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By Aditya Malaviya
Many villages in Madhya Pradesh, like Pipaldhana, have set up grain banks that lend both grain and money to people in need, at much lower rates of interest than the local moneylender. This improves people’s food security and helps promote a sense of involvement in village governance
In many Indian villages, households have to rely for their food security on government-run ration shops and low-quality foodgrain. But in Dhamo Singh’s village of Pipaldhana, Jhapal panchayat, Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, he and the other villagers have banded together to do something about their food security.
Dhamo Singh is the adhyaksh (head) of the village grain bank and looks after the communal grain chest that holds the village’s wheat. Because of the uncertainty over government-supplied grain and persistent food insecurity, they have looked to locally controlled and managed solutions that also help build up a high level of community involvement. With a little help of course from Rural Environment and Community Health Awareness (RECHA) and its partner CSOs -- Pragati Gramin Vikas Sanstha, Gramin Vikas Sanstha and Sarwajanik Mahila Evam Bal Kalyan Samiti.
Dhamo Singh says matter-of-factly: “The advantage of our grain bank, which we began in 2001, is that it provides us with immediate access to food in times of emergency -- no running to borrow money, which we can’t eat anyway! It also frees us from the clutches of the moneylender and gives us access to the grain market in case of a surplus.”
He adds: “We spoke to everyone in the village. We also held a rally and took up the issue in our gram sabha.” Says Pramod Naik of Pragati Gramin Vikas Sanstha: “Since people were consulted throughout, they readily came forward with ideas for a do-able and simple system of managing a grain bank, which was both participatory and practical.”
RECHA’s interventions in terms of registers for record-keeping and training for the management committee helped maintain transparency and continuity. Systems to ensure returns were guaranteed by active participation of village committee members who played the role of conscience-keepers.
After discussions, it was decided that each family would donate 1 kg of grain and Rs 2 per family every six months to the grain bank. In Pipaldhana village for example all the families are Gond tribals except for one Lohar family, and agriculture is the main source of livelihood. During the lean season, most people migrate to towns like Harda, about 100 km away, in search of work.
In fact, says Munni Bai (26) of Pipaldhana: “We migrate for about 15 days in every agricultural season, or about 45 days in a year. Of course, if work is available we may even extend our stay to 60 days in a year.” Shanti Bai of the same village agrees, but says: “With the grain bank in our village there will now be one shoulder that can bear the burden of the household and stay back, while the other person can migrate for work. At least we know that our families back home will not starve.”
Munni Bai has taken a loan of Rs 500 from the grain bank for agricultural purposes, and 16 kg of grain for her home. Koili Bai is just happy that “people will not have to rush to the moneylender for money to buy grain. In fact, just having money is no guarantee that we will not go hungry in times of need. You cannot eat money. Now, all you have to do is walk over to the adhyakshji’s house and ask for some grain. Though he has to consult members, in emergencies he is authorised to use his discretion to give grain to anyone asking for it.”
Sati Bai Wadiwa, a member of the grain bank in Gochi village, Betul block and district, says: “We have little grain during the monsoons, and visits by public distribution system (PDS) salesmen are intermittent at best. One woman who already had a child from a previous marriage got married again in our village. People harassed her no end; she was barely able to step out of her home because of fear and humiliation. We arranged for food for her family and realised how important the issue was for us.” She adds: “Realisation dawned that we had to do something for our food security. That is when we first set up our grain bank, in 2007.”
Today, from a small beginning (20 women), the group has a membership of 50 women and three men; it collects Rs 1-2 every month from its members and 8 kg of foodgrain every six months (or 4 kg of soybean during the soy season).
Says Phoolwati Bai, sachiv (secretary) of the Gochi gram kosh: “At first, women did not understand the concept of a grain bank in the village. They thought it was another savings scheme! Then we held a number of meetings in the village and took out rallies. We also arranged for an exposure visit to Sakhadehi panchayat Bhawan, in Sakhadehi village. That changed everything for us.”
In Tadar village, Patakheda gram panchayat, Chicholi janpad panchayat, Betul district, Omkar Uike (33) believes that grain banks are now crucial to food security. He says that now moneylenders and traders have stopped ripping them off in terms of interest rates and prices.
“To begin with,” he says, “we held a large rally in the village about the grain bank, in December 2006, to get people involved. The rally attracted more than 80 people who walked across the village with us. Today, the village has 1.5 quintals of maize, 16 kg of kutki and a saving of Rs 180 in the gram kosh.”
The village has a 10-member samiti. Each member contributes 2 pai of grain to the grain bank twice a year, and Rs 5 per month towards the gram kosh. Samiti members are confident they will be able to raise money for the gram kosh by selling surplus grain in the market. Also, once the harvest is ready for sale all loans will be repaid and the grain bank and kosh will be replenished.
While Ratan (45) of Pipaldhana is proud of the fact that the grain bank has significantly helped reduce migration, it’s the more humane aspects that appeal to others. Like when a house in the village caught fire and was burnt to the ground; the family lost everything, including its stock of foodgrain. The village decided to support the family, including loaning it grain and money to help in the rebuilding process. Shakuntala Bai of Pipaldhana says simply: “Because we see it happening to others, we realise it could also happen to us.”
