DETAILED PROJECT REPORT

Transcription

1 DETAILED PROJECT REPORT PROMOTION OF LARGE SCALE TASAR SERICULTURE BASED LIVELIHOODS IN BIHAR Under MAHILA KISAN SASHAKTIKARAN PARIYOJANA (MKSP) (A sub-component of NRLM) Co-ordination & Technical Support Project Implementation Field Implementation CENTRAL SILK BOARD (CSB) BIHAR RURAL LIVELIHOOD PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE PROMOTION SOCIETY (BRLPS) FOR DEVELOMENT ACTION MINISTRY OF TEXTILES DEPT. OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (PRADAN) GOVT. OF INDIA GOVT OF BIHAR

2 DETAILED PROJECT REPORT Project Formulated by: 1. Dr. K. Sathyanarayana, Scientist-D, Central Silk Board, Bangalore 2. Mr. Shamshad Alam, Integrator (Tasar Theme), PRADAN, B.Deoghar 3. Mr. Ashish Chakravorty, Integrator (Tasar Theme), PRADAN, Tata Nagar

3 CONTENTS Sl. No Content Page No Content details i to iii Annexures iv Project at a glance v Abbreviations vi to viii Executive Summary ix to xi 1 Project background, context and rationale Demographic Profile of the area Rural poverty context of the area Poverty level in the area Health and Nutrition Per Capita Expenditure Migration Vulnerabilities Household level vulnerabilities District/state level vulnerabilities Context of Social Inclusion and Social Mobilization Context of Financial Inclusion Livelihood Context Agriculture Livestock NTFPs Performance of NREGA in the State Performance of leading social welfare schemes Context of the Project Area Sector Context of the Area PIA s prior experience in developing the prototype for proposed 36 interventions Basic PIA Information Rationale for Support under MKSP 41 2 Detailed intervention strategy and phasing Objectives of the project poverty context in the area Vision of success Goal Thrust area and Key objectives Key Outputs Guiding Principles Values and Non-Negotiable Project Strategy Community Institutions Architecture Past experience of PIA Past experience in forming/nurturing women based groups and experience of promotion of agriculture based livelihood promotion with them 49 i

4 Sl. No Content Page No PRADAN s experience of promotion of NTFP based livelihoods 50 with tribal groups Best practices adopted by women groups Strategies undertaken in the past in enabling access to credit 52 and markets through the women groups/federations Proposed plans/ strategies as part of the Project Proposed strategies to ensure implementation of the project community processes including use of community resource persons and enhancement of their capacities Systems and checks put in place to ensure that the local resource persons are accountable to / managed by the women institutions Plans to enable women institutions/producers collectives to put 53 in place a transparent self monitoring and review mechanism internally for program improvement Briefly elaborate on systems/ and procedures that you propose 54 to put in place for adoption of best practices by the women institutions /producers collectives Building federations at different levels for sustaining collective 54 action Role of Community professional and community resource 54 person Control of CBOs over the fund flow mechanism 55 3 Detailed Program Components 3.1 Detail of Proposed Action Plans for promoting and enhancing food and nutritional security 57 for women farmers Strategies addressing sustainable/evergreen/regenerative 58 NTFP practices Targeting : Approach and Details on tribal NTFP collectors as 59 project participants Plans for Post-project Sustainability and Scaling-up strategies Plans aiming at drudgery reduction for women NTFP collectors Plans for awareness generation with regard to NTFP 61 Collector s rights entitlements under different schemes related to her identity as NTFP Collector Strategies for Development of pro poor value chain around Women NTFP collectors ensuring increased access to market and market information for better marketing of their products Strategies for disseminating knowledge. Including plans for skill up gradation among women 63 ii

5 Sl. No Content Page No Plans for increasing access of credit to women farmers and 63 women groups Please elaborate on the direct incremental income (returns) to 63 farmers through proposed project Community Contribution Convergence with MGNREGA and other line Departments Training and Capacity building of communities Training and Capacity building of Community Professionals 66 4 Implementation Arrangements Implementation Plan Elements of Implementation Process Project Implementation Plan & Flow Internal structure for implementation Role of CRP- Knowledge dissemination, monitoring &scaling up Role of project staff and community professionals Geography and Yearly distribution 70 5 Implementation Schedule 74 6 Results Framework 77 7 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Web based MIS and real time input-output monitoring at various 80 levels 7.2 Review Mechanism Role of Organization involved 83 8 Budget - Project Investments/ Support requested under 86 MKSP 8.1 Project Investments and Support requested under MKSP Rationale for the various line items related to Proposed Action Analysis of main cost components along with sub components 86 along with timeline 8.4 Analysis and Benchmarks of proposed cost How an individual activity will be taken up & by whom Cost elements under each budget line item- Plan for leverage 100 other sources of fund in the proposed project 87 Explanation of Cost Elements including description of capital 104 expenditure items/ with break-up and unit cost for all items/ components. Annexure 105 iii

6 Sl. No. Particulars ANNEXURES 1 Presence of FIA in the project district - Status & Prospects Annexure No. Page No. i Project at a Glance Productivity norms Year-wise physical phasing Physical outlay at the end of the project Year-wise phasing and Sharing pattern Year-wise physical & financial outlay & sharing pattern- Year-I 8 Year-wise physical & financial outlay & sharing pattern- Year-II 9 Year-wise physical & financial outlay & sharing pattern- Year-III 10 Snapshot of the Project on C:B ratio and incremental income Unit Costs of project activities 10 to Project Output Economics of project activities 20 to iv

7 PROJECT AT A GLANCE 1 Title Promotion of Large Scale Tasar Sericulture Based Livelihoods in Bihar 2 Project area Katoria, Chandan&Belhar Blocks of Banka district 3 Technical Agency Central Silk Board, Min.of Textiles, Govt. of India 4 Supporting Agency Department of Sericulture, Govt. of Bihar 5 Project Implementing Agency BRLPS, Govt. of Bihar Field Implementing Agency Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) 6 Total Project Cost (Rs. In Lakhs) Funding Pattern (Rs. in lakhs) MORD CSB Sharing pattern (%) Project Period to (Three years) 9 Beneficiaries to be covered (Direct) Nursery farmers 89 Nucleus Seed rearers 40 Basic Seed rearers 100 Commercial rearers 1439 Private graineurs 24 Reelers 100 Spinners 40 Direct beneficiaries- Total 1832 Beneficiaries in agriculture/ 1329 vegetable cultivn Total Project Beneficiaries 3161 Community Resource Persons 53 Para-professionals Infrastructure to be created a Block plantation (Forest/ private/ revenue lands) (ha.) 500 b Regenern of block plantation (ha.) 508 c Basic Seed Production Units (No.) 1 d Common facilities for training and 2 storage e Common facilities for yarn conversion 4 11 Project Output (during Project period): Tasar basic seed (Lakh dfls) 0.5 Tasar commercial seed (Lakh dfls) Tasar Reeling Cocoons (Lakh Nos.) Tasar Raw Silk (Kg) - Total Tasar Spun Silk (Kg) - Total Value of Project output (Lakh Rs.) v

8 ABBREVIATIONS ASR BPL BSM&TC BSPU BSR BTSSO BV CBO CDP CEO CIF CPT CR CRP CSB CTR&TI CTSSS DCTSC DFL DOS DRDA EA EMT FIA GOI GP HDI Aopted Seed Rearers Below Poverty Line Basic Seed Multiplication & Training Centre Basic Seed Production Unit Basic Seed Rearer Basic Tasar Silkworm Seed Organization Bivoltine Community Based Organizations Catalytic Development Programme Chief Executive Officer Community Investment Fund Cattle proof trench Commercial Rearer Community Resource Person Central Silk Board Central Tasar Research & Training Institute Central Tasar Silkworm Seed Station Demonstration-cum-Technical Service Center Disease Free Laying Department of Sericulture District Rural Development Agency Executing Agency Entrepreneurial Motivational Training Field Implementing Agency Government of India Gram Panchayat Human Development Index vi

9 IMR INRM ISTP LWE Infant Mortality Rate Integrated Natural Resource Management Inter State Tasar Project Left Wing Extremism MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme MKSP MORD MOT MoU MT NABARD NFSM NGO NHM NIRD NRHM NRLM NSR NTFP PCC PDS PEC PIA PMB PPC PPPP PRADAN PRI PVTG Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana Ministry of Rural Development Ministry of Textiles Memorandum of Understanding Metric Tonne National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development National Food Security Mission Non-Governmental Organization National Horticulture Mission National Institute of Rural Development National Rural Health Mission National Rural Livelihoods Mission Nucleus Seed Rearer Non Timber Forest produce Project Coordination Committee Public Distribution System Project Execution Committee Project Implementing Agency Project Management Board Pilot Project Centre Private Public Panchayat Partnership Professional Assistance for Development Action Panchayat Raj Institutions Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups vii

