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| Economic And Environmental Development Of Rural Areas: A Concept Paper | | | Er. Madan Dogra
I am afraid; India today is only a caricature of the noble democracy, which our fore fathers strove to bring to life and freedom in 1947. For the first 40 years, successive Governments imposed mindless socialism on the nation which held in thrall the people’s endeavor and enterprise.
Our brand of socialism did not result in transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor but only from honest rich to dishonest rich. We built up State owned enterprises called the Public Sector in India. The sleeping richness of socialism is now universally acknowledged but not officially in India. More than 240 sector enterprises run by Union Government and more than 700 by the State Governments are the black holes, the money guzzlers and they have been extracting an exorbitant price. There was a tidal wave of privatization sweeping across the world from Bangladesh to Brazil, but it used to turn aside in its course and passed India by.
Thanks to Dr. Man Mohan Singh, economist of world fame as Finance Minister with tacit support of then Prime Minister P.V.Narsimha Rao, introduced free market economy in 1990. India Inc. has since then, seized the opportunities spawned by economic reforms to improve its managerial capability, creativity, effectiveness and responsiveness. It has smartly improved is capital asset productivity, profitability from operations and value delivered to customers and its contribution to the exchequer over a period since 1990, India Inc. and its dominant shareholders, chief executives and managerial teams have served the interests of society, suppliers of capital, customers and Government admirably well. By doing so, they have smartly transformed themselves into aggressive players in the context of market oriented reforms. Not withstanding the above achievements made by India Inc., the overall economic development has been sluggish and the benefits of liberalization have not really improved the plight of rural India i.e. 80% population of the country. India continues to be a poor country.
Therefore, a thorough introspection of the entire planning process is required. Agriculture needs all the attention the nation can pay because; India is richly endowed by nature with best agro climatic conditions in the world and thus reap good harvest year after year. Unfortunately, we remain, one of the countries with the lowest farm productivity ratios. We can ill afford this luxury not merely because we have more mouths to feed but because unless there is a change in the rural scene, the country will remain firmly embedded in poverty. We need therefore to review our present system of planning in the right perspective. A few observations along with suggestions listed below:-
• Focussing our attention to Rural India, we have to study in depth our entire planning process. A detailed study of the planning documents of J&K state as one example reveals that the budget allocations of various departments are based on erroneous statistical data compiled in the census conducted form time to time. The method and rationale adopted in sectoral allocations is also not logical because priorities of different areas should be based on topography, climate and other important inputs. A comprehensive proposal (Annexure ‘A’ is attached on land use) which can be the yardstick in the planning process).
• Huge allocations are made under various Central/ State schemes for upliftment of the poor from Rural India (which is 80% of the population). Unfortunately people are not getting the desired benefits, thus compelling them to migrate to Urban areas, because:-
• There is no comprehensive plan for total development of Rural India , in a phased manner. There is a complete mess and planning process is handled on adhoc basis without any long-term objective.
• States are blaming Centre for not giving them sufficient funds for development works to be taken up in hand, while the Centre is blaming State Governments for misuse of funds and in many cases the same not being utilized for the specific purpose for which these were allotted. At present there is hardly any monitoring and absolutely no accountability in the present system. The expenditure on schemes has over run many folds. There are cases of glaring misuse of funds as per CAG reports of many States. Unfortunately, most of these reports are thrown in waste paper basket and no action is taken against defaulters. Some procedure should be evolved to make CAG reports effective and defaulters punished.
• The possibility of discrepancies between the actual areas available in the villages excluding forest land/ waste land for development ,viz a viz figures adopted for preparation of their respective plans is not ruled out. In order to conceive a comprehensive plan for whole of Rural India, a detailed factual survey has to be done and report prepared by involving different departments, NGO’s, Panchayats, Retired teachers and Village heads as per Annexure ‘B’ & ‘C’. In this context, I may even say that Panchayats can be used as nodal agencies for compilation of census data with a broader scope. This exercise can become the basis for preparation of multipurpose national identity cards (MNIC), which is under active consideration of Govt. of India.
• Desired results can be achieved to a larger extent if we associate retired officers , NGO’s/ Panchayats , besides serving officers from the concerned departments in preparation of plans & fixing priorities for different types of works taken up in a village /panchayat. The schemes should be prepared for a minimum of 3 to 5 years. Pert charts should be prepared for each work depicting physical/financial aspects of the scheme. All the works should be done as per time bound programme. This way the chances of increase in the cost of schemes will be minimized.
