The Monthly Journal

MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Vol. 60 No. 6 Pages 52

April 2012

Kurukshetra

CONTENTS

Kurukshetra seeks to carry the message of Rural Development to all people. It serves as a forum for free, frank and serious discussion on the problems of Rural Development with special focus on Rural Uplift.The views expressed by the authors in the articles are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the government or the organizations they work for.The readers are requested to verify the claims in the advertisements regarding career guidance books/institutions. Kurukshetra does not own responsibility.

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l RuRal focus of budget 2012-13 g.srinivasan 3

l union budget 2012-13: A Quick Review fRom RuRAl livelihood PeRsPective Dr. K. K. Tripathy 6

l CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE UNION budget 2012-13 dr. Yashbir singh shivay Anshu Rahal 9

l THE BUDGET AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT Dr. Shahin Razi 17

l budgetaRY allocation and its utilization Dr. S.M Jawed Akthar MGNREGS-A ViEwpoiNt n.P. abdul azeez 19

l second gReen Revolution: eAsteRn stAtes to leAd the wAy dhurjati Mukherjee 23

l aPPRoacHes toWaRds tWeltH five YeaR Plan need foR focused Attention Arpita Sharma 29

l electRicitY tHRougH cogeneRation- Dr. J. R. Meshram A PRomising develoPment gargi Malik 33

l FROM THE GROUND PeoPle’s biodiveRsitY RegisteR and taPPing indigenous KnoWledge - A cAse study fRom wAyAnAd dr. Raju narayana swamy 36

l electRicitY fRoM fRuits and vegetables S.Jothimani M.Marimuthu M.Paramasivan 42

l CARBON CREDIT AN ENVIRONMENT MANTRA Dr. R. Amsaveni Mrs. S. Gomathi 45

CHIEF EDITORRINA SONOwAL KOULI

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Kurukshetra April 201222

InsIde

The union budget 2012-13 proposes to increase the total outlay for the

agriculture sector by more than 18 per cent. announcing the budget proposals

the finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the agriculture sector would

continue to be a priority for the government.

However, there has been a 17.5 per cent reduction in the outlay for MgnRega.

several analysts have said that MgnRega should improve quality of assets created

and also to bring about synergy between the scheme and the agriculture sector.

the hike in allocation for agriculture will benefit the farmers who have have also

been allowed to use their Kisan credit cards at the atM.

in addition, the target for agricultural credit has been raised by 100000 crore

Rupees to 575000 crore Rupees. budgetary allocation for rural drinking water and

sanitation has been hiked by over 27 per cent, while allocation by sarva shiksha

abhiyan increased by 21.7 per cent, in the budgetary allocation.

We discuss the implications of the budget proposals for the rural sector, including

the agriculture sector in this issue.

to enhance credit facilities to the rural sector the government has also

announced 10000 crore Rupees to the nabaRd (national bank for agriculture

and Rural development) for refinancing rural banks and help better for free flow

funding.

bringing focus on agriculture, the finance Minister declared revamping

of five missions to merge various activities into set of missions to address the

pressing needs of peasantry and to promote agricultural and rural development in

a holistic fashion. thus the national food security Mission aims to bridge the yield

gap in respect of paddy, wheat, pulses, millet and fodder. the ongoing integrated

development of Pulses villages, Promotion of nutri-cereals and accelerated fodder

development Programme would now become a part of this Mission.

Kurukshetra April 2012 33

That the prospects of indian economy centre

mostly around the rural hinterland with

agriculture still accounting for livelihood

security of more than 80 per cent of the country’s

population in one way or another need no

reiteration. it is presumably this proposition that has

weighed in the mind of the union finance Minister

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee when he presented the uPa

government budget in Parliament on March 16.

Recognising the underlying fiscal constraints and

the need not to spread the available resources too

thinly on a diverse range of progammes that do not

pan out the desired results, the budget has made

RuRal focus of budget 2012-13G. Srinivasan

some realistic calculations based on sound and

sustainable ground realities.

thus in the case of agriculture, the fulcrum

for rural development in its entirety, there is no

new initiative but in order to help farmers’ access

to farm loans readily and adequately, the target for

agricultural credit has been substantially stepped

up to Rs 5.77 lakh crore during the fiscal 2012-13,

the inaugural year of the twelfth five-Year Plan

(2012-17). a welcome feature is that the interest

rate of 4 per cent recommended by the national

commission of farmers headed by farm scientist

and Rajya sabha Member dr. M.s.swaminathan

- Awelcomefeatureisthattheinterestrateof4percentrecommendedbytheNationalCommissionof

FarmersheadedbyfarmscientistandRajyaSabhaMemberDr.M.S.Swaminathanhasbeenretained

forthosewhoarepromptinrepaymentofloanscontracted.

- ThebudgetaryoutlayforruraldrinkingwaterandsanitationisproposedtoberaisedfromRs11,000

croreinthefiscal2011-12toRs14,000crore

Kurukshetra April 201244

has been retained for those who are prompt in repayment of loans contracted. besides, the same interest subvention on post- harvest loans upto six months against negotiable warehouse receipt would also be available so as to encourage the farmers to keep their produce in warehouses.

NABARD

the budget intends to allocate Rs 10,000 crore to national bank for agriculture & Rural development (nabaRd) to set up a short-term regional rural bank (RRb) credit Refinance fund to enhance the capacity of RRbs to disburse short-term crop loans to the small and marginal farmers. in order to render kisan credit card (Kcc) an effective tool for making agricultural credit available to the farmers, Kcc scheme would be modified to make Kcc a smart card which could be used at atMs. in a bid to promote agricultural research the finance Minister has proposed to allocate a sum of Rs 200 crore, besides putting into operation a government-owned irrigation and finance company to mobilise large resources to fund irrigation projects. farmers hail this move as a salutary step provided the proposed firm focuses on bolstering rainwater harvesting through Jal Kunds, wastewater recycling and micro irrigation.

Green Revolution

it may be noted that among the benefits of the earlier initiatives which are to be unified, mention ought to be made of a modest start to bring the green revolution to eastern india. the budget has augmented the allocation for this scheme to Rs 1000 crore from Rs 400 crore in fiscal 2011-12. in outlining the agenda for agriculture, the finance Minister declared revamping of five missions to merge various activities into set of missions to address the pressing needs of peasantry and to promote agricultural and rural development in a holistic fashion. thus the national food security Mission aims to bridge the yield gap in respect of paddy, wheat, pulses, millet and fodder. the

ongoing integrated development of Pulses villages, Promotion of nutri-cereals and accelerated fodder development Programme would now become a part of this Mission. He further said that national Mission on sustainable agriculture including Micro irrigation is being taken up as a part of the national action Plan on climate change. the Rainfed area development Programme is to be merged in this Mission. the national Mission on oilseeds and oil Palm would increase production and productivity of oilseeds and oil palm, while in the new proposals, the national Mission on agricultural extension and technology focuses on adoption of appropriate technologies by farmers for improving productivity and efficiency in farm operations. alongside, the national Horticulture Mission would now also promote horticulture diversification including an initiative on saffron.

Protein Supplement

the budget outlined that the Mission for Protein supplement is being beefed up and with a view to improving the productivity in the dairy sector, an Rs 2242 crore project is being launched with assistance from the World bank. in order to broaden the scope of production of fish to coastal aquaculture, apart from fresh water aquaculture, the outlay in 2012-13 is being augmented to Rs 500 crore, while adequate allocations are also being ensured for poultry, piggery and goat rearing in order to help rural people to bank on this subsidiary livelihood practice.

for rural development, the budgetary outlay for rural drinking water and sanitation is proposed to be raised from Rs 11,000 crore in the fiscal 2011-12 to Rs 14,000 crore in 2012-13 in order to fight the scourge of malnourishment as weak sanitation coupled with unhygienic water quality continue to plague the poor. as Pradhan Mantri gram sadak Yojana (PMgsY) turned out to be a triumphal scheme, the budget has raised the allocation to this important job-oriented and rural-development programme by 20 per cent

Kurukshetra April 2012 55

by providing Rs 24,000 crore. this will definitely

improve connectivity in the states and bring them

into the mainstream of markets both in semi-urban

and urban conurbations.

Panchayats

as the third tier of local bodies is crucial

for grassroots development, a major initiative

proposed in the budget is to underpin Panchayats

across the country through Rajiv gandhi Panchayat

sashakitkaran abhiyan (RggPsa) to expand the

existing schemes for Panchayat capacity-building.

in consonance with the last year’s budget focus on

the development of backward regions, the budget

has decided to carry the backward Regions grant

fund scheme into the12th Plan with an enhanced

outlay of Rs 12,040 crore in 2012-13, an increase

of over 22 per cent over budgeted 2011-12 outlay.

this covers the state component which includes

projects in backward areas in bihar, West bengal

and Kalahandi-bolangir-Koraput region of odisha,

development projects for drought mitigation in

the bundelkhand region and projects under the

integrated action Plan to expedite the pace of

development in selected tribal and backward

districts.

Infrastructure

the budget makes a proposal to step up the

allocation under Rural infrastructure development

fund (Ridf) to Rs 20,000 crore. as the farmers

mostly suffer for want of adequate storage

amenities with most of the produce getting rotten

and wasted, the budget has proposed to earmark

Rs 5000 crore from this enhanced allocation of

Ridf exclusively for fostering warehousing facilities

under Ridf. as rural women suffer for want of

adequate opportunities to express themselves in

various livelihood undertakings, the budget has

proposed to step up the allocation to the sub-

component, Mahila Kisan sashakikaran Pariyojana

under the national Rural livelihood Mission (nRlM)

by over 34 per cent from Rs 2914 crore in 2011-

12 to Rs 3915 crore in 2012-13.last year budget

announced the creation of a” Women’s self-Help

group’s (sHg) development fund’ with a corpus of

Rs 100 crore. the finance Minister announced in

2012-13 budget to provide Rs 200 crore more to

enlarge the corpus to Rs 300 crore. this fund will

also bolster the objectives of aajeevika, i.e., the

national Rural livelihood Mission by empowering

women sHgs to access bank credit. it is further

proposed to provide interest subvention to women

sHgs to avail loans up to Rs 3 lakhs at 7 per cent

per annum. WomensHgs that repay loans in time

would get additional three per cent subvention,

reducing the effective rate to 4 per cent. the new

initiative, in the first phase, would focus on selected

600 blocks of 150 districts across the country,

including the left Wing extremisms-hit districts.

taking a broader canvas, the union budget

2012-13 has allocated central Plan outlay to the

department of Rural development a massive

sum of Rs 73,175 crore to undertake various

special programmes for rural development,

rural employment, rural housing and roads

and bridges being managed by the Ministry of

Rural development. coupled with the enhanced

allocation to agriculture, the budget has chalked

out a refreshingly new path to translate the various

ongoing programmes into tangible benefits to the

farmers in general and rural people in particular.

in fine, as the government assumes the economic

growth rate to go up from the estimated 6.9 per

cent in fiscal 2011-12 to 7.6 per cent based on the

various enabling measures put in place in the budget

for the economy to gain traction, the resultant

growth benefits would help harness resources in a

more purposive fashion to undertake development

works in rural areas with redoubled verve and

vigour, economists and analysts unanimously say.

(TheauthorisaSeniorJournalistbasedin

NewDelhi)

Kurukshetra April 201266

The economic survey 2011-12, released

a day prior to the presentation of union

budget 2012-13 indicated that the indian

economy is going to experience a slump in the

growth rate primarily due to the deceleration in

the growth of the indian industry. While during

the two preceding years (2009-10 and 2010-11),

india’s gross domestic Product (gdP) grew by 8.4

per cent, the economic growth during 2011-12

was estimated at 6.9 per cent.

the union budget 2012-13 was presented

amidst uncertainties in the global economic

environment (especially, in the eurozone),

prevailing weaknesses in the industrial activity,

rising fiscal deficits and growing cost of credit

along with weak domestic business environment.

in this backdrop, it was expected that the budget

2012-13 would strive to bridge the development

union budget 2012-13: A Quick Review fRom RuRAl livelihood PeRsPective

Dr. K. K. Tripathy

deficits in the social sector not only by stepping

up public expenditure on the social sector

schemes/programmes but also by ensuring the

quality of expenditure backed by revamped

governance system at the grass-root level of their

implementation.

Addressing Growth Issues

the indian economy has survived from the

global slowdown of 2008 and has witnessed a

resilient growth rate in gdP of around 8 per cent

during the last three years. However, an average

rate of 3.3 per cent growth during the 11th Five

Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12) in the agriculture

and allied sector indicates that indian agriculture

has been entangled in a low growth equilibrium

trap and may not achieve the target of a 4 per

cent annual growth rate during the 11th Plan

period. further, deceleration of agri and allied

Kurukshetra April 2012 77

sector-growth by 4.5 per cent (from 7 per cent

during 2010-11 to an estimated growth rate of

2.5 per cent during 2011-12) indicates the extant

vulnerability of the country’s agriculture.

Rural Livelihood

Pre-budget media expectations rightly

predicted the government’s stress on revamping

rural infrastructure, improving rural development

initiatives and enhancing substantially the outlays

for rural development. the budget 2012-13

has stressed on improving india’s agriculture,

taking steps for consolidating efforts on rural

development and social sectors including removal

of supply side bottlenecks in rural economy.

this marks a relatively high gross budgetary

support to agriculture than rural development.

the total plan outlay for the department of

agriculture and cooperation is increased by 18.6

per cent from Rs. 9,262 crore during 2011-12 to Rs.

10,991 crore during 2012-13. the 2012-13 budget

allocation (Rs. 73,175 crore) for department of

Rural development has witnessed 1.25 per cent

reduction as compared to the budget estimates

of 2011-12 (Rs. 74,100 crore). the Mahatma

Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee

act (MgnRega) contributed 54 per cent of the

total budget allocation for department of Rural

development during 2011-12. during 2012-13,

the share of MgnRega (Rs. 33,000 crore) has

been reduced to 45 per cent in the total budget

allocation for the department.