Interest rates in these tribal areas are customarily high, as established by the moneylenders. “In the initial stages, village communities decide on the interest rates for grain banks based on mutual discussion, since there are many who have joined only to escape the high rates charged by the village moneylenders (usually Rs 20 for every Rs 100 taken as a loan),” says Pramod of RECHA. The rates for both grain and money borrowed are decided by the community. Phool Chand of Pipaldhana explains: “We are interested because of the low interest we pay for the money and the grain. In the next six months, I will give back 10 kg of wheat for the 8 kg I borrowed, and also pay Rs 2 for every Rs 100 borrowed. The sahukar (moneylender) would have demanded 8 kg of wheat for the 16 kg I borrowed, and Rs 20 for every Rs 100. This saves my family from the murderous rates of the local moneylender. I also get the wheat when I need it.”
But while this may help the bank grow in terms of membership, it creates a different set of problems. Like when people are unable to return money and opt instead to repay their loan in foodgrain, leaving the grain bank with too much foodgrain and very little liquidity in terms of available cash. Money is after all equally important, for, during emergencies like deliveries and illness, it is money that helps save lives.
Shulanta (27) says: “We do not have to give any peshgi (collateral) like we had to when borrowing money from the sahukar. The gram kosh has helped significantly reduce food-related borrowings from landowners.”
“After the initial three to four years, it is hoped that the villages can build up a surplus. We can then discuss bringing down the interest rates, as there is now the need for people to borrow grain and not leave it in storage to deteriorate,” says Pramod. Interest is usually waived or brought down when the village has not had a very good harvest; again this is done by consensus.
Phullo Bai, sachiv of the Gohchi anna kosh (grain bank), says: “We may open a shop in the village to sell surplus grain. Water is scarce, thus little foodgrain is actually produced here. So we will sell to our people on a no-profit-no-loss basis.”
Jamiya (90) of Gohchi village adds: “I did not understand much about the grain bank. But when the whole process was over, I just walked over to where these women were standing and gave them my share of the contribution.”
“I borrowed 1 kudo (8 kg) of wheat for my family because we suddenly ran out of wheat,” says Shulanta Bai. “I also borrowed Rs 900 for a marriage in the family. Though I have yet to return the money and the wheat, at least I know I will not be insulted and harassed for it. And since both the money and the foodgrain will go to my village, I will make sure that I return every pai (penny) I took.”
Munni Bai also borrowed Rs 500 for agriculture-related expenses, and 16 kg of rice for her family. “I have not returned the entire amount, or the grain, but I am confident I will be able to do so this season. Because the rate of interest is low, I can at least feed my family properly. Earlier, because of the moneylender’s high interest rates, we even ate less because we would otherwise have had to pay a lot of money,” she says. Munni Bai is a member of the Maa Durga self-help group, all 10 members of which borrow regularly from the anna kosh.
Umen of Pipaldhana points out a striking feature about the functioning of the grain bank: “All those who borrow money or grain return it on their own. We have never had to go house to house begging them to do so. Everyone knows their contribution could help someone in distress, so no one takes returning their share lightly.”
Saboo, also of Pipaldhana, says: “Earlier, I had to buy foodgrain from the market at market rates, which I couldn’t afford. Now, I get grain at not only a lower cost but in the village itself. I have borrowed Rs 200 and always borrow only as much as I can return. I have to think also of people more needy than me who might need the money.”
Several villages are gradually developing a surplus, which means a collective decision will have to be taken on what to do with the surplus. Decisions in such cases usually include lending to other villages that have not been able to develop a surplus, converting part of the grain into cash, or storing the grain as seed.
However, since there is always a need for foodgrain in the village, and because the surplus in not very big (the total amount of money collected so far is Rs 1,200, and the total stock of all foodgrain is only 14 quintals), no village so far has sold its surplus in the market. “Earlier, when we had no collateral to give to the sahukar, he kept my boy as a labourer in his house. The boy had to do everything the sahukar told him to do -- domestic chores, working in the field, or going to the market to run errands; he had to work with the sahukar as long as we owed him money. This means that my son couldn’t go to school or help at home. Now we can think about a better future for our children,” says Savitri of Pipaldhana, with a sigh.
Villages like Panchi, Takra and Kanari in Patakheda panchayat, Chicholi janpad panchayat, Betul district are also experimenting with non-timber forest produce (NTFP) like mahua as part of their grain bank operations. The people here believe they will get a better price for the NTFP in the market and thus be better able to support the gram kosh.
Pramod concludes: “It is mandatory that every grain bank committee has at least 50% women membership (usually the grain bank committee has five men and five women members). The accounts are maintained in the village and there is collective knowledge about who has taken how much, as grain is shared only after village meetings. Thus, everybody knows who has taken how much, and who is defaulting. This common knowledge in itself goes a long way in checking default and misappropriation.”
(Aditya Malaviya is a Bhopal-based journalist and researcher)
InfoChange News & Features, December 2008 |
