ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY The Truth About Etawah Thakurdas Bang and Suresh Ramabhai

Introduction The population of the villages distribution of improved varieties of include in this development scheme seeds, specially of wheat and potatoes. F late the ' Etawah Project' is about 79,000 and the area 61,400 Green manure, i.e., sanai seeds, and O has been much highlighted and acres of which 45,500 acres are chemical fertilisers were also suppli­ put forward as an argument for start­ under cultivation. It is hounded on ed. Use of improved tools and im­ ing a number of like projects all over the south by the Jamuna, and the plements was demonstrated and fa­ the country. The idea has caught Tower Ganges Canal runs through cilities were provided for their em­ on, and under the well-known Indo- this area. ployment, wherever they were de­ US Agreement, the US Government The items covered by the pilot sired. The following are the results have promised aid, technical and project are agriculture, animal hus­ obtained in respect of wheat and financial, for producing replicas of the bandry, co-operation, irrigation and potato cultivation : Etawah Project, as a means of better­ ing the condition of the people- But curiously enough no unbiased and thorough appraisal of the Etawah Project has yet been published. The importance of an on-the spot study of the project cannot, therefore, be too greatly emphasised. After the fourth Sarvodaya Sam- mclan (held at Scvapuri, Banaras, on 13th, 14th and 15th April) we, to­ gether with five friends, went to Etawah and spent there three days, studying the project. Our party in­ cluded Sri Chandrika Prasad Pandey (of Go Seva Sangh, Wardha), Sri provision of agricultural implements, The project has by now covered Prabhakar V. Kanetkar (of the Kash­ public works and environmental sani­ about 92 per cent of the wheat- mir Branch of the AISA, Sri Madhu- tation, public health, employment of growing area and about 80 per cent kar Ghaudhri (a-student in the women, village participation includ­ of land under potatoes. It may be M.Com. class of the Govindram ing sightseeing and adult literacy. noted that the yield was specially Seksaria College, Wardha), Sri Ganga The pilot project is administered high in1950-51. The factors that Prasad Gupta, a peasant belonging to by a Governmental organisation spe­ contributed to tins, we were told, the Chindwara district of Madhya cially constituted for the purpose, were green manure, superphosphate Pradesh, and Smti Suman Manu- under the direction of Mr Albert fertilisers and favourable winter dhane, who with her husband runs Mayer. The executive head is the rains. the Self Sufficient Agriculture Scheme District Development Officer, aided These figures speak for themselves. at Mahakal, a village some four miles by tour gazetted officers, called De­ No other part of the country can from Wardha. We should, at the puty Development Officers. Under claim to have produced such results, outset, like to express our gratitude them are six Assistant Development though every State Government has to Etawah Project authorities, and Officers (or Development Inspec­ been spending lakhs on grow more specially to Sri Baij Nath Singh, De­ tors), and 24 village level workers. food campaigns. Credit for this puty Development Officer, for the The regular stalls of the provincial must, therefore. be given to Mr courtesy with which they treated us, departments of co-operation, agricul­ Mayer and his Staff. the facilities that they provided for ture, development, annual husban­ us, and the time they spent with us. dry, public health, and others, work­ Special Features Express mention must be made of ing in the region, are also utilised by In the 97 villages of Mahcwa Mr Albert Mayer, the leading spirit the project authorities. Rarely has area there are So co-operative behind the Etawah Project, who, in- such a high level district staff been societies, knit into seven co-operative spite of his heavy preoccupations, entrusted to any planner or expert, unions, viz., Mahewa, Lakhna, gave us some of his very valuable indigenous or foreign. This Gov­ Aurang, faimalpur, Lakhi, Nevvari time enabling us to discuss some as­ ernmental machinery was geared into Kalan and Sherpur. There are be­ pects of the project with him. action under the inspiring leadership tween 10 to 15 societies in each The Project of Mr Mayer who was able to free it union. The unions deal in seeds, The Etawah Project came into be­ from the coils of red tape and make tools, yarn and cloth, sugar, manures, ing in November 1948. It was it do something which other Gov­ medicines, etc. founded at the instance of Mr Albert ernmental bodies all over the coun­ In Mahcwa proper there is an ani­ Mayer, an American expert town- try have conspicuously failed to mal husbandry centre (the only one in planner, formerly of the American achieve. the area) as also a tools workshop. The Army. It covers 97 villages round Achievements work done by the animal husbandry about Mahewa, a small town about The project commenced with the centre in the area is indicated below: eighteen miles east of Etawah, the headquarters of the Etawah district. Etawah is a railway station almost midway between Allahabad and Delhi. It is surrounded by the dis­ tricts of Kanpur, Farrukhabad, Main- puri and Jalaun, and is a well-known centre for oil-seeds and ghee. May 31 1952 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

