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liandloom industry is among

the biggest employers of
labour in the country.

'The new20-point programme: Industrial, policy.

Point No: 18

Libetalise iovestment procedores and streamline iodnstriai policies to 'ebsure timely completion of projects.
Give boodierafts, ho~dl;'om" small and village '.iodostries
all. facilities to grow andtonpdate their teehno.logy.

.In order that the targets and objectives envisaged in the Sixth Plan are
realised, a number . of steps have already
been taken to liberalise investment
,
p"licies and streamline industriill policies-during the last two years. In order
/0 ensure speedy establishment of 100 per cent export oriented units, a special
board has been set up to accord single-point clearance to these units in regard
to industriill licensing, foreign collaboration, import of capital goods and raw
materials, etc.
.

Indian carpets command

an enviable market in
the country and abroad.

--

..

,yol. XXXI
No.6
December 16, 1982
Agrabayart 25, 1904 '

,~Huruk5hltra
(India's Journal of rural development)

CONTENTS
,

, HOW WDFs ARE CHANGING THE

, r" t"-~.~ . "'RURAL'SCENE
., - '. ',. -' ',' 'Odeyar D, 'Ueggade

&

.',

,'ANTj.POVERTY~SiRATEGIES

,.,-'

."

'. .1 . ,~,','

"

c.

-'

...

IN tHE
SIXTH PLAN

p. Krishna Mohan and D, V. S, N Acharyulu

C': ~ .-" .'

DAIRYING: NEED TO I]SCREASE

.'
.--, '
PRODUCTIVITY
G. S, Kamal

RELEVANCE

13

OF, RURAL SURVEYS

M. N, Ravindranatha.

ACHARYA VINOBABHAVE,
B. L. Uniyal

S, Shane Maider Naqvi

BOOK REVIEW

,21

THEY SHOW THE WAY ...

EDITOR'
RATNA

ASsn.
N,

JUNEJA

EDITOR

N.

PARAl'.1:}E~_T G.". SINGli

'

iherefor~ th'<iy'can prove a potent professional group

,BUSINESS: MANAGER
, S: 'L:

HE DEVELOPMENT

rural

SHARMA

SUB.EDITOR

oir

of rural'areas has always been

given high priority in our developmental strategy.
A number of programmes have been introduced to
meet the specific needs of the various segments of rural
'population i.e. small farmers, agricultural labourers,
runil artisans, landless labourers, women and children
ele: To daim that these programmeshave solved all the
problems as far as these groups are concerned would
sound jarring. Yet no one can deny that these programmes have been able to m'ake some dent into the
monolith of backwardness and poverty that our rural
areas personify., To bring our rural people into the
, mainstream of national development is not an easy
task particularly when rural women, constituting about
half of the rural population are not able to contribute
their mite because of known historical handicaps.

A. R. Patel

17

At cthe village level we have the village level workers

who are the incharge of carrying ihe message of change
to the' villages and interpreting it to the villagers ill:
their, 'own language and idiom. But hesitation as well '
as social customs have proved an obstade, to ,these
functionaries:-who .are qui.te .successful in' their work
of motivating--to tall<- to the womenfolk, and motivate
them 10 change their .attitudes as well as their methods
of living and work. That'is what prompted the women
develop~ent functipnaries to ,come in and motivate
this 'major segment of popuh;tion which holds the key
to fundamental transformation
of ,our 'villages to
modernity:' The' rurill development functionaries play
a very dmnfriarit rol~in "transforming the
warnen's
'attit~de to~aid; health, ed~~ation, 'family
planning;'
marriage, work .oPP9rtunitics and house-keeping etc.

,PIG. REARING CAN BE A ,PROMISING

.
, OCCUPATION

15

-f~r
promoiirfg"woinen's"wficir'ation
.... - -.'
~

JAIS\VAL'

',"

ASS'IT, DIRECTOR

..

"

.
,

-. <.

..

".

in rural dcvelop-.

, .i~~
the ~;~I_ s~ene~'slpwiy
yet steadily. We are: sure
1:> '.'
_, ,"
our readers \vill' ,find,lhis .artide of .immense interest
and, value. " ... ' :
r.

"'

EdftoriaJ Oflice_:'_KmW Bbavan,- New, D.eIW.-11000l

,
';, " " .TelephoDe~;:384888 & .38i406

'.

Tn this issue we. catry',-a cInghly informative article,

(m'how' women -development functionaries are' chang-

COVER

. Enquuies"regarcling
Subscriptions, .\gencies, efc.,'.
BusinesS -,Miioager,.PUblications .Divhdon,.
. Patiala. Hoo'se, 'New Dethi.1-10001.
,
1'el: 387983,

"...

KRISHNAN'

']IVAN ADALiA"

",

..

ment....

(PRODUCTION)
',K."R.

Editorial

. ',)

Editor's. ~esldeDc"". 615920,

SINGLE COPY:Re. 1

-SY!l~RJl"fI.oE:f9_~i.()!'l!!~YEAR: Rs. 20

",

.~,.-

.. ,~'.

<. ~ : :

'

..
>: . - .

Co

,"

-,"

. .,

How WDFs are changing,J

.
. .'the rural scene~
.

..

ODEYAR D. MEGGADE

Lecturer, -Department of Economics, l\1angalore UDivl~r~~

W, are the new genre of profession'als ~volved(WDF's)

for the

tional and custom ridden are the most exploited, dE,pre-'

ssed and weaker section of our socie1y. Hence these!
specificpurpose. of promoting socio-ecoilOmic developwomen shall be transformed as the necessary chang~
ment of women and to 'increase the receptivity of. agents for promoting rapid rural socio-economic
women for modernization . .Hence women development
change. The primary functions of women development
functionaries .work in both rural and urban areas of
functionaries are to provide a number of social serour country. 1)1e number of WDF's is gradually invices. Therefore WDF's are an important adjunct fei-.
creasing, though not in the required manner.
the implementation .of a number of women and child
.
.
welfare programmes in a developing country like India.
The women development -functionaries in .rural India .
constitute an ,important component of our rural deve.
There are at pre~ent two approaches to create iL netlopment personneL It is observed. that an "obvious
work of rural WDF's to implement social. welfare;'
. consequence of the era of planning after Independence
'programmes in developing countries. They are: (a)
.has' been to widen considerably the range of functions
training the women who are known
for practising'
uridertaken by the State, r~qniring more and newer
'health care within traditional framework in modern
types of 'village-based personneL'" The growth of
medicine and nursing and thereby using them as medirural WUF'sis the direct consequence of the widening
cal personnel for promoting the growth of rural
state,partieipation in rural transformation in India.
health facilities; and (b) recruiting and training woOMEN

DEVELOPMENT

FUN:CTIONARIES

T.

Role of WDF's

HE WDF'S IN RURAL AREAS can playa very dominant role in 'transfornring the women's attitnde towa~ds health, education, family planning, marriage,
family consumption, work opportunities and housekeeping etc. Therefore the "WDF's can 'be a 'potent
prOfessional group highly indispensable for 'promotipg
women participation in socio,economic development.
Moreover, the WDF's .can also be very helpful in pre paring the social inputs necessary f~r the. upliftme~t
. of rural women. Rural women bemg hIghly tradl-

1. V. M. R~o; Rural Development. PerSonnel Location,

Sta'tus and Development Characteristics; Economic alld
Political WPekly; Vol. XVII No, 42; Bombay; 16 Oct.
1982 p, 1691.

men exclusively .to act as multipurpose and unifunctional WDF's _for the benefit of rural women." India.
is following the second' approach to improve :the lot
of her womenfolk.

The worne!, development functionanes

(VI~F's)
in Iridia is a heterogenous group. It is an uP<'.oming-,
professional group to implement welfare programmes ,
in rural and mban areas alike. The rural WDF's
. have been used as an additional line of professional'
, , support .syslem to speed ,up the 'process 'of al deve. lopinent. Thefefore,'in Inmarural
development "is
an emerging profession; there is a body of people whQ
have iakeri up rural development as a life::1ongavocatio;;.' It is a heterogenous group at ".'esent, ranging
fom those who 'treat rural development as a career
to those who are ilIoologlcally committed to rural dev~

10pment, especia1ly~t1te rutai poor.;" Even in case

, of women too, we find full-time as well as ,part-time
WDF's in rmal India. Hence it is pointed out that
"Women de~elopment functionaries are ni'lt a homo- '
gep.ous group. There are field functionaries at village '
l-jevel, .;md supervisory personnel, at the district
and. block levels. Apart from regular employees,
iher~ are ,another set' of workers such as Community
Health Vol.mteers,Adult
Education Instructon; etc.
who are. paid a nominal stipend to carry on development' work at the village level. Important women.'
develop;;'ent f~nctionaries in rural areas are auxiHary
nmse midwives; family planning w(lrkers and school
fe'acher;.,..
besides the Gram Sevikas and
Mukhya Sevi-.
~/ka~. 1)Ie dev~19pment functionaries dealing
with
social.services are dispersed among departments dealing '';'ith education, public health, women welfare,
Imrijan welfare, social welfare etc."3
---

"".,

Functions of WDFs

:.

N ALL
DEVELOPING
COl:iNTRIES
-increased emp.,.hasis is placed on' creating a network of women
de~elopment functionaries for the, benefit of women.
This is 'true with countries like Nigeria, Somalia and
Afghanist,an. It is repOlted that. "Many traditional
health personnel are women' who, if their skills are
upgraded, can be incorp,?rated into modern health
services. HOperation Midwives" was a,'Rrogramme sup.;.
erimpoSed on the existing institution.of
tradition~l
midwivesin Nigeria. Midwives are tramed not ouly m
improved and more hygienic delivery practices, but
als,?,to. advise new. mothers on child care and nutn-

tioD;.

Similarly m Somalia, traditional . midwives who

have' received', training are effectively working
to
. change society's attitudes toward women. The Zapi
rural. development project in Cameroons includes the
,training of traditional midwives as part of its social
infrastructure component. It is also dealing with, thl>
particular health problems of women in 'the areaearly menopause and' miscarriages due to venereal
disease, back problems caused by carrying heavy loads,
and constant bending, and problems due to poor obste. iric care and, poor \lUtrition. The special problems!
of women have also been studied in the onchocerciasis
c,<mtrolprogramme in Western Africa.'
,,' Sex differentials have been 'noted in the nse made of
health' facilities. I Concern for privacy, the shOrtage
of female medical personnel, and women's lack
of

2.

Workshop on "Training Professionals for rural deve':J'

ropment" sponso!~d by Union ..Ministry of Rural Re.~-.,n!.4.onstruction' and Xavier' Institute of Social Service,
Ranc:hi; Exce'rpts of the work9lJ.op report published in.
. KIl71/kshetra;
Vol. XXIX; No. t9; July 1-15, 1981;
New Delhi; p, 6,

-~:".

