POVERTY ERADICATION NEERU-MEERU

Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Dept

Sri S. Ray Special CS (sray@ap.gov.in)

Vision 2020 envisages that by the year 2020, people of Andhra Pradesh will all

have tremendous opportunities to achieve prosperity and well being and enjoy a high quality of life. Every individual will be able to lead a comfortable life, filled with opportunities to learn, develop skills and earn a livelihood. Poverty will have been eradicated and current inequalities will have disappeared. Women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and minorities will be empowered and the rights of the child protected, while the old, infirm and the disabled will be able to lead a secure and dignified life.

Longevity in the State will rise to 69 years (from 62.6), infant mortality will be

reduced to 10 (from 66 per thousand live births), almost every person will be literate, every child will go to school, and every one will have the opportunity to grow to his full potential Current Status

The present conditions are far from this vision though we have achieved a great

amount of progress in many aspects of quality of life. Longevity has risen from 45 to 62.6 between the 1960s and 1990s. The number of deaths per thousand population has been reduced from 15.8 to 8.3 between 1970s and 1990s. Infant mortality rate has been halved between the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s (from 123 to 63). This improvement in the quality of life has not been even across all the sections of people: the poor are behind the rest. Among the poor, the quality life is particularly low for the vulnerable sections such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, women and children.

The proportion of poor people in the rural areas has declined from 49 percent in

1973-74 to 11.05% in 1999-2000 as per the official estimates of the Planning Commission. Similarly, the proportion of urban poor in the state has declined from 50.11% in 1973-74 to 26.63% in 1999-2000. However, relative deprivation and under development is adverse if we consider non-income indicators like literacy and infant mortality.

While the literacy rate was 21.19% in 1961 and 54% in 1997, it has increased

to 61.11% as per 2001 census. Female literacy rate was 12.3% in 1961 and 43% in 1997, it has increased to 51.17% as per census 2001. The drop out rates at primary stage of education have been steadily going down but the number of children dropping out of the system is still quite high. Out of every hundred children enrolled in Class-I, only 70 are completing Class-V and only 50 are going on to complete Class-VII. The drop out rate is higher in the case of girls as compared to boys. The drop out rates among S.Cs. & S.Ts. are coming down over the years but only 32% Scheduled Caste children and 18% of Scheduled Tribe children are able to complete Class VII. Today there are an estimated 180 lakh illiterates in the age group of 15-50 years and 109 lakh adult illiterates in the 15-35 years age group.

The poor education indicators are of serious concern, as the poor will find it difficult to meet the skill requirements of jobs being created in the non-farm economy in the future. Poverty eradication efforts

There have been steadfast efforts at reduction of poverty and improvement in

the quality of life of the people of the State. Human Resource Development Programmes for provision of safe drinking water, environmental sanitation and

expansion of medical and health facilities have contributed to substantial improvements in the health conditions of the people.

Children immunised has risen from 54% to 70.84% between 1992-93 and

2000-2001. The Integrated Child Development Scheme, implemented in 251 of the 330 erstwhile Blocks in the State, provides nutrition support to children and their mothers during pregnancy and lactation, facilitates enrollment of children in schools, health awareness and livelihood skills to women and adolescent girls. The program covers 6.82 lakh women and 29 lakh children. This has contributed significantly to the sharp reduction of infant mortality and in the number of children suffering severe malnutrition. The maternal mortality has declined from 3.8 in 1993 to 1.54 in 1997-98. Crude Birth Rate has reduced from 24.1 to 22.3 per 1000. Total Fertility Rate has reduced from 2.6 to 2.5 per women.

Out of the 69,732 rural habitations with a population of 534 lakhs, 60089

habitations with a population of 384 lakhs have been provided with safe drinking water facilities. All the 109 Municipalities and 6 Municipal Corporations have piped water supply with a per day per capita supply of 19 gallons as against the national norm of 22 to 30 gallons per day. In order to augment water supply in the municipal towns 59 water supply improvement schemes have recently been taken up and 47 completed; with the completion of the rest, the situation is expected to improve substantially.

Housing for the poor has been an important programme and nearly 39.40 lakh

houses for the poor have been built in the sixteen years ending 2000-2001. In the past four years the number of dwelling units built has gone up to 3.5 lakhs per year.

A major initiative of the State to improve the nutrition status of the poor is the

Subsidised rice Scheme. This scheme covers 113 lakh families for whom 20 kgs of Rice is supplied depending on number of members at a highly subsidised rate for which the State government spends about Rs 600 crores per year.

School facilities have been substantially enhanced and the enrollment of

children in primary schools has risen from 73 lakhs to 92 lakhs between 1989-90 and

2000-2001. One lakh additional teachers have been added to the system in the last four years and 32,000 teachers are being recruited during 2001-2002, besides 50,000 vidya volunteers are being deployed for mobilizing, enrolling and retaining children in schools.

Self employment programmes To provide tangible income earning assets and skills 8.40 lakh families have

been assisted since 1995-96 under IRDP/SGSY. 55.47 lakh poor women are accessing self-employment opportunities through DWCRA program. 33,000 CMEY groups are assisted to access self employement opportunities since 1996 with an investment of Rs 342 crores. Training cum Technology Development Centers (TTDCs) in the districts will build the technical and managerial capacities of the poor for undertaking self-employment activities. Wage employment programs

While Employment Assurance Scheme is providing direct wage employment to

the rural poor during the lean season, programs such as watershed development, Joint Forest Management Program (JFM) have enhanced the wage employment opportunities of the rural poor through out the year

The Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana brings all the ongoing programmes

into a single integrated project with participation of the urban poor. It is applicable to all urban towns (7 Municipal Corporations and 109 Municipalities in the State) on a whole town basis. It has four components: Urban Self Employment Programme, Urban Wage Employment Programme, Urban Training Programme, Development of Women and Children in Urban Areas. It is implemented through community-based organisations in a three-tier system consisting of Neighbourhood Groups, Neighbourhood Committees and Community Development Societies. Over 41 thousand Neighborhood Groups, 4415 Neighbourhood Committees and 143 Community Development Societies have been facilitated to come into being and have taken up works.

