Planning of the sex-wise distribution of ocupations in our rural economics

Abstract

The title of the dissertation is entitled "The Planning of the Sex-Wise Distribution of Occupations in Our Rural Economies" because we have felt that the target of sex-wise distribution of occupations in our rural economies can be realised if we initiate a system of reforms and there is a full-scale cooperation between the institutions of the rural economies and the state government on the one hand and the Central Government and IMP-World Bank system on the other for an amendment of globalisation for whole region of South Asia. P.C. Sarkar suggested in his book 'The Planning of Agriculture in India' ( 1966) an inter-area division of labour on the basis of specific land endowments of areas. One of the great resources of India lie in the infinite potential of Indian lands. The fact that land endowments are different in different areas does not diminish the infinite potential of all Indian lands. On the other hand, the differences in the land endowments of this vast country bestow on us an advantage of selecting a suitable lead sector in each area of common features of the land endowment. The selection of a lead sector does not mean that other products and services would not be produced. On the contrary, all sorts of products consistent with the land endowment need to be produced. As a result of planning of the type we suggest in this study, inputs and services for all products would be produced as far as the local land endowment permits and at the same time maximising the use of local resources. In such areas of common land endowment where the lead sector cannot be decided - . upon at the outset, the lead sector might be discovered iqsubsequent stages. Even in area where the natural land endowment points decidedly to a lead sector, all sorts of products and services which are consistent with the land endowment have got to be produced in the early stages to expand the income and buying power of the people. Eventually the development of lead sector will be the concern of the rural planning authorities of our conceptions and division of the use of land for raising of linkage products and services will be carried out. This innovative approach has been the basis of this research. Rostow, the author of the invaluable concept of take-off, mistook Indian exports of cotton textiles as an indication or completion of preparation of take-ofT His knowledge or imagination did not allow him to appreciate that even a steady growth of output per capita may disguise massive poverty, unemployment and underemployment in the countryside. For the purpose of this study 'w e have surveyed 600 households from the two blocks of Koch Bihar subdivision of the Koch Bihar district. We surveyed six villages from each of the two blocks. The level of irrigation in each of these two blocks is rather low. So we classify the gram panchayats into two classes. In the one class the level of irrigation is not so low and in the other it is low. We have taken three villages from each of these two classes of panchayats. Our definition of a village is different from the one found in a census district handbook of Koch Bihar. In the district of Koch Bihar the lay-out of the villages are different from that elsewhere. Here before the land reforms farmers always lived with their labourers. near their homes. After the land reforms also the system of layout has not changed. Knowing that all classes of land-owners, labourers and even nonagricultural people live side by side, we have taken a dense part of a gram panchayat and fixed a central point. Round this point with a radi~us of an equal number of households we take 50 households. These fifty households make up a village for us. After the innovative approach of inter-area division of labour, another innovation of this study is a measurement of expectation of life at different cohorts for males and females. It is found that women lost years of expectation at all cohorts in comparison to men. A fuller explanation has been available on the comparison of expectation functions both for males and females. For this purpose expectation of life at birth only has been used. Three sets of functions have been built up on the basis of three different regressors. Before using these three regressors, we tried many other regressors but they were not useful in explaining the difference in expectation of life at birth between males and females. The first useful regressor has been distance from subdivisional hospital. It has been found in the graph that as this distance increases the difference between males and females also increases. The second regressor is the number of families where every adult woman had at least two years of schooling. Here also as the number of such families declines the difference between males and females rises. The third regressor is the number of families with per capita income in the family below Rs. 3600. Here we find that as the number declines the difference between males and females rises. On full analysis we conclude that absolute or relative poverty is the cause of the missing women. Male and female ratio in employment has been studied before. Here also the general finding is that male-female ratio in employment is too high to give any reasonable scope to female employment. Yet a revealation here is that there is some tendency of females of relatively better off families getting increasing share of services and professions than hitherto. Yet another pioneering innovation of this study is the methodical building up . of the male female ratio in domestic chores. The domestic chores of the whole of th~ reference year are divided into three kinds. To be fit for domestic chores, males and females must be 10 years and above. If we include all of three kinds of domestic. chores, the male female ratio is 0.39 for the group 15 years and above. But this ratio for the age group 10-15 years is a little higher, namely, 0.68. Even though on total male-female ratio on domestic chores is too low, the male-female ratio on the second kind of domestic chores is 2.89 because these chores involve going away from domestic boundaries. Another pioneering innovation of this study is that we have surveyed the opinion of women of all the 600 households. We find that 815 women fearlessly express their need of employment. These women and 22 males have had no chance for employment even for a day in the reference year. On the other hand, taking just 150 days of employment as full employment, the number of persons who were not fully employed in this terms were converted into fully employed person-years. There are 303 men and 7 women. Thus the net additional demand for full employment to calculated to be 1680 person-year. Another innovation is the construction of a modified Chenery variation of Tableau Economique. The input co-efficients thus derived help us understand the selectiont of new activities, outputs and employment being directed by new institutions of planning authorities in the f()rn1 of Raiffeisen cooperatives and their smaller and bigger associations. They make up new private sector institutions that will need cooperation of the government which will i~turn assure cooperation between the Rai tTeisens and autonomous business houses.