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Feature: MDGs in Practice

*K. Amina Bibi, Project Executive, Centre for Development Communication, DHAN Foundation, Madurai

Leelavathi enrolls in Kalanjiam:

There are many causes of povertybut ultimately the poor are poorbecause they earn too little fromwhat they do. The debts fromusurious money lenders take awayall the fruits of hard work in theform of interest and compoundedinterest. Leelavathi was one suchpoor woman who was living inpoverty. Small loan of Rs. 10,000from money lender for initiating apappad making unit with Rs. 10,000grew to a huge sum of Rs. 50,000in spite of regular repayment ofinterest. She and her husbandSethubathi worked hard in the unitbut they could not visualize any profitfrom the venture as the entire incomedrained to fill the chest of the moneylender. In those days of time in 2001,Mr. Narender Kande and Ms. LathaRukmani came to their area with theconcept of Kalanjiam Self HelpGroup. Sixteen women in her areawere willing to form a group“Veiyuluvandhal Kalanjiam”. Theystarted to save Rs. 25 per month andincreased over time to Rs. 200 atpresent. “The small initiative ofbecoming a member in Kalanjiamhave turned up into a great supportin establishing the pappad makingunit, that too exporting across thestates and globe”, admires Leelavathirecalling her initial days.

Leelavathi turns entrepreneur: Achieving

Productive Employment

K. Amina Bibi*

Pappad making unit:

They were married in 1997. Thethen new wed couple, living in a jointfamily with father-in-law mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-lawwas working hard to improve thepappad making unit in a thatchedshed. The unit was initiated by herhusband in 1995. Her knowledge andskill in pappad making from herchildhood helped the unit grow intowhat it is today. The regular savinghabit and hard working natureconvinced the group members tosanction a loan of Rs. 1000. She usedit for improving the unit bypurchasing inputs. She repaid theloan in three months. Seeing hergrow with the help of Kalanjiam themoney lender started to pester her

to repay the loan at the earliest. Toovercome the situation she placedthe situation to the group members.The second loan of Rs. 5,000 wassanctioned to her and it was repaidin a year with the income from theunit.

The season of this business isonly for 4 months (October –February). After March throughSeptember the business used to bedull. They have to earn enough forthe entire year during the 4 monthsitself. In this situation they haveinitiated the venture. There was along gap of non-earning period. Atthat time they worked hard to getorders in the lean period so that theycan produce uninterruptedly in thepeak period. With the support ofKalanjiam members through moral

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support, providing need based loans,members working for extra hourshelped them to stamp foot in thebusiness.

During the successive peak time,the orders were more and the workforce was only four family membersthey had to employ at least three moreskilled labourers. They have to payadvance of Rs. 2,500 to each of themto book them for work in this unit.When she expressed her need to thegroup the loan of Rs. 7,500 wassanctioned. The extended workforce plunged into action to finishthe assignment. “The supportextended by Kalanjiam members isbeyond words. Four Kalanjiammembers joined hands to make itpossible”, says Leelavathi. Withimmense hard work, full fledgedsupport of Kalanjiam helped thepappad unit grow and the unit in turnemployed seven members and twodaughters of a member. Only withthe income of the unit she couldarrange marriage for her sister-in-law. Now in 2009, brother-in-lawcould also establish his own pappad

making unit independently. Theseparation is not out of friction buthe is going to get married soon. Hewanted to prove his financialproductivity before he gets married.

Her roles

Leelavathi has studied only till 5th

standard went to pappad making unitwith her mother since her childhood.As she lost her father while she wasvery young hence she had todiscontinue her school educationand accompany her mother to be anextra hand to earn for the family.From then she was learning one orthe other activities of pappad unit.She could knead dough, flatten it,extend it into thin film, dry it withperfection and pack it fordispatching. This experience helpedher to gain skill and helped her todecide her lifetime activity. She wasmanaging both the family and the unitwith the income from the unit. Sincethe external debts were brought tonil, visualizing profit was possible.The standard of living of her familygraduated from survival tosubsistence through the facilitation

by the primary groups and theirnetworks by acquiring new assets,improving performance of existingassets, gaining employable skills andaccess to market linkage.

She has two children, thedaughter Kousalya is 11 years oldstudying in 5th standard in VeerasakthiPrimary school and son Viswakumaris seven years old studying in 2nd

standard in Grace MatriculationSchool. Both the children arestudying in English medium schoolsas the parents wanted to give goodeducation which they could not get.Father-in-law and mother-in-lawtake care of the children andhousehold chores. Leelavathi and herhusband take care of the unit. Theynot only supervise but also do oneor the other activity of the unit toclosely monitor the unit. Onlybecause of this they could achievethe quality for which the product isknown for.

Meticulous member of Kalanjiam

She did not get loans from thegroup for three years. By this timeshe could extend the size of the unitand made it a good building. Payingrent for residence and unit was veryexpensive. There was a houseleasing product from Kalanjiam tohelp her. She availed a loan of Rs.30,000 and in two years she repaidit. After the house leasing period shecould get Rs. 30,000 from the houseowner and invested to purchase theunit with the chit fund savings. Shemoved to a rented house adjacent tothe unit. The unit and Kalanjiam grewsimultaneously. Last Deepavali(2008) was a crucial time for her,as she had to pay bonus for all theworkers in her unit and had toemploy four more skilled labourers

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as the orders in hand was huge. Shegot a loan amount of Rs. 50,000from Kalanjiam. She distributedbonus for the workers to a tune ofRs. 20,000. She paid advance of Rs.5,000 each for four skilled labourers.Rs. 10,000 was paid as an advancefor purchasing dough kneadingmachine. The kneading machine wasneeded as the unit was expanded;hand kneading was difficult for her.She had to depend in skilled menlabourer. She thought of purchasinga dough kneading machine. The cost

of the machine was Rs. 18,000. Theremaining Rs. 8,000 she could payfrom her savings in the form of chits.

Owning the unit

The unit was improved fromthatched shed to a rented buildingwith good building and open spacefor sun drying the pappad producedin the unit. The building was verysuitable for the business and everymonth. She had to allocate certainamount towards rent and there was

a fear of the owner asking them tovacate in future (seeing their growth,as the money lender did with themoney). So she discussed with herhusband to probe the possibility ofpurchasing the unit. The cost of theland of 3.5 cents and building wasRs. 4.5 lakhs. To purchase the unit,the family had to sell golden jewelsof 15 sovereign and received Rs. 90,000. A loan of Rs. 50, 000 wasobtained from money lenders, a chitof Rs. 25, 000 was obtained,advance money of Rs. 25, 000 wasmobilized from marketing agencyand a piece of land in native placewas sold for a price of Rs. 75, 000.The remaining amount was paid atdifferent intervals with the profitfrom the unit.

Process of pappad making:

The marketing agency gives a bagof 100 kg black gram powder andRs. 2500 to them. This pappad unitprepares 120 kgs of pappad andgives it back to the marketing agency.

List of loans availed by Leelavathi

Source: Federation MIS records

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They sell to internal markets andexports to other countries. Theproducts are being exported toBngalore, Malasia and Singaporeoften. Occasionally it is exported toDubai, USA and other gulf countries.The unit produces a bag of 120 kgpappad with the one kg of blackgram powder. In a month theproduction is 26 bags of pappad inpeak season and 15 – 16 bags in leanseason.

On receiving Rs. 2500 and a bagof black gram powder, Rs. 1800 isused to distribute wages and Rs. 500is spent to purchase the other inputsneeded for pappad making. Forroutine works like kneading thedough, making cylinders of doughfor making smaller balls, cutting thecylinders of dough into smaller ballsand sun drying the pappads, Rs. 10is paid for every two kg (two kg isthe unit of works in this unit).Whereas for skilled works like rollingout thin films of pappad, extendingthe smaller size of pappad intomedium sized ones by typical handmovements with extending somepressure, extending the mediumsized pappads into larger size papadsby similar actions, Rs. 15 per twokg is paid. On an average, the routineworkers get R. 100 per day and theskilled workers get Rs. 120 – 150according to the volume of the workdone.

Leelavathi’s growth with the help of

Kalanjiam:

Without Kalanjiam she couldnever dream a debt free life. Not evena penny of profit was coming to ourhand says, Sethubathi, her husband.We have come out of the debt trap.We were once in survival level andnow we are in subsistence level. This

was possible only because ofKalanjiam. The unit was in a thatchedroof in the initial days, four groupmembers who worked in our unitstood for our growth. She couldestablish a profitable pappad makingunit to a worth of Rs. 4.5 lakhs.

Kalanjiam members who workedin her unit have stretched out evenin odd hours and holidays to finishthe target to export. Kalanjiam haveprovided many timely loans to reachthe present position. Few membershave sacrificed their turn to haveloans so that Leelavathi can avail theloan for the benefit of the unit which

employed few of the groupmembers. “I used to tell the groupmembers about my need. It is theywho spoke in an enduring way toKalanjiam officials and see the loanis ensured. This I can say with anexample. Last year, I needed Rs.50,000 for my unit; I explained theneed to the group. The membersrealized that the loan would not onlybenefit me but also eight memberstoo. So Rs. 25,000 was given fromthe bank loan and the remaining Rs.25,000 was sanctioned throughfederation and cluster loans. Thetime of loan was very crucial asthree others also were in need of loan

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Timeline

but they sacrificed for our unit,recalls Leelavathi. She could ensuregood education to her children.

