idpms - nird report

Idpms/nrega report/09 1

Chapter I

Background-

Even as the economy progresses at an astounding pace, India is still struggling with basic social and economic problems like illiteracy, widening gaps between the rich and poor, poverty and more. Plans to reduce poverty levels and bridge the gaps in distribution of wealth have been a part of the Government’s policy since India got its independence. Some of the initial programs concentrated on making the poor self sufficient with respect to basic necessities like food. Immediately after independence, making food grains available to all residents at controlled prices was an important part of poverty reduction programs. This has completely abolished deaths due to hunger. This is a major accomplishment of the Government of India. Later many poverty alleviation programmes were brought which address the root cause for poverty like illiteracy, high population growth rate, high dependence of farmers on monsoons and outdated techniques to cultivate their lands, good infrastructures and creation of employment opportunities etc. Poverty reduction has also been an important part of India’s five-year plans. National Rural Employment Programs, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program, and Jawahar Rojgar Yojna are some of the programs introduced by the Indian Government. The current plan aims at reducing the headcount ratio of consumption poverty by 10 percentage points. It is also expected to reduce educated unemployment, increase work opportunities and increase the real wages for unskilled workers – thus reducing poverty amongst labor classes Poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes Poverty reduction has been an important goal of development policy since the inception of planning in India. Various antipoverty, employment generation and basic services programmes have been in operation for decades in India are listed below- (Ref: website: http:/indiabudget.nic.in ) (a) Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Launched in December 2000, PMGSY aims to provide all-weather connectivity to all the eligible unconnected rural habitations. Bharat Nirman, envisages connectivity by 2009 to all the habitations with a population of 1000 or more in the plains, and of 500 or more in the hilly, desert and tribal areas. The systematic upgradation of the existing rural road network also is an integral component of the scheme, funded mainly from the accruals of diesel cess in the Central Road Fund, with support of the multilateral funding agencies and the domestic financial institutions. (b) Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) IAY aims to provide dwelling units, free of cost, to the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and freed bonded labourers, and also the non-SC/ST BPL families in rural areas. It is funded on a cost-sharing basis in the rates of 75.25 between the Centre and the States. Under IAY, the ceiling on construction assistance is Rs.25,000/- per unit in the plains and Rs.27,500/- for hilly/difficult areas; and Rs.


12,500/- on upgradation of unserviceable kutcha house to pucca/semi pucca house for all areas (c ) Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) SGSY, launched in April, 1999 after restructuring the Integrated Rural Development Programme and allied schemes, is the only self-employment programme for the rural poor. The objective is to bring the self employed above the poverty line by providing them income-generating assets through bank credit and Government subsidy. . (d) Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) SGRY, launched on September 25, 2001 to provide additional wage employment in the rural areas, has a cash and food grains component, and the Centre bears 75 per cent and 100 per cent of the cost of the two with the balance borne by the States/UTs. (e) National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) The NFFWP was launched as a CSS in November 2004 in the 150 most backward districts to generate additional supplementary wage employment with food security. States receive food grains under NFFWP free of cost. The focus of the programme is on works relating to water conservation, drought proofing (including aforestation /tree plantation), land development, flood-control/protection (including drainage in waterlogged areas), and rural connectivity in terms of all-weather roads (f) DPAP, DDP and IWDP Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) was launched in 1973-74 to tackle the special problems faced by those areas constantly affected by severe drought conditions. Desert Development Programme (DDP) was launched in 1977-78 to mitigate the adverse effects of desertification. Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP) has been under implementation since 1989-90 for the development of wastelands/ degraded lands. The basis of implementation has been shifted from sectoral to watershed basis from April 1995. (g) Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) In December 1997, the Urban Self-Employment Programme (USEP) and the Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP), which are the two special components of the SJSRY, substituted for various programmes operated earlier for urban poverty alleviation. The SJSRY is funded on a 75:25 basis between the Centre and the States. (h) Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) VAMBAY, launched in December 2001, facilitates the construction and up-gradation of dwelling units for the slum dwellers, and provides a healthy and enabling urban environment through community toilets under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, a component of the Scheme. The Central Government provides a subsidy of 50 per cent, with the balance provided by the State Government. Since its inception and up-to December, 31 2005, Rs. 866.16 crore had been released as Central subsidy for the construction/upgradation of 4,11,478 dwelling units and 64,247 toilet seats under the Scheme.. Anti-poverty strategy has three broad components: promotion of economic growth; promotion of human development; and targeted programmes of poverty alleviation to address multi-dimensional nature of poverty. The various programmes targeted at the


poor have been streamlined and strengthened in recent years, including through the NREGS. Economic performance of Karnataka and India in a comparative perspective- Karnataka came into being as a state of the Union of India on November 1, 1956 as a result of the merger of five territories viz. four districts of the erstwhile Bombay state, three districts of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, two districts and one taluk of the former Madras state, nine districts of the former princely state of Mysore.

Karnataka is the eighth largest state in India in both area and population. Karnataka lies between 74o and 78o East longitudes and 11o and 18o North latitudes. It is situated on the western edge of the Deccan plateau and is surrounded by Maharashtra and Goa on the north, Andhra Pradesh on the east, and Tamil Nadu and Kerala on the south. On the west, it opens out on the Arabian Sea.

The state of Karnataka has an area of 191,791 sq. km. and a population of 52.85 million. There are 27 districts, 176 blocks and 29406 villages. The State has population density of 275 per sq. km. (as against the national average of 312). The decadal growth rate of the state is 17.51% (against 21.54% for the country) and the population of the state is growing at a slower rate than the national rate.

It accounts for about 5.8% of India’s land, and about 5.3% of India’s population. Karnataka contributes to about 5.5% of India’s GDP. Karnataka has an estimated GSDP of Rs. 118,540 crore (about $25.2 billion equivalent). Karnataka is on track to meet most of the Millenium development Goals ( MDGs, ) with trend performance better than required for important MDGs such as poverty reduction, child malnutrition, school enrollment, infant mortality and access to safe water. Reduction in the discrepancy of male-to-female literacy is slightly below target, as is improvement in number of births attended by skilled personnel. Karnataka is one of India’s fastest growing states. Its state GDP (GSDP) growth rate picked up from 5.3% in the eighties (below the national average) to 7.3% in the nineties (the second highest), and at 8.3% in the second half of the nineties (the highest). Growth in all three sectors of the economy is above the Indian average. During the second half of the nineties, for example, Karnataka’s agricultural, industrial, and service sectors grew at average rates of 4.0%, 9.2%, and 10.6% respectively, compared to all-India averages of 3.6%, 5.0% and 8.7% respectively. Agricultural output increased on the back of diversification and increases in productivity, industrial growth was led by rapid manufacturing expansion. Growth in services was high across the board, led by software exports. During the second half of the 1990s, Karnataka became the third largest recipient of FDI among major Indian states, and the highest on an income per capita basis. Karnataka’s good growth record in the nineties was maintained into 2000/01 (with real growth of 6.7%), but slowed in 2001/02 and 2002/03 on account of drought. Despite rapid growth in recent years, Karnataka is still a poor state, poorer than the average for India. According to the now -widely-used Deaton-Dreze adjusted poverty estimates, poverty in Karnataka in 1999/00 was 25.1% compared to the all-India average of 22.7% (Table 1). This reflects low average land-holdings, and high reliance on rain-fed agriculture. However, poverty is falling. Rural poverty in Karnataka fell from


37.9% in 1993/94 to 30.7% in 1999/00, compared to an all India decline from 33% to 26% (see Table 1). Urban poverty fell from 21.4% in 1993/94 to 10.8% in 1999/00 (compared to an all India decline from 18% to 12%). Thus, compared to the all-India performance, there was a slightly above average reduction in rural areas and a greatly above average reduction in urban areas. Table 1 .Headcount ratio of Karnataka and All India in the nineties (% )

