contents - National Institute of Rural Development

Journal of 

Rural Development 

Vol. 31 April - June 2012 No. 2 

CONTENTS 

1. Factors Influencing Wage Structure of Handloom Workers in Assam 

– Alin Borah Bortamuly, Kishor Goswami 

139 

2. Institutional Arrangements for Farmland Development : The Case of Ethiopia 

– Abayineh Amare Woldeamanuel, Fekadu, Beyene Kenee 

151 

3. Employment of Rural Women In Sericulture - An Empirical Analysis 

– S. Lakshmanan 

163 

4. India’s Total Sanitation Campaign : Is it on the Right Track? 

Progress and Issues of TSC in Andhra Pradesh 

– M. Snehalatha, V. Anitha 

173 

5. Political Inclusion and Participation of Women in 

Local Governance : A Study in Karnataka 

– N. Sivanna, K.G. Gayathridevi 

193 

6. Risk Management and Rural Employment in Hill Farming - 

A Study of Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh 

– Vinod Kumar, R.K. Sharma , K.D. Sharma 

211 

7. Impact of Micro-finance on Poverty : A Study of Twenty 

Self-Help Groups in Nalbari District, Assam 

– Prasenjit Bujar Baruah 

223 

8. Capacity Building through Women Groups 

– Santhosh Kumar S. 

245

BOOK REVIEWS 

1. Social Relevance of Higher Learning Institutions 

by G. Palanithurai 

– Dr. S.M. Ilyas 

245 

2. Economic Liberalisation and Indian Agriculture : A District Level Study 

by Bhalla, G.S. and Gurmail Singh 

– Dr. V. Suresh Babu 

246 

3. Horticulture for Tribal Development 

by R.N. Hegde and S.D. Suryawanshi 


247 

4. Women Empowerment through Literacy Campaign : Role of Social Work 

by Jaimon Varghese 

– Dr. G. Valentina 

248 

5. Development of Special Economic Zones in India 

Edited by M. Soundarapandian 

– Dr. C. Dheeraja 

249 

6. Bureaucracy and Rural Development in Mizoram 

by Harendra Sinha 

– Pradip Kumar Nath 

251 

7. Rural Development Administration in India 

by N.Sreeramulu 

– Dr. R. Murugesan 

253 

8. Land Policies for Inclusive Growth 

Edited by T. Haque 

– Dr. Ch. Radhika Rani 

254

Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. (2) pp. 139 - 150 

NIRD, Hyderabad. 

FACTORS INFLUENCING WAGE 

STRUCTURE OF HANDLOOM 

WORKERS IN ASSAM 

ABSTRACT 

Alin Borah Bortamuly, 

Kishor Goswami * 

The removal of import quota restriction for textile products opened up new 

avenues and challenges for the Indian handloom industry, which infused competition 

in recent years. As majority of the workers in the industry are women, who work mostly 

as weavers, reelers and helpers, such competition often influences the nature and 

pattern of earnings of women workers. Therefore, the present study attempts to 

analyse the factors influencing the wage structure of the handloom industry from a 

gender perspective. It examines the wage differential with respect to gender as well 

as type of work the workers are entrusted with. The study is based on primary data 

collected from 300 respondents in 13 districts in Assam. Multiple regression technique 

is used to analyse the data. The results show that in case of contractual workers, there 

is no gender discrimination in wages, whereas it is found in case of monthly rated 

workers. Productivity of the workers is found to be significant both for monthly rated 

as well as contractual workers. Factors like education and experience do not have any 

significant influence on the wage structure of the workers in the handloom industry 

in Assam. Thus, the government machinery should address the gender wage 

discrimination for monthly rated weavers and reelers, and back up support facilities 

for contractual workers of the industry in the State. The present study greatly extends 

our understanding of the wage earnings scenario in Assam’s handloom sector from 

gender perspective. 

Introduction 

The removal of trade restrictions in 

textile sector from January 1, 2005 infused 

more competition among countries such as 

China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and 

others. These countries were initially affected 

by Cotton Textile Agreement (CTA) and 

thereafter by the Multi- Fibre Agreement (MFA) 

of 1974 and the Agreement on Textile and 

Clothing (ATC) of 1994. However, removal of 

such restrictions infused intense competition 

among the countries to expand their market 

share. As a result, the Indian handloom industry 

which is a part of the textile industry had to 

face severe competition. As majority of the 

workers in the industry are women, who work 

mostly as weavers, reelers, and helpers, such 

competition often influences the nature and 

pattern of earnings of women workers more. 

The industry is beset with manifold problems 

such as obsolete technology, unorganised 

production system, low productivity, 

inadequate working capital, conventional 

* Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 

West Bengal -721302, E-mail: kishor@hss.iitkgp.ernet.in

140 Alin Borah Bortamuly, Kishor Goswami 

product range, weak marketing link, overall 

stagnation of production and sales, and above 

all competition from powerloom and mill 

sector (Sudalaimuthu and Devi, 2006). Women 

in the industry share enormous work burden 

with no commensurate compensation system. 

Their living and working conditions are a 

serious concern in many parts of India. 

Whenever the industry is in crisis, the burden 

of carrying through the crisis is mostly on 

women weavers. Such burdens increase their 

physical, psychological and social stress 

(Reddy, 2006). Women weavers have been the 

principal stabilisation force through years of 

crises and problems for the handloom sector. 

The pattern of employment has seen a 

remarkable change worldwide after 

globalisation. For example, the employment 

in UK is increasingly taking a variety of work 

time, benefits and entitlements are put 

together for different groups of workers. The 

growth in sub-contracting and the 

rationalisation of ‘marginal’ activities by firms 

and public agencies produced a situation in 

which many workers, previously in secure jobs, 

now face regular employment on a more 

precarious contract labour basis (Allen and 

Henry, 2001). Standing (1992) referred to this 

trend as the growing ‘contractualisation’ of 

employment. In a similar manner, in India too, 

there has been a clear indication of workforce 

restructuring in the handloom industry in the 

recent years. Analysing the textile and apparel 

industry in India, Ramaswamy (2008) found 

that those who were regular workers became 

contractual workers in a number of cases along 

with the new hires in the textile industry. In 

the context of wage differentials in Textile and 

Apparel, he found that the relative wage 

disparity in Textile and Apparel has not 

worsened in the years of greater global trade 

participation. There was improvement in 

relative position of female workers; male 

workers were getting the same wage rate as 

that in average urban informal sector industries. 

Other employment benefits have declined as 

Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 2, April - June : 2012 

suggested by the growth of contractual labour. 

Thus, with the removal of quota restrictions, 

there is a considerable change in the job and 

wage pattern. Therefore, the present study 

attempts to analyse the factors influencing the 

wage structure of the handloom industry. It 

examines the wage differential with respect 

to gender as well as type of work the workers 

are entrusted with. 

Wage Differential and Factors Influencing 

Wage Structure 

Wage differential reflects discrimination 

as well as differences in productivity related 

factors such as education, training, and 

experience (Bonnie & Harrison, 2005). It may 

be the difference in wage between workers 

with different skills working in the same 

industry, or workers with similar skills working 

in different industries or regions. Wage 

differential with respect to gender means 

whether there is any difference in the wages 

of male and female workers with respect to 

the work they are entrusted with. The 

persistence of wage differentials between 

males and females can be postulated from a 

few theoretical standpoints involving both 

competitive and non-competitive settings 

within the labour market. Traditional human 

capital explanations of wage differentials 

involve two approaches based on free-market 

setting. One is the competitive case, where 

individual learnings are set according to the 

labour market supply and demand interaction 

under a flexible wage regime. In this case, the 

individual’s ability, skill acquisition, 

qualifications possessed, and productivity 

levels together influence earnings. Another 

approach under the competitive setting is the 

efficiency wage effect, where firm sets wages 

according to workers’ productivity and often 

common in capital intensive (relatively high 

technology) occupations, especially those 

involving high skilled labour force (Darity, 

1991; Dickens & Katz, 1987).

Factors Influencing Wage Structure of Handloom Workers in Assam ... 141 

Several studies are conducted 

considering the concept of gender wage 

differential at national and international levels. 

Norsworthy (2003) said that women typically 

earn lower wages than men for the same job. 

Similarly, Berik et al. (2004) found that 

competition from foreign trade in 

concentrated industries is positively associated 

with wage discrimination against women. 

Research on rural-urban gender wage gap 

shows that, in comparison to urban zones, rural 

areas have persistently lower incomes and 

higher unemployment and underemployment 

rates, especially for women (Stabler, 1999; 

Lichter and Costanzo, 1987). Most notably, 

women at the lower end of the income 

distribution suffer the highest degree of 

discrimination (Gerry et al., 2004). Most of the 

studies which explain and measure the extent 

of Russia’s gender wage gap since transition 

were largely based on the Oaxaca- Blinder 

(1973) decomposition in which wage 

equations are estimated separately for men 

and women in order to allow for different 

gender rewards to a set of productive 

characteristics (Fairlie, 2003). The male – 

female wage differential is explained in terms 

of the difference in average endowments 

evaluated at the male (female) pay structure 

and the difference in returns evaluated at the 

female (male) average endowment. Thus, in 

the absence of discrimination, men and 

women will have the same return for similar 

endowments, and hence the latter difference 

is interpreted as ‘discrimination’ (Gerry et. al., 

2004). 

In an exceptional study conducted by 

Cobb-Clark and Tan (2011), it was found that 

non-cognitive skills have a substantial effect 

on the probability of employment in many, 

though not all, occupations in ways they differ 

by gender. Consequently, men and women 

with similar non-cognitive skills enter 

occupations at different rates. Women, 

however, have lower wages on average not 

because they work in different occupations 


than men do, rather they earn less than their 

male colleagues employed in the same 

occupation. On balance, women’s noncognitive 

skills give them a slight wage 

advantage. Thus, gender wage gap in particular 

is often attributed to gender segregation 

across occupations, industries or jobs (Blau and 

Kahn, 2000; Groshen, 1991; Mumford and 

Smith, 2007). This is because male jobs are 

generally associated with higher wages, better 

benefits, and more training opportunities. 

Occupational segregation may result in an 

overall gender wage gap, even if there is no 

wage disparity between men and women in 

the same occupation (Miller, 1994; Preston and 

Whitehouse, 2004; Robinson, 1998). Others 

however, argue that occupational segregation 

may be relatively unimportant for women’s 

wages (Baron and Cobb- Clark, 2010). 

Analysing the garment sector in West Bengal, 

Ganguly (2006) found that the female workers 

earn half the wage than that of male workers. 

However, analysing the impact of globalisation 

of silk industry in North East India, Goswami 

(2006) observed lower wage discrimination 

in handloom trade, since the works are mostly 

done on contractual basis. 

There are a host of literature on the 

concept of wage structure and its determining 

factors. Examining the determinants of urban 

wages in China, Appleton et al., (2005) found 

increased returns to education but a decrease 

in returns to experience. Based on the notion 

of efficiency wages, Harrison (2004) found a 

two-tier situation that explains why rural wage 

rates vary widely among workers and across 

regions. He used factors such as number of 

dependents, tribal affiliation with the 

enterprise’s manager, sex, tenure, location, 

marital status, education, incentives, per capita 

cultivated land, season, land irrigation, price 

level, etc., in his study on wage discrimination 

in rural agricultural environment. Similarly, 

working on the important determinants of 

wages in Russia’s transition economy, Ogloblin 

and Brock (2005) used factors like education,


experience, on the job training, tenure, etc. 

They also considered factors that help to 

capture the firm specific factors like industry, 

type of firm ownership, occupation, and size 

of the firm with two other variables like marital 

status and secondary employment. Richard 

(2007) mentioned that a lot of studies linking 

gender and labour markets were conducted 

in the developed world, whereas developing 

countries have very few empirical studies. 

Therefore, to examine the male- female wage 

determination and gender discrimination in 

Uganda, he used factors like age, monthly 

wages, education, marital status, urban 

residence, number of children, non-wage 

payment and regions. The results implied that 

education is particularly important for females 

in order to increase their earnings and thus 

has implications for poverty reduction efforts. 

The Handloom Industry and the 

Categories of Workers 

Centre of attention of the present study 

is the handloom industry in Assam. This is one 

of the important States in the North-East (NE) 

India. The NE States together have the highest 

concentration of handlooms in the country. 

Over 53 per cent of the looms in the country 

and more than 50 per cent of the weavers 

belong to the North-Eastern States (Ministry 

of Textiles, 2010). The State contributes 99 per 

cent of Muga silk and 63 per cent of Eri silk in 

country’s total production of Muga and Eri, 

respectively (India Brand Equity Foundation, 

2010). The industry for generations has been 

the major source of additional income for the 

rural women of Assam. More than 60 per cent 

of the workers are women in the industry 

(Goswami, 2006). 

The present study categorises the 

workers into weavers, reelers, and helpers. 

Weavers here are either contractual or 

monthly. They normally use fly shuttle or throw 

shuttle in Assamese type of loom. Apart from 

them, there are two other types of workers, 


namely reelers and helpers. Reelers are 

involved in reeling activities in the industry 

and are either contractual or monthly workers. 

Helpers are mostly monthly workers and their 

work is to assist the weavers. About one-third 

of Assam’s 1.2 million weavers are organised 

into about 3,744 societies registered under 

handloom cooperative societies (Assam 

Agricultural Competitiveness Project, 2008). 

Single loom household units are common in 

the State. Silk weaving is performed in almost 

all the districts in Assam. The major weaving 

districts of vanya (wild) silks are Kamrup (Rural), 

Nalbari, Udalguri, Baksa, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, 

Morigaon, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Golaghat, and 

Mangaldoi. Products like silk, gamochas (towel), 

saris, mekhela-chadar, scarves, shawls, 

wrappers, etc., are produced for domestic as 

well as commercial purposes (Assam 

Agricultural Competitiveness Project, 2008). 

Sources of Data and Research Methodology 

The study used both primary and 

secondary data. Primary data of 300 

respondents producing handloom products 

were collected from 11 districts in Assam 

through uniformly designed structured 

interview schedule during June to October, 

2010. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were 

carried out to collect in-depth information and 

to cross-verify a few parameters. Secondary 

data were collected from different secondary 

sources such as Assam Khadi and Village 

Industries Board (AKVIB), Central Silk Board 

(CSB), Assam Apex Weavers Artisans 

Cooperative Federation Ltd (ARTFED), 

Directorate of Sericulture, Government of 

Assam, and Block Development Offices. 

Respondent in the present study is 

considered as the unit of analysis. The districts, 

blocks, and villages were selected through 

purposive sampling depending upon intensity 

of workers and weaving activities. However, 

the respondents in the selected villages were 

identified through random sampling method.


Multiple regression of the following log-linear 

form is used to study the influences of 

different factors on the wage of the workers 

in the industry. 

LnW = lnA + β 1 lnX 1 + β 2 lnX 2 + β 3 lnX 3 + β 4 lnX 4 

+ β 5 lnX 5 + e i 

Where, 

W = Wage of the i th respondent (weavers or 

reelers or helpers), 

X 1 = Sex dummy of the i th respondent, 1 for 

male and 0 for female, 


X 2 = Work experience of the i th respondent, 

X 3 = Productivity of the i th respondent in 

value terms, 

X 4 = Number of years the i th respondent 

spent in school, 

X 5 = Age of the i th respondent, and 

e i = Error term. 

The descriptive statistics of the factors used in 

the model are presented in Table 1. 

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of the Factors Influencing Wage of Contractual Weavers, 

Monthly Weavers, Monthly Reelers and Helpers in Handloom Industry in Assam 

Average Values 

Factors Unit of Contractual Monthly Monthly Helpers 

Measurement Weavers Weavers Reelers (N = 38) 

(N = 151) (N = 55) (N = 13) 

Annual Rupees 24,978.81 29,827.27 8,744.74 12,092.31 

Income (7,695.75) (17,215.76) (6,471.80) (8,824.44) 

Sex 1 for male, 0.23 0.12 0.05 0.54 

Dummy 0 for female (0.42) (0.33) (0.22) (0.52) 

Work Years 8.12 11.98 12.5 8.07 

Experience (6.24) (7.53) (7.36) (8.65) 

Productivity Rupees/ 63.17 98.85 46.73 42.15 

Days (18.21) (62.46) (33.08) (30.17) 

Education Years 6.02 5.62 3.92 4.15 

(4.21) (3.52) (4.00) (3.65) 

Age Years 27.95 31.81 35.34 25.77 

(6.87) (8.44) (7.71) (13.15) 

Note: Figures in parentheses represent standard deviation. 

The productivity of a worker in the study 

is measured by the annual income of the 

workers generated from such activities divided 

by the number of productive days of the 

worker. The number of productive days is 

measured by daily working hours multiplied 

by the number of working days and divided 

by eight hours. Separate regression is run for 

the contractual weavers, monthly weavers, 

monthly reelers, and helpers. However,


because of poor number of responses (only 

13), our attempt to analyse the influence of 

different factors on wage of the helpers is 

dropped. Although the number of respondents 

in the category of monthly rated reelers is only 

38, to throw some light in our analysis, we 

considered the category for further analysis. 

Results and Discussion 

The influence of different factors on 

wage structure of the contractual workers in 

In the handloom industry in Assam, wage 

of a contractual weaver does not depend on 

sex of the individual and sex dummy is found 

to be not significant in case of contractual 

weavers having a P value of 0.96. It is found in 

most of the cases during primary data collection 

that a male or a female weaver earns the same 

wage for the same kind of work, if the work is 

contractual. This finding is similar to the 


the handloom industry in Assam is presented 

in Table 2. The sample size of the contractual 

weavers is 151. The influences of different 

factors on annual wage of the contractual 

weavers are estimated by using ordinary least 

square (OLS) technique. The value of F test in 

OLS estimation indicates that the model is 

significant at 1 per cent level with an F value 

of 26.19. The value of R 2 is 0.50, which reveals 

that the model explains 50 per cent of the 

variation in average annual wage of the 

contractual weavers. 

Table 2 : Factors Influencing the Wage of Contractual 

Weavers in Handloom Industry in Assam 

Explanatory Factors Coefficients Robust Standard Error t-Statistics P>|t| VIF 

Constant 7.256 0.460 15.78 0.000 — 

Sex Dummy 0.002 0.048 0.05 0.962 1.27 

Work Experience -0.001 0.025 -0.03 0.980 1.56 

Productivity 0 .768 0.075 10.28 0.000 1.02 

Education Level -0.093 0.018 -0.92 0.358 1.03 

Age -0.093 0.088 -1.06 0.292 1.36 

R20. 501 

Adjusted R2 0.484 

F Value (5, 145) 26.19 

Observations 151 

Durbin Watson 1.669 

Note: i) Dependent variable is annual wage of the contractual weavers. 

ii) 1%, 5% and 10% level of significance are considered. 

findings of Goswami (2006), who observed 

lower wage discrimination in the silk industry 

in Assam. On the other hand, work experience 

of a contractual weaver is found to be not 

significant having a P value of 0.98. This implies 

that the wage of a contractual weaver is less 

dependent on experience of the weaver. It 

means that, irrespective of the work 

experience of the weaver, his or her wages


will depend mostly on the factors other than 

his or her work experience. A weaver who 

completes a stipulated amount of work in a 

given time gets more wage than an 

experienced weaver who does lesser work in 

the same time. 

The influence of productivity on wage 

structure of the contractual weavers is found 

to be significant at 1 per cent level with a P 

value of 0.000, which implies that, other 

factors keeping constant, 1 per cent increase 

in productivity leads to a 0.77 per cent increase 

in wages of the contractual weavers. It means 

that more the productivity of the worker, more 

will be the increment in the contractual 

weavers’ wages. In contrast, the influence of 

education on the wage of the contractual 

weaver is not significant (P = 0.36). This implies 

that, whether the weaver is more qualified or 

less, he or she will earn the same wage for the 

same kind of work. As also found in FGDs, it is 


the efficiency of the worker that matters in 

the handloom industry in Assam rather than 

his or her educational qualification. In other 

words, what matters is his or her capability to 

produce more in less time. Similarly, age of 

the contractual weaver is also found to be not 

significant on the annual wage of the weaver. 

The VIFs (Variance Inflation Factor) of all the 

independent factors are less than 1.6. This 

implies that the multicollinearity problem 

among the factors is almost negligible in the 

above model. 

An attempt is also made to see the 

influences of the above mentioned factors on 

the wage structure of the monthly rated 

weavers. The sample size of the monthly rated 

weavers was 55. The influences of different 

factors on annual wage of the monthly rated 

weavers were estimated by using OLS 

technique. The model is significant at 1 per 

cent level with an F value of 17.14 (Table 3). 

Table 3: Factors Influencing the Wage of Monthly Rated Weavers 

in Handloom Industry in Assam 


Constant 7.714 1.365 5.65 0.000 — 

Sex Dummy 0 .432 0.160 2.71 0.009 1.09 

Work Experience -0.085 0.099 0.86 0.393 1.75 

Productivity 0 .653 0.201 3.25 0.002 1.19 

Education Level -0.086 0.081 1.06 0.293 1.04 

Age -0.074 0.336 0.22 0.826 1.60 

R2 0.418 

Adjusted R2 0.359 

F Value (5, 49) 17.14 



Note : i) Dependent variable is annual wage of the monthly rated weavers. 

ii) 1%, 5% and 10% level of significance are considered.


The value of R 2 is 0.42, which reveals that the 

model explains 42 per cent of the total 

variation in average annual wage of the 

monthly rated weavers. It is found that the 

influence of the factor ‘sex’ on wage structure 

of the monthly rated weaver is found to be 

significant at 1 per cent level, which implies 

that, other factors keeping constant, if the 

respondent is a male, his average wage will 

be more by 0.43 per cent. It is found in FGDs 

that, if the weaver is hired on monthly basis, 

for the same kind of job, a female weaver earns 

relatively less than a male weaver. Since the 

females also have domestic chores apart from 

the weaving works, if given a choice, the 

owners are reluctant to hire them on the same 

monthly wage rate as that of male. Analysing 

the implications of the neo-liberal reforms on 

workers in the Indian garment industry in the 

era of post-multi-fibre arrangement, Ganguly 

(2006) also found that, in West Bengal, women 

workers are paid much lesser than male 

workers. Thus, in case of contractual weavers, 

it is found that a male or female weaver will 

earn the same wage for the same kind of work 

related to weaving. Whereas, in case of 

monthly rated weaver, a female weaver will 

earn relatively less than a male weaver for the 

same nature of job. 

Analysing the influence of work 

experience on monthly rated weaver, it is 

found that the length of experience of monthly 

rated weavers has no bearing on their wage. It 

is found during FGDs that the owner fixes a 

standard wage for workers who have 

experience beyond a certain threshold level. 

Owners are indifferent towards experience 

beyond that level. Threshold level here means 

a minimum level of work experience that an 

owner looks for in a worker. It is mostly three 

years in the study area as observed in FGDs. 

These results are similar to the results found 

in case of contractual weavers, where work 

experience is also found to be not significant 

on the wage structure of the weaver. 


Looking at the influence of productivity 

on wage structure of the monthly rated 

weavers, it is found that the productivity has a 

positive influence on the wage and is 

significant at 1 per cent level of significance. 

This implies that, other factors keeping 

constant, 1 per cent increase in productivity 

leads to a 0.65 per cent increase in wages of a 

monthly rated weaver (Table 3). It means that 

more the productivity of the monthly rated 

weaver, more will be the increment in the 

monthly rated weaver’s wage. It is observed 

in the study area that the owners keep track 

of monthly productivity of the monthly rated 

workers based on their daily contribution to 

their output. This implies that, if an owner 

observes that a worker works for relatively 

more than a stipulated period per day (usually 

8 hours), then the owner prefers to reward 

him with an increment in his wages. The 

influence of productivity is very much similar 

to that of contractual weavers. Thus, the 

productivity of the workers is found to have a 

significant influence on the wages of both 

contractual as well as monthly rated weavers. 

Whether the weaver is contractual or monthly 

rated, an increase in productivity will bring 

about an increment in his or her wages. In 

contrast, the effect of education level on wage 

of the monthly rated weavers is not significant. 

Thus, it is found that the wages of both 

contractual and monthly rated weavers will not 

significantly depend on educational 

qualification of the weavers. The influence of 

age of the monthly rated weaver on annual 

wage is also found to be not significant. Similar 

result was also found in case of contractual 

weavers. VIFs of all the independent variables 

are 1.75 or less. This implies that the 

multicollinearity problem among the factors 

is almost negligible in the above model. 

An attempt is also made to see the 

influence of the factors on wage of the 

monthly rated reelers. The sample size of the 

reelers in the study is 38. The influence of


different factors on wage of the reelers was 

estimated by using OLS technique. The model 

is significant at 1 per cent level with an F value 

of 4.24 (Table 4). The value of R 2 is 0.53, which 

reveals that the model explains 53 per cent of 

the variation in the annual average wage of 

the reelers. It is found that the influence of 

the factor sex on wage structure of the 

monthly rated reeler is not significant. It 

means that a male or female reeler will earn 

similar wage for a similar nature of work. 

Analysing the influence of work experience 

Table 4: Factors Influencing the Wage of Monthly Rated 

Reelers in Handloom Industry in Assam 


Constant 6.773 0.881 7.69 0.000 — 

Sex Dummy 0.554 0.399 1.39 0.175 1.14 

Work Experience -0.042 0.085 -0.50 0.621 1.33 

Productivity 0.490 0.193 2.55 0.016 1.37 

Education Level 0.015 0.075 0.20 0.840 1.40 

Age 0.119 0.247 0.48 0.635 1.38 

R20.525 Adjusted R2 0.452 

F Value (5, 32) 4.24 



Note : i) Dependent variable is annual wage of the monthly rated reelers. 

ii) 1%, 5% and 10% level of significance are considered. 

Looking at the effect of productivity on 

wage structure of monthly rated reelers, it is 

found that productivity has a positive influence 

and is significant at 1 per cent level. This 

implies that, other factors keeping constant, 1 

per cent increase in productivity leads to a 0.49 

per cent increase in wage. It means that more 

the productivity of a reeler, more will be the 

increment in his or her wage. As it is observed 


on wage of the reelers, it is found that the 

length of experience has no significant 

influence on wage of a reeler. The owners 

mostly fix a standard wage for reelers who have 

experience beyond a certain threshold level 

and they are indifferent towards experience 

beyond that level. Mentioned earlier, threshold 

level here means a minimum level of work 

experience that an owner looks for in a worker. 

This is mostly 3 years, as observed in the study 

area. 

in the study area, in case of reelers also owners 

keep a track on monthly productivity of the 

reelers based on their daily contribution to 

output. This implies that, if an owner observes 

a worker working for relatively more than a 

stipulated period per day (usually 8 hours), then 

the owner prefers to reward him with an 

increment in his wage. These results are very 

much similar to the results we found in case


of contractual as well as monthly rated 

weavers. Thus, the productivity of the reelers 

is found to have a significant effect on wages 

of the contractual weavers, monthly rated 

weavers as well as on wages of the reelers. 

The influence of the level of education on 

wage of a reeler is not significant. This implies 

that education does not have any significant 

effect on reelers’ wages. Thus, it is found that 

the wages of the contractual weavers, 

monthly weavers as well as reelers will not 

depend much on the number of years the 

worker spent in school. Reeler’s age is also 

found to have an insignificant influence on 

their annual wage. Similar results are found in 

case of contractual as well as monthly rated 

weavers. The VIFs of all the independent factors 

are 1.4 or less. This implies that the 

multicollinearity problem among the factors 

is almost negligible in the above model. 

From the results it is established that 

there is hardly any gender discrimination in 

case of contractual workers in Assam. The 

women contractual workers are capable of 

earning more than their male counterparts, if 

they finish a particular work within a stipulated 

period of time. As observed in FGDs, few of 

the contractual reelers are found in Palasbari 

(in Kamrup district of Assam), who are capable 

of earning more than the reelers engaged in 

the industries on monthly basis. These 

contractual workers are in a position to work 

Notes 


for longer duration. It is also found in the FGDs 

that the employment pattern in the handloom 

industry in Assam has shifted from monthly 

rated system to contractual system during last 

15 years. Similar pattern was also found by 

Ramaswamy (2008) in his study on the Textile 

and Apparel industry at all India level. In 

comparison to contractual weavers, in case of 

monthly rated weavers and monthly rated 

reelers, wage discrimination is found. 

Conclusions 

With the elimination of import quota 

restriction and expansion of trade, wage 

structure in the handloom industry in Assam 

has taken a contractual pattern. Among the 

factors such as age, productivity, sex, 

experience, and education, it is found that only 

the productivity of the workers influence 

wage structure of the contractual workers 

significantly. In contrast, in case of monthly 

rated weavers, along with productivity, gender 

(sex) of the respondents influence significantly 

on their wages. Gender wage disparity is found 

crucial for monthly rated weavers and reelers. 

Thus, government machinery should come out 

heavily on addressing the problems related to 

gender wage discrimination in monthly rated 

weavers and reelers, and back up support 

facilities for contractual workers of the industry 

in the State. 

1 Horizontal segregation refers to the distribution of women and men across occupations. 

Vertical segregation refers to the distribution of men and women in the job hierarchy in 

terms of status and occupation (Randriamaro, 2005). 

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INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS 

FOR FARMLAND DEVELOPMENT : 

THE CASE OF ETHIOPIA 

ABSTRACT 

Abayineh Amare Woldeamanuel* 

Fekadu Beyene Kenee** 

Land is an asset of enormous importance for billions of rural dwellers in the 

developing world. Increased land access for the poor can also bring direct benefits of 

poverty alleviation, not least by contributing directly to increased household food 

security. In countries where agriculture is a main economic activity (e.g. Ethiopia), 

access to land is a fundamental means whereby the poor can ensure household food 

supplies and generate income. Therefore, this study aimed to sketch-out institutional 

arrangements to get access to farmland and to empirically examine institutional 

mechanisms to settle dispute arising from contracting farmland in Amigna district. 

The result revealed that land rental markets appeared to be the dominant 

institutional arrangement to get access to farmland next to Peasant Association 

allocated arrangement. This created breathing space for short-term land acquisition 

for landless and/or nearly landless farm households. Moreover, the dominant 

transactions took place among a neighbour followed by transfers between friends in 

the same peasant association, and relatives in the same peasant association. The 

foregoing discussion with key informants revealed that such transfers are informal 

and there are no formal rules and regulations to enforce land transfers to reduce high 

risk that may arise from these transactions. Regarding the mechanisms used by the 

sample respondents’ in order to resolve disputes, farmers claimed their rights through 

local elders, religious leaders, and local institutions. This may be due to the perception 

of legal uncertainty over landholdings particularly in the case of rental contracts, 

which existed informally. Therefore, policy and development interventions should 

give emphasis to improvement of such institutional arrangements that create venue 

for land access. 

Introduction 

Questions about land markets are central 

to development policy, as underlined recently 

in 2008 World Development Report. The policy 

immensely advocates liberal reform that 

attempted to fortify private markets (primarily 

* Jimma University, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Department of Rural Development, 

P.O. Box. 307 Jimma, Ethiopia. 

** College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Department of Rural Development, P.O.Box.161, 

Haramaya, Ethiopia. 

The authors thank Ministry of Education for financing the research work, special thanks to Amigna District 

Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development for their generous cooperation during data collection, 

also thank Alemayehu Amare who was involved in organising and facilitating data collection in the 

household survey. Special thanks go to all households who responded to the questions.

152 Abayineh Amare Woldeamanuel, Fekadu Beyene Kenee 

via rentals) in a way that enhance efficiency 

and equity outcomes (World Bank, 2007). 

Over the past two decades a wave of 

proposals for land tenure reform in many 

African countries raised questions about land 

markets as a means of allocating land that have 

profound political and economic implications 

(Toulmin and Quan, 2000). However, until late 

twentieth century, it was a perception of land 

as being relatively abundant due to low 

population densities in many parts of the 

continent that influenced policy makers’ views 

to give little attention for land markets in 

development policy (Deninger and Feder, 

2001). 

Ethiopia is one of the largest countries in 

Africa both in terms of land area (1.1 million 

km 2 ) and population (about 74 million). 

Ethiopian economy is based mainly on 

agriculture which provides employment for 85 

per cent of the labour force and accounts for a 

little over 50 per cent of the GDP and about 

90 per cent of export revenue (CSA, 2007). 

Demeke (1999) and Belay and Manig (2004) 

noted that access to land is an important issue 

for the majority of Ethiopian people who, in 

one way or the other, depend on agricultural 

production for their income and subsistence. 

Similarly, FAO (2002) pointed out that in areas 

where other income opportunities are limited 

(for example, rural non-farm employment 

creation); access to land determines not only 

household level of living and livelihood, but 

also food security. The extent to which 

individuals and families are able to be food 

secure depends in large part on the 

opportunities they have to increase their 

access to assets such as land. 

However, as population grows, the 

pressure on land is increasing and 

opportunities of getting land for allocating to 

newly emerging households are quite limited 

since then. As a result of increasing population 

of young farmers who are often landless, there 


will be unbalanced resource endowment 

(Bezabih et al., 2005). In Ethiopia, the average 

landholding is only about one hectare per 

household and the population growth rate is 

creating increasing pressure on land and other 

natural resources (CSA, 2007). Nevertheless, 

it is also felt that in area of no frequent land 

redistribution, there is a skewed landholding 

pattern that might have resulted in 

landlessness (Bruce, 1994; Hussein, 2001). The 

cumulative effect of skewed landholding 

pattern, heterogeneity in resource 

endowment, and uncertainties and limitations 

in credit and other markets leads to the 

emergence of informal land transactions and 

the opportunities to trade and exchange factor 

endowments (Teklu, 2004; Freeman et al., 

1996). 

In Ethiopia, land has been owned by the 

state since 1975. Following the 1975 land 

reform proclamation, the derge regime (1975- 

1991) prohibited both fixed cash rental and 

sharecropping tenancy relations. The current 

government lifted these restrictions (however, 

the duration and area of land supplied to the 

markets are limited) and at present there are 

different institutional arrangements in place 

that help to get access to farmland (Belay, 

2004; Yared, 1995). 

The objectives of the study were: 

* To explore institutional arrangements 

that facilitate access to farmland and 

* To examine institutional mechanisms to 

enforce rental contracts. 

Framework of Analysis 

This study was designed in the lines of 

Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) 

framework developed by Ostrom et al. (1994). 

