India’s real life is in the 635, 000 villages, where about 850 million of the total 1, 150 million people live. Yet, all our socio-economic activities almost totally deny any benefits to these very people who form about 75% of the total population! And, even if any government sponsored schemes are organized for the needy villagers, almost 100% of such schemes would only offer some pittance toward improving the livelihood needs of those purported to be served. For example, the prestigious National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) of the incumbent Government offers job to one person from a family, in the villages (covered), a total of 100 days work and wages @ Rs.60 to Rs.75 per day of work. What does this pittance amount mean to an individual (and to the more pathetic family life)? Would any one of us (forget about those who defined and organized the said scheme!) be able to live decently @ Rs.6, 000 (or at a higher Rs.7, 500) earning per annum? And, if only one person in a family has such an earning job, what would be the condition of that family (usual family size would be at least 6 people)? But then, our Government has other ideas: India’s best scheme in the sixty years after independence is considered to be this NREGS!
As a serious and responsible citizen of this great nation, this writer is ashamed, aghast and perturbed. Ashamed because a democratically elected Government (even after sixty years of independence) does not seem to “know” the realities of villages in India; aghast because, while the political community and the bureaucrats virtually “plunder” the ex-chequer (wealth) of this nation with aplomb, both in the name of development and otherwise, the needy 74% of the population are offered a “left handed” complement; and perturbed because the entire polity seems to have deranged into a state of “Nero’s fiddling” level.
However, there is some solace that the very democratic arrangement could help, if we apply ourselves with will-power, to bring about the needed change. And we wish to practically implement a Village Development Project, with this singular thought on uplifting the lot of the village poor. The acclaimed NGO, Sumangali Seva Ashram (SSA) would be the Facilitator, who has offered total support by way of providing various inputs such as space, local interaction, logistics and liaison with various Government and other quasi-Government/ Non-Government Institutions/ agencies. This Development Project (which would be explained later, as our presentations mature) would be a project within the organizational objectives of SSA. The dynamic personality who has taken the initiative for the NGO to be fully committed in this venture is their President: Hon. Shrimathy Susheelamma, who has seen through “ups and downs” of the great institutions that she nurtured and built up, starting 1975. More on SSA could be studied here:
(http://ssaindia.in/index.html http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=191 http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_06/uk/doss25.htm http://www.auhn.org/?q=node/24 )
Without going into the details of the Concept of this Village Development Project, we would note that the main thrust of this project is to empower the lowest qualified workers (unskilled, uneducated and semi-skilled) with a minimum earning power of not less than Rs.48, 000 per annum … against the Government’s NREGS empowerment benefit of the paltry Rs.6, 000 to Rs.7, 500 per annum. It may also be noted that we plan to have female workers for all operations in this initial Pilot project, creating the foundation for Women Empowerment in villages
It is estimated that about 4 billion people, amongst the total world population of 6.6 billion do not earn average of $2 per day. In Indian conditions, we have about 800 million people whose average earnings are less than Rs.50 ($1.03) per day. This is about Rs.18, 000 per annum. At least 400 million amongst these do not earn even Rs.20 ($0.41) per day (less than Rs.7, 500 per annum). While we do not wish to hold the view that all poverty situations are brought about due to economic conditions alone, it is observed that a majority of those driven to poverty are without means to earn decent livelihood benefits. In general, it is noted that a minority “rich” have the wherewithal to amass wealth and material resources and these are the people who (in practice) indulge in over consumption and wastage, with scant respect (usually) and consideration to the wretched conditions of the poor. We may define poverty as a human living condition, resulting due to deprivation of livelihood needs of the majority. We may state that it is inflicted on them by a minority of consumers, by their propensity to consume and assertive ability to harness more of the resources of the world. If we go a step further in our analysis, we might state that poverty is a corollary of present day Economic Development—the said poverty being inversely proportional to the economist’s yardsticks of GDP, and GNP (or any other terms defined by them to specify the ‘one-sided’ concept of development)—the greater the “development”, the greater is the state of poverty. We may also note that more things appear to have been said/ written/ “podcast” than actual practices on Poverty, Global warming and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Economists and academicians, journalists and soothsayers, and many such think-tank groups … each group competing with one another, in exposing and espousing the various “negative” impacts of Poverty/ Global warming. Nobel Prizes are bestowed on others; and special awards are constituted, and awards ceremonies “celebrated” with great fanfare – all for certain perceived works that are said to mitigate these “twin-problems”. But alas! The twin problems of Global Warming and Global Poverty (acronym GWP) continue to flourish unabated; the rich also continue to become richer; nations, with greater “know-how” to harness and utilize the meager world resources, continue their unchecked “over usage” of these resources. Renowned names of “Mahatma” Gandhi, Adam Smith, Schumpeter, among many others, are recalled and their ideas re-kindled. Every one tom-toms about various new methods/ theories/philosophies to combat the twin problems, and new businesses are defined and approved by Governments through public subsidies, toward “mitigating” the twin problems. The cycle goes on … and sooner than later, we would once again come up with another huge crisis, which could be triggered by these “knee-jerk” actions, being taken now, in the name of mitigating GWP!
