FIELDWORK SEGMENT

PRM 2012 14

An Exploratory Study of Village

Based on studies in Mauzampatti Village

VILLAGE: Mauzampatti

GRAM PANCHAYATH:Gauripur

BLOCK: Barhara Kothi

DISTRICT: Purnia

STATE: Bihar

HOST ORGANIZATION: Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (BRLPS)

Submitted by:

Abhijit Mitra (33001) and Apurba Chowdhury (33068)

Faculty Guide: Prof. Pratik Modi

In partial fulfilment of the requirements of FWS of the Post Graduate Programme in Rural

Management

INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT, ANAND

2012-2014

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Successful execution of an event requires the efforts of many. Without their efforts, guidance

and assistance, those events would have never seen the light of the day. This

acknowledgement goes towards expressing our heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to all

the persons who enabled us to have a fruitful fieldwork.

We are indebted to IRMA for providing us with such a unique opportunity of learning and

express our deepest thanks to Prof. Asmita Vyas, our fieldwork coordinator for handling the

fieldwork efficiently.

We would also like to express our gratitude to Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society for

enabling us to undergo our fieldwork through their esteemed organization. We are grateful to

the organization and its staffs for their kind assistance and the learning it enabled through the

RAC.

We express our thanks to our host family who allowed us to stay in their house and accepted

us. We also express our gratitude to the people of Mauzampatti for providing us with the

opportunity to observe, participate and learn from their lives. Last but not the least we also

thank Prof. Pratik Modi to take time out of his busy schedule to review this report.

Abhijit Mitra (33001)

Apurba Chowdhury (33068)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................1

2. SCOPE OF STUDY ............................................................................................. 1

3. OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................................ 1

4. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 2

4.1 Primary Sources of Data Collection ................................................................ 2

4.2 Secondary Sources of Data Collection ............................................................ 3

5. INTRODUCTION TO MAUZAMPATTI ........................................................... 3

5.1 Location and Access................................................................................... 3

5.2 Host Family ................................................................................................ 4

5.3 Challenges Faced........................................................................................ 5

6. VILLAGE SOCIETY.............................................................................................6

6.1 Distribution Based on Caste and Religion .................................................... 7

6.2 Society and Family.......8

6.3 Health ............................................................................................................ 9

6.4 Education ....................................................................................................... 9

6.5 Transport ..................................................................................................... 10

6.5.1 Roads .................................................................................................. 10

6.5.2 Railways ............................................................................................. 10

6.6 Entertainment and Media .............................................................................. 11

6.7 Festivities in The Village ......................................................................................... 12

6.8 Migration ................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

7. VILLAGE ECONOMY..13

7.1 Agriculture14

7.2 Animal Husbandry17

7.3 Village Markets.19

7.4 Labour...20

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7.5 Money and Finance.20

8. VILLAGE POLITY...21

9. VILLAGE INSTITUTIONS.25

9.1 Aanganwadi....25

9.2 Middle School22

9.3 High School26

9.4 Village Post Office.....27

9.5 PDS ...........................................................................................................27

9.6 MGNREGA28

9.7 Jeevika ..................................................................................................... 29

10.VILLAGE LIVELIHOODS29

11.THEMATIC INSIGHTS.31

12 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................... 34

13 ANNEXURE..................................................................................... 35

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List of Abbreviations:

1. APL- Above Poverty Line

2. B.Kothi- Barhara Kothi

3. BPL- Below Poverty Line

4. BRLPS- Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society

5. CRP- Community Resource Person

6. DTH- Direct to Home

7. K.M- Kilometre

8. NRHM- National Rural Health Mission

9. PDS- Public Distribution System

10. PRA- Participatory Rural Appraisal

11. PRM- Program in Rural Management

12. RAC- Rural Action Component

13. SC- Scheduled Caste

14. ST- Scheduled Tribe

15. SHG- Self Help Group

16. VO- Village Organization

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List of Tables

1. Profile of Mauzampatti

2. PRA for daily schedule

3. Information related to Gram Panchayat

4. Impact of JEEVIKA and SHG

5. PRA to access impact of JEEVIKA and SHG

6. Income expenditure of Sukhiya Devis family (monthly)

7. Profile list (rich families)

8. Profile list (poor families)

9. PRA for services and opportunity mapping

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List of Figures

1. Sources of data

2. Distribution of families in relation to poverty

3. Population distribution

4. Time line of mobile penetration in the village

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List of Annexure

1. Sampling Plan

2. Case Study of Sushil

3. Case Study of Sukhiya Devi

4. Profile of 5 Rich Families

5. Profile of 5 Poor Families

6. Services and Opportunities Mapping

7. Resource Mapping

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1. Introduction

Under the Field Work Segment of the PRM course we spent 50 days at village Mauzampatti,

which is located in Purnea district in the state of Bihar. The time we spent in the village, with

the people gave us an opportunity to know and experience rural life, to understand the

challenges they face, through their perspective. The Field Work gave us an opportunity to

know and see the functioning of various government and non-government institutions in the

village. Our theme papers, microfinance activity in the village: operations, status, challenges

and opportunities and farm based livelihoods and interventions gave us rich insights into

the factors that play a role in the lives of villagers. It also gave us an opportunity to have an

insight into the working of our host organization, Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society

through self help groups. Our Rural Action Component provided us with an opportunity to

learn through practical tasks.

2. Scope of Study

The scope of our study is limited to Mauzampatti village which belongs to Gauripur

panchayat in Purnea district of Bihar. This report attempts to make an effort to enable the

reader see the village through our eyes. We have tried to cover the village stay from different

perspectives so that our vision is not clouded and our judgment is not biased. As much as was

possible we have tried to have representative views of different groups of village living in the

village.

3. Objectives

Sensitization: through our stay in the village, by being a part of the village life, to

understand and comprehend rural life and the issues attached with it, through the eyes

of the people

Institutions: to observe and understand the functioning of various government and

non-government institutions working in the village, their impact on the lives of the

villagers.

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4. Methodology

In order to cover our goals, we adopted certain methodologies which helped us in collecting

data and information regarding the different aspects of rural life. We relied on both primary

as well as secondary sources of data in our efforts to understand rural life. Throughout our

stay we could see the penetration of JEEVIKA into the lives of the villagers. We participated

extensively in SHG meetings. The five poor and the five non-poor households were identified

by observations and by talking around. With each household we interacted at least twice

during our stay. Apart from this during SHG meetings we spoke with as many didis as

possible.

4.1 Primary Sources of Data Collection

1. Surveys: We conducted basic household surveys. The village consisting of large

number of households, we conducted stratified sampling to select the houses for our

survey. The details of the questions asked as well as the methodology followed is

described in the annexure.

Figure 1: Sources of data

collection

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2. Semi Structured Interview: This method was the one through which we interacted

most with the villagers. It enabled great rapport building and helped us conduct the

survey after that. Through this method we could find out ground realities about

various organizations.

3. Unobtrusive Observation: This was the methodology used by us during transect walks

and during our initial days of village stay. We also found this method to be of

particular use when we observed rituals in the village. Through unobtrusive

observation we could find out how participants behave in a SHG meeting and also

family dynamics during festivities.

4. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): PRA is used to include the knowledge and

opinion of the people in formulating policies that concern them. In our case we used

PRA to find out aspects about the village about which no written data was available.

Doing a PRA on our own was a very unique learning experience for us. The villagers

taking part in PRA helped us understand issues through their perspective.

4.2 Secondary Sources of Data Collection

The major sources of secondary data are as follows:

Sarpanch

PDS Dealer

School

Village Ameen

JEEVIKA

All of them helped us by providing data related to the village and its various institutions.

JEEVIKA also facilitated aspects of data collection related to our theme papers.

5. Introduction to Mauzampatti

5.1 Location and access:

Mauzampatti comes under Barhara Kothi block in Purnea district of Bihar. It belongs to

Gauripur Panchayat. It is located at a distance of about 60 km from Purnea. Mauzampatti lies

in the flood prone zone of Koshi river. The village suffered from a terrible flood in 2008 but

after the incident due to shifting in the course of the river the village has been freed from such

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dangers. The village can be reached from B.Kothi as well from Bihariganj. The village can be

reached from Purnea for people coming from far off parts of the state. Buses ply from Purnea

to Bihariganj. For people coming from other parts of the country the can first reach Patna,

which is the state capital. From Patna buses ply to Purnea which can be used in

transportation. Auto rikshaws link the village to both B.Kothi as well as Bihariganj. The

buses plying are infrequent. At night, after 7 it is difficult to find transport to the village.

