CHAPTER - VIII Community Development and Extension Programme in Mandya District and Rural Improvement This chapter is devoted to the background of rural improvement in Mandya district through the scheme of community development and extension programme community development is a deliberate attempt in induced and direct social change. Development literally mean change. We have to go back a little to understand why deliberately we wanted community development or in other words social change. When India attained independence in 1947, she found herself faced with many vital problems; Economic problems and problems of social reconstruction. The antiquated land system with several intermediary tax collectors between the peasant and the government was crying for reform. Although agriculture was the main production was the lowest in the world. The village industries were on serious decline. During the time of India s independence more than 80% of the people lived in the villages and villages were physically and socially 404
isolated. The rural society was rigidity stratified. The difference in the income of upper, middle and low income groups were very wide. The people were rather contended with their lot and were oriental towards a survival philosophy of life. The literary in the country was just 14.5% and only 19% of the children of school going age attended school of which only 50% completed the 4 th standard 1. The life expectancy of the people was 28 years and death rate was 19.7%. Infant mortality was 146 per thousand. Low nutrition and unhygienic condition induced epidemics and there was only one doctor for every 25 thousand people. Administration was geared to law and order and tax collection. This was India at the wake of Independence. At this time the Constitution of India guaranteed to the people: Justice: Social, Economic and Political Liberty: of thought, Expression, Belief and faith Equality: of status and opportunity and to promote 1 Paul Karipurath. Article Community Development and Extension Programme in Mysore state p.2, 1970. Karnatak University, Dharwad Dept of Economic, p-2 405
Fraternity: assuring dignity of the individual The important articles of state policy, Articles 43,45,47 and 48 of the Constitution went on to say that the state shall strive to secure full employment, a living wage and a decent standard of living; compulsory primary education, raise this standard of nutrition of people and public health and organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern lines. Many felt that political freedom would remain, a meaningless abstraction to the larghe masses unless this was accompanied by substantial welfare measures. In building up the India of our dreams, we were faced with the dilemma of the gap between the resources and the requirements. In order to bridge this gap we have resolved to planning. But planning and democracy are contradiction in terms. This contradiction is reconciled in India s planning by the relationship between the various groups of bodies which are involved and 406
consulted in the formulation, review and the final adoption of the Five Year Plan from the local level to the lobha 2. It was spelt out in the First Five Year plan that Community Development is the method and National extension services the agency through which the five year plan seeks to initate the process of transformation of the social and economic life of the villagers living in more than 5½ lakhs of villages. 8:1 HISTORY The root of the programme, perhaps, lie in the value which the Indian religion and philosophy attach to the worth of the individual and in the Indian tradition of regarding the village community as the custodian of the human values that should be cherished. If we trace the history of the implementation of this philosophy in action, we see it in the constructive programme of Mahatma Gandhi in rebuilding the life of the country. Vinobha Bhava s gramdan and gram swaraj movement has carried the Mahatma s ideology in the post independence period. 2 Ibid p 2 407
From early 20 s some individual attempts were made in different corners of India in rural reconstruction. Dr. Rabindranath Tagore established the rural reconstruction centre at sriniketan with the intention of bringing back life in the completeness into the village, making the rural folk self reliant and self respectful. Even industrial development programme of Sir. M. Vishweshwaraiah of Mysore is other example of attempts in rural development. 8:2 MEANING Generally Community Development is defined as a movement designed to promote better living for the whole community with the active participation and if possible on the initiative of the community and if it is not forth coming spontaneously then by the use of techniques for arousing and stimulating it, in order to secure its active and enthusiastic response to the movement. It is evident from the above definition that the emphasis of community Development is on people; developing to help themselves. Community Development is based on the faith that the rural people have almost limitless capacity to fashion a better life for themselves if properly aided by state action; that they alone can 408
store the food problem of the country by intensifying their effort to increase food production; that they alone can rebuild the community life. Without this unlimited faith in people, sustained by the workers engaged in the programme, community development can never be a success. 3 The central purpose of community development is the development of the rural people; of the individual, as an individual as well as; member of his village community and of the community as a whole. One essential requirement of a community programme is that it should have the fullest participation of all the people and must fully involve them in the programme of improving themselves through their own efforts. When one takes into account the condition of poverty, illiteracy, ill health and the social and economy stagnation prevailing in the rural communities and their cultural isolation, one wonders how this could be affected. But with approach and dedication this is possible. India, with the lessons it had learned from the past experiments and experiences has designed community development as a process of change from the traditional ways of living of rural communities to 3 Ibid p-4 409