10 QPR REC RKVY RO RTRS SC SGSY SHG SLMC SLSCC SLTPSG SMS SRI SRLM ST TDF ToR TOT TSP TTP TV TVS UC UNDP VO WPR ZS Quarterly Progress Report Research Extension Center Rasthriya Krishi VikasY ojana Regional Office Regional Tasar Research Station Scheduled Caste Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana Self Help Group State Level Monitoring Committee State Level Sericulture Coordination Committee State Level Technical Project Support Group Subject Matter Specialist Systemic Rice Intensification State Rural Livelihood Mission Scheduled Tribe Tribal Development Fund Terms of Reference Transfer of Technology Tribal Sub-Plan Trainers Training Programmes Trivoltine Tasar Vikas Samity Utilization Certificate United Nations Development Programme Village Organization Work Participation Rate Zilla Samakyas viii

11 A. Executive Summary 1 Title of the Project Promotion of Large Scale Tasar Sericulture Based Livelihoods in Bihar 2 Project duration Three years ( ) 3 Total Project Budget (Rs. in Lakhs) Rs lakhs - Total outlay Rs lakhs MoRD share Rs lakhs - CSB share 4 Project area Katoria, Chandan & Belhar Blocks of Banka district 5 Coordinating Agency Central Silk Board, Min. of Textiles, Govt. of India 6 Project Implementing Agency Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika), Dept. of Rural Development, Govt. of Bihar 7 Technical Support Department of Sericulture, Govt. of Bihar Agency 8 Field Implementing Professional Assistance for Development Action Agency (PRADAN) 9 Total project 3161 beneficiaries Direct Beneficiaries 1832 (Tasar) Indirect beneficiaries Key outputs of the project Enhanced family incomes by Rs.10,000-Rs.18,700 for 60% of participant women and tribal families through various income generating activities across the tasar silk value chain viz., 89 Kisan nursery farmers to raise seedlings of tasar host flora Tasar sikworm rearing (40 nucleus &100 basic seed and 1439 commercial rearers) Tasar Basic (15) and 24 commercial silkworm seed producers Intercropping in block plantation of tasar host plants 100 Tasar silk reelers and 40 spinners 53 Community Resource Persons Most of the activities are for about 1 to 3 months during the lean season of agriculture. Besides the above activities, other income generating activities viz., vegetable cultivation, improved agriculture, NTFP/MAPs etc., will be taken up with support under the project which will further augment the income of about Rs.8000/- to Rs.12000/- and also address the tribal health and nutritional security issues. ix

12 Tasar sericulture involves all the activities pertaining to rearing of Tasar silkworm (Antheraeamylitta Drury), harvesting of Tasar cocoons, production of Tasar silk yarn from cocoons and weaving of Tasar yarn into fabric. The major producers in the sector include Silkworm rearers, yarn producers and weavers. India is the second largest producer of Tasar silk in the World after China. In India, Tasar silkworm is reared on host trees like Asan, Arjuna and Sal, available abundantly in the estimated 14.5 million hectares of tropical forests in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Tasar rearing is carried out in the outdoors, mainly in the forest areas. Tasar silkworm rearers are forest dwellers, often tribal and the income from Tasar significantly contributes towards their livelihoods. Tasar weavers are traditional handloom weavers mostly living in the hinterlands of silk trade centers. An estimated 1.5 lakh families are currently involved in Tasar sericulture. The market demand for Tasar has been increasing at an annual compounded rate of over 12%.There is vast scope to enhance livelihood security and reduce poverty in the selected districts by ways of adoption of better technologies and facilitating market led growth processes. The project proposes to create about 3161 sustainable livelihoods for the marginalized households, specially seeking involvement of Scheduled tribe communities and women in Katoria, Chandan & Belhar Blocks of Banka district in Bihar, which come under Tribal Sub-Plan Areas. The project will be implemented by Bihar Rural Livelhood Promotion Society (Jeevika), Govt. of Bihar through the NGO Partner, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN)at field level and monitored by the Department of Sericulture, Govt. of Bihar. Central Silk Board, being the Technical Support and Coordination Agency would monitor the implementation at project level, extend all necessary technological support through the respective field units of CTR&TI, Ranchi on pre-cocoon aspects and CSTRI, Bangalore on post cocoon activities, besides meeting the entire requirement of nucleus seed by the BTSSO, CSB through the BSM&TC, Bhagalpur located in the state for which the FIA /PIA will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with CSB. The Field Implementing Agency (FIA) will be assisted by CSB in identification of the Consultants/ Trainers for training programmes, market surveys, mid-term evaluation etc. The target group would comprise of rearers, private graineurs, reelers and spinners. The farmers who have one or more hectares of tasar plantation or who have been allotted 0.7 hectare of tasar plantation that were raised under various programmes with usufructs rights for its management and utilization for silkworm rearing or who have 0.7 ha of vacant own land/ community land/ degraded forest land/ waste land and are willing to take up tasar culture as subsidiary occupation would be the project beneficiaries in pre cocoon sector. The activity of raising and maintenance of systematic plantation of tasar food plants will be linked with inter cropping with other agriculture crops like pulses or vegetables so as to generate additional income during the gestation period. Unemployed youth or interested local entrepreneurs would be encouraged to raise Kisan nurseries for raising seedlings of tasar food plants and/ or to organize grainage activity. Efforts would be made to cover as many tribal families as possible under the Project. The project would promote, from among the participants, a group of rearers who would be involved in seed stock multiplication in these isolated plantations under aseptic conditions. The seed stock would be processed to prepare Disease Free Layings (DFLs) or high x

13 quality Tasar seeds. Isolated plantations would thus be a unique feature of the project that would create capacities for large scale seed production in the next 4-5 years. Beyond the project period, this facility would serve at least double the number of families, who would be directly covered during the project period. The project participants, who are part of already mobilised Self Help Groups (SHGs) would be further nurtured in to Activity groups of manageable size (of around 20 per group) with forward and backward linkages among themselves with cluster approach. Efforts shall be made to establish backward and forward linkages. The FIA will develop overall operational and implementation strategy. Emphasis will be given on selection of beneficiaries who are part of SHGs for various activities, signing of agreement with beneficiaries, training of personnel associated with project implementation and monitoring, mobilization and deployment of project personnel, finalization of modalities for development of infrastructure etc during the early period of the project. To get maximum project output and keep the tribal interested in tasar culture, utilization of the existing tasar food plants in the forest areas/ raised under other schemes will be front loaded. Skill up-gradation through human resource development initiatives, handholding support to beneficiaries in creation of activity groups and engaging Community Resource Persons (CRP), disease monitoring, technological support, creation of Common facilities for training and storage to increase holding capacity of cocoon to avoid distress sale, Common facilities for yarn conversion to increase primary producers share in production clusters and producer groups/ federation for rural institutional building, market promotion by design development & dissemination etc are built in the project. The project seeks to improve the income for about 3161 tasar based families by at least Rs. 10,000 to Rs, 18,700/- per household per activity cycle of about one to three months. Besides the core activity, the intervention also proposes additional income of Rs. 8000/- to Rs.12000/- through improved agriculture, vegetable cultivation, etc. The Project is proposed to be implemented in Katoria, Chandan& Belhar Blocks of Banka district in Bihar, with a project grant of Rs crore for a period of three years, which is shared by the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India (Rs crores- 75%) and the Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles(Rs crores- 25%). The major outputs of the project by the end of the project period would be (1) Annual production of 0.25 lakh basic seed and 1.20 lakh DFLs of commercial seed, (2) Production of 1.18 crore pieces of Tasar cocoons annually and (3) Annual production of 9.42 MT of Raw Silk. Besides the project would help in regeneration of tasar host plants in fringe forest areas to an extent of 508 ha., bring in about 500 ha., wastelands under green cover with tasar host plants and nurture 53 community resource persons besides 21 Para-professionals,, who would help in upscaling activities. Impact through improved agriculture and vegetable cultivation would lead to an additional income of approximately Rs.8000/- to Rs.12000/-. The Central Silk Board, under Ministry of Textiles, GoI would undertake the role of Nodal agency to provide overall guidance and monitoring support to PRADAN and Jeevika. Department of Sericulture, Govt. of Bihar would also be involved in establishing functional linkages with available facilities for better value addition and income augmentation. xi

