Inclusion of Sugali community in the development process: A case study from South India

Social exclusion is something that can happen to anyone, more so in the case of hierarchical societies of South Asian countries. But some people are significantly more at risk than others, due to its persistent nature of locational and environmental per se. Research has found that people with certain backgrounds and experiences are disproportionately likely to suffer social exclusion. The key risk factors include: low income, family conflict, being in care, school problems, being an ex-prisoner, being from an ethnic minority, living in a deprived neighbour-hood in urban and rural areas, mental health problems, age and disability. The present paper deals with the Sugali, an ex-criminal tribe in Andhra Pradesh, South India. The processes of inclusion are explained by using the various affirmative actions initiated by the agencies (government and NGO’s) in order to mitigate the problem of exclusion and also marginalization. The present paper is an outcome of an ethnographic field work conducted among Sugali, a semi-nomadic community, in Penukonda Revenue division of Andhra Pradesh, South India. The paper is based on the empirical data collected from Adadakulapalle settlement over a period of 2005 to 2006 and 2007 to 2008 as part of my Ph.D. work. It is basically a qualitative micro-level study aimed at understanding the livelihood systems of the Sugali community. In order to fulfil the objectives of the paper, qualitative anthropological tools and techniques, for instance, observation (participant and non-participant type), interviews (formal and informal) using detailed checklist, key-informant interviews, case studies, focus group discussions, etc., are employed. These are mainly observation (participant and non-participant type), interviews (formal and informal) using detailed checklist, keyinformant interviews, case studies, focus group discussions, etc. The paper based its arguments on how the inclusive processes of the agencies have helped semi-nomadic community to overcome the exclusive processes of the dominant in a tribal settlement in South India.


INTRODUCTION
Arjan de Haan (1998) has viewed that poverty debates, social exclusion can be strongly linked to notions of 'relative poverty', Amartya Sen's work on 'entitlements' and the 'vulnerability' approach forwarded by Robert Chambers. There are also links to social and political capital, particularly in terms of working towards policies and programmes for challenging socially-related aspects of poverty. The 'government' has defined social exclusion as: 'a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown' (Social Exclusion Unit, 2001: 11). India has made systematic efforts to alleviate poverty through increased economic growth by using targeted programmes, land and tenancy reforms, participatory and empowermentbased approaches and the provision of basic services (Mehta and Shah, 2003: 491). But development remains unattainable for 350 million of its poorest citizens. Gandhi's vision of development has been undermined through large-scale industrialization, urbanization and modernization (Saxena, 2000a: 6). Since 1951, five year plans have been adopted to propel India's development in industry and agriculture, and to remedy the political dissension, debt and infrastructural disarray that plagued the newly independent country. Development actions have succeeded in exponentially increasing India's industrial, military and agricultural production, its national income and middle class. Yet, in 2001, almost fifty-four years after independence, development has failed to alleviate poverty and related socioeconomic oppressions within the most disenfranchised caste, class and tribal communities. "To be poor is still to be powerless and vulnerable. Life remains a torment for children in the teeming barrio of a developing country's city, for refugees caught up in conflict, for women in a society that still denies them equality and freedom -every day bringing physical and psychological threats. And still too many of the 1.2 billion people living on less than a dollar a day lack even the most basic human security" (Human Development Report, 2000: 7). The World Development Report (2000: 46) estimated that 44% of the Indian population still lives on less than $1 a day. 86% live on less than $2 a day. Poverty figures are said to be declining, but there are more poor people in India today than the population of the country in 1947. Yet, the government celebrates the swift decline of poverty.
Figures cannot communicate what 'living in poverty' means or how it affects human dignity (Sainath, 1996: 18). Mehta and Shah (2003) has rightly viewed that poverty seems to be disproportionately high among historically marginalized groups such as 'scheduled castes ' and 'scheduled tribes'… (2003: 502). The multiple deprivations suffered by these groups make it harder for them to escape from poverty. Caste and tribe are structural factors that predispose certain groups to longterm poverty and deprivation. The scheduled castes are a collection of castes and some of them are small and marginal farmers, and most of them in rural areas work largely as agricultural labourers. The scheduled tribes were identified on the basis of certain well defined criteria including distinctive culture and pre-agricultural modes of production. Sankaran (2000) has rightly stated that the two thirds of India's bonded labourers are from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (Mehta and Shah, 2003). Further, Mehta and Shah (2003) mentioned that qualitative research validates the greater vulnerability of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to poverty. Lanjouw and Stern (1991) also postulate a strong correlation between caste and poverty in India. Based on a study, they report that among this group, poverty remains endemic. This is a reflection not only of poor endowments of productive assets, but also of low educational standards, vulnerability and little access to any kind of regular employment (Mehta and Shah, 2003). According to Hulme et al. (2001), poverty has many dimensions and the poor suffer deprivation in multiple ways and not just in terms of income. Several forms of human deprivation, Eswarappa 205 including poor survival chances, unjust employment of children, bonded labour; environmental pollution and social exclusion are not related to income in a predictable manner (Mehta and Shah, 2003: 496). The poor and marginal communities such as Sugalis of South India (Jain, 2004;Kasi, 2011a and b) also lack access to assets such as credit, literacy, water and forests. Broch-Due (1995) emphasises that the concepts of poverty employed in most development analysis are very 'thin', focusing on material and measurable elements such as income and nutrition. In contrast, 'thick' ethnographic work reveals far more complex, multi-layered pictures. The various concepts and definitions of poverty and wealth, or more broadly, ill being and well being, which policy agencies use, have emerged in specific cultural and historical contexts. Material deprivation -lack of food and income, poor health -may be important everywhere. But ideas employed by African peoples in particular contexts and selected aspects of material life and also group them with other attributes in distinctive ways, form the natural focus of anthropological work in or around the topic of poverty (Booth et al., 1999). Development institutions continue to assert processes that systematically delegitimize traditional livelihoods by impoverishing the natural resource base upon which the lives of subsistence communities depend (Escobar, 1995). In response to such neglected communities across India are operationalizing frameworks of developmental strategies that link social, cultural and economic well being of the communities. Further, it should be in accordance with the needs and aspirations of the tribal communities which would enhance their livelihood systems and strengthen their coping mechanisms in relation to vulnerability context (Kasi, 2007). Anthropological work focuses attention on how experiences of poverty and well being vary over the course of people's lifetimes. The developmental cycle of domestic groups (Goody, 1971) was a key concept which drew attention to how opportunities and vulnerabilities might shift through the processes of establishing marriage, having children, children growing up and ageing. There are links here with economists' ideas about the importance of household size, dependency ratios and so on. However, anthropologists pay attention not only to changes in economic status within developmental cycles, but also to how members at different ages and life stages may be differentially linked into wider kin networks and social relations, and hence be more or less secured and 'supported'.
The role of anthropologists and their approaches to the understanding of social -cultural change in the context of planned change had emerged much later though the study of social and cultural change has been preoccupation of anthropologists from the beginning (Kasi, 2011b). The approaches of Karl Marx and Max Weber have greatly influenced the concept of socioeconomic development through planned change which has developed outside anthropology. The developmental interventions of the government as well as the private agencies have their impact on the livelihood pursuits of the marginal communities (Kasi, 2011c). As such, the present paper tries to analyse the developmental interventions of different agencies (both state and the NGOs) and its effects on Sugalis. Before discussing the interventions initiated by the agencies for the inclusion of Sugalis in the development process, a brief explanation of the location of the Sugalis in the settlement and their livelihoods in the area.