Mission based approach to employment generation

The Government of AP have established Employment Generation Mission

to coordinate activities of all the concerned departments in employment generation and manpower planning. The Mission will prepare a time bound action plan for implementation. The Government will act as facilitator and would identify and prioritise key sectors with employment potential and ensure successful implementation. Government seeks to ensure convergence among various employment generation initiatives of various agencies of the government.

Natural Resource Management Sustained improvement in the quality of life, especially for the rural poor,

depends on efficient management and renewal of natural resources. Watershed programs can be successful in harmonizing the use of water, soil, forest and pasture resources, particularly in the rain-fed areas of the state to raise agricultural productivity. Consequently, they offer a sustainable opportunity to increase growth and reduce poverty. 5472 watersheds covering an area of 27.6 lakh hectares with an investment of Rs.580 crores using participatory approaches have been taken up. Over two lakh hectares of wastelands are being treated under the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme.

Forest protection and management have been taken up through the Joint

Forest Management. Over 13.5 lakh people including 6 lakh women in Vana Samrakshana Samities manage 16.32 lakh hectares of degraded forests in the State.

Irrigation water management has been entrusted to statutorily constituted

10,400 Water Users Associations to ensure efficient and equitable management of this high cost and scarce resource.

Empowerment of poor women

Self Help Groups of Women (thrift groups) programme has mobilized and

organized 55.47 lakh poor women in the rural areas into 4.15 lakh groups. These women groups have built up a corpus fund of Rs 1085.90 crores consisting of their savings, borrowings from banks and DWCRA revolving fund from government. The empowerment process has enabled the members of DWCRA and thrift groups in addressing poverty in all it’s dimensions. DWCRA movement has contributed to the augmentation of incomes, improvement of nutrition, better child care of the poor women and enhanced the status of women in rural households. A similar programme for the urban areas has now been started under the name of Development of Women and Children in Urban Areas (DWCUA). 5523 DWCUA groups have been formed and developed in urban areas.

The Girl Child Protection Scheme endows Rs 5000 on eligible new born girl

child for pursuing education till the age of 20 along with a lumpsum amount of Rs.20,000 for self employment. The budget provides Rs 25 crores for the scheme, which will cover 50 thousand girl children born during the year. Since its inception in 1996-97 nearly 2.5 lakh girl children have been covered in this scheme. Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project

The Project, called the Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project (APDPIP), is being implemented in 180 backward mandals of the six districts

of Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Anantapur, Chittoor, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram. Its objective is to improve opportunities for the rural poor to meet their priority social and economic needs and reduce the incidence of child labour and school drop out of girls. The project proposes to achieve its objectives through social mobilisation and empowerment of the poor, especially women, improvement of their livelihood skills, and providing access to productive assets, infrastructure and social services. The project also aims at improving the concern for the poor in all existing institutions. The total project cost is Rs 593.12 crores for the first time slice of five years ending December 2005. The Project is expected to benefit 6.30 lakh families directly and indirectly impact on all the poor in the Project areas through increased participation of the poor in other ongoing poverty alleviation and development programmes. Out of the target, 1.09 lakh families have been covered ending December 2001.

Janmabhoomi campaign

Janmabhoomi campaign has given an opportunity to the poor to articulate their concerns and demand their rights and entitlements. The campaign has provided forum for identification of beneficiaries for many anti-poverty program, rendering the process more transparent. It has enhanced the accountability of the government functionaries and local bodies to the people in general and the poor in particular.

State Government’s Strategy for poverty eradication

The poverty eradication strategy proposed herein is designed to operationalise

Vision 2020 goals in this respect. The Government of AP is committed to eradicate poverty in all it’s dimensions among all sections of the people through promoting growth, especially of such sectors, which will expand opportunities for the poor and build their human capital to enable them to participate effectively in the growth process. The government will follow empowerment approach to poverty reduction by facilitating the process of social mobilization. Strengthening the abilities of the poor to fight poverty and expanding their asset base will underpin the strategy for poverty eradication.

Elements of the strategy for poverty eradication

Poverty is multi-dimensional. The Government will adopt a multifold strategy to

eradicate poverty. The following are the key elements of the strategy. These elements of the strategy are interlinked, and build on each other.

1. Pursuit of rapid economic growth. 2. Promotion of human development

3. Enhancing social capital of the poor by fostering organizations of the poor and their capacity building 4. Promotion of sustainable livelihoods of the poor 5. Focus on backward mandals and the poorest of the poor 6. Re-designing the administrative delivery machinery

1. Pursuit of rapid economic growth

1.1 Economic growth Past experience shows that poverty cannot be treated by itself. For instance a

great effort at poverty reduction could be nullified through inflation caused by poor management of the monetary system and fiscal deficits. In general poverty reduction can be sustained only through economic growth. Experience in many countries of the world shows that a high rate of economic growth is the engine of poverty reduction. Economic growth enhances opportunities for employment and higher incomes.

1.2 Pro-poor growth

The Government is convinced that economic growth, though essential for

poverty reduction, is not enough. The Government’s approach to growth is based on the premise that more equal societies are more efficient transformers of growth into fast poverty reduction. Growth must be pro-poor, expanding the opportunities and life choices of poor people. Hence the Government is committed to raise the rate of reduction of poverty through growth by choosing patterns of growth that are pro-poor and employment intensive by focusing on rural growth and by integrating with emerging technological developments.

1.3 Rural growth It has been the experience that rural growth reduces poverty faster in both rural

and urban areas. This is because rural growth not only enhances supplies of raw material but also widely augments purchasing power, which supports urban manufacture and employment. Rural prosperity increases demand for construction materials, cycles and mopeds, transistor radios and batteries, soaps and cosmetics and processed foods like pasteurized milk and biscuits and a wide variety of other goods and services. Hence, Government will focus on employment intensive sectors such as irrigation, agriculture and agro processing.

