Kurukshelra

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Vol. XXXI No;, 13

Hay 1.15 1983Re

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Malnutrition:
and how to fig,ht it

The Changing Face of Holambi Kalan village

SHAKTI TRIVEDI

THE FRUiTS OF GREEN REVOLUTION Were reaped by big .dnuentfarmers all over the country, but the small and marginal
farmers who are having 70.5 million holdings of less than one hectare were really deprived of this opportunity. High
yielding seeds, fertilizers and technical know-how of. new cultivation had not reached them. They still adhered to
traditional farming with low yields, high input of iabour and,time.

Our rural development programmes had given a fillip to wakeup small and m"rginal farmers whose contribution could have helped India to become a strong food pow<r.!Under various schemes 'government helped them, surplus
lands Were allotted free, pattas and possessions were handed over, subsidies were poured in but all in vain in the absence
of know-how and technical skills. These small and marginal farmers could not procure the facilities from various
agencies as strongly and organisedly as rich farmers.
Here is a story of a small village of Holambi Kalan of Alipore block of Delhi. Earlier, it consisted of two small
villages known as Holambi Kalan and Holambi Khurd .. 80th villages traced the history of their origin from their
forefather, named Holambi of Jat community. His part of village, called Holambi Khurd, means a habitation for his
own family people and another, Holambi Kalan, for all communities from Tyagi brahmins to Scheduled castes and
refugees from Pakistan etc. Harijans of Holambi K"lan were traditional scavengers and landless labourers since decades. Some of them got government jobs under reserved quota but the meagre salaries were not sufficient to bring up big
families.
Under the Twenty P"int Pcogramme of the Prime Minister, one acre land was allotted to each of such families
in Holambi Kalan in 1975. A chunk of waste land for cattle grazing was given away to them. But the
land of this village was uneven, saline, unirrigated and alkaline. Eleven families got one acre of land each and they
become land-owners. Farmers are known as marginal farmers, they are entitled for more support than small farmers of
two acre holdings. In spite of minor opposition from the caste people they got peaceful possession of their lands and
started cultivation-in
a traditional way. N ,ighbouring farmers were their guides and only millets could be sown
and reaped with seven to ci~ht quintal yields throughout, the year's labour and much hard work.

Surj~ an~ Ri~alo in"their

fields-talking

Creelyabouttbe bcn.;fit~of n,:w techniques being implc~cnted in their fields.

N;

Long. ~truggle on these lands almost proved frilitless.

irrigation facilities were there, lands were low-lying
and salinity was a great hazard to crop-raising. Ultimately a group of scientists from Pusa Institute of.Jndian Council
of Agricultural Research came to .their rescne. The problems were. noted, thrashed out and systematically solved.
Irrigation wate~ channels and pipes were laid down and water-stress technique from the upper side was used to bleach
out the. salt.inthe. depth "of '.soils. The upper strata' Decame fertile to grow the crops like wheat and rice. Gypsum
and other chemicals were not used to treat the saline lands. 'Thi; was the cheapest technique though it took a litt\' :
If'll~er time.to~reclaim the soils.
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Cover III)

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Editorial

No. 16
May 1,1983.
Vaisakha 11, 1905

Hurukshelra

(India's Journal of rural development)

CONTENTS,
4

MALNUTRITION:

AND.HOW TO FIGHT IT
Laxmi Devi A ehanta

IMPACT

OF RURAL ELECTRIFICA.
nON : A STUDY
D. P. Sharma and A. Venkateswara Rao

12

THE TARGET STIU:ET

Ani! C. Shah

14

EDUCATION

17

I.R.D. PROGRAMME

21:

: WHY 110 MORE

GffiLS DROP OUT
G. Ravindran. Nair
IN V.P. HILLS
C. S. Adhikari

TIIE WAY ...

, 'THEY.SHOW

EDITOR
RATNA JUNE.fA

ASSTT. EDITOR
N.

N.

SHARMA.

SUR,EDITOR
~AP.AMJEET G. SING1;

COVER
M.

M.

PARMAR

Enquirie!; regarding Subscriptions, Agencies, etc

R~lsin~~ Manager. Publi~8tion~DivMon.
,:I:Patiala HouS('. New Delhi.110001
. Tel: 387983
Editorial Office: Krisbi Bhavan, Ncn' DeJhi41l0001
Telephones:

UTRITJOUS
FOOD is essential for the healthy growth
of children and is of paramount importance in
fostering the physical, mental, social and emotional
, well-being of human beings. Malnutrition adversely
affected physical and mental development of an individual. The problem of malnutrition in India is acute
and widespread. It is most serious among growing
,children and pregnant and lactating mothers. The
_ ~uses of malnutrition in our country are not far to
-;seek. But the most important is the widespread
poverty of the masses, particularly in the rural areas
where the majority continue to live below the poverty
. "line and are hardly able to manap;e two meals a day.
Their struggle is struggle for sheer existence, the quality
of existence hardly matterS.
'"

Another cause of malnutrition in our country is the

'.
ignorance of what balanced and nutritious diet .is.
Traditional beliefs and superstitions, some of which are
definiiely h1rmful, have such a hold on our minds that
even those who could afford nutritious food also continue with conventional' food habits inherited from
parents. Not much thought is given to the llUtrition
aspect of foods taken. Even less care is taken to know
and utilize locally a"ailable foods.
'The drive to fight mainutrition ill this 'cou~try has to be
two-pronged: one, to produce trior" ~o tha~ we' j,a~e
enough.
, food for all our. people and ..second, to inform
and, educate the. people aboul. the importance' of a
,nutritionally balanced diet.
.

Till such time there is enough .food"for all seCtions of

,
.
the society, we. must make', it sure .that atleast the
vrilm!rable sections of the society afeable io get' nutritious food. Schem~ like ilie mid,d~y' ~~al ;ch~~~ for
~hiidren, thoup;h ~ot a permanent sojuti~n, do:help in
fighting the bane' of malnutrition .. A ~onc~rteddrive
has, to be made. by the Central, the Slate Governments
and oth.er agencies concerned to educate the people
about the value of nutritions food. It should be made
sure that the information imported to the people is such
as can be gainfully utilised by them in their day-to-day
life. .1
,

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384&88 & 382406

Editor's Re~idence: 615920

SINGLE COPY: Re. 1

SUBSCRIPTION

FOR ONE YF.AR.: Rs. 20

. JJi this issue we carry an informative study on the sul:>ject of malnutrition and how to fight it. We hope our,
readers will find it quite u~eful,

,.

Malnutrition !
and how to fight it
LAXMI DEVI ACHANT A
Asstt. Prof., ,College of Home Science. A. P. Agrl. University. Hl'deraba

NUTRITION
in childhood and throughout the ,
The interaction of the effect produced by the social
life span is of paramount importance in fostering
factor and the individual factor is. what ultimately
the physical, mental,. emotional and social growth of
results in malnutrition.
Populations. Food habits are the outcome of the sum '
Jelliffe (1962), Simpson (1963) have traced the
-total 'of the influences exeited by numerous activities,
. causes of malnutrition to poverty, ignorance, tradithoughts, sentiments and beliefs; on the food practices .of.a group or' community. Food is thus intima- I tional beliefs, unhygienic and insanitary ccnditions,
insufficient utilization of local low cost and easily
!ely woven into the life fabric of the society.
available foods, wastage of foods and nutrients
What people. eat depends on many factors, includthrough unsatisfactory and improper cooking m!,thods,
ing the availability of food. Food is not only someundesirable food habits and fads. According to the
thing to eat and satisfy. hunger, but also the symbol
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the U.N., FAO
of social status, prosperity .or poverty and the focus
(1962) lack of knowledge of the simplest facts oC
of emotional associations of love and hate, pleasure
nutrilion is at the root of the most of. the causes of .
and pain and satisfactions and disappointments. Man
malnutrition.
is a. social being. He' is born into . a culture: His
:
early childhood 'experiences are conditioned by the
Malnutrition adversely affects mental developcustoms, traditions and. mores of his society. Con. ment, physical development, productivity and the span
sequently biological hunger is transformed into. cul- "
of working years all of which significantly influ'ence the
tmally determined appetite and socially patterned
economic potential of man.
.
practice. Therefore, nutrition cannot be considered in
isolation.
Malnutrition during the foetal period and in infancy

OOD

Food habits are the 'outcome of the Sum total of

varied influences-thoughts,
sentiments, beliefs and
.clivities in a.group or community. Food habits iIidicate not only the practices in selecting, comhining,
cooking and eating food but also the psychological,
emotional and soCial values of food.
Seventy per cent of India's population live in the
rural areas. Their food practices are deeply rooted in
their oolrure, which controls the choice and use of
food. While income, food' availability,' homi, food
production and marketing facility influence the food
preferences of the individual,. customs and traditions
dictate the manner in which food should be procured,
stored, cooked,' served and eaten. EventuaUy distinctive food preferences and prejudices are formed.

is associated with intellectual impairment. Although

the significance is not fully understood, severely malnourished children have brains smaller than average
size, and have been found to have 15-20 per ce';:,t}
fewer brain cells than well nourished children.
Malnutrition contributes to poor performance, to low
aspiration to higher educational levels and to substantial student drop-out rate often found among the
poorly fed sections of the population.

.Malnutrition : concept and the causes

THEbeen handed down for different

generations. The following
?TETARY

HABITS

of

communities

KURUKSHETRA

have

May 1, 1983

complex components of the human factor derived

from generations appear to govern nutritional behahavioUf.
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1. Ueligion.-Religion
and caste system play an im. portant role in determining the .choice of foods. People belonging to certain castes like Brahmins have
prejudice against flesh foods and even eggs on account
of religious sanctions against such foods. Even among
the flesh foods, it is common knowledge that certain
sects do not take beef while certain other sects avoid
pork. Some persons avoid taking flesh foods on certain holy days.
,
Children look forward to the feStival days with
great appetite. There are many ceremonies, feasts
and fasts with appropriate seasonal food preparations'
and connotations. Food has religious significance.from
birth to funeral. In many cultures, religious beliefs
<)ictate methods of food preparation also.
. '2.' Prestige and slatus symboIS.-Foods
are an expression of wealth, prestige and social status in all
cultures. There are foods and dishes for poor people
and rich people, demonstrating' wealth or poverty.
Prestige demands that one should have rare and costly
items of food. Thus, the foods that are grown in
abundance and available free of t cost, such as drumstick leaves and foods which are, less expensive,such
as greens, papaya, plantain and amIa are regarded
with disdain.

