G

JANUARY 1990

RS.2.

,.

Indira Awas Yojana is part of the Jawahar

Rozgar Yojana. Construction of houses for
SCs/STs and freed bonded labourers is
taken up under this Yojana.

EdUor

B.K. Dhusia
Asstt. Editor

Surendra Tiwary
Sub-Editor

Kamal Kant Saxena

Production

Officer

R.S. Munjal
Coyer
4

Hur'ukshelra

Alka Nayyar
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'''i.

(A Journal of Department of Rural Development)

Editorial Office: 464-A. Krishi Bhavan.

New Delhi-I 10001. Tele. 384888

Vol. XXXVIII
NO.4

The views expressed by the authors do not .

necessarily reflect the "iews o/the Goyernment

Photographs-Courtes)':

January 1990
Pausa-Magha 1911

Photo Division

and Deptt. of R.D.

CONTENTS~
,
I

PAGE

PAGE

t.

JAY TO USHER

Navin Chandra Joshi

IN RURAL

REJUVENATION

PEOPLE'S

PARTICIPATION:

IMPORTANT

COMPONENT

AN

26

OF JR Y

Chhaya Datar
JRY FOR SOCIAL

SOLIDARITY

EMPLOYMENT

SCHEMES

WITH STRUCTURAL

Kamala Prasad

HAVE TO CONTEND

29

PROBLEMS

Bharar Dogra
ARE PANCHAYATS

PREPARED

FOR JRY,!

12

WORKING

OF GRAMODAY

A SCHEME:

31

AN APPRAISAL

S.M. Shah

L Gopalakrishnaiah
P. Mohan Reddy and
C. Sivarami Reddy
JRY-A

LEAP TOWARDS

POVERTY

ALLEVIATION

17

RURAL

HEALTH

CARE

SERVICE-A

SURVEY

35

M. Felix Moneler and'

Angsuman Basa

B. M urugesan
GIVE PANCHAYATS
FREEDOM

UNDER

THEY SHOW

OPERATIONAL
JRY

THE WAY

21

S.P. Ranga Rao

42

-------------

JRY to usher in rural rejuvenation

NAVIN CHANDRA JOSHI
Reader,',Motilal Nehru College, Delhi University
I

such areas as the hills, deserts and the islands. The criteria
for the distribution of resources to village panchayats from
the districts are on the basis of population of the villagepanchaya!. If the population of a village panchayat is less
than 1000, then it is assumed 1000 for the allocation of
funds. Panchayats with a population of 3000 to 4000 would
receive funds of the order of Rs.80,OOOto RS.l,OO,OOO.
Others would get on aprb rata basis.

'THE CRITICAL
PROBLEMS of Indian
OFeconomy,
poverty and unemployment prevalent particularly in rural areas of the country needed some
effective solution on a sustained basis. As such a progressive scheme, called J awahar Rozgar Yojana, was
introduced in April 1989,which is now being implemented
and administered by the village panchayats all over the
country. Over 440 lakh families, which are below the
poverty line, are intended to benefit from this scheme.
The existing schemes, known as National Rural
Employment Programme and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme, have been merged into this
new yojana (JR Y) which is to provide employmentj to
atleast one member of each poor family for 50 to 100days
in a year in the vicinity of places of their residence. Of the
total expenditure incurred, 15 per cent will be transferred
to village panchayats to be used exclusivelyfor the benefit
of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Of the
beneficiaries under the JRY, 30 per cent will be women. .

Allotment of funds
VARIOUS STATES and Union Territories have
THE
been alloltedJunds under the scheme in proportion to
the number of persons living below the poverty line in

them. The devolution of funds to districts has been determined in -terms of criteria of backwardness such as the

share of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with total

population of the district, the share of agricultural labour
to total labour, and the level of agricultural productivity.
It has also been decided to give specific consideration tb

As is well-known, rubl imemployment and underemployment, particularly affecting the poorest segments
ofthe rural population, h~ve been the major contributory
factors to the high incidence of poverty in the rural' areas
notwithstanding the level of economic development that
has taken place over the plan period. The Sixth Plan had
alleviation of rural poverty as one of tlie main objectives ..
As'such, the strategy adopted aimed at redistribution of
income and consumption in favour of poorer sections of
the'population by significahtly increasing employment opportunities in the rural; areas. The Naiional Rural
Employment Programmd (NREP) was started in October, 1980 to achieve this objective. It replaced the Food
For Work Programme and became a part of the Sixth Plan
from April 1,1981.
.
Subsequently, another programme known as Rural
Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP)
was launched on August 15, 1983. Its principal objective
was to improve and expartd employment opportunities
particularly for the rural landless la~our with a view to
providing guarantee of employment to at least one member of every rural landless labour household upto 100 days
in a year~
!
I

KURUKSHETRAJanuary,

1990

~
.

Employment & plans

HE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUCH EMPLOYMENT
programmes far mitigating rural paverty is also.
reflectecl in the Seventh Plan. It may also.be recalled that
the then Unian Finance Minister, in his budget speech far'
. 1989-90, announced a new scheme far intensive emplayment ill backward districts with acute paverty and.
unemplayment to. be implemented in 120 districts far
which a pravisian af Rs.500 crores was made. The intentian behind the new intensive emplayment scheme, which
was later named as Jawahar Rozgar Yajana, was that the
funds a1latted under the' new scheme wauld be an additianality (a the existing NREP IRLEGP to.provide more
emplayment apportunities in view af their backwardness.
An annauncement was made in the budget speech that
NREP and RLEGPwauId be merged inta.Olleprogramme
and implemented as a centrally spansared scheme an the
basis af75: 25 sharing between the Centre and the States.

abaut improvement in the averall quality aflife in the rural"

areas.

It was thereafter decided that NREP and' RLEGP,

alang with' the new programme annDunced by the then
Finance Minister, ShDUldbe merged into. ane single rural
emplDymentprogramme to.be named as JR Y. The expenditure imder JR Y is being. shared an 80:20 basis between
the Centre and the States. The Central assistance under
JR Y is released to.the districts direct. Nat less than 80 pet
cenfDfthe a1IDcatiDns'underthe pragramme, and received
by the district in respect afbath the Central assistance and
the state contributian, are required to. be given to. the
village panchayats. Thus it is hDped that distributiDn af
resaurces to.gram panchayats will result in increasing the
caverage af the pragramme to.all the rural areas. Further,
fuller and mare active participatian Df the peaple cauld
nDWbe ensured in the implementatian of emplDyment
programmes such as the JR Y.

.Objectives
ROADLY, THE FOL.L0WING ARE the abjectives.
. .

Baf Jawahar Razgar YaJana:-

1Primary objectives: GeneratiDn Df additiDnal gainful

emplayment far the unemplayed and. under-emplayed
persons. both men and women in the rural areas;.
2. Secofuioryobjectives:
'Creatian Df praductive community assets far direct and continuing benefits to. the
paverty graups and far strengthening rural, ecanamic'and
social infrastructure that will lead to. rapid grawth af the
rural econamy alang with a steady rise in the incame levels
af the rural poor. The ather secondary abjective is to.bring

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

Biggest jobs programme

'.

ow THEJRY AIMS at strengthening the planning

Nprocess
at the village !l,vel by involving ~illage
panchayats in the planning' and implementatlan Df
projects .. A- sum af Rs.2,600 crores will be spent in the
Central seCtar an JR Y. As such, ii becomes the biggest

employment programme in the world. The use of funds will

.be decided solely by the gram panchayar on the basis of
the 'felt neelis' of the local people.
.
It is pertinent to ob~erve that of the total allocation at.
the dist~ict level, 6 per cent will be earmarked fo(1ndira
AwaasYojana (lAY) for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes. Of the 80 per centamo.unt to be given to Village
panchayats, 20 per cent will be used at the district level.
DRDNZP will use 5 per cent of their funds for administrative expenditure .while upto 10. per cent cim
be
I
spent for maintenance .of the assets created under JRY.
The rest will be .distributed on economically pro~uctive
assets (35 per cent), social forestry work (25 per cent),
. individual beneficiaries of SCslSTs (15 per cent) and on
other works,.including roads and buildings (25 per cent).
Gr,ani panchayats have, however, the freedom to change
the sectoral allocations. The projects to be taken up under
the JR Y have to be durable in nature.

. Project selection
.ON

THE SELECTION of projects, an important

aspect is that there will not be any state intervention.
The DRDAslZPs will"prepar.eannual action plans for the
JR Y and they will be approved by their .own council. A
committee of the gram pafichayat will be. appointed to
oversee, supervise and monitor implementation of the
projects undertaken. Physical and financial audit of the
works implemented by gram panchayats has been made
compulsory. At the same time, the State Government can
also monitor the projects through its rural development
,department. Even voluntary organisations can be involved
in the implementation of programmes at the district and
'gram panchayat levels. Thus it is found that the JRY
attempts at doing better in a number of crucial matters. Its
ouistanding feature is that it strengthens decentralised
planning at the district and the village levels by involving
villagepanchayats as well as the masses in the planning and
im~lementation of the scheme.

The lurking doubts

1988-89 the total funds under JR Y were of
D. URING
the order of Rs.2,625 crores, of which the first instalment of RS.l,OOOcrores was allocated to the States by
August 1989. Somehow, there is a. feeling among. the
people that the sch",me will not benefit the poor much in
terms of employment as it is only 100 days in a year allhe
most. Then, there may be some 'leakage' o( funds or
diversion for activities which may have nothing to do with
the scheme. However, since there is ~o experience gained
so far, such misgivings"arenatural. Since the magnitude of
6

unemployment and poverty is so. big. that providing

employment only for the allotted number of days need to
be appreciated on a co""trywide basis; As for the leakage
and misuse of funds, it,is for the various agencies to take
care ..When the whole country is involved, one can hope.
thilt quantum and frequency of these evilswill not be much.
The scheme will undoubtedly benefit those who can
avail themselves of it arid, if programmes and projects are
wiselyselected, it can benefit the community by augmenting facilities such as tub,e-wells,roads, irrigation schemes,
etc., where they were most needed. At the same time, it is
the employment potential of the Yojana that is directly
relevant for any assessment. It is universally true that such
anti-poverty measures cannot be commercially viable.
However, when they are wisely selected, they do improve
productivity in the long run though only a few of them may
be able to .generate sufficient funds in the. short-run to
maintain employment d-eated initially. As such, inveStment in sjlch prograrnm~s has to be renewed year after
year to ensure a given level of employment at least for some
years till tliey become self-sustaining. JRY, as an antipoverty programme, isboundto alleviate the sufferings of
the people in years of scl.rcity, drought, floods and such
other natural calamities even as it may not eradicate poverty in the short-rum. Since, unlike. NREP and RLEGP,
. which covered only 59 per cent of the vilIage"sin India, the
"JRY intends to cover all tlie villages, obviously, the resources at its disposal have to be spread thinly over the whole
country. The consideration of equity has been uppermost
in the minds of the framers ofthis Yojana. An important
feature of JR Y is that it has done away with the employment of contractors. This .itself wonld be a great boon in
optimising the resources [at the disposal of the .gram
panchayat..
.
I

Obviously, it would be difficult for a single sarpanch to

keep anything secret for long. People have to COmeforward with what they want immediately for the community.
It is possible that a low priority may be taken up first.
However" such mistakes are not liable to be. repeated as
. people have the opportunity to express their demands.
And more/importantly, they have the means at their disposal, howsoever meagre, to implement them. The JRY
puts a heavy responsibility '1n sarpanchas and panchas of
a village panchayat. As such, they need to be trained for
.picking up the right types of projects. They would also
need to be told the rudimeniary principles of planning so
that the projects can be such as can be dovetailed into
long-ierm programmes. It is good that some programmes
have already been chalked out to introduce familiarisation
courses and for creating data-base so that people get
involved in the planning teChniques. An inbuilt sOcial
I

KURUKSHETRAJanuary,
I

1990

control mechanism has to be created within the massive

education programmes for villagers.
One serious criticism of iR Y is that some schemes or
funds for them have been shelved. They were the ongoing
schemes under NREP and RLEOP. However, this is not
a general phenomenon, blit only in rare cases such things
have happened. They need to be looked into and the
adequate funds provided for the ongoing projects.
DRDAs and ZPs have to open special accounts for JR Y
so that the Central assistance is deposited in them as also
the State assistance. The Yojana funds are not to be mixed
with other funds of the ORDAs 'and ZPs. DRDAs are
'expected to distribute the funds Within one month of the
receipt o( the money by them to all the panchayats on the
basis of population. The panchayats will open bank accounts to which the released funds will be credited., They
are also to keep JR Y funds in the separate bank accounts.
Where there are no panchayats functioning, the DRDAs
, will pass on the funds to the blocks.
'

Monitoring
WAGE COMPONENT of the programmes to be'
THE
taken up in the panchayats as a whole should be at least
50 per cent. The remaining 20 per cent of the funds will be '
left to the DRDAs' .disposal. First priority has to be given
to districts to complete the spill over works under the old
NREP and RLEOP schemes. After completion of the
spill-over works at the district!evel, inter-village works and
programmes to benefit the community at large will be
taken up. The centre has asked th'e States that ttiey should'
also work out monitoring and supervision arrangements of
,theschemes implemented under JRY,

Fund allocation criteria

'AS

SAID EARLIER, the criteria for allocation of

resources to the Siates is backwardness, population of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and agricultural
productivity, while at the village level it is only population,
It is suggested'thatthe criteria for allocation "frcsources
at village panchayatlevel should be the same as it is at the
state level because poverty levels differs from one village
to another. Again"althOligh the population of Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes generally constitute the,
poorest section ofthe society yet their' condition of poverty
is no!.uniform in ali the villages. It is, therefore, necessary
to prepare some lists showing their means of livelihood,
income and such other relevant particular~ al the village
level.'On the basis of these Iisls, allocation of resources
should be made.
' ,

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

Also, a larger share of resources need to be given to

village panchayats which are located in the interior areas
of the country. Their condition is more acute and the
problems more severe. More than anything else, we have
to guard against the commanding ,influence of the rural
elite in our village panchayats as otherwise the condition
ofthe rural poor may not improve the way it should. While
there is some inbuilt cushion against such an eventuality,
it is the genuine duty ,of all concerned to see that the
beneficiaries get their due share an,d are not duped by the'
powerful elements in villages.
However, an enduring solution to the problem of unemployment under the JR Y would be to provide goods
and services in rural homes as that will give work to
millions and millions of idle hands. For instance,
Maharashtra owes much of its rural prosperity to cooperative sugar factories. Oujarat flourished because of
cooperative Amul Dairyand Punjab gained due to ancillary home units. As such under the'JRY we should attempt
to create as much of goods and services as may be possible
from the local natural resources. ,

Boosting cooperatives
E'T US,REMEMBER that cboperatives have still to
Lmake lot of progress in the country. It is through them
that we'can multiply not only goods and services but also
generate sufficient employment. A 'market-oriented system of production has an inevitable tendency to increase
concentration of wealth and income and to divert production to meet the demands of the affluent rather than of the
pOOLSuch a system, therefore, tends to deepen poverty.
Empl'oyrnent generation, 'as an 'objective oLeconomic

growth, suffers in competition with the use oflabour saving

machinery. This is what has actually hap;'ened in India so
far in the industrial sectoLln fact, this has also happened ,
in the agricultural sector as the ranks of landless unemployed have,increased over tl1eyears despite the green
revolution which took place in some limited areas.

Under-employment
IS ALSO NEED: FOR removing underTHERE
employment in our agricultural economy. We have not'
taken into account the nature land magnitude of their
problem. Under-employment has been a curse as it has led
10 lower productivity. More than that, it has caused waste
of our human resources. Time has not come when, in the
wake of JR Y, we should launch a drive to map out the
defect for bringing about radical improvement in our
agricultural economy.
'

The backlog of total unemployment in the country al the'

commencement of the Seventh Plan (1985) was 11.98 million. As such, the number of people seeking employment
..during the plan period (1985-86) would be 51.36 million,
thus leaving 11 million people unemployed in the beginning of the Eighth Plan. On the basis of rural-urban ratio
of 79:21, about 39 and 11 million jobs will need to be'
provided in rural and urban areas respectively. The growth
in rural labour force is 2.39 per cent and that of Ihe urban
labour force is 3.44 per cent. If these growth ratescontinue
to remain, the estimated size onolal labour force in rural
and urban areas will shoot up from 240.63 million and
61.71 million to 269.16 million and 73.08 million respectively in 1990. In sum, the basic issue is to create job
opportunities for about 40 million in India's rural areas'
with a view to achieving the objective of full employment
in the rural sector of the economy.

Other reasons
TTISSUGGESTEDTHAT
ANY SCHEME for generaJ.tion of full employment in rural areas should take certain
factors into consideration. For example, there is a highly
skewed distribution pattern of resource base in the form
of landholding; producti-:e assets and levels of technology
adopted in villages. Further, there are wide differences in
the pattern of incomes,

saving potential,

investment

capabilities, risk-taking, entrepreneurial potentials,

educational. levels and access to knowledge about im'proved agricultural factors. Dependency on traditional
employment sources, as in the case of agricultural labour,
is also
importa'Dt social structural constraint.

an

The strategy for creating larger employment opportunities under the JRY needs to be multi-pronged. The
potential of employment in non-agricultural rural jobs'
should be fully explored in order to accommodate those
who cannot find work in the land-based occupations. The
gamut of rural employment programmes should cover the
entire economic activities in rural areas. Through formation of skiIIs relevant to rural areas, rural manpower
shoiJld be developed for taking up self-employment
programmes. That would n.ecessitate the development of
a well-designed and broad-based support system capable
of assisting the new class of' artisans, craftsmen, in-

dustrialists and enlrepreneurs at all crucial stages, like the

formation of projects, procurement of finance, tool kit,

machinery and equipment, of raw-materials at reasonable

rates and marketing of finished goods.

l
I,

Forestry potential

IT MUST BE RECOGNISED thai the

FURTHER,
potential of forestry in generating employment is ~uch
greater than that of ariy other sector in most parts of the
country's rural areas. Forestry occupation is s,uch that it
can involve any type of worker, semi-slcil1ed,without any
kind of intensive training. Employment in forestry is weD
dispersed and is available throughout the year, mOreparticularly in the off-season for crop production. ;rhe
contribution of forestry occupation would be' in the
generation of emplo)'D1entin spheres of cultural operations, harvesting opedtions, supporting operations and
industrial operations.

