C b , UNIT 24 ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMMES

Structure Objectives Introduction Poverty in India: Meaning and Causes Poverty Eradication in the Five Year Plans Major Anti-Poverty Programmes Problems and Future Strategy Let Us Sum Up Key Words References and Future Readings Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

24.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit you should be able to : throw light on the meaning and causes of poverty in India

discuss the attempts made to remove poverty through planned strategies

' e highlight the major anti-poverty programmes of the

discuss the problems confronting the programmes and throw light on the efforts needed t o solve them.

24.1 INTRODUCTION

Poverty is one of the most acute problems facing the country regarding which not much has been done despite treading the path of economic growth for over four decades. Poverty is not a new phenomenon, it has just become more severe and chronic now. T h ~ s unit will attempt to highlight the government policies towards

1 eradication of poverty, and bring out the meanlng of the term poverty, its causes and its place in the Five Year Plans. Major ant!-poverty programmes of the government will be discussed and the reasons for their limited success will be analysed. We will also try to pinpoint the various loopholes In the government's strategy and the various measures needed to remove them.

24.2 POVERTY IN INDIA: MEANING AND CAUSES

Meaning of poterty: The concept of poverty is difficult to define. Different people view poverty in different ways. Some talk of lack of income while defining poverty and some have taken calories, proteins, life expectancy, level of living, lack of skills and educat~on to analyse poverty. It is very difficult to arrive at one common definition of poverty. A person may be regarded as poor by one definition and not by the other, moreover the concept of poverty varies from state to state, natlon to nation and also withln the state and nation depending on the existing conditions.

According to Dandekar and Rath, "Problem of poverty in India is a problem of low national income and ~ t s unequal distribution of slow pace of development." Poverty is a product of the total system of a country-economic, technological, social, educational, cultural, political and moral. It is a product of social inequality and exploitation on the one hand and under-development on the other. It results from unequal growth, slow growth as well as absence of growth.

Poverty reflects itself in various forms like malnutrition, overcrowding, slum, housing conditions, high infant mortality, illiteracy, etc'., of these malnutrition is the worst

Policy Interventions: Case Studies form of poverty, therefore, attempts to measure absolute poverty in India have been made in terms of calories. The usual method is to fix a poverty level on the basis of minimum level of per capita expenditure required for normal calorie intake, the extent of poverty is measured by estimating the number of people whose overall per capita consumption falls below this level called 'the poverty line'.

Causes of Poverty: Just as thc meaning of poverty varies from person to person, the causes of poverty differ from society to society. Poverty can stem from various reasons. It can stem from low productivity, low income, high indebtness, non- existent savings, lack of resource base, lack of skills, unemployment, under- employment, lack of food, clothing and shelter.

Overpopulation is another cause of poverty. It is no coincidence that countries which are undergoing population explosion are also the poor countries of the world. T o increase the family income poor increase the family size, as a result per capita income of the family falls.

Political causes of poverty could emerge from bilateral agreements with multinational corporations and pressures exerted by international organisations. These limit the autonomy of governments in their planning efforts t o develop at a faster rate, these pressures make difficult for the government to take concrete decisions relating to resource mobilisation, population control, agrarian reforms, etc. This gets worse due to the existence of over-centralised decision niaking system, rigid bureaucracy, and lack of people's participat~on in government programmes.

All these factors individually or jointly create poverty. In Indian context, poverty assumes the form of rural poverty. Seventy per cent of our population lives in rural areas and suffers from acute poverty. Thus, solving rural poverty should be our main aim, if the problem has to be tackled effectively. Urban poverty in India is an overflow of rural poverty. Non-existence of proper infrastructure for rural development force the rural people to migrate to urban areas. T L ~ S it is ruraI development that we should aim at.

The government, therefore, has formulated various policies to tackle the problem of rural development and poverty removal. Our Five Year Plans have given adequate attention to develop the infrastructural facilities in rural areas, provide employment opportunities to rural poor and make ample provision for basic amenities like health and water supply etc. Many cqntrally sponsored schemes to alleviate poverty have been launched. We will now turn to these measures to ascertain their impact on the rural problems.