(ii) . consuming water after eatirig cuStard apple

wonld neutralise the poison in the 'fruit.
.
4. Food 'preparations and menu planning were also
influenced by seasous because of certain beliefs
attached to the effects of these food items in
.different seasons. In' cold months which include both the winter and rainy seasons, such
foods as eggs, meat, fish, roti, redgram, bengal.
gram, papaya frUit etc. were considered as heatproducing articles. During the cold seasons,
green leafy vegetables, brinjal, lime, butter milk
etc. were considered .undesirable because 'they
were considered to induce cold and diarrhoea.
5...Breastmilk was highly valued and considered
uuequalled by any other food with regard' to its.
nutritional value to infants. Breastmilk colostrum was usually not given and the infant was
put to the breast only on the third day. It was believed that colostrum induces diarrhoea and was
considered. as harmful, being equivalent to. pns
and blood. Before the child was put to !hi,
breast, a purgative usually castor oil was given
to get rid of all the dirt and toxic matter in the
stomach of'the child.
Since breast-feeding was a prolonged phenome~. non and considered adequate for children as
long as the milk was' available, no great im...., parlance was attached to any supplementary
feeding.
n

Studies by National Institute' of Nutrition indicate

that the mid-day school lunch programme has not
. Qeen received very kindly by some of the prestigeconscious villagers. "Why should our children .eat
the yellow com or maize upma a/ld drink powder milk
when we prodnce the best rice ahd possess the highest
milk-yielding bufialoes in the village?"-is the constant
refrain one hears, for which there is no answer.
.
3'; Food belieis.- The several 'food' beliefs and attitndes towards foods entrenched, in our communities
have an immense role to play. ,
Some belief systems in food of the Tdugo-speaking
people of the Telengana region are :-

1. Foods of animal origin were regarded as. desirable for their 'strengthenmg' properties by most
of the. communities except Brahmins and
Komaties.
'
2. Eggs were considered as hairnful daring illness, .
dnring pregnancy, lactation', for infants and for
those sufiering from skin. diseases. Egg was
blamed for inducing boils and digestive disturbances specially in summet.
3. Certain food combinations were considered incompatible and nnwholesome, while others were
considered suitable and wholesome, e.g., (i) Egg
and snakegourd were considered as poisonous;

KURUKSHETRA

6. Likewise the belief is held that with the onset

of another pregnancy the mother should not
breast-feed the previous infant ..
7. The foods that were taboo during pregnancy
were eggs, papaya,horsegram soup, jaggery and'
plantains.
It Is ironical that these beliefs and taboos are usuaf~
ly directed against the most vulnerable groups.
. 4. Social status and family cohesiveness.-F ood
distribution depends upon the status, role and interpersonal relationship among the members of the
,. family rather than on their nutritional needs. The
seuior" and earning male members are served first
and are also given the best diet both in .quantity and
quality while the vulnerable segments namely the children and women of child-bearing age get the leftovers;'
S. Influence of the head. of the family.- The
head of the family inflnences the family dietary pat-:
tern directly by making all the purchases hinrself' or
iI).directly by making his tastes known so that the'
",omen of the house are forced to cook foods of his
choice.
.
In matters of child -feeding and the diets of pregnant and lactating women, mothers, mothers-in-law
and grand-mothers often have authority. The older

May. 1, 1983
5'

\Vomen's decisions as to the diet or the Ilregnant, or

lactating women and how she' should feed her baby
tells npon the nutrition of the vulnerable segments of
the population and sometimes the consequences may
even be fatal.
Eating habts also have a taste base. When ADT-27,
a new variety of rice was introduced in Madras, people
disliked it because of the sticky and glutinous nature,
especially when it was used as "cold rice".

. 8. Publicity and deliv~ry cbolces.-A well ol'banised

commercial publicity campaign can influence significantly dietary choices.' For instance, vanaspati which
was practically unknown iI! our country two decades
back bas now come to occupy a significant place in the
dietary pattern of our people.

6. Yalue systems.-It
is observed from National
Institute of Nutrition studies that even among the SOcalled better-off families, it is the quantity and not
the quality of the food that increases with wealth. The
expenditure on food is similar in both the apparently
better-off classes and the low socia-economic groups.
More value is placed on' gold, transisters, houses'
and watches than on food.
7. Impact' of urbauismion.- There is a great deal of
influence of urban practices over rural practices.
Rural mothers resort to milk powders like Amul to
supplement breastmilk when the need arises, which
they would never have done ten years ago. Unfortunately, the milk given is much more diluted than
the ordinary buffalo's milk would have been, with disastrous results. A good breakfast of staple diet, taken
early in the morning before going to work has been
replaced by tea and coffee, sometimes followed by
light snacks in the dietary of the young rural men.,
Even weaning infants are given tea or coffee instead
of milk.
A few years back with the rural groups in our country ,several millets such as jowar and bajra were popular. ' When some of the rural populatlon"migrated to
towns in search of industrialemploymeil.i, they fOl'nd
that their urban colleagues consumed rice. Use of rice
was thought to confer prestige and hence the migrants
also started consuming rice.
, Thus what would have been adequate at least in
calories is now reduced to ai great extent leading to a
l<Dweringof their nutritional status.

9. Other s(lcial and economic faclors.-In

many
families both the parents wonld be workmg full time,
from morning till evening. This necessitates leaving
an infant or a pre-school child in tire care of an older
child whose age may range anything from 6 years
upto eleven or twelve. The mother has to depend on
this older sibling who is herself a child, to feed and
look after the youngest in the family. The consequences can be well imagined.
.
Sometimes the woman goes for every delivery to
her mother's house. She does not always take the
older sibling, invariably a pre-school child with her.
In her absence, the child may not be taken care of
and there are in9tances of such children who have
developed some comlications later on.
In general, a mother is concerned about her whole
family and not one single individual. For instance
she delays taking a child to the hospital because
she cannot afford to spend more time on one child.
, 1'0. Family size.- The greatest source of development of a nation is its people. India has the second
largest population in the world (nearly 684 million),
aIthougll it occupies only 2.4 per cent of the world's
land area. Children in large families are more affected by this problem than their counterparts in the
smaller family. The smaller the family, the better is
the nutritional st,.tus. Limitation of family size increases the quantum of food available to each member of the family. Limited income is better utilized
when the family size is small. The calorie and protein intake and nutritional status of 125 pre-school
children from families of varying size is given in the .
following table.

Table 1
Calorie intake, protein intake, nutritional status of children 1-5

years and family size

Calories

Protein

Mean weight
in kg.

10 .J

95
100

93 .0

13 .J

66

88

Medium (25 f!l1l1ilies, 4 to 3 children)

78

Small (45 fami.Iies, 2 children or ~ess)

90

6.

Mean height
in em.

.
811'9

Large (55 families, 5 or more children)

Source:

Nutritional status

Percentage of requirement .

Family size

83.0

11 '6

Ref. 10, p.68

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KURUKSHETRA

May 1, 1983

),

The study' 'revealed that, children' from the families

of small size (below 5) had'a beller nutritional status
i~ terms of h~ight 'and weight than children from the
. large-sized families ( above 5). 111e children ~from,,'
. small-sized families had lesSer' evidence of clinical de. ficiency than' children from large families.
11. Education.-'--Ignoranc~ is perhaps the mOot im~.
., portant single factor underlying malnutrition, particularly among infants and children of the better-of!.
fanlilies. Some. of, the igno;ant nutrition practices. in
existence are:
'
1. .Routine use of laxatives such as castor oil and
milk of magnesia;
2. Us~of gripe water and. tonics at heavy expenditure which can easily pay for less expensive but
mOre nutritious foods;
,
3. starVing in prolonged' fevers like ,typhoid
other illnesSes;

and .

4. Exclusion ot curdS llnd cert~in frnitli for fear of

bringing colds Imd coughs;
5. The belier that', nutritious foods such as dal,' egg,
meat; groundnut;' bengalgram . and green' leafy
vegetables will cause indigestion.

Food!! for the pregnant woman

HE NEED. FOR extra nutrients during. pregniincy is

. hardly realised in, many communities. On the. contrary, a pregnant wOll).an'sdiet is restricted both qualitatively and quantitatively thus precipitating nutrition
deficiencies like anad:ua.
Foods of .animal origin
like milk which is so very essential is denied because
of the firm belief that !foetus may become too big causi)ig diffi.cult'labour .. Eggs, jaggery and. papaya, which
are considered to be 'hot' foods are forbidden for fear
of abortion. BananaS' are thought to result in 'one
child' sterility and hen~ are not allowed.

For ,the. first few days after .delivery, the woman's

.food consists of rire, ehillie powder and garlic. Brin~
jal and maize are, completely forbidden for fear of
women being affected by paralysis of the lower limbs.
) Foods like goat's udder,. spinach, dry fish and a 10eally available tuber called 'Palagadda' (palak) are
considered to increase the breastmilk supply and eaten
. by the lactating. women of 'I;,elengana rellion.
'
.

.Foods like eggs and meat are thought to produce

jaundice oedema and considered unsuitable for the
delicate stomach of the child. Citrus fruits, buttermiIKana'curds were forbidden for fear of cold. and dall
f~r {ar of diarrhoea..
. .
r
.
In Ingian culture; 'hot' . and 'cold' foods are an
Important concept. 'This concept of 'hot'or 'cold' is
not in tenns of 'the temperature,. but in the sense
.,thAt some foods;' such as biinjal .and tamarind,
'produce 'heat' in the body and, therefore, deemed.'
suitable f<:>rcertain conditions, such as colds. Similarly, 'cold' foods 'produce' "cooling effect". Therefore, they. are "good'" for conditions that. requir~
cooling, such as' the summer heat.
, Foods have different priorities depending on whether it is served io infants, sick children, girls during'
puberty or pregnant women. Some food are also
ascribed 1lledicrnal values.