Rural Employment

the 2012-13 plan allocation for MgnRega has

been reduced by 17.5 per cent whereas Aajeevika

(earlier national Rural livelihood Mission) has

registered 34.35 per cent hike in budget allocation

in 2012-13 against the budget estimates of

2011-12.

the enactment and implementation of a

right-based MgnRega has undoubtedly marked a

paradigm shift from the existing wage employment

programmes. this is primarily to be achieved

by taking up project-oriented activities covering

works on water conservation/harvesting, drought/

flood control, plantation, land development, rural

connectivity, etc. during 2011-12, the revised

estimate for MgnRega is pegged at Rs. 31,000

crore which is Rs. 9,000 crore less than the budget

estimate. this indicates that this wage employment

programme has stabilized in its operation and

absorption in rural areas. the budget estimate for

2012-13 in case of MgnRega is kept at Rs. 33,000

crore. the need of the hour is to improve quality

of assets created and to bring about synergy

between MgnRega and agriculture and allied rural

livelihoods. this endeavour will not only uplift the

under-privileged and socially and economically

vulnerable, but also support in making the

agriculture a viable occupation

as far as rural self-employment programme

is concerned, during 2012-13 Aajeevika will have

an outlay of Rs. 3,915 crore (including Rs. 351.50

crore allocation for north eastern Region) against

the previous year’s outlay of Rs.2,914 crore. this

programme covers all aspects of self-employment

starting from organisation of the poor into self-

help groups (sHgs) to building their capacities,

federating these groups for better targeting,

provisioning market infrastructure, credit/subsidy

linkage and skill up-gradation and technology

development. the target groups are the poor living

below the poverty line. thus, the hike in the budget

outlay for Aajeevika was much-needed to help in

establishing a large number of micro-enterprises

in rural areas and to effectively achieve the goal of

poverty alleviation. a timely convergence between

Aajeevika and MGNREGA would help in extending

skill training to rural households living on unskilled

manual activities.

Kurukshetra April 201288

it is well-documented that the provision of

adequate livelihood security to the economically

vulnerable sections of the country has not been

commensurate with the magnitude of resource

inputs of the series of poverty alleviation and

employment generation programmes since

independence. Aajeevika, that seeks to harness

the inherent potential of the rural poor by organising

them into small and cohesive groups and providing

requisite infrastructure support for their income

generation, needs to resolve various shortcomings

in implementation and administrative

mismanagement which reduce the effectiveness of

the programme. the main problem areas requiring

policy attention are the coordination amongst

field level agencies, the appropriate selection of

economic activities, mapping skills and improving

skills and the promotion of quality sHgs and their

federations.

Rural Credit and Financial Inclusion

Recent rise in cost of credit not only impacted

the domestic industries but also added to the

overall agriculture cost of production. the target

set for agricultural credit is at Rs. 5.75 lakh crore

in the next year. this is 21 per cent higher than the

target fixed for 2011-12. the interest subvention

on short term crop loans at 7 per cent interest per

annum will continue in 2012-13. in addition, an

additional interest subvention of 3 per cent will

be applicable for non-defaulting farmers. this will

have a positive impact on the repayment behavior

of the millions of borrowing small and marginal

farmers. Modification of Kisan credit cards into

a smart and atM enabled card and revamping

Regional Rural banks will help in removing supply

side rigidities in one of the important agri-inputs

of indian agriculture.

Conclusion

about two-thirds of the total country’s

population live on agriculture and allied activities

and stay in rural areas, the government’s prime

objective has been directed towards ensuring

an inclusive economic growth where benefits of

economic growth are to percolate to the poor and

underprivileged. in this context, union budget

2012-13 entails the enhancement of agricultural

credit flow, revitalising agriculture extension,

training and research, providing employment

to the needy and creating durable agri-related

productive assets, ensuring empowerment of the

poor, bringing more children under the purview of

formal education and improving rural health care

initiatives.

the union budgets of the government during

2007-08 to 2012-13 had witnessed an impressible

improvement in the expenditure on priority social

sectors viz. education, health, water and sanitation,

irrigation, housing and employment which

have a direct and lasting impact on the human

development and overall economic growth.

Various studies and review reports on

government sponsored development programmes

are unanimous regarding the implementation flaws

at the grass-root level. it is, thus, expected that the

government has to strengthen its implementation

and monitoring mechanism to ensure financial and

operational sustainability. Post-budget special and

targeted efforts are needed to resolve issues like

removing capacity constraints in the grass-root

level democratic institutions and promoting their

involvement in converging the benefits of various

development interventions and infrastructure-

building initiatives aiming at poverty alleviation,

gainful employment generation and social

security.

(The author is an officer of Indian Economic

Service and is Director in theMinistry of Rural

Development. Views expressed are personal.

E-mail: tripathy123@rediffmail.com)

Kurukshetra April 2012 99

Gross domestic product (gdP) is estimated to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, after having grown at 8.4 per cent in preceding two

years. slowdown in comparison to preceding two years is primarily due to deceleration in industrial growth and also due to intensification of debt crises in euro zone, political turmoil in Middle east, rise in crude oil price and earthquake in Japan. India’s gdP growth in 2012-13 expected to be 7.6 per cent +/- 0.25 per cent.

agriculture has been a way of life and continues to be the single most important livelihood of the masses. agricultural policy focus in india across decades has been on self-sufficiency and self-reliance in foodgrains production. considerable progress has been made on this front. foodgrains production rose from 52 million tonnes in 1951-52 to 244.78 million tonnes in 2010-11. the share of agriculture in real gdP has fallen given its lower growth rate relative to industry and services.

cRitical ReVieW of tHe union budget 2012-13Dr. Yashbir Singh Shivay and Anshu Rahal

However, what is of concern is that growth in the agricultural sector has fallen short of the Plan targets. during the period 1960-61 to 2010-11, foodgrains production grew at a compounded annual growth rate (cagR) of around 2 per cent. in fact, the ninth and tenth five Year Plans witnessed agricultural sectoral growth rate of 2.44 per cent and 2.30 per cent respectively compared to 4.72 per cent during eighth five Year Plan. during the current five Year plan, agriculture growth is estimated at 3.28 per cent against a target of 4 per cent. the approach Paper to the twelfth five Year Plan emphasises the need to ‘redouble our efforts to ensure that 4.0 per cent average growth’ is achieved during the Plan if not more. Without incremental productivity gains and technology diffusion across regions, achieving this higher growth may not be feasible and has implications for the macroeconomic stability given the rising demand of the 1.21 billion people for food. achieving minimum agricultural

PlanOutlay forDepartment ofAgriculture andCo-operation increasedby 18per cent i.e. from Rs17,123crorein2011-12toRs20,208crorein2012-13.

Kurukshetra April 20121010

growth is a pre-requisite for inclusive growth, reduction of poverty levels, development of the rural economy and enhancing of farm incomes.

Major emphasis for agriculture sector in Union Budget 2012-13

agriculture including allied activities, accounted for 14.5 per cent of gross domestic product at 2004-05 prices, in 2010-11 as compared to 14.7 per cent in 2009-10. notwithstanding the declining trend in agriculture’s share in the gdP, it is critical from the income distribution perspective as it accounted for about 58 per cent employment in the country according to census 2001. Hence growth in agriculture and allied sectors remains a ‘necessary condition’ for inclusive growth. in terms of composition, out of the total share of 14.5 per cent that agriculture and allied sectors had in gdP in 2010-11, agriculture alone accounted for 12.3 per cent, followed by forestry and logging at 1.4 per cent and fishing at 0.7 per cent. Reasonable growth in agriculture is important both from the nutritional point of view as well as to control food prices and overall headline inflation. considering the importance of agriculture in the indian economy, union budget 2012-13 proposes to increase by 18 per cent from Rs 17,123 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,208 crore in 2012-13 as the total plan outlay for the department of agriculture and cooperation. this step is a praiseworthy and long awaited of the Honourable union finance Minster for the overall growth and development of the agriculture and allied sectors in particular and inclusive growth in general.

Allocation of funds for the Major Schemes / Programmes in Agriculture Sector

agriculture being a state subject, the primary responsibility for increasing agriculture production, enhancing productivity, and exploring the vast untapped potential of the sector rests with the state governments. However, in order to supplement the efforts of the state governments, a number of centrally sponsored and central-sector schemes

are being implemented for enhancing agricultural production and productivity in the country and increasing the income of the farming community.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

the RKvY was launched in 2007-08 with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore in the eleventh Plan for incentivizing states to enhance public investment to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture and allied sectors during the eleventh five Year Plan period. the outlay for Rashtriya Krishi vikas Yojana (RKvY) has been increased from Rs 7,860 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 9,217 crore in 2012-13 union budget by the honourable finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukharjee. it will have significant impact on increased agricultural production and productivity in the long run.

Initiative of Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India

the green Revolution in eastern Region is waiting to happen and to realize the potential of the region; last years’ initiative will be continued in 2012-13 with a further allocation of Rs Rs1,000 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 400 crore in 2011-12. the program would target the improvement in the rice-based cropping systems of assam, West bengal, orissa, bihar, Jharkhand, eastern uttar Pradesh and chhattisgarh. the initiative of bringing green Revolution to eastern india has resulted in a significant increase in production and productivity of paddy. states in eastern india have reported an additional paddy production of seven million tonnes in Kharif 2011, which is good sign for second green revolution to be happening in the near future.

Vidarbha Intensified Irrigation Development Programme

irrigation is one of the most important inputs required at different critical stages of plant growth of various crops for optimum production. the government of india has taken up augmentation of irrigation potential through public funding and

Kurukshetra April 2012 1111

is assisting farmers to create potential on their own farms. substantial irrigation potential has been created through major and medium irrigation schemes. While the higher irrigation potential would help augment production and productivity, assured remuneration from such production is vital for development of agriculture. this year, under RKvY, the honourable union finance Minister allocated Rs 300 crore to vidarbha intensified irrigation development Programme. this scheme seeks to bring in more farming areas under protective irrigation.

Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme

the central government initiated the accelerated irrigation benefit Programme (aibP) from 1996-97 for extending assistance for the completion of incomplete irrigation schemes. under this programme, projects approved by the Planning commission are eligible for assistance. under the aibP, Rs 50,380.64 crore of central loan assistance (cla)/grant has been released up to 30 november 2011. as on 31 March 2011, 290 projects were covered under the aibP and 134 completed. during 2010-11, an irrigation potential of 566.24 thousand ha is reported to have been created by states, from major / medium / minor irrigation projects under the aibP. While the higher irrigation potential would help augment production and productivity, assured remuneration from such production is vital for development of agriculture. structural changes in aibP being made to maximise flow of benefit from investments in irrigation projects. allocation for aibP in 2012-13 stepped up by 13 per cent to Rs 14,242 crore. irrigation and water resource finance company being operationalsed to mobilise large resources to fund irrigation projects.

a flood management project approved by ganga flood control commission at a cost of Rs 439 crore for Kandi sub-division of Murshidabad district was also announced by the honourable union finance Minister in his union budget 2012-13 speeches.

National Mission for Protein Supplements

the consumption of foods rich in animal protein and other nutrients has risen of late, with demand growing faster than production. to improve productivity in the dairy sector, a Rs 2,242 crore project is being launched with World bank assistance. the national Mission for Protein supplements was being launched in 2011-12 with an allocation of Rs 300 crore. Mission for Protein supplement is being further strengthened and to broaden the scope of production of fish to coastal aquaculture, apart from fresh water aquaculture, the outlay in 2012-13 is being stepped up to Rs 500 crore. suitable allocations are also being made for poultry, piggery and goat rearing. this is a timely taken step by the union finance Minister in the present increased demand driven era.

Agriculture Credit

agricultural credit plays an important role in improving agricultural production and productivity and mitigating distress of farmers. government has taken several measures for improving agricultural credit flow and bringing down the rate of interest on farm loans. initiative has been taken to provide kisan credit cards (Kcc) to all eligible and willing farmers in a time-bound manner. the scheme includes reasonable components of consumption credit and investment credit within the overall credit limit to provide adequate and timely credit support to farmers for their cultivation needs. about 10.78 crore Kccs had been issued up to october 2011. Kcc scheme will be modified to make Kcc a smart card which could be used at atMs. union finance Minister proposed to raise the target for agricultural credit in 2012-13 to Rs 5,75,000 crore. this represents an increase of Rs 1,00,000 crore over the target for the current year i.e. 2011-12. the interest subvention scheme for providing short-term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest per annum will be continued in 2012-13. an additional subvention of 3 per cent will be available to prompt paying farmers. in addition, the same interest

Kurukshetra April 20121212

subvention on post harvest loans up to six months against negotiable warehouse receipt will also be available. this will encourage the farmers to keep their produce in warehouses.

in addition to the above-mentioned facility a short-term RRb credit Refinance fund is being set-up to enhance the capacity of Regional Rural banks to disburse short term crop loans to the small and marginal farmers. union finance Minister proposed in his union budget 2012-13 to allocate Rs 10,000 crore to nabaRd for refinancing the RRbs through this fund.

National Mission on Food Processing

the food processing sector has been growing at an average rate of over 8 per cent over the past 5 years. in order to have a better outreach and to provide more flexibility to suit local needs, it has been decided that a new centrally sponsored scheme titled ‘National Mission on Food processing’ would be started, in cooperation with the state governments in 2012-13.

Storage Capacity and Cold Chains

the government has taken steps to create additional foodgrains storage capacity in the country. augmentation of storage capacity through private entrepreneurs and warehousing corporations has been fast tracked capacity will be eligible for viability gap funding of the finance Ministry. creation of 2 million tonnes of storage capacity in the form of modern silos has already been approved. nearly 15 million tonnes capacity is being created under the Private entrepreneur’s guarantee scheme, of which 3 million tonnes of storage capacity will be added by the end of 2011-12 and 5 million would be added next year i.e. 2012-13.

Agricultural Research

food security and agricultural development in the coming decades would depend upon scientific and technological breakthroughs in raising productivity. We have to develop plant and seed varieties that yield more and can resist climate

change. Honourable union finance Minister proposed to set aside a sum of Rs 200 crore for incentivising research with rewards, both for institutions and the research team responsible for such scientific breakthroughs. it is a bold and timely taken decision by the central government to meet out climate resilient agriculture.

