ROLE OF GRAM PANCHAYAT PRESIDENTS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Transcription

1 ROLE OF GRAM PANCHAYAT PRESIDENTS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Thesis submitted to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCES (AGRICULTURE) IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EDUCATION By MURTHY M. A. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EDUCATION COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DHARWAD UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, DHARWAD JUNE, 2012

2 ADVISORY COMMITTEE DHARWAD JUNE, 2012 (R. B. BELLI) MAJOR ADVISOR Approved by : Chairman : Members : (R. B. BELLI) 1. (L. MANJUNATH) 2. (S. H. GOTYAL) 3. (N. M. KERUR) 4. (K. V. ASHALATHA)

3 C O N T E N T S Sl. No. Chapter particulars CERTIFICATE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF APPENDICES 1. INTRODUCTION 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Profile of gram panchayat Presidents 2.2 Knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities 2.3 Role of gram panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities 2.4 Asses the relationship between knowledge and role of Gram Panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities 2.5 Problems faced by the Gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtained their suggestion for facture improvement of activities 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research design 3.2 Locale of the study 3.3 Sampling procedure 3.4 Instrument used for data collection 3.5 Variables and their measurement 3.6 Statistical tools used in the study 4. RESULTS 4.1 Profile of Gram Panchayat Presidents 4.2 Knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents about rural development activities 4.3 Role of Gram Panchayat Presidents in Implementation of rural development activities 4.4 Relationship between Knowledge and role of Presidents in rural development in Implementation of rural development activities 4.5 Problems faced by the Gram Panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtain their suggestions Contd..

4 Sl. No. Chapter particulars 5. DISCUSSION 5.1 Profile of gram panchayat presidents 5.2 Knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents about rural development activities 5.3 Role of Gram Panchayat Presidents in Implementation of rural developmentactivities 5.4 Relationship between knowledge and role of presidents in rural development activities 5.5 Problems faced by the Gram Panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtain their suggestions 6. SUMMARY AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS REFERENCES APPENDICES

5 LIST OF TABLES Table No. Title 1 Profile of the gram panchayat presidents 2a 2b 3a 3b 4a 4b 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 8a 8b Mass media utilization of the presidents of Gram Panchayat Distribution of gram panchayat presidents according to mass media utilization Social participation of gram panchayat presidents Distribution of gram panchayt presidents according to Social participation Contact with development department officials Distribution of gram panchayat at presidents according to contact with development department officials Cosmopoliteness of gram panchayat presidents Distribution of gram panchayat at presidents according to cosmopoliteness Decision making ability of gram panchayat presidents Distribution of gram panchayat at presidents according to decision making ability Knowledge level of gram panchayat presidents Overall knowledge level of gram panchyat presidents related to rural development activities Role performance of gram panchayat presidents in implementation of Rural development activities Over all role performed by gram panchayat presidents 9 Correlation between independent variable and knowledge 10 Correlation between independent variable and role of gram panchayat presidents 11 Association between knowledge and role of grampanchyat presidents in implementation rural development activities 12 Problems faced by the gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtain their suggestion

6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. Title 1 Map showing study area 2 Distribution of gram panchayat presidents according to mass media utilization 3 Distribution of gram panchayt presidents according to social participation 4 Distribution of gram panchayat at presidents according to contact with development department officials 5 Distribution of gram panchayat at presidents according to decision making ability 6 Overall knowledge level of grampanchyat presidents related to rural development activities 7 Over all role performed by gram panchayat presidents

7 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix No. Title I. Schedule

8 1. INTRODUCTION India is the largest democracy in the world. The administration in the country is democratic where institutions of Panchayat Raj hold a right place in the constitution. India is primarily a land of villages (6,25,000) (Census, 2011) and the real progress of the country directly depends upon progress of these villages. The rural people need to be involved in planning, decision making, monitoring and execution of development activities in order to hasten the process of development. Unfortunately, the people are not actively involved in the development process because of the obvious reasons such as; lack of awareness, education, knowledge etc. Hence, eliciting participation of people is crucial for successful implementation of rural development activities through panchayat Raj institutions. The back ground After independence government of India appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Balwantrai Mehta in 1957 to review and assess the impact of Community Development Programme (1952) and National Extension Service Programme (1953). The committee observed that these programmes failed to achieve the expectation due to lack of involvement and active participation of people. Therefore, the committee suggested to establish the pattern of local self Government to get maximum involvement and participation of people. As a result of suggestion of Mehta Committee Panchayat Raj a three tier system came to an existence. Under Panchayat Raj System there are Gram Panchayat at village level, Panchayat Samiti at block or taluka level and Zilla Parishad at district level as self government in three tier system. Finally in 1958, the Gram panchayats were, established as per the Bombay Gram panchayat Act, 1958, as per the Balwantrai Mehta Committee s recommendations. Rajasthan was the first state which accepted the Panchayat Raj. Gram panchayats are primary basic unit of Panchayat Raj administration. Gram panchayat is the most important basic institution for village development. It plays an important role at the village level in proper functioning of the Panchayat Raj system. It is the most potential school of social and political training for the rural masses. Gram panchayat is grass root organization of Panchayat Raj System. After the introduction of Panchayat Raj the community development Programme has now become the programme of the people, for the people and by the people. With this introduction of Panchayat Raj, a new era in rural development has started in the country. Elected representatives of people got some important powers and functions to play a significant role and shoulder the responsibility. The seventy third amendment of constitution of India which was passed on 24 th April, 1993 and implemented from 1994 deals with Panchayat Raj. It is another step towards decentralization of power and strengthening of local self government. This amendment has a provision for election of Panchayat bodies at every five years of intervals. The amendment also maintain about the reservation of seats for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes in proportion to their population and reservation of not less than one third of seats for women in different levels of Panchayat Raj. Revitalisation of the panchyat raj institutions (73 rd Amendment) The above facts emphasized the need to revitalize the PRIs. The process was started from 1977 under the leadership of Mr. Ashok Mehta, followed by Mr. L.M. Singhvi committee in 1986 and also the Chief Minister conference on Panchayat Raj in At least, 73 rd Amendment was brought into force with effect from April 24, This certainly marked the watershed in the history of the village self government in post colonial India. The amendment in the constitution brought the panchayat under the jurisdiction of the justifiable part of the constitution. The amendment provides a basic frame work that, it is obligatory on all the states to have three tiers of PRIs, with a tenure of five years and re-election are to be done within six months. The states having a population below 20 may not have panchayats at intermediate level. Every state will appoint a state finance commission and state election commission to look after these aspects of PRIs.

