Heteroglossia - sundarbanmahavidyalaya.in

June 2016 | Vol. 01 | No. 01 ISSN: ####-####

Heteroglossia A Multidisciplinary Research Journal

Contents:

Sl. No.

Author

Title of Paper Attached

Institution E-Mail Page

Editorial Note

01

Dr. Jayita Bit

Beneficiary Perceptions about Forest Conservation: An Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process.

Calcutta Business School

[email protected] 01-18

02

Dr. Taposh Kumar Paul

The Role of Aquaculture for Rural Development in West Bengal- A Study.

G.M.S.M.

Mahavidyalaya


03 Biman Nandi

Exploring Some Issues for Sustainable Agriculture in West Bengal.

Sundarban Mahavidyalaya [email protected] 30-40

04

Sankar Prasad Paik

E- Waste and the Adverse Effect on Human Health.

Sundarban

Mahavidyalaya


05 Kasturi Roy Chatterjee

Role of Bengali Women in the Freedom Movement.

Sundarban

Mahavidyalaya


06 Arif Mahammad Chaprasi

Keats and Theory of Hellenism (A Critical Review).

Sundarban

Mahavidyalaya


Editorial Board:

Dr. Dhruba Ranjan Dandapat (Professor, Dept. of Commerce, University of Calcutta) Dr. Lakshminarayan Satpati (Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Calcutta) Dr. Abhijit Saha Scientist-G (Dept. of Radiation Chemistry, UGC-DAE CSR, Kolkata Centre) Dr. Biswajit Chakraborty (Professor, Theoretical Sciences, SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences)

Dr. Kalyan Gangopadhyay (Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya) Dr. Basab Kumar Nath (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya) Dr. Subrata Majumder (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya)

Publisher Dr. Pranab Saha

Teacher-in-Charge Sundarban Mahavidyalaya

Patron Mr. Manturam Pakhira

President Governing Body

Sundarban Mahavidyalaya

Sundarban Mahavidyalaya Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas, Pin-743347

Editorial Note

It is a bilingual (English & Bengali) half yearly online journal published by Sundarban Mahavidyalaya. This journal invited contributions from all disciplines. The aim of this journal was to foster exposition of the works and thoughts of researchers, teachers and students from various disciplines. We also welcome feedback from readers on the articles published here. The manuscripts had been judged solely on the quality of their content. Heteroglossia adopted a blind review process. Most of the submitted papers had been sent to the competent referees for their expert comments by the editors after an initial reading. The editorial board reserved the right to reject any paper at any stage. All rights will be reserved. Therefore, no part of the content of the journal will be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher. June, 2016 Editors

Heteroglossia: A Multidisciplinary Research Journal Sundarban Mahavidyalaya

Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas Pin- 743347

Heteroglossia: A Multidisciplinary Research Journal June 2016 | Vol. 01 | No. 01

1

Beneficiary Perceptions about Forest Conservation: An Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process

Dr. Jayita Bit1

Abstract2

If we appreciate that forest protection is not merely the maintenance of canopy cover but the protection of bio-diversity as well then there is no denial of the fact that over time JFM policy has changed the nature and extent of bio-diversity dependence for the forest dwellers. So, the crises faced by the nature and the society need to be addressed in conjunction. Such multiple goals with an involvement of multiple stakeholders make forest management a great challenge for planners, policy makers and forest managers leading to the conflict in use and control of depleting resources. In appreciation of this inherent tension, this paper applies a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) involving Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) on the stakeholders of the Birbhum Forest Division of West Bengal to verify the presence of divergent preferences over different objectives, indicators and criteria of different stakeholders.

Keywords: Joint Forest Management (JFM), forest conservation, livelihood support, biodiversity protection, monoculture plantation, Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) JEL Classification: Q23, Q57

1 Assistant Professor in Economics, Calcutta Business School.

2 Acknowledgement: The author wishes to acknowledge the insightful comments and encouragement received from Professor Sarmila Banerjee of the University of Calcutta in carrying out this research and the logistic support extended by Mr. Debabrata Biswas, the Chief Conservator of Forest (WB) at the time of the field survey.


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I. Introduction:

Though India has consistently maintained a no less than 5 per cent growth of national income (www.rbi.org.in) over a reasonably long time horizon and has been included in the club of emerging economies as a member of the BRIC3 nations, there are still around 100 million forest dwellers in this country, provided with sustenance from non- timber forest produces [NTFP] (NFFPFW, 2002). Examples of their forest dependence for daily needs are numerous. Fuel-wood is an important source of household energy for heating and cooking in many countries, particularly in developing ones. Non-wood forest products, such as bush meat, are important to help meet dietary deficits and a vital source of protein. Medicinal plants from the forest used either in self-medication or in traditional medicine systems are in many regions the sole or main source of medicinal remedies for maintaining or improving health. It is also estimated that around 3.8 billion person days of self-employment are generated annually through collection of non-timber forest produce. Besides self-employment, there are also wage-works for forests like wage labour employed by Forest Department (Roy Burman, 1998). Forests serve as a variety of cultural and symbolic functions and are intimately linked with ancestry heritage. So forests as an ecosystem are undoubtedly an impeccable part of a section of Indian population.

Forests also play a major role in both local and global climate change. Being the Earth’s lungs, forest absorbs carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, during photosynthesis and release oxygen into the atmosphere in return. This sequestration of carbon dioxide is a way to reduce the impact of global climate change. Forests also help in absorption of solar heat during evaporation and transpiration. They help to produce clean water in rivers and streams by reducing sediment loss from watersheds and safeguarding from chemicals, particularly those caused by intense rain events that occur on steep slopes. Forests support infiltration of water into soils which help to maintain a more even flow pattern in rivers, thus reducing the threat of flooding. They also cause prolonged gradual run-off and hence are a safeguard against draught. Forests help to provide inputs for healthy soil and nutrient cycling, while preventing soil loss at the local level Chopra (2006). So, the sustainability of forestry should be assessed in terms of its economic, ecological and social contribution. Chart 1 represents different possible usages of forest resource and the balancing services provided by it to help the system to remain viable, reproducible and sustainable.

The current forest policy in India, National Forest Policy of 1988, has incorporated the ‘Joint Forest Management’ (JFM) and approved to place emphasis on imperatives of ecological stability and people’s needs. The Policy has declared that the rights and concessions enjoyed by the tribal communities and other poor living within and near forests should be fully protected. For this the domestic requirements of fuel-wood, fodder, minor forest produce and construction timber should be the first charge on forest produce. Rehabilitation of degraded forest areas and conservation of biodiversity are the other important objectives (Yadav, 2009). However, several studies on the implementation of JFM in India has shown that on the one hand, the management

3 BRIC stands for Brazil-Russia-India-China;


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CHART 1 Dimensions of Forest Services

Source: Author’s Understanding

policy has rehabilitated large areas of degraded forests with people’s participation and the forest area has increased from 639182 sq. km. to 692027 sq. km. between 1991 and 2011; on the other, monoculture plantation of eucalyptus, acacia and tectona species has dominated the afforestation practices and the percentage of very dense forest in total forest cover has decreased from 60.23 to 12.06 whereas that of open forest has increased from 39.1 to 41.59 (FSI, 1991 and 2011). So, the total forest area has a U-shaped relation with the increase in population density. Though the area under total forest coverage is expanding over time the share of natural forest is decreasing (Figure 1).

Thus, if one appreciates the fact that forest protection is not merely related to maintenance and extension of canopy cover but the protection of bio-diversity as well, then there is no denial of the fact that over time JFM policy has lead to a change in the nature of forest bio-diversity creating a crisis in terms of ecological balance and forest dependent livelihood options. So, the joint forest management policy should be evaluated in terms of an assessment of the economic, ecological and social perspectives though determining the appropriate objectives of forest management is a challenging task given the conflicting demands of different interest groups (stakeholders) in society. This paper has made an attempt to identify the prominent stakeholders and assess the present policy incorporating the overlapping domain of conflict and cooperation among them regarding objective and perspective of forest resource and its management with the application of multi-criteria decision support methods and tools. Given this background, this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the hazards of monoculture plantation; section 3 outlines the theoretical foundations of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) involving

Forest Services

Economic Services Ecological Services Social Services

Timber

Valuable NTFPs like rubber, cotton, cashew, etc.

Ecotourism

Watershed Protection

Acid Deposition

Carbon Sequestration

Home for countless species

Biodiversity related Benefits

Livelihood based NTFPs like fuelwood, fodder, etc

Medicine

Grazing


4

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP); section 3 presents the application of this methodology in the Birbhum Forest Division of West Bengal on the basis of ranking-responses collected through a primary survey conducted during September - November 2012 and section 4 provides some concluding remarks.

Figure 1: Deforestation-Afforestation and Nature of Tree Cover

Source: Harris, 2006

II. Hazards of Monoculture Plantation:

The ecological quality of a system depends on the richness of its biodiversity. Harris (2006) has clearly explained how biological diversity can develop the strength of ecological integrity of a forest and protect its health from pest attacks. If a plantation forest contains only one species of tree, an attack by a single pest may destroy the entire forest. Thus biodiversity creates externalities by preserving existing forest ecosystem and extending support from premature destruction. Monoculture plantation fails to incorporate these externalities and often gets referred to as ‘green desert’ though FAO have designated the term ‘forest’ to both the industrial eucalyptus tree plantations and the rainforests with its hundreds of different tree species. Negative impacts from these plantations have stretched from affecting daily forest-based livelihoods to temporary reduction4 of carbon emissions (Mutter and Overbeek, 2011). Chile being the first country to introduce this monoculture model in 1920, more than 150 delegates from organizations of different Chilean regions met in Temuco and described the negative impacts of monoculture plantations that have been experienced in their communities to build awareness among other countries who are following this path of rapid afforestation: (http://www.ecosistemas.cl/1776/article-74400.html):

i. Reduction in the diversity of trees, flora and fauna; ii. Affecting the water levels of rivers and creeks;

4 Of course, in the longer run this carbon retention ability comes back.


5

iii. Erosion and degradation of soil; iv. Generation of high risk slave labour, job insecurity and hence poverty; leading to

migration from farms into cities.

Experiences are similar for all follower countries including India where Eucalyptus is the dominant species planted in monoculture forestry. Several studies have shown how the water and nutrient intensive nature and allelopathic5 properties of such plantations reduce forest undercover and in turn degrade soil fertility (Saxena (1994), Zhang and Fu (2010), Fikreyesus et al. (2011), Khan et al. (2008)). This indicates the urgent necessity to pay heed to the ecological and social perspectives of policies targeted towards sustainable forest development and management. Such multiple objectives involving multiple stakeholders where the preference ranking across different objectives varies across stakeholders creates a complex situation where any feasible solution may not exist which will ensure simultaneous maximization of all the objectives (Kangas and Kangas, 2005). Multi-criteria technique is considered as a promising framework for evaluation in this context as it has the potential to take into account both conflict and multidimensionality within a single integrated structure.

III. MCDA and AHP:

In making plans and managing natural resources, Multi-Criteria-Analysis (MCA) helps to consolidate the multiple views and knowledge of stakeholders to support decision-making in complex environments. In general, this type of analysis seeks to identify (a) the alternatives or options that are to be investigated and decided upon, (b) a set of criteria by which to rank these alternatives and (c) the method by which the alternatives are to be ranked and preferences aggregated. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on the results. The final outcome is a preferred option or set of options that is based upon a rigorous definition of priorities and preferences decided upon by the decision-makers (Proctor, 2000). In this context the methodology of Analytic Hierarchy process (AHP) is a robust, ratio-scaled MCA method for analyzing complex decisions with multiple attributes (Saaty 1980).

AHP assign weights to different criteria by defining suitable priority functions, i.e., different criteria and indicators for different stakeholders are arranged in a hierarchical structure. The hierarchies are made up of:

a) a top level, which comprises the overall objective of the decision process, b) intermediate levels, which comprise the criteria and sub-criteria to analyse the decision, c) the lowest level, which lists the alternative plans that are to be analysed and decided

between (Figure 2) (Proctor, op. cit.). The first stage of the analysis was to identify a complete set of criteria by which to assess each alternative plan. The members were then asked to construct a series of ‘pair-wise comparison’ matrices, which compare criteria to one another. This is done to estimate a ranking or weighting of each of the criteria to reveal their importance to the overall objective. Pairwise comparison data can be analysed using either regression methods or the eigenvalue technique. In the

5 Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemical that influences the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms.


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eigenvalue technique, the reciprocal matrices of pairwise comparisons are constructed. Using these pairwise comparisons, the parameters can be estimated. The right eigenvector of the largest eigenvalue of matrix A constitutes the estimation of relative importance of attributes.

Figure 2: A Decision Hierarchy

Where bi is the importance or desirability of decision element i. In the AHP approach, the eigenvector is scaled to add up to 1 to obtain the weights. Based on properties of reciprocal matrices, a consistency ratio (CR) can be calculated. Saaty (op. cit.) has shown that the largest eigenvalue, γmax, of a reciprocal matrix A is always greater than or equal to n (number of rows or columns). If the pair-wise comparisons do not include any inconsistencies, γmax=n. The more consistent the comparisons are, the closer the value of computed γmax to n. A consistency index (CI), which measures the inconsistencies of pair-wise comparisons is given as: CI=(γmax-n)/(n-1).


7

A CR measures the coherence of the pair-wise comparisons: .RICICR = Where RI(n) is the

Random Index. As a rule of thumb, a CR value of 10% or less is considered as acceptable (Ananda and Herath, 2003).

IV. Application of MCDA in Forest Management: Birbhum Forest Division:

MCDA involving AHP has been applied in the Birbhum Forest Division of West Bengal in West Bengal where due to large areas of forest degradation, afforestation has been practiced rigorously under the jurisdiction of Forest Department (FD) over the past 10-15 years. JFM policies have been implemented and almost all villages in the vicinity of forest have members of Forest Protection Committees (FPC). So micro-level study on Birbhum district regarding the effectiveness of JFM would not only fill up an important research gap but it would likely to be representative in nature also. The use of AHP involves several steps. They are (a) identifying criteria, (b) identifying the stakeholders (c) designing and administering a questionnaire in order to obtain information regarding the forest management objectives through value preferences of significant stakeholder groups; (d) assessing the relative importance of a proposed set of C&I with respect to sustainable forest management by elicitation of stakeholders preferences and (e) evaluating perceptions of the overall performance of community forest management strategies by the use of AHP. These are briefly discussed in the sections to follow.

