Jharkhand Trip, 9-11 June 2011

Currently I have taken up a work to evaluate PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), a civil society that has been engaged for more than 25 years in livelihood enhancement in 43 of the poorest districts spread across eight states in India. In this context, I had been to Jharkhand during 9-11 June 2011.

Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand is the new emerging city showing signs of haphazard growth. It is still not late and care should be taken to expand with wide roads and landscaping that is natural to the region. After a quick breakfast, Narendranath (from the Delhi office of PRADAN who had earlier spent a decade of his field days in Goda and Hazaribagh areas when Jharkhand was part of undivided Bihar) and I moved over to Khunti, a newly carved out district from Ranchi on 12 September 2007.  It is a very historical place, as Kunti and her five sons (the Pandavas) were supposed to have stayed here during their agyantavas (years of anonymity) and also the birth place of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, and we happened to be there 111 years after he died under mysterious circumstances in the Ranchi jail when he was just 25 years. I just wonder what would have been the course of Indian history if Bhagwan Birsa was alive for another 50 years. Would there be 'green hunt' today?

I had a quick interaction with a few of their staff and then moved over to a Mundari village - on the way I  saw the path to the village where Bhagwan Birsa was born, the hillock where he organized meetings as also the presence of operation green hunt. PRADAN's intervention in a village begins by organizing women self help groups (SHGs). We were welcomed by flower garlands prepared by the different groups. The local PRADAN staff facilitated the women folk in drawing out a village resource mapping and planning of what could be done. With help from a special Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), which has now become the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). Mango plantation has been done in lands that were otherwise barren. Some poultry and goat rearing activities have also been initiated. Most importantly, it is this village that featured in Ek Ropa Dhan, on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) cultivation, that bagged the best promotional film at the 58th National Film Awards in 2010. The intervention in this village for SHGs for women built on the existing strength of the traditional gram sabha (which even today is largely a male affair) that has been functioning regularly. Today, however, there are occasions when the views of women are sought at times. 

We went to another village where I was shown of an intervention facilitated by PRADAN that has transformed a rocky barren land to a mango orchard. Seeing the success, other similar land are also being extended to orchards. I had a late evening interaction with PRADAN staff who had returned from their field locations and then returned back to Ranchi.

Early in the morning we left for Hazaribagh, rather Barhi block. Unlike, Khunti, this is not a tribal belt. Small women owned poultry farms and tasar weaving are some of the interventions in this region. Some SHGs have been operating for nearly two decades. I was told that some of these are functioning independently and some are now part of other groups - splintered from PRADAN. It would be worthwhile to know the level of interactions and the benefits. Also relevant would be to know about the SHGs that  might have closed down.  

We also went to a village with a number of women-run poultry farms. Some of the questions raised during discussions were risks associated with poultry farming on account of diseases and price shocks. The system followed by PRADAN spreads the risks and  absorbs the shocks while providing income.The last interaction was at Padma block. Here the women were very articulate. There were strong discussions on dowry, and in particular the issue of desertion of women, particularly among Muslims.

By the time we reached Hazaribagh we were joined by Abhijit and Souvik from Koderma and Goda respectively. One of the problems they indicated is the male migration and the unwillingness of the youth to engage in manual labour work (particularly the youth from the middle peasant communities). Thus agriculture has become a domain of the women whereas men migrate out in search of jobs (handling mechanized earth movers and with increasing susceptibility to diseases like AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome). What are the livelihood interventions that would keep the men back and also save the family are important questions? The next day we returned to Ranchi and had a long discussion with Satya on the tasar story - Silken Spread.

Two days in Boston and back to Mumbai

As indicated in my previous blog we rolled into Boston, a historical city from the American was of Independence, but also from the academic perspective. I did share with my co-participants on the famous Cambridge capital controversy with people from both the Cambridge's taking part in 1960s and early 1970s. The prominent among them being Joan Robinson and Piero Sraffa from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, United States. The former pointed out some important problems in the aggregation of capital, reswitching and on the foundations of neoclassical economics. The latter did concede to some of these but despite that the teaching of economics worldwide (including at University of Cambridge also) got dominated by the neoclassical thinking and students in many schools at the United States not being aware of this problem. A good retrospective of this debate is Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies.