Location of sugalis settlement
The study was undertaken in Adadakulapalle Village, situated in the Penukonda Mandal in Anantapur district and is about 10 km away from Penukonda, the Mandal headquarters. Adadakulapalle village consists of 439 households of which 155 households belong to Sugali (scheduled tribe), followed by 'scheduled castes', 'other backward classes' and others. Adadakulapalle Panchayat is reserved for Sugalis. The Panchayat consists of Adadakulapalle village and Adadakulapalle Thanda. Thanda is located at one end of the village. Sugali settlements are known as 'Thanda'. Thanda is divided into two parts known as Jalapalle Thanda or Patha Thanda (old Thanda) and Kothapalle Thanda (new Thanda). Kothapalle Thanda is a new colony of houses built during the earlier Congress-rule during 1989 to 1994 in the same old Thanda area. Adadakulapalle Thanda has two clans and they live in the aforementioned two colonies in the Thanda. These two clans are affiliated to two different factions of the main village, who incidentally belong to two different political parties. Jalapalle Thanda is supported by the Telugu Desam Party which has clear majority in the Thanda, and the other faction represented by Kothapalle Thanda is supported by the Congress Party which is the minority in the Thanda. Table 1 indicates the available livelihoods of the Sugalis as well as other communities in the village. It may be observed that the households depending on wage labour are more among Sugalis because they consist more of landless people and wage labourers. Although, a majority of the wage labourers own small plots of land, the land is unsuitable for cultivation.
Sugali are still largely employed in trading services. Over a period of time their occupations in the settlements has changed due to the influence of prevailing local conditions and technology. They are traditionally traders, supari (betel nut) traders, and army personnel during Mughal period, and after independence they have been called as de-notified tribes or ex-criminal tribes. Now, they practice agriculture and are settled agriculturists in settlement. The livelihood activities of Sugalis are cultivation, followed by daily wage works, petty business (running own and rented autos and kirana (provisions) shop and hotel (tea and tiffin stall). Majority of them depend on agricultural labour and construction or repair works in and outside the village. Since the type of land available is dry land, they have to depend upon monsoon for cultivation. Frequent failure of the monsoons has made the people to migrate to other areas. People from the Thanda explain that seasonal migration is high in the area as the majority of them are marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers. Almost half of the households in the Thanda migrate to towns in the offseason, according to the Gram Panchayat Sarpanch.

MITIGATION PROGRAMMES UNDERTAKEN IN ANDHRA PRADESH
Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate. It occurs in virtually all climatic zones, but its characteristics vary significantly from one region to another, highlighting the need for specialized studies in the diverse eco zones. Drought is a temporary aberration; it differs from aridity which is restricted to low rainfall regions and is a permanent feature of climate (World Bank, 2005: 19). Drought is an insidious hazard of nature that is also relatively difficult to predict meteorologically. It originates from a deficiency of precipitation that persists long enough to produce a serious hydrologic imbalance. Drought should be considered relative to some long-term average condition of balance between precipitation and evapo-transpiration (that is, evaporation and transpiration) in a particular area. Drought differs in three essential characteristics: intensity, duration and spatial coverage. Intensity refers to the degree of the precipitation shortfall and/or the severity of impacts associated with the shortfalls (World Bank, 2005: 20 to 21). Intensity is generally measured by the departure of some climatic index from the normal and is closely linked to the duration in the determination of impact. Impacts are, in turn, related to the timing (for example delays in the start of the rainy season, occurrence of rains in relation to principal crop growth stage) and effectiveness of rainfall (for example number of rainfall events).
Other climatic factors such as temperature, wind and humidity can significantly aggravate its severity. Droughts are categorized as meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and socio-economic (Nagarajan, 2003). In addition to the aforementioned factors, the combination of such in many ratios can create different roles and status alteration on account of differing economic pushes and pulls. Agricultural drought links various characteristics of meteorological and hydrological droughts to agricultural impacts. It is related to precipitation shortages, differences between actual and potential evapotranspiration, soil water deficits, etc. Plant water requirements depend on prevailing weather conditions, biological characteristics of the specific plant, its' stage of growth and the physical and geo-biological properties of  the soil. Agricultural drought should be able to account for the variable susceptibility of crops during different stages of crop development-from emergence to maturity. Deficient topsoil moisture at planting may hinder germination, leading to low plant populations per hectare and a reduction of final yield (World Bank, 2005: 22). Socio-economic drought is associated with the supply and demand of economic goods such as water, forage, food grains, fish, hydroelectric power etc. Socioeconomic drought occurs when the demand for an economic good exceeds supply as a result of a waterrelated shortfall in water supply (World Bank, 2005: 22). In order to address the problems of drought in Andhra Pradesh, the government has evolved certain strategies to minimize the risk and tries to support the affected people to certain extent. The next section gives a succinct picture of the programmes which are undertaken by the government in Andhra Pradesh.

