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DDDEEEVVVEEELLLOOOPPPMMMEEENNNTTT OOOFFF VVVIIILLLLLLAAAGGGEEE KKKNNNOOOWWWLLLEEEDDDGGGEEE MMMAAANNNAAAGGGEEEMMMEEENNNTTT
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2009
Prof. Anil K Gupta Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Gujarat, India
2
LIST OF ANNEXURES
ANNEXURE I (A)
List includes the 31 distressed districts identified by the government where the prime
minister‟s special rehabilitation package is being implemented.
ANNEXURE-I (b)
List of 100 Agriculturally Less Developed and Distressed Districts
ANNEXURE-II
A Socio-Economic Study Of The Farmers In The Suicide Prone Districts of India: A
Departmental Project Report
Proposal received from Dr Manoranjan Pal and others, ISI Kolkata in consultation with
other colleagues
ANNEXURE-III
An approach note on Financial Services in Village Knowledge Management System
Proposal received from a team including NABARD and other institutions, Mr Jiji
Mammen and others
ANNEXURE IV
Education, Health and Nutrition situation analysis of families in distress districts of India
and strategies to mitigate them, proposal received from Dr Sumathi Sura and others, AP
Agri university
ANNEXURE-V
Minutes of two of the six meetings held in April and July, 2008
3
DEVELOPMENT OF VILLAGE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:
MITIGATING EXTREME SOCIO-ECONOMIC STRESS CAUSING SUICIDE
AMONG FARMERS
Department of Science and Technology, GOI is extremely concerned about the persistent
problems being faced by the farmers in certain parts of the country causing some of them to even
commit suicide1,2,3,4,5,6
. Without long term and short-term measures, which eliminate or
considerably reduce the factors contributing to the stress, one cannot convert the situation of
desperation into hope. Accordingly, it has been decided that a systematic effort be mounted in a
time bound manner to use available knowledge and information about land use, whether, other
ecological factors coupled with socio economic and cultural information so as to generate
location specific solutions. This will require linkage among soil, crop, livestock and human
factors to not only be synergistic but also conducive to long term productivity, and sustainability
in an equitable manner.
A detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared with the following objectives:
a. To integrate where available and develop where there is a gap, the Village Information
System (VIS) and the Land Information System (LIS) into a Village Knowledge
Management System (VKMS).
b. To ensure that future alternatives maximise the blending between peoples‟ own
knowledge, innovations and practices with formal or institutional science and technology.
c. To assimilate online weather information by creating a widespread network of weather
stations in household and village level expert systems for generating viable land and water
use options.
d. To develop indicators in a participative manner so that communities can themselves
monitor their emergent situation and take necessary actions.
e. To create precise measures of accountability among public and private institutions,
particularly dealing with credit and commodity markets so that historic institutions of
exploitation causing deprivation and distress can be transformed.
f. To create peoples‟ knowledge database through Village Knowledge Register (VKR)
integrated with National Register maintained at National Innovation Foundation (NIF) so
as to trigger lateral learning, experimentation and generation of self-reliant entrepreneurial
knowledge based alternatives.
1 Numbers of farmers‟ suicides grew to 182,936 in 2007, constituting 14.4% of the total suicides in the country in
2007 according to National Crime Record Bureau, New Delhi in its report, Accidental Deaths and Suicide Report-
2007. Five worst-affected States (“Big Five”) are Maharashtra (4,238), Andhra Pradesh (1,797), Karnataka
(2,135), Madhya Pradesh (1,375), & Chhattisgarh (1,593) accounting for two-third of all agrarian suicides in the
country. Two other states that crossed thousand marks are Kerala (1,232) & West Bengal (1102). Of these,
Maharashtra alone accounted for over 38% with Vidarbha region as focal point. 2 Hon. Mumbai High Court treating the letter as petition written by the All India Biodynamic & Organic Farming
Association in connection with the Farmers‟ suicides, directed The Tata Institute of Social Science to conduct a
pilot study on farmers‟ suicides in Maharashtra in 2006. 3 Government of Maharashtra (GOM) assigned the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR),
Mumbai, a study on farmers‟ suicide in Maharashtra‟ for identifying important risk factors and in providing some
suggestions to the GOM for avoiding the same. 4 Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmers‟ movement in Maharashtra (Nagpur) has been addressing the plight of the
farmers‟ suicides in the Vidarbha region for many years (VJAS, 2007a-c). 5 Study by Centre for Developmental Studies, Trivendrum, Kerala, forms part of an ongoing project on "Economic
Globalization and State Decentralization: Coping Strategies of farm households in South India", sponsored by
NCCR (North-South), Swiss National Science Foundation, Berne and the Department of Geography, University
of Zurich, Switzerland. 6 Keynote paper for the theme “Risk Management in Agriculture/Rural Sector” presented at the 67th Annual
Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (ISAE), held under the auspices of Bankers Institute
of Rural Development, Lucknow, Nov, 2007.
4
THE PROBLEM:
The history of distress7 on account of drought or other natural or man-made calamities is
quite old in India. The first institutional intermediation for improving productivity was in
fact triggered by the enquiry committee set up after Deccan riots more than hundred years
ago. The food for work programme8 actually started as a means to mitigate the distress and
create purchasing power in the hands of the poor when other means of employment were
not available. In the last decade, particularly after 2001, the cases of farmers committing
suicide have been reported from various parts of the country in large numbers (Vasavi,
1998; 1999; Assadi, 1998; Revathi, 1998; Reddy 1998; Parthasarathy and Shammen,
1998; CES, 1998; Shetty 1999; Iyer 1999; Patil, 2002; Deshpande, 2002, 2003; Sagar and
Chandra, 2003; Vyas, 2004; Rao and Gopalappa, 2004; Rabade, 2004; Mohanty and
Shroff, 2004; TISS, 2005; Sainath, 2005; Mohanty, 2005; Sridhar, 2006; Srijit et al.,
2006; Rao and Suri, 2006; Vaidyanathan, 2006; Mishra, 2006c/d; Mishra, 2006;
Mohankumar and Sharma, 2006; Kurup, 2006; Gajalakshmi and Peto., 2007; Nair and
Menon, 2007; Gill and Singh, 2006; Nair and Ramakumar, 2007; Nair et al., 2007;
Bunsha, 2007; Chowdhury et al., 2007). Most of the time the reasons have been either
crop failure (on account of drought9, and/or pest or disease incidence) or indebtedness
10,11
along with other economic or social crisis which farmer could not bear from existing
resources or external support system (Kannan and Pushpangadan, 1988; Assadi 1998;
Vasavi, 1999; Iyer and Manick, 2000; Deshpande, 2002; Satish, 2006; Gill and Singh,
2006; GOI, 2006; Sahu, 2008; Das, 2008; Vanitha and Kumar, 2008; Bagchi, 2008).
In a report submitted to Mumbai High Court (March 15, 2005), a study by TATA Institute
of Social Science2 (henceforth, the Study) concluded that the crop failure, indebtedness
and rising cost of cultivation contributed to the suicides. While many other farmers faced
the same constraints, only a few took this extreme step. The study found that many lenders
7 Miller (1993) defined a distressed community as one in which economic, social, and educational
indicators reveal a decline and deterioration of the social and physical infrastructure that facilitate
community renewal and sustainability, thus leading to a loss of the psychological sense of community.
According to Durkheim (1952) suicide is not an impulsive act by an individual but various
circumstances leading to it can be categorised as “events”, “stressors”, “actors/catalysts” and “triggers”.
“Trigger” is the one which forces the final act. Also see Gupta, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1995) for studies on
drought, and other sources of distress and various social effects including migration, asset sale,
indebtedness, reduced consumption etc., Some of these studies have looked at the knowledge and
innovation based approaches to survival ( Gupta, 1988, 1989. 2006). 8 Food for Work programme was launched in Nov. 2004 in 150 most backward district of the Country,
identified by the planning commission in consultation with the ministry of rural development and the
state government. Objective of the programme was to provide additional resources available under the
Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojna so that generation of supplementary wage employment and
providing of food security through creation of need based economic social and community assets in
these districts are further intensified. The scheme was 100% centrally sponsored. The programme has
since been subsumed in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act-2000, identified districts of the
country including 150 NFFWP districts. 9 Bundelkhand region covers 13 districts, six in Madhya Pradesh and 7 in Uttar Pradesh, cyclical
phenomenon of drought, failure of agriculture and agricultural production, distress and suicides and
migration are common here. 10
According to the Parthasarathy and Sameem (1998), indebtness is aggravating by the changes in the
social and structural characters of the money lenders i.e. from professional money lenders to
agriculturist money lenders, who unlike the professional is a native of the village and powerful in the
structure of the village and village economy. However, studies have shown that in informal markets, it
matters little whether the money lender is a man or a woman ( Gupta, 1995). 11
According to the 59th round of surveys of NSSO, 48.6 per cent of households were indebted and of the
total number of indebted farmers, 61 per cent had operational holding below 1 ha. 57.7 per cent of the
outstanding amount was sourced from institutional channels (including government) and the balance
42.3 per cent from moneylenders, traders, relatives and friends.
5
family who had leased in land for short-term cultivation and taken loan for the same also
suffered and committed suicide.
The resistance to pests in cotton12
,13
and many other crops as led to excessive expenditure
for the purpose (King, 1994; Bharathan 2000; Jayaraman 2001; 2004; Shiva et al., 1999;
Sahai, 2002; Sahai and Rehman, 2003; 2004; Gupta and Chandak, 2004;
Narayanamoorthy and Kalamkar, 2006; Iyengar and Lalitha 2002; Reddy and Galab,
2006). The land productivity has been declining and the response to fertilisers has also
been declining (Reddy and Galab, 2006; Horrigan et al., 2002).
The Study found that access to alternative technologies, extension machinery and other
sources of information was quite limited in such places. The non-farm options were also
limited. The lack of irrigation and uncertainty of rainfall added to this stress. More than 75
per cent farmers were found to have loan commitments to non-formal sources. The Report
of the Expert Group on Agriculture Indebtedness (2007), Ministry of Finance,
Government of India considered the problem of indebtedness essentially caused by,
“stagnation in agriculture, increasing production and marketing risks, institutional
vacuum and lack of alternative livelihood opportunities”.
The report advocated appropriate technological innovations, creation of new institutional
alternatives and design of new instruments of intervention. It also suggested that the debt
burden to the informal sources should be reduced by transferring these debts to formal
institutions. In addition to the credit arrangements, the report recommended insurance
against natural calamity, social security14
, and health insurance. There were many other
recommendations for organisation of farmers and providing them support for skill
formation, education, training, etc. In the 31 distress affected districts (see annexure one)
spread over Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, several steps were taken
besides the relief measure by Government of Punjab.
The report also felt that the Prime Minister‟s package15
suffered from deficiency in design
and implementation such as (a) lack of correspondence with the felt needs, (b) absence of
location and household specificity, and (c) weakness in implementation and monitoring
(Sainath, 2008; Vaidyanathan, 2008). Way back in 1983, Gupta had recommended several
measures for complementing Credit Arrangements for Drought Prone regions including
built in rescheduling and rehabilitation mechanisms, establishment of contractual, curative
and consultative mechanisms at district level, linking credit with technology, etc.
It is imperative that the problem of farmers‟ suicide is seen in socio-ecological,
institutional, technological and cultural contexts. While some variables can only be
appreciated, some can be influenced and only a few can be manipulated, we have to build
a Knowledge Management System, which will link all three kinds of variables (Gupta;
1981a; 1981b; 1981c; 1982a; 1982b; 1983a; 1983b; 1984; 1985; 1986; 1987; 1989a;
1989b;1991; 1985; 1991; 1994; 1996; 1995; 2003, 2006; 2007; 2008; 2008b; 2008c.