Socio~economic status and mortality

fact that the socio-eConomic and.
.' environmental. conditions of families have great
effect on the morbidity and mortality of children in
early age.
.
'IT

IS AN ACCEPTED

Datta Banik et al. (1969; IndianJ. of Med. Res:,

57,948) observed: that the morbidity and' mortality of
. children increases as one. goes' down from higher to
low socio-economic status of the families and also from
better to worse. environmental conditions at home. It
. was also observed that the literacy level of the mother
.'had positive relationship with the morbidity and mortality of children ..

I
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May 1, 1983 .

'

Roods like eggs',' chicken, fish, pucks, maize, roti,

redgram, bengalgram and frnits like' papaya and
tlibers like colacasia are supposed to be heat pro'ducing' or 'hot' foods.' All the fruits and vegetables
-wifu a high moisture content like the members of the'
'citrus and melon families, gourd family, green leafy'
vegetables and certain other foods like 'ragi' porridge
with buttermilk and curds in it 'are considered io be
'cold' foods: Goat's meat and riee are eaten in all the
seasons because they ate .considered to be n(l~tral.

In a longitudinal study at the WHO-aided _ project

in. the 23 villages around P?lghar, very interesting and
useful infonnation was gathered on the changes in the
The mothers are against early supplementation 'ad- .
. 'nutritional status of'the under-fives. All the, children
. vocated by nutritionists i'.e. af about 6 months, because
in the villages were covered an.d fqllowed up.
they feel such early supplementation results in. potbelly, thin hands and' legs' and indigestion. Most of '
the children, however". are' given loeally available
Delayed introductiop of solids
. biscuits from the ;fourth 'or fifth month onwards, a
.
.
'"
point to be remembered .when we advocate cheap inT WAS OBSERVED
that 50.6 per cent of the chilqren
fant weaning foods.
. .
who had wei!,:ht agove 80 per cent of the' reference
KURUKSHETRA

,.

in.' June, 1973, deteriorated in. their nutritional status , 12.5 per celit and 2Q.0 per cent respectively in urban
families.
in May, 1974. On analy~is, it was found that a Il1ajo. . rity of 'those who lost-weight were,children iii the ageAn .inverse relationship was observed between the
group of 1-,-2. years, During the previous year;
period of spacing and prevalence of moderate or severe'
they had 'been breast-fed and had normal nutrition.
.malnutritioJ!. When spacing of 'children was one year
Delayed ihtroduction of semi-solids and solids was it
'Or less; there were 1.9 times as' many moderate and
.factor that caused nialnutrition. It was obseivedthat
. severely, malilOurished ,childrenas_. when the period
ouly'1/3rd of the urban and 1.8 per cent of rural ., between births was three to' four years in the urban as
children were given semi-solids during six to eight
well 'as rural groups.
months of age while 10 percenl of urban and 50.9 per

cent or rural ninemonths-old wer<;not given any semi.!;VAS OBSERVEDthat 85.2 per cent of the families
solids. Introductiol) of semi-solids is governed by beliefs
of malnourished children in villages were nuclear and
. and customs.
their mothers were economically active and unable to
. attend personally ~o their children. More the time spent'
for household work lesser is the child care given by
Diluted supplementary feed~

the moiher which results in malnutrition and increased'

EEDs'WHENPREPAREDout of milk ~~~hased from .. . frequency of. diseases lile diarrhoea.
'
.,
.
a.vendor or buffalo's and cow's milk 'are 'excesAbout 96.2 per cent of.the fathers and 85.2 per cenf
sively diluted. Many a time excessive' dilution conti-'.
of.the mothers of such.Cases were economically active,.
nues for
prolongcd' period. In a stuay on feeding
-The average jobless period per year wa~ two months
practices in 9 months old' infant. in Bombay and
,for fathers arid four m~nths for mothers. Jobless spells
villages, it was observed: that 40,8 per cent of ihe
were also periods' of semi-starVation for entire families'
urban. and 13 per cent of the rural infants' 'received
and especially ,young children since for the most' part,
diluted milk: In 42.5 'per cent of the' urban 'situations
the habit of saving did not exist or 'there was nothing
dilulion was ac~v';sedby, doctors. The grandmothers into save.
.,
(
.
. fiuenced dilution in l7pcr
cent of urban and 21.7
per cent of the rural infants. 40 per cent of ,the urban
It was interesting to' note that the velocity of weight
and 60.5 per' cent.of .the rural mothers thought of dilugain in the children in villages around Palghar was
ting the. milk on their own.
.
maximum from January.to April; after thatit- gradually'
declined to negative side during summerfrom.April to
All the milk powder tins mcntion that one' measureJilly:
"
.
ful of powder 'should be added 10 one ounce of Wilter.
In practice, the parents do not have an ounce measure
The negative velocity of weight .gain was more evi~.
at home and above 80 per cent of the feeding. bottles
dent in the girls than :boys ouly, during the su.mmer'pe.used in the. community were 'rnedicine' or 'tonic' botriod of a year, which might he due to social attitudes
tles as tllose empty bottles were available aLhomes. Un- .
tow.frds girls particularly during adverse situations of
hygienic conditions and improper sterilization of bot- - shortages. resulting into neglect in their feeding. r:n
. tics contribute to gaslro-enteritis. The mother or grand,
96.2 per cent of the families of malnutrition cases 11'.6
mother attributes it to.concentrated milk forniula which
per cent of the family's income was spent on alcohol.small i'Mant is not 'tolerating'. Tiley further dilute the
milk which results in marasillus. Hence, a .vici~ cycle
HIMMAYAMMA
ET AL, in a study on nutritional
continues.
'changes in. India over' a deCade (1961-1974)

observed that' (i) there. is a shift in the occupational

At the Kasa project in tribal villages about 80 perstatus
which assured the 'community regruar monthly
ccnt of the mothers were ,,;orking and 57.4 per cent of
income,
(ii) an ,improvement in .the type of housing,
.their children were looked. after by child-moth~r subselectricity,
transport and communication faciliti<;s, (iii),
titutes who themselves were lJ1lder six years of age.
amarked
improvement
ill the educational status, (iv)o
About 48.4 per cent of. children who were cared by
an
increase.
in'
the
production
of food items such as
.mother- snbstitutes were below two years. of age. When
.
cereals
and
milk
.
'.the children were .looked after by ihe mothers or,
. elderly -mother substitutes; the prevalencc of severe'
Despite these improvements on effective increase in
malnutrition, was 8.5 per cent and 21.3 per ccnt res: .
the 'real' income. was not seen due to a three-fold inpectively.
.
crease in the prices of comniodities. As a result, th"
diet' did not show much. improvement except for an
There was a -significant rela'tionship between size of
increase in the intake of milk (mostly because of ,the
_-family and nutritional status of young children. The
increased availability) as reflected in the intake of cal<
percentage of children weighing 70 per cent 'or less .of
, cium. The. nutritional status remained essentially unthe referen'ce..weiglit \Vas.46.2 per cent in small' and
(Contd. on p. 16) .
(j2.5 per cent in large faniilies iti rural community'and

~.

KURUKSHETRA

May 1, 1983

"

'

.
,

,Impact of rural electrification:

of . ,

is indispensable for any sector

economy. As economieS progrcss, the demand for
'electric power will go up and it necessitates slructural
changes in power sector. Renewed emphasis on, power
sector in Indiim plannirig has brought"structtira1 break-'
through in generation and utilisation of power. Rural
electrification programme has emerged
an important
area in the field of electricity, economies. Of late, -it is
recognised in India that, the rural electrification has
been an important and' most powerful instrument' for
transforming the traditional ecouomy into a progressive economy.
. .,
."LECTlUc POWER

as

The'inunediate impact, of electrification on agricul- '

hire maybe noticed mUle increased area under-irrigation. An assured irtigation for cultivation relives the
anxiety of. the farmers who otherwise have to depend'
on dependable rains. Diversification of the cropping'
pattern and intensification of cultivation naturally
follow irrigation. The yield Per acre increases. Higher
yield offers opportunities for .more employment and "
better woikingconditions: Thus, electricity can transforin backwj1rd agricultural economy into a prosperous
one.

'

, .D,P.SHARMAandA.
VENKATESWARARAO
SOO !Uislmadevaray,; University. Ananlapur (A.P.)

.,

a study

4 To work out the, inlpact of rural electrification

on agricultural income of the selected farmers.

Methodology

T'

HE STUDY :WAS' CONDUCTED in '5 cluster villages of

Singananiala Block in Anantapur district of Andhra
Pradesh. Farmers numbering 65 out of 58p were
selected on the basis of stratified proportionate random
sampling.. The stratification of farmers was d.9ne according to the ,size of holdings. 'Dms 3 different categories of fat'Il}ers hav,e been selected as

'1. Small farmers having below

holdings.

5, acres of land

2. Mediuni farmers--between

5 and 10 acres, and

3. Large farmers--above'10

acres of land. '

The data have, been collected from the farm,ers

through a pretested questionnaire and it pertains to the
, years before electrification and afte~ electrification. The
study covers a period of 4 years frolll 1975 to 1979.
!

Objectives of the ,study

T
'
HE
has been, focuSs'ed to analyse '
T the impact of. rural electrification on' agriculture, in
'PRESENT

STUDY

Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh. The main and

, specific objoc,tives are as follows.
1 To assess the extent of 'additional area brought
- under irrigation due to rural 'electrification.

'F'1

2 To 'study the impact of

electrification on
agricultural productivity and production.
.. ~ .
_.
, 3 To estimate the amount of net returns obtaiii.-,'
,ed from agriculture through rural electrificac
, tion.
.

