TRAINING OF SENIOR AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS AND ADMINISTRATORS: THE CASE OF RAJASTHAN, INDIA

HARI MOHAN MATHUR

Director, The HCM State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

(Received: 14 September, 1976)

SUMMARY

Agricultural experts are increasingly realising that the technical education w,hich they received in the colleges and universities 15 or even 10 years ago cannot now be very much help to them in their work, which is getting highly specialised. As more and more agricultural development projects to assist people in the rural areas are launched, the need currently being felt for in-service training of agricultural experts is certain to grow substantially in the coming years. While some arrangements exist for the training of junior staff, it will be necessary and desirable to provide institutional arrangements for training the senior agricultural experts as well. Meanwhile, some interdisciplinary programmes for experts and administrators have been conducted at the HCM State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur, and perhaps lessons from this experience might be of some interest to agricultural development planners and administrators elsewhere.

INTRODUCTION

In Rajasthan, a state in the northwestern part of India, a number of agricultural development plans and projects, including some assisted with funding from the World Bank, have been launched in the last few years. Now located in the state capital, Jaipur, is an organisation called the special schemes organisation whose function primarily is to prepare projects and monitor their implementation. Some new field agencies, set up lately, have been charged with the clear responsibility of vigorously implementing these projects. Currently there exists a growing awareness that training-especially of senior experts and administrators-can rapidly lead to improvements in both the planning and implementation of such programmes.

Why is the realisation growing now, more than ever before, that training could 29

Agricultural Administration (4) (1977)-a Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1977 Printed in Great Britain

30 HARI MOHAN MATHUR

be genuinely useful to those involved in agricultural planning and administration? How have the training needs of this senior staff been met so far? What is being presently done to provide training for the senior experts and administrators? What, on the basis of the experience gained in this state, can be done to make this training more usefui? These and other related questions will be examined in this paper as they are likely to excite interest amongst planners and administrators of agricultural development programmes elsewhere, too.

GROWTH OF TRAlNING CONSCIOUSNESS

In part, the growth of interest in training is a sequel to the current emphasis on the problems of agricultural development. In Rajasthan 72.5 % of the total population, estimated in 1971 at 25,765,806, is engaged in agriculture which is largely dependent on a meagre and uncertain rainfall. Droughts in the arid western region of the state are a recurrent feature of life. To remedy this situation, irrigated farming is being extended wherever possible. In the northern region-also deficient in rainfall- three major irrigation projects exist and are in the process of being further developed. These are: (1) the Gang canal project; (2) the Bhakra canal project and (3) the Rajasthan canal project. In the southeastern region, where rain-fed crops grow, the Chambal canal project, buiit to utilise the perennial flow of water from the Chambal river, is currently the scene of efforts to improve the existing water and land management practices. Under the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), efforts are afoot to develop dry farming on a scientific basis in ten districts in the semi-arid region. Systematic dairy. development, launched on a massive scale, is a new venture in the state.

In many cases there was no experience of operating some of these new develop- ment projects-new in the way they are organised, the way they are to be ad- ministered and the way they approach the farmers being assisted. As a first step, the personnel chosen to man the projects were especially selected on the basis of their past performance in agriculture and other related fields. But even this carefully chosen staff was not fully equipped to operate the new projects. The need to train them simply arose because of the realisation that some kind of preparation was a ‘must’ for such personnel before their assignment to the various new projects of agricultural development.

Agricultural science and technology have made rapid progress in recent years. It was research leading to the production of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of seed which chiefly paved the way for substantial increases in farm output. Extending the benefits of the ‘Green Revolution’ to more areas and to a larger population is possible only if those administering the agricultural development programme first

TRAINING OF SENIOR AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS IN INDIA 31

acquire knowledge of new scientific advances. A significant contribution to the current growing awareness of the need for training is a widespread feeling among agricultural experts and administrators that what they learned about agriculture in the colleges and universities twenty-or even ten-years ago cannot much help them to find solutions to all the problems they face now.

IN-SERVICE TRAINING OF EXPERTS

The Junior Staff Training Centre at Jodhpur (which is in Rajasthan and is the only training institute so far established by the Agriculture Department) caters for the field level staff in soil conservation work. The village level workers (VLW) who, more and more, are becoming involved in agricultural extension work, receive some agricultural training at the two VLW Training Centres located at Sawai Ma&.opur and Jodhpur. These centres are operated by the Panchayat and Development Department.

