Republic of India Livelihoods in intermediate towns

Appendix 4

4.1: MGNREGA and Public Welfare Programmes: The MGNREGA seemed to be almost non-functional in both the settlements. During the course of the fieldwork for the research, several respondents informed us of the instances of corruption and other administrative problems they associated with it. A young SC male respondent from the Dom tola in Satghara said:

The mukhia manipulates. He makes us work and put our thumb impression but does not pay. I worked for 5 days but did not get paid.

Three visibly poor respondents (Muslims) showed to us their job cards, which had no job entries (See Pics below)
Even though we seek employment, we have not been given any job even for a day under the MGNREGA scheme during the past three years or so …only in the first year that we were given the job cards were we employed for a few days.
Some of the other respondents complained about the authorities not hiring manual labour and choosing to do the work with machines instead, for according to them, it enables the Mukhia and other functionaries to make money for themselves.



Two of the Mukhias from the two settlements, both of whom are members of the “lower” castes, SC and EBC respectively, agreed that MGNREGA is not functioning very well in these settlements. However the reasons they offered are very different. One of them complained about not getting adequate funds from the state government for commissioning local work. According to him, the nature of work allowed under the programme is limited and they often found it hard to get local workers to come. Though most of the labourers who come and work under the scheme are SCs, a significant number of non-SC villagers also carry cards and use them as identity proof for availing other schemes. The wage differentials between MGNREGA work wage rate and those prevailing in the local market or what once can earn outside as a migrant worker also makes it difficult for them to get labourers to work. Most young men go out to work and only women workers seek employment in the scheme.
The local farmers and richer respondents complained about growing labour shortage in the village, partly due to high out migration and party due to the higher wage rate for MGNREGA.

4.2: Banks and Financial Institutions: Both Bhagwatipur and Satghara have banks and other financial institutions. Satghara houses branches of four commercial banks the State Bank of India, the Punjab National Bank, the Gramin Bank and the Cooperative Bank. It also has three ATM machines. Bhagwatipur, on the other hand, has only one bank, a branch of the State Bank of India with an ATM. Some of the villagers also travel to neighboring settlements and the town of Madhubani to avail banking and ATM facilities. Some private banks have also put up their stalls to attract investments and offer loans in these villages.

Thanks to the flow of remittances constantly arriving from the large number of outmigrants, banks and ATMs have become very popular among the local people in both the settlements. We interviewed some of the beneficiaries of bank loans, mostly those who had been successful in obtaining a loan for purchase of a motor vehicle - taxis and auto-rickshaws, which they drive commercially. Many of the respondents complained about the corruption in the banking institutions that they encountered while applying for loans - “Everyone has to pay some commission to the manager”, is a common response we received from a wide range of respondents. Even some of those who had been successful in getting loans claimed that they paid 10 to 20 percent of the entire loan as bribe to/through the middlemen. The problem, according to the respondents is not that of need and awareness but that of the nature of functioning of these institutions.

We could not contact any officials from the banks for their side of the story.

Appendix 5

Settlement Schedule
1. Name of the Settlement

2. Profile of the village panchayat(s)

S.No.	Position	Name	Caste	Age	Gender	Primary Occupation	Landholding

3. Name of other organizations/offices in the village

4. Total Population

5. Total number of households (approximate)

Caste / Communities

Name of Caste / Communities	Approximate number of households	Traditional occupation	Current main occupation

6. Total number of Families according to local BPL survey:

7. Total number of registered voters:

8. History of the settlement:

9. Connectivity profile

a. Railway Station

b. Bus Stand

c. Auto rikshaw

d. Mobile / Landline Connections

e. other
10. Total Agricultural land/quality etc.

11. Holding structure

Caste / Communities	Landless (Households)	Less than 1 bigha	1 to 4 Bigha	4 to 10 Bigha	10 to 25 Bigha	25 to 50 Bigha	50 to 100 Bigha	100 above

12. Proportion of the land under cultivation

13. Proportion of cultivating households with male out-migrants:
14. Tenancy and sharecropping
15. Wage rates for:

Farm Occupation (Agriculture)

Non-farm
16. Cropping Pattern
17. Oral accounts of changing holding structure in the village / whole history of land holdings

(Of land reforms / Naxal movement / Any other voluntary activities....)

18. Health related infrastructure and their functions / access.

19. Financial infrastructure: Banks / ATMs /

20. Education related infrastructure (Schools / Colleges / Tuition Centres)

21. Sources of drinking water
22. Names of Street / Tola H.H. communities occupations
18. Migration information
a. Households that have left the village in the last 20 years

b. Households that have come in the village in the last 20 years

Patterns of migration across communities (ask community-wise: how many migrate; seasonal/ permanent; who migrates (male/female); reasons; social consequences; migration cycle, individually and at the settlement level…

19. Number of households with at least one member working elsewhere.

20. Proportion of households receiving regular remittance from outside

21. Destinations of outmigration (where do the go?)

22. Social profile of migrants

23. Number of households with at least one member commuting outside village for work (School teacher / labour / construction etc.)

24. Number of households with cars, three wheelers, motorcycles...

Types of vehicles	Total in village	Caste / community
Motorcycle
Auto rikshaw
Tractors
Cars / jeep
Truck
Bus
Any other (.............................)

25. Livestock profile: community-wise:

26. Incidence of violence reported in last 5 years. (Murders, rapes, community clashes, any...)
27. Type of non-farm jobs/works in the village

S.No.	Nature of non-farm occupation inside the village	Number of people engaged in	Caste / community (break up)

28. Member of any political party: Party: Since when:

29. Member of any other social/cultural/business organization (give name and details about the nature of involvement:

28. Number of people who work outside the village

S.No.	Nature of non-farm occupation outside the village	Number of people engaged in	Caste / community (break up)