Inauguration of farmers club by NABARD@LIFE Banswara

There is good news from the LIFE project field of SJVS-Banswara. NABARD has inaugurated the first farmers club (Damor Kissan Club) in the LIFE project village (Ambapada).  Damor Farmer club has 17 members ( 11 male +6 female).

 This is the first farmer club which has been approved by NABARD and received financial support ( INR 10000) from NABARD. Also this is the first ever inauguration of any farmers club (been approved by NABARD) in the history of SJVS-Banswara.

 The inauguration has been funded by NABARD and NABARD DDM and other representatives from district administration, Panchayat, local banks & block.  The inauguration of Framers club is been covered by two leading Hindi news paper-Dainik Bhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika.

 At present 5 farmers club out of 10 farmers club formed in Banswara are approved by NABARD.

World Bank approves $109-m grant for Rajasthan

This is the news in The Hindu ( 28^th/03/2012):  The World Bank has approved a $109-million grant for Rajasthan to promote water-efficient agriculture through sustainable and efficient use of resources in the desert state.

The fund, approved for the Rajasthan Agricultural Competitiveness Project, is expected to benefit some 1,55,000 farmers, mainly those with small land holdings in the state.

“Rajasthan has limited water resources and is facing an increasing constraint on its availability, in particular for agriculture. Improving productivity in irrigated agriculture and achieving productivity gains in rain-fed farming are one of the great untapped opportunities of the agriculture sector in the state,” said Mr Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs.

He noted that the initiatives under the project are expected to help farmers move from low value and water-guzzling crops to high value farming, as aimed in the state’s water policy of 2010.

It is also expected to increase productivity through efficient management of water and crops, improved farming technology, farmer organisations and market innovations in some 20 selected areas of around 10,000 hectares each across 10 agro-ecological zones.

The primary focus of the project is to reduce agricultural water footprint by improving harvest, capture, collection, delivery and distribution of water for crops and livestock dependent on various sources of the natural resource.

It also aims at efficient use of water in farms apart from increasing moisture and fertility in the soil and promote market-oriented production, a World Bank statement said.

“The agricultural sector needs an end-to-end approach ranging from water management to better agricultural practices and marketing,” World Bank Country Director for India, Mr Roberto Zagha, said.

He said the initiative will bring various related stand-alone efforts like “water user associations, agriculture technology transfer, farmer producer groups, and marketing development” under one umbrella “through a holistic approach’’.

 For more detail you can log on to:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/government-and-policy/article3253742.ece

How LIFE project has changed the life poor people in Banswara & Ajmer: The change factor!

1^st year was focused on setting and strengthening the LIFE project, where as 2^nd year, focused on sharpening of result and focusing on result monitoring. Now with two years of implementation, we can say that LIFE project has changed the lives of many down trodden people in the central and southern Rajasthan region. By the end of 2nd year of the project, the project achieved 58 % of set target result and able to strengthen the target community to bring considerable changes in their lives! The following is the glimpse of the changes from first year to 2^nd year.

