Module 2. Extension and rural development programme

 

Lesson 5

POST-INDEPENDENCE EXTENSION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

5.1  Introduction

The urgent need for stepping up food production was realised even in the pre-Independence era and a Grow-More-Food Campaign was started. Under the campaign, targets for increased agricultural production were laid down for the first time on an all-India basis. But the campaign failed to achieve its targets. Soon after Independence (1947), the Central Government re-defined the objectives of the Grow-More-Food Campaign as the attainment of self-sufficiency in food grains by 1952, and simultaneously increased the targets of production of other crops to meet the shortfall as a result of the partition of the country. At the same time, arrangements were made for integration and co-ordination of the entire campaign for increasing agricultural production. Some state governments associated the public with working of the campaign by setting up of non-official committees at the village, taluka, district and state levels. The plans were revised from time to time in order to make the campaign more effective. Accordingly, some initiatives in this direction were taken, which are given as under:

5.1.1  Etawah pilot project (1948)

The idea of intensive all-round development work in a compact area was put into practice as a Pilot Project in Rural Planning and Development in the Etawah District in Uttar Pradesh in 1948, which can be regarded as a forerunner of the Community Development Project in India. Albert Mayer, an American Engineer, played the key role in the initiation and implementation of the project. The programme was based on the principle of self-help, democracy, integrated approach, felt needs of the people, rigorous planning and realistic targets, institutional approach, co-operation between governmental and non-governmental organizations, close co-ordination between the extension service and the supply agencies and the collaboration by technical and social scientists. After an initial period of trial and error, a new administrative pattern was evolved. It percolated to the village level; the activities of different nation-building departments were channelled through one common agency and a ‘multipurpose concept’ of village level worker was introduced. Each village level worker looked after 4-5 villages. The project was supervised by a district planning officer assisted by four specialist officers and other supporting staff.

Table 5.1 Community development

Year

Programme/scheme

Person/agency/ approach

1948

Nilokheri experiment (Mazdoor Manzil)

Shree S. K. Dey

1948

Etawah pilot project

Albert Mayer

1952

CDP

Community  Development  Programme

1953

NES

National Extension Service

1954

CDB

Community  Development  Block

1957

Panchayati Raj 

Panchayati Raj Democratic Decentralization

Table 5.2 Technological development

Year

Programme/scheme

Person/agency/ approach

1952

Key village Scheme

Government of India

1960

IADP

Intensive  Agricultural  District  Programme

1964

IAAP

Intensive Agricultural Area Programme

1963-64

ICDP

Intensive Cattle Development Project

1966

HYVP

High Yielding Variety Programme

1974

T&V

Training & Visit System

1979

LLP

Lab to Land Programme

1983

NAEP

National Agricultural Extension Project

1986

TMO

Technology Mission on Oilseeds

1998

NATP

National  Agricultural  Technology  Project

1999

TAR-IVLP

Technology Assessment and Refinement – Institute Village  Linkage Programme

2000

ATIC

Agricultural  Technology  Information  Centre

2006

NAIP

National  Agricultural  Innovation  Project

Table 5.3 Other developmental programmes

Year

Programme/scheme

Person/agency/ approach

1970-1971

SFDA

Small Farmers’ Development Agency

1970-1971

MFAL

Marginal Farmers’ and Agricultural Labourers Programme

1970-1971

DPAP

Drought Prone Areas Programme

1972-1973

PPTD

Pilot Project for Tribal Development

1974

T&V

Training and Visit Programme

1978-1979

IRDP

Integrated  Rural  Development  Programme

1979

TRYSEM

Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment

1980

NREP

National Rural Employment  Programme

1982

DWCRA

Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas

1989

JRY

Jawahar Rojgar Yojana

5.1.2  Nilokheri experiment (1948)

Shree S. K. Dey, was the founder of the Nilokheri Experiment, when nearly 7000 displaced persons from Pakistan and later integrated with the 100 surrounding villagesin to what came to be rural-cum-urban township. It was built round the vocational training centrer Nilokheri, in July 1948. Shree Dey began this project using 1100 acre of swampy land spreading in the midst of Karnal and Kurukshetra. Shree Dey went on to become the Union Minister of Community Development in 1965. The scheme was also known as "Mazdoor Manzil" because of its principle 'he who will not work, neither shall he eat'.

Under this programme, the main activities were a Vocational Training Centre run on co-operative lines and the Colony had its own dairy, poultry, piggery, printing press, engineering workshops, tannery and bone-meal factory. People were given vocational training of their choice to run these Co-operative Enterprises. Rights for education and medical care for the sick were also guaranteed.

