The new

20-point programme :
Pulses and
oilseeds

The Sixlh Plan aillls

ill

producing

14.5

million towles of pulses Gnd..13 mil/ion

lonnes of oilseeds by 1984-85. Several
new programmes
101'

hare

helping lal'lIIel's

beeH initiated
10

achieve

Ihese

targets. Since a large area under both

pulses

GHd oilseed~.

will 'be essential

is

wlirrigated,

to insulate

from risks through belief water

it

farmers
COllser~

vation ai,d plant proteelion. .

All-out efforts are being

undertaken to increase
'~utput of pulses.

i
Point No.2:

Make special efforts to increaseproduction

vegetable

oilseec1s

of

pul8es anti

Vol. xXx

Editorial

No. 12
Marcb 16, .i982
Phalg-una 25, 1903

~rHE

on which rural life based on agri-

TRADITIONS

the same in all pre-

culture -rests nre every'where

(India's Journal of rural development)

industrial

societies. But in the pattern

of India"s rural

fif'2, another principle was' interwoven ;hich can be

called discipline :derived from the concept of monil
order. . The sel).se of, right or.,:wro.ng';just: ~( unjiI~t~'
emanating' froril'it' perrileatedevery; ,sphere of iife" "
and was the 'animati~g,' and" binding f~rce' of: ~ll ;~~',
INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSIONS IN ~",' peets for sodal existence.
.'~pire -.~fo.utw~f(( div-">
AGRICULTURAL PLANNING
ersit), and het~rogeneity, this concept -of' ~oral ~rde~.'
P. C, Joshi
proyidcd an ~stonishing inner u~nity.and .. JOhc~l.9ri'..:to<
Indian rural life in' all parls'of India.; WIjat happens?
.'
to ~his' concept under the strc~ss- of _new forces'~'-~6f,1'
SFDA AND THE WAY IT WORKS

CONTENTS

'In

NoorbashaAbdul

-,

mc!=hanical" and' commercial

'.

'

, '.

-,

"

civiJisati~J1 is' something.

,., ~

to be watched', a phenomenon thrown up by, ji;duc:

t10n of technology into agr!cu]turc. _. . _
.~.

1+

'c'''-

HOW MUCH DAMAGE THE FLOOnSDO

D.Tripathy

16

iMPROVING

TRIBAL AGRICULTURE

A, Sudharshan Reddy and P. Ramaiah,

20

THEY

-'- ..

-'

"'~',!.'.~,!

Indian
agriculture
is .'as , old'. as..,.earih"ilsc]f'.,th'e'vi;ry';""
"
,- '~
"",' __' . ..
;' "
.- _" '.-''t'' - . '~, .
'closenhttirc-.of
soCial
ihtertwinin!:!
has, ,. ' been
the classic ..: .
'
'.,..
.'.
'..'
_.... ~
,.c
feature 'of 'our"rural society and conYiiiucd,to be so till '
Independ.cnce and a ,shorhvhile af!er, ", ,With the ,dawn
'-.6f~freedoni. a~d'con;equcnt~mphasis'.on.soqaI
~q~l.~l!ty
'wiihmanifold :eippliasis onbailisliing, niralp.ovetly;'old. :
- valu:es' a~~'
-'gi"i:ng: plac~ l1cw. equafions--:--~m~il~t)l]g
~.~

--

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SHOW THE WAY c,,

froA, sp"~ad bfed*~tion,~~itiLandpo]jtitar~wai2rr~~s

,

"

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_ _

..',_.

RATNAJUNEJA

_ c'

N. N. SHARMA'

SUB-EDITOR
PARAMJEET~G.

SINGH -

CO~VER
M. M. PARMAR

Enquiries regarding SubscriptioIis,

Xgencics, etc.,

".'

"

(:.

~~ ,-, ,

log.y:;nd bc-tt~r_,;~rops.' . Agr_~fi_a~. r~f9~Jll~~:a:s-.:\V~j.la~'~,.~

agricultuial.'plarining.ttl

the-"fbrmative, yeats', 6f lndep~n':' '~

newly

dent India:we;e maiked.by~this'

ASSTT. EDITOR

. .:

frbm, progressive ~use.'.Df_tech~,'?~ ~.'

and: tiffiuence. coming

EDITOR

'.

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'

acquirect-a,\'l{'a:re:::-.-:
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Patiala Honse. New Dc'lhi-liOOO!

Tel:

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387983

Editorial' Office: Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi.HOOOi

, Telephones: 384888 & 382406
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"

SINGLE CO~~ ,: ~~.I

SUBSCRIPTION FOR QNEYEAi,':Rs,
20'

.'.
,',

','

into one~~
oWP::t_nd -.C;~tc.h~ng
.lIP' f.asCprijn:l:pt~v~d
...~gri~~~:.';'
niltiire, ~idcd'by appiication' of latesttechnology,.Pro:,:
'

fcssbtMalJaial10bis play~davery :crucialr~1~~il1,fQ;",

~
inulilting policy on 'agricultural 'planning:,oUhe 'a; he '; ,
belicv"ed'tbai oniymodcrn' technology haa the'potential':
of 'c~niribu;ing 'to the 'h~!tial re4udion~~'
e,adicalion Qf,poverty,inInditi.'~
' ' ,', c.: ""C"

ai'_d~.'.e~e'ni~al'
.:
::

Business Manager, Publications' nlVi\ion",

('

'"

ness. of PQlitica~ ~!gh~s anq- c~:ms<;iOl~s!1eSS,'q.f. ,co.~ing/,

'In this lisue we 'carry"a:.ver)','leained paper ;on' the"

Mahalanobis apptoach, to ag-ri.culturalplanning by,Prof.
P. C. Joshi WilD presented 'it at the, Golden, Jubile~_
" CeJebratjonsof'th~ I~diin St';t;sltcaiIn~iiiJte: Dlcptta, ~re <su~~~
.~u~"reade'rs"will.,appn~ciate_
.'
..... '.our... 'sharing.it
- .. . ~
; :wjtl1,th~l1).t~, o~rll}utual:fdyantage .

I\Y~'

.;.

'.'

'

'.;'

I
\~

, Reflections on the Mahalanobis approach

Institutional dimensions in
agriculturalvlanning
P. C. JOSHI
-Director~InStitute of Economic Growth, Del~

dustriaiisation vs. agricultural development; the role

.
'
A

of state

th~ basic issues of agricultural

, planning in India must take into account the
questions formulated by Mahalanobis anjl his generaNY DiSCUSSION

tiori" of

OF

scholars' .as

relevant

for

Jndia's economic

transition and the answers given' by 'them to these

questions. It should also be pertinent t9 ask in the
light of actual experience whether the questions raised
are still relevant" whether the answers provided by
'them helped to solve.these problems or in some cases
served to create more difficnlt problems for the suc,ceeding generations. Of very' great' relevancc today
also is to explore'and evalnate the approach underlying the selection of qnestions by Mahalanbbis ,and
his perception of the linkages between the processes
of economic transformation on the one hand and of
the' scientific and technological revolution, the sociocultural and political revolution on the 'other; The
greatest tribute that the present generation could pay
to Mahalanobis is to, raise :more relevant questions
and to present a more satisfactory framework for
understanding the inter-relation and inter-action of
processes in the economic and,the non-economic sphe_ res in the light of actual experience of Indian planning. It should be possible also to derive benefit from
the experience available from other under-developed
countries faced by.fnndamentally similar problems.
,

II

I"V!ith

OF. NOTE that we are' still grappling

many vital questionS which were raised 'by
Mahalanobis and' other scholars,; priority to lll~
T IS WORTHY

Address at the Gold~~Jubile~ Conference"on .Re ....

iew ~fthe
Indian Planning Process', held at Indian Statistical Institute,
Ca,kutta. (December 3.0, 1981)

VS.

non-st.ate. agencies as promoters-of

growth;

the relativejmpor[ance of public vs. private sector and

large vs. small-scale industries in industrial planning;
the importance of institutional vs. technocratic approach ,in agricultural planning; the role of large vs.
small or individualistic vs.cooperative farining in dynamic agriculture; the role of science, technology and
economic stimuli on the one hand and of ideology,
structural reforms and social mobilisation on the other _
in providing the "big push" [0 economic growth-imd
transformation. These specific questions are -related
to the more, fundamental and wider questions of explaining and understanding the relation of [he economic
and, the non-economic in the context of evolving, an
effecti~e strategy.for accelerafed economic growth. I
recall the debate on these questions at the lSI during
1955-56 in which some of the best economic scientists
from' India and abroad participated. It) retrospee:t,
certain aspect of that debate strike me as notewor-,
thy.
I recall the great intellectual humility, seriousness
cautiousness with which eminent economic thinkers
se~med' to approach the question of planning and
growth in India. Many of us young radicals having'
very .limited information, equipment and knowledge
were impatiept to rush into sweeping generilisations
and instant solutions. The pundits of economic science
on the other hand were laying emphasis all the time
in looking at the situation from many angles for evolvinga proper approach. "They seemed to give .first
priority to ,formulate pertinent questions and to
collect
.
reliable information and data both at the macro
and ~icio levels.', They raised issues relating to the
~

,L

>_."

