Empowering rural women… the self-help group way. Really?

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Empowering Rural Women in Goa:
An appraisal of Self-Help Groups under SGSY
Arlette M H Mascarenhas
Goa Institute of Rural Development & Administration
Ela, Old Goa
No date mentioned. 96pp.
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It’s one of those schemes with an unpronounceable, almost unrememberable names, probably crafted by bureaucrats with a one-size-fits-all approach in New Delhi. So who’s to blame for not recognising sufficiently the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY Scheme)?

Do we fail to appreciate its potential? Have we just become cynical of all government? Have we no empathy left for rural concerns? Or is this all just official spin?

Mascarenhas introduces the SGSY as one of the “micro-credit programmes for women (that are being) increasingly lauded by development agencies as an effective intervention with a positive impact on economic growth and improvement of the social status of women”. This is not necessarily true in Goa, but in other parts of the ‘developing’ world and India.

So how is this being played out in Goa? Does it go beyond the traditional pickles-and-papads model? Does it impart new skills?

This study looks at Ponda and Quepem talukas. It focuses on all-women self-help groups. Ponda is described as the “land of temples, singing, drama and folk-art”. Becoming a tourism spot, with many engaged in tourism -related activited and agriculture, it’s very different from hilly Quepem with its villages scattered. Quepem’s people depend on agriculture and farming.

Mascarenhas says Goa has 426 self-help groups under the SGSY. With names like Nagesh SHG, Betora SHG or Kamakshi SHG, Navdurga SHG, Mahalsa SHG, and Sateri SHG, these tiny insitutions are bringing about a change in the way women perceive themselves, and their abilities.

Or, are they?

So what do they do? Mascarenhas writes: “Their activities include vegetable, flower and coconut selling, taking catering orders at weddings and feasts; and selling flowers, making and selling masala powder, pickles, sweets, papads, shell items, etc”.

Ponda’s many temples, notes the author, creates “good business” for selling flowers and coconut. But then, shouldn’t value-added speedy skill upgradation be a priority with Goa’s rural womenfolk? Can we just manage with a ‘more of the same’ approach?

In Quepem, meanwhile, self-help groups now have an income “from Rs 3000 to even Rs 6000 and even around Rs 8,000 at times”. This sum may seem like a pittance, when converted into dollar-equivalents. But consider the fact that many parts of Goa simply don’t have access to the monetised economy. And that, till a generation ago, most people lived ithout money in any case. On the other hand, we can’t get smug with a this-is-fine approach!

Activities are mostly agricultural like cashew, fruit and coconut selling, dairy farming, with a few taking up to sweet-making and candle-making.

Amidst a whole lot of detail — such as what motivated women to join, family incomes before and after joining the self-help groups, attitudes within the groups, group functioning and more — there is also an attempt to sketch
the broad picture.

Some conclusions from this study:
* Such groups can do “much better” in Goa.

* Mere financial assistance does not help the women.

* Many women do not possess prior experience in production.

* They need institutional support.
* Training, skill upgradation, marketing strategies is their need.
* Information on the latest available technology is also key.
* Such schemes are meant mainly for BPL (below the poverty line) sections; but others too manipulate and squeeze in.
* Officials need to focus on quality groups, rather than “just forming groups for quality sake”.
* Officials need training in rural communication, and patience with the rural poor.
* Before introducing credit programmes, officials need to offer brainstorming sessions on the principles of micro-credit.
* Group members need to act as managers and watchdogs, ensuring discipline on themselves and reducing dependency on “outsiders” (including NGOs, or non-governmental organisations).
* Villagers need training in marketing techniques.

Mascarenhas’ report suggests that such groups venture into other activities — fruit, fish and meat processing or canning; tailoring, flower and candle-making; organic farming; setting up nurseries and floriculture; mushroom
cultivation; moving into other varieties of food; working in handicrafts….

All in all, an interesting report, with some honest and critical pointers at where things need to be improved. While there could be scope for other perspectives on this issue, for sure it throws light on a topic that few are otherwise concerned with.

What’s wrong with Goa’s panchayats and their gram sabhas?

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The Functioning of Gram Sabhas in Goa
Ms Seema Fernandes
Goa Institute of Rural Development & Administration
Ela, Old Goa
No date mentioned. 107pp.
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There’s so much being written on Goa, but because it’s not widely catalogued or uploaded to cyberspace, it’s difficult to keep track of what all is being said. Here’s a book one came across because of a chance visit to the Goa Institute of Rural Development & Administration at Ela, Old Goa, in a wholly different context.