Another development at Harvard is the seminal book by John Rawls, A Theory of Justice in 1971 (though I refer to the more recent Justice as Fairness: A Restatement of 2000 in my classes and in discussions) that had a serious assault on the utilitarian basis of neoclassical economics because of his articulation of reasonable pluralism - different things are intrinsically relevant on their own merit and not because of their relevance to utility.  Rawls also brought on other aspects such as 'original position' which means  that (free and equal) people who take decisions are under a veil so that they do not know who they are and this will help keep away vested interest.  With this and other fundamental ideal he goes on to put forth two principles of justice: First that there has to be equal liberties for all. Second, some inequalities are inevitable and they are of two types. The first inequality is that the most deserving persons should be appointed to positions of power so that societies concerns are carried forward in the best possible way and the second inequality is that while taking decisions the most vulnerable persons or subgroups interest should be maximized. The latter inequality is not a trade-off with better of individuals but rather preempts trade-offs where the interest of better-off is maximized by disregarding the interests of the worse-off.

Getting back to the trip. Our earlier schedule (the one that  I received by email before leaving India) for 20 May 2011 was an evaluation day. But, there was no such official evaluation and it was a free day. We decided to go on a tour of Boston. Just outside Marriott Cambridge, where we were staying, towards the Kendal Station side is also the bus stop for local tours.  At first the person wanted to sell us a ticket for 42 dollars. When we were a little hesitant then he said that he can reduce it to 39 dollars meant for students or give us ticket for another provided that is for 30 dollars - the difference being that the frequency of the latter bus is 20 minutes whereas that of the former is 10 minutes. Again, the latter ticket could also be used for two consecutive days and if we want a ticket for a single day then it would be 24 dollars. We decided for the single day and when we boarded the first bus we were told that we can use this ticket for the  next day also  because some logistics meant that there will be no services for this tour after 2.30 pm on our first day. Of course we did not need it on the second day.

Our first stop was Boston commons (a place traditionally used by farmers to graze their cattle) and one where there are people dressed in 18th century attire and explaining to people about the freedom trail.  It was nice to see the history being told and retold to groups of attentive children.

The second stop was harbor from where we took a boat ride and  were told about Boston's historic significance in maritime trade and some industry that developed but they no longer exist . We got off on  the other side of the harbor at Charles Town where there is a US Naval Meuseum and took the bus ride to Trinity church  near Copley square surrounded by the Westin Hotel, the Public Library and the the Old South church. There was a farmers market in the square and from a baker came to know that they also barter with fellow sellers. This is done at the end of the day when there is a mutual interest and at times they may also sell in exchange for coupons. A coupon is a guarantee given by the farmers market association in exchange for produce sold to those customers who paid by credit card at a central point. In the market one also met a Maple syrup seller from Vermont.

Back in the hotel had a long discussion with Sarthak. He is currently  at Wharton School,  University of Pennsylvania and had planned a visit to Boston to match mine. Both of us talked about  his thesis  and other work that we are doing and walked down to MIT and Harvard and took picture with John Harvard and then took a train back to Kendall and had a nice dinner at The Legal Seafood and discussed about size-class productivity in Indian agriculture late into the night.

On 21 May 2010 my flight was scheduled at 10.15 in the night, but checked out from the hotel at 12 noon. Our luggage was stored and we were given access to the business center but as one of the co-participants,  had a flight in the afternoon and as it is the same waiting in the lobby or at the airport, I  left early.  This  has added to the jet lag and though I am tired I am not able to sleep, and hence, this post. There is lot of work pending but that needs some rest before I start.

The whole experience has been wonderful. Nevertheless, the first feeling when back in  amchi Mumbai is sare jahan se acha hindustan hamara.

From Burlington, Vermont to Boston by Bus

We left the hotel at Burlington by 8.45 and moved over to Tetra Tech ARD's office at Burlington. There interventions in six areas, namely, Agriculture & Economic Growth, Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources, Land Tenure & Property Rights, Water Resources & Infrastructure, and Information & Knowledge Management. They mentioned about their interventions in Bangladesh and Nepal as also many other countries across the world on agriculture related aspects. Some of the larger concerns raised were increasing population pressure, availability of technology to produce more food without increasing costs and risks, and the need to work with farmers. There was a thinking that if farmers are not using fertilizers to increase productivity then they are not taking the rational approach but this questioning also stems from not being able to view the farmers perspective. At the end of the meeting we were given a sample of Vermont's Maple syrup.