'\

KURUKsHETRA

of 'the 65 cultivators in the

" 'selected villages was 519.85 acres of which 372-70"
acres were meant fot dry farming and 147.15 were irrigated by wells. ,Thus less than on<>-third of tbe total
land-holding was under 'irrigation in the year 1974.
The total land-boldiJig remains unchanged. But after
'tbe supply Of electricity to these villages many wells,
which were unused because of low-water level in summer have now been put to use. ,It-was repcrted that
'about 35.00 per cent of'the total dry land was uncultivated fallow, where nothing was groWn: After electrification ,this laud has been brought under cultivation as
may be seen in Table 1. Now more than 50. per cent
of the land rec"eives irrigation and tbus used for cultiHE'LAND-HOLDING

May. 1, 1983

As a result of extension of irrigation facilities the

- gro;s cropped area in all the villages has also increased.
, The co-efficieut of correlation between irrigation aud ,
woss 'cropped area is very high. This indicates the' fact
that increase in gross irrigated area' after electrification j
is an account of Mal electrification.: This fact i~ :>Iso ~
corroborated by the increase in the number of wells
..
Electrification, has thus' brought about a qualitative'
and the increase iu the number of electric pumpsets in
'.
L'le,village. 1t is evident from the table that the perchange in the land hoklings in the villages. It is a
centage of wet land to the 'total land was 28.30. Before
source of real earnings for .the land-holders. Average
electrification the' same' has increased to 53.08 perland holding in the selected villages ranges between 3.08
cent iifter electrification in the 'selected villages. The
'acres and 1!l.35 acres. But prior to electrification the
increase inlVea under irrigation was ranging from
actual average wet land holding in use ranged between a
17.90 per cent in Ammavaripeta to 33 per, cent, in
1.53 and 2.86 acres. ,The average wet Jand~holding"
actually in use now ranges between 3.43 acres and 5.22 n
Neelampalli.
.
acres as may be seeu from the table.
'
,

vation .. The farmers of Anunavaripeta village are the

greatest beneficiaries of the rural dectrification programme .as about 93 per cent of its totiU land is now
under irrigation; The next village is Janthulur which
has now about 86 per cent of its land under irrigation.
gation.
t

Table 1

Area under Irrig~~i~D in Sample Land~holdjDg ~eroreand after electrification

iielore

No. of
culli-

Village under study

S.
No.

varors

I .

Crease

10 20,65
15 108"60
11 27 '90
" 14' 146.90
15 68'65

1. Amma'Varipeta
2.
3.
4.
5.

Bukkarayasamudram
Jarithulur
NeehimpaUi.
Reddipa1li
"

'6S 372 '70

Total

'A' ,

land

Percen-

in area
under.
tage
(10 to 9) irriga.

Total
land

(6 to 5)

lion

(9--,-5)
,S

Wet

Dry
land

Percentage

Total
land

"
1

In-

After E~ectrification

Electrification

Wet
land

Dry
' land

(in' acres) .

38'OS
17.40
46'25 154'85
48,40
20'50
40'06 '''186 ,90
91,64
,23'00
147.15

, Agricultural productivity

OF THE ' developments described-' in.

preceding' an.illssis, the productivity in respect of
different cropS has also gone up. Th6 productivity" per
a~re in respect of paddy has gone np by 33.33 per
cent as may be seen from, the Table 2 given
below.
.
S A RESULT

11

9
"
38.05
35.30
74,75 J54 .85
41 ',40 48 '40
73.00 186'90
51 :50 91.65

48.27
85'53
.39 ,05
56.19

17.90
28 '50
20.90
33'00
28 ,50

243 .90 ' 275 '95 519'85

53'08

128.80

'. 8
2.75
45-72
29,86 ' 80'10
7.00
~2'35
21 '40 113 '90'
40.15
. 25,09

519'85

28.30

12

11

crops per acre has gone

'cent respectively.

~pby

n'7}

5.55 and 10,00 per

.-As a result of electrification the production. of.

(

aU
major cross has gone up. The total food production in
..the sample -villages has increased by .70.22 per cent
over '1974. The change in ",roduction of major crops
for the sample villages is shown in the following Table.

, Table 3
Agricultural

P.rodnl'tlvity (S~ple)
'(In Quintals

. s,

Crop

, No:

Before
Electrification

Distr,!bntion of' PrOdnctlon of Major Crops (Sample)

per

acre)

After

' Percentage
Eleclrifica~ of Change
lion

11.25
2,5

15.00
3,00

:;'33 '33
+20:00

3. Ragi .

4,50

4.75'

'-1'5 .55

4. Korta

1'50

I. Paddy
2. Groundnut

.1.65

+10'00

The prodnctivity.of
groundnut crop per acre
after electrificationc has ,increased by 20.00 per, &ntas
shown in table. Though .the area ,in 'which Ragi and
Korra are cultivated'in SJ!1all,theproductivty of these
10

(In Qaintals)

S.

"c.rop --

No.

. Before
After .. Percentage
, Electrifica~ .. Electrifica~ of'ehange
don
tion

I. Paddy

2,291.03

4,702 .50

',+ 105 .25

2; Gtoundnut

1,042.86

1,100 .70

. +5 '55

144 '00

149 .14

+3 ,57

3. 'Ragi
4. Kotra
Total

36,30'
3,514.19

29.70
5,982 .04

.Iiol

'-18.l8.
+70.22

.., ih~ '~bl" :sho~ that the prodnctiori, of padd~ before

electrification was 2291.03 qnintals. After' electrifica-,
KURUKSHETRA

May 1, 1983 '

tion, the prodnction of paddy has registered an increase

of 105.25 per cent. The groundnnt production in the
Ilre~electrification period was 1,042:86 quintals, 'wh~,e
a. it sJoowed an increase of 5.55. per cent after electrification. The Ragi 'production has registered an increase
f 3.57 per cent over the ,pre-electrificatioa
period.
Korra production has decrea,lid by 18.18 per cent after
electrification.

Table 4
/Iiet Return
Crop

Befor.e

'.

4. Korra
TOTAL

, . "Increase in net return

DATA

are paddy, groundnut, Ragi and Korra.With an increase in produdlivity the net return per acre has also
increased. The net return for average cultivators from' '
d crops was Rs. 1,125.00 before electrification. The
net return has increased to :B.s. 1,900.00 registering an
increase of 68.88 per cent. The details in 'respect of
the net retum 'per acre of different crops are given
below.

Percentage
of Increase

lion

After
Elec/rifica~
tion

325'00
350.00
250'00
200'00

600.06
550.00
400.00
350'00

+84'61
+57'14
+60'00
+75'00

1,900' 00

+68'88

E/ectrifica-

1. Paddy
2. Groundnut
3. Ragi

from the 65 cultivators in the

T, pIe villagescollected
show that the food crops they grow
HE

(Sample)
(Rupees/acre)

S.
.-No.

The major cropped prodllction is paddy, which explains how irrigation has helped in raising moce than
one crop during the year.
"

from Agriadlure

1,125'00

The table shows that there is an increase in net return from ,the prindpal crops in the sample study. The
net'return from an acre of Paddy has registered an increase of 84.61 per cent and it is 57.14 per cent in
the case of 1J'0undilUt. Similarly the net return from
rag! crop has increased by 60.00 per cent and Korra
by 75.00 per cent.

Impact on agricultural income

o KNOW the total income from agriculture, data was

collected from the selected 65 farmers. The details
about the average annual mcome from cultivation before ,and after' electrification are given below.

, Average Annual income from -Agr!cuIture (Sample)

(In Rupees)
S.
No.

Category of [rmers

,farmers

1. Smail Farmers
2. Medium

Total no. of .

(0~5: acreS)

Farmers

(5""::""10acre~)

3. Large Farmers '(more than 10 acres)

Total

The average incOme in the case of large farmers has

registered the highest Percentage of increase (251.15
per cent) of which shows that the advantage of rural
electrification and consequent moderillsation of agriculture has been reaped by this class of farmers to the
maximum extent. This also points out (l) the need for
a close attention and' (2) the need for development of
~all and medium farmers. What is surprising is the
lowest increase
the income of the medium cultivators. Most of the medium farmers belong to lhe'middle
strata in the caste system and' probably were not given
all the loan .facilities for the purchase of implements or
fertilizers. Added to this for every' agricultural operation they have to depend on the' hired labour which
increased the cost of cultivation.

in

Before Elec/rifacation

33
15

3;201 .18
5,215 .95

17

9,135 .10

65

17;652.23

URUKSHETRA

May 1; 1983

Percentage
of increase

9,734 .02

+204'08

, 14,042'68
32,078 .79

+164'16

55,855 .49

+251 '15
+216 .42

The study reveals that the area under cultivation has

increased due to electrification in the selected villages.
It also revealed that the percentage of wet land to total
land has increased from 28.30 to 53.08' acres due to
electrification. The '~gricultural productiViiy has also
improved particularly in paddy and groundnut. The impact of eledlrification could also be observed from the
study on-,the net 'returns from agriculture. The net
return from one' acre of paddy increased !)y 84.6 per
cent while in case of groundnut it increased by 57.1
per cent.' Thus the electrification has played a great role
in transfonning the traditional agrictilture U;to a profitable o.ccupation benefiting all sections .of the farmers in
the seleced villages.
'
.
'
.

"")."

,,

After Eiectri~
fication

The target street

ANILe. SHAH
Secr~., Rural Development, Govt. of Gojarat

~
T is

t1}e same village thiIt 1 had visited dozens of

times earlier as a Project Officer, where 1 had also
stayed for 7 days at a stretch to know more intimately
the Ufe style of the people and to work for its improvement. Somehow it had not apparently changed much
except more children and some pucca houses were seen. .
1 had selected Sendarada for my visit not only because
1 had some. special relationship with that village, may
be couple of decades before, but. also because it was
not connected by a good road. It was out of .the way
and therefore 1 thought it would give me better idea
of how the anti-poverty programmes were working in
the dislrict. . 1 had asked the meeting to be organised
in the Harijan locality.
'''-

The Extension Officer initiated the discussion by explaning what was the Integrated Rural Development
Programme about and how people could avaiP of its
. assistance for improving their lot. Of the 60 Harijan
families, applications for assislance for 19 havt"iilready
been sponsored, 6' have acquired milch animals. Then
followed this dialogues.
1 asked, "Have' Harijans some land? We can
give substantial assistance to Harijans who arE being
given land by Government."
There was a :chorus in reply-"18
, been given. land by the Government."

harijan} have

1 suggested "Why not help them to acquire s01"e

implements or bullocks or wells for irrigatian 7'"

Extension Officer clarified' "Bank would not give

assistance to these Harijans beca'f'e land is '11ottrans. ferred in their name in the revenue record".