1.4 Irrigation Irrigation raises agricultural output, and intensity of cropping thus raising

demand for labour and agricultural wages. Indian experience and experience in Andhra Pradesh have shown that poverty is far less in irrigated areas than in areas

without irrigation. Government will therefore augment public investments in irrigation, particularly in backward areas.

1.5 Agriculture International experience shows that it is agricultural growth that brings sharp

decline in poverty. Vision 2020 envisages that by 2020 Andhra Pradesh will be a powerhouse of Indian agriculture by harnessing water resources, developing agriculture in rainfed areas and reforming policies to stimulate growth. While the Vision 2020 document envisaged agriculture growing at 6% per annum, the trend of rate of growth has been very modest over the past two decades.

Fostering conditions for agricultural growth in the rural areas has to be a central

pillar of the overall strategy for poverty reduction. Agro-processing enhances value of agricultural products and increases employment and incomes in rural areas apart from enhancing the quality of output for the consumers, rural or urban. It enhances export opportunities and values for agricultural products and enables access to the tremendous international market opportunities for our agriculture. It promotes faster growth of employment outside agriculture on which an unsustainable proportion of rural population is now dependent. Government will promote these activities aggressively.

The prospects for poultry, fisheries, dairying and horticulture remain robust in

Andhra Pradesh. These sub-sectors are growing at about 4 to 6 times the growth rates compared to growth registered in the food grain sector. With rising per capita incomes in the country and increasing liberalization of world agro-commodities, there is even greater scope for the development of these components, which can help pull up the overall growth in agriculture, which would have significant impact on the reduction of rural poverty.

1.6 Employment potential in service sector The service sector in the state accounts for nearly 43% of GSDP and employs

20% of workforce. The service sector will need to expand at almost 16 times it’s current size and grow at the rate of 12% a year. This sector is expected to be a major generator of new jobs, especially in rural areas. In rural and semi rural areas small-scale service segment is expected to provide significant employment opportunities in higher value-added jobs. The growth of this sector will enable occupational shift and productive employment of AP’s large number of agriculture labour, women, youth and artisans. Hence the Government will focus on developing services sector as a critical aspect of realizing its growth aspirations. It is expected that about 40 lakhs jobs will be created in service sector by 2005. This will be accomplished by skill development, provision of micro-credit and conducive policy environment to boost the service sector.

Most poor women and youth will take advantage of SHG movement to set up

viable self-employment ventures, to earn additional income. Corporate private sector

will be involved for enhancing marketing opportunities through partnership models, establishing marketing platforms, access to modern technologies and tools, value addition to products, packaging, branding and increased marketing opportunities.

1.7 Rural infrastructure Infrastructure gaps are holding back investments and growth in both rural and

urban areas. Government will therefore increase its own and promote private investments in infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Electrification of rural habitations and enhancing the quality of power supplied (assurance of supply on demand, voltage stability) will contribute substantially to the diversification of the rural economy and enhancement of the quantity and variety of outputs. It leads to growth of non-farm employment opportunities. It will change and enhance the quality of rural life increasing access to education and health. Lack of transport facilities limits marketability and augmentation of incomes and employment. Rural connectivity will raise access to markets for rural products. All habitations will be connected to the nearest market centers to enhance such opportunities for rural output.

Since 1995-96, Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) of NABARD has

strengthened rural infrastructure at an estimated cost of Rs 1961 crores in our state.

1.8 Information technologies The emerging Information Technology (IT) has tremendous potential to bring

about transformation in the rural and urban areas. IT has great potential for use in raising literacy levels, improving the quality and reach of teaching for primary and secondary schools, awareness building on hygiene, nutrition, reproductive health and communicable and other diseases. The Government would focus on suitable interventions to enable the poor access tremendous employment opportunities emerging in this sector.

1.9 Private capital investments Private capital investments accelerate economic growth by mobilizing domestic

and international savings and generating output, employment and incomes. A predictable and stable environment of encouragement, expansion of infrastructure and liberalised markets facilitate growth of private investments. Government will use fiscal and other incentives to channel private capital into pro-poor investments. There can be no greater attraction to profit driven private capital than the gigantic market of the poor in the State.

2. Promotion of human development 2.1 Human development and growth Rapid improvements in human capabilities and economic growth can be

mutually reinforcing, when a good share of resource generated by growth are channeled to human development. When pattern of growth generates demand for increasing skills, a spiral of growth and human development results in reduction of poverty.

The first step in generating a growth spiral is the provision of basic minimum

services to all citizens, especially the poor, women and the weaker sections. These basic minimum services have been identified as education, health, nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation, housing, and rural connectivity. These ensure improvement in human development and access to markets, which are the passport out of poverty into a comfortable and qualitative life. Empirical evidence suggests that access to, and performance in, basic health and education have the most dramatic effect on poor children’s chance to escape from poverty. It has catalytic role for those who are most likely to be poor: women, weaker sections, and people living in rural communities. Health and education can be expected to lead to increased earning potential and improved labour mobility. The skills being provided for the poor should be based on demand for them in the open market; a match between skill supply and demand is of importance.

2.2 Education In consonance with the goal and objectives envisaged in Vision 2020, its

commitment to the childs right to education, the Andhra Pradesh agenda for education as articulated in the Government’s strategy paper on education has the following objectives and the pursuit of the same will have significant impact on the poverty situation in the state.

•••• Andhra Pradesh will not be just a literate but a knowledge society

capable of meeting the challenges of 21st century and to provide avenues to every person to realise his or her full potential through access to educational opportunities regardless of the class or region to which he or she belongs.

•••• Government of Andhra Pradesh is committed to take decisive action on all fronts – legislative, administrative and socio-economic – to put a complete halt to the exploitative and shameful process of child labour within a definite time frame of 5 years. Andhra Pradesh will be free from child labour before 2005.

