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For general guidance it is envisaged that the outlay in a national extension service block may be Rs. 4 lakhs and in a community development block Rs. 12 lakhs. The distribution of the allotment of Rs. 200 crores between States has not yet been made in terms of the new programme, its present distribution shown in State plans being altogether provisional. It is reckoned that of this sum about Rs. 12 crores will be required at the Centre for schemes undertaken or directly sponsored by the Community Projects Administration and about Rs. 188 crores will form part of the plans of States. The tentative distribution of the total provision for the national extension and community development programme between different heads of development is somewhat as follows:
Rs. Crores
1. Personnel and equipment Block head-
quarters 52
2. Agriculture (Animal husbandry and
agricultural extension, irrigation and re-
clamation) 55
3. Communications 18
4. Rural arts and crafts 5
5. Education 12
6. Social education 10
7. Health and rural sanitation 20
8. Housing (for project staff and rural
housing) 16
9. Community Development-Miscellaneous
(Centre) 12
TOTAL 200
These provisions have to be kept in view when considering allotment-. under different heads in the second five year plan.
13. In carrying out the programme for the second five year plan, it is realised that a sense of participation and a definite programme of work for improving its standard of living has to be carried to every rural family. It is hoped that both through the national extension and community development programme as well as through other complementary programmes during the next few years, besides agricultural production, there will be marked progress in the following fields:-
(1) development of cooperative activities, including cooperative farming;
(2) development of panchayats as institutions actively responsible for village development;
(3) consolidation of holdings;
(4) development of village and small industries;
(5) Organisation of programmes designed to assist the weaker sections of the village community, especially small farmers, landless tenants, agricultural labourers and artisans;
(6) more intensive work among women and among youth; and
(7) intensive work in tribal areas.
14. For implementing programmes in such diverse fields as village and small industries, cooperation, agricultural production, land reform and social services, areas selected for intensive work under the national extension and community development programme- provide specially favourable opportunities. When these programmes are undertaken in a coordinated mariner and the necessary local institutions and support are organised, success in one programme creates the conditions for success in another, and the entire economy of an area may gain greater strength. During the second plan agricultural production has the first and foremost. claim on extension workers. Next to it inadequate work opportunities are the most pressing rural need. In a balanced rural economy it is important that opportunities for non-agricultural work should increase steadily relatively to agricultural work. Recent experience of village and small industry programmes has pointed to the need for an extension service which can be in touch with village artisans. provide the necessary guidance and assistance, organise them in cooperatives and help them market their products both within and outside the rural area. A beginning in this direction has been made with 26 pilot projects. It is essential that as early as may be possible each extension and community project area should have a trained specialist to carry out the rural industry programme.
15. The implementation of cooperative programmes in community project and national extension areas has been uneven in character and frequently either adequate personnel has not been available or existing cooperative organisations have not been reorganised and enabled to participate in the work of the project. These aspects should receive special attention during the second five year plan. The importance of consolidation of holdings has already been stressed.
16. The budget of each community development block provided for two women village level workers. Women are now becoming available in increasing number for training as village level workers, but it is obvious that before long there will be need for much larger numbers. The experience gained in social welfare extension projects as well as in community project areas deserves to be studied more closely with the object of evolving suitable patterns of Organisation for work among rural women and children. In each district there should be close coordination between
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national extension and community projects and social welfare extension projects. Work among rural youth is still in a very preliminary stage, but its importance for the development of leadership in rural areas cannot be under estimated.
17. The special problems which tribal areas present are considered in Chapter XXVIII. It is the aim of the national extension service to render the maximum assistance possible in the development of these areas. This aim will be facilitated through new administra- tive arrangements which have been recently agreed between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Community Projects Administration. In view of the scattered nature of the population in tribal areas. it has been suggested that national extension service blocks should be demarcated on the basis of an average population of approximately 25,000 instead of 66,000. Where the population is partly tribal and partly non- tribal, a project could serve larger numbers. In taking tip new development blocks preference is proposed to be given to tribal areas with a view to bringing them under the national extension programme As early as may be possible. The programme budget is flexible enough to permit such changes as may be required in view of local requirements. In areas having both tribal and non-tribal populations it is contemplated that the extension team should include an official with close acquaintance with the tribal section of the population. As far as possible, areas selected for implementing special programmes for the welfare of scheduled tribes and scheduled areas will correspond to national extension blocks. Welfare schemes taken up under this pro- gramme will be implemented in the first instance-in development blocks under the national extension scheme so that maximum use is made of the available trained personnel.
18. During the second five year plan the national extension and community development programme will require about 200,000 workers in addition to those already serving the programme. The necessary arrangement, for training have been made. It has been decided to add 18 extension training centres, 25 basic agricultural schools and 16 agricultural wings for imparting basic agricultural training. Thus, for training in extension and agriculture during the second plan there will be altogether 61 extension training centres and 95 agricultural schools or agricultural wings attached to training centres.
19. As the programme grows in size and the range of activities which it encompasses or influences increases, a great deal of the initiative in implementing it must pass to the people of each local area. Some of the simpler needs such as village roads, water supply and sanitation and opportunities for education may be met at a fairly early stage. The problems of increasing production and employment and diversifying rural economic life are more complex and will need sustained administrative effort over a considerable period. It is necessary to stress that while the material conditions have to be assured, transformation of the social and economic life of rural areas is essentially a human problem. It is a problem, briefly, of changing the outlook of 70 million families living in the countryside, arousing in them enthusiasm for new knowledge and new ways of life and filling them with the ambition and the will to live and work for a better life. Extension services and community organisations are among the principal sources of vitality in democratic planning, and rural development projects are the means by which, through cooperative self- help and local effort, villages and groups of villages can achieve in increasing measure both social change and economic progress and become partners in the national plan.