'

Under the JR Y we should also establish throughout the

country agro-based ind'ustries for providing supplementary part-time employment to farmers and their families..
The setting up of cottag~ and rural industries will also stop,
migration to cities. With smaIl implements many units can
come up and we shoule create apex marketing bodies
which will market their' products, provide credit, help .
research and developrnent, and otheir services. These
units have been successfuDyexperimented in Japan. They
have tremendous employment potential in India's
countryside.:

.
I

Needing responsive administration

I

LL SAID AND DONE, providing gainful employment is the only way to remove poverty. From this
angle, ihe J awahar Rozgar Yojana has not come a day too
soon. Its appropriateness ,cannot be questioned. What we
must now aim at is that gradually it mitigates the impact of
poverty and unemploymel't in the rural sector of Indian
society. Finally, a responsive administration becomes im- .
perative when programmes of rural development are
, initiated and pUIinlo opeiaiion. The need for an efficient
and honest administration is now no more a theoretical
slogan. The government Imeans business this time for
bringing about radical social changes to usher in awelfare
State. Rural employment wbuld bring about social chang"!,
for a new awakening in the masses with regard to their
rights, duties and responsibilities towards the society in
which they live. This perhaps Would be the greatest contribution ofJ awahar Rozgaf Yojanaior decades to come.D

'

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

I
I

JRY for social solidarity

t
KAMAlA

PRASAI)

Planning Ad\'iser.t~m~Develo~menl
Commissi?ner,

Palna

HE
JAWAHAR ROZGAR YOJANA is already nine
T .rnonths old. It has generated widespread discussion
about its viability conceptually, financially and organisationally. The Bihar experience
points to a positive
response during a massive educational effort .undertaken
to secure expeditious launch. The State had been preparing for the transfer of work to the local bodies for quite
some time. The decision to implement the transfer implied
simply the acceleration of the process. Even,before the
funds got transferred to the panchayats,' a massive orientation programme
based '''fj seminars of panchayat
functionaries and Government' employees was organised
at the district headquarters andmost of the sub.divisional

programme designed for them, their isolation .from the

programme formulation activities generating a feeling of
indifference
towards the programmes
implemented
resulting in indifferent benefits and, fmally, lack of a spirit
of self-reliant developmeni. As the size of rural development programmes expanded, the .local level dependency'
tended to aggravate', Obviously, what is required is not just
a massive induction of additional funds but a change in the
orientation of the Government e~ployees and the attitude
of the target groups. Such a qualitative change in the
scenario can be brought about provided adequate commitment is fostered.

headquarters. The response to the seminars was very en-

Dimensions of the programmes

couraging. It was not that the attendance was good, but the
~nteraction demonstrated:the I(een intcrcSllhal grassroot
people's representatives and'the.Governmenl
employees
were evincing in the programme.

The physical output so

far demonstrates that the strategy of these prcparatory

steps had paid good dividend. There has becn no setback
in the pace of eplpl0Y"1ent offered or programmes taken
up.

Rural scene
'THE
POSITIVE CHANGES IN RURAL INDIA in
. the last 40 years is undeniable. There is improvement
~nincomes

and life-:styles: However, the changes arc

no~

as dram,alic as pro,mised. Some of the more impc)rtant

problems that faces rural India are under-employment
'migration of landless labourers from pockets of endemic
ufj-employrnent,
lack of information
revolution that
awakens the rural masses to their shar,e in the development'
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

..:.

HE
JAWAHAR ROZGAR YOJANA is the latest in
T the scrics of national programmes to meet the. chal.
Iengc of unemployment and ,under-employment
in rural
India. Its coverage will be the most extensive since structurally each village will have to be covered with schemes
under theYojana. This will no longer be discretionary. The
designbd coverage provides a cushion that can improve the
employability and emoluments of the rural landless. The
inbuilt thrust on job diversification for those who wor\( on
land can loosen the shackles of~social stratification. The
guarantee of reasonably rel1funerative manual work wilf
improve payment of wages 'in the rural areas in general.
This standby arrangement prornises to guarantee fuller
employment to the rural landless and those who are seeking to improve their incomes: Manual labour alone is no
guarantee for employment; the availabilitY of opportunity
will make'a choice of either joining public works programmcs or taking on so,,:,e'self - ~mployment activity. It would
9

improve programme content if specific provision for the

,educated unemployed (which has dangerous portent) is
built into the Yojana. '

Creative grass root planning

HE}A W AHAR ROZGAR YOJANA clearly under'lines the need for a positive thrust to grassroots'
planning. It would imply further that the weight of depend- .
, ency syndrome iii rural planning viz., dependency on the
Government
machinery,
dependency
on the locals
dominant power structure, dependency on external inputs
for progress
must be slackened.'
A revolutionary
grassroots planning has to thrash out the socio-economic
goal cif local community; to'set priorities of development
works within a time frame; to identify locally available
manpower to undertake
individual schemes; to seek
Government manpower support merely to fill in gaps in
local availability; to lay down the system of social accountability; and to transact all business connected with
.programme formulation and implementation in open and
,without secrecy;
Land development,
irrigation system construction,
school or housing construction, tree plantation should
justify themselves by completion and durability rather than
adherence to niceties of public wo'rk specifications under
Government. Results achieved should justify the means
adopted in planning and execution of the programme. It
appears that in the name of sanction of schemes attempts
are on even now to further bureaucratise the process. This
will be a factor for' failure unJess steps are devised to
transfer to the community and local institutions responsibilities that they have' undertaken for private work of
their own. The lawahar.Rozgar
Yojana is a means to a.
beller planning of development activities by the local communities and their elected representatives. The purpose
will be lost by the extensive bureaucratic control. The role
of' centralised
hierarchies
requires 10 be graduaily
reduced. The arrangement for technical and professional
consultancies should be fostered, Ihe rules of audit for
Panchayat-controlled
work suitably changed. The confidence in planning locally important schemes will emerge
from an almost totaJ freedom from imposed complexes
and steps towards laying down targets for groWth and
. quality of life indices.

Rural delivery system

THE
SEARCH FOR A MORE ENERGETIC delivery
,system has for the present ended in the attempt 10
revitalise the Panchayati Raj Instit utions. Thc rcmoval of
control regarding sectoral allocation offunds hasa poten10

tialto strengthen the creative grassroots planning. Uniformity creates many problems;,and an approach to job that
suits the needs of Jocal landless can strengthen
the
decision-making competence of local instituiions. The
Yojana. can thrive on 'extending local consu1tationin
selecting programmes. It may also be worthwhile selecting'
schemes that require low expertise and are related to land
where expertise exists at the local level. In regard to crea.tion of assets the choice cah very well lie in areas that,match
the production needs and quality of life indices within the
time frame available for completing the projects. The
reliance on local manpower and other resources available
can strengthen the roots ,!f local accountability.
The choice of the delivery mechanism,has been,a difficult one. There is a group of the opinio~ that Panchayats
represent the entrenched vested interests in rural India.
The Panchayats had the principal role under planning for
NREP also but experience shows that they did not care
adequately for_building the assets for the weaker sections.
The results of project implementation has been uneven. It
is expected that therestr~cturing
of the Panchayats will,
bring about a salutary change. Additional steps need also
to be considered to ensure that the promises of, the
lawahar Rozgar Yojana is fulfilled. It is a weilestablished'
axiom of good administrat'ion that the responsiveness of
the delivery system is closely related to the proximity of the
system to the people involved in development. However,
this axiom can be converted into reality if we try to follow
Gandhiji's prescription on Swaraj which is apt for' the
functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, specially in
the light of experience in a state like Bihar. Writing in
'Young India' on 29.l.i925.he stated, "Real swaraj will'
come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the
acquisiiion of the capacity by all to resist authority when it
is abused. Swaraj is to be obt'ained by educating the masses
to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control
authority."
.
A responsive delivery mechanism has to be sustained on
the re;i1ism pronounced by Gandhiji.
'

, Grassroots organisation

HE P ANCHA YA TJ. RAJ INSTITUTIONS will also

face the challenge of evolving appropriate grassroots
organisation for resources assessment and project implementation., The devolution of funds on the Pa"cnayal
will make it compulsory for them not to stall decision. A
matching of scheme' considered relevant for -the community and funds available at the Panchayat level has the
potential for a more meaningful prioritisation of schemes
lakcn as part of the annual: plan. The Panchayat must
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

become a planning and guiding machinery aild the executian shauld devalve an organisatians far each individual
prajects sanctianed within the Panchayat. The autharity
devalved an small community graups willpramate massive
cammunity participatian in the warks pragramme. A
thrust on graup activities will also.reduce the chances af
misuse af funds and autharity which has been reparted
extenSively an niTal warks pragramme. Such devalutian
will pravide a twa fald, lest 10. 'further refine the delivery
mechanism at the Panchayat level. It will firstly testthe:'
capability af Panchayat functianaries to. undertake the '
kind af creative plann;ng af warks and the management af '
funds entrusted to. them. It will simultaneausly test the
capability af the Panchayat members, particularly the
weaker sectians af the papulatian, to.assert themselves to.
secure what is due to. them under, the Yajana. It can be
safely assumed that the J~wahar Rajzar Yajana may be
able to. prave 'that the respansibility will make the
Panchayat and its members administratively capable.

elitism. It is indistinguishable frem the lacal, feudal leadership and is seen as a party to.explaitatian and 'appressian.
The anwilfd'march ef grassraetsbureaucreary has, therefare, to. be halted and a countervailing farCe is mere
permanent lecal institutiens established far sponsaring
and strengthening communitarian develapment pracess.
Rurai develapment philasaphy shauld aim at achieving
sacial salidarity.
. There has 'to. be an inbuild mechanism far handling
sacial alienatien. The iselatian af the, sexes, the antagenism between castes, the discriminatian af socially
disadvantaged graups, the thwarting af the ambitians af
the yauth add to. the sense af alienatian. One autward
manifestatian af this alienatian is evident in the increasing
sacial crime and speradic eutbreak af vialence. The law
and arder enfarcement ef increasing in'tensity has made
no.,difference in the situatian: itfilrther adds to.the ematienal divide between the administratien and the ,people.
The system has the tendency to. cripple the emergence af
sacial actian groups, to.bypass vocal graup administratian
and to.deal anly with individuals: There has to.be a whalesale change in this erientatien. The initial wastages in
effarts and finances have to.be talerated; after all we have
talerated wastages in bureaucratic management. This
march tawards a balance be~een sacially cansciaus
groups interacting with arganised bureaucracy has the
potentials to. impreve the environment af actian in rurai
dcvelopment. 0

A new philosophy
T IS NECESSARY TO BUILD rural devilapment

Istrategy an a diagnasis 'af the roets af lacal frustration

and rural disenchantment.
premises to do.that.'

Jawahar Rezgar Yejana

"

An era afbureaucratic penetration has achieved physical gains but it has failed to.gain the leadership of rural

Kurukshetra wishes its readers

II
Yl. 9--f.9J.!PPY 9fW

%~

f
/'{

KURUKSHETRA January. 1990

11

Are panchayats prepared for JRY?'

Dr. s.M. SHAH
. Former Adviser, Plannina Commission

THE
PRIMARY OBJECflVE
OF JawaharRozgar
Yojana (1RY) is to generate
additional
gainful
employment for the unemployed and underemployed per,
soilS, both men and women; in the rural areas, In the
budget for 1989-90 a 'provision of Rs:500 crore has been
made for the Yojana, The JRY is extended to cover all
, gram panchayats in the country, Expenditure under the,
scheme is shared. between the Centre and the State' on
80:20 basis, It is hoped that the new programme will
provide fuller employment opportunities to atleast 'One
member in each family living below the poverty line (as in
IRDP survey register) and who, is seeking unskilled
employment

Objectives

HE YOJANA IS THUS TARGETED

to the un. employed poor and the purpose is io add' to' their'
incomes and improve their standard of living, Besides, the '
, ruralinfrastrueture
itself is proposed to be improved and,
prOductive community assets of durable nature created,
There will thus be, an improvement in the overall quality
of life 'of people living in the rural areas,

It is estimated that the Yojana will rea~h 440 lakh

families -living below the poverty line in all rural a~eas in
the country. It seeks to reach every single panchayal.
As focus groups, the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and women are the major beneficiaries. Funds' are
earmarked for them. Fifteen per cent of the annual allocation must be spent on items of works which "directly benefit
the SCs/STs. Diversion of funds meant for SCs/STs is nol

12

permitted. Also, thirty per cent of the 'employment oppor-

tu~ities arc reserved for ~omen.

, Furthermore,
in order to monitor effectively the
'Quarterly Report of Achievement' information is called
for separately on sectoral distribution, of expenditure,
employment generation and physical assets created for
SCs/STs (item vi) as distinct from' those under total works
(iteinvii)
For the first time' specifically
the "freed 'bonded
labourers" are included amongst the target group below
the poverty line. But, will this break their shackles?
'
In order to ensure that the beneficiaries employed on
works belong to the target groups, the cOncerned officials
are required 'to record on the muster roll itself, at the time
of weekly payments, a certificate indicating the empioyment generation for' the Scheduled' Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and others separately as also the total-employment
generated. The total number of mandays generated for the
landless labour and women labour is also required to be
indicated separakly (item iii)

I,

Nature of work

HE GENERATION:
OF EMPLOYMENT
opportunities is through 'rural works' which result in the
-creation of durable productive community assets so as to
ensure continuing incomes to the beneficiaries. High
priority is given to works which 'are required for putting
inlO effecl the infrastructure for the implementation of
various poverty allcvialiol1 programmes such as Integrat~d

K~R UKSHETRA

'

January, 1990

Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Drought Prone

Area Programme (DPAP), Oeser! Development,
Programme (DDP) and Development of Women and,
Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA):'
To'guard against wrong 'identification of beneficiaries,
the 'IRDP Survey Register' is now the basis for locating
persons below the poverty lin~. Earlier adhocism of id~ntifying persons at ihe whims of villagelblock officials is ,
done away with.
'
Five sectoral works are specified; viz., (A) directly
productive economic assets" (B) socio-economic community welfare assets,(C) Indira Avaas Yojana, (D)
Million Wells Scheme and (E) 'Social Forestry Schemes.'
The directly produced eCOnomicassets includejrrigation wells, irrigation tanks, field channels, flood protection
works, anti-water logging, 'soil conservation and land
reclamation, construction of village ponds and lanks, land
development and other works.
The Socie-EconomicCommunity Welfare Assels include provision of drinking water wells, rural roads, school
buildings, development of house sites, construction of
houses,panchayat ahars, construction of buildings, mahila
mandals, cons,truclioil of sanitary latrines and'olher works. '

Avaas Yojana (lAY) and to environmental upgradation

through 'Tree Pattas' under social forestry works.
The SCs/STs and the freed bonded labourers form the
target group under Indira Avaas Yojana. It seeks to pro-.
vi!!eshelter, Ii roof over therr head.
The plinth area under lA Vis 17to 20 Sq. Mt. The house
, should have a kitchen, a smokeleSs chu'llah and a sanitary
latrine unit. A sum ofRs.6000 is provided for the cllnstruc.
tion of a house, RS.I200 for sanitary latrine and smokeless
chullah and RsJOOOfor common facilities. all totallini to
Rs;lO,200 per family.
An attractive feature of lAY is that the houses have to
be 'built in clusiers on 'micro-habitat approach', 'where
land is available. This Writer has seen in Maharashtra, ,
Karoataka and Andhra Pradesh such n:ticro:habitat
clusters of about 30 to 40 houses built under the earlier
Food-For'Works Programme for SCslSTs. These 'arc '
planned habitations with commonfaci1ities. ThecluSteriDg',
has also enabled the habitat to Construct a bie-gas plant
enabling cooking and light in the, houses. It has,paved the
way for new fonn of energy creation and energy use and
improved the quality of lire-in the rural areas. It is feasible
to replete this under lAY. These human settlemenu are
much more livable than their counterparts and evcJithe
better offs in village proper.

Social Forestry 'Works incl~de farm forestry (tree~

planled), plantation',on forest lands, and plantation on
village community lands (area).
The IndiraAvaas Yojana refers tothe numbcr of houses
constructed for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribcs.and
the freed bonded lallourers.
The Million Welis Scheme includes the number of wells
completed and in progress. It has objective of providing
open irrigation wells free of cost to the poor small and
marginal farmers belonging to SCs/STs and the,freed
bonded labourers.
.
Several States have acquired ceiling surplus land and,
have allotted these to the landless. However, 'these
beneficiaries are unable to develop profitable cultivation
oothe assigned land which is generally of poor quality. The
allottees who are below the poverty line can now takcup
recovery"of costs under land developmcnt . from the
Yojana.

