Research and Documentation

This is an emerging activity of the organisation. Beginning the year 2000 the organisation carried out a study on ‘Green Revolution, Equality and Environment Protection’. Later in the same year it participated in a study ‘Decentralisation and Panchayats in Uttar Pradesh’, coordinated by the state level resource organisation Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra, Lucknow. 

Green Revolution, Equality and Environment Protection

Western UP is a leading green revolution region of India, which is very well placed in terms of most of the commonly used indicators of agricultural development. To go into question if green revolution is a reality or a myth and several other questions the organization initiated a study entitled ‘Green Revolution, Equality and Environment Protection’.

The main findings of the study are:

  1. One of the most important concerns is decline in the fertility of land. In all the five villages surveyed, all the farmers agreed that the fertility of land was declining. They also agreed if present cultivation practices continued, decline of fertility could become more acute in a decade or two and reach crisis proportions.
  2. The golden period of quickly raising yields is over. In the last few years the yields have declined, stagnated or at best have risen very moderately. In sharp contrast the inputs demanded by the green revolution agriculture are rising very fast. For most farmers, in recent year it has been a story of a fast rise in expenses with much more modest rise in yields, in many cases simply a stagnation or even decline of yields.
  3. Farmers felt threatened and harassed by the growing uncertainties of green revolution agriculture. The threat from pests and disease to crops was increasing in recent years. Quite often, in desperation farmers sought advice of pesticide dealers or just saw what the neighbours were using. The overall experience was that despite spending much larger among of money on pesticides they found that the problems caused by pests were increasing.
  4. Now farmers are dependent on market for purchasing seeds as against the older practice of using seeds grown in own or neighbours fields. Since many kinds of seeds are available the farmers are sometimes very confused about which seeds to select. Lack of actual knowledge about the varieties they are growing and about their pest and disease susceptibility makes them very vulnerable.
  5. The economics of agriculture works out quite differently for big farmers and small farmers. A big farmer faces free market conditions so that he is able to sell his produce at a place where he can get higher price. But the small farmer has often taken advance loans because of which he has to sell the crop at a cheaper rate. The smaller farmer sometimes cannot afford to take his crop to the government-managed markets which are located at a far distance.
  6. The green revolution technology involves heavy infrastructural expenses in the form of tractor, its accessories, other machinery, tubewells, etc. This can become viable if the landholding is big, but not if landholding is small. In the capital driven green revolution several small farmers have been forced to sell their land to come out of debt trap. Some others have not sold their land but they do not also cultivate it on their own. They do not have the resources to cultivate the land on their own, so they lease it out to others. Some small farmers due to their economic hardships also sell topsoil to brick kilns but when the fertile topsoil is dug up then the land loses its fertility.
  7. Employment opportunities for all farm workers, including women workers are decreasing. Agricultural work is now available only for about three months or so because of mechanisation of agricultural operations. While employment opportunities have decreased, occupational health risks have increased for many workers, particularly when they work at threshers or spray chemical pesticides. Many workers have been physically disabled.
  8. Hunger exists even in this green revolution region. In at least two villages 20 to 25 families remain hungry or half-fed during some lean months in the year. Moreover, only 25 to 30 per cent residents of the villages get adequate nutrition in the form of a regular supply of pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products.
  9. One way of improving the condition of landless farm workers is to give them land under the government’s land distribution programme for poor and landless people. But only a few pattas have been given, open bribes had to be paid to get those pattas and some of these pattas are being cancelled now.
  10. As far as possible encouragement should be extended to the promotion of organic agriculture using labour intensive methods and local resources. Recent experience of Cuba shows how it is both possible and useful for farmers used to chemical-based agriculture to give up this technology in favour of organic agriculture. In India there are numerous examples of successful experiments related to organic farming. Some of these have also been reported from Western UP or also from other nearby green revolution areas such as Haryana.
  11. The elderly villagers remember a wide range of traditional practices which were earlier used to keep away harmful insects and other pests as well as to increase the fertility of land without depending on any chemicals. Most of these demand hard work and dedication to farming.
  12. Lastly the resource base of the landless farm workers has to be improved. Since land availability is limited the landless and small/marginal farmers should be given priority in income earning activities for which government help is available. They should be encouraged to start various cottage scale artisan activities.

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Decentralisation and Panchayats in Uttar Pradesh

One of the underlying principles of governance is that it has to be operated in a decentralised fashion to meet aspirations of the people. Panchayati Raj regime is an effort in this direction for it takes power to the hands of vast rural populace of the State (and the country). The Constitution (Seventy-Third) Amendment Act 1992 while according a constitutional status of Panchayats has also given wide instructions to the State Governments regarding devolution of their powers (and finances) to the Panchayats so as to make them a vehicle of development. It put forth before the State deadline towards this decentralisation.

