Moneylenders and landlords…. Strangling the poor

“The Deputy Chief Minister has got it wrong. He should not be persecuting and prosecuting the moneylenders (reference is to the recent move of the Government of Maharashtra against money lending).. After all without money lenders how can agriculture survive”… these astounding words are from a young farmer, also a political activist, from Bhatumba a small village in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. We were shocked to say the least… One expects seeds, fertilizers, and labour to be essential for the practice of agriculture but MONEYLENDERS? That was a new one… We decided to explore… This is what we saw…

Over the last many years the credit situation in the rural areas has worsened. Frequent spells of drought, increasing inputs costs, poor use of technology have made agriculture unproductive. We have covered this in detail in an earlier report. Corruption, inefficiencies, political interference have made credit co-operatives and banks (co-operative) nearly defunct. Every 10 kms one will find a failed financial institution. These institutions are leaving rural areas in droves. Almost all the farmers are indebted and defaulters to a certain extent. Some of the ‘smarter’ farmers play the waiting game by deliberately defaulting on loans. As a large farmer with an outstanding loan of Rs. 400,000/- said to us “why should I bother to pay off the loan? All I need to do when the demand for repayment comes up is pay the bank officer Rs. 5000 under the table. That takes care of the problem for one year. Next year maybe the government will write off loans or else the same formula will work. It is cheaper to do this than to pay”.

Against this backdrop is the undeniable truth that very few farmers can undertake agricultural activities without accessing credit. This is especially so because inputs have to be bought most of the time and labour paid regularly. Often it is a matter of survival for the family till the harvest comes in. In this scenario is it any wonder that the moneylender becomes an important input into agriculture. We saw rates ranging from 5% to 20% a month.. In 2004 apparently there was no credit available even at 25% a month. With interest rates at these levels how much cash profit can the farmer expect from rain-fed, small and marginal landholding?

Farmers are turning to women's self help groups as an avenue for accessing easy credit and at much more affordable terms. Compared to the moneylenders the normal SHG rate of 2% per month makes the loan almost FREE. Accessing credit then becomes the sole purpose of forming SHGs of women! These SHGs exist only on paper and are run by men themselves. We have seen 19 SHGs groups of women in one village of less than 1000 population…. None of these were meant to mobilize and empower women. None had regular meetings though savings records and minutes were impeccable. This puts paid to the entire concept of women's empowerment that the SHGs are supposed to (and touted to) foster. The banks are slowly strangling this line of credit as well by linking default of men to women's SHGs. Genuine groups also suffer because of these policies as all of us would have seen some time or other. Families are thus pushed back into the welcoming arms of the moneylenders. In the next report we will look at women's SHGs, their economic activities and ultimate impact on lives in more detail.

Another pattern we have seen in Yavatmal is that of concentrated landholding. Few families hold most of the land, a few are small farmers and rest are landless labourers. In Bellora, a village of around 2000 souls (350 families), for instance, 75% of the land was held by 8-10 families with the remaining 25% being held by another 25-30 families and the rest being landless. There were no other livelihood opportunities in the village. Still there was no significant migration. When investigated, we realized that the actual act of farming is managed by the landless for the landed gentry. They are employed on monthly (Rs. 900 + one bag of jowar) or yearly terms (8000 + 12 bags of Jowar) basis. The landowner does nothing but supervise leaving himself free to indulge in politics or other pursuits. In reality the landless are bonded but don’t realize it. The landlords are taking care to ensure that the landless are kept at an optimum level… just enough to prevent revolt and not too much to make them independent… The landless rarely have any disposable income left to think of education or health of their children who are consequently consigned to the same fate… They drop out of school at a young age and get into the workforce. The invidious cycle is thus self-sustaining…

Is it any wonder that most farmers want their children to get out of agriculture and get JOBS?