KURUKSHETRA March 16, 1982

li'tethod of enquIry, asking ait the tlm~ how far. the

r;ceived doctrine aIld theory were adequate for under,tanding the complex nature of the problem. of underdevelopment in India.
ROCEEDlNGinthis cautious manner the thought proPcesses
of economic scientists of divergent ideological
persuasions seemed to me to be converging on abroadly common orientation and direction both in regard
to questions of approach and diagnosis. Many on the
Indian side. were impatient for sophisticated

exercises

in model building and in quantification. But most of

the eminent mathematic,,1 economists and econometricians collected .at the lSI seemed to discourage this
craze for technical virtuosity. It was not only Paul
Baran who often repeated Bernal's observation: "What
social science needs is less use of elaborate techniques
and more courage tc>,tackle rather than dodge the central "issues." Many others warned against such mechanical transfer of social science technology. They
gave priority to the collection of reliable primary data,
if necessary, though direct participation in fieH work
specially in regard to Indian agriculture. They also emphasised the. importance of the institutional approach
for predominantly agrarian economies and societies. In
fact, most economic scientists agreed that the planning
and growth process faced the toughest challenge in the
field of agriculture where the economic system was insufficiently differentiated from the social, political, cultural systems. In such .a situation narrow economic
expertise would not suffice. An economist would h'ave
to become his oWn sociologist; political scientist, social

psychologist, geographer and historian in order to have

an adequate understandihg of the rural problems. Hc
would have to give up his smug.sense of self-sufficiency
and draw abundantly from other disciplines. It must
be put on record that Mahalanobis was himself one of
tile most vigorous and clear-headed

articulates of thisl

broad~based approach and was responsible for building up interdisciplinary departments and teams of research workers at the lSI.
Such an open-minded approach generated a freshness of ideas and insights which. in retrospect seems to
stand in marked contrast to the fixed intellectualpostures and positions often adopted by many of us on the
radical side. I recall that on the question whether to
assign priority to industry or agriculture in economic

planning, Lange, Kuznets, Myrdal or Mahalanobis,

each one of them approached the problem not in an
either-or fashion. They seemed to view agricultural
growth and industrial growth as inter-related,
interdependent and inter-acting. aspects .of a. single but protracted process of .tmnsformation of a backward economy,
view which at o;'ce represented a sharp demarcntion from\Jotli ideologies ..of .Agricnltural and
Industrial Fund.ame.nt~lism:

,KURUKSHETRA March 16, 1982

The Mahalal'lobis approach

T IS IN THE CONTEXTOF this, debate that' Qsoar
,
Lange made his famous observation"
"I define
an industrially developed conntry as one which has a
highly. developed agriculture", which gave full legiti- .
macy to the importance of agriculture in .the growth
process. Kuznets similarly questioned the naive view
that economic growth was just.a matter of easy trausfer of labour from "backward agriculture" to "progressive industry." He stressed that the agricultural
revolution involving marked changes of both in technology and form of organisation of agricultnre was an
indispensahlebase
for industrialisation.
Agriculture
thus was as much beneficiary from industrialisation. as
industry was from growth of agriculture .. Mahalanobis
took pains to explain that his Second Plan Frame was
not merely a plan. of setting up basic industries but a
.plan of 'industrialisation of agriculture'. His remarks
on the' relationship of industry and agriculture are
wort!, quoting:

HThe wider question of emphasis on agriculture

in preference

to industry,~which is still haunting Indian planning, also de~

sen'es consideration. ...
To bring about a full industrialisa.
tion of agriculture in underdeyeloped countries would take,
possibly, two generations or a period of forty to fifty years,
that is, "would' require a much longer period of time than that
required' for establishing the basic industries.
An agricultural
surplus is indispensable. for industrial progress.
An increase
of industria.l inputs is equally indispensable for agr!cultural

growth. It is simply not -poss;ble,in theory and practice, to

gh"e more emphasis on agriculture than on industry. Agriculture and industry must admnce together, one step forward of
one, and the next step forward of the other."
(S:mklzya,
Series V, Vol. 31, Parts 3 and 4, December 1969).

Mahalanobis-it
must be said again, since he has
been the prineipal target of attack from ideologies of
Agricultural Fundamentalism-patiently
and forCefnlly
reasoned out the inter-dependence of growth of agriculture and industry. In other words, he argued how
a low level of industrialisation meant denying agricnlture the wherewithals and impulses for growth :ind
transformation;
and similarly a stagnant agriculture
meant denying industry the yalue and commodity surpluses on the one hand and the internal market on the
. other without which industrialisation would not gather
momentum. . Even if one started with a plan for agriculture, one would be led inexorably by the inherent
logic of agricultural growth in. the direction of setting
up modern industries;. and even if one started with an
industrial plan; one would be led by the very logic of
industrial planning towards identifying a low level of
agricultural output as the biggest constraint on industrial growth. Mahalanobis therefore was high1y conscious of the importance of creating what he called the
"industrial infrastructure of agriculture." Havirig both
a pragmatic consideration and a .long-term vision he.
observed that "the interlocking

and r;ciprocal feeding

piss the lssue Of humin ~genis of economic translot'

mation and
to conceutrate entirely on non-human
agents (i.e. 011 science and technology).

bet\veenagricuI(ure
"and inctusiry, once it reaches a cri- .
tical l~vel, would be another turning point .in sells;]staining growth". (Ibid.)
Mahalanobis
approaches the problem of labour \is.
capital in a developing, counrty also not in an either-or
manner, but in an integrated manner. Instead of posing
the problem
in terins
of labour vs. capital, labourintensiv.e vs. capital-intensive techniques,
Mahalanobis
regarded exploring the areas where capital and labour
acted
as mutually
complementary
and reinforcing
factors as the foremost task of planners.
In his view,
labour would remain tied to low forms of employmcnt
for cver without being linked up with capital in grow-.
ingly remunerative- forms of econo.mic activity. Capital itself would operate 011 a narrow ccanemic base if
it was not used as an instrument of labour absorption
in a labour-surplus
country.
In his view, instead of
opposing growth of capital and acceleration of tcche
nological change on the ground that it displaced labour"
one should instead stress adapting capital' and technology to the requirements of labour surplus country.
In
other words, Mahalanohis
gave a high priority to
capital accumulation
and technological progress from
the point of view of broadening the base of economic
activity and consequently
of productive' utilisation of
surplus labour.
The very existence of surplus labour
in .Mahalanohis's
view callcd for capital accumulation

.WI-I

EN I RAISE. THE QUESTION

of human agents, I
have in mind first the issue of the landlords vs .
. tenants, large farmers vs. small peasant
producers,
which should be put in the centre of the discussion on
agricultural phm:ning. The concept of human agents
also encompasses (il a growth-oriented
political and
social leadership at all levels and specially at the village level; (ii) a ne\\' administration
and bureaucracy at the district, block and villagc levels; (iii) a
scientific and, technological elite sensitive to rural problems; and finally (iv) the dynamic elements among
. the peasants themselves spearheading
the process. of
rural regeneration
and reconstruction
in the widest
sen[;~. A' crucial step towards' creating
the human
agents of agricultural growth is land reforms which
emancipates
peasants from the stranglehold of the
parasitic classes. Nehru was very much aware of this
.crucial role of land reforms.
He observed:

"Land refonns IlayC a peculiar significance because without

them, there can be no radical improvement in producth'ity in
agriculture. But thc main object o(land reforms is a deeper
one. They are meant to break up the old class structure of a
society that is stagnant."

8:nd technical progress on a massive scale ~so as to

. widen vastly the scope for labour absorption.
Thus
Maralanobis
was. not in sympathy with those who saw
the possibilities of labour .absorption outside capital
accumulation
and technical change; and who saw in
'unlimited supplies' of surplus labour the substitutes
for capital or of sources of capital formation unrelated
to technical innovations ..of a labour-absorbing
clla:racter.

III

ROM
THE VANTAGE
POINT of today,
can
one
...
identify the weaknesses of the Mahalanobisapproach to. social change of agricultural planning
in
India? I present here sorne critical observations. They
are based partly on hind-sight and partly on the basis
of reflections on recollections of numerous encounters
and dialogues which some of us in the planning division and the RTS had with Mahalanobis during 195556. One gets an impression that Mahalanobis either
did not give sufficient weight to the .struCtural barriers
to agricultural growth; or even. if lle did not underestiinate the growth-retarding
role of the social structun~, he tended to ove.r-estimate th'e role of science and
technology as promoters of structural change and, consequ.ently, of economic growth.
It seems to me further
that Mahalanobis
seemed to bypass
the issue of
nature of production relations in agriculture required
in a lahour surplus country.
Hc seemed also to by-

Agents of economic transformation

Such as agrarian change ~an be effective if it is reinforced by a cultural revolution giving legitimacy to
productive values, a political revolution
shifting .the
pmver 'Qase to the pruducer classes and a technological revolution which supplies, the technical means of
increasiug the productivity of land and labour. This
view of cOlivergence of the 'triple revolution'
as a
condition of the release of productive forces in agri~
culture emerQ:es 'as a central lesson from the experience
of the agricl';iturally dynamic regions like Punjab and
Raryana,
The dynamism of the agricultural economy
..in these States presents a sharp contrast to the slow
"ro\~..th' o!' the
aorjcu1ture
in states. of Eastern'
India
e.
'
C
'
.
where the agricultural lag is closely related to the lag
in generating processes of political, social and technological change.
We shall come to this point again
later.
It niust be notcd that at a general level Mahalanobis
did take account of this linkage between a 'social re\'Olution' and an
'economic
transformation'.
To
quote:
"The indilstrial re\'olution in the western countries and Japan,
was the outcome of social transformation and the scientific
. revolution. In the USSR. and in China, rap.id adv:mceIilent of
science and technology and industrialisation started with a
social revolution. The scientific revolution, the social revolution
and the industrial revolution are three aspects of the process of
modernisation of every society. These three aspects may be

KURUKSHETRAMarch
"

16, 1982

distinguished but cannof be separated. The rate of economic

growth in ewr)" .country is determined both directly and iD~
directly by the rate of progress of science and technology;
directly through the utilisation of tbe results of research and
development, and indirectly through
ilL'ititutional changes
brought about by the increasing influence of the scientific out.
look and tradition...
The progress towards industdalisation
is therefore ljkely to be retarded until a radical transformation
. of the social structure takes place and science begins to grow
in underdeveloped countries." (Ibid. p. 448)
J

YET this general recognition of the role of 'social revolution'. does not get translated in the
thought process of Mahalanobis into any concrete idea
of promoting specific social classes or forces as agents
of growth and of countering the resistance ofaiher
social classes which obstruCt change and growth. His
writings evade any specific reference to land reforins
as an aspect' of the social revolution, even though he
rejects in categorical terms Myrdal's support to a capitalIst sector in agriculture. Moreover, in his very elaborate review of Myrdal's Asian Drama where one has
a rare exposition of his basic approach (Sankhya, Series
B, Vol. 31, Part 3 and 4, 1969), he does not seem to
view'with sympathy Myrdal's plea for a direct attack
on the key-points of the retrograde social structure
as a precondition of agricultural growth. In' fact, . he
seems to reaffirm faith in the efficacy of the indirect
method of promoting social change' through. introducing and reinforcing the impact of scien-c~ and technology. 'He emphasises the potentialities of modern
technology and other economic processes to act. as
. powerful agents of social change favourable to economic growth.

