverages the social capital encapsulated inaffinity groups to further enhance output(social capital). This enhanced output in turnfeeds back building more intra and inter-CBOtrust and greater involvement of communitystakeholders in enhancing and using theircapacity in new directions to forge new tiesand relationships facilitating collective action.The arrows and connecting lines thus depictthe reciprocal relationship between socialcapital and capacity building.

Examining the forms of social capital,Grootaert and Bastelaer (2001) affirm thatstructural social capital is associated withsocial organisation (informal or formal), withroles people assume, networks, rules, andprocedures that guide specific behaviour. InMYRADA, the capacity building trainingfacilitates members’ development of norms,rules, and regulations for the functioning oftheir CBOs. Punctuality, discipline during themeeting and sanctions for non-complianceare more visible and external. Cognitive socialcapital (Uphoff, 2000) on the other hand,refers to shared norms, values, trust, attitudes,and beliefs; and therefore, is a moresubjective and intangible concept (cited inGrootaert & Bastelaer, 2001). Again,information sharing and repeated interactionamong individuals during CBO meetingsenhances trust, reduces uncertainty aboutrepayment behaviour, and in effect reducestransaction costs overall (Grootaert, 1998),thus creating social capital. This intangibletrust is also reflected in the successfulmanagement of CBO common fund andnatural resources by members of WatershedManagement Associations.

Social capital whether driven bystructural social capital or cognitive, evolvesinto shared knowledge, understandings, and

patterns of interactions that members adoptin dealing within and among CBOs. As a resultof institutional capacity building, CBOmembers are able to decide who should begiven loan, how much, for what period andwhat should be the punishment for delayedpayment, and are constantly learning to workbetter together and carry out and monitorroutine activities. This seems to be animportant component of social capitalbecause trust not just reduces transaction costbut also institutionalises behaviour,considered essential to be called capital.Again, Fafchamps and Minten (1999) arguethat social capital embodied in networks oftrust has characteristics similar to otherfactors of production, such as physical capitaland labour, as it accumulates over time andimproves economic performance (cited inGrootaert & Bastelaer, 2001). Researchersof the institutional economics school too,consider social capital to be constructible asevidenced by MYRADA’s capacity buildingintervention which is deliberately influencingthe ‘stock’ of social capital.

Conclusion

The purpose of this research was, onone hand to conduct an in-depth study oncapacity building intervention as a systemicprocess and on the other hand to study acase from Southern India, which is not wellrepresented in development literature. Thefindings suggest that MYRADA is leveragingsocial capital (affinity) of the poor, buildingtheir capacity, and simultaneously involvingall stakeholders of the community in theirdevelopment. Research has shown that withthe creation of CMRCs the agency is slowlymoving from exogenous to endogenouscapacity builders. This study has found thatMYRADA’s capacity building intervention goesbeyond training; it is creating an enablingenvironment for practising the skills learnt,and sharing information and best practices.Taken together, these results suggest that as



part of broader withdrawal and empower-ment strategies, building capacity givesfluidity and flexibility to the functioning ofthe CBOs to generate social capital. Ingeneral, it seems that such an interventionis definitely enhancing both structural andcognitive social capital - consideredpotentially a tool of poverty reductionstrategies because they can be far moreproductive with whatever physical and humancapital they draw on.

This study also confirms research fromother parts of the world which showed thatcapacity building facilitates decentralisationin the nexus of power relations, withknowledge and decision-making morewidely disbursed. In FECOFUN Nepal(Britt,1997) more women are being broughtinto public spaces- assemblies, training, andcommittee meetings- and through theseinteractions, they are gaining confidence andlearning to express their views forcefully andpublicly (cited in Carroll, 2001). Finally, thediscussion in this paper substantiatesdevelopmental research where Carroll(2001) highlighted that NGO intervention incapacity building among the poor, not onlyenhanced human capital in terms of personalskills but also built organisational capacityamong the poorer groups, which is animportant form of structural social capital.

This study has the limitations of studyingCBOs in only one project in South India. Ithowever, highlights how capacity buildingtraining, tailor-made for different CBOs andother stakeholders, and different trainingmethods are all impacting the CBOs. Theinvestigation thus adds to the existing body

of knowledge regarding the potential impactof capacity building intervention on CBOempowerment, particularly women andcreation of social capital. What is needed is alongitudinal research studying the impact ofcapacity building intervention across projectsand regions because the capacity builder andthe CBOs face different situations. Whilemuch work remains, capacity buildingintervention, through their diversity andsystemic approach, has the potential to makesignificant impact. This study provides afoundation upon which future field-basedresearch on capacity building intervention canbuild. In particular, instead of a single-case-study, a multiple-case study design can beused to determine its impact. Such a study isimperative on both theoretical and practicallevels as it will advance research in the fieldsof development, capacity building and socialcapital.

In the light of these conclusions, thispaper has implications for communitydevelopment practitioners, legislative bodies,and policymakers.This understanding willassist these professionals as well as othersacross the world in their development efforts.This study will also have implications for donoragencies that are looking with growinginterest in these areas. The research alsohopes that academicians and practitionerswill examine and document emergingpractices, and share them to inspire manyothers within the country and globally toconsciously invest in capacity building so thatcommunity driven development can besustained in the long-term.



Notes

1. http://www.coastalwiki.org/coastalwiki/Capacity_Building

2. http://www.hiproweb.org/fileadmin/cdroms/Biblio_Renforcement/documents/Chapter-1/Chap1Doc2.pdf

3. Kretzman, McKnight in 1993 at the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University,Illinois, articulated ABCD - basic tenet is that a capacity-focused approach is more likely toempower the community and therefore mobilise citizens to create positive and meaningfulchange from within.

4. Pioneered by Cooperrider and Srivastava in 1987, Appreciative Inquiry is the theory oforganising and method for changing social systems, seeking the root causes of successrather than the root causes of failure. AI is the study and exploration of what gives life tohuman systems when they function at their best.

5. Mysore State has become Karnataka.

6. Fernandez, 1995, RMS 22.

7. MYRADA Annual Report 2008-2009.

8. Total number of CBOs in MKHADP : 646, SAGs, 49 WMAs and 6 CMRCs.

9. Resource persons from the community, as freelancers, they work in CMRCs.

10. CIDOR is a registered body promoted by MYRADA.

11. Books and ledges of financial transactions within the group and with other institutionslike banks; and meetings records.

12. Approximately four years after their conception, most CBOs go through vision buildingtraining (an Appreciative Inquiry workshop), and create vision charts for one to five years’time period for their CBOs.

13. The MYRADA Experience-A Manual for Capacity Building of SHAGs, 2006. The MYRADAExperience-A Manual for Capacity Building of People’s Institutions Managing Watersheds,2004.

14. The first Appreciative Inquiry training programme was filmed to produce a video entitled“Appreciative Inquiry: A Beginning”.

References

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2. Bebbington, A. J., and Carroll, T. F. (2000), Induced Social Capital and Federations of theRural Poor, Social Capital Initiative, Working Paper No. 19, The World Bank, March 2000.

3. Carroll, T.F. (2001), Social Capital, Local Capacity Building, and Poverty Reduction, AsianDevelopment Bank, Manila, Philippines.



4. Fitzgerald, M., Posner, J., Workman, A. (NA), A Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation of NGOCapacity Buildinginterventions in Conflict Affected Settings, JSI Research & Training Institute,Inc., accessed at : http://www.africancso.org/documents/10136/0/A+Guide+to+Monitoring+and+Evaluation+of+NGO+Capacity+Building+Interventions(10 August, 2012).

5. Foster, M. and Mathie, A. (2001), Situating Asset-Based Community Development in theInternational Development Context, Accessed at:http://www.mystfx.ca/institutes/coady/text/about_publications_new_situating.html (19 November 2010).

6. Groot, R. and van der Molen, P. (2000), A New Vision for Building Capacity in LandAdministration, Final Report, Workshop on Capacity Building in Land Administration inDeveloping Countries, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands.

7. Grootaert, C. &Bastelaer, T. (2001), Understanding and Measuring Social Capital : A Synthesisof Findings and Recommendation from the Social Capital Initiative, Social Capital Initiative,Working Paper No. 24.

8. Grootaert, C. (1998). Social Capital : The Missing Link? Social Capital Initiative, WorkingPaper No. 3.

9. IFAD(2009), Community Driven Development Decision Tools for Rural DevelopmentProgrammes, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), July 2009.

10. Maikhuri, R. K., Rawat, L. S. , Negi, V. S., Purohit, V. K., Rao, K. S. & Saxena, K. G. (2011),Managing Natural Resources Through Simple and Appropriate Technological Interventionsfor Sustainable Mountain Development, Current Science, 100, 7, 992-997.

11. One World Capacity Building Guide, Accessed at : http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/capacitybuilding (26 June 2011).

12. Sena & Booy (1997), Appreciative Inquiry Approach to Community Development : TheWorld Vision Tanzania ( WVT ) Experience, Global Social Innovations, Journal of the GEMInitiative, 1, 2, 7-12.

13. Singh, A., Bellegowda, Rajachary, Ramesh, R., Patkar, S. & Babu, T. (2011), Social Capital andMYRADA’s Pioneering Approach : The Power of Women in Community-based Organisationsin Southern India, AI Practitioner, 13, 3, 16-23.

14. Social Audit of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Andhra Pradesh (2009),Centre for Good Governance, accessed at : http://www.sasanet.org/curriculum_final/d o w n l a o d s / C B / C a s e % 2 0 S t u d i e s % 2 0 a n d % 2 0 W o r k i n g % 2 0 P a p e r s /0 3 % 2 0 S o c i a l % 2 0 A u d i t % 2 0 o f % 2 0 N R E G S % 2 0 i n % 2 0 A n d h r a % 2 0 P r a d e s h % 2 0 -% 2 0 B e s t % 2 0 P r a c t i c e % 2 0 N o t e s % 2 0 o n % 2 0 S o c i a l % 2 0 A c c o u n t a b i l i t y % 2 0 -%20Centre%20for%20Good%20Governance.pdf(10 August 2012).

15. The World Bank (2005), Capacity Building in Africa, An OED Evaluation of World BankSupport 2005, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

16. UNDP (1991), Symposium for Water Sector Capacity Building, A Msterdam : UNDP/International Institute for Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering.

17. United Nations (2006), Definition of Basic Concepts and Terminologies in Governance andPublic Administration, 7-8.



18. Woolcock (2001), The Place of Social Capital in Understanding Social and EconomicOutcomes, Canadian Journal of Policy Research, 2, 1, 11-17.

19. Yee, Just, Stahov&Ehlinger (2008), Social Capital and Economic Development : The Case forPne Small Community, National Social Science Association, Accessed at:http://www.nssa.us/journals/2008-30-1/2008-30-1-19.htm (15 January, 2011)

20. Zucker, D. M. (2009), “How to do Case Study Research”, Working Paper No.2, School of NursingFaculty Publication Series.

Fahimuddin*


* Senior Fellow, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow-226 024. E-Mail: [email protected]

** The author is thankful to Prof. A.K. Singh, Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, for sanctioningfunds for this study and providing valuable insights for analysis of data.

ABSTRACT

There are conflicting views of the scholars about the role of tenancy inagricultural development. One section of the scholars believe that tenancy runsunder exploitative terms and is based mostly on oral contracts without any securityof lease. An opposite view has also emerged among the scholars who find tenancyas an effective means of increasing land access to the poor, redistributing thegains of agricultural development, empowering tenants and improving theirbargaining power. In the light of conflicting views about tenancy, it becomesimportant to empirically examine the issue in its various dimensions and to solicitthe views of stakeholders at the ground level. The present paper is mainly basedon a survey of 43 tenants in Lakhimpur district, 56 tenants in Hardoi district, 60tenants in Sultanpur district, 50 tenants in Etah district and 49 tenants in Jhansidistrict in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The analysis of NSS data has indicated thatdespite the legislative regulations and restrictions on the tenancy, it is beingwidely practised in U.P. as well as in India. The percentage of leased-in area intotal area has remained constant around 10 per cent in U.P during 1980-81 to2002-03. The socio- economic conditions of sample tenants have revealed thatmajority of them belonged to backward castes followed by scheduled castes;while very few tenants were from upper castes. Agriculture was the mainoccupation of about 60 per cent of tenants while about 20 of them were rurallabourers. Average land leased-in per household was 1.61 acres which was higherthan the land owned per household (1.19 acres). The leased-in land did providean average annual income of ` 5163 per household, which accounted for 22.34per cent of average annual income per household. Majority of landlords whorented-out their land also belonged to Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and aroundhalf of them were engaged in agriculture and rest were engaged in service andtrade professions. All lease agreements were oral. The length of lease wasgenerally of short duration. In most of the cases duration of lease was of 1 to 2years. The terms of lease were generally decided according to the prevalent leasepractices in the area. The dominant form of leasing was based on the sharing ofproduce and cost on 50:50 basis. Generally the cost of fertilisers and irrigation was

STATUS OF TENANCY IN UTTARPRADESH : SOME FACTS FROMTHE FIELD

394 Fahimuddin


shared on 50-50 per cent basis between tenants and landlords. The practice of leasing-in on the basis of cash payment was also found to be emerging in some districts.Insecurity of lease contract was the most serious problem perceived by tenants. Aboutone-third of tenants have reported the taking of loan from land owners for productionor consumption purposes. One-fourth of the tenants have reported that their landowners sought undue favour in lieu of leasing-in of land to them in the form ofpayment of lower wages for their labour. Majority of tenants who were interviewedexpressed the view that tenancy should be legalised. Reforms in tenancy laws is theneed of the hour which will be mutually beneficial to all parties concerned and willcertainly promote inclusive growth.

Introduction

Tenanc y has been traditionallyconsidered as an exploitative form ofcultivation, negatively impacting farmproductivity and equity. As a result, soon afterIndependence most states in India enactedtenancy legislation, which imposed eitherblanket ban or put significant restrictions andregulations on tenancy. The tenants indifferent parts of the country acquiredownership or secured rights on the landcultivated by them. On the other hand, suchcontrols had a most damaging consequenceon the livelihood of a large number oferstwhile tenants who disposed off their landtraditionally cultivated by them. The tenantsbecame unprotected by the law andvulnerable to eviction. One estimate pointsout that such eviction took place on about30 per cent of the operated area and theseevictions took place even in states thatbenefited large number of tenants withownership or ownership-like rights (Appu,1997).

Despite the legislative regulations andrestrictions imposed on tenancy, the factremains that tenancy in its various forms hasshown no sign of extinction. The NationalSample Survey (NSS) 37th round (1981-82)put the figure of tenancy at 6-7 per cent ofthe operated area, which was considered asgross underestimation. Several micro studieshave indicated that incidence of tenancy

varied between 15-35 per cent of theoperated area (Cherian, 2004, John, 2004,Latha and Madhusudan 2004, Nair et. al, 2004and Veron, 1999).

One section of scholars believe thattenancy runs under exploitative terms and isbased mostly on oral contracts without anysecurity of lease. An opposite view has alsoemerged among scholars that tenancy is aneffective means of increasing land access tothe poor, redistributing the gains ofagricultural development, empoweringtenants and improving their bargaining power.Thus, tenancy has been recognised as animportant mechanism for increasing theincome of poor and alleviating them frompoverty.

In the light of the above conflictingviews about tenancy, it is important toempirically examine the issue in its variousdimensions and to solicit the views ofstakeholders at the ground level. The presentstudy based on a field survey of tenants infive districts of Uttar Pradesh is a modestattempt in this direction.

Methodology

Objectives of the Study : The majorobjectives of the study are:

1. To study the status of tenancy in UttarPradesh


Status of Tenancy in Uttar Pradesh: Some Facts from the Field 395

2. To examine the socio-economic profileof tenants

3. To study the farming characteristics oftenant households

4. To find out the terms and conditions oftenancy in Uttar Pradesh

5. To suggest measures to reform thetenancy system.

The study is based on a field survey oftenants in U.P. First, from each of the foureconomic regions of the State, one districtwas selected where largest area wasdistributed under different land distributionprogrammes. On this criterion, Hardoi districtfrom the Central Region, Sultanpur districtfrom the Eastern Region, Etah district fromthe Western Region and Jhansi district fromthe Bundelkhand Region were selected. Inaddition, Lakhimpur Kheri district was also

selected from the tarai region (sub-mountain)which presents distinct agro-climaticcharacteristics.

In the second stage, one tehsil wasselected from each sample district on thebasis of criteria as followed in the selectionof sample districts. Thereafter, two villageswere selected randomly from each tehsil. Thevillage-wise list of tenants was prepared bysurvey and from each sample village ten percent of tenants were selected randomly forthe interview. On the whole, 43 tenants inLakhimpur district, 56 tenants in Hardoidistrict, 60 tenants in Sultanpur district, 50tenants in Etah district and 49 tenants inJhansi district were selected. A detailedschedule was developed to collect primarydata from the tenants. The names of sampledistricts, tehsils and villages with numberof tenants interviewed are shown inTable 1.

Table 1 : Details of the Sample

Sample Districts Sample Tehsils Sample Villages Number ofSample Tenants

Lakhimpur Lakhimpur Sadar Saidapur-DevkaliSafipur 2320

Hardoi Sandila BegumganjSahgaon 3026

Sultanpur Sultanpur Sadar JajjaurSaiffullaganj 3030

Etah Etah Sadar KillermauPura 2525

Jhansi Jhansi Sadar KhailarSaiyar 2425

Total (No.) 5 10 258

Status of Tenancy in Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh Zamindari AbolitionAct, 1952 prohibited sub-letting of farm landexcept by certain exempted categories of

persons such as widows, minors, andmembers of the armed forces. But in actualpractice tenancy continued to prevail in allparts of the State as the various rounds ofNational Sample Survey have shown.

396 Fahimuddin


Table 2 presents details of operationalholdings in U.P. and India based on NSSsurveys. The percentage share of leased-inholdings in total holdings was found to behigher in U.P. as compared to all India averageduring all the NSS rounds. However, theproportion of leased-in holdings has steadily

declined over the past three decades. During59th round (2002-03), share of number ofleased-in holdings in total holdings was 11.7per cent in U.P. and 9.9 per cent at the allIndia level. About 10 per cent of operatedland was under leased-in farming in U.P.against 7 per cent in India.

Table 2 : Characteristics of Operational Holdings : U.P. and India (Rural)

Item U.P./ India Round

26th 37th 48th 59th

(1970-71) (1981-82) (1991-92) (2002-03)

No. of Operational Holdings (Million) U.P. 11.1 13.1 17.0 18.03

India 57.1 71.0 93.5 101.27

Total Area Operated (Million hectare) U.P. 17.2 16.8 17.1 13.87

India 125.7 118.6 125.1 107.65

Average Area Operated (ha.) U.P. 1.5 1.3 1.0 0.77

India 2.2 1.7 1.3 1.06

Percentage of Operational Holdings with partly or wholly

(a) Owned land U.P. 98.6 97.8 97.4 90.08

India 95.6 92.9 96.2 95.33

(b) Leased-in Land U.P. ——- 20.1 15.5 11.7

India 24.7 15.2 11.0 9.9

In total area operated, percentage share of:

(a) Area owned U.P. 87.0 88.1 88.5 87.5

India 89.3 91.1 90.4 92.7

(b) Area leased-in U.P. —— 10.2 10.5 9.5

India 10.6 7.2 8.5 6.5

Source : NSS Reports.

The percentage of households whohave reported leasing-out constituted around5 in U.P. as against 3 in the country as a whole(Table 3). On other hand, the householdsreporting leasing-in were 13 and 12 per centin U.P. and India, respectively. It was also

reported that the average area leased-in perhousehold was 0.51 hectare in U.P. as against0.44 hectare in the country as a whole.Leased-in area constituted 11 per cent oftheir total area in U.P. as against 7 per cent inIndia as a whole.



Table 3 : Incidence of Tenancy in U.P. and India (2002-03)

State/country Percentage of Average Area Leased-in Leased-in area ashouseholds reporting per household per cent of total

(in hectare) area ownedLeasing-out Leasing-in

U.P. 5.36 12.78 0.51 10.52

India 2.80 11.52 0.44 7.05

Source : NSS 59th Round.

Among different terms of leasing-in ofland being practised, sharing of produce wasmost prevalent followed by fix money andfix produce (Table 4). The sharing of produce

was followed in about 53 per cent oftenancies in U.P. in comparison with 40 percent in India.

Table 4 : Percentage Distribution of Area Leased-in According to Terms of Leasing :U.P. and India (2002-03)

State/Country Fixed Fixed Share of From Others AllMoney Produce Produce relatives

Uttar Pradesh 23.8 12.9 52.9 5.0 5.4 100.0

India 29.5 20.3 40.3 4.0 5.9 100.0


Sharing of produce was also reportedas the dominant form of leasing-out followedby fixed produce in U.P. However, at the all

India level fixed money was a more popularform of leasing-out as compared to U.P. as awhole (Table 5).

Table 5 : Percentage Distribution of Area Leased-out by the Terms of Leasing (2002-03)

State/Country For Fixed For Fixed For Share Other Items AllMoney Produce of Produce

U.P. 14.48 21.18 51.93 12.00 100.00

India 31.04 15.30 39.55 14.11 100.00


Socio-economic Profile of Tenants

In order to study the present status oftenancy in U.P. and to know the views of thetenants about making leasing legal, a samplestudy of 258 tenant farmers was carried out.

In this section, findings of the field surveyhave been analysed.

Family Details : Average family size ofthe sample households was 7 persons varyingbetween 5 to 7 persons in the sample

398 Fahimuddin


districts. A notable feature was that the sexratio was 902 females per 1000 males (Table

6). In case of Jhansi district, an area of highout-migration, sex ratio was as low as 779.

Table 6 : Family Composition and Sex Ratio of Tenant Households

District Male Female Male Female Average Sex(Adult) (Adult) (Child) (Child) Family Size Ratio

Lakhimpur 86 70 55 57 6 901(32.09) (26.12) (20.52) (21.27)

Hardoi 114 94 93 91 7 894(29.09) (23.98) (23.72) (23.21)

Sultanpur 112 118 95 90 7 959(26.99) (28.43) (22.89) (21.69)

Etah 85 90 93 78 7 944(24.57) (26.01) (26.88) (22.54)

Jhansi 71 59 74 54 5 779(27.52) (22.87) (28.68) (20.93)

All 478 431 410 370 7 902(28.30) (25.52) (24.27) (21.91)

Source : Field survey

Note : Figures in brackets show percentages.

Caste, Religion and Gender : OtherBackward Castes (OBCs) constituted around78 per cent of all tenants in the sample (Table7). The share of OBC tenants was found to beparticularly high in the districts of Sultanpur,

Jhansi and Hardoi. The scheduled castesconstituted the second largest group oftenants. Their share was higher in the districtsof Lakhimpur and Etah. Less than one percent of tenants were from the general castes.

Table 7 : Caste-wise Distribution of Sample Tenants

Castes Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

General 2 - - - - 2(4.65) (0.77)

OBC 21 45 56 33 45 200(48.84) (80.36) (93.33) (66.00) (91.84) (77.52)

SC 20 11 4 17 4 56(46.51) (19.64) (6.67) (34.00) (8.16) (21.71)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

Source : Field survey.

Note: Figures in brackets show percentages.



Age of Tenants : The age structure ofsample tenants showed that about 19 percent were in the young age group of 15 to30 years and another 47 per cent in the age

group of 30 to 45 years (Table 8). A little lessthan 10 per cent belonged to older agegroup.

Table 8 : Age Profile of Sample Tenants

Age Group Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

15-30 10 10 4 9 15 48(23.25) (17.86) (6.67) (18.00) (30.61) (18.60)

30-45 16 24 26 26 27 121(37.21) (42.86) (43.33) (52.00) (55.10) (46.90)

45-60 12 16 14 14 5 65(27.91) (28.57) (23.33) (28.00) (10.21) (25.19)

60+ 5 6 1 1 2 24(11.63) (10.71) (1.67) (2.00) (4.08) (9.31)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)



Education Level among Tenants : Table9 shows the level of education of the tenants.Almost half of the tenants were illiterate.Around 40 per cent had education up to

primar y or upper primar y level. Theremaining 12 per cent tenants had educationup to high school or above (Table 9).

Table 9 : Education Level of Sample Tenants

Education Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi AllLevels

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Illiterate 22 36 30 15 19 122(51.16) (64.29) (50.00) (30.00) (38.78) (47.29)

Below Primary 5 5 3 4 14 31(11.63) (8.93) (5.00) (8.00) (28.57) (12.02)

Primary 6 7 8 7 6 34(13.95) (12.50) (1.33) (14.00) (12.24) (13.18)

Upper Primary 7 5 13 7 7 39(16.28) (8.93) (21.67) (14.00) (42.29) (15.12)

High School 2 2 4 9 2 19(4.65) (3.57) (6.67) (18.00) (4.08) (7.36)

Intermediate - 1 1 4 - 6(1.79) (1.67) (8.00) (2.33)

(Contd.)

400 Fahimuddin


Technical Diploma - - - - 1 1(2.04) (0.39)

Graduate - - 1 3 - 4(1.67) (6.00) (1.55)

Post-graduate 1 - - 1 - 2(2.33) (2.00) (0.78)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

Source: Field survey.


Table 9 : (Contd.)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Main Occupation of Tenants : About 60per cent of tenants reported agriculture astheir prime occupation. About 20 per centwere engaged in non-agricultural activities(Table 10). Surprisingly, less than 3 per centtenants reported agricultural labour as theirprimary occupation. A relatively smallproportion was also engaged in other low

income activities like animal husbandry andtrade. Some variations across districts werealso observed. Thus, in Lakhimpur district 81.4per cent tenants were agriculturists, but inSultanpur district only 35 per cent reportedagriculture as their primary occupation. In thelatter district, 30 per cent tenants wereengaged in animal husbandry.

Table 10 : Main Occupation of Sample Tenants

Occupation Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Agriculture 35 39 21 30 26 151(81.40) (69.64) (35.00) (60.00) (53.06) (58.53)

Agriculture Labour 3 1 1 2 - 7(6.98) (1.79) (1.67) (4.00) (2.71)

Non-agriculture Labour 4 11 4 15 17 51(9.30) (19.64) (6.67) (30.00) (34.69) (19.77)

Animal Husbandry - 1 18 - - 19(1.79) (30.00) (7.36)

Trade 1 3 10 - 3 17(2.32) (5.35) (16.66) (6.12) (6.59)

Services - - 3 3 2 8(5.00) (6.00) (4.09) (3.10)

Artisan - 1 3 - 1 5(1.39) (5.00) (2.04) (1.94)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

Source: Field survey.




Secondary Occupation of Tenants : Over42 per cent of tenants were employed aslabour generally in non-agricultural activitiesas far as their secondary occupation wasconcerned while about one-third reported

agriculture as their secondary occupation(Table 11). Over one-fifth of tenants werealso engaged in animal husbandry as theirsecondary occupation.

Table 11 : Secondary Occupation of Tenants

Occupation Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Agriculture 6 17 31 11 21 86(13.95) (32.08) (51.67) (22.00) (42.86) (33.73)

Agriculture Labour 7 3 - 11 - 21(16.28) (5.66) (22.00) (8.23)


Animal Husbandry 14 5 18 13 4 54(32.56) (9.43) (30.00) (26.00) (8.16) (21.18)

Trade 1 - 2 - - 3(2.33) (3.33) (1.18)

Artisan - - 3 1 - 4(5.00) (2.00) (1.57)

Total 43 53 60 50 49 255(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)



Income of Sample Tenants : The averageannual income per household of tenants wasestimated to be ` 23,116. This amounted toa per capita income of about ` 3,300. Asshown in Table 12, contribution of incomefrom the leased-in land in total income washighest (22.3 per cent), closely followed bythe income from the non-agricultural labour(21.2 per cent), income from owned land(20.2 per cent) and animal husbandry (16.5per cent).

Tenants in Jhansi and Sultanpur districtshad much higher income level as compared

to their counterparts of other sample districts.In Jhansi district non-agriculture labourcontributed as much as 37.6 per cent inhousehold’s income, while in Sultanpurdistrict income from animal husbandry andservices and pension made a significantcontribution to family ’s income. Thecontribution of income from leased-in landvaried from a low of 13.9 per cent inSultanpur district to a high of 38.3 per centin Lakhimpur district (Table 12).

402 Fahimuddin


Table 12 : Average Net Annual Income per Sample Household by Source (`)

Sources Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Owed Land 1919 5149 5935 6508 3108 4669(10.32) (25.71) (19.55) (43.34) (10.35) (20.20)

Leased-in Land 7134 5290 4213 2406 7267 5163(38.38) (26.42) (13.88) (16.02) (24.20) (22.34)

Animal Husbandry 3799 1418 7075 1978 4476 3820(20.44) (7.08) (23.31) (13.17) (14.91) (16.53)

Agriculture Labour 1628 450 438 192 604 623(8.76) (2.25) (1.44) (1.28) (2.01) (2.70)


Trade 209 1214 3317 160 1429 1372(1.12) (6.06) (10.93) (1.07) (4.76) (5.94)

Construction - 500 - 102 - 128(2.50) (0.68) (0.55)

Artisan - 170 1350 400 714 564(0.85) (4.45) (2.66) (2.38) (2.44)

Service 279 - 1600 840 1143 798(1.50) (5.27) (5.59) (3.81) (3.45)

Remittances - - 583 - - 136(1.92) (0.59)

Pension 153 - 3100 - - 747(0.82) (10.21) (3.23)

Total 18586 20025 30351 15015 30030 23116(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)



Farm Characteristics of TenantHouseholds : Several scholars have consideredtenancy as an inefficient form of farming. Theargument has been given that since tenantsget only a part of the output they produce orpay a higher fixed rent in cash, they haveless incentive to put-in required efforts andinputs to realise as much production as couldbe possible. Without ownership right with

fear of eviction any time, they do not makeinvestment on the land which prohibits themfrom realising the higher productivity gains.In this section, status of farming undertenancy has been examined.

Land Size : The average operated areaof agricultural land per tenant household was2.45 acres, varying from 1.63 acres in Hardoi



district to 4.07 acres in Jhansi district (Table13). Average leased-in land per tenant was1.61 acres, which was higher than land ownedper household (1.19 acres). Only in Etahdistrict average area owned per householdwas higher than the average area leased-in

by all households. In Lakhimpur, Hardoi andEtah districts, entire leased-in and owned landwas irrigated. In Jhansi district, which wasgenerally drought-prone, leased-in area wasalmost fully irrigated even though only 28per cent of owned area was irrigated.

Table 13 : Land Owned and Leased-in Per Tenant Household (in acre)

District Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Land owned

(a) Average per household 0.82 0.68 0.65 1.90 1.72 1.19

(b) Percentage of irrigated land 100.00 100.00 91.50 100.00 27.68 77.56

Land leased-in



Land ( Total)



Source : Field Survey.

Crop Production : Table 14 presents farmcharacteristics of the sample households.Tenants have reported that they used majorpart of their cultivated area for foodgraincultivation. It indicated that leasing-in of landwas mainly to meet food requirement. Wheatand paddy were the dominant cropscultivated both on owned and leased-in land.The percentage of irrigated area in leased-inland was also generally higher than that ofowned land. Productivity levels of all the

crops grown on leased-in land were foundto be higher than the productivity realisedon the owned land. All this indicated thattenants were cultivating leased-in land moreefficiently than their owned land and theywere realising better productivity from theleased-in land as compared to their own land.This could be due to the fact that the qualityof leased-in land may be superior to qualityof owned land and better irrigation facilitieswere available on the leased in land.

404 Fahimuddin


Table 14 : Characteristics of Crop Production onOwned and Leased-in Land on Sample Farms

Crop Percentage in gross Percentage of irrigated Yield Quintal/cropped area in total area under crop acre (irrigated)

Owned Leased -in Owned Leased -in Owned Leased -in

Wheat 69.56 85.45 89.39 99.86 10.12 11.22

Paddy 63.78 60.34 100.00 100.00 8.80 9.50

Barley 1.88 1.32 100.00 100.00 7.08 8.70

Maize 10.26 4.32 43.10 89.70 4.81 5.26

Potato 2.57 2.54 100.00 100.00 89.13 100.80

Pulses 14.66 15.82 17.82 76.27 2.19 2.90

Mustard 16.99 10.46 24.41 100.00 4.10 4.61


Cost of Cultivation on Owned andLeased-in Land : Cost of various inputsapplied in the cultivation of different cropson the leased-in land was more or less same

as used in the cultivation of owned land. Theestimated cost of inputs amounted to 40 to50 per cent of the value of production ofdifferent crops (Table 15).

Table 15 : Crop-wise Per Acre Cost of Cultivationon Owned and Leased-in Land (in `)

Crops Seed Fertiliser/ Irrigation Others Totalpesticide

Owned Leased Owned Leased Owned Leased Owned Leased Owned Leased-in -in -in -in -in

Wheat 860 797 1239 1158 1747 1788 1319 1447 5634 5630

Paddy 440 369 1362 1471 1554 1502 1554 1060 4910 4902

Maize 103 104 166 217 214 197 288 273 771 791

Potato 3175 3160 1208 1342 941 907 1292 1290 6616 6699

Vegetable 546 480 850 760 1418 1600 713 1180 3527 4020

Pulses 253 412 239 324 234 417 385 445 1111 1598

Mustard 138 163 353 310 206 197 366 477 1063 1147

Groundnut 980 841 293 290 315 489 785 859 2373 2479




Investment on Leased-in Land : It isgenerally presumed that tenants have noincentive to make investment on improvingof the leased-in land as they have no securityof tenure. This assumption is supported bythe result of our field data which showed thatmore than 82 per cent of sample tenants did

not make any investment on the land leased-in by them ( Table 16). The proportion oftenants making some investment on theleased-in land was relatively higher inLakhimpur, Hardoi and Etah districts ascompared to Sultanpur and Jhansi districts.

Table 16 : Tenants Reporting Investment on the Leased-in Land

Particular Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Yes 9 12 7 14 4 46(20.93) (21.43) (11.67) (28.00) (8.16) (17.83)

No 34 44 53 36 45 212(79.07) (78.57) (88.33) (72.00) (91.84) (82.17)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Leveling of land was the main item ofinvestment of tenants. Around 65 per centof tenants reported to have made investmenton land leveling while about 20 per centreported investment on irrigation (Table 17).

A small number had also spent money onsoil testing. It looks that tenants who getinferior quality of land on lease do try toimprove its quality through land leveling,irrigation, etc. to increase its productivity.

Table 17 : Type of Investment Made on Leased-in Land

Items Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Land Leveling 5 7 7 10 3 32(55.55) (58.33) (100.00) (71.43) (75.00) (69.56)

Irrigation 3 4 - 2 - 9(33.33) (33.33) (14.29) (19.57)

Soil Testing 1 1 - 2 1 5(11.12) (8.34) (14.28) (25.00) (10.87)

Total 9 12 7 14 4 46(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Characteristics of Tenants : In thissection, we present the findings relating tothe characteristics of tenancy such as

ownership of leased-in land from relativesand non-relatives, caste of lessors and thelength of lease, terms and type of lease,

406 Fahimuddin


sharing of inputs costs, lessor-lesseerelationship and the views of the tenantsabout tenancy.

Sources of Leased-in Land : Around 92per cent of sample tenants have reported thatthey leased-in farm land from non-relatives

and the percentage of area, thus, leased-inconstituted more than 95 per cent in totalarea leased-in at the level of aggregatesample. This trend was found to be more orless similar across all the sample districts(Table 18).

Table 18 : Sources of Area Leased-in by Tenants

Items Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Relatives

No. of Households 2 3 5 8 5 23(4.65) (5.36) (8.33) (16.00) (10.20) (8.91)

Land Area (acre) 12.00 4.30 10.25 23.10 29.5 79.15(5.47) (2.46) (3.38) (7.52) (4.53) (4.79)

Non-relatives

No. of Households 41 53 55 42 44 235(95.35) (94.64) (91.67) (84.00) (89.80) (91.90)

Land Area (acre) 207.21 170.79 293.10 283.00 621.25 1575.35(94.53) (97.54) (96.62) (92.48) (95.42) (95.21)

Total No. of 43 56 60 50 49 258Households (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

Land Area (acre) 219.21 175.09 303.35 306.10 650.75 1654.50(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Type of Tenants : Tenancy may be dividedinto two broad categories. One is pure tenantsand the other is owner tenants. The puretenants were those who have no land of theirown for cultivation and the owner tenantsare those who have some own land but alsotake others' land on rent. The survey hasrevealed that 30 per cent of total sampletenants were pure tenants, leasing-in 35 per

cent of the total area leased-in (Table 19).The owner tenants were 70 per cent andthey leased-in 75 per cent of total leased-inarea. In Lakhimpur district, the proportion ofpure tenants was higher (77 per cent), whilein Etah district, owner tenants were relativelylarge in number (90 per cent). On the whole,owner tenants were found to be in majority.



Table 19 : Type of Tenants by Ownership of Land

Districts Pure Tenants Owner Tenants

No. Area Leased-in No. Area Leased-in

Lakhimpur 33 64.69 10 8.44(76.74) (88.46) (23.26) (11.54)

Hardoi 15 25.98 41 37.95(26.79) (40.64) (73.21) (59.36)

Sultanpur 12 19.85 48 54.35(20.00) (26.75) (20.00) (73.25)

Etah 5 5.70 45 62.70(10.00) (8.33) (90.00) (91.67)

Jhansi 12 27.50 37 108.25(24.50) (20.26) (75.50) (79.74)

Total 77 143.72 181 271.69(29.84) (34.60) (70.16) (65.40)


Distribution of Tenants According toLand Size : Analysis of tenants by size ofholding showed that nearly half of thetenants had taken less than one acre land on

lease and another one-third between oneand two acres (Table 20). Less than 4 per centtenants had taken 3 acres or more land onlease.

Table 20 : Distribution of Tenants According to Land Size

Area (acres) Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

0.00-0.50 5 11.63 10 17.86 5 8.93 5 10.00 1 2.04 26 10.24

0.50-1.00 16 37.21 28 50.00 27 48.21 24 48.00 3 6.12 98 38.58

1.00-1.50 8 18.60 9 16.07 11 19.64 9 18.00 3 6.12 40 15.75

1.50-2.00 6 13.95 7 12.50 6 10.71 8 16.00 15 30.61 42 16.54

2.00-2.50 - - 4 7.14 - - 4 1.57

2.50-3.00 4 9.30 2 3.57 1 1.79 2 4.00 18 36.73 27 10.63

3.00-3.50 - - 1 1.79 - - 1 0.39

3.50-4.00 2 4.65 - 1 1.79 1 2.00 6 12.24 10 3.94

4.00-5.00 1 2.33 - - 1 2.00 - 2 0.79

5.00+ 1 2.33 - - - 3 6.12 4 1.57

Total 43 100.00 56 100.00 56 100.00 50 100.00 49 100.00 254 100.00


408 Fahimuddin


Reasons for Leasing-in of Land : Thesurvey also examined the reasons for leasing-in of land. Majority of respondents (45 percent) reported that they leased-in land fortheir livelihood. In Sultanpur and Lakhimpurdistricts about 93 and 49 per cent of allsample tenants, respectively reported leasing-in of land as a means of livelihood (Table 21).The second main reason was the small size

of own farm land. About one-fourth of thetenants referred to small size of their holdingas the main reason for leasing in. In Hardoiand Etah districts, over 40 per cent tenantsmentioned this reason. On the whole, itappears that leasing-in of land was resortedfor getting greater access to land and forincreasing income and better livelihood.

Table 21: Reasons for Leasing-in of Land

Reasons Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

As a means of livelihood 21 13 56 11 14 115(48.84) (23.21) (93.33) (22.00) (28.57) (44.57)

Small size of own land 8 26 4 21 7 66(18.60) (46.43) (6.67) (42.00) (14.29) (25.58)

Full utilisation of bullocks 2 3 - 4 1 10(4.65) (5.36) (8.00) (2.04) (3.88)

For additional income 2 7 - 12 1 10(4.65) (12.50) (24.00) (2.04) (3.88)

To repay the debt - - - - 4 4(8.16) (1.55)

Other reasons* 10 7 - 2 22 41(23.26) (12.50) (4.00) (44.90) (15.89)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

* Landlessness, own land un-irrigated, other personal needs.


Characteristics of Lessees

The study has also analysed thecharacteristics of farmers leasing-out theirland based on the responses of the tenants.The findings are reported below.

Caste of Lessees : The tenants havereported that among all land owners wholeased-out their land, around 60 per centwere OBCs, followed by general castes (24.26per cent). About 16 per cent of lessees

belonged to scheduled castes (Table 22). InJhansi and Hardoi districts, proportion of OBClessees was quite high. The percentage oflessees of general castes in Sultanpur districtand scheduled castes in Lakhimpur districtwas much higher than the average share ofthese lessees in the aggregate sample.

Comparing the caste composition of thelessees and the lessors, we find that while24.3 per cent of lessees belonged to general



caste, less than one per cent of themreported the leasing-in land. The dominantplayers in the lease market were the OBCs,

both among lessees and lessors. A significantproportion of lessees as well as lessorsbelonged to SCs.

Table 22 : Caste of Landlords Who Leased-out Land

Caste Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

General - 11 35 15 5 66(18.33) (57.38) (28.85) (9.44) (24.26)

OBC 29 45 13 33 43 163(63.04) (75.00) (21.31) (63.46) (81.13) (59.93)

SC 17 4 13 4 5 43(36.96) (6.67) (21.31) (7.69) (9.43) (15.81)

Total 46 60 61 52 53 272(100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)

Average land 5.05 2.92 5.33 6.73 12.94 6.61owned (acres)


Most of the lessees in our samplebelonged to the category of small andmedium farmers. Thus, average size of landownership among lessees was 6.61 acres,though it varied from 2.92 acres in Hardoi to

12.96 acres in Jhansi district (Table 23). Thesize of land owned among lessors was muchsmaller across all the districts, hardly 1.19acres.

Table 23 : Average Size of Land Owned by Lessees and Lessors (Acre)

Type Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Lessees 5.05 2.92 5.33 6.73 12.94 6.61

Lessors 0.82 0.68 0.65 1.90 1.72 1.19


Occupation of Lessees : It has beenreported by the sample tenants thatagriculture was the main occupation ofaround 50 per cent of all lessees. About one-fourth of lessees were engaged in servicesand another 17 per cent were doing sometrade ( Table 24). In Lakhimpur and Etah

districts, a higher proportion of lessees hadagriculture as their main occupation. Thus, itlooks that land owners generally lease-outland due to problems of self-cultivation.Nearly one–fourth of them were theabsentee land owners.

410 Fahimuddin


Table 24 : Main Occupation of Lessees

Occupation of Lessee Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Agriculture 3.5 20 22 35 19 131(81.40) (35.72) (36.67) (70.00) (38.78) (50.78)

Trade 1 14 13 5 11 44(2.32) (25.00) (21.67) (10.00) (22.45) (17.05)

Service 7 18 12 10 14 61(16.28) (32.14) (20.00) (20.00) (28.57) (23.64)

Other Activities - 4 13 - 5 22(7.14) (13.66) (10.20) (8.53)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)


Type, Terms and Tenure of Leasing

In this section, type, terms and durationof leasing have been examined.

Type of Tenancy : Since sub-letting ofland is prohibited in U.P., we find that all thetenancies reported in our survey were oralwithout any written or legal agreement. Thus,the tenants were having no security over theleased-in land and were in constant threat ofeviction at any time by the land owners.

Terms of Leasing : The dominant formof leasing was the sharing of produce andcost (mainly irrigation and fertiliser costs) inmost of the districts surveyed. However, someregional variations were observed. InSultanpur district landlords did not share thecost. This may be due to weak bargainingpower of tenants in the district wherelandlessness and poverty were high. As aresult, tenants have little options except toget the land leased-in on land owner’s terms.In Jhansi district where sharing of produceand cost was generally prevalent, few casesof fixed cash rent (` 4000 per acre) and fixed

produce (3 quintals per acre) were alsoreported.

Majority of tenants said that their landowners shared the cost of cultivation. Aroundone-fourth of sample tenants reported thattheir landlords did not share the cost ofcultivation. Variations across districts wereevident. In three districts namely Lakhimpur,Hardoi and Etah all the respondents havereported cost sharing by the landlords. InSultanpur district, no practice of cost sharingwas reported between the lessee and lessorwhile in Jhansi district, 94 per cent tenantshave reported the practice of cost sharing.

The pattern of sharing of input costsvaried across different districts. In Lakhimpurand Hardoi districts, cost of fertiliser andirrigation was shared on 50-50 per cent basisbetween lessors and lessees in case of wheat,paddy and sugarcane crops. In Sultanpurdistrict, tenants have reported that there wasno practice of cost sharing between thetenants and landlords in the cultivation of anycrop. However, in the districts of Etah andJhansi, each of the inputs was shared on 50-



50 per cent basis between the tenants andlandlord except the cost of hired labour whichwas totally borne by the tenants.

Tenure of Lease : Tenancy contractswere generally for short duration. Around 20per cent of all tenancy contracts were of lessthan one year duration and 38 per cent were

for the period of 1 to 2 years duration (Table25). Another 20 per cent contracts were forthe period of 2 to 3 years. Thus, around 90per cent of all leased-in land was contractedfor the period of less than 4 years. Short-termtenancy contracts were more prevalent in thedistricts of Lakhimpur and Etah as comparedto Hardoi, Jhansi and Sultanpur districts.

Table 25 : Duration of Tenancy

Duration of Lease Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Less Than one Year 19 1 6 22 3(6.12) 51(44.19) (1.79) (10.00) (44.00) (19.77)

1-2 Years 10 35 12 7 35 99(23.26) (62.50) (20.00) (14.00) (71.43) (38.37)

2-3 Years 8 7 22 9 7 53(18.60) (12.50) (36.67) (18.00) (14.29) (20.54)

3-4 Years 3 3 12 6 3 27(6.98) (5.36) (20.00) (12.00) (6.12) (10.47)

4 Years and above 3 10 8 6 1 28(6.97) (17.85) (13.33) (12.00) (2.04) (10.85)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100) (100) (100) (100) (100) (100)


Who Decides the Terms of Leasing? :The tenants were asked to give informationon who decided the terms of leasing-in. Morethan half of the respondents reported thatterms were decided as per practices ofleasing prevalent in the area (Table 26). Aboutone-third respondents reported that theterms were dictated by landlords, while inabout 10 per cent cases tenants laid down

the conditions of lease. However, remarkabledifferences in lease decisions were observedacross the districts. In Lakhimpur and Hardoidistricts more than 50 per cent respondentsreported that landlords decided the terms,while in Sultanpur and Jhansi districts lessthan 10 per cent reported that terms weredecided by landlords.