The tribal belt : fight is for mere survival

The homepage of the website of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, government of India has lovely pictures of tribals in their traditional costumes and enjoying their traditional dances. From the time that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister we have seen photographs of dignitaries enjoying cultural activities with tribals. One has been conditioned from childhood to associate innocence, a care-free attitude, colour, gaiety and festivities with tribal groups. This is true, to a certain extent…..but it is not the whole truth…

The assessment teams which had been present in the area for a few days before the arrival of the Padayatra did not see any gaiety… They found hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, exploitation in almost all families they spoke with. In these villages a typical Aandh tribal family of 6 lives on yield from rain-fed agriculture. The area is hilly and soil poor : this contributes to abysmal levels of yield when compared with other areas even in Yavatmal district. The yield is normally adequate to feed the family at subsistence level for around 4 months. Almost none of the produce is sold and the family has very little cash income for meeting other requirements. Degrading forests means that access to Non Timber Forest Produce is also negligible. In any case forest guards do not take tribal forays into forests lightly. To survive the tribal families are forced to migrate for sugarcane cutting. The tribals are exploited even more in this fundamentally exploitative business. A couple gets an ‘advance’ of around Rs. 6000/-. They are employed in the backbreaking sugarcane cutting work for 5 months and at the end of that they end up getting an additional amount of Rs. 2000 or so as wages. This translates to a princely amount of Rs. 30 per day where 16 hours of labour is the norm. A labourer from Marathwada would get 25% more for the same work. But then the Aandh tribal is illiterate and ignorant and can be exploited easily.

We do not need to belabor the point… it is clear that the Aandh tribal is involved in a daily fight for survival.

Now this is not unknown. Everyone, including government of India and Maharashtra knows that tribals are a special groups and need special attention. After all does the government not have all those departments and schemes for tribal development? In the budget speeches, year after year, we are told that the government is spending more money on developing the tribals. Schemes and programmes are announced with fanfare… At the ground level the assessment teams were not able to find a single tribal family in 4 villages which has knowledge of these schemes let alone having benefited from them. The tribals have been left to their fate : at the mercy of exploiters of all hues.

These families are still engaged in the very primary struggle for survival. We cannot really expect them to scale the ladder of development when they have not even taken the first step.

One of the most poignant aspect that the assessment team has spotted is that Children in these families have no dreams.. Its not strange… How can they dream on empty stomachs? Who will teach them to dream : their parents have no emotional space left and they have no teachers in schools built for them…

The situation is such that life of the poor in Marathwada seems to be easier! As a nation we have spent close to 60 years in empty promises to people like the Aandh tribals. It is time that we, civil society, corporate and government, wake up and contribute to upliftment of the tribals. Not dole mind you… sensitive and sensible development programmes.

Government funds get wasted… poor remain poor

After walking through 79 villages and undertaking in-depth assessments in 28 villages the Padayatra (www.greenearthconsulting.org) team has learnt a lot. We are in the process of documenting these separately. In the next 3-4 sitreps we intend to discuss some of the key learnings that come up and more importantly the way ahead… we would also welcome a dialogue with the readers of these sitreps..

The one aspect that hits the observer in the face is the vast amount of government funds being spent in the villages in the name of development. Even if one does not go back 50 years while calculating amounts spent, even the last decade would be adequate. Thousands of rupees (if not lacs) have been spent per head on development by government. There is no evidence that this has helped. Some examples would perhaps make the point clear.

· An average of 4.3 drinking water schemes, each worth lacs of Rupees, have been implemented by government in every village of Maharashtra over the last 45 years. In spite of these the number of tanker aided villages is steadily rising and was close to 25,000 last year.
· Home sanitation blocks have been built in a number of villages at an average unit cost of Rs.3500/-. Invariably the block is made with substandard material and cannot be used.
· School buildings have been built but no teachers appointed – classrooms lie vacant.
· Grampanchayat offices and sub centres are built – they are never opened.
· MP / MLA / Grampanchayat funds are used to built giant concrete entrances to the villages – where children in schools starve because the mid-day meals don’t reach them.