RURAL URBAN TOTAL

1999/00 Reduction from

1993/94


1993/94


1993/94

Karnataka 30.7 7.2 10.8 10.6 25.1 8.1

All India 26.3 6.7 12.0 5.8 22.7 6.5

Human development. Karnataka’s performance in human development indicators is improving, though still rather average (Table 2). The nineties saw an eleven percentage point improvement in literacy, a slow down in population growth, and above-average improvement in infant mortality. Yet Karnataka has a long way to go to catch up with the comparator states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and, on the issue of population growth, Andhra Pradesh. The current proportion of immunized children, at 60% is disappointing for a middle -tier Indian state like Karnataka. Successfully increasing the rate of immunized children to the target of 90% will play a major role in reducing the spread of communicable diseases that are responsive to immunization. HIV prevalence among STD clinic attendees in Karnataka is about 16% and among women attending antenatal clinics was 1.13% in 2001. These figures indicate that HIV has crossed over from subpopulations engaging in high risk behaviors to the general population and it signals that the epidemic has reached a generalized stage, and could have catastrophic effects unless successfully and rapidly tackled. Table 2. Human Development Indicators for Karnataka and All India levels

Literacy Rate(%)

Population Growth (over the last decade

%)

Infant Mortality Rate ( per 1000)

2001 Increase since 1991

2001 Reduction since 1991

2001 Reduction since 1991

Karnataka 67.0 11.0 17.2 3.9 51.5 13.9

All India 65.4 13.8 21.3 2.6 67.6 10.9

HDI, Karnataka Report The scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population are 16.2 and 6.6 per cent of the total population in the state respectively. The percentage of SC population in Gulbarga is second highest (8.29 %) which is next Bangalore Urban (9.9 %). Raichur, another sample district for the study has highest percentage of ST population (18%).


Table 3. Literacy rates of SC/STs by sex and region : 1991 and 2001 census

Area SC POPULATIONS ST POPULATION

GENERAL POPULATION

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female

1991 Rural 31.42 43.21 19.23

36.0 - - 47.69 60.30 34.76

Urban 59.18 70.05 47.64 74.20 82.04 65.74

2001 Rural 47.25 58.71 35.56 45.3 56.9 33.3 59.33 70.45 48.01

Urban 59.88 69.27 78.32 64.6 74.4 54.3 80.55 86.66 74.12

Literacy rate is less than 50% (i.e 47.25%) in the rural Karnataka as per 2001 census. With no viable assets, low literacy rate compounds the problem of literacy. Agriculture Development Land use pattern is one of the indicators of agriculture development. A high proportion of cultivable waste land, low irrigation and low cropping intensities may indicate agriculture backwardness. Land Utilization details in the selected districts is given below at Table: (in hectare)

District Hassan Gulbarga Raichur State

Total Geographical area 662602 1610208 835843 19049836

Forest 58775 69089 18167 3070941

Land Not available for cultivation

a. Non-Agricultural 78236 67827 20563 1335704

b. Barren 30365 63122 20084 787949

Total 108601 130949 40647 2123653

Cultivable waste 14318 11802 10712 419329

Permanent pasture 32943 37409 19816 947158

Trees and groves 6957 1792 13680 301102

Fallow Land 42747 171508 114339 1853696

Others 24598 20210 37789 487351 Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2005

Total geographical data is highest in Gulbarga. Even though Gulbarga has highest fallow land (171508 Ha), proportionate fallow land compared to the total holding is higher in Raichur (13.68%) as compared to Gulbarga(10.65%) and Hassan (6.45%). Percentage land not available for cultivation is highest in Hassan (16.39%) as compared to Gulberga (8.13%) and Raichur(4.86%)


Table 4. Percentage share of district in total production of food grains

District 1995-96 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-2002 2002-03 2003-04

Chitradurga 6.23 2.78 3.37 3.62 3.12 2.19

Gulbarga 6.72 7.79 6.90 7.48 10.39 10.44

Raichur 9.61 6.79 6.01 5.86 6.53 5.59

Hassan 3.98 4.23 4.19 4.71 3.92 3.23

STATE 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2005

Gulberga is steadily increasing in its’ percentage share of food grains while share is decreasing in Raichur. However Hassan is more or less maintaining the same standard . Table 5. Different crops and area grown-- (in Ha)

District Hassan Gulbarga Raichur State

Paddy 39533 65687 79002 1073899

Ragi 142538 0 0 998266

Jowar 5805 292954 160377 1698177

Bajra 0 72378 69564 318745

Maize 21919 2568 486 618173

Wheat 0 17523 2584 231994

Total pulse(Gram,

Tur and others)

37051 655009 64353 1874328

Groundnut 944 60947 36534 817243

Cotton 169 17295 31965 316674 Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2005

Area under paddy is significantly high in all the three districts. While paddy is being grown in Hassan traditionally, its’ production picked up in the recent decades in Raichur and Gulbarga ever since the canal irrigation started. Apart from paddy, Ragi is being grown as a food crop in Hassan and Jowar and Bajra in other two districts. Table 6.Per capita Food Grains Production(in Kgs)

District 1995-96 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-2002 2002-03 2003-04

Chitradurga 219.76 181.75 244.70 207.25 137.32 94.73

Gulbarga 200.16 245.82 242.18 207.61 221.18 218.88

Raichur 310.92 406.35 399.47 305.20 260.91 219.62

Hassan 202.31 241.93 266.83 237.53 151.77 123.06

STATE 172.77 186.96 207.83 164.56 126.09 124.16

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2005


In both Gulbarga(218.88 kg) and Raichur (219.62 kg), per capita food production is higher as compared to state average of 124.18kg while per capita food production in Hassan is 123.06 Kg which is slightly less than state average in the year 2003-04. However, in all the three districts, per capita food production is decreasing with the passing year. Land records. About 5 million farmers a year request the government for a copy of or change in their land records. Karnataka has now computerized its 20 million rural land records. Whereas land record issuance took 3-30 days under the manual system it is now done immediately. Karnataka delivered the second highest agricultural growth rate among all states in India in the nineties: 4.4% per annum. However, the negative agricultural growth experienced in 2001/02 and 2002/03 has made apparent the state’s susceptibility to low rainfall, and the consequent vulnerability of its rural population. Karnataka in fact has the second largest arid area of any state after Rajasthan. Only 25% of Karnataka’s farmland is irrigated compared to an average of 39% for all-India. . Both the land holding and literacy play a key roles in welfare of any community. It is well known fact that these segment of the population are deprived of assets. Despite the special efforts of the government, the low literacy among the SC and STs are of grave concerns. Table 7. Distribution of operational holdings and areas for different social groups in Karnataka :2001 (per cent)

Size Class

Scheduled Castes

Scheduled Tribes Others Total

No of Holdings

Area No of Holdings

Area No of Holdings

Area No of Holdings

Area

Marginal 52.13 19.70 40.84 12.00 45.41 11.40 45.94 12.20

small 30.13 33.10 30.89 25.30 26.28 21.10 26.98 22.40

Semi Medium

13.73 27.70 19.37 29.60 18.26 27.90 17.79 28.00

Medium 3.65 16.00 7.85 25.30 8.65 28.30 8.03 27.00

Large 0.36 3.50 1.05 7.70 1.40 11.40 1.26 10.50

All sizes 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2005

It can be noticed from the above table that about 72.92% of the farmers are small and marginal farmers which accounts for 34.60% of the total cultivable area which means for many of these farmers can’t sustain only on land holding for their livelihood. It is further noticed that majority of the belong to lower castes like SC/STs. It is important in this context to create an alternate employment with in the villages such that they do not migrate to nearby cities in search of employment leaving behind their small piece of land , cattle and elderly people at home.