9 Other important provisions are, reservation of seats for weaker sections including women in general election and the officers of chairpersons in the panchayats at each level by rotation, provision of Gram Sabha, one more body comprising of all the adult members registered as voters in the panchayat area. Seat in panchayat at all the three level shall be filled by the process of direct election. The provisions are made under the constitution to enable PRIs to work as the units of local self government with all necessary powers, authority and financial provisions The present status Now, the Panchayat Raj is a part of rural life in the country. In all 2, 34,078 Gram panchayat covered 6,25,000 (Census, 2011) villages in the country. All the states except Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and all the Union Territories, have evolved PRIs suited to local conditions. The total number of Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishads in the country were 5,906 and 474, respectively (Census, 2011) On an average 2,306 persons are covered by each panchayat at lower level and the average number of panchayat samiti per zilla parishad is looking in to the Constitution and functions of PRIs, it can be said that they perform not only the functions of democracy in the country but also helps to decentralize the government power. They also secure effective participation of the people in the functioning of the government programmes and in planned development of the country. The PRIs are mainly expected to promote economic, political social development in rural India. Under the schedule XI of 73 rd Amendment, specific responsibilities have been entrusted to the panchayats, which reflect all the necessary components for rural development in general, and development of agriculture in particular.the panchayats are assigned with 29 subjects, of which as many as thirteen subjects are related directly or indirectly with agriculture and allied sectors. Gram sabha, the soul of Gram panchayat consisting of all adults in its jurisdiction to discuss and decide about their own problems. Will enhance people s participation in various Rural Development programmes. Agriculture being the major occupation of the rural people. It is made mandatory to PRIs to plan and implement the programmes for developing agriculture and Allied sectors for the economic development and social justice of the rural people.as the legal framework, a Gram sabha has to meet twice in a year by beat of drum once before kharif and again before rabbi to approve the budget and all sundry proposals of the Gram panchayat. Effective Gram sabha is also supposed to work as a watchdog of the panchayat, which is its statutory body.according to high- Court decision in Kerala, the panchayats are not selecting authorities of beneficiaries under various schemes, but only approving authorities. In case of beneficiary selection, the Gram sabha has the power to identify the beneficiaries in all the schemes implemented by Three- Tier system. Statement of problem The Panchayat Raj has come into existence with the sole aim of decentralization of government power for the welfare of rural people. After independence, the Panchayat Raj has become a backbone of Indian democracy. In three tier system of Panchayat Raj, the non officials are playing an important role in establishing linkage between official, and the beneficiaries. The local self government institutions are expected to plan and implement the activities for rural development. Presidents elected to various PRIs are very important not because they are politically influential, but because they are direct carriers of knowledge of various rural development activities to the rural people who are convinced to a greater extent by them. Further, no development can take place unless there is an active participation of people. Every president of the PRIs is responsible for involving common people in the process of development and the officials are catalytic agents only. They are important, no doubt, but more important are peoples representatives. In the village panchayat, the president is the supreme authority, who plays an important role in implementation of rural development activities may differs due to the different age groups, educational level, caste, income level etc., there are several problems like administrative, technical, social, financial, political and personal, which are also influence the implementation of rural development activities by president ultimately affecting the panchayat efficiency The implementation of rural development activities is very important in developing social, economical, cultural and political and all levels of rural mass. These aspects have not been studied so for, in detail, especially in Dharwad District of Karnataka state.

10 So, the present study entitled Role of Gram panchayat Presidents in implementation of Rural Development Activities was under taken with the following specific objectives: 1. To study the knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents about rural development activities 2. To determine the Role of Gram Panchayat Presidents in Implementation of rural development activities 3. To assess the relationship between knowledge and role of presidents in rural development activities 4. To ascertain the problems faced by the Gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtain their suggestions Scope of the study The findings of the study will indicate the knowledge of Gram panchayat presidents. The results will also indicate the variables that are related with role of Gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities. It will be helpful to planners, policy makers, extension educationists and research workers in identifying effective president for rural development. Further, various training programmes and extension education activities can be conducted in rural areas using their better implementation. Limitations of the study The study was conducted only in Dharwad district of Karnataka state. Because of the limitations of time and resources, the student researcher was not able to cover other districts of the state. The data were collected from 60 Gram panchayats covered by 5 taluks in Dharwad District. Hence, the results have limited scope to draw conclusion. However, the findings may become applicable in the areas where similar conditions exist.

11 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Knowledge of existing and up-to date relevant literature related to the studies and their critical and comprehensive review helps a researcher to formulate research project on scientific lines. It guides the investigator to solve the researchable issues of the study based upon the techniques used in the past research and interpreting the results with special reference to the past studies. Keeping in view this logical thinking and considering the objectives of the study undertaken, an effort has been made in the present chapter to make analytical review of the relevant literature under the following sub-heads 2.1 Profile of gram panchayat Presidents 2.2 Knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities 2.3 Role of gram panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities 2.4 Asses the relationship between knowledge and role of Gram Panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities 2.5 Problems faced by the Gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtained their suggestion for facture improvement of activities 2.1 Profile of Gram panchayat presidents Age Mondal and Ray (1996) in their study on socio economic profile of gram panchayat pradhans in West Bengal revealed that per cent of the pradhans were middle aged (36-55 years), whereas old (56 years and above) and young aged (up to 35 years) pradhans accounted for per cent and per cent, respectively. Gajre (1997) in his study entitled role perception and performance of gram panchayat members in Pune district of Maharashtra found that per cent of gram panchayat members were in the age group of years followed by an equal per cent (18.75%) of the members belonged to the age groups of up to 28 years and 44 years and above. Khare et al. (1998) carried out a study on role perception of village panchayat sarpanchs in agricultural development and reported that majority (54.88%) of the sarpanchs belonged to young age (up to 35 years) group followed by per cent and 8.53 per cent who belonged to middle age (35 to 50 years) and old age group (above 50 years), respectively. Kalakannavar (1999) conducted a study on role performance and training need identification of panchayat women members in Dharwad district and inferred that majority (68.00%) of the respondents belonged to age group between years. Respondents above 55 years of age accounted for per cent and only 7.00 per cent of them belonged to age group of below 35 years. Saini and Singh (2002) in their study on members of gram panchayat in Kapurthala district of Punjab stated that per cent of the members were above the age group of 40 years. Shanthasheela (2002) in her study on performance analysis of elected women presidents in village panchayat observed that per cent of elected women presidents belonged to middle age group, while per cent of them belonged to young age group and the remaining per cent belonged to old age group. A study in Konkan region of Maharashtra on knowledge level of gram panchayat members about improved agricultural technology and their role performance, Mankar (2003) found that less than half (45.91%) of the male members belonged to middle age group, while almost an equal number of them belonged to young (27.27%) and old (26.82%) age groups. In case of female, per cent were young followed by middle (9.47%) and old age group (7.37%) respectively.