'Indira AvaasYojana

A DISTINCTIVE

FEATURE OF JRY is the i'mportance given to housi~g for the poor through Indira

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

"

Treepattas
'A NOTHER ATIRACTIVE SCHEME' under the so.l"1cial forestry sector is the tree pattas. Planting of all
types of fruit, fodder, and fuel irees can be taken up.
Preference is on quick growing trees. Planting can be taken
up on government and community lands and on road sides,
canal embankments, along railway lines and on degraded
forestlands. This will also lead to environment protection
and itrIprovement.
An important 'feature and an incentive under the
scheme is that the benefits of social forestry ,are to accrue
directly to the'rural poor. The tree planting permit tree
patta holder to Usufruct the trees. These rights include
rights to gather dead branches, take twigs and loppings of
the branches, harVest produce such as fruits, flowers,'
seeds, leaves, tappings, etc., carry on treed : based
activities ,such as bee-keeping, silk worm rearing, lac
production, etc. The cost oC-saplings and'wages for the
labour put in tree planting' and the cost of maintenance
upto three years from tlie year of plantation are to bernet'
from the Yojana.

..

13

Th~ 'illustrative list' includes works of a pureiy social

and community nature such as dispensaries, panchayat
ghars; community centres, creches, balwadis, anganwadis,
. etc. linder ICOS. The aganwadis at several places are
found having-no roof al)d are run in open space for want
of accommodation. The JRY should.be fully exploited for
the construction ofanganwadis..
'
.,
,....
.
The need for having a 'central place' in every village to
run common programme like Panchayat, adult literacy,
FLAW classes on funetionalliteracy,
tailoring and other
activities of artisan type is keenly felt. Many programmes
en ,like Mahila Mandals have suffered on this score. This will
help provide a strong 'infrastructure to run several activities in the village. Even propagation of village theatre
is not ruled OU(. Such a central place can provide colourfol
charts and maps to educate the public.
Expenditure
under different sectoral ,programmes,
after allowing for 5 per cent on administ~ative expenses
and 10 per cent on maintenance, is to be utilised as follows:.
1. Economically

productive assets

35%

2. Social forestry works

25%

3. Million wells s~heme

15%

4. Other works including roads and buildings

25%'

The JRY thus provides a balance of works of different

nature. Thereis a clear cut emphasis on bestowing on the
intended beneficiaries benefits of a long term, continuing
nature.
.
Under the Food for WorKs Programme earlier, major
'expenditure was on c0!1.struclion arid repair of rural roads,
cutting stones or spreading mud, The benefits were shortlived and roads washed aw'!)' after ooe rainy season, U~der
Employment Guarantee Scheme in Maharashtra percolation tanks took away a bigger slice, It was 'medium and
large farmers who benefited from the creation of these
assets. The JRY guards.against these pitfalls. '

Minimum wages to pay

To

ENSURE THAT niE POOR working as unskilled

labourers derive full benefits of the programme, the
wage component is kept at. 50 per cent, the rest being on
materials, adm~nistration and maintenance. In order that
vital agrjcultural operations do not suffer [.rom the non-availability of the requir~d_ labour) it is recpmmcndcd that
works should be initiated preferably during th~ Icpn

14

agricultural season. In the payment of wages; the man.

datory obligation is tliat the wages ,for a category of
employment will be same as notified for the'televant
'scheduie' of employment, under the Mininium-Wages
Act. The 'schedule' of present rates in different States is
provided to the State Government (see Jawahar Rozgar
Yojana, State Resource Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi, July 1989). Wages may be paid partly in cash and
partly in kind, i'.e" foodgrams (wheat, rice). The ratio of
distribution of foodgrains shall not exceed i.5 kg. per
manday.
.
Payment of wages should be made on a flied day of the
week,' preferably the local marlCet. day: The foodgrains
, compclnent of wage should, as far as possible, be given ci.n
the work site itself. Arrangements for providing facilities
like drinking water, rest sheds and craches for children of
working mothers.at work sites are required to be made out
of thematerial component of the Yojana.
. . .

Decisive role of village panchayats

HE DISTRICT
RURAL
DEVELOPMENT
AGENCIES and village panchayats are the two inain
actors in the field. The OROAs have gained considerable
experience in implementing a major scheme like IROP.
They, therefore, should not be found wanting on this score. "

Village panchayats on the other hand had no field practice of this nature, The Yojanagives a central place to the
Panchayat; Raj Institutions - Zilla Parish ads, Mandals and
village panchayats, The village panchayats are to playa
crucial role in the selection of.schemes,
(felt needs),
prioritisation and in execution of works, not to mention the
~onitoring of the progress.
The Manual (August 1989) lays down, "At the village
level, the programme will be implemented thrcmghthe
village panchayats, the 'lowest elected body, who will be'
responsible for planning and execution of the Yojana, The
technical supervision will be the responsibility ofthe Block
agencies/DRDAs.
The State Governments. will release centra) assistance
direct to ORDAs withi~ one month of its receipt fT~m the
Government
of India. Likewise,
fu.nds to village
panchayats
will be distiibuted
by the DRDAs/Zilla
Parishads within a. month of its receipt from the State
Government. Funds for payment from the account of village panchayats are' required to be drawn through a
cheque signed by. the Head of the Panchayat (that is,
Pradhan) along with Secretary of the Panchayat..
-

KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

A laudable provision is made that payment of every

amount is to be authorised in the meeting of village
panchayat and the village assembly (Gaon Sabha) which is
supposed to meet twice in a year and be informed in' the
followlngmeeting.

other relevant particulars.

, What is encouraging is simplification of the prOcedure

of works. The, block samitildistrict level Panchayati Raj
body Willprepare and approve standard design ilDdcost
estimates. Village panchayats caD.execute works on the
basis of approved cost norms and designi. Contract~rs,
middlemen,; power.brokers are not permitted to be
engaged (even as sur,rogates) for the execution of these
works. The procedure obviates the need for calling tenders'
and for obtaining technical, administrative and financial
sanction for each work.
'

provides for what is called 'sOcial audit' at the village

panchayat level. 'In order to ensure social conltol of the
y. ojana, meetings of village panchayats shall be held every
month at"a roo:<! date, time and place to conSider the iSsues
regarding the planning, eXeCution,monitoring 8nd super.,
viSionof JR Y, according to the manual.
'

To 'compensate and assist the village, panchayats, a

proviSionof 5 per ceni has been earmarked for adminisirativ,e expenses which can be used for strengthening
DRDAs/Zilla Parishads/BlockiViUage panchayats for
pro~ding technical, administrative and tniiningsupport.
A maximum of one fifth of 5 per cent provision can be
spent to lIleet the training expenses of the officials/npnofficials involved in the implementation of the .Yojima.
Village panchayats are also allowed 10 per "!Ontof annual
allocation towards maintenance of assets.

Monito"ring arrangements
ONITORING
'
OF THE PROGRAMME is being
Mstr-engthened at the village'level. The scheme also

The monthly progress reports and quarterly reports of

achievements, to be obtained from eaCh DRDAJZi\1a
Parishad,isa part of ~onitoring arrangement devised for
, the purpose. Hopeful)y, these Will be co-ordinated iuid
processed by the Director, Administrative Intelligence, in
the Department of Rural Development, Government of
India, New Delhi.
.
'
,A Central Commit!ee to be set up by the Department
of Rural Development in Krishi Bhawanwill oversee the
progress and implem~ntation of the programme. Similar.
ly, there will be State Level Coordination Committee
(SLCC) which will supervise and ,obtain appropriate
returns and records from DRDAsIZilla
Parishads.
~
.
.

,Actitique

Annual plan of action

HE VILLAGE PANCHA YATS are competent under
, the Yojaria to accilrd approval to the projects themsel.
, 'ves after these 'have been technically apprised and
approved by the Panchayats/Samiti officials. At the same
, time, panchayats are advised to take up simple small,works
which do nOt require high level of technical inputs. No
work shall be 'taken up by the village panchayat which
caimot be completed within two years after they have been
started.

A novel feature of the Yojana, as distinct from the

hitherto rural works programme, is a requirementenjoining upon the villagepanchayats to prepare an annual plan,
of action at village Jevel. "The plans for development of
villages in the juris4iction
of different village'
panchayatSlmandalsshould be discussed thoroughly in the
meetings of the village panchayat and the final decisions
arrived at $hould determine the plan of works to be taken
up during'a particular year', Each village panchayat and'
bl0l'kidistrict should have complete inventory of the assets
created under the programine giving details of the date of
the start and the date of completion of the project, cost
involved, benefits obtained, employment generated and
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

HE FOLLOWING POINTS EMERGE on a critical'

Texamination
of the Jawahar 'Rozgar Yojana.
,

1
Looking atthi: design ofthe JR Y as is now available in
the form of a Manual (August 1989) it seems that the
scheme has been fOrmulated, based on experience gained
in the implementati9n of programmes like Rural Works
Programme (RWP), Food For Works (FFW), Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in Maharashtra, National
Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Gdarantee Programnie'(RLEGP}
etc,
,

'.

-.

, Various lessons learnt in the ev3.Iuation reports of

Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO) ,and the
Public Accounts Cominitlee of Parliament have been in.
corporated in the guidelines.
such as banning the
contractors, paymeni "fwages as per the Minimum WageS
Act, payment of wages in cash-cum.kind, proVision of,
facilities at work sites like drinking water; creches for
children, etc. selection of schemes and preparation of an
annual action plan by the panchayats.
15

'1

village panchayats. The village panchayats have not been

on the crease and do not have even a net practice. Very
few Panchayat Pradhans have been trained or have participated in any workshops.

Proper selection of the beneficiaries is the first require,<ment in such programmes which aim at a particular target
".group. 'The ManUMmentions only one line '3.1 - People
-_belowthe poverty line willbe the target group'. The 'IRD P
SUrveyRegister' provides the necessary document from
'which persons below the poverty line are to be picked up.
o

3
I,

The IRDP registers were prepared during the Sixth Five

Year Plan (1980-81 to 19S4-85) and because of inflation,
this poverty line has become out of date. As it is, the
poverty line is an.illusory concept. Since the IRDP Survey
Registers have been prepared mostly by Village Level
Workers (VLW), not much credence can be given to such
, a Register; Besides the need for updating it, there is "no
other foolproof method than to ,identify the poor in a
village assembly (gram Sabha) as was done in the 'Antyodaya Programme'. Both PEO and Public Accounts
,Committee have suggested to the Government of India to
follow this appr5'ach.
'

Village panchayats have bee!, giv~n a heavierresponsibility which they are unable to shoulder. Tremendous
efforts will be reqnired, to put the panchayats iii a 'state of
preparedness'. The ORDAs themselves are weak in technical expertise. How far the village panchayats will take on
themselves the task of selection ofthe beneficiaries, selection of schemes, monitoring and reporting and execution
of works is a question which is no easy to answer.

8
The JRY provides for a balance between different secto"il schell).c;s,'viz., land development, social forestry,
Indira Avaas'Yojana, MiJlionWeiIs Scheme' and others
like construction of roadS.' ,
,

4
Much responsibility has been placed on the ORDAs
IZilla Parishads and village panchayats - 'the lowest
elected body' and having 'statutory character' (item 313)
for implementing works.

5
The Constitution (64th Amendment) Bill was introduced by the Government in the Lok .5abha on'May 15,
1989,to impart to the Panchayati Raj institutions (district,
block and village) a statutory character and the holding of
elections of village panchayats compulsory. The Bill was,
however, defeated in ,the Rajya Sabha in .october 1989.
, The new government at the Centre has given an indi~tion
for recasting the bill.
The JR Y.was prepared in anticipation ofthe passage of
the Constitution (64th Amendment) Bill. Whether funds "
could be pa'ssed on to village panchayats, which have no
statutory character, is a' question to be considered. The,
ORDAs, on the other hand, are registered societies and
should pose no problems.

6
, In preparing an ann'ual plan'of ~ction, there is need for
synchronisation and orchestration 'of!?oth ORDAs, and
16

One would keep his fingers crossed as to how far this

will work in practice. Sche!Jles for land development"social forestry have a much longer gestation period than, say,
, construction of roads; We could imagine administrative
pressures from ORDAs and from State Governments for
re-appropriation of funds between schemes, and for
'revi~ionof the guidelines. This is a forewarning. '

10
The Committee to be set up by the Department of Rural
Development should have Advisor (Evaluation),Planning
Commission - past or present - as a Memberofhis watchful
, eyes. Similarly, the Director (Evaluation) in the: States
should also be a Member of the State Level Coordination
Committee.

11
Q'uick evaluation of JRY, concur~enily with its itJIplementation, should be assigned to non-offiCialresearch
institutions at least in 8 to 10 States. The rCDS and RWS'
implementation .was improved considerably because of
concurrent evaluation by PEa.' The Department of Rural
Development should confine itself to the monitoring of the
programme. The performa land II will have to be revised,
, suitably to faCilitate'their compllterisation.D
KURUKSHETRA January"l990

JRY - a leap towards poverty alleviation

ANGSUMAN
Diredor of Schoo) Edutafion,

NEMPLOYMENT
AND UNDER-EMPLOYUMENT
have been identified as the major contributory
factors for the very high incidence of poverty in the rural
areas ofthe country. It was precisely for this that the Sixth
Five Year Plan adopted a two:pronged strategy towards
eradication of poverty which aimed at redistribution of

income and consumption in favour of the poorer segments

of the rural people by significantly increasing employment
opportunities in th~ rural areas through creation of (a)
wage employment opportunities under the National Rural
Employment Programme (NREP) and the Rural Landless
Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), and (b)
self employment opportunities under the Integrated Rural
Development Programme (IRDP) and some other areas
and/or skill development programmes reflected in sectoral plans.
The NREP was started in October, 1980 replacing the
Food for Work Programme and it became a major weapon
(rom April 1,1981.10 fight rural poverty as a component of
the Sixth Five Year Plan. The RLEGP was launched later
on August 15, 1983 and was accepted as a part of the Sixth
Plan strategy at creation and 'expan~ion of employmen't
opportunities, particularly for the rural landless people
with the hope to provide guaranteed employment upto 100
days in a year to at lea-st one member of every rural. landless
labour household. The role of the employment generation

programmes in reducing the incidence of rural poverty is

reflected in the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90) which
.has laid emphasis on food, work and productivity. The plan
also seeks to provide productive employment to everybody
in .need of the same and assign priority to air activities
which help in this regard. In other words, the Seventh Plan
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

BASU

West Bengal

investments are channelised for the ultimate goal of maximising

the direct
and long term employment
.opportunities. Viewed in this perspective the new scheme
of J awah.r Rozgar Yojana (JR Y) was announced in Parliament last year by merging three employment generation
programmes of NREP, RLEGP and Jawahar Rozgar
Yojana (which was introduced only a few weeks ago by the
former Union Finance Minister while. presenting the
Union Budget for 1989-90).

Objectives
HE NREP AND THE RLEGP HAD, among others,
the following common objectives:

(a)

generation and expansion of gainful employment

for the unemployed ~nd underemployed persons,
both men and women in the rural areas through;

(b)

creation of durable. and productive community

assets for direct and continuing benefits to the
poverty groups and for strengthening
rural
economic and social infrastructure which can
lead to rapia growth in income leveis of the rural

poor; and
(c)

improvement

in overall quality of life in the rural

areas.
The guidelines for implementation

of the two programalmost identical.

RLEGP, however, was supposed to be different from
NREP conceptually in programme contents and coverage

mes were with some -minor exception

17

of larger works.'
in actual practIce there is hardly any
difference between the NREP and the RLEGP,I .
'.

Development at much laier stage of its implementation,

confirmed most of the above lacunae. The report reveals
that:
.

The shortcomings

(i)

THE SHORTCOMINGS WHICH prevailed in respect

.. of one programme were basically those which were
noted in the context of the other: Evaluations undertaken
by different agendes have disclosed the followhlg major
weaknesses of the two programmes:.
(i)

(il)

I
.

Coverage of the programmes and .allocation

under them were both insufficient.

(iv)

Leakages of fund were quile substantial in each

of the programmes. The leakages were 'caused
mostly through engagement of contractors in one
-form or the other in most of the States.

(v)

There was absence of adequate monitoring both

at micro and mac'ro levels.

(ii) . there was inadequate investment under the

programme. When the employment guarantee
scheme required Rs.8 crores per district per year,
the fund proVision.proVided was Rs3 erores per
district;
.

While each of NREP and RLEGP proVided

short-term emplbyment;none of them was effective in so far as providing long term and
continuous employment and the programmes
could not lead to any significanl increase in the
employment of the indiVidual worker o~ in his
.level of liVing,which were the declared objectives
of both the programmes;

(iii) No systematic efforts were made to assess the

nature and extent of employment and plan the
works so that continuous employment could be
offered to the rural poor. Moreover, the long term
goal of the two programmes, namely, .the
rehabilitation of the poor in the mainstream ofthe
economy by increasing its labour absorbing
capacity through the creation of durable and
productive community assets could not als~ be
achieved. The reason behind this shortcoming
~as the lack of articulate planning at micro level
caused by an absence of popular planning bodies
at the district level and beiow.

in 8 years of implementation of the programme,

only 55 per cent vi)Iageswere covered;
I

(iii)

high spending on' economically non-productive

works like buildings and roads (above 48%)
restricted the sCope for employment generation;

(iv)

separate administration of. basically identical

schemes under NREP and RLEGP created
duplication of agen.ciesand unnece~sarydrainage
of money;.and
:
'.

(v)

lack of public involvement.

Merger
CONTEXT OF THE WEAKNESSES noticed
IinNTHE
NREP and RLEGP as also considering the identical .

nature of programme objectives and methodology, there

was growing demand from economists, planners and the
administrators ior the merger of the two major employment generation programmes into a more comprehensive
beller knit programme. This demand was being actively
considered by the Government of India and ultimately the
two programmes converge(J with the newly intro.duced
. Jawahar Rozgar Yojana in April 1989. The new
programme, after the merger of NREP and RLEGP, has "I
come to he known as the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana after the
name of the first Prime Minister of the country. The
I
announcement of the new programme after the name ofi
Jawaharlal Nehru has perhaps been in the fitness of things
in the centenary year of the much respected leader of the
country.