ND

Mahalanobis does not sliare . Myrdal's skepticism

about what he,calls the Marxis( view of the economic
factor acting. as an agent of change in values, social
institutions, and the power structure. He seems almost.

and the power structure in the countryside favouring

not the productive but the parasitic classes?
I am of the view that Mahalanobis evaded the issue.
of a revolutionary solution not because his heart did
not lie in this direction but because his head did not
see inuch scope for it under the balance of social and
political forces prevailing at that time. Mahalanobis
saw very. clearly that within the political party which
had become the ruling party the interest groups opposed to radical change exercised far greater influence
than the forces favouring a radiCal solution to the
land problem: He saw very dearly that .except in
some pockets of the country the radical parties and
groups were

":of planning, or rather of. implementation

March 16, 1982

into

two

classes, one of which may be classed the "concentrated

. sector" in which decisions can be made by a small
group of persons and can. be implemented by a small
group of Persons and the other which may be called
the "diffused" sector in .which the implementation
would' depend on the concurrence and participation
of a very large number, may be hundreds of millions
of person.s. A typical example in the "concentrated
sector" is establishing a million ton steel plants and in

'"implementing

KURUKSHEIRA

pro-

io r~fer to an art.icle by Maha-.

lariobls on Nehru In whIch he claSSIfied problems

I may also recall how to our plea for putting land

reforms in the cenire' of the strategy for accelerated
economic growth, Mahalanobis replied'", "You and
your radical colleagues. want a Chinese-style land reforms witllOut the five million' cadres of the Chi~ese
type to implement it."
Does it seem then that Mahalanobis was ambivalent
or to structural change?
Doe~ it
mean then that Jle was lukewarm to the idea of a
revolution in t1le educational pattern, social structU{~

ineffective as

T IS AL.'O PERTfNEN:

the udiffused

to land reforms

and, therefore,

I.

to present an alternative strategy of exposing the traditional social structure to the impact of modern science
and technology. He seems to suggest that these
would act as revolutionising or modernising forces in a
stagnant or slow-moving economy and society. In contrast to Myrdal's institutional approach this almost
sounds like giving in to
technocratic approach to
agricultural planning.'

weak

moters of' revolutionary change: He also saw clearly

that the .bureaucracy inherited from the colonial
period was indifferent if not hostile to radical change
and if it were made the instrument of implementing
a revoluticmary programme of rural transformation,.
what would fonow would be chaos rather than planned social change. It is in this background that
Mahalanobis seems to have thrown his weight behind
Nehru for a strategy of. gradual reforms than of radical change.

sector:-" organising.

village

coopera-

tives ... " According to Mahalanobis,

Nehru had
been generally more effective in decisions in planning
in the-"concentrated
sector" and not so much in
regard to the "diffused sector" (Mahalonobis 1959:
318:319) .
This confirms our assessment that Mahalanobis
did not find the Indian political leadership capable of
a radical rural transformation

. me as was i~plemented

program-

by the Chinese leadership.

In his review of Myrdal's Asian Drama, Mahalanobis recognises the need for a "big push" in order to
overcome- the resistence of vested interests and to ac-

celerate the pace of. change as was suggested by Myrdal

and C. E. Ayers in his The Theory .of Economic
Progress. BuLhaviryg\'a'greed to tl1e principle of a
"big push" Mahalanobis is not able to identify any
"human agent"

push".

as e-apable of providing

this "big.

He is again led towards reaffirming the role

7

of science and technology as supplying the "big push"

for social change. To quote:
"I agree
with both Myrdal and A}'crs that a big push is
necessary to move the society forward as a whole.
But what is
the mechanism of a "big push"?
It has to begin, like a,flame,
or a chain reaction and spread.
It -bas to be like the spear- .
head of a movement.
It must be big in the uncompromising
comprehensive of its attack on the authoritarian structure
institutions
giving, support to inequalities,
social
rigidities,
superstitions
and ritualistic
religious practices devoid
spiritual "aloes.
I wonder if a beginning can be made to liberate
science from the authoritarian control of civil servants an~also

of

of

of scientists, who occupy'seats of po\\'er, on the basis of different levels. of authority; to modernise the structure of administration to' suit present needs; to organise spearheads for social
and religious reforms. (Ibid., p. 454)

W-'

IV

E MUST now explore the implications ofthe Mahalanobis idea of deepening the input of scientific
knowledge and technology as change-promoting and
growth-accelerating agents in the lights of experiences
relating to Indian agriculture. The first point to note
is that, the potential of a given, stock of scientific
knowledge, can be realised in multiple forms.
The
type of technical .innovation based on the given stock
of knowledge and its utilisation is dependent on tlie
social framework and the power structure, It would
not be appropriate, therefore, to ireat technology as
an independent factor, independent of the social and
political framework within which it originates and is
exploited. It is more realistic to vi~w it as a dependent factor whieh is not neuiral between classes. that
is, it' is not equally accessible to heth the privileged
and the under-privileged classes.

Technology is not neutral

s

ARGUED BY T. J. Byres in a recent paper:

"Technology does not fall from heaven' and'
neither does it exist in a social and political vacuum.
It is used by specific classes and used to further class
interests" (Byres 1981:
416). In assessing the
role. of technology one must take into aCcount not
merely its abstract potentiality of benefitting all classes but in concrete terms its greater accessibility to the
dominant class/classes. ' One' can refer in this' context to the 'biological variety' of. technology which is
said to be labour-absorbing as against the 'mechanical
type .of technology' which is said to be labour-saving..
The' former)s regarded as neutral to siie and the
latter as biased towards the large size. But, as Byres
argues,. "the dichotomy between biological technology
and the mechanical technology in the real.circumstances o'f Indian agriculture is false....
The realities
of the' Indian countryside. are such that the two are
inextricably linked. The. supposed scale neutrality of
biochemical inventions is .a. 'inyth .. Given unequal

access to he 'biOChemical inputs themselves unequal

own resources, the ability of the dominant class to
secure favourable output .prices, subsidised inputs,
cheap credit, 'two characteristics of the biochemical
innov,ations'set up strong pressures towards' mechanisation. .. Thc first characteristic derives from the
complementarity that exists among the biochemical
inputs themselves, and in particular from the key role
of irrigation giving considerable stimulus to private,
power-driven tubewell irrigation. The second feature
(which favours tractorisation) is the requirement of
the new technology with its time-bound operation
and tighter crop rotation". (Byres 1981: 410411).
.Byres rightly emphasises that if for a large produccr the fuIl benefits of the use of biochemical in"
. puts cannot be secmed without the use of mechanical
technology, then it seems poirirIess to distinguish
between the divergent effects of the two types of technologies, regarding one as the mend of the labouring
classes and other as its enemy.
,
~.
HE ABOVE ANALYSIS substantiates the. point ,that
technological change operates within'the limits and
, constraints imposed by the class structure. It is thus
important to note that without prior or simultaneous
changes in the class structure, introduction of modem
agricultural technology tends, to accelerate the transition of agriculture in a 'capitalist' direction, along
.with . the socio-economic differentiation associated
with it. No doubt" the State agencies evolve separate programmes of taking new technology' to the
small and marginal farmers, of protecting interests ,of
labourers through the minimum wage, legislation and
of providing additional employment to landless labour
through "Food for Work'" and other schemes. If is
still to be judged whether these counterveiling forces
can effectively neutralise the. dominant tendency of
the emerging economic structure to promote relative
if not absolute impoverishment.
'

The very logic the Mahalanobis approach of relying on the technological factor without insisting on
changing the class structure thus strengthens the type
of institutional change (viz. growth.of agricultural
capitalism) which Myrdal supports but Mahalanobis
rejects on account of the grave "inequalities" which
capitalism in agri'culturecreates. and' the other "disadvantages"<resulting ITom jt~ Inueed, the observa'tions of Mahalanobis on the "disadvilntages" 'of
capitalist agriculture are very penetrating and in the
light of subsequent experience very prophetic:
. "Apart from social and psychological problems arising from
increase of inequality, there are disadvantages. in encouraging
a seleCtive _ growth of capitalist
agriculture.
Rich cultivators
in a country which is not self-sufficient
in foodgrains, - first,
would tend to hoard their grain in years of good crop out-tum,
and secondly,
would try to restrict the production
of foodgrains to maintain and increase prices by reducing the areas

KURUKSHETRA

March 16, 1982


sown. 'If higher and higher prices, of foodgrains h 1 V ~ t ~ .
offered as incentives, there may_be a spiral of inflation. In
consequence the agricultural surplus' may be reduced iii years
of goOd out~tum or may vanish in years-of shortfalls' as has
been' the experience in India.. How.'to increase agricultural
production without increasing the price of foodgrains, is'
perhaps the most difficult problem of fudian planning.",
(Mahalanobis, 1969: 444).

We are thus faced with a curious coutradiction and

a paradox arising from recent experie,!ce. On the
ene hand, as indicated by' Mahalanobis, modem
scientific knowledge and tec.hnologyhave the potential
ef contribnting as never befere ig human histery to
the initial' reduction and eventual eradication of the
poverty of teeming millions in countries like India in
a relatively short span ef time. On the other hand,
the actual utilisatien 'ef this scientific knowledge and
technology within a given .class structure and power
balance has in India. and elsewhere only served as a
mea~s of widening the gap between the haves and the
have-nets (ILO, 1977)'; . It ..is to the reselution. of
this contradiction that the present generation of social
scientist~ and political leaders have to address themselves. . It is clear, though it is not adequately appreciated by anti.growth ruralists, that the vast possibilities of. economic growth. and poverty eradication
epen up only by tapping the petential. of modem
scientific knowledge and technelogy. The censtraints
on the realisation of these vast. possibilities, however,
lie outside technology in the sphere ef dominant institutions and metivations. These constraints' can enly
be neutralised by a qnalitative change in these institutions and motivations. This change depends on
the concerted action of social forces who clearly perceive the'indivisibility of the processes of national
renewai and of emancipation of the 'poverty-stricken
masses. .Indeed, the working m.assesmust be seen
not asa dead-weight on the econOmy and society as
is the habit ef the ideologues of. privileged andprnpertied classes. They must be seen for . whar they
are, .the real producers of the 'wealth .ef natien.'. They
must be seen as vast reserves of untapped productive
energy which can achieve miracles, given an appropriaie institutional and motivatienal framework and
an appropriate technology.
~-

Most states in Category II are still undergoing. the.,

First'Stage of. Agricultural Transition characterised. by.
dissolutio;" of semi-feudal modes ef exploitation of
labour .power and. the initial phase ~f change in agricultural technolegy. Perhap's only s"me regions
within these states are on the threshold of reaching
the Se~dnd Stage. St~tes in Catej!,oryI .are, on .the
other hand, .almost close to th", Tl1:irdStage. of agricultu'ral tiansition~'having pa,ssed through the. Second
Stage characterised by crystallization of new productiou relations and widespread penetration of new
techn~logy resulting ij;,a dramatic release ef new pred~ctive forces in agricnlture. .The third stage of
Category I poses new. problems of .tapping the ec0nomic surplus generated during the s,""end stage in
the large farm .sector. This !",onomic surpl\J!ican be
utilised new if ir is vigerously tapped. and if it is not
allowed t~ be dissipated in nea-feudal formsef conspicuous consumption. or the .v~ious ferms of non~
prierity investments in trade, usury and """et formation unrelated to' diversification of the productien
system. New areas. ef productive investment lie
partly in extehsion ef the process of technological
change .to the peasant sector, partly in diversification
of the rural econemy and its transfermatien' intO' an
agrn-industrial economy so as to absorb landless
.labour and partly in progrannnes of health improvement and educatienal and. cultural development. Here
a serious effort. is. required: to . combine the Market
Rrinciple' ..ii.e. tile. instinct of' acquisitive",ess) which
has. so far been. the motive force of ecenomic change
with the Community Principle (i.e. the the idea ef
collective good). Wi!hout a conscious blending of
the twO'principles, the free play ef the economic motivation may cause and is in fact, beginning to' cause,
total disruptien of rural coriununity life and its eulturalimproverishment. . The Western experience as
recorded by Tawney and others shews how the individualistic road of economic advancement pursued .by
the. dominant group is a serious threat to the Meral
Order er the values of group in,terdependence, cooperation. .and
community. selidarity.
<.

