Village Profile RAC NSS

8/3/2019 Village Profile RAC NSS

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1. Introduction

I had been to the village Kolam in the Chitwahi Panchayatwhich comes under the

Development BlockTamnarinRaigarh district ofChhattisgarh as a part of the field

work module of Village Study Segment course. PRADAN was my host organization

in Chhattisgarh for the field work module. The stay in the village for almost 67 days

helped me to develop an insight towards the ground level rural realities and gave me

a firsthand experience of life in the rural areas, the problems faced by the rural

people, their resources, their perceptions, and their evaluation of their current

situation. I also had the opportunity to closely interact with the various interventions

happening in the village and understand the various impacts of such interventions on

the life of the people of the village. The people in the village depended mainly onagriculture and paddy is the chief crop cultivated in the village. The study about the

livelihood patterns and working of village institutions were interesting and the stay

gave me the perfect platform to try and understand the topics learnt in the course.

2. Objective

My main purpose of this fieldwork was to get firsthand experience of rural life and

to get an insight of rural life. The objective of the study is:

To enhance my understanding of the village life and rural realities.

To understand the dynamics of various village level institution in addressing

the developmental work.

To understand the dynamics ofIndigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) in

rural livelihood systems.

To blend classroom learning with field experience.

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1. Methodology

The village report predominantly uses interactive sessions with people, gathering

data to serve the purpose of understanding about them. The study carried out was a

combination of exploratory and descriptive study. The methodology adopted by me

consisted of collecting data from the primary as well from the secondary sources,

analyzing the data and drawing our conclusions from the analysis. The primary data

was collected with the help of a questionnaire. (See ANNEXUE 1)

2. Data Source

To collect data various methods were used. The most frequently used method was of

unstructured interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Participatory

Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods. Also, structured interviews (door to door

surveys) were conducted of 32 households. The data collected is of both primary and

secondary nature. The primary data was collected by the techniques described above,

whereas the sources of the secondary data were:

Host Organisation

Primary School

Panchayat office

1.1. Unstructured Interviews

The objective of conducting unstructured interviews was to get to know more about

the village and the villagers through informal chats and friendly discussions. It

helped build rapport with the people, and asking questions and inquiring became

much easier. Also, unstructured interviews were used for triangulation of data

collected through structured interviews.

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1.2. Focus Group Discussions

The focus group discussions were conducted in an assembly of some of the poorest

households ofKolam. Also, in mahila meetings, and village meetings in general,

these discussions were put forth to get more insight into the lives of the village

peoples. The discussions were very helpful in studying the livelihoods of the people

ofKolam and gave an insight about how villagers manage their households during

stresses and shocks. The FGDs particulars are given below:

Table 1: FGDs Particulars

Sl No. No. of Persons

Involved

Topic of the Discussion Outcome

1 6 Condition of the School Came to know about the

village schools

2 5 SHGs and their Problems Discussed in detail in RAC

3 6 SHGs and the Tasar Yarn

Reeling

Discussed in detail in RAC

4 7 Village Information Helped in Village profile

1.3. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)

The PRAs done in the village are:

a. Seasonality Map:

Seasonality map here is used to know the agricultural and allied activities. The

participants of the seasonality map were:

Kuntila Uraon Pitambar Choudhary Sahano Uraon Santosh Srivas Jeeramati Rathiya

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a. Social Map and Resource Map:

Social map and resource map are the most important tools of PRA and here it is

used to know about the constitution of the households and the resources

available to them in the village. The participants were:

Sukhmati Rathiya Sravan Patel Jaikumari Yadav Shashi Sidar Satyabhama Srivas

a. Chapathi Diagram (Venn Diagram):

The Venn diagram was prepared to know about the distance of the various

institutions and services from the village. The participants were:

Surendra Jangde Shashi Sidar Sukhmati Rathiya Satyabhama Srivas Leela Yadav

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a. Disease Matrix:

The disease matrix showed how many diseases are prevalent in the village indifferent seasons. The participants were:

Bhojram Patel Mangalai Manjhi Kunti Sidar Nankunwar Yadav

PRAs were mainly done to elicit information from the villagers about the issues on

which information was not readily available and required some analysis or

comparison with the past or future, on the part of the villagers.

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1. VILLAGE PROFILE

1.1. Village History

Kolam is about 250 year old village. The earliest settlers of this village were people

from theKole Tribe. They cleared forest for agriculture and lived here but not for a

long period. When I asked some village elders about it they said it was due to some

epidemic that killed many and when a very few were survived, they decided to leave

the village but to where nobody knows. AfterKole, Uraon were the first to settle

here. Subsequently came thePankas/ Mahants, Sidars, Chouhans, Brahmins, Patels/

Choudharys andRathiyas to the village and settled here.

Not long ago, about 70-100 years ago, the village was encircled by dense forest and

people used to get back inside their houses by 6 oclock every evening because of

the fear of wild animals like bears, tigers, leopards and elephants. But now no such

fear exists except for wild bears who still roam the village at night.

1.2. Village Location

Kolam is a village under the Chitwahi Panchayat which comes under the

Development BlockTamnarin Raigarh district ofChhattisgarh. It is 55 km away

fromRaigarh and 14 km away from Tamnar. To reach here one has to travel 9 km of

kachcha road which is accessible in all weather and 5 km ofpucca road from

Tamnar.

Fig 1. Kolam Distances from various Institutions

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The village population is 428. There are 213 females and 215 males in this village

constituting of both male and female children. According to the last Pulse Polio

Camp held here on 7th February, 2010, there are 55 children vaccinated for the Polio

virus.

