FIELDWORK SEGMENT PRM 2012 – 14 14
An Exploratory Study of Village Based on studies in Mauzampatti Village
VI L L AGE: M auzam auzamp patti atti GRAM GRAM PANCH PANCH AYATH: Gauripur Gauripur BL OCK: OCK: B arhara Kothi DI STRICT: Purnia STATE: Bi har
HOST ORGANIZATION: Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (BRLPS)
Submitted by: Abhijit Mitra (33001) and Apurba Chowdhury (33068) Faculty Guide: Prof. Pratik Modi
In partial fulfilment of the requirements of FWS of the Post Graduate Programme in Rural Management
INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT, ANAND 2012-2014
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Successful execution of an event requires the efforts of many. Without their efforts, guidance and assistance, those events would have never seen the light of the day. This acknowledgement goes towards expressing our heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to all the persons who enabled us to have a fruitful fieldwork. We are indebted to IRMA for providing us with such a unique opportunity of learning and express our deepest thanks to Prof. Asmita Vyas, our fieldwork coordinator for handling the fieldwork efficiently. We would also like to express our gratitude to Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society for enabling us to undergo our fieldwork through their esteemed organization. We are grateful to the organization and its staffs for their kind assistance and the learning it enabled through the RAC. We express our thanks to our host family who allowed us to stay in their house and accepted us. We also express our gratitude to the people of Mauzampatti for providing us with the opportunity to observe, participate and learn from their lives. Last but not the least we also thank Prof. Pratik Modi to take time out of his busy schedule to review this report.
Abhijit Mitra (33001) Apurba Chowdhury (33068)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Successful execution of an event requires the efforts of many. Without their efforts, guidance and assistance, those events would have never seen the light of the day. This acknowledgement goes towards expressing our heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to all the persons who enabled us to have a fruitful fieldwork. We are indebted to IRMA for providing us with such a unique opportunity of learning and express our deepest thanks to Prof. Asmita Vyas, our fieldwork coordinator for handling the fieldwork efficiently. We would also like to express our gratitude to Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society for enabling us to undergo our fieldwork through their esteemed organization. We are grateful to the organization and its staffs for their kind assistance and the learning it enabled through the RAC. We express our thanks to our host family who allowed us to stay in their house and accepted us. We also express our gratitude to the people of Mauzampatti for providing us with the opportunity to observe, participate and learn from their lives. Last but not the least we also thank Prof. Pratik Modi to take time out of his busy schedule to review this report.
Abhijit Mitra (33001) Apurba Chowdhury (33068)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION........................... INTRODUCTION................................................. ............................................ ............................................ ..........................1 ....1 2. SCOPE OF STUDY ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ............................ ...... 1 3. OBJECTIVE ........................................... ................................................................. ............................................ ....................................... ................. 1 4. METHODOLOGY............................................. ................................................................... ............................................ ............................ ...... 2 4.1
Primary Sources of Data Collection ................................................................2
4.2
Secondary Sources of Data Collection ............................................................ 3
5. INTRODUCTION TO MAUZAMPATTI ..................................................... ........................................................... ...... 3 5.1
Location and Access............................. Access................................................... ............................................ ................................ .......... 3
5.2
Host Family .......................................... ................................................................ ............................................ ................................ .......... 4
5.3
Challenges Faced............................................. Faced................................................................... ........................................... ..................... 5
6. VILLAGE SOCIETY...................................... SOCIETY............................................................ .............................................. .................................6 .........6 6.1 Distribution Based on Caste and Religion .......................................... .................................................... .......... 7 6.2 Society and Family…………………………………………………….......8 Family…………………………………………………….......8 6.3 Health ............................................................. .................................................................................... ............................................. ........................ .. 9 6.4 Education............................................. .................................................................... ............................................. ................................... ............. 9 6.5 Transport ............................................. .................................................................... ............................................. ................................. ........... 10 6.5.1 Roads .......................................... ................................................................. ............................................. ................................. ........... 10 6.5.2 Railways ............................................. ................................................................... ............................................ .......................... .... 10 6.6 Entertainment and Media .............................. .................................................... ............................................ .......................... .... 11 6.7 Festivities in The Village ............................................................ ......................................................................................... ............................. 12 6.8 Migration. ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 7. VILLAGE ECONOMY………………………………………………………..13 ECONOMY ………………………………………………………..13 7.1 Agriculture…………………………………………………………………1 Agriculture…………………………………………………………………14 4 7.2 Animal Husbandry…………………………………………………………1 Husbandry…………………………………………………………17 7 7.3 Village Markets…………………………………………………………….1 Markets…………………………………………………………….19 9 7.4 Labour ………………………………………………………………... ………………………………………………………………...… …20 ii
7.5 Money and Finance……………………………………………………. Finance …………………………………………………….20 20 8. VILLAGE POLITY…………………………………………………..……….21 POLITY…………………………………………………..………. 21 9. VILLAGE INSTITUTIONS ……………………………………………………… .25
9.1 Aanganwadi……………………………………………………………....25 Aanganwadi ……………………………………………………………....25 9.2 Middle School………………………………………………………… School…………………………………………………………22 22 9.3 High School……………………………………………………………26 School ……………………………………………………………26 9.4 Village Post Office………………………………………………………….....27 9.5 PDS ............................ ................................................... ............................................. ............................................ ..................................27 ............27 9.6 MGNREGA…………………………………………………………… MGNREGA……………………………………………………………28 28 9.7
Jeevika ............................................. .................................................................... ............................................. ................................. ........... 29
10.VILLAGE LIVELIHOODS ………………………………………………………… 29 11.THEMATIC INSIGHTS …………………………………………………………… .31
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CONCLUSIONS............................... CONCLUSIONS......... ............................................ ............................................ .......................... .... 34
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ANNEXURE................................. ANNEXURE....................................................... ............................................ .............................. ........ 35
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List of Abbreviations: 1. APL- Above Poverty Line 2. B.Kothi- Barhara Kothi 3. BPL- Below Poverty Line 4. BRLPS- Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society 5. CRP- Community Resource Person 6. DTH- Direct to Home 7. K.M- Kilometre 8. NRHM- National Rural Health Mission 9. PDS- Public Distribution System 10. PRA- Participatory Rural Appraisal 11. PRM- Program in Rural Management 12. RAC- Rural Action Component 13. SC- Scheduled Caste 14. ST- Scheduled Tribe 15. SHG- Self Help Group 16. VO- Village Organization
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List of Tables 1. Profile of Mauzampatti 2. PRA for daily schedule 3. Information related to Gram Panchayat 4. Impact of JEEVIKA and SHG 5. PRA to access impact of JEEVIKA and SHG 6. Income expenditure of Sukhiya Devi’s famil y (monthly) 7. Profile list (rich families) 8. Profile list (poor families) 9. PRA for services and opportunity mapping
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List of Figures
1. Sources of data 2. Distribution of families in relation to poverty 3. Population distribution 4. Time line of mobile penetration in the village
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List of Annexure 1. Sampling Plan 2. Case Study of Sushil 3. Case Study of Sukhiya Devi 4. Profile of 5 Rich Families 5. Profile of 5 Poor Families 6. Services and Opportunities Mapping 7. Resource Mapping
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1. Introduction Under the Field Work Segment of the PRM course we spent 50 days at village Mauzampatti, which is located in Purnea district in the state of Bihar. The time we spent in the village, with the people gave us an opportunity to know and experience rural life, to understand the challenges they face, through their perspective. The Field Work gave us an opportunity to know and see the functioning of various government and non-government institutions in the village. Our theme papers, ‘microfinance activity in the village: operations, status, challenges and opportunities’ and ‘farm based livelihoods and interventions’ gave us rich insights into the factors that play a role in the lives of villagers. It also gave us an opportunity to have an insight into the working of our host organization, Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society through self help groups. Our Rural Action Component provided us with an opportunity to learn through practical tasks.
2. Scope of Study The scope of our study is limited to Mauzampatti village which belongs to Gauripur panchayat in Purnea district of Bihar. This report attempts to make an effort to enable the reader see the village through our eyes. We have tried to cover the village stay from different perspectives so that our vision is not clouded and our judgment is not biased. As much as was possible we have tried to have representative views of different groups of village living in the village.
3. Objectives
Sensitization: through our stay in the village, by being a part of the village life, to understand and comprehend rural life and the issues attached with it, through the eyes of the people
Institutions: to observe and understand the functioning of various government and non-government institutions working in the village, their impact on the lives of the villagers.