Crop insurance
The National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) has been implemented in Andhra Pradesh since 1999 to 2000. The schemes are a mixture of voluntary and compulsory participation. They are voluntary at the State level in terms of specific areas and crops. Once the specific area-crop combinations have been notified, participation is compulsory for farmers in those areas cultivating the specific crops and taking agricultural loans. In the case of loanee farmers, the sum insured should be at least equal to the crop loan advanced. All farmers can insure up to the value of the threshold yield of the insured crop. Eighteen crops are currently insurable under NAIS during the Kharif season (namely: rice, maize, sunflower, groundnut, sugarcane and cotton) and ten crops during the Rabi season (namely: rice, maize, sunflower and groundnut). The standard area yield insurance scheme has recently been extended to farm income insurance and rainfall insurance.
The XI Finance Commission noted the need to strengthen the crop insurance scheme as a supplementary measure to what is done by the government for providing relief at the time of natural calamity.

Calamity relief fund (CRF)
This fund was established separately for each State on the basis of recommendations of the IX Finance Commission and has since been approved for continuation by the X and XI Finance Commissions. This fund is meant to be used for meeting the expenditure of providing immediate relief to the victims of cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm. Table 2 describes the financial status of this fund over the last 5 years.

National calamity contingency fund (NCCF)
This fund came into effect in 2000 to 2001 and continued to be in operation till the end of financial year 2004 to 2005. Natural calamities like cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm considered to be of severe nature requiring expenditure by the State government in excess of the balance available in its own CRF qualify for relief assistance under NCCF scheme. The initial corpus of the National Fund is Rs. 500 crores provided by the Government of India. National Centre for Int. J. Sociol. Anthropol.
Calamity Management (NCCM) is constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to monitor the occurrence of natural calamities relating to cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm on a regular basis and assess their impact on the area and population. The assistance from NCCF is only for immediate relief and rehabilitation. Any reconstruction of assets or restoration of damages is financed through Plan funds. The unspent balance of NCCF at the end of the financial year 2004 to 2005 became a resource for the next 'plan of central' government.
The following section attempts to explain the programmes that are implemented at the district level in Anantapur. They are 'drought prone areas programme', 'joint forest management', 'water harvesting structures', 'micro-irrigation project', APRLP and 'watershed development' etc.

Drought prone areas program (DPAP)
DPAP, a centrally sponsored scheme in operation since 1973 aims at restoring ecological balance in the drought prone areas and mitigation of the adverse effects of drought on crops and livestock through integrated development of natural resources by adoption of appropriate technologies. However, the programme fell short of its initial objectives despite large expenditures. DPAP is aimed at developing the drought prone area with an objective of drought proofing by taking up soil-land moisture conservation, water harvesting structures, afforestation and horticulture programmes on a comprehensive micro-watershed basis. During 1994 to 1995, the programme was implemented in 69 blocks of 8 districts. From 1995 to 1996, the programme was extended further: 11 districts with 94 blocks under the scheme and Anantapur with 16 blocks under desert development programs (DDP). So far, 3518 watersheds have been taken up covering 110 blocks in 12 districts, covering an area of 17.6 lakh ha. Almost 30% of the total watersheds in the country are located in Andhra Pradesh.
A total of Rs. 507.57 crores were spent towards implementation of the programme from 1995 to 1996 to 2002 to 2003. The expenditure for this programme is shared by centre and State governments in the ratio of 75:25.

Joint forest management/community forest management
The Government of Andhra Pradesh adopted the Joint Forest Management programme in 1992 which envisages a strategy for production, improvement and development of forest with the involvement of local communities by forming them into Vana Samrakshana Samithis (VSS). There are 7090 VSS actively involved in protection and development of forests. So far 8.71 lakh ha have been treated out of 17.40 lakh ha of forest area under VSS. The Joint Forest Management programme is being supported by the World Bank funded A.P. Community Forest Management Project, NABARD assistance for RIDF schemes and Government of India funded Forest Development agencies.

Water harvesting structures
The Forest Department has set up large-scale water conservation structures in forest areas under Neeru -Meeru (water and you) Programme. The structures include continuous contour trenches, check-dams, rockfill dams, percolation tanks and sunken gully pits etc. 7 phases of Neeru-Meeru have been completed. So far, a water storage capacity of 1566 lakh m 3 has been created in forest areas incurring an amount of Rs. 309.72 Crores in execution of the water conservation structures in forest areas.

Micro irrigation project
The State of Andhra Pradesh has been experiencing severe water stress due to continuous drought situation over the last 3 years. There is, therefore, an imperative need to promote judicious use of water, particularly in respect to agricultural activities. With this in view the Government launched a massive Micro Irrigation Project in 2003 to 2004 throughout the State, with special emphasis on water stress mandals. The project envisages installation of sprinklers, drip irrigation and rain guns to use the irrigation water available underground in the most efficient manner while improving productivity. It is contemplated that in the first phase an extent of 2.50 lakh ha would be covered at an outlay of nearly Rs. 1200 Cr. The farmers would be given 50% State Government subsidy on the unit cost.