<..-'

3. Mukkavilli. Seetha-ram; Probl~ffi:S of Wom,en Develop.

me-nt' FunctiQIlaries
Rural Areas;
~Yoja1ta; Vol.
XXVIfl2; 1.15 July 1982;'New Deihl.

in

KURUKSHETRA'De~mber

16, 1982'

time to seek heaith care for themselves have' led,to '

a much higher' male than' female occupancy of hospital beds. This 'has 'been recognis~d in Afghanistan,
where current health strategy' now gives priority to
the training of women doctors, nmses and medical
auxiliaries.

"4

A development functionary is a catalyst inthet>r~

cess of' social development. The WDF's act"as
a
friend, guide and philospher for, the people. These
persorinel will act as link-up agencies between govern"
ment and target gronp~. Therefore in tra.ditioll-bound
societies like ours the WDF's have to work as' very
viable and effective change agents. In view of thiS.
an:'humble beginning for creating a network of WDF's
for rural transformation was made as far back as 1953.
54. 'Hence as a "part of the Community Development
Programme sinCe 1953-54, the posts of Gram Sevi'kas and lady Social Education Officers (now redesignated as Mukhya' Sevikas) were created. The nonn
adop.ed was to have two Gram Sevikas and
<;me
Mukhya Sevikaper block. However,' at present only
about 6,000 Gram Sevikas and 2000 Mukhya
Sevikas are working in the 5500 deve1Qpment'blocks
ill the country as against the requirement of
about 11,000 Gram Sevikas and' 5,500 Mukhya
sevikas. This gap is partly
attributable td
administrative indifference and absence of sound
personnel policies at block level and
below.
In spite of the gradual proliferation of senior posts.
under different schemes since Fomth plan period, concomitant increase ,among grass-root level functionaries
has not occurred. Important factors affecting their
role are, jobs' they are expected to perform their professional competence to meet' the job responsibilities
successfully, the situation they work in their socioeconomic background and the status they enjoy.'"
The increasing literacy and changing concept of
f~mily and farm have been very congenial factors whic~
may help the WDF's ill rural areas to realize t)leir
objectives More and more educated women are wi~ing nowadays to work at a place for away from their
homes,' And the development responsibilities as well
as functions. of these WDF's have multiplied and the
problems of WDF's have multiplied and the gap' between the desirability of the WDF's services and their
performance has widended over the years.

Problems of WDFs in rural area'

. ~D~'s in rural
so
T areas have not been analyzedby SCIentifically
HE

PROBLEMS

CONFRONTED

far, Thus it is observed that; "There has been little

systematic effort to look' into the problems encounte::
red l:>Y women functionaries' working in the sphere of
4: Reco;nising
the "Invisible." Women in Development-:
. The World Bank's Experience; World Bank; 'October
1979; Washingtou D.C.; pp. t7'18,
, 5. Mukkavilli

Seetharam;

op. cit. p. 15.

rural development. The problems atid difficulties laced

by women development functionaries vary cOnsiderably with the"type of jobs they hold, their marital status;
tjJe type of people they deal with and the atmosphere
at work and at home. There are broadly two types
of probl~;"s; socio-psychological and practical ones.
Notable among these are, lack of specialized education and training prejudice of employees; prejudices
of men, women and' society confusion and ambiguity
regarding work; role .conflict; sex exploitation of wo'men workers and lack of facilities outside home and
at work
A major sociological problem is the, difficulty, in, finding edncated,
'womeriwho are willing to work and can work effectively in a village, environment. Generally these func'iion'aries hail from urban areas. They lack sound
'knowledge of rural areas and an aptitudefor working
with' rural people. There are practical problems like
lack of' suil!1ble living accommodation in their places
of work, lack of proper educational facilities for their
children, inadequate 'medical care and risks involved in
commuting to and from the villages which in turn have
an adverse effect" on their serving the community."G
In addition to these socia-economic problems of WDF's
these personnel are also confronted with psychological
problems. In: other works, the WDF's are prone to
conflicting roles viz working as a breadwinner, that
to 'a 'change agent outside and the usual traditional
working women, within the family. Thus the WDF's'
often fail rillserably to discharge their responsibilities fully as development agents. All these problems
invariably reduce their capability to create the necessary social inputs" for rural development.' .
Moreover, the WDF'~ have been concentrating
their activities' in large villages and also such villages
which are close to their places of residence. As a
result.' the smaller villages and the villages far away
from 'their residences- are often neglected. Therefore
the WDF's have ;lOt been adequately employed il1
i~ral India. In order to improve the efficacy of
WDF's as the change agents for rural transformation
the necessary policy measures should be undertaken
with all earnestness and sincerity.

A policy f;amework for future

development of WDF's
T'';Ein rural areas shall be diteetly
linked to the overPOLICY

FOR EFFECTIVE

all policy for rura!. development. .The optima!. utilisation Of WDF'sin rural areas ultimately depends upon
the .GoVernment's commitment to rural development
and the'innovativeness of the rural development prog. ra'inmes implemented in due q)"urse: In view .of
changing needs of' the rural development. programmes
the WDF's shall' be motivated, ' and recreated and
deployed in their jobs. Thus the policy for recruiting
and trainin"e the_ _
WDF'sin
India shall be invariably
_
6. [bid" p. 16.

the inJegral.partot1le' ov~rall_pollc)dot,rural.:de"c~

lopment persQ.nnel:
'.
Under ,each successive 'Five, Year Plans "the ,ji,:ld
of women and children development sooms to have
been relegated to a lower priority. Julinal analysis 111eI
low scales of pay'muong Gram Sevikas' and Mukltya,Sevikas and the all embracing length,but,not so cleat
job charts do not offer adequate incentives 10 attraCt
well qualified candidates to serve as women develiJpurg~nt

ment functionaries in ruarl areas: There is an

,need for ,appointment of a .high powered Commission

.to enquire into the \vorking conditions- of women
development functionaries in rutal areas to assess'tlleii
capacities, perfmTIlanCe and programme t~ effectim- ,
provements in selection criteria,
trai~ing needs, job .\.-~
content, job performance,

remuneration .package" ,p.nd

other service conditions in the light of contemporary

. developmental nc.eds."
The present Sixth Plan outlines a new approach to
recruit 'the '\VDF's for health, services. The emphasis
is. on selecting girls "from local areas, relax minim:um
educational qmililieations, raise upper-~ge .linlit .and
give preference to widows and des"rted' women.. ,In
almost all the hospitals,' the nursin,g, personnel are
mainly female. The training facilities for them will be
expanded." Furthermore: the Sixth Plan alsoemphasis tile need for streamlining the' admission process to
technical education Witll a' view-to

promote

.women

enrolment. And during the plan period 1980-s5,

efforts are being made to construct living quarters for
WDF's ill rura.l .areas like, .midwives, -teachers, etc.
HE STATE GOVERNMENTS'
which are concerned
with recruitme~i, trainilig, role identification. and
placement of WDF's should have a comprehe.nsive
policy in this regard. The WDPs for promoting the

growth and welfare of women ,belonging to weaker

sections- is necessary. -Therefore~ 't~e total number. of-

WDF's shall be increased. Those recruited for the purpose shall be appropriately trained not only in terms
of job content but also in self-defence. The, WDPs
shall be trained periodically. and thereby their skills
shall be upgraded. Ther''- shall be some kind of built"
in incentive scheme to extract more qu~itative work
from WDFs which' is necessary for promoting rural
development.
_
A modern network of- WDF's' can' be a -"ita!
source of inputs necessary for rapid rural soc}o-eco-:-~"
nomic development.' Therefore, the WDF's' should be
-given proper development
orientation and used, as
vital chang~ agents, in. rural modernizati.on <;llld:means
for rural deliver)' system of social welfare. s(~rvices.
Thus. the network of rural_ WDF's should be 'helpful
to inei'case the accessibility of rural women to \Velfare 'facilities' and 'improve- their standards of'~ving.
-----------..
-.
,7. -'bid, p.16 ..

'8. Draft Sixth Five -Year- Plan 1980-85; :~Ianning

Commlssioti,~Ne:\~ Delhi; 'p. 4~~.

&lJRUKSHETRA.December-l6,
.~,
'. "_..
~
.,

'.

,~

1982 .

Anti-poverty strategies
.in -the sixth plap

,'.

P. KRISHNA MOHAN and D.V.s.N. ACHARYULU

Farm Management Studies, Aildhra University, Waltair (A.P.)

"

Indian
.economic
development 'in
tJW post-independel)ce
period
has been impressive~ compared not only with its own colonial
period', but also with other low incom~ countries.
.As against 0.1 per cent increase- per year
in the last five decades
of. the colonial period,
the growth
rate
for feodgrain
production
shot
upto 3.1 per cent perye_ar . during
the First
and
Second
Five
Year
Plans
and
the
population
grew at a. rale of only 1,9 per cent:
IntroduC!tion of -high yiel<1ing varieties,
.improved
practices
and inOrganic fertilizers 'has
accelerated the growth
rateDf food,grains production further to 3.3 per cent
by the late:] 960'5. Iudustrially also; the country has
fared well with an impressive' growth rate of 6. I pei:
cent dul'ing the period. 1952~1970.

HE

PACE' OF'

Ill

Bui: of coUrse; there is the otlier sic1e of the coin.

The lbipressive advance of t11irty years;. which W2S" to dhisolve tlle' pnverty in olir la-lid, has floundered by
the monopoly of some fifty business houses
whose
assets have increased tremendously.
Within the rural
sector also the policies that are directed towards the
development
of rural society as a whole
benefited
only a particula.r section of the rural people.
C. T.
Kurien in his study on Tamil Nadu proved that "a
. phenomenal
increase in output of basiCallY' all pro,. !-duce in the rural ',ucas, in particular foodgrains, HhS
left a vast proportion of the population even without
a nutritionaily
adc'quate diet,
no't to spea)c of. any
toierable level of living". He concluded
that
"the
deveiopment process of the past' has 'generated' growth
.and affluence for the few a.nCl' poverty' and insecurity
for .the many.m

Poverty and. ttickle~d6wtl theory

T
...

f-:IS t:JNCONCEIVED G~OWTf~ proocess has, . r~sulte~

In mass poverty and destItutIOn to Ifnlhons of
.-

KURUKSHE'I'RA

..'

J,

DeceruMi'

_.