(Vi). There was fitiIe response from the rural poor as

their involvement in the planning and execulion

of schemes under both the employment gcncration programmes was negligible.

The balance
RESULTS
OF CONCURRENT EVALUATION of
NREP, introduced by the Union Department of Rural

18

Objectives
I

THE QUESTION MAY OBVlOUSL Y arise now as to

. what really the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana aims at achieving atid how does it differ from its predecessor
programmes. The objectives of the JRY have been
declared to be as under:KURUKSHETRAJanuary,

1990

(a) Primary objective

Generation of additional gainful employment for the
unemployed and underemployed persons, both men and
'!Vomen,in the rural areas.

(b) Secondary objectives

(i) Creation of productive community asserts for direct
and continuing benefits to the poverty groups and for
strengthening rural economic and social infrastructure,

which will lead to rapid growth of rural economy and

steady rise in the income levels of the rural poor.
(ii) Improvement in the overall quality oflife in the rural
areas.

The Primary objective of JR Y is, without any change of

.form or even language, the same as objective No. (i) of
NREP. The other two JRY objectives in the secondary
area conveythe same ideas as those ofNREP and RLEG P.
The basic difference is that the 'guarantee'element of
RLEGP has been completely dropped from the objectives
of JRY. If the lessons from the execution of RLEGP
during the past few years b.e any indicator, this omission
was perhaps called for.

The gains
,

THEN THE COUNTRY may expect really to

WHAT
gain from the new programme in the period of its
execution? The gains are expected to be many. Firstly,
merger of the three employment creation programmes will
eliminate the chances of having two or more parallel ad-

Thirdly, JRY guidelines are clear with regard to timely

release of funds directly to die district level Panchayati Raj
body (the Zilla Parishad - DRDA, where Zilla Parishad
has not been constituted or is not functioning) which, as a
planning body, will, therefore, be in a better position to
decide the priority in consultation with the Gram
PanchayatslMandals or the lowest planning unit.
Fourthly, coverage of entire rural areas under JRY has
been envisaged by making.it obligatory on the part of the
Zilla ParisahdIDRDA to distribute minimum of SOper
cent resources to Gram PanchayatsIMandais.
Lastly, but not the least, the Yojana envisages resource
allocation to States/UTs on the basis of incidence of rural
poverty alone instead of 50 per cent weightage to poverty
and the rest 50 per cent weightage on combined number
of marginal farmers, agricultural labourers etc._
The changed basis of distribution of resources on pover-.
~ne since it is
contemplatcd in the interest of ensuring wider coverage of
the rural poor. Once the State allocations are decided on
the indcx of-poverty o.nly,the allocations to districts in a
State will, however, be guided on the baSis of backward,
ness formulated on the principle of percentage of
agricultural labourers to main workers in rural areas, per.
centage of rural SC/ST population to total rural
population anc;! inverse of agricultural productivity
defined as the value of agriculture produce out of each unit
of land for the rural areas taken on the net basis in the
weights of 20:60:20.Again, the distribution of resources to
village Panchayats from the district will be made on the
basis of population of e.achvillage Panchayat.
ty incidence. only is a most welcome

ministrative agencies at one stroke and there will be an

integrated implementation of JRY under the supervision

and control of one agency. In fact the growth of multiplicity.
of programmes and agencies since the decline of the Community Development

Programme has created adminis-

The norms fIXedunder JRY for village Panchayat-wise

resource distribution

on the basis of population,

however,

will pose a th~eat to the concept of district planning since

the planning body will not be able to allocate more resour-

trative difficulties and lack of cohesion resulting in tardy.

ces on one or more items/areas decided. on -priority under

achievements in almost all the sectors. In this connection

thc JRY. For instance, construction of sehool1>uildings

.undcr the operation Black Board Programme in seJected
O.B. blocks, so long undertaken under NREP & RLEGP,

it may be recalled that introduction of RLEGP in August,

1983 was

~Ol viewed

with favour since there already existed

a similar programme of NREP.

Secondly, it is certainly. in the intercst or planning that
the three programmes should havc becn mergcd. With an
enhanced outlay for a single programme, aiming at
employment generation through ,creation of productive

assets, planning at grassroots level and above will not only

become easier but also will be morc comprehensive.

Monitoring at the execution stage similarlywillbc possible

in the desired direction.

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

will face tremendous resource constraint under the JRY

guidclincs and planning for school building will receive a

jolt unlcss sufficienl fund from other sources can be arranged for the purpose. When, however,_larger coverage
of areas under employment generation is considered as the

major objcctive of Ihe programme, the uniformity in allocation

of resources

among

Gram Panchayats

on

population basis has to be. accepted as sound. Indira

Awaas Yojana (lAY) will, however, nol suffer since 6
pcrccnt of earmarked JR Y fund will be operated at the
district leveL
.
19

Fund utilization
YOJANA P~ESCRIBES the pattern of utilizaTHE
tion of fund received at the district and Gram
PanchayatleveIs. Of the total allocation received by the
DRDNZiIla Parishad, 6 per cent is earmarked for Indira
Awaas Yojana which is to be utilised at the district level
for buildinglA Y houses in SC;ST areas of different blocks.
After earmarking of allocation for ]AY, 80 per cent of the
remaining grants will go to the Gram Panchayats 'and
DRDASlZilla Parishads will retain balance 20 per cent.
DRDAs/Zilla Parlshads and Gram Panchayats are to
utilise their share of the funds received under JR Y as
follows:.
(i) Administrative expenditure upto 5%
(ii) Expenditure on maintenance upto 10%
Balance resources will be utilised for different sectoral
programmes as under:.
(a) Economically productive assets
(b) Social forestry works
(c) Individual beneficiaries schemes for SC/ST
including Million Well Scheme
(d) Other works including dads and buildings

As regards the investment component of works to be

undertaken at village level under the Yojana, no ceiling has
been imposed on the cost, but it has been direcied that only
such works should generally be taken up whose size, cost
and nature are such that may be implemented at the local
level and do not involvehigh level of technical inputs, etc.
lt has been further directed that large and costly works
should not be taken up nor works in which there is a large
,component o(skilled wages or material purchase should
normally be taken up. This leads one to doubt if the very
small amount of project-wise investment will lead ultimately to creation of productive community assets for
direct and continuing benefits to the rural poor as also for
strengthening rural economiC and social infrastructure.,

35%
25%

15%
25%

THE JRY IS certainly an imCONCEPTUALLY

proved employment programme. and is much better

Wage and' non.wage components on the, works under

the JR Y willnormally be 50:50but under no circumstances
wage component should be less than 50 per cent as was the
case under NREP & RLEGP. The wages to be paid wili
be also not less than those enVisagedunder the Minimum
Wages Act of the respective States as was the practice
under NREP & RLEGP.
'

A,ction plans
DRDAs/ZILLA
PARISHADs will have to
T, HE
p'repare sheIf of projects which will form thc Annual
Action Plan of the district. Ther,e is nothing new in this as
similar provisions existed in the guidelines for NREP and
RLEGP. But the Plans of Action for development of
villages in the jurisdiction of Gram Panchayats need discussion thoroughly in the meetings of gram panchayat and
the final decisions arrived at should determine the plan of
works to be taken up during a particular year. The
guidelines prescribe thai while preparing the plan of
works, care should be taken to safeguard the interests of
the weaker sections in the .villageand highest priority
should be given to the works benefiting the SC/ST, Women
and the oth'er weaker sections of the village society. Again,

20

the Gram Sabha (village assembly) has to be apprised of

the progress of implementation of the programme at least
twice a year. Thus, the JR Y pins hope in the people and
docs not propose withholding of information from the
people. This is a verywelcome aspect of JR Y and here the
JRY wins a victory over its predecessor programmes.

The weaknesses

coneeiv,ed than the earlier' programmes of NREP and

RLEGP: But it also suffers from various weaknesses.
Some of them emanate from the fact that although the
implementing agencies at the GramlMandai Panchayats
have been asked to formulate and execute economically
productive ,schemes, none the less they have not been
provided any technical support/staff. Again, though the
physical and financial audit of the'works implemented by
the gram panchayat have been made, compulsory, the
authority which should undertake the job has not been
specified. Moreover, the staff pattern of the grassroots
level panchayats does not, in most cases, have the competence of accounts keeping involving lakhs of rupees.
Besides, though the manual of JR Y forbids employment
of contractors or middlemen in one form or other for
executing works under the Yojana, it is apprehended that
even under the Panchayati Raj bodies the middle men will
continue to have their shares in the same way in which they
enjoyed the benefits under NREP & RLEGP (both of
which also banned employme~t of contractors).
The programme has been !launched with high hopes
with total proposed expenditure of Rs.2,625 crores of
(Contd. on page 25)

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

Give pancbayats '.operationalifreedom

iunder.JRY:.
PROF. s.P. RANGA. RAO
Osmailia University, Hyderabad

ORTYTWO YEARS AFTER 1NDEPENDENCE

Fand
implementation
of seven' Five Year Plans, indcpendent India is still faced with the stupenduous task of
providing a livelihood for its 440 lakhs rural families living
below the poverty line. Thanks to the Green Revolution of
the sixties and later industrial progress, India could
develop a self-reliant economyinspite
of several handicaps. However, the fruits of development were cornered
largely by the rich in rural areas thereby further widening
the gap between the rich and the poor. The task of providing gainful and productive employinent to the rural poor
remains unfulfilled inspite of repeated attempts to do so
under different centnilly sponsored programmes.

Earlier employment schemes ..

TARTING
WITH THE RURAL MANPOWER
Programme, schemes such as the crash programme for
rural employment, Pilot Intensive Rural Employmcnt
programmes,.Food for Worlq; Programme, National Rural'
Employment Programme' (NREP) and Rural Landless
Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) wcrc undertaken by the various-States
at the instance of the
Government of India with a view to p",vidinggainfu! wage
employment to the rural poor.Ofthese
the Food for Work
, Programme, started with effect from the lSI April, 1977 as
a non-plan scheme, may be described as a milestone in the
wage employment anti-poverty programmes. It was aimed
at generating additional employment to the poor while
<\feating durable community assets and strengthening the
rural infrastructure
resulting in higher production. Incidentally, the scheme could help stabilise the prices ot
foodgrains in rural ,areas. The programme was, however,
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

~evised and came to be .kn~wn as the NREP With effect

from the 15th August, 1980. With the experience gained in
the implementation of the Fob<! for Works' Programme
suitable modifications were made in the NREP. Thus the
new scheme stipulated a ratio between the wages paid and
. the material costs of projects s6 as to ensure the creation
of useful assets. Works such 'as construction of roads;
irrigation works, soil conservation, land'reclamation,
af.
forestation, construction of school buildings, etc. were
permitted
to be taken up undet the. scheme. The
programme was undertaken on :50:50 financial cOntribution by the Centre and the States. In addition to cash
contribution the Centre was also providing foodgrains as
grant-in-aid to the States. In practice more than 60 per cent
of the man days of work generated under the scheme per- .
tained to the repair of village roads. As perthe guidelines
of Ihi: Government of India, preference
to ~o'di:s
benefitI
...
ing .backward areas and members of SCs and S:rs Were
given under the programme. Thoughthe scheme b,*"me
popular, its slow progress was attributed to orgamsatiodal
bottlCnecks, absence of proper planning and failure to
choosc appropriate project mix, 1 A numoerof other draw-.'
backs were also detected in tlie.working of NREP. For
instance, the employment provided was for a very shorl
period of time. There were irregularities in.the-_seleetio~
of thc beneficiaries and consequently to the poorest of the'
. poor, for whom the programme was really. intended, were
2
of len ignored. The works undertaken benefited the contractors more than anyone else~
I

L.Pandey, K.C. Rural Developme~lin Modem India; New/Delhi,

1986,p. 128;
2.. Annuai Report, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Government of India, 1986~7, p.23.

21

Exactly two years after NREP was launched the

Government
of India announced the establishment of
RLEGP to provide gainful employment to at least one
person in every poor family living in rural India. The
objective of the new programme was to provide employment of atleast 100 days in a year for one member of every
landless family. Unlike for the sister scheme here the
Government of India provided 100 percent financial assistance. The objective of the programme was to create
durable assets for the strengthening of the infrastructure
for the rapid ll':0wth of rural economy and for. improving
the quality oflife in rural areas.3 However ,in practice many
drawbacks were noticed in the implementation
of the
programme. For instance, more importance was attached
to creating permanent assets and generating employment
potential among the poor which was .considered secondary. Along with some landless, others also could manage
to get the benefit of the scheme. The NREP and the
RLEGP were administered through the .Panchayati Raj
Institutions like the Zilla Parish ads and the Panchayat
Samithis. Inefficient
management,
limited finances
coupled with increase in population wcrc identified as
major limitations for successful functioning of these
programmes of rural development. It is said that over a
period of seven years these two programmes could reach
only 55 fer 'cent of the village panchayats around the
country.

Jawahar Rozgar Yojana

EFFECf
FROM THE
WITH
Government of India decided

1st April, 1989, the

to merge the NREP
and RLEGP into. a new scheme known as the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojana (JR Y) with an outlay of Rs.2100 crores for
the year 1989-90 (the amount has since been enhanced by
Rs.5oo crores). The scheme which aims at reachi~g all the
Panchayats in the country has several distinct features
compared to the earlier schemes. In the first place, money
is made available directly to the Sarpanchas of the gram
panehayats. Since the emphasis is an elimination of paver.
ty; funds arc distributed to the districts on the basis of the
proportion to the size of the population which falls below
the poverty line. The other criteria prescribed for backwardness arc the share of thc SCs and STs to the total
population, proportion
of -agricultural labour 10 tolal
labour and level of agricultural pr.oductivily. An average
village with three to four thousand population is to get
.Rs.80,OOOto one lakh per year under the programme. The
3. Instructions for the lmplem<:;ntation of RLEOP,'"Ministry
of Rural
Development,
Government of India, New Delhi, 1983.
4. Statement of the "then Prime Minister in Parliament on 28th April,
1989.

22

scheme aims at creating employment for at least one member of each family for fifty to hundred days in an year.
Thirty percent of the recipients of the benefit should be
women. Secondly, the Yojana is expected to reduce considerable delay in the execution of prograntmes, wblch was
occurring earlier, in the approval of schemes and sanctioning of funds by the higher authorities. Thirdly, contractors
and intermediaries who were reaping the benefit of funds
under rural development programmes are to be completely eliminated in the implementation
of the Yojana.
Fourthly, since the programme is. open, every villager
knows how much of money is received and how it is spent
and who the beneficiaries are and hence the chances for
manipulation and corruption arei.considerably reduced.
Lastly, JRY also aims at reducing the costs of adniinistratiQn in cQnveying the benefits of emplQyment to the rural
POQr.The UniQn Government are well aware of the magnitude of the problem of poverty and the limitations of the
Government in providing funds.
Cheques were despatched directly to the District Collectors tQbe distributed
to the Zilla Parishads and the panchayats.

Criticism of JRY
HERE IS BITTER CRITICISM .ofthe prQgramme on
the ground that it is an encrQachment on the jurisdic~
tiQn of the states. The Yojana was described as a 'political
gimmick' on the eve of general elections. It is said that the
Scheme was only a new banner under which the NREP and
RLEG P will merge and operate. "Even the bottles have
nbt be~n changed. Only a new label was been pasted for
unsuspecting voters". Unfortunately, the criticism ignores
the several points .of difference between the old and the
new.s,chemes mentioned earlier. It may further be noted
that it is nQt the first time that the existing rural developmentE;chernes were merged into new ones. Earlier, the
SFDA and MFLA were merged to become SFDA which
itself was made a part of IRDP. The FQQd for Works'
Pwgramme Ial'cr became NREP. It was contended by th~
G.ovcrnme~t tMt after gaining experience in the working
.of rural dt,el6pment
schemes, new programmes were
undertaken as a meas"re of imprQvement. The merger of
NREP and RLEGP wDuld perhaps has not been noticed
if it was not done before the general elections.

It is rightly contended by many that JR Y is riddled with

too many DperatiDnal problems and difficulties. The
elaborate guidelines issued by the Central GQvernment
may, in fact, act as constraints on the efficient implementation of works. The criteria for allocation of resources is
tQO stiff and complicated. The distribution .of funds be.
tween panchayats is made on the basis of pDpuiation with
,he stipulation that population less than one thDusand
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

should be considered as thousand. The formula for distribution is said to provide a raw deal to tribal villages.
Thus thi: district as a whole may obtain more fund~ because of the large tnoal population but the invariably small
tribal villages would get1imited funds compared to the
larger non-tnoal viIIages bf the district. The expenditure
targets presenOed may, prove to be another'major hurdle ..
for the panchayats. The Union Government prescribed
expenditure targets of 10 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent
and 35 per cent for the four quarterS of the year and any
shortfall in a quarter would result in proportionate reduc;, lion in the release" of next instalment;
It is almost
impossible for the panchayats with their several limitations
to stick to the schedule and maintain eXpenditure targets
on works. Consequently
they would stand to lose the
benefit of the fullgrant. '

employed and records of assets created while managing

the maintenance of assets created and providing training
for personnel. Evidently, in most cases it would be beyond
the comprehension of the sarpanchas to meaningfully undertake any of these functions.
.