Subsidy provision for fertilizer sector

endeavour to keep central subsidies under 2 per cent of gdP in 2012-13 for all the applicable sectors. over next 3 year, to be further brought down to 1.75 per cent of gdP. based on recommendation of task force headed by shri nandan nilekani, a mobile-based fertilizer Management system has been designed to provide end-to-end information on movement of fertilisers and subsidies. in this budget government has taken steps to finalise pricing and investment policies for urea to reduce india’s import dependence in urea. to reduce india’s import dependence in urea, government has taken steps to finalise pricing and investment policies for urea. it is expected that with the implementation of the investment policy, country will become self sufficient in manufacturing urea in the next five years. in case of the potassic-phosphatic (P&K) fertiliser, use of single super phosphate (ssP) will be encouraged through greater extension work. this fertiliser is manufactured entirely in the domestic sector. enhanced production would bring down our dependence on imports in the P&K sector.

Agricultural Institutions that are being given grants

the driving force of a modern nation is research and the creation of new knowledge and considering this important view in mind the Honourable union finance Minister made an allocation of funds in his budget 2012-13 to the following agricultural institutions / universities for strengthening of their research, teaching and extension activities:

Rs 100 crore to Kerala agricultural university

Rs 50 crore for university of agricultural sciences dharwad, Karnataka

Kurukshetra April 2012 1313

Rs 50 crore to chaudhary charan singh Haryana agricultural University, Hissar

Rs 50 crore to orissa university of agriculture and technology

Rs 100 crore to acharya n. g. Ranga agricultural university in Hyderabad and

Rs 25 crore to the institute of Rural Management, anand.

the allocation of the above-mentioned funds to these state agricultural universities / institutions will help not only to improve their infrastructures but also their overall out-put in terms of research, teaching and extension. the staff members / students / scientists of their respective universities will definitely appreciate the kind gesture of the Central Government.

Tax rebate to Agriculture and Related Sectors

carrying forward the initiatives taken for agriculture and agro-processing in the previous budgets, the Honourable union finance Minister in his budget 2012-13 proposed to reduce basic customs duty from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent on sugarcane planter, root or tuber crop harvesting machine and rotary tiller and weeder and parts for the manufacture of these machinery / equipments. the Honourable union finance Minister also proposed to reduce basic customs duty from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent on specified coffee plantation and processing machinery. also to extended project import benefit to green house and protected cultivation for horticulture and floriculture at concessional basic customs duty of 5 per cent. He also proposed to reduce basic customs duty on some water soluble fertilisers and liquid fertilisers, other than urea, from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent and from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. it was also proposed to extend concessional import duty available for installation of Mechanised Handling systems and Pallet Racking systems in mandis or warehouses for horticultural produce.

imports of equipment for initial setting up or substantial expansion of fertiliser projects are being

fully exempted from basic customs duty of 5 per cent for a period of three years up to March 31, 2015.

Key Features of Union Budget 2012-13 for Agricultural Sector

Plan outlay for department of agriculture and co-operation increased by 18 per cent i.e. from Rs 17,123 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,208 crore in 2012-13.

outlay for Rashtriya Krishi vikas Yojana (RKvY) increased to Rs 9,217 crore in 2012-13.

initiative of bringing green Revolution to eastern india (bgRei) has resulted in increased production and productivity of paddy. allocation for the scheme increased to Rs 1,000 crore in 2012-13 from Rs 400 crore in 2011-12.

Rs 300 crore to vidarbha intensified irrigation development Programme under RKvY.

Remaining activities to be merged into following missions in Twelfth Plan:

national food security Mission

national Mission on sustainable agriculture including Micro irrigation

national Mission on oilseeds and oil Palm

national Mission on agricultural extension and technology

national Horticultural Mission

National Mission for Protein Supplement

v Rs 2,242 crore project launched with World bank assistance to improve productivity in the dairy sector. Rs 500 crore provided to broaden scope of production of fish to coastal aquaculture.

Agriculture Credit

v target for agricultural credit raised by Rs 1,00,000 crore to Rs 5,75,000 crore in 2012-13.

Kurukshetra April 20121414

v interest subvention scheme for providing short-term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest per annum to be continued in 2012-13. additional subvention of 3 per cent available for prompt paying farmers.

v short-term RRb credit refinance fund being set up to enhance the capacity of RRbs to disburse short term crop loans to small and marginal farmers.

v Kisan credit card (Kcc) scheme to be modified to make Kcc a smart card which could be used at atMs by the indian farmers.

Agricultural Research

a sum of Rs 200 crore set aside for incentivising research with rewards.

Irrigation

l structural changes in accelerated irrigation benefit Programme (aibP) being made to maximise flow of benefit from investments in irrigation projects.

l allocation for aibP in 2012-13 stepped up by 13 per cent to Rs 14,242 crore.

l irrigation and Water Resource finance company being operationalised to mobilise large resources to fund irrigation projects.

l a flood management project approved by ganga flood control commission at a cost of Rs 439 crore for Kandi sub-division of Murshidabad district.

National Mission on Food Processingl a new centrally sponsored scheme titled

‘national Mission on food Processing’ to be started in 2012-13 in co-operation with state Governments.

l steps taken to create additional food grain storage capacity in the country.

Tax rebate Agriculture and Related Sectors

l basic customs duty reduced for certain agricultural equipment and their parts.

l full exemption from basic customs duty for import of equipment for expansion or setting up of fertiliser projects up to March 31, 2015.

Challenges ahead and outlook of Indian agriculture

l the agriculture and allied sectors have made substantial progress in terms of production and productivity since the beginning of the Planning process. the successive five Year Plans have emphasized growth in the agriculture sector, as a result of which foodgrains production reached a record level of 244.78 million tonnes in 2010-11. However, the challenges are far from over. agricultural growth in the current five Year Plan is expected to be less than the target. a number of supply-side constraints exist and thereby achieving the food and nutritional security is a challenge. in order to make 4 per cent agricultural growth a reality, adequate efforts are required to focus on addressing the challenges in this sector.

l there has been declined in area under foodgrains in the last three decades. this calls for speedy improvement in yield in order to increase production through adequate investment in research and development. in yield parameters, india is lagging behind global levels in most crops. With very little growth in area and marginal growth in yields of many crops during the last decade, increasing agricultural production remains a challenge. a holistic approach, spanning agricultural R&d, dissemination of technology, and provision of agricultural inputs such as quality seed, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation, would help achieve higher levels of productivity. access of small and marginal farmers to formal sources of agricultural credit is still inadequate, though the flow of agricultural credit has increased in the recent past. effective coordination and monitoring of ongoing agriculture and allied sectors programmes need to be ensured for optimum results.

Kurukshetra April 2012 1515

l Mostly indian farmers are either small or marginal farmers with small and fragmented landholdings. the average farm size in the country has declined over the years. this poses a challenge in terms of adoption of farm mechanization as well as generating productive income from farm operation. Pooling of many landholdings may yield better economies of scale, for which land laws for leasing with sufficient safeguards in place should be considered.

l in the present scenario the higher levels of purchasing power are supporting higher demand for protein rich food items. the country has to step up efforts for increasing production of milk and other dairy products, egg, poultry, fish, meat, etc. there have been increases in the prices of these items because supply has not kept pace with demand.

l in india, the declining per capita availability of foodgrains has been a matter of great concern. for ensuring nutritional security, it is not only important to increase per capita availability of foodgrains but also to ensure that right quantities of food items are there in the food basket of the common man. a thrust on horticulture products is required for enhancing per capita availability of food items as well as ensuring nutritional security.

l still majority of the indian agriculture is dependent on the monsoon. This adds to the risks a farmer faces. the dependency of the indian farmer on the monsoon has to be reduced largely by increasing the irrigation facilities. climate change and extreme weather conditions impacting agriculture; there is need to devise insurance schemes linked to indices of various vulnerability parameters. the insurance policy framework needs to be dynamic, incorporating the perspectives of the insured, insurers, and public policy so that it covers a large section of population.

l the storage capacity is a major problem presently facing the country. adequate storage

facility would help reduce post-harvest losses. adoption of modern farm implements and tools especially by small farmers is still low because of their lack of resources. this, in turn, hampers the development of the agriculture sector. addressing infrastructure requirements in the agriculture sector, especially storage, communication, roads, and markets should be a priority. Public private partnership models can be of help in ensuring faster development of these requirements which are of vital importance for the growth of the agriculture sector.

l there is an urgent need for improvement is the generation of real-time market intelligence and also agricultural market reforms. enhancing the returns farmers get on their production is essential for incentivizing them to produce more. farmers need to realize the market price for their produce. setting up of efficient supply chains is essential not only for ensuring adequate supplies of essential items at reasonable prices but also so that producers get adequately compensated. linking farmers to the market is, therefore, very important. the successful experience of cooperatives in the milk sector in managing the supply chain and providing remunerative prices to the producers may be emulated in the case of agricultural products.

l compared to many western countries, the level of secondary food processing in india is very low. With increasing income and population, demand for processed food is likely to increase. it is necessary to cater to this changing demand and at the same time enhance the income of farmers. so far the focus in food management has been on cereals, mainly rice and wheat. However, the demand for processed food is expected to increase. investment in food processing, cold chains, handling, and packaging of processed food needs encouragement.

Kurukshetra April 20121616

l over the last few years there has been substantial increase in the minimum support prices (MsPs) of various crops. this is considered necessary for incentivizing farmers to increase production and productivity. at the same time, the MsP signals the floor price for the produce which, in turn, has the potential of increasing prices. addressing the welfare of agricultural producers and consumers simultaneously poses a challenge. further, inability of a large number of small and marginal farmers to directly access the agriculture market puts a question mark on increases in MsP actually benefiting such farmers. Record procurement of rice and wheat in the last few years has helped build up the buffer stock and strategic reserve of wheat and rice. there is, however, a huge cost involved in the process, in the form of food subsidy. the issue of efficient food stocks management and offloading of stocks in time needs urgent attention.

l considering all the above-mentioned problems, there is an urgent need to address

the challenges of the agriculture sector through comprehensive and coordinated efforts directed at improving farm production and productivity of foodgrains as well as high value crops, developing rural infrastructure, renewing thrust on the irrigation sector, strengthening marketing infrastructure, and supporting investment in research and development (R&d) of agriculture and allied disciplines with due emphasis on environmental considerations. We are sure that these efforts will in time rejuvenate agriculture sector and bring about increased inclusive growth of the indian economy.

(ThefirstauthorisPrincipalScientist,Divisionof Agronomy, Indian Agricultural ResearchInstitute, New Delhi 110012, ysshivay@hotmail.com; ysshivay@iari.res.in; Second author isan assistant Professor, Department of AnimalNutrition, College of Veterinary and AnimalSciences, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture &Technology, Pantnagar 263145, Uttarakhand,anshurahal@rediffmail.com)

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The finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has presented a credible and prudent budget. this is commendable considering the multiple

headwinds, by way of an anaemic global recovery, persistent high oil prices, lower than budget tax revenues, sharp movements in the rupee exchange rate and stubborn inflation during much of the year, resulting in high interest rates. the compulsion of managing a coalition government, no doubt, also narrowed policy options.

the budget 2012 seeks to revive the growth momentum in the economy with a focus on infrastructure development, agriculture and rural economy and inclusive growth.

the budget 2012 focuses on rural development with a moderate hike in allocation, but the government has downsized in a big way the importance of its flagship programme, the Mahatma gandhi national Rural employment guarantee act (MgnRega).

for the scheme entitling jobs to below poverty line (bPl) households in rural areas, the allocation has been reduced by 17.5 per cent to only Rs.

tHe budget and RuRal deVeloPMent

Dr. Shahin Razi, Associate Professor

33,000 crore in the next financial year from Rs. 40,000 crore in 2011-12.

the reduction comes against the backdrop of the poor performance of the scheme and demands by the agriculture Ministry, which the economic survey released on thursday echoed, for a moratorium during agriculture season on the ground that it deprived availability of labour.

finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has also revised the current year’s allocation to Rs. 31,000 crore, a tad higher than the release of just Rs. 24,722 crore till february-end, while the expenditure by the states stand at Rs. 24,106 crore. only 4.09 crore households have been provided with jobs till mid-february, against the 5.49 crore households that availed jobs under the scheme in 2011-12.

notwithstanding this cut, the allocation for various programmes that spearhead rural development has been increased to Rs. 98,900 crore from Rs. 91,301 crore in 2011-12 for a 6 per cent increase by Rs. 7,599 crore. this budgetary allocation is next only to the allocation to the defence Ministry.

Kurukshetra April 20121818

Minister of Rural development Jairam Ramesh clarified that the government was committed to meeting any demand for job and money would be provided as and when required by the states. He maintained no jobs would be denied and the demand could have gone down because of good monsoon and the lack of capacity of the gram panchayats to spend the money demanded under the labour budget proposed by the states, which too could have been overestimated.

Drinking Water

the budget concentrates on drinking water and sanitation, construction of rural roads, houses, self-employment opportunities, including through self-help groups (sHgs) and increased pension for widows and disabled persons.

for drinking water and sanitation, the allocation has been increased to Rs. 14,000 crore from Rs. 11,000 crore for a 27 percent increase, though for current year, the allocation has been revised downwards to Rs. 10,000 crore.

the focus on cleanliness and providing toilets gained momentum in the light of the recent disclosure that about 50 per cent of the rural population practice open defecation that even affected their health.

Mr. Ramesh’s thrust for supply of quality water has been accepted and the budget has sanctioned the establishment of a water quality center in Kolkata at an estimated cost of Rs. 50 crore. West bengal has decided to provide 2.5 to 3 acre of land for the purpose.

the allocation under the Pradhan Mantri gram sadak Yojana has been increased from Rs. 20,000 crore to Rs. 24,000 crore in 2012-13 for a 20 per cent hike to increase road connectivity in rural areas.

Rural Housing

for construction of rural houses under the indira aawas Yojana (iaY), the allocation has been increased by over 10 per cent to Rs. 10,000 crore from Rs. 9,000 crore.

for the integrated watershed programme under the land Resources department, the allocation has been raised from Rs. 2,294 to Rs. 2,745 crore. the

allocation to the national Rural livelihood Mission, which is likely to be renamed as “aajeevika” has been increased by 34 per cent from Rs. 2,914 crore in 2011-12 to Rs. 3,915 crore next year.

the government proposes to set up a bharat livelihoods foundation of india to support and scale up civil society initiatives in 170 tribal districts. Private trusts and organisations will contribute to the corpus to be set up with an initial government contribution of Rs. 500 crore.