Andhra Pradesh rural livelihood project (APRLP)
The Andhra Pradesh rural livelihoods project provides critical support to the on-going watershed movement in five drought prone districts in Andhra Pradesh. The mandate is to position livelihood concerns strategically in watersheds for the inclusion of women, the poor and the landless. The project advocates innovation, lesson learning, convergent actions and policy influence. APRLP will invest in a new stream of approaches and ideas for bringing about a positive change in the well-being of the rural populace. APRLP has initiated a paradigm shift in watershed development programme by adopting sustainable livelihoods approach. This site is to share the saga of promoting the poor and women into mainstream development through conscious policies, effective implementation and sustainable management. Moreover, this platform is to inform, educate and inspire all concerned stakeholders in the project. The development of semi arid and rain fed drought prone areas is one of the priority areas of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and it is also established that the development of natural resources in these areas will lead to sustainable rural livelihoods. Participation of the committee of resource poor and landless as primary stakeholders is precondition of sustainable rural livelihoods. Therefore, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has entered into an agreement with the Department for International Development (DFID, UK) which shares this vision for implementing AP rural livelihoods project (APRLP) in Anantapur, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda and Prakasam districts.
The APRLP will facilitate the objective of peoplecentered development input to the ongoing watershed programme of the government including 500 new innovative watersheds, sustainable rural livelihood initiatives in 2000 ongoing watersheds, capacity building of various stakeholders, research and lesson learning for policy initiatives and infrastructure support.

Watershed development
National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development (NABARD) finances a watershed development fund. Due to watershed development Programme, the proportion of area under irrigation has increased from 19 to 129% among all households. Total employment has risen up from 11 to 29%. Yield rates have also shot up for irrigation as well as un-irrigated crops. Only 50% of the watersheds studied are economically viable in terms of incremental returns. The equity effect is not clearly known, though the impact on rich and medium households possessing lands seems to be higher. Drinking water situation has improved substantially. Ground water levels have also improved to a limited extent. Migration of labour decreased during execution period. But in the majority of cases, this is not sustained after the execution period. Household's preference for education increased and the role of women in financial matters has improved substantially.

Integrated wastelands development program (IWDP)
Rapid depletion of green cover and vast stretches of marginal lands lying fallow has been found to be causing enormous ecological imbalance with a multiplier effect. Productivity is also negligent on account of soil erosion and marginalization of lands. To arrest this, massive integrated wasteland development project was

Rural infrastructure development
A fiscal package has been developed for the purpose of rural infrastructure development. In Andhra Pradesh, the Department of Rural Development, Forest, Panchayat Raj, Minor Irrigation have availed this scheme. In this programme, each district has selected certain villages for treatment. The implementation at village level is through user groups that are formed on the basis of drainage line. These groups decide on the treatment of drainage line or common lands. One of the features of this scheme is that it excludes private land treatment.

Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)
The primary objective of the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) scheme is to provide additional wage employment in all rural areas and thereby provide food security and improve nutritional levels. The secondary objective is the creation of durable community, social and economic assets and infrastructural development in rural areas. The programme is selftargeting in nature with special emphasis in providing 'wage employment' to women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and parents of children withdrawn from hazardous occupations. The works to be taken up must be labour intensive, leading to the creation of additional wage employment, durable assets and infrastructure, particularly those that would assist in drought proofing such as soil and moisture conservation works, watershed development, afforestation etc.

Employment programmes
There are many other self employment programmes based on income generation to improve the livelihood of the affected population. These programmes are based on people's participatory approach. Andhra Pradesh government has created various employment generation programmes to eradicate poverty. While considering self employment schemes, the government has given priority to mini and micro enterprises. These programmes can be considered as mitigation measures at the time of drought.

Mission based approach to employment generation
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has established 'employment generation mission' to coordinate activities of all the concerned departments in employment generation and manpower planning. The mission will prepare a time-bound action plan for implementation. The government will act as facilitator and identify and prioritize key sectors with employment potential and ensure successful implementation.

Empowerment of poor women
Self help groups of women (thrift groups) programme has mobilized and organized 48 lakh poor women in the rural areas into 3.7 lakh groups across AP. These women groups have built up a corpus fund of Rs 750 crores consisting of their savings, borrowings from banks and Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) revolving fund from government. The empowerment process has enabled the DWCRA and thrift group members in addressing all of poverty's dimensions. DWCRA movement has contributed to the augmentation of incomes, improvement of nutrition, better child care of the poor women and has enhanced the status of women in rural households.

Food for work programs (FFW)
India has launched an ambitious food-for-work programme aimed at helping millions of the rural poor stave off hunger and unemployment. The basic principle of FFW is to provide employment to the poor during hard times, to create community assets through labourintensive work and to pay the labourers in food grains or other food items.

Chief minister's empowerment of youth (CMEY) programme
CMEY programme has the main objective of economic development of youth by empowering them with sufficient skills and infrastructure. This is to be achieved by extending financial assistance to the eligible youth associations by way of subsidy and margin money loans besides group savings for taking up economic activity of their choice. In the next section an attempt is made to explain the different interventions to provide the basic services by the government in addressing the problems of the people in the study settlements.

INTERVENTIONS IN ADADAKULAPALLE SETTLEMENT
The following development programmes of the government have been implemented in the settlement for the last few years: Deepam, Food for Work Programme, Housing programme, Watershed programme, Public Distribution System (PDS), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) etc. Some of these programmes are discussed as follows:

Deepam scheme
The government of Andhra Pradesh launched Deepam Scheme in 1999 with the objective of providing 10 lakh domestic LPG connections to women members of the below poverty line (BPL) families in the rural areas. The scheme intends to provide a number of benefits to these families which include reduced dependence on forest firewood, saving time from cooking that can be used for productive purposes and improved health status of women due to reduced physical stress and strain. Beneficiaries under the scheme are members from Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) groups that are in existence for one year or more since June 1999. Initially, it was appreciated as it saved a lot of their time, but the initial euphoria lasted only for few days as purchase of gas was beyond their reach. Therefore, a majority of them have sold away their cylinders to other caste people in the village while the rest just keep the connection with them without any use. There was also criticism about the selection of the beneficiaries as only one section of the DWCRA members was given the connection in the Thanda. The other section of DWCRA members feel neglected as they did not belong to the Telugu Desam party.