NREGA Study

NIRD (National Institute of Rural Development), Hyderabad has entrusted IDPMS to conduct the study on ‘Planning and Implementation of NREGA in Karnataka’. IDPMS has been asked to make study in three districts namely Hassan, Raichur and Gulbarga. Details of methodology, brief descriptions about the selected districts, analysis and important findings of the study were explained below--

Methodology- The Scheme is introduced in the state during the year 2006. In the first phase, six districts viz.Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Davanagere and Chitradurga were included in the scheme. With effect from April 2007, Bellary, Belgaum, Chikmagalur,Hassan, Shimoga and Kodagu are included in the second phase. Then During October 2007, the remaining 18 districts were brought under the fold of NREGA. Two districts viz. Raichur, Gulbarga which belong to backward most districts in the state were selected to study the impact of NREGA. Both these districts were part of NREGA from the first phase itself. Besides Hassan district also was selected for the study which is in the southern part of the state. Hassan is relatively forward district is included under NREGA during the second phase. From each of the three districts, two taluks ( blocks) are selected. The selection of taluks were done in consultation with district officials of the respective ZP. Selections are mainly done considering the NREGA work progress as well as the distance of the block from the district headquarters. From each of these six taluks, one Gram Panchayat was selected as per the choice of the programme officers of the concerned Taluk as shown in the table below— Table 8: Sample Districts, Taluks and Gram Panchayats.

District Taluk GP Village

Hassan Hassan Marakuli Nagenahalli

Belur Yalahanka Yalahanka, Bhovi

Raichur Raichur Gunjalli Gunjalli

Manvi Madlapura Madlapura

Gulbarga Gulbarga Kinni(Sadak) Kinni(Sadak)

Afzalpura Mashala Mashala

Selection of Sample Household and nature of data collected-

Different types of data are collected. Firstly, data were collected from about 30 laboures who worked in NREGA through structured questionnaire. The information collected included mainly the awareness about provisions of NREGA like wages, other basic facilities at work site, implementation procedures and the employment generated etc. Apart from this, about 30 farmers in that village were interviewed mainly to find out about the awareness and utility of the NREGA, impact of the NREGA on wages as well as assets created in the villages. Household enumeration with about 100 households were conducted mainly to find out about the socioeconomic status of the village as well as their awareness about NREGA. Further information was collected from the officials and elected representatives at District, Taluk and Panchayat level through structured questionnaire.


Table 9: Number of sample Household in the Survey— District Taluks Numbers

Hassan

Hassan

REGS workers 30

Farmers 30

Households 98

Belur

REGS workers 31

Farmers 31

Households 82

Raichur

Raichur

REGS workers 11

Farmers 36

Households 103

Manvi

REGS workers 36

Farmers 11

Households 100

Gulberga

Gulberga

REGS workers 27

Farmers 27

Households 100

Afzalpur

REGS workers 31

Farmers 31

Households 59

Chapter II

Institutional Arrangements and Profiles of the Study Area The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came to be enacted by Government of India in September 2005 following which the Government of Karnataka has been implementing the scheme under the said Act in phases since February 2006. The district covered in the first phase are Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Davanagere and Chitradurga respectively while those covered under second phase with effect from April 2007 are Bellary, Belgaum, Chikamagalur, Hassan, Shimoga and Kodagu. During April 2008, the remaining 18 districts have been brought under NREGA for the purpose of implementing the Employment Guarantee Scheme. NREG Act envisages collaborative partnership between the Central Government, the State governments, the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and the local community. Broadly, the main implementation activities are at the village and Block/Taluk levels, while coordination activities are mainly at the Block/Taluk levels. Planning, supervision and monitoring take place at all levels (Village/Taluk/Distric and State). At each level, the concerned authorities are accountable to the community. The Grama Sabha is the statutorily mandated institutional mechanisms for community participation. The overall responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the scheme as per the NREGA lies on the State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) at the state level, District Programme Coordinaor (DPC) at district level, the Programme Officer(PO) at the Block/Taluk level and Grama Panchayat at the grass root level. The Gram Panchayat is responsible for planning of works,. Registering households, issuing job cards, allocating employment, executing the works and monitoring the implementation of the scheme at the village level.


The Information, Education Communication (IEC) activities for all the districts at different phases have been organized. The Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development, Mysore is the main organization entrusted with the responsibility of training the officials and non-officials of PRIs. The National Institution of Rural Development, Hyderabad is also involved to train the personal. Besides, in some districts, local NGOs have been involved for social mobilization and awareness building. Other instruments used are posters/pamphlets, display on walls.( Ref: RDPR, Karnataka)

Profiles of Selected Districts

The study area has several basic information like demographic, spatial and other useful indicators which helps in knowing the dissimilarities among the three selected districts as shown in the Table 10 Gulbarga has got larger geographical area as compared to Raichur and Hassan. Gulbarga also has a higher population but density is low as compared to other two districts. Sex Ratio and literacy levels are higher in Hassan which is also indication of more forwardness. Table 10: Districts at a Glance

Gulbarga Raichur Hassan

No of Taluks 10 5 8

Hoblies 48 37 38

Villages 1378 878 2552

Grama Panchayath 336 165 259

Towns/Urban Agglomeration 17 8 12

Municipalities / Corporations 11 6 8

Per Capita Income (1998-99)(Rs) 11,078 9,866 10,859

Employment Exchanges (as on 31.3.2001)

2 1 1

Police Stations (2000-2001) 50 23 27

Fire Stations (2000-2001) 5 3 4

Area (Sq. Kms) 16,224 5,559 6,814

Population - Male 1,591,379 832,352 858,623

Population - Female 1,533,479 815,860 862,696

Density 193 241 253

Sex Ratio (No. of females per 1000 males)

964 980 1,005

Actual rainfall for the year 2000 (mm) 805 640 1,100

Number of Factories (as on 31-3-2001) 129 236 45

Banks 174 94 166

Post Offices 623 279 421

Telephone Exchanges 142 60 94

Literacy Rate (%) 50.65 49.54 68.75

Source: District at a Glance, GOK


The brief description of the districts- Gulbarga:

Gulbarga district is one of the three districts that were transferred from Hyderabad to Karnataka state at the time of re-organization of the state in 1956. It is located in the Northern part of the state and lies between North latitude 17° 10 and 17° 45 and between east longitude 76° 10 and 77° 45’ The District is a biggest district in the state covering 8.49% of the area and 5.9 present of population of the state. Gulbarga district has a sizable part of Scheduled Caste Population. It is 23% of the total population of the district. It is ranked 3rd in the state in respect of this next to Kolar and Chamraj nagar.

In recent years a High Power Committee(popularly known as Nanjundappa Committee) was constituted by the govt. of Karnataka to look into the problem of regional imbalances in the state. The committee, on the basis of various socio-economic indicators assessed the development of 175 talukas in the state and has identified nine taluks among the ten talukas in Gulbarga district as the most backward taluks.

Afzalpur (one of the most backward taluk ) and Gulbarga taluks were selected for the study.

The climate of the district is generally dry and healthy with temperature ranging from 5c to 45c and an annual rainfall of about 750mm. The entire district is situated in Deccan Plateau and the general elevation ranges from 300 to 750 meters above MSL .

Two main river , Krishna and Bhima , flow in the district . The predominant type of soil in the district is black soil . The district has a large number of tanks which in addition to the river irrigate the land . The Upper Krishna Project is major irrigational venture in the district . Jowar, groundnut , rice , and pulses are the main crops. Sugarcane and cotton are the two commercial crops produced in the district. Apart from these, horticulture crops like lemon, papaya and mango are also grown.

RAICHUR

The District of Raichur was a part of the Hyderabad State till the re-organisation of State on 1st November 1956.

The district is bounded on the North by the district of Gulberga, on the West by the districts of Bijapur and Dharwar, on the East by the district of Mababoobnagar of Andhra Pradesh, and on the South are the districts of Kurnool also of Andhra Pradesh, and Bellary. The two rivers, the Krishna and the Tungabhadra from the entire North and Southern boundaries of the district.