Kalanjiam group’s growth with the

help of Leelavathi

In eight years, she has availedonly eight loans (Rs. 98,975) all loansshe repaid ahead of due date. She isa member with regular savings ofRs. 15, 385 and special savings Rs.276 till March 2009. She availedloans only when it was dire need.She used to withdraw her specialsavings to meet the financial needsarising then and there. She repaid allher loans ahead of time. Out of the16 members of her group, she is

employing seven members and twodaughters of one member. She isreasonable in making the eightmembers prompt in savings and loanrepayment. As on March, 2009 thegroup savings is Rs. 2,09,108 andspecial saving is Rs. 26,318.

Future plans

Though we are employing fewpeople we are not fully independentbusiness men. We are providingproducts to some orders. Some othermarketing agency is exporting ourproducts in their name. We have toreach our destination of having ourown trademark. Our products willbear our label. We have taken few

steps towards that. To get theregistration without any hurdles wehave purchased the unit which isspacious for the operations. We haveregistered in Small Scale Industries(SSI) and obtained electricity supplywith the certificate from them. Wehave filed papers with income tax.Though we have not earned enoughto pay the tax, we have applied toIncome Tax (IT) department. Oncewe get our own label we may exportto other states and countries. At thattime this should not be a hindrancefor our growth. We have registeredfor our label too; we are expecting itat any time.

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Collaboration

*Mr. Adhinarayanan, Regional Coordinator, DHAN Foundation, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.

Collaboration for Poverty Reduction

National Agricultural Innovation Project and DHAN Foundation

Adhinarayanan*

Background of NAIP

Supported by wide-rangingreforms particularly beginning 1991,India experienced rapid growth overthe past decade (averaging about6per cent year between 1992/3 and2003/4). In parallel with this fastergrowth, it has made impressiveprogress towards reducing poverty;an important element of the MDGs.Continued progress has also beenmade on many social indicators,particularly literacy, which rose from52 per cent in 1991 to 65 per cent in20011.

However, weakening agriculturalperformance beginning with the midnineties is a national concern. Themarked slow-down in growth ratesin the traditional “green revolutionstates” and the breadbasket of thecountry, namely, Punjab, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh (“green revolutionfatigue”) is a major setback2. Asthese states account for 74 per centand 26per cent of the production ofwheat and rice respectively, theselower growth rates are again raisingfood security concerns. At the sametime, the states of Bihar, Orissa,Assam and MP, in which ruralpoverty rates and dependence onagriculture are the highest;agriculture shows limited and slowimprovement. The challenge ofsustaining growth over the longerterm has been highlighted by severalrecent studies that find total factorproductivity (TFP) in agriculture

declining between the 1980s and1990s. It is reported that while TFP3

grew by 2per cent per year between1981 and 1990, the growth ratebecame negative during 1990–96 inthe Indo-Gangetic Plains,comprising the states of Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andWest Bengal4

. The studies attribute thedeceleration in TFP growth rate tothe slow-down in productivity gainsfrom the earlier adoption of high-yielding varieties, the decline in publicinvestments in the agricultural sector,and increasing degradation of naturalresources.

The green revolution in wheat andrice, white revolution in milk, yellowrevolution in oilseed and the “bluerevolution” in fisheries haveaugmented the food basket of thecountry. But many technological

challenges remain. First, despite theshrinking share (23 per cent) of theagricultural sector in the economy,the majority of the labour force(nearly 60 per cent) continues todepend on agriculture. About 75 percent of India’s poor people with lowpurchasing power live in rural areasand nearly 60 per cent of thecultivated area is under rainfedfarming. Hence, the NationalAgricultural Policy and the TenthFive Year Plan place high priority onraising agricultural productivity as ameans to achieve more rapidagricultural growth and reduce ruralpoverty. Secondly, stagnating/decelerating productivity growth anddeclining total factor productivity inagriculture have cast doubts on theresilience of the sector to meet thechallenges of a more market-drivenand competitive regime. Related tothe issue of stagnating productivity

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is the obvious limited connectionbetween input use and productivitygrowth performance. Thirdly,current unsustainable land and wateruse practices will lead to loweragricultural productivity in thefuture. Fourthly, ensuring economicand ecologically sound access tofood to every Indian, whileconserving and improving the naturalresources and traditional wisdom, ina more competitive regime, is yetanother challenge.

To address these challenges andto generate additional income andemployment for the poor, the roleof agricultural research anddevelopment (R&D) is critical.Given the limited scope for areaexpansion, increases in productivity,profitability and competitiveness willhave to be the main parameters ofthe agricultural growth in the futureand this should be led or triggeredby advances and innovations in, andapplications of science in agriculture.In other words, Indian agriculturewill have to shift from resource orinput-based growth to knowledge orscience-based growth. In thisparadigm shift, the flow ofknowledge and innovations plays acritical role. R&D assumes moreimportance because it is a cost-effective method for promotinggrowth with sustainability whileattaining competitiveness. Formaking agricultural R&D achievethese goals, first the R&D systemefficiency has to be enhanced andthe enabling environment for scienceto excel has to be created. Secondly,new and innovative ways of doingresearch have to be developed likepursuing a production toconsumption system (PCS)approach which comprises the entireset of actors, materials, activitiesservices and institutions involved in

growing, harvesting and handling aparticular commodity, transformingit into usable and/or higher valueproduct, and marketing the finalproduct. Studies show growingregional imbalances in India. In awelfare state, such a trend can notbe allowed to continue and thereforespecial R&D efforts to targetdisadvantaged areas should receivepriority attention. For example, in thevast dry land areas where thepossibility of large scale irrigationinfrastructure development is verylimited, productivity can only beenhanced by innovative andappropriate technologicaladvancemen t s / i n t e rven t i onscomplemented with institutional andpolicy support. Participation andempowerment of the stakeholdersare a major necessity for ensuringsuccess. Harnessing advances infrontier sciences in selected priorityareas to break the yield and qualitybarriers for satisfying the present andfuture national needs and attainingglobal competitiveness with largerspin-off benefits to India has to begiven focused attention. Thereforesupport to basic and strategicresearch is also critical.

The recently concluded NationalAgricultural Technology Project(NATP) led by the ICAR aimed toimplement a shared understanding ofthe Government of India and theWorld Bank on technology-led-pro-poor growth, and facilitated thepublic sector reform process foraccelerating the flow of agriculturaltechnologies. A key lesson from theNATP is that deliberate investmentsin partnership building and sharedgovernance are required to speed uptechnology adaptation anddissemination. Another lesson wasthat while the project undertook anenormous number of activities,

mostly successfully, the biggerpicture was very clear in theextension component where theproject activities were guided by awell defined conceptual model forcollaborative agricultural extension.The challenges, opportunities and thelessons learnt in the NATP provide auseful framework to move forward.

The NAIP responds to the GOI’sobjectives as expressed in India’sNational Policy on Agriculture(NPA), which accords high priorityto generation and transfer ofagricultural technologies, andreforms in the technology system.The NPA seeks to actualize the vastuntapped growth potential of Indianagriculture to generate income andemployment opportunities for therural communities. The policyrecognizes the role of the privatesector in agricultural research,human resource development, post-harvest management and valueaddition. The 10th Five Year Planenvisages a growth rate of 4 per centper annum in the agriculture sector.To achieve such growth requiresinvestments in research, extension,as well as interventions that improvethe policy and institutionalenvironment within whichagricultural producers, traders andprocessors operate.

Policies and Institutional Framework

Since the agricultural scenario ischanged, the policies also need tochange. The policy changes shouldreflect continued priority on foodand nutritional security, increasedmarket orientation, focus ondisadvantaged regions, break yieldand quality barriers by strengtheningbasic and strategic research, providefor an enhanced role of the privatesector, NGOs etc. First of all,agricultural development is

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increasingly market rather thanproduction driven. With falling staplefood prices and rising urbanincomes, the pay-off has slowlyimproved to strategies that enhanceagricultural diversification andincrease the value added ofagricultural production. Secondly, itis increasingly realized that thegeneration, diffusion and applicationof new knowledge often takes placemore efficiently through the privatesector5. A significant part of thetechnology package that farmers usehas also been designed by andsupplied through private businesses(e.g., fertilizers, machinery,pesticides, and seeds). Withincreasing commercialization, therole of the private sector astechnology supplier grows. Thirdly,through the ICT revolution(particularly the internet), the abilityto take advantage of knowledge hasbeen developed in other places, orfor other purposes, has grown. Howto capitalize on existing newknowledge has become a questionthat is as important as how togenerate and diffuse newknowledge.

This is where the concept of anational agricultural innovation

system (NAIS) becomes important.A NAIS is made up of theinstitutions, enterprises andindividuals that demand and supplyknowledge and technologies, andthe rules and mechanisms by whichthese different agents areinteracting. In this concept thefocus is not only on the sciencesuppliers but also on the totality ofactors that are involved ininnovation. The role of the privatesector and as well as of theIntellectual Property Rights (IPRs)associated with the innovation aremore explicitly recognized, end-market demands are more integratedand the conditions that need to befulfilled for innovations to becomesuccessful are better spelled out.Following the lessons from theindustrial applications, theeffectiveness of the NAIS dependson three main elements:• An institutional environment

that is conducive to the flowof knowledge, to collaboration,experimentation andimplementation of innovations.