Housing programme
The Government of India has been implementing Indira Aawas Yojana (IAY) since 1985 to 1986 with the objective of providing dwelling units free of cost to the members of scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and freed bonded labourers living below the poverty line in rural areas. From the year 1993 to 1994, its scope has been extended to cover non-SC and non-ST rural poor, subject to the condition that the benefits to non SCs/STs shall not be more than 40% of Indira Aawas Yojana allocation. Benefits of the scheme have also been extended to the families of ex-servicemen of the armed and paramilitary forces killed in action. 3% of the houses are reserved for the below poverty line disabled persons living in rural areas. Under Indira Aawas Yojana Scheme, 50 houses were sanctioned to the Sugalis during the previous Congress government (1989 to 1994) and were named as Kothapalle Thanda. Instead of assistance in the form of cash, they were supplied with materials such as 550 cement bricks, 24 stone slabs of 1½ ft (locally called bandalu), 6 bags of cement, 2 windows and 12 tati teerulu (palm beams), etc., and the financial requirements were to be met from their own resources. Out of 50 beneficiaries, only 20 were able to construct their houses with the material, whereas the rest were not able to bear the remaining cost and therefore have not constructed their houses so far.
Sugali are not aware of the much publicized schemes like the member of legislative assembly (MLA) and member of parliament (MP) housing schemes where they may get grants for the programme.

Public distribution system (PDS)
The Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced the subsidized rice scheme in the early 80s to improve the consumption levels of the weaker sections of the society. Since August 1996, a poor household is entitled to 5 kg of rice per person per month subject to a ceiling of 20 kg at Rs.3.50/kg. Besides rice, they are entitled to sugar and kerosene at subsidized rates. As stated earlier, a total of 115 families have been issued ration cards in Adadakulapalle Thanda. Though the PDS shop is reserved for the STs, they are not running the shop. According to the Sugali headman, the ration shop was originally sanctioned to one Shivaji Naik but was taken over later by a local dominant caste member who wields enormous economic, political and muscle power. The people of the Adadakulapalle Thanda have complained about increase in the prices of ration items like kerosene, rice, and sugar, and also a drastic reduction in the quantity of items over a period of time.

Food for work programme
Food for work programme was initiated in September 2001 with the objective of removing hunger in villages and rural areas by providing them with work against wages in kind and cash. Under this programme construction of metal link roads was taken up and any one in need of work was provided with employment. The workers were provided with 5 kg rice and Rs 30 cash having a total cash value of Rs 56. Thus, the scheme successfully addresses the issue of lack of food and at the same time developing infrastructure in villages. This programme was discontinued from May 2004 due to nonavailability of funds as there were policy changes due to the change in the government. As a result, the works initiated under this programme were discontinued, which adversely affected the Sugalis of the study settlements.

National rural employment guarantee act (NREGA)
United Progressive Alliance Government enacted the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on August 25, 2005. The NREGA provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do unskilled Eswarappa 211 manual work at the statutory minimum wage. The Central Government shall meet the cost towards the payment of wage, 3/4 of material cost and certain percentage of administrative cost. State government shall meet the cost towards unemployment allowance, 1/4 of material cost and administrative cost of State council. Adult members of rural households submit their name, age and address with photo to the Gram Panchayat. The Gram Panchayat registers households after making an enquiry and issues a job card. The job card contains the details of the adult member enrolled and his/her photo. Registered person can submit an application for work in writing (for at least fourteen days of continuous work) either to Panchayat or to Programme Officer. The Panchayat/programme officer will accept the valid application and issue dated receipt of application. A letter providing work will be sent to the applicant and also displayed at Panchayat office. The employment will be provided within a radius of 5 km: if it is above 5 km extra wage will be paid. If employment under the scheme is not provided within fifteen days of receipt of the application daily unemployment allowance will be paid to the applicant. The scheme started from February 2, 2006 in 200 districts (out of a total of 593 in the country) will cover all districts in five years. Anantapur District is also included under this scheme. The government announced the addition of another 130 districts in the financial year 2007 to 2008. In Adadakulapalle settlement, NREGA started last summer (2006). The following procedure will be followed while allotting the works to the beneficiaries. Works that are sanctioned and intimated to the village Panchayat, Paraworker and the wage seekers are executed on dates fixed and coordinated by the Para-worker. Para-worker and wage seekers congregate at the work site and carry out the work as per standards and guideline already propagated. A wage seeker willing to work comes to the work site and performs the work allocated. Once a week, the Para-worker prepares the Work Progress Report and submits the report along with the Muster Roll at the Mandal MCC. Para worker also gives an acknowledgement slip to each wage seeker duly mentioning the weekly work details for the week. At the MCC, attendance is captured from the submitted Muster Roll. The data is validated and stored in a database. Based on the reported progress of work and the number of persondays spent, payment to the workers is computed and a 'wage list' is generated. The generated work list is then sent to the village Panchayat and the paying agency can be either the village Panchayat or Post Office; PO savings account or bank account whichever is convenient to the wage seeker. If the work is completed, the paraworker reports the same to the executing department, which sends an official who prepares the 'work closure report' and submits the same to the Mandal MCC. Village Panchayat also endorses their remarks in the work closure report on the quality of work. Work closure report based on the previously reported progress of work and the number of person-days spent and payment to the workers is computed and a final 'wage list' is generated.
The Central government funds this scheme with the State Government expected to contribute 10% of the cost. The cost in the first year alone is expected to be around Rs 15,000 crores (or approximately $3.3 billion). From Adadakulapalle settlement there were 209 people who got the job cards and out of them 95 are Sugalis.

Development of women and children in rural areas (DWCRA)
The issues of women's empowerment are also included in the Integrated Rural Development Programme and Jawahar Rojgar Yojana aiming to provide durable assets and employment generation during the lean periods. In practice, however, participation of women in all these schemes remains very low. Keeping this in view the government conceived the DWCRA programme. The long term objective of this programme is to improve the survival of young children and women and the quality of their lives, and to achieve a significant growth in the income of poor women through appropriate interventions and to organize women in groups to create a demand pull on the existing delivery system along-with creation of awareness to strengthen their bargaining capabilities. Besides the aforementioned, the government has been keen to bring about development in the areas of education, health, economy, political participation and so on through five-year plans implemented through various schemes and programmes. As detailed earlier, a primary school in the village and an upper primary school at a distance of 10 km was established to bring educational development among the Sugalis. Similarly, a primary health centre was also established at the Mandal headquarters and health functionaries were to periodically visit the Sugali Thandas to extend health facilities. Thus, the approach of government towards development has been comprehensive and holistic in nature. DWCRA leaders say that approximately 80% of the people are covered in this programme.
Women out rightly say that before the introduction of the DWCRA schemes in the village they were not aware of outside activities of the village except domestic and agricultural activities. Because of the DWCRA programme, they (women) have a role in household decision making process and are aware of cleanliness of surroundings. They are also contributing to school building construction etc. Women members also say that their husbands are allowing them to attend the meeting. Whenever teacher does not come to the school, they complain to higher officials. As a result of their participation in DWCRA, now they are able to talk with officials without any hesitation and demand benefits/programme or schemes, etc., from the officials. Some women faced problems while receiving the benefits. They had to run around the officials and offices to get the sanction of grants and other funds. Women have complained that the Sarpanch delays sanctioning of funds by not signing the form.