On in-

quiry 1 learnt that it, was before two years and a half
that the Assistant Collector passed the ordtg alloting
Goyernment land to 18 Harijans. They have. also been
given posseision by the Circle Inspector' but some
12

more formalities wer" required be/ore their

could be entered in the record of righls,

nam s

1 asked in amazement "What is happenil1g? What

had you done about this?"
The Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat said the
problem has not 'been brought to my notice. 1 was
happy to notice a note of apology when the 8arpanch
said this. The Block Development Officer said the
same thing. The problem was never reported to' him.
The Extension Officer was confused and he was, trying
to confuse others. The simple fact was that the
Harijans were ~oo ignorant and too timid to force the
issue. It required a meeting in the Harijans locality_
for about 2' hours to bring out to' surface this and
other issues, with a .promise from the BDOthat he
.would see to it that. proper entries are made in the
land records.
Much remains to be done not only for those who
have land but many others so that all the 60 families
are assisted under IRD. It was agreed that' those
amongst them who were Uterate and wiUing to help
others 'would be kept informed by the BDO and the
DRDA about various scl/emes af!d how they can
avail. of them. Hira Giga offered. to' become Honorary worker who would become the channel of communication i>etween.the administration and the Har
jans. It is hoped that when the Harijans takeadvan. tage of a scheme others who are also entitled would
take their own initiative.

is 10' kms from the main road, 3 kms are

asphalted, the rest 7 kms tappered down from
. mettalled road to dirt road I 'is one approaches the
village.. In the dim moon light, we reached the Hari
jan locality where the entire Harijan populatilm wa
waiting for us. The village leaders were also with u
as also the Block and District Officers for rural deve-

ANDALA

KURUKSHETRA May 1, 19~

Iopment programme. Again mikh aniriUllsis the ';'ost

popular programme. 20 families have came forward
asking for a buffalo. Their applications are not being
forwarded to the' banks as banks would not entertain
them. Why? They are defaulter<.
"How cOuld Harijans who are all landless could be
defaulters? Whom have they defaulted?" I asked in
amazement.
The Panchaya{ Secretary, a stocky .olid village
o/lidal replied quietly "They are defaulters with the
Gram' Panchayat. They ha:ve not paid the water
tax".

that there was netJd for much better communication

between the poor and ..the administration. Luckilly .
there were 3 literate Harijans who were willing 'to work
as honorary workers-Amra
Nathu, Ramji Shakra
Parvat Bava .. It is now upto the Block and Districi
administration to use this channel to ensure that maximum benefit reaches the poorest in the village who
appear to. be keen and hanest.

Coming to brass-Tacks

IS NOT an is6la'ted experience of information

.
anq. assistance reaching in a tardy manner 10 the
rural poor who was brought home to me and the district
officers who accompanied me when we visited village
Badapura in Anand taluka, well known for its dairy
"Water tax must be paid"- /" said, "of course "that:
industry that has aBsisted large number of marginal
should have no relevance to Bank loan". Before I
farmers
and agricultural labourers to take to dairy incould complete; several Harijans stood up ilnd said
dustry for improving their lot. Leaving others and the
"w~ have paid all ,along hut how long 'can we pay
vehicles behind the DDO, tlie BDO and a seniOr
when we are noD getting water? "The hot discussion
officer of Annual Dairy and myself tracked down .the
that followed brought' out that the water supply came
last 2 kms., seeing over way with the occasional light
from a tank that was located at the highest point in
.that was thrown by the matchsticks of our village guide.
the village and the. water reached the Harijan locality
This was also a village, like the previous two, that was
after 11 in the morning and that too in a trickle.'"
covered in the cluster approach, which meant all the
Water never came out of the connections that were
families wer/! supposed to have been contacted offering
given in the 6 individual households. All Harijans
assistance under IRD. We nosed our way to Harijans
'had nevertheless paid their general water tax and the
locality and the locality of anoth'er very' backward
6 families having house connections had paid the
'-community-Wagharis.
In the hour and a half that we
special water tax for 2 years,-without getting water.
..
spelit
.with
them,
the
Amul
Officer who was rightly
They did not pay only in the currelll year. Now listen
to. further dialogue. ,'Is it fair?" I asked in suppressed . proud of his mobile veterinary services which could be
.' contacted on .wireless, found that the buffalo bought
anguish. Breaking t,"e silence the Panchayat ,Secretary
by c!,ly orie family under IRD, was giving milk only
said, "It is according to the rules. When connection is
once in a day. He asked "why don't you show it to the
provided tax has tOlbe paid". .
,
veterinary doctor who must be regularly visiting your
village ~
"But without water?"
The reply was without complaint in it, "1 have
The Panchayat 'Secretary conceded: "1am willing to . ;
heard about the visit of a veterinary doctor but 1 am
forego tax for the. current year and give the certificate
out for my work! when he comes. 1 have not been
of no dues" .
able to meet him".

Controlling my true feelings 1 said "but that would

not help. When the panchayat has not supplied water
for last' three years, should you not even refund the
tax that has been collected and then give clean no due
certificates ?"
The Panchayat Se~retary was equally solid in his'.
knowledge and convictions.' He firmly said, "1 would
not make any commitment for the previous two years.
It would require a formal resolution of the Gram Pan- ,
chayat:; The District Officer, the BDO and others
were stunned: The BDO then canie out and said he
would .look into the rules. and see to it that the' problem was sorted out. Incidentally, during the discussion
it came out -(hat for two years when water could not
be supplied to anyone
through the house taps no
special water tax was collected from anYCHIein the
village; but when .the 'house taps gave water to others
but' not to Harijans who lived in the low lying locality,
,tax had to be collected from everyone. With the promise of B DO that he would sort out the problem, there
was again an atmosphere of enthusiasm when number
of proposat.1 were put forth. which were viable
according 'to all whO were presellt but not considered
at the time of initial: survey-poultry
house .timning,
groundnut shell opener, camel carts, etc; It was obvious
KURUKSHETRA May'l,

1983

THIS

. .Asked "Then what. happens to your repayment

. .
.

of

.......
.the .loan ?"

"[ ha:ve been paying 'my instalments

.~have to work little harder, that is all".

regularly. I

Here also; a leader offered to work as voluntary

worker as a link between the' poor commz,nity and
the administration. Meanwhile possibility of ~ssisting
. a,'good 9000 number of Waghari families was considered.
'

direct contact ill several decades'

ot..these groups of people in the three villages
with the adminiStrators of the, Block level, I.t alolle
District, and State level. They were obviously happy
about the promising presence in their midst of senior
officers not knowing that. such visits raise hopes which
may not be easily fulfilled. However, it preved one
point. The target groups confine themselves in their
'own -locality unperceived, unheilrd (Robert Chambers) by the routine "development tourisf'. If one
wants to help them one has to contact. them there and
establish lli relationship. Olle has to go to the Target
Strut ..towards the low lying other end of the village.
.Tms' is the first step befere one could enter their
homes..,..,and hearts.
T WAS THE FIRST

13

oj

Education : why do more

girls drop out ?'
G, RAVINDRAN

NAIR

to' school simply because

lbe infant mortality rate (Kerala has the lowest infant
and grandmother have never had
mortality rale in the country) points, to the social.
any schooling at all. Why should I send my daughter
Spinoff 'of the education of ,,:omen.~
tg, School, a farmer in Haryana asks disarmingly; She
doesn't have to ltecome' a clerk! In the peculiar Social,
Slow progress in girls' education
cultural and economic' milieu obtaining' in certain
regions where the parents themselves are not educatHE CONSTITUTIONAL'
DIRECTIVE
to provide free
ed, talking about the advantages of girls' education ", '
,
:and compnlsory education for all, children npto
would be as difficult as drilling the hard, rocky' crust
the age of 14, has remained unfulfilled till now. It is
for water which we mayor may iuit obtain. All die
widely felt that this glaring gap in 'performance is
same efforts have to go on to turn the clock back.
'mainly due to the snail's progress in the education of
Jobs and material, gains are very important, in the
girls.. Whatever. progress we have achieved has been
mundane merry-go-round that is the 'modem life. Bat
uneven from State to State, as between the urban 'and.
one has to convince the rural masses' that a, rcasonrural areas and as between 'boys and girls. For
, abiy educated' girl would inake a better housekeeper,
example, all' urban areas have facilities for elementary
,better mother and a better wife than an unedug,ted
and middle school education.' In rural areas 80 per
One. 'The educated mother will have a better idea of
cent of the habitations have a primary school within
child care nutritious food for 'the entire family, clean1.5 km and over 60 percent of the hab'itations have
line;s of ;he, house' and environs, a better 'awareness
a middle school within 3 km. Out of a total of
in the realms of personal hygiene 'and', ,the health' of
575,926 villages in the country, it is estimated that
. the members of the family. lbe educated know what
about 48,566 are not served by IIny school at, all.
it means to have a smaIl family or a bigJamily.,' How
Education is free for all, children 'upto the secondary
do we fill this awareness gap in educating people as,
stage' in 12 States and Union ,Territories. In eight
to the need ,for educating millions of girls who just
other States and Union Territories, it is free for all
do not jom any schools or drop out in between? '
children upto the middle sChool,tage; Another eight
States or Union Territories offer free education for all
Education is both an end in' itself and a' mean~ 'to
children' 'upto tbe middle school' stage, and upto a
secure certain mundane objectives. It .develops the
few. more years, ouly 'for girls.'
.,
personality and rationality of individuals and betters
their socio-economic status. It serves as a major
Co';'pared to the' dism~l position in 'regard to woinstrument of social change and the crusade for inF
men's education before Independence, the
position
,proving women's status all, over the world has under-,
now is far better, but all the same we have miles to
scored education as the most vital catalyst for changgo before' we can take real pride in our achievements.
ing the socio-economic status of women. The .very
The enrolment level of girls is' much lower than that
fact that higIi literacy among the women in ' 'KeraIa
fO,i-'boys. . While 'the enrolment of boys of the 6-11
has contributed to an enviable status that the, State
,years 'age group is ,97.5 percent, it is only 63.5 perenjoys in the realms of health, .family planning c1;Jancent for the girls of that group; ,again'in ,the 11-14
liness, environmental sanitation and the reduction of
years age group, the enrolment of' boys is 48.7 per

T her mother
HE

GIRL IS NOT SENT

14

KURUKSHETRt\

May'I.