The analysis consists of three major 

components such as initial conditions, action 

plan, and outcomes. The initial conditions, in 

this study context, refer to a set of issues where

Institutional Arrangements for Farmland Development : The Case of Ethiopia 153 

explanatory variables are emanating from. 

Action arena is influenced by a number of 

exogenous variables, broadly categorised to 

be physical/material conditions, attributes of 

the community/household, and rules that 

create incentives and constraints for certain 

actions (Ostrom et al., 1994). Based on Ostrom 

et al. (1994) components of initial condition 

are explained as follows; 

Physical/material conditions: Includes 

livestock ownership, landholding, and financial 

endowment that the households possess, 

mobilise, use and exchange with others. It also 

refers to the physical infrastructural 

development in the district that has an 

influence on the renting behaviour of the 

households. 

Community (household) attributes : The 

community/household broadly involved in the 

situation is another important variable. Several 

attributes of the community/household may 

influence the outcome of an action situation. 

These include demographic attributes such as 

education level, size of the household/ 

community, and employment level. 


Rules –in-use (formal and informal rules 

or norms): Each action is influenced by sets of 

rules-in –use. These are the rules actually used 

by the people to guide or govern their 

behaviour in repetitive activities (Ostrom, 

1992). Ostrom (1992) also noted that changing 

the working rules of an activity could result in 

changes to the outcome of the activity. In the 

context studied, it refers to any rules or norms 

in place that help to increase access to land. 

As configured in Figure 1, the framework 

considers the effects of all components in the 

initial condition on the action arena in which 

participation in informal land transactions is 

viewed as dependent variable. Therefore, 

assessing major reasons and degree of 

influences of those variables on the initial 

conditions in the action arena is the central 

theme of this empirical analysis. In the action 

arena, the decisions of households to 

participate in informal land transactions is 

influenced by imperfection in credit market, 

heterogeneity in the distribution of initial 

wealth and specific human capital, and 

rationing of off-farm labour opportunities 

which are constituted in the initial conditions 

(Skoufias, 1995; Sadoulet et al., 2001). 

Figure 1: The Institutional Analysis and Development Framework 

Physical 

conditions 

Community/ 

household 

attributes 

Rules in 

use 

Source: Based on Ostrom et al. (1994),modified. 

Action arena 

(participation in 

informal land 

transactions) 

Outcomes 

(improve 

access to 

land)


Rural areas are commonly affected by 

credit rationing. Asymmetric information’s 

together with dispersed location of potential 

clients as well as poor rural infrastructure make 

it very inconvenient for lending institutions to 

provide their services. As a result, farmers are 

left solely with their own capital, most often 

insufficient to cover all necessary investments 

connected with cultivation. Accordingly, 

farmers limited by financial constraints, 

notwithstanding their managerial abilities and 

others endowment in their possessions, can 

not engage in land market transaction 

(Sadoulet et al., 2001). 

To examine determinants of household 

participation in land rental markets, the range 

and diversity of assets at one’s own disposal 

need to be a point of concern. Thus, the 

decision of household to participate in these 

markets is influenced by skewed landholding 

pattern, imbalance livestock ownership, and 

in-proportional labour force of the household 

(Skoufias, 1995). 

Land transactions can play an important 

role for several reasons. First, it provides land 

access to those who are productive but own 

little or no land. Second they allow the 

exchange of land as the off-farm economy 

develops. Third, they facilitate the use of land 

as collateral to access credit markets 

(Deininger et al., 2004). To benefit from these 

outcomes of land rental markets, the existing 

rules or norms must ensure security of 

property rights. This is a prerequisite that 

determine willingness of individuals to enter 

the action arena (Deininger et al., 2004). 

However, in conditions where poor 

infrastructure development, lack of well 

enforced property rights, and poor institutional 

developments (credit market imperfection 

that deny smallholders insurance against 

shocks such as bad harvest or accident), land 

markets lead to distress sale (Belay, 2004; 

Deininger et al., 2004; Teklu, 2004). This is a 


negative consequence where individuals 

come across after evaluating the outcomes of 

action arena. As indicated in Figure 1, the 

result of evaluation of the outcomes will have 

an implicit or explicit implication on both 

action arena and initial condition. 

Methodological Approach 

The Study Site: This paper is based on 

evidence from four peasant associations in 

Amigna district in Arsi zone, which are 

characterised by informal land transactions 

that are predominant. It is located between 

7º45' – 8º07’ N latitude and 39º40' – 40 º 38’ E 

longitudes. The total geographical area of the 

district is about 134,372 ha with 21 per cent 

Weyna-dega, and 79 per cent Kola, and consists 

of 18 rural PAs and one urban PA (Addele) 

(ABOARD, 2009). It is located at about 260 km 

and 134 km far from Addis Ababa and Assela, 

respectively along the main road to the 

southeastern direction of Ethiopia. The altitude 

of the area ranges between 560 meters at the 

lowest to 2100 meters at the highest above 

mean sea level. The mean annual rainfall of 

the district ranges between 900 mm and 1200 

mm with a mean temperature of 20 –250C. 

Central Statistical Authority (CSA) (2007) 

indicated that the total population of Amigna 

district in 2007 was 73224. 

Referring to land use pattern of the 

district, cultivated land constituted 23.62 per 

cent of the total area in the district. On the 

other hand, about 19 per cent of the district is 

covered with forest. Moreover, substantial part 

of the land in the district (6.86 per cent) comes 

under non-agricultural use (ABOARD, 2009). 

Sampling and Data Collection: The 

research design was based on a two-stage 

sampling procedure. In the first stage, among 

the 19 peasant associations found in the 

district, four PAs with similar agricultural 

production systems and fairly similar access 

to major road and urban centres were selected


purposively based on information from 

ABOARD and other institutions found in district 

offices. In the second stage, a total of 118 

sample households were selected randomly 

using probability proportional to sample size 

technique (Table 1). 

Table 1 : Number of Households and 

Sample Size by Peasant Associations 

Peasant Total number Sampled 

Associations of households households 

Bammo 621 34 

Gubbissa 449 25 

Medewelabu 667 36 

Dimma 412 23 

Grand total 2149 118 

Source: Own Survey, 2009. 

Data Analysis : An in-depth qualitative 

analysis of selected cases was performed by 

looking into the specific factors that drive 

farmers into informal land transactions. A 

descriptive analysis was employed to analyse 

qualitative and quantitative data. The 

descriptive analysis such as frequency tables 

were used to determine institutional 

arrangements to get access to farmland in the 

study area. 


Emerging Institutional Arrangements to 

Get Access to Farmland in the Study Area : Land 

transactions have long provided a mechanism 

for providing access 1 to land for those who 

seek it and thereby for enhancing land 

utilisation. There were three notable 

institutional arrangements to get access to 


farmland in the district such as administrativebased 

(PA allocated land and inherited land), 

re-emerging informal market 2 based, and 

informal non-market based arrangements. 

Majority of farm households had land through 

administrative based allocation (PA-land). 

Hence, it was the dominant institutional 

arrangement receiving largest share (78.1 per 

cent) of total land cultivated of sample 

respondents (Figure 2). Land rental transaction 

was widely practised in the district agriculture. 

Rented-in market was the preferred contract 

in the district with an average of 8.857 per 

cent of total cultivated area (Figure 2). 

The surface reading of the survey result 

also revealed that for farmers with no access 

or less access to rental markets and PA 

allocated land; there were also informal 

arrangements akin to the customary based 

systems in the district (e.g., inheritance, and 

borrowing). Inheritance was the second major 

means of acquiring land in the district as 

indicated by about 9 per cent of cultivated 

land of sample respondents (Figure 2). 

There were other means for land 

acquisition (0.72 per cent) that are particularly 

important for the growing ‘landless’ farmers 

who often seek land through the informal 

markets but constrained by lack of cash and 

equity capital such as oxen. 

They borrowed 3 land from their parents 

and close relatives. The foregoing discussion 

also revealed that the institution of marriage 

acts occasionally as a non-market device 

(borrowing) for getting access to land and pool 

labour, especially between landholder femaleheads 

and landless male labour. The remaining 

0.18 per cent of land was acquired through 

informal mortgaging.


Figure 2 : Share of Different Modes of Acquisition of Total Cultivated Farmland 

Source : Own Survey, 2009. 

Overview of Land Rental Market Activity in 

the Study Area: From the 88 households 

interviewed, 35 households are involved in 

adjusting their operated farm size by rentingin 

land (20 non-PA land allocated households 

and 15 PA land allocated households) (Table 

2). This is due to the fact that they owned 4 

little land in general; they need to rent land to 

increase their farm operations. The survey data 


(78.1%) 

(9%) 

(8.857%) 

(3.143%) 

(0.72%) 

(0.18%) 

Table 2: Frequency Distribution of Sample Households by Land Rental Markets 

Household Frequency Per cent PA Non-PA 

type allocated allocated 

Not renting-in 53 60.2 53 0 

Land renting in Total 35 39.8 15 20 

88 100.0 68 20 

Not renting-out 53 63.9 53 0 

Land renting-out 30 36.1 30 0 

Total 83 100.0 83 0 


Reasons for involvement in Land Rentingin 

and Renting-out Markets: Of the 35 

respondents who reported to have rented-in 

indicated that this happens mostly through 

renting-in land. On the other hand, Table 2 

shows that from 83 households interviewed, 

about 36 per cent are involved in renting-out 

(all are PA land allocated households) their 

plots of farmland. In general, the size of land 

rental market is high both in terms of the 

number of market participants and size of land 

supplied to the market. 

land, nearly 94 per cent indicated that their 

principal reason for renting-in land is the small 

size of their landholding. In this regard, the


survey result revealed that the renter 

households had an average landholding of 1.25 

hectares. The respective figure for the nonrenter 

sample households is 1.77 hectares. 

Other reasons cited by the respondents for 

renting-in land include, availability of extra 

Table 3: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Reasons for Transfer-in Land 

Reasons for land rent-in Responses % of responses % of cases 

(N=76) (N=35) 

Shortage of own land 31 40.8 93.9 

Availability of extra cash 16 21.1 48.5 

Availability of extra oxen 23 30.3 69.7 

Availability of extra labour 3 3.9 9.1 

To assist land right holder 1 1.3 3.0 

Others not specified 2 2.6 6.1 

Total 76 100 230.3 


oxen, availability of extra cash, availability of 

extra labour, to assist land right holders who 

could not cultivate their land because of old 

age, poor health, and lack of working capital. 

The remaining 6.1 per cent failed to specify 

the reasons for renting-in land (Table 3). 

Percentages of cases do not add up to 100 because of multiple responses. 

Source: Own Survey, 2009. 

Table 4 presents that the survey 

respondents identified lack of oxen as the main 

reason for renting-out their plot(s) of land 

(about 30 per cent), followed by shortage of 

seed (about 28 per cent). The survey result 

revealed also that land is rented-out by some 

farmers who had no sufficient labour, lack of 

working capital, and who were disabled. 

Table 4: Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Reasons for Transfer-out Land 

Reasons for land rent-out Responses % of responses % of cases 

(N=83) (N=30) 

Shortage of seed 23 27.7 76.7 

Availability of extra cash 20 24.1 66.7 

Availability of extra oxen 25 30.1 83.3 

Availability of extra labour 8 9.6 26.7 

Disability 4 4.8 13.3 

Others not specified 3 3.6 10.0 

Total 83 100 276.7 

Percentages of cases do not add up to 100 because of multiple responses. 

Source: Own Survey, 2009.


Land Access and Relationship Between 

Actors: This was the role of the concrete market 

setting, the constellation of actors, the 

community in which the market is located and 

the multilateral relationships between actors. 

Some of the indications were trust and identity 

between actors, but the topic had received 

very little systematic analysis. 

One interesting outcome of this survey 

was that land rental transaction was made 

among people who know each other very well. 

More precisely, the dominant transaction took 

place among a neighbour which accounts for 

48.6 per cent followed by transfers between 

friends in the same peasant association (17.1 

per cent), and a relative in the same peasant 

association (14.3 per cent). The foregoing 

As per practice with whom land rent-out 

was effected, most transfer arrangements 

were limited to close kin because of mutual 

trust among them. About 43.3, 36.7, and 6.7 

per cent of households who rented-out their 

land were exchanged among neighbours, 

relatives or in-laws and friends, respectively 

(Table 6). This was possibly because of the ease 

at which arrangements were made (not 

written, often without witness), their flexible 

nature, and limited view of land tenure 

security. 


discussion with key informants revealed that 

such transfers were informal and there were 

no formal rules and regulations to enforce land 

transfers to reduce high risk that may arise 

from these transactions. The land policy of the 

region declared formal operation of land rental 

markets; however, sample households lacked 

awareness of the policy reform. As a result, 

farmers preferred their neighbours, friends, 

and relatives. With respect to the location of 

the rented-in land, the great majority of the 

respondents (88.6 per cent) reported that land 

they rented-in is located within their peasant 

association. However, the fact that 11.4 per 

cent of the sample respondents rented land 

from other villages showed that rental 

transaction was not completely confined to 

the boundaries of the village (Table 5). 

Table 5 : With Whom Land Renting-in was Effected 

Land transfer from Cases Per cent 

A neighbour in the same PA 17 48.6 

A relative in the same PA 5 14.3 

A friend in the same PA 6 17.1 

A relative outside the PA 4 11.4 

Other person in the PA 3 8.6 

Total 35 100 


Table 6 : With Whom Land 

Renting-out was Effected 

Land transfer from Cases Per cent 

A neighbour in the same PA 13 43.3 

A relative in the same PA 11 36.7 

A friend in the same PA 2 6.7 

Neighbour and a relative 

in the same PA 

4 13.3 

Total 


30 100.0


Land Disputes and Dispute Settlement : As 

stated above, the tasks of protecting and 

enforcing use and transfer rights specified in 

the Constitution as well as laws governing land 

administration are vested in regional 

government. Disputes arising with regard to 

PA land were adjudicated in the PA-court, 

which represents the lowest administrative 

and jurisdictional level. However, even though 

land transfer right through rental markets is 

constitutional and legally valid in the recent 

land reform of the Oromia region, these 

markets were yet operating informally in the 

study area. In fact, this was due to lack of public 

awareness on their rights, structures, and 

mechanisms to enforce those rights enshrined 

in the recent land reform of the region. 

From a total of 65 households 

participating in land rental markets, 39 

households reported that they had cases of 

dispute in land (Table 7). A general look at the 

most frequently cited causes of land disputes 

were likely to arise over violation of agreed 

use of land, shirking in assessment of harvest 

to be shared, trespass (boundary conflict), and 

failure in payment of rent and renewing the 

contract. Inappropriate utilisation of land such 

as late ploughing, sowing, weeding, harvesting, 

and inefficient use of fertiliser were reported 

as causes for dispute between two parties in 

the case of sharecropping arrangement. The 

discussion with some sample respondents 

revealed a positive contribution of recently 

introduced land use certificate in reducing 

trespass conflict. 

Because operation in land markets was 

perceived as informal by the respondents, 

there was no much evidence on the extent to 

which disputes arose from breaching 

informally arranged contracts. Often such 

contracts were arranged between close 

community members and subject to societal 

norms and values, and hence indigenous 

institutions played an important role. 


Regarding the mechanisms used by the 

sample respondents in order to resolve 

disputes which rose, nearly 59 per cent of the 

responses claimed their rights through local 

elders, religious leaders, and local institutions 

(Table 7). This may be due to the perception 

of legal uncertainty over landholdings 

particularly in the case of rental contracts, 

which exist informally. Another explanation 

that has been used to account for the dominant 

role of these informal institutions to enforce 

the dispute was not only legal uncertainty but 

also transaction costs associated with enforcing 

land rights were high to those landholders who 

were aware that land rental markets were legal. 

A surface reading of households’ perception 

on informal enforcement mechanisms 

revealed that informal rules of enforcement 

are transparent, and the institutions were in 

place to enforce the rules than legal 

mechanisms to enforce the contract. 

Moreover, the foregoing discussion with 

key informants demonstrates that in the case 

of disputes, the court system is working slowly 

and generally not effective in enforcing or 

solving rental or ownership disputes in the 

district. 

The result also demonstrates that 

informally arranged land rental markets are 

tightening more likely between close relatives 

and friends (as stated above). The major reason 

cited by the respondent to the question why 

they prefer close relatives or friends to rentout 

their land is due to fear of dispute that 

may arise. In fact this shows us that rental 

contracts are largely self-enforced. Therefore, 

this tells us prevalent problems of land rental 

contract enforcement in the study area. 

The ability to self-enforce is often 

contingent on socio-economic status of the 

household. The discussion with some selected 

individual sample households reveals that the 

poor are at a disadvantage in enforcing 

contract because of the implied high financial


requirement. As a result, the burden of 

enforcing the contract falls heavily on poor 

households. 

Moreover, unless enforcement of land 

rental contract gives a guarantee for those 


who comply with this rule, the incentive to 

participate in land rental transactions will 

decrease. In fact this will hamper emergence 

of dynamic land rental markets that hinder 

farmers to share the benefit emerging from 

it. 

Table 7: Institutions Used by Sample Respondents to Settle Dispute 

Institutions used Responses Per cent of responses Per cent of cases 

(39 valid cases*) 

State court 12 12.5 30.8 

PA administration 24 25.0 61.5 

Local elders 33 34.4 84.6 

Local institutions 9 9.4 22.1 

Religious leaders 15 15.6 38.5 

Social court 3 3.1 7.7 

Total responses 96 100.0 --- 

* Percentages of cases do not add up to 100 because of multiple responses. 


Conclusions 

The political and financial difficulties 

with land redistribution have led to renewed 

interest in finding other ways to make land 

accessible to poor farmers. Land transactions, 

whether through sales and share tenancies, 

loans or gifts, have long provided a 

mechanism for providing access to land to 

those who seek it and thereby for enhancing 

land utilisation. 

The study first describes institutional 

arrangements that help to get access to 

farmland as well as tend to understand with 

whom land transactions are effected. It 

examines how the interaction of a great 

number of factors can drive farmers in 

informal land transactions. It develops insights 

about particular drivers that drive households 

to participate in informal land transactions 

which are key to access farmland. 

The study reveals, notwithstanding state 

ownership and control, there are multiple 

modes of acquiring arable land with different 

bundles of rights governing access, use and 

transfer. The rural communities are moving 

towards market oriented multiple and flexible 

tenure arrangements. However, the rights in 

these informally arranged rights systems 

may have social legitimacy and sanction, 

but juridical uncertainty prevails because the 

statutory law of the country prohibits market 

transactions. Although some regions are 

relaxing legal constraints, land marketing 

remains illegal in the Constitution, which is 

the supreme law of the country. For farmers 

with no access to official channel or rental


markets, particularly those with little farm 

experience, skills and cash, land access through 

kinship and social networks, including the 

transmission of land rights through inheritance 

and within families are in place in the district. 

The analysis on land rental contract 

enforcement demonstrates that perception of 

legal uncertainty over informally arranged land 

rental markets remains high. An important 

lesson from the experience of the study is that 

farmers preferred informal institutions to 

resolve the disputes not only due to lack of 

Notes 


awareness on operation of formal land markets 

but also due to fear of high enforcement cost 

prevailing in the formal process. 

This result sheds light on the room for 

strengthening institutional mechanism to 

enforce rental contract and reduce the burden 

on self-enforcement with minimum 

enforcement costs in the long-run and further 

improving the role of local institutions used 

for dispute settlement even in the prevailing 

informal land rental transactions in the shortrun. 

1 Access to land refers to “the ability to use land” and “ other natural resources, to control the resources 

and to transfer the rights to the land and take advantage of other opportunities “. (IFAD, 2008: cited in 

Yigremew, 2001). 

2 Informal land transactions cover market-mediated (rental contract s such as crop-sharing and cash rental) 

and non-market mediated transfers (for example, borrowing or gifts). 

3 Borrowing is a temporary arrangement (often for one production season) of receiving the right to 

cultivate land. This arrangement is often made between people who are related through kinship (Teklu, 

2003). 

4 In the Ethiopian context, households do not formally “own” land, since the 1995 Constitution proclaims 

all land to be the property of the people. However, land allocated by the Peasant Association has many 

characteristics of usufruct ownership, though land may not be sold or mortgaged and future 

redistributions have not been ruled out in the region under study. 

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197-227. In: de Janvry, A., Gordillo, G., Platteau, J.-P. and E. Sadoulet (eds.). Access to Land, Rural Poverty, and 

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Development Bank, Blackwell Ltd, USA.201p. 

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Shewa, Ethiopian Journal of Development Research, 17(1) : 25-37. 




EMPLOYMENT OF RURAL 

WOMEN IN SERICULTURE - 

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS 

ABSTRACT 

S. Lakshmanan* 

Employment of rural women has become an important issue in the aftermath 

of Economic Reforms in the country. As income and employment opportunities in 

agriculture are becoming increasingly uncertain due to persons migrating from rural 

areas in search of better income opportunities in urban areas, and escalation of cost 

of critical inputs in recent years, allied activities like sericulture offer sustainable 

income and employment for rural women throughout the year. In this context, an 

empirical study has been taken up in Tamil Nadu to show the contribution of women 

workforce in sericulture. The study also revealed that female labour participation is 

not only high but also the share of own family female labour employment is high. 

However, role of women in decision-making in sericulture has been limited, and not 

adequately recognised. This paper attempts to address several issues and strategies 

to empower women in sericulture. 

Introduction 

In India, women constitute about half of 

the total population. They are involved both in 

domestic as well as agriculture activities in 

rural areas. Participation of women workforce 

in the primary sector is more than 60 per cent. 

They support agriculture as a labourer as well 

as a decision maker. Although their 

contribution is noteworthy, still they are living 

as an invisible force in the sector. Their role 

has not been adequately recognised and 

rewarded. Income earned by rural women is 

generally utilised for domestic use as well as 

for the socio-economic development of their 

family. 

It is observed that men migrate to the 

nearby towns in search of higher income 

oriented employment, leaving the total 

burden of maintenance of households to 

women. For the improvement of socioeconomic 

conditions of rural people, rural 

women are to be empowered both in income 

generating activities and in decision-making. 

This has become necessary to sustain the living 

conditions of the family in rural areas. 

Several attempts have been made 

through various development schemes to 

increase their effective participation in the 

decision making process in agriculture and 

allied sectors. As a result, there has been a 

perceptible increase in the participation of 

women in agriculture. This has resulted partly 

due to rise in the seasonal demand for labour 

for operations traditionally performed by 

women, and increase in employment of men 

in non-agricultural activities. 

* Scientist, Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Sriramapura, Mysore 570 008, 

e-mail : tamillakshmanan@yahoo.co.in

164 S. Lakshmanan 

Sericulture is labour intensive, and 

assures employment opportunities round the 

year. More particularly, women play an 

important role in sericulture. In this context, 

an attempt has been made in this paper to 

trace their contribution, in terms of 

participation and constraints faced by them in 

this sector. Two hypotheses are proposed for 

the study. They are: (1) Mulberry cocoon 

production consists of women centric 

activities; and (2) Family women participation 

is much higher than that of hired women in 

cocoon production. 

Methodology 


Work Participation of Women 

Mulberry sericulture contributes more 

than 80 per cent of total silk production in the 

country. Production of silk cocoons at farm 

household’s level involves two major 

economic activities, viz., cultivation of 

mulberry leaf and silkworm rearing. The former 

is on-farm activity, and the latter is off-farm. 

Both the activities engage largely human 

labour. Women are involved as farm workers 

as well as decision makers in the art of cocoon 

production. Their participatory role as workers 

is highly significant; and their rate of 

participation in silk cocoon production is much 

higher than that of male counterparts. 

The present study is based on primary 

data collected at farm households level in two Mulberry Cultivation 

districts of Tamil Nadu. Gobichettipalayam of Cultivation of mulberry leaf involves two 

Erode and Udumalpet of Coimbatore districts major activities, namely, garden establishment 

were selected for the study. 120 samples (60 and maintenance. Generally, garden 

each from the two settlements) were randomly establishment takes place for a period of 6 to 

selected to collect the required information 8 months depending on the mulberry variety, 

by direct interview method. A Cobb-Douglas and availability of resources. On the other 

type of model was used to find out factors hand, maintenance of mulberry garden is a 

that contributed for employment generation regular activity, and could yield continuously 

of rural women in sericulture. The study period for 15 years. The data on women participation 

refers to 2005-06. 

Table 1 : Participation of Female Labour in Garden Establishment 

(Mandays/per acre) 

S.No. Activities Family labour Hired labour Total labour Male and 

Female 

participation 

ratio 

Male Female Male Female Male Female 

1 Land preparation 3.56 2.10 2.35 1.65 5.91 3.75 1:0.63 

2 Manuring 3.46 2.50 1.20 2.57 4.66 5.07 1:1.09 

3 Cutting preparation 2.60 1.50 1.50 0.50 4.10 2.00 1:0.49 

4 Plantation 3.35 1.50 1.45 4.50 4.80 6.00 1:1.25 

5 Irrigation 6.75 3.54 1.20 0.75 7.95 4.29 1:0.54 

6 Weeding 2.30 16.75 0.20 6.75 2.50 23.50 1:9.40 

Source : Survey data.

Employment of Rural Women in Sericulture - An Empirical Analysis 165 

in garden establishment are presented in 

Table 1. It is evident from the Table that, of the 

total labour engaged in garden establishment, 

women employment accounted for about 

58.74 per cent, indicating higher degree of 

involvement than male labour. Like agriculture 

crops, establishment of mulberry garden also 

involves several activities, right from land 

preparation to plantation of mulberry cuttings, 

and application of inputs. For those activities, 

women participation has been considered to 

be crucial. 

The activity-wise women engagement 

indicates that employment of women was 

higher in weeding operation (23.50 mandays) 

followed by plantation (6 mandays), manuring 

(5.07 mandays), etc. Thus, out of 77.56 

mandays engaged in establishing mulberry 

garden, about 45.56 mandays of female labour 

were utilised in garden establishment 

activities. This shows that female labour 

participation is much higher than male labour 

( 58.74 per cent). Another important finding is 

that the share of own family female labour 

Source: Survey data . 


was to the extent of 62.31 per cent to the 

total women involvement in garden 

establishment. The male and female labour 

participation ratio has clearly showed that 

mulberry garden establishment activities are 

female centric, and their participation rate is 

much higher than that of male counterparts 

(1:1.42). 

Unlike garden establishment, 

maintenance of mulberry garden is round the 

year activity. Generally, an average of six crops 

are being harvested by farmers under irrigated 

condition in the study regions. For every 

alternative crop, inter-cultural operations like 

weeding, application of chemical fertiliser 

etc., are being carried out; whereas activities 

like pruning of the garden and application of 

farmyard manure are taken up yearly once. In 

case of harvesting of mulberry shoots, it is a 

regular activity as and when rearing is 

conducted. All the activities are carried out by 

human labour. Table 2 highlights the women 

labour participation in garden maintenance. 

Table 2 : Participation of Female Labour in Garden Maintenance (Mandays/per acre/year) 


Female 

participation 

ratio 


1 Inter-cultural 8.91 16.75 10.45 15.67 19.36 32.42 1:1.67 

operations 

2 Application of FYM 3.45 5.75 3.20 1.60 6.65 7.35 1:1.10 

and NPK 

3 Irrigation 28.70 2.60 6.21 0.75 34.91 3.35 1:0.09 

4 Pruning 10.12 3.45 4.50 3.20 14.62 6.65 1:0.45 

5 Shoot harvesting 20.45 38.20 15.35 38.60 35.80 76.80 1:2.14 

6. Miscellaneous 15.10 12.60 3.40 5.50 18.50 18.10 1:0.98 

Total 86.73 79.35 43.11 65.32 129.84 144.67 1:1.11


It is reported from the Table that garden 

maintenance activities involved 274.51 mandays, 

of which 129.84 and 144.67 mandays 

are employed by male and female workers, 

respectively. In terms of percentage of 

participation, it was 52.70 for female and 47.30 

for male workers. It is to be noted that women 

employment was very high in shoot harvesting 

(76.80 mandays), and very low in irrigating the 

garden (3.35 mandays). The male and female 

participation ratio shows that women labour 

engagement was marginally higher than male 

workers. Activity-wise labour participation 

ratio further reveals that higher number of 

female labour are involved in harvesting of 

mulberry shoots and inter-cultural operations 

like weeding. Therefore, it can be inferred that 

both garden establishment and maintenance 

activities are female centric. 

Table 3 : Participation of Female Labour in Silkworm Rearing (Mandays/per acre/year) 


Female 

participation 

ratio 


1 Disinfection 7.60 4.15 4.85 2.35 12.45 6.50 1:0.52 

2 Chawki rearing 11.95 4.25 2.02 0.63 13.97 4.88 1:0.35 

3 Late-age rearing 24.87 28.00 29.69 17.45 54.56 45.45 1:0.83 

4 Mounting 6.78 6.97 2.56 5.53 9.34 12.50 1:1.34 

5 Cocoon harvesting 7.70 7.65 4.70 11.25 12.40 18.90 1:1.52 

and cleaning 

6 Marketing 8.42 0.58 5.14 0.00 13.56 0.58 1:0.04 

7. Miscellaneous 3.46 3.78 4.67 1.89 8.13 5.67 1:0.69 

Total 70.78 55.38 53.63 39.10 124.41 94.48 1:0.76 

Source : Survey data. 


Silkworm Rearing 

Silkworm rearing is the off-farm activity, 

as it requires a separate rearing shed and 

rearing appliances. The data on labour 

employment in silkworm rearing (Table 3) 

reveal that out of 218.89 mandays engaged in 

silkworm rearing, about 94.48 mandays are 

utilised by women workers, accounting for 

43.16 per cent. The analysis of women 

participation activity-wise indicates that higher 

number of female workers are employed in 

cocoon harvesting and cleaning (18.90 

mandays) followed by mounting (12.50 

mandays). Further, rearing is skill oriented. 

Hence, participation ratio of women was lower 

in silkworm rearing (1:0.76) than male workers. 

However, the share of own family female 

labour involvement was much higher (55.38 

mandays) as compared to hired female 

workers (39.10 mandays).


Silk Cocoon Production 

Cocoon production is an integral part of 

leaf production and silkworm rearing. Both 

activities are complementary to each other. As 

was stated earlier, leaf production is on-farm 

activity, and silkworm rearing is domesticated. 

Although cocoon production is labour 

intensive, participatory role of women has 

higher magnitude in general, and in particular 

own family female labour involvement. The 

aggregate data (Table 4) on male and female 

labour participation ratio for silk cocoon 


production suggest that there is no doubt, on 

higher female labour participation in garden 

establishment and maintenance activities. 

However, in silkworm rearing activities, their 

workforce was much less than male workers. 

Considering all the activities, including garden 

establishment to silkworm rearing, there was 

almost equal level of participation of women 

to male workers (1:0.99). However, as far as 

own family female labour participation is 

concerned, their participation percentage was 

more (57.29) than hired female workers. 

Table 4 : Male and Female Participation Ratio in Cocoon Production (Per acre/year) 


Female 

participation 

ratio 


1 Garden Establishment 23.55 28.39 8.45 17.17 32.00 45.56 1:1.42 

2 Maintenance 86.73 79.35 43.11 65.32 129.84 144.67 1:1.11 

3 Silkworm rearing 70.78 55.38 53.63 39.10 124.41 94.48 1:0.76 

Total 181.06 163.12 105.19 121.59 286.25 284.71 1:0.99 

Source: Survey data. 

Women in Decision-making 

The foregoing analysis on women 

participation in various activities in silk cocoon 

production clearly shows that women play a 

greater role in cocoon production. It is also 

observed that cocoon production activities are 

female centric and involve higher participation 

of own female labour. In spite of their higher 

participation, it is viewed that women have 

not been given adequate importance in 

decision-making process. For instance, 

decisions on purchase of inputs, marketing of 

cocoons etc., are largely decided by male 

workforce. However, in the absence of male 

workers, women would take decisions on 

feeding, cleaning and applying bed 

disinfectants in silkworm rearing. Such 

activities are more crucial to ensure quality 

and quantity of cocoon production. In other 

words, women involvement in decisionmaking 

process in cocoon production is viewed 

to be limited. 

Factors Contributing to Employment of 

Women in Sericulture 

To determine the important factors 

contributing to women employment in silk 

cocoon production, Cobb-Douglas type model 

was used. There are five variables included in 

the model, viz., family size, female literacy, 

age, mulberry holding size, and number of 

hired labour engaged, to find out their


influence on women employment in cocoon 

production. The findings are presented in Table 

5. It may be observed from the Table that 

variables such as family size and mulberry 

holding size not only influenced positively but 

also were highly significant on employment 

of women in sericulture. This shows that these 

two variables were major determinants. It was 

also reported by a majority of sample farmers 

that non-availability of hired labour force led 

Table 5 : Factors Contributing to Employment of Rural Women in Sericulture 

S.No. Variables Regression SE t-value 

coefficient 

1 Family size 0.121 0.040 3.025** 

2 Literacy -0.301 0.216 -1.393 

3 Age -0.419 0.956 -0.438 

4 Mulberry holding size 0.291 0.042 6.928** 

5 Hired labour -0.328 0.052 -6.307** 

R2 0.59 

DW statistic 1.894 

** Significant at 1 % level of probability. 

Constraints Faced by Women 

Although women play a major role in leaf 

production and silkworm rearing activities, 

they have been facing many constraints. Some 

of them are : 

1. Low access to new technology 

2. Low access to extension participation 

3. Low access to marketing and income 

earning from cocoon production 

4. Low access to credit 

5. Lack of training 

6. Limited participation in decision making 

process 


to engagement of own family female 

members in cocoon production. However, 

female literacy and age of female workforce 

did not assist in employment of women. The 

R2 value suggests that the variables included 

in the model explained 59 per cent of total 

variation. The DW statistic revealed the 

absence of auto-correlation in the crosssection 

data. 

Achievements made on Empowerment of 

Women 

Although women contribute significantly 

in the process of cocoon production, yet their 

participation and contribution is neither 

adequately recognised nor rewarded. Their 

access to technology, credit, marketing and, 

income is limited. This is partly due to their 

lack of awareness about their role in sericulture 

and partly, they do not have adequate 

knowledge about new technologies. 

