Government of Rajasthan
Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj
RAJASTHAN RURAL LIVELIHOOD PROJECT
Social Assessment
2010
Prepared by
Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur
149
Content
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Social Assessment 7
Chapter 3 Poverty & Human Development in the Project Area 15
Chapter 4 Baseline Information 52
Chapter 5 Stakeholder & Institutional Framework 100
Chapter 6 Project Benefits, Impacts & Risk 109
Chapter 7 Stakeholder Consultation 113
Chapter 8 Recommendation for Project Design and Implementation 125
Chapter 9 Monitoring & Evaluation Plan 134 Chapter 10 Gender Action Plan 137
Annexure
Summary of district and state consultations
List of Abbreviations
AWC Anganwadi Center
BGVS Bharat Gyan Vigyna Samiti
BMI Body Mass Index
BPL Below Poverty Line
CIG Common Interest Group
CDP Combating Desertification Project
DCCB District Central; Cooperative Bank
DDP Desert Development Program
DPAP Drought Prone Area Program
DPIP District Poverty Initiative Project
FGD Focused Group Discussion
GDI Gender Development Index
GoI Government of India
GoR Government of Rajasthan
GSDP Gross State Domestic Product
HDI Human Development Index
HH Household
ICDS Integrated Child Development Services
IMR Infant Mortality Rate
IWDP Integrated Wasteland Development Program
IWMP Integrated Watershed Management Program
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MFI Micro Finance Institution
MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act
MMR Maternal Mortality Ratio
NABARD National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
NCA Net Cropped Area
NGO Non Governmental Organization
NRAA National Rain-fed Area Authority
NREGA National Employment Guarantee Act
NSAP National Social Assistance Program
NSSO National Sample Survey Organization
OBC Other Backward Castes
PAD Project Appraisal Document
PDS Public Distribution System
PRA Participatory Research Appraisal
PRI Panchayati Raj Institution
RKVY Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
RRLP Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project
SA Social Assessment
SHG Self- Help Groups
SMU State Monitoring Unit
ST Scheduled Tribe
SC Scheduled Caste
TAD Tribal Area Development
TCA Total Cropped Area
TPDS Targeted Public Distribution System
UNDP United Nations Development Program
Acknowledgements
The Social Assessment & Tribal Development Framework Study for the Rajasthan Rural Livelihood Project was undertaken in six districts of Rajasthan. This report is a collaborative effort. We are grateful to the Government of Rajasthan and its department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj for sponsoring this study. We are grateful to Shri. C.S. Rajan, Principal Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of Rajasthan for involving the Institute in this exercise. We would also extend our gratitude to Ms. Punam, Project Director, RRLP-Rajasthan for her help. Mr. S.M. Adeel Abbas- Social Development Specialist of RRLP- Rajasthan for his contribution and support in conduct of study. We would also like to thank the World Bank for support specially Mr. Amarinder Singh and Mr. Varun Singh for their support and contributions.
We would also like to appreciate the help provided to us by the SPMU unit of Government of Rajasthan headed by the Project Director of RRLP. It is our duty to appreciate the contribution of the District- level and Block- level officers of the six districts.
We would like to specially thank and acknowledge the time and contribution of the village community of all the twenty-four villages. Their suggestions and discussions were of immense importance for the study.
We are also grateful to participants of district and state consultations for comments and suggestions.
Last but not the least we appreciate the support and contribution of the research staff of IDS- Gopal Singh, Shyam Singh, Kamna Khurana, Rakesh Pareekh, Jitendra Singh, Surendra Singh and Ahish Acharya.
Varsha Joshi
Surjit Singh
Mohanakumar S
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Government of Rajasthan is proposing Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project in line with DPIP Rajasthan. The project objective is “to increase and sustain income of the poor especially women in selected districts of the State.” This would be achieved through: social inclusion and community mobilization; building sustainable member-based organizations of the poor; creation of linkages between these organizations and financial (banks and insurance companies) and other service providers; new livelihood strategies that are adaptable to climate change and improved access to social security/ protection including food security, fodder security and health risk. The Project Components include:
· Institution Building & Social Empowerment: The objectives of this component are to empower the poor communities to organize themselves and aggregate their development demand at various levels, and to build the capacity of the community to meaning engage in the project.