3.1 Identifying Criteria and Indicators: Sustainable forest management usually involves the use of criteria and indicators (C & I) allowing the monitoring, reporting and assessment of management activities at national, regional and forest management unit levels. From the official documents of the Forest Department in India, three important objectives or criteria of forest management can be identified as (a) environmental concern like conservation of forest, (b) social concern like protection of livelihood and (c) economic concern like extraction of marketable benefits. The strategic instruments available for forest conservation are (i) enhancement of canopy cover, (ii) protection of bio-diversity and (iii) conservation of soil and water, which can be taken as three indicators. Similarly, for livelihood support the most important indicators are (i) collection of non-timber-forest-products (NTFP), (ii) conservation of medicinal plants (via transmission of the flow of local knowledge and traditional wisdom) and (iii) expansion and protection of forest dependent livelihood options. Finally, to enhance economic benefits interventions can be designed (i) to raise revenue from timber sales, (ii) increase supply of logs and timbers and (iii) promote the development of eco-tourism and these can be taken as indicators of economic usages of forest resources. So, in all, there are three criteria and nine indicators of forest development which are considered to be of strategic importance to achieve the goal of sustainable joint forest management.

3.2 Identifying Stakeholders: The multiple benefits and services provided by forest resources had attracted a variety of stakeholders’ categories and Singh and Hegde (2004) have identified few such stakeholders in a typical Joint Forest Management Programme and arranged in a table (Table 1) as given below. The stakeholders in this present survey can be identified as (I) the Forest Department (FD) at the national level, (II) the Gram Panchayat (GP) at the block level,


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(III) the members of the Forest Protection Committee (FPC) at the local level, (IV) the households where there is no member of the FPC (non-FPC), (V) the Eco-tourism Developers/ Resort Owners (ETD) and (VI) the Timber Merchants (TM). We have interviewed 10 officials of the forest department, 6 office bearers of the GP, 73 members of the FPC, 52 households with no FPC member, 3 resort owners and 3 Timber merchants.

Table 1: Stakeholders in a Typical JFM Programme

Level of Stake Stakeholders Interests

(in order of priority)

Primary (local on-

site)

Specific resource user Availability of specific

products Sustainability of such products

Women Fuel wood, Fodder, Water

availability Sustainability

Head-loaders and wood smugglers

Fuel wood and Fodder Wood Products

Neighbouring Communities Forest Products

User Industries Availability of Forest Product JFM Committee Forest Protection

Primary (local off-

site) FD Forest Protection and

Augmentation

Secondary (local off-site)

Panchayat

Local Resource Management Control over Funds Over-all Economic

Development

Local / regional

NGOs

Development of the weaker sections

Natural Resource Conservation Institutional Learning

Political Parties Community Organization State/

National Level

Governments Economic Development

Legal Control on Resources Natural Resource Conservation

National / International Donor agencies

Resource Conservation and Economic Development (regional / global level)

Source: Singh and Hegde (op. cit.)

3.3 Questionnaire Design: A questionnaire was designed regarding the perceptions in designing efficient conservation policies and is given below (Table 2). To facilitate the ease of data


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collection all the questionnaires have been developed in a bilingual mode. All the stakeholders are asked to rank their preference for each indicator of forest development in a 5-point rating scale of [1 – 5], where 5 indicates the most important and 1 indicates the least importance.

Table 2: Questionnaire for Multi Criteria Analysis

Stakeholder Type: ___________________________________________ Code: Forest Department (1); FPC-Group (2); FPC-Member (general) (3); Non-FPC-Member (general) (4); Tribal-FPC-member (5); tribal Non-member (6); Timber Merchant (7); Gram Panchayat (9); Eco-tourism Developer (10); Others (specify) (99). Objective of Forest Management: [circle the correct rank] Rank the objectives according to their importance (1: most important, 5: least important) 1. Maximize revenue earning from timber products: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 2. Maximize collection of non-timber forest produce for locals: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 3. Maximize canopy cover of the forestland: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 4. Maximize bio-diversity of the forest: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 5. Maximize soil and water conservation: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 6. Maximize the protection & use of medicinal plant: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 7. Maximize the protection of forest dependent livelihood: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 8. Increase the supply of log & timber: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 9. Promotion of Eco-tourism: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 10. Other (specify)

3.4 Criteria-Indicator Analysis: The stakeholders were asked a qualitative assessment of alternative indicators under each criterion using a five point scale and the average response in each case has been estimated by taking the geometric mean (GM)6. If P is the number of

6 In order to allow a synthesis of the individual group priorities with the analytic hierarchy process at the subsequent stages the judgments have to be combined in a manner so that the reciprocal of the synthesized judgments is equal to


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stakeholder-types indexed by k, nk is the number of observations in group k, M is the number of criterion indexed by i and N is the number of indicators under criterion i, indexed by j, then:

,/1 k

k

n

nkijkij IGMI⎥⎥⎦

⎤

⎢⎢⎣

⎡∏= which represents the average ranking for the jth indicator of criterion i

for stakeholder type k. Combine these jGMIkij ∀, by taking the GM for criterion i as

,/1 N

N

jkjiki GMIGMC⎥⎥⎦

⎤

⎢⎢⎣

⎡∏= to get the average ranking of criterion i for the stakeholder group k;

and finally, combine these kGMCki ∀, by taking the GM across k as

,/1 PP

kkii GMCGMC ⎥⎦

⎤⎢⎣

⎡∏= to get the average overall ranking of criterion i across all stakeholder

groups. The ranking based preference ordering is reported in Table 3.

Except for the timber merchants, for all other stakeholders, forest conservation enjoys higher ranking compared to the livelihood support and livelihood support enjoys higher ranking than economic benefit. However, the magnitude of average differences is not uniform across both indicators and stakeholders. This heterogeneity of average response will influence the relative preference ordering of each group across alternative choice criteria. That would be evident from the matrix developed on the basis of pair-wise comparison (PWC) to obtain the priority ranking.

3.5 Analytic Hierarchy Process: Preference for any particular criterion (indicator) of any particular stakeholder has already been elicited in a 5-point preference scale with 1 representing the worst and 5 representing the best. We have to derive a relative scale by using the judgments expressed in terms of this standard scale by carrying out pair-wise comparison of different criteria (indicators). Relative priorities of criteria with respect to the overall goal and those with respect to alternative indicators are to be calculated from the corresponding pair-wise matrices. As an illustration of the methodology of deriving the relative scale let us consider three forest management related criteria C1, C2 and C3. The difference will vary between [0, 4] and it can be mapped into a 9-point scale starting from equal importance, moderately preferred, strongly preferred, very strongly preferred and extremely preferred (Table 4). If it is 0 then both the objectives are equally important and the decision-maker is indifferent between the two alternatives. If the difference is 1, then it is moderately preferred and a numerical value of 3 will be assigned to represent this relative priority. Similarly for difference of 2, the assigned value would be 5, for 3 it would be 7 and for 4 it would be 9. The in-between values like 2, 4, 6 and 8 would be considered as intermediate values between two adjacent judgments when compromise is needed. The following describes the procedure using the predicted preferences of stakeholders.

the synthesis of the reciprocals of these judgments (Saaty 2008). Among the commonly available measures of average, geometric mean satisfies this requirement (Forman & Peniwati 1998).


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Table 4: Mapping of 5-point Likert Scale into 9-point Scale

Differences Verbal judgement of preferences Num. values

0 equally important 1

1 moderately preferred 3

2 strongly preferred 5

3 very strongly preferred 7

4 extremely important 9 Note: 2,4,6,8 => intermediate values Source: Authors‘ Understanding


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Table 3: Ranking-based Preference Ordering for Different Criteria and Indicators

Goal: Sustainable Forest Management

Stakeholders →FD GP

FPC

member

Non-

memberETD TM All

Criteria/ Indicators ↓

C1: Forest Conservation 4.45 4.14 3.91 4.23 5.00 3.76 4.08

I-1.1: Canopy Cover 4.89 4.47 4.89 4.64 5.00 5.00 4.79

I-1.2: Biodiversity 4.05 4.82 3.81 4.36 5.00 4.64 4.11

I-1.3: Soil and Water 4.44 3.30 3.20 3.74 5.00 2.29 3.46

C2: Livelihood Support 3.55 3.93 3.56 3.94 4.50 3.40 3.62

I-2.1: Collection of NTFP 3.40 3.84 4.59 4.48 4.22 3.42 4.39

I-2.2: Conservation of Medicinal Plants 3.88 4.31 3.08 3.81 5.00 3.68 3.30

I-2.3: Enhancement of Livelihood Options 3.40 3.66 3.20 3.59 4.31 3.11 3.27

C3: Economic Opportunity 3.07 3.20 2.82 2.32 2.96 4.50 2.79

I-3.1: Revenue from timber 3.15 3.20 3.70 3.42 2.29 4.64 3.63

I-3.2: Supply of log & timber 3.19 3.14 2.32 2.13 3.30 5.00 2.55

I-3.3: Ecotourism Development 2.89 3.26 2.62 1.73 3.42 3.91 2.35

Source: Author’s Calculations

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Task 1: Enter the subjective preferences of the any one of the stakeholders for the 3 FM criteria C1, C2 and C3 in Table 5. According to these preferences, C2 is preferred to C1 and C3 is preferred to C1 and C2. More specifically, according to the level of importance, C2 is moderately important than C1 and C3 is strongly more important than C1.

Table 5: Simulated Preferences of the FPC Group

Value Pair How much more Important?

Equally Moderately Strongly Very Strongly Absolutely

C1 vs C1

C1 vs C2

C1 vs C3

C2 vs C2

C2 vs C3

C3 vs C3 Source: Authors’ Understanding inspired by Hossain and Robak (2010)

Task 2: Convert the preferences to numerical values and sum the column elements (see Table 6). Here, C2 is 3 times more important than C1 (since C2 is moderately important than C1); C3 is 5 times more important than C1 (since C3 is strongly more important than C1). By summing the column elements for C1 (second column in the table), the total value in Column C1 became 9.00 (1 + 3 + 5). In a similar way, the total values for columns C2 and C3 are measured.

Table 6: Weightings derived from the Simulated preferences of the FPC group

Values C1 C2 C3 C1 1 1/3 1/5 C2 3 1 1/3 C3 5 3 1

Total 9.00 4.33 1.53 Source: Authors’ Calculations

Task 3: Divide each element by its column total. Averaging each row provides the normalized priority weight for the corresponding value. The highest number under the priority column indicates the highest preference. For example, by dividing each element in row C1 (1, 3 and 5) by the corresponding column total of C1 (9.00), three values were found viz. 0.11, 0.33 and 0.55 (see Table 7). In this case, the normalized priority weight for C1 is 0.11 [(0.11 + 0.08 + 0.13)/3].

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Table 7: Normalized weightings derived from the preferences of the FPC group

Values C1 C2 C3 Normalized

priority/ weight (Σ = 1)

C1 0.11 0.08 0.13 0.11 C2 0.33 0.23 0.22 0.26 C3 0.55 0.69 0.65 0.63

Source: Authors’ Calculations

The steps mentioned above were applied to this research to determine the priority weight of each goal by each stakeholder group (see Table 8). The preferences of the stakeholder groups are also checked for internal consistency. Principle Eigen Value estimates degree of consistency of the data as already discussed in section 3. For this the maximum Eigen value λ* of the matrix with the weighted preferences is calculated and the difference between λ* and n (number of rows or columns of the matrix) is considered. Consistency Index is defined as CI = )1(

)*(−

−n

nλ and is

allowed for some random deviations for a given n. This Random Index is denoted by RI(n).

Combining CI and RI the consistency ratio CR is obtained as .RICICR = A value of 1.0≤CR is

acceptable.

Table 8 reports the results from the application of AHP in our context of sustainable management of forest in the district of Birbhum, West Bengal, India. It is apparent from the table that all calculations of weights are consistent and except for the timber merchants Forest Conservation is the most important purpose of forest management to all other stakeholders followed by Livelihood Protection and Economic Opportunities. However, the pair-wise comparison techniques are applied to the indicators of forest conservation and it turned out that the protection and expansion of canopy cover is the most important concern for the Forest Department, FPC members, non-members as well as the timber merchants. Here Gram Panchayats and the resort owners (eco-tourism developers) are revealing slightly different behavior; while the former considers bio-diversity conservation as very important component of forest conservation the latter assigns equal weight on all the constituent indicators. In case of livelihood protection collection of non-timber-forest-products (NTFP) enjoy very high weight from the household sector, both FPC members and non-members. The remaining groups of stakeholders are more inclined to protect the medicinal plants and thereby the flow of traditional knowledge. Finally, for economic benefits both FPC members as well as non-member households value revenue earning from timber the most. In the overall rating the indicator weight of this component is 50 percent of the total. For timber merchants this economic benefit is the most important criterion where their concern is more focused on regularity of the supply of logs and woods from the forest.

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Table 8: Priority Weights Generated by AHP

Stakeholders -> FD GP FPC member

Non- member

ETD TM All / Criteria, Indicators Forest conservation 0.62 0.43 0.52 0.56 0.57 0.30 0.54 Canopy Cover 0.54 0.32 0.62 0.54 0.33 0.56 0.56 Biodiversity 0.16 0.56 0.24 0.30 0.33 0.36 0.32 Soil and Water 0.30 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.33 0.08 0.12 Livelihood protection 0.24 0.43 0.33 0.35 0.33 0.16 0.30 Collection of NTFP 0.25 0.25 0.67 0.55 0.21 0.31 0.40 Protection of Medicinal Plants 0.50 0.50 0.17 0.24 0.55 0.49 0.40 Expansion of Forest dependent livelihood 0.25 0.25 0.17 0.21 0.24 0.20 0.20 Economic opportunity 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.09 0.10 0.54 0.16 Revenue from timber 0.40 0.33 0.62 0.66 0.14 0.30 0.50 Supply of log & timber 0.40 0.33 0.14 0.21 0.43 0.54 0.25 Ecotourism development 0.20 0.33 0.24 0.13 0.43 0.16 0.25 λmax 3.02 3.01 3.07 3.05 3.02 3.01 3.02

CI = )1(

)( max

−−

nnλ 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.01

RI(n) = RI(3) = 0.58 & CR = RICR 0.02 0.01 0.06 0.05 0.02 0.01 0.01

Source: Author’s Calculations

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V. Overall Assessment:

The overall implication of this study strongly matches with the findings of similar studies in other parts of the state by Roy, et al. (2001), Dutta, et al. (2004) and Sudha et al. (2004). Since the only strong incentive for forest protection is the collection of fuel-wood and fodder, so Forest Conservation has become the most important purpose of forest management to the majority of the stakeholders instead of Livelihood Protection and Economic Opportunities. NTFP collection for food, construction or medicinal purposes is also very rare in our surveyed area and so nearly every stakeholder is mostly concerned about protection and expansion of canopy cover rather than bio-diversity conservation. It is also observed that the dominance of monoculture plantation of eucalyptus and acacia species in the surveyed regions affecting the livelihood dependence and in turn the objectives of forest protection. The economic use of forest is always dominating the present mind-sets of the stakeholders which have been triggered by the revenue earning from timber. That is why both FPC members as well as non-member households have given higher value to revenue earning from timber under the economic benefit criteria. This indicates a serious compromise with biodiversity which in turn questions the sustainability of forest ecosystem and also threatens the livelihood dependence of the local people. Thus JFM has moved away from its resolutions of giving equal importance to biodiversity and livelihood protection through designing economic incentives in managing forests locally.

