RURAL DEVELOPMENT & PANCHAYATHI RAJ
Democracy, Development and Decentralization
Decentralization, through local self-government, transforms representative
into participatory democracy. The Indian federal system provides for the
constitutional devolution of powers between the center and the states,
under whose exclusive legislative domain the local self-governments rest as
third tier or level of government. The post Emergency period (after 1977)
in Indian politics has seen two significant developments that have a
decisive impact on the decentralization process. One is the assertion of
the regions of their autonomy and identity; two, the expansion of the media
leading to the wider availability of information and assertiveness by the
former, leading to difficulty to cling on to the concentration of power
either by the central or state governments. The constitutionalisation of
rural and urban local governments through 73rd and 74th Constitutional
amendment (amendment of Article 243) in 1992 respectively has been the
important initiative that makes them as the institutions of self-
government. In the context of neo-liberal policies being pursued in a big
way the state is disengaging itself to make space for market, the local
communities are meant to mend for themselves with little reliance on the
state. Strengthening the panchayat raj institutions, involving the local
participation in the management of resources, developmental needs and
decision making process, would provide for the empowerment of the local
population
India's vast majority of people live in rural villages. They are largely
dependent on remote and unresponsive government (the Central and the State)
historically characterized as "centralized, bureaucratic, corrupt and non-
transparent". In most parts of rural India there had been a continuous and
deep rift between the people and the government(s). The people do not have
proper access to the information regarding the developmental plans, schemes
and actions of governments. Further, they have no effective means to
influence the policies, programmes or resource allocations for their
development. The people in general and the rural people in particular have
lacked effective ways to participate in shaping of their future. The
essential needs of the people in health, sanitation, clean water,
education, family planning, employment and their total development could
not be solved by the centralised administration, top down bureaucratic
interventions. Therefore, it is finally felt that the critical needs of the
people can be provided only with the local initiation, responsibility,
accountability and local governance in action. To meet the emerging
challenges of globalization, liberalization and decentralization of
development, it is felt necessary to enhance the capacity of local
government authorities to assume responsibilities for delivery of basic
services to the local people and mobilize local resources. It is also felt
necessary to enhance the capacity of the citizens through education,
information and access to technology, empowerment of women and the
disadvantaged groups and strengthening the efforts to build self-reliance
and developing participatory institutions such as Panchayati Raj
Institutions.
Historical Background of Panchayati Raj :
The Sovereign, Democratic, Secular and Socialistic Republic of India came
into existence on January 26,1950 after achieving Independence on 15th
August 1947 from the British Colonial Rule for over 200 years. At present
(2003) India has a population of a little over billion (Census 2001)1. The
country has adopted a federal constitution with unitary features. It is
governed by a Union Government and 29 State Governments, seven Union
Territories and over two million Panchayati Raj Institutions in rural
areas. The peculiar feature of the Indian society is its kaleidoscopic
diversity with an ancient and rich civilization of about five-thousand
years. At the moment the traditional social norms co-exist with modern
liberal democratic institutions .in the form of parliamentary democracy
which is centralised in nature. The "uneasy, ambiguous and contradictory
relationship" between the tradition and the modernity is the order of the
present society. Mahatma Gandhi2, the father of the nation, during the
freedom struggle in 1940s explained his idea of Village Swaraj (Self-Rule)
as it is a complete republic, which will be conducted by a panchayat of
five persons annually elected by the adult villagers. This panchayat would
combine the legislature, Executive and Judiciary and there perfect
democracy prevails based on individual freedom. By 1947, there were the
government created panchayats as units of local government with government
defined judicial and administrative powers based on the recommendations of
the Royal Commission on Decentralization in 1907. India's freedom fighters
opposed this and proposed the agenda of Gram Swaraj (village republic) as
nationalist struggle. During 1940s under Quit-India Movement village-based
parallel governments were adopted in some parts of the country opposing the
government panchayats. Many of such villages are now declaring self-rule.
Even after India's Independence, despite all the commitment of nationalist
leaders of Gram Swaraj (Village self-government), the constitution framers
decided the final draft of the constitution to continue the British policy.
The constitution failed to adopt the traditional village institutions as
units of governance. Thus the village self-rule was not emphasized. The
decentralized framework of rural local government was confined in the
constitution to Article 40 of the Directive Principles of State Policy,
which directed the state governments "to take steps to organise village
panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be
necessary to enable them to function as the units of self-governments.
Panchayati Raj :
Based on the recommendations of the Balvantrai Mehta Committee 1957,
Panchayati Raj was launched on October 2,1959, (Father of the Nation
Mahatma Gandhi's birthday) in Nagaur district in Rajasthan State. In the
same year Andhra Pradesh State also introduced the system. Soon after, many
states established Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). However, the
enthusiasm with which these institutions were created could not be
sustained. In the mid 1960s the Union Government at New Delhi almost
setting aside the local bodies created a district programme, namely
Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). To meet the crisis in the
agriculture, national level programmes like Small Farmers Development
Agency (SFDA), Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and Integrated Tribal
Development Agency (ITDA) were introduced. Gradually the concept of local
development was withdrawn from the official agenda. Instead programmes for
providing employment and for eradication of poverty were implemented
throughout the country by the bureaucracy. Due to the increasing tendency
towards centralisation in the state and central governments, and not
providing finances which are due to the local bodies, the Panchayati Raj
institutions could not participate in the developmental activities. The
political leaders at the state level also lacked political will to transfer
powers and finances to these bodies. Further, repeated postponement of
elections of these bodies led to inefficiency and ineffectiveness of this
first generation Panchayati Raj system. With a view to explore, the
possibilities of strengthening Panchayati Raj in 1977, The Janata
Government appointed Ahsoka Mehta Committee which reported in 1978.
The main recommendations of the committee were:
Regular and periodical elections to the Panchayati Raj bodies by the
constitutional authority
Elections through participation of political parties
Powers of Taxation to the Panchayati Raj bodies
Transfer of developmental functions to the Zilla Parishads The
recommendations could not be implemented due to the downfall of the Janata
Government in 1980. In 1984 and in 1985 also, there were reports on the
District Planning and Rural Development Administration. They pleaded
greater powers to the Panchayati Raj bodies and advocated decentralized
planning. L.M. Singhvi Committee in 1986 recommended constitutional status
for Panchayati Raj, giving importance to Gram Sabha and Nyaya Panchayats
(Judicial Panchayats)
On the basis of these recommendations, the Government of India under the
Prime Minister ship of Rajiv Gandhi of Congress Party introduced in July
1989 64th and 65th Constitution Amendment Bills in the Parliament. The
bills could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bills were opposed
initially alleging that the Central Government neglecting the State
Governments, and likes to establish direct relations with the local bodies.
After prolonged negotiations and consultations with different parties and
state governments, the Janata Dal Government and Prime Minister V.P. Singh
introduced another Amendment Bill in September 1990 in the Lok Sabha. The
Amendment could not get through due to collapse of Janata Dal Government
The Congress Party which came into power back in June 1991 under the Prime
Minister ship of P. V. Narasimha Rao, re-introduced the 73rd and 74th
Amendment Bills which were passed by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in December
1992. The Amendment Act, 1992 came into force on 24th April, 1993. The Act
is to provide constitutional guarantees to safeguard the interests of Rural
(73rd) and Urban (74th) local governments to empower them as effective
democratic and self-governing institutions at gross-root level. The Act
provides a constitutional form to structure mandate to these institutions.
The objectives of the Act include decentralization of power and ensuring
popular participation in planning, management and delivery of civic
services.
New Panchayati Raj : Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao described the
emergence of the new Panchayati Raj as against the unjust and exploitative
society, stands a bridge for development, symbolizes social harmony and
future equity and a training school for autonomous political process. It
provides, he hoped, an opportunity to transform the face of rural India
having potential to create genuine democracy at the village level. The 73rd
amendment to the Constitution promoted decentralized democracy in the
country, recognized the Panchayat as the local level of government and
opened up possibilities for strengthening people's participation in
decision making regarding their own development. It also set forth a
process of providing and building up new leadership among women and weaker
sections of the rural community. The 1992 Act specifically and explicitly
made certain provisions mandatory and few others were left to the
discretion of the State Governments. The 73rd amendment was further
extended on December 24,1996 to the tribal population areas designed in the
Constitution as Schedule V areas4 with provision for stronger
representation of tribal community and their access and control over
community resources, institutions and instruments of governance. This
extension gave absolute power to the Gram Sabha (Village Assembly) over
resources and its management. Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act, (PESA)
1996, came into existence on the recommendations of the Bhuria Committee.
It is applicable to eight states and 60 districts where the scheduled areas
are there
The salient features of the new Panchayati Raj :
Establishment of Gram Sabha and three tiers of panchayats (Panchayat,
Panchayat Samities and Zitta Parishads) at the village, block and district
levels.
Regular elections every five years.
Reservation of not less than one-third seats for women as members and
chairpersons at all the three levels. -.
Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other
backward communities.
Constitution of State Election Commission.
Constitution of State Finance Commission.
The Panchayati Raj Institutions are to function as institutions of self-
governance and they have been endowed with powers and authority to
formulate and implement their own plans for economic development and social
justice.
In the past, prior to the Amendment (1993), the Panchayati Raj was not
successful mainly for not conducting regular elections to the Panchayati
Raj Institution's bodies by the State Governments. Therefore, the Amendment
made a provision for the constitution of autonomous Election Commission at
the State Level to hold the elections regularly once in five years on
democratic lines. Despite this compulsive provision many state governments
put spokes in the democratic wheels and stalled the elections to the extent
possible even against the Judicial Pronouncements. The Panchayati Raj
Institutions are required to constitute a number functional communities for
Agriculture, Public health, Water supply, Family planning etc., and
Beneficiaries Committee to execute public works at Gram Panchayat level.
The Zilla Parishad is required to constitute a number of Standing
Committees for Planning and Finance, Rural Development, Agriculture,
Education & Medical Services, Women Welfare, Social Welfare and Public
Works. At every level Chief Executive officers and other administrative
staff assist the elected representatives and the chiefs of the Panchayati
Raj Institutions.
RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND PERSPECTIVE
Concept of Rural Development Development is a relative concept and involves
a systematic and positive change in the physical quality of life of the
people in an area or country. This positive change encompasses economic as
well as social aspects. Therefore, development not only calls for economic
growth but also the equitable distribution of gains made from economic
growth. In other words, development implies growth with justice.
Development also encompasses material and social welfare as well as an
equitable distribution of income and opportunities. Development means a
qualitative improvement in living conditions particularly of those effected
by poverty, illiteracy and poor health. The word development refers to the
process of a general improvement in the levels of living, together with,
decreasing inequalities of income distribution and the capacity, to sustain
continuous improvement overcome. Development is a process in which, as per
requirement of the proposed beneficiaries, the beneficiaries themselves
have to be activated on the local resources to move forward with the aid
and assistance of the outside agencies in such a manner that the role of
the related agency diminishes progressively. The western concept of
development places more emphasis on economic growth. This, it contends,
will lead to development. Economic development has conventionally been
defined as an adequate rate of growth of per capita income, and it has
generally been assumed that if economic development so occurs, living
conditions of all people will correspondingly improve. The concept of socio-
economic well-being is the sustenance of development. The Gandhian concept,
on the other hand, calls for greater devolution of authority to the local
communities in villages. Gandhi's idea to develop the Indian society was
based on his understanding of society and hence based on the village
system. Talking about the improvement of village he wrote in 1936, "I would
say if the village perishes, India will perish too. It will be no more
India. Her on mission in the world get lost".' Marxian theory of
development places emphasis on class relations in society. The existence of
class antagonism impedes development. It calls for the abolition of private
property so that rapid development can take place. Since different
countries have different priorities there cannot be a single path towards
development. We saw that economic growth is not sufficient to solve the
problems. Better distribution of gains of progress is necessary for genuine
development to take place. The problem of inequality continues to be a
major problem. Both agricultural and industrial sectors have to grow so
that problem of low incomes and unemployment may be solved. The process of
development be decentralized so that it will lead to greater participation
of people and also to increase accountability on the part of the
authorities.
The word development conveys the movement of the whole system towards an
even large measure of power for the people so that they can continuously
participate in building their own future, in achieving higher production,
equitable distribution, and maximum happiness for themselves for producers
as well as consumers. What is more important is the creation of an
aesthetically and ecologically sound environment.^ Similarly, the term
'rural' suggests "open country and farming" which obviously implies an
agrarian settlement. Another meaning of the word 'rural' is 'rustic' which
suggests more clearly a contrast with city life and sophistication. As an
area the definition of the term 'rural' is residuary because all over the
world what is defined is an urban area and whatever is not urban, is
rural.^ Thus the term 'rural' denotes a non-urban style of life with a
distinct occupation, structure, social organization and settlement pattern
which prevailed particularly all over the world for thousands of years,
especially after "'homosapiens" learnt the art of agriculture. Alan W.
Child's and Garg B. Melton put it, "as a psychological construct,
'ruralness' might of course be defined on the basis of the attitudes and
values typically held by people living in rural communities, particularly
as they are differentiated from urban dwellers". "* Rural is differentiated
from the urban in terms of its geo-physical location, spatial distribution
of household on kinship-family complex lines, close knit interactional
pattern between individuals and families, agricultural based occupational
structure, informal clientele system formalized through established
traditions and institutions, ascribed control and authority pattern and a
belief system based on faith and conviction in religious ethics and themes.
In India, an urban area is:
(a) All places with a municipal corporation, cantonment board or notified
town area committee etc.
(b) All other places which have a minimum population of 5000, at least 75
per cent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits,
and a density of population of at least 400 persons per square km. Hence,
places, which do not satisfy either of (a) or (b) conditions are termed as
'rural areas'. Therefore, the term 'rural' essentially means as an area
which is characterized by non-urban features. Occupationally farming,
plantations and animal husbandry are main accepted activities of rural
life. Village, which is the usual unit of a rural settlement and the lowest
administrative unit, is characterized by its smallness, comprises at the
maximum few hundred households. The rate of growth of population is slower
since the immigration is not significant. On the contrary, people migrate
from villages to cities. Village comprises homestead land and cultivable
land. The settlement pattern of household is either of the compact
nucleated type (in which households live in clusters) or of dispersed type
(in which farmers live on their respective holdings) or a combination of
the two. The predominant pattern in many parts of the country is the
compact nucleated type. Houses are owner occupied, and are usually made of
mud bricks. It is quite common to find houses in the village clustered
according to kinship, caste or religious groups. Land is usually the
primary base of production, distribution and consumption. In rural society
the predominant occupations are cultivation and agricultural labour. The
number of people engaged in non-agricultural pursuit is small. There is
limited occupational specialization as there is a demand for performance of
a wide variety of relatively unspecialized tasks. The geographical, social
and economic area of intention of the members of a rural community is
smaller and somewhat restricted. The individual relates closely to the
three levels of associations - the family, the caste and the village. Each
of these groups is easily identifiable. Primary contacts and primary
relationships - family, caste and village play a prominent part in rural
life. There is a great play of customs, traditions and religion in
governing the conduct of individuals and in determining the choice of
activity and interest. Women's role and status are strongly governed by
traditions. There is somewhat limited freedom of choice of activity or
interest. Informal mechanism of social control through the family, kinship,
caste and village community operate to much a greater degree to ensure
conformity and compliance. Territorial, occupational and social mobility of
the population is limited. Agriculture is the main sustaining force for the
majority of rural population. The economy of population is directly
depending on the agriculture - animal husbandry, poultry, forestry, fishing
and horticulture. All these activities are linked to agricultural
production. The growth and development of urban areas have by and large
been at the expanse of rural areas. With the emergence of city centres, the
country sides are neglected. This is much more true so far as the rural
population in developing countries is concerned. When the umbrella of
colonial regime was lifted from the third world nations, most of the
planners and administrators of these newly independent nations got
concerned to develop the area of their nations. This concern was largely
because of majority of population of these countries had been living in
rural areas under abject poverty, ignorance, exploitation, malnutrition and
unhygienic as well as insanitary living conditions. Ignorance and poverty
were the two stumbling blocks in the way of socio-economic development of
these countries and to do away with them, was the main objective of the
newly independent nations. The commitment of the political leaders of these
nations was to bring in economic prosperity and improve the quality of life
of the rural people constituting a big resource for them as electorates
during the elections. Invariably, this commitment becomes a prime passion
with the political leaders at the time of elections and its tempo gets
abated in due course of time. Some piecemeal programmes on rural
development are brought to the people in the rural areas and these are in
many cases not consistent with their need structure. The ad-hocism in
planning of these programmes and half-backed implementation strategies have
raised the basic issue of what is required to be developed in these areas.