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4. Methodology In order to cover our goals, we adopted certain methodologies which helped us in collecting data and information regarding the different aspects of rural life. We relied on both primary as well as secondary sources of data in our efforts to understand rural life. Throughout our stay we could see the penetration of JEEVIKA into the lives of the villagers. We participated extensively in SHG meetings. The five poor and the five non-poor households were identified by observations and by talking around. With each household we interacted at least twice during our stay. Apart from this during SHG meetings we spoke with as many didis as possible. Figure 1: Sources of data
4.1 Primary Sources of Data Collection 1. Surveys: We conducted basic household surveys. The village consisting of large number of households, we conducted stratified sampling to select the houses for our survey. The details of the questions asked as well as the methodology followed is described in the annexure. 2
2. Semi Structured Interview: This method was the one through which we interacted most with the villagers. It enabled great rapport building and helped us conduct the survey after that. Through this method we could find out ground realities about various organizations. 3. Unobtrusive Observation: This was the methodology used by us during transect walks and during our initial days of village stay. We also found this method to be of particular use when we observed rituals in the village. Through unobtrusive observation we could find out how participants behave in a SHG meeting and also family dynamics during festivities. 4. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): PRA is used to include the knowledge and opinion of the people in formulating policies that concern them. In our case we used PRA to find out aspects about the village about which no written data was available. Doing a PRA on our own was a very unique learning experience for us. The villagers taking part in PRA helped us understand issues through their perspective.
4.2 Secondary Sources of Data Collection The major sources of secondary data are as follows:
Sarpanch
PDS Dealer
School
Village Ameen
JEEVIKA
All of them helped us by providing data related to the village and its various institutions. JEEVIKA also facilitated aspects of data collection related to our theme papers.
5. Introduction to Mauzampatti 5.1 Location and access:
Mauzampatti comes under Barhara Kothi block in Purnea district of Bihar. It belongs to Gauripur Panchayat. It is located at a distance of about 60 km from Purnea. Mauzampatti lies in the flood prone zone of Koshi river. The village suffered from a terrible flood in 2008 but after the incident due to shifting in the course of the river the village has been freed from such 3
dangers. The village can be reached from B.Kothi as well from Bihariganj. The village can be reached from Purnea for people coming from far off parts of the state. Buses ply from Purnea to Bihariganj. For people coming from other parts of the country the can first reach Patna, which is the state capital. From Patna buses ply to Purnea which can be used in transportation. Auto rikshaws link the village to both B.Kothi as well as Bihariganj. The buses plying are infrequent. At night, after 7 it is difficult to find transport to the village. Mauzampatti is also connected by rail to Banbankhi and Bihariganj. The rail line being narrow gauge, the train speed is very slow and it also remains crowded on most occasions. Table 1
Profile of Mauzampatti Mauzampatti Profile Name of the Village
Mauzampatti
Name of Gram Panchayat
Gauripur ( 19 Kms)
Name of Block Panchayat
Attappady (19 Kms)
Name of the District
Palakkad (60 Kms)
Boundary
North
Morballa
East
Barhara Kothi
West
Bihariganj
South
Mathiyani
Name of the Parliament constituency
Purnea
Name of the Assembly constituency
B. Kothi
The area of Mauzampatti is spread across homestead, agricultural land and common land. The population is primarily divided into Yadavs, Harijans and Muslims. The houses are arranged in loose clusters based on caste. One aanganwadi centre, two schools, panchayat bhawan, roads and two ponds are located on the common land of the village. 5.2 Host family
Mr. Anil Yadav hosted us during our fieldwork stay of fifty days. We were provided a separate room containing a cot. For lavatory we used a common facility shared by us and the workers in the house. There was a tubewell near the lavatory which was our water source for 4
our toilet needs. We were provided with drinking water from a separate tubewell. There is high iron content in the water but unlike in B.Kothi the water is clean. Our food arrange ments were made in the house of our host family itself. Our host family was very caring. They provided us with necessary beddings and accepted us whole heartedly into their family. We were lucky enough to celebrate the festivals of Dushera and Diwali with the host family. 5.3 A typical day in Mauzampatti
Day begins early in here with most of the men folk waking up between 4 to 5 a.m. The gents of the village wake up between 5-6 a.m. day starts for women with the cleaning of the household between 4 to 6 a.m. in between their activities the women also have the responsibility of serving tea to the members of the family as they wake up. Then the women get busy in preparation of breakfast between 6 to 8 a.m. Both the male and the female members share the task of tending to cattle with the men tending to them as well as milking them while the women folk are responsible for feeding the cattle. Though the task differentiation in attending to the cattle is not strict milking the cow is an activity strictly performed by male members. The members of the house leave for agricultural work at about 8 a.m. and return by 12 p.m. After taking bath the gents are served lunch at about 12, while the women of the house eat food only after feeding the male folk of the family. Typically, lunch gets over by 1.30 p.m. Between 3 to 4 p.m. the male folk of the house either rest or chat with friends while the women complete the household work or sometimes rest. Preparation for dinner by women is generally done between 7 to 8.30 p.m. Men of the family take dinner between 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. while the women take dinner between 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. After cleaning the utensils and attending to minor household works villagers typically go to sleep by 10 p.m.
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Table 2
PRA for daily schedule Source
PRA Activity carried out with the members of different SHGs In order to ascertain the daily routine by villagers
Purpose
Particapants
Sukhia Devi, Rama Devi, Ambika Devi, Ganga Devi, Gita Devi, Gunjan Devi, Laxmi Devi, Shakuntala Devi, Rekha Devi
5.3 Challenges faced
Mauzampatti does not have an electricity connection. There is one Mr. Lakhandev who provides generator supply for four hours during evenings. During our initial days of stay we found this to be the greatest challenge. Gradually, we modified our daily routine in accordance with the lifestyle prevalent in the village. Apart from this we had difficulties in communicating with some of the Jadav households belonging to the upper strata of the society. We also faced a lot of difficulties in interacting with government officials in terms of accessibility and cooperation. All said and done, we took these challenges as minor hitches in front of the bigger picture of fieldwork.
6. Village society Mauzampatti consists of 419 households with a total population of 2023. There are a total of 120 scheduled cast households while the rest consist of other backward castes. The entire population consists of 227 households which are below poverty line which is almost 50% of the total number of households.
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Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Distribution of families in relation to poverty
Population Distribution
29% 46% 54%
SC
BPL
71%
APL
OBC
Mauzampatti has a sex ratio of 900 females per thousand males. The desire to have a male child exists in some parts of the population. It was very prominent about a generation ago but mostly now people are developing awareness about limited family size. The average number of members per household is 5. One of the reasons of this happening is that the children separate into their own families after marriage. Most of such families have strong bonds. The parents usually shift with the eldest child. We found out the facts mentioned above from the sarpanch, amen and through our interactions with the villagers.
6.1 Distribution based on caste and religion
Entire population of Mauzampatti can be classified as under:
Yadavs- Most of the land in the village is hold by Yadavs. They were the Zamindars in the past. Owing to the children increasingly splitting from their parents the land owned by individual households has reduced. Presently, they own 3-5 bigha(1 acre=1.5 bigha), on an average. The primary occupation of Yadavs is agriculture. Apart from personal cultivation those who own large plots of land also lease out their land for share cropping. Many of the Yadavs are engaged with the government sector too, the main occupations being that of teacher and in railways. We found that irrespective of the salary there is tremendous prestige associated with public service jobs.
Harijans- Most of the Harijans are landless. They do agriculture on the basis of share cropping. During the agricultural season they work as agricultural laborers, both in producing their own crop as well as laborers for hire in the land of Yadavs. During 7
other times of the year they earn their livelihood by working as migrant laborers mostly in mandis of Delhi and Punjab.
Muslims-There are only 8 Muslim households in the village. At the start there was only one Muslim family, gradually the family expanded and the children separated to start their separate families. They are mostly marginal farmers. Their source of livelihood being agriculture and working as migrant laborers. The muslims lived in a close cluster. Though they were not marginalized in village functions and institutions still we found less than normal interactions of them with the villagers. But, more than anything else this was due to their less number of households.