16; 198'2

[:

people in the country. Hence, modern India got 'a distinction

carrying th'c largest. single national mass
of poverty i.e., 309 million 01" about 49 percent
of
the population in 1977-78 .. Most strikingly, this per- .
centage lias remained
unchanged
over' the
ti~ei
period, and recenl research shows
tlia't there
IS no
evidel'u::e of .any relation oetween agl'icultural growth'
and .P9verty levei. Earlier, M. S. Ahlnwalia using the
N.$~-S_ data on .conSUrilption expenditure,- adyancc~{
an hypothesis "at the all-India
level there is very
strong evidence to s'ug,gest agi'icultural growth, withi,n'
theexistillg
institutiOllai system, tends .to reduce' the
incidence of poverty". 'His. contention is that' "there.
evidence' of some 'trickle down' associat~" ~ith
agricultural growth3" .. But his resuIts
l)ave been
questioned by Griffin and Ghose and they concluded
that '.lthere is no evidence,
whatever,
let
alone
very strong evidence",
that
ajgricultural
growth
tends. to reduce the .incidente, of. rural poverty, The
connectiQl1 between
the
two, is
approximately
zero'''.
Aswani Saith. has also refuted
the trickle
dow!, hypothesis by saying that benefici!,1 impact of
foodgrains production has been. eroded
by the pri~\,"
changes. His hnpression is that '''while the
gro",'th
rate' has held out the prospect of dimini,hed poverty
through increased food production
and lower (anticipated) food prices, its potential benefits have. been
pre-empted by thc changes in the rural power malI1i.J<'
genei'atcd by the grOwth process itself"".
Saith also
did not agree with Ahluwalia's
opinion
.of ~o time
trend' in poverty).

of

j';

Moreover, even .if we .assume rto' upward tiI1.1e trend

in poverty ratio (about 50 per cent), the total number of poOl: people has 'been increasing by at least 5
million a year due to population
growth alone: Besides, India has the .Iarge unemployment
force i.e.;
about .~Q ,nillion person years iH 1978. In the matte!

.of other indicators of quality

of life viz., medical
.care, education, drinking water, etc., also we are. lagging very much behind most of the developing coun-tries.
THERE IS NO need to
panic
and pessimistic
and to concede to the words of Cassandaras.
It
is good to remember how economic and political system has failed to provide
social welfare within
today's industrialized
countries in the eighteenth or
nineteenth century.
"The writing of Charles Dickens
remind us of how social
welfare
painfully lagged
behind promise within indusirialising England of the
last century. Fro.nce had to go tJlrough a revolution
and so also the U:S.S.R. in this century''':
Brandt
Report. highlighted that "in many countries there are
people excluded from economic growth as well as
from participation
in shaping their own enviro'nment,
they live in conditions of absolute poverty and misery
unworthy of mankind'."7
The need of the hour is
commitment
of the Government
to benefit the poor
through all possible ways.

UT

V!e have not succeeded

in reaching
the poor
people through proliferation or 'trickle-down'.
Then'
the logic alternative would seem to be' di~ectJy reaching them with appropriate programmes.
Raj Krishna
opined that 'poverty will have to be attacked in India
by direct measures, because the weak multipliers of
growth can alone never
absorb
the vast
Indian
labour surplus nor raise hundreds of millions of poor
people above the povery line"'.
Brandt Commission
recommended
that
"development'
strategies
which
used to aim at increasing production as a whole will
have to be modified and supplemented in order
to
achieve a fairer distribution of incomes taking into.
account the essential needs of poorest
strata
and
urgency of providing. employment
for them"O, So,
,'we. have to create adequate economic
opportunities
of the poor, encourage them to learn
skills
and
knowledge to use such opportunities
and also we
have to provide adequate funds, equipment and facilities.

Plan' efforts
ATTEMPTS
have been made
in thi's
~:.Jirection in the successive plans and programmes
like . Community
development
programme,
Public
works' programme,
Food-for-work
programme
etc.,
have been implemented."
But the past
experience
sho,,:"s. that their success h'a~ rather
been
limited.
This was so because
of the faulty implementation
of the programmes and lack of sinCerity both m;"ong
.the functionaries
and the beneficiaries.
The evalua- .
ti~n of the programmes
has been based
on the
amount of credit disbursed,' subsidy distribution and
EVERAL

no .attempt was made "to assess the impact of these

programmes.
Further, lack of coordination
among'
different agencies .involved'
in these
programmes
impeded the progress and caused
waste
of huge
financial resources.
In fact, we have created a rna,,: . ~,
(
baap psychology in the minds of rural population by
doling out the 'money
while not making
them
accountable for their performance.
So, any programme aimed at ameliorating the conditions of the
rural poor, in the light of past experience, should
be preceded by lot of preparatory work,
Also .we
have to correct our approach and commitment to the
cause, both on the part of officials and beneficiaries,
is urgently needed.
But it seems
that
the programmes of the Sixth Plan are not well conceived '1
and hence, their progress is again
being Jiamperr~d
by the same problems.
Poverty amelioration
is, quite
deserving!y,
the
prime objective of the Sixth Plan.
Three
specific
programmes
viz., Integrated
Rural
Developriu:nt
Programme (IRDP),
Minimum
Needs
Programme
and National Rural
Employment
Programme
are
proposed by the plan to help the iural poor.
A sum
total of Rs:. 9,000
crores
is allotted
to these'
special pwgrammes
and coupled with the loan as!;is. tance under IRDP, it amounts to Rs. 12,000 crores.
Besides these special programmes,
agriculture
and
allied activities, and village and. small industries ,,~th
. outlays of Rs. 5,695 crores and Rs. 14,400 crores
respectively will offer employment
opportunities
to
the rural poor.
Planning Commissio~ has estimated
that poverty will be reduced to 30 per cent if these
prognlmmes
are accompanied
by a modest re-dintribution of 5 per cent of cultivated
area.
But. the'
report from various states about jmplementation
'of
these programmes are not very encouraging.
Some
of the problems that are arising in the implementation of these programmes
have been
discussed
below:

Problems of implementation
THOUGH the plan
itself calls for detailed
micro-level planning of manpower development
and employment generation and emphasized the need
for coordination among different agencies, it appears
that in a hurry to implement the programme we have
not been' able to take the resources
inventory
or
preparation of the. plans.

VEN

Identification
of the beneficiaries
under lRDP
must be made keeping in view that the programme
is specifically meant for benefiting the poor and not
for putting up an impressive figure of expenditure per
se,

KURUKSHETRA

December

I'

16,' 1982

Eecause of the inier-reiationships and interdependenciesamong the programmes a master control network has to be prepared as envisaged by the
plan. For example," the relationship between the
Dairy Programme under" IRDP, normal. dairy pro_ gramme and .operation Flood II is not clearly spelled
out, "although they are closely inter-related.
Without providing adequate supplies of inputs and
raw materials, diversion of funds on such a large
scale and concomitant le~ages
may stoke. the
inflationary pressures in" the economy.
In "order to curb the leakages in disbursing subsidy, it may be good to Teploce the qlpital subsidy
by interest sul1.sidy.. III fact, it has "been suggested
that interest-cum-repayment subsidy has such merit. It
will facilitate the refinancing which is ,denied under
D.R,r. and also redu~e the effective rate of interest.
By crediting the subsidy amount to the borrowers
savings account it can be utilized for transfer of
interest and also to adjust the instalments -during the
years of natural calamities,
Since these programmes are all household-oriented,
it is appreciable if credit and subsidy are madeiJ"vailable for the total package of production and consumption requirements of each beneficiary family.
The programmes may be properly integrated and
guided with the help of carefully prepared master
control networks and supervised and constantly
monitored by a strong a1l-India cadre of the peopl<j
recruited and trained for the purpose,
OOR INFRASTRUCTURE
is the most common problem in India and this will hamper these programmes. Most of onr villages, estimated at over 4
lakhs, are not connected even with kutcha roads. And
this factor coupled with lack of post and telegraph
facilities affect the profitability an.d viability of the
most of the proposed activities undertaken by the
rural benefici'!fi~. It also prevents block level staff
and branches of banks from providing cs>ntinuousextension and services for production and marketing,
exercising supervision over, working of the units and
the use of credit and recovery. The" need for creating infrastructure facilities"is obvions for the success
of thes\' progralnmes.

Allied activi!!es like dairying and sheep-12reeding

have the largest employment potential and they also
offer gainful ,!ctivity. Bu! the required equipment and
help is not being ~xtended towards taking up these
activities. In th-" case of d~irying, facilities for marketing the milk products, provision of veterinary
services are lacking o~ are inadequate. Also, the other
KURUKSHETRA, December 16, 1982.

activiiles hi which poor can be achieved like pl'scl:

cuhure and sheep-breeding are also facing same problem of marketmg. These people "are all at the
mercy of the traders who arc exploiting them and
there is no agency to help them. Proper marketing
charmels !'lust be erected to encour~ge the development of
these activities.
,

To achieve the targets,' block level persouu_elare

reporte,dly sponsoring the unproductiv~ loan proposals. This phenomenon must be checked without
delay.
Thcre is also the problem of mounting agricultural
overdues.: but here a distinction needs to be drawn
between wilful and well-ta-do defaulters and small
and non-viable defaulters. While the former cate.
gory may haye to be dealt with firmly, the small fai" mers and per~ons belonging to lower classes must be
provided relief. If necessary, some amount may be
diverted to write oft the loans, around Rs. 100 or
less, to. generate additional (instead of penalising
such defaulters ) production and employment capacity.

NTEGRATED
RURAL DEVELOPMENTPROGRAMME
envisages sanction of package oi\ schemes to' each
tamily. so that it is iaken permanently out of. the
poverty. But this is not being done' now and only
one loan is sanctioned to each beneficiary. If appro"priate measures are not taken, there is a danger' of
the assisted families going back to ,squar~ one and
the enormous efforts and money proving a: waste:

Instead of developing community assets, under

N.R.E.P., which obviously benefit the well-to-do
sections of'I he rural c9mmunity we may try'to develop the assets of the rural poor. They may be paid
wages to develop their, own land got. through .land
distribution process.
It is feared 'that the programmes taken up under
Minimum Needs Programme are beneficial only to the
better,-off sections of the rural sOCiety. These, fears
must be allayed through involving the target s~tions
in these programmes.
Implementation of Jand reforms still offers vast
scope for, the development of rural sector. Surplus
land so far taken over by the Government should be
distributed among the eligible mral households.
It is possible' to eradica,te mass poverty and' destitution if we are seriously involved in the implementation of these programmes. But the successful implementation of these programmes demands t1iecareful consideration of the_'!90ve'issues and thereafter' going around the" remedial measures with dedication
and honest work.
(Con/d. on p. 12)
9

,.:,

._,~"

,-'

"

-',

Dairying ,:need to
incnease pr,oducti vit)i
V.'M.

