AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF LIVELIHOODS:

THE CASE OF TWO SUGALI SETTLEMENTS IN

ANANTAPUR DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

A Thesis submitted to the University of Hyderabad

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the

degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

IN

ANTHROPOLOGY

KASI ESWARAPPA
(Roll No: 2KSAPH02)

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD
HYDERABAD – 500 046
DECEMBER 2007
 DECLARATION

I, hereby, declare that the research embodied in the present

dissertation entitled, “An Anthropological Study of Livelihoods:
The Case of Two Sugali Settlements in Anantapur District of
Andhra Pradesh” is an original research work carried out by me
under the supervision of Dr. R. Siva Prasad, Department of
Anthropology, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
from the University of Hyderabad.

I declare to the best of my knowledge that no part of this

dissertation was earlier submitted for the award of research degree in
part or full to this or any other university.

Date: KASI ESWARAPPA

Place: Hyderabad

2
Department of Anthropology
School of Social Sciences
University of Hyderabad
P.O. Central University
Hyderabad – 500 046
Andhra Pradesh
India

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that KASI. ESWARAPPA has carried out the research
work embodied in the present dissertation entitled “An
Anthropological Study of Livelihoods: The Case of Two Sugali
Settlements in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh” for the
degree of Doctors of Philosophy in Anthropology is prepared under my
supervision.

I declared to the best of our knowledge that no part of this

dissertation was earlier submitted for the award of research degree in
part or full at any university.

Dr. R. Siva Prasad Prof. P. Venkata Rao

(Supervisor) Head of the department
Department of Anthropology Department of Anthropology
University of Hyderabad University of Hyderabad

Prof. E. Hari Babu

(Dean)
School of Social Sciences
University of Hyderabad
Hyderabad
ANDHRA PRADESH
INDIA

3
 CONTENTS

S. No. Chapters Page.

No.

List of Tables i-ii

Acknowledgement iii-v

01 Introduction 1–43

02 Profile of the Study Settlements 44-88

03 Livelihoods and Socio-cultural Dynamics in the Sugali

Settlements 89 -112

04 Livelihoods and Resources 113- 143

05 Development Initiatives and Livelihoods 144 - 184

06. Vulnerability and Coping Mechanisms 185 – 220

07. Conclusion 221-233

References and Bibliography 234 – 245

List of Plates 246- 251

4
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Land use patterns in the District

Table 2.2 Livestock details in the District
Table 2.3 Forest sector Programmes in Anantapur
Table 2.4: Population Distribution by Sex in the Settlements
Table 2.5: Frequency of Age and Sex Distribution in the Settlements
Table 2.6: Caste/Tribe wise Distribution of Houses
Table 2.7: Type of Houses by Caste/Community
Table 2.8: Education among the all communities in the Settlements
Table 2.9: Livelihoods of Sugali Households in the two Settlements
Table 2.10: Age and Occupation Distribution in the Settlements Table
2.11: Distribution of Occupation by Castes in the Settlements
Table 2.12 (a): Livestock distribution among Sugali
Table 2.12 (b): Distribution of Livestock among others in
Adadakulapalle
Table 2.13: Age and Marital Distribution in the settlements
Table 2.14: Family wise Houses Distribution in the Settlements
Table 2.15: Distribution of Irrigated Land by House Type
Table: 2.16 Distribution of Dry Land by House Type
Table 2.17: Distribution of Assets in the Settlements
Table 4.1: Cropping Pattern during 2003-04 and 2004-05 (in Acres)
Table 4.2 (a): Available Livelihoods in the Settlements
Table 4.2 (b): Available Livelihoods in the ADP
Table 4.3: Distribution of Land in the Settlements by Households
Table 4.4: Distribution of Agricultural labour in the settlements
Table 4.5: Distribution of Agricultural Labour in the Settlements by
Gender
Table 4.6: Migration in Adadakulapalle Settlement by Gender

5
Table 5.1: Calamity Relief Fund for Andhra Pradesh, 2000 - 2005, (Rs.
lakhs)
Table 5.2: Works Undertaken by SEDS during 1996-2007
Table 6.1(a): Distribution of Education by Gender
Table 6.1 (b): Distribution of Education by Gender
Table 6.2: Distribution of Male and Female Headed Households
Table 6.3: Distribution of Assets by different Social Groups

6
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people have contributed enormously and helped me for the

making of the volume come to reality. I am thankful to all the
academicians, teachers and research scholars whose academic
generosity and contributions enabled me to complete this volume.

I must mention specially my research supervisor, Dr. R. Siva Prasad,

who always encourages and criticizes me positively to achieve my
dream projects. He is a great source of inspiration, strength and
energy for me.

I am deeply indebted to the Department of Anthropology for giving the

opportunity of working among the marginal communities of Andhra
Pradesh. I am also thankful to Prof. P. Venkata Rao, Head,
Department of Anthropology, for his continuous support and
encouragement. Throughout my research work, he was sympathetic
and extended all possible help during exigencies of thesis work.

I am also grateful to Prof. KK Misra and Dr. BV Sharma, Doctoral

Committee members, for their persistent equisetic comments and
suggestions throughout my PhD thesis period.

Prof. DV Ragahava Rao (superannuated), Prof. N. Sudhakara Rao, Dr.

Goerge Tharakan, Dr. Romesh Singh, and Mr. Munaf deserve sincere
thanks for their valuable suggestions at different stages of my thesis
work.

I am thankful to all my teachers especially Mr. Ravi (School Teacher),

Dr. Narayana Reddy, Dr. Joseph, Dr. T. Narasimha Rao, Mr. Rajendra

7
Prasad, and P. Eswar (APRDC), Prof. E. Hari Babu, Prof. Sasheej
Hegde, Prof. Panchanan Mohanty (University of Hyderabad), Prof. G.
Satyanarayana (Osmanaia University), Dr. G. Nagaraju, Dr. Janardan,
Dr. Ajaya Sahoo (University of Hyderabad), Dr. MN Rajesh, Dr.
Sadanand Sahoo (IAMPR), New Delhi, and Dr. Ugrasen Pandey (Agra
University) who have taken all the pain to shape my ideas and
thoughts in an academic direction with a concern and commitment for
the Indian society.

I owe a lot to all my friends for their inspiration to support me during

the odd times in my life so far. I have spent my innocent childhood,
enjoying colorful youth and enjoyable student life first at BT College,
Madanapalle, Chittoor District and later at Andhra Pradesh
Residential Degree College (APRDC), Nagarajuna Sagar, Guntur
District which helped me in learning about the wider horizons of
Indian society. All my friends have been standing by me to share my
pain and pleasure in all the times. Sambit Mallik friendly-funny talks
and positive criticism, Arun, Sajja Srinivas, Sravan, Anil, DV Prasad,
Hari C. Behera, Nihar, Sreekant, Koti, Meera, Sivaiah, Bheem Reddy,
Harini, Kusum, Vinay, Smruti, Bhabani, and Jangaiah’s supportive
company helped me in many ways. My friend Ramesh Mallik is
instilled a lot of syrup and supported me in all the odd times for the
past two years.

I acknowledge the services of various libraries in Hyderabad like

Indira Gandhi Memorial Library (IGML), University of Hyderabad,
National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Administrative Staff
College of India (ASCI), Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS), Tribal Cultural Resrach and Training Institute (TCR&TI),

8
Bureau of Economic and Statistics and Indian Council for Social
Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

I am very happy to express me deep regards to Shri Adinarayana,

Sekhar, Asohk (dada), Niranjan, Gupta for their secretarial assistance
and other help whenever I requested from them in Department of
Anthropology.

Foremost, I am greatful to Mr. Bhaskar, Mr. Tirupal Naik and Mr. Ravi
Naik, Key Informants, and all the Sugali of the study settlements, NC
Thanda and Adadakulapalle who extended their co-operation during
my filed work. I am also thankful to the SEDS, NGO, Manager for his
consistent support during my field work in the study settlements.

My wife Padma’s cheerful smile and my cute daughter Meenu/Mili is a

constant source of inspiration and assurance to me. My parents and
brothers have contributed immensely for the development of my
education life. My in-laws and relatives are taking all the troubles by
granting me absolute freedom and standing by me during my mental
and material crises.

Finally, I am grateful to the Department of Social Welfare, Government

of Andhra Pradesh, University of Hyderabad and ICSSR for awarding
Scholarship and Fellowship which enabled me to undertake and
complete the present study.

KASI ESWARAPPA

9
10
 CHAPTER- I
INTRODUCTION

Anthropology seeks to uncover principles of behaviour that

apply to all human communities. To an anthropologist, diversity itself
– seen in body shapes and sizes, customs, clothing, speech, religion,
and worldview – provides a frame of reference for understanding any
single aspect of life in any given community.

Escobar (1991: 659) felt that Anthropologists are evincing great

interest in ‘development process’, and significant number of
‘Development Anthropologists’ roam the world of development
teaching at universities or working as consultants or employees for
institutions such as the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International
Development (U.S. AID), and nongovernmental organizations. The
apparent failure of economically oriented approaches to development
prompted a re-evaluation of development's "social" aspects and goals
beginning in the early 1970s and, more recently, of its cultural
aspects, among them the impact of development projects on local
communities and the importance of local knowledge systems for
programmes. The new emphasis on culture has in turn opened up
unprecedented opportunities for anthropologists. ‘Culture’ – which
until 1970s was purely a residual category, since "traditional"
societies were thought to be in the process of becoming "modern"
through development – has become inherently problematic in
development, calling for a new type of professional participation, that
of the anthropologist. Anthropologist’s actions create a domain of
experience – certainly related to real conditions – that opens up ways

11
to intervene in, and to control, the Third World, thus placing
anthropology at the service of power.

Development anthropologists argue that a significant

transformation took place in the mid-1970s, bringing to the fore the
consideration of social and cultural factors in development activities.
This transformation ushered in the "era of rapid expansion" (1975-80)
of development anthropology (Jansen 1989).
The term ‘development’ is taken so much for granted these
days that it is hard to remember that when it first became
prominent in the early 1960s it raised the hackles of
anthropologists, involving images of the telic evolution so
despised by persons trained in the Boasian tradition. It
challenged the then anthropological notion that each society
has reached an adjustment to the world that is best for it and
that requires no change. . . .Today, the term is unblushingly
invoked by anthropologists, who, it seems, have acquired a new
understanding of exotic societies, one which does not treat
social and cultural change as abhorrent. Still, my estimate is
that although anthropologists may have accepted the idea, they
have done so on different terms than others, terms which may
uniquely contribute to the development process (Schneider
1988: 61).

Development anthropology is scientific research with significant

applications within the development project cycle. Its objective is to enhance
benefits and mitigate negative consequences for the human communities
involved in and affected by development efforts (Partridge 1984: l). There has
been a sizable body of literature, which explains the conditions of the
marginalized people, who form a substantial number and are in a condition of

12
penury. These studies have tried to explain both the conditions of the
marginalized and the development programmes directed at them.

Historically, the discipline of anthropology has been engaged in

studying marginalized communities. The primary means of
understanding their situation has been through the rubric of
deprivation-social, economic, political, cultural and institutional.
While this approach continues to be useful, it runs the danger of
reducing the subject of its study to merely the victims of the larger
processes. In other words, there is a tendency to locate the
marginalized communities as totally lacking agency. It is as an
important corrective to this tendency that the livelihoods approach
was first taken up by scholars like Diana Carney and Scoons (1998).
One of the important features of livelihoods approach is that it focuses
upon people’s assets (physical, natural, financial, human, social and
political capitals). It also looks at how people utilize these assets and
negotiate their problems.

Most of the studies made on livelihoods so far are not holistic in

nature and hence there is a need for a more comprehensive and
holistic understanding of the problem of the livelihoods of the
marginalized communities. The present study is an attempt in this
regard. It builds upon the existing studies and seeks to evolve a new
perspective and new direction to understand the problem.

The sustainable livelihoods approach goes back to the mid-

1980s, when Robert Chambers first initiated his comprehensive study
in this area. This theoretical formulation was further developed in
early 1990s by Chambers and Conway (1999). Since then, a number

13
of development agencies, Governmental and non-governmental, such
as Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), CARE and OXFAM, have made
efforts to implement it.

There have been many attempts to define livelihoods. Chambers

and Conway defined livelihoods as ‘the ways in which people satisfy
their needs, or gain a living’ (1992: 5). Carney offered an elaborate
definition of sustainable livelihoods. According to him, ‘A livelihood
comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social
resources) and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is
sustainable when it can cope up with and recover from stresses and
shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets, both now
and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base’
(1998: 2).

Ahmed and Lipton (1988) define “Livelihood” as a set of flows of

income, from hired employment, self-employment, remittances
(usually in developing rural areas) to a seasonal or annually variable
combination of all the above. For them, livelihood implies systems of
how people make a living and whether their livelihoods are secure or
vulnerable over time. Later Chambers defined livelihood security as
‘Secured ownership of, access to, resources and income-generating
activities, including reserves and assets to offset risk, ease shocks and
meet contingencies’ (1998: 2).

Significance of Livelihoods Approach:

Since sustainable livelihoods approach has grown in popularity
and acceptance over the last decade, there is now a sizable body of
literature on the subject. It is pertinent to note that most of these

14
documents have been generated in the process of programme
implementation. Sustainable livelihoods approach helps to bring
together different perspectives on poverty and integrate the
contributions of different developmental programmes in eliminating
poverty. It makes explicit the choices and possible tradeoffs in
planning and executing different development activities. Sustainable
livelihoods approach helps to understand the underlying constraints
and links micro-level understanding of poverty into policy and
institutional change processes (Farrington et. al, 1999).

There are many scholars who are working in the area of

Livelihoods and Livelihoods Diversification by using Sustainable
Livelihoods (SL) framework of DFID and other agencies. Till the
emergence of New Economic Policy of the Government of India and the
subsequent liberalization of the Indian economy, it is felt that the
responsibilities of a welfare State must be not only as regulator but
also as provider of infrastructure so that the poor get freed themselves
from the cycle of poverty (Gupta 2004:1-5).

The Third World countries have attempted to extricate

themselves from the immense burden of international debts and from
the internal economic morass by way of adapting new strategies of
development, aping the developed countries, seeking loans from the
World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), etc., agencies to
escape from their problems. They were compelled to restructure their
economic institutions in order to avail the funding facilities from the
donor agencies. As a part of structural adjustment, they had to adopt
new economic policies in which the State had to shake off its primary
responsibilities of providing welfare measures to the poor. This new
development strategy opened floodgates for the entry of local and

15
international non-government organisations (NGOs) as benefactors to
the poor alongside the State. Meanwhile, the meaning of the concept
of ‘development’ has also changed.

Literature Review:
Review of literature has been organised into two parts. First part
dealt with the general review of Anthropology of Development, Growth,
Development and Development Anthropology, whereas the second part
dealt particularly about different studies on Livelihoods in Andhra
Pradesh, in particular, and in India, in general. Before exploring the
Livelihoods scholarship further, an attempt has been made here to
look at different prescriptions of development, which are equally
important for an understanding of livelihoods.