progressive ways of living, as a method by which people could be assisted to develop themselves on their own capacity and resources and as a programme for accomplishing certain activities in the fields concerning the welfare of the rural people and as a movement for progress with certain ideological content. The ideological content is faith in the capacity of the people which essentially follows from the firm faith in the dignity of the individual. The other important faiths we should have to make community development a success are: I Faith in Democracy II Faith in Science and Technology III Faith in Social Justice. The main aims of community Development There are three major direction in which the community development function (i) Economic Development (ii) Social change and (iii) Democratic growth. 410
If one wants to spell out the aims of the Community Development in detail; we may list them as follows: 1) Changing the outlook of the village people to develop rising expectations for a higher level of living. 2) To develop responsible and responsive village leadership and village organization and institutions. 3) To develop village people to become self reliant and responsible citizens capable and willing to participate effectively. 4) To improve and modernize agricultural practices for increasing agricultural production and to modernize the existing village industries and crafts and provide more employment opportunities. 5) To organize effective programme for women and children. 6) To train village youth to assume citizenship responsibilities. 7) To encourage and develop close inter relation of village school and village teacher in all phases of development. 411
8) To create conditions for healthy and safe living by providing facilities to improve health and sanitation in villages. Community Development programme in India is an integral part of the five year plans. The five year plans aims at bringing about an all round development of the country is a planned democratic manner. The Community Development is to take care of the rural sector of development. The objective of five year plans and Community Development are almost identical. The community projects and national extension service had been promoted to accomplish the following objectives. 4 1) A progressive outlook among the rural population. 2) Habits of Co Operative actions. 3) Increased production. 4) Increased employment. According to Dr. Carl Taylor, India s programme is unique in that it is both a community development and an extension 4 Ibid p-6 412
programme 5. It is a community development programme in that its main objective is to develop more than five hundred thousand village communities by method which will stimulate and encourage and help villagers themselves to do much of the work necessary to achieve the objectives. It is an extension programme in that it develops channels between all higher centres of information and villages and develop trained personnel to carry agriculture, health, education and other types of scientific and technical knowledge to more than 300 village living in the rural area. 6 The Community Development in India is also an area development programme. The block is an area of development and the block organization is required to be responsible for the overall development of the area in its charge. The block schematic budget lays down one uniform pattern of development of agriculture, animal husbandry, education, communication, irrigation, industries etc. and gives the idea of promoting the basic level of amenities and service for the area. The block has an area consisting of 6,3000 5 Mysore, Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Statistical outline of Community Development Programme in India, Bangalore, 1961 6 Paul Karipurtha, Op.cit, p-10 413
people and a sum of Rs 12 lakh was to be spent for their amenities in 5 years of the first stage 7. 8:3 THE GROWTH OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA Armed with the experiences and strengthened with the built in ideas, the 15 pilot community development projects were started in India in the year 1951 8. This commenced with the close collaboration of the Ford Foundation in India. Mr.Paul Hoffman of the Ford Foundation along with other three colleagues came to India and talked to the Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru and other leaders and convinced them that the village is the living spirit in India. They agreed to contribute to the building up community projects on the lines of Nilokeri experiment and Etawah project ata total cost of $ 1,20,000,0000. Each project consisted of 100 vilages, had one block development officer who should be an agricultural graduate as the emphasis was on agriculture. He was to be assisted by 10 to 12 village level workers. The other development departments were to 7 Paul Karipurath.. p 6 8 Ibid p 6 414
assist in the programme of agriculture. The total expenditure per block per year would be Rs. 1,10,000-00. The paucity of trained extension workers was felt from the very beginning and 5 extension training centres were started as a first step to train village level workers. There was good response from the people and the working of the 15 pilot projects has once again proved that the village level worker should be multipurpose worker and the response of the villagers will be greater when they realized that the government servants who sincere in assisting the people to help themselves. Under these circumstances the willingness of the villagers to adopt new methods was also proved. While this was in operation, Mr. Chester Bowlee came to India as the Ambassador of the United States of America in 1952 equipped with 55 million dollars from the people of the United States to the people of India. This was also to be used in the programme of community development. Consequently the programme planned in the 15 pilot projects was expanded, to make it an intensive 55 pilot projects. The area of operation will be 300 villages with an outlay of Rs 65 lakhs for 3 years of intensive 415