412 Fahimuddin


Table 26 : Distribution of Respondents by Decision Maker about the Terms of Leasing

Decision Maker Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Tenant 5 3 3 8 5 24(11.63) (5.36) (5) (16.0) (10.20) (9.30)

Landlord 26 28 5 19 4 82(60.47) (50) (8.33) (38.0) (8.16) (31.78)

General Practice 12 25 49 23 34 143(27.91) (44.64) (81.67) (46.0) (69.39) (55.43)

Mutual Understanding - 50 3 - 6 9(5) (12.24) (3.49)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Place of Sharing the Produce afterHarvesting : The place of sharing of producemay affect the proportion in which output isto be shared between tenants and landlords.It may be argued that if the produce was keptat the place of landlord after harvesting forsharing between the tenant and landlord,chances were there that landlord may takeaway greater share than what was decidedupon. The analysis of our survey data showedthat in most cases (63.2 per cent) tenants

kept the produce in the field after harvesting.In around 22 per cent cases produce waskept at the place of tenants. The practice ofkeeping the produce at the place of landlordswas reported by only 8 per cent of all tenants(Table 27). In Jhansi district the produce wasshared at the field, while in Sultanpur districtit was kept at the tenants' place in more than50 per cent cases. Thus, it can be said thatthe produce was shared between tenants andlandlord amicably.

Table 27 : Place of Sharing the Produce after Harvesting

Place of Sharing Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

In Field 32 50 10 24 47 163(74.42) (89.29) (16.67) (48.00) (95.92) (63.18)

At Tenants' Place 5 2 31 16 2 56(11.63) (3.57) (51.67) (32.00) (4.08) (21.71)

At Landlords' Place 4 4 7 5 - 20(9.30) (7.14) (11.66) (10.00) (7.75)

Any Other Place 2 - 12 5 - 19(4.65) (20.00) (10.00) (7.36)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)

Source: Field Study.



Recent Changes in Tenancy Pattern

We also tried to examine whether therehave been changes in any aspect of tenancyduring the past five years. Majority of sampletenants (62 per cent) reported that there wasno change of any form in the tenancy duringthe last five years ( Table 28). Remainingtenants reported change in tenancy inrespect of choice of crop (16 per cent), terms

of lease (14 per cent) and sharing in cost (8per cent).

There were differences in pattern ofresponse in different districts. A relativelyhigher proportion of tenants reported nochange in tenancy system in Sultanpur, Jhansiand Hardoi districts. However, 44 per centtenants reported change in terms of lease inLakhimpur, while 48 per cent repor tedchange in selection of crops in Etah district.

Table 28 : Changes Reported in Tenancy During Last Five Years

Changes Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Type of lease 19 1 4 5 8 37(44.19) (1.78) (6.67) (10.00) (16.33) (14.34)

Sharing in cost 3 5 - 7 5 20(6.98) (8.93) (14.00) (10.20) (7.75)

Selection of crops 4 12 - 24 - 40(9.30) (21.43) (48.00) (15.50)

Others (timely payment) 2 - - - - 2(4.65) (0.78)

No change 15 38 56 14 36 159(34.88) (67.86) (93.33) (28.00) (73.47) (61.63)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Relation of Tenants with Landlords : Thestudy has also examined the nature ofrelations between tenants and landlords.Hardly 2 per cent of tenants reported thatthere was any dispute with their landlords.

Decision about Cropping Pattern : About60 per cent of tenants reported that the

decision about cropping pattern was takenjointly in majority of cases (Table 29). Around28 per cent of tenants expressed the viewthat landlords took such decisions. Thisproportion was higher in Hardoi and Etahdistricts, 53.6 and 36.0 per cent, respectively.About 13 per cent of tenants took decisionthemselves about cropping pattern.

414 Fahimuddin


Table 29 : Decision About Cropping Pattern

Decision Taken by Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Tenant 6 1 13 11 3 34(13.95) (1.79) (21.67) (22.00) (6.12) (13.18)

Landlord 10 30 13 18 1 72(23.26) (53.57) (21.66) (36.00) (2.04) (27.91)

Jointly 27 25 34 21 45 152(62.79) (44.64) (56.67) (42.00) (91.84) (58.91)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Loan Taken From Landlords : In thesample, 14 per cent tenants reported to havetaken loan from landlords. About 9 per centtenants had taken loan for production purposewhile 5 per cent took loan for consumption

purpose (Table 30). The proportion of tenantstaking loan both for production andconsumption purposes was relatively higherin Jhansi district.

Table 30 : Tenants Reporting Taking Loan from Landlords

Purpose of Loan Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Production - 2 8 5 8 23

(3.57) (13.33) (10.00) (16.33) (8.92)

Consumption - - 3 2 7 12

(5.00) (4.00) (14.29) (4.65)

Total - 2 11 7 15 35

(3.57) (18.33) (14.00) (30.61) (13.56)


Undue Favours Taken by Landlords : One-fourth of total tenants reported that thelandlords sought undue favour from them. Inmajority of cases, landlords asked them towork at lower wage rates and on their terms.

The percentage of such tenants who reportedundue favour sought by the landlords werelower in Lakhimpur district as compared toother districts (Table 31).



Table 31 : Tenants Reporting Undue Favours Taken by Landlords

Undue Favours Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Labour on Unfavourable Terms 1 3 5 3 3 15(4.65) (5.36) (8.33) (6.00) (6.12) (5.81)

Labour at Lower Rates 1 7 7 11 11 37(4.65) (12.50) (11.67) (22.00) (22.45) (14.34)

Demand to Work as - 1 6 4 1 12Permanent Servant (1.79) (10.00) (8.00) (2.04) (4.65)

Total 2 1118 1815 64(4.65) (19.64) (30.00) (36.00) (30.61) (24.81)

Source: Field Survey.

Problems Faced by Tenants : The tenantswere also asked about the problems theyfaced as tenants. Nearly one-third tenantscomplained about insecurity of tenancy. Overone-fourth of the tenants mentioned non-

availability of institutional credit as a problem.Over one-fifth faced problem of lack ofequipment and machinery for cultivation.Exploitation by landlord was reported byabout one-sixth of the tenants (Table 32).

Table 32 : Problems Faced by the Tenants

Problems Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Insecurity 6 16 43 8 37 110of Tenancy (13.96) (21.62) (38.39) (16.00) (52.11) (31.42)

Non-availability of 15 16 38 1 23 93Institutional Credit (34.88) (21.62) (33.93) (2.00) (32.39) (26.57)

Non-availability of 9 33 3 32 1 78Machinery & Equipment (20.93) (44.60) (2.68) (64.00) (1.41) (22.29)

Exploitation 13 8 19 7 10 57by Landlord (30.23) (10.81) (16.96) (14.00) (14.09) (16.29)

Non-sharing of - 1(1.35) 9(8.04) 2(4.00) - 12(3.43)cultivation cost

Total 43 74 112 50 71 350(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Views of Tenants on Legalisation ofTenancy : As mentioned earlier, tenancy isillegal in U.P. although it prevails in all partsof the State in a concealed form. The

respondents were asked whether in theirview tenancy should be legalised. More than75 per cent of the tenants reported thattenancy should be legalised (Table 33), while

416 Fahimuddin


an overwhelming majority of tenants inLakhimpur and Jhansi districts wantedlegalisation of tenancy. About one-third oftenants were not in favour of its legalisationin the districts of Hardoi, Sultanpur and Etah.It may be observed that in the former twodistricts land inequity was greater and the

proportion of large holdings was also greater.On the other hand, in the other three districtsholdings were smaller and land pressure wasmore. Thus, tenants in later districts had fearthat if tenancy is legalised landlords may notbe willing to give their land on lease.

Table 33 : Opinion of Tenants About Legalisation of Tenancy

Opinion Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi All

Agree 37 39 42 32 45 195(86.05) (69.64) (70.00) (64.00) (91.84) (75.58)

Disagree 6 17 18 18 4 63(13.95) (30.36) (30.00) (36.00) (8.16) (24.42)

Total 43 56 60 50 49 258(100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00)


Conclusions and Suggestions

The major findings of the study aresummarised below :

1. Despite the legislative regulations andrestrictions on the tenancy, it is beingwidely practised in U.P. as well as inIndia. The NSS figures showed thatpercentage of tenant holdings was 20.5per cent in U.P. during 1980-81 whichdeclined to 11.7 per cent in 2002-03.The percentage of leased-in area intotal area has remained constantaround 10 per cent in U.P during 1980-81 to 2002-03.

2. The socio- economic conditions of thesample tenants have revealed thatmajority of them belonged to backwardcastes followed by scheduled castes,while very few tenants were fromupper castes. Agriculture was the mainoccupation of about 60 per cent oftenants while about 20 of them wererural labourers.

3. Average land leased-in per householdwas 1.61 acres which was higher thanthe land owned per household (1.19acres).

4. As a means of better livelihood was themain reason for leasing-in of land.

5. The leased-in land did provide anaverage annual income of ` 5163 perhousehold, which accounted for 22.34per cent of average annual income perhousehold.

6. Majority of landlords who rented-outtheir land also belonged to OtherBackward Castes (OBCs) and aroundhalf of them were engaged inagriculture and rest were engaged inservice and trade professions.

7. All lease agreements were oral. Thelength of lease was generally of shortduration. In most of the cases durationof lease was of 1 to 2 years.



8. The terms of lease were generallydecided according to the prevalentlease practices in the area. Thedominant form of leasing was based onthe sharing of produce and cost on50:50 basis. Generally the cost offertilisers and irrigation was shared on50-50 per cent basis between tenantsand landlords. The practice of leasing-in on the basis of cash payment wasalso found to be emerging in somedistricts.

9. Insecurity of lease contract was themost serious problem perceived bytenants.

10. About one-third of tenants havereported the taking of loan from landowners for production or consumptionpurposes.

11. One-fourth of tenants have reportedthat their land owners sought unduefavour in lieu of leasing-in of land tothem in the form of payment of lowerwages for their labour.

12. Majority of tenants who wereinterviewed expressed the view thattenancy should be legalised.

To conclude, leasing-in of land is alivelihood strategy adopted by landlesslabourers and farmers with small holdings toaugment their income. It is an effectivemeasure for increasing the access of poor toland without imposing ceiling on agriculturalland for its redistribution among the landlesspeople. The Tenth Five Year Plan has rightlyobserved in this connection:

“The prohibition of tenancy has notreally ended the practice. This, in turn, alsodepresses employment opportunities for thelandless agricultural labourers. The ban ontenancy, which was meant to protect tenants,

has only ended up hurting the economicinterests of the tenants as they are not evenrecognised as tenants. As a result, they aredenied the benefits of laws that providesecurity of tenure and regulation of rent.”

Our field study in Uttar Pradesh providessupport to the above observations.Liberalisation of lease market has becomeessential in the present circumstances forimproving the performance of agriculture andgeneration of income and employmentopportunities for the poor. It is high timethat the State government took necessarysteps to legalise tenancy and formulate anappropriate policy, balancing the interests ofthe tenants and the landlords. Such policyframework should insure fixity of tenure fora given period and the right of lessors overland. A five-year renewable contract may beprovided for. Land leasing should bepermitted within the land ceiling limit. As aprecautionary measure leasing-in by largelandholders from small and marginal farmersshould not be allowed. The government mayindicate the maximum rent to be realised bythe landlord, but within that limit it is betterto leave the terms of contract to be decidedby the market. A simple format of agreementmay be provided which may be registeredwith the village Panchayat or tehsil office. Thepolicy should also spell out mechanism toorganise the contract between the lessorsand lessees. Making available the relevantinformation on the availability of farm landfor lease, its quality etc. to potential tenantsshould be an integral part of the plan of landlease liberalisation. Panchayats shouldmaintain details of land available for leasewith details of its quality, irrigation facility, etc.All the tenant cultivators should be recordedand they should also be made eligible forthe institutional loans. Such types of reformsin tenancy laws on the above lines will bemutually beneficial to all parties concernedand will certainly promote inclusive growth.

418 Fahimuddin


Notes and References

1. Appu, P.S., Land Reforms in India, A Survey of Policy, Legislation and Implementation, VikasPublishing House, New Delhi, 1997.

2. Cheriyan Omana, Changes in the Mode of Labour Due to Shift in the Land Use Pattern,KRPLLD Discussion Paper No. 81, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvanantapuram, 2003.

3. John K.K, Crop Rotation in Kerala: A Case Study of Kaduthuruthy Block, KRPLLD DiscussionPaper No. 94, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvanantapuram, 2004.

4. Latha.A and Madhusudan CG, Sustainability of Commercial Banana Production in Watershedbased Agricultural Development : A Case Study of Two Micro Watersheds, KRPLLD DiscussionPaper No. 95, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvanantapuram, 2004.

5. Nair K N, Vineetha Menon, and Antony Paul, Livelihood Risk and Coping Strategies: A CaseStudy in an Agrarian Village, Cherumad, Unpublished Manuscript, 2004.

6. Nair K N and Vineetha Menon, Reforming Agriculture in a Globalizing World : The RoadAhead for Kerala”, NCCR-IP6 Working Paper No. 3, 2004.

7. Veron Rene, Real Markets and Environmental Change in Kerala, India: A New Understandingof Crop Markets on Sustainable Development, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 1999.

D Rajasekhar andR Manjula*


* Professor and Research Officer, respectively, Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Institutefor Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, E-mail : [email protected]

The authors thank Prof. G Thimmaiah, Prof. Gopal K Kadekodi, Prof. Abdul Aziz, Dr. K G Gayathri Devi, Ms.Suchitra J Y and Dr. K H Anantha for their comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper, andProf. S Madheswaran and Dr. Erlend Berg for their help in undertaking regression analysis. Thanks are alsodue to an anonymous referee for comments, and to late Mr. T R Satish Chandran for his comments andencouragement.

ABSTRACT

Community lighting is a public good, the provision of which is considered to beessential to improve the quality of life and to promote orderly social life. Article 243Gof the 73rd Constitutional Amendment transfers the function of rural electrification toPanchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), wherein Gram Panchayats (GPs) are heldresponsible for the installation of electric transmission poles, and operation andmaintenance of streetlights. In the context of limited fiscal decentralisation inKarnataka and growing dependence of GPs on grants from higher levels ofgovernment, the paper analyses the question of whether GPs can afford theprovision of streetlight services. With the help of data collected from 5,212 GPs inKarnataka, the paper concludes that GPs are not able to afford the expenditure onoperation and maintenance of streetlight services. Regression analysis on factorsinfluencing the affordability of GPs in the provision of streetlight services showsthat grants to GPs and the number of streetlights installed per 100 households arethe main determining factors. The paper discusses the policy suggestionsemerging from the analysis.

AFFORDABILITY OF STREETLIGHT SERVICESBY GRAM PANCHAYATS IN KARNATAKAStatus, Determinants and Ways Forward

Introduction

There is growing attention to fiscaldecentralisation (Aziz 1993; Vithal andSarumathi 1996; GoK 2002a; Thimmaiah 2001;Rao et al 2003; Babu 2009; Rajasekhar andManjula 2011) in the discussion ondemocratic decentralisation in Karnataka.These studies analysed the extent of revenueand expenditure autonomy among localelected bodies in Karnataka, and factorsinfluencing fiscal decentralisation. But, how

exactly are local elected bodies in Karnatakaperforming in the expenditure functionsrelating to the provision of services such asstreetlighting that are already assigned tothem? Streetlighting is a public good, theprovision of which is considered to beessential to improve the quality of life and topromote orderly social life. Issues relating tostreetlighting, in general, and affordability ofstreetlight services by local elected bodies,in particular, have received scarce attentionin the literature on decentralisation1.

420 D Rajasekhar and R Manjula


Community lighting, as a part of ruralelectrification programmes, gatheredmomentum in India after the Third Five YearPlan2. In Karnataka, only 7 per cent of thetowns and villages were electrified in 1959(GoK 2002b). Subsequently, there was a rapidgrowth in the number of electrified villages,and by 2001 itself, the State governmentachieved the target of 100 per cent(Rajasekhar et al 2010).

Article 243G of the 73rd ConstitutionalAmendment transfers 29 matters (mentionedin the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution)to PRIs. Item 14 in the Eleventh Schedule isrelated to rural electrification includingdistribution of electricity. Zilla Panchayats(ZP) 3 in the State are responsible foridentifying villages, hamlets and colonies thatare to be electrified, and formulate projectsfor their electrification in coordination withKarnataka Power Transmission CompanyLimited (KPTCL). Gram Panchayat isresponsible to find land suitable for installingelectric transmission poles, and operate andmaintain streetlights. Section 58 of thePanchayat Raj Act, 1993, notes that GPs havethe obligatory duty to provide adequatenumber of streetlights and pay electricitycharges regularly (GoK 2002a). Regularpayment of electricity bills implies that theremust also be provision for finances. Section206 of Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993states that “the Government shall makeannually a grant to each Gram Panchayatwhich shall be utilised for meeting theelectricity charges, maintenance of watersupply schemes, sanitation and other welfareactivities”(emphasis ours). The grant referredin this Section pertains to annual untied grantprovided to each GP in the State since theearly 1990s. Beginning with annual grant of` one lakh per GP in 1993-94, the grantincreased to ` 3.5 lakh in 2000-01 and to ` 5lakh by 2003-04. Subsequently, this wasincreased to ` 6 lakh in 2006-07 and to ` 8lakh for the year 2011-12.

Untied funds contribute to expenditureautonomy of local elected bodies. Grampanchayats cannot function as ‘institutions ofself-government’ unless they are endowedwith untied funds which can be spent onactivities prioritised by the people in thegram sabha. But, Section 206 allowing GPsto use untied grants for the provision ofservices, virtually negates the principle withwhich untied funds are provided. Further, theuse of grants in the provision of servicesintroduces negative incentives to GPs andweakens the downward accountability.

Objectives and Methodology

It is in this context that we aim toexamine the affordability of GPs in theprovision of streetlight services. Affordabilityimplies the capacity of GPs to provideservices with fees mobilised from userstowards the provision of service in question.It should be, however, noted that we do notadvocate in this paper that the provision ofstreetlight services should solely be based onwhether fees collected is sufficient toprovide these services or not. The issue ofaffordability of GPs in the provision ofstreetlights is important because it has policyimplications. The 13th Finance Commissionobserved that the local bodies have indicatedthat, due to paucity of funds, they are unableto provide and maintain the quality of basisservices such as drinking water, sanitation andstreetlights.

The specific questions raised in thispaper are the following : At what cost, grampanchayats are providing streetlight servicesto rural people? Can they afford the provisionof streetlight services? What factorsdetermine the affordability of streetlightservices by GPs? What policy suggestionsemerge from the analysis? This paper seeksto address these questions with the help ofdata on receipts and expenditure collected


Affordability of Streetlight Services by Gram Panchayats In Karnataka ... 421

from 5,212 GPs4 in Karnataka for the year2002-03. The data on electricity chargestowards the provision of streetlight servicesfor each GP were collected from KPTCL.

For the analysis, the districts5 ofKarnataka were classified into four categories(highly developed, developed, backward andhighly backward category) on the basis of percapita income for 2002-03. The purpose ofthis categorisation was to see whether theeconomic development status of the districtshad any influence on the performance of thegram panchayats in the provision ofstreetlight services. The highly developedcategory of districts consist of BangaloreUrban, Bangalore Rural, Chikmagalur,Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysore andUdupi. The districts of Belgaum, Bellary,Dharwad, Shimoga and Uttara Kannada comeunder the developed category. The backwarddistricts comprise Bagalkot, Chamarajanagar,Davangere, Hassan, Haveri, Mandya andTumkur. The highly backward districts areBidar, Bijapur, Chitradurga, Gadag, Gulbarga,Kolar, Koppal and Raichur.

Status of Community Lighting in Karnataka

The total number of villages andhamlets covered by 5,212 GPs was 49,473;of them, 67 per cent (or 33,098 villages) wereprovided with streetlights. The average sizeof the village increases as one moves fromhighly developed to highly backwardcategory of districts (Table 1). The district-wise variations in the percentage coverageof rural habitations with streetlights followthe agro-climatic features in the State. In thehilly districts of Chikmagalur, DakshinaKannada, Kodagu, Shimoga, Udupi and UttarKannada, the number of habitations in eachGP was not only large but also were scattered.In these districts, the proportion of habitationscovered with streetlights was relatively less6.In other districts, especially in highlybackward and backward districts, thecoverage was better. This is along theexpected lines because the number ofvillages in the jurisdiction of GPs in theseregions is small, and the size of villages isgenerally large. Even then, the coverage waslower in the backward and semi-arid districtslike Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Raichur.

Table 1: Background Information on Streetlight Provision and Number of Streetlights

Category of Size of the Habitations with Number of Number ofDistricts village streetlights streetlights HHs per

(%) to total installed per streetlighthabitation

Highly Developed 102 57.15 25 7

Developed 104 37.86 39 7

Backward 155 90.65 30 6

Highly Backward 198 91.56 45 5

State 135 66.90 34 6

Note : The source for this as well as the following and charts is data collected from grampanchayats.



The total number of streetlightsinstalled in all the 33,098 habitations in theState was 1,136,452 in 2002-03. The numberof streetlights per habitation in the State was34 ( Table 1). Since the total number ofstreetlights installed in a habitation is functionof the size of habitation and bargainingpower of the GP, one can expect inter-districtvariations in the number of streetlightsinstalled in each GP. The average number ofstreetlights installed varied from as low as15 in Chikmagalur to as high as 82 in Gadag.Since the average size of villages is generallylarger in northern Karnataka, the averagenumber of streetlights installed was higherin all the districts in this region than the Stateaverage. On the other hand, the average sizeof the village is known to be small in thehilly (Malnad) region. In these districts, thenumber of installed streetlights in each GPwas lower than the State average. Thus, theinstallation pattern followed the size of the

village, except in the case of developedcategory of districts, where the average sizeis generally large (particularly in Belgaum,Bellary and Dharwad) and this resulted in thelarger number of streetlights per habitation.

The norm in the State is that grampanchayats should install 10 to 15 streetlightsfor every 100 households at a distance of 35metres between two light poles (GoK n.d.).In other words, one streetlight should beinstalled for every 7-10 households. Thisnorm was met only in 18.5 per cent of GPsin the State (Chart 1). The proportion of GPsinstalling a streetlight for less than sevenhouseholds was higher in backward districtsas compared to developed districts. Quite afew GPs from highly developed or developedhave had under-coverage. In other words,one streetlight was provided for more than15 households (Chart 1).

Chart 1: Distribution of GPs by Number of HouseholdsCovered for Every One Installed Streetlight



Expenditure and Receipts on theProvisions of Streelight Services

In order to provide streetlight services,gram panchayats incur expenditure onelectricity and maintenance. While the dataon maintenance (such as replacement ofbulbs) expenditure were collected from theGP records, that on electricity charges foreach GP towards streetlights were obtainedfrom KPTCL. As far as revenue is concerned,light cess is imposed by GPs as part of thehouse tax. Some GPs have collected cess onstreetlights and have provided the dataseparately, while others did not provide thesame. In the case of those GPs which havenot provided the data, we have arrived at thelight cess by taking a notional figure of ` 5per household based on the discussions with

Gram Panchayat Secretaries who reported thatthis has been the normal practice7. It maybe noted that the analysis on affordability ofstreetlight services is confined to 5,088 GPs(rather than 5,212 GPs for which the datawere originally collected) because the dataon electricity charges on streetlights werenot available for the remaining 124 GPs.

Table 2 shows that the total expenditureon providing streetlight services by 5,088 GPswas ` 95.83 crore. On an average, each GPspent ` 188,341 for providing streetlightservices during 2002-03. The expenditure wassomewhat high in the highly backwarddistricts. Table 2 shows that the expenditureon streetlights consisted of payment towardselectricity charges and maintenance. Let usnow examine each of these in some detail.

Table 2 : Expenditure on and Receipts Towards the Provision of Streetlight Services

(` in lakh)

District Expenditure Receipt Electricity Maintenance Light cesscharges to charges to total

Electricity Maintenance Total Light cess total to total expenditurecharges for charges expenditure expenditure (%)streetlights (%) (%)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Highly Developed

Bangalore Urban 276 88 364 13 75.74 24.26 3.45

Bangalore Rural 418 129 546 16 76.42 23.58 2.87

Chikmagalur 179 89 268 9 66.70 33.30 3.52

Dakshina Kannada 99 62 161 12 61.32 38.68 7.35

Kodagu 40 67 108 5 37.48 62.52 4.76

Mysore 315 105 420 10 74.92 25.08 2.49

Udupi 71 71 142 9 50.10 49.90 6.26

Total 1,397 612 2,009 74 69.52 30.48 3.68

Developed

Belgaum 360 144 505 45 71.38 28.62 9.00

Bellary 199 79 278 11 71.60 28.40 4.07

(Contd.)



Dharwad 104 52 156 10 66.89 33.11 6.67

Shimoga 191 91 282 45 67.73 32.27 16.15

Uttara Kannada 140 71 211 10 66.54 33.46 4.68

Total 995 436 1,431 123 69.50 30.50 8.56

Backward

Bagalkot 198 76 273 19 72.34 27.66 7.04

Chamarajanagar 196 50 247 9 79.53 20.47 3.48

Davangere 227 106 334 11 68.16 31.84 3.41

Hassan 380 222 602 16 63.16 36.84 2.62

Haveri 200 88 288 16 69.45 30.55 5.41

Mandya 560 134 695 12 80.68 19.32 1.76

Tumkur 498 225 723 20 68.89 31.11 2.80

Total 2,260 901 3,161 103 71.49 28.51 3.26

Highly backward

Bidar 188 38 227 12 83.14 16.86 5.33

Bijapur 185 80 265 40 69.78 30.22 14.90

Chitradurga 309 99 408 11 75.73 24.27 2.77

Gadag 124 48 172 9 72.20 27.80 5.33

Gulbarga 506 91 597 25 84.72 15.28 4.24

Kolar 609 115 724 15 84.13 15.87 2.05

Koppal 182 78 260 13 70.01 29.99 4.90

Raichur 258 71 329 11 78.47 21.53 3.30

Total 2,361 620 2,981 136 79.21 20.79 4.55

All districts 7,013 2,570 9,583 435 73.18 26.82 4.54

Table 2 : (Contd.)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Expenditure on Electricity : Thecalculations of electricity charges by KPTCLdepended on whether a meter was fixed byGP or not. For metered installations, the tariffcharges included fixed charges (` 50 per KWof sanctioned load) and energy charges (`3.10 per unit consumed in the month). Forunmetered installations, ` 1,200 per KW permonth was charged. Only 8.7 per cent of GPsin the State installed meters during 2002-03.

We were informed that exact electricitycharges on the basis of the actualconsumption could not be arrived even inthe case of the GPs where meters were fixed.This is because a lot depended on whetherGPs monitored the electricity consumptionor not, or whether meter reading was actuallydone or not. The field level observationssuggest that although some GPs had installedmeters, they were not put into effective use.



As a result, the method of charging ` 1,200KW in a month was widely practised inKarnataka. Thus, KPTCL arrived at theconsumption of electricity on notional basisin the case of large proportion of GPs. Thisessentially meant that the electricityconsumption was arrived at on the basis ofnumber of streetlights installed, type of bulbsused and average number of hours for whichcommunity lighting was provided. Thismeans that the predominant method usedto arrive at electricity charges on streetlightswas notional, and this did not reflect the exactconsumption of electricity for providing thisservice.

Another important point to note is thatelectricity charges8 were deducted at thesource from statutory grant provided to eachGP. This method was introduced for tworeasons. First, in the 1990s, there was awidespread problem of accumulation ofelectricity arrears as GPs found it difficult topay electricity charges due to poor tax baseand enhancement of electricity tariff. Thismethod continued regardless of whether thefinancial situation of GPs has since improvedor not. Second, it was convenient for KPTCLto collect electricity charges from ZP as theydid not have to incur costs in the collectionof electricity dues (delivery of bills to GPs,collection of dues from each GP andfollowing up if electricity charges were notpaid). Whatever may have been the reason,deductions at the source have had two typesof adverse impact. a) This negated the basicprinciple of untied grants9. b) Many GPs werenot aware of the total expenditure towardselectricity consumption for different services,in general, and the provision of streetlightsin particular. This was an important reasonwhy many GPs could not provide informationon amounts of electricity charges forstreetlight provision. Hence, as noted earlier,we had to collect these data from KPTCL. Asis well known, if there is no precise idea on

the expenditure incurred, accountability(both upwards and downwards) mechanismsbecome weak.

The total expenditure on electricityincurred by all GPs to provide streetlightservices was more than ` 70 crore. On anaverage, each GP spent ` 137,833 towardsthe electricity charges for providingstreetlight services. The proportion ofelectricity charges to total expenditure wasnearly three-fourths at the State level. Whilethe proportion of expenditure on electricityto total was lower in regions that consistedof coastal and hilly districts as compared tothe others. For instance, expenditure onelectricity accounted for only about 37 percent in the hilly district of Kodagu, while itwas nearly 85 per cent in Gulbarga. Thesevariations can partly be explained in terms ofdifferences in the settlement pattern and theresultant differences in the installationpattern of streetlights. However, the annualexpenditure of ` 1.38 lakh per GP in Karnatakawas rather high given that streetlights are notoften lit the whole of night on account ofscheduled and unscheduled power cuts anddisruptions in the electricity supply (GoK2002b).

Expenditure on Maintenance ofStreetlights : GPs incur expenditure onmaintenance of streetlights such asreplacement of bulbs, tubes and, at times, theentire lighting equipment. The totalexpenditure on maintenance by all GPs was` 25.7 crore and the average expenditurewas ` 50,509 in 2002-03. The proportion ofmaintenance charges to the total expenditurewas only 27 per cent. Although theexpenditure on maintenance charges wasless, this has not been uniformly the sameacross different districts. For instance, indistricts such as Kodagu, Udupi, Hassan,Chikmagalur, etc., the maintenance chargesformed a substantial proportion of the total



expenditure. In general, the proportion ofexpenditure on maintenance charges wascomparatively higher in the highly developedand developed category of districts largelydue to hilly terrain in coastal and hilly districtsnecessitating regular maintenance onstreetlights.

Receipts Towards the Provision ofStreetlights : As noted earlier, light cess,collected as a part of house tax, constitutedan important receipt towards the provisionof streetlight services in rural Karnataka.Although GPs, on an average, incurredconsiderable expenditure on the provision ofstreetlight services, the average revenue inthe form of light cess was only ` 8,554 in2002-03. The revenue has been, thus, verysmall in comparison to the total expenditureon streetlight services. The same is borneout from the proportion of light cess to totalexpenditure in Table 2, which shows that thelight cess met only less than five per cent ofthe total expenditure. The proportion of lightcess to total expenditure was very low inMandya, Mysore, Kolar, Hassan and BangaloreRural. In some of the poorer districts innorthern Karnataka such as Bagalkot, Bijapur,

etc., the light cess formed somewhat higherproportion of the total expenditure. In onlytwo out of 27 districts, the proportion of lightcess to total expenditure was more than 10per cent. Thus, there are distric t-wisevariations in the revenue collected to providestreetlight services; and these variations donot entirely follow the developed and/ orbackward status of districts.

It is, thus, clear that the light cesscollected was not adequate to meet theexpenditure. One factor can be thought ofat this place as possible reason for the lowproportion of light cess to total expenditureon streetlight services10. Low proportion oflight cess in the total expenditure onstreetlights was because of the poorcollection of house tax itself. Chart 2corroborates this. In the case of a largeproportion of GPs across the State, thepercentage of collection to the total demandon house tax was less than 50 per cent (Chart2). Only in the case of highly developed anddeveloped categories of districts, was theproportion of GPs collecting more than 75per cent of the dues significant.

Chart 2 : Distribution of GPs (%) by Proportion of House Tax Total Collection to Demand



Affordability of Streelight Services

In order to analyse the affordability ofstreetlight services in each GP, a ratio ofexpenditure (on electricity and maintenance)to the revenue (light cess) has been workedout. This ratio shows the amount spent onproviding streetlight services for every rupeeof revenue received by each GP. Higher theratio, less is the affordability of GPs to providestreetlight services. This is because GPs willhave to meet the expenditure on streetlightservices by diverting larger proportion ofuntied grants provided by the Stategovernment. Lower the ratio, greater abilityof GP to provide streetlight services with itsown revenue. This further implies lesserdependence on the untied grants providedby the State government and more spendingon priority needs of the people.

A distribution of GPs by ratio ofexpenditure to the revenue is provided inTable 3. Across different GPs in the State,the expenditure for every rupee of therevenue was as low as ` 0.61 to as high as` 6,661. The average ratio of expenditure toreceipt, which was ` 103.93 in the Statevaried across the districts. There were alsovariations across the districts in the

distribution of GPs by ratio. In the case of asmany as 40 per cent of GPs in the State, theexpenditure was between ` 20-50 for everyone rupee of revenue. In the case of 22.3per cent of GPs, the expenditure was ` 10-20 for one rupee of revenue. Notably, about15 per cent of GPs spent less than ` 10 forevery one rupee of revenue that theycollected in the form of light cess. In thecase of about 23 per cent of GPs, theexpenditure was more than ` 50 for onerupee of revenue.

The proportion of GPs spending lessthan ` 20 for one rupee of revenue wasrelatively higher in Bijapur, Belgaum, Bagalkot,Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Udupi and UttaraKannada. In some of the districts of highlydeveloped category such as Bangalore Rural,Chikmagalur and Mysore, the proportion ofGPs spending between ` 20-50 was quiteprominent. Similarly, this proportion issignificant in the districts like Chitradurga,Kolar, Raichur, Hassan, Tumkur, Mandya,Chamarajnagar from highly backward andbackward category of districts.

The information, thus, shows that thereare wide variations in the affordability ofstreetlight services by Karnataka GPs. These

Table 3 : Distribution of GPs (%) by Ratio of Expenditure on Streetlights to Total Receipts

Category of Ratio of expenditure to receipt Minimum Maximum AverageDistricts ratio ratio ratio

< 10 10-20 20-50 50-100 >100 Total

Highly developed 16.53 24 36.71 14.76 8 1,125 0.61 2743.72 45.77

Developed 24.19 29.38 32.54 9.32 4.57 1,137 0.83 2334.53 32.15

Backward 6.18 17.6 48.13 18.1 9.99 1,392 1.27 1016.92 52.7

Highly backward 15.97 19.87 38.7 15.34 10.11 1,434 1.11 6661.05 60.15

State 15.25 22.29 39.47 14.62 8.37 5,088 0.61 6661.05 48.67

Source: Data provided by the GPs.



variations do not exactly follow the economicstatus of a district. For example, most of theGPs in Mandya, Mysore and Bangalore Rural,known to be developed in economic terms,spent more than ` 20 for every one rupee ofrevenue that they have collected.

Factors Contributing to Affordability ofStreetlight Services

The function of management andoperation of the streetlights is, thus, costlyfor gram panchayats. Very high ratios ofexpenditure to one rupee of receipts can beinterpreted as inefficiency on the part of GPsin the management of streetlight services.These can also be interpreted as burdeningof GPs with an expenditure function withouta viable alternative arrangement for revenueautonomy.

A regression model is, therefore,worked out to analyse the factors influencingthe affordability with the ratio of expenditureas dependent variable. The model has beenworked out by taking the ratio of expenditureto receipts as dependent variable and theexplanatory variables as mentioned in Table4. The dependent variable is expressed inlog terms because it makes the distributionmore normal and the results can be expressedin proportionate terms. Another reason isthat, since the data used in the regressionmodel is cross-sectional, the log of ratio ofexpenditure to receipt has been taken toavoid heteroscedasticity. The fixed effectshave been worked out at the district level.

We have considered the following eightindependent variables. (a) Per capita totalgrants (in `) of the GP. (b) Per capita ownrevenue (in `) of the GP. (c) Meter fixed (1 =If meter is fixed; 0 = otherwise). (d) Gender(1 = If the GP president is male; 0 =otherwise). (e) Education of the president (1=if the educational qualification is less thanprimary; 0 = others). (f ) Age (in years) of the

GP president. (g) Age square. (h) Number ofhouseholds for every installed streetlight inthe GP. The results at the level of State andfour regions ( Table 4) are statisticallysignificant and explain the variation in thedependent variable. In the ensuingparagraphs, we will discuss the results.

Very significant results have beenobtained with regard to the number ofhouseholds for every installed streetlight. Theresults show that this variable is negativelyassociated with the ratio and highlysignificant at the level of State as well asacross the regions. This can be explained asfollows. The norm in the State that onestreetlight should be installed for every 7-10households in a village. If the GP installsstreetlights above the norm, it will beincurring more expenditure on the provisionof streetlight services. The results show thatan increase of one household for everyinstalled streetlight would reduce theexpenditure by 2 paise of expenditure at theState level, and between 1 to 4 paise acrossthe regions. This result suggests that if a GPinstalls a streetlight for less than sevenhouseholds, the costs on streetlights will goup. As can be seen in Chart 1, the GPsinstalling one streetlight for less than sevenhouseholds (excessive coverage) compriseabout 61 per cent in the State.

Regression results show that per capitatotal grants increase the ratio of expenditurefor every rupee of receipts, and this wasfound to be statistically significant at the statelevel and in the backward districts. This canbe explained in terms of fly paper effect(Gramlich 1998; Courant et al 1998), whichimplies that larger the amount of grant toeach GP less is the incentive to mobilise ownrevenue. In Karnataka, GPs receive generaland specific purpose grants11. The resultssuggest that size of the total grant to GPsinfluences their expenditure behaviour.



Table 4: Determinants of Ratio of Expenditure on Streetlights Per Every Rupee of ReceiptDependent Variable = Log (Ratio of Expenditure to Receipt)

Independent Variables Coefficients at the level of

State Highly Developed Backward Highlydeveloped districts districts backward

districts districts

Per capita total grants (`) 0.00071** 0.00036 0.00074 0.00087* 0.00062

Per capita own revenue (`) -0.00016 0.00164*** -0.01108*** -0.00561*** -0.00997***

Has metre been fixed? -0.04579 0.00261 0.01173 0.09495 -0.20929***

Sex of the President -0.03637 0.04379 -0.07031 -0.08629** 0.00138

Education of President -0.02147 -0.01942 -0.05643 0.00780 0.02087

Age of the GP president -0.00012 -0.01239* 0.00639 0.00433 -0.00443(in years)

Age square -0.00001 0.00014 -0.00014 -0.00012*** 0.00011

Number of households -0.01538*** -0.01106*** -0.01843*** -0.04195*** -0.03732***for every installedstreetlight in the GP

Constant 3.37055*** 3.48861*** 3.22624*** 3.85806*** 3.59797***

Fixed effects Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Number of observations 4777 1034 1070 1312 1361

*** Significant at 1% level; ** Significant at 5% level; * Significant at 10% level.

Larger grant amounts allow GPs to spendresources on the operation and maintenanceof streelights in somewhat indiscriminatemanner, and this, in turn, increases the ratioof expenditure to receipts on streelightsservices.

We obtain very interesting resultspertaining to per capita own revenue. Theorysays that fiscal decentralisation requires theassignment of taxes and other sources tolocal governments that provide significantown revenue. Larger the own revenue morewill be participation of people in the affairs

of the local government and greater will bethe accountability on the part of localgovernment towards people. “Voters will holdtheir elected officials more accountable iflocal public services are financed to asignificant extent from locally imposed taxes,as opposed to the case where financing isprimarily by Central government transfers”(Bahl 2002:261). These theoreticalconsiderations suggest that there will benegative relationship between per capitaown revenue and the ratio. If the per capitaown revenue is high, it then implies thatpeople are widely participating in the



payment of taxes. This will in turn result inpeople asking for accountability on how theirhard earned money is spent. This is expectedto influence the behaviour of GPs in such amanner that they will be careful when itcomes to spending resources mobilised fromthe people on the provision of services suchas streetlights.

Although per capita revenue reducesthe ratio, this was not statistically significantat the State level. However, this variable ishighly significant in all the four regions. Ahighly significant negative associationbetween per capita own revenue and theratio in developed, backward and highlybackward districts implies that higheramounts of own revenue improved theaffordability of GPs. The sign is, however,positive in the highly developed category ofdistricts. This is because of Bangalore Urbanand Rural districts, which fall into thecategory of highly developed districts. Inthese districts, house tax forms a considerableproportion of the total own revenue. Thegrowing urbanisation in these districtsimplies that the value of residential premiseshas been growing, and thereby betteropportunities for GPs to revise and imposehouse tax. Similarly, rising incomes enablethe rural dwellers to construct new andbetter houses and go for amenities such asprivate household water connections. This, inturn, leads to higher potential for GPs tomobilise own revenue in the form of wateruser charges. The booming constructionindustry in Bangalore city provided anopportunity for GPs in the Bangalorehinterland to raise revenue from the sale ofsand, auctioning of granite, etc. Thus, thesetwo districts are distinctly different in so faras the mobilisation of own revenue isconcerned. As a result, the per capita ownrevenue was high at around `135 while itdid not cross ` 20 in most of the districts in2002-03 (Rajasekhar and Manjula 2010).

Nevertheless the high per capita ownrevenue has not led to a reduction of ratio ofexpenditure on streetlight services in thesedistricts because of the weak accountability.In these districts, the construction of housesin revenue land makes the owners to be pro-active in the house tax payment with thehope that such payment will provide legallegitimacy to the house ownership. Such anactive involvement in the payment of housetax may not be visible when it comes toraising voices on services provided by GPs.

The results show that the variable onfixation of meters is not statistically significantat the State level and in highly developed,developed and backward districts. However,the statistically significant results in the highlybackward districts suggest that if a meter isfixed, this would reduce the expenditure by20 paise for every one rupee (or by about 20per cent). This is because the calculations ofelectricity charges are likely to be accuratein the case of GPs that have installed meters.The notional method adopted by KPTCL islikely to result in higher electricity charges,as this method does not take erratic powersupply, non-functioning streetlights, etc., intoaccount. The installation of meters will, thus,lead to the correct reading of the electricityconsumed, lower expenditure on electricityand better affordability of GPs.

Sex of the president is significantlyassociated with the ratio in the backwardcategory of districts. In these districts, theratio declines by 8 per cent wherever a GPhas woman president. In other words, if theGP has female president then the ratio willdecrease by 8 paise as the females are knownto have more social concern (Chattopadhyayand Duflo 2004).

Age will negatively influence the ratio,as older people would have acquiredconsiderable experience on managing the



resources. In other words, higher the age ofGP president lower is the ratio. This has beenfound to be the case in the backwardcategory of districts.

Conclusions and Policy Suggestions

In the context of inadequate fiscaldecentralisation in Karnataka, two questionsare raised in this paper. Can GPs affordprovision of streetlight services? What factorsdetermine the affordability of streetlightservices by GPs? These questions areanalysed with the help of the data (pertainingto 2002-03) collected from 5,212 GPs out of5,665 GPs in Karnataka. We conclude that GPsare not able to operate and maintainstreetlight services. The ratio of expenditureto one rupee of revenue varied from as lowas ` 0.61 to as high as ` 6,661. On anaverage, each GP spent ` 104 for every rupeeof receipt. Important factors determining theaffordability of streetlight services are thenumber of households per streetlight, percapita grants to GPs and per capita ownrevenue. In the ensuing paragraphs, weprovide policy suggestions based on theanalysis carried out in the paper.

GPs should follow the official norm onthe coverage of households per installedstreetlight : The highly significant negativerelationship between number of householdsper each installed streetlight and the ratio inthe State and as well as across differentcategories of districts implies that a reductionof one household per every installedstreetlight reduces the expenditure by 1-4paise per every rupee of receipts. We donot, however, suggest the norm of providingone streetlight for 7-10 households is to bereviewed. What we suggest is that this normshould be strictly followed, and there is needto impress upon GPs that they do notsuccumb the pressure to install onestreetlight for less than seven households.Second, the coverage was inadequate in over

17 per cent of GPs and grossly inadequate inabout 3 per cent of GPs (Chart 1). Most ofthese GPs are located in hilly districts wherelarge number of hamlets together with theirscattered location makes it difficult to providestreetlight services. In the case of these GPs,financial assistance to install and managesolar streetlights is to be provided.

Create a Congenial IncentiveStructure : The regression results show thatan increase in the per capita total grants leadsto an increase in the ratio of expenditure toreceipts, and a decline in the affordability ofGPs. As devolution of the grants to GPs doesnot take place on the basis of performanceof the GP, an inference that can be drawn isthat allocation of grants without takingperformance of GP into account proved tobe less incentive for better performing GPs.This results in inefficient use of the grantsfor developmental works and in lessdownward accountability.

It has been found that larger the ownrevenue mobilised by GPs, lesser theexpenditure on streetlights and better is theaffordability of GPs. Creating a congenialincentive structure to promote themobilisation of own revenue (which does notunduly compromise with equity) is, therefore,essential. If the grants are linked with theperformance of gram panchayats, this can actas an incentive for gram panchayats to makean efficient use of these grants.

Fix Metres to Record Actual ElectricityConsumption : Only a small proportion of theGPs in the State had fixed the meters tomonitor electricity charges. In the absenceof the meter, electricity charges were arrivedat on the notional basis rather than on actualbasis by KPTCL. This resulted in hugeelectricity bills for GPs. In order to curb thisfaulty procedure, the department of RuralDevelopment and Panchayat Raj had enteredinto an understanding with KPTCL that it



should fix meters in all GPs before February2004. This was subsequently formalised in anofficial circular (No.RDP 1 KPTCL 2004) dated25/10/2004. If meters are fixed in GPs andthey are properly monitored, GPs will thenbecome aware of the magnitude ofexpenditure on streetlight services, and takecorrective measures. Since fixation of meterreduces expenditure and improvesaffordability, there is a need to give seriousattention to the fixation of metres in all GPs.

Introduce Centralised Switching on orOff System : Expenditure on maintenance isanother area for improvement. Maintenancecharges on account of replacement of bulbshave been reportedly high on account offluctuation in power supply, breaking of bulbsby miscreants, etc. Another reason reportedfor high maintenance charges has been lackof system for centralised switching on andoff of streetlights. In GPs, where habitationsare large in number and spread out over avast area, lack of centralised system hasresulted in non-switching of streetlights, andhence, frequent damage to bulbs. Thisresulted in increase in both maintenanceexpenditure and electricity charges.

Use Low Energy Consuming Bulbs :Another area of concern is usage of highenergy consuming bulbs for streetlights.Instead of mercury bulbs and sky lamps, usageof florescent tube lights for streetlights is wellsuited because of its long durability and lessconsumption of electricity, as electricity andmaintenance costs would become high in thecase of former. GPs should also use Solar

Voltaic/ Lighting for streetlights. This isbecause although installation charges arehigh, electricity and maintenance chargeswould be very minimal. Further, they arehighly suited to GPs with scatteredhabitations. These measures will reduceexpenditure on electricity and improveaffordability.

Review the Current Policy of Rotationof GP Presidents : Another important findingfrom the paper is that if a woman heads GP,there would be reduction in expenditure onstreetlights. This suggests that the GPsheaded by women tend to be efficient. Thepolicy implication is, therefore, to providemore encouragement to women to contestfor GP executive positions, and review thecurrent policy of rotation of GP presidentsonce in 20 months.

To conclude, notwithstanding that thegram panchayats in Karnataka are providedwith some untied grant, their expenditureautonomy relating to development is erodeddue to high expenditure on the provision ofservices such as streetlights. A directconsequence of non-affordability in the caseof a majority of GPs in the provision ofstreetlight services is that untied grants arenot utilised for activities that would improvethe employment and growth potential in theGP jurisdiction. Policy initiatives along thelines suggested in this paper are needed toimprove the affordability of GPs in thestreetlight provision and reduce theutilisation of untied funds for the serviceprovision.