Mauzampatti is also connected by rail to Banbankhi and Bihariganj. The rail line being

narrow gauge, the train speed is very slow and it also remains crowded on most occasions.

Table 1

Profile of Mauzampatti

Mauzampatti Profile

Name of the Village Mauzampatti

Name of Gram Panchayat Gauripur ( 19 Kms)

Name of Block Panchayat Attappady (19 Kms)

Name of the District Palakkad (60 Kms)

Boundary

North Morballa

East Barhara Kothi

West Bihariganj

South Mathiyani

Name of the Parliament constituency Purnea

Name of the Assembly constituency B. Kothi

The area of Mauzampatti is spread across homestead, agricultural land and common land.

The population is primarily divided into Yadavs, Harijans and Muslims. The houses are

arranged in loose clusters based on caste. One aanganwadi centre, two schools, panchayat

bhawan, roads and two ponds are located on the common land of the village.

5.2 Host family

Mr. Anil Yadav hosted us during our fieldwork stay of fifty days. We were provided a

separate room containing a cot. For lavatory we used a common facility shared by us and the

workers in the house. There was a tubewell near the lavatory which was our water source for

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our toilet needs. We were provided with drinking water from a separate tubewell. There is

high iron content in the water but unlike in B.Kothi the water is clean. Our food arrangements

were made in the house of our host family itself.

Our host family was very caring. They provided us with necessary beddings and accepted us

whole heartedly into their family. We were lucky enough to celebrate the festivals of Dushera

and Diwali with the host family.

5.3 A typical day in Mauzampatti

Day begins early in here with most of the men folk waking up between 4 to 5 a.m. The gents

of the village wake up between 5-6 a.m. day starts for women with the cleaning of the

household between 4 to 6 a.m. in between their activities the women also have the

responsibility of serving tea to the members of the family as they wake up.

Then the women get busy in preparation of breakfast between 6 to 8 a.m. Both the male and

the female members share the task of tending to cattle with the men tending to them as well

as milking them while the women folk are responsible for feeding the cattle. Though the task

differentiation in attending to the cattle is not strict milking the cow is an activity strictly

performed by male members.

The members of the house leave for agricultural work at about 8 a.m. and return by 12 p.m.

After taking bath the gents are served lunch at about 12, while the women of the house eat

food only after feeding the male folk of the family. Typically, lunch gets over by 1.30 p.m.

Between 3 to 4 p.m. the male folk of the house either rest or chat with friends while the

women complete the household work or sometimes rest. Preparation for dinner by women is

generally done between 7 to 8.30 p.m. Men of the family take dinner between 7.30 to 8.30

p.m. while the women take dinner between 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. After cleaning the utensils and

attending to minor household works villagers typically go to sleep by 10 p.m.

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Table 2

PRA for daily schedule

Source PRA Activity carried out with the members of different SHGs

Purpose In order to ascertain the daily routine by villagers

Particapants Sukhia Devi, Rama Devi, Ambika Devi, Ganga Devi, Gita Devi,

Gunjan Devi, Laxmi Devi, Shakuntala Devi, Rekha Devi

5.3 Challenges faced

Mauzampatti does not have an electricity connection. There is one Mr. Lakhandev who

provides generator supply for four hours during evenings. During our initial days of stay we

found this to be the greatest challenge. Gradually, we modified our daily routine in

accordance with the lifestyle prevalent in the village. Apart from this we had difficulties in

communicating with some of the Jadav households belonging to the upper strata of the

society. We also faced a lot of difficulties in interacting with government officials in terms of

accessibility and cooperation. All said and done, we took these challenges as minor hitches in

front of the bigger picture of fieldwork.

6. Village society

Mauzampatti consists of 419 households with a total population of 2023. There are a total of

120 scheduled cast households while the rest consist of other backward castes. The entire

population consists of 227 households which are below poverty line which is almost 50% of

the total number of households.

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Figure 2. Figure 3.

Mauzampatti has a sex ratio of 900 females per thousand males. The desire to have a male

child exists in some parts of the population. It was very prominent about a generation ago but

mostly now people are developing awareness about limited family size. The average number

of members per household is 5. One of the reasons of this happening is that the children

separate into their own families after marriage. Most of such families have strong bonds. The

parents usually shift with the eldest child. We found out the facts mentioned above from the

sarpanch, amen and through our interactions with the villagers.

6.1 Distribution based on caste and religion

Entire population of Mauzampatti can be classified as under:

Yadavs- Most of the land in the village is hold by Yadavs. They were the Zamindars

in the past. Owing to the children increasingly splitting from their parents the land

owned by individual households has reduced. Presently, they own 3-5 bigha(1

acre=1.5 bigha), on an average. The primary occupation of Yadavs is agriculture.

Apart from personal cultivation those who own large plots of land also lease out their

land for share cropping. Many of the Yadavs are engaged with the government sector

too, the main occupations being that of teacher and in railways. We found that

irrespective of the salary there is tremendous prestige associated with public service

jobs.

Harijans- Most of the Harijans are landless. They do agriculture on the basis of share

cropping. During the agricultural season they work as agricultural laborers, both in

producing their own crop as well as laborers for hire in the land of Yadavs. During

54% 46%

Distribution of families in relation to poverty

BPL

APL

71%

29%

Population Distribution

SC

OBC

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other times of the year they earn their livelihood by working as migrant laborers

mostly in mandis of Delhi and Punjab.

Muslims-There are only 8 Muslim households in the village. At the start there was

only one Muslim family, gradually the family expanded and the children separated to

start their separate families. They are mostly marginal farmers. Their source of

livelihood being agriculture and working as migrant laborers. The muslims lived in a

close cluster. Though they were not marginalized in village functions and institutions

still we found less than normal interactions of them with the villagers. But, more than

anything else this was due to their less number of households.

6.2 Society and family

Most of the households in the village exist as nuclear families. But, though they exist as

nuclear families they stay in the same compound while cooking separately. Elders are

respected in the village but their opinion is not sought in matters of family. Old parents

mostly stay with their eldest child. There are a few rare cases where the children have left

their old parents to themselves. The opinion of women in matters of family interest is listened

to but there are also instances of husbands beating up their wives. Dowry system is highly

prevalent in the society. Factors such as education, land holdings, occupation act as deciding

factors in the amount of dowry the grooms can ask for. Government jobs are held in high

regard.

Housing Patterns

Most of the houses in the village are mud walled with thatched roof. Only well to do Yadavs

have pakka houses. Such households have brick roofs with the houses having two rooms on

an average. Almost all the houses have a provision for sleeping in a thatched structure called

machan in open which is used by guests. The roofs are thatched using straw and bamboo.

Most of the houses have no toilet facility. In fact, having toilet is a luxury which only the well

to do families have. The houses are located in loose clusters on the basis of their caste. The

Harijan households are located on two clusters on either side of the main road. The eight

muslim families are located in a cluster near one of the Harijan clusters. The Yadavs, are

spread throughout the village. They too are located in a loose cluster formation.

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6.3 Health

People, as a part of their daily life, follow a three course meal. Their breakfast consists of roti

or puffed rice, muri. Rice is the staple diet of the people. People consume roti made of

corn or makai. Well to do families eat roti made of wheat. Meal mostly consists of,

rice/roti, daal and a fry. The people are not in a habit of consuming fruit. We did not observe

children suffering from diseases of malnutrition such as kwashiorkor or marasmus. Obesity is

not widespread in the village. Most of the villagers use dantun instead of brush. Chewing of

beetle is frequent amongst the people. The average life span of villagers is about 70 years.

Consumption of alcohol is widespread amongst the poor Harijans while it is seen as a bad

habit amongst Yadavs. We found that though alcoholism is seen in negative light throughout

the village, the poor basically use it as a means of escape from the hard work they did during

the day. Smoking is also seen in a negative light. There is no public health system in the

village. The nearest health centre is at B.Kothi, which is 7 km from here. When sick, the

Harijans and the Muslims first visit the village quacks (but only for minor illness). If not

cured the sick are taken to B.Kothi or to Purnea. For minor illness such as cold and cough

people also refer doctors in Bihariganj.