Huge amounts of money are spent by governments and private individuals/ associations/ foundations toward alleviating poverty, in terms of education, health care, special training, and even so-called micro-finance for “self-help groups”. We believe that poverty cannot be erased through mere education, doles, gifts, subsidies and health programs. Let us look at a real case study, made recently:
Thampy (true name withheld) is about forty years of age, and lives in Wayanad District in Kerala State in India. He owns just short of one ac of land, which provides all that he could “think of” for his family upkeep. The family consists of himself, his wife and two children (aged 14 and 11 – girl and boy respectively), and his widowed mother who is 65 years old (physically very weak). Although, a few years back, when the crops he obtained through cultivation in his meager land had better values (mainly coffee, pepper and banana), he could earn not less than Rs.150, 000 gross (US $3, 100), his present gross earnings are not even Rs.50, 000 ($1, 025) – a net annual earning of not more than $725, at the best of times. Five years back he could send his children to a good local school; but with poorer earnings now, he is unable to pay the “high fees” needed to support such “better education”. Further, he has to support his mother, who needs medical attention due to poor health. Although Government health centers are helpful, a combination of corruption and high costs of special medications make it very difficult to support his mother, except those that are possible within his meager earnings level. Though he has cooking gas connection and also electricity connection, he avoids using them except for specifically important needs, avoiding wastage. In the ultimate analyses, the average earnings per individual in this family work out to less than $150 per annum (at the best of times). Observations showed that a major portion of the District had many such “Thampy’s”, a few of them having greater economics problems.
The above pathetic “story” is not a freak case, but this writer has seen and interacted with many such families in villages, across the length and breadth of India (moving about 3,000 km), noting that almost 70% or more of all village families are extremely poor and live in wretched conditions!!! The question is: What should we do toward alleviating (if not eradicating) poverty? The answer to this question needs that we understand about the minimum earnings needed by an individual to live decently. The yardstick for “decent” level would have to be based on costs of living, taking into account the following:
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FOOD
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ENERGY
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HOME/ HOUSING
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MOBILITY
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EDUCATION
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MEDICINES/ HEALTH
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LEISURE/ ENTERTAINMENT
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FAMILY
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OLD AGE SECURITY/ PROVIDENCE/ INSURANCE
We estimate that this level should be between Rs.3, 500 ($72/50) to Rs.4, 000 ($82/50) per month, under Indian conditions (as in January 2009). Thus, we need to make sure that every able bodied person, irrespective of gender, should be offered a monthly wage (for the lowest level of education and skill) of not less than Rs.4, 000. Going a step further, if we were to consider a village family of five people with three adults and two children (children aged less than 14 yrs), the minimum family income should be Rs.8, 000 per month (just short of Rs.100, 000 per annum = $2, 060). The question is: How do we create a condition such that every village family has average annual income of about Rs.90, 000 to Rs.100, 000? The answer lies in the concept of Two Jobs for every village family, with minimum wages @ Rs.4, 000 per month per person. Contrast this with the incumbent government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in India that guarantees one job per family @ Rs.75 per day for 100 days. It is clear that the government sponsored NREGS falls short of this level of poverty alleviation by a huge margin: a shortfall of Rs.87, 500 per family.