• A well articulated demand fornew knowledge, technologyand institutional and policyinnovations. Producers,

traders and others must be ableto express their demand andmust be in a capacity to adaptand adopt new knowledge andtechnology.

• The effective supply of newknowledge and technology, fromthe public research system, butalso from other sources, suchas indigenous knowledge,private sector research and eventransfers from abroad.

The institutional framework forNAIP therefore needs to be designedto match with the policy changes andthe elements of the NAIS articulatedabove.

Objectives of NAIP

Agricultural innovations anddiffusion of new technologies areimportant factors in the country’squest for food, nutrition,environmental security andenhancement of income andemployment. Agricultural research inIndia has generated outstandingproductivity increases in the past andshall continue to play an importantrole to support rural livelihoods andaccelerating rural growth. However,rising population and per capitaincome are pushing up the fooddemand, which needs to be metthrough enhanced productivity perunit area, input, time and energy. Atthe same time, issues of decreasingfactor productivity and resource useefficiency have emerged.Furthermore, many promisingresearch findings have not reachedthe producers, due either to theinadequacies of research design orresearch results, deficiencies ofdelivery systems or a lack ofeconomic incentives. This isparticularly evident in complexenvironments and in less-favored

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areas. In order to address povertyand hunger, it is critical to redirectand augment resources devoted toagricultural research to the farmingand livelihood systems of the poorrural communities. Further, to availthe technological breakthroughs thatare now available for commercialuse, agricultural research prioritiesand strategies will have to berevisited and new system-wideapproaches need to be developed andadopted.

The NAIP will address the aboveconcerns through a combined efforton changing content and process.Policy and technology options willbe checked or tested by the end-userfor applicability and for economic,social and environmentalsustainability. In applied and adaptiveresearch projects, the end-user ofinnovations will be involved from thestart of programmes and projects totheir completion. Both indigenousknowledge and new or frontiertechnologies will be used to generatetargeted products.

The overall objective of NAIP isto facilitate the accelerated andsustainable transformation of Indianagriculture in support of povertyalleviation and income generationthrough collaborative developmentand application of agriculturalinnovations by the publicorganizations in partnership withfarmers groups, the private sectorand other stakeholders. The specificobjectives are:

a) To build the critical capacity ofthe ICAR as a catalyzing agentfor management of change ofthe Indian NARS {component1).

b) To promote production toconsumption systems research

in priority areas/themes toenhance productivity, nutrition,profitability, income andemployment (component 2).

c) To improve livelihood securityof rural people living in selecteddisadvantaged regions throughinnovation systems led bytechnology and encompassingthe wider process of social andeconomic change covering allstakeholders (component 3).

d) To build capacity and undertakebasic and strategic research instrategic areas to meettechnology developmentchallenges in the immediate andpredictable future (component4).

NAIP is planned for 6 years toallow time for piloting, learning andthen scaling up wherever possible.

NAIP InstitutionalDevelopment Priorities

The NAIP is aware of thegrowing importance of access toinformation in the global competitiveeconomy. Competitiveness andaccess to information will be ofparticular relevance to poorpopulation groups if they are not tobe further marginalized. The amountof new information and theincreasingly rapid outdating ofexisting knowledge may pose athreat to traditional and indigenousknowledge. Useful traditionalknowledge must therefore bevalidated, documented anddisseminated. The NAIP maysupport efforts to do this whereverthey are related to proper informationsystems and the utilization of suchknowledge. Thus, the NAIP shallstrive for a better balance betweenutilization of existing or indigenous

knowledge, creation of newknowledge and adequatedocumentation, validation,dissemination and utilization ofknowledge.

India’s agricultural sector iscomposed of a large number of smallindividual entrepreneurs. Farmersdepend increasingly on otherentrepreneurs for services, inputs,implements, marketing andprocessing. The capacity of thesevarious entities to adjust to rapidchange in the political, institutionaland economic environments, andmutual collaboration among them,are decisive for the success ofagricultural development. Capacitybuilding and strengthening ofpartnerships will be taken up in allcomponents of the NAIP. Capacitybuilding refers to individual farmers,farmers’ groups, organizations, andagrarian institutions and businesses,which support them. Partnershipsinclude public sector institutions,farmers’ organizations, self-helpgroups, NGOs and the privatesector. The NAIP is well aware thatwomen farmers whose number andcontributions are significant in Indianagriculture have to be involvedparticularly. Participatory technologydevelopment and participatorylearning and action shall be essentialingredients in capacity building andproject management.

With the increasing importanceof market context in Indianagriculture, enhancing businessskills of agricultural researchinstitutions assume significance.There is a need to develop suitablebusiness development units asmodels for promoting businessplanning, and development andcommercialization of technologies.

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NAIP R&D Priorities

The NAIP R&D priorities are inagreement with the broad objectivesof the project which have been setto match also the national andsectoral priorities. However, theNAIP will encourage creative locallevel needs and priority identificationon the basis of systematic needassessments under the overall broadpriorities set for the NAIP. In factthe actual sub-projects supported byNAIP may integrate in a systemsmode the various priority areas tomeet local level requirements.

The NAIP therefore, will notpredefine the specific researchprojects that it wishes to pursue inthe components 2, 3 and 4 but willallow the agenda to evolve from thebottom through the competitiveprocess that will guide the resourceallocation. The thrust areasdiscussed below are merelyindicative of what the NAIP sub-projects may address. These areasare the national and sectoral levelpriorities as reflected in the NationalAgricultural Policy and the TenthFive-Year Plan of India (2002-07),including its Mid-Term AppraisalReport and several consultationsheld with a wide array ofstakeholders as a part of projectconcept note preparation. Somespecific guiding examples onpossible sub-projects for theComponents 2 and 4 have beenprovided in subsequent chapters.

Agricultural DiversificationFor making Indian agricultureprofitable, sustainable andcompetitive, agriculturaldiversification will have to beintensively promoted. Attentiontowards precision farming, small

farm mechanization, resourceconservation technologies, use ofsprinkler and drip irrigation systems,fertigation, protective cultivation offlowers and vegetables, and adoptionof high-value and low-volume cropsis expected to be rewarding. Thiswarrants a multi-faceted approachwith a greater appreciation of thevarious site-specific needs andcompulsions of the farming systems,agro-climatic conditions, andendowments of land and waterresources, rural infrastructure, andthe market demand both within thecountry and outside. Facilitatingservice and support systemscovering planting materials, credit,extension, marketing, prices, etc. arecritical for successful diversification.

With emphasis on much-neededdiversification in agriculture, theavailability of quality seed,particularly in case of oilseeds,pulses, horticultural crops andfisheries, becomes a crucialcomponent of agriculture-led growthand development. This would requireefficient field operations/hatcherymanagement, facilitating andimproving processing, marketing,quality assurance and strengtheningof infrastructure for rapidmultiplication of disease-freeplanting material.

On-farm experimentation wouldbe given high priority for testing anddisseminating technologies suitablefor increasing food, feed, fodder andfuel (rural energy) security, and forimproving the livelihoods ofresource-poor farmers. Needless tomention that empowering of thesmall and marginal farmers and ruralwomen through participatoryapproaches is critical to provide themadequate strength to face suddencalamities and farming failures.

Livestock and FisheriesProduction The livestock andfisheries sectors are emerging asimportant “sunrise sectors” in thecountry. Since most livestock inIndia is owned by small and marginalfarmers and landless people in ruralareas especially in dry land areas, thesector’s rapid growth benefits thepoorer households. Further, the roleof women in these sectors issubstantial. Focused attention togenetic upgradation, nutrition,management, disease surveillanceand control, production of feeds,diagnostic kits and vaccines, post-harvest handling and processing andmarketing of livestock andaquaculture produce, by-produceand wastes will be certainlyrewarding. Work on monitoring andcontrol of trans-boundary livestockdiseases has important implicationsfor human health, international tradeand compliance with importingcountry requirements.

Genetic Resources and Bio-

prospecting

Sustained growth in agriculturalproductivity will depend uponcontinued improvements ingermplasm (plants, animals includingfish and microbes) and improvednutritional value of staple foods,besides crop and livestock diseaseand pest control. The traits requiredinclude improved yield potential,increasing yield stability throughresistance to biotic and abioticstresses, and enhancing adaptationto high stress conditions likedrought, water logging and salinity.Genetic resources (plant, animal andmicrobial) constitute one of the mostimportant and invaluable natural

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resources and their effectivedocumentation and utilization are animportant endeavor. The importanceof undertaking such an activity withthe help of local communities,NGOs, etc. cannot beoveremphasized. Identification ofresistance genes in wild relatives,molecular marker mapping andmarker-assisted transfer to the elitegermplasm may be pursued. Bio-prospecting will have to lay thefoundation for effective mining andtargeted the transfer of genes forspecific traits. The vast microbialgene pool has to be explored andutilized for crop and animalimprovement. Such efforts are notonly capital-and knowledge-intensive, but also warrant strongpublic-public and public-privatepartnerships. Interactions betweenresearch institutes and the industryneed to be strengthened for realizingthe full potential of frontier sciences.