Mr. Ramesh said he would be ensuring a private contribution of a similar amount and the interest earned will be used to help ngos.

the centre has decided to provide loans upto Rs. 3 lakh to women sHgs at a subsidized rate of 7 per cent and an additional subsidy of 3 per cent to those who return it timely. in the first phase, it will be implemented in 600 blocks of 150 districts, including the left-wing extremism affected districts.

on the social security front, the government has increased the pension of widows and disabled persons from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 a month under the indira gandhi national Widow Pension scheme and the indira gandhi national disability Pension scheme for bPl beneficiaries.

both the schemes are covered under the national social assistance Programme, the allocation for which has been enhanced by 37 per cent from Rs. 6,158 crore to Rs. 8,447 crore in 2012-13 to meet the raised pension.

overall the union budget adopts a pragmatic approach towards addressing the needs of the economy and managing the fiscal position. continued incentives to critical sectors emphasize the government’s focus on growth.

in the long term the fundamental strengths of the indian economy coupled with appropriate fiscal policies and investments in key sectors should take india to a higher growth trajectory.

(TheauthorisAssociateProfessor,Reader,PGDepartmentofEconomicsAndDeanoftheFacultyof Arts, Jamshedpur Women’s College, e-mail :shahin.razi@gmail.com)]

Kurukshetra April 2012 1919

Before formalizing the act, government agencies estimated that full coverage of MgnRegs will cost Rs. 400 billion (about

us$ 9-10 billion) which was about 1 percent of gdP. some empirical assessments suggest that MGNREGS could help reduce rural poverty to 23 per cent during lean season, at annual cost of 1.7 per cent of gdP (Murgai and Ravallion, 2005). others based on simple average minimum wage aggregates of all states estimated the national annual cost to be 1.3 percent of gdP; and a case was made that MGNREGS will be sensitive to prevailing minimum wages in respective states (shariff, 2004).

earlier wage employment programmes that sought to guarantee were constrained by the lack of budget funds, and, so instead of a legal guarantee, assurances alone could be offered. it is possible that the confidence of the government to commit funds was inspired by a higher growth rate

budgetaRy allocation and its utilization mGNReGs- A viewPoiNt

Dr. S.M Jawed Akthar, N.P. Abdul Azeez

of economy; but the significant point here is that even when the economy slowed down as a result of the global meltdown, the budgetary support to MgnRegs did not decline.. the table-1 shows budgetary allocation of funds reflecting a steady increase from 11300 crores in 2006-07 to 40100 crores in 2010-11. However the following years the budgetary allocation has comedown which, of course, will adversely affect the implementation of the MGNREGS.

Financial Performance:

the act stipulates that while implementing the projects, labour cost and material cost should be in the ratio 60:40. this ratio should be applied preferably at the gram Panchayat, block and district levels. for smooth implementation, the engineer is required by the law to visit the work site at least once in two weeks and the overseer is to visit every

The budget allocation has not been increased on the basis of the increase in the number of districtsunderMGNREGS.

Kurukshetra April 20122020

day. in spite of this guideline, the overseer did not visit the work site as stipulated, and the visits of the engineers were also very few and far in between. tools and implements may be procured to enable the workers to execute the work. the cost of tools and implements may be booked under the material component of the project. state governments should devise a mechanism for transparent method of procurement of materials to be used under MgnRega. the central government provides the funds for the wages and for 3/4th of the material costs. the state government pays for ¼th of the material cost. the actual percent of expenditure on wage, material and other administrative expenditure in various years are shown the table-2

Table 2: Utilisation of Fund under MGNREGS (Percent)

Year Expenditure on Wages

Expenditure on Material

Administrative Expenditure

2006-07 66.21 30.89 2.09

2007-08 68.54 30.58 3.12

2008-09 69.27 30.08 3.48

2009-10 69.77 30.23 3.29

2010-11 68.36 31.64 4.57

2011-12 76.39 23.61 3.69www.mgnrega.nic

if we look at the table-2 we can understand that the percentage of MgnRegs fund on wage is higher than that of defined ratio. the share of expenditure on wage has increased from 66.21 percent in 2006-07 to 76.39 percent in 2011-12, while with share of expenditure on material has been reduced

and expenditure on administration of MgnRegs has some slight variation. the expense on wages (skilled and unskilled), material and administration in different states shows the same trend. in the five states where data was available, the payment on wages was nearly 70 percent, and that on material was around 30 percent. the other contingency expenses were around 1 percent, except in the case of uttar Pradesh, where contingency expenses were slightly above 2 percent.

State Expenditures and Household Wage Accruals:

a state-wise break-up of utilization shows that while most states have managed to utilize over 55-60 percent of allocated funds, some, such as Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and arunachal Pradesh among others, have used less than 50 percent. data from the Rural development Ministry shows that funds utilisation till June by assam has improved 200 percent compared with the same period last year. Maharashtra’s utilisation has risen by 60 percent. a look at the total expenditures suggests that Madhya Pradesh, andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have distributed Rs. 10-17 billion as wage payments followed by uttar Pradesh, chhattisgarh, West bengal and bihar, with the utilized amounts ranging between Rs. 5 and 10 billion each.

notwithstanding a considerable variation in MgnRegs wage which ranges between high levels of Rs. 166 in Haryana, Rs. 150 in Kerala, and Rs. 120 in Rajasthan and uttar Pradesh each, and a

Table 1: Financial Allocation of MGNREGS

Year Budget Allocation

(crore)

Percentage of GDP

MGNREGS Exp. as % of Total

Expenditure

MGNREGS Exp. as % of Revenue

Receipts

MGNREGS Exp. as % of Fiscal

Deficit

MGNREGSExp. as % of Rural

Development

2006-07 11300 0.28 1.2 1.6 6.10 46.55

2007-08 12000 0.26 1.5 1.9 10.0 41.71

2008-09 30000 0.56 1.6 2.0 10.8 52.77

2009-10 39,100 0.66 2.7 4.4 9.21 69.08

2010-11 40,100 0.54 2.8 4.1 9.01 55.63

2011-12 40,000 1.02 3.1 5.0 9.70 53.98

2012-13 33,000 0.78 2.2 3.0 6.42 33.33

Source: budget documents, government of india.

Kurukshetra April 2012 2121

low of just over Rs. 100 in many of the remaining states; the average accruals per household has been the highest at Rs. 7733 in Rajasthan, Rs. 6862 in Haryana, Rs. 5383 in Madhya Pradesh and Rs. 4032 in chhattisgarh. the amount of wage accruals is a meagre of Rs. 1795 in bihar, Rs. 1549 in gujarat, Rs. 1981 in West bengal, Rs. 2726 in Maharashtra, and Rs. 3327 in uttar Pradesh. three states, namely, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and chhattisgarh, again stand out in terms of the annual size of wage accruals; followed by andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. the two relatively backward states that are not performing well are bihar and uttar Pradesh.

three states have sought more funds under the government’s rural employment scheme to meet a surge in demand for jobs from farm hands affected by fluctuation in monsoon rains. Poor rainfall in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Assam has dried up farm work, compelling farm workers to turn to the MgnRegs. enrolments under MgnRegs, initiated primarily to ensure livelihood in lean farm seasons, are usually low during monsoons, which overlaps with the peak farm season. but with more job seekers, these states have overshot their estimates of work demand under MgnRegs for the first three months of the current fiscal, forcing them to seek more funds from the centre. Rainfall has not been that good in some areas and some of the states have come together for an upward revision in the initial estimates.

Financial Implementation Issues:

it is also surprising to find that this scheme has not been able to provide the employment that

one would have expected in poor states that has largely to do with implementation and funding. the MgnRega provides for a multi-tier structure of authority for implementation and monitoring of the scheme with specified functions and duties for each authority. although there are various agencies involved for implementation of the scheme, the gram Panchayat is responsible for all other works related to planning and implementation. the responsibility of the gram panchayat is the identification, execution and supervision of projects as per the recommendations of gram sabha (village assembly). for accountability and transparency purposes, the gram sabha is given the power to conduct a regular social audit of individual schemes. the authority entrusted with the implementation as laid down indicates that a coordinated approach of different tiers of governments or vertical coordination is critical for successful implementation of the scheme. also, the horizontal coordination across departments for programme identification and execution of work through the panchayat assumes critical importance. these do not seem to be working too well.

as specified in the act, for the purpose of funding and the implementation of this scheme, the central government will set up a national employment guarantee fund. individual state governments will also set up their State Employment Guarantee Fund to make a matching contribution under this scheme. the funding pattern as laid down in the act specifies that the centre’s obligation would be to bear the cost on the items which includes the entire cost of wages of unskilled manual workers, 75 percent of the cost of material of wages of skilled and semi-

Kurukshetra April 20122222

skilled workers, administrative expenses as may be determined by the central government, which will include inter alia, the salary and the allowances of the programme officer and his supporting staff and work-site facilities, expenses of the national employment guarantee council. the state governments bear the cost on the items includes 25 percent of the cost of material and wages of skilled and semi-skilled workers, unemployment allowance payable in case the state government cannot provide wage employment on time, administrative expenses of the state employment guarantee council, administrative expenses towards salary of the officials at district and state levels appointed under MgnRega. it has been specified in the act that “if an applicant under this act is not provided such employment within 15 days of his application seeking employment”, he shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance which will be paid by the state government. this implies an inbuilt structure of incentive for performance and disincentive for non-performance for the state government, as the inability to provide employment would require the state government to pay an unemployment allowance for which there is no contribution from the centre. in other words, individual states will have to evolve a well coordinated approach to equate supply of employment in accordance to the demand. While MgnRega is a ‘centrally sponsored scheme’, administratively managed by the Ministry of Rural development, its implementation is exclusively done by the respective state governments. the states are expected to systematically make a claim over the allocated resources by planning MgnRega work activities and turning them into projects. an accumulation of such projects is used to appropriate funds from the scheme resources earmarked through a budgetary process. often, the states are unable to execute the programme efficiently due to the shortage of administrative and implementing personnel at the grassroots and sometimes due to interparty political differentials, if the party in power in the concerned state is different from the one ruling the central government.

this becomes all the more important as there is no supply side selection of beneficiaries. it requires an in-depth understanding of region-specific labour demand and its seasonality so that a demand-based scheme of projects can be implemented at a frequency matching the demand for work

instead of relying on supply side provisioning. failure to fulfill these requirements may result in an imprudent use of funds, as the inability to provide employment on demand will impose the burden of compensation in the form of unemployment allowance on the state government. thus, there is a need to design a monitoring mechanism by strengthening the institutional structure at the local level so that resources can be used optimally. as it is a demand-based provisioning system, the flow of resources from higher levels of the government to the Panchayats needs to be assured according to the demand. thus, it is necessary to evolve a clear mechanism of flow of funds as needed according to the demand rather than through the normal bureaucratic procedures. this would also require coordination between providing work and the provisioning of funding. stringent conditionalities in fund release apart, the demand based provisioning may be potentially regressive. as it stands now, under the scheme funds will be released based on the annual work plan and budget proposal by the states.

Conclusion:

a unique and radical programme MgnRega requires time to be fully or even substantially streamlined. unfortunately, there is a sense of nervousness in the bureaucracy about increasing expenditure that has resulted in a narrow and parsimonious scheme. funding was argued by Jean dreze and others to be possible through improved tax administration and reforms, yet the tax-gdP ratio has actually been falling. the main characteristic of the scheme is sluggish and low spending rather than wastage and ‘leakages’. the bureaucracy seems to be in the grips of some kind of fear and lethargy, or simply a resistance to disturbing the pre-existing power equations at the local level. this stems from pessimism of the developmental outcomes of this programme, suspicion surrounding its empowerment spin-off and changing balance of power and an overall climate of fiscal tightening and low spending.

[About the authors: Dr.S.M Jawed AktharisAssociateProfessor;N.P.AbdulAzeezisJuniorResearchFellow,DepartmentofEconomics,AligarhMuslimUniversity,Aligarh,UP. abdulazeeznp@gmail.com.

Kurukshetra April 2012 2323

T here has been much talk in recent times

about the need for a second green

revolution as the country will have to

increase its agricultural output by more than

340 million tonnes by 2020 in the face of

increasing demand by a growing population.

it is also important to mention that the first

green revolution was limited to five crops with

the main focus on wheat and was only limited

to a few areas of the country, mainly Punjab,

Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Studies

have revealed that the cost intensive green

revolution helped mainly the rich farmers while

the small and marginal farmers did not receive

the desired benefits and their conditions showed

a decline.

second gReen ReVolution:eAsteRN stAtes to leAd the wAy

Dhurjati Mukherjee

Keeping this in view, the finance Minister launched in 2010-11 the “bringing green revolution in eastern india programme (bgRed)” to focus on the eastern states – comprising assam, bihar, chattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern uP, West bengal and orissa with necessary financial allocations – to extend the green revolution. Reports reveal that rice production from the region is estimated at 562.6 lakh tonnes, an increase of 19.8 per cent over the last year. overall foodgrain production is estimated at 1032 lakh tonnes, an increase of 11.9 per cent against an all-india increase of just 2.2 per cent, according to official figures.

according to government sources, the

increased production was due to focussed

Budget allocationforRashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana(RKVVJ), increasedfrom400crores to1000crores.

contd. page 26....

Kurukshetra April 20122424

Kurukshetra April 2012 2525

Kurukshetra April 20122626

resource allocation and utilization. the significant

increase in production in the target region not only

offset the decline in production in central and

peninsular india but also contributed to the

highest ever production of foodgrains.

the programme, part of the Rashtriya Krishi

vikas Yojana (RKvvJ), gained momentum in 2011-

12 with an outlay of Rs 400 crores with focus on rice

and wheat and strategic interventions relating to

crop production, water harvesting, asset building

and site specific activities needed for improving

the agronomy. it is thus in the fitness of things

that in the current budget the allocation for

2012-13 has been increased to Rs 1000 crores,

considering the success of the programme and

to make greater inroads in increasing production

and productivity.

One may mention here

that another important

announcement made two

years back, which continued

thereafter, was the proposal

to organize 60,000 “pulses

and oilseed villages” in rain-

fed areas and provide an

integrated intervention for

water harvesting, watershed

management and soil health

to enhance the productivity of the dryland areas.

in this budget, a national Mission on oilseeds

and oil Palm has been constituted to further

increase production and productivity of oil seeds

and oil palm. With per capita availability of water

declining, the dryland areas would do well to

concentrate on pulses and oilseeds production,

both of which are in heavy demand and output

needs to be boosted up.