The receptivity in the 1990s of anthropologists working in

development and of development professionals can be traced to the
early 1970s, coincident with paradigm shift in the discipline away
from cultural relativism, structuralism, and evolutionism toward
models informed by political ecology and the political economy of
French Marxist sociology. The anthropology of the 1970s was better
prepared to deal with dynamism and complexity of rural communities,
and with the effects of the political economies on rural systems in
which they were enmeshed. While much earlier anthropology
emphasized the uniqueness of each cultural situation and its
structural stability, anthropologists trained in the 1960s and 1970s
were more disposed to see both cross-cultural regularities, allowing for
comparison, and internal heterogeneity, conflict, and creativity leading
to social change (Horowitz 2003: 328-330).

16
 Development Anthropology considers the efforts of local
societies of their incorporation in larger regional, national, and world
economic systems (Horowitz, 2000). Hoben, in his review of the recent
growth and expansion of anthropological activities to development,
notes that ‘anthropologists working in development have not created
an academic sub-discipline, ‘Development Anthropology’, for their
work is not characterized by a distinctive body of theory, concepts,
and methods’ (cited in Green 1986: 5-6).

‘Development Anthropologists operate effectively as members of

organizations involved in development work, becoming knowledgeable
about the “professional culture” of such organizations…and the
bureaucratic and political decision-making processes that characterize
development assistance programmes’ (Hoben 1982: 23).

It is evident from different studies that anthropologists provide

critical understandings of the nature of development. Since 1975,
anthropologists have been prominent among those who have
elaborated a systematic critique of the development process that
exposes conventional top-down interventions as serving the interests
of national and international elites and as further impoverishing the
rural majorities of poor countries and degrading their habitats. The
principal contributions of Anthropology to development
understandings have been to reveal to economists and technical
specialists the expertise of local people who are the target and
supposedly the beneficiaries of development actions, and to
demonstrate the internal complexity and socio-economic
differentiation of local communities that were typically assumed to be
homogeneous by planners.

17
 Further, anthropologists have demonstrated the need for in-
depth research and won support from development organisations and
host governments. Although the typical anthropological association
with development involves a relatively brief appraisal or evaluation
mission, using methodologies aimed at obtaining a good deal of
information in a short time techniques known as Rapid Rural
Appraisal by those who favour them and quick or rural development
tourism (Chambers 1983) or even drive-by anthropology by those
uncomfortable with their tempo-donor agencies are increasingly
receptive to supporting long-term social research.

If ‘growth’ was the buzzword of the 1960s and ‘equity’ that of the
1970s and early 1980s, the development liturgy of the 1990s invokes
above all the notion of ‘sustainability’. Perhaps the most important
contribution is the recurrent demonstration that environmental
sustainability in development cannot be achieved independently of or
in opposition to the interests of the rural poor. Environmentally sound
development must be predicated on increased real income for small
producers. Anthropologists can help plan, design, implement, and
assess programmes and projects that enhance sustainability both in
terms of habitat and the economic status of the largest number of
persons.

Sustainable improvements in the environmental health of the

earth require prior and parallel improvements in the economic health
of the poor, especially the agrarian proletariat and small land-holding
farmers, fishermen and herders. Anthropologists can help assure that
a new development agenda will be based on respect for human as well
as for natural resources; that will not contribute to the degradation of
human beings through poverty and oppression, any more than it will

18
contribute to a degradation of natural resources. A critical focus for
anthropologists is to continue to work toward the empowerment of
local communities, including women, men, and children, who are
economically, socially and politically deprived (Horowitz 2003: 333).

Farrington and others (1999) have shared their experience while

working on the Western Orissa rural livelihoods project, where they
found that livelihoods were less dependent on natural resources than
expected, partly because the poor had such limited access to these
resources.

Frank Ellis (2000), an agricultural economist, in his book ‘Rural

Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries’, concentrated
mostly on Eastern Africa. In the first part of this book, he developed in
detail the sustainable rural livelihoods framework and defined a series
of core concepts. In the second part, Ellis elaborates the combination
of survey and participatory methods that opens up the possibility of a
better understanding of rural livelihoods. He outlines a critique of
large scale income surveys, on largely familiar grounds, with reference
to studies undertaken in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, and concludes
that they are of very limited view in understanding changes in rural
livelihoods over time. He also advocates different PRA methods for
discovering the mediating processes relating to social relations,
institutions and organisations, within which livelihood strategies are
adopted.

Bagchi et al (1998) offered comparative base through a sample

survey of 15 villages in Eastern India and Western Nepal, undertaken
in mid-1970s. Livelihood trajectories, according to them, are to
provide insights into the changing welfare and capabilities of

19
individuals and of groups, and can illuminate the process of change
by revealing the ways in which negotiation, bargaining and struggle
can alter circumstances. Further, it makes it possible to bridge the
supposed micro-macro divide by a process of aggregation upwards
from the lives of individuals and combine insights in a seriously inter-
disciplinary spirit, from the many different paradigms prevalent in
development studies. Bagchi states that livelihoods analysis ‘starts
from daily lives and experiences’ and moves on to explore not only
‘how people make history’ but also the constraints that limit their
functioning and capabilities.

Khanya’s (2000) study tried to apply the livelihoods framework

for poverty reduction in southern and Central Africa. The sustainable
livelihoods approach, in Khanya’s view, does help to structured
analysis of the support required to assist the poor. Particularly
important in this regard are i) a holistic analysis of strengths and ii)
an understanding of macro – micro linkages. Khanya offers the
experience of a vertical transects methodology, proceeding from an
overview of policies at the centre to rapid assessment at village,
district and provincial levels and then return to the centre. Khanya
recommends a decentralized approach in which district level acts as
the interface between micro level understandings of clients, with
macro level policies, and provides the key intermediation in terms of
matching poor people’s preferred outcomes and strategies with
appropriate service delivery. The whole point of livelihoods research is
to understand the ways in which diverse modes of livelihoods are
interrelated through the management of complex household portfolios
in circumstances of structural change, not simply to identify the
supposedly discreet concerns and interests of distinguishable social
categories of the population.

20
 Elizabeth Francis’s (2000) study in Africa was based on forty-
one life history interviews in nearly as many households. Francis has
used a unified interview framework that included questions about
contemporary livelihoods. She conducted interviews dealing with the
local and regional institutional context with chiefs, headmen, local
councillors, other local political activists, and members of local
community based organizations, district council officials, provincial
government departments and the National African Farmers Union.
She developed sample in order to capture differences in livelihoods,
resources access and income levels, without any claim that it was
statistically representative.

Henry Bernstein et al (1992) concentrated mostly on India, Latin

America and sub-Saharan Africa. In the first part of their book, they
explained origins of poverty and the poor and agrarian structures and
change by reviewing some concepts, measures and meanings of
poverty, in particular rural poverty. The second part opens up rural
households to examine what goes on inside them, and to show why
their internal dynamics are important for rural lives and livelihoods.
The third part comprises four different case studies addressing
specific themes in particular settings on employment, environment,
differentiation and health. The final part of the book considers
responses to crises in rural livelihoods ‘from above’ and ‘from below’.

Overseas Development Institute (ODI 2000) has carried out two

case studies based on application of sustainable livelihoods approach
in Kenya and Namibia. These studies show how people’s livelihoods
are affected due to community based resource management and other
policies. They studied the impact of tourism and wildlife conservation

21
programme on people’s livelihoods. They tried to highlight the
difficulties among the partners and skills required to assess the
impacts. They also highlighted some of the difficulties in quantifying
the impact of various projects that contribute to the livelihoods of the
people.

A Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) approach aims to provide a wider

view of poverty than conventional income-based approaches (Scoons
1998). Sustainable Livelihoods approach recognises the importance of
ability to access resources and entitlements, reduce risk and
vulnerability, and exercise voice. It, therefore, emphasises that the
poor do have assets, options and strategies, and that they are decision
takers. Its concern with ‘getting below the surface’ to informal
institutions and processes is particularly important. It offers the
prospect of identifying entry points for pro-poor change, and of
sequencing activities in such a way as to minimise the danger of
appropriation of benefits by local elites.

The rationale for the promotion of a ‘livelihoods approach’ in the

watershed programme in States such as Andhra Pradesh lies in the
desire to take a more inclusive approach to community development
and directly address some of the criticism that the watershed
programme, which is essentially land-based, does not benefit the poor
as many of them are landless. Such an approach focuses on people’s
livelihood assets and strategies. People’s own human capital –
comprising the skills, knowledge, ability to labour and good health – is
one asset on which they can draw. Hitherto, there has been
insufficient differentiation in considering human capital within
livelihoods frameworks. DFID’s sustainable rural livelihoods approach
puts ‘people at the centre of development’.

22
 The DFID-supported Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project
(APRLP) covers five districts in Andhra Pradesh, with a total
population of over 15 million. The target group for the project are the
rural poor in those districts, estimated to be up to 40% of the
population (Seeley 2001). In Andhra Pradesh, since last few years
participatory watershed programme is being implemented, where, at
present, Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (APRLP) aims to
scale up ongoing watershed programme activities in the State by
supporting in the areas of capacity building, livelihood support and
convergence of other schemes and services, collectively called
‘watershed plus’. The project is expected to assist in macro policy
evolution relating to evolving effective and sustainable approaches to
reduce poverty in the five drought prone districts of the State. The
project adopts a participatory sustainable rural livelihoods strategy,
which is based on an analysis of the capital assets (physical, social,
human, natural, financial and political) from which the rural poor
makeup their livelihoods (APRLP 1999).

The DFID sustainable livelihoods framework encompasses the

main factors (at all institutional levels) that affect people’s livelihoods
and is proposed as a tool for examining the relationships between
these (www.livelihoods.org). Sustainable livelihoods is defined in the
following terms: ‘a livelihood is environmentally sustainable when it
maintains or enhances the local and global assets on which
livelihoods depend … a livelihood is socially sustainable which can
cope with and recover from stress and shocks and maintain or
enhance its capabilities and assets, both now and in the future’
(Scherr 2000: 478).

23
 The Sustainable Livelihoods approach highlights access to
assets as key to enhancing capabilities. Pretty (1999: 7) emphasizes
that assets under the five headings of natural, social, human, physical
and financial capital are vital for sustainable development. In
addition to identifying assets, the nature of access is critical to
determining ‘entitlement’, the ‘full range of resources that a person
has at his disposal for the realization of capabilities’ (Williams 1999:
194).

Pretty and Ward (2001: 211) identify social capital as an

important part of sustainable livelihoods. It consists of formal and
informal rules, norms and sanctions, connections through networks
and between groups all of which facilitate relations of trust, reciprocity
and exchange (Pretty cited in Marzano 2002: 823). Bebbington notes
that at the local level ‘networks of trust and mutual accountability
linking individuals in communities (not usually all the community) are
critical in helping break the problem of access to financial aid’ (1999:
2037).

Chambers and Conway believe that ‘in addition to direct and

physical benefits, adequate and decent livelihoods can and often do
have other good effects and these effects can, further, improve the
capabilities in the broader sense’ (1992: 12). Conversely, certain
livelihood activities may highlight a person or household’s
vulnerability due to limited or decreasing access to assets. It is
observed that the villagers perceive livelihood strategies on a limited
scale due to decreasing access to assets. Hence, they perceive
livelihoods on a hierarchical scale with agricultural labourers at the
bottom, moving up to various full time or temporary occupations such
as brick-making, tree sawing, masonry and public or private sector

24
vocations such as the armed forces, teaching, civil service, salesman
and shop keeping.

Marzano (2002: 824) explains that sustainable livelihoods

approach helps to identify people who may be vulnerable by
examining people’s access to available assets and the livelihoods
choices they subsequently make. In this study, social – or political –
capital influences access to most other resources, and is, therefore, a
key factor in determining vulnerability. Those with insufficient access
to land, if they have the available labour within the household, will
rent or borrow plots of land from other landowners in the villages.

William notes that ‘social networks open to the poor important

avenues for their empowerment; they also directly affect their
capability to achieve ‘functions’ such as taking part in the community
and having self-respect’ (Williams 1999: 201).

Tom Frank (1992) in his study in Tanzania followed the

livelihoods approach to find out the differences it (livelihoods
approach) makes from the other approaches. He quoted the seminal
papers of Chambers and Conway, building on work done for the World
Commission on Environment and Development five years earlier, who
proposed a working definition of a livelihood: ‘a livelihood comprises
the capabilities, assets (stores, resources, claims and access) and
activities required for a means of living: a livelihood is sustainable
which can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks, maintain
or enhance its capabilities or assets, and provide sustainable
livelihood opportunities for the next generation; and which contributes
net benefits to other livelihoods at the local and global levels and in
the short and long term’ (cited in Frank1992: 205).

25
 Modern livelihoods studies found their intellectual inspiration in
the general understanding of the lives of poor people advocated by
Gordon Conway and Robert Chambers in an IDS discussion paper in
1992. In their interpretation, a livelihood refers to the means of
gaining a living, including livelihood capabilities, tangible assets, such
as stores and resources, and intangible assets, such as claims and
access (Haan et al 2002: 27).

Principal Roots of Sustainable Livelihoods Approach:

After the structural perspective of dependencia and neo-
Marxism of the 1970s and 1980s, a more productive actor-oriented
perspective was adopted in development studies. Like its
predecessors, it emphasized inequalities in the distribution of assets
and power, but it also recognized that people make their own history
and it even opposed the view that economic concerns are necessarily
of primary importance. This new actor-oriented perspective was
mostly interested in the world of lived experience, the micro-world of
family, network and community (Johnston 1993: 229) and it drew
attention to related issues such as poverty, vulnerability and
marginalization.

In household studies, according to Haan et al (2005: 28),

increased attention was paid to household strategies as a means of
capturing the behaviour of low income people. The concentration on
households was considered useful for its potential to bridge the gap
between micro-economics, with its focus on the atomistic behaviour of
individuals, and historical-structuralism, which focused on the
political economy of development.

26
 In contrast to the earlier tendency to conceive poor people as
passive victims, these household studies and, more specifically, the
concept of household strategies, highlighted the active or even
proactive role played by the poor in ‘providing for their own
sustenance despite their lack of access to services and to an adequate
income’ (Schmink 1984: 88). On the contrary, Oscar Lewis had
introduced the concept of culture of poverty in 1968 as ‘a set of
deprivations that were perpetuated across generations, continually
undermining the capability of the poor to change their own situation’
(Schmink 1984: 87). However, it was increasingly acknowledged that
poor people were able to adapt or respond to changing circumstances.

In Schmink’s words; ‘in response to the opportunities and

constraints defined by broad historical and structural processes, the
domestic unit is conceived of as mediating a varied set of behaviours
(for example, labour force participation, consumption patterns, and
migration) that are themselves conditioned by the particular make up
of this most basic economic entity’ (ibid: 87).