Women-friendly Technologies in 

Sericulture : Considering their disadvantaged 

position, there are several women-friendly 

technologies that have been developed in 

sericulture. To upgrade their skills and


knowledge in sericulture, several training 

programmes are being imparted through 

sericulture extension units. The tools and 

machines developed aimed at improving 

working efficiency of women workforce and 


reducing drudgery. Table 6 shows the tools and 

machines developed in sericulture to avoid 

drudgery of women workforce. These are also 

being popularised in the field. 

Table 6 : Tools and Machines Developed for Women's Empowerment in Sericulture 

S.No. Name of technology Tools and machines developed 

1 Weeding Long handled weeding hoe, peg tooth weeder, 

grubber and self-propelled weeder 

2 Harvesting of mulberry shoots Pruning saw, sickle, and looping shear 

3 Spraying Electrical sprayer, and foot operated sprayer 

4 Silkworm rearing Hand operated deflossing machine, hand-cummotorised 

deflossing machine, chawki leaf 

operated machine, and leaf chopping machine 

5 Silkworm egg production Cocoon cutting machine 

Source : Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (2006), Annual Report 2005-06, 

Mysore. 

Training for Women in Sericulture : In 

recent years, efforts are being made to 

empower women in sericulture through 

various training programmes. Some of the 

training programmes conducted at CSRTI, 

Mysore during 2006-07 are presented in 

Table 7. 

Table 7 : Women's Empowerment Through Training in Sericulture During 2006-07 

S.No. Name of training programme Duration No. of women 

(Days) trained 

1 Integrated Nutrient and disease management 

in mulberry by eco-friendly approach 

06 70 

2 Young age silkworm rearing 08 192 

3 Composite silkworm rearing 35 18 

4 Integrated pest and disease managementan 

eco friendly approach with bio-pesticides, 

bio-fungicides and botanicals 

10 88 

5 Value addition to by-products of sericulture 

industry by better resource management 

06 231 

6 Drudgery reduction through ergonomically 

sound appliances/hand tools 

06 26 

Source: Ibid.


Issues and Strategies 

Not withstanding the fact that several 

women-friendly technologies have been 

developed to reduce drudgery and training 

programmes in sericulture being conducted 

to empower them, still there are some issues, 

which need to be given prime importance by 

the sericulture development agencies. Some 

of them are discussed here. 

(a) Credit Support : Important aspects for 

women’s development are primarily 

knowledge-cum-skill development, and 

viability. This has direct impact on women 

empowerment as well as in reducing gender 

bias. The present position has resulted in 

women’s disadvantaged situation arising out 

of their lack of access to resources and 

technology, low access to marketing, income 

sharing, and decision-making. One of the 

important missing links is lack of adequate 

credit support to women farmers, as it directly 

deals with accessibility of resources and 

decision-making. Although micro-credit 

mechanism in agriculture has become popular, 

it is largely lacking in sericulture. Therefore, 

efforts are to be made by NGOs and Sericulture 

Development Agencies (SDA) to access credit 

support through lending institutions to 

promote women participation more 

effectively in decision-making process. 

(b) Access to Technology and Extension 

Support : Although many technologies were 

developed to help the women workforce in 

sericulture, their awareness and utility have 

not reached extensively in the field. Therefore, 

in order to educate rural women workforce in 

the utilisation of such women-friendly 

technologies, SDA should train women farmers, 

and if required, counseling can be organised 

periodically in the event of crop failure. 

(C) Access to Marketing and Income 

Sharing : It is understood that women shoulder 

higher responsibilities right from cultivation 


of mulberry to cocoon harvesting. However, 

they are denied access to benefits such as 

marketing of cocoons, and income earned 

from cocoon production. The prevailing social 

and economic condition in rural villages and 

family customs prevent women from 

participating in marketing directly. Therefore, 

it is time to create marketing avenues for 

women to sell their cocoons directly. This will 

help both in social transformation and in 

empowering the women workforce. 

(d) Effective Women’s Participation : There 

is need for a campaign for effective 

participation of women in the participatory 

role and decision-making process. Increasing 

rural migration by male workforce to urban 

places for seeking higher wage-oriented 

opportunities created more work burden for 

women. It has created a sort of compulsion on 

rural women to stay back in villages to take 

care of domestic works as well as farming. 

Hence, to reduce their work stress relatively, 

SDA should conduct health care campaigns 

and motivational programmes to improve their 

skills, and ensure their effective participation 

in sericulture. 

(e) Implementation of Women Oriented 

Programmes: No doubt women contribute 

extensively to improve their social and 

economic conditions through increased 

participation. Although several schemes/ 

programmes are being implemented in 

agriculture to improve the working conditions 

of rural women, similar developments are 

lacking in sericulture. It is suggested that the 

following schemes/programmes be 

implemented in sericulture by the SDAs in 

letter and sprit. 

(1) Establishment of mulberry Kisan 

nurseries by women managed self-help 

groups (SHGs) 

(2) Women-headed and women organised 

technical service centres (TSCs) to 

provide technical support to women 

workforce


(3) Health-insurance for women workers 

who work for promotion of biofertilisers 

and bio-pesticides 

(4) Encouraging setting up of SHGs by 

women through creation of sericulture 

development fund by SDAs. 

(5) Plan for long-term projects for women 

development in sericulture. 

Conclusion 

The analysis on women participation in 

cocoon production has proved the hypotheses 

that mulberry cultivation and silkworm-rearing 

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economic empowerment. In other words, 

they are not adequately recognised in 

sericulture in important activities like resource 

mobilisation and marketing. It is time to 

implement women development oriented 

projects by Sericulture Development Agencies 

to recognise their contribution and, increase 

their effective participation in silk industry. 

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INDIA’S TOTAL SANITATION 

CAMPAIGN : IS IT ON THE RIGHT 

TRACK? PROGRESS AND ISSUES 

OF TSC IN ANDHRA PRADESH 

ABSTRACT 

M. Snehalatha, 

V. Anitha* 

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) is the flagship sanitation programme of 

Government of India to reach the Millennium Development Goals. But this programme 

has not yet achieved its set targets. This paper raises some key research questions like 

will India and Andhra Pradesh achieve the Millennium Development Goal of 

Sanitation ?Are the TSC targets realistic? What is the coverage and usage status of the 

sanitation facilities? etc. Analysis of field data reveals that Andhra Pradesh has 

achieved a coverage status of 60 per cent but the usage of toilets by households is 

alarmingly low. The major challenges include insufficient fund allocations as 

compared to water, lack of effective strategies for demand creation, no or low 

expenditure on the IEC components etc. For taking the TSC in a mission mode there is 

an immediate need to restructure and strengthen the Village Water and Sanitation 

Committees (VWSCs) and the Panchayats by decentralising powers and finances. The 

Government should focus on public-private partnerships that can accelerate 

solutions and enhance service provision. Proper steps are to be taken for demand 

generation through mass awareness campaigns using the local media, mobile 

networks and creative advertisements, keeping the principles of human dignity, 

quality of life, shame and fame and finally the environmental safety at household 

and community level as central focus. Demand generation, capacity building and IEC 

strategies have to become the integral part of the system using the Non- Government 

Organisations (NGOs) or local resource persons or centres. Further, massive 

programmes like TSC require intense community support and involvement, hence 

building community vision beyond construction is essential to sustain the sanitation 

behaviour change. 

* Country coordinator, and Research Scholar and Project Secretary, Respectively, for the WASHCost India 

project at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), N.O Campus, Begumpet, Hyderabad. 

WASHCost is an ongoing international project being implemented by IRC, Netherlands in four countries. 

Thanks are due to Dr. A. J. James (Environmental and Natural Resource Economist, ICRA Management 

Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd) and Professor. V. Ratna Reddy (Director, Livelihoods and Natural Resource 

Management Institute - LNRMI) for their useful comments on the earlier drafts of the paper. The authors 

would also like to thank all our colleagues and field staff of WASHCost (India) Project for their valuable 

support in collecting the information from the field which was very instrumental in compilation of this 

article. Thanks are due to Dr. Charles Batchelor (WASH Governance specialist, International Water and 

Sanitation Centre - IRC) and Prof. Manoj Panda (Director, CESS) who supported to bring this working 

paper. However, the usual disclaimers apply.

174 M. Snehalatha, V. Anitha 

Introduction 

Sanitation is vital for human health and 

it is one of the important indicators that reflect 

the quality of life of the people. It is a basic 

necessity that affects everyone's life and is a 

yard stick of socio-cultural and economic 

development of a nation. 

Over one billion people worldwide have 

gained access to improved sanitation in the 

past 14 years, with the global sanitation 

coverage having increased from 49 to 59 per 

cent between 1990 and 2004 (UNICEF, 2008a). 

Yet, the world continues to be off the track to 

meet the Millennium Development Goal 

(MDG) to reduce by half the proportion of 

people without access to basic sanitation by 

2015. India stands second amongst the worst 

places in the world for sanitation. The severity 

of the problem in India could be judged from 

the fact that hardly 33 per cent of overall 

population has sanitation facility available. A 

mere 14 per cent of people in rural areas of 

the country had access to toilets in 1990, the 

proportion had gone up to 28 per cent in 2006. 

Interestingly, the coverage is 59 per cent in 

urban areas (WHO/Unicef, 2004). In rural areas 

of India, 74 per cent of the population still 

defecate in the open and the latest survey 

reveals that it has decreased to 65 per cent 

which is still low (NSSO, 2008). Developing 

countries like India, where the cash income is 

very low and the idea of building a facility for 

defecation in or near the house may not seem 

natural. And where facilities exist, they are 

often inadequate. India is losing billions of 

dollars each year because of poor sanitation. 

Illnesses are costly to families, and to the 

economy as a whole in terms of productivity 

losses and expenditure on medicines, health 

care, and funerals (United Nations, 2008). 

According to Hutton and Bartram (2008), it is 

estimated that about US$ 42 billion for water 

and US$ 142 billion for sanitation, a combined 

annual equivalent of US$ 18 billion is required 

to meet the MDG target worldwide. The cost 


of maintaining existing services totals an 

additional US$ 322 billion for water supply and 

US $216 billion for sanitation, a combined 

annual equivalent of US$ 54 billion. 

Given these hard realities Government 

of India remains committed to making India 

open defecation-free by 2012 (MoHRD, 2002). 

Such a strong commitment of the Government 

can be witnessed through India's TSC 

programme with an outlay of ` 120 billion, 

which is one of the largest sanitation 

programmes in the world. Keeping this 

background in view, this paper has tried to 

address some of the key research questions 

such as 1) what is the sanitation coverage 

across India and in Andhra Pradesh? 2) is 

sanitation getting enough attention in budgets 

and in project implementation? 3) are the 

Central and State Governments able to reach 

the set targets of TSC and Millennium 

Development Goals? 4) what are the 

constraints and issues in implementation of 

Total Sanitation Campaign etc. 

Methodology 

This paper is based on the secondary data 

collected from online TSC monitoring website 

and the data collected from Department of 

Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) both from GoI 

and Andhra Pradesh. Further, the Government 

of India and Government of Andhra Pradesh 

budget documents were used to assess the 

allocations made specifically for sanitation. 

Further, the field data from WASHCost study 

are presented wherever appropriate to support 

the analysis. The analysis is focused both at 

National (India) and State levels (especially for 

Andhra Pradesh). 

History of Sanitation Initiatives : Water 

supply and sanitation is a state responsibility 

under the Indian Constitution. The first Five 

Year Plan had allocated very negligible 

investments to sanitation while the Sixth Plan 

had considerable amount due to the launch

India's Total Sanitation Campaign : Is It on the Right Track? 175 

of International Drinking Water Supply and 

Sanitation Decade in 1980. The Ministry of 

Urban Development (MoUD) was the nodal 

agency for water and sanitation sector at the 

beginning of the Seventh Plan. Subsequently, 

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation is 

transferred to the Department of Rural 

Development (DRD). Rural water supply was 

an important constituent of the State sector 

during the Seventh Plan. In 1986, the National 

Drinking Water Mission (NDWM), popularly 

known as the "Technology Mission" was 

launched in order to provide scientific and 

cost-effective content to the Centrally 

sponsored Accelerated Rural Water Supply 

Programme (ARWSP). Later in 1986, it was 

decided that a portion of the funds, made 

available under the rural employment 

programme and the Indira Awaas Yojana, to 

be utilised for rural sanitation. Rural sanitation 

programme was also added to the State sector 

MNP (Minimum Needs Programme) from 

1987-88. In November 1986, a new Centrally 

Sponsored Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) 

was launched. The CRSP relied on providing 

the hardware subsidies and did not focus on 

other aspects resulting in just 1 per cent 

increase of rural sanitation. The 2001 census 

revealed only 22 per cent of the households 

had access to a toilet with an investment of 

over 6 billion to construct 9 million toilets. 

Recognising the limitations of this approach, 

the Total Sanitation Campaign was launched 

in 1999. According to guidelines, the TSC 

moves away from the infrastructure focused 

approach of earlier programmes and 

concentrates on promoting behaviour change. 

In addition, it includes a fiscal incentive 

scheme, Nirmal Gram Puraskar that promotes 

the role of Gram Panchayat and local 

communities in achieving community-wide 

total sanitation status. 

Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) : The 

Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP), 

launched in 1986 and revised in 1992, was a 


traditional, supply-driven subsidy-oriented 

programme. In April 1999, CRSP was 

restructured and launched as the Total 

Sanitation Campaign (TSC) making it 'people 

oriented' and 'demand driven'. TSC projects 

have been sanctioned in 593 rural districts of 

the country with a total outlay of `. 17,885 

crore with a Central share of `. 11,094 crore. 

TSC lays strong emphasis on Information, 

Education and Communication (IEC), Capacity 

Building and Hygiene Education for effective 

behaviour change with involvement of 

Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), Community 

Based Organisations (CBOs), and Nongovernmental 

organisations (NGOs), etc. The 

key intervention areas are Individual 

Household Latrines (IHHL), School Sanitation 

and Hygiene Education (SSHE), Community 

Sanitary Complex, Anganwadi toilets 

supported by Rural Sanitary Marts (RSMs) and 

Production Centres (PCs). 

Although the concept of sanitation has 

undergone qualitative changes over the years, 

there has been slow progress in the sanitary 

conditions compared to rural water supply. To 

combat this, State Water and Sanitation 

Missions (SWSM) were established as per 

Government of India (GoI) guidelines to have 

mission mode approach with an objective to 

cover problem villages, improve performance 

and cost-effectiveness of ongoing 

programme. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

Analysis of the secondary data reveals 

that TSC has helped in changing the 

momentum of sanitation but unable to reach 

the expected targets. Detailed findings are 

discussed under the following sub-headings. 

Status of Coverage of Physical Targets 

under TSC Programme 

The TSC programme had a herculean task 

of providing access to the toilets in the rural


areas and accordingly the targets have been 

fixed to reach every household by 2012. 

Despite the full decade of continuous efforts 

and incentives, the achievement percentage 

is quite discouraging especially looking at the 

Source : www.ddws.nic.in dt: 01:01:2010. 

It could be seen from Fig.1 that the 

targets reached in the last 10 years is below 

56 per cent in IHHL for BPL though it is 79 per 

cent in school toilets and 68 per cent in 

Anganwadi toilets for all India, while the 

achievement per cent for Andhra Pradesh is 

62. If we look at the target of TSC which is 

expected to reach the balance target (38 per 

cent) to be achieved in just two years (i.e by 

2012) seems to be almost impossible with the 

existing institutional arrangements and the 

approach followed to reach the rural 

households. At the all India level only Rural 

Sanitary Marts target has crossed 124 per cent 

and in Andhra Pradesh sanitation components 

and Rural Sanitary Marts have reached targets 

of 158 and 190 per cent, respectively which 

seems to be unbelievable given the IHHL 

coverage. 

It could be seen from Fig. 2 that there 

was good progress between 2003 and 2004 

in terms of coverage providing the hardware. 


target ahead. The physical target for Eleventh 

Plan is to cover 69 million households with 

IHHLs, 25769 sanitary complexes, 1,33,114 

anganwadis and all the remaining schools to 

be provided with safe sanitation facilities. 

Fig. 1: Sanitation – Component-wise Physical Targets and Achievements (2001 to 2010) 

But it could be noticed that progress in the 

last two years is declining, indicating the low 

priority given to sanitation. Further, it is evident 

from the graph that though the percentage is 

little high in case of Andhra Pradesh, the 

overall performance is similar to that of India. 

This could have made the Government focus 

more on the start up and IEC activities but the 

achievement percentage for the last three 

years (2006 - 2009) towards sanitation brings 

back the question “are the MDGs a myth”? Or 

“are the TSC goals realistic?” The hard realities 

of reaching 40 per cent of households with 

sanitation facilities in just two years with the 

given institutional arrangements is not only 

difficult but unrealistic. 

Financial Targets and Achievements of TSC 

Programme 

The total project outlay for the TSC is 

more than ` 12,580 million, out of this GoI 

share is 783 million, State’s share is 2861


Fig. 2 : Year-wise Physical Progress of Achievement in India and Andhra Pradesh 

Source: www.ddws.nic.in dt: 01:01:2010. 

millions and beneficiary share is 1920 million. 

It is projected that the full coverage of rural 

drinking water supply is to be achieved by 

March 2009 and 100 per cent sanitation 

coverage by the end of Eleventh Plan (2012) 

with mass awareness campaigns and Nirmal 

Gram Puraskar (Eleventh Planning Commission 


Report, 2007-2012). The outlay proposed for 

Eleventh Plan is ` 7816 crore (` 6910 crore at 

2006-07 prices). The allocation for AP in 2007 

and 2008 is `1060 crore. The funds allocated 

for water and sanitation are meagre (4-8 per 

cent) compared to the budget allocations for 

other sectors (Reddy & Batchelor, 2009). 

Fig. 3 : Year-wise Allocations and Expenditure on Sanitation in India 

d 

Source : www.ddws.nic.in dt: 01:01:2010.


Further, it could be seen from Fig.3 that 

the year-wise approvals for the last three years 

(2006 – 2009) were low and hence the 

allocations and expenditure. It needs to be 

noted that though the allocations were made 

to the states, they are not able to spend the 

amounts and reach the targets. The reasons 

could be improper planning and lack of efforts 

in demand creation, low or no staff members 

specifically dedicated to promote the 

sanitation activities. 

It could be seen from Fig.3 that, from 

2006 onwards the approvals got declined from 

the Central budgets. While the budget releases 

declined for the fiscal year 2009-2010 and 

consequently the expenditure, causing 

concern to reach the full coverage of sanitation 

and subsequently the Millennium 

Development Goals. 

Sanitation Component-wise Financial 

Progress 

If we analyse the financial progress 

among the various sub-components of the 

Total Sanitation programme it clearly reveals 

that there is much more to achieve under each 

component. 

Fig. 4 : Component-wise Financial Progress (percentage) 

in Andhra Pradesh and India under TSC 



Fig.4 reveals that except under the 

school sanitation and anganwadi toilets, the 

expenditure is below 35 per cent which is an 

alarming situation and it raises lot of concerns 

over the realistic nature of the targets set to 

achieve. Further, the reasons for the progress 

in school sanitation could be attributed to the 

fact that funds are released to the SSA (Sarva 

Siksha Abhiyan) programme of Education 

Department for construction of school toilets. 

They take up construction of school sanitary 

complexes as part of improving the school 

infrastructure and facilities. Further, nonprovision 

of toilets within the school premises 

were causing school dropouts especially in 

case of girl children, hence the acceleration 

to complete toilet construction gained 

momentum. But field reality is that the toilets 

constructed are not being used by children, 

they are either locked or not being used due 

to lack of water and other cleanliness issues 

(Snehalatha et al., 2010). The percentage of 

achievement with respect to solid and liquid 

waste management is least both at India level 

(5 per cent) and in Andhra Pradesh level (6 

per cent) indicating low importance given to 

the task. Further, the Panchayats are to be 

receiving the funds for undertaking activities 

Andhra Pradesh


but the reality on the ground is that the 

Panchayats often do not receive funds, even 

if received, the priority is not given to using 

the funds for the intended purpose, hence the 

coverage is very low. 

Expenditure on Soft Vs Hardware 

Component 

Expenditure on soft components like 

Information, Communication and Education 

(IEC) activities is very important and it is one 

of the major shifts in policy through TSC. But 

the Figure below reveals that the expenditure 

incurred on this component is below the 

sanctioned amounts. 

The expenditure pattern for software 

component (Fig. 5) reveals that a meagre or 

negligible amount has been spent on the IEC 

especially in case of Andhra Pradesh compared 

to India. The administritative costs booked are 

also less indicating the lack of staff working 

for sanitation. During the secondary data 

analysis for the State of Andhra Pradesh it is 

revealed that out of the sanctioned 5380 posts, 

1742 posts are vacant which is around 25 per 

cent of the total staff (Source: Department of 

Rural Water Supply and Saniation status note, 

2009). The existing staff are stretching beyond 

their capacity to work without any incentives. 

It was revealed by some staff members that 

Fig. 5 : Expenditure on Software 

Components of Sanitation 



they are working in five to eight divisions 

instead of one or two. Further, the IEC 

component which is crucial for the 

behavioural change of the rural households is 

given least priority leading to less demand for 

toilets. Role of Non-Governmental Organisations 

in demand generation activities is 

completely ignored. 

Fig.6 reveals that the expenditure under 

hardware is more than approved both for India 

and Andhra Pradesh indicating the dominance 

of engineering bias towards only construction. 

But this is an incorrect approach of addressing 

the most sensitive problem of India where 74 

per cent of rural population considers that 

open defecation is an accepted cultural norm. 

Fig. 6 : Comparative Analysis of 

Percentage of Expenditure on 

Hardware and Software (2001-10) 


Are the Targets Realistic? 

Andhra Pradesh 

It can be noted that though the 

Government of India has initiated all the above 

programmes with new targets and dimensions 

each year, the coverage seems to be picking 

up at a very slower pace than anticipated. It 

could be noted from Figure 7 that after the 

launch of Total Sanitation Programme there is 

considerable improvement in terms of 

sanitation coverage levels mostly in rural areas. 

The coverage is about 57 per cent until year 

2008. The baseline coverage was 21 per cent,


which means that it precisely took eight years 

to reach 57 per cent. Another 43 per cent is to 

be achieved in just three years i.e. by 2012, to 

Source : Govt. of India, Dept. of Drinking Water Supply. 



reach the Millennium Development Goals, 

which seems to be a highly difficult task given 

the scale of operation. 

Fig. 7 : Rural Sanitation IHHL Coverage in India 

In the case of Andhra Pradesh also the 

year wise percentage of achievement is 

almost similar to that of all India figures causing 

concerns over the target that still needs to be 

achieved. 

Coverage Vs Usage 

As it is, coverage of households with 

toilets itself is an issue, but the usage of these 

toilets is another major challenge. A number 

Fig. 8 : Year-wise progress of IHHL in Andhra Pradesh 

Achievement percentage of IHHL in Andhra Pradesh


of studies pointed that though there is 

coverage, lots needs to be done to make these 

toilets used by the intended beneficiaries 

through awareness creation. Snehalatha and 

Reddy (2009) reported that though toilets are 

present in majority of households, they still 

defecate openly. Further, the school toilets 

are either used by teachers or under lock. Even 

the adolescent girls reported that they do not 

have access to the toilets even in a single 

school of the study area and have to urinate in 

BOX 1: Access to 1 and Usage 2 of Individual Sanitary Latrines (ISLs) 

Surveys in sample villages (20) across two agro climatic zones at household level 

reveal that around 76 per cent of the households in NGP villages and 32 per cent of 

households in non-NGP villages have access to household toilet facilities. The higher 

access in NGP villages may be due to long-term efforts on sanitation promotion which 

is probably absent from non-NGP villages. Access levels vary across villages depending 

on household income, water availability, awareness, support from government 

schemes, etc. Despite the subsidy provided through the government programmes, 

sanitation is poor and requires intensive efforts from both Government and 

communities. Factors such as low awareness levels, lack of space to construct toilets, 

resistance to changing a traditional practice of open defecation, and non-affordability 

act as major constraints to gaining access to toilets (Snehalatha et al., 2010). 

1 An individual sanitary toilet (ISL) is designed to provide safety, privacy and dignity and 

is usually located within the house premises. 

2 Usage means use of the toilet by all the family members at all times. This paper does not 

discuss in detail WASHCost data on hygiene behaviour in families. 

Inter-State Performance in Achieving 

TSC Targets 

The percentage of achievement of 

different components of sanitation i.e 

Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs), school 

toilets, anganwadi toilets and sanitary complex 

across the states in India is indicated in Table 

1. It is observed that, Goa achieved 100 per 

cent target regarding IHHL, whereas Manipur 

and D&N Haveli were least in percentage of 

achievement. The performance of states like 


the open. The difficulty in changing the 

mindset of the people remains a major 

challenge for the successful implementation 

of the TSC programme. The main reasons for 

non-use of the constructed toilets under TSC 

are cultural and traditional beliefs, scarcity of 

water, lack of awareness on health benefits if 

using toilet, myths about filling of pit etc. 

Further, the box provided gives the reality on 

the ground. 

Bihar (15.54 per cent), Rajasthan (11.6 per 

cent), Maharashtra (25.43 per cent) and 

Jammu & Kashmir (8.36 per cent) is low. States 

such as Sikkim (105.02 per cent), Gujarat (101.7 

per cent), Mizoram (97.49 per cent), Kerala 

(98.27 per cent) and Haryana (98.24 per cent) 

were achieving good targets with respect to 

school toilets. At all India level, the 

achievement targets of IHHL (35.34 per cent) 

was much lesser as compared with the 

achievements of school toilets (69.75 per cent) 

and anganwadi (63.46 per cent).


Table 1: Component-wise Achievement in TSC Across the Different States (in per cent) 

S. No. State Name IHHL School Anganwadi Sanitary Complex 

1 Andhra Pradesh 36.85 67.6 20.15 95.18 

2 Arunachal Pradesh 12.67 82.07 46.16 7.12 

3 Assam 11.85 58.51 26.14 2.22 

4 Bihar 15.54 52.34 15.31 9.03 

5 Chhattisgarh 32.51 91.49 75.92 29.82 

6 D & N Haveli 0.36 0 0 6.67 

7 Goa 10 1.68 18.37 9.1 

8 Gujarat 47.77 101.7 87.6 82.02 

9 Haryana 62.49 98.24 79.45 75.47 

10 Himachal Pradesh 12.89 38.83 30.36 7.53 

11 Jammu & Kashmir 8.36 46.55 7.51 9.96 

12 Jharkhand 23.29 78.46 32.98 6.4 

13 Karnataka 23.69 64.83 94.11 43.8 

14 Kerala 84.85 98.27 67.29 58.15 

15 Madhya Pradesh 32.9 73.65 78.03 42.93 

16 Maharashtra 25.43 82.14 91.95 20.85 

17 Manipur 3.52 27.59 79.79 18.95 

18 Meghalaya 17.15 32.84 19.16 17.19 

19 Mizoram 89.41 97.49 96.2 46.66 

20 Nagaland 19.75 54.51 49.3 26.55 

21 Orissa 21.74 68.65 41.99 2.84 

22 Puducherry 7.33 0 100 0 

23 Punjab 1.44 25.49 0 9.83 

24 Rajasthan 11.6 59.48 36.81 16.66 

25 Sikkim 344.5 105.02 117.65 58.56 

26 Tamil Nadu 57.02 94.23 105.56 56.49 

27 Tripura 83.49 71.07 82.32 109.31 

28 Uttar Pradesh 69.94 83.8 73.36 97.28 

29 Uttarakhand 22.85 41.96 13.7 2.09 

30 West Bengal 53.44 47.36 30.13 29.46 

Grand Total 35.34 69.75 63.46 35.08 




Further, inter-state comparison is done 

by classifying the percentage of achievements 

into three categories such as below 50 per 

cent, 50-75 per cent and above 75 per cent as 

shown in Table 3 which indicate the 

forerunner states in terms of their progress 

towards total sanitation. It could be noticed 

Table 2: Categorisation of States Across the Sanitation Components 

Achievement IHHL Sanitary School Anganwadi 

percentage Complexes Toilets Toilets 

Below 50% 

Andhra Pradesh, 

Arunachal Pradesh, 

Assam, Bihar, 

Chhattisgarh, D & N 

Haveli, Himachal 

Pradesh, Jammu & 

Kashmir, Jharkhand, 

Karnataka, Gujarat, 

Madhya Pradesh, 

Maharashtra, 

Manipur, 

Meghalaya, 

Nagaland, Orissa, 

Puducherry, Punjab, 

Rajasthan and 

Uttarakhand 

50-75% Haryana, Tamil 

Nadu and West 

Bengal 

Above 75% Sikkim has the 

highest % of 344.5, 

followed by Goa, 

Kerala, Mizoram, 

Tripura and Uttar 

Pradesh 

Source : ddws.nic.in 

Arunachal 

Pradesh, Assam, 

Bihar, 

Chhattisgarh, 

D & N Haveli, 

Jammu & 

Kashmir,Jharkhand, 

Karnataka, 

Manipur, 

Meghalaya, 

Nagaland, Orissa, 

Puducherry, 

Punjab, Rajasthan 

and Uttarakhand 



Maharashtra and 

Uttar Pradesh 

Goa, Gujarat, 

Haryana, Himachal 

Pradesh, Kerala 

Mizoram, Sikkim, 

Tamil Nadu, Tripura 

and West Bengal 


that when the performance across all the 

states on the IHHL progress is seen, more than 

15 States are below 50 per cent of 

achievement and around 5 States are between 

50-75 per cent of achievement. There are 

about 6 states which have achieved above 75 

per cent. 


Assam,Bihar, 

Chhattisgarh, 

D & N Haveli, Goa, 

Himachal Pradesh, 

Jharkhand, 

Karnataka, 


Maharashtra, 

Manipur, 

Meghalaya, Orissa, 

Puducherry, 

Punjab, Rajasthan, 

Uttarakhand and 

West Bengal 

Jammu & Kashmir, 

Mizoram, Nagaland, 

and Tripura 


Gujarat, Haryana, 

Kerala, Sikkim, 

Tamil Nadu and 

Uttar Pradesh 

D & N Haveli, 

Himachal Pradesh, 

Jammu & Kashmir, 

Manipur, 

Meghalaya, 

Nagaland, 

Puducherry and 

West Bengal 

Assam, Bihar, Goa, 

Rajasthan and 

Uttarakhand 



Chhattisgarh, 

Gujarat, Haryana, 

Jharkhand, 

Karnataka, Kerala, 


Maharashtra, 

Mizoram, Orissa, 

Punjab, Rajasthan, 

Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, 

Tripura and Uttar 

Pradesh


IHHL Coverage Status Across India : Under 

IHHL coverage across the different States in 

India, Arunachal Pradesh , Assam, Bihar, 

Chhattisgarh, D & N Haveli, Himachal Pradesh, 

Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, 

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, 

Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry, 

Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand fall under 

the category of below 50 per cent of IHHL 

coverage. In the States of Haryana, Andhra 

Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the 

coverage status is in between 50-75 per cent. 

Notable feature is that Sikkim has the highest 

percentage of IHHL coverage accounting to 

344.5 per cent which implies the importance 

given for the IHHL in the mindsets of people 

and care for the health and environment, 

followed by Goa, Kerala, Mizoram, Tripura and 

Uttar Pradesh. Further, all these states are very 

small in geographical area except Uttar 

Pradesh, hence reaching the households to 

motivate on IHHL access and usage could be 

easy. 

Sanitary Complexes Coverage Status 

Across India : Sixteen States have less than 50 

per cent of coverage under the sanitary 

complexes component, which is a clear 

indication that focus is not given to this area. 

The poor who do not have enough space and 

money to construct toilets depend on these 

complexes and low coverage on this area 

would increase the number of households not 

having accessibility to toilets which makes 

MDGs much more difficult to achieve. 

Between 50 to 75 per cent of coverage is seen 

in Andhra Pradesh (67.6 per cent), Madhya 

Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh 

implying the role played by the respective 

State Governments towards total sanitation. 

Ten States i.e Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal 

Pradesh, Kerala Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, 

Tripura and West Bengal have a coverage of 

above 75 per cent which clearly puts forth the 

fact that these states are focusing more on 

sanitation coverage. The achievement could 

be attributed to the literacy levels and priority 


given to the agenda by the state Governments 

etc. But as reported earlier, the coverage does 

not mean the usage and many studies (TARU 

(2008), have reported that despite access, 

household members are not using the toilets. 

School Toilets Coverage Status Across 

India : Nineteen States fall under the category 

of below 50 per cent coverage. The reasons 

that can be attributed partly could be the 

disproportionate use of funds, diversion of 

funds to some other sector, lack of interest 

amongst the elected as well as the community 

members to build toilets in school premises 

etc. States of Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, 

Nagaland and Tripura have been pooled in the 

category of 50 to75 per cent coverage, could 

be that these states have realised the need 

for the construction of school toilets. Andhra 

Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Sikkim, Tamil 

Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have more than 75 

per cent of coverage of the school toilets. 

Reasons that can be attributed are State 

Governments involving Education Department 

for construction of toilets and also the massive 

drives combined with girl child education etc. 

Anganwadi Toilets Coverage Status Across 

India : Eight States are categorised under below 

50 per cent coverage. More than 75 per cent 

coverage is seen in 18 States (Andhra Pradesh, 

Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, 

Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya 

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, 

Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, and Uttar 

Pradesh). This is mostly due to the promotion 

of the self-help groups and Anganwadi centres 

across the States for the upliftment of women 

groups. But it can be noted that in States of 

Assam, Bihar, Goa, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand 

coverage is between 50-75 per cent. 

Status of Sanitation in Andhra Pradesh 

As per the Report of the Department of 

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in Andhra 

Pradesh, 60 per cent of the rural households


were covered with sanitation facilities by the 

end of the year 2009. Out of this majority had 

Individual Sanitary Latrines (66 per cent) 

outside their houses while 34 per cent had 

attached latrines. About 36 per cent of 

habitations have drainage facilities. Forty five 


habitations are covered with solid waste 

management facilities in an unscientific way. 

Thirty two per cent of people are dumping in 

front of houses and 44 per cent are dumping 

on the road side (source: Progress Report of 

ENC and PD SWSM, 2009). 