T.'

HE.,HARDEST
PReBLEMsef agricult.ura1Planni.nga~d
rural reconstruction are, howev~};, awaltmg Identlfication and reselution in states of Category II.. T!}e
major theoretical' and !",actic!!lquestion' here is: Must
Need for institutional framework
- these states necessarily pass through Stage.II of AgriNTHIS ceNTExT of identifying the. constraints .on
cultural' Transition as did the States ef Category' II
.
economic growth, one must make a dlStmc~on
giving full scepe for the capitalistic spirit and _instibetween, say, the states in the North-West like Puntutions to' strike deep roots? . Must the problems of
jab and Haryana (Category 1) on the one hand and
the peasant sector and of the landless masses. be
those in the Eastern region like West Bengal, Bihar,
relegated to the background until the maturing. of the
Orissa Assam (Category II) en the other. These
capitali.t stage of evolutien? .
two c~tegories of 'states belong now to twO' qualitative' stages of economic evolution and the .strategy
It seems to' me that iris fataLto. ignere this ques-
f~r growth' for states :in Category I cannot be appli.tion:. whether er not to bypass Stage II of Apicultural Transition and. whether .er net to put right now
cable. to the state in Category II.
:

KURUK!,HElRA March 16, 1982

l~~~~~~~_

. 9


the s!!wl( peasalJls into the ,entre of ~ strategy of
skills. It is, however, quiet different to work for a
agricultural
transformation
as
the
principaI
viable alternative to capitalist agriculture by reorgaagents, of growth'? Not to pose the question. is
nlsmg the .pe~sant economy at a higher level which
to not .to learn from history and to be insensiti,.!' tS'
.calls forskiUs and 'capabilities of a different type. Adthe 'f~te of the Indian peas~tlt' WIlDhas be,n dominatdressing the cadres trained in the art of agitation but
ing the Indian political stage'in the twentieth century.
faced with the challenge of building a new economy,
If the history of .the emergence of the modern society'
did not Lenin say that "their demerits today were the
in the Wcst records the anniliilationof.the sm~ll peacontinuation of their merits yesterday" !
sant as a precondition, the history of .the twen!ieth
century is marked .by putting the PEasant at the centre
of historical' change. 'Can the peasant wJ10was tJie .
backbo;'e of the anti-colonial struggle be transformed
I' MUST BE NOTEO that challenges in the field of
as an agent of the process of economic transforma. . agricultural planning today are perhaps more formidtion'? This is the. question which faces the present
able than they were in the Nehru and Mahalanobis era,
generation bolh in Iudia a~d other parts of Asia.
To write on a clean slate of' poverty is perhaps much .
--easier than 'attempting to write something new in a
. The small fanner
situation of 'newly-acquired prosperity' of some along
NO 'YET TO PUT the small peasant in the centre of
with'umealised hopes of the many. Modifying slightly
agricultUral planning is to 'accept a challenge of
the
words of Lenin, we can perhaps say: For Nehru
,.ast proportions both on the scientific, cultural and
and
Mahalanobis it. was easy. to begin but hard to
the politicai plan. The sm"U peasant, in Western
continue.
But for us today it would be hard to hegin
history, was a . victim of, ora
brake Oll, progress
but
perhaps
easier to contmue.. It is hard to begin
rather. than its' beneficiary or its acceleratmg agent. If
today because it is not just a question of carrying forthe iogic of past history has to be reversed, it would
ward the unfinished tasks of, the Nehru and Mahalamean evolving an' economic strategy ",hichharmonobis
era on the basis of the economic base created by
niscs the conflicting principles of Accumulation on
them.
.It is, also a question of 'reckoning with the.
the one hand and of Livelihood on the othcr and
consequences of the missed options and opportuniwhich. achieves both in one go: This .caJ.!sfor mas.ties.
sive ellor.ts at many levels: (i) vas,!:public investment

'.

in iiIfra-structure and technological innovations suited

to labo~r-surpl:usrice economies; (ii) a programme of
land to the tiller and of cooperation among producers
l~ asset formation and other production !<Isksimplemented with iron will and the entire weight of political and administrative authority at all lev.els; (iii)
an ~stitutional frainew~rk supplying credit, inputs,
water and technical know.how to small peasants with
'. speed and total discrimination in. their favour and a
programme for building non-farm economic opportunities where surplus labour can find an outlet; (iv) a
programme of cultural renewal of the peasantry as
part o,f its preparation for mental transition from the
medieval or semi-medieval to modern age; and finally,
(v) mobilisation of the peasants and labourers as a
power which can withstand the offcnsive from the propertied and pOy.'erful.

India was perhaps more responsive to ,tructural.

change during the early years of independence, The
source of this responsiveness lay in the moral fervour
.and political ferment generated by the national movement, and the .national urge to consolidate freedam in
economic terms, Such historical momcnts favourable
to conscious'push to social change do not occur
again and again nor can they. be created by the mere
assertion of political .will. Let it also be remembered that opportunitiesmiss~d for conscious transformation imply surrender of initiative to intcrest groups
wh~ irnpose their own will on the direction of change.

,I

The scene today

SEEMS niAT
th;, socia-political situation is perhaps in some ways far less favourable to econol1llc
growth as a means of eradication of mass 'poverty than
This is it challenge to. be met not only for saving - it was during the early years of independcnce. In
the peasant from the dIsintegrative logic of capitalist
other words, owing t'; new problems creatcd by acptmetration in agriculture but for transforming the
centuuted structural dualism, the revitalisation of ~e
peasant economy into a new' and viable mode of proc
planning process as 'a means of coping with maSs poduction within a. cooperative framework. It has also
verty poses a much harder challenge today than ever
to be met for converting the labour power of the vast
before. The newly formed, tenaciously covetous and
millions into forms of national wealth of which the
aggressive rural middle class presents a far illore forpeasants should be both creators and beneficiaries.
midable .and organised resistance to the planning pro
cess than did the' landed aristocracy whom it ha~ reThe radicals wedded to this perspective must reeogplaced.
. illse that it is one thing to agitate against growing capi(Conld, on p. 19)
talism in agriculture which. calls for a one type of

10

I'

KURUKSHETRA March 16, 1982

SFDA and the

way it works.
NOORBASHA

N AN AGjRARIAN COUNTRY like India, ,the place

of
, small farmer is' paramount and preponderant in eco, nomic development. ,Where land is becoming a scarce
,resource and labour more plentiful, the small farmers
are more productive than large farmers to get high
yields per hectares. Despite the .fact that an over, whelmingly large majority of 70 per cent of the total
operational landholding;' in India are below two hectares each but constituting only 21 per cent of
the
gross cropped area, these small farmers have been
noticeably neglected by the credit institutions, for de-,
cades, While thousands of' crores of rupees have
been spent by the Government, through its Five
Year Plans, on the Small Farmers" Programmei it
is the rich and afIIuent society which has been benefited to the maximum at the elOpenseof the poor people
-in various innovative schemes and projects like Green
Revolution, High Yielding Varieties Programme, farm
machanisation etc. 'Consequent upon this underprivileged state of the small 'aIld marginal fariners,
the All India Rural Credit Review Committee, 1969
has strongly advocated for the setting up of a specialized institution by name, 'Small" Farmers Development Agency', to benefit exclusively the small and
marginal farmers, landless labourers and rural
artisans.

The Small Farmers' Development Agency (SFDA),

which is a registered society, under the Registration
of Societies Act, wa, siarted in the Fourth Five- Ye-ar
Plan throughout the country but only in certain selected districts. The principal objective of the SFDA
is to eria,ble the potentially viable small farmers ' to
adopt improved techniques on 'the basis of support
in terms of supplies,' irrigation etc., and make ,the'll
1. Gordon, Donald, Credit for small farmers in De~elop;1ig
Countries, (Colorado: "West View Press, 1976), p. 13....
2. Seshaiah, K., uRural.Development
in India: A Strategy"?
. Khadi Gramodyog, June 1980; p. 409.

KURUKSHETRA

March 1'(i,' 1982

..:"'- . ..;"

ABDUL

surplus producers'.
It is essentially a forum of coordiniilion, serving as a catalyst providing subsidy to
. the, small and marginal farmers at the rate of 25 per
cent and :33.3 pe,r cent respectively, on.their institu'tionai borrowings for farm purposes. The total subsidy for ,an individuaIbeneficiary
is', iirnited to Rs.
3,000. This limit has been raised to Rs. '5,000
.in the case of Scheduled Tribes.' The SFDA' releases
the subsidy to the financing institutions or ,to the suppli"r of se.rvice goods on behalf of the benefici'ary,
The SFDA Projects initiated in 87 (project areas during the FOurth Five-Year Plan, continued to operate
in the Fifth Plan, the number of projects rising, to
168 covering 1,818 blocks all over the country.'

W lion"dol1a.rtask of SFDAs noras is revealed bythetheir

HILE ONE

CANNOT

DENY

underrate

mil-

official records, it is also quite obvious from the prac,tic:al scene that the targeted sections are niggardly,
benefited. In fact, a substantial percentage of the
TurnI poor are not even aware of the existence of
the agency. This' reveals "the ineffectiveness' of the
extension work done by the agencies for rUpularizmg
the scheme among, target population".
This partial
service of SFDA is ,the outcome of the interaction of
several definable and undefinable factors.
In this
paper, an attempt is made \0 mirro.rize the structurai
and administrative bo\tlenecks of SFDA and sell certain suggestions to enable, the assistance of SFDA
cheaper, productive and punctual.
3' SatY;lbhama, S., "Small Farmers'
Development Agenc
A Review",
Financing Agriculture, April-June '191
p.2
,.
4. Government of lndia, Report of the Ministry"
Reconstruction, ]979-80. New Delhi, p. 6

of Rural

5, Ibid" p. 6
6; Pandey, S. M., & J; M Sodhi;Small Farmers Development
Programme' New Delhi: Shriram Centre for lndustrial
Relations & Human Resources, 1980~ p.:25'.