Situation before/till 1st year of the project	Situation after 2 years of the project A CHANGE FACTOR!
In Banswara   male members from every house hold used to migrate to Gujarat for work	Now with our 614 target families there is no migration recorded in last one year. People started getting work and other livelihood options in their own villages.
Food habit: dal, roti (bread) of synthetic fertilizer based crop, vegetables. Two meals in a day	Food habit: Dal, roti of organic input based crop, vegetables. Two meals in a day
Discussion at tea shops: on politics, crime, & culture	Discussion at tea shops: on sustainable agriculture, MGNREGA and government schemes.
Sense of attire: Dirty clothes of children and women	Sense of attire: Neat clothes of children and women
Decision in the family: hardly any role of women	Decision in the family: 20-30% ecisions of family by women.
Participation of women in gram sabha: hardly any	15-20% in recent gram Sabha meetings at 26th Jan 2012.
Veil (Parda Pratha): whole face covered	Veil ( Parda pratha): only up to head. Face is open.
Community against corruption: no action	Community against corruption: raising voice, filling RTIs
Govt officials: Do the work as per their wish	Govt. Officials: have fear of community that if they do wrong community will raise the voice. Government machinery is changing.
Average wage rate in NREGA INR 70/- per day (   compared to 119 INR per day in the region)	Average wage rate in NREGA is 105 INR  per day (  compared to 119 INR per day in the region)
Farmers were practicing synthetic fertilizer based cultivation with use of Hybrid seeds ( of Monsanto and other high brands)	Thought process in terms of agriculture has changed. Farmers moved from mere agriculture to sustainable agriculture with the use of organic inputs, certified seeds, availing government schemes, working together for farming through Farmers club and are reaping considerable production.  There are 426 farmers who practice organic cultivation i.e.  we have total target community as  1572 ( 958 of Ajmer & 614 of Banswara) and out of this 165 at Banswara and 261 at Ajmer  i.e. in total 426 target farming families are practicing 100% of organic cultivation and this 426 represents 27% of total target families and this percentage of 100% organic cultivation is increasing with every crop season.
Limited financial and social inclusion of women	Now with SHGs women moved beyond their veil system, are going to bank by themselves, dealing with all financial aspects and are linked with institutions like NABARD and Central banks to avail loan at mere 4-12 percent, their children are going to school, aanganwadi worker is attending the meetings of SHGs. And these SHGs have moved from mere SHG to entrepreneurship!
PRI, NABARD & KVK at distance from the community	Now PRI, KVK and NABARD are the part of LIFE project implementation in the region.

Some other major highlights:

·         LIFE project has turned out as a model project for both partners and Caritas India.

·         LIFE project at Banswara has received the 2^nd best award from district administration ivation in the district

·         Applicatyion of monitoring tools on regular basis and result is calculated on the basis of same.

·          Regular field visit and hand holding support to project staff has given a concrete shape to the project.

·         75% of Farmers club i.e. 15/20 farmers club are been approved by NABARD.

·         12 RTI applications have been fieled by the target community

·         Migration in Banswara ( amongst the target community) has reduced to0% from last year 100%

·         Now community is aware about the MGNREGA and almost 100% of target community have job cards, 38% of target community have received 100 days of work, 27% of target community recived full wages

·         Strengthening network of information gathering and sharing the same through web pages of LIFE www.liferajasthan.blogspot.com  - approx 1500 viewers per month from throughout the world and other social network sites ( facebook) has given a strong visibility to the project.

·         Along with compilation of two year results, learning and challenges the approach of Result Base Management (RBM) has also incorporated in the project planning, monitoring and evaluation process. This was facilitated by ASK & CI Delhi. Application of monitoring tools, compilation and analysis of collected data, setting up targets for results and activities was done in the first quarter. In our third review meeting held in June, 2011 we reviewed our targeted results and inputs at micro-level and revised them to make them SMART and achievable. In December, we applied PMF tools again to analyse the results and achievements of the set targets.

·         Now LIFE uses workshop mode in the villages, where each   staff is organizing and facilitating workshops (with folding board and marker) on specific components of project with community   rather than just going and doing interactions.

·         In last one year through the advocacy network of LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS i.e. Sanjha Samavd , we have raised the voice for subsidy on organic inputs and no subsidy on synthetic fertilizers, demand for proper systemization of delivery of food grains under the proposed food security bill and accentuating the drawbacks and solution for implementation of NREGA and use of Bundelkhand package. Our voice through advocacy network is reaching to more than 65 development organizations through out India and other parts of the world also. 

·         Total fund leverage by the LIFE project team through government and other development institutions is INR 4519865.

a concern...BT cotton : leading to farmers sucides!

BUDGET 2012-13 ANALYSIS FROM THE RESULT ANGEL OF LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS!

