Assignment:

Routes to Livelihoods and Livelihoods Diversification in Gawar, Rajasthan

A Report submitted to

Prof. Saurabh Gupta

In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the course Indian Social and Political
Environment

By

Vinay Kumar

Roll No. 1911293

Group 35

Section B

On

28-02-2020
Introduction:- The most common route to livelihood in Gawar village is self-cultivation. They
do sow and harvest of wheat and makka. Combination of growing wheat and makka is very
economic as they take very less time to grow. Wheat is grown and harvested from October to
December whereas makka is grown from July to September. So, farmers can grow both the crops
in their land one after another. In this way, they can utilize the maximum capacity of their lands
in a very effective manner. Also, both the crops are their staple food. They use for their usual
food as well as they do business with it to make money. It doesn't mean that they don't buy wheat
from ration shops. People who have BPL cards buy their full capacity of 35kg quantity of wheat
every month from the ration shops. They can save a significant amount of money in wheat. But
People who don't have APL card they don't get enough quantity of wheat as they restricted to
around 15kg of wheat per household per month. They either have to buy from the shop or grow it
in their lands.

Some of the family also do plantation of sugarcane but it is not feasible for them. As the
sugarcane consumes whole year to grow before harvesting. Households which have an excess of
lands only able to grow sugarcane in their lands. Makka is the crop which is farmed by every
household in Gawar. This scenario is not the same for the crop wheat. As wheat requires a lot of
water to grow. So, households which have proper irrigation facilities like tube wells, well, canal
in their farms are the ones who grow this crop. Despite this fact some of the farmers who don't
have a proper irrigation facility but still they grow wheat in their land. They have a very tough
time to arrange water either they carry or draw water on their own or use their animals.

Apart from common self-cultivation work, Individuals of Gawar village are also involved in
NEREGA projects, animal husbandry, agriculture labour and private jobs. Rural household of
Gawar is involved in diverse routes to livelihoods. There are some of the major reasons for that:-

1) Unirrigated land:- A lot of support has been given to the households of Gawar village in
terms of setting up tube wells, wells and water tank by Seva mandir and government. But still,
there are many lands where irrigation facilities are not available. They have to depend on the
rainwater for irrigation of their land. Because of which many households don't grow wheat. They
just have to depend on the production of makka which make their earning very less. This is the
reason where people shift to NEREGA or work as agricultural labour.

2) Cast:- According to the survey and some samples were taken which shows that people who
belong to schedule caste and schedule tribes have few bighas of land. Some of those people have
even less than 0.5 bighas of land and even that land is unirrigated. Their condition is very verse.
They just do 2-3 months of self-cultivation on their land and solely depend on the agricultural
labour for whole 9-10 months. Sometimes they get work and sometimes they don't .so their
income is highly variable. They may earn up to 200 Rs per day if they get work. All of their
family members who are working usually follow this throughout the year.

3) Education status/skill:- Individuals who studied till 12th have some of the better options with
them. They are doing work in some Kirana shops or some private companies. They don't earn so
much there that they can feed all of their family members. So, their other family members still
have to work like self-cultivation on their land or work for NEREGA. Also, people who skilled
in masonry, carpentry, plumbing are paid 3 times more in NEREGA in comparison with people
who poses these skills. Overall people who are skilled have a little bit of edge over people who
don't have. But these people still have to diverse their work because they are not paid well.

4) Gender- There is not so much difference in terms of gender in livelihoods. Most of the
women in the village are involved in the agricultural activities of their households. But women
who belong to households who have very few bighas of land are only involved in agriculture
labour and NEREGA. And mostly who have few bighas of land belonging to schedule caste and
schedule tribes. These people have no other option. So their women also have to go out for work
in the farms of other people.

Conclusion: Rural household undertakes diverse routes to livelihoods are because of the low
earning potential. This can be because of underutilization of their lands due to no irrigation
facilities or if they are doing private jobs then they are not paid well there. NEREGA and
agricultural labour intensive jobs are very fluctuating so their income is. Still, they provide some
income which they can rely on. Also, Most the lands are unirrigated so they to depend on the
monsoon for irrigation. To reduce and diversify this risk some of their members have to work for
their nearby city Kirana shops or private jobs for the permanent and steady inflow of income
even they don't they well.