The need moves on to a more inclusive democratic structure, where the state listens to and learns from the community, and where the community itself recognizes and deals fairly with the inequities within its own ranks (Guha, 1994). New efforts in ecosystem restoration may be more successful after carefully combining conventional western scientific principles with the traditional, more holistic view of ecosystem management embraced by many tribes in different countries. Incorporating traditional knowledge expands human understanding and may enhance biodiversity and resource sustainability for future generations (Thakali and Lesko, 1998). Pandey has also indicated the necessity of embedding local and traditional knowledge into the doctrines of formal science to understand their implications for sustainable forest management. So these local level practices also are needed to be stitched with the national policies incorporating the effects of modern development agenda (http://www.infinityfoundation.com/...). Lessons regarding this incorporation of traditional knowledge into forest management practices can be taken from an article by Butler where it has been discussed how the tribes in Suriname, Brazil and Columbia are combining their traditional knowledge of the rainforest with western technology to conserve forests and maintain ties to their history and cultural traditions, which include profound knowledge of the forest ecosystem and medicinal plants. With the help of GIS technique cultural maps were generated to connect geographical information of the area with that of history and culture (Butler, 2010). Such a methodology can also be useful in the present scenario to help manage forest sustainably. It is important to explain to communities the sustainable rate of harvest of different NTFPs, management norms and the tradeoffs between private gain and social cost of resource depletion. Communities would then be helped and taught alternative gathering and harvesting methods that would provide more sustainable outcomes (Ndoye, 2005). This is because if the local stakeholders are given more opportunities to benefit from biodiversity, they will have sufficient incentive to combat external threats on it. So, livelihood can promote conservation by itself. Encouragement to continue forest based livelihood activities can indirectly lead to forest protection and biodiversity conservation at one go.

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References:

1. Ananda, J. and Herath, G. 2003, “The use of Analytic Hierarchy Process to incorporate stakeholder preferences into regional forest planning”, Forest Policy and Economics Vol. 5, pp.13–26.

2. Butler, R. 2010, “Protecting their Rainforest: Amazon Tribes Embrace Technology to Save Land, Culture”, [Online] Available: http://www.geoplace.com//ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=..... [2011, 10/06].

3. Chopra, K. 2006, “Informal Sector Contribution to GDP: A Study of the Forestry Sector”, [Online] Available: http://mospi.nic.in/GDP%2003.doc (2013, 20/06).

4. Dutta, M., Roy, S., Saha, S. and Maity, D.S. 2004, “Forest Protection Policies and Local Benefits from NTFP - Lessons from West Bengal”, Economic and Political Weekly, February 7, 2004, pp. 587 – 591.

5. Fikreyesus, S., Kebebew, Z., Nebiyu, A., Zeleke, N. and Bogale, S. 2011, “Allelopathic Effects of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. on Germination and Growth of Tomato”, American-Eurasian Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science, Vol.11, No. 5, pp.600-608.

6. Forest Survey of India. 1991, “India State of Forest Report”, Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, Government of India.

7. Forest Survey of India. 2011, “India State of Forest Report”, Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, Government of India.

8. Forman, E. & Peniwati, K. 1998, “Aggregating individual judgments and priorities with the Analytic Hierarchy Process”, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 108, pp. 165 – 169.

9. Guha, R. 1994, “Forestry Debate and Draft Forest Act: Who Wins, Who Loses?” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.29, No.34, pp. 2192 – 2196.

10. Harris, J. 2006, Chapter 15, “Ecosystem Management: Forest and Water Systems”, in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: A Contemporary Approach, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, pp. 327 – 353.

11. Hossain, S.M.Y. and Robak, E.W. 2010, “A Forest Management Process to Incorporate Multiple Objectives: a Framework for Systematic Public Input”, Forests 1, pp. 99-113.

12. http://www.ecosistemas.cl/1776/article-74400.html. “Statement from Chilean Delegation on Monoculture Plantations”. [Online] (2013 7/11).

13. Kangas, J. and Kangas, A. 2005, “Multiple Criteria Decision Support in Forest Management – The Approach, Methods Applied, and Experiences Gained”, Forest Ecology and Management, Vol. 207, pp. 133 – 143.

14. Khan, M.A., Hussain, I. and Khan, E.A. 2008, “Allelopathic Effects of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus Camaldulensis L.) on Germination and Seedling Growth of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.), Pakistan Journal of Weed Sciences Research, Vol. 14, No.1-2, pp.9-18.

15. Mutter, R.N. and Overbeek, W. 2011, “The Great Lie: Monoculture Trees as Forests”, News and Views, UNRISD [Online] Available: http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BE6B5/search/531DAFFB8B319F69C125792E00499ED1?OpenDocument (2013 7/11).

16. Ndoye, O. 2005, Chapter 3, “Commercial Issues Related to Non-Timber Forest Products”, in Non-Timber Forest Products between Poverty Alleviation and Market Forces, Edited by Jean-Laurent Pfund and Patrick Robinson, page 14- 17.

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17. NFFPFW 2002, Report on the First National Conference of National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW), Rashtriya Shramjeevi Manch, 30th September to 2nd October, 2002, pp. 31-32.

18. Pandey, D. N. “Traditional Knowledge Systems for Biodiversity Conservation”. [Online] Available: http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_pande_conserve.htm (2014 9/08).

19. Proctor, W. 2000, “Towards Sustainable Forest Management- an Application of Multi-criteria Analysis to Australian Forest Policy”, Third International Conference of the European society for Ecological Economics.

20. Roy Burman, B.K. 1998, “Workers Depend on Forest Ecology for Subsistence: Their Problems and Prospects”, Key Note Address Presented in the Workshop on Status of Forest Workers in India, Chandigarh, on 29th April’ 98.

21. Roy, S., Dutta, M. and Bandopadhyay, S. 2001, “Joint Forest Management and Forest Protection Committees: Negotiation Systems and the Design of Incentives -- A Case Study of West Bengal, EERC Working Paper Series: CPR-8.

22. Saaty, T. L. 1980, The Analytic Hierarchy Process, McGraw-Hill, New York. 23. Saaty, T. L. 2008, “Decision Making with the Analytic Hierarchy Process”, International

Journal of Services Sciences, Vol. 1, No.1, pp.83. 24. Saxena, N.C. 1992, “Joint Forest Management: A New Development Bandwagon in

India?”, ODI Rural Development Forestry Network Papers, Vol.14, d-iv. 25. Singh, T.P. & Hegde, R. 2004, “Stakeholder Analysis in Joint Forest Management in

India: A Case Study of Haryana Shivaliks”, in Environmental Economics in Practice – Case Studies from India, edited by G.K.Kadekodi, OUP, pp. 204 – 239.

26. Sudha, P., Malhotra, K.C., Palit, S., Kameswara Rao, K., Srinivas, M., Negi, N.K., Tiwari, B.K., Misra, T.K., Jagannatha Rao, R., Bhat, P.R., Murthy, I.K., and Ravindranath, N.H., 2004, Chapter 10, “Joint Forest Management: Synthesis of its Spread, Performance and Impact in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tripura and West Bengal”, in Joint Forest Management in India- Spread, Performance and Impact. Universities Press, pp. 196-219.

27. Thakali, R. and Lesko, L. 1998, “Wisdom of the Ages: Traditional Knowledge and Forest Ecosystems”. [Online] Available: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5163026.pdf (2011 1/06).

28. www.rbi.org.in (2014 15/03). 29. Yadav, V.K. 2009, “Community Development through Joint Forest Management”,

Banglarmukh, [Online] Available: wb.gov.in/BanglarMukh/Download?FilePath=/alfresco/d/d/... (2011 20/03).

30. Zhang, C. and Fu, S. 2010, “Allelopathic Effects of Leaf Litter and Live Roots Exudates of Eucalyptus Species on Crops”, Allelopathy Journal, Vol. 26, No.1, pp.91-100.


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The Role of Aquaculture for Rural Development in West Bengal- A Study

Dr. Taposh Kumar Paul1

Abstract This study aims at highlighting the unlimited unharnessed potentiality of development of aquaculture sector in West Bengal. Aquaculture has the uncommon opportunities for employment generation, contribution to the food and nutrition security, foreign exchange earnings etc. Secondary data is used in this exploratory study. Total demand of fishes almost exceeds production of fishes in West Bengal. It has to import fish from other states to fulfill the deficit demand of fishes. 77.40% of inland fresh water resources and 72.40% inland brackish water resources remain still unused. Enhancement of prawn culture in brackish water may bring huge foreign exchange for the state. Government of West Bengal is also providing some attractive incentives for development of aquaculture fisheries and allied sectors. But for the overall development of aquaculture and rural economy, a planned and long vision is necessary.

Key words: Aquaculture, Brackish water, Potentiality, Foreign exchange, Long term vision

1 Assistant Processor in Commerce, G.M.S.M. Mahavidyalaya, P.O: Bireswarpur, South 24 Parganas, Pin: 743336.


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Back Drop:

West Bengal is endowed with all kinds of fishery resources, plenty of rivers, water estuaries, lakes, ponds, beels and baors etc. There exists most suited agro climate for aquaculture of fishes. It is a gift of nature to the people of Bengal. The people of this state also have the high consumption habits of fishes. 80% people of the state consume fishes-unban people consuming more than rurals. There are popular sayings in Bengali that ‘Sujala Suphala Sasya Shyamala Bangla’ and ‘Mache Bhate Bangali’ mean that West Bengal is ideal place for fish farming having large natural resources and the people of West Bengal are fond of fishes hereditary. Fishes also have universal taste with continuous growth global market demand. More over there is huge abundant and diversified resources which remained untouched due to lack of infrastructure and technological facilities. This sector has the unlimited unharnessed potentiality of development. According to FAO, aquaculture can make significant contribution to global food security and economic growth if it is developed and practiced in a sustainable manner and 60% of fish food will come from aquaculture by 2030.

Out of 2, 76,202 ha area under ponds and tanks only 2, 20,000 ha i.e. 79.65% are presently used for aquaculture which means 20.35% remains unused. Moreover, out of 5, 91,476.71 ha total inland water resource only 2.87000 ha water area are brought under aquaculture which means 51.48% remains unused (Jhingran V.G. 1991). The fish production of West Bengal is increasing over the years but the productivity of the fishery sector shows a very slow enhancement over the years due to lack of high quality fish seeds in proper ratio, lack of marketing infrastructure, socioeconomic and environmental constraints (Roy, 2008) and again the most farmers used to follow traditional technology due to the absence of fishery extension services (Singh, 2001). Due to legal problems among owners, rivalry, theft, lack of renovation of existing ponds etc. have kept large numbers of potential water bodies unproductive which could have play an important role in bridging the gap between demand and supply. Farm to farm differences in aquaculture practices are also considered as important factors contributing to the variations in productivity. There is a huge differences in the size of the fish farms, species cultured, stocking density, fish seed procurement, nursery management, feed and feeding management, pond preparation, harvesting frequency, mode of fish marketing, source of information on aquaculture, fish seeds and treatment of diseases, etc. (Abraham et al., 2010).

The demand for fish in rural areas of West Bengal is increasing over time with the increase in purchasing power and standard of living. Although, the state has registered a high growth in fish production, the supply in countryside is shrinking due to deceleration in area arising out of situations like rural rivalry, litigation, theft, breaking of joint family etc. The traditional system of fish production has failed to meet the growing demand, resulting excessive dependence on commercially managed, organized fish production units, locally known as ‘bheries’ and on the supply from other fish producing States(Rahaman et al., 2013)

The production as well demand for fish in West Bengal is the highest in the country. The domestic demand for fish in West Bengal is high because almost all the people of West Bengal consume fishes. But the state has a higher demand for fish than its production of fish i.e. this state has a deficit in fish supply. To meet this gap the state West Bengal has to import fish from


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other states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. (Bairagya Ramsunder, 2011). In these perspectives, this study highlights the role of aquaculture in rural areas.

Objectives Of The Study:

1. The main objective of the study is to highlight the unbounded prospects of development of the aquaculture sector of West Bengal.

2. It also aims to show that there is huge potentiality of employment generation for fisher men, farmers and their family members in the aquaculture.

Research Problems:

1. Is production of fishes are sufficient to fulfill the demand of the people of West Bengal? 2. Is there any role of aquaculture sector in providing employment and developing rural

economy of West Bengal? 3. What are the future prospects of aquaculture?

Research Methodology

This is an exploratory study which seeks to explore the potentials of aquaculture in West Bengal for fishermen or fish farmers. The secondary data are used for this study. The data are collected from the Handbook Fisheries Statistics 2014 which is published by Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India and also from different books and journals and published data by the government of West Bengal. For the analysis of data, percentage method has been used.

Data Analysis And Interpretation

West Bengal has occupied 2nd position in producing fish and fishery products producing over 16.5% of India’s total fishery production and over 23% of India’s Inland fishery production during the last three years. West Bengal had occupied 1st position till 2010-11, producing 151.1 million tonnes where as Andhra Pradesh produced 136.8 million tones. During 2011-12 production in A.P enhanced @17.18% whereas production in West Bengal reduced @4.86%.