BUDGET 2012-13 ANALYSIS FROM THE RESULT ANGEL OF LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS
Result components of HARIT PRAYAS & LIFE	Budget 2012-13  in relation with result component	Impact & possibilities on LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS  project
1. 1.Agriculture( Sustainable )Development	This is what Pranab Mukherjee said on Agriculture in the Budget 2012 document I now take up agriculture. Agriculture will continue to be a priority for the Government. The total plan outlay for the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is being increased by 18 per cent from Rs 17,123 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,208 crore in 2012-13. The outlay for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) is being increased from Rs 7,860 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 9,217 crore in 2012-13. I am happy to inform the House that the initiative of Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) has resulted in a significant increase in production and productivity of paddy. States in eastern India have reported additional paddy production of seven million tonnes in Kharif 2011. I propose to increase the allocation for this scheme from Rs 400 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 1000 crore in 2012-13. The Government intends to merge the remaining activities into a set of missions to address the needs of agricultural development in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. These missions are: 1.        National Food Security Mission which aims to bridge the yield gap in respect of paddy, wheat, pulses, millet and fodder. The ongoing Integrated Development of Pulses Villages, Promotion of Nutri-cereals and Accelerated Fodder Development Programme would now become a part of this Mission; 2.        National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) including Micro Irrigation is being taken up as a part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The Rainfed Area Development Programme will be merged with this; 3.        National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology focuses on adoption of appropriate technologies by farmers for improving productivity and efficiency in farm operations; and 4.        National Horticulture Mission (NHM) aims at horticulture diversification. This will also include the initiative on saffron.	·      No major concern on subsidy on organic inputs, but subsidy on synthetic fertilizers has gone down and probably fertilizers would be costly and also would be difficult to get, and target farmers would be inclined more towards the organic inputs. ·         But still government has focus on promotion on fertilizers, just to increase the production; government has main focus on “PRODUCTION INCREASE” rather than on soil health improvement for longer period. ·         National food security mission is seems to be good, but analytically it need more production from agriculture, so again the focus would  be on production mainly through high yielding seeds, synthetic fertilizers. ·         National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture -NMSA would give ample opportunity for the samll and marginalized farmers to avail the facilities of micro-irrigation, Probably our project team could work on it with agriculture departments in the concerned blocks or districts. ·         With NHM both the project team of LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS could work with the forest , Horticulture & agriculture department ( as in the districts the NHM programme is being implimented by these departments) and make target families to get benefit of Bamboo ( bamboo mission is also the part of NHM) in Banswara, other plantations ( fruit & wood) in Bundelkhand region & Ajmer)
1.2. SHGs & Farmer’s club	Bills on micro-finance institutions, national land bank and public debt management among those to be introduced in 2012-13. Infusion of Rs.15,888 crore in public sector banks, regional rural banks and NABARD in 2012-13.	