12 Jagannath (2004) conducted a study on role performance of gram panchayat members towards village development activities in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh and witnessed that majority of the gram panchayat members belonged to middle age group (36 to 50 years). Kumari (2004) in her study on panchayat raj institutions reported that per cent of the women members were within the age group of 35 years. Prakash (2004) in his study on role performance of gram panchayat members noticed that more than half (53.34%) of the members belonged to middle age group and an equal proportion (23.33%) of the members belonged to young and old age group. Bheemappa (2006) in his study entitled knowledge level of gram panchayat members about Sampoorna Grameena Rozgar Yojana in Raichur district stated that majority (57.50%) of the members belonged to middle age group, whereas per cent and per cent of them belonged to young and old age group, respectively. Belli (2008) conducted a study on leadership behaviour of presidents of panchayat raj institutions for horticulture development in Bijapur district of Karnataka and found that majority (52.68%) of the presidents belonged to middle age category, whereas over one fourth (27.95%) of the members belonged to young age group and per cent of the members belonged to old age group. Kaul and Sahni (2009) carried out a study on participation of women in panchayat raj institution in Jammu province and reported that majority (69.70%) of the members belonged to the age group of years, while per cent belonged to the age group of years and remaining 3.03 per cent of the women members was above the age of 71 years. It can be concluded from above reviews that majority of the respondents belonged to middle age group Education Mahadik (1995) in his study on knowledge trend of members of PRI about agricultural development programme found that per cent of the respondents were educated up to secondary school, per cent of respondents received primary school education, whereas per cent and 7.84 per cent were educated up to secondary and above and pre-primary level, respectively. Ghosh (1996) in his study entitled panchayat and rural development in West Bengal observed that per cent of the members had an educational exposure up to primary school, per cent up to secondary school, 9.50 per cent up to graduation and postgraduates accounted for 2.18 per cent only. Mondal and Ray (1996) found that per cent of the pradhans received education up to graduation and above, per cent and per cent were educated up to high school and middle school education, respectively. Gajre (1997) observed that majority (67.19%) of the gram panchayat members had schooling from 5 th -12 th standard, per cent of them had formal education of 12 th standard, followed by per cent who undergone education between 1 st -4 th standard and 2.34 per cent of them were illiterates. Mishra and Singh (1998) in their study on rural leadership in Haryana pointed that per cent of the representatives had studied up to primary school, while per cent had no formal schooling, graduates accounted for per cent and a meagre 0.71 per cent constituted professionals. Saini and Singh (2002) conducted a study on gram panchayat members and concluded that per cent of the members were illiterates and only 3.00 per cent had an educational qualification up to graduation. Mankar (2003) observed that per cent of the respondents were educated up to high school, the proportion of the members in the category of middle school, PUC, primary school and graduates accounted for per cent, per cent, 8.89 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively.

13 Kumari (2004) in her study on panchayat raj institutions in Pusa block of Bihar reported that majority (84.00%) of the women members were educated up to high school. Bheemappa (2006) revealed that per cent of the members were illiterates followed by middle (19.16%) and high school (13.34%) level education. Same proportion (10.00%) of the members studied up to primary school and higher secondary school. Belli (2008) observed that considerable percentage (36.56%) of the presidents studied up to primary school, followed by high school (26.88%), middle school (17.20%), collegiate education (4.30%), while illiterates accounted for per cent. Dak and Purohit (2008) found that per cent of the members were educated up to middle school, followed by members who received education up to senior secondary and above (21.21%). Equal proportion (16.67%) of the members received education up to primary school and were illiterates. Kaul and Sahni (2009) witnessed that an equal percentage (27.27%) of members received education up to primary and high school level, while per cent and per cent were illiterates and educated up to middle school. Above reviews reveals that panchayat presidents were distributed in all educational categories Caste Singh and Gill (1995) in their study on reconstructing panchayat raj after constitutional amendments observed that per cent of the gram panchayat members belonged to higher caste followed by backward caste (20.69%) and scheduled caste (13.79%). Ghosh (1996) indicated that majority (55.10%) of the gram panchayat members belonged to other castes, while per cent and 9.10 per cent belonged to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, respectively. Mishra and Singh (1998) stated that per cent of elected representatives of Haryana panchayat raj belonged to upper castes, whereas per cent and per cent belonged to scheduled caste and backward classes, respectively. Kalakannavar (1999) revealed that maximum percentage (42.00%) of the gram panchayat members belonged to SC/ST category, per cent of the members belonged to upper caste and others constituted per cent. Rani (2000) noticed that per cent of the elected and defeated women leaders of gram panchayat belonged to the backward communities, per cent hailed from SC/ST communities, per cent from most backward communities and only 0.50 per cent of the leaderss were from forward communities. Mankar (2003) observed that majority (56.51%) of the members belonged to backward classes followed by general category (31.11%) and SC/ST category (12.38%). Jagannath (2004) carried out a study on role performance of gram panchayat members towards village development activities in Raipur District of Chhattisgarh state and found that majority of gram panchayat members belonged to other backward classes. Prakash (2004) in his study on role performance of gram panchayat members observed that per cent of the members belonged to backward class category followed by general category (41.67%) and lower SC/ST category (15.00%). Bheemappa (2006) witnessed that per cent of the gram panchayat members belonged to general category, while per cent and per cent belonged to SC/ST category and backward classes, respectively. Belli (2008) reported that an equal proportion (34.40%) of the presidents belonged to other backward classes and SC/ST communities and remaining per cent of them belonged to general category. From the above reviews of literature, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents belonged to other backward category followed by upper caste.

14 2.1.4 Family occupation Mishra and Singh (1998) found that majority of the panchayat samiti member s main occupation was agriculture (60.70%), while per cent were labourers and an equal percentage (7.10%) of the members belonged to service and business families. Kalakannavar (1999) indicated that half of the gram panchayat women members had their primary occupation as agriculture and agricultural labourers accounted for per cent, whereas per cent and 3.00 per cent of the respondent s occupation was service and business, respectively. Madhavi (2002) reported that per cent of the gram panchayat members belonged to farming occupation and an equal per cent (5.00%) of respondents were labourers and government servants. Mankar (2003) observed that per cent, per cent, per cent, 4.13 per cent and 1.90 per cent of the member s main occupation was farming, business, service, individual profession and labour category, respectively. Prakash (2004) reported that farming was the major occupation (86.67%) of the respondents followed by business (10.00%) and other occupations (3.33%). Bheemappa (2006) revealed that major occupation of the gram panchayat members was farming (91.66%) followed by business (6.68%) and dairy (1.66%). Belli (2008) indicated that major occupation of the presidents was farming (64.52%), followed by business (18.28%), while per cent of the respondents were wage earners. Dak and Purohit (2008) witnessed that agriculture and allied activities were the major occupation (78.79%) of the members followed by others category (10.61%), trade/business occupation (6.06%) and labour/wage earner category (4.55%). It could be inferred from the above studies that agriculture was the major occupation of gram panchayat members Annual family income Shinde (1991) reported that maximum number (43.38 per cent) of the respondents had medium annual income, while per cent of the respondents had low annual income and per cent of the leaders had high annual income. Wankhede (1994) indicated that per cent of the members belonged to low income group (i.e. up to Rs. 8000/-) while, per cent of the members were belonging to medium income group (i.e. Rs. 8000/- to Rs /-). Nearly per cent of the members were observed from higher income group. Singh et al. (1995) reported that, in Punjab per cent of Grampanchayat members had annual income between Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000 followed by per cent who had income more than Rs. 50,000. An annual income ranges between Rs. 30,001 to Rs. 40,000 there were per cent while equal amount (13.79 per cent) of respondents belonged to income groups of Rs. 20,001 to Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 10,001 to 20,000. Graje (1997) concluded that majority of (68.74 per cent) Grampanchayat members had their annual income in the range of Rs to 66000, followed by those in equal proportion i.e per cent in low and high annual income groups i.e. up to Rs. 30,000 and Rs and above. In general the economic position of respondents observed to be satisfactory. Patil (1999) observed that per cent Grampanchayat members had medium annual income followed by low (10.47 per cent) and high (9.30 per cent). Mankar (2003) observed that, at overall level majority (46.98 per cent) of the respondents were from medium (Rs. 21,001 to Rs. 50,000) income group, followed by low (up to Rs. 21,000) per cent and high (Rs. 50,001 and above) per cent.