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TABLE: 1: DEMAND AND PRODUCTION OF FISH IN WEST BENGAL (LAKH TONS)

YEAR DEMAND

PRODUCTION

DEFICIT OR SURPLUS

Total Growth rate (%) Total Growth Rate (%)

1995-1996 10.20 - 8.93 - (-) 1.27 1996-1997 10.60 3.9 9.37 4.92 (-) 1.23 1997-1998 10.70 2.8 9.50 1.38 (-) 1.20 1998-1999 10.93 2.15 9.95 4.74 (-) 0.98 1999-2000 11.15 2.01 10.45 5.03 (-) 0.70 2000-2001 11.35 1.79 10.60 1.44 (-) 0.75 2001-2002 11.58 2.03 11.00 3.77 (-) 0.58 2002-2003 11.47 (-)0.9 11.20 1.82 (-) 0.27 2003-2004 11.67 1.74 11.696 4.43 (-)0.004 2004-2005 11.88 1.8 12.15 3.88 (+)0.27 2005-2006 12.65 6.48 12.5 2.88 (-)0.15 2006-2007 13.70 8.3 13.59 8.73 (-)0.11 2007-2008 14.25 4.01 14.46 6.49 (+)0.21 2008-2009 14.90 4.56 14.84 2.54 (-)0.06 2009-2010 15.25 2.35 15.17 2.22 (-)0.08 2010-2011 15.75 3.28 14.43 (-)4.86 (-)0.32 2011-2012 16.10 2.22 14.72 1.99 (-)0.38 2012-2013 16.29 1.18 14.9 1.22 (-)1.39 2013-2014 16.52 1.41 15.80 6.04 (-)0.72 2014-2015 16.72 1.21 16.17 2.34 (-)0.55 Source: Hand book of Fishery Statistics of W.B, 2014-15, Govt of West Bengal With the increase in population, the demand of fishes in West Bengal is increasing since 1995 to 2015 except 2004-05. Production also increases except the year 2010-11. Total demand of fishes almost exceeds production of fishes in West Bengal except the year 2007-08 and it has deficit in producing fishes till 2014-15 (Table 1 and Fig. 1). The total internal demand of fishes has not been filled up by producing fishes in this state. West Bengal has to import fish from other states to fulfill the deficit of fishes. However, West Bengal has yet enough potentiality to increase its production by aquaculture. It imports fishes around 1 lakh tones from other states. Maximum import is from Andhra Pradesh, next from Orissa (Table 2). Rohu and Katla are the main species of import from other states. Due to severe shortage of fish supply in West Bengal, prices of fishes are rising at a higher rate than other food items. The rate of rise is 16.72% with respect to 2012 and 2013 (Table 3)


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Fig: 1: Demand and Production of fishes in W.B during last 20Years

TABLE: 2: SUPPLY OF FISH FROM OTHER STATES (UNIT IN TON) SL. No Name of the State 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014

1 Andhra Pradesh 99818 66482 76865 2 Orissa 57039 34388 48966 3 Madhya Pradesh 7129 6877 9080 4 Bihar 8912 5730 6053 5 Other State 5351 1148 1513

Total 178249 114625 142477 Source: Hand Book of Fisheries Statistic 2013-14, Govt. of West Bengal

TABLE: 3

COMPARISON OF PRICES OF DIFFERENT FOOD ITEMS IN WEST BENGAL Items Unit 2012 2013 % increase w.r.t 2012&2013 Fish (1-205 Kg) Rs/Kg 149.60 174.61 16.72 Meat(Goat) Rs/Kg 346.50 383.99 10.82 Egg(Duck) Rs/Pair 10.17 11.50 14.06 Pulse(Masur, whole) Rs/Kg 51.85 57.52 10.93 Source: Department of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Govt. of West Bengal


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Role of Aquaculture:

1. The nutritional requirement is very crucial in a developing country such as India where malnutrition and starvation are the major problems faced by millions of rural dwellers. The low protein intake is an indication of shortage of high quality protein food in the diet of Indians. Despite the increase in the major sources of animal protein such as livestock and poultry industries, the problem of protein deficiency still continues unabated. The protein deficiency in diet is equally associated with the inability of fish farming industry to supply the required quantity of fish. The situation causes poor health, low efficiency, low productivity and poor standard of living and decline in the contribution of fishery industry’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By producing fishes through aquaculture this problem may be overcome in West Bengal.

2. A large number of rural employments are generated in aquaculture. The small-scale fish

farming requires less capital and more labour. The woman workers may easily be engaged in fish farming. Fishermen are not only directly employed in fish farming but also some other alternative occupations like net making, marketing of fish seed and fishery product, transport, etc. Many rural people may get employment in the production and distribution system. Since fish is a perishable commodity proper marketing channels should be established. Hence to reduce pressure from agriculture aquaculture may be alternative occupations for generating income and employment for a large number of poor people.

3. The urban waste (i.e. garbage) may be recycled and be supplied as fish feed (to those

ponds and water areas lying near the towns) to raise fish production and to prevent the environmental pollution in those areas.

4. Due to supply chain management,some rural infrastructures like connecting roads for transport of fishes, markets for selling/buying fishes, cold storages, and electricity connection may be developed. The rural development may bust up purchasing power and standard of living of rural.

Future Prospects: West Bengal has a vast water resource potentiality. By utilizing these water resources there are huge prospects of aquaculture of fishes. These resources can be divided into two categories: i) Inland and ii) Marine. Inland resources constitute both capture and culture areas like ponds, rivers, marshy lands, canals, reservoirs etc. It should be noted that tanks/ponds occupy the major share i.e. 33.3% of total inland water resources. But out of 2.88 lakh ha area under ponds and tanks, only 2.2 lakh ha i.e. 76.4% are presently using for aquaculture which means 23.6%


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remains unused. Whereas, out of 6.55 lakh ha, total inland fresh water resource only 1.48 lakh ha water area is brought under aquaculture i.e. 22.60% are presently used and 77.40% remains unused. And out of 2.1 lakh ha, total inland brackish water resource(24%) only 0.58 lakh ha water area is brought under prawn culture i.e. 27.60% are presently used and 72.40% remains unused(Table 4 & Fig. 2). These unused water resources can be brought under both fresh water pisciculture and saline water prawn culture through proper utilization.

Production of fishes through aquaculture may be a better option to satisfy the demand of fishes as well as earning money from exporting other states and even other countries. This practice may generate huge employment to the small and marginal fishermen and fish farmers’ family members. Poly culture or Composite Fish Culture System should be practiced. The general survival rate of fish farming is 80%. Stocking of various species should be in a certain proportion such that various types of fishes live in various layers and eat the entire food organism which is called Composite Fish Culture. In this situation the ponds eco-system should be maintained.

Aquaculture should be practiced in a scientific method. To use the scientific methods of aquaculture some training should be required in the grassroots level.

Aquaculture is a short duration of crop assuring quick return on investment. Harvesting of fishes can be panned according to market demands for fetching better prices such as festival or marriage seasons when demand of fishes are high and prices are more. TABLE: 4: FISHERIES RESOURCES OF WEST BENGAL Marine Length of coast line (Km) 158 Continental Shelf (‘000 sq km) 17 Number of Fish Landing Centers 59 No of Fishing villages 188 No of fishermen families 76981 Fisher-folk population 3800138 Inland % Total inland water bodies (lakh Ha) 8.65 100% Rivers (lakh ha) 1.72 20% Canals (Lakh ha) 0.80 9.3% Reservoirs (Lakh ha) 0.27 3.1% Tanks & ponds (lakh Ha) 2.88 33.3% Beels & Baors (lakh Ha) 0.42 4.9% Sewage Feed (Lakh ha) 0.04 0.5% Brackish water (lakh Ha) 2.10 24% Others (lakh ha) 0.42 4.9%

Source: Source: www.bengalfisheriesinvestment.org


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Fig: 2: Inland Fishery Resources of West Bengal

TABLE: 5 DISTRICT WISE IMPOUNDED WATER AREA IN WEST BENGAL

(In hectare) Sl. No.

Name of the district Cultural Area

Semi-Derelict

Area

Derelict Area

Total Area Rank

1 Coochbehar 1598.11 1993.76 727.44 4319.31 2 Jalpaiguri 386.36 468.00 101.41 955.77 3 Uttar & Dakshin

Dinajpur 9678.66 2173.36 2281.76 14133.78

4 Malda 2967.94 3055.42 3557.23 9580.60 5 Murshidabad 16161.76 646.29 0 16808.05 6 Nadia 4579.56 900.13 508.23 5987.92 7 24-Parganas (N) 8641.45 1068.76 277.80 9988.01 8 24-Parganas (S) 11237.79 1389.87 361.28 12988.94 9 Howrah 4240.45 415.70 898.51 5554.66 10 Hooghly 9224.22 4545.76 2498.03 16268.01 11 Medinipur 21886.55 11482.31 3830.27 37199.13 212 Bankura 17553.36 3810.75 1332.70 22697.01 413 Purulia 50078.06 14229.64 6947.37 71255.07 114 Burdwan 20618.79 7386.63 3189.49 31194.91 315 Birbhum 15260.62 1596.57 413.54 17270.73 5 STATE TOTAL 194113.88 55162.95 26925.06 276201.89

Source: Some basic fisheries statistics 2012-13, Department of fisheries, Govt. of WB


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West Bengal has about 200000-ha water impounded curturable area (Table 5). Moreover, there are 55000 semi-derelict areas, which may also be converted to culturable area by some development. Purulia, Mednapur, Burdwan,Bankura, Birbhum have the maximum potential area of fishes(Table 5). It has the highest potential brackish water aquaculture resources among all the maritime states. It has 27% share of the country’s potential resources. Prawn farming is practiced in three coastal districts in West Bengal viz. North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Purba Midnapore. Being coastal areas on the Bay of Bengal, nearby rivers, creeks, canals, estuaries are the sources of saline water. 69.74% of the Potential area of North 24 Parganas, 83.14% of the South 24 Parganas and 86.8% potential area of Purba Midnapur are still remains idle and do not come under prawn culture in West Bengal. As per the Economic Review 2013-14, West Bengal exports only around 0.7 lakh tonne (worth Rupees1,825 crore) of fish. Exports mostly include shrimps, prawns and some exotic marine fish varieties. Enhancement of prawn culture in 2.1 lakh hectares brackish water may bring huge exchange foreign exchange for the state. TABLE: 6

FUTURE TARGET OF DEMAND AND PRODUCTION OF FISH IN WEST BENGAL YEAR DEMAND

(LAKH TONS) PRODUCTION

(LAKH TONS)

DEFICIT OR SURPLUS

2015-16 16.72 17.95 (+)1.00 2016-17 17.19 18.50 (+)1.31 2017-18 17.43 19.16 (+)1.73 2018-19 17.67 19.85 (+)2.18 2019-20 19.91 20.56 (+)2.65 Source: www.wbidc.com, Department of fisheries, Govt. of W.B.

The West Bengal government is looking to increase fish production to 18 lakh tonnes by 2016 and 20 lakh tonnes by 2019 (Table 6). To implement this, initiatives such as bringing all water bodies under fish farming are already under process. It may be possible to fulfill the future target of 20 lakh tones during 2019-20 and to ensure this production of fishes at the rate at least 5 tonnes per hectare is necessary. The government is also mulling to set up one-stop ‘aqua shops,’ which provide certified fish seeds and fish-feed and also advise the cultivators.

Aquaculture is a profitable business (return on investment @20%) (Dandapat & Islam et.al) and the quantum of profit depends on the production of fishes. Government of West Bengal encourages private entrepreneurs to invest in the following ancillary business of fishery sector.

1. Fish Seed Mill (No single Mill having in West Bengal) 2. Prawn culture, prawn processing units & exporting business of prawns 3. Aquaculture in large water bodies and fish tourism 4. Modern hatcheries for fresh and prawn fry 5. Installing cold storage and ice plant 6. Developing modern fish market


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7. Establishing packaging unit 8. Supplying medicines and other inputs

Government of West Bengal is providing some attractive incentives for development of aquaculture fisheries and allied investments (Table 7). These allied sectors also provide employment for many people. To induce greater utilization of modern and scientific technology training in imparted at the state, district and grass root level to fishermen in inland fisheries in West Bengal.

TABLE:7: ICENTIVES AVAILABLE BY THE GOVERNMENT Sl No

Item Micro (15L - 1Cr)

Small ( l Cr-5 Cr)

Medium ( 5 Cr-10 Cr)

Large (10 crores & above)

1 Capital Investment Subsidy 15%-40% (Max Rs 20Lakh)

10% -50% ( max Rs. 1 cr)

5%-20%% (maxRs75 lakh)

Up to 75%

2 Electricity Duty Up to 100% 80%-100% 80%-100% Max. Rs 25Lakh/yr 3 Power Subsidy Rs.30Lakh

annum (max) Rs.40Lakh annum (max)

Rs.50Lakh annum (max)

Rs.75Lakh/yr (max)

4 Refund of Stamp Duty 30%-100% 25% -100% 20%-80% 75%

5 Reimbursement of VAT 60% -90% 60% -90% 60% -90% 80% -90% 6 Waiver of Land Conversion Fee 25% -90% 25% -90% 25% -90% 25% -90% 7 Central Sales Tax(CST) Total refund for

3 Rears Total refund for 3 Rears

Total refund for 3 Rears

Total refund for 3 Rears

8 Work Force Welfare Assistance 75%-100% 75%-100% 75%-100% 80%-90%

Source: www.bengalfisheriesinvestment.org

Limitations Of The Study: 1. The study is done on the basis of secondary data and the observations made are obviously

micro in nature and not in general. 2. It is based on the assumption that fisher men are very weak in financial condition. The

can not provide modern technologies, skill or knowledge for aquaculture. 3. In maximum cases, it may not be possible for the fish farmers or fisher men to be

owner/entrepreneur of the fishery; they become the labour of the fishery. The profit of the fishery is taken away by the entrepreneur who provides capital.

4. Some risks like natural calamity, mortality, diseases of fishes are also to be considered for making fish farming

Conclusions:

The aquaculture provides employment to the rural poor people. The women workers are also be engaged in family or neighbor fish farms. They also get jobs in fish/prawn processing centres. The small fishery requires more labour and less capital. Unskilled labour are also be engaged at low remuneration in fishery or allied sectors. Private entrepreneurs also find interest to invest in the ancillary business of fishery sector.


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Some fish research and training institutes must be established and free training should be provided to the aqua farmers. To make financial support for the poor fishermen bank should grant loan on a long-term basis and at a low rate of interest in proper amount and in proper time.

It may be concluded that aquaculture may help in developing rural economy. But for this, a proper planning, long term vision and also monitoring is necessary.

References:

1. Hand book of Fishery Statistics, 2014, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India.

2. Fishery Resources Survey, Assessment, and Research Programme, 2015-16, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India

3. West Bengal: Ultimate destination for Investment in Fishery Sector, November, 2015 Department of Fisheries, Government of West Bengal.

4. Investment in opportunity in Fishery Sector, January, 2015 Department of Fisheries, Government of West Bengal.

5. Bairagya Dr. Ramsundar, Impact in Education in Fish Farming in West Bengal, India – A Study Report, Advances in Life sciences and Technology, Vol 1, 2011, Pp11-20

6. Bairagya Dr. Ramsundar, Analysis of Profitability of Fish Farming in West Bengal, India – A Study Report, International Journal of Current Research, Vol 3, Issue 11, Nov,2011, Pp204-214

7. Hand Book of Fishery Statistics,2013-14, Department of Fisheries, Govt. of West Bengal 8. Dandapat Dhrubaranja and Islam Sahidul, A study of Production, Productivity and

Profitability of Fisheries in the district of North 24 Parganas, Journal of Business and Economics, Issues 1,Vol.1, January,2009

9. Singh Ram, Pandey P.K & Others, Evolving fishery business in India with GIS, India Geospatial Digest, August, 2014

10. Website: www.bengalfisheriesinvestment.org retrieved on 23.12.2015 at 10.00 P.M 11. Website: www.wbidc.com retrieved on 23.12.2015 at 9.00 P.M


30

Exploring Some Issues for Sustainable Agriculture in West Bengal

Biman Nandi1

Abstract

Cropping intensity in West Bengal is 185%, one of the highest in our country. Intensity of fertilizer use has been consistently increasing. The state ranked seventh in fertilizer use (172 Kg) per hectare of gross cropped area by size of holding in 2010-11. There is an inverse relationship between farm size and intensity of fertilizer use. Soil recharging pulse crops occupied slightly more than 3% of the gross cropped area under rice cultivation in 2009-10. Mono-cropping, indiscriminate and increasing trend in use of pesticides, increasing cost of inputs and labour and changes in climate change has resulted in agrarian stress. Agricultural growth in West Bengal has been brought about not so much by increase in land area but by increasing the cropping intensity and yield per hectare. The high productivity in agriculture has been a result of the technological inputs and not by expansion of land area. The question of the sustainability of the agricultural growth, need to be examined. Because of heavy withdrawal, ground water potential dwindles and the level goes down. The total inventory of the ground water potential would collapse and may result in total disaster to cultivation. So, in the long run cultivation would hardly be sustainable.