Table 3: TSC Achievements in Andhra Pradesh (up to 2009 March) 

Component Sanctioned Achieved Balance % Achievement 

programme 

up to 2012 

ISLs to BPL 65,21,091 39,39,689 25,81,402 60.41 

ISLs to APL 36,29,688 17,28,680 19,01,008 47.62 

School toilets 1,14,861 96,823 18,038 84.29 

Anganwadi toilets 15,645 4,789 10,856 30.61 

Sanitary complexes 575 443 132 77.04 

Source : Project Director, SWSM, RWSS, GoAP 2009 (Please note that the online data and state 

report data differ slightly). 

It can be inferred from the above Table 

that the percentage of achievement of ISLs to 

the total sanctioned ISLs for BPL families in 

Andhra Pradesh is around 60.41 (up to March, 

2009) and a balance of 39.59 has to be 

achieved by 2012. The percentage of 

achievement of sanitary complexes is around 

77.04 indicating a balance of only 22.96 to be 

achieved by 2012. But the Government has 

decided a slow down on the community 

complexes as O&M is becoming very difficult. 

In fact it was learnt from the district offices 

that they are dismantling the filled toilets as 

the communities are not managing them 

properly. The school toilet coverage is the 

highest (84.29 per cent) among all the 

components. The reasons for the success 

could be that the Education Department takes 

up the work and the school sanitation 

committees are formed for O&M and the 

special drive for girl child education which is 

linked to toilet construction etc. On the 

contrary, the percentage of achievement 

under anganwadi toilets is only about 30.61 

indicating no focus on this component. This 

might increase the morbidity rate among the 

children who attend the anganwadis. Further, 

the children are losing an opportunity to get 

themselves trained on sanitation and hygiene 

practices due to lack of facilities. Apart from 

these, the unit costs ( ` 25,000 ) provided for 

school toilets and anganwadi toilet complexes 

is much lower than actual costs (ranges 

between 40,000 to 50,000) which might be 

the reason for slow progress in many cases. 

The families whoever have constructed the 

ISLs with Government incentive (` 2500) had 

to invest their own money to ensure the 

quality of the structure. The toilets constructed 

with subsidy without awareness generation 

have been converted as storage room, 

bathroom, livestock/ fuelwood storage room 

etc. There is a need for a special drive for 

bringing awareness among both BPL and APL


households on the importance of hygiene and 

sanitation to avoid the unaccounted major 

expenditure on medical treatment to combat 

the diseases due to bad sanitation practices. 

Table 4 : Component-wise Progress of Sanitation in Andhra Pradesh (per cent) 

S.No. State/ IHL- IHL- Total - Sanitary School Anganwadi 

District BPL APL IHL Complexes Toilets 

1 Adilabad 37.81 26.6 33.61 0 85.57 32.55 

2 Anantapur 100 2.21 68.04 0 100 100 

3 Chittoor 68.37 55.89 62.82 0 85.75 100 

4 Kadapa 70.36 7.71 39.04 0 70.38 89.17 

5 East Godavari 49.09 27.66 41.79 72 92.88 34.28 

6 Guntur 51.57 17.18 35.67 0 67.21 62.33 

7 Karimnagar 40.93 20.65 33.31 0 92 70.47 

8 Khammam 64.68 100 65.57 0 100 62.38 

9 Krishna 53.79 30.8 46.12 17.65 71.07 100 

10 Kurnool 51.88 100 72.6 0 71.77 9.62 

11 Mahabubnagar 40.5 100 89.31 100 86.47 39.78 

12 Medak 57.18 31.21 51.05 6 48.64 26.43 

13 Nalgonda 94.9 55.16 78.15 0 86.9 100 

14 Nellore 53.23 4.01 36.51 0 80.87 14.11 

15 Nizamabad 90.98 100 100 0 100 100 

16 Prakasam 43.97 59.36 49.1 0 90.71 80.13 

17 Rangareddy 57.85 49.78 55.81 0 93.24 68.09 

18 Srikakulam 30.53 36.52 33.09 15 71.48 32.71 

19 Visakhapatnam 59.47 19.47 44.18 10 100 0 

20 Vizianagaram 71.14 62.06 66.35 50 100 8.03 

21 Warangal 100 100 100 0 91.34 6.31 

22 West Godavari 98.21 100 99.21 100 100 62.41 

Total 61.76 57.47 60.23 100 86.45 35.96 



The progress across different districts of 

Andhra Pradesh across different components 

of sanitation is presented in Table 4.


Per cent of Total - Sanitary School Anganwadi 

achievement IHHL Complexes Toilets Toilets 

Below 50% 

Adilabad, Kadapa, 

East Godavari, 

Guntur, 

Karimnagar, 

Krishna, Nellore, 

Prakasam, 

Srikakulam and 

Visakhapatnam 

50-75% Anantapur, Chittoor, 

Khammam, Kurnool, 

Medak, Rangareddy 

and Vizianagaram 

Above 75% Mahabubnagar, 

Nalgonda, West 

Godavari, 

Nizamabad (100%) 

and Warangal 

(100%) 

Source:ddws.nic.in 

Table 5 : Inter-district Comparison of Various TSC Components 

Krishna, 

Srikakulam, 

Visakhapatnam, 

Vizianagaram, 

Medak 

0% or No - 

Sanitary 

complexes in 

Adilabad, 

Anantapur, 

Chittoor, Kadapa, 

Guntur, 

Karimnagar, 

Khammam, 

Kurnool, 

Nalgonda, Nellore, 

Nizamabad, 

Prakasam and 

Rangareddy 


East Godavari Kadapa, Guntur, 

Krishna, Kurnool 

and Srikakulam 

West Godavari and 

Mahabubnagar 

Medak Adilabad, East 

Godavari, Kurnool, 

Mahabubnagar, 

Medak, Nellore, 

Srikakulam, 

Vizianagaram and 

Warangal 

Adilabad, 

Anantapur, 

Chittoor, East 

Godavari, 

Karimnagar, 

Mahabubnagar, 

Nalgonda, Nellore, 

Nizamabad, 

Prakasam, 

Rangareddy and 

Warangal 

100% - School 

toilets in Anantapur, 

Khammam, 

Visakhapatnam, 

Vizianagaram and 

West Godavari 

Guntur, Khammam, 

Karimnagar, 

Rangareddy and 

West Godavari 

Kadapa, Prakasam 

100%- Anganwadi 

toilets in 

Anantapur, 

Chittoor, Krishna, 

Nalgonda and 

Nizamabad,


The inter – district comparison is done by 

classifying the percentage of achievements into 

three categories such as below 50 per cent, 50- 

75 per cent and above 75 per cent to indicate 

the forerunner districts in terms of their progress 

towards achieving total sanitation. 

IHHL Coverage Status Across Andhra 

Pradesh : From the above Table it can be inferred 

that for physical achievements under different 

components of TSC when IHHL coverage across 

different districts in Andhra Pradesh is taken, 

districts of Adilabad, Kadapa, East Godavari, 

Guntur, Karimnagar, Krishna, Nellore, Prakasam, 

Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam have below 50 

per cent coverage and Anantapur , Chittoor, 

Khammam, Kurnool, Medak, Rangareddy and 

Vizianagaram have the coverage ranging 

between 50-75 per cent and the districts of 

Nizamabad and Warangal have 100 per cent 

coverage and Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and 

West Godavari have coverage above 75 per cent. 

Sanitary Complexes Coverage Status Across 

Andhra Pradesh : There are no – sanitary 

complexes in Adilabad, Anantapur, Chittoor, 

Kadapa, Guntur, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kurnool, 

Nalgonda, Nellore, Nizamabad, Prakasam and 

Rangareddy districts of Andhra Pradesh and 

below 50 per cent coverage is seen in Krishna, 

Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and 

Medak. East Godavari is the only district which 

has coverage of about 72 per cent and it falls in 

the category of 50-75 per cent. West Godavari 

and Mahabubnagar have 100 per cent coverage 

of sanitary complexes in the districts which 

speaks in volumes about the community and 

the GP initiatives for a safe, clean and hygienic 

environment for the people. 

School Toilets Coverage Status Across 

Andhra Pradesh : Medak (48.64 per cent) is the 

only district which has a coverage of below 50 

per cent for school toilets construction. Kadapa, 

Guntur, Krishna, Kurnool and Srikakulam have 

coverage status percentage ranging between 

50-75 per cent and districts of Adilabad, 


Anantapur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Karimnagar, 

Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Nellore, Nizamabad, 

Prakasam, Rangareddy and Warangal have 

coverage above 75 per cent and Anantapur, 

Khammam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and 

West Godavari have 100 per cent coverage status 

for school toilets. 

Anganwadi Toilets Coverage Status Across 

Andhra Pradesh : Adilabad, East Godavari, Kurnool, 

Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nellore, Srikakulam, 

Vizianagaram and Warangal have < 50 per cent 

and Anantapur, Chittoor, Krishna, Nalgonda and 

Nizamabad have 100% – anganwadi toilets. 

Guntur, Karimnagar, Khammam, Rangareddy and 

West Godavari have coverage between 50-75 

per cent and Kadapa and Prakasam have > 75 

per cent of coverage status. 

The above findings show that the 

coverage is quite good but the real picture on 

the ground is something different which is 

represented in Box-2 from WASHCost research. 

BOX-2 : Access and Usage in Six 

Districts of Andhra Pradesh 

As part of the WASHCost project, field 

survey was conducted in six districts of 

Andhra Pradesh and the findings revealed 

that the access to toilets is very low 

especially in the non-NGP villages. The 

coverage of toilets is quite low compared 

to the figure indicated in the above Tables. 

Further, even those households who own 

the toilets are not using the toilets which is 

quite evident from the percentage of open 

defecation. Open defecation in villages 

like Chennipad, Maliala, Kamkole, 

Machireddipally etc. is so alarming that 

reaching the coverage target of 

Millennium Development Goal seem to be 

very distant. Further, the usage in some 

villages despite having the toilets causes 

more concern and confirm the findings 

(Fig. 7) of low amounts spent on the IEC 

activities.


District Village % of HHs having IHHLs % of open defecation 

Ranga Reddy Godamkunta (NGP) 89 12 

Munirabad (NGP) 88 9 

Ramdaspally 50 10 

Khanapur 76 22 

Tulekalan 42 62 

Nalgonda Bandasomaram (NGP) 79 22 

Malkapur (NGP) 73 15 

Gopalapuram 47 48 

Mahabubnagar Kistaram(NGP) 44 78 

Chennipad 9 90 

Warangal Gangadevipally (NGP) 88 0 

Maliala 13 88 

Pembarthi 30 70 

Khammam Mangalithanda 40 58 

Medipally (NGP) 91 8 

Jagannadhapuram (NGP) 84 17 

Venkatapuram 76 20 

Medak Kamkole 11 89 

Machireddipally 16 86 

Enkepally 37 65 

Source : WASHCost Survey 2010. 

Challenges for Total Sanitation Campaign 

(TSC) 

As seen from the above discussions it 

can be noted that achieving total sanitation is 

a very complex problem and there are various 

types of constraints to implement the 

programme. It is important that policymakers 

and implementors need to strictly adhere to 

programme principles when planning and 

implementing the strategies to solve the 

sanitation problems. As identified by Lenton 


et al. (2005) as well as Tipping et al. (2005), the 

problems with governance are one of the main 

impediments of sanitation sector. The everchanging 

political system makes it challenging 

to create a lasting progress especially since 

the investments may not yield results during 

one term (Lenton et al., 2005). The major 

challenges observed are: 

* Sanitation coverage across all the TSC 

components is low, and reaching TSC 

targets by year 2012 is difficult.


* There are huge variations across the 

States in reaching the targets indicating 

that there is no cross learning and 

sharing between the States on how to 

take this agenda forward. Similar results 

are found across the districts within the 

State of Andhra Pradesh. 

* Though TSC allocated huge amounts for 

Information, Communication, Education 

(IEC) and start up activities, the amounts 

have not been spent reflecting the low 

priority given to the software against the 

hardware components. 

* The allocated amounts for building the 

ISLs and school sanitation blocks and 

anganwadi complexes were perceived 

very low (actual costs Vs unit costs) and 

ensuring the quality is a major challenge 

using these unit costs. Further, the 

allocations for sanitation were declining 

from Central Government budgets. 

* The funds for drainages and solid 

disposal are either limited or nonexistent 

at the Panchayat level making 

the sanitation incomplete and difficult 

to cover. 

* Generating awareness and building the 

capacities of local institutions on the 

Operation and Maintenance and 

monitoring the sanitation behaviour 

change are perceived as a major 

challenge. Further, the department does 

not have specialised staff/ experts for 

undertaking these promotion campaigns 

and trainings. 

* Village Water and Sanitation Committees 

(VWSC) do not exist in the villages and 

the water and sanitation component is 

given least priority by the Panchayat. 

* To achieve TSC targets various 

departments are brought in, but inter - 

departmental coordination among the 


implementing agencies is completely 

lacking leading to less coverage as many 

of these activities are interlinked and 

require a sequence in implementation. 

* The staff vacancy in the department is 

very high and given the workload it is 

very difficult to focus on the sanitation 

where they are trained more for 

technical engineering rather than the 

social engineering which is essential to 

reach the sanitation coverage. 

Conclusions and Way Forward 

Proper sanitation is the basis of a healthy 

environment. For reaching the Millennium 

Development Goal of “Halve, by 2015, the 

proportion of people without sustainable 

access to safe drinking-water and basic 

sanitation”, the Government should take 

proper initiatives to make people aware about 

the impact of improper sanitation on the 

environment and should make some 

emergency programme to achieve the 

Millennium Development Sanitation Goal. 

Since usage is the major issue than 

coverage, the Government should take proper 

steps for demand generation through Mass 

Awareness Campaigns using the local media, 

mobile networks and creative advertisements, 

keeping the principles of human dignity, 

quality of life, shame and fame and finally the 

environmental security at household and 

community level as central focus. For taking 

the TSC in a mission mode, efforts have to be 

made in establishing the Village Water and 

Sanitation Committees (VWSC) and the 

Panchayats have to be strengthened using the 

Non-Governmental Organisations or local 

resource persons or centres. Further, behaviour 

change messages have to be disseminated 

across various stakeholder groups by making 

individual household contacts and also by 

using the local bodies or community based 

organisations such as Self-Help Groups (SHGs),


Rythu Mitra groups etc. For undertaking these 

activities the Department should hire 

specialised staff by providing necessary 

facilities like transport and audio-visual 

material to disseminate the messages 

effectively. Further, for any programme to be 

successful there needs to be a continuous 

monitoring and learning. The NGP villages and 

the households which have constructed the 

toilets need to be monitored for a certain 

period of time to stabilise the behaviour 

change. Department must take initiatives in 

this direction and accelerate the monitoring 

process by hiring additional staff which is very 

crucial. The District Water and Sanitation 

Mission has to be rehabilitated and their 

functioning may be initiated on the model of 

Water and Sanitation Management 

Organisation (WASMO) in Gujarat and Tamil 

Nadu Water and Drainage (TWAD) Board in 

Tamil Nadu. 

Notes 


Further, massive programmes like TSC 

require community support and involvement 

is essential, hence it is critical to build the vision 

of the community beyond construction and 

towards ownership and management. The 

communities need to build their capacities 

towards good governance, operation and 

minor repair management, systems for 

generating the income at community level in 

the form of user charges etc. The community 

should take active responsibility in solid and 

liquid disposal systems following the slopes 

and contour lines etc. Further, the funds need 

to be allocated for undertaking the drainage 

systems in a systematic manner. For effective 

implementation of TSC there is an urgent need 

for convergence and sequence of activities, 

i.e. “demand generation” followed by “fund 

disbursal” followed by “regular monitoring” for 

ensuring effective results in sanitation 

behaviour adoption at household, school and 

community levels. 

1. Guy Hutton and Jamie Bartram (2008), "Global Costs of Attaining the Millennium Development Goal for 

Water Supply and Sanitation", Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol.86 No.1, 86:13-19. Water 

and Sanitation Program, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. 

2. Lenton Roberto., Albert M. Wright and Kristen Lewis (2005), "Health, Dignity and Development: What 

Will It Take?" Earthscan, London. 

3. MoHRD (2002), "The Indian Child", New Delhi. 

4. Snehalatha. M, Ratna Reddy. V and N. Jaya Kumar (2010), "Pumps, Pipes and Promises -Assessing Sanitation 

Costs and Services in Andhra Pradesh, India", Paper Presented at the IRC Symposium, Netherlands. 

5. Reddy V. Ratna & Batchelor, C.,(2009)."Can Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services be Improved by 

Mainstreaming Life-cycle Cost Approaches (LCCA) into Planning and Other Governance Processes? Initial 

Assessment of LCCA in Andhra Pradesh". Working Paper 7, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, 

Hyderabad. 

6. Tipping David C., Daniel Adom and Anna K. Tibaijuka (2005)," Achieving Healthy Urban Futures in the 

21st Century: New Approaches to Financing and Governance of Access to Clean Drinking Water and 

Basic Sanitation As a Global Public Good", Publications of Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Helsinki. 

7. TARU (2008), "Impact Assessment of Nirmal Gram Puraskar Awarded Panchayats", Study Conducted by 

TARU for UNICEF. 

8. Unicef (2008a), "Gearing up for International Year of Sanitation", Unicef Media Centre, NewYork.


9. United Nations (2008), "The Millenium Development Goals Report", New York. 

10. WHO/Unicef (2004), "Joint Monitoring Programme Estimate for 2004 Based on the 2001 Extrapolation 

of Previous Trends", Geneva. 

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Last accessed on 01.01.2010. 

http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_cso_rept_pubn.htm 

Last accessed on 01.01.2010 




POLITICAL INCLUSION AND 

PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN 

LOCAL GOVERNANCE : A STUDY 

IN KARNATAKA 

ABSTRACT 

N. Sivanna*, 

K.G. Gayathridevi * 

The paper examines the situation of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) at 

various levels - political, social, economic and personal. More particularly, it aims to 

understand the ways in which the EWRs use their agency to address and negotiate 

issues like feminisation of invisibility, proxy governance and politics of exclusion. The 

paper also critically looks at the participation and performance of women and thereby 

attempts to understand the process of their attaining confidence in undertaking 

responsibilities in the public sphere. The paper, while documenting the women's 

participation in panchayats, discusses such criticisms levelled against these women. 

Examples are the beliefs and prejudices that there is proxy rule in the panchayats by 

these women; it is their husbands or other male relatives who exercise power and 

responsibility on their behalf. The findings of the study reveal that there is dearth in 

literature as to and inadequate understanding of, the ways by which women have 

succeeded in combining their multiple roles in performing their duties in the 

panchayats. The study on which this paper is based, significantly demonstrates that 

at best, these women have been inevitably travelling between genuine participation 

and proxy participation. It was observed that women's contribution, true to their rights, 

has to come from their knowledge and further empowerment and not by mere 

affirmative action in their favour alone. Only this inner transformation and learning 

can make them contribute better towards democratic decision-making and 

participation and also lead to substantive difference from what they are today. 

Introduction 

Decentralisation is a key concept in the 

on-going progressive reform strategies in the 

developing world, aiming at promoting 

qualitative governance (Villadsen 1999). The 

process is expected to contribute towards 

increased quality and quantity in the context 

of service delivery and public participation. 

Decentralisation is defined as transfer of 

competencies and responsibilities for 

performing public service obligations for 

planning, management, raising and allocation 

of resources from the Central Government and 

its agencies to their field units and regional 

authorities and to democratically elected 

institutions (Cheema and Rondinelli 1983: 

Cohen and Peterson 1999: Smith 1985). In the 

* Adjunct Professor, Ramakrishna Hegde Chair, and Associate Professor, Centre for Ecological Economics 

and Natural Resources , Respectively, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore 

Karnataka, India. sivanna@isec.ac.in, gayathridevi@isec.ac.in 

This paper is based on the data collected for the larger research study "Engendering Rural Governance: 

A Study in the State of Karnataka" conducted by the ISEC Team in collaboration with TISS, Mumbai.

194 N. Sivanna, K.G. Gayathridevi 

Indian context, it is also seen as a process of 

empowerment and a way for hitherto deprived 

groups to reach mainstream social, economic 

and political life (Aziz 1996: Mathew 1995). 

Furthermore, democratic decentralisation is 

expected to facilitate expanding the space for 

the participation of subordinated groups and 

as also being responsive to their interests. Such 

participation becomes even more significant 

and critical for women as a subordinated 

group for two reasons: proximity and 

relevance of local government to the lives of 

ordinary people (and women) and lack of 

democracy in gender relations resulting in the 

exclusion of women from participation in 

governance and in considering their interests 

in the business of governmental decisionmaking. 

In a country like India, where a complex 

set of caste-gender-class-based discrimination 

continues to exclude the great majority of 

people from the process of governance, 

gendering becomes one of the critical and 

structural pre-requisites for the 

democratisation of Local Self-Governance 

(LSG). In fact, if there is one notion that is 

gaining almost universal acceptance in recent 

times - even in the face of neo-liberal 

onslaught, which is devouring every inch of 

democratic space across the country - it is 

perhaps the idea that governance is being 

increasingly oriented towards gendering 

through state agenda. State agenda for 

gendering governance envisages political and 

statutory mandate to Elected Women 

Representatives (EWRs) and empowers them 

to use their agency to stamp their collective 

political identity in governance. 

A Silent Revolution 

The last two decades have witnessed a 

silent revolution of decentralised system of 

governance in the country as a whole, 

especially after the passing of 73rd and 74th 

Amendments to the Constitution. These two 

amendments provided the much-needed 


constitutional and statutory status to the 

hitherto neglected and much-maligned 

institutions, viz., panchayats as rural local selfgovernments 

and municipalities as the urban 

local self-governments, and thereby enabled 

the process of making them an integral part 

of our Indian federal polity. One of the more 

radical and liberal aspects of these two 

amendments is the provision of providing 

reservation to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 

Scheduled Tribes (STs) (in proportion to their 

population) and earmarking reservation of a 

minimum of one-third of seats to women in 

membership and offices of chairpersons (like 

president and vice-president) in all the tiers 

of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). As a result 

of this highly progressive measure, at present, 

there are more than one million women 

representatives (Panchayati Raj Ministry 2008)) 

on these bodies shouldering the complex 

responsibilities of local governance in India. 

As of now, in a congenial environment, more 

and more members of socially disadvantaged 

groups of the society are getting into the 

political process in the normal course and 

participating in decision-making. At the same 

time, they are organising themselves and 

lobbying for their rightful share in all walks of 

life - a development that has succeeded in 

creating political awareness among these 

groups. 

Situation in Karnataka 

The 73 rd Constitutional Amendment has 

greatly contributed to the political 

empowerment of women and marginalised 

communities in the rural society. It has thrown 

open political opportunities to these 

disadvantaged sections. It is well said that 

democratic decentralisation would be 

rendered meaningless as long as genderequity 

is not ensured. The pace of 

development in any civil society would be slow 

if women, who constitute about 50 per cent 

of the population, are left out of the 

development process.

Political Inclusion and Participation of Women in Local Governance ... 195 

In the State of Karnataka also, reservation 

of seats and offices of Chairpersons in their 

favour has brought a large number of women 

to panchayats as members and presidents. The 

enhanced quota for women (compared to the 

previous regime) and the category-wise 

reservation has also brought into panchayats 

a large proportion of ‘first generation’ elected 

representatives (Table 1). Women membership 

outnumbers the assigned quota of onethird 

reservation. Together for all the three 

panchayats, 42.91 per cent (almost 43 per cent) 

of the membership is occupied by women. As 

The increased presence of EWRs in PRIs 

which had otherwise been an exclusive male 

domain, brought about by vigorous 

implementation of State initiatives has given 

a semblance of political identity for women in 

the landscape of governance across the State. 

One of the underlying philosophies of the State 

towards engendering governance is to 

empower women – a process that will enable 

them to overcome the traditional barriers 

which place certain handicaps in their 

participation and performance as elected 

representatives. 

Women in Local Governance 

The patriarchal norm that women's place 

is at home (private sphere) and not outside 


regards scheduled castes, they have a 

membership of 18.58 per cent, followed by 

scheduled tribes with 10.74 per cent. Of the 

total membership, members belonging to 

other backward classes (group-A) are to the 

tune of 26.60 per cent and to group-B 6.59 

per cent. It is significant to note here that 

dominant castes like Lingayats and Vokkaligas 

come under the category of reservation called 

‘Group-B’, though the members of these two 

castes also contest elections under the general 

category. 

Table 1: Membership Representation of SCs, STs and Women in Karnataka PRIs 

S.No. Panchayat Total members Women SC ST BC-A BC-B General 

1 Zilla Panchayat 1005 373 184 84 268 66 403 

2 Taluk Panchayat 3695 1555 678 361 983 248 1425 

3 Gram Panchayat 91402 39318 16997 9880 24316 6028 34181 

4 Total 96102 41246 17859 10325 25567 6342 36009 

5 Percentage to 100.00 42.91 18.58 10.74 26.60 6.59 37.46 

the total 

Source : Government of Karnataka. 

the home in the public realm, has laid several 

barriers to women's political empowerment 

and even to members of those few families 

who try to overcome them. The feeling that 

women are meant only for home is being 

replaced by a feeling of equal partnership 

between the two sexes (Singh 2009). A 

significant departure from traditional notion, 

in the context of evolving strategies or best 

ways to break the barriers, is not to force 

women to fit into the political arena; it is rather 

to make the political system more womenfriendly 

(Strutlik 2003). 

The available literature on the 

participation and performance of women in 

rural governance paints both a positive and 

negative picture. However, there are


pronounced apprehensions that disabilities 

like illiteracy, continued and haunting domestic 

responsibilitie, poverty, lack of experience, 

poor exposure and communication skills of 

women as compared to men come in the way 

of effective participation of women in 

decentralised planning and governance. Seen 

in terms of positive outcomes, several micro 

level studies point out that about 80-90 per 

cent of women attend panchayat meetings 

regularly. Given their sheer numbers, one 

might conclude that democracy has become 

more participatory than before at least at the 

grassroots level (Mohanty 2001; Sivanna, 

1998). A study conducted in Kerala upholds 

that despite facing numerous problems, 

women's performance on the basis of 

qualitative and quantitative indicators is in no 

way inferior to that of males. A sizable 

segment of society has come to accept the 

fact that women are perhaps more suitable 

for running village panchayats than their male 

counterparts (Chatukulam and John 2000: pp 

66-101). Experiences from some states reveal 

that "The women elected to these bodies 

(panchayats) have shown startling results in 

performance, particularly in the sectors of 

health, education, access to basic services and 

in ensuring a significant change in the living 

conditions of their respective communities. 

Even in strong patriarchal culture, one-third 

reservation has encouraged women to 

demonstrate their leadership" (Singh 2005: Kot 

2007). 

Structural and Functional Constraints 

Notwithstanding the above mentioned 

positive aspects of women in local 

governance, there are some issues which 

centre round the negative aspects, seen 

mainly in terms of constraints in the path of 

effective and meaningful participation of 

women in governance related activities. To 

be specific, patriarchal culture and social 

strictures seem to inhibit women's 

participation in local governance through 


panchayats. A woman may access the position 

of a sarpanch through reservation in her favour. 

But her deputy is usually a man. Often, it is 

found that he joins hands with other members 

and gets a vote of no-confidence passed 

against her, and starts acting as sarpanch in 

her place. Thus, what is given by law and the 

Constitution is taken away by intrigue and 

chicanery (Baviskar 2003). 

Despite the documentation of women's 

participation levels and leadership in 

panchayats, the belief persists that women in 

the reserved seats are there by proxy and that 

their husbands and male relatives exercise 

power and responsibility on their behalf. There 

is inadequate understanding of the way 

women combine their multiple roles and 

perform their panchayat functions. The 

epithets of 'sarapanch-pati' and 'pradhan-pati' 

have become part of the panchayat lexicon 

though there are husbands who do not 

interfere in their wives' panchayat work and 

are in fact supportive of their work (Buch 2009: 

pp 8-9). 

The above discussion puts into 

perspective the major outline of this paper and 

its theoretical framework. A review of existing 

literature on the subject has enabled shedding 

light upon the concepts of gendering 

governance, empowerment of women etc. It 

has also led to a few questions that have been 

moderated into objectives of the paper. The 

specific objectives of the paper are as follows: 

Objectives 

* To critically understand the situation of 

Elected Women Representatives (EWR) 

at multiple levels- political, social, 

economic and personal, 

* To understand the ways in which EWRs 

use their agency to address and 

negotiate issues like feminisation of 

invisibility, proxy governance and politics 

of exclusion, and


* To critically look at the notions of the 

concept of 'performances of elected 

women representatives' and to 

understand the process of learning 

leadership roles by women in the public 

sphere. 

Methodology 

The study on which this paper is based 

has used a combination of qualitative and 

quantitative approaches. However, primarily 

qualitative methods were used to analyse the 

participation of elected women 

representatives. The household (HH) 

questionnaires comprising multiple sections 

were administered to 300 respondents (200 

ERs and 100 HHs) to obtain both qualitative 

and quantitative data. Five districts, Gulbarga, 

Bagalkot, Bellary, Mandya and Dakshina 

Kannada were selected for their distinct socioeconomic 

and cultural profiles. Similarly, two 

GPs in each district were selected based on 

the criteria, viz.,Upper caste male-headed; 

Upper caste female-headed; OBC_A/B/ 

Muslim male-headed; OBC_A/B/Muslim 

female-headed; OBC caste female-headed; 

OBC male-headed; Mahadalit/ST maleheaded; 

Mahadalit/ST female-headed; SC 

male-headed and SC female-headed; in total 

ten gram panchayats were selected for 

conducting the study. 

Engendering Governance: Process and 

Implications 

Governance needs to be considered as a 

means of social construction, which includes 

ways of inclusion, equity and equality in order 

to be meaningful to the lives of ordinary 

people. The plurality of domains in 

governance also suggests that governance is 

a process based and not structure based, and 

the players include a range of organisations 

and stakeholders, as well as complex 


relationships among them. The following 

paragraphs will take a critical look at the status 

of engendering governance vis-à-vis 

representation of women in Gram Panchayats 

(GPs) and their situation in their respective 

democratic institution in the five sample 

districts of Karnataka State. 

Women Membership in PRIs 

The presence of a large number of 

elected women representatives in the 

institutions of local governance in Karnataka 

is indeed significant. The past five years has 

witnessed a remarkable, if not phenomenal, 

increase in the presence of women in GPs. 

Seen across the districts there has been an 

increase of 10.3 per cent over the last five 

years in the number of HHs having EWRs. It is 

equally heartening to note here that most of 

the GPs covered by this study had EWRs in 

excess of the quota for women in GPs. 

Despite the prevalence of patriarchy and 

male dominated political system, an increasing 

number of women are entering the electoral 

fray at local level in almost all the sample areas 

of the study. There is a significant improvement 

in the support extended by the families to their 

female members - especially in the backward 

district of Gulbarga to join political parties, 

where the support extended by HHs had 

shown an increase of 16.7 per cent as against 

an overall 10 per cent increase across the 

districts (Table 2). However, when we look at 

their participation in politics vis-à-vis their 

political affiliation, there has only been a 

marginal increase of 5 per cent in the number 

of HHs having female members having 

affiliation with political parties (see Table 3). 

Even those having political affiliation, a very 

small percentage of respondents were the 

office bearers of political parties either at local 

or district levels.


Table 2 : Details of Households Having Female Members with Affiliation to Political 

Parties and Nature of Affiliation 

Response Gulbarga Bagalkot Bellary Mandya Dakshina Kannada Total 

Yes, Affiliated 6 7 8 5 10 36 

Percentage 10 11.7 13.3 8.3 16.7 12 

No 54 53 52 55 50 264 

Percentage 90 88.3 86.7 91.7 83.3 88 

Total 60 60 60 60 60 300 

Nature of membership 

a) Office Bearer 

at District/ 

State Level 

0 0 0 0 1 1 

Percentage 0 0 0 0 10 2.8 

b) Active but 

Ordinary 

Member 

0 1 1 0 2 4 

Percentage 0 14.3 12.5 0 20 11.1 

c) Member 5 6 7 5 7 30 

Percentage 83.3 85.7 87.5 100 70 83.3 

d) Other Specify 1 0 0 0 0 1 

Percentage 16.7 0 0 0 0 2.8 

Total 6 7 8 5 10 36 

100 100 100 100 100 100 

Table 3 : Support Enjoyed by Women from their Family Members to Join a Political Party 


Yes 25 32 41 39 35 172 

Percentage 41.7 53.3 68.3 65 58.3 57.3 

No 35 28 19 21 25 128 

Percentage 58.3 46.7 31.7 35 41.7 42.7 

Total 60 60 60 60 60 300 

100 100 100 100 100 100 



It is very significant to note here that 

despite being drawn into village politics 

consequent to their entry into GPs and despite 

enjoying a better support from the family 

members to join any political party, women 

have, by and large, remained alienated from 

the mainstream politics or continue to remain 

obscure in the larger politics. This is not to 

suggest that women contesting GP elections 

have remained non-partisan or were above 

political leanings; as a matter of fact a vast 

majority of women had expressed clear 

political leanings. The picture that emerges 

from the foregoing discussion suggests an 

overwhelmingly male dominated political 

process where women continue to play a 

‘useful’ but non-descript or secondary role in 

the larger politics. 

Politics of Exclusion 

Since the existing legislative measures 

concerning the local self-governments (LSGs) 

have an inclusive approach towards local 

governance, it can safely be assumed -at least 

theoretically-that there can be no exclusion in 

the context of LSG. The field based 

observations and the recent developments in 

the politics in the State reveal a different 

picture. 

It has been seen from the study that far 

from inaugurating an era of inclusive politics, 

the process of democratisation and 

decentralisation seems to be emerging as a 

kind of 'contra-indication' for all the ills that 

has been affecting this society. True, neither 

patriarchy nor hegemony (all kinds) can be 

uprooted overnight. But reinforcement of 

hegemonic power structures and polarisation 

of the society along caste and religion is the 


least expected unfortunate development that 

has taken place during the postdecentralisation 

phase in Karnataka. Some of 

the examples can be cited here: 

A complex interplay of both social and 

economic hegemony as witnessed during the 

recently concluded elections to GPs provides 

ample proof about politics of exclusion that 

present an overwhelming challenge to 

gendering and inclusive development. It is 

quite alarming to note from recent gram 

panchayat elections that, in the name of 

conducting GP elections on non-partisan and 

consensus basis, the seats of ERs were either 

put up for auction or were 'sold'. The seats 

were either sold or declared elected 

uncontested. Usually, auction takes place in 

the temple premises and there are reports of 

seats being allotted to the highest bidders. The 

amount of bid was in the order of ` 2-3 lakh 

(field notes). In any village of Karnataka, only 

the landlords and moneylenders can spend 

such large sums on elections. These trends can 

potentially preclude possibilities for women, 

especially from the poorer families, of having 

any role in the affairs of local governance. 