1983

-~--::--. ~~
-

cent, but diat of girls is only 24.5 per cent.. Th~ ,gap
widens further at. the 'high school level (14-.17 years)
with enrolment of boys' at 28.8. percent and that . of
girls at'iust 12.3 per'!",nt. ,The bleak picture of "girls'
enrolment is only matched by the alarming rate of
. drop-outs, .out of every 100 children who enter Class I,
less than half coinpletli Class V and only. 24 complete
Class Vlll. The dropout rate: for. girls is much
higher. Of every 100 girls who join Class I,', only
about '30 reach Class' V. :Thus, 70 'percent of. girls.
. who get enrolled leav~ sch90t wiihout attaining functional l!teracy.
. .'
.
.

1b~

,~.

small bundles of firewood and ar~ taught weavin&at a .

tender age. In"many instances, they are initiated into
the traditional occupa~iolls or industries in early life.
The parents', aSk ,poiJ!tblank what would the school
. do' to relieye .them of their drudgery or help earn the
extra inconie if the girls are sent a~y to the classrooms? . E1sewhere"in bulk of iIie match' factories '
in' Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, the majority ot the child
, labourers are girls who. ought to be in schools. But
where proverty rules the roost, education becomes a . ','
luxury which the tFaditional1y poor Parents' can illl!fford.
"

high incidence' 9f girl dropdutsshows that. a ~l ,

, Reasons for dropping out
considerable proportion of the expenditure in school
t;
education is wasted on account 'of imbalance in the'
, .
, M' , ANYOF T~E GIRLSare found to be droppinjl out
ratio of Cost and' benefit.. The roots of the phenO'.
of schooling once when all kinds of work other
: men~ have to be traCed to: the. peculiar social,
. than schooling .become too much for them. An ex-
economic and '.cnltural' structures obtaining in differception has, however, been founa' in eertafu parts of
ent parts of the country; and for this reason, the
Kerala where some girls' have combined workwlth
dropout rate is found to be higher in the rural areas
schooling: In certain parts of Neyyatinkara'Taluk
than 'in the urban areas.:'
....
.'

iri Trivandrum District household production of coir

is still being practised. A study made here found
As one delves deeper into. the imbroglio, certain
that although ,the proportion of school dropout was
specific reasons come to. the sUrface: Many of" the
as high as 48 per cent; the girlS'combined s.chool~th
girls in the poor homes in both the -villages and the
participation. in coir-making. They worked in the
slums in the. cities have to look after younger 'child,'early hours of the _day and contributed' two hours
ren when both the paren!S are away. at work. We
after returning from, school. Where' the children. had
have just made a begimiing in the provision of creche
to go to production centres, those attending school
or daycare facilities; but millions. of children. of
agricultural women labour,. industrial labour in 'both ' generally wor~ed during holidays llUd Only those
, living near the centre worked for some time' after
the otganisedand unorganised sector, are outside' the
school hours. A' household mainly using family pale of the meagre daYCare facilities". scattered in
, diffeien~ parts of the, country.
.
labour needed iis childrl'n to help in the coir-making
operations;, others nee,ded the children's wages" for
maintenance. . .
'.
_
.
.li! .-~'

A'
.

~I

Lack of motivation

, 1Jl this." dem~nstr~tes' that one cannot easily dis-'

}'I0THERMAJOR,REAsONadduced for the high
entangle the reality of child labOur and.the WnnIng
.
dropout -rate is that. education does prove nO
attraction for the majority of the rural poor and that . scourges of urbau and rutal 'poverty from the syIidrome. of stagnation and wastage in ,education. Mariy
. the entire curriculum seems irrelevant in the ' context
parentS
feel that, girls' educatiOn is futile since they
of.the day-tO'-dayneeds"of the family and the commu- .
are not going to take jobs later; .the girls' are siniply
nity.. 'In addition, ~.ey feel that there is no motivato be got maITied and helped in setting up homes.
tion in education, because the time spent in the school .
\Yhy.waste time in schooling, they'ask.
."
could be utilised. in .earning extra income for the
family. Apart from baby, sitting, many' of the girls
, Where the. school is situated pretty far' away from.
i help the mother in the different. household'
chores.
home, the parents are reluctaut to send their wards' to
~' Girls begin helping in the house-hold at a very early
the. school for reasons of security.. Many schools in
age. In the rural landscape we can still see' th.y
the villages and towns aie still ,far away from 'home.girls with'small pots on their heads. followillg rpeir'
s!;eads. To provide motivation ' for girl's education,
.mothers or elder sisters to the well, and what at first
experts have often' suggested that incentives in the
is little but'play; develops soon into a~seful contri.fo~ of UJJ!forms, mid-day-meals; sn~ks, scholar.,
bution tothevolume.of w~rk which has to be done bt
ships,..,,:!c.C()uldbe ,offered. .No doubt, the mid-day
every' household. They accompany the parents to
m~alscheme has almost wrought a miracle in the
the field ~o help them in; such activities lIS .' sowing,
percentage 'in .the retention of girls 011 the rolls as
transplantmg, weeding and harvesting digging roots .
the experiments in, 'som,e of the. States have sh:>WIl.
collecting fruits and scaring off birds; '.they aecom:
The'..:r'fatio~al Co,?,,:tence on ,Women and Develop- .
p~ythe
mother to th,e ll].arket With small loads on
me~t held m Delhi m~May 1979 suggested that eduttherr !:leads o~ backs; they; fetch drinking' water and
cation should be activity-oriented and suited to !the

" KURUKSHETRA May 1, ~983

'~

---_.,,

---------

----------.~-

is engaged in agriculture, followed by other Services

(6.07%), trade and co=erce'
(0.51 %), Cottage'
'Industries (0.41 %) and other non-agricUltural activities.1
.
AgncUlture, which engages most of the popUlation
is subsistence-oriented because 'of small terraced holdings, poor irrigation facilities and lack of other infra"structures. In fact,_ the block falls -in raibi;d
.
area. Irrigation facilities, except in a few villages
adjoining rivers .and canals, are negligible. Of' the
net ,area sown of 1O,977.hectares, the net area 'irrigated
. is only 63 percent.' .
.
/

The IRD Programme was started in SALT block

during October 1980, but it' actually carne into effect
since 1st Jan., 1981. The progress 'made during the
calender year 1981 has been taken into account for
the purpose of the present analysis. The numbe~ of
'families which received some assistance under the programme during this period was 153 (1.33 per cent of
the'total number of families 11,5'00 as per 1971 census). Of these, 29 were schedUled caste families (there'
are no S{f families' in the block~ The programme in
. this block cover~a limited number of economic 'acti. vitie~ a; w~Uld be evident from the 'following Tabie "
.Table J : Activity-wise

break-op of beneficiaries under

.

SI.
No.

IRD '.Programme

.~

. (Num~er of benefi~iaries)

N,!me of Actirity

Non-SIC

>

1. Agricultural. Activities
2. Milch Animals

79

21

100

18

'17

.): Sheep~rearjng
4. Black-Smithy

"

..

\~

Tvtal'

Note:

5 -

5. "Basket.Making

6.~Sewing'Machine

Total

SIC

i
2

24

. 27

124
(81.05%)

29
(18.95%)

153
(100%)

:Figures in Brackets denote percentag~s,

.ORIGINALTARGETwas to cover 600 faniilies

THE
under this programme during 1981;.but only 153
, families could be covered. Thus, the achievementS in
.terms' of coverage or families are far .from the desired
level. FIowever, the percentage. of schedUled caste bene-'
ficiaries' to total number of beneficiaries is about 19
percc3.t which is fairly good in-view of the ehvisaged
target of. 20 percent:.
Loall' Vtilisatioll.- The
total
amouht of loan'
(medium-term) advanced by the banks against ab'ove
mentioned programmes' was Rs. 3,.14 .lakh.~ during
.

1. DistriCt Statistical.~k"Atmor~. 19-80.

2.lbld.

. ','c.

'. 1981. Bank-wise break-up of the total'loan

ed is given below .. '

Table 2 : PerceIii~gcshare and Absolute amou~t of loan

.
advanced by the banks
(til Rs.)

qategory
, Scheduled Caste
General

Total

Note:

Cqopera/ive

State Bank

Bank

'0/ India

.. ,

Total

7,292.00
(4.65)

51,792.00
(16..48)

1,49,509.00
1,13,000.00
(71. 75)
(95.35)

2,~2.509.00
(83.52)

'1,57,500.00.
(100.00)

3,14,301.00
(100.00)

44,500.00
(28.25)

1,56,801.00
. (100.00)

(~

FigUres in, brackets denote percentages.

. According to the provisions made in the progra=e,

of the total loan advanced, 20 per cent was
to go to the schedUled castes. However, in 'actn
practice we lind that Cooperative Bank .advanced
28.25 per cent ot'the, total loan, the State Bank or
IIidia conld provide only 4.65 per cent of ,its t~ta\ to
this category.
,
.
MOREimportant question that arises is whether
the loan advanced for different activities given ,in
Table ~ has been utilised in a way' to provide the bene.
ficiarieswith adaitional employment, which, woUld
generate additional assured income? On the basis 01'
. some intimate. and friendly discussions with the beneficiaries; it seems that the implementing authorities are .
more concerned :with the number, of 'families brought
under. the' programme rather, than the basic objeCtive
of providing employment . and, in tum, assured income to the beneficiaries. Five beneficiaries who got .
fertiliser under the programme were neither trained in
:its use, nor the soil testing of their fields was done.
.. The beneficiaries' used the fertiliser without ba ving
knowledge of proper .dosages. Similarly, 100 beneficiaries whq were supplied 'with sb,.e-buffaloes could
hardly gain ,much, firstly because of the lack of
marketing and other package' of assistance, and
secondly, because of the missing commercial attitude
on the part of thy beneficiaries. IIi fact, 'subsidy waS
the main point of attraction for beneficiaries who pur-.
chased she~biIffaloes under thiS programme.
.~
HB

