RURAL & AGRARIAN TRANSFORMATION

1) CDPs
2) 3 Phase implementation in first plan
3) 8 activities and 4 programmes
4) Balwant Rai Mehta committee for evaluation
5) New Administrative Machinery
6) Failure (2nd plan)
7) Green Revolution
8) Consequences of GR
9) Studies on GR
10)Change in Modes of Production
11) Impact of this change over Rural Agricultural labour (land alienation, less
wages, indebtedness)
12)Challenges in social transformation (DIP)
13)Historical Perspective
14)Socio-regional causes of poverty

CDPs

1) Community development programs

2) Introduced in 1st plan
3) Initiate process of transformation in social & economic life of village
4) Promote better living
5) Active participation by grassroots
6) Inspired by pre & post independence experiment
7) Eg. Rural development activity ---> SEVAGRAM
8) SARVODYA centre in bombay
9) Refugee places after independence
10)Animal husbandry
11) CDP---> umbrella program
12)2october, 1952---> launched in 52 development project areas
13)Providing skills
14)Creating a consonance between vertical and horizontal ties

2nd FYP & 3 Phase Development

1) implementation in 3 phases to bring entire country under CDPs (gradually)
2) 3 phases were......

DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES OF CDPs

8 TYPES OF ACTIVITIES

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Agricultural activities & related matter (irrigation)

Communication
Education
Health
Training
Social welfare

7) Housing
8) Employment generation

4 TYPES OF PROGRAMMES TO FULFILL 8 ACTIVITIES

1) CONSTITUTIONAL PROGRAMS

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)

Building roads (kuccha and pucca)

Building drains
Pavement on streets
School buildings, community centres
Drinking water and dispensaries
Housing for Dalits

2) IRRIGATION PROJECTS

A) Digging wells
B) Construction of water tanks
C) Installing pump sets

3) AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMMES

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)

Reclamation of soil
Soil conservation technique
Consolidation of land holdings
Popularising seeds, manures and pesticides
Popularising new method of conservation

4) INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAMMES

A) Youth club, community centres
B) VIKAS MANDALS

C)
D)
E)
F)
G)
H)

Cooperative societies
Dispensaries and maternity centres
Adult literacy centres
Primary schools
DAI training centre (Midwife)
Cottage industry

NEW ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

New administrative machinery was created

Centre---> state---> districts---> project level---> block
Non-officials also participated for supervision
Training to functionalists at lower level
Communication machinery was utilised for awareness
Entire procedure of administrative law was streamlined
1) > red-tapism/officialism was curtailed
7) At such a large scale, the development program's
never happened before anywhere in the world
8) Arouse academic interest of scholars round the world
1) > Mandelbaum, Oscar Lewis, SC DUBEY--->
evaluated the program
9) Government appointed BALWANT RAI MEHTA
COMMITTEE for evaluation

FINDINGS OF VARIOUS SCHOLARS & BALWANTRAI MEHTA

1) Success below expected
2) Presumed that village is a community (it is conglomeration of various miniature
communities)
3) Presumed Interest is not irreconcilable
1) > met-calf and Gandhi were wrong
4) No self sufficient village republics
5) Conflicting interests
6) Another wrong assumption that state is in charge of development deliveries in impartial
and bi partisan manner
1) > Marx right

2) > gramsevaks and BDOs favoured dominant class

3) > gram sevaks helped their own village more
7) Marginal farmers were ignored
8) No elected body so people can participate and articulate
1) > therefore, later on, PRIs were established
9) Conflict over authority and accountability between project officials and government
department
10)Poor communication from below--> remained apathetic
11) Commands form above (one-way communication)
12) No proper training to low level staff
13)No awareness for mobilising people and no coordination
14)Program accentuated village inequalities

WHAT AFTER FAILURE.....

1) After 2nd FYP...

2) CDPs were transmuted into IADPs, SFDPs, MFDPs
3) Target development approach was started

GREEN REVOLUTION & SOCIAL CHANGE

1) GR --> Euphemism for seed fertilisation technology

2) Adopted due to sever drought (65-66-67)
3) HVY seeds (Norman Borlaug)
1) > no stack
4) Betting on strong
5) Introduced where irrigation was available
6) Scale neutral, not resource neutral
7) Based on US model, assistance from US
8) Bureaucracy favoured big farmers
9) Since no rural infrastructure, so GR was an easier way
10)End of 4th FYP--> 100 mt
11) Today > 250 million tonnes