Untouchability is still being practised in 

almost all the villages of the gram panchayats 

in Gulbarga, Bellary, and Bagalkot and Mandya 

districts (see Table 4). Denial of access to public 

places like drinking water taps, barber shops, 

hotels, temples, etc. are some of the castebased 

discriminations that can be seen in the 

villages even now. Furthermore, dalit women 

were made to sit separately in gram sabha (GS). 

These practices have been noted in all the 

three northern districts of the State (Bellary, 

Gulbarga and Bagalkot).


Table 4 : Practice of Untouchability 

Districts Response EMR EWR Ex-EMR Ex-EWR Total 

Gulbarga Yes 5 4 2 2 13 

Percentage 33.3 28.6 28.6 50 32.5 

No 10 10 5 2 27 

Percentage 66.7 71.4 71.4 50 67.5 

Total 15 14 7 4 40 

Bagalkot Yes 4 9 5 2 20 

Percentage 28.6 69.2 71.4 33.3 50 

No 10 4 2 4 20 

Percentage 71.4 30.8 28.6 66.7 50 

Total 14 13 7 6 40 

Bellary Yes 12 8 6 5 31 

Percentage 85.7 61.5 75 100 77.5 

No 2 5 2 0 9 

Percentage 14.3 38.5 25 0 22.5 

Total 14 13 8 5 40 

Mandya Yes 4 5 5 1 15 

Percentage 22.2 41.7 62.5 50 37.5 

No 14 7 3 1 25 

Percentage 77.8 58.3 37.5 50 62.5 

Total 18 12 8 2 40 

Dakshina 

Kannada 

Yes 7 3 1 2 13 

Percentage 50 25 11.1 40 32.5 

No 7 9 8 3 27 

Percentage 50 75 88.9 60 67.5 

Total 14 12 9 5 40 



Proxy Governance and Invisibility 

If we were to go by the definition of 

proxy governance as ‘exercise of 

Constitutional powers by persons not enjoying 

the constitutional mandate’ (Aziz 2002), we 

would end up taking an innocuous view of a 

phenomenon which had potentially defeated 

the very vision behind state initiatives towards 

engendering governance. There are others 

who contend that proxy governance is not 

confined to EWRs alone but could be seen 

Some cases in the above context are as follows: 

Case 1 


among elected male representatives (EMRs) 

as well. In both the cases, we are confronted 

with a situation where governance is getting 

more and more hegemonic. The entire issue 

of proxy governance revolves around 

systematic subjugation of women by 

according symbolic status in governance. 

While it is either husbands or other male 

members of the family who not only help the 

EWRs but also play the role of ERs on behalf of 

EWRs. 

The female president of Perne Panchayat of Bantwal Taluk, Dakshina Kannada district belongs 

to a rich family of agriculturists owning about 10 acres of fertile and irrigated land. She was 

formerly with BJP (elected as ER with support from BJP during 2000-2005).In the second 

term she switched over to Cong (I) and won the GP election with support from Cong(I).She 

is active, knowledgeable and regular to GP meetings. She can speak fluently and 

authoritatively about various government programmes. She took personal interest in 

implementing MGNREGA - in a district where the scheme holds little appeal to the working 

class but- in her GP which provided employment to women who were till then dependent 

on seasonal work in the paddy fields. She is assertive and can dictate terms to other male 

members of the GP. 

This is a case of a rich and successful 

housewife who had an almost armchair raid 

during her tenure as GP president on the sheer 

strength of her status as a rich land lady. But 

the sad reality is majority of women in the 

rural households continue to lead a nondescript 

and an invisible life. What makes the 

Case 2 

situation sadder is the fact that even after 

becoming prominent individuals in their 

respective villages (on the strength of being 

elected as GP member and being made the 

office bearer), they still continue to remain 

alienated from the public sphere. 

EWR and President of Halagali GP of Mudhol taluk, Bagalkot district is a typical rustic woman 

belonging to ST community. She cannot work independently and is entirely dependent on 

her son who attends to most of the GP-related activities. She merely puts her signatures on 

papers placed before her. As a president of the GP she never had the opportunity to interact 

with the government officials. She informs that her son is well accepted in the GP and gets 

the necessary cooperation in discharging his mother's responsibilities. She is financially 

sound and has 12 acres of irrigated farm land. She is aged but not weak. But she is meek, 

docile and least assertive as an ER/President. She does not enjoy equal status with other 

EWRs who belong to upper caste Lingayath families. She was not offered a chair to sit in nor 

invited inside the homes of upper caste families.


This is another instance of invisibility 

where the president of a GP who is a well 

settled farmer continues to remain invisible 

in her participation. Both political power as 

head of a panchayat and economic power with 

farming have not given her the right 

perspectives and abilities to perform her roles 

independent of male support. 

Gender Perceptions 

The EWRs and EMRs have shown 

progressive perception by stating that they do 


not consider men to be more efficient than 

women (for details see Table 5). There is not 

much difference in the responses of ex EWRs 

and ex-EMRs on this. A large majority have 

disagreed with the statement that men are 

more efficient than women. The percentage 

of women who have disagreed is higher (83 

per cent PRI women and 82 per cent ex PRI 

women) than that of men’s on this (62.7 and 

76.9 per cent, respectively). 

Table 5 : Responses to Gender Relations and Equality 

S. No. Response PRI- PRI- Ex-PRI- Ex-PRI- Total 

Men women Men Women 

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) 

1. Men are more efficient Yes 28 11 9 4 52 

than women per cent 37.3 17.2 23.1 18.2 26 

No 47 53 30 18 148 

per cent 62.7 82.8 76.9 81.8 74 

2. For effective functioning Yes 30 25 17 8 80 

of society, a patriarchal per cent 40 39.1 43.6 36.4 40 

structure is necessary No 45 39 22 14 120 

per cent 60 60.9 56.4 63.6 60 

3. There are equal Yes 49 39 22 16 126 

opportunities available per cent 65.3 60.9 56.4 72.7 63 

for men and women to No 26 25 17 6 74 

access the resources per cent 34.7 39.1 43.6 27.3 37 

4. A family should have one Yes 38 48 26 11 123 

male child per cent 50.7 75 66.7 50 61.5 

No 37 16 13 11 77 

per cent 49.3 25 33.3 50 38.5 

5. Men have to look after Yes 31 20 14 10 75 

the economic matters of per cent 41.3 31.3 35.9 45.5 37.5 

the family No 44 44 25 12 125 

per cent 58.7 68.8 64.1 54.5 62.5 

6. Women have to look after Yes 26 22 11 10 69 

the domestic chores per cent 34.7 34.4 28.2 45.5 34.5 

No 49 42 28 12 131 

per cent 65.3 65.6 71.8 54.5 65.5 

(Contd..) 

(Contd..)


Table 5 : (Contd..) 

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) 

7. It is not advisable for men Yes 36 14 13 12 75 

to sweep the house per cent 48 21.9 33.3 54.5 37.5 

No 39 50 26 10 125 

per cent 52 78.1 66.7 45.5 62.5 

8. Politics is not a woman’s Yes 25 8 6 7 46 

forte per cent 33.3 12.5 15.4 31.8 23 

No 50 56 33 15 154 

per cent 66.7 87.5 84.6 68.2 77 

9. Since women are not able Yes 57 50 29 16 152 

to take-up work that per cent 76 78.1 74.4 72.7 76 

demands hard physical No 18 13 9 6 46 

labour, there is no problem per cent 24 20.3 23.1 27.3 23 

in women having low wages No Response 0 1 1 0 2 

per cent 0 1.6 2.6 0 1 

10. With my given position, Yes 30 44 17 11 102 

I would have got more per cent 40 68.8 43.6 50 51 

acceptance had I been a man No 37 19 17 11 84 

per cent 49.3 29.7 43.6 50 42 

No response 8 1 5 0 14 

per cent 10.7 1.6 12.8 0 7 

11. Only women have to look Yes 19 14 11 8 52 

after the kids per cent 25.3 21.9 28.2 36.4 26 

No 56 50 28 14 148 

per cent 74.7 78.1 71.8 63.6 74 

12. Girls should not study in Yes 1 2 0 2 5 

co-ed schools per cent 1.3 3.1 0 9.1 2.5 

No 74 62 39 20 195 

per cent 98.7 96.9 100 90.9 97.5 

13. Dowry is a social evil Yes 75 63 39 22 199 

per cent 100 98.4 100 100.0 99.5 

No 0 1 0 0 1 

per cent 0 1.6 0 0 0.5 

Total 75 64 39 22 200 

per cent 100 100 100 100 100 



To the question if a patriarchal structure 

is necessary for the effective functioning of a 

society, again those who have disagreed are 

larger in proportion than those who were in 

agreement (all above 60 per cent). This is again 

encouraging since the women who are 

elected to PRIs have realised that they are also 

important to run a democracy. They have also 

come to learn about male-female equality, and 

are clear that patriarchal structures are 

exploitative and oppressive of women. That 

such a realisation has come about among male- 

ERs is a welcome trend. They live in a society 

where women are given reserved seats to 

contest elections. Besides this, the self-help 

group (SHG) revolution has mobilised many 

women to come out of their homes and 

participate in meetings of the group. 

In today’s society, due to many reforms, 

there is equal opportunity for men and women 

to access resources like land, livestock, 

property, etc. Whether this was agreeable to 

men is the question. When asked about their 

views on this statement, 65.3 per cent of males 

in PRIs said ‘yes’ to this question and it was a 

lesser proportion of 60.9 per cent for the 

females. Taking the members who are ex-EWRs 

and EMRs, we find that more than males (56.4 

per cent), it was the females or ex-EWRs who 

have answered in the affirmative that there is 

better equity between gender today to access 

resources (72.7 per cent). About 43.6 per cent 

of ex-PRI men however felt that it is not so 

which is the highest among all responses. 

To the question, whether all families 

should have at least one male child, first of all 

there is consensus among all that it is so. 

Interestingly, taking negative answers to this 

question, we find that it is the young male 

members who have not agreed to this 

statement than their counterparts in the 

category of ex-EMRs. If not by practice, at least 

by perception, the ERs are concerned about 

gender equality. A majority of them, 

irrespective of sex, have appreciated that 


household work is not the responsibility of 

only the females while men have to look after 

the economic matters of the household. More 

than 60 per cent of both men and women from 

both categories of present and past ERs denied 

that household work is the burden of women 

alone, and that women also should take care 

of economic matters. Moreover, even in the 

case of such notions that men should not 

sweep the floor, surprisingly 45.5 per cent of 

ex- PRI women, agreed that it is not correct to 

expect men to sweep the floor. 

Having been exposed to reservations to 

women in PRIs, it is expected that majority of 

both males and females from both categories 

of current and ex-members, are very 

vehemently supportive of women’s political 

participation at least for experience. To the 

question about wage discrimination between 

males and females, both men and women, 

irrespective of their duration of position in PRIs 

(past or present) have vociferously supported 

wage discrimination on the ground that 

women are not physically equally capable of 

hard work as men are. Therefore, giving them 

wages lower than that of men is nothing wrong 

and is quite justified. 

Despite their struggles and toil, women 

have been longing for more empowerment 

and freedom from gendered discrimination. 

This is clear when we refer to the Table where 

women have felt that the ERs would get better 

acceptance in the position of ERs if only they 

were men (EMRs). Gender discrimination on 

grounds of one’s capacity to participate was 

experienced by all of them. This is clear when 

we see that a majority have answered in the 

affirmative to the question and wished they 

were born as men to get the certificate of 

being good leaders. 

There are three other questions as seen 

in the Table above that were posed to the 

women. All of them hint at the gender relations 

in the household and signify how they should


have molded the thinking of men and women. 

For the question of child care by both father 

and mother also, there was an overwhelming 

response involving men or father in childcare 

activities. While the responses of present EMRs 

(74.7 per cent) is lower than that of the present 

EWRs (78.1 per cent), it is not so in the case of 

former members. Here, the number of ex- 

EWRs is lower (63.6 per cent) than their male 

counterparts (71.8 per cent). 

Another area of gender discrimination is 

in choosing educational institutions for girls 

vis-a-vis boys in rural households. Normally, 

restrictions are placed on girls by disallowing 

them to attend co-education schools. But this 

traditional practice is held as conservative and 

illogical by our respondents. More than 90 per 

cent of both men and women from both 

categories of old and new members have 

negated the statement and denied that it 

should be put to practice. They feel that girls 

should study in co-educational schools and mix 

with the opposite sex that helps in building 

their personality. It enables developing a sense 

of understanding between sexes, and prepares 

them to face life better. 

Lastly, being the worst social evil of the 

present times, dowry system is condemned 

by one and all, and there is almost 100 per 

cent response that it is a social evil. There are 

no male female differences in such response. 

On the whole, we find that the ERs, 

whether past or present, or male or female, 

are equally progressive. We found that social 

and economic processes that are in vogue in 

the rural areas in the last few decades have 

prepared men and women equally well in at 

least developing an opinion or attitude about 

gender equality. 

Participation and Performance 

The most outstanding feature of the 73 rd 

and 74 th Constitutional Amendments is the 

visibility and space that it has provided to 

women. Reservation of seats to women from 


all caste and class categories and all levels of 

administration - village, taluk and district - is 

an important indicator of women’s 

empowerment through decentralised bodies 

that have opened up the gates of political 

power and status to hitherto such 

unrepresented sections of our society. One of 

the most positive outcomes from the 

increased representation of women in PRIs is 

expected to be their social elevation. 

Representation of women and other weaker 

sections apart from their ability to participate 

in decentralised governance and planning 

process is another issue that they have to 

tackle as soon as they are elected to power. 

Being novices to politics and political activities, 

these women needed time and support to 

really pick up the threads of effective 

participation. After more than two decades of 

experience in panchayat system one expects 

them to have picked up the art or skill of 

participation. Yet the ever-complex process 

of political administration in a regime of 

panchayats being shielded by party politics, it 

is presumed that such participation by these 

new entrants is still difficult. Participation 

involves taking right decisions at the 

appropriate time and place. The ERs, male or 

female, are expected to understand the needs 

of the people in their constituency better as 

they are elected as ‘one among them’ for this 

purpose (Gayathridevi 2004). 

When asked if the ERs were interested 

in launching any special plans for making 

panchayat development more gender 

sensitive, 66 per cent of our respondents have 

replied in the affirmative. A majority of 

respondents in the districts of Mandya (72.5 

per cent), Dakshina Kannada (DK) and Gulbarga 

(70 per cent) and Bellary (60 per cent) stated 

to make panchayati raj system gender-friendly 

(see Table 6). A very large percentage (73.5 ) 

of them have also informed us that women 

from their constituency approach them for 

help in solving their problems. It is the highest 

in Mandya with 87.5 per cent, followed by



a) Have you undertaken 

initiatives to 

empower women 

in your Panchayat? 

Yes 20 20 23 19 15 97 

Percentage 50 50 57.5 47.5 37.5 48.5 

No 20 20 17 21 25 103 

Percentage 50 50 42.5 52.5 62.5 51.5 

Total 40 40 40 40 40 200 

b) As an ER would you 

like to make the plans 

for Panchayat 

Development more 

Gender Sensitive? 

Yes 28 23 24 29 28 132 

Percentage 70 57.5 60 72.5 70 66 

No 12 17 16 11 12 68 

Percentage 30 42.5 40 27.5 30 34 

Total 40 40 40 40 40 200 

c) Do women folk 

approach you for 

solution to their 

problems? 

Yes 28 31 27 35 26 147 

Percentage 70 77.5 67.5 87.5 65 73.5 

No 12 9 13 5 14 53 

Percentage 30 22.5 32.5 12.5 35 26.5 

Total 40 40 40 40 40 200 

Bagalkot with 77.5 per cent and Gulbarga with 

70 per cent. Thus, while nearly 49 per cent of 

the respondents stated that they are 

undertaking initiatives to empower women in 

Table 6: Initiatives by ERs to Empower Women 


100 100 100 100 100 100 

their constituencies, when it is decoded as to 

how they are doing so, the responses are 

rather skewed.


Furthermore, upon questioned as to what 

are the general issues of grievance that 

women in the constituency bring to the notice 

of their ERs (male or female), there were 

several types of problems that women in the 

area state to have actually encountered. These 

responses could be categorised for purposes 

of analysis here into those falling into the 

public and private spheres. Matters relating to 

availing of benefits of the government 

schemes meant for them belong to the former 

while issues like demand for dowry and sexual 

harassment fall into the latter domain. 

Table 7 : Issues that are Generally Brought Before the ERs by Women 

Issues Gulbarga Bagalkot Bellary Mandya Dakshina Kannada Total 

a) Apathy or 

discrimination in 

government offices 5 8 7 13 4 37 

Percentage 13.9 20.5 18.9 28.9 12.5 19.6 

b) Dowry 2 4 7 9 1 23 

Percentage 5.6 10.3 18.9 20 3.1 12.2 

c) Harassment at 

Work place 9 6 8 8 8 39 

Percentage 25 15.4 21.6 17.8 25 20.6 

d) Sexual harassment 2 5 5 6 12 30 

Percentage 5.6 12.8 13.5 13.3 37.5 15.9 

e) Travel Related 3 1 2 0 0 6 

Percentage 8.3 2.6 5.4 0 0 3.2 

f ) Any Other 15 15 8 9 7 54 

Percentage 41.7 38.5 21.6 20 21.9 28.6 

Total 36 39 37 45 32 189 

That problems like ‘dowry system’ are not 

very significant in few places in the State is 

perhaps evident when we look at the Table 


Put together, about 20 per cent of all ERs 

in the selected and about 20 per cent of 

respondents (Table 7) have stated that women 

from their constituencies approach them for 

reasons of exclusion in the government 

programmes. Apathy and discrimination in 

government offices is reported to be the 

highest according to some of our respondents 

from Mandya (28.9 per cent), followed by 

Bellary (18.9 per cent) and others. 

100 100 100 100 100 100 

where DK district has one ER saying that dowry 

harassment is an issue for their voters 

approaching them. Mandya has registered the


highest number of responses (20 per cent) 

followed by Bellary (18.9 per cent), Bagalkot 

(10.3 per cent) and Gulbarga (5.6 per cent). 

Both harassment at work place and 

sexual harassment are stated to have been 

present in the selected districts. About 25 per 

cent in Gulbarga and DK, 21.6 per cent in 

Bellary, 17.8 per cent in Mandya and 15.4 per 

cent of the ERs in Bagalkot have admitted that 

their voters come to them with complaints 

about harassment at work place. DK has topped 

the list (37.5 per cent) among other districts 

as far as people complaining and seeking the 

help of ERs is concerned. The other districts 

also have it to some extent as is visible from 

the number of people who are approaching 

the ERs for redressal. However, panchayats 

have no right to solve this kind of problem. So 

what happens to rehabilitation problem? Just 

reporting will not work! 

On the whole, the study has shown that 

the ERs are aware that legal provisions made 

have to reach the needed sections without 

fail. They are aware of the shortcomings, 

including corruption and other irregularities. 

They have also observed that funds earmarked 

for development works do not reach the 

panchayats on time and this delay also adds to 

the inefficiency in performing their duties. 

Although many have said that they were able 

to fulfill election promises, there is a void in 

the performance. 

Concluding Reflections 

The foregoing analysis shows that 

although Constitutional provisions relating to 

women in rural areas have done substantial 

good for their exposure and empowerment, 

women continue to encounter a number of 

challenges and constraints in their 

participation in the social and political spheres. 

Despite several years of introduction of 

reservation of seats in their favour, women 

continue to depend on male relatives and 


officials in playing their roles and discharging 

their responsibilities. Thus, proxy governance 

is seen in almost all GPs under the study. 

Untouchability is still being practised in almost 

all the villages of the GPs in Gulbarga, Bellary, 

Bagalkot and Mandya districts. Denial of access 

to public places like barber shops, hotels, 

temples, etc., are some of the caste based 

discriminations that can be seen in the villages 

that come under the present study. Dalits are 

obeying an unwritten code by not daring to 

enter hotels run by the upper caste Hindus. 

The paper also highlights that women are 

caught between genuine participation and 

proxy participation. 

Policy Suggestions 

The following are a few suggestions for 

ensuring better empowerment of women in 

and out of the PRIs. Leadership by women 

needs to be a continuous process stretching 

beyond the official position in the panchayats. 

They have been travelling between genuine 

participation and proxy participation. Their 

contribution, true to their rights, has to come 

from their knowledge and further 

empowerment. Only that can make them 

contribute better and make substantive 

difference than what they are today. 

Transformative politics is countered by 

patriarchy that is directed by issues of power, 

authority, hierarchy and control which affect 

changes in power structures and gender 

relations. Concerted efforts are needed to 

enable the above. A few suggestions in this 

regard are as follows: 

1. Formation of EWR collectives/forums to 

help develop strategies to empower 

women as leaders. 

a) This would provide platform for women 

to share their real life experiences as 

leaders 

b) Creation of awareness about their roles 

and responsibilities


c) Awareness about right to information 

(RTI), right to education (RTE) etc. that 

would enable their further 

empowerment with knowledge and 

security 

d) Enhance their role as stakeholders in 

gender budgeting 

e) Self-analysis of the potential impact of 

women’s participation on the functioning 

of the PR institutions. 

2. Women leaders have to understand their 

role in improving the living conditions 

of fellow women, especially women 

from the weaker sections. EWRs can make 

a difference if they are trained in 

understanding the constraints of poor 

women in accessing essential services 

like public distribution system (PDS), 

drinking water, equal wages, social 

security for health, children’s education, 

child labour etc. 

References 


3. Training of EWRs is felt to be inadequate. 

The State government has to take steps 

to look into the contents of training 

modules offered both by state training 

institutions and the government. 

4. Organising crash programmes for 

illiterate EWRs is of utmost necessity. 

5. Formation of women’s associations and 

groups at different levels to act as 

pressure groups on all fronts-communityeducation, 

better law enforcement and 

deterrent punishment for continuing 

social evils like female foeticide, dowry, 

violence on women at home and work 

place etc. 

6. Empowering the EWRs to implement 

equal wages to women is important. 

7. Ensuring equality and efficiency in 

gender budgeting to achieve complete 

gender autonomy in leadership. 

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Implementation in Developing Countries, Beverly Hills, Sage Publications. 

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GPs of Karnataka, Bangalore : ISEC. 

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Aziz) in Karnataka Human Development Report 2005, Bangalore: Department of Planning and Statistics. 

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Kerala (India)', AJWS, 6 (4): 66-101. 

10. Lokendra, Singh Kot. (2007), 'Women in Rural Democracy- A Changing Scenario', Vikas Samvad Fellowship 

2007, Bhopal : People's College of Medical Science and Research Centre.


11. Mathew, George (ed.). (1995), Status of Panchayati Raj in the States of India, New Delhi : Concept. 

12. Ministry of Panchayati Raj. (2008), Study on Elected Women Representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions 

: Report (Year of Survey 2007-2008), New Delhi : Government of India. 

13. Meenakshisundaram, S.S. (1994), Decentralisation in Developing Countries, New Delhi: Concept. 

14. Singh, Dharam Pal (2005), 'Women in Grass-root Democracy in India : Experiences from Selected States', 

Conference Paper - 3rd International Conference on Women and Politics in Asia, 24-25, November, 

Islamabad, Pakistan. 

15. Sivanna, N. (1998), 'Decentralised Governance and Planning in Karnataka: A Historical Perspective', Social 

Change, 28(1). 

16. Sivanna, N. (2009), 'Reservation (fifty per cent) for Women in Panchayats: Myths and Realities', Critique, 

IV (3). Bangalore: ISI. 

17. Smith, B C. (1985), Decentralization: The Territorial Dimensions of the State, London: Allen and Unwin. 

18. Stefanie, Strulik (2003), 'Demonstrating "Proxy" Women' in A Decade of Women's Empowerment Through 

Local Government in India, Workshop Report, October 20-21, New Delhi, Institute of Social Sciences. 

19. The Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, (1993), 2004, Bangalore: Karnataka Law Journal Publications. 

20. Villadsen, Soren (1999), Good Governance and Decentralization, Public Sector Reforms in Developing 

Countries, Copenhagen. 




RISK MANAGEMENT AND RURAL 

EMPLOYMENT IN HILL FARMING - 

A STUDY OF MANDI DISTRICT OF 

HIMACHAL PRADESH 

ABSTRACT 

Vinod Kumar, R.K. Sharma 

K.D. Sharma * 

The study was carried out in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh during 2002-03 

to examine the labour employment in hill agriculture under risk. Stratified two stage 

random sampling technique was adopted to select the sample. A total of 150 

households were selected from different sub-ecological regions viz. Low Hills, Mid Hills 

and High Hills. The risk efficient farm plans were developed using the Minimisation of 

Total Absolute Deviation (MOTAD) Model. The plans were existing resources with 

existing technology,( Plan I) and existing technology with augmented resources (Plan 

IV). In addition, two plans in between these two were developed. The study revealed 

that the per farm as well as per hectare labour use was higher during kharif season as 

compared to rabi season, as more labour intensive crops (paddy and vegetables) were 

grown during kharif season. With the introduction of dairy, the human labour 

employment increased by 59 per cent in plan-I whereas in plan-IV, it increased by 60 

per cent in low hill region. In mid hills, this increase was estimated as high as 162 and 

148 per cent. The corresponding figures in high hills were to the extent of 74 and 58 per 

cent. This clearly indicates that crops + dairy farming provided higher farm labour 

employment than crops enterprise alone. It was important to examine that the dairy 

activity with crops enterprise also reduced the risk. Thus, to increase the employment 

and minimise the risk in hill agriculture, emphasis needs to be given to encourage 

mixed farming. The crossbred cows were found to be the best dairy animals in the 

study area in terms of profitability as well as employment generation. Vegetables 

were found to be important in the cropping pattern particularly in plan IV. Thus, there 

is a need to popularise cultivation of vegetable crops in which the role of the 

Department of Agriculture is crucial in promoting scientific cultivation and orderly 

marketing to reduce risk. 

Introduction 

Generation of adequate and sustained 

employment opportunities has become the 

focus of attention of the development 

paradigm since the inception of planning era. 

Ever since the introduction of economic 

reforms in 1991, there has been an immense 

debate on the impact of economic reforms 

on employment, poverty and well-being of the 

poor in India, especially in the rural areas. In 

hilly regions, there is little scope for 

* Research Associate, Professor and Sr. Scientist, Respectively. Department of Agricultural Economics, 

Extension Education and Rural Sociology, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176062, 

India.

212 Vinod Kumar, R.K. Sharma, K.D. Sharma 

employment generation outside agriculture 

due to lack of non-farm avenues of 

employment as well as abundance of unskilled 

labour force crowding in farm sector. 

It is trite observation that the production 

process itself is extremely susceptible to the 

caprices of the weather. The weather 

uncertainties in terms of paucity/ 

superabundance of rainfall, its lack of proper 

correspondence with the various stages of 

production, technological uncertainties in 

terms of failure of new varieties, nonavailability 

of plant protection measures for 

diseases/insect pests, etc., contribute greatly 

to an uncertain production. In Himachal 

Pradesh, farming is fraught with risk and 

uncertainty where the performance of the 

monsoon directly governs the economy of 

about 83 per cent of cropped land. Owing to 

low, erratic and uncertain rainfall, crop yields 

in rainfed areas are low and highly variable 

and risky (Mruthyunjaya and Sirohi, 1979). Risk 

and uncertainty in production have also been 

recognised as important constraints in the 

process of rapid adoption of the high-yielding 

variety (HYV) technology in agriculture 

(Sasmal, 1993 and Saha, 2001). 

Add to this the fact that product prices 

at the end of the cropping season vary 

significantly from what they were at the 

sowing time. All these reasons result into a 

considerable amount of revenue uncertainty. 

In addition to this, labour employment in 

agriculture particularly family labour, is 

seriously affected. In the absence of welldeveloped 

insurance and capital market in less 

developed agriculture, producers often use 

diverse mechanisms to mitigate the impact of 

this revenue uncertainty through various 

alternatives including crop and employment 

diversification. Of course, the extent to which 

the farmer can do so effectively will also 

depend on the uncertainty attaching to labour 

market employment. This is particularly true 

in hill agriculture. 


Within agriculture also, it needs to be 

diversified by incorporating land-based and 

allied enterprises to enhance the employment 

avenues and reduce income variability, 

especially in hilly areas having fragile agroeco-systems. 

Risk analysis showed that there 

is scope to enhance employment and 

minimise risk at farm level by enterprise-mix 

incorporating judicious-mix of crops and 

livestock enterprises (Sekar and Palanisami, 

2000). The crop farming alone has been proved 

much risky under severe resource restrictions 

while crop-cum-livestock combination has 

been found to enhance the buffering capacity 

of the farm by reducing risk and increasing 

land-labour productivity in agriculture (Singh 

and Sharma 1988). Even under irrigated 

conditions, vegetable plus dairy was the most 

appropriate choice for the farmers as the pure 

vegetable farming was found to be more risky 

and less remunerative (Kumar et al., 2002). 

Hilly regions are characterised by small, 

scattered, fragmented and rainfed 

landholdings, weak market infrastructure, 

traditional production practices, etc. More than 

70 per cent of the population of hills earn their 

livelihoods directly from farming business. 

Due to low level of education and skill, the 

movement of labour force from land based 

activities (farming) to urban oriented activities 

(industrial production) is low. All these factors 

affect the economy and livelihoods of hill 

people under some mountain specificities 

which separate the hilly region from other 

areas (Jodha, 1996). Thus, there is a need to 

study the labour employment under existing 

situation and explore possibilities for 

enhancing gainful employment through 

alternative farm plans. These plans would be 

more useful if studied under varying degrees 

of risk so that farmers can choose the plan as 

per their risk bearing capability. Keeping this 

in view, the present study was undertaken with 

the following specific objectives.

Risk Management and Rural Employment in Hill Farming ... 213 

1. To examine the existing employment 

pattern for different farm situations in 

Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh 

2. To study the changing pattern of 

employment under risk efficient farm 

plans for different farm situations in the 

study area 

3. To suggest suitable policy measures for 

enhancing employment in agriculture. 

Methodology 

Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh was 

purposively selected where 74 per cent of 

total population is directly or indirectly 

dependent upon agriculture. The district has 

been divided into three distinct sub-ecological 

regions viz. (i) Foot hills areas (ii) Mid hills areas 

(iii) High hills areas (Anonymous, 1981). 

Stratified two stage random sampling 

technique was adopted to select the sample 

for the study considering sub-ecological 

regions as strata. In the first stage of sampling, 

five villages were selected randomly from 

each sub-ecological region. In the second 

stage, a complete list of all the farm 

households in each of the selected villages 

was compiled and 50 farm households from 

each sub-ecological region were 

proportionally allocated in the selected 

villages. Thus in all, a sample of 150 farm 

households of different sub-ecological regions 

was selected. Both cross section and time 

series data for the present study were 

collected through personal visit to the 

households. Commensurate with the set 

objectives of the study, cross sectional data 

collected during 2002-03 and time series data 

(1998-99 to 2002-03) were collected on area, 

production and prices of different crops and 

number and production of livestock from 

households. To study the employment pattern 

under risk, risk efficient farm plans were 

developed for different sub-ecological 

regions using Minimisation of Total Absolute 


Deviation (MOTAD) Model. The model used 

was of the following form; 

s 

Minimise Z = Σ Y h- (Objective Function) 

h=1 

n 

Σ (C hj - g j ) x j Y h- ≥ 0 (Linearity 

j=1 constraints) 

n 

Σ f j x j = ? (Parametric constraints) 

j=1 

n 

Σ a x ≤ b (Resource constraints 

ij j i 

j=1 viz, land, peak labour use, 

capital) 

n 

Σ a x ≥ b ij j i 

j=1 

(Minima constraints) 

x j , and Y h- ≥ 0 (Non-negativity constraint) 

Where, 

Z = Sum of the absolute values of deviations 

of the returns of various enterprises from 

their mean values 

Y h- = Absolute values of the negative total 

returns deviation of various enterprises 

in the hth year from their mean (h = 1, 

2……..,s) 

C hj = Returns of jth farm activity in the h th year 

g j = Mean value of the returns of the j th farm 

activity 

x j = Level of j th farm activity 

f j = The expected returns per ha of the j th 

activity 

λ = Parameter showing total Returns to 

Fixed Farm Resources (RFFR) from all the 

farm activities. Parameter to start from


minimum prescribed income (λl) under 

restricted supply to maximum (λm) 

attainable income under unrestricted 

supply of resources 

a ij = Technical requirement of the jth activity 

for the ith resource 

b i = The constraint level of the ith resource 

s = Number of time-series observations 

n = Number of farm activities 

The risk efficient farm production plans 

were obtained under the following two 

situations : 

1. Situation-I: Crop enterprises 

2. Situation-II: Crop-cum-dairy enterprises 

Four risk efficient farm plans were 

developed at different levels of farm income 

(determined under above two situations for 

each sub-ecological region). To determine the 

extent of employment, labour hiring was 

included in all these plans. These farm plans 

are as follows: 

P1: Risk efficient farm plan minimum (λl) 

level of income 

P2: Risk efficient farm plan for λl + α level of 

income 

P3: Risk efficient farm plan for λl+ 2 α level 

of income 

P4: Risk efficient farm plan for λl + 3 α level 

of income 

Where, α, 2α and 3α are the additional 

income levels in the successive plans at 

varying degrees of risk and α is computed as; 

Optimised income Optimised income 

with augmented - with restricted 

α = resources (λm) resources (λl) 

3 



Occupation Pattern : Occupational 

pattern of working population has been 

presented in Table 1. It was observed that 76 

per cent of the total working persons were 

engaged in agriculture in the study area as 

majority of the family workers did not prefer 

to leave their homes in search of off-farm 

avenues of employment. Dependence on 

agriculture was found to be higher in high hills 

(93 per cent) as compared to other two 

regions, which can be attributed to the reason 

that the high hills were less developed and 

majority of the population had poor access to 

education and other infrastructural facilities. 