The climate of the district is characterised by dryness for the major part of the year and a very hot summer. The low and highly variable rainfall renders the district liable to drought. The data of this observatory may be taken as representative of the conditions in the district. December is the coldest month with the mean daily maximum temperature at 29.3 Degree C. (84.8 F) and the mean daily minimum at 17.7C (63.9F) The nights are generally cool in the season, but day temperatures sometimes reach 35 to 38 Degree C.


The geographical area of the district, according to the Central statistical organization of the Government of India, is 14,013 Sq Kilometers The population of the district

according the 2001 census, was 1,648,212 . In terms of area, the district occupies the

third place among the districts of the State, while in respect of population it occupies the tenth place. It accounts for 7.36 percent of the total area and 4.6 percent of the total population of the State in 1961; the density of population then worked out to 202.51 per square mile or 77 per square kilometer and this was much below the State average, which was 319 per square mile or 123 per square kilometer, and the lowest next only to North Kanara district.

The literacy in the district is considerably low with only 49.54% . The female literacy is still low which is only 36.84%.

HASSAN

Lying between 12° 13´ and 13° 33´ North latitudes and 75° 33´ and 76°38´ East longitude, Hassan district has a total area of 6826.15 km². It is divided into 8 taluks, 38 hoblies & 2369 villages. The geography is mixed with the malnad or mountainous region to the west and south west called Bisle Ghat and the maidan or planis regions in the north, south and east. There are some areas of degraded forest ranges in central portion of the district. Coffee, Black Pepper, Potato, Paddy and Sugarcane are the major agricultural crops

The general level of Hassan district is it slopes with the course of Hemavathi river from the western ghat ranges towards the bed of Cauvery river near Hampapura in the south east. Its chief tributary is Yagachi from Belur taluq which joins it near Gorur. Hemavathi passes through Holenarsipur taluq in a southerly direction and joins with Cauvery river near Hampapura close to the border of Hassan district. Hassan and Belur stands around 3,084 and 3,150 feet (960 m) above the sea level respectively.

As per the 2001 census the population of Hassan district is 17,21,669. The percentage

of rural and urban population to the total population of the district is 82.31 and 17.69

respectively.

People’s perceptions and Overall performance NREGA is just not about income and employment generation. Apart from providing wages for the work done, it is intended to several other indirect benefits to the workers and community like arresting or minimizing distress migration, using the potential of underemployed men and women who are unskilled, asset creation in the village and above all ecological regeneration of the villages. NREGA has also huge potential of reviving the economy of Indian villages if it is properly implemented. By this, it is envisaged to have land development, regenerating the water bodies, recharging the ground water and finally the water available for both consumption and productive purposes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemavathi_river

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauvery_river


For this to happen, the Scheme is expected to improve the awareness level of the people about the NREGA and other development programmes. It is also expected to empower the people to demand services from Gram Panchayat. The overall performance of each district is measured by combining several indicators. They are broadly grouped into nine categories viz. general awareness like job cards, seeking employment, income and employment gains, duration of employment, display of information, worksite facilities, peoples’ participation in Gram sabha and Social Audit and perceptions of workers.

The study was conducted through structured questionnaires. Separate questionnaire was designed for village enumeration, schedule for REGS workers and for farmers. The important findings of the survey is given below -

A. VILLAGE ENUMERATION

It was decided to do a household survey in each of the selected Grama Panchayath covering the socio economic status like caste, literacy status, land holding, income etc and brief information like their status of job card applied and owned, and wages earned if they had worked under NREGS and their over all perceptions on the NREGS.

Summary of the compilation of the village enumeration data is as follows-

Table 11: Social Status-Caste


Kinnisadak GP(N=100)

Mashala GP(N=59)

Gunjalli GP(N=100)

Madlapura GP(N=100)

Nagahalli GP(N=98)

Yalahanka GP(N=82)

No answer 1(1%) 1(1.7%) 5 2 1(1.2%)

SC 13(13%) 5(8.5%) 23 29 8(8.2%) 78(95.5%)

ST 32(32%) 1(1.7%) 47 45 2(2%)

OBC 52(52%) 46(78%) 17 15 85(86.7%) 3(3.7%)

OC 2(2%) 6(10.2%) 11 9 3(3.1%)

It is seen from the above table that OBC constituted a major group in Kinnisadak (52%), Mashala (78%) and Naganahalli (86.7%) panchayaths. In remaining three districts SC/ STs formed a major group Viz: Gunjalli(70%), Madlapura(74%) and Yalahanka(95.5%).

Table 12: Literacy Status

Gulbarga Raichur Hassan Kinnisadak

GP(N=100) Mashala GP(N=59)

Gunjalli GP(N=103)

Madlapura GP(N=100)

Nagahalli GP(N=98)

Yalahanka GP(N=82)

No answer/Blank-

1(1.0%) 2(3.4%) 4(3.9%) 1(1.0%)

Illierate - 1 29(29%) 32(54.2%) 86(83.5%) 88(88%) 65(66.4%) 68(82.9%)

Primary - 2 45(45%) 23(39%) 3(2.9%) 7(7.0%) 23(23.5%) 11(13.4%)

High School-3 19(19%) 1(1.7%) 3(2.9%) 3(3.0%) 8(8.2%) 2(2.4%)

Above high school

6(6%) 1(1.7%) 7(6.8%) 1(1.0%) 2(2.0%) 1(1.2%)


From the sample household survey in about 100 households, in both Gunjalli and Madlapura of Raichur district, proportions of SC/ST population are 70% and 74% respectively. Similarly, in Bhovi village of Yalahanka Panchayath, 97.5% of the population belong to ST population of Bovi community. Also illiteracy among the house hold survey in these three panchayats seems to be highest to the extent of 83 to 88%. Added to social backwardness and high percentage of illiteracy, household belonging to landless or small holding (less than 2.5 acres) constitute the bulk of the population (64 % to 86%).

Table 13: Land holding status

Gulbarga Raichur Hassan Kinnisadak

GP(N=100) Mashala GP(N=59)

Gunjalli GP(N=103)

Madlapura GP(N=100)

Nagahalli GP(N=98)

Yalahanka GP(N=82)

Landless -1 14 23(39%) 39(37.9%) 34 3(3.1%) 8(9.8%)

Less than one acre -2

34 6(10.2%) 2(1.9%) 13 28(28.6%) 9(11.0%)

1.01-2.5 acres -3

21 12(20.3%) 25(24.3%) 36 61(62.2%) 53(64.6%)

2.51-5.0 acres -4

25 16(27.1%) 25(24.3%) 8 5(5.1%) 10(12.2%)

2.51-5.0 acres -4

1 1(1.7%) 5(4.9%) 4 1(1.0%) 2(2.4%)

5.01-10.0 acres -5

5 1(1.7%) 7(6.8%) 5

10.1- acres and above -6

7

It is observed from the above table that more than 90% of the household interviewed is having less than 2.5 acres of land which means they can not sustain the livelihood only on the land. In such cases families who are unskilled will have to depend on their physical work and during the critical part of the year i.e summer when they do not get any employment locally will migrate to faraway places in search of wage works.

Table 14: Economic Status (Annual income)



Mashala GP(N=59)

Gunjalli GP(N=103)

Madlapura GP(N=100)

Nagahalli GP(N=98)

Yalahanka GP(N=82)

No answer/Blank - 0

1 15(25.4%) 2(1.9%) 1

<Rs.5000 - 1 19 13(22.0%) 21(20.4%) 22 59(60.2%) 33(40.2%)

Rs.5001-10000 -2

36 20(33.9%) 31(30.4%) 46 33(33.7%) 33(40.2%)

Rs.5001-15,000 -3

25 4(6.8%) 39(37.9%) 23 2(2.0%) 7(8.5%)

80 62.8 88.7 91 95.9 88.9

Rs.15001-20000 -4

11 5(8.5%) 5(4.9%) 4 2(2.0%) 3(3.7%)

Rs.20001- 1 2(3.4%) 1(1.0%) 2(2.4%)


25000 -5

Rs25001-40000 -6

2 2(1.9%) 1 2(2.4%)

Rs.40001-60000 -7

1(1.0%) 1 1(1.0%) 1(1.2%)

>Rs.60001--8

5 1(1.0%) 2 1(1.0%) 1(1.2%)

Most of them have less than 2-2.5 acres of land and depend on agriculture and also work as

agriculture labourers. More than 80 % of the families are having an annual income of less than

Rs. 40,000/.

