Rajbanshi People of northern West Bengal: Access to Micro-Credit Authors: Ashok Das Gupta, Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of North Bengal, District- Darjeeling, West Bengal, PIN- 734 013, Email ID:
[email protected] Abstract: This paper is on Rajbanshi People of northern West Bengal: Access to Micro- Credit. These people are basically agriculturists, but their traditional verities, organic cultivation, livestock rearing, and handicrafts as well as various ways to utilize natural resources and food processing techniques are so important where rural banking, Self-Help Groups, micro-credit can find the way. That would be also useful in women empowerment directly improving the education and health systems at ground stage. Case studies are taken from rural Rajbanshi people of northern West Bengal plains of India. Their involvements in production systems of tobacco, betel, organic manure and vermin-compost, jute, silk, silk cotton, quality rice, baby corn, vegetables like broccoli, bringal and potato, medicinal herbs, wooden work, bamboo and cane work, flex and Sital, mushroom, tea, gerbera, pine apple, mango, chilly, other spices as well as handloom, pottery, ornamental plants, coloured fishes, goat, cattle and poultry can be targeted for micro-finance investment. Introduction In Indian perspective, the most people live in rural society segregated into various agrarian rural structures. Agriculture in India is the vertical backbone of the country and is regarded as the largest sector of the country's economic activity. The contributory share of agriculture in GDP has declined from 55.4 per cent in 1950-51 to 18.5 per cent in 2006-07. Agriculture at present provides livelihood to sixty per cent of the total population.