The village is divided into two hamlets orparas. They are:

i. Kolam Basti (Lower Para)

ii. Bhagwati Nagar (Upper Para)

Bhagwati Nagar is the new para. It is just the part of Kolam Basti which

accommodates the extended population of the village. The village is surrounded by

many other villages. They are:

Fig 2. Villages surrounding Kolam

The village is connected by half built roads by three sides. One is from Gharghoda,

the other from Tamnarand the last one from Chirramuda. Earlier Kolam came under

the Tehsil Gharghoda but now it comes under the Tehsil Tamnar.

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Fig 3. Roads connecting Kolam with other Villages

1.1. Village Social System

There are four categories of people living here. They are:

Table 2: Categories

Sl No. Category

1 Scheduled Tribe (ST)

2 Scheduled Caste (SC)

3 Other Backward Caste (OBC)

4 General (G)

The two paras or hemlets have ten castes. Their population in descending order is as

follows:

Table 3: Number of Families according to Category

Sl No Particulars No. of

Families

Category Sl No Particulars No. of

Families

Category

1 Mahant 15 ST 6 Rathiya 6 ST

2 Patel 12 OBC 7 Sidar 5 ST

3 Uraon 10 ST 8 Brahmin 5 G

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4 Chouhan 9 SC 9 Mahant 3 OBC

5 Yadav 7 OBC 10 Nai 2 OBC

The village is predominantly an ST village and it is justified by the above figures.

The village has people belonging to different castes and as such some social aspect

emerges in the society which leads to casteism, marriage systems, culture and

festivals. The Brahmins are considered to be the superior caste and the Uraons are

the inferior one. The high - low view in terms of their superiority in the caste system

in the village is as follows:

Fig 4. Caste superiority indication in Kolam

Table 4: Festivals in the Village

Sl No. Month Festival

1 January Puspuni/ Chherchhera

2 February Marriage Month

3 March Holi

4 July Rath Yatra

5 August Haryali

6 September Ganesh Puja

7 October Dussehra

8 November Deepawali

Chherchhera is celebrated as the harvest festival. Here children go to houses and ask

for theirChherchhera gift. People give them paddy and they take it to their homes. It

is celebrated with gaiety and the houses smell of various sweets prepared for this

festival.

Haryali is the festival observed to celebrate the greenery of the standing crop.

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1.2. Education

As far as educational infrastructure is concerned, the village has one primary schoolat Kolam, one primary school, one high school and one private primary school at

Saraidipa situated at about 1 km from the village.

The primary school located in the village has two classrooms, one kitchen, one

office room and two corridors (Verandah). There are two teachers in this school, Mr

Loknath Penkra being the Head Master and Mrs Shanti Devi being the other staff.

This school was opened in 23rd October, 2008. Earlier children went to Saraidipa to

study. The education standards are low here as the school being a governmentschool, the student turnout is very low.

Table 5: Number of students

No. of Boys 14

No. of Girls 16

Total no. of Students 30

Yet the average attendance of this school reaches maximum of 15 students. The

teachers dont care much about their presence too. As there is shortage of teachers,

children from classes 1-3 are attended by Mrs Shanti Devi and from classes 4-5 are

attended by Mr Loknath Penkra.

The Mid-Day Meal (Madhyaan Bhojan) programme provides the students with rice,

dal and curry every day. In the high school, children come from distant places like

Chirramuda, Rodopali, Chitwahi, Bhalumuda, etc.

There is oneAnganbadi Center inKolam Basti. There is noAnganbadi infrastructure

and as such it is run at a rented house. It is run by its Shikshika named Mrs Ranjita

Sharma and assisted by one Sahayika named Mrs Nindra Bai fromBhagwati Nagar.

Here Dalia is provided to every child enrolled. Every Tuesday 80 grams of

uncooked dalia is provided to families of children from years to 3 years old. For

children between 3 to 6 years of age, dalia is provided in cooked form inAnganbadi

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itself. Pregnant women checkups and vaccinations are done every 3 rd Tuesday of

each month in the Center.

As on 19th January, 2010, theAnganbadi statistics are as follows:

Table 6:Anganwadi Statistics (No. of Enrolled Children and Pregnant Women)

Sl No Particulars No. of Boys No. of Girls Total

1 1 month yr 1 3 4

2 yr 3 yr 10 10 20

3 3 yr 6 yr 13 12 25

4 Pregnant Women 3

Though there are educational facilities available nearby the village, people dont caremuch about the education of their children. The dropout rate is high as much as 50%

in the schools and most dropouts are girls. The boys too contribute to this but in a

slightly less frequency than that of girls. Absenteeism is also a major cause of the

educational backwardness here. Though dropouts and absenteeism is prevalent here,

the literate population is good. As I found out in the books of the Gram Panchayat,

the male to female literate persons are as follows:

i.Literate Male - 209

ii. Literate Female - 179

Total population 428

Total literate population 388

This means that 90.65% of the village is literate. Here literate would mean that they

can write or sign their names and are above 7 years of age.

Fig 5. Literacy Status in Kolam

1.1. Village Health

Health is always a concern for everybody whether they live in a city or in a village.

Kolam doesnt have any Public Health Centers (PHCs). The nearest PHC is in

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Rodopali which is 3 km from here. The people here suffer mainly from Protein

Energy Malnutrition (PEM). It can be seen directly from their physique e.g. their

hair colour and texture, skin smoothness, etc.

In case of illness, villagers generally contact quakes first, as they are available all the

time in the village and they charge less compared to the government doctors. One

quake, Chitru Patel, comes from Bhalumuda. He treats for general fever, cough,

body ache, vomiting, etc. He doesnt take major cases like pregnancy, malaria, etc.

Apart from village quakes, there are some faith healers, also known as Gunia in local

terms. People contact them for most of their illness if not satisfied with the quakes.