24.3 POVERTY ERADICATION IN FIVE YEAR PLANS

The developmental strategies in independent India have had always an anti-poverty thrust. The Government, plan after plan, laid e'mphasis on removal of poverty. During the First Five Year Plan the Community Development Programme (CDP) was launched with the belief that the overall development of rural India could be brought about only with the participation and initiative of the people backed by technical and other services necessary for securing the best from such initiative and self-help. During the period of the Second Five Year Plan an effort was, made to decentralise the power to the representatives of the pec~ple a t the district, block and village levels with an objective to mobilise people's support to the rural development programmes. The Second Five Year Plan also recognised that benefits of economic development must accrue more and more to the relatively less privileged classes of the society. The Third Five Year Plan also emphasised the need for a sizable increase in national income and wealth. This led, in the early sixties, to the formulation of a number of programmes such as Intensive' Agricultural Development Programme, High Yielding Variety Programme, etc., which were designed to accelerate agricultural in selected regions that were naturally endowed with good soil i n d irrigation facilities. These programmes could not improve the lot of rural people and the problem continued to evade solution. On the other hand, unemployment and inequalities in wealth and income have continuously increased despite phenomenal increase in agricultural production.

b- * In all the above plans and programmes the accent was on overall growth, and not on 4nti-Poverty Prog~ammes

the removal o f poverty. The attempts were too generalised and the beneflts were cornered off by the better off sectlons and better endowed areas.

During the Fourth Five Year Plan the policy makers realised that unless a direct attack o n poverty is launched by identlt~cation of the members of the target group and providing assistance to them in terms of credit, inputs, subsidy and facilities for marketing, etc., the developmental efforts are likely to bypass the poor. As a result, several poverty alleviation prograrhmes and new institutions were brought into existence to safeguard the n e e d s ~ f the rural poor. They included Small Farmer Development Agency (SFDA), Marginal Farmer and Agricultural Development Agency (MFA & DA), and Land Ceiling Acts, etc.

During Fifth Plan period priority was given not only t o the target group oriented programmes but' also to the area based programmes, such as Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), Command Area Development Programme (CADP), Hill Area Development Programme (HADP), Minimum Needs Programme (MNP), 20- Point Economic Programme, etc. During the sixth and seventh plan periods, asset and wage oriented programmes received top priority. Most important of them are Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Food for Work Programme (FFWP), National Rural Employment Programme (.NREP), Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY). The approach t o the Eighth plan proposes a widening and sharpening of these programmes. In the next section, we will discuss the objectives underlying some of the above mentioned programmes planwise.

Check Your Progress 1 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit.

1) Discuss the meaning of poverty and briefly point out the causes of poverty. I

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2) Discuss the approach of Five Year Plans towards poverty removal.

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24.4 MAJOR ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMMES C

Poverty alleviation has formed an important part of rural development strategy ever since Independence. A major step in the direction of brlnging about rural development was the launching of the Community Development Programme. The Programme was started in 1952 under the First Five Year Plan. It aimed at transforming socio-ec~nomlc life of the villages for the better. It sought to bring forward a systematic integrated rural development in the villages. The objectives of the programme were t o make people self-reliant by inculcating among them a feeling of cooperation through better utilisation of human resources and science and 17

, Policy Intervent~ons: Case Studies technology. It airlled at changing the outlook of <he villagers, train village youth in

citizen responsibilities, and increase employment opportunities in villages.

Under the Second Flve Year Plan the government facused its attention mainly on agriculture. Thus Minimum Package Programme (MPP) and Intensive Agricultural Development Programme (IADP) were started in the 1960s. The objective of the programmes was to give a boost to agricultural production. The IADP aimed at rapid increase in the level of agric;ltural output through better access t o financial, technical and administrative resources.

In the Third Five Year Plan government continued ~ t s stress on agriculture, and introduced Hlgh Yielding Var~ety Programme (HYVP) in 1960. The programme aimed at applying scientiric techniques and knowledge of agricultural production at all stages. High ylelding varieties were introduced as. the key Input in a new package to make available the required types and qualities of inputs. The programme also aimed at provlding adequate credit to farmers and laid emphasis o n agricultural research and development'of new technology.

The Rural Works Programme (RWP) came up in 1967, the main aim was to provide employment during lean agricultural seasons. It also aimed at providing sustenance to unemployed afid underemployed workers in iural areas. As we know, the real thrust on poverty removal came with the fourth five year plan. During this period various target group orlented and area development oriented programmes were startedy In 1969, Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) came up. This programme aimed at ensuring institutional credit to the small and marginal farmers. It almed at provld~ng assistance to these target groups for development of agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry and dairy programme.