Watershed programme
People feel that before watershed programme, their lands were not in good condition. Farmers feel that their yields were also much less. Labourers were unable to get the wage works, so they used to migrate to other areas for works. Irrigated area acreage was less before watershed programme in the Adadakulapalle. Dairying people have felt that their milk yield was also very less before the watersheds in Adadakulapalle. Farmers used to go to distant places for grazing purposes. People feel that after watershed programme, bunding works were taken up in the lands. This was an action by which both farmers and labourers benefited by means of getting more number of wage works to labourers and soil enrichment would give better yields to the farmers. Horticultural crops have been given to the farmers through which changes have come in the cropping pattern. Due to the watershed programme, the ground water table has increased to 110 ft from 80 feet. According to Venkatesh Naik who is practicing dairying, milk yield has improved drastically from 60 to 300 L over a period of three years. People have also felt that forestland has increased. According to Ramanji Naik, crop yield has gone up from 5 to 6 bags per acre to 8 to 10 bags after watershed programme. Non-farm activity has also increased after watershed programme in the village. There are 3 hotels, 3 petty business shops in the village which were not there before watershed programme. Some of the people have been maintaining autos and running between Adadakulapalle to Penukonda. According to them, due to watershed programme, self employment has been improved. Major respondents felt that wage rates have increased compared to the other areas.
Due to the equal wage rates system followed in the watershed programme, women labourers feel happy and agricultural labour rates have also increased according to Hanuma Naik. Due to watershed programme, women's position has improved and savings have increased drastically. Anasuya Bai who is the chairman of the watershed committee says that the watershed programme has brought changes in their livelihoods systems.

Case study 1
Anasuya Bai, the chairman of women's watershed committee which is situated in the village has three sons; two of them are studying BSc. and working as assistants with doctors and the last son is studying S.S.C. She is looking after all the works as watershed chairman, and also taking care of her household work and also managing petty business shop in the village simultaneously. She has 2½ acres of rain-fed land in the village. She has been having petty business and agriculture as her family's main and traditional occupation respectively. Anasuya Bai says that out of three years (2001 to 2004), only during the 2003 to 2004 year she got the crop, while in the remaining two years she could not get even the input cost, so she faced severe financial crises. Another reason for the crisis is that of education of children. She also said that "i could not study even 5th class. But let my children study as much as they can". Anasuya Bai's main occupation is petty business in the village. All the general store items are available in the shop including wheat flower and groundnut oil. She also says that from the beginning (after her marriage) onwards, they are mainly dependent upon petty business. This is because of their separation from her inlaws house which was around 15 years back. After their separation she could not get even one acre of land from their (her) in-laws. So they started petty business. Anasuya Bai says that, year by year, input cost on agriculture is increasing enormously and farmer's livelihoods have not been improving or increasing as that of input cost of agriculture. Yielding is also very less according to Anasuya Bai. Anasuya Bai says that seven years back she had good income from both petty business as well as agriculture (which is her secondary activity). From this time onwards, she also acts as DWCRA leader, secretary member and now as chairman to watersheds committee (women's). Though she is the chairman of the committee, the financial powers are with Sakru Naik, who is her in-law and chairman of the completed watershed programme in the village.
She says that good crops means farmers would spend much more on vegetables and buy new things; crops means in the settlement petty business would also be very dull as felt by the Anasuya Bai. Because of the droughts, they have had to go to moneylenders for debt, which has made them dependent and ultimately indebted as she narrated about the villagers.

Future livelihood strategy
Anasuya Bai says that she is ready to face the problems and should manage the affairs to achieve sustainable living. She adds that, now she is participating in all the developmental activities of the village and also attends all the Janmabhoomi 1 and DWCRA meetings and is able to 1 Janmabhoomi is a people centered development process launched in the State of Andhra Pradesh in January 1997. This process has evolved out of the experience gained through the implementation of Prajala Vaddaku Paalana (taking administration to the door steps of the people) launched in November 1995 and Sramadanam (contribution of labour) launched in January, 1996. It aims at establishing an ideal society, which embodies and cherishes the principles of people's participation, equality, transparency and accountability leading to sustained economic development and excellence in all walks of life. The goal is, an enhanced quality of life for every man, woman and child in the Eswarappa 213 speak/talk with officials with-out any hesitation or fear/shyness. She says because of the DWCRA, now she is able to improve her livelihood and also is aware of all the developmental programmes.

Case study 2
Ramanji Naik is the present sarpanch of the Adadakulapalle Gram Panchayat. He is 33 years old, studied graduation and dropped out (Bachelor in law course). His family consists of 14 males and 13 females, out of which there are 6 men workers and 5 female workers. Presently, he is the member of women's watershed committee in Adadakulapalle settlement. He is also the president of the Penukonda Mandal Sarpanch Association and also a member of the Education Committee of the Government Degree College, Penukonda. The main occupation of the Ramanji Naik is agriculture. Ramanji Nail has 30 acres of rain fed land and three acres of irrigated land. In the irrigated land he is growing paddy, ragi and mulberry, where-as in rain fed land, he grows horticultural crops, through watershed programme (Tamarind 6 acres and Mangoes-5 acres). He also says that the major source of income he gets is from own cultivation (50%), followed by tractor (15%), dairying (15%) and flourmill and sarpanch (10% each). Ramanji Naik further adds that 7 years back there were only 5 working individuals in the family. All others were doing their studies. Major source of income was from agriculture only. There was no other occupation at all according to him and thus no other sources of income. Ramanji Naik narrates that 10 years back there were 3 male workers and 2 female workers in the family and major sources of income was from own cultivation (65%) followed by leased in land (35%) cultivation. Ramanji Naik's father says that 15 acres of land was leased in from the farmer in the Adadakulapalle village.