Table 15: Household registration for NREGS



Mashala GP(N=59)

Gunjalli GP(N=103)

Madlapura GP(N=100)

Nagahalli GP(N=98)

Yalahanka GP(N=82)

Whether the household was Registered under NREGS

No answer 2 8(13.6%) 2 2(1.9%) 1(1.0%)

Yes 23 51(86.4%) 71 67(68.9%) 69(70.4%) 57(69.5%)

No 75 30 31(29.1%) 28(28.6%) 25(30.5%)

Position of the Job card

No answer 16 6(10.2%) 3(2.9%) 5(5%) 27(27.6%) 1(1.2%)

Yes 10 53(89.8%) 64(62.1%) 64(64%) 61(62.2%) 52(63.4%)

No 74 36(35.0%) 31(31%) 10(10.2%) 29(35.4%)

Except in Kinni(sadak) Panchayt of Gulberga district, in all other panchayats, 68.9 to 86.4% of

the households have registered themselves under NREGS. Almost 62 to 69% of them applied

own the job cards in these panchayaths.

B. REGS WORKERS SCHEDULES Information was collected from workers who worked in scheme. Even though, it was decided to seek information from 30 REGS workers, number is less in Gunjalli Panchayath.

Table 16: Awareness of Entitlements under NREGA-


Kinnisadak GP(N=27)

Mashala GP(N=31)

Gunjalli GP(N=11)

Madlapura GP(N=36)

Nagahalli GP(N=30)

Yalahanka GP(N=31)

Maximum number of days of guaranteed employment (100 days)

18(66.67%)

31(100) 2(18.18) 4(11.11) 10(30.0) 7(29.17)

Unemployment allowance (Rs.______ )

1(4.00) 9(29%) 2(18.18) 1(3.00) 3(10.00) 0


Wages to be paid if work is given beyond 5 kms

0 0 0 0 0 0

Minimum wages (Rs.______ )

24(88.89) 26(83.87) 3(27.27) 13(36.11) 19(63.33) 8(25.80)

Time limit for providing employment after submission of application (15 days)

17(62.96) 31(100.0) 1(9.00) 2(5.56) 11(36.67) 21(67.74)

Time limit for payment of wages (15 days)

17(62.96) 27(87.11) 1(9.00) 3(8.33) 16(53.33) 25(80.65)

Except for the knowledge about 100 days guaranteed employment, awareness about remaining entitlements is very low across all the three districts. Awareness about entitlements like extra wages to be paid if the work is given beyond 5kms, is nil among workers. One of the reason told by some officials is that question of extra wages beyond 5 kms does not arise as they always worked within 5 kms, in their own gram panchayath. If we go by districts, overall awareness about the entitlement is better in Gulbarga as compared to other two districts.

Table 17: Awareness regarding social audit and VMC


Kinnisadak GP(N=27)

Mashala GP(N=31)

Gunjalli GP(N=11)

Madlapura GP(N=36)

Nagahalli GP(N=30)

Yalahanka GP(N=31)

Aware of social audit

6(22..2%) 20(66.67%) 0 1(3.3%) 8(26.67%) 1(3.2%)

Aware of VMC 11(40.74%) 15(48.39%) 1(9%) 0 1(3.3%) 1(3.3%)

Major Sources of information i. Gram panchayat 23(85.19%) 25((80.65%) 6(54.55%) 14(38.89%

) 25((83.33%) 26(83.87%)

ii. Officials 0 1(3.2%) 0 1(3.3%) 0 0

iii.Newspaper 0 0 0 0 0 0

Iv. Radio and TV 0 0 0 0 0 0

v.NGO 0 0 0 0 0 0

vi. Friends and relatives

0 0 5(45.45%) 16(44.44%)

0 1(3.3%)

vii. NREGA campaign

0 0 0 0 1(3.3%) 2(6.6%)

viii. Door to door survey

0 0 0 0 0 0

ix. Not applicable 0 0 0 0 0 0

As per the discussion with the people, social audit is conducted in Mashal Gram Panchayath. In other places people whom we have spoken to do not have any idea about social audits. In Hassan district, officials admitted that neither they have clear idea about how to go about the social audits nor they have conducted social audits / facilitated to conduct. They expressed the need for the training in this regard. The above survey findings also confirm the lack of knowledge about the social audits and VMCs. Highest awareness about the Social audit and VMCs is in Mashal Grampanchayat of Gulbarga districts which are 66.67% and 48.39% respectively.


More than 80% of the workers expressed that they got information on NREGA through Panchayat secretary/sarapanch in both Gulbarga and Hassan districts. In Raichur, in both Gunjalli and Madlapur Panchayat, about 45% of the workers said that they got the information from friends and relatives apart from Gram Panchayat Secretary/Sarapanch. Table 18:Awareness about complaints to be given regarding job card- Gulbarga Raichur Hassan

Kinnisadak GP(N=27)

Mashala GP(N=31)

Gunjalli GP(N=11)

Madlapura GP(N=36)

Nagahalli GP(N=30)

Yalahanka GP(N=31)

1. Awareness about the complaints

i.a. Job cards are not given: 22(81.5%) 29(93.5%) 4(36.4%) 11(30.6%) 3(10%) 2(6.5%)

i.b officials to be contacted 6(22.2%) 6(19.4%) 0 0 2(6.1%) 2(6.5%)

ii. Work is not given within 15 days:

20(74.1%) 28(90.3%) 0 2(5.6%) 2(6.7%) 1(3.2%)

ii.b officials to be contacted 3(9.7%) 0 0 0 0 1(3.2%)

iii. Wages are not paid within 15 days:

19(70.4%) 27(87.1%) 0 1(2.8%) 2(6.7%) 2(6.5%)

iii.c officials to be contacted 1(3.7%) 4(12.9%) 0 0 0 1(3.2%)

iv. Wage slips are not given: 8(29.6%) 15(48.4%) 0 1(2.8%) 2(6.7%) 2(6.5%)

v. Officials to be contacted for complaint

5(18.5%) 2(6.5%) 0 0 0 1(3.2)

2.Registration of job cards

a. Male 15(55.6%) 26(83.9%) 10(90.9%) 21(58.3%) 13(43.3%) 19(61.3%)

b.Female 12(44.4%) 5(16.1%) 1(9.1%) 15(41.7%) 17(56.7%) 12(38.7%)

3. Job card lies generally with

i. Sarapanch 10(37%) 6(19.4%) 2(6.5%)

ii.Technical Assistant 1(9.1%) 4(11.1%) 2(6.7%)

iii. Panchayat Secretay 10(37%) 23(74.2%) 7(63.6%) 24(66.7%) 5(6.7%) 6(19.4%)

iv.Contractor 6(22.2%) 3(27.3%) 3(8.3%)

v. Mate 1(3.2%) 3(8.3%) 2(6.7%)

vi. GRS 2(6.7%)

vii. Others 1(3.7%) 1(3.2%) 2(5.6%) 19(63.3%) 23(74.2%)

vii. Does not know

4. Expenditure incurred while obtaining job card

i. For photo 16(59.3%) 20(64.5%) 7(63.6%) 26(72.2%) 4(13.3%) 0

ii. For bank account 11(40.7%) 11(35.5%) 4(36.4%) 10(27.8%) 26(86.7%) 31(100%)

5. Can you get jobs without job card?

4(14.8%) 0 1(9,1%) 20(55.6%) 15(50%) 27(87.1%)

6. Can you get jobs without application?

5(18.5%) 1(3.2%) 2(18.2%) 12(33.3%) 17(56.7%) 25(80.6%)