14 Chapter 1: Project background, context and rationale Public and private efforts for socio-economic developments during the past six decades have produced significant gains for India. These can be seen in increased agricultural and industrial production, expanded human resource capability and a wide spread socio-economic infrastructure. These gains unfortunately have not been shared equitably by all sections of the Indian society due to deep rooted social hierarchies, highly skewed ownership of the resources and a pre occupation in the past with growth rather than distributive justice. Those at the bottom of the traditional Indian society, such as harijans (formerly untouchable), women, landless and artisans and those peripheral to it, such as the adivasis (tribal people) have not commensurately benefited. Comprising nearly the half of the Indian population, these subsist under condition of acute social and economic deprivation. Given the skews and biases inherent in the Indian economy and the society, it is unlikely that the fruits of development will automatically trickle down to the socio-economically disadvantaged in the foreseeable future. The disadvantaged would have to be enabled to gain access to new livelihoods and improve upon their traditional ones if they are to gain a secure foothold in the expanding socio-economic arena. The expanding Indian economy is generating unprecedented demands for goods and services. Through appropriate policies and action, the disadvantaged sections of the society can be enabled to generate adequate and secure livelihoods for themselves by meeting those demands. This is especially true where the resources required for producing such goods and services are human labour and other idle under-utilised assets, the technologies are not too complicated, the poor have some familiarities within the technologies and the capital investments required is not too large. The enabling inputs needed by the poor in such situation are assistance in organization and access to technologies, capital and the input-output markets. Clearly then, there is a vast scope to enhance livelihood security and reduce poverty by adoption of better technologies and facilitating market-led growth processes. The cost-economics of various activities and a good loan repayment record evidently suggest that at the level of the producers, all the proposed activities are bankable, though it demands the willingness of target families to avail loans, easy access of bank loans and availability loan products. Bihar is located between 82-19'-50"~88-17'-40"E longitude in the eastern part of the country. It is an entirely land locked state and is surrounded by West Bengal in the east, Uttar Pradesh in the West and the State of Jharkhand in the South. In the North, Bihar shares its boundary with Nepal. Humid West Bengal in the east and the sub humid Uttar Pradesh in the West provides it with a transitional position in respect of climate, economy and culture. The Bihar plain is divided in to two unequal halves by the River Ganga which flows through the middle from West to East. Close to 85% of the population lives in village. The earlier Bihar state was bifurcated into two states Bihar and Jharkhand on November 15, The present Bihar is having an area of 94,239 sq km is inhabited 1

15 by 6, 45, 74, 465 population according to Census The southern part of it, adjacent to Jharkhand is more like Jharkhand with respect to demographic and topographic characteristics. After the bifurcation of the state, it retained 75% of the population of undivided Bihar and was left with 54% of the natural resources, retaining it as one of the least developed state. It is 12th largest in terms of geographical size and 3rd largest in population. The state has a decadal population growth of 25.07% ( ) which stands substantially higher than the national average (i.e %), with population density of about 3 times the national average. The state has a high proportion of rural population (89.53% against national average of 72.20%) with a Poverty ratio of 54.4% against the national average of 37.2%. PHYSICAL FEATURES Rural Area - 2, sq.kms. Urban Area - 1, sq.kms. Total Area - 94,16.00 sq.kms. ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS Divisions - 09 Districts - 38 Sub-divisions CD Blocks Panchayats - 8,471 Number of Revenue Villages - 44,875 Number of Urban Agglomerations

16 1.1. Demographic Profile of the area The Bihar state is 12 th largest in terms of geographical size (94,163 sq.km) and 3 rd largest by population (10.38 crores - Census 2011) in the country. It is also known for its abundant natural resources, perennial rivers, fertile lands and along glorious history. In spite of all these conditions, the state remained one of the poorest states in the country since independence. Condition further deteriorated after the state s division in The state retained almost 75% of the population, while it is left with only 54% of the land and a lot of strain in resources.following table gives a glance at the general scenario of the state. Particular Bihar India Area 94,163sq.Km 32,87,240sq.Km No. of divisions 9 NA No. of districts No. of blocks 534 NA No. of Panchayat 8,471 NA No.of Revenue villages 44,874 6,41,000 Population 10,38,04, ,01,93,422 Female 4,96,19,290 58,64,69,174 Population density 1,102 pers q.km 382 per sq.km Sex ratio Literacy rate 63.82% 74.04% Male literacy rate 73.39% 82.14% Female literacy rate 53.33% 65.46% The sex-ratio of state is 916 which are lower than the national average of 940. Among 38 districts in Bihar; the district with highest and least sex-ratio is Gopalganj (1,015) and Munger & Bhagalpur (879) respectively. The average literacy rate in Bihar is 63.82% which is lower than national average of 74.04%. The female literacy rate in Bihar is 53.33% against the national average of 65.46%.Among 38 districts of Bihar, the districts with highest and lowest literacy rate Rohtas (75.59%) and Purnia (52.49%) respectively. As per the census, 2011, Bihar is having 89.53% of rural population which is higher than the national average of 72.20%. The total SC population of Bihar is15.7% which is lower than the national average of 16.20%. The rural population growth rate of Bihar is 28.43%) is also higher than the national average of18.10%. Among the population category, 16.4% of rural SC population and nearly 1% of rural ST population makes the state population more diverse. The decadal population growth ( ) of Bihar is 25.07% against the national average of 17.64%. The districts with highest and least decadal growth rate are Madhepura 3

17 (30.65%) and Gopalganj (18.83%) respectively. The population density of the state is 1, 102 per sq.km against the national average of 382 per sq.km. The most densely and least populated districts are Sheohar (1,882) and Kaimur (488) respectively. The graph below shows the trend of population Growth over the last five decades. Fig. Decadal Growth Rate in Bihar In terms of the proportion of SCs, Aurangabad has the highest proportion (29.6%) followed by Nawada (24.1%) and Kaimur (22.2%).Of the 38 districts; Kisanganj has the least proportion of SCs (6.6%). The maximum proportion of STs are in Katihar (5.9%) followed by Banka (4.7%) and Purnia (4.4%). Asfar as minority proportion is concerned, Kisanganj has the maximum (67.6%) followed by Katihar (42.5%) as against the state average of 16.6% Rural Poverty Context of the area Poverty Level in the area The Planning Commission of India has accepted the Tendulkar Committee report which says that 37% of people in India live below the poverty line. The Arjun Sengupta Report (from National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector) states that 77% of Indians live on less than 20 a day (about $0.50 per day).the N.C.Saxena Committee report states that 50% of Indians live below the poverty line. A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative using a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) found that there were 645 million poor living under the MPI in India, 421 million of whom are concentrated in eight North Indian and East Indian states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This number is higher than the 410 million poor living in the 26 poorest African nations. The positioning of 4

18 Bihar in the poverty level in the country based on the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is indicated below: Number Population Contribution of MPI MPI (in Proportion Average States MPI to Overall Poor Rank millions) of Poor Intensity 2007 Poverty (in millions) India 1, % 53.5% Bihar % 61.3% 13.5% Poverty Estimates Tendulkar Committee The incidence of poverty, as reflected in the Planning Commission estimates based on the Tendulkar Committee s report, continues to be very high in Bihar, compared to the national average. Rural poverty in Bihar has been estimated as 55.7 percent in , compared to annual-india average of 41.8 percent. Urban poverty in Bihar has been estimated at 43.7 percent, as compared to 25.7 percent nationally. The poverty ratio for the entire population in Bihar has been at 54.4 Percent, compared to the national average of 37.2 percent. Total urban unemployment has been estimated at 10 percent, while the rural un employment has been at 6.8 percent. Figure. Tendulkar Committee report Health and Nutrition Data on seven critical indicators that reflects the status of health and nutrition among households, especially children and women was analysed. The table below compares the performance of Bihar with other states on each of these indicators. The data shows that Bihar is lagging behind the national average on all of the above indicators. Also high malnutrition levels coupled with high mortality among children point towards poor feeding practices in Bihar.Poor access to 5

19 food emanating from meager economic conditions is the prime reasons for such a situation in this State. Table. Health & Nutrition Indicators Under Wasted Stunted Anemic Thin Infant Underweight Five- children children Children Women Mortality Children(%) Mortality (%) (%) (%) (%) India Bihar Beststate Kerala Kerala Kerala Punjab Kerala Kerala Kerala State UP UP MP MP UP Bihar Bihar Source: National Family Health Survey, Per Capita Expenditure In the last one year, two important aspects of human development food security and education, have been accepted as constitutional rights in India. These are important first steps to address the fact that the historically low quality of human life in the country as a whole compared to the rest of the world has further slipped down in the period of accelerated economic growth of in India.In these circumstances, human development in Bihar has the challenges of bridging a double historical gap that the distance from the world average and also from the distance from the all state average. The development gap in terms of Per Capita Development Expenditure (PCDE) between India sall- State average and Bihar can be seen underneath: In , Bihar PCDE was less than half of the national average. This gap widened between and , but had started narrowing between and There was again a reversal in this trend in In and , there are projected spurts in PCDE in Bihar, but the overall distance from the all-state average has started widening again Migration During the last two decades both the intensity and pattern of migration in rural Bihar have considerably changed.according to the report (1998) to assess the living standards of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh conducted by the World Bank 95 percent of the migrants in Bihar are male, and migration is highest in the richest and poorest quintiles and the poorest migrate for shorter durations. Studies in north Bihar (Karan 2003) show a phenomenal increase of migration rates from 28 percent to 49 percent in 17 years of period. The proportion of migrants has approximately doubled and destination of migration has now become wide spread. The nature of migration has largely changed from short-term period to long-term period of migration. The migration of workers is fairly distributed across 6