There is also an imperative need to sustain

the growth achieved in the green revolution

areas by improving soil health and water

conservation and management and this has also

been looked into by the finance Minister. Climate

resilient agriculture is the need of the day and

field research and experimentation are vital

requirement at this juncture. funds of Rs 200

crores have been aptly allocated for incentivizing

research with rewards both for institutions and

the research team responsible in such scientific

breakthroughs.

However, in spite of the success achieved,

the productivity of paddy in eastern india is 2

tonnes per acre which is much lass than Punjab

whose paddy production is almost around 4

tonnes per acre. it is now necessary to reach the

small and medium farmers and make a dent to

the whole of the agricultural sector. the eastern

region comprises 50 per cent

of the total area under paddy

cultivation and, as such,

increasing production and

productivity is crucial to meet

the country’s increasing food

requirements.

the focus on agricultural

research has to be field-

oriented so as to ensure

efficient use of resources and

conservation of soil, water and

ecology on a substantive basis

along with introduction of new varieties of seeds,

modern technologies, nutrient and knowledge-

based intervention developed for different agro-

climatic zones. then only can the second green

revolution, which is being discussed at every

level, can become a reality.

Even the Eleventh Plan emphasized on

certain measures for taking agriculture to a

higher trajectory of 4 per cent annual growth.

for this to become a reality, the budget has

rightly emphasized on making technology and

In the current budget the allocationfor2012-13 has been increased to

Rs1000crores,consideringthe success of the

programme and to make greater inroads in increasingproductionand

productivity.

to be cont. page 23.....

Kurukshetra April 2012 2727

credit available to the small farmer at the grass

root level. one may mention here some of the

specific measures already outlined in the Plan in

this regard:

(i) improving water management, rainwater

harvesting and watershed development;

(ii) reclaiming degraded land for cultivation and

focusing on soil health;

(iii) bridging the gap through effective extension

at the grass root level;

(iv) diversifying into high-value outputs, fruits,

flowers, medicinal plants, bio-diesel etc.;

(v) providing easy access to credit at affordable

rates; and

(vi) improving the

incentive structure

and functioning of

markets.

Former President,

Dr. A. P. J. Kalam, realized

the potential of indian

agriculture and highlighted

this in various forums

and also at the triennial

conference of the global

forum on agricultural

Research at new delhi

way back in november 9,

2006. since then several workshops have been

held on the subject. While there is unanimity

of opinion that the spread effect of the second

green revolution must in the eastern states reach

the farthest corners, some have rightly pointed

out that it should ensure financial inclusion of

the small and marginal farmers whose numbers

continue to grow over the years.

certain other aspects like agri-marketing

in a globalized environment, frontier areas of

research and development and technology

transfer and extension, irrigation and water

planning, food processing and diversification

of agricultural products need also to be given

attention. it is significant that the problems of

small and marginal farmers, who constitute the

major segment of the farming community and

who have been rather neglected, is a matter of

great importance and help and support to this

group is very vital.

the renewed thrust in setting up of agro

processing centres in the rural areas is an imperative

need as this would result in the minimization of

post-production losses and production of value-

added products for consumers at an affordable

price. the question of

reducing wastages and the

improvement of storage

has been stressed by the

finance Minister as the

second element of the of

the agricultural growth

strategy. if necessary,

private sector participation

would have to be ensured,

specially in developing

agro processing in a big

way. one cannot deny

that the private sector has

played a significant role

as developers of new crop varieties, specially

hybrids, and providers of high quality seeds. it is

now necessary for the government to encourage

and provide incentives for collaborative research

for developing products.

agricultural development could be possible

through the following measures: (i) new and

innovative technology for enhancing production;

(ii) new technology for resource conservation;

(iii) encouraging farmers’ cooperatives in a big

way as is being done in gujarat and Maharashtra;

The focus on agricultural research has to be field-oriented so as to ensure

efficient use of resources and conservation of soil, water and ecology on a substantive basis along with introduction of new

varieties of seeds, modern technologies, nutrient and

knowledge-based intervention developed for different

agro-climatic zones.

Kurukshetra April 20122828

(iv) massive skill training and entrepreneurship

development; (v) value addition of agricultural

products, not only at the level of industry but also

at the level of farmers; and (vi) good marketing

network, including development of future market.

in this connection, the indian council for agricultural

Research (icaR) with around 200 experiential

learning units at 43 agricultural universities in

different parts of the country should intensify

requisite training activities to equip the farmer in

the proper way.

there is a belief, to start with, that the second

green revolution should be made possible in the

rain-fed areas so as to improve the income levels

of the distressed farmers. the

main challenges obviously lie

in reaching new technologies

to small and marginal farmers,

providing them necessary credit

and improving their incomes

through better infrastructure

and marketing strategies.

in such a scenario, positive

steps are needed at this juncture,

the first and foremost of which

is the strengthening the existing

Krishi vigyan Kendras (KvKs) and setting up such

Kendras in all the blocks of the country to reach

all sections of farmers in boosting production,

facilitating adoption of improved knowledge on

production, value addition and marketing and

extending all types of help through adoption of

improved knowledge on production, value addition

and marketing.

but the crucial thing that remains to be

ensured is that returns from agriculture have to be

monitored so that the farming community is not

put in a precarious situation and mounting debts

do not lead them to suicide. it may be mentioned

here that even in Punjab, where the average farm

size is 3.8 acres which is 2.5 times the average

size of indian farms, the farmers income is far less

than the average salary of a class iv employee of

the government. the question thus arises is that

how will farmers continue to be involved in cereal

production with stagnant incomes, more so with

fertilizer and electricity rates on the increase?

there is thus an imperative need to examine the

question of subsidies and/or enhance the minimum

support price for various crops. the higher rates

would ensure better returns for farmers and there

is no reason to raise a hue and cry about increased

food process.

india can definitely emerge as an agricultural

power in the not-too-distant

future if a better strategy is

implemented. There is an

urgent need to overhaul socio-

economic and farm policies to

remove rural disparities and

remove rural poverty or at

least bring it down steadily.

the face of rural india has to

be transformed keeping in

view the need to improve the

living conditions of the masses

and for this diversification

strategies have to be evolved to bring more

value-addition while agricultural productivity is

geared up. one may conclude with an estimate

by dr. c. Rangarajan, the eminent economist, as

early as 1982, that a mere one per cent increase

in agricultural output led to a 0.7 increase in

national income and it may be added that most

part of this enhanced income obviously reached

the grass root levels of rural india and benefited

the farming community.

(The author is a freelance writer on

developmental and environmental issues.

(developmentbasedinKolkata).(dhurjatimukherjee

54@gmail.com)

It may be mentioned here that even in Punjab, where the average farm size is 3.8 acres which is 2.5 times the average size of Indian farms,

the farmers income is far less than the average salary

of a Class IV employee of the government.

Kurukshetra April 2012 2929

Mahatma Gandhiji had a vision that

india after its independence should achieve self-sufficiency of villages in

which every one would have adequate food, shelter, clothing, proper hygienic and sanitation facilities and every person willing to work is provided gainful employment. let not history of india record that Mahatma gandhiji brought political independence for india but the government could not bring economic emancipation for rural poor. this paper highlights poverty, hunger, child nutrition and food security in the country and suggests that twelfth

Plan [2012-17] should give focused attention to

significantly ameliorate the deteriorating situation.

Poverty: according to NSS round [2004-05],

41.8% rural population had monthly per capita

aPPRoacHes toWaRds tWeltH fiVe yeaR PlanNeed foR focused AtteNtioN

Arpita Sharma

expenditure of Rs.447 as against 25.7% urban

population having monthly per capita expenditure

of Rs.578.8. according to Multidimensional

Poverty index [MPi] worked out by undP & oxford

university, July 2010, about 645 million people

[55%] in india are poor. as against 410 million MPi

poor in 26 of the poorest african countries, eight

indian states [bihar, chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,

Madhya Pradesh, orissa, Rajasthan, uttar Pradesh

and West bengal] have 421 million MPi poor. the

MPi reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing

the poorest households. MPi considers 10 sharp

indicators, namely education [child enrolment and

years of schooling]; Health [child mortality and

nutrition] and standard of living [electricity, drinking

water, sanitation, cooking fuel, flooring and assets].

India currentlyhas theworld’s largest food insecurepopulationwithmore than260millionpeople facinghungeranddeprivation

Kurukshetra April 20123030

a global report on poverty eradication of the u.n. secretary-general shows that economic growth is evident for the progress in china in reducing extreme poverty and raising living standards, whereas india is expected to be home to more than 300 million in poverty out of 900 million predicted to be in extreme poverty in 2015.

Hunger: in india, the right to food campaign launched in 2001 focused its demand to address the structural roots of hunger since india’s commitments to tackle the problem of hunger and malnutrition are among the worst. india currently has world’s largest food insecure population with more than 260 million people facing hunger and deprivation. according to the global Hunger index [2008], india ranks 66 among 88 countries surveyed by the Washington-based international food Policy Research institute. india comes below sudan, nigeria and cameroon. under the united nation’s Millennium development goal no.1, for sustainable Human security and Peace india is committed to reduce hunger and poverty by half by 2015

Child Nutrition: despite the integrated child development scheme since early 1970s, the national family Health survey, 2006, notes the child under-nutrition rate is 46%, which is almost double that of sub-saharan africa. india has 40% of the world’s underweight children and ranks 126 out of 177 countries in the undP Human development index and [ii] 20% of children under five-years-old are wasted [too thin for their age] due to acute under-nutrition and 48% were stunted [too short for their age] due to chronic under-nutrition and 70% of children between six months and 59 months were anaemic. the percentage of children below five years of age who are underweight is 42.5% as compared with 4% in brazil and 6% in china. More than a third of all deaths in children aged five years or younger can be attributable to under-nutrition. infancy deaths were 53 per 1000 live births in 2008.the global Hunger index [2010] identified

child under-nutrition as a major contributory factor behind ‘persistent hunger’. according to Washington-based international food Policy Research institute india is among 29 countries that face ‘alarming’ situation of hunger. Malnutrition among children under two years of age is one of the serious challenges to reduce hunger, which if not timely attended can cause lifelong harm to child’s health, productivity and earning potential. our Prime Minister dr. Manmohan singh had once referred to under-nutrition as a ‘matter of national shame’.

experiences of successes in china, brazil, thailand, vietnam and other countries suggest [i] according top priority to child nutrition with adequate investments in nutrition interventions and related critical areas impacting multiple deprivations [ii] targeting nutrition interventions to prevent and moderate under-nutrition and treat severe under-nutrition as a part of continuum of care for children, particularly among the most vulnerable children, the youngest, the poorest and the socially-excluded [iii] strengthening community-based primary health care to facilitate wider and deeper coverage through community-based frontline workers [iv] strong supervision, monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of policy, programs and budgetary allocations to yield expected outcomes and provide timely documented feedback to re-look policy, programs and budgetary action [v] reducing malnutrition calls for serious concern for poor, strong political will to commit, good governance and accountability [vi] cash transfer scheme to be effective need to be supported by adequate staff and infrastructure for public sector health facilities.

With serious concern and commitment china reduced child under-nutrition from 25% to 8% between 1990 and 2002, brazil from 18% in 1975 to 7% in 1989, thailand from 50% in 1982 to 25% in 1986 and viet nam from 45% to 27% between 1990 and 2006. india has the financial & human resources

Kurukshetra April 2012 3131

as well as administration and managerial capabilities to address, once and for all, the challenge of child under-nutrition. let the prevention and treatment of child under-nutrition in the first two years of life be a national development priority and let national nutrition Week be celebrated in september every year to create mass awareness about the programs and exercise right to hold implementers accountable.

Food Security: Per capita availability of food grains and other essential food products in india is below the world average and significantly lower than in developed countries. food is unaffordable for a large number of the poor in india. under the proposed legislation for food security to india’s teeming millions, the expert committee has estimated procurement & distribution of food not less than 63.98 million tons, rising to 73.98 million tons by 2016-17 against the likely procurement of 57.61 million tons in 2013-14.as about 800 million persons are sought to be covered under food security act, it is necessary to substantially increase food productivity & output to facilitate the estimated level of procurement, create additional facilities for transport, processing, storage and evolve transparent distribution mechanism. a large amount of the subsidized food grains targeted at BPL households, some APL households and other vulnerable groups find its way to the open market. scientific studies revealed that in 2001-02, 18.2% of Pds rice and 67% Pds wheat were diverted. in other words, over 40% of all grain targeted at the poor did not reach the poor. using the nss expenditure survey of 2004-05, overall diversion was of 55% of the grain meant for the poor. the same problem is manifested in case of kerosene, diesel and fertilizers. besides, the current system is beset with significant level of adulteration, pilferage and corruption.

Focused Attention: chronic problems of rural poverty, hunger, child nutrition and food security, among others, need focused attention to significantly develop productivity, production

and profitability of farming enterprise by creating enabling environment through enhancing annual public sector investment, arresting imbalance in the flow of farm credit, legal framework for defining tenant farmers’ relationship with land in particular

Investment: the gross capital formation [gcf] in agriculture and allied sectors as a proportion to the gdP in the sector stagnated around 14% during 2004-05 to 2006-07. though it increased to 16.03% in 2007-08 and 19.67% in 2008-09 [provisional] and estimated 20.30% in 2009-10, the gcf in agriculture and allied sectors relative to overall gdP has remained stagnant at around 2.5% to 3.0%. as a result the share of gcf in agriculture and allied sector in total gcf has remained in the range of 6.6% to 8.2% during 2004-05 to 2009-10. to accelerate the process of farm development and achieve inclusive rural growth, policy should focus on critical areas, namely [i] accelerated investment in rural infrastructure to improve transport, communication, storage, processing and marketing facilities [ii] establishing state of art agri-meteorology [iii] expanding irrigation and reclamation of wastelands [iv] strengthening agricultural education, research and extension services and capacity building of farmers to bridge the yield gap between the potential yields and actual yields at field level in rain-fed and irrigated farming systems [v] development and use of genetically engineered seeds, micro-irrigation systems, greenhouse technology, integrated nutrient and pest management techniques, computer-based modeling to track disease and pest incidence [vi] farm mechanization [vii] remote sensing technology. investment in agriculture would facilitate farmers’ access to frontier technology, food processing, farm-to-market linkages, agricultural extension, weather and crop forecasting, large-scale development of bio-diesel, mechanization and commercialization of agriculture. Public, private and foreign investment should remedy the situation of investment shortage in agriculture and help transform a ‘negative subsidy regime’ into a ‘capital-intensive positive agricultural

Kurukshetra April 20123232

Marketing service regime’ and stimulate indian producers to access global markets. government, agricultural universities and icaR institutes along with industrial, business and commercial houses in close coordination should accelerate their efforts to accomplish this task

Farm Credit: the credit flow to agriculture since 1970 till 2010 has been of the order of Rs.28,53,261 crore, of which 81.50% was disbursed between 2001-02 to 2009-10. However, its impact on improving crop productivity and output has been low. despite banking system has been achieving stipulated credit targets announced in the budgets since 2001-02 in absolute terms every year there have been significant disparities in credit flow between states, between districts and between villages. in fact, in absence of appropriate legal frame work tenant farmers, share croppers, oral lessees, landless laborers, households residing in hilly, tribal, desert, drought prone areas in particular do not have easy and reliable access to institutional credit.