Our next stop was Cold Hollow Cider Mill which specialized in making products from Apple, another product of Vermont. Had a sample of fresh and raw apple juice and picked up some tidbits of wooden toys. It is from here that we went to Stowe where we had lunch. Over lunch Roger the driver of the van was mantioning that about 40 millioniores own a vaccation home there. Even Jackie Kennedy used to come here for her skiing. The next stop was at Cabot, a cooperative of dairy farmers since 1919 that is known for its cheese in this region. From here we moved on to the last official stop at Ben and Jerry's took a tour of their ice cream factory which has some fair trade practices in paying appropriate prices to the farmers from whom they get milk and insist that they do not use any growth inducing hormones and also insist that the farmers pay their workers well.

We reached Mariott at about 7.30 pm. This hotel has its class as it is the costliest, but slightly disappointing for the participants as it does not give some facilities that we were used to - complimentary breakfast, free internet in room for those with laptops. In the evening we went out for a stroll to Charles river and then all the participants including Alan had dinner together at the Legal Sea Foods, Kendall square, for the first time. It was a nice evening together where we talked about us being at the intellectual hub lose to MIT, Harvard and the Boston college.

Tour of Hardwick, Craftsbury, Montplier in Vermont

The day began with a nice breakfast and we left at 10 am to Hardwick. The economy of the region has not been doing well in recent years. The Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) has been trying to revive some of the farm related business around the region. Their Program Director Elena Gustavson and a Masters student working on her thesis Heather Davis explained to us the situation in Vermont. The amount of crop land growing organic would be about 15 per cent but it is only about two per cent in the whole country. Similalry, the population associated with Community Suported Agriculture (CSA) would be about three-to-four per cent but it is only one per cent in the country. The figures are low, but they are much better than the country as a whole. On food insecurity for the state, we were told that it has increased from 10 per cent of the population in 2007 to 12.1 per cent in 2009. On the other hand, this is a healthy state and the life expectancy of the state is among the highest. The harsh weather conditions have also developed a camaraderie where people are ready to help each other.

An activity that CAE has been involved is the setting up of the Vermont Food Venture Center. It has come up as an incubator kitchen to facilitate farmers with small business. The center has been built on a federal grant but the day-to-day management expenses have to be borne from the operations. It is likely to commence work soon and the farmers can get their produce to help them come up with finished products for bakery, cutting and processing vegetables and also producing sauces and jams. The farmers will have to pay about 48 dollars per hour to take advantage of this facility. This will help small farmers package and sell their produce and also perhaps help them reduce their costs in the value addition activity.

We then went to Bonnieview farm where there are about 200 sheep from which they produces cheese and  they are helped by an intern, Joe, from an agricultural college who is also learning through this on-the job training. He plans to further study and someday be a farmer on his own. The prolonged winter this year was harsh on the lambs and they lost a few. They have a Llama, an animal that saves the sheep from predators. There are plans of expanding the business by getting more lamb and also some cows.

Our next stop was Pete's Green, a village farm at Craftsbury, Vermont. They are part of a CSA, but suffered losses due to fire in their storage yards in January 2011. They were underinsured because of astronomical insurance costs and received about 250,000 dollars as compensation whereas their total losses was three-to-four times more. Their clients raised funds of about 100,000 to 150,000 dollars. It is this response from the community that has made the proprietor think that in five-to-seven years time they will repay the money to a fund to be managed through the help of CAE that will help similar farmers in distress. Now they are trying to revive their work and they will start CSA again from end June of 2011. They are able to supply through out the year by storing some foods that cannot be produced in winter and also by producing some vegetables under greenhouses during winter.

Our last visit, also at Craftsbury, was Sterling College  where they have a course on sustainable agriculture. They provide hands-on training to students and unlike other agricultural colleges most of the training uses minimum of machines and tools. About 25 students join per year for a four year program. The tuition fees and also lodging and board costs would be around 16,000 dollars. The college also produces 25 per cent of its food requirements - they are not able to increase it more because this could affect the academic content of the program. They also had a greenhouse but this does not use any heat machine during winter. The plants do not grow but are put in a dormant stage. This reminided me of the Scandinavian story of how a man had hid his father in the basement against the kings's dictum of killing all old age people. But, a very harsh food shortage during one winter led him to take advise from his father to plough the lands along side the road where grains would have been burried but the seeds would have been dormant and ploughing in the spring following winter would germinate these seeds. It is this act that saved the land from hunger and the king from realizing his folly. Getting back, the larger concerns of sustainable agriculture is to reduce costs so that more and more farmers take it up while remaining small.

On our way back we stopped and Montplier the capital of Vermont. Their capitol has a statue of Ceres the Roman godess of agriculture indicating the relevance of agriculture in Vermont's economy. One of the major agricultural products of Vermont is Maple syrup. This is produced by boiling the sap of the maple tree that is collected in a six-week period after winter and before spring, which at times is refered to a fifth season the muddy season. Vermont borders Canada and is about 90 miles from Montreal, the capital of Quebec in Canada.