A PRACTICAL PROGRAM TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY
It is observed that every village has minimum rainfall, various vegetation systems and some form of farming activities. Except in certain “desert type” regions in Rajasthan and Gujarat, almost the whole of India has average rainfall of about 1000 mm. If we carefully study the different plant/ vegetation growth in the village areas (India has over 635, 000 villages), it may be noted that the average green weight of such vegetation growth in most regions are of the order of 45 tons per annum per ha. In actual practice, these may vary from as low as less than 5 T (in the desert regions of Rajasthan) to over 150 T per ha (in Kerala State). The illustration here shows some such non agricultural vegetation growth
Vegetation Systems for Village development
Any development program in village areas would have to be based on available Renewable Resources (RR) in the region; and these are: rainfall, sunlight, plants/ vegetation, animals and recyclable wastes. And, from a combination of economics and environment considerations, regional developments would be optimum if appropriate recycling procedures were also followed. Careful analyses would indicate that utilizing and recycling plants/ vegetation resources could offer us the most optimum and environmentally superior choice for energy and other resources. Although variations in these conversion programs may have to be considered, from one region to another, depending on the material resources (both variety and availability), the overall optimized techno-socio-commercial programs could be summed up as per the illustration here.
Conversions using Vegetation Systems
COLLABORATIVE VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
In order that these systems of commercial/ industrial activities are piloted at the village level, a Collaborative Project has been defined and entered into between Sumangali Seva Ashram and AGRO-BIOGENICS. The main thrust of the project is: Poverty Alleviation, without environmental degradation. More succinctly, this collaborative venture, which is named APIX-SSA_Pilot, is the first of a series of Village Development Projects working toward mitigating the twin-problems of GWP.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
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Project to convert agrowastes and vegetation wastes in villages into Wood Substitute Boards, to replace wood/ plywood/ MDF (leading to reduction in tree cutting)
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Local villagers (all women) get jobs (150 people) in their own home environment. This project would be an “all women” project, showing the way for women empowerment
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Grid electricity would not be used, nor are any fossil fuels; instead, electricity would be generated by burning Polyethylene milk pouches thrown away in cities (recycling non degradable plastics, and reducing fossil fuel usage)
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About 7, 500 tons (green weight) agrowastes (in the form of parthenium plants, coconut tree materials, wood wastes and sawdust) would be utilized from village surroundings, helping local farmers gain extra income to an extent of Rs.9, 800, 000; total village earnings (including wages etc) would be about Rs.25, 000, 000 … ushering in a cascading of more developments in the surrounding villages
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At three shift runs, the plant is estimated to produce over 120, 000 wood substitute boards (Molded Strand Boards), valued about Rs.120, 000, 000 (village level people being made to involve in sophisticated productions, instead of the regular crafts, Khadi and other “show-piece” type products)
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Enhanced earning power in villages offsets shifting population (people migrating to far way cities and towns, in search of livelihood), and local governments get better tax earnings to support village level infrastructure works (problems of mushrooming cities and slum growth would reduce)
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The estimated Carbon Credits in this project is 1000 (valued €25, 000 = Rs.1, 725, 000)
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Collaborative synergistic Green Project (Zero-Waste Zero-Carbon Business-Model) between a Charity Institution and a world level Engineering Group … that envisages show-casing Village Development Project … purported to be a catalyst for many such projects in various villages all over India
APIX-SSA partnership shall work together toward developing a new Social Business paradigm, wherein the yardstick of development would be the closing of the gap between rich and poor. This would be achieved, through creating village level industry programs, which would utilize available RR and offer full time livelihood benefits to maximum number of local village people. The minimum wage level shall be Rs.4, 000 pm for the lowest level workers.