This bring in the problem of conceptualizing rural development.^ The
interest in rural development is of recent origin. The development
experience of the 1960s and 1970s showed that mere economic growth will not
result in better living standards in the developing countries. It was
realized that economic growth has to be accompanied by distributive
justice. It was also clear that a multi-dimensional approach was needed to
solve the problem of poverty in the developing countries - particularly in
rural areas where a large part of population resides. Rural development,
therefore, takes into account factors other than economic growth are
education, health facilities, better infrastructure facilities in rural
areas, employment generation and an attack on poverty. In order to achieve
the objectives it became necessary to take into account all these factors
and formulate strategies to develop rural societies. Strategies and
planning are important in furthering rural development since it is a long
term process. In the words of an official for the Government of Pakistan,
"the problem of development must be defined as a selective attack on the
worst forms of poverty. Development goals must be defined in terms of
progressive reduction and eventual elimination of malnutrition, disease,
illiteracy, unemployment and inequalities. We were taught to take care of
our GNP because it would take care of poverty. Let us reverse this and take
care of poverty it will take care of GNP. In other words, let us worry
about the content of GNP even more than its rate of increase. The Rural
Development Sector Policy Paper of the World Bank (1975) observed that
rural development is a strategy designed to improve the economic and social
life of a specific group of people - the rural poor. It involves the
extension of benefits of development to the poorest among those who seek a
livelihood in the rural areas. The group includes small scale farmers,
tenants and the landless. Again the World Bank publication defines rural
development as, "improving the living standards of masses of the low income
population residing in rural areas making the process of rural development
self-sustaining". Copp has defined it as a process through collective
efforts, aimed at improving the wellbeing and self-realization of people
living outside the urbanized areas. He further contends that the ultimate
target of rural development is people and not infrastructure and according
to him one of the objectives of rural development should be, "widen
people's range of choice". The efforts should be towards preservation and
improvement of the rural environment and rural development planning may be
conceived of identifying the complex of factors which contributes to the
creation, change or development of a rural area or community P.R. Bose and
V.N. Vashist says, "rural development means development of rural areas in
such a way that social, economic, technological and natural components of
rural life change in a desired direction and within the framework of
national goals and objectives and without prejudice to the development of
urban area of the country. But the change agents have to bear in mind
various psychological constructs related to social life in general and
rural life in particular. In relation to urban people, as observed by
Melton, "rural people are said to be conservative, religious, work-
oriented, intolerant of diverse ideas, familistic, individualistic,
fatalistic and so forth. According to Ankar the working definition of the
rural development is, "strategies, policies and programmes for the
development of rural areas and the promotion of activities carried out in
such areas (agriculture, forestry, fishery, rural crafts and industries,
the building of the social and economic infrastructure) with the ultimate
aim of achieving a fuller utilization of available physical and human
resources, and thus higher incomes and better living conditions for the
rural population as a whole, particularly the rural poor, and effective
participation of the latter in the development process".'^ Lassey
highlights that the focus of rural development should be on the following
points.
(a) Preservation of ecological integrity with a view to providing
continuing supply of life supporting resources.
(b) Efficient and appropriate land use.
(c) Healthy living conditions.
(d) Aesthetically pleasing environment.
(e) Efficient social, economic and governmental institutions.
(f) Improved human welfare in terms of minimal economic and social level.
(g) Physical structures and adopted landscape of pleasing design.
(h) Comprehensiveness that is full range of physical, biological and human
factors in rural regions. Michael Todaro views that, "rural development
encompasses improvement of levels of living including employment,
education, health and nutrition, housing and a variety of social services;
decreasing inequalities in the distribution of rural incomes and in rural-
urban balances in incomes and economic opportunities; and the capacity of
the rural sector to sustain and accelerate the pace of these improvements.
'^ G. Parthasarthy is of the view that, "the critical element in the rural
development is improvement of living standards of the poor through
opportunities for better utilization of their physical and human resources;
in the absence of this, utilization of rural resources has no functional
significance. Making the process of rural development self-sustaining not
only implies the mobilization of capital and use of technology for benefit
of the poor but their active involvement in the building up of institutions
as well as in functioning of these". '^ In the words of Robert Chamber,
"rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor
rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what
they want and need. It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a
livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of
rural development. The group includes small scale farmers, tenants and the
landless". The term 'rural development' is thus of a focal interest and is
widely acclaimed in both developed and developing countries of the world.
There is however no universally acceptable definition of rural development,
and thus the term is used in different ways and in vastly divergent
contexts. As a concept, it connotes overall development of rural areas with
a view to improve the quality of life of rural people. In this sense, it is
a comprehensive and multidimensional concept and encompasses the
development of agriculture and allied activities - village and cottage
industries and crafts, socio-economic infrastructure, community services
and facilities, and above all, the human resources in rural areas. As a
phenomenon, it is the result of integration between various physical,
technological, economic, socio-cultural and institutional factors. As a
strategy, it is designed to improve economic and social wellbeing of a
specific group of people - the rural poor. As a discipline, it is
multidisciplinary in nature representing an intersection of agriculture,
social, behavioural, engineering and management sciences.'^ In the most of
the developing countries the primary objectives of rural development are,
to improve the living standard of people by providing food, shelter,
clothing, employment and education; to increase productivity in rural areas
and reduce poverty; to involve people in planning and development through
participation in decision making and through decentralization of
administration and to ensure justice and equalization of opportunities in
society. But in the context of third world countries rural development also
demand increase in agricultural production and total productivity.
Emotional attachment to land is a powerful force in most rural areas.
Change in the land system may restrict people's freedom to profit from
changing use of land and this may also interfere with freedom to sell land
to higher bidder, regardless of intended use. On one hand the traditional
economists suggest integrated rural development concept with concentration
on agriculture and an equal emphasis on industry, self-reliance and local
leadership, medical care, housing and education to tackle the problem of
poverty in the developing nations. On the other hand the political
economists advocate social revolution as a pre-condition for socio-economic
development. The amenities and industry should be taken to the people in
the rural areas so as to keep them there and the elites should be replaced
by people committed to do the job and the bureaucrats within the system
should be taken to the level where they can meet the needs of the people.
In other words, institutionalization of a revolutionary solidarity movement
through the methodology of the mass movement is suggested for rural
development. Three types of literature are suggested, which have added
insight into the morphology of rural development programmes, projects and
processes. These are the urban industrial impact hypothesis, the theory of
induced technical change, and new models of institutional change, dealing
with institution building and the economies of bureaucratic behaviour. On
the basis of a review of these classified approaches, it has been
generalized that rural development activities must be organized around the
activities and services that have relatively well defined technologies or
methodologies and objectives; rural development activities must be
organized to utilize the relatively unskilled human resources that are
available in rural areas; effective implementation of rural development
programmes is largely dependent upon the development of the institutional
capacity to mobilize the limited political and economic resources to the
disadvantaged rural communities; the problem of welfare in the rural areas
of most developing countries to be more a problem of level of output per
person than that of distribution; and the structural characteristics of
most rural communities and all societies of which they are a part, will
constrain them from securing access to many of the available development
opportunities. Further, three implementation strategies have been specially
suggested for planned development efforts.^' These strategies are: i.
Application of power to change behaviour without necessarily bothering to
inform, educate or involve individuals in decision making. ii. To involve
individuals as participants in a systematic effort to alter values and
behaviour patterns from less appropriate to more appropriate orientations.
iii. To inform and educate people and decision makers presuming that they
are rational and well make correct decisions. A more comprehensive concept
and method of rural development has been defined as a strategy to improve
the economic and social life of a specific group of people that is the
rural poor including small and marginal farmers, tenants and the landless.
The report of the World Bank further mentioned, a national programme of
rural development should include a mix of activities including projects to
raise agricultural output, create new employment, improve health and
education, expand communications and improve housing... The nature and
content of any development programme or project will reflect the political,
social and economic circumstances of the particular country or region..."^^
Central leadership and coordination for planning purposes, decentralization
and participation at the local level for implementation purposes, research
on farm systems and appropriate techniques suitable to small farmers and on
the dynamics of traditional rural societies for the "take off stage;
training or developing skills of manpower resources to meet the needs of
local level institutions, establishment of effective group organizations
such as farmer's associations and cooperatives, are some of the desirable
characteristics suggested of a framework within which to design and
implement the rural development programmes. Rural development became a
planning concern as it became clear that technocratic approach to problems
in developing countries remained ineffective in alleviating poverty and
inequalities in rural areas. It also became clear that multidimensional
approach to the problem of development was necessary. Consequently, it
became clear that apart from an effort to increase agricultural and
industrial production, it was also necessary to provide education, health
service and employment and to attack the problem of poverty in rural areas.
The increasing interest in rural development is a result of the realization
that a systematic effort is necessary to create better living conditions in
rural areas where the majority of people of developing countries reside. 14
During 1950s and 1960s, development policy makers sought to increase
productivity and per capita incomes through advance in the manufacturing
sector. In this realm of agricultural production, productivity increase was
emphasized. However, it was soon realized that gain from these methods
reached only a small minority - mainly those who were already better off
and privileged. In fact, the gains made as a result of these efforts are
believed to have further accentuated inequality in incomes in rural areas.
This failure of 'trickle down' approach of achieving growth, rather
increased inequalities. The strategy of industrialization also led to a
flow of investments to urban areas at the cost of rural development.
Disillusionment with traditional growth models and their emphasis on
productivity and the neglect of inequalities that they generate led to the
growth of interest in the subject of rural development. Historically, it
has been observed that industrialization and advancement of economics in
western societies was achieved as a result of effecting institutional
changes in rural society. The industrial revolution in England, the
maturity of Japanese industry and also the Europe were all proceeded by far
reaching changes in agrarian societies. Land reform and other legislative
reforms were instrumental in bringing about change in rural economies in
these countries. Industrial growth and modernization were accompanied by
increased productivity in agricultural sector and urbanization.
As a result of these factors there societies were able to reduce poverty
and increase the role of non-agricultural activities in the economy. On the
other hand, in large parts of developing world, these conditions have not
been brought about. The impact that rural development strategies cannot
have in these countries, in the absence of the changes, cannot be under
estimated. It is 15 also clear that these patterns of change cannot be
replicated as the historical circumstances in the developing countries are
quite different from those of prevailing then in these industrial
countries. Infact that the majority of population in developing countries
live in rural areas, coupled with the existence of widespread rural
poverty, has the relevance of rural development. The rapid increase in
rural population since 1950s accompanied by the magnitude of rural
employment in these countries also made rural development more relevant.
Added to this in the realization that the mere growth of agricultural
sector has not been able to fulfill the needs of the vast majority of the
peasantry. All these factors have enhanced the importance of rural
development. Hence whatever may be the geographical location, culture and
historical stage of development of a society, there are at least three
basic elements which are considered to constitute the 'true' meaning of
development. These are: 1. Life Sustenance: People have certain basic needs
without which it would be impossible or very difficult to survive. These
basic necessities include food, clothes, shelter, health care and security.
When any of these are absent or critically in short supply, we may state
that a condition of 'absolute under development' exists. Provision of these
'life sustaining' requirements to everybody is a basic function of all
economies whether they are capitalist, socialist, or mixed. In this sense
we may claim that economic growth is a necessary condition for the
improvement of the 'quality of life' which is "development'. Self-respect:
Every person and every nation seeks some basic form of self-respect,
dignity, or linear. Absence or denial of self-esteem indicates a lack of
development. 3. Freedom: In this context freedom refers to political or
ideological freedom and freedom from social servitude. As long as society
is bound by the servitude of men to nature, ignorance, other men,
institutions and dogmatic beliefs, it cannot claim to have achieved the
goal of 'development'. Servitude in any form reflects a state of 'under
development. Thus all societies must have at least the following objectives
irrespective of what development mean to them: i. To increase the
availability and widen the distribution of basic life sustaining articles
such as food, clothes, shelter, health care and security. ii. To raise
standards of living, including, in addition to higher purchasing power, the
provision of more jobs, better education and greater attention to cultural
and humanistic values. iii. To expand the range of economic and social
choice to individuals by freeing them from servitude and dependence. Rural
Reconstruction in India Before 1952 In order to appreciate the philosophy
of rural development programmes, their objectives and strategies it would
be necessary to study the efforts of rural development planning in India
before and after India's Independence While the British had established
themselves as merchants and traders since the days of Aurangzeb (1707) and
the British East India Company had acquired political and administrative
authority over some parts of India for nearly 100 years, it was the failure
of 'First War of Indian Independence' 1857, which brought India directly
under the British rule. Like other colonies, continuation of 'Laissez
faire' policy became the base of its governance and, therefore, the area of
greater concern like economic development and social change were
deliberately kept aloof from the scope of governmental activities. But
soon, on account of regular famines, British Indian Government was forced
to take some steps like procuring food grain stocks and to control the
market to ensure their fair distribution. This policy was initiated more
out of the situational compulsions and the proper legality and legitimacy
to it was given much later. As B.B. Mishra has pointed out, "rural
development as a function of Government in India started 'as a search for
an alternative to Laissez-faire". The industrial revolution in England
brought a lot of changes in Indian economy, the rural areas were affected
on a large scale. Due to the decline of handicrafts in urban areas people
began to move towards rural areas which cause further hardships to rural
masses. The zamandari system which was introduced during British period not
proved fruitful. The zamandars began to exploit the tenants to the maximum
extent. The disintegration of the village panchayat, which used to exercise
effective control over the activities of the village money-lender on the
one hand, and the introduction of new civic law which allowed easy transfer
of land on the other, induced money-lenders to exploit the poor
cultivators. The indebtedness of the cultivator increased and the land
continuously passed into the hands of non-cultivators. Due to increase of
population the land began subdivide and thus agriculture became more and
more uneconomic proposition. Due to series of famines, the British
Government became to some extent serious about Indian economy. In 1880,
First Famine Commission was set up which made extensive suggestions for the
improvement of agriculture and also suggested the formation of Department
of Agriculture in the Provinces. Though the First Famine Commission
recommended the need for the establishing separate Department of
Agriculture but the credit must be given to Lord Curzon - Indias Viceroy
(1901-05) for establishing a Department of Agriculture.^^ In 1889, Dr.
Woelkar in his report pointed out, "at his best the Indian cultivator is
quite as good as, and, in some respects, superior of the average British
farmer, whilst at his worst it can only be said that this state (present
state) is brought about largely by an absence of facilities for improvement
which is probably unequalled in any other country". In the meanwhile there
were series of droughts between 1895-1899, and thus another Commission was
set up, known as Famine Commission of 1901. This Commission recommended
strengthening of the staff of agricultural department, alienation of Land
Act 1901 to resist the transfer of land and the introduction of cooperative
credit societies along German lines.^'^ The Cooperative Societies Act was
passed in 1904 and in 1905, the imperial and provincial agricultural
departments were extended. All these measures show that the problem of
Indian agriculture was assuming a new aspect in that the emphasis was
changing from Palliatives like famine relief, takavi grants and revenue
remission to more positive measures. Under the Reform Act of 1919, rural
development was given an important place because subjects were classified
as 'reserved' and 'transferred' and subjects like agriculture, public
health, cooperation, local self-government and animal husbandry were placed
in the transferred list which was put under the charge of elected
ministers. The other two factors which boosted the pace of rural
development were the establishment of Department of Development and.