•••• The primary goal would be to improve overall literacy levels from the current 54% of the population to over 95% by 2005. It will mean achieving universalisation of enrolment, retention, adult education with

a special emphasis and focussed strategies to improve literacy and achievement levels in the groups with traditionally low levels i.e., rural women, minorities, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes, child labour, girlchild, particularly muslim girl child, and the population of identified backward areas.

•••• Andhra Pradesh will meet the challenges of the 21st century for providing knowledge based and skilled manpower with reference to emerging areas of manpower requirement by including IT education in school curriculum and reorienting the Secondary Education to also incorporate vocational education.

•••• With a decentralised, simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent (SMART) governance, Andhra Pradesh will move towards participatory management by the parents and local communities as partners in improving access, quality of education and overall management of education.

2.3 Health The Government’s commitment to improve the quality of life of the poor is

reflected in the Government’s strategy paper on health where it is stated that; every person will have access to responsive basic health care and specialized health care at affordable prices. Women will have safe and successful pregnancies, infant child mortality due to ailments like Accute Respiratory Infection (ARI) and diarrhea will be reduced drastically. Spread of AIDs will be contained. Communicable diseases like Gastro Enteritis (GE), Malaria and TB will be effectively prevented. Families will be small and better spaced. Life expectancy will reach 68 for males and 70.6 for females.

3. Enhancing Social Capital of the Poor

3.1 Social mobilization of the poor Social mobilization enables the poor to build their organizations (Self Help

Groups) at grassroots level, in which they participate fully and directly and take decisions on all the issues concerning poverty. The Government will foster mobilization and organizations of the poor and empower them to address various issues concerning poverty. The ongoing efforts in facilitating the formation and development of the Self Help Groups of the poor, especially DWCRA groups in the rural areas, DWCUA groups in the urban areas, mothers committees, school education committees, watershed committees, vanasamrakshan samithies and CMEY groups would be sustained. Through these Self Help Groups, the poor are able to harness their potential, prioritise their needs, design and implement developmental

initiatives. The government would pursue policies to support SHG movement & their participation in the programmes critical to poverty eradication.

3.2 Organisation building With the Self Help Groups as the building blocks, the community based

organsations(CBOs) of the poor are emerging at habitation, cluster and mandal level. The Government would encourage this process, so that the poor would be able to articulate their demands effectively and manage the developmental initiative professionally. The government would facilitate development of self-managed, self-reliant and vibrant organizations of the poor, at village, mandal and district level such as Mutually Aided Cooperatives Societies (MACS) of women being formed at mandal level in many districts.

3.3 Capacity building of the SHGs and their federations

Capacity building of the SHGs and their federations will be given adequate attention. The Government would develop state level, district and mandal level training capabilities so that the capacity building of the members of the organization is taken up depending on the need and the demand of the groups. The Government would put in position an effective mechanism to regularly undertake the rating of the groups so that developmental inputs can be targeted in a more transparent way. The organizations of the poor, being participatory bodies will forge harmonious partnership with the representative bodies such as Grampanchayats and Mandal Parishads and Municipal bodies.

4. Promote sustainable livelihoods of the poor

The growth impulses in the economy should focus on generating sustainable livelihood opportunities for the poor. This can come through natural resource regeneration such as watershed and wasteland development. These protect the poor communities from adverse climatic conditions such as droughts, erratic distribution of rainfall and excess rainfall, enhance their opportunities for employment and incomes.

An important concern in watershed development is the equitable distribution of

the benefits of land and water resources development and the consequent biomass production. Public investment of a large magnitude is being made in both private lands and in common public property. Therefore the right of each individual in the village to an equitable share of the common lands, forest and water resources of the village regardless of his individual private land holding would be recognised and addressed through effective means.

The support for micro-watershed development will be routed through the SHGs

of the poor to ensure that the works taken up are demand driven and based on their felt needs, thereby ensuring better targeting of the interventions in favour of the poor.

Promotion of rapid rural growth in drought-prone and rain fed areas of the state

is another important means of enhancing the livelihood opportunities to the poor. Towards this end Government will promote horticulture, forestry and livestock in these areas.

A 10-year (1998-2007) action plan aimed at treating 10 million hectares of

wastelands/degraded lands and degraded reserve forests using participatory processes has been initiated in the state. So far about 3 million hectares is being treated. The Government has recently embarked on a program A.P Rural Livelihoods Project, in five districts (Anantapur, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Prakasam and Nalgonds), with the financial support of Department for International Development (DFID), Government of United Kingdom, at a cost of over Rs 307 crores. This program addresses the issue of sustainable rural livelihoods in a framework of employment and better conditions of living for the poor and conservation of natural resources. It provides support for strengthening participatory processes and providing sustained capacity building for the community-based organizations involved in watershed management.

Andhra Pradesh has taken bold steps to demonstrate that a convergence of

conservation and development objectives can be achieved through Joint Forest Management (JFM). Pursuing one of the most proactive JFM programs in India, the State has committed to the user groups, 100% of usufruct forest produce secured from the area entrusted to the JFM committees. Widespread implementation of JFM is leading to an increased flow (both value and volume) of forest products to communities and an increase in environmental benefits resulting from improved forest condition (principally with respect to soil and water regimes). Formation of JFM committees in Andhra Pradesh has successfully targeted remote and under-served communities, in particular tribal populations. Government is committed to ensure the success and spread of this process.

5. Focus on the backward mandals and the poorest of the poor

The level of development is not even in different areas of the state and poverty

tends to be more intense in the less developed areas. Lack of basic minimum services like education, health, drinking water, nutrition and housing is primarily responsible for backwardness of the areas. Backwardness is also caused due to the lack of basic infrastructure such as roads, irrigation, and electricity. Lack of adequate employment has also contributed to low income and poverty in the backward areas. Therefore Government will adopt a three-pronged strategy of providing basic minimum services, improving infrastructure and creating opportunities for sustainable employment. The focus will be on bringing the level of development in the backward areas on par with the rest of the state during the next five years. The growth engines under Vision 2020 will be chosen to maximize the potential of each region. The Government will select a set of parameters for ranking the mandals by their development through wide consultations and identify backward mandals. There will

be sharper focus for accelerated development and poverty eradication in these mandals.