6.2 Society and family
Most of the households in the village exist as nuclear families. But, though they exist as nuclear families they stay in the same compound while cooking separately. Elders are respected in the village but their opinion is not sought in matters of family. Old parents mostly stay with their eldest child. There are a few rare cases where the children have left their old parents to themselves. The opinion of women in matters of family interest is listened to but there are also instances of husbands beating up their wives. Dowry system is highly prevalent in the society. Factors such as education, land holdings, occupation act as deciding factors in the amount of dowry the grooms can ask for. Government jobs are held in high regard. Housing Patterns
Most of the houses in the village are mud walled with thatched roof. Only well to do Yadavs have pakka houses. Such households have brick roofs with the houses having two rooms on an average. Almost all the houses have a provision for sleeping in a thatched structure called ‘machan’ in open which is used by guests. The roofs are thatched using straw and bamboo. Most of the houses have no toilet facilit y. In fact, having toilet is a luxury which only the well to do families have. The houses are located in loose clusters on the basis of their caste. The Harijan households are located on two clusters on either side of the main road. The eight muslim families are located in a cluster near one of the Harijan clusters. The Yadavs, are spread throughout the village. They too are located in a loose cluster formation.
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6.3 Health
People, as a part of their daily life, follow a three course meal. Their breakfast consists of roti or puffed rice, ‘muri’. Rice is the staple diet of the people. People consume ‘roti’ made of corn or ‘makai’. Well to do families eat ‘roti’ made of wheat. Meal mostly consists of, rice/roti, daal and a fry. The people are not in a habit of consuming fruit. We did not observe children suffering from diseases of malnutrition such as kwashiorkor or marasmus. Obesity is not widespread in the village. Most of the villagers use ‘dantun’ instead of bru sh. Chewing of beetle is frequent amongst the people. The average life span of villagers is about 70 years. Consumption of alcohol is widespread amongst the poor Harijans while it is seen as a bad habit amongst Yadavs. We found that though alcoholism is seen in negative light throughout the village, the poor basically use it as a means of escape from the hard work they did during the day. Smoking is also seen in a negative light. There is no public health system in the village. The nearest health centre is at B.Kothi, which is 7 km from here. When sick, the Harijans and the Muslims first visit the village quacks (but only for minor illness). If not cured the sick are taken to B.Kothi or to Purnea. For minor illness such as cold and cough people also refer doctors in Bihariganj. People do realise the benefits of limiting the family size, though the desire to have a male heir is still strong. People prefer their wives to undergo tubectomy rather than themselves undergoing vasectomy. They falsely believe that vasectomy might reduce their strength and thus their working capability in field. We found out from the health centre at the block they out of total 400 cases of birth control related operations only 5 have been vasectomy; the rest being tubectomy. The doctors informed us that efforts are made to raise awareness but the effectiveness of such efforts is low. 6.4 Education
Distinct pattern of continuance of education is observed amongst the three castes. Though the villagers are aware of the poor state of education in the village, mostly only Jadavs make an effort to send their children outside the village for education. Those who can afford send their children right from lower classes to Purnea, Banbankhi and Patna to study. The Harijans do not send their children to study outside. Hence, the discontinuance of education is most amongst the Harijans. During our informal sessions with the Harijans, we found that mostly the reason is due to non availability of funds. Though, quite a few of the interviewees
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expressed the reason being poor education scenario in the schools. Also a few number of households said their wards go to school only for mid day meal. Infrastructure
Apart from all the facets of infrastructure already mentioned, the villagers meet at a chaupal regularly for discussion of everyday issues which is near the panchayat bhawan. Water table being good in the village clean drinking water is available at a depth of about 25 feet. The rich households have their personal tubewells while there are a few government tubewells which are used a community asset. There are 6 such tubewells out of which only two are in working condition. As the number of tubewells is less the villagers have to wait in queue for their turn. The high school claimed that the school playground has been encroached by the harijans, a claim which was vehemently denied by the harijans. There is a plot of fallow land almost one bigha which the children use to play cricket and football. We did not observe any discrimination in usage of the common resources.
6.5 Transport 6.5.1 Roads
Mauzampatti is located on the road linking B.Kothi and Bihariganj. Private buses and auto rickshaws ply on this route. The buses ply at an interval of half an hour whereas the auto rickshaws are infrequent. Vehicles for transport become a rarity after 7 p.m. The road was constructed a year ago and though pakka it is already damaged and filled with numerous potholes. The primary reason as told by villagers is the plying of heavy trucks on the road as this is the only route linking Purnea and Bihariganj. Kacha roads traverse within the village. The roads become muddy and difficult to tread on during monsoons. Cycle is a common mode of transport for the poor here while well to do families own two wheelers. Possession of Bolero is seen as a status symbol amongst the rich. 6.5.2 Railways
The nearest station is at Raghuvansh Nagar, which is 2 k.m. away. Train plies four times in the route. The train runs from Bihariganj to Banbankhi and is a narrow gauge line. The nearest junction station which can be used to reach various parts of the country is at Kishanganj, which is 40 k.m. away ( source: PRA). 10
6.6 Entertainment and Media of communication
Landline telephone had entered Mauzmpatti in as early as 1980s. Only the rich households possessed telephone then which they also allowed others to use at a rent. Gradually, the mobile revolution engulfed the village. At present none of the households possess landline. Most of the houses have mobile phone except the poor Harijan households. One can see widespread penetration of cheap mobile phones in here. The first mobile operator entered the village in 2000. From then the number of operators has increased in the village out of which Airtel has the maximum penetration. Figure 4
Time Line of Mobile Penetration in the Village
The above timeline shows that in the initial years of 2000 the pace of entry of new players was slow but from later part of 2005 this pace has increased rapidly. At present four service providers are functional in the village; Airtel, BSNL, Idea and Vodafone. Mobile phones have provided an important linkage with the outside world. Very few people read newspaper in the village and the language is vernacular. As there is no electricity in the village people listen to happenings of the outside world through radio. However, apart from politics the knowledge of people on other issues is limited. Very few people have television and only four households have DTH. These houses have solar panel or generator. The movies watched are mainly in Bhojpuri. Apart from few very poor households we found out through survey that every household has a mobile phone. Also through survey we found out that the average number of mobile phones with rich households is two. There is also widespread usage of mobile phones to watch movies.
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6.7 Festivities in the village
Major festivals which are celebrated in the village are:
Jeetiya
Makar Sankranti
Holi
Karwa Chaut
Dushera
Diwali
Chath
We were lucky to be able to celebrate Dushera and Diwali in the village. The most significant observation was the manner in which the entire village came together during festivities. Even, the supplier of generator power provides four hours of free power supply in the night of Diwali. The temple of Lord Barneshwar located 5 km. away sees huge footfall on Sundays. 6.8 Migration
The village Mauzampatti has a large proportion of households belonging to landless farming segment. As they have no other income option apart from labourer, uncertainty in getting work in the village and in nearby areas forces them to migrate to areas like Delhi, Punjab to earn money. Some of the marginal farmers who do not have any regular source of earning also opt to work in those states due to increas e wage and certainty of work. Most of the villagers work in Punjab in different mandi’s during agriculture harvesting seasons once for paddy and another for wheat. Apart from the rich yadav households, on an average, 2 members from each family work as migrant labourers. This we found out through our surveys. The primary work of migrant labourers working in mandis is to pack the cereals in bags of specified size and for every bag packed they are paid which varies from mandi to mandi. Typically a migrant labourer is paid Rs. 5/- for packing a bag. Villagers went Punjab twice a year, works for around one and half months and earns anywhere between Rs. 40000/-
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to Rs.50000/- every year. The adult male member of the family works as migrant labourers while the female members remain in the village to look after the households and kids. Villagers mostly go to Delhi to work as labourers in construction sector and real estate sector. Here they have to work for entire year and often go with the other members of the family. Both male and female of the family work as labourers. With both the family members working they earn up to Rs.1.5 lakh in a year. They come back in village during festival time like Diwali, Holi etc. While the male members of the family went to work as migrant labourers the women member find it very difficult to manage the family. They remain so busy with household work that they hardly pay any attention towards the studies of the children or cleanliness. Also to incur day to day family expenses they often end up borrowing from villagers at high rate of interest. The situation becomes worst when any member of the family fall ill as they do not have any money to expend or anyone to take them to nearby health centres. Various government schemes like MGNREGA fail to provide any work to the villagers. There is a great need to implement this scheme letter and spirit so that at least the people from poorest of the poor families get 100 days of guaranteed work. This assured source of income will reduce migration to a large extent. Also improving the wage rate of agriculture labourers and stopping of harassment of lower caste workers by the upper caste will also reduce migration. From our observation we found that no member of the family wants to migrate by living his family behind in the village. But the uncertainty of earning sources and their availability compels them to migrate.
7. Village economy The entire population of the village Mauzampatti depends on agriculture as their source of income directly or indirectly. Though among some rich households there are some people who are engaged in government services like railways, teaching in government schools, various other state government departments etc. The trend among lower caste households is to work as migrant labourers in Delhi and Punjab as most of them do not possess any agriculture land and other sources of income are hi ghly irregular throughout the year.
