Survey on Social Characteristics of People In Rohtak District With Special References to Their Family Pattern, Dependency Burden, Age Distribution and Educational Qualification

SAA was launched all over India. District was envisage as a unit for its implementation and monitoring, so a complete erstwhile Rohtak district was chosen for present study. On the development ladder this district is almost midway. It is neither economically as well developed as Ambala and Kurukshetra districts adjoining Punjub border nor as backward as the district of Mahendragarh bordering Rajasthan. There are inter district disparities. Some areas are irrigated and some are rain fed. Almost all banks have their branches in rural areas. Regional offices of three banks are located in Rohtak. Various district level development agencies are also implementing their schemes in the district.

Singh, Gupta and Goyal (1996)1 attempted to study the role of Land Development Banks in the infrastructure creation in Haryana agriculture. The study showed that the loan granted for debt redemption and purchase of land declined over the years and became virtually negligible during the last decade. On the other hand, the advances for purchase of tractors, installation of tube wells and other land improvement programmes registered a substantial growth with the passage of time. Thus the emphasis of the PLDBs shifted towards more productive purposes. A field study conducted in six states by RBI (1982)2 pointed out that in a number of cases, the commitments under Annual Action Plans were finalised much later than the finalisation of the branch budget for a particular year and due to this the targets fixed under AAP could not be integrated with those fixed under the branch budgets. Several branches

with the performance budget and they should monitor the same periodically. Muzumdar and Baruah (1996)3 examined the utilization pattern of allied activities loan and the problem faced by the borrower in utilizing credit. It concluded that credit is a sine quo non for Indian economic growth and development. Credit in association with improved technology, inputs, supervision and proper management has considerable impact on increasing income and employment of the farm borrowers. The constraints faced by the farmers in utilization of loan should be reduced to the minimum in order to make credit more effective to the farmers. There should be coordination among the various agencies involved in rural development such as co-operatives and commercial banks and also among the District Rural Development Agencies, Panchayat Samities etc. for making the programme of agricultural credit a viable proposition for rapid agricultural growth and development. In its report the committee set up by RBI (1988)4 to examine certain operational aspects of rural lending has observed that Multi-agency approach had resulted in duplication of efforts. Command Area Approach as suggested is aimed at bringing about an improvement in the quality of lending optimising the use of credit and establishing better linkages with production and productivity. The increase in number of branches after nationalisation of banks developed keen competition amongst branches for business in areas with good potential and neglect of the areas where the opportunities were not considered adequate. Banking structure in Rohtak district comprises of 22 commercial banks and one Regional Rural Bank having 100 and 31 branches respectively. 50 branches of said banks were selected in such a way that all the 10 blocks of the district were represented. Number of branches of each bank so selected was in proportion to the total number of branches of that bank in the district.

Progress of branches regarding implementation of Service Area Approach is monitored by their controlling offices. So views of heads of three controlling offices of major banks operating in the area were also obtained through questionnaire (appendix D). This questionnaire covered aspects like selection of schemes, unit costs and difficulty experienced by their branches in implementation of SAA etc. 428 borrowers surveyed 352 borrowers disclosed their social status. Of these 47 percent belonged to

The respondents included 257 male and 95 female borrowers. The percentage of female borrowers in general category was 35% whereas in SC/ST/OBC category is only 17%. Thus female borrowers in SC/ST/OBC category are far less than that in general category.

FAMILY PATTERN

Note: a) Up to 5 members b) 6 - 9 members c) 10 and above members Source: Computed from field data. In the survey highest no. of beneficiaries 203 had family size of 6 to 9 members i.e. medium. The small size families having up to 5 members were 165. Strangely enough 60 (15%) of families were having more than 10 members. This depicts that villagers still believe in having a big family.

As per table 5.4 there were only 32 families 8% in which each member earned for him self whereas 35 families (9%) had dependency burden of exceeding 7 members. In 786 families (73%) one person had to look after 2 or 3 members.

The age wise classification of borrowers is as under:

Above distribution reveals that 194 beneficiaries were in the age group of 25 to 45 years. Younger persons below 25 years were only 40 (9%) showing such persons were less interested in raising loans.

executed loan documents of the bank with their thumb impressions. Thus they were totally dependent upon bank staff/govt. functionaries for filling loan applications etc. 108 borrowers i.e. 26% borrowers were matriculates. Of the female respondent borrowers 92% were illiterate.

2 OCCUPATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Majority of borrowers (194) covered under the survey were connected with agriculture. Only 3% were in service where as 104 (24%) were in small business. Remaining 118 were landless labourers or artisans.

The above alternative profiles of sample respondents were constructed to facilitate empirical analysis in the subsequent sections. The study confronts the inescapable handicap of limited reliability of responses as the rural respondents did not maintain any systematic record of their economic activities. Nor were many of them straightforward in providing answers to questions relating to their socio-economic and family status. Nevertheless efforts were made to reduce their limitations through verification of data to the extent these were available from alternative sources.

RBI (1982), Performance Budgeting and Credit Planning, A field study conducted in six states, June. Muzumdar, D.K. and Baruah, H.K., A Study on Utilization Pattern of Allied Activities Loan by the Term Borrowers in the Nagaon District of Assam, Economic Affairs 43(2) June, 109-19. Bhuyan, Kabita (1997), Credit Utilisation Pattern of IRDP Beneficiaries of Darrang District, Assam, Journal of North-East India Council 21(1), April. 58-63. Singh, R.P., Panday, A.K. and Singh, S.K. (1998), Rural Credit and Participation of Credit Agencies – An Analysis, Indian Journal of Agricultural and Economics, 53(3), July-September, 509-10. Singh, Dalvir, Gupta, D.D. and Goyal S.K. (1996), Role of Land Development Banks in Infrastructure Creation in Haryana Agriculture, Indian Journal of Agriculture and Economics 51(4), October-December, 794-95. Rao, N. Gopala (1996), Role of Co-operative in Rural Credit System – A Case Study in Tribal Block in Andhra Pradesh, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 51(4), October-December, 784-85. NIBM (1988), Planning for development of villages – A Report, Pune. Banerjee, Shipra (1992), Distribution of Credit Facilities and Micro Level Planning in Rural India – A Case Study of Aligarh District, National Geographer 27(1), June, 51-62. Palanivel. A & Pillai, N.C. (1991), Service Area Approach in Andaman and Nicobar Islands : A Study, Monthly Commentary on Indian Economic Conditions, 32(10), June, 11-12. Institute of Financial Management and Research, Madras (1987), Adequacy of Preparation and Implementation of District Credit Plan – A Report, August. NABARD (1997), Report of the Working Group on Rural Credit Planning and Monitoring by Banks, Mumbai, April. Ramola, K.S. and Negi, K.S. (1992), Rural Banking in the Development Process of Garhwal Hills : A Case Study, Southern Economist, 31(1), 1 May, 21a, 21c. Reddy, M.V.N. (1989), Service Area Approach : A Study, IBA, Mumbai, June. Shylendra, H.S. (1996), Institutional Reform and Rural Poor : A Study on the Distribution Performance of a Regional Rural Bank, Indian General of Agricultural Economics, 51(3), July-September, 301-314.