Sectoral. allocations prescribed for ihe Yojana to be.

strictly"followed may prove to be another major impediment in the efficient utilisation of funds .. Out of the total
allocation for the di,trict, six percent is meant ror the
IndiraAwaas
Yojana and out of the balancea'mount
80
percent is distributed among .the Panchayats 'and 20 percent is retained by the Zilla Pa.rishad.Out
of the funds
retained by the Zilla Parishad, five percent and ten percent'
are set apart for administrative eXpenditure and main\te.;ance respectively. The balance amOliili is to be utilised
'for i\ifferent sectoral works. Out of L"e total works 35
perCe'!.t is earmarked for economically productive assets,
25 'percent for social forestry, fifteen percent for SC/ST
b'ene~ciari~ (includingjeewan dhara scheme) .aDd 25 per'cent for o!her works including roads and buildings. The,
same eXpenditure pattern has to be followed by the Gram
Panchayats', also which is described by many as an herculean task.

HE YOJANA. PRESCRIBES
that the following
schemes/works
may betaken
up by the
parishadslpanchayats:
social forestry, construction of irrigation wells, tanks, field channels, drains, ponds,
-drinking water wens, water resources, rural roads,_
panchayat ghars, buildings, mahila' mandals, sanitary
latrines, houses and the. development of house sites. According to the guidelines no work which could not be
completed within tWo years should be taken up. Most of
the works listed out need amounts of money and hence~
the smaller panchayats would find it very difficult to stick
to the sectoral allocations. Further the grain panchayats
have to strike a balance between the wage and non-wage

coD?-ponents,undertake planning, execution and monitor.

iog of wor~s, maintairi the muster rolls of workers
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

Earlier, the Zilla Parishads were utilising the funds by

undertaking sufficiently large works at considerable cost
in select panchayats. The practice provided considerable
patronage for the Parishads which was utilised by influen: .
tial surpanchas usually belonging to bigger panchayats.
With the discontinuation of the NREP and RLEGP, the
Parishads tOday .are faced with the problem of rmding
money for the half-finished works such as construction of
school buildings, irrigation wells and operation blackboard. Under the JRYthe
Parishads are permitted to
spend only twenty percent of the funds allotted to them for
spill over'works, whiCh are said to be grossly inadequate ..
For instance, the twenty percent works out to Rs.30 crores
in Andhra Pradesh whereas the spill over works require
RS.70 crores. Now it has'become the reSponsibility of the
State government to provide funds for the completion of
the unfinished works, failing which they have to be aban. doned.
.
The Panchayat SamithislMandal
Praja Parishads are
the worst affected under the new scheme. Earlier they
were associated with the management of NREP /RLEGP
. works while they stand completely alienated under the
JRY. In Andhra Pradesh several Presidents ofMPPs have
commented that it pays more to be a Sarpanch that to be
a President cif MPP.
There are about 19540 .gram panchayats in Andhra
Pradesh of which 18372 are lpinor panchayats with less
than 5000 population and an annual income of less than
Rs.40,OOO. There are a few thousand panchayats which.
have practically no income worth the name. It is these
small panchayats which are .benefited most linder the
Yojana. Of the total Panchayats in the State, 46 per cent
of the Sarpanchas owe allegiance to the TOP while 44 per
cent are Congressmen, the rest being independents and
others. For the year 1989-90, ihe Government ofIndia have
.provided RS.l48.44 crores while the State Government
have contributed RS.37.11 crores.
.
Recently, a survey was conducted by News Time, a
popular English daily published from Hyderabad, to elicit
th~ opinion of the functionaries of Panchayati Raj in the
State on JR Y. The survey covered several districts of the
State from which hundreds of Sarpanchas and a few Presidents/Chairmen
of MPPslZPPs were interviewed. The
survey revealed that almost all sarpanchas, irrespective of
their party affiliatiOli, have expressed their appreciation on
23

the Yojana, under which, for the fIrst time in their long
existence, the panchayats have received large amount of
money (according to their standards) even without asking.
for the same. The comments of a President of a MPP
belonging to TOP appears to rellect the popular feeling in
the State about JRY. He thinks that, "Before voicing any
protest against the bill and the Yojana the mood of the
people sbould be read." Further, he feels thilt. there is
"tremendous enthusiasm among the rural masses about.the
Yojana" and apprehends that "anybody who opposes the
aspirations and genuine demands of the people in the gram
Panchayats would be written ofr. The funds available for
undertaking development works by providing employment
to the poor albeit on a limited scale would help the
Panchayats for theflfsttime to meet certain pressing needs
oUhe .villagers. The Sarpanchas feel that certain basic
needs such as protected drinking water, construction of
side drains, link roads, repair of dilapidated school buildings, provision of streetlights have totally neglected so far
which could be taken up under the scheme:
A tribal MPPpresident when asked by the News Time
survey team as to how the not-well-educated surpanchas
without training would be alile to implement the JRY,
makes a cryptic remark that "the British also used to say
that the Indians who were illiterate wlluld not be able to
handle swaraj". He feels, "the testimony is all before us to
see how Indians have strengthened democracy". Another
Sarpanch belonging to CPI(M) described how, after "a lot
of bodding" and "intense lobbying" with the President of
the MPP, he could get a borewell and a few street lig)Jts
for his village. As he could not secure money for fIxingthe.
bulbs, he had to borrow some amount "from a 10c3JfInancer". It is unfortunate that at alime when the Government
allover the country are trying to rescue poor citizens from
the clutches of money-lenders, an elected Panchayat had
to borrow money for a public cause from a private party.
Yet another Sarpanch says that the JR Y "should have been
implemented some forty yearsago".

The apprehensions
ARE A LARGE NUMBER of people who
THERE
feel that there may be gross misuse of fu.nds by the
. Sarpanchas. But it should be remembered that unlike the
higher levels of local government the village is too small a
place for the sarpanch to do anything without the public
. noticing it. When asked about :the probable misuse of
funds, one Sarpaitch remarked: "If we swallow the public

24

money which is coming to the village after ages we Would

have to digest it only in heaven". On the other haitd today
the Sarpanchas are under tremendous pressure to take np
works to meet the competing demands of local gr011JlS.
Inter-group rivalries, more factionalism and even violence
are going to surface in several villages in the utilisation of
JR Y funds.
i
Though funds are provide4 by the Union Governinent,
it is the Panehayat legislation which is the source of
authority for the GramPanchayats to act. In fad, the large
number of obligatory and perrissive funCtions mentioned
in the Panchayat laws all over the countIy havebeaime
meaningful and operational for the fIrst time because of
JR Y funds. The Sarpanchas .are of course aCcountable to.
the State authorities only. They sbould send the details of
works undertak~n and the money spent. on each item to
the concerned State offIcers from time to time. The commissioner of Panchayati Raj, Andhra Pradesb has already
cautioned that "action would be taken as per the Panchayat
Act in case of irregularities". For instance, action against
a Sarpanchwho purchased horse with the JRY'funds
under the pretext that he h~s to inspect a few hamlets
under his jurisdiction has already been initiated by the
State authorities. The Union Government has no Qperational control over the funds provided by them. They could
only reduce or withdraw the grant if they so desire. The
Government of India ~ave of course gained considerable
political clout for providing funds to the villages directly.
I

An over-view
HERE IS BITTER CRITICISM that the Union
T
. Government have ignored the State Governments in
providing funds to the Gram Panchayats directly. Even
earlier they were providing funds to the DRDA directly.
But the present move has gained political signifIcance in
the context of the political climate and the strained CentreState relations. The Union Government mentioned two
reasons for the c;lireetfunding of Panchayats. Flfstly, the
funds provided for the NREPIRLEGP are either not fuIIy
utilised or diverted for/other purposes. For instance, .the
former Union Minister of State for Rural Development
revealed that in Andhra Pradesh funds provided for both
. the schemes remained partly unspent to the extenl shown
. in the followingtable:5
.

5. News Time, Hyderabad,

dt. 25.9.1989

KURUKSHETRAJanuary,

1990

RLEGP (Amount In crores 01 Rupees)

Year

Funds released

Funds utilised

19l16-81

74.86

70.80

1987018

"79.41

6Z.31

1988-89

93.50

63.8Z

NREP

1986-87

116.86

88.53

1987018

74.44

58.92

198U9

102.89

67.55

Though the Panchayati Raj Institutions at the district

and the block levels are unhappy, th.~Gram Panchaya~
feel extremely happy about the unexpected gift "from the
heaven" which would permit them to meet some of the
longstanding needs of the villages. However, the Sar.
parichas have to face several hardships in spending the
money made available to them. The guidelines are so

(Conld. From Page 20)

which central share is Rs21,OO crores (including cost of

foodgrains). The proposed outlay consolidates the estimates on rural employment generation programmes
(NREP & RLEGP) and assumes an additionality from the
new surcharge on income tax~The enhanced allocation for
the tRY has already put the State Government in some
$Ortof awkwardness as it may be difficult for most of them
to accommodate the eXIraburden ofRs.185 crore over and
above "the"normal share of Rs.340 croresfar NREP &
RLEGP; particularly when their budgets were already
prepared hefore the JRY could be announced with in.deased provision."
.
Any. way, the actual implementation oLthe JR Y
thiOugbOUI1989-90will expose its sources of strength and

. complicated that in theabsenee of asSistance from offi.

cials, the'Sarpanchas may not w.derstl!"d ~em. Majority
of the Pil.nchayats in the country do 'not have qualified
executive assistance. Even where officials are .available
..they may, instead ofdemystifyipg the guidelines, bring in.
more bureaucratic complications. With their wide powers
of controi the State functionaries may deny adequate
operational freedom for the Sarpanchas to act. If they'
ignore the.higher authorities and act, the Sarpanchas may
expose. themselves to irregulrities in the .spending of
money. If they do not act they may lose the benefit of JR Y
funds. It is indeed very difficult to adhere to the sectoral
and functional restrictions imposed by the Union Government. One redeeming feature is.to. complete elimination
of the contractors in JRY wotks. The scope' for misappropriation is considerably re~uced as the villagers are a
direct witness to the arrival of funds and to the expenditure
on differentitems. In :any case if the guidelines of the
Union Government are suitably modified to provide more
operational freedom to the Sai-panchas, JR Y is likely to
benefit the rural poor to a'Con~iderable extent compared.
to the previous attempts. 0

weaknesses. Till then we' may share the high hopes with
which tlie yojana was launched.
.
I
:REFERENCES

I.

. Bagctlee Sandeep . Pdveity Alleviation Programmes in

Seventh Plan .'Economic a'nd.Political Weekly, Vol. XXII,
No.4, January 24, 1987,'
.

2.

Jawahar Rozgar Yojana Man-ual, Ministry of Agriculture,

Departineril or Rural Deve"1opment. Government or India,
April. 1989.

"

3.

National Rural Employment 'Programme, A guideline, Mi~.

istry of Rural. Reconstr"iction. Government of India.
September, 1981.
:

4.

Employment ~ews, May 13,!1989 ..

S.

Ibid.

-.

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

25

People's participation: an important

component of JRY
, CHHAYA DATAR
Women's ..Study Unit, Tatalnstltute

MAHARASHTRA
EMPLOYMENT GUARAN, TEE SCHEME (MEGS) is an administratively well
worked out mass employment programme. It envisages
development of small assets in the countryside which
would have a ripple effect on rural emp.loyment. However
the programme could not achieve great impact on the rural
scene in terms of fulfilling employment needs of people as
well as developing productive assets. The planners
visualised ",witheringawayof the scheme" aftcr realising its
full potential in the near future. To undersiand'why it has
been only partially successful, one must analyse thc'needs
oflabourers who avail the employment'and the administra,tive set up susceptible to the political forces operating in
the rlJral areas. This would help us to puUR Y in a proper
perspective, since J awaha. Rozgar Yojana (JR Y) has
been designed on the line{similar to MEGS, and perhaps
not as comprehensively. It would also help us to concretise
our expectations from JRY. One cannot generalise about
the usefulness of the scheme on the basis of the experience
of one state. Conditions differ from' state to state. However, it certainly indicates possibilities and the limitations
ohny mass employment programme being planned in the
rural areas such as JR Y which is modelled after MEGS to
some extent. The failure of MEGS seems to be mainly in
three respects:
1. .-It scattered its resources over too wide a base and
started construction"sites at many places resulting
in incomplete status of many assets, leading to
wastage of the investment.

2.

01 Sodal Scieru:e; Bombay

It never botheredilbout integration of the assets '

so that they could be more productive.

3.

It created insufficieniemploymentto individual

'participant household' compared to itS reqUirement -and thus failed to make impact' on their
standard .of living, or purchasing power of a
household in a substantial manner. My own study
sponsored by ISST, and completed in 1987 includes review of43 fainilies studied in 1978in the
three districts 'where earlier study was conduCted
under the same institute. Itobserves that families
in Ahmednagar dis/rict'continue to work in the
scheme, in Dhulia they have opted out not by ,
choice but because oflaek,ofMEGSwork in the
vicinity 'and as a' result their income has
deteriorated, in Bhandara, the bidi workers who
had non-participant status in 1978 have joincd
EGS newly since 1984.
'
'

The reasons for the failure appear to beJollowing:

i. Political use: People's participation is an importani

component of MEGS administration. People should sug~,
gest the kind of assets they would like"to build in, their
vicinity.In reality, it is the political leader in the area who
inOuences the choice of construction sites and.~arn
popularity. This is a very easy f~vour he could offer to the
poor people. People are obllged by provision of employment. Ahmednagar is a politically strong district, and also

!'

'

26

KURUKSHETRAJanuary,l~

'

it starids out on the MEGS map, despite the fact that many
other districts are similarly draught prone. In 1984-85, it
ranked fIrst in the generation of mandaysin Maharashtra.
The criterion that the most needy should be given employment is not necessarily followed though it is claimed that
the priority is given according to the demands of the
districts. It is not taken ioto consideration
that the
dynamics of demand is guided by politics.
The time table of the construction sites is strictly cootrolled by the local rich farmers who require supply of
. cheap labour during agricultural operations. Because of
this the MEGS work continues in a intermittent fashion
and MEGS wage rates cannot work as a leverage for
negotiating better wages from the private farmers.
As a policy MEGS wages are always kept at par with the
lowest wage rate of the dry agricultural area. This ensureS
that labourers look at this work as 'crisis' work or famine
work and not as a permanent developmental work. They
come to this work as a last resort. Thus it appears that
';either the bureaucrats have interest in building these
assets nor the labourers have interest, since they do not
value this employment as much as other employment opportunities.
.
The establishment thinking still genuinely believes that
only the large schemes of dams, canals and lifts are the real

answers for the water management. Hcn<;c, the. small scale

water harvesting efforts are not taken seriously, neither by
the bureaucracy, nor by the farmers themselves. MEGS
had a potential to create an atmospherc of'self help', but
it was not realised. ()nfortunately, a few organisations
which came forward to organise labourers at the 'York sites
also did not pay attention to the dcvelopmental dimension
of the MEGS. They treated this as an opportunity to give
labourers an identity as workf?rs, and mainly tried. to
protect them from corruption.
Low wages and inconsistent employment opportunities
at MEGS work sites operate as self selective process for
determining its supply of labourer and the specifIc clientale ..
2. Negative approach to generation of employment and
management
of development:
The above mentioned
phenomenon is giving rise to a peculiar pattern of employment in the rural areas of Maharashtra.My
data collected
during 1986 within four heavy participant distriCts of
Maharashtra
suggests that small and medium size
landholders compete with landless labourers in seeking
the employment at the MEGS work sites. They try to get
as many days employment as landless labourers and they
constitute' more than a half orthe workforce at the work
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

sites. The women form majority who belong to landless

and the landholder class.
Women from'mediumlandhojders
seek more share of
MEGS compare to men of theiriclass. Women being immobile, prefer the MEGS work sites because of their
closeness to the villages, although the wage rate is low.
Men, especially landless labourers look for better: paid,
and more. consistent work and: are ready to travel or
migrate loog disiance. Med.ium landholders share the
characteristic of women, that of ilnmobility and hence are
satisfied with the low rate job available nearby. My rmdings
manifests this preference. EGS labour contributes 54 percent of total employment days generated to the landless
. household and 50 per cent of the total employment days
of the medium landholder household:
Thus, on one hand one has to acknowledge that EGS is
giving jobs to those who would not otherwise avail jobs
which are at the long distance: On the other hand these
labourers have more stakes in tM EGS job because these.
work sites are likely to increase the quality of their life, and
also the employment potential fdr them in the long term.
If the assets such as minorirrigMion,
nalabunding, percolation tanks, social forestry get developed, then the
medium landholder can afford to: dig a well in his fIeld, or
his well would get perennial water supply because of the
percolation tank. Wome~ would' get drinking water and
fodder'-and fuel. It is observed that unfortunately, these
people are not consulted while pIlmning the development
. of assets for the village. Their involv~ment. in a more
decisive way would change the nature of this development
programme: Instead of many i~complete works, these
pcople would see to it that works which are integrated in.
the planning proccss of the whole! village are taken up in a
particular order. For example, at present wells are noJ
induded in the MEGS since they have more than 40 per ..
.cent of skill component, hence after the percolation tank
is built no well is dug in the command area under the.
scheme. Social forestry may not be taken up immedietly
after nalabunding is done and thus nalabunding.does
riot
become effective. If the benefIciaries are, involved in the
planning and decision making and funds are made available in a consistent and intensiJe way the small assets
would show the results. Since the \Jeneliciaries theIDselves
are labourers they would demana more consistent work
. according to their own conveniel\ce. They may not mind
low wages because they know that then nobody would
compete with them. At the same t.ime they would also not
like sarpanch to control the employment who generally
bclongs to the rich farmer c1asJ which affords capitaI"
intensive water management.