..-:
D

HAS.assunled special s.i.gnificancet

in tenns of both, productivity and as a source .of
income for the rural. households. On the one hand;
.milk .is 'an ,impontant ingradient ,of ,nourishm"nt of .the
,consumers '<Crural.and ,urban) and ,On the' other, it js
"AIRY AC!,Iy.n;

an act1vity supplementing

the meagre incQme receipts

of a large number .of rural population.

U.~fortunately, i'd.equate'jnforl)1ation about the total
I)1jlksJ.lpply.in,the country is not available even today,
Broad ,estimat"s .are ,sometimes ,published. Annual
production and growth rate in milk production over
. the 'years -are not .deady ,known, ~perhaps,even.to ,the
'Planners and ,the 'policy-makers, The ,first and ',the
'foremost need'in regard ,to 'planning ,and development
'of 'the .dairy activity is ,to build up.an',appmpriate and
'dependable 'system ,to 'faailitate ,its t,ime-hound groMh
in terms of eC9nomic needs of .botjl,the ,pwducers
and' the consumers,. It is generally known that at
present, 'in 'major parts of the count~y, milk'productiqn
,s'conducted asa support -to -tne agricultural activity.
'Both are 'in many'ways complementary -to each other. /
This -makes out a case 'for organising 'milk production
a.nd procurement

system on co-operative :.lines so .that

the whole..:.operation.becomes economically viable for

seFviOgthe ,p.e.o,ple
,who need ,to he .covered under the
,acc~p.ted.so.cio-.e.c;Qnornic igoa1s ..
That way, in some form

'Or

other, dairy activity all

ab:mg jhasbeen ,~ncouraged ;Jand assisted. However.

these J-efforts (have not ;shown \any .'signific:antdmp~~Jqn
milk production .all these years, 'With the s'-'(ellingof
population and .fast urbanisation .process" demand for
mijk ",is ~coritinuously :17ising. ~Con:~espon4j!1g1y',1,pli1k
pmtl.uction has.,failedIto ,keep 'pace ,with .demand.. 1;hi,
has led to excessive increase .in price l.of.-,rnilk..:and (lec~
line in lits .per ..capita availability. According to
,10

G.S, KAMAT
National Institute of. Cooperative Management, ,~une (Maharas~tJ~a)

National ,Commission on Agriculture, the ,demand for

milk ;vould be between 33. to 44 million tonnes by
1985 (and between 49 to 64 million tonnes by 20nO
A.D,) , Tbe .Sixth Five Year Plan. (1980.85)
has
. provided .for production of 38 .million 'tonnes .which
may not ',he .reached .by ,that -year and certainly the
gap .would he .larger ,by 2000. t\-.]}. when viewed
against' cmrentmte of growth in .m,1k.produetion .and
increase in demand for milk. At any rate today, (he
average Indian cannot consume milk .-that;is necessary

to meet the .nonns recommended by Nutrition E,-<pert

Group .of the LC.M.R. .It has recommended 300
grams of 'milk per .head.per day .fG~pEe.school children
and 200 grams ,for -adult ,men and women (vegetarian
families). The recent trends regarding per capita
.availabdity ,of l1)ilk in India has. sh'own ,a ~all from
1Q9 grams in J.951 to JJO grams il11971. There'li,
tllo clear -_put ,evidence, available at Ipre~~nt to j.l1qiq~t.e
th~t per :capita ,avl'ilability '.of,milk is showing a hopefully.reversetre.nd.
.

;Pr0@lems,of I0w wields

IT. IS PAR'l'leULARLY .noteworthy .againstthe above

Jl.'background -that :Indmhas .a bIg 'populatIOn Icof
cattle .and 'buffaloes, -It. is est.imated that '.there 4.lre
about I 82 ,million .cattle .and ,61 million Ihuffaloes.in
-the country.representing about 14 per cent and..46
percent of, the wodd's cattle andbufIaloes population,
.respectively, Their contribution ,to milk ,production
is only ;;.65 per cent of the wor1d~s,t"tal milk ,production (F.A.O. Production Year Book, 1978). This
speaks of :Iow productivity of arumals in the .country.
,Eor example, the average milk .yield of an .Indian cow
is 486 kgs. whic)1.is very.poor when .compared to the
-5860 kgs. ,of milk yield in Japan, (Even Pakistan
has recorqed 800 kgs. of milk yield per co~). In
the context of ,pro.ductivity, therefore, the ,foremost
.,question that follows pertains to improving mi,lk y.ield

per .cattle.. It is true that this is a matter b.asically

c<inceming genetic ma:e-up of the animal and the
availability of nutrition. Superficially, the emphis
so far has been on 'meeting the rising demand for
,. milk through increasing the number of animals.. The'
emphasis really should be on improving the qilality
and capacity of the animals, so that feed aud fodder
arc uot wasted on surplus low-yielding animals.' This
. neglect has been one of the reasons contributing to
high cost .of maintenance and coDsequent need to increase the price 'of milk' ahnost coutinuously. One
way out is to elimiuate surplus cattle which are not
useflil. . This method has certaiu well known limitations in India and hence it will have to be done in
". stages through a vigorons social education prograllme.
The next alternative is to devote part of the resources .
for improving the quality of animals through cross, breeding programmes: Cross-breeding has an important role to play in improving milk yield per animal.
An intensive cattle development project was launched
in the Third Plan, but this programme is seen to have
suffered a setback when it was transferred to the States
as a result of financial cuts in the Central assistance.
Artificial insemination facilities should be made available'to milk-yielding animals far and wide. The programme also requires provision of lIllied services like
deep freezing of semen, transport of frozen seinen,
training to inseminators and orientation about this
operation to the villagers,
One side-effect of cross-breeding programme that is
usually quoted relates to the fact that the male calf of
a cross-bred cow is not. fit for being used as 'draft
animal. Itis
short statured and susceptible to hot
climate: It, therefore. requires special care" It also
eats more green fodder a~d needs more attention' to
protect it from attack of diseases. All these add to
the cost of maintenance.
Howev~r, these can be COl!':'
tained with further'researches in favour of. immediate;
iD!provement in milk-productivity.
It is, ho~ever, true
that this programme may not be able to make any
serious contribution to improing the dairy indnstry in
coming fiev to ten years.
Alternatively, upgrading of the present stock would
appear to be a more viable solution. The Intcnsive
Cattle Development Project, Gosadan Scheme, etc. arc
being implemented for this purpose. Th.eir limited
success is mainly due to want of vigorous organisational
efforts especially,
in extension areas.
,

Feed and fodder

dcpends on availapility
P of nutntlous fodder at also
cheap costs, Over a large
RObUCTl~ITY

OF MILK

area, milk production is carried on by small farmers on

traditional basis at the village level. As stated earlier,

KURUKSHETRA December 16, 1982

it is conducted as an. activity complementary to agriculture. If dairy activity is to be conducted on modem

lines as envisaged under the plan schemes, it may not.
be enough to feed. the milch animals .largely on. cropresiduals or on open grazing. Adequat.e supplies of
green fodder aud cattle-fced would have to be ensured
to achieve quick ana"sizable increase in milk yield. In
absence of any specificschemes, fodder shortage is posing a serious problem especially for the small farmers
and it would'aggravate in years to come. Appropriate
acreage of suitable land may have to be reserved for
raising" fodder, if required on capital-intensive' basis.
, An institutional arrangement whether in the cooperative
or public sector may have to be thought of for the purpose.
Improving productivity of dairy activity also requires
building up of the necess,ary infrastructure particularly
on the rural side. . Facilities for cqIlection of milk"at
convenient points, its grading, pteseryation in. storage
and transport, processing and ultimate distribution
would reqnire integrated institutional system. It would
be convenient for financial institutions also to support
such a system as most desirably they would aim at.
covering the relati",ely weaker sections of the society.
Cooperative dairies in Guarat have provided a good
model in this respect.

Fixing remunerative prices

PPROPRIA TE

PRICING.

POLICY

is another

crucial

problem of productivity in the dairy sector. It has

been established by experts that the value of milk and
milk products in constant prices increased only by 13
percent between 1971'77, that is; at about less than
2 percent per annum. It is true that the cash income
of m'ilk producers bas increased, yet the increase in in'
,co~e from the dairy activity is much less than income
from other sources. This has been 'mainly due to,
policies aimed, at keeping deiiberately the price
of milk relatively lower. Correspondingly, this has
also been, a factor affecting adversely produc-'
tivity i'n the dairy sector over the last decade
or so. ' As it is, reports go to show that income from
sale of crops has a larger share in favour of medium
and large farms, compared to income 'from animal husbandry. The small farmers, who derive proportionately larger income from dairy activity have suffered
more as a result of this price policy. The alternative,
at any rate, cannot be to pursue cheap milk policy for
the benefit of consumers (which is economically not
fcasible) but to bring about a sizable improvement in
supply position through technological changes and reasonable increase in price to 'facilitate adoption of "ew
technology. Institutionalisation process in the <lairy
sector can help to .achieve these objectives through increase in scale of operations leading to reduction in unit
" cost of production.
11

Another important reason requiring price increase is

the rise in cost of the animal itself. Some recent
experiences have shown that milk producers would
prefer to sell a young good female cross-bred calf,
about two aild half years old; at a price of Rs. 3,000
because a good cow, yielding about 5 litres of milk '
a day after feeding and' managing would fetch about
the same value at the prevailing purchase price if milk
and his labour may not be fairly rewarded. 'This only
shows 'that earnings at current rates are not enough
to meet the needs of the milk producers. This is particularly true of small, farmers on whom we depend for,
dairy development. In sum,' the price of milk would
need a constant review as in case of pricing' of other
agricnltural commodities. 'We are inforrn'ed that in
other developed countries representative commissions'
consisting of producers, administrators, distributors etc.
do consider aspects of supply,and demand of milk in
relation to the costs and provide direction to price at
which milk can'be purchased from the producers. Per-

(Contd.

from

haps, some kiild of arrangement of this type' may be

necessary in each State, in place of the' present ad-ho~
approach to pricing :with which neither the producers
nor the consumers are satisfied. At any rate, impolt
of ~ilk products from abroad to meet deficit cannot be
a solution to, the problem. .It will not encourage milk
production 'at home. .

;i

b CONCLUDE, it may be stated that the important

cons'raints on productivity.are essentially due to :
(i) absence of institutional set-up and systems; (ii)
paradox of high ilumber', of animals' having low lev,~l
of productivity; and (iii) regional and seasonal variatioris in production 'and in consumption of 'milk. ,Pro-'
ductivity can be increased particnlarly. at the small and
marginal produc'ers' level by involving them in tILe
.process of continuOus modernisation in upkeep,
management and' marketing. The answer lies in colle,ofive bargaining and colleCtive economic strength throul~
suitable organisational structure.

p. 9) , '
REFERENCFS

1". MELLOR, J. W., 'India: A Rising Middle' Power'

West View Press, London, 1981.