The Government would also identify poorest of the poor families whose annual

income is less that Rs 6000 and ensure convergence of all anti-poverty programs and area development programs so that these families can come out of poverty and secure access to sustainable livelihoods in a time bound manner.

Government have formulated a project‘AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project

(APRPRP)’ for poverty reduction in 500 most backward mandals of the state. The project concept document is cleared by the World Bank. The project is being appraised by the World Bank. The project would be launched in the middle of the year 2002

AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project has the dual objectives of (i) promoting economic mobility and (ii) enhancing social protection by reducing vulnerability for the poor. In terms of economic mobility, the focus is on measures to improve rural livelihoods for marginal and small farmers, widen access to non-farm employment opportunities and improve the access of communities to financial resources. Vulnerability will be addressed in two ways: first, by improving poor people's access to existing anti-poverty programs and key services such as food security and basic education, health, and nutrition, and second by the development of new insurance mechanisms and safety nets to protect against downside risks. The project will be implemented through three mechanisms: First, grass roots mobilization and formation of self-help groups which will help to better empower the poor and tackle demand-side constraints Second, provision of resources (e.g., through community investment fund) to expand the base of local public goods and community infrastructure (e.g., drinking water, local roads, community facilities and third, institutional strengthening measures. This would include:- strengthening capacity of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) reforms to support greater private sector involvement in rural areas, and greater convergence of existing social sector and anti-poverty programs. Further, the project would support greater convergence of health, education, nutrition, anti-poverty and Janmabhoomi programs to: (a) respond to the needs of the poor using a bottom up approach and (b) recognize the need for different grassroots institutional arrangements. The guiding principles for convergence are: (a) ensuring in-depth understanding of poverty and making it a core concern of the mandal level functionaries (including PRI representatives) (b) ensuring that the program and processes of line departments support empowerment of the poorest of the poor in a complementary manner through joint planning, monitoring, training and implementation and (c) establishing organizational systems at the community level to support convergence. APRPRP would support communities and groups so that they may be in a better position to take advantage of non-farm employment opportunities such as

micro enterprises, value addition to farm produce, trading, etc. This could include the provision of training, providing information on markets, and facilitating links to the private sector, rural banks, and other financial intermediaries.

6. Redesigning the administrative delivery mechanism All the departments of the government will be made sensititve to the issues

concerning poverty and poverty eradication shall become the priority. The departments would be reoriented to look at development as an opportunity to bring changes in the lives of the poor. Each department would be mandated to articulate clearly as how the department’s programs address poverty.

Transparency and accountability will become the hallmark of the government’s

interface with the people, especially the poor. The departments would revisit the procedures, processes and guidelines and make necessary changes to give space for participation of the poor through SHGs in designing, prioritizing, implementing and monitoring their developmental programs.

7. Resource mobilization The Government have mobilized resources from World Bank to support rural

component of Velugu (APDPIP) which aims at poverty eradication in 6 backward districts of AP at an outlay of Rs 600 crores. The AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project estimated at an outlay of Rs 2000 crores, is being appraised by the World Bank.

The urban component of ‘Velugu’, the AP Urban Services for the Poor

programme supported by DFID is under implementation in 32 Municipal towns, with an estimated cost of Rs 745 crores. The project aims at improvement of municipal management including support for municipal finances, improved environmental services (drinking water, sanitation, etc) and enhancing community participation in management of municipal development.

The Government would put in all the concerted efforts to assist 40 lakh poor

families in the state to come out of income poverty in next 5 years. These families will also be assisted to secure minimum living standards during the same period.

8. Poverty Eradication Mission Government have constituted a Poverty Eradication Mission to advise it on the

policies and programmes to be taken to speedily achieve the Vision 2020 goals in this respect, to promote convergence of all related activities, to identify and recommend best practices from national and international experience and to monitor the performance. The Mission will provide a platform for advocacy for the cause of the poor.

The Government have established poverty analysis and monitoring unit, a technical support unit to the Poverty Eradication Mission. The primary task of the new Unit is to develop an overarching framework for poverty reduction: this requires better analytical work and building consensus across various government and non-government actors. The Government recognizes the importance of examining the impact of key government policies and programme on the poor, with a view to ensuring that greater benefits flow to them. This will also involve looking not just at the targeted programme, but also at targeting and incidence of public spending. This will be done with a view towards how they can better meet the needs of the poor, both in urban and rural areas.

The Gvernment is convinced that poverty is no longer inevitable. The state has the material and natural resources, the know-how and the determination to eradicate poverty. It is with this conviction the Government is channelising all its resources to make Andhra Pradesh a poverty-free state.

NEERU-MEERU

INTRODUCTION Water is a vital natural resource which forms the basis of all life. Further, water is a key resource in all economic activities ranging from agriculture to industry. With ever-increasing pressure of human population, there is severe stress on water resources. Due to lack of advance planning and improper utilisation of available water, lands are getting either degraded or turning into wastelands. In India, out of 3290 lakh hectares of geographical area, nearly fifty percent (50%) of land is either waste or degraded.

NEED FOR WATER CONSERVATION

In India, the average annual rainfall is about 1170 mm which is received over an area of 3290 lakh hectares in about 100 rainy days. The receipt of about 4000 billion (4,00,00,000 lakhs) cubic metres (BCM) of rainfall in 100 high intensity rainfall hours renders one third of the geographical area prone to droughts and one eighth of the area subject to floods. The inter-relationship between rainfall, surface water and ground water indicates that out of total precipitation occurring, forty-one percent (41%) are lost as evapo-transpiration and forty percent (40%) lost as run-off, while ten percent (10%) is retained as soil moisture and another nine percent (9%) infiltrates for recharging ground water. According to estimates, India will be requiring about 1201 BCM of water in the year 2050 AD to cater to the needs of about 150 crores population for food, drinking water, domestic, industrial, navigational, environmental and ecological requirements. However, the continued neglect of traditional water bodies like tanks and ponds, indiscriminate exploitation of ground water, improper maintenance of surface water systems and abnormal increase in population has accentuated the water problem which resulted in a sharp decline in per capita availability of water to half of 1947 levels in 2000. According to a standard definition of water availability if it falls below 1000 m³ /capita/year, water supply begins to hamper, health, economic development and human beings, resulting into scarcity conditions requiring to take up immediate remedial measures. India has the largest concentration of rural poor who live in miserable conditions. One of the world wide accepted practices to effect economic development is treatment of lands in backward areas through water. Thus the enormity of the problem calls for laying strong emphasis on water conservation.