Congress party seeking elections under the Government of India Act, 1935,
while promising a number of agrarian reforms and initiating many of them in
seven of the eleven provinces where they succeeded in forming government.^^
But under 'dyrarchy' as the financial control was stiff under the central
government, the provincial governments could take little real initiative
for the improvement of agriculture, with the result that only less progress
in agriculture improvement was achieved. After the advent of Mahatma Gandhi
on the national scene, rural development received mass support. Non-
cooperation Movement of 1920 was the first attempt to ruralize Indian
freedom struggle. A comprehensive programme of rural development was
designed which included the use of Khadi, promotion of village industry,
eradication of untouchability, provision of basic and adult education,
prohibition, women's upliftment and propagation of national language.^' The
objective for the use of Khadi was to have one or more handlooms in each
village to make the village sufficient in cloth. In 1921, itself, the
Martandam experiment was also started in Madras under the supervision of
the Young Men's Christian Association to bring about a complete upward
development towards a more abundant life for rural people spiritually,
mentally, physically, socially and economically/ Rabindra Nath Tagore, who
was known worldwide for his contribution to literature was equally
interested in social reconstruction. He started in the same year the
Sriniketan project. The objectives of the institution were, creating an
interest in people to participate in their own development, helping people
to develop their own resources and develop leadership from the community
and to guide the people in their developmental process. This project
created people's awareness of their own rich culture and introduced new
form technologies incorporating the key instruments for development. It
also created an infrastructure for development and incorporated health
education and technical inputs in the programmes, as Tagore's vision of
rural development was not confined to agriculture alone."* The Royal
Commission while examined the conditions of agriculture and rural economy
submitted its report in 1928 and recognized clearly that the problem of
improving Indian agriculture was really the problem of improving Indian
village life and that must be studied as whole. The recommendations of the
Commission on improvement of irrigation, livestock, rural education and
rural reconstruction in general aimed at bringing about greater efficiency
throughout the whole field of agriculture production. The Commission
defined the responsibility of the government when they said, "we have no
hesitation in affirming that the responsibility for initiating the steps
required to effect this improvement rests with the government and that the
rural people should be attacked as a whole and at all points
simultaneously" The Agricultural Conference of 1928 accepted the
Commission's report as the basis for rural reconstruction and agricultural
advancement. Certain measures were being taken by the various provinces,
when the country saw the outset of great depression. This effected the
whole world, but more adversely the agricultural countries. Due to the fall
of prices of agricultural commodities, most countries take steps to check
the fall in prices, but Government of India, however, took no step in this
direction. It concentrated its energy on the balancing of the budgets. No
public works were opened and the Government restricted its expenditure. In
1928, F.L. Brayne Deputy Commissioner of Gurgeon district while examining
the conditions of people in the district evolved a technique of village
development, known as Gurgeon Scheme. The main goal of this scheme was
incorporating the virtue of hard work, mutual support and convincing the
villagers that improvement is possible by demonstrating the method to fight
successfully against climatic problems, disease etc. The activities of the
programme included improvement of village life as a whole including
farming, wealth, education, recreation etc. However, the success of the
movement was short lived, because as soon as he was transferred from the
district the movement came to an end. He himself admitted that this work is
been done practically and entirely by official inspiration, drive,
persuasion and even order. He said, "to achieve permanence, properly
supervised village organizations are required and to achieve spontaneity
and to assist permanence, the work must be made part of normal village
life". ^^ In 1932 First Rural Reconstruction Centre was established
following the model of Manthandam Centre. It was one of the biggest
experiments in rural development as it covered hundreds of villages. This
project operated mainly to change the outlook of the agriculturists and
develop a desire for a higher standard of living, develop village
leadership and impart adult education. This project carried out economic
development programmes such as kitchen gardening, distribution of improved
seeds, poultry farming, bee keeping etc. Also it included improved water
supply and sanitation, building village roads and legislation to tackle
social evils."' Gandhi's concept of rural development was based on self-
supporting, self-governing and self-reliant village community. He
comprehended a village community the basis of which was political autonomy,
economic self-sufficiency, social equality and non-exploitation. Among his
programmes, the Sevagram Project is one of the better known ones. He
started this project in 1935, with the programme of "new education".
The aim of this scheme was to serve less privileged fellow men, rebuilding
the villages and regenerating village resources for meeting village needs,
promoting village industry and developing all aspects of human life. A
major achievement of this project was experimentation with the new concept
of integrated rural development encompassing economic, social and spiritual
aspects. However, the initial interest and enthusiasm for project could not
be sustained as practicing the ideals of Gandhiji was not easy task. In
1935, was founded All India Kisan Sabha, which succeeded in getting new
lands enacted by influencing legislators. Also Christian Missionaries of
India had done a lot for the rural reconstruction, health and education.
The Missionaries have also established many hospitals in rural areas. In
order to coordinate the activities of all nation building Rural
Reconstruction Departments were created and were provided increasing grant
for their operations. But due to the war of 1939, the promising start made
by the new responsible ministries was haulted/ With the beginning of Second
World War and famine of Bengal of 1943, the prices began to rose including
agricultural commodities. A food grain committee was appointed in 1943 to
deal with control of food prices. The committee recommended launching of
'Grow More Food Campaign' by increasing irrigation facilities, by bringing
new land under cultivation, supply of seeds at cheap rates etc. There were
some improvement on the food front when some of these measures were put
into operation. After the end of Second World War popular ministries came
to power in 1946 and they revived their activities of rural reconstruction
with some great vigour.
The Sevegram Scheme which was interrupted in 1939 with the break of Second
World War and Gandhiji's arrest, was again taken up in 1945 on his release.
Through this programme the villagers were trained in spinning, health
education and sanitation. The Firka Development Scheme was launched in 1947
to promote khadi and village industries, provide free education, improved
roads and communication, improved sanitation and better medical care. At a
district level the entire responsibility of implementation and monitoring
the scheme vested with the Collector who was assisted by the District Rural
Welfare Board comprising district level officers and community leaders.
This scheme however did not make such headway in raising the economic level
of the people, and the implementation machinery lacked technical and
professional skills After the Independence the whole situation was
radically changed. The national government launched the implementation ot
Gandhi's ideas for rural development in form of Etawah Pilot Project and
Nilokheri Project.
The main objectives behind these programmes was to create an atmosphere
for development of man and material for socio-economic development of rural
societies in the country. In order to achieve those objectives the a number
of programmes are launched such as supply of improved varieties of seeds,
chemical fertilizers, horticulture development, better sanitation and
health service, village industry, amenities related social welfare, broad
based social education programmes etc. These projects were visualized as an
extensive programme which emphasized the local level planning, teamwork,
communication and constant fellow-up to respond to the local needs. Due to
the success of these projects, they served as a model for the community
projects started later in 1952. The concept of mutual purpose village level
worker, a new pattern of administrative organization of the individual
development blocks and the development of some effective methods of
approach are some important contributions of these projects to community
development of India.'*' Rural Development in India after 1952 While the
war impaired the economic structure of India seriously, the partition
disrupted it still further. The need for overall reconstruction and
development, therefore, became all the more imperative. Realising this that
this could be done only by an overall plan, the Government of India
appointed a Planning Commission under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru
in March 1950 to plan for large scale economic and social progress. But no
development
can be achieved unless it is backed by the development of rural areas and
those who inhibit them. Thus, rural development is an essential aspect of
national development. Of course, of a country like India cannot develop its
multitudinous villages in isolation from its large urban centres and
developing industrial sector, but the essence of national development lies
in the village, in an economy in which more than two-third of the
population is directly dependent upon agriculture and nearly half of the
national income originates in rural areas.
The massiveness of Indian rural economy is reinforced by the intensiveness
of the poverty of its villages, nearly 40% of whom live below the poverty
line as per the data given by the Planning Commission.'*^ The Planning
Commission has, of course, been fully conscious of the special status and
needs of India's villages ever since its inception in 1950 and has given
full attention towards their development. The Union Government and the
Planning Commission have themselves been adopting a variety of approaches
and strategies to alleviate the centuries old problem of rural poverty and
socio-economic backwardness.
The policies regarding 'rural development' has been undergoing changes even
as thousands of administrative functionaries are busy in bringing about a
number of changes in Indian villages. The programme of Community
Development was launched in the country on 2"^ October 1952, the birthday
of Mahatma Gandhi. In the words of Planning Commission, "Community
Development is the method and rural extension the agency through which the
five year plans seek to initiate a process of transformation of the social
and economic life of villagers.
The main objectives of the programme are :
i. To secure total development of the material and human resources of
rural areas.
ii. To raise the living standard of the rural people by means of rapid
increase in food and agriculture produce.
iii. To ensure a change in mental outlook of the people installing in
them an ambition for higher standard.
iv. To give organized assistance to village women and village families
in effectively converting their increased income into better
living.
Initially Community Development Programme covered 55 projects with a wide
range of programmes for developing agriculture, animal husbandry, rural
industries, health education, housing, rural communication etc. Each
project consisted of about 3,500 villages with a total average of about
1,280 sq.km and a population of about 3,00,000. Each project was further
divided into development blocks comprising about 100 villages each and a
population of about 70,000. It was soon realized that coverage of entire
country under Community Development Programme was not possible due to
shortage of funds and personnel. Hence as recommended by Grow More Food
Enquiry Committee, the National Extension Service was launched in October
1953, with a reduced number of personnel and financial provisions so that
development work proceeded essentially on the basis of self-help.
The National Extension Service stage was initially for the period of three
years with a provision of 4.5 lakhs per block with stress on agriculture,
animal husbandry and rural communication schemes. After three years the
blocks covered under National Extension Service were converted into
Community Development Programme blocks with a provision of R1.5 lakh for
the three years for more intensive development work in agriculture and
other activities.
All the blocks covered under both National Extension Service and Intensive
Community Development project phase passed into post-intensive phase of
five years during which Rs. 1.5 lakh was make for continuance of the
extensive organization and the development activities as it was presumed
that the blocks covered in the first two phases would have attained the
desire self-sufficiency and therefore quantum of specific grants could be
reduced. The organization of village panchayats to function as units of
self-government was the objective of successive five year plans.
Community Development Programme was undoubtfully the first comprehensive
programme covering the entire country undertaken for socioeconomic
transformation by setting up a machinery and a delivery system totally
different from the revenue administrative set up. It succeeded first time
in establishing organized administrative set up at national, state,
district, block and village level to implement programmes all over the
country. Though Community Development Programme has made a number of
achievement, but by the end of Second Five-Year Plan, it became evident
that Community Development Programme had failed to achieve its main
objective to increase agricultural production/^ Since plan outlays for
rural development were spread rather thinly over several programmes, and
thus priorities for Community Development were changed. The approach to
rural development thus took a new direction in the Third Five Year Plan
with more emphasis to agricultural production. In the process, the thrust
on developing the community as a whole began to be sidetracked. Since
agricultural production became a top priority, introduction of new and high
technologies was considered inevitable. Thus in the Third Five Year Plan
the approach to rural development was technocratic in nature.
The National Planning Commission since the beginning of Third Five Year
Plan have suggested many new strategies in the Community Development
Programme for the all-round development of rural areas such as Intensive
Agricultural District Programme, Intensive Agricultural Area Programme and
High Yielding Varieties Programme. The Intensive Agricultural District
Programme was launched in 1960- 61. It was observed that there was no
inherent soil, climate or other physical reasons for the present low yield,
therefore, in selected districts attempts were made to provide all
essential elements for increasing agricultural production.''^ In 1964-65, a
modified version of the same approach was extended to several other parts
of the country in the form of Intensive Agricultural Area programme. But
soon a major change occurred with the introduction of high yielding
varieties all over the country
Rural Policiesand Strategiesin India
1. Land Policy:
Land policy is a crucial element in a rural development strategy. It is
well-known that distribution of land and other assets is very skewed in
India, as the large majorities have small land holdings.
This has a direct impact on the ability to earn incomes in rural areas.
Land reforms including the protection of the rights of tenants are one of
the primary means of transforming rural societies.
It has also been contended that productivity levels of small farms are
often greater than those of large farms. This is attributed to the fact
that the small peasant puts in more intensive labour on the small plot that
belongs to him. Thus land reforms and a land policy that seeks to provide
distributive justice may also result in greater agricultural productivity
Rural Development Policy # 2. Technology Policy:
Improvements in technologies available lo rural societies can have a big
impact on them. On the one hand, it is essential that newer technologies
are adapted to rural societies and on the other, it is necessary that
existing technologies are extended lo rural areas. Technological planning,
research and development are very vital ingredients of rural development.
In India, the agricultural sector is particularly vulnerable to the ravage
of the weather. Technological improvements can play a vital role in
insulating agriculture from the effects of weather. Rural societies are
also characterised by large scale unemployment on the one hand and low
productivity on the other. Therefore care has to be taken when new
technologies are introduced in rural areas.
Technologies appropriate to rural societies have to be chosen so that there
is no large-scale displacement of labour. A judicious balance between
achieving higher productivity and increasing employment opportunities to
rural communities has to be struck. Rural development strategies have to
take this into account in formulating I heir programmes
Rural Development Policy # 3. Agricultural Policy:
Agriculture remains the main avenue for providing incomes and employment in
rural areas. Needless to say, agricultural planning is vital for rural
development strategies. The balanced growth of the agricultural sector can
play an important role in creating better conditions for those depending on
this sector.
Rural Development Policy # 4. Employment Policy:
Given the extent of unemployment problem in rural India, the need for well-
formulated employment programmes can hardly be over stated. Such programmes
can insulate fluctuations in rural incomes on account of poor weather
conditions IKS is the case when the monsoon fails.
Agricultural employment is often seasonal. Under these conditions, rural
employment programmes can ensure better spread of employment through the
year. The growth of non-agricultural activity within the village economy
can also relieve the pressure of population on the land.
Rural Development Policy # 5. Education, Research and Extension Policy:
In India the problem of illiteracy is particularly acute in rural areas.
The lack of education can act as a constraint in furthering rural
development. Rural societies, are also characterised by wide spread
inequalities in the distribution of incomes and assets.
The lack of education creates a situation in which this problem is
perpetuated. The spread of education on the one hand, can enable the rural
poor to ensure distributive justice and, on the other, help them inactively
participating in rural development programmes.
Research and extension is a very important ingredient of rural development
strategies. Research enables furthering knowledge which is appropriate to
rural cultures and extension ensures that the gains are actually delivered
to the target groups. Trained staff are very important for any rural
development programme since they actually interact with the community for
whom the programmes are meant
Rural Development Policy # 6. Rural Institutions Policy:
Rural institutions need to be reformed and utilised for successfully
carrying out rural development. The institutional aspects of rural
societies are often ignored when strategies are formulated. The
institutional structures such as panchayats need to be nurtured so that
there is popular participation in rural development.
These structures can act as powerful agents in actually implementing the
development strategies.
Since rural settlements are spread out and are often isolated, they cannot
be monitored successfully from outside. Contrarily, local monitoring by
institutions such as panchayats can actually ensure that programmes are
successfully implemented and that the target group actually benefits from
such programmes. Rural institutions such as banks and co-operatives can
also play a vital role in rural development.
Rural Development Policy # 7. Price Policy:
The use of a price is also a crucial element in a rural development policy:
1. Agricultural produce has to be priced in such a manner that the farmers
enjoy adequate returns.
2. The price policy through the use of subsidies can act as a means of
providing essential items of mass consumption to people residing in rural
areas. This is particularly essential for those below the poverty line. The
spread of the public distribution system through its network of ration
shops in rural areas can be used to solve this problem.
This is particularly important during periods of poor rainfall when rural
Incomes are adversely affected, which in turn has a negative effect on
consumption. Subsidies may have other forms—the form of input subsidies to
the agricultural sector for example.