The Drought-Prone Area Development Programme (DPAP) was started in 1971 with the aim of maintaining ecolog~cal balance, and development of agriculture and allied sector in drought-prone areas. It airned at providing the optimum utilisation of land, water and livestock resources, stabilisation of income of the poor, minimisation of . impact of drought, dairy development, restructuring of cropping pattern, etc. Tribal Area Devetopment Programme (TADP) was launched in 1972 to give a boast to economic developmedt in tribal areas. The programme aimed at increasing agricultural production, development of animal husbandry, horticulture, road construction, land development, control of shifting cultivation, abolition of bonded labour, cattle development and soil conservation. Then ther& was Crash Scheme for Rural Employment (CSRE) which was also staAed in the fourth plan period. The objectives of the scheme were generation of employment through the implementation of labour intensive projects.

Minimum Needs Programme (MNP) also came up during the fourth plan period. It aimed at meeting the basic needs of the poor people in order t o improve their standard of living. The programme comprised elementary education, rural health," rural water supply, rural roads, rural electrification, assistance to the landless for rural housing, and nutrition and improvement of urban slums: During the fifth plan period, Hill Area Develapment Programme (HADP) was started, the aims were to maximise agricultural production and remedying the disparities existing between different sectors of the community. It airnfd at improving agriculture in hilly areas with emphasis on pesticides, improved seeds. new technology and fertilisers.

The Food F?r Wprk programme ( F F W P ) ' ~ ~ ~ also launched in the Fifth Five Year plan period. Its objective was to generate additional employment through development of rural infrastructure. Wages were paid in form of food grains systematic irrigation, social forestry, road construction etc., were the major components of the programme. It was reconstructed as National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) in 1980. Desert Development Programme (DDP) was another Programme which came up in 1977-78 as a centrally spo,nsored programme to control desertificatlon through afforestation, grassland~development, water management and soil conservation.

The most important programmes ,of the government like the Integrated Rural Development Programme, Training Rural Youth .for Self employ men^, National

Rural Employment Progranlme, Jawahar Rojgar Yojana are the ongoing

Programmes and we would now focus our attention on them. ~n order to understand ~nti-~overtg Prugrdrnmr~

the ob~ectlve and f~nc t lon lng of these programmes, we would study them in some dctall.

lntegrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) IRDP introduced In 1979 1s government's major anti-poverty programme roday., IRDP alms to enable the selected famll~es t o cross the povenq tilrough a strtltegy ot ~ r o d u c t l v e assets creation In the prlmary, secondarq and tertiary sectorb. 1t produces tell Per cent asslstdnce to benetlclarles through subsidy and credit. ~h~ Progrdmme ~ r o v l d e s for selection of SIX hundred beneflcia~les per year per block. The extent of subsidy 1s 25 per cent for small farmers, 33 5 per cent for marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, and artisans, and 50 per cent for tribal fanlilles, Thirty Per Cent of assisted famllies should belong to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. The p~ogramme 1s bang implemented by Dlstrlct Rural Development *gentles (DRDAs) headed by dlstrlct officer, asslsted by block developnlent o ~ i c e r s and v~llage level workers

The aim of lRDP during the sixth plan, was to benefit 15 mllllon families by selecting 3,000 families In each block and the total outlay f o r the block was R~ 35 Idkh. In view of the interstate variations and dlsparltles In the lncldence of poverty, the financial allocatlorl and tlxatlon of targets for asslst~ng the famllles In tile Seventh Plan were related to the lncldence of poverty In the states The ultlnlate emphasls of lRDP is not on providing just some k ~ n d of assistance and achlewng the target of an Impresswe number of beneficlar~es but on provldlng substallt~al assistance o r productrve assets to the tdentlfied panic~pants w h ~ c h should Increase thelr Incomes to a slgn~ficant extent so that they cross, once and for alI, the poverty line.

Training Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM) TRYSEM was introduced as an allied programme of IRDP In 1979 ~tself. The objective of TRYSEM is to provide technical skllls to rural youth from famllles below the poverty llne to enable them to take up self employment in agriculture and allied activities, ~ndustrles, services and business activities. The group comprises rural youth between 18 to 35 of years from families below the poverty Ilne. A minimum of 30 per cent of tralned youth should belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and a mlnlmurn of 33.5 per cent of youth tralned should be women.