development. A project officer was to be the head of the Development area and with 3 assistant project officers cannoting the former block development officer who looked after the area of 100 villages. Each block will have to village level workers and additional agricultural extension officers. The first N.R.S. block was inaugurated by the P.M. on October 2 nd, 1952, Mahatma s birthday. This scheme was incorporated in the first year plan with a little change in the pattern of the block. According to this pattern each block of 100 village was equipped with a block Development officer who will have 8 subject matter specialists called extension officers and 10 Gramsevaks and one Gramsevaka. It will be called as N.E.S. block in the first 3 years and after that it would get into the intensive development stage of another 3 years. Then it passes on to the post intensive, stage when it was thought that it should reach self sufficiency. N.E.S. blocks will have an outlay of 4½ lakh of rupees for 3 years and the intensive programme, the Community Development period will have 15 lakhs of rupees. 416
The first Five year plan provided 3 crores of rupees N.E.S. blocks and 90 crores for the Community Development blocks to establish about 1200 blocks covering 74 million rural people. By 1954 it was supposed that 40% of the N.E.S. blocks will be raised to Community Development Blocks. In 1954, the Budget pattern was again changed; N.E.S. Rs 4 lakhs for 3 years and Community Development Rs 12 lakhs for 3 years. This pattern was again changed in 1 st April 1958. Then it was decided that the life of the block would be 10 years. And this would be divided into two equal parts of 5 years each, called I stage and II stage. This first stage will be preceded by a year of pre extension when there will only be a block development officer, one extension officer for agriculture and 5 Gramsevaks. The period is to collect the statistics of the area and to introduce some improvements in agriculture. The expense should be only Rs 18,800/-. During the 1 st stage, the money spent was Rs 12/- lakhs and in the second stage it would be 5 lakhs. After the second stage it passes into post intensive phase when it was thought the block would be self generating. 417
It was also supposed that the various development departments will channel their expenditure on various schemes though the block thus augmenting the schematic budget as mention above. Although the de-limitation of the block was made throughout India on the basis of an area consisting of a population of 66,000 to 1,000,00. In Mysore the jurisdiction of the block was contiguous with the revenue taluk. As a result, many taluks are having 1½, 2, 2½ and 3 blocks and for such additional units, there are Deputy Block Development officers. For each if the units, the schematic budget provision and the staff pattern will be provided as given below. 1) Block Development officer: 1 2) Extensive officer: a. Agriculture 1 b. Animal Husbandry 1 c. Rural Engineering 1 d. Co operation 1 e. Social Education - Male 1, Female 1 f. Panchayat 1 418
g. Rural Industries 1 3) Gramsevaks 10 4) Gramseviks 2 The Budget for the 1 st stage and 2 nd stage are given below: 9 TABLE 8.1 Sl No Particulars I Stage II Stage 1 Block 3.15 0.85 Agriculture and Animal 2 Husbandry 0.50 0.50 3 Irrigation 3.40 0.85 4 Reclamation 1.15 0.50 5 Health and Rural sanitation 0.60 0.50 6 Education 0.70 0.50 7 Social Education 0.85 0.50 8 Communication 0.65 0.50 9 Rural arts and crafts 1.00 0.30 10 Housing for staff Total Rs. 12.00 5.00 This was shared by the central government and state government of Mysore. The central government shares 75% of the non recurring expenditure; 50% of the recurring expenditure plus Rs.4 lakhs loan in case of 1 st stage blocks and 50% of the recurring or 9 Paul Karipurath, p-7 419
75% of the non recurring expenditure and 100% loan in case of 2 nd stage blocks. The central government will not be giving any contribution towards community development except for specific programmes and the funds allotted to the blocks should be spent on the following basis. 1) Agriculture production scheme including, Animal Husbandry, Forests and Afforestation: 30%. 2) Minor irrigation including community: 15% 3) Construction and maintenance of building and Drinking water wells: 15% 4) Education: (construction, maintenance school building supply of equipments): 20% 5) Rural Roads: (construction and maintenance of rural communication) 20% 8:4 ROLE OF THE OFFICER (BLOCK FUNCTIONARIES) a) The Block Development officer is the administration of the block. He is a planner for the block programme. He is a co 420
ordinator of all functions. He is also head of the block team. He is to execute the programmes which are planned according to the stipulation in government orders and should also make arrangements for all the supplies and services needed. He is in addition an extension worker who should be constantly educating the villages and the members and the staff. He should also evaluate the programme from time to time and assure that the work is progressing on sound lines and constantly delivering goods. In the present set up of Panchayat Raj he is the chief Executive officer of the Taluk Development Board. In this capacity, he should prepare the Taluk Development Board budget, get it passed by the TDB and DDC. b) The Extension officers There are eight subject matter specialists at the block headquarter to assist the Block Development officer in the planning and executing the programme pertaining to their respective discipline. 421
I) Agriculture Extension Officer: The Extension officer, agriculture will have to plan the agricultural programmes taking into consideration, the policies laid down and the scheme formulated by the department and the funds made available. He shall have to make an assessment of the land and resources available and the crops to be cultivated in all the seasons. He should arrange for the supply of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and also for the needed credit, working though the extension officer co operation and the service co operative societies. He will plan to play out as many demonstrations as suggested by the department in the new strains of seeds, use of fertilizers, pesticides and implements. Most of the demonstration will be actually laid out by the gramsevaks while the extension officer, agriculture will give them adequate training and personally lay out one demonstration in each of the circles of the gramsevaks. The extension officer agriculture will also assist the processing of the loans required by the farmers for agriculture purposes. He will also do crop cutting experiments to assess the yield of all the crops in that area and total productions. 422