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7.1 Agriculture
Major crops grown under agriculture are paddy, wheat, maize, tobacco, pulses. As there are few large farmers in the village, barring those farming remains mostly at the subsistence level. Out of the total land area of 900 acres, 760 acres of land is under agriculture ( source: Amin, mauzampatti village). Around 7% of the total villagers is large farmers with operational land holding of more than 5 acres. 62% of the villagers belong to small and marginal farmer category with operational land holding of more than 2.5 acre but less than 5 acre and less than 2.5 acres respectively. 31% of the villagers mostly belong to scheduled caste are landless farmers. ( source: household survey) Though the village is well connected to nearest markets, marketing channels are not well developed. Farming practices are mostly indigenous. So the crop production remains low. Though in recent times people attached with different SHGs started cultivating paddy under System of rice intensification (SRI) technique which is fetching them higher crop yields. But cases of crop failure once decreased the confidence of SHG members towards cultivating under SRI technique. Most of the landless families are practising farming under ‘Batai’ basis. Under this system farmers take land on lease from large farmers and contribute equally towards purchase of inputs like seed fertilizers etc. and also has an equal share on harvests, SRI technique is beneficial for these farmers as it is suitable for small landholding. The soil type of the village is Sandy loam and it has a good water holding capacity. Most of the farmers grow two to three crops in a cropping season. Paddy remains the main crop cultivated by all the farmers. The sowing time of paddy is in the month of July and harvesting is done in the month of October. Majority of the farmers cultivate paddy without the use of any modern technique. While the households who are attached with SHGs of Jeevika cultivate rice under System of Rice Intensification technique. Cultivating rice with this technique has doubled the production of rice to these families. Paddy is mostly used for self consumption purpose by the marginal farmers where as the small and large farmers sell the paddy in nearby markets or to the middlemen. During Ravi (November to March) season, the farmers cultivate either wheat or maize where some of the families with very small landholding also cultivate tobacco. Wheat is mainly grown for consumption purposes as well as for selling in the market where as maize and 14
tobacco is grown at marketable surplus. Income generated from selling of crops acts us the main source of earnings to the farmers. Pulses are mainly sown during the month of April and harvested in the month of July and grown for consumption purpose by the large farmers. Usage of farm machinery was mainly in the form of rented tractors. There are 8 tractors in the village which charges Rs.600/- to cultivate a bigha of agriculture land. Some of the farmers also use indigenous plough to cultivate their land. All the agricultural lands in the village are irrigated. During rainy season the village receives plenty of rainfall. But major source of irrigation is ground water which is available at a distance of 15 feet from the ground level. Farmers use pump set for irrigating their lands. The large farmers have their own pump sets which they also use to rent to the small and marginal farmers. The rent of pump set varies from Rs.70 to Rs.100/- per hour of irrigation. Agriculture input practices
The main agriculture inputs required are labour, seeds, fertilizers, pesticide and irrigation. Seeds: Most of the farmers used to store seeds of previous year to use them in current year.
While Jeevika do provides seeds to the members of SHGs at a very nominal cost. Fertilizers: Major fertilizer used is
Urea: Market price Rs.400/- per bag (1 bag=50 kilo) DAP: Market price Rs. 1400/- per bag Potash: Market price Rs. 1000/- per bag Vermicompost: Market price Rs. 5/- per Kg Micronutrient fertilizers such as Zinc, Ammonium Sulphate etc.
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Comparisation of cost of cultivation and yield of wheat using SWI method and indigenous method (Land 1 acre): Seed
Seed treatment
SWI method
Indigenous method
10 Kg/acre @ Rs. 25/ Kg
40 Kg/acre @ Rs. 25/Kg
Total: Rs. 250/-
Total: Rs. 1000/-
With Bavistin
No seed treatment
Cost: Rs. 20/Ploughing
Irrigation
Vermicompost
5 ploughing @ Rs. 600/- per
5 ploughing @ Rs. 600/- per
acre
acre
Total: 3000/-
Total: 3000/-
4 irrigation @ Rs.70/hour
2 irrigation @ Rs.70/hour
(1 irrigation= 5 hour)
(1 irrigation= 5 hour)
Total: Rs.1400/-
Total: Rs.700/-
400 Kg/acre, 3 times @ No Vermicompost Rs.5/Kg Total: 6000/-
Fertilizers: Urea
13.5 Kg/acre, 3 times,@ Rs.
50 Kg/acre, 2 times,@ Rs.
400/- per bag (1 bag= 50
400/- per bag (1 bag= 50 Kg)
Kilo) DAP
Potash
Total: Rs. 800/-
Total: Rs. 324/-
50
Kg/acre,
once,@
Rs.
27 Kg/acre,@ Rs. 1400/- per
1400/- per bag (1 bag= 50
bag
Kg)
Total: Rs.756/-
Total: Rs. 1400/-
13.5 Kg/acre,@ Rs. 1000/-
25
Kg/acre,
once,@
Rs.
1000/- per bag (1 bag= 50 16
per bag
Kg)
Total: 270/-
Total: Rs. 500/-
9 labourer @ Rs. 40/hour
3 labourer @ Rs. 40/hour
Total: Rs.360/-
Total: Rs.120/-
Total cost of cultivation
Rs.12380/-
Rs.7520/-
Yield
28.8 quintal
9.6 quintal
Price
Rs.1000/quintal
Rs.1000/quintal
Total earning
Rs. 28800/-
Rs. 9600/-
Surplus
Rs. 16420/-
Rs. 2080/-
Labourer
(Source: Household survey) 7.2 Animal Husbandry: Majority of the villagers rear animals. Among the livestock reared,
cows, bullock, calves, she buffaloes are reared by hindu community while the muslims mainly rear hens and goats. Most of the milch cattle are of indigenous breed and are very low in milk productivity. Most of the villagers use the milk to meet their daily consumption needs and no milk from the village is sold to outside markets. The calves are reared so that they can be sold when they grow up. The bullock are mainly used for ploughing agriculture land or used in bullock carts. 20 harijan families also have she buffaloes as milch cattle. Milk from she buffaloes is higher in quantity than cows and most of this milk is used f or self consumption purpose only. All the 9 muslim households of the village rear hen and goat. The hens and eggs are used for consumption purpose as well as selling in the village and periodical hat at Morballa. The goats are purchased from market of Bihariganj and sold in market of Banbankhi every week. Though the margin earned from selling goats is very low(ranges from Rs.100/- to Rs.300/ per animal), it gives a stable source of income to the muslim households. 17
Price of animals: Cocks
Rs. 200/-
Hens
Rs. 120/-
Goat
Rs. 3000/-
Management of animals:
Most of the cattle are taken off to nearby fields or grazing lands every day for their feeding. They graze through the whole day and return in the evening. The goats are given with leaves as well as grass. While the hens mostly roam through the surrounding households to get their feed they are also provided with rice bran to eat. Most of the breeding activity is done naturally with the help of male cattle doing the mating service. A veterinary doctor also comes to the village from Barhara Kothi upon phone call to treat the animals in case of any diseases. He also performs the artificial insemination (AI) service to the animals. Consumption:
All the households of the village are sufficient in their food grain requirement. Not a single family of the village starves for a single meal in a day. Though the quality of diet is very low especially in the lower income Harijan households as most of them rely on rice and wheat. The rich Yadav households have sufficient earnings to cope with illness, rituals, festivals and ceremonies. But the population of mostly small and marginal farmer and landless laborers previously face uphill task of managing these expenses especially health related issues. They used to borrow from rich Yadavs’ at a very high rate of interest which they often find difficult to repay. But after the intervention of Jeevika through SHGs, the poor villagers are at comfortable position to deal with any extremity with easy source of finance at a very low rate of interest and flexible repayment policy. Among government services, most of the poor people are unaware of the benefits they are entitled to. Under ICDS (Integrated child development services) scheme vaccination is given to the children. Asha workers are engaged in providing polio drops and dealing pregnancy. Though old age pension is provided to the villagers, they are often irregular and identification of proper beneficiary remains an issue. Some of the villagers are provided with houses under Indira Awas Yojna, but they have complained about non receiving of entire 18
amount money they are entitled to under the scheme. The gram panchayat is nowhere as large scale corruption and lack of willingness to implement government schemes remains the main hurdle between the government programs and common man. 7.3 Village markets
The village itself does not have any market. Villagers have to go to block Barhara Kothi to purchase their daily needs. Bihariganj block of Madhepura district is also a good market which is around 8 kilometers away from the village. The village has five small kirana shops which are located in different parts of the village selling almost same kind of products. The typical products sell by the kirana shops are as follows:
Rice
Flour
Different kind of dal
Cigarette, tobacco, guthka etc
Mustard oil and spices
Biscuits, chocolates
The scale at which these shops are operating is very small and apart from few items like tobacco, cigarette, biscuits etc. villagers prefer to buy from nearest markets. Though the village does not have any haats, nearby villagers also access haats in nearby villages to purchase their daily household items. A list of those haats along with day of occurrence is given below: Morballa (Distance: 5 KM): Monday, Friday Ragubansh Nagar (Distance: 3 KM): Thursday, Saturday Mathiyani (Distance: 2 KM): Tuesday, Sunday Major items sold in these haats are different kind of vegetables, meat, fish, locally produced gamcha, local toothpaste, local cosmetics, food grains, spices, sweets, fast foods like bread pakoda, onion pakoda etc. There is also tea stalls, barber shops, cycle repair shops, footwear shops, tailors, cobblers etc. Both sellers as buyers in these haats are mainly from nearby 19
villages within the periphery of 5-7 kilometers. We can see that apart from Wednesday, there is a haat in everyday of the week. The vegetable growers of the nearby villages use these haats to sell off their produce. Also villagers highly dependent on these haats for purchase as well as selling. There is also a big cereal mandi in Gulab Bagh which is 5 Kilometer from Purnia town and around 60 Kilometer from Mauzampatti. This is a big mandi where farmers from all around Purnia district come to sell their cereals. Selling in this mandi ensures better return of their produce. Barring few big farmers of the village Mauzampatti, all the farmers sell their produce to middlemen and these middlemen in turn sell those produce in the same mandi. The major reason to sell cereals to middlemen comes out to be high transportation cost involved in taking those grains to the mandi and also lack of storage facil ity. 7.4 Labour market:
