Chapter-1 Introduction
Rural Non Farm Sector (RNFS) Initiatives
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Rural Non Farm Sector (RNFS) Initiatives:Agriculture operations being seasonal do not provide continuous year round employment. Therefore Indian Government is emphasizing on rural non-farm programmes in the state which not only absorbs more labour but also has the potential to even out seasonal and disguised unemployment through appropriate mix of farm and non-farm activities. With development of RNFS, migration from rural/hilly areas to urban areas can be arrested. NABARD is also supporting the efforts of Indian Government and other agencies by promoting the RNFS through its various programmes. These cumulative efforts have resulted into a focussed attention and generation of income and employment in rural areas. Table 5.27: GLC Flow under NFS in Uttarakhand (In ` lakh)
Source: SFP Uttarakhand, NABARD- Various Issues NABARD has divided the non-farm activities into two different sectors; Non-farm Sector (NFS) and Other Priority Sector (OPS). NFS on the one hand covers the industrial activities on the other hand OPS covers the services essential to boost up the NFS i.e., construction, housing and real estate; education; transportation; tourism etc. Both the sectors jointly cover all non-farm activities. The share of NFS and OPS in the total GLC varied between 27% to 20% and 25% to 36% respectively during 1998-99 to 2010-11. In 2010-11, the highest disbursement under NFS and OPS was recorded in US Nagar (38%) and in Dehradun (23%) respectively while the lowest was recorded in Rudraprayag (0.14%) and in Bageshwar (1.45%) respectively. For 2012-13, a potential of ` 1697 crore for NFS and ` 2779 crore for OPS has been identified out of the total potential identified for various sectors. For the year 2011-12 highest potential under NFS & OPS are identified in US Nagar & Nainital respectively. Some ambitious initiative programmes of NABARD for RNFS are as follows:
Source: SFP Uttarakhand, NABARD 2012-13 First of all, potentials of the state under various sectors are identified and then cluster status and action plan are prepared and NGO/ Voluntary Association/ Developmental Agency is selected and provided with financial assistance (grant) to provide participatory cluster development initiatives in the state. A Development Committee is also formed to oversee the implementation of CDP. Table 5.29: RNFS Clusters in Uttarakhand
Source: SFP 2012-13, NABARD Uttarakhand Note : $= in nos., #= Amount sanctioned in ` lakhs. Rural Innovation Projects: Innovation and change is the law of nature. Acknowledging this fact NABARD is providing financial assistance under Rural Innovation Fund (RIF) in the form of loan, grant/ venture like support or a mix of any/ all of above for ‘innovation’ in farm, non-farm and micro finance sectors. Till now 21 such projects have been sanctioned with grant assistance of ` 187 lakhs. At present 8 RNFS projects under RIF are on-going with a grant assistance of ` 50 lakh and venture assistance of ` 25 lakh. A project for ‘Organic vegetable cultivation with marketing and bank linkage’ (Uttarkashi), with a grant of ` 6.11 lakh, is benefiting the farm and non-farm both the sectors. Table 5.30: RNFS projects sanctioned under RIF in Uttarakhand
Source: SFP 2012-13, NABARD Uttarakhand. Note : $= in ` Lakhs, #= venture assistance except it all other are under grant assistance. Rural Entrepreneurship Programmes: NABARD is successfully implementing; Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme (REDP)/Skill Development Initiatives (SDI) as a means to support capacity building of rural unemployed youth to enable them to set up their own enterprises. Till March 2011, 43 REDP/ 291 SDI have been sanctioned benefitting 1143 and 5370 persons respectively. Marketing Initiatives: NABARD introduced ‘Rural Mart’ as a pilot project to facilitate setting of retail market outlets for marketing linkages for the artisan-handicraft and agro based products through setting up of a retail outlet and to cover the risk involved in the initial stages of setting up of the rural retail outlet. In Uttarakhand, first Rural Mart was established in 2007 in Almora district. By the end of March 2011, 44 Rural Marts have been sanctioned/ established in the State. Fig. 5.2: District wise Rural Marts in Uttarakhand Table 5.31: District wise Rural Marts in Uttarakhand
Source: “Impact Evaluation Study of Rural Mart Scheme in Uttarakhand”, NABARD Uttarakhand RO. In addition to Rural Marts, NABARD also supports organization of events (fairs, melas, exhibitons) for marketing of RNFS products. NABARD sponsored artisans participate in these events to show case their products in Uttarakhand and other states too. Out of these events, Grameen Himalayan Haat, Satoli in Nainital; Baikunth chaturdashi Mela, Pauri; Dilli Haat, New Delhi; and International Trade Fair, New Delhi are creditworthy initiatives. NABARD also provides financial assistance to rural artisans and SHG members to sell their products in various events like Uttarakhand SARAS, Delhi Haat, Mumbai SARAS, Uttarayani Mela and various other district and State level Melas in different States. NABARD made a significant impact at recently concluded Uttarakhand Saras 2011. A special ‘NABARD Pavillion’ was sponsored consisting of 10 stalls in the fair out of which 8 were allotted to the artisans of Uttarakhand and 1 each from UP and Bihar. A record sale-turnover of more than ` 4 lakhs of rural products was done in the NABARD Stalls. A wide publicity of NABARD schemes was done in the Saras through distribution of pamphlets and deputing officers of RO every evening. Apart from this 39 Rural Marts have also been sanctioned to SHGs/ Federation of display of their local produce, products at block/ district HQs.