Notes

1 While there is considerable literature on rural electrification (Pillai 1981; Paliwal 1985; Rajasekhar etal 2010), community lighting received a passing mention in the studies on regional (GoK 2002b) andrural-urban disparities (Songco 2002).

2 With the establishment of the Rural Electrification Corporation in 1969, finances to fund and acceleraterural electrification schemes became available to all state governments.



3 The activities of assisting the poor and households belonging to scheduled caste/ scheduled tribe/other backward caste in obtaining power connection under various programmes, and monitoring andreporting progress of energisation of irrigation pumpsets are assigned to Taluk Panchayat.

4 This database was built as part of the study on ‘Managing and Disseminating Panchayat Data for FurtheringDecentralisation Reforms’ undertaken by the Centre for Decentralisation and Development (CDD) incollaboration with the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR), GoK. Since this wasa collaborative study with the government, the research team was able to access documents such asaudit reports, bank passbooks, and other records like demand, collection and balance register, etc, forthe purpose of cross-checking of the data.

5 The analysis pertains to 27 districts as existed in 2002-03.

6 The same was noted by the High Power Committee on Redressal of Regional Imbalances. The Committeefound that only 37.5 per cent of the hamlets in the State were provided with streetlights and thesewere concentrated in Malnad and Coastal districts of Karnataka (GoK 2002b).

7 The following may be noted. Although the government provides annual untied grant to each GP andSection 206 of Panchayat Raj Act allows GPs to use this for the payment of electricity bills, these statutoryuntied grants are not included as one of the receipts of GPs to work the affordability ratio. This is becausethese untied grants would be utilised not only for electricity charges but also for the maintenance ofwater supply schemes, sanitation and other welfare activities, and it is difficult to apportion the grantsthat were exclusively used to pay electricity charges towards provision of streetlight services.

8 This included electricity charges for water supply and office maintenance as well. In some of the districts,there were deductions for even the expenditure incurred on anganwadi centres. So much is the problemof deductions at the source that a few GPs did not receive anything from the statutory grant in 2002-03.

9 See Rajasekhar and Manjula (2011) for more details.

10 It needs to be noted that many GPs do not explicitly state that they are collecting light cess as a part ofhouse tax. They do not even provide separate figures on the amount collected as light cess when itcomes to reporting to higher authorities. We have, however, tried to overcome this by taking ` 5 perhousehold as notional figure in our calculations to work out the total receipts.

11 Statutory untied grant of ` 3 lakh per GP was the only general-purpose grant in 2002-03. Specific purposegrants included those provided under various programmes such as SGRY and Nirmala Grama Yojana. Theother grants coming under this category are Finance Commission Grants, Development Grants, WaterSupply Grants and other grants.

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5. Courant, P N, Gramlich, E M and Rubinfeld, D L (1998), ‘The Stimulative Effects of IntergovernmentalGrants : Or Why Money Sticks Where it Hits’, in E M Gramlich (ed.) The Economics of Fiscal Federalism andLocal Finance, Elgar Reference Collection, International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, Vol.88, Cheltenham, pp. 127-43.

6. GoK (2002b), High Power Committee for Redressal of Regional Imbalances, Final Report, Government ofKarnataka.

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8. GoK (n.d.), Handbook on Payment of Electricity Bill of Gram Panchayats, Department of RuralDevelopment and Panchayat Raj and KPTCL, Government of Karnataka.

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12. Rajasekhar, D and R Manjula (2010), Revenues of Gram Panchayats in Karnataka, Bangalore, Institute forSocial and Economic Change (mimeo).

13. Rajasekhar, D and R Manjula (2011), Decentralised Governance and Service Delivery : Affordability ofDrinking Water Supply by Gram Panchayats in Karnataka, ISEC Monograph 23.

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15. Rao, M Govinda, Amar Nath and B P Vani (2003), Fiscal Decentralisation in Karnataka, A Report Preparedfor the World Bank, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.

16. Songco, Jocelyn A (2002), Do Rural Infrastructure Investments Benefit the Poor? Evaluating Linkages: AGlobal View, A Focus on Vietnam, Policy Research Working Paper No.2796, Washington D C, World Bank.

17. Vithal, C.P. and Sarumathi, M (1996), Panchayati Raj Finances in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka : An Analysis,Journal of Rural Development, 15 (2). pp. 215-248.

18. Thimmaiah, G (2001), Issues in Fiscal Decentralisation in Karnataka, Paper presented in the Workshop onRural Decentralisation in Karnataka : Status, Best Practices and Strategy, on May 31 to June 1, 2001, heldat the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.

M. Mahadeva* andK. Keshavamurthy**


* Member, Karnataka Public Service Commission, Udyoga Soudha, Park House Road, Bangalore- 560001.Email: [email protected]

** Lecturer, Department of Economics, St. Joseph College, Langford Road, Bangalore-560027. Email:[email protected]

This paper is based on a study conducted at the Agricultural Development and Rural TransformationCentre, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, at the instance of the Governmentof India. The authors are grateful to Professor V.M. Rao, former Member of the Agriculture Costs andPrice Commission, Government of India and Professor C K Renukarya, Professor of Economics (Retd),University of Mysore, Mysore for their comments on the earlier version of this paper. The comments ofreferee have been highly useful and have added new academic value to the paper, for which the authorsare immensely grateful. The usual disclaimer applies.

ABSTRACT

Agriculture sector in India has been beset with conspicuous problems likedeclining area of cultivation, productivity and increasing cost of cultivation. Theseproblems have caused a serious threat to household income of farming community.Macro Management of Agricultural Schemes (MMASs) is one of the correctiveinterventions, implemented successfully throughout the country in the last decade,including the State of Karnataka. The experience of the State clearly indicates amulti-pronged positive impact on the agriculture sector and benefited all sizes ofthe farmers. There have been increases in the area, yield and productivity underthe scheme apart from a significant decline in the cost of cultivation due toadoption of new techniques, which contributed to the increasing householdincome of the farmers. However, farmers have been bogged down by a numberof new problems associated with the scheme and correspondingly, the paperoffers a number of policy alternatives to the scheme for effective implementation.

MACRO MANAGEMENT OFAGRICULTURAL SCHEMES INKARNATAKA : AN ASSESSMENT OFIMPACT

Introduction

The importance of agriculture sector inthe Indian economy can be understood fromthe fact that it contributes to 18.5 per centof GDP and 58 per cent of employment inthe country. In order to supplement theefforts to promote agricultural production andproductivity through technical and financial

interventions, formulation of new policiesand programmes have been initiated atregular intervals. These policies have beenaiming at achieving rapid agricultural growthand development through optimumutilisation of agro-based resources of thecountr y. One of the major initiativesformulated towards this endeavour is theintroduction of Macro Management of

436 M. Mahadeva and K. Keshavamurthy


Agriculture Schemes (MMAS) in 2000-01,which have three-pronged objectives toachieve. First, to move away from theschematic approach to the work plans of theState in the implementation of the MMASs;second, to ensure that the Central assistanceprovided under various schemes is spent onfocused and specific interventions for thedevelopment of agriculture; and third toalleviate the rigidity in the uniformlystructured Central sponsored schemes, whichhas hitherto resulted in large amount ofunutilised balance (GoI 2000)1. Under thenew schematic design of the MMASs, thestates have freedom to develop and pursueactivities on the basis of their regionalpriorities through their own work plans.Originally, under the MMASs, 27 CentrallySponsored Schemes were included in 2000-01 to cover both agriculture and horticulturesectors. But with the introduction of NationalHorticultural Mission in 2005-06, 10 schemeshave been excluded from the agriculturesector and only 17 schemes are beingimplemented, including the (a) IntegratedCereal Development Programmes of Rice,Wheat and Coarse Cereal based CroppingSystem Areas, (b) Sustainable Developmentof Sugarcane Based Cropping System(SUBACS), (c) Balanced and Integrated Use ofFertiliser (BIUF) or Integrated NutrientManagement (INM) and (d) Scheme forFoundation and Certified Seed Production ofVegetable Crops, which form the main focusof this paper.

The funding pattern for these schemesis like any other MMASs. The Centralgovernment provides 90 per cent of theexpenditure and the state governmentcontributes 10 per cent from their ownresources. Out of Central government’sassistance, 80 per cent is grant and 20 percent is loan (GoI 2000). In case of the North-Eastern States, the entire expenditure will beborne by the Central government. In the

revised Macro Management of Agriculture(MMA) Schemes, it is attempted to avoidoverlapping and duplication of efforts and tomake them more relevant to the presentagricultural scenario in the states and therebyto achieve twin objectives of food securityand to improve the livelihood system forrural mass. Thus, the practice of allocation offunds to the states on historical basis underthe erstwhile MMA scheme has beenreplaced by a new allocation criteria basedon the 50 per cent weightage to the grosscropped area and 50 per cent weightage tothe area under the small and marginalholdings in the state (GoI, 2008). The newcriteria would facilitate allocation of moreresources to the states having larger croppedarea and also larger concentration of smalland marginal farmers.

The funding pattern of the MMAS in thecountry indicates that Centre and the StateGovernments have funded the schemes inaccordance with the guidelines, althoughsimilar concern has not been exhibited in itsimplementation. It is evident from Table 1that a total amount of ` 4976.49 crore havebeen allocated for the implementation of theMMASs between 2005-06 to 2009-10 andCentral Zone account for 21 per cent,followed by Southern Zone (19 per cent),Northern Zone (17 per cent), North-EasternZone (16 per cent), Western Zone (14 percent), Eastern Zone (12 per cent) and theUnion Territories (2 per cent). One of the in-built features of the implementation is that‘unspent balance of the previous years isbeing carried forward to the total allocationunder the schemes’, which has been in theorder of over 20 per cent. In other words,about 80 per cent of the allocated funds havebeen used. Secondly, it should not bemisconstrued that the funds allocated arereleased entirely for the implementation ofthe schemes, as is clear that only 72 per centof the funds have been utilised. Across the

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Table 1 : Zone-wise Allocation of the Funds Under MMA Schemes in India from 2005-06 to 2009-10

(` in Lakh)

Zones Allocation State Total Unspent Total % of Releases Total Releases Expenditure(Central share allocation balance funds Unspent expenditure as % of as % outshare) carried available balance total of the

forward (Col 3+4) carried funds releasedforward available amount

Northern zone 76960 8551 85511 26522 112033 23.7 72513 80034 64.7 110.4(90) (10)

Southern Zone 85550 9506 95056 35551 130607 27.2 86832 92005 66.5 106(90) (10)

Eastern Zone 53310 5923 59233 12120 71353 17 52102 52172 73 100.1(90) (10)

Western Zone 64190 7132 71322 12400 83722 14.8 76921 78609 91.9 102.2(90) (10)

Central Zone 93845 10427 104272 24738 129010 19.2 89029 97127 69 109.1(90) (10)

North-Eastern Zone 81162 0 81162 14017 95179 14.7 73382 76410 77.1 104.1(100) (0)

Union Territories 1065 28 1093 543 1636 33.2 181 230 11.1 127.1(97.4) (2.6)

Total 456082 41567 497649 125891 623540 20.2 450960 476587 72.3 105.7(91) (8.4)

Note : Northern Zone - Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, RajasthanSouthern Zone - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil NaduEastern Zone – Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West BengalWestern Zone- Goa, Gujarat, MaharashtraCentral Zone- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, UttaranchalNorth-Eastern Zone - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura.Union Territories – Puduchery, Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep, Delhi.Figures in the parentheses are percentages.

Source : Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI.



country, excepting the Western Zone, whichhas released about 92 per cent of theallocated funds, all the other zones havebeen lagging behind in making use of thefunds available to them under the scheme.The Union Territories have earned thedistinction of releasing the lowest funds tothe extent of only 11 per cent for theimplementation of the MMASs. Exceptingthese two extremes, all the other zones haveregistered an average unspent balance of 30per cent funds allocated to them, as theyhave released only 70 per cent of the totalfunds for the implementation of theschemes.

Karnataka is one of the major states tohave implemented the MMASs since theirinception. The State has incurred a total publicexpenditure of ` 321.51 crore for theimplementation of MMASs during the period2005-06 to 2008-09, which is 6.65 per centof the total expenditure in the country (GoK2007). The amount released as percentageto the total funds available under the sameis around 69, as against the national averageof 7.4 per cent. The total expenditure incurredon the implementation of the SustainableDevelopment of Sugarcane Based CroppingSystem (SUBACS), Integrated CerealDevelopment Programme (ICDP), Foundationand Certified Seed Production of VegetableCrops (FCSPVC), and Integrated NutrientManagement (INM) are in the order of` 17.60 crore or 5.47 per cent of the totalallocation for the entire MMASs in the State.Having implemented these schemes foralmost a decade in the State, there has notbeen any attempt to assess the impact onthe agriculture sector as well as on thefarming families. Capturing the impact of theselected MMASs, in terms of the additionalarea brought under cultivation, yield of thecrops, cost of cultivation and income is themain objective of this paper.

Methodology

This paper is based on a study (2010)undertaken in four districts of the State viz.Mandya, Tumkur, Haveri and Dhar wad.Considering the physical and financialprogress achieved under the MMA Schemes,four blocks representing two from north andtwo from southern districts were selected forthe study of four schemes. Mandya wasselected for the study of sustainabledevelopment of Sugarcane Based CroppingSystem (SUBACS), Tumkur district for theIntegrated Nutrient Management (INM), Haveridistrict for Foundation and Certified SeedsProduction of Vegetable Crops (FCSPVC) andDharwad district for the study of IntegratedCereal Development Programme (ICDP).Beneficiary list under the schemes wereobtained from the government departmentsat the district, block and at the panchayatlevel and samples were randomly selectedacross the social groups and size of theholdings. A total of 240 farmers were selectedfor the study, representing 60 beneficiariesfrom each scheme and from each block2. Thestudy used secondary as well as primary datafor its analysis. Secondary data pertaining tothe zone-wise funds allocated under theselected MMASs in the country during thestudy period, scheme-wise financial targetand achievement across the districts ofKarnataka State and the progress of the linedepartments have been collected from theofficial records, as maintained by therespective departments of the Governmentof India and the State of Karnataka. Primarydata relating to the area under cultivation,total yield, cost of cultivation, total incomeand net returns to all sizes of farming,including the problems encountered havebeen collected from the selected farmers ofthe study region. In order to do so, a testedquestionnaire was administered to all theselected farmers and their responses wereanalysed and presented.


Macro Management of Agricultural Schemes in Karnataka ... 439

By social group, the beneficiary sampleshave been drawn from the four categories inthe study region. The beneficiary farmersbelonging to Other Backward Class (OBC)constitute the largest sample with 59.16 percent (142) in the total, followed by theScheduled Castes (39 farmers or 16.25 percent), Scheduled Tribes (34 farmers or 14.17per cent) and others (25 farmers or 10.92per cent). By farm size, majority of the samplefarmers constituted of small (42.92 per cent),followed by marginal (21.67 per cent), semi-medium (19.58 per cent), medium (10.83 percent) and large farmers (5.00 per cent).Educationally, excepting the 45 beneficiaryfarmers (18.75 per cent) all the otherrespondents are literates and a majority ofthem have educational attainment up toprimary (35.42 per cent) level. 26.25 and11.25 per cent of the respondent farmersstudied up to pre-matriculation andmatriculation level, respectively. Also, a littleover 8 per cent of the sample farmers havehad university level education in the studyregion. In addition to the primary data,secondary data have also been collected fromthe official sources as well as from thedifferent nodal offices at state, district andblock levels. Primary data have beencollected through a stratified sampling surveymethod from four blocks by a testedquestionnaire on various socio-economicactivities.

Overview of the Selected MMASs

Sustainable development of SugarcaneBased Cropping System (SUBACS) has beenimplemented in all sugarcane growingdistricts of the State. The main objective ofthis scheme is to increase the production andproductivity of sugarcane to meet thedomestic demand and export need (GoI2000). The scheme intends to transfer theimproved production technology to thefarmers through field demonstration,trainings, supply of farm implements,

enhancing production of planting materials,efficient use of water, treatment of plantingmaterial etc. (Kazim Rahim et al 2009). Thisscheme is being implemented through IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research (ICAR), KrishiVijnana Kendras (KVKs), State AgriculturalUniversities (SAUs), Directorate of Agriculture/Directorate of Sugarcane Development andother agencies like sugar mills, farmercooperatives/associations etc. In Karnataka, ithas been implemented by the Departmentof Agriculture. Further, on the basis of themajor cropping systems followed overcenturies in the countr y, various cropdevelopment schemes have been formulatedby the Crop Division of the Ministry ofAgriculture, Government of India. A recentaddition to such developments is theIntegrated Cereal Development Programmefor Rice, Wheat and Coarse Cereals basedcropping system. In order to meet theregional and the area-specific needs, thisscheme gives thrust to a) varietalreplacement and popularising of newvarieties, b) improving soil fertility throughmicro-nutrients and soil amendments c)popularisation of new production andprotection techniques and d) integrated PestManagement and training of farmers.Integrated Nutrient Management (INM)mainly advocates appropriate nutrientapplication methods and transfer of theknowledge to farming community, as abalanced application of appropriate fertilisersis a major concern to minimise the negativeexternalities (Singh and Sharma 2004). Over-application of fertilisers, induces neithersubstantially greater crop nutrient uptake norsignificantly higher yields. Rather, excessivenutrient applications are economicallywasteful and can damage the environment.On the other hand, under-application canretard crop growth and lower yields in theshort term and in the long term jeopardisesustainability through soil mining and erosion(Smaling and Braun, 1996). In this context,



Integrated Nutrient Management is a majorinitiative that has been taken to promotebalanced and integrated use of fertilisers. Thegovernment is also promoting the soil testbased balanced and judicious use of chemicalfertilisers, bio-fertilisers and locally availableorganic manures like farm yard manure,compost, vermi-compost, green manure andpress mud etc. to maintain soil health andproductivity. Foundation and Certified SeedProduction of Vegetable Crops (FCSPVC) waslaunched in 1995-96 for the production ofcertified seeds of important vegetable crops.The objective of the scheme was to increasethe availability of foundation and certifiedseeds of vegetable crops and to createinfrastructural facilities for processing andpackaging of the seeds. The scheme wasintroduced to make available in sufficientquantity of the foundation and certified seedsto the farmers, by ensuring the maximumarea under the notified varieties of vegetablecrops (GoI 2006).

The Public Expenditure :Implementation of the MMASs can be betterjudged by its financial allocation andexpenditure made under each of theschemes in the State. It must be seen in viewthat these schemes are implemented insuitable agro-climatic conditions. A totalamount of ` 17.60 crore has been allottedunder the three MMASs in the State duringthe period 2004-05 to 2007-08 of which` 13.48 crore has been spent with 76.58 percent of fund utilisation. Out of ` 17.60 crore,the Integrated Cereal DevelopmentProgramme (ICDP) has had a major share of` 7.96 crore which works out to 45.19 percent of total fund. This is followed by SUBASCwith an amount of ` 7.58 crore (43.04 percent), and Foundation and Certified SeedProduction of Vegetable Crops has beengiven an amount of ` 2.07 crore, which is11.77 per cent of the total allocated fund.The overall financial achievement of all the

schemes was around 77 per cent in the Statewith some exceptions of higher achievementin a few districts. They include Kodagu district,which achieved highest financial target with99 per cent with only two schemes, followedby Koppal (96.75 per cent), Raichur (94.89per cent), Bangalore Urban (94.49 per cent),Shimoga (91.04 per cent), Udupi (90.93 percent) and Bagalkote (90.71 per cent). On thecontrary, a few other districts have been farbehind in their achievement. Bidar district isthe lowest among the group with only 29.43per cent of financial achievement, which isover two folds lower than the State average,followed BY Kolar with 56.62 per cent, Bijapur(59.88 per cent), Belgaum (68.28 per cent),Davanagere (68.18 per cent) and Hassan(67.03 per cent). Incidentally all the threeschemes have been implemented in thesedistricts (Table 2).

SUBACS was initially introduced in 15districts of the State (Belgaum, Bijapur,Bagalkote, Bidar, Bellar y, Dhar wad,Davanagere, Gulbarga, Havery, Hassan, Kolar,Mandya, Mysore, Shimoga, Chikkamagalur).Among these districts, Belgaum had a lion'sshare in the total allocation of funds sincethe inception of the scheme. It reveals thatthe district had been allotted a highestamount of ` 2.26 crore, out of which ` 1.5crore have been utilised with the 68.15 percent of achievement followed by Bagalkote(` 1.47 crore), Bijapur (` 0.77 crore), Bidar(` 0.71 crore) and Mandya (` 0.61 crore). Infact, these five districts account for 77 percent of the funds allotted and have togetherachieved 83 per cent of their target, which iswell above the State average of 61 per cent.Contrary to this, the Havery district stands inthe bottom in regard to the fund allocationwith an allotment of ` 0.03 crore, out ofwhich only ` 0.01 crore has been utilised,followed by Chikkamagalur and Dharwaddistricts with ` 0.05 crore each. It is importantto note that the allocation of funds for



Table 2 : Financial Target & Achievement of SUBACS, ICDPand FCSPVC in Karnataka (2004-05 to 2007-08)

(` in Crore)

Districts SUBACS ICDP F&C Total % of Ach.

Tar. Ach. Tar. Ach. Tar. Ach. Tar. Ach.

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Belgaum 2.26 1.51 0.16 0.14 0.11 0.09 2.54 1.73 68.28

Bijapur 0.77 0.40 0.14 0.13 0.04 0.03 0.94 0.57 59.88

Bagalakote 1.47 1.34 0.09 0.08 0.03 0.03 1.59 1.45 90.71

Bidar 0.71 0.09 0.12 0.13 0.03 0.03 0.85 0.25 29.43

Bellary 0.10 0.04 0.33 0.29 0.04 0.04 0.47 0.37 79.38

Dharwad 0.05 0.02 0.21 0.19 0.07 0.05 0.33 0.26 79.93

Davanagere 0.41 0.18 0.36 0.34 0.03 0.02 0.79 0.54 68.18

Gulbarga 0.23 0.08 0.23 0.21 0.04 0.03 0.50 0.32 63.91

Havery 0.03 0.01 0.35 0.26 0.11 0.11 0.48 0.38 79.49

Hassan 0.11 0.03 0.46 0.33 0.05 0.05 0.62 0.41 67.03

Kolar 0.25 0.00 0.32 0.29 0.08 0.07 0.65 0.37 56.66

Mandya 0.61 0.53 0.61 0.54 0.04 0.04 1.26 1.10 87.84

Mysore 0.28 0.13 0.49 0.48 0.05 0.03 0.81 0.64 78.89

Shimoga 0.24 0.23 0.57 0.51 0.03 0.03 0.84 0.77 91.1

Chikkamagalur 0.05 0.04 0.36 0.29 0.04 0.03 0.45 0.37 82.84

Koppal 0.00 0.00 0.51 0.49 0.02 0.02 0.53 0.52 96.75

Bangalore (Rural) 0.00 0.00 0.24 0.21 0.09 0.08 0.33 0.29 88.44

Udupi 0.00 0.00 0.18 0.16 0.03 0.03 0.21 0.19 90.93

Bangalore (Urban) 0.00 0.00 0.18 0.16 0.06 0.06 0.24 0.23 94.47

Tumkur 0.00 0.00 0.45 0.34 0.07 0.06 0.52 0.40 76.51

Chitradurga 0.00 0.00 0.14 0.12 0.06 0.05 0.20 0.17 84.74

Kodagu 0.00 0.00 0.09 0.09 0.02 0.02 0.12 0.12 98.98

(Contd.)



Raichur 0.00 0.00 0.38 0.36 0.03 0.03 0.41 0.39 94.89

Chamarajanagar 0.00 0.00 0.29 0.25 0.02 0.02 0.32 0.27 84.57

D.Kannada 0.00 0.00 0.19 0.18 0.05 0.03 0.25 0.21 85.05

U.Kannada 0.00 0.00 0.38 0.32 0.02 0.02 0.40 0.35 86.58

Gadag 0.00 0.00 0.14 0.11 0.05 0.05 0.18 0.16 86.8

Chikkaballapur 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 72

Directorate 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.76 0.65 0.76 0.65 85.63

Total 7.58 4.64 7.96 7.02 2.07 1.82 17.60 13.48 76.58

Note : This information is only for schemes namely SUBACS, ICDP. Rice (Work plan paddy)and Foundation and Certified Seed Production of Vegetable crops of MMASs. Theinformation relating to Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) is not maintained bythe Department of Agriculture, GoK for the period under review. The informationregarding the Foundation and Certified Seeds (Development of Vegetable Crops)are considered only for the years 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Source : Calculations are based on information provided by the Department of Agricultureand Horticulture, Government of Karnataka.

Table 2 : (Contd.)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Dharwad, Chikkamagalur and Havery districtshas been contracted from the year 2007-08due to poor performance of these districtsunder the scheme. It is evident from Table 2that the financial target under SUBACS hasbeen gradually increased from ` 0.45 crorein 2004-05 to ` 5.57 crore in 2007-08. Butsignificantly, the target achievement isconsiderably low at 61 per cent, owing toerosion of interest in the crop itself and somedistricts (Dhar wad, Havery, Kolar, andChikkamagalur) did not even get theallocation during 2007-08, under the scheme.However, Bagalkote, Shimoga and Mandyahave shown a satisfactory progress under theSUBACS.

Integrated Cereal DevelopmentProgramme (ICDP) which was later mergedwith the work plan of paddy has been givena total assistance of ` 7.96 crore during 2004-

05 to 2007-08 out of which ` 7.02 crore havebeen spent on various paddy promotionprogrammes with 88.27 per cent of financialachievement. It has been implemented in allthe paddy growing districts of the State inwhich Mandya has got the highest allocationof funds to the tune of ` 0.61 crore followedby Shimoga (` 0.57 crore), Koppal (` 0.51crore) and Mysore (` 0.49 crore). The fundutilisation of these districts also remainsacceptable with ` 0.57 crore, ` 0.51 crore,and ` 0.48 crore, respectively. On the otherhand, districts like Bagalkote (` 0.09 crore),Kodagu (` 0.09 crore), Bijapur (` 0.13 crore),Udupi (` 0.18 crore), Dakshin Kannada(` 0.19 crore) and Dharwad (` 0.21 crore)have lowest allocation of funds under thescheme.

In 2007-08, Chikkaballapur has beengiven a separate allocation of ` 1 lakh under



ICDP in order to encourage the paddygrowers and at the same time has graduallybeen condensed for Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur,Bangalore Urban and Rural districts followingnon-satisfactory performance. It reveals thatas high as ` 2.07 crore have been allotted tothe State under the foundation and certifiedseed production of vegetable crops, of which` 1.82 crore has been utilised with asatisfactory progress of 87.91 per cent of thefunds. A careful examination of the fundsallocation shows that the Directorate ofHorticulture Crops (Lalbagh) has been givenprominent importance and has been allotted` 0.76 crore, which is 37 per cent of totalamount released. Among the districts,Belgaum and Havery have been providedhigher allocation, followed by Bangalore Rural(` 01.87 crore), Kolar (` 0.70 crore), Tumkur(` 0.69 crore), and Dharwad (` 0.68 crore)have had a higher share in the allocation offunds. Their share works out to be 25 per centof the total allocation. However, in terms ofachievement, Havery (` 0.11 crore), Belgaum(` 0.87 crore), Kolar (` 0.73 crore), BangaloreUrban (` 0.62 crore) Tumkur (` 0.59 crore),and Chitradurga districts have shown aconvincible rate of fund utilisation under thescheme. It can be seen that although thefunds in the beginning years wereconcentrated to a few districts like Havery,Kolar, Bangalore Urban and Rural districts, theother districts were also brought under thepurview of the scheme over the years. Atpresent, the scheme has been implementedin 27 vegetable growing districts of Karnatakaand the fruits are reaching the farmersthrough various components of the scheme.

Five government departments(Agriculture, Watershed, Agriculturalmarketing, Cooperation and Horticulture)have played a significant role in theimplementation of the MMASs in Karnataka(Table 3). Department of Watershed has beena leader, which has got funds to the tune of

` 258.45 crore under the MMASs. The totalshare of the department in the totalexpenditure was in the order of 48.54 percent. This department has been able to utilisethe allocation up to ` 251.78 crore (97.42per cent). This department has spent ` 31.47crore annually to implement various MMASscoming under its purview. Implementation ofNational Watershed DevelopmentProgramme (NWDP) in rainfed areas andRiver Valley Project are the main thrust, forwhich MMAS funds have been madeavailable. Department of Agriculture is thesecond in line with a resource control of `180.46 crore (32.10 per cent). This fund wasmade available to continue the existingschemes under the Central sector. Continuedimplementation of ICDPS, Sugarcanedevelopment, INM and mechanisation ofagricultural activities was the other objective.In addition to these, new schemes forextension activities, establishment of marketanalysis wing, quality control of seeds andpest management scheme are also included.This is followed by the Horticulturedepartment with funds of ` 107.95 crore(17.39 per cent), which is the third in theimplementation of MMASs. This departmentis being supported mainly to developvegetables, spices, cocoa, commercialfloriculture, cashew and mushroom cropsbesides development of tropical and aridzone fruits and aromatic and medicinal plants.About 84 per cent of the funds are reportedlyutilised. Department of Cooperationaccounted to total sanctioned funds of` 14.50 crore under the scheme, but hasutilised only ` 5.16 crore (35.60 per cent),which is lowest among the line departments.Organisation of cooperative societies amongthe weaker sections, including grant-in-aidsupport to Large Sized AgriculturalMultipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS)3

has been a major thrust of the department.Also, providing subsidy, share capitalassistance and loans for the above societies



Table 3 : Financial Achievement under MMASs byLine Departments in Karnataka 2000-01 to 2007-08

(` in Crore)

S.No. Departments Amount Amount % of % of fundsSanctioned Utilised achievement administered

1 Department of Watershed 258.45 251.78 97.42 48.54

2 Department of Agriculture 180.46 166.50 92.26 32.10

3 Department of Horticulture 107.95 90.20 83.5 17.39

4 Department of Cooperation 14.50 5.16 35.60 1.00

5 Department of 6.80 5.07 74.55 0.98Agricultural Marketing

Total 568.16 518.71 91.30 100

Source : Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka.

Source : Table 3.

Amount UtilisedPercentage of funds administerd

Amount SanctionedPercentage of achievement

Co

op

eration

De

partm

en

t of



was the major concern of the department4.Interestingly, since 2005-06 the departmenthas not incurred any expenditure. Finally,Department of Agricultural Marketing has hadonly ` 6.80 crore for providing infrastructure,developing revolving fund in the AgricultureProduce Marketing Committee (APMCs). Overthree-fourths of the sanctioned amount hasbeen utilised by the department.

Distribution of Benefits : Sugarcaneseedling and bio-agents are the mainfacilities made available to the farmingcommunity under SUBACS. Because of thecomplementary nature of these two inputs,the distribution of them has been separatelydone to various categories of farmers. In thecase of the sample farmers, both sugarcaneseedling and bio-agents have beendistributed. It is found that a majority of thefarmers (65 per cent) have receivedsugarcane seedlings across differentholdings. In the case of the bio-agents about97 per cent of the farmers reportedlyreceived the same, excepting a few semi-medium farmers, under the scheme. Further,80.83 per cent sugarcane growers havereceived both sugarcane seedlings and bio-agents together. Apart from the distributionof sugarcane seedlings and bio-agents, anumber of other agricultural implementshave also been distributed to the sugarcanegrowers. Puddles have been distributed tothe extent of 42 per cent of the farmers,followed by cultivator to nearly 37 per cent,whereas the disk blades have beendistributed to a very small segment of thefarmers (3 per cent), particularly of the smallholding segment. Assistance for agriculturalimplements across the farming communityindicates that about 91 per cent of the semi-medium farmers have turned out to be themain beneficiaries, followed by medium(83.33 per cent), small (82.76 per cent) andthe marginal farmers have received theseassistance to the extent of 76.92 per cent.

Similar to the agricultural implements, about17 per cent of the beneficiary farmers havegot subsidy for the diesel pumpsets, and 8.33per cent of the farmers have availed ofsubsidy for the drip irrigation. Nevertheless,lack of awareness has impeded the remaining72 per cent of the farmers from availing ofthe subsidy under the scheme.

Considering the indispensable nature ofsoil structure, ameliorants like gypsum, zinc,pirate, lime dolomite and organic manure areapplied for reclamation of saline and alkalinesoils through blocks as per therecommendation of soil test reports.Naturally, these ameliorants contain calcium,sulfur, salt and other chemicals, which areused to correct deficiencies in the soilstructure (Barett 2003). The growingawareness about the scientific farmingtechnology is one of the positive notesobserved among the beneficiary farmers. Theuse of the soil ameliorants like zinc, gypsumand lime is increasingly growing. In fact, zincsulfate has been growing and the same hasbeen supplied by the government atsubsidised rates to the farmers. Half of thesample farmers have used zinc sulfate in theirfarm land. The percentage use of theameliorant is higher among medium (77.78),followed by semi-medium (50) and large (50)farmers than in the marginal and smallfarmers to the tune of 46.15 and 40.91,respectively. It was found that all the farmershave got zinc ameliorant from the nearbyRaitha Samparka Kendra of the concernedblock.

Soil testing is one of the componentsof all the four schemes, which is intended tocorrect the soil acidity/alkalinity. It has beenobserved that 51 per cent of the beneficiaryfarmers have got their soil tested, of whichthe medium and large farmers constitute themajority. At the same time, lack of awarenessabout the advantages of soil testing hasimpeded 48.30 per cent of the beneficiaries



from testing its salinity. Of the total farmerswho got their soil tested, 38 per cent of themhave got their soil test done by thedepartment of agriculture, while 13 per centof the sample farmers have got soil testedby their own initiation. However, even thoughthere are several opportunities for thefarmers for soil testing, still 38 per cent ofthe farmers have not got their farm soiltested, which needs a serious attention bythe concerned department. An attempt wasmade during the field survey to know thereasons for not getting the soil tested. It issignificant to note that 28 per cent of thebeneficiaries have expressed their disintereston soil testing and 6 per cent of them arefound to be not aware of the soil test at all.Under the ICDP scheme, about 37 per centof the beneficiaries have got their farm soiltested. It was found that half of the semi-medium, medium and large farmers have gotthe soil tested although the preparedness ofthe small and the marginal farmers for soiltesting is still below the average level. Onascertaining the reasons for disinterest on soiltesting, a few farmers maintained that theywould rather prefer the traditional way. Inthese circumstances, the scheme needs toorient in changing the mindset of the farmingcommunity, especially for those disinterestedin the scientific application.

Despite distribution of nutrient is oneof the thrust objectives of INM, only less thanone-fourth of the farmers have received thebenefits under the scheme. Among the fournutrients, bio-fertiliser was distributed to alarge number of farmers (33.33 per cent) andthe enriched compost to 15 per cent of thefarmers. Agri-gold nutrient also provided toover 13 per cent of the farmers. One of thepositive aspects is that under the scheme, thenutrients have been largely distributed to thelower rung farmers to the extent of over 90per cent. Apart from giving assistance,manually operated and bullock drawnimplements have also been distributed.

Manually operated implements includesprayers and tractors and bullock drawnimplements include puddles and cultivators.Manually operated implements (sprayers andtractors) have been distributed to 13 per centof the farmers. In order to give a boost to theproduction of vegetable crops and tointroduce high-yielding hybrid seeds havinglocal advantages, high-yielding varieties ofseeds have been distributed to the farmersat a very nominal price, in the form of mini-kits consisting of seeds, planting materials,fertilisers and chemicals. It is clear that allthe beneficiary farmers have availed of thebenefit of high-yielding variety of seeds givenby the Department of Horticulture. Majorseeds like chilly, brinjal, ladies finger,cucumber etc. were distributed to the farmersat a very nominal price.

Demonstrations and Trainings :Demonstrations are one of the importantinterventions under the MMASs. Theobjectives of the demonstrations are toexpose the farmers towards new techniques,methods, seed treatment and various othercomponents of cultivation, besides exposingto plant treatment, plant protection, efficientuse of water, use of resistant varieties, methodof planting, weed control, use of fertilisersetc. In the case of sugarcane cultivation,demonstrations include Ring Pit, Single EyeBud demonstrations and RatoonManagement5. Among the four differentsugarcane demonstrations, Ratoonmanagement demonstration was largelyattended by the sugarcane growers, 80 percent of the farmers have attended thedemonstration. This is followed by Single EyeBud demonstration, which is attended by over73 per cent of the beneficiaries in the studyarea, and the farmer field school wasattended by 55 per cent of the farmers.However, excepting about two per cent ofthe farmers, none of the farmers have showninterest in attending the demonstration on



Ring Pit method. By size of farmers, smallfarmers have largely attended thedemonstrations (46.83 per cent), followed bythe semi-medium farmers (21.43 per cent),marginal (19.84 per cent) and medium (8.73per cent). All the large farmers have attendedthe demonstrations. Only 17 farmers or 28per cent have attended the IntegratedNutrient Management demonstrationespecially, large farmers seemed to be moreeager to attend the programme followed by36 per cent of small farmers and 25 per centof semi-medium farmers. However, it shouldbe noted that none of the marginal farmershas attended the Integrated NutrientManagement demonstration. Participation ofthe sample households in the INMdemonstration by farm size reveals that 40per cent of the marginal, 66.70 per cent ofthe small, 66.70 per cent of the semi-medium, 50 per cent of medium and 100per cent of the sample farmers haveparticipated on KRH-2 variety of paddy. Theother farmers were of the opinion thatattending such demonstrations costs otheragricultural works.

Cultivation of hybrid rice is promotedin a big way through Hybrid PaddyDemonstrations and by offering heavysubsidies in areas where paddy yields havereached the plateau. This was mainlyintended to increase rice production andproductivity to 1.5 tonnes per hectare fromthe present 1 tonne per hectare by usinghigh-yielding rice varieties. In order toincrease the productivity of the rice, variousdemonstrations on improved package ofpractices, on system of rice intensification,support for promotion of hybrid rice seed, andassistance for distribution of high-yield variety(HYV) seeds have been provided for differentcategories of the farmers under the ICDPscheme. Participation of the beneficiaryfarmers is moderate in the hybrid paddydemonstration. It is found that 45 per cent of

the total beneficiary farmers have attendedthe hybrid paddy demonstration conductedin the study area which consists of 27 percent marginal, 36 per cent small, 58 per centsemi-medium 57 per cent medium and 80per cent of large farmers.

System of Rice Intensification (SRI)Method is an improved method of ricecultivation with less water consumption. Itreduces the cost of cultivation by cutting theuse of pesticides and fertilisers and ispotential to give higher yield on account ofimproved soil microbial activity. The keyfeatures of the SRI method of cultivationinclude a) Transplant young seedlings b)Reduce plant population c) Maintain aeratedsoil conditions d) Provide as much organicmatter as possible to the soil e) Activelyaerate the soil f ) Re-emphasise biology andg) Rediscover the potentials of synergy andsymbiosis (Prasad 2006). In the case offarmers’ participation in the SRI method it isfound that only 20 per cent of the farmershave attended the demonstration. TheFarmers' Field Schools (FFS)6 is a unique wayto educate farmers and is an effectiveplatform for sharing of experiences andcollectively solving agriculture relatedproblems. The Farmer Field School is aculmination of the concepts and the methodsfrom agro-ecology, experimental educationand the community development. These FFSwere initiated based on two premises. Firstly,although farming is done mainly on individualfarms, the rural community plays an essentialrole in farmers' strategies for survival anddevelopment. Farmers would get together toshare information and other forms of mutualsupport with others, whom they trust.Secondly, farmers have a tradition ofdeveloping and applying technologies andrefining it through their own experiences.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)demonstration involves use of culturalpractices like crop husbandry resistant



varieties, and biological and chemical controlstrategies to minimise the use of pest in thecultivation (Birthal and Sharma 2004). IPMencourages proper choice and blend ofcompatible tactics, so that the componentscomplement each other to keep the pestpopulation at manageable levels (ICRISAT2005). In the study area, demonstrations wereconducted for horticultural crops inKarikoppa, Basapura, Kanakapura, and BhuKodihalli villages for tomato, chilly and brinjal.The response of the farmers' participation inthe demonstration is encouraging.Participation in the demonstrations on chilly,tomato and brinjal reflects the initiativefacilitated to adopt new technologies andcope with the growing awareness on thetimely planting, resistant varieties, use offertiliser, weed control etc. Apar t fromconducting various demonstrations on thehorticultural crops, the Department ofHorticulture also undertakes training andother extension programmes for educatingthe farmers about the modern methods ofcultivation and technical know-how at thefield levels. Such training programmes weresuccessfully held at Haveri and Dharwaddistricts where over 58 per cent of thefarmers participated in Ariu programme. Ariuis a major training programme intended toeducate the farming community which waslargely attended by the farmers by all sizes.More than two-thirds of the vegetablegrowers have attended the trainingprogramme followed by 22.86 per cent ofparticipation of the farmers in satellite basedtraining programmes organised by thehorticulture department.

Impact of the Schemes

Consequent upon the implementationof the Macro Management of AgriculturalSchemes in the State, five very important butpositive changes are observed namely, areaunder cultivation, yield, expenditure, gross

income and net income across all categoriesof households (Table 4). Especially, in the daysof increasing cost of cultivation and recededincome from farm activities, any reversingchange is a welcome- thanks to theinnovations and implementation of theMMASs. These changes should only bringadditional enthusiasm both in the thrust andeffective implementation of the schemes.

Additional Land Cultivated : Theforemost change is bringing additional landinto cultivation, which is one of the objectivesof the scheme. Total land under cultivationof sugarcane, paddy, ragi and coconut(SUBACS), cereals (ICDP) and vegetables(FCSPVC) under the selected MMASs hasincreased from 982 acres to 1441 acres inthe pre and post-implementation periods,respectively. This change has brought 459acres of net additional lands into cultivation,which is about 47 per cent increase. UnderSUBACS, the total cultivated area hasincreased from 200 acres to 321 acres, witha net increase in 121 acres or roughly 61 percent. Similarly, ICDP has been successful inincreasing the area under cultivation from 361acres to 479 acres, a net increase of 118 acresor 33 per cent, followed by FCSPVC from 226acres to 325 acres, a net increase of 99 acresor 44 per cent. This apart, Integrated NutrientManagement (INM) has brought an additionalarea of 121 acres (62 per cent) under theuse of micro-nutrients and green manures,by increasing the land from 195 acres to 316acres. Further, across the different holdingsizes, semi-medium farmers have been in theforefront in bringing additional land undercultivation to the tune of 129 acres, from 231acres to 360 acres (55.84 per cent). This isfollowed by medium farmers (119 acres or51.97 per cent), small farmers (110 acres or41.67 per cent), large farmers (74 acres or41.34 per cent) and last but not the leastmarginal farmers (27 acres or 33.75 percent).



Table 4 : Impact of the MMAS Schemes in Karnataka

Farm Holdings Marginal Small Semi-medium Medium Large All sizesand Parameters

No. of Farmers 52 103 47 26 12 240(21.67%) (42.92%) (19.58 %) (10.83 %) (5.00%) (100%)

Area under Before 80 264 231 229 179 982cultivation (1.54) (2.56) (4.91) (8.81) (14.92) (4.09)(acres/farmer)

After 107 374 360 348 253 1441(2.06) (3.63) (7.66) (13.38) (21.08) (6.00)

Net change 27 110 129 119 74 146(0.52) (1.07) (2.74) (4.58) (6.17) (0.61)

Total Yield Before 812 1,866 4,933 1,566 4,495 13,672(quintals/farmer) (15.62) (18.12) (104.96) (60.23) (374.58) (56.97)

After 918 2,219 6,297 1,567 4,610 15,613(17.65) (21.54) (133.98) (60.27) (384.17) (65.05)

Net change 106 353 1,364 1 115 1,941(2.04) (3.43) (29.02) (0.04) (9.58) (8.09)

Cost of Before 2,76,819 6,58,911 3,65,185 3,56,219 3,30,500 1987634cultivation (5323.44) (6397.19) (7769.89) (13700.73) (27541.67) (8281.81)(rupees/farmer)

After 3,55,354 6,35,140 3,39,450 3,27,614 3,14,683 1972241(6833.73) (6166.41) (7222.34) (12600.54) (26223.58) (8217.67)

Net change 78,535 -23,771 -25,735 -28,605 -15,817 -15,393(1510.29) -(230.79) -(547.55) -(1100.19) -(1318.08) -(64.14)

Total Income Before 3,80,829 10,12,977 6,32,214 9,18,633 5,17,917 34,62,570(rupees/farmer) (7323.63) (9834.73) (13451.36) (35332.04) (43159.75) (14427.38)

After 544162 1218778 814701 1169868 798784 4546293(10464.65) (11832.80) (17334.06) (44994.92) (66565.33) (18942.89)

Net 1,63,333 2,05,801 1,82,487 2,51,235 2,80,867 10,83,723change (3141.02) (1998.07) (3882.70) (9662.88) (23405.58) (4515.51)

Net Returns Before 1,30,810 4,26,066 3,43,029 6,64,414 3,26,917 18,91,236(rupees/farmer) (2515.58) (4136.56) (7298.49) (25554.38) (27243.08) (7880.15)

After 1,91,308 6,15,889 4,75,252 8,42,254 4,84,101 26,08,804(3679.00) (5979.50) (10111.74) (32394.38) (40341.75) (10870.02)

Net 60,498 1,89,823 1,32,223 1,77,840 1,57,184 7,17,568change (1163.42) (1842.94) (2813.26) (6840.00) (13098.67) (2989.87)

Source : Field data collected through structural questionnaire from selected farmers.



Increase in Production : The increase inland under cultivation under various crops hasled to an increase in the total productionfrom 13,672 quintals to 15,613 quintals anddue to this there has been a net increase of1,941 quintals under the MMASs (14 per cent).As is the case earlier, the semi-mediumfarmers have contributed significantly to anincrease in the total yield to the extent of1,364 quintals increase (or 70 per cent),followed by small farmers to the extent of353 quintals (18.18 per cent). The notablefeature is that even the marginal farmers haveincreased their share in the total yield by 106quintals and have registered over 13 per centincrease after the adoption of the new inputsand techniques of cultivation in their fields.It must be noted that the balancedapplication of nutrients and various othertechniques to the soil have significantlycontributed in enhancing the average yieldper acre by 4 quintals (40 to 44 quintals)under SUBACS, 2 quintals (6 to 8 quintals)under ICDP, 22 quintals (161 to 183 quintals)under INM and 4 quintals (21 to 25 quintals)under FCSPVC.