National Rural Employment Prgramme (NREP) The ratlonalc behlnd rural employlnent programmes such as NREP o r Jdw:ihBr Rojgar Yuj'lna (J K Y ) 1s.

1) to spread the employment effect wldely and more evenly than In the past; il) t o promote labour intenslve technology In preference to capltal intenswe

technology, ~ i i ) to create durable assets and pro\ide an Infrastructure for rural development; I V ) to utillse the surplus food grains tor the creatlon of community assets; v) to create gainful employment for the unemployed and under-employed who

reside in the rural areas; vi) to glve a guarantee of employment to the poor, vll) to Increase thz consumption levels and nutrltlonal intake of the poor; and vlii) to brlng social change In the v~llage comrnunlty In terms of meetlng soclal

obligations, soclal mobllity etc

In the implementation process of rural employment pollc~es particularly the Food For Work Programme, defects and short-coming5 were notlced by the Government. [t was therefore, sultably modified, restructured and renamed as NREP ill 1980. The programme became a part of S ~ x t h and Seventh Flve Year Plans w ~ t h a vsw to generate additional employment, t o create durable community assets and improve

nutritional status and living conditions of the poor. on a 5050 shari~lg bans

Committee. wh'c'l The ~ k p is cen\ra\\s $09qofed PLZ" p''Farnrne

of the programme :the Government of India and 'he stater'

the Minister, The state gdvsmment 1s "'ponslb'e

and giving to Ihe states'

Policy Intenentions: Cnse Studles implementation of the programme. At the district level the D R D M Z ~ I ~ parishad is responsible for execution of the programme. At the village level, the Gram Panchayat is the basic institution for planning and executing the programme.Under the programme, works can be taken up during any part of the Year but should be on labour-intensive schemes and creation of durable assets in the rural areas. The field adqinistration is free to prepare and undertake any number of schemes taking into account the local needs. In respect of individual works, the wage and non-wagk component is fixed at 5050. The success and failure of the programme, to a large extent, depends on the field level administration.

Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) RLEGP was introduced in 1983 more or less on the same lines as NREP. Its objective 1s to improve and expand employment opportunities with a view to provide guarantee of employment to at least one member of every rural landless labour household upto hundred days a year. It is hundred per cent government funded programme. In allocation of funds, fifty per cent weightage is now given to the number of agricultural workers, mawnal farmers and 50 per cent weightage is given to the incidence of rural poverty.

Through all these programmes, the government has been trying to eliminate poverty and bring about rural development. Strategy underlying all the government policies has been to accelerate economic growth, increase rural public works, agricultural growth, land reforms, rural industrialisation, provision of common services and population control.

Jawahar Rojgar Yojana The government of India launched another major employment programme called JRY in 1989. The primary objective of this programme is to generate additional gainful employment for the unemployed and underemployed persons, both men and women in the rural areas. While creating employment opportunities under this programme, such assets are created which can improve the overall quality of life in the rural areas and provide benefits to the poverty groups. The works can be taken up and executed dur~ng any part of the year whenever the need for generating employment is felt. The people below the poverty line, who are willing to work will be the target group of the programme. Preference is given under the programme to SC & ST and freed bonded labourers. Out of the total employment generated under the programme, 30 per cent share of employment should go to the women.

As the JRY is centrally sponsored scheme, the Government of India provides 80 per cent of the total earmarked funds. The state governments have to provide 20 per cent of the funds as a matching grant. The state government allocates the JRY funds to the District Rural Development AgenciedZila Parishads. The DRDAs/ZPs in turn allocate the resources to the village panchayats on the basis of total population in general and SC & ST population in particular. The village panchayat is free to choose any item of works which is identified by it in consultation with the village assembly. As far as possible, preference should be given to such items of works as land development, social forestry, construction of houses, million wells, solid and water conservation works, construction of village tanks, construction of rural link roads, construction of panchayat ghars etc. which create economically productive assets. The village committee, which is appointed by the village panchayat is to supervise and monitor the programme.