· Community Investment Support: The project will facilitate the community to invest both financial and other resources in their own livelihoods. This investment will be partly financial, where community institutions at different levels will be provided revolving fund grants which will be passed on to the4 households as loans.
· Skills development and employment promotion.
· Climate Change Adaptation Vulnerability to climate change has social, economic and political dimensions, which influence how climate change affects different groups.
· Project Implementation and Support
Social Assessment. As part of preparation of RRLP, a detailed Social Assessment (SA) within the project area was conducted. The study involved field survey and consultations in 6 project districts, including consultation with tribal communities, government departments and NGOs. The social assessment has involved i) identification of the social perspectives, impacts, benefits and issues relevant to the objectives and interventions of RRLP; ii) holding informed consultations with the primary and secondary stakeholders of the project, particularly the scheduled tribes, the scheduled castes and women’s groups; iii) identifying mechanisms and processes to promote the participation and inclusion of the poor, the women and tribal communities in the project districts; and iv) preparing a tribal development and gender action framework. The SA builds on the studies, findings, consultations and community interaction processes initiated by the GOR under DPIP and other government departments, and NGOs. The SA methodology included household survey, public consultations and focus group discussions in villages, village profiling and mapping, and interviews and consultations with government, NGO and PRI staff and representatives. The SA laid particular focus to consult the scheduled tribes in Banswara, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh and Baran.
Stakeholder Consultations. The social assessment involved household interviews and consultations with the primary stakeholders in 24 villages across 12 development blocks in 6 project districts, including communities in the predominantly tribal districts. These included households below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL), the scheduled castes (SCs), the scheduled tribes (STs), other backward castes, and women headed households, persons with disabilities, primitive tribal groups, youth, and members of the existing self help groups (SHGs). Focus group discussions and consultations were also held with other stakeholders, including officials of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, elected representatives and officials of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), and other government departments dealing with schemes on rural livelihood, poverty reduction, and social welfare. NGOs working with these social groups, representatives from academia, activists and community leaders besides government departments – at state, district, block and village levels were part of the consultations.
Two districts and one state level workshop were organized on 13-15 September 2010 to disclose the findings of the social assessment study, the action plans on tribal inclusion and gender, and invite feedback and suggestions. The feedback of all these consultations have helped in drafting the TDF, GAP and the overall social assessment report. Disclosure of the social assessment report and the tribal development framework through the website of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and district collector’s offices, as well at community level is planned.
Key social issues of relevance. The key findings highlighted by the study are: low levels of health and education indicators, high incidence of poverty and vulnerability, fragmented social capital and weak social cohesion, caste hierarchies and social discrimination, tribal marginalization and exclusion, limited women’s rights and freedom, gender discrimination in public and private spheres, and marginalization of the poor from local self governance processes.
Caste and gender based discrimination, exclusion and subjugation are the most important social constraints for inclusion and empowerment of the poorest. The extent of poverty among the scheduled population groups continues to be higher than among the non-scheduled groups. The major vulnerable groups are the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, certain OBCs. Women from these groups face multiple deprivations. Caste hierarchies and discrimination determine access to livelihoods and social services and infrastructure. Scheduled castes (SCs) are lowest in caste hierarchy, and the most suppressed and discriminated against, and Rajputs and Brahmins top the caste hierarchy in most villages. It is not only occupations which are influenced, but also access to schools, health, drinking water sources and other institutions within the villages. Participation and access to other public resources and institutions is very poor for SC. The SCs and STs are often unable to pay monthly contributions to the SHGs. Low educational level leads to difficulty in handling paper work of the group. About 30% of the poorest households are not included in the BPL selection. This is because very often the APL families manage to acquire the BPL card and they tend to join the SHGs
PRI is an important institution, but poor and the poorest have limited role and say in such bodies. The quality of participation and awareness, and the acceptability of SC and ST representatives is much lower compared to upper castes. Jati and tribal institutions represent the elite within the groups. Community based institutions like SHGS, CIGs, women’s groups, jati panchayats and informal tribal groups are present in the project districts. However, individually, these groups lack voice and the ability to access government services and agriculture and livelihood markets.