This is particularly important in the case of fertilizers, pesticides and
seeds. Thus, the price policy can act as a useful means of achieving rural
development objectives.
The recent thinking along the neo-liberal lines has led to significant
changes in the various aspects of the price policy, and it is quite clear
that rural India has been subjected to tremendous stress during the
liberalization era: some of it is on account of changes in some aspects of
the price policy.
STRATEGIES OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
All the plan strategies for rural development are based on various
approaches. A review of various rural development programmes and policies
followed in India after independence reveal different strategies of
development. They are discussed below: The Multi-purpose Strategy Rural
Development approach in India started with the multi-purpose approach. The
Community Development programme (CDP), started in 1952, was aimed at
developing to the fullest extent, the material and human resources of an
area through the co-operative efforts ofthe people and the active help of
the state. It was essentially an educational and an organizational process
since it concerned itself with changing those attitudes and practices,
which were obstacles to social and economic improvement27 The rationale of
the approach was that all the aspects of rural life are inextricably
interlinked with each other.
The activities of CDP included agriculture, animal husbandry, irrigation,
cooperation, village and small-scale industries, health and sanitation,
education, communication and housing etc. The programme as a whole was to
converge on the totality of human development; therefore, the destination
of the Community Development programme was man. After sometime, it was felt
that the C.D. Programme was too diffused to give concrete results, and due
to limited finances, a multi-pronged attack was not possible and certain
priorities had to be drawn up to solve the problem of food shortage.
A more specific limited-purpose approach was considered to be the way out.
Growth Oriented Strategy This is based on the philosophy that rural people,
like any other people, are rational decision makers, who, when given
adequate opportunity and a proper environment, will try to maximize their
incomes.
The critical assumption of this strategy is that the benefits of increased
production will gradually 'trickle down' to the poor. The regulation and
coordination of the activities of the private and public agencies is
primarily through market mechanisms. This paradigm formed the basis ofthe
predominant agricultural development strategy of the 1960s, when programmes
like the Intensive Agriculture District Programme (IADP), the Intensive
Cattle Development Programme (ICDP), the High Yielding Varieties Programme
(HYVP), were launched. This strategy led to 'Green Revolution' in India.
But, this approach helped only the richer farmers in the rural areas, so
its utility was limited and the green revolution failed to bring any
greenery to the rural poor who continued to remain pale29. Target Group
Strategy In this approach, a particular group is taken up for studies and
plan priorities are accordingly modified30. Recognizing that the small
farmers/marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourer's problems are
different to those of the bigger ones, separate programmes like the
SFDA/MFAL were started for their development. The Antyodaya Schemes
(betterment ofthe last in line) is a target approach. This approach
produced a client-oriented design and the ultimate goal is to transfer all
the responsibilities ofplanning and development to the clientele
themselves. Area Development Strategy Under this strategy, emphasis is laid
on the development of the backward regions. The area development approach
presumes that the growth centres have an even geographical spread effect
and that the benefits of development percolate to spread effect and that
the benefits of development percolate to the lower levels over a period of
time. Under this strategy, a pinpointed area is taken for development. A
backward area is identified for concentrated efforts, such as Drought Prone
Area Programme (DPAP), Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP), Command
Area Development Programme (CADP), Hill Area Development Programme etc,
which comes under this approach. This approach has three major potential
dangers:
1. The schemes may concentrate a disproportionate share of the resources on
providing benefits to a group that is relatively small in relation to the
over all size ofthe national target group.
2. The schemes tend to suffer from a programme design that is too ambitious
and complex, calling for exceptional leadership that cannot always be made
available on a sustained basis.
3. There may be distorted priorities in the allocation of resources among
sectors. The success of this approach depends upon the removal ofthese
three basic constraints.
Spatial Planning Strategy
The need for appropriately locating all the special programmes in their
respective fields, the induction of production plans, the full employment
schemes and the supply of basic needs ofthe rural population, all demand
that the plan formulation and implementation strategy should be rural
oriented. In the Fifth Plan, multi-level planning was very much emphasized
and it was argued that since more intimate, precise and detailed knowledge
about physico-geographical, techno-economic, socio-political and
organizational administrative conditions is available for planning
activities which have strong local foci is more fruitfully undertaken at
the district level, therefore, under this approach, progress was too slow,
owing to a number of other factors affecting the national plan formulation.
The paucity of the techniques and the weakness in conceptualizing area-
level-improvement in the national context, led to the compilation of all
the visualized needs as a district plan. Generally, the attempts ended up
in a desegregation of the state plan allocation district-wise and
department-wise. Now, block plans are advocated not as the best for rural
development unless all the programmes are related to a spatial level and
the projects included as a part of the block plan, a well-meaning and well
synchronized rural plan of action will become difficult. The approach was
to bring under close action strategies relevant to the acceleration of
integrated area development around potential growth centers but the scheme
was not pursued beyond the pilot stage. Spatial planning in India, is at
the cross roads and the efforts made so far can at best be said to be half-
hearted, sporadic and often self-defeating .
Integrated or Holistic Strategy
It has been realized that development should be an integrated one. This is
possible when "sectoral development programmes, human resources development
programmes, social welfare schemes and infrastructural development
progrmmes"33 are brought within the framework of a prospective plan for
implementation, where each programme reinforces the other through linkages.
Integrated Strategy combines all the positive features of the earlier
strategies, and is designed to simultaneously achieve the goals of growth,
welfare, equity, and community participation. This paradigm takes a very
comprehensive but integrated view of the basic problems of poverty,
unemployment and inequality, and seeks to address the physical, economic,
technological, social, motivational, organizational and political bases of
these problems. The multiple goals of this strategy are sought to be
achieved by building the capacity of the community to involve itself in
development in partnership with the government. The anti-poverty programmes
launched in India in the 1970s, particularly the IRD programme, National
Rural Employment Progrmme and Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment
were intended to follow this paradigm. It has been rightly observed by
John.P.Lewis: "A serviceable rural development programme in India must deal
with the several aspects ofthe rural economy in an integrated fashion. An
isolated agricultural development effort unrelated and unsupported by other
kinds ofrural policies would be doomed to failure almost surely.
On account of IRD programmes, the number of persons living below the
poverty line has been considerably reduced; still, however, much remains to
be done for these poverty-stricken people.
Participatory Strategy
During the last two decades several new approaches like 'top-down
planning', 'planning from below', 'bottom up planning', 'micro level
planning', and 'multi-level planning' have been thought of in the context
of involving the people in every phase of development. In the current plan
(Xth Five Year Plan), the government has devised participatory strategy to
promote rural development. Provision has been made to expand economic and
social opportunity for individuals and groups by encouraging greater
participation in decision making. Right now we have the 'Swamajayanthi Gram
Swarozgar Yojana', which has replaced the earlier programmes like IRDP,
TRYSEM, etc. It is a single self-employment programme for the rural poor35.
The various programmes and strategies that have been examined by the
experts confirm that no single package or formula is sufficient for
effective rural development. Mere extension of approaches and strategies
which are far from reality would not serve the purpose and a major re-
thinking is required to develop rural India. The entire strategy calls for
adaptation, modification, and experimentation, depending upon the
exigencies ofthe situation in our country
Rural Development and Panchayath Raj
Being the nodal Ministry for most of the development and welfare activities
in the rural areas, the Ministry of Rural Development plays a pivotal role
in the overall development strategy of the country. The vision and mission
of the Ministry is sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India through
a multipronged strategy for eradication of poverty by increasing
livelihoods opportunities, providing social safety net and developing
infrastructure for growth. This is expected to improve quality of life in
rural India and to correct the developmental imbalances, aiming in the
process, to reach out to most disadvantaged sections of the society.
The Ministry of Rural Development consists of two Departments, viz.,
i. Department of Rural Development,
ii. Department of Land Resources.
Broadly, the aims of the Ministry of Rural Development are:
Providing livelihood opportunities to those in need including women
and other vulnerable sections with focus on Below Poverty Line (BPL)
households.
Providing for the enhancement of livelihood security of households in
rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage
employment in every financial year to every household demanding it.
Provision of all-weather rural connectivity to unconnected rural
habitations and up gradation of existing roads to provide market
access.
Providing basic housing and homestead to BPL household in rural
areas.
Providing social assistance to the elderly, widow and disabled
persons.
Providing urban amenities in rural areas for improvement of quality of
rural life.
Capacity development and training of rural development
functionaries.
Promoting involvement of voluntary agencies and individuals for rural
development.
Restoring lost or depleted productivity of the land. This is done
through watershed development programmes and initiating effective
land reform measures for providing land to the landless rural poor.
Path Behind
Rural development implies both the economic betterment of people as well as
greater social transformation. Increased participation of people in the
rural development programmes, decentralization of planning, better
enforcement of land reforms and greater access to credit are envisaged for
providing the rural people with better prospects.
Initially, main thrust for development was laid on agriculture, industry,
communication, education, health and allied sectors. Later on, realizing
that accelerated development can be provided only if governmental efforts
are adequately supplemented by direct and indirect involvement of people at
the grass root level, the thrust shifted.
Accordingly, on 31st March 1952, an organization known as Community
Projects Administration was set up under the Planning Commission to
administer the programmes relating to community development. The community
development programme, inaugurated on October 2, 1952, was an important
landmark in the history of the rural development. This programme underwent
many changes and was handled by different Ministries.
In October 1974, the Department of Rural Development came into existence as
a part of Ministry of Food and Agriculture. On 18th August 1979, the
Department of Rural Development was elevated to the status of a new
Ministry of Rural Reconstruction. It was renamed as Ministry of Rural
Development on 23rd January 1982. In January 1985, the Ministry of Rural
Development was again converted into a Department under the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development which was later rechristened as Ministry
of Agriculture in September 1985. On July 5, 1991 the Department was
upgraded as Ministry of Rural Development. Another Department viz.
Department of Wasteland Development was created under this Ministry on 2nd
July 1992. In March 1995, the Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Rural
Areas and Employment with three departments namely Department of Rural
Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Rural Development and Wasteland
Development.
Again, in 1999 Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment was renamed as
Ministry of Rural Development. This Ministry has been acting as a catalyst
effecting the change in rural areas through the implementation of wide
spectrum of programmes which are aimed at poverty alleviation, employment
generation, infrastructure development and social security. Over the years,
with the experience gained, in the implementation of the programmes and in
response to the felt needs of the poor, several programmes have been
modified and new programmes have been introduced. The Ministry's main
objective is to alleviate rural poverty and ensure improved quality of life
for the rural population especially those below the poverty line. These
objectives are achieved through formulation, development and implementation
of programmes relating to various spheres of rural life and activities,
from income generation to environmental replenishment.
In order to ensure that the fruits of economic reform are shared by all
sections of societies five elements of social and economic infrastructure,
critical to the quality of life in rural areas, were identified. These are
health, education, drinking water, housing and roads. To impart greater
momentum to the efforts in these sectors the Government launched the
Pradhan Mantri Gramdoya Yojana (PMGY) and the Ministry of Rural Development
was entrusted with the responsibility of implementing drinking water,
housing and rural roads component of PMGY.
During the Ninth Plan period, several anti-poverty Programmes have been
restructured to enhance the efficiency of the Programmes for providing
increased benefits to the rural poor. Self Employment Programmes were
revamped by merging the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), the
Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), the Supply of
Improved Tool-Kits to Rural Artisans (SITRA), the Training of Rural Youth
for Self Employment (TRYSEM), the Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY) and the Million
Wells Scheme (MWS) into a holistic self-employment scheme called
Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY).
Keeping in view the needs and aspirations of the local people, Panchayati
Raj Institutions(PRIs) have been involved in the programme implementation
and these institutions constitute the core of decentralized development of
planning and its implementation. The Ministry vigorously pursue with the
State Governments for expeditious devolution of requisite administrative
and financial powers to PRIs as envisaged under 73rd Amendment Act of the
Constitution of India. On 25th December 2002, under Drinking Water Sector,
a new initiative 'Swajal Dhara' empowering the Panchayats to formulate,
implement, operate and maintain drinking water Projects was launched. In
order to further involve PRIs in the development process, a new initiative
'Hariyali' was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister on 27th January, 2003.
Hariyali was launched to strengthen and involve Panchayati Raj Institutions
in the implementation of watershed development programmes namely IWDP, DPAP
and DDP.
Realising that empowerment of rural women is crucial for the development of
rural India, a women's component is introduced in the programmes for
poverty alleviation to ensure flow of adequate funds to this section. The
Constitutional Amendment (73rd), Act 1992 provides for reservation of
selective posts for women. The Constitution has placed enormous
responsibility on the Panchayats to formulate and execute various
programmes of economic development and social justice, and a number of
Centrally Sponsored Schemes are being implemented through Panchayats. Thus,
women Members and Chairpersons of Panchayats, who are basically new
entrants in Panchayats, have to acquire the required skill and be given
appropriate orientation to assume their rightful roles as leaders and
decision makers. Imparting training to elected representatives of PRIs is
primarily the responsibility of the State Governments/Union territory
Administrations. Ministry of Rural Development also extends some financial
assistance to the States/UTs with a view to improve the quality of training
programmes and to catalyze capacity building initiatives for the elected
members and functionaries of PRIs.
The Eleventh Plan saw injection of huge resources from the Union Budget to
the rural and farm sector. This thrust formed the substance of the Bharat
Nirman Programme. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act has provided a major foundational support.
Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has been separated from the
Ministry of Rural Development from 13th July, 2011 and renamed as Ministry
of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Schemes
The following major programmes are being operated by the Ministry of Rural
Development in rural areas,
i. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for
providing wage employment,
ii. National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) for self-employment and
skill development,
iii. Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) for providing housing to BPL households,
iv. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for construction of
quality roads
v. National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for social pension
vi. Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) for improving the
productivity of the land.
In addition, the Ministry also has schemes for capacity development of
rural functionaries; Information, Education and Communication; and
Monitoring and Evaluation.
Budget
Budget outlay of Rs. 86000 crore has been provided under the Plan head to
the Department of Rural Development for the financial year 2016-17.
An additional amount of Rs. 9000 crores has been allocated at the RE stage
to the department thereby augmenting the provision to Rs. 95000 crores.
Budget outlay of Rs. 105447.88 crores has been allocated to the department
of Rural Development for the year 2017-18.
Panchayath Raj
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj was created as a separate Ministry on 27th
May 2004. It has the primary objective of implementation of Part IX of the
Constitution, Panchayats in Fifth Schedule Areas and District
Planning Committess. Since under the scheme of things in the Constitution,
most of the actions including framing of laws rests with the State
Government, the Ministry strives to reach its goals primarily through
advocacy, and also through financial support.
In India, the Panchayati Raj generally refers to the system introduced by
the constitutional amendment in 1992, although it is based upon the
traditional panchayat system of South Asia. The modern Panchayati Raj and
its Gram Panchayats are not be confused with extra-
constitutional Khap Panchayats (or Caste Panchayats) found in northern
India.[1] The Panchayati Raj system was formalized in 1992, following a
study conducted by a number of Indian committees on various ways of
implementing more decentralized administration.
Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj as the foundation of India's
political system, as a decentralized form of government in which each
village would be responsible for its own affairs. The term for such a
vision was Gram Swaraj ("village self-governance"). Instead, India
developed a highly centralized form of government. However, this has been
moderated by the delegation of several administrative functions to the
local level, empowering elected gram panchayats. There are significant
differences between the traditional Panchayati Raj system, that was
envisioned by Gandhi, and the system formalized in India in 1992.
In India, the Panchayati Raj now functions as a system of governance in
which gram panchayats are the basic units of local administration. The
system has three levels: Gram Panchayat (village level), Mandal Parishad or
Block Samiti or Panchayat Samiti (block level), and Zila Parishad (district
level). It was formalized in 1992 by the 73rd amendment to the Indian
Constitution.