Tenant Farmers: india has a large number of

companies. the national sample survey [2003] estimated that the area under informal tenancy in india varies between 15% and 35% of the total farm area and 36% of the total households leasing land are landless laborers and 47.5% having land below 0.5 hectare.

Conclusion: Rural households should identify their financial and non-financial needs for income generating activities in rural farm and non-farm sector and infrastructure and demand them from elected representatives. state and union government need to allocate adequate financial resources in their annual budgets to tackle issues of poverty, hunger, child nutrition, food security and rural infrastructure. implementing agencies including banks should have serious concern, commitment and be accountable to achieve expected goals district, state and region-wise. information about the performance of each program should be made available to the public every month through local print and electronic media as also through seminars, workshops and conferences at district level.

Pattern of Land Leased for Farming by Rural Households by Percentage

State LandlessLaborers

Below0.5 hectare

0.5 &1.0 hectare

State LandlessLaborers

Below0.5 hectare

0.5 to 1.0hectare

Andhra 53.1 30.4 08.5 Madhya 28.5 39.7 10.9

arunachal 71.3 20.1 04.1 Maharashtra 60.1 19.8 07.0

Assam 34.7 43.6 11.3 Orissa 17.3 71.8 07.9

Bihar 58.0 87.0 06.0 Punjab 23.8 31.9 13.5

chhatisgarh 26.9 43.5 18.6 Tamil Nadu 72.7 21.3 02.3

Gujarat 63.7 18.8 05.5 Uttar Pradesh 78.0 69.5 13.2

Haryana 24.0 45.4 08.9 West bengal 14.1 75.1 08.4

Karnataka 55.2 28.3 05.3

Kerala 50.0 46.2 03.4 All India 35.8 47.5 08.2

(The author is Ph.D Research Scholar,Dept.ofAgriculturalCommunication, CollegeofAgriculture,G.B.PantUniversityofAgricultureandTechnology, Pantnagar – 263145 (Uttarakhand),

e-mail-sharmaarpita35@gmail.com)

tenant farmers whose legal relationship with the landowners and the piece of land they cultivate has yet not been acknowledged through statutory legal framework to facilitate them to access credit from banks and insurance cover from insurance

Kurukshetra April 2012 3333

Think of a sugar mill, not only producing sugar

but also generating power as a by-product. bagasse, a residue of crushed sugarcane

used in sugar mills is the principal fuel used to raise steam in sugar mills. With the technological innovations, the high pressure steam generated in boilers can in turn be used to rotate the turbo generator blades to produce electric current. The process employed here to generate power is called cogeneration which essentially implies the production of two forms of energy, electricity and

heat. the power thus generated can be used for

meeting the requirements of the sugar mill and

the surplus can be fed into the grid.

electRicity tHRougH cogeneRation: A PRomisiNG develoPmeNt

Dr. J. R. Meshram, Gargi Malik

cogeneration or production of electricity in

combination with another industrial process is

not limited to sugar mills alone. there are several

other industries such as paper and pulp, textile,

fertilizer, petroleum, petrochemicals and food

processing which require electrical as well as

thermal energy for their operations and therefore

can use cogeneration as a process. the total fuel

consumption is significantly reduced when “co-

generation” or “combined heat and power” (cHP)

is applied. the overall efficiency of energy use in

cogeneration mode can be up to 85 per cent and

above in some cases.

Tomeet the requirement of captive power and thermal energy, the installation of biomasscogenerationprojects(excludingbagasseco-generation)isbeingpromotedinindustry,withatleast50%ofpowerforcaptiveuse,andaprovisionforthesurpluspowertobeexportedtothegrid.

Kurukshetra April 20123434

in the present scenario, where price of fossil

fuels is shooting up and there is shortage and non-

availability of coal, cogeneration appears to be a

promising development. the thrust on distributed

generation and increasing awareness for cutting

green house gases emissions increases the need

of processes like cogeneration. also it helps in

controlling pollution from fossil fuels.

the Ministry of new and Renewable energy

is promoting cogeneration through various

incentive based schemes. biomass cogeneration

programme in india is currently divided into two

components (i) bagasse based (ii) non-bagasse

based . While bagasse cogeneration is essentially

sugar mills oriented non-bagasse biomass

cogeneration can be used in biomass industry.

Bagasse Based Cogeneration

as already explained, the bagasse based

cogeneration is mainly centred in sugar

mills. india is the world’s second biggest producer

of sugarcane. indian sugarcane production during

2010-11 is estimated at 340 million tonnes. india’s

527 working sugar mills crush around 240 million

tonnes of cane per year and generate 80 million

tonnes of wet bagasse (50% moisture), of which

they consume around 70 million tonnes for meeting

captive requirements of power and steam. thus,

electricity production through cogeneration in

sugar mills in india is an important avenue for

supplying low cost, non-conventional power.

indian efforts for promotion of bagasse

cogeneration started with two pilot projects taken

up in cooperative sugar mills in tamil nadu in 1988-

89 for generation of surplus power and feeding

it to the grid. though possibilities of additional

power generation through cogeneration in sugar

industry has been known for long, but their usage

started in a significant manner only after 1994,

after announcement of programme on bagasse

based cogeneration by the government.

a capacity of around 1854 MW of surplus

power generation has so far been commissioned

in 170 sugar mills in the states of andhra Pradesh,

bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab,

Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. More

than 200 MW of projects in about 20 private sector

sugar mills are under construction. optimum

bagasse cogeneration benefits not only the sugar

mills but also the sugarcane farmers as the value

addition to their cane is enhanced and thus they

can realise more money for it.

Power Cogeneration in Industries (Non-Bagasse) Programme

the industrial sector today consumes

approximately 35% of total electricity generated

in the country. at the same time, high quality

stable power is required to attain the higher

growth rate projected for this sector. Majority

of industries in india require both electrical and

thermal energy. today, they either buy power

from the state electricity boards, or generate their

own power largely through diesel generators and

meet their thermal energy requirements through

captive means mostly utilizing fossil fuels such as

coal, oil or natural gas. as fossil fuels are limited,

and have adverse environmental impact, it would

be appropriate to use non-conventional energy

sources including biomass resources such as crop

residues and agro-industrial wastes for generation

of energy in the industries mainly through

biomass gasification technology for meeting their

total/partial requirements for both electrical and

thermal energy.

industrial co-generation has in the past not

received adequate attention, as cheap power

and fuel were abundantly available. However,

with increasing tariffs, and unreliable supply of

grid power, there is considerable opportunity

for the industrial sector to tap the potential

for producing electricity and thermal energy in

Kurukshetra April 2012 3535

the co-generation mode. in particular, there is

significant potential in breweries, caustic soda

plants, textile mills, distilleries, fertilizer plants,

paper and pulp industry, solvent extraction units,

rice mills, petrochemical plants, etc. furthermore,

co-generation projects based on conventional

fuels such as coal, oil, lignite, gas and un/semi-

utilized wastes/rejects like dolochar, coal rejects

and refinery mud, etc. can also be installed in

industry for meeting their power and energy

requirements.

to meet the requirement of captive power

and thermal energy, the installation of biomass

cogeneration projects (excluding bagasse co-

generation) is being promoted in industry, with

at least 50% of power for captive use, and a

provision for the surplus power to be exported

to the grid. this has increased the use of non-

conventional energy sources and conserves the

use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

use of maximum of 25% conventional fuels has

been allowed in such projects. the promotional

schemes also provide for grants-in-aid to state

nodal agencies, ngos and other concerned

institutions for organizing seminars, workshops,

training/orientation programmes, technology

validation, strategic studies, industry-wise sectoral

studies and performance monitoring & evaluation,

etc.

New Initiatives for Promotion of Cogeneration in India

Boot (Build, own, operate, transfer) Model

Cogeneration projects in Cooperative Sugar

Mills:Provision for central financial assistance

has been made for bagasse cogeneration projects

taken up through boot model in cooperative

sector sugar mills set up by special Purpose

vehicle or an independent Power Producer. in

this case, the investment in cogeneration power

plant with concurrent modernisation is done by

boot developers. this model has advantage in

terms of non-requirement of equity and loans by

cooperative sugar mills and nil liability to repay

and limited risks. the cogeneration plant and

assets after boot period are to be handed over to

cooperative sugar mills. the Ministry of new and

Renewable energy has supported the boot model

projects in Maharashtra and tamil nadu. boot

model projects in 12 co-operative Public sector

sugars mills in tamil nadu of aggregate capacity

180 MW and boot model cogeneration projects

in two cooperative sugar mills of Maharashtra of

total capacity 80 MW are under implementation.

the Ministry plans to extend this effort in the co-

operative/Public sector sugar mills in the states

of Karnataka, andhra Pradesh, gujarat & uttar

Pradesh, during the next two to three years.

Boiler Modification in Cooperative

Sugar Mills: a number of recently installed

cooperative sugar mills have already employed

the configurations to enable them to undertake

cogeneration power projects with minimum

investment through modification of existing

boiler and matching turbine. Ministry of new and

Renewable energy has modified the scheme for

providing central financial assistance for boiler

upgradation of cogeneration project in such sugar

mills.

the incentive based schemes and the

technical support to the industry by the Ministry

of new and Renewable energy for installing

cogeneration based projects is expected to

give a big push to the non-conventional energy

programme during the twelfth Plan Period. (Pib

Feature).

(The First author is Scientist ‘F’, Ministry

of New & Renewable Energy, New Delhi, and

the second author is Assistant Director, Press

InformationBureau,NewDelhi.)

Kurukshetra April 20123636

Ecosystem people’ depend directly on

natural resources for their livelihood.

their rights include the right to protect,

conserve, or manage resources which they have

been traditionally protecting and conserving

for sustainable use. indigenous knowledge is an

integral dimension of all societies but is more intact

in areas, such as high-altitude remote Wayanad

areas, where isolation have acted as barrier to

outside forces for a long period. in our analysis,

we discuss the scope for integrating indigenous

knowledge and conventional ecological science for

resolving biodiversity conservation-development

conflicts, within the context of the Wayanad

mountain system. It analyses an institutional

innovation, the People’s biodiversity Register,

aiming at collective management of traditional

knowledge and biodiversity conservation. the key

evaluation criteria used in the framework includes:

PeoPle’s biodiVeRsity RegisteR and taPPing indigenous KnoWledge :

A cAse study fRom wAyANAd

fRom the GRouNd

Relevance i.e., the extent to which the objectives

of PbRs are consistent with beneficiaries.

effectiveness, i.e., the extent to which the PbRs

objectives are achieved and efficiency i.e., how

economically resources are converted to results

and how it provided food security to tribals in Wayanad.

the desirability for economic growth is undisputed. critics have pointed to the irreversible disruption of traditional societies, their life styles, and the spread of a uniform materialistic mass culture. this culture may lead to cultural shallowness and exploitation of ecology as a result of capitalistic market relations. in traditional societies people are more in tune with their potentialities in natural environment which would balance their needs and wishes. there is a strong Malthusian movement which stresses that continued economic growth will disturb the balance of nature, ultimately leading to ecological catastrophes.

Dr. Raju Narayana Swamy

Kurukshetra April 2012 3737

in this harmonized political-economic milieu, the boundaries of states with respect to economic matters have begun to give way to economic markets. Regions, under the impulse of state and business elites, fail to compete in the global economy, and they have also not established networks of cooperation in the region-based companies. these regional economies become the principal basis for participation in the global network in which the logics of capital and technology guide the economic, political, cultural and institutional flows of human activity to rationalize social and ecological relations. Here the type of environmental crisis is shaped by the capital.

Biodiversity

ecological and genetic multiplicity together make the foundation of existence. united nations environment Programme’s global biodiversity Assessment proposes that Biodiversity represents the very foundation of human existence. the convention on biological diversity in article 2 defines it as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are the members; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems(World Resources, 1994).

there are three processes that lie in global biodiversity loss. the first is the destruction and fragmentation of habitat associated with the expansion of mining, forestry and agriculture. Habitat fragmentation and loss in areas of high endemism are considered to be the major cause for the extinction of species worldwide. the second is the introduction of species. its effects include the deletion of indigenous species through predation or competition, genetic alteration of indigenous species through hybridization and the alteration of ecosystem structure. the functions include biogeochemical, hydrological and nutrient cycles, soil erosion and other geomorphological processes(charles, Perrings & Jon, lovett). the dependency perspective argues that international

economic exchanges and unequal power relations between rich and poor nations are detrimental to the poor nations of the world. in essence rich nations become wealthy by exploiting the cheap labour and resources of poor nations. Research focussing in the 1980s, tended to focus on multinational corporate penetration or foreign direct investment (John, M. shandra, et.al., 2010). inequality of income and resource distribution have received much of the blame for environmental degradation. national laws, economic and political institutions and government policies are central to many recent explanations of biodiversity loss(alexander, Wood, 2000). our study follows in this way.

