Sushasan Vol. 03, Issue 12, May, 2018

Vision –“Equal opportunity to all through Good Governance geared to improve the quality of lives of our people."

Newsletter of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis

Akhilesh ArgalDirector

From the Editor’s

Dear Readers,

"Over a period of time, partly due to administrative needs and partly due to compulsions of coalition politics, there has been a significant proliferation of Ministeries and Departments in almost all the States. This proliferation has led to administrative fragmentation." This is a quote from the 15th Report (2009) of the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission. Multiple departments don’t make for efficient governance. These departments work in silos, even if they are in related areas and there is a problem of coordination. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission had directed all the state governments to scrutinize and review the functions of the departments and initiate merging of the departments, which has similar functions in order to improve governance and coordination. It is in this context, that the Institute took up the study "Rationalization of Departments and Coordination Issues in Human Development and Urban Development Sectors in GoMP". A brief about the study is in this month's Newsletter.

Innovation is a key determinant of the competitive advantage of nations. It is because of this reason; governments around the world are promoting innovation in government. The core issue here is how to create an innovation eco-system within the government that promotes a culture of management innovation? This month's Newsletter has an article by Prof. Prajapati Trivedi, Indian School of Business, which gives insight on "How to

Foster Innovation in Government Management Systems".

While urbanization is widely viewed as a key engine of development, urban population growth gives rise to both opportunities and challenges. What can be done to prepare for and to accompany the unprecedented phenomenon of massive urban population growth and ensure that it occurs in efficient and sustainable ways is the issue with which all state governments are struggling. To deliberate on the issue, AIGGPA in association with Samarthan- Centre for Development Support, Bhopal organized a public lecture on "Challenges and Future of Urban India" on 29th May 2018 at the Institute. The lecture was delivered by Shri Kirtee Shah, President, India Habitat Forum (INHAF), New Delhi. A brief of the event is in this month's Newsletter.

Kisan Mitra/ Didi is a local farmer specially appointed by the Department of Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare with the duty to disseminate information related to agriculture and farmers' welfare to people of his/her village. The article by Ms. Amrita Singh Thakur, CMYPDP Research Associate, Chhatarpur, under District Corner gives field insights from Village Lakhanwa, Chhatarpur District, on the functioning of Kisan Mitra/Didi.

Your comments on the Newsletter will be greatly appreciated.

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC)

had directed all the state governments to scrutinize and

review the functions of the departments and initiate

merging of the departments, which has similar functions

in order to improve governance and coordination. The

Second ARC and NITI Aayog share the opinion that 35

would be the optimum number of departments. As

Madhya Pradesh has 55 departments currently, this

study was taken up to make feasible recommendations

to the government regarding rationalization of

departments. The issue of inter-departmental

coordination is also becoming a major concern with

increasing roles and responsibilities of governments and

many departments working in silos. Hence, an effort was

made to understand the coordination issues in the

departments of urban and human development sectors.

The study was coordinated by Dr. Anitha Govindaraj,

Deputy Advisor, AIGGPA.

Business allocation rules of MP and few other similar

states and budget outlay of the departments were

analyzed and with the help of various secondary sources

and discussion with key stakeholders, a basic draft

report was prepared. Based on the outcomes of the

series of meetings, discussions and brainstorming

sessions with the ex-Chief Secretaries, serving Chief

Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal

Secretaries and other stakeholders associated with

governance, following recommendations are made:

v Government should lay down clear criteria as well as

protocol/procedure for creation of new

departments.

v The government can with immediate effect

consider merger/abolition of the following

departments:

o Merger of the Public Grievances Department

with the Department of Public Service

Management

AIGGPA in association with Samarthan- Centre for

Development Support, Bhopal organised a public

lecture on "Challenges and Future of Urban India" on

29th May 2018 at the Institute. The lecture was

delivered by Shri Kirtee Shah, President, India Habitat

Forum (INHAF), New Delhi. Shri Shah has had a long

professional career of 45 years in various streams which

include architecture practice, policy advocacy and

development, disaster reconstruction, institutional

development and many more. He has been a Member of

the Prime Minister appointed National Commission on

Urbanisation, founder President of India Habitat Forum

and also Chairman of the Committee for Strengthening

of the Building Centres Network.