24.5 PROBLEMS AND FUTURE STRATEGY

Despite all the effort of the government, not much impact has been made on povert! situation in rural area through the centrally sponsored schemes. The programmes appear to be quite a success ~f one looks at the statistics relating to the targets and achievements in terms of the number of SCs, STs and women covered and assets distributed. But the qualitative impact of the programme has been minimal. ~h~~~ are VarJous problems that these programmes are facing and our future strategy Shouki+aim at ~denfifying and removfng [hem, We rill now bitfly point out these

Problems.

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Anti-Poverty Programnres Usually no perliminary survey is conducted to determine the ~nfrastructural facilities available in the district for the programmes. Programmes are being uniformly implemented on most of the districts. Beneficiaries are usually unaware of the procedures of obtaining loans, etc. People are ignorant of the onlgoing programmes and therr benefits, thls has provided ample scope for middlemen to exploit the situation and various corrupt practices have crept in. The programmes also suffer from lack of skilled and efficient personnel, more time is spent on assessing the quantitative impact of the programmes, a lot of effort goes into maintaining-figures, number of individuals covered, amount of assets distributed, number that crossed the poverty line, etc.

The programmes d o not suffer from lack of finance and other resources but from misuse of these resources. Programmes are just imposed in the districts, their viability is not ascertained. No follow up process takes place to monitor whether the assets distributed have been fruitfully utilised, and whether the employed people continue to remain in that employment and so on. People d o not trust the officers in charge of the programmes implementation. Too many pqgrammes with almost similar objectives are going on in the districts. The district planning cells need to be reactivated for proper preparation of block plans.

Various criteria to determine the poor below the poverty line are in operation, hence the statistics never reveal a true picture of achievements or failure. Still it is clear that people have not been able to benefit from the programmes in the manner it was expected. T o tackle this sorry state of affairs, the people have to be made aware of the programme, thelr objectives, their targets, the implementation machinery and the evaluating agencies. Media can perform a very crucral role in this area. The involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions need to be encouraged and the role of voluntary agencies and coopera~ives has to be strengthened.

Check Y o u r Progress 2 Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit. 1) What are the objectives of IRDP ? How is it being implemented?

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2) Discuss the main objectives of rural employment programmes.

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3) Briefly point out the different problems facing the anti-poverty programmes.

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Policy Interventions: Case Studies - 24.6 LET US SUM UP

Thus we can say that the problem of poverty has not been tackled very effectively. There are various loopholes in the planning and implementation of anti-poverty programmes which need to b e removed. A lot requires to be done to improve the situation. This unit ,has analysed these proklems and the measures required to solve them. It has discussed the meaning and causes of poverty and,-& place in our Five Year Plans has been highlighted. Major anti-poverty schemes of the. government have also been dealt with.

24.7 KEY WORDS

Area Development Approach: Thls approach was adopted in 1970s. Under this approach emphasis is laid on the systematic identification of under-developed regions as well as the promotion of studies of economic trends and rate of growth In different reglons. Programmes like HADP, DPAP etc. are a part of this approach. (Ref: Arya K.S. et al. 1986. Rural Development in India: Some Facets. Centre for Rural Development. Chandigarh. pp. 44.)

Centrally Sponsored'Schemes: Plan schemes sponsored by central ministers on subjects falling in the state list w ~ t h usually fifty per cent financing by the centre.

Marginal Farmer: a farmer/cultivator who has min~mum means of cultivation and slight reduction in these means would make him landless or totally non-operative.

Per Capita Income: 1s the average income of a country. It is derived by dividing totaI national income of a country by 11s population. 1 Secondary Sector: Manufacture in small and large factories o r workshops. Occupations falling under the sector are not primary activities relating to production. For example production of raw cotton is a primary activity but conversion of cotton into cloth is manufacturing and thereby a secondary activity.

Social Forestry: Social forestry programme has to cater to different set of objectives viz., ecological security, meeting the fuel, fodder and other domestic needs of the population, the needs of small scale and large scale industries, mixed plantation of waste lands, afforestation of degraded forest. The programme initially began as a

.centrally sponsored programme but in 1979-80 was transferred to the states.

Target Group Oriented Approach: The situations. involving massive under utilisation of human resources, a higher growth rate and an increased quality in forms of consumption, it becomes a very complex problem to identify a particular group. In this approach a specific group is taken for in-depth studies and plan priorities are accordingly modified. In this approach the poorest df the poor were made the targets for rural development, with the aim that responsibilities of planning and development would pass to the target themse!ves. Programmes like IRDP, NREP, TRYSEM, SFDA are a part of this approach..

