Chandan kumar

TITLE: -Impact

of JEEVIKA Project on Poverty Alleviation

PROBLEM STATEMENT: Indias average annual economic growth of about 7.8% in last few years has certainly put the country on the world stage of development. Renowned scholars, including noble laureate AMARTYA SEN says, economic growth per se doesnt benefit the masses unless the components of growth & its distributional aspects are simultaneously taken into consideration (Drez & Sen, 1996). Unorganised development in developing countries like India leads to uneven distribution of wealth which deepens the regional disparity & social inequalities. Lack of political will and corrupt government institutions creating social exclusion, loss of livelihoods and social security due to regular disasters, increasing unemployment are some of the stark examples of inequalities, which co-exist with the economically growing India, today. Mass poverty occurs in rural India. More than 65% of the countrys population lives in rural areas and about 193 million people are poor and every three of four peoples in India survive on less than 1 dollar a day (Policy economic of Poverty in Bihar, Alka N Sharma, 2007). And the state of Bihar is no different. BIHAR is a state in India spread over an area of 94,163 sq.kms (Poverty and Demographic Indicators in Bihar, Singh K.N,2007). It occupies 2.8% of the total geographical area of the country. In contrast to that the state shares more than 8% of the country population. The state shows very dismal participation in development fronts. The condition deteriorated after the bifurcation of Bihar. The newly formed retained 75% of the total population of undivided Bihar & the land left is only 54%. This is enough to create strain on resources which create poverty in the state. It has 42% of its population living below poverty line. In tenth plan BIHAR grew at 4% against the national average of 7.5 %(Poverty in Bihar, Causes and cure,2005). The average annual per capita income of Rs.7500 for Bihar that is a quarter of national average. BIHAR is predominantly rural with 89% of the population living in rural areas & the rural poverty ratio is 44.3%(Krukushetra,Dec.2008). Poor delivery of social services, fragmented social fabric, lack of economic opportunities & limited infrastructure which is deterioting day by day. Poverty is heavily concentrated in flood prone area of north Bihar.

Chandan kumar

Gender disparities, caste disparities & class disparities are easily seen. It is estimated that nearly 2.3 million poor are exposed to huge cost debt for flood, health & education, accounting for 25-30% of consumption expenses, further impoverishing them(). Agriculture employs over 80% of the population and is backbone of BIHAR economy. So, the main focus is rural development in Bihar has mostly been along the same lines as followed by the central government. So, the state of BIHAR too has focused on generation of employment opportunities, upliftment of underprivileged sections by enhancing the capacity of beneficiaries ,apart from providing several basic amenities, improving rural infrastructure and emphasis on agricultural development through the initiative and flag ship programme called - Jeevika.

INTRODUCTION: Antipoverty programmes have been dominant features of government in the rural areas. Earlier programmes have been reviewed and strengthened. Different programmes are also formulated by different state government with the help of different multilateral agencies. The newly formed government of BIHAR has initiated numerous reforms which could help to facilitate favourable investment climate and efficient delivery of the public services in the state to reduce poverty. The policies like new industrial policy as well as the setting up of administrative reforms commission, land reforms commission and agriculture commission are some important steps. But the bigger stumbling stone is infrastructure which needs higher investment altogether create accessible environment for poor. However, there are various challenges in promoting poverty reduction and improvement in livelihoods. The proposed JEEVIKA project which is implemented by BIHAR RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROMOTION SOCIETY (KURUKSHETRA-DEC 2008). The launching date of the project is 2nd October 2007 and the time duration of completion is 5 years. The project got assistance from World Bank, government of BIHAR & community. The project is implemented in six districts of BIHAR (nalanda,gaya,khagaria,muzaffarpur,purnia and madhubani).The time duration is of five years reaches to 0.6million peoples, four thousand villages in 42 blocks. The project aims to brings social and economic empowerment to the marginalised section i.e. S.C, S.T, & women through improving their livelihoods. The project entails building self reliant institutions of the poors and their strong institutional network to