·         Although it seems to be a good bill on micro-finance especially focusing on debt management, but consideration on regulation to micro-finance institution is more prior than the debt management. For example in our project locations of Satna  DPIP ( govt. institution)  has  formed highly poor quality SHGs and just for completing the task of forming number of SHGs  ( 100s of SHGs in a week, with just 10 rupees collection and further no follow-up and this has created a wrong impression on community about the concept of SHG and now people in our HARIT PRAYAS project villages have strong opposition for the concept of SHGs another examples we can see where poor families in Andhra Pradesh are committing suicide because of pressure of loan repayment from micro-finance institutions like SKS) . hence mere debt management is not important, important is regulation on MFI’s and even regulation on government. ·         More fund & support for NABARD and local banks are there, so we have the option to leverage more funds from these institutions and strengthening our linkages.  It would be better if we could directly relate our SHGs & Farmers club with NABARD so that they could be self sustained in the future.
2. Entitlements and government welfare schemes	This is what Pranab Mukherjee said on Social security and the needs of weaker sections in the Budget 2012 document. I am raising the allocation under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) by 37 per cent from Rs 6,158 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 8,447 crore in 2012-13. Under the ongoing Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme for BPL beneficiaries, the monthly pension amount per person is being raised from Rs 200 to Rs 300. On the death of the primary breadwinner of a BPL family, in the age group 18 to 64 years, a lumpsum grant of Rs 10,000 is presently provided under the National Family Benefit scheme (NFBS). I propose to double this amount to Rs 20,000 and expect a matching contribution by the State Governments. In order to promote voluntary savings towards pensions, a co-contributory scheme SWAVALAMBAN was started in September, 2010. Over 5 lakh subscribers have been enrolled by February 2012. In order to enhance access to this scheme, LIC has been appointed as an Aggregator and all Public Sector Banks have also been appointed as Points of Presence (PoP) and Aggregators. MGNREGA The much hyped job guarantee scheme seems to have stabilized, with the Union Budget reducing the allocation after six years of sustained hikes. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced Rs 33,000 crore as MGNREGA allocation, down from 40,000 crore earmarked last year. The total allocation for rural development schemes has gone up to Rs 99,000 crore. The reduced allocation seems to be based on the fall in expenditure in 2011-12 that cost Rs 31,000 crore to the exchequer.	·         37% increase for social security schemes is a big number , but is going to be good only when it would be properly utilised by the eligibile benificiaries. In our LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS project villages we could generate awareness on this increase and could strengthen our training programmes so that even those who are not our target community but are eligible would get the benefit of the schemes. ·         Till now in our project area we have not focussed on National Family Benefit scheme (NFBS), so we could go through the details of this scheme and could start awareness generation programme on the same. ·         Already both LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS are linked with LIC for jeevan madhur insurance scheme for daily wages, now we can think of linking for SWAVALAMBAN. ·         There is decrease in allocation of MGNREGA amount means the amount of work is going to decrease, so it is important that at the Panchayat level proper planning of NREGA must be done and for this we need to strengthen our CBOs to be actively participate in NREGA planning or to present the village level micro-plans to the gram sabha for approval and consideration of work under MGNREGA ·         Reduction of amount for NREGA allocation would also lead to have more corruption!
3.Skill development & employability	The Budget for 2012-13 has doubled allocation under the National Skill Development Fund ( NSDF) and launched a credit guarantee fund for skills development. The government has set a target of imparting skills training to 500 million people by 2022. The Budget doubled infusion into the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDF) to Rs 1,000 crore, raising the corpus of the fund to Rs 2,500 crore.	·         The amount of NSD is doubled now, so there is more scope to get benefit of NSDF for imparting skill development trainings in our project villages. Although till now we are not able to link the target community with the NSDF amount, now we can think of possible linkages and fund leverage. ·         Skill training to 500 millions-could be good options for both HARIT PRAYAS and LIFE project teams.