Reduction in Cost : One of the un-avowed objectives of the MMASs is to reducethe cost of cultivation by adopting cost-effective techniques and the same has beenby and large achieved, excepting themarginal farmers. It is very clear from theTable that the overall cost of cultivation isreduced from ` 19.88 lakh to ` 19.72 lakh,after the implementation of the MMASs inthe State. With the reduction in the cost ofcultivation, a net savings to the order of` 0.15 lakh has been achieved. Exceptingthe marginal farmers whose cost ofcultivation increased, all the other segmentsof the farmers have achieved a significantreduction in the cultivation cost, which is farabove ` 0.15 lakh. Medium size farmers haveachieved reduction to the tune ` 28,605 (8.03per cent), followed by semi-medium farmers(` 25,735 or 7.05 per cent), small farmers (`

23,771 or 3.61 per cent) and the largefarmers (` 15,817 or 4.79 per cent). However,against this trend, the cost of cultivation hasjacked up by more than 28 per cent or` 78,535 among the marginal farmers, whichis unjustifiable as well as a cause for concern,on account of non-adoption of the newtechniques of cultivation, owing to the risksassociated coupled with the ineffectiveimplementation by the farmers. Further, acrossthe schemes, ICDP and INM haveconspicuously brought down the cost ofcultivation from ` 4.80 lakh to ` 3.35 lakh(43 per cent) and from ` 2.94 lakh to ` 2.55lakh (16 per cent). However, in the case ofthe other two schemes (SUBACS andFCSPVC), the cost of cultivation has increasedby 10 and 34 per cent, respectively, but thesame has been compensated by increasingyield as well as the income of the farmersgrowing these crops.

Income Increase : Income is a primeconsideration for the farmers who are in theprocess of adoption of new techniques ofcultivation. The MMASs, which have beenimplemented, have offered a visible positivechange. It is clear that the farmers havesuccessfully earned a total income of ` 45.46lakh after having adopted new techniques,against the earlier income of ` 34.62 lakhthat leaves a net income of ` 10.84 lakh or31 per cent. The striking fact is that by sizeof holdings, large farmers have benefitedmore from the schemes, which is evidentfrom the increase in the income from ` 5.18lakh to ` 7.99 lakh, with a net change of` 2.81 (54.23 per cent). This is followed bymedium farmers who have earned a totalincome of ` 11.70 lakh as against ` 9.19 lakh,with a net increase of ` 2.51 lakh (27.35 percent) and small farmers’ income to ` 12.19lakh from ` 10.13 lakh, with a net income of` 2.06 lakh (20.32 per cent). Still morenoticeable is the increase in the incomelevels of the marginal farmers much abovethe board from ` 3.81 lakh to ` 5.44, with a



net increase of ` 1.60 lakh. By schemes,SUBACS enhanced the income by 19.53 percent with an average net income increase of` 7,883, followed by ICDP (155 per cent and` 7,072), INM (10.78 per cent and ` 837,FCSPVC (46.13 per cent and ` 2,270). Further,the farmers undoubtedly could increase theirnet income to the tune of ` 7.18 lakh, whichis 37 per cent than the pre-MMASs period.The increase is more conspicuous under theICDP with a net return of ` 1.88 lakh (90.88per cent), FCSPVC (` 0.69 lakh or 70.41 percent), INM (` 0.90 lakh or 50.28 per cent)and SUBACS (` 3.71 lakh or 26.39 per cent).By size, it is even more interesting to statethat the marginal, small and semi-mediumfarmers account for ` 3.82 lakh, which is morethan half of the total net income.

Problems of the Farming Community

Positive aspects as presented aboveshould not shadow down the problems.Farmers in the study region have encountereda number of problems and experienceddifficulties in getting access to variousbenefits under the selected MMA schemes.In fact, it is these problems and difficulties,which have affected the effectiveness of theschematic interventions. These difficultieshave been highlighted with a view toaddressing them by the policy interventionand implementation agencies to make theseschemes more effective in terms of widerreach of the farming community. Theproblems of the farmers of the scheme canbe classified into two categories. (a) Benefitsoriented problems and (b) Demonstration andTraining oriented problems. Under the firstcategory, many of the farmers faced problemswith regard to inputs like late supply of seeds,inadequate subsidy and insufficient extensionservices. Many have pointed out that thecertified seeds were not available at the righttime or before the commencement of sowingseason in full swing. This is especially true in

the case of SUBACS, wherein a majority ofthe farmers have experienced the late supplyof certified seeds. This is on account of lackof outlets for supplying certified seeds in thevillage. As noted earlier, subsidised supply ofagricultural implements, micro-nutrients,seeds, bio-agents have been inadequate inthe sense that the unmet cost of these inputswas more, which is experienced by majorityof the farmers of all the schemes. Especially,under the Foundation and Certified SeedProduction of Vegetable Crops, a goodproportion of the farmers have felt that theassistance given by the department wasinsufficient to avail of the mini-kits. Similarly,around 12 per cent of the beneficiaries havefelt that the hybrid seeds are costlier. It shouldbe pointed out that the marginal and smallfarmers were found to have more difficultiesin getting the mini-kits than the rest of thecategories. Lack of availability of properextension services is one of the problemspointed out by the farmers. The functionariesin charge of the schemes are reported tohave hardly visited the farm fields to extendtechnical inputs for farmers. More so, underthe ICDP, a large numbers of farmers havebeen deprived of the extension services bythe field functionaries.

Demonstration related problems, asexperienced by the farming community aremany. Undoubtedly, demonstrations andtrainings have been organised in largenumbers under these schemes and farmershave also attended these programmes, butat the same time, have faced many problems.Lack of arrangement of proper transportationfacility to ferry farmers to the places ofdemonstrations and training programmesorganised in Agricultural Universities and inother towns has been a main problem. Thisproblem was largely experienced under allthe schemes, especially by the marginal andsmall farmers. In the absence of propertransportation facility many have resorted to



travel by different modes and thetransportation charges have not beenproperly reimbursed. Inconvenient timings ofthe demonstrations and trainings were theother problems, which resulted in poorparticipation of the farmers. On account ofthis, many farmers reportedly have foregonetheir agricultural works in order to attenddemonstrations. Especially some of thedemonstrations were conducted when theagricultural activities were in the peak andas a result, farmers could not forego either.

The cost involved in attendingdemonstrations is one of the majorconsiderations of the farming community.Though in most cases, organisers of thedemonstrations have borne the cost, still agood number of farmers have to meet theseexpenses from their own sources. This isespecially true in the case of the marginaland small farmers. In fact, many of thefarmers have desisted from attending thedemonstrations on account of the cost, moreso in the case of Sustainable Developmentof Sugarcane Based Cropping System andIntegrated Nutrient Managementprogrammes. Lack of awareness about thedemonstrations and training is also attributedas one of the reasons for lower participationof the farmers. It is disappointing to note thatalmost half of the farmers under INM andFCSPVC were not aware of thedemonstrations at all under the schemes.

Finally, lack of interest amongst asection of farmers towards demonstration andtraining is one of the reasons for the poorturnout, more so under Integrated NutrientManagement Scheme. The reason advancedby sample households is that the INMdemonstrations shows that around 40 percent of marginal, 22 per cent of small, 25 percent of semi-medium farmers were notaware of such demonstrations. Further, 20 percent of marginal, 0.04 per cent of small, 16.70

per cent of semi-medium farmers and 50 percent of medium farmers have not showninterest in attending the demonstrations.These apart, poor transport facilities andpaucity of time were also highlighted by thesample farmers during the field survey. Agood proportion of the beneficiary farmershave felt that the assistance given by thedepartment of Agriculture and Horticulturewas insufficient to avail of the benefits. Itshould be pointed out that the marginal andsmall farmers were found to have faced moredifficulties in getting the benefits than therest of the categories of the farmers.

The Policy Implications

Undoubtedly, MMASs is a significantintervention in the agriculture sector withpositive impact in the farming community.These schemes have been able to bringvisible change among the farmers in allmeasures. To be precise, the overall goal ofthe schemes and their objectives likepopularising new techniques of cultivation,reduction in cost of cultivation and increasingfarm income have been by and largeaccomplished in the State. The additional landbrought under the cultivation of various cropsunder the schemes studied has facilitatedincreasing the total yield of the crops andthe net income to the farmers. What isimpressive with the intervention of thescheme is that there has been a substantialreduction in the cost of cultivation. This hasbeen possible with the help of the adoptionof scientific method and of new techniquesin the cultivation. The various demonstrationsand training programmes for effectivecultivation methods of various crops havebeen the good platform and opportunity toexpose the farming community. Having donethis to the farming community, it is all themore necessary to implement these schemeswith increased vigour and efforts on the partof the implementing agencies, of course with



public financial commitment to make theseprogrammes more conspicuous and thebenefits are widespread across all farm sizes.Towards that direction, the followingsuggestions are offered for the policyinterventions in the State.

1. The commitment of the government interms of financial allocation for theMMASs needs up-gradation to ensurethat these schemes should not sufferon account of public financial allocation.It should be noted that mere publicfinancial allocation would notbroadbase the coverage of theschemes. What is much more neededis the release of the total allocation ofthe funds besides incurringexpenditure to the fullest extent by theline departments. In this regard, fixingup of expenditure accountability on theline departments would go a very longway not only in broadbasing theprogrammes but also covering morenumber of farmers. Further, it is alsonecessary to see that the financialallocation is fully spent under variousschemes. Additional impetus needs tobe given to such districts, which arelagging behind in the implementationof these schemes, by engaging the linedepartments in a result oriented way.Districts like Bidar, Kolar, Bijapur,Gulbarga, Belgaum and Davanagereneed upgradation of the monitoringand supervisory mechanism in order toachieve higher performance underthese schemes. The line departmentsin these districts need to be furtherfacilitated to live up to the objectivesof the schemes.

2. Distribution of various benefits underthe schemes should be first targetedto the most disadvantaged farmers. Themarginal, the small and the semi-medium farmers need to be givenpriority in distribution of various

benefits par ticularly, the inputs,implements and in the demonstrations.Given the disadvantaged situation,prioritising this section will facilitatethem to make the needed differencein the cultivation and in the economicposition of their families. To make theseschemes more participatory, meetingthe total expenses of the agricultureoperations including stepping up of thesubsidy amount are necessary underthe schemes. Also, meeting the totalcost of attending the demonstration andtrainings and provision oftransportation facility would makesubstantial difference in the adoptionof new methods of cultivation underthese schemes. Organisingdemonstrations at the panchayat levelpreferably at each village level wouldgo a long way in order to attract higherparticipation of the farming community.Also, organising demonstrations andtraining during the right time beforethe commencement of agricultureseasons (both Kharif and Rabi) wouldfurther facilitate in achieving higherperformance. Given the socio-economic background of thevulnerable groups, SC/ST and thewomen-headed farming families,priority within farmers is needed in thedistribution of all the inputs and otherfinancial assistance.

3. For all practical purposes, villagepanchayat needs to be taken as the unitof administration and within its purview,the need of the hour is to establishoutlets to distribute various inputs likemicro-nutrients, fertilisers, bio-agents,green manures etc. under theseschemes. Establishment of such outletsat each panchayat level would not onlyensure effective and timely distributionof these benefits but also facilitate theimplementing agencies in identifying



the right target group of farmers.Having soil testing units at eachpanchayat level would go a very bigway in influencing the farmingcommunity in getting their farm soilstested regularly. Certainly, this facilitywould change the mindset of thefarming community towards soil testingand in undertaking corrective measuresfrom time to time. Further, introductionof mobile soil testing unit is also animmediate need in order to take thesoil testing facility into the hinterlandsof the most backward areas. Ensuringextension services and technicalpersons at each panchayat level is alsoa need of the hour in order to canvassand campaign about the MMASs at thegrassroots level. The presence of theseservices at the local level brings incultivation of various crops, besidesoffering technical know-how for thefarming community. It is indeednecessary to wipe out misconceptionsabout the adoption of new techniquesand methods of cultivation of variouscrops in the minds of the farmers,especially among the lower rungfarmers owing to their riskconsciousness. These units can alsojudiciously decide the application of thepest management techniques and theirsuitability across all the crops.

4. Implementation of MMASs in the Statehas successfully achieved reduction inthe cost of cultivation on the one handand increasing agricultural income onthe other hand. This is one of thetestimonies of the benefit of theschemes. With this, the State has tomake all the efforts to implement theschemes, in order to further infuse thenew but cost- effective methods ofcultivation. This is imminent in order to

increase production and productivityand net income return to the farmingfamilies. It goes without saying thatmaximisation of productivity andincome would facilitate the small andmarginal farmers to improve their livingconditions, with the given existing localresources at their control. It should notbe misconstrued that the other farmingcommunity namely medium and largefarmer’s interest are neglected. Rather,these farmers should be encouraged,in order to take lead in transformingthe goals of these schemes into areality. Particularly, they can take leadin the adoption of new techniques ofcultivation of various crops with theimproved techniques and could be amodel for the rest of the farmingcommunity. Given their capabilitiesthese farmers can showcase thebenefits of new schemes to the widercommunity, particularly to the lowerrung farmers.

5. Lastly, given the lowest awareness levelabout the MMASs in the State, the needof the hour is to propose extensionservice centres at each panchayatlevel, step up the canvass and educatethe farming community about theMMASs, their contents and benefits thatwould accrue to them with theirimplementation. Publication ofinformation about each of the schemesin the local language and distributingthe same to all the farming familieswould substantially enhance theunderstanding of these schemes. In thisregard, the present campaigningmethod of broadcasting through radiosand televisions needs furtherconsideration to reach wider farmingcommunity.



Notes

1 See http://www.agricrop.nic.in/dacdivision/policy.1html

2 Macro Management of Agriculture is a coordinated study undertaken by all the AERCs (Agro EconomicResearch Centres) in India. These schemes were also evaluated by 11 States. Thus, four blocks from eachState were selected on the basis of physical and financial achievements (4*11=44). Further, four villagesfrom each block were chosen (4*44=176) representing 15 farmers from each village (15*176=2640/11) which will add up to a sample size of 240 farmers.

3 LAMPS are organised at the village level to meet the credit and other requirements of the tribal people.These societies arte federated into District Central Cooperative Banks.

4 http://www.raitamitra.kar.nic.in Department of agriculture, GoK.

5 Ring Pit, Single Eye Bud and Ratoon Management are the most popular and frequently conducteddemonstration for sugarcane crop. Ring pit method of planting was introduced during 1984. It ismaintained that sugarcane planted with ring pit can provide ratoons without reduction in the caneyield and water and nutrient efficiencies can be achieved. Single Eye bud method will be shown to thefarmers by planting cane at a distance of 150 cms.It has a conspicuous advantage that with equal spacingmaintained on all the sides plants grow steadily. Ratooning is an integral part of the commercialcultivation. For the proper ratoon management three practices, namely thrash management, nitrozenfertilisation and artificial ripening should be efficiently implemented. (See http//www.iisr.org IndianInstitute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow).

6 Farmers' Field School is a group based learning process that has been used by a number of Government,NGO and international agencies. These are designed and managed by the Central government. Theconcept was introduced in 1989 in Indonesia.

References

1. Birtahl Pratap S and O P Sharma (2004), “Proceedings of Integrated Pest Management No.1”. NationalCentre for Integrated Pest Management pp 2, New Delhi.

2. Christopher, B Barett (2003), “Prospects for Integrated Soil Fertility Management Using Organic andInorganic Inputs, Evidence from Small holder African System”, Food Policy, Vol 28, No.3, KenyanAgricultural Research Institute (KARI), Madagascar.

3. Government of Karnataka, (2007), “District at a Glance” Dharwad, Tumkur, Havei Mandya, and “ProgressReport of the Macro Management of Agriculture Schemes” Directorate of Economics and Statistics,Bangalore.

4. Govt. of India (2000), “Guidelines for the Implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes” Departmentof Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi.

5. Govt. of India (2006), “Guidelines/Instructions for the Implementation of Components of Foundationand Certified Seed Production of Vegetable Crops Under Macro Management of Agricultural Schemes”,Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi.

6. Govt. of India, (2000), “Supplimentation/Complementation of States’ Efforts Through Work Plan”,Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi.

7. Govt. of India, (2008), “Guidelines on the Revised Macro Management of Agricultural Schemes”,Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi.

8. ICRISAT, (2005), “Pest Management and Food Production, Looking to the Future”, International Food PolicyResearch Institute, Food, Agriculture and Environment Discussion Paper, Hyderabad.



9. Kazi M B Rahim, Debajit Roy and Ranjan K Biswas (2009), “Draft on the Impact of Macro Management ofAgriculture Schemes”, Agro Economic Research Centre, Santiniketan, West Bengal.

10. Prasad, Shambu (2006), “System of Rice Intensification India, Innovation History and InstitutionalChallenges” WWF Project on Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment, ICRISAT, Hyderabad.

11. Singh Amrika and O P Sharma, (2004), “Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Agriculture”:Proceedings of Integrated Pest Management, No.11, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management,pp 13, New Delhi.

12. Smaling and Braun (1996), “Soil Fertility Research in Sub- Saharan Africa : New Dimensions, New Challenges”,Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 27 : 365-386.

Pradeep Kumar Mehta*


* Senior Scientist, Institute for Rural Research and Development (IRRAD), Gurgaon, Haryana.

The author gratefully acknowledges the guidance of Dr. R.S. Deshpande in preparing this paper.

ABSTRACT

Within the horticultural sector, fruits and vegetables differ from each other onthe basis of gestation period in production that is expected to influence the risk-takingabilities of farmers differently. In this paper, we assess the typology of risks inproduction of fruits and vegetables, examine the risk attitudes of these farmers underthe safety-first framework and identify factors determining their risk-takingbehaviour. The results revealed that stabilising the yield of the crop would be muchmore effective in stabilising revenues of fruits whereas stabilising price, on the otherhand, is a more effective strategy to reduce revenue risk of vegetables. Also, thevegetable growers are more risk-takers than fruit growers. The risk attitudes of farmersgrowing fruits and vegetables are explained by income and farm-related factorsincluding farm size, access to non-farm income, family size and access to credit.Specifically, access to non-farm income and credit helps farmers take more risk in theirproduction of high value horticultural crops.

FARMERS' BEHAVIOUR TOWARDSRISK IN PRODUCTION OF FRUITAND VEGETABLE CROPS

Introduction

Risk is generally considered a strongbehavioural force affecting decision makingin the production of high value commercialcrops. In this paper, we concentrate on therisk in the production decisions by the farmerswhen one commercial crop dominates thefarm income. In such cases, farmers areconcerned in terms of how far and how oftenreturns fail to reach a below mean targetreturns level (Roumasset, 1976). Here, risk isconsidered as a cost in farmers’ decisionpertaining to land allocation to high valuecrops. The safety-first principle (Roy, 1952)accounts for such costs in analysing farmers’behaviour towards risk. Farmers are

preoccupied not with the objective ofmaximising income but with maximising theirchances of survival (Shahaduddin et al. 1986).

Farmer faces two types of risk in hisrevenue from the crop, i .e., price andproduction. The variability in both togetherexplains the crop revenue risk. Due tofluctuation in the components of revenuefrom the crop, one can visualise two groupsof farmers: the first group of farmers wouldprefer not to take risk and hence theirproduction decisions are explained by theincome and yield variance of their crop ascompared to the disaster level of income1 ofthe farm household; their aggregate incomeis greater than the minimum consumption

458 Pradeep Kumar Mehta


requirements at home. The second groupconstitutes farmers who prefer to take risk intheir production decisions. Here, farmers arerisk-takers as their disaster level of incomeremains higher than the average annualincome by involving in the production of thecommercial crop. Risk taking behaviour in theproduction of high value crops likehorticultural crops could be generic due totwo reasons. The first reason is that thedecision of allocation is generally based onexpectations about the future outcomes andhence farmers tend to operate underimperfect knowledge (William, 1952). Whenthe actual results deviate from the anticipatedharvest outcomes, farmers tend to bear therisk of both income and consumption, as theyhave allocated land to a commercial cropagainst food crop. Second, due to theexistence of huge band of price and yield2,there are high fluctuations in the revenue offarmers producing horticultural crops.Accordingly, not only rich farmers but alsopoor farmers take risk to reduce poverty(Kunreuther and Wright, 1979).

It is important to note that in case ofhorticultural crops, there is marked differencein the nature of crops belonging to fruit andvegetable category. For instance, in case offruits, there is a presence of gestation period,i.e., the time between planting andproduction of crop, which is generally 4-6years3. Fruit growers start getting someproduction only after the gestation period.The decision here is inflexible, unlikevegetable crops, and it is not easy toreallocate land to other crops in the sameland, where fruit plantation exists. Thesedifferences in the production of the crops areexpected to lead to difference in the risk-taking ability of the farmers4. Hence, theanalysis is done separately for a fruit andvegetable crop. In this paper, we first outlinefarmers on the basis of their land allocationto fruit and vegetable crop that dominatestheir income from the livelihood. We then

decompose the risk rising from price andyield fluctuations of fruit and vegetable crop.This is followed by outlining the risktypologies of farmers producing fruits andvegetable crops under the safety-firstframework. In the last, we examine the factorsexplaining the risk attitudes of farmers.

Methodology

This study is carried out in the Theogblock of Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh(the Horticultural State of India). Sub-regions(villages namely; Govai, Sainj, Sandhu andShilaru) were selected from this region onthe basis of higher amount of area underhorticultural crops (fruits and vegetables). Inthe first two villages namely, Govai and Sainj,vegetables cover 72 and 84 per cent of thetotal gross cropped area, respectively. Amongvegetables, most of the land is allocated tocauliflower crop. In villages, Shilaru andSandhu, fruits are grown at a higher scale.Apple is the major crop in these villages thatcovers 85 and 89 per cent, respectively oftotal cultivated area. Both cauliflower andapple crops were chosen for this study. Intotal, 120 farmers were interviewed with 30farmers from each village following astratified and proportional random sampleapproach (Table 1).

In order to identify the relativeimportance of price and production risk, thegross revenue variability is decomposed intoprice, yield and price-yield interactioncomponents as provided by Barah andBinswanger (1982)5. If p is price, y is the yieldand R is the gross revenue, the R = py andthe variance of gross revenue can beapproximated as

Var (R) = y 2 Var (p) + p2 Var (y) + 2y.p Cov(p,q)

Where Var is the variance operator, pand y are the mean values of price and yield,


Farmers' Behaviour Towards Risk in Production of Fruit and Vegetable Crops 459

Table 1 : Farm Size and Sampling from the Selected Villages

Crops Vegetables Fruits dominateddominated villages Villages

Villages Village I Village II Village I1I Village IV

Farm size Unit

Marginal farmers Less than 1 Ha 35 (7) 43 (8) 17 (3) 11 (2)

Small farmers 1-2 Ha 49 (11) 67 (12) 47 (9) 29 (6)

Semi-medium farmers 2-4 Ha 37 (7) 48 (8) 63 (14) 51 (12)

Medium farmers 4-10 Ha 13 (2) 16 (2) 15 (3) 30 (7)

Large farmers More than 10 Ha 14 (3) 0(0) 6 (1) 14 (3)

Note :

i. Figures denote the number of farmers in each village

ii. Figures in parentheses are the sample collected from each village

iii. Village I,II, II and IV are Govai, Sainj, Sandhu, and Shilaru, respectively

iv. Ha is hectare

Source : Primary Data.

respectively and Cov is the covarianceoperator. Thus, the above identity splitsvariance of gross revenue into a pricecomponent (the first term), and yieldcomponent (the second term) and a price-yield interaction component (the third term).The above identity can be used to computethe proportion of variability in gross revenuethat is due to its individual components byrewriting it as

1 = y 2 Var (p) + p2 Var (y) + 2y.p Cov (p,q) Var (R) Var (R) Var (R)

where the first term is the contributionof price, the second term the contribution ofyield and the third term the contribution ofthe interaction term to revenue variability. Bymultiplying both sides of the above equationby 100, the contribution of the price, yieldand interaction terms can be expressed interms of percentages. If the sum of the price

and yield terms exceeds 100 per cent, itmeans that the price-yield interaction isnegative because of negative correlation.

In order to find the role of risk onproduction decisions in fruits and vegetables,Roy’s safety-first coefficient is used. Accordingto a Roy’s safety principle, the impact of riskon the decision-maker is given by the riskcoefficient (RC) = (d-u)/ ó), where‘d’ is thefarm’s household disaster income, ‘u’ is thehousehold’s average income from the cropand ‘ó’ is the variance of the household cropincome. The negative coefficient denotes thatthe disaster level of income of the householdis less than the average income from thecrop. It means these farmers are notnecessarily involved in any trade-off betweenreturn and risk and are not risk- takers in theirchoice of crop portfolio or land allocationdecision. On the other hand, when the



disaster level of the income exceeds theaverage income from the crop, it signifiesthat farmers are being forced to take risk inthe land allocation decisions (Shahbuddinet al. 1986).

The procedure used to measure thecoefficient is similar to that of Shahbuddin,Mestelman and Feeny but with somemodifications. In the safety-first model, thedisaster level of income is associated withthat income below which the farm familymay face either bankruptcy or starvation orthe discomfort of adjusting to a significantlylower standard of living. Hence, to measurethe disaster level of income of the farmfamily, information on quantity and price ofarticles/commodities consumed by the farmfamily along with expenditure on othercritical activities including children’seducation expenses, other household itemsetc. was obtained. The disaster level of incomeis computed as d = MSN, where MSN is theminimum consumption need of the farmfamily plus other critical expenditures by thehousehold during a year6. The mean incomeand variance of income is calculated by usingfarmer level data and not using district leveldata as the price differs dramatically acrossfarmers. The income is defined as the revenueover the variable costs only, and is computedas

where u is the mean income from the crop,P

i is the price of the crop in the ith year (last

3 years data), Qi is the quantity of the crop

produced by the farmer in the i th year, Wi is

the price of the input purchased by thefarmer in the ith year and X

i is the quantity of

the input purchased by the farmer in the ith

year. The variance of income is calculated bystandard deviation of income or returns fromthe crop by using last three years.

Typology of Land Allocation

The typology of land allocation in favourof horticultural crops is measured by theextent of land allocated towards the selectedcrops. Land allocation towards these cropswould be identical to the area under theselected crops in the total net cropped area.The results of the extent of land allocationtowards apple and cauliflower in the villagesshow that these crops are of high significancefor the farmers in terms of their livelihood;the crops cover over 50 per cent of their netcropped area in the villages (Table 2). Thetypology of land allocation across differentfarm sizes shows that in the case ofcauliflower, large farmers score over othersin the extent of land allocation made towardsthe crop. Below them comes the category ofmarginal farmers (Table 3). This illustrates thatmarginal farmers also have been able toallocate a considerable amount of area.Coming to apple crops, we find that smalland marginal farmers made the highestallocation of land in favour of the crop. It isimportant to mention that small and marginalfarmers together own less area than farmersof other groups; their decision of allocatingmore area to high value crop can be eitheran accumulative or survival strategy (Chaplin,2000). In several circumstances, small andmarginal farmers allocate large area to highvalue but risky crops in order to fight againstpoverty, which confirms the risk-takingcapacity of small and marginal farmers. Hence,it is not right to view on high allocationtowards high value crop as a high growthstrategy; additional information about theeffect of land allocation decisions on farmers’welfare in terms of its effect on income andrisk patterns of the farmers need to becollected to make the analysis meaningful.



Table 2 : Extent of Land Allocation in Favour of Horticultural Crops

Variable Indicator Cauliflower Apple Aggregate

Village I Village II Total Village III Village IV Total

Proportion of (ai/SA) 49.95 54.21 46.47 70.05 67.18 68.85 54.25

selected croparea to netcropped area

Note : i. (ai/SA)= proportion of area (a) under particular crop (i) in the Net Cropped Area (A)

Source: Primary Data.

Table 3 : Extent of Land Allocation in Favour of Horticultural Crops by Farm Size

Farm Size Share of area under apple orcauliflower to GCA

Cauliflower

Marginal 58.33

Small 52.67

Semi-medium 51.78

Medium 35.20

Large 62.61

Apple

Marginal 71.62

Small 72.98

Semi-medium 69.06

Medium 51.86

Large 66.90


Socio-economic Characteristics andLand Allocation : Socio-economic factors canexert significant influence on the extent ofland allocation towards horticultural cropsthrough their effect on resource availabilityand risk management abilities of farmers. Theresults indicate that family size and numberof dependents tend to decrease the level of

land allocation in favour of apple andcauliflower increases ( Table 4). This showsthat more dependants and higher foodrequirements at home act as a constraint toincreasing allocation to high valuecommercial crops. Land allocation in favourof horticultural crops is higher among thefarmers with low farm size. In terms of



irrigation, which is important for thecauliflower crop for its production andprofitability, there is a positive relationbetween level of allocation and irrigationintensity. As the land allocation to cauliflowerincreases, the net irrigated area also increases.But, the same is not the case with apple,which does not require irrigation forproduction purpose. Higher ratio of land tolabour indicates availability of home labour,which in turn influences the decision of landallocation towards horticultural crop. In both

the cases of apple and cauliflower, there is anegative relation between the level of landallocation to high value crop and land tolabour ratio. This indicates that more thequantum of home labour, for which thefarmers are not supposed to incur anyadditional cost, more the land allocation tohigh value crops. Reluctance to hire morelabour and disinclination to bear more inputcosts results in lower level of land allocationtowards high value crops.

Table 4 : Socio-economic Characteristics at Different Levels of Land Allocation

Share of selected crop Family Number Farm Irrigation Land/ Annualarea to Gross Cropped size (No.) of size intensity* Labour non-farmArea (GCA) depen- (ha) income

dants ( )̀(No.)

Cauliflower Low (<0.33) 7.83 2.92 4.56 55.07 0.44 101955

Medium (0.33-0.66) 6.17 2.03 2.72 63.60 0.33 87331

High (>0.66) 6.92 2.50 1.93 88.13 0.23 50439

Apple Low (<0.33) 7.57 2.86 6.05 14.92 0.77 181403

Medium (0.33-0.66) 7.33 2.25 4.23 18.55 0.50 171584

High (>0.66) 5.78 1.51 4.67 7.80 0.69 93958

* Percentage of Net Irrigated Area to Net Cropped Area.


Relative Role of Price and Yield Risk InFruits and Vegetables

Farmer faces two types of risk in hisrevenue from the crop, i .e., price andproduction. The variability in both togetherexplains the crop revenue risk. The revenuerisk for apple and cauliflower is decomposedseparately mainly because the difference inthe nature of the crops lies broadly in termsof the gestation period of production andmarketing options which in turn influences

the significance of prices and yield risk.Cauliflower is an annual crop and the decisionof area allocation is very flexible in the sensethat every year farmer can think of changingthe area under the crop. In apple, there is agestation period in production of 5-7 yearsinitially, only after which farmers start gettingreturns and only after 12-15 years of planting,farmers get higher level of yield from thecrop. The decision here is inflexible, unlikevegetable crops, and it is not easy toreallocate land to other crops in the same



land, where apple plantation exists. Fruit crop(apple) is relatively less perishable ascompared to vegetable crop (cauliflower) andthere are more marketing opportunities forthe fruit crop. Due to high perishability ofvegetable crop, farmers in Himachal Pradeshare not able to sell their crop beyond Delhimarket, whereas apple growers are able tosell in far away markets like Kolkata andBangalore. Apple growers are able to holdtheir crop in the farm and also in the marketsin order to wait for a better price. Thisimproves their bargaining power in sellingthe crop at higher prices. Vegetable growingfarmers on the other hand cannot hold theircrop in the field and once they take theirproduce to a major market like Delhi, theycannot either hold back the produce or moveto any other market. This bestows to poorbargaining power to the vegetable cropgrowers in comparison to the higherbargaining power of fruit crop growers. Thesedifferences in the production and marketingof the crops highlight the disparity associatedwith the risk of price and production as alsothe correlation between price andproduction of the crop.

By using data7 on prices and productionlevels of the selected horticultural crops, therevenue from the crop is decomposed intoprice, yield and their interaction. The resultsof risk decomposition are summarised in

Table 5. A stark difference is found betweenapple and cauliflower. Fifty two of the sixtyapple growing farmers experienced highvariability in yield of the crop as comparedto variability in price, whereas majority offarmers growing cauliflower experiencedhigh price variability than yield (32 out of 60).Negative interactions indicate that prices andyields negatively covariate. The negativecorrelation between prices and yields reducescrop revenue fluctuations and provides anatural hedge to farmers. This suggests thepossibility that perfect price stabilisation coulddestabilise income for some farmers(Ramaswami et al, 2004). This would happenif the ‘yield’ component is greater than thesum of ‘price’ and the price-yield interactioncomponents. Higher chance of this meanslarger is the negative correlation betweenprice and yield. Indeed, when the price termand the price-yield interaction term is set tozero (as would be the case with perfect pricestabilisation), the variability of crop revenuesincreases in the case of 40 apple growingfarmers as against 18 cauliflower growers.Thus, the major beneficiaries of reducedprice variability are the cauliflower growersand not apple growers. Stabilising yield of thecrop would be much more effective instabilising revenues of apple whereasstabilising price, on the other hand, wouldbe a more effective strategy to reducerevenue risk of cauliflower.

Table 5 : Decomposition of Income Risk from Apple and Cauliflower

Number of times Price risk less Price risk greater Negativethan yield risk than yield risk interaction

Apple 52 8 40

Cauliflower 28 32 18

Note : i. The units are the number of sampled farmers. The first two columns would addto 60.




The correlation between productionand price provides a picture of difference inthe nature of marketing of these crops. Table6 indicates a positive and significantcorrelation between price and production forapple, whereas same is negative forcauliflower. It means apple growers whoreceived higher level of production havebeen able to receive higher price of the crop.This is mainly because they are able to sellthe produce in different forms and at differentlocations including Delhi, Kolkata andBangalore. Lack of such opportunity in

vegetable market results in negativecorrelation between production and price.Farmers with higher produce of caulifloweralso did not receive higher price. Thecorrelation between the variability in priceand production illustrates that cauliflowergrowers experienced a positive correlationbetween the variability of production andprice, whereas this is not the case for apple.Vegetable is a more perishable crop withfewer opportunities in terms of scope ofmarketing.

Table 6 : Correlation Between Production and Price of Apple and Cauliflower, 2004-06

Correlation Coefficient Mean Price and production Coefficient of Variation (CV )in price and production

Apple 0.317* -0.287*

Cauliflower -0.111 0.462**

* 1% level of significance.

** 5% level of significance.


Typology and Determinants of RiskAttitudes of Farmers

In case of our sampled farmers, only onecommercial crop dominates the farm income.In such cases, farmers are concerned in termsof how far and how often returns fail to reacha below mean target returns level(Roumasset, 1976). The risk coefficientprovided by Roy, 1952, accounts for suchcosts in analysing farmers’ behaviour towardsrisk. Results based on the Roy’s risk coefficientmeasure show that most of the cauliflowergrowers are risk-takers than averse to risk;more than 66 per cent of the farmersgrowing cauliflower have a positive risk

coefficient (Table 7). This indicates that risk-taking behaviour is displayed by many farmhouseholds in the production of cauliflower.However, for apple, most of farmers take asafety-first position on the basis of their landallocation decision; around 60 per cent of theapple growers have negative risk coefficientpoints their safe position. Interestingly, forboth group of farmers, the safety-first positiongives the rationale for increasing landallocation to high value commercial crop;group of farmers showing negative riskcoefficient (facing low risk) have allocatedrelatively higher proportion of land to thecommercial crop i.e., cauliflower and apple.



Table 7 : Frequency Distribution of Farmers on the Basis ofRisk Attitudes and Their Land Allocation

Risk Coefficient Cauliflower Apple

Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of Percentage offarmers within land allocated farmers within land allocated

given ranges of to commercial given ranges to commercialRisk Coefficient crop within of Risk crop within

given ranges of Coefficient given ranges ofRisk Coefficient Risk Coefficient

Below – 2 6.67 68.41 6.67 88.31

- 2 to - 1 10.00 77.52 26.67 88.95

-1 to 0 16.67 86.02 26.67 82.02

Negative 33.44 79.62 60.01 85.59

0 to 1 20.00 66.49 18.33 80.02

1 to 2 23.33 69.37 13.33 61.87

Above 2 23.33 58.47 8.33 73.12

Positive 66.66 64.87 39.99 76.05

Note : i. Figures are in percentage of farmers, where the number of farmers is 60 for eachcategory.


As per the risk coefficient, thedifference in the disaster level of income andcrop income explains the situation of risk offarmers. Hence, it is either higher foodconsumption requirements at home or lowincome from the crop that influence thevalue of the risk-coefficient. The socio-economic conditions including access to non-farm income source, family size, farm size,assets etc. affect the risk behaviour of thefarmers. In order to examine the role of socio-economic factors that influence riskbehaviour of the farmers, regression modelis used with risk coefficient as the dependantvariable. Independent factors includehousehold-specific factors like age, familysize, gender, access to credit, non-farmincome and farm-specific factors including

farm size, farm assets etc. The results arepresented for cauliflower and apple growersseparately and for all farmers together.Specification of the equation is as follows:

RC = f (Age, Credit, Gender, Farm Size, FamilySize, Non-farm income source and Assets)

Where,

RC : Risk Coefficient

Age : Age in number of years

Credit : Access to formal credit agency (0=NoAccess, 1= Access to Formal Agency)

Gender : Sex of the household head(0=Female, 1=Male)



Farm Size : The size of the farm (in Hectare)

Family Size : Number of household members

Non-farm income source : Having non-farmincome source (0=No, 1=Yes)

Assets : Value of assets (in `)

The results of regression analysis arepresented in Table 8. We found a differencein the factors affecting risk-taking abilities offarmers growing fruits and vegetables. In caseof apple, due to presence of gestation period,it is the access to non-farm income sourcethat explains the risk-takers among the applegrowers. Additionally, value of assets orwealth also explains their risk-attitude. Both

these factors enhance the risk-bearingabilities of farmers growing fruit crop. On theother hand, the risk-taking abilities ofvegetable growers are explained by theiraccess to credit, and higher value of assets.As farmers can also grow other crops inanother season of the year, availability ofcredit enables them to invest in other cropsor activities for meeting the subsistenceneeds of the household. Family size is alsopositively and significantly correlated with therisk attitude of cauliflower growers. As thefamily size increases, the disaster level ofincome is expected to increase as familymembers require more food for consumptionwhich can influence the risk coefficientadversely.

Table 8 : Factors Influencing Risk Attitudes of Farmers

Roy’s Risk Coefficient Cauliflower Apple Growers All Farmersas a Dependent Variable Growers

Constant -1.560 (-1.424) -2.112 (-1.805) -1.569 (-2.053)**

Age -9.198E-03 (-0.578) -2.404E-02 (-1.398) -1.776E-02 (-1.668)

Credit 1.058 (2.513)* 0.102 (0.297) 0.557 (2.216)**

Gender 0.151 (0.342) 0.555 (1.381) 0.362 (1.261)

Farm Size -3.320E-02 (-1.249) -2.176E-02 (-0.625) -2.367E-02 (-1.189)

Family size 0.155 (2.220)** 0.170 (1.595) 0.129 (2.415)*

Non-farm income 0.185 (0.499) 0.848 (2.389)** 0.583 (2.388)*

Assets 4.016E-05 (2.590)* -7.235E-05 (3.548)* 5.380E-05 (4.619)*

Figures in the parentheses are t-values

All Farmers : R2: 0.356 Adjusted R2 :0.316, N=120

Cauliflower R2: 0.376 Adjusted R2 :0.292, N=60

Apple R2: 0.411, Adjusted R2 :0.332, N=60

* and ** signifies level of significance at 1% and 5%, respectively.

Source: Primary Data.



While considering all farmers, access tonon-farm income source and credit played asignificant role in explaining their riskbehaviour. Farmers, whose disaster level ofincome is higher than the average incomefrom the crop, can afford to take risk as non-farm income source provided themsafeguard, in terms of money available formeeting the minimum subsistence needs ofthe households. Also, availability of credit, onthe one hand provide them money forinvestment in these high capital and labourintensive crops and on the other hand alsohedge against risk at the time of failure ofprice and/or production of the crop. Moreimportantly, higher level of assets or wealthis found significant in explaining the risk-taking behaviour of farmers of both thegroups. Farmers with higher amount of assetsare more prone to take risk especiallybecause they can always liquidate some oftheir assets at the time of requirement (or inthe event of crop failure).

Conclusions

In this paper, we examined the typologyof risks and risk attitudes of farmers growingfruits and vegetable crops. The results showthat fruit growers experienced high variabilityin yield of the crop as compared to variabilityin price, whereas majority of the vegetablegrowers experienced high price variabilitythan yield. This means stabilising yield of thecrop would be much more effective instabilising revenues of fruits whereas

stabilising price, on the other hand, wouldbe a more effective strategy to reducerevenue risk of vegetables. Using Roy’s riskcoefficient, we found a difference betweenthe fruit and vegetable growers in terms oftheir risk-taking nature in the productiondecisions; cauliflower growers more risk-takers than apple growers. The differencebetween apple and cauliflower growers canbe attributed mainly to the difference in theflexibility in land allocation and incomepotential of the crop concerned; incomepotential is relatively higher for applegrowers. In addition, most apple growers havelarge farm size as compared to cauliflowergrowers, which again might contribute to thedifference in income between the twogroups. Access to non-farm income sourceand credit are found to have played asignificant role in the risk behaviour offarmers. Farmers whose disaster level ofincome is higher than the expected incomefrom the crop can afford to be risk takers asnon-farm income source would provide themsecure position. Family size is positive andsignificantly correlated with the risk attitude.As the family size increases, the disaster levelof income is also expected to be high asfamily members require more food forconsumption and higher outlays forexpenditure. Availability of credit is positivelyrelated with the risk coefficient, indicatingthat risk-takers could do so by having accessto credit.

Notes

1 The disaster level of income is the minimum consumption requirements of the farmfamily plus other critical expenditures by the household during a year.

2 This is very normal feature in the case of horticultural crops whose price fluctuates widelywithin a single season.

3 There are categories of fruits, which have lesser gestation period also but in general, mostof the fruit crops have higher production or gestation period as compared to vegetablecrops and are perennial in nature.



4 As during the gestation period, there is no production of apple from non-bearing treesand additionally farmers have to incur costs to maintain non-bearing trees. This mightresult in low allocation of land to high value fruit crop as farmers may not like to bearhigh risk.

5 The discussion of Barah and Binswanger’s work is substantially drawn from Walker andRyan (1990) as their paper is cited as a discussion paper circulated in International CropsResearch Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and it is therefore, unpublished.

6 Roumasset (1976) provided d = MCN + UD – LA – OFI where UD is the urgent debt and LAis the resale value of liquid asset. We have not included the data on LA as we found itextremely difficult to get such information from the interview and debt frequency byfarmers for home needs in the selected villages is very low and negligible. We however,collected disaggregated information on the consumption needs and other criticalexpenditure at home and put it under MSN instead of taking the subjective levels of MSNby the farmers.

7 Three years (2004, 2005 and 2006) farm level data are obtained from the farmers on theprice and production levels.

References

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2. Chaplin H, (2000), Agricultural Diversification : A Review of Methodological Approaches andEmpirical Evidence. www.agp.uni-bonn.de/agpo/rsrch/idara/Farm/wyewp2.doc

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4. Ramaswami B., S. Ravi and S.D Chopra, 2004, Risk Management, State of the Indian Farmer:A Millennium Study, No. 22, Academic Foundation, New Delhi.

5. Roumasset J.A. (1976), Rice and Risk : Decision-making among Low-income Farmers, NorthHolland Publishing Company, New York.

6. Roy A.D. (1952), Safety First and the Holding of Assets, Econometrica, 20 (3), 431-449.

7. Shahaduddin Q., S. Mestelman and D. Feeny (1986), Peasant Behaviour towards Risk andSocio-economic and Structural Characteristics of Farm Households in Bangladesh, OxfordEconomic Papers, 38 (1), 122-130.

8. Williams D.B. (1951), Price Expectations and Reactions to Uncertainty by Farmers in Illinois,Journal of Farm Economics, 33 (1), 20-39.

Nitin Tagade*


* Associated with Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS), New Delhi and can be contacted [email protected]. The author is grateful to R S Deshpande for his comments and suggestions.However, usual disclaimers apply.

ABSTRACT

Regional disparities along with food security have remained an issue of debatein Maharashtra ever since its inception as a State in 1960. Several studies haveexamined economic development as well as food security issues at the regional level,but there has been no systematic attempt made to analyse food securitycomprehensively taking into account its four elements viz. availability, accessibility,sustainability and utilisation. The circular argument that disparities in investmentlead to underdevelopment and consequently food insecurity is a part of our largerargument. Therefore, an attempt is made in this paper to understand food securityacross regions of Maharashtra. The results reveal three major groups of regions interms of food insecurity. While certain regions experience food deficit and lowerpoverty along with a higher level of nutritional status, the other regions exhibit higherlevels of under-nutrition and poverty along with relatively higher and medium foodsufficiency.

REGIONAL DIMENSIONS OF FOODSECURITY IN MAHARASHTRA

Introduction

Maharashtra has not only beenproclaimed as one of the economicallydeveloped States1, but also has remained atthe top among the States in terms of relevanteconomic indicators. The Gross StateDomestic Product (GSDP) and Per CapitaIncome (PCI) put the State among the topthree economically forefront States. The GSDPof the State for 2008-09 worked out to` 6,10,191 crore at 2004-05 constant prices.In addition to this, PCI of the State has beenconstantly higher over the years as comparedto the national average (GoI, 2006). Notwithstanding this experience of growth, theissue of regional disparities in relation to

development initiatives across regions ofMaharashtra occupied the centre stage ofdiscussion for long (Dandekar Committee,1984; and Vidwans, 1996). Among the recentstudies, we have identified two sets ofstudies that broadly examine the issue ofregional disparities in the State. While the firstset analyses the state of economicdevelopment across regions (Prabhu andSarker, 1992; and Shaban, 2006), the secondset of studies focuses on the regionaldimensions of well-being (Suryanarayana,1996).

In the first set of studies, regionaleconomic development aspect in the Statehas been examined based on the

470 Nitin Tagade


performance of all the three sectors of theeconomy; viz., primary, secondary and tertiary.These studies reveal that there have beenregional disparities prevailing in terms ofeconomic growth as well as agricultural,industrial and human resource developmentsince the formation of Maharashtra as a State(Prabhu and Sarker, 1992). In addition, mostof the districts from Vidarbha and Marathwadaregions have remained underdeveloped(ibid., p-1935). Further, recent studies pointto widening of the regional disparities in theState (Shaban, 2006). The geographicalpattern of income generation not onlyindicates its concentration of developmentalactivities in a few regions but also anincreasing gravitation towards a few cities;for instance, more than 50 per cent share ofthe State’s NSDP comes from four majorcities in the State (ibid., p-1813-14). However,the above set of studies, while studyingregional disparities in developmentalactivities, seems to have failed to look intothe issue of regional disparities with respectto food security. Also, no systematic attempthas yet been made to understand theproblems of regional disparity within theframework of food insecurity, malnutritionand poverty. A few among the second set ofstudies, though, have attempted toinvestigate food security aspect acrossregions in Maharashtra; these studies are,however, largely concerned with the physicaland economic aspects (Suryanarayana, 1996).