In his lecture, Shri Shah dwelt upon the diversified issues

related to the challenges and future of urban india and

enlightened the audience on the complexities of

urbanisation and its possible remedies for safe and

planned smart cities. He stressed on the fact that we do

Rationalization of Departments and Coordination Issues in Human Development and

Urban Development Sectors in GoMP

o Merger of the Department of Fishermen’s

Welfare with the Department of Animal

Husbandry

o Merger of the Department of Denotified,

Nomadic & Semi Nomadic Tribes with the Tribal

Welfare Department

o Winding up of the Department of Bhopal Gas

Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation.

v Grouping of the departments having similar or

overlapping functions under major clusters has

been suggested with immediate effect. Over a

period of time, the departments under each cluster

can be considered for merger.

v Major groups such as Agriculture, Education,

Health, Finance, Home, Commerce & Industries,

Rural Development and Water Resources can be

headed by Additional Chief Secretaries for better

coordination and governance.

v For better coordination in the human development

sector, the government should consider formation

of Cabinet Committee on Human Development

(CCHD), with the Chief Minister as Chairman, to

continuously guide planning, implementation and

review of basic human development programmes,

especially in terms of outcomes.

v To assist the CCHD, formation of a Senior

Secretaries’ Committee on HD (SSCHD), under the

Chief Secretary’s chairmanship, should also be

considered.

v Revive publication of State Human Development

Reports, with an appropriate frequency.

v Creation of a post of Human Development

Commissioner, on the lines of, and equivalent to, the

Agriculture Production Commissioner.

Project RoundupInstitute NewsPublic Lecture and Panel Discussion on "Challenges and Future of Urban India"

not build new cities everyday and, hence, the time has

come to think out of the box in the context of Indian local

urbanisation. He also stressed on the need to shift from

the exclusive quantitative focus to qualitative

dimensions and also create space for the urban poor and

slum dwellers.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion. Apart

from Shri Shah, the other panellists were Shri V. P.

Kulshrestha, Retd. Joint Director, Town and Country

Planning, Chairperson, Institute of Town Planners India

(ITPI) and Chief Planner, Bhopal Smart City Development

Corporation Limited, Ar. Savita Raje, Associate Professor,

Department of Architecture, MANIT, Bhopal and Ar.

Rama Pandey, Assistant Professor, Department of

Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal.

Dr. Yogesh Kumar, Executive Director, Samarthan

proposed the vote of thanks. The programme was

coordinated by the Centre for Knowledge Management,

AIGGPA.

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC)

had directed all the state governments to scrutinize and

review the functions of the departments and initiate

merging of the departments, which has similar functions

in order to improve governance and coordination. The

Second ARC and NITI Aayog share the opinion that 35

would be the optimum number of departments. As

Madhya Pradesh has 55 departments currently, this

study was taken up to make feasible recommendations

to the government regarding rationalization of

departments. The issue of inter-departmental

coordination is also becoming a major concern with

increasing roles and responsibilities of governments and

many departments working in silos. Hence, an effort was

made to understand the coordination issues in the

departments of urban and human development sectors.

The study was coordinated by Dr. Anitha Govindaraj,

Deputy Advisor, AIGGPA.

Business allocation rules of MP and few other similar

states and budget outlay of the departments were

analyzed and with the help of various secondary sources

and discussion with key stakeholders, a basic draft

report was prepared. Based on the outcomes of the

series of meetings, discussions and brainstorming

sessions with the ex-Chief Secretaries, serving Chief

Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal

Secretaries and other stakeholders associated with

governance, following recommendations are made:

v Government should lay down clear criteria as well as

protocol/procedure for creation of new

departments.

v The government can with immediate effect

consider merger/abolition of the following

departments:

o Merger of the Public Grievances Department

with the Department of Public Service

Management

AIGGPA in association with Samarthan- Centre for

Development Support, Bhopal organised a public

lecture on "Challenges and Future of Urban India" on

29th May 2018 at the Institute. The lecture was

delivered by Shri Kirtee Shah, President, India Habitat

Forum (INHAF), New Delhi. Shri Shah has had a long

professional career of 45 years in various streams which

include architecture practice, policy advocacy and

development, disaster reconstruction, institutional

development and many more. He has been a Member of

the Prime Minister appointed National Commission on

Urbanisation, founder President of India Habitat Forum

and also Chairman of the Committee for Strengthening

of the Building Centres Network.

