Analysis of social aspects of beneficiaries of Indira kranthi patham programme in Andhra Pradesh

Transcription

1 Analysis of social aspects of beneficiaries of Indira kranthi patham programme in Andhra Pradesh ABSTRACT T. Saidanna and A. Sailaja* Department of Extension Education, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad , A. P., India * The goal of the Indira Kranthi Patham project is to reduce poverty of below poverty level households through sustainable community based women organizations by introducing livelihood interventions through institution building, human resource capacity building and community investment fund. The main objective of Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) is to enable poorest of poor to improve their livelihoods and quality of life. With this background, an attempt was made to study the socio economic aspects of IKP viz., institution building and human resource capacity building. It was found that majority (46.67%) of the respondents had felt the need of institution building at the medium level followed by high (28.33%) and low (25.00%) in order. It could also be observed that majority (50.00%) of the respondents were under medium level of human resource capacity building followed by low (31.60%) and high (18.40%) respectively. The findings of the study helps in formulation of content and methodologies of capacity building programmes, approaches to be followed in implementation to develop community managed extension system so as to sustain agri-based livelihoods. KEYWORDS : Beneficiaries, capacity building, Indira Kranthi Patham INTRODUCTION Agriculture and allied occupations provide livelihood to more than three fourth population of the country and contributed nearly one fourth to the national income. India achieved self sufficiency in food production within short time due to large investments in development of water resources and input supplies to highly input responsive high yielding cultivars. Agricultural growth during last three decades has largely relied on input intensive technologies where most of the inputs were accessed from outside the farming system. The pace of agricultural development has significantly influenced the level and pace of economic development in India. Indiscriminant use of agrochemicals, poor soil and water management and destruction of natural vegetative cover resulted in land degradation, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resource base and pest resurgence. A multiplicity of factors such as pressure on land, droughts and floods, low yields, inadequate credit facilities, poverty of peasants etc has kept the farmers in a position just capable of feeding their families leading to migration of rural people to urban areas. The main reason for poor performance of farm sector has been the long persisting adverse terms of trade for agriculturists. The 72

2 unequal rise in prices of farm input and output have led to low profits, poor capital formation and stagnation in farm sector.with the increasing population pressure, technological advances in the competitive global market, large number of people in India are bereft of stable livelihoods. It is now widely accepted today that promotion of large number of livelihoods especially for rural poor and women has emerged as the most significant development challenge of the century. Some estimates show that million new livelihoods need to be promoted every year in India to ensure full employment. Andhra Pradesh has used self help groups (SHGs) extensively as a primary tool for poverty alleviation and empowerment. Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) is a largest poverty alleviation project in the State of Andhra Pradesh which is implemented by a registered society Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) under Department of Rural Development. IKP aims to build strong institutions of the rural poor (SHGs) and enhance their livelihood opportunities so that the vulnerability of the poor is reduced. IKP is a scaled up version of the South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme (SAPAP) model with more focus on livelihood component of women SHGs of below poverty level families (BPL). The project uses the SHG model to address the broader issues of rural poverty. The goal of the Indira Kranthi Patham project is to reduce poverty of below poverty level households through sustainable community based women organizations by introducing livelihood interventions through institution building, human resource capacity building and community investment fund. The main objective of Indira Kranthi Patham is to enable poorest of poor to improve their livelihoods and quality of life. With this background in view, an attempt was made to study few components of IKP such as socio economic aspects viz., institution building and human resource capacity building. MATERIALS AND METHODS Exploratory research design was followed for the present study. The State of Andhra Pradesh was chosen for the study purposively as the investigator hails from the State. Mahaboobnagar district was selected as it is one of the largest districts in Telangana region with highest number of mandals under Indira Kranthi Patham. Out of sixty four mandals, two mandals viz., Kolhapur, Achampet were selected by random sampling on discussion with IKP staff. Two villages viz., Chukkayapalli and Yenamalametla from Kolhapur mandal, Uppunutala and Gattuthumen from Achampet mandal were selected at random from each of these mandals and thus, a total of four villages were selected for the study. Thirty women belonging to two groups were selected at random from each village. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents of eight groups were selected from the above selected villages for the study. The selected statements of institution building and human resource building were administered to the rural women beneficiaries on a three point continuum i.e. `agree, `undecided and `disagree with weightages of 3, 2 and 1, respectively for positive statements and with a reverse order of 1, 2 and 3 for the negative statements. The average (or) mean score for each beneficiary was obtained through the responses of its respondents with both 73

3 positive and negative statements. The possible total institution building index scores ranged between 10 and 30. The actual obtained scores varied from 12 to 30. The responses were classified into three categories based on their class interval method. The possible total human resource capacity building scores ranged between 10 to 30. The actual obtained scores varied from 12 to 30 and the responses were classified into three categories based on their class interval method. Content analysis The total scores of each statement were worked out by multiplying the frequencies of responses with corresponding weightages. The mean score was obtained by dividing total score with sample size. The mean scores were ranked in the order of priority. Higher mean score value of a statement indicates higher degree of agreement by majority of respondents to it. Lower mean score value of a statement indicates lesser degree of agreement by fewer respondents to it. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Social aspects Institution building Results indicated that majority (46.67%) of the respondents had felt the need of institution building at the medium level followed by high (28.33%) and low (25.00%) in order (Table 1). This can be understood from Table 2 that majority of the respondents perceived that all the members residing in a specific area need to form a group (2.79 ) followed by it is better if all the members of a group have a common interest (2.70 ), it is better if all the members of same caste form a group (2.63), I feel that leadership needs to be rotated among all group members (2.29), I do not realize the objective of group formation except for thrift & credit (2.16), I do not take independent decisions regarding group activities (2.13 ), I do not understand the group dynamics and team building in a group (2.08 ), I feel that I need not plan for my group activities (1.89), it is better that if outsider does book keeping of a group (1.88) and I feel that my group need not establish vertical linkages to influence on relevant policy making (1.83) with respective mean scores which were ranked in order of magnitude Table 1: Distribution of the beneficiaries according to their perception of institution building S.No. Category Frequency Percentage 1. Low Medium High Total n=120 74