In the recent years, the concept of foodsecurity2 has been broadened byincorporating chronic food insecurity in thetraditional temporal food insecurity. Further,the concept of food security has undergonemajor shifts in terms of focus across threephases between 1973 World FoodConference and 1994 World Food Summit(Hewitt de Alcantara (1993) cited in Maxwell,1996). In the 1970s, the main focus was tounderstand food security at the aggregatelevel which later shifted to the individual

level following Sen’s entitlement approach.Sometime in the late 1980s, the issue ofmalnutrition gained prominence in theliterature, with the experts arguing thatunder-nutrition is caused not only by foodshortage but also due to other social,demographic and health related factors.Starting from the 1990s, the focus has totallyshifted from the ‘food first’ perspective to‘livelihood’ perspective, where food andnutrition security are the subsets in the largerframework of livelihood security. Thischanged focus can be examined in terms ofits four constituents, viz., availability,accessibility, sustainability and absorption offood. Thus, a holistic understanding of foodsecurity would require incorporating twoother aspects of food security, namely,stability in availability and utilisation of foodalong with conventional measures of physicaland economic aspects. The importance ofincorporating these two elements forunderstanding the aggregate scenario of foodsecurity lies in the fact that stability inavailability and accessibility of food arenecessary because of their potential tocombat both chronic as well as transitory foodinsecurity. The utilisation capacity of anindividual is an important tool for assessingindividual food insecurity. Fur ther,understanding the dimensions of foodsecurity at the regional level is crucial. Suchan analysis should consider the various issuesrelated to economic development of theState with a particular emphasis on theagricultural sector as it is one of the majorcomponents of food supply. This should befollowed by investigating different aspects offood security across regions of Maharashtra.Given this, in this paper we endeavour toexamine the issue of food security acrossregions in Maharashtra.

Methodology

This paper attempts to examine theissue of food security across regions taking


Regional Dimensions of Food Security in Maharashtra 471

its four elements into consideration (Table1). The first element of food security,availability of food, is a conventional measurethat indicates physical access to food. At theaggregate level, the availability of food isdetermined mainly by three supply sidefactors viz., agricultural foodgrain production,imports and subsidised foodgrain supplythrough Government agencies. However, thepresent study confines itself to the analysisof food availability based on the majorsources of foodgrains as agriculturalproduction. We are leaving foodgrain importsunanalysed as it comes under the CentralGovernment and the related data on the

Table 1: Indicators of Food Security

S.No. Indicators Description Variables Data Sources

1. Availability of Indicates food Total and per capita Directorate offood supply through foodgrain production Economics and

food production, Statistics, EPWRF*;import and food and Census ofsupply through MaharashtraGovernment agencies

2. Accessibility It implies economic Poverty ratio NSSO unit level datato food and physical for 50th, 55th and 61st

accessibility to roundfoodgrains

3. Sustainability Incorporates stability Normative level Directorate ofor stability of in foodgrains of food availability Economics andfood availability and over time and Statistics, EPWRF*;

continued carrying capacity of and Census ofaccessibility agricultural lands Maharashtraover time

4. Absorption/ Connotes the capacity Nutritional status RCH-2 (2002-04)**

utilisation of to absorb food of children belowfood which can be six years of age

measured throughthe nutritional statusof an individual

Source : Author.

Notes : * Refers to Economic and Political Weekly Research Foundation and ** Reproductiveand Child Health.

same are not available at the State level.Besides, the region-specific distribution offoodgrains through Government agencies atsubsidised prices has not been examined dueto the non-availability of data at the districtlevel. Trends in per capita foodgrainproduction across regions, based on two majorfood crops i.e. cereals and pulses grown inthe State, have been analysed. Since theendeavour is to understand the regionalvariations in foodgrain production, NationalSample Survey Organisation (NSSO)classification of regions is taken for facilitatingthe comparison across elements of foodsecurity.3

472 Nitin Tagade


The second element is accessibility tofood which depends upon the householdpurchasing power. The purchasing powerdepends on the income of household;however, the income related data are noteasily available. Secondly, distribution ofsubsidised foodgrains through Governmentagencies like the Public Distribution System(PDS) improves purchasing power of the poor.Nevertheless, the regional dimensions of foodinsecurity taking distribution aspect has notbeen analysed because district levelinformation is not available. In order toovercome this problem, poverty ratio isconsidered here for understanding purchasingpower, as it indicates the state of well-beingof the people. It is estimated based on PerCapita Monthly Consumption Expenditure(MPCE). This helps to understand theproportion of households that are unable topurchase the minimum required quantity offoodgrains due to lack of purchasing power.This could also be understood from thenetwork and coverage under PDS. We havetaken poverty ratio as an indicator of foodinsecurity in order to estimate the percentageof people unable to purchase the requiredquantity of food for a healthy life during agiven period. The analysis has been carriedout for three periods; viz., 1993-94, 1999-00and 2004-05 based on NSS 50th, 55th and 61st

round (Consumption Expenditure),respectively.4

The third element of food security issustainability which indicates the stability offood supply in terms of availability over theperiod as continuous source of supply.5

Sustainability here covers both thequantitative aspects of food availability andquality. Due to paucity of data on the qualityof food at the aggregate level, we shall befocusing on the sufficiency of the quantityof food availability over the period as well asthe carrying capacity of agricultural lands. Theper capita availability of sufficient food has

been used to estimate the quantity of pulsesand cereals required for per person per year,using the norms recommended by the IndianCouncil of Medical Research (ICMR) in 1996.The ICMR recommends 146 kg of cereals and25.55 kg of pulses per year as the food intakenorm for a vegetarian adult (ICMR, 1996). Theavailability of the recommended quantityover years will be considered as thesustainable food availability. The secondindicator of sustainability is the carryingcapacity of agricultural lands, indicating theamount of pressure of population exerted onagricultural lands and changing occupationalcomposition measured based on per hectaredensity of rural population and workers inagriculture sector, as also the variability ofvarious indicators.

The next element in understandingfood security is food absorption or utilisation.The ability of a person does not depend onthe characteristics of goods (Sen, 1985; p-9);however, better absorption capacity togetherwith other inputs improves the nutritionalstatus. For example, frequent diseases andinadequate health care facilities result indeteriorating nutritional status, particularlyamong children, as they are the mostvulnerable to changes caused by variationsin either food intake or environmental factors.Therefore, the nutritional status of childrenhas been taken as an indicator for examiningthe absorption capacity as well as the healthstatus of the society at large.

Conventional Measures of Food Securityin Maharashtra

A close examination of food availabilityin Maharashtra is taken up initially to drawattention to development process in theState, which is largely driven by the tertiarysector followed by secondary sector, due tothe important role of agriculture sector inproviding livelihood to a large number ofpeople in the rural areas in spite of being



one of the industrially developed States6. Thesectoral composition of the State economyhas undergone considerable changes overthe period from TE 1972-73 to TE 2009-10resulting in the tertiary sector scoring overthe primary sector while keeping thesecondary sector stagnant (Figure 1). Overthe period, the share of primary sector hasdeclined from 29 per cent in TE 1972-73 to13 per cent in TE 2009-10. During the sameperiod, the share of secondary sector declinedfrom 34 to 29 per cent, whereas, the shareof the tertiary sector rose from 34 to 59 percent. Therefore, augmenting foodgrainproduction is a crucial issue from the pointof view of availability because the share ofthe primary sector has been declining overthe years. Due to the comparative decline ofthe primary sector, the share of the tertiarysector increased remarkably during TE 1972-73 to TE 2002-03 with two major upwardbreaks in TE 1982-83 and TE 1992-93. On theother hand, the secondary sector hasregistered a decline during TE 1982-83 to TE2002-03, particularly after TE 1992-93. Thebreaks during TE 1982-83, TE 1992-93 and TE2002-03 could be attributed to policy changesintroduced by the Central Government andemulated by the State Government. The

process of liberalisation initiated in the early1980s, had effected only a few marginalchanges in the composition and benefitedmostly the tertiary sector over primary andsecondary sectors of the State economy.However, the economic reforms initiated inthe early 1990s have substantially influencedthe composition, over time benefiting largelythe tertiary sector due to its wide coveragethat reflects a clear break from past policiesduring TE 1992-93. A substantial share ofservice sector in NSDP since TE 2002-03,along with a near stagnant contribution ofthe secondary sector and a gradual declinein the share of the primary sector indicatethat there is not much opportunity forabsorbing the surplus labour from theagriculture sector. In the prevailingcircumstances, the agriculture sector is stillone of the major sources of livelihood inMaharashtra and therefore, it has a major roleto play. At the same time one needs to lookinto the growth behaviour of other sectorsbecause these help in correcting that cruciallivelihood support system throughemployment. However, we keep aside thequestion of creation of employment andsupport to livelihood by the secondary andtertiary sector.

Figure 1: Sectoral Composition of Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of Maharashtra

Sources : Author's estimation based on Economic Survey of Maharashtra (Various years), GoM.

Notes : 1. Triennium Ending ( TE) is a three-year moving average.

2. For the TE 2002-03 and TE 2004-05, share of incomes are provisional figures.

474 Nitin Tagade


Availability of Food : Food availability hasbeen estimated based on per adult foodsupply through agricultural foodgrainproduction after reducing the wastages andseeds assuming that production is used onlyfor consumption purpose.1 Over the period,food availability has not only been decliningin the State but also across regions as theper capita foodgrain production is declining.For the period 1961 to 2001, the highestdecline has been observed in the InlandNorthern region from 286 kg to 109 kg peradult person and the lowest decline in theCoastal region from about 102 kg to 91 kgper adult person (Table 2). However, in 1971,per adult foodgrain production is found to

have suddenly declined in all the regions,though rising subsequently in 1981, inregions excepting the Coastal region. This ismainly because of the implementation of theGreen Revolution technology resulting inincreased foodgrain availability across regionsdue to increased production and productivityduring the 1970s. It is to be noted that on anaverage, per capita foodgrain production wasfound lowest in the Coastal region andhighest in the Inland Central region. In 1961as well as in 2001, per capita foodgrainproduction was found highest in the InlandCentral region followed by the Eastern region;whereas, it is lowest in the Coastal regionfollowed by the Inland Northern region.

Table 2: Per Capita Foodgrain Production andPopulation Growth Across Regions of Maharashtra

Regions Per Capita Foodgrain % Change PopulationProduction (PCFP) in PCFP Growth Rate

1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 (1961 to 2001)

Coastal* 101.88 104.34 89.78 64.98 91.25 -10.44 4.7

Inland Western 316.80 152.99 225.12 206.72 147.29 -53.51 3.3

Inland Northern 286.90 215.68 256.28 285.17 108.74 -62.10 3.4

Inland Central 451.93 187.42 311.33 328.53 282.24 -37.55 3.7

Inland Eastern 334.00 130.19 233.53 269.43 158.80 -52.46 3.2

Eastern 377.69 335.97 342.75 276.29 162.64 -56.94 2.9

Maharashtra 291.87 160.18 195.04 210.13 159.73 -45.27 3.6

Sources : Author’s estimation based on Directorate of Economics and Statistics, GoM (Variousyears) and EPWRF (2004) and Maharashtra General Economic Tables, Census ofIndia, GoI (Various years).

Notes : 1. * Indicates that the figures for Coastal region are estimated excluding MumbaiSuburban and Gr. Bombay/Mumbai.

2. The 12.5 per cent of the total foodgrain production has been deducted towardswastages and seeds.



The reasons for declining foodavailability over time and the large variationsacross regions can be explained by examiningproductivity that in turn depends on variousexogenous and endogenous factors. To beginwith, trends in per capita foodgrainproduction across regions have beenestimated by taking into account the entirepopulation that includes all age groups (Figure2).1 In the State, per capita foodgrainproduction is declining gradually from 1960to 2006 at varying rate over different phases.The declining per capita foodgrain productioncould be attributed to varying rate of growthin population over years. The rate of declinein the first phase till 1973-74 is relatively high,while it becomes visibly steep after 1973-74in subsequent phases, which could partly bedue to the adoption of new technology andpartly due to successful implementation ofwatershed programmes in Maharashtra whichhave had a significant impact on foodgrainproduction, as it was found that thecomparisons between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries households in watershed regionsin Maharashtra have shown significantlyhigher level of foodgrain production amongformer households as compared to that oflatter (see Deshpande and Rajshekharan,1997). In the State, per capita foodgrainproduction has shown a large year to yearfluctuation across regions excepting theCoastal region, corresponding to the largevariations in rainfall, as large geographicalareas in the State fall under drought-proneconditions (Dev and Mungekar, 1996), andtherefore, are susceptible to vagaries ofmonsoon confronting phases of growth andstagnation affirmatively (Sawant et al, 1999).The visitation of droughts and famine overlarge parts of the State every three to fouryears indeed worsens the process (DHMJDrought Forum, 2008). Over the years, percapita foodgrain production has declined, i.e.,during 1973, 1987, 1992 and 2002, becauseof droughts during these years9. The Coastal

region of the State has had the lowest percapita foodgrain production over the periodas compared to other regions, whereasfoodgrain production has experiencedrelatively better trends in the Eastern region.The lowest per capita foodgrain productionin the Coastal region, despite the region’shigher productivity as compared to otherregions (Table 3), could be attributed to lowershare of land under cultivation. Share of bothNet Sown Area (NSA) and Gross CroppedArea (GCA) are lowest in the Coastal region,accounting for about 28 and 30 per cent inTE 2005-06, respectively (Table 4). On theother hand, the Eastern region, apredominantly rice producing area, has shownthe highest per capita foodgrain production,because of the high rainfall here, even thoughsoil fertility of the region is either mediumor low (Sawant et al, 1999, p-14) and lowpopulation growth in the region (see Table2). The higher output variability in foodgrainproduction in Nagpur division is explainabledue to high rainfall variability and/or lowirrigation facility (Mitra 1990, p-A 153).However, Nagpur division has two NSSOregions viz., Inland Eastern and Easternregions, and of the two, the latter region haslower output variability as compared to theformer region because the Eastern regioncomes under medium and high rainfall, lowervariation and medium soil fertility. The otherthree regions, namely, Inland Eastern, InlandWestern and Inland Northern regions areclose to each other in terms of per capitafoodgrain production, though, the soil fertilityand level of rainfall differ across theseregions. Deshpande (1988) examined therelation between growth and instability inMaharashtra and found varying relationshippre-new technology (1951-52 to 1971-72)and post-technology (1973-74 to 1981-82)period, drought prone (DP) and non-droughtprone (NDP) districts; and different group ofcrops. The major finding shows that thenegative and strong relation between growth

476 Nitin Tagade


and instability in pre-new technology periodchanged to significantly positive largely dueto high growth and high instability in pulsesbecause of higher pursuit of thecommercialisation of agriculture in terms ofchanging cropping pattern in the State.

However, this relation does not hold at thedistrict level. Large number of DP districts hasemerged with preferable combination ofhigh growth and low instability as against thenot preferable combination of low growthand low instability in NDP districts.

Figure 2 : Per Capita Foodgrain Production During 1961-2006

Sources : Author’s estimation based on Directorate of Economics and Statistics, GoM (Variousyears) and EPWRF (2004) and Maharashtra General Economic Tables, Census of India, GoI(Various years) and UNFPA (2009).

Table 3 : Yield of Total Foodgrains Production

(In kg/hectare)

Regions TE 1965-66 TE 1975-76 TE 1985-86 TE 1995-96 TE 2005-06

Coastal 1092.11 1377.19 1599.11 1956.01 2211.48

Inland Western 576.95 762.65 889.80 1041.37 710.40

Inland Northern 480.34 598.82 634.58 969.18 1070.37

Inland Central 427.25 443.94 552.04 818.14 774.21

Inland Eastern 472.13 619.75 861.51 970.06 840.02

Eastern 596.83 765.39 836.40 1056.02 1061.67

Maharashtra 474.14 582.19 688.73 896.54 887.40

Sources : Author’s estimation based on EPWRF, 2004; and Directorate of Economics andStatistics, Ministry of Agriculture, GoM.



Table 4 : Net Sown Area and Gross Cropped Area and Cropping Intensity

Regions Coastal Inland Inland Inland Inland Eastern MaharashtraWestern Northern Central Eastern

Net Sown Area (NSA)*

TE 1965-66 30.49 70.11 57.91 73.34 62.38 29.58 59.11

TE 1975-76 28.13 66.42 56.87 76.80 65.56 30.71 30.78

TE 1985-86 28.35 66.25 58.07 75.20 64.07 30.78 58.91

TE 1995-96 32.00 63.86 57.23 76.61 64.88 29.17 58.76

TE 2005-06 27.51 70.40 19.46 107.49 82.22 10.34 92.63

Gross Cropped Area (GCA)*

TE 1965-66 31.49 73.71 61.95 77.50 63.08 33.94 62.14

TE 1975-76 29.24 71.58 61.68 81.93 67.91 35.98 63.57

TE 1985-86 29.27 73.07 63.50 84.82 69.15 35.35 64.86

TE 1995-96 33.67 74.23 66.36 94.32 76.53 37.21 69.65

TE 2005-06 29.50 74.37 25.28 121.11 88.86 10.99 119.73

Cropping Intensity**

TE 1965-66 103.29 105.14 106.99 105.67 101.12 114.77 105.13

TE 1975-76 103.97 107.77 108.46 106.68 103.58 117.19 107.05

TE 1985-86 103.25 110.30 109.34 112.80 107.93 114.88 110.10

TE 1995-96 105.24 116.24 115.96 123.12 117.96 127.56 118.53

TE 2005-06 107.20 105.64 129.87 112.67 108.07 106.25 129.26

Sources : Author’s estimation based on EPWRF, 2004.

Notes : * Figures are in percentage share of NSA and GCA to the total Gross Area (TGA).

** Cropping Intensity is percentage of the gross cropped area to the net sown area.

On the whole, food availability in theState has not only been declining over theyears but also across regions. The largefluctuations in the availability of foodgrainsfrom year to year due to frequent occurrencesof droughts and varying rainfall across regions

are a major challenge to food security. Percapita foodgrains availability in the Coastalregion is lowest despite higher productivityin foodgrain production. In contrast, per capitafood availability is highest in the InlandCentral region. The Coastal region’s lower

478 Nitin Tagade


foodgrain production could be attributed tothe lower share of land under cultivation asit is a predominantly a hilly region, as alsodue to the lower cropping intensity of theregion. Since productivity in the Coastalregion is relatively higher than other regions,we can assume that the production is lowerdue to less land being under cultivation ascompared to the lower use of moderntechnology. In addition to this, on an average,per capita food availability over the periodhas been higher in the Inland Central regiondespite low productivity of the region. It isbecause share of land under cultivation issubstantially high in the region, whichincreased from 77.5 per cent in TE 1965-66to 94 per cent in TE 1995-96. Thus, higherper capita food availability in the region couldbe attributed to higher land utilisation forcultivation. Having larger area under droughtprone zone and consequent fluctuations inagricultural production, so also the relativelyundesirable agricultural growth performancein NDP districts have resulted in an additionalburden on the Government for food supply.Therefore, it is clear that fluctuations in thefoodgrain production could affect thephysical accessibility to food due to higherdependence on the agriculture sector, andthereby, affecting stability in the availabilityand access to food.

Accessibility to Food : Food availabilityhas been declining in various degrees acrossregions of Maharashtra. However, the state offood security cannot be determined mainlyon the basis of supply side indicators, butaccessibility to food is a necessary conditionand this depends on the purchasing poweras also the welfare programmes like supplyof subsidised food. As stated earlier, data ondistrict level food distribution and householdincome are not available, and therefore,poverty has been used to examine the well-being of the people. Poverty ratio indicatesthe proportion of population subsisting on

food intake below certain norms of calorieintake10. We have not taken access to PDS asanother indicator specifically due to higherlevel of errors of inclusion and exclusion inMaharashtra (see Mahamallik and Sahu, 2011;and Dev, 1996). Besides, poverty ratio is morerobust representative of access to food.

Poverty Ratio : Poverty ratio, also knownas head count ratio, is a result of the lack ofentitlement or purchasing power. Income isan important criterion to assess thepurchasing power, which is determined byvarious factors like the type of employment,skill, education and social status. However,household income data on these factors arenot readily available. Therefore, poverty hasbeen estimated based on MPCE from NSSOquinquennial surveys11 taking official povertyline12. Recently a Committee was constitutedunder the Chairmanship of Prof. SureshTendulkar for reviewing the methodology forpoverty estimation. This was in response tothe severe criticism that official povertyestimates for rural areas were lower ascompared to urban areas. The committeesuggested the inclusion of expenditure oneducation and health care in the ‘householdexpenditure’ in view of the decliningGovernment subsidies for education andhealth sector, and estimated afresh thepoverty ratio based on NSS 61st round for2004-0513. In this paper, the analysis is basedon the official poverty line (earlier estimates)as the focus here is to understand foodaccessibility across regions rather thanpoverty as such and therefore, inclusion ofexpenditure on education and health may notyield the purpose. The second reason for notconsidering the new poverty line, asrecommended by Tendulkar Committee, isthat the process of declining subsidy foreducation and health care is not quantifiableand also it is not comparable over time. Last,poverty line has been provided only for 50th

and 61st round; and do not provide the same



for 55th round which is necessary forunderstanding the trend.

In Maharashtra, accessibility to food hasimproved over the period as evidenced bythe fact that the proportion of the poordeclined in both the rural and urban areasduring 1983 to 2004-05, from 46 to 30 percent in the rural areas and from over 41 percent to about 33 per cent in the urban areas(Table 5). Compared to the national averages,the poverty ratio in the State was higher forboth the rural and urban areas except in 1983despite an impressive economic developmentregistered in the State during the periodunder review. The rural-urban differencesnarrowed down during 1993-94 to 2004-05;differences were quite high in 1993-94, butdeclined significantly by 2004-05. In the rural

areas of the State, the proportion of peopleliving below the poverty line was 30.5 percent in 1993-94 which declined to 19.7 percent by 1999-00, but again increased to 25per cent in 2004-05. Similarly, the povertyratio in the urban area was 26.9 per cent in1993-94, 19.7 per cent in 1999-00 and 25.5per cent in 2004-05. Thus, even the mostrecent poverty estimates indicate that one-fourth of the people in both the rural andurban areas of Maharashtra are unable to meettheir basic needs. The strange experience ofMaharashtra where both rural and urbanpoverty ratio in the State has declined withlower margin compared to India as a whole,but the decline in urban poverty is muchlower than the corresponding decline at Indialevel.

Table 5 : Poverty in India and Maharashtra

Year Rural Urban

India Maharashtra India Maharashtra

1983 46.5 45.9 43.6 41.1

1987-88 39.0 40.9 38.7 40.5

1993-94 37.2 37.9 32.6 35.0

2004-05 28.7 30.0 25.9 32.8

Source : Himanshu, 2007 (Table 1 and 2), p-498.

Note : The poverty estimates are based on Uniform Reference Period (URP). The estimatesare not used for 1999-2000 because of non-comparability to the other NSSO rounds.

While looking at the regionaldimensions of poverty, a sharply skewedconcentration of poverty is visible in a fewregions ( Table 6). The situation can besummarised under three major observations:One, poverty is relatively high in the rural andurban areas of Eastern, Inland Eastern, InlandCentral and Inland Northern regions as wellas in the urban areas of Inland Westernregion. Two, poverty increased during 1993-94 to 2004-05 in the rural areas of Coastal,

Inland Eastern and Eastern regions, butdeclined by the year 1999-00. Three, povertyin both rural and urban areas of Coastalregion has been showing an increasingpattern even though, it is lowest acrossregions. In contrast to this, the poverty ratioincreased in the rural areas and declined inthe urban areas of the Inland Eastern andEastern regions. This implies that poverty ishigher across regions except in the Coastaland Inland Western regions.

480 Nitin Tagade


Table 6 : Poverty Ratio Across Regions in Maharashtra During 1993-94 to 2004-05

Regions Rural Urban

1993-94 1999-00 2004-05 1993-94 1999-00 2004-05

Coastal 11.3 15.8 20.3 7.0 6.9 9.2

Inland Western 19.2 8.3 7.0 33.4 20.9 31.2

Inland Northern 38.7 23.7 30.3 52.2 31.0 41.5

Inland Central 43.2 22.6 38.4 53.4 46.4 56.8

Inland Eastern 39.7 25.7 40.8 46.6 43.2 41.4

Eastern 39.7 37.0 40.8 39.3 25.9 34.8

Sources : Author’s estimation based on unit level Consumer Expenditure data of NSS 50th

(1993-94), 55th (1999-2000) and 61st (2004-05) rounds.

Note : The poverty estimates based on the NSS 55th (1999-2000) round are not comparableto other rounds because of the changes made in the recall method.

Unconventional Indicators of FoodSecurity in Maharashtra

A discussion on a few conventionalindicators of food security in the earliersection has brought out regional variationsin physical availability and economic accessto food over the period. We found a few ofthe regions are food secure in terms ofavailability, whereas, some others are foodsecure in terms of accessibility. However, ahigher proportion of the poor in a few regionsmay worsen with a marginal fluctuation inthe food economy, leading to chronic foodinsecurity. The chronic food insecurity, on theother hand, eluded through the sustainableavailability and accessibility to food. Theseunconventional indicators are examined tounderstand the temporal and individual foodsecurity in this section.

Sustainability of Food : Food insecuritycould be of two types, viz., temporal andtransitor y (FAO, 2006). Temporal foodinsecurity exists when there is inadequatefood intake over a long period of time, while

transitory food insecurity exists when thereis inadequate food intake either due toseasonal or cyclical causes. It is to be notedthat temporal food insecurity is largely foundamong poor households; transitory foodinsecurity, on the other hand, however affecteven the non-poor. The problem ofinadequate food availability and accessibilityamong the poor due to seasonal and cyclicalcauses might be more devastating for thepoor households worsening their conditionseverely. Therefore, neither temporal nortransitory food insecurity can be avoidedwithout ensuring a sustainable access toadequate food. Lopsided food supply due toeither cyclical or seasonal factors also couldlead to food insecurity. Further, stable foodaccess depends on the purchasing powersince the poor cannot have ready access tofood in the absence of purchasing power, andtherefore, poor households are moresusceptible to fluctuations in food prices.Thus, sustainable food availability can bedefined as stable access to food over a longperiod of time. Therefore, it is imperative toexamine sustainable foodgrain production



and its availability in greater detail. In orderto examine the sustainability of foodproduction over time, the Coefficient ofVariations (CVs) have been estimated foridentifying regions that are vulnerable to foodinsecurity. In addition, deficits in theavailability of cereals and pulses have alsobeen estimated across regions over theperiod based on ICMR norms.

The CVs are estimated for the totalfoodgrain production, yield of total foodgrainproduction and per capita foodgrainproduction across regions for the period1960-61 to 2005-06 and also for the pre andpost-Green Revolution (GR) period (Table 7).14

CV is a measure of instability and itincorporates the systematic as well as therandom components of variation. We aremore concerned here with the randomcomponent of variation, as higher the levelof CV in per capita foodgrain production,lower is the sustainability of food, andtherefore, lower the degree of food security.Conversely, lower the CV in production, higheris the degree of food sustainability. InMaharashtra, the quotient of variability in thetotal foodgrain production is higher ascompared to the indicator of per capitafoodgrain production, followed by thequotient of yield of foodgrain production. Thehigher instability in the total foodgrainproduction could be attributed to exogenousfactors rather than endogenous factors. Theexogenous factors such as erratic rainfall andsevere droughts could not be avoided butmitigated. These tend to constrain optimumland utilisation, and thereby, affect production.On the other hand, endogenous factors suchas use of modern technology and inputsthough can be controlled, could impactoutput negatively either due to the lack ofor low utilisation of inputs. In Maharashtra,during 1980-93, the significance of variabilityin terms of yield is low and in terms of areais high in explaining output variability as

compared to 1967-80 (see Sawant et al 1999,p-102). In the Inland Central region, variabilityin total foodgrain production and per capitafoodgrain production is highest, as can beseen from Table 7, because of low soil fertilityas well as low to medium intensity rainfall(ibid, p-13). On the other hand, the instabilityin yield levels of total foodgrain productionis highest in the Inland Northern regionbecause of medium soil fertility and lowrainfall in the region, whereas, instability islowest in the Eastern region which could beattributed to better soil fertility and mediumrainfall in large parts of this region. Variabilityin respect of total foodgrain production andper capita foodgrain production is lowest inthe Coastal region. The comparison ofvariability in terms of all these threeindicators across pre and post-GreenRevolution period reveals a higher variabilityduring the post-Green Revolution period ascompared to the pre-Green Revolutionperiod. Apparently this is indicative of adecline in the sustainability of food acrossregions. It is to be noted here that CV is notthe sole indicator of sustainability, and thatthe trend based variations also play a role inthe process.

Stability in food availability over time isdetermined by various endogenous factorsand their impact increased particularly duringpost-GR period resulting in higher outputvariability. As discussed, the relation betweengrowth and instability in Maharashtra, ourresults resemble with Deshpande (1988). Themajor concern however in this paper is tounderstand the impact of output variabilityon the food security. The output variabilitycould result in reduced food availability inthe absence of adequate food supply, as thepopulation size is increasing. In order toexamine, we have estimated the share of percapita food availability to the required cerealsand pulses for an adult in a given year,recommend by ICMR. The estimates are

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Table 7 : Average Level and Variation in Foodgrains Availability Across Regions in Maharashtra (1960-61 to 2005-06)

Regions Total Foodgrain Production (00' MT) Yield of Total Foodgrain Production (Kg/Hectare) Per Capita Foodgrain Production (Kg/Hectare)

Pre-GR* Post-GR* Total Pre-GR* Post-GR* Total Pre-GR* Post-GR* Total

Average CV Average CV Average CV Average CV Average CV Average CV Average CV Average CV Average CV(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

Coastal 6727 12.6 10049 15.3 9239 23.2 1113 14.5 1714 17.8 1540 25.3 67 18.7 52 21.0 55.8 15.0

Inland 17158 15.5 26329 18.9 23670 28.6 424 14.3 654 17.9 582 27.2 149 15.6 138 20.9 140.1 24.5Western

Inland 8270 15.8 14873 23.4 13114 34.9 471 16.2 796 24.7 697 33.8 150 21.0 157 23.4 153.7 20.6Northern

Inland 14493 15.5 26218 27.1 22985 38.3 429 17.6 666 25.4 589 33.5 206 22.2 211 25.9 207.1 24.0Central

Inland 10624 20.6 19866 22.0 17532 33.9 508 19.6 878 19.5 768 30.8 142 22.6 160 24.7 154.2 26.3Eastern

Eastern 6397 16.2 8965 21.4 8312 26.0 628 14.5 903 21.0 820 25.3 225 23.7 197 23.1 203.6 18.6

Maharashtra 64027 12.5 106737.4 17.7 95265 29.1 497 12.5 784 17.6 696 27.2 145 17.3 137 20.0 138.1 20.0

Sources : Author’s estimation based on EPWRF, 2004, and Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, GoM.

Note : * Pre-Green Revolution (Pre-GR) period covers the years from 1960-61 to 1970-71, while Post-Green Revolution (Post-GR).period covers the years from 1973-74 to 2005-06.



drawn following three-step procedure. One,per adult per year cereal and pulsesrequirement is obtained from ICMR (1996).Two, actual per adult per year cereals andpulses availability are estimated based oncereals and pulses production to the totaladult population for that year. Lastly, the shareof per adult cereals and pulses availability toper adult ICMR norm is estimated. The resultsfor cereals reveal a declining share over timeacross regions (Table 8). In terms of cerealavailability, Maharashtra was food secure Statein 1961 across regions, except in Coastalregion. A drastic decline is observed in theshare of cereals availability to 96 per cent in1971 in the State as a whole from 174 percent in 1961; so also increasing trend indeficit in the cereal availability is evident atregional level. In 1961, only Coastal regionwas found food insecure in terms of cerealsavailability that has increased to three regionsincluding Inland Western and Inland Easternregions in 1971. The declining share ofcereals could be attributed to the severedrought during 1972-73. The share of cerealavailability increased in 1981 and 1991 as awhole, but again it has declined in 2001 withdeficit in three regions. The decliningsustainable food security is visible in the

State as a whole and also across regions, asthe share of cereal availability has declinedover the period. Availability of cereals declineis prominent in three regions, viz. Coastal,Inland Western and Inland Eastern regions. InInland Eastern region, declining share ofcereal availability, particularly from 1991 to2001 has deteriorated the food security whichcould also be attributed to the farmer suicidesin the region, as the recent studies haveshown that area under cultivation has shiftedfrom cereals (particularly jowar) and cottontowards soyabean and to a lesser extentpulses in Vidarbha as a whole; and in Amravatidivision in particular that falls under InlandEastern region (Mishra, 2006, p-153).

Similarly, the estimates of share ofpulses availability indicate declining over theperiod in the Coastal region followed by theInland Western and Eastern regions (seeAppendix I). The Eastern region is found tohave experienced a lower and decliningavailability of pulses, particularly after 1971,except in 1991. However, it is to be notedthat Inland Central and Inland Eastern regionshave registered increasing share of pulsesavailability during last three decades inparticular.

Table 8 : Share of Per Adult Per Year Cereals Availability to ICMR Norms

Regions 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Coastal 68.55 70.80 61.06 43.73 61.17

Inland Western 201.10 95.93 144.08 132.59 44.70

Inland Northern 164.06 124.92 156.28 167.70 113.56

Inland Central 277.72 105.93 188.30 198.54 136.47

Inland Eastern 170.64 66.71 140.86 144.78 67.61

Eastern 232.77 213.41 225.57 175.60 166.58

Maharashtra 174.38 95.99 121.95 126.90 90.28

Sources : Author’s estimation based on EPWRF, 2004 and Directorate of Economics andStatistics, GoM.

484 Nitin Tagade


The carrying capacity of agriculturallands is another indicator employed tomeasure sustainable food availability acrossregions. It signifies the capacity of agriculturallands to support the population dependenton it for earning their livelihood.15 Since thepopulation has been growing steadily and theland being a scarce resource, the land topopulation ratio will increase over time in theagriculture based economy and thereby,pressure on the carrying capacity ofagricultural lands. Further, the pressureexerted on land could increase due to variousreasons such as increasing population ordiversion of land to non-agricultural purposes.The excess burden on the carrying capacityof land could be reduced either through thetransformation of agriculture based economyto one of non-agriculture based economy orby employing modern inputs and techniquesand increasing irrigation facilities. Theincreasing density of agricultural workers onland may lead to inadequate access to foodavailability and become a hurdle in the pathof ensuring stable access to adequate food.

The carrying capacity of cultivable landcan be assessed by looking at the changes inthe share of cultivated land and changes inthe proportion of workforce dependent onagriculture for their livelihood. Therefore,what is attempted here is an assessment ofthe pressure being exerted on the cultivableland due to the increase in populationdependent on agriculture for their livelihood.Towards this end, we have estimated densityof rural population and agricultural workersper hectare as also a percentage change inthe share of cultivators and agriculturallabourers (Tables 9 and 10). The density ofrural population is increasing over yearsduring 1961-2001 and is substantially higherthan that of agriculture in the State as awhole. In the Coastal region, both density ofrural population and agricultural workforceper hectare are higher than in other regions

with the former increasing over time from9.82 in 1961 to 27.93 in 2001, while the latterdeclining gradually from 1.74 in 1961 to 0.56in 1991, but increasing again to 2.10 by 2001.The density of rural population per hectare isdetermined by various factors such as the sizeof population, in/out-migration and theproportion of land under cultivation. Incontrast, density of agricultural population perhectare depends on employmentopportunities in non-agricultural sector andin/out-migration.

In the Coastal region, the reason forhigher as well as increasing density of ruralpopulation could be attributed to higher shareof population and a lower proportion of landunder cultivation. However, the decline indensity of agricultural workforce could bedue to improving non-agricultural activitiesand rural to urban migration. The density ofrural population and agricultural workforceare lowest in the Inland Central regionbecause the proportion of land undercultivation is relatively high. In the InlandCentral region, share of NSA to Total GrossArea (TGA) in the TE 1965-66 is found to be73 per cent, while increased to 107 per centin the TE 2005-06; and similarly share of GCAto TGA is about 78 and 121 per cent,respectively, during the same period (Table4). Over the years 1961 to 1991, the share ofworkforce in agriculture sectors in most ofthe regions is found to have declined withthe Inland Northern region being anexception (Table 10). The highest decline isobserved for the Coastal region, followed bythe Inland Western and Inland Easternregions, whereas, the lowest decline is seenin Inland Central and Eastern regions. Thehighest decline in the Coastal region couldbe due to a lower share of land undercultivation. It is interesting to note that theproportion of workforce dependent on theagricultural sector increased during 1981-91in two regions viz., Coastal and Inland



Table 9 : Per Hectare Rural Population and Agricultural Workforce

Regions Rural Population Agricultural Workforce

1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Coastal 9.82 14.87 17.81 20.55 27.94 1.74 1.73 1.64 0.56 2.10

Inland Western 1.91 2.58 2.94 3.43 4.05 0.61 0.55 0.67 0.16 1.02

Inland Northern 1.94 2.48 2.86 3.36 3.78 0.81 0.66 1.00 0.20 1.09

Inland Central 1.15 1.38 1.83 2.32 2.48 0.40 0.39 0.47 0.08 0.76

Inland Eastern 1.77 2.09 2.50 2.69 3.11 0.63 0.58 0.70 0.10 0.82

Eastern 2.16 2.67 3.25 3.62 4.80 0.95 0.86 0.94 0.43 1.56

Maharashtra 2.13 2.69 3.20 3.61 4.35 0.69 0.61 0.74 0.16 0.98

Sources : Author’s estimation based on EPWRF, 2004, www.indiastat.com, and Directorate ofEconomics and Statistics, GoM.

Western. This could be attributed to theeconomic crisis of 1990-91. Added to this,the workforce declined after the crisis gotover as can be seen from the reducedworkforce in the agricultural sector over theperiod 1991-2001 (Table 10).

On the whole, an increase in populationaccompanied by a marginal decline in the

Table 10 : Per cent Change in the Share of Cultivators and Agricultural Labourers

Regions 1961-1971 1971-1981 1981-1991 1991-2001 1961-2001

Coastal -2.35 -9.2 17.44 -24.5 -18.61

Inland Western -1.65 -0.58 6.76 -10.79 -6.26

Inland Northern 5.18 8.63 -4.15 -7.73 1.93

Inland Central -8.47 1.03 1.6 -5.65 -1.47

Inland Eastern -0.03 0.67 -0.78 -3.79 -3.93

Eastern -0.90 13.00 -3.89 -10.18 -1.97

Sources : Author’s estimation based on Census of India (Various Years)

Note : Share of cultivators and agricultural labourers includes both main and marginal workerto the total workers.

proportion of agricultural workforce points toa trend of declining sustainability of foodsupply in most regions of Maharashtra.However, a declining density of agriculturalworkforce is a pointer to the process ofchange from agriculture to non-agriculturesector. What is visible is a decline insustainable food access and availability overtime in most of the regions. To conclude, food

486 Nitin Tagade


security is declining over the period, howeverit depends not only on food availability butalso on food utilisation, which in turn,depends on the consumption of non-fooditems too.

Absorption Capacity : In Maharashtra, asa whole as well as across regions, share ofcereals and pulses availability, increasingpressure on carrying capacity of agriculturalland and output variability revealsdeteriorating food security over the period.These indicators reflect implications on thecalorie intake which determines nutritionalstatus of the individual along with non-foodconsumption. The inadequate non-foodconsumption could result in the negativeoutcome in terms of lower nutritional status.Nutritional status is an indicator of measuringindividual food insecurity which encompassnot only food intake but also the impact ofenvironmental factors.16 It could be lowereven when food intake is adequate. Frequentoccurrences of diseases and the consumptionof contaminated drinking water impact foodabsorption capacity (Mortorell and Ho, 1984).And a lower absorption capacity of anindividual inevitably leads to declinednutritional status. Therefore, absorptioncapacity of an individual hinges on her/hishealth and hygiene status. Thus, it isconsidered as one of the important indicatorsfor assessing health of the society, and hasgreater implications as compared to theincidence of poverty.

The proportion of underweight childrenbelow three years of age, over the period1992-93 to 2005-06 across Indian Statesreveals that it has declined over the years(Appendix II). Maharashtra’s ranking amongIndian States in this respect seems to haveimproved from fifth in 1992-93 to sixth in1998-99, and further to ninth in 2005-06.Nevertheless, the per cent of underweight17

children is still high in Maharashtra,

accounting almost 40 per cent in 2004-05. Inorder to determine the health status of thepopulation in Maharashtra, here we attemptto understand the food utilisation capabilitybased on nutritional status of children belowsix years, particularly underweight children asit is a reliable proxy for the general healthstatus of the society. In addition to foodavailability, food utilisation depends on non-food aspects such as child care, healthservices, knowledge of food preparation etc.,which also impact nutritional status. Hence, asufficient quantity of quality food, though anessential element for ensuring food security,alone would not be able to ensure a betternutritional status in the absence of non-foodconsumption. This is better revealed from ouranalysis of nutritional status in the State thatthe proportion of children who are severelyand moderately underweight is low in theCoastal and Inland Western regions thoughthese regions suffer from food deficit(Figure 3). On the other hand, nutritionalstatus is lower among substantially largeproportion of children in the other fourregions despite being relatively foodsufficient.

Conclusions

The main focus of this paper is toexamine food security across regions inMaharashtra considering its four elements.From the availability point of view, tworegions in Maharashtra viz., Coastal and InlandWestern are food deficit, while the other fourregions fall under higher and medium levelsof food sufficiency. The lower food availabilityin the Coastal and Inland Western regions canbe attributed to the lower share of land undercultivation and the higher density ofpopulation, respectively. Surprisingly, thesetwo regions constitute a lower proportion ofchild under-nutrition which could be due toa relatively better purchasing power of thepeople. It is worth noting that the share of



poor in these regions is less, which in turnpoints to the inclusion of more non-fooditems in their consumption basket. Further inthese regions, per capita food availability, andper capita cereals and pulses availability havebeen declining over the period and relativelylower than the State average. In the Coastalregion, the proportion of poor has beenincreasing over the period, even though thatis lower than the other regions. On the otherhand, the proportion of poor has beenshowing a declining trend in the InlandWestern region. In addition, these two regionsexhibit a lower proportion of underweightchildren below six years of age, indicating arelatively better utilisation capacity. Althoughthese two regions are food deficit, thenutritional status of children in these regionsis better than in other regions. The remainingregions are relatively less food deficit eventhough the per capita food availability andshare of cereals and pulses availability to theICMR norm in these regions have beendeclining over the period. The Inland Northernregion is food deficit in terms of per capitafoodgrains and share of pulses and cerealsavailability. Also this region has a higher

proportion of poverty and relatively poornutrition when compared with the Stateaverage. Inland Central, Inland Eastern andEastern regions show relatively better foodavailability as compared to other regions;however, these regions experience a higherproportion of child malnutrition.

On the whole, three situations emergefrom the discussion based on the foodsufficiency and outcome indicators: First, thesituation of food deficit along with betteroutcome indicators in terms of lower levelsof poverty and under-nutrition. Secondsituation is the self-sufficiency in foodgrainavailability along with higher level of povertyand under-nutrition. And third situation is ofmedium level of self-sufficiency along withhigher levels of poverty and under-nutrition.The Coastal and Inland Western regions comeunder the first situation described above. Inthese regions, per capita food availability hasbeen low since the inception of the State. Inaddition, the excess burden on the carryingcapacity of agricultural lands has beendeclining over time as the rate of decline inworkforce dependence on the agricultural

Figure 3: Proportion of Severe and Moderate UnderweightChildren below Six Years of Age Across Regions in Maharashtra

Source : Author’s estimation based on RCH 2: 2002-04 (IIPS, 2006).

488 Nitin Tagade


sector is substantially higher than the rate ofdecline in land under cultivation. In theCoastal region, the lower food availabilitycould be due to the lower proportion of landunder cultivation. On the other hand, theworkforce dependence on agriculture in thisgroup has been declining over the period,which would be possible only if theemployment opportunities are available inother sectors. In the second situation, InlandEastern and Eastern come. These regions arerelatively better in terms of food availabilityas compared to other regions, but theproportion of poor and child malnutrition hereis relatively higher than the State average.Inland Northern and Inland Central regionsfall under the third situation. These regionshave medium level of food sufficiency along

with a relatively higher proportion of poorand child malnutrition. Food availability in theregions falling under second and thirdsituation are relatively better than the regionsfalling under first situation, but these regionshave shown higher proportion of poor as alsohigher level of child malnutrition. In theseregions, the pressure over carrying capacityof the agricultural land has been eitherincreasing over time or the rate of declinehas been lower than regions falling underfirst situation. In regions falling under secondand third situations, decline in workforcedependence on agriculture is slower thanregions falling under first situation, and at thesame time, the land under cultivation hasbeen declining over time.

Appendix I : Per cent of Per Adult Pulses Availability to ICMR Norms

Regions 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Coastal 7.06 3.81 2.50 4.44 7.82

Inland Western 90.75 50.53 57.78 51.43 57.68

Inland Northern 185.43 130.31 110.03 157.79 86.35

Inland Central 216.02 144.17 161.37 165.63 251.01

Inland Eastern 332.07 128.28 109.11 227.22 302.30

Eastern 148.14 95.43 52.34 77.97 52.65

Maharashtra 145.88 78.40 66.51 97.29 130.25

Sources : Author’s estimation based on EPWRF, 2004 and Directorate of Economics and Statistics,GoM.



Appendix II : Proportion of Underweight Children BelowThree Years of Age Across Indian States

States NFHS-1 NFHS-2 NFHS-3 Per cent Change(1992-93) (1998-99) (2005-06)

1992-93 to 1998-99 to1998-99 2005-06

Bihar* 62.5 54.4 58.4 -12.96 7.35

West Bengal 54.8 48.7 43.5 -11.13 -10.68

Odisha 52.4 54.4 44.0 3.82 -19.12

India 51.5 47.0 45.9 -8.74 -2.34

Maharashtra 51.4 49.6 39.7 -3.50 -19.96

Karnataka 50.6 43.9 41.1 -13.24 -6.38

Assam 49.2 36.0 40.4 -26.83 12.22

Madhya Pradesh* 48.5 55.1 60.3 13.61 9.44

Gujarat 48.1 45.1 47.4 -6.24 5.10

Uttar Pradesh* 47.2 51.7 47.3 9.53 -8.51

Punjab 46.0 28.7 27.0 -37.61 -5.92

Tamil Nadu 45.7 36.7 33.2 -19.69 -9.54

Tripura 45.2 42.6 39.0 -5.75 -8.45

Andhra Pradesh 45.0 37.7 36.5 -16.22 -3.18

Meghalaya 44.4 37.9 46.3 -14.64 22.16

Rajasthan 44.3 50.6 44.0 14.22 -13.04

Himachal Pradesh 43.7 43.6 36.2 -0.23 -16.97

Delhi 40.9 34.7 40.4 -15.16 16.43

Arunachal Pradesh 38.4 24.3 36.9 -36.72 51.85

Haryana 34.6 34.6 41.9 0.00 21.10

Goa 34.1 28.6 29.3 -16.13 2.45

Mizoram 28.4 27.7 21.6 -2.46 -22.02

Nagaland 27.5 24.1 29.7 -12.36 23.24

Kerala 27.0 26.9 28.8 -0.37 7.06

Manipur 26.8 27.5 23.8 2.61 -13.45

Source : Nair (2007) and last two columns are Author's estimates.

Note : *Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are not comparable over the period dueto the bifurcation of these into two States.

490 Nitin Tagade


Notes

1 Maharashtra came into being as a State on 1 May of 1960 as Marathi speaking areas fromthe then Bombay, Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad States.