CONSEQUENCES & GR


1) capitalistic transformation of agriculture
2) Generation of surplus
3) monetization of rural economy
4) Breakdown of JAJMANI SYSTEM
5) Traditional balance between agriculture and handicrafts disturbed
6) Jobless artisans
7) Consumerism in rural areas (bike and TV)
8) Initially, heightened demand for labour, later, less due to mechanisation
9) Unemployment due to tractors and pump sets
10)Labour displacement
11) Wage rate increased, but inflation increased more than that

STUDIES ON GR

JOHN HITCHKOCK STUDY (HANCOCK)

1) UP study
2) Selling of sugarcane---> commercialisation of agriculture

HANSLEY'S MAYER GROUP (HANSU)

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Study in 1960
Prices rose by 19%
Wage rate by 8.9%
Purchasing power declined
Scale neutral technology was not neutral
Unbiased for small farmers

1)
2)
3)
4)

Studied 5 districts
LUDHIYANA, PALGHAT, THANJAVAUR, EAST GODAWARI, BARDWAN (WB)
Farmers 10 acre or more land--> more profits
Less than 10 acre---> less profits

FRANCIS FRANKLE(DAV FRANCIS)

SUCHHA SINGH STUDY (PUNJAB) (Suchi)

1)
2)
3)
4)

60% marginal farmers

20% small farmers
Sold their land
Landholdings of big farmers increased

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

north arcot district

Wages increased by 33%
Big farmers income increased by 76%
Inequalities accentuated
Marginal farmers forced to sell their lands

STUDY IN CHINNAPPA (Julian Smith) ( TAMILNADU)

STUDY BETWEEN (1965-75) concerning GR

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Rural households increased by 16.6%

Labour households increased by 35%
Migration increased
Inequalities increased
Demand for labour increased then mechanisation
Middle class peasants impacted by inflation
Protest by GR areas
1) > subsidies, MSP, loans, procurement policy
2) > prevent price crash by MSP
8) Prevented diversification of agriculture (horticulture)
9) Ecological consequences
10)Rice consumed all water and left saline land
11) Safety of farm workers (limb missing)
12)Depeasantition increased
13)Proletarisation increased
14)Rural poverty increased
15)Bihar and UP --> 80% BPL
16)NAXALBARI movement in Punjab and south Bihar
17)Wages vs profit
18)Gender inequalities increased, preference to male workers

19)Regional inequalities increased

1) > telangana movement
20)No technological breakthrough in millets (only in rice & wheat)
21) Fragmentation of land made agriculture unviable
22)Subsidies decreased
23)Farmers asking for free water and electricity

CHANGING MODES OF PRODUCTION IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE

1) Polarisation of classes
2) Proletarisation
3) Inequality and disparity
4) CDP, LR, GR all failed
5) Progressive increases in rural labour household
6) Marginal landowners forced to sell their land
7) Depeasantisation of agriculture
8) Landlordisation of land
9) Rural households increased by 16%
10)Rural labour household increased by 35%
11) Cash nexus
12)Market economy to hinterland
13)JAJMANI ties broke yard

IMPACT IN 3 AREAS

1) Rural Labour inequality

(LAND ALIENATION)
(CENSUS)

A) Rural labour
households increased
B) Agricultural labour
households increased

C)
D)
E)
F)
G)

37.8% were agricultural labourers (wages) out of total 100%, in 1971

Remaining were agricultural workers (allied activities)
In 2001, agricultural workers increased to 45.6%
50% people were agricultural labourers, surviving on wages
From 1970s to 2000, rural agricultural labour households increased to 40% from
25%
H) Capital transformation of agriculture---> polarisation of society
I) Rural labour households overwhelmingly consist of SC, ST & OBCs
J) Jobless due to breakdown of JAJMANI SYSTEM
K) So, no weavers or waterman required anymore
L) The situation was not that grim for forward caste among BC (caste differences)
M) Due to capital transformation, no land---> became rural labor
N) Agro based processing industries were not in abundance
O) Migration initiated
P) Informal sector in cities
Q) 1994, rural Agricultural household 56% landless
R) 2000, Rural agricultural household 57% landless, constantly loosing
S) Land alienation
T) SC, worst hit
U) Overall landless 57%
V) SC landless labourers 65%
W) ST landless labourers 48%
X) Average land holding land size is declining
Y) .32 Hectare in 1988 to .18 hectare in 2000
Z) Forced to sell their land to big landowners die to exigencies viz. marriage or funeral

2) Problem Concerning wages

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)
G)

