[67th BPSC] Bihar: Rural Development-I

Rural Development

• The agenda of rural development is critical for Bihar, as nearly 90 percent of its population live in rural areas. The State Government implements a number of programmes to address the development needs of the rural population.
  • JEEViKA is one of them, which addresses the livelihood needs of rural people and has made substantial contribution in this regard in recent years.
  • At present, there are more than 10.3 lakh women Self-Help Groups in Bihar, through which JEEViKA is implemented.
• For employment generation. the dedicated programme is MNREGA, which again is being implemented effectively to enhance the income of rural households.
• Yet another welfare programme to help the rural population is Public Distribution System, which ensures their food security, with special attention on ultra-poor households.
• A large number of rural households in Bihar, belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, lack homestead land and a pucca house. The State Government has a dedicated programme to meet this basic need.
  • It is expected that, within a few years in Bihar, there will be no rural family without a piece of homestead land.
• Finally, With substantial financial allocation, the Central and State Governments together have been running sanitation programmes in villages.

Introduction

• In a state like Bihar where close to 90 percent of the population live in rural areas, the agenda of rural development is made important than any other component of the overall development programme.
• In this context, one has to note that although Bihar’s economy has grown at an appreciable rate during the last decade, most of this growth has registered for the secondary and tertiary sectors, both of which are located in the urban areas.
• A comprehensive rural development policy encompasses both economic and social sectors and the State Government is presently implementing a number of programmes that try to address economic and social needs of the rural population.
• One such programme has been JEEViKA, which is ambitious and mainly on livelihood needs of the rural population.
• Towards achieving food security of the rural households, the State Government manages the Public Distribution System, which has functioned satisfactorily, particularly during the pandemic period.
• Two other development programmes of the State Government to serve the rural population are:
  • Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to provide employment and
  • Saat Nishchay (1 and 2) to address the issues of drinking water, road connectivity up to the household level, and rural sewerage system.