One can go on, but the point is clear : government funds are not targeted at the necessary aspects and / or are not reaching those in need. Why is this happening? There are a number of reasons that have come to fore

· Awareness at the grassroots about these schemes and decision making process is limited. Many a times decisions are taken by the uninformed or the corrupt.
· Local self governance institutions are weak in the face of the bureaucracy, especially at the cutting edge. Thus one finds that the gramsevak (servant!!! of the village) lords over the elected panchayat and decides what is to be done.
· Administration, especially at higher levels, looks at the macro picture and fails to see the realities at micro-level. They have no time and more importantly no access to these realities.
· Peoples leaders prefer to do something that is grand and lasting (hence the Community Centres and Giant Arches) rather than what is necessary.

One wonders whether the intention of government is to address the issue, spend the money or make it appear that the money is being spent.

It would take a team of trained economists, many months of research to find out the efficacy of the rupee spent by government. Trotting out the Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s famous quote of 15 paise of every rupee spent reaching the poor has become a poor joke and an excuse for this situation. This should not be acceptable… This must change.

We feel that an AUTONOMOUS SOCIAL WATCH INSTITUTION must be set up in the state. This institution will have the task of undertaking social audits in each and every sector of development. It will be answerable to people and will make its reports available to the people of the state. One of the areas that can be studied are government schemes and programmes.

Is ANYONE reading this INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING THIS SOCIAL WATCH INSTITUTE?

The institution will need volunteers to undertake the studies…

It will need money to become self reliant so that its integrity is not compromised by a funding source.

Any takers? Please get back…

The wettest belt in Marathwada : agriculture is still in a crisis.

The Padayatra (www.greenearthconsulting.org/padayatraprogress.htm) crossed the Godavari, also called Ganga by the locals on its way into Parbhani district. The Padayatra reached the village Dhanora Kale after a well deserved day of rest (1st January) and reflection.

This is arguably the wettest patch in Marathwada. The mighty Godavari, flows almost perennially through this region. The left canal of the Jaikwadi dam reaches out to the villages in the area. Dhanora Kale has actually NO DRINKING WATER PROBLEMS… over 25% of the land is irrigated… the land is fertile and the black cotton soil actually goes down upto 60 feet before hitting stone… people are not hungry but they are hapless… this is the way we see it …

The landless labourers do not see anyway of coming out of the trap of surviving on the edge. Most of them are in subtle (and in some cases overt) bondage and manage to earn just enough to keep body and soul together.. nothing more… that is the way the system keeps them on the edge..

Small farmers are exploited at all turns… sometimes one feels that small farmers are like mere objects of exploitation… getting an update in the 7/12 (land record) costs Rs. 15/- in bribes… bank officers will not release any payment (sugarcane, cotton or compensation for natural calamities) without a cut, pesticide and fertiliser dealers mark up prices by 28% for items bought on credit… one could go on… but you must have got the point…

Even large farmers are staggering under debt… every farmer of the 500 we met in Dhanora Kale has mortgaged his (women don’t own land in this highly feudal and patriarchal area) land and has a loan outstanding..

Women and children don’t really matter in the overall scheme of things!!! they have no voice and a substandard quality of life… girls (even 8 year old) get married off early… women go out only for work and nothing else… education standards and access is abysmal…

One could go on about the situation but that is not the point… we need to look at the root causes of the illness in society… We feel that some of the main cause of these issues are

· Almost complete absence of any form of just and fair governance.
· Lack of knowledge and even access to knowledge.
· Unreasonable and unfair policies of government.
· A scattered and un-empowered society.
The question to be asked is when are we going to think of changing this? If we wait for much longer… it will be too late… even in the land of the mighty Godavari… the time to act is NOW…

Touching hospitality in rural areas

Posted by Makarand.
I am back from a village called Dhanora Kale in Parbhani district. I was there to try and understand the issues facing the people of this village. This was a precursor to the Drought Padayatra that was to reach the village on the 2nd of February. I was accompanied by 3 colleagues including one woman. We stayed in the village for 3 days and 2 nights.