Biodiversity conservation

from an ecological perspective, biodiversity protects ecosystem resilience by understanding the provision of ecosystem services over a range of environmental conditions. the ecological impact of biodiversity loss depends on the link between the species and the functions of the system(charles, Perrings). the economy as a part of its life-supporting environment, depends not only on the inputs of energy and natural resources for production and consumption, but also on services generated by ecosystems, such as drinking water supply, recycling of nutrients, generation of soils. being parts of ecosystems, species sustain those crucial services. if human societies do not recognize their place in the overall systems, their activities will continue to cause degradation to biodiversity, thereby reducing the environmental support on which human welfare depends upon (see the figure below:).

the most important environment centric and anthropocentric reasons for conserving biological diversity is the role played by micro-organisms, plants and animals in providing ecological services of value to humanity. a multiplicity of organisms underpins the ecological life-support functions that enable human societies to exist. the value of biological diversity thus lies in the value of the ecological services supported by the interaction

Kurukshetra April 20123838

between the organisms, populations and communities of the natural environment, and the value of biodiversity loss reflects the sensitivity of ecological services of both the depletion and the deletion of species (charles, Perrings & others, 1992, p.201.).

the conservation discourse on biodiversity originated with the notion of a diversity crisis, which came about gradually during the 1970s with increasing awareness of an extinction wave that was threatening as a consequence of human populations’ growth and increasing intensity of environmental modifications (Yrjo Haila & Jari, Kouki, 1994). a simplistic view of integrated management would be to identify ‘key’ interventions to the concept of keystone species enabling environmental and socio-economic benefits simultaneously. two approaches are identified to overcome the problem-complex. one is the internal perspective approach or the indigenous knowledge-based approach where nature, resources and livelihood have been viewed by the indigenous/traditional communities. the other is the conventional scientific approach or global economic and environmental world-view referred to as the ‘external perspective’ approach or top-down approach (Rao, K.s. & others, 2003).

Community-based Management

Important initiatives taken by the government of india to secure natural resources include

Joint forest Management Programme since 1991, the Extension of Provisions of Panchayati Raj to scheduled areas act (Pesa), 1996, the biological diversity act 2002 and more recently the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (Recognition of forest Rights) act 2006. biological diversity aims to promote conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits of india’s biodiversity resources, including habitats, domesticated stocks etc on public and private lands. With this in view it provides for the establishment of a national biodiversity authority (nba), state biodiversity boards (sbb) and biodiversity Management committees (bMc) at the level of Panchayats (gram, taluk, zilla) municipalities and corporations. the biological diversity act included provisions for the constitution of biodiversity Management committees. the main function of the bMc is to prepare People’s biological Register consulting with local people.

the people’s biodiversity Register Project (PbRP) was commenced as a pilot project in Kerala in 1997 (the detailed statistics on People’s biodiversity Register in Kerala is given in appendix 1). it was considered necessary tool for recognising the range of local knowledge, rewarding and promoting the use of traditional knowledge, skills, techniques and conservation practices, encouraging inter-community transfer of knowledge. it strongly believes that community register could be used to protect biodiversity and local knowledge. the following section will discuss about its implementation in Wayanad district in Kerala. the key evaluation criteria used in the framework includes: Relevance i.e., the extent to which the objectives of PbRs are consistent with beneficiaries and donor’s policies. effectiveness, i.e., the extent to which the PbRs objectives are achieved and efficiency i.e., how economically resources are converted to results and how it provided food security to tribals in Wayanad.

Wayanad district

considering the ecological importance, Wayanad district in northern Kerala is selected for the analysis. the district lies at a height of 700-2100

Kurukshetra April 2012 3939

m above sea level, on the north-eastern part of Kerala. its geographical area is 2131 sq. km(Profile of the district given in appendix 2). the population of the district is 7,80,619. Wayanad has the highest concentration of tribals, constituting (136062) 17.43 percent of the total tribal population in Kerala. Major communities in Wayanad are Paniyas (44.77 percent), Mullu Kuruman (17.51 percent), Kurichya (17.38 percent), Kattunaickan (9.93 percent), adiyan (7.10 percent), urali Kuruman (2.69 percent) and others (0.61 percent). these tribal communities mainly are marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and forest dependents.

the study included a subset of households who make use of forest resources. location of the households near to or inside the forest area is one of the important factor, which is hypothesized to influence the extent of dependence. group discussions were conducted with households near to and inside the forest. three hamlets were purposively selected from thirunelli panchayat. during the discussion it was found that most of the households are afraid of exposing the details about their resource collection from the forest. interviews with tribal promoters revealed that they are afraid of officials, especially forest officials and hence are reluctant to reveal the facts. it was with the help of tribal promoters working in the consecutive hamlets that researcher was able to collect information regarding their interaction with the forest. the overall dependence on forest by the sample households for various purposes is given in table 1.

Table 1 Purpose of forest visits

Particulars of resources collected

collection of fuelwood

collection of ntfP for sale

collection of tubers/fruits/leaves

fishing

Fodder

bamboo (for own purpose or for sale)Source: Survey

income for all the sample households where obtained from agricultural wage labour and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

guarantee Programme. MgnRegP works in thirunelli were mainly fencing and forestry works. the ntfP collected from forest for sale mainly includes medicinal herbs. edible items collected are taken home for food. details of items collected from forest are given below.

Table 2 Items collected from forest

ntfP collected for saleWild pepperWild turmericKundirikkamasparagusKurumthottiKakkukaiHoneyWild bitter guardtuber itemsVenniNooranVellanfruits/vegetablesgooseberriesWild jack fruitbamboo seedGuavaMushroomFish

Source: Survey data

Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity conservation

the shrinking of the flora and fauna have resulted in the retreat of medicinal knowledge and use of these natural resources by the adivasis. deforestation and alienation of adivasi land have reduced the use of traditional medicinal plants and other resources by these people. the food security of Wayanad’s tribal people is in a threatened situation because of the disappearance of many species of plants, animals and fishes which they collect from their home gardens and surroundings. the main reason of poverty and malnutrition-induced diseases among the tribal people is depletion of biodiversity. in the early periods ragi, little millets, paddy, vegetables and tubers were cultivated by them. now cash crop cultivation is

Kurukshetra April 20124040

prevalent in Wayanad. Many traditional paddy varieties have disappeared. Earlier many paddy varieties were there. but now only five varieties are cultivated, that too only by the Kurichya community. excessive use of chemical fertilisers had led to the disappearance of many fish and indigenous plant varieties.

large-scale proliferations of pests that attack crops were found. Many of them have developed resistance to insecticides. there is a marked reduction in the availability of fish, crab and forest products which had given a strong immune system to the tribal people. With the reduction of proper food supply, they now suffer malnutrition and food insecurity. the social consequences of the depletion of forest cover and paddy fields in Wayanad is obvious. tribal women who earn their daily wages as labourers in paddy fields are out of work because of the conversion of paddy fields to coconut, banana and areca plantations. the impoverishment of Wayanad’s biodiversity, is a crucial issue, especially for the indigenous people (Madhavan nair, R., 2002). an estimated fifteen percent of the plant diversity in the district is highly threatened. the community agro-biodiversity centre (cabc) of the M.s.swaminadhan Research foundation (MssRf) undertakes activities related to conservation, enhancement and sustainable and equitable use of agro-biodiversity and genetic wealth through the active involvement of tribal communities in Wayanad.

Community Biodiversity Register (CBR)

the cbR program was originated with the concept of community Register launched by an ngo, fRlHt in 1995. it focussed on documenting community based knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses. the program’s name was changed from “community” to “People’s” biodiversity Register (PbR) in 1995 to reflect knowledge shared freely among community members. Most systematic attempt in the preparation of PbRs at the national level in india was initiated in 1996-98 by biodiversity conservation Prioritization Programme sponsored by World Wide fund for nature (WWf).

the documentation of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge (tK) in india are strongly supported by the state governments and other public institutions. the state plan for Kerala has also actively promoted documentation of local knowledge relating to biodiversity in People’s biodiversity Registers (PbRs). one pilot project has been completed in ernakulam district(Kerala). two other projects at Panchayat level has been initiated by the tropical botanic garden Research institute1 and the Kerala forest Research institute.

People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs)

these are registers that document biodiversity and bioresources and its associated knowledge of tribal and rural communities of the region. these registers prepared by the local communities with technical support of the cabc in Wayanad, provide information on the patterns of natural resource use. the PbR program organises information in the domain of folk science on the status, uses and management of living resources. this information is available with the people who deal with living resources as part of their daily subsistence activities as graziers, tribal folks etc. the information may be purely orally transmitted or contained in palm leaf manuscripts. these register can be used to promote sustainable management of natural resources and disport claims of communities and individuals about generic resources and knowledge about their use (Pons, batugal & Jeffrey oliver (eds.), 2003). the PbRs helped the tribal people to identify two areas like ‘local heritage sites’ that represent valuable species and people holding traditional ecological knowledge sites. the institutional framework for generating the structured information as a part of the PbR process is as follows:

In Wayanad, PBRs is in an experimental phase. the People’s biodiversity Register features the transformation of traditional knowledge into recorded information as a result of the communication between local knowledge holders and bureaucrats, and local knowledge holders and facilitators. the variables shaping collective action of PbRs in Wayanad are as follows:

Kurukshetra April 2012 4141

Table 3 Institutional framework of People’s Biodiversity Registers

Institution Country State District Taluk Local body Village/ward

Supervisory agency

NBA SBB zP-bMc study group

TP-BMC study group

Panchayat/Municipality

village or Ward bMc study group

implementing agency

MoEF, GoI nodal agency designated by SBB

educational institution designed by zP_bMc

TP-BMC educational institution & cbos selected by bMc

educational institutions & cbos selected by bMvc

technical support agencies

technical support group (tsg)

TSG TSG TSG local education institutions

local science/educational institutions

Source:Madhav,Gadgil,&others(2006),‘EcologyisforthePeople:AMethodologyManualforPeople’sBiodiversityRegister’,Centre for Ecological Sciences & Agharkar Research Institute,NationalWorkshoponPeople’sBiodiversityRegister,22-23rd June,Chennai.

NBA-NationalBiodiversityAuthority,SBB-StateBiodiversityBoards,BMC-BiodiversityManangementCommittee

Collective Action in Wayanad

the forest of Wayanad, rich in biodiversity contributes household food security of tribal communities. the tribals have knowledge about different leafy vegetables and herbal medicines. Women are involved with the collection of leafy vegetables, tubours etc for food. the PbRs is a result of interface between the ngo facilitators and the expert knowledge holders of tribal communities like the Paniyas, Kurichyas, Kattunaikens etc. With respect to gender, among the knowledgeable

Paniya tribal population, women play a key role in the management of food species. Processing their knowledge about specimens, into valuable food items is the monopoly of women. this knowledge is transferred to PbRs through ngo to state’s lowest level, panchayat. the reputation in this regard is attached to the individual reputation of the ngo facilitators. the trust of tribal people in the representatives of the ngo contributes towards its reputation in the long run.

there is lack of concrete examples where PbRs has lead to meaningful benefits for tribes. to quote the activities of cabc, this is an instrumental in preparing People’s biodiversity Registers (PbRs) in Wayanad. a core of village volunteers were selected, formed as a committee, and trained in preparation of inventories. the management of such chronicled documents as the People’s biodiversity Register was discussed with the stakeholders and institutionalized with the help of formal or informal institutions at the village level. gender perspectives were internalized in the process of forming groups, in the documentation of species and their associated knowledge. the cabc collected some of these traditional varieties, multiplied them and redistributed to interested farmers.

(The author is Senior IAS Officer and iscurrently Secretary to Govt. of Kerala, e-mail :narayan5@ias.nic.in)

Kurukshetra April 20124242

Currently, india has a gap in its energy supply and with further economic growth this is likely to continue into the future. there is

a demand supply gap in energy of 8% and peak power of 12.6% for the last decade and this gap has widened in the last 3 years. even if all the ultra supercritical power projects are brought online, the gap is likely to persist by the time they are implemented owing to higher energy intensity of the economy due to industrialisation and the very low indian per capita electricity consumption. this situation is particularly exacerbated at the rural level. it is estimated that only about 80% of villages in india are electrified, and that only 44% of rural households are actually electrified.

Sources and discovery of electricity

there are six basic sources used for generating electricity. they are heat, light, friction, pressure, magnetism and chemical action. of these, magnetism is the most important, contributing by far the largest portion of electrical production worldwide. Power generators, whether hydroelectric or fuelled by coal, oil, gas or nuclear power, all use magnetism as the actual means of electricity generation. light, acting upon solar panels, is slowly gaining momentum, but has yet to make great inroads in commercial electricity production because of its cost. electricity generated directly by heat, pressure and friction tend to be either very small--the microvolt output of a thermistor when exposed to heat, or the equally small output of a crystal microphone when subjected to sound pressure--or uncontrollable, as in the case of lightening, caused by friction. chemical action in the form of batteries is both the oldest means of producing electrical current, and has had a great impact on our modern way of life.

in 1791 luigi galvani discovered electrical activity in the nerves of the frogs that he was

electRicity fRoM fRuits and Vegetables

dissecting. He thought that electricity was of animal origin and could be found only in living tissues. a few years later, in 1800 alessandro volta discovered that electricity could be produced through inorganic means. the daniell cell was a great improvement over the existing technology used in the early days of battery development. A later variant of the daniell cell called the gravity cell or crowfoot cell was invented in the 1860s by a frenchman named callaud and became a popular choice for electrical telegraphy.

like electrolytic solutions in ordinary batteries, fruits contain substances such as ascorbic acid, citric acid and nadH (chemical that generates cellular energy). these chemicals act as electrolytes and then undergo electrolysis. electrolysis means a chemical change produced by passing electric current through an electrolyte. the electrons flow from the cathode to the anode through the electrolytes (juice). the cathode is the negative electrode, which could be the copper wire, and the anode is the positive electrode, which could be the zinc wire. this process generates electricity just the same way as a voltaic battery. acidic foods can chemically generate an electric current.

S.Jothimani, M.Marimuthu and M.Paramasivan

Kurukshetra April 2012 4343

india is the largest producer of fruits and the second largest producer of vegetables in the world. at 180 Million Mt/year in 2006-07, the annual production of fruits and vegetables in the country accounted for 18% of the total agricultural production. it is expected to touch 300 Million tonnes by 2011. being fragile, fruit & vegetables are prone to damage by virtue of ambient conditions deterioration also occurs during inevitable transportation from regional and clustered cultivation area to consumption centres. the biological process of ripening also reduces the shelf life of the produce. all this results show that the post harvest losses of about 25 – 40 % of production, leading to low per capita availability of fruits and vegetables in india. during the higher production period with less demand, fruits and vegetables can be used for operating household led clock, calculators and to glow led/lcd lamps.