450 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY May 3, 1952 While both HS and RP inoculations lakhs of people and an annual ex­ have been popular with the people of penditure of about twenty-five crores the locality, the same, however, can­ of rupees would be needed. not be said about artificial insemina­ tion. Response of the People As stated earlier, a large number As regards public health, Paludrinc of peasants have made use of im­ pills were distributed free in the first proved seeds. But we found some year, and systematic spraying of Gam- Limitations of space do not allow of them not very happy about the mexane undertaken to render the area us to present the budget details. wheat seeds (PB/591) distributed, malaria-proof. But in order to give a rough idea of for the roti made of it did not taste the expenditure we reproduce below In the field of irrigation, three like their familiar roti. figures for the main heads of ex­ artesian wells and one tube well have We have already stated that the penditure (allotment) for the year been dug. Attempts have also been IIS and RP inoculations of the 1950-51: made to reclaim water-logged, usar and cattle have been popular as also ravine lands but not with much suc­ I. Superintendence: Rs Gamrnexane spraying. Paludrine cess. Pay of officers 24,600 pills have also been taken by the Pay of (i) ministerial people but how much benefit they As has been observed earlier, dis­ staff 1 2,000 have really done cannot be definite­ tribution of improved tools forms an (ii) technical staff 11,280 ly ascertained. About artificial in­ integral part of the project. Given (iii) inferior staff 9,276 semination the less said the better. below is a list of some of the imple­ Allowances and honoraria 25,000 Sentiment apart, artificial insemina­ ments distributed together with their Contingencies: tion has not always succeeded. We prices: (i) recurring 5,200 saw one such and were taken aback Rs (ii) non-recurring 1,115 by the unhygienic way in which it Olpad Thresher I9O was done. Cultivator-seeder 6 5 88,471 Unfortunately, people have not Seed-drill 600 responded to co-operative societies Cultivator 85 II. Execution: or unions. They come there for Spike with harrow go Pay of establishment 44,760 seeds and other articles as they would Victory Plough 75 Allowances and honoraria 41,340 go to any other shop. The atmo­ Mower 1,200 Contingencies: sphere of ' co-operation ' or ' union ' (i) recurring 22,800 Forty-one adult education classes is lacking. We also found that (ii) non-recurring 30,010 are being conducted in the area. There papers and books in the unions were is also a mobile library with 50 not properly maintained. Nor were 1,38,910 chests of books. From Mahewa is audit reports paid any heed to. published a twelve-page Hindi fort­ We visited one women's centre III. Villagers Participation: nightly, entitled Mandir-se (annual at Puthia. The registers showed a Pay of establishment 1,920 subscription Rs 2 only) which has declining attendance. We also went Allowances and honoraria 9,540 some six to seven hundred subscrib­ inside a house and saw some knitting Contingencies: ers. work done by a girl of 12. How (i) recurring 11,500 we wished some such craft were (ii) non-recurring 14,400 In the area there are four women's taught in which mill-yarn or mill centres at Puthia, Marauli, Balju and goods were not used as raw material! 37,36o Bani, which arc Harijan villages. At Bui knowing as we do how helpful each centre there are three sevikas, such work is for the womenfolk, IV. Building Accommodation and one each for maternity and child wel­ we could not but commend the Village Planning: fare, education and literacy, and craft effort made by these ill-paid young Model houses 1,08,000 work such as weaving, knitting, etc. sevikas. Theirs is really a life of de­ Replanning and development dication and service. The authori­ At Lakhna, some 10 miles from of villages 40,000 ties would do well to meet their Mahewa, is the training centre where Sanitary wells, etc. 20,000 village level workers and others con­ genmine grievances. Primary or children's education