Till now 17th tranche of RIDF had been sanctioned and disbursed in the state. Till March 2012, ` 2929 crore have been sanctioned for the state out of which ` 1740 crore have been drawn and ` 1867 crore have been phased with a utilization rate of 93% as compared to 88% in India. However the state has performed well under the RIDF tranches as compared to the whole country yet the decreasing utilization rate of the fund is a serious matter of course (Table: ). Having this disadvantage the RIDF projects still are helpful in resolving the infrastructural constraints of the state and at the same time in generating the employment opportunities for the rural residents. Till March 2012, 243075 hectares have been irrigated, and bridges of 16188 mt. and roads of 9904 km have been constructed under various RIDF projects in the state. All these benefits generated a production of ` 175 crore, recurring employment of 27500 persons and non-recurring employment of 1730 lakh mandays. There is a need to leverage the existing development infrastructure schemes as well as technical expertise by offering more credit support to these projects.  Table 5.33: RIDF Tranche wise Sanctions and Disbursements
(in ` crore)
Source: SFP Uttarakhand, 2012-13 NABARD is successfully implementing its other RNFS programmes in the state especially Women Development Programmes to uplift the status of women in the state. Micro Credit Initiatives: These initiatives have made tremendous socio-economic impact on the livelihood of rural residents as well as transformed the policies and practices of all related institutions in their approach to banking with the poor. The SHG movement has been strengthened by guidelines from RBI and policies of Govt. of India from time to time with the objective of “Including the Excluded” and making them “Bankable”. Till March 2011, 45065 SHGs were formed and 29703 were linked with credit with a loan disbursement of ` 20695 lakh in the state. The SHG movement, though has reached each and every district of the state, the spread, however, is uneven and the progress of SHGs is not encouraging in districts of Champavat, Pithoragarh, Haridwar, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, and Pauri. Table 5.34: Progress of SBLP in Uttarakhand
Source: SFP Uttarakhand Note : * = upto 2005-06 number of BPL households has been quoted after that period number of total rural households has been quoted., &= upto 15.11.2003. To strengthen the SBLP, it has been associated with the vast network of post-offices in rural areas. In the direction, Uttaranchal Gramin Bank (UGB) has been sanctioned a Pilot Project for utilizing the services of 2176 branches of India Post by BC/BF in the area of operation of UGB with assistance of ` 26 lakh. An additional grant of ` 562500 has also been sanctioned to train the staff of post office/ banks to associate India Post as BC/BF for capacity building. Women SHGs Development Fund, introduced in 2011-12, has been created to empower women by promoting their SHGs. The fund is going to be a milestone in reforming the status of women of the state. To provide capacity building and credit and market support; grant and loan are extended to the activity based groups of farmers, handloom weavers, craftsmen etc. Moreover, to bring down the inherent risk cost of lending, micro-insurance is also linked with the micro credit initiatives. Besides this an incentive of ` 2000 over a period for 3 years per JLG to Banks/JLG Promoting Institutions has been providing for formation, nurturing and financing of groups. To spread the financial literacy in the state NABARD has established Financial Literacy and Credit Counseling Centers (FLCCs) in 3 districts in the state whereas in the remaining 10 districts, local DDM offices are discharging the function of FLCCs. In a nutshell, unemployment is a major contributing factor for high incidence of poverty in rural areas. Dependence on rain-fed farming, continuation of traditional system of agriculture and non-adoption of improved technologies are the major reasons for low crop yield in the state. The availability of location specific HYV and appropriate water management practices indicate enormous potential for enhancing farm production in the state. By adoption of proper package of practices, based on their suitability under different agro-ecological situations, production and productivity can be improved in the state. The contribution of RNFS in surplus labour absorption is the need of the hour. But there must be adequate and timely flow of credit to RNFS, adequate and regular power supply to the SMEs, encouraging technology upgradation of the existing units, bold and innovative marketing development programme, adequate attention to Sunrise industries, priority to cluster development, etc. NABARD’s promotional and developmental initiatives have been carved out under the overarching the objective of ‘sustainable inclusive growth’ of the state’s development policy. To make a perceptible difference on ground, deploying technology, finding space for location/product specific viable delivery models which can be upscaled, and addressing the concerns of farm sector, small operators, and excluded areas should be the principles to guide the initiatives. The efforts of the State Government are also supporting the industrial sector. Amongst these initiatives, setting up of Integrated Industrial Estates and IT Park are important. Moreover, the Government is also assisting to establish agro parks and food parks to aid the farming and food processing industry to provide common infrastructure facilities. The Government has also set to develop several small and medium size hydro power sites in the private sector or in public-private partnership to resolve the problem of power supply to industries. All these initiatives are done under the Rural Business Hub Initiative to encourage big players and new businesses to the state to come and invest and to take state’s industrial sector to greater heights. In order to change the situation of economic and social backwardness in the rural hilly regions of the state, it is important to adopt a strategy based on long term planning that will take steps to counter all the problems described above. It will be more sensible to identify a few sectors at a time and attempt vigorous development in these sectors. In this procedure continuous and co-ordinated efforts of the national bank and the state government are required. -------:0:------ Directory: bitstream -> 10603 10603 -> A mathematical theory of communication bitstream -> Methodism and Culture bitstream -> Review of coastal ecosystem management to improve the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area 10603 -> Present state of the area 10603 -> Marine Pollution And Its Effects on Global Environment 10603 -> Introduction chapter I introduction 10603 -> References 10603 -> Bibliography Abd El Halim 10603 -> A thesis submitted to sambalpur university for award of Download 1.67 Mb. Share with your friends:
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15 lakh has been provided.