Rural Institutions-Panchayat Raj
Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the 73th Amendment, a good time
for some examination and introspection on panchayati raj. Panchayati raj
institutions (PRIs) are simultaneously a remarkable success and a
staggering failure, depending on the goalposts against which they are
evaluated. If the goal was to create another layer of government and
political representation at the grass-roots level, then there is no
parallel to the PRIs. And if the goal was to provide better governance,
then PRIs are a failure and not equipped to succeed anytime in the
foreseeable future.
Soon after the 73rd and 74th Amendments, every state government began the
process of creating the requisite layer of PRIs and urban local bodies.
State election commissions were in charge of the infrastructure required to
elect local representatives. There are about 250,000 PRIs and urban local
bodies, and over three million elected local government representatives.
The 73rd and 74th Amendments required that no less than one-third of the
total seats in local bodies should be reserved for women. At 1.4 million,
India has the most women in elected positions. Seats
and sarpanch/pradhan positions were also reserved for SC/ST candidates.
While India has always had reservations for elected representatives from
disadvantaged groups like SC/STs, this is the only level of government with
reservation for women. And this is the only level of government, where
SC/ST candidates have a genuine voice in governance (unlike the candidates
from reserved constituencies at the parliamentary level). Research using
PRIs (by Lakshmi Iyer, Anandi Mani, Prachi Mishra, and Petia Topalova) has
shown that having female political representation in local governments
makes women more likely to come forward and report crimes. Further, female
PRI leaders are more likely to focus on issues pertinent to women. R.
Chattopadhyay and E. Duflo show that in districts with
femalesarpanch/pradhans, significantly greater investments are made in
drinking water, a priority public goods issue for women. They also show
that SCsarpanch/pradhans are more likely to invest in public goods in SC
hamlets—an important change in the severely segregated villages of India.
In a country where access is determined by gender and caste, even more than
economic status, these changes are remarkable.
On all other margins except representation, PRIs are either a failure or,
at best, a series of missed opportunities. Before 1993, India had only two
levels of government. The 73rd Amendment introduced local governing bodies
across India. This amendment, however, did not require the implementation
of local self-governing bodies. It only mandated the creation of local self-
governing bodies, and left the decision to delegate powers, functions, and
finances to the state legislatures. And therein lies the failure of PRIs.
The first failure of the 73rd Amendment was that the transfer of various
governance functions—like the provision of education, health, sanitation,
and water was not mandated. Instead the amendment listed the functions that
could be transferred, and left it to the state legislature to actually
devolve functions. There has been very little devolution of authority and
functions in the last 25 years. PRIs cannot govern unless they are given
the authority to actually perform functions related to governance.
To make matters worse, because these functions were never devolved, state
executive authorities have proliferated to carry out these functions. The
most common example is the terrible state water boards, performing tasks
that should have been left to elected representatives of local governments
who best understand local water problems and can be disciplined through the
democratic process.
The second failure of the 73rd Amendment is the lack of finances for PRIs.
Local governments can either raise their own revenue through local taxes or
receive intergovernmental transfers. The 73th Amendment recognized both
forms of public finance, but did not mandate either. The power to tax, even
for subjects falling within the purview of PRIs, has to be specifically
authorized by the state legislature. The 73rd Amendment let this be a
choice open to the state legislatures—a choice that most states have not
exercised.
A second avenue of revenue generation is intergovernmental transfers, where
state governments devolve a certain percentage of their revenue to PRIs.
The constitutional amendment created provisions for State Finance
Commissions to recommend the revenue share between state and local
governments. However, these are merely recommendations and the state
governments are not bound by them. Though finance commissions, at every
level, have advocated for greater devolution of funds, there has been
little action by states to devolve funds.
As a result, PRIs are so starved for funds that they are often unable to
meet even payroll obligations. They are reluctant to take on projects that
require any meaningful financial outlay, and are often unable to solve even
the most basic local governance needs. The only long-term solution is to
foster genuine fiscal federalism where PRIs raise a large portion of their
own revenue and face hard budget constraints, i.e. fiscal autonomy
accompanied by fiscal responsibility.
Now that there are millions of elected representatives giving voice to
Indians at the grass-roots level, these representatives need clear mandates
of local functions, and the ability to raise their own revenue, to foster
better local governance. Without the functions and finances, PRIs will only
be an expensive failure
Reformism Panchayat Raj(73 rd CAA and After)
73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in
December, 1992. Through these amendments local self-governance was
introduced in rural and urban India. The Acts came into force as the
Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993 and the
Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993. These amendments
added two new parts to the Constitution, namely, 73rd Amendment added Part
IX titled "The Panchayats" and 74th Amendment added Part IXA titled "The
Municipalities". The Local bodies–'Panchayats' and 'Municipalities' came
under Part IX and IXA of the Constitution after 43 years of India becoming
a republic.
Salient Features of the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts
Panchayats and Municipalities will be "institutions of self-government".
1. Basic units of democratic system-Gram Sabhas (villages) and Ward
Committees (Municipalities) comprising all the adult members registered
as voters.
2. Three-tier system of panchayats at village, intermediate
block/taluk/mandal and district levels except in States with population
is below 20 lakhs (Article 243B).
3. Seats at all levels to be filled by direct elections [Article 243C
(2)].
4. Seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)
and chairpersons of the Panchayats at all levels also shall be reserved
for SCs and STs in proportion to their population.
5. One-third of the total number of seats to be reserved for women.
Onethird of the seats reserved for SCs and STs also reserved for women.
One-third offices of chairpersons at all levels reserved for women
(Article 243D).
6. Uniform five year term and elections to constitute new bodies to be
completed before the expiry of the term. In the event of dissolution,
elections compulsorily within six months (Article 243E).
7. Independent Election Commission in each State for superintendence,
direction and control of the electoral rolls (Article 243K). 2
8. Panchayats to prepare plans for economic development and social justice
in respect of subjects as devolved by law to the various levels of
Panchayats including the subjects as illustrated in Eleventh Schedule
(Article 243G).
9. 74th Amendment provides for a District Planning Committee to
consolidate the plans prepared by Panchayats and Municipalities (Article
243ZD).
10. Funds: Budgetary allocation from State Governments, share of revenue
of certain taxes, collection and retention of the revenue it raises,
Central Government programmes and grants, Union Finance Commission
grants (Article 243H).
11. Establish a Finance Commission in each State to determine the
principles on the basis of which adequate financial resources would be
ensured for panchayats and municipalities (Article 243I).
Panchayat Raj in Telangana State
The Telangana State Institute of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development
(TSIPARD), located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, has been working
relentlessly in building capacities for sustainable development of the
rural poor for over 62 years now.
It is the Apex Training Institute in Telangana for Panchayat Raj and
Rural Development. It caters Capacity Building Programmes for 1.04 Lakhs
Panchayat Raj Elected Representatives, Functionaries and for around
50,000 Officials of Rural Development. The Institute also extends its
capacity building services to various other government departments. The
main core functions are Capacity Building, Research and Consultancy
Services.
The Evolution of TSIPARD
Training Infrastructure :
TSIPARD has two Extension Training Centres located at Rajendranagar
(Rangareddy district) and Hasanparthy (Warangal district). The total State,
District, Mandal and Village Training Infrastructure is shown below.
The Telangana State Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a new Panchayat
Raj Bill which facilitates formation of new panchayats and municipalities
in the State.
The Bill, presented by Panchayat Raj Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, was
passed by the Assembly without any amendments. Ths new bill proposes the
formation of 4,389 new Panchayats which will take the total Gram Panchayats
in Telangana State to 12,741. The new Bill nullifies the old Panchayat Raj
Act 1994. This Bill provides for conversion of Tandas into full fledged
Gram Panchayats which would be reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
Speaking on the Bill, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao said that it
took nearly two years for the government to draft the Bill. He said that
the conditions in villages and rural areas did not change even 70 years
after independence. With the passing of new bill, he said the nagar
panchayats would be scrapped and the State will now have only Gram
Panchayats, Municipalities and Municipal Corporations. He said that the
State Government has allocated Rs. 2,000 crore for the development of
Panchayats and Municipalities.
The Assembly has also passed Telangana Municipal Rural Amendment Bill 2018
which provides for formation of 71 new municipalities. It also provides of
136 habitations in the existing 41 municipalities in the State.
e-Panchayats
Cutting edge technology is, no doubt, empowering. The right application of
technology can boost productivity in all sectors of the economy:
agriculture, manufacturing, services, business and governmental activities.
Technology enables informed decision-making, stakeholder participation and
efficient service delivery and can help ensure transparency,
accountability, and rule of law leading to inclusive good governance. The
potential impact of leading technologies is estimated to be $550-1,000
billion annually by 2025, targeted to improve the lives of about 680
million, constituting 56 per cent of India's population lacking basic human
needs.
Against the backdrop of the Fourteenth Finance Commission's recommendation
and earmarking a grant of more than 2 lakh crore from the Union Government
directly to about 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, the question arises: How can
people at the bottom of the pyramid be empowered by devolution of powers?
E-power to empower
The National e-Governance Plan was meant to make government services
accessible to the citizens through common service delivery outlets. Now, e-
Panchayat, a component of Mission Mode Projects (MMP), has been launched by
the ministry of panchayati raj. The project envisages empowering people in
villages by improving governance at the third tier of government for rural
local bodies at gram panchayats, block panchayats and district panchayats.
E-Panchayat aims to transform panchayat functioning holistically by
applying cost effective integrated technological solutions to overcome
challenges including issues such as inadequate physical infrastructure,
poor human resources and poor power supply. The more complex constraints
are extant grassroots political, economic, and social power structures; and
gender, age, caste, communal and other sectarian divides.
Many States such as Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Goa have taken e-initiatives at the panchayat
level, but a nation-driven, integrated, holistic approach is required to
make a dent on the functioning of panchayats and thereby improving the
livelihoods of people. The e-Panchayat programme hopes to ensure people's
participation in decision-making. To improve the functioning of panchayats
in the country, it is imperative that people should be involved in
identifying and prioritising projects, programmes, schemes and welfare
activities pertaining to them.
The panchayat planning process, budget, accounts, and the maintenance of
books of accounts physically or online should capture the entire fund flow
from the Centre, States, other bodies and own funds identifying the sources
and application of expenditures.
The plan outlay should be linked to development works, projects, programmes
and activities and services with functionaries to achieve the targeted,
specified, measurable, realistic timely outputs and outcomes. E-Panchayat
must integrate State-specific software and central software to enable
effective monitoring, transparency, rule of law, and accountability.
Internal audits, oversights, social audits and CAG audit should be geared
towards actualising the intended objectives.
Automating workflow
E-Panchayat is about automating the workflow processes of all panchayats
covering about 30 lakh elected people's representatives and several lakh
PRI functionaries. Information and Service Needs Assessment (ISNA),
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for
every State/UT as a whole can help radical transformation through
decentralised local governance.
Cloud-computing, mobile applications, m-governance, work automation,
digital payments based on digital identity can penetrate hitherto remote
localities.
The poor can access e-health care, e-learning, and e-agricultural extension
services. Technology enables informed decision-making; intelligent
transportation; generation, transmission and distribution of power supply;
boosting productivity in farming; and increasing access to clean drinking
water. The Internet of Things and connecting sensors to online monitoring
can be revolutionary for transforming India.
Simplifying unwarranted policies and regulations at all levels has helped
India become the fastest growing economic power. Investment by way of FDI,
FII, Indian nationals and NRIs is on the rise.
The transformative technologies, if implemented rightly, can help
governance become cost effective, participatory, and citizen-centric, while
at the same time empowering the poor.
The vast majority of India's population lives in the villages and the
Panchayats (village level governance units also known as Panchayat
Raj Institutions(PRIs) ) represent the face of the governance for these
villagers. To improve the quality of governance of these PRIs including
0.235 million Gram Panchayats, 6094 Block Panchayats and 633 Zilla
Panchayats, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Government of
India (GOI) has initiated the e-governance scheme known as e-Panchayats.
During 2004, the MoPR organized several Round Table meetings of State
Ministers of Panchayati Raj. The focus was to implement Part IX (Panchayat)
of the Constitution and PESA Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act
1996. During the 7th Round Table meeting, the issue of Information
Technology for Panchayats was discussed, and the usage of IT in Panchayats
was recommended on several counts. In 2005, the National Advisory
Council (NAC) suggested to the Government to take up a "National IT for
Panchayati Raj Programme", "which would include setting up a nationally
networked/ computerised system including Treasuries to monitor fund
flows/facilitate devolution. It had recommended that the Union Government
ought to launch a Fund for this and operationalise this recommendation in
one year. It had also urged providing back-end support at all levels of
PRIs/ PR Departments for operationalising the computerization of services."
A year later, the National e-Governance Plan was approved by the Cabinet
and the ePanchayats project was one of them
Computing Infrastructure and 11 Core Software Applications will be
installed at the PRIs. There will be improved transparency in the workings
of the panchayat with Panchayat data made available on the Internet.
Further certain services will be provided such as pension, house tax, and
birth and death certificates issuance.[4] Additionally, there will
be Business Process Reegineering of the services provided by Panchayats so
that the process of receiving any demanded service is greatly simplified.
As a result of this, the scenario at the Panchayats is expected to be
transformed.
The State government's ambitious e-panchayats project aimed at providing
citizens with services in the grama panchayats was formally inaugurated in
Chinna Bonala village of Sircilla mandal on Friday by Minister for IT and
Panchayat Raj K. Taraka Rama Rao.
The e-panchayats albeit Palle Pragathi Seva Kendralu (One Stop Service)
centres, will be manned a trained woman, called Village level entrepreneur
(VLE). The e-panchayats are housed in grama panchayat office and the VLEs
are provided with a laptop or desk top with internet facilities.
The One Stop Service (OSS) centres would provide disbursement of Asara
social security pensions, payment of NREGS wages, banking transaction,
Meeseva services, panchayat services -- such as birth and death
certificates, payment of house taxes, pahanis etc.
Resources and Development
Rural Credit Cooperatives have existed in India for a long time. A shortage
of supply of rural credit was prevalent in India. To meet the demand for
short and long term rural credit the Co-operative Credit Structure (CCS)
was set up. While short term credit is supplied by the State Cooperative
Banks (SCB), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB) and Primary
Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), long term credit is supplied by the
Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDB).
Rural Credit Cooperatives were initiated in India long back, some of them,
even before India's Independence in 1947. Post-independence the rural
credit cooperative system was developed further. Moreover rural banks were
set up. However in spite of such initiatives credit needs of the rural
Indian people have not been met effectively. Supply of credit for
agriculture too has not matched up to the demand levels.
Measures were undertaken by the Indian government in 2004, to increase
credit supply for agriculture by commercial banks. Moreover banks were also
asked to re-organize repayment schedules of farmers who were affected by
floods, droughts, etc.
According to World Bank estimates of 1994 and 1995, the average credit
utilization was Rs 14,549 per family in a year. While 65% of rural credit
in India was utilized for productive purposes, the remaining 35 % was
utilized for consumption purposes.
Out of the 65% utilization for productive purposes, short term utilization
constituted 49%. Long term utilization (purchase of agricultural machinery,
livestock) etc accounted for a mere 16%. Short term consumption (for
purchase of consumer durables, clothes, etc) was 20% while long term
consumption (for house building, marriage, etc.) was 15%.
The Co-operative Credit Structure (CCS) of India was set up to serve the
needs of both short term and long term rural credit in India. Short term
credit is supplied in rural India by three institutions –
State Cooperative Banks (SCB)
District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB)
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)
Long term credit is supplied by the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and
Rural Development Banks (PCARDB).
In 2007, the World Bank has approved a project related to rural credit
cooperatives in India. This project entitled "The Strengthening Rural
Credit Cooperatives Project" involves a total cost of an estimated 600
million US dollars and is expected to be completed by June 2012. The
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will be
implementing the project.