. The 24 beneficiaries .belonging to general category

who got sewing-machines under the programme are
mainly unmarried educated girls..' These girls have
got training, but t!tey .are not professionals, and confine their, work upto' their family level. The girlsilo
not, come up as professional tailors because of' some
social barriers like Parda system. In actual practice
.. what we find is that the sewingCmachines wnich have
been. provided under this programme ar~ being utilisedfor the purposes of dowfy at the tinie of marriages
of these girls.
KURUKSIlETRA

18

advaJic-

May 1, 1983

Sheep-rearing heneficiaries who are producing

about 500 gIllS. wool per sheep per year (which is
quite low as compared to the State average of 754
gms.) reported that they are facing various problems
viz., marketing of wool at reasonable rates, lack of
fodder and high mortality rate of sheep due to the lack
of veterinary facilities.
The Scheduled CaBtebeneficiaries who :lIe engaged
in tailoring, black-smithy and basket-making have fairly.
better performance mainly because they have been
traditionally engaged in such activities and possess required skills and inclination. The IRD programme
has enabled them to expand their net-work, which has
finally helped them in enhancing their remunerations.
Procedural Hurdle.-In order t'o seek a particular
facility under the programme, the applicant has to fulfil a number of formalities starting from filling of application form which should be endorsed with a land record certificate and nO-dues certificate of financing
agencies (Cooperative Societies, Co-operative/Commercial Banks) for forwarding the application to the
BDs. Further, the BDOs send the application to
their subordinate staff for scrutiny and finally the
application is sent to the bank officials, Bank officials
also assess the economic condition of the applicant
and ouly after being convinced of the applicant's
ability to repay the loan; one is selected under the
programme. During this proces~ the applicant .has
to visit the block and bank offices many urnes. Fmal
selection of an applicant for a particular scheme is
'not the end of his miseries. He (applicant) has to
wait for ,; long time to become recipient of the penefit
because the purchasing Committee, comprising BDO,
Bank officials and Veterinary Surgeon etc. takes qnite
a long time in making pur~hases of various articles.

Problems of implementation
is linked with a single motor road and
only 20 villages situated within a radius of 20 Kms
of the road have been taken up under the programmc. Remote villages have been ignored due to their
unaccessibility. Therefore, lack of link roads leaves
Ia larger population untouched under this programme.

AL T BLOCK

The banks .and block officers are under-staffed.

Absence of supervisory field staff not ouly delays the
selection of beneficiaries, but also hampers the work
of proper utilisation and realisation of the sanctioned
loan. The block officials generally attribute the slow
progress of the programme to the lack of coordinati~n
between the block and bank officials. They complam
that the bank officialsare. the final authorities to sanction the loans and it is absolutely their discretion to
grant loans to the applicants. 'on the other hand, bank
officials usually plead that since realisation of loan
,KURUKSHETRA May I, 198~

is exclusivelytheit work, they have to carry out proper

scrutiny of the applications.
The veterinary surgeon. who is supposed to be
closely associated with the programme, finds it very
difficult to devote sufficient time to the implementation
of this programme due to various reasons. Firstly,
Veterinary hospital is situated about 15 Kms far from
fthe block-headquarter and has no telephonic facility.
Secondly, the surgeons belonging to urban areas find it
very inconvenient to stay there due to the peculiar
geo-climatic conditions. Very often, they spend most
of their time in the district headquarter and the capilal of the Slate in manoeuvring to get them transferred.
,

Most of the beneficiaries in SALT block have been

provided with buffaloes. The programme aims at to
purchase milch-animals of improved breed, in order
to generate adequate income to the beneficiaries by
selling milk or milk-products. Generally, she-~uffaloes under this programme have been purchased
from out side the district (Ramnagar Tarai). It has
caused a number of problems to the beneficiaries, e.g.,
high transportation charges, costs incurred on the entertainment of the purchasing committee, malpractices
adopted by We middlemen in the purchasing of buffaloes and finally inability of milch buffaloes purchased
to adjust to the changed climate and environment of
the new place, which results in poor milk yield.

A limited number of activities have been taken up

under We programme. Various other economic activities like handloom, horticulture, carpentry, goidsmithy, hydro-flour nnits, agro based industries, poultry
furming and bee-keeping inspite of the availability of
potentials have not been encouraged so far in the villages. As a matter of fact, these activities involve
an element of risk. Besides, before launching these
activities, one should be trained in a particular activity with proper marketing facilities to assure a regu1ar flow of income. Therefore, to get a new opening
into these activities the implementing authorities should
induce and encourage the people of enterprising nature.
Some people could be picked-up for demonstration. If
.these specific activities fetch some good returns, they
could be extended to other aspirants and thus the pace
of achievement could be accelerated both in terms of
quality and quantity.
How far the activities hitherto taken-up provide the
beneficiaries with additional 'employment which would.
generate additional aSsured income? In SALT block
the programme does not seem to have fulfilled its
basic objective of generating additional assured income
to the participants. On both fronts/quantitative
well as qualitative-the results are not encouraging.
Poor achi!,vementsin terms of number of beneficiarieg
could be attributed to the peculiar social and geographical conditions of hill region. But, qualitative re-

as

suIts of the selected activities are also disappointing

and subject to improvement.
Mere assigning a scheme to the beneficiary such as
supply of buffalo or sewing machine does not necessarily generate additional income. .After the buffalo
is supplied many follow-up actions like imparting
training to the beneficiary for proper management of
the buffalo, arrangement for supply of fodder, veterinary and marketing facilities should be taken care of..
Thus monitoring 'and evaluation play vital role in the
implementation of IRD programme.

Conclusion'

DEVELOPMENT
is internationally diffused
phenomenon, essentially involving better use of
participatory and local level plal)ning. Implementation
of various schemes under this programme is undoubtedly' beneficial particularly to the weaker section of the
society. However 'our previous experiences suggest
some necessary modifications both at the planning
and implementation stages. A olear-cut identification
of families to whom the benefits of this programme are,
expected to percolate is invariably needed and for this
purpose house-hold survey at the village level will be
sine-qua-non. Furthermore, requirements of identified
families' are to be worked out with the help of household surveys. . How far their requirements can be
URAL

. Percolation of benefits to the remote pockets is

difficult in the absence of proper road and transport
network. Benefits of the programme generally concentrate in the villages or places situated near the
roads. Therefore, integration of production planning
with accessibility aspect would be an important factor-.,
for success of he programme.
'
The' problems and difficulties encountered by the
participants in receiving loan from the banks are
centred around cumbersome procedure and delayed
action on applications at different levels. Streamlining
the procedure and toning up of administrative machinery with horizontal synchronisation 'will result in
overall improvement of organisationai machinery pave
way for better implementation of programmes of development.

~.,

A("

L'

"

,'NATioNAL

<RURAL ~MPLOYMENT PROGRAMME

"

.P'ROVIDES~v.iJOB
OPPORTUNITIES
. . -,....
'1 ..

. .,

IN .AND' NEAR YOUR VILLAGE

.l

,.
" . 1 .~,

2.0

..
"

1"

The degree of success of this programme largely"

depends upon the active participation of both official
and non-official functionaries available at the local
level. Higher the degree of this participation, higher
would be the efficiency of delivery system and stronger
the receiving mechanism. This in turn, will ensure
maximum possible benefits to the neeay persons of
the society

"
"

,~,

fullilleci by way or implementation or various. schemes

is io be further examined in greater detail and if needed more new schemes may also be introduced tosu;t
their aspirations and attitudes.

KURI'JRSHETRAMay

1,. 1983

TIley show tl'te way ...

This feature is biised on success stories viz. achievements gained in vQrlous
spheres of rural development by farmers, institutions, experimenters and individuiils. There is hardly an argument over the fact that dedication and zeal to
put in hard work can achieve anything. A nd one achievement inspires and shows
the way to others!
We hope our esteemed readers will send us their own experiences in the
field so thot other can benefit by them to usher in a better life for our rural
people. (Editor)

"Sanchayika" comes to Sikkim

A number of bawkers used to come outside tbe gates of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gangtok to
sell their unhygenic and dirty stuff to the school children during lunch hour. They don't come now. It is not
-because of tbe action of any autbority but because the
students do not buy their stuff any more. Instead,
tbey save their pocket moncy with "Sanchayika".
ARLIER

"Sanchayika"-a unique savings scheme for students has recently been introduced for the first time
in Sikkim in the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gangtok. Run
by the National Savings Organisation, tbe scheme is
aimed at inculcating and encouraging the habit of savings among the children. They save out of the petty
amounts given to them by 'their parents to spend,
"Sanchayika" is.a savings bank' of scbool children
run by the cbildren. The Bank Manager, the counter
clerks and the accountant of tbe bank are childreo

Small children of
Kendriya
Vidyalaya,
Gangtok
deposit
their savings under 'Sanchayika'.

KURUKSHETRA

May 1, 1983

themselves, though in tbe initial stage tbe teachets

do belp them in learning tbese functions. In addition
to encouraging tbe students to start tbe practice of
regular savings, it also teaches them tbe normal praCtice of banking and acquaints them with instruments
of money like cbeques.

,.

. Each student is a proud' owner of a pass book.