Key words: Sustainable agriculture, cropping intensity, soil recharge, fertilizer, ground water inventory, policy support.

1 Assistant Professor in Commerce, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya, Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas, Pin-743347


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Introduction:

By the end of the 20th century the agricultural sector in West Bengal transformed the situation in the state from one of food deficit to a food surplus one. One needs to examine the factors responsible for this agricultural prosperity. Is it the land reform policy adopted by the Govt. or technological inputs used for higher agricultural productivity or lack of demand for food stuff because of declining purchasing power of the people that has resulted in this forced surplus? It is true that agricultural production has increased but simultaneously population has also increased and per capita availability of food has not changed much. We may look into the structure of the agricultural sector which is more diversified now than before. Has the structure attained the sustainability level? Are there any gaps in production system?

The above questions are raised when we find that despite the availability of foodstuff not everyone gets square meal a day. Also the level of poverty has not gone down below the national level. No answer can be singled out. Let us examine the relative role of the factors in making the agricultural sector productive in West Bengal and investigate the role of public distribution system in reaching the required food to people.

The Govt. of West Bengal had announced an agricultural policy in the beginning of the year 2002 which could not be implemented because of difference of opinion expressed by the partners of Left Front Govt. The main controversy was whether the agricultural development program should be left to the farmers who would adopt such schemes so as to adjust to the condition of market economy or the Govt. should maintain its regulatory and advisory role in designing the agricultural program. The second revised agricultural policy has tried to remove some of the controversies and recommended greater use of information technology and opened up this sector to the market economy by modernizing not only agricultural practice but diversifying the same through the introduction of agro-processing and agro-based industries. This program envisaged a reduction in the loss of perishable agricultural products and expected farmers would get the proper price for their products. The Govt. has so far protected the agricultural sector from unscrupulous market exploitation. The Govt. wants the agricultural sector to be self-sustainable and would reduce the subsidies provided to the sector phase wise. This changing role of the Govt. needs to be examined in the context of the liberalization process adopted by the country.

Agricultural Situation in West Bengal:

West Bengal being a surplus state in the field of agricultural production- is a myth rather than a reality. It is true that agricultural production of particularly paddy rice has increased at an average rate of four percent per annum during last two decades. The rate is highest among the major food grain producing states. West Bengal is the largest producer of rice in India, which accounts for 15 percent of the national total while its population accounts for only eight percent as of 2001. Statistically the state should have well off.

The growth in rice production has come primarily from boro rice (winter crop) with technological inputs, i.e. irrigation, fertilizers, insecticides and HYV seeds.

The induced prescription of Green Revolution through HYV seeds, technology, and other measures in India were criticised due to implication of harmful recourse. In West Bengal itself


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the rate of increase in production in agriculture has significantly come down in the 1990s compared to that of the 1980s. In the 1980s food grain production increased at the rate of 6.9% in West Bengal. In the 1990s its yearly increase was recorded at 2.5%. In the latter half of the 1990s the situation further worsened. Between 1995-96 and 1999-2000 the annual rate of increase in food crops in West Bengal had come down to 2.3%. The annual rate of increase in the production of paddy in this period was a yearly 2.4%.1

West Bengal declined significantly in the mid-1990s from an impressive growth rate of the 1980s. The decomposition of output growth across the districts, as well as on the whole, shows that yield growth plays the most important role in output growth. The contribution of extension of area was next. Since the 1980s the changes in cropping pattern have never been an important source of growth in the state.2

Agricultural growth has also been triggered by vegetable production particularly potato cultivation with highest per hector yield (23.8 tons per hectare) in India and the state is second only to U.P. in production. West Bengal produced about 17 million tons of vegetables on one million hectare of land devoted to vegetable production, of which potato alone accounts for 50 percent. During 1980-81 to 1998-99 the area under potato has increased from 115.6 th. ha to 318.2 th. ha – an increase of 175 percent and during 1998-99 to 2008-09 the area under potato has increased from 318.2 th. ha to 386 th. ha – an increase of 21.37 percent. (However the land area under potato has declined subsequently to 299.7 th. ha. in 2000-01 – a cyclical effect). The production of potato has increased from 1.97 mn. tons to 7.67 mn. tons during 1980-81 to 2000-01, a four times increase and the production of potato has increased from 7.67 mn. tons. to 4.12 mn. tons during 2000-01 to 2008-09, 46.28 percent decrease.

The gross irrigated area in the state has increased to 66 percent in 1998-99. The consumption of fertilizer increased from 35 kg. of NPK per ha of gross cropped area in 1980-81 to 129 kg in 1999-2000. The cropping intensity has increased from about 145% in 1980-81 to 175% in 1999-2000. The number of electrified shallow tube wells has increased from 21,000 in 1980-81 to 100,000 in 2000-01.

The total area under cereal crops has increased from 5.17 mn. ha in 1980-81 to 6.57 mn. ha in 1999-2000 (5.92mn. ha in 2000-01), an increase of only 18.95% and the total area under cereal crops has decreased from 6.57 mn. ha in 1999-2000 to 6.35 mn. ha in 2008-09, a decrease of 3.34%. Boro rice alone accounts for an increase of 3.31 mn. ha or 325% during 1980-81 to 1999-2000 and a decrease of 0.1833 mn. ha or 4.03% during 2000-01 to 2008-09. In production, rice has increased from 7.46 mn. to 13.75 mn. tons during 1980-81 to 1999-2000, an increase of 84 percent while boro rice production increased from 0.86 mn. tons to 4.47 mn. tones – an increase of 420%. (It declined to 4.54 mn. tons in 2000-01).

Agricultural growth in West Bengal has been brought about not so much by increase in land area but by increasing the cropping intensity and yield per hectare. The high productivity in agriculture has been a result of the technological inputs and not by expansion of land area. When we question of the sustainability of this agricultural growth, we need to examine the input structure. Boro rice and potatoes are the two principal crops, which are cultivated during the dry winter season, solely dependent on irrigation primarily from underground sources. Canals, rivers and tanks or ponds dry out with one or two irrigation cycles and winter being a rainless season


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(one or two showers due to westerly disturbances though beneficial to wheat or barley or pulses but not enough for boro rice); cultivation depends entirely on the availability of irrigation water from underground sources. Winter boro requires about 1200 mm water on an average and is entirely dependent on ground water sources through electrically energized shallow tube wells. Boro would not have any problem if the ground water potential was very large.

Because of heavy withdrawal, ground water potential dwindles and the level goes down. To combat the lowering of ground water level, the farmers sink their submersible pump sets to reach the falling level, which further depletes the water resources. While farmers would compete in lowering their pump sets to reach the lower level of ground water, the total inventory of the ground water potential would collapse and may result in total disaster to boro cultivation. So, in the long run boro cultivation would hardly be sustainable. Aus rice is uncertain as it depends on rain water only. There is a need to re-examine the cropping pattern; one suggestion could be the replacement of high water consuming boro rice by the less water demanding wheat, barley and pulses cultivation, as all these crops are grown in winter months only.

The Role of Land Reform in Agricultural Growth:

Many of the experts and even the foreign ones who are not very familiar with the situation in West Bengal have expressed their opinion on the positive impact of land reform on agricultural growth in the state. Some of the facts stated below may have contributed to their opinion. In post- Independence period, many land reform measures have been undertaken, first with the abolition of Zamindari system, then by the Bhoodan and Gramdan movement of Vinode Bhave in 1951 and thereafter by enacting land ceiling acts and the establishment of people’s organizations such as Panchayati Raj and institutional changes. The Land reform in West Bengal relating to share cropping (Barga dar) by way of giving land to the actual tillers of the land – ‘a right to cultivate’ was initiated in 1972 but got the Presidential assent only in 1977. The scope of this paper does not allowed to elaborate in detail about the Bargadar system, or the nature of rights the actual tillers would enjoy or the nature of sharing of produce between the landowner and the tillers in this system. However in brief, the main features of the system are to empower the actual tillers or Bargadar with the right to cultivate the land even though they do not own it. The sharecroppers cannot be evicted easily from the land registered in their name except through a process of litigation and when decided by a court of law.

• It is claimed that more than 1.4 mn. share croppers have been registered with the public authority earning them security of tenure and a series of new rights in the land and credit markets,

• The surplus land over the ceiling framed was distributed among 42.5 mn. households,

• Title deeds to house site lands were given to 5,00,000 households,

• 4,00,000 women got the title deeds of agricultural lands,

• About half of the rural households were direct beneficiaries of land reforms since 1977,

• Rural agricultural wages have been increased substantially.


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The Govt. has remained silent about the amount of agricultural land distributed and the quality of such land – whether cultivable or not.

West Bengal is a land of small and medium farmers. It is wisely claimed that agricultural growth in West Bengal has been brought about by the small and medium farmers who could invest in agricultural inputs from their own income from other sources. It is true that agricultural growth elsewhere has been brought about by the feudal land lords (kulaks) and large progressive landholders who could cultivate profitably the commercial crops (rice is commercial crop in Punjab and Haryana) with capital investment.

In West Bengal, the small and medium farmers could bring prosperity in rice cultivation (trying to produce three types of rice and three times in a year – aus, aman and boro) and vegetables with high technological inputs. Below the belts, the marginal farmers who could ill-afford costly technological inputs have been farther marginalized and have become agricultural labour in their own lands by changing hands with the small and medium farmers and have become wage earners. They can earn only if the land owner cultivate the land and earn profit after making the labour cost. Of course, the land owner has the option to cultivate or not depending upon his assured profit. The landless agricultural labourer has no option except to work in other’s land. There has been steady increase in their number since land reform and technological input based cropping pattern was introduced.

Although per capita availability of food in West Bengal is not better than an all India average, it has hardly increased to 400 gm per capita per day (against the norm of 500 gm per capita per day). The industries in West Bengal have declined and non agricultural employment has not increased, hence agriculture alone cannot solve the problem of low purchasing power of people. Statistically it has been shown that the poverty level in West Bengal have come down from 35.66% in 1993-94 to 27.02% in 1999-2000 still out of 80 mn. People, 22 mn. are below the poverty line which is an alarming figure for a small state like West Bengal.

Land reform was a necessity but not a sufficient condition for agricultural growth as the amount, quality and location of the vested land distributed vary from one agro-climatic zone to the other. The marginal share cropper could not cultivate because of their incapacity in purchasing costly technological inputs. In many cases reverse share cropping has been taking place, i.e. in reality, small and medium farmers cultivate the sharecroppers’ land in which the sharecropper is a labour. If the sharecropper land falls within irrigated areas, they can share irrigation facilities with others but if the plots are in the un-irrigated zone, cultivation is entirely dependent on the success of monsoon. In majority cases, the land remains fallow or is sold to meet the domestic liabilities. There are no restrictions imposed in disposing the allotted land to the farmers through land reform measures. With low purchasing power, the poor people can hardly purchase their food even at the subsidized rate or at the minimum support price; hence distress surplus is being generated.


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The Structure of West Bengal Agriculture:

Twenty-three major crops have been identified in West Bengal. Cereal crops are five in number – rice, wheat, barley, maize and others. There are six varieties of pulses – gram, tur, mung, musur, khesari and others. Non-food grain crops are of three groups: oil seeds, fibers and miscellaneous crops. Oil seeds include rapeseed and mustard, sesame, sunflower and others; fiber crops include jute, mesta and others; miscellaneous crops include sugarcane, potato, tobacco, tea.

Cereal crops dominate. Out of 13.45 mn. ha. cultivated in 2000-01 cereals occupy 44% or 5.92 mn. ha. This has increased by 6.15% during 1980-81 to 2000-01. Cereals production increased by 18.91% in 2001-2009 (22.74% in 1991-2001). Pulses occupy 6.19 mn. ha. or 46% which has declined by 7.64% during the same period. Pulses production decreased by 40.91% in the period of 2001-2009 (increased by 13.77% in the period 1991-2001). Hence 90% of land is devoted to food grain production. Among other crops jute (613 th. ha.), rapeseed and mustard (436 th. ha.) and potato (299.7 th. ha.) have sizable area under them. Area under tea has slowly increased to 109.7 th. ha. in 2000-01. Population increases by 12.21% in 2001-2009 (17.84% in 1991 -2001). Impact of population growth also reduces per capita availability of food grains.

Cereals and pulses together dominate in production also. Total food grain production reached the highest level of 14.85 mn. tons in 1999-2000 which has declined to 13.81 mn. tons in 2000-01. Decline came from aus and aman rice which are dependent on the success of monsoon. Boro rice could maintain its growth because of extensive irrigation. During drought years, all crops get affected adversely.

Among the non-food grain crops, oil seeds of rapeseed and mustard maintained their steady growth both in area coverage and in production. Among the fiber crops jute maintained its steady growth from 1980-81 to 2000-01 with 7.4 mn. bales without any increase in area. Area under potato increased up to a maximum of 318 th. ha. In 1998-99 and declined to 299 th. ha. in 2000-01 without any decline in production. The maximum production of 7.6 mn. tons was obtained in 2000-01. Sugarcane area declined slightly from 22.9 th. ha. to 21.6 th. ha. In 1999-2000 and its production declined from 2.0 mn. tons to 1.46 mn. tons during 1998-1999 to 2000-01. Tea experienced slow rate of increase in area but stagnancy in production.

The Govt. of West Bengal is planning to achieve an annual growth rate of 4% per annum during the 10th Plan period. To realize this growth rate of 4% in agricultural sector animal husbandry, fisheries, vegetables and horticulture have to grow at the rate of 8 to 10% per annum during the tenth plan period. There is a structural gap in West Bengal agriculture framework. The sector has to be diversified. Such diversification in agriculture would be able to support the agro based and agro oriented industries and shall strengthen the food security and generate employment and income.

Towards An Agricultural Policy in West Bengal:

To make agricultural development in West Bengal a sustainable one, there has to be a sound policy framework. The development in agriculture sector alone would not be able to re-vitalize the West Bengal economy, with the continuous decline of the secondary manufacturing sector


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since 1980s always being in the background. Without energizing the secondary sector, the primary sector activities cannot grow as both the sectors are functionally interdependent and sustainability of the primary sector’s production and full utilization of resources depends on improving the scope and production of the secondary sector.