II) The Extension Officer, Animal Husbandry. The Extension officer (A H) is responsible for programmes connected with upgrading of cattle in the area, establishment of Veterinary dispensaries and treatment of diseases of cattle. He will also assist in the establishment of poultry and dairy industries in the block area. He will also assist in the sheep breeding and establishment of piggeries in the block area. He will assist Gramsevaks in helping the rural people in the castration of bulls, treatment of animals etc. III) Social Education Organizer The Social Education Organiser is a community organizer. He is the one who is to create the climate for development in the minds of the rural people. He does it by organizing youth clubs, farmers forums Radio listening group etc. He also organizes adult literacy classes in collaboration with Mysore Adult Literacy Association and also established rural libraries as a follow up. He will also be organize folk dances, dramas etc. through the youth clubs; women organization etc. 423
He also visits primary school in the area and assists in the involvement of school children in extracurricular activities. He assist the teacher in getting teaching aids and equipments from the block or the Taluk Development Board. 10 IV) Extension Officer, Industries The Extension officer, Industries is responsible for developing small scale and village industries in the block area. He has to make survey of the block to ascertain the existing resources including raw materials, number of artisans in the area, the level of technology, availability of electricity; marketing facilities, etc, and recommend suitable industries and programme of training to artisans. He also helps in the organization of industries under All India Boards. He should also organize and guide industrial co operative societies. He helps them getting the available grants and subsidies. He will also organize craft centres and Mahila Mandala etc. 10 Ibid p-10 424
V) Mukhyasevika or Social Education Organiser (Female) The Mukhyasevika is to look after the women and children programme in the block. She will help in the organization by Mahila Samajas, Balwadis and craft centres for women. She will organize citizenship education for women and young girls. She helps in nutrition education and conducts; demonstration in proper cooking and preparation of various dishes from the new grains. In Applied Nutrition programme block she assists in the programme of supplementary feeding of the primary and Balwadi children. She supervises the work of the Gramsevikas in the programme of women and children and in the establishment of Kitchen Gardens under the Applied Nutrition programme. VI) Extension Officer, Co operation Extension officer, co operation is intended to promote the Co operative Societies in the area. He has to organize service societies, wherever there is no such society and give assistance to existing societies for strengthening them. He should assist in 425
increasing membership, share capital and deposits in the societies. He should also assist in the recovery of loans. He should make potentially viable societies, viable and see that weak and dormant societies are liquidated. He should assist in the credit statement preparation of the societies and in the preparation and submission of all relevant reports necessary for the sanction of credit to the service co operative societies by the District Central Co Operative Banks. The Extension Officer, Co operation should also guide and inspect the Co operative Societies in the block. VII) Extension officer, Panchayat The Panchayat Extension officer is to guide, inspect and supervise the panchayats in the block area. He should arrange for election of the panchayats and election of the President. He should help the panchayats in the preparation and presentation of the budget to the chief Executive officer of the block. He shall scrutinize the panchayat budget and recommend for approval. He shall assist in the convening of meeting of the Panchayats and its sub committees. 426
He will also convene a meeting of the voters of the panchayat area once in a year and plan the administration report of the year and plan the programme for the forth coming year. He will also assist the panchayats in increasing its resources, preparing its agricultural production plans and the programmes for the growth of the panchayat. He should also encourage the chairman and members of panchayats to undergo training available to these categories of personnel. He will also assist the BDO in the supervision and guidance of the panchayats and proper working of the TDB. VIII) Extension officer, Engineering or Supervisor The Block Engineering supervisors will look after the entire work programme of the block. He shall prepare estimates for all the work programme in the block, sanction those within his powers, get sanction from Block Development officer for estimates that are within the powers of the BDO, or forward such estimates as are necessary to be approved by the higher authorities. He shall also see to the technical aspects of the construction of works undertaken in the blocks. He will assist the Block 427