2 The conceptual understanding of food security has remarkably changed from foodavailability to accessibility during the last three decades, i.e., from World Food Summit1974 to World Food Summit 1996. The World Food Summit (1996) defines food security as,“…when all people, at all time, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe andnutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active andhealthy life” (World Food Summit, 1996).

3 The districts are classified into six regions based on 61st NSSO survey instead ofadministrative regions because of comparability between various indicators. These are: 1.Coastal region consisting of six districts namely Thane, Mumbai Suburban, Mumbai, Raigarh,Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. 2. Inland Western region which comprises six districts viz., Pune,Ahmadnagar, Solapur, Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli. 3. Inland Northern region consists offour districts namely, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon and Nashik. 4. Inland Central regioncomprises eight districts viz., Nanded, Hingoli, Parbhani, Jalna, Aurangabad, Bid, Latur andOsmanabad. 5. Inland Eastern region constitutes seven districts namely Buldana, Akola,Washim, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur and Yavatmal, and 6. Eastern region comprises fourdistricts viz., Bhandara, Gondiya, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur.

4 The poverty estimates based on 55th NSSO round are not directly comparable to otherNSSO rounds because of the changes made in the recall method. In this round, theinformation on consumer expenditure was collected using 30 days and 365 days recallmethod, whereas, other rounds are based on 30 days recall method (see Deaton, 2005).

5 The concept of sustainability with respect to development, as defined by BruntlandCommission (1987), is ‘developments which satisfy the needs of present generation withoutcompromising the needs of future generation’. In the same way, sustainability of foodindicates a similar meaning, as the stability of food supply over the period will take careof the food security of one generation to other.

5 The concept of sustainability with respect to development, as defined by BruntlandCommission (1987), is ‘developments which satisfy the needs of present generation withoutcompromising the needs of future generation’. In the same way, sustainability of foodindicates a similar meaning, as the stability of food supply over the period will take careof the food security of one generation to other.

6 In the rural areas, around 61 per cent of the total workers were dependent on agricultureand allied activities for their livelihood in the early 1990s (Dev and Mungekar, 1996, p-A38);however, after accounting for main and marginal workers, about 83 per cent of the ruralpopulation was engaged in the primary sector as either cultivators or agricultural labourersin 1991, which slightly declined to about 81 per cent by 2001 (Deshpande et al 2007, p-423).

7 The availability of foodgrains has advantages over foodgrain production because it ismeasured based on the required food intake norm for the adult population. Adultpopulation is the population of 15 years of age and above, whereas population below 15years of age is the pre-adult or child population.

8 Per Capita Foodgrain Production has been estimated based on the proportion of totalfoodgrain production to total population in a given region. The size of population for



each year between two census years is derived using exponential method. In order toestimate Per Capita Foodgrain Availability across regions, the population of Mumbai Sub-urban and Gr. Bombay/Mumbai is excluded from the estimation because the populationin these districts does not depend on own produced foodgrains.

9 See Dhanagare (1992), Dyson and Maharatna (1992) and DHMJ Drought Forum (2008) fordetails on droughts in Maharashtra.

10 In India, the earliest attempt to define poverty line dates back to July 1962 by fixing it at` 20 MPCE to meet the minimum needs of life (Dandekar, 1981). It was further modified in1973-74 by the Task Force of Planning Commission (GoI, 1979). It estimated poverty line at` 49.19 for rural areas and ` 56.64 for urban areas based on MPCE at 1973-74 prices basedon calorie intake and adjusted for increase over time.

11 The NSSO has been conducting large scale surveys every five years on a regular basissince 1973-74 for collecting information on consumption expenditure, known as“Quinquennial Survey”.

12 The official poverty line for rural Maharashtra was ` 146.21, ` 334, ` 478 and for urbanMaharashtra ` 328.56, ` 539.71 and ` 637 for the period of 1993-94, 1999-00 and 2004-05,respectively.

13 Tendulkar Committee submitted its report on November 2009 to the Planning Commissionarguing that the existing poverty line needed to be enlarged, so as to mitigate the effectof changing food habits and increasing expenditure on private essential goods such aseducation and health services caused by declining subsidies (GoI, 2009). Since theCommittee has enlarged the scope of food basket including expenditure on health andeducation, the poverty ratio has increased substantially for India as well as across States,particularly in the rural areas because expenditure on education and health services hadnot been included in the then existing poverty line, due to the provision of Governmentsubsidies. However, with the changing role of Government after the implementation ofnew economic reforms, subsidies for various welfare schemes are being rolled backsystematically. The new poverty ratio for India has increased from 28.5 to 41.8 per cent inthe rural areas and declined marginally from 25.9 to 25.7 per cent in the urban areas. Thefigures for Maharashtra have increased substantially from 30 to 59.3 per cent for the ruralareas and 25.9 to 30.3 per cent for the urban areas (ibid., p-35, Table 2).

14 Green Revolution, despite being introduced in India during mid-1960s, took more than sixyears to record its adoption in Maharashtra (Deshpande et al 2007). Therefore, the periodbefore 1970-71 has been considered as a pre-GR period, while the coefficient of variancefor post-GR has been analysed for 1973-74 to 2005-06, because agricultural productionhas increased in the State with the adoption of new technology only after the shock ofthe drought in 1972-73.

15 The carrying capacity of land has been measured in Deshpande et al (2007) by mensurationof land over changes in the workforce burden on agricultural sector.

16 However, Sukhatme (1981) argues that environment variation is not the only cause ofunder-nutrition (p-1034).

17 Underweight is considered an indicator for both chronic and transitory malnutrition(Mortorell and Ho, 1984).

492 Nitin Tagade


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Edakkandi Meethal Reji*


* Assistant Professor, School of Management, Centurion University of Technology and Management,Paralakhemundi, At. P.O.R. Sitapur, Gajapati District, Odisha - 761211. E-mail. [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The study examines the extent of social mobilisation and access to financialservices to the poor through Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Odisha. The study covereda total of 15,339 SHGs in Ganjam, Gajapati and Puri districts of Odisha. It revealsthat SHG movement in the State has gained momentum with the introduction ofthe Mission Shakti programme. A large number of SHGs have been formed in thestudy districts by mobilisation of women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL)households. SHGs were instrumental in developing savings habit and gainingaccess to credit from formal financial institutions. However, the extent of savingsand credit is still at very low level. The study concludes that in order to make themovement a sustainable impact on its members the SHGs in the State requirehandholding support to strengthen their internal system and make them self-sustainable.

SOCIAL MOBILISATION, SAVINGSHABIT AND ACCESS TO CREDIT FORTHE POOR THROUGH SHGsIN ODISHA

Introduction

The Indian Self-Help Group (SHG)movement is one of the largest SHGmovements in the world with more than 3.5million SHGs helping nearly 49 million poorhouseholds to access sustainable financialservices (microfinance) from the formalbanking system in the country (Srinivasan,2008). Recent years have witnessed a markedshift in the growth of SHG movement in thecountry with emphasis on consolidation ofthe movement. Gaining strength from thesouthern region, the SHG movement is rapidlyspreading towards the central, eastern andnorth-eastern regions of the country asreflected in the microfinance penetrationindex (MPI) which shows the share ofmicrofinance clients with that of population

of the State. This shift in focus of SHGmovement in the country has greatersignificance, since a large number of poor areconcentrated in the central, eastern andnorth-eastern regions of the country. The SHGmovement in this region is expected tocontribute to the socio-economicdevelopment of a large number of poor.Recent data show that Odisha, one of thestates in eastern region has become oneamong the top five states in India in terms ofprogress of SHG-Bank linkage programmewith MPI of 2.0. The studies examining theSHG movement in the eastern region,especially with a focus on Odisha are verylimited. Perhaps, this may be due to the factthat SHG movement in this State is only ofrecent origin. In this context, it is importantto understand the progress and quality of the

496 Edakkandi Meethal Reji


SHG movement in this region. While most ofthe studies on SHG movement in the countryfocused on the southern region, the presentstudy tries to fill this gap in the literature andexamines the extent of social mobilisation,savings habit and accessibility to creditthrough SHGs in three districts of Odisha.

Background

Odisha, on the eastern coast of India,has a population of 36.71 million. Thescheduled tribe (ST) and scheduled caste (SC)population constitute 22.13 and 16.53 percent, respectively of the total Statepopulation; together they constitute 38.66per cent of the State population. This iscomparatively higher than the all India figuresof SC (16.20 per cent) and ST (8.19 per cent)population. There are over 62 tribal groupsliving in the State including 13 primitive tribalgroups. Considering the heavy concentrationof ST and SC population, 44.70 per cent ofthe total area has been declared asScheduled Area that grants specialconstitutional provisions for protection,development and governance of tribalcommunities. Despite being endowed withvast natural resources : 11 per cent of thecountry’s mineral deposits, forest cover, totalcultivable land of 65.59 lakh hectares; Odisharemains the poorest of 14 major Indian stateswith 47 per cent of its population livingbelow the poverty line. Often referred to asa land of plenty with poor outcomes, it isseen that the rich resources in the State havenot yet been properly harnessed to ensurerapid and sustained economic development.

A World Bank study conducted in 2006analyses the economic growth in Odishastating that, being the poorest State in 1990’s,Odisha is now a State on the move (WorldBank, 2006). Public expenditure oninfrastructure and private industrialinvestment has increased primarily with megaforeign and Indian investments in the steel

and power sector. While the report observesthat though the State finances and per capitaincome have improved remarkably, there isstill a great deal to be done. Between 1999/00 and 2004/05, based on NSS data estimatesusing ‘mixed reference period’, theproportion of people in poverty in ruralOdisha declined by 8 percentage pointscompared to 5 percentage points in ruralIndia as a whole. Despite this progress,however, the level of poverty in Odisharemains significantly higher than the rest ofIndia.

It is paradoxical that despite thisimpressive growth trajectory in the areas ofinfrastructural development and privateinvestment, Odisha continues to be a Statewith the lowest rate of urbanisation at 14.97per cent. This is only higher than Assam andBihar among the major States. Ruralelectrification in the State is the lowest inthe country. More than 47 per cent of itspopulation still live below the poverty line.In terms of its workforce, of the totalpopulation; 38.79 per cent constitute ofworkers of whom 67.2 per cent constitute ofmain workers and 32.8 per cent are marginalworkers. Women lag behind their malecounterparts in respect of workingpopulation. The proportion of male workerswas 53 per cent and female workers were25 per cent. Out of them, 24.1 per cent arecultivators, 14.7 per cent are agriculturallabourers and 25.6 per cent other workers.Majority of the workforce are still dependentupon the agricultural sector for employmentand poverty is starker in the face of thewomen. The State has been behind the restof the country on most indicators of humandevelopment as well. Its performance issimilar to that of some of the poorestcountries in the world. Amongst the 15 majorstates of India, the HDI for Odisha was thefifth lowest in 1981, fourth lowest in 1991,and again the fifth lowest in 2001, even


Social Mobilisation, Savings Habit and Access to Credit for the Poor ... 497

though the absolute value of the index hasincreased between 1981 and 2001 by 51.3per cent, albeit from a rather low level(Government of Odisha, 2004).

Being one of the poorest states in thecountry, the State government has initiated aunique programme called Mission Shakthi inthe year 2001. The programme aims atempowering the poor women by mobilisingthem into small groups consisting of 10-20members, developing savings habit andproviding access to credit through linkingthese groups with formal financial institutionsand helping them to start income generatingactivities. Under the Mission Shakthiprogramme, 387325 SHGs were formed witha total of 46.4 million women from poorfamilies. The programme is functional in all30 districts of the State. The SHGs under theMission Shakti programme had mobilised asavings of ` 2710 million and disbursed creditto the extent of ` 13678 million (Governmentof Odisha, 2008). This paper is prepared basedon the data collected for a study on ‘status ofself-help groups in Odisha’ supported by thedepartment of women and childdevelopment, government of Odisha in theyear 2008. The present study examines thesocial mobilisation of the poor, especiallywomen through SHGs and their access tosavings and credit from formal financialinstitutions.

Review of Literature

The concept of SHGs, SHG Bank Linkageprogramme, SHG performance andsustainability have been extensively studied(APMAS 2007; Bhatia, 2007; Harper, 2002

a

Harper 2007; Harper, 1998; Reji, 2009, Sinha2007; Wilson 2003,). The Self-Help Group(SHG) comprises people living in proximity,operating by sharing their own resources andcombined leverage for improving their livingcondition (Nath 1999). The formation of smallgroups consisting of 5-20 members is an

important element in the SHG process. Thesize of the group is restricted to small toensure group solidarity. Homogeneity interms of socio-economic conditions andlevels of living form the basis for groupformation. Periodical meetings on a weeklyor fortnightly basis, inculcating the habit ofthrift, creating common fund throughcontributing regular savings from themembers, on-lending to its members, availingof credit support from financial institutions,etc. are some of the aspects of the SHG’sfunctioning. The group formation differs withrespect to context, promoting agencies.Harper (2002

b) describes and compares the

two major group-based systems ofmicrofinance; the solidarity groups aspioneered by the Grameen Bank inBangladesh and the self-help groupspopularised by NABARD in India. The twomethods are compared in terms of theiroutreach, the costs and the institutionalimplications and arrived at a conclusion thatneither of the system is ‘better’ than the other,but they are very different. It is important toappreciate the differences and to choose thesystem which is appropriate for local clientand institutional realities. A national levelstudy conducted by NIRD (2004) observedthat SHG-system is designed in waysconducive to members' active participation,shared interest, responsibility and economicpotential. The SHGs were instrumental formobilisation of large number of poor intoself-selected and cohesive groups. The studyreports that majority (72 per cent) of SHGmembers belong to poor socio-economicstatus from marginalised communities –Scheduled Caste (SC), Other Backward Caste(OBC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST ). The SHGscreate a community structure that buildsmutual support and trust (Martin et al 2007).Once a group has been formed, the creditlink is established and the group meets on aregular basis, gradually the groups tend totake on a much wider social role. Gradually,



SHGs act as a tool for mobilising the poor toeffect wider social change. More precisely,the SHGs provide a forum in which peoplecan meet on a regular basis, discuss and sharevarious issues that the members face in theirday-to-day life, and finding solution to theseissues.

A variety of institutions involving NGOs,Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks,Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) take active rolein SHG formation and facilitating linkagebanking in the country. Members areencouraged to make voluntary savings on aregular basis. The savings are pooled in agroup fund that is used to make interestbearing loans to the SHG members. Throughthe process, members learn financialdiscipline and build a track record of financialprudence and credit history, as they handleamounts much beyond their individualcapacities. Access to credit through theprocess of group intermediation can be seenas the motivational factor behind theformation of large number of SHGs. It is wellestablished that the group approach equipsthe poor to access financial services from theformal banking system on easy terms andconditions (Choudhary et al 2003; Ghate 2006;Hossain 1988; Jackelen and Rhyne 2003,Narender and Vasimalai 2007; Reji,2009;Srinivasan 2008, Swaminathan 2007).

Several studies reveal that SHGs havethe potential that goes beyond mereeconomics of access to credit. The SHGs arerecognised as an effective tool forempowerment of poor, especially women.Evidence suggests that SHGs and relatedgroup process create an enablingenvironment for women’s empowerment(Chen, 1992; Khandkar and Pitt, 1996;Hashemi, 1996; Schuller, 1996; Shylendra,1999; Swain and Wallentin, 2009).

The literature examined consists of SHGmovement, SHG performance, role of SHGs

in social and financial intermediation and itsimpact on SHG members. The literaturereviewed suggests that SHGs are instrumentalfor large scale mobilisation of the poor (NIRD,2004; Sinha, 2007) and helping them todevelop savings habit and also to accesscredit from formal financial institutions(Choudhary et al 2003; Ghate 2006; Hossain1988; Jackelen and Rhyne, 2003; Narenderand Vasimalai, 2007; Srinivasan 2008,Swaminathan, 2007). SHGs are alsoinstrumental for bringing large scale impactin society through empowerment of the poor(Schuller, 1996; Shylendra, 1999). Most of theliterature on SHG movement in the country(Narender and Vasimalai, 2007; Choudhary etal 2003; Swaminathan 2007, Reji, 2009;Shylendra, 1999) is based on the experienceof the movement in the southern region. Thisis due to the fact that SHG movement in thecountry has first initiated from the southernregion and gained its strength from theexperience of more than two decades. Thehigh level of literacy coupled with highermobility of the people especially women inthe southern region also might have helpedthe movement to gain its strength in thisregion. It is to be noted that, in recent years,the SHG movement is rapidly spreading tothe central, eastern and north-eastern regionsof the country. The eastern region and thecentral region have a microfinancepenetration index (MPI) of 0.67 and 0.4respectively as against 2.44 for southernregion (Srinivasan, 2010).It is important tonote that Odisha, one of the states in theeastern region has become one among thetop five states in SHG bank linkage. Odishastood third in the top five states in terms ofmicrofinance penetration (Srinivasan, 2010).However, studies on SHG movement with afocus on eastern region; especially coveringOdisha are very limited. Even though someof the studies (APMAS,2007; Basu, 2006; NIRD,2004; NCAER, 2008; Sinha, 2007) had included



SHGs from the eastern region including theState of Odisha, the coverage is inadequate.

Research Questions and Objectives

As evidenced from the literature, theSHG movement in the country is graduallyspreading to the central and eastern regions.This shift in the spread of the SHG movementhas greater significance since a large numberof the poor are concentrated in the centraland north-eastern region of the country. Thisshift in focus is triggered by the intensecompetition among self-help promotinginstitutions as a result of entry of MFIs andthe focus of government policies regardingpromotion of self-help groups in the country.Recently, NABARD had identified 13 prioritystates and north-eastern region for giving afillip to microfinance activities. It is importantto note that the SHG movement in thecentral and north-eastern region is still in itsinitial stages as revealed by the low level ofmicrofinance penetration index (MPI). The SHGmovement in this region is expected tocontribute to the socio-economicdevelopment of the poor. It is important tounderstand the context of evolution of SHGsin the State, the categories of populationcovered under the SHGs and the role of SHGsin social and financial mobilisation. It is in thiscontext, a study on SHG movement in Odisha,where close to half of the population belongsto below poverty line (BPL) become relevant.The research questions addressed in thepresent study comprise i) How far the SHGmovement had helped in mobilisation of thepoor in the State of Odisha? ii) How far SHGsfacilitated access to financial services for thepoor? Based on the research questions asmentioned above, the present study seeksto i) understand the context of evolution andthe current status of SHGs in the State ofOdisha, ii) study the socio-economiccondition of the SHG members andiii) understand the extent to which the SHGshelped its members to develop savings habit

and access to credit from formal financialinstitutions.

Methodology

The study covered three districts of theState of Odisha. The districts under studycomprise Puri, Ganjam and Gajapati,purposively selected considering highconcentration of SHGs. The three districtstogether have 30337 SHGs with 204404members. The study covered 15,339 SHGswhich constitute half of the total SHGs inthese three districts. In each district, all theblock panchayats and Gram Panchayats arecovered under the study. The Puri districtconsists of 11 block panchayats, 230 GramPanchayats and 1714 villages. Of the 9000SHGs in Puri district, 5337 SHGs are includedin the study covering all the blocks, 216 GramPanchayats and 1576 villages. Similarly, 7300SHGs out of 17000 SHGs from Ganjam districtare included in the study covering all theblocks, 383 Gram Panchayats and 1019villages. A total of 2762 SHGs out of 4337SHGs from Gajapati district are included inthe study covering all the blocks and 125Gram Panchayats and 997 villages. Data werecollected from SHGs using a structuredinterview schedule. The interview schedulecontained details of SHGs, socio-economicdetails of members, savings mobilisation,access to credit and details of SHG banklinkage. Data were collected with the helpof enumerators. Anganwadi workers in eachvillage were recruited as enumerators for thestudy. Enumerators were given three daystraining in order to familiarise them with datacollection. Enumerators visited the respectiveSHGs in their villages and collected requiredinformation with the help of schedule fordata collection. Either the secretary or thepresident of the SHG was interviewed tocollect the data. The collected data wereverified and entered in worksheet forcompilation and further analysis to drawmeaningful conclusions.



Social Mobilisation Through SHGs

The SHG movement in Odisha is a directresult of the vibrant NGO sector in the State.The NGO sector in Odisha that gainedmomentum during the early 1980s, took aproactive role in promoting people’sorganisations and community centreddevelopment activities such as grain banks,seed banks, community fund, establishmentof village health committees and joint forestmanagement committees etc. NGOs playeda major role in addressing women issuesthrough mobilising them into Mahila Mandalsand facilitating savings in the form of kindand cash. Gradually, the SHGs movement hasbecome more popular during 1990 with theinitiative of National Bank for Agriculture andRural Development (NABARD) through itsSHG-Bank linkage programme. The entry ofNABARD in Odisha to support SHG activitiesin mid-nineties did encourage the bankersand NGOs to strengthen their SHGprogrammes. Soon after, the SHGs becamepopular in the State as a cost-effective creditdelivery system to the poor. Inspired by theSHG initiatives by the NABARD, a variety ofinstitutions involving Commercial Banks (CBs),Cooperatives, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) andNGOs took initiatives for SHG formation,training and capacity building and linkingthem with formal financial institutions in theState. SHGs emerged as a viable means forsocio-economic development of the ruralpoor, especially the women. Some of thenotable NGOs, like Adhikar in Khurda, DarbarSahitya Sansad in Puri, Antyodaya andParivartan in Kalahandi, Vikalpa in Bolangir,Sundargarh Zilla Mahila Parishad inSundargarh; MASS (Manav Adhikar SevaSamiti) in Sambalpur, Dhakota Yubak Sanghain Keonjhar, Samuha Vikash and Gania SishuRaija in Nayagarh took up SHG promotionseriously and linked them with banks. Apartfrom that, major donor agencies like UnitedNations Development Programme (UNDP),

Department of International Development(DFID), World Food Programme (WFP) andInternational Non-Government Organisationslike CARE, IGSSS (Indo German Social ServiceSociety), Action-Aid etc. are implementingprojects through the support of the localNGOs for promotion and strengthening ofSHGs.

One of the early efforts in large scalemobilisation of poor women into self-helpgroups in the State was initiated by Centrefor Development Research and Training(CENDERET), Bhubaneswar in the year 2000.The intervention was based on a study carriedout by CENDERET in the year 1997 on statusof women in Odisha to identify andunderstand the problems of women in theState. The study revealed that about 67 percent women depend on their family membersfor livelihood, only 17 per cent women ownland and 32 per cent have control over land;around 74 per cent women do not get wagesat par with males; 83 per cent were deprivedof getting education; 83 per cent women donot have freedom to go outside without thepermission of male family members; about42 per cent of the married women aretortured by their in-laws' family because ofnot fulfilling the demand of dowry etc.(CENDERET, 2004). The findings of the studyare the key issues for empowerment ofwomen in the State, which drew CENDERETinto some strategic plan of action for bringingperceptible changes in the living style andthinking process of women in Odisha throughan inter vention ‘Women Empowermentthrough Self Help’. The programme covered12 districts and formed 2949 SHGs with amembership of 39245 women from poorfamilies.

Till recently, the SHG movement in theState remained only as part of the NGOinitiatives. However, the SHG movement inthe State gathered momentum during early



2000 under the initiatives of Women andChild Development (WCD) Department, thelargest promoter of programmes for womenempowerment in the State. Two mainprogrammes, being run by the WCDDepartment are the Integrated ChildDevelopment Scheme (ICDS) and WomenDevelopment Programme ( WDP). ICDS isbeing run in all the 314 blocks in all the 30districts of the State addressing issues ofchild survival and safe motherhood,implemented through ‘Anganwadi Centres’ atthe village level.

With the introduction of Mission Shaktiprogramme in 2001, a structured approachto mobilisation of women has been initiatedin the State. Since then SHG approachremained the front runner in carrying forwardthe WCD Department’s vision and mission totake the services to the rural women. Theprogramme involves identification of poorfamilies through a state-wide sur vey,organising women from each identifiedfamily into small groups consisting of 15-20members, facilitating savings habit throughregular weekly savings, providing access tomembers by linking the groups with formalfinancial institutions. SHG federations areformed at village, block and district levelsacross all districts in the State. Under thethree-tier federal structure, the village levelSHGs are federated into Gram Panchayat (GP)level federations, the GP level federationsinto block level federations and finally, theblock level federations into district levelfederations. These federations play a criticalrole in mobilisation, linking of SHGs withfinancial institutions and sustainability ofSHGs. The primary purpose of federation ofSHGs is to ensure the sustainability of SHGs.The federations help the SHGs internalise alloperational costs and reduce cost ofpromoting new SHGs. Federations also buildsolidarity among SHG members by helpingthem see SHGs a part of larger organisation.Federations also help to resolve conflicts

between SHG members, between SHGs,between SHGs and banks.

WCD Department, with its massivereach and infrastructure in the State play asignificant role in the SHG movement in theState. Through Mission Shakti, it works in theareas of promotion, capacity building andenhancing marketing opportunities forwomen entrepreneurs so that they would beable to enhance their income generationopportunities. The Mission has an objectiveof empowering women through formationand promotion of over two lakh women SHGsand strengthening the already existing onesby providing capacity building support andfacilitating credit linkages for incomegeneration. One of the objectives of formingwomen self-help groups is to create anenabling environment for easy access tocredit for the poor people. The SHGfederations in the State have emerged as astrong link with commercial banks to channelfinancial services to the poor. The State LevelBankers’ Committee has chosen the MissionShakti as one of their valuable partners inchannelising microfinance in the State. It hasfixed Tuesday of ever y week as SHGtransaction day for banks where the SHGshave the privilege to make bankingtransactions. As on 2008-09, a total of 387327SHGs were formed with approximately 47million members. SHGs together havemobilised savings to the tune of ` 27, 106lakh. Out of the total groups, 275270 groups,nearly one-third have been credit linked andan amount of ` 12690 million has beendisbursed under the bank linkage programme(Government of Odisha, 2008).

Status of SHGs in the Study Area

There are 30337 SHGs in the threedistricts under study with a membership of2,04,404 (Table 1). A large number of SHGs(17000) are located in Ganjam districtfollowed by Puri (9000) and Gajapati (4337)



district. SHGs were promoted in all villages;on an average each village has three SHGs.The number of members in SHG varies from04-20 members with an average of 13 pergroup (Table 2). Half of the SHGs have agroup size between 11-15 members. Theremaining (each one-quarter of total groups)have a group size of 4-10 members and 16-20 members, respectively. Variation in groupsize is observed across the districts. Ascompared to Puri district, the size of thegroup is relatively small in Ganjam andGajapati districts. Nearly one-third (30 percent) of the groups in Ganjam and Gajapatidistricts have group size of 4-10 members

Table 1 : Details of SHGs in the Study Area

Particulars Puri Ganjam Gajapati TotalNo. of SHGs No. of SHGs No. of SHGs No. of SHGs

Number of SHGs 9000 17000 4337 30337

Number of Members 79109 90192 35103 204404

Average Groups per GP 24.7 17.13 22.09 21.31

Average Groups per Villages 3.39 4.01 2.33 3.24

SHGs covered in the study 5337 7300 2762 15399

Source : Field survey, 2008.

and nearly one-fifth (15- 20 per cent) of thegroups in these districts have the group sizeof 16-20 members; and close to half of thegroups with a group size of 11-15 members.While in Puri district only one-tenth (10 percent) of the groups have a group size of 4-10 members. Close to half the groups have11-15 members and the remaining 40 percent of the groups have 16-20 members.SHGs with more than 20 members is verynegligible (<1 per cent) in each of thedistricts. This difference in group size isobserved on account of scattered distributionof villages in Ganjam and Gajapati districts.Data reveal that a large number of SHGs were

Table 2 : Group Size

No. of % No. of % No. of % No. of %SHGs SHGs SHGs SHGs

4-10 587 11 2263 31 856 31 3706 24

11-15 2722 51 3942 54 1215 44 7879 51

16-20 1975 37 1095 15 552 20 3622 24

>20 53 01 0 00 138 05 191 01

Total 5337 100 7300 100 2762 100 15399 100




formed in recent years between 2004 and2007, especially after the launch of theMission Shakti programme. These SHGs werepromoted by various organisations includingGovernment agencies, NGOs and others.

Nearly half the SHGs (42 per cent) wereformed by Government agencies especiallyDistrict Rural Development Agency (DRDA)and Department of Women and ChildDevelopment (DWCD) (Table 3).

Table 3 : SHG Promoting Institutions

Promoting No. of % No. of % No. of % No. of %Agencies SHGs SHGs SHGs SHGs

Government 961 18 3650 50 1906 69 6517 42Agencies

NGOs 3095 58 1168 16 690 25 4953 32

Others 1281 24 2482 34 166 6 3929 26

Total 5337 100 7300 100 2762 100 15399 100


Socio-economic Profile of SHG Members

The SHGs under study constitutewomen members only. Table 4 providesdetails of the socio-economic condition ofthe members.

Age Category of Members : Majority ofthe members (46 per cent) belong to the agegroup of 30-39 years, followed by the agegroups of 40-49 years (26 per cent). SHGsput some restriction in membership to thosewho are above 50 years of age. Membersaged above 50 years constitute very less, only6 per cent of the total members. Members inthe age group of 50 - 60 are mainly widowsand separated women. Age composition ofSHG members is almost same with only littlevariation across the districts.

Caste Categories : Caste composition ofSHG members shows that more than one-third of the members (44 per cent) belongto general category; one-fifth (21 per cent)belong to Other Backward Castes (OBCs). TheScheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe(ST) members constitute 22 and 14 per cent,

respectively. Caste composition of themembers varies across the districts; inGajapati district, nearly 63 per cent of themembers belong to STs; whereas in Ganjamand Puri majority of the members belong toOBCs and General category, reflecting thegeneral caste composition of the districts. InGajapati nearly 60 per cent of the populationbelong to SC and STs.

Marital Status : Marital status ofmembers reveals that a great majority (84per cent) of the members are married;unmarried and widows each constitute 7 percent of the members.

Level of Education : Education level ofthe members is very low reflecting thegeneral literacy and education level of theState. About 60 per cent of the SHG membersare illiterate; members with primary andsecondary education constitute 23 and 12 percent, respectively. Only few, 5 per cent ofmembers received higher education.Education level of members varies acrossdistricts; the level of education is fairly betterin Puri district with almost 56 per cent of the



Table 4 : Socio-economic Profile of SHG Members

Particulars Puri Ganjam Gajapati Total

No. of % No. of % No. of % No. of %Members Members Members Members

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

I Age composition of members

15-19 1585 02 2705 03 1065 03 5355 03

20-29 11888 15 18031 20 11007 31 40926 20

30-39 35664 45 41471 46 16332 46 93468 46

40-49 23776 30 23440 26 6391 18 53607 26

>50 6340 08 4508 05 710 02 11558 06

Total 79254 100 90155 100 35505 100 204914 100

II Marital Status

Unmarried 4755 06 7212 08 2485 07 14453 07

Married 69744 88 73927 82 29469 83 173140 84

Widow 3963 05 8114 09 3195 09 15272 07

Divorcee 793 01 902 01 355 01 2049 01

Total 79254 100 90155 100 35505 100 204914 100

III Caste Categories

SC 18228 23 22539 25 3551 10 44318 22

ST 793 01 4508 05 22368 63 27668 14

OBC 25361 32 15326 17 2840 08 43528 21

General 34872 44 47782 53 6746 19 89400 44

Total 79254 100 90155 100 35505 100 204914 100

IV Level of Education

Primary 25361 32 14425 16 7456 21 47242 23

Secondary 14266 18 8114 09 1775 05 24155 12

High School 6340 08 2705 03 710 02 9755 05

Illiterate 33287 42 64912 72 25564 72 123762 60

Total 79254 100 90155 100 35505 100 204914 100

(Contd.)



members literate; while in Ganjam andGajapati districts almost 70 per cent of themembers are illiterate.

Occupation : A major share of the SHGmembers, 37 per cent are engaged inagriculture; and nearly 30 per cent areagriculture labourers. Construction labourersconstitute 20 per cent; the rest are engagedin micro-enterprises (10 per cent), service(2 per cent) and other occupation (1 percent). Distribution of members based onoccupation is almost similar in all districts withlittle variation.

Income : The income level of the SHGmembers shows that a majority of the SHGmembers (68 per cent) belong to BPL familywith monthly income less than `15000,

V Monthly Household Income

BPL Family 49930 63 60404 67 28049 79 138383 68

15000-25000 15058 19 22539 25 5681 16 43278 21

25000-35000 3170 04 4508 05 1065 03 8743 04

35000-50000 793 01 1803 02 355 01 2951 01

> 50000 10303 13 902 01 355 01 11560 06

Total 79254 100 90155 100 35505 100 204914 100

VI Occupation

Agriculture 34872 44 27047 30 13847 39 75765 37

Agriculture Labour 21399 27 29751 33 11007 31 62156 30

Construction Labour 11096 14 20736 23 8166 23 39997 20

Business 7925 10 9917 11 1775 05 19618 10

Service 2378 03 1803 02 710 02 4891 02

Others 1585 02 902 01 0 00 2487 01

Total 79254 100 90155 100 35505 100 204914 100


Table 4 : (Contd.)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

followed by the income category of `15000-25000 (21 per cent) and 25001-3500 (4 percent). Data reveal that nearly 80 per cent ofthe SHG members in Gajapati district belongto BPL families. Based on monthly familyincome, members in Ganjam district arebetter off compared to Gajapati and Puridistricts, with nearly 25 per cent belongingto a monthly income bracket of `15000-25000. Data reveal that SHGs in the districtslargely covered the poorest of the poor. It isalso found that non-poor are also included inthe groups but in less proportion, less than 6per cent of the total members.

Savings Mobilisation Through SHGs

One of the characteristic features of theSHG movement in the country is the



emphasis attached to developing savingshabit among its members. It is a conditionthat all members of the SHGs need to saveregularly with the group. Data reveal thatSHGs are instrumental in developing savingshabit among its members (Table 5). The SHGsfacilitate regular savings either weekly ormonthly savings. The savings amount iscollected at the time of group meetings. Allthe SHGs in the study area have openedsavings bank account with commercial bankor cooperative bank operating in their area.A portion of the members’ savings aredeposited in the bank. At the time of datacollection, the SHGs in the three districtstogether have a cumulative savings of ` 108million. The average yearly savings per SHGsvaries from ` 14200 in Gajapati district to` 24300 in Puri district. Among the districts,Ganjam had the highest savings mobilisationat ` 154.83 million followed by Puri districtat ` 129.95 million and Gajapati district at `39.26 million. The average savings per SHG ishighest in Puri district at ` 24348 followedby Ganjam district at ` 21209, while it is thelowest in Gajapati district (` 14214). It is tobe noted that data on average savings perSHG presented are confined to theoutstanding savings amount placed with thecommercial banks only. A portion of the

savings is used for on-lending to themembers. Since data are not collected, it isdifficult to precisely state the total amountof savings of the members. The actual savingsof the groups would be higher since theamount saved with the banks does not takeinto account savings used for internal lending.Data with regard to savings reveal that theoverall savings mobilisation by SHGs in thethe three districts under the study iscomparable with other states. The averagesavings per group among mainstream states(with atleast 25000 SHGs) was the highest inGujarat at ` 19410 followed by Uttarakhand,Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (Srinivasan,2008).

Credit Status of SHGs and Members’Access to Credit

The major source of fund of the SHGs isits member’s savings, grants and revolvingfund assistance received and loan under SHG-Bank linkage programme ( Table 6).

Internal Lending : SHGs provide smallloans to its members using savings amountcollected from members. SHGs in the threedistricts together provided an amount of` 296.6 million as internal loans to its

Table 5 : Savings Mobilisation

S.No. District No. of Total Cumulative AverageSHGs Members Group Savings Savings

(` Million) Amount perGroup (` )

1 Puri 5337 79254 129.95 24348.89

2 Ganjam 7300 90155 154.83 21209.59

3 Gajapati 2762 35505 39.26 14214.34

Overall 15399 204914 108.01 17014.09




members. SHGs in Puri district have thehighest amount of internal lending at` 123.06 million followed by Ganjam districtat ` 113.37 million and Gajapati district at` 60.17 million. The cumulative internal loanamount per member ranges from ` 1257 inGanjam to ` 1714 in Gajapati district.Members reported that small savings

accumulated over the years helps them toaccess small amount of loan from the groupsto meet urgent family requirements involvingpurchase of cloths, food items, treating illnessetc. Almost all the members have taken loans(internal lending based on amount of savings)for meeting consumption requirements.

Table 6 : Credit Access Through SHGs

S.No. District Cumulative Cumulative Average Average AverageAmount of Amount of Bank Loan Bank Loan InternalBank Loan Internal Loan Amount per Amount per Loan

Received by of SHGs SHG (`) Member (`) Amount PerSHGs (` In Million) Member (`)

(` In Million)

1 Puri 154.76 123.06 29000 1956 1556

2 Ganjam 177.42 113.37 24305 1967 1257

3 Gajapati 105.01 60.17 38021 4807 1714

Overall 437.19 296.60 30442 2910 1509


Bank- Linkage : SHGs also mobiliseresources under SHG Bank linkageprogramme. Under the SHG bank linkageprogramme the SHGs are eligible to avail ofbank loan from commercial/ cooperativebanks subject to satisfactory performance interms of internal resources, quality of internallending, and the overall performance of thegroups as revealed by the SHG gradingprocess. Data regarding status of SHG- Banklinkage reveals that nearly one-third of theSHGs (30 per cent) are linked to the banksand received loan under the bank linkageprogramme. The cumulative bank loanamount received by the SHGs in the districtsstood at ` 437.19 million. The loan amountunder the bank linkage programme is thehighest in Ganjam district at ` 177.42 millionfollowed by the groups in Puri district at` 154.76 million and Gajapati district at

` 105.01 million. While the average bank loanper SHG is highest in Gajapati district at` 38021 followed by Puri district at ` 29000and Ganjam district at ` 24305. A comparisonof the loan amount per SHG reveals that theloan amount per SHG (under SHG BankLinkage programmes) in the districts is lowerthan the national average of ` 44000 pergroup under normal SHGs and ` 48000 forSGSY groups (Srinivasan, 2008). The averagebank loan per SHG member is only ` 2910. Itis also found that the average loan amountper member is highest in Gajapati district at` 4807 followed by Ganjam district at ` 1967and Puri district at ` 1956. The membersshared that in the case of bank loan, theamount is divided among the membersbased on the requirement of the loan and isused for starting income generating activities(IGAs). The most common IGAs started by the



members constitute dairying, purchase ofgoat, leaf plate making, petty shops, sellingfirewoods, brooms and bamboo works. SHGscharge an interest of ` 2-3 for every ` 100translating an interest rate of 24-36 per centper year. In general these loans are providedfor a period of one year with repayment inmonthly/weekly instalments.

Data with regard to credit access showthat, nearly 30-40 per cent of SHG membershave not yet received any loan from thegroups. The SHG’s ability to provide credit toits members is constrained by the availabilityof resources with them. The Bank-Linkage islimited to only few SHGs. It is found that only30 per cent of the SHGs have received loansfrom banks under SHG-Bank Linkageprogramme. One major difficulty with banklinkage is that SHGs have to qualify for Banklinkage through a grading process. Many,especially recently formed SHGs were notable to attain the satisfactory grades; andsome of the SHG that obtained thesatisfactory grades are not yet linked to thebanks. A major constraint under bank linkageis that the absence of guidance andhandholding required for nurturing the SHGsin its initial stages. It is to be noted that mostof the SHGs linked with the banks werefacilitated by promoting NGOs confirmingthat the effective social/financialintermediation is attained only throughproper handholding of the SHGs in its initialstages. It is also observed that a number ofSHGs in the districts are in its initial years offormation, requiring handholding supportfrom a facilitating agency. Considering thegeneral low level of literacy and educationof the SHG members, they require the helpof a facilitating agency to develop the internalsystem and making the groups stable. Atpresent, the amount of credit received bySHG members is very less. The average loanamount per SHG under internal lending usinggroup fund constitutes only ` 20125, showingan average yearly loan per member of ` 1509.

Conclusion

The SHG movement in Odisha hasgained momentum with the introduction ofMission Shakti programme, in the year 2001.A major share of SHGs was formed byGovernment agencies. At the same timevarious Non-Governmental Organisations alsotook a lead role in facilitating the formationof SHGs as part of their programme. SHGs areinstrumental in mobilising women from poorfamilies and bringing them under anorganisational fold. A major share of SHGmembers belong to BPL families. More thanone-third of the members belong to STs andSCs. In general the groups maintained theirhomogeneity in terms of occupation, income,caste, level of education etc. SHGs wereinstrumental in developing savings habitamong the members. The cumulative savingsamount of the SHGs in three districts togetherstood at ` 108 million. The average yearlysavings per SHG varies from ` 14200 inGajapati district to ` 24300 in Puri district. Itis worth noting that the savings performanceof the groups is comparable with other stateswhere SHG movement is very strong. Themembers of the SHGs were able to avail ofsmall loans from the groups for meeting theirimmediate consumption loans. These loanswere provided by using a portion of thesavings of the members. The SHGs in thethree districts have together provided anamount of ` 296.6 million as internal loansto its members showing their ability toprovide credit access to its members. Datareveal that about one-third of the groupswere linked with banks under SHG-Banklinkage programme and availed of loans tothe tune of ` 437.19 million. Although theaverage bank loan per SHG is highest inGajapati district at ` 38021 followed by Puridistrict at ` 29000 and Ganjam district at` 24305, a comparison of the loan amountper SHG reveals that the loan amount perSHG (under SHG Bank Linkage programmes)



in the districts is lower than the nationalaverage of ` 44000 per group under normalSHGs and ̀ 48000 for SGSY groups (Srinivasan,2008).

The foregoing discussion reveals thatthe SHGs were instrumental for mobilising alarge number of poor into groups anddeveloping savings habit and gaining accessto credit from financial institutions includingcommercial banks and cooperatives. A largenumber of members (nearly 30-40 per cent)were yet to receive any loan except the smallloans from their group savings. SHGs' abilityto provide credit access to its members isconstrained by its ability to mobiliseresources. Even though the groups areinstrumental in bringing credit access tomembers, the quantum of credit is very lowcompared to the requirements of the poor.The cumulative per capita availability of creditis very low at the level of ` 500-1500 whichis insufficient to bring any significant change

in their family. Majority of the groups wereconstrained by the lack of availability offinancial resources required for on-lendingamong the members. Bank linkage is ofcrucial importance to mobilise financialresources. At present the bank linkage inmajority of SHGs is limited only to theopening of the bank account in the name ofthe group and depositing the member’ssavings with the bank. Over the years, onlyone-third of the groups were linked to banks.The bank linkage needs to be graduated to ahigher level, where the banks provide creditto these groups in multiples of the group’ssavings with the bank. One of the limitationsin the bank linkage is the weak internalsystem of the groups. Even though a fairshare of SHGs in the districts had overcomethe initial difficulties and survived over theyears attaining some level of stability, theseSHGs need further support for strengtheningtheir internal system.

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4. CENDERET (2004), Women Empowerment Through Self-help : A Case Study of CENDERETIntervention, CENDERET, Xavier Institute on Management, Bhubaneswar, (Unpublisheddocument).

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26. Srinivasan, N.(2008), Microfinance in India - State of the Sector Report, New Delhi, SagePublications.

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Mohammed Kasim C.*


* Research Scholar, Department of Applied Economics, Cochin University of Science and Technology,Cochin-682 022, Kerala. E-mail : [email protected]

This paper is dedicated to late Dr. J. Srinivasan, formerly Associate Professor, Department of Economics,School of Management, Pondicherry University, R.V. Nagar, Kalapet, Puducherry - 605 014.

ABSTRACT

The study attempts a comprehensive analysis of food security problem in Keralaby examining both supply side and demand side factors. On the supply side, trends infood availability in Kerala including domestic production, contribution of PublicDistribution System and the extent of external dependence are examined. On thedemand side, factors influencing the economic access to food are examined. Further,to analyse the utilisation component of food security, different outcome indicators inthe form of nutritional status of adults and children are also studied. The study revealsthat the agriculture sector in Kerala has undergone major structural changes byincreasing its area under commercial crops and reducing the area under food crops.As a result, food production in Kerala has declined. However, the efficient functioningof Public Distribution System (PDS) ensured food availability in the State. But the policychanges implemented by the Central government since libralisation had adverselyaffected the efficient functioning of PDS in Kerala and it ultimately resulted inincreased external dependence. However, economic access to food improved sinceper capita GSDP, real income, real wage and land entitlement have improvedconsistently. Nutritional status of men and women in the State is found to be betterand the incidence of under-nutrition among children has declined. Despite the highdeficit on the production front what helps the State to achieve better health indicatorsand lower incidence of poverty is the better economic status. High vulnerability incase of food availability in the State calls for a very urgent policy attention on theproduction front.

FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITIONIN KERALA : AN EXPLORATORYAPPROACH

Introduction

Food security has now become a morecomplex phenomenon than it was earlier.Decline in world foodgrain production dueto adverse weather conditions anddiversification of production in favour of oil

crops and high value commodities, alignedwith the rising demand for food and changesin consumer preferences, on the one handand inequality in distribution on the otherhave made the food security problem morecomplex to handle. Until the seventies foodavailability and stability were considered as

514 Mohammed Kasim C.


the major components of food security.During that time achieving self-sufficiency infood production and stability in productionand food prices were considered assynonymous to food security. But thisconventional wisdom of food security hasundergone changes after the pioneeringwork of Amartya Sen on ‘Food Entitlement’.According to him, “star vation is thecharacteristic of some people not havingenough to eat. It is not the characteristic ofthere being not enough food, while the lattercan be the cause of the former, it is but oneof many possible causes” (Sen, 1982). As heclearly put it, availability of food is only onefactor affecting food security or starvation. Hestated that food insecurity is not only causedby non-availability of food but also byentitlement failure. Entitlement failure refersto the inability of people to command foodthrough the legal means available in thesociety, including the use of productionpossibilities, trade opportunities, entitlementvis-a-vis the state, and other methods ofacquiring food (Sen, 1982). This approachstresses the importance of economicresources which provide a person somepurchasing power to access food. Hereafter,there was a shift in the literature as thestudies started analysing demand side factorsalso.

Hence, self-sufficiency at the nationallevel is not adequate to achieve food securityat the individual level. At the national levelfood security means availability of sufficientstock of food obtained from either domesticproduction or imports to meet domesticdemand. At the individual level, it means thatall members of the society have access tothe food they need, either from their ownproduction or from market or fromgovernment transfer mechanisms. Moreover,very recently, the concept has becomebroader when the world food programmepointed out that food security is a multi-

dimensional phenomenon that relates todemographic, nutritional, economic, andsocial causes (Misra, 2005).

Further, it is not enough that someoneis getting what appears to be an adequatequantity of food; if that person is unable tomake use of the food, he or she will bemalnourished (Broca, 2002). Hence,utilistation of available food is also important.Proper utilisation of food through clean waterand sanitation enhances nutritional status.Utilisation of available food is also affectedby non-food factors like medical attention,health care services, basic education, sanitaryarrangements, eradication of infectiousepidemics etc. Nutritional status is anoutcome measure of utilisation componentand it is affected by all these factors andtherefore, the utilisation component can beexamined by analysing the nutritional statusof children and adults.