A household was often regarded as ‘a single decision making

unit maximizing its welfare subject to a range of income-earning
opportunities and a set of resource constraints’ (Ellis 1998: 12).
Alternatively, households were defined as ‘co-resident groups of
persons, who share most aspects of consumption, drawing on and
allocating a common pool of resources (including labour) to ensure
their material reproduction’ (Schmink 1984: 9).

Various types of household studies appeared in the 1980s. A

large number of these were conducted under the heading of ‘new
household economics’. Subsequent household studies have used a

27
variety of concepts, of which the most common were ‘survival
strategies’, although Long (1984) was already calling them ‘livelihood
strategies’.

The major shortcoming of structural-functional and economic

approaches to the household is the neglect of the role of ideology. The
socially specific units that approximate ‘households’ are best typified
not merely as clusters of task-oriented activities that are organized in
variable ways, not merely as places to live or eat or work or reproduce,
but as sources of identity and social markers. They are located in
structures of cultural meaning and differential power (Guyer and
Peters 1987: 209).

While many household studies ended in rather pessimist

conclusions, showing how poor households were increasingly
excluded from the benefits of economic growth and thus marginalized,
in the early 1990s a new generation of more optimistic household
studies appeared, which approached households from a livelihoods
perspective and showed how people are able to survive. In its
optimism, the livelihoods approach is an expression of the Zeitgeist,
but it is also a direct response to the disappointing results of former
approaches in devising effective policies to alleviate poverty, such as
those based on income, consumption criteria or basic needs (Haan et
al 2005: 29-30).

According to Appendini the central objective of the livelihoods

approach was ‘to search for more effective methods to support people
and communities in ways that are more meaningful to their daily lives
and needs, as opposed to ready-made, interventionist instruments’
(2001: 24).

28
 Arce (2003: 202) argues that it was not sustainability, but
security and income that represented Chambers’ central issues for the
development debate and that he consequently turned the discussion
on its head, re-interpreting sustainability as a matter of trade-off for
poor people between vulnerability and poverty.

UNDP (Hoon et al 1997), Oxfam and CARE adopted the concept

of sustainable livelihoods (Solesbury 2003a: 3). The Society for
International Development (SID) in Rome also started a Sustainable
Livelihoods Project, which originated from SID’s grassroots initiative
programme and focused on the question of how to increase the
effectiveness of grass roots and other kinds of civil society
organizations.

Significant work on sustainable livelihoods continued at IDS,

Sussex. Important insights were gained from the study of
environmental entitlements, focusing on access and institutions
(Leach et al 1999), which fed directly into the sustainable rural
livelihoods framework (Scoons 1998). Other substantial contributions
came from the ODI, on natural resources (Carney 1998; Farrington et
al 1999), and from the Overseas Development Group of the University
of East Anglia on the diversification of livelihood activities (Ellis 1998).

Solesbury (2003b: 2) argues that the pro-active, self-help image

of the sustainable livelihoods approach for improving the lives of the
poor is dovetailed with the image that the new administration wanted
to project. Sustainable livelihoods became an important theme in the
UK’s development policy, with the Department of International
Development (DFID) initiating a multitude of new research projects
and policy debates on the subject.

29
 The sustainable livelihoods frameworks used by the different
authors were, it was claimed, ‘not intended to depict reality in any
specific setting (but) rather (used) as an analytical structure for
coming to grips with the complexity of livelihoods, understanding
influences on poverty and identifying where interventions can best be
made. The assumption is that people pursue a range of livelihood
outcomes (health, income, reduced vulnerability, etc.) by drawing on a
range of assets to pursue a variety of activities. The activities they
adopt and the way then reinvest in asset-building are driven part by
their own preferences and priorities. However, they are also influenced
by the types of vulnerability, including shocks (such as drought), over
all trends (for instance resources stocks) and seasonal variations.
Options are also determined by the structures (such as the roles of
government or of the private sector) and processes (such as
institutional, policy and cultural factors), which people face. In
aggregate, their conditions determine their access to assets and
livelihood opportunities and the way in which these can be converted
into outcomes’ (Farrington et al 1999: 1).

In the context of disaster analysis, Blaikie et al (1994)

elaborated an access-to-resources model, which proved extremely
useful in explaining poor people’s livelihoods and their coping
mechanisms in periods of crisis. They partly built on Sen’s (1981)
concept of entitlements, which was more appropriate for
understanding poverty and famine than the narrower notion of
property.

Appendini quotes the claim of Long (1997) that the term

livelihood ‘best expresses the idea of individuals or groups striving to

30
make a living, attempting to meet their various consumption and
economic necessities, coping with uncertainties, responding to new
opportunities, and choosing between different value positions’ (2001:
24-5). In the latter idea, in particular, we find an indication that the
understanding of livelihood has to go beyond the economic or material
objectives of life. Further, Wallmann (1984) stressed that ‘Livelihood
is never just a matter of finding or making shelter, transacting money,
getting food to put on the family table or to exchange on the market
place. It is equally a matter of ownership and circulation of
information, the management of skills and relationships and the
affirmation of personal significance and group identity. The tasks of
meeting obligations, of security, identity and status, and organizing
time etc., are as crucial to livelihoods as bread and shelter’ (1984: 25).

This is not to say that livelihood is not a matter of material well-

being, but rather that it also includes non-material aspects of well-
being. Livelihood should be seen as a dynamic and holistic concept.
In the words of Bebbington, ‘A person’s assets, such as land, are not
merely means with which he or she makes a living; they also give
meaning to that person’s world. Assets are not simply resources that
people use in building livelihoods; they are assets that give them the
capability to be and to act. Assets should be understood only as
things that allow survival, adaptation and poverty alleviation; they are
also the basis of agents’ power to act and reproduce, challenge or
change the rules that govern the control, use and transformation of
resources’ (1999: 2002).

Further, Haan et al (2005: 33) express that the improved

understanding of the holistic meaning of livelihood (and subsequently,
of the multidimensionality of poverty, which takes account of how

31
poverty is perceived by the poor themselves) is an important
achievement of the livelihoods approach. It reveals itself not only in its
view on livelihood outcomes, but also in its attention to a variety of
capitals upon which the poor draw to shape their livelihoods. Besides
conventional assets like land, livestock or equipment, these include
various elements of human capital and social capital. The emphasis is
on the flexible combinations of, and trade-offs between, different
capitals.

Two layers of critique can be formulated at this point. The first

layer is the criticisms that in this inventive focus on trade-off of
capitals, authors often do not know how to go beyond material
motives and aims. Arce commented that the reduction of ‘livelihood to
the mobilization and deployment of social and organizational
resources for the pursuit of economic and environmental goals’ (2003:
205-6) is questionable. The second layer of critique lies in the
fundamental question of the flexibility of these interchanges of
capitals. They are still bound by property relations and configurations
of power which play such a major role in inducing poverty in the first
place. Although transforming structures, mediating processes,
institutions and organizations appear in all livelihood frameworks,
there is a tendency within livelihoods studies to downplay these
structural features and to focus on capitals and activities.

The social exclusion approach portrays poverty a failure caused

by bottlenecks in access to capitals. In a historical perspective, a
pattern of social differentiation emerges between people who have
successfully chosen trajectories of upward mobility, and those who
have not. The latter are left behind as others improve their position
and are excluded as a result (Gore 1994: 7).

32
 According to Oliver de Sardan and Bierschenk (1994: 38), these
co-operating actors are not permanent social groups who present
themselves irrespective of the problem posed. In the words of de Haan:
‘They are rather groups of differing composition, which present
themselves depending on the problem. Sometimes it is an
occupational group, sometimes it is a status group like women or
youths, sometimes it is a kinship group, sometimes a network of
mutual assistance or clients of a patron, and sometimes a group of
individuals with a common historical trajectory of livelihood strategies’
(2000: 352).

The IDS environmental entitlements approach concentrates on

people’s access to natural resources by drawing upon Sen’s
entitlement approach and making use of his set of concepts –
endowments, entitlements ad capabilities – to argue that:
‘endowments refer to the rights and resources that social actors have,
environmental entitlements refer to the alternative sets of utilities
derived from environmental goods and services over which social
actors have legitimate effective command and which are instrumental
in achieving well being, and capabilities … are what people can do or
be with their entitlements’ (Leach et al cited in Haan 2005: 45). Thus,
entitlement means what people can have, rather than what they
should have, the latter is a right. At first glance, endowments come
close to capitals and entitlement to access those (Haan et al 2005: 34-
35).

Leach et al (1999) usefully extend the original understanding of

endowments and entitlements by making it more dynamic. Besides
stressing that livelihood also covers ways of gaining access beyond the

33
market, such as through kinship, they make it clear that: ‘there is
nothing inherent in a particular … good or service that makes it a
priori either an endowment or an entitlement. Instead, the distinction
between them depends on the empirical context and on time, within a
cyclical process. What are entitlements at one time may, in turn,
represent endowments at another time, from which a new set of
entitlements may be derived’ (ibid: 233).

The work of Leach et al (ibid) is extremely useful for two

reasons. Firstly, it keeps an eye on conflicting interests in organizing
livelihoods. Communities are not treated as static or undifferentiated;
multiple identities and conflicting values and claims over the natural
environment occur. Secondly, it shows how this political arena of
livelihood should be analysed – through the working of institutions.

Social relations comprise gender, caste, class, age, ethnicity,

and religion. Institutions comprise both formal rules and conventions
and informal codes of behaviour, hence they include laws, property
rights and markets. Organizations are groups of individuals bound by
the purpose of achieving certain objectives, such as government
agencies, NGOs, associations and private companies (North cited in
Ellis 2000: 38). In the words of Scott (1991: 26) ‘Gender is a primary
way of signifying relationships of power’.

Rowland’s (1997) conceptual framework of empowerment

provides an effective analytical tool for examining this. ‘Power within’
refers to individual changes in the confidence and consciousness that
individual actors experience in shaping their livelihood (Haan et al
2005: 37).

34
 Contemporary livelihoods studies focus on the active
involvement of people in response and enforcing change. Their aim is
to make clear that, rather than being victims, people play active roles
in achieving their livelihoods by continuously exploiting opportunities.
First, influenced by gender studies, which draw attention to intra-
household differences, the household is no longer considered a
homogenous unit of corresponding interests. Second, contemporary
trends towards individualization only accelerate the breakdown of
households; men, women and children supposed to pursue different
goals or, at least, are believed to have different interests. Third,
livelihoods are becoming increasingly diversified (Haan et al 2005: 38).

In many cases, there is a close link between a household’s

strategy and its history. ‘The concept of livelihood strategy can lose its
meaning to the extent that it becomes a mere functionalist label
applied ex post to whatever behaviour is found’ (Schmink 1984: 95).
Livelihood research shows that human behaviour should not always
be seen as conscious or intentional much of what people do cannot be
classified as strategic. In the case of risk management, Devereux
(2001) makes a distinction between ex ante and ex post strategies. He
suggests that ex ante strategies (such as planning low-risk, but low
return, crops in dry areas) are forms of intentional behaviour, but he
finds it debatable to call ex post behaviour ‘strategic’, when it includes
such examples as cutting food consumption to one meal a day, a
routine practice amongst already malnourished Africans during the
annual soudure (Devereux 2001: 512).

Zoomers (1999: 39) distinguish four categories of strategies in

her study of rural livelihoods in the Andes: accumulation,
consolidation, compensatory and security. She does not perceive these

35
strategies simply as intentional or unintentional behaviour, but
acknowledges structural components within them. Zoomers found
substantial numbers of people who used to be poor, but are now rich,
and people who used to be rich but are now poor (ibid: 46-7). Thus, in
her categorization of strategies both intentional and structural
elements arise. She stresses that this categorization should not be
taken as fixed, but as flexible: ‘Livelihood is like Pandora’s Box: there
are many concealed aspects. Livelihood strategies are also a moving
target… Any given strategy should be conceived as a stage rather than
a structural category’ (ibid: 47-48). Instead of classifying farmers on
the basis of what they own, it is better to characterize them in terms
of their objectives and priorities. This means that, at different periods,
the same persons may pursue different strategies. These are
influenced not only by the results of preceding activities, but also by
personality characteristics (ibid: 40).

With the purpose of analyzing the impact of socio-cultural

components, Arce and Hebinck (2002) and Nooteboom (2003) have
elaborated the concept of styles. Arce and Hebinck argue that ‘a focus
on organizational practices might take the livelihood framework
beyond the unit of analysis of individual strategies’ (2002: 7). A style
consists of a specific cultural repertoire composed of shared
experiences, knowledge, insights, interests, prospects and
interpretations of the context; and integrated set of practices and
artefacts, such as crop varieties, instruments, cattle; a specific
ordering of the interrelations with markets, technology and
institutions; and responses of policies.

Examining social security, Nooteboom defines styles as

‘distinguishable patterns of orientations and action concerning the

36
variety of means to achieve security; these patterns are structured by
an internal logic and conditioned by social, economic and personal
characteristics of people involved’ (2003: 54). He (ibid: 207)
distinguishes four livelihood and social security styles: enterprising
people, money people, stingy people and village people.

The concept of styles can be seen as an attempt to move away

from neo-liberal thinking to a more structural approach of Giddens
towards Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’. Habitus is a system of acquired
dispositions, primarily defined by social class, which are acquired
through socialization. Through this internalized system of
dispositions, or classificatory schemes, new situations are evaluated
in the light of past experiences. On the one hand, patterns in
livelihood arise because persons of the same social class, gender or
caste have similar dispositions and face similar life opportunities,
expectations of others, etc., resulting in a livelihood typical of their
group. In so doing they develop a particular habitus, which
distinguishes them from the others. On the other hand, adaptation of
habitus may take place and life trajectories may occur in which actors
change social position. Thus, actors with different dispositions at the
start may ultimately develop the same, successful livelihood (Haan et
al 2005: 41)

According to de Bruijin and van Dijk (2003: 2), ‘A pathway is

different from a strategy, because a pathway need not be a device to
attain a pre-set goal which is set after a process of conscious and
rational weighing of the actor’s preferences. Rather it arises out of an
interactive process in which a step-by-step procedure, goals,
preferences, resources and means are constantly reassessed in view of
new unstable conditions. Individuals decide on the basis of a wide

37
range of past experiences, rather than on a vision of the future, while
these recollections of the past depend to a great extent on our
intellectual concern in the present. Actors do co-ordinate their actions
with other actors’. In this co-ordination process regularities arise
which pre-structure subsequent decisions.