12
Suri, 2006; Rao and Suri, 2006 13
According to the latest report of the Cotton Corporation of India, India is now the second in term of
production replacing USA and next only to China. 14
According to the Commission on Human Security, New York, “Human Security is to protect the vital
core of all human life in ways that enhance human freedom and human fulfilment”(Hebber, 2007). 15
It was announced in the budget 2007-2008 that the total value of overdue loans being waived for
marginal (up to 1 ha) and small farmers (1-2 ha) was estimated at Rs 50,000 crore, and the one-time
settlement relief for other farmers was estimated at Rs 10,000 crore, the entire amount would be
provided over three years..
6
Gupta and George, 2007; Gupta et al., 1990; 1992; 1995; 1994; 1997: 2001; Gupta and
Shroff, 1987; 1990).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:
The productivity of land invariably influences the productivity of crops, livestock, trees
and other associated biological systems. The risks in the environment (climatic, market,
institutional or otherwise) can be adjusted at the level of household (intra and inter),
community and public interventions. Intra household risks adjustments refer to modified
consumptions (and consequent nutritional implication), decision to dispose of assets or
migrate. Inter household risks adjustments include tenancy, borrowing and labour
contracts. The community level options include gruel kitchen, common property
resources, and various other collective mechanisms. Public interventions include access to
institutional credit, employment programme, relief in cash or kind, etc.
Most of the allocations by the government are made sectorally even if aimed at specific
districts. There is no mechanism, which can ensure that spatial allocation of sectoral funds
to appropriate socio-economic groups or individuals can be objectively targeted,
monitored and mentored. While general understanding about declining productivity of
land exists, mechanisms to monitor it at field and plot level in the villages through a land
based information system does not exist. Similarly, a Village Information System, which
can help in interpreting grassroots development indicators of education, employment,
health and nutrition16,17
does not exist. The database on farmers‟ innovations in managing
risks for various kinds successfully does not exist at village level. Without blending formal
and informal science, sustainable solutions cannot be developed.
This report identifies the gaps in the available knowledge, which can mitigate farm level
distress. For instance, there are very few studies, which show empirical connection
between soil health, crop and livestock health and human health18
(Albrecht, 1966;
Masironi et al., 1973; Schrauzer, 2002; Nair, 2007, Campbell,1995, Williamson and
Wyandt, 2000, Paustenbach, Rinehart and Sheehan, 1991, Audibert, Mathonnat, and
henry, 2002). The systematic variation in short term nutritional gaps19,20,21
at different
16
According to the Ramalingaswamy et al., (1996) nearly half of all malnourished adult women reside in
the few South Asian countries and India being the largest which is described as Asian enigma and
hunger and deprivation affect about 260 million people in the country. 17
Hidden hunger or micro-nutrient deficiency is a big problem See Tarun, 2006, Masironi et al, 1973, and
several ICMR/NIN surveys. Selenium affects immune function, vulnerability to several diseases and its
role in stressed communities may be amplified ( Campbell, 1995). 18
In a global meet on zinc “Zinc Crops 2007” at Istanbul, Turkey, agronomists, soil scientists,
physiologists and plant and human nutritionalists and medical experts debated the crucial role zinc plays
in human nutrition vis-à-vis agriculture, focusing on the developing countries. On the high alert list is
India that has among the most Zn deficient soils in the world (91 million hectare). Role of lithium in
populations prone to suicides has also been studied. 19
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)‟s in its 2008 Global Hunger Index put India
into alarming serious state in terms of hunger and malnutrition. In this report Madhya Pradesh is the
only state that falls in the extremely alarming category corresponding to that of Chad and Ethiopia,
twelve states fall in the alarming category, and Punjab, Kerala, Haryana and Assam falling in the
serious category. 20
'Extent of Chronic Hunger and Malnutrition' report of United Nations in 2006 criticised the Indian
government for the rising number of farmer suicides. According to the latest report by National Crime
Record Bureau, New Delhi, Fourty-six farmers commit suicide every day in this country even as
packages were rolled out in a bid to bailout the debt-ridden community from crisis.
21 Survey were carried out by National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad in 2002-03 in nine drought
affected states to assess the impact of drought on diet and nutritional status of the community. A large
scale, eight-state community based survey was carried out to study the prevalence of micronutrient
deficiency disorders involving both clinical and biochemical forms of vitamin A deficiency, iodine
7
growth stages and their long term impact on human productivity and ability to take risks
has not been studied adequately (Dorin, 1999; Bamji, 2003; Bamji and Bhat, 2003;
Sivakumar, 2003; Vijayaraghavan, 2003; NIN, 2003; Radhakrishna and Ravi, 2004;
Shanti, 2006; Tarun, 2006; Shivakumar, 2007). The lessons from the efforts of those
distressed farmers who are able to manage successfully and overcome the problem are also
not catalogued ( Manuel et al, 2008). A Sri Lankan study found that suicide rates were not
high among the least income groups of society, a finding which may have some parallel in
Indian samples too (ibid, 2008). The use of GIS, GPS, other ICTs in cataloguing and
communicating the knowledge to and from the farmers is highly limited. The
incorporation of micro level agro meteorological information in decision support system
for farm level land and input use remains to be demonstrated at large scale. But
technology for small-scale meteorological stations is being developed in the country and
therefore large-scale pilot projects for the purpose can be envisaged. The linkage between
microclimate and pest and disease profile have been studied but not amplified at the farm
level adequately.
The VKMS will aim at equipping farmers, to deal with the risks through online support
from formal as well as informal science and technology systems. It will also generate early
warning indicators of resource, institutions or technology related stresses. The linkage will
be established with the socio-economic institutions including the institutional credit
system so as to ensure farm level response in a time bound manner. The peer monitoring
of stress and community level initiatives sometimes can be more meaningful than any
external intervention. However, given the sensitive nature of informal lending and
associated pledge or mortgage of assets, it would not always be easy to get such signals
easily unless a conversion option from informal debt to formal debt is available, as
recommended by the Expert Group 2007.
The development of Village Knowledge Register linked with VKMS might herald a self-
help initiative reinforced by lateral learning through National Register.
It will be useful if different stakeholders take responsibility for action research and
interventions during next five years in the proposed DPR.
CRITICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR VILLAGE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM:
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
1. Land information systems: Village level land use maps, showing soil
characteristics, fertility, location and status of water sources and their quality,
indicators of soil productivity status (Same, better or worse compared to the
benchmark, GPS based grid system to encourage precision farming to
economise on external inputs and move towards low external physical inputs
based sustainable agriculture. The GIS will incorporate farmer based plot level
information with the ability to monitor the state and the utilisation of future
investments and their effect on risks mitigation.
deficiency disorders and iron deficiency anaemia. Food Security was not found encouraging and mean
intakes of foodstuffs in almost all the states were low and the households in all these states were not
consuming the recommended levels of cereals and millets.
8
2. Agro meteorological information base: Village level network of recording type
automatic weather stations with appropriate analytical tools to convert
observations into indicators and inputs for decision support system.
3. On-farm research and technology development: Development of contingency
crop and livestock options, blending farmers‟ innovations from different
regions to generate low costs affordable and adaptable solutions.
4. Pests, disease and nutrient management at farm level: Incorporating non-
chemical pests management strategies to reduce, if not eliminate application of
chemicals.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS:
5. Monitoring system for socio-economic indicators: Anticipating household level
to stress due to market and non-market based fluctuations and their varying
effects on different classes of farming in different villages.
6. The monitoring of household level access to formal credit and flexibility in its
rescheduling and rehabilitation in the event of market or environment based
risks.
7. Creating platform for informal lenders to share their terms and by legitimising
competition among them, improving conditions of delivery.
8. Preventing fore closure of properties of small farmers through debt and
providing insurance cover.
9. Tracking markets and their effects on farmers under stress: Social reporting
system will need to be developed so that anybody noticed under excessive
stress and facing closure of most options is reported to the District Emergency
Response System. The distress becomes despair after other options are
exhausted.
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND NUTRITION:
10. Monitoring educational and health status of various family members,
particularly under economic stress, outside formal institutional lending or
under default to the moneylenders.
11. Developing linkage between soil, crop and human health, anticipating
implications of changing food habits because of grains distributed through PDS
or otherwise.
12. Monitoring chronic nutritionally deficit regions and households: Special
measures to be initiated for providing relief in such regions in a manner that
women and children do not suffer excessively contributing to the family
distress.
13. Providing emergency health response in case of attempted suicide or other
socio-psychological indicators of depression: In the post crop failure and other
such disasters, special counselling would be needed to avoid distress becoming
despair. It is understood that mere counselling may not help. But, it might
create room for manoeuvre for absorbing institutional slackness or inertia in
responding to household level critical situations.
14. Monitoring special health indicators in 31 or 40 districts from where maximum
suicides have been reported.
KNOWLEDGE MANGEMENT SYSTEM:
9
15. Creating maps of peoples‟ knowledge linked to spatial and sectoral insights:
There are several ways in which time bound mapping of resources,
opportunities, skills and ideas can be done. If out of hundred days of
employment provided under Employment Guarantee Scheme, only ten or
twenty days were spent for mapping biological, physical and other resources, a
complete inventorisation can be achieved in all the villages affected with the
distress. Similar attempt can be made to document the traditional knowledge
as well as contemporary innovations in the same areas.
16. Creating MIS (Management Information System) linking Village Information
System, Village Knowledge Register, health education and other
developmental indicators, etc., with the physical and biological resource based
information system.
17. Development of decision support system (DSS) for incorporating innovations
and other knowledge from informal or formal sectors in day-to-day decision
making by the households.
PROPOSAL FOR ACTION RESEARCH AND PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION:
A. Natural Resource Management:
1. Land information systems: NSDI proposes to develop 1:10000 scale map for the
country which would provide the most exhaustive information base for developing
land resource base GIS. Some attempts have been made to develop prototype LIS
but these are not in the condition that these may be taken up for implementation
right away. It is proposed that a country wide pilot project may be taken up in
affected districts in each agro ecological zone (15 pilot projects) for demonstrating
the viability of LIS (Rs.75 lacs).
2. Agro meteorological information base: Village level network of recording type
automatic weather stations with appropriate analytical tools to convert observations
into indicators and inputs for decision support system.
A wide network of automatic weather stations with functional GSM connectivity
will help in providing real time weather data to the farmers to plan their activities,
make mid course corrections and use knowledge based approaches for pest and
disease management and other input management.
IIT, Madras has developed such stations costing about Rs.25000 per station with
additional cost of servers and maintenance. There are several other models
available, which can also be evaluated through a tendering process. One would
need at least 100 weather stations in a district to generate reliable information
accessible through SMS to the Village Knowledge Management Centre. This will
provide the input into the MIS/DSS at village level. Additional cost of server and
maintenance may be around Rs.8 lacs per district. Total cost for 100 weather
stations and district wise servers would be Rs.33 lacs per district.
3. On-farm research and technology development: Development of contingency crop
and livestock options, blending farmers‟ innovations from different regions to
generate low costs affordable and adaptable solutions.
10
One of the major problems facing farmers in rainfed regions [where distress is
most] is lack of location specific contingency options for managing crops and
livestock in real time. This will require on farm research with the help of KVKs,
civil society organisations and farmers organisations. These options can also be
enriched by drawing upon farmers‟ innovations from Honey Bee database at
SRISTI and NIF (sristi.org and nifindia.org). Per district at least 20 on farm trials
should be taken up for at least three years for different crops / livestock species
drawing upon farmers‟ innovations and institutional findings for developing
contingency options keeping in mind the major trends in weather variations. Cost
per district is Rs. 6.25 lacs at the cost of Rs.25000/= per trial on three to five
farmers fields.
4. Pests, disease and nutrient management at farm level: Incorporating non-chemical
pests management strategies to reduce, if not eliminate application of chemicals.
Non-sustainable pest management is one of the major reasons for getting into debt
traps. In none of the districts visited in connection with field work22
, did we come
across any effort to provide access to non-chemical pest management information
to the people. Multimedia, multi language database (MMDB) packages of
information need to be prepared for disseminating integrated pest management
techniques based on institutional research as well as Honey Bee database on
farmers‟ innovations. The MMDB on pest and nutrient management would include
guide to identify different pests as well as friendly insects, approaches to manage
the problem using agronomic, micro climatic manipulations, herbal pesticides,
vermiculture, etc. Cost for each crop and livestock species for MMDB may be
around Rs.8.00 lacs. Such MMDBs need to be made for nine major crops [cotton,
soybean, paddy, sugarcane, millets, sorghum, pulses and plantation crops like
cardamom and pepper].
B. SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS:
5. Monitoring system for socio-economic indicators: Anticipating household level to
stress due to market and non-market based fluctuations and their varying effects on
different classes of farming in different villages.
A sample survey by institutions like Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata may be
undertaken (see annexure two) to assess the socio-economic parameters of distress
so that an early warning system can be developed. It may also lead to develop of
vulnerability index based on farmers‟ own perceptions. Cost Rs.37.92 lacs.
6. The monitoring of household level access to formal credit and flexibility in its
rescheduling and rehabilitation in the event of market or environment based risks.
The assessment of financial needs may be included in the survey proposed in point
5 followed by workshops of bankers, insurance companies and farmers and
extension workers in each district to arrive at operational plan for alleviating
distress. These plans must be made every year before the cropping season and
monitored every month so that real time relief can be provided. It should be noted
that in many cases of suicide affected families, the debt relief did not reach because
the mutations of the land record had not taken place. Many small farmers did not
22
19 -22 September 2008.
11
have separate land holdings recorded in their name and were therefore deprived of
relief. Credit system will not work if updating of land record does not take place on
priority and in a time bound manner. Likewise, many cooperative and commercial
banks do not offer credit for rainfed crops and if they offer, it is at very low scale
of finance not really in sync with market realities. Per district four such workshops
should be organised during the monsoon season with clear mandate to sort out the
problems collected from affected villages. Civil society organisations can be
involved in collecting the farmers‟ problems around sample bank branches. The
Village Panchayat members should be invited to send their grievances to the
coordinating institution a week before every workshop. This way the problems can
be solved before they become source of deep distress, causing suicides in many
cases. The cost of four workshops during six months [June to December]
accompanied by sample survey of grievances collected through Village Panchayats
as well as primary surveys may be around Rs.5.00 lacs per district.
7. Creating platform for informal lenders to share their terms and by legitimising
competition among them, improving conditions of delivery.
This can be done by mobilising the informal lenders to share their offerings with
the self-help groups as well as Village Knowledge Management Centres. It will
not have any cost implications except to input their offerings in the VKMS kiosks
in each village or group of villages.
8. Preventing fore closure of properties of small farmers through debt and providing
insurance cover.
This is a policy measure, which can be monitored in the workshops proposed in
item six above.
9. Tracking markets and their effects on farmers under stress: Social reporting system
will need to be developed so that anybody noticed under excessive stress and
facing closure of most options is reported to the District Emergency Response
System. The distress becomes despair after other options are exhausted.
A District Emergency Response System (DERS) needs to be developed in all the
affected districts incorporating the data from surveys, workshops and media
besides direct appeals by the distressed farmers. This will require updating of data
every day at the district level under the direct supervision of the District Collector
supported by Project Director, DRDA and anybody else authorised for the purpose.
District Collector should post the action taken on every case of distress on the
district portal. National Informatics Centre may be advised to develop DERS
linking VKMS centres with the DERS. Various kinds of emergencies ranging
from factors affecting crop, livestock or labour resulting in distress may be taken
note of and action informed through the people at large at DERS portal. The data
on health, migration, dropout, etc., indicating stress [see point 10 below] will also
be incorporated in the DERS. The cost of portal design and management in each
district may be Rs.10.00 lacs per year.
C. EDUCATION, HEALTH AND NUTRITION:
12
10. Monitoring educational and health status of various family members, particularly
under economic stress, outside formal institutional lending or under default to the
moneylenders.
Apart from the data on distress received from the surveys, workshops and directly
through DERS, indicators may be developed using existing data which can be
monitored for generating early warning signals. For instance, after the recent
economic slowdown, dropping of attendance in schools due to withdrawals of
students indicated the stress caused by layoffs. Similarly, migration of workers in
large numbers may also indicate severe stress. The sudden rise in railway/bus
ticket sales for outbound journeys might also indicate movement of people away
from the region. A study may be commissioned to be pursued by eminent social
scientists involved in grassroots studies to help in developing such indicators.
Alternatively, a task force may be constituted to pursue this study, through
interactions with local communities and district officials in at least six to eight
worst affected 31 districts. It will involve two rounds of consultation, one to
generate feed-forward for developing indicators and second to get the feedback and
test the indicators. Cost may be Rs.30.00 lacs.
11. Developing linkage between soil, crop and human health, anticipating implications
of changing food habits because of grains distributed through PDS or otherwise.
This is an extremely important area of research and action since sustainability
outcomes will be directly affected. There are practically no studies, which have
systematically studied the linkage between the health of soil, crops, animals and
human beings. It is well known that adverse health episodes lead to debt and
consequent distress among the small farmers and labourers. Preventive health is
more democratic, affordable and accessible. If applying certain nutrients to soil can
convey these to consumers at lesser cost than otherwise, then such an approach has
to be preferred. National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research
and agricultural and livestock scientists have to be involved in a research
programme of this kind. Initially, a few villages need to be taken up from different
agro climatic regions from among the distressed districts to prove the efficacy of
this approach. At least 200 households from each of the 5 villages from a sample
of five districts may be taken up to map the soil fertility [micro and macro
nutrients] plot-by-plot, study the consumption patterns and nutrient profile of
livestock as well as human beings besides analysing the staple food of the studied
households. The nutritional and the health status may be collected through primary
clinical camps in each village. By mapping the parameters of soil, crop, livestock
and human health, early warning indicators may be developed. These may be
monitored in future to identify the problem situations so that timely remedial
measures can be taken. This study will also have a significant sustainability payoff.
The analysis of at least 4000 plots of agriculture land, 1000 households and at least
800 livestock samples may be analysed for micro and macro nutrients as well as
other health parameters. The cost may be Rs.10 crores.
12. Monitoring chronic nutritionally deficit regions and households: Special measures
to be initiated for providing relief in such regions in a manner that women and
children do not suffer excessively contributing to the family distress.
13
Various surveys mentioned above can be used to identify chronically deficit
households and regions to provide priority in extending relief. This can be linked
to the District Emergency Response System.
13. Providing emergency health response in case of attempted suicide or other socio-
psychological indicators of depression: In the post crop failure and other such
disasters, special counselling would be needed to avoid distress becoming despair.
It is understood that mere counselling may not help. But, it might create room for
manoeuvre for absorbing institutional slackness or inertia in responding to
household level critical situations.
Various studies have revealed that counselling in time can be very meaningful for
averting most desperate step of attempt to suicide. However, despite having the
information of such calamities, which can cause depression, steps are not initiated
in this regard. It is proposed that survey of socio psychological indicators of
depression may be undertaken to test the efficacy of this approach through Tata
Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) or (National Institute of Mental Health and
Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) or other such reputed institutions. The cost may be
Rs.20 lacs for a sample study and counselling workshops in five villages in each of
the five districts.
14. Monitoring special health indicators in 31 or 40 districts from where maximum
suicides have been reported.
Development of health indicators can be one of the outputs of the studies and
surveys mentioned above in point 11 to 13.
D. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:
15. Creating maps of peoples‟ knowledge linked to spatial and sectoral insights: There
are several ways in which time bound mapping of resources, opportunities, skills
and ideas can be done. If out of hundred days of employment provided under
Employment Guarantee Scheme, only ten or twenty days were spent for mapping
biological, physical and other resources, a complete inventorisation can be
achieved in all the villages affected with the distress. Similar attempt can be made
to document the traditional knowledge as well as contemporary innovations in the
same areas.
Mapping people‟s knowledge about resources, skills and sectoral activities is very
crucial to generate alternative livelihoods in the regions affected by the failure of
primary economic activities. These maps can also be used to pool the best practices
to develop new products to generate market approach for alleviating distress. NIF
and SRISTI have tried to use this approach in some parts of Kerala and elsewhere.
Systematic studies can be taken up in at least five villages from each of the five
districts to demonstrate the applicability of the idea. If the pilot demonstrates
convincing results, it may be scaled up as a part of NREGA for the entire country.
The cost of the pilot may be Rs.10 lacs.
16. Creating MIS (Management Information System) linking Village Information
System, Village Knowledge Register, health education and other developmental
indicators, etc., with the physical and biological resource based information
system. This may be supported by development of decision support system (DSS)
14
for incorporating innovations and other knowledge from informal or formal sectors
in day-to-day decision making by the households.
Developing MIS is one of the most important contributions along with DSS to
provide ICT enabled support system for the people in distress regions. This will
have both hardware and software components apart from the testing and
operationalisation. The inputs from various surveys, studies and weather stations
will be incorporated in the DSS linking LIS, VIS and MIS.
The format of Village Knowledge Register, and other inputs will have to be
tailored to the capacity of the local communities. The key tasks are:
a. Hardware and bandwidth including server at national, regional and
district level [Rs.25 lacs]
b. Village Knowledge Centre having computer, tele network capability,
projection facility for multimedia and multi language database may be
created at district and followed by block level [Rs.1lac per village].
c. Mobile technology and innovation dissemination exhibition [Rs.10 lacs
per district].
d. Software development for DSS, MIS and integration of LIS [Rs.2.5
crores].
e. Data entry and creation of database [Rs.15 lacs per district].
f. Testing and operationalisation [Rs.2 lacs per district].
15
ANNEXURE I (a)
LIST INCLUDES THE 31 DISTRESSED DISTRICTS IDENTIFIED BY THE
GOVERNMENT WHERE THE PRIME MINISTER’S SPECIAL
REHABILITATION PACKAGE IS BEING IMPLEMENTED
No State District
1 Andhra Pradesh Adilabad*
2 Andhra Pradesh Anantapur*
3 Andhra Pradesh Chitoor*
4 Andhra Pradesh Cuddappah*
5 Andhra Pradesh Guntur*
6 Andhra Pradesh Karimnagar*
7 Andhra Pradesh Khammam*
8 Andhra Pradesh Kurnool*
9 Andhra Pradesh Medak*
10 Andhra Pradesh Mehabubnagar*
11 Andhra Pradesh Nalgonda*
12 Andhra Pradesh Nellur*
13 Andhra Pradesh Nizamabad*
14 Andhra Pradesh Prakasam*
15 Andhra Pradesh Ranga Reddy*
16 Andhra Pradesh Warangal*
17 Karnataka Belgaum*
18 Karnataka Chikmangalur*
19 Karnataka Chitradurga*
20 Karnataka Hassan*
21 Karnataka Kodagu*
22 Karnataka Shimoga*
23 Kerala Kasargod*
24 Kerala Palakkad*
25 Kerala Wyanad*
26 Maharashtra Akola*
27 Maharashtra Amravati*
28 Maharashtra Buldhana*
29 Maharashtra Wardha*
30 Maharashtra Wasim*
31 Maharashtra Yavatmal*
16
ANNEXURE-I (b)
LIST OF 100 AGRICULTURALLY LESS DEVELOPED AND DISTRESSED
DISTRICTS
No State District
1 Andhra Pradesh Adilabad*
2 Andhra Pradesh Anantapur*
3 Andhra Pradesh Chitoor*
4 Andhra Pradesh Cuddappah*
5 Andhra Pradesh Guntur*
6 Andhra Pradesh Karimnagar*
7 Andhra Pradesh Khammam*
8 Andhra Pradesh Kurnool*
9 Andhra Pradesh Medak*
10 Andhra Pradesh Mehabubnagar*
11 Andhra Pradesh Nalgonda*
12 Andhra Pradesh Nellur*
13 Andhra Pradesh Nizamabad*
14 Andhra Pradesh Prakasam*
15 Andhra Pradesh Ranga Reddy*
16 Andhra Pradesh Warangal*
17 Bihar Banka
18 Bihar Bhagalpur
19 Bihar Darbhanga
20 Bihar Jamui
21 Bihar Lakhisarai
22 Bihar Madhubani
23 Bihar Saran
24 Chattisgarh Bilaspur
25 Chattisgarh Janjgir
26 Chattisgarh Jashpur
27 Chattisgarh Kanker
28 Gujarat Dahod
29 Gujarat Patan
30 Jammu & Kashmir Baramulla
31 Jammu & Kashmir Doda
32 Jammu & Kashmir Kargil
33 Jammu & Kashmir Kupwara
34 Jammu & Kashmir Udhampur
17
No State District
35 Jharkhand Deoghar
36 Jharkhand Gumla
37 Jharkhand Hazaribag
38 Jharkhand Lohardaga
39 Jharkhand Pakaur
40 Jharkhand Sahibganj
41 Jharkhand Seraikela
42 Jharkhand Simdega
43 Karnataka Belgaum*
44 Karnataka Chikmangalur*
45 Karnataka Chitradurga*
46 Karnataka Hassan*
47 Karnataka Kodagu*
48 Karnataka Shimoga*
49 Kerala Kasargod*
50 Kerala Palakkad*
51 Kerala Wyanad*
52 Madhya Pradesh Anuppur
53 Madhya Pradesh Ashoknagar
54 Madhya Pradesh Balaghat
55 Madhya Pradesh Barwani
56 Madhya Pradesh Betul
57 Madhya Pradesh Burhanpur
58 Madhya Pradesh Chhatarpur
59 Madhya Pradesh Chhindwara
60 Madhya Pradesh Dindori
61 Madhya Pradesh Jhabua
62 Madhya Pradesh Katni
63 Madhya Pradesh Mandla
64 Madhya Pradesh Panna
65 Madhya Pradesh Rewa
66 Madhya Pradesh Seoni
67 Madhya Pradesh Shahdol
68 Madhya Pradesh Sidhi
69 Madhya Pradesh Umaria
70 Maharashtra Akola*
71 Maharashtra Amravati*
72 Maharashtra Buldhana*
73 Maharashtra Gadchiroli
74 Maharashtra Gondia
18
Note: The above list includes the 31 distressed districts identified by the Government where the Prime
Minister‟s special rehabilitation package is being implemented (these districts are marked with *). The
remaining 69 districts have been included on the following criteria: (i) the district ranks low on the three-
year average land productivity for 2001-02 to 2003-04, (ii) the credit-deposit ratio of the district is less than
60 per cent for 2006, (iii) the proportion of urban population in the district is less than 30 per cent in 2001.