Women traditionally have been excluded from financial services because they do not have rights to land or other property rights. Commonly women from weaker sections in the rural areas are not able to pay monthly contributions to the groups, which further excludes them from financial inclusion. Land rights do not exist for women and so they have no access to credit from banks and other institutions. Women do not get kisan credit cards due to bias of bankers even in the case of women headed households. Lower caste and tribal women often get harassed by upper castes.
In an environment of lack of employment opportunities, poor health, illiteracy and exploitation by rich in the villages, women bear the brunt. Literacy rates are very low among scheduled tribe and caste women. Women are largely anaemic and produce malnourished children. Because child marriage is prevalent, the girl child is not able to get benefits of many schemes meant for the girl child. Bearing of children at a young age further adds to malnourishment.
The female work participation rates though increasing are still low. With an increase in poverty, the burden of women increases. Wage discrimination also exists for women. If the family migrates, the burden of managing the household rests with women. Rajasthan now has 50 percent reservation for women in panchayats. The experience of women in PRI points to the poor status of women representatives in PRIs. Invariably the husband represents the women Sarpanch. Women have less exposure to the outside world and are les aware about various government schemes. Women are also often threatened in Rajasthan, and often face violence in public and private realms.
Key Social Constraints and Risks. The most important risk is the risk of ‘exclusion’ of the poorest from the participatory processes envisaged by the project. It is important to ensure that the beneficiary identification process covers all the poor and excluded in the villages, regardless of their BPL status. There is also the risk of beneficiary identification process being influenced by the village elite and the dominant castes. The existing social hierarchies are dominating and there is a risk of social elite taking over. Social discrimination may not reduce in most villages as empowerment through PRIs has not worked very well. Social exclusion needs to be addressed, not just through SHG mobilization and financial access, but through land ownership and access to public resources.
The key social risks relate to capturing of project processes and benefits by dominant upper castes. There is also the risk of local indifference and possible resistance to i) interventions which are proactively and explicitly pro-poor and positively discriminating for the SC and ST; ii) exclusively targeting, educating, mobilizing and empowering women; iii) institutionalization of the poor to advocate and demand rights and entitlements and assertiveness in local governance processes. The social inclusion mechanism, tribal development framework and gender action plan involve specific interventions responding to these risks.
Lessons from DPIP and Social Assessment incorporated in Project Design. Based on the lessons from DPIP, the social assessment study and feedback from stakeholder consultations, a social inclusion and community mobilization component, a tribal development framework (TDF) and a gender action plan (GAP) have been prepared. The specific mechanisms that reflect the feedback and learning from DPIP are summarized below.
· Poverty focused area identification based on concentration of the poor, SC and ST households in the project districts.
· Sensitization of project staff to anticipated social risks and project mechanisms to mitigate them;
· Documentation of locally prioritized exclusion, gender and tribal development priorities in the Area Inception Reports, Livelihood Identification Process and finalization of implementation action plans.
· Pre-implementation consultations, sensitization and rapport building with PRI and community leaders from all social groups, specially upper caste and non poor; participatory beneficiary selection process is endorsed by the Gram Sabha for legitimacy; consultations with government and NGOs to understand the socioeconomic and political environment of the area;
· Participatory Beneficiary Selection based on social mapping and wellbeing grouping to identify the poorest households, regardless of BPL status.
· Promotion of social cohesion and social capital formation through PRA exercises and the community resource persons;
· Saturation Coverage and Mobilization to include all identified households