Following this discussion, we propose to use the concept of

pathway for the observed regularities or patterns in livelihood among
particular social groups and to use trajectories for individual actors’
life paths. Although the term ‘pathway’ is used more often in livelihood
studies now a day, there is little agreement on its precise meaning.
Breusers (2001: 180), in a study of pathways to deal with climate
variability in Burkina Faso, gives a rudimentary description of
pathways as decisions which actors take in response to available
options, environmental constraints or contingent events. This makes
pathways synonymous with strategies. In the Development Pathways
Studies of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),
pathways are characterized as patterns of changes in livelihood
strategies (Pender et al 2001). These studies arose out of the need to
overcome the ‘one-size fits-all’ approach to technical assistance in
achieving sustainable agricultural development and reducing poverty
and, subsequently, to design different and more realistic approaches
to different pathways.

A development pathway represents a common pattern of change

in resource management, associated with a common set of causal and
conditioning factors. The causes and consequences of such pathways
are likely to be different and the opportunities and constraints
affecting natural resource management decisions likely to differ across
development pathways. Across and within development pathways

38
there may be differences in agriculture and natural resource
management strategies at both household and collective levels
(Pender, Scherr and Durcon 1999: 4). Development pathways are
determined primarily by differences in comparative advantage, which
largely depend on three critical factors: agricultural potential, access
to markets and population pressure (Pender, Place and Ehui 1999:
36-7).

A valuable step forward has been made by Scoones and Wolmer

(2002) in their study of pathways to crop livestock integration in
Africa. They criticize the unilinear, evolutionary sequence view of
crop-livestock integration with mixed farming as the most sustainable
and efficient farming system. They re-examine diverse patterns of
crop-livestock interactions, called pathways of change, which were
hitherto seen as incomplete or as a cul-de-sac, avoiding normative
assumptions about the desirability of one option over another. They
further argued that Pathways have shown that people do make their
own livelihoods, but not necessarily under conditions of their own
choosing, ‘livelihoods emerge out of past actions and decisions are
made within specific historical and agro-ecological conditions, and are
constantly shaped by institutions and social arrangements’ (ibid: 183).

Zoomers (1999) encourages us to look upon strategies as a stage

rather than a structural category and to classify actors in terms of
their objectives and priorities rather than what they own, Scoones and
Wolmer believe that ‘pathways of change are non-linear and appear
non-deterministic in as much as various actors starting from different
positions of power and resource endowments may have arrived at
similar configurations by very different intermediate steps’ (2002:
195). Thus, they both acknowledge the temporality of livelihood

39
activities, but seem to differ on the predictability of the orientation of
the outcome.

The analysis of livelihood trajectories makes use of life histories,

but in contrast to the usual life histories (Francis 1992: 43-44), which
typically report on the outlines of behaviour such as the chronology of
the actors’ lives, livelihood trajectories try to penetrate into a deeper
layer of beliefs, needs, aspirations and limitations especially need to
be contextualized in relation to power and institutions. As such, the
livelihood trajectory is more of an analytical construct, but it cannot
be realized without an open rapport between researcher and
informants.

Depicting livelihood trajectories can perhaps best be described

as unravelling a historical route through a labyrinth of rooms, with
each room having several doors giving access to new livelihood
opportunities; but the doors can be opened and the room of
opportunities successfully entered only with the right key
qualifications. Livelihood trajectories should explicitly focus on
matters of access to opportunities, especially mapping the workings of
power, starting with ‘power within’, via ‘power to’ and finally, to ‘power
over’. The livelihoods approach allows for both the intentional,
strategic behaviour of actors and the historical, socio-cultural
repertoire; it represents a dynamic standpoint on livelihoods, which
take into account successes and failures, as well as social and
geographical mobility, rather than making rigid and static
assumptions about class, gender and so on. Livelihoods are usually
analysed in relation to a single location, seeking to understand the
geographical, socio-economic and cultural micro situations. More
emphasis should be placed on comparative research, or a systemic

40
comparison of livelihood decisions in different geographical, socio-
economic, cultural or temporal contexts, so that patterns can be
recognized as pathways, which go beyond the specific case (Haan et al
2005: 44).

The Question of Vulnerability:

The sustainable livelihoods approach takes into account the
vulnerability context in order to understand the way people cope up
with those contexts. There have been many attempts to define
‘Vulnerability’.

‘Vulnerability is best defined relative to some benchmark of ill-

being’ (Alwang et al 2001: 105). Vulnerability related to dimensions
such as educational opportunities, mortality, nutrition and health
could be measured as well (Dercon 2001). To briefly explain,
‘vulnerability’ is understood as the trends, shocks and seasonality
over which people have limited or no control. Yet, these critically affect
their livelihood status and possibilities. The trends are understood to
be large movements, such as population trends, resource trends,
national/international trends, trends in governance, and technological
trends. Shocks are understood to be short intense bursts that could
include human, crop, livestock, health shocks (like epidemics),
natural shocks (storms, droughts, etc), economic shocks (depression),
conflict (civil war), etc. Seasonality signifies cyclical occurrence of
events and these could include seasonal shifts in prices, employment
opportunities, food availability, health hazards, etc. These are, of
course, complexly inter-connected and our study proposes to analyze
a great deal from complex inter–working of the vulnerability contexts.

41
 Vulnerability according to Prowse is ‘what poor people are
concerned about is not so much that their level of income,
consumption or capabilities are low, but that they are likely to
experience highly stressful declines in these levels, to the point of
premature death. This approach suggests that poverty can be seen as
the probability (actual or perceived) that a household will suddenly
(but perhaps also gradually) reach a position with which it is unable
to cope, leading to catastrophe’ (2003: 12).

Further, as Chambers observed ‘vulnerability is seen in the

context of internal/external distinctions and thus has two sides: an
external side of risks, shocks, and stress to which an individual is
subject to; and an internal side which is defenceless, meaning a lack
of means to cope without damaging loss’ (cited in Prowse 2003: 22).
Moser (1998) also utilises a two-step model of vulnerability but uses
the concepts of sensitivity and resilience to significantly change the
focus and emphasis of Chamber’s internal/external distinction (cited
in Prowse 2003: 23).

Prowse notes that the application of sensitivity and resilience to

vulnerability stems from the field of agro-ecology and natural resource
management. In this respect the ecological notions of an ecosystem’s
‘fragility’ to external pressure and ability to ‘bounce-back’ from stress
have been applied to individual or household livelihood systems
(Prowse 2000: 62-63).

The model is, therefore, less ‘fatalistic’ than Chamber’s and

stresses the importance of the ‘capability’ of individual and household
to respond to stress. Further, the model developed by Moser placed its
importance on assets as the primary factor in determining

42
vulnerability: ‘Analysing vulnerability involves identifying not only the
threat but also the ‘resilience’ or responsiveness in exploiting
opportunities, and in resisting or recovering from the negative effects
of a changing environment. The means of resistance are the assets
and entitlements that individuals, households, or communities can
mobilise and manage in the face of hardship. Vulnerability, is
therefore, closely linked to asset ownership. The more assets people
have the less vulnerable they are, and the greater the erosion of
people’s assets, the greater their insecurity’ (Moser cited in Prowse
2003: 25).

The Sustainable livelihoods approach is useful to analyze the

tribal livelihoods, vulnerability contexts and the direction of change. It
adopts a holistic approach and analyses livelihoods in the culture of a
people, emphasises on people oriented development, and
abandonment of top down approach. Thus it emphasises on a need for
evolving people friendly or culture specific policies.

The sustainable livelihoods approach has been widely identified

as an instrument to eradicate poverty. However, our study seeks to
use this approach as a means to understand not only poverty but all
the other forms of deprivations and vulnerability contexts.

II

Tribal Communities and their Livelihoods in India and Andhra

Pradesh:
Majority of the Tribal communities in India are ‘marginal’ and
same is the case in Andhra Pradesh and more so in respect of the
Sugali Tribe in Anantapur District. There is no unified definition for
the term ‘marginal’ and anthropologists, in India, have used the term
as to refer it to their life situations. The Macmillan Dictionary of

43
Anthropology defines the term ‘Marginal’ or ‘Marginality’ as ‘in its
economic, political and sociocultural dimensions is an important
element in most contexts of anthropological research, and has varying
dimensions which have been explored in ethnography and
anthropological theory to varying extents’ (1986: 177). Thus ‘the vast
majority of the populations studied by anthropologists are to a certain
extent marginal ones: often doubly marginal, as in the case of ethnic
minority groups existing within Third World nations which are
themselves marginal to the world capitalist system’ (ibid). It is further
mentioned that ‘anthropological research within Western nations also
tends to focus on groups which are in some way marginal to the
dominant national society, whether they are ethnic minorities or
groups that are in some other way set apart from the mainstream’
(ibid: 177-178).

Interestingly, World Bank does not have the term marginal in

their categorisation. Instead, the World Bank (2005) uses the term
"Indigenous Peoples", which is used in a generic sense to refer to a
distinct, vulnerable, social and cultural group, possessing the
following characteristics in varying degrees:
(a) Self-identification as members of a distinct indigenous
cultural group and recognition of this identity by others;
(b) Collective attachment to geographically distinct habitats or
ancestral territories in the project area and to the natural
resources in these habitats and territories;
(c) Customary cultural, economic, social, or political institutions
that are separate from those of the dominant society and
culture; and
(d) An indigenous language, often different from the official
language of the country or region.

44
 A group that has lost ‘collective attachment to geographically
distinct habitats or ancestral territories in the project area’
(www.worldbank.org) because of forced severance remains eligible for
coverage under this policy. Ascertaining whether a particular group is
considered as "Indigenous Peoples" for the purpose of this policy may
require a technical judgment.

Anjana Chaudhary defined the term ‘Marginal Group’ as ‘a

culture group that has relinquished some of its traditions and
separate identity and partially accepted the values and ways of life of a
culture it is in the process of adopting’ (2000: 234).

Thus, the tribal communities in India are overwhelmingly

marginalized not only economically but also spatially, culturally, and
otherwise. Andhra Pradesh has a significant proportion of tribal
population and is ranked fifth in the country. Number of laws
promulgated by the pre- and post-British India affected the tribals
adversely. These laws have threatened their livelihoods and existence.
These groups, who were forest dwellers, have been denied usufruct
rights over forest produce. Land reforms have not benefited them in
any significant way. Hence, they remain landless and, to some extent,
even homeless. The lack of education has resulted in their exploitation
by the non-tribals. Government officials have often colluded or
remained apathetic to this situation.

As Bokil rightly pointed out that the first and foremost problem
before the tribal communities in India is to earn and sustain
livelihoods. This problem assumed alarming proportions because the
traditional means of obtaining livelihoods are increasingly threatened.
In the past fifty years the access to and control over the resources has

45
undergone radical changes. Thus, it is in this context that the
demonstration of the tribal communities which, can make use of the
available natural resources and obtain sustainable livelihoods would
bring desired results to the tribal and marginal communities (2002:
163-165).

Many development programmes have been directed towards

their uplift. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has implemented the
Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) in order to change
the livelihoods of the people through agricultural development. This
programme aims to bring about an integrated development involving
various agencies like forest, agriculture, education, health, etc. The
main thrust of the programme is towards an all round development of
the people. An integrated approach helps to bring about effective
administrative control, monitoring and evaluation of the entire
programme. Besides these efforts of the Government, non-
governmental organisations have also been involved in the
development of tribal livelihoods. Given these efforts of both the
Government and NGOs, it would be important to study the impact of
these efforts on both the livelihoods as well as the cultures of the
tribals. Mere adoption of a livelihoods approach would not lead to a
sustainable development. It has to be seen in the context of the lives
and aspirations of the tribal people. In fact, the analysis has to be
integrated into traditional anthropological concerns for a better
understanding of the tribal development.

The above reviews try to address the links involved in the

concepts of livelihoods, vulnerability, and donor agencies involvement
in the implementation of these concepts in their evaluation studies.
The major drawbacks in the above reviews are that it is not shown the

46
socio-cultural view point of the livelihoods approach except for
Marzano’s (2002) study in Srilanka. Thus, to fill up the socio-cultural
gaps in the Livelihoods approach, our study adopts the following
objectives.

Objectives:
¾ To look at livelihood systems in the social cultural and religious
context;
¾ to understand the relation between livelihoods and marginality;
¾ to examine the availability and accessibility of assets, services,
etc., and their relationship to livelihoods;
¾ to study the development measures taken up by the government
and non-government agencies to augment livelihood
opportunities and to reduce marginality, and
¾ to scrutinize the trends, shocks and seasonality that are
particular to livelihoods in the region

Theoretical Framework:
Marginality and vulnerability are linked to access, utilisation
and control over resources. When a marginal community is located in
a multi-ethnic village the resources of the village are shared by many
communities and the dominant among them wields a greater control
over the resources. In this kind of situation, a marginal community
becomes more vulnerable, especially in times of crisis, as their access
to resources becomes minimal. This forces them to migrate and also
diversify their livelihood. On the contrary, if a marginal community
lives exclusively in an area and have control over the resources, its
chances of migration to other areas as well as diversification of
livelihoods are minimal.

47
Methodology:
The present study is basically a qualitative micro-level study
aimed at understanding the livelihood systems of the marginalized
communities and the shocks, stresses and trends involved in their
livelihood processes. It also aims at examining the accessibility of
different capitals to the said communities. In order to fulfil the
objectives of the study, qualitative anthropological tools and
techniques were employed. These are mainly Observation (participant
and non-participant type), Interviews (formal and informal) using
detailed checklist, Key-Informant interviews, Case Studies, Focus
Group Discussions, etc. Understanding the natives concepts and
people’s views regarding the livelihood systems of the people, existing
systems of utilization, local knowledge of the different capitals
involved and also, most importantly, role of vulnerability context in
their daily life systems.

Data from secondary sources were gathered from books,

articles, published reports, census reports, and government
documents from the respective departments like Society for
Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), APRLP and Department of Rural
Development.

Data with regard to socio-cultural, demographic and economic

aspects, and accessibility and availability of different assets, services,
and also other information regarding the study in the study
settlements were collected from primary sources through detailed
census schedules.

Observation is an important method to elicit factors that are

responsible for livelihood systems in relation to socio-cultural and

48
religious aspects of the people in the study villages. It helped in
visiting sites and cross checking the information. Anything that may
be relevant to the subject being investigated was noted and necessary
questions were asked to obtain further clarifications. The technique of
Participant Observation aimed to get a better understanding of socio-
cultural and religious processes involved in the livelihood systems and
availability of different assets and capitals to the people.

Key-informants provided the link between the researcher and

the community in the field and who helped the researcher to proceed
in his research further. Key-informants are a kind of source book or
data base for the researcher. Further, they also provided the
necessary information related to the community and explained the
community the intension or the purpose of the researcher’s stay in the
village/settlement.

Intensive discussions with the villagers were conducted to draw

resource maps of the village. Interviews were conducted at the work
spots, market places, meetings or pre-arranged household visits, etc.,
to gather an understanding of the people regarding the problem under
study. Formal interviews were conducted with officials and other
functionaries to understand the livelihoods systems, development
measures undertaken by both the government and non-governmental
agencies to augment livelihood opportunities in order to reduce
poverty.