Development Officer in check measurements; whenever contractors are not forthcoming, he shall take up works departmentally. In Applied Nutrition Programme blocks in addition to the above Extension officers, there shall be an additional Horticulture Extension officer who will look after the programme of production of fruits and vegetable as per ANP and an Extension officer Fisheries who will look after the fisheries programme in the block under ANP which include. Survey of perennial water sources. Weeding of tanks stocking of fingerlings and starting a fresh nursery and training of fisherman. He has also to arrange supply of fish to feeding centres. c) Gramsevaks There are 10 Gramsevaks in each block. They are the so called, first aid men in community Development. They work with the people at the grass roots level. The block area will be divided into 10 Gramasevaks circles and one circle will be served by one Gramasevak. He may have one or two panchayat areas to work, having a population of 6600 to 10,000. Originally he was considered to be multipurpose worker, helping the villagers in all aspects of 428
village life including agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Co Operation, Health, Social Education etc. But it was felt that his attention to agriculture which is of paramount importance to the rural areas was diluted as a result of this multipurpose approach. Then he was made 80% agriculture worker by a decision taken in the Development Commissioners Conference in 1959. But the condition has not improved even with this change. Therefore, during the conference on Community Development held in 1966, it was decided that the Gramasevak should be 100% agriculture worker. By this decision the integrated nature of agricultural development was not lost sight of agriculture is intrinsically connected with Animal Husbandry and Co operation. Therefore such activities are closely associated with agriculture are still the responsibility of the gramasevak. Dr. Ensimger in an article in the Kurushetra has pertinently observed in this connection that while cooking food, the kitchen should be burnt. The Gramasevak is to implement the agriculture programme in the block with the assistance of Agricultural Extension officer and Block Development Officer. He will assist the Panchayat in preparing the agricultural production plan for the panchayat. He will 429
also assist the individual farmer in preparing the individual agricultural production plans. He will also assist in getting the necessary inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and implements. He will lay out demonstration in all the improved agricultural practices and persuade people to adopt these practices. He will assist the farmers in preparing their loan application for irrigation wells, pumps sets, etc. He will also give the completion of wells at the 1 st and 2 nd stage. Demonstration of compost pits, green manure and crop cutting experiments etc are part of the duties of the Gramsevaks. d) Gramsevikas There are two gramasevikas in each block. They are for the entire block. But they concentrated their work in a particular panchayat, implement the women and children programme in that area and they move to another panchayat. They assist the Mukhyasevikas in organizing Mahila Samajas and running the Balwadis and craft centres for women. They also do educate the village women in mother and child care, Home Management, Food 430
and Nutrition, Health and Sanitation, Clothing and assist the women in agriculture and horticulture programmes. e) Social Welfare Inspectors One social welfare inspector is attached to the Taluk Development Board for the implementation of the social welfare programmes in the block. This includes working of residential schools, hostels, women welfare centres; and the issue of free books, clothes etc to the children of scheduled castes and tribes. The Social welfare inspector shall supervise the activities and assist the Block Development Officers in the Extension of the programme. Apart from these, the service of Health Inspector, Midwives and Ayurvedic Doctors are transferred to the Taluk Development Board from the Erstwhile District Boards. In addition to these, every block will have a primary Health centres. There is a provision of Rs 1.5 lak under Health and Sanitation during the 1 st stage of the block and Rs 50,000 during second stage. The construction of the primary health centre, residential quarters for staff and the supply of equipment and medicines will have to be met from the source. 431
for a staff. The salaries of the staff will be met from the funds earmarked A primary health centre will have 3 other sub centres where Auxiliary Nursing Midwives will be posted. The medical officer will pay visits to the sub centre at regular intervals and attend to treatment of patients. The Medical Officers, P.H.C. will look after the preventive and curative aspects of health. He will also look after the family planning programme. The Medical Officer is assisted by one compounder, one lady health visitor and 4 Auxiliary Nursing Midwives. For family planning work there will be one Block Extension Educator, one family planning welfare worker (woman) a computer and ministerial staff. 8:5 HOW THE PROGRAMME IS IMPLEMENTED The Community Development programme is executed by the Block Development Officer. During the pre extension stage a complete socio economic survey of all the villages are taken with the help of the Gramsevaks in the area and an analysis of the resources and needs of the villages in the block area is made. Then a 432
budget for the 1 st stage of five years will be prepared taking into consideration the money available from the Government (12 lakhs) and the contribution out on all the programmes that are to be taken in the block area. Each Extension officer prepares the schemes for his discipline of work, taking into consideration the funds available and the programmes that are suggested is again divided into year wise programme. The Block Development officer then gets the Technical sanction for all these programmes from the respective departmental heads depending on the outlay of each of the schemes and then get the administrative sanction from the Deputy Commissioner or the Development Commissioner as suggested in the manual. The Block Development Officer himself is competent to give administrative sanction to some of the scheme. While the administrative action is in progress he convenews his staff meeting of all the Extension officers and Gramsevaks and other workers in the block and explains to them the responsibility of each of these personnel in getting these scheme executed and also explains the co ordinate nature of the work and importance of mutual assistance for the success of the programmes. 433
