SOIL Report 2008 - ACCESS Development Services

Policy: Pathways to Sustainable LivelihoodsThe increased emphasis on vocational training is well placed, given that higher labour productivity willdirectly lead to higher incomes. These have to be done alongside an increased prioritisation of primaryand secondary education, as low performance on these affects further vocational development. Given thatthe vocational training sector is to be highly privatised, it is likely to become more and more commercialin its orientation. This implies that only those who can pay for services will be able to access these, moreso now when even government institutions are to be under private managements and collaboration.Therefore the State’s responsibility for basic literacy and primary education needs to be fulfilled first beforethese vocational training opportunities become accessible to the rural poor. Unless these connectionsare perceived and prioritised, the danger is that the 11th Plan will also end up contributing to increasedinequalities, despite its claims to, in fact, do the opposite.7. It is suggested that the 11th Plan integrate the self-employment strategyinto an integrated programme cutting across all ministriesThe 10th Plan referred to the role of women’s SHGs in creating self-employment. It proposed that theSHG movement focus on women, with at least 50 per cent of the SHG groups comprising women anda minimum of 25 per cent of the women in a village/habitation covered under SHGs programmes.As SHGs are formed by a wide range of organisations, the processes of social mobilisation, financingnorms and other related activities differ from organisation to organisation. The 10th Plan suggested acomprehensive review to evolve a commonality in the approach of different SHG programmes. Furtherassuming that credit supply through banks is a major constraint, it suggested creation of a microfinanceequity fund, with contributions from commercial banks, which could be treated as a part of their prioritysectorlending programme.The perspective paper on the 11th Plan critiqued the present strategy for promotion of self-employmentin rural areas, which relied mainly on formation of SHGs to empower rural communities and enable themto take up economic activities. It suggested that the 11th Plan integrate the self-employment initiativeinto an integrated programme cutting across all ministries. Such an integrated programme should alsoprovide for training and capacity building of educated unemployed youth, particularly in rural areas, assuch unemployment has assumed serious proportions especially in the southern parts of the country.Regarding SHGs, it recommended that marketing support be provided to them to ensure theirsustainability. At the same time, the 11th Plan must also examine the need to expand the SHG movementin urban slums. Other measures emphasised promotion of village industries and one of the mechanismssuggested was development of Rural Business Hubs, since developed as a scheme of the Ministry ofPanchayati Raj (www.rbh.in), and described in Box 3.5.Contrary to expectations, the mid-term review of the 10th Plan pointed out that not much progress wasachieved either in launching new initiatives/ programmes or scaling up some of the existing programmesin a major way in the first three years of the 10th Plan. The achievements under the sector-specific specialPlan programmes for employment generation, agriculture and allied sectors, small and medium enterprises(SMEs), food processing industries and the services sectors, were not expected to be significant. Moreover,an assessment of increase in employment, compartmentalised by growth-induced employment andemployment additionally generated through special programmes, was not available. Such assessments ofpolicy performance are needed to refine policies and monitor them effectively, and some ways towardsthese are suggested at the end of the chapter.The 11th Plan approach paper supported the trend taken at the time of mid-term appraisal of the 10thPlan. It reinforced the commitment to the public guarantee for employment, and also underscoredimportance of SSIs and village industries. It expanded the focus on vocational training and accordedgreater importance to self-employment. The focus on increasing employment thereafter was on offeringan employment guarantee programme, which was launched along with some other measures taken forContrary toexpectations,the midtermreviewof the10th Planpointedout thatnot muchprogress wasachievedeither inlaunchingnewinitiatives/programmesor scalingup some ofthe existingprogrammesin a majorway in thefirst threeyears of the10th Plan.69