Case study method provided insights into the traditional

systems of livelihoods, beliefs, conceptions and associated taboos.
Data pertaining to the previous trends, shocks and seasonality that
are particular to livelihoods in the region were also gathered through

49
in-depth case studies. Data relating to availability and accessibility of
different assets and services to the people were also collected through
individual case studies.

Focus group discussions were helpful in eliciting the

understanding of the people with regard to the development
programmes, the manner of their implementation, suitability,
modifications required, etc.

Finally, data from all these sources were verified through

discussion with a cross section of people, including the elderly,
persons of the village, village officials and Non-Governmental
Organizations in the study settlements.

Selection of the Study Area and Villages:

In Andhra Pradesh, there are three regions: Coastal,
Rayalaseema and Telangana. Out of these three regions, Rayalaseema
is considered as the most backward region than the other two. In the
Rayalaseema region, Anantapur district is the most backward among
all the districts in the region. Besides, Anantapur district has a higher
proportion of Scheduled Tribe population than the other districts in
the region. Hence, in order to fulfil the objectives of the study, this
district is justifiably chosen for the present study.

Pilot Study and selection of study settlements:

A Pilot study was carried out in Penukonda revenue division to
identify the study areas as well as to test the field instruments. There
are three revenue divisions in the district and these are Anantapur,
Dharmavaram and Penukonda. Among these three revenue divisions,
Penukonda division has more number of tribal settlements, hence
chosen for the study. In Penukonda division, there are ten settlements

50
and out of which two settlements, Adadakulapalle Thanda and
Naginayani Cheruvu (NC) Thanda, were identified for the purpose of
the study. These two settlements are located in two different Mandals.
Adadakulapalle settlement comes under Penukonda Mandal and
Naginayani Cheruvu Thanda comes under Somandepalle Mandal.
Social Education and Development Society (SEDS) is working in the
Adadakulapalle settlement, while no NGO is found working in NC
Thanda.

While conducting pilot study, extensive discussions were held

with the officials of both Government and Non-Government Agencies
and also a number of villages were visited. After these exercises, two
settlements were chosen based on the following criteria:
• Settlements located in two contrast situations – one multi-
ethnic territory and another in an exclusive territory existing in
close proximity
• Based on the distance from the settlements to the main road
and accessibility of amenities and services.
• The presence and absence of NGO in the study settlement,
their interventions or lack of it in the uplift of the tribal people
• Whether any difference exists in the lives of the tribal people
due to the presence or absence of a NGO or NGOs.

Following the above criteria two settlements – Adadakulapalle

Thanda and Naginayani Cheruvu Thanda – from the Penukonda
revenue division have justifiably been chosen for the study.

Duration of Fieldwork:
For the collection of data, fieldwork was carried out for a period
of one year from January 2005 to January 2006 to observe a full cycle

51
of the seasons of the communities. To fill certain gaps in data,
researcher also revisited the field during July-August 2007.

Limitations:
The study settlements are multi and single community based,
researcher faced initial opposition from both the social groups. Initial
non-cooperation is handled with the help of local Telugu Desam Party
(TDP) leader who introduced researcher to the NGO manager, who in
turn introduced the researcher to the different social groups in the
Adadakulapalle as well as NC Thanda. As a result, the rapport
establishment took quite a bit of time. Another constraint researcher
faced was since migration is one of the diversification strategies of the
Sugali researcher could not meet and interact with all the migrants
during the fieldwork time.

Chapterisation:
The thesis is organised into seven chapters. First chapter,
Introduction, in light of the review of available literature discusses
about the need, scope, background, objectives, theoretical framework,
methodology, justification and limitations of the study. It also presents
the organisation of the data into several chapters.

In the second chapter, an attempt is made to picturises the full

fledged profiles of the study settlements. It also vividly explains the
socio-economic and cultural aspects of the Sugali living in two
different settlements located in two different natural resources
endowments.

Third chapter discusses the Livelihood as a phenomenon that

depends upon the social manifestation of the family and community.
We can find the linkages of livelihood structure and function of a

52
family and community with their socio-cultural practices. The
livelihood practices of a people demonstrate their social status and
further symbolises the changes in their occupational categories which
have a direct bearing on their livelihoods.

Fourth chapter broadly discusses the available resources, their

access, utilisation, etc., in the pursuit of livelihoods in the community.
Further, it also tries to understand the coping mechanisms adopted
by the community members to face the risks.

Fifth chapter analyses the Development Initiatives and

Livelihoods in the Settlements. It also focuses on the measures taken
up by both government and NGO agencies in order to sustain Sugali
livelihoods in the settlements. Besides the resource dynamics, the
developmental interventions of the government as well as the private
agencies also have their impact on the livelihood pursuits of the
marginal communities. Hence, this chapter attempts to analyse the
developmental interventions of different agencies.

The sixth Chapter tries to look at the Vulnerability and Coping

mechanism adopted by the Sugali in both the settlements. Final
chapter discusses conclusions base on the study findings.

53
 CHAPTER-II
PROFILE OF THE STUDY SETTLEMENTS

In order to understand the problem of research in its proper

perspective it is essential to understand the socio-cultural and
economic profile of the people and the environment in which they are
living. In this chapter, an attempt is made to describe the socio-
economic and cultural aspects of the Sugali living in two different
settlements located in two different natural resource endowments.

Rayalaseema is one of the three major geographical regions of

Andhra Pradesh State, the other two being Coastal Andhra and
Telangana. The Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh comprises of
four Southern districts – Kurnool, Anantapur, Kadapa and Chittoor.
Anantapur District, the district chosen for the study, has an area of
about 73,495 sq kms, and forms 24.46 per cent of the total area of
Andhra Pradesh. The population of the Rayalaseema region, according
to the 2001 Census, is 116.86 lakh. It accounts for 17.6 per cent of
the total population of Andhra Pradesh (Census of India 2001: 85).
The region lies between the north latitudes 12o 30’ and 16o 20’ and
east longitudes 76o 20’ and 800 15’. Anantapur is one of the most
backward districts in the most backward regions of the State. It is in
the rain shadow zone of the State which is threatened by
desertification. As mentioned in the previous chapter, our study chose
Sugali belonging to a backward region in a backward district. In
Anantapur district Penukonda and Somandepalle mandals were
chosen for our study.

54
a) A Historical background of Anantapur District:
It is very difficult to isolate the political history of Anantapur
district from that of the rest of the tract known as the ‘Ceded
Districts’. This whole area was trodden by rulers or dynasties of
Chalukyas, Mughals, Vijayanagara, and Mysore Maharajas and finally
the British (Census of India 2001:7). Anantapur district is neither a
geographical, historical nor an ethnic entity but is the creation for
administrative convenience. In 1882, it was separated from Bellary
district (now in Karnataka State). Anantapur was under direct British
rule before Independence and formed part of the Madras Province
before States reorganization.

It is pertinent to note that the traces of the Vijayanagara rule

were found mostly in the erstwhile Bellary district. In Anantapur
District they built some of the fortifications at Gooty and Penukonda
(Census of India 2001:8). Penukonda, meaning the big hill, is the
headquarters of the Revenue Division and Mandal. It is at a distance
of 70 Km from Anantapur on the Kurnool - Bangalore road. The town
is picturesquely situated at the foot of a fortified hill over 915 meters
in height. It is observed that the four sides of the town are presumed
to be guarded from the evil spirits and diseases by the idols of God
Hanuman, the largest of them, about 11 feet in height, near the main
entrance to the fort (ibid:15).

b) Physiography:
The total area of Anantapur district is 19,130 Sq. Km, being the
largest in the State (ibid: 10). It lies in the western most part of
Andhra Pradesh, between 13o 41’ and 15o14’ North and 76o 47’ and
78o 26’ East. It is bound on the north by Kurnool district, on the east
by Kadapa and on the south and west by Bellary and Shimoga

55
districts, respectively, in the State of Karnataka. The landscape of the
district has two peculiar characteristics, viz., steep slope from south to
north and undulations with rocky and barren lands.

c) Hills:
The vegetation on the hills of the district is not comparable
either in size or in height or even in thickness with the other
neighbouring hills in Kadapa district. The highest points in the district
are Mallapakonda (3,092 feet), Penukonda (3,091 feet), Kundurpi
Durg (2, 996 feet), and the Madakasira Hill (2, 936 feet). These hills
have arranged themselves into some sort of five low ranges. All these
ranges run roughly from north to south of the district (ibid: 10).

d) Rivers:
Penneru is the most important river in the district. Kumudvati
and Jayamanagali are important tributaries which join Penneru
within the borders of the district. Chitrvati is the next important river
in the district and Kushavati and Madduleru are its important
tributaries. Hagari or Vedavati and Papagni are two more important
rivers flowing in the district.

e) Climate and Rainfall:

The average rainfall in Andhra Pradesh is 34.48 Centimetres,
according to the official statistics of the Government of Andhra
Pradesh (Eenadu Daily, 2006). If we see in terms of region there is
also variation in the rainfall of the State. In Coastal region, the
average rainfall is 32.17 centimetres, in Rayalaseema region the
average rainfall is 20.13 centimetres and in the Telangana region it is
42.29 centimetres. Thus, it is found that the average rainfall is also

56
less in the Rayalaseema region in comparison with the other two
regions of the State of Andhra Pradesh.

Located in the interior Deccan plateau, the district has a warm

and dry climate, with a very low annual rainfall of 544 mm against
8891 mm in the State. The variation in normal rainfall across talukas
is not very wide, ranging from 499 mm in Kalyanadurg to 617 mm in
Kadiri. The district has the lowest rainfall in Andhra Pradesh and even
at all-India level it is the second lowest.

The year may be divided into four seasons. The period from
December to February is dry and comparatively cool season. The
summer season is from March to May and is followed by the south-
west monsoon season from June to September. Being far away from
the east coast, it does not enjoy the full benefit of the north-east
monsoon and being cut off by the high Western Ghats, the south-west
monsoon is also prevented. Due to its unfortunate location this
district is deprived of both the monsoons. October and November form
the retreating monsoon season (Census of India, 2001:10).

f) Flora and Fauna:

Due to ever increasing bionic pressure and climatic conditions
which are not congenial, the dominant species now present in most
parts of the district are thorny shrub type like Acacia Sandra
(Sundra), Acacia leucopholea (Tella Thumma), Acacia lantronum (Paki
Thumma), Dichrostachys cineria (Nela Jammi), Carissa spinarum
(Vaka), Zizyphus species, etc. The non-thorny varieties seen are
Dononaea viscora (Puli Vailu), Jatropha curcas (Adavi Amdalu),
Climbers, like Abrus precatarius (Gurivinda), etc. Notable among the
ground flora are: Cymbopogan coloratus (Bodha Gaddi), Heteropogan

57
contortus (Pandi Mallu- Gaddi). On the lands outside the reserve
forests predominant species are Prosopis juliflora (Sarcar Thumma)
and Acacia nilotica (Nalla Thumma). These two species are found in
the two settlements of the study area. The native species of the district
are Tamarindus indica (Chinta), Azadirachta indica (Vepa), Pongamia
pinnata (Kanuga) and Albizia lebbeck (Dirisona). These native species
are frequently found in the two Thandas namely Adadakulapalle and
N.C. Thanda settlements. Phoenix sylvestris (Etha Chettu) is also seen
along the banks of streams and rivulets in Adadakulapalle and N.C.
Thanda settlements.

Anantapur district has a variety of fauna. Important among

them are predators like leopard and bear; hyena, jackal and wild dogs;
a rich variety of ungulates like black buck, spotted deer, sambar, etc.
Among the smaller animals, porcupines, squirrels, a variety of rats,
etc., are notable, Blue Jay (Pala Pitta), the A.P. State Bird, parakeets,
red jungle fowl, bulbuls, wood peckers, peacocks and migratory birds
like painted storks (in Chilamathur Mandal) are notable among birds.
One endangered species, ‘The Great Indian Bustard’ was spotted near
N.S Gate (20 Kms from Penukonda), Muddunayanipalli and a few
other places (ibid 2001: 10).

It is heard from the Sugali, of the Adadakulapalle settlement,

that they found Adavi Avulu (Forest/wild cows) in the forest of
Penukonda, which is near to their patta lands. They complained that
due to these cows they could not grow any crop in their lands for the
past couple of years. The lands are situated near the forest and it is
about 2 km from the settlement. As stated by the Sugali of the
settlement, these lands were given to them by Smt. Indira Gandhi,
former Prime Minister, in the year 1976. According to the Velugu

58
leader from the settlement, they have complained to the officials many
times about the menace of the wild cows and so far nothing has been
done to resolve the problem.

g) Agriculture:
Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of the district.
More than 74% of the total main workers are engaged in agriculture
and more than 84% of the population living in rural areas depends
upon agriculture for their livelihood. About 12.50% of the total
cultivable area is irrigated under Tunga Bhadra Project High Level
Canal (T.B.P.H.L.C.) and medium irrigation projects like Bhairavani
Tippa on river Vedavati, upper Pennar project on River Pennar and
Chennaraya Swami Project on Papagni. One more medium irrigation
project, Penna Ahobilam balancing reservoir (PABR) is constructed on
river Pennar.

In view of the uncertain irrigation facilities, generally farmers

take up dry crops. Under Kharif season the important crops like
groundnut, paddy, minor millets, red gram, jowar, etc., are cultivated.
Streams are important water supply sources to various large and
medium irrigation tanks in the district. Most of the rainfall, i.e., 60%
of the rainfall, is received during south-west monsoon period of June
to September during which period main Kharif crops are grown.

Anantapur District is receiving grants, for its agriculture

development, under two heads, i.e., Central Plan and State Plan.
Under the Central plan, the following schemes are implemented in the
district. They are special food grain production programmes –
protection of red gram crop against pod borer is a central sector
scheme, DPAP scheme for control of pests and diseases in endemic

59
areas, oil seeds production programme, NWDPRA. Integrated
Programme for Rice Development is also centrally sponsored
programme. Under the State Plan, the following schemes are
implemented in the district. They are World Bank aided Narayanappa
Kunta Watershed Package Programme for agriculture development of
Scheduled Caste farmers and programme for organizing large size
demonstrations with improved technology recommended for dry land
agriculture during Kharif season.

h) Sericulture:
The soil and climate conditions such as temperature, rainfall
and relative humidity are quite suitable to sericulture which is a very
important agro-based industry in the district. The area under
mulberry has grown from 29, 659 acres in 1981 to 75, 000 acres in
1991-2001. Anantapur district stands first in the State in terms of
area under mulberry cultivation. A farmer can derive a net income of
Rs.15, 000/- to Rs.20, 000/- from one acre. Sericulture being a
saviour of farmers in this drought prone district, the DRDA has spent
Rs.500/- Lakhs on creation of 11 grainages, 9 seed farms, 8 chawkie
rearing centres, 4 cocoon markets, 7 silk reeling units, 3 twisting
units and one regional training centre (ibid 2001:10-13).