Seema Fernandes’ conclusions: Goa’s overall panchayati raj (rural governance) system needs improvement. Most people are ignorant about the “entire working of local self government in Goa”. Some didn’t know that ordinary meetings and special ‘gram sabha’ (village council) meetings are convened in the panchayat.

Most women said their husbands attended meetings, but very rarely discussed matters at home. Others were ignorant about the quorum needed to conduct gram sabhas. Most had never attended a gram sabha meeting in their life — they don’t feel the need to attend, or see it as a “male dominated meeting”.

And check this out: “The people did not attend meetings because they feel that the Panchayat (village council) is not working for the village. They have selfish motives and due to (their) affiliation with political bodies, only promises are made but hardly fulfilled.”

Other issues raised include:

* Elected women representatives do not address women’s issues at the gram sabha meetings.

* At meetings, people appear “least bothered” to hear the minutes of the earlier meeting, and “are not bothered” on other crucial issues like the expenditure of the outlay of previous years.

* Some issues dominate the meets: issues pertaining to the grant of NOCs for constructions, water connections, which gutter or road or culvert has to be built or re-constructed, why a particular person was given a construction license, or illegal houses.

* Meetings tend to lack decorum in conduct, aggravated by the fact that no time is given for the discussion of agenda items. This leads to a lack of interest in meetings, boredom, and walk-outs. “Many a times, discussions get heated and uncontrollable by the presiding officer; people would gherao
the elected representatives over issues affecting them,” says the study.

Ms Fernandes stresses the role of gram sabhas in rural socio-economic development. But she says it can be a meaninfgul institution only when a majority of the people are involved. In reality, attendance is very thin. Average attendance is around 30-50 people, except in rare cases. So,
the majority is absent when decisions are taken.

“In the first place, the majority of the people are quite ignorant of the role and importance of the gram sabha,” says the study.

It adds: “People have expectations from the panchayat and this hampers the participation at gram sabhas… Lack of sound financial resources, adequate staff, instability of the sarpanchas, interference at all levels are some of the
reasons hampering the success of the panchayat.”

Ironically, though decisions are binding on the panchayat, “it remains only on paper”. Participation in Goa’s gram sabhas is selective and “therefore it can be called as a group of people who have vested interests in attending the
meeting, and as such it can be called an autocracy.”

This 94-page report (plus annexures) comes with seven chapters. An introduction, another on the efforts towards strengthening gram sabhas, a brief overview of literature on gram sabhas in India, the Goa panchayati raj act, people’s participation, an analysis and conclusions.

Interesting issues for those wanting to understand this issue of vital relevance to today’s rural Goa. But it’s not printed as a book (yet) or available for sale. Such work needs to be widely disseminated and discussed, if Goa’s panchayats are to have a future beyond window-dressing.

Konkani… language and script (Sod: 10)

Here’s a list of some useful articles available in the Konkani research bulletin (Sod) brought out by the Thomas Stephens Konkkni Kendr of Alto Porvorim, which was out in April 2006 (just got a copy late):

* Konkani Myths: Pratap Naik SJ
* Social damage done by Goa’s language controversy and (the) conspiracy behind it. Ramnath G Naik
* Roman script, the soul of Konknni. Nelson Lopes.
* Socio-economic growth of the Goan community through the Konkani language. Tomazinho Cardozo
* Roman script for Konkani, a must: now or never. Godfrey Gonsalves.
* Script controversy. Eduardo Faleiro.
* A response to “Konknni Myths”. Alito Siqueira.
* Scripting controversy: debating the war of the Konknnis. Jason Keith Fernandes.
* An attempt to understand Konknni language assertion movement. Sammit Khandeparkar.
* Mother tongue blues. Madhavi Sardesai.
* Konkani versus scripts. Matthew Almeida, SJ
* The African, Portuguese, Kannada, Marathi, Malvani, Hindi and English influences on the hybridized Siddi-Konkani dialect. Geralda de Lima Angenot
* English medium primary education for better future. Cypriano Lopes.
* Response to “English medium primary education for better future’> Joe F Vaz.
This issue is priced at a reasonable Rs 50 (100 pp) in Goa.

By way of background, the TSKK has long been solidly in favour of the Devanagiri script. Recently, it rethought its position, and its director Dr Pratap Naik sj is one of the leading campaigners in the movement to get recognition for the Romi script. While this perspective obviously dominates the publication, there are also views that question it (like iconoclast Alito Siqueira’s essay, he’s always there to raise some thought-provoking point of view). Check it out if interested in language and how this intertwines with other complex social realities in today’s Goa!

PS: You can contact TSKK on tskk AT sancharnet.in or find out more about it via
http://www.tskk.org or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stephens_Konkkni_Kendr