5. Saith, A., 1981: 'Production,

Rural . India'.
Journal
of
VoL 17, No.2.

Prices and Poverty ,in

Developme:nt
Studies

:;2. Kurien,' .C.T., Dyna~ics ~f Rural TransforynationA Study Of Tainil Nadu: 1950-1975, Orient Long.man" Ltd:, 198 L

6. Sethna, H. N., Key Note' Address to I.e.s.w. A~ia

and. Western Pacific Regional Conference, publishe4
in 'The In4ian Journal .of Soci~l Work,' January,
1982, VoL XLII, NO.4.

~ 3. Ahluwalia, M. S., 'Rural Poverty and Agricultural

Performance
in India', Traumal
Of Development
Studies, VoL 14, No.3,
1978.

7. The Independent Commission on International Development Issues.: North-South ': A Prognlmme for Survival, London, Pan Bex;ks, 1980.
.~"
.

4. Griffin, K. B. and Ohose, A. K., "Growth and Impoverishment in the Rural Areas of Asia", Wofld
.Development; VOl. 7, J.'.los. 4-5, 1979.

8. Raj Krishna., "'Eradicating Mass Poverty' Seminar ]~o.

253.
'
,'"

-'9:

Op .~it. .(Brandt Commission

Report) .

> '

12.

KDRUKSHETRA

December 16, 1982,

t.,,;'

.I

Relevance of rural survey~

;<-

:~..

M.N.RA~DRANATHA
Centre of Ad~'anced Study i~Education, M.S. University of Baroda

.I

a rural country. Seventy-six percent of our

people live in villages. Even after 34 years since
independence, development in all spheres of life has
not reached the expected and accepted levels. There
a widespread poverty; 60 percent of our people in rural
and 40 percent of our people in urban. areas live at
subsistence leveL The per capita income is Rs. 65 and
Rs. 75 per month for rural and urban people respectively. It can also be seen that majority of our people
are illiterate and tIie literacy percentage has been esti.mated to be 36.17 per cent (1981 provisional census
figure). Besides, religious beliefs and values are deeply
NDIA IS

is

rooted amongst most of

OUf

citizens and in many cases

they have a dominating role too, .in decidillg the activities, although, the extent of them are gradually reducing
due to sCientific.and technological developments towards .which India too is slowly moving. The impact'
of industrialization and modernization has not brought
significant changes in the rural sector.. India has accepted s'ocialisticpattern of society as its goal. It wants to
bring about this change through secular' and democratic
ways. But people are illiterate and ignorant to respond
to the modern values. There cannot be progress if
the individuals of the country do not respond and participate in the developmental activities of the country:
So our first step will have to be to study and improve
the .level of the villagers through a variety of programmes for which iIis necessary to undertake exhaustive
surveys to understand the nature and structure of rural
societies including the attitudes of the people towards
different aspects of social changes viz., educational,
social, economic, political,"health and sanitary, re1{gious
and cultural. aspects.
. .
.

grmmd, school-rooms with suffiCientlighting and ventilatio!" drinking water, latrine and play-ground facilities,
activities of schools-tours, trips, special courses for
girls, shramdan. activities, film show amingements, adult
education, .e~amination,medical examination to children, mid-day meal programme; compulsory primary
education-enrolment~ wastage, stagnation,' absenteeis~
concessions of various types. to backward children and
~ thyir disseminati,on; ",parent-teacher associa~on, school
betternient .committee; learning difficulties of .~pupils,
social backgrounds; teachers, their qualifications, motiv~tion to work as teachers, their way of teachhig,
participation 'of teachers in community activities, prob-

lems ,?f administration and superviSion and inspection

. of schools. Educational asnocts. also . include the
working conditionS of 'noll-formal eduCl\tional institutiOll~such as block. de~efupment. activities, adult
education activities and other welfare programmes by
voluntary and official agenCies..
sbciaI"aspects inClude c~ste relations, iJ1teraction, intermixing behaviours,"'untouchability, family types,
status of women;' marriage -'and' related 'aspects, ornaments used,' money spent on it 1n marriages, languages
spoken, dress worn by different caste and. age groups,
and individual or family contribution in different villages towards the viUage'.upliftment. To understand
Ihe.social aspects of life of our'rural people surveys
should be undertaken to .know (1 )-1he actual practices
of the rural people in the aforesaid areas and (2) the
awarene~s'about modern developJ:l1ent il1 various social
institutions with the reasons for acceptance or rejection
of them both at the attitudinal and behavioural level.
r

E.

Educational aspects

in~lude the nature of learning

process as is going on in schools; availability of
physi~faeilities-'-equipments, .charts, aids, libiary, play._" -" .
. '41~1
KURUKSHETRA December 16, 1982

Economic aspects

DUCATIONAL ASPECTS

. ECONOMIC

economic

of life include the

institutions present indifferent

ASPECTS

various
village
13

areas-post office, bank, shops of various types; population of Villages-incomewise, castewise, sexwise,
occupationwise, religionWise and literacywise; transportation and co=unication
facilities-n.ature.
of
roads, bus facilities, postal and telegraph and telephone
facilities; occupational patterns; agricultural conditions
of different regions---;;ize of the land holdings, total
area of the land cultivable, &9nded labour comntitment,
population of landless people, nse of hybrid seeds, insecticides,

chemical fertilizer_s, use of machinery

in

agriculture, animal sacrifice in agricultural operations,

avarlability of permanent irrigation facilities, important
crops and productions of different ~egions, quality and.
quantity of food production; industrial conditions of
different regions-'-small scale, cottage and large scale
industries, their way of worki-ng, quality and quantity
of goods produced, marketi-ng, facilities; and poverty
and standard.of living of people in different rural areas.
Furthermore surveys conducted to know the econontic
.conditions of villagers in different areas should also
inquire about the activities .of block development office
keepl", the actual .implementation of the ~arious programmes with the resultant impact produced on the
rur~l people.. In addition to understand the econontic
aspects of rural people better attitudes of villagers
sho~ld also be known towards modern developments in
economic iostitutions by which one can also trace the'
gulf
the gap between the attitudinal response and
'actmil behaviours,. with the reasons for holdi-ng or not
holding modern attitudinal and behavioural patterns.

or

Political aspects include adult francise (awareness

'arid actual practice), party system, 'kinship groups,
working ,conditions, ot pa.ncp.ayat.to"mrds the developmc~t of the villages,' with' the' typ~ Of the leadership in
different areas.
Health and sanitary conditions include aspects such
as cleanliness of roads, streets, drainages, water tanks,

w~lls,. their, surroundi-ngs, houses of different castes;

disoases--deaths .of men and animals i-n various parts
.due to the diseas~ of various ki-nds including epidemic diseases; availability of health and medical facilities-hospital,
primary health centre, doctors, with
other needed staff members, lady doctors, maternity
section, medical shops and transportation facilities to
places where medical facilities do exist; veterinary dis~.
pensary, ayurvedic dispensary and indigenous dispensaries; and food habits .of different caste groups in
different regions .. By studying the. actnal health and
sanitary practices, with. the regions' for not adopting
the modern ways of improving health conditions of
the villagers, one can get an idea to pla'n for the im,
provement of health and sanitary conditions of villagers
with suitable programmes. .

Important cultural activities

HE

14

CULTURAL

CONDITIONS

of life

include aspects

synthetic art "ctivities like dance, drama, group si-nging; plastic art activities like carvi-ng, model)ing;
graphic art activities like drawing and painting; folklore-myths, legends, faples or tales, proverbs, riddles, .
puzzles, lavams; festivals and sanskaras and sports,)
games and wrestli-ng matches conducted as a part of
cullural activities i-n rural areas, Surveys conducted to
I..'nowthese also reveal the imporlance of cultural activities .i-nthe life of the rural people (social values
.religious values, moral, values). In addition, one can
also see the artistic, aesthetic, creative and cO!lstruc-

tive abilities present in the rural people. By knowing

the traditional values present in cultural aspect of life,
efforls could be made to change them towards the
desirable direction,
Aspects of life such as the importance the people.
hold towards Gods and Goddesses, the type and the
frequency of poojas offer~d during different events and
occasions, belief in the idea of ~ visiting pilgrimaJ~s,
animal sacrifices, belief in ghosts, wi~ches, auspicious
;nd inauspicious days and siluations,. belief in Gods
and Goddesses as the sources of creating natural
havocs reveal the reiigious and the belief patterns of
different people with the extent of their influence on
Ihe life of the rural people. By knowing the present
conditions of religious practices, values and beliefs of
other types, suitable efforts could be made to change
the rural people towards the positive directions.
CAN also identify pathological conditions
of, different villages which may. inClude crimes,
'disputes, conflicts, thefls, murders, robbery, daeoity,
smuggling, drug addiction, beggary, prostilution and
such other activities. .The identification of these ,conURVEYS

ditions.iIi different communities

gives us 'Some clue to

pay more attention togroups which have severe pathological constraints' in development activities after
thoroughiy knowing the. reasons for. snch pathological
conditions .
In all it can be said ~hat, rural surveys conducted
on the above mentioned aspecls reveal the actual prae'Iices of the people, their aUilude lowards various aspecls of social change with causes for either resistance
or acceptance of modern values. In other words rural
surveys will give us an ide~ of the extent of th~ gulf
presenl between the attitudes' and practies. of our vil- ..
lagers on various aspects .of life. On (he basis of these
surveys, short-term and long-term de<Velopmental
prograJ11!Descan be framed to improve the rural life,
In olher words, such surveys do provide .the basis for
planning and organization of developmental activities.
In addition 10 Ihese, rural surveys may also identify
certain innovations present in the rural life. (An
innovation

is a ".modern practice present"'in the 'rural

people bul absent in educaled urban class itself).

like jatra, melas, exhibitions, sammelans, harikatha,

(Con/d. On p. 19)

KURUKSHETRA

December 16, 1982

".

.....

,.'
..-

. r .

"

.'~

.'