ANDHRA PRADESH – LAND AND WATER PROFILE Andhra Pradesh forms a part of peninsular shield and has four major physiographic divisions. They are :

i) Coastal plains comprising the coastal districts.

ii) Eastern Ghats (mountainous tract) forming parts of the coastal

districts.

iii) Interior uplands and plains encompassing the Rayalaseema region.

iv) North – Western plateau and plains forming the Telangana region.

The State of Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in the country and accounts for 8.4% of India’s territory bound by North latitudes 12º 14’ and 19º 54’ East longitudes 76º 50’ and 84º 50’ with a long coast line of 700 km. The total geographical area of Andhra Pradesh is 275 lakh hectares out of which the area falling under waste and degraded land category is 115 lakh hectares which constitutes forty-two percent (42%) of the total geographical area of the state. The state receives about 244.4 BCM volume of rainfall through an average annual rainfall of 896 mm. Out of the total volume of rainfall received, 100.2 BCM (41%) is lost as evaporation and evapo-transpiration; 97.76 BCM (40%) is lost as surface run-off; while 24.44 BCM (10%) is retained as soil moisture and 22.00 BCM (9%) is recharged as ground water. As the percentage of total rainfall getting lost through evaporation and evapo-transpiration (41%) and run-off (40%) is substantial, the situation has resulted in nearly forty-two percent of total geographical area of the state turning into waste and degraded lands (115 lakh hectares). In addition, due to unscientific use of surface water and under-utilisation of ground water in ayacut / command areas, the problems of water logging, salinity and alkalization of lands apart from floods are being manifested. Thus, while total water available from surface and ground together is about 1.19 BCM with which an area covering 177 lakh hectares representing 88% of total culturable area can be brought under irrigation, the present irrigated area is only 55 lakh hectares which is about 33% of culturable area. In 13 out of the 23 districts of the state, the ground water levels are declining and 615 villages have been categorised as dark. In these villages the rural drinking water hand pumps are getting dry. Water quality problems are also manifested with declining ground water levels. Thus, there is need for initiating measures for ensuring effective water conservation and utilisation practices. EFFORTS FOR WATER CONSERVATION Over the years, in addition to traditional water harvesting structures like tanks and village ponds, a number of irrigation systems have come up at various

places depending upon availability of water source. As the reach of such irrigation systems was limited and considering the vast size and population of the country, different practices have been tried for water conservation which are acceptable to the people. One such programme to combat recurrence of droughts and water stress was watershed programme in drought prone areas which was introduced in 1975. The experience of the programme revealed that the desired impact could not be achieved and sustained as the planning was mostly top down coupled with lack of co-ordination among departments and with hardly any people’s participation. Consequently, the programmes of dry / degraded / waste land development have undergone a major change from 1995-96 with the introduction of revised watershed guidelines based on the recommendations of Dr.Hanumantha Rao Committee. The main principle adopted in the new guidelijnes is to lay emphasis on active mobilisation and participation of stakeholders in the programme. In the light of this backdrop, a massive ten-year watershed programme for development of all the degraded and wastelands was launched during 1997 in Andhra Pradesh so as to treat 100 lakh hectares of waste and degraded lands. As a result of this effort, 31.60 lakh hectares of degraded and wasteland is under treatment upto December, 2001 with participation of stakeholders through 7135 watershed committees. Similarly, under Joint Forest Management (JFM), 16.82 lakh hectares of degraded forest land was treated with community participation through 6726 Vana Samrakshana Samithis (VSSs). WATER, A NATIONAL PRIORITY AND NEED FOR WATER MISSION With the experience of the last few years and based on recommendations of various experts, the government decided to launch a focussed onslaught on the man made phenomenon of drought and water shortage in the state. Thus, focus was laid on sustainable developmental effort with emphasis on holistic planning on river basin/sub-basin through convergence of various departments at the state, district and sub-district levels. In this direction, amalgamation of various wage employment programmes was devised at the district level with total emphasis on water conservation. With this background, the Government of Andhra Pradesh set up a Water Conservation Mission with experts and eminent persons at the state level with water conservation and its sustainable utilisation as its main goal. LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT FOR WATER CONSERVATION In December 2000, the A.P. Water Land and Trees ordinance was promulgated. A bill has been introduced in the Legislative Assembly, it was

referred to a Select Committee. The ordinance is aimed at providing necessary legislative support for water conservation activities and tree cover. The ordinance seeks to regulate exploitation ground and surface water, strengthen public participation in conservation activities and ensure equitable access to water in different basins, sub-basins and regions in the state. It also seeks to promote environment and allied activities. NEERU - MEERU For ensuring convergence of the efforts of the concerned departments and to promote water conservation in an aggressive manner, the government brought all water conservation activities into a campaign mode and christened the same as Neeru-Meeru meaning Water and You. The Government has launched Neeru-Meeru or the 1st of May, 2000 coinciding with 12th round of Janmabhoomi. The concept of Neeru-Meeru envisages creation of awareness amongst the people to ensure their participation and to facilitate conservation efforts of various government departments. The departments involved in Neeru-Meeru programme are :

- Rural Development

- Forest

- Major Irrigation

- Medium Irrigation

- Minor Irrigation ( I and CAD)

- Minor Irrigation (PR)

- Rural Water Supply (PR)

- Municipal Administration and Urban Development

- Endowments

SALIENT FEATURES OF NEERU-MEERU 1. RAINWATER HARVESTING WORKS :

Neeru-Meeru, in itself not a scheme or a programme, envisages to coordinate and guide the water conservation efforts of various departments. All the activities that are being taken up under Neeru-Meeru, by various departments, are aimed at creating more filling space for harvesting rainwater which contributes to more ground water recharge. Various activities being carried out under Neeru-Meeru by different departments are -

(i) RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

• Continuous contour trenching, continuous peripheral contour trenching and

staggered trenching on hill slopes / foot hills of all categories of lands.