Service including daily paid labour was next 

to agriculture in employment generation. 

Similar results were found by Singh and Singh 

(1999). It is interesting to note that all the 

females were engaged in agriculture except 

in low hills where 3 to 4 per cent were in 

government services. 

Existing Labour Use : The human labour is 

the crucial input in farming, especially in those 

regions where farm mechanisation has not 

taken place. The existing use of labour 

employment in different regions of Mandi 

district is depicted in Table 2. Results of the 

study showed that the use of total human 

labour employment on the farm was observed 

to be higher (31.03 mandays) during kharif 

season as compared to rabi season (22.45 

mandays). Similar trend was noticed in 

different hills which were mainly due to the 

fact that kharif crops like maize, paddy and 

vegetables required more labour for intercultural 

practices. Further, it is interesting to 

note that existing use of human labour was 

121 and 51 per cent higher in low and high 

hills over mid hills. Such results might be due 

to cultivation of more vegetable crops in low 

and high hills as compared to mid hills. Lowest 

exiting use of human labour was found in mid 

hills due to the small landholdings of the 

respondent farmers as well as less area under


Table 1 : Occupational Pattern of Working Persons (16-60 years) in Different Regions (per cent) 

(Per cent) 

Occupation Low Hills Mid Hills High Hills Overall 

Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total 

Agriculture 35.72 96.51 66.47 34.43 100.00 68.50 85.02 100.00 93.20 51.85 98.68 75.90 

Service 29.76 3.49 16.47 27.87 0.00 13.39 2.82 0.00 1.36 20.37 1.32 10.59 

Business* 9.52 0.00 4.71 16.39 0.00 7.87 4.22 0.00 2.04 9.72 0.00 4.23 

DPL 25.00 0.00 12.35 21.31 0.00 10.24 7.04 0.00 3.40 18.06 0.00 8.78 

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 

(89) (86) (175) (70) (66) (136) (72) (76) (148) (231) (228) (459) 

* Business including cottage industries. 


Figures in parentheses show total working population. 

Source: Field Survey, 2002-03.


labour intensive vegetable crops. As far as per 

hectare labour use is concerned, it was found 

Table 2 : Existing Labour Use in Different Regions of Mandi District 

(Mandays/farm) 

Particulars Low Hills Mid Hills High Hills Overall 

Kharif season 40.55(50.13) 19.30(43.65) 32.96(43.49) 31.03(46.25) 

Rabi season 34.33(42.79) 14.57(32.78) 18.35(28.12) 22.45(35.46) 

Total 74.89(46.48) 33.87(38.20) 51.31(36.38) 53.48(41.01) 

Figures in parentheses show per hectare labour use. 

Source : Field Survey, 2002-03. 

Labour Employment Under Different Farm 

Plans : The peak season-wise human labour 

utilisation under different plans in low, mid and 

high hills has been shown through Table 3 to 

Table 5. While estimating peak seasons labour 

availability, family labour (male and female) 

was converted into mandays. A period of eight 

hours of work was considered as one 

manday.In the present study four human 

labour peak periods were identified during the 

year as Peak-1 (April 15-30), Peak-2 (July 

1-15), Peak-3 (Sept. 15-30) and Peak-4 (Oct. 

15-31). The labour use was estimated by using 

peak period labour constraints through MOTAD 

model. 

It is evident from the Tables that there 

was shortage of human labour in all the peak 

periods under all the plans in situation-II (crops 

+ dairy farming) in all the three regions. 

Human labour utilisation increased 

successively from plan-I to plan-IV in all the 

peak periods in both the situations. These 

Tables further revealed that except peak 

period-1, there was surplus human labour 

under all the plans in situation-I in mid and 

high hills. There was marginal increase in the 

human labour employment during different 

peak periods under different farm plans. As 

far as total labour use per farm is concerned, 

in situation-I it varied from 83.07 to 89.88 

mandays in low hills, 33.69 to 36.64 mandays 

in mid hills and 56.76 to 72.28 mandays in 


highest in low hills followed by mid and high 

hills in both kharif as well as rabi seasons. 

high hills in plan-I to plan-IV. With the 

introduction of dairy the human labour 

employment per farm increased by 59 per cent 

in plan-I whereas in plan-IV, it increased by 60 

per cent in low hills. In mid hills, the increase 

in situation-II over situation-I for plan-I and 

plan-IV was estimated at 162 and 148 per cent. 

The corresponding figures for high hills were 

74 and 58 per cent. This indicated that crop + 

dairy farming was more labour intensive than 

crop enterprises. Further, it can be inferred 

from the results that dairy activity with crop 

enterprise reduced the risk which was clearly 

shown by the comparison of respective 

coefficients of variation in situation-I and 

situation-II. This implied that the combination 

of crop and dairy was most useful in stabilising 

farm income and reducing associated risk. 

Results of the study further indicated that 

human labour employment for different risk 

efficient plans increased with the increase in 

the risk under different plans. Utilisation of 

human labour in peak period -1 was higher as 

compared to peak period -2, peak period -3 

and peak period -4 in both the situations. Peak 

period -1 was found to be the most critical 

peak period for land preparation for sowing of 

vegetables that took more time of labour and 

sowing of other kharif crops and harvesting of 

rabi crops in the study area hills. There was 

marginal increase in the human labour 

employment


Table 3 : Human Labour Utilisation Under Different Farm Plans in Low Hills (Mandays/Farm) 

Situations Particulars Availability P I P II P III P IV 

Used Additional Used Additional Used Additional Used Additional 

I Crop Peak-1 14.46 34.24 19.78 35.62 21.16 36.29 21.83 36.97 22.51 

Enterprises Peak-2 14.46 14.59 0.13 15.21 0.75 15.57 1.11 15.94 1.48 

Peak-3 14.46 14.59 0.13 15.21 0.75 15.57 1.11 15.94 1.48 

Peak-4 14.46 19.65 5.19 20.41 5.95 20.72 6.26 21.03 6.57 

Total 57.84 83.07 25.23 86.45 28.61 88.15 30.31 89.88 32.04 

Risk 9.63 14.42 19.94 25.19 


II Peak-1 14.46 54.46 40.00 58.47 44.01 59.1 44.64 59.24 44.78 

Crop + Dairy Peak-2 14.46 36.39 21.93 36.91 22.45 37.24 22.78 37.63 23.17 


Peak-4 14.46 41.1 26.64 44.6 30.14 44.89 30.43 44.63 30.17 

Total 57.84 168.34 110.50 176.89 119.05 178.47 120.63 179.13 121.29 

Risk 7.19 12.35 18.46 23.19


Table 4 : Human Labour Utilisation Under Different Farm Plans in High Hills (Mandays/Farm) 



I Peak-1 11.07 13.64 2.57 14.19 3.12 14.73 3.66 14.97 3.90 

Crop Peak-2 11.07 6.40 -4.67 6.40 -4.67 6.43 -4.64 6.70 -4.37 

Enterprises Peak-3 11.07 6.40 -4.67 6.40 -4.67 6.43 -4.64 6.70 -4.37 

Peak-4 11.07 7.25 -.82 7.79 -3.28 8.27 -2.80 8.27 -2.80 

Total 44.28 33.69 -10.59 34.78 -9.50 35.86 -8.42 36.64 -7.64 

Risk 21.02 23.07 25.21 35.96 


II Peak-1 11.07 35.76 24.69 36.14 25.07 36.52 25.45 36.84 25.77 



Peak-4 11.07 29.37 18.30 29.75 18.68 30.12 19.05 30.38 19.31 

Total 44.28 122.15 77.30 122.91 78.63 123.66 79.38 124.36 80.08 

Risk 19.50 20.60 21.75 23.47 

Note: Peak period for labour use; Peak-1 (April 15-30), Peak-2 (July 1-15), Peak-3 (Sept. 15-30) and Peak-4 (Oct. 15-31).


Table 5 : Human Labour Utilisation Under Different Farm Plans in High Hills (Mandays/Farm) 



I Peak-1 18.27 23.15 4.88 25.74 7.47 28.33 10.06 30.6 12.33 

Crop Peak-2 18.27 10.46 -7.81 10.46 -7.81 10.46 -7.81 11.07 -7.20 

Enterprises Peak-3 18.27 10.46 -7.81 10.46 -7.81 10.46 -7.81 11.07 -7.20 

Peak-4 18.27 12.69 -5.58 15.28 -2.99 17.86 -0.41 19.54 1.27 

Total 73.08 56.76 -16.32 61.94 -11.14 67.11 -5.97 72.28 -0.80 

Risk 21.28 23.66 25.86 29.12 


II Peak-1 18.27 40.38 22.11 43.09 24.82 45.79 27.52 48.49 30.22 



Peak-4 18.27 29.92 11.65 32.62 14.35 35.32 17.05 38.03 19.76 

Total 73.08 133.9 60.82 139.31 66.23 144.71 71.63 150.12 77.04 

Risk 18.52 19.42 20.92 22.66 

Note: Peak period for labour use; Peak-1 (April 15-30), Peak-2 (July 1-15), Peak-3 (Sept. 15-30) and Peak-4 (Oct. 15-31).


during different peak periods under different 

farm plans. As far as total labour use per farm 

is concerned, in situation-I it varied from 83.07 

to 89.88 mandays in low hills, 33.69 to 36.64 

mandays in mid hills and 56.76 to 72.28 

mandays in high hills in plan-I to plan-IV. With 

the introduction of dairy, the human labour 

employment per farm increased by 59 per cent 

in plan-I whereas in plan-IV, it increased by 60 

per cent in low hills. In mid hills, the increase 

in situation-II over situation-I for plan-I and 

plan-IV was estimated at 162 and 148 per cent. 

The corresponding figures for high hills were 

74 and 58 per cent. This indicated that crop + 

dairy farming was more labour intensive than 

crop enterprises. Further, it can be inferred 

from the results that dairy activity with crop 

enterprise reduced the risk which was clearly 

shown by the comparison of respective 

coefficients of variation in situation-I and 

situation-II. This implied that the combination 

of crop and dairy was most useful in stabilising 

farm income and reducing associated risk. 

Results of the study further indicated that 

human labour employment for different risk 

efficient plans increased with the increase in 

the risk under different plans. Utilisation of 

Table 6 : Human Labour Employment Per Farm Under Different Farm Plans in Low, Mid 

and High Hills of Mandi District 

Situations Particulars Farm Plans 

PI PII PIII PIV 

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) 

Low Hills 

I Human labour requirements 83.07 86.45 88.15 89.88 

Crop (MD) 

Enterprises Increase over plan-I (%) - 4.07 6.12 8.20 

Increase over plan-II (%) - - 1.97 3.97 

Increase over plan-III (%) - - - 1.96 


human labour in peak period -1 was higher as 

compared to peak period -2, peak period -3 

and peak period -4 in both the situations. Peak 

period -1 was found to be the most critical 

peak period for land preparation for sowing of 

vegetables that took more time of labour and 

sowing of other kharif crops and harvesting of 

rabi crops in the study area. 

Increase in Human Labour Employment 

Under Different Farm Plans: The increase in 

human labour employment under subsequent 

farm plans in low, mid and high hills has been 

analysed and presented in Table 6. It is clear 

from this Table that increase in human labour 

employment over plan-I was 8.20 per cent in 

low hills, 8.76 per cent in mid hills and 27.34 

per cent in high hills in plan-IV under situation- 

I. In situation-II, the corresponding figures were 

worked out to be 6.41, 1.82 and 12.11 per 

cent. The results indicated that the human 

labour employment increased even under risk 

efficient farm plans. The maximum increase in 

human labour employment was found in high 

hills in both the situations due to introduction 

of more labour intensive crops (garlic) in 

cropping pattern. 

(Contd..)


Table 6: (Contd..) 

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) 

II Human labour requirements 168.34 176.89 178.47 179.13 

Crop + Dairy (MD) 



Mid Hills 



Crop (MD) 








High Hills 



Crop (MD) 











Conclusion 

Agriculture was found to be the main 

occupation absorbing more than two-thirds of 

the working population in all the three regions. 

The risk efficient farm plans formulated on 

different hill situations with crop and crop + 

dairy farming revealed that dairy activity 

created additional employment opportunities 

in all the three regions. The introduction of 

dairy activity reduced the coefficient of 

variation associated with each level of income 

(RFFR) thereby indicating its role in stabilising 

farm income. Thus to increase the employment 

and minimise the risk in hill agriculture, 

References 


different risk efficient farm plans need to be 

adopted by farmers by incorporating judiciousmix 

of crops and dairy activities with prudent 

guidance from the extension officials of 

department of agriculture. Emphasis needs to 

be given to maintain cross-bred cows for 

generating additional employment to the 

farmers. During survey it was observed that 

there is fodder scarcity in the area. For this, 

there is need to establish fodder storage for 

adequate supply. In addition to this, 

introduction of green fodder trees as well as 

exotic grass species will also help in fodder 

availability. 

1. Anonymous (1981), District Census Handbook, Census Operations, Himachal Pradesh. 

2. Jodha, N.S. (1996), Sustainable Mountain Agriculture: Some Predictions, In: S.L. Shah ed. Agricultural 

Development in Hilly Areas, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics. 

3. Kumar, A., Sharma, S.K., and Vashist, G.D. (2002), Profitability, Risk and Diversification in Mountain 

Agriculture: Some Policy Issues for Slow Growth Crops, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 57 

No. 3, pp 356-365. 

4. Mruthyunjaya and Sirohi, A.S. (1979), Enterprise System for Stability and Growth on Draught-prone Farms: 

an Application of Parametric Linear Programming, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 34 No. 

1, pp 27-42. 

5. Saha, A. (2001), Risk in HYV and Traditional Rice Cultivations : An Inquiry in West Bengal Agriculture, 

Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp 57-70. 

6. Sasmal, J. (1993), Considerations of Risk in the Production of High Yielding Variety Paddy: A Generalized 

Stochastic Formulation for Production Function Estimation, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 

Vol. 43 No. 4, pp 694-701. 

7. Sekar, I. and Palanisami, K. (2000), Farm Planning Under Risk in Dry Farms of Palladam Block of Coimbatore 

District in Tamil Nadu, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 55 No. 4, pp 660-670. 

8. Singh, J. and Singh, A. (1999), Implementation of Employment Generation Programmes: A Study of JRY in 

Rajouri District of J&K, ICSSR Seminar on Poverty and Income Distribution in North-Western States of 

India, Organised by Department of Agricultural Economics, Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, 

Palampur May 28-29. 

9. Singh, R. and Sharma, A.C. (1988), Farm Production Plans for Risk Averters : A Case Study of Small Peasant 

Farms, Indian Journal of Economics, Vol. 69 No. 272, pp 59-70.



IMPACT OF MICRO-FINANCE ON 

POVERTY : A STUDY OF TWENTY 

SELF-HELP GROUPS IN NALBARI 

DISTRICT, ASSAM 

ABSTRACT 

This paper is an empirical study conducted in Nalbari district, Assam about the 

impact of micro-finance on poverty. It examines the nature of loans provided by the 

SHGs to its members, and finds that the amount of loans provided under the 

programme to its members is too small to help them cross the poverty line. Again 

these loans were utilised mainly for consumption purposes, followed by expenditure 

on current productive activities. Thus, there were only a few capital investments. But 

these capital investments were also not enough to provide the members full 

employment opportunity and sufficient income to cross the poverty line. Again it was 

seen that still the members of the SHGs go either to the moneylenders or to the banks 

for higher amount of loan. Moreover, it was found that a large segment of the SHGs 

are closed down. The closing of SHGs was found more in case of those formed under 

NABARD-sponsored SHG- Bank linkage programme and those formed under SGSY. 

Actually these SHGs were formed with the motive to have subsidised credit from the 

government sponsored schemes. When they found that they would not get any more 

subsidised credit, they closed the SHGs. It is proposed that perhaps providing higher 

amount of credit by banks to the SHGs will enable the SHGs to provide more and higher 

quantum of loans to the members. The most important thing for the success of SHG- 

Bank linkage programme is that the members of SHGs must be made aware of the 

concept of self-help. 

Introduction 

Easier credit to the poor is identified as 

an instrument to fight against poverty. Again, 

it is frequently stated that poor are not 

bankable, and the formal financial institutions 

in developing countries often fail to meet the 

credit requirements of the poor. It makes it 

necessary for the government to interfere with 

the credit market directly or indirectly to 

channelise credit to this vulnerable section of 

the society. The government of India too in 

the past six decades took various initiatives to 

Prasenjit Bujar Baruah* 

provide easier credit facilities to the poor. But 

most of these policies were unable to achieve 

their goals; which led to the emergence of 

micro-finance programme as an alternative 

instrument to provide credit to this venerable 

section of the society in India; along with the 

rest of the world. The micro-finance 

programme in India is popularly known as the 

Self-Help Group - Bank Linkage Programme 

and NABARD sponsored SHG - Bank linkage 

programme is the single largest micro-finance 

programme in the world. Along with an 

* Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Dispur College, Dispur, Guwahati, Assam - 781006. 

Email: prasenjitbb@gmail.com

224 Prasenjit Bujar Baruah 

alternative source of credit, presently microfinance 

is also seen as an instrument to 

alleviate poverty. Especially when Md. Yunus 

won the Nobel peace prize, the belief on 

micro-finance as an instrument to eradicate 

poverty increased tremendously. At the same 

time it is also one of the most debated issues 

considering whether micro-finance has the 

capacity or not to eradicate poverty. According 

to the Nobel committee, micro-finance can 

help the poor to come out of poverty, which 

in turn is seen as an important prerequisite to 

establish long lasting peace in the world 

(Nobel Committee, 2006; cited in Hermes et 

al.). Again providing support to the view that 

Micro-finance is an instrument to fight against 

poverty, the UN declared 2005 to be the year 

for micro-finance. The World Micro-Finance 

Summit held in Washington, DC in February 

1997, in its declaration and action plan, among 

other objectives, reaching to the poorest of 

the poor and helping them so that they can 

come out of the grip of poverty was kept as 

the first objective. About the coverage of the 

poor by the programme, one segment of 

literature states that micro-finance programme 

has succeeded in covering the poor (Basu and 

Srivastava, 2005; Murthy et al, 2006), while 

another segment tells that this programme is 

unable to include the poorest of the poor 

(Satish, 2001). About the impact of the 

programme on poverty, one segment of 

literature states that this programme has 

helped the members of Self-Help Groups 

(SHGs) to cross the poverty line (Galab et al, 

2003; Dev et al, 2007; Singha,2000) while 

another segment states about the falling of 

non-poor SHG members into the grip of 

poverty (Dev et al, 2007). According to Vijay 

Mahajan (2005), the amount of loan provided 

by the micro-finance programme to its 

members is so small that it is unable to take 

the members above the poverty line. Bujar 

Baruah (2009) stated that although microfinance 

has emerged as an alternative source 

of credit, it has limited impact on poverty. He 


further states that the loans taken by the 

members from SHGs were mainly for 

consumption purposes. Although some 

investment activities were undertaken by a 

few members, these activities were such that 

they are unable to provide them full 

employment opportunities or enable them to 

cross the poverty line. Moreover, this paper 

stated that a large number of SHGs were going 

to be closed. Thus from the existing literature, 

it is not clear about the impact of microfinance 

on poverty. The main argument against 

micro-finance as an instrument to alleviate 

poverty is that this programme provides too 

small amount of loans to the borrowers that is 

unable to take them above the level of 

poverty. But along with the amount of credit, 

information about the utilisation of credit is 

also important to comment on its impact on 

the level of poverty. At the same time queries 

arise in mind about the causes of the closure 

of SHGs, at the time when micro-finance is 

considered as an instrument to alleviate 

poverty. This paper tries to analyse the nature 

of loans taken by the members of SHGs and 

also find out the causes of the closure of the 

SHGs. Thus, there are two objectives covered 

in this paper. 

This paper studies the loans taken by the 

members from Self-Help Groups and it tries to 

examine the causes of closure of SHGs. 

Methodology 

Study Area : The present study was 

conducted in the Borigog-Banbhag 

Development Block of Nalbari district, Assam. 

Nalbari is one of the relatively backward 

districts in the State. It is assumed that perhaps 

SHGs can play a major role to fulfil the credit 

needs of the people of this area. Moreover, 

this district is familiar to the researcher. This 

district has thus been purposively selected for 

the study. 

Data Source : This study is based on 

secondary as well as primary data. Secondary

Impact of Micro-finance on Poverty : A Study of Twenty Self-Help Groups in ... 225 

data were collected from sources like NSS 

Report, Statistical Handbook of Assam, 

Economic Survey of Assam, various research 

articles and papers, the Block office, Banks and 

NGOs concerned with the promotion of SHGs 

in the concerned area, and internet. 

Primary data were collected by 

conducting a field survey in Borigog- Banbhag 

Development Block of Nalbari district, Assam. 

Data were collected at two stages. At first, 

block officials dealing with the SHGs and NGOs 

concerned, with the formation of SHGs were 

met, and the list of SHGs, those they formed or 

nurtured were collected. Then twenty SHGs 

were selected from these lists to study them 

as saving and credit groups. These twenty SHGs 

were selected using stratified random 

sampling; so that SHGs consisting of people 

from each section of the society could be 

selected. At the second stage, eight out of the 

twenty SHGs were selected to study the credit 

behaviour of the members; i.e., to know about 

the borrowing and utilisation of credit by the 

members. These eight SHGs consist of eighty 

eight members, and data were collected about 

all of them. Schedule/questionnaire were used 

to collect these data. Again to know about 

the causes of the closure of SHGs, focus group 

discussions were held among the members 

of SHGs, and discussions were also conducted 

with the officials of the NGOs. 

About the Self-Help Groups 

Assam is one of the relatively backward 

States of India. According to the Census Report 

2001, Assam with 2.39 per cent of the total 

land of the country has to support 2.6 per cent 

of the total population of the country. The 

density of population in this State is 340 per 

square km as per the 2001 census. As per 

2011 provisional population, Assam's 

population is 31.2 million (2.6 per cent of the 

population of the country) with growth rate 

of population during 2001-11 declined to 

16.93 per cent compared to 18.92 per cent in 


the previous decade. Density of population per 

square km is 397 persons, and sex ratio 

(females per 1000 males) is 954 compared to 

935 in 2001. Assam is still one of the 

industrially backward States. Except the four 

oil refineries, large industries are totally absent 

in the State. Over and above this, Assam still 

remains predominantly an agrarian economy 

where 53 per cent of her total population 

depend on agriculture and allied activities 

(Assam Government, 2006). Moreover, it is 

frequently affected by the occurrence of flood. 

The agricultural sector of this State mainly still 

depends on monsoon, and lower percentage 

of the gross cropped area (13.33 per cent) has 

irrigation facility. Thus, although Assam 

Economy depends on agriculture, the 

condition of agriculture itself is very poor. It is 

assumed that the poor people frequently need 

credit for consumption purposes as well as for 

production purposes. But the data about the 

indebtedness of rural households indicate that 

the percentage of indebted rural households 

as well as the average amount of credit per 

rural household was very low in this State. Thus 

there is a need for an alternative system to 

provide credit to the rural people of this State. 

The literature indicates that the SHG-Bank 

Linkage Programme has emerged as an 

alternative source of credit for the rural people 

all over the country, and also enables the 

members to get income generating assets. In 

Assam too this programme has the potentiality 

to play an active role in the rural areas. It seems 

to be important to have an empirical study 

about the impact of micro- finance on the level 

of poverty of the SHG members in Assam. 

Moreover, only a few studies have been 

conducted in Assam about the Self- Help 

Groups. The present study attempts to have an 

empirical study about the SHGs in Assam. 

Again within Assam, Nalbari is one of the 

relatively backward districts. Up to 2008, the 

registered number of unemployed in the 

district was 97,622, which indicates a high


pressure of unemployment in the district. 

Moreover, the occurrence of flood causes 

huge damage to the agriculture of this district. 

In such a situation where there are lesser 

number of industries available, only selfemployment 

activities undertaken by the 

youth can play a major role. In such a situation, 

the SHGs can play a major role. 

The field survey was made in Borigog 

Bonbhag block of Nalbari district, Assam. In 

this area the block authority is concerned with 

the formation of SHGs under the government 

subsidised credit programme, Swarnajayanti 

Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). According to 

the block authority, up to April, 2009 more 

than one thousand SHGs were formed in this 

particular block. A large segment of them were 

able to complete first grading, and got 

revolving fund amount up to `10,000. Some 

of them are also able to succeed in achieving 

second grading, and have received higher 

amount of credit. 

A number of NGOs are also working in 

this area and concerned with the formation 

and nurturing of SHGs. While conducting this 

study, three NGOs, viz. Weavers Development 

Society (WDS), Nalbari; Gramya Vikash Mancha 

(GVM), Nalbari; and DREAMS, Dhurkuchi were 

met. All these NGOs are concerned with the 

formation and nurturing of SHGs; while 

additionally, WDS and GVM are providing 

micro-credit to the SHGs through their microfinance 

wings. GVM formed 100 SHGs under a 

NABARD sponsored SHG-Bank linkage project, 

and linked them to banks. Additionally, they 

formed 20 SHGs under another project 

sponsored by TATA TRUST. In addition to these 

120 SHGs, it helped a large number of other 

SHGs. It is to be noted that all the SHGs formed 

by GVM are registered at the block under SGSY. 

Thus these groups are also included in the list 

prepared by the block authority. WDS reported 

to form about 300 SHGs, and link them to banks. 

But it was able to give a list of 80 SHGs only. 

DREAMS formed about 25 SHGs. Out of the 20 


SHGs this study covers, nine come under SGSY, 

five formed by WDS, and the rest six were 

formed by GVM under NABARD's SHG-Bank 

Linkage Programme. Again, six SHGs are male 

SHGs, and the rest 14 are female SHGs. 

All the SHGs under study were more or 

less homogeneous considering all the aspects 

like caste, religion, landholdings, etc. Most of 

the SHGs consist of members from single 

religion and caste. Moreover, they are the 

habitants of the same locality. Of course, there 

is a great variety among the members 

according to the level of education. Lesser 

numbers of SHGs under SGSY qualify the norm 

that SHGs should have 70 per cent of members 

from BPL. The SHGs initiated by WDS contain 

lesser members from BPL. Those SHGs initiated 

by WDS are found to be more homogeneous 

than those come under SGSY. Those SHGs 

initiated by GVM contain poorer families but 

they are not the poorest of the poor. 

The monthly savings mobilised by the 

members of the SHGs ranges between ` 20 

to ` 100. Highest nine groups save ` 30 p.m. 

and only one group is saving `100 p.m. The 

cumulative funds with the group also range 

between `1,650 and ` 50,000. Out of the total 

20 SHGs, four SHGs had stopped their savings. 

Of these four groups, three are male SHGs, and 

another is a female SHG. Out of 14 female SHGs, 

13 are continuing saving; only one has stopped 

savings. But in case of the male SHGs, only 

three out of the six SHGs are continuing saving. 

Thus it seems that among SHGs, female is a 

better saver than the male. 

The present amount of lending 

circulated among the members ranges from 0 

to ` 42,000. The zero lending by the SHG 

means that those SHGs had stopped lending 

among the members. The cumulative amount 

of lending by the SHGs is between ` 6,200 

and ` 76,800. One SHG is able to provide the 

cumulative amount of lending at ` 76,800, 

and another one provided ` 72,400. In case of


four SHGs, the cumulative lending is more than 

` 50,000; and in case of other three SHGs, it is 

more than ` 40,000. The cumulative amount 

of loan seems to be directly related to the age 

of the SHG. The cumulative amount of lending 

indicates the huge demand for credit by the 

members. The interest rate on lending ranges 

between 24 and 36 per cent. 

All the SHGs under study have their 

account with the banks; and all the SHGs 

except one have some form of financial 

transactions with banks or MFIs. All the SHGs 

under SGSY got financial help from the 

government either in the form of revolving 

fund or in the form of subsidy with credit. 

Beyond this `10,000 revolving fund, one SHG 

has also qualified for the second grading and 

could get an amount of loan ` 2,50,000 from 

the bank with subsidy of ` 1,25,000. About 

the repayment of loan by the SHGs, the bank 

authority told that the repayment rates of the 

SHGs are more than 90 per cent, which is far 

better compared to that in case of individual 

lending. The WDS and GVM also stated to have 

100 per cent recovery while lending to the 

Self-Help Groups. This point proves the 

effectiveness of the SHGs as an alternative to 

the government subsidised, credit 

programmes; where lower repayment was the 

main problem. 

Out of the 20 SHGs, nine undertook group 

investment activities. But most of the groups 

were unable to make profit from their 

investment activities. Only a few groups were 

making some amount of profit. Actually, the 

SHGs undertook investment activities under 

SGSY only to get subsidised credit; as SHGs 


under SGSY have to undertake some group 

activities to avail of subsidised credit. And 

when they came to know that they would not 

be able to get subsidised credit in future, they 

stopped their activities. Thus, those activities 

were undertaken without any commercial 

motive. Even after starting their activities, they 

did not pay adequate attention to those 

aspects which may be the causes of their 

failure. The important point is that most of 

them measured their profit from investment 

as (Total loan amount- total repayment -other 

costs of credit* + Subsidy). Thus, there was no 

business motive in their investment. Of course, 

a few groups are continuing their activities 

efficiently and have the motive to continue 

those activities irrespective of whether 

getting the subsidised credit or not. Those 

SHGs initiated by WDS need not necessarily 

undertake investment activities; only one of 

those five SHGs undertook investment 

activities. And this group was making some 

amount of profit from the investment. All the 

SHGs initiated by GVM are registered under 

SGSY. Although these groups need to 

undertake investment activities according to 

the rules of SGSY, only two SHGs did it. 

Thus, most of the SHGs were working 

efficiently as saving and credit groups; and a 

few of them stopped their saving and lending 

activities. However, while considering the 

point of group investment it is to be mentioned 

that only a few SHGs seem to have succeeded. 

Borrowing by the Members from SHG 

Basically SHGs are saving and credit 

groups. Initially the NABARD sponsored SHG- 

* These costs include mainly the bribe they have to pay to the bank and block authority to get credit. All 

the SHGs stated that they provided bribe to the bank and block authority. To have the revolving fund of 

`10000 these SHGs provided bribe to the block officials ranging between `500 to `1500. In case of the 

loan of ` 2.5 lakh, the SHG stated to provide bribe of ` 45000 to the block officials and also to the bank 

manager. One SHG gave `60000 to the block authority to get a tractor under flood area relief programme. 

Even when asked to the block officer in charge about it, he did not deny about such type of corruption 

prevailing in the programme. These types of corruption do not have any proof.


Bank Linkage programme was started with the 

motive to provide easier credit facilities to the 

poor who are unable to have credit from the 

formal financial institutions due to lack of 

physical assets to provide collateral. Thus, it 

has emerged as an alternative source of credit 

after the failure of the government sponsored 

subsidised credit programmes to make the 

poor free from the grip of moneylenders. 

Presently along with an alternative source of 

credit, micro-finance is also seen as an 

instrument to alleviate poverty. But the main 

criticism against micro-finance as an 


instrument to alleviate poverty is that this 

programme provides so small amount of credit 

to its clients which is unable to take the poor 

above the poverty line. Thus it is important to 

have an idea about the amount of credit the 

members borrow from the SHG and also have 

an idea about the utilisation of credit. This 

section explains about the borrowing 

behaviour of the members from SHGs based 

on the information collected from the 88 

members of the eight SHGs under study. The 

borrowing behaviour of the SHG's members is 

explained in Table 1. 

Table 1: Borrowing Behaviour of the SHG Members 

Name of the SHG Total No. of Total members Cumulative Interest rate 

members who took Amount of on lending to 

loan Lendings members 

(in `) (per cent) 

Ramdhenu SHG 10 7 45,000 36 

Arunodai SHG 10 6 14,000 24 

Naba MilanSHG 10 10 72,400 36 

Surujmukhi SHG 13 8 16,000 36 

Milanjyoti SHG 10 10 76,800 24 

Rangdhali SHG 10 9 12,000 36 

Shiva Shakti SHG 15 11 30,000 36 

Ujala SHG 10 10 27,350 36 

Total 88 71 2,93,550 - 

Source : Field Study, August, 2009. 

The above Table indicates that out of the 

total 88 members from eight SHGs, 71 

members took loan from the SHGs at least 

once. The rest 17 members never took loans. 

All the members of three SHGs, viz., Milanjyoti 

SHG, Naba Milan SHG and Ujala SHG took loans. 

The cumulative amount of loans provided by 

these SHGs to their members ranges between 

` 12,000 and ` 76,800. The total amount of 

loans provided by these SHGs is ` 2,93,550. 

Among the SHGs Milionjyoti SHG provided 

highest amount of loans to its members; 

followed by Naba Milan SHG. The lowest 

amount of loan is provided by Rangdhali SHG; 

followed by Arunodai SHG. Presently Arunodai 

SHG has stopped its lending activities. The


cumulative amount of loan provided by the 

SHG is directly related to the age of the SHG. 

The size of the single loans ranges between 

` 100 and `15,000. The rate of interest on 

these loans ranges between 24 and 36 per 

cent. Some members of Milanjyoti SHG took 

loan also from the micro-finance wings of GVM 

at the rate of interest 18 per cent. 

During the study it was seen that many 

members of the SHGs took loans from outside 

the SHG. It was seen that the members went 

to the SHGs when they needed smaller 

amount of loans; but for higher amount of 

loans, still they go either to the moneylenders 

or to the banks. The loans taken from outside 

the SHG seemed to be taken for some 

specialised purposes, while most of the loans 

from the SHGs were for current consumption 

expenditure or expenditure on current 

productive activities. The rate of interest on 

loans taken from outside the SHGs ranges 

between 36 and 60 per cent. Over time, there 

Table 2 : Distribution of Loans Taken by the Members from SHGs 

Size of the ` 100 to ` 501 to ` 1001 to ` 2001 to >5000 Total No. 

loans ` 500 ` 999 ` 2000 ` 5000 of loans 

No. of 34 28 61 27 4 154 

loans (22.07%) (18.18%) (39.61%) (17.53%) (2.59%) (100%) 

Source : Field Survey, August, 2009. 