Natural Resource Management

Enhancing farmers’ capacities touse and conserve natural resources(agro-biodiversity, land and watermanagement) and indigenousknowledge in an efficient andsustainable manner is an importantissue in Indian agriculture. Thisincludes enhancement of crop andlivestock including fisheryproductivity in intensified and moresustainable farming systems. Farmerparticipation is decisive for thisapproach.

In view of the water scarcity andthe growing competition for waterfor agricultural, household andindustrial use, efficient andsustainable management of waterresources, with a focus at thewatershed and local level is anotherimportant topic. Through its

consortia the NAIP will aim tocombine short- and possibly long-term economic benefits (farmers’interests) with longer-termenvironmental concerns (publicinterest) and favorable institutionaldevelopment.

Soil health has been affectedadversely owing to depletion oforganic carbon, imbalanced use ofnutrients, micro-nutrient deficiency,etc. The proper understanding of thisissue and addressing the issuethrough appropriate interventions byfollowing an IPNM approachassumes significance.

Precision agriculture may beexplored to tackle the inadequatereplenishment of the soil withnutrients in very intensive croppingsystems like rice-wheat, which haveled to reduction in factorproductivity, water use efficiency,nutrient use efficiency, and as whole,input use efficiency.

Global warming is becoming animportant issue for sustainableagriculture. Understanding itseffects and developing adaptationand mitigation strategies should

receive attention. Component 4address this issue.

There is an increasingappreciation about the quality of foodas well as the extent to which theenvironment is affected by excessiveand indiscriminate application ofchemicals. Therefore, organicfarming is attracting greater attentionworldwide. The various factors forsuccessful adoption of organicagriculture in selected areas wherethey have competitive advantagemay be analyzed, and research forgenerating technologies that supportmodern organic farming may bestrengthened. Such research may notonly contribute to enhancednutritional and environmentalsecurity but also improve exportprospects in the country.

Integrated Pest Management

Pesticides are often notaccessible to small-scale farmers andskill and knowledge in the sound useof pesticides is lacking. Pesticidemisuse is therefore a significanthealth and economic risk toproducers, consumers and theenvironment. The evolution of new

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races, pathotypes, strains andbiotypes of the pathogens and insect-pests is a continuous process. In thiscontext, to manage such bioticstresses, efficient and effectiveintegrated approaches are required.Consortia within the NAIP may takeup the elaboration and validation ofIPM policies and practices for theminimal ecologically tolerable andeconomically necessary use ofpesticides.

Value Addition and Post-Harvest

Processing

An area of immense importanceto enhance the globalcompetitiveness of Indian agricultureis value addition and post-harvestprocessing. At present, only sevenper cent of the output of theagricultural sector is value added andtwo per cent of the volume ofperishables is processed. In view ofthe small and scattered farm holdingsand the majority of farmers beingresource-poor, strengthening of co-operatives, self-help groups, andcontract farming assumesignificance. The need for reductionin post-harvest losses is beingincreasingly important. This alsoconcerns processing technologies tofollow changing consumptionpatterns. Post-harvest losses

compromise food security and themarket presence of small-scalefarmers by disrupting supply orreducing the quality of products.Local storage and small-scaleprocessing capacity has an impacton development similar to that ofthe construction of other ruralinfrastructure. In component 2, theNAIP will address the whole PCS,improving knowledge on post-harvest losses and tackling the mostcritical elements in the system,including quality assurancemechanisms to meet domestic needsand international trade requirements.In fact, the scope extends to issuesin the food chain of human beingsand animals. In view of thecomplexity of changes in post-harvest and processing practices,attention may also be given to thedevelopment and introduction ofpromising storage and processingtechnologies for small farmers.

Research on Policy Analysis and

Market Intelligence

In the scenario of greaterimportance of markets in agricultureand the integration of the nationalmarkets, and the world market, ithas become clear that research todevelop appropriate policies tounderstand these fast changing

global and national imperatives willbe needed.

NAIP Components

The NAIP comprises fourcomponents: (1) ICAR as theCatalyzing Agent for Management ofChange in the Indian NARS; (2)Research on Production toConsumption Systems; (3) Researchon Sustainable Rural LivelihoodSecurity (SRLS); and (4) Basic andStrategic Research in the FrontierAreas of Agricultural Sciences (BSR).

Component 1: ICAR as theCatalyzing Agent for theManagement of Change in theIndian NARS

In the context of the emergingIndian agricultural research system,the limited ability of partners tointeract and transact with each otherwas identified as a key constraint tostreamlining the generation and useof new knowledge. This led to thechoice of the “consortium” (i.e. anoften public/private partnership ofservice providers that collaborativelyaddresses production systemsconstraints) as the principal modalityfor project implementation incomponents 2, 3, and 4. In supportof these other NAIP components,Component 1 will allow the ICARand the SAUs to strengthen their roleas the catalyzing agents of thesystem by strengthening theirinformation, communication anddissemination capacity, businessplanning and developmentknowledge, skills in using newlearning and capacity buildingmodels, policy analysis, visioning,market intelligence analysis, andability to remodel financial andprocurement systems suitable to achanging and performingorganization.

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Component 2, 3 and 4:Research Consortia: Components2, 3 and 4 are planned to organizeusing a consortium concept. Theconsortium concept is central tofacilitating flows of knowledgecollaboration, experimentation andimplementation and to articulatedemands for knowledge andtechnology. The world over,collaborative research networks andconsortia have been more effectivethan simple information exchangenetworks. The consortia to besupported by the NAIP will have toplay a key role in more efficient useof scarce resources in nationalagricultural research, and inenhancing synergies among researchand development actors. The NAIPwill enhance the potential and tacklethe limitations of these partnerships,contribute to a better utilization oflimited resources, and enhancesynergies among participatinginstitutions.

By making competitive grantsavailable for large projects (from Rs.12 to 45 crores for each consortium)strong incentives are created to buildpartnerships and share knowledgeand information6. An additionalreason for the competitive mode isthat it allows successful andinnovative models to arise from thebottom, rather than imposing adesign from the top. The consortiummode will then be applied to maindevelopment challenges that theIndian agricultural research systemfaces.

Component 2: Research on

Production to Consumption Systems

PCSs comprise the entire set ofactors, materials, activities, services,and institutions involved in growingand harvesting a particular

commodity, transforming it intohigher value product and marketingthe final product. The systemincludes the technologies used togrow and process the material, aswell as the social, institutional andeconomic environment in whichthese processes operate.

The emphasis on PCSs is asimple reflection of the fact thatagricultural growth in India isincreasingly market driven and thatthe challenge to raise income andwelfare to the agriculturalcommunity has to be met in a marketcontext. The PCS implies a higherpriority to among others, post-harvest processing, qualitymanagement and safety issues. Theimportance of the market alsoimplies a shift in attention toproducts with large market andincome growth potential.

Component 3: Research on

Sustainable Rural Livelihood Security

The emphasis in Component 3 onrural livelihood improvement reflectsthat several million people in thecountry remain largely by-passed bythe green revolution and modernagricultural practices. A largeproportion of these people and of therural poor live in less favored,marginal or more complexenvironments. Long-term social,political and environmental stabilityrequires that attention be given tothese areas. The relevance of lessendowed areas to decentralizeddevelopment, to resourceconservation, to water harnessingand bio-diversity management isbeing increasingly recognized.

In component 3, emphasis willbe given to improving thesustainability of the farming systems

and natural resource management inless favorable environments.Particular attention will be given torain-fed, hill and mountain, coastaland island eco-regions.

Component 4: Basic/Strategic

Research in Frontier Areas of

Agricultural Sciences

To sustain innovation foraccelerated development,investments must also be made inbasic and strategic research infrontier areas of agriculturalsciences, in order to generate newknowledge and new findings that canlater on be turned into the nextgeneration of innovations. Recentresearch shows that the capacity ofthe Indian agricultural researchsystem to produce high qualityscience was greater in the past thanat present. Especially for a largecountry such as India it is importantto be at, and contribute to thescientific frontier. Component 4therefore, addresses the wideningknowledge gap that might appear inthe absence of high quality basic andstrategic research.

“Farming Systems for Livelihood

security of small and Marginal

farmers in Disadvantaged Districts of

Tamilnadu”

Under component 3 (SustainableRural Livelihood Security)consortium partners DHANFoundation, Annamalai University,Vedapuri KVK (Krishi VigyanKendra) and BMT KVK hassubmitted a concept note titled“Farming Systems for Livelihoodsecurity of small and Marginalfarmers in DisadvantagedDistricts of Tamilnadu”. Theproject has selected and sanctionedduring April-2008 and fund released,

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project started from July-2008. Thetotal project period is for 4 years April2008 – March 2012. The totalsanctioned budget of the projects isRs.732.32 Lakhs.

Partnerwise breakup

• Annamalai University -Rs.524.29 Lakhs

• DHAN Foundation -Rs. 62.82 Lakhs

• Vedapuri KVK -Rs. 93.49 Lakhs

• BMT KVK -Rs. 51.72 Lakhs

Objectives of the project

• Up scaling farming systemmodels through on farmresearch for adoption underwetland, upland and shorefarming conditions indisadvantaged districts ofTamilnadu.