A special programme started for the benefit of Scheduled Castes

in 1985-86 has helped 3,457 beneficiaries to raise 3,154 acres of
mulberry cultivation in the district. National Sericulture Project,
which came into existence in 1989-90 with the assistance of World
Bank, has helped in the creation of 3, 735 acres of mulberry, 5
grainages, 17 reeling units, 275 twin charkhas and 25 twisting units –
all in private sector. This programme has also helped in digging 86

60
wells, providing 455 in-well bores and 331 pump sets (ibid 2001:10-
13).

It is pertinent to note that though net sown area is close to

48.60%, the farmers in the district mostly have rain-fed land and
cultivation is dependent on the vagaries of monsoons. Area under the
forest is 10.29% which usually gives them firewood and also some
farmers are grazing their cattle in the forest. Barren and Uncultivable
land is 9.89% in the district, followed by land put to non-agricultural
use and 7.39% fallow land (Table 2.1). Seventy six percent of the soils
in the district are red soils and the remaining 24% are black soils.

Table 2.1: Land use patterns in the District

Sl. Particulars of Land Utilisation Area in Percentage to
No Hectares geographical area
1 Total Geographical area 19, 13,
000.0 ----
2 Forests 1, 96,
797.2 10.29
3 Barren and Uncultivable land 1, 89,
151.5 9.89
4 Land put to non-agricultural use 1, 58,
029.9 8.26
5 Cultivable Waste 70,
327.9 3.68
6 Permanent pastures and other grazing 23,
342.3 1.22
lands
7 Land under miscellaneous tree crops 11, 726.5 0.61
and groves not included in the net area
sown
8 Other fallow lands 1, 41, 392.8 7.39
9 Current fallow lands 1, 92, 446.8 10.06
10 Net Area Sown 9, 29, 785.1 48.60
11 Area sown more than once Nil --
Source: Economic and Statistic Bureau, Government of Andhra Pradesh,
Hyderabad, 2000.

i) Livestock/Animal Husbandry:
Funds for animal husbandry programmes are available under
the DPAP, IRDP, and Livestock Production Programme, etc. Funds
provided for drought relief are usually spent on providing fodder and
medicines to cattle.

61
 The Thrust in the district is on sheep development. There are 38
sheep growers’ co-operative societies and 22 sheep breeders’ co-
operative societies. There is a sheep breeder’s co-operative union
which provides the facility of a mini-slaughter house to the members
of societies.

Table 2.2: Livestock details in the District

Particulars Total Population
Cattle 5, 96, 086
Buffalo 2, 26, 614
Sheep 5, 61, 974
Goats 3, 79, 880
Pigs 28, 559
Horses and Poneys 674
Donkeys 16, 602
Poultry 8, 05, 916
Ducks 1, 005
Total 2617310
Source: Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Andhra Pradesh,
Hyderabad, 2000.

The total livestock population available in the district is

26,17,310 during the year 1,997 Livestock Census. Poultry population
is the largest among all the livestock population in Anantapur district.
Majority of the households in the district have poultry in their house.
Besides poultry, there is a significant proportion of cattle, sheep and
goats kept by people in the district. Piggery as a livelihood is also an
important thing noticeable in the district. Besides, there are quite a
few who keep donkeys to transport goods (Table 2.3).

j) Industries:
Considerable progress has been achieved in respect of industrial
sector in the district. There are 116 industrial co-operatives with a
paid up share capital of Rs. 0.85 crores have been organized which
created employment to 4,991 persons. Under the various incentive
schemes of the State and Central Governments, Rs.872 lakhs have

62
been provided to 900 units. Five industrial estates, two industrial
development areas, one mini industrial estate and one rural artisan
service guild are established in the district.

k) Forests:
The total area under forestry is 1,953 Sq.km, which is 10.2% of
the total geographical area of the district. The forest blocks are
scattered all over the district. Due to poor rainfall occurring in the
area, majority of the forest area is dry. Deciduous forests which once
existed have deteriorated into thorny shrub forests. The vegetation on
the eastern and southern sides is better because of the gradual
elevation and better climatic conditions. Intensive measures are being
taken to improve the forests in the district.

Forestry sector continues to receive high priority under the

Drought-Prone Area Programme (DPAP). Integrated Wasteland Project
is prepared for developing wastelands, particularly degraded forest
lands (Table 2.3). The presence of village workers is also helpful in the
implementation of programmes (ibid 2001:16).

Table 2.3: Forest sector Programmes in Anantapur

Sl. No Particulars Hectares
1 Development of enriched fodder by introducing nutritional 11, 200
grasses
2 Improvement of rangelands 13, 400
3 Raising of small timber and fuel wood plantations for public 4, 564
use
4 Afforestation 2, 800
5 Tank foreshore plantations 3, 419
6 Plantations 1, 021
7 Wind Belts 170
8 Greening of public lights of way 1, 050
9 Raising woodlots 70 villages
10 Distribution of seedlings, etc. 595 Lakhs
Source: Department of Forests, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad

63
l) Transport:
National Highway No.7 passes through the district. The
expanded activities of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport
Corporation (APSRTC) now cover 1,050 villages. The corporation has
11 depots and 26 bus stations and a fleet of 850 buses. Guntakal is a
divisional headquarters of South Central Railway. In addition to
Guntakal, Gooty and Dharmavaram also are railway junctions. Both
metre gauge and broad gauge tracks pass through the district.

m) Tourism:
There are many tourist places in the district, which attract large
number of tourists as well as devotees throughout the year, to
mention a few, Gootibailu, Penukonda, Puttaparthi, and Lepakshi.
Gootibailu is situated about 120 Km from Anantapur and 20 Km from
Kadiri on Kadiri to Rayachoti road. The world’s largest banyan tree
called ‘THIMMAMMA MARRIMANU’ spread over 2.1 hectares is
situated in Gootibailu village. It has found a place in Guinness Book
of World Records in 1989 with the efforts made by Regret Aiyer, a free-
lance photographer and journalist of Bangalore. It is named after a
woman Timmamma, who committed ‘Sati’ along with her husband
who died of leprosy and a banyan sapling has sprouted at that place
out of the banyan wood used for fire, which became a great tree today.
A temple was constructed for her and she is worshipped as Goddess
by the villagers with the belief that childless couple will be blessed
with children. On Shivarathri day, several devotees congregate here
and offer prayers. It is one of the famous tourist attractions in the
State.

64
 II

i) About the Study Area:

Adadakulapalle is located at a distance of 10 km from
Penukonda, the Mandal headquarters. The Sugali settlement comes
under Adadakulapalle Gram Panchayat, which is one km away from
the main settlement. Gram Sarpanch seat was reserved for the Sugali
in the last elections.

The Naginayani Cheruvu (Here after called NC) Thanda

settlement is located at a distance of 10 km from Somandepalle, the
Mandal headquarters. The settlement comes under NC Gram
Panchayat, which is 2 km from the NC Thanda. Gram Panchayat seat
is also reserved for Sugali in the last elections.

ii) Topography:
Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda are surrounded by Penukonda
(the big hill) forest from north and west side. The undulating
mountain range locally known as ‘Penukonda’ is situated in the
eastern side of the villages on National Highway No. 7.

iii) Demographic Details:

Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda settlements have 311
households and have a population of 1,439 constituting 764 males
and 675 females. Out of 311 households majority of them belong to
small and marginal farmers (Table: 2.9 and 2.12) and the rest belong
to large farmers. There are 80 agriculture households in
Adadakulapalle Thanda where as it is 55 households in the case of NC
Thanda. Adadakulapalle is a multi-caste/tribe settlement and it has
Sugali (Schedule Tribe), Other Backward Castes (OBCs), Other Castes

65
(OCs), and Scheduled Castes (SCs). On the contrary, NC Thanda is a
single tribe (Sugali) settlement.

The castes in Adadakulapalle are categorised as ST, SC, OBC

and OC. Sugali (64.5%) are numerically more in Adadakulapalle
settlement. Main settlement of Adadakulapalle consists of 218
households where Sugali (ST) form the major chunk of households
(110), followed by Other Backward Castes (OBCs) 42, SCs (35) and
OCs (31). Other Backward Castes includes Valmiki Boya, Kuruba,
Kummari, and Washer man (Chakali) communities, where as Other
Castes (OCs) include Reddy (Kapu), Vaisya, and Muslims
communities.

Table 2.4: Population Distribution by Sex in the Settlements

Caste Sex Total
Male Female
Sugali (Tribe) 497 (53.5) 432 (46.5) 929 (64.5)
Madiga (S.C.) 96 (51.6) 90 (48.4) 186 (12.9)
Kuruba 44 (50.6) 43 (49.4) 87 (6.04)
Kummari 4 (50) 4 (50) 8 (0.55)
Chakali 39 (52) 36 (48) 75 (5.21)
Valmiki Boya 17 (50) 17 (50) 34 (2.40)
Reddy 50 (56.8) 38 (43.2) 88 (6.11)
Muslim 13 (52) 12 (48) 25 (1.73)
Vaisya 4 (57) 3 (43) 7 (0.48)
Total 764 (53.1) 675 (46.9) 1439
Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

For the convenience of calculations, hereafter, we have

calculated all the backward caste population together to denote the
total figures. Other Backward Castes consists of 14.17%, Scheduled
Castes (Madiga/12.9%); and Other Castes represents 8.34 % in the
settlements.

66
 Table 2.5: Frequency of Age and Sex Distribution in the Settlements
Sex
Age Frequency in Total
the Settlements Male Female
<5 58 (52.7) 52 (47.3) 110 (7.64)
6-10 62 (55.8) 49 (44.2) 111 (7.71)
11-15 77 (61.1) 49 (38.9) 126 (8.76)
16-21 69 (63.3) 40 (36.7) 109 (7.57)
22-35 220 (51.5) 207 (48.5) 427 (29.7)
36-45 104 (48.8) 109 (51.2) 213 (14.8)
46-55 103 (52) 95 (48) 198 (13.8)
56> 71 (48.9) 74 (51.1) 145 (10.1)
Total 764 (53.1) 675 (46.9) 1439
Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

There are more number of people in the prospective age groups

between 22-35 (29.7%) and 36-45 (14.8%). This age group is very
active and indicates that the working groups are more than the others
in the settlements. There are more dependents who are above 56 years
and females (51.1%) outnumber males (48.9%) in this category.

a) About the People:

Understanding of castes and tribes and their inter-relationships
in any Indian village or settlement is important for a better analysis of
socio-economic relationships and behaviour. As observed earlier,
Adadakulapalle is a multi-caste settlement as compared to NC
Thanda, which is single Tribe/community (Sugali) settlement. There
are nine ethnic groups or castes in Adadakulapalle settlement, Viz.,
Sugali, Madiga, Kuruba, Kummari, Chakali (Washer man), Valmiki
Boya, Reddy/Kapu, Vaisya and Muslim. A Brief description of each
caste or community is given below:

Sugali:
Sugali is the numerically predominant tribe in Adadakulapalle.
Among 218 households, 110 households belong to Sugali tribe with a
population of 929 comprising 497 males and 432 females. Sugali is a

67
semi-nomadic tribe. They are still largely employed in trading service.
Over a period of time their occupations, in both the settlements, have
changed due to changes that have come about in local conditions and
technology. Traditionally Sugali are petty traders, supari (betel nut)
traders, and were army personnel during Mughal period, and during
the British rule they were notified as criminal tribes and after
independence they were denotified. Now they are practicing settled
agriculture in both the settlements.

During the study period, it is observed that most of them were

practicing agricultural labour (124 households) and migration (35
households) in Adadakulapalle settlement, and a few (80 households)
had cultivation as their main occupation and in NC Thanda their main
occupation is cultivation, followed by agricultural labour (35
households). In NC Thanda, 65 households are involved in
government jobs, from clerks in the government office to Chief Justice
of High Court, which are only 8 in the case of Adadakulapalle
settlement (Table: 2.5). A few households had sheep or goat rearing as
a secondary occupation. There are 9 households in Adadakulapalle
settlement who are solely dependant upon cheap liquor/arrack shop.

Madiga:
Madiga belong to Scheduled Caste, and are the second
numerically large group after Sugali in the settlement. Madiga account
for 35 households with a population of 186 of whom 96 are males and
90 are females. Traditionally they were leather workers. At present,
except for two or three families, none of them practice their traditional
occupation. Most of the Madiga are agricultural labourers and only
very few (5 households) are cultivators.

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 There are three Madiga households, possessing 5 acres of land
each, pursuing leather work, in particular Chappal (foot wear) making,
and Chatimpu (public announcement using a percussion instrument
called – dappu) as secondary occupation. Their traditional activity was
to supply ‘Chappals’ to all the households of the settlement does not
exist now. Services of Madiga are essential for all agriculturists. The
Madiga remove dead cattle, tan the hides and prepare leather goods
such as chappals, whips, etc. The Madiga continue to involve in grave
digging whenever there is a death in the settlement. Madiga occupy
the lowest position in the caste hierarchy.

Reddy/Kapu:
Reddy is another dominant and most prominent caste in the
settlement. It is economically, politically, and socially dominant and
ritually superior caste in the settlement. The term Reddy means a king
and Kapu means a watchman (Thurston 1909: 3006). There are 20
households with a population of 88 of whom 50 are males and 38 are
females in the settlement. This community alone holds more than half
of the land in the settlement and the rest of the castes together hold
the remaining land in the settlement. So, all the activities in the
settlement center on this caste.

Kuruba:
Kuruba is a caste of sheep and goat rearers and kambali
(woollen rug) weavers. There are 18 households with a population of
87 of whom 44 are males and 43 are females in Adadakulapalle
settlement. Among 18 households, 5 are cultivators with medium size
landholdings and 10 households practice sheep or goat rearing as
their main occupation. The remaining 3 households have Beldari

69
(masonry) as main occupation. For some (3) petty trade is the
secondary occupation. None of them go for agricultural wage labour.

Kummari:
Kummari belong to potter’s community who make bricks,
earthen ware and pots for household use. There are 3 households with
8 persons (4 males and 4 females). Pottery making used to be the
main occupation of this caste. They were receiving share of
agricultural produce in return for supplying of pots. During study
period only 2 households are holding on to their traditional
occupation, and another household is engaged in cultivation and
agricultural labour along with pottery making. But, even that one
household had, to a large extent, diversified into making earthen dolls
which have a commercial value.

Chakali:
Chakali are washer men by occupation and tradition. There are
16 households of which 8 households are engaged in their traditional
occupation. Chakali receive agricultural produce in return for their
service. Remaining 8 households are engaged in cultivation followed
by agricultural labour. They offer their services only to particular
castes (Reddy, Muslim, Vaisya, Valmiki Boya, Kuruba, and Kummari)
in the settlement. The Chakali do not hold a high place in social
esteem because of the nature of their duties.