20 all castes and classes and now upper castes and Muslims report more long- term migration compared to others Castes. In terms of the choice of destination, migration is now observed to be more wide spread. During the early 1980s the most important destination was the rural areas of Punjab and Haryana. By the end of the1990s migrants were opting for many other towns and cities as their destinations. Some of the new destination cities are Delhi, Bombay, Surat, Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Nagpur etc.in fact, there has been a directional change in the destination of migrants from rural-rural to rural-urban. Migrants remit sizeable proportion of their incomes and of ten work over time to earn as much as possible during their time at the destination. But the costs of such migration may be high in social and health terms: long periods of separation cause loneliness and working in industries with poor labour standards exposes workers to numerous hazards. Health complaints are common. Migrants are not fully aware of the health risks at work and often are not in a position to demand protection. The work place is unsafe. The workers have no social security, compensation to injuries, access to drinking water, and health care. In the India has the world's highest accident rate among construction workers. A recent study by the International Labor Organization shows that 165 out of every 1,000 workers are injured on the job. They are victims of constant verbal and sexual abuse, working without any grievance Redressal mechanism (Sarde-2008).The seasonal Pattern of migration has been shown in above figure, which depicts that maximum of the migrant s dip down in May Vulnerabilities House hold level Vulnerability As part of the household level vulnerabilities, situation in the state with respect to health and nutrition, food security and disability has been detailed in the sections below Health and Nutrition Data on seven critical indicators (already given in the table above) that reflects the status of health and nutrition among households, especially children and women shows that Bihar is lagging behind the National average on all of the above critical indicators. High malnutrition levels coupled with high mortality among children point towards poor feeding practices in Bihar. However the state has shown improvement in Immunization coverage and institutional deliveries over the last few years. Table. Comparison of indicators Indicator Children months fully immunized Institutional Delivery Source: District level household survey III, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare 7

21 In spite of these improvements, it is clear from the data that access to public health services is low for rural households. Data on the status of health infrastructure in the state supports the above statement. Table. Health Infrastructure Category Required In-position Shortfall Sub-Centre Primary Health Centre Community Health Centre/ Referral Hospitals ANM Source: State Health Society, National Rural Health Mission The table above clearly shows the huge gap in health infrastructure and the resultant lack of access to public health services Food Security The Food Security Atlas of Bihar prepared by World Food Programme arrives at a district level food security outcome index based on the Under 5 Mortality Rate of children and Child under Nutrition indicators. On the basis of this index, the districts have been classified in to five groups, namely, those which are secure(s), moderately secure (MS), moderately insecure (MIS), severely insecure (SIS) and extremely insecure (EIS).The classification has been done on the basis of five equal divisions of values lying between the maximum and minimum overall Food Security Outcome Index values. Figure. Food Security Atlas of Bihar As may be observed, the secure group contains 7 districts, followed by11 in the moderately secure group which is the largest group, 11 in the moderately insecure group, 7 in the severely insecure group, and 2 in thee extremely insecure group. The Classification has been done on the basis of five equal divisions of values lying between the maximum and minimum overall Food Security Outcome Index 8

22 Values. Furthermore, the 38 districts of the state have been ranked based on the above index. The two most food insecure districts are Araria and Kisanganj. As may be seen from Map, these lie in the north-east corner of Bihar and belong to the least developed region. As brought out earlier, the Northern portion of Bihar is by and large less developed than the Southern region. Among the seven districts in the very insecure category, Katihar, Madhepura, Purnia, Sheohar and Sitamarhi also lie in the Northern least developed region. Thus these nine districts belonging to the severely or very food insecure category need to be the special target of policies to eliminate food insecurity.the ten districts in the moderately insecure (MIS) category comprise a mix of districts. Supaul, Purbi Champaran, Paschim Champaran and Madhubani in the Northern region and belong to the low development category Jehananbad belongs to the Southern region. The remaining districts all lie in the Southern region, which is relatively more developed.in contrast, the eighteen districts belonging to the secure (S) and moderately secure (MS) category are mostly located in the Southern region with the exception of two or three districts, e.g. Gopalganj, Saharsa and its neighbour Khagaria. Although the overall food availability in rural Bihar has improved over the years, the per capita availability of food grains in Bihar is among the lowest in the country. The overall per capita availability of cereals has declined over the years.approximately one-fourth of all the households face an acute food crisis and does not get sufficient food round the year According to a study conducted by the Institute for Human Development (Sharma, et al., 2000), the percentage of house holds not getting enough food round the year has come down to 26 percent in from 68 percent in The situation of food availability to the land less and agricultural labour households, although considerably improved, is still grim. Almost two-thirds of the households of agricultural laborers find that they do not get enough food round the year. Table. Percentage of House Hold getting Insufficient Food Type of HH % of HHs getting Insufficient Food Land Owned (in acres) Landless Upto to to B. Social Group Agriculture labour Poor peasants Big peasants

23 The study shows that there is a period of near starvation for at least two to three months (from August-September to October-November), coupled with a period of general food shortage for at least another two to three months during other offseasons (Sharma, etal., 2000).Apart from this, the period of shortage and starvation varies widely across different regions and population groups. Since most of the households belonging to the Scheduled Castes, agricultural labour and poor peasants depend mainly on currently produced cereals; the period of food shortage is the longest for them. The analysis of the food security context in the state clearly reveals that food insecurity is a major vulnerability issue being faced by the rural poor in Bihar Disability Profile of the State As per the WHO estimation in the Bihar State Policy on disability, it is approximately10%ofthe total population who suffer from some or other kind of disabilities. However, as per the Census 2001t he total disabled population in Bihar is 18, 87,611, which is 3.2% (approx.) of the India s total population.16, 92,454 population which is approximately 90% of the total disabled population lives in the rural Bihar. The total disabled male population is 11, 31,526 (60% approx.) as against the female population of 7, 56,085 (40%). In terms of category wise distribution of disability in the state, visual handicapped is 53% followed by 27% locomotors disability against the total disabled population. Out of the total visually and speech handicapped population, female (44.64 %) and male (55.53%) population and female (40.83%) and male (59.16%) are affected respectively in the rural area of Bihar. The disability in terms of speech and hearingis11% of the total disabled population whereas the intellectual handicapped is 9% of the total disabled population. Out of the total hearing, locomotors and intellectual disability female (41.27%), female (32.30%) and female (35%) respectively. The table below shows the division of male and female among various types of disable groups. Table. Disability Profile of the State Disability Population Status Total Rural Male Female Total Visual Speech Hearing Locomotors Mental

24 State/ District level Vulnerabilities As part of the state / district level vulnerabilities, situation in the state with respect to social vulnerability, drought and flood conditions and naxalism has been detailed in the sections below Social Vulnerability The social vulnerability of a rural house hold to poverty is determined both by its asset holdings as well as its social standing vis-à-vis religion and caste. In the rural areas, especially in Bihar, land is the principal base of occupation and, quite often, it is probably the only occupational option. BRLPS had conducted a study on the subject in The study used the criteria of proportion of landless, SC/Stand Muslim households to map the social vulnerability situation in the state Drought Southern part of Bihar has traditionally been prown to severe droughts. The state faced a serious drought arising out of scanty rain fall during 2009 south west monsoon. The rain fall deficit till 6thAug, 2009 was 42%. 28 Districts out of 38 Districts were declared drought hit that year. The arrival of monsoon in the State was delayed by two weeks and during the peak sowing season of the main kharif crop, the rainfall deficit was more than 20% and short fall in crop coverage more than 60% of the entire State. Not only the last year, has the state faced either severe or partial hit of drought seven times in last 10years Floods Bihar is India s most flood-prone State, with 76% of the population in the north Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. According to some historical data, 16.5% of the total flood affected area in India is located in Bihar while 22.1% of the flood affected population in India lives in Bihar. About 68,800 square kilometers (26,600 sqmi) out of total geographical area of 94,160 square kilometers (36,360 sq mi) comprising 73.06% is flood affected. Floods in Bihar are a recurring disaster which on an annual basis destroys thousands of human lives apart from livestock and assets worth millions. Out of 38 Districts, 28 districts in the state, mostly in the North Bihar, which are affected by floods almost every year. These districts are declared as flood prone which is also shown in the Map. Figure. Flood zones of Bihar 11