There are 3Gunias in the village. They are:

i. Injor Singh (Bhagwati Nagar)

ii. Dokri Manjhi (Bhagwati Nagar)

iii. Asadho Manjhi (Chirramuda)

There are two practicing doctors in the village and nearby. One is Dr Ashok Patel

from Kolam Basti and the other is Dr B. Pandey at Saraidipa, who came from

Gharghoda and opened his clinic in a rented house. If all fails, they go to Tamnar for

further treatment.

The rainy season is the most problematic season for the villagers in terms of health

problems. In this season, villagers generally suffer from fever, malaria, headache and

water-borne diseases. (Source: PRA)

People here generally prefer quakes andgunias to doctors as they are available in the

village easily and they charge less for their services in terms of money and

sometimes they even accept their charges in kind which is not appropriate in a city

hospital.

1.1. Village Services

In terms of general services available in the village, whether it is commercial or

government-run, the village has the following services available:

Table 7: Distance of Services from Village

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Sl No. Particulars Sl No. Particulars

1 Bus Stop 10 Post Office

2 Government Primary School 11 Retail Store

3 Government High School 12 Sunday Weekly Market

4 Private Primary School 13 Anganbadi Center

5 Khad Society 14 Animal Health Center6 PHC 15 Bank

7 Agriculture Department 16 Gram Sabha

8 Village Control Shop 17 State Forest Department

9 Railway Station

The nearest bus stop fromKolam is in Saraidipa which is approximately 1 km away

from the village. The Government Primary School is in Kolam itself, but the

Government High School and the Private Primary School are in Saraidipa.

The Khad Society is situated at Gare which is 8 km away from the village. The

nearest PHC is situated atRodopali which is 3 km away from here. The Agriculture

Department and bank (SBI and Raigarh Kshetriya Gramin Bank) are situated at

Tamnar which is 14 km from here. The post office is situated in the village itself.

There are 4 retail stores in the village of which 2 are in Bhagwati Nagarand 2 are in

Kolam Basti.

TheAnganbadi Center is inKolam Basti where children from both theparas go. The

Weekly Sunday Market also known as Haats take place in Saraidipa where people

from nearby villages and from far too come to buy the necessities like vegetables,

clothes, utensils, etc.

The nearest Animal Health Center is situated at Bajarmuda which is 4 km away

from here. As this place is far away people dont generally go there for the treatment

of their livestock.

The nearest railway station is atRaigarh which is 55 km away from here and as such

people dont travel in railways as much. The State Forest Department is situated at

Tamnar.

The Gram Sabha is situated at Chitwahi which is 1.5 km away from the village. The

Village Control Shop is situated at Chitwahi where people having the BPL cards get

provisions at a heavily subsidized rate. According to the MIS data of the panchayat

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there are 70 job card holders (NREGA) in Kolam and 69 BPL card holders. The

particulars of the provisions available in the control shop are as follows:

Table 8: Village Control Shop

Sl No Particulars Control Price Market Price

1 Rice (BPL) Rs 2/ Kg Rs 13/ Kg

2 Rice (Anyodaya) Re 1/ Kg Rs 13/ Kg

3 Wheat Rs 2/ Kg Rs 13/ Kg

4 Sugar Rs 14/ kg Rs 42/ Kg

5 Kerosene Rs 10/ Ltr Rs 10/ Ltr

6 Salt Re 0.25/ Kg Rs 10/ Kg

The nearest markets available here are Gharghoda and Tamnar. Also the

accessibility to these markets is good as people now own their own bikes and some

even have cars. This was not possible at least 3 years ago. People have recently sold

their land to the industry, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, and have got at least Rs 3.5

lakhs/acre. But now they are accessible to the entire village.

These facilities have helped the entire village as they dont have to cover long

distances for their daily needs.

1.2. Village Livelihood

To assess the livelihood of the village, we have to look into the components of the

livelihood like village agriculture, land distribution, crop preference, water

resources, labour availability, livestock, forest produce and credit needs of the

villagers.

i. Village Agriculture:

Agriculture is the main livelihood activity of the rural people and same is true

for my village too. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood here. It is

done primarily for their own consumption and some part for money. They

dont have large chunks of land to cultivate commercially. Agriculture is done

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mainly in the period of June October i.e. the Monsoon season only. People

are mostly engaged in single Kharif crop in their field per year except for

those who have facilities like private wells,Nala or bore well.

ii. Land Distribution:

The total land available now in the village as per the books of the Panchayat is

296.587 acres of which:

Table 9: Land Distribution

Sl

No.

Particulars Land(In

acres)

Sl

No.

particulars Land(In

acres)

1 Irrigated 0.243 6 Final Cremation 0.506

2 Unirrigated 226.878 7 Dung ditches 0.405

3 Forest 9.710 8 Road 3.311

4 Populated 6.839 9 Kharif Crop Land 144.399

5 Crop Threshing 0.995 10 Rabi Crop land 82.539

Out of the total land of the village about 70% is owned by the Brahmins and

thePatels i.e. about 208 acres are with the upper strata of the village and the

rest 89 acres are with the rest of the village. This shows the uneven land

distribution of the village and also a cause of poverty.

The village soil is Khundhra i.e. sandy soil. The quality of the soil is poor.

One farmer called Mitru having 3 acres of dhondhia land told me that the

production of paddy in this soil is not good and it is also decreasing year by

year. The village has also one more type of soil called kanharo i.e. red clay

soil. It is mainly found at tikras.

The village land is distributed into 4 types based on their agricultural

usefulness and water holding capacity:

a. Tikra (Plains/ No water)

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b. Khar (Dry Land)

c. Dhondhia (Dry Land)

d. Bahala (Down land/ Water abundant)

i. Crop Preference:

The villagers mainly cultivate Kharifcrops viz. Paddy, Urad, Moong, Tilhan

and Arhar. And in Rabi crops, if water is sufficiently available then they

cultivate Paddy, ground nut, sun flower and seasonal vegetables.