Each patron-household gives two to four bags of Groundnut or

Jowar and provide food once in every ten days throughout the year.
Payment is made according to the number of adult members in each
family. If there are more children, due consideration is given to them
while making payments. For pressing clothes, they charge additionally

70
Rs. 100/- for pair of clothes. Chakali have ritually defined roles like
applying vermilion to the bride, washing bride/bridegroom’s clothes,
etc., during marriages and also carrying ‘Petromax’ lights (Kerosene
gas lamps) during marriage procession. It is also obligatory for patron
households to give ritual payments on the occasion of marriages,
festivals, etc., to Chakali households. These payments vary from caste
to caste and also among the same caste households. Payments for
day-to-day laundry work are mainly in kind (grain + food) and
payments for ritual services are both in cash and kind (grain + food +
clothes).

Valmiki Boya:
Valmiki Boya in the settlement are numerically low caste. There
are 5 households with 34 persons. Valmiki Boya are a denotified tribe.
They are still largely employed in domestic service. They also serve
other castes by carrying messages about marriages, Jatharas (annual
fairs) and such functions and are called as Talarlu (messengers).
Valmiki Boya were traditionally hunters, umbrella carriers and
palanquin bearers of the poligars or palegars during the reign of
Vijayanagara kings of 15th Century A.D. (Thurston, 1975: 180-183).

Dudekula Muslim:
Dudekula (cotton cleaners) are an agricultural community
(treated as a caste by the villagers) in the settlement. There are 10
households with 25 persons. All the households of Dudekula are
engaged in cultivation as their main occupation, followed by petty
trade in Adadakulapalle. They celebrate all the Muslim and Hindu
festivals.

71
Vaisya:

There is one household of Vaisya or trading caste in the

Adadakulapalle with 7 persons of whom 4 are males and 3 females.
Their main occupation is petty trade/kirana (provisions) shop in the
settlement.

b) Settlement Pattern:
Sugali settlements are known as Thanda. The houses of Sugali
in NC Thanda are surrounded by their agricultural fields and are
connected by street roads. Reflection of lineage segmentation is
observed in their distribution in the study area. All the households
bearing the same surname (consanguine relatives) are situated at
particular place as a cluster (See the settlement map). 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 1989-94 in the same old Thanda area. Adadakulapalle
Thanda has two clans and they live in the above 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
a clear majority in the Thanda, and the other faction in Kothapalle
Thanda is supported by the Congress Party, which is a minority in the
Thanda.

The non-tribe households are located on either side of the main

road in Adadakulapalle (see the settlement map). All the households
are adjacent to each other according to the proximity of their lineage
(surname). All infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity and
drinking water are amenable to all the communities in the settlement.

72
 Traditional Sugali houses are thatched and mostly single room
tenements located close to their agricultural fields. A kitchen garden is
noticeable in the backyard of each house which is surrounded by
bamboo fencing. Now a day, majority of the people (both tribal and
non-tribal) have the government constructed Pucca houses in
Adadakulapalle settlement.

In N.C. Thanda majority of the Sugali (74) have Pucca houses

and a few (19) have semi-pucca houses on either side of the road.
Their agricultural fields are surrounded by their houses. This pattern
is not found in Adadakulapalle where their houses are situated far
away from the agricultural fields. N.C. Thanda has good
infrastructural facilities. Each lane has taps and they have hand
pumps within the village, which provide drinking water for the entire
year.

c) Structure of Houses:
The houses are rectangular in shape having two rooms, one is
the main house, where strong attic is built to store grain, and the
other is kitchen. The houses have a front room known as ‘pancha’
where women folk spend most of their time in performing their daily
chores. The walls are made up of bamboo and plastered with mud and
cow dung, supported by wooden posts in between. The structure of
Pucca houses is made up of cement and sand collected from the tank.
Majority of the Pucca houses are constructed by the government
under Indira Aawas Yojana Scheme.

In both the settlements, as observed earlier, Sugali predominate.

In Adadakulapalle numerically OBCs occupy second place, followed by

73
SCs. Other Castes consists of Reddy, Muslim and Vaisya who have 31
houses in the Adadakulapalle settlement (Table 2.6).

Table 2.6: Caste/Tribe wise Distribution of Houses

Name of the Tribe/Caste Representation Total
Settlement S.T. S.C. OBC OC
Adadakulapalle 110 35 42 31 218
N C Thanda 93 -- -- -- 93
Total 203 35 42 31 311

Pucca houses are more among all the groups and more so in the
case of Kuruba, Muslim, Chakali, Reddy and Sugali. Similarly, we find
more number of Sugali having semi-pucca houses, followed by Madiga
(in Adadakulapalle) than the others in both the settlements. People
with Katcha houses are also significantly found among Sugali and
Madiga from Adadakulapalle settlement. There are no Katcha houses
in NC Thanda (Table 2.7).

Table 2.7: Type of Houses by Caste/Community

Type of House Name of the Name of the Settlement Total
Caste Adadakulapalle NC Thanda
Pucca House ST 66 74 140
SC 20 0 20
OBC 41 0 41
OC 29 0 29
Semi-Pucca ST 22 19 41
House SC 8 0 8
OC 1 0 1
ST 22 0 22
Katcha House SC 7 0 7
OBC 1 0 1
OC 1 0 1
Total 218 93 311

d) Literacy Levels in the Settlements:

Education is an important indicator of development of a village
or a settlement. An increase in literacy generally indicates a rise in the
standard of living. It adds to the development of human resource. The
table 2.8 describes the trends in literacy levels among all the

74
communities in both the settlements. More number of Sugali educated
from both the settlements (64.5%) is educated. Also, Sugali (40.5%)
have more illiterates than all the others. It also shows that there is
significant number of Sugali students who go to school till 10th
standard (22.5%), after that there is a gradual decline in their
education (7.13%) in the study settlements. It is also interesting to
note that there are more graduate above educated among the Sugali of
both the settlements. Infact, except for one SC member, there are no
graduate and above educated persons among the others in the study
settlements (Table 2.8). After attaining 15 years of age children
become an asset to parents and they are sendt to work rather than to
school. Among the non-tribal groups, there are significant number of
illiterates among Kummari, SCs, Kuruba, Valmiki Boya and Reddy.
There are more 10th class pursuing students among all the caste/
community people from both the settlements.

Table 2.8: Education among the all communities in the Settlements

Education Caste Distribution Total
ST SC OBC OC
Anganwadi 58 16 21 7 105
5th Class 161 71 98 46 376
10th Class 208 43 31 27 309
Intermediate 66 1 5 13 85
Degree & above 57 1 0 0 58
Illiterate 375 53 48 25 501
Total 925 185 203 118 1434

iv) Livelihoods of the People:

In Adadakulapalle the majority of Sugali are small and marginal
farmers. The type of land available in the village is dry land and only
one Sugali farmer has a tube (bore) well in his land as against 90
owned by the others in the village and the rest of the Sugali depend
upon monsoon. The major crops cultivated are groundnut, ragi and

75
paddy. Ragi and Paddy are the staple crops and they constitute the
staple diet of the farmers and agricultural labourers.

Table 2.9: Livelihoods of Sugali Households in the two Settlements

Sl.No Type of Total HHs in ADP Thanda NC Thanda
Livelihoods ADP*
1 Wage Labourers/ Land 237 124 35
less People
2 Agriculture 225 80 55
3 Govt. Employees 35 8 65
4 Petty Business/ Liquor 25 (9) 14 (9) 15 (2)
shops
5 Migration 35 35 05
6 Others/ Dependents 25 10 15
* ADP means Adadakulapalle

In Naginayani Cheruvu Thanda the majority of the Sugali are

Government employees followed by cultivators and wage labourers. It
is pertinent to note that in case of Adadakulapalle there are only eight
government employees and majority (80) of the households are
depending upon agriculture as their primary source of livelihood.
Unlike in NC Thanda, in Adadakulapalle there are 35 families who
regularly migrate to other areas for their livelihood. There are 45
households of Sugali in NC Thanda who has bore well connections in
this settlement as against only one bore well in Adadakulapalle
settlement. The major crops they cultivate here are paddy, Ragi, jowar
ground nut and sunflower. Sugali of N.C. Thanda use ragi, paddy and
jowar as their staple diet.

It may be observed that the households depending on wage

labour are more among Sugali because they consist of more landless
and wage labourers. Though majority of the wage labourers own small
plots of land, the land is unsuitable for cultivation. It is very pertinent
to note that significant number of Sugali of Adadakulapalle Thanda is
earning their livelihoods from migration to other areas like Bangalore

76
and Mumbai. There are 35 households who depend on migration
through out the year. In N.C. Thanda there are 5 families who are
migrating to Mumbai for their livelihood. It is observed that in Mumbai
they are involved in the activities such as petty business where they
buy rice on whole sale and sell it in the colonies by transporting it on
bicycle. Liquor shop business is the main source of livelihood for nine
families of Adadakulapalle Thanda in contrast to only two families in
N.C. Thanda. It is significant to note that in N.C. Thanda we find an
employee either as a teacher or in government service.

Major occupations of the settlements are agriculture,

agricultural labour, animal husbandry and non-form activity that
include petty business, and running own autos. Nearly 75% of the
people are engaged in agricultural activities in the settlements.
Majority of the lands in Adadakulapalle settlement is rainfed in nature
where farmers grow only groundnuts. Though irrigated lands (only
under the tank) are less in the settlement, people grow mainly Paddy,
followed by Ragi, Sunflower as secondary crops during favourable
monsoon season. Ragi is their staple food followed by Rice in
Adadakulapalle. In N.C. Thanda, the principal crops grown by farmers
are Groundnuts, Paddy, Ragi, Sunflower and Mulberry. The staple diet
of people in N.C. Thanda is Ragi and wheat followed by rice.

Land is the major economic resource for all the Sugali in both
the settlements. Singh (2006:466-67) observes that compared to pre-
independence days, the Sugali land ownership has increased in
Andhra Pradesh. Most of the Sugali work as labourers either in
construction or repair works in and outside the settlements. Their
children also work as labourers. In NC Thanda settlement, majority of

77
Sugali do agriculture as their primary occupation, where as wage
labour of various kinds has been adopted by few.

Since the type of land available is dry land, they have to depend
upon monsoon for their cultivation. Frequent failure of monsoons
made the people to migrate to other areas. People from the Thanda
explained that seasonal migration is high in the area as majority of
them are marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers.
Almost half of the households from Adadakulapalle Thanda migrate to
towns in the off-season. Some of them have settled in the towns
leaving the old in the Thanda and support them by their remittances.
Younger people migrate to towns in the off seasons and come back to
Thanda during rainy season to cultivate land or work as farm
labourers.

Table 2.10: Age and Occupation Distribution in the Settlements

Occupation Age Groups Total
<15 16-21 22-35 36-45 46-55 56>
Self Employment 0 1 16 3 3 3 26
Agriculture 6 31 187 103 122 58 507
Student 284 48 10 0 0 0 342
Dependent 1 1 0 0 4 59 65
Tailor 0 5 7 7 1 1 21
Agriculture Labour 7 14 136 73 61 16 307
Beldar/Mason 0 0 8 0 2 0 10
Govt.Employee 0 4 33 8 1 3 49
Private Employee 0 2 7 1 0 0 10
Livestock rearing 1 0 7 2 2 3 15
Ituka Batti
Labour/Brick Kiln 0 0 0 1 1 0 2
Migrant Worker 0 2 20 17 1 0 40
Total 299 108 431 215 198 143 1394

Since five years they did not have one good crop due to drought
in the area and their lives and livelihoods have been threatened. Even
when they get any yields, they are low and are further affected by the

78
 vagaries of the market. Thus, it further aggravates their poverty
situation in the village.

Table 2.11: Distribution of Occupation by Castes in the Settlements*

Occupation Type Name of the Caste Total
ST SC OBC OC
Self Employ-ment 19 (73) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 7 (27) 26 (1.9)
Agriculture 271 (62) 22 (5) 83 (19) 61 (14) 437 (5)
Student 226 (66) 44 (13) 49 (14) 23 (7) 342 (24.5)
Dependent 49 (76) 2 (3) 8 (12) 6 (9) 65 (4.7)
Tailor 21 (100) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 21 (1.51)
Agriculture Labour 159 (54) 93 (31) 45 (15) 0 (- ) 297 (21.3)
Beldar/Mason 10 (100) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 10 (0.7)
Govt.Employee 98 (76) 16 (12) 0 (- ) 15 (12) 129 (9.3)
Private Employee 10 (100) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 10 (0.72)
Livestock rearing 6 (40) 1 (7) 8 (53) 0 (- ) 15 (1.1)
Ituka Batti/ Brick
Kiln Labour 2 (100) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 2 (0.14)
Migrant Worker 40 (100) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 0 (- ) 40 (2.9)
Total 911 (65.4) 178 (13) 193 (13.84) 112 (8) 1394
* Note: Parenthesis represents percentages

People who suffer most from crops failure have no option but to
migrate to other areas, leaving women, children and the old in the
village. Sometimes they do not get even a square meal in a day.
Women face severe stress due to migration of male members of the
family. They have to take care of children as well as older people, in
addition to cattle. As stated by some of the elderly Sugali, some of the
youth who are educated remain idle at home without any work. They
hesitate to go for wage works available in the area and have become a
burden to their parents. Many people are dependent on agriculture as
their prime source of occupation followed by agricultural labour. A
significant number of people are involved in studies (Tables 2.10 and
2.11).

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v) Livestock:
Cattle, goat, and sheep are the major livestock in the area (Table
2.12a and 2.12b). Several varieties of grass along with stocked paddy
straw, maize stalk, groundnut and bhoosa are used as fodder.
Individual households raise poultry in their houses.

Table 2.12 (a): Livestock distribution among Sugali*

Livestock Settlements Total
Adadakulapalle NC Thanda
Bullocks 121 (54) 189 (81) 310
Cows 54 (24) 166 (60) 220
Goats 355 (23) 351 (24) 706
Sheep 270 (23) 526 (32) 796
Poultry 1128 (85) 1080 (71) 2208
Total 1928 2312 4240
*Note: Parenthesis indicates the number of households

Table 2.12 (b): Distribution of Livestock among others in

Adadakulapalle*
Livestock Castes Total
SC OBC OC
Bullocks 38 (18) 74 (33) 68 (28) 180
Cows 20 (8) 75 (30) 77 (27) 172
Goats 70 (5) 231 (25) 302 (29) 603
Sheep 14 (2) 379 (25) 17 (2)
Poultry 354 (29) 456 (34) 320 (23)
Others1 185 (26) 67 (13) --
Total 681 1282 784
*Note: Parenthesis indicates the number of households

Sugali of NC Thanda possess more livestock, except goats and

poultry, than their counterparts in Adadakulapalle (2.12a). The
presence of more cultivators and also available resources in N.C.
Thanda is one of the reasons for the possession of more livestock than
those in Adadakulapalle (Table 2.9). The availability of fodder in the
area has been reduced significantly due to recurrent drought
conditions. As a result, Sugali are unable to meet the fodder
requirement of their livestock. In both the settlements compared to
1
Others include Pigs in the case of SCs and Donkeys for Chakali communities in
Adadakulapalle settlement of Penukonda Mandal.