As this is a new approach to development, the idea has to be sold to the villagers. Every extension officer is to meet the people, talk to them and try to convert them to the new ideas for their own betterment. This includes involvement of the people is accepting new ways of doing things and contributing their mite to the implementation of new schemes. This is always a difficult task. The village level worker contacts the people, speaks to them about the new methods of agriculture, new breeds of cattle, the co operative credit; supply and services, education of children, clean village, protected water supply, eradication of epidemic etc. This is followed up by the concerned extension officer who arranges demonstration, talks, discussions or filmshows and make the people convinced of the new methods. Again the block development officer appears on the scene and talks with the people and the leaders and help to confirm the convictions of the people. The approach of the officers to the people in this fashion is quite new to the people of India. So there was quite a response from the people, although acceptance of new ways of doing things was slow. However, a lot of new ideas, new ways of agriculture, concept of mass literacy etc., crept into the minds of millions of villagers. 434
8:6 DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE NEW APPROACH. Official Phase In the early days of the implementation of the community development programme, as detailed out in the first paragraph of this chapter, the people were at their lowest at the economic and social level. They were just out of the domination of a foreign government. The response of the people was too much to expect. Therefore, the officials had to take the first initiatives and take steps involve them in the programme. This first stage we may call the official phase of the community development programme. Advisory Phase Now, the new approach of the officials was recognized by people and liked by the people. But they were disappointed that there was no place in the programme for the voice of the people as recognized by the Government. Therefore, the people s enthusiasm cooled down and the same was taken note of by the government. And soon block advisory committees were formed to consult the representative of the people in the implementation of the programme. This was a great step forward and the enthusiasm of the 435
people was rekindled. This phase we call the advisory phase of the community development. Representative Phase: MLA s and village leaders were elected to the Block Advisory committees and it functioned for some time. But the leaders soon found out that even if they could give advice, there was no sanction to accept and implement these recommendations. This Lacuna in the advisory phase again was the cause for loss of interest in the programme from the side of the people. The people s contribution to community development had come from 49.5% in 1953 54 to 19.8% in 1956 57. Therefore, a high level committee called committee on planned programmes was set up under Shri Balwant Rai Mehta to find the reasons for the lack of participation from the people and to recommend suitable measures to assure the same. The committee studied the problems in all details and came to the conclusion that the interest and active participation of the people can only be assured if power is vested with the people, as detailed out in the community development programme. 436
It is said that people cannot be fooled by the show of devolution of power. It should actually be given over to the people at the lowest levels by a statue. This committee called democratic decentralization. It suggested that there should be a three tier system of local administration, panchayats at the village level, panchayat samithis at the taluk or block level and zilla panchayat at the district level. It recommended that each tier should be autonomous and adequate resources should be given to each of the tiers with power to tax so that the institution could carry out the development functions that are passed on to them. The government of India accepted the recommendations and advised all state government to enact legislations to establish the three tier system of local administration. Commencing with Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Mysore in 1959 nearby all the states have passed their panchayats and local bodies acts and the panchayat raj institutions came into being backed by statutes and we call this Representative phase of the programme. In Mysore, The Mysore panchayat and local boards act was passed in 1959. This Act provides for the constitution of panchayats at the village level, Taluk Development Board at the taluk level and District Development Council at the district level. 437
All the development work at the village level should be done by and through the panchayat 30% of the land revenue of the area is given to the panchyat and a portion of the 5% land revenue grants at the discretion of the Divisional Commissioner. Also panchayats are given the power to tax the people of its area, on profession, trades and employment apart from house tax, entertainment tax etc. The Taluk Development Boards are in overall charge of the community development activities in the taluk. The Block Development Officer functions as the chief Executive officer of Taluk Development Board. The funds for all schemes under various development departments are routed through the Taluk Development Board in addition to the regular community development funds. Also it is given 25% of land revenue collected in the area and the additional 5% of land revenue at the discretion of the Divisional Commissioner. The Taluk Development Board also gets a local cess on land revenue at the rate of 12 paise in a rupee and also 12 paise on every rupee of water rate. 438