The Department of Agriculture does not yet have any institutional set-up for training its senior experts. This does not mean, however, that the senior agricultural experts have been receiving no training at all. The arrangement has been to depute them for short-term advanced training courses at institutions outside the state such as the Indian Institute of Agricultural Research at New Delhi. Experts have even been going abroad for study and training. Some experts have endeavoured to keep themselves abreast of developments in their specialities through their con- nection with the various local agricultural research stations in Rajasthan which the Government is eventually transferring to the control of the Udaipur Agricultural University.

Obviously, for training in highly specialised subjects, the senior experts would continue going to the centres of advanced studies and research located outside the state in various parts of the country. It is not easy to establish advanced research centres everywhere.

However, a number of experts representing new areas of specialisation have been recruited in recent years. In the years ahead the Department of Agriculture will have to have more and more experts to undertake the proliferating specialised tasks. Some kind of institutional arrangement for the training of this growing senior expert staff would indeed be desirable. It is somewhat expensive to send large numbers of people at any one time for training outside the state even if the right kind of facilities exist elsewhere. For practical reasons the Government cannot spare, at any given time, a large number of officers to go to distant places for train- ing. The Agricultural University at Udaipur and the Central Arid Zone Research Institute at Jodhpur will be in a position to extend considerable help to the Depart-

32 HARI MOHAN MATHUR

ment of Agriculture in running training programmes of its own for the senior expert staff.

SIPA TRAINING PROGRAMMES IN AGRICULTURAL ADMINISTRATION

SIPA (The HCM State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur) was established in 1957 mainly to train general administrators. It has now begun conducting some training programmes directed at improving the performance of technical experts, including agricultural experts and administrators.

Two main considerations were involved in initiating the training programmes in agricultural development at this Institute. (a) The need to re-orientate the senior experts who are being increasingly called upon to shoulder responsibilities for more and more new agricultural development projects. The Department of Agriculture does not yet have any organisational set-up for training its senior expert staff, either in technical or managerial matters. A Deputy Director of Training, recently appointed in the Department, is concerned with the formidable task of training the junior staff which operates chiefly at the field level. (b) The need to provide training for the general administrators, as well as the technical experts, as they both operate together. At the district level the district collector, a general administrator from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), is responsible for co-ordinating and im- plementing agricultural development programmes in which experts from the Agriculture, Irrigation, Co-operation and other departments play an equally important role. In addition, the nature of the changing job requirements now seems to be compelling the general administrators to know more about the technical aspects of agricultural programmes that they administer and the experts to know more about the administrative matters that confront them at every step of their otherwise specialised agricultural work.

The SIPA training programmes (including seminars and workshops) are attended by the experts as well as the administrators. These are organised in collaboration with the government departments concerned and other institutions.

The programmes conducted until now and those planned for the current year broadly fall into three categories: (a) training programmes for the World Bank assisted projects; (b) training programmes for the small and marginal farmer development projects and (c) training programmes for rural development projects. These are not mutually exclusive categories. Some programmes offer much that can be valuable to expert staff working on more than one project. Table 1 lists the three broad training programme areas, and the specific training programmes under these categories.

A brief account of the three broad programme areas would seem to be in order at this point.

TRAINING OF SENIOR AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS IN INDIA 33

TABLE 1 TRAINING PROGRAMMES CONDUCTED/PLANNED AT SIPA

- -___

Programme areaS Specific programmes - --- A. Programmes for the World Bank 1. Project Planning, Information, Monitoring and

assisted projects. Control Systems. 2. Command Area Development. 3. Agricultural Refinance and Development

Familiarisation Workshop. 4. Appreciation Course for Bank Officers in

Rajasthan Dairy Development Project. 5. Programme for Project Officers and Extension

Workers of DPAP. 6. Programme for Trainers on Sheep Pastures in

DPAP. 7. Programme for Managers of Land Development

Bank (in collaboration with the IBRD and the ARDC).

B. Programmes for the small and marginal farmer development projects.

1. Programme for SFDA and MFAL projects. 2. Implementing Land Reforms. 3. Development in Tribal Areas.

C. Programmes for rural development 1. District Planning. projects. 2. Administration of Rural Development.

3. Agricultural Administration. 4. Co-operative Law and Administration. 5. Agricultural Legislation. 6. Training for Managers and Chief Accountants

of Central Co-operative Banks (in collaboration with Reserve Bank of India).