11 "

It ,is a matter of regret to note that the eXlstm:

basic procedure of SFDA 'itself appears like a' puzzled
co",?web for its applicant, owing to ~its combersome
, process and elastic channel. It is due to this reason
a ..thorough vivisection arid examination ~~ve b~en
made in the following discussion to the functional
areas of SFDA like tbe identification of small farmers,
length of SFDA channel, coordination with consortium institutions,

subsidy on ki~d loans

l,

tomposition

of small farmers and staff commitment.

Identification of small farmers

that this reverse procedure restricts tlie' !'ask of c0nsultations of tbe farmer only witJ1 the village' Jl'ltwari, Of
iate, the i~suance of Pattadars' Agricultural Pass
Books by the States has further discounted the need'
of Patwari t90. _ In this reverse procedure,

THE

S":ARTING POINT IN ' the'

operations of the
-SFDA is the' identification of potentially viable
'smaU"farmers and 'artisans,' ' As per the present procedure, tbe application for' subsidy has to tourover
tbrough four distinct but distant stages, starting rigbt
from the Village Development Officcr (VDO) to the
Project Oflicer of SFDA at district headquarters,
through VillageP~twali and Block Development Officer (BDO).
Evidently' enough in many cases,' this
unduly lengthy channel-takes months, reducing itself
io costly and untimely assistance. Besides, the appli- '
cant may have to forego his daily wages, or farm
work' and pursue 'his application at each stage up to
time banker who mayor may not consider the application for financing, In this' connection, it mtly not be
inapt to recaU here a finding of the Central Goven-,
ment's study on SFDAs ,and MFALs tbat nearly onethird of the non-beneficiaries in 80.9 project areas'
attributed the reasons for their non-participation in
tbe SFDA benefits, to the cumbersome procedures
whicb were required to be followed for getting the
benefits, And about 3'1, per cent of the' respondents
in 70 per cent of the projects, attributed their nonparti'cipation to' una\vareness of facilities offered by
the SFDA 8' ,These figures them,elves speak of the
inaccessible alid distant nature of SFDAs for tbe rural
elite,

It is, tberefore, in the fitness of things that this

commonly felt cumbersome procedure of the SFDA
be reniodelled, so as to enable the targeted sedions to
avail of the benefits Of SFDA with least possible risk
, So, a sllnplified procedure may be suggested in that
tbe commercial banker (CB), or District Central Cooperative ,Banks '(DCCB), or Regional Rural Banks
(RRBs), will be entrusted with the task of identifying
the small farmer or artisan. This method provides a
timelya:iisistance

to. the applicant for the simple .reason

.7. Reserve Bank of India Report .of the Committee. on

Small Farmers' Development Agencies (A Field Study)
1972-73, New Delhi, -1975-p. 10
8~ Government of India, Report on Evaluation _Studv or"
. -Smail . Filrmers, Marginal .. Farmers &- AgTicult~uraJ
LabouT.crs. Projects 1974-75, New. Delhi~ 1.979. <p-4.:L

12

since the

financing CB;DCCB/RRB is satisfied with the loaning project of the appliC'ant, the SFDA, as a rule, iso
bound to grant the subsidy to the banker against the
loan, Besides to enable the CB/DCCB /RRB
to'
speed up this newly assigned task, the SFDA and
tbe Revenue Officials of the taluq should cooperate
\vith the former, by supplying them with, the detailS'
of land-holdings and romily incomes of that area,

Simplification of-procedure

PRESENT
SFDA STRUCTURE
needs to be altered if the rural development schemes are to be:
implemented properly.
The existing lengthy
chanHE

nel of tbe SFDA deserves a drastic reduction "0 as to

make it ubiquitous for all the people' concerned in
a particular block, It is quite e!isentia1to notice
, from the Central Government Study of ,SFDAs and
MFALs that nearly ,one-fourth of the non-beneficia,
ries of SFDAs desired simplification of procedu~es
, for grant of credit and another 13,1 per cent of the
'respondents have ,uggeSted for the minimisation of
delays in granting subsidised credit. 9
If these suggestions a-re to be effectively placed on
track, the SFDA scrutiny Programme must, be pulled
down to ,the block level and in that the BDO's Office
shall be recognised as the SFDA'. application-processing centre, The CB/DCCB/RRB who identifies
and sponsors thc applications for finance, as explained earlier, forwards them to the BDO's Oflice for
grant of subsidy alongwith a letter to release tbe amount
of su1?sidy out of its quota earmarked to it by the
SFDA. As is also suggested earlier, once tbe banker
sponsors and forwards an application to the
BDO's 9ffice, it will be the responsibility of the former to collect the,' subsidy and the latter to release
the amount of subsidy required, This procedure, if'
'implemented, no doubt, considerably lessens the time
lag and cost of credit.

Subsidy for kind loans

TO note that the SFDA is also
granting subsidy on kind loons such a" fertilisers,
.
~~ticides, pumpsets, bullock-carts,
milch
animals.~
cycle-rickshaws etc", presuming that the kind'loans
cannot be misutilised by the beneficiaries, ,But the
supply of kind loans to each applicant' is freq'uently
postponed because ,of the reason that no purchase is

I
".

T IS GRATIFYING

possible for the purchase committee

in

the

absence

of the SFDA represen~ative, According to the above

sa~d'co.mm.ittee, "Paudty
9, ibid,

of financial-'resources'

and'

p', 43 ,

.~

KURUKMillTRA

March, 16, 1982

inadequate or u timely supply of inputs were kRown

to be major handicaps from which the ,mall and marginal farmers suffered."lO
Since the SFDA of a district
adopts only 3! certain sclected blocks, a well-<lrawn tour programme has
to be chalked out by it
as to enable its represen,
tation in time and also to ensure that there exists
no purchase in pending with,any bankcr.
If possible,
the SFDA may direct the BDO's Office to represent
the purchase committee,
whenev~r the n~ed
aris~s
and see a quicker disposal 'of kind loans.
Further,m
view of. the 'country-w.ideexpr~ssion
f?f dissatisfaction
by':th~,be~leficiaries for accepting kind \loans' only" from
the appointed dealers, who' usually suppl~
inferior
goods or make delay in supplying, it is suggested that
the SFDA should pennit the beneficiaries to avail the
kind benefit from any dealer he chooses but insisting
on "production of' iideguate bills.
. ,

'0

Coordination

with consortium members

the .cC?llsortium
: - -members is sine qua nOll for attaining desired. performance of any development institution like SFDA.
A meaningful' and well-drawn up periodic conferences,
ofSFDA
with the other
consortium
members
like
bankers, BDOs, Tahsildars,
etc., will better solve its
,administrative
bottlenecks
and roadblocks. _ In fact,
such meetings will also clarify certain practic!,1 problems of the other consortium
members too in the
matters like particulars of land holdings, chances of
misrepresentation
and be-nami tra.nsactions;
subsidy
apportionments
over various
blocks,
credit
gaps
worked out, nation's plan priorities etc. It is noticeable at this juncture that the District
Consultative
Comnlittee
(DCC) meetings .organised by the Lead
Bank Scheme once in every fortnight at district head, qua,rters are rarely attaining the objectives
of the
meetings, owing to the low morale of the participants.
Aud "as a result, the deliberations in the DeC meetings often - tended
to be casual;',
comments
a' recent studv of Bank of India.
The study group
on the working of the Lead Bank Scheme ha'saptly
rema~ked for the effective operation of the DCC meetings that "it should be compact and ,comprise
only
of officials directly connected with the programmes in
hand
it is suggested that the DeC should hold
some meetings at tehsil headgua.rters
and that
the
branch agents' in the area should be invited to such
~eetin2:s and encouraged to discuss their experiences
and. pr~blems. mz This suggestiot:l is to be "translated
into practice soon by the anthorities,
if the participants' 'views are clearly exchanged:
UNCTUAL

COORDINATioN

among'

10. Ibid" p. 26
11. Bank of India. Emillation of District Cr~dil'Pran-A
Study of Ujjain District (M. P.), Bombay, 1979, p. 35
12. Reserve Bank of India, Report of the Study Groups on
. - the working of the Lead Bank Scheme iF!- Gujarat and
Maharashtra. Bombay, 1975, PP. 19-2l.

KURUKSHETRA

]\.farch 16, 1"82

SFDA DOES NOT APPEAR 10

have persuaded
the Revenue official, to bring the land record.
ilp-to-da,le
and
record
'tenancy
rights
therein.'
As a resHlt, a substanti",l section of small
lenantfarmers could not be enrolled as participants.
One
reason for not identifying
tenant-farmers
was the
fear that had the Agency attempted to record tenancy
fIghts. 'in a village, there would be a strong opposition
from land-owners which would have an adverse i-,?pact on the tenants themsclves, Secondly, the majority
of the tenants were
oral
lessees,
when~ tenancy
arrangements
are concealed.
By passing
such sensitive issues, the- agencies had adopted a
practical
approach.
In the process,
however, they left out
large number of small farmers who were tenants and
who deserved every incentive.IB At the same. time, several cases arc uncovered in which som.c or" the big landlords transferred, their land to the namcs 'Of. their
sons etc .., and got them identified as small farmers.h
HE

'

The only remedy open for this unfortunate malady

is act!vizing :the Pattadars' Agricultural
P.ss
Bock.,
preparing them with ~n updated mfonnation
which'
includes the details of encumbrances,
mortgages, land
relations, institutional borrowings etc. Under any dr~
cumstances, the tenant-small
farmer-should
not be
precluded from the subsidy purview of the SFDA. He
should be offered all opportunities
on par with the
small and marginal farmers with landholdings.

T.

Staff commitment

HE SFDA BEING
A
CATALYTIC
agent,
dea~ing
with crores. of rupees
are millions 'nf small
and 'marginal farmers requires a dedicated,.
goal~_
oriented, honest and dpty-conscious
team of personnel to work in. The lofty aspirations of the policymakers for making the rural, development
agencies
like SFDA prod'uctive; can only be realised if the personnel put their heart into their work.

Conclusion

T IS TO be concluded
that unless the existing cumbersome process of SFDA is scrapped
and' the.
r.e-verse approach practised,
recognising
the
banks
as the identifiers of the small farmers,
the purpose
for which the SFDA has been set up win not be
se'rved. On the other haliC!, the restlltant abuse of
the SFDA leads to' inflation and rural deterioration.
The radarless control of the economic operations of
the SFDA should be systfmiatized even at 'sOme additiona'l cost of the. Government
and ba~kers, because
the benefits that' can be reaped by the small farmers
outweigh the colossal los.s emerging from the existing prac~ices.

!3. R~ser~~_~~a.n~t?f.India,
RcpOr.19.11SFDAs, op. ciL, p. 19914. Government .of India, Ref}ort .OFl SFDA~ &: MFALs
op...cit.,.p-:5.:
~.