Table10: Crop Type

Kharif Paddy, Urad, Arhar, Moong, Tilhan

Rabi Paddy, Ground Nut, Sun Flower, Vegetables

Rice is the staple food for the villagers and for this paddy is cultivated the

most. The villagers sow many varieties of paddy but the most preferred

variety of paddy here is Sona (Swarna), IR64 and 1001.

The villagers, except some, prefer broadcasting. It is called bunai in local

terms. Transplantation is generally not used because of labour or money

shortages. The common paddy diseases known to the villagers are Gangai,

which happens due to water stagnation,Jhulsa, Mahu andBalmari.

ii. Water Resources:

The village has many water facilities. Some are natural while some are man-

made. They are:

Table 11: Water Resources

Sl No. Particulars No. Sl No. Particulars No.

1 Stream 1 4 Bore Well 1

2 Pond 3 5 Govt Well 1

3 Hand Pump 3 6 Private Well 27

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To stop the rain water for agriculture, there is one check dam nearBelkhonga,

which is a dam cum bridge, built 5 years ago with the help of the

panchayat. The villagers use it for drinking purpose throughout the year but

during summer time, the water level drops. Even the wells water level goes

down. The hand pumps installed in the villages are not fit for drinking as the

water contains too much iron which is not good for health. Three ponds are

used by the villagers for bathing purpose and one is used for bathing animals

only. Though water for drinking is available, the quality is not that good as it

contains too much soil. People dont drink water by boiling it or by filtering it

with a piece of cloth hence making them prone to water borne disease.

iii. Labour Availability:

The people in the village are eager to work but due to their lack of knowledge

beyond farming, they end up doing work in their own or the fields of the

Brahmins or thePatels as daily wage labourer earning Rs 45 50/day. Patelsgive their land on a lease basis to the villagers and in return they have to give

a half of the production to thePatels. They are mostly available in the months

between July to November. Women labourers get the same amount in terms of

money as the male labourers but in kind they get 5 Tamis of paddy/day

whereas males get 7 Tamis of paddy/day (1 Tami = 750 grams

approximately).

Table 12: Labour

Cash Kind

Men Rs 45 - 50/day 5.250 kgWomen Rs 45 - 50/day 3.750 kg

Some villagers also go to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd as daily wage labourers

and earn Rs 100/day. One of the village boys is also a computer operator in

the plant.

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iv. Livestock:

Livestock is a very important asset to the villagers. They are used by the

villagers as food but mainly used to sell for money to buy staples. Its wastes

are used as manure or fuel. But generally here it is used as manure only as

most villagers cook by wood only.

Most households own livestock here. It is also their important secondary

source of income. The village has mostly cows, he buffaloes, oxen, goats,

sheeps and hens.

Table 13: Livestock

Sl No. Particulars Number

1 Cows, He Buffaloes, Oxen 300

2 Goats and Sheeps 120

3 Hens and Chickens 750

In Kolam there are 23 families who have cows. The villagers keep milk for

their own consumption, and if left after that they sell it for Rs 15/ltr. About

half the families inKolam have either a pair of he buffaloes or oxen. They

are mostly used for ploughing the fields. One buffalo costs about Rs 10000

and one ox costs around Rs 7000. In the months of July October, their

prices touch to its peak. Sometimes they sell them for higher money.

Goats and sheeps are anytime money for the villagers. In the times of

festivities and marriages their cost increases to Rs 1500 which is Rs 500

more than the usual price of Rs 1000. In Kolam almost all the households

have hens. There is also one chicken farm in Bhagwati Nagar. Each house

has 8 10 chickens on an average.

v. Forest Produce:

The village is situated near the base of a mountain forest known as Silot

Pahad Jungle in local terms. It is about 7 km away from the village. It is

abundant in natural resources.

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The villagers are largely dependent on this forest for fire wood. Villagers

bring wood for their own consumption as well as to sell. A block of wood

having the dimension 12ft X 3in X 5in would give Rs 200 locally but at

Tamnar or Raigarh it gives around Rs 500. A bundle of wood here fetches

around Rs 60 but at Tamnar it fetches them around Rs 150.

It also provides them with NTFP i.e. Non-Timber Forest Products. They are:

a. Tendu leaves

b. Mahua

c. Chaar Seeds

d. Dori

e. Saal Seeds

Tendu Leaves: Tendu leaves are mostly available throughout the year but the

desired quality leaves are available in the month of May. These leaves are

purchased by the State Forest Department or a Government appointed

contractor on their behalf. They sell 200 gaddis of leaves for Rs 100. Each

gaddi has 50 leaves.

Mahua and Dori:Mahua trees are found mostly in forest and tikras. Villagers

go to the forest to collect it in the months of March and April then sold after 6

months. In summer time it costs around Rs 10 15/kg but in the winter time

its cost shoots up and sells for Rs 20 30/kg. 30% of the village population is

directly engaged in Mahua collection. The total production ofMahua in the

village is around 300 quintals. In the month of October November, the

demand forMahua is very high. Mahua is used to make local liquor called

Mand. Its seed, locally known as dori, is also collected in the month of May

June for oil. It is sold for about Rs 10 12/kg in the market.

Chaar Seeds: It is collected by the villagers in the forest to sell it to the

traders to make oil. It costs about Rs 400 500/kg. Traders in Gharghoda,

Saraidipa and Kudumkela demand it most. In Kudumkela, it costs around Rs

700/kg. Its seeds are collected in the summer time.

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Saal Seeds: Villagers also go to the forest to collect Saalseeds and sell it to

the State Forest Department for around Rs 8 10/kg. It is done mainly in the

summer time. Due to less return very few people in the village are engaged in

Saalseed collection.

i. Credit Needs:

Micro finance caters to commercial needs of poor to raise their income level

and improve their standard of living. It is not the lack of skills that makes

poverty continuous but the lack of opportunity and lack of planned credit.