nected with the project have their 1,68,000 refresher courses or training. The forms no vital part of the project. But we were shown at Sonbarsa a time-table of the trainees seemed to be Grand Total (Allotment) a school run under new develop­ quite exacting. Sight-seeing and de­ for 1950-51 4,32,741 monstrations are regular features of ment. We later came to know that the project. it was built by a generous widow of The average yearly expenditure of a the locality. There were two teach­ Expenditure recurring nature on the pilot pro­ ers in tins school with more than All told, no less than 125 persons ject is about two and a half lakhs of 80 boys and girls reading from from the District Development Officer rupees. When we inquired of Mr classes I to IV. The education im­ down to the peon or chowkidar —are Mayer about the period for which parled was hardly basic con­ employed exclusively in the scheme. such expenditure would continue, sidering that the yarn on the taklis of Taking into account those who are not he replied, " For ever and ever." IV class students was insufficient directly connected with the project The approximate annual expendi­ even for making a string. but whose services are frequently uti­ ture on each village comes to about As regards tools and implements, lised, e.g., veterinary surgeon, circle twenty-five hundred rupees. This their high prices prohibit their gen­ officer, inspector, etc,, for every two clearly means that to work the eral use. A good number of people villages three persons have been en­ scheme over the whole of Uttar Pra­ whom we met were averse to their gaged. The cost estimates have been desh, a personnel of about two use. 451 May 3, 1952 People also did not appreciate the (iv) The implements it seeks to poor country like India. instruction given by the experts. For use create unemployment. instance, they were advised that (ix) It compels a villager to look to wheat should not be mixed with oil­ (v) The adult and school education the Government or expert as its ' mai- seeds or any other crop. This advice, initiated by it has nothing to do with bap ' and deprives him of all initia­ however, was not acted upon. Again, Basic education or Nai Taiim. tive and free will. though they were told that chemical (vi) It is an attempt to uproot the fertilisers require more water than (vi) The project not only ignores unsophisticated people and transplant farmyard manures, and that deficien­ the landless labourers but renders them on an alien soil and initiate cy of water injures the crop raised their plight even more miserable and them into an alien way of life. on chemical fertilisers,-several of the worse. peasants realised it only too late and We cannot help the conclusion to their cost. (vii) It seeks to transform our agriculture into an organised indus­ that it is neither a plan of the people, On the whole, the response of try entirely dependent on big busi­ nor for the people, nor by the people, the people is cautious and hesitant. ness and high finance. but something imposed from above, Considering the magnitude of ex­ having no secure foundations below. penses and personnel involved, the (viii) The cost and personnel of The superstructure gone, it will fall project has failed to evoke a com­ the project render it unsuitable for a like a pack of cards. mensurate degree of enthusiasm in the people while it has raised some new issues.

Prospects of the Project The limited benefit for which cre­ dit may be given to the project may not be reaped in the future to the same extent. The rea­ son is the growing officialism in the everyday business, which is bound to prove a severe handicap. The pro­ ject may soon fall in the same rut in which a multitude of Govern­ ment projects has fallen. We have said above that village people have not received the project with any enthusiasm. The seeds supplied, prohibitive prices of im­ plements, heat content of chemical fertilisers, and ' boss '-like attitude of the staff are some of the factors res­ ponsible for this apathy. People have a feeling that the project has created more problems than it has solved. To mention only one, it has meant more unemployment. We met several landless labourers, Hari- jans amongst others, whose fortunes have not only not improved but have worsened. Main Defects From the short account given above, one can easily see the defects in the plan. We may state some of them: (i) The Etawah Project has con­ centrated on wheat and potato alone, regardless of other important factors necessary for balanced agricultural development. (ii) It is supremely oblivious of village and cottage industries. (in) Relying on chemical fertilis­ ers, the project has paid no attention to compost manures and utilisation of the hidden wealth in human and animal excreta. 452