Districts in Goa, North-Eastern states other than Assam, and union territories are not considered due to lack
of data on land productivity. The list may be firmed up to accommodate the spirit of the recommendations.
Source: Data on district-wise land productivity has been provided by Dr. Gurmail Singh of Punjab
University, Chandigarh. Data on credit-deposit ratios has been provided by the Economic and Political
Weekly Research Foundation. Data on urban population are based on CensusInfo 1.0, Census 2001.
No State District
75 Maharashtra Nanded
76 Maharashtra Nandurbar
77 Maharashtra Osmanabad
78 Maharashtra Wardha*
79 Maharashtra Wasim*
80 Maharashtra Yavatmal*
81 Orissa Boudh
82 Orissa Koraput
83 Orissa Malkangiri
84 Orissa Nawapara
85 Rajasthan Churu
86 Rajasthan Dungarpur
87 Rajasthan Jaisalmer
88 Rajasthan Nagaur
89 Rajasthan Pali
90 Rajasthan Rajsamand
91 Rajasthan Sikar
92 Rajasthan Udaipur
93 Tamil Nadu Sivaganga
94 Uttar Pradesh Banda
95 Uttar Pradesh Chitrakoot
96 Uttar Pradesh Hamirpur
97 Uttaranchal Almora
98 Uttaranchal Pauri Garhwal
99 Uttaranchal Rudraprayag
100 Uttaranchal Tehri Garhwal
19
ANNEXURE-II
A SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE FARMERS IN THE SUICIDE PRONE
DISTRICTS OF INDIA: A DEPARTMENTAL PROJECT REPORT
1. INTRODUCTION
It was the initiative of Professor Anil Kumar Gupta of IIM (A) that made us actively
concerned about the problems of suicides by the farmers on a mass scale in the recent past.
He invited many scientists from different Institutions and Universities, convened a one day
workshop at IIM on 10 July 2008 and discussed the problem. Professor Gupta narrated the
grave situations of the farmers prevailing in some of the districts. One cannot remain idle
and become indifferent when farmers commit suicide on a mass scale. It is an important
matter which affects the peace, order and stability of the society. Professor Gupta urged us
to share our knowledge in identifying the nature of the problem along with the associated
factors and chalk out plan of actions to eradicate the problem in near future.
There are 31 affected districts. Professor Gupta also gave us a list of 100 agriculturally
less developed and distressed districts, including these 31 districts. 16 of these 31 districts
are in Andhra Pradesh, the rest 15 of these districts are spread over three states namely,
Karnataka (6), Kerala (3) and Maharastra (6). The Prime Minister‟s special rehabilitation
package is being implemented in these 31 districts. The remaining 69 districts are from
Bihar (7), Chattisgarh (4), Gujarat (2), Jammu & Kashmir (5), Jharkhand (8), Madhya
Pradesh ((18), Maharastra (5), Orissa (4), Rajasthan (8), Tamilnadu (1), Uttar Pradesh (3)
and Uttaranchal (4). These 69 districts have been chosen on the basis of (i) average land
productivity being low, (ii) the credit deposit ratio being less than 60 percent and (iii) the
proportion of urban population in the districts being less than 30 percent.
The reasons for committing suicide by farmers, as came out from the discussions held on
10 July 2008, are mainly the crop failure, indebtedness and rising cost of cultivation.
These are the reasons pointed out also in the report submitted by the Tata Institute of
Social Sciences (TISS) to Mumbai High Court (March 15, 2005). Besides, it is pointed out
in the discussion that the farmers‟ aspiration also plays an important role in the
commitment of suicide. Thus it appears that the problem should be looked upon from
socio-cultural, economic, health, ecological, technological and institutional angle.
It is felt that an early warning system should be developed so that the district authorities
can become aware of the farmers‟ status with respect to each of these aspects mentioned
above before such calamities occur. This system should be based on some summary
figures, or more precisely, indices, developed from the village level data. One may also
think of overall vulnerability index combining the indices of each aspect. For this, it is
necessary to know the weights to be given to these indices for a sensible output. These
weights should come from the villagers themselves.
Five teams have been formed in the meeting. Each team has been given charge of
preparing a departmental project report (DPR) on one specified aspect from the above list.
The information collected by these teams should be collated to get the aspect wise indices
and the overall index.
The whole process should be on a continuing basis. It should sustain. For this it is
necessary to have involvement of villagers. A system should be developed such that the
villagers will give the data to the person assigned by the villagers themselves. The data so
collected is to be compiled by the assigned person and submitted to the Panchayat.
Panchayat in turn will submit it to the higher authority and ultimately it should go to the
20
State Government through district authority. At each stage, somebody should be
responsible for the work to be done.
So far as the socio-cultural and economic aspects are concerned a team consisting of five
members have been constituted. The team may be augmented or modified depending on
the expertise needed in the specific fields.
Associated with every farmer, who has committed suicide, there are many more who are
in distress. Every incidence of suicide or any similar incidence is characterised by its own
distinct features with respect to the specific problems faced by the farmer and the
associated family. But it is not our aim to get information at such minute level. The risk
factors to be identified are not specific only to the farmers‟ families who have committed
suicide. All the villagers should be taken into consideration for any meaningful analysis to
be carried out.
From the above discussion, it follows that we should take information at two levels: micro and
macro. Micro level data refers to the information at household level whereas macro level data
are for a set of households. The smallest feasible macro level data in this case are the village
level data for our analysis. Data on some characteristics should be collected from each of the
sampled households in a given village. Data on village level characteristics such as number of
schools, tube wells or even total area under specific crops etc. should be collected from village
head or from a knowledgeable person from the village. Micro- and macro- data are to be
combined to get the complete picture. Data may already exist on many of the characteristics at
some aggregate level. One must identify such data and find out the data gap that exists. The
aim of the micro and macro level survey is to fill up the data gap.
In our socio-cultural and economic study, it is necessary to carry out both macro and
micro level survey. Some of the relevant macro level data in our analysis are as follows:
Need and sources of irrigation and use of fertilizers and pesticides
Type of land and land productivity and land use pattern
Infrastructural facilities on education, health, markets, finance etc.
Employment and income scenarios including cottage and small scale industries etc.
The information which can be gathered and pooled from micro level data may be as
follows:
Dependence on agriculture (from sources of income)
Level of poverty, Standard of living
Loans taken from different financial agents, extent of mortgage of lands or other
capital items
Extent of knowledge of farmers on the availability (and use) of seeds, loans,
technology etc.
Importance given by the villagers on the risk factors, etc.
We have to list out all the available knowledge baselines, databases, information sources
on innovations from formal and informal sectors and then see the way these can be
gainfully utilized in the affected regions through Decision Support System to be developed
and deployed at village/mandal/block level.
To summarise: We have to develop indicators using socio-economic data, already existing
or to be collected, at the Panchayat level so that early warning system can be implemented.
Among the indicators, we should include social and community level stresses also. In
order to sustain the system, necessary responsibility should be given to the appropriate
persons. Active involvement of the villagers is a must for the system to be successful.
21
THE SAMPLING SCHEME:
It is necessary to fix the population first. Should we take only the 31 affected districts or
the set of 100 districts identified as vulnerable? To bring the variability in the data, we
have decided to take all the 100 districts as population. All the districts, however, cannot
be surveyed because of the time and cost constraints.
We have separate sampling scheme for micro and macro level studies.
The Sampling Scheme for Selecting Districts for Micro Level Study
Name of the State No. of affected
districts
No. of districts to
be sampled
No. of other
vulnerable districts
No. of districts
to be sampled
Andhra Pradesh 16 8 0 -
Bihar 0 - 7 2
Chattisgarh 0 - 4 1
Gujarat 0 - 2 1
Jammu & Kashmir 0 - 5 1
Jharkhand 0 - 8 2
Karnataka 6 4 0 -
Kerala 3 2 0 -
Madhya Pradesh 0 - 18 4
Maharashtra 6 4 5 1
Orissa 0 - 4 1
Rajasthan 0 - 8 2
Tamil Nadu 0 - 1 1
Uttar Pradesh 0 - 3 1
Uttaranchal 0 - 4 1
Total 31 18 69 18
For macro level study at the district level we shall try to collect information from all the
100 vulnerable districts.
Next we select the villages according to the following sampling scheme.
The Sampling Scheme for Selecting Villages for Micro Level Study
Name of the State
Affected districts Other vulnerable districts
No. of sampled
districts
No. of villages to
be sampled
No. of sampled
districts
No. of villages to
be sampled
Andhra Pradesh 8 16 - -
Bihar - - 2 4
Chattisgarh - - 1 2
Gujarat - - 1 2
Jammu & Kashmir - - 1 2
Jharkhand - - 2 4
Karnataka 4 8 - -
Kerala 2 4 - -
Madhya Pradesh - - 4 8
Maharashtra 4 8 1 2
Orissa - - 1 2
Rajasthan - - 2 4
Tamil Nadu - - 1 2
Uttar Pradesh - - 1 2
Uttaranchal - - 1 2
Total 18 36 18 36
22
In each of the affected districts which are sampled, we shall choose one affected village
and one unaffected village. Similarly from the list of sampled districts of unaffected states
two villages will be selected.
For macro level study we shall take all the villages sampled for micro level study and try
to take as many villages as possible from the rest of the villages of the 100 vulnerable
districts.
For micro level study we shall make a list of all the households, group them into farmers
and non farmers according to principal source of earning and take about 10 households
with principal source of earnings from agriculture and 10 households with principal source
of earning other than agriculture.
We have 72 villages for micro level study spread over 36 districts from 15 states. The no.
of sampled households is 72*20 = 1440. Besides, all the affected households in the
sampled villages will be taken for our micro level analysis. Thus the number of sampled
households is not fixed.
