A few weeks ago, I was in rural Madhya Pradesh (MP) on a field visit to assess implementation progress of a project that we have rolled out recently in some parts of this state. Some impressions:
The project works primarily with women (always a good idea!) to help generate livelihood programmes using microfinance. The women I met were cautiously optimistic about their own future and concerned about the sustainability of such efforts. Microfinance is a brilliant concept: empowering women by making them responsible for their own money, breaking the vicious cycle of non-standardized moneylenders and so on. In recent times however, another trap has emerged...that of using microfinance groups to pay off loans taken from..microfinance groups. Women have to choose to use such lending on 'expenses' or 'investments' e.g. buying a child's school textbooks for the year (education impacts) or switching to a better quality fuel for cooking (health impacts). Not easy choices, especially when there are multiple stake-holders (family members, village elders).
After observing women's self-help groups (SHGs) in action, I can't help but admire all the networking that goes on and the social mobilization which as emerged as a result of the interactions. Kitty parties these are not (although, to be fair, I've never attended one!). These women discuss critical issues with peers: continuing to send a (girl) child to school, age of marriage, vaccinations, prevalent social customs, engagement in local politics (panchayats), etc. Of course, not all SHGs are at the same level of functioning. e.g. I met a group of remote tribal women who did not even know that they could have this option of debating their issues at a common forum and for them an indicator of change was the fact that they congregated weekly. Another group gathered but the ghunghat came in the way of them making any meaningful conversation! So an indicator of change in their case was that they could talk to each other and to observers and partners like us by raising their ghunghats slowly (not quite entirely headgear-less, but hey, a little bit goes a long way :)) Their must-have accessory? A mobile phone. An elderly lady of a self-help group proudly showed me her phone and asked me "punch in your number so I can call you if necessary". What an idea sirjee!
Agriculture and allied services are the main economic activity in the region. Driving through the state, I noticed a woman sitting outside her home working laboriously in the afternoon heat. She rolled tendu leaves into bidis for a living. She worked from 8.00 AM - 6.00 PM every day, 7 days a week. Her daily income? Rs. 40 for 1000 (yes, that's One Thousand) bidis rolled out. Just under a dollar a day for 10 hours of work. But she didn't know she could get more, perhaps a lot more. Her motivation for all this tedious work was that her daughter should not have to do the same thing and give up on school. She wanted to give her the chance to dream of an alternative and have the opportunity to pursue that alternative. Perhaps the next time we light up, we could spare a thought to such countless men and women whose own dreams have gone up in smoke (or who probably never allowed themselves to dream).
As a teenager, I remember reading in my economics books: Indian agriculture is a gamble against the monsoon. And sadly enough, I have to understand it even now (15 years later) since not much has changed in this sector. Nearly 70% of of our farmlands are rain-fed even today, in spite of advanced irrigation systems and dams. The sector has been besieged for decades by the same problems: disguised unemployment, small size of farms, landless labourers, lack of good quality and adequate agro inputs (such as water, seeds, fertilizers, cattle) and lack of access to finance and technology. Everywhere I went, I listened to the devastation caused by the worst drought in recent times. We're told India is self-sufficient in the production of food grains and yet in villages and cities across the country, we hear of people dying from hunger and starvation. Worse even are statistics that tell us that we end up wasting around a third of all foodgrains produced due to poor storage facilities. And then we met a gentleman who single-handedly raised his family annual income by using vermicompost (that he made himself) on his fields and by developing a drip irrigation system from very rudimentary material that had been gathering dust in his shed. So there's hope. But what is needed is a transformation on a much larger scale.
Finally, tourism. MP is stunning! I was fortunate to get a few hours in Khajuraho and visited the temples. Exquisite craftsmanship. Not too far away is Panna National Park with its varied flora and fauna. And a couple of waterfalls. I highly recommend a trip. Its one of India's best kept secrets.
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