Kerala, a major food deficit State in India,has been a main attraction to the economistsall over the world because of its peculiardevelopment experience. In spite of its poorperformance in both primary and secondarysectors, Kerala has been able to attain betterhuman development indicators. However,being a chronically food deficit State, the foodsecurity problem has ever remained apredominant socio-economic issue in Keralaand some earlier studies therefore, examinedthe different aspects of food securityproblem in Kerala.

George PS (1979) assessed theoperation of the public distribution systemof foodgrains in Kerala. He observed that theoperation of Public Distribution System (PDS)in Kerala created a dual market mechanismsince farmers sell paddy in the open marketafter meeting the levy requirements andconsumers buy grains from open market tosupplement quantity obtained from fair priceshops. The analysis reveals that the sale of


Food Security and Nutrition in Kerala : An Exploratory Approach 515

rice through ration shops is mainly affectedby supply constraints and sale of wheat isaffected by demand variables. Furthermore,ration rice accounted for a major share of therice consumption of lower income groups.The study also found that there was sufficientincome impact of public distribution systemof foodgrains to consumers than producers.Compared to direct cash transfer, rationingof foodgrains provided higher operationalefficiency and political feasibility.

Kumar S K (1979) studied the impact ofaccess to subsidised rice on levels of foodconsumption and nutritional intake and statususing household level data for six months in1974. The study reveals that the rice fromration shops contributed one-fifth of bothcalorie and protein in the household diet. Ifrice was not supplied through ration shops, anet decline in calorie and protein supplywould occur for the households since theyhave to purchase rice at higher prices fromopen market. The impact on demand andconsumption of ration rice availability isreflected in the higher marginal propensityto consume additional food from the subsidyincome. In addition to this, a positiverelationship between ration rice consumptionand nutritional status is also identified. On thewhole, the study found that there wassubstantial impact of subsidised rice oncalorie and protein intake and nutritionalstatus.

Kannan (2000) examined the State-assisted food security system in Kerala byreviewing its contribution to the foodavailability in the State. He finds a deficit inthe foodgrain production in Kerala since thereis wide gap between requirement and totalproduction of cereals, pulses and vegetables.The declining trend in food production andfood deficit are mainly because ofcommercialisation of agricultural production.The State could resolve this food deficitthrough effective and egalitarian functioning

of Public Distribution System in the State,which is characterised by universal access,and lack of urban bias. Analysing theoutcome of the food security measures, hereveals that State performs best in case ofindicators like life expectancy, infant mortality,nutritional status of children, and incidenceof poverty. However, the policy shifts ofCentral government during 1990s seem tothreaten the well established PublicDistribution System in Kerala. The restrainedavailability of subsidised food along with thealtered definition of “Below poverty line” willexclude number of households from thePublic Distribution System beneficiaries.Moreover, the recent hike in issue prices wasanother threat to the survival of PublicDistribution System in Kerala.

Suryanarayana (2001) examined theimplications of structural adjustmentprogramme of Central government for thefood security and social development inKerala. He observes that the highly subsidisedpublic distribution, which improved the percapita cereal consumption in the State, is notsustainable for fiscal reasons. The social costof this would be heavy since Kerala is a fooddeficit State. Moreover, the State also is notin a position to distribute food at subsidisedprice due to its own fiscal constraints.Therefore, he concludes that the social safetynets and human development in the State isin peril.

Ibrahim and Pramod (2006) examinedhow the policy changes introduced as a partof New Economic Policy affected the publicdistribution in Kerala. They argued that thepublic distribution system has played a crucialrole in ensuring food availability in the State.Implementation of New Economic Policy, witha view to reducing fiscal deficit, resulted inrising issue prices of foodgrains and theintroduction of Targeted Public DistributionSystem. The issue price became more or lesssimilar to open market price. Therefore, the



consumers have little incentive to make useof PDS. With the sub-division of beneficiariesinto two namely, Above Poverty Line (APL)and Below Poverty Line (BPL), thegovernment changed the entitlement froma per capita norm to family norm since onlyBPL families are provided food at subsidisedprice. As a result, there has been considerablefall in the total foodgrains distributed throughPDS. The per capita availability through PDSalso registered a declining trend. As a result,during post-liberalisation the contribution ofPDS to total food supply in Kerala hasdeclined consistently. This has resulted inincreasing open market dependence of theState.

Isacc and Ramkumar (2010) highlightedthe special efforts taken by the Keralagovernment to include all households inunorganised sector in BPL list. They criticallyexamined the Tendulkar Committee andSaxena Committee Reports. They argued thatthe use of poverty estimates provided byTendulkar Committee is likely to result inexclusion of many poor households from BPLlist. On the other hand, Saxena CommitteeReport would put many of the disadvantagedgroup on competition with generalpopulation for a place in BPL list. Further, sincethe maximum size of the BPL list is fixed inline with the estimates of poverty from NSSOsurveys, further expansion of criteria forautomatic inclusion is limited. However, toovercome these problems KeralaGovernment has adopted a Class approach,which automatically brings all households inthe unorganised sector into BPL list. With thisthe State expanded the welfare entitlementsto some more vulnerable households.However, the impact of these efforts on theofftake of food from PDS remainsunanswered.

It is clear from the above discussion thatearlier studies concentrated mainly on theavailability pattern, including trends in internal

production and contribution of PDS, itsfunctioning, impact of policy shift on thefunctioning of PDS and impact of access tosubsidised rice on consumption andnutritional status. Similarly, some of themmostly discussed the decline in fooddistribution through PDS because of policyshift and introduction of Targeted PublicDistribution System. But very recently therehas been a reverse trend, that is the foodgraindistribution through PDS started increasingmainly due to the special efforts made bythe State government to expand welfareentitlement to the vulnerable sections of thesociety like Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe,Fisherperson Households, labourers inunorganised sector etc. Further, they havehardly discussed the factors influencingeconomic access to food, a major componentof food security. Among the outcomemeasures of utilisation component, only thenutritional status of children is discussed,while the nutritional status of adults, whoconstitute working age people, is notadequately dealt with. Given the theoreticaldevelopment in case of food security, thepresent study works on the aforementionedlacuna by analysing three major componentsof food security, availability, economic accessand utilisation in Kerala.

Food Security-Concepts

Food security is a situation whereeverybody has sufficient and affordable food.The most cited definition of food security isgiven by World Bank, which defines foodsecurity “as access by all people at all timesto sufficient food for an active and healthylife”. In other words, it can be considered asenough food to supply the energy neededto live healthy, active and productive life.Food and Agriculture Organisation defines itas “ensuring that all people at all times haveboth physical and economic access to basicfood they need”. Statz defined food securityas “ability to assure on a long-term basis, that



the food system provides the total populationaccess to a timely, reliable and nutritionallyadequate supply of food”. Thus the, availablefood should be adequate in quantity as wellas quality to meet nutritional requirement.The concept food security mainly consists ofavailability of food, economic access to food,physical utalisation of food and vulnerability.Food Availability is defined as the availabilityof sufficient quantities of food suppliedthrough either domestic production orimports. Economic Access refers to thepurchasing power of an individual relative tomarket price of food. Alternatively, itrepresents adequate resources that enable aperson to secure food. Food Utilisation refersto absorption of food through adequate diet,clean water, sanitation and health care. Foodutilisation brings out the importance of non-food factors like nutrition practices, metabolicabsorption and intra-household distribution infood security. Vulnerability refers to instabilityin production and fluctuation in prices.Alternatively, it implies the risk involved withfall in income, decline in production and risein food prices.

Trends in Food Availability in Kerala

Food security on the supply side meanstotal availability of food in the economy.Availability of food depends on internalproduction and imports from surplus regionsand public distribution system. For aneconomy, it is necessary to ensure sustainableagricultural production and productivity tomeet the increasing demand for food. Whenthe internal production is sufficient to meetdomestic demand then the economy isconsidered self-sufficient in food production.Even then there may be food deficit regionswithin a self-sufficient economy. In such acase, inter-regional transfer of food can beimplemented. In India, Public DistributionSystem has been instrumental in distributingfood to deficit regions.

When the internal production does notmeet the domestic demand, there arises aneed to import food to meet the deficit inavailability. Being a chronically food deficitState, Kerala always depends on imports fromother states. Food production in the Statehas been decreasing against the increasingrequirement and it has never been sufficientto meet the domestic demand. There existsa wide gap between consumption andproduction of foodgrains in the State,especially in the case of rice, which is themajor staple food of the people in the State.The foodgrain deficit in the State is increasingannually and now it has reached a positionwhere it produced only 14 per cent of therequired rice in 2010. The deficit in riceproduction assumes greater importancebecause cereals account for more than halfof the intake of calories (64 per cent for ruraland 57 per cent for urban) and around halfof the intake of proteins (52 per cent for ruraland 48 per cent for urban) in Kerala (Kannan,2000).

The decline in food production has beenlargely due to commercialisation ofagriculture production. With more marketorientation, agricultural sector in the Statewitnessed steep decline in area undercultivation of food crops and increase in thearea under commercial crops like coconut andrubber. During post-Independence period theoverall production performance of crops inKerala has been largely influenced by theshifts in area under crops. Along with thesteep fall in the area recorded under the foodcrops like rice and tapioca, their productionlevels have sharply declined.

Commercialisation of Agriculture and ItsImpact on Food Production : Food productionin Kerala can broadly be divided into two,food crops and non-food crops. The ratio offood crop area to non-food crop area in theState in 1968- 69 was 64:36. It declined to



47:53 in 1995 and 44: 56 in 2004-05. Itreveals that the share of commercial crops inthe total cultivated area over years has beenincreasing. The extent of changes in area andits impact on food production can be seenfrom Table 1. It shows changes in area andproduction and their percentage variation ofimportant crops in Kerala from 1961-62 to2010-11. For rice, the area under cultivationdeclined from 753009 hectares in 1961-62to 598339 hectares in 2010-11, registering adecline of 68.92 per cent. Consequently, riceproduction registered a decline of 39.45 per

cent during the same period. For tapioca,major cereal substitute in Kerala, there was68.39 per cent decline in area and 56.01 percent decline in production. This kind of largedecline in production of tapioca has someimplications to food security in Kerala.Because, the shortfall in cereal consumptiondue to inadequate supply and high relativeprices to some extent was compensated bytapioca production and consumption,especially between 1961-62 and 1973-74(Suryanarayana, 2001).

Table 1 : Changes in Area and Production of ImportantCrops in Kerala From 1961-62 to 2009-10

Important Crops Area (Hectares) Production (Metric Tonnes)

1961-62 2009-10 % variation 1961-62 2009-10 % variation

Rice 753009 234013 -68.92 988150 598339 -39.45

Tapioca 236776 74856 -68.39 1618713 2525383 56.01

Pulses 43546 4449 -89.78 16889 3390 -79.93

Pepper 99887 171489 71.68 26550 37899 42.75

Cashewnut 5501 48972 790.24 84449 36450 -56.84

Ginger 12050 5408 -55.12 11185 28605 155.74

Tea 37426 36840 -1.57 37428 57809 54.45

Rubber 133133 525408 294.65 24589 745510 2931.88

Areacanut 56764 99219 74.79 809.1 127893 15706.8

Coffee 18807 84796 350.87 8145 59250 627.44

Coconut* 505035 778619 54.17 3247 5667 74.53

* Production in million nuts.

Source: Economic Review, State Planning Board, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Various Issues.

Moreover, pulses also registered 76 percent decline in area and 53 per cent inproduction. All the important food cropsregistered a greater fall in production along

with their cultivated area. On the other hand,major commercial crops registered increasingtrend in area and production. Among these,the performance of rubber seems to be



outstanding since its area increased by294.65 per cent and production by 2931.88per cent. Coconut registered 54.17 per centrise in area and 74.53 per cent in production.Coffee, pepper and areacanut are othercommercial crops which registered a rise inboth area and production. However, tea andginger registered a decline in area and risein production. The area under cashewnutdeclined and its production increased.Therefore, along with declining foodproduction the food deficit in the State hasbeen increasing largely.

Food Deficit in Kerala : Due to the poorperformance of major foodgrains (reason) inthe production front, Kerala has been muchvulnerable in case of food availability. As wehave already seen that the decline in the areaunder foodgrains was the major reason forthe poor performance of the foodgrains.Furthermore, Kannan and Pushpangadhan(1988) attributed the agriculture stagnationin Kerala to the inadequate public investment

in land development policies such as soilconservation and consolidation of landholdingand also to the prioritisation of large irrigationdams instead of the much required minorirrigation policies such as flood controlmeasures, timely supply of water etc. Alongwith the increasing population, the total foodrequirement in the State has been increasing.Among foodgrains, rice dominates in case ofproduction as well as consumption patterns.Table 2 shows the extent of deficit in riceproduction in the State. As the data show, thenet availability of rice from internalproduction has been falling against theincreasing requirement. Net availability ofrice in the State declined from 1198 thousandtonnes in1975-76 to 538.3 thousand tonnesin 2010. While, on the other side, the totalrequirement in the State have increased from2726 thousand tonnes to 3903 thousandtonnes during the same period. This shortagein production further widened the gap offood deficit in the State.

Table 2 : Estimated Rice Requirement, Internal Availabilityand Supply Gap in Kerala ( in 1000 tonnes)

Year Estimated Availability Net Estimated Estimated PercentagePopulation from Internal Availability Requirement Deficit Deficit

Production

1975-76 233.1 1331 1198 2726 1528 56

1980-81 254.53 1272 1145 2977 1832 62

1985-86 272.15 1173 1056 3183 2127 67

1990-91 290.99 1087 978 3403 2425 71

1995-96 309.65 953 858 3621 2763 76

2000-01 318.65 751 676 3725 3049 82

2005-06 332.65 700 567 3888.67 3321.6 85

2010-11 333.87 598.3 538.3 3903 3364 86

Source : Economic Review, State Planning Board, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Various Issues.

Statistics for Planning, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Various Issues.



Public Distribution System and Accessto Food : Public Distribution System in Keralahad played a major role in ensuring theavailability of food in the State by distributingselected essential commodities at subsidisedprices. The commodities distributed underPDS include rice, wheat, sugar and kerosine.The rationing mechanism of PDS therefore,entitles a household to these essentialcommodities. PDS in the State has a universalcoverage as 97 per cent of the householdsare issued ration cards. As a result, there wasconsiderable increase in the distribution offoodgrains through PDS in the State. Ricedistribution increased from 906 tonnes in1965 to 1063 in 1981. It further increased to1649 tonnes in 1990.

The policy shift at Centre since 1991,which aimed to reduce the fiscal deficit, hadaffected the functioning of PDS in the State.As a part of structural reforms introduced in1991, Central government started reducing

food subsidies. Furthermore, the introductionof Targeted Public Distribution System in1997 divided the beneficiaries into twocategories, Above Poverty line (APL) andBelow Poverty line (BPL). The policy is thatBPL families received fixed quantitiesof foodgrains per month at subsidised price(` 6.20) while APL families received food athigher price (` 10), which is more or lesssame to open market price. This was done totarget the poor families and also to recoverthe cost of procurement through sale to APLfamilies at higher prices. APL familiesconstitute almost seventy per cent of rationcardholders in 2008. The higher price of APLgrains, that is more or less same to openmarket price, coupled with poor quality ofPDS foodgrains forced a large number of APLhouseholds to shift to open market forfoodgrain purchase (Isaac and Ramkumar,2010). It resulted in a sharp decline in offtakeof PDS foodgrains by APL families, which inturn resulted in declining trend in total

Table 3 : Public Distribution of Rice, Wheat and TotalFoodgrains in Kerala (Thousand tonnes)

Year Public Distribution Public Distribution Public Distributionof Rice of Wheat of Total Foodgrains

1992 1804 205 2009

1994 1153 292 1445

1996 1404 492 1896

1998 1640 458 2098

2000 657 64 721

2002 328 125 453

2004 578 253 831

2006 729 292 921

2008 859 202.6 1061.6

2010 1013.9 172.2 1186.1




distribution of food through PDS in Kerala upto 2002 during the post-liberalisation period( Table 3). The public distribution of ricedeclined sharply from 1640 thousand tonnesin 1998 to 657 thousand tonnes in 2002.

Table 4 illustrates the role played byPDS in total food supply in Kerala and howthe policy shift has affected its functioning.In 1992, PDS contributed 52 per cent of totalrice requirement. The internal productionaccounted for only 28 per cent of total rice

requirement. Only for about 20 per cent oftotal requirement, the State had to dependon other States like Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc. In 2000, theshare of PDS declined to 17 per cent. Thismarked decline in PDS contribution in foodsupply, led to an increase in externaldependence for foodgrains. Along with thedeclining share of PDS in total food supply,the extent of external dependence also hasbeen increasing. It increased to 37 per centin 1996 and 75 per cent in 2002.

Table 4 : Rice Requirement, Internal Production and PDS Contribution (Thousand tonnes)

Year Rice Internal PDS DependenceRequirement Production Contribution On Other States

1971 2496 1168 737 591(100) (47) (29.5) (23.5)

1981 2977 1145 1063 769(100) (38.5) (35.5) (26)

1992 3445 954 1084 687(100) (28) (52) (20)

1994 3532 930 1153 1449(100) (26) (33) (41)

1996 3621 858 4104 1359(100) (24) (39) (37)

1998 3705 688 1640 1377(100) (18) (44) (38)

2000 3773 694 621 2458(100) (18) (17) (65)

2002 3820 633 328 2859(100) (17) (8) (75)

2005 3888.6 567 597 2724.6(100) (14.5) (15.5) (70)

2010 3903 538.3 1014 2350.6(100) (14) (26) (60)

Source : Economic Reviews, State Planning Board, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, VariousIssues.



However, thereafter the distribution ofrice started increasing significantly anddistribution of wheat increased slightly. Therecent increase is mainly due to theexpansion of welfare entitlements in theform of subsidised foodgrains to some morepoor sections of the society through thespecial efforts made by the Keralagovernment to include vulnerable sectionsof the society in BPL list. In 2006 Keralagovernment reduced price of PDS foodgrainsby giving subsidy. Rice was distributed at `3.0 per kg for BPL families and ` 8.90 per kgfor APL families and wheat was distributedat ` 3.0 per kg for BPL families and ` 6.70per kg for APL families.

The efforts of the Kerala governmentto include more households in BPL list startedwhen the Central government’s narrowdefinition of BPL households based on percapita monetary expenditure provided anestimate of 10.2 lakh BPL households inKerala for year 2001. To overcome thisproblem, government of Kerala used a surveyconducted by Rural DevelopmentDepartment in 1993-94 to fix the number ofBPL households as 20 lakh which wascontinued even after 2001. However, despitethis, many vulnerable sections of the societywere still treated as APL. For instance, about60 per cent of the fisherperson householdsand about 40 per cent of the Dalit andAdivasi households were treated as APL.

Therefore, the State governmentadopted a broader approach. In 2009-10budget, besides BPL/AAY households, it wasdecided to distribute foodgrains at the rateof ` 2.0 per kg to the families of APL SC andST, Fishermen and Ashraya from May 2009onwards. This increased the number of BPLhouseholds from 20 to 26 lakh. The Stategovernment had to incur an additional costof 195.5 crore in 2009-10 to implement thisprogramme. In 2010-11 the State governmentdecided to include agricultural labourer

households and labourer householdsbelonging to traditional industry like coir,beedi, cashew, etc. Besides these, thoselabourers who have worked for 50 daysunder National Employment GuaranteeScheme and Endosulfan victims wereconsidered to be the beneficiaries of thisscheme. Out of the ` 245 crore provided forthis scheme, ` 182.74 was spent up toDecember 2010. Instead of expenditurebased definition of BPL, in June 2010, Keralagovernment decided to follow a class basedapproach to extend the scheme ofdistributing foodgrains at the rate of ` 2.0per kg to the families of the persons workingin the unorganised sector. As per thisapproach, it was decided to include allworkers and petty producers in theunorganised sectors coming under 22 morenew categories such as traditional goldsmith,tile company workers, lottery workers, toddyworkers etc. There was no strict definition ofBPL category, rather the criterion was that allthe households coming under these classeswere entitled to the subsidised foodirrespective of their APL/BPL status. As aresult, the number of households entitled tosubsidised food in Kerala increased to 35 lakh,which constitute about 42 per cent of totalhouseholds in the State by the end of 2010(Isaac and Ramkumar, 2010). With theextended coverage of subsidised foodgrainsupplied through PDS, the total offtake offoodgrains from PDS has been on increasefrom 2002 onwards, this trend is moreevident in case of rice, the staple food ofKerala (Table 3).

Besides this, the two special schemesnamely, Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme(AAY) and Annapoorna scheme were alsofunctioning well which ultimately resulted inan increase in offtake of foodgrains from PDS.The percentage offtake against actualallotment under AAY has always been morethan 70. Antyodaya Anna Yojana Scheme



(AAY) was introduced in February 2001 todistribute 35 kg of rice at ` 3.0 per kg to thepoorest of the poor families under BPLscheme per month. At the initial stageGovernment of India fixed the number ofbeneficiaries under this scheme as 238200families. Later, as a part of tribal welfaremeasures all the eligible tribal families havebeen included under the scheme. During2003, Government of India decided toenhance the number of beneficiaries to357400. Again, as a third phase of expansionGovernment of India has enhanced the tagetto 595800 families. Now Government ofIndia is allotting 20855 MTs of rice per monthat the rate of ` 3 per kg. Due to the increasednumber of beneficiaries and high degree ofutilisation (about 70 per cent), the AAY riceofftake from PDS has been increasing overlast few years. The AAY rice offtake increasedfrom 1.00 lakh metric tonnes in 2002-03 to1.58 00 lakh metric tonnes in 2004-05 andfurther to 2.49 lakh in 2010-11. Annapoornascheme was introduced since February 2001for distributing foodgrains to destituteindividuals of and above the age of 65 years10 kg of rice per month free of cost. TheGovernment of India fixed the target as44980 individuals. From 2002-03 onwardsthe scheme was transferred to the Stategovernment on a cost sharing basis. However,under Annapoorna scheme the percentageofftake against actual allotment has beenbetween 60 and 70.

Fur ther, in January 2011, Keralagovernment approved the scheme forproviding foodgrains at ` 2.0 per kg to allcard holders subject to certain conditions. Asper this scheme all families having less than2.5 acres of land, and whose monthly incomeis less than ` 25000, per month and alsohaving a house less than 25000 square feetarea are entitled to the provision of foodgrains(rice and wheat) at ` 2 per kg. In September2011 the scheme of issuing rice at ` 1.0 per

kg was implemented. As per this scheme, allAAY cardholders will get 35 kg. of rice permonth at ` 1.0 per month and all BPL cardholders other than AAY beneficiaries will get25 kg. of rice per month at ` 1.0 per Kg. Theinmates of Government approved orphanageswill also get rice at ` 1.0 per kg per month.Now about 14.62 lakh families receive riceat ` 1.0 per month and wheat ` 2.0 per monthand about 42.8 lakh families receive bothrice and wheat at ` 2.0 per month. Thus, thetotal number of families getting subsidisedfoodgrains in Kerala has now increased to57.42 lakh families. The subsidy amountrequired for distributing foodgrains ataforesaid rates accounted for ` 679,45.02lakh per month.

As a result, the extent of externaldependence declined from 75 per cent in2002 to 60 per cent in 2010. This trendindicates that still there is scope for revivinguniversal PDS in Kerala because with anextended provision of subsidised food, theofftake of foodgrains has been increasing.However, the fiscal constraints of the Stategovernment make further expansion difficult.Very recently, the Draft of the Food SecurityBill prepared by National Advisory Council ispublished and gives a mixed picture for thefood security problem in Kerala. Firstly theact guarantees that at least 75 per cent ofthe country’s population (90 per cent in ruralareas and 50 per cent in urban areas) will beprovided subsidised food. Based on thegeneral division of population into threecategories namely, priority, general andexcluded the food entitlement is sub-dividedinto three categories. The priority households(46 per cent in rural areas and 28 per centin urban areas) will be provided 35 kg(equivalent to 7 kg per person) of rice at ` 3and wheat at ` 2. The general households(44 per cent in rural areas and 22 per centin urban areas) will be provided 20 kg(equivalent to 4 kg per person) of rice at ` 3



and wheat at ` 2. The third group excluded(10 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban)will be totally delinked from the ambit of PDS.

As far as Kerala is concerned, somemore APL households will be brought underthe umbrella of subsidised food because theAPL households constitute about 70 per centof total card holders. However, the inclusionand exclusion depend on the criteria decidedby the Central government with somediscretion to State government. Only the SThouseholds are guaranteed the right ofautomatic inclusion in the priority list. Allother vulnerable groups includinghouseholds in unorganised sector, if theycome under excluded list, will be excludedfrom the ambit of PDS. Thus, the approach ofautomatic inclusion of many vulnerablegroups adopted by Kerala Government toexpand welfare entitlements will be in peril.Thus, the State has to make sure that eligiblehouseholds are included in the priority andgeneral list because any criteria adopted bythe Central government at the national levelis likely to exclude many of the vulnerablehouseholds due to the low incidence ofpoverty in Kerala.

Factors Influencing EconomicAccess to Food

Economic access to food refers to theability of household to secure food atreasonable price. If an individual does nothave enough purchasing power he cannotaccess food. Economic access therefore,includes adequate purchasing power inrelation to price of food in the market place.Sen’s entitlement approach stresses thesignificance of adequate resources(entitlement) which enables a person toacquire food. In a private ownership marketeconomy, food entitlement depends on fourelements. (a) production based elementswhich depend on ownership of productiveassets like land (b) trade based elements

which depend on the market prices of food,(c) household based entitlement whichdepends on the productivity and theopportunity cost of labour power which isrepresented by the wage rate (d) inheritanceand transfer based entitlements whichinclude relief and subsidies obtained from thegovernment (Hossain et al, 2005). This sectiongives an analysis of these factors.

Growth of Income : Income is the mainsource of economic access to food. Table 5reveals that per capita gross state domesticproduct in Kerala has increased at bothcurrent and constant prices. After 1980, thevalues increased at high rate. Here weconsider the values of per capita GSDP atconstant price since it is adjusted for pricechanges. The per capita GSDP at constantprice was ` 308.5 in 1968-69. It increased to` 52984 rupees in 2009-10. Earlier, the percapita GDP of Kerala was below the per capitaGDP of the India till beginning of 1990 andcrossed per capita GDP of India by the endof 1990s.

To examine economic access to foodTyagi (1990) employs two criteria(1) proportion of per capita income requiredto buy a unit of food and (2) relative increasein per capita income at current prices andprices of items in the food basket. By the firstcriterion if there is a decline in the proportionof per capita income required to buy a unitof food, we can infer that the economicaccess to food has improved. By this criterion,there has been an improvement in economicaccess to food in Kerala. The proportion ofper capita income required to buy a quintalof rice declined from 22.6 per cent in 1980to 13.66 per cent in 1990. It further declinedto 4.4 per cent in 2006-07. By the secondcriterion, also there has been improvementin economic access since the increase in percapita income at current price has beenhigher than the increase in the price indexof food. Between 1980 and 1990, Kerala’s per



Table 5 : Per Capita Gross Domestic Product of India andKerala at Current and Constant Prices (in ` crore)

Year Per capita GDP of Per capita GDP Per capita GDP Per capita GDPIndia At Current Prices of India at of Kerala at of Kerala at

Constant Prices Current Prices Constant Prices

1960-61 306 306 265 Na

1971-72 645 316 579 290

1974-75 989 343 861 307

1980-81 1333 663 1312 590

1984-85 2344 772 2196 645

1990-91 4974 2227 3843 1802

1995-96 9321 2573 8007 2353

2000-01 16707 10306 19463 10627

2005-06 25716 20734 35602 31438

2009-10 50157 38155 67312 52984


capita income at current price increased by153.9 per cent. Whereas price index of foodincreased by 116.4 per cent. Likewisebetween 2003 and 2007 the per capitaincome at current price increased by 24.61per cent. While price index of food rose byonly 16.23 per cent. All these signify thatthere has been improvement in economicaccess to food in Kerala.

The improvement in economic accesscan also be analysed by examining themonthly per capita consumer expenditure.Expenditures are better representation thanincome of total households, becausehouseholds typically try to smoothconsumption over time (James et al, 1999).Thus, we also use estimate of consumerexpenditure as a measure of economic well-being. Table 6 shows that the monthly percapita expenditure has been on increase forboth rural and urban areas. Further, average

monthly per capita expenditure in Kerala forboth urban and rural areas has been higherthan the national average since 1983-84 andthe disparity between these two increasedover time (Table 6).

This improvement in economic accessin Kerala has been mainly due to the foreignremittances sent by International migrantsfrom Kerala, especially in Gulf countries. Themigration was facilitated by the social andhuman development that Kerala achievedthrough high interventionist public policiesin public health and education and therebyimproving the capabilities of the people. In2003, total remittances formed about 22 percent of Net State Domestic Product of Keralaand 30 per cent more than the State’s annualrevenue receipts (Zachariah and IrudayaRajan, 2007). In 2003, the total remittancesaccounted for ` 18,465 crore, the inflow ofsuch an amount on annual basis to Kerala



Table 6 : Trends in Average Monthly Per capita Expenditure in Various NSS Rounds

Rural Urban

Year Kerala India % Variation Kerala India % Variationof Kerala over of Kerala

India over India

1983-84 (38th ) 145.44 112.31 29.5 179.81 165.8 8.4

1987-88(43rd) 211.47 158.1 33.8 266.81 249.93 6.8

1990-91(46th) 261.85 202.12 29.5 369.36 317.75 16.2

1993-94(50th) 390.4 281.6 38.6 493.5 457.7 7.8

1999-00(55th) 765.71 486 57.5 932 855 9

2000-01(56th) 841.31 494.91 70 1203.65 914.58 31.6

2002-03(58th) 881 530.74 66 1266.64 1011.94 25.2

2004-05(61st) 1013.15 558.73 81.3 1290.89 1052.36 22.7

2005-06(62nd) 1055.61 624.53 69 1565.59 1170.6 33.7

2006-07(63rd) 1250 695 80 1681 1321 28.1

2007-08(64th) 1383 772 79.1 1948 1472 32.3


certainly has an impact on Kerala Economy.` 18, 465 crore per year distributed amongthe 32.5 million persons of Kerala could giveeach person ` 5680 per year or ` 473 permonth sufficient to buy at least one kg ofrice per day per person (Kerala DevelopmentReport, 2008). In 2006-07, the inflow offoreign remittances to Kerala accounted forabout ` 24.525 thousand crore, increasingthe State domestic product by 20 per cent.This noteworthy contribution of remittancesenhanced the purchasing power of thepeople in Kerala and enabled them topurchase food even at higher prices.

Entitlement of Land : To produce foodfor own consumption, access to land isessential. The entitlement of food based onhousehold’s own production would therefore,depend on access to land. Table 6 shows

changes in the distribution of landholding andTable 7 shows the changes in the structureof landholding. Data given in Table 6 revealthat the total number of operational holdingsincreased from 5418 thousand in 1990-91 to6299 thousand in 1995-96. The value furtherrose to 6657 thousand in 2000-01. Between1990-91 and 2000-01, there was an increaseof 22.86 per cent. Data show growingdivision of landholding rather thanconcentration. The number of operationalholdings under marginal size class who holdless than one hectare has been increasing.On the other hand, the number of operationalholdings under medium and large size hasbeen on decline. The increase in total numberof operational holdings reveals that morehouseholds are brought under operationalholding thereby the number of people whohave access to land has increased.



Table 7 shows that area operated bysmall firms increased and area operated bylarge firms decreased. Therefore, lands wereredistributed from large firms to small firms.The trend was mainly because of two factors.Firstly, there has been growing sub-divisionof agricultural holdings partly due to the

growth of rural population. Secondly, in Keralawhere ceiling legislation was effectivelyintroduced, large agricultural holdings weredivided and redistributed. Therefore, theincrease in number of marginal firms andtheir operated area reveal that more ruralhouseholds were provided agricultural land.

Table 7: Changes in the Structure of Landholding

1990-91 1995-96 2000-01

Category of Area Average Area Average Area Averagelandholding Operated Operational Operated Operational Operated Operational

Holding Holding Holding

Marginal 865 0.17 912 0.15 883 0.14(less than1ha) (48.16) (53.27) (56.27)

Small 383 1.36 350 1.34 300 1.32(1 to 2 ha) (21.32) (20.44) (19.1)

Semi-medium 255 244 191(2 to 4 ha) (14.19) 2.60 (14.25) 2.54 (12.17) 2.52

Medium 114 104 85 5.29(4 to 10 ha) 6.34 5.42 (6.07) 5.20 (5.4)

Large 10 ha 178 102 112& above (9.91) 59.33 (5.95) 34.00 (7.13) 40.93

All 1796 1712 1569(100) 0.33 (100) 0.27 (100) 0.24

Source : Agricultural statistics, agricultural census division, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi,Various Issues.

Note : Figures in the parentheses indicate the percentage of respective column total toall area operated.

However, the increase in number ofholdings of marginal farms and their operatedarea have greater implication to food security.Holding of this group was below one hectare.Moreover, the average holding of marginalfarms who occupy significant share of totalholding has been very low and also declining.In 1991, it was 0.17 hectare and it declinedto 0.14 hectare in 2000-01, which cannot bea significant source of food production or

income. These households cannot producesufficient food given small holdings anduncertainties in agricultural production. Thesepeople would need to purchase food fromthe market to cover deficit from thehousehold based production.

Therefore, these functionally landlesspeople would depend heavily on sellinglabour in both agricultural and



non-agricultural labour markets for theirlivelihoods. Access to food for these peopledepends on the trade based entitlementrelationship thereby on the wage rate andprices and their fluctuations in the market.The next section deals with the trends in realwage rate of rural labourers and prices ofessential commodities.

Trends in Real Wages of Rural Workers:Real wage of rural workers is a good indicatoroften used to assess the changes in theirliving conditions. The use of the cost of livingindex for deflating the nominal wage ratemay not be appropriate in view of thesubstantial larger share of foodgrains in theconsumption bundle of the poor people ascompared to urban population. In 1990-91the share of food expenditure in totalexpenditure for rural households in Keralawas 63.29 per cent. For urban households, itwas 49.6 per cent. In 2002-03, the respectivevalues were 50.23 and 40.25 per cent. Thehigher share of food expenditure in totalexpenditure for rural households when

compared to urban households indicates thatany general price index will be inappropriateto deflate the nominal wage rate. In suchcase, a food price index will be appropriateto absorb the change in purchasing powerresulted out of price changes. Hence, herewe choose the index number of foodgrainsfor agricultural labourers to deflate thenominal wage rate.

Table 8 presents the nominal wage rateand real wage rate of both skilled andunskilled rural workers. There are twocategories under skilled, carpenter andmason. Usually skilled workers get higherwage as shown in the Table. On the otherhand, unskilled rural workers get onlycomparatively low nominal wage. Data showthat the nominal wage rate for all workersfind increasing trend over time. During lastdecade, nominal wage rate of carpenterincreased by 94 per cent and that of masonincreased by 95 per cent. In case of maleand female unskilled workers nominal wagerate more than doubled.

Table 8 : Trends in Real Wages of Rural Workers

Nominal Wage Rate (`) CPIL Real WageDeflator

Year Skilled Unskilled Skilled UnskilledWorkers Workers Workers Workers

Carpenter Mason Male Female CarpenterMason Male Female

1980-81 19.82 19.78 11.13 7.91 79 25 25.03 14.08 10.01

1985-86 42.84 42.8 26.06 15.1 95.63 44.79 44.75 27.25 15.79

1990-91 54.47 53.98 35.77 21.11 140.61 38.73 38.38 25.43 15.01

1995-96 107.2 105.96 71.17 51.17 244 43.93 43.42 31.62 20.97

2000-01 176.15 173.85 127.21 88.75 303 58.13 57.37 41.98 29.29

2004-05 199.23 194.08 166.38 115.75 333 59.82 58.28 49.96 34.75

2009-10 341.83 338.67 260.11 185.4 427 80.05 79.35 60.78 43.41

Source : Economic Review, State Planning Board, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Various Issues,

Note : Nominal wage rate is deflated by consumer price index of food for agriculturallabourers.



However, the estimated real wage rateshowed a different trend. The real wage rateof all categories increased between 1980-81and 1985-86. However, the real wage for allworkers showed declining trend from 1985-86 to 1990-91. It reveals that during thisperiod food prices grew at higher rate thanthe nominal wage rate. After 1990-91, thereal wage rate of all workers increasedsignificantly. Since then the real wage of allrural workers showed a sustained increase. Itreveals that the nominal wage rate increasedat higher rate than the foodgrain prices.Except the period of 1985-86 to 1990-91, thepurchasing power of rural workers has beenimproving over time. Thus, there wasconsiderable improvement in economicaccess of rural workers.

Trends in Prices of EssentialCommodities : Changes in the prices ofessential commodities definitely will haveimpact on the purchasing power of thepeople. Given the level of income, a rise infood prices will reduce the purchasing powerof poor people because a large proportion oftheir income has to be spent on staple food.A decline in food prices, therefore,significantly increases the purchasing powerof poor households. Therefore, any change infood prices will affect the purchasing powerof poor people thereby their economic accessto food. Table 9 shows the changes in retailprices of essential commodities in Keralafrom 1981 to 2007.

On reviewing the prices of essentialcommodities from 1981 to 2010, it isobserved that the prices of almost allcommodities increased largely ( Table 9).Price of rice, the staple food of people inKerala registered a rise in it’s price during theperiod. From 1981 to 1991, it increased by126.94 per cent. Between 1991 and 2000the rise was comparatively slower as itregistered 90.84 per cent rise in prices. From

2000 to 2010 price of rice doubled. Alongwith price of rice, prices of other cereals alsoregistered a rise over the last two decades.The price of other food items, oil andoilseeds, spices, fruits and vegetables showedconsistent rise. The rise in prices of all theseessential commodities had reduced the realwage as we have seen a large differencebetween growth of real wage and nominalwage rate.

Changes in Nutritional Status

The mere consumption of adequatequantity of food would not necessarily leadto good nutritional status, if a person is unableto make use of the food in a proper manner.Here lies the importance of ‘utilisation’component of food security. Nutritional statusis the outcome measure of ‘utilisation’component and it is affected by economicfactors like income, employment and wage,food factors like food intake, calorie andnutrient intake and intra-householddistribution of food and finally non-foodfactors like education, sanitation, health careservices and access to drinking water. In IndiaNational Family Health Sur vey usesanthropometric measures such as stunting,wasting, underweight and Body Mass Index(BMI) to analyse the nutritional status. Theseanthropometric measures are based on ‘foodutilisation’ component. The third pillar of foodsecurity, ‘food utilisation’ therefore, can beexamined by analysing the nutritional status,which is expressed in terms of variousanthropometric measures.

Nutritional Status of Men and Women :To assess the nutritional status, NationalFamily Health Survey (NFHS) uses variousanthropometric measures of food security. InIndia, commonly used measure of nutritionamong adults is Body Mass Index (BMI). BMIis usually defined by NFHS as weight inkilograms divided height in meters squired



Table 9: Annual Average Retail Prices of Essential Commodities in Kerala

Commodities Units 1981 1991 2000 2006 2008 2010

Cereals

Rice Kg 3.08 6.99 13.34 14.03 19.76 27.15

Greengram Kg 4.83 11.99 26.11 42.16 45.8 64.01

Blackgram Kg 4.12 13.85 42.54 55.38 49.75 82.67

Redgram Kg 4.37 9.34 19.88 29.6 33.14 42

Dhall Kg 6.19 20.28 29.35 34.61 51.86 70.83

Other food items

Milk Lr 3.11 6.75 12.93 114.93 20 23

Egg Dozen 6.42 10.57 29.44 30.07 39.81 48.48

Sugar Kg 5.92 8.46 15.19 19.72 20.59 28.59

Oil and oilseeds Kg

Coconut oil Kg 13.81 56.04 35.4 56.27 62.64 75.31

Groundnut oil Kg 14.83 44.46 48.05 70.05 90.02 81.9

Redefined oil Kg 24.22 65.18 61.34 78.36 80.7 71.59

Coconut(without husk) 100 Nos 125.25 472.14 357.14 557.13 69.93 78.9

Spices & condiments

Coriander Kg 9.31 17.61 36.08 38.65 99.52 48.74

Chillies (dry) Kg 16.55 54.14 41.01 63.2 76.39 68.1

Onion Kg 2.81 4.26 13 16.31 27.32 25.7

Tubers

Tapioca Kg 0.77 2.16 5.68 6.73 8.7 14

Potato Kg 2.17 5.79 8.91 13.43 14.55 17.16

Fruits & Vegetables

Banana Kg 2.67 2.16 13.21 15.781 5.41 26.17

Source : Economic Review, State Planning Board,Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Various Issues.

(kg/m2). A cut-off point of 18.5 is used todefine thinness or acute under-nutrition andBMI of 25 or above indicates overweight orobesity. An adult with BMI below 18.5 isconsidered as under-nourished and an adultwith BMI of 25 or above is considered asoverweight or obese. Table 10 shows the

proportion of women and men falling invarious categories of BMI. The proportion ofwomen whose body index is below 18.5 BMIfalling to the category of acute under-nutrition (thinness) accounted for 18.7 percent in 1998-99 and it declined to 18 percent in 2005-06. The national averages were



35.8 and 35.6 per cent in respective years.Among women, who are thin, 9.6 per centwere mildly thin and only 8.4 per centwomen are moderately thin or severely thin.

In 2005-06, women coming under normalcategory accounted for 53.8 per cent againstthe national average 51.8 per cent.

Table 10: Nutritional Status of Men and Women in Kerala

Mean Body Mass Index (BMI), and percentage with specific BMI levels,Body Mass Index (BMI)* in kg/m2

Normal Thin Overweight/ Obese

Mean 18.5- <18.5 17-18.4 <17.0 >25.0 25-29.9 >30.0BMI 24.9 Total Mildly Moderately/ Over- Obese

Thin Thin Severely weight/ Over-Thin obese weight

Women, Age 15-49

1998-99 22 na 18.7 na Na 20.6 na 3.8

2005-06 22.6 53.9 18 9.6 8.4 28.1 23.1 5.0

Men, Age 15-54

2005-06 21.6 60.6 21.5 11.4 10.1 17.8 15.7 2.1

* Excludes pregnant women and women with a birth in the preceding 2 months.

Source : National Family Health Surveys, International Institute of Population Science - Mumbai,(NFHS-2&3).

But the proportion of men comingunder normal category was higher than thatof women since 60.6 per cent men fall inthis category. However, 21.5 per cent mensuffer from acute malnutrition (thin). Thenational average was 34.2 per cent. Amongthin men, 11.4 per cent men were mildly thinand 10.1 per cent were moderately orseverely thin. But the proportion of men whoare overweight or obese was lower than thatof women as it accounted for only 17.8 percent in 2005-06. Among them 15.7 per centmen were overweight and only 2.1 per centwere obese. It follows from all these factsthat the nutritional status of adult men andwomen has been improving in Kerala. Onlyless proportion of adults, belong to thecategory of thinness, acute under-nutrition.

Moreover, more than 50 per cent, men andwomen belong to normal category.

Nutritional Status of Children : To assessthe nutritional status of children threeimportant anthropometric measures wereused by National Family Health Survey basedon their weight, height and length. They arestunting (height for age) wasting (weight forheight) and under-weight (weight for age).Children with low weight relative to their ageare said to be under-weight. If they areunder-weight relative to their height, they aresaid to be wasted. Children who are too shortfor their age are said to be stunted.

Table 11 shows the proportion ofchildren falling under the three categoriesof under-nutrition, namely wasting, under-



weight and stunting. Children who are morethan two standard deviations below thereference median of the indices areconsidered to be under-nourished, andchildren who fall more than three standarddeviations below the reference median areconsidered as severely under-nourished. Theprevalence of under-nutrition in the State hasbeen declining in terms of stunting and

under-weight. However, the proportion ofchildren wasted increased from 1998-99 to2005- 06. In 1992-93 11.6 per cent ofchildren under age five were wasted. Itmeans that they are too thin relative to theirheight. Among them, the proportion ofchildren who are severely under-nourishedaccounted for 1.3 per cent.

Table 11 : Nutritional Status of Children in Kerala

Weight for Height Weight for Age Height for Age(Wasting) (Under-weight) (Stunting)

Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage PercentageBelow -3SD Below -2SD Below -3SD Below -2SD Below -3SD Below -2SD

1992-93 1.3 11.6 6.1 28.5 9 27.4

1998-99 0.7 11.1 4.7 26.9 7.3 21.9

2005-06 4.1 15.9 4.7 22.9 6.5 24.5

Source : National Family Health Surveys, International Institute of Population Science - Mumbai,(NFHS-2&3).

The proportion of children wasteddeclined to 11.1 per cent in 1998-99.Similarly, the proportion of severely under-nourished children declined to 0.7 per cent.But in 2005-06 this value increased.Proportion of children wasted increased to15.9 per cent. The proportion of children whosuffer from severe under-nutrition increasedto 4.1 per cent. This is mainly because ofinadequate nutrient intake and seasonalvariation in food consumption. On the otherhand, the proportion of children falling underother two categories has been declining. Theproportion of under-weight children declinedfrom 28.5 per cent in 1992-93 to 26.9 percent in 1998-99 and to 22.9 per cent in 2005-06. Similarly, proportion of severely under-weight children had declined from 6.1 to 4.7per cent during 1992-93 to 1998-99. In 2005-06 only 4.7 per cent children were severelyunder-weight. The proportion of children who

are stunted declined from 27.8 per cent in1992-93 to 24.5 per cent in 2005-06. Severelystunted children also registered a declinefrom 9 per cent in 1992-93 to 6.5 per cent in2005-06. Therefore, there has beenconsiderable decline in incidence of under-nutrition in the State.

The proportion of under-nourishedchildren is higher in case of stunting as westated earlier. It indicates that height ofchildren is lower relative to their age inKerala. It is a consequence of inadequate foodintake. There has been urban-rural disparityin the nutritional status among children. Theproportion of rural children wasted accountedfor 10.9 per cent in 1998-99. This value ofurban children was 11.2 per cent in 1998-99.The proportion of under-weight rural childrenaccounted for 28.0 per cent in 1998-99.However, in urban area in 1998-99 only 22.4



per cent children were under-weight. Theproportion of rural children who are stuntedaccounted for 11.2 per cent and this valuefor urban children was 10.9 per cent. It showsthat there has been urban- rural disparity incase of nutritional status.

Conclusion

Given the cropping pattern in Kerala, itis quite impossible to achieve self-sufficiencyin food production within a short period.Therefore, Kerala requires a long-termplanning on the production front to reducefood deficit. The State should initiateextensive farming by bringing more landsunder food crops. For this government has tocontrol land utilisation for commercial andconstruction purposes. It has to providenecessary incentives for foodgrainproduction. Given the high deficit on the

production front what helps the State toachieve better health indicators and lowerincidence of poverty is its better economicstatus. The economic access is strong in theState that enables the people to purchasefood even at higher prices.