In his lecture, Shri Shah dwelt upon the diversified issues

related to the challenges and future of urban india and

enlightened the audience on the complexities of

urbanisation and its possible remedies for safe and

planned smart cities. He stressed on the fact that we do

Rationalization of Departments and Coordination Issues in Human Development and

Urban Development Sectors in GoMP

o Merger of the Department of Fishermen’s

Welfare with the Department of Animal

Husbandry

o Merger of the Department of Denotified,

Nomadic & Semi Nomadic Tribes with the Tribal

Welfare Department

o Winding up of the Department of Bhopal Gas

Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation.

v Grouping of the departments having similar or

overlapping functions under major clusters has

been suggested with immediate effect. Over a

period of time, the departments under each cluster

can be considered for merger.

v Major groups such as Agriculture, Education,

Health, Finance, Home, Commerce & Industries,

Rural Development and Water Resources can be

headed by Additional Chief Secretaries for better

coordination and governance.

v For better coordination in the human development

sector, the government should consider formation

of Cabinet Committee on Human Development

(CCHD), with the Chief Minister as Chairman, to

continuously guide planning, implementation and

review of basic human development programmes,

especially in terms of outcomes.

v To assist the CCHD, formation of a Senior

Secretaries’ Committee on HD (SSCHD), under the

Chief Secretary’s chairmanship, should also be

considered.

v Revive publication of State Human Development

Reports, with an appropriate frequency.

v Creation of a post of Human Development

Commissioner, on the lines of, and equivalent to, the

Agriculture Production Commissioner.

Project RoundupInstitute NewsPublic Lecture and Panel Discussion on "Challenges and Future of Urban India"

not build new cities everyday and, hence, the time has

come to think out of the box in the context of Indian local

urbanisation. He also stressed on the need to shift from

the exclusive quantitative focus to qualitative

dimensions and also create space for the urban poor and

slum dwellers.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion. Apart

from Shri Shah, the other panellists were Shri V. P.

Kulshrestha, Retd. Joint Director, Town and Country

Planning, Chairperson, Institute of Town Planners India

(ITPI) and Chief Planner, Bhopal Smart City Development

Corporation Limited, Ar. Savita Raje, Associate Professor,

Department of Architecture, MANIT, Bhopal and Ar.

Rama Pandey, Assistant Professor, Department of

Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal.

Dr. Yogesh Kumar, Executive Director, Samarthan

proposed the vote of thanks. The programme was

coordinated by the Centre for Knowledge Management,

AIGGPA.

Viewpoint1

How to Foster Innovation in Government Management Systems

Arguably, innovation is a key determinant of the

competitive advantage of nations. Little wonder

therefore that governments around the world want to

be seen promoting innovation. However, based on my

experience, government efforts in this area can be

divided into two broad categories. Most of the

governmental resources (money and time) are used for

promoting innovation by non-government actors, and

only a small amount is allocated for the innovation

programs meant to encourage management innovation

within the government itself. The former category

represents innovation encouraged ‘by’ the government

and the latter innovation generated ‘in’ the government.

Innovation ‘by’ the Government

These efforts primarily involve government giving

financial and non-financial incentives to promote

cutting edge breakthroughs in science and technology.

Whether it is the cancer funding for the National Cancer

Institute (NCI) or the moon shot technologies NASA

regularly funds to make science fiction a reality. Every

country has some variation of these programs. The

outcome of these innovation initiatives by the

government predictably depends essentially on the

effectiveness of government machinery–how well

governments identify, design, fund and monitor these

programs.