THE DATA
In the socio-cultural and economic study we plan to collect data on different aspects
namely, demographic, social and economic. The following is the tentative list of data to be
collected under different headings.
(A) Demographic:
(i) Age, sex, occupation, religion and caste, education etc. of each member in
the household.
(ii) No. of deaths occurred during last 5 years. Detail descriptions with causes
of death, amount spent for rituals after death etc. in case of deaths.
(iii) no. of unmarried daughters if any in the household.
(iv) Health situation of the household (Any member suffering from chronic
ailments, any acute disease, expenditure incurred on health and medicines
etc.)
(B) Social:
(i) Social Participation (Cooperatives, Gram Panchayats, Political Parties,
Farmer‟s organization, other NGOs etc.)
(ii) Attitudes and awareness on cropping patterns, technology, inventions of
new seeds etc.
(iii) Attitudes towards male and female members in the family, intra-household
relationships, attention to vulnerable members like children, aged members,
pregnant members etc.
(iv) Habits (Alcohol, Bidi, Cigarettes, Gambling etc.)
(v) Media Exposure (Newspapers, Magazines, TVs, Outside Cinemas etc.)
(vi) Group Interactions (Attending training programmes, Krishi Vigyan Kendra,
Krishi Mela, etc.)
(vii) Attending functions (Marriage and other religious functions, Drama and
other functions organised or arranged by the local bodies etc.)
(viii) Spending leisure time (How? Describe)
23
(C) Economic:
(i) Total monthly expenditure, Food insecurity
(ii) Family assets (TV, Radio, Cycle, motor cycle or scooter, 4 wheelers,
Fridge, Electronic gadgets including Computer, music system, vcd, vcr etc.)
(iii) Infra structural facilities (Type and size of building with approximate
valuation if possible, electricity, storage facility, garage etc.)
(iv) Poultry, Dairy, fishery or other agricultural activities
(v) Amount of land possessed, used, leased in and leased out.
(vi) Loan taken/given (institutional or non-institutional, when, amount, purpose,
repayment procedure, whether being repaid regularly, etc.)
Macro level Information:
(A) Infra-structure facilities
(i) Roads and Communication (Metalled road, Bus stop, railway station, Ferry
services etc. and distances from the village)
(ii) Education (Schools, colleges, vocational training centre etc.)
(iii) Health (Primary Health Centre, Private and Govt. Hospitals, Nursing Home)
(iv) Tele-communication (Post office, Public call office (PCO), etc.)
(v) Service Centre (BDO, Agricultural service Centre, Veterinary Hospitals,
Artificial Insemination Centre, etc.)
(vi) Financial Institutions (Land Devt. Bank, Regional rural Bank, District Central
Cooperative Bank, Primary Cooperative Agricultural Credit Societies,
Commercial Banks, etc.)
(vii) Shops, Hatts and Markets (Daily Bazar, Weekly/Biweekly Hatts, Fair price
shop, Animal fair, Cold storage, etc.)
(B) Land (Total Geographical Area, Area under forest, Area not available for
cultivation, net area sown, area sown more than once, gross cropped area, etc.)
(C) Animal Husbandry (No. of cattle‟s,, buffaloes etc.)
(D) Water for Irrigation (sources of irrigation–Taps, Other lift irrigations/Sprinklers,
Tubewells, Open well, Tank, etc.,)
(E) Area under different crops (cereals, pulses, oilseeds, food-crops, sugarcane,
fruits and vegetables, spices, cotton, tobacco, drugs and narcotics)
(F) Educational Set Up (Schools by grades, no. of students, etc.)
(G) Different Devt. Schemes running within the village (Govt. And nongovt.)
(H) Electrification (for Domestic consumption, for small, medium or cottage
industries, conventional and non-conventional sources of energy) Other
information like agro-meteorological information, farm research and technology
devt., pests, disease of plants, plant nutrient management, agricultural resource
management, etc.
Duration of the Project:
Formulation of Schedule, Drawing of Samples etc. – 3 months
Pilot Survey and Revision of Schedule – 3 months
Canvassing of schedules – 9 months
Data entry and analysis – 6 months
Report writing – 3 months
Total: 2 years
24
Budget:
SL. NO. ITEM ESTIMATED COST
1. Preparation of Schedule Rs. 80,000/-
2. Data collection (2000 schedules @ Rs. 500 per
schedule)
Rs. 10,00,000/-
3. Secondary Data Rs. 1,00,000/-
4. Travel Rs. 15,00,000/-
5. Project Linked Persons (Rs. 10,000/- × 2 persons × 20
months)
Rs. 4,00,000/-
6. Stationeries, Dispatch and other miscellaneous
expenditures
Rs. 80,000/-
7. Overhead charges Rs. 6,32,000/-
TOTAL Rs. 37,92,000/-
25
ANNEXURE-III
AN APPROACH NOTE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES IN VILLAGE
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
1. Introduction
Financial services would be a key input for the development of a viable Village
Knowledge Management System to be developed for distressed areas. One of the
major complaint arising from such distressed districts is the lack of adequate and
timely credit and other financial support to the farmers and their dependence on
unscrupulous money lenders for meeting their credit needs. Many suicides in the
distressed districts are attributed to the debt trap in which the farmers are in, due to
lack of effective mechanism to mitigate their financial problems.
Government of India, realising the need to make available timely and adequate credit,
had initiated many programmes over the last 4 to 5 years, such as doubling of
agriculture credit in three years ( the doubling was completed in two years itself), issue
of Kisan Credit cards (a flexible credit product) to all farmers, financing 100 new
farmers by each rural and semi urban branches of Commercial Banks and Regional
Rural Banks, initiating programmes for Financial inclusion, debt relief packages for
distressed farmers, sanction of special package by Prime Minister for acutely
distressed 31 districts etc. But the problem of distress still continues in many of these
districts. Therefore, the reasons for suicides have to be something more than the mere
delivery of credit alone. In order to understand the situation, it is necessary that a
proper assessment of each distressed area is done to study their financial needs
including credit, which include assessment of credit potential in their area, type credit
products required and also the credit delivery mechanism suited to the area.
In order to understand the financial services required by the villagers in the distressed
district and to include them as part of the Village Knowledge mechanism, a detailed
study of the past, present and future situations has to be carried out. Probably such a
study can be carried out with the help of outside agencies, preferably a Community
Based Organisations, placed at the districts. A detailed analysis of the information will
enable better appreciation of the financial needs of the villagers. The study has to be
time bound and should be completed within two months.
2 Source of Information
Sources of information for any such study can be based on primary and secondary
data. Collection of primary data will be more cumbersome process and involve time,
energy and resources. But such an initiative will provide more accurate data base for
making better analysis and proper planing. The collection of such data can be based on
a house to house survey in each village or by PRA technique exercises to be carried
out for the village as a whole. A house to house survey based on a structured
questionnaire will give more accurate data. Such survey can be entrusted to People‟s
organisations in the village or NGOs/ Voluntary agencies working in the area.
Engaging educated youngsters from the villages by providing remuneration based on
the number of such surveys, would be a viable option. Such survey can be combined
with data collection for other aspects of the VKMS report, such as mapping socio
economic conditions of the people etc. A PRA technique will also provide a fairly
good data base on natural endowments of the villages, present cropping pattern,
potential for changing cropping pattern, credit related information such as debt status
of the villagers, the potentials for purveyance of credit, the sectors which can absorb
26
credit, the mechanism for credit purveyance etc. which can also be made use of for
making suitable plans.
The source of secondary data for the districts as a whole can be accessed from
Potential Linked Credit Plans prepared by NABARD for each district in the country,
District Credit Plan prepared by Lead District Manager, Annual Action Plan of
DRDA/ DIC, Annual Action Plans of Zilla/ Block/ Gram Panchayats, District Plans of
District Agriculture Office/ other line departments etc. Village profiles and Service
Area Plans prepared by the Service Area Banks, under Service Area Approach, will
provide micro level data with respect to the villages. Village level data regarding each
village can also be sourced from the village offices or related agencies.
3 Financial Services required
The financial services required by the villagers include saving facility, credit,
insurance, fund transfer/remittance, payment, scholarship etc. Infact, the Financial
Inclusion programme of GoI/ RBI is aiming to achieve provision of these services to
all the house holds in the rural areas. Under the Financial Inclusion Programme, as the
first step, RBI has asked the Banks to open “no frill” accounts to all excluded house
holds, which will provide facility for saving. Thereafter, it is expected that the banking
relationship will lead to meeting the credit needs and other financial services of the
people.
Savings
The first and the most important service required by villagers is to have a place to keep
their thrift safely. It can‟t be at a place about 10 to 15 KMs away from their dwelling
and cannot be such system which will not encourage small amounts, in ones or tens.
The mechanism for saving has to be more rural friendly, tune with the needs of the
rural poor and at their door step. That‟s where the informal mechanisms like SHGs or
even Branchless Banking concept has been receiving wide acceptance and they can be
very handy in any such programmes being planned under VKMS. The postal network
can also be used effectively to provide savings facility.
Credit
Credit is a complex matter. The credit requirement of a villager or a farmer may not be
exactly the same as is being offered by the formal credit institutions at present. That‟s
why many a time they prefer to approach an informal system like money lenders, even
if they are charging exhorbitant interest rates. The need of the hour is to understand
and develop flexible credit products suiting to the needs of the villagers. Again, the
needs of the farmers may not be exactly the same as is being offered by the bank, in
the nature of production purpose like Short term agricultural activities or long term
investment purposes. Their requirement will include a lot of consumption needs. Also,
there is a needs for housing, which forms a priority. But the housing loan requirements
may not be the same as is being offered by the Banks. Their needs could be for
constructing a kutcha house, or just a small extension or improving the existing
amenities etc. for which many a time the formal credit institutions may not be able to
provide credit. Similarly, the aspirations of the villagers for better life may also tempt
them go for certain „luxury‟ goods like Televison, telephone, motor cycle etc. The
formal banking system may not find them as credit worthy for such loans leading them
to the mercy of the informal system. Therefore, the credit products to be offered to the
villagers has to be sensitive to such needs. A family credit plan approach would be
more practical, based on a cash flow which take into account of all receipts and
27
expenditure, rather than fixing credit limit only for certain purposes. A detailed study
will provide better insights to such products.
Insurance
Insurance is another important financial service which is still eluding the villagers. A
large segment of rural India is still untouched by insurance because of long distances,
poor distribution and high return costs. It is said that the life insurance premium in
India is just 1.8% of the GDP as against 5.2% in US and 8% in South Korea.
Considering the fact that 70% of the population is in rural areas, the present coverage
is too less and need to be enhanced.
What are the insurance products needed by the villagers? The villagers need products
for covering their life, health and accidents. In addition there has to be a proper risk
mitigation mechanism to insure their crops and also their livestock.
Some of the Self Help Group promoting institutions in some parts of the country are
providing limited insurance coverage to their members, either by devising products of
their own or by having tie up with existing insurance companies. They include a small
compensation, ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs 20,000, for accidental deaths and also
some medical insurance for hospitalisation and maternity needs. Recently, GoI has
also announced some sort of insurance cover to members of Self Help Groups. It is
necessary that a proper assessment of the insurance needs of the villagers are made
and suitable products are offered to them.
The crop insurance and agriculture assets insurance are needed to be more effective.
Although there is an Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) providing crop insurance
and several General insurance companies offering asset insurance, many a time they
are not effective and the farmers do not get the full benefit. The major reason for the
distress is due to the failure of weather leading to loss of crops and assets, thereby
unable to honour the repayment commitments to the loans taken from lenders, both
formal and informal. The farmers distressed when they are unable to meet their
commitments from the lenders, more so the loan taken form from informal sources.
Thus an effective risk mitigation mechanism for the crops and livestock is very much
essential under the Village Knowledge Management System.
Remittance and Payment facilities
These are also needed for the villagers. Especially if they have to send their children
away to far off places for studies or if they have their near and dear ones working else
where. Right now the Post offices does this activity but its effectiveness is a big
question.