Pig-rearing can bea

''''promising occupation
A.R.PATEL
Bank of Baroda, Central

'R"'

breakthrough
in the area
"
oE plggery dcvelopment
has dempnstrated
that
even a' small unit involving 10 sows and 1 boar can
produce 150 piglets oE 7 kg, each and yield Ii net profit of Rs. 6500 por year.
However, piggery development has not been accepted as an enterprise or an industrv
This is because oUhe faCt that,the pig-breeding 'h~s mostly bee:u" confine4 to. non<ultivating
Rari ..
jn communities/scheduled
castes.
Persons belonging
to schednled castes are socially a'nd economically thc
most backward.
They have been following their age~
old professions and lIving in abysmal poverty,
Elforts
shonld therefore be made to organise and educate :hem
to take up subsidiary occupation on scientific' lines so
that they can improve their skIll, kflowledge and, earn. ing .capacity .. An rntegrated"appro~ch
to piggery development will' help them lead a: better lifc besides improving t~eir social" slatns.
Pigs are the'most prolific ,
breedcrs and provide high qnality proteinous
Eood
which is iiI great demand in the form of ham, bacon
and sausages. From nutritiopal point of view, pork and
bacon ar~ among the most important sources of ,(11ima]
pr~tein and. vitamins including Niacin and Thiamin ..
:CENT

I.

;EC~NOLOG!CAL

, Using scientific methods

F EFFORTS are .~ade to adopt scientific t.echniq:lCs

.._. {breeding, fcedmg and management), ,pig reanng
. can ,b~~.amea successful industry, which in turn wiII
cheap ;and who.lesoJ.!lc ,meat for our prot~in
st~rved .peDple on tlle Dne- hand and open emplo'yment
opportlplities for a l~rge nurnpeL of marginal farmers,
landI,,, labo~rers and schcduled saste persons on the
other. -

:provide

Piggery on a .small scale with ] 0 sows and J boar

requires a capital -investment of abont"Rs, 5000 and
workiing fnnds of, Rs. 18.000., 'After making provlsron for interest and depreciation; "the -net return
wonld be around Rs. 6500, However" persons be-

Office,

'Bombay

10l)ging .(0 the scheduled castes and

economicaJly,
weaker sectiOns will have to invest Rs. 3500 on capital
i;'vestment since they wo.uld be getting 33. per cent
sn'bsidyunder th~ scheme. Bcsides, t!Iey can also save
Rs. i475 o.n interest as they are entitled to borro.w at
4 per cent' interest under the DIR .schellle,
thereby
increasiTlg their net annual income. The scheme would
be more attractive to these persons.

P.

;as ARE AMONG the efficient converto.rs .Jr agri, , cnltnr.~1 byproducts
(p<J.fticularly wastes)
into
.high 'l!1ality meat.
Moreover, no other animal produces so many units of live M'Cight a,nd fat in a ~hort
time. Further, every part of the pig can.be 'pro.fitably
used indudi.ng its' hair which is ~n great demand ~or
hog bristled brushes.
Bones arid waste pro.ducts from
the slaughter houses can be used for the productio.n o.f
bonemeal-an
organic sourCe of il1anure for agricul- .
ture, more particularly for horticultural crops. Blood
meal prepared from the raw blDOd of pigs, can be used
in the preparation 'o.f livestock feeds.
.
Acc,ordirig to. the 1966 livestock

census,

there were

ny.cmi;1.I.{ori ,pigs in the country, register in a decli'r;Le of

3.9 psr ;ceiIt over the ',popUlation re,co.rded jn 1961. ,Of
this,. the maximum con~entration
w..as foun.d' ip. the
states of Uttar Pradesh (11.63 lakhs) , Bihar (6.47
hkhs).
Andhra 'Pradesh (6.82
lakhs), Tamil Nadu
(4,75
lakhs) , Madhya
Pradesh (3.78 lakhs)
and
Karnataka
(2.07 lakhs).
The ,annual productio.n of
'pork i'n India is estimated around 50,000 tonneswhich
is kss than 10 per cent of the' tota! meat production.
The low level of productio.n is due 10 several reaso.ns':
(1) the pig-breeding has remained mostly confined to
(,he scheduled castes/non-cultivating
Harijan ccmmunities; a majority Df them are poor and illiterate:
They
continue to follow primitive methods of breeding, feed15

ing and managemeni. 'the pigs are kept under most'

unhygienic conditions. The animals thrive on garbage
and waste. Losses due to diseases are substantial.
Being poor, the pig-breeders do not have capacity to
invest in this activity arid pigs are reared mainly to
.meet their own requirements, (2) No systematic and
scientific effort has been made to develop this activity
as an integral part of agriculture and animal husbandry
programme, (3) Except in the North Eastern States,
there appears to be an in-built resistance to rearing of
pigs and the consumption of bacon and pork, "-ven.
among the meat consumers ..

Need for a well-defined programme

UNION GOVERNMENT
has recently initiated
certain steps for development of this hitherto
neglected activity. A coordinated piggery development
including the establishment of 7 bacon factories, 27
.pig-breeding farms' and 105 piggery development
blocks has been undertaken in different states. The
Fifth Plan has envisaged to establish an intensive piggery development project around bacon factories and
pork processing plants. The nine regiOIjalpig-breeding-cum.bacon factories set up during the Third and
.Fourth Plans are being strengthened So that they are
able to undertake genetic upgrading of indigenous
stock and solve some of the problems of low produc'tion and controlling the disease by evolving a package
of practices. In recent years, a number of swine breeding farms have been set up in Haringhata (Karnataka),
Aligarh (U.P.), Ambala (Punjab), Hissar (Haryana),
etc. where genetic npgrading of indigenous stock is
undertaken. Also, experiments are being conducted

HE

to raise them on scientific lines.

Selection'of the breed plays a significant role in this

. enterprise and care should be taken while selecting
boars and sows for breeding purposes. For breeding
purposes, a boar which is strong and masculine in appearance without any physical d,fects, should be
selected. A properly fed and well maintained boar i.
generally considered suitable for service when he is a
year old and gives satisfactory service till the age of
six. It should however be ensured that he should not
be allowed to serve more than 50 sows a year and not
more than one a day. While selecting breeding sows,
care should be taken to see that she doe.s not have
thick; coarse head and ears.
MUCH attention is paid to the proper. feeding of pigs.. They are left to themselves to' pick
up whatever food they can find in the refuse heaps or
in the harvested' fields. This does not provide them
with any nutrition and ,adversely affects their health
resulting in very low returns. Pigs ma1ntained for
different purposes (young stock, breeding stock, stud
.bear and pigs for fattening) should- be given more of
proteins for the repair of tissues and minerals for buildi'ngup of bones and vitamins for a healthy growth. The

OT

16

grown up pIg should be glven more of starchy food for

energy and to put on fat. Breeding sows should. be
given plenty of green feed throughout the year.
Feeding plays an important role 'in piggery as 'feed
cost represents 70 to 80 per cent of the total CO't of
producing a pig. Hence,' successful pig-rearing needs
a carefully planned and efficient feeding programme.
According to an estimate, 30 to 40 per cent of the
pigs farrowed die before they reach the market. This
loss is generally attributed to improper feeding practices, mostly because of nutritional deficiencies.Research studies have shown that this loss can be reduced
by adopting a balanced feeding practice. The pigs
should
be properly hOJlsed and protected from e:.ces.
.
sive, heat, rain and cold. They should not be kept 10'
crowded and damp houses. The site for housing ,hould
be at a higher level' and free from drainage problems.
The feeding troughs should remain clean and the pan
must be provided with open yard and natural shade..
Diseases in .pigs result i'n heavy losses of which proe
per and adequate sanitary measures have to be adopted
and followed very scrupulously while feeding and hous
ing .them. Strict steps to combat the contagiou:; dis
sea~es should be taken. Within a few days of thei
birth, the p'iglets should be injected with iron dextro
so as to prevent them from anaemia. Pigs whiCh ar
of 6 to 8 weeks of age should be vaccinated qgainst
hog cholera and swi'ne plague.
,

HEN

PIG-BREEDING

FARMS

are set up, there

a need to formulate a coordinated piggery pr

duction programme involving effective extension. ser:'

vices, credit institution and marketing facilities for pig-

gery -products. Pig-breeding farms .should be "trengthened to meet the increasing dema'nd for high pedigree
boars and sows. These centres should not o'rilyJlnder. take research on all aspects connected with breeding,
fceding and management of pigs en scientific lines, but
also should provide training facilities for the people
who are engaged in this activity. They should, efTectively

demonstrD.te

the

"efficacy

of

scientific

me-'

thods of rearing pigs whichwould increase the production and profitability. It is 'therefore necessary that .the
Departments of Animal Husbandry in the states should
strengthened adequately with technical persons' specialised'in piggery development. With a view to,solving,
the problem of marketing, pork-processing plant, should}
be set up at places where there is sufficient coricentration at' pigs. Pork differs from other meat in texture,
flavour and certain 'nutritive values.

.Pork and bacon'

are not often considered to be dirty animals that habitually eat rubbish and wallow in filth. This stigma
needs to be removed and pork should be able to be
accepted as a food of high nutritive value. This could
be done only through educating the people ahout the
nutritive value .of piggery products and "meaninglessness
of the prevailing taboos.
KURUKSHETRA December 16, 198

AcharyaVinoba Bhav~
B.L.UNIYAL

FRAIL IN APPEARANCE,
Vinoba was a giant
among men, measured by the greatness of his soul
and the unique intellectual attainments. Scarcely, can
.one find a person who is not overwhelmed by the lavish
praise showered on him, but here 'Yas a spiritual giant
who shunned his praise. The burning of his certificates and destroying a letter written by Gandhiji
abounding in commendation of Vinobaji bear ample
testimony to his apathy for fame or name, thongh .his
,services to the nation are invaluable.
HOUGH

Acharya. Bhave who had suffered heart 'attack on

November 5 refused to take food, water and medicines, 'eveu on the request made by the Prime Minister,
Indira Gandhi. ' The end came on November 15 at
9.30 a.m.

A scholar saint
''[- am more concerned with the fragmentation ot, hearts than holdings. What we need first is to satisfy
the basic needs of our peasants the need for some
land-however
small the amount. Besides, I don't
belie~e 'that ~mall holding~ are uneco'nom'c. At pre~
sim" sixty per cent of our holdings are below five acres.
'We have sixty million families with .an aVTage of fire

members--each earning 'their livelihood off the limd.