15 Jadhav (2004) revealed that per cent Grampanchayat members were placed in medium annual income category i.e. Rs. 57 to 96 thousands while and 6.66 per cent belonged to low annual income category (up to Rs ) and high annual income category (Rs and above), respectively. From the above reviews of literature, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents belonged to medium family income followed by high income Mass media utilization Kalakannavar (1999) indicated that equal percentage (35.00%) of the gram panchayat members had medium and high mass media participation, while per cent had low mass media participation. Saini and Singh (2001) in their study on members of gram panchayat observed that per cent of the members had less exposure to audio and visual/print media. Shanthasheela (2002) concluded that majority (80.82%) of the presidents possessed radio and per cent of them possessed television. In all, per cent of the respondents viewed television, per cent subscribed to newspapers, per cent read the newspapers from the library and per cent subscribed to weekly/monthly magazines. Mankar (2003) found that per cent and per cent of the gram panchayat members possessed television and radio, respectively. Among them, majority (73.02% and 45.71%) were occasional viewers and listeners of television and radio, respectively for the agricultural programmes. While, per cent and per cent were viewers of television and radio listeners, respectively for general programmes. The regular viewers of the television (3.17%) and radio listeners (2.22%) were meagre with respect to agricultural programmes. Prakash (2004) witnessed that per cent of the gram panchayat chairpersons had medium mass media exposure followed by low (20.00%) and high (18.33%) mass media exposure, respectively. Bheemappa (2006) in his study reported that more than half (54.16%) of the gram panchayat members had medium mass media participation, whereas per cent and per cent of them had low and high mass media participation, respectively. Belli (2008) indicated that sent per cent of the presidents subscribed to news paper and per cent of them read news paper regularly. About per cent of the presidents owned television and per cent of them were viewing television programmes occasionally. Weekly/monthly magazines were subscribed by per cent of the presidents. Of which, per cent read the magazines occasionally. Further, per cent of the presidents possessed radio and occasional listening behaviour with regard to radio was found to be per cent. From the above reviews of literature, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents belonged to medium mass media participation category social participation Kadam and Valunj (1991) in their study on role performance of gram panchayat members in village development activities observed that per cent of the members belonged to low social participation, while per cent and per cent belonged to medium and high social participation categories, respectively. Mahadik (1995) noticed that majority (85.29%) of the gram panchayat members had medium organizational participation and remaining per cent had high organizational participation. Mondal and Ray (1996) revealed that per cent of the pradhans were members of other one to three organizations and per cent were members of another four and more organizations. It was also observed that in addition to office bearers of the gram panchayat, per cent of the pradhans were office bearers in one more organization and per cent were office bearers in two more organizations.

16 Kuraria et al. (1997) found that per cent of the elected representatives in panchayat raj system had no social participation in other organizations, per cent and per cent had participation in one and more than one organizations, respectively. Kalakannavar (1999) reported that majority (79.00%) of the gram panchayat members had no organization participation, followed by average (18.00%) and high organization participation (3.00%). Jadhav (2002) concluded that per cent of sarpanchs had medium level of social participation. Mankar (2003) observed that per cent of the gram panchayat members were office bearers and per cent were only members in social organization excluding panchayats. Further, the study revealed that per cent and per cent of the respondents were regular and occasional participants, respectively. Prakash (2004) found that per cent of the gram panchayat chairpersons belonged to medium social participation while per cent and per cent belonged to low and high social participation categories, respectively. Mohanty (2005) reported that per cent of the members of gram panchayat had membership in one organization followed by per cent of them had membership of more than one organization. Further, per cent of the leaders were office bearers in other organization. Belli (2008) revealed that more than half (52.69%) of the presidents were office bearers and per cent were members in social organizations excluding panchayats. In case of extent of participation, and per cent were regular and occasional participants, respectively. The findings also revealed that per cent of presidents were members of co-operative societies with regular participation of per cent, followed by youth club office bearers (16.12%) with regular participation of per cent. It was also observed that per cent of the presidents were members of various religious institutions with occasional participation of per cent. From the above reviews it can be summarized that majority of respondents belonged to low to medium level of organization participation Contact with development department officials Kalakannavar (1999) revealed that considerable percentage (37.00%) of women members of gram panchayat belonged to medium extension contact category followed by high (34.00%) and low (29.00%) extension contact categories. Madhavi (2002) in her study found that per cent of gram panchayat members had medium extension contact, whereas per cent and per cent belonged to high and low level of extension contact categories, respectively. Bheemappa (2006) revealed that more than half (66.84%) of the gram panchayat members had medium extension contact. The members with high and low level of extension contact were found to be per cent and per cent, respectively. From the above reviews of literature, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents belonged to medium extension contact category Cosmopoliteness Anonymous (1975) found that per cent of the gram panchayat members were more cosmopolite and per cent were less cosmopolite. Pushpakumari (1993) in her study on extent of participation of women members in mandal panchayat activities revealed that per cent of the women members were not cosmopolite and the remaining per cent were cosmopolite. Gajre (1997) observed that per cent of the gram panchayat members had low level of cosmopoliteness, while per cent belonged to high cosmopoliteness category. Jadhav (2002) witnessed that per cent of the sarapanchs had medium level of cosmopoliteness.

17 Doddahanumaiah (2005) in his study on statutory roles of the elected women leaders of gram panchayats revealed that per cent of the women leaders belonged to medium cosmopoliteness category followed by high (37.00%) and low (25.00%) cosmopoliteness categories. Belli (2008) in his study entitled leadership behaviour of presidents of panchayat raj institutions for horticulture development in Bijapur district of Karnataka reported that majority of the presidents were cosmopolites. Shinde et al. (2009) carried out a study on role of gram panchayat members in village development and found that majority of the members belonged to low cosmopoliteness category. From the above reviews it can be summarized that majority of respondents belonged to low level of cosmopoliteness Decision taking ability Abel (1952) reported that the role played by farm women in cooperation with their husbands in making decisions and judgments affected not only the home, but also the farm business. Wilkening (1952) reported that a curvilinear relationship between farm income and joint involvement of husband and wife in major decisions. Both the low and high income groups tended to be characterized by low joint decision making. Sharma and Singh (1970) found that women s participation in decision making was associated with the socio personal characteristics such as age, education, occupation, type of family, family size, size of holding farming, experience, income and information seeking behaviour. Singh and Ramachand (1984) stated that men and women usually discussed matters with each other. The final decision was taken by man in consultation with women only. Ponnusamy et al. (1990) indicated that farm women were found to have taken majority of decisions either independently or jointly in various areas of farming. Bhargava and Vidya (1992) stated that the women representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions on the whole lag behind men representatives in their educational level. Lack of education manifests itself in their relatively low degree of involvement in the decision-making process. Pal (1994) indicated the main reason for women's development not picking up has been non-involvement and participation of women in decision-making. Vidya (1997) observed the fact that women had poor representation at the parliament and state legislature level. Since independence the women representation at both the levels has been fluctuating around five per cent. This low representation of women indicate the low participation of women in political decision-making. But, at the level of Panchayat Raj Institutions also, hardly any progress could be noticed. This is mainly because of the uninterrupted and undisturbed dominance of rural elites mainly male ones over the rural power structure. It has been observed that women had an unimpressive role to play in these institutions since their voice was almost unheard and unnoticed. From the above reviews of literature, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents belonged to low decision making category 2.2 Knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents about of rural development activities Khan (1964) found that the depth of knowledge was not so deep among the selected representatives of Panchayat. Krishnaswamy and Guruswamy (1970) reported that, per cent leaders of Panchayat had not studied Panchayat laws arid Panchayat leaders had recognized only the functions of provision of civic amenities to the people and they were not aware of the role of panchayats in promoting development of village.