Unfortunately, many of these efforts by government at

promoting innovation also fail because there is no

management innovation culture ‘in’ the government.

Thus, the often heard plea by stakeholders of these

innovation programs: Doctor, heal thyself. Therefore,

the latter category of innovation programs is the focus of

this article–what can governments do to improve

innovation ‘in’ the way government is managed?

Innovation ‘in’ the Government

There are again two broad categories of management

innovation efforts ‘in’ governments around the world –

innovation by chance and innovation by design.

Overwhelming number of innovation initiatives within

governments recognizes, reward and promote

innovation that happens by chance. The most common

of these initiatives is typically called an Award for

Innovation and usually involve submitting entries, a

panel of judges, shortlisting and final list of winners.

Having worked on both sides of the process, I can say

with some confidence that ‘subjectivity’ is the least of

their flaws. The essence of such awards is ‘ex-post’

recognition of the fortuitous happenstance. The

innovation ‘by design’ in government, on the other

hand, is often only focused on technological solutions

rather than developing holistic innovation eco-systems.

How to Promote Innovation by Design: Lessons of

Experience

So how does one create an innovation eco-system

within a government that promotes a culture of

management innovation? Here are some pointers based

on my experience in doing so.

First, we must recognize why innovation is pervasive in

private sector compared to government. Mainly it is

because there is a clear connection between innovation

and private sector ’s bottom line—profits. In

government, on the other hand, usually there is no

bottom line and, hence, the same motivation is simply

non-existent. Therefore, creating a bottom line in

government is a necessary condition for generating

motivation to innovate. It does not mean governments

must become profit-oriented. Rather, it must at least

become goal-oriented. Management innovations

represent ‘means’ and are not an ‘end’ in and of itself. If

the ‘ends’ are not clear, focus on ‘means’ is a waste of

time.

Second, it is important to agree on the definition of

innovation in government management. What gets

measured, gets done. Otherwise, there is a tendency in

government to claim every new change, howsoever

insignificant, as innovation. In my work with the

Government of India, we defined innovation in

government management as a significant and

sustainable improvement in:

(a) Delivery of same goods and services at less cost and

time;

(b) Delivery of more goods & services and/or with

better quality; and,

(c) Identification of new needs (hence provision of

new goods and services).

These three areas cover management process

innovations, organizational innovations, product and

services innovation, and communications innovations in

government. To qualify as innovation, however, we

required above mentioned improvements to be above

20 percent or more. Further, the change could not be a

one-time improvement but had to be a permanent

change.

Third, we must always remember that Rome was not

built in a day. An innovation ecosystem is a long-term

project. It includes idea management process, buzz-

creation process, training and development, building

stakeholder participation, among others. We divided

the task of creating this innovation eco-system into

several distinct milestones. To start with, we asked

government agencies to prepare an action plan on how

they will create the innovation ecosystem. Then, we

started monitoring the implementation of those

milestones on an annual basis.

Fourth, this is not a task that can be achieved by passing

an executive order. A lot of guidance, hand-holding and

training is required. Most governments simply ask

agencies to be innovative. That is not enough. Fifth,

creating an innovation ecosystem should not be yet

another task separate from overall performance

management. It should be organically embedded in the

existing government performance management system.

If creation of innovation ecosystem is a stand-alone task

for government agencies, it will either get ignored or, if it

has powerful backers, it will suck all the oxygen from

other important current priorities of the government.

Prof. Prajapati Trivedi

Indian School of Business

1 Reprinted with permission from the author. The article was first published in the PA Times on October 13, 2017.

v For better coordination in urban development

sector, a Cabinet Committee on Urban Affairs, under

the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, with

Ministers, Chief Secretary and senior secretaries of

all concerned Departments as members, can be

constituted to steer and monitor all policy issues

pertaining to urban development.

v Enactment of a Metropolitan Planning Committee

Act as envisaged in Article 243ZE of the Constitution

is long overdue. The Government should create

Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) for

improved coordination and integration of services

at the city level.