5.1.3  Community development project (1952)

As a result of the Grow-More-Food Enquiry Committee Report and the successful experience of the Etawah Project, 15 Pilot Projects were started in 1952 in selected states with the financial assistance recieved from the Ford Foundation. Besides helping to increase agriculture production and bettering the overall economic condition of the farmers, these projects were meant to serve as a training ground for the extension persnnel. It was soon realised that for the creation of an urge among the rural population to live a better life and to achieve permanent plentitude and economic freedom in the villages, a much bolder and dynamic effort was called for. It was recognized that the success of this new effort depended upon and whole hearted co-operation of the beneficiaries, government officials and non-officials at every stage, the education of rural masses in the technique of rural development and the timely provision of adequate supplies of the needed inputs and other requirements.

For undertaking this new programme, the Government of India entered into an operational agreement with the Government of the USA under the Technical Co-operation Programme Agreement. Under this Agreement, 55 Community Development Projects were started in different parts of the country on 2nd October, 1952 for three years.

The Projects covered nearly 25,260 villages and a population of 6.4 millions. Each project, in turn, consisted of about 300 villages covering 400-500 square miles and having a population of about two lakhs. The project area was divided into three development blocks, each comprising 100 villages and a population of 60,000 to 70,000. The development blocks, in turn, were divided into groups of 5-10 villages, each group being in the charge of a multipurpose village-level worker. The main aims of these projects were: to increase agricultural production by all possible means, to tackle the problems of unemployment, to improve village communications, to foster primary education, public health and recreation, to improve housing, to promote indigeneous handicrafts and small-scale industries and to improve the villager's lot through their own primary effort. In short, the programme aimed at achieving all-round socio-economic transformation of the rural people.

5.1.4  Grow-more-food enquiry committee report (1952)

Though efforts were made to revitalize the Grow-More-Food Campaign, it was observed that the system was not functioning properly and the cultivator's response to the programme was very poor. As a result, the Government of India in 1952 appointed a committee known as the GMF Enquiry Committee to examine the working of the Grow-More-Food Campaign.

The findings of this Committee revealed that the problem of food production was much wider than the mere elimination of food imports and that agricultural improvement was a very important part of a much wider problem of raising the level of rural life in the country. The Committee came to the conclusion that it was only by bringing about an appreciable improvement in the standards of rural life to make it fuller and richer that the rural masses could be awakened to take interest in not only increasing agricultural production but also improving their own conditions and creating a will to live better. The committee also pointed out that:

·     All aspects of village life were interrelated,

·     Improvement could be brought about by a number of detached programmes operating independently,

·     There was lack of unity of efforts,

·     The available finances was not adequate

The rural community as a whole did not participate effectively in the campaign. In short, the movement did not arouse nation-wide enthusiasm and did not become a mass movement for raising the level of village life.

In its recommendations, the Committee proposed the formation of development block, each consisting of 100 to 120 villages, and the appointment of revenue officers as development officers or extension officers, assisted by technical officers for agriculture, animal husbandry, co-ordination and engineering. For actual work in villages, the Committee suggested the appointment of one village level worker for every five or ten villages. The Committee also described broadly the functions of the extension service, the manner in which the extension organisation would operate, the arrangements required in training of the required staff, the way in which the non-official leadership should be associated with the work of village development at the village, taluka, district and state levels. The need for setting up an independent organisation on the suggestions made, the manner in which the assistance should be rendered to the state governments as well as to villagers for development work, the role of the central and state governments in this effort was also emphasized by the committee.

Based on these recommendations, the Planning Commission, which was set up earlier by the Government of India to prepare a plan for development consistent with the available resources, gave the highest priority to the development of agriculture and irrigation in the First Five-Year Plan. The Commission fixed substantially high targets of internal production and decided, as recommended by the Enquiry Committee, that the drive for food production should form part of plans for overall agricultural development, and that agricultural improvement in its turn should form an integral part of the much wider efforts for raising the level of rural life. The Commission prescribed "Community Development" as the method for initiating the process of transformation of the social and economic life of villages and "Rural Extension" as its agency.

5.1.5  National extension service (1953)

The National Extension Service was inaugurated on 2nd October 1953. The scheme of National extension service was designed to provide the essential basic staff and a small fund for the people to start the development work essentially on the basis of self-help. The operational unit of this service was an N.E.S. block comprising about 100 villages and 60,000 to 70,000 people. The N.E.S. blocks were later converted into community development blocks which had higher budget provisions in order to take up more intensive development programmes. The pattern of community development programme was further revised (modified with effect from 1st April 1958). According to this pattern, there were four stages:

·        Pre-Extension Stage

·        Stage I Blocks

·        Stage II Blocks

·        Post-Stage II Blocks

In this new set-up of community development blocks, all the nation-building government departments were brought together; and in order to ensure co-ordination at the block level, a new post of a Block Development Officer (BDO) was created. This officer is the co-ordinator of the programme and team leader and is supported by 8 extension officers drawn from the development departments, one each from the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, co-operative, panchayat, rural industry, rural development, social education and welfare of women & children. Each normal block was provided with 10 village level workers and two gram sevikas (lady VLWs).