I observed significant differences in the borrowing behavior of members and

other households who are not the members of any Self Help Group (SHG).I

asked them how many times they were in urgent need of cash in a year prior

to my stay at their village. I asked 10 families each from KolamBasti and

BhagwatiNagar. About 60% from each para reported such need i.e. 6 families

fromBhagwati Nagarand 5 families fromKolam Basti. While only 3 families

from Bhagwati Nagarcould find funds to meet these needs, 7 families from

Kolam Basti reported to find funds for urgent needs.

It is found that the SHGs provide their members with credit to meet

emergencies and that those households who did not have access to such credit

had to go to private money lenders. Medical emergencies were by far the most

important reason for urgent need for money. The next most important urgent

need was for agricultural expenses like fertilisers, phosphate, urea etc. Also

people resort to credit when they are facing food shortage at home.

The most striking difference between members and non members of any

SHG is the frequency of borrowings. Members borrow more frequently. It is

also the case that monthly interest payments are much lower for members i.e.

2% per month. The non - members borrow mainly from traditional sources

like relatives, money lenders, shop keepers, land or jewellery mortgage.

Table 14: Sources of credit in the village

Sl No. Source Sl No. Source

1 SHGs 4 Friends/ Neighbours2 Money Lenders 5 Shop Keepers

3 Relatives 6 Land/ Jewellery Mortgage

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Table 15: Purpose of Loan

Sl No From For

1 Traders/ Money Lenders Medical Expenses, Food, Agri inputs,

Consumer durables

2 Relatives Medical Expenses, Food, Personal Use, Family

Events

3 Friends/ Neighbours Medical Expenses, Food, Personal Use,

Consumer Durables, Family Events

1.1. Rural Entrepreneurship Status and Scope

The village is small with 428 people who are mainly engaged in agriculture and

wage labour. There are 6 SHGs formed by PRADAN. These SHGs are engaged in

reeling of Tasar silk from the Tasar silkworm cocoon. Though these are positive

signs of entrepreneurship, the village lacks motivation in pursuing this activity for

their own profit. Still there are entrepreneurs who seem to have grabbed the

opportunity at the very moment they saw one, suchas:

i. Grocery Shop

ii. Chicken Broiler

There are 4 shops and one chicken broiler in the village. The biggest shop is in

Kolam Basti near the Gharghoda Chitwahi Linkand as such reaps the benefit of

being near a busy route. The shop belongs to oneBhuru fromKolam Basti itself.

The chicken broiler belongs to Uttara Chouhan from Bhagwati Nagar. He is the

only person in the whole village where one finds broiler chicken and as such he

enjoys monopoly when there is any marriage or festivities when the demand for

chicken is more.

Scope: There are a few families here who own diesel and electric pump sets. They

can give them on rent and enjoy the benefits even when they are not using the set

themselves. Also goat rearing here can be a profitable business opportunity here as

almost all the families have goat here which fetches good price in the market during

festivities.

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1. RURAL ACTION COMPONENT (RAC)

1.1. Organisation Profile

PRADAN is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act

of India.

Established in Delhi in 1983, PRADAN was pioneered by a group of young

professionals, all of whom were inspired by the conviction that individuals with

knowledge resources and empathy for the marginalised must work with communities

at the grassroots in order to help them overcome poverty.

PRADAN believes that the path towards conquering economic poverty is throughenhancing the livelihood capabilities of the poor and giving them access to

sustainable income earning opportunities. In the process, the poor must be enabled

to break free from their past, develop an alternative vision of their future and set

achievable goals. They must be equipped with the technical, organisational,

negotiating, and networking skills that will facilitate the fulfillment of their goals.

Today, some 268 lakhs highly motivated and skilled professionals under PRADANs

fold are working in the remote villages of India, immersing themselves directly withtarget communities. These young professionals are recruited from universities and

hold specialised degrees in subjects like management, engineering, agriculture, and

the social sciences.

PRADAN professionals, divided into 30 teams, work with over 180,000 families

in 3,429 villages across eight of the poorest states in the country. A majority of the

families that PRADAN works with belong to the Schedule Tribes and Schedule

Castes.

6.1.1.PRADAN follows a four-pronged approach to achieve its goals:22


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Promoting and nurturing Self-Help Groups (SHGs) of poor women and

strengthening them as organisations to leverage institutional finances for

members livelihoods.

Developing and introducing locally suitable economic activities to increase

productivity and incomes among SHG members; building synergic

collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders.

Mobilising finances for livelihood assets and infrastructure from government

bodies, donors, banks, and other financial institutions.

Setting up mechanisms to sustain the livelihood gains made by the poor

communities.

Challenged by the abysmal poverty of millions of people across India,

PRADAN has resolved to reach out to 1.5 million poor people in the next 10

years as a part of its vision, PRADAN 2017.

6.1.2. Vision

PRADAN seeks to enable poor rural families to live a life of dignity.

6.1.3.Mission

Impacting Livelihoods to Enable Rural Communities

PRADANs mission is rooted in a clear understanding of the societal contexts that

make poverty in India complex, a phenomenon which thrives in various interrelated

factors including:

The rural poors view of themselves;

Their understanding and skills to deal with outside systems;

Their access to resources;

Their technical knowledge to use the resources that they have;

The existence of feudal or semi-feudal agents which deprive the poor of theirsurpluses; and,

Other causes that are rooted beyond the local context

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Over the many years that it has worked with Indias rural poor, PRADAN has

learned valuable lessons that serve as a guide to fulfilling the organisations mission.

Among those learnings are the following:

Alleviating rural poverty is an extremely challenging task. Developmentefforts must be conducted with the collaboration of different and equally

interested actors in order to make an impact.