Workers from Kinnisadak and Mashal gram panchayath from Gulbarga district are moderately aware about the provision of complaining if the job cards are not issued. However, even in that district, awareness about knowledge regarding officials to be contacted is less than 20%. From the group discussion, it was clear that no one has so far ever given any complaint to any officials even though they have so many grievances. Here are few observations made regarding job cards during the study- 1. It was observed that only one third of the people who apply for job cards actually sought for Job under NREGA. The reasons for this poor turn out are as follows-


(i) Some of them who really wanted the job, neither know that they had to apply and get their job nor local officials told them. This was expressed in Madlapur grama panchyath of Raichur district. (ii) Large many people applied for job card like they apply for Ration cards /voters ID card. By mere having the card and doing some work, they thought they would get the higher wages from the government. Some people also told that this may be useful to get some government benefits. (iii)There are yet another category who would go to near by city, mostly district places where they get much higher wages. They work in construction / granite quarry / coffee plantations. (iv) There is an understanding between local contractors and officials where in contractors gets the work done and works are adjusted in the job cards belonging to his people.This was observed in Madlapura Gram Panchayat when team visited. Most of the workers who were on work site did not know about job cards. Another pity thing is that about half of them ( 8 out of 15) were young boys of 14-15 year s of age. They said that payments were made through cash on weekly basis by the contractor ( who claim himself as mate) at the rate of Rs.100/day. When interacted with the mate, he said that to get the NREGA money for the work, it will take more than two months for which no worker is willing to work. Therefore, they are somehow managing to get work done by making the advance payment to the workers at higher rates. Add to all these, officials were saying that single JE( Junior Engineer) is responsible for many worksites, it is practically impossible to settle the bill within stipulated time. All these are oral expressions given by various people but to get the exact information, expenditure tracking has to be done case by case, which was beyond the scope of this study. Another important thing observed in Madlapur panchayat is that farm ponds were constructed on an individual farmers field which is not on the watershed principle. Farm pond which was built is near a bore well and at best it will be used as a water storage tank to irrigate the surrounding paddy field. Majority of the workers from Gulbarga and Raichur (59.3% to 73.2%) told that they spend Rs.30-40/- per card for taking the photo. In Hassan district, workers had to pay Rs. 100/- per card as a deposit for opening an account. Job cards generally lie with sarapanch/Panchayath secretary or contractors. In some of the Panchayats, job card was issued and made them available to the workers on the worksite when the survey team went. In some panchayaths like Belur, Panchayat secretary justified the need for keeping the job cards in the panchayath office to avoid loosing/misplacing the job cards by workers.


Table: 19 Application for work and time taken to get employment


Kinnisadak GP(N=27)

Mashala GP(N=31)

Gunjalli GP(N=11)

Madlapura GP(N=36)

Nagahalli GP(N=30)

Yalahanka GP(N=31)

Awareness about application for REGS work

Yes 5(18.5%) 1(3.2%) 2(18.2%) 12(33.33%) 17(56.7%) 25(80.6%)

No 22(81.5%) 30(96.8%) 9(81.8%) 24(66.7%) 13(43.3%) 6(19.45)

Duration taken to get employment after applying

0-No answer/ Blank 1(3.7%) 1(9.1%) 2(6.6%) 4(13.3%)

1-Immediately 13(48.1%) 12(38.7%) 1(9.1%) 2(5.6%) 3(9.7%)

2-Less than a week 5(18.5%) 8(25.8%) 2(18.2%) 1(2.8%) 2(6.7%) 2(6.5%)

3.7-10 days 2(7.4%) 5(16.1%) 0 3(8.3%) 8(26.7%) 11(35.5%)

4.11-15 days 5(18.5%) 5(16.1%) 6(54.5%) 19(52.8%)

5-More than 15 days 1(3.2%) 1(9.1%) 1(2.8%) 4(13.3%) 2(6.5%)

6-Not given but got work

1(3.7%) 8(22.2%) 12(40.0%) 13(41.9%)

Except in Hassan district awareness about applying for employment is low. It is mostly supply driven rather than them demanding for the work. Majority of the workers during the personal interaction said that they will work whenever work is given by panchayath. Answers in the above table mostly refer to duration between the time Panchayat secretary /other officials making villagers apply for a certain work and give the work. Whomever they approach will get the employment and the remaining who equally deserve the employment and willing to work are left behind because of want of information. This is expressed during the personal interview and group discussions.

Table 20: Utilization of NREGS wages by workers

Gulberga Raichur Hassan

GPs Kinnisadak Mashal Gunjalli Madalapura Marakuli Yalahanka

Household purpose

24(88.9%) 22(71%) 3(25.4%) 17(47.2%) 26(86.67%) 29(93.54%)

School fees 2(6.6%) 1(3.3%)

No use /Not satisfied

3(25.4%) 1(3.3%)

Not answered 3(11.1%) 9(29%) 5(45.5%) 17(47.2%) 2(6.6%) 2(6.5%)

Majority of the workers (71% to 93.54%) are using the wage money for household purposes both in Gulbarga and Hassan districts. However, in both the panchayat viz Gunjalli and Madalapura, significant number of workers’ family ( 45.5 to 47.2%) did not answer and they did not know how the money was being spent. In Gunjalli Panchayat ( 25.4%), people expressed the dissatisfaction about the wages and measurement of work. When we visited the site, which was selected for the desilting, workers refused to work as the soil was very hard and silt removed had to be physically lifted on the one side of the tank bund which was very high. In this case, Gram panchayat Secretary /officials were following the older measurement rate and did not know the revised rates.


Table 21: Details on Wage payment-



Wage slip given - Nil Nil Nil 2(6.7%) Nil

Mode of Payment

No answer

8(29.6%) 2(6.5%) 2(18.2%) 2(5.6%) 2(6.7%) Nil

Post Office

4(14.8%) Nil 2(18.2%) 5(13.9%) Nil Nil

Cash 3(11.1%) 3(9.7%) 3(27.3%) 12(33.3%) Nil 9(29%)

Bank 19(70.4%) 26(83.9%) 4(36.4%) 17(47.2%) 28(93.3%) 22(71%)

Duration taken for the payment

0-7 days 3(11.11%) 2(6.5%) 4(36.36%) 16(44.44%) 1(3.3%) 13(41.94%)

15days 20(74%) 29(93.5%) 4(36.36%) 14(38.89%) 20(66.67%) 14(45.16%)

15-30 2(7.4%) 0 0 4(11.11%) 9(30%) 4(12.90%)

>30days 2 0 3(27.27%) 2(5.6%) 0 0

Wage slip is not given in all gram panchayaths across three districts. In Kinnisadak and Mashal gram panchayat of Gulberga district and Marakuli gramapanchayat of Hassan district, more than 80% of the payment is done through Bank/post office. In Raichur district and Yalahanka Panchayat of Hassan district 27.3 to 33.3% of the workers said that they got wages by cash. Similarly, in all these places, 36.6 to 44.4% workers said that they got their wages within a week’s time. Currently, in our experience on an average, time taken for earliest payment by following normal procedures is 15 days. These

cases pose many questions regarding the reliability of the payment. In one of the Panchayath, they said that payments were made through cash on weekly basis by the contractor ( who claim himself as mate) at the rate of Rs.100/day. When interacted with the mate, he said that to get the NREGA money for the work, it will take more than two months for which no worker is willing to work. They pay an advance money to workers on a weekly basis and claim the money from the government later. Table 22:Total number of days worked under NREGA as per the job card-


No. of days

Kinnisadak Mashal Gunjalli Madalapura Marakuli Yalahanka

1-10 5(22.72%) 1(3.7%) 3(100%) 2(6.5%)

11-20 9(40.91%) 4(14.81%) 2(50%) 2(8%) 6(19.35%)

21-30 1(4.5%) 4(14.81%) 2(50%) 5(20%) 7(22.58%)