25 The link between India and Nepal through the Kosi River is one of the main reasons for the flood in Bihar. Rainfall in Nepal over loads dams and lead to flash floods in the Bihar region. Geographically Nepal is a hilly region. When heavy rains occur the water flows to the Kosi River. When the water level rises too high, Nepal opens the shutters of Kosi Barrage Pool to protect the Kosi River dams as well as the bridge. This causes water logging in the Gangetic plains of Bihar. The large amount of water discharged from Nepal through Kosi Barrage mainly reaches the Bagmati, Budhi Gandak and Ganges rivers, causing them to break the banks and overflow Left Wing Extremism (LWE) In Bihar, the LWE Movement was started by several groups including the Maoist Coordination Centre or the MCC, way back in the late seventies. They were the armed squad of the erstwhile underground Communist Party of India Marxist- Leninist (Liberation) and were founded to counter oppression of the upper caste land owners. The movement as witnessed in Bihar is thus entirely different from the other states. The figures in the next page show the LWE affected zones in the state. Figure. Indian Scenario Figure. LWE affected districts As indicated, percentage area is moderately affected by LWE while percentages is marginally affected. Moderately affected Districts are Rohtas, Jehananbad, Aurangabad, Gaya, and Jamui whereas marginally affected area are Champaran (W+E), Sitamarhi, Nawada, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur and Kaimur Context of Social Inclusion and Social Mobilization The sections below provide a description of overall status of the SHG mobilization and the inclusion of poorest groups like SC/STs in their fold. 12

26 Status of SHG Mobilization in the State The SHG formation history in the state refers to 90s, and 30,79,380 persons have been mobilized into 2, 56,615 SHGs as a result of the various government and non government agencies like the Departments of Rural Development, Women and Child Welfare, Finance Woman Development Corporation under Dept. of Social Welfare, BRLPS and NABARD has promoted SHGs. An estimate of SHGs formed by different agencies/programmes is given in the table below. Table. SHG formed in the State by various agencies No. of SHGs promoted (Till March 2011) No.ofSHG NABARD 8,026 SGSY 1,79,830 PACS 4,500 Bihar Mahila Samakhya 7,908 WDC 29,200 BRLPS 25,206 NGOs initiation 1945 TOTAL Analysis of the above data refers that, we have covered a little among the vulnerable class like SC and STs. Only 11.94% of total SC households of the state have been included under the economic activities in major SHG projects. Similarly only 12.59% of the Total ST households of the state have been taken in the economic activities fold. Secondly, only 11.44% of SCs and 0.70% of STs are included in the SHG s economic activities. The factors are multiple and one major among it is limited area intervention in various schemes. A large general intervention with focus on quality institution building and saturation of the social mobilization needed Context of Financial Inclusion The sections below provide a detailed description of both supply side issues (Banking infrastructure, CD Ratio, Man power position) and demand side issues (SHG Bank Linkage etc) of the financial inclusion landscape of the state Banking Infrastructure As regards the existence of the physical presence of banking branches in the state at the end of March 2010, total number of branches of commercial banks in Bihar stood at % of these branches are located in rural areas,22.45% insemi-urban and 19.83% in urban areas. The growth in the number of branches on yearly basis has been following: 13

27 Table. Distributions of Commercial Banks Branches in Bihar YearEnd(March) Total GrowthRate% % share in total Rural SemiUrban Urban Source: The economic survey, Government of Bihar, In the national context, Bihar accounted for only 4.76% of all the bank branches in the country at the end of March 2009 and is far behind UP s share of nearly 12% and Maharashtra s 9.62%. Bihar s share in the total bank branches has remained same over past few years at little less than 5% Status of Microfinance in the state of Bihar Bihar is a state that has approximately half of its population living below the poverty line. Poverty is manifested not only in terms of lack of finance available to the poor people but also with the fact that access to finance is also limited in its scope. Thus the entrepreneurial abilities of the people have still not been unshackled for lack of finance. Still people are dependent on non-formal source of finance from money lenders. This form of finance is not only exploitative but also is not sufficient enough to make an impact on the livelihood dimension of a household. Poor are the greatest and worst victim of such a lack of access to the mainstream financial institutions. Still poor is not considered a bank able client for the mainstream financial institutions. In such a scenario, initiatives by the project like JEEViKA, WDC and similar other institutions come as a hope for the poor as it aims at not only ensuring the access of finance by the poor from the mainstream financial institutions but also institutionalizing the process for greater sustainability. This means that a lot of effort is being put to nurture the SHG s on issues related to capacity building, Financial Literacy and credit counseling in the form of Micro Plans initiated and making provisions for assured improved service from the banks by putting Bank Mitras in the related branches of operation. Of late the process of impacting livelihoods through the process of SHG s has started showing its result in terms of not only social empowerment but also financial strengthening for the members of the Self Help Groups. The idea is getting acceptance and momentum as the project has entered in agreement in form of MOU with major commercial banks and regional rural banks. At the same time,sensing an opportunity and need to strengthening SHG movement in the state, SLBC has formed a core steering committee to look in to the specific issues related to SHG s and Financial Inclusion. Miles are yet to be covered before it brings smile on the face of the poor people. None the less, the process has 14

28 started and result sare likely to impact a poor house hold in a positive way. The status of financing to the poor through banks or the MFI s is not very significant in dimension as regards the state of Bihar. Some of the data related to it are following: Total Number of SHG s Bank credit linked during : Total amount of Bank credit linkage during : Rs Million Number of SHG s Bank credit linked during (up to Sept): Total Amt.of Bank credit linkage during ,up to Sept: Rs.1140Million Total Number of SHG s Bank credit Linkages as on31 st March 2010: Total Loan outstanding as on March 2010: Rs.5571 Million Total Loan Outstanding of SHG s across the country s Million Percentage share of Bihar in terms of outstanding at National level: 1.98% The above mentioned data is in relation to the Bank credit Linkages provided to SHG s. The SHG portfolio in the state is likely to take a leap in coming years with the support of institutions like JEEViKA, Women Development Corporations and many others which are working on a similar pattern. The project JEEViKA itself anticipates to link around groups worth Rs.900 million. The number and amount shall increase in geometric progression with the saturation of the project in existing areas and scaling in the new areas. At the same time, there are some prominent Micro Finance Institutions that are working in the state and providing financial support. In most of the cases the modus operandi is working through the Joint Liability Groups. The data related to them are following: Total number of JLG s financed during : 1.12 Lakhs Total Number of members financed during : 7.30 Lakhs Total amount disbursed during : Rs.7300 Million The SHG Bank Linkage Program The self-help groups and SHG bank linkage programs implemented by commercial banks, RRB s and Cooperative Banks have emerged as major microfinance program in the country. The graph below shows the number of SHGs which were credit linked to banks and that stands at cumulative number of SHG s. The total credit flows to these SHGs had been Rs.1003 crores cumulatively till June Despite the reasonable number of SHGs linked to bank, the growth from 2007 to 2010 has been around 13% for Bihar, where as it is 66% for India. It contributes only 1.69% of all SHGs in India as on 31st March Other states have far better penetration of micro finance compared to Bihar. A few reasons cited for this are skewed distribution of SHGs across the districts, weak infrastructure, increasing costs and low efficiency, caste conflicts, extremists activities, conservative attitude of bankers towards SHGs, fund constraints for startup, the absence of reputed NGOs and low awareness about SHG lending among 15

29 stakeholders are major handicaps in the spread of SHG-Bank linkage program. The trend of the development is mentioned below: Table. Year-wise progress of SHG Bank Financing in Bihar Year No.of SHGs Amount With bank linkage of credit (Rs.crores) Upto Total Source: SLBC (Obtained From) Economic Survey However of late there has been a very favorable environment being generated by the government and the banking sector and SHG bank linkage is given high amount of focus. There is tremendous potential to leverage the strength of SHG s and integrate it with the policy of Financial Inclusion as stipulated by the banking industry. The bank loans outstanding against SHGs from commercial banks, RRBs and co operative banks were Rs 557 crores as on 31st March, The total savings of 1.4 lakh SHGs amounted to only Rs 85 crores Role of BRLPS (JEEViKa) in SHG movement and its status The Government of Bihar (GoB), through the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS) is spearheading an ambitious World Bank aided Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (BRLP). It aims to promote rural livelihoods and enhance social and economic empowerment of the rural poor and women. The project is supposed to work in 4,000 villages of 42 blocks within the six districts (Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Madhubani, Khagaria and Purnea) of Bihar in a phased manner. The project seeks to achieve saturation within the targeted blocks during the project period. In order to promote sustainable livelihoods of the poor & women, it assumes significant importance that continuous and supportive role is played by different stake holders like that of mainstream financial institutions and other market players. In order to bring different players achieve the aim of economic prosperity in the state of Bihar, BRLPS envisages to make significant strides in terms of building and nurturing quality institutions like that of SHG s and their Federations. BRLPS has to play an important role in the nurturing of the community institutions and ensuring the inclusion both in terms of financial and social aspects. Some of the developments related to Jeevika have been mentioned as below: 16

