POverty Alleviation Strategies Followed in India - APPSC G1 Mains - Unit 3

Major Initiatives

2.7 The first such initiative was the Community Development Programme started

in 1952. The programme aimed basically at integrated development at the local level

through co-operation of people and convergence of technical knowledge in various

fields. The Community Development Blocks which were created as local level units

for this purpose across the country at that time exist even today and function as field

level administrative units for many rural development programmes at present as

well..

2.8 The second initiative was taken in the country by introducing the measures

for abolition of intermediary institutions and systems of land holdings such as

Zamindari, Jagirdars etc. The systems were highly exploitative and were responsible

for a caste and land-based nexus perpetuating poverty. This was followed by a

comprehensive policy of Land Reforms. The measures undertaken were based on

the consideration that land was the only productive asset in rural areas. Extension of

the ownership of the land to the poor was, therefore, felt to be an obvious factor to

alleviate rural poverty.

2.9 The third measure adopted was the strategy of Five Year Plan for economic

development. There were Plan-specific strategies towards this end. The first Five

Year Plan focussed on ways and means to immediately tackle the food requirement.

The second Five Year Plan emphasized on the Heavy Industries. In this context it

was felt that the Public Sector would be the leader of the industrialization process in

the country through acquiring the much perceived " commanding height". It was also

expected that there would be a trickle-down effect from the growth based on

industrialization. During Third Five Year Plan the emphasis was again on food grain

production through introduction of new technology in agriculture. The result was a

very successful Green Revolution.

Impact of the earlier Initiatives

2.10 While the achievements through many of the efforts were significant, the

overall impact of the efforts was far from satisfactory to tackle the problem of

poverty. Abolition of intermediary system of land tenure was completed with success,

but land reform which is still an on-going process has not yielded desired results in

terms of either growth or social justice. The success of the Green Revolution was

limited to specific areas and the crops. Green Revolution resulted in inter-crop, interpersonal

and inter-regional disparities across the country. The economy of the

country grew over the years showing significant increase in agricultural and industrial

production. The growth, however, did not contribute meaningfully to the betterment

of the life of the rural poor. The trickle down effect of the development did not work in

India's context. Thus, despite growth, a significantly high percentage of the rural

population continued to live Below the Poverty Line. The poor, including those in the

rural areas, got marginalized in the development process. Poor economic condition,

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subsistence living and low bargaining power, unstable and undurable employment

opportunities, distress migration to urban areas etc. continued to be the

characteristic features of the poor in India.

2.11 The Community Development Programme also, which aimed community

participation in development, gradually got replaced by more and more of piecemeal

programmes with bureaucratic bias.

A Re-thinking and attempt to attack Poverty directly

There was, therefore, a re-thinking on the need for re-conceptualization of

the programmes and policies. The need for direct attack on poverty was finally felt

particularly during the Fourth Plan period. The 1970s are a significant decade in this

context. Many new programmes including the Rural Works Programmes (RWP), the

Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), the Desert Development Programme

(DDP), the Food for Work Programme (FWP), Programmes for Small & Marginal

Farmers (Small Farmers Development Agency-SFDA, Marginal Farmers &

Agricultural Labourers Agency-MFAL) were all tried in rural areas.

 The programmes basically had objectives to provide three-pronged attack on the poverty i.e.

(i) in terms of creating an income generating asset base for self-employment of the rural

poor, (ii) by creating opportunities for wage employment for the poor and (iii)

area(land)development activities(programmes) in backward regions like dry-land,

rain-fed, drought prone, tribal, hill and desert areas. Subsequently, there were also

programmes for providing basic infrastructures for better quality of life in rural areas

and also programmes for social security of the poor and destitute. In addition, policy

prescriptions were also made and statutory provisions introduced for the

empowerment of the people and their participation in the development process.