18 Kamble (1973) in his research project on Knowledge about agricultural programmes among the elected members of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad found that elected members of Zilla Parishad had better knowledge about various development schemes than those at the Panchayat Samiti levf. Similarly the Panchayat Samiti members had more knowledge about agricultural schemes than the members of the Gram Panchayat. Wankhede (1994) in his study on Role performance of elected members in Gram Panchayat observed that majority of the members (55.00%) had medium knowledge activities altd per cent members had high knowledge about the Gram Panchayat and per cent members had low knowledge. Mahadik (1995) observed that majority (86.2 1%) of Gram Panchayat members had medium knowledge level followed by low (10.34%) and high (3.45%). Shivarämu et al. (1995) in their study, Knowledge, attitude and problems of Mandal Panchayat members revealed that, low knowledge of Mandal Panchayat was acquired by per cent members, while per cent and per cent of members acquired medium knowledge and high knowledge respectively. Singh and Gill (1995) found that per cent of the respondents were not aware of the Amendments in PRIs. Ninety per cent of elected, leaders were not t:uijy aware of legislative, judicial, administrative or financial powers providing &rpr system. Ramaparvathy (1996) in her study opined that not even a single respondent was aware of the 73 Amendment. Only seven per cent of the respondents were aware of the percentage of reservation for women i.e., per cent. Khare et al. (1998) observed that, per cent respondents were belonged to high knowledge level. The medium and low knowledge were observed by per cent and per cent respectively. Kalakanavar (1999) indicated that, the knowledge level of Gram Panchayat women members were low (41.00%) followed by high (37.00%) and medium (22.00%). Shantha (2002) observed that overall knowledge about the duties of Panchayat, per cent had medium level knowledge, per cent and high level knowledge and per cent and low level of knowledge. Kumari (2004) reported that majority (96.00%) of the members possessed maximum awareness in selection of candidates as women beneficiaries under IAY. Singh (2004) in his study on empowerment of women representatives in panchayat raj in Haryana found that higher proportion (86.00%) of the members did not know about the schemes that were implemented by the panchayats and more than per cent of the members were not aware of the funds received and food-grains distributed under SGRY. Bheemappa (2006) noticed that majority (65.83%) of the members had medium level of knowledge, followed by low (18.33%) and high (15.84%) level of knowledge regarding SGRY. From these studies it could be inferred that majority of the respondents had medium knowledge level. 2.3 Role of Gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities Nair (1964) on the role of Panchayat Samiti found that, more than 50 percent members of Pancbayat Samiti (which includes some Sarpanchas) assisted in publicity of agricultural development programmes, distribution of seeds and arranging of demonstrations in the villages as their role in programme execution. Prsad (1973) observed that majority of the Sarpanchas and Presidents did not know about the three-tier system of the Panchayat Raj under the circumstances, he remarked that it is unfair to expect to know their roles and functions. Mahipal and Rai (1978) in their study Role performance of the leaders of efficient and non-efficient multipurpose Co-operative societies observed that, the role performance scores of the 120 multipurpose

19 Cooperative societies leaders (60 from efficient and 60 from non-efficient societies) were analysed. The mean difference was worked out to be and t value 13.65, which was found to be significant at 0.01 level of probability. Ramkumar and Rai (1979) suggested that a suitable training programme may be arranged for panchayat members, village level workers and other village leaders for performing their duties more effectively. Block officers should ran& guidance to panchayat member for pet forming their roles more effectively, in respect of agriculture development. It was also felt that, panchayat members need special training in such socio physiological aspects of co-operative outlook. Social participation democratilization and attitude change. Kubde et al. (1990) observed that, agriculture, the main field of activity, has been given top priority by the Panchayat members. Smgb (1993) stressed that, Gram panchayats developmental efforts are education, agriculture, irrigation, social welfare, health, family welfare, drinking water, social forestry, social and cultural activities etc., Singh et al (1993) it was observed that the distribution of leaders and followers along the overall performance scores, the considerable percentage of followers were not satisfied with the overall performance of leaders perceived that their role performance was satisfactory. Sakhi (1994) concluded that village panchayat was responsible for multidimensional development of the area and also liable to supervise agricultural and horticultural development programme. He further elaborated that Janpad panchayat was working through various co-ordinated projects by village panchayat, thus it will be responsible for implementation of rural development programmes. Tiwari (1996) found that implementation of Panchayat administration could not bring any improvement in the working of agricultural development programme in Bhagalpur district and significant gap existed between role expectation and role performance of Panchayat samities. Kamble (1998) observed the role performance of Gram Panchayat members was high in the fields of dairy development, social welfare and public health. But the low role performance in the field of agriculture and education. At overall level per cent of the GP members were having medium role performance per, cent and while per cent of them had high and low role performance. Further, he observed that male members performed more various roles than female members. Khare et a!, (1998) reflected in their study that, the extent of role perception of Village Panchayat Sarpanchas, revealed that maximum per cent of respondents had medium level role perception towards agriculture development programme, followed by per cent high and per cent low role perception. Kalakanavar (1999) found that majority of the respondents performed good (41.00%) and poor (40.00%) role performance in promoting and developing agriculture, horticulture, and wasteland and grazing land. Regarding dairy farming, poultry, piggery and fisheries were performed good (48.00%) followed by poor (35.00%) and very good (17.00%). Promoting farms forestry and developing social forestry were found poor i.e., per cent and per cent respectively in role performance. Saini and Singh (2002) in their study on performance of gram panchayat as perceived by the village members of gram panchayat in Kapurthala district revealed that half of the gram panchayat members were aware of the beneficiary identification in different programmes. Shanthasheela (2002) in her study on performance analysis of elected women presidents in village panchayat observed that per cent of the women presidents had medium knowledge level about the duties of panchayat, whereas per cent and per cent had high and low level of knowledge, respectively. Kumari (2004) reported that majority (96.00%) of the members possessed maximum awareness in selection of candidates as women beneficiaries under IAY.