30 Table. BRLPS Progress Update (till March 2011) # Particulars Progress (till March 2011) 1 No. of Working Districts 9 2 No. of Working Blocks 55 3 No. of SHGs formed Total Members No. of Villages Covered No. of Groups A/C opened Total SHG Credit Linked with Banks Amount of Credit Linkage Rs 490 Million 9 Total savings by SHG members Rs 230 Million 10 Inter-Loaning of the Savings amount Rs 530 Million 1.6. Livelihood Context Poverty is heavily concentrated amongst the landless or near landless agricultural households, with these two vulnerable groups constituting 70 percent of the households in Bihar. It is estimated that nearly 2.3 million poor are exposed to huge amount of high cost debt for food, health and education, accounting for percent of consumption expenses, further impoverishing them. Disparities are also evident along gender and caste lines. Scheduled Caste Hindus and Muslim households constituting 25 and 15.4 percent respectively of landless households are among the poorest in the state. Rural Bihar is also divided along caste lines determining social behavior and economic segmentation; and this reference group being a key to social and economic mobility. These social issues have constrained social and economic mobilization in Bihar, especially the development of collectives of the poor. Absence of sensitive support and facilitation structure has led to low levels of social capital among the poor and consequently hindered formation of good quality organizations of the poor. The recurrent flooding during monsoon and subsequent water-logging in the northern Bihar plains and the magnitude of losses due to these hazards indicate the continuing vulnerability of the region to flood and water-logging. Management of floods and water-logging hazards in highly flood-prone regions of India, including Bihar state has been largely response oriented with little or no attention to mitigation and preparedness. This paper presents a method for spatial, Geographic Information Systems-based assessment of flood and water logging vulnerability and risk in northern Bihar plains. Multi-temporal satellite data was used to evaluate the area statistics and dynamics of water-logging over the period from 1975 to The flood proneness is evaluated at district level with reference to flood inundation during a period from 1998 to Census data were used to examine the socio-economic characteristics of the region through computation of population density, cultivators, agricultural labourers, sex ratio, children in age group 06 years and literates. The geo-hazard map derived by combining area prone to water-logging and flood inundation was multiplied with socio-economic vulnerability map to derive the flood-water-logging risk map of the region. The result shows that flood and water-logging pose highest risk to the central districts in the northern Bihar plains with 50.95% of the total area under 17

31 high and very high risk. The rural inhabitants of Bihar depend on multiple sources of income for their livelihood. The most common livelihood options in the rural area for the poor is wage labor in agriculture land, farming in the small patch of land or in leased land or in sharecropping land, livestock husbandry such as milch cattle and small ruminant rearing, practicing fishery, cultivating makhana, practicing apiculture, etc. The commonly found non-farm sector is bangle making, vegetable vending, petty shop, arts & crafts, carpentry, black smithy, etc. The table below indicates a list of opportunities across various sub-ectors. Table. Livelihoods opportunities District Agriculture Livestock Enterprises Araria Paddy, Maize, Jute Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Jute Mills Arwal Paddy, Maize, Wheat Aurangabad Paddy, Wheat, Lentils Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Carpet, Blanket Poultry, Pig Weaving Banka Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Lentil Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Poultry, Pig Begusarai Wheat, Maize, Chilly, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Pepper, Vegetable Bhagalpur Paddy, Maize, Lentil Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Tussar Silk Bhojpur Paddy, Wheat, Maize Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Rice & Oil Mills Poultry, Pig Buxar Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Cow, Buffalo, Sheep, Poultry Rice & Oil Mills Sugarcane Darbhanga Paddy Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Paper Mills, Sugar Factories, Handlooms, Pisciculture East Basmati Rice, Sugarcan, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugar Factories, Champaran Jute, Lentil Pig Button Factories, Honey Gaya Paddy, Wheat, Potato, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Oil Mills, Sugar Lentils Poultry, Pig Factories, Lac Gopalganj Paddy, Wheat, Maize Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Sugar Factories, Vegetable Oil Mills Jamui Paddy, Wheat, Lentils Cow, Goat, Sheep, Poultry, Jehanabad Paddy, Wheat, Lentils Buffalo, Poultry, Pig Kaimur Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugarcane Pig Katihar Paddy Cow, Goat, Poultry, Pig Jute Mills, Paper Mills Khagaria Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Jute Cow, Goat, Poultry Kishanganj Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Jute Cow, Goat, Poultry Jute Mills Lakhisarai Paddy, Wheat, Lentils Cow Madhepura Paddy, Jute Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Jute Mills 18

32 District Agriculture Livestock Enterprises Madhubani Paddy Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Sugar Factories, Poultry, Pig Pisciculture Munger Paddy, Wheat, Lentils Cow, Goat, Poultry Muzaffarpur Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugar Factories, Lentils, Litchi, Mango Pig Honey Nalanda Paddy, Potato, Onion Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Handloom Weaving Pig Nawada Paddy Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Bidi Factories Pig Patna Paddy, Potato, Onion, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Sugar, Fireworks, Vegetable Poultry, Pig Biscuit, Flour Mills, Shoes Purnea Jute Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Jute Mills Pig Rohtas Paddy, Wheat Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Sheep, Vegetable Oil Mill, Poultry, Pig Paper Factory Saharsa Paddy Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Jute Factory Samastipur Paddy, Maize Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Sugar Factories, Paper Mill, Jute Mill, Pisciculture, Honey Saran Paddy, Wheat, Sugarcane Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugar Factories Pig Sheikhpura Sheohar Paddy, Wheat, Lentils Sitamarhi Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Lentils Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugar Factory, Rice & Pig Oil Mills Siwan Paddy, Wheat, Sugarcane Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugar Factories Pig Supaul Paddy Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Vaishali Banana, Paddy, Wheat, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry Sugar Factory, Honey Maize, Lentils West Paddy, Sugarcane, Cow, Buffalo, Goat, Poultry, Sugar Factory, Honey Champaran Canereeds Pig Source: Economic Survey & Bihar website Agriculture Agriculture is the key to the overall development of the State economy. Agriculture is the backbone of Bihar's economy 81% of workforce and generating nearly 1/5 th of GDP of the state. Nearly 90 million population lives in the rural area. Bihar has a total geographical area of about lakh hectare, out of which only lakh hectare is the net cultivated area and gross cultivated area being 19

33 77.64 lakh hectare. About lakh hectare net area and lakh hectare gross area receive irrigation from different sources. Principal food crops are paddy, wheat, maize and pulses. Main cash crops are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, oilseeds, onion, chillies and jute. Bihar has notified forest area of 6, sq km, which is 7.1 per cent of its geographical area. The lakh hectares of land have three important agro-climatic zones. These are North-west zone with 13 districts have mms rainfall & loam to sandy loam soil; North-east zone with 8 districts have mms rainfall & loam to clay loam soil and South-zone with 17 districts have mms rainfall & have variety of soils e.g., sandy loam, clay loam, loam & clay. The average annual rainfall of the state is 1091 mms. The topography of Bihar can be easily described as a fertile alluvial plain occupying the Gangetic Valley. The plain extends from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to a few miles south of the river Ganges as it flows through the State from the west to the east. Rich farmland and lush orchards extend throughout the state. There are three major types of soil in Bihar i.e. Piedmont Swamp Soil - found in northwestern part of West Champaran district. Terai Soil - found in northern part of the state along the border of Nepal. Gangetic Alluvium - the plain of Bihar is covered by gangetic alluvium (both new as well as old). Bihar is endowed with good soil, adequate rainfall and good ground water availability. Cold weather season (December to February), Hot weather season (March to May), Southwest monsoon (June to September) and Retreating southwest monsoon (October to November). Agriculture is prone to natural disasters, particularly flood in north Bihar and drought in south Bihar. Risk of natural disasters can be minimized through use of appropriate crop technology and extending crop insurance to all farmers. Insurance cover may be extended to all the crops in general and horticultural & cash crops in specific. Seed bank can be maintained to quickly restore supply of seed material. Human resource can be developed to quickly react and restore normalcy in case of a natural disaster. The state is endowed with rich biodiversity. The major crops are Paddy, Wheat, Lentils, Sugarcane, Jute (hemp, related to the marijuana plant, but a source of tough fibers and "gunny bags"). Also, cane grows wild in the marshes of West Champaran. The principal fruits are: Mangoes, Banana, Guava and Litchis. Bihar is the third largest producer of vegetables and fourth largest producer of fruits in the country. It is the largest producer of Litchi, Makhana, Guava, Lady s finger in India. The state already exports Litchi, Basmati rice and snow pea. It has competitiveness in maize, rice and fruit such as banana, mango, litchi and vegetables like onions, tomato, potato and brinjal. High, stable and regular supply of agricultural produce provides adequate opportunity for marketing and food processing industries. Although, Horticulture (Fruits, vegetable, spices, honey, medicinal & aromatic plants) occupies 15% of land area but income generated from horticulture is much higher. The state has a monopoly in production of litchi and makhana and continues to grow various fruits, vegetables, spices and floriculture is catching the imagination of people, reflected in their growing interest, across the state, in diversification of horticulture. 20