The Strengthening Rural Credit Cooperatives Project of India will assist in
providing members of the Credit Cooperative Bank (CCBs), including small
and marginal farmers, with significantly enhanced access to formal finance
(credit, savings, etc.), by ensuring that the potentially viable CCBs in
the Participating States are transformed into efficient and commercially
sustainable institutions. The Project has 4 components: 1) Capacity
building Technical Assistance (TA) which will aim to build up the
capabilities of CCBs in all three tiers to strengthen their ability to
comply with the new legal, regulatory and supervisory framework, improve
performance, and achieve longer term financial sustainability; 2)
Information technology (IT) which will support the computerization of CCBs
within each of the five Participating States (PS) (in a manner that is
compatible across states), to enhance the efficiency and transparency of
the CCBs through enabling the efficient implementation of the new common
accounting system and Management Information System (MIS), and fostering
cost efficiencies through facilitating the pooling of costs related to back
office transactions; 3) Credit Cooperative System Financial Restructuring
Support (FRS), which will support the financial restructuring of
potentially viable CCBs by providing recapitalization as a grant (not
equity) to wipe out the accumulated losses of CCBs, restore the value of
members' capital in the CCBs, and bring these institutions to a minimum
capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of 7 percent; and 4)
Implementation, which will cover the following areas: (a) overall capacity
building for project implementation; (b) support for the Special Audits;
and (c) support for ensuring effective project monitoring and information
flows throughout implementation, covering improved disclosure and
accountability mechanisms.
Self Help Group
SHG is a holistic programme of micro-enterprises covering all aspects of
self-employment, organization of the rural poor into self Help groups and
their capacity building, planning of activity clusters, infrastructure
build up, technology, credit and marketing.
It lays emphasis on activity clusters based on the resources and the
occupational skills of the people and availability of markets.
Self-Help Group refers to self-governed, peer controlled, informal group of
people with same socio-economic background and having a desire to
collectively perform common purposes. Here poor people voluntarily come
together to save whatever amount they can save conveniently out of their
earnings, to mutually agree to contribute to a common fund and to lend to
the members for meeting their productive and emergent needs.
SHGs have been able to mobilize small savings either on weekly or monthly
basis from persons who were not expected to have any savings. They have
been able to effectively recycle the resources generated among the members
for meeting the emergent credit needs of members of the group.
SHG is a group formed by the community women, which has specific number of
members like 15 or 20. In such a group the poorest women would come
together for emergency, disaster, social reasons, economic support to each
other have ease of conversation, social interaction and economic
interaction.
A SHG is an informal association to enhance the member's financial security
as primary focus and other common interest of members such as area
development, awareness, motivation, leadership, training and associating in
other social inter-mediation programmes for the benefit of the entire
community.
Need of Self-Help Group (SHG):
The very existence of SHGs is highly relevant to make the people of below
poverty line hopeful and self-reliant. SHGs enable them to Increase their
income, improve their standard of living and status in society. It acts as
a catalyst for bringing this section of society to the main stream.
Ultimately, the nation reaps the advantages of socialism.
The Government of India and various state Governments have been
implementing various programmes for rural upliftment. However, rural
poverty and unemployment still persist in the country. This problem is
becoming severe and acute. The available latest statistics relating to the
Indian Economy indicates that about 26% of the total population in the
country belongs to the rural poor.
Considering the gravity and intensity of the problem, many Voluntary
Development Organisations (VDOs) have come forward with different
programmes for the rural poor in the country. These agencies undertake
various innovative programmes and schemes to address the issues of poverty
and unemployment prevailing in our country.
Among the various programmes "Swarna Jayanti Grama Swarojgar Yojana" (SGSY)
is an important one. This programme was launched on 1st April, 1999, at 75:
25 costs sharing between Central and State Governments.
The main objective of this programme is to bring the beneficiaries above
the poverty line by providing income generating assets to them through bank
credit and government subsidy. The Self-Help Groups (SHPs) are the major
component of this scheme.
Women are a vital part of the Indian Economy, both at the national and the
household levels. They make one-third of the national labour force.
Compared with their menfolk, Indian women contribute a much larger share of
their earnings to basic family maintenance with the result that women's
earnings positively and immediately affect the incidence and the security
of poverty.
Despite all this, social conventions and gender ideology deprive them of
the access to, and control over, the resources which would enable them to
increase their productivity. Women form the backbone of agricultural
operations and majority of agricultural labourers are woman. Seventy to
eighty percent of the field work is done by women.
Most post-harvest and processing tasks are their sole responsibility. They
are heavily involved in animal husbandry, particularly small livestock.
About 85 percent of persons engaged in dairy production are women. Since
independence, government's policy on women's development has taken varying
types of emphasis: from the initial welfare oriented approach to the
current focus on development and empowerment.
Technical Assistance inRuralGovernance
The Government of India has launched the National Rural Livelihoods Mission
(NRLM) under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). The mission aims at
creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor
enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood
enhancements and improved access to financial and selected public services.
NRLM has set out with an agenda to reach out, and mobilize 7 crore BPL
households, across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakhs Gram Panchayats, 6
lakhs villages in the country, into self-managed SHGs and federal
institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives. In addition, the
poor would be facilitated to achieve increased access to their rights,
entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social
indicators of empowerment. NRLM also aims at harnessing the innate
capabilities of the poor and complements them with capacities (information,
knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization) to deal with the
rapidly changing external world. For the purpose, NRLM lays emphasis on
promotion of 'professionally competent and dedicated implementation
structures' at the state, district, and sub-district level for managing and
supporting all Mission activities. At the national level NRLM is mandated
to provide technical assistance for implementation and develop management
systems for smooth implementation and monitoring of the program activities
and key milestones of NRLM. For ensuring that technical assistance and
required implementation support is available to States, the Government of
India has availed a Credit from the World Bank for the National Rural
Livelihoods Project (NRLP) which aims to support the National Rural
Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). One of the key activities of this technical
assistance fund is to hire a consultancy service, which will provide
suitable manpower and efficient management support services to make the
NRLM operational in the country. For this NRLM will hire services of a
Management Agency that will provide thematic support services for ideas
incubation, policy framing and formulating implementation strategies for
core programme implementation at both national and state level on key
thematic areas such as social inclusion and community mobilization;
institution building; financial inclusion; agriculture, livestock and non-
farm livelihoods; jobs placement and market linked skill development; self-
employment and micro-enterprise development; etc. through a National
Mission Management Unit (NMMU). Description of services for supporting
implementation of NRLM is given in Annex-1. Besides, the NRLM will develop
national program management systems like social and environment management
framework, financial management, procurement management, monitoring and
evaluation, etc. For the purposes of technical assistance to that States
for enhancing their program implementation capacity, it is envisaged that
technical assistance (TA) services will be made available through the NMMU.
Objective of the Assignment To provide certain defined services to NRLM for
carrying out program implementation and technical assistance for
implementation of the NRLM in India. Scope of the assignment:
1. The Management Agency will be responsible for providing certain
services which would make NRLM functional in all aspects such that it
can support various states across India in rolling out NRLM. For
carrying out this, the management agency will be responsible for
providing requisite services by deploying suitable qualified manpower.
2. The manpower deployed by the Management Agency will be dedicated full
time for this service and shall be retained with that exclusive
requirement. To ensure quality, the agency shall develop and follow an
exclusive HR policy, describing standards and guidelines for managing
the manpower deployed for the purpose, based on comparable similar
structures established for delivering technical assistance projects of
this nature in rural livelihoods sector. The selected agency will
provide services through deployment of suitable manpower, having results
orientation, potential to lead a thematic unit and ability to extend
quality support to states. The manpower deployed should be in accordance
with the service requirements of NRLM and to be assured of quality of
service, the deployment of manpower would be with the concurrence of the
Ministry of RD. 3. The composition of manpower to be deployed by the
Management Agency will be based on the services assigned to them. The
specific service requirement may be changed based on the roll out of the
programme in the states and based on periodic reviews of the programme.
This should be matched by changes in the manpower deployed. Thus the
personnel to be deployed will not be static. It will vary in response to
the additional requirements of services.
The agency will ensure that while selection of manpower to be deployed it
will maintain the highest degree of transparency. The agency will ensure
selection of only those candidates who fulfil the eligibility criteria
prescribed for the task to be performed. The search and selection
process should continue till suitable manpower is found and recruited by
them. Under no circumstance will the selection and recruitment
requirements be diluted, since that will affect adversely the quality of
the services to be rendered. All information related to recruitment of
manpower will be provided to NRLM as and when required. 5. For
delivering the services envisaged in the program, it is estimated that
approximately 35 consultants of varying levels of experience will be
required for the initial period. Periodic assessment of incremental
requirements in services to be rendered will be communicated by the NRLM
based on the emerging work program and the agency will deploy additional
manpower to match additional service requirements. 6. The Agency will
provide support services in implementation of procurement activities and
provide back-office support on procurement related processing and
transactions. 7. The Agency would provide back-end support to NRLM to
maintain records of expenditures incurred for the services along with
the supporting documents, track expenditures by activity heads, etc. 8.
All governance, monitoring and reporting aspect of this assignment will
be under the control and superintendence of the Mission Director – NRLM
and Joint Secretary, MGNREGA. The management agency will need approval
for its activity plan, including deployment of manpower from the Mission
Director – NRLM (for services through NMMU) and Joint Secretary, MGNREGA
(for services through NMT), on a quarterly basis. 9. To ensure quality,
the selected agency will put in place a full time high caliber team for
management support in the areas of HR administration for manpower
deployed by them, office management, logistics management, financial
management and procurement management. The desired profile of team
members for this purpose is at Annex 2. The key members proposed for the
assignment should be full time staff of the agency.
RuralDevelopmentProgrammesandAgencies
India is a country which is basically rural in nature and the bulk of the
population live in rural areas. About 72.22 percent of the total population
lives in rural areas (2001 Census). Along with this, 25 percent of the
world s poor live in India. They have very limited access to education,
health, communication and other amenities of life. But a nation can not
achieve all round development unless its villages are developed. Once
Mahatma Gandhi said, India Lives in Her Villages which directly indicates
the importance of rural development. Thus, the development of rural areas
is crucial to the process of development of India. Rural Development is a
multidimensional concept which covers all the various aspects of life. In
short, rural development means overall development of rural areas which
ultimately improve the quality of life of rural people. It aims at both the
economic betterment of people as well as greater social transformation.
Rural development strategies in India want to improve rural income and
generate employment opportunity for rural people. However, India has been a
welfare state ever since her independence and the primary objective of all
the governmental schemes are welfare oriented. In this context, planning
has occupied a significant place since independence. The policies and
programmes of the different five year plans have been designed with the aim
of alleviation of rural poverty. It was also realized that a sustainable
strategy of poverty alleviation has to be based on increasing the
productive employment opportunities in the process of growth itself. In
addition to this, rural people should provide better prospects for economic
development. Along with this, there should be decentralization of planning,
better enforcement of land reforms and greater access to credit for the
rural poor people.
METHODOLOGY The present study is based on the secondary data. Books,
journals, periodicals, magazines, project reports and internet have been
consulted for the purpose of gathering data
NATURE AND TYPES OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT Rural Development in India wants to
achieve a number of objectives namely, changing the attitude of the people
towards the development of the rural community, establishment of grass root
democracy with Panchayati Raj Institutions and fulfillment of basic needs
e.g., drinking water, health care, better sanitation and housing. From the
above mentioned objectives, rural development programme can be divided into
four categories. Theses are: (i) Programmes for self and wage employment
(ii) Programme for rural infrastructure and minimum basic needs (iii)
Programmes for natural resource management and (iv)Programmes for social
security. Under these four broad categories there are several programmes of
the government. Following are the some of the programmes:
A BRIEF REVIEW OF DIFFERENT RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES Rural development in
India is a strategy for changing the attitude of the rural people towards
development. It also wants peoples participation in the development process
and greater access to credit are also envisaged. Some of the rural
development initiatives in India are discussed below: 5.1.Integrated Rural
Development Programme (IRDP): Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)
was launched in the year 1980 with a view to provide income generating
assets and employment opportunities to the rural poor so that they could
improve their standard of living. At the District level, an autonomous
agency called the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) was responsible
for planning, implementing, coordinating, supervising and monitoring the
IRDP. Selection of IRDP beneficiary was expected to be made by Village
Level Worker (VLW) by following the Antodaya i.e., selecting the poorest of
the poor first. As far as working of the IRDP concerned, the most reliable
evident was provided by the survey conducted by the National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1984. According to the
survey, 47 percent of the sampled beneficiaries had been able to increase
their family income. Another study was conducted by the Institute of Rural
Management in two blocks of Sabarkantha District of Gujrat. It was found
that with the average investment of Rs. 2,337 per beneficiary family,
nearly 40 percent of the beneficiaries were assisted with milk animals and
they also crossed the poverty line. In spite of all these positive impacts
it was found that in the selection of IRDP beneficiary, antodaya
principle was not strictly followed. Along with this, inability of the poor
people to manage the assets, bank loan and IRDP subsidy was created a big
hurdle. Besides this, a new scheme called Training of Rural Youth for Self-
Employment (TRYSEM) was initiated in 1979 with the objective of removing
unemployment among rural youth. TRYSEM was an integral part of IRDP and
concerned with equipping rural youth.
CAUSES OF FAILURES OF DIFFERENT RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES Following are the
some of the causes of failures of different rural development schemes
initiated in India: ( Though there was the provision of peoples
participation at the grass root level after the 73rd Constitutional
amendment, in spite of that majority of the rural people are unaware about
the rural development schemes and they have also less participation in the
process. ( In the absence of proper knowledge and awareness, the villagers
are generally trapped by the middleman. They became the messenger and all
the fruits of rural development are being eaten up by these people. With
rampant corruption, they also become the part and parcel of this corrupt
system for which India s rural development schemes are not able to reach to
the desired level. ( India is a country where there is the prevalence of
poverty and illiteracy. This situation is more acute in village areas. It
is for obvious reason that people living in rural areas are unaware about
the rural development schemes. ( Rural development schemes in India are not
meant for make the people self-sufficient. Basically these schemes are like
charity which could not bring remarkable changes in the lives of rural
people.
Governance inTribal and Scheduled Areas
Majumdar's (1958) definition of a tribe is still relevant in the
anthropological understanding of a tribe.
As per their definition a tribe is; a relatively isolated or semi-isolated
community living mainly in forest, hill or hill cladsettings; an autonomous
cultural system; economically self-sufficient by exploiting natural
resources in a primitive or crude mode, involving a low level of technology
and distributed within a well demarcated territory, distinct world-view or
belief system, folklore, deities and its own dialect. Tribals in India
constitute 8.6 percent of the total population, (2011 census); and they
have distinct cultures, customary practices, dialects and economic pursuits
in different ecological settings. The areas inhabited by the tribal
constitute a significant part of the under developed areas of the country.
The prominent tribal areas constitute about 15 percent of the total
geographical area of the country. The Government of India's list of
Scheduled Tribes (STs) included 212 tribes in 1950, 458 in 1990 (State of
Panchayats Report, 2009) which rose to 533 by 2009. Now, the number of
tribes included in the list of STs contributes as a notable section of
total population of the Indian society. Historically, the tribal economy
was based on subsistence agriculture and/or hunting and gathering forest
produce. However, since the tribal people treated land as a common
resource, they rarely had land titles, and thus, lost their lands to
outsiders when exploitation of forest resources began. This ensured that a
majority ended up as small and marginal landholders. It is fairly well
documented that the well-being of social groups in India differs a lot.
Recent researches have tried to quantify the disparities in level of living
of various population groups. As a population group, STs are at the bottom
on the range of development indicators including consumption and poverty
(Dubey, 2009). More than half of the rural tribal population is found to be
below poverty line as per the latest survey available with the Ministry of
Rural Development.
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS IN TRIBAL LOCAL GOVERNANCE
Governance is the medium of development and tribal development is a
mandatory object of Indian governance.
