To analyse the role of rural development schemes in alleviation of poverty in rural areas, we have collected primary data by questionnaire based survey in all four villages of Nigadi gram panchayat namely Baad, Benakatti, Nigadi and Salakinakoppa. Total 212 people from these villages have been selected randomly.56.6% of the respondents are males while 43.4% of them are females.

As it was planned, respondents were selected from different age groups to get actual picture of impact of rural development schemes on the life of rural people. Thus, 7.54% of the respondents are younger than 25 years and 26.88% of them belong to the age group of 25 to 35 years while 25.94% of the respondents are in the age group of 35 to 45 years. While the age group of 45 to 55 years accounts for about 16.5%. 23.11% of the respondents are older than 55 years. Although, respondents are from all age groups preference was given to the people who are in working age groups.

Figure 2

Out of total 212 respondents, 41.50% are belonging to GM category and 27.35% are belonging to other backward classes, while 25.46% of the respondents are from SC/ST category and only 6.13% of them are belonging to minority’s group. The present study shows that majority of the people are belonging to GM category particularly to Lingayat caste which constitutes a major religion of the Nigadi Gram panchayat.

Figure 3

To understand the present economic status of the villagers, an effort is made know whether they own a piece of land or not, 72.1% of the respondents have their own farm while 28% do not have farm land. Either they are working in other’s farms on daily wage or doing some other jobs.

As far as areal extension of their farmland is concerned, about 1/3 of the population have land more than 4 acres. While, 30% of the respondents have the land size which varies from 2-4 acres. Remaining 39% of them have the land holdings size of which is lesser then 2 acres. Thus, it clear that majority of the villagers are poor farmers as they have very small land holdings to sustain their livelihood.

It is common knowledge that primary activities viz. agriculture and allied activities are dominant in rural areas. Villages of Nigadi panchayat are also exhibiting the same feature. Almost, half of villagers are engaged in cultivation and 29% of the respondents are working for daily wages while only 7.5% of them are employed in government jobs. 16% of the respondents are doing job in private sector.

Figure 4

Level of literacy is one of the important indicators of the socio-economic status of the rural people. Despite of all government’s effort to achieve cent percent literacy in the country, about 27% of the villagers are illiterates and 29% of them have had the education only upto seventh standard.24.5% of the respondents had studied up to high school. Percentage of villagers who had gone through pre university course is 9.90%. While7.5% of the respondents are degree holders Apart from these 2%of them have post graduate degrees. Percentage of illiterates is more in Nigadi i.e 31% while it is 17% in Salakinakoppa, Further number of PG holders is more in Baad village.

Figure 5

Most of the villagers are farmers and work in their farms regularly. Thus, 69% of the respondents said that they are regular workers. Only 12% of them are part time workers and 18.86% of the respondents are working occasionally. Thus, these people remain unemployed during major part of the year. (Table 8 and Fig. 9 a,b). Share of regular workers is maximum i.e 76% in Nigadi village while Benakatti accounts for major share of part time workers. While the percentage of part time workers is lowest in this village i.e 3.4%.Table 06: Present employment status of the respondents

Figure 6

Type of the family helps us to analyse the living standard of rural people. It is common belief that income of joint families is usually higher as they have larger land holding while nuclear families have fragramted land holdings thus their income is have lower. 47% of the families in the panchayat villages have joint families and 53% of them have nuclear families. Percentage of joint families is maximum in Salakinakoppa village i.e. 63.46% while Nigadi has lowest number of joint families’ i.e. 22.41% of the total families.

Number of nuclear families is higher in Nigadi which accounts for about 75.58% and Salakinakoppa village consists of lower number of nuclear families with 36.53% of the nuclear families.

About 41.03% of the respondents have nuclear families as their family size consistless than 5 members. Another 41.03% of them have bigger families as their family size varies from 5 to 10 members, 13.20% of the respondent have joint families which consists of 10 to 15 members while 4.71% of the have very big families in these families more than 15 members are sharing the common shelter.

