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FINANCE

18. Village artisans have scarcely any financial resources of their own, nor have they any security to offer. They produce mainly for local demand and, if they manufacture for a market outside the village, finance is generally found by some middle-man. Finance for the development of village industries has to be viewed as a problem inseparable from finance for agriculture. The formation of industrial co-operatives is essential if the Government and the co-operative movement are to be able to render substantial assistance to village artisans. Given the necessary Organisation, it should not only be possible to extend financial assistance, but also to initiate organised development programmes and, if need be, in the process, to assist co-operative societies which lend money through guarantees and in other ways. The operations of State Governments under legislation relating to State aid for industry have not touched village artisans to any extent. These again depend upon the existence of suitable organisations such as industrial co-operatives being available. With the establishment of Industrial Finance Corporations in different States a process which itself should be hastened-it should be possible to render much greater assistance to village industries, if departments of industries and rural extension workers give special attention in the immediate future to the Organisation of industrial co-operatives in villages.

19. While the development of co-operative organisations has to be expedited to the maximum extent possible, in the immediate future the responsibility for revitalising village industries devolves upon the Central and State Governments. In the States the Five Year Plan makes a total provision of Rs. 12 crores for cottage and small-scale industries which represents a doubling of the level of development expenditure in this field prior to the Plan. Realising that the resources of the States have to be substantially supplemented if the progress is to be at all commensurate, in the plan of the Central Government a total provision of Rs. 15 crores has been made. In undertaking programmes for village and small-scale industries, finance is perhaps not the major obstacle. Organisation, both on the side of the Government and on behalf of artisans and the determination of fields of work in which small-scale operations can be sustained continuously raise the more difficult problems.

VILLAGE INDUSTRY PROGRAMMES

20. We summarise below the programmes which have. been drawn up by the Planning Commission in consultation with a number of experts, for the following village industries.

(1) village oil industry ,

(2) soap-making with neem oil ,

(3) paddy husking ,

(4) palm gur industry ,

(5) gur and khandsari ,

(6) leather industry

(7) woollen blankets

(8) high-grade hand-made paper

(9) bee-keeping , and

(10) cottage match industry.

322 THE FIRST FIVE YEAR PLANS

It is proposed that the Khadi and Village Industries Board should take further action on these programmes in consultation with State Governments and other organisations; engaged in the field of village industries. The programmes have been prepared on the basis of a period of four years being available for their implementation.

(1) Village oil industry-The programme for this industry envisages a common production programme for village oil presses and for oil mills. The production of ghanis is proposed to be raised from 10 to 13.8 lakh tons of seed pressing. This will involve some diversion of seeds now pressed by mills and substitution of them by cotton seeds. It is suggested that 1,200 village oil centres, each serving a group of 40 to 50 villages and about 50 village oil presses may be organised. Inefficient types of village oil presses are to be replaced by efficient types. A research and training institute and five regional training centres are proposed for training artisans in the manufacture and repair of improved oil presses and for generally improving the efficiency of the village oil industry. Apart from giving greater employment to village artisans, this industry is expected to improve the nutrition of the rural population by supplying fresh and pure oil which has become difficult to obtain owing to the widespread practice of adulteration in the mill oil.

(2) Soap-making with neem oil-This is a small scheme, the main object of which is to utilise material now going waste, The scheme aims at establishing production-cum-demonstration centres in different States where neem oil will be produced and utilised in soap manufacture. It provides for 11 neem units, each unit consisting of 1 soapery and 7 neem pressing centres producing a total of 1260 maunds of neem oil and utilising it for the production of about 78 tons of soap per year.

(3) Paddy husking-Hand-pounding of rice is an important village industry even to this day. It processes about 65 per cent of the paddy, the mills processing the remaining 35 per cent. The programme aims at improving the hand process for increased recovery of rice and production of bran in a pure form by the introduction of paddy husking stone chakkis in place of the pounding method. It is recommended that over a period of four years the distribution of about 50,000 chakkis in rice pounding areas might be subsidised. Research is proposed to be carried out for evolving suitable implements for paddy husking such as paddy separater, a better type of chakki which can reduce breakage etc. It is also proposed that rice mills of the huller type should be gradually eliminated.

(4) Palm gur--The scheme for the development of palm gur envisages increase in production to the extent of about 80,000 tons of gur. This will afford employment to about 60,000 rural workers. The scheme provides for training and research and an element of subsidy may also be necessary.

(5) Gur and khandsari-These are well-established village industries. The object of the programme is to extend the use of improved types of cane crushers to obtain a higher percentage of extraction. It is proposed that over a period of four years about 100,000 improved cane crushers should be introduced. The introduction of small centrifugals for the manufacture of khandsari is also suggested.

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(6) Leather-The object of this scheme is to minimise waste due to the incomplete utilisation of dead animals. The four-year programme provides for recovery work, tanning, leather craft in municipal areas and in adjoining rural areas and also for the Organisation of co-operatives of village leather workers.

(7) Woollen blankets-It is proposed that four wool spinning and weaving centres may be established for developing hand-spinning and hand-weaving for the production of woollen blankets required by the defence services. The centres may be run by State Governments or by co-operatives. It is suggested that carding and finishing should be done by machinery operated by power, but the spinning and weaving should be done by hand.

(8) Hand-made paper-The programme suggests the production at 11 existing centres of the varieties of high-grade hand-made paper which are at present imported. These centres should be assisted in respect of equipment, training and research. Pulp-making is proposed to be done by power-operated machines, while other processes will be done by hand.

(9) Bee-keeping-The intensive development of bee-keeping is proposed in selected areas in States in which the industry has already made some progress, for instance, Madras, Bombay, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Mysore, Travancore-Cochin and Coorg. In each selected area there may be a sub-station serving a group of 20 to 30 villages. The scheme provides for training of staff and bee-keepers and for supply at subsidised rates of bee-hives and other appliances. Co-operatives of bee-keepers are envisaged in each sub-station for collecting and marketing of the honey produced by the members.

(10) Cottage match industry-The scheme aims at increasing the production of the cottage match industry from about 0.6 million gross to about 1.8 million gross at the end of four years. This result is to be achieved through provision of training and certain concessions as also financial assistance to cottage match manufacturers,

(11) Khadim-Certain tentative proposals for the khadi programme have been prepared, but these have to be considered by the proposed Khadi and Village Industries Board.

(12) Coir-The depressed state of the coir industry in Travancore- Cochin calls for special action for the reorganisation of the industry on co-operative basis. A programme for this purpose has been indicated in the State Government's Five Year Plan.

18. An illustrative statement summarising the programmes for the village industries mentioned above, other than khadi and coir, is given in the Appendix. It is expected that finance for the village oil industry and soap-making from neem oil will be found by means of the cess mentioned earlier and for the remaining industries assistance will be extended to the States by the Central Government from the allotment for Rs. 15 crores made in the Five Year Plan.

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