20 Singh (2004) in his study on empowerment of women representatives in panchayat raj in Haryana found that higher proportion (86.00%) of the members did not know about the schemes that were implemented by the panchayats and more than per cent of the members were not aware of the funds received and food-grains distributed under SGRY. Bheemappa (2006) noticed that majority (65.83%) of the members had medium level of knowledge followed by low (18.33%) and high (15.84%) level of knowledge regarding SGRY. From the above reviews of literature, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents performed medium role. 2.4 Relationship between knowledge and role of Gram Panchyat presidents in implementation of rural development activities Shivaramu (1995) in their study on knowledge, attitude and problems of mandal panchayat members revelled that low knowledge of mandal panchayats was acquired by 18.30percent members, while percent and 33.33percent of members had medium knowledge and high knowledge, respectively. Mahadik (1995) observed that majority of Gram panchayat members (86.21%) had medium knowledge level, followed by low (10.34%) and high (3.45%) about agricultural development programmes. Further, the study revealed that the members of PRIs had knowledge of only a handful of schemes. Ramaparvathy (1996) indicated that the respondents were knowing the functions of the panchayat president as, presiding village panchayat meetings (40.00%), carrying out works related to village development (32.00%) and solving local problems (31.00%). The functions of the vice-presidents as per the respondents were, performing presidents function in his absence (40.00%) and helping president in his functions (30.00%). The functions of ward members were, taking village problems to the president's notice (44.00%), helping in the proper functioning of panchayat (40.00%) and checking the records and registers maintained at village panchayat office (32.00%). It can be concluded from above reviews that there is a significant association between knowledge and role of gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities Problems faced by the Gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities Salunkhe (1972) reported that the Panchayat members had difficulties like lack of sufficient finance for development activities, party spirit in village, low attendance, attendance of Panchayat members during monthly meetings, lack of timely help from government and lack of co-operation from members and villagers. Kumar and Rai (1976) noted that lack of adequate funds and facilities provided to Panchayat, inadequate supervision and co-operation from block officials and selfishness in decision making by the Panchayat members were the dominant problems faced by the efficient Panchayat members. Pushpa (1993) indicated that per cent of women respondents were finding no time to attend meetings and transport difficulties. Gajre (1997) revealed that, inadequate finance by the Government was shown priority by 97.66% of them followed by lack of co-operation from the villagers (93.75%) and factionalism (62.50%) Kamble (1998) observed that, the inadequate finance by the Government was a major problem indicated by almost all the Gram Panchayat members (97.66%) in the progress of the Gram Panchayat followed by lack of cooperation by villagers and Gram Panchayat members (93.75%), factionalism (62.50%). negligence by Government agencies (43.24%), rigid casteism (41.44%), mass poverty (31.53%), geographical situation of the village (19.80%) and human lethargy and mental frustrations (15.3%).

21 Gupta and Sandhu (1994) in their study on JRY in Rajouri district observed that lack of people s participation, delay in plan approval, inadequate funds, shortage of staff, nonavailability of workers and absence of panchayat buildings were the major problems faced by the gram panchayat in implementation of JRY. Kamble (1998) in his study observed that inadequate governmental assistance (97.66%) was a major problem expressed by gram panchayat members for achieving the progress, followed by lack of co-operation by villagers (93.75%), factionalism (62.50%), negligence by government agencies (43.24%), rigid casteism (41.44%), mass poverty (31.53%), geographical situation of the village (19.80%) and human lethargy and mental frustrations (15.30%) were the other problems expressed by gram panchayat members.. Kumari (2004) in her study on panchayat raj institutions reported that out of 11 constraints of role performance by women members, 8 viewed as most serious, they were lack of resources for developmental work (88.00%), lack of fund for carrying out the work of the projects (88.00%), lack of knowledge for the members (80.00%), availability of persons well versed with the rural projects (76.00%), lack of interest in developmental works (60%), carelessness among villagers for developmental works in their villages (64.00%), lack of education among panchayat members (60.00%) and bribery and misappropriation of funds (52.00%). Prakash (2004) concluded that irregular and inadequate supply of funds to the gram panchayat was the major problem faced by the gram panchayat members in performing their roles followed by lack of cooperation from the villagers (80.00%), lack of timely and inadequate guidance (61.67%) and inadequate staff (55.00%) were the other problems expressed by gram panchayat members. Bheemappa (2006) found that per cent of the gram panchayat members faced the problem of delay in sanctioning of funds followed by lack of training facility (75.83%), lack of co-operation from the villagers (68.53%), non-availability of proper building for the panchayat (65.00 %) and lack of time for adequate guidance (50.00%) in implementation of SGRY. Hema (2009) in her study on NREGA in Andaman and Nicobar observed that major problems in implementation of NREGA were social audit was ineffective/absent, interference of government officials, no provision of giving unemployment allowance in case of denial of job, work did not start in time due to non-availability of land and specific area, workers were not ready to discharge their duties as per the guidelines of the scheme, performance of village monitoring committee was poor and more funds were utilized for administrative maintenance. From the above reviewed literature it can be concluded that lack of sufficient finance was the most important problem followed by lack of cooperation from the members and villagers. While other problems were faction in the villages, human lethargy, inadequate support from government and inadequate staff Suggestions for better improvement of Activities Gajre (1997) observed in his study that, 'increasing financial support by the Government had got first rank in the suggestions (100%). Also, the suggestions like 'increasing taxes on weekly bazaar and other functions and active participation by extension agencies had got most priority' (100.00%). The next important suggestions were 'timely and adequate co-operation by ZP and Panchayat Samiti' (97.65%) and 'co-operation by villagers in various activities' (93.75%). Swarnakar et al. (1997) suggested from their study that Government functionaries must co-operate and guide the members, sufficient funds must be made available to Gram panchayat in time and all the political parties should co-operated in the functioning of Panchayat Raj system. Kamble (1998) reported that all the respondents suggested that financial support should be provided by the Gram panchayat, taxes on weekly bazaar and other functions be hiked and active participation/co-operation of extension agencies be sought. Other important suggestions were timely and adequate co-operation by Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti, co-operation by villagers and other Panchayat members and active co-operation by various voluntary organisations be secured.

22 Patil (1999) suggested that, 'sufficient funds should be provided to Panchayats' (64.51 %), 'villagers must be educated' (36.73%), 'low cost technology should be developed' (67.74%), 'extension organisations should give timely guidance' (62.06%), 'training facilities should be made available at village level' (48.27%) and 'technology should be simple and easy to understand' (45.16%). Kotresh (2011) suggested that, Government should ensure earlier availability of funds by removing procedural hurdles. Further, to overcome the problem of complex procedure of the scheme, simplification of procedure is required to make the scheme success. Most of the studies reviewed above inferred that sufficient finance should be provided to panchayats.