• Productivity enhancement inpredominant crops of thesedistricts through technologieslike IPM, INM and mechanizedcultivation.

• Imparting training forprocessing and values additionin the farm produces.

• Restoring the pristine status ofwater resources in thesedistricts through integrated bio-control of aquatic weeds andconserving soil health throughoptimized agro input use.

Technological interventions being

implemented

Integrated Rice + Fish + Poultry in

Wetland cluster

Integrated Rice + Fish + Poultryin 5 cent area per farmer for 100

farmers in a cluster. In the 5 centRice field 20 square meter with onemeter deep fish pond excavated and100 fingerlings released in the pond.Above on the pond 6’ * 4’ * 3’dimension cage fixed near the waterentry channel and 20 broiler birdsreared for 45 days. The broiler birdsand fish production, birds droppingsenrich the soil nutrients are theadditional income for the farmer outof the project. Total farmers coveredin this intervention are 400 with anextent of 20 acres.

Integrated Goat with millet/Pulses/

Floriculture in Rainfed upland cluster

Rearing goat by the uplandfarmers by using fodder from theland and during fallow crop periodthe goats were grazed in the field tocontrol weed infestation andenriching the soil nutrients throughpenning activity. Two insured goatsper farmer supplied through thisproject and the farmer has tomaintain minimum two goatscontinuously. Total farmers coveredthrough this intervention are 500with 1000 goats and an extent of 250acres.

Sea Weed culture in Coastal shore

farming cluster

Weaker section fisher folkcommunities identified for sea weedculture involves growing Gracilariaedulis by raft method in the backwaters. Each selected member gets3 to 5 inoculated rafts. 60 days isthe harvest cycle and the yieldexpected is 10 tons of dry seed weedor 2 tons of agar agar from 1 haarea. Total fisher folk memberscovered through this intervention are300.

Mushroom production/ Vermi

Composting

In all the above three clusters 100landless agricultural labourers percluster selected for any one of theactivity (Mushroom/Vermicompost).Each selected landless agriculturallabourer gets Rs.2000 forestablishing the units. Totally 1200members covered through theseinterventions.

Role of DHAN Foundation in the

project

1. Selection of panchayat union /blocks based on the criteriachosen for NAIP.

2. Secondary Data collection forthe selected panchayat union /block villages.• Demography• Socio economic status• Geographical area• Agriculture production

and cultivation• Existing problems/

constraints in agriculturecultivation and production

• Employment opportunity• Water resources• Existing marketing

system.3. Visit and discussion with

villagers for selection of villages.4. Selection of villages based on

visit and discussion withvillagers / VAO / PanchayatPresident

5. Collection of primary data forthe selected villages andcomparing it with secondarydata. (RRA, FGD)

6. Grouping the farmers in toeconomic status. (WealthRanking PRA )

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7. Orientation in to the villagersabout NAIP project.

8. Selection of farmers for training& demonstration.

9. Confidence building event forfarmers.

10. Preparing and sending thefarmers to training to respectiveKVKs

11. Follow up of training andtechnical guidance to thefarmers.

12. Co-ordination ofdemonstrations.

13. Co-ordination of trainings.

14. Identification and providingtraining on assistance for creditfacility for adopters andbeneficiaries.

15. Dissemination of technology inall the 4 districts.

4.0 Area Demarkation

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Introduction

Kollidam-Sirkali FishermenKalanjiam federation is a self-sustained people institution promotedby DHAN Foundation. It wasinitiated in the year 2005 as a part ofpost Tsunami developmentintervention. Majority of themembers of the federation arefisherfolks. Hence the productswere tailor-made to meet theirspecific needs. Self help groups(SHGs) were promoted whichincluded savings, credit, capacitybuilding, livelihood activities andmicro-insurance. The federation

Social Security

*Mr. L.Murali Krishnan, Managing Director, and Ms. K.Madhanakumari, is Community Accountant, Kollidam- Sirkali Fishermen Kalanjiam federation, Sirkali, Tamil Nadu.

Micro-insurance in coastal areas

L.Murali Krishnan and K. Madhanakumari *

mobilized Rs. 34 lakhs frommembers as savings, Rs. 1.71 lakhsfrom DHAN Foundation for postTsunami livelihood developmentintervention and Rs. 72 lakhs fromIndian Bank through SHG-banklinkages. As on January 2009, a totalsum of Rs. 86 lakhs is deposited asfixed deposit (FD) in federationaccounts and Rs. 6 lakhs FD ismaintained at group level. This wasachieved by 157 Kalanjiams (41women SHGs and 116 men SHGs)comprising 2162 members. Allmembers’ risk is covered under JBYscheme of Life InsuranceCorporation.

Risks and vulnerabilities of the

disaster prone areas

Many of the villages of thefederation are located in the coastalarea of Sirkali taluk. They lie belowmean sea level, hence prone tovarious risks like flood, cyclone etc.most of the members belong tofishing community, face risk in theirlivelihood activities. The frequencyof they facing risk is very high.When there is heavy shower,stagnated water do not drain easilydue to its land level below sea level.In such situations, lives andlivelihood assets are prone to

Goat distributions function atVellapallam of Thalainairu Block:

As part of this projectimplementation and transparencyRainfed upland clusters’ Goatdistribution function held atVellapallam of Thalainairu block of

Nagapattinam district on 11.02.2009.There were 400 farmers from thevillages, federation and from thepartners of the project were attended.The chief guest of the function wasDr. M.Rathinasabapathi – Registrar,Annamalai University. The other

guests are Dr.G.Kuppusamy, Dean,Faculty of Agriculture, AnnamalaiUniversity, Dr. P.Manohar, JDAH,Nagapattinam. In this function theselected 100 project partners/beneficiaries got 200 insured goatsworth of Rs.2,80,000.

References

1 National Statistical Survey, Office of the Registrar General, India.2 The inter-state comparisons are largely based on the old National Accounts (1980-81 base), which show a much slower overall growth of agricultural GDP than the new National Accounts (1993/94 base). See World Bank (2000) footnote 9 for detailed discussion.3 TFP measures the amount of increase in total output that is not accounted for by increases in total inputs.4 The Indo-Gangetic Plain is one of the most fertile regions in India.

5 The private sector encompasses all non-government agencies such as the corporate sector, voluntary organizations, self-help groups, partnership firms, individuals and community based organizations etc.

6 The competitive grants program (CGP) model already existed in the ICAR in the form of AP Cess Fund projects and more recently under NATP. The CGP of NATP really provided the rationale and experience for this important feature of NAIP.

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Table No. 1. Details of Claims received

damage or loss. The condition ispathetic favouring grooming of pestand diseases which affects the healthconditions. With all these conceptsin mind, we created awareness onsocial security. We providedproducts at a minimum affordablecost; the premium amount was easilypayable for the poor to get areasonable coverage for their lifesecurity.

Organizing the unorganized

The members, who arefisherfolks face frequent suddenshocks and untimely death leavingtheir households in a vulnerableposition. The family members aredeprived of resources and feel likefish out of water. Fisherfolks lackalternate livelihood opportunities.

Their livelihood routine is fishing inrough sea for four months and don’tgo for catch for 11/2 months. Theyare living between life and death dueto accidents in sea, poor health, andalcoholism ruining the health. Mostof the fishermen belong to S2 andS3 categories. Majority of the peopleresiding here die before reaching theage of 60. the federation facilitatedmicroinsurance product of LIC forall 157 SHGs with membership of2162. Partner – Agent model ofmicroinsurance was adopted toprovide the value addedmicroinsurance product without anyextra administration expenses.

JBY

One of the microinsuranceproducts of LIC is Janashree Bhima

Yojana (JBY). It is promoted throughpartner – agent model for clients withthe support of Government of India.The premium for each member isRs. 200 of which Rs. 100 is paid bythe Government, leaving membersto pay only Rs. 100 on their behalf.The education expense is supportedby scholarship of Rs. 1200 for themember’s children studying between9th standard and 12th standard. Theclaim settlement amount offered wasalso good. Natural death claim wasRs. 30,000, accidental death claimwas Rs.75,000 and permanentdisability claim was Rs. 30,000.

How our federation succeeded?

Kollidam – Sirkali fishermenKalanjiam federation is the non-profitagent for the insurance productoffered to members. The federationis the point of contact for the nodalagency, LIC. Hence, claim amountof Rs. 7,35,000 was received for 20members and Rs. 6,67,000 wasreceived as scholarship for students(member’s children) over 29 monthswith a premium settlement of Rs.6,12,000 to cover the members’ livesupto Aug 2009.

Monitoring and managing the

insurance policy

Separate staff wing is monitoringthe insurance activities. Data entryfrom field, policy renovation, claimsettlement, premium collection, bankprocedures and all activities relatedto insurance is undertaken by thestaff. They do the follow-up of theteam at right time and place tofacilitate early settlements to themembers and their family.

Development of the JBY insurance

product

Last year (2008) we introducedcollection of premium of Rs. 125.