From the first moment what struck me was the warmth with which we were received by the people. We had no prior contact with them. They were aware of the Padayatra but nothing more beyond that. At the outset people looked at us with disbelief when we told them that we planned to stay in the village.. after all we clearly looked like urban folk and we were talking of staying in a place with no electricity, no latrines, no bathrooms, drinking water that had to be pumped out using hand pumps… Clearly not our cup of tea… or so they thought..

I will not bore you with what work we did or what we found… that is not the purpose of this note…

What was most striking was the way in which we were accepted into the fold… true that we were watched closely for the first day or so… to check out that we had no ulterior motives. Each section of the populace – the upper castes, the marginalized, children and women watched us closely… from a distance… we had made it clear that we had nothing to offer… only our ears to lend…. once we rang true the walls broke down… we found ourselves being invited into the peoples homes… our food was taken care of by various groups who took extra care to ensure that poor urban folk did not have to eat the terribly spicy food that is the normal fare… there would always be somebody to help us around… we never faced any rejection.. we could wander anywhere in the village and enter any house we felt like… we were always welcome… children flocked round us all the time… waiting to catch and fulfill any wish that we made… hot water for bathing, sugarcane, berries, drinking water, tea… just about anything.. we were given place to stay in the village school… arrangements were made for dhurries and light… we found ourselves talking with women on issues that are invariably taboo… reproductive health issues, dowry, child marriages, sex determined abortions… we discussed casteism, feudalism and caste based bonded labour with the men from all castes… the reception was overwhelming… the village then got together for welcoming the Padayatra… the villagers made arrangements for feeding 250 people in the morning of the 2nd and another 30 in the evening… all at their expense… this was not a funded programme…

I felt that we were accorded this reception mainly because we represented something different.. we represented some hope … a chance that some one would listen and then may be help… It is known that people like us normally never go into any village… if they do, it inevitably is some senior officer going in for ceremonies or inspections…

I really felt sad when eventually I had to leave… we had grown to be fond of the people and I daresay they were fond of us too… On the way back I got thinking about what would happen if 4 villagers were to enter my housing society? (I live in a place where one has to go past 2 security men and a phone to get to the elevator)… I found myself posing a lot of questions to myself… I wish to share these with you as well..

· Would I open my doors to these people?

· Would I spend time with them?

· Would I Show them around?

· Would I take them to my neighbours and then would they open their doors?

· Would I allow them to sleep under my roof, partake meals at my table, use my bathroom?

· Would the children playing in the parking lot of my society even talk to these people with respect?

· Would we bare our hearts, our trials, our tribulation and (god forbid) our emotions?

If I were honest to myself the answer would be a resounding NO… the reasons are not far to seek..

· Our minds are not geared to accept anything out of the ordinary… to us ordinary means anything or anyone like US.

· We are not trained to TRUST people implicitly… We demand proofs of trustworthiness before we can lavish trust on others.. why even maids who have been working in the building complex for 6 years have to carry photo identity cards…

· We think in stereotypes… our perceptions of people are all based on external inputs and appearances.. I have seen well dressed people saunter in without the security men asking them any question but woe betide any common man who tries to enter…

The sad part is that we lose a lot of learning in the process… we do not get an opportunity to understand a world different from our own safe cocoon… the tragedy is that we pass on these values to our children…

Should we not change? Should we not welcome the opportunity to learn about others? Can we make this happen? Can we teach our children to be broadminded and trusting? I have no doubt that this MUST be done… The question is how?

I am planning to experiment and start with myself and my family… I do not speak from naiveté … I know that it is tough… close to impossible… but I plan to try… I welcome your ideas, comments and inputs… may be just maybe we can change the way we view the world … a bit at a time…

Welcome to the Lokayan Blog

This is a blog about citizens sharing what they are seeing, observing and experiencing in their explorative journeys in different parts of India. This is not about tourist places. It is about the people living there, their occupations, the difficulties they face and the solutions they find.

Members of Maitri, Pune and Green Earth Consulting, Pune will contribute to the blog.