The labor market in the village is highly unorganized. Most of the labor employment available in the village is agriculture laborer. But due uncertainty of wage employment majority of the landless laborers and marginal farmers migrate to Delhi and Punjab. They earn anywhere between Rs.40000/- to Rs.50000/- in year from there. Most of the work they engaged in is in cereal mandi and construction workers. For agriculture, the wage rate is as low as Rs. 80/- a day for intercultural operations like weeding to Rs.125/- a day during sowing and harvesting season. But as the male members of the family migrate during these seasons, mostly women and old age family members work as agriculture laborers in the village. But most of the large and small farmers of the village complained us about lack of availability of labor due to large scale migration where as the migrant laborers complained about lack of availability of work and low wage rate to the causes of migration. 7.5 Money and finance :
Most of the lower income households of the village are members of different self help groups that are being run by Jeevika, the flagship project of Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society. In earlier years before the intervention of Jeevika, villagers in time of financial needs resort to rich Yadav households, who in turn charge very high rate of interest and also set very rigorous repayment policy. Most of the villagers borrow for meeting health expenditure, household expenditure, house construction, purchase of cattle etc. The money borrowed by villagers increase at an alarming rate due compounding of interest. Jeevika 20
through its different SHGs given financial assistance to the poorer villagers and most of the villagers’ in turn have repaid all their debt taken from informal sector.
8. Village Polity Village polity is one of the most important aspects effecting lives of villagers. Mauzampatti being a strong hold of Yadavs and that the state is rules by people from Yadav communities for long remains an important player effecting the politics at both village and block level. Also they dominate in every aspect, exploit the poor villagers especially the harijans and engaged in caste based politics. The harijans has long been exploited as they have been forced to work in rich Yadav households as bonded labours and typically every member of harijan families were forced to work in Yadav households. They have been denied of basic amenities, wages and the only thing they were given was twice a meal every day. And if by any chance the harijans borrow some money from the Yadavs, they have to work for rest of the life if they fail to repay. The proper demarcation between the Yadav households and harijans is easily observable as the Yadavs often use derogatory terms against the harijans. For the last five years, there is a little respite for the harijans as various interventions by Jeevika has changed their lives. The reasons for the same are as follows:
They have repaid majority of their borrowings from Yadavs
Most of the male members of the harijan households went to work as migrant labourers and this has become a stable source of earning for their families
A number of harijan households have started practicing agriculture under Batai basis
The women due to attending SHG meetings on regular basis has increased their awareness level
Now no harijan in the village works as bonded laborers in Yadav households. But the harijans are still unaware of their rights and entitlements. For instance the PDS shop owner of the village use to come once in three months and distribute the grains of only one month. The harijans are of the thought that this is what happening in the village since past and this is their entitlement and they are happy with it.
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The formal power structure of the village can be defined in the following way:
Mukhia
Up Mukhia
Sarpanch
Up Sarpanch
Ward Memeber
The village Mauzampatti is under Gauripur gram panchayet. The Gram panchayet has 19 villages under it. Gram panchayat is the formal organisation associated with the village. Table 3
Information related to Gram Panchayat Name of the Panchayat
Gauripur
Total population
19000
Number of wards
76
Name of the Mukhia
Hiralal
Name of the Sarpanch
Anil Yadav
(Source: Anil Yadav,Sarpanch) Functioning of the Gram panchayat
There are four ward members in the village Mauzampatti. These ward members are accessible to all and are main person of contact between the ordinary public and gram panchayet. But most of the villagers have complained about the non functioning of ward members. Their main work is to gather information from villagers and present those in panchayat meetings so that the issues can be resolved at the earliest. 22
Sarpanch: The sarpanch Mr. Anil Yadav belongs to Mauzampatti village. The sarpanch has the task of coordinating with various ward members to implement various schemes of the government. Mukhia: He is the main person engaged in interacting with various administrative personnel at the block level. Gram Sewak: He is the main government functionary responsible for implementing various government schemes in the village. He works in liaison with the mukhia and sarpanch. He has task of organising panchayat meetings and also distributing pensions under oldage pension scheme and widow pension schemes. The payment of the same is highly irregular. Rojgar sewak: The main person entrusted in implementing MGNREGA in the village and payment of the same. But he is unavailable for most of the times. From our observation we found there is hardly any implementation of government schemes in the village even though there is existence of those schemes in pen and paper. Schemes like MGNREGA are a total failure in the village which is implemented through the panchayat. Majority of the households of the village do not have any sanitation facility although a number of government schemes like total sanitation campaign is going on at different villages of the block. The Sarpanch and Mukhia hardly pay any attention to the problems faced by the villagers. They rather remain busy in pursuing their own interest from panchayat. The various government functionaries like Gram Sewak and Rojagar Sewak also acts in pursuing their own interest rather than giving enough attention to implement the government schemes. People often find it difficult to approach these functionaries for their problems. Though rule is to hold a panchayat meeting every month, the meetings are irregular and the ward members are unaware of what is going on in the panchayat. The decision are mostly taken by Mukhia and Sarpanch without any consultation with the wars members. The panchayat office is also very bad in shape with no doors or windows in it and becomes a playing option for village kids. A point to note here that influence of Jeevika in the life of villagers is immense. The members of different SHGs discuss their problems in SHG meetings and try to find out ways to curb those rather than depending on panchayat. For instance, as the distribution of food grains from PDS shop is highly irregular, the SHG members purchase food grains by taking credit from Jeevika. Also Jeevika plans to start implementing various schemes like 23
MGNREGA through their various channels. People of the village have a special place for Jeevika in their heart due its transparent approach. An integrative view of the village society, economy and polity
The village Mauzampatti has long been dominated by the Yadavs. The economic and political empowerment of Yadavs has long been associated with the social perception among the villagers and the ownership of land. Being the landholding community, they use to enforce their power in every activity happening in the village. The people from the lower community, specially the Harijans obey their dominance without any question and this remains one of the reasons for their deprivation till date. Due to this dominance , the Yadavs’ political progress remains remarkable as they have occupied every decision making authority like Sarpanch, Pramukh, Chairman of village school board etc. Due to holding these positions for long time, they have made a lot of money by depriving the common man and by becoming richer which increased the gap between upper caste Yadavs and lower caste Harijans. These privileged Yadavs also increased their gaps from lower caste villagers in terms of education. The Yadavs become educated and get jobs in different Govt. departments while the other sections of the society remain deprived. The society is ridden with the adverse impacts of casteism. The lower caste people are ignored in every decision making process. Their economic and social position remains very low and is an indicator of their backwardness. Also because of very low land holding or no land holding the lower caste people are forced to employ themselves as migrant laborers to look after their family. There is practically no health care facility available to them. They are less aware about their rights and Govt. benefits they are entitled to. All this can be attributed to their lack of economic, social and political empowerment. In recent days a considerable effort is directed from the Govt. to improve the economic, social and political condition of the deprived section of the village. In a remarkable achievement for the first time a villager from the lower caste community has been elected to the post of sarpanch though she is only a constitutional head. The long perceived equation between the society, economy and polity has started to change. Lower caste people, especially the women, through the interventions of Self help groups have made considerable progress towards breaking the societal barriers due to their considerable economic progress. They now send their children to schools (though the quality of education is a major cause of 24
concern), practice improved agriculture practices, are aware about family planning, their entitlements from the Govt. etc. This slow but steady progress of the lower caste people has drawn considerable criticism and resistance from the Yadav community as they see this as a threat to their age old dominance. The village society, economy and polity of the village Mauzampatti are dependent upon each other. Though through various interventions the Govt. is trying hard to change the societal, economical and political situation of the village, it will take time to reach the benefit of such interventions to every nuke and corner of the society thus creating a ‘Holistic development’.