Number of bigger families (above 15members) is more in Nigadi village while Baad and Salakinkoppa have very few joint families. As far as nuclear families are concerned Nigadi accounts for highest number of small families (53.44%) while Benkatti accounts for lowest number of nuclear families.

Figure 7

Although, people of the villages were not ready to give the correct figures of their annual income, it was possible to collect approximate figures only when they had been convinced that the amount will be kept confidential.

More than 50% of the respondents (55.66%) have annual income which ranges from RS 10,000 to 20,000. 23.58% of the respondent’s annual income is above RS 40000. While 3.3% of the respondent’s have incomes vary from Rs 30,000 to 40,000. Number of respondents in the high income group i.e. above Rs 40,000 is very high in Salakinakoppawhich accounts for about 32.69% and Baad village accounts for lowest number of respondents in this income group.

Table 9

Sl. No.	Name of Village	<10000 (%)	10000- 20000 (%)	20000- 30000 (%)	30000- 40000 (%)	>40000 (%)	Total (%)
1	Baada	8(14.54)	35(63.63)	3(5.45)	2(3.63)	8(12.72)	55(100)
2	Benakatti	7(14.89)	19(40.42)	6(12.7)	2(4.25)	13(27.65)	47(100)
3	Nigadi	4(6.89)	32(55.17)	6(10.34)	3(5.17)	13(22.41)	58(100)
4	Salakina-koppa	--	32(61.53)	3(5.76)	--	17(32.69)	52(100)
	Total	19(8.96)	118(55.66)	18(8.49)	7(3.30)	50(23.58)	212(100)

Figure 8

Shelter is the basic necessity of man. Having an own house is not a big thing in the villages. But most of the houses are substandard and built with locally available materials. Walls of many houses are not plastered. Our effort was to check how successfully the housing schemes have been implemented in these villages. 91.50% of the respondents have their own houses while only 8.50% of them staying in rented houses.

Irrigation assures better harvesting as it increases the crop yield. 2/3 of the farmers in the study area do not have irrigation facility to their farms (68.86%). Only 31.13% of the respondents have irrigated lands. They are providing irrigation from tube wells. Number of farmers who have tube well is higher in Salakinakoppa village i.e. 38.46% which is above the gram pancahayat average while the percentage of farmers who have bore wells is lesser with 27.27% in Baad village.

Number of farmers who do not have irrigation facility is higher in Baad village with 72.72% of the total while their number is lower in Salakinakoppa i.e. 61.53%. Thus, table 13 makes it clear that despite of all Government scheme of rural development, farmers of these villages are still dependent on rainfall for cultivation.

“Panchayats have now a major role as instruments of rural reconstruction and development. They have been given wider powers and financial resources not only because they are institutions of political participation but institutions of social and economic development”. There is a common belief among the people particularly in urban areas that the gram panchayat officials are not able to create awareness among the villagers. Rural people are still deprived of many Government facilities. When we asked about this 76.88% of the respondents said that they are well aware of panchayat plans. However, 23.11% of them are ignorant of these plans.Table 12: Awareness about the gram panchayat plans

Figure 9

An effort is made to find out the source from which people are getting information about the development plans of Gram panchayat. 76% of the respondents agreed that they are getting information from Gram panchayat office only. 15.56% of them come to know the development plans from their friends and relatives etc. only 6.6% of them watch TV regularly for these schemes and about 2% of respondents get it through phones. People who get information from the panchayat offices is highest in Baad village .i.e. 83.63% while the lower percent of respondents (63.46%) from Salakinkoppa village are getting information from panchayat office.

Table 13

Sl. No.	Name of Village	From TV (%)	From phone (%)	From gram panchayat (%)	Any others source (%)	Total (%)
1	Baada	-	-	46(83.63)	9(16.36)	55(100)
2	Benakatti	-	1(2.12)	36(76.59)	10(21.27)	47(100)
3	Nigadi	5(8.62)	1(1.72)	42(72.41)	10(17.24)	58(100)
4	Salakinakoppa	9(13.46)	2(3.84)	37(63.46)	4(5.79)	52(100)
	Total	14(6.60)	4(1.88)	161(75.94)	33(15.56)	212(100)

Figure 10

Every Panchayat has its contribution not only to the development of the particular area under its jurisdiction but also to the whole nation. Thus, panchayat officials have to maintain good relationship with the villagers. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult to implement any scheme in the rural areas. As such, most of the villagers have good opinion about the Gram panchayat office as 84.43% of the respondents appreciated the office as people friendly while 15.56% of them told that office and office workers are not people friendly and they do not cooperate and help the common people when they contact the office to know about the development schemes one fourth of respondents of Benakatti are not happy with the office workers while 92.72% of the people from Baad are satisfied. They do not have any complaint against panchayat officials.