The Govt. of West Bengal had appointed a foreign firm (Mckinsey) in 2001 to prepare a draft report on agricultural policy framework. The firm submitted its report on October 17, 2001 on which the Govt. of West Bengal deliberated and issued a policy in February 2002. This policy was discussed but could not be adopted since there was a difference of opinion among the members of the Ministry.

Mr. Nirupam Sen, the CPM ideologue in recent decades, barks like a disturbed animal: “Complaints are raised against us that we are moving through double-dealing. It is voiced that we are opposing globalization, while certain decisions that we have taken in the realm of running the state go to strengthen the basis of globalization…”3

Accordingly, the Govt. issued the revised policy. The basic objective of the policy is to make the agriculture sustainable by raising it from production of food staff to agri-business by diversifying its structure with the application of information technology with more investment and creating demand for agricultural products.

The CPI(M) state conference in February 2002 prescribed in clichéd capitalist productive force theory to tackle emerging problems. It stated bluntly that, “…. It is also essential to adopt modern technology for bringing about change in the crop pattern towards production of cash crops and increase in agricultural production. It is not also possible to tackle the situation unless the poor and marginal farmers have their access over irrigation, fertilizers, improved seeds, agricultural implements etc…”4

This new policy was discussed in the academia and in the media at large. We will discuss the salient features of the policy.

The International Consultancy Firm known as Mckinsey was appointed in October 2001 to critically examine the development scenario of the agricultural sector and to suggest some policy issues to make it sustainable. The firm put forward its recommendations and suggested certain reform measures for raising the agricultural sector from subsistence level to agri-business level. If the reform measures are adopted, West Bengal could be the granary of India by 2010. It suggested greater use of information technology in this sector for higher productivity and diversification of the sector by introducing agro-based and agro-oriented industries and to make it export oriented for agri-business.

The new agricultural policy will have four interrelated objectives:

• To sustain the achievements of the state with regard to rice production that will maintain self-sufficiency in food and food security.

• To increase yield in rice production, a sizeable amount of land shall be released for crop diversification particularly for the production of the oil seeds, pulses, fruits, flowers, vegetables and other food crops.


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• To protect the bio-diversity and develop agriculture and related activities and in general, plan land use in an ecologically sustainable way.

• To ensure employment generation in the agricultural sector, increase income and living standard of the working people in the countryside. Agricultural policy need to be integrated with rural development aiming at provision of basic services to the countryside.

These policies aim at 4% annual growth in the farm sector and for that 8% growth has to be achieved in horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries. These policies have been commented upon by the media and the academia and even by the partners of the Left Front Government.

Conclusion:

Researchers have occasionally pointed out that the sustainability of agriculture depends not only on financial measures, but on factors which determine whether the system is working as cohesive or not. Studies in this regard point out that the main reasons for disintegration of different measures.

Land reform in West Bengal, giving land to the tillers has motivated the farmers to produce more. But high cost of technological inputs has increased the cost of production while the demand has fallen. The farmers have to sell their products below the support price and this has dampened the incentives of production. The situation is paradoxical.

The Govt. has placed more emphasis on the production side but not on the marketing and distribution side. Owing to the decline of the manufacturing sector during the last quarter century, (agricultural sector could not pay even the minimum wages to the agricultural workers, generating new employment) being a far-off dream. The purchasing power of the people has been adversely affected. The decline in the purchasing power may be one of the reasons for agricultural surplus.

It is no doubt that the agricultural sector needs, to be diversified not only in cropping pattern but also by making it a commercial venture by introducing agro-processing and agro-oriented industries.

Investment has to be stepped up in the food processing industries and processed food may be marketed with some subsidies like adopting sales tax reform. How far the Govt. would be able to protect this sector in this age of globalization from market economy is an open question.


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Tables:

Table -1: Availability of Food Grains in WB

Particulars Year 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2008-09 Population in mn. (1981, 1991, 2001 and 2009)

54.58 68.08 80.20 90.00

Food gains in 000 tons Cereals (Gross) 8043.2 11076.7 13595.7 16167.1 Cereals (Net) 7037.8 9692.2 11896.3 14146.21 Pulses (Gross) 238.2 193.4 219.5 129.7 Pulses (Net) 208.5 169.2 192.5 113.48 Total Food Grain (Gross)

8281.4 11270.1 13815.2 16296.8

Total Food Grain (Net)

7246.3 9861.4 12088.8 14259.69

Per Capita Availability per day in gram Cereals (Net) 353.2 390 406.4 430.63 Pulses (Net) 10.4 6.7 6.5 3.45 Total (Net) 363.6 396.7 412.9 434.08

For Per Capita Net Availability, Total Gross Production has been deflated by 12.5% for seed, storage loss & others.

Sources: Economic Survey of WB 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2009

Table -2: Growth of Population and Food Production in West Bengal in Percent

Particulars 1981-1991 1991-2001 2001-2009 Population 24.73 17.84 12.21 Cereals 37.71 22.74 18.91 Pulses - 18.84 13.77 - 40.91 Total 36.08 22.58 17.96

Sources: Economic Review, Govt. of WB, 2009


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Table -3: Production of Rice and Wheat in West Bengal

Area (A) - in th.ha, Production (P) - in 000 tons, Yield (Y) – in Kg/ha

Particulars Year 1990-91 2000-01 2008-09 Aus Area (A) 610.3 394.0 292.4 Production (P) 906.3 683.9 650.0 Yield (Y) 1485 1735 2069 Aman Area (A) 4306.5 3639.5 4086.6 Production (P) 6865.8 7202.8 10074.3 Yield (Y) 1594 1979 2465 Boro Area (A) 896.1 1401.8 1556.7 Production (P) 2664.4 4541.3 4358.0 Yield (Y) 2973 3239 2800 Rice Total Area (A) 5812.9 5435.3 5935.7 Production (P) 10436.5 12428.0 15037.3 Yield (Y) 1795 2386 2533 Area (A) 269.1 426.0 307.0 Production (P) 530.7 1058.6 764.5 Yield (Y) 1992 2485 2490

Sources: Economic Survey of WB: 1991, 2001 and 2009

Table 4: Percent Increase in Area, Production & Yield of Cereals Crops in West Bengal

Area (A) - in th.ha, Production (P) - in 000 tons, Yield (Y) – in Kg/ha

Item 1990-91 to 2000-01 2000-01 to 2008-09 Area (A) Production (P) Yield (Y) Area (A) Production (P) Yield (Y) Aus Rice (-) 35.44 (-) 24.54 16.83 (-) 25.78 (-) 04.95 19.25 Aman Rice (-) 15.49 4.91 24.15 12.28 39.86 24.55 Boro Rice 56.43 70.44 08.90 11.10 (-) 04.03 13.55 Total (-) 06.50 19.08 27.35 09.20 20.99 06.16 Wheat 58.30 99.66 24.75 (-) 27.93 (-) 27.78 00.20

Sources: Economic Survey of WB: 1991, 2001 and 2009


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References:

1. R. Khasnabish, (2003), Paschimbanger Krishiniti, Krishaker Bhabisyat, Mrittika, Ibid, p.31.

2. B.K.Ghosh and P.K.Kuri, (2007), Agricultural Growth in West Bengal from 1970-71 to 2003-04: A Decomposition Analysis, The IUP Journal of Agricultural Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(4), pages 30-46.

3. N.Sen, (2002), Ajker Biswayan Bharat o Paschimbanga, National Book Agency, p.22. 4. Govt. of West Bengal, (2002), Left Front Government our Tasks, The Marxist, point 11,

p. 80.


41

E- Waste and the Adverse Effect on Human Health

Sankar Prasad Paik1

Abstract

In the 18th Century industrial revolution takes place due to the advances in the field of scie -nce and technology, which marked a new era in human civilization. The information and communication revolution in the 20th Century has brought enormous changes in the way we organize our lives, our economies, industries and institutions. These spectacular modern developments have undoubtedly enhanced the quality of our lives. At the same time, these have led to increase manifold problems including the problem of massive amount of hazdous waste and other wastes generated from electric and electronic products. We have already faced the different kinds of pollutions (air, noise, water, soil etc) beside these e-pollution is the newly, long run and would be a major problem in our country. In this review I have discussed about the sources of E-waste, Constituents, environment and Health implications, Future challenges and opportunities.

Keywords: E-waste, landfills, Heavy metals and Health implications

1 Assistant Professor in Chemistry Sundarban Mahavidyalaya, Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas, Pin-743347


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Introduction:

In 20th Century, the information and communication revolution has brought enormous changes in the way we organize our lives, our economies, industries and institutions. The production of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is one of the fastest growing global manufacturing activities. The Rapid economic growth, coupled with urbanization and a growing demand for consumer goods, has increased both the consumption and the production of EEE [1]. These spectacular developments in modern times have undoubtedly enhanced the quality of our lives. The increasing market penetration in the developing countries, replacement market in the developed countries and high obsolescence rate make e-waste one of the fastest waste streams [2].This new kind of waste is posing a serious challenge in disposal and recycling to both developed and developing countries. While having some of the world's most advanced high-tech software and hardware developing facilities, India's recycling sector can be called medieval[3].The dumping of e-waste, particularly computer waste, into India from developed countries[4](green passport’ according to Gutierrez), is a major landfills problems in our country. E-waste is a serious environmental problem, from toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching into soils in landfills, to the pollution to air and water supplies caused through improper recycling techniques in developing countries.

The electronic goods are comprise into three heads as: ‘white goods,’ comprising of household appliances like air-conditioners, dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines; ‘brown goods,’ comprising of TVs ,micro recorders, D.V.D players cameras etc; ‘grey goods,’ like computers, printers, fax machines, scanners etc. The grey goods are comparatively more complex to recycle due to their toxic composition [5]. There are 10 States that contribute to 70 percent of the total e-waste generated in the country, while 60 to 65 cities generate more than 60 per cent of the total e-waste in India. Among the 10 largest E-waste generating States, Maharashtra ranks first followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Among the top ten cities generating e-waste, Mumbai ranks first followed by Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Surat and Nagpur[6]. These hazardous and other wastes pose a great threat to the human health and environment. It constitutes a serious challenge to the modern societies and requires coordinated efforts to address it for achieving sustainable development. Based on the e-waste national level assessment study, conducted by IMRB in 2007, it is estimated that a total of 3, 82,000 tones of e-waste is generated annually in India. Studies so far reveal that the total e-waste generation in India is approximately 1,46,000 tonnes to 3,30,000 tonnes a year and is expected to touch 4,70,000 tones by 2011[7]. The projected growth for e-waste generation for India is about 34% year on year’ says Sinha (Associate Director of Toxics Link)[8]. In West Bengal, It was estimated that KMA (Kolkata Metropolitan Area) generates around 26000 tons of e-waste annually, of which 9290 tones is available for recycling and only 2000 tones gets recycled and generated 70% landfills. This potential annual e-waste is expected to grow up to as high as 50,265 by 2015 and 1, 44,823 tons by 2020 (fig-1). The e-waste (tones) generated by notebook and desktop gradually increases year by year as compare to printer and consumable electronic goods (fig-2, fig-3)[9] .


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Fig-1

Fig-2

Fig-3


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Our daily activities give rise to a large variety of different wastes arising from different sources. Thus, waste generated by households and consists of paper, organic waste, metals etc. The wastes generated by production processes, households and commercial activities are hazardous waste. Biomedical waste is generated by hospitals and other health providers and consists of discarded drugs, waste sharps, microbiology and biotechnology wastes, human anatomical waste, animal waste, etc. Radioactive waste is any material that contains a concentration of radionuclide’s greater than those deemed safe by national authorities, and for which, no use is foreseen. Other sources of waste include end-of-life vehicles, packaging waste, tyres, agricultural waste, etc. Soil Contamination, surface water and air leads to secondary exposure. The pollution generated by e-waste processing brings about toxic or genotoxic effects on the human bodies, which have discuss in Table-1.

What is e-waste? E-waste is the term used to describe old, end-of-life electronic devices and household appliances which are not fit for their original intended use and are destined for recovery, recycling or disposal. Such wastes composed of wide range of electrical and electronic devices such as computers, laptops, TVs, DVD players, mobile phones, mp3 players, etc, which have been disposed by their original users [10]. E-waste has been categorized into three main category, i.e., Large Household Appliances; eg Refrigerator and washing machine etc IT and Telecom, eg PC, monitor and laptop etc and Consumer Equipment’ eg TV, DVD, mp3 players etc. Each of these e-waste items has been classified with respect to 26 common components found in them. These components from the building blocks of each item and therefore they are readily identifiable and removable. These components are metal, motor/compressor ,cooling, plastic, insulation, glass, LCD, rubber, wiring/electrical, concrete, transformer, magnetron, textile, circuit board, fluorescent lamp, incandescent lamp, heating element, thermostat, brominates flamed retardant (BFR)-containing plastic, batteries, CFC /HCFC /HFC/HC, external electric cables, refractory ceramic fibers, radioactive substances and electrolyte capacitors (over L/D 25 mm). The rapid growth of technology, up gradation of technical innovations and a high rate of obsolescence in the electronics industry have led to one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world which consist of end of life electrical and electronic equipment products. The main source of e-waste are the computer and its accessories monitors, printers, keyboards, central processing units; typewriters, mobile phones and chargers, i-pad, remotes, compact-discs, head phones, batteries, electrical equipment products, LCD/Plasma TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and other household appliances ( fig-4) [5].


45

Fig-4, Different sources of E-waste

Composition of E-waste: E-waste consists (50% ) Iron and steel, (21%)plastics, (13%) non-ferrous metals, glass, wood and plywood, printed circuit boards, concrete, ceramics, rubber and other items constituents. Copper, aluminum, silver, gold, platinum, palladium and so on are the Non-ferrous metals [6]. The presence of lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, hexavalent chromium, and flame retardants beyond threshold quantities make e-waste environmental and health hazardous in nature. In addition, even if individual components in a mixture do not separately have harmful effects but the mixture itself may produce harmful effects known as the “COCKTAIL EFFECT”, Daily “cocktail” of chemicals has been shown to potentially disrupt hormonal systems, adversely affect reproductive functions and cause certain types of cancer.


46

Toxic elements or Pollutants

Occurrence Toxic effect on Human health Referance

Arsenic Semiconductors, diodes, microwaves, LED, Solar cells etc

Bronchitis, nasal irritation or dermatitis, Carcinogenic

[11]

Cadmium Batteries ,pigments, solders, alloys

Carcinogen. Itai- itai disease, Damage the kidney.

[12-14]

Copper Conducted in cables, copper ribbons, coils, circuitry pigments

Allergies, liver damage, and breathing trouble etc

Chrome Pigment in plastics (zinc chromate, lead chromate), magnetic audio and data storage (as chromium VI oxide), in solar cells, and as an alloy component for solder and steel.

Lung cancer (inhalation), gastric burns (chromium (VI) salts), and damage to the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, and lungs (human intake of water-soluble chromium salts).