Highlights of Union Budget 2012-13

Following are some of the key highlights of the Union Budget 2012-13, presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Parliament on Friday:

* Tax burden for individuals to come down: Income tax exemption limit raised from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs. 2,00,000; 10 per cent tax for 2-5 lakh income; 20 per cent for 5-10 lakh and 30 per cent beyond Rs. 10 lakh; Savings bank account interest up to Rs. 10,000 exempted from tax.

* Many services and goods to cost more: No change in corporate tax rate, but standard rate of excise duty, as also service tax rates, raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent; No change in peak customs duty of 10 per cent on non-agri goods.

* Large cars, imported bicycles, cigarettes, bidis and some imported jewellery to cost more; branded silver jewellery may get cheaper.

* Boost for capital markets: Securities Transaction Tax on cash delivery reduced by 25 per cent to 0.1 per cent; A new Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme to allow income tax deduction to retail investors in stocks.

* Economy expected to gain ground: GDP growth rate pegged at 7.6 per cent in 2012-13; Subsidy Expenditure to be checked and higher tax revenues targeted; Rs. 30,000 crore to be raised from disinvestment.

* Capital boost to financial and infrastructure sectors: Rs. 15,888 crore to be provided for capitalisation of public sector banks and financial institutions; Infrastructure investment of Rs. 50 lakh crore in 12th period, with half from private sector; Tax free bonds of Rs. 60,000 crore to be allowed for financial infrastructure projects.

* Fight against black money: White paper on black money in current session of Parliament; Introduction of compulsory reporting requirement for assets held abroad; tax collection at source on high-value cash purchase of bullion, jewellery, immovable property and trading in coal, lignite and iron ore.

* Greater scrutiny of closely-held companies for funds; Taxation of unexplained money, credits, investments, expenses at highest rate of 30 per cent irrespective of income slab.

* Tax reforms: Direct Taxes Code (DTC) at earliest; GST network to be operational by August 2012; Central Excise and Service Tax being harmonized. A General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) to be introduced to counter aggressive tax avoidance.

* Attracting foreign funds: Efforts on to allow FDI in multi-brand retail and permitting foreign airlines invest in domestic players; External borrowings to the extent of USD one billion for aviation companies; Qualified Foreign Investors to get access to corporate bond market.

* Tax relief for stressed sectors: Sectors like agriculture, infrastructure, mining, railways, roads, civil aviation, manufacturing, health and nutrition, and environment to get duty relief; Turnover limit for compulsory tax audit for SMEs raised from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

* Farming for growth: Target for agricultural credit raised to Rs 5,75,000 crore; Interest subvention for short-term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest continues; additional 3 per cent for prompt paying farmers.

Financial Highlights of Budget 2012-12:

* Direct proposals to give in net revenue loss of Rs. 4,500 crore and net gain of Rs. 45,940 crore from indirect taxes, resulting into a net gain of Rs. 41,440 crore.

* Fiscal deficit targeted at 5.1 per cent of GDP in 2012-13, down from 5.9 per cent in 2011-12; Central Government debt at 45.5 per cent of GDP.

* Total expenditure budgeted at Rs. 14,90,925 crore; plan expenditure at Rs. 5,21,025 crore, 18 per cent higher than 2011-12 budget; non-plan expenditure at Rs. 9,69,900 crore.

* Gross Tax Receipts estimated at Rs. 10,77,612 crore, 15.6 per cent higher than original budget estimates and 19.5 per cent over the revised estimates for 2011-12.

* Net tax to the Centre in 2012-13 estimated at Rs. 7,71,071 crore; Non-Tax Revenue Receipts estimated at Rs. 1,64,614 crore and Non-debt Capital Receipts at Rs. 41,650 crore.

* Total expenditure for 2012-13 budgeted at Rs. 14,90,925 crore, including Rs. 5,21,025 crore of Plan Expenditure and Rs. 9,69,900 crore as Non-Plan Expenditure.

* Defence services get Rs. 1,93,407 crore; any further requirement to be met.

Source: The Hindu

Strengthening NREGA through exposures@Banswara

Exposure visit for target community for training on MNREGA & RTI

In order to make community learn more on the "practice part in NREGA" i.e. how with the participatory approach of Panchayat and community NREGA could secure employment generation, mataining natural resources and securing food; LIFE project team at Banswara has  organised an exposure visit  to Biliya Badgama gram Panchayat Sagbada Panchayat samiti Dungarpur District. in total 30 participants from 10 LIFE project villages have visited the Panchayat, seen the Panchayat work under NREGA and interacted with the community and Panchayat leaders. Following were key discussion points ( on NREGA):

Discussion points

· Introduction of Biliya panchayat

·       How do to give written application

·       Who are responsible for the application

·       What is the responsibility of Mate

·       Mate how do to motivate to villagers

·       What is the process of payment

·       How can we received unemployment all ounce

·       What facility government is giving in my village

·       What is the Process of social audit 

Outcome

After these exposure total 15 participants has given written application in the panchayat in this month.