Thus from the above Table it is clear that 

the size of 80 per cent of the loans taken by 

the members from the SHGs is less than or 

equal to ` 2000. Out of 154 loans, 22.1 per 

cent fall in ` 100-500 range, only 17.5 per cent 

range between ` 2001-5000. Only four loans 

(2.6 per cent) are above ` 5000 level. Among 

these four loans, the maximum for one person 

` 15,000, and another is of ` 10,000; and the 

other two are slightly above ` 5,000. The 

average size of the loan is ` 1906.17, and the 

average amount of loan per borrower is ` 

4134.50. Thus it is clear from the above 

analysis that the amount of loan provided by 


is a fall in the interest rate on loans provided 

by the moneylenders. This fall in interest rate 

is due to the increase in the number of 

moneylenders, and not due to the presence 

of SHGs. Thus it seems that SHGs have lesser 

and lesser impact on the moneylenders. 

Size of Loans Provided by the SHGs : The 

micro-finance programme is widely criticised 

on the ground that the size of loans this 

programme provides to the clients is too small 

to help them in undertaking any productive 

activities, and finally, unable to help them to 

cross the poverty line. Thus it is important to 

have an idea about the size of the loans this 

programme provides to the clients. Out of the 

88 members of the eight SHGs, 71 took loans 

at least once. There are some members who 

took loans more than four times. Altogether 

154 loans were provided by these eight SHGs 

to the clients. The size of the loans the SHGs 

provided to the members can be seen in 

Table 2. 

the micro- finance programme to its borrowers 

is so small that it can’t help the members cross 

the poverty line. Of course, there should be 

no doubt about the role of micro-finance as 

an alternative source of credit. It is fulfilling 

the small and frequent credit needs of the 

borrowers. 

Utilisation of Credit Taken by the Members 

from the SHGs : Along with the size of the loan, 

it is also important to have an idea about the 

utilisation of loan taken by the members, to 

know about its impact on the economic 

condition of the members.


While talking about the utilisation of loan, 

Debraj Ray (2000) classified the purposes of 

loans into three categories. These are Capital 

Expenditure, Working Capital Expenditure, and 

finally, Consumption Expenditure. According 

to him, Capital Expenditure is that part of 

expenditure made to start up new businesses 

or for large scale expansion of the existing one. 

Working capital includes the ongoing 

production expenditures like raw materials or 

labour cost. Finally, the consumption loans are 

needed to bridge the gap between 

consumption period and income receipt 

period or sometimes due to win fall losses in 

businesses. Here in this study the consumption 

expenditure is divided into two categories. 

One is current consumption expenditure, and 

the other is expenditure on consumer 

durables. Thus while talking about the 

utilisation of credit; here the purposes are 

divided as current consumption expenditure, 

expenditure on consumer durables, current 

production expenditure (working capital 


expenditure), capital expenditure and other 

expenditure. The utilisation of loan itself will 

determine whether micro-finance programme 

is contributing towards poverty alleviation or 

not. If the loan taken from the SHG is invested 

in some productive activity then surely it is 

contributing towards alleviation of poverty. 

Again if the loan is spent on consumer durables 

like houses, then also it is contributing towards 

alleviation of poverty. But simply if the loan 

amount is spent on current consumption, then 

it may deteriorate the economic condition of 

the clients. In case of current consumption, if 

the loan is to link the gap between the 

consumption and income periods then it may 

not deteriorate the economic condition of the 

client, as he will be able to repay the loan from 

his future income. On the other hand, if the 

consumption loan is taken due to lack of 

income, then it will deteriorate the economic 

condition of the client. The structure of 

utilisation of loan is explained in Table 3. 

Table 3 : No. of Loans from SHGs for Different Purposes 

Name of the No. of loans No. of loans No. of loans No. of loans No. of loans Total 

Self -Help for current for Capital for Current for Capital for others No. of 

Group consumption Consumption Production Expenditure purposes Loans 

expenditure Expenditure Expenditure 

Total 55 42 44 8 5 154 

(35.7%) (27.27%) (28.58%) (5.19%) (3.24%) (100.0%) 

Source : Field Study; August, 2009. 

The Table indicates that altogether 55 

loans from SHGs were taken for current 

consumption purposes, i.e., 35.7 per cent of 

total loans were meant for this purpose. 

Current consumption expenditure includes 

mainly the consumption expenditure, medical 

expenditure, educational expenditure on the 

children etc. 

Capital consumption expenditure or 

expenditure on consumer durables mainly 

includes expenditure to build new houses or 

to repair old houses or expenditures on 

marriages etc. Out of the total number of loans, 

42 were taken for the expenditure on 

consumer durables. Thus this head accounts 

for 27.27 per cent of the total loans provided 

by the SHGs. The expenditure on building or 

repairing of houses, definitely contributes 

towards the economic well-being of the poor 

members.


Again out of the 154 loans, 44 were 

taken for current expenditure on production. 

Thus this head accounts for 28.58 per cent of 

the total loans provided by the SHGs to their 

members. Current production expenditure 

includes mainly the expenditure on variable 

inputs of production such as on labour or 

agricultural inputs like fertiliser or seeds. Here 

the group members under study took loans 

for current production expenditure mainly for 

expenditure on agriculture and to buy variable 

inputs for weaving. Some of the members took 

loan to meet the current expenditure in their 

family business, and returned the loan with 

the sales realisation from the investment. Most 

of the members who took loan for agricultural 

expenditure are mainly cultivators and wage 

employed. They repaid the loans from wage 

income; and most of them did not keep any 

record regarding repayment of loans. Those 

female members who took loans for weaving 

repaid the loan either from their family income 

or return from weaving. It is to be noted here 

that current production expenditure seems to 

be the dominant cause of borrowing next to 

the current consumption expenditure. 

Although it is the expenditure for productive 

purposes, it is not able to take a family above 

the poverty line. 

The most important purpose of credit 

taken by the SHG members is the capital 

investment of loan amount. Only such type of 

credit has the capacity to take the poor above 

the poverty line. Capital investment is that 

investment which creates some income 

generating asset for the investor. Thus if the 

credit amount is invested in capital asset, 

there is a future flow of income to the investor. 

And there is little chance for the investor to 

face any problem while repaying the loan, and 

his economic condition will not deteriorate in 

future. Eight loans were taken for capital 

expenditure, made by the members. Thus this 

purpose accounts for 5.19 per cent of the total 

loans the SHGs provided. Thus, this head, which 


is most important for the members to have 

income generating activities accounts only for 

a small amount of the total loans. 

Although these eight members had gone 

for capital investment, the loan did not enable 

most of them to be fully employed. Only one 

woman belonging to the Milanjyoti SHG took 

` 15,000 from that SHG and `10,000 from the 

micro-finance wings of GVM. With that money, 

she started a shop. Additionally, she invested 

` 20,000 from her own. Moreover, most of 

them were doing these as their subsidiary 

business. For example, a woman who bought 

a sewing machine, along with operating the 

machine she also works at the paddy field, and 

does domestic works as housewife. She 

operates the machine hardly for half an hour a 

day on an average. Another one who went for 

micro business left the business when he got 

a temporary job in a government department. 

Thus, it is questionable about the return from 

these investments and how far it will help 

them to be lifted above the poverty line. The 

impact of this programme on the level of 

poverty of the borrowers is thus questionable. 

Closure of Self-Help Groups 

During the field survey it was found that 

a large number of SHGs were closed down. 

The block authority gave a list of SHGs 

registered under SGSY programme. But during 

the field survey it was found that about 70 per 

cent of these SHGs were closed down. But 

officially these are considered working. These 

SHGs have their accounts in the banks. But in 

reality neither they save any money nor they 

provide any loan to the members. All the 

group activities these groups started are no 

longer functioning. Similar is the problem with 

those SHGs started by the Gramya Vikash 

Mancha (GVM). As per the information 

provided by GVM officials, 60 per cent of the 

SHGs they started were closed. Twenty per 

cent are working irregularly and going to be


closed; and only 20 per cent of the SHGs are 

working efficiently as saving and credit groups. 

All these SHGs of GVM were formed under 

NABARD sponsored programme. Again 

although they are closed down, the matter is 

not informed to NABARD, and still NABARD 

takes these groups into account when they 

provide data about the cumulative number of 

SHGs. Thus it raises questions about the success 

of NABARD sponsored SHG-Bank linkage 

programme as well as of Swarnajayanti Gram 

Swarozgar Yojana. In case of the SHGs started 

by Weavers Development Society (WDS), it was 

found that sometimes if such a situation arises 

that some group is going to be closed, the 

WDS’s workers come and discuss about the 

situation with the members, and take possible 

steps. They replace those members who do 

not want to continue with the group with 

some new members. Sometimes it so happens 

that all the existing members are replaced by 

new members. Thus the active presence of 

the WDS’s workers saves these groups. But if 

such a situation arises in a SHG formed under 

SGSY, and those initiated by GVM, that group is 

closed down. 

During this study it was found that the 

main problem with the groups was that the 

SHG members were not aware of the concept 

of Self Help. They did not start the group to 

help themselves. Rather they considered SHG 

as an instrument to have some benefit from 

the government sponsored subsidised credit 

programmes like SGSY. Most of the male SHGs 

were started with this motive; and almost all 

of them are closed down. The story is similar 

to the female SHGs too. The female SHGs were 

started with the motive either to have 

subsidised credit or to utilise their surplus time, 

after completing their works at home. Those 

female SHGs started with the latter motive are 

working properly as saving and credit groups; 

but those SHGs formed with the former motive 

are closed. 


Almost all the SHGs registered under 

SGSY got the revolving fund. After having this 

revolving fund, some of the SHGs were closed. 

Some others tried to have higher amount of 

credit; but when they realised that they will 

not be able to get the same, they wound up 

the group. Some other groups got higher level 

of credit with higher level of subsidy. 

Thereafter when it became clear that they will 

not get any more credit, they closed the SHG. 

Another point to be noted here is that 

although the SHGs are closing down, there is 

another form of saving and credit groups 

continuing with prosperity. These groups are 

popularly known as “Sanchaya” which mean 

saving institutions. These groups are also 

informal groups. The total number of members 

of such groups ranges from 10 to 20 or 30; 

sometimes the maximum number even 

crosses 100. The members monthly save some 

definite amount of money with the Sanchaya 

and lend to the members according to their 

needs. Sometimes they even lend to the 

people outside the Sanchaya. After a specific 

period, they distributed the total funds among 

the members. The Sanchaya may or may not 

have a bank account. The main difference 

between a Sanchaya and a SHG is that the SHGs 

have the option to have credit from the banks, 

while a Sanchaya never applies for a bank loan. 

Again the maximum number of members of a 

SHG is fixed at 20, but there is no such limit in 

case of a Sanchaya. 

It was seen that although a SHG and a 

Sanchaya are more or less similar 

organisations; most of the members of SHGs, 

are leaving the SHGs; but the same members 

generally do not leave a Sanchaya. Here the 

question arises as to why some members leave 

the SHG, but do not leave the Sanchaya. It 

seems to be an area of research. The causes 

behind this may be that generally the 

members of SHGs consider a SHG as a part of


government programme. So they do not give 

much importance to it; and consider it to be 

an instrument to have some benefit from the 

government. But at the same time they 

consider Sanchaya to be their own institution. 

Moreover, they save lesser amount of money 

with the SHG to show themselves to be from 

below the poverty line, so for a person from 

higher income level, the importance of such 

saving decreases. But as there is nothing such 

with Sanchaya, the members save as much as 

they can afford. Thus it is clear that although 

SHGs are not performing well, self-help is 

performing well. 

Conclusion 

The above discussion reveals that as 

saving and credit groups, some of the self-help 

groups are working properly, and some others 

stopped all their activities. As an alternative 

source of credit, although SHGs were able to 

fulfil the credit needs of the members to some 

extent; it was unable to fully satisfy their credit 

needs. The amount of loans provided by SHGs 

to their members is so small that it can’t help 

the members to fight against poverty. 

References 


Moreover, the loans taken by the members 

from the SHGs are mainly for consumption 

purposes, and for expenditure on consumer 

durables. Although some capital investments 

took place, these are not of that kind that can 

help the members to cross the poverty line. 

Moreover, it was seen that a large number of 

SHGs are closed down or going to be closed. 

But at the same time Sanchaya, another type 

of saving and credit group is working properly. 

Thus there is the failure of SHGs, but not the 

failure of self-help. 

It is clear from the above discussion that 

to be able to enable the members to fight 

against poverty, self-help groups should 

provide larger amount of loans to the members. 

More and more loans should be provided to 

the SHGs by the formal financial institutions 

for on-lending. Moreover, the most important 

point is that to be a successful programme, 

the members of the SHGs need to be 

educated about the concept of self-help, and 

the pattern of working must be demonstrated 

through exposure to successful groups in 

nearby areas. 

1. Basu, Priya and Srivastava (2005), 'Scaling-Up Micro-finance for Rural Poor', Policy Research 

Working Paper 3646, The World Bank, South Asia Region, Finance and Private Sector 

Development Unit, June, 2005. 

2. Bujar Baruah, Prasenjit (2008), 'Self-Help Group and Asset Creation : A Case Study of Deharkuchi 

Gaon Panchayat of Nalbari District, Assam', M. Phil. Dissertation, Submitted to Department of 

Economics, University of Hyderabad, August, 2008 (Unpublished). 

3. Bujar Baruah, Prasenjit(2009), "Self-Help Group and Asset Creation : A Case Study of Deharkuchi 

Gaon Panchayat of Nalbari District, Assam", The Micro-finance Review, Vol.1, No.1, Journal of the 

Centre for Micro-finance Research, Bankers Institute of Rural Development, Lucknow, January- 

June. 

4. Dev S. Mahendra, Galab S. and Ravi C. (2007), 'Indira Kranthi Patham and Poverty Reduction in 

Andhra Pradesh', International Conference on Andhra Pradesh Experience with Membership- 

Based Organisations of Poor, June 5-6, 2007; Organised by Centre for Economic and Social 

Studies, Hyderabad, India


5. Galab, S., Rao N. Chandrasekhar (2003), 'Women's Self Help Groups, Poverty Alleviation and 

Empowerment', Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.38, No.12 & 13, March, 23-29, Pp.1274-1283. 

6. Government of Assam (2006), 'Statistical Hand Book of Assam, 2006', Directorate of Economics 

and Statistics, Government of Assam, Guwahati. 

7. Hermes, Niels and Lensink Robert (2007), "Impact of Microfinance : A Critical Survey", Economic 

and Political Weekly, February-10, 2007. 

8. Mahajan Vijay (2005), 'From Micro Credit to Livelihood Finance', Economic and Political Weekly, 

October 8. 




CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH 

WOMEN GROUPS 

ABSTRACT 

Structured efforts for women empowerment and poverty alleviation should 

involve capacity building of the targeted group parallel to the provision of economic 

means to them. The Self-help Groups (SHGs) formed nation-wide for the 

empowerment of poor women pool small savings of their members to begin with 

and supplement the financial requirement of the members by associating with banks 

and other financial institutions. To enable the group members to handle micro-credit 

with care, manage micro-enterprises, and involve in social and political activities with 

confidence, capacity building programmes of varied nature are inevitable. The paper 

examines the capacity building programmes undertaken through women groups in 

Kerala by Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM), launched by 

the Government of Kerala, India. 

Introduction 

Empowerment of women constituting 

nearly fifty per cent of the population in India 

has been considered as an important issue 

seeking remedies through varied means. 

Women Reservation Bill to remedy political 

backlog among women and formation of Selfhelp 

Groups throughout the country aiming at 

social and economic empowerment of 

women, especially poor women, have been 

well appreciated as significant movements in 

this direction. The poor women are deprived 

of capabilities to lead the kind of lives they 

value, to be free of fear and able to express 

themselves. Therefore, any form of 

empowerment of poor women demands basic 

awareness and literacy from the part of target 

groups on different fields of normal life. 

Moreover, identification, training and 

Santhosh Kumar S.* 

sharpening of skills possessed by the groups 

also assume significance. Therefore, capacity 

building is a prerequisite for any genuine 

practical empowerment of poor women in the 

country. Capacity building, in a sense, is the 

process of equipping the individuals to 

improve their skills, knowledge and access to 

information, which enable them to perform 

effectively. For poor women capacity building 

is intended to inculcate basic awareness on 

financial, social, environmental and law related 

concepts. It may also include training of poor 

women to run micro ventures and its basic 

accounts keeping. 

Capacity Building 

In general terms, ‘capacity building’ is a 

process or activity that improves the ability of 

a person or entity to carry out the stated 

* Associate Professor, Post Graduate and Research Department of Commerce, St. Peter’s College, 

Kolenchery, Ernakulam, Kerala, India.

236 Santhosh Kumar S. 

objectives. The existing body of literature 

presents a wide range of definitions for 

capacity building and also many arguments for 

why capacity building is important. Capacity 

building often refers to assistance that is 

provided to entities, usually societies in 

developing countries, which have a need to 

develop certain skills or competence, or for 

general upgrading of performance ability. 

Capacity building enhances the ability and 

skills at the individual level to realise their full 

potential and live a more happy and 

meaningful life. The United Nations 

Development Programme (UNDP) defines 

capacity building as, ‘the creation of an 

enabling environment with appropriate policy 

and legal frames, institutional development, 

including community participation (of women 

in particular), human resource development 

and strengthening managerial systems. The 

UNDP also recognises that capacity building 

is a long-term, continuing process in which all 

stakeholders participate’ (ministers, local 

authorities, nongovernmental organisations 

and water user groups, professional 

associations, academics and others). As a 

process that improves the ability of a person, 

group, organisation or system to meet its 

objectives or to perform better, capacity 

building initiatives are all the way important 

for sustainable development. 

Evidently, capacity building is closely 

related to empowerment. Brews (1994) rightly 

observed, if empowerment is the value, then 

capacity building is the content. Empowerment 

is a process to gain strength, confidence and 

vision to work for positive changes in life. 

Women groups functioning in the third world 

countries like India and Bangladesh are 

embraced with the key word empowerment 

to remedy the poverty and poor condition of 

women. Different measures for poverty 

alleviation and empowerment could catch the 

desired result only if the target group is 

equipped to receive the different inputs for 

empowerment with reasonable amount of 


confidence, background knowledge and 

positive attitude. Training programmes are 

nowadays the popular means among the 

women groups in these countries for capacity 

building. Imparting awareness, skills and 

knowledge through training programmes 

along with other economic provisions have 

been given more thrust today especially in 

developing nations as part of empowering 

poor women to bring them to the mainstream. 

Review of Literature 

Domestic and international studies on 

capacity building at the institutional level are 

many, but at the community level are rare 

especially studies relating to the poor women. 

Therefore, search for a gap in the available 

literature is not meaningful. However, the 

available literature can pave ways for 

proceeding with tentative assumptions 

regarding the capacity building process in 

general. Moreover, conceptualisation of 

‘capacity building’ by reviewing existing 

literature better convey the process of building 

capacity. Some of the relevant studies on 

capacity building are reviewed below. 

Brown and others (2001) in their report 

“Measuring Capacity Building” review the 

current knowledge and experiences from 

ongoing efforts to monitor and evaluate 

capacity building interventions in the 

population and health sector. The report 

pursues a review of current approaches to 

measuring capacity and the effects of capacity 

building interventions, develops a working 

definition of capacity building and a conceptual 

framework for mapping capacity. 

Mayer (1995) in his work “Building 

Community Capacity: The Potential of 

Community Foundations” describes that a 

variety of community groups and institutions 

contribute to community capacity. Each 

community group or institution is a potential 

partner in the work of strengthening the 

viability and vitality of communities. The

Capacity Building Through Women Groups 237 

author establishes that, in partnership, each can 

gain in capacity. 

Ofei-Aboagye (2000) in his seminar paper 

titled “Promoting the Participation of Women 

in Local Governance and Development: The 

Case of Ghana” describes the initiatives in 

Ghana to promote the participation of women 

in local governance and the role of the 

European support. Local governance is 

interpreted as the active involvement of the 

local population within the territorial 

boundaries of a local government in ensuring 

improved quality of service and leadership at 

the local government level. It includes greater 

participation by civil society in decisionmaking 

processes and involves consensusbuilding 

and civic awareness. In view of this, 

the paper focuses on efforts to increase 

women’s participation as councillors and as 

well as initiatives to enhance the involvement 

of women and women groups in decisionmaking, 

requiring accountability and accessing 

support from local governments. It also 

presents interventions promoted through local 

governments to reduce poverty and promote 

socio-economic development targeted at 

women and seeking to bridge gender gaps 

and the European support in these efforts. 

The ILO (2006) report, “Building 

Entrepreneurial Capacity for Returnee and 

Refugee Women in Angola and Mozambique” 

describes the activities being implemented to 

resettle and reintegrate the returnees from 

neighbouring Zambia through capacity 

building. Creation of the right conditions for 

starting various income-generating activities 

at the community level has been discussed in 

the report. The report includes the findings 

from the economic mapping exercise; a 

description of the capacity-building process 

that was facilitated by the ILO. 

Kudumbashree and Capacity Building 

Beginning from the mid-eighties of the 

past century, provision of micro-credit has 


become a key strategy for poverty alleviation 

and women empowerment in Kerala, India. 

Women have begun to organise themselves 

into Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) or Self- 

Help Groups (SHGs) to free themselves from 

the clutches of usurious moneylenders and 

perennial poverty. “Kudumbashree”, the State 

Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM), was 

launched by Government of Kerala in 1998 

with the active support of Government of India 

and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural 

Development (NABARD) for wiping out 

absolute poverty by 2008. Within a span of ten 

plus years, Kudumbashree could bring about 

considerable change in the lives of women in 

Kerala by converging resources, ideas and 

programmes. About forty lakh women in the 

State have been organised into nearly 2 lakh 

grassroot level NHGs. Apart from thrift 

mobilisation and informal banking, the mission 

has given birth to vibrant micro-enterprises 

making women owners of these units. 

Kudumbashree views micro-enterprise 

development as an opportunity for providing 

gainful employment to the people below 

poverty line and thereby improving their 

income and living standard. 

Kudumbashree is a three-tiered 

hierarchial system of organisation. At the 

lowest level are the neighbourhood groups 

(NHGs), same as self-help groups (SHGs). These 

groups are then federated at the ward level 

into Area Development Societies (ADS). The 

highest level is the Community Development 

Society (CDS). Although all women in the State 

are eligible to participate with NHGs, only 

those members who are considered to be 

below the poverty line (BPL) are eligible to 

receive financial incentives. This programme 

has cut across the ideological divide and 

women have truly been empowered using the 

Kudumbashree model of poverty eradication. 

Since the women who had not been involved 

in any activities, home bound and shy to 

interact with outsiders turned out into more


confident and articulate decision makers, the 

programme has been found very effective. 

Even though the primary objective of 

Kudumbashree is to bring down the poverty 

by improving the status of poor women, 

empowerment of women through all possible 

means were given no less importance. 

Attainment of these objectives necessitates 

building up of the required amount of skill, 

knowledge and decision making power 

among poor women. Kudumbashree conducts 

various capacity building programmes for the 

benefit of its members to develop the skill 

and knowledge of group members. The 

present study is a micro attempt to assess the 

effectiveness of different capacity building 

training programmes of Kudumbashree on a 

Gram Panchayat level. 

Methodology 

The study is descriptive in nature 

pursuing into the assessment of the 

effectiveness of capacity building training 

programmes covering financial literacy, law 

literacy, accounts keeping and entrepreneur- 

Table 1 : Sample Selection Process 


ship of Kudumbashree based on the opinion 

of members of NHGs of Aikkaranadu Gram 

Panchayat in Ernakulam district, Kerala. The 

population for the study comprises all the 

members of NHGs of Kudumbashree in 

Aikkaranadu Gram Panchayat in Ernakulum 

district. The details of determination of sample 

size, selection of sample, constructs and 

variables for measurement, data collection and 

data analysis follow. 

a) Determination of Sample Size : The 

population for the study is the 1120 members 

of NHGs in Aikkaranad Gram Panchayat of 

Eranakulam district. A sample size (n) of 60 

respondents from the finite population is 

determined by the formula; 

Where; N = Size of population (i.e. 1120); 

n = Size of sample; Z is confidence level at 5 

per cent i.e. 1.96; σ 2 = estimate of standard 

deviation of population i.e. 0.19893; e = 

acceptance level of sampling error i.e. 5 per 

cent. 

Selection of Wards Selection of NHGs Selection of Respondents 

4 Wards 12 NHGs 60 women members 

(out of the 14 Wards) (3 each from each Ward) (N + S) n* 

Ward Number Total No. No. of NHGs Total No. No. of 

of NHGs Selected of Members Members 

in Selected Selected 

NHGs 

Ward 2 7 3 42 16 

Ward 5 6 3 36 14 

Ward 7 4 3 38 14 

Ward12 7 3 43 16 

Total 24 12 159 60 

Note : * denotes, N = Number of members in each of the selected NHG; S = Total number of 

members in all the selected NHGs; n = Sample size determined.


b) Selection of Sample Units : The sample 

size of 60 respondents was selected at random 

from among the 1120 members of the 84 NHGs 

spread among the 14 wards in the Panchayat. 

The multi-stage selection process is given in 

Table 1. Members having at least 2 years of 

experience with NHGs were included in the 

sample. 


c) Constructs and Variables for 

Measurement : The constructs measuring the 

effectiveness of training programmes are 

shown in Table 2. Altogether, a set of 13 

variables was used to measure the 

effectiveness of training programmes given 

to members of the NHGs. The responses of 

the members are anchored on a three- point 

scale (Likert Type Scale.) 

Table 2 : Constructs and Variables for Measurement 

Constructs No. of Description Response Scale 

Variables of Variables Anchors 

A. Financial literacy training 13 1. Contents of training 

2. Daily timing 

3. Communication & 

Presentation of trainer 

4. Interest & Involvement 

5. Quality of study material 

6. Physical facilities in place 

7. Applicability in usual life 

8. Accommodative number 

of participants 

9. Sufficiency of duration 

of training. 

10. Scope for involvement 

of trainee 

11. Scope for increasing 

knowledge and skill 

12. Scope for increasing 

confidence level 

13. Leisure facilities in 

place of training 

B. Law literacy training 

C. Accounts keeping training 

D. Entrepreneurship Development training 

Low to High 

(3 point Likert 

type scale)


Profile of Sample Respondents 

Table 3 : Profile of Respondents 

S.No. Profile Frequency Per cent 

1 Age of Respondents(Yrs) 40 – 45 5 8.3 

46 – 50 25 47.7 

51 – 55 26 43.3 

55 -60 4 6.7 

Total 

Average age 50.6 

60 100 

2 Years of Association with NHG 1-5 4 6.7 

6-10 56 93.3 

Total 60 100 

3 Education Below SSLC 35 58.3 

SSLC 25 41.7 

Total 60 100 

4 Marital Status Married 39 65 

Widowed 21 35 

Total 60 100 

5 Number of Members in the Family 4 27 45 

5 33 55 

Total 60 100 

6 Prime Earning Member of Family Herself 6 10 

Husband 48 80 

Others 6 10 

Total 60 100 

7 Occupation Daily Labour 30 50 

Agriculture 15 25 

Small trade 5 8.3 

No Occupation 10 16.7 

Total 60 100 

8 Officiating Capacity Volunteer 33 55 

Non- volunteer 27 45 

Total 60 100 

Source : Author’s Data. 



d) Data Collection and Analysis : The 

primary data required for the study were 

collected using a structured interview 

schedule. Tools like percentage and weighted 

average were used for analysis. Student’s ttest 

(one sample t- test) was used to test the 

hypotheses. Equal weight was given to each 

of the variables assessing effectiveness. 

e) Hypothesis : The Financial Literacy 

Training programme, the Law Literacy Training 

programme, the Accounts Keeping Training 

programme and the Entrepreneurship 

Development Training programme of 

Kudumbashree possess “moderate 

effectiveness”. 

Moderate Effectiveness: is a condition that 

the mean value of the summated score of the 

opinion of the respondents on attributes 

assessing the effectiveness of each training 

programme being equal to the central value 

of the expected score (i.e. 2). 


The results of the analysis of the views 

expressed by the respondents regarding the 

different training programmes of 

Kudumbashree are given in Table 4. The mean 

score of each variable against each of the 

training programme and the summated mean 

score of the thirteen variables against each 

training programme exceptionally report that 

the training programmes are effective. The 

summated mean scores on effectiveness are 

2.68, 2.66, 2.66 and 2.67, respectively for the 


financial literacy training, legal literacy 

training, accounts keeping training and 

entrepreneurship development training 

programmes. The students’t test results 

obtained by comparing the summated mean 

score of each of the training programmes with 

hypothetical mean value, i.e. 2 (central value 

of the three-point scale) confirms that all the 

training programmes have above moderate 

effectiveness. All the thirteen variables have 

been rated by the respondents without giving 

any scope for hesitation regarding the 

effectiveness of the programmes. 

Conclusion 

Kudumbashree in Kerala endeavours 

many efforts, both direct and indirect, for the 

alleviation of poverty and empowerment of 

women in Kerala. As part of equipping 

members of the women groups (i.e. NHGs) to 

handle micro-credit with care, manage microenterprises, 

and involve in social and political 

activities with confidence, capacity building 

programmes of varied nature are periodically 

undertaken by Kudumbashree. The present 

study, based on the opinions of the members 

of the NHGs, clearly reveals that all the training 

programmes have been assigned with “above 

moderate ratings” regarding its effectiveness. 

This is a strong indication that the training 

programmes could achieve their objectives to 

a great extent. Therefore, these types of 

training programmes to the members of 

women groups will serve as a support to the 

noble goal of poverty alleviation.


Table 4 : Mean Scores of Training Programmes 

S.No. Variables Mean Score 


FLT* LLT* AKT* EDT* 

1 Course Contents 2.83 2.72 2.68 2.83 

2 Daily Timing 2.61 2.52 2.5 2.48 

3 Communication & Presentation of Trainer(s) 2.83 2.82 2.72 2.71 

4 Interest and Involvement of Trainer(s) 2.52 2.47 2.48 2.48 

5 Quality of Study Material 2.47 2.5 2.46 2.56 

6 Applicability in Usual Life 2.93 2.86 2.91 2.81 

7 Accommodative Number of Participants 2.53 2.45 2.45 2.52 

8 Sufficiency of Duration of Training 2.51 2.56 2.56 2.55 

9 Scope for Involvement of Trainees 2.61 2.52 2.78 2.68 

10 Scope for Increasing Knowledge and Skill 2.85 2.88 2.86 2.88 

11 Scope for Increasing Confidence Level 2.87 2.86 2.86 2.85 

12 Physical Facilities in the Training Place 2.68 2.72 2.27 2.6 

13 Leisure Facilities in the Training Place 2.76 2.78 2.76 2.75 

Summated Mean Score 2.68 2.66 2.66 2.67 

* FL – Financial Literacy Training; LLT – Law Literacy Training; AKT – Accounts 

Keeping Training; EDT – Entrepreneurship Development Training. 

Source : Author’s Data. 

Table 5 : One Sample Students t Test Results 

Constructs N Mean Std. t df P value 

Deviation 

Financial Literacy Training 60 2.68 .13276 40.095 59 0.000 

Law Literacy Training 60 2.6671 .13644 37.870 59 0.000 

Accounts Keeping Training 60 2.6641 .13802 37.272 59 0.000 

Entrepreneurship 

Development Training 

60 2.6718 .13500 38.545 59 0.000 

Source : SPSS results computed from Author’s data.


References and Select Bibliography 

1. Anand, J. S. (2002), Self-Help Groups in Empowering Women : Case Study of Selected SHGs and 

NHGs - Discussion Paper No. 38, Thiruvananthapuram, Centre for Development Studies. 

2. Beatriz Armendáriz de Aghion, J. M. (2000), Microfinance Beyond Group Lending, The Economic 

Transition, 401-420. 

3. Bhatnagar, A. (2008), Rural Microfinance and Microenterprises - Informal Revolution Overview, 

In Bhatnagar, Rural Microfinance and Micrenterprises - Informal Evaluation, New Delhi : 

Concept Publishing Company. 

4. Brews, Alan (1994), The Capacity Building Debate, Mulbery Series, Olive (Organisation, 

Development and Training), 23 Acacia Road, Glenwood, Durban, 4001. 

5. Brown, L., LaFond, A., & Macintyre, K. (2001), Measuring Capacity Building, Chapel Hill, University 

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

6. Ghate, P. (2006), Micro Finance in India - A State Sector Report. 

7. Ghate, P. (2006, May 18), State Assault on Micro-finance, New Delhi, Economic Times. 

8. ILO. (2006), Building Entrepreneurial Capacity, ILO. 

9. Kerala, G.o. (2004), Economic Review, Thiruvananthapuram, State Planning Board. 

10. Kerala, G.o. (2007), Economic Review, Thiruvananthapuram, State Planning Board. 

11. Mayer, S. E. (1995), Building Community Capacity, The Potential of Community Foundations. 

Minneapolis, Rainbow Research. 

12. Ofei-Aboagye, E. (2000, October March 8), Promoting the Participation of Women in Local 

Governance. 

13. Pathak, N. (2004), Operating Expenses in Micro Finance, Sa-Dhan. 

14. Punnoose, A. (2008), Micro Finance Scenario in Kerala, Southern Economist. 

15. Thurman, E. (2007, November 8), Microcredit is Effective for Women in Self-employment, The 

Hindu Business Line. 

16. Vasudevan, P. (2009, January 3), Microfinance Needs Regulated Growth, The Hindu Business Line. 


Book Journal Reviews of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. (2) pp. 245 - 256 

245 


Social Relevance of Higher Learning 

Institutions, by Prof. G. Palanithurai, Concept 

Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, Price ` 550. 

The author, a self-proclaimed watcher of 

the higher education scenario in the country, 

has done well to compile his articles on higher 

learning institutions in India which have 

reflected on his varied experiences gained 

from various assignments he took in India and 

briefly in Germany and Canada. 

Most would agree that not only the 

higher education, but education itself is in great 

mess today. The crass commercialisation of 

education has been the major, but not the sole, 

reason for taking it to such low depths. 

The author dwells on the opportunities 

provided by globalisation in economy which 

calls for creating large competent manpower. 

With the increase in the number of institutions 

of higher learning, the number of passed out 

students has been increasing, but in this race, 

quality is the worst sufferer. 