31-40 2(9%) 7(25.93%) 4(16%) 8(25.81%)

41-50 1(3.7%) 2(8%) 6(19.35%)

77.13 62.95 100 52 93.59

51-60 5(20%) 1(3.25%)

61-70 2(7.4%) 4(16%)

71-80 3(13.64%) 5(18.52%) 1(4%)

81-90 4(14.81%)

91-100 2(9%) 4(14.81%) 2(8%) 1(3.25%)

Total 22 27 4 3 25 31


When we visited the work site / doing village households, some of them did not possess the job card with them. Many of them said they normally do not bring the job card to the work site. Also, some of them carried job card but nothing is being entered there. The figures in the above table do represent only those workers who had job cards in their hand/house as well as some entries being done on the card. For example, in Madlapura, many workers on work site did not have job cards and those who had, entries were not done. It is seen from the above table that, less than 10% of the workers have completed 100 days of employment in all the panchayaths except in Mashal. Percentage of workers family who completed less than 50 days range from 62.95% in Mashal to 93.59% in Yalahanka. Table 23: Facility provided at worksite for workers-



Drinking water 25(92.6%) 28(90.3%) Nil 2(5.6%) 23(76.7%) 25(80.6%)

Cresche 13(48.1%) 16(16.6%) Nil Nil Nil Nil

First aid kit 17(63%) 25(80.6%) Nil Nil 11(36.7%) Nil

Shade 17(63%) 25(80.6%) Nil Nil 11(36.7%) Nil

Other than the drinking water facility , most of the facilities like Creshe, first aid kit and

shade is very poor. Even among the people who said they have facility to take care of

their children are the women who are working in forest nursery where they have ample

shade and few buildings where they can leave their young ones. In one of the

panchayath ( Gunjalli ) villagers and GP members expressed their dissatisfaction about

the substandard quality materials like drinking water pot and other agriculture

implements. ( As the GPs did not purchase the materials, it was centrally purchased at

taluk level and supplied to all GPs ). The drinking water pot was of low quality plastics,

which would be quite unfit to use for drinking water purposes given the summer

temperature of the region.

Table 24: Awareness about Selection of works



Awareness about type of works

19(70.4%) 30(96.8%) 1(9.1%) 1(35%) 11(36.7%) 6(19.4%)

Grama Sabha for selection of works

23(85.2%) 29(93.5%) 2(18.2%) 9(25%) 15(50%) 21(67.7%)

Participation of self

4(14.8%) 5(16.1%) 1(9.1%) Nil 3(10%) 2(6.4%)

Awareness 16(59.3%) 30(96.8%) 2(18.2%) Nil 4(13.3%) 1(3.2%)


about social audit conducted

Participation of self in social audit

5(18.5%) 16(51.6%) 1(9.3%) Nil 1(3.3%) Nil

REGS info display

GP 20(74.97%) 22(70.97%) 2(18.18%) 5(15.6%) 5(15.6%) 2(6.5%)

Work site

1((3.3%) 4(13.33%) 6((54.55%) 10(31.25%) 14(46.67%) 10(33.33%)

Don’t know

- - - - -

Workers in Gulbarga district have a better knowledge about the type of works and select ion of works (70.4% to 96.8%) while awareness in other districts is low ( 9.1% to 36.4%). However, their own participation in the Grama Sabha while selection of different works takes place is poor. It was observed that Social audit is being conducted in Gulbarga and significant number of workers do have knowledge about social audit. But even in this district, workers’ participation in the social audit process is very low across all Grampanchayath except in Mashal Gram Panchayat of Afzalpur taluk of Gulbarga.

In all the Grama Panchayth visited, REGS information is displayed on the walls. But workers knowledge about them is poor which could be partly due to illiteracy. Also about 50% of them interviewed are women who are generally not so much mobile where they might not have come to GP and observed them. In many work sites, it was observed during the visit that there is no display of information.

Table 25: Opinion about the work by REGS workers



Quality Of The work

Very Good 17(81%) 11(64.7%) 2(6.1%) 23(76.7%) 14(48.3%)

Good 3(14.3%) 5(29.4%) 4(36.36%)

14(42.4%) 7(23.3%) 13(44.8%)

Average 1(5.9%)

1(3%) 1(3.4%)

Not good 5(45.45%)

13(39.4%) 1(3.4%)

Don’t know 1(4.8%) 2(18.18%) 3(9.1%)

Durability

Durable 18(85.7%) 12(70.6%) 6(18.2%) 24(80.0%) 80.0

Not durable 2(9.5%) 4(23.5%) 2(22.3%) 12(36.4%) 5(16.7%) 16.7

Can’t say 1(4.8%) 1(5.9%) 7(77.8%) 15(45.5%) 1(3.3%) 3.3

Usefulness

Useful 18(85.7%) 14(82.4) 1(11.1%) 5(15.2%) 27(90.0%) 23(79.3%)

Not useful 2(9.5%) 2(9.5%) 3(33.3%) 11(33.3%) 3(10%) 6(20.7%)

Can’t say 1(4.8%) 1(5.9%) 5(55.6%) 17(51.5%)

From the above table, it can be inferred that workers perception about the quality, durability and usefulness about the work in the villages are quite positive in Gulbarga and Hassan district. However, in both Gunjalli and Madlapur grama Panchayath, more


than 50% of the workers expressed dissatisfaction and unsure about the quality, durability and usefulness of the work.

Table 26: Opinion of workers on Impact of REGS about migration.



No answer/Blank

5(18.5%) 6(19.4%) 0 4(11.1%)

4(13.3%)

Cnsiderably 17(63%) 19(61.3%) 0 5(13.9%) 2(6.7%) 3(9.7%)

Moderately 3(11.1%) 4(12.9%) 2(18.2%) 1(2.8%)

6(30%) 16(51.6%)

No effect 2(7.4%) 2(6.4%) 9(81.8%) 25(72.2%)

12(32.3%)

Not applicable

19(63.3%)

Except in Gulbarga, in other two districts, majority of workers expressed that REGS has only moderate effect or no effect on migration. In Mashal panchayath of Gulbarga, people used to migrate to the neighbouring Maharashtra for three months during summer. Workers said that as they get the employment, they could stay back in their villages. In Marakuli Panchayath, historically there was no distress migration as enough employment is available locally through out the year. Therefore the question of migration in this panchayath is not relevant. In Raichur and Gulbarga taluks, workers are getting lot of employment in factories, granite quarries etc as they are nearby to district places. Workers, especially men are depending on these works as they get higher wages in these places and it was told that women in the family are encouraged to work under REGS. In Yalahanka Panchayath of Hassan district, most of them belong to Bhovi (SC) community, who will work in coffee estate on a contract basis. As the NREGS work is just started six months ago here, it is very premature to draw any conclusion about the migration. However, people said that if they get hire wages than coffee estate, they will stay back.

IMPACT of NREGS works on Agriculture productivity in the villages

Agriculture wage rate has increased in last three years in these districts. But there is a very little evidence about the significant impact of NREGS on various aspects of agriculture like labour demand and supply, wage rates and cost of cultivation. In one of the village called Madlapura, there was steep demand for agriculture labours as they started getting Tungabhdra canal water for irrigation. Because of this, farmers started growing paddy in two seasons and until end of February, there is demand for harvesting of paddy. Because of this, agriculture labour rate has gone up.

In places like Marakuli panchayath of Hassan, due to desilting of tank and tank repair, farmers took second crop of paddy in about 80 acres. Farmers of both Mashal and Yalahanka Panchayat, said yet another major benefits they got is enough water for their cattle. However, they felt it had no impact on wage rate or cost of cultivation.