Viewpoint1

How to Foster Innovation in Government Management Systems

Arguably, innovation is a key determinant of the

competitive advantage of nations. Little wonder

therefore that governments around the world want to

be seen promoting innovation. However, based on my

experience, government efforts in this area can be

divided into two broad categories. Most of the

governmental resources (money and time) are used for

promoting innovation by non-government actors, and

only a small amount is allocated for the innovation

programs meant to encourage management innovation

within the government itself. The former category

represents innovation encouraged ‘by’ the government

and the latter innovation generated ‘in’ the government.

Innovation ‘by’ the Government

These efforts primarily involve government giving

financial and non-financial incentives to promote

cutting edge breakthroughs in science and technology.

Whether it is the cancer funding for the National Cancer

Institute (NCI) or the moon shot technologies NASA

regularly funds to make science fiction a reality. Every

country has some variation of these programs. The

outcome of these innovation initiatives by the

government predictably depends essentially on the

effectiveness of government machinery–how well

governments identify, design, fund and monitor these

programs.

Unfortunately, many of these efforts by government at

promoting innovation also fail because there is no

management innovation culture ‘in’ the government.

Thus, the often heard plea by stakeholders of these

innovation programs: Doctor, heal thyself. Therefore,

the latter category of innovation programs is the focus of

this article–what can governments do to improve

innovation ‘in’ the way government is managed?

Innovation ‘in’ the Government

There are again two broad categories of management

innovation efforts ‘in’ governments around the world –

innovation by chance and innovation by design.

Overwhelming number of innovation initiatives within

governments recognizes, reward and promote

innovation that happens by chance. The most common

of these initiatives is typically called an Award for

Innovation and usually involve submitting entries, a

panel of judges, shortlisting and final list of winners.

Having worked on both sides of the process, I can say

with some confidence that ‘subjectivity’ is the least of

their flaws. The essence of such awards is ‘ex-post’

recognition of the fortuitous happenstance. The

innovation ‘by design’ in government, on the other

hand, is often only focused on technological solutions

rather than developing holistic innovation eco-systems.

How to Promote Innovation by Design: Lessons of

Experience

So how does one create an innovation eco-system

within a government that promotes a culture of

management innovation? Here are some pointers based

on my experience in doing so.

First, we must recognize why innovation is pervasive in

private sector compared to government. Mainly it is

because there is a clear connection between innovation

and private sector ’s bottom line—profits. In

government, on the other hand, usually there is no

bottom line and, hence, the same motivation is simply

non-existent. Therefore, creating a bottom line in

government is a necessary condition for generating

motivation to innovate. It does not mean governments

must become profit-oriented. Rather, it must at least

become goal-oriented. Management innovations

represent ‘means’ and are not an ‘end’ in and of itself. If

the ‘ends’ are not clear, focus on ‘means’ is a waste of

time.

Second, it is important to agree on the definition of

innovation in government management. What gets

measured, gets done. Otherwise, there is a tendency in

government to claim every new change, howsoever

insignificant, as innovation. In my work with the

Government of India, we defined innovation in

government management as a significant and

sustainable improvement in:

(a) Delivery of same goods and services at less cost and

time;

(b) Delivery of more goods & services and/or with

better quality; and,

(c) Identification of new needs (hence provision of

new goods and services).

These three areas cover management process

innovations, organizational innovations, product and

services innovation, and communications innovations in

government. To qualify as innovation, however, we

required above mentioned improvements to be above

20 percent or more. Further, the change could not be a

one-time improvement but had to be a permanent

change.

Third, we must always remember that Rome was not

built in a day. An innovation ecosystem is a long-term

project. It includes idea management process, buzz-

creation process, training and development, building

stakeholder participation, among others. We divided

the task of creating this innovation eco-system into

several distinct milestones. To start with, we asked

government agencies to prepare an action plan on how

they will create the innovation ecosystem. Then, we

started monitoring the implementation of those

milestones on an annual basis.

