New Delhi, Jan. 1: Two government projects in the Northeast, one in Assam and the other in Tripura, have been declared “success stories”, having achieved their “intended goals”. Making it to the Planning Commission’s list of top 20 “success stories” are the rubber plantations of Tripura and a landmark irrigation project of the Assam government.
Originally launched to wean tribals from jhum cultivation, the rubber plantations have now earned Tripura the sobriquet of “India’s second rubber capital”. Kerala leads the sector in terms of production.
Successful Governance Initiatives and Best Practices, brought out by the Planning Commission in association with the UNDP, lists the plantation projects as one of the 20 “success stories” of the government’s development initiatives. Assam’s shallow tubewell programme in 18 districts under the Samridha Krishak Yojana also enjoys pride of place in the list.
“Growth of natural rubber plantation has been one of the important success stories of Tripura. Rubber has been identified as one of the thrust areas in Tripura in view of its suitability to the terrain and the acceptability among the people,” a report on the project stated. Initiated in 1963, the project received a boost during the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) with the Rubber Board and World Bank stepping in to help the state government with funds. Production was aimed to go up to 20,000 metric tonnes by the end of the Plan period.
The Rubber Board and the state government share 80 per cent of the cost with beneficiaries contributing 20 per cent through their own labour. The scheme, executed through the Block Plantation Approach (BPA), involved setting up of self-help groups and taking up of block plantation in a specific area with about 40-50 hectares.
The implementation included simultaneous development of the plantation areas as well as various services including village roads, health care centres, and drinking water schemes.
In order to sustain the families when the plantation is relatively immature, especially during the first three years, additional income was generated through non-rubber economic activities like piggeries, fisheries, weaving and other farm activities.
Women contributed to extra income through the “women’s thrift groups”, which encouraged individuals and groups to take up income-generating activities. “By adopting an integrated approach, the block plantation project has succeeded in converging various services at village level; created community level institutions; empowered women; provided continuous wage employment; ensured a regular source of income; utilised fallow tilla lands productively; and established the community processing facility at the village level” the compendium added. It is estimated that about 2,000 jhumias families, who benefited from the plantations, had their wages enhanced by 30 to 40 per cent.
To reduce dependency of rubber growers on middlemen, each BPA unit has been provided with a processing facility.
The experiment, the document said, has helped the tribals shift from the environmentally-unfriendly jhum cultivation to settled plantations.