Figure 11

An effort is made to known about the regularity, in getting information from the panchayat office. Two third of the people (64.62%) said that they are getting information and details of Govt. schemes which have been implemented for their benefit regularly. They accepted that they visit the office frequently to enquire about this.

Figure 12

There are some functions which can be best performed by local authorities only. Such functions need local attention and adaptation to circumstances. They cannot be standardized on a state or national level. Therefore, an effort was made to know the opinion of respondents about the panchayat administration. One fourth of the respondents were not ready to give the answer when they were asked give their opinion about gram panchayat’s administration. So 11.30% of them did to express their view.While18.86% of the villagers have neither good nor bad opinion about

it Percentage of respondents who are highly satisfied with panchayat office’s administration is 11.9%. As such more than 58% of them have good opinion about the gram panchayat’s administration and its officials.

Figure 13

The most important thing to know about villagers is that whether there is improvement in their annual income after getting benefited by of certain scheme of rural development. 66.50% of the respondents denied any improvement in their income although they are beneficiaries of one or the other programs. However 33.49% of the respondents observed the improvement or increase in their income. Maximum 44.6of the respondents from Benakatti village are sure about increase Nigadi ready to tell the fact or not in the state of accepting the change. Therefore, they told that there is no such increase in their income.

Figure 14

Only 38.67% of the respondents agreed that their standard of living has been improved by the poverty alleviation programmes. As such, hardly one percent of them happier to say that their standard of living has improved to greater extent. However, 40.09% of the respondents did not hesitate to say that there is no change in their standard of living an 20.28% of them could not say anything as they were not interested in this.

About 70.90% of the respondents from Baad village denied any improvement while minimum i.e 7.67% of them from Salkinakoppa has their notion. Percentage of respondents who accept the positive change is highest i.e. 38.29% in Benakatti while it is lower in (15.51%) Nigadi village.

Fig 15.

Figure 15

An effort is made to find out the number of beneficiaries of different schemes in the last five years. Table 19 makes it clear that rural development programmes could reach 74% of the villagers. Further there is large variation in the number of beneficiaries in different villages of Nigadi gram panchayat which indicates the variation in the level of development in these villages. In Nigadi only 57% of the respondents said that they are benefitted by one or the other programmes while 96% of the Salakinakoppa villagers made use of the schemes.

27.38% of the respondents are benefited by Swachha Bharat Abhiyana and got individual toilets which help them to avoid open defecation. Number of beneficiaries under this scheme is very less in Baad village while it is high in Salakinakoppa. 22.29% of the villagers have been covered under Anil Yojana. However, none of the Nigadi villagers got these schemes during the last five years, while maximum number of Baad villagers is benefitted by this scheme.

About 18% of the villagers got financial benefit under Basava Avas Yojana for constructing their own house, Beneficiaries number is higher in Nigadi village and lower in Benakatti, Further 13% of the villagers got similar benefit under another plan i.e. Indira Awas Yojana. Benakatti villagers are more benefited by this scheme compared to other villages. 8%of the people are benefitted under the schemes known as kuri doddi/ danad doddi, financial support to construct doddi. Benakatti ranks first in this respect also while, Salakinkoppa is in the last position with minimum number of beneficiaries.

6.36% of the villagers have constructed their own houses under Ambedkar Awas Yojana scheme. However, none of Baad and Nigadi villagers benefitted by this scheme during last five years. About 2.42% of the villagers covered by other schemes such as RGPSA, Soura Belaku Yojana and Raitara Kana etc. All the beneficiaries of these schemes are from Salakinkoppa village only. No other villages have reported the beneficiaries.

