Poverty alleviation programmes: feedback from Jhabua

Association with Jhabua began with the initiation of a project called "Participatory Development" aimed at facilitating organisation of the tribals and promoting their participation in the formulation and implementation of the development programmes. As a prerequisite, we tried to get a better insight into the socio-economic situation of the district and the problems faced by the beneficiaries of different types of developmental programmes in the area. On the face of it, Jhabua appears like any other district inhabited by a majority of poor tribal cultivators. Closer association, however, reveals intense misery and acute deprivation unrivalled in other areas. The situation is so miserable that eighty per cent of the households migrate every year to eke out a living. Possibly, the district stands as an unique example of the deprived and disadvantaged popu lation. Poverty alleviation programmes are specially meant for such regions. Hence our emphasis on the study of these programmes. In order to get an overall picture, we selected sample villages from all the 12 blocks in the district. Apart from the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), we also studied the National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) which are meant for the specific of providing wage employment to rural labour. The results of our study constitute this report.

The study brings out glaring inadequacies in planning for appropriate pro grammes under the IRDP and the inadequate coverage of NREP and RLEGP. The formulation and implementation of the IRDP components as at present do not help adequately in achieving the target of taking the beneficiary family above the poverty line. On the contrary, inappropriate and unsuitable schemes selected for the family seem to have pushed it further below the poverty line. In many cases, this has led to indebtedness without any incremental income from the assets acquired under the programme. Our data have also given us some reason to question the basic economic soundness of the programme. The programme as structured at present is generally not realising the objective. We have, therefore, called for a total restructuring of the programme. This includes involvement of research and development agencies from the very beginning in the designing of economically viable programmes. It also includes their active participation in implementation and monitoring. When we talk of such specialised agencies, we have in mind organisations like ICRISAT and Jabalpur Agriculture University.