34 The total net sown area is lakh hectare and gross sown area is lakh hectare with cropping intensity of 1.37 ( ) out of lakh hectares. The crop wise net cultivated area, production and yield are presented below. Table. Net cultivated Area, Production & Yield Total Crop Nos. of Cultivable Total Yield in Kg / Yield in Kg / Production hectare hectare District Area (in (MT) (Bihar) (India) Hectare) Paddy Wheat Barley Maize-Kharif Maize-Rabi Arhar-Kharif Urad-Kharif Bhadai Moong-Kharif Kulthi-Kharif Ghaghra-Kharif Other Pulses-Kharif Gram-Rabi Lentil-Rabi Pea-Rabi Khesari-Rabi Other Pulses-Rabi Moong-Summer Total Pulses Rapeseed/Mustard Linseed Sesamum Sunflower Ground Nut Safflower Castor Jute Mesta Sunhemp Jowar Bajra Ragi Small Millets Source: Directorate of Statistical and Evaluation Animal Husbandry Besides Agriculture; livestock and dairy is one of the most significant sector 21

35 for rural livelihood and income generation opportunities, especially for women folk in the rural area. This sector holds an important position in the state's economy, as it contributes one third of total rural income. Animal husbandry is an extremely important income generation activities in rural areas, as 90% of the state s population live in rural villages. The goat rearing is termed as poor man s cow or ATM by experts of rural livelihoods. The landless farmers or wage laborers can take up goatery & poultry for their income generation activity. The table below shows the potential of various sub sectors in animal husbandry in the state. Sl. Name of Livestock Population in Lakhs Concentration is Higher 1 Cow Patna, Bhojpur, Rohtas, Gaya, Banka, Muzaffarpur, West 2 Buffalo Champaran, Madhubani, Purnea 3 Goat Poultry Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar TOTAL Source: Livestock census 2003 The total livestock population is lakhs in the state. Milch cattle (Cow & Buffalo) population contributes 39.8%, Goat population contributes 23.5% and Poultry population contributes 34.2%. The growth potential is abundant in livestock sector and the state government has been taking initiatives in breed up-gradation, animal health & nutrition and insurance of cattle for improvement of the sector as a whole. The milk production potential of Bihar is 90 lakhs litre per day, out of which the organized sector procurement by COMFED is nearly 14 lakhs litre per day. In , the production of milk is 61,240 lakh kgs. And production of eggs touched crores Non-Farm / NTFPs The rural non-farm sector in Bihar has been emerging as a source of additional livelihood, in the face of agriculture having reached its saturation levels of employment, even in the backward regions. The pressure on employment market has been so deep that even in backward areas there has been expansion of rural non-farm employment (RNFE) during the nineties. In comparison to a share of RNFE of 15.2 % in total rural employment during 1991 it has increased to 19.0% in Among the three sub-regions, North Bihar has the weakest rural infrastructural base and hence the expansion of RNFE has been the least in the sub-region. Collection, processing and selling of NTFPs has been an integral part of the livelihood basket for the communities living in regions having good forest cover Performance of MGNREGA in the state The table below shows a comparison between larger states in performance of MGNREGA. 22

36 Table. Performance of MGNREGA States Demanded Provided Average Number of employment employment mandays HHs Availed100days per HH of employment Bihar GrandTotal It is clear from the table that Bihar has one of the lowest figures for the average man-days produced among the larger states. The table below shows the status of SC/ST and women access to MGNREGA in the state. Table. Division of mandays in the state Heads Person-days (in Lakhs) % SC ST Women In the State of Bihar, total employment provided to the Household is 47.3 Lakhs and the total person- days are 1602 Lakhs. The Total expenditure made till June, 11 is crores against the target of 3270 Lakhs and out of the total works Completed is against the work taken up which is In the MGNREGA, total SC coverage is 45%, ST coverage is 2.14% and the total women participation is 2.5%. Thus there is a clear need to increase access to MGNREGA in Bihar for the rural poor Performance of Leading Social Welfare Schemes Mid-Day-Meal Scheme (MDM) The Mid Day Meal Scheme, based on the child s right to enhancement of nutrition, educational advancement, social equity and hygiene and sanitation, has been an important intervention in both increasing enrolment and retaining students at the primary level. The MDMS was universalized in 2005 in Bihar covering all primary schools, including learning centres. Table below shows the total coverage of children under MDMS at the primary level (ClassI-V). The total number of children covered under MDMS at the primary level is lakh. The total coverage is 72 percent, up from 60 percent in , but there is high variation among the districts. Some of the low coverage districts are Sitamarhi and Supaul (25 percent each), Kaimur (26 percent), Purnia (29 percent) and Darbhanga (35 percent). The districts with 100 percent coverage are Gopalganj, Jamui, Munger, Nawada, Saharsa and Sheikhpura. The scheme has been now extended to the upper primary level in all the districts of Bihar. The implementation has been far more uniform at this level in the various districts. The overall percentage of students covered under MDMS is 81 percent. The districts of Jamui, Jehanabad and Muzaffarpur have 100 percent coverage. All other districts have coverage of 80 percent, the only exception being Gaya which is at 76 percent. 23

37 Even though the access to MDM is found adequate, there are several issues related to the quality of food available to the children. This comes out from the several studies on the subject and the implementation experience of various NGOs and BRLPS over the last few years Public Distribution System (PDS) The Public Distribution System (PDS) for essential commodities has been an important part of the measures to promote food security in the state. Four essential commodities (wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene oil) are distributed through PDS outlets. The consumers are divided in to Above Poverty Line (APL) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) categories based on the correction to the state government s original survey carried out in Under the PDS, 39,93,973 BPL households were being provided with 35kgs of foodgrains per month (25kgs of rice and 10kgs of wheat) Under Antyoday, 24,28,523 BPL families are being provided with 35kgs of food grains per month- 21 kgs of rice at the rate of Rs 2 per kg and 14 kgs of wheat at the rate of Rs 3 per kg. Annapurna provides 1,66,600 homeless senior citizens with 6kgs of wheat and 4kgs of rice free of cost. It is amply clear from the table above that, only a meagre proportion of the rural population is able to access PDS. Therefore, there is an urgent need to enhance the access to PDS for the poor Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) The ICDS provides improved child care, early stimulation and learning, health and nutrition, water and environmental sanitation. It is a targeted programme for young children, and expectant and nursing mothers, which is implemented through trained community-based Anganwadi workers and helpers, and supportive community structures.the ICDS encompasses interventions in Health (Immunization, Health Check-ups, Referral Services and Treatment of minor illness), Nutrition (Supplementary feeding, Growth monitoring and promotion, Nutrition and Health Education) and Education (Early Childhood Care and Pre- School Education) for children in the age-group 3-6years. This is done through a five point programme: Improve the nutritional and health status of children below the age of six years. Lay the foundation for the proper psychological, physical and social development of the child. Reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts. Achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation among various departments to promote child development. Enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child, through proper health and nutrition education. 24

38 By , 544 ICDS projects were operational in Bihar covering all development blocks in all 38 districts. In , 5440 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) and an equal number of mini-awcs were added. A total of AWCs are now operational in Bihar. The actual number of Anganwadi workers and helpers is 99.3 percent of the sanctioned posts. Thus, at the level of the AWCs, the staffing is adequate. The shortage of supervisory personnel reported in last year s survey has been addressed through appointment of Child Development Project Officers or CDPOs (the executive officers at the project level in the block). The actual strength as a percentage for sanctioned strength has increased from 33.8 percent in to 89.2 percent. However, with just 8.3 percent of the3288 sanctioned posts for Lady Supervisors filled, there is still shortage of supervisory staff National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) National Rural Health Mission has offered unprecedented opportunity to improve the health of the people in Bihar. The current situation of the selected indicators based on NFHS-3, SRS 2009 and DLHS3 shows the overall the state is moving towards achieving the goal. able. NRHM Indicators Important Indicator NFHS3(05-06) SRS DLHSIII (07-08) Other Sources Total Fertility Rate (TFR) 4 3.9(2007) - - Contraceptive Use 34% % - ANC % - Institutional Delivery 22.80% % 47.9%(CES2008) IMR 62 per 1000 live births 56(2009) - - Percentage of Full Immunisation 33% % (ISB-FRDS Coverage 2009) Due to various health initiatives, the Maternal Mortality Rate has reduced from 371 in to 12 while the INFANT Mortality Rate has decreased from 61 in the year 2005 to 56 in year Similarly the Total Fertility Rate has decreased from 4.3 to 3.9 in the year Other Social Welfare Schemes Social Welfare outlay in the State amounted to Rs Crore in The Single highest share of 52% of expenditure in social welfare was for social security, followed by child development (34.4%) and women s empowerment (12.7). The intervention by the state government to address gender disparity can be clubbed under three main heads: education (Balika Cycle and Poshak Yojana), child protection (Kanya Suraksha Yojana),social and economic activity (Social Security Pension Scheme, Kanya Vivah Yojana and Nari Shakti Yojana) 25