The Taluk Development Board is also empowered to tax on transfer of immovable properties, taxes on animals brought for sales in the local market. The District Development Council is only a co ordinating and supervisory body in Mysore state. The members of the panchayats and the Taluk Development Board are elected on adult franchise, while the members of the District Development Council consist of all Taluk Development Board Presidents in the area and the MLA s MP s and District officers. There is only one Taluk Development Board in one taluk even though there may be more than one community development block. The community development programme was launched in Mysore state along with the other states in the Indian union on October, 1952. The entire state with 268 block have been carried with the community development programme by the year 1964. After a detailed discussion of community development programme, its genesis, meaning and implementation in Mysore 439
state, I would like the narrow down the discussion to Mandya district. The community development programme was started in Mandya district on 2 nd October 1952 with the inauguration of the Rural community project at Malavalli 11. The pilot training project was established in March 1952. The projects consists of two groups of activities 1) Training of village level and extension workers for the community project, National Extension block etc, at Mandya. 2) An extension project for intensive work in 100 villages in Malavalli. Nineteen villages were attached to this centre in order that the trainees may have a first experience of village, their needs and problems and also in order that they may practice extension methods and evaluate themselves 12. The trainees at the centre were helped to acquire technical knowledge relating to rural upliftment and technical skills for 11 Mysore state Gazetteer, Mandya District 1967 P 272 12 Mysore Administrative Report 1953 54, p 91 440
efficient improvement work to develop rural leadership. The third and fourth batches (77 trainees) were trained during the year, thirty trainees who were granted certificates in the previous year were appointed as Gramsevakas in the community project 13. 8:7 EXTENSION PROJECT CENTRE, MALAVALLI This centre was started on 5 th August 1952. The Jurisdiction of this centre extended to 100 villages covering an area of 178 sq miles with a population of nearly a lakh. The villages were divided into 15 groups, each group of five to eight villages being under a village level worker. The groups were built up into four zones each zone under an Assistant Extension office. The board objectives of the centre are: 1) Elimination of poverty by increasing the earning capacity of rural people by better methods of agriculture and animal husbandry 2) Elimination of illiteracy by new schools, adult education classes, regular attendance in existing school etc 13 Ibid P - 91 441
3) Elimination of ill health and disease by village cleaning, construction of latrines, improved drainage, rat control etc 4) Promotion of better citizenship by organization of young farmer, clerks, growers association, co operative society, organization of community labour and harnessing initiative and rural leadership 14. With the above said aims and objectives, the community development programme started implementing it. During the year 1957 58, six CD Blocks and 42 NES Blocks were sanctioned to the state 15. But in the year 1958 59, the number increased from 6 to 27 CDB and from 42 to 74 NEB 16. Among the several programmes in the Development Block areas, top priority was given to agricultural programmes. The agricultural programmes included the distribution of 8,12,537 maunds of chemical fertilizers, 1,53,579 maunds of improved seeds and 16,428 improved implements. Nearly 43,195 new pits were dug for compost making. The introduction of green manure 14 Ibid P 92 15 Mysore Administrative Report 1955 58, p 273 16 Mysore Administrative Report 1957 58 P 257 442
continued to receive attention and about 28,777 acres of land were brought under green manure utilization 17. Further the agriculture programme was enhanced during the year 1958 59. The distribution of 26,91,888 mds of chemical fertilizers, 16,13,112 mds of improved seeds, 19,110 members of improved implements and 1,06,008 agricultural demonstrations were held in the Block areas 18. 8:8 RURAL HEALTH AND SANITATION Steps were taken for the prevention of epidemic and water borne diseases. The maternity and child welfare centre were established. In addition to the existing dispensaries, primary health units were also started. Drinking water facilities were extended, latrines were constructed 19. 8:9 SOCIAL EDUCATION: Under this head, a cheap design scheme for the construction of school building (Rs 2,800 to Rs 3,000 per school room) was introduced 20, 2426 adult literacy centres were started and 49,475 17 Mysore Administrative Report 1957 58 p - 273 18 Mysore Administrative Report 1958 59 p - 257 19 Mysore Administrative Report 1957 58 p - 274 20 Ibid P - 274 443
adults were made literate in the rural areas. As many as 1,118 reading rooms and libraries were started in the Block areas. Two thousand seven hundred and twenty nine youth clubs and farmers unions were started with a membership of 38,056 and 421 Mahila Samithis were started with a membership of 9,586. Six hundred and sixty eight functional Gramasahayaks camps were organized and the member of village leaders trained was 28,322. Four thousand, six hundred and forty one smokeless chulas were constructed by the social education organizers 21. 8:10 TRAINING Training centres in smithy, carpentry and pottery were started in various community development blocks. The training centres at Mandya, munirabad and Dharwar functional satisfactory during the year 1957 58 with a capacities of 100 trainees in each. The Home science wing attached to the Training centre, Mandya meant for training gramasevikas worked satisfactorily during the year 1957 58. During the year, two additional training courses one at Dharwar Extension Training centres and the other at Mandya E.T.C. were sanctioned, one at the E.T.C. Mandya was started during the 1957 21 Mysore Administrative Report 1958 59 p 258 444