• Gully control works.

• Checkdams and percolation tanks.

• Bunding in farmers’ fields.

• Farm ponds, sunken ponds, dug-out ponds.

• Desilting of tanks

(ii) FOREST DEPARTMENT

• Gully control works and contour trenching on hill slopes of reserved forest

areas.

• Check dams and percolation tanks.

(iii) MAJOR IRRIGATION

• Feeder channels and supply channels

(iv) MEDIUM IRRIGATION

• Feeder channels and supply channels

• Repairs to the cross missionary and cross drainage.

(v) MINOR IRRIGATION (I & CAD) DEPARTMENT

• Restoration of feeder channels to tanks

• Strengthening of bunds.

• Revetment works of tank bunds.

(vi) PANCHAYAT RAJ (MINOR IRRIGATION)

• Breach closures

• Feeder channels and supply channels

• Desilting

• Bund strengthening

(vii) PANCHAYAT RAJ (RWS)

• Conversion of low yielding bore wells into injection wells.

• Conversion of disuse dug wells into recharge wells.

• Check dams and mini percolation tanks.

• Recharge structures near bore wells.

(viii) MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION & URAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT • Rainwater harvesting structures in the premises of a residential buildings.

• Rainwater harvesting structures in open places, parks and play grounds

• Rainwater harvesting structures in government/ quasi government offices

and educational institutions.

• Run off breakers near bore wells.

• Desilting of tanks / reservoirs.

(ix) ENDOWMENTS DEPARTMENT • Contour trenching

• Gully control works.

2. MOBILISATION OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES

! Resource mobilization will play an important part in the successful implementation of Neeru-Meeru. The following are some of the proposals for mibilisation of funds:

• Funds available with Panchayat Raj, Rural Development, Irrigation,

Forest, Endowments, Municipal Administration and Urban Development departments.

• To obtain sanctions under RIDF (NABARD) by formulating special

projects.

• To obtain funds from the Government of India under SGSY – innovative programme component.

• To mobilize funds through bonds of A.P. Infrastructure Development

Corporation.

• To examine possibility of earmarking certain percentage of funds of all the departments towards water conservation works for spending in the concerned department projects / lands.

3.PRIORITISATION OF AREAS In all the water conservation works, public contribution in various manners will be encouraged. In the action plan for Neeru-Meeru under Phase – IV priority areas for treatment include.

• Dark and grey areas where ground water is exploited more than 85% and 60-85% respectively.

• Areas where depth to water level has fallen below May 2001 level in

December 2001 itself.

• Areas with depth to water level more than 20 metres and showing declining trend in pre and post monsoon water levels.

• Problematic areas for drinking and other purposes.

4. STRATEGIES

! Emphasis on water stress areas and areas having inadequate

water resources. ! Providing employment opportunities to the local people. ! Emphasis on rainwater conservation wherever it falls. ! Application of low cost techniques using locally available material

and technology to create more space for water conservation. As remedial measures for water scarcity the following strategies have been suggested :

• Ridge to valley approach • Conservation works.

• Recharge structures.

• Changes in cropping pattern

• Restricting the number of hours of pumping

• Staggering of pumping hours.

• Sharing of water on a community basis

• Awareness among farming community by organising campaigns in

Gram Sabhas during Clean and Green, Janmabhoomi and Neeru-Meeru Programmes (through Rythu Mithra).

Abandoned wells are to be converted as recharge structures. Revenue

department will take suitable action to remove encroachments on supply channels and tank beds. Wherever workers are available, they will be engaged fully. In addition, excavators and tractors will be engaged and they will be utilised for difficult works like contour trenches in hard soil areas.

5. WATER CONSERVATION AND UTILISATION COMMITTEES To ensure motivation and ownership among the stakeholders, the Neeru-Meeru works have been made people driven activities. The Water Conservation and Utilisation Committees at District, Mandal and Village level have been constituted to plan, execute and maintain the works. The District level committee is headed by a Minister with District Collector as the working Chairperson and Project Director (DPAP) as Convenor. The mandal committee is headed by Mandal President and village level committee by the village Sarpanch. 6. STATE LEVEL TECHNICAL COMMITTEE A state level Technical Committee has been set up on September 4, 2001 with Sri T.Hanumantha Rao as Chairman and with 10 other experts as members. The committee has provided designs for cost effective water conservation works which are to be built mostly with local material and local labour. Four waters concept has been adopted for all watersheds and the works are planned for rainwater conservation from ridge to valley. Detailed plans, drawings and estimates along with ready reckoner tables have been issued to all the districts. The Committee will be involved in all technical matters of Neeru-Meeru works. 7. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT With the entrusting the checking of the quality and technical aspects of the works to Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI), the quality of Neeru – Meeru works is being monitored regularly and good quality work is ensured. The ESCI is contracted to check 6% of the executed works. The verification has already been completed for Phase II works and Phase- III works are under verification. The financial propriety and auditing is done by the Principal Accountant General. 8. WATER AUDIT To inculcate economy in the water usage and to adopt crop planning according to the available water, Water Audit has been introduced as a tool for local water management plans. Simple formats for arriving at ground water

balance and surface water balance have been developed for use at village and district level. 9. COVER CROPS

Cover crops like velvet bean and lab-lab bean have been recommended

for cultivation in all the cultivated areas as green manuring crops for moisture conservation and improving fertility status of the soil. 10. NETHERLANDS ASSISTED PROJECT (MSU)

The Netherlands Government’s assisted Mission Support Unit (MSU) to

the Water Conservation Mission aims to further facilitate the policy and program development in integrated water resource management in Andhra Pradesh moving to an increasingly holistic perspective. The MSU will initiate an overview of the water sector in a consultative manner, leading to a Water Vision for the state. Apart from supporting the program of the Water Mission, what should be achieved at the end of this first stage of support is :

- Development of a long term perspective on the Water Mission and its program

- Development of an overview of water priorities in Andhra Pradesh.