JEEViKA

• The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), popularly known as JEEViKA, is a registered society under the aegis of the Rural Development Department of the State Government.
• This organisation plays a key role in the rural development of Bihar. From its advent as a small- scale project in 5 blocks in 2006, JEEViKA, by now, has transfonned itself into a statewide movement, touching the lives of more than 1.27 crore rural families.
• The objective of JEEViKA is to empower rural poor households, both socially and economically. It aims at improving the livelihood of rural households through developing their own Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and to enable them access better services and obtain credit for creating self-employment opportunities.
• The project envisages a three-tier institutional structure at the community level:
  • Self-Help Groups (SHG) at hamlet level,
    • The prescribed size for an SHG is 12-15 individual members.
  • Village Organizations (VO) at the Village level, and
    • The prescribed size for an VO is 12-15 SHGs.
  • Cluster Level Federation (CLF) at the Cluster level.
    • The prescribed size for an CLF, is 25-45 VOS.
• Till September 2021 , JEEViKA has formed appmximately 10.30 lakh SHGs, which have further federated into 66,270 VOs and 1296 CLFs.
• Initially, the pace of mobilization and federating the SHGs into higher-level was dependent on project staff, but gradually JEEViKA has adopted multiple approaches involving Community Resource Persons, Community Mobiliers and Village Organizations for the fomation of more SHGs.
• The communitisation of processes and enabling policies together have resulted in faster mobilization, inclusion, and saturation of villages.
• Presently, more than 12.72 lakh credit linkages of SHGs (1st+2nd-+3rd+-4th Linkages) with the banks have been done and Rs. 16,537 crore transactions have been made.
• Farm-related Livelihoods:
  • JEEViKA has been working on various farm-related livelihood interventions like System of Rice Intensification (SRI), System of Wheat Intensification (SWI), and System of Root Intensification in vegetables and pulses, within the overall project of System of Crop Intensification (SCI).
  • In JEEViKA, well-known methods of crop intensification were first introduced in 2007. The SCI started with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and, after its success, it was scaled up for wheat, pulses and vegetables.
    • Till September 2021 , around 8.07 lakh farmers have accepted the practice for paddy cultivation, 8.54 lakh farmers for wheat cultivation, 4.42 lakh farmers for vegetable farming, and 11 .47 lakh farmers for kitchen gardening.
  • Within the intervention to improve farm value chain,the forward linkages include post-harvest facilities and easier market access. These two together help the farmers realize higher price for their produce through Producer Groups (PG) and Women Farmer Producer Companies (WFPC).
  • In one of the widely lauded initiates, JEEViKA, with technical support from other agencies, has worked on the Maize Value Chain intervention in Purnea district.
• Off-farm and Non-farm Livelihoods
  • One of the important interventions for promoting off-farm livelihood by JEEViKA is the ‘Integrated Poultry Development Scheme‘ in with Department of Animal and Fish Resource Development, GOB.
    • Under this, till September 2021, 591 Mother Units (MU) have been established, which distributed 73 lakh day-old-chicks (DOC) to 1.31 lakh households.
    • In addition, 1550 Poultry Resource Persons provide technical and marketing assistance to the households involved in poultry production.
    • Till September 2021, around 1.31 lakh SHG members have involved in poultry production. Taking the project forward from the subsidized model to sustainable model, JEEViKA has now designed a new poultry business model, in Sherghati, Gaya, which is a full-cost model.
  • Secondly, in partnership with COMFED, Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS) have been established and JEEViKA is providing households with a formal channel for marketing surplus milk at better prices.
    • To strengthen the milk procurement system, Automated Milk Collection Units have been installed in DCSs.
    • JEEViKA with technical support from National Dairy Development Board has established Kaushikee Mahila Milk Producer Company Limited to provide market linkage facility to milk producers in Saharsa, Supaul and Madhepura districts.
    • In addition, JEEViKA has also organised animal health and awareness camps and community- managed dairy extension support systems.
    • Till date, a total of 84.94 thousand SHG members have been involved in dairy-related activity.
  • Thirdly, JEEViKA, partnering with the Animal and Fisheries Department, has distributed 87,105 goats to a total of 29,035 households.
    • To reduce the mortality rate of goats and to provide Other services like vaccination, deworming, quality feed, etc., a pool of ‘Pashu Sakhis’ was developed who provide basic services to the households involved in goat rearing.
    • JEEViKA has partnered with different agencies for the training of Pashu Sakhis, like Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion for Society (JSLPS), and Goat Trust.
    • By September 2021 , these agencies have trained 2399 Pashu Sakhis on the technical aspects, input support supply, and management systems to strengthen goat rearing practices. They provide hand-holding support to the SHG members at the ground level.
  • Apart from this, the State Government has announced that ponds identified under ‘Jal Jeevan Hariyali Abhiyan’ would be handed over to the SHG members for maintenance and fish rearing.
    • Under this, JEEViKA has initiated a pilot project on integrated fish farming in Araria district.
  • Several other interventions were also undertaken in the non-farm sectors (including bee-keeping) to provide diversified livelihood options to the community members. Around 70,078 SHG members have been involved in such non-farm activities.
    • JEEViKA has expanded the bee-keeping intervention in 18 districts. In partnership with Dabur, it has strengthened backward and forward linkages, like procurement, orientation on best practices, skill enhancement training, and marketing. Altogether 5196 bee-keepers have been mobilized under the umbrella of Producer Groups (PG).
    • Moreover, in art and craft segment paper-lamps, files, folders, laptop bags, sarees, etc. (with art forms like Madhubani painting, sujni and stone art) are some of the products endorsed by JEEViKA.
    • Till September 2021, a total of 2740 households have been organized into in art and craft segment PGs. These products are sold through both offline (fairs, Khadi mall, Wellness mall, B2B, B2C) and Online (shop.brlps.in, GeM, Amazon, Flipkart, etc).
      • A range of products made from non-farm activities were sold for an amount of Rs. 5.74 crore.
      • The State Government has also announced that the work of stitching school uniforms would henceforth entrusted to the SHG members.
    • Shilpgram: Shilpgram Mahila Producer Company is an initiative of Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (JEEViKA) to empower rural women artisans to share their handcrafted local products with the world!
    • Further, JEEViKA has promoted the ‘Grameen Bazar’ to strengthen the supply chain for all small enterprises, particularly those operating in the remote villages, by organising a wholesale market for all consumables at affordable prices.
    • At present, 61 Grameen Bazars are operating across the state.
    • JEEViKA has also started ‘Didi-ki-Rasoi’ (canteens) which has been one of the most aspirational initiatives piloted in 4 districts (Vaishali, Buxar, Sheikhpura and Pumea).
      • Buoyed by the success of Didi-Ki-Rasois, run by SHG members, the State Government has announced to hand over all the canteens of government hospitals to SHGs.
      • In this regard, an MoU was signed between JEEViKA and State Health Society in 2021.
• Financial Inclusion
  • JEEViKA has adopted the approach of SHG-based financial access, where local bank branches could not reach a large client base.
  • The approach provides for catalytic funding in the form of a Community Investment Fund (CIF), and locally-identified resource persons called Community Mobilizers (CM), to facilitate SHG meetings and maintenance of books of records.
  • Under this financial inclusion scheme, JEFViKA has facilitated the linkage of more than 11 lakh SHG to low-cost insurance coverage.
    • The insurance service that was provided to SHG members under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) was closed in June 2020 and, as such, there could not be any enrolment thereafter.
    • However, in 2021-22, JEEViKA began providing insurance coverage to SHG members directly through banks.
  • Additionally, Alternate Banking is another service provided by JEEViKa.
    • The concept of Bank Sakhis (Banking Correspondent) envisages easy access to financial services for SHG members and opportunities for community members.
    • To facilitate these services, JEEViKA has entered into collaborations with several partners, like C-DOT, Synapse Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Sanjivini, Common Service Centers (Manipal) and Vedavaag Systems Limited.
    • These organisations are associated with major banks, like Dakshin Bihar Grameen Banks, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, State Bank of India, IDEC, Bank or India, FINO, ICICI, Canara Bank, United Bank of India, etc.
    • A total of 2562 Bank Sakhis are operating Customer Service Points (CSPs) and around 5061.97 crore transactions have been facilitated by them.
• Food Security, Nutrition and Health:
  • To address the issue of food availability during lean seasons, JEEViKA has introduced the concept of Food Security Fund (FSF) at the VO level.
    • The intervention has implemented with 47,461 VOS that have made profound impact on the food security of the poorest sections of society.
  • The Health Risk Fund (HRF) is another specialized financial product at the VO level to finance health- related credit needs. JEEViKA has implemented HRF in 51,089 VOS.
  • A comprehensive Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) intervention has also been implemented, which aimed at changing prevalent household practices regarding health, nutrition, and sanitation.
    • The BCCs also undertake activities related to training and strengthening of health sub-committees, visiting identified critical households, establishing nutrition-gardens, and complementary feeding campaigns.
• Solar Project
  • Under the Solar Project, more than 3 thousand community members have been trained to take up intervention as an income generating activity.
    • Since 2019, a total of 410 solar shops have been established by SHG members, who are green entrepreneurs, and deal in the sale and service of solar and allied products.
  • In 2020-21, the solar company has produced 15,000 AC 9W LED bulbs, 3000 AC/’DC bulbs, a Charge Controller, and 5000 solar lanterns, of three different types.
    • The company has also worked on the installation of a solar dryer in Jehanabad of 300 KG capacity, 5 units of 5KW rooftop system in government schools, and 50 solar street lights in two districts (Nalanda and Sitamarhi).
• Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojna (SJY)
  • The State Government has formally launched SJY in 2018 for a period of three types. The scheme initially targeted to cover 1.00 lakh ultra-poor households, through the ‘Ultra-Poor Graduation Approach‘.
  • JEEViKA has been designated as the nodal agency for the implementation of SJY. Under this scheme, the State Government envisages sustainable livelihood options for ultra-poor households, traditionally engaged in transportation and selling of country liquor/toddy, and ultra-poor households from SC/ST and other weaker sections, through diversification of livelihoods, capacity building, and improved access to finance.
  • In 2020-21, it was decided to extend SJY for another 3 years. A total of 1.25 lakh households have so far been endorsed under this scheme.
  • The special investment fund is a one-time grant of Rs. 10,000 which is transferred to the account of the household, endorsed by the village organization, through cheque.
  • The livelihood gap assistance fund is the consumption support fund provided to each endorsed household to meet their consumption need till the alternate livelihood selected by them starts yielding profit.
  • Under the Livelihood Financing component of SJY, VOs provide a gap assistance fund for initial 7 months (Rs. 1000 per month) to each household.