People do realise the benefits of limiting the family size, though the desire to have a male heir

is still strong. People prefer their wives to undergo tubectomy rather than themselves

undergoing vasectomy. They falsely believe that vasectomy might reduce their strength and

thus their working capability in field. We found out from the health centre at the block they

out of total 400 cases of birth control related operations only 5 have been vasectomy; the rest

being tubectomy. The doctors informed us that efforts are made to raise awareness but the

effectiveness of such efforts is low.

6.4 Education

Distinct pattern of continuance of education is observed amongst the three castes. Though the

villagers are aware of the poor state of education in the village, mostly only Jadavs make an

effort to send their children outside the village for education. Those who can afford send their

children right from lower classes to Purnea, Banbankhi and Patna to study. The Harijans do

not send their children to study outside. Hence, the discontinuance of education is most

amongst the Harijans. During our informal sessions with the Harijans, we found that mostly

the reason is due to non availability of funds. Though, quite a few of the interviewees

10

expressed the reason being poor education scenario in the schools. Also a few number of

households said their wards go to school only for mid day meal.

Infrastructure

Apart from all the facets of infrastructure already mentioned, the villagers meet at a chaupal

regularly for discussion of everyday issues which is near the panchayat bhawan. Water table

being good in the village clean drinking water is available at a depth of about 25 feet. The

rich households have their personal tubewells while there are a few government tubewells

which are used a community asset. There are 6 such tubewells out of which only two are in

working condition. As the number of tubewells is less the villagers have to wait in queue for

their turn. The high school claimed that the school playground has been encroached by the

harijans, a claim which was vehemently denied by the harijans. There is a plot of fallow land

almost one bigha which the children use to play cricket and football. We did not observe any

discrimination in usage of the common resources.

6.5 Transport

6.5.1 Roads

Mauzampatti is located on the road linking B.Kothi and Bihariganj. Private buses and auto

rickshaws ply on this route. The buses ply at an interval of half an hour whereas the auto

rickshaws are infrequent. Vehicles for transport become a rarity after 7 p.m. The road was

constructed a year ago and though pakka it is already damaged and filled with numerous

potholes. The primary reason as told by villagers is the plying of heavy trucks on the road as

this is the only route linking Purnea and Bihariganj. Kacha roads traverse within the village.

The roads become muddy and difficult to tread on during monsoons. Cycle is a common

mode of transport for the poor here while well to do families own two wheelers. Possession

of Bolero is seen as a status symbol amongst the rich.

6.5.2 Railways

The nearest station is at Raghuvansh Nagar, which is 2 k.m. away. Train plies four times in

the route. The train runs from Bihariganj to Banbankhi and is a narrow gauge line. The

nearest junction station which can be used to reach various parts of the country is at

Kishanganj, which is 40 k.m. away (source: PRA).

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6.6 Entertainment and Media of communication

Landline telephone had entered Mauzmpatti in as early as 1980s. Only the rich households

possessed telephone then which they also allowed others to use at a rent. Gradually, the

mobile revolution engulfed the village. At present none of the households possess landline.

Most of the houses have mobile phone except the poor Harijan households. One can see

widespread penetration of cheap mobile phones in here. The first mobile operator entered the

village in 2000. From then the number of operators has increased in the village out of which

Airtel has the maximum penetration.

Figure 4

Time Line of Mobile Penetration in the Village

The above timeline shows that in the initial years of 2000 the pace of entry of new players

was slow but from later part of 2005 this pace has increased rapidly. At present four service

providers are functional in the village; Airtel, BSNL, Idea and Vodafone. Mobile phones

have provided an important linkage with the outside world. Very few people read newspaper

in the village and the language is vernacular. As there is no electricity in the village people

listen to happenings of the outside world through radio. However, apart from politics the

knowledge of people on other issues is limited. Very few people have television and only

four households have DTH. These houses have solar panel or generator. The movies watched

are mainly in Bhojpuri. Apart from few very poor households we found out through survey

that every household has a mobile phone. Also through survey we found out that the average

number of mobile phones with rich households is two. There is also widespread usage of

mobile phones to watch movies.

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6.7 Festivities in the village

Major festivals which are celebrated in the village are:

Jeetiya

Makar Sankranti

Holi

Karwa Chaut

Dushera

Diwali

Chath

We were lucky to be able to celebrate Dushera and Diwali in the village. The most

significant observation was the manner in which the entire village came together during

festivities. Even, the supplier of generator power provides four hours of free power supply

in the night of Diwali. The temple of Lord Barneshwar located 5 km. away sees huge

footfall on Sundays.

6.8 Migration

The village Mauzampatti has a large proportion of households belonging to landless farming

segment. As they have no other income option apart from labourer, uncertainty in getting

work in the village and in nearby areas forces them to migrate to areas like Delhi, Punjab to

earn money. Some of the marginal farmers who do not have any regular source of earning

also opt to work in those states due to increase wage and certainty of work.

Most of the villagers work in Punjab in different mandis during agriculture harvesting

seasons once for paddy and another for wheat. Apart from the rich yadav households, on an

average, 2 members from each family work as migrant labourers. This we found out through

our surveys. The primary work of migrant labourers working in mandis is to pack the cereals

in bags of specified size and for every bag packed they are paid which varies from mandi to

mandi. Typically a migrant labourer is paid Rs. 5/- for packing a bag. Villagers went Punjab

twice a year, works for around one and half months and earns anywhere between Rs. 40000/-

13

to Rs.50000/- every year. The adult male member of the family works as migrant labourers

while the female members remain in the village to look after the households and kids.

Villagers mostly go to Delhi to work as labourers in construction sector and real estate sector.

Here they have to work for entire year and often go with the other members of the family.

Both male and female of the family work as labourers. With both the family members

working they earn up to Rs.1.5 lakh in a year. They come back in village during festival time

like Diwali, Holi etc.

While the male members of the family went to work as migrant labourers the women member

find it very difficult to manage the family. They remain so busy with household work that

they hardly pay any attention towards the studies of the children or cleanliness. Also to incur

day to day family expenses they often end up borrowing from villagers at high rate of

interest. The situation becomes worst when any member of the family fall ill as they do not

have any money to expend or anyone to take them to nearby health centres.

Various government schemes like MGNREGA fail to provide any work to the villagers.

There is a great need to implement this scheme letter and spirit so that at least the people

from poorest of the poor families get 100 days of guaranteed work. This assured source of

income will reduce migration to a large extent. Also improving the wage rate of agriculture

labourers and stopping of harassment of lower caste workers by the upper caste will also

reduce migration. From our observation we found that no member of the family wants to

migrate by living his family behind in the village. But the uncertainty of earning sources and

their availability compels them to migrate.

7. Village economy

The entire population of the village Mauzampatti depends on agriculture as their source of

income directly or indirectly. Though among some rich households there are some people

who are engaged in government services like railways, teaching in government schools,

various other state government departments etc. The trend among lower caste households is

to work as migrant labourers in Delhi and Punjab as most of them do not possess any

agriculture land and other sources of income are highly irregular throughout the year.

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7.1 Agriculture

Major crops grown under agriculture are paddy, wheat, maize, tobacco, pulses. As there are

few large farmers in the village, barring those farming remains mostly at the subsistence

level. Out of the total land area of 900 acres, 760 acres of land is under agriculture (source:

Amin, mauzampatti village).

Around 7% of the total villagers is large farmers with operational land holding of more than 5

acres. 62% of the villagers belong to small and marginal farmer category with operational

land holding of more than 2.5 acre but less than 5 acre and less than 2.5 acres respectively.

31% of the villagers mostly belong to scheduled caste are landless farmers. (source:

household survey)

Though the village is well connected to nearest markets, marketing channels are not well

developed. Farming practices are mostly indigenous. So the crop production remains low.

Though in recent times people attached with different SHGs started cultivating paddy under

System of rice intensification (SRI) technique which is fetching them higher crop yields. But

cases of crop failure once decreased the confidence of SHG members towards cultivating

under SRI technique. Most of the landless families are practising farming under Batai basis.