Chandan kumar

help the disadvantaged to participate and gain from development intervention. Higher savings through institution and investments per family with necessary inputs (skills, technology etc) and output linkages (market, price) will enhance income and increases accessibility. This project has four basic components:Component 1:- This component is the core investment of the project and it is implemented in a phased manner. The first phase will involve strengthening and building vibrant and self managed primary institutions of the poors like SHGs. In the next phase this primary level SHG is federated at village level to form village organisations (Vos) which will provided project investment for various activities through participation and micro planning. The third and final phase involve supporting federation of VOs to aggregate as higher level apex federated community at block or cluster level to taking up livelihood enhancement and income generating activities and develop linkages market institutions. This helps in facilitate empowering community organisations to develop direct linkages with financial service providers including banks. Communities have also provided skills and tools to develop social accountability which further helps in effective service delivery at every level. Component2:- Community investment fund (CIF), CIF is designed to transfer financial and technical resources to the CBOs on a demand driven basis. The approaches which are applied are participatory micro planning process. This helps the beneficiaries to improve their livelihoods and build their institutions. Component3:- technical assistance fund (TAFs), TAFs will improve quantity and quality of service provision by public and private providers. The fund will also promote use of public\private partnership in improving the livelihood services for community organisations and federations. Component4:- project management, this component would facilitate overall coordination, implementation ,management, monitoring and learning of the project at macro to micro level that means state to district to block levels.

RATIONALE OF STUDY: The above four component made the project very unique in terms of implementation, monitoring. The project is more people centric and more participatory in its approach. Implementation of the project generates sustainable livelihoods in the rural Bihar which is very

Chandan kumar

important for inclusive development of the society. The researcher also wants to know that how the JEEVIKA project is different from other employment generation project. More over the researcher also wants to know the criteria of selection of the districts. The project incorporates all the essential part of the previous programme either run by central and state government. So, it is important for the researcher to examine the nature of the programme, the nature of employment it generates. In depth study of the project multidimensional help us to understand the uniqueness of the programme and their impact in on poverty alleviation in BIHAR.

LITERATURE REVIEW:1. TARGETING & UNIVERSALISM IN POVERTY REDUCTION Social policy involves choices about whether the core principle behind social provisioning will be universalism or selectively through targeting. Under universalism, the entire population got the social benefits, while under targeting here is eligibility, there is eligibility. there is hardly ever pure universalism or targeting ,however today polices for poverty are hybrid and tend to lie between the two extremes, but where they lie decide the life chances and in characterizing the social order. Since the 1980s, social policies are redesigned to narrow the scope of recipients by targeting benefits e.g. through mean cum need based , income based, status characteristics in developing countries, the choice has been limited by the context of macroeconomic and aid policies. Ideologies play an important role for addressing the problems of poverty and inequality. The choice between targeting and universalism are truly a political and country economic problem. It involves the choice of instruments for determining levels of social expenditure. One implicit assumption is that social policy is that social policy is only about poverty alleviation, whereas it often has other objectives, such as equity and national and social cohesion. Another is that a social transfer only leads to consumption, which reduces long term growth. In conclusion, a remarkable feature of the debate on universalism and targeting is the disjuncture between an unrelenting argumentation for targeting. Evidences also show that targeting is not only an effective tool for alleviating the poverty. Most studies clearly show that identifying and reaching to the poor needs high administrative cost and requires capacity that may simply not exist in any of the developing countries.

Chandan kumar

2. NREGs IMPLEMENTATION (YOJANA,AUGUST 2008)

Over two years since it became operational, the National Rural Employment Guarantee ACT (NREGA) 2005 has had a positive impact on millions in the poorest districts in the country. The act, which guarantees 100 days of employment per household at minimum wages, is the first part of legislation that pressurizes the state to provide a social security for vulnerable section of rural society. Although implementation has suffered such as mentioned in the draft report of CAG. So some call it a source of corruption; others say it is the best thing happened in the field of rural development. But the truth is both. There are district like DUNGARPUR in Rajasthan where the scheme provide employment to a large number of peoples leading to creation of assets, whereas like the districts of Bihar like purnia where funds are siphoned off. The adoption of right based approach to work has contributed to enhancing the quality of life in rural areas. There are enough experiences to show that corruption can largely be prevented through strict enforcement of the transparency safeguards. The social audits of NREGA have revealed, there are standout success stories. Reports have shown that in Rajasthan where public awareness of the programme is high, 77 days of employment per households were provided in 2006-07. In tamil nadu the participation of women is very high as 81%. Reports also shows that through social audits the corruption is reduced. Right to information and social audits used by civil society groups and activists have exposed corruption and limited it. This scheme has been launched in 23 districts of Bihar Viz Araria, Aurangabad, Bhabhua, Bhojpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Jamui, Jehanabad, Katihar, Kishangunj, Lakhisarai, Madhubani, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Nawada, Patna, Rohtas, Samastipur, Sheohar, Supaul, Vaishali from 2nd February 2006.