Rural communities are fragmented along caste and class lines. These tend to

restrict the effectiveness of joint action for development.

Among the rural poor, women are generally marginalised, yet they prove to

be more effective agents of social change. Sadly, however, such potential is

not well-recognised.

There are plenty of resources in the rural areas including human resources

which remain largely untapped.

There is need for innovation in the social and technical spheres for generating

ideas that can affect the rural poor on a large scale.

The government remains the biggest and most dominant actor in

development, but its efforts have had a limited effect on alleviating rural

poverty. This could be due to various factors, including:

Lack of access of people to government;

Government programmes that have little relevance to rural

communities;

Inappropriate design of some government programmes and

schemes;

Low quality of human resources at the implementation levels

of government; and,

Lack of recognition among government personnel that they

have a stake in the poors development.

The context in which PRADAN operates is changing fast.

With all this in perspective, PRADAN seeks to define the space in which it can be

most effective, as well as the approaches that can best help the rural poor enrich their

lives.

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PRADANs core competency is in the area of sustainable livelihoods. By addressing

issues of livelihood, PRADAN has been able to make an impact in the lives of poor

communities. Having access to sustainable livelihood opportunities, the poor

become less vulnerable to adverse natural and man-made forces. Control over their

source of livelihood improves the poors image of themselves. Livelihood is a

tangible instrument around which rural poor people can be organised, opportunities

to deal with outside systems be created, and a greater impact on the fight against

poverty be attained.

PRADAN looks for concrete livelihood interventions in the local context after a

scientific evaluation of the specific environments. PRADAN constantly seek to

extend intervention that is sharper and more relevant, aided by a thorough process of

action, reflection, and learning. PRADAN strives to share its experiences with other

development workers, recognising the unfortunate fact that knowledge about

processes in addressing rural poverty is severely limited.

PRADAN carries out all of these programmes with the collective hard work of its

highly skilled and dedicated workforce. The organisation recruits and deploys high-

quality human resources at the grassroots, inducting, nurturing, and developing

professional development workers who are able to operate in a wide spectrum, are

capable to reverse roles, are self-regulating, and continually seek excellence in their

tasks.

6.1.4. Outreach

PRADANs outreach is in 8 states i.e. it works in 8 states viz. Rajasthan, Madhya

Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. The

following gives the details of the place of interventions and the type of interventions

by PRADAN:

Assam Bongaigaon

WB Bankura- Improved agriculture, watershed development,

horticulture

Purulia- Improved agriculture, irrigation and watershed

programmes

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Bihar- Gaya

Banka- improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed,

vermicompost

Jharkhand - Godda and Dumka- Improved agriculture, Tasar cocoon,

horticulture, Tasar yarn, lac cultivation

Deoghar- Improved agriculture, Tasar cocoon, Tasar yarn

production, dairy

Koderma and Peterbar, Bokaro- Improved agriculture,

Tasar

yarn, poultry

Barhi, Hazaribagh- Improved agriculture, irrigation, dairy,

poultry, Tasar yarn, vermicompost

Khunti, Ranchi- Improved agriculture, irrigation,

vermicompost, horticulture, poultry, lac cultivation, fisheries

Lohardaga- Improved agriculture, irrigation, dairy, poultry,

vermicompost,mushroom, horticulture

Gumla- Improved agriculture, irrigation, horticulture, poultry,

goat rearing, lac cultivation

Chaibasa, West Singbhum- Improved agriculture, irrigation,

horticulture,Tasar cocoon, lac cultivation

Jamshedpur, East Singbhum- Improved agriculture,

irrigation, watershed, poultry

Orissa - Rayagada and Kalahandi

Karanjia, Mayurbhanj- Improved agriculture, irrigation,

watershed, vermicompost

Keonjhar- Improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed,

vermicompost, goat rearing, horticulture, fisheries

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Balliguda, Kandhamal- Improved agriculture, goat rearing,

leaf plate

Chhattisgarh - Dhamtari- Improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed, dairy,

vermicompost, petty trading

Raigarh- Improved agriculture, poultry, tasar yarn

MP - Balghat

Sironj/Vidisha- Improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed,

dairy, goat rearing

Kesla, Hoshangabad- Improved agriculture, irrigation,

watershed, poultry, horticulture, mushroom, vermicompost,

mulberry sericulture, ericulture

Dindori- Improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed,

horticulture, mulberry sericulture, poultry

Sidhi- Improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed, poultry,

goat rearing, vermicompost

Rajasthan - Dholpur- Improved agriculture, irrigation, watershed, dairy,

goat rearing

6.1.5.Livelihood Promotion Programmes (Activities & Approaches)

Promotion of SHGs

PRADAN is the pioneer in the promotion of Self Help Groups

(SHGs) in India. The first SHG promoted by PRADAN was formed in

Alwar, Rajasthan in 1987. As of March 2009, PRADAN has worked with

some 11,406 SHGs across eight states, representing a total membership of

150,349 rural poor women. These SHGs have mobilised a total savings of

459 million Rupees.

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Forest Based Livelihood

Lac Cultivation

PRADAN works to revive a dying traditional livelihood by helping to

enhance incomes of lac rearers. PRADANs intervention in Lac

cultivation programmes has reached 2,659 families. PRADAN works

collaboration with the Jharkhand Government and the Indian Lac

Research Institute (ILRI) and provides technical trainings on modern

rearing techniques.

Siali Leaf Plate

PRADAN began its Siali leaf plate-making livelihood intervention in

April 2002. It is a supplementary income for poor people living near

forests in South and West Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and

Madhya Pradesh. PRADANs strategy is to help producers mainly

women to increase incomes; organise them into SHGs to pave the way

for access to credit; create storage facilities and upgrade products toclose-stitched and machine-stitched plates. The returns are expected to

be around Rs. 6,000 per year for every family.