[12]

Lead Lead rechargeable batteries, Solar, transistors ,lithium batteries, PVC, stabilizers ,lasers, LEDs, thermoelectric elements

The central and peripheral nervous systems, anemia, capable of causing damage to all parts of nephron and the reproductive systems.

[15]

Mercury Thermostats, sensors, relays and switches, discharge lamps, data transmission telecommunications, mobile phones batteries, and certain light sources

Damage CNS, loss of teeth, kidney failure, severe neurotrauma, and even death. Methylated mercury also causes embryo toxicity

[4,15]

Nickel Alloys, batteries, relays, semiconductors, pigments

Respiratory disorders, dermatitis, cancer of lungs and sinus.

[11]

Zn Steel, brass, alloys, disposable and rechargeable batteries, luminous substances

Corrosive effect on skin, damage mucous membranes

[11]

Beryllium Found in switch boards and printed circuit boards.

It is carcinogenic and causes lung diseases

[ 11]

Table 1: Occurrence of Toxic Elements in e-waste and health hazardous


47

Future challenges and opportunities:

Accurate figures not available for rapidly increasing e-waste volumes generated domestically and by imports. No accurate estimates of the quantity of e-waste recycled, the major portion of e-waste is processed by the informal (unorganized) sector using rudimentary techniques. The Inefficient recycling processes result in substantial losses of material value and resources. To overcome this challenges some technological changes and some innovative steps would be consider, such as:

● The production of “halogen-free” appliance, which are not contributing to the production of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) and dioxins.

● The replacement of CRT screens with LCD screens (Pb elimination)

● The introduction of optical fibres (Cu elimination from the cablings)

● The introduction of rechargeable batteries (Ni, Cd reduction)

● Specific allocation of funds for environmental surveillance and evolving public-private

Partnership (PPP) model-based systems could be introduced.

●The formalization of the informal e-wastes recycling sectors into transparent systems. ●Organizing informal recyclers into small enterprises are a very effective way to upgrade their recycling business and practices.

●Adequate sanitary facilities should be provided, and workers should be encouraged to wash before meals and to wash thoroughly and change clothes before leaving work. Smoking,eating and drinking in work areas should be prohibited [10].

●USA has passed resolutions supporting ‘producer take back’ rules. Wipro InfoTech has launched an e-waste disposal service for end customers. Others offering recycling options include Dell (dell.com), HP (hp.com) and Apple (apple.com)[16].

Conclusion: Our country is now placed at a very crucial and interesting position. The time has come, The government as well as the local administration should take serious steps and urgent approach to tackle the e-waste hazard by technical and policy-level interventions, implementation and capacity building and by increasing public awareness in such a way that it can convert this challenge into an opportunity to show the world that India is ready to deal with future problems and can set global credible standards regarding environmental and occupational health.


48

Reference:

1. Ramesh Babu B, Parande AK, Ahmed Basha C. Electrical and electronic: A global environmental problem. Waste Manag Res. 2007;25:307–18. Availablefrom:http://www.cpcb.nic.in/Electronic%20Waste/Chapter2.html.[lastaccessed on 2008 Jan 1].

2. Swerts.T. Waste or opportunity? The importance of a progressive Indian e-waste policy. Published in Toxics Link 17/11/2006. Available from: http:// www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=116.

3. Neha Lalchandani,'E-scare',The Times of India, 24 April 2010.X1. E-Waste Guide.

Available from: http://www.ewaste.in.

4. Sinha S. Downside of the Digital Revolution.Published in Toxics Link, 28/12/2007. Available from:http://www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=124.

5. 'Disposal of e-waste', Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1887, dt. 07.12. 2009.Also see, Sanjay Jog, 'Ten states contribute 70% of e-waste generated in India', The Financial Express, 13 March 2008. Available from: http://www.mait.com/pressupdate.1jsp?id=77.

6. Kukday.K.Makingprofitfromminingofe-wasteAvailablefrom: http://timesofindia.

Indiatimes .com /articleshow/ 2107581. cms.

7. E-waste Assessment in Kolkata Metropolitan Area; Report to West Bengal Pollution Control Board, Gtz and ICC Kolkata; by IMRB International April 2010.

8. 10.Guidelines for Environmentally Sound Management of E-waste. Ministry of

Environment & Forests,Central Pollution Control Board. New Delhi,2008.

9. S.Prakesh;G.D.Tuli;,S.K.Basu;,R.D.Madan,Chapter15,AdvanceInorganicChemistry,vol-II, S.Chand,(2006)

10. Strickland PT, Kensler TW.Chemical and physical agents in our environment. In: Abeloff MD, Armitage JO, Lichter AS, Niederhuber JE, editors Clinical oncology. 1st ed. Churchill Livingston Inc,1995. pp. 153–160. Part 1, Section 2.

11. Pruss-Ustun A, Corvalan C. Preventing disease through healthy environments: Towards an estimate of environmental burden of disease. WHO Publication. 2006:45

12. Stewart BW, Kliehues P. World Cancer Report. Lyon: IARC Press; 2003

13. Harrington JM, Aw TC, Baker EL. Occupational and environmental health and safety. In: David AW, Timothy MC, John DF, Edward JB, editors. Oxford Textbook of Medicine.4th ed.Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003. pp. 956–60. Chap.8.4.1.

14. Raymond J. Environment: Easy to be green. Newsweek. 2007. Jan 08, Available

from: http://www.newsweek.com/id/56722.


49

Role of Bengali Women in the Freedom Movement

Kasturi Roy Chatterjee1

Abstract

In India women is always affected by the lack of opportunities and facilities. This is due to innate discrimination prevalent within the society for years. Thus when the role of Bengali women in the freedom movement is considered one faces a lot of difficulty, as because the women whatever their role were never highlighted. But in recent years however it is being pointed out that Bengali women not only participated in the freedom movement but had played an active role in it.

KeyWords: Swadeshi, Boycott, catalysts, Patriarchy, Civil Disobidience, Satyagraha, Quit India.

1 Assistant Professor in History, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya, Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas, Pin-743347


50

Introduction:

In attempting to analyse the role of Bengali women in the Indian Freedom Struggle, one faces a series of problem is at the very outset. There are very few comprehensive studies on women’s participation in the freedom movement. In my paper I will try to bring forward a complete picture of Bengali women’s active role in the politics of protest: Bengal from 1905-1947, which is so far being discussed in different phases. In this way we can explain that how the women from time to time had strengthened the nationalist movement not only in the way it is shaped for them but once they participated they had mobilized the movement in their own way.

Nature of Participatation in the Various Movements:

A general idea for quite a long time had circulated regarding women’s participation that it is male dictated. In recent years however various writings have came up with evidences against this opinion. In these writings it is being shown that once mobilized the women move on their own, acquiring a new confidence. In their writings Uma Rao and Ishani Mukherjee had pointed out how a number of women directly involved in revolutionary movements in Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab etc. M. Tirtha(1991)1 there was also a big inspirational support base of women of the revolutionaries, the name of who will never come up in the dictionary of freedom strugglers.

The women in large numbers provided food and shelter, carried messages and arms. They were not always from the elite educated society. The uneducated poor women played this role without waiting for any social sanction. Thus the women’s invisible role in the nationalist movement, which provided greater support to it had received very little formal acknowledgement. Similarly women’s active participation also remained invisible. Recent attempts to reconstruct life stories of women activists and oral history from surviving women freedom fighters provide little substance to the theory of male direction, guidance or manipulation. Some British women who made Indian Nationalism their own cause, played an important role as helpers as well as ‘catalysts’, such as Annie Besant,Margaret Cousins,Irish sister Nivedita etc.

But it is really unfortunate, but we will have to accept the fact that the leaders of the National Movement were themselves not aware of the growing base of women’s support and feelings of national cause. Huge women response in the Civil Disobidience Movement surprised them. Margaret cousins wrote a spirited letter to Gandhiji for his division of work by sex, as women had been left K. Madhu (1985)2 in the ashram and Sabarmati, while men accompanied him in his Dandi March. Despite the reluctance on the part of Gandhi Sarojini Naidu and a band of women joined him in his destination. Many of these women never before had left their house, they were shy, orthodox women who were tradition bound yet they came forward in large spontaneously to do what they could at last for their country.

There was an inherent dichotomy found in Gandhian opinion about women participation in the National Movement. On the one hand, he asserted that women had the same rights of freedom


51

and liberty as man. On the other hand while describing the women he says, ‘she is passive and he is active’ K. Madhu (1985)3 he also points out that though essentially the woman is the mistress of the house yet the man is the bread earner. Gandhi’s call for women thus was for their self sacrificing non-violent nature. This approach of Gandhi was being criticized by Gail Omvedt and Maria Mies Moes. They had shown how Gandhi had painted a new myth of Indian womanhood, where women shows Sita like devotion and self sacrificing attitude in whatever work they are doing whether for family or for Nation. K. Madhu(1985)4. As a consequence the Gandhian appeal first attracted the educated elite women with well-placed husbands and servants. To these women family was the first priority than Nation.

Partha Chatterjee the eminent historian thus came up with the view that the new patriarchy of nationalism gave women a new social responsibility of not to alienate men, but to maintain the cohesiveness of family life and solidarity with the kin group. In addition by associating the task of “female emancipation” with sovereign nationhood, nationalism bound them to yet legitimate subordination. Partha Chatterjee also explain the disappearance of the women’s question from the political domain by the end of nineteenth century as a result of nationalism refusal to the women question an issue of political negotiation with the colonial state C. Partha (1994)5

There are some historians however who comes up with the thought that the basic problem arises from the tendency to find a linear connection between the reform movement and growth of nationalism and the roles prescribed for or played by women in the nationalist movement. The social reform did help to improve the status of Indian women but the merger of both had diluted the strength of both the movement. Everything the women had to do within the patriarchal family was not given importance as because the women were not seen as individuals. It was their hard work and readiness for come what may have helped them to prove their strength during the Civil Disobedience Movement, Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement.

It is the inner strength of women that came up during the Extremist Movement in Bengal, when a galaxy of young girls readily sacrificed their lives for the freedom movement and innumerable number of women provided support to freedom fighters, looked after their families in the absence of their fathers, husbands and sons. Participation in the national movement was not limited within the elite class. They did provided the organizational base and ideas to the common women but once aroused they became a strong part in the national movement.

The Swadeshi Movement marked the formation of women organizations. These organizations became the medium for expression of women’s opinion. At the same time they were a training ground for the women, who would later take up the leadership role in the social and political institutions. Renowned historian Geraldine Forbes had pointed out that ‘these institutions played an important role in the formation of Nation’. The women organizations though build on the western model tried their best to adapt the role of an ideal Indian woman, as a companion of man and an ideal mother and at the same time standing for the savior of the country F. Geraldine (1996)6 .The first women organization though begun by men with the views of reform later the


52

women themselves came forward. Some important organizations of the period are Mahila Shilpa Samiti (1906-1908), Bharat Stri Mahamandal, The Hindu Ladies Social and Literacy Cell, Gujrati Stree Mondal. The Bharat Mahila Parishad organized several educational programmes in which notable women like Ramabai, Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu and several others gave speech. Local Muslim women’s organization was also found in the early 20th Century by the upper class Muslim women. In these organizations both Hindu and Muslim women started to define their own interests and proposed solution, and action was taken through association. Thus we see though the associations were initially urban and organized by upper class elite women yet it had the desire to serve all class of women and it was the members of these associations who were drawn to the nationalist movement by nationalist leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

In the swadeshi movement the Bengali men sought the help of women to strengthen it. The nationalists gave religious colour to the movement, by comparing women with ‘Shakti’ (primal power). It is the hidden strength in every woman which comes in front in the period of crisis. This touched the heart of women who could effortlessly identify themselves as parts however small with ‘Shakti’. C. Partha (1994)7 Women as a form of protest observed ‘arandhan’, ‘rakshabandhan’ etc. with great enthusiasm. Ramendrasundar Trivedi wrote a patriotic composition ‘Bangalakshmir Bratakatha’ which touched even the heart of village women.Women in large numbers stopped using foreign goods. Nirod Choudhury remembers that her mother had broken foreign utensils of cooking. Swarna kumari Debi, Kumudini Mitra, Banalata Debi and many others actively propagated for using Swadeshi goods.Sarala Debi played an important organizational role, she established at her residence in Calcutta a centre for physical culture. She also tried to infuse a martial sprit in the members of the club by introducing Birastami Brata and by organizing Pratapaditya and Udayaditya Utsav.In the first phase of revolutionary movement we also see women participating in manufacturing bombs. Radha Rani Roy wife of Motilal Roy and Netrakshi Ghosh niece of Sagarkali Ghosh became expert in mixing and pounding chemicals for manufacturing crude explosives.

The political participation of women in the Swadeshi movement was a merely extension of their domestic role as rightly pointed out by Meredith Borthwick and Tanika Sarkar S. Tanika(2001)8 But during the Non- Cooperation Movement women in different parts of India joined processions, propagated the use of khadi and charkha, some of them left government schools and colleges. Renuka Roy, Vijaylaxmi Pundit and many others left the government institutions and joined the movement. Basanti Debi wife of C.R.Das asked women to boycott foreign goods. In Bengal women in numbers joined the protest. Women of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri took the idea of spinning wheels. Helen Lepcha joined the Ahmedabad session of Indian National Congress B. Meredith (1984)9

In the Salt satyagraha Sarojini Naidu along with a band of women followed Gandhi inspite of his objection in the beginning. Women in large number joined her to Dhasana where Gandhi had given her the Leadership. Not only did the women supported the salt Satyagraha, they also


53

turned their own houses the shelter of Congress workers. They started selling small packages of salt at street corners, picketed shops and prevented men from entering liquor shops. The awakening of these women was mostly self motivated.

In the Quit India Movement almost all the top leaders of congress were arrested even before the movement took its shape, yet the movement was carried on with the full enthusiasm of the participants. In Assam a young girl named Kanaklata Barua led a procession of five hundred women and was killed by the police. In Midnapore Matangini Hazra was killed while leading a protest procession. Adivasi women of Balurghat participated in Quit India movement .In Coochbihar students of Sunity Academy took a positive role. Thus we see that the Gandhian movement broke its restriction and move on its own discourse and the women were more formative in their protest. M. Tirtha (1991)10

Beside the women joining the nationalist movement called by Gandhi, there were few women who did not believe in the path of non- violence. They were active in Bengal, Dacca, Comilla and Chittagong. Kalpana Joshi, Preetilata wadedkar were associated with the Chittagong armoury raid, Preetilata died while assisting Masterda Surya Sen. Shanti and Suniti two young girls of Commilla shot dead Stevens the District Magistrate of Commilla in December 1931 and were given life imprisonments. Few of them had come in front but there were many others whose life and contribution still had to be reconstructed.