Under this system farmers take land on lease from large farmers and contribute equally

towards purchase of inputs like seed fertilizers etc. and also has an equal share on harvests,

SRI technique is beneficial for these farmers as it is suitable for small landholding.

The soil type of the village is Sandy loam and it has a good water holding capacity. Most of

the farmers grow two to three crops in a cropping season.

Paddy remains the main crop cultivated by all the farmers. The sowing time of paddy is in the

month of July and harvesting is done in the month of October. Majority of the farmers

cultivate paddy without the use of any modern technique. While the households who are

attached with SHGs of Jeevika cultivate rice under System of Rice Intensification technique.

Cultivating rice with this technique has doubled the production of rice to these families.

Paddy is mostly used for self consumption purpose by the marginal farmers where as the

small and large farmers sell the paddy in nearby markets or to the middlemen.

During Ravi (November to March) season, the farmers cultivate either wheat or maize where

some of the families with very small landholding also cultivate tobacco. Wheat is mainly

grown for consumption purposes as well as for selling in the market where as maize and

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tobacco is grown at marketable surplus. Income generated from selling of crops acts us the

main source of earnings to the farmers.

Pulses are mainly sown during the month of April and harvested in the month of July and

grown for consumption purpose by the large farmers.

Usage of farm machinery was mainly in the form of rented tractors. There are 8 tractors in the

village which charges Rs.600/- to cultivate a bigha of agriculture land. Some of the farmers

also use indigenous plough to cultivate their land.

All the agricultural lands in the village are irrigated. During rainy season the village receives

plenty of rainfall. But major source of irrigation is ground water which is available at a

distance of 15 feet from the ground level. Farmers use pump set for irrigating their lands. The

large farmers have their own pump sets which they also use to rent to the small and marginal

farmers. The rent of pump set varies from Rs.70 to Rs.100/- per hour of irrigation.

Agriculture input practices

The main agriculture inputs required are labour, seeds, fertilizers, pesticide and irrigation.

Seeds: Most of the farmers used to store seeds of previous year to use them in current year.

While Jeevika do provides seeds to the members of SHGs at a very nominal cost.

Fertilizers: Major fertilizer used is

Urea: Market price Rs.400/- per bag (1 bag=50 kilo)

DAP: Market price Rs. 1400/- per bag

Potash: Market price Rs. 1000/- per bag

Vermicompost: Market price Rs. 5/- per Kg

Micronutrient fertilizers such as Zinc, Ammonium Sulphate etc.

16

Comparisation of cost of cultivation and yield of wheat using SWI method and indigenous

method (Land 1 acre): SWI method Indigenous method

Seed 10 Kg/acre @ Rs. 25/ Kg

Total: Rs. 250/-

40 Kg/acre @ Rs. 25/Kg

Total: Rs. 1000/-

Seed treatment With Bavistin

Cost: Rs. 20/-

No seed treatment

Ploughing 5 ploughing @ Rs. 600/- per

acre

Total: 3000/-

5 ploughing @ Rs. 600/- per

acre

Total: 3000/-

Irrigation 4 irrigation @ Rs.70/hour

(1 irrigation= 5 hour)

Total: Rs.1400/-

2 irrigation @ Rs.70/hour

(1 irrigation= 5 hour)

Total: Rs.700/-

Vermicompost 400 Kg/acre, 3 times @

Rs.5/Kg

Total: 6000/-

No Vermicompost

Fertilizers:

Urea

DAP

Potash

13.5 Kg/acre, 3 times,@ Rs.

400/- per bag (1 bag= 50

Kilo)

Total: Rs. 324/-

27 Kg/acre,@ Rs. 1400/- per

bag

Total: Rs.756/-

13.5 Kg/acre,@ Rs. 1000/-

50 Kg/acre, 2 times,@ Rs.

400/- per bag (1 bag= 50 Kg)

Total: Rs. 800/-

50 Kg/acre, once,@ Rs.

1400/- per bag (1 bag= 50

Kg)

Total: Rs. 1400/-

25 Kg/acre, once,@ Rs.

1000/- per bag (1 bag= 50

17

per bag

Total: 270/-

Kg)

Total: Rs. 500/-

Labourer 9 labourer @ Rs. 40/hour

Total: Rs.360/-

3 labourer @ Rs. 40/hour

Total: Rs.120/-

Total cost of cultivation Rs.12380/- Rs.7520/-

Yield 28.8 quintal 9.6 quintal

Price Rs.1000/quintal Rs.1000/quintal

Total earning Rs. 28800/- Rs. 9600/-

Surplus Rs. 16420/- Rs. 2080/-

(Source: Household survey)

7.2 Animal Husbandry: Majority of the villagers rear animals. Among the livestock reared,

cows, bullock, calves, she buffaloes are reared by hindu community while the muslims

mainly rear hens and goats.

Most of the milch cattle are of indigenous breed and are very low in milk productivity. Most

of the villagers use the milk to meet their daily consumption needs and no milk from the

village is sold to outside markets. The calves are reared so that they can be sold when they

grow up. The bullock are mainly used for ploughing agriculture land or used in bullock carts.

20 harijan families also have she buffaloes as milch cattle. Milk from she buffaloes is higher

in quantity than cows and most of this milk is used for self consumption purpose only.

All the 9 muslim households of the village rear hen and goat. The hens and eggs are used for

consumption purpose as well as selling in the village and periodical hat at Morballa. The

goats are purchased from market of Bihariganj and sold in market of Banbankhi every week.

Though the margin earned from selling goats is very low(ranges from Rs.100/- to Rs.300/-

per animal), it gives a stable source of income to the muslim households.

18

Price of animals:

Cocks Rs. 200/-

Hens Rs. 120/-

Goat Rs. 3000/-

Management of animals:

Most of the cattle are taken off to nearby fields or grazing lands every day for their feeding.

They graze through the whole day and return in the evening. The goats are given with leaves

as well as grass. While the hens mostly roam through the surrounding households to get their

feed they are also provided with rice bran to eat. Most of the breeding activity is done

naturally with the help of male cattle doing the mating service. A veterinary doctor also

comes to the village from Barhara Kothi upon phone call to treat the animals in case of any

diseases. He also performs the artificial insemination (AI) service to the animals.

Consumption:

All the households of the village are sufficient in their food grain requirement. Not a single

family of the village starves for a single meal in a day. Though the quality of diet is very low

especially in the lower income Harijan households as most of them rely on rice and wheat.

The rich Yadav households have sufficient earnings to cope with illness, rituals, festivals

and ceremonies. But the population of mostly small and marginal farmer and landless

laborers previously face uphill task of managing these expenses especially health related

issues. They used to borrow from rich Yadavs at a very high rate of interest which they

often find difficult to repay. But after the intervention of Jeevika through SHGs, the poor

villagers are at comfortable position to deal with any extremity with easy source of finance

at a very low rate of interest and flexible repayment policy.

Among government services, most of the poor people are unaware of the benefits they are

entitled to. Under ICDS (Integrated child development services) scheme vaccination is given

to the children. Asha workers are engaged in providing polio drops and dealing pregnancy.

Though old age pension is provided to the villagers, they are often irregular and

identification of proper beneficiary remains an issue. Some of the villagers are provided with

houses under Indira Awas Yojna, but they have complained about non receiving of entire

19

amount money they are entitled to under the scheme. The gram panchayat is nowhere as

large scale corruption and lack of willingness to implement government schemes remains

the main hurdle between the government programs and common man.

7.3 Village markets

The village itself does not have any market. Villagers have to go to block Barhara Kothi to

purchase their daily needs. Bihariganj block of Madhepura district is also a good market

which is around 8 kilometers away from the village. The village has five small kirana shops

which are located in different parts of the village selling almost same kind of products. The

typical products sell by the kirana shops are as follows:

Rice

Flour

Different kind of dal

Cigarette, tobacco, guthka etc

Mustard oil and spices

Biscuits, chocolates

The scale at which these shops are operating is very small and apart from few items like

tobacco, cigarette, biscuits etc. villagers prefer to buy from nearest markets.

