Thought for the day
"The water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is
dark. The small truth has words which are clear; the great truth has great
silence."
-
Rabindranath Tagore (Indian, 1861-1941)
Word for the day
Suasion (n)
The act of persuading; persuasion.
(Source:
Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Kidnapping, rape and murder in
Uttrakhand, "the Abode of God", is unfathomable.
Something is going seriously wrong
somewhere!
My five cents - Reforms II
On my recent trip to the state of Uttar Pradesh, I had a chance
to visit some villages in interiors of the eastern part of the state. As widely
acknowledged, this region figures in the bottom 10% in terms of economic
development. It was shocking to see that despite plenty of water, fertile soil,
hard working people, and rich cultural & historical traditions, the people
here live in pathetic conditions. Many are forced to migrate to large cities to
work as laborers. The administration is callously indifferent and mostly
absent.
Wandering through the villages I discovered that most upper
caste households have milk yielding cattle in their home while dalits and
backward caste people do not have such assets. I observed that in each
household about 4-5 man hours are spent on tendering, milking and feeding the
cattle. In many cases children as young as 8-10yeras were spending half their
day taking cattle for grazing, instead of going to school. The average milk
yield is not more than 5-6ltrs per day, which is mostly used for self
consumption. The cow dung is a major source of cooking fuel.
In my view, the kind of economic reforms we talk about sitting
at Raisina Hills or Nariman Point may not be of too much relevance to these
people. To improve the lives of these people, we need to find local solutions.
Let me suggest an example that I worked on after coming back
from this trip:
The government should motivate and facilitate a cooperative
dairy in each village of the state.
(a) In this
cooperative the Gram Sabha may contribute 100 acres of land.
(b) Each household in
the village contributes its cattle.
(c) The household
which do not have cattle may be subsidized (50% subsidy, 25% equity and 25%
bank loan) to buy and contribute cattle. The optimum size of a cooperative
dairy could be 1000 cattle.
(c) The land will be
used for constructing a mechanized dairy, biogas plant, milk processing unit,
growing cattle feed and a water reservoir. The construction work could be taken
under MNREGA. The required plant and machinery may be financed at the
prescribed concessional rate for agriculture loans (presently 7%).
(d) With proper feed
and technique, the average yield of the cattle could be improved to 10ltr/day
in two years and 20ltr/day in five years.
(e) Each dairy could
thus produce 10,000 litter of milk every day. Each member household could be
provided 2 litter milk at Rs10/ltr and rest could be processed and sold in the
market. (CMP Rs40/ltr)
(f) The dairy will
produce 10,000 kg of cow dung daily, that could be used to produce electricity
for running dairy, biogas plant, milk processing unit, a water pump to fill water
reservoir, a community kitchen where all villagers can come to cook their meal,
and a charging station where villagers could charge their LED lamps provided by
the government.
(g) In five years,
the plant could supply electricity for basic needs (2 LED bulbs and 2 fans) to
each household.
(h) The plant will
produce 35-40000kg of organic manor every day, a part of which could be sold to
members at subsidized rates and rest in the market. The income from this could
be used to set up, run school and primary health center in the village and lay
pipeline for supplying clean water from the reservoir to each household. In
10yrs, each dairy would be able to produce enough CNG to run two busses from
village to nearest city for subsidized public transport.
(i) The government
may support marketing of milk and milk products, establishing a breeding centre
in each district to develop high yielding variety, and a veterinary hospital in
each district.
(j) In each such
dairy up to 20% of its productive population, stray cattle from nearby cities
and towns could be housed.
To some this idea may sound little utopian or impractical, but
my research suggests that it is financially viable and socially &
politically feasible.
The advantages could be multifold.
·
The project serves the primary purposes of
economic development - self employment, self-reliance, prosperity, fiscal
prudence, rise in household income, equality, improvement in quality of life
etc.
·
The sentiment of cooperation takes root over a
period of time, promoting social harmony, and scope for more cooperation say in
the areas of farming, cottage industry and trade.
·
Children could go to school instead of rearing
and tendering cattle and fetching drinking water.
·
Women could work at the dairy, biogas plant,
milk processing unit rather than milking cattle, managing cow dung and fetching
drinking water.
·
Villagers get clean water and energy at home,
sufficient milk and decent income, besides good basic social infrastructure in
the village.
·
Agri productivity and income could be enhanced
by using organic manor at a reasonable cost.
·
The cleanliness of villages and nearby towns is
improved as all cattle (including stray) are managed at a central place and
their waste processed profitably.
·
Regional disparities get resolved over a period
of time.
·
Resources are used optimally.
·
With self reliance growing - the fiscal pressure
eases structurally, over a period of time.
Lest the primary message is lost, I may reiterate that my
suggestion here is that reform need to change the status quo, which may not be
the same in Banda and Bengaluru.
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