Chapter 8: In conclusion: rural households of Assam require continuous food based interventions provides a commentary on the role and significance of food based welfare
3.6 BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE STUDY VILLAGES
Table 3.10 shows the basic infrastructure available in both Chaudhurirchar and Kumargaon revenue village.
Village road
The eastern and southern parts of Chaudhurirchar village remains submerged during the monsoons. The villagers have to struggle with clayed roads during the entire monsoon. The villagers use wooden boat and boat made out of banana tree to move around the village.
Nearest market is Fulkatri, which is located about 3km from the village. Fulkatri market has been the worst affected by flood and erosion. Main road of the village is also damaged by flood and the communication becomes more pathetic during monsoon.
In Kumargaon village too, roads remain in a bad condition. Nearest market is Jorhat which is 15km away from the village. Kumargaon village has slightly better infrastructure than that of Chaudhurirchar village.
82
Table 3.10Availability of basic infrastructure in Chaudhurirchar and Kumargaonrevenue villages Availability of infrastructure Chaudhurirchar Kumargaon
Electricity 123 107
Safe drinking water 120 83
Sanitation 47 52
School/College One primary school/
One middle school in the village One primary school in the village
Distance from nearest town 35km (approx) 15km (approx)
Distance from primary health centre 70km 2km
Name/distance of nearest market Fulkatri/6km Jorhat/15km
Source: Survey data, 2015
Housing condition
The housing condition is very poor. There is no pucca19 house in Chaudhurirchar village. The houses of the villages are mainly semi-pucca and kutchha houses. People make houses out of roof tin to cope with flood, but it exerts extra heat making the condition harsher, with minimal amount of power supply. Therefore, throughout long months of the year, the people of the village have to live in an unhealthy living condition. Moreover, the households who cannot afford to purchase roof tin build kutchha houses.
In Kumargaon village, the three types of houses found are: pucca, semi pucca and kutchha.
Number of semi pucca and kutchha houses is more than the number of pucca houses. The living condition is unhealthy because of the fragmentation of landholding. The houses are therefore densely located. Also those houses which are more exposed to water and flood has to bear repair cost every year during monsoon.
19Definition of Pucca, semi pucca and kutchha houses are as follows: Pucca (walls of the house is made of materials like burnt bricks, stones- packed with lime or cement, timber, ekraetc and roof materials are tiles, GCI (Galvanised Corrugated Iron) sheets, asbestos cement sheet, RBC (Reinforced Brick Concrete), RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) and timber etc.), semi pucca (a house that has fixed walls made up of pucca material but roof is made up of the material other than those used for pucca house) and Kutcha houses (the walls and roof of which are made up of such as unburnt bricks, bamboos, mud, grass, reeds, thatch, loosely packed stones, etc).
Access to safe drinking water
Main source of drinking water is hand pump in both the villages. In Chaudhurirchar village, 120 households have their own hand pump. During monsoon when there is flood, households cannot have safe drinking water as hand pump water gets contaminated due to flood. These households arrange drinking water from the other households who are not affected by the floodwater. In Kumargaon village, 83 households have their own hand pump;
remaining households does not have their own hand pump but arrange their drinking water from their nearby neighbouring households.
Sanitation
The process of identification of beneficiary households and building of subsidized toilet under Rural Sanitation Programme were in progress during the time of survey. As the programme is implemented in different phases in Chaudhurirchar village, first phase was completed and till the time of survey 40 households are benefitted from this scheme. In Kumargaon village too, the first phase was completed and at the end of first phase total number of 44 households got proper toilet facility.
Electricity
In Chaudhurirchar village 123 households and in Kumargaon village 107 households has electricity facility. But the households‘ complained about frequent power cut during summer.
Primary Health Centre
Primary Health Centre, which is supposed to provide basic healthcare facilities at government subsidized rates to the villagers, is located in about 70km away from the Chaudhurirchar village. It takes about three hours from the village to reach the health centre.
After crossing the river by boat one has to take bus to reach the PHC. So the better option
84
in the hands of the villagers is to go to the Dhubri Civil Hospital which is 35km by road. In case of Kumargaon village, Primary Health Centre is located just 2km away from the village.
Schools and Anganwadi Centres
There is one lower primary school and one middle school in Chaudhurirchar village. There is no high school in the village, nearest high school is located about 10 km away from the village. On the other hand, there is one Primary School in Kumargaon village. Middle School and High School is about 5km away from the village. Anganwadi Centre (AWC) is constructed adjacent to the primary school in both the villages. There is one AWC in each village. The details of operation of AWC are discussed in chapter 6.
Access to PDS and other food based welfare programmes
Table 3.11 shows the list of beneficiary households covered under different food based welfare programmes derived from houselisting schedule. The major food based welfare programmes operating in the studied villages are the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), Integrated Child Development Services-Scheme (ICDS) and cooked mid-day meal programme (CMDM). Functioning of these programmes in both the villages is discussed in chapters5 and chapter 6.
Table3.11 Access to food based welfare programmes in the study villages, 2015
Chaudhurirchar Kumargaon
Ration cards/programmes Number Per cent Number Per cent
AAY 20 16 37 33
BPL 44 35 22 20
APL 25 20 17 15
MMASY 20 16 19 17
Multiple cards nil 3 3
No ration cards 18 14 13 12
ICDS* 134 100 42 100
MDM* 74 100 65 100
Source: Survey data, 2015,
*ICDS and MDM coverage is 100 percent as all the eligible beneficiaries are covered under these two scheme
Chapter 4
Functioning of Targeted Public Distribution in Rural Assam: 1997 to 2013-14
This chapter discusses the functioning of the public distribution system (PDS) in Assam with particular focus on the period 1997 to 2013-2014. The PDS is by far, the largest demand side food distribution programme, where the burden of subsidy is borne by the Central government. While food in India is both a Union and State subject, PDS is largely centrally funded, with the burden of distribution on the states. The PDS in Assam is almost entirely centrally funded. The price of PDS foodgrains in Assam is decided by the State government and it varies with the geographical terrain. Therefore Assam follows some form of geographical targeting as well as narrow targeting based on above and below poverty line population. At present rice, kerosene and small amount of wheat is distributed to the beneficiary households. Distribution of levy sugar has stopped since 2013. This chapter discusses rice distribution, as currently rice is the main food item distributed through PDS in the state.
Section 4.1 depicts the organisational structure of PDS in Assam. Section 4.2 discusses the extent and spread of fair price shops. Section 4.3 throws light on identification of PDS beneficiaries and Section 4.4 elaborates on the current state issue price of rice in different regions of Assam. I conclude this chapter with a summary on the characteristic features of targeted public distribution system of Assam.