Though the village does not have any haats, nearby villagers also access haats in nearby

villages to purchase their daily household items. A list of those haats along with day of

occurrence is given below:

Morballa (Distance: 5 KM): Monday, Friday

Ragubansh Nagar (Distance: 3 KM): Thursday, Saturday

Mathiyani (Distance: 2 KM): Tuesday, Sunday

Major items sold in these haats are different kind of vegetables, meat, fish, locally produced

gamcha, local toothpaste, local cosmetics, food grains, spices, sweets, fast foods like bread

pakoda, onion pakoda etc. There is also tea stalls, barber shops, cycle repair shops, footwear

shops, tailors, cobblers etc. Both sellers as buyers in these haats are mainly from nearby

20

villages within the periphery of 5-7 kilometers. We can see that apart from Wednesday,

there is a haat in everyday of the week. The vegetable growers of the nearby villages use

these haats to sell off their produce. Also villagers highly dependent on these haats for

purchase as well as selling.

There is also a big cereal mandi in Gulab Bagh which is 5 Kilometer from Purnia town and

around 60 Kilometer from Mauzampatti. This is a big mandi where farmers from all around

Purnia district come to sell their cereals. Selling in this mandi ensures better return of their

produce. Barring few big farmers of the village Mauzampatti, all the farmers sell their

produce to middlemen and these middlemen in turn sell those produce in the same mandi.

The major reason to sell cereals to middlemen comes out to be high transportation cost

involved in taking those grains to the mandi and also lack of storage facility.

7.4 Labour market:

The labor market in the village is highly unorganized. Most of the labor employment

available in the village is agriculture laborer. But due uncertainty of wage employment

majority of the landless laborers and marginal farmers migrate to Delhi and Punjab. They

earn anywhere between Rs.40000/- to Rs.50000/- in year from there. Most of the work they

engaged in is in cereal mandi and construction workers. For agriculture, the wage rate is as

low as Rs. 80/- a day for intercultural operations like weeding to Rs.125/- a day during

sowing and harvesting season. But as the male members of the family migrate during these

seasons, mostly women and old age family members work as agriculture laborers in the

village. But most of the large and small farmers of the village complained us about lack of

availability of labor due to large scale migration where as the migrant laborers complained

about lack of availability of work and low wage rate to the causes of migration.

7.5 Money and finance:

Most of the lower income households of the village are members of different self help

groups that are being run by Jeevika, the flagship project of Bihar Rural Livelihood

Promotion Society. In earlier years before the intervention of Jeevika, villagers in time of

financial needs resort to rich Yadav households, who in turn charge very high rate of interest

and also set very rigorous repayment policy. Most of the villagers borrow for meeting health

expenditure, household expenditure, house construction, purchase of cattle etc. The money

borrowed by villagers increase at an alarming rate due compounding of interest. Jeevika

21

through its different SHGs given financial assistance to the poorer villagers and most of the

villagers in turn have repaid all their debt taken from informal sector.

8. Village Polity

Village polity is one of the most important aspects effecting lives of villagers. Mauzampatti

being a strong hold of Yadavs and that the state is rules by people from Yadav communities

for long remains an important player effecting the politics at both village and block level.

Also they dominate in every aspect, exploit the poor villagers especially the harijans and

engaged in caste based politics. The harijans has long been exploited as they have been

forced to work in rich Yadav households as bonded labours and typically every member of

harijan families were forced to work in Yadav households. They have been denied of basic

amenities, wages and the only thing they were given was twice a meal every day. And if by

any chance the harijans borrow some money from the Yadavs, they have to work for rest of

the life if they fail to repay. The proper demarcation between the Yadav households and

harijans is easily observable as the Yadavs often use derogatory terms against the harijans.

For the last five years, there is a little respite for the harijans as various interventions by

Jeevika has changed their lives. The reasons for the same are as follows:

They have repaid majority of their borrowings from Yadavs

Most of the male members of the harijan households went to work as migrant

labourers and this has become a stable source of earning for their families

A number of harijan households have started practicing agriculture under Batai basis

The women due to attending SHG meetings on regular basis has increased their

awareness level

Now no harijan in the village works as bonded laborers in Yadav households. But the harijans

are still unaware of their rights and entitlements. For instance the PDS shop owner of the

village use to come once in three months and distribute the grains of only one month. The

harijans are of the thought that this is what happening in the village since past and this is their

entitlement and they are happy with it.

22

The formal power structure of the village can be defined in the following way:

Mukhia

Up Mukhia

Sarpanch

Up Sarpanch

Ward Memeber

The village Mauzampatti is under Gauripur gram panchayet. The Gram panchayet has 19

villages under it. Gram panchayat is the formal organisation associated with the village.

Table 3

Information related to Gram Panchayat

Name of the Panchayat Gauripur

Total population

19000

Number of wards

76

Name of the Mukhia

Hiralal

Name of the Sarpanch

Anil Yadav

(Source: Anil Yadav,Sarpanch)

Functioning of the Gram panchayat

There are four ward members in the village Mauzampatti. These ward members are

accessible to all and are main person of contact between the ordinary public and gram

panchayet. But most of the villagers have complained about the non functioning of ward

members. Their main work is to gather information from villagers and present those in

panchayat meetings so that the issues can be resolved at the earliest.

23

Sarpanch: The sarpanch Mr. Anil Yadav belongs to Mauzampatti village. The sarpanch has

the task of coordinating with various ward members to implement various schemes of the

government.

Mukhia: He is the main person engaged in interacting with various administrative personnel

at the block level.

Gram Sewak: He is the main government functionary responsible for implementing various

government schemes in the village. He works in liaison with the mukhia and sarpanch. He

has task of organising panchayat meetings and also distributing pensions under oldage

pension scheme and widow pension schemes. The payment of the same is highly irregular.

Rojgar sewak: The main person entrusted in implementing MGNREGA in the village and

payment of the same. But he is unavailable for most of the times.

From our observation we found there is hardly any implementation of government schemes

in the village even though there is existence of those schemes in pen and paper. Schemes like

MGNREGA are a total failure in the village which is implemented through the panchayat.

Majority of the households of the village do not have any sanitation facility although a

number of government schemes like total sanitation campaign is going on at different villages

of the block. The Sarpanch and Mukhia hardly pay any attention to the problems faced by the

villagers. They rather remain busy in pursuing their own interest from panchayat.

The various government functionaries like Gram Sewak and Rojagar Sewak also acts in

pursuing their own interest rather than giving enough attention to implement the government

schemes. People often find it difficult to approach these functionaries for their problems.

Though rule is to hold a panchayat meeting every month, the meetings are irregular and the

ward members are unaware of what is going on in the panchayat. The decision are mostly

taken by Mukhia and Sarpanch without any consultation with the wars members. The

panchayat office is also very bad in shape with no doors or windows in it and becomes a

playing option for village kids.

A point to note here that influence of Jeevika in the life of villagers is immense. The

members of different SHGs discuss their problems in SHG meetings and try to find out ways

to curb those rather than depending on panchayat. For instance, as the distribution of food

grains from PDS shop is highly irregular, the SHG members purchase food grains by taking

credit from Jeevika. Also Jeevika plans to start implementing various schemes like

24

MGNREGA through their various channels. People of the village have a special place for

Jeevika in their heart due its transparent approach.

An integrative view of the village society, economy and polity

The village Mauzampatti has long been dominated by the Yadavs. The economic and

political empowerment of Yadavs has long been associated with the social perception among

the villagers and the ownership of land. Being the landholding community, they use to

enforce their power in every activity happening in the village. The people from the lower

community, specially the Harijans obey their dominance without any question and this

remains one of the reasons for their deprivation till date. Due to this dominance, the Yadavs

political progress remains remarkable as they have occupied every decision making authority

like Sarpanch, Pramukh, Chairman of village school board etc. Due to holding these positions

for long time, they have made a lot of money by depriving the common man and by

becoming richer which increased the gap between upper caste Yadavs and lower caste

Harijans. These privileged Yadavs also increased their gaps from lower caste villagers in

terms of education. The Yadavs become educated and get jobs in different Govt. departments

while the other sections of the society remain deprived. The society is ridden with the adverse

impacts of casteism. The lower caste people are ignored in every decision making process.

Their economic and social position remains very low and is an indicator of their

backwardness.