See also:
Sumangali Seva Ashram Inmates Showing their Skill
Click on the Image above to enlarge the Illustration
The inmates of Cauvery Vanitha Seva Ashram ( a unit of Sumangali Seva Ashram) have shown their mettle to develop and produce excellent quality products, using vegetation wastes/ grasses and sawdust (see the Photo-illustration). The works done won the International JEC INNOVATIONS AWARD 2008 for ENVIRONMENTAL CATEGORY in Composites at Paris, during an International Conference on Composites products: http://www.jeccomposites.com/composites-news/4436/2008-JEC-Innovation.html
Contemporary world’s biggest “twin-problems” are connected with mitigating the effects of Global Warming and Poverty (GWP). We strongly observe that the two are corollaries (each being corollary to one another). And, it is further opined that the two cannot be looked at, in isolation. This problem is the prime subject on which AGRO-BIOGENICS (http://www.agro-biogenics.com) is working on and the NGO (Sumangali Seva Ashram: http://ssaindia.in/index.html) with whose facilitation this APIX-SSA_Pilot project is being planned is in the Poverty alleviation and women/child development program for the last 34 years.
A Few Wood Substitutes using Village Wastes
This project would “attack” the twin-problems of GWP through Green Businesses that would convert locally available Renewable Resources (in the form of various unused vegetation such as parthenium plants, banana stem wastes, grass clippings, coconut tree wastes, wood/ tree wastes and clippings …) into high-quality and high-value Wood Substitutes (as shown in the photo-illustrations above). These would compete with all traditional/ existing products (such as Plywood, Block-Boards, MDF, OSB and Particle Boards) functionally as well as economically. A minimum size project would manufacture 3000 T of Wood Substitute Boards, valued Rs.108 million ($2.24 million). The project would develop its own energy through burning of Plastics wastes collected in nearby cities, and would offer full time Jobs to over 150 local people. Many more such projects could be set up, to manufacture different Wood Substitute products, in other villages. Each project being one step in mitigating the twin-problems of GWP.
THE BASIC PROJECT
An average Indian village would be constituted by a total of about 200 families, with a population of about 1, 200 people. At least 300 to 400 members of such a village would be in the prime age-group of 21 yrs to 45. Almost this entire prime age-group population would migrate (or be daily shuttling) to cities for work and wages. It would also be noted that most of these youngsters would be relatively less educated or not educated at all. APIX-SSA_PILOT aims at providing employment to almost every village personnel, through developing Modern Industrial ventures that utilize locally available Renewable Resources (RR).
Partnerships Involved in APIX-SSA_Pilot
The implementation of the project would depend on the following “partnerships”:
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NGO (here it is SUMANGALI SEVA ASHRAM), the Facilitator
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Competent Entrepreneur (to be inducted/ decided), the Business Group
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AGRO-BIOGENICS (Technology/ Know-How), the managerial Mentor
The incentives that propel these partners to commit themselves are as follows:
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Government programs to support Village Industries
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National and International supports/ incentives for GREEN projects
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Special Incentives for Non-Profit NGO’s involved in Poverty alleviation
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Project would claim Carbon Credits (CC)
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
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The main Project is an NGO project for Poverty Alleviation
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The business is the manufacturing and Marketing of WOOD SUBSTITUTES
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This would be “an all-women” run manufacturing unit
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Main raw-materials are: Vegetation wastes (parthenium, Wood wastes, Agrowastes) and Plastic Wastes; all these are recycled, reducing environmental damage, reducing tree cutting, and reducing fossil fuel usage
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Main product: 3000 T of Plywood substitute Boards, valued Rs.108 million ($.2.24 million); entire electricity/ energy needs (900, 000 KWH) produced through burning Milk-Pouch Plastics-wastes
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Total local village people getting full-time jobs would be more than 150
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Carbon Credits potential: 1000 (valued about $35,700)
Practical Products in Wood Substitute
The Board and the fabricated Chair in the photo-illustration above are Wood Substitute products. Market for wood substitutes (especially for plywood boards and related products) is a continually increasing market, due to two reasons: (i) Wood is a scarce raw material, and tree cutting is being resisted by GREEN advocates; (ii) Number of new households is increasing and new housing schemes help in increased building construction activities, increasing wood substitute usage. All the products manufactured would be marketed in the cities, and the village would have enough “money power” through such sales. No one need go to far away cities for jobs … instead the products manufactured would go there!
