SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

esponses of the bankers in M R Pura and E N Pura. For one thing,
unlike other agricultural crops, credit available for sericulture purposes
is relatively high. The loan-waiving policies of the Government
encourage the borrowers not to repay the loan while the bankers hesitate
to take action on the defaulters for fear of political repercussions. There
are some who do not want to avail the loan facility for fear of
unnecessary harassment by the bankers. Such responses are not
uncommon in Seripura. Though the poor repayment affects the other
sericulturists in availing the credit, they are least interested in easing out
the process as evidenced from the following case.
Selva Kumar, a sma1l farmer sericulturist in M R ?urn, asks how the bankers could
punish the others just because somebody else had been the credit defaulters. He,
bowever, continues to say that the bankers want them to be informers of the date of
marketing the cocoons by the defaulters, so that they could extract the money from
them. He says, 'how can I betray my fellow fanner?'
There are quite a number of sericulturists in all the study villages
who had benefited from the credit schemes, though many had not been
prompt enough to repay the loans. The main reason, they say, for the
non-payment of loans is that the crops are not satisfactory. By involving
in the process of credit transactions, the sericulturists are exposed to an
intensive process of interaction with different officials at various levels.
Many a times, it also brings a bad experience to them.
Nevertheless, the sericulturists have become a major source of
money-lending to their labour-clients in those study villages where
attached labour system is prevalent. In such cases the labourers are
advanced a reasonable amount of loan at the time of need or of crisis,
free of interest. Some of the sericulturists also act as financiers or
money-lenders for many of the needed villagers, either through a formal
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