But the point that should not be omitted is the joining of non elite women in different political protests, as has been pointed out by Tanika Sarkar9.The late twenties saw the growth of many working class association and women workers particularly became active in Howrah and Calcutta. Their main form of political protest seemed to have been sporadic and frequently violent outbursts in the course of an ongoing struggle. Official reports as well as contemporary document show that women strikers of Bauria, Chengail Jute Mill often clashed with the police and stoned the European mill assistant. S. Samita (1999)11 Renu Chakrabarty the communist leader of the time discussed about the multiplicity of the participation in the peasant movements. The peasant women were in large participants of various Gandhian movements; they from time to time refused to pay tax and had protested even in lying down on streets. But in the Tebhaga movement their expression was much matured, they fought for their own cause. While there are the communist women leaders like Manikuntala Sen and trying to organize the Tebhaga Movement, housewives like Bimala too of Medinipore coming in front fighting with all obstacles and at the same time the Rajbanshi women of North Bengal and sharecropper wife like Batashi of Kakdwip became ardent workers of the movement. Thus it became clear that women movement even in the lower level had started shaping on its own.


54

Conclusion:

The nationalist discourse of the nineteenth century had thus given a new shape to the traditional role of Indian women as mothers and wives in a modernized form with a patriotic flavor. Politics was integrated with the women social reform movements. The women long secluded in their private domain controlled by men came out in large numbers. In their political participation thus comes out their collective aspirations along with their nationalistic demand.

Reference:

1. M. Borthwick (1984): The Changing Role of Women in Bengal, 1849-1905, Princeton University Press, 1984. 9 –Pp25-27 ibid 60-64 s

2. P. Chatterjee (1994): The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories,

Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994.5-Pp12-14 7-27-30

3. G. Forbes Geraldine (1996): Women in Modern India: The New Cambridge History of Modern India iv.2, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp 80-95.

4. M. Kishwar (1985): Gandhi on women (in 2 parts), Economic Weekly, Vol 20, no.40, 5

October 1985. 2-Pp2Vol 20 3-Pp4 Vol40 4 –Pp6-7 Vol40

5. T. Mandal (1991): The Woman Revolutionaries of Bengal, 1905-1939, Calcutta, 1991. 1-Pp13-16 10-Pp80-90 Ibid-Pp95

6. T. Sarkar (2001): Hindu wife, Hindu Nation: Community, Religion and Cultural

Nationalism, Delhi, Permanent Black, 2001. 8-Pp 67- 70

7. S. Sen (1999): Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry, Cambridge University Press, 1999. 11-Pp 50-57


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Keats and Theory of Hellenism (A Critical Review)

Arif Mahammad Chaprasi1

Abstract

"Hellenism" may be narrated as conformity to, imitation of, or devotion to the culture of ancient Greece. Since, Hellenism refers to the Greek art, customs, and culture particularly in regard to its influence, Keats is a Hellenist in the sense that he suffices to propagate Greek culture and ideals through his poetry and made an attempt to deploy mythological symbols & characters to communicate his expertise with his readers. This article heightens through mythological studies, Greek culture and art of Keats’s Odes. His poetry, that is illuminated with meaning and a authentic Greek admiration, adoration and veneration of beauty, will ever be a landmark for the readers or newcomers.

Keywords: Hellenism, Hellas, Mythology, Polytheism, Narcissus, Enceladus, Oceanus, Anthropomorphic, idiosyncratic.

1 Government Approved PTT in English, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya, Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas, Pin-743347


56

Introduction:

'Hellenism' is the term used to describe the influence of Greek culture, thought, ideals, customs, art and language, especially after the time of Alexander the Great, on the people the Greek and Roman Empires conquered or interacted with. The Classical or Hellenic period often considered ancient Greece's golden age of Philosophy, art and literature was followed by the Hellenistic Age which began at the time of Alexander the Great's death (323 B.C) & ended with Roman's defeat of Egypt (30 B.C). Geographically, the Greeks during the Hellenistic age ruled a vast, geographic area that included Eastern Mediterranean and the middle East. The word 'Hellenism' has been derived from the Greek word 'Ellinismos', and it has been used basically to describe the people of Greek Lineage or to describe as set of values for living.

Now-a-days, 'Hellenism' is sharply connected to Greece. In the ancient time Greeks were called 'Hellas' & 'Hellenic' was often associated with Greek culture, art and customs. It also observed that the term "Hellenistic" stems from the word 'Hellazein', which means to speak Greek or identify with the Greeks. In terms of literature, the writings of ancient Rome and Greece had long been knotted together under the commandment of 'classical studies'. Typically, Latin translation of Greek works served as the basis of such studies. But gradually a separation of Roman and Greek cultures began to occur, resulting in a new respect for Greek works as the models on which subsequent Roman literature was based. So gradually, interest & advantage of Greek literature was growing high as scholars in different ages sought to pursue the veracity of Homer & his works and Greek culture, art and ideas as well. So , it was very natural that these Hellenic or Greek culture had largely contributed to the world literature and civilization.

But it is more clear that during the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, in the aftermath of the 18th century's Neo-classicism , England became increasingly attached and enamored of Greece and particularly the Romantic poets mostly John keats, P.B.Shelley and Lord Byron. But, it is also noted that, the word ‘Hellenism’ is connected mostly with John Keats, John Milton or Swinburne. But Keats, in no doubt, was the grand master among the poets dealing with 'Hellenism' for all era. He superimposed Greek myths in his poetry so dexterously and shrewdly that no other poet even in Greek surpassed him. Edward.B.Hungerford stresses that for Keats and Shelley, mythology became a 'new language' a 'new era' for pursuing and exploring religious and spiritual themes.They are also acknowledg-ed by modern critics to be the best representatives of ' English Romantic Hellenism '.

William Wordsworth, as well, has been identified as a Romantic Hellenic as Douglas Bush describes him as ' the fountain head of 19th century poetry on mythological them-es". Bush identifies John Keats as the poet most influenced by Wordsworth; Levin recounts him as " the most Grecian of modern poets." Keats inspiration includes Grecian sculpture and art, as in 'Ode


57

on a Grecian Urn'(1820), as in 'Endymion'(1820). Pierce notes that poems such "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Hyperion"(1820) are classy in the noblest sense of the word, as nobly Grecian as anything in our language.Actually he had established the 'Hellenic' style in english poetry and given extraordinary gravity to Greek culture and art.Keats, it is notified,as is well known,was not a classical scholar or it will be better to say a 'romantic poet', yet he has been famous for his Hellenism, a term which may be defined as a love of Greek art and culture especially, poetry ,music, painting, sculpture and architecture and way of life. Keats had an inborn love for Greek impetus their religion of joy. As a student he composed a prose translation of Virgil's work 'Aeneid', a little latter he read Homer's great epic ' Iliad 'and was thrilled by its beauty. His passion and excitement are expressed deeply in his sonnet 'On first looking in to Chapman's Homer'.Three books which Keats possessed as a student and enjoyed a lot deeply are : Took's 'Pantheon', Lempira's 'Classical Dictionary' and great Spence's 'Polymeric' which provided him with further insights into classical art and literature.

He once wrote to one of his friends that he never ceased to wonder at ' all that incarnate delight' of the Greek way of life. Infact, he was driven to the universe of Greek beauty because of he wanted to escape imaginatively from the harsh realities of his presents. It should be noted that 'Keats was a Greek' in mind and spirit because he could enter lovingly and imaginatively into the world of the ancients and classical myth as well and not because his knowledge of it was accurate and scholarly. His presentation of 'Hellas'is romantic and not realistic. As Keats' mind was impregnated with Greek literature and mythology, he habitually chooses Greek stories for his poetry like 'Endymion'(1818), 'Lamia'(1819),'Hyperion'(1818),'Ode to Psyche'((1819),'Ode on a Grecian urn','The eve of st.Agnes'(1820) etc. 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' is basically a monument of the poet's power of entering imaginatively into the another world. The theme, morals, essence of this literary work is directed by this classical touchstone. For 'Endymion' keats has borrowed subjects from the Greek pagans. He had a strong affinity and most vital response for the outmoded polytheism of the Ancient Greek and Roman. So, it is noted that frank sensuousness, joys of life, mysterious message, eter-nal quarries of the pure phenomenon world are furnished in the verses of Keats. Thus Keats' poems naturally becomes Hellenic.

Moreover, there are a lot of allusions to Greek myth and legends as well which are not directly based on Greek themes. However,he frequently alludes to the Muses, Apollo, Narcissus, Endymion, Diana and a number of other classical Gods and Goddesses. For example, in 'Ode to Nightingale' there have many references to 'Dryads' ("that thou light winged Dryad of the trees"), 'Flora'("tasting of Flora and country green") & 'Bacchus' ("not charioted by Bacchus and his pards"). In 'Ode on Melancholy' references are made to the river Lethe, goddess Proserpine and Psyche. These allusions are not mere conventional personifications as with other poets and there is a tone of enjoyment which shows that Greek Mythology had really taken possession of his mind.

Other poems of Keats that corroborate with the Greek myths are 'Lamia','Hyperion' and' The fall of Hyperion' which are regarded naturally as lengthy poems. As the very titles of these pieces


58

evoke, these deal with and lull ancient Greek Mythology with painting of Keats' imagination. Among these, 'Lamia' again countersigns the revival of ancient paganism of Greeks. It presents the story of love of the serpent Goddess (Lamia) and human being (Lycius), and a purely classical touch is found here in this poem. In 'Hyperion' Keats employed a purely magical touch of Greek gods and goddesses like saturn, Enceladus (god of war), Oceanus (god of sea), Hyperion (god of sun).The 'Ode to Psyche' is based on the legend related to the love of the Greek god Cupid and the goddess Psyche or the human soul. All these poems show how deeply Keats' imagination was steeped in the classical mythology and art of ancient Greece.

It may be observed that Keats became wonder at the sculptures of ancient Greece.And thus he expressed his emotional attitude in his numerous poetry. All these aspects are found in his wonderful sonnet "On seeing the English Marbles". In his other poems like 'Hyperion' and 'Ode on Indolence' Keats deals with the innocence, art, symmetry, simplicity, proportion of Greek art and sculpture. In this regard "Ode on a Grecian Urn' is probably the best poem depended on this aspect. Here Keats says that ever unchangeable art will show its mastery over the nature or human being for decades. Actually, the ancient Greeks cultivated the ultimate devotion of beauty and joy of life. They were the true worshippers or lovers of beauty. As a result, Keats worships the Greek customs and rules and he also a genuine lover and a true worshipper of beauty. Beauty was such an aspect in Keats's poetry that it was the ultimate development of any human perfection. As he says :

' Beauty is truth, truth Beauty - That is all / ye know on earth, and

all ye need to know' .

As Matthew Arnold points out the last three lines of the 'Ode on a Grecian Urn', ' is as Greek as anything from Homer or Theocritus'. Similarly the stanza (4) of this Ode begins, ' Who are these coming to the sacrifice ?' has been described as having ' the clear radiance of Greek style '.

It is also noted that the instinctive Hellenism lies in his sensuous, imaginative and passionate searching for the true essence of loveliness. For instance the first line of 'Endymion' : ' A thing of beauty is a joy forever '. So it is clearly evident that all the happiness, joy and longing of his life was nothing but an eternal beauty which is an inseparable part of Greek. The spiritual longing of his life clearly highlights the Greek influence upon him. As his spiritual longing and passion are deeply expressed in ' Ode to Psyche' - " yes, I will be thy priest /and build a fane /In some untrodden region of my mind, ................. shall murmur in the wind ". Keats also possesses enough passion for perfection of the Greeks. He employs the epigrammatic terseness and brevity of the Greeks. Phrases like 'drowsy', 'numbness', 'leaden-eyed despair', 'leaf-fringed legends', 'cold - pastoral', 'wakeful anguish of the soul' etc. bear enough testimony to this. The opening two lines of the 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' have been described by Rossetti as the "pillars of Hercules of the human language".


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It may be observed that personification of nature is a most striking feature of romantic poets. Keats also possessed the same trait. But surprisingly Keats's pleasure in the poem of nature led him to the very heart of Greek Mythology (e.g.) in 'Endymion', Keats treats the moon as the Greek goddess coming down to kiss Endymion. He suggests the fiery sun as God Apollo. In this regard anthropomorphic terms is imaginative faculty connected with natural phenomenon. Again in 'Ode to Autumn' Autumn is found conspiring with maturing sun as a close bosom friend and Autumn is personified as reaper, gleaner, winnower and cider-pressure. Here Keats follows the Greek attitude by attributing shaping human qualities to God and semi-God. Hence a superb Hellenic touch has been traced here. Through the treatment of Greek myths and allusions to Greek characters, Keats creates a genuine Greek atmosphere in his poetry as he presents typically Greek objects, ceremonies, rentals and customs, shrines and altars, pipes, processions and sacrifices. As very beginning of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" bears such testimony : 'Of deities mortals, or of both /In Tempe or the dales of Arcady ? ........ what wild ecstasy ?'

However, Keats is thus a classicist because he has dealt with themes, subjects and situations related to ancient Greek mythology and literature. The whole universe of classical Greece has become more alive, animated and vivid in his poems. The perfection of form, the beauty of shape, the purity and preciseness of outline, a restraint and reserve associated with Greek are found in Keats's poetry. He was, no doubt, Greek in spirit but surely has the romantic exuberance. In his poetry we find a rare combination of classicism with romanticism. As Cazamian points out very clearly "Keats affects the rare union of classical discipline, guided by the examples and precepts of the ancients with the more intrinsically precious matter, which the artist finds in romanticism".

Howsoever, here keats becomes the idiosyncratic figure in this field of literature. The most fertile and beautiful fact is that by this 'Greek temperament' of Keats, the whole English literature and world is fecundated and fulfilled by some incredible literary achievements from him and it is, of course, the excellent and perennial result of his Hellenism. To conclude, Keats is an unalloyed and authentic poet who possesses a passion for beauty. His art, his poetry is for the sake of poetry and nothing else. He is,in no doubt, envisaged as an 'English Greek' in all age.


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References:

1. Keats and Hellenism : An Essay. Jenkyns, Richard (Review of English Studies/Vol.38 page 94)

2. Keats and Hellenism : Stillinger, Jack (Vol.41, p198)

3. Keats and Hellenism : An essay by Martin Aske (Cambridge university press : paperback)

4. Douglas Bush : John Keats. London.1967 (Masters of world literature)

5. Sidney Colvin : Keats. London.1968 (Macmillan Paperback)

6. Dr.S.Sen & J.K.Chopra : 'John Keats' Odes: Hyperion, The fall of Hyperion and Other poems. (Unique Publisher, New Delhi)

7. Prof.Ramjilal, : 'An Evaluation of his Poetry'. Rama Brothers pvt.Ltd. New Delhi.

8. E.C.Pettet. 'The Poetry of John Keats' (Cambridge. 1957)

9. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems_and_poets/poets/detail/John keats.

10. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period.

Heteroglossia: A Multidisciplinary Research Journal

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