Nearly all the States followed the suit. In Uttar Pradesh the process started way back in 1994 by appointing a State Finance Commission and an Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission. The reports of these two commissions were ready by 1995. While financial devolution was quick, the journey of decentralisation was quite bumpy because of political situation prevailing in the State at that time. Because of this decentralisation in real terms could take place in 1999 only.

Six months after the decentralisation process was set in motion, the state level resource organisation based in Lucknow Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra decided to carry on a study on decentralisation and Panchayats. The main findings of the study are:

  1.

It will be desirable to suitably incorporate the words ‘local self-governance’ in the introduction of the United Provinces Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, and the Uttar Pradesh Kshettra and Zilla Panchayat Adhiniyam, 1961, so they incorporate the spirit of local self-governance.
  2. Sections 11(3), (4) and (5) of the United Provinces Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, need suitable Amendment to make the Gram Sabha a powerful body, playing role in plan formulation and its implementation and keeping necessary checks on Gram Panchayat. Only when this is done Gram Sabhas will become watchdogs to Gram Panchayats and exercise necessary control over them.
  3. Only when the size of Gram Panchayat is increased suitably the concept of each Gram Panchayat having its secretariat can materialise. This, however, has its pitfalls as in a larger body people’s participation, which is vital for the success grass roots democratic structures, is likely to become less. To keep people’s participation at an optimum level regular organisation of Ward Sabhas may be considered.
  4. The district level officials who had been made advisor to the Zilla Panchayat were not functioning as advisor. Non-cooperation on the part of district level officials had led to complacency among the Zilla Panchayat representatives as majority of them said they did not make any attempt to improve functioning of DRDA.
  5. Zilla Panchayats and DRDAs should be merged without delay. A smaller committee of Zilla Panchayat members headed by Zilla Panchayat Chairpersons should perform the functions that the Governing Board of DRDAs is performing at present.
  6. One or two NGOs having people centred participatory development as their vision and having faith in Panchayati Raj system should be there on the committee of Zilla Panchayat mentioned above to put people’s perspective before the committee. Guidelines for the selection of these NGOs may be formulated at the State level and the job of identifying these NGOs should be left over to state or regional level networks of NGOs.
  7. Neither the Panchayat representatives not the officials attached with the Panchayats have necessary expertise regarding planning. A few NGOs in the State have demonstrated how planning at the Panchayat level could be carried out in a real participatory sense. The Government would be well advised to interact with these NGOs, decide on a model of planning and issue necessary guidelines to the Gram Panchayats in this regard. Moreover, capacity building of Gram Panchayats in planning should be handed over to the NGOs. For the higher levels of Panchayats detailed guidelines for integration of these plans should be chalked out and issued. Since it would be a people’s plan a thought must be given to stop schemes sponsored by the Central and State Governments and the funds must be untied.
  8. Transfer of the officials related to the Panchayats should be halted at least for the next few years. In view of the recommended aims re-formulation of training design and strategy for both officials and non-officials is required. The Government and a few selected NGOs working towards strengthening the Panchayats together can do this work. NGOs active in strengthening local self –governance too need to collaborate and adopt innovative methods of imparting constitutional and administrative literacy/education to the people. They also need to come together and give a definite direction to their efforts.
  9. In any capacity building programme more emphasis has to be given to the stakeholders belonging to the reserved categories. And even in a reserved category, more emphasis has to be paid to the women stakeholders.
  10. Overall record in holding meetings in Zilla Panchayats and Gram Panchayats was better compared to Kshettra Panchayats whose members were still in a state of confusion. In view of this, Kshettra Panchayats should be given more powers regarding coordination among Gram Panchayats. The role of the Zilla Panchayats should be limited to policy formulation. In short, this calls for clear delineation of the roles and responsibilities of the Panchayats.
  11. Chairpersons of the Panchayats were still behaving in an arbitrary manner and giving little attention to the democratic processes. Therefore, the committees should be given more teeth so they could play a meaningful role.
  12. The district level officials were still not identifying themselves with the Panchayat representatives. On the other hand village level government officials were identifying themselves with the Panchayat representatives may be out of sheer compulsion. But they were not yet ready to identify themselves with the ordinary villagers. The Gram Panchayat representatives have corroborated the fact that having administrative officials at their disposal improves the functioning of Panchayats. Now the task is to fix accountability of these appointed officials at all levels towards Panchayat representatives.
  13. The list of protocol should be redrawn to include Panchayat representatives in that. Once this is done the clash of personalities at all the levels of Panchayats will in all probability end.
  14. Suitable publications do play a great role in enhancing awareness regarding any move the government may make and this practice should be continued.

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