In the evening we went to the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting. Met an wall street analyst who was pissed up that half the Americans need to be given subsidy because they are hungry or old or vulnerable and thought that if this happens then the economy cannot revive. Then on a high he started talking about his horse and how for the last half mile he gets down and walks along with him. I told him that that is perhaps the solution to the financial mess - we need to walk together. He agreed that the greed was indeed a problem if you whip the horse and wound it to take you faster and faster then it will trip and you will ultimately fall. Another financial analyst said that he is now producing onions and tomatoes as a hobby - perhaps he will have time to empathize on the farmers. Another group I met was The Chill Foundation that is helping the undeserved youth - most importantly they teach them patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, respect, and pride. Important lessons here!

Eli was considerate enough to drop me back and on the way showed me the floods along the banks of Lake Champlain, which also borders New York state on the other side. It is time I call it a day. Tomorrow we start early, move around in Vermont and in the evening drive down to Boston.

Reached Burlington, Vermont

The trip was tiring as usual. Things were smooth at Cedar Rapids where we also confirmed at the United Airlines about my return trip, which one is supposed to do 72 hours before departure. The flight to Chicago was short.

We had a two-and-a-half hour stop there and took and soon after being airborne there was a beautiful view of a waterbody. It could not be the seas and less likely to be a river. It is the Lake Michigan. It was really huge and nice to watch as it took some time for the lake to cross the breadth. 

After about two hours of flying we landed at Burlington, Vermont in the midst of a forest. Vermont is referred to as the land of green mountains and the most environment friendly state. Its biggest attraction is tourism - skiing and other ice sports in winter, and also attractive in the othe seasons.

We are putting up at the Green Mountain Suites, a nice place to stay. In the evening just after we arrived they had complimentary drinks (beer, wine, juice or plain water) and snacks given to all, a feature from Monday to Friday in addition to the complimentary breakfast that we were told is quite spread out. This also has this business centre. Our local host here is Vermont Council on World Affairs and our contact person is Eli.

In the eveing we strolled down to the local shopping Mall about 500 meters from here. Not very successful in my endeavours and had to get out before it closed to go to the supermarket and get some grub for dinner. The climate is pleasant and slightly colder than Cedar Rapids. Rain is predicted for the next two days when we are around here, but I am expecting it to be a smooth affair. Tomorrow we are visiting local farms and I am looking forward to it.

Local and slow versus industrial and fast food

The day began with an interaction with local foods connenction, Laura Daud. She tries to bring together the farmers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to low-income people. Most of the low income people are either single-women parents or children or old. In terms of communities they are either Hispanic or Latin Americans or Immigrants (there are a number of them from Sudan). In the usual marketing channel a farmer gets 20 cents of the dollar paid by the consumer, but through the local foods the farmer gets about 90 to 100 per cent of the dollar paid by the consumer. The poor are used to less healthy food and effort is required to make them appreciate local foods with a vegetable and fruit diet. It is difficult to take them out of the habit of fast food which also is easily accessible.

Generally under CSA the farmer gets the food baskets to a common place from where people pick up their baskets. However, under local foods some farmers who deliver at home are tied up with old and physically disbaled households who will have difficulty in traveling.

Another problem about the poor is difficulty in accessing health care. Poor people can access some free medicare, but that will not help them for chronic diseases. Another thing is that when they seek care they will have no bargaining power. The insured always hve their insurance companies who negotiate and reduce the medical bill much after the acture care has happened but this recourse is not their for the poor who pay out-of-pocket.

The next stop was at the slow food restaurant Devotay. Food for international participants was waived by the owners Chef Kurt and Kim Friese. The tip on behalf of the participants was paid by Laura from local foods. The concept of this type of dining is to enjoy food in the company of people at a leisurely pace as against the fast, cheap and easy. After lunch Chef Kurt spoke us at length about the movement's start in Rome, Italy in 1986.

This movement is also antithetical to the industrial agriculture, which is being referred to as conventional but that is not the correct thing as it is anything but conventional. Its emergence is not even 50 years old and has failed. In the new method of cultivation, overall production has increased, but it has less nutrients and with more sodium and nutrients and vulnerable to more attack from insects, diseseases and fungus. The emphasis on producing big has now put us in a situation where a billion people suffer from hunger and a large number who are overfed with unhealthy food. In the United States it started in the 1970s under Nixon with the thinking that a farmer has to 'get big or get out'.