27

Raleganshindi in .the Parner talukaof Ahemedliagar

district is a good example of the labour ~nd asset manage,
ment which is done in a integrated manner. It was a case .
of a total planning at the village level undertaken 'by the
small and medium landholders who have to depend upon
EGS for their supplementary income ..Today their own
land is able to produce at least two crops per year if not
three crops. Their demand for EGS has withered away.
EGS in this case has touched the main production sector,
i.e. agriculture. Once the agriculture becomes productive
people themselves could think of many 'other extension
activities like building houses for the untouchables, cbnstructing school for the highschool students. Raleganshidi
points out that the poverty alleviation schemes should not
remain peripheral, giving dole to the people, or marginally
helping their purchasing power. The scheme should aim
at an integrated development of agriculture and its allied
sector of artisan production. The lesson from RaJeganshindi is that iflabour is employed intensively at one place,
Le.' providing 300 days work to each one, the, people's
standard of living improves substantially and after the
asset gets developed, the labourers withdraw from the .
EGS.

Points for consideration

MASS EMPLOYMENT SCHEME should be
ANY
sensitive to different undercurrents of rural employment pattern; and should not think of one general scheme
for all the needy people, Landless labourers and people
below the poverty line may like to have more sustained
employment and hence would opt for migration like the
adivasis in DhiJlia district who prefer to go to Gujrat for
sugercane cutting, or medium landholders from Beed district, one of the driest in Maharashtra, opting for seasonal
migration to the sugercane belt for harvesting. The system
of sugercane cutting has been built around the advance
amount and the assured sustained seasonal employment

28

fora family. Women may hi: the most reliable'labourers_

for EGSdevelopmental work, at least in Maharashtra,
'where women labour in agricUlture is a normal. phenomenon. Although official statistics of EGS shows every
year that women constitute imajority at the work sites in
many districts, the officials' did not ever ask. 'why'. In
Maharashtra, EGS work is popularly known as ,Bayanche "
Kam,which is understood as low paid and lenient work. '
Th,e need was never felt to ~volve women' in decision
making, controlling the ,management aspect"of EGS work.
One suggestion has been made in the past that instead of .
piece rate work EGS ,could be evolved around labour
contract to the small group of labourers who are ,also
. supjJosed to maintain the asset. This would enhance their
involvement in the work.
,
In this context JR Y appears to be too simple, which
'does not take into account the undercurrents of the labour '
supply in the countryside. It also does not take into account'
the, village power ,structure; while claiming to be more
democratic in nature. It envisages that' by tranSferring"
budgeted amount directly frbm the central'g<:lVernmenUo
each sarpanch it would allow .people to plan for their
village deveiopment. Of course money is power but still."
through this scheme 'it would not reach to the lowest '
element in the social hierarchy, the'real beneficiaries and,
the.labourers who are going to bring about the change.It
appears that the scheme may end up spending money in a'
peripheral manner. The budget is.very small .at a token.
level, compared to the need felt by the large ntimber of
people. The wage rates are 'lot very attractive, It does not
provide' for consistent intensive' employment. In :fact it
does not speCifyhow many daySof employment per person. '
is budgeted for. EGS averag~ comes to 50 days per person.'
Pcople complain of too short a period of support! JRY
. should encourage people to get mobilised and' organise
themselves for planning and work, in the spirit of real 'self
help'.D ;
I,',

,/

KURUKSHETRA January" 1990 , .

,
i

Employment-schemes have to co'ntend with.

structural problems
BllARAT DOGRA
New Delhi

IMPROVEMENTS
IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
programmes from time to time based on the problems.
encountered at the field level are certainly needed, and iii
fact the field. level success of various schemes depends to
a large extent on the efficiency with which these problems
are identified and corrective measures based on this identification are . taken. Apart from its own apparatus for
periodic evaluation of programmes and identification of
problems, in recent years the government has had the
added advantage of closer inter action. with various social
workers and activists, due to-the policy of sec~ringcloser
involvement of voluntary agencies in rural development
programmes. In addition at senior levels, or at levels where
.. decisions' regardi~gchanges, improvements and reorientation are taken, some .officials
known for their
;understanding
of and commitment
to the needs of
equalitarian, bread-based rural development have been
appointed.
'
>

Despite all this; the record of the changes that have been
introduced in recent years insome of-our important rural
. development programmes
has not been a particularly
happy one. And the changes made in the rural.employment
programmes, despite the wide publicity given to this effort,
by and large conform to this trend.
It is welI known that many .'new' "rural employment
schemes at the national level have been introduced from
. time to time. In the last two decades or so we have already
seen the Crash Scheme of Rural Employment, pilot rural
employment projects, Food for Works Programme, Na.
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

tional Rural Employment Programme, Rural 'Landless

Employment Guarantee Prograinme and the Jawahar Lal
Nehru Rozgar Yojana. In 1989 the last three rural employment programmes.
were me.rged into one single
programme known as Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY).
It is not correct to say that only the names of employment programme have changed from time to time. We can
also sec several changes and reforms or efforts to intro~
duce reforms being made from one programme
to
another. For instance, in the latest version JRY of rural
employment works, we can see efforts to reach all villages
including the most remote ones; to reduce the role of
bureaucracy and give a more direct and effective role to
the panchayats
in implementing
the employment
programme and efforts to reduce delays in payments of

various instalments.
On the other hand, even during the short period of
implementation of JR Y several practical problems have
been reported. In the effort to reach all villages, the funds
have to be spread Olitthinly. On top of it, there are several
instructions regarding the various. types of programmes
which are to be implemented and the percentage share of
the funds to be devoted to these programmes. Then there
are instructions relating to the percentage share which is
to be devoted to wage payments and the share which is to
be devoted to the purchase 'of materials. It may not be
practical for a panchayatto meet all these norms, specially
in a situalionwhen the total allocation is quite meagre. The
problem may become even more difficult due to un.

29

foreseen changes such as the significant increase in the

price of bricks which has been reported from some areas
recenily. As it is, various conflicting pulis and pressures
came into play in any case in the selection of specific works
and projects in various villages, but when to this are added
the various other problems mentioned in the context of
JRY, the implementation of the work becomes more difficult. In several villages the funds may be just adequate
for one important project and there may also be a broad
agreement among the village community regarding this
particular project, but its implementation may not be in
accordance with the JR Y instructions and so confusions
and delays emerge.
BUT
THEN QUESTIONS ARISE as to why these
problems-which
could've been foreseen-were
not
taken care of in fonnulating the JRY. One important
reason is that many senior officials are apprehensive-and
with good reason-about the possible misuse of JRY funds
in the prevailing power structure ofIndian villages. Therefore they make desperate attempts to prevent this misuse
by introducing provisions like at least this much be used
for the Scheduled Castes (sothat they are not left out) and
at least this much money should be spent in the payment
of wages (so that the 'vested interests' can be prevented
from emphasizing mainly purchases on which commissio~
. etc. can be earnea, or machines are not hired for work thal
can be done ~anually). But while attempting to introduce
such safeguards, the officials sometimes also introduce
some practical
implementation
problems
into, the
schemes.

neither the time nor the iDclination to look for any structural or deep refonn. Instead the emphasiS 'is on more
attractive slogans and publicity.
'
ARE THE STRUCTURAL
PROBLEMS
WHAT
that have been responsible for the less than satisfactory performance
of various
rural employment
programmes, and to what eXtent JR Y is likely to overcome
these? One problem is that while the overall statistics of so
many hundred 'of crores of Rupees sanctioned for these
schemes may appear attractive at first glance, when these
are examined closely keeping in view the number of villages and the number of unemployed persons, then these
funds appear to be very meagre.
Secondly, there is the problem of the prevailingoppres,
sive power structure in the villages in which afew powerful
villagers collude with local officials to comer a big sh",:e
of the benefits of the schemes meant for weaker sections.
Related to both the above problems is the question of
the extent to which the rural employment works are meant
to be a help to the oppressed sections against the oppressors. On paper at least; the rural employment works can
be a big help to "the oppressed sCelions in this context.
These works can make available a new and different means
of income to the people within or near their village. This
increases' their bargaining position to demand a better
deal. This is also precisely the reason why the oppressors
have been' so determined to destroy and disturb such a
liberating role of employment works.

Thus many of our rural development schemes are the

result of two conflicting pulls and pressures. On the one
hand there is one urge to give more powers in the hands
of the panchayats to evolve and implement their development schemes. This is a very popular slogan indeed, and
its populist appeal specially in election years can hardly be
ignored. Oil the other hand, there is fear and the suspicion
of the powerful vested interests who dominate many villages and are known to be corrupt, oppressive towards the
poor and also generally. opposed to the village warne playing an active leading role in social and economic life.

h reality, of course, such a liberating role has not b~en

possihle, both because of the meagre allocations for
employment works and the disruption ofthe implementation of the programme by vested interests. These problems
will continue to pose q'uestion marks on the effectiveness
of JR Y also. Like many rural development schemes, it may
be relatively successful-subject to practical implementation problems b~ing resolved efficiently-in villages having
a somewhat equalitarian
and democratic structure-in
achieving limited development tasks and providing some
employment at fair wage to weaker sectioDS. But such hope
cannot be expressed for many other villages having less

The balancing act that finally emerges from trying to

reconcile these perceptions without making any significant
attack on the structural I?roblem of oppressive power
structures,
is almost certain to suffer from practical
problems.

favourable socio-econbmic condition.

The problems become even more difficult when such

schcn"1esare tied morc and more to immediate political
expediency. Under such circumstances there is generally

A timehas now come to move away from tampering with

a few relatively less important problems here and there to
tackle the bigger task~of altering the balance of power in
favour of the oppressed sections. For this purpose political

parties, voluntary agencies, and other fronts, organisations

or even individuals known for their commitment to the
(Contd.on Page 44)

30

KURUKSHETRAJariuary,

1990'

Working of Gramodaya Scheme: all appraisal

L. GOPAIAKRISHNAIAH,

P. MOHAN REDD~ and C. SIVARAMI REDDY

SVU, PG Cent .Cuddapah

lit

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM
TotheERADICATE
Government of India has formulated and imple-

Rs.I5,OOOfor business units under qramodaya.

mented vaz:iousprogrammes and schemes und~rdifferent

plan periods. One among them is Gramodaya - the Village
to become radiant - an innovative scheme for providing
self-employment to educated unemployed youth. The
scheme was announced by our beloved former Prime Minister Smi. hdira Gandhi on 15th August, 1983 and it

The applicants are required to submit applications in

.prescribed form to the DistrictIndustries Centre{DIC)
the concerned district. The selection',of candidates at the
rate of one per village is made by the District Gramodaya
Committee under the Chairmanship oftlie District CoUce;

received wider attention and considerable

lOr.

'

importance.

The scheme is an earnest attempt to provide one job

enterprise to every village in order to combat unemployment problem by providing self-employment to rural
educated youth.
.

FinanCing faCilities
.HE GRAMODAYA SCHEME envisages a.comT posite loan of Rs.25,OOOto beneficiaries with Central
subsidy of 25 per cent of the amount sanctioned. The
.subsidy amount, i.e., one fourth of the amount sanctioned

Criteria for selection

THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA is',adopted in selecting the beneficiaries under the Gr"fodaya Scheme:
I. Necessary criteria
i)

Applicant from a village snould be a native of that

particular'Village only,
'

ii)

should set up the enterprise in t~at village,

'iii)

should have passed 10th class an,d above 'and be

unemployed, and

iv)

shou,ld be in the age grnup of 18 to 35 years.

in favour of the beneficiary will be credited into bank as a

fIXed deposit in his name. The amount of intere,.<;taccrued

on this deposit willbe credited 10 his loan account. The

bank will advance the entire amount sanctioned as loan to
the beneficiary. The bank later on recovers three-forths of
the sanctioned amount, and the deposit amount wiil be
adjusted tm';ards the one-fourth'and thus, the account will
be closed. All the assets created by the bank loan will be
mortaged to the bank. The loan will bear an interest rate
.0flO per cent for backward areas and.12 per cent for other
areas. Recently, regrouping has been made with Rs.35,OOO
for industrial units,' RS.25,OOOfor servicing units, and

II. Preferential criteria

i)

There should be no person employbd.in the fami~

,-

,
ii)

The family should not own more than one house

\
!,

31

TABLE~1

or 2.5 acres of dry land.

Tarlets and
Afhievements
,

Types of enterprises
HE DEPARTMENT
OF INDUSTRIES
had
prepared abour 100 schemes of general adoptability
.Costing less than Rs.25,OOOeach which could be set up
under the scheme. Additionally, each DIC had prepared
more schemes which are of special interest for that par.
ticular District (like slate making in Kurnool and mat
weaving in Chiltoor). The following are some of the units
which can be started under this scheme in each sector i.e.,
in Industry Sector: for example Agarbathi manufacturing,
sOap manufacturing, toy making etc.; in Service Sector;
auto-rickshaw, Radio and T.V. repairing, tailoring elc.;
and in Business Sector: bangle shop, Pan shop, tea stall,
etc.

Gramodaya in Chittoor
IS ONE OF THE 14 industrially backCHITTOOR
ward districts in Andhra Pradesh selected for
implementation of Gramodaya scheme. The scheme has
been in force since 1983-84in ChiUoor district. It is imple-"
.mented under the supervision of the District Industries
Centre (DIC). The present empirical study is 'confined to
ChiUoor district only. The data pertain tinhe. period of
three years cOmmencing from 1983.84 and ending with
1985-86financial year.
Ali impressive record of the targets and achievements
during the. period cif three years commencing from the
.financial year 1983.84 and ending with 1985.86 can be
observed from Table 1.

In the first two years, i.e.; in 1983.84 and 1984-85under

study the targets were surpassed by. six and four units

Target
(No. of .
units)

.Year
1983-84
1984-85
1985-86
Total

A(hieyement
(No. of
units)

in

Amount
disbursed
(Rs. in Iakhs)

706
704
800

152.41
155.Q7
184.42

131.34
138.15
124.58.

2,210

491.90

394.07

700
700
800 .
. 2,200

Amount
sanctioned
ms;
lakhsX

Source:"Records of District Industries Centre, Chittor, A.P.

respectively whUe'in 1985.86 the target fixed for the year

was achieved. The amount sanctioned went on increasing
from Rs.i52.41 lakhs !i~ 1983"84'to RS.I84.42 lakhs in
1985.86. However, the amount disbursed declined to
Rs.124,581akhs in 1985-86from RS.131.34in 1983-84.The
decline in the amount 'disbursed in 1985.86was due to the
fact that many oflhe ~nits were grounded after June, 1986
requiring disbursem~lnts.'

. Caste-wise classification
A PER USAL AT'T ABLE"2 depicts that out of a total
~f
706 units, the representation of Scheduled Castes
stood at 39, and Scheduled Tribes one, backward com.'
munities 157 and other communities 509 during 1983-84.
In 1984.85 there: were only seven Scheduled Caste.
beneficiaries out of 704, one belonged to Scheduled
Tribes, 76 to backward cOlmnunities and. the remaining
620beneficiaries represented other commu~itieS.In 198586the total sancti6ned were 800 consisting 45beneficiaries .
from Scheduled Caste, three' from Scheduled Tribe, 146 .
from backward eommunities and 606 from other com.
munities. It is ~vident that the representation 'frdm
Scheduled Tribes is negligible because the district has less
tribal population. So far as the Scheduled Castes are can.

TABLE.2
Caste.wise dassification

Year

sc.

ST.

1983-84

39
(5.52)

1984-85
1985-86
Total

or beneficiaries

identified,

BC.

Others

1
(0.14)

157
(22.24)

509
(72.1)

706
(100)

7
(1.0)

1
(0.14)

(10.8)

620
(88.06)

704
(tOO)

45
(5.62)

3
(0.38)

606
(75.75)

800
(100)

91
(4.12)

5
(0.23)

Source: Retords of DistrietIndustrles

Centre. Chinor. A.P,
~~te: Figures in prcsentheses i~dicatepercentages 10 the respective totals.

76
t46

(18.25)
379

2,210

1.735

(17.15)

Total

(78.5)

(100)

,I
I
I

32

KURUKSHETRAJanu;uY,

cerned, their representation

stood at 5:52 per cent in
1983-84 edged doWn to one per cent in 1984-85, but improved to 5.62 per cent in 1985-86. A similar declining
representation as regards the backward communities can
also be noticed from the table. Thus, it is observed that the
youth belonging to weaker sections of s,?ciety were not
. properly represented.
TABLE..!

Sex-wise classifit'ation 01 Benendaries

Year

Men

Women

601
(85.t3)

105
(14.87)

POO)

1984-85

648
(92.05)

56
(7.95)

704
( 1(0)

1985-U

698
(81.25) _

102
(12.75)

800

1983-84

Total

1,947
(88.10)

263.
'. (11.90)

Total

Service Sector

706

The information pertaining to uruts under service sector

is presented in Table-5.

( tOO)
. 2,210

(tOO)

Source: Retords of District Industries Centre. Chittor. A.P.

Note: Figures in presentheses indicate percentages 10 the respective
totals.
.
.

'Out of the total of2,210 beneficiaries for; the three years

of survey 263 were women. Though the representation of
educated women come down to 7.95 per cent in 1984-85.
from 14.87 per cent in 1983-84, the subsequent year (198586) .witnessed
their enhanced
participation.
The
participation of women is not quite appreciable due to
tradition on one hand and lack of motivation from officials
concerned on the other.

Sector-wise financial assi~tance

A LL THE UNITS TAKEN UP under Gramodaya
1"1scheme have been grouped into three district sectors
Viz., (i) Industry Sector,
iii) Service Sector and (iii)
Business Sector. The sector-wise r~anciaJ '"assi~tance
provided by the banks is examined and discussed brieny.
Financial assistance to. set up the enterprises under. the
scheme was provided by as many as 17banksin the distric!.