23 3. METHODOLOGY This chapter deals with research methods and techniques used in the study. It mainly describes the procedure followed in the selection of the district, taluks, villages and respondents. Besides, description of locale, the variables studied and their measurement procedure, data collection methods and use of statistical tools have also been outlined. They are presented as follows. 3.1 Research design 3.2 Locale of the study 3.3 Sampling procedure 3.4 Instrument used for data collection 3.5 Variables and their measurement 3.6 Statistical tools used in the study 3.1 Research Design Ex-post facto design was employed in the present research study as the events have already occurred and design was considered appropriate Locale of the Study Dharwad district is situated in the north western part of Karnataka surrounded by six districts. The district consists of five taluks. Dharwad district is situated between and north latitude and between and east longitude. The district comes under northern dry zone as well as northern transitional zone. Geographical area of Dharwad district is 4,260 square k.ms. The population of Dharwad district is 16,04,253 comprising 8, 23,204 males and 7, 81,049 females. The literacy rate of male is per cent and that of female is per cent. The total literacy rate of the district is per cent. The important crops grown in the area are cotton, jowar, maize, chilli, groundnut, sunflower, safflower, wheat and onion Vital features of the district Dharwad district is situated in Northern part of the Karnataka It lies between 15015' to 15035' North latitude and between 750 to 75020' East longitudes. The district is bound by Belgaum, Haveri, Gadag and Uttar Kannada districts in North, South, East and West, respectively. The district is divided in to three belts geographically as Malanad, Transition and Dry regions. Dharwad district comprises of 14 hoblies. The total geographical area of the district is 4,27,329 hectares accounting 2.2 per cent of the total geographical area of the state. The district consists of 372 villages. The total population of Dharwad district as per 2001 census was 16,04,253 The density of population in Dharwad district was 377 per Sq. Kms. The south west monsoon is the most crucial for the Dharwad district. The district has an annual average rainfall of 772 mm,. The major part of soil comprised of deep black cotton soil which is moderately rich in nutrients. The district as well as the taluks under consideration are having a good network of roads, communication facilities, markets, etc. which is evident from good infrastructural facilities in the sample taluks. 3.3 Sampling Procedure The simple random sampling procedure was adopted for the investigation. details are furnished in the subsequent paragraphs Selection of taluks Dharwad district comprises of 5 taluks, having 127 Gram panchayats. For this study 60-Gram panchayats, comprising 12-Gram panchyats from each of taluk selected using simple random sampling technique For the data collection the selected taluks are Dharwad, Hubli, Navalagund,Kundgol and Kalaghatagi. The

24 Fig 1. Map showing study area

25 3.3.2 Selection of gram panchayat and respondents from study Area Sl. No. Taluk Number of respondents 1 DHARWAD 12 2 HUBLI 12 3 KALAGHATAGI 12 4 KUNDGOL 12 5 NAVALAGUND Instrument used for data collection Total 60 Keeping in view the objectives and variables selected for the study, a structured interview schedule was developed. The interview schedule was pre-tested in non-sample area for its practicability and relevancy. The interview schedule was modified wherever necessary and finalized Using the final schedule, the respondents were interviewed individually and required data was collected. The data collection was done during January 2012-Febuary Variables and their measurements Dependent variables Knowledge of gram panchayat Presidents about rural development activities Knowledge of gram panchayat Presidents regarding rural development activities is defined as the quantum of accurate information known to the gram panchayat Presidents about the rural development activities. A teacher made knowledge test as suggested by Anastasi (1961) was developed to measure knowledge of the gram panchayat Presidents about the rural development activities. Knowledge items were prepared in consultation with experts of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) set by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi. Each item having four choices were put in question form to obtain the response from the respondents. The test constituted 10 knowledge questions The answers to the questions were quantified by giving one score to correct answer and zero score to wrong answer. Thus, the score ranged from minimum of zero to maximum of 10. The summation of scores of the correct answers for a particular President indicates his knowledge level about the activities. Based on the total score, Presidents were grouped into three categories using mean and standard deviation as measures of check. Category Low Medium High Score Less than (X SD) In between (X±0.425 SD) More than (X SD) Role of Gram panchyat presidents in implementation of Rural Development activities Role of grampanchayat president in implementation of rural development activities referred to the frequency with which Presidents role pertaining to rural development activities were implemented by the Presidents The identified 29 statements relating to the functions of Presidents were prepared and were administered to 60 Gram panchyat Presidents.

26 The response were obtained on three-point continuum Viz., highly satisesfied, satiesfied and not satiesfied and scored with respective weights of 3,2,1. For each respondent, the total score was obtained by summing up their scores over all the individual items. Based on mean and standard deviation, the respondents were grouped in to three categories of high, medium and low roles in implementation of rural development activities. Category Low Medium High Score Less than (X SD) In between (X±0.425 SD) More than (X SD) Independent variables Based on the previous research studies, review of literature, discussion with the scientists and consultation with the experts in the field, the probable variables influencing directly or indirectly the knowledge and role of Gram panchyat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities were identified. These were age, education, caste, family occupation, Annual family income, mass media exposure, social participation, contact with government officials, extension contact, and decision making ability. Variables and their empirical measurement Sl No. Variables A. Dependent variables Measurement tools 1. Knowledge Teacher made test developed for the study 2. Role Performance of presidents B. Independent variables Procedure followed by Kubde and Waghdhare (1996) 1. Age Procedure followed by Kenchanagoudra (2007) Education Procedure followed by Kenchanagoudra (2007) 2 Caste Procedure followed by Belli (2008) 4 Family occupation Procedure followed by Bheemappa (2006) 5 Annual family income Procedure followed by Bheemappa (2006) 6 Mass media utilization Procedure followed by Hinge (2009) 7 Social participation Procedure followed by Savita (2008) 8 Contact with government officials Procedure followed by Kikon (2010) 9 Cosmopoliteness Procedure followed by Hinge (2009) 10 Decision making ability Procedure followed by Belli (2008)

27 Age It is referred as the chronological age of the respondents, in years completed at the time of investigation. The respondents were further categorized into three groups as followed by Kenchanagoudra (2007) Education Category Age (years) Young age Middle age Old age Above 50 The variable education was operationalized as the number of years of formal education acquired by the respondents. The categorization of respondents was done in accordance with the procedure followed by Kenchanagoudra (2007) Caste Category Illiterate Primary school Middle school High school Education Cannot read and write 1-4 th standard 5-7 th standard 8-10 th standard Higher secondary 11 th and 12 th standard Graduate Above 12 th standard It was operationalized as the caste to which one belongs by birth. In the present study Lingayat and Brahmin castes were grouped in upper or general caste category. Whereas, the castes namely Badiger, Uppar, Kuruba, Kumbar and Muslim were included in backward class category. The respondents belonging to schedule castes and schedule tribes were grouped into SC/ST category. The procedure followed by Belli (2008) was used here. The categorization is as follows. Category score Upper/general 0 Middle/backward 1 SC/ST 2

28 Family occupation Occupation means the activity undertaken for deriving income required for livelihood. Family occupation of the member was one from which an individual s family derived maximum share of annual income. Family occupation is categorized by considering both main and subsidiary occupation. This variable was measured by the procedure followed by Bheemappa (2006) Annual family Income S.I. No. Category Score 1 Agriculture 1 2 Business 2 3 Other 3 Income was operationalized as the total income in rupees obtained by a respondent s family from different sources like crops, animal husbandry enterprises, wages, salary, business and other sources for a period of last one year. The total income obtained from all the sources by the respondent was considered. Procedure followed by Mahadik (1995)was followed. Thus, the minimum annual income of an individual was Rs. 71,444 and maximum was Rs. 1,23,997 Based on the mean (9,770) and standard deviation (61,826) the respondents were grouped into three categories. Category Low income group (Rs. <71,444) Score Medium income group (Rs. 71,444 1,23,997) High income group (Rs. >1,23,997) Mass media utilization This variable is operationalized as the participation of an individual in different mass media channels such as newspaper, farm magazine, radio, television, internet and his degree of participation in them. The respondent was asked to indicate whether he subscribed to or owned the media said above. Then, the respondent was asked to indicate his degree of participation in terms of reading habit, listening behaviour and viewing habit. This variable was quantified on the basis of the procedure followed by Hinge (2009). Subscription / Possession Score Subscriber / Owned 1 Non-subscriber / Not-owned 0 Reading / Listening / Viewing habit Score Regular 2 Occasional 1 Never 0 Based on the total scores of mass media participation, the respondents were into three category such as low, medium and high by considering mean (X) and standard deviation (SD) as measures of check.