India has been, through ages, known for 

its superior education system which was 

emulated widely. However, in view of our 

belief that whatever is done in West is superior 

and must be copied here. So, instead of 

bringing out superior manpower, our 

universities are churning out graduates and 

post-graduates whose quality, to say the least, 

is questionable. They are definitely literate, 

but are they educated ? While our graduates 

should be worthy of market requirement, 

many of them should also become thinkers, 

poets, artists, scientists, technologists and 

above all outstanding teachers. But, is it 

happening ? The answer would be a big NO ! 

There could not be any argument against 

the entry of private sector in education. But it 

BOOK REVIEWS 


should not be seen as a mere business 

opportunity for making huge profits through 

huge capitation fee (especially in medical 

colleges) and high tuition fee right from 

Nursery classes. The argument that the quality 

comes at a cost is taken but should this socalled 

quality manifest in terms of showing 

buildings and infrastructure alone but also in 

helping the student to grow up the knowledge 

ladder smoothly. Further, it should also not 

happen that their doors should be shut on the 

resource poor children. It has also been 

observed that many medical colleges who 

charge unimaginable capitation and tuition 

fees, often lack the required learning 

infrastructure in terms of faculty and labs/ 

operation theatres etc. The author argues in 

favour of education being either in Central or 

State level but not in concurrent list. This needs 

to be debated. 

In Chapter 3, the author describes about 

the system and stakeholders in higher 

education. There is a plethora of stakeholders 

which obviously gives birth to plethora of 

problems. There is a need to put in place an 

effective and responsive system which would 

not only remove the anomalies but will also 

take the higher education system forward. 

Like any other sector, education sector is 

becoming very important in rural socioeconomic 

scenario. But for the sector to be 

effective and responsive, the people have to 

develop strong stake rather than simply being 

bystanders. If the rural life has to be rescued 

from present misery, education, especially 

higher education, has to play an important 

role. For this to succeed, the academics and 

scholars have to pay more attention to the 

knowledge generation, application and 

transmission with specific aim of changing rural 

society. Further, the role of Panchayati Raj

246 Book Reviews 

institutions and NGOs also is highlighted to 

join the force. In this effort, supreme care has 

to be taken to maintain high standards, second 

to none. 

The government often loudly expresses 

its intent to create World Class institutions of 

higher learning. But more serious efforts will 

be needed to realise the dream of every Indian 

(rich or poor) to be educated and possibly 

obtain graduation. The youth, especially rural 

youth, who should become the nuclei of rural 

development and empowerment process, 

should be prepared for the important job of 

rural transformation and governance. A lot of 

important tasks like education, health, 

infrastructure, food and nutritional security are 

waiting for the competent youth to manage. 

Our institutions of higher learning should be 

prepared to create this critical mass. 

The author is a prolific writer of books, 

articles etc., and has genuine interest in curing 

the ills of higher education. His critique on 

the ongoing system is quite incisive. The book 

is good reading and should be of interest to all 

those whose heart is in this area and who 

dream to clear the augean stables with the 

fastest pace. 

– Dr. S.M. Ilyas 

Economic Liberalisation and Indian 

Agriculture : A District Level Study, by 

Bhalla, G.S. and Gurmail Singh, 2012, Published 

by SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd., B1/I-1 

Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Mathura 

Road, New Delhi - 110 044, (India), pp. 360, ` 

795 (Hardback). 

The book under review is an outcome of 

a research study conducted by the authors on 

'Growth of Indian Agriculture : A District Level 

Study' to update the district-wise data from 

1990-93 to 2003-06 with a view to comparing 

the performance of agriculture during the 

post-liberalisation period from 1990-93 to 

2003-06, with the pre-liberalisation period 

from 1980-83 to 1990-93 and from 1962-65 


to 1980-83. Adopting a comparative analysis, 

the book brings out the spasmodic transition 

of Indian agriculture from pre to post-green 

revolution and the deceleration from pre - to 

post-liberalisation period of over five decades 

consolidated in six chapters. The study was 

carried out in 17 states covering 281 districts 

on 35 crops for a comprehensive discussion 

of the cropping patterns and levels of 

agricultural output at the state and all India 

levels during the reference period. 

After a brief introductory chapter, about 

the methodology adopted in conducting the 

massive study, second chapter is confined to 

the growth and productivity performance of 

agriculture which have been meticulously 

analysed and compared with those of the 

green revolution period. The author explains 

that the long-term (1962-2008) growth rate 

of crop production at 2.46 per cent per annum 

was achieved mainly due to cropped area and 

irrigation expansion in the pre-green 

revolution period. The authors have indicated 

that the pace of growth rate achieved in crop 

production during the green revolution period 

could not be sustained in the post-reform 

period. The decline was on account of a 

slowdown in the expansion of irrigation due 

to the decline in public investment and the 

failure to have fresh breakthrough in 

technology. 

Chapter 3 is devoted to analysis of yield 

levels of all the crops taken together at the 

disaggregated district level. During 1962-65, 

the yield levels in most of the districts in India 

were abysmally low. An analysis of data on 

regional variations at the district level during 

1962-2008 brings out the impact that the 

introduction of new technology has made in 

raising yield levels in various districts. 

Breakthrough in oilseeds technology under 

aegis of the Technology Mission on Oilseeds, 

leading to notable rise in productivity levels 

of oilseeds was noticed during 1980-93. The 

success of the new technology in raising yields 

is intimately related with the use of modern

Book Reviews 247 

inputs like fertilisers, tractors and tubewells. 

Authors have emphasised the need for 

strengthening rural credit institutions for not 

only spreading technological modernisation to 

backward regions, but also enabling small and 

marginal farmers to purchase costly inputs and 

machinery. 

In Chapter - 4, growth rates of output 

and productivity have been analysed for the 

overall reference period. An attempt is also 

made to analyse the association, if any 

between growth rates of output and intensity 

of use of modern farm inputs. There is some 

evidence to believe that agricultural trade 

liberalisation has impacted the cropping 

pattern more than the productivity. It is also 

indicated that trade liberalisation provided 

favourable opportunities for export crops like 

fruits, spices and cotton, it has posed a serious 

challenge in maintaining competitive edge in 

the global market. 

Chapter - 5 analysed the levels and 

growth of agricultural workers’ productivity at 

the state and district levels during the 

reference periods. The regression estimates 

suggest that the prevailing inter-district 

differentials in per worker productivity in 

Indian agriculture can be bridged by 

expanding per worker cultivable land by 

promoting more intensive use of land 

resources, improving education and skill level 

of the rural labour force and the development 

of rural infrastructure such as rural roads and 

agricultural markets in the hitherto lagging 

regions (Bihar, MP, Maharashtra and eastern 

UP). 

The strength of this book lies in the fact 

that it combines theory and practice, tabular 

and econometric techniques, as well as 

statistical measures to analyse significant 

issues related to agriculture in India. This 

volume is of immense benefit to students, 

researchers and practitioners in the field of 

Agriculture Economics. 



Horticulture for Tribal Development, 

by R.N. Hegde and S.D. Suryawanshi, 2011, 

Published by BAIF Development Research 

Foundation, Dr. Manibhai Desai Nagar, Warje, 

Pune – 411 058, Maharashtra (India), pp. 126, 

` 120. 

The book under review is an outcome of 

the work done by BAIF and MITTRA through 

the Adivasi Development Programme, 

Maharashtra (ADPM); which was the basis for 

the doctoral study by Dr. R. N. Hegde. This 

doctoral research is the basis for bringing out 

this document in the form of book with 10 

chapters. The book describes the tribal 

situation in India, policies and government 

programmes for tribal development, 

importance of horticulture with regard to food 

security, economic prosperity and mitigating 

global warming. The authors have attempted 

to analyse the project concept, design and 

process of development in converting 

degraded lands into lush green orchards by 

small farmers. Further, the results of various 

impact assessment studies conducted by 

various academicians and research scholars on 

agri-horti-forestry (Wadi) approach have been 

documented. 

The authors have laid emphasis on 

introducing the subject to the readers with 

tribal profile, development issues, culture and 

heritage, Nehru’s vision of tribal conservation, 

historical perspectives and policies, tribal 

education and hostel facilities, tribal 

development programmes and their 

implementation and Central and state plans. 

They have also discussed about the major 

organisations involved in tribal development 

such as National SC and ST Financial and 

Development Corporation (NSFDC), National 

Scheduled Tribe Financial Development 

Corporation (NSTFDC), Large Sized Multi- 

Purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS), Tribal 

Research Institutions, Tribal Cooperative 

Marketing Development Federation of India 

(TRIFED).


Authors have focused on horticulture 

development to address the multiple 

challenges of ending poverty, improving 

nutrition and sustaining rural communities in 

the tribal areas. They have discussed various 

issues of Horticulture in India, production 

features of horticulture and reasons for BAIF 

model replicability. 

In the third chapter, BAIF genesis is 

discussed at length. Further, they presented 

the history of orchard (Wadi) development 

with emphasis on wasteland development, 

food security during gestation, women 

empowerment, timeline on evolution of the 

orchard (Wadi) and status of orchards in six 

States viz., Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, 

Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. 

In the fifth chapter, authors have 

presented the Wadi project concept and 

design with details on activities for orchard 

programme and development intervention for 

the entire tribal community including micro 

watershed development, value addition and 

market linkages and demystification of 

technology for adoption (with checklist of 

year-wise activities). 

Authors have emphasised on planning 

for gainful employment through cluster 

approach, evolution of BAIFs approach such as 

process of micro-level planning with technoeconomic 

parameters of fruit crops, capacity 

building and micro credit disbursal and 

repayment facilities. In the seventh chapter, 

six success stories have been discussed. 

Considering the global experiences, BAIF 

has initiated building grassroot institutions for 

sustainability. Formation of people’s 

organisations and Self-Help Groups, their stagewise 

development are discussed with 

reference to BAIF Model. 

The approaches discussed above are 

location specific and would offer deep insight 

to extension development for effective 

transfer of technology in wasteland 


development programmes. This is 

recommended for students, field 

demonstrators, extension officials and 

researchers. 


Women Empowerment through 

Literacy Campaign : Role of Social Work 

by Jaimon Varghese, Concept Publishing 

Company Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, Pages 294, Price 

` 750. 

Participation in the literacy campaigns 

is a challenge for the literacy workers. Despite 

active participation and involvement in the 

literacy campaigns, if the literacy workers 

engaged in the advocacy of literacy 

programmes are not empowered, all efforts 

to affect a literacy programme would be a 

futile exercise. In this publication the author 

has made substantial efforts to provide an 

understanding on the efforts made to 

empower the women literacy workers who 

were trained by providing ‘Special literacy 

classes’ in the literacy campaign mission before 

spearheading them for the literacy campaigns. 

These classes were provided with a twin 

strategy to improve the capabilities and 

development of the personality of the women 

literacy volunteers as they engage and involve 

in literacy campaigns. 

The author has systematically followed 

the chapterisation of the study by footing in 

eight chapters with an additional chapter on 

conclusion. The first chapter presents the 

status of the women in Rural India while the 

subsequent chapters until chapter five 

constitute the chapters on research 

methodology. Chapter six has eloquently dealt 

with the role of Literacy Work and the process 

of empowerment of the women literacy 

workers. Chapters seven and eight have 

powerfully brought out the problems and 

impact of literacy on the lives of the women 

literacy workers and the participants of the 

National Literacy Campaign. However, through


these chapterisations the author has tried 

vehemently to show that women literacy 

volunteers have been empowered socially, 

economically and politically, in the process of 

being trained for the literacy campaigns. The 

author has resorted to the quantitative 

epistemological findings to study the extent 

of empowerment of women literacy workers. 

Through the various chapters, the author 

has constructed the existing status of women 

and is of the opinion that literacy has not 

contributed to the achievement of 

empowerment. From the discussions in 

phased manner through various chapters it 

emerges that women literacy workers though 

educated and trained in addressing the 

campaigns go through similar restrictions and 

constraints that women in general in the rural 

society undergo. The author also admits that 

the established codes of conduct which are 

potentially exploitative in nature are loud and 

actively followed undisputedly in the rural 

society. The author also opines that there is 

no difference in the gendered discriminatory 

practices while comparing the pre and posttraining 

period. However, there is an enhanced 

social empowerment in terms of decision 

making in household affairs. But in specific 

circumstances especially those that are 

associated with the purchase and ownership 

of property, women’s voices are throttled and 

their representation does not cross the 

boundaries of the house, nevertheless here 

and there spurts of empowerment are seen 

or experienced as voices of very few women 

are heard and considered for owning property 

and gaining registration in their name in the 

study area. 

Apart from socio-economic and political 

empowerment of women literacy volunteers, 

the author sees a remarkable change in the 

personalities of the trained literacy workers as 

they have gained courage to come out of their 

houses and conduct the campaigns and 

gradually in the process, they are accepted as 

leaders. According to the author, the political 


empowerment has been significantly faster as 

there has been a cognitively improved 

participation of women in gram sabha 

meetings. Therefore, the author concludes 

that literacy empowers women and 

unhesitatingly considers this stage as a precondition 

for volunteering for literacy work, 

which built in an assured self-confidence to 

participate in the post-literacy campaigns. The 

other practical outcomes of the participation 

in the campaigns were vivid in terms of the 

enhanced abilities of the women to read, write 

and to do little mathematic, withdrawal from 

observing purdah system, improvement in 

interactions, satisfaction in teaching the 

mothers-in-law which are the visible 

consequences of the participation in the 

campaign and have helped them as they 

campaigned. 

Findings documented by the author on 

the impact of the campaign on the women 

literacy workers and his findings in terms of 

the empowerment of women are more 

generic in nature. These findings supporting 

the decision making powers of women in the 

modern times confining only to the kitchen 

seems to be limited since women have gone 

far ahead from the kitchen empowerment and 

these days are into social and economic 

empowerment. 

By and large, the author of the study has 

followed the usual requirements of the 

research and has established his findings 

systematically by concluding on some relevant 

suggestions. The book has been well organised 

and published by the Concept Publishing 

Company. 

– Dr. G. Valentina 

Development of Special Economic 

Zones in India, Volume 1, Edited by M. 

Soundarapandian, 2012, published by Concept 

Publishing Company, A/15-16, Commercial 

Block, Mohan Garden, New Delhi-110059, pp. 

344, Price ` 2000. 

Few selected papers presented in the 

seminar on ‘The Prospects and Implications of


Special Economic Zones in India’ are edited 

into a book of two volumes and titled as 

‘Development of SEZs in India’. Volume I deals 

with policies and issues of SEZ and Volume II 

analyses impact and implications of SEZs. The 

present volume I is the compilation of 30 

articles which discusses the issues relating to 

Special Economic Zones (SEZs). 

A.Ranga Reddy in his article ‘SEZs – A 

Step for Quality Industrialisation’ presented an 

overview about the SEZ act, its objectives, 

incentives and facilities and benefits offered 

from SEZ and impact of SEZ. He also highlighted 

the controversies against SEZ. 

In the paper on ‘Theoretical 

Understanding of SEZ Strategy in India; a Case 

Study of GMR SEZ of Hyderabad’, the writers 

Tamali Chakraborty and Barun Kumar Thakur 

gave theoretical framework for SEZ and related 

it to the case of GMR SEZ of Hyderabad and 

drawn the similarities in theory and reality and 

drawn a conclusion that SEZ policy negatively 

affects the agriculture and Government has to 

relook its policy. 

Through the article ‘Economic Trends of 

SEZs in India’, K.B. Nidheesh and P. Palanichami 

analysed the secondary data available from 

Ministry of Commerce, India, website to study 

zone-wise the employment trends, export 

contribution and percentage share of FDIs in 

total SEZ investment. It was concluded that 

SEZ policy contributed to the economic 

development of the nation in terms of exports, 

employment and investment from time to 

time. 

A. Chandraprabha in her paper on ‘SEZs 

in India; Problems and Prospects’ presents and 

discusses about the progress and performance 

of the SEZ, rehabilitation and resettlement, 

labour laws, implications and problems and 

challenges in SEZ development etc. 

In the paper on Impact of SEZs on 

Employment in India, S. Natchathira Jothi 

focuses on employment generated through 


SEZs. Author analyses the employment 

generated both in Government as well as 

private SEZs and state-wise distribution of 

employment. He also tried to make an 

assessment about the employment that can 

be generated through upcoming SEZs in India. 

K.Vanitha and D. Kumar in their paper on 

“Special Economic Zones in India- Policy and 

Growth” gave an introduction about the 

objectives, rules, incentives and facilities 

provided to units in SEZ. They discussed in 

detail about the institutional evolution of SEZ. 

In their paper on “Land Resource Conflict 

Resolution - A Study of Indian SEZs, authors 

N.M.P.Verma and Vinit Kumar focus on land 

acquisition for SEZs. 

Through their paper “SEZs - A Theoretical 

Analysis”, M. Balaji Naik and S. Saipogu 

Ramanjaneyulu gave introduction to SEZs with 

special focus on Andhra Pradesh. In the same 

way T. Rajendra Prasad and H. Sudhakara in 

their paper on “Performance of SEZs in India”, 

analysed the performance of SEZs in Andhra 

Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and as 

such overall southern zone in the areas of 

status, land allocation, exports and 

employment provided through SEZs. 

From the paper titled “A Comparative 

Study of SEZ and EPZ’s in India”, authors, P. 

Senthil and S. Asaithambi gave phase-wise 

description of history of EPZs/SEZs in India with 

listing out of relative advantages and 

disadvantages of both types. In the article 

“What are SEZs? Provisions Governing Such 

Zones”, authors, G. Sathis Kumar, S. Ramaswamy 

and G. Kavitha talk of different types of zones 

and some features of SEZs and the gap 

between the ideal and reality. M. Subramanian 

and Karthick Raja in their paper “RAPID Model- 

SEZ : Issues and Strategies” again focus on the 

history of SEZ and some facts and figures about 

SEZs in India.After analysing the issues they 

have come out with strategies for betterment. 

“Tourism as a Potential Sector for Growth 

under SEZ” is a paper by S. Gopalakrishnan,


where the writer gave detailed description of 

the only one SEZ presently in principal 

approved in tourism sector at Himachal 

Pradesh. 

By reading the articles in the book, an 

individual develops knowledge on the issues 

related to the SEZs. But there is lot of repetition 

in the content of the papers as most of the 

authors analysed the secondary data available 

in the website of the Ministry of Commerce 

and Industries. There are very few articles 

based on empirical studies. In many articles 

authors focused on problems of land 

acquisition, challenges that the SEZs face and 

the benefits that the SEZs get from the 

Government etc. The editor of the book should 

have ensured that there is no repetition in the 

content. Overall it is informative and 

readability and presentation is good. However, 

in the overall assessment, this is a good 

resource book on various aspects pertaining 

to SEZ and their impact on people. The present 

volume has great relevance of time to the rural 

development too. 

– Dr. C. Dheeraja 

Bureaucracy and Rural Development 

in Mizoram, by Harendra Sinha, Concept 

Publishing Company Pvt Ltd, New Delhi- 

110059, Published 2012, ` 700. 

The book on Bureaucracy and Rural 

Development in Mizoram has been a fine 

addition to the process of governance and 

related problems in implementation of rural 

development programmes and schemes. 

Though the methodology adopted and 

the findings recorded do not speak anything 

new, not revealed till date by other authors, 

empirical research findings of this kind are 

very rare these days. Any empirical research 

per se, based on primary questionnaires and 

the analysis of data give credence to the 

subject researched upon. 

The book is divided into eight chapters 

with appendices as addendum. The first six 


chapters’ viz. (1) Introduction (2) Bureaucracy 

and Rural Development (3) Democratic 

Decentralisation in Mizoram (4) Bureaucracy 

and Rural Development in Mizoram (5) 

Problems and Prospects of Rural Development 

in Mizoram (6) Block Level Bureaucracy: Their 

Role and Responsibilities — are at best a good 

compilation and collation of existing literature 

- a typical characteristic of many publications 

on Indian Research Studies. Herein the reader 

has the benefits of glancing at a large number 

of references of books, general articles, web 

based information on the theme of 

bureaucracy and rural development. The 

dichotomous views of writers have hardly been 

analysed to give credence to the writer’s own 

understanding of the relevance of quoting 

them. 

The cream of the book is placed at 

chapter eight i.e. “Findings and Suggestions” 

constituting a meagre thirteen pages, followed 

by a preparatory ground work in chapter seven 

i.e. “Assessment of Block Level Bureaucracy”. 

Necessarily these two readings constitute the 

real interests of any kind to the discernible 

subject specialist on grassroots governance 

and related problems in India. 

Though the chapter seven is named as 

“Assessment of Block Level Bureaucracy”, there 

are very few earmarked sentences which 

make any judgement about the bureaucracy 

of four blocks (constituting the study area) 

mentioned above. In a span of nearly four 

pages (P 182-186), there is hardly a sentence 

which makes a critical judgement of Lunglei 

bureaucracy. The author has failed to 

understand the difference between 

compilation of facts and figures and making 

judgement out of the same data. While 

assessing on bureaucracy of Hanhthial block, 

statements like development of transport and 

communication as the most important means 

in achieving development of this mountainous 

block-serve no specific purpose when the 

cause of absence of this is not analysed. 

Stereotype facts like absence of Extension


Officer at the block level in the districts which 

are most backward in India serve no purpose 

without analysing why political will and public 

pressure at large could not be raised to 

mitigate the same issue. Specific spatial 

analysis could have brought out some 

meaning to the research findings. While 

assessing about Bunghmun block the 

stereotype sentences like “Rural artisans 

should be encouraged with marketing 

facilities” (P. 190-191) do not elicit any interest 

to a genuine researcher. Absence of any 

banking facility—highlighted by the writer as 

the only block (i.e. Bunghmun) of this type in 

the country definitely raises the eyebrow of 

the reader, but cause of the same could have 

been elicited from the lead district manager 

Mr. S.K. Bhattacharjee, State Bank of India, 

Lunglei and could have been recorded in the 

research findings. 

‘Neither the snake be killed nor the stick 

be broken’ — the crux of a non-committal 

bureaucracy has been highlighted again in the 

data analysis elaborated in Page 196 to 205. 

Without being answerable or accountable to 

the omission and commission of one’s work 

as a government servant, it hardly matters 

whether the villages benefited from the rural 

development programmes or not, the method 

of selection of beneficiaries, information 

dissemination about rural development 

programmes to the villages, whether or not 

the grassroots bureaucracy visit the villages. 

Non-availability of block functionaries in the 

service of people in motivating and assisting 

the rural folk is nothing new, though the 

respondents’ percentage may vary from block 

to block. Role of village level worker (VLW) is 

equally disheartening in Mizoram which is not 

a significant departure from the national 

scenario. 

One of the most important findings is 

about the role of village councils as described 

in P. 207. In the absence of PR institutions of 

the all India types, the village councils are held 


supreme against the all India guidelines’ 

dictum of putting Gram Sabha as supreme in 

programmes like IAY. With the personal 

interviews by the writer of Mr. K. Lalthlamuna, 

village council president, Thualthu, Lunglei 

block, it is revealed that in the absence of PRI, 

people from the urban area frequently made 

attempts to produce rural residential 

certificates bribing the Presidents of Village 

Councils. 

The last chapter (i.e. chapter eight— 

”Findings and Suggestions”) speaks about 

continuous assessment and evaluations of rural 

development programmes by the 

independent bodies. The writer also suggests 

about five per cent out of the rural 

development funds for research and 

documentation to provide feedback to 

decision makers for better implementation, 

identification of reasons for success and 

failures and possible modifications. The scant 

electronic and print media coverage for the 

issues, problems and prospects for rural 

development programmes in India by the 

writer is not true, though this might be of some 

relevance to Mizoram. After the 

implementation of MGNREGS, hardly a single 

day has been missed out when an inquisitive 

reader didn’t find the coverage of a story in 

any vernacular print media. 

The study by the writer reveals that the 

village councils do not enjoy decision making 

power as in the case of PR institutions. The 

absence of an intermediary body at the block 

level (between the two extremes of district 

council and village council), makes the block 

level bureaucracy overriding the council 

thereby creating a huge gap between district 

councils and village council. 

Lastly with all the limitations as pointed 

out above, the book by Harendra Sinha is a 

valuable addition to the understanding of 

grassroots development functionaries. In 

infrastructurally backward states like Mizoram, 

doing a research work of this kind demands


extraordinary labour and patience which 

makes the reader enthusiastic to read the 

whole book. The language is very lucid and 

can be grasped by any common reader. The 

book will definitely guide the future 

development functionaries in carrying out 

assigned tasks more effectively provided they 

care to take a leaf out of this book. 

– Pradip Kumar Nath 

Rural Development Administration 

in India, by N.Sreeramulu, Serials Publications, 

New Delhi, 2011, pp. 411, ` 1495. 

The book under review is based on 

outcome of the doctoral study aimed to 

investigate rural development administration 

in India, particularly of the dynamics of 

development administration in Andhra 

Pradesh.The author, at large, concentrates on 

existing development administration system 

in Andhra Pradesh, PRIs’ role in planning and 

implementation of various rural development 

programmes, organisation and working pattern 

of administrative system under the PR at the 

District, Mandal Parishad and Gram Panchayat 

levels before and after the introduction of 73rd Constitutional (Amendment) Act in Andhra 

Pradesh; role of the development 

functionaries and the procedures for most 

effective administration etc.The author has 

chosen three districts viz. East Godavari, 

Chittoor and Nalgonda of which one 

development Mandal each was taken as 

sample for his study that covers all three 

regions of Andhra Pradesh. The collected data 

were analysed in the light of the objectives 

using suitable classifications and the available 

data were arranged under different heads and 

sub-heads meaningfully. 

The researcher has organised this book 

into Six Chapters. In the first chapter, he 

provided the background, need and 

importance of rural development, presented 

the brief evolution of the present institutional 

arrangements for rural development 

administration. Also, in general, he provided a 


review of literature on rural development 

administration in the country as a whole and 

Andhra Pradesh in particular. In the second 

chapter, the author discussed the evolution of 

rural development administration in Andhra 

Pradesh, starting with the administrative 

arrangements under Firka Development 

Scheme and Community Development 

Programmes. This chapter also highlighted the 

democratic decentralisation phase – the 

Panchayati Raj, discussed the changes in the 

administrative set-up at three levels – Zilla 

Parishads, Panchayati Samitis and Gram 

Panchayats and the steps taken to strengthen 

the PR system after introduction of the Andhra 

Pradesh Mandal Praja Parishads, Zilla Praja 

Parishads, and Zilla Pranalika Abhivruddi 

Mandals Act 1987. 

By discussing the provisions of the 73rd Constitutional (Amendments) Act and Andhra 

Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, the third 

chapter examined the Gram Sabha at GP level, 

Mandal Maha Sabha at MP level, Zilla Maha 

Sabha at the district level, the composition and 

reservation of seats for the members as well 

as office bearers of GP, MP and ZP etc. This 

chapter also analysed various approaches to 

rural development and indicated the 

programmes undertaken in each of the 

approaches and analysed the performance of 

various rural development programmes. 

The author devoted the fourth chapter 

solely to study the organisational aspects of 

existing arrangements for rural development 

administration at various levels and also 

explained the powers and functions of PRIs, 

elected representatives and other official 

functionaries relating to PRIs at different levels 

specifically to Chittoor district of Andhra 

Pradesh. 

In the fifth chapter, the author analysed 

the responses of officials and non-officials on 

various aspects relating to the organisation and 

working of the rural development 

administration, the relations between officials


and non-officials in the implementation of rural 

development programmes at the district, 

mandal and gram panchayat levels. This 

chapter also provided the views of officials and 

non-officials about the need for coordination, 

the need for finances and their resource 

mobilisation, role of PRIs in the development 

of agriculture, education, role in providing rural 

water supply, role in laying new roads and 

maintaining old roads etc. In the sixth chapter, 

the author presented a summary of findings 

and conclusions, thus drawn, to suggest 

remedial measures for strengthening rural 

development administration in the State of 

Andhra Pradesh. The author also analysed the 

view of the respondents about the importance 

of people’s participation and the need for 

training to all the stakeholders of rural 

development. 

Obviously, this book covers various 

aspects of rural development and 

administration particularly in the State of 

Andhra Pradesh. This volume is very useful for 

research scholars, especially those engaged 

in political science and development 

administration arena, social workers, nongovernmental 

organisations, and other social 

scientists who look forward to impact of rural 

development administration not merely 

confined up to reducing the poverty but also 

reducing the regional imbalances of the 

country. 

– Dr. R. Murugesan 

Land Policies for Inclusive Growth, 

Edited by T. Haque, Published by Concept 

Publishing Company Pvt ltd Pages : 495, Price: 

` 1200. 

Among the four factors of production, 

land is the only factor which is finite and 

limited. Therefore, it is always subjected to 

special treatment in the history of agrarian 

economy in India. Land policies adopted by 

the government have been playing a role in 

providing equitable justice as well as 


enhancing the income of the rural poor. 

However, there have been many controversies 

surrounding the land in the context of its 

distribution as well as acquisition. Tenancy is 

another aspect of land , the case for legalisation 

of which is gaining momentum in the context 

of its potentiality to enhance the production 

base of landless , marginal and small farmers. 

The book under review is a compilation of 

various papers presented in a National Seminar 

jointly organised by Council for Social 

Development and Rural Development 

Institute, New Delhi. There are about nineteen 

papers in the book which made an in depth 

analysis on i) Redistributive Land Reforms : Old 

and New Approaches ii) Tenancy Reforms iii) 

Land Rights for Women and Tribals V) Land 

Acquisition and Inclusive Development. 

There are seven papers which made an 

indepth discussion in the section on 

‘Redistributive Land Reforms’. The paper on 

“Land Reform in the 21st Century:New 

Challenges and New Responses” by Roy L. 

Porsterman and Tim Hanstad discussed about 

the potential benefits of land reforms on 

increased crop production and economic 

growth. The paper by T.Haque on “Land Policies 

for Social Inclusion in India” discussed at length 

on the three different phases in the evolution 

of land policy in India and championed the 

need to have an appropriate land use policy 

for the country. The paper by Robert Mitchell 

and Tim Hanstad on “ Small Home Garden Plots 

and Sustainable Livelihoods for the Poor” 

examined the ways in which the poor can use 

small extent of land to establish home gardens 

to advance their livelihood objectives. In his 

paper on “Access to Land : Some Issues“, Srijit 

Mishra presented a matrix of issues 

confronted by the tillers of the soil and 

suggested some measures such as provision 

of some land for kitchen garden while 

providing homestead plots which may need 

some serious thinking under Indira Aawas 

Yojana. Shri. K.N.Nair and Shri Arindam


Banerjee in their paper on “Structural Changes 

in Land Distribution and its Implications for 

Improving Access to Land “ provided some 

insights into the changes in the pattern of 

land distribution and the factors shaping it . 

Perceiving Land Bank as a logical Extension to 

the SHG movement in the country, B.K.Sinha 

in his paper on “ Land Bank : An Institutional 

Mechanism for Improving Access to Land by 

the Rural Poor” presented the concept , 

objectives and the instrumentalities of the 

Land Bank . 

There are eight papers in the section on 

‘Tenancy Reforms’ all of which have strongly 

vouched for institutionalisation of tenancy. 

The Paper by T.Haque on “Agricultural Tenancy 

Reform in India : Policy, Practice and Impact” 

analysed the positive and negative aspects of 

post-Independence tenancy reform policy in 

India and presented a case for legalisation 

and liberalisation of land leasing. Sankar Kumar 

Bhaumik in his paper on “ Legalising 

Agricultural Land Leasing in India : An 

Assessment of Possible Consequences and 

Some Suggestions“ conducted an extensive 

state-wise study on land tenancy based on 

secondary data. In the paper “Equity and 

Efficiency Impacts of Land Leasing Restrictions 

: Evidence in India “Klaus Deininger etal 

assessed the ability of different groups of 

producers to gain access to land through 

market mechanism and explored the impact 

of rural rental restrictions as a factor that 

increases the costs of market participation on 

land market functioning and outcomes. In the 

paper on “Changing Tenancy Relations in Rural 

India : A Case for Legalizing Tenancy “ the 

author H.R. Sharma strongly advocated for 

separating the ownership rights of the land 

with user rights, the policy of which has taken 

its roots in Andhra Pradesh now. In the paper 

on “Land Leasing, Poverty and Inequality”, 

Naresh Sharma addressed the problem of 

influence of the institution of tenancy on the 

rural poor and concluded that prohibiting or 


severely restricting the land lease market is 

counter-productive both by equity and 

productivity criteria. The paper on “Legalising 

Agricultural Tenancy : A Study in Odisha“ 

examined the tenancy practices and its impact 

on agriculture and observed the implications 

for sustainable productivity and equity. The 

paper on “ Land Leasing by Women in Andhra 

Pradesh “ by Vakati et al examined the actual 

leasing practices of poor women- cultivating 

leased land in groups or as households and 

recommended that improving credit access 

for women tenant farmers by organising them 

into RMGs or SHGs can make this livelihood 

option to many more women. 

The only paper on land rights of women 

by Hina Haque in the third section highlighted 

the constraints to women’s land rights such as 

legal, institutional, socio-economic and 

suggested an action plan for achieving gender 

equality in land rights. Fernandez’s paper on 

“Tribal customary and formal law interface in 

North – Eastern India” revealed the role that 

the formal individual based law plays in causing 

shortages, impoverishing the communities and 

thus causing ethnic conflicts in the north east. 

The LA act being the chief instrument of 

land acquisition has come in for a sharp attack 

on grounds of the large scale displacement it 

has unleashed in the name of public purpose 

in the recent past and on the grounds of its 

inconsistency with democratic governance 

and principles of equity and social justice. K.B. 

Saxena in his paper on “Land Acquisition and 

Peasant Resistance : Critique of Policy 

Interventions“ presented the salient features 

of the land acquisition acts in the country in a 

comparative setting. P.V. Indiresan in his paper 

on “ Land Acquisition : Compensation and 

Inclusive Development “ concluded that the 

aim of compensation for Land Acquisition 

should not be mere financial compensation 

for the displaced but the development of 

entire population.


Land issues are coming to the fore again. 

In the context of stronger dissent against 

exploitative methods with which fertile 

agriculture land is being acquired in the 

country and the building up of the case for a 


land use policy, the book has come up at a 

right time which will be useful for the policy 

makers, academicians , civil society and the 

students who are working in this area. 

– Dr. Ch. Radhika Rani



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