80
the other caste groups, the poultry are used exclusively for their own
consumption.

vi) Social Organisation:

A brief account of their family, marriage, religious, economic
and political institutions is presented here. An examination of these
institutions is necessary in order to understand their livelihoods and
the impact of developmental interventions on their socio-economic life
in the two settlements.

Sugali are organised into Intiperu/clan groups. The Sugali are

divided into four patrilineal clans named after the clans of Rajputs,
viz., Rathod, Pamhar, Chauhan and Vadatya, with a varying number
of lineages within each. The lineages, called pandhi or got, are named
after the children of the original ancestors. The Rathod, with 27
lineages, are divided into two groups, Chenna Rathod (Jat) and Pedda
Rathod (Bhukya). Similarly, the Pamhar have 12 lineages, the
Chauhan have 6 lineages and the Vadatya have 52 lineages (Singh,
2006:465). The Vadatya clan is of a later origin with a lower kinship
status vis-à-vis the three other clans. These clans used to move
separately, but after settling down, they now live with other clans.
Thus today, the settlements are multi-clan and multi-lineage ones.

Although the Sugali clan and lineage unity is expressed in

several ways, like clan and lineage exogamy and organisation of
ancestral worship, these kin groups have little importance in the
organisation of day-to-day activities outside the realm of kinship.
Recently, as explained by the Nayak of the settlement, many educated
persons have started using their clan names as surnames, instead of
the name of the community, since the latter signifies a low social rank

81
in relation to other castes, while the clan names signify their Rajput
origin.

The closer the clan and lineage relationship, the greater is the
tendency for mutual cooperation, sentimental attachment and the
holdingof material resources, in common, such as land and herds of
bullocks. The close kinship bond is usually reinforced by the fact that
kin are normally also close neighbours and this tends to increase
interaction among them as compared to families more distantly
related and living far away. Thus, the Sugali still retain clannish and
egalitarian tendencies since no major subdivisions have yet crystalised
among them (ibid).

Marriage:
The Sugali are, by and large, an endogamous community. They
practice both clan and lineage exogamy. Exchange of sisters between
two men from different clans is permitted. Cross-cousin and uncle-
niece marriages are also permitted. Junior sororate is allowed. The age
at marriage is above 15 years for girls and 18 years for boys. They
practice monogamy. Ghongri (pendants) hanging from the plaits on
both sides of the temple and ivory bangles on the fore and upper
arms, and the recently adopted thali, are the symbols of a married
woman. Bride-price is paid. Those who seek divorce have to pay a fine
to the Sugali council, apart from returning the brie-price. Residence is
generally patrilocal, though a few cases of matrilocal or uxorilocal
residences are also noticed.

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 Table 2.13: Age and Marital Distribution in the settlements*
Age Frequency Marital Status
Married Un-married Widow Total
<5 nil 110 nil 110 (7.64)
6-10 1 (0.90) 110 (99.1) nil 111 (7.71)
11-15 nil 126 (100) nil 126 (8.76)
16-21 14 (12.8) 94 (86.2) 1 (0.92) 109 (7.57)
22-35 350 (81.9) 61 (14.3) 16 (3.75) 427 (29.7)
36-45 200 (93.8) 2 (0.94) 11 (5.16) 213 (14.8)
46-55 175 (88.4) nil 23 (11.6) 198 (13.7)
56> 90 (62.1) nil 55 (37.9) 145 (10.1)
Total 832 (57.8) 501 (34.8) 106 (7.4) 1439
*Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

As observed earlier, among 6-10 years of age group, there is one

married person in the Adadakulapalle settlement. Where as among
16-21 age group there were 14 marriages and one widow in the same
age category in the settlements. There are significant proportion of
persons remained unmarried in the age category of 22-35 and it is
attributed to prevailing drought conditions in the region. There are
quite a few widows belonging to younger age groups (Table 2.14).

Divorce:
Divorce is allowed on grounds of the wife’s misconduct. Divorce
compensation is given to the wife’s parents. Children are the
responsibility of the father in such cases. Nanakyoviya (widow
remarriage) is permitted, but the status of the woman is low,
compared to normally married women. Her children are considered
legitimate and have the right of inheritance.

Family:
The Sugali families are either nuclear or vertically extended. The
elders, parents and senior in-laws are treated with respect. There is
avoidance relationship between mother-in-law and son-in-law, and
between a woman and her elder brother-in-law. There is joking
relationship between the mother’s brother and his nephews and

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 nieces as well as a man and his younger brothers-in-law and sisters-
in-law. Inheritance and succession are through the male line. Property
is divided among the sons. The younger son is required by custom to
take care of the parents and the family deities and in return he is
entitled to an additional right to property. If there is only one house, it
is given to the youngest son.

Table 2.14: Family wise Houses Distribution in the Settlements*

Type of Name of the Type of the House
Family Settlement Pucca Semi-Pucca Kutcha Total
Joint Adadakulapalle 82 (81.2) 12 (11.9) 07 (6.9) 101 (32.5) 13
Family 4
NC Thanda 31 (93.9) 02 (6.1) -- 33 (10.6)
Nuclear Adadakulapalle 74 (63.2) 19 (16.2) 24 (20.5) 117 (37.6) 17
Family NC Thanda 43 (71.7) 17 (28.3) -- 60 (19.3) 7
Total 230 (74) 50 (16.1) 31 (9.9) 311
*Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

In both the settlements Pucca houses are more among the Joint
Families (81.2% and 93.9%) than the Nuclear families (63.2% and
71.7%). It shows that people who are more educated are practicing
nuclear type of family system due to their necessity/requirements.
People who practice joint family system are depending more upon
wage related works, either agriculture or non-agricultural related
works. People with Semi-pucca houses are also significantly more in
both the Settlements. It is also observed that in Adadakulapalle
settlement there are large number of Kutcha houses (9.9%) which is
absent in the case of NC Thanda.

vii) Life Cycle Ceremonies or Rituals in the Settlements:

A Sugali woman delivers her first child in her husband’s house.
However, after the delivery, the woman goes to her natal home to show
the child to her natal family. She receives new clothes from them both
for herself and her child. The birth of a son is announced by drum-
beats and is considered a happy occasion. The father of the child

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provides refreshments and tea to relatives and the latter are required
to present small gifts of money. With the money thus pooled, jaggery
and copra are purchased and distributed among the women attending
the naming ceremony. On the subsequent full moon day during the
month of Phalgun, the father entertains the community with a feast
called dhond consisting of a sweet dish. It is also the occasion for
performing kalperu (thanksgiving) to the family deity. On the occasion
of a child’s tonsuring ceremony, the families belonging to the Rathod,
Chauhan and Pamhar clans, arrange a feast consisting of a sweet dish
in honour of Lord Balaji of Tirupati, while those belonging to the
Vadatya clan sacrifice a goat to the goddess Kankali and the sacrificed
animal is cooked and offered as feast for the guests.

a) Puberty:
They keep the girl in a secluded place for 12 days. Puberty ritual
is observed on the 12th day after a Sugali girl attains menarche. The
girl is then admitted into the family after being dressed in new clothes
and aarathi is performed. To perform aarathi, Sugali prepare a nalugu
(with mixture of turmeric and sunnam (calcium)) neellu (water) in a
kanchu (brass) plate and women sing songs while rotating the plate in
which camphor is lit over the face of the girl (aarthi). This, they
believe, will protect the girl from the evil eye during her 12 days stay
in secluded place. A feast with a sweet dish is served to the people in
the Thanda.

b) Marriage:
The proposal comes from the boy’s father, who visits the girl’s
settlement along with the naik (headman) and a few elders. The rituals
that comprise the marriage ceremony are betrothal and dhare or
vyaha (handing over the bride). These ceremonies take place at the

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girl’s house. Later, they have adopted the thali tying rite and the
customary bridal dress of South India in place of Rajasthani bridal
dress. A day before the bridegroom’s departures for the marriage, in
the bride’s house the bridegroom’s family provides refreshments to the
Thanda residents and a feast to close relatives. When he sets out for
the wedding, each family in the settlement is obliged to present him
with a small cash gift. Similarly, when the girl sets out for her
husband’s home for the consummation of the marriage, she is
presented a small cash gift, ornaments or new clothes from close
relatives. Besides this, four pairs of clothes, ornaments, a wooden or
iron box and a cow are given to her by her parents, failing which the
bride is looked down upon in her husband’s home.

In the Sugali community the boy should give four oxen and Rs.
45/- to the girl as bride price, in return the girl has to give petticoats
and 6 musugu guddalu (veils), paita, which is done with silver coins,
and the mother-in-law is given a petti coat, and a paita. The bride is
provided with a silver kante (a type of necklace), bangarapu mukku
pudaka (golden nose stud) and a silver coined chair. She should be
given an ox, household things and things which are necessary for
agriculture. But this system is disappearing and is replaced by paying
dowry in huge sums of money.

The bridegroom should arrive at the village of the bride one day
before the marriage. He should inform about his arrival to the Nayak
of the Thanda. Spinsters and married women will welcome him into
the village by singing songs and this procession will start from Nayak’s
house. They will sing lots of songs on the bridegroom. The bridegroom
will distribute sweets, betel leaves and nuts to them; they arrange an
assistant who will look after the needs of the bridegroom. This is

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called as ‘lareya’ in Sugali language. The bridegroom's people have to
cut a sheep on the next day of the marriage. This is called as ‘goot’.
The elders of the village will eat, drink and later they give a send off to
the married couple. They will be made to sit on the 'ox' that is given to
them and are sent. The girl cries by holding her mother, father and
the heads before leaving. Crying doesn't mean literally crying; it has
lot of meanings in the Sugali language.

Over a period of time, Sugali of the two Thandas have also

changed their way of performing marriage rituals. They are arranging
the ceremony in the marriage halls now. It is because of the demand
from the bridegroom’s family and sometimes from the bride’s family
also. Due to education and other reasons, they are also practicing
dowry in both the settlements. It is observed more in the N.C. Thanda
since there are more educated and employed people in the Thanda.

c) Death:
The dead among the Sugali are cremated. The chief mourner
spends a small amount on light refreshments to the helpers. On the
third day of mortuary rites (kandyakar), after a visit to the cremation
ground, a feast consisting of a sweet dish known as madli, is shared
by the participants at noon, under a tree outside the settlement. A
feast is given on the thirteenth day to all the relatives with the
sacrifice of a goat.

viii) Economic organization:

Landholding indicates their social and economic status and it
enhances their position in the society. The people who are living in
Joint families own slightly more land than the people who are living in
the nuclear type of families. Majority of the houses (220) in both the

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settlements have only one acre of land and which explains their
marginality. The Sugali in Adadakulapalle, all put together, do not
have more than five acres of irrigated land and which also shows their
backwardness and it is also one of the reasons for migration to other
areas to earn their livelihoods. We find only two households from N.C.
Thanda settlement has more than 5 acres of land (Table 2.15).

Table 2.15: Distribution of Irrigated Land by House Type

Name of the Family Distribution of Irrigated Land
Village Type <1 1-2.5 2.5-3.5 3.5-5.00 5.00> Total
Adadakulapalle Joint 66 18 9 6 0 99
NC Thanda Do 21 4 2 5 1 33
Adadakulapalle Nuclear 95 16 6 0 0 117
NC Thanda Do 38 18 1 3 1 61

Majority of the people (149 households) from both the

settlements have 3-5 acres in case of dry land (Table 2.16) which is
cultivated depending upon favourable monsoon. Since five years there
is continuous drought prevailing in the area. People have migrated to
nearby towns in search of their livelihoods.

Table: 2.16 Distribution of Dry Land by House Type

Name of the Family Type Distribution of Dry Land
Village <3 3-5 5-8 8-12 12> Total
Adadakulapalle Joint 26 47 19 4 3 99
NC Thanda Do 3 16 9 4 1 33
Adadakulapalle Nuclear 49 56 11 1 0 117
NC Thanda Do 14 30 14 1 2 61

a) Marketing:
Single window system is situated to clear all the files in the
mandal headquarters. Marketing facility is also available in the
mandal headquarters, but majority of the people sell their produce
within the village. Sugali do go to weekly markets to buy necessary
grossaries, which are located in the nearby towns or mandal

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headquarters. Marketing of their produce generally comprises of
commercial crops and non-commercial crops. For commercial crops,
Sugali depend on the middlemen because they cannot afford to go to
towns. Some of the Sugali sell their non-commercial crop produce in
the settlement itself while some others go to nearby towns, such as
Hindupur, which is 40 km from both the settlements. The Raitu
Bazaars (peasant markets) located in the towns are not helpful to the
cultivators due to the distance and also maintenance of these Raitu
Bazaars is not proper. Sugali feel that they don’t have proper
marketing facilities in the nearby towns, either in Penukonda or in
Somandepalle.

b) Ownership of assets:
Few people from the settlement have TVs with cable connection
and radios in their houses (Table 2.17). Very few people have two
wheelers in the settlement. To get medicines, fertilizer, pesticides, and
seeds, people have to go to mandal headquarters.

Table 2.17: Distribution of Assets in the Settlements*

Assets in the Name of the Settlements Total
Settlements ADP Thanda NC Thanda
Plough 4 (40) 6 (60) 10 (1.44)
House 110 (64) 61 (36) 171 (27.7)
All the Above 95 (68.8) 43 (31.2) 138 (19.9)
Others Nil 2 (100) 2 (0.3)
Cycle 10 (33.3) 20 (66.7) 30 (4.33)
Radio 15 (33.3) 30 (66.7) 45 (6.5)
Television 36 (39.1) 56 (60.9) 92 (13.3)
Bullock Cart 15 (57.7) 11 (42.3) 26 (3.8)
All the above 26 (38.2) 42 (61.8) 68 (9.8)
Not Applicable 98 (88.3) 13 (11.7) 111 (16)
Total 409 (59) 284 (41) 693
* Note: Parenthesis indicates percentages

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x) Political organization:
‘Thanda’ means ‘group’, wherever Sugali settle in groups such
places are called as Thandas. Sugali did not settle down permanently
and earn their livelihoods. They did not take to education. They tried
to stay away from the main stream society and culture. They chose
places like grass lands, water resources, hills and mounds suitable for
their cattle, horses and donkeys, which were with them in their
nomadic life. The formation of Thandas, which were far away from the
villages, was mainly due to their intention of staying away from the
main communities. They try to live a life of equality among themselves
in Thandas.

Earlier Nayak was their leader and whatever the problems that
arise among the individuals in the settlement, their Nayak would solve
them. They stayed away from courts and police. All the people of the
Thanda co-operated with Nayak.

Now a day, situation has changed completely and there is no

Nayak now. They are divided on the basis of party politics. Each
lineage group is supporting different parties. From both the
settlements it is observed that Sugali of Adadakulapalle are