9. Village institutions An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the set of behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community. ( source: wikipedia.org. Institution). 9.1 Aanganwadi- Aanganwadi means ‘courtyard shelter’ in Hindi. They were started by
Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and nutrition. In Mauzampatti one aanganwadi center exists. It is located in a separate hut. The student strength is 40 consisting of 15 girls and 25 boys. The average age of the students lie between 3-5 years. There are two designated aanganwadi teachers but during our village stay we found that the teachers remain absent most of the time. The lady who cooks for the children makes the children recite basic poems and numbers; an alarming fact being that she is illiterate. The aanganwadi centre provides daily meal to the students and also Rs. 250 per year for uniform. The ministry of women and child development has led down the following rules for aanganwadi workers (AWW). These being, regular, quick surveys of families, organize preschool activities, provide health and nutritional education to families especially pregnant women, educating women about family planning. It is also to follow the following points of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program:
Holistic Nutrition
Pre-Nursery Education
Vaccination
Regular Health Check Up
Health and Hygiene
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We found during our visit that only vaccination is followed to the word. Apart from the regular vaccination of children polio drops is also administered through this centre. The attendance remains more than 80% on most days, though, the primary reason being meal and not study. 9.2 Middle School-The name of the middle school is Mauzampatti Middle School. It was
established in the 1964. Classes from 1 to 8 are conducted here. The school has student strength of 705 with ratio of 50:50 for boys and girls. There are 10 teachers and a headmaster in the school. The subjects that are taught are Hindi, Maths, Science, History and Geography. Monday to Friday the school functions from mooning 9 to 5. Saturday is half working day while Sunday remains a holiday. There are several Government schemes that are followed in this school, namely:
Sarvasikshya Abhiyan – Under this scheme schools are provided with funds for infrastructure development
Mukhyamantri Poshak Yojna- Under this scheme students who maintain a minimum of 75% attendance are given Rs. 500 for purchase of uniforms
Balika Poshak Yojna-Rs.750- Under this scheme girl students are provided Rs. 700 provided they maintain a minimum 75% attendance.
Mid day meal scheme- Under this scheme mid day meal is provided to students daily.
Scholarship-A scholarship of Rs. 1400 is given to sc, st s tudents
We found out that the student attendance remains dismal, on a given day only 30% of the students show up. The reason provided by the teachers was that the students turn up only when some money under schemes is given. The parents on the other hand gave the reason being the teachers not observing their duty properly. There was widespread report from the parents of Harijan children that they are specifically turned away from the school. On further probing we found out that the money which is provided for purchase of clothes for the school, mostly end up being used in household uses. So, the children turn up in dirty, torn clothes and the teachers turn them away. We also found out that also the teachers were not interested in spreading education in the village. They drew their salary and preferred to let things be as they are. 9.3 High School- The higher secondary school in the village is named as Gyanvati Higher
Secondary School. Currently the school has classes only 9 and 10; classes 11 and 12 are to 26
start working from the current year. We saw buildings were being constructed for the same. The student strength is 422 with a ratio of 50:50 for boys: girls. There are 8 teachers who teach in here. Only about 50% of the students from the middle school continue their studies here. The primary reason for the dropout being to supplement the family income. We found that the teachers are much more serious about studies in here than the middle school. Apart from the subjects taught in the middle school the children in here are also provided with physical education. The schemes that are functional in here include:
Providing uniform and cycles to the students who maintain a minimum of 75% attendance
Scholarship to the tune of Rs. 1800 for sc, st and physically handicapped students.
9.4 Village Post Office
The village has one post office which is housed in the hut of the post master. It operates with staff strength of 3 from 10.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. the post office performs normal functions of a post office. But, it does not have facilities for speed post or for parcel. The post office also has provisions for savings account and for recurring account facilities. Currently the post office has accounts of 200 villagers. The minimum balance required for opening an account is Rs. 200. This post office also doubles as the point of payment for MNREGA. Grameen Daak Beema Yojana is a flagship Government scheme that functions through this post office. Under this the minimum premium amount is Rs. 100 while the maximum policy amount can be Rs. 300000. 9.5 Public Distribution System
Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system. Established by Government of India and managed jointly by the state governments it distributes subsidised food and non-food items to the country’s poor. The major commodities which are distributed through PDS include staple grains such as rice, wheat and kerosene. Food Corporation of India, procures, maintains and issues food grains to the state. Distribution to the poor is managed by state governments. In Mauzampatti for PDS the families are provided cards. The colour of the card is based on the status of the family in reference to poverty line: yellow card
27
is given to Antodyay families; red card is given to BPL families while blue card is given to APL families. (Source: Anil Yadav,Sarpanch and Household Survey)
Antodyay- The families belonging to this category are provided with 21 kg rice at Rs. 3 per kg, 14 kg wheat at Rs. 2 per kg and 2.75 l of kerosene per month at Rs. 17.5 per l per month.
BPL- The families belonging to this category are provided with 15 kg rice at Rs. 6.78 per kg, 10 kg wheat at Rs. 5.82 per kg and 2.75 l of kerosene per month at Rs. 17.5 per l per month.
APL- The families belonging to this category are provided with only kerosene oil at the rate of Rs. 17.5 l per month.
In paper the PDS dealer is to distribute grains every month but while conducting informal interviews with the villagers we found gross misappropriation. We got to know that the dealer actually comes once in 3 months and also cuts a portion of the designated quantity. The quality of rice provided under the scheme is of inferi or quality. 9.6 MGNREGA
MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. This scheme provides legal guarantee for 100 and 50 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work – related unskilled manual work at statutory minimum age of Rs. 120. If they fail to do so the government has to pay the salary at their home. (Source:wikpediai. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ). In Mauzampatti the major works provided under MGNREGA include planting of trees, soil filling of village roads, pond digging. The stipulated wage is Rs. 144 per day. Payment of the money to the beneficiaries is done through the village post office. The number of job card holders is 120. One of the undesired consequences of MGNREGA is the scarcity of manual labour during cultivation period. Through survey questionnaire we found out that no work has been provided under MGNREGA in the past year. Only one person in the village is entrusted with the maintenance of 300 odd saplings which were planted as a part of afforestation programme. Even he complained of irregular payments for his work.
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Comparison of APL, BPL and Antodyay Families
Under MGNREGA three varieties of cards are issued depending upon the position of families relative to the poverty line. For antoday families a yellow card is issued which entitles kerosene oil at 2.75l per month at a rate of Rs. 17.5/l, 21 kg of rice at Rs. 3 per kg and 14 kg wheat at Rs. 2 per kg. For BPL families a red card is issued which entitles kerosene oil at 2.75l per month at a rate of Rs. 17.5/l, 15 kg of rice at Rs. 6.78 per kg and 10 kg wheat at Rs. 5.82 per kg. For above poverty line families a blue card is issued which entitles them to only 2.75 l of kerosene oil at Rs. 17.5 per l. 9.7 JEEVIKA
Stretching over an area 94,163 square kilometre, Bihar supports more than 8% of the country’s population. Desiring to provide solutions to rural poor the state government has initiated a project to promote rural livelihood in association with the World Bank. This project is implemented through a society registered under the state government as Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (BRLPS). It aims to provide livelihood options and thus to improve the lives of rural poor. Currently it works through the following four programs, institution and capacity building, social development, microfinance and livelihood. BRLPS works through SHG s. BRLPS enables the formation of SHG s and through them capacity building. Women in SHG s are encouraged to save through their respective SHG s. They can then take loan when they require. The broad objective is to build self sustaining institutions of women, empower them and build a viable and bankable women’s community. Didis in the village come together to form SHG s. the Shg s come under VO and Vo s are organised in cluster level federation. Mauzampatti has the VO named as Maa Tara VO.