Change
Ramanji Naik has feels that the change is due to the cropping pattern because of the rain fed land and further says that they are partially shifted from agricultural crops to horticultural crops and also to dairying activity.

Future
Ramanji Naik has feels that in future there will be scope for horticulture crops and that to save the water, it is better to adopt the drip irrigation system which is State. The core areas of the programme include community works, primary education, primary health and family welfare, environment conservation and responsive governance (http://www.manage.gov.in/RRSites/E-Village/janmabhoomi_programme.htm).
beneficial to the farmers as well as labourers of the village.

Risk management (since 5 years)
Due to droughts, his family faced severe financial problems and did not get the returns in the crop, not even seed cost/input cost. To overcome these financial problems, they have taken loan from the banks and also borrowed from relatives in the Adadakulapalle settlement. He also believed that, to overcome these debts, they have preferred the change in the cropping pattern, but that way, they slowly shifted to Mulberry, horticulture crops and to dairying activity. He also feels that, watershed programme has changed their lives and their livelihoods have been improved enormously. He also narrated that only after facing the severe financial problems, and did they realized and shift to horticultural crops. He also feels that frequent visits of officials to the settlement, made them realize the importance of watershed programme and other programmes as well which is beneficial for their livelihood strategies. Consequently, when they had no wages they used to spend sleepless nights. They used to migrate to other areas for wage labour. Wages were also very less and working hours were also of a higher duration. They were not aware of their health, children's education, sanitation, savings, etc. Earlier, they also felt that for women there was no role to play in the family or the household decision-making process except to nod their heads to the mothers-in-law and the husband's opinion. Women were not aware of the programmes like Balika samriddi Yojana (Girl Child Development Programme), mother and children's protection, etc. After the entry of SEDS, works such as pebble bunding and contour bundings have become regular. Another important feature is that there is no difference in wage rates for men and women. Women felt very happy that there was no gender discrimination in the rates of wages. Their saving levels, according to them have improved enormously due to the efforts of the SEDS.
Majority of the women are sending their children to schools as they have realised the significance of education. They also have plans to contest and win the elections in the village and thus participate in the village administration and policy-making process.

Case study of the beneficiary from Adadakulapalle settlement
Ranga Naik, 55 years old, studied 5th class, has two sons (who were separated after their marriage), has 16 acres of land in the village. The land is dry land and did not have water facility earlier. SEDS has chosen him as beneficiary and started the land development programme in the year 2000. Furthermore, soil conservation works were initiated with the help and support from the NGO. NGO also assisted him in digging bore well in his land. Later, SEDS people suggested him to go and adopt horticulture cropping by providing saplings of Mango, Chinta (Tamarind), Eucalyptus, etc. He also reported that there are 340 mango plants in 8 acres of land, 240 tamarind plants in 6 acres of land and eucalyptus in 2 acres of land. These plants are watered through water tanker of NGO. Ranga Naik has complained that there is a severe problem of forest wild pigs and cows in the area. To protect the seedlings from the forest pigs and cows, the NGO has appointed a watcher (beneficiary only) by paying Rs 600/per month as a salary. Due to this problem, the watcher has to stay and sleep in the polam (agricultural field) leaving his wife at home, who stays alone in the house. His polam (land) is far from the village which is nearly 3 km away and electricity is not available for the land. They have complained a number of times to the officials who so far, have not done anything.
Officials have conveyed to them that providing electric facility to the fields is difficult since the lands are far away from the village and power lines are not available in the nearby area (Table 3).

Self-help groups and women's empowerment
Self-help groups (SHG's) are the most integral aspect of SEDS's community outreach programmes. It is through these organizations that SEDS empower both individuals and communities, providing them with the tools to form their own governing systems, lobby the state and federal government, start their own businesses and manage their own financial affairs. Originally formed with male members, the groups are now exclusively female and a large part of their focus has shifted to the concept of women's empowerment in a strongly male-dominated society. SHGs are organized with 10 to 15 women headed by two group-elected leaders who serve primarily as cheque signers in financial matters. Though, ideally, SEDS would like to encourage the incorporation of different socio-economic groups within SHGs, it often proved difficult and hence, they are generally formed along caste or family lines. The groups meet once a month to discuss community and individual problems, financial matters and any other issues that might arise. A central aspect of the programme is the financial functioning of the SHG. With contributions from each member and group savings, a bank account is opened. Individual members can subsequently gain access to the funds by petitioning the group for a loan, which is then generally used for income generation purposes (such as the opening of a store, or the purchase of livestock and raw materials for some personal or group economic enterprise). The driving principle behind this system is breaking the villagers' previous dependence on Supply channels 8 km 232,000 5800 18 Fish rearing --50,000 Total expenditure 7,044,980 *Source: SEDS office, Mekalapalle.
moneylenders who were charging exorbitant interest rates. In this manner, each group is able to establish their own guidelines for payment schedules and interest rates, alleviating individual burden of the members. Recently, through the financial aid of EED (Evangelischer Entwicklungshilfe Dienst -Protestant Development Aid Service), SEDS has begun distributing loans to groups for use in SHG income generation projects. For each member, a group receives Rs. 750 which is then collectively managed and utilized for whatever plan the group has devised. Such projects currently being explored include the purchase of livestock such as goats and cattle; the selling of flowers, vegetables and milk and ironing and tailoring businesses. Interest on the loans is 2%; any sum collected over and above the initial loan is placed into the collective accounts of the groups. Through workshops and meetings in which government functions and methods are explained, SEDS has also attempted to give the groups the means to petition and pressure local government officials for services and concerns that they might have or desire. The overall objective is to empower the rural population as a workforce (conveying the concept of power in numbers) and to increase involvement in local politics. These groups are then better able to manage their communities and lobby on their own for better housing, electricity, education, food distribution and sanitation. The SHG programme is the obvious key to the community aspect of SEDS current work, but might also be considered the most important for its future. The ideal goal of a social and development group is often to make itself obsolete. Though the odds are generally against such overwhelming success, the first step is to educate and provide for the local population so that it might be able to achieve the same results of environmental and social improvement on its own. This is where the empowerment of community members is crucial. The focus on women in this process gives the double benefit of augmenting their role within the society and at the same time increasing the society's position in power and prominence.
The self-help groups, with their financial, governmental, social and educational responsibilities are an everevolving and very successful programme. Their continuing development gives hope that within a short period the communities will gain the ability and knowledge to uplift themselves without the need of outside assistance.