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Time line is an important PRAmethod quite commonly used to

explore the temporal dimension froma historical perspective. Timeline isan important tool that helps us toknow the history of the village andthe changes that has occurred as thetime passes. Time line captures thechronology of events as recalled bylocal people. It is drawn as asequential aggregate of past events.It thus provides the historicallandmarks of a community,individual or institution. It is atechnique, which is commonly doneto explore the temporal dimensions

Development Tools

*Tata-Dhan Academy, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Time Line

PDM 8 batch students of Tata DHAN Academy*

from a historical perspective. It isdrawn as a sequential aggregate ofpast events as perceived and recalledby the people themselves.

We are going to see time linestudy conducted by two teams, onewith microfinance focus another onewith health focus.

Time Line with microfinance theme

(Upputhurai)

The main purpose of thistechnique is to understand the savingand credit pattern that existed in thevillage. Through it, our purpose is

to know the lending pattern of thevillage people and changes ifoccurred in the village. Our objectivewas also to know the existence ofmoneylenders in and outside thevillage. Through timeline tried tolearn from the community what theyconsider important in the past events.We also try to know about thehistorical perspective of the currentissues related to the microfinance.The important application of thistechnique is to develop a rapport withthe villagers.

Typical timeline depicts the timelandmark on the left side and a brief

Rs. 100 is for the insurance companyand Rs. 25 for the share capital infederation. As 2162 members paidRs. 25, the amount pooled was Rs.54,054. this amount is used toprovide Rs. 1000 to member’sfamily at the time if death for funeralexpenses. Over yars there is aminimum of 15 deaths per year.Financial sustainability of the sharecapital was good. The membersaccepted the concept as it isbenefiting one among them.

Role of microinsurance for

microfinance sustainability

• Madavamedu was severelyaffected by Tsunami. In thepost Tsunami days 12Kalanjiams were formed by ourfederation. But, 6 Kalanjiamswere not functioning well till lastyear. The group was revitalized

due to the microinsurance claimsettlement to four memberswho died. Now the group isstreamlined their interest to runthe groups for both creditfacility and insurance purpose.

• The claim amount was used forthe family development anddebt repayment purpose.

Limitations of the policy

• Age limit of 18 to 58 is bigproblem; because member whoenrolled in his age 48 and paysfor the 10 years, when he stilllives beyond the age limit helooses Rs.1000 with out gettingany benefits from the scheme(when their children are notstudying).

• The programme design is goodwith less technical complexities

it gives NGO as a “Non profitagent role”. But, the policybenefits only to 50% ofpopulation because of the agelimitation.

Conclusion

The insurance product (JBY) isefficiently and effectively helpful forgross root poor peoples with goodInsurance provision, affordable cost,simple, timely and relevant one fortheir natural / accidental death only.And so, innovative development ofmicroinsurance product forintegrated risk coverage of life,livelihood assets and health alsoimportant for poor with mutualityfrom community, government,NGO, private, insurance companyto relieve the poor fisher communityagainst the total risk accumulation.

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description of the major events. Themain motive of time line formicrofinance however is to knowthe status of the village concerningthe theme and the changes that hasoccurred in the past regarding thetheme. We also try to know thereason of the changes that hashappened in the village and the reasonfor the change in the village.Through Thematic Time line ourmotive was to be more concentratedon a particular area of interest andwould not be deviated from ourtheme.

For completion of this technique,our team sat and discussed about thestrategies that should be followed forthe completion of one this technique.We discussed about the approachingfactor and the questions that couldbe asked by them so that we wouldnot be deviated from our team. Thegroup was divided into three partsin such a way that one group consistof 4 to 5 group members to facilitatethe learning process. For thesuccessful implementation, weidentified some elder persons whowere willing to talk about the historyof the village; we explained them thepurpose of the exercise. Afterexplanation, we initiate a discussionon the history of the village. We alsoput some questions that wereimportant for our theme. We askedone of our members to note downthe major events in a piece of paperin such a way that the year wouldbe on left side and the year and thedescription on the right side. We alsoasked the member to note the yearthat would be important for themicrofinance. After the collection of

the information, the group sat andconsolidated the output that wasgiven by different villagers. Inaddition, we have considered bothmen and women to provide theinformation.

The materials required for timeline include chart paper, bold markersof different colors, paper clips, gumand some paper pins. The timerequired was between 1 hour 30minutes and 2 hours.

Inferences

In past people, do not have aformal saving and credit system.The people usually save the moneyin the form of cash, jewels andsometimes they keep the lives stocksas a savings. They sold the livestockswhen they need money. In the year1954, the villagers started borrowing

money from the moneylenders whowere in the village and they lend themoney to the villagers. In 1960 thepeople started to grow paddy cropsthrough which they can fulfill theirbasic needs and were able to sellsmall of paddy by due to which theygot mere amount of money. In theyear 1968 the Canara Bank wasopened in the block through whichthe people got an opportunity to saveas well as ask for a loan. The richfarmers got the benefit but the poorwere deprived. In 1970 the tar linkedwas constructed by which the peoplegot an opportunity to sell theproducts conveniently as well theconsumption power increases .Inthe year 1993 first SHG promotedby Kalanjiam was formed in thevillage due to which people got anopportunity to save as well as anoption for formal borrowing. First

Table 1. Time Line for Upputhurai Village concerning Microfinance:

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SHG by PRADAN was introducedin the village due to which peoplehad sustainable and secured way ofsaving. At first the member weresaving Re. 1, but as the time changesthe people were saving Rs. 10, Rs.20 and now they are saving Rs. 100.We can say that now people havecapability to save more and thuscapability of spending more. Theconstruction of temple in 1997resulted to an increase of socialobligations by the village people. Thepeople are celebrating the KaliAmman festival. Only through thistemple, the people are losing Rs.10,000 to Rs.15, 000 in a year fromonly one festival. We can say thatthe expense on social obligation hasincreased. Within ten years(probably from 1999), people nowgive dowry in large amount thatranges from 20,000 to 50,000. Thereason of this change is show offby the village that could be due todue to the increase in the income ofthe village people. In the year 2000,the people were compelled to opt forgrowing the cotton silk which wasless labour oriented and moreprofitable. It resulted in moreincrease income, which resulted tobetter standard of living. The firstbore well was dug in 2004; after thatnumber of wells was increased andthe production of the cash crops(silk cotton, coconut, cashew nut)increases. In the year 2005, theKalanjiam has collaboration withTamil Nadu Merchantile Bank, whichprovides several loan facilities to theKalanjiam members.

The microfinance is playing animportant role, but there is hitch in

the Self Help Group. The regularmeeting among the group shouldtake place, which is absent in presentsituation. The microfinance is animportant tool for any developmentprogramme. It is an important toolin development and strengthening ofthe deprived section. This wasevident from the Upputhurai Villagewhere the member’s status ischanging. They are now havingmore savings options and are nowgetting more loan facilities. Themoneylenders do now not exploitthem and they are now getting theloan at much affordable rate.

Time Line with health theme

(Ayyanampatty)

We did time line to understandthe history related to health, historyof drought /flood and its effects onvillagers and changes in access tohealth care services. Our purposewas also to find out the gradualdevelopment of the health careservices and also awareness relatedto the health care services. Throughsome technique we would know theactual status related to the health careservices.

We wanted to know the historyof the village. We sought to get abetter understanding about thechange in health practices and healthstatus in the village with the changeof the time. We would like to knowthe change related to the healthinfrastructure of the village at theend of the process.

To conduct timeline it was verynecessary for us to contact withsome older people as well as new

generation to get an in-depthknowledge about the past of thevillage and its changing healthpractices and health status. As healthstatus is influenced by many factorsand differs with the changing ofsocial and economic status, it wasnecessary for us to consider all thesegments of people for relevance ofcollected data. We approached someold age people who are living in thevillage for a long time. We invitedthem for a discussion about thevillage history from their lifeexperiences and memories. Thegroup were consists of both maleand female. This balance helped usto understand different aspects of thevillage. When we were interactingsome small children gathered aroundus. Their input was very importantinformation regarding the recentpast.

The older villagers includingwomen who had knowledge aboutthe local incidents gave many detailsabout the village. We explained to theelders that we are interested to learnabout the important events related tothe health. Most of them wereengaged in their work. We dividedourselves into three groups andvisited to the work place andinterviewed about the history of thevillage. After gathering the data wemet as a group and consolidated thecollected the data. We divided thedata into some sub-sections like roadand transport, house and family,agriculture, health and education andelectricity.

We concentrated to find out olderpeople with good knowledge was an

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advantage to us. It helped us togenerate details information about thevillage history. Sincerely we puteffort to engage ladies in our process.It helped us to understand the statusof child health and reproductivehealth status in past and recent era.The villagers were unable to recallthe exact date of the events due tolong time gap. So, it became hard totake the collect the entire data fromthe villagers. But crosschecking thedata and asking from the othervillagers made us comfortable to theinformation.

TIME LINE

Road and transport

1975- A mud road wasconstructed connecting thevillage to the Ayyalur.

1982- The mud road wasdeveloped to metal road

1998- The metal road wascoated by tar.

1975- Mamarthupatti (2.5 km)bus stop was established andbus service was stared

House and family

1940- During 40’s all thevillages were in hut.

1980- The first tilted housewere built with in the village

1985- The traditional jointfamily system changed intonuclear family

1996- TV was bought by onevillager

2007- Cell ph one came in thehand of the villagers.