The Constitution of India also mentioned the way of tribal development. In
this regard, the local self-government is acarrier of developmental work in
India for a long time. From the pre Vedic and Vedic period to the formation
of Indian Republic, the important and role of local governance was so
elementary in the process of development. After Independence, village
panchayats came to be established more systematically with defined powers
and functions through the Constitution of India.
Administrative Reforms Commission – I
It is in times of grave economic crises that the attention of a nation's
leadership turned to administrative reforms. The first Administrative
Reform Commission (ARC) was setup in 1966 in India with a view of
comprehensive examination of India's public administration under the
chairmanship of Morarji Desai (later Hanumanthaiya).
Actually, first ARC did not pay sufficient attention to the administrative
reforms for tribal development and also to the
implementation of recommendations by the government.
73rd Constitutional Amendment
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment (1992) made provision of SC, STs and
women's reservation and began a new
era of local governance for tribal development. Prior to the Constitutional
Amendment 1992, the representation of the
tribal in Panchayats at three tire levels was also not very adequate. Some
of the important features of the Panchayat
amendment include;
The key role is assigned to the Gramsabha.
An uniform three-tier structure across the country.
Direct elections at all levels is made regular and mandatory
Reservation for SCs and STs, one third (now ½ as per Constitutional
amendment 110th) of the total seats to women.
Identifying 29 subjects in the XI schedule of constitution and
Setting up of a State Finance Commission and election commission.
In essence, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment is a key aspect of reforming
process in the local governance. It has also increased tribal participation
in the three tire system of local governance.
In essence, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment is a key aspect of reforming
process in the local governance.
It has also increased tribal participation in the three tire system of
local governance.
Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, (PESA)
The Ministry of Rural Development, government of India constituted a
committee of selected members of
Parliament and experts to make recommendations on the salient features of
the law for extending provisions of Part XI of the Constitution to the
Scheduled Areas.
In December 1996, the Parliament passed the Provisions of the Panchayats
(Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, (PESA), and subsequently, the
President's assent was accorded on 24th December 1996 to make it a part of
the Constitution, recognizing the tribe's right to self-rule. PESA act is a
Central legislation that extends the constitutional provisions of
Panchayati Raj to Fifth Schedule Areas, subject to certain exceptions and
modifications. Nine States, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and
Rajasthan have Fifth Schedule Areas. For the purpose of effective
implementation and Tribal's participation a review
meeting of the PESA States on implementation of the PESA Act, 1996 was held
on 13th November, 2007 in New Delhi.
An action plan for implementation of PESA in letter and spirit was agreed
to by the States in the review Meeting.
Salient features of the Extension Act may be discussed under following
heads.
A village in scheduled areas "...shall ordinarily consist of a habitation
or a group of habitations or a hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising a
community and managing its affairs in accordance with traditions and
customs.
Every village shall have a Gramsabha consisting of persons whose names are
included in the electoral rolls for the
panchayats at the village level.
PESA takes cognizance of the fact that political empowerment is the
beginning of economic development.
It, hence, reserves a minimum of 50 percent of the seats for the members of
the tribal communities and also all
posts of chairpersons in the Scheduled Areas, even where the population of
tribals have been reduced to minority
status.
The chairperson's post at all levels of the panchayats shall be reserved
for STs. In case some ST communities have no representation at intermediate
or district level panchayats, the state government shall nominate such
underrepresented STs but such nomination should not exceed one-tenth of the
total elected members of the panchayats.
Every legislation on the panchayats in fifth scheduled area shall be in
conformity with the customary law, social and religious practices and
traditional management practice of the community resources.
PESA, unlike the IXth Schedule, empowers the Gramsabha and not the Gram
Panchayat to approve plans, programmes and projects and to issue
utilization certificates, select beneficiaries for poverty alleviation and
other programmes.
In a very significant move, the PESA makes a consultation with the
Gramsabha mandatory before any acquisition of land in the village or before
resettlement and rehabilitation of the Project Affected Persons in the
village.
The Gramsabha has been vested with the command over natural resources in
the village including the minor minerals, water bodies, and the minor
forest produce. No mining lease can be granted without the prior
recommendation of the Gramsabha.
PESA also empowers the Gramsabha to have control over village markets, all
plans and Tribal Sub-Plan resources, and control money-lending in the
village (State Panchayats, 2009, Pal, 2000).
Village Administration:Stakeholder Committees in india
The objective of the consultation process is to ensure that an inclusive,
participatory and holistic approach is undertaken, which takes into
consideration expert opinions, field experiences, empirical research,
stakeholder feedback, as well as lessons learned from best practices.
Traditionally, previous Commissions for driving Education Policy have
undertaken a common approach which included the following:
Top down approach based on setting up expert task force, working
groups and/or sub-committees.
Each group was based on a thematic topic.
Recommendations were made based on field visits, discussions,
conferences/workshops, interviews, limited citizen outreach, special
studies, meetings with constitutional leaders and elected
officials.
The consultation process involved multiple stakeholders including
government, academia, industry, experts and media.
The consultation time taken varied from six months to three years.
While past consultative processes have been extensive, they have taken a
top-down approach, depending on limited feedback from field workers and
stakeholders on the ground who are responsible implementing the Education
Policy. Further, they have been thematic based, with discussions being held
in silos.
70 % of Indian Population Rural , 51% in Agri & allied areas, 17% GDP
Without Rural Development, can't optimally realise growth potential &
claim its place in world
Transformational change demands blend of inputs.
Convergence of Resources, Appropriate Professional & Technical Support &
Innovations.
Holistic approach in design, planning & Prog Implementation
Support of Professional Knowledge Framework – Planning Engineering,
Management & Applied Social Sciences.
Demands involvement of High-end Professional & Educational institutions.
Transform our villages to Self-sufficient & Sustainable – replicable
models
Issues in Rural Governance
LandReforms
Land reforms in India usually refers to redistribution of land from the
rich to the poor. Land reforms is often connected with re-distribution of
agricultural land and hence it is related with agrarian reforms too.
Land reforms includes regulation of ownership, operation, leasing, sales,
and inheritance of land (indeed, the redistribution of land itself requires
legal changes).
In any country, the basis of all economic activity is the land. If we
examine the history of India, though there are instances of considering
land as a private property by individuals who had control over it, the
practice of communities like that of tribals with collective ownership of
land stands out. Land like many other gifts of nature, were considered free
for all by many communities who didn't bother fix boundaries for private
ownership. But the colonial rule by British saw a dramatic shift in the
land ownership pattern of India. Land of many tribal/forest communities
were seized by British cultivators and Zamindars, and land tax was widely
collected through systems like Zamindari, Ryotwari or Mahalwari.
A rich-minority-landowning class and poor-landless-peasant class became
symbols of Indian agrarian society. As the ownership of the land for some
reason or other stayed with the rich Zamindar class, they became more
powerful year after year, accumulating wealth. The peasants, who actually
cultivated the land, was often in poverty and remained landless. When India
adopted socialistic principles after independence, equality in all spheres
– social, economic and political was envisioned. Land reforms are essential
steps towards social and economic equality as land is a fundamental asset
needed for healthy development of an individual. As per the Indian
constitution, land reform comes under the list of state subjects, and
hence the responsibility for bringing up regulations for effecting land
reforms lies with individual states.
States which implemented land reforms in India
Zamindari Abolition Act was passed by UP, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh, etc. Surplus lands were confiscated from zamindars. As in
Golaknath case, Supreme court ruled that the provisions of Zamindari
Abolition act contradicted with Article 31 of Indian Constitution, the
parliament took steps to repeal Article 31. Later Land Ceilings Act was
passed by different states
Successful legislation for redistribution of land with ceilings on private
land property happened only in a few states. The most notable and
successful land reforms happened in states of Kerala and West Bengal
(Operation Barga). Only pockets of India like Jammu and Kashmir witnessed
commendable steps in land reform but attempts in states like Andra Pradesh,
Madya Pradesh and Bihar led to clashes within the communities. Though
the Central land reforms committee has laid guidelines for land ceilings,
there was purposeful delay in the implementation land reform policy in many
states, giving gap for transactions to escape the tooth of land reform
laws.
The other sides of land reforms
Land reforms has an angle other than cultivation purpose. The
redistribution of land becomes a necessity often for development and
manufacturing purposes too. This necessitates a proper land policy, which
gives due importance to nature, development and inclusion.
Deeper structural reforms will ensure that the exercise of land
redistribution actually becomes meaningful, enabling small farmers to turn
their plots into productive assets. When every citizen of the country
enjoys the benefits of ownership of land, it can lead to social and
economic upliftment.
Rural Unrest: Caste, Class and Gender
India is a country of vast inequalities. It is important to state it
because this fact is often ignored in domestic as well as in international
discussions on India's development experience. In the international
literature on economic inequality, India is typically identified as a place
with low or moderate levels of inequality. This is a myth that we must
reject at the outset. The state in India has mastered the art of producing
sophisticated statistics that are bogus, and this has contributed, not in a
small way, to creation of this myth.
In this article, I hope to be able to highlight three simple points. First,
that India is a country where inequality in contemporary times has been on
the rise and has taken incredible proportions. Second, the dividing lines
of inequality are drawn between classes, between castes, tribes and
communities, and between men and women. And finally, that these dividing
lines of class, caste and gender, drawn in thick long-lasting paint,
overlap with each other in no insignificant way. As a result, most deprived
are the ones that carry the triple burden: of being landless, of belonging
to a disadvantaged social group, and of being women.
I shall focus on inequalities in access to land, inequality of incomes, and
inequalities in access to employment. For discussing these, I shall use, in
addition to official statistics, illustrations and statistics from village
surveys I have participated in for about three decades in different States
of India. Between 2006 and 2012, V. K. Ramachandran and I jointly
coordinated the Project on Agrarian Relations in India, as part of which we
surveyed selected villages in one or two States every year. In all, the
Project covered nine States and 21 villages. These surveys provided
insights on agrarian conditions in different parts of India and have had a
fundamental influence on our understanding of the subject
I need to explain at the outset terms that I will use to refer to different
social groups. Although commonly used in India, these terms may be
unfamiliar to international readers. I will use the term dalit (which
roughly translates as oppressed) to refer to castes that have been
historically treated as untouchable in the Hindu caste system and are now
identified as Scheduled Castes in the Constitution of India for the
purposes of affirmative action. The term adivasi refers to persons
belonging to indigenous tribes, identified as Scheduled Tribes in the
Constitution of India. In addition, in most parts of rural India, Muslims
are an economically deprived and socially discriminated group (Sachar et.
al., 2006). I will refer to all social groups other than dalits,adivasis
and Muslims as « other castes ». These castes include caste Hindus as well
as, in a few of the study villages, upper castes from Jain and Sikh
religions.
2. Land
India has the largest number of land reform laws in any country. In most
States of India, land reform laws impose a ceiling on the amount of land –
between 12 to about 70 acres of land depending on the type of land and the
State – that a household can own as well as impose restrictions on
unsecured tenancy. These laws have, however, been implemented seriously
only in three States – West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura – that have had
governments led by the Left for prolonged periods[In West Bengal, a state
where the programme of land reforms implemented by the Left was among the
most ambitious land reforms that have been implemented anywhere in the
world in recent times, gains achieved through land reforms have come under
a serious threat after the Left parties lost in the 2009 elections in the
State.]. In rest of the States, land reform laws remain only on paper and
are routinely violated [Implementation of land reforms in most States was
poor mainly on account of lack of political will to do so. Deliberate
delays in enactment of land reform laws, loopholes in laws, and disinterest
on the part of political, executive and judicial authorities were the main
reasons behind lack of serious implementation of land reform laws in most
States (see Appu, 1996).]. However, because of existence of these laws in
the statute books, ceiling surplus land and incidence of unsecured tenancy
are concealed almost entirely in the official surveys and land records. A
compilation of ingenuous ways with which this in done could be a subject of
an incredibly interesting book.
For various reasons, among which the most important is suppression of
information on actual land ownership and tenancy by large landowners,
official statistics on land ownership and operation in rural India are
extremely poor. They underestimate landlessness, and omit, almost entirely,
existence of large of landholdings as well as any cultivation under
unsecured tenancy. Estimates of landlessness from official surveys can be
corrected through some careful adjustments. When this is done, even the
official statistics show that over 40 per cent of rural households in India
do not own or operate any agricultural land (Rawal, 2008, 2013). Most of
these households depend on on-farm and off-farm manual wage labour.
In contrast, on incidence of large land holdings and on incidence of
tenancy, there are no reliable national statistics. Lack of reliable
information on these two aspects has often been misinterpreted to make two
claims that are false and must be rejected.
The first claim is that, with demographic changes, landholdings have been
subdivided to such an extent that there are no large landowners in rural
India today.
In villages that we surveyed across eight States of India between 2005 and
2012, the largest landowners had between 33 and 450 acres of land. Three of
our study villages had landowners with more than 150 acres of land each. In
only two villages – both in the State of West Bengal, a state where large-
scale land reforms were implemented by a Left government – we did not find
any large landowners. In every village other than these two villages in
West Bengal, there were households that had considerably more land than the
statutory ceiling on land.
The second claim that is often made but is false is that the incidence of
tenancy – in particular, landless sharecroppers cultivating land owned by
large landowners – has declined to insignificant levels. And this is
explained on account of the previous point I made, that since there are no
large landowners, those who own land, all cultivate it themselves. Few
observations about agrarian conditions in contemporary India could be
farther from reality than these. The real explanation is that, since there
are laws against unsecured tenancy, large landowners who lease out land to
sharecroppers, and under their instructions, the sharecroppers, do not
register sharecropping in official records or surveys.
In reality, incidence of unsecured tenancy is substantial, and that such
tenancy contracts are completely unregulated and extremely oppressive. In
eleven of the villages that we studied between 2005 and 2010, on average
about 20 per cent of the operational holding of households was cultivated
under tenancy. Let me give you a few illustrations from some of these
villages. In Ananthavaram, a village in coastal Andhra Pradesh, 65 per cent
cultivators were tenants, all cultivating land leased from other landowners
in the village under informal contracts, and they paid up to 85 per cent of
the produce in the main rice paddy crop they cultivated as rent
(Ramachandran et. al., 2010). In Harevli, a village in the northern State
of Uttar Pradesh, about 26.9 per cent of land was cultivated under informal
tenancy contracts sometime during the years. Sharecroppers who cultivated
paddy rice in the wet season had to provide unpaid labour services to
landowners for obtaining land to cultivate (Rawal, 2009). In Birdhana, a
village in Haryana, sharecropper-cum-farm servants called siris got only a
tiny part of the produce (between one fifth and one twelfth) from the land
they cultivated, they were kept under bondage, often physically confined,
and subjected to worst forms of violence, sexual assault and abuse (Rawal,
2006).
A special feature of land relations in India is that persons belonging to
untouchable castes (henceforth referred to as dalit, meaning oppressed,
castes) have historically been denied a right to own land under the Hindu
customary law. Although illegal under the constitution, discrimination in
land markets against dalits and other backward social groups continue to be
widespread. Official statistics as well as data from all village surveys
show a continued disparity in ownership of land between dalits and caste
Hindus. To give a few illustrations: In Ananthavaram (coastal Andhra
Pradesh), 24 per cent of dalit households owned some agricultural land
while among caste Hindus, this proportion was 58 per cent. In Gulabewala
(Rajasthan), only 3 per cent of dalit households owned some agricultural
land while, among Jat Sikh households, this proportion was 85 per cent. In
Warwat Khanderao, 58 per cent of dalit households owned some agricultural
land, while among caste Hindus, this proportion was 78 per cent (Bakshi,
2018; Ramachandran and Swaminathan). This disparity is seen in almost every
village. I would like to specially point to writings of Sukhdeo Thorat on
the issue of origins and continuation of caste discrimination in various
aspects of economic life in India (see, for example, Thorat, 2009; Thorat
and Neuman, 2012).