4 Table 2: Content analysis on perception of respondents towards institution building n=120 S. No. Statements Total Mean score score Rank 1. I feel that leadership needs to be rotated among IV all group members 2. I do not take independent decisions regarding VI group activities 3. I feel that all the members residing in a specific I area need to form a group 4. I do not realize the objective of group formation V except for thrift & credit 5. I do not understand the group dynamics & team VII building 6. It is better if all members of same caste form a III group 7. It is better if an outsider does book keeping of a IX group 8. I feel that I need not plan for my group activities VIII 9. It is better if all members of a group have a II common interest 10. I feel that my group need not establish vertical linkages to influence on relevant policy making X Human resource capacity building It could be observed from the results furnished in the Table 3 that majority (50.00%) of the respondents were under medium level of human resource capacity building followed by low (31.60%) and high (18.40%) level of human resource capacity building, respectively. Table 3:Distribution of the respondents based on their perception resource capacity building S.No. Category Frequency Percentage 1. Low Medium High Total towards human n=120 75

5 Majority of respondents perceived medium level of human resource capacity building, which can be better explained from results of Table 4 that majority of respondents perceived that I feel that in the present agricultural scenario, these practices are not feasible (2.83) followed by I feel that my understanding on microclimate and ecological balance has not improved (2.75), I feel that the activities have not provided me first hand knowledge on the subject (2.70), I feel that activities have not given me opportunity to interact with practicising women groups (2.63), I feel that activities have enabled me to broaden my knowledge horizon (2.38), I feel that activities have enabled me to improve my communication skills (2.29), I feel that activities enabled me to realize the importance of interdependence of group livelihoods (1.50), it has enabled me to understand the team building process in a group (1.41), individually, I feel and less confident and insecure to follow sustainable agricultural practices (1.38) and I feel that the activities have not provided me any managerial orientation in sustainable agricultural practices (1.25) with respective mean scores which were ranked in order. Table 4: Content analysis on perception of respondents towards human resource capacity building n=120 S. No. Statement Total score Mean score Rank 1. I feel that in the present agricultural scenario, these practices are not feasible 2. I feel that activities have not given me opportunity to interact with practicising women groups 3. I feel that activities have enabled me to broaden my knowledge horizon 4. I feel that activities have enabled me to improve my communication skills 5. I feel that activities enabled me to realize the importance of interdependence of group livelihoods 6. It has enabled me to understand the team building process in a group 7. I feel that my understanding on microclimate and ecological balance has not improved 8. Individually, I feel less confident and insecure to follow sustainable agricultural practices 9. I feel that the activities have not provided me any managerial orientation in sustainable agricultural practices 10. I fell that the activities have not provided me first hand knowledge on the subject I IV V VI VII VIII II IX X III 76

6 IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY Implications to SERP 1. As majority of respondents were found to have medium institution building, SERP needs to involve community coordinators at grassroot level in participatory planning exercises so as to result in formation of homogeneous and self reliant institutions. 2. As majority of respondents had medium human resource capacity building, SERP needs to equip the concerned extension machinery at grassroot level with concerned technical back up, production and application technology. To achieve this SERP needs to hire development professionals from agricultural and veterinary universities and other relevant academic sectors. IKP staff of concerned sectors should inturn disseminate knowledge and motivate farm women groups through intensive awareness and publicity programmes, compaigns, exhibitions, group meetings and organizing field demonstrations. Those with minimum educational qualifications and good communication skills needs to be identified as resource persons/ paraprofessionals who need to inturn facilitate the process of social learning in the social mobilization process. This also makes delivery of extension services effective. SERP needs to organize experiential and skill oriented participatory training sessions to enable them realize and learn by doing. Role models of SHG showcasing technologies need to be utilized as text books to facilitate learning of participants in field during training programmes organized by SERP to build capacities for efficient resource utilization and thereby livelihoods of people. 3. The findings of the study can be used by SERP as it helps in formulation of content and methodologies of capacity building programmes, approaches to be followed in implementation to develop community managed extension system so as to sustain agribased livelihoods. CONCLUSION The study helps to give us an idea of the progress of Indira Kranthi Patham a programme in which community managed extension system is given importance. The findings reveal the direction and intensity of efforts so as to achieve the goal of the programme through training of the adequate human resources in each of the areas and in each of the self help groups. The study on the sustainability of livelihoods helps us to take future action to ensure sustainability for the same to the women self help groups in the area. REFERENCES Anitha M 2003 Empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad. Krishna Prasad T 2005 A study on rural poverty and sustainable livelihoods in agrarian sector of Andhra Pradesh. Ph.D.Thesis, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad. 77

7 Mangasri K 1999 Empowerment of women of DWCRA groups in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh. PhD.Thesis, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad. Padma I 2002 Women Entrepreneurs of Uttaranchal. Indian Journal of Training and Development 32 (2). Sarah Kamala T 2004 A critical analysis of pro poor initiatives for empowerment of rural women through South Asia Poverty Alleviation programme (SAPAP). Ph.D. Thesis, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad. [MS received: ; MS accepted: ] 78