By Nagendra Nath Sinha
The start of the millennium in India witnessed rapid growth and successive periods of boom in employment, the emergence of urban centers and rapid technological advancements. With India’s goal towards self-reliance and reduced foreign dependence, there are various avenues and opportunities for the citizens. Over 4.75 million people are added to the labor force in India per year. About 70 % of them are from the rural areas. To cater to this growing segment of population, it is better to build a continuum of various socio-economic opportunities. As India makes a 75th mark in its developmental history, there is a crucial dimension in its growth journey that cannot be overlooked– Sustainable and Resilient Livelihoods, especially in the rural areas. Large-scale migration for jobs and its attendant pathologies have large socio-economic costs that must be addressed.
Chambers and Conway define livelihood as comprising the capabilities, assets (stores, resources, access and claims) and the activities required as a means of living. Decent livelihoods are socially as well as environmentally sustainable and maintain or enhance the capabilities and contribute to local and global livelihoods both in short and long term. Further, it copes with, and recovers from, stress and shock and provides similar if not better livelihoods for future generations.
In the context of India, livelihood must be viewed through various lenses; existence, persistence and textures of social inequalities that exist within communities.
According to the IHDS Survey (2011-12), in rural areas over 60% of the population is engaged in agriculture out of which 86.5% remain as small, marginal agricultural laborers. One of the major plights in agriculture remains to be indebtedness, which moves up with subsequent agricultural classes. To cater to this large segment of the rural economy, policymakers have been emphasizing upon addressing the issue of indebtedness among the farming population. The issue can be addressed with the availability of easy sources of rural credit and diverse livelihood opportunities can pave the way for empowering agrarian livelihoods in India.
Another structural issue in terms of livelihood opportunities is the caste-based inequalities. The data from caste-based census and studies also show a multi-dimensional view of Indian livelihoods. Based on the findings of the studies by Aravind Panagariya and Vishal More on the Tendulkar Poverty Line, if 22% of Indian households are below the poverty line– 31% of them are scheduled castes and 45% of them remain to be scheduled tribes. Intersectionality has to be considered in the process of livelihood generation to address the vulnerabilities of marginalized castes and communities, particularly in the rural areas.
In addition to caste, gender is a crucial lens through which livelihood missions can operate. Reportedly, women receive only half, or two-third of the wages as compared to men working as agricultural laborers in rural India. While three-fourth of agricultural or livestock work is undertaken by women, their share of income does not increase more than 25%. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has set a goal for ensuring all SHG women an annual income of over 1 lakh, and has embarked on a mission over next 3 years to realise this for 25 million women SHG members under NRLM. This can accompany other supportive services that can further provide a dignified livelihood for most women in the country. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) has played a pivotal role in mobilizing 84 million rural poor women in the country into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and their federations. The latter have emerged as an effective, efficient institutional platform in this regard. Village Poverty Reduction Planning and convergences established through the integration with PRI planning processes, producer aggregates and value chain development have emerged as critical mechanisms to realize the same.
Furthermore, another crucial dimension of sustainable livelihood is climate. Climate predominates resilient livelihoods especially in the context of India where two-thirds of Indian households depend on agriculture which is highly climate-sensitive. It is important to understand that climatic conditions accompany gender inequality as rural women accrue 75% of their income through agricultural related activities. Further, frequent crop failures/damages through unpredictable and extreme climatic events wreak havoc on food security as well as the livelihood of farming populations. Amidst such circumstances, it is crucial to create measures that can support agrarian families. MoRD is working towards large scale watershed based treatments including through creation of Amrit Sarovars, natural farming, diversified livelihoods that mitigate some of these aspects. However, work remains such as adapting crops, livestock etc. to such climatic events, better forecasting, development of smart resilience responses through community processes and infrastructure, such as nurseries that produce seedlings on a large scale which farmers could use post flood to raise short term crops. Major cropping techniques that can raise 2-3 crops, including tree crops, in one land can significantly increase output and income of farmers.
Ensuring sustainable and resilient livelihood in India cannot be achieved without local participation. Decentralized leadership act as a cornerstone in facilitating welfare and development activities in India. There is a need to elevate the stake of local leadership in livelihood generation activities, engaging them further in planning as well as in the localization and mobilization of resources. This can be illustrated by Village Poverty Reduction Planning under Gram Panchayat Development Planning. Planning committees can prioritize development activities that can be undertaken by various sections of the rural community. For instance: If women want to engage in poultry farming, then poultry farm-houses can be built and labor costs could be allocated under MGNREGA for women workers. Collaboration of both Central and State governments, private players, and NGOs in areas of agro-processing, micro-enterprises, manufacturing handicrafts and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) can increase productivity and diversify and create more non-farm income opportunities. Such a diversified portfolio would bring inclusivity to the livelihood generation as it would also cater to the needs of a very large section of land deprived rural households.
A focused approach by the government, with participation and support from private sector partners, in creating and strengthening sustainable resilient livelihood opportunities will lead to a foundational transformation in terms of employment generation and raising the per capita income, particularly in rural communities. It is indeed gratifying to see a large number of stakeholders working with the government in this regard e.g. Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chain (FDRVC) on promoting large scale women farmer’s producer organisations and building private sector partnerships, especially in the dairy sector. Initiatives likeAshakiran of the Nudge Foundation in partnership with the Goat Trust and Kegg farm, focus on building sustainable livelihood at scale through livestock farming and Rapid Rural Community Response (RCRC) coalition working on Integrated Farming Clusters. We need to incubate more such partnerships led initiatives to promote large scale sustainable and resilient livelihoods.
(The author is Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the FinancialExpress.com.)