Fourth, this is not a task that can be achieved by passing

an executive order. A lot of guidance, hand-holding and

training is required. Most governments simply ask

agencies to be innovative. That is not enough. Fifth,

creating an innovation ecosystem should not be yet

another task separate from overall performance

management. It should be organically embedded in the

existing government performance management system.

If creation of innovation ecosystem is a stand-alone task

for government agencies, it will either get ignored or, if it

has powerful backers, it will suck all the oxygen from

other important current priorities of the government.

Prof. Prajapati Trivedi

Indian School of Business

1 Reprinted with permission from the author. The article was first published in the PA Times on October 13, 2017.

v For better coordination in urban development

sector, a Cabinet Committee on Urban Affairs, under

the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, with

Ministers, Chief Secretary and senior secretaries of

all concerned Departments as members, can be

constituted to steer and monitor all policy issues

pertaining to urban development.

v Enactment of a Metropolitan Planning Committee

Act as envisaged in Article 243ZE of the Constitution

is long overdue. The Government should create

Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) for

improved coordination and integration of services

at the city level.

District Corner

Vital Role of the Kisan Mitra/Didi: Field Insights from Village Lakhanwa,

District Chhatarpur

Kisan Mitra/ Didi is a local farmer specially appointed by

the Department of Farmer's Welfare and Agriculture

development with the duty to disseminate information

related to agriculture and farmers' welfare to people of

his/her village by conducting meetings/ during gram

sabhas or whom people can approach in person. He/ she

is trained by the government in new and improved

techniques of farming as well as schemes and incentives

for farmers and is charged with the duty to disseminate

these on the ground for which he/she receives an

amount of Rs 600/ month from the government. There is

usually one Kisan Mitra/Didi for 2 revenue villages. Any

interested farmer can apply for the post who must get

his/her name sanctioned by the gram panchayat, after

which the application goes to the Block Extension Office

and then to the district office for final approval. There is

30 % reservation for women.

With the objective of understanding whether the Kisan

Mitras and Kisan Didis are effectively rendering their

functions, I paid a visit to village Lakhanwa in Chhatarpur

district. This village is primarily inhabited by members of

the Kushwaha and Ahirwar castes (Scheduled Castes)

with a few Brahmin and Thakur households. This village

is one of the largest suppliers of vegetables in the district

with a large majority of the Kushwahas cultivating

vegetables in the rich and fertile soil. This is despite the

fact that there is acute water scarcity with Chhatarpur

being primarily a rain fed area (a plateau region where

the ground water level is low). At the time of the visit, a

hailstorm just the day before had led to considerable

crop damage. Nevertheless, I was able to witness some

success stories contributing to the village emerging as a

top vegetable supplier. One farmer (who is also the

Sarpanch) in his 5 acres of field had adopted all the

techniques as suggested by the Kisan Mitra and had also

taken advantage of all the available incentives to make a

shift towards horticulture, organic farming and reducing

water intake through drip irrigation. On the advice of the

Kisan Mitra, he had divided his farm into 4 parts; in one

part, he planted tomato, chillies, brinjal by adopting

mulching technique; in the second part, he grew pulses

(masoor), the third part had wheat while the fourth is

getting prepared for the next season. At the boundary,

he had planted trees of lemon, pomegranate, pigeon

pea (arhar) and papaya. This beautiful farm made it clear

to me that despite the vagaries of nature, farming in the

district can be made profitable if farmers had access to

information on modern farming techniques and could

be properly guided to take advantage of the available

incentives, thus, emphasizing the important role of the

Kisan Mitra.

However, there are some gaps with respect to the

functioning of the Kisan Mitra/ Didi, the main being lack

of motivation and absence of any mechanism of

departmental monitoring. It could be observed that

there is no system of regular meetings with the villagers;

the onus is on the villagers to meet them or call them

whenever required (phone number is written in the

panchayat bhawan). Also, there is no fixed day for Kisan

Mitra/Didi to sit in the panchayat bhawan or any other

public place for consultation. Further, many villagers

don’t even know that such a person is available in their

village whom they could consult with respect to their

farming woes. All these issues need to be addressed to

realise the objective with which the Kisan Mitra/ Didis

were appointed.