58 22. In the year 1959 60 gramasevaks training centre, Home science wing strength came up to 40 per year. With a view to enlighten the officials and also the public in the method of community development, seminars were held in most of the block and the state level seminar was held at Nandi Hills in March 1958 23. In the 1959, the staff of Home science wing participated in the work seminar held at Hyderabad 24. By the end of the second five year plan, the entire district except Maddur and Srirangapatna taluks was covered by the community development programme. These two taluks were also brought into the fold during 1962 and 1963, thus covering the entire district under the programme. The Maddur stage 1 and stage 2 blocks were started on 1 st April 1962 and 2 nd October 1962 respectively, while Srirangapatna stage I block was started on 1 st April 1963. There were in all 10¼ block in the district at the end of the Third Five Year plan, the particulars of which are given in the following table. 22 Mysore Administrative Report 1957 58 P 274 23 Mysore Administrative Report 1957 58 p 275 24 Mysore Administrative Report 1959 60 p 221 445
TABLE 8:2 Sl.No Name of Book Date of Inauguration Present stage Date of entry into present stage 1 Mandya - Full Block.. 1/4/1956 Stage II 1/4/1962 2 Mandya - Half Block.. 1/4/1957 Stage II 1/4/1963 3 Malavalli - Full Block.. 1/4/1957 Post Stage II 1/4/1965 4 Malavalli - Quarter Block.. 1/4/1957 Stage II 1/4/1963 5 Maddur - I.. 1/4/1962 Stage I 1/4/1962 6 Maddur - II.. 2/10/1962 Stage I 2/10/1962 7 Pandavapura.. 1/10/1957 Stage II 1/10/1964 8 Srirangapatna.. 1/4/1963 Stage I 1/4/1963 9 Krishnarajapet - Full Block.. 1/4/1955 Post Stage II 1/4/1966 10 Krishnarajapet - Half Block.. 1/4/1957 Stage II 1/4/1964 11 Nagamangala - I.. Stage I (Extended period) 1/4/1961 12 Nagamangala - II (Bellur Block).. 1/4/1960 Stage I (Extended period) (Source: Mysore State Gazetteer Mandya district p 277, 1967) In formulating the programme and budget estimates of each block, and village organization are regarded as basic unit. The items and the amounts under the schematic budget for the Third plan period of the several community development block in the district according to their stages are noted below 25 1/4/1961 25 Source: Mysore State Gazetteer Mandya district p 278, 1967 446
TABLE 8:3 8:11 PANCHAYAT RAJ: The history of Panchayat in India goes back to hundreds of years. The term panch is ordinarily used for a group of persons (panch= five) who takes decisions on collective affairs of village. The people repose so much confident in panch that they are called 447
panch parmeshwar (God speaks through the five). The system of taking collective decision through panch is known as panchayat. It is, largely, a self- governing institution. 26 The growth of panchayat in India as a self- governing institution has not steady in the course of its long history. However, the ideas of panchayatwere revived when Mahatama Gandhi arrived on the national political scene. Gandhiji asserted that the village panchayats would now be living forces in special way, and india would almost be enjoying self-government suited to its requirements. Accordingly, the idea of panchayat as a system of local government remained an important issue in India s freedom struggle. But when the country became independent the panchayat of Gandhi s vision did not acquire a central place in the Indian Constitution. It was merely included in Article 40 says, the State shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of local self- government Nonetheless, it is interesting to point out that although the Directive Principle of the Constitution is only suggestive in nature, 26 Kamlesh Singh, Social Change in Modern India, 2008, p-53 448
the significant of Panchayati Raj institutions was recognized by all states. Immediately after the Independence, an ambitious development programme for rural areas was launched. The programme, known as the Community Development Programme (CDP), covered almost all activities of rural development. But it could not fully achieve its goals. In order to review the cause of its limited success, the government of India appointed a study team. It was headed by Balwant Rai Mehta, the then Member of Parliament. The study team came to the conclusion that CDP had failed to achieve its targets because of the absence of people s participation in the programme. In view of this, it recommended the creation of certain institution based on the principle of democratic decentralization for facilitating people s participation in development programmes. The formation of three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions in the country was the result of the above recommendations. All the states in India passed Panchayat Act by 1959. Accordingly, in order to bring the villagers within the framework of the community development movement and to give them opportunities to plan and work for their own betterment, 449
panchayats were constituted covering all the villages in the district, from 1 st November 1959. Seven Taluk Development Boards (one for each taluk) and 357 village panchayats have been constituted under the provision of the village panchayats and local boards Act 1959 27. The District Development Council is at the apex of the system in the district. The overall objectives of the community development programme were to assist each village in chalking out and implementing concrete village plans directed towards increasing agricultural production, improving the existing village crafts and industries and organizing new ones, providing required educational facilities and programmes and improving housing and living conditions. With the introduction of panchayat Raj, a new dynamism has been infused into the movement. Thus community development projects have a marked beneficial effect upon the welfare of the rural population. Intensive efforts are made in the project areas in which the various development agencies of the government work together as a team in programmes which are planned in advance. The activities comprised within the community 27 Ibid p-54 450
development programme may be regarded as an integral part of a scheme for improving all aspects of rural life. The essence of the approach is that the villagers co operate with the government agencies for bringing about a social change in the village life. Self help and co operation are the key factors on which the movement rests. 451