Scholorships
This is more so for the students persuing their studies. Such support will enable the
villagers to provide better education to their children in far off places.
4 Agencies for credit purveyance
We have a multi agency approach in credit purveyance in our country. They include
Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks consisting of Short
term and Long term structure. Since 1989, a Service Area Approach has been in vogue
whereby rural or semi urban branches of each Commercial Bank and RRB is allotted a
specific area, consisting of few villages, for taking care of the credit needs of the area.
As per this, the Service Area Branch has to prepare a Service Area Credit plan for each
28
village, based on a data base maintained by them in the from of „Village profile‟,
which is required to be updated regularly. The Village Plans add up to the service area
plans of the Service Area Branch, which are aggregated at Block, District and State
level to prepare the Block, District and State Credit Plans for an year. The Service
Area Approach has been diluted in the recent past and only the Government sponsored
programmes are now financed based on the Service Area Approach. Otherwise,
farmers have the option to approach different banks and the banks have the option to
finance in different areas.
Apart from these Service Area Bank branches, the villages are also covered by
Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS), affiliated to District Central
Cooperative Banks. But in many places the PACS are defunct or not in good health
thereby reducing their role as an effective credit purveyor. But, the recent initiatives by
the Government of India to implement Prof Vaidyanathan Committee - I Report,
which envisage revival of Cooperative Banks, coupled with the recent massive loan
waiver scheme, will enable the Cooperative Banks to become more stronger and play
an effective role in the near future. Similar is the case with Long term Cooperative
Credit structure, which include Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural
Development Banks at the Taluk level and State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural
Development Banks. Barring a few states, this structure is also very weak. A revival
programme of Long Term Cooperative Credit Structure is also under consideration of
GOI based on the recommendation of Prof Vaidyanatan Committee-II.
The RRBs, which were hitherto weak in many places have since improved their
financial strength and have become effective purveyors of credit in rural area. With the
amalgamation of about 150 RRBs to form 45 amlgamated entities, along with 43 stand
along, the financial strength of most of these RRBs has enhanced and they can play an
important role in purveyance credit in the rural areas.
This apart, there is a strong micro finance movement across the country facilitating the
credit needs of the rural poor. The pilot programme of SHG Bank linkage initiated by
NABARD in 1992, has since grown as a massive movement and has enabled financing
more than 4 crore rural poor through this mechanism. Over the last 15 years, the Banks
have financed close to 4 million Self Help Groups (SHGs) across the country.
Self Help Groups formed mostly by the women folk are an excellent support
mechanism which also help in meeting the thrift and credit needs of the rural poor.
The concept propagated by NABARD involves formation of informal groups of rural
poor with homogeneous background and working together in the group by having a
regular thrift collection which are used for internal lending to meet the urgent credit
needs of the members. Subsequently, after assessing the maturity level of the group,
the groups are financed by banks based on the savings level for meeting the larger
credit needs of the members. The mechanism has been working very well for the last
16 years or so and provide an excellent support mechanism to villagers.
More SHGs for women need to be ensured through a campaign mode so that
dairy/poultry/farming activities can be financed through SHGs.
There are also several variants of this credit innovation which are also working well.
One such innovation is the concept of Joint Liability Groups (JLGs). The concept has
been borrowed from South East Asian countries and also by taking a cue of the
success of the SHG Bank Linkage programme. The concept is to form a credit group
of 5 to 10 persons, involved in similar vocation, for the purpose of borrowing from the
banks. The concept is based on the mutual guarantee being provided by the members
29
and also the peer pressure acting for timely repayments. The scheme has been
extended to finance farmers who are otherwise unable to provide security like tenant
farmers and oral lessees since 2006.
For landless farmers, oral lessees and tenant farmers, there is an urgent need to create
joint liability groups or Rythu Mitra Sanghas, as in Andhra Pradesh, which are
basically self-help groups of farmers. With the help of Agriculture
Department/NGO‟s such groups can be formed for easy accessing of agricultural
credit.
In addition to these there are also micro finance institutions in certain parts of the
country providing loan to poor people directly or through group mode.
Further, the GoI/ RBI have also permitted bankers to deploy Business facilitators and
Business Correspondences for reaching the unreached. Both these mechanisms involve
use of identified agencies for facilitating credit from the formal banking system
With the introduction of Financial Inclusion programme, some of the banks have also
initiated use of technology for purveying credit in rural areas. The brancheless banking
adopted by banks like SBI, Corporation Bank use Information and Communication
Technology for accepting thrift and providing credit. In these models, computer
enabled hand held device connected to Bank‟s Servers are operated from the villages,
by the designated Business facilitators, for accepting thrift and providing credit, by
using smart cards provided to the village folks.
Inspite of all these, the dependence on informal credit sources likes money lenders is
also very high. The NSSO (2003) survey indicate that around 45% of the credit availed
of by the farmer household is from informal sources. Such loans are at usurious rates
and causes difficulties to farmers.
The informal credit sources offer some advantages to the villagers like availability of
credit at the door step at any time of the day, very few formalities, without any
„approved‟ purposes etc. It may be worthwhile to explore the possibility of formalising
such creditors with some controls??
Another institutions which can play a role in purveying credit is the post offices. In
India, Postal department has made a footprint in almost all the villages. India has the
largest number of postal network. There are over 1.55 lakh post offices in our country,
of which 89% are in rural areas. On an average, in 2004, a post-office in India served
an area of 21.13 sq. km and a population of 6,585. Although, there are a few financial
services provided by post office at present, it can be further strengthened with suitable
legal backing and other support so as to convert them into an efficient purveyor credit
in the rural areas.
5 Committee on Financial Inclusion
Committee on Financial Inclusion under the Chairmanship of Dr. C Rengarajan has
given a road map for Financial Inclusion in the country. Accordingly, 50% of the
financially excluded have to access financial services by 2012 and the remaining 50%
by 2015. The Committee has also recommended steps like opening 250 new accounts
per branch per year by rural and semi urban branches of Commercial Banks and
RRBs, setting up of National Mission on Financial Inclusion, preparing State Level
Rural Financial Inclusion Plans/ District level plans etc. The GOI has accepted some
of these recommendations and advised Banks to implement the same. This could
enable better, outreach of financial services to all people in the country.
30
6 Financial Inclusion Fund/ Financial Inclusion Technology Fund
As part of Financial Inclusion Programme, GoI has set up two funds viz. Financial
Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund, with Rs 500 crore corpus
each. The Funds are operate are operated by NABARD and can be made use of for
newer initiatives on Financial Inclusion by using Technology or otherwise in the
Villages/ districts under VKMS.
7 IT enabled financial services
The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for extending financial
services is necessary to built and efficient Village Knowledge Management System.
First and the foremost is to built a computer data base of all the families in the village.
The data base should evolve into a credit bureau so as to enable credit institutions and
other financial service providers to extend their service without any hassles. The rural
credit information bureau should be attempted using a technology platform so that it
becomes easier to access bank loans for farmers, depending upon their
transaction/banking history. This will also reduce the processing time taken for
agricultural loan. The data base should also enable proper monitoring of the credit
utilization and its repayment. It would be ideal to survey all the family members and
issue a smart card to each family which can act as a storage of their data base and also
enable financial transactions with the banks.
Bio-metric cards should be issued to each of the farmers in the identified districts so
that all subsidy/relief payment could be smoothly passed on to the individual farmers
through their bank accounts. The bio metric smart cards should enable the villagers to
access their bank account, make payments and monitor their insurance services. This
can also be used for making payments under NREGP and other similar programmes.
Kisan Credit Cards may be issued to all farmers having land holdings irrespective of
defaulter status and efforts may be made to cover all farmers. The Kisan Card could
also be IT enabled and can be integrated with the Biometric smart card.
The use of ICT in creating the data base should also enable the villagers/ farmers
availing of credit, to approach any bank without having the necessity of obtaining
NOC certificates from their earlier banks. The IT enabling should also help in
accessing the land documentation thereby making the loan process much more simpler
process.
Further the use of Technology should also enable the farmers to access information
regarding their crops including proper package of practices, discovering future prices,
suggestions for change in cropping pattern etc. The experimentation of e-sagu (e
farming ) being practiced by IIIT, Hyderabad, in solving the problems of the farmers
on-line and getting advisory on a weekly basis, could also be adopted, by entrusting
suitable agencies such as Agriculture Universities/ Colleges or Agriculture Research
Stations or agencies on a PPP mode, for providing weekly the advisory to the farmers,
may be on a payment basis.
The installations of ware houses and cold storages in the villages, as part of VKMS
could also benefit the farmers in storing their produce safely and also accessing credit
through pledge. Such warehouse receipts should be used for even as negotiable
instruments by making suitable legislation.
Further, through the use of technology, the farmers should also be able to trade their
produce through multi commodity exchange platforms like NCDEX and MCX. May
be VKMS can act as aggregators for enabling such trade.
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8 Credit plus approach
As mentioned earlier credit alone is not the only solution to the farmers. There has to
be a credit plus approach which enable the farmers to be educated on the use of credit,
its timely repayments, building saving habits etc. There can be farmers clubs which
can take care of such activities, benefiting the farmers. Farmers Clubs to be started by
all branches of DCCBs/RRBs/Commercial banks, with a minimum of one active club
per branch. Such forums can also be used in disseminating knowledge on new farming
technique, diversification of agriculture activities, practices like organic farming/
integrated farming etc. Further, the forum can also help in the socio economic well
being of the farmers/ villagers.
With a view to strenghten the Cooperative Banks in the selected districts, the
Vaidyanathan Committee Reports I and II, on restructuring Short term and Long term
cooperative structures, may be implemented on a priority basis as the cooperatives are
the most farmer-friendly institutions and revival of PACS/PCARDBs shall be given
utmost priority.
Since marketing play an important role in ensuring better returns to farmers, Rural
haats and market yards should be made more farmer-friendly so that farmers‟ access to
market facilities and market prices, are assured.
As done in two pilot projects in Wardha and Amravati districts, 5 villages in each
district, NABARD initiated a Village Development Programme to augment the income
level of farmers using organic/Vermi-composting methods and to offer counselling
services through NGOs. In 3 of the 5 pilot villages in Wardha, need based village
credit plans have been prepared on a participatory mode with the involvement of
bankers to ensure credit flow for crop cultivation, investment in capital assets,
subsidiary occupation. Similar rural village development schemes on adoption mode,
need to be done by banks/corporates under their corporate social responsibility
schemes.
Jiji Mammen N P Mohaptra Sai Prinny Santosh
DGM/ FM, NABARD AGM Project Director
Regional Training College Financial Inclusion Dept. Transformational
Mangalore -575004 NABARD, HO, Mumbai Social Change
09845466948 Anantapur, AP
32
ANNEXURE-IV
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND NUTRITION SITUATION ANALYSIS OF FAMILIES
IN DISTRESS DISTRICTS OF INDIA & STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE THEM
The nutrition, heath & well being of human beings are mainly dependent on plant foods
since they represent the bulk of food consumed by people. It is well recognized that the
quality of food is just as important as the quantity of food. During early 1950‟s due to
various economic and social reasons, pregnant and lactating women and their infants in
India did not receive a balanced diet which resulted in protein calorie malnutrition. This
situation compromised their immune system, resulting in their vulnerability to number of
communicable diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, small pox,
chicken pox etc. Due to an increase in population growth and decreased food production
commensurate with this growth during the early 1960‟s, there was an increased pressure
on a fixed land base to produce more food. Hence there was an extensive research to
increase the cereal productivity which resulted in Green revolution. Various policies of
Government, such as providing food subsidies and strong nutrition education component
and public health programs like universal immunization, providing iron & folic acid
tablets for pregnant mothers, and vitamin A prophylaxis programs, the severe forms of
protein calorie malnutrition and the other major nutritional deficiency disorders were
reduced in the country.