Under this new set-up, the block is treated as an administrative unit for all the development departments, and the village-level worker is the contact person between these departments and the people.

5.1.6  Key village scheme (1952)

Key Village Scheme launched in August 1952 was the first systematic attempt to improve the quality and productivity of cattle and buffaloes in the country. It was proposed with a view to promote intensive cattle development in compact areas by utilising the limited quantity of high quality breeding stock. Basic objective of the scheme is the rapid multiplication of crossbred cattle for meeting the acute shortage of high quality animals by grading up of the indigenous cattle population. Gradually it embraced all the major aspects of cattle development such as superior breeding, castration of scrub bulls, fodder development, control of diseases, maintenance of records, milk recording and marketing of livestock and livestock products.

5.1.7  Intensive agricultural district programme (1960)

With a focusing on increasing productivity and production IADP was launched in July 1960 in 7 selected districts of various states in its first phase and later extended to another 9 districts more in second phase during 1963-64. This programme was aimed at integrated and intensive approach to solve the problems of agricultural production through adoption of package of improved practices. The achievements accomplished through this programme were tremendous and it really made a dent into the rural poverty for its eradication through agriculture. This programme was popularly known as Package Programme.

5.1.8  Intensive cattle development project (1963-64)

The initiation of Key Village Scheme in August 1952 was the first systematic attempt to improve the quality and productivity of cattle and buffaloes in the country. The Intensive Cattle Development Project (ICDP) was initiated in 1963-64. The objectives of the project were the same as the Key Village Scheme, but had much wider in scope.

It envisaged provision of a package of improved practices to the cattle owners to effect a breakthrough in milk production (National Commission of Agriculture, 1976). The package included :

·        Cattle  breeding

·        Castration of scrub bulls

·        Veterinary aid and disease control

·        Registration of milk recording

·        Introduction of high yielding milch cattle

·        Subsidies and incentives for milk production

·        Feed and fodder development including demonstration, distribution of fodder seeds, silage making and popularization of chaff cutters and

·        Dairy  extension

The programme was launched in the milk shed area of major dairy plants to ensure the increased and steady flow of milk to these plants. There is no doubt that ICDP did help in increasing milk production in milch animals in the country to a great extent.

5.1.9  Operation flood (1970)

Operation flood (also known as the White revolution of India) was a rural development programme started by India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1970. One of the largest of its kind, the programme objective was to create a nationwide milk grid. It resulted in making India the largest producer of mil & milk products, and hence is also called the white revolution of India. It also helped reduce malpractices by milk traders and merchants. This revolution followed the Indian green revolution and helped in alleviating poverty and famine levels from dangerous proportions in India during the era. Dr. Varghese Kurien is known as Father of White Revolution.

The Operation Flood was implemented in three phases.

·        Phase I (1970–1980)

·        Phase II (1981–1985)

·        Phase III (1985–1996)

5.1.10  Training and visit (T&V) system (1974)

The Training and Visit (T&V) system, the brain child of Dr. Daniel Benor (World Bank Consultant) was introduced in India in 1974 for all round development of agricultural extension system in the country to introduce observation, training and technology transfer to the farmers and extension workers so as to enable them achieving greater productivity and production in the agricultural sector. This system has been introduced at first in 1974 in two states viz., Rajasthan and West Bengal and then spread to another 16 states of the country aimed at building a professional extension service that is capable of assisting farmers in raising production, increasing incomes and of providing appropriate support for agricultural development.

The important features of this system include professionalism, as single line of command, concentration of effort, time bound work, field and farmer orientation, regular and continuous training and close linkages with research. The creation of a dynamic link between farmers, professional extension workers, and researchers was done through the training and visit systems of extension. By adopting and implementing T&V system in its extension network India gained a lot in increasing its food production with scientific means coupled with effective technology transfer system.

5.1.11  Integrated rural development programme (1978)

The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) is a rural development program of the Government of India launched in Financial Year 1978 and extended throughout India by 1980. It is a self-employment program intended to raise the income-generation capacity of target groups among the poor. The target group consists largely of small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans living below the poverty line. The pattern of subsidy is 25 per cent for small farmers, 33per cent for marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans and 50 per cent for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes families and physically handicapped persons. The objective of IRDP is to enable identified rural poor families to cross the poverty line by providing productive assets and inputs to the target groups. The assets which could be in primary, secondary or tertiary sector are provided through financial assistance in the form of subsidy by the government and term credit advanced by financial institutions. The program is implemented in all the blocks in the country as a centrally sponsored scheme funded on 50:50 basis by the Centre and State. The Scheme is merged with another Scheme named swarnjayanti gram swarozgar yojana (SGSY) since 01.04.1999.