" That means, if the land were to be equally divided;
'~lOJ
.
.
an average of five acres per family would exist, and
so we would, in fact, be raising the _holdinQs.af sixty
per cent-the maj~ritY-{Jnd reducing the holdfngsof
only a minority~ That does not look .like uneconomic
fragmentation to me."
-Vinoba
Acharya Vil~a

Bhave paSsed' a\lay on November

15, 1982.
KURUKSHETRA

Bhave

December 16, 1982

N ANCIENT

lNDJA

the learned Rishis or saints h~il-

ing from the Kshatriya family were called Rajarishi,

I
those from Brahmin family were called Brahmarishi,

but those much above these two categories were called

De\'arishi i.e. the Rishi, who is from among the gods
and such was the saint Vinoba.
A scholar of Sanskrit and 'ancient scriptures and
having command over sixteen languages, Vinobaji
could speak to any person from ahnost any state in
the'latter's language. His interpretation of the Gita is
a landmark in the' translation and interpretation of the
Gita, though the translation of the Gita has more than
hundred versions. Even Mahatma Gandhi, acknowledging his intellectnal superiority said, "He is one of
the Ashram's rare,pearls--{)ne of those who have
come not tp be blessed but to, bless, not to receive,
but to give". He was an, active freedom __
,fighter.
Mahatma Gandhi's first choice fell on Acharyit: Bhave ,~
for Civil disobedience movement in -1940 and, the
second choice was Jawaharlal Nehru. It was said,
17

. lawaharIal Nehru' was Gandhi's political heir, Vinoba

was rus spiritual heir.
Though he was a profound scholar of ancient Sanskrit scriptures, he had as well studied the Koran and
the Bible and' had imbibed their teachings. So thorough was his command over the Koran that once
. Gandhiji asked Maulana Azad whether. Vinoba had
actually mastered the Holy Koran. The gueries raised
by the Maulana were dealt with by Vinoba so amazingly well that the Maulana was fully convincea of the.
. mastery of Vinoba over the Holy Koran.

A many-splendoured individual
ACHIEVEMENTS
were great and noteworthy of
them was thc surrender of 20 dacoiis from the
widitionaily terror-stricken areas of Brund and Morena
districts of Madhya 'Pradesh in 1960. He. launched
the Bhoodan yajna in 1951. Mrs. Gandhi rightly observed that Achatva Bhave led the Bhoodan move"
ment at a critical period in our national history helped
to tUrn ilie countryside away from the violence and
created ail atmosphere of coopration. .To .avert t1ie
pame ,iiid cri~is in Telengana, he launched Bhoodan
mOVCJ11cnt.He travelled over 64,000 km. on foot and
collected mofe .than 60,000 hettar'is from landlords to
be .distfiblit",1 atiMiig the hilidiesspoOr. While appeal"
ing to the laIidiatds for dOl)atioh oiland he used to:
say, "If yon have fiVe sotis, take'me far t1ie sixth one."
He also toured the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to propagate the movement. In fact, he did'nt
only'belong to India. . His. was a mess'age for entire
human race and that is .why he had his pet. slogan
'Jai iagat'. 'Acharya Bhave joined the Sabarmati
Ashram iri 1916. Gandhiji was so mnch impressed
by yinoba that the former made him the head of the
new ashram at Wardha. He started another ashram
at Paunar later. He pioneered the anti-cow slanghter
movemerit and even. to his last days he advocated in
unambiguous terms a ban on cow slaughter.

IS

V.

INAYAK NARHARI
BRAVE .was born on 11th Sep. tember, 1895 at Gagoda village in Raigad district
of Maharashtra. His mother .,vas a pious and ascetic
lady. He inherited compassion, love. and dedication
from his mother. Ai the age cif ien he pledged to
observe celibacy. tn certain respects, he had a revolutionary. 6~tlook.. He gave women an equal status
and adopted Mahadevi as his daughter... Amongst the
Hindus, the pyre is iit by the son or a .Ill"]e member.
but in :his case, a. departure was made from the traditionalHindu practice as die ftineral pYre was lit by
Mahadevi.
.

He never bothered ab,,,;t wha.t ()Ui~rs would think

of-him. Hewa's daillitle;;s alla had ,Cque'er way of
ekjilaifiirig tfuiigs. He once said, "lit India at the'
sigh\.oT a pblice coilStable. tlre'villager is scarea, but
iti

is

forei.gn

cdimtriesl.

Ins very

aIlpearance

is gbatantee

of security and safety." What he actually aimed at

\vas Ull entire+- !r<lOsfonnation III the" bel1aviour' of
policemen.
Some of the things that were very dear to him and
. received mention time and again in his speeches are
described here .

RUfuI tidiness: TIe once said that. the foremost item

that deserves immediate attention was. tidiness in the
villages. Villages should present a neat. and orderiy
appearance, where no refuSe 'should be seen. The
refuse and waste matter should be deposited so that
they could be used as organic manure. If the villages
are neat, doctors or scientists would not hesitate to
ll\;e there and serve the people. He said in a light
"vein that he would confer, on the scientists a "Nobel
Prize" if they take up the cleanliness campaign .. The
method of depositing the waste matter scientifically
wiil I;ot only h"lp people' keep the rural areas clean,
but the Bib-Gas Plauts can also be operated.
Work for A II: The next thing that he laid stress on
Was work for all. Ambar charkha is capable of providing work to many unemployed hands. New techniques developed .by our scientists would also go a long

way in -assuaging the curSe of unemployrilcnt, he said.

It is a field that dese~es attention immediately.
Ban un cow slaughter : He once said that our economy rallies round the cow. From the time immemoriai, the cow had occupied a unique position in our
culture. The followers of Buddha, the Jains and th'1
Hindus all attach utmost importance to the cow. He
said that our scientists must understand this aspect. of
the economy. He said that he lived on cow's milk:.
'Progress" of "science m~d villages: He said H~at in!
literature ",'e iook foi the 'most anCient one that mis
:-:1ood the test of the time, put in science we" see: the

latest achievements; During Akbar's ti~e, when

Akbat had to send a message to the subedar of
Assam! it took him 3 months to deliver the .message
and another 3 months were taken to bring a r"ply.
Thus It took Akbar 6 moritJiitime 16 get a .tepiy. But
today, it takes just' one" minute to communicate

to any

cotner' of the globe.. TIle responsibility to disseminate

scientific, knowledge and technical know-how in rural
areas devolves" on tile 5cienti'St a!1d technologists.

The

villa-gcs must receive the benefit of the scientific advancement,

he emphasized.'

Deaih a jriend : Tliere is no gainsaying the fact that.

till the end, Acharya Bhave retained .the freshness of
his mind and was alert. The ancient Hindus at the
fag end of their life used to renounce all worldly comfort's and kept themselves in readiness to meet de"ath
as a friend. .In that tradition, when the Acharya felt
that he no longer needed tbe body'that was old and
KURUKSHETRA

December 16, ,1982

ll't-

\Vorn out, he deliberately gave up food and even watet

and in consistence with the preaching of the Gita, he
met death as a friend:

Suprcme'\ says the Gita. Vinoba was' the embodiment of this doctrine and proved to be the supreme
exemplar of the ideal of the Gita.

. The philosophy of Acharya' Bhave is not life-negatiZlll but life-affirmation. It is participation in

life
armed with the spirit of detached action.
"Performing action without attachment, man shall atlain the

The real homage that the nation can pay to him

is to follow his lofty ideals of truth, compassion, self1essness and non-violence and above all, service to
humanity.

.ljl.

(Coil/d. /ron. p. 14)

. Rural surveys Conducted after a lapse of t~e, i.~., ,
~ after the platis are 'being implemented alsb' reveal the
effectiveness of the prog..ammes of block development departments and other voluntary agency activities, In other words, rural surveys will also b~ of evaluativ~ .type to .assess ,the set objectives and t6 replan'
fpr:the future development.'
Rueal surveys may be of descriptive type or comparative type or of evaluative type or even case studies
depending .upon the na!ure and the scope of the
surveys.

Condusion
in a ~ountry'likeJ~dia
way of ,hvI which is commItted tothat'democratIc
t

MAY BE CONC~UDED

ing, changes will have to be brought aboutthrou.gh

peaceful means, as deniocfacy is that Jorin of. goyern-"
ment whii:Il'believesin 'peaceIulsocial change. Fur-"
ther each ;;;id every deveiopmenial ~~ti:vityshould be
,

..

I~.

dire;:ted towards the improvement of the quality' or

life of our l1.eopleon ali aspects of life, as India has
aeceptrAl_theideal of the socialistic pattern of society.
So an understanding of the conditions of rural people
becornes very essentiO!to launch and relaunch the
programmes, to move our country towards the desired
state of. moderni~tion. But it is the sorry state 'of
affairs that, although 5904 bloc1<:d"velopment. offices
are there in the "!hole of India at present, developmental efforts are not benig attempted first by undertaking basic socia-economic surveys of tlte type men- ,
tioned above.in rural "reas. .Development has' been
often confused fat economic upliftment only.
And
modernising our people on all aspects of life has not
yet received the attention of our developmental planners and hence survey~ covering all astJC>'tsof rural
life afe also lacking in, by which our developmental
programme~ arc bound to create' a gulf between econoE"ic development and development in other aspects 'If
life. .
'

.'

.~
;.

DELAY THE FIRST

SPACE THE SECOND

STOP THE THIRD

KURUKSHB'liRA. December '16;-,1'7.8.,,:

1'9:

:", .-

.. "1 .

.Book reviev{
S. SHANE HAIDER NAQVI

Indian; spices.: problems and prospects;, by Dr. Bl!dar

Alam Iqbal, Faculty of Commerce, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh

spices' in, ihe economic deveIopment of thc '~o1,!)ltry

has rightly suggested,for an effective, COnSl,lmer'ori<eIl~
'
ted"publicity f<i~getting higher. returns.,
'
.

of 54' pages which contains 30

: tables;. the author has .made an eafnest: and' sincere
elfort in. presertting an informative and useful analysis'of Indian spices. Thc work is well documented
by statistical. data collected from the Directorate of
Spices Development, Calicut and appropriately interpreted. The monograph brings into 'fold various
aspects of Indian ,Spices-their
kinds, area under
plantation, statewise distribution, production, share
of spices' in total cxport; cOluparison with other
countries, foreign exchange. earnings aJld t1le pattern
of"exp~rt. TIle author has successfully established
p'rosp";'ts 'of sIiices in Indian eCOli.omyand has sug-'
gested measures" in enhancing their . earnings . .i The
study'contains four"cliapters: C!lapter First dealS,Witll'
thc ,position of'spices at a glance. From tliis chapter
it can be seen that peppcr and cardamom are largely
produced by Kerala foHowed by Kamataka while'
chillies arc mostly .grown in Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kamataka.
Ginger' is
mainly cultivated in Kcrala followed by Mcghalaya;
Wcst Bcngal, Orissa, Maharashtra and Bihar. Turmeric is produced in Andhra P.radesli, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Kamataka, Kerala and Me.,ghalaya. The author after establishing the c~llltribution of

'I'N

THIS

MONOGRA'PH

-'

In, the .last chapter, Dr. Iqbal tried to ana)ysethe:

~roduction and export pattern' of othcr. spice~.~,ucb,as
chillies, ginger and' turmeric. The author opfues'1113t
major constftiint standing in' the way of developinen~
of above-mentioned spices and bas evolved:an fuime'
strategy' of gr0:"th ,and'd~vei'opmeni of ,t~~se' sp,iee(;
After going Jhrough the monograph, one can feel
that the author would have done much more had he
included the targets and programmes of development
i~ Sixth- Plan .. However, a researcherwill finciff"esli
direction to comprehenq a.nd widen the area of under'!
standing and\kriowledge from this really useful work
"'hich is worthy to be kept in the libraries of concerned'
statcs and au Universities.,
r
I.'~
~

'

1.