Green revolution technology was shown to be capable of achieving increases in
productivity needed to provide adequate food energy for the country. The technology
included new cultivars, chemicals ranging from mineral fertilizers to pesticides to
synthetic plant hormones and machines to supplement and replace the labor force. India
has benefited immensely from this agricultural revolution as the problems of inherently
infertile soils were resolved by the development of nitrogen, super phosphate etc, creating
a surplus of food that has endured since the early 1980‟s. However, there was also concern
that the emphasis on agricultural production was threatening the resource base of land,
soil, air and water through processes such as loss of soil fertility by erosion, acidification,
salinisation and desertification. During the green revolution‟s push toward food security,
little thought was bestowed to nutritional value and human health, and certainly almost
none to the content of micronutrients in the new cereal cultivars being bred, or to the
micronutrient content of the resultant changing diets. Micronutrient levels in cereals are
low and because of less focus on the yield improvement of nutrient-rich crops like
legumes, fruits & vegetables, the new problems that have risen now are due to
micronutrient malnutrition in human beings.
Micronutrient malnutrition, often called‟ Hidden Hunger‟, is more conspicuous in India
since the introduction of green revolution. Today, micronutrient malnutrition diminishes
the health, productivity and well being of over half of Indian community, with impact
primarily on women, infants and children from low income families. Micronutrient
malnutrition not only compromises the immune system, but can irreversibly retard brain
development inutero and for up to two years postpartum. This means that deficiency of
micronutrients in a pregnant or lactating woman can result in mentally and physically
handicapped child that will never achieve its genetic potential in cognitive abilities. Such
children may be less fit to control their environment and to provide for their own food
security in later life to compete for better education and for higher level jobs within their
society. All together micronutrient deficiencies greatly contribute to the degenerative cycle
of poverty as they limit the capacity of parents to earn an adequate income that limits the
level of nutrition they can provide to their children, in turn limiting their children‟s work
33
and cognitive potential. To cope up with the increased economic needs of the families,
even small and marginal farmers have ended up taking ambitious programs to earn more
while their knowledge levels were not adequate with respect to that activity. While the
impact of agricultural research has been immense, the outcome, however, has created even
more daunting challenges for agricultural scientists, nutritionists, health care specialists
and policy makers.
To tackle this micronutrient malnutrition, policy makers have viewed it as a disease that
must be treated and accordingly the strategy of supplementation that stressed only on food
fortification intervention programs. While many of these programs have been successful in
case of individuals who were covered, they are all too often unsustainable for various
reasons. Hence our ultimate objective is to have sustainable food systems that provide
adequate nutrient output, potentially achievable by an alliance between agricultural,
nutritional and health related sciences. Additional investment in agricultural research is
necessary to promote improved micronutrient output of agricultural systems and
agriculture must address this issue if we are to find sustainable solutions to micronutrient
malnutrition that degrades human health, productivity and well being. Therefore there is a
need to educate the farmers on their nutritional needs, importance of balanced diets,
impact of using insecticides, fertilizers, pesticides etc on their health, soil and crop health,
environmental sanitation, importance of proper post harvest management issues for better
economic returns.
With this background the project is proposed with the following objectives
Objectives
1. To assess the health and nutritional status of vulnerable rural population in distressed
districts
2. To coordinate the services of various Government departments in capacity building of
rural families
3. To impart the necessary knowledge and skills to increase nutrition and health
awareness among people
4. To identify and establish (if any) a link between Agronomical practices, soil health and
nutrient composition of major food crops specially with reference to micronutrients
through research
5. To establish soil health clinics
6. To educate people on the impact of Agronomic practices on food value of crops
through Village level knowledge centers.
Action plan: This involves the following activities.
Basic research
1. Assessment of soil health and nutritional status of population subsisting mostly on
the foods grown in the region
2. Study the association between micronutrient levels of soil and the major crops
grown in that soil (especially cereals, millets and legumes) which form the bulk of
human food and their availability invitro and invivo
3. Identify the link/s between soil-plant-livestock-human health; identify the
interaction between various micronutrients in absorption and utilization and also
study the consequences on human health.
4. Assess the nutrient composition of organic foods in comparison to other foods and
availability of critical nutrients
5. Establishment of soil health clinics
34
Operational research
I . Capacity building and Counseling
1. Physical capacity – health monitoring
a) Prevention of diseases & health management
Public health concepts - creating awareness about Immunization, health & hygiene,
environmental sanitation etc
Dietary & pharmaceutical management of diseases such as Diabetes, Hypertension,
Cardiovascular diseases, Arthritis, Flourosis, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Goitre etc.
Providing necessary diet & nutrition counseling for prevention of physical and
nutritional stress, disease occurrence & management of diseases.
Monitoring health indicators
b) Prevention & Management of
Epidemics such as Gastrointestinal disorders, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Chikungunya,
Dengue, viral fevers, Japanese encephalitis etc.
Emergency health situations
c) Economic burden of illness of family members
2) Economic capacity: Appropriate technology intervention for income generation
3) Decision making and management capacity of the family specially women: Introduce
appropriate timely interventions to build the family capacity to make right decisions
4) Psychological capacity: Counselling to cope up with stress situation
5) Knowledge support: through community ,NGOs, and building awareness
6) Government, Social and Community support: Information and resources made
available from government department to manage a new crop /to manage a new agriculture
practice; through social organizations, through Community ;
II Develop data base on knowledge of Agriculture, Food, Nutrition &Health
situation in distressed districts
Knowledge data base regarding agricultural practices
Knowledge data base regarding post harvest management practices
Knowledge data base regarding dietary habits
Knowledge data base regarding indigenous methods of disease management
III Equip VKMS with Nutrition Education material
Pooling up the available material and developing the necessary material about
Balanced diet for different age groups
Calculation of Nutritive value of foods
Weaning foods and supplementary feeding
Care during pregnancy & lactation
Breast feeding
Child care services and practices
Geriatric care
Dietary management in common health problems
Early detection of health problems : prevention & cure
35
ANNEXURE V
Department of Science & Technology
(NRDMS & NSDI Divisions)
Minutes
Subject: Minutes of the meeting – Development of LIS – Framework
Project development meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Prof Anil K Gupta, IIM
Ahmedabad, on 22nd
April 2008. The following officers attended the meeting.
1. Dr. J.P.Sharma, Principal Scientist & Head, NBSS & LUP (ICAR) New Delhi
2. Prof.M.Anji Reddy, JNT University, Hyderabad
3. Dr.T.Vijaya Lakshmi, JNT University, Hyderabad
4. Dr.D.Martin, Scientist, NBSS & LUP (ICAR) New Delhi
5. Dr. Tamilvanan, Research Fellow, IIM, Ahmedabad
6. Dr.K.R.Murali Mohan, DST, New Delhi
1. Initiating the discussions, the DST representative has outlined the genesis and the
background of the meeting. He brought the major issues discussed during the
meetings of the Secretary, DST and Hon‟ble Minister for Science & Technology,
held on 14th
& 15th
of April 2008. The DST is contemplating the development of
LIS for entire country in order to address the issues related to village level
developments through decision support system. However, considering the gamut of
work and complexities, it was decided that LIS will be developed for 33 districts
initially, where agrarian crisis is rampant. Accordingly, the geospatial industry was
consulted and it was decided to develop LIS in association with the geospatial
industry on „PPP mode‟. The industry was asked to come out with a generic
approach with in 4 weeks of time. The DST has to prepare a DPR consisting the
scope of work, operational methodologies, the data sources, spatial and non-spatial
attribute information products, system architecture, the deliverables and the
technical output so as to collate the governmental requirements with the proposed
system.
36
2. The objective of the meeting was to prepare broad contours of DPR, identifying
themes, network of institutes and scientists to involve in preparation of complete
DPR and Terms of Reference (TOR). The time lines set for the activity are around
6- 8 weeks from the date of approval of the proposal for preparation of DPR.
3. Prof. M.Anji Reddy and Dr.T.Vijaya Lakshmi, made a detailed presentation on the
results of the Village Information System (VIS) project for Prakasam District of
A.P. The methodology adopted for VIS specifically on integration of parcel level
information with in the village boundary was presented. The concept more or less
standardized, could be explored for extension and possible adaptation in the
proposed project. However, this methodology needs modifications based on R &D
efforts, which can be carried out before adopting.
4. Dr. J.P. Sharma and Dr. D. Martin, made a detailed presentation on various non
spatial components of the LIS.
5. Elaborative discussion were carried out on the purpose and applicability of LIS in
various sectors like health, education & employment, agriculture, farm trading,
meteorology, veterinary and livestock, flora and fauna, socio- economic, cultural
and other related issues for the development of rural India.
6. Keeping, the major sectoral themes, complexity of the issues at micro level, the
importance of creation of interactive knowledge information and management
centers in view, it is proposed to rename the LIS as Village Knowledge
Management System (VKMS), which encompasses the LIS and VIS.
7. After elaborative discussion, a generic and broad approach paper for preparation of
DPR was arrived at (Annexure 1).
8. The recommendations of the meeting are :
a) A detailed DPR will be prepared by Prof. Anil K.Gupta, IIM Ahmedabad.
He will submit a proposal to DST for the same.
37
b) IIM, Ahmedabad shall involve sectoral institutes like
Agriculture sector- NBSS& LUP(ICAR) , New Delhi
Nutrition Sector – NIN, Hyderabad
Health & all other aspects – ICMR, Kolkata
Statistical Analysis-ISI Kolkata,
Spatial data components– JNTU, Hyderabad.
Gender Issues- JNU, New Delhi
Socio-economic – NCAP New Delhi and
other relevant components- suitable agencies.
MINUTES OF VKMS DISCUSSION in july, 2008
Date : 10th
July 2008
Venue : Wing 11, IIMA
Following participants were present in the meeting:
1. Dr. P Adhiguru
2. Dr.A Dhandapani
3. Prof. V R Gaikwad
4. Prof. P Geervani
5. Dr. Ranendu Ghosh
6. Dr. N Gopalakrishnan
7. Dr.P S Guhar
8. Dr. B K Kikani
9. Dr. K T Krishne Gowda
10. Dr. P V S Kumar
11. Dr. Nandini K Kumar
12. Shri Jiji Mammen
13. Dr. D Martin
14. Dr. Murali Mohan
15. Shri N Mohaptra
16. Shri M Moni
17. Dr. Mruthyunjaya
18. Dr. Manoranjan Pal
19. Dr. (Mrs.) Sushma Panigrahy
20. Dr. Ramanbhai B Patel
21. Dr. S A Patil
22. Dr. T N Prakash
23. Dr. Anji Reddy
24. Dr. Baldev Sahai
25. Mr B V N S Santosh
26. Dr. N Seetharama
27. Dr. J P Sharma
28. Dr. Baldeo Singh
29. Dr. Bhoop Singh
30. Dr. (Mrs.) Sumathi
38
1) Prof Anil K Gupta started the discussion by briefly introducing the topic to the
participants of VKMS. The alarming rate of farmer‟s suicides in recent years has
caused resentment among the people. Though several institutional and policy
interventions are taken time to time to mitigate the distress there is not even a
single interdisciplinary approach involving Science and Technology, LIS,GIS,
nutrition, live stocks and other related fields. There is only one paper available in
India for studies on linkages between Soil-Crops-Livestock-Human healths in the
last 50 years. Institutes like ICMR,ICAR,and NIN are undertaking researches in
human health, agriculture and nutrition respectively. But we need a system that can
put all these aspects together with analytical information, which would empower
the farmers to take their decision. Does nutrition gap at different growth stages of
an individual have irreversible effects on him or her to bear the stress? In a region
mostly all farmers undergo same stress but why do some commit suicide and not
others? What are all the determinants that drive them to the forceful fatal decision?
We should look into these issues earnestly. There are 33 districts and some reports
mention about 40 districts having high stress and resultant suicidal deaths. If
farmers are empowered to take decisions for each plot of their holding it solves the
purpose of VKMS. We should be able to provide all necessary information to the
farmer at one place. This is possible only when agriculture, medical, land
information communities come together and work out the plan. Only when we
achieve the Farmer Level Decision Making System we would be sure that no
suicides would occur again.