The consistent rise in real wages clearlyindicates that people in the State are able toafford food at higher prices. The utilisationpattern in the State is also much better andit is reflected in the nutritional status of adultsand children. The nutritional status in theState is influenced by the determinants ofutilisation patterns such as education, medicalservices, sanitation and access to drinkingwater. In Kerala there is inter-regional andinter-community differences in consumptionpattern. A micro level study with primary datacan give further insights to diversification ofconsumption pattern.

References

1. Centre for Development Studies (1975), Poverty, Unemployment and Development Policy-A Study of Selected Issues with Special Reference to Kerala, New York, United Nations.

2. Dreze, Jean (2011), “Mending the Food Security Act”, The Hindu, May 2004.

3. George, P.S. (1979), “Public Distribution of Food Grains in Kerala - Income DistributionImplications and Effectiveness”, International Food Policy Research Institute Report No.7,IFPRI, Washington, DC.

4. Government of India (2008), “Kerala Development Report”, Academic Foundation, New Delhi.

5. Government of Kerala (2011), “Economic Review 2010” State Planning Board,Thiruvananthapuram.

6. Hossain, Mahabub, Firdousi, Nahar and Shahabuddin, Quazi, (2005), “Food Security andNutrition in Bangladesh, Progress and Determinants”, Journal of Agricultural andDevelopment Economics, Vol.2 No.2, 2005, pp. 103-132.

7. Ibrahim, P. and Pramod E.K. (2006), “Liberalisation, Public Distribution and Food Security -A Case Study” in Rajan, K. (ed), Indian Economy, The Post Reform Scenario”, Serial Publishers,New Delhi. pp. 37-45.

8. Isaac, T.M, Thomas and Ramkumar, R. (2010), “Expanding Welfare Entitlements in the Neo-Liberal Era : The Case of Food Security in Kerala”, Indian Journal of Human Development,Vol.4, No.1, pp. 99-119.



9. James .L, Garret and Marie T. (1999), “Are Determinants of Rural and Urban Food Securityand Nutritional Status Different?, Some Insights from Mozambique”, World Development,Vol.27, No.11, pp. 1955-1975.

10. Kannan, K.P and Pushpangadan, K. (1988), “Agricultural Stagnation in Kerala, An ExploratoryAnalysis”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.23, No. 39, pp. A120-A128.

11. Kannan, K.P. (1995), “Declining Incidence of Rural Poverty in Kerala”, Economic and PoliticalWeekly, Vol. 30, No. 41, pp. 2651-2662.

12. Kannan, KP. (2000), “Food Security in A Regional Perspective, A View from Food DeficitKerala”, Working Paper Series No.304, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

13. Krishnaji, N and T.N Krishnan (eds.) (2000), Public Support for Food Security : The PublicDistribution System in India, Strategies for Human Development in India, Vol.1, SagePublications, New Delhi.

14. Kumar, S.K. (1979), “Impact of Subsidised Rice on Food Consumption and Nutrition in Kerala”,International Food Policy Research Institute Report No.5, IFPRI, Washington, DC.

15. Misra, Baidyanath. (2005), “Food Security in India” Man & Development, March, pp. 29-38.

16. Mooji, J. (1999), Food Policy and the Indian State : The Public Distribution System in SouthIndia, Oxford University Press, Delhi.

17. National Advisory Council (2011), Note on the Draft National Food Security Bill, New Delhi.

18. Radhakrishna, R. (2005), “ Food and Nutrition Security of the Poor, Emerging Perspectivesand Policy Issues” Economic and Political Weekly”, Vol. 40, No.18, pp. 1817-1821.

19. Sen, Amarthya (1982), Poverty and Famines, An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, OxfordUniversity Press, Delhi.

20. Sumiter, Broca S. (2002), “Food Insecurity, Poverty and Agriculture : A Concept Paper”, ESAWorking Paper No. 02-15, Agricultural and Development Economics Division, The Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome- Italy

21. Suryanarayana MH. (1997), “Food Security in India : Measures, Norms and Issues”, Developmentand Change, Vol.28, pp. 771-789.

22. Suryanarayana MH. (2001), “Economic Reforms Versus Food Security : Kerala’s Gordian Knot”,Journal of International Development, Vol.13, pp. 239-253.

23. Swaminathan, Madhurai (2003), “Strategies Towards Food Security”, Social Scientist, Vol. 31,No. 9110, pp. 58-94.

24. World Food Programme (2001), “Enabling Development Food Assistance South Asia”, Oxford,New York.

25. Zakaria, K.C and S. Irudaya Rajan (2007), “Migration, Remittances and Employment : Short-term Trends and Long–term Implications”, Working Paper Series No.395, Centre forDevelopment Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.


Book Reviews 535

BOOK REVIEWS


Whose Sustainability Counts? byMalcolm Harper, Lalitha Iyer and Jane Rosser, SagePublications India Pvt. Ltd., Pages : 286, Price : ̀495.

‘Whose Sustainability Counts? is ananalytical presentation of a book involved withBasix’s long march from the simple sphere ofmicrofinance to complex issues of livelihoods.This book contains all the valuable informationabout BASIX, an Indian finance and livelihoodpromotion group from authentic sources andhelps in identifying the knowledge andpractice gaps that require further research andstudy to prescribe appropriate remedies inconnection with livelihoods support renderedby similar organisations.

It appears that this book is one of thebest reference books on understanding theprocesses taken place during the long marchfrom providing microfinance to creatinglivelihoods for hundreds of needy anddisadvantaged sections of people living belowthe poverty line. Needless to add, this book isa must for every microfinance practitionerwho accesses the factors responsible for microcredit growth in a geographical region vis-à-vis the sector as a whole. The richness of thebook lies in its diversity of perspectives,sectorial contents and breadth of issuescovered as well as the depth of analyses. It isa rare blending of qualitative analysis withpolicy and action relevance inputs for themicrofinance sector in toto.

The book starts with the origins of BASIXand subsequently describes vividly the crisisyears evolved from 1995 to 2010. In total,there are 16 chapters, each chapter redefiningan important aspect of the Basix’s journey onfinancial inclusion through microfinance

inputs. As it is not possible to present all therelevant points from all the chapters, somenotable points from few chapters areillustrated below reflecting the richness of thebook.

For example, in the ‘Livelihood Triad’chapter, the authors have provided thestrategies of combining technical, social andcommercial elements to develop a range ofproducts and services which are groupedunder agricultural and business developmentservices, institutional development servicesand livelihood financial services. Thesestrategies helped the existing customer serviceagents and other field staff to move beyondmicrocredit and engage more holistically withtheir clients’ enterprises. It was a sea changeof strategic steps on the part of BASIX whichassembled the services, technologies anddelivery methods to suit their model. Indeedthe process clearly redefined the role ofcustomer agents and they were specificallytrained to deliver the products at the doorstepof the customers.

In Chapter VII on ‘Insurance’ the authorshighlighted that the BASIX’s main contributionto micro insurance is its role as an innovatingpartner in crop insurance. By using local rainfallrecords rather than individual farm-basedperformance, it solved the major problem ofproviding micro insurance to small-scalefarmers and as a result its innovation ofweather-based crop-insurance is expected tobe globally accepted in the near future.Further, BASIX has made important innovationsin the context of client claims procedures. Ithas dramatically simplified the process byintroduction of new procedures and hastensthe system by employment of specialised

536 Book Reviews


claim facilitators. This has particularly benefitedthose customers who have no previousknowledge of insurance and are traditionallyintimidated by complicated officialprocedures.

In Chapter XII on ‘Leadership With Head,Hands and Heart’, the authors highlighted thatBASIX has attracted leadership talent over theyears and continue to inspire those who seeka place to do good without renouncingpersonal financial stability. Indeed, in therecent past, the team has been strengthenedby the entry of international and mainstreamfinance professionals who have clearunderstanding of microcredit and specialvalue proposition. No doubt, there have beendistinct leadership challenges in each phaseof growth as leadership strategies requiredpeople who think outside the box and workhands-on to make their ideas practical. It hasbeen experienced that as it requires a heartthat feels for others and at all times it demandsintensity and passion, despite hurdles, BASIXhave carried on this spirit for all these years.

Finally, it can be rightly stated that thisbook is a must reference for those who wantto delve into the gamut of microfinance andrural credit as well as those who are interestedto know the status of various decisions takenby BASIX in facilitating the growth andachievement of financial inclusion process inrural pockets of India. The authors should behighly appreciated as the book simplifies themost difficult and contentious issues in a mostcomprehensive and lucid manner andhighlight the dicision taking procedures in amost fascinating manner.

– Dr. B.K. Swain

Disaster Risk Management : Conflictand Cooperation, Edited by : Suman RanjanSensarma and Atanu Sarkar, Concept PublishingCompany Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2012, Price :` 1100

The book under review is an outcomefrom academic pursuit of Dr.Atanu Sarkar,Assistant Professor, Division of CommunityHealth and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine,Memorial University, St.John’s New Foundlandand Labrador, Canada and Dr.Suman RanjanSensarma, Urban Planner from KyotoUniversity, Japan. The book consists of 15articles contributed by different personsconstantly working in the field of Disaster RiskManagement. The authors vividly brought outthe existing disaster risk management policiesand practices. The authors felt that there is anurgent need for multi-stakeholderparticipation in order to avoid potential orongoing conflicts.

The papers presented in the edited bookby and large, seek to understand theapproaches which are mostly top-down andwhich essentially disregard the localcommunity in decision-making process.Hence, there is a need for constructing a local-regional-international framework articulatingdisaster risk management and developmentat different levels. The disaster r iskmanagement process has a great impact onpeople’s sur vival and the country ’sdevelopment. So far, not much attention hasbeen paid to really articulate the conflictresolution process in disaster risk managementpractices. Therefore, there is an urgent needto find out the cooperative solution in orderto bolster ongoing efforts of sustainabledevelopment. The book has aimed to analysethe conflict and cooperation aspects withregard to disaster risk management and tolook at the process and impact of disastermitigation at different levels. The majorsignificance of this book is to open discussionon conflict and cooperation, cutting across thedisciplinary boundaries.

In the first chapter, Jean-ChristopheGaillard has discussed the policies set up bywestern government to address disaster risk


Book Reviews 537

in the south. It was argued that despitemassive transfer of knowledge, experienceand funding, disasters are occurring on anincreasing frequency. Muneta Yokomatsu, WeiBin Yu and Norio Okada in the second chapter,have looked at the increasing effect of disasteron agricultural communities in China andinadequacy in the corresponding disaster riskmanagement. The authors partly blamed theinsurance industry’s limited knowledge aboutlocal monetary factor. However, microcredithad become more and more popular in ruralChina and this chapter discussed how toenrich microcredit ’s role in disaster riskmanagement in agricultural communities.Chapter three is by Haley Rich and Ilan Kelman,showing how building and maintaining localcapability for preventing and dealing withdisasters requires support and action fromindividuals through global organisations.Chapter four is by Bijayanand Misra and RumaChakrabarty who analysed the emerging issueof city disaster management plan which needsto be fine-tuned, it will be cutting edgeknowledge and technology for developingholistic governance and conflict resolution.The fifth chapter is by Arindam Dasgupta, whooffered his experience on disaster riskmanagement and need for local levelcooperation and coordination among thedifferent stakeholders in an Indian State ofWest Bengal. Dasgupta identified delink andlack of coordination among non-governmentorganisations, community based organisationseventually affecting disaster preparedness andcrisis management at the community level.Chapter six is by Suman Ranjan Sensarmadealing with the analyses of conflict andcooperation process between governmentalorganisation and opposition group over waterand flood risk management. He has utilisedthe game theoretic approach in the GraphModel for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) toanalyse the conflict. In the seventh chapterby Ravi Sannabhadti, the experiential learning,emerging out of the set-up and management

of information centres that were set-up inpost-Gujarat earthquake (2001), have beendiscussed. Information centres wereinstrumental in streamlining the process ofreconstruction by collaborating between civilsociety players, local governmentfunctionaries and affected communities.

Chapter eight is by Tao Ye, MunetaYokomatsu, Peijun Shi, and Norio Okada andthey have talked about the disaster insuranceand its role to cope with disaster risk. Theauthors have argued that internationalinsurance market and the connectionbetween insurance market and capital marketare not efficient enough to back-up insuranceindustry. Chapter nine is by Ilan Kelman andBob Conrich, who looking at the para-diplomacy, refer to non-sovereign islandsdealing with state governments other thantheir governing state and internationalagencies for disaster-related activities,covering pre-disaster and post-disaster actions.The study is based on the case studies of theCaribbean, the South Atlantic, and the Pacificislands. In the tenth chapter, Maiko Sakamotodiscussed a hierarchy decision system whichhas been modeled with non-cooperativegame theory in extensive form, and the waythe coalition evolved as equilibrium wasanalysed on the case of regulation over theriver Ganges where Nepal, India andBangladesh have been the stakeholders.Maaike Warnaar, in the eleventh chapter,looked at the aftermath of the earthquake thattook place in Bam (Iran) in December, 2003. Ithas described how the internationalcommunity showed tremendous compassiontowards the survivors by sending hugeamounts of relief aid. In the twelfth chapter,Atanu Sarkar analysed the impact of the globalclimate change on disaster and role ofcooperation on disaster preparedness as pre-emptive measures. He analysed the extent ofvulnerability due to possible climate changerelated disasters in different parts of the world

538 Book Reviews


and nature of cooperation needed at variouslevels. Chapter thirteen is by Soumitra Roy,showing how floods left differential impactson human lives, which could be attributed tovarious geographical, socio-economic statusof the households primarily determined thevulnerability or resilience levels of thecommunity as well as individual to the floodhazard. The fourteenth chapter is by Ana MarizCruz who presented an overview of Natechhazards (natural hazard/disaster-triggeredchemical accidents), their characteristics,complexities, and the problems associatedwith Natech risk management. In the fifteenthchapter, Patralekha Chatterjee analysed thedifferences of the scale of media attention tocover disasters or why is media selective? Shehas argued that the level and intensity ofcoverage of the disaster depends on proximity,levels of interest of readers/viewers and theeconomic stakes involved, rather than the scaleof the actual suffering.

Academicians, activists, policy analystsand scholars who are working in the area ofDisaster Risk Management will benefitimmensely from the contributions and instillconfidence among the programmeimplementers who are confronting the issuesof conflict and cooperation.

– Dr. K. Suman Chandra

Education, Employment andEmpowerment of Rural Women in India by T.Sudha, Global Research Publications (GRP), NewDelhi (India), year 2011, Price `1,100.

This magnificent book focused on theEmpowerment of Women and it can beachieved through power of autonomy overResources and Mobility (PARM) and access toknowledge like education, health, legal rightsand technological innovations are just someof the factors that help in developing thepotential of an individual, thereby creating alevel of confidence that further generates a

desire to achieve Gender Equality in DecisionMaking (GEDM).

This book comprised nine chapters withBibliography. In the first chapter, the authordealt with significance of womenempowerment, indicators of womenempowerment and means of empowerment.In the second chapter, the author presentedthe socio, economic and demographicfeatures of Tamil Nadu state with specialreference to Salem & Dharmapuri districts. Inthe third chapter, the author discussed therelated review of literature.

In the fourth chapter, the author tried toframe all the objectives and hypotheses in aconstructed way. It is also valued that theauthor had carried out the pilot study. Fifthchapter analysed the socio-economic anddemographic factors that affect the levels ofGEDM, PARM and the Empowerment.

Sixth chapter delineated on the issue ofGEDM relating the process to the levels ofEducation and Employment thereby gainingpower of autonomy over resources, leadingher to achieve empowerment. The authorcould find six variables viz., total years ofschooling in the family, age differencebetween husband and wife, account holder,levels of education, employment status andasset structure out of eighteen independentvariables in determining factors on GEDMusing the model of step-wise regression.

Seventh chapter focused on Power ofAutonomy over Resources and Mobility(PARM), which is expected to enhance theirbargaining capacity and ensure greaterparticipation in family decision making. Theauthor examined the relationship between thePARM and eight independent variables (levelof education, employment status, proportionof female income, proportion of femaleborrowings, account holder, proportion offemale assets, income earner and control over


Book Reviews 539

expenditure) by using step-wise regressionanalysis. She found that the eight variablestogether influenced about 24 per cent ofvariation in the dependent variable (PARM)based on the value of coefficient of multipledetermination (R2).

In the eighth chapter, the author couldfind seven factors out of eighteen independentfactors that influenced the womenempowerment by using step-wise RegressionAnalysis. She also found that the sevenvariables together influenced about 30 percent of variation in the dependent variable(PARM) based on the value of coefficient ofmultiple determination (R2). Further, shefound that influence of all seven independentvariables is statistically significant by using Ftest and he identified the importance of theindependent variables based on values ofregression coefficients and their ‘t’ values.

In the concluding chapter, the authorsummarised that women’s income and PARMis higher than the women’s income and GEDMusing the chi-square value. According to theauthor, the relation between PARM andempowerment is relatively stronger than therelation between GEDM and empowermentand hence PARM excels over GEDM due tohigher share in the total income of the family,the total expenditure of the family, totalsavings of the family. The author also foundthat the correlation between education andempowerment is relatively stronger than thecorrelation between employment andempowerment. The author also found byusing the regression co-efficient and using its‘t’ value that levels of education are the moredominating factors in deciding the PARM andaccount holder decides the GEDM in the family.

This study will be of interest and alsoserve as model for policy framework on‘Women Empowerment’ considering variousaspects and parameters of GEDM and PARM. Itis also very useful for giving more

concentration to spend the GovernmentExpenditure especially on different levels ofEducation and Employment to achieve thewomen empowerment considering the otheraspects which also influence the womenempowerment. Except some continuousrepetitions, the author had found the variablesthat influence the GEDM and PARM to achievethe Empowerment of Women withappropriate and suitable statistical tools.

– Dr. Y. Gangi Reddy

Socio-Economic Scenario of the NorthEast India, by : R.K. Das Choudhury, Published in2013 by Concept Publishing Company (P) Ltd.New Delhi, Pages 392, Price : `1200.

Creating or developing new knowledgeis one of the primary goals of any research. Atthe same time, all knowledge developmentmay not be the same but it has different stagesthat are typically generated by its ethnic nature.Most of the scholars and institutes, havediscussed knowledge development stagesrelating to the types of (research) objectivesand end outcome that grantees are expectedto pursue. Generally, research begins withsignificant discoveries and moves throughtheory, measure, and method development,ultimately to enable the development ofeffective new and improved interventions,products and services, and environmentaladaptations. In this context, this book is a newdevice or technique for improving theknowledge.

The stages of knowledge developmentare multi-dimensional phenomenon that areinterrelated. Some of its major dimensionsinclude : the level of economic growth, levelof education, level of health services, degreeof modernisation, status of women, level ofnutrition, quality of housing, distribution ofgoods and services, and access tocommunication. In India, the progress of socio-economic development among major states

540 Book Reviews


is not uniform. This book examines the existingvariability of inter-state development therebyidentifying the indicators responsible for thediversity in development. Instead of studyinga particular variable across states, a compositeindex based on several indicators has beendeveloped using principal component analysisand states are arranged according to indicesderived using all accepted components/scenarios viz. (a) Geographical, (b)Demographic conditions, (c) Land use pattern(e) Communication (d) Education system (e)Health and Family welfare (f ) Power andEnergy situations (g) Industrial status and itsprogress (h) Tourism development (i)Employment scenario (j) Economicdevelopment and (k) Human ResourceDevelopment in the entire North EasternRegion of India.

The findings of the analysis support thegeneral perception about the seven NorthEastern States of India. These states are markedwith wide disparity in socio-economicdevelopment. The factors, which are found outto be more important for overall developmentprocess, relate to basic needs like electricity,education, availability of food, minimumpurchasing power, and facilities like drinkingwater, health care infrastructure etc. It is alsofound that enrolment ratio cannot be raisedunless minimum needs of the commonpeople are satisfied. Therefore, truedevelopment requires government action toimprove elementary education, safe drinkingwater facilities and health care, and removebarriers against social minorities, especiallywomen. The role of social development suchas literacy, particularly female literacy, inpromoting basic capabilities emerges as theprerequisite to overall economicdevelopment. These results clearly emphasisethe role of well-functioning public actions inimproving overall living conditions of thepeople.

The natural resources are considered asone of the most important pillars of sustainabledevelopment, providing raw material andenergy inputs without which production andconsumption would be highly impossible. Thepresent discourse of this book elaborates theneed for establishing the sustainabledevelopment process at the variousconsiderations – social, economic, political andenvironmental etc. particularly, the authorsviewed that Common Property Resources,which are by and large natural resources mustbe protected and enriched for overall growthof the rural areas.

There are fifteen chapters covering theaforementioned states in the North East Indiathat stringed-up elaborately to discuss thebasic concepts of sustainability and theevolutionary perspectives of sustainabledevelopment in every selected state. Theauthor generally discusses about the overallhistory and tradition of the people, geographyand demographic conditions, literacy andapproaches, their economic profile, necessaryconditions for sustainability, resource andculture, exquisite and industrious nature,natural resources, its relations and utility,principles of resource advocacy, resource andenvironmental accounting etc. pertaining toboth rural and urban resource environmentsetc. He also analyses administrative set up,educational infrastructure, panchayat rajsystem, and role of rural developmentschemes based on the results of his datacollected in all the seven states. Whileexplaining the challenges for development,the author probes food security measures, andadministrative reforms, role of governance indevelopment administration and impact ofnew technology in environment managementand so on.

In each and every chapter, the author, bycovering various aspects of conserving theresource base through the elements involvedin the whole gamut of those activities


Book Reviews 541

encompass the role of an agronomist,irrigation engineer, a scientist, a cooperativeexpert, an economist and a social scientist. Thestrategy adopted in the book is to set up aself-sustained development authority with anarea of jurisdiction equal to the mainland Indiaand make it responsible for bringing about thistransformation even to modern agriculture.The production and destruction of resourcesare the two extreme points and in betweenthese two the second one takes several formsin order to serve mankind.

Overall, the history of forest dwellers,resources and approaches for ecosystem wereanalysed based on the problems anddistribution of forest type and its products thatnecessitate the conservation of forest for bothnational as well as global context. The authorstresses the need for prevention of waterresources by elaborating the existing statusand problems in the irrigation systems andreservoirs. The author has not forgotten toanalyse the impacts of urbanisation andindustrialisation that cause damage tosustainable development of the region in hisbook. He also cautions the distribution ofindustry which not only pollutes theenvironment but also carnage the rurallivelihoods. The author also discusses road andtransport infrastructure that includes railways,waterways and surface transport systems andprescribed some policy initiatives for futureendeavour.

Though data used are obsolete, this bookpresents obvious ideas for conservation andmanagement of resources and presentinganalysis of the various elements involved inintegrated development of resources andresource systems that subject specialist,researcher, planner and policy maker will findthis book interesting and useful.


Technology and Rural India, Edited by :S. V. Prabhath and P. Ch. Sita Devi, Published in2012 by Global Research Publications, New Delhi,Pages 274, Price : `350.

Science and technology are oftenhyphenated and spoken of in the samebreadth. One would, however, like todifferentiate the two. Technology generally(though not always) derives and draws fromscience, and often manifests itself in physicalform — for example, as a piece of hardware.Science, on the other hand, is knowledge. Inrural India, there is a dire inadequacy of both.Agriculture is the backbone of the ruraleconomy that provides marginal subsistenceto most of the country’s population. Crop yieldsare far lower than what they are indemonstration farms, where science andtechnology are more fully applied. The scopeto apply technology to both farm and non-farmactivities in rural areas are huge, as are thepotential benefits. Hence, it is time fortechnology to play its role in transforming ruralIndia.

It is an acceptable fact that rural Indiafaces a severe technology deficit. Whileserious shortages persist towards subjects likeeducation, electricity, water, health facilities,roads etc., these are known and recognisedby the public. However, the role of technologyin solving these and/or other problems is butbarely acknowledged, and the actualavailability of technology in rural areas, at best,is marginal. The so-called digital divide iswidely spoken and written about; thetechnology divide is hardly mentioned. Yet, thisdisparity is arguably more important, as it hasfar greater impact.

The progress of technology anddevelopment, irrespective of whether rural orurban areas, among Indian states is notuniform. This book ‘Technology and Rural India’

542 Book Reviews


examines the existing variability of ruraltechnology and its path of development,thereby identifying the factors responsible forappropriate use and application of differenttechnologies at the grassroots level. Keepingin view viability of technology across the fields,a composite index of appropriate technologieswas discussed in the book based on fivebroadly accepted sections like a) Technologyand Integrated Rural Development; b)Technology in improving rural Infrastructure;c) Technology for Service Industry vis-à-vis RuralSector d) Transfer of Technology to the RuralSector and e) Appropriate Rural Technologyand Prototypes. The overall findings of theanalysis support the general perception andapplication of resourceful technologies forrural development across the nation.

Rural technologies are considered as oneof the most important pillars of sustainabledevelopment. The present discourse of thisbook, a compilation of articles written bytechnocrats, academicians, researchers andpractitioners in their respective field ofexpertise, elaborates the need for establishingthe sustainable technological developmentprocess at the various considerations – social,economic, political and environmental etc.Particularly, the authors viewed that access fortechnology and resources, which are by andlarge, must be ensured and protected foroverall growth of the rural areas. Such effortwill not only lead to optimum utilisation ofresources but also generate moreemployment opportunities for the ruralpeople.

The contributors of articles explainedabout the challenges for technologydevelopment, security measures,administrative reforms and role of governancein development administration, impact ofappropriate and new technology inenvironment management and so on. Theyalso provided suggestive measures to developalternative, appropriate technologies for the

inclusive rural development. Further, thehistor y of technology, resources andapproaches for energy and ecosystem werealso analysed based on the problems anddistribution of type and its productsnecessitating the conservation of energy forboth national as well as global context.

Obviously, this book presents brilliantideas for all sections of stakeholders, users andinstitutions involved in transfer oftechnologies from lab to land. This also helpsin focusing much better in tackling pertinentissues relating to conservation of technologiesand management of resources and presentinganalysis of various elements involved inintegrated development of technology andresource systems that subject specialist,researcher, planner and policy maker will findthis book interesting and useful.


Empowerment of Indian Muslims:Perspectives, Planning and Road Ahead Ed.By Mirza Asmer Beg & A. R. Kidwai. ConceptPublishing Company Pvt. Ltd., Pages – i– xvi and173, Price ` 550.

The book is the outcome of the researchpapers presented at the Heads ofDepartments meet organised at UGCAcademic Staff College of Aligarh MuslimUniversity. Altogether 14 papers wereincluded in this volume focusing on thedevelopment needs of the Muslims in India.Almost all the papers emphasised the needfor development of education among theMuslims. Hamida Ahmad in her (first) chapteron ‘Empowerment of Muslims through QualityEducation’ opines that Muslims being thelargest minority community of the country lagbehind pathetically in education so hersuggestion is ‘must set high targets in thissphere’. Rais Ahmed is his paper suggestedthat by setting up of Education Trust, poorMuslim children can be imparted quality


Book Reviews 543

education. The third chapter by Aftab Alamciting verse from Quran has highlightedimportance of education. While advocatingdevelopment of Muslim community MirzaAsmer Beg inter alia, suggested that for highereducation and professional courses interest-free loans may be extended to the students.C.P.S. Chauhan in his paper brought out ashocking finding which reveals that atelementary level enrolment percentage ofMuslim boys is less than Muslim girls whichshould be addressed after doing a thoroughresearch study. A.R. Kidwai suggested thaturgent need is required to revitalise DegreeColleges managed by Muslims so that studentsget quality education. Mohd Muzammil in hispaper extended few suggestions inter alia ofwhich are in the 12th Plan for empoweringMuslims, a national and sub-national MuslimEmpowerment Measure (MEM) may bedeveloped focusing on three criteria viz.,economic empowerment, professionalempowerment and political empowerment.Raashid Nehal in his paper focusing on Muslimconcentrated districts of UP & Bihar arguedthat education in Madarsas has to be improvedthoroughly. Fur ther, quality educationsupported with essential teaching and learningresources/ facilities are sine qua non.Empowering of Muslims by extendingopportunities like access to education,employment, representation in politics etc.,are the main suggestions of Md. Zafar MahfoozNomani in his chapter. However whileanalysing his statements in many contexts herefereed old data so in future he may look intothis. M. Shabbir argues that holistic vision issine qua non for the development of Muslimsin the 12th Plan. According to the author, theword “Minority” has to be defined by theParliament by amending Article 29 to endconflicting decisions of judiciary. He furtheropines that in army, paramilitary and policeforces proportionate representation ofMuslims may be made mandatory.

While discussing issues related toeducation of Muslims, Parvaiz Talib argues thatwith education vis-a-vis with skilldevelopment, economic condition for allMuslims can be improved. In this context hisexperience towards development of childrenby setting up of community colleges in TamilNadu has been referred which he feels maybe replicated in other parts of the country.Abdul Waheed in his paper ‘EducationalEmpowerment of Minorities in Twelfth FiveYear Plan’ although used the word ‘Minorities’has specifically suggested to promote Urdu inthe country. He argues that this can be attainedby appointing quality teachers in differentschools as laid down in POA 1992 as well asPrime Minister’s 15-Point Programme andfurther recommendations of PM’s High LevelCommittee for promotion of Urdu. Thechapter-13 based on micro level study carriedout by Abdul Haleem Kidwai at Govandi inMumbai areas has come to the conclusion thatby considering indicators like housing, health,water, sewage system and garbage disposal,empowerment, education, economic statusand access to credit, Muslims in the study areaare deprived of. In view of this, steps shouldbe taken to invigorate their development byextending these facilities. MaulanaMohammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi whilediscussing Muslims’ expectations from the 12th

Plan’ in chapter-14 opines that for the totaldevelopment of Muslims ‘top most’ priorityshould be given for their educationaldevelopment and to achieve the same, of thetotal budget (meant for minorities) minimum75 per cent should be earmarked foreducation.

The volume will be useful toacademicians, planners, policy makers and alsothose who are interested to get an idea aboutthe issues related to minorities in general andMuslims in particular.

– Dr. Shankar Chatterjee

544 Book Reviews


Tribal Education-Implications ForDevelopment, Edited by S.N.Chaudhary, 2012,pp. 334, price ` 950.

India has large tribal population,constituting around 8 per cent of the totalpopulation of the country. There are 573individual tribal groups with diverse socio-cultural life who are at various levels of socialand economic development, with differentdegrees of exposure to modernity and socialchange. The literacy rate among tribals is low,but also varies widely among different groupsand regions. More importantly, a considerableportion of tribal children continue to be outsidethe school system.

Education is the most important meansby which individuals and society can improvepersonal endowments, build capacity levels,overcome barriers, and expand opportunitiesfor a sustained improvement in their well-being. In the context of tribal education,finding a balance between preserving tribalcultural identity and mainstreaming foreconomic prosperity means buildingeducation programmes that ensure a tribalchild’s success in mainstream schools.

Planning for education is very oftennorm-based. These norms, especiallypertaining to distance and population size, donot reflect the local specifics of requirementsof tribal areas. This implies that planning fortribal groups need to be seen as a special case,rather than applying the norms applicable forthe general population. The national and stategovernments in India have recognised thesespecial features of tribal groups and they haveadopted, at times, approaches and normswhich are flexible. Many programmes andschemes have been designed to address theeducation concerns of the scheduled tribes.Many innovative approaches are also beingtested in various states.

This book is a collection of paperspresented in a National Seminar on TribalEducation organised by Barkatullah University,Bhopal. The papers try to examine whether thenew education system introduced duringBritish and post-British period has contributedto either assimilation, isolation or integrationof tribal masses with the mainstream or non-tribal society. There are twenty papers in all,most of which are empirical and field based.

The papers examine variety of issues likethe system of traditional education foundamong tribes; introduction of moderneducation and its status today; historical rootsof lower educational status of tribes in general;status of education among Christian and non-Christian tribes; the state of tribal education atthe higher classes; the changing status oftribes with special reference to the tribes ofNorth-East States; policy conflicts in tribaleducation, in particular and traditional societiesin general; the challenges of globalisation; theproblem of dropout; tribal female literacy andthe related problems in two tribal States ofMadhya Pradesh and Maharashtra; functioningof primary and middle schools and the issuesof enrolment; teacher absenteeism; quality ofteaching and learning; functioning of Mid DayMeal (MDM) as perceived by differentstakeholders and other State initiatives;infrastructural facilities in school; attitudinalchange in favour of girls' education; state ofcollege education among tribal boys and girls;difficulties experienced by students andparents at different levels of education etc.

Some of the papers identify the causalfactors of problems of stakes and access oftribes to education in India and emergingconflicts of identity. One of the papers reviewsthe education policies of inclusion and patternof access and linkages between education andeconomic well-being. One of the papersexamines the quality of education for the tribalwomen as an instrument of socio-economic


Book Reviews 545

and political empowerment and its role in theachievement of a wide range of individual anddevelopment goals-from better health tohigher incomes and stronger economicpotential. It also looks at certain crucialproblems such as inadequate admission ofgirls, dropouts, stagnation, defectivecurriculum, irregular attendance, lack of studymaterials, poor nutrition of children and so on.One of the papers examines the issues of tribaleducation among Particularly Vulnerable TribalGroups like Sahariya and Baiga.

This book is an attempt to comprehendfactors and conditions responsible for thepresent level of literacy and education, qualityof education and implications of educationreceived by cross section of tribes from theirhuman rights, development andempowerment perspective. About tribaleducation the book has positive note. Theincreasing literacy rate and positive change inthe field of education especially at the primaryand middle level is a testimony to suchconclusion. It is also an attempt to suggestways and means to ensure quality educationfor the tribals.

Providing a comprehensive andanalytical review of various issues of tribaleducation, this book will attract the researchers,planners, policy makers, social workers andsocial anthropologists interested in tribalissues.

– Dr. N.V.Madhuri

Rural Development – UnderDecentralised Governance , edited by M. R.Biju, Concept Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd. NewDelhi, 2012, Price : ` 1200.

The book ‘Rural Development – UnderDecentralised Governance’ is a compilation of23 articles written by eminent developmentadministrators and academicians. The focusof the book is multi – faceted growth of ruralIndia. The author highlights the Development

Administration, Rural Development policies,programmes, rural institutions, the problemsin implementation of RD programmes andprovides suggestions for qualityimplementation of RD Programmes. Initiallythe Rural Development was identified withagriculture development. As time passed thespectrum of Rural Development wasbroadened and multi-dimensional approachwas initiated to eliminate rural poverty.

According to Rakesh Hooja, an eminentcivil servant in India, developmentadministration is synonymous with ruraldevelopment administration. Numerous ruraldevelopment programmes are adopted toalleviate poverty, but the developmentadministration in actual practice, remainedwith the district collectors and the collectorcontinued to play a significant role indevelopment administration.

S. M. Vijayanand, is an AdditionalSecretary, MoRD, GoI. He is an ardent supporterof decentralised governance and gave animpetus to People’s Planning in Kerala. Withthe implementation of MGNREGA, the PRIswere given legal importance of planning andimplementation of the scheme and there isno parallel authority to PRIs in implementationof this programme. He suggests new Anti –Poverty Sub - Plan with MGNREGS as thenucleus to remove rural poverty.

According to Palanithurai, there is amismatch between the decisions, allocationof resources and the needs of stakeholdersdue to lack of scientific data. The datacollection is an art and science andprofessionals should be trained to collect datafrom Gram Panchayat to District level. EveryGram Panchayat should be provided withcomputer to store the data. This facilitatesbetter policy planning and better managementof resources.

Biju points out that in an era ofglobalisation, the benefits of rural

546 Book Reviews


development programmes are not reachingto the needy and the schemes are not localspecific to adapt to the local conditions, thusthe programme fails. He argues that due toloopholes in the schemes instead of poorpeople, rich people are benefited. He advisesthat governance should be flexible, adaptedto the changing needs of the society to reachthe poor.

Archana G. Gulati speaks aboutstupendous growth of communicationtechnology particularly mobile revolution. Themobile has become the poor man’s basic lifeline connecting him to employmentopportunities and thereby enhancinglivelihood opportunities. But still many poorand remote rural areas are not accessible inthis modern age of communication. Thegovernment should play a vital role inconnecting the people and remote rural areasby adopting ‘Universal Service Policy’ i.e., byproviding subsidies to the especiallydisadvantaged sections and to unconnectedurban populations and remote rural areas.

Shankar Prinjia et.al., talk about ruralhealth planning. According to authors, thereis no proper coordination between ANM andPRI members. The awareness among the PRImembers regarding their roles andresponsibilities in health care delivery wasminimal. The authors advise that the PRImembers particularly, women membersshould be trained in health care deliverysystem, so that the ANMs feel comfortable inconsultation for rural health planning process.

According to Dr. Shankar Chatterjee,through employment generation programmes(MGNREGA & SGSY) and housing programmes(IAY) rural areas in India will develop. TheMGNREGA has enhanced the livelihoodsecurity of the poor. Through SHGs (SGSY)women have been benefited economicallyand bargaining power with the authorities andthey are solving social problems like dowry

and preventing child marriages. Through IAY(Housing Programme) houses were providedto the BPL families.

V. M. Rao says that due to societal ruleswomen voluntarily accepted the subordinaterole to the other half. Women are under –represented in decision making with littlecontrol over money matters, although theycontribute more to the households in ruralareas. He suggests that skill development andenhancing marketing facilities, empowers thewomen in rural areas.

V. Ramakrishna opines that due to varioussocio-economic constraints and orthodoxsocial milieu of agricultural society, womenwere comprehensively strangulated inpolitical participation. The 73rd ConstitutionalAmendment has institutionalised thewomen’s representation in PRIs but could notdo much at the participation in democraticprocess. He suggests that women should begiven two to three terms i.e., 10 to 15 years inPRIs to perform a feasible role in society.

M. S. Gill points out that non-institutionalagencies, moneylenders have emerged as animportant source of finance in rural areas.Farmers have no option except to non-institutional credit / moneylenders, which lendthem at a high rate of interest but they areaccessible to all needs and available at allseasons. Rich farmers are the actualbeneficiaries of any debt waiver.

S N Dhar says that SHGs (Self-Employment) are accepted as an effectualapproach to developmental planning to raisethe income and asset levels of theunderprivileged. Skill enhancement by theGovernment, NGOs will help the SHGs forgenerating more income. Reduction ofinterest rates within the groups may increasethe capacity of sustainability of SHGs.

T. Krishna Kumar points out that the tribalfamilies who depend on agriculture are not


Book Reviews 547

getting the reasonable price for their produce.So they were not able to develop economicallyand financially. The globalisation has becomea bane to the tribal agriculturists because thefarmers are not able to get the requiredquantity of fertilisers and seeds of good quality.He suggests that the government should helpthe tribal agriculturists to develop theiragriculture.

Anita Modi says that empowerment ofwomen is necessary through SHGs and withthe help of micro-finance. The motto of SHGshould be “for the women, by the women andof the women”. According to Jitendra Ahirrao,‘the micro-finance has become one of themost effective interventions for economicempowerment of the poor and emerged as apowerful tool for rural development’. B.C. Daspoints out that self-employment of the ruralpoor through SHGs, their capacity building,credit arrangement, technology and marketsupport will enhance the quality of rural life.

According to B. Vanitha, ‘the womenempowerment is a process from a state ofpowerlessness (I cannot) to a share ofcollective self-confidence (We can)’. G. PrasadBabu and Rajkumar Josmee Singh say that“Micro – finance has significant role to play inIndian economy for boosting microentrepreneurial activities for creatingproductive assets coupled with employmentgeneration". R. C. Mishra and K. C. Mishra pointout that “Bharat Nirman” is a new deal fordeveloping rural areas and to build ruralinfrastructure in core areas like i) Irrigation ii)Rural Roads iii) Rural Water Supply iv) RuralHousing v) Rural Electrification and vi) RuralCommunication.

Niti Mehta and Anita Arya discuss about“Krishi Mahotsava or Rath” which is an annualevent conducted by the Government ofGujarat to disseminate scientific farmingpractices in the months of May – June justpreceding the kharif season.

According to the UN estimates (2007),there will be at least 800 million hungry peoplelooking for the food in the world. To meet thefood needs of these people B. K. Mohanthysuggests for adoption of new bio-tech cropsi.e., Gene Revolution and new irrigationtechniques like drip irrigation and sprinklerirrigation to boost the agriculture production.

Rajkumar et. al., say that participation ofpeople in watershed management makesthem overcome problems and gain morecontrol over the natural resources andlivelihoods.

According to K.V. Ramachandran, ‘thereis a severe shortage of housing due to the widegap of population growth and demand forhouses’. The rural poor cannot afford housesand they are incapable of giving protectionagainst natural calamities like floods, cyclones,earthquakes and the surroundings of thehouses lack the most fundamentalrequirements for hygiene. The housingprogrammes should be suitable to the climaticas well as to the economic conditions of thepoor and suitable to the local needs and localconditions.

According to Anupam Hazra, theMGNREGA is the most powerful initiative everundertaken for transformation of livelihoodsin rural India. There has been a significantreduction in labour migration and animprovement in the livelihood of the poor. Butthe potential of MGNREGA is yet to be realised.Absence of worksite facilities for women withchildren and the need for a fair revision of theschedule of rates and issuance of job – cardson time are the prime concerns inimplementation.

This book is an encyclopedia of RuralDevelopment and highly educative to thestudents, academicians, administrators,development professionals, sociologists,politicians, policy makers, environmentalists,NGOs and research scholars etc.

– Dr. S. N. Rao

Journal of Rural Development(Quarterly Journal of NIRD)

INSTRINSTRINSTRINSTRINSTRUCUCUCUCUCTIONS TIONS TIONS TIONS TIONS TTTTTO AUTHORSO AUTHORSO AUTHORSO AUTHORSO AUTHORS

Procedure

Communication : The National Institute of Rural Development welcomes articles of interestrepresenting original work, analytical papers and papers based on review of extensive literatureon economic, sociological, psychological, political and administrative aspects of ruraldevelopment for publication in its quarterly Journal of Rural Development (JRD). Allcommunication should be addressed to the Editor, Journal of Rural Development. NationalInstitute of Rural Development, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500 030, India (e-mail:[email protected]). The Editor will correspond with the main author.

Declaration : Each article should be accompanied with a declaration by all the authors that (1)they are authors of the article in the order in which listed; and (2) the article is original, has notbeen published and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. If you have quotedmore than 500 words/a table/a figure from a published work, in the article, enclose a copy ofpermission obtained from the respective copyright holder.

It is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission in writing for the use of all previouslypublished material, not that of the editor or publisher. Authors are responsible for payment ofany permission fees.

Manuscript : Each manuscript should be submitted in triplicate with a letter of transmittal.Article should be double spaced typewritten on one side of quarto size (A4) paper. The lengthof the article may not exceed 10,000 words (40 typed pages approximately). The margin keptshould be 11/

2" on the left side and 1" on the other three sides.

Softcopy Submission : If you send your article in a CD it should be entered in MS Word 2007.The CD should be sent in a CD container to protect it from likely damage. Soft copies can alsobe sent by e-mail: [email protected], [email protected].

Review System : Every article will be reviewed by a masked peer view by two referees. Thecriteria used for acceptance of articles are contemporary relevance, contribution to knowledge,clear and logical analysis, fairly good English and sound methodology of research articles. TheEditor reserves the right to reject any manuscript as unsuitable in topic, style or form withoutrequesting external review.

Editing : Every accepted article will be edited. If the author wishes to see the edited copy he/she should make this request at the time of sending the article. Since this involves a minimumof an additional four weeks time, in the production process, we will assume your concurrenceto our editing unless specified by you.

Copyright : The author owns the copyright of the article until the article is accepted by the JRDfor publication. After the acceptance communication, the copyright of the article is owned bythe National Institute of Rural Development and should not be reproduced elsewhere withoutthe written permission of the editor and the authors of the article.

Preparation of the Article

Title Page : The title page includes the title of the article, name/s of the author/s and theirinstitutional affiliation/s. Repeat only the title on the first page of the article.

Abstract : The first page of the article should contain an abstract of the article not exceeding250 words.

Reduce Bias in Language: Constructions that might imply bias against or stereotypes on thebasis of gender, ethnicity, disability or age should be avoided.

Spellings : Use British spellings in all cases instead of American (Concise Oxford Dictionary).

Underline Words : Words underlined in a manuscript appear in italics when typeset Don’tunderline words for emphasising them.

Abbreviations : A term to be abbreviated must, on its first appearance, be written outcompletely and followed immediately by its abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, theabbreviation may be used without further explanation.

Numbers : Use figures to express all numbers 10 and above. Use words to express numberslower than 10, and common fractions numbers that begin a sentence/title.

Tables : Type each table on a separate page. Insert a location note at the appropriate place inthe text. Minimise the use of tables.

Notes : Footnotes should be listed as notes in an appendix and not typed at the bottom of themanuscript-pages on which they appear.

Quotations : Verbatim citation of fewer than 40 words may be incorporated in the text,enclosed with double quotation marks. A quotation of more than 40 words may be displayedas a free standing block, indenting five spaces from the margin. Do not use quotation marks forthe block quotation. Give the source of the quotation in the form of author’s last name, year andpage number/s in parentheses.

Citation of Sources : When paraphrasing or referring to an idea contained in another work,the author must cite the source in the text. The surname of the author and the year of publicationmay be inserted at the appropriate point as part of the narrative or in parentheses.

As far as possible, all articles and notes should be organised into the following sections: (i)Introduction, (ii) Hypothesis, (iii) Methodological Issues Involved, (iv) Limitations of Analysis, (v)Policy Implications and (vi) Conclusions, Sub-sections should carry clear and distinct sub-headings.

Reference List

1. The reference list at the end of the article should provide complete information necessaryto identify and retrieve each source: Author/s, year of publication, title and publishingdata. References cited in text appear in the reference list; conversely, each entry in thereference list must be cited in the text, both should be identical in spellings and year.

2. An article published in journal may be listed in the following format: Author’s last name,initials, year of publication, name of the article, name of the journal underlined, volumenumber, issue number in parentheses, and page numbers.

3. An article published in an edited book may be listed in the following format: Author’s lastname, initials, year of publication, name of the article, initials and surname of editors, Ed./s, in parentheses, title of the book underlined, page numbers of the article in parentheses,place of publication and name of the publisher, separated by a colon.

4. A book may be listed in the following format: Author’s last name, initials, year of publication,title of the book underlined, place of publication and name of the publisher, separated bya colon.

5. When a reference has more than one author, list all the authors names. For an institutionalreport, write full name of the institute as the author. For a government report, the authoris the name of the country/state and the name of the Ministry/Department, separated bya colon.

6. Arrange references in the Reference List in the alphabetical order by the surname of thefirst author and then his/her initials. When ordering more than one reference by the sameauthor, list the earlier publication before the later publication. References by the sameauthor with the same publication year are arranged alphabetically by the title, and suffixesa, b, c and so on are added to the year.

The Institute supplies 25 reprints of the paper free of cost to the author(s). Additionalrequirements of reprints, if any, should be communicated to the editor within ten days ofreceipt of notification of acceptance for supply on payment, as per the rates charged by theprinters from time to time.

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Dr. R.R.PrasadProf. & Head (CESD)NIRD

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