• For proper accountability, this group will also monitor the physical/financial aspects of the scheme. This will go a long way to monitor the proper utilization of funds.
• Huge amount is spent by Regional Research Laboratories, Agriculture Universities and other organizations, all over the country for research works, for upliftment of rural areas. Unfortunately, the desired results are not visible on ground, because there is no liaison between these premier institutions and the end users. A system should be evolved to make these organizations accountable.
• It has generally been observed, that lot of seminars/workshops are held around the year by various departments/organizations to deliberate on various topics of national importance. It is a pity that this ends up as a futile exercise, because observations/recommendations made during seminars are hardly followed up.
• 5) It is an irony that while India is shining for the corporate sector due to a boom in the economy but rural India continues to be deprived of the benefits of free market economy. There has hardly been any scheme where unemployed youth could be provided with jobs. The present scenario is lot to do with our unrealistic education system because it does not address the ground realities of rural situations.
To produce graduates and postgraduates are required for research teaching institutions but the need of the hour is to give vocational trainings at middle/matric and higher levels. In this process experts from industries, agriculture, technical fields, universities and other organizations who matter in the rural planning can be associated to design the various courses as per requirement of different areas. For example, where land /waste land is available, the vocational course for improvement in the area of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, sericulture, herbs, mushrooms, bee keeping, animal husbandry, forestry, etc. can be beneficial for the development of the area. Likewise there can be courses for plumbers, masons, carpenters, handloom, handicraft, electric, electronics, computers and tailoring, etc. which have provided livelihood / security to the people in rural areas. To provide such type of courses ITI’s (Industrial Training Institutes) should be opened at tehsil/district levels. These ITI’s should preferably be run by private agencies. This way the trained personnel can go for self-employment in private sector and even in government jobs. If we see the complete land holdings in a village, then we see that most families don’t have even one acre of cultivated land. These small land holdings are not viable to meet the demands of the families, particularly those areas which have got no irrigation facilities. This is one of the main reason that people form village are migrating to cities. Some alternative has to be found out to reduce this migration.
In my mind, in the area where villages /panchayats have got smaller holdings of land, Forest lands, Govt. lands adjoining village should be handed over to villages/panchayats of the area.
In order to improve the over all environment of the area, there should be a ban on plouging and cutting of trees from forest area. Wherever new plantation has to be done it should be preferably fodder and horticulture trees. Herbs may also be encouraged. Water-shed approach will be ideal for these areas. This way there will be a reduction of floods and overall water table will improve in Kandi and other areas. This way al the villagers will have the share in these lands (Forest land and Government land ) and thus giving feeling that these lands are our own lands and we should make best use of these. With this approach there will be tremendous improvement in the environment of the country. Forest fires will also reduce to larger extent.
After some years of this approach the green cover of the village/panchayat will improve and this way village/panchayat can get the CARBON CREDITS which will further improve the economic condition of village/panchayat.
Conclusion
• Efficient and scientific land use as per Annexure A,B,C and observations/suggestions made above will definitely change the economics of the rural India.
• By use of this concept Tribal and nexalite affected areas in the country will be mitigated to a larger extent.
• With the proposed land use management forest degradation, floods and droughts will be checked. Simultaneously water logging will also be minimized.
• With increase in green-cover, there will be tremendous improvement in the environment in the area which will ultimately help in reducing global warming and climate change.
• This concept/suggestions will prove useful not only for India but for Asia, Africa, and Latin American countries.
SUMMARY
In order to eradicate poverty and hunger from rural India, a scientific methodology has to be planned, to give employment to rural masses.
For planning development process, the first and foremost requirement is to find out the realistic status of the area. For drawing the realistic status the annexure Band C have been formulated. Since the majority of rural India is farming community, to ensure bread and butter to all, a proper land use for agriculture section has to be prepared.
For giving a start to the programme Himalayan region of J&K state i. e. Jammu has been taken as a example for the implementation and testing of designed model. The total area has been divided into different zones, for each zone land use has been proposed. These proposals can be taken up in a scientific manner on the concept as detailed in Annexure A. By handing over forest and govt. land to the villagers and making them partners in the development process, the face of rural India will change. By adopting the above model, the problem of the people of tribal and naxals affected area in the country can be resolved to a greater extent. In this way there will be overall improvement of rural masses, environment of the country; global warming and climate change will also be reduced considerably. The concept as a whole can prove extremely beneficial in the long term development of backward and downtrodden areas in Asia, Africa and Latin America. |
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