7. Training for District Auditors of Co-operative Societies (in collaboration with ARDS).

-___-____ __~--__-- --__ - Source: Training Programmes in 1975176, and Training Programmes in 1976177. Brochures of the SIPA, Jaipur. Published annually.

(1) Training programmes for the World Bank assisted projects The World Bank is assisting the following projects in Rajasthan: (a) the Chambal

Command Area Development (CAD) project; (b) the Rajasthan Canal Command Area Development (CAD) project; (c) the Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) in the Jodhpur and Nagaur districts; (d) the dairy development project. The training needs of the staff for these projects were identified by the World Bank appraisal missions and the appraisal reports mention them in very specific terms in most cases. As considerable aid amounts, totalling 2660 million rupees, are involved in these projects, high priority has naturally been assigned to training this project staff.

(2) Training programmes for the small and marginal farmer detjeiopment projects Although agricultural development in the past quarter century has been rapid,

especially in the canal irrigated areas of the Ganganagar and Kota districts, the small farmer has not shared in the benefits fully even in these areas. The tribal population in the southern parts of the state has also not participated in the

34 HARI MOHAN MATHUR

development process to the degree planners had earlier anticipated. The Govern- ment is now attaching the highest importance to assisting the development of the small farmers and the tribal groups. The Small Farmers Development Agency @FDA), the Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers (MFAL) programme and the Tribal Sub@:Plans are directed at improving the productivity of these weaker segments of the population. Training of staff for these programmes operat- ing in certain selected districts is, therefore, very important.

(3) Training programmes for rural development projects In Rajasthan 82.39% of the population lives in 35,795 village communities.

This population is largely dependent on agriculture and animal husbandry. Apart from the large size of the rural population, another main consideration which stresses the importance of rural development is the need to see that the poor, concentrated mostly in villages, begin participating more fully in the development process. The objectives of these programmes are to upgrade the skills of both the experts and the administrators in the. areas of district planning, rural development and agricultural’ administrat,ion.

LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE

Even when formal arrangements are eventually made by the Department of Agriculture for the exclusive training in technical matters of its senior experts, the SIPA programme would not become redundant. This has a specific purpose-to prepare the senior experts and administrators for their new higher managerial responsibilities at the same time upgrading some of their technical skills as well.

The endeavour at the SIPA would be to go on improving the quality of these programmes. Already some experience in conducting such programmes has accumulated and, on this basis, it is possible to offer some suggestions for making these programmes more useful.

(a) Great care needs to be taken in designing the programmes, in spelling out the objectives and the means of attaining them.

(b) It is not necessary to have wholly structured programmes. They could often be flexible, capable of being modified to reflect the interests and requirements of the participants which become better known as the programmes progress.

(c) Programmes should not be confined to the Institute’s classrooms. Field visits must be arranged wherever possible.

(d) Participants themselves make a valuable contribution to the success of the programmes. Their involvement in the programmes must be enlisted from the initial stages.

(e) For the senior people training cannot be conducted in the same way as it

TRAINING OF SENIOR AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS IN INDIA 35

is for those newly recruited to the service. Seminars and workshops, which are highly participative, enabling everybody to profit from an interchange of experience, are therefore preferable to mere lectures in the classroom.

(f) Participants in such programmes must be drawn from different depart- ments and backgrounds. This helps them to better appreciate the con- tribution to the agricultural development process of different departments and agencies-Agriculture, Irrigation, Co-operation, Electricity, land development banks and so on.

(g) Training material must be locally produced. Case studies can be written in advance by the participants themselves.

(h) Research and training must go hand in hand. The training institution must undertake research on agricultural problems.

(i) Trainers need training themselves, particularly in the growing area of agricultural development. They should be encouraged to attend relevant training courses and participate in the conferences.

(j) Training should not be regarded as a ‘once and for all’ affair. For the senior level staff there must be several opportunities during their careers to attend courses of longer or shorter duration.

Since it is not possible to precisely evaluate the effectiveness of the training programmes in contributing to enhanced productivity, there are some who still doubt their value. It must, however, be conceded that while training by itself cannot accelerate agricultural growth, the lack of trained manpower to plan and execute the programmes can be a major stumbling block. Seen in this perspective, the training efforts that SIPA in Rajasthan has lately made constitute an important step in the direction of making training an active element in the development process.