13

,.

"

''CI.
t

How much damage

the floods do
D. TRIPAlHY
By. Director, Water Mgmt. Divn., Union Ministry of Agriculture

LOODSCREATEHAVOC in India and lead to

,
heavy loss of precious human lives, livestocks,
property and crops. , In spite of .their declining
share, damage to crpps alone constitutes more thari
60 per cent of total estimated ,flood damages in the
c~;'ntry, The problem of measurement of this loss
appears multi-dimensional. The nature of this estimation problem is a function of (a) the estimating
organization;

(b) their level of

competence

and-

(c) the quickness of the estimate. (Since the scope

of the measurement of total loss due to floods is
vast, this paper atteinpts to discuss the existing procedure' of ,measurement of crop loss and the changes
needed to have an unbiased estimate, '

v,

Views of expert bodies

ARIOUS SPECIAL
COMMlTT"EES
and" -institutions
in the past underlined the need for improvement in
the data collection and suggested measures for such
Existing estimation practices
improvement.
The' High Level Committee on
Floods
(1957)
suggested
that information relating to
HE PRIMARYASSESSMENTof the losses due to
damages to public property such as roads, canals etc.
,: natural calamities like' floods,"';s the Iesponsibishould be sent by the concerned State Departmen!s
lity'of the State Governments which usually prepare
to their counterpart ""inistries at the centre with
the 'White Papers' or such reports for presenting
copies to Flood Control Department at the States.
them. to the visiting' central teams, to get financial
The SubcCommittee of the River Commission~
'Issis!ance from the Centre. Except for the State
(1959) prescribed eight proformae seeking informaof Andhra Pradesh, where the estim,!tes are made
tion on various aspects like area affected, rivers and
by the Irrigation Department, all other States entributaries' causing j]ood~ flood frequency, dep'tll, of
trust the work to the Revenue authorities. The
inundation, duration, damage etc.. Under ea~lt
District
Collector
co-ordinates 'the 'assessment
category, direct and, indirect damage come to be ~
work through his juniors at Sub-Division, Tehsil or
recorded and assessed in morietary terms. These
Block Levels, the primary information being providproformae were ~pproved by the Central FIoodC~ned either by 'Patwari' or the 'Gram Sewak'. The
trol
Board with some modifications in 1964; But
asse"m".Ilt of the damage is done during, the floods
except
for Andhra' Pradesh, no other State reportedor inunewatcly afte~
ly
followed
the procedure.
*Papcr presented at the Symposium on"Assessment of

This primary estimation is done through visua.!

observation of the extent of crop damage (either
annawari or percentage) and the area affected. ,This
procedure is highly defective and deficient and has
got an inherent upward bias right {rom the village
level'to attract higher assistance from the authorities,
the National Commission on Floods'reports that more
often' than not, the' scrutiny of estiination at. the
primary 'stage is not done by the' higher officials,

Impact-of Drought and Flood" held at the Indian Agci- .

cultural Sfatistics Research Institute, organized by Indian
Society of Agricultural Statistics, 29th December. '1981.
The views expressed are entirely those ofthe autbor and-not
necessarily of the organization in- which he presently works.

14

In the same year (1964) the Ministers' Committee

on Bo'ad Control, while noting the' deficiency, both
KURUKSHETRA

March

16, 1982

T-

HE SELECTION
OF sainpie villages according to
the .area. flooded iI\ the previous year as suggested
by the NCAER seems not very convincing for all
areas. Though it may serve the purpose fer areas
wmch are chronically affected by floods, for . areas
frequently affected or occasionally affected,' tms procedure will not help. For if there was no flood in
the previous year in the area affected by flood, then
such areas will not come under the purview of
sampling. As such post-flood enquiry cannot be ..
conducted in areas where "flood risk was not generally anticipated". Tms' will be the areas which are
protected areas but are nonetheless affected by occasional high floods due to breaches in the river embankments. In these cas~s the losses per unit of
area is much higher than the losses .experienced in
the areas chronically affected by fl'?.ods.

Further, their suggestion to break down the district estimate into block-level estimates in proportion
9f the flooded area in blocks within the district
appears highly umealistic. For example, a district
or a zOlie forms a stratum, which is affected by
flood in 'the past where the flood loss was estimated
to be 25 per cent. If in . a particular year, two
blocks of the same district/zone arc' heavily affected
and others are not, .the estimates made

on

the basis

of pre--flood.randomly selected villages for the district and its breakdown for estimates for blocks
affected heavily in the current year in proportion to
the flooded area, will be an under-estimate.
The suggestion of the National Commission on
Floods (NCF) that the final ,estimate of .crop damage
on areas completely destroyed but where replanting/,
resowi~g takes place, b.e made 'in terms. of loss of
inputs; appears deficient in following respects :
(a) It assumes that productivity of crops- in the
replanting/sowing will remain the same as would
have happened ,had there been nO' flood; .
(b) It also implicitly assumes that the productivity is in variance with the input use in the
replanting/sowing. Actual experiences however,
does not confirm ihe above implicit assumptions.
Further, the recommendation regarding the partialiy .affected crops is also deficient.
As it is not only the. yield loss but also
additional expenditure incurred in raising of the
tially daI)1aged crops wmch. should be .taken
account. To the extent the latter is not taken
account, there is under-estimation.

the
parinto
into

Alternative procedure

over. the. existing system

heavily depends upon the purpose for which
the, improvement is called for. The estimation of
NY IMPROVEMENT

(Comd. on p. 19)

KURUKSHETRA March 16, 1982

15

Improving tribal
',agricul ture
...
A. SUDHARSHAN'REDDY

and P.RAMAIAH,

~Deptt. of E~nomics, Kakatiya University, Warangal (A.P.)

OF THE MAJOR OBJECTIVES of the Government

is to bring the tribal communitieS into the mainstream of national life..' This objective is sought to
be achieved by affecting the major source of their livelihood namely, the agriculture. It is an established
fact that tribal agriculture is mostly of subsistence
nature' ah'd is characterised by"the production of
foodgrains just sufficient to meet their re<J.uirements,
generally at a low level of living. The use of local
seeds, growing the rain-fed crops, nse of family labour,
u'se of crude tools and implements, production for
self.{;onsumptionconstitute the main elements cif such
agriculture. This implies non-dependence of agriculture on purchased inputs anci hired labour, abSence
of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and modern lift irrigation systems that constitute the, 'modem agriculture'.
The transformation of subsiste~ce agriculture to mo, dern agriculture, is expected to. ensure better utilisation of resources and endowments. and improve the
llfoductivity and returns.

NE

THE NEED for a changed, agriculture,

several attempts have been made during the postIndependence period' to improve the agricultural conditions in tribal areaS, particularly to, improve ihe productivity of land labour, and to ensure them enough
income at .the salli\' 'time. Modernization of agriculture calls for the 'use of several of the modern inputs
like improved rogation, fertilizers and pesticides and
. high yielding variety ,seeds and improved managerial
practices.' One of the major obstacles in the increased
use of these inputs among tribals has been lack of

ECOGNISU'G

1. Verri~r Elwin, 'A ~J:lilosopby'for NEFA', 1960, pp. 45.46.

2. Ghosh, Shantikumar, 'I\{fonetisatioll. of An Economy',
World-Press Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta, 11964,p. 3.
.
,",

",

, awareness' of the benefits associated with the use of

~uch inputs, and lack of purchasing capacity. Seve~
ra!' developmental programmes were s!arted (during
the Plan period) to educate the tribals of the benefits
of the. use of such inputs and to create necessary infrastructural facilities like, supply of. credit, seeds,
implements and marketing. In the beginning, the Community Development Programme was expected to play
this role. Subsequently, some 'special programmes
were launched to hasten the development process
through Integrated Tribal Development Agencies.
Developmen!, of agriculture constitutes the primary
ait:t1 of these agencies.
'Their actio~ progra.mmes in'"
chide 'land' recIam~tion, soil conservation, supply of
seeds; fertilizers and pesticides. The supply of oil
engines; electric motor pump-sets and financing .for'
digging wells, purchase of plough-bullocks on subsidy
basis constitute the major chnnk in irrigation development programme. It is expected from such actions
that the productivity of land and' labour would increase and result in increased income to the tribals.
Sin~e<irrigation and fertilizer consumption are the two
'prime factors that determine the productivity of the
scarce land and since the impact would be regionspecific,,there is a need to study the impact of irrigation and fertilizers on tribal agricuItur~ in different
areas.

Objectives and methodology

attempts to measure the impact of im" gation and fertilizers on agricultural productivity
at the farm level. The present study is confined to

HIS

PAPER'

.3. John oW. Mellor, "The Economics of Agricultuial DeveIopmtnt:.',_ VOt~ & Co. Publisher-s, Bombay, 1966.

,,'

KURUKSHETRA Maich,,16,

1982

tlie Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, where 2.3

per cept. of population are tribals.
This population
is mainly concentrated

in three taluks. viz.} Etumaga-

ram, Gudur and Mulugu. Eturnagaram is a notified

tribal block. In these three blocks there are 179
scheduled villages, out of which 51 villages,. where
the trihal population'is 50 per cent and, above, were
selected for the purpose .of the sample. In each of
the sample villages, either sample households were
selected randomly. The total sample for the study
consists of 408 households. The relevant data is
collected through questionnaire/schedules. The data
pertain to the agricultural year 1979-80. For the
purpose of measuring. the impact of irrigation and
fertilizers, all the sample farms are grouped into irrigated and unirrigated and fertiliser-using and fertilisernon-using farms, and a cross-section- comparison made

pared to the bther two taluks. Minor irrigation tanks

arc the major sources of irrigation and accounts for
80 per cent. These tanks are small tanks which can
hardly provide irrigation for kharif. crops. Hence,
paddy was cultivated mostly in kharif, while maize was.
cultivated in rabi under wells--<>perated either by
mhale.or. oil-engines and electric' motor pumps. The
cropping pattern followed under irrigated conditions
shows that paddy constitutes. 90 per cent, while maize
8 per, cent and the remaining 2 per cent miscellaneous

crops like chillies and groundnut.

. With incr_easein irrigation facilities, the product i.vity of land and other inputs would go up. lbereforc,
the impact of irrigation on productivity is .studied
for paddy, maize, chillies and groundnut for which irri_ gation is provided.
.

between them.

Findings of the study

The following table shows the yield effects of irrigation is provided.