Harit Jeevika Harit Bihar

• Under Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan, a programme called ‘Mission 5 Crore’ has been started by the State Government that aims to plant 5 crore saplings in 2021-22.
• In line with this scheme, JEEViKA has also started ‘Harit-Jeevika-Harit-Bihar Mission 1.5’ and aims to plant I .5 crore saplings in 2021-22, with a focus to conserve the environment and improve the nutritional intake of the households.
• As a positive step towards environmental safeguard, the Social Development theme took the initiative of ensuring plantation across all the blocks of Bihar.
  • Under this activity, around 1.64 crore fruits and timber saplings have been planted by around 77 lakh SHG members.
• The initiative aims to bring behavioural change for regular plantation. Moreover, as it is being implemented in a cluster-based approach, it will help develop a Carbon Sink in the coming years.
• As a sustainable approach towards large-scale annual plantation activities, JEEViKA has also established Didi-Ki-Nursery in 245 blocks of the state.
  • At present, the species promoted under this scheme include guava, Indian gooseberry, jackfruit, litchee, mango, java plum, Indian bael, lemon, drumstick and custard apple.
  • There is a plan to promote timber species like mahogany, Indian fig (peepal), teak, banyan, etc.
• Also, 16,013 environmental cadres have been developed to support an intervention, known as Van Mitra.
• Finally, 3657 Monitoring Centers have been established for regular follow-up, ensuring safety and maintenance of sampling.
• In another initiative, JEEViKA will establish 283 more nurseries, with the support of MGNREGA.