Agriculture

1960 -Only millet crops werecultivated during those times.

1967 -Villagers started tocultivate paddy

1976 & 1977- the village wasaffected by drought and floodrespectively

2000- The forest departmentBan on grazing in forest land

2002- The village was faceddrought for the second time

2006- Forest protection councilwas established by the villagersand it came into action

Health and education

1960- During 60’s all thedelivery were home delivery

1971 -One pregnant were deathwith new birth ( delivery death)

1983 -Overhead tank fordrinking water was established.In the same year the SHC atPudupatti was established

1984 – The first hand pumpwas constructed in the villageprimary school was establishedat Mamarathupatti.

Electricity

1966 -The village gets electricfacility for agriculture purpose.

1972 - The houses wereconnected for electricity

1984 –Government announcedfree electricity for agriculture

Inference

The village was changed andchanging according to the change inouter world. Before 1975 the villagewas isolated from the outsidebecause of road facility. In gradualimprovement in transportation andcommunication facility the villagerare able to access health care facilityfrom outside although there is noinstitution with in the village afterintervention of TV the villagers haveknowledge about the latestinformation about the familyplanning and health relate issue(broadcast by Government). Themost remarkable change has comethrough the cell phone. Now thevillagers call doctor or van throughphone when some one falls sick.

The changing of time brings thechange in the life of people, their lifestyle, food practices and all. Thevillagers were very happy to sharetheir memories with us. Their faceand eyes reflects that the time wasstagnant in front of them for a fewminutes and they were lost in theirmemories which are very sweet. Thememories are sweet for every bodybecause we can’t get it back. Butevery body feels happy with sharingwith others. They feel proud. Wealso feel it in the eyes of old peoplewhich often fill with tears toremember those person who are nomore in this world but they werepart of life of the villagers.

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* S.P. Madhan Mohan, Team Leader, DHAN Vayalagam (Tank) Foundation, Madurai.

Livelihoods

Sustainability of Community pisciculture in

Indian rural villages

S. P. Madhan Mohan*

Introduction

DHAN Foundation has taken upfish rearing activity in rural villagesthrough community under Tele foodspecial fund approved by FAO ofUN. This project was proposedmainly to provide nutritional food forrural villages in a sustainable way.Community organizations areformed as Tank users groups calledVAYALAGAMs and Micro financegroups (Small and Marginal farmersand Landless Agricultural laborers)have shown more interest in thisactivity and also actively participatedin this project. This project wasimplemented in three districtsnamely, Madurai, Sivagangai andRamanathapuram. Totally 20Vayalagams and Micro financegroups in these villages jointly takeparticipate and involved in thisproject with their participation. Thefish rearing activity was taken up in20 Vayalagam locations benefiting4,000 families.

Technique Adopted

Composite Fish culturetechnique (Poly culture of fishes) isadopted in all the 20 water bodiestaken up under this project.Composite fish culture meansrearing of various species, havingdifferent food habits and habitats ina single water body to avoid inter-specific and intra-specificcompetition for food. The suitablespecies are Catla, Rohu, Mrigal

(Indian major carps), Grass carp,Silver carp and Common carp(Exotic carps).

Selection and Orientation on Fish

rearing under FAO project

Totally twenty associations haveshown keen interest in this activityaccepting the preconditions of thisproject. After discussing with theassociations and the field visit to thewater bodies, these associations areselected. The block level federationshave taken responsibility toimplement this project effectively.These twenty associations havetaken up this activity in 26 waterbodies as details below:

Orientation on this project

As said earlier, twenty tank usersassociations are involved in thisactivity. One orientation on thisproject is given to DHAN staffsworking in the concerned districts.

The main objective of this meetingis to provide clarity on the expectedout come and sustainability of thisproject. After selection of waterbodies, orientation on fish rearingactivity to 20 association leaders wasgiven in December 2007 in eachdistrict wise. Totally 40 associationleaders attended this orientationmeeting. In this meeting, theircontribution in this project wasclearly explained and the revenuesharing was also discussed. Inrevenue sharing, the profit is plannedto be shared between tankassociation and people federation inpercentage of 70:30.

Ensuring Community contribution –

Manuring, Harvest, watch and ward

Community contribution is a nonnegotiable policy of Tank fedagricultural development programmeof DHAN Foundation. Naturally

23

community contribution is alsohappened in this project. As per theproject work plan, community wasinvolved in preparation of waterbodies like repairing the surplus weir,repairing the sluices; removal ofbushes in the water spread area etcwas carried out wherever possible.In some water bodies, theserepairing works are not taken up dueto standing water.

In most of the blocks, waterbodies got filled up with water inNovember end due to delayedmonsoon. The main input for thisactivity is manuring with organicmatters. The importance ofmanuring was seriously taught toassociations. With the understandingimportance of manuring, communityapplied cow dung in all water bodiesto enhance the natural foodproductivity in water resources.Two tones per hectare of cow dungapplied by community beforestocking of fish seeds. Thisapplication continued in periodicalinterval during the course of rearingto maintain the natural food.

Apart from that, watch and wardsystem was introduced by many of

the association especially during thenight time. This system wasintroduced only after the third monthof rearing period. In some areas,association members themselves hadtaken care of their water bodies. Thewater bodies especially ooranieswhich are situated in the centre ofthe village didn’t appoint any watchand ward.

Community participated Fish seed

stocking

Due to delayed monsoon, thestocking of fish seeds also gotdelayed. Stocking of fish seeds wastaken up in two phases. Further delay

also happened in stocking due to nonavailability of desired species offishes. In purchasing of fish seeds,community actively participated inselection of fish seeds like size offish seed, size variation, numbers perpacking and also the proper packingwith required oxygen. Totally 1, 60,000 numbers of fish seeds with theaverage size of three inches exceptcommon carp were stocked and thespecies are Catla, Rohu, Mrigal,Silver carp and common carp andthe ratio of species stocked are 20%,20%, 15%, 10 % and 35 %.

Mostly stocking of fish seeds aretaken place for 23 water bodies inthe third and fourth week of Januaryand in three water bodies, the firstweek of February 2008. But it isunfortunate that, all the rain fedwater bodies receive water duringnorth east monsoon which starts inOctober and ends in January. For thelast two years, due to global climatechange, the rainy season has alsochanged, monsoon starts in Octoberend and short fall of rain alsohappened. In 2007 – 08, even thoughthe monsoon is delayed with shortfall of rain, fortunately unexpectedrainfall occurred during March 2008,June 2008, September and October2008.

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Most of the water bodies arerefilled again due to periodical rainfallwith gaps. In some places, monsoonfailed and the tanks also dried upquickly. Community themselvesstocked the fingerlings in the waterbodies. In some blocks, stockingwas delayed due to some inevitablereasons. Delay may cause morestocking mortality rate, as thetemperature will go down as well asthe improper acclimatization of fishseeds during stocking.

Supplementary Feeding

The supplementary feed likeG’nut oil cake (GOC) and rice bran

Inputs supported by FAO

( RB) are planned in all water bodiesand FAO has accepted to support forsupplementary feeding. The ratio offeed GOC/ RB is 1:2. Totally 15tones of supplementary feed wassupplied by FAO under TFSF to allassociations. For one unit, 8000 fishseeds, 250 kgs of GOC and 500 Kgsof RB are supplied. Unfortunately,this process was delayed and thesupply of feed to associations takenplace by the end of May 2008 only.

Cost – Benefit analysis of harvested

Water bodies.

Totally 14 water bodies are fullyharvested within the project period.

In these 14 water bodies, 10 waterbodies are successfully harvestedmostly by partial harvest techniqueand also by other methods like Ottha,hook and line etc. Four water bodiesare not at all harvested because ofquick drying of water bodies andcommunity harvested the fishesexclusively for consumptionpurpose. Sustainability of this activitybecomes a question mark in thesevillages. We have negotiated withcommunity to generate seed moneyfor this activity for the next seasonfrom the village community.

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Water bodies with successful harvest

* Including Net profit and FAO contribution combined

Case study on Singampunari block

Name of the association : Periya Vaikkal cascade & Karruppur cascadeNumber of water bodies stoked : FourName of water bodies : South oorani, Ramar oorani, Chetti oorani and pollakulam,No of finger lings stocked : 16000Species stocked : Catla : 4000, Rohu : 2500

Mrigal : 2000 Common carp : 6500 Silver carp : 1000

Type of Harvest : Partial harvest in Two water bodies, Single harvest in onewater body, Ootha method of Harvest in one water body.

Total harvest : 2340 kgs

Gross income obtained : 2340 x 45 = Rs. 105300

Net income : 105300 – 58400 = Rs.46900

The income was shared among the members (120 members) and Rs 24400/ was taken for the associationas revolving fund for next crop. The contribution of FAO Rs 34000/ is with Federation as revolving fund forfisheries development for some more new associations in the coming year. So the fund provide by FAO willbe used to support other associations based on their requirement which will help to provide nutritional securityfor more.

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Education Updates

*Alok Ashish, Project Executive, DHAN Foundation, Latehar (East) Location, Jharkhand.