29 Category Score social participation Low Medium High Less than (X SD) Between (X SD) More than (X SD) This refers to the degree or participation or involvement of respondents in formal organizations as member, including their degree of participation in the organizational activities. This variable was measured by using procedure developed by Trivedi (1963) and followed by Savitha (2008). The scoring pattern followed in quantifying organization participation is as follows. Category Score Non-membership 1 Membership in one organization 2 Membership in more than one organization 3 The scoring followed for degree of participation is as follows. Degree of participation Score Regularly 2 Occasionally 1 Never 0 Depending upon total score obtained by each of the respondent, they were grouped into three categories, which were low, medium and high. Mean (X) and standard deviation (SD) were used as measures of check. Categories Low Medium High Range Less than (X SD) Between (X SD) More than (X SD) Contact with development department officials Extension contact has been operationally defined as the frequency of contact of respondents with extension personnel and extension agencies for seeking information about cultivation practices. The procedure followed by Kikon (2010) was used.

30 Frequency of contact Score Contacted once in a week 4 Contacted once in fortnight 3 Contacted once in a month 2 Contacted whenever problem occurs 1 Extension contact of the respondents was categorized as follows. Categories Low Medium High Range Less than (X SD) Between (X SD) More than (X SD) Cosmopoliteness Cosmopoliteness is the degree to which an individual is oriented outside to his immediate social system. This variable was measured using the procedure followed by Hinge (2009). Two dimensions of the variable which were considered in this case are, 1. The frequency of visit to the nearest town 2. The purpose of visit to the town The items and scoring pattern followed in quantifying the frequency of visit are as follows. Item Score Twice in a week 5 Once in a week 4 Once in fifteen days 3 Once in a month 2 Seldom 1 Never 0 The items and scoring pattern to quantify the purpose of visit are, Item Score All visits relating to agriculture 5 Some visits relating to agriculture 4 Personal / domestic 3 Entertainment 2 Others 1

31 The cumulative maximum score obtainable was 10 and minimum was 0. Depending upon total score obtained by each of the respondent, they were grouped into three categories, which were low, medium and high. mean (X) and standard deviation (SD) were used as measures of check. Category Low Medium High Decision making ability Score Less than (X SD) Between (X SD) More than (X SD) It refers to the mental process of an individual through which he takes a firm decision. This has been operationalized as the degree to which presidents of Panchayat Raj Institutions participate in the decision making which involves three broad categories. 1) Self decision 2) Consultation with Members 3) Consult with ZP/ TP Members Each of the respondents was asked to indicate as which of the above mentioned decision making pattern they follow in the panchayats with regards to each of the decision making ability considered for the set of statements Based on the responses of all the respondents, the number of responses under each decision making pattern for each of the statements was worked out later on. The procedure followed by Doddahanumaiah (2005) was used. Further, based on the mean and standard deviation the respondents were grouped into three categories Category Low Medium High 3.6 Statistical tools used in the study Score Less than (X SD) Between (X SD) More than (X SD) The data collected from the respondents were edited, scored, tabulated and analyzed using following statistical tools. Frequencies and percentages Frequencies and percentages were used to interpret the data pertaining to knowledge of presidents and interpretation of results of role of Gram Panchyat presidents in implementation of rural development activities. Mean and standard deviation The arithmetic mean is the sum of the scores divided by number of observations. This measure was used to categorize the dependent and independent variables into low, medium and high categories along with standard deviation was also used to categorize the dependent and independent variables into low, medium and high categories. Correlation This was used to calculate r value which facilitated to know the relationship between dependent and independent variables

32 4. RESULTS The results of the study comprising role of gram panchayat presidents in implementation of rural development activities presented under the following major heads. 4.1 Profile of Gram Panchayat Presidents 4.2 Knowledge of Gram Panchayat Presidents about rural development activities 4.3 Role of Gram Panchayat Presidents in Implementation of rural development activities 4.4 Relationship between Knowledge and role of Presidents in rural development in Implementation of rural development activities 4.5 Problems faced by the Gram Panchayat Presidents in implementation of rural development activities and obtain their suggestions 4.1 Profile of Gram panchayat presidents The data in Table 1 depicts the profile of the gram panchayat presidents. The results in different head wise is as follow Age Majority (70.00%) of the presidents belonged to middle age group, whereas an equal proportion15.00 per cent presidents belonged to old age and young age categories Education The education level of respondents (Table.1) showed that per cent of the presidents studied up to high school. An equal proportion (16.66%) of the presidents received education up to middle school and graduation. Whereas, Graduates and Illiterates accounted for per cent only Caste Forty five per cent of the presidents belonged to other backward classes (OBC), followed by and per cent who belonged to general category and SC/ST categories, respectively (Table.1) Family occupation The main occupation (Table.1) of gram panchayat presidents was agriculture (98.33%) and multiple of business of was per cent Annual family income It could be seen from Table.1 that per cent of the respondents belonged to high income level, followed by low (43.33%) and medium income level per cent, respectively Mass media utilization The data (Table.2a) pertinent to mass media utilization of gram panchayat presidents revealed that per cent of the members subscribed newspaper. The regular reading behaviour was found to be 50.00, and per cent with respect to information/news, recreational articles, and agriculture articles, respectively. Farm magazine was subscribed by only per cent of the respondents. An equal proportion of (6.66%) respondents read agricultural and recreational articles regularly, followed by those respondents who read information/news (5.00%) regularly. Regarding possession of radio sets, 5.00 per cent of the respondents possessed sets. The regular listening behaviour of the respondents was found to be 3.33 per cent with respect to agricultural programmes, information/news (5.00 %) and entertainment programmes (18.33%). And per cent of the respondents never listened radio programmes.

33 Table 1: Profile of the gram panchayat presidents (n=60) Sl. No. Variables F % 1 Age Young (18-30 years) Middle (31-50 years) Old (>50 years) Education Illiterate Primary school (1-4) Middle school (5-7) High school (8-10) PUC Graduate Caste General Backward classes (OBC) SC/ST Family occupation Agriculture Business Others Family income Low income (Rs. <71,444) Medium income (Rs. 71,444 1,23,997) High income (Rs. >1,23,997)

34 Table 2a: Mass media utilization of the presidents of gram panchayat (n=60) Mass media Subscription Regular Occasional Never Programmes News paper Farm magazines Radio F % F % F % F % Agricultural articles Information/news Recreational articles Agricultural articles Information/news Recreational articles Agricultural programmes Television Internet Information/news Entertainment Agricultural programmes Information/news Entertainment Agricultural programmes Information/news Entertainment Table 2b. Distribution of gram panchayat presidents according to mass media utilization (n=60) Level F % Low(<1.49) Medium( ) High(>2.51) Mean = 2.00 S.D.= 1.20

35 Percentage Low (<1.49) Medium ( ) High (>2.51) Fig. 2. Distribution of Gram panchayat presidents according to mass media utilization Fig. 2. Distribution of Gram panchayat presidents according to mass media utilization Percentage Low(<1.21) Medium( ) High(>2.72) Fig. 3. Distribution of gram panchayt presidents according to Social participation Fig. 3. Distribution of gram panchayt presidents according to Social participation