The interim support covers a period of 18 months, starting from 1 July,

2001. Dr.Frank van Steenbergen from Netherlands is the International Coordinator and five experts formed the local team, which has started work from November, 1, 2001.

AWARENESS BUILDING AND PEOPLES’ PARTICIPATION :

(i) AWARENESS BUILDING MEASURES Water Conservation and Utilisation Committees at district, municipal, mandal and village levels are conducting awareness campaigns and to motivate the local communities to execute the activities.

Five posters on the implementation of Neeru-Meeru programme were

designed with a view to bring more awareness among stakeholders on water conservation and its sustainable utilisation. These posters were displayed in all Grampanchayats during the 16th round of Janmabhoomi to propogate the concept and objective of Neeru-Meeru.

• A multimedia campaign will be launched to disseminate the key messages of Neeru-Meeru.

• Innovative water management practices will be beamed through mass

Media.

• Kalajathas will be organising for spreading the message of Neeru-Meeru.

• Pamphlets, posters etc. on Neeru-Meeru to be disributed.

(ii) MOTIVATION

To ensure that every village is motivated about the need for water

conservation, it is proposed to take up at least one Neeru-Meeru work in

uncovered Gram Panchayats where the regular departmental works are not

taken up. In such Gram Panchayats, while taking up the works priority will be

given for.

• Closing of tank breaches • Supply / feeder channels • Desilting of tanks • Gabion structures • Gully control works • Small percolation tanks • Drinking water ponds • Recharge structures near drinking water sources etc.,

(iii) INVOLVEMENT OF SHGS IN NEERU-MEERU

• All watershed committees to meet and decide the programme based on local priorities.

• Water Users Associations (WUAs) and Ayacutdars Committee to

finalise the works programme for improving the canals / tanks and for ensuring better distribution of water during the next crop season.

• Vana Samrakshana Samithis (VSSs) to also finalise the soil and water

conservation activities in their areas of operation.

• Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) to be actively associated in all Neeru-Meeru processes.

(iv) OTHER MEASURES

• Visits to be organised for watershed functionaries, VSS and other Self Helf Group members to other villages for exposure to best practices.

• The visit of the people from uncovered Gram Panchayats to be

organised to watersheds/other successful works taken up under Neeru-Meeru for their motivation.

• Conventions to be organised for different stakeholders of Neeru-Meeru

at various levels (village / mandal / division / districts).

• In all the institutions – Educational, Research, Industries, Government Officers, Agricultural Farms (both government and private) water conservation activities to be implemented.

• In individual houses – water harvesting pits and plantations to be taken

up on priority.

• Local bodies like Municipalities, Gram Panchayats, Mandal Parishads to be involved in the entire programme for ensuring better results.

• Students to be sensitised on water conservation activities.

QUANTITATIVE PROGRESS OF THE WORKS ! During Phase-I (1-4-2000 to 20-8-2000) of Neeru-Meeru an additional volume

of 801.42 lakh.cums of space was created for recharge through the construction of 4,23,976 structures with the financial involvement Rs.19017.930 lakhs.

! During Phase-II (1-11-2000 to 30-4-2001) of Neeru-Meeru an additional

volume of 1172.066 lakh.cums of space was created for recharge through the construction of 387751 structures with the financial involvement of Rs.16855.530.

! During Phase-III (1-5-2001 to 30-9-2001) of Neeru-Meeru as on 9-9-2001 an

additional filling space of 1046.030 lakh.cums of additional space is created for recharge by the construction of 7,31,956 numbers of conservation structures with the financial involvement of Rs.28,135.050 lakh.

IMPACT OF NEERU-MEERU

The Ground Water department has been conducting impact analysis studies of

works taken up under Neeru-Meeru on the status of ground water levels and

found that despite 7% deficit rainfall the ground water levels registered arise of

0.19 to 6.34 meters rise in ground water levels.

Dried up seasonal borewells reduced from 17627 to 12605 (April / May 2000 to

April / May 2001).

Drinking water transportation habitations reduced from 1083 to 740 (May 2000 to

2001).

Out of the annual rainfall recharge (normal) 777 tmc, the additional recharge due

to Neeru-Meeru is estimated as 77 tmc.

The impact analysis at micro level indicated quick response to rainfall in the form

of buildup in water levels wherever considerable volume of work was taken up

under Neeru-Meeru.

CONCENTRATION ON WATER MANAGEMENT While continuing the concentration on the development of water resources, emphasis also needs to be given on local water management plans for sustaining the water resources. Concrete efforts will be made for ensuring judicious use of water in important sectors like Agriculture, Industry, Drinking water etc, In Agriculture, farmers will be educated to avoid water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane under wells and bore wells and to go in for irrigated dry (ID) crops as the present practice of growing wet crops is leading to over- exploitation of ground water resulting in artificial scarcity of water. The encouragement to irrigated dry crops will prevent water scarcity and larger areas can be covered under crops. In the command areas, the farmers will be motivated to ensure optimum utilisation of available water. The Industries will be asked to optimise the utilisation of water, to conserve extra water and to resort to recycling of water. They will also be motivated to re-use water after treatment for various purposes including tree plantation. It will not only add to efficiency of water use but also lead to more green cover in and around industrial units. There are large areas facing drinking water scarcity including the ones having brackish water and flouride in ground water. Through judicious construction of water harvesting structures such drinking water scarcity is sought to be solved. In the areas having brackish water and flouride contents, water conservation efforts will add to ground water and improve the quality of water through dilution. The overall objective is to promote conservation and management of water on sustainable basis.