10.Village Livelihoods Asset base available to the people:
Human assets: The rich people of the village Muzampatti belonging to Yadav community are well aware of outside world and its happenings. While the poor mostly Harijans’ have limited interaction and knowledge with the outside world. Most of the poor people are unaware of various Govt. sponsored schemes and their entitlements.
29
Diet of both rich and poor households mostly comprises of non vegetarian food like meat, fish and rice is the staple food. The diet we found is good in quality and healthy. The villagers eat healthy and work instead of having a sedentary life. Even the old persons in the vil lage were much more active and healthy than what we observe in cities. Education standard of the village is very poor. The high dropout rate in schools is attributed to the reason that the boys have to work as labourers and girls get married at an early age. Social assets: There is a clear caste differentiation between the Yadavs’ and Harijans’. Interaction between both the communities are limited and more of the nature of authority of Yadavs’ over Harijans’. Natural assets: The land of the village is fertile and almost all used for rice and wheat. For irrigation, villagers depend on rain water and ground water which is available at very low depth of about 20 feet (Source: Household Survey).There is a river in the village but it has changed its course after the flood of year 2008. Seasonal availability of water especially during rainy season is the main characteristic of the river. Drinking water is available through tube well and wells . The rich households have individual tube wells while the poor mostly Harijans’ use Govt. tube well. Physical assets: Except the houses of few rich Yadavs’, all the houses of the villages are built of mud walls and thatched roofs. There is a pucca road i n the village which connects the village with Barhara Kothi and Bihariganj. The condition of the road is very poor. All other roads of the village are kacha road. Sanitation remains one of the major issues as majority of the village doesn’t have any toilet facility (Source: Household Survey). For agriculture the small and marginal farmers use rented tractors for land preparation while most of the farmers depend upon indigenous varieties of seeds for sowing of crops. Financial assets: Most of the lower income households migrate to earn money while small and large farmers depend upon agriculture as their source of income. The large farmers do save money by selling the agriculture produce while the small farmers end up spending entire amount earned on consumption. The women from marginal farmers and landless labourer families save with SHGs and also avail credit from those SHGs. Organisational assets: The village has 17 SHGs working and all a village organisation. They have been quite successful in engaging women from poorest of the poor household with formalised financial system.
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11.Thematic Insights As a part of our fieldwork segment both of us (myself and Apurba) were needed to carry out our individual themes. The prerequisite for selecting themes was that no two partners in the same village should work on similar themes. Accordingly I selected a theme under livelihoods and Apurba under microfinance. Initially the theme decided upon by me was livelihoods and interventions. But, on going on about the theme I found nonfarm based livelihoods to be lacking in the village so I narrowed down my theme to farm based livelihoods and interventions. Farm Based Livelihoods and Interventions: The objective of this theme was to observe and understand the farm based livelihoods in the village, Mauzampatti. In the village the primary source of livelihood being agriculture the relevancy of the theme was very much justified. BRLPS, which works through JEEVIKA is involved in improvement in improving the output of agriculture through SRI and SWI. My efforts were directed to find out the improvements that SRI and SWI has brought. Microfinance activity in the village: Status, operations, opportunities and problems
Microfinance is defined as the financial services to the poor and lower income groups of the society who traditionally does not have the access to banking and other financial services. All the microfinance activity in the village is going through various interventions by Jeevika through its SHGs. Focus on SHGs to function efficiently to alleviate poverty from the village has found to generate significant impact. There are 17 SHGs operating in Mauzampatti village of which 10 SHGs have been formed more than 3 years ago and rest 7 SHGs are new SHG. Organisational structure It is considered that individual members of different SHGs are main building block and they are lowest in the strata. 10-12 members of the village are required to come together to form a SHG. The major points kept in mind while formations of SHGs are follows:
All the members should be women
Members should belong to poor households and preferabl y BPL households
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Caste homogeneity should be kept in mind while formation of SHGs but there are instances of mixed SHGs
A group of 15-20 SHGs operating in the same village or adjacent villages form a federation of SHGs which is called Village Organisation (VO). In our village the name of the VO is Maa Tara Village Organisation. The office bearers of every SHG are member of the VO. The main purpose of VO is to coordinate the functioning of various SHGs, disbursement of loans and implementing various awareness programs initiated by Jeevika. Cluster level federation (CLF) is an apex functioning body at block level. All the VOs operating within the block come together to form CLF. Office bearers of all the VOs are members of CLF. The main functioning of the CLF is monitor and co-ordinate the working of different VOs. Table 4
Impact of JEEVIKA and SHG Criteria
Before
After
(weight age)
(weight age)
1) Debt from informal sources
1
3
2) Self confidence
1
4
3) Respect in family and village
2
4
4) Savings habit
1
5
5) Say in decision making
2
3
6) Fulfilment of financial needs
1
4
7) Awareness
1
4
8) Convenience of getting loans as per requirement
1
3
9) Low interest rate and easy instalment
1
5
10) Literacy
1
4
Jeevika, provides an interest rate of 2% per month in comparison to 5% to 10% taken by village money lenders. The greatest change that SGHs have brought is probably in the inculcation of savings habit in didis as they are required to deposit a sum of Rs. 10 per week in SHG funds. SHGs also act a source or providing loans to didis in times of their need. All of these have raised respect for women in their families and in the village.
32
Table 5
PRA to access impact of JEEVIKA and SHG
Source
PRA Activity carried out with the members of different SHGs
Purpose
In order to ascertain the benefits availed and change happened in the life of villagers after interventions started by Jeevika through SHGs
Particapants
Sukhia Devi, Rama Devi, Ambika Devi, Ganga Devi, Gita Devi, Gunjan Devi, Laxmi Devi
Modes of financing: The members forming an SHG are monitored for 8 to 10 weeks and after that a joint bank account under the name of President, Secretary and Treasurer of the SHG is opened in the State Bank of India branch (SBI) of Barhara Kothi. Then the groups are provided with following modes of financing.
Community Investment Fund (CIF): This is the loan given by VO to various SHGs and is the initial finance received by the SHGs. The fund to the VO is provided by state government. Every SHG upon satisfactory functioning are entitled to receive maximum Rs.50000/- loan. The rate of interest charged is 2% per month out of which 1% interest remains with the individual SHG funds and 1% deposited with the VO. Repayment is through 24 monthly instalments. Most of the members avail this finance to meet up their household expenditure, health requirement. Out of the 17 SHGs under VO 10 SHGs have availed these finance till date.
SHG bank linkage program: Under this arrangement loans are given by SBI, Barhara Kothi branch. Here there is no restriction on the loan amount as the bank officials assess the loan amount based on requirement of SHGs. The rate of interest is 11% per annum and duration of the loan is 36 months. Loans availed mainly for the purpose of repaying old debts from informal sector, purchase of cattle, house construction and repairing and household consumption requirement. 33
Health risk fund: The main purpose of the fund is helping the poor to focus on their health problems and meet up health requirement at early stage of their diseases. The maximum financial assistance is arrived at ten time’s cumulative savings of SHGs with VO. Three months moratorium period is given to the members which is interest free and after that 1% per month interest is charged.
Food security fund: As most of the SHG members belong to lower income strata of the society and work as landless labourers, they have to purchase food grains from outside sources. Financial assistance of Rs.200000/- is given to the VO to purchase food grain after ascertaining the food grain requirement of individual members.
Micro finance interventions of Jeevika is instrumental in eradicating poverty, lowering the debt from informal sources, increase in awareness level of women, increase in respect of women both within the family and in the village.