Also because of very low land holding or no land holding the lower caste people are forced to

employ themselves as migrant laborers to look after their family. There is practically no

health care facility available to them. They are less aware about their rights and Govt.

benefits they are entitled to. All this can be attributed to their lack of economic, social and

political empowerment.

In recent days a considerable effort is directed from the Govt. to improve the economic,

social and political condition of the deprived section of the village. In a remarkable

achievement for the first time a villager from the lower caste community has been elected to

the post of sarpanch though she is only a constitutional head. The long perceived equation

between the society, economy and polity has started to change. Lower caste people,

especially the women, through the interventions of Self help groups have made considerable

progress towards breaking the societal barriers due to their considerable economic progress.

They now send their children to schools (though the quality of education is a major cause of

25

concern), practice improved agriculture practices, are aware about family planning, their

entitlements from the Govt. etc. This slow but steady progress of the lower caste people has

drawn considerable criticism and resistance from the Yadav community as they see this as a

threat to their age old dominance.

The village society, economy and polity of the village Mauzampatti are dependent upon each

other. Though through various interventions the Govt. is trying hard to change the societal,

economical and political situation of the village, it will take time to reach the benefit of such

interventions to every nuke and corner of the society thus creating a Holistic development.

9. Village institutions

An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the set

of behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community. (source: wikipedia.org.

Institution).

9.1 Aanganwadi- Aanganwadi means courtyard shelter in Hindi. They were started by

Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to

combat child hunger and nutrition. In Mauzampatti one aanganwadi center exists. It is located

in a separate hut. The student strength is 40 consisting of 15 girls and 25 boys. The average

age of the students lie between 3-5 years. There are two designated aanganwadi teachers but

during our village stay we found that the teachers remain absent most of the time. The lady

who cooks for the children makes the children recite basic poems and numbers; an alarming

fact being that she is illiterate. The aanganwadi centre provides daily meal to the students and

also Rs. 250 per year for uniform.

The ministry of women and child development has led down the following rules for

aanganwadi workers (AWW). These being, regular, quick surveys of families, organize pre-

school activities, provide health and nutritional education to families especially pregnant

women, educating women about family planning. It is also to follow the following points of

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program:

Holistic Nutrition

Pre-Nursery Education

Vaccination

Regular Health Check Up

Health and Hygiene

26

We found during our visit that only vaccination is followed to the word. Apart from the

regular vaccination of children polio drops is also administered through this centre. The

attendance remains more than 80% on most days, though, the primary reason being meal and

not study.

9.2 Middle School-The name of the middle school is Mauzampatti Middle School. It was

established in the 1964. Classes from 1 to 8 are conducted here. The school has student

strength of 705 with ratio of 50:50 for boys and girls. There are 10 teachers and a headmaster

in the school. The subjects that are taught are Hindi, Maths, Science, History and Geography.

Monday to Friday the school functions from mooning 9 to 5. Saturday is half working day

while Sunday remains a holiday. There are several Government schemes that are followed in

this school, namely:

Sarvasikshya Abhiyan Under this scheme schools are provided with funds for

infrastructure development

Mukhyamantri Poshak Yojna- Under this scheme students who maintain a

minimum of 75% attendance are given Rs. 500 for purchase of uniforms

Balika Poshak Yojna-Rs.750- Under this scheme girl students are provided Rs. 700

provided they maintain a minimum 75% attendance.

Mid day meal scheme- Under this scheme mid day meal is provided to students

daily.

Scholarship-A scholarship of Rs. 1400 is given to sc, st students

We found out that the student attendance remains dismal, on a given day only 30% of the

students show up. The reason provided by the teachers was that the students turn up only

when some money under schemes is given. The parents on the other hand gave the reason

being the teachers not observing their duty properly. There was widespread report from the

parents of Harijan children that they are specifically turned away from the school. On further

probing we found out that the money which is provided for purchase of clothes for the

school, mostly end up being used in household uses. So, the children turn up in dirty, torn

clothes and the teachers turn them away. We also found out that also the teachers were not

interested in spreading education in the village. They drew their salary and preferred to let

things be as they are.

9.3 High School- The higher secondary school in the village is named as Gyanvati Higher

Secondary School. Currently the school has classes only 9 and 10; classes 11 and 12 are to

27

start working from the current year. We saw buildings were being constructed for the same.

The student strength is 422 with a ratio of 50:50 for boys: girls. There are 8 teachers who

teach in here. Only about 50% of the students from the middle school continue their studies

here. The primary reason for the dropout being to supplement the family income. We found

that the teachers are much more serious about studies in here than the middle school. Apart

from the subjects taught in the middle school the children in here are also provided with

physical education.

The schemes that are functional in here include:

Providing uniform and cycles to the students who maintain a minimum of 75%

attendance

Scholarship to the tune of Rs. 1800 for sc, st and physically handicapped students.

9.4 Village Post Office

The village has one post office which is housed in the hut of the post master. It operates with

staff strength of 3 from 10.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. the post office performs normal functions of a

post office. But, it does not have facilities for speed post or for parcel. The post office also

has provisions for savings account and for recurring account facilities. Currently the post

office has accounts of 200 villagers. The minimum balance required for opening an account

is Rs. 200. This post office also doubles as the point of payment for MNREGA.

Grameen Daak Beema Yojana is a flagship Government scheme that functions through this

post office. Under this the minimum premium amount is Rs. 100 while the maximum policy

amount can be Rs. 300000.

9.5 Public Distribution System

Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system. Established by

Government of India and managed jointly by the state governments it distributes subsidised

food and non-food items to the countrys poor. The major commodities which are distributed

through PDS include staple grains such as rice, wheat and kerosene. Food Corporation of

India, procures, maintains and issues food grains to the state. Distribution to the poor is

managed by state governments. In Mauzampatti for PDS the families are provided cards. The

colour of the card is based on the status of the family in reference to poverty line: yellow card

28

is given to Antodyay families; red card is given to BPL families while blue card is given to

APL families. (Source: Anil Yadav,Sarpanch and Household Survey)

Antodyay- The families belonging to this category are provided with 21 kg rice at Rs.

3 per kg, 14 kg wheat at Rs. 2 per kg and 2.75 l of kerosene per month at Rs. 17.5 per

l per month.

BPL- The families belonging to this category are provided with 15 kg rice at Rs. 6.78

per kg, 10 kg wheat at Rs. 5.82 per kg and 2.75 l of kerosene per month at Rs. 17.5

per l per month.

APL- The families belonging to this category are provided with only kerosene oil at

the rate of Rs. 17.5 l per month.

In paper the PDS dealer is to distribute grains every month but while conducting informal

interviews with the villagers we found gross misappropriation. We got to know that the

dealer actually comes once in 3 months and also cuts a portion of the designated quantity.

The quality of rice provided under the scheme is of inferior quality.

9.6 MGNREGA

MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It is an

Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. This scheme

provides legal guarantee for 100 and 50 days of employment in every financial year to adult

members of any rural household willing to do public work related unskilled manual work at

statutory minimum age of Rs. 120. If they fail to do so the government has to pay the salary

at their home. (Source:wikpediai. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee

Act).

In Mauzampatti the major works provided under MGNREGA include planting of trees, soil

filling of village roads, pond digging. The stipulated wage is Rs. 144 per day. Payment of the

money to the beneficiaries is done through the village post office. The number of job card

holders is 120. One of the undesired consequences of MGNREGA is the scarcity of manual

labour during cultivation period. Through survey questionnaire we found out that no work

has been provided under MGNREGA in the past year. Only one person in the village is

entrusted with the maintenance of 300 odd saplings which were planted as a part of

afforestation programme. Even he complained of irregular payments for his work.

29

Comparison of APL, BPL and Antodyay Families

Under MGNREGA three varieties of cards are issued depending upon the position of families

relative to the poverty line. For antoday families a yellow card is issued which entitles

kerosene oil at 2.75l per month at a rate of Rs. 17.5/l, 21 kg of rice at Rs. 3 per kg and 14 kg

wheat at Rs. 2 per kg. For BPL families a red card is issued which entitles kerosene oil at

2.75l per month at a rate of Rs. 17.5/l, 15 kg of rice at Rs. 6.78 per kg and 10 kg wheat at Rs.