Absence of unionisation among RAL & AL, except in south Bihar

Could not assert for minimum wages set by govt.
Good wages in plantation and fisheries
Less wages in agriculture
NREGA (a silver lining) has provided solution to low wages
Highest wages during ploughing and sowing, not harvesting
Caste operates in labour market too (OBCs > SC > ST)

3) Indebtedness of Rural Labour Force

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)
G)
H)
I)
J)
K)

Incidence of indebtedness increased among OBCs

May be due to more loan worthy
Not so in SC or ST
Most of the debt for unproductive activities
Debt bondage, no way of repaying
Only 22.5% of loan for production purposes
70% loan from moneylenders (usury capital)
Share of bank was low and decline
After LPG, Banks role dwindled
Share of moneylenders & relatives increased
MFI---> limited success

PSEUDO-MIGRATION

"Push factor, not the pull factor or the glamour of

cities"

CHALLENGES IN SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION


Poverty, deprivation & inequality (DIP)

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)

Poverty due to failed strategies CDP, LR, GR

Poverty in India is always absolute poverty
Calorie norm (2100 vs 2400)
Income norm (538 vs 356)
Deprivation wrt to basic needs of life
Deprivation in areas of economic, social, health & others



HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)
G)
H)
I)
J)
K)
L)
M)
N)
O)
P)
Q)

Poverty, legacy of colonial rule

Due to their economic changes, now start counting
Land alienation
Export of peasants
Production and productivity decreased
Backwardness of agriculture
Late industrialisation due to obscurantist approach
Destroyed handicrafts
PSS, RS & MS
At the time if independence 50% BPL
182 million BPL in 1956 to 261 million in 1973
After independence, poverty increased
CDP for big landlords
LR was anti poor
GR for rich farmers
Mechanistic industrialisation
MAHALANOBIS model assumed that if sustained growth by 7%, trickle down will
happen, but actual growth was 3.5% (Hindu growth rate by rajkrishan)
R) Brought changes........
S) Structured mass poverty can be eliminated by growth rate
T) Immediate solution would be to give subsidies like FFW, ANTODAYA & IRDP
U) Direct subsidies to poor
V) 6th plan onwards TRYSEM & RLEGP
W) Anti -poverty programs (GARIBI HATAO PROGRAMS)
X) 50% BPL in 1951 to 54% in 1974 to 39% in 1988
Y) Came just above BPL
Z) MAHALANOBIS model was found to be unsustainable since BOP crisis were
bourgeoning due to gulf war
AA)Begged from IMF
BB)Suggested to set house in order
CC)1991 LPG---> highest growth rate, no BOP crisis
DD)But, poverty increased
EE) NC SEXENA 400 million people BPL
FF)ARJUN SENGUPTA 77%
GG)India, highest poor---> 1/4th of world's poor
HH)Indian poor --> 26 African nations
II) Poverty persisted even after LPG

JJ)175 million to 400 million poor

KK)Growth of reform period failed to make a dent
LL)Agriculture increased by 2-3%
MM)Economic growth due to service sector
NN)Highly skilled labour in demand (UMC)
OO) No benefit to rural population
PP)It might changes since BPOs are going there
QQ)46% children under age 3, 49% under age 6, are malnourished
RR) 1/2 of Indian children are malnourished
SS)They may not develop as a wholesome adult
TT)79% under 5 anaemia
UU) 56% are not fully immunised
VV)NFHS (national family health survey) 2006, 79% did not receive vitamin A in last 6
months
WW)Women and adolescent girls (anaemia, chronic energy deficiency, non institutional
delivery)
XX)Iron pills to counter anaemia
YY)Nutritious midday meal
ZZ)Got over polio

SOCIAL & REGIONAL DIMENSION OF POVERTY

A) Caste as a dimension

I) SC,ST & OBC, MUSLIMS too

II) Forward caste merely 12% poor
III) 42% of all SC ST
IV) 29% of all India urban poor--> SC ST
V) 29% SC/ST in total rural population, among poor they are 42% (Disparity)

B) Regional Dimension

I) BIMARU-O
II) 1/2 of Indian poor

C) Occupation as a dimension


I) Most poor are agricultural labourers
II) Connect Weber's market situation determines life chances
III) Maharashtra and Gujarat increased industrialisation and growth rate, but poverty is
still there
IV) Kerala's growth rate is moderate, but poverty eradication is rapid and remarkable
V) HARYANA, PUNJAB, HIMACHAL PRADESH, J&K good record of eradication
VI) Since agriculture increased, poverty decreased
VII)Punjab & Kerala --> lowest malnutrition
VIII)BIHAR, CHATTISGARH, GUJARAT---> highest malnutrition