Bihar State Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme 2005 has been launched by the Government of Bihar in 15 districts Viz Arwal, Banka, Buxar, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, East Champaran , Gopalgunj, Khagaria, Madhepura, Saharsa, Saran, Seikhpura, Sitamarhi, Siwan, West Champaran from 2nd February 2006. Bihar State Rural Employment

Chandan kumar

Guarantee Scheme is being implement with state fund and on the same pattern as Bihar Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.This programme is being implement through P.R.I.s 50% of Total available fund is made available to the Gram Pancahayat 30% to the Panchayat Samiti and 20% to the Zila Parishad.

3. SGSY (tool for poverty eradication) KURUKSHETRA-DEC 2008

The objective of the SGSY is to bring the assisted poor families (swarozgaris) above the poverty line by providing them income generating assets through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy. It aims at establishing a large number of microenterprises in rural areas, building up potential of rural poor. This is supposed to be holistic programme covering all aspects self employment such as planning of activity cluster, training, credit, technology, infrastructure and marketing. This programme covers families below poverty line in rural areas of the country. Within this target group, special safeguards have been provided by reserving 50% of benefits for SCs/STs, 40% for women and 3% for physically handicapped persons. Subject to the availability of the funds, it is proposed to cover 30% of the rural poor in each block in the next 5 years.

OBJECTIVE:1. To examine the different initiatives of the JEEVIKA project. 2. To study the Roles, responsibilities and functioneering of the jeevika project. 2. To study the formation and functioning of federation of SHG. 3. Find out the individual activity and collective activities in SHG. 4. Study the benefits derived from participation in the SHG. 5. Impact on rural poverty (landless labourers) in the last two and half years.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Chandan kumar

The research design is Quantitative Descriptive in nature. It describe the social situation like poverty, poverty alleviation and empowerment. After collecting the data the researcher would able to describe more accurately and precisely.

CONCEPTS:

Poverty: - Here poverty means rural poor. It categorised on the basis of land holdings like landless agricultural labourer with small holdings, non agricultural rural labourers, small land operators, open unemployed and all types of destitute in rural area. (categories: Landless and Small Farmers: 0 - 2.5 acres)

Community institution: - It is in the form of SHGs, who through the member savings, internal loaning and regular payment become self sustaining organisation.

Sustainable livelihoods: - In Jeevika sustainable livelihoods means skill building, food security, productivity enhancement and income generation.

Social mobilisation: - promoting inclusive and equitable growth through participation. Build social and economic capital through institutions and federations which leads to social and economic empowerment.

Social empowerment: Informed decision making capacity for their life. Economic empowerment: Economic capacity to spend on education, health and improving life status. Coming out of the debt cycle.

VARIBLES Independent variable

Land less agricultural labourer Women Caste Skilled and Unskilled work

Chandan kumar

Dependent variable

spending pattern Dependency on Moneylender repayment of loans Food security Control over assets

HYPOTHESIS: level.

Strong and empowered self managed community institutions

like SHG increases the employment opportunities and help in raising the income

SAMPLING: -

The target population is unknown and it is very difficult to

approach the respondents because the area is new for the worker. In this situation the researcher uses Snowball Sampling in which the researcher initially begins with few respondents who are available. In this study, the block (Taluka) selected for the study is Rajgir, Harrnaut, or Sarmera this Taluka comprises of 129-150 villages, of which 5 will be select through random sampling, and 10 beneficiaries will be selected from each village, thereby forming a total Sample Size of 50 beneficiaries.

DATA COLLECTION:Secondary data sources:

Journals

Newspapers E-resources Project reports

Chandan kumar

Discussion with Project Managers Primary data: The primary source of data collection in this research is

Interview Schedule. Researcher form a set of structured questions in which the answer given by the respondents are recorded. Interview schedule is very important which is to be used in the area where most of the peoples are illiterate.

DATA ANALYSIS: -

The researcher edits the data with forming categories

given by the respondents and then translates it into numerical values. It is to be done by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

REFERENCES
POVERTY in FOCUS (UNDP) SOCIAL PROTECTION THE ROLE OF CASH TRASFERS,june 2006 YOJANA, NREGAs implementation, AUGUST 2008 Potential of NREAGAs Economic and Political Weekly Nov.2007 SGSY (tools for data collection) KURUKSHETRA-Dec 2008
http://gov.bih.nic.in/ GOVERNMENT OF BIHAR (rural development department)

Chris Roche(1999) Impact assessment for Development Agencies,Oxfam

Chandan kumar