Industry SectQr
The details relating to industry sector are furnished .in
Table-4. 'Of the 706 units. established in the' year 1983-84,
the industrial sector alone accounis for 271 units with a
.total investment of Rs:54.201lakhs. All the 2i1 units sanctioned were grounded
During th~ year .1984-85 the
industrial units sanctioned, recorded a sharp rise over the
previous year. The number of industrial units sanctioned
KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

in this year was 385 out of a toial of i04 units. But, the
number of industrial units grounded were only 330 with a .
total disbursement of funds to thd extent of RS.75.15lal<hs.
More than half of the total unit~ sanctioned were under
industrial sector in the year i985-86. This increasing trend
. in industrial units indicates that educated youth were
preferring to establish productio~ oriented type of units .
.As against a total sanction of 443 industrial units, however;
only 129 units were grounded by !he end of the year. The
amount disbursed, therefore,
had , declined.
.

. In all,403 units were sanction'dd during the period of

thrce years under investigation. the year-wise classification shows that 121 units were granted and grounded with
an investment ofRs.24.20 lakhs duting 1983-84. Duri~gthe
year 1984-85, 122 units were sandioned out of which 114
units were grounded. The cost of these schemes amounted
to Rs.24.40 lakhs. In 1985.86 theselv;cing units sanctioned
were 160 while the number of units grounded stood at 107
at a c'lsi of Rs.32.551akhs. The'c<1mparison between the
industrial and servicing units reveals that the number of
industrial units grounded is relati~ely more thari that of

servi.cing units.

. I

Business Sector
TabJe-6 contains the data relating to the business units
established under Gramodaya scheme.
I'.,

During the study period a total ~f 708 units of business.

nature were sanctioned of which 649 were grounded. A
total number of 314 units were santtioned and grounded
during 1983-84 with an investmept of Rs.52.94 lakhs.
During 1984.85 the number of units sanctioned
and
grounded were 197 and 194 res~ectively ata. cost of
. RS.38.60 lakhs.1n 1985-86'only 141 1mits were established
with an investment of Rs.30.47 lakh~, out of the197 units
.
d ..
'
. sancllOnc
'.,:
I

c. A comparative 'an~lysis of thes~ three categories of

sectors indicates that educated youth have come forward
in establishing the units of industrial hature rather than the
other two categories - business and servicing units. However, of the last two mentioned business units have gained
mor~importance over the servicing units which is ctint[iary"
.to the Government pOlicyl.
0'1.
.
1. The.policy of the Government in res~cl-or these categories of
sectors is thai oul of ttie total sanctioned uni~ in a year 50 per ccnt shall
be from' Industry Sector, 30 per cent-rrom Servicing and 20 per cent from
Business Sector~
f

33

TABLE4
Financial asslstanre provided to Industrial Units
Numher

Year

or

Amount
I

Number of

Number of

units

rBses

units

sanctioned

sanctioned

disbursed

arounded

(Rs. In.lakh'l

Amount

disbursed
(Rs. in lakh,)

1933-84 .
1984-85
1985.s6 .
Total

-.
Sou~:

Records of.District

Industries

271
385
443

271
380
272

271
330
129

1,099 .

923

730

~ntre,

67.55
96.25
110.80

54.20
75.15
61.56
190.91

274,60

Chitlor, A.P.

TAOLE.S
Finanrialllssistanre
.Number of

Number of

,Year

pro\'ided
I

rases

unlls

to Sf'!"'\'irinl!: Units

I
Amount

Amoun'

units'

sanctioned

disbursed

grounded

(Rs. in lakhs)

Number of

disbursed

sanctioned

1933-84
1984-85
1985-86

121
li2
160

122
155

121
114
107

Total

403

398

'342

Source: Records of District

Industries

121

31.91
23.26
35.22
.90.39

(Rs. in lakhs)

24.20
.24.40
32.55 .
81.15

Centre, Chillor, AP.

TADLE-6
Rssistanco:! prm'ided 10 Busioess Unils

Finandal
Year

J'

Number of
units
sanrlioned

Amount
disbursed

cases

units
gmunded

(Ro; . in lakhs)

(Ils. in lakhs)

. 52:95
35.68
38.40

52.94
.38.60
30.47

Total

. 708

679

:Source: Records or Districllndustries

Cenlre. Chitlor. A.1l.

Summing up
HE FOREGOING
ANAL YSIS renecls thai the lar. gets f"!,,d for .th~ diS!i'ict were achieved. But in the
selection ~fbcneficiari~s;.proper
representation was not
provided for the youth belonging to weaker sections of
society. Further, it is also evidennhat lbe participation of
fair sex in the scheme is not .significant. Official apathy on
one hand and also tiaditional way of life of women in
villages on the other'~ere the twb main reasons for tbeir

34

Amoun,'

dishursed

314
194
171

T.

sanctioned

314
197
197

1933-84
1984-85
i985-86 .

Number of

Numher of

314
194
141
649

127.03

122:01

least parlicipation in the scheme. It. is, thus, necessary'for

the implementing agencies of the scheme to motivate
youth belonging to weaker sections of society, Further, the
agencies responsible for implementation of the scheme
shall PUI in concerted and committed efforts to make the
educated women to take up the units under Gramoaay~.
The participation of educated ,weaker sections of society
including women in the scheme certainly contributes in
achieving Ihe desired objectives of Gramodaya in a more
befilting way~
,.

KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

Rural health care service - a survey

M.~

MONCLER and B. MVRGE&\N

"

CARE IS ONE OF THE most important of

HallEALTH
human endeavour to improve ihe quality of life. In
all civilized ,countries the government has assumed the '
responsibility for the health and welfare of the citizens.
India is one of the very few countries that has from the very
beginning planned health services as part of the' general
socio-economic development.
,
Rural health care has been a perpetual problem in
India, Three types of health resources are available to the
rural population. They are formal;informal and folk health
care. The formal health care system consists of the
Government network of primary health centres, subcenlresand dispensaries which are commonly called PHC '
complex. This system is highly formalised and organised
bureaucratically. The informal system relates to a network
of private clinics of the full time medical practitioners of
various systems of medicine such as Ayurveda; Siddha, '
Unani and Homoeopathy. The folk health care system
consists of variety of part time workers who function within
the context of folk tredition and village organisation.
Though all these system~ fulfil the health need ofthe rural
population in India to a varying degree, PHCs play a
pivotal role in the provision of health care services to the
rural folk.
The Government is spending quite a lot of money for
setting up primary health service centres, yet a large
populaiion has no access to health care services at all and
what they receive does not alleviate'their problems. I"iwas
a widely shared, view that th'e'primary health centreswere
not able to make significant dent on the health status of the
rural population. They fell short of expectations 'because
KURUKSHETRA 1anuary, 1990.

they did not meet the laid down objectives adequately.

Shortage of qualified health personnel, inadequate and
irregular supply of medicines, inadequate training
facilities for the' different categories of staff requrred,
'indifferent attitude oftheworkers, inefficiency of the paramedical staff, etc., are some of the factors which have
discouraged the villagers from utilising fully the health
care services provided by the 'PHCs.1 The above stated
problems have a direct impact on the conSumer/patient
who form a market for the government health care institutions in the rural areas. Hence an attempt is made in this
paper to bring to light the actual problems faced by these
consUmers. To understand the image they have towards '
these units, a study of their attitude towards the, rural
health care services is considered as appropriate. The
performance ofthese centres in the delivery of health care
, services as well' as utilisation by the target population of
these services can be effectively evaluated on the basis of
the' result of the study conducted in this regard. The
present paper aims to cover ihe following speeific objectives:

1.,

To identify the problems faced by the con,sumers in availing of health care services
offered by the primary health centres, suI>:
-centres and dispensaries.

2.

To study the attitude of both the'beneficiaries

. , f..Gael.

S.L:, Public

Prlva"teLimited,

Health Administration,

New Delh},

Sterling

Publishers

1985, P. 36

35

and non-beneficiaries towards the service offered by the

PHCs.
.

Methodology
IN THE UNION TERRITORY OF Pnndicherry health
care services are being provided to rural popuhition by
various Governmental agencies like primary health
centres, sub-centres and dispensaries. This tiny territory
has four enclaves namely Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe
and Yanam. For the purpose of this study Pondicherry
Region has been selected deliberately. There are six
Primary Health Centres, 21 dispensaries and 51 subcentres providing health care services .to the rural
population of the Pondicherry region. 2 Three primary
health centres located in different communes (Wards) of
Pondicherry region were selected at random. Since the
sub-centres are attached to PHCs, a sample of two subcentres from each selected primary health centres was
selected. Further two dispensaries located in the selected
areas of PHC was also selected at random. The respondents were dr.awnfrom sixsub-centres and sixdispensaries
selected for this purpose. A sample consisting of 10 male
and .10female from each sub-centr~ and dispensary was
drawn using appropriate sampling methods. Thus the
sample constitutes 240, 120 drawn from sub-centres and
the balanCe from the dispensaries.

Results and discussions

IN THE STUDY AREA two types of health care services

The influence of occupation ofthe respondents and the

choice of health care services are shown in Table 2 It could ..
rbe seen from the table that, out of24Osample respondents,
85 of them are engaged as agricultural labourers. A major
chunk of this group, ie., about 90 per cent of the respondents have availed of public health care services and about

TABLE,-I
Choice of heaUh

cari' sen'ices

Intome (per 8nnu~)

availed. income w'ise

Tolal

Sour:tes
Public

Disp

PHC

Public & Private .

Privale

Less .han Rs. SOOO

5
(33)

10
(67)

5,001-10,000

80
(69)

34
(29.30)

2
(01.70)

lO,OOl-t5,OOO .

30
(SO.8)

14
(24)

10
(17)

5
. (08.2)

59
(100)

~.OOl-20.000

5
(24)

8
(38)
.2

8
(38)

21
(100)

(07)

27
(93)

29
(100)

20,001 arid more .

Total

IS
(100)
116
(100)

120

58

22

40

240

(50)

(24)

(09)

(17)

(100)

Source: Primary Dara.

Figures in parentheses shOw ahe percentage; ,

36

KURUKSHETRA January. 1990

Choice 01 Health Care Servkes .'otcupation.wfse

Occupation

Total

Puhlir
Disp
Agriculture

PRC

Private and public

.2

5
(25)

Artisan

(10)

6
(54.55)

(18.18)

(09.09)

Private
13
(65)

20
(100)

2
(18.18)

11
(100)

Business

6
(60)

'.4
(40)

10
(100)

Profession

I .
(25)

3
(75)

4
(100)

Goo. service

9
(40.9)

(13.6)

(13.16)

7
(il.9)

22
(100).

Agricultural .
labour

52
(61.18)

(29.41)

Dependent

37
(50)

(37.83)

. Others

25

28

120

(100)

4
(28.5)

Total

8S

(09.41)

58

(09.45)

2
(02.72)

74
(100)

1
(07.14)

9
(64.28)

14
(100)

22

40

240

Source: Prim.af)' Data.

Figures in parentheses show the percentage ..

10 per cent opted for both public and private. II is understood that due to serious illness some of these respondents
were forced to approach the private practitioners. The
figures are more or less the same for the respondents who.
are Unemployed. The professionals and landowners have
. mostly ayailed of private health care services.

the reasons for availing of these services. The main reasons

for using public health care service are free service, better
s.ervice, proximate
to the residence,
'sophisticated
facilities, privilege to Goveromentstaff,
etc. Ofthe above
categories,
respondents
.we~e asked to choose. the
dominant reason .

.Reasons for availing public health care services

Table 3 shows the reasonS for availing of health care

services. Oflhe respondeilts using public health care 5Orvice 52.5 per cent use it for a significant reason that it is a
free service and 27.5' per' cent use it because the public

.
.
After having identified 200 respondents who use public
health care services, an attempt has been made to study

TABLE-3
,Reason lor availing 01 p~b'icheallh care: SOurt'e..iH anal~ls

Health Care Unit

Free Service

Betler Service

.Proximlty

~phisticated
lacilities,

PrivlJeae to .
GoYl. Slalr

Total

<.
Dispensary
PHC
PHC/PVT

Total

98
(82)

2
(02)

15
(12)

5
(09) .

10
(17)

25
(43)

10
(17)

8
(14)

2
(09)

(O'l)

15
(68)

2
(09)

(OS) ;

105
(52.5)

14
(07)

55
(27:5) .

5.
(04)

120

(100)
I

I .

58
(100)
22
. (100)

12

14

200

(06)

(07)

. (100)

Sautee: Primary Data.

Figures in Parentheses ~howthe ~rcentage.

KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

37

TABLE.4
Reason tor avatUna 01 publiC' health earr. inco'me-wlsc! analysis

J_

(per )

Fne

se",I

Better sf"lce

PrIvilege .'0

Sophl.tlcaled

. Proximll)'

15

BeIowSOOO

Total

Govt.Statr

t a.lIlllo.

-.

15
(100)

(lOll)

'.

8.
(06).

16
(14)

.IO,l101.-1SOOo

4
(07)

3S
(65)

15,001-20000

2
(16)

4
(30.5)

90
(78)

5,001.10,000

.'

9 ..
(17)

54
(100)

13
(lOll)

i (23)

2.
(100) .

2
. (100)

Source: Primary Data.

"F"JlUteI in "parentheses show percentage.

. 200

14

. 12

55

14

lOS.

Total

6
(11)
4
(30.5)

20,001-& more

116
(100)

1 (~)

at the PHC and dispensary. Table 5 shows the nature of

health care units are very proximate to 'their residence.

Rest of the respondents use it either because of better
service and sophisticated facil;ties.or as a privilege available to government staff. Table .4 is drawn for the
important purpoSe of enumerating the influence ofineome
over the utilisation of public health.care services..It rev~als
that a >'8Stmajority of the respondents under the income
group '5001-10000' avail of public health care services as
it is freely availlible. The respondents under the category
oC'less'than 5,000' use it for the same reason. Proximity is
one of the influencing factor in their choice of health care
services. Pondicherry being tiny territory gets preferential treatment in the allocation 'of funds for various'
developmental projects and even the remote villages are
connected by proper roads. Even otherwise the distance
from the residence of'the .respondents to dispensary of
PHCdoes not count much. The reason is obvious.

health care services availed of by the respondents and the

same is classified on the basis of sex. Of the total respon- .
. denlS contacted 68.5 per cent use curative services and .
22.5 per cent use both curative and preventive service. It
.reveals that the respondents depend more on curative
.service than preventive care. It is found that male respon, dents are inclined more towards 'curative services than
,females, Le., 70.8 per cent' as against 29.2 per cent, while
. females' avail of preventive services more than inale
respondents, Le., 66.67 per cent as against 3333 per cent.
It is but natutal that femalt!respondents evince keen interest in adopting the policY of 'prevention is better than
'cure'. Thus there exists significant divergence in the attitude of male and female respondents towards the nature
. 'of services as chi square ~alueis significant at 5 per cent
level.
".

. ,1'

Attitude towards the time lag of consumption

Nature of health care services availed of

There are three types oChealth care services available

One ofthe grievances Ofthe respondents is thatthey are

TABLE -

Nature of health.care services availed of. sex.wise analysis

Se~'

Preventive

Curative

Total

Both:
I

Male
F~male
-Total

97
(70.80)
40
(29.20)
137
(68.5)

..'

"

6
(33.33)
12
(86.63)

17
(22.22)
35

(n.78)

112
. (56)
88
(44)

-18
(09)

45 I
(22.5)

200
(100)

Souh:e: P~mary Data.

Fipres in parentheses show percentage
.
X v8~ue =:= 36.71 at 5 per cent level of. significance

38

KURUKSHE-rRA Janmiry, 1990

made to wait for long time before contacting the

physicians. In order to find out the facl they were aslied to
give the amount of time that they have to wait before
consulting the physician. The results are shown in Table 6.
About 43 per cent of the respondents felt that they were
able to contact the physician within 15 minutes and oiher

as out patients. It is desirable that the OPD hq1,\l'Sshall be

so fiXed~s to suit the convenience of the respondents~ For
that it will enable the respondents to attend to other works
without much difficulty. With this end in view the respondents were asked to give their opinion regarding the
convenience
of OPD .hours. ,Table 7 shows the

TABLE.S

TIme lal'or-availlng Health Can Services:

otcupation-wJse analysis

Oupatlon

,TIme

lag

Total

Less than

6 minutes to

More than

5mlnules

JO minutes

10 minUtes

3
2
4 .

5
1

1
2
1

7
9
6
1

1 '

IS

Agri~ulture
Artisan
Business
Profcssio:1
Goo. Service
Agricultural

1
12
"

.L8.bour

IS

Depcnde.nt
Others

29
22
4

48
(24)

66
(33)

11

Total

41
39
1

min

..

85
72
,

86
(43)

5
200'
(100)

Source: Primary Data.

Figures,,, parentheses. show the percentage.

resptndents wer~ able to meet the physician within 10

minutes. The time'span of 10 to 15 minute required to be
spent before contacting the physicians could not be con.
strued as inordinate delay inviting criticism. It is quite
natural that people wil1have to wait for sometime during
peak hours. This is the common phenomena faced by all
the respondents irrespective of their nature of occupation.

Convenience of OPD hours

Another general grievance pertains to the hardship
ensuing from the reported hours of service at OPD clinics.
People take treatment in primary health care units mostly
TABLE.7

Convenience or OPD Hours ~"Occupation.wlse

Oc:cupation

ConcenienC'eor OrD Hours

Convenient
Agriculture
3
Artisan
' 4
Business
4
Profession
t
Govt. Service
10
Agricuhural Labour 60
Dependent
62
. Others
3
Tolal

Analysis

147
(735)

Inconvenienf
4
5
2'
0
5
2S
JO
2 '
53
(26.5)

Source: Primary Data.