12.Conclusions: An integrative view of the village Mauzampatti is primarily an agrarian village and its economy and the lives of the people too revolve around the produce from cultivation. Distribution of wealth shows a clear differentiation across communities in the village. All the rich households belong to Yadav community whereas Harijans in the village are economically poor. Majority of the villagers are subsistence farmers growing rice, wheat and vegetables. Surplus from rice and wheat produce are sold in the market while vegetables are grown for household consumption. Jeevika has brought about significant improvements in the lives of the villagers through SHGs and through livelihood intervention techniques. Traditionally, Yadavs have been the ruling class in the village. Even today, when it has become mandatory by law to give the harijans the respect they deserve few of the rich Yadavs refuse to acknowledge this. Caste based politics plays a strong role in the village which is represented in the fact that if a Yadav stands for assembly elections from the village all the Yadavs will vote for him. Big ticket government development initiatives are majorly a failure in the village. There is widespread corruption in MGNREGA, PDS and NRHM. In most cases these schemes exist in paper only and the money meant for them is channelized to pockets of corrupt officials. In the past villagers have taken some of such officials to task but after short periods of suspension they have returned. 34
Though, over the years the land value in the village has shot up to a present Rs. 3 lakh per bigha on an average, the villagers don’t want to move out. The villagers are aware of the dismal state of education in their village and so those who can make an effort to send their children to the district for education. Most of the transactions of the villagers occur in the markets of Bihariganj or B.Kothi. Lack of electricity is a major concern which troubles the villagers for which they have made numerous petitions but to no avail. After Nitish Kumar came to power law and order situation has improved tremendously in the village. No major incidents have occurred in the last 5 years. Mauzampatti, in a nutshell is a peaceful place to live in. There are quite a few problems but the villagers are proud to call the village their HOME.
13.Annexure Annexure 1: Sampling plan
The village Muzampatti has 419 households. It was very difficult for us to survey each and every household. So we decided to sample the households of entire village using stratified sampling and the stratification is based on caste and religion. The graphical representation of the plan is given below: Strata (Population size)
Mauzampatti
Sample size
Yadav(290)
29
Harijan(120)
9
Muslims(9)
1
Annexure 2: Case study of Sushil
This is a case highlighting the story of Sushil, a person who has seen the fall from being monetarily sufficient to being poor and who is getting up again. This case is also to highlight the betterment of lives that Jeevika has brought. 35
Mr. Sushil belongs to the Yadav community. Grandfather of Sushil, Mr. Ramkrishna Prasad was a well to do man. He had three sons. He was well off and commanded respect in the village. He had a total agriculture land of 50 bigha and also possessed 10 cows. All was well in the family till the sons got married. Sushil’s father Mr. Vikas kumar was the youngest and the meek one amongst his brothers. Few years after their the brothers moved out of their joint family. Citing the expansion of family amongst many other reasons the elder brothers demanded major portion of the property. His brothers got 23 bigha each and also 4 cow each. When Sushil’s father got married his grandfather transferred his one bigha to his father and began to stay with. Sushil’s father had three sons and a daughter. With only 3 bigha in his name and 7 persons to feed the condition of the family deteriorated. They lost their say in village matters. Gradually when Sushil and his brothers came of age they took responsibilities. Sushil works as VRP of Maa Tara VO while his younger brother Deepak works as VRP of Ganga VO. His elder brother looks primarily after agriculture. As VO, Sushil and his brother gets paid Rs. 10 each for each didi who initiate agricultural practices through Jeevika. So now, though Sushil’s family is self sufficient in terms of food and clothing he dreads the day his brothers decide to go their separate ways. As of now they live in harmony and Jeevika has played a great role in this by providing the two brothers with a source of income. Annexure 3: Case study of Sukhiya Devi
A case highlighting women empowerment, the story of Sukhiya Devi. Sukhiya Devi got married to Bahadur Mondal in 1993. She had no formal education. At the start they were very poor with her husband working as a servant in a Yadav household. To supplement the family earnings her husband worked in Punjab, earning Rs. 1000 per month. Meanwhile Sukhiya Devi’s father in law suffered from paralysis and she had to take a loan of Rs. 5000 at 5% rate of interest. She took an additional loan of Rs. 2000 also at 5% interest. At such moments of distress she met ‘Jeevika’. She came in contact with Jeevika in June, 2007 through Bhagshri SHG. Convinced by the concept of group savings she initiated the formation of Bhagshri SHG which had a total 13 members of which she was the treasurer. Gradually, she ascended to the post of training organiser and now she is a CRP. As training organiser her role was to train members during the initial days of SHG formation. As CRP she is involved in the intrastate formation of SHG and participates in training exercises across the state. For her work she is acknowledged in the district. 36
Table 6
Income expenditure of Sukhiya Devi’s family (monthly) Spending
Amount (Rs.)
Earnings
Amount (Rs.)
Rice
1800
Training
2833
Vegetable and oil
1050
MNREGA
367
Wheat
480
Labour
3000
Children’s Tuition
500
Generator connection
60
Books
50
Clothes
167
Total
4107
Total
6200
Annexure 4: Profile of five rich families
Household details of five rich families are as follows: The number rich people in the village Mauzampatti is about 10% of total population. Most of the members of these families are literate and the children are sent to Patna or Purnia to continue their study. The major source of income of these families is agriculture but some of them also engaged in service sector also. Table 7
Profile list (rich families) Sr. No.
1
2
3
4
5
Name
Anil
Arun
Rakesh
Amar
Lakhan
Yadav
Yadav
Babu
Babu
Dev
Age
55
45
62
60
49
Caste
Yadav
Yadav
Yadav
Yadav
Yadav
Occupation
Farmer
Farmer
Farmer
Farmer
Business
Adult
M
2
1
2
4
1
Members
F
3
2
2
2
3
0-2 Years
M
0
0
0
0
0
37
F
0
0
0
0
0
M
0
0
0
0
0
F
0
0
0
0
0
6-18
M
0
1
0
0
0
Years
F
0
1
0
0
0
5
5
4
6
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3-5 Years
Total Family Members Children not going to school 12 Year girls not educated House
House
Modern
Modern
Modern
Modern
Modern
Details
Type
House
House
House
House
House
Electricity
No
No
No
No
No
Sanitation
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Water
No
No
No
No
No
Tank Land
Irrigated
5 acre
4.7 acre
20 acre
22 acre
-
Holding
Non
-
-
-
-
-
5 acre
4.7 acre
20 acre
22 acre
-
Cow
4
2
5
6
1
Buffalo
-
-
-
-
0
Goat
-
-
-
-
-
Total
4
2
5
6
1
Migration
No
No
No
No
No
Television Set
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Irrigated Total Land Animal
38
Annexure 5: Profile of five poor families
Household Details of five poor families are as follows: Most of villagers surveyed in this segment belong to scheduled caste category as they constitute poorest of the poor segment of the village. Table 8
Profile list (poor families) Sr. No.
1
2
3
4
5
Name
Mithilesh
Sushil
Manoj
Chandeshri Raju
Age
25
31
41
55
60
Caste
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Occupation
Manual
Manual
Manual
Manual
Manual
Labour
Labour
Labour
Labour
Labour
Adult
M
1
3
1
2
2
Members
F
2
2
1
3
3
0-2
M
1
1
0
0
0
Years
F
1
1
0
0
0
3-5
M
0
0
0
0
0
Years
F
0
0
0
0
0
6-18
M
0
0
3
0
0
Years
F
0
0
1
0
0
Total Family
5
7
6
5
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
Yes
Members
Children not going to school 12 Year girls not educated House
House
Mud
Mud
Mud
Mud
Mud
Details
Type
walled,
walled,
walled,
walled,
walled,
Thatched
Thatched Thatched
Thatched
Thatched
39
roof
roof
roof
roof
roof
Electricity
No
No
No
No
No
Sanitation
No
No
No Toilet
No Toilet
No
Toilet
Toilet
No
No
No
No
No
Water
Toilet
Tank Land
Irrigated
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
Holding
Non
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
No Land
No Land
No Land
No Land
No Land
Cow
-
-
-
-
-
Buffalo
-
-
-
-
-
Goat
-
-
-
1
2
Total
0
0
0
1
2
Migration
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Television Set
No
No
No
No
No
Irrigated Total Land Animal
40
Annexure 6: Services and opportunities mapping
PHC 6 Km Primary School
(B kothi)
Block office 6 Km
0 Km
(B. Kothi)
Mauzampat tti
Railway Station
College
2.5 Km
19 Km
(Raghuvansh nagar)
(Agali)
Panchayat Office
Police Station
0 Km
2 Km (Raghuvans h nagar)
Mauzampat tti
Mauzampattti
Secondary school
Anganwaadi 0.1 Km
0 Km
Mauzampat tti
Mauzampat tti
Bank
College
6 Km
60 Km
(B kothi)
Post Office 0.4 Km Mauzampattti
(Purnia) Hospital 18 Km (Agali)
Table 9
PRA for services and opportunity mapping
Source PRA Activity carried out with the SHG members of Mauzampatti
Purpose
Particapants
To understand the location of Mauzampatti in relation to nearby institutions and resources. Sukhia Devi, Rama Devi, Ambika Devi, Ganga Devi, Gita Devi, Gunjan Devi, Laxmi Devi,Shakuntala Devi, Rekha Devi
41