Tasar Cocoon Production

Sericulture or the production of silk involves the rearing of

silkworms to produce cocoons, and then processing those cocoons to

make yarn and fabric. There is constant demand for tasar silk, estimated

both for domestic consumption and the international market at 1,500

metric tonnes (MT) per annum of raw silk fibre. PRADAN works with

Tasar rearers about 6,106 families so far, almost all of whom are

tribals at various intervention levels. The rearers have been provided

with trainings in improved rearing techniques developed by the Central

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Silk Board (CSB). Those techniques have reduced the risks and

increased overall productivity.

Natural Resource Management

Agriculture

Over half of PRADANs livelihood programmes are focused on

agriculture, its improvement. Enhancing productivity and diversification

are the core strategies of PRADANs agriculture programmes. Specific

activities are increasing the productivity of the main cereal crops to

improve food security, and diversification into cash crops such as pulses,

oil seeds, and vegetables.

Horticulture

Horticulture is gradually emerging as a significant livelihood

programme in the high-rainfall regions where PRADAN is engaged.

PRADAN teams, fielded in the undulating and hilly terrains, are

working to encourage farmers to take up vegetable cultivation on their

small-scale homesteads and near dug wells. These activities provide the

poor families with a dependable source of income. PRADAN has taken

up fruit tree plantation programmes on private lands. Over 6,000

families are currently involved in PRADANs horticulture programme.

Land & Water Resources

PRADAN takes the integrated approach to resource management and

has demonstrated ways to promote the development of natural resources.

PRADANs integrated approach to natural resource management

(INRM) calls for the efficient management of soil, water and vegetation

resources, yet maintaining a livelihood focus. INRM not only optimises

the productivity of land and water resources, but also helps fight mass

poverty.

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Livestock Development

Dairy

PRADAN provides assistance for the induction of new animals, while

giving attention as well to better housing and veterinary care, especially

the provision of immunisation against diseases. PRADAN also assists

participants in accessing funds from various sources such as centrally

sponsored schemes, donor-aided programmes, and state governments. At

present, the Dairy programmes reach out to nearly 2,269 families.

Goat Rearing

PRADAN is promoting goat-rearing programmes in Rajasthan and

Orissa. The focus is on assisting women in optimising their livestock

resources. It assists poor women in goat rearing as a potential livelihood

supplement. The programme enables women to obtain credit to buy

goats and provide improved shelter and veterinary support. PRADANs

goat-rearing programmes currently reach out to some 1,047 families.

Micro Enterprise Promotion

Tasar Yarn Production

PRADANs intervention in Tasar yarn production equips rural poor

women with skills and provides them with infrastructure, inputs, and

marketing support for yarn production as an independent enterprise.

This helps ensure for them a steady and sustainable income. In 2009,

PRADANs Tasar yarn production activities impacted on 2,468 families.

Broiler Poultry Rearing

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PRADAN provides poor women through the cooperatives hands-on

training and assistance in securing finances from either the banks or

government programmes. These women rear a batch of 300 to 400 birds

in rearing sheds built on their homesteads. In around 32 days the birds

are ready for sale. At present, PRADAN works with 5,320 families

organised into 15 cooperatives, the largest conglomeration of

smallholder poultry in India.

6.1.6.Masuta PCL and PRADAN

PRADAN identified the potential to generate livelihood opportunities among the rural poor

in Jharkhand through the production of Tasar silk yarn. To manage the reeling centers,

clusters of women yarn producers from SHGs came together to register as a Mutual Benefit

Trust (MBT), a primary yarn producers group at the village level. Groups of MBTs then

formed Masuta Producers Company Ltd. (registered under Section 581C (5) of the Indian

Companies Act) to procure raw materials (Tasar cocoons) and buy yarn from MBTs in bulk,

which are then sold directly in the market or converted into fabric.

Fig 6. Evolution of Masuta PCL

During the transition, 86 producer groups from the savings and credit groups became

shareholders of micro-enterprise units. Below is a timeline of this transition:

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Table 16: Timeline of Masuta PCL

Upon the formation of the producers company, seed funding of 1 lakh was

transferred from PRADAN to support Masutas working capital requirements and

support the acquisition of revolving loans (generally 15x current savings can be

obtained).

Currently, Masuta works with 2400 producers and has sales of over 10000 kgs of

silk yarn totaling to about 2 crore in 2007-2008. Eco Tasar utilized about 5000 kgs

and notched up a turnover of approx 2.64 crore from sale of value added items like

fabric and off the loom made ups.

Fig 7. Masuta PCL Organisational Structure

1.1. Objective of the Action

To access the gravity of problems arising in the Self Help Groups promoted

by PRADAN

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November 2005 Application to be registered as a producers company with 1200producers

April 2006 Registration as Masuta Producers Company completed and the micro

enterprise units assets and liabilities transferred to Masuta from PRADAN

September 2007 Textile business, Eco Tasar, registered as a private limited company


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To identify the problems faced by groups engaged in Tasar yarn reeling

1.1. Methodology

The methodology included in the study was both quantitative as well asqualitative. The primary data collection was done by questionnaire and informal

meetings. Also one to one interview was used to collect the required

information.

1.2. RAC Period and Place

The RAC was carried on in the village Kolam in Tamnar block ofRaigarh,

Chhattisgarh. It took 30 days to complete the activity as it included meetingswith individual SHG members and also meetings in SHG weekly meetings.

1.3. The Process

The RAC was carried out in two phases:

I. In the first phase I built a rapport with the SHG members by visiting the SHG

meetings and observing their activities.

On the first day of my visit to the field I attended an informal meeting

where the SHG members engaged in Tasar yarn reeling discussed about

their problems.

