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Transcript

Hello friends, I once again welcome you all to this course, and I request you all to be part of the forum activities on agMOOCs platform. This is an opportunity to interact with various participants coming from different corners of the country as well as some of the participants may be from abroad. And it is an excellent opportunity to interact with your course instructor also. So I encourage you all to post many comments as possible and questions if any you have, you can ask on the forum. So that you will get appropriate response. In our last class we were discussing about the Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium and Integrated Rural Development Program. And as a part of Integrated Rural Development Program we had one small component of that which is focusing on the problems of women.

But in today’s class we will be discussing 3 exclusive programs launched for women. The first among them is the Integrated Child Development Scheme, which was launched on 2nd October, 1975. Initially it was launched in 33 community development blocks. And today it represents one of the world’s largest program for early childhood program launched by the Government of India. The objectives of this program include foundation for proper psychological development of the child. So this is what is the first objective. And improvement of the nutritional and the health status of children, belonging to 0-6 years. And reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and the school drop out. Basically it is the program meant for motivation to be an part of the educational process and to reduce the incidences of infant mortality or child mortality. The next objective of this program was to enhance the capability of the mother and family to look after the health, nutritional and the developmental needs of the child, so that we can think of the healthy society, and which is going to contribute for the development.

The services provided under ICDS scheme include, through the institution known as ‘Anganwadi’. I hope in your villages you might have seen some activities that are being taken up under ‘Anganwadi’, which are the component of ICDS scheme. What are the things that we get under ICDS through Anganwadi? The first one is the supplementary nutrition. Those section of the society which is suffering from the lack of nutrition are being supplemented through this program, under this particular scheme. Then the nonformal pre-school education, which we call in the urban areas like the nursery or Montessori or all those things. So similar provisions are being provided for the people living in the rural areas through the schemes like Anganwadi. Then the humanization which is very very important component of reducing the child mortality as well as development of the child in a more healthy manner. So immunization is very very essential and ICDS provides enough opportunities for immunization. Then the regular health checkup, the primary health checkup is being taken up under this Anganwadi center. And if needed the cases will be referred to the hospitals and all, that’s what is the referral services.

Then the nutrition and health education, so that we are consuming the food but, whether it is having the balanced nutrition. That is the biggest question to be answered today. It is not only in rural areas, even in urban areas, this type of malnutrition cases are being identified. The basic reason behind that is the women who are preparing the food are having lack of education. And how to make the food nutritious and having the balanced nutrition is the part of the health education, which is the focus of the ICDS scheme. Let us move on to the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh which is basically a sort of financial inclusion program, for exclusively for women. Basically the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh or the National Credit Fund for Women is a registered society under the Department of Women and Child Development. Through that program, so they are going to enable the women to achieve the economic independence.

So this is what we said. It is a scheme which is focusing onthe financial inclusion of exclusively the women, who are left out because most of the income generation as well as the saving and thrift activities and the financial inclusion activities are focused on the men traditionally. So just to be away, just to do away from that tradition and including the 50% of the population which is left out of this facility through the programs like RMK (Rashtriya Mahila Kosh) the efforts are being made. Education of credit management for individual women. Leadership training among groups for self management. So this is another function of the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, wherein the program is intended to impart education of credit management. How to get the finance from the financial institution? And how to invest that in the income generating activities. So these are some of the things that are emphasized on in the program like Rashtriya Mahila Kosh.

Then the next function of RMK is to promote and support grass root level societies and organizations and other participatory structures for providing women, effective access to decision making. The basic input here is, who makes the decision? And who can take the decision. What are the prerequisite to take the appropriate decision? So when we are pondering on these issues. The foremost thing that comes to the mind is. For taking appropriate decision we need appropriate information. And how to get that appropriate information. For which we need to be an educated man. Education does not mean necessarilyhaving the formal education. There are various opportunities like non-formal education as well as informal education, through which what the information that we are gathering. And that the base of information becomes the base for taking the decisions. So now the programs like this are providing them enough opportunities to collect appropriate information which is required to take appropriate decision, that is what is the basic function of the schemes like this.

Then develop effective channels of communication between women and banking system. Earlier the women did not visit the bank at all. Because the male used to manage it and every aspect of the finance. Women were almost neglected sector in this section. But nowadays so the women are also given equal opportunities, wherein they are also taking lead role in financial management, family management in each and every aspect for which, so the schemes like this are going to create an effective channel of communication, so that the women go to the bank and get the information and take the appropriate decision. Motivate voluntary organizations to coordinate with other credit and development agencies, well-being of the women. So the role of non-governmental organization comes into the picture for motivating the women, so that they can move out of the 4 walls of their home and be part of such initiatives. And that is where the role of non-governmental organizations is coming into the picture and RMK is making them as a partner so that they can include maximum number of women. And their participation is visible in this program.

Then coming to the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana. Both these programs were launched in the year 1993 only. So the objective of this Mahila Samriddhi Yojana was, the rural women of 18 years age or above are encouraged to open their saving account in the rural Post Office of their area with minimum balance of Rs 4/-. So this is another effort of the Government of India for financial inclusion of women in to the economic activities of their family, their village, and the nation as a whole. The logic behind opening up of the bank accounts in the rural post office is because the post office is having the efficient network in almost all villages. There are about 6 lakh villages in India, each and every village is having a better connectivity with the Post Office compared to the commercial bank. May be it is a private sector bank or a public sector bank, still the banks are beyond the reach of good number of villages. But the post offices are already there. And that is how they were encouraged to open their account in these post offices.

Then coming to the objective of this program of Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, to sensitize women about their role in economic activities and cultivate the habit of saving because they are starting with a minimum balance of Rs 4/-. But nowadays the latest government has started with the provision of zero account balance also. So that is the latest development, but in those days it was very remarkable program. Then capacity building of the women and encouraging them to form self-help groups and provide them micro credit support. The financial institutions have expressed their weave that instead of banking with an individual, specially under the poorer section of the society. They feel more comfortable in operating with the self-help groups. The reason behind is, if one self-help group opens an account in the bank, it means atleast 20 members are there. It means their services are reaching 20 persons with one account. This is number one. Number two is the repayment behavior in case of self help group is comparatively better, compared to an individual. So that is another motivating factor for the financial institution to provide the services. And any message to be communicated, so they can reach the masses in a more lesser time and in a more effective manner. So these are some of the benefits of the concept of self-help group, and that is how the building up ofthe self-help groups was promoted under Mahila Samriddhi Yojana.

The basic difference between the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh as well as the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana which were launched in the same year was a group of 20 women of minority communities are given training in any craft and production activities. Under Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, the women belonging to the minority groups or the minority communities were given the opportunity to take part in the financial inclusion activities. Under Rashtriya Mahila Kosh also it was there but it is open for all the women. But this program is meant for the women belonging to the minority section of the society. The group formed into the self-help group during the training itself. So those women coming together, the 20 women. And after training the group is provided with the credit. Means rest of the things are taken care of. It is only required that the women should come together, a group should come together. Rest of the things are automatically taken care of

So these are the 3 important programs concentrating on the involvement of the women in the economic activities. To conclude we can say that participation of women in development is equally important as we think of the participation of men. And financial inclusion empowers women because they also take part in the process of decision making. And the basic education to women leads to healthy environment in a family as well as in the community. And that is what is the ultimate goal of developing welfare society by the established governments. With this we are closing today’s discussion and in the next class we’ll be discussing about the first line extension activities of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Thank You.