39 Table. Flagship Schemes to Address Gender Disparity (Rs.Lakh) Scheme RE RE Actual Actual Actual Actual Lakshmibai Social Secutity Pension Scheme(2007) Nari Shakti Yojana Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana Kanya SurakshaYojana Mukhyamantri Balika Poshak Yojana Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana Source: Gender Budget, Department of Finance, Govt of Bihar Context of the area: Banka District is situated in southeast Bihar, and spreads over a geographic area of hectares. This is the third least developed district in India. It is one of the 36 most backward districts in Bihar. Banka is an administrative district in the state of Bihar, with district headquarters at Banka town. The district occupies an area of 3018 km² and has a population of 1,608,778 (as of census 2001). Unlike rest of Bihar, this particular region is inflected with poor quality of soil, undulated land and once was covered with forest which has been eliminated over the years of overexploitation of forest resources. Over the years the upland is exposed resulting in erosion and loss of rich forest soil. Banka has been ranked 3rd least developed district in India after Kalahandi and Raygadha (orissa). Banka, as a whole, is an agrarian economy. In spite of having very advanced system of Agro product marketing like Vijayhat at Rajoun for high quality USNA(Parmal) rice which is very popular among locals and sugar cane/ jiggery at Amrapur, absence of branding has not given the most required impetus. It has 11 administrative development blocks, out of which it is proposed to implement the proposed Project in three adjacent, and contiguous, southern blocks namely Katoria, Chandan and Belhar on cluster mode. Around 68% tribal people of Banka district reside in these three blocks. 26

40 Belhar Chandan Katoria HQ Area Banka 3,019 sq. kms. Population Total 12,92,504 Rural 12,47,869 Urban 44,635 SC Population Total 1,50,113 Rural 1,45,560 Urban 4,553 ST Population Total 63,457 Rural 63,392 Urban 65 Sub Divisions Blocks Agriculture Banka. Banka, Rajon, Amarpur, Dhoraiya, Katoria, Bausi, Shambhuganj, Barahat, Belhar, Chandan, Phulidumar. Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Lentil. Banka district having a total geographic area of hectares, net sown area is , total cropped area is , multi cropped area 7507 km falls under the Zone 3A with total irrigated area of (37.81%) hectares of which is canal irrigation and is tube well irrigation and 1743 is other sources, percentage of BPL households is Under five mortality of India 74.3, Kerala is 16.8, Bihar is 84.4, Banka 99.1, underweight children, India, 42.5, Kerala 22.9, Banka According to the Composite food security Input Index Banka has been classified among 12 severely food insecure district of Bihar and has been designated as Special Category District (SCD), Banka District has one of the lowest per capita value of Agriculture output of Rs 663/-, while the highest is being Kaimur Rs 1407/-, although the percentage of irrigated area to net shown area is 65%, but in the undulating terrine block of Katoria, it will be less than 15%., Banka stood in the category of food availability in severely insecure with an index of and rank 25 among 38 district of Bihar. In monthly per capita consumption expenditure Banka stood in the very low category. According to the food security outcome indices and food security indices Banka has been in the top priority for implementing poverty reduction programmes. 27

41 Agro climatic Zone Name of District Land area in hectares Net Sown area (Ha) Net cropped area (Ha) Net multicropped area (Ha) Total irrigated area (Ha) % irrigated area 3 A Banka 306, Paddy is the major crop of the district followed by wheat and maize. More than 75% of the farmers are marginal having a land holding of less than one hectare, and the small farmers are around 10% having land holding up to around 2 hectares. The productivity of rice is around 2.3 to 3 tons per hectares. According to the 2002 survey the % of population below the poverty line in the district is which is higher than the state average of The infant mortality of the district is 48 per thousand which equal to the state average of 48 per thousand. The male to female ratio of the district is 1000: 907 Population: In 2011, Banka had population of 2,034,763 of which male and female were 1,067,140 and 967,623 respectively. In 2001 census, Banka had a population of 1,608,773 of which males were 843,293 and remaining 765,480 were females. Banka District population constituted 1.95 percent of total Maharashtra population. In 2001 census, this figure for Banka District was at 1.94 percent of Maharashtra population. There was change of percent in the population compared to population as per Population density of Banka district for 2011 is 674 people per sq. km. In 2001, against 533 people per sq. km. Literacy Rate: Average literacy rate of Banka in 2011 was compared to of If things are looked out at gender wise, male and female literacy were and respectively. For 2001 census, same figures stood at and in Banka District. Total literate in Banka District were 965,321 of which male and female were 590,961 and 374,360 respectively. Sex Ratio: With regards to Sex Ratio in Banka, it stood at 907 per 1000 male compared to 2001 census figure of 908. The average national sex ratio in India is 940 as per latest reports of Census 2011 Directorate. In 2011 census, child sex ratio is 943 girls per 1000 boys compared to 965 girls per 1000 boys of 2001 census data. Child Population: There were total 375,282 children under age of 0-6 against 327,903 of 2001 census. Of total 375,282 male and female were 193,179 and 182,103 respectively. Child Sex Ratio as per census 2011 was 943 compared to 965 of census In 2011, Children under 0-6 formed percent of Banka District compared to percent of There was net change of percent in this compared to previous census of India. Comparative data of rural areas vis-à-vis urban areas in the district is depicted below. 28

42 Description Rural Urban Population (%) % 3.50 % Total Population 1,963,450 71,313 Male Population 1,029,097 38,043 Female Population 934,353 33,270 Sex Ratio Child Sex Ratio (0-6) Child Population (0-6) 363,741 11,541 Male Child(0-6) 187,100 6,079 Female Child(0-6) 176,641 5,462 Child Percentage (0-6) % % Male Child Percentage % % Female Child Percentage % % Literates 921,921 43,400 Male Literates 565,932 25,029 Female Literates 355,989 18,371 Average Literacy % % Male Literacy % % Female Literacy % % Climate: The Climate of Banka District is characterized by a hot summer and a pleasant Winter Season. March to June comprises the summer months while the cold season lasts from November to February. Monsoon sets in sometime in the part of June and the rains continue till September, October being a transitional month. The District also receives some winter rains. The south west monsoon generally breaks in during the second half of June. The bulk of the rainfall occurs in July and August. The average annual rain fall is 1250 mm almost uniformly throughout the District. The temperature raises upto 45 0 C in summer and C in winter. Topography: The Northern part of Banka District has generally a plain surface except the southern area adjoining Santhal pargana (Jharkhand). The land begins to rise at an easy ascent near Barahat in south of Banka and the hilly tracts commence. Thus the district of Banka has 60% of hilly area, most of which falls under the project blocks. Topography of the Southern part of the District is undulating and soil is shallow. It however, receives good rainfall of around 1250mm In this area originates many 29

43 rivulets which pour rain water into the major rivers, viz, Chandan, Garura, Darvasa, Sukhania and Dakai those are sub- tributaries of Ganga and meet it near Bhagalpur. These streams are carrying huge silt, washing the top soil and through runoff water. Forest: The official forest area is 950 sq. km, which is around 17% of geographical area, out of which 500 sq.km is totally degraded notified forest land. Rearing of tasar silkworm on forest trees like Arjun (Terminalia arjuna) and Asan (Terminalia tomentosa) is an age-old practice among tribal community in this area. The community is also acquainted with tropical fruit trees like Mango, Guava, Jackfruits etc and its economic importance. The rapid deforestation, lack of market linkages, lack of access to better technology and practices posed a serious threat to these traditional activities. Land category and its use: Land in the area can be classified into Homestead (Badi), Upland (Tanr), Medium upland (Bhadai/Baid), and lowland (Jarhan). Agriculture in the area is mainly rain fed. Category Slope (% age) Water holding capacity* Homestead 2-4% Low Tanr (up land) 3-10% Low Bhadai (Medium upland) 2-3% Moderate Lohna (mid-low land) 1-3% Good Jarhan ( low land).5-1% Very good A Typical Village Transact in Banka (not to scale) Slopy Uplands/Forest/Homestead Fallow Uplands/ Taand (un-terraced & un-bunded) Medium Uplands (terraced & bunded) 30