1.27% of the people have been provided the financial support for constructing the house under PMAY. Except Salakinkoppa none of the villages are benefitted by this scheme during last five years. Percentage of people who got benefit under MGNREGA is also same i.e1.27%. Benakatti is the only village which has reported the beneficiaries under this scheme.

Most of the central government programmes of rural development have been implemented by Karnataka state government through the Nigadi gram panchayat. A brief note of the programmes is given below.

Ambedkar Avas Yojana (AAY): This is the central government plan which was started in 2000-01 for providing houses Sc/St people whose annual income is less than Rs.11800 in rural areas.

Basava Avas Yojana (BAY): This plan was started in 1992 for providing settlement facilities to rural poor people. In this plan 50% beneficiaries belong to Sc/St and 50% of belong to OBC category.

Indira Avas Yojana (IAY): This is centrally sponsored scheme and it was started in 1989-90. This scheme aims at providing a reasonable and hygienic house to the BPL households of rural areas in the State.

Pradanamantri Avas Yojana (PMAY): This was launched on 25th June 2015 which intends to provide housing for all in urban areas by year 2022.

Swachha Bharat Abhiyan (Individual Toilets) (SBA): It was started in 2012. Department under this centrally sponsored Rural Sanitation programme motivates through financial assistance all rural households through IEC/awareness campaigns to construct individual household latrines and stop open defecation.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): This was started in 2006 according to which 100 days of guaranteed unskilled manual work is provided to all those rural households who get themselves registered and obtain job cards.

Anila Yojana (AY): Anila Yojana is centrally sponsored scheme which was implemented in 1982-83. Aim of this programme is to encourage rural people to generate biogas by providing subsidy to install the biogas plant.

Figure 16

Although, the villages of Nigadi gram panchayat viz. Baad, Benakatti, Nigadiand Salakinkoppa are covered by all major government schemes which have been implemented recently with the objective of ameliorating poverty of this area, most of the villages are still backward. Major portion of the population of these villages are still remaining jobless during 4-6 months in a year.

Most of the families are dependents on agriculture for their livelihood even today 28% of the villagers do not have their own piece of land either they are working in others farms or doing some other jobs as industrial workers, government jobs etc.

With all government’s efforts to improve the level of literacy, 27% of the villagers are still illiterates and only 29% of them went up to only seventh standard of schooling.

All the farmers work in their farms regularly. However, 18.86% of the villagers remain unemployed during major part of the year.

Despite of all government schemes to alleviate the poverty in rural areas, income of 56% of the villagers are less than Rs. 20,000 per annum.

About 67% of the villagers denied any improvement or increase in their income and 40% of them ruled out any improvement in their living standard after getting benefitted by rural development programmmes.

Analysis of the collected data makes it clear that poverty Alleviation programmes which are implemented with the objective of rural development could not achieve the goal as most of the villagers are not ready to accept any increase in their annual income and improvement in their standard of living. Thus, there is need to find out loopholes in the present system so that the schemes could reach across the villages. An effort is made here to suggest some measures to improve the system.

Government through gram panchayat office should organize awareness programmes about poverty alleviation schemes regularly and convince the villagers to make use of them.

Although, there are numerous schemes for the betterment of rural people such as RGPSA, Biogas development, Raitara kana, most of the villagers either not having information do not have any interest. Such plans are to be highlighted through the awareness programmes.

NGOs and other charity organizations can support government schemes by providing additional financial help.

As government is giving surety of wages for at least 100 days in a year, many of the young farmers have lost interest in working in the farms. They are wasting their valuable time by sitting idly. Such people are to be motivated to do some other jobs to increase their income to meet out their necessities.

Along with the poverty alleviation programmes, literacy improving schemes are to be focused.

Members of gram panchayat have better idea about the problems of their villages and solution to those problems. Thus, there should be proper coordination between the members and gram panchayat officials.

Gram panchayat officials must be trained to be people friendly otherwise people do not come forward for getting any information.

Office workers should be available on all working days so that people may visit the office when they are free.