TABLEr

408 sample households, 390 households

own land. Cultivation constitutes the major
source of income to. 60 per cent of farms. It is followed by forestry (20%) and agricultural labour (16%)
and miscellaneous like services and basket-making
(4%).
The average size of holding is 6 acres. (wet
1.46 and dry 4.54 acres). TankS and streams are
the major sources of irrigation (80'%) and are followed by wells, which form 16 per cent. 'Mhote' is the
common system of the lift irrigation. Only 28 energised wells were in use.:. Recognising the importance
of irrigation iI1'the transformation of subsistence agriculture, the developmental agencies have constructed
minor irrigation tanks. There were some programmes
that were taken up to develop well irrigation which
.normally helped in increasing the . rabi. cultivation.
Fertilizer consumption was prevalent only in lIS
(29 %) farms, most 'of which got the fertilizers on
subsidy from the agenCies.Ninety per cent of: foodgrains produced on !)Iefarms were consumed in the
f~mily reflecting the subsiste!,ce n~t~e cif.their ag~iculture.

DT Of.

Impact of Irrigation.. It is a well recdgriised fact

that irrigation plays, a crucial role in stabilising agri-.
cultural production, increasing productivity arid facili. tating the greater use of modern inputs like fertilizers
and high yielding variety seeds to increase the income.
of the tribals. Out of a total owned area of 2343
acres among the sample households, 86 per cent of
area was cultivated._. The net irrigated area comprised
21per cent of this total area owned Gross irri""dted
. area constitutes.30 per cent of the total cropped. area
of 2270 acres. However, there are variations in the
proportion of irrigated area among the three taluks.
Etumagaram has less facilities for. irrigation as com-

KURUKSHETRA March. 16, 1982

Yield effects ofirrigati.on (yield in qtls.)

st.

Crops

Taluks

All
taluks .

No.

Eturnagaram

Gudur

Mulugu

6.0 ..

10.0

Irrigated.
.1 Paddy

7.2
(175 .6)

2 Maize

3.0

1 .5

3.0

4.0

3.85

4 -5

6.5

2 Maize

I .6

1.2

0.5

3 Chillies

3 .0

4 Groundnut

1 .5

'- '3 Chillies

'"
Groundnut
. Unirrigated
I Paddy

2.5

2.2
(183 '3)
3.4
(113 '3)
2.5
. (166.6)
4.1
(100.0)
I .2
(100.0)
3.0
(tOO '0)

1.5
(tOO '0)

_ ,Source:

Field data.

Figures in bracke~s indicate index.

It is clear from Table I that. the yield per acre.

afte~ irrigation. H.owever,
there are variations in the .effects of irrigation between
the taluks and different crops. The yield effect of
irrigation is highest in the case of maize. (83.3%).
There is a considerable improvement in .the yield of
I'add~ under irrigated conditions (75.6%) over that
of unirrigated .one. . Chillies recorded the. lowest
effect (of only 13.3% ). One of the reasons for this
]ow effect is that Etumagaram taluk has favourable
conditions for lP'owint' chillies in kharif but not in
has inc...
reased 'considerably

'~ t

17

. rabi while in Gudur and Mulugu it comes as a second

crop, which is irrigated by wells. In the case of
groundnut there is considerable increase in yield
(i.e. 66.6%).
As for paddy yields are. concerned,
Mulugu taluk has. the highest yield. Gudur taluk
recorded the lowest yield in the case of maize which
is cultivated under unirrigated conditions in kharif and
irrigated conditions in rabi. Groundnut is excltisively grown in Eturnagaram. Thus it 15 evident from
the above analysis that irrigation has a. significant
role to play in increasing the ..prodl1ctivity of agricul-.
lure in the sampled area.

"
Impact

.of Fertilizers. Intensity.of fertilizer. consumption is normally taken as an indicaior of the development of modern agricultu-re. .Qge. pi the specific
features of the aboriginal's agriculture.;s that the ferti"
lizers are. supplied to them at 100 per cent subsidy-50
. per cent by the Panchayat Samithi or Girijan C()-{}perafive Corporation and. 50 per cent by the specialised
agencie.s. In the study area only 115 farm households were using fertilizers, constituting 29_ per cent
of the total farm houoellolds. However, fertilizer use
-is more in Mulugu taluk where 50 per cent of the
farms used fertilisers.. The average consumption of
all kinds' of fertilizers put together i5. 60 .kgs. per
fertilizer-used acre.. However, the average consumption of fertilizers per acre of gross cropped area is
only 8.2 kgs. ,nndicatingthe 10Vl' level of fertilizer
consumption in the study area.
" .

--':":':'

In the study area fertilizer is used mainly for irri-'

gated crops like paddy, maize, chillies and groundnut. The extent of fertilizer consumrti(m per acr~
for different crops is shown in Table II.
TABLE II
Per Ac~e Consumption of Fertilizers by Crops
(In Kg,.)
Sf;

Crops

Elurnagaram

No.
I
2
3
4

60.94
37'50
83 .00
50.00

Paddy
Maize
Chillies
Groundnut

- Source:

Gudur

42.43
45.71
69 ,56

Mu/uga

66.23

Field data.

Table II shows that the fertilizer consumption is

highest for chillies and is followed by paddy and
maize. There is a. slight variation in the per acre consumption of fertilizers for paddy in the three talukS. The
highest consumption is found in Mulugu taluk and is
followcd by Eturnagaram and Gudur. These differential rates of consumption. are reflected in the differential
18

yields of paddy among the three talOks (see Table Ii,

showing close correlation between the amount of fertilizers consumed and the yield~ obtained. The yield
effects of fertilizer consumption are presented in
Table III.
.
TABLE III'
Yield Effects of Fertilizer Consumption
(in quintals per acre.)
Taluks
Sl.
No;

Crops

Eturnagaram

.._-----

Gudur

Muillgu

6.57

All

Taluks

With Fertilizer
4.8
(178 '0)

1 Paddy

4'65

4.75

2 Maize

3.50

0.68

I .6
(266.0)

3 Chillies

4.52

0.52

.3 ..2

(152'0)
. 4 Groundnut

9.0)
(180.00)

9.0

\ 2.7
(100 '0)
0.6
(100.0)
2.1
(100.0)
5.0
(100 .0)
Source:

Field data. Figures in-brackets indicate inoex.

Table III. indicates that there isa' significant increase in the yield per. acre of various crops. _Maize
is found to be more responsive to fertilizers indicating
a record increase of 166.6 per -cent. Paddy and
groundnut yields have gone up by neariy 80 per cent.
The fertilizer consumption as well as the yield response is found to be the highest in Mulugu taluk.
Since fertilizers. are suppl,ied at .100 per cent subsidy,
the resulting additional yield .will enhance the income
'of the. farmers. However, the examination of Tables I and III would'indicate that in spite of irrigation
and use of fertilizers the per cent yields are quite
lower than the yields, realised in the same distriet.'
The main reason for. such a low level yielil is that
the farmers were not at all -using the high yielding
variety seeds in the study area. Therefore, it is of
utmost. importance to popularise the usc of high yielding variety seeds and tap thd abundant YIeld potential
of tribal agriculture.
: (COn/d. on p. 21)
4. A. Sudharshan Reddy, "Impact of New Agricultural
Technology ODSmall Farms~'-Unpublished.
The yields
of paddy, -maize, chillies and groundnut are estimated
at 12, 7.5,4.6 and 6 quintals respectively.

KURYKSHETRA

March

16, 1982

(ContJ. from p.

iil)

'possibilities as it
has its constraints. Perhaps the most precious asset

ND

YET EACH

generation

today is the explosion

lU1s its

of mass consciousness.

The

village-dwelling masses who were reconciled to their

sub-human existence for ce~turies are now awakening
to the fact of their man-made poverty andman~ordained denial. Thcir deep-seated urge for justice and for
a new order based on justice can provide the muchneeded push and pressure for widening the boundaries
of the national revolution 'and to transform .it into a
social revolution.
Moreover, among the masses. Wh8
were always denied access to ~e means of mental
production J apart from being denied acce,55 to means

of material production, a new intelligentsia at the

grass-roots is in formation. This new intellectual force
has the potential of serv.ing as a disseminator of criti- .
cal consciousness '!.rnang the have-nats.
Further,

thonghtful sections of the Indian elite are beginning to

ask the questions:
Whither Indi~?
Is it moving
closer towards realising Nehru's dream of a Just Society

(Contd.

from

through lust Means; the Sarvodaya ideal. of Prosperity shared by the Community, and the socialist vision
of a Cooperative Economic Order. They are becom.. ing aware of the irreconcilable tension between the
cherished Moral Order and the emerging capitalist
order which promotes the affluence of the few through
the deprivation of the many. Such a social situation
is full of contradictions and tensions. If resoived imagi.nativcly,iLholds the promise of ushering into a new
epoch

of ,national renewal

and social

emancipation.

Any surrender to spontaneity holds the men~ce of

chaos and "the 'mptual. ruin of the contending classes".

. In the reunification of tIie forces of the toiling peasantry which still suffers in free India's vl1l.1ges and
. of the ~reative minority which thllks and dreams in
".the towns and cities lies the key. A new theory and
practice of reconstructing a fural India closer to our
dreams can emerge only from such reunification.

p. 15)

flood loss is no exception to this. Specific purposes

for which flood damage data collection is. important
are ;-

stratulJl being in proportion to the flood-affected

area.' By the same process, villages may. be selected
from each selected block.

(a) immediate relief to the affected; (b) financial

In the third stage, i.e. at the selected village level,

the affected areas may be grouped according to the
crop conditions (e.g. bad: ave-rage, good, excellent)

concession on land revenue, agricultural loan etc;

and (cr utilization of the data for cost benefit

analysis of. the Hood control programmes.

While

for (a), the cxisting procedure of estimatioll

with
proper supervision of 'higher officers will serve the

pUlpose, for (b) and (c), a 'change.in the

dure is called for.
.

procc-

Before delineating 111Cprocedure, it is essential to

be clear about the concept of loss. Loss may be on
account of (i) additional expenditure. on crop
Illanagement and (ii) loss of output, in the principal
crop seaSOll.

As against this loss, .....the

gaiDs

in

terms of better crop yields in some Hood-affected

areas .due to. silt deposits and better rabi crops on
account of better soil moisture content, have t.o. be
taken into account. The loss that may arise. due to
delayed crop sowing in rabi season wiII also need
inclusion. As such the flood losses have to be estimated over the entirc crop year rather than for the
kharif crop alone.

IdomIS sampling.'

to have a multistage stratified ranBlocks jtehsils of. a district- may

be grouped according to the
.., intensity of flood
.
damage as reported just after the last floods, A few
blocks/tehsils may be selected from. each stratum by
random sampling, the number of blocks in each
T

PROPOSED

,KURUKSHETRA

March 16, 1982

and crop cutting experiments

done on a sample basis.

Data ~u cost of cultivation may be collected in the

schedules and questionnaIre .. This may bc . done
jU!5t after the harvest - season of the kharif crop.
The same cultivators will be contac;ted to get. the data
on production and cost of cultivation after the rabi
. season.