Finally, other than a few exceptions, land is owned, controlled and
inherited by men (see, for example,Agarwal, 1988, 1994; Rao, 2008; Rao and
Rürup, 1997). It is only in states that have had Left-led governments that
a serious attempt has been made to use land redistribution programmes to
give land titles in name of women, individually or jointly with their
husbands.
Land continues to be the most important source of economic and political
power in rural India. Economic inequalities are rooted in ownership and
control over land. Landlords, whose character varies considerably across
the country, also continue to be the bulwork of State power in the
countryside. They mobilise votes, control village-level public institutions
(for example,panchayats, cooperatives, schools, libraries), are often the
first point of contact in implementation of state programmes (and, of
course, corner a disproportionate share of benefits from them) and often
continue to hold quasi-judicial powers in the village.
3. Income
There are no official statistics on incomes in India. For good statistical
reasons, official measurement of poverty in India has been based on data on
consumption rather than on incomes. However, this has been problematic from
the perspective of studying inequality since the same statistics are often
used to talk about income inequalities. Since higher incomes are associated
with a greater savings ratio, consumption inequality is expected to be
considerably lower than income inequality.
Estimating household incomes in peasant economies is not easy. Since
household-based self-employment or informal wage employment are the most
important sources of income in such economies, most households do not have
any records of either their incomes or expenses they incur in their owned
enterprises (including their farms). Given that a large part of what these
households produce is self-consumed, and a large part of what they use in
production is self-produced in turn, accounting of their incomes is a
challenging task. The most careful attempt at developing a consistent
framework for accounting of incomes and estimating them was done as part of
the Project on Agrarian Relations in India.
In a paper that used data from eight of our survey villages, we showed that
top ten per cent households accounted for over 54 per cent of income in
these villages, while bottom half of the households accounted for only 11
per cent of the income. For these villages together, the Gini coefficient,
a ratio that rises from 0 to 1 as inequality rises, was 0.59 (Swaminathan
and Rawal, 2011). This compares with the worst national-level Gini
coefficients that we can find for any country in the world. Given that
these are just a few villages, and we are not taking into account rural
urban disparities, points to the likelihood that we are talking of the
highest levels of inequality that exist anywhere.
A vast majority of households in rural India have dismal levels of incomes.
A comparative study of income from ten villages showed that the median
level of income varied between $0.28 per capita per day and $0.95 per
capita per day. Average income of poorest twenty households varied between
$-0.12 per capita per day (that is, they had negative incomes) and $0.26
per capita per day. Incomes from agriculture were particularly meagre for a
vast majority of peasants. With exception of only one village, in every
village we studied, a substantial proportion (between 5 and 42 per cent,
looking at nine of these villages) of cultivators actually incurred a loss
in agriculture in the survey year.
In contrast, the topmost households in almost every village had substantial
incomes. In nine of the villages we studied, the highest income varied from
about $9 per capita per day to a whopping $97 per capita per day.
Inequality of income is associated with stark disparities in incomes of
different classes and castes. In every village that we surveyed, landlords,
big capitalist farmers and rich peasants had the highest incomes while poor
peasants and hired manual workers had the lowest. In every village,
dalit, adivasi and Muslim households have substantially lower incomes than
caste Hindu households (Swaminathan and Rawal, 2014).
Let me illustrate this using examples from some of the villages we have
studied. In Ananthavaram (Andhra Pradesh, 2005-06), average annual income
was Rs. 30690 for dalit households, Rs. 17728 for Muslim households and Rs.
93727 for caste Hindu households. In Harevli (Western Uttar Pradesh, 2005-
06), average annual income was Rs. 27540 for dalit households, Rs. 34251
for Muslim households and Rs. 109557 for caste Hindu households
\(Ramachandran et. al., 2010)[Between 2006 and 2009, exchange rate was
approximately Rs. 45 to one US dollar.]. Similar disparities are seen in
every village that we have surveyed.
A class-wise analysis for Gulabewala (Rajasthan, 2007-08) shows that
average annual income of a hired manual worker household was Rs. 26059
while that of the richest class, the Big capitalist farmers, was over Rs. 2
million. In Rewasi (Rajasthan, 2009-10) average annual income of hired
manual workers was Rs. 74027 and average income of the poorest class of
hired manual workers was Rs. 76990 while average annual income landlords
and rural rich households was Rs. 809273 (Rawal and Ramachandran, 2013).
Similar disparities are seen in every village that we surveyed between 2005
and 2012.
4. Employment
Income disparities arise from disparities in access to land and other forms
of productive capital, and disparities in access to different sources of
non-agricultural employment. Landlords and capitalist farmers belonging to
« other castes » not only have higher and more productive land, they also
own non-agricultural businesses and capture formal-sector salaried
employment. On the other hand, casual manual wage labour is the main source
of non-agricultural income fordalits, adivasis and Muslims.
Segmentation in the labour market – between those who are able to corner
lucrative salaried employment in the organised sector (including government
jobs) and those who can only find work in manual jobs in the unorganised
sector (usually casual, and both on-farm and off-farm) – is an important
source of economic disparities. Wages for casual manual labour are low, and
typically below even the statutory minimum wages (Jose, 2013; Usami, 2011).
Rural workers dependent on casual manual employment face massive
underemployment (Dhar, 2013;Rawal, 2006).
In casual labour market, the most important line that divides access to
employment is of gender. An average male worker receives substantially
higher days of employment and substantially higher wages than an average
woman worker.
For example, in Ananthavaram (Andhra Pradesh, 2005-06), an average male
hired worker worked for 106 days while an average female hired worker
worked for only 65 days. In Rewasi (Rajasthan, 2009-10), an average male
hired worker worked for 105 days while an average female hired worker
worked for 73 days (Dhar, 2013). Male workers find greater employment in
non-agriculture casual labour, most of which is located outside the
village, while women workers, for most of whom mobility is restricted
within the village, work primarily in agriculture. This is the most
important factor that accounts for disparity between levels of employment
and earnings of men and women wage workers in rural India.
Wages in casual labour market vary by the task for which workers are hired.
Agricultural tasks for which women workers are hired have lower wages than
tasks for which male workers are hired. It is also not uncommon to pay a
lower wage for a woman worker than a man for the same task. For example, in
Ananthavaram (Andhra Pradesh, 2005-06), daily wage for weeding in paddy
fields was Rs. 30-35 for women workers but Rs. 50-70 for men workers
(Ramachandran et. al., 2010). In every village we studied, average daily
earning in agriculture was lower for women than for men. In seven out of
eleven of our study villages, average daily wage in agriculture for women
was less than 70 per cent of the corresponding average for men.
An important change that has taken place in the agricultural wage labour
markets over the last twenty years is the shift from time-rated work to
casual piece-rated work. This is particularly the case in tasks where women
workers are hired. Tasks such as land preparation, sowing and
transplanting, weeding, application of plant protection chemicals,
harvesting, picking and threshing are increasingly done on piece-rates.
Shift from time-rates to piece-rates has been facilitated by increasing
mechanisation, which makes quality of work primarily machine dependent
rather than dependent on quality of the work done by workers. The shift to
piece-rates breaks the solidarity among workers, fragments human labour and
helps keep wages under check.
There are two kinds of tasks where piece-rated work is particularly
advantageous to employers. In tasks like cotton picking, where work is
easily fragmented and payments measured on the basis of picking done by a
worker, it helps mobilise women workers who, given their domestic and other
responsibilities, cannot work full time. Given that there is a vast surplus
reserve army of such labour, piece-rates provide the flexibility to tap it
at minimal cost. Women can work for a few hours every day, combining it
with their domestic work, and be paid for the amount of picking that they
do. And since this is an « additional income » of the family, being brought
in by a member not considered a full-time worker, even low payments are
acceptable. Secondly, in tasks where working-age men are employed under
piece-rated contracts overwork, additional unpaid labour of elderly, women
and children from their families is deployed to finish the work. In such
cases, capacity to mobilise such unpaid labour is the most critical
qualification for a male worker to obtain such employment (Rawal, 2006).
5. Neo-liberal Globalisation and Rising Economic Disparities
India progressively adopted policies of liberalisation and globalisation
from 1991. In rural India, the period since 1991 has been associated with a
progressive decline in state support in the form of investment, credit,
subsidies and extension. In addition, international trade was liberalised
considerably after India joined WTO in 1995.
A number of scholars have discussed the impact of these policies on the
rural economy. Given the large number of issues involved, I will not
discuss these issues in any detail. However, by way of concluding this
discussion, I would like to briefly discuss two specific questions.
What has been the impact of policies of liberalisation and
globalisation on economic disparities?
and
What lessons does this hold for the movements that are opposed to neo-
liberal globalisation?
Limited official statistics that are available on rural India show that
there has been a distinct and significant rise in inequality in access to
agricultural land, in ownership of assets and in consumption expenditure of
rural households during the period of economic reforms (Jayadev et. al.,
2007; Mahendra Dev and Ravi, 2007; Rawal, 2008, 2013, 2014;Saha, 2010). In
all these aspects of economic life, disparities across caste, class and
gender have widened.
There are two kinds of political-economy processes that have contributed to
rising disparities in rural India.
First, withdrawal of state support to agriculture and rural economy is
selective, and disproportionately affects the poor. The balance
between interests of dominant agrarian classes and the neoliberal
agenda is struck by maintaining (and sometimes even strengthening)
support to these dominant rural classes while cutting back protection
provided to rural poor. Contraction of formal-sector credit provided
to agriculture is associated with increasing inequality in
disbursement of credit, with a larger share of credit going to big
farmers (Chavan, 2007; Ramachandran and Swaminathan, 2005;Ramakumar
and Chavan, 2007). Overall levels of state support in terms of
provision of subsidised inputs, machinery and technical knowhow have
declined. But of what remains, these services are grabbed even more by
the landlords and big capitalist farmers, while poorer sections of the
peasantry are increasingly marginalised. Liberalisation of rural
markets – in particular, declining state intervention in pricing of
fertilisers and diesel – have affected resource poor farmers
particularly dearly. Price support and public procurement are not only
provided selectively to politically dominant agrarian classes, in
years when government accumulates large stocks of foodgrain, they even
serve to depress prices in the open market where poorer sections of
the peasantry are forced to sell their produce. As a result of
disproportionate access to state support and their dominant control on
land and other resources (like irrigation water), dominant rural
classes are able to get substantial incomes from agriculture even when
agricultural incomes of most peasants have plummeted.
Secondly, economic liberalisation has opened opportunities for the
rich in the urban economy, and rural rich have taken advantages of
them. Over the last two decades, landlords and big capitalist farmers
have created new bases in urban economy, with parts of their families
migrating to urban areas and setting up businesses there. Building on
their rural land base, accumulated capital in various forms, and
political power, they have entered into businesses like civil
contracts, construction, real estate, transport and agricultural
trade. Usurious moneylending by landlords and other rural rich has
expanded to fill the vacuum left by withdrawal of social and
development banking.
The evidence from rural India does not support the thesis that neo-liberal
globalisation uniformly dispossesses peasantry in less-developed economies.
In addition to creating a more unequal global world order, neo-liberal
globalisation also sharpens economic contradictions within less-developed
economies. The struggle against neo-liberal globalisation in less developed
countries has to take this into account and must, thus, be combined with a
struggle against all forms of exploitation, including landlordism, caste
discrimination and gender discrimination of the kind that we see in rural
India today. Unless these struggles are combined in less developed
countries, anti-globalisation movements run the risk of being subverted
under the influence of landlords and domestic bourgeoisie, whose class-
interests are not necessarily in contradiction with the forces that these
movements aim to struggle against.
Bureaucracy
In developing countries majority of the people live in rural areas. As such
any attempt at bringing overall development should rightly lay greater
emphasis on rural development which is sought to be brought about through
planning.
The governments in these countries are facing the problem of initiating and
accelerating the pace of development to enhance the standard of living of
the people.
The task of rural development and modernisation in developing nations is
not possible without a well-organised and effective bureaucracy. Interest
in bureaucracy and its relation to democracy predates the advent of
sociology as a discipline.
Development is a complex and continuous process with no pot of gold at the
enjd of rainbow. It manifests itself in improved quality of life, cultural
regenration, social homogenisation and cohesion, political awareness and
the stabilisation and consolidation of participatory political
institutions. Development therefore is more than economic instituions.
Development there fore is more than economic development; it implies a
change in individual and group values and norms and is essentially a
dynamic process seeking total societal transformation to effect all round,
balanced, upward change.
Indian the Third World
In third world countries development assumes critical salience. The
concept is generally examined in the context of poverty, unemployment,
inequality and exploitation. Developing countries suffer from the 'debt
trap because of the vicious circles of poverty. To achieve a breakthrough
we need a critical minimum effort or may be given a big thrust which can
stimulate wide raning economic development in the long run.
he present bureaucracy in these less developed nations has emerged from the
British colonial system. After attaining political independence the scope
of functions of government and bureaucracy have undergone a fundamental
change.
The governments in these countries have launched massive programmes of
rural development with a view to liberating the millions from squalor,
disease, illiteracy, ignorance, unemployment, poverty etc.
But it has been observed that the ability of bureaucratic system to carry
out planned programme of socioeconomic development has been limited, partly
due to lack of commitment to the ultimate goals of society and partly due
to its inability to mobilize enough public support for development
programmes.
In India the task of development was initiated with community development
programme in fifties, then in sixties the area development programme was
launched, in seventies integrated rural development programme became
popular and the latest emphasis now on the individual development programme
realized to uplift the rural poorest from the level of poverty to better
living.
Thus the bureaucratic function in India and other developing countries are
performed by a variety of institutions. Bureaucracy has also been
criticized as urban oriented and elitist in nature having failed to have
adjusted to the need of rural area where majority of the people live.
The changing role of Indian bureaucracy and developing nations is the major
issue of our times, commenting on the role T.N. Chaturvedi, himself a
distinguished member of the IAS says; "The civil service has to undergo
radical structural, procedural and attitudinal changes if it has to serve
as an effective instrument of change and progress in a developing society.
The civil service has to cultivate much wider social awareness and
responsiveness as well as social base apart from the traditional of
integrity, functional efficiency and a sense of fair play and impartiality.
To remove the problems of rural development administration one has to
reform the entire structure of the government's machinery which comes into
direct contact with the public. A purposeful administrative reform must
proceed from the lowest rung of the administrative hierarchy. Recruitment
procedures must be radically changed to facilitate the lateral entries of
more broadly oriented new blood from other sectors of the society.
It is argued that it would be desirable to create new structure to perform
new functions of the administrative system. Structural changes need to be
supported by attitudinal changes. There appears to be a strong need for
attitudinal training of bureaucrats. C.P Bhambri has observed that in the
Indian context there is a dissonance between the orientation and the
attitudes of the higher civil service and the national goals, planning,
equality, socialism, social justice and democracy.
The quality of an administrative system depends primarily upon the quality
of its personnel. Bureaucratic system has to be much more open and
continuously subject to revision and modification which to a large extent
disturb the Weberian Model. Greater emphasis has to be placed on the human
relation approach. If the attitudes and beliefs system of the
administrators is not in line with the goals of administration, no
effective result can be expected.
Therefore, the civil servant today has to keep himself abreast of all the
prevailing trends in social life, the capacity to see them against the
proper background, a sympathetic understanding of contemporary tendencies
and of the needs and aspirations of men, the knowledge that can place facts
in their true relations.
Higher civil servants must have wide outlook, power and quickness in
comprehension, the gift of dealing with people, and the readiness to take
the initiative and to assume responsibility. The coming decades are in no
way going to be peaceful and thrust of political, economic and social
forces are likely to throw up new tensions and problems.
In the new environment of turbulence and relative uncertainty, we have to
reorient and refashion bureaucracy so that it may cope with requirements of
environmental changes. The journey involved in a country's progress from a
backward poverty-stricken subsistence economy to a growing fully fledged
development of resources and technical positions, in which technical
decisions are made must be held by men with specific and opposite training
and the rest of the administrative structure must rely upon those men for
solutions to specific problems.
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