Figures iri.parenlheses show the percentage.

KURUKSHETRA January, 1990

..

Total
7
9
6
1
IS
85
72
5

200
(100)

respon.dents' opinion regarding OPD hours. It attempts

correlation between hours of serviCeand occupaiion of the
respondents to emphasise the significkce of convenience. '
based service. It is clear, from the table that 735 pel cent
of the respondents find the OPD hours more .convenient.
The same is acceptable even to agticultural labourers.
Thusit is evident from the exercise that not less that 60 per
'cent or.the respondents engaged in different occupatioIlS
favoured provision of service between 8.30 a.m to 2 p.m.

A ttitude towards health staff

The 'patients who use public health care services are
supposed to come in close contact with the team of health
staff namely, physician, health assistant, maternity asSis,
tant, health worker, ancillary-mid'-wife (Dais) and
community health guide. These health staff are expected
to attend to the callers at the PRe's while' others like
community health guide, dais, etc.; are'required to attend
to the health need of the villagers as arid when required.
The respondents were asked to exPress their opinion
about the chances of meeting the variouShealth staff. Their
opinion was registered under four rdponse categories .
Majority of ,the respondents said that ihey were able to'
meet the concerned health staff alwayS'except Dais and
community health guide. It is represent~d in Table 8.

39
,

I
TABLE'.8.

,I

Opinion regarding a.allabllily or bealth .tarr '

Sometimes

.Alwa

Health Slarr

30
(IS)

150 .
(75)

Physician

15

Rarel

Never

20
(10)

I"

Total
200
200

180
, (90)

(07.5)

5
(02.S)

170
(85)

17
(085)

13
(065)

200

Healtb WorIter

190
(95)

5
(025)

5
(02.S)

200

Mid-wife

180
(90)

16
(08)

4
(02)

Dais

' 50
(25)

20
(10)

90
(45)

40
(20)

30
(15) ,

50
(25)

100
(50)

Health Assistan'
Maternity
Assista'nt

200

,"
I

200

20
(10)

Community .
Health Guide

200

Source: Primary Data. Figu~ in parenl~eses sllow the percentage.

'.

.,

TABLE.'
Attitude towards varIOus health starr
Heallh Staff
Physician
Heallh Assistant
Maternity Assistant
Health Worker
Mid-wife
Dais
C.H.O.

Coope-

CORSO-

ratl've
2.65
2.4
2.6,
2.4
2.4
2.S
2.0

ling
2.6
2.4
2.6,
2.4
2.4
25
2.1

Sympa.helle
2.6
2.4
2.6
2.3
2.3
25
2.2

Kmdent.

Tolal

2,4
2.4
2.4
2.3

2.4
2:3
2.3
2.2 '

2.3

i5 .

2.3

2.4

2.0

2.0

Source: Primary Data ..

The attitude of the beneficiaries towards helilth st

was studied under the heads co-operative, consoling, sym
pathetic, efficient arid prompt. Table-9 shoWsthe altitud
evaluated under each head using 3-point. scille and th
. results were calculated using weighted average. ,It is cI
from the table that physicians and maternity assistant ar
equally co-operative, consoling 'lll!d sympathetic. C
operative, cOnsoliI\g, sympathetic physicians are rat
high followed by maternity assistants and Dais. Midwife'
more prompt thaq any, other health stall Communi
health guides are rated very low in al1 the five attitude
towards the beneficiaries.
I

Attitude of responde TItsusing both services .

TABLE. 10
oPinion oflhe patients using both private and public
health ~rvices education-wise analysis'
.EduCation Level

.Private is bette. Government is better

No Education

6
3
Upto 5th Sid
Upto8th Sid
1
Up'o 10th S,d .
3
".Collegiate Education 2
Total

IS
168.92)

TOlal

3'

5
1
4
3

1
7
(31.18)

22
. (l00)

Respondents using both the services were asked t

express their opi~ion by comparing publi~ and privat
health care services in terms oftheir contnbution in build
ing a healthy natiori. It is shown ill Tabie-IO. It is inferre
from the table that 22 respondents were considered, th
right persons to give ~Iear idea about thispciint asthey av .
\loth the services. About 70 per cent of these respondent
are of the opinion 'thatthe services provided by the privat
, health care units ate better, probably they may be attract
towards the modern concept of marketing adopted b
these units in deliyering the services. One interesting poin
which emerges in that inspite of sophistiCated facilitie
offered by privat~ clinics about 30 per cent of the responj
dents have registered their appreciation for the service~
rendered by the public' health care units. This is real1y
welcome trend.
.

I
40

KURUKSHETRAJanuary,

Reasons for availin2.private health care 'services

income-wise analysis .
Inoome Class
Less than 5000
5,001-10,000
10,001-15,000
15,001-20,000
20,001 & above .

Better.
service

2
5
9

Social
- status

1 .
2
13

16
16
(40)
(40)
Source: Primary Data.
Fi~~ in parentheses show the percentage.

Total

Specialised
staff .

Total

2
1
5

0
0
5
8
27

8
(20)

40
(100)

Table 12 shows the opinion regarding the satisfaction of

respondents using private health care services. Of the total .
respondents 575 per cent are satisfied with the services,.
325 per cent are somewhat satisfied and 15 per cent are
rarely satisfied. The majority of the respondents who say
. that they are rarely satisfied ar~ from the high income
class. Though 47.5 percent of the respondents ha\>enot
favoured the private health care services stil1 they' are
reluctant to 'opt for public health care services for the,
obviouneasons.
:

,:

Findings

HESURVEYREVEALS THAT majority of the rural

folk in the 'lesser income gr~ups' avail the primary
health care services for a dominan! reason that it is freely
available.

T
Attitude of non-beneficiaries
Non.beneftciaries refer to those people who have not
availed of any service or facilities from public health care
units. 40 respondents areJound using only private health.
care services. Belter service and status of the respondents
are tpe two major 'reasons for using private health care,
each of them deserves equal credit. 20 percent of them
use it because of the advantage of having specialists in a
specific branch of medicine that is related to their diseases.
Greater majority of the respondents under the 'high income class' seems to use it for the reason ofbelter services.
It is shown in Table-Ii.
TABLE .12
.Opinion Rgarding private health (are services
Income Class

. Less than. 5,000

5,001-10,000
10,001-15,000
15,001-20,000
20,001& above

Sati.sfied

Somewhat
satisfied

'. Rarely
satisfied

Total

o
o
3
'4
14

2
2
9

2
4

5
8
27

- Majority of the patients usirlg private health

services fall in the 'upper income class'.

- Occupation of the respondent.IIso plays an wportant

role in the choice of health care I services; ~cultural
labourers mostly avail of primary h~alth care services.
- CuratiVe services are used mor~ than preventive services.
'
- A greater majority of the respondents using both the
services (public and private) apprCclate private health
care services.
'
- Respondents who have never used public health care
services fall in the 'upper incomecl~'.
'

21
13
(57.5)
(32.5)
Source: Primary Data.
Figures in parentheses show the percenlage.

6
(15)

40
(100)

- Greater majority of respondents using primary health

care services are not satisfied with it.iBut they continue it
for various obvious reasons.
.
,

Total

CllJ'e

- The altitude of rural folks towards the health staff is

unsatisfactory except tow'ards the ph~ician.
2. 'Annual' Report, Department
Pondichery.

of Healt~ and Family Welfare,

1986, p.48

,.
I

KURUKSHETRAJanuary,l99b

4i

~.

A beneficiary under ISH

ARELAL IS THE SON OF DEVILAL a Harijan
Bfrom
Nai village, in Girva Block from Udaipur district
of Rajasthan. Barelal was the youngest of the 4 brothers.
His father migrated from a place 40 kms aw~y from Nai
village before Barelal was born. He was educated up t08th
standard in the local school but had to discontinue studies
to support his parents who needed Barelal's help on
account of his other brothers finding their own way, leaving
. the parents to their fate. He is aged 38 and was married at
his 25th year. He has four children.2 male and 2 female
and all are. studying in the local schools that cater
separately for boys and girls.
Barela!'s father was a guidc by occupation at historical
. places in Udaipur district and uscd to earn RS.2 per day.
In fact, his mother used to earn much more than his fathcr
did. She was going for work as an agricultural labourer.
Barelal constructed his own house 5 years back in the main
village before which, he was living in a satellite village of
Nai village and was having a hut there. About 5 years back
the government constructed an irrigation dam. due to
which the satellite village got submerged in that area. As
compensation, such of those people who have lost their
lands and houses, were provided a house site and also
some cash for constructing the house. Barelal got RS.700

from the State Government in this connection: The house

is.a single room 16X20 feet .covered by liles that are
supported by bamboos and the walls are made of mud. A
small portion of this single room is used as a kitchen.
Adjoining area to kitchen is used for their dwelling and the
other corner of the room used for the flour mill, estab-

42

lished by Barelal with the help ofa

through IRDP.
;

loan he obtained

After discontinuing .his studies, Barelal went in search

of work and luckily foJnd a flour mill owner looking for a
'helper. During the process of working, he learned among
other things the management of men and material. Barelal
used to go to local tea stall during the leisure hours and
read through the newspaper. He mentioned iliat he usually
looks in the newspaper for items dealing with. political
developments and also the developmental programmes
that have been launched by the government to ameliorate
the conditions of the poor. Thus during the year 1982
Barelal came to know of the schemes implemented by the
government. He approached gramdevak and requested
for furlher details. The gramsevak explained different"
aspeels of the progralnmes implemented and the types of
the schemes meant for var.ious categories of people below
poverty line. He was:also told that priority is being given
to those who have. their incomes below poverty line and
more particularly those who belong to Scheduled Castes
and Backward Classes. It was then that Barelal thought;
he could also apply,for a loan from the government for
establishing an industry. He discussed with the gramsevak
about his. previous I experience of running a flour mill
during such times thaI the owner was away, leaving the
entire management care on him. The gramsevak got 'the
application blanks filled by Barelal and forwarded them to
the concerned. Gtamsevak informed Barelal tbat the
processing might take any time between a' month and a
year and much dep~nded upon how quickly the DRDA is.
able to process lbe 'applications and forward them to the
I

KURUKSHETRA

January, 1990

I.

banks. During that time he came to know of developme'1t

programme like Antyodaya, JRDP and NREP but not
about TRYSEM. He is of the view that the development
programmes implemented by the government are aimed
at providing additional income to the rural poor in order
to enable them to live much belter ihan before. He also
stated that he is aware of the other schemes undertaken
for implementation in the villagesIike the Gobargas plant
which is currently under construction.in
Nai village to
,benefit 30 families involving an expenditure of Rs.l,50,OOO.
Ainongthe
other people that have been ~elpful in the
process of identification and in his receiving the benefit,
Barelal mentioned (a) surpanch and also the (b) patwari.
Dueto the fact that the Rajasthan government cnsurcd the
simplification of the procedure of submitting the applica- '
tions for which the gramsevak is entrusted with the job of
securing the essential certificates that are expected to
accompany the application. Among thesc, Barelal stat cd
that income and assets .certificatcs were obtained by th~ '
gramsevak from.the revenue department on payment of
RS.2 for taking the extract from the records and for which
amount, official receipts were issued. Apart .from this,
Barelal stated that he was n~t required to spend anything.
Among the reasons for his getting selected as perceived by
himself, Barelal indicated that (i) poverty is the first point,
apart from (ii) the image people .have about him, (iii) his
good conduct ami (iv) steadiness in bchaviour as wcll as
(v) his trustworthiness, He stated that he facedno problem'
in getting identified; Barelal said arid added that he heard
from the officials mentioning that the policy of the state
government is to deliver services at the door step without
making the' persons spend anything on unaccountable

items.
Between the time of making application and his receiving the. benefit, Barelal reported that it hardly took a
fortnight. The delay experienccd was on account of thc
electricity depa:rtrnent personnel laking time to provide
, connection. Barelal stated that he never had to visit the
BOO's office or the DRDA. He had only visit cd Ihe bank
2 or 3 timc.s to complete the formalities .. He ohtained loan
of Rs.12,060 and he remembers to have bccn lold thatlhc
subsidy amount was Rs.2,OOO.But on vcrifieation from the
re""rds with the gramsevak as wcll as the bank, it was
found that the amount of Rs.l2,060 was correct but Ihe
subsidy component was mistaken to be less. The records
revealed that Rs.&,04O was loan and RsA,020, the subsidy.

The bankers, asked BarelalIo bring qUOIations from Ihc

ealers for which he visited Udaipur and contacted 5 to 6
hops to select good quality material. Duc to his previous
xperience in this line, he gained good knowledge about
URUKSHETRA

January, 1990

the machinery which enables him to choose the best among

the available. His preference for pUrchase of material from
Udaipur over Jaipur, where fr9m he co\lld have got
machinery
at a cheaper rate, ,as he explained was,
proximity gained priority over price reduction. He also
emphasised that machinery being what it was, some prob-.
lem might arise any time and during the guarantee period
_t~ facilitate the dealer to undertake the repairs, Udaipur
was preferred for the purchase. It was stated that there was
no possibility for bargain. By spending about 5to 6 rupees
he managed' to bring parts of th~ machine by public
transport itself and assembled it himself without seeking
anybody's help.
'
The confidence with which he planned to set up a flour
mill and his hopes with which he was anticipating better
living conditions made the dreams co~e true. His wife and
motherbclieved that an enterprise like this would certainly
help them to live much better and. also enable them to
'provide better education and othe~ comforts to their
children. Barelal viewed that as a parent, he, wants to
prevent the type of problems for his children he had
undergone in his childhood, and provi~e beller conditions
to enable them to start their life much better than what he
did.'
'
The hankers made payment to the d~aler a lillie before
the machinery was handed over. Afte~ it was installed,
representatives
from ,the bank, BDO;s office and also
DRDA visited Barelal's house and commended his interest in acquiring the asset and wished ~II success in the
endeavour. He hoped that by working hard he will be able
to cross the poverty line and repay the loan'to rid himself
of the burdeh. '
"
Beforc starting the unit he was eanling RS.150 per
monlh. His wife was occasionally going to':work in agricultural farms and carning 30 to 40 Rupees a month, and his
children were not attending the school regularly. On account of old age bis mother stays at home. They were
finding it vcry difficult to manage the houJehold with this
littlc amount. Whereas, prcsently he earn~ at least Rs.35 '
to 40 a day oul of which he keeps aparl nearly 20 rupees
to repay the bank loan and meet the electricity consump-

lion .charges.

~
I

Barclal feels that he is fortunate to h'ave. the most

cooperating partner in his life. He said that h'imself and his
wife help each olher in running the unit. Su~h of the days,
on which there is power failure, he is compelled to run the
mill during nights and thus manages to sec~re that days
earnings, As forIhe personal and physical un:easiness due
to working in the flour mill, he said that even though the.
Oour falls all over the body, they have not experienced
any
,

43

ill-health as they take bath regularly after finishing the'

day's work irrespective of the season.
In the,village, Barelal stated that there are 9 flour mills
in all but he does not experience any problem in finding
business. However, he added that some of the flour mills
are running in loss'and facing a closure and that he is able
io manage to get food business on account of locational
advantage in the sense that his unit is in the centre of the
village in addition to his capacity to deal with people in a
pleasing way. He usually provides service on, cash terms
but never had an occasion to refuse credit for anybody.
He was found to 'have a favourable attitude to the
government and especially the DRDA and block personnel. He thinks that the bankers are very helpful to the poor
people. He is of the view that bankers particularly from his
village are very kind to the poor and helpful. From this
personal knowledge, he explaincd that the bankers have
provided advance to many people for purchase of assets
.of different types. Panchayat is very helpful to the villagers
and provides ample scope for participation of the poor

(Con/d. from pa8.e 30)

rights of the rural poor should be asked to suggest names
of persons \:Vhocan be recruit~d to form a new protection
and development force based in the countryside, say'one
unit for every ten villages or so. An area where ceiling or

other land has been identified for distrioution among the

poor can be a good location for setting up such units. This
can be a meeting ground for weaker sections and their
sympathizers to discuss and prepare schemes which can'
confer the. most benefits on th'e needy sections. They
should assert their rights for the proper implementation of

people in all the programmes of the village. Barelal stated

that he does not find time to take part in any activities
undertaken in the village as he is generally busy in the
vocation he started. He al~othinks that participation in the
activities of the villag~or~anisations is possible for people
that either do not depend upon the daily earnings or have
lot of spare time. Particularly he avoids participating in the
, village political matters, as he thinks that people may
consider him to have alignment with a particular party and
this may interfere with ~is progr'ess and prosperity.
Barelal attributes his;present day success and ability to
live above want to this venture. He directly attributes his
ability to live better to the imaginative programme implemented by' the goverhment in order to enable the
downtrodden, people to cross the poverty line and stay
there.

Dr:, Yoganand Sastry Chaturvedi

.

Asstt. Director, NIRD~ Hyderabad .

various schemes and' laws meant for their benefit, confident that their striJgi!e is backed by an armed protection
force based near their village. Members of the protection
force should also participate in productive agricultural
and related work to the extent possible. The land near the
units can also be used for various experllnents of new
technology and social organisation. It is only on the basis
of such meaningful~initiatives that we can bring genuine
change for the rutal poor instead of merely rehashing ,
old schemes which have failed to fulfil promises in the
pastO
I

f
I

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I'
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44

KUR UKSHETRA January, 1990

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.,

Animal husbandry has great employment

potential for tural poor. Animal husbandry
does not demand complex skill and is well
suited to our landless rural agricultural
labourers.

.-r-