5.82 per kg. For above poverty line families a blue card is issued which entitles them to only

2.75 l of kerosene oil at Rs. 17.5 per l.

9.7 JEEVIKA

Stretching over an area 94,163 square kilometre, Bihar supports more than 8% of the

countrys population. Desiring to provide solutions to rural poor the state government has

initiated a project to promote rural livelihood in association with the World Bank. This

project is implemented through a society registered under the state government as Bihar

Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (BRLPS). It aims to provide livelihood options and thus

to improve the lives of rural poor. Currently it works through the following four programs,

institution and capacity building, social development, microfinance and livelihood.

BRLPS works through SHG s. BRLPS enables the formation of SHG s and through them

capacity building. Women in SHG s are encouraged to save through their respective SHG s.

They can then take loan when they require. The broad objective is to build self sustaining

institutions of women, empower them and build a viable and bankable womens community.

Didis in the village come together to form SHG s. the Shg s come under VO and Vo s are

organised in cluster level federation. Mauzampatti has the VO named as Maa Tara VO.

10. Village Livelihoods

Asset base available to the people:

Human assets: The rich people of the village Muzampatti belonging to Yadav

community are well aware of outside world and its happenings. While the poor mostly

Harijans have limited interaction and knowledge with the outside world. Most of the

poor people are unaware of various Govt. sponsored schemes and their entitlements.

30

Diet of both rich and poor households mostly comprises of non vegetarian food like meat, fish

and rice is the staple food. The diet we found is good in quality and healthy. The villagers eat

healthy and work instead of having a sedentary life. Even the old persons in the village were

much more active and healthy than what we observe in cities. Education standard of the

village is very poor. The high dropout rate in schools is attributed to the reason that the boys

have to work as labourers and girls get married at an early age.

Social assets: There is a clear caste differentiation between the Yadavs and Harijans.

Interaction between both the communities are limited and more of the nature of authority of

Yadavs over Harijans.

Natural assets: The land of the village is fertile and almost all used for rice and wheat. For

irrigation, villagers depend on rain water and ground water which is available at very low depth

of about 20 feet (Source: Household Survey).There is a river in the village but it has changed its

course after the flood of year 2008. Seasonal availability of water especially during rainy season

is the main characteristic of the river. Drinking water is available through tube well and wells.

The rich households have individual tube wells while the poor mostly Harijans use Govt. tube

well.

Physical assets: Except the houses of few rich Yadavs, all the houses of the villages are built of

mud walls and thatched roofs. There is a pucca road in the village which connects the village

with Barhara Kothi and Bihariganj. The condition of the road is very poor. All other roads of

the village are kacha road. Sanitation remains one of the major issues as majority of the village

doesnt have any toilet facility (Source: Household Survey). For agriculture the small and

marginal farmers use rented tractors for land preparation while most of the farmers depend upon

indigenous varieties of seeds for sowing of crops.

Financial assets: Most of the lower income households migrate to earn money while small and

large farmers depend upon agriculture as their source of income. The large farmers do save

money by selling the agriculture produce while the small farmers end up spending entire

amount earned on consumption. The women from marginal farmers and landless labourer

families save with SHGs and also avail credit from those SHGs.

Organisational assets: The village has 17 SHGs working and all a village organisation. They

have been quite successful in engaging women from poorest of the poor household with

formalised financial system.

31

11. Thematic Insights

As a part of our fieldwork segment both of us (myself and Apurba) were needed to carry out

our individual themes. The prerequisite for selecting themes was that no two partners in the

same village should work on similar themes. Accordingly I selected a theme under

livelihoods and Apurba under microfinance. Initially the theme decided upon by me was

livelihoods and interventions. But, on going on about the theme I found nonfarm based

livelihoods to be lacking in the village so I narrowed down my theme to farm based

livelihoods and interventions.

Farm Based Livelihoods and Interventions:

The objective of this theme was to observe and understand the farm based livelihoods in the

village, Mauzampatti. In the village the primary source of livelihood being agriculture the

relevancy of the theme was very much justified. BRLPS, which works through JEEVIKA is

involved in improvement in improving the output of agriculture through SRI and SWI. My

efforts were directed to find out the improvements that SRI and SWI has brought.

Microfinance activity in the village: Status, operations, opportunities and problems

Microfinance is defined as the financial services to the poor and lower income groups of the

society who traditionally does not have the access to banking and other financial services.

All the microfinance activity in the village is going through various interventions by Jeevika

through its SHGs. Focus on SHGs to function efficiently to alleviate poverty from the village

has found to generate significant impact. There are 17 SHGs operating in Mauzampatti

village of which 10 SHGs have been formed more than 3 years ago and rest 7 SHGs are new

SHG.

Organisational structure

It is considered that individual members of different SHGs are main building block and they

are lowest in the strata. 10-12 members of the village are required to come together to form a

SHG. The major points kept in mind while formations of SHGs are follows:

All the members should be women

Members should belong to poor households and preferably BPL households

32

Caste homogeneity should be kept in mind while formation of SHGs but there are

instances of mixed SHGs

A group of 15-20 SHGs operating in the same village or adjacent villages form a federation

of SHGs which is called Village Organisation (VO). In our village the name of the VO is

Maa Tara Village Organisation. The office bearers of every SHG are member of the VO. The

main purpose of VO is to coordinate the functioning of various SHGs, disbursement of loans

and implementing various awareness programs initiated by Jeevika. Cluster level federation

(CLF) is an apex functioning body at block level. All the VOs operating within the block

come together to form CLF. Office bearers of all the VOs are members of CLF. The main

functioning of the CLF is monitor and co-ordinate the working of different VOs.

Table 4

Impact of JEEVIKA and SHG

Criteria Before

(weight age)

After

(weight age)

1) Debt from informal sources 1 3

2) Self confidence 1 4

3) Respect in family and village 2 4

4) Savings habit 1 5

5) Say in decision making 2 3

6) Fulfilment of financial needs 1 4

7) Awareness 1 4

8) Convenience of getting loans as per requirement 1 3

9) Low interest rate and easy instalment 1 5

10) Literacy 1 4

Jeevika, provides an interest rate of 2% per month in comparison to 5% to 10% taken by

village money lenders. The greatest change that SGHs have brought is probably in the

inculcation of savings habit in didis as they are required to deposit a sum of Rs. 10 per week

in SHG funds. SHGs also act a source or providing loans to didis in times of their need. All

of these have raised respect for women in their families and in the village.

33

Table 5

PRA to access impact of JEEVIKA and SHG

Source PRA Activity carried out with the members of different SHGs

Purpose

In order to ascertain the benefits availed and change happened in

the life of villagers after interventions started by Jeevika through

SHGs

Particapants Sukhia Devi, Rama Devi, Ambika Devi, Ganga Devi, Gita Devi,

Gunjan Devi, Laxmi Devi

Modes of financing:

The members forming an SHG are monitored for 8 to 10 weeks and after that a joint bank

account under the name of President, Secretary and Treasurer of the SHG is opened in the

State Bank of India branch (SBI) of Barhara Kothi. Then the groups are provided with

following modes of financing.

Community Investment Fund (CIF): This is the loan given by VO to various SHGs

and is the initial finance received by the SHGs. The fund to the VO is provided by

state government. Every SHG upon satisfactory functioning are entitled to receive

maximum Rs.50000/- loan. The rate of interest charged is 2% per month out of which

1% interest remains with the individual SHG funds and 1% deposited with the VO.

Repayment is through 24 monthly instalments. Most of the members avail this finance

to meet up their household expenditure, health requirement. Out of the 17 SHGs

under VO 10 SHGs have availed these finance till date.

SHG bank linkage program: Under this arrangement loans are given by SBI, Barhara

Kothi branch. Here there is no restriction on the loan amount as the bank officials

assess the loan amount based on requirement of SHGs. The rate of interest is 11% per

annum and duration of the loan is 36 months. Loans availed mainly for the purpose of

repaying old debts from informal sector, purchase of cattle, house construction and

repairing and household consumption requirement.

34

Health risk fund: The main purpose of the fund is helping the poor to focus on their

health problems and meet up health requirement at early stage of their diseases. The

maximum financial assistance is arrived at ten times cumulative savings of SHGs

with VO. Three months moratorium period is given to the members which is interest

free and after that 1% per month interest is charged.