I (Ref: ~ r ~ a K.S. et al. Rural Devlopment in India: Some Facets : p. 44.) ?

Tertiary Sector: In this sector, only services are produced as distinct from the primary and secondary sectors in which goods are produced and therefore tertiary occupations are. commonly known as services sector. Transport, communication, banking, finance and personnel services e.g. services of doctors, lawyers,government servants etc. fall under ter-ria? occupations.

- 24.8 REFERENCE AND FURTHER READINGS - Annual Report of Government of India 1986-87. Departments of Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Arora R.C. 1986. Inl~grafed Rural Developmenr, S hand: New Delhi.

Arya, K.S. et al. 1986. Rural Development in India : Some Facts, Centre for Rural 2 2 Development. Chandigarh.

. Dandekar, V. Nand and N.K. Rath, 1971. Poverty in India, Sangam: Delhi. '

Manual o n IRDP and Allied Programmes of TRYSEM and DWCRA, Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture. Government of lndla.

padhy, Kishore Cllandra, 1982. Kural L)e\~elol~trlenr in iClotlclrn India. B.R. Publishers, New, Delhi.

Prasad, Kamta, 1985. Plannlng /or Po\terljv Alle\,iution. Agrjcole: New Delh~ .

Report of the Committee to Review the Ex~sting Administratwe Arrangements for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation Programmes (CAARD) 1985. Planning Commission, Government of India

Srivastva A.K. 1986. lnregrared Rural L)e\~eloptlrerir in lndru . Polrc I* untl Atlmrnisiralion. Deep and Deep: New Delhi.

Report on Evaluation of Drought Prone Areas and Desert Areas, National t Committee on Development of Backward rea as, Planning Commiss~on, Government

of India.

Sundram, I.S. 1984. Anri-Poverrv Rural Ile\lelol)t~ient rn lndiu, D.K. Publicat~on: New Delhi.

24.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 I) Your answer should include the following points:

different people view poverty in different ways; ,,

some'talk of lack of income while defining poverty and some have' taken calories, proteins, life expectancy, level of living, lack of skills and education to analyse poverty; ncept of poverty varies from state to state, nation to nation and also wit-hin the state and nation; poverty is product of total system of a country; it reflects itself in various forms like malnutrition, overcrowding, sl'um housing cod i t ion , etc.; the attempt to measure'absolute poverty have been made in terms of calories; poverty can stem from low productivity, measly income, lack of resource base unemployment, etc.; overpopulation .is also a cause'of poverty; bilateral agreement, pressures averted: by international organisatioi can lead to interferenie in policy making regarding poverty eradication; and rigid bureaucracy, centralised decision making and lack of people's participation are also the causes of poverty.

2 ) Your answer should include the following points: our plans gave always had an antipoverty thrust;

W the plans have laid emphasis on removal of inequalities increase In national income, decentralisation and rural development; many centrally sponsored schemes have been launched during the plan per~ods; the fourth plan made a direct attack on poverty; a'nd since the fourth Plan period all the Five Year.Plans have made poverty ' . alleviation as one of their major goals.

Anti-Poverty Programmes

Check Your Progress 2 1) Your answer should include the following points:

IRDP aims t o enable the selected families to cross the povetty line through a strategy of productive assets creation in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors;

Policy Interventions: Case Studies it provides assistance to beneficiaries through subsidy and credit; the programme provides for selection of six hundred beneficers and assisted by Block Development Officers and Village Level Workers.

2) Your answer should include the following points: to spread employment opportunities properly and evenly; to promote labour intensive technology; to provide durable assets and infrastructure for rural development; t o utilise surplus food grains for the creation of community assets; to provide gainful employment for the unemployed and underemployed; to increase consumption levels and nutritional intake; and to bring about social change.

3) Your answer should include the following points: emphasis on quantitative evaluation; misuse of resources; lack of skilled personnel; lack of awareness among the people; inadequate monitoring; non-existence of preliminary surveys to determine the capability of the programmes; different criteria adopted to determine the poor below the poverty line; and existence of too many programmes with almost similar objectives.