Citrus Fruit

acidic or citrus fruits are best to conduct or even generate electricity. examples include grape fruit, lime and orange. acid in the fruits reacts with water and generates Hydrogen which is in ionic form and is positively charged (it lacks electrons). the acid takes electrons from the metal wire which is inserted in the fruit. this movement of charge helps in conducting or even generating electricity.

the fruit juice is similar with metals and acids: a small amount of metal dissolves into solution and then there is an equilibrium. but if two different metals (copper and zinc) are inserted into fruits, the more active metal (zinc) bumps the more noble metal (copper) out of fruit solution.

the acidic juice allows a small amount of zinc and copper to dissolve in solution. but the zinc has a stronger propensity to go into solution so it drives the copper back out of solution. the net result is that copper dissolves from the copper electrode and deposits on the zinc electrode. copper metal thus moves from the copper electrode to the zinc electrode (eventually completely coating it) in fruit juice. copper, like all metals (and all materials) has electrons. When the copper dissolves into solution it leaves some of its electrons behind on the copper electrode and dissolves into solution as a positively charged ion, but those electrons that don’t travel through the solution with the copper ions, must travel to the zinc electrode through the wire. this movement of electrons is electrical current. this is what any battery is: two different metals with a conductive solution between them. so it’s not that the orange “produces” electricity, it is that copper plus zinc plus orange juice as the conductive electrolyte make a battery.

as a conductive solution, any electrolyte whether it is an acid, base or salt solution, which become ions when dissolved in water. they dissociate into particles of opposite charges. it is the ions that render the water conductive to electricity. as a matter of fact, the positive ions migrate to the negative electrode and vice versa for the negative ions. the lemon battery works well because the lemon juice is acidic. try the same setup with other types of solutions. as you may know, other fruits and vegetables also contain juices rich in ions and are therefore good electrical conductors.

Kurukshetra April 20124444

like any battery, batteries made from fruits and vegetables have a limited life. the electrodes undergo chemical reactions that block the flow of electricity. the electromotive force diminishes and the battery stops working. usually, the hydrogen produces at the copper electrode and the zinc electrode acquires deposits of oxides which act as a barrier between the metal and the electrolyte. this is referred to as the electrodes being polarized. to achieve a longer life and higher voltages and current flows, it is necessary to use electrolytes better suited for the purpose. commercial batteries, apart from their normal electrolyte, contain chemicals with an affinity for hydrogen which combine with the hydrogen before it can polarize the electrodes.

Electric potential (Volts) in various fruits and vegetables with different

Metals of Electrodes

Fruits Electrodes

Zinc/SteelCopper/

SteelZinc/Copper

Apple 0.27 0.39 0.82

orange 0.29 0.34 0.76

Carrot 0.29 0.31 0.75

Banana 0.26 0.37 0.73

Lime 0.30 0.25 0.71

Tomato 0.30 0.29 0.70

Lemon 0.30 0.33 0.70

Potato 0.23 0.31 0.64

cucumber 0.26 0.29 0.60

the fruit or vegetable that had the strongest current flow was definitely the lemon with 2 micro amps. the least was the red potato with 0 micro amps. in terms of the resistance measured in ohms, the potato had the highest resistance rating with the probes close together with 6.0 to 9.5 ohms. the smallest rating with the probes close together was the banana with a rating of 3.0 to 4.0 ohms. far apart, the highest rating was the banana ranging from 28.0 to 30.0 ohms. the smallest rating with the probes far apart was the apple. it ranged from 10.0 to 19.0 ohms.acidic fruits and

vegetables seem to have a stronger current flow. for resistance, it seemed that the more water in the fruit or vegetable, the less the resistance rating. this is because water is a conductor.

Physical traits such as fruit weight, diameter, colour, firmness, and elasticity. chemical traits were dry matter weight, titratable acidity, pH, and the contents of soluble solids, sugars, lycopene, carotene, and 12 aroma volatiles. a panel of trained assessors quantified sensory attributes: flavour (sweetness and sourness), aroma (overall aroma intensity, together with candy, lemon, citrus fruit, and pharmaceutical aromas) and texture (firmness, meltiness, mealiness, juiciness, and skin difficult to swallow) affect the quantum of electricity produced from fruits and vegetables. the magnitude of electricity generated by the particular fruits / vegetables can be correlated with the concentration of principle chemical compounds present in it. therefore, the magnitude of electricity can be used to quantify / qualify the organic compounds such as organic acids, pigments, aroma, alkaloids and other pharmaceutical chemicals etc present in the fruits and vegetables.

While listening to lessons about chemistry, many students may wonder why it was ever invented, if it was really ever necessary to invent it and if the world would be better off without it. the small experiments that follow are intended to interest these students in the study of chemistry and electrical phenomena. these simple and (it is hoped) interesting experiments can teach the fundamental concepts of electricity and chemistry without asking much of the student. Many of these demonstrations are easily adapted to various configurations and each can be done independently or as part of a full curriculum.

(The authors are from Agricultural Collegeand Research Institute, Agricultural University,Killikulam, Vallanadu – 628 252, ThoothukudiDistrict,TamilNadu,e-mail :subbiahjothimani@gmail.com)

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G lobal Warming is the increase of the earth’s average surface temperature due to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

it may be caused due to climate change, Rapid industrial growth, increased energy consumption, increased carbon dioxide and other green house gas emission. climate change is a broader term that refers to long-term changes in climate, including average temperature and precipitation. Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea level, and change precipitation and other local climate conditions. changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. it could also affect human health, animals, and

caRbon cRedit an enViRonMent MantRa

Dr. R. Amsaveni Mrs. S. Gomathi

many types of ecosystems. deserts may expand into existing range lands, and features of some of our national parks may be permanently altered.

global warming is affecting plants, animals, humans and the earth. We need to learn how to conserve our use of fossil fuels to minimize carbon dioxide production. this will slow down the effects of global warming. the impacts of climate change are not evenly distributed – the poorest countries and people will suffer earliest and most. and if and when the damages appear it will be too late to reverse the process. thus we are forced to look a long way ahead. so our country has introduced

IndiasignedandratifiedtheProtocolinAugust,2002andhasemergedasaworldleaderinreduction of greenhouse gases by adopting Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs). Indiais the second largest provider of CDM project and Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) toannexureIcountries.IndiaisthebeneficiaryasfarascarboncreditsisconcernedandisalsointradingofcarbonproductthroughIndia’smulti-commodityexchange.

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carbon credit trading method for reducing global warming.

Carbon Credit

carbon credit has emerged as an important instrument in the financial market. the primary goal is to reduce emission of green house gases. by permitting allowances to be bought and sold, an operator can seek out the most cost effective way of reducing its emissions, either by investing in cleaner machinery and practices or by purchasing emission from another operator who already has excess capacity.

carbon credits are key component of national and international emissions trading schemes. they provide means to reduce greenhouse effect emissions on an industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and letting the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. these credits can be exchanged between businesses and can be bought or sold at prevailing market prices in international markets. credits can be used between trading partners and around the world to finance carbon reduction schemes. there are many companies that sell carbon credits to commercial and individual customers interested in lowering their carbon footprint on a voluntary basis. this carbon off setters purchase credits from an investment fund or a carbon development company that has accumulated credits from individual projects. the quality of the credits is partly based on the validation process and partly on the sophistication of the fund or development company that acts as the sponsor to the carbon project, the reflection of which can be seen in the price. typically, voluntary units have less value than the units sold through the rigorously-validated clean development Mechanism.

there are two types of market in carbon credit:

l compliance Market (annexure i countries)

l voluntary Market (non-annexure countries)

Kyoto Protocol

a decade ago people started to realize the

global warming and urged to reduce the emission of harmful gases that lead to green house gas that resulting to global warming and many countries came together and signed an agreement named as the Kyoto protocol. the Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement that arose out of the united nations framework concentration on climate change (unfccc) to tackle climate change through a reduction of green house gas emissions. the countries (those listed in annex i) are legally bound to reduce man-made green house gases emissions by approximately 5.2%. individual countries have their own reduction targets outlined in annex b of the Kyoto Protocol. it was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11th december 1997. the main aim of Kyoto protocol is to make stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent air pollution interference with the climate system.

Kyotoprotocol In India

india signed and approved the Protocol in the year of august, 2002. since india is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments. the major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time.

Kyoto Mechanism

Kyoto is a ‘cap and trade’ system that imposes national caps on the emissions of annex i countries. on average, this cap requires countries to reduce their emissions 5.2% below their 1990 baseline over the 2008 to 2012 period.

The types of Kyoto mechanisms are:

l clean development Mechanism

l emissions trading

l Joint implementation (Ji)

Clean Development Mechanism

cdM is a mechanism whereby an annex i party may purchase emission reductions which arise from projects located in non-annex i countries. the carbon credits that are generated by a cdM

Kurukshetra April 2012 4747

project are termed certified emission Reductions (ceRs), expressed in tones of co2 equivalent

CDM Market

the cdM market is like any other commodity market. Majority of the trading is done in the Primary market. the secondary market is not as expanded as the primary mainly because of the high volatility of the carbon prices.

the buyers of ceRs can be broadly classified into:

l compliance buyers

l carbon funds (e.g.: carbon fund of World Bank)

l Traders

Emission Trading

emissions trading (et) is a mechanism that enables countries with legally binding emissions targets to buy and sell emissions allowances among themselves. under an emissions trading system, the quantity of emissions is fixed (often called a “cap”) and the right to emit becomes a tradable commodity. the cap (say 10,000 tones of carbon) is divided into transferable units (10,000 permits of 1 tones of carbon each).

Joint Implementation (JI)

Joint implementation is a project-based mechanism by which one annex i Party can invest in a project that reduces emissions or enhances sequestration in another Annex I Party, and receive credit for the emission reductions or removals achieved through that project. the unit associated with Ji is called an emission Reduction unit (eRu). in simple terms Joint implementation means transfer of emissions reduction at the project level.

Merits and Demerits of Carbon CreditMerits

l better technologies for the company which is benefiting from generation of ceRs.

l technology transfer from developed to developing countries (due to low cost structure in developing countries.

l additional source of foreign investment in developing countries which act as a catalyst in developing cleaner technology.

l cdM funds can be channelized into building or improving project, thus reinvesting it for higher growth.

l development of cleaner technologies leading to sustainable development where countries have strategic advantage from now in the terms of pollution.

l environmental benefit due to lesser gHgs emission.

l Provide carbon funds for emission reduction project implementation,

l Reduce poverty and provide off-grid electricity,

l Provide employment for carbon sequestration,

l boost economic development in rural communities.

Demerits

l Provision of cheapest way of purchasing climate destroying right.

l due to nature and process of complexity involved, foreign players may dominate domestic industries for the incentives if CERs.

l cdM investment could affect national development strategies, possibly adversely affecting national decision making processes. until future commitment periods are agreed, the cdM may not provide incentives for financing long-term development projects and strategies.

l cdM timeframe may not assist long-term development strategies as the timeframe is foreseeable till 2012 only. (Most projects - developed with short term perspective).

l no opportunity for less developed countries under this framework

l still the mechanism leads to developed countries emitting more gHg inspite of their KYoto caps. Historically they are the culprits

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for gHg emissions. the developed countries purchase ceRs rather than finding new ways of reducing emissions by technological development

Carbon Credit in India

india comes under the third category of signatories to unfccc. india signed and ratified the Protocol in august, 2002 and has emerged as a world leader in reduction of greenhouse gases by adopting clean development Mechanisms (cdMs) in the past few years. india is the largest beneficiary country for claiming about 31 % of the total world carbon trade through cdM. it is expected to rake in at least Rs 22,500 crore to Rs 45,000 crore over a period of time and indian companies are expected to corner at least 10 per cent of the global market in the initial year .if india can capture a 10% share of the global cdM market, annual ceR revenues to the country could range from us$ 10 million to 300 million.

Present Status

in india, due to increased population & commercial development, cities are facing problems of MsW (Municipal solid Waste) disposal. the urban population in larger towns and cities in india is increasing at a decadal growth rate of above 40%. there are no sanitary landfill sites in India at present.

various processes/technologies available to reduce the amount of Municipal solid Waste are as follows:

l Physical (a. Pelletisation)

l biochemical (a. aerobic composting b. anaerobic digestion)

l thermal (a. incineration b. gasification)

among the above options/technologies following are considered as favourable to implement in India.

l Pelletisation,

l anaerobic digestion using bio-methanation technology for production of power,

l Production of organic manure using controlled aerobic composting.

India’s Potential

india has 474 projects registered with the united nations, second only to china’s 680. However, in terms of ceRs, india’s share is just 11.63%, while china’s is 58.75%. the indian government has approved more than 1,455 cdM projects which can potentially make Rs 28,000-30,000 crore in export earnings. india has the second largest portfolio with a market share of 12%, trailing only behind china, which has a whopping market share of 61%. india, on its part, has generated around 30 million carbon credits, and approximately 140 million are in pipeline. around 225 indian projects in the fields of biomass, cogeneration, hydropower, and wind power with a potential of 225 million ceRs have been registered. at present, the indian solid waste management market is witnessing tremendous growth. currently it is valued at around $155.56 million (Rs. 728 crores) and is expected to grow at a rate of around 20 to 25% in the next three to five years.

Conclusion

the rising pressure on countries to address climate change has paved the way for the rise of a multimillion dollar international market for buying and selling emissions of greenhouse gases. from the year 2001, the carbon market has captured the attention of indian entrepreneurs. Majority of projects selling carbon credits so far include renewable energy (such as wind power, biomass cogeneration and hydropower), energy efficiency measures in several sectors (such as cement, petrochemicals and power generation) as well as the reduction of industrial gases that contribute to climate change. the carbon credits market is a liquid market as of now.

(TheDr.R.Amsaveni is Associate Professor,and Mrs. S.Gomathi is Research Scholar, inHindusthan College of Arts and Science, BehindNava India, Coimbatore – 641 028, e-mail :amsa_parthi@rediffmail.com and kavingoms@gmail.com)