I.

'-

_4c .
_

'

. Chapter second. has been devoted to ,the,gi-owth, l]f

Black Pepper (The king of spices), its ,area of cuitiva-,
tion" production and the value of foreigr;' exchange
earned since, 1957-58 to 1979-80. Chapter Third
'concentrates on the, growth of Cardamom (The queeDj
of spices). Ii includes in its discussion the area under,
plantation, ,production and productivity., and alSO',
. highlights the trend in exports as well as directio!,!
of exports between the years 1955-56 and 1979.80.

fL.

'.i

They

s,h,ow' the way

This .feature is .based on success 'storie3 viz, 'achievement!! gained in variou3

spheres' of rural development by ,farmers, institutions, experiments and individuals. There is hardly ,an argument over the, fact that dedication and.zeal to
.put in' hard work can achieve anything. And'one achievement' Inspires and shows
,the ,way to others!
We ,hope iJur esteemed 'readers will send us ,iheir own experiences in the
field so that others can benefit ,by.them to ,usher in a ,better life for our rural
people, (Editor)
,

AMRBTHUR-The path-fin:detin
bio-g~stechnology

A'

,lMRUTHUR
is rie~t~eta tourist spot, 'not api1~m
,,
centre, 'yet 'mIght soon1become,a'model 'vIllage'
and generate 'lot .of .economic activity in '!he 'surrounding area,

Kamataka may perhaps be the path-finder to the

c<iuntryas for as setting up of bio-gas
plants:areic'OJiCe'rlied, This ,is "wident from the fact
that as -many as 135 Bio-gas Plants are ,being set up
within a radius of 4 kms, in a remote and less known
headquarters of Tmrtkur District. These 135 plants
will be set up as against the target of 1,000 Plant~
for the entire District.

, rios!' of 'the

'Amruthur' in Kunigal Taluk is' attracting nationwide attention today, not on account of its strategic
importauce like 'a borderpost in the .high Himalayas,
but on account of its contribution in providiogalter- "
native source of energy, Amruthur with ,a population
of 8,000 people is blazing ahead and might become
the one and the only place in the entire nation with
the unique distinction of installing' as many as 135
bio-gas plants within the radius of 4 kms, with the
financial
assistance form a single Bank.
,
In the country about 30 to 40 crore tontie's of
animal dung is available as base for bio-gas produc-

,tion, ;In adllitIon,large quantities of plant Tesidues

and other organic wastes could also be mixed, with
the animal excreta for bio-gas production, It is estimated.thatif
all .these :materials are utilised,. nearly
7,000 ,crore 'culiic metres of methane gas, 'equivalent
to ,about 16 crore tonnes of fnelwo'od cmila b.,. prGduced.. Realising -the' urgency and need for conservation :of ,energy, a National 'Bio-Gas Development
, Project has been launched under the Sixth Plan 'in
which ten ,lakhs of family-size bio-gas plants and :roo
community 'plants are contemplated,
.
Tunikur'District is one of the seven districts selected
for intensive bio-gas development, The Government
has allocated a target of, 1000 plants to the District.
The execution has been entrusted to the .District
Rural Development 'Society, WHO convened a meeting of tne Regional Managers of participating banks
and targets were fixed bankwise, They have in turn
made branchwise allocations in respec~ of ,each bank,
An orientation couT"se in the new .constru~tion techno-logy of Bhagyalaxmi bio-gas plants was organised for
biG-gas supervisors, Junior Engineers attached to the
Taluk Development Boards and Technical Supervisors attached to the Primary' Land DevelopmenC
Banks, The programme was organised in collaborations with the University of Agricultural Science,
Hebbal, Bangalore. 'It was experienced that the district
was not having adequate trained hands to undertake
the construction of bio-gas plan,ts On a massive scale,

:n

The District RiJral' Developm~nt . Soi::iety, therefore

decided' to orgallse a trainitig programme for the,
masons in the construction' techniques.

BIO-GASPLANT is a simple device.

B HAGYALAXMr
People in' the rural areas can instal this plant
Without much difficulty and at nominal cost. It' will be
a boon for any common man whichwottld help him in
manifold ,vays. It provides fuel for 'cooking and
lighting lamps at reduced cost. It does not stain utensils and there is no scope for accidental fires. lni
addition to this, the, residual material can be used as
rich manure and keeps the environment' 'neat" and
clean. The Bhagyalaxml Plant has' become a big
boon to the people and it is becoming increasingly
popular especially in the rural areas.
Realising the popularity' of the' bi~-gas, pla~i;;
Tumkur District Rura~ Development Society, has em-"
barked. upon a massive programme of assisting'thq'
people to .put up these plants. The DROS is extending subsidy ranging from 40 to 69 percent. The
Banks are advancing rest of the amount at lOt per
cent interest. There are six sizes .of bio-gas plants
which are popular in the district. The normal size of'
the plant which is popular in these rural areas is of
6 em. or 8 em. and the subsidy in respect of the former is 30 percent while in the case of the latter it
is 37 pel' cent.
'
. The fact that the bio-gas plants, are becoming in-'
creasingly popular in the District could be ,assertained from the overwhelming interest people are showing in putting them up. The -response in' AlnruthiJr is
just overwhelming and it is bonnd to' spread around:
The Amruthur Branch of Canara Bank has' coine'
forward in a big way to sanction loans to all the
pers,?ns willing to instal bio-gas plants. It has ~lready
s~nftloned .Io~ns for 135 plants .amounting to

,Rs. 6,07,500.00. In addition to Jhis, 20 plants would

be installed at the 'cost of the beneficiaries in Amruthur.
The other distinct feature of Amruthur is the
, training imparted to about 50 masons from C!~ry'.
Hobli of the District. The training programme was
organised in close collaboration with the University
of Agricultural Sciences, Hebbal, Bangalore. During
this period itself 30 plants were "installed.

EALISING THE IMPORTANCEof the scheme the

' State Government hils sanctioned Rs. 24 lakhs for '
the supply of cement necessary for constructing th(:se
plants in the state. The mquired quantity of iron
would also be made available at controlled rates by
the Government and the entire subsidy amount would
"be released in oha' instalment. The Government is
. "eXt'ending ilie .necessatyfacility"aiIct
assistance :for
. this programme' of .nationai 'lmportance. The Prime "
i'vIinister has rightly' atlachedmuch importance to this
programme and the Department. of Agriculture and
Co-operation has initiated action for 4 lakhs family
size bio-gasplants witJlin the plan outlay of Rs. ,50
ci:'ores."

Amruthur is slowly but steadily becoming a centre

of attr&ction as far as bio-gas technology is concemed.. Th-: timely assistance of Govel1l1rtent, foresight of
'-he District Rural' Development ~ .S.iieiety: 'and the
magnanimous gesture and boldness of Canara Bank
have earned this unique distinction and brought the
Jess'. kpmvu' village .. 'AMRUTHUR' . into nati"nal'
limelight: . It'would 110t'be an exaggeration to say that
from this place, 'a bio-gas revolution, may start.

-: A. GIRISH ROY"
,Dish. Imorination &. Publicity Officer, ,
,
'Tulukur

...

";.

, .'

".'
. ",

'

-".

- - - ..
.. ":

2~:

..... ,

''-'."

....-.. 'j'

Develop.ment of
arts and crafts

"
folk.
haS

been given ,an ifu'::'pqftant place in th~;.f

' ':<:, .
Sixth Plan.

The new 2Q--pgintprogramme: Industrial policy

In order to' bod~t the development of small-scale industries and ensure their
rapid growth, the limits of investment; prescribed for these industries have
heen enhanced. The facility for nufo;natic expa11Sion of capacty to the
extent of 5 per cent. per-annum or 25 per cent in II jive-year period has been
extended to all-inaustries-inc1uded in Appendix-I of the Industrial Policy
-Statement. Attention will' continue to be given to examine the possibilities
of further rationalisation and simplification of the system of industrial lice11Sing
where- necessary and also to provide incentives with the objective of boosting
investment and production. The Sixth Plan attaches considerable importance
ta the pramotion of village and small industries in view of their kJrge employment potential. The Plan envisages a public sector outkJy of Rs. 1780 crores
for the programme which means a step-up of 3.3 times over that of the Fifth
Plan outlay of Rs. 535 cro,"S.
.

Considerable
impor~
tance is being given
to the promotion of
viIJage and small
industries in view of
their large employ.
ment potential.

(LIcenced under U(D)-54 to post without prepayment at Civil Lines Po, t Office, Delhi).

Itegd. No. D(DNl/39

RN 702/57

Added emphasis is being given on improving

the wC)rkingconditions of rural artisans.

The

research

and

development

work

that

is being

carried out by the various all-India boards and organisatif?ns will be directed

towards

technology~. reduce drudgery

evolving

appropriate

without- affecting" employ-

ment, "aild improve the earnings of artisaJls.~ A numb.cr

of process-cum-product

development

centres,

regiolllil-

design and testing centres, 'small industries service and

craft institutes Qnd a Council fqr Advancement

Technology
provision

of Rlfrpl-'

have been s.~t up for the deveIfipn,lent

of technological

back-up.

n11fl

"' "_',:

The new"'..,

"

',20-po~ntprogramme:
,,!llcl,llstrial policy

Emphasis-"will be given to the aehievemeill'. of the

production and employment targets for village.Qf~dsnlall
industries

set ill the Sixth Plan for

in sericulture,.

carpet

weaving

1984-85;

etc.

.,',

especial/j, '

Action

has' been

initiated for revival 0/ sick industrial

units, setti:lg lip

of a NatiOl~al Handloom

Corporatiml

of cooperative

Developmem

and

spinning mills.

"

H,ul1icrafts

connote the rich tradition of India's folk arts.

----------------_._-------PUBLISHED

BY

AND PRINTED

THB

DIRECTOR,

BY THB

,.,

PUBLICATIONS

MANAGER.

GOVERNMENT

DMS10N.
OF

NEW

lNDlA

DELIU-llOOOI

PRES9.

p~