Every time a student deposits his savings, an entry is
made in the pass book. 'The students can see their
money grow, In case of need, the students may als.o
withdraw small amounts from their accounts.
Wben the students leave their school, they will go
not. only with a tidy sum in hand but also with the,
good babit of thrift formed over the years whicb will
stand them in good stead throughout their future lives.
T. K. KAUSmSH
AlD, Press lnformation
Bureau, Gangtok

A village finds an indentity

12 Ian from Kamal,

situated right in the lap of river Yamuna has,
turned the comer. All these years tbe village bad been
at the mercy of tbe river. The authority over the village
bad been changing hands between Haryana aud Uttar
Pradesh every time the river changed its course, which
happened quite frequently.
Almost every year, 'the"
village would be flooded causing loss of property, life
and crops and the villagers had to be evacuated to safe
places.
HAKWALA, A SMALL VILLAGE

No development agency or financial institution dated'

to invest in the village. The land being the uneven,
river bed yielded very little, until a nationalised bank _
adopted the village for intensive financing in 1978-79.'
With great difficulty, a field worker of tbe bank Shri
R. P. :Singh, could motivate some villagers to accept
credit. Villagers were afi:aid the flood would wash'
away eveiythhig andthey would'ulthirate!y be penaJjs~ ,.fo/ r~cov~')'. ,~oreover
m,any of them were ' i(
rea~;yjp,tbegrii>
of 'traditional money-lenders.' ,'TIle
"'J:>",,l(finally ma~aged, to,'advance ,:Rs; 34,000 as' loan
io ,25 .f,umers .. Fertilizers an:d,seeds ,were made ,,'Vail,ablUIi
'the~,viU~geits~lj',: {The, resultailt good' crop~
, }' b,elped iniilitIosq OO'Jl~i:ceritfilcQvery..
f
-. '. e .' ;'~~.. ;, i
',;>J~_'.;..l~:,:,.,
i~;.):":''':l' I!; .,:. .'::;'< \. " -.
..
'~
",:"iff!"~;lJi~[0l'wa[~.ithqillage'
and the barik/ii'otb
',' -,:~~~.e.t~<;i~1~~9l<})~!'.~:',"Tl1erbat.'k has' advanced' ','a
'}!:

total of about Rs. 30 lilkh wbicb the villagers bave

beeri repaying regularly. At present the total ,?utsanding advances are about Rs, 11 lakhs.
Today the village bas 31 tractors, 70 tbreshers and
more tban a 100 tubewells. The land which used to
be infested with weeds has been levelled. Gujjar,'
Ror and ,Rajput are the three main communities of
tbe 253 families in the village. Out of these 170 are
farming families arid 83 non-farming.
"
The bank bas a scbeme for every faniily. At present tbe total number of accounts to whicb tbe bank
bas advanced money is 152. Of these, 72 are for crop
loans, 20 for trilctors, four for farm implements, 14
for Dairying aild Piggery eacb, 16 for jhotta buggis,
six for rural transport
(tongas), three for ' kiryana
shops and five for rural' bousing. The weaker sections are given advances at 4 per cent interest. The
bank has been able t., 'mop up Rs. 2.75 lakh as deposits from the village:
. .
..
A young under~duilte
'farmer" Rajpal, who could
not complete his .studies because of financial difficul.
ties told a 'party of' visitii:tg newsmen that he took a
tractor loan of Rs:, 30,qOO, 'levelled his land 'and' raised
good crops With the 'help of crop loans. He has not
only repayed his' loan' rompletcily 'but has deposited
Rs. 80,000 with the: bank.
~PatriOt; New Delhi

,..,r. .'
"

--;'

.,.:.~..

",

. ~

.:; .

SUBSCRIBERS
PLEASE
NOTE
.".t.~..
", Slibscriber,s of 'Kurukshetra" ,~ndother journals brought out by Publications
Division CQJl buy all, the bookseub~ishesby Publications Division, Patiala HOuse
New Delhi-llOOOl at a special discount of 20 percent as long as their subscrip~
tion lasts.
' ,
..

'

..~

Dear Subscribers, if you" are not. getting your copies of 'Kurukshetra'

regularly or have missed'''ecd'ving any,of the issues, please write t() the undersignedfor looking into the niatter~imrnediately {The Busines's Manager,
PUblications 'Division,
P:itiala House,
New.Delhi-llOOOl.

'KURUKSHETRA

May 1, 1983

--I

(Conld.Jrom Cover ll)

."".~ "-~~"""
'
The new life started with the advent of scientific help and other inputs from the side of Delhi Admin istration.
Development departments, cooperatives, agriculture and other departments came together to help farmers profitably.
A community tubewell was put nearby to irrigate the lands all around. Half of the price of this tubewell installation
was met by the Gov\,rnment.. Good quality seeds of wheat, paddy, berseem etc. were given to these farmers for sowing ._
Uneven lands were levelled in such a way to consume the irrig,lion water efficiently and profusely .
.._.

"',:'.....

_, - 'f-..

~-

As some members of these families Were employed in the city, their wives and children worked in the fi,lds
,under the guidance of Pusa Institlite scientists. On week,nds andholid,ys the mlle m,mber> also worked and supervised
the new type of farmino.
- Continuous efforts since 1975 onwards yielded satisfactory results.'

The success story of Surjo

mother of six children and wife: of Shri Krishan unveiled her face and started talking freely. She said, "I
have sown Pusa-I50 Basmati variety of rice and reaped 50 maunds harvest per acre". She also reaped' berseem
folder crop for her buffalo which gives 8 to 10 litres milk every.day which is consum,d by the members of her family.
SUR10,

Surjo has become an experienced farmer now. She claims'l'b:atshe can do much mJre with the help of new ideas and
new techniques. She was bold, self-reliant and confident in'tearning and implementing new methods in her fields. She
said that two families in their village have television set's and they enjoy the. evening programm~s.
Risalo

Irrigation channel is laid in the fieldS

of pdO! fa~;.rs~veraised

hopes of bumper crop

:;

;!Ii',:

,"-,

and Surjo talked about the programmes of Krishi Darshan at length and suggested that the cont"ets of the programmes
should be made more simple, easy and digestable. For poor and srriall farmers, television has jmuch more significance
provided agricultural [programmes are made more dramatic, interesting a"ndhumorous .

... ,'.

f ~~.

Food is the basic requirement of everybody.' Complete food gives a feeling satisfaction and contentment. They
work h,rder to preserve more food so that they can enjoy better life and forget the days of darkness, misery, ignorance
and forced labour. Knowledge has provided a sense of'confidence ..honour and selfrespect and had changed thOir life
siyle. Th,y are not only own,rs of land but grow good quallty'seeds, eat basmati rice and "near fancy clothes. They
live in electrified pucc" houses of their own and are proud or their pOSlession, and sale of ~their produce in the "larela
mandi market.
" ,_ "".J. '

They enjoyed e"ting pulao and biryani of basmati wbichthey could never' think of a decade ago. The contentment
of rich and nutritive diet is reflected on their smiling fa';"s. SUrJ6 remeinbered the days when dry jowar and bajra
chapaties were their daily intake and sometimes they had'to remain without food .

..

......;;..

More Income
if'

their income was .raised t?'Rs. 300 per mont~ per f~n'ly ex,luiiag all farm!ng expenditure earned by
women only. M);lthly mcom, ora mIle m,mber'" s);lutlm" low,r thaa the farm Income. It has been proved
and accepted that high-yielding variety cultivation is ,not so highly productive and beneficial to big holdings as was t9~
BESIDES,

,'

'

,(conld.

overler-

"

Regd. No. D(DN)139

RN 702/57

(Licensed under U(DN)-54 to post without prepayment at Civil Lines Post Office, Delhi).

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small and, marginal farmers. This Holambi Kalan experiment had shown a path to other small and marginal farmers
in the marby villagES to follGW the thniqu,s
ar.d~'5jy1<s of the cultivation adGpt,d here, It has created
a sense of awareneSS and interest in learning neW techniques, ldeas and technical know.JiGw provided by the, scientists
to bring productivity and prosperity.

,
~
Adoption of n, w agricultural !<cheology by lhe participating farmers of Holambi Kalan is being used frequently for ,,'
educating other farmers of the weaker community. As, a:~')!.lt, 90 per cent of the small farmers have taken to new
technology for increasing their production. Evm rich farme1t are attrac!<d by this innovation and are eager to follow
the same t,chniqu,s.
This ',nccuraging ph,r.cmmon is clearly a diffusion of information and is' creating a wider
impact on the'""famlers.
I.

.'

By now the farmers have dtv<icp,d the habit oftaktrrtwcdits from the banks for their p(~duction requirements
without any hesitation. Gone are the days wb,n thtse fat'TlTerswere treated as illiterate ilDdnot cared for.' Banks are,
now humble and helpful to them and patronising th,m free)1.;ntly. This is positively a favourable attitude in favour of
,small and marginal farmers. These farmers are havi;g savings accounts in the banks.

Press Party assessiDg the prognss

of on, c;:cn:[ficlds of wh( at of J:;mal1and marginal farmers in Holambi

~,,~

Kalan

This experiment can be taktn anywhere in the country "n the same lines. While we are aiming at the average
lifting efforts in every district and block of tht. country such experiments with small and marginal farmers arc very
important and: ex,mplary. It has bew not,d tha(.lhe y'e1ds of Hol"mbi farmers were quite high than the average yields
of the common and caste farmers of Delhi villagei'ilY this case. Even rich farmers having all the technical know.how
sometime "ouldfnot produce such'high yields. Th's is neither a surprise nor,a 'miracle but is the result of continuous
and intelligent efforts. of scientists 'and' planners of ~R.I.
They have shown a silver path to these ignorant and illiterate
, farmers to ...b\:.cnie.;s~\f-sufficiwtwhich is not feasibk,without their ,help."
,
'
'
;; Again, tiiis~eriment
shows that ~ven illiter~te and conservative fami womas are more prone to learn new
techniques than literate farmers. They take more interest and work jIard and understand the skills very well. Marshy,
saline and low laying lands themselves are telling tne'truth of this successful experiment. Surjo and Risalo are everywhere
,In the country who can change the face of poverty and scarcity to plenty and prosperity. Illiteracy a
ile lands
ar'e certainly the problems of the villages but these can be overcome by proper guidance, regular su y/
ality
inputs, and missionary and zeal to make such ex~2r1inents successful..
.
,
~tl!, .:]
~even years' of con,tinuous guidance and dfclts of these Pusa scientists. an;, o~er. They , . ~at~jj.~ti!li
in
makmg these farmers VIable, self-rehant and knowledgeable The caravan of SClenttstsISnow movFg',tolfn~he~af)!Jlna
village in. Gurgaon district where they wi.nProd~:~other
example of lifting ~he ec~ii?mi~ly w'e.~<l/!,.i ~f th~al
commuDlty. .The~e formers at Holambl ',low wdl be looked after by Deihl AdmlDlstratl9n for~~n-"c
and
supply of varIOUSmputs as and when re'!cUlred.
,'...
,,~ '.
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AND

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BY THEDIIlE.croR,

PRINTED

~BY 'TBll

BUSINESS MANAGER:

pUBUCAnoNS

MA..'lAOER,

S. L. JAtsWAL

GOYr.

DlVISION,.NEW
OF

Assn.

INDIA

.._-,---_._DELHI-llOOOl

PRESS,.

FARIDABAD ..

I>IaECTOR (P):"K. R. KRISHNAN

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