Education is the movement from darkness to light

Alok Ashish*

Right to education

‘Right to education’ became thefundamental right after the 86th

amendment of the Constitution ofIndia in 2002 but the grassrootsrealities still remain the same. Theright to education has beenincorporated in the Article 21a of theConstitution, which clearly says thatthe state shall provide free andcompulsory education to all childrenof the ages of 6 to 14 years. Thecentral and the state government areimplementing numerous educationprogrammes in the state for ensuringthe right to education of children atthe grassroots. The ‘Total LiteracyProgramme’ is the most populousamong them. At the same time, ‘Mid-day Meal’ scheme was alsointroduced to ensure the presence ofchildren in the schools. Butunfortunately the situation in manyschools in Jharkhand has been theother way. The slogan of the totalliteracy programme “Adhi RotiKhayenge, Phir Bhi School Jayenge”(we shall go to school even with thehalf stomach) remains painted onlyon the walls. The government ofIndia had sanctioned crores ofmoney to the state government butthe result is quite disappointing. TheTotal Literacy Programme has nomeaning to more than 4 lakhschildren who are still engaged aschild labourers in the state. Theyhave no ideas about their right toeducation and mid day meal as well.

Literacy rate and school dropouts:

The Census Report 2001shockingly mentions about the denialof right to education to the ruralmasses. The report says that 348villages among 32,620 villages ofJharkhand are still waiting for aliterate person to come. 1291 villageshave only 10 percent literate peopleand not even a single woman isliterate in 1433 villages. 4573 villageshave merely 10 percent literatewomen. 382 villages are waiting fora literate man and 665 villages haveonly 10 per cent literate men. In total,the state has 53.6 per cent literacyincluding 67.3 per cent male and 38.9per cent female. The mostmarginalized communities of thestate - tribal and Dalit (scheduledcastes) are at the bottom of theeducation ladder. The tribalcommunity has merely 33 percentliteracy including 48.76 percent maleand 22.11 percent female literacywhile only 29.90 percent people

from Dalit community are literatewith 41.28 percent male and 17.85percent female literacy. The statusreport shows that 26 thousandsposts of teachers are vacant in thestate. Among these, 22 thousandposts are about primary schools andfour thousand posts are vacant inhigh schools. Interestingly, the reportstates that the 80 per cent schoolsare also running without the headteachers. The status of drop outchildren is so high in the state. Threelakhs children dropped out from theschools. Among them two lakhschildren disserted their schools inprimary level and one lakh childrenleft studies after the matriculation.On the other hand, the NGOs havealso received crores of rupees forproviding education to tribal and Dalitchildren but the outcome is notvisible.

Education Scenario

The situation of variouseducation projects in Latehar district

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is mirror image of what has beenstated for the state. One of theincidents which became eye-catching news recently narrates thestory of educational campaign inLatehar and involvement ofcommunity in its properimplementation. Manikdih middleschool of Latehar district inJharkhand, which starts at 10 amand gets closed at 4 pm. 137 childrenof adjoining villages are gettingeducation in the school. It has aprovision of 3 teachers to educatethe children of class one to seven.But only two teachers are posted inthe school and one post is still vacant.In the last year, children had receivedthe books four months before theirfinal exam. The teachers are alsouncomfortable with the way schoolis running but they are helpless. Theirhopes lay only on the midday meal,which helps them to bring childrento the school so that the attendancecan be maintained properly.

The school also has a villageeducation committee consisting of15 members, formed in 2005, whichprior responsibility is to monitor theschool. But the committee is alsodefunct. The chairperson of thecommittee, Kripal Singh says that themembers are not having interest onthe matters and merely 5-6members’ turn up in the meetings.Consequently, it has lost thelegitimacy. Though the villagers arenot quite happy with the Khichidi(mixed rice), their children are beingserved in the school but they assumethat the raising questions against theauthorities may result in deprivationof their children from Khichidi.

This is not an isolated case ofManikdih Middle School but it showsa clear picture that how thegovernment schools are functioningin Jharkhand.

Alternative to Khichidi schools

With the initiation of Kalanjiamcommunity banking programme inLatehar by DHAN Foundation in2007 it was assessed that most ofthe women who are organized in selfhelp groups were illiterate. Thosewho call themselves literate werefound to be functionally illiterate asthey can only put their signatures byidentifying the alphabets. By this itcan be assumed that what wouldhave the status of their children whoused to go to Khichidi schools andwhat guidance they can receive fromtheir parents at home for bettereducation. Though at the time ofinitiation these issues were nothighlighted as it was time forcommunity mobilization, and issueswere left open for them to putforward and search ways foraddressing them. With the period oftime as already an year have passedwomen slowly started realizing theimportance of people’s organizationand started raising certain issuesrelated to their life and livelihoods.One among them is quality andfunctional education to their children.Based on the strong demand fromcommunity side from two villagesnamely Luti and Asnahikahd it wasdecided to take up remedial tuition

centers for primary school goingchildren. The members from thesetwo villages came up with a petitionshowing the number of childrenwhose parents were interested toenroll their wards in these tuitioncenters.

Before initiating the tuitioncenters a survey among the samplechildren of Kalanjiam members inthese two villages was conducted toassess what are the areas they lackand what could be the teachingmethodology and learning materialsfor them. Based on the results ofsurvey the children from 1st to 5th

were categorized under twosections. The first section comprisedof pre primary students who needalphabets and number knowledgeboth reading and writing. The othersection of students comprises ofthose who requires word formationknowledge both in Hindi as well asin English, simple arithmetic, generalknowledge etc. though the surveyresults could not properly spoke outwhich children will fall under whichsection so a month period wasallotted for them to go undercombined class and at the end of themonth it could be only decided thewhat is the status of each studentattending the tuition centers.

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PTA and Tution centres

A formal parent teacher’sassociation was formed in these twovillages including members ofKalanjiams and the Gram pradhan(Village head) of that village. TheParents Teachers Association (PTA)agreed that each Kalanjiam memberwill pay Rs. 10 as part of tuition feeper child. The PTA also decided thatthere will monthly meetings at theend of the month to assess theprogress of children under thechairmanship of tutor and somebody from the organization side. Theselection of local tutor was also donein the first PTA meeting which tookplace in September 2008. Initiallyseparate classrooms could not behired for running these tuitioncenters so it was decided to carryon with the existing governmentbuildings either in local governmentschools or in Aaganwadi centers.Presently one of the centers inAsnahikahd is running in governmentschool and the other in Aaganwadicenter at Luti. As there is noelectricity facility in these villages sothe decision was taken to run thesecenters during morning time from6.30 am to 8.30 am, so that aftercompleting this, students can getenough time to get prepared forgoing to formal schools.

Launch of Jay Sarana kalanjiaGyanashala

On 2nd of October 2008 the tworemedial centers were inauguratedwith the traditional pooja (worship)by the Gram pradhans of therespective village. Around 60students in both villages along withtheir mother and father attended theinaugural ceremony. The local tutorselected by the PTA expressed hisurge that he has taken thisresponsibility not because of Rs. 500

honorarium but because he want toprovide quality education to hisvillage children. The Gram pradhanwished best of luck for such achallenging initiative and alsosuggested that there should beteaching by some senior villageperson regarding the tribal customand culture to the children so thatthey can adopt good practices in theirlife. It was decided that on everyThursday there will village prayer inthe morning and all students alongwith their parents will be attendingthat. It was also decided to namethese centers after there holy namei.e. “Jay Sarana KalanjiamGyanshala” .With short briefingsfrom other reputed persons from thevillage these tuition centers came intoformal existence.

Collaboration with PRATHAM :

With lots of enthusiasm andenergy these centers came toexistence to start a movement fromdarkness towards light. Kisan Deviof Luti village says that she couldnot get proper education becausetheir parents were not aware towardseducating her. But she wants thattheir children should get goodeducation. She says that she willwork one more day that to forgetting fees for her four childrenwho will be going to these centers.

For getting expertise in this fieldregarding developing teachingmaterials, teaching methodology forprimary children, training toteachers, talks are going on withPRATHAM, an organization workingon primary education. People fromPRATHAM, Jharkhand alsoexpressed their interest to help us inthis venture.

In the era of the informationtechnology, one can not even imagine

of development without the qualityeducation. But we have not evenachieved the graph of cent percentliteracy even after 60 year ofIndependence of India. On one handaround 80,000 community teachersof government primary and middleschools in the state are on indefinitestrike since two months which hascollapsed the whole educationsystem in villages.

Untouchability - an issue to be

addressed:

On the other hand, the practicesof untouchability in schools aregoing on, which is a big obstacle anda great shame for us. In variousschools of Latehar block studentsbelonging from scheduled castecategory are not provided platesfrom school administration duringmidday meal and they are asked tobring their own utensils from home.They are offered Khichidi in such amanner that the spoon should nottouch their plates. The social justicecan not be delivered to themarginalized people withouteducation and awareness. Undersuch grimy situations which arecontinuing in the state as well as localareas these tuition centers are anattempt to bring solidarity amongpeople through their children who arestudying under one roof irrespectiveof their caste and creed. The qualityof functional education which willbe rendered through these centerswith the collaboration of PRATHAMwill help these children to build astrong base for higher education.Though it is a pilot project and maytake some time to show the impactsbut let’s expect for brighter futurefor these children. Than only in realsense it could be said that educationis the movement from darkness tolight.