Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Changing Rural India- Some Ideas for Employment

Posted : May 20, 2005 at 10:56 pm [IST]

Things are changing fast in rural areas too. Life style is changing. Means of transportation and entertainment are changing. Even cuisine is changing too. But major change is coming in the methods of cultivation. Tractors have totally replaced bullocks, at least in villages that I know. It must be happening allover the country. We hope so with almost 2,00,000 plus tractors coming in circulation every year. I am sorry for only one thing for a long time. Ratan Tata can think of a Rs one lakh car, but none of the major tractor manufacturers is producing tractors in sub one lakh price range or even talks of that, neither the public banks are providing loans without collaterals and at the interest that they take for car financing. Tractors are still commercial vehicles for them.

Even in many areas, combines are in use for harvesting. In my small village with a population of 2400 or so, there are some 45 tractors and 3 combine harvesters. It has eliminated the time taking and inefficient manual operations that used to cause a lot of waste. All the cultivators use the tractors and harvesters from the owners on rental. Funnily, these harvesters are manufactured in Punjab and are very cheap in comparison with imported ones. But nothing much has been done to sell them in organized manner or to export. I don’t think any other country can manufacture them so cheap. There is one more interesting aspect of these harvesters. The harvesters naturally remain idle for the 10 months of the year, as it remains engaged for hardly 1 month for each harvesting in two- crop system. Why can’t some designers may think of making it uasable for some otheragricultural or domestic applications too? Again, surprisingly a three men team comes from the manufacturers’ town before the start of the harvesting season to operate the machines. Naturally, the owners pay them good compensation. Either the manufacturers don’t provide training to users’ men or the users find it convenient and reliable to outsource this task to the men nominated by the manufacturers.

Additionally, there are other mechanical implements in use now: diesel pumps, solar plates, cooking gas stoves, motorcycles, TVs, and music system. However, for the maintenance of these equipments, the villagers still depend on the nearby town. And if you might have noticed and remember the area where the maintenance is carried. That is the filthiest outskirts.

Why can’t there be a change in the occupational patterns of the villagers that are still caste based? Many castes, for that matter all castes, must die. ‘Lohar’ (blacksmiths) and ‘Baddhai’(carpenters), ‘Halwai’(sweet makers) and ‘Teli’ (Oil sellers), and all other castes that are decided by birth, must get new names based on the present trades of the persons. Alternatively, our politicians and social leaders must pass on a ‘Fatwa’ declaring the death of the old caste system. The day they do this or if they don’t for political reasons and for their existence, the people on their own declare that change will be the most glorious day for the nation and the society. Let some other important professions take birth in the villages. It will solve the employment problem too and also provide quick, rather immediate, quality services to the people in villages.

Villagers on its own must encourage and if necessary help two or more young literate men and women to get trained in basic healthcare and nursing practices. However, some state owned or private medical institutes must design a suitable course for these people. As suggested by some medical practitioners, these men and women must develop capability to prescribe medicines for some common and seasonal diseases, observe patients if they are taking the medicines regularly, and if necessary advise for shifting them for hospitalization. They can also help the people in preventive measures such as yoga exercises, simple therapies, or using of mosquito nets and other hygiene related practices, give children medicines for helminthic (parasitic) infections, give immunizations, track the bodyweight and size of the community’s children, explain the use of oral dehydration solutions. The community can decide about the candidates based on his background, attitude and interest. Chances for such a person moving out from the village will be less. Community can decide to pay them from the community-raised fund, as in urban areas we pay for security and other services.

Some persons in each village must also get community funded training in the similar manner for agriculture related issues. The training must include the basics of soil chemistry (measuring the adequacy of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, soil pH, and structure) and related soil tests, the basic techniques of agro-forestry, seed selection, and water management- drip irrigation and organic manure preparation. Persons with good high school education but of integrity and interest will be the ideal. Unfortunately, the graduates and post-graduates in agricultural sciences and engineering or for that matter MBAs in rural management have hardly gone to villages and taken up cozy jobs in corporate or government offices. Even some who are there in villages still keep on brooding about their bad luck in securing a job. But they can change the fortune of their village as well as their own with some entrepreneurship and innovations.

The villages with improving affluence will require persons trained in the routine maintenance of diesel generators, electrical wiring, hand pump, electronics equipment, tractors, and even other profession such as rural architecture. And it means so many jobs creations.

How do we do that? Perhaps, it requires some effective NGOs with professional background. If you have some suggestions, please come forward. Let us share.

- Indra

Category: Rural development |