Another watershed in the United States agriculture is 10 Deccember 2001 when a Supreme Court judge (who earlier was an attorney for an agri-business seed producing company) passed a ruling in favour of utility patent (as against the plant patent). In the new scheme of things if the gened owned by a company is found in any other plant either because of pollination or whatever process the farmer has to pay the company.

The alternative to this is food that is associated with pleasure, awareness and responsibility. More importantly food should be good, clean and fair that is the producer of food should get a fair price. This is very essential not only in the United States and in other countries. In India, more that 50 per cent of the population are depenedent on agriculture. They are either farmers with an average holding of 2.5 acres (1 hectare) or agricultural labourers. These producers of food are also net buyers. Their status as net buyers is used to keep prices low, but the latter hurts them more.

One also needs to know that the recent prices increases of food are more to do with the middlemen and less with the benefits to the farmer. A sadder part from India is that in the last 15 years more than 250,000 farmers have committed suicides. More of this in Agrarian Crisis in India. To get back to Chef Kurt, I will end by saying that his co-authored book Chasing Chilies: Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail is about the changing climate and the need for resilience.

The last meeting was with Mr Richard of Kirkwood community education centre and Mr Bard Buchanan, a distributor of Pioneer seeds who also provides extension on soil health managment with the use of global positioning system. The information here told us the advantages of being big - the corn-soyabean cycle. The need for foodgrade quality production when it is for human consumption and with less stringent requirements when it is for animal feed. We were told that more than 90 per cent of corn is now genetically modied and it would be probably about 80 per cent for soyabean. The contaminaton for non genetically modified is more for corn as there is cross pollination but for soyabean this is not there as it is based on self pollination. The advantages of genetic modified in reducing some pests/diseases was told, but its implication on other new diseases was not very clear.

Climate change is another important question. Mr Richard pointed out that the data with us may not tell us anything conclusively but then if we wait for data we would have lost out on time. Even with the danger of dubbed non-scientific it is better to be cautious than regret.

It has been a tiring one and it is time I call it a day. Tomorrow we move to Burlington, Vermont.

Visit to Amana Colonies

Today it was a nice surprise as one of my friends from University of Hyderabad student days, Lakshmi who was doing her linuistics there, came over from Nebraska with her husband, Madhusudhan (Masa) and son, Miti who has entered his teen. It was nice because we did not interact much during our student days; of course, we have been in touch virtually in recent years. The hightlight was the gift with the tag 'good teachers think out of the box.' They came down with us to Amana colonies and it was a nice time spent.

Amana colonies, like the Amish villages we went yesterday, have a German origin. The Amaa colonies have a lot of handicrats - furniture, wollen, restaurant, brewery and other shops. It is a nice outing for a Sunday.

At the brewery we chatted up with people about American history, culture and politics. How it is perfectly right for an Iowan to talk about weather and pets but it is more about politics and who you claim to know at Washington DC and people will hardly have any time in New York leading to the saying that if you stop moving then you will be run over. Coming from a fast-paced Mumbai, one can empathise with this, as one has also heard umpteen times that the only place faster than  Mumbai is New York.

There was a discussion on taxation and how the rich can always get away by paying less. The emphasis on private property means that many people argue against taxes being used for distribution purposes. Instead, low taxes and investments are argues as alternatives for gererating employment and in that sense spreading out the reach of wealth through some trickle down.

On government expenditure, it is the defense that takes a larger pie and the rest are all from a small proportion. This limits the distributional outreach of the government. This means that we need to tax more, but we have been reducing taxes.

Another justification that one hears is the role of the market in fostering growth. One does not deny this, but observes that the relevance of the market as conveived by the founding fathers (to provide freedom in selling and buying goods and services) is missing. And in that sense, fostering freedom and an enhancement of capabilities of more and more individuals to participate in the market is also missing. The relevance and role of the market has been turned on its head. Market, instead of a being a means has become an end. The growth of the market (owned by a few) is given precendence over the freedom of the market.

In the economics sense, the relevance of the market and its justification as an efficient outcome comes from perfect competition. In this kind of a market the efficiency argument follows from an assumption that there are many buyers and sellers. If this is missing then the argument in favour of efficiency also falls. Does, this mean that we do away with the market. No, we do not. But we should be careful of the possible pitfalls. In particular,  the vested interests need to be kept out. This requires some structural differences in organising the market and regulating it witout stifling innovation. There is an increasing need to think out of the box.