Amrita Singh Thakur

CMYPDP Research Associate (Chhatarpur)

District Corner

Vital Role of the Kisan Mitra/Didi: Field Insights from Village Lakhanwa,

District Chhatarpur

Kisan Mitra/ Didi is a local farmer specially appointed by

the Department of Farmer's Welfare and Agriculture

development with the duty to disseminate information

related to agriculture and farmers' welfare to people of

his/her village by conducting meetings/ during gram

sabhas or whom people can approach in person. He/ she

is trained by the government in new and improved

techniques of farming as well as schemes and incentives

for farmers and is charged with the duty to disseminate

these on the ground for which he/she receives an

amount of Rs 600/ month from the government. There is

usually one Kisan Mitra/Didi for 2 revenue villages. Any

interested farmer can apply for the post who must get

his/her name sanctioned by the gram panchayat, after

which the application goes to the Block Extension Office

and then to the district office for final approval. There is

30 % reservation for women.

With the objective of understanding whether the Kisan

Mitras and Kisan Didis are effectively rendering their

functions, I paid a visit to village Lakhanwa in Chhatarpur

district. This village is primarily inhabited by members of

the Kushwaha and Ahirwar castes (Scheduled Castes)

with a few Brahmin and Thakur households. This village

is one of the largest suppliers of vegetables in the district

with a large majority of the Kushwahas cultivating

vegetables in the rich and fertile soil. This is despite the

fact that there is acute water scarcity with Chhatarpur

being primarily a rain fed area (a plateau region where

the ground water level is low). At the time of the visit, a

hailstorm just the day before had led to considerable

crop damage. Nevertheless, I was able to witness some

success stories contributing to the village emerging as a

top vegetable supplier. One farmer (who is also the

Sarpanch) in his 5 acres of field had adopted all the

techniques as suggested by the Kisan Mitra and had also

taken advantage of all the available incentives to make a

shift towards horticulture, organic farming and reducing

water intake through drip irrigation. On the advice of the

Kisan Mitra, he had divided his farm into 4 parts; in one

part, he planted tomato, chillies, brinjal by adopting

mulching technique; in the second part, he grew pulses

(masoor), the third part had wheat while the fourth is

getting prepared for the next season. At the boundary,

he had planted trees of lemon, pomegranate, pigeon

pea (arhar) and papaya. This beautiful farm made it clear

to me that despite the vagaries of nature, farming in the

district can be made profitable if farmers had access to

information on modern farming techniques and could

be properly guided to take advantage of the available

incentives, thus, emphasizing the important role of the

Kisan Mitra.

However, there are some gaps with respect to the

functioning of the Kisan Mitra/ Didi, the main being lack

of motivation and absence of any mechanism of

departmental monitoring. It could be observed that

there is no system of regular meetings with the villagers;

the onus is on the villagers to meet them or call them

whenever required (phone number is written in the

panchayat bhawan). Also, there is no fixed day for Kisan

Mitra/Didi to sit in the panchayat bhawan or any other

public place for consultation. Further, many villagers

don’t even know that such a person is available in their

village whom they could consult with respect to their

farming woes. All these issues need to be addressed to

realise the objective with which the Kisan Mitra/ Didis

were appointed.

Amrita Singh Thakur

CMYPDP Research Associate (Chhatarpur)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis(ISO 9001:2008)

(An autonomous institution of Government of Madhya Pradesh)

Sushasan Bhavan, Bhadbhada Square, T.T. Nagar,Bhopal (M.P.)-462003Tel : +91-755-2777316, 2777317, 2777308, 2770765, 2770695, 2770538, 2770761, Fax : +91-755-2777316

Web: www.aiggpa.mp.gov.in Email: aiggpa@mp.gov.in

Editorial BoardEditor: Akhilesh Argal

Associate Editor : Dr. Indrani Barpujari Production & Commerce Manager : Amitabh Shrivastava

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The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweets. - Aristotle