According to the meetings and various other follow up I observed that

though they wanted to do the reeling process no one was ready to take the

initiative on their part.

The problems faced by them were as follows:

The threading machines provided to them were not working properly.

There was lack of motivation.

The Tasar silkworm cocoons were not of good quality i.e. the

cocoons had holes which made them unfit for reeling the yarn.

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Many were thinking to sell their reeled threads to other threading

companies.

There was a misconception between the reelers and the NGO

officials. When they were under training they were told that an A

Grade silk yarn would earn them around Rs 1200 but when they got

Rs 300 for their yarn their interest decreased and they again lost their

motivation.

I. In the second phase I went to individual SHG members, both Tasar yarn

reelers and non reelers, and interviewed them about their problems in

reeling the yarn or working of their SHGs, which was not being done for

almost 4 months now.

Interviewed SHG members and found the followings:

The SHGs viz.Laxmi and Saraswati were active and also the reelers of

the group were also active in the reeling process.

The SHG Santoshi were also active in their SHG but needed a smalldiscussion for their part in the reeling process.

The SHGs viz. Gayatri and Jai Chandrahasini were inactive for the

last 1 year and they were not showing enough interest in doing so too.

The outcomes of the meeting were as follows:

Meetings were not held for the last 1 year for both the

SHGs.

No trust amongst the members.

They were not serious about the motive of the intervention.

The SHG Durga which was formed nearly 1 year ago was also not

working as 4 of its 9 members are now not living in the village.

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1.1. Outcome and Impact

The RAC helped the organisation understand the problems faced by the SHG

members. Here I alongside an executive from PRADAN discussed their problems

and suggested measures to counter them. Some of them were as follows:

The SHG members ofLaxmi and Saraswati were serious about their

activities and the reeling and hence there is scope for them to increase

their capacity of reeling and the NGO can provide them with better

cocoons and inputs in the reeling process in an affordable cost.

The SHG Santoshi were also interested in reeling but there was a problem

of lack of input i.e. washing soda which is needed in the preparation ofthe Tasar yarn. So we discussed with them about this problem and a local

shopkeeper was asked to keep a stock of washing soda with him as there

will be a great need of washing soda here.

The SHG Gayatri andJai Chanrahasini had same set of problems.

The members of SHG Gayatri said they wanted to have a meeting

about the existence and working of their SHG but the Head of their

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SHG, Mrs Urmila Sidar was not ready to have one. One of the

members said that she is not having the meetings because she has

taken many loans from their bank i.e. Raigarh Kshetriya Gramin

Bank, and has not returned the loan amount.

Many members of SHGs have recently sold their land and as such had

money at their expanse and hence showed lack of interest in the

working of the SHG or the reeling yarn. Same is the case with both the

SHGs here.

The accountant of the SHG Gayatri, Mrs Rekha Mahantdidnt have

the books of their group. When asked who has the books, she said a

member; Mrs Padmabai Chouhan has the books. She said that the

groups savings box was with Mrs Urmila Sidar. When asked Mrs

Padmabai said that she took the books to raise a loan from the

Raigarh Kshetriya Gramin Bank. This showed how they were not

serious about the norms of the SHG. I discussed this with the

executive responsible for this cluster and asked him to take appropriate

action.

The SHGDurga had somewhat a very different set of problems. Within 6

months from its initiation the members of the group started showing lack

of interest in the proceedings of the SHG. 4 of the 9 members of the SHG

are now not living in the village and have relocated elsewhere. Of the

remaining 5 members no one is interested to carry on the workings of the

SHG as the books and the savings box of the SHG are taken by the

members not present in the SHG and when they asked about them they

said that its lost. Now the fate of the group is in the hands of the NGO.Till now it has not held any meeting.

1.1. Key Success Factors

The key success factors achieved in my study are as follows:

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The problems faced by the SHGs cannot be understood unless one stays with

them for a while. The executives of PRADAN cannot have that much time and

hence my inputs on these problems gave them insights about the gravity of the

problems faced by them.

The Tasar yarn reeling machines were not working properly and needed

repairing. The meetings paid off when PRADAN sent one mechanic to repair

the machines and within 4 days the reeling of the yarn started.

The SHG Durga now wants to reform their group but due to shortage of

members cannot do so. Also when asked whether they would like to learn the

reeling, they said theyd like to but they dont have the machines and also dont

have the skill to do so. So I discussed this with my field officer and he affirmed

that hed look forward to it.

1.1. Lesson Learnt

The major challenge before me was to interact with the SHG members. But during

my stay in the village I learnt that what we conceive of others is not always the right

impression.

People here are as sophisticated and as intelligent as a person in any city.

Theyve their own technology and means to do their jobs.

I learnt how to conduct a meeting with the target population.

How to motivate and mobilize the people for a common cause.

Looking at things from their prospective i.e. what is important for us may not be

important for them. Therefore we should not harp upon what we want to do

rather what they want to be done.

The need of understanding the effect of culture and tradition while undergoing

certain change.

1.1.

My Experience as a Grass R oot Level Change Agent37


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To me rural development is a grassroots approach where rural people work together

and plan ahead to make balanced decisions to enhance their social and economic

conditions of their community. The goal of rural development is to achieve long

term viability of a community. My experience as a grass root level change agent

was enriching as well as educating. Though Ive been brought up in urban region

Ive always felt this pull from my village. People here are more hard working and

honest. When there is a need to intervene in the livelihoods of these people, they

readily accept them, but not before probing the pros and cons of the intervention.

My urban upbringing didnt bother them from interacting with me. I was

apprehensive about the response theyd give to me but when they started to interact

with me my inhibitions gave way to a very beautiful bonding with the villagers. This

village study segment not only made me more confident but also made me aware of

the fact that people are more sociable in a village than in a city. Ill go from the

village with more than I came with.

Village Profile RAC NSS

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