Role of factionalism in development interventions
In spite of these efforts by both the government as well as the NGO, poverty in the settlement has not been eliminated significantly. Important reasons for this inertia include apathy of the government functionaries at various levels, poor infrastructure, failure of monsoons and conflicting interests of the communities. It is contended that the NGO does not perform its function impartially. According to some, the NGO is favouring one section of the Sugali in the settlement and delivers all its services to this section, thereby deliberately neglecting the other. This is due to factionalism in the settlement. The NGO manager, who is based in the settlement, has resigned from his post to field his supporter as a Telugu Desam Party candidate in the last Local Body elections. Some of the youth from the settlement openly opposed the NGO's stand but it had no effect. The manager owned up that he had played a role in the last elections and said that it was necessary for their survival in the area. Thus, party politics has a direct bearing on development efforts, either by NGO or government (Kasi and Rambhatla, 2006). The levels of interaction of the Sugali with both the government officials and NGO can be seen in terms of their involvement in political parties and factions. The ruling party is always ahead in the factional politics in the settlement and Sugali have to take sides with one of the parties or factions. The present Sarpanch was elected on a Telugu Desam party ticket twice and his group is representing one section of the Sugali in the settlement. The NGO is also supporting this group in the settlement at the cost of the other section. There is, also, criticism of the selection of beneficiaries of schemes like Deepam; a subsidised cooking gas connection, as only one section of the DWCRA members was given the connection in the settlement. Another section of DWCRA members has complained that officials did not entertain their applications since they did not belong to the Telugu Desam party. The afore mentioned analysis reveals the dynamics of the development processes in both the study settlements. Even though there is no significant socio-economic change in the Sugali compared to the non-Sugali population in the settlement, it cannot be denied that there has been some qualitative change in the lives of the Sugali. Some micro level changes, which are qualitative in nature, and are likely to produce results, have been noticed in the study. It has been stressed earlier that noneconomic factors are of paramount importance in understanding the process of economic change. These factors are related to three basic elements of economy such as: a) those favouring availability of savings, b) those favouring the utilisation of resources; and c) those favouring the availability of labour (Williamson and Buttricks, 1964). In the present case as described earlier, the NGO has successfully raised awareness of microlevel institutional savings among the Sugali. The government provided the blueprint, but it is the NGO which has actualised the process at the ground level. Though banking institutions have existed in the country for many years, they have never reached marginalized communities in spite of several reformations, change of regulations and massive expansion of the banking networks in the country. These new forms of organised savings through informal transactions have met the needs of the poor much better. The recent award of the Peace Nobel to Mohammed Yunus and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has been seen widely as a shot in the arm for the micro-credit movements in rural South Asia and will probably encourage further development of women's micro-credit here. The resources available in the settlement are primarily human resource and land resource. Shah and Shah (2003) have argued that the failure of access to natural resources has trapped tribal people into income poverty. SEDS has recognised the availability of youth who could be used, through capacity building, as social capital. Through training them for work, an effort was made to contain out-migration. This programme is successful as the youth (even if a small number) were able to make their own living rather better than those who depended entirely on wage labour and marginal farming.
The NGO has also successfully utilised women as cultural capital, as women are generally better capable of conserving material resources in the interest of the family maintenance. In this respect, the organisation of 'self help groups' has played a vital role in the saving of money and the NGO has made use of these formally organised groups to educate, to bring awareness and to inspire women to actively participate in the various development activities. As a result of these efforts, many children are being sent to school enhancing the human capital for the development of the settlement. Attempts have been made to help the Sugali who live on agriculture (35.8%) in developing their lands through a land development scheme to strengthen economic capital. However, there is unfortunately very little perceptible qualitative change for the Sugali in the settlement. We do not doubt that the implicit approach in government schemes has been integrative but there is poor coordination between various departments and functionaries. Holistic development has been conceived in paper, but due to weakness in delivery systems, the end result is pathetically inadequate in addressing the issue of poverty. Nevertheless, consistent efforts of the NGO and government towards economic change while consciously taking care of supportive cultural capital, has yielded some positive results, however minimal. Needless to say, the settlement is a part of the wider political economy and the performance of development in ameliorating poverty is often determined at levels beyond the settlement and requires solutions at such levels.

CONCLUSIONS
In order to understand the impact of the developmental interventions of the government and the NGO in ameliorating poverty, this study has taken an anthropological perspective of contextualizing development processes at the ground level. The development programmes and schemes at macro level are broad, encompassing various issues, integrative and idealistic efforts to address the issue of poverty by creating opportunities and offering support to individuals and individual households. At the micro level, the programmes are burdened with problems relating to coordination of various elements that necessarily intervene and intersect the areas of operation. These include human elements -discharging the duties of the functionaries, location of the institutions, power politics and natural local conditions (Kasi, 2007: 193). There is a complex relationship between these elements. For success of any programme, proper configuration, manipulation and exploitation of these elements as an advantage become necessary. Anyone, whether an individual or agency that can handle these judiciously will be a successful player. To some extent, in this case, the NGO has played more successfully than the government: an economic focus while ensuring support of cultural elements seems to yield better results.