. ~,

The data on costs of cultivations and the production have to be compared with the data on normal
expenditure and output in the selected villages. The
difference wiII provide the estimate .of flood damage
for the respective villages. These data could then
be utilized to cstimate the flood damages for the
respective blocks ani:! districts.
So far .as the quick estimate-so are concerned, the
present organizations may continuc.
The."crop cutting

experiments may also be donc by the existingorganizations.

Economic surveys may be conducted. by
the Bureau of Economics
& Statistics
of various
States; sinc~ they have gained the expertise in such

fields. It is likely that this procedure if. properly

followed will improve the final estimates to a consi-derable extent, and provide usoful data for planning
for flood control and area development. .
19

They. show the way

This feature is based on success stories viz. a.hieveme"ts gained in VOJ'ious

8pheres of rural development by farmers, institutions, experinients and individuals.
There is hardly an argument over the fact that ,dedication and zeal to put in hard
work can achieve anything. And one achievement inspires and shows the wa)'
to others!
We hope our esteemed readers will send
their own experiences in thQ
field so ihat others can benefit by them to usher in a better life for our rural
people. (EDITOR)

us'

. -Pey.elopment

~RYAI;.

an interior: "-village

through self-help
in Chirgaon

block

of

.Jhansi'District(U.P.),
is now an adarsh, gaon
(ideal village) fo'r:the surrounding villages in the .area.

Tile ~i!l~ge' clid,'not have a~y approach road which

rendered it inaccessible to the block headquarters. The
villagers took upon ,themselves the task of constructing a kuchha apprcach road linking their village, with
.
'
the block headquarters, Chrrgaon.
Then they approached the' government to convert it into a metalled one
which the Govt. readily' did, as the spade work had
been done by the villagers themselves. And as the
sayi.ng goes, road and development go together, t~is
paved tlle way for accelemted development of the
village. The villagers, keen as they were to enSure
all-round development of their village,,' rendered all
possible assistance to Government departments ,to open
their service/extension centres, in their village. The vil, lagers succeeded, in a quick succession, in getting a post
office, a telephone exchange, a fair price shop, a health
sub-centre, an anganba9i, and an adult education centre

set up in their village. Their exposure to modern facilities enabled them to launch a collective fight against
the preva.iling ills like child marriage, dowry, liquor
drinking and untouchability. ,The ,villagers are now
adopting modern farming methods to increase their
agricultural output.

School for the blind

Helen Keller Centenary. Memorial Model
School, Kottapuram, Distt. Palghat (Keral'l) was
started on Oct. 21, 1980, with one teacher and nine
ilE

Now there are 25 students on its .roils, 16

in the srandatd, 1 and nine in the II. The school

is run by the Kerala Federation of the 'Blind and
is aided by the Government of Kerala. Shri Chandrashekharan Nair, himself a blind man, is the assistant
incharge of the school. He is assisted by Shri G.
Verghese,. another blind teacher. Students, whose
:20

income is less than. Rs. 3,500, are given

Presently, the school is running in a re,nted accommodation .. Panchayat 'President,; Karimplizha. ' has
donated three acres of land for the school bnilding. The
inmates live here in a happy atmosphere.
-FPO, PalgllOt
/

Gobar gas revolution

taluk' of Surat district has adopted gobar
70
gas
plants. Ten villages in the taluk have more than. 25
plants each, whereas two villages, Shevni and Abrama,
boast of ha.ving 68 and 45 gobar, gas' plants, respectively. Families having gobar gas plants include Harijans
and Girijans. Adoption of gobar gas technology on
a mass scale has given a fillip to dairy development in
the area. - And above all, families having these plants
do not complain of non-availability of kerosene, which
no'ionger remains an essential commodity for them.
-FPO. Godhra
AMRE.J.

gas technology on a large scale. Out of

K
villages of the talnk, 55 have about 900 gobar

'Bank water'
CALL IT "bank water", as the State Bank' of
India, Kuchinda branch financed, the project meant,

EOPLE

FPO, Kanpur

students.

parcnls'annual

,Rs. ] 00 p.m. for expenses and a dress allowance of

Rs. 50 per year.

to prov~de irrigation facilities.

The farmers of Phasimal in Sambalpur district

(Orissa) had all along been suffering due to lack of
water to irrigate the-ir fields.. Credit goes to the bank
officials who included this drought-prone -area: in their

ruml development programme. And the flowing water

of river K!handadhun today fulfils the long-felt irrigation needs of the farmers. The fields of Phasimal, whicll
once wore a desolate .look due

LO

recurring droughts,

arc now green \"ith potato, chilly, paddy and mustard

crops.
-FPO, Sambalpur

KURUKSHETRA
'

March Hi, 1982

I.:.....

"

SflJi Mohammad
Fazal, Member,
Planning
Comm~ssiolL (~econd from lIght) r~leasai the Silv.cr Jubilee
Spec:ia!
Numbers of Yo/ana (English Gild Hcndi). presented to hun by
Shrj Vasant Sathe, MInister
Ill/ormanoll
& BroadcGSftllg.
Slui D S. Mehta, Director, PublicatlOlls DlvlSIon, is 011 the extreme. rIght.

at

'YOJANA' CELEBRATES SILVER JUBILEE

journal' published by Publications
Y Divisiona onsisterbehalf
of Planning Commission' has
OJANA,

completed 25 years of its publication.

.
'Pre;;ding over the function to mark the occasion,
held on January 25, 1982 at New Delhi, Hop'ble
Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Shri Vasant
Sathe said: ''Y ojana should be in the hands of every
educated person in the country and the journal should
continue to promote plan consciousness among the
people and involve them in national development". He
added that he wanted the journal to become a forum
for debate on questi~ms of national importance, which
was the best safeguard of a parliamentary democracy.
Shri Mohammad Faza,l, Member, Planning Commission, who was the Chief Guest, released the Silver
Jubilee Special Numbers of 'Yojalla' (English and

Hindi) and said that the journal should become instmment for involving every citizen in planning and development. Since other countrie~ especially the thin:!
world countries, were interested in knowing about
plan~ing in Jndia, 'Yojana' should also reach the
international field, he added.
Earlier, welcoming the Hon'ble Minister and the
Chief Guest, Shri D. S. Mehta, Director, Publications
Division said that PUblications Division was publishing
21. journals, including 'Yojana' in 10 languages. 'The
Employment News' weekly, published in three languages has a combined circulation of over thre, lakh of
copies. The Division, which has published more than
.5,500 books, is the largest publishing house in the
. public sector and its total sales revenue is likely to
cross the Rs. 3 crore mark this year, Shri Mehta added

(Contd. from p. 18)

Conclusion
STUDY CLEARLY
INDICATES
that the yield potential of land is exploited to some extent by the
provision of irrigation and supply of fenilizers. The
yield effects of these two inputs were considerably high
at 75 to 80 per cent each. But, compared to the
general yields .at other places, where high yielding
variety seeds are used, the yield rates in the study .
area are quite low. This may be mainly attributed

HE

KURUKSHETRA

March 16, 1982.

to the absence of use of high yielding variety seeds.

Therefore, an active programme for popularising the
.use of high yielding varieties has to be taken up
alongwith the extension of irrigation facilities and
the supply of fertilizers at cent per cent subsidy.
Only then, the huge yield potential can be tapped'to
a greater extent. The policy of cent per cent subsidy
which is in vogue now may be continued ti!) the high
yieldmg varieties become popular and high yields are.
obtained at profitable levels.
21
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use tiaetorsande~girie;.without
fitting them '!
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YOUR liFE, LIMBS AND HARVi;3T ARE .ALL VALUABLE

A Little Care Will Go A L~ng Way

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KURUKSHETAA March 1,6, 1982

,.

ii;-';:-"~'.~

- ,.~
"

....

The' new
20"'point' programme :
Pulses and
oilseeds

'1'"

,...,

~.

- ..~,

','

The productioll.sri'megy in every. block

wi/{ include the lollowing approaches:
L lntroduce pulses and oilseeds in all ir.rigated crop rotq.tioJls.

2. lmprove the productivity of pulses

. ,and oilseeds grown under rain/ed COll.ditions through steps such as' better
moisture conservation~a more scien.Iific plant population, plant protectiOn
and post-harvest technology,

,.

3. Improve the management of pulses

and oilseeds -grown' in mixed cropping
systems.
4. lmprove the productiVity of perennial oilseeds like coconut 'and oil ,palm,
oil-yielding trees_like neem, karanj,_
mahua, sal etc, arid annual oilseeds like
groundnut,

rape and mustard, safflcrwe"

niger, .castOr and linseed,' in additi.o.n,

enhance the extrac(ioll and. utilisation

iJf oils' extracted from rice bran, cottonseed, mango k~rnel, maize ,germ,
etc.

~int No.2:

Make spec~alefforts to increase' proouction of pulses

and "!eget~bleoilseeds

..~

Pul.sesform a maj~r part of our.daily.diet."

'-,,'.'

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..P~i
~~ 4;,,;,,
"

(Licellsed under U(D)-54 to post without

ment at Civil Lines Post Office, Delhi).

prepar-

Regd. No. D(DN)j3

RN 70215

The ,new
20-point programme!
Pulses and
oilseeds

,.

The latest addition

to)ilsced family,
Sbyabcan, is' fast
,- becoming popular.

.: ,....~'Point 'No. 2: l\fake

~pcCial efforts to increase p-r:odu,:tioll

of pulses and vegetable

oilseeds

It is envisaged to increase. production or

oiIseeds to 130 lakh tonncs .by 1984.85.

A beghming h4s been lJlGde to restnlctwe the protfuctioll

B.J1.dJ1uwketing of
oilseeds and
"egetable ails all lines
which are benefidal to the prodllcer as
well 03 the consum~r. Another major
objecti"e
under the 20-point
Programme will be to encourage the orga_
nisation of production, processing lJnd
marketing increasingly on cooperative
lines. In fOllr districts of Gujarat and
three districts of Madhya Pradesh, pro_
duction~ processi1!g and marketing are
n9w being orgaiJised on cooperative
lines.
Tami[ Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
and Maharashtra will also initiate :,imilar programm.e5. soon as it is proposed
10 encourage the growlh of such pra-

ducerr cooperatives which can insulate

the primary p;oducer from exploitation
by middlenien.
.
PUBLISHED

BY THE

AND PRINTED

A mustard crop in full bloom is a sheer sight of beauty!

DIRECTOR,

BY rHE

PUaLlCAll0NS

MANAGER,

GOVERNMENT

DIVISION,

NEW

DELHI~1l0001

F .lliJ1llO..J:1WiS... H.II.ll>UAfi