Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

158 CHHAYA DATAR
I like the scheme because the government is willing to provide wages,
saplings, pesticide, and will not charge any interest on all this money.
There is some hard work, but it is worth it. We need to find out a piece of
land and water, which can be done within village. (Keshewadi)
Demand for Other Assets
To tell you the truth, we are keen to get buffaloes and goats. Ultimately, it
does not cost us to maintain them. They can graze as we work. Sometimes
we end up sending our children to graze them.
What about children’s education? Our daughters do not go to school.
But I can make money out of the cattle. If I get a semi-crossbreed buffalo,
I can get five litres of milk and make khoya by evaporation. I can make
two kilos of khoya. Milk sells for Rs 8 per litre. Khoya sells Rs 60 per kg.
The advantage of cattle is that we can sell it in a crisis. It is an asset, which
is personal. I do not have to ask even my husband.
Income out of sale of goats is always woman’s income. She can buy gifts
for her brother’s wife and her parents.
Those who earn Rs 100 on brick kilns would not like the idea of working
in horticulture. But those who are agricultural labourers like us would
definitely see benefit in this scheme.
ANALYSIS
The women were surprisingly articulate and had opinions on each issue
related to the enterprise of horticulture under the EGS. They touched
upon almost every aspect of implementation and analysed the factors
involved for the successful adoption of the scheme. The responses were
varied, with most pointing out the negative side of each provision of the
scheme. Who were the negative respondents? It was not possible for us to
distinguish the background of the respondent every time and see the
correlation between the landholding and the negative or positive tone of
the response. Our detailed data (not included in this chapter) on the
background of the respondents and SHGs in eight villages shows clearly