Food security fund: As most of the SHG members belong to lower income strata of

the society and work as landless labourers, they have to purchase food grains from

outside sources. Financial assistance of Rs.200000/- is given to the VO to purchase

food grain after ascertaining the food grain requirement of individual members.

Micro finance interventions of Jeevika is instrumental in eradicating poverty, lowering the

debt from informal sources, increase in awareness level of women, increase in respect of

women both within the family and in the village.

12. Conclusions: An integrative view of the village

Mauzampatti is primarily an agrarian village and its economy and the lives of the people too

revolve around the produce from cultivation. Distribution of wealth shows a clear

differentiation across communities in the village. All the rich households belong to Yadav

community whereas Harijans in the village are economically poor. Majority of the villagers

are subsistence farmers growing rice, wheat and vegetables. Surplus from rice and wheat

produce are sold in the market while vegetables are grown for household consumption.

Jeevika has brought about significant improvements in the lives of the villagers through

SHGs and through livelihood intervention techniques. Traditionally, Yadavs have been the

ruling class in the village. Even today, when it has become mandatory by law to give the

harijans the respect they deserve few of the rich Yadavs refuse to acknowledge this. Caste

based politics plays a strong role in the village which is represented in the fact that if a Yadav

stands for assembly elections from the village all the Yadavs will vote for him.

Big ticket government development initiatives are majorly a failure in the village. There is

widespread corruption in MGNREGA, PDS and NRHM. In most cases these schemes exist in

paper only and the money meant for them is channelized to pockets of corrupt officials. In the

past villagers have taken some of such officials to task but after short periods of suspension

they have returned.

35

Though, over the years the land value in the village has shot up to a present Rs. 3 lakh per

bigha on an average, the villagers dont want to move out. The villagers are aware of the

dismal state of education in their village and so those who can make an effort to send their

children to the district for education. Most of the transactions of the villagers occur in the

markets of Bihariganj or B.Kothi. Lack of electricity is a major concern which troubles the

villagers for which they have made numerous petitions but to no avail. After Nitish Kumar

came to power law and order situation has improved tremendously in the village. No major

incidents have occurred in the last 5 years.

Mauzampatti, in a nutshell is a peaceful place to live in. There are quite a few problems but

the villagers are proud to call the village their HOME.

13.Annexure

Annexure 1: Sampling plan

The village Muzampatti has 419 households. It was very difficult for us to survey each and

every household. So we decided to sample the households of entire village using stratified

sampling and the stratification is based on caste and religion. The graphical representation of

the plan is given below:

Annexure 2: Case study of Sushil

This is a case highlighting the story of Sushil, a person who has seen the fall from being

monetarily sufficient to being poor and who is getting up again. This case is also to highlight

the betterment of lives that Jeevika has brought.

Mauzampatti

Yadav(290)

Harijan(120)

Muslims(9)

Strata (Population size) Sample size

29

9

1

36

Mr. Sushil belongs to the Yadav community. Grandfather of Sushil, Mr. Ramkrishna Prasad

was a well to do man. He had three sons. He was well off and commanded respect in the

village. He had a total agriculture land of 50 bigha and also possessed 10 cows. All was well

in the family till the sons got married. Sushils father Mr. Vikas kumar was the youngest and

the meek one amongst his brothers. Few years after their the brothers moved out of their

joint family. Citing the expansion of family amongst many other reasons the elder brothers

demanded major portion of the property. His brothers got 23 bigha each and also 4 cow each.

When Sushils father got married his grandfather transferred his one bigha to his father and

began to stay with. Sushils father had three sons and a daughter. With only 3 bigha in his

name and 7 persons to feed the condition of the family deteriorated. They lost their say in

village matters. Gradually when Sushil and his brothers came of age they took

responsibilities. Sushil works as VRP of Maa Tara VO while his younger brother Deepak

works as VRP of Ganga VO. His elder brother looks primarily after agriculture. As VO,

Sushil and his brother gets paid Rs. 10 each for each didi who initiate agricultural practices

through Jeevika. So now, though Sushils family is self sufficient in terms of food and

clothing he dreads the day his brothers decide to go their separate ways. As of now they live

in harmony and Jeevika has played a great role in this by providing the two brothers with a

source of income.

Annexure 3: Case study of Sukhiya Devi

A case highlighting women empowerment, the story of Sukhiya Devi.

Sukhiya Devi got married to Bahadur Mondal in 1993. She had no formal education. At the

start they were very poor with her husband working as a servant in a Yadav household. To

supplement the family earnings her husband worked in Punjab, earning Rs. 1000 per month.

Meanwhile Sukhiya Devis father in law suffered from paralysis and she had to take a loan of

Rs. 5000 at 5% rate of interest. She took an additional loan of Rs. 2000 also at 5% interest. At

such moments of distress she met Jeevika. She came in contact with Jeevika in June, 2007

through Bhagshri SHG. Convinced by the concept of group savings she initiated the

formation of Bhagshri SHG which had a total 13 members of which she was the treasurer.

Gradually, she ascended to the post of training organiser and now she is a CRP. As training

organiser her role was to train members during the initial days of SHG formation. As CRP

she is involved in the intrastate formation of SHG and participates in training exercises across

the state. For her work she is acknowledged in the district.

37

Table 6

Income expenditure of Sukhiya Devis family (monthly)

Spending Amount (Rs.) Earnings Amount (Rs.)

Rice 1800 Training 2833

Vegetable and oil 1050 MNREGA 367

Wheat 480 Labour 3000

Childrens Tuition 500

Generator connection 60

Books 50

Clothes 167

Total 4107 Total 6200

Annexure 4: Profile of five rich families

Household details of five rich families are as follows:

The number rich people in the village Mauzampatti is about 10% of total population. Most of

the members of these families are literate and the children are sent to Patna or Purnia to

continue their study. The major source of income of these families is agriculture but some of

them also engaged in service sector also.

Table 7

Profile list (rich families)

Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5

Name Anil

Yadav

Arun

Yadav

Rakesh

Babu

Amar

Babu

Lakhan

Dev

Age 55 45 62 60 49

Caste Yadav Yadav Yadav Yadav Yadav

Occupation Farmer Farmer Farmer Farmer Business

Adult

Members

M 2 1 2 4 1

F 3 2 2 2 3

0-2 Years M 0 0 0 0 0

38

F 0 0 0 0 0

3-5 Years M 0 0 0 0 0

F 0 0 0 0 0

6-18

Years

M 0 1 0 0 0

F 0 1 0 0 0

Total Family

Members

5 5 4 6 4

Children not going to

school

0 0 0 0 0

12 Year girls not

educated

0 0 0 0 0

House

Details

House

Type

Modern

House

Modern

House

Modern

House

Modern

House

Modern

House

Electricity No No No No No

Sanitation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Water

Tank

No No No No No

Land

Holding

Irrigated 5 acre 4.7 acre 20 acre 22 acre -

Non

Irrigated

- - - - -

Total

Land

5 acre 4.7 acre 20 acre 22 acre -

Animal Cow 4 2 5 6 1

Buffalo - - - - 0

Goat - - - - -

Total 4 2 5 6 1

Migration No No No No No

Television Set Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

39

Annexure 5: Profile of five poor families

Household Details of five poor families are as follows:

Most of villagers surveyed in this segment belong to scheduled caste category as they

constitute poorest of the poor segment of the village.

Table 8

Profile list (poor families)

Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5

Name Mithilesh Sushil Manoj Chandeshri Raju

Age 25 31 41 55 60

Caste SC SC SC SC SC

Occupation Manual

Labour

Manual

Labour

Manual

Labour

Manual

Labour

Manual

Labour

Adult

Members

M 1 3 1 2 2

F 2 2 1 3 3

0-2

Years

M 1 1 0 0 0

F 1 1 0 0 0

3-5

Years

M 0 0 0 0 0

F 0 0 0 0 0

6-18

Years

M 0 0 3 0 0

F 0 0 1 0 0

Total Family

Members

5 7 6 5 5

Children not going to

school

0 0 0 0 0

12 Year girls not

educated

0 0 1 0 Yes

House

Details

House

Type

Mud

walled,

Thatched

Mud

walled,

Thatched

Mud

walled,