Only exception to this is Mashal gramapanchayath of Afzalpur taluk where there was significant improvement in the ground water level. Bore wells and open wells which were completely dried up got rejuvenated and farmers could irrigate tur crops at critical stages of the crop growth which also enhanced their productivity. In this village, few farmers who had their land near the tank said that yield of bengal gram and tur has increased to the extent of 3 bags/acre( 150 kg approx). This is possible as farmers could irrigate their land during the critical stage of the crop growth. Farmers who had farm pond dug near by their farm said that apart from increase in the water


table, they could use pond water for pesticide spray which in turn saved them lifting the water from far away places for spraying purpose.

Table 27: Impact of NREGS on Agriculture

Kinnisadak Mashal Gunjalli Madhalapura Marakuli Yalahanka

02. Increased water 19 30

04. Agriculture activities in summer

4 6

05. Drinking water for cattle

30 20

07. Crop yield increase

8

08. Not significant 1

10. Second crop more yield

10

Forest seedlings are planted on roadside as well as on waste land. This work is just completed six months prior to the study and villagers have not started getting benefits like fodder for sheep, fuel for household , shade etc.

Table 28: Knowledge of farmers about Various activities taken up under NREGS and impact of the in the villages


Kinnisadak GP(N=19)

Mashala GP(N=29)

Gunjalli GP(N=30)

Madlapura GP(N=30)

Nagahalli GP(N=18)

Yalahanka GP(N=20)

Awareness of eight categories of work

No answer 16(84.2%) 2(6.7%) 2(11.1%)

Yes 1(5.3%) 29(100%) 5(16.7%) 1(3.3%) 12(66.7%) 4(20%)

No 2(10.5%) 23(76.7%) 29(96.7%) 4(22.2%) 16(80%)

Impact of water harvesting

No impact 1 1(5%) 4(20.0%)

Moderate Impact

1(4.5%)

Significant positive Impact

1 29(100%) 1(4.5%) 18(100%) 12(60.0%)

Can't say 17 9(40.9%) 19(65%) 4(20.0%)

Not applicable to this village

11(50%) 10(30%)

Impact of Afforestation

No impact 5 6 13

Moderate Impact

10


10 9

Can't say 5 15 13


19 4 18(100%) 20(100%)

Impact on Land development


No impact 4 3 5

Moderate Impact

10 10


10 10

Can't say 5 5 5


1

Impact on Irrigation and canals

No impact 1 1

Moderate Impact

5 1


19 1

Can't say **19 4 9 6


11 NA NA

Except in Mashal Panchayat of Gulbarga anf Marakuli Panchayt of Hassan district all other places, people’s awareness about eight different categories are very poor. It is obvious people get to know about them because of the excellent works being done and an active participation of elected panchayath representatives.

Table 29:Impact of NREGS on Agriculture wages-

Average wages for male before and after NREGS

MIN MAX

Before After Before After

Mashal 34.65 70.34 58.45 110.86

Madlapura 87 87 110.67 111

Gunjalli 77.53 92.14 116.15 107.31

Marakuli 94.23 94.23 95 105

Yalahanka 77 87 57.11 98.5

Average wages for female before and after NREGS

MIN MAX

Before After Before After

Mashal 28.5 35 32.58 54.3

Madlapura 59.33 60 84.7 84.7

Gunjalli 45.8 45 84.2 87.17

Marakuli 67.3 67.3 75 95

Yalahanka 55 59 57.1 73.24


As par as the agriculture wages is concerned, only in Mashal grama Panchayath, there

is a significant difference in the wages of both male and female workers after the

intervention of the NREGS. Average range of wages for men in this grama panchayath

is 34.65 to 58.45 before the NREGS and it shoot upto 70.34 to 110.86. Similarly,

maximum wages for women went upto Rs. 54.3 after the NREGS. However, the women

wage rate is still low compared to state average. In one of the nearby Grama Panchayat,

men said that as wages for women is higher in NREGS than what otherwise get locally,

they prefer to send their women folk from their families while men can earn higher wages

in nearby town/city for construction works.

Chapter IV

Info from officials and its’ analysis ( To be collected)

Chapter V

Conclusions and Policy Implications

Karnataka is one of India’s fastest growing states. Its state GDP (GSDP) growth rate picked up from 5.3% in the eighties (below the national average) to 7.3% in the nineties (the second highest), and at 8.3% in the second half of the nineties (the highest). Karnataka’s good growth record in the nineties was maintained into 2000/01 (with real growth of 6.7%), but slowed in 2001/02 and 2002/03 on account of drought. Despite rapid growth in recent years, Karnataka is still a poor state, poorer than the average for India. According to the now -widely-used Deaton-Dreze adjusted poverty estimates, poverty in Karnataka in 1999/00 was 25.1% compared to the all-India average of 22.7% (Table 1). This reflects low average land-holdings, and high reliance on rain-fed agriculture. However, poverty is falling. Rural poverty in Karnataka fell from 37.9% in 1993/94 to 30.7% in 1999/00, compared to an all India decline from 33% to 26%.Urban poverty fell from 21.4% in 1993/94 to 10.8% in 1999/00 (compared to an all India decline from 18% to 12%). Thus, compared to the all-India performance, there was a slightly above average reduction in rural areas and a greatly above average reduction in urban areas.

NREGS in Karnataka is not only needed to give the meaning employment for the rural poor, and arrest distress migration in some of the backward districts. Most importantly, scope for the asset creation within the villages is boon for the entire village. Important findings and recommendations of the study are summarized as follows-

Awareness Except for the knowledge about 100 days guaranteed employment, awareness about remaining entitlements is very low across all the three districts. Awareness about entitlements like extra wages to be paid if the work is given beyond 5kms, is nil among workers. Awareness about the social audit and village monitoring committee is not


sufficient. In some places officials themselves are not clear idea about how to go about the social audits nor they have conducted social audits / facilitated to conduct. There is a need for the training in this regard.

In all the Grama Panchayth visited, REGS information is displayed on the walls. But workers knowledge about them is poor which could be partly due to illiteracy. Also about 50% of them interviewed are women who are generally not so much mobile where they might not have come to GP. In such cases, innovative methods to reach these target audiences are though apart from the display on the walls of panchayath.

Registration and issue of Job cards

Some of them who really wanted the job, neither know that they had to apply and get their job nor local officials told them. Awareness about seeking employment is poor. Employment in most of the villages are supply driven rather than demand driven There is a need to have a separate intensive awareness campaigns with innovative methods like street play, attractive awareness materials, film show etc may be needed such that message remain with the people.

During the visit, in few cases it is noticed that, single members’ name appeared in two job cards For example: If mother-in-law and husband are having separate job cards, daughter in law’s name appear in both the cards. There is a need to conduct a separate fresh survey to update new people who are not included as well as eliminate duplication. There is also a need to make a separate list of people/families who regularly go on migration to far away places and also special focus is needed to bring them into REGS fold. Capacity Building- Many times, workers do not have a clarity on how much wages they are entitled for certain number of days’ work. The amount mentioned in the pass book and what they say does not match. Clarity about measurement of piece work is needed for both

workers and officials. This will bring mutual trust and respect among the workers and officials and people are empowered to join these works for the betterment of their village. Repeated training for all the elected representatives and concerned officials are needed for them to execute the work effectively. Implementation Process:- Even though, excellent work is being done in many cases, it is more seen as asset creation/target reaching/ etc. In the bargain, social empowerment is being slightly

sidelined. In this process, involving people who are in dire need of employment is ignored.


One of the discouraging factor for some of the deserving people opting out of NREGS is delayed payment. Speedy mechanisms like use of IT in measurement may be thought of. Also, it should be seen that there are enough number of staff to make measurement and certify the works.

Many times stringent rules will hamper the progress of the work. For example, in case of forest nursery, by the time they get trained in various aspects of the nursery management, their period of 100 days would be over. To get another batch and train them would require time and effort. Moreover, women who are very nearby to the nursery site would be ideal. Depending on the need and appropriateness, the 100 days’ duration may be relaxed.

Transparency Measures Both elected representatives and officials need to be thorough with the process of social audits and VMCs. Also these social audit needs to be conducted regularly involving all the stake holders.

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