2) Dr. Mruthyunjaya, National Director NAIP (National Agricultural Innovation
Project) explained that his organization currently undertakes 24 projects in 150
most backward districts on rural livelihood security. The major problem
encountered is characterizing the rural livelihood security. NAIP can play a
complementation role to search for interventions that can help establishing rural
livelihood security. Interventions can be technological, institutional and policy
levels. Once the data is available from VKMS it can be used by NAIP to fine-tune
its existing programmes.
3) Dr S A Patil, Director IARI, reasoned out that distress as well as suicides among
farmers is due to the result of very low level of knowledge management in small
and marginal farmers. This was experimentally proved by Dharwad Agricultural
39
University where, in one village, revenues were increased from 37 lacs to 2 crores
in one year by employing several knowledge-based interventions. He further felt
that diffusion of IARI technology to SAUs and further to farmers is very low. In
some cases, SAUs are reinventing the same technology again. This duplicates the
work and wastage of funds, which should strictly be avoided.
4) Prof. P Geervani, former Vice-chancellor wished that VKMS should be
strengthened with authentic information sources because nowadays many people
having no basic knowledge about nutrition makes big statements that mislead the
people. This should not be allowed to happen.
5) Dr B K Kikani, Vice-chancellor JAU talked about the reasons for present
conditions of farmers like debt, monsoon failures, lack of access to formal credit
facilities and absence of efficient transfer of technologies from research institutes.
Though farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat grow similar kind of cotton
varieties suicides are more in A P than of Gujarat. The reason was that farmers of
Gujarat take up seed production and circulate the material among them. State
agricultural machineries did not interfere in those activities.
6) Shri M Moni DDG, NIC opined that educational institutions and ICAR research
institutes should be brought forward to generate data at grassroots level if “e
governance” programs to be successful. We should also map entire village and all
these information must be made digital to make ICT to have profound impact on
the lives of rural people. The pathetic situation is several schemes of similar nature
are implemented by central, state governments, district administration and village
panchayats to address the same problem, which increases the complexities in
identifying beneficiaries. Most importantly all agricultural web sites should be
made available in 22 official languages and to screen the content there should be a
responsible editorial board. Government should also come up with a dedicated
24x7 Agriculture TV channel to disseminate all the recent improved technologies.
7) Dr N Seetharama, Director NRCS (National Research Centre for Sorghum)
advocated that sorghum is a good dry land crop and several new opportunities are
emerging in value addition and nutritional improvements. Currently NRCS is
involved in product specific breeding aspects. Sorghum is established as a
40
beneficial supplement to alleviate diabetics and other related problems. So it would
be better to include sorghum in Public Distribution System (PDS) with the existing
commodities. This will somehow answer the malnutrition problem among the
people.
8) Dr K T Krishne Gowda, Project Coordinator (Small Millets) stressed that Finger
Millet is emerging the most important crop among the millets group. It is proved to
have several beneficial nutrients but the consumption of it is decreasing even in
rural households. Further he laid emphasis on steps to increase its value addition
and ways to encourage people to take more of its products to be healthier.
9) Dr Nandini K Kumar,Deputy Director General ICMR discussed about tele
medicine and sope of utilising it for ruarl households. But the problem of non-
availability of health database at village level hinders the progress. Further it was
said that though suicides among farmers mainly take place due to crop failures,
psychological factors also play a role in their fatal decision. Hence provision of
counseling to the distressed farmers would certainly ease their stress and help them
to take a positive approach to life.
10) Dr Baldev Sahai, Ex deputy Director (SAC) had shared his view that all the
existing problems among farmers are basically due to lack of education.
Moneylenders play with them, as the indebted farmers are illiterate and lacked
awareness. Hence the proposed VKMS should also address the problem of
education and awareness among rural people among many other issues.
11) Dr Baldeo Singh, Joint Director IARI had expressed a concern that mindset of the
people is most important to achieve any good results from interventions that are
taken up. Hence mindset of the people to be positively changed. They should be
educated about recent happenings in agricultural sector particularly about
marketing. Our policies should also stress on the role of village panchayats in
farming aspects. Villgae panchayat is the nodal agency for all amenities in the
village but it is not entrusted with any kind of agricultural activities.
41
12) Dr J P Sharma, Head NBSS&LUP Delhi discussed about the need for collecting
resource data on which we can work. First, all the traditional village maps to be
changed into digital maps and later high resolution data can be superimposed upon
them. People are not adopting optimum land use system on their lands based on
their capability or they do not grow suitable crops on them resulting in under
utilization of soil resources. Sometimes this mistake leads to salinity problems.
Alternate land use system should be suggested in VKMS to help farmers. Issuing
soil health cards also a possible solution to address these issues.
13) Dr N Gopalakrishnan, Project Coordinator for Cotton improvement (CICR)
negated the cultivation of Bt cotton as the sole reason for farmers‟ suicides.
Unscrupulous application of pesticides caused the resurgence of sucking pest and
created the havoc. CICR is working for control of mealy bug in cotton. Further
with the help of NATP it has adopted some villages in Tamilnadu, Maharastra and
Karnataka to increase their income level. More emphasis should be given on value
addition of this crop. Instead of growing any variety and supply to textile mills
farmers should be encouraged to grow specific varieties preferred by mill owners
to get premium price for their product. Further there is lot work going on for better
extraction of cottonseed oil.
14) Dr Ramanbhai B Patel, Director Extension NAU opined that level of farmers‟
expectation had increased as never before.When farm specific technology is
providede they ask for free inputs, on spot advice and marketing supports. There is
no bottom- up approach for solving the farmers‟ problem. Our earlier extension
models like Training & Visit system, ATMA have not yielded good results. Failure
of government‟s delivery mechanism is also the part of reasons for farmers‟
suicides.
15) Dr (Mrs.) S Sumathi voiced her concern that despite fifty years of independence
we have not achieved nutritional security as compared to food security. At present,
the fast emerging problem is increased micronutrient malnutrition among people
and this is mainly due to changing food habits especially deviation from millet
consumption. Most of the health problems even in rural areas are traced back to
soil. We can correct this at source itself and prevent diseases. Source correction
42
can be done either by manipulating the physical and chemical properties of soil to
release the nutrients in available form to crops or applying necessary fertilizers to
the soil.
16) Dr P S Guhar, UAS Dharwad discussed about the referral services taken up by
KVKs around Dharwad region. This had transformed many lives of farmers by
empowering them with new technologies in day-to-day activities of farming. There
exists a forum called “Farmer to farmer” where especially during distress period
successful farmers will be introduced to failure farmers and discussion takes place
among them. This will help in boosting the confident of losers and keeps them in
positive approach.
17) Prof Manoranjan Pal from ISI talked about two projects namely “Development of
database for decentralized planning in Howrah district of West Bengal” and
“National Resource Data Management system”. The former project provided only
the framework for data collection but the latter engaged in data collection from
each village. For the proposed VKMS, several parameters like education, drinking
water availability, energy situation and road network to be taken into account to
form an index. Later we can decide about which variables should be given more
weightage or less. He wished to have strong database at village level so that ISI
can develop a strong research component for the proposed VKMS.
18) Dr T N Prakash, expressed that the traditional knowledge existing with one
community should be exchanged freely with other farming communities in
different regions so as to enable them knowing about the indigenous solutions for
their problems. There should be some mechanism like HBN (Honey Bee Network)
to document and disseminate all existing traditional knowledge system among
farmers.
19) Dr P V S Kumar talked about characterizing indicators for rural livelihood
research. Sociological aspects of rural households also play an important role in
decision making of farmers when they are facing distress situations.
20) Dr (Mrs.) Sushma Panigrahy,Group Director ISRO discussed about forecasting,
soil moisture mapping and other surveying activities that are taken up by ISRO. A
43
disease/pest affected field can be identified through infra red camera from the
satellite and this would be useful for many purposes like measuring the extent of
damage by pathogens/insects, settling the insurance claims and if need arises
farmer can use this as a authentic information for any of othre purposes.
21) Dr Ranendu Ghosh, Scientist SAC discussed about a project initiated by
Department of Space called “National Information System”. Today GIS database is
available for 16 states at 50,000 scale. But to have meaningful data at field level
we need to have high-resolution data, which is possible only by 5.8 m resolution
camera. We have to have a system in place, which could tell us the status of soil
moisture balance and rate of depletion of moisture level so as to enable us devising
contingency plans well ahead of time. At present we are not in a position to
provide this information on daily basis to our farmers. Further he also explained
about services like “Teleconsultation” by Apollo hospitals and online advisory by
Anand Agricultural University to farmers regarding soil testing and requirement of
fertilizers.
22) Dr Anji Reddy JNTU explained about the problems of mapping boundary of the
villages. No software viz., Google Earth, LISS data and Quick Bird is useful for
this purpose. There should be some base data on which one can work. He also
stressed the need for utilizing the lands according to their capability without which
sustainable farming will become impossible.
23) Dr D Martin from NBSS&LUP discussed about essentiality of having detailed
village level maps for at least those 100 districts where distress and suicides was
prevalent. We also have to move from just projecting the traditional maps to
adding values by integrating them with other useful parameters like availability of
micronutrients and trace elements. Mapping of micro nutrients like Mg, Mn, Zn
and Lithium in different regions and soil types is most important as they cause
several health problems to the rural households and pushes them into dept trap.
24) Dr Murali Mohan, DST explained about two studies viz., RAWS (Rural Automatic
Weather Station) and VIS (Village Information System). RAWS is designed in
collaboration with IIT Madras to record weather parameters in villages, which was
not being done all these years. Currently these stations are installed in 500 coastal
44
villages and the recorded data is transmitted to a central hub in IIT, which would
be interpreted and displayed in web. Further DST is also pursuing research
activities to develop a low cost sensor to estimate micro nutrient availability on
spot in farmers‟ fields. In VIS, ten villages each selected separately from drought
hit and flood affected areas to study the sustenance level of those villages if the
existing condition prevails.
25) Dr Bhoop Singh, DST explained about the details and methodology of developing
Village Information System.
26) Dr P Adhiguru was of the view that unavailability of authentic data from grass root
level is the main obstacle for taking up any interventions in rural livelihood
security. This gap should be filled up by the proposed VKMS.
27) Dr Dhandapani, NCIPM voiced a concern about not having any reliable database
about past incidences of pest and disease outbreaks in the country. This seriously
hampers the development of forecasting models that could alert us about
impending epidemic. He also explained about “e-pest surveillance” programme
that is currently undertaken by NCIPM where hand held devices with data entry
softwares are given to field staff to register day to day changes in field itself. This
is currently taken up in 10 disrticts of Andhra Pradesh on pilot scale. Mealy bug is
emerging as serious pest in cotton nowadays and government has started an
awareness campaign in state of Punjab allocating 1.8 crores for this purpose.
28) Shri Jiji Mammen, DGM NABARD informed that each district has District
Development Manager who will be the repository of information at macro level i.e.
up to block level but this is not sufficient. We must be able to get the information
up to household level in a village. Later he also explained about two projects “e-
sahu” (on-line advisory for farming problems) and “Prgadhibandhu groups”
(sharing voluntary labor among a group of farmers) that were taking up several
initiatives in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
29) Shri N P Mohapatra, AGM NABARD, recollected that credit to agriculture sector
has grown up to 1,80,000 crores and this is ever increasing but the results are not
seen as per the expectation. ICT must play an important role in the development of
45
rural economy like fund transfer, health/asset/life insurance at every point of sale
are to be established. Other aspects like Smart card technology, mobile banking
technology are to be utilized maximum to reap the benefits of ICT to rural house
holds. LIC and IRDA specifies that loan can only be given to a group which has
atleast 25 members but this is not possible in hills. So we should sensitize them
about this and the guidelines should be similar to NABARD policies. Telecom
service providers should be brought in the service of rural people by forecasting
the weather parameters through mobile phones.
30) Mr B V N S Santosh, Project Director TSC expressed the importance of infusing
responsibility to the concerned officials. To emphasis the point two models were
discussed namely “Sanita Kendra” and EPIC (Electronic Police Information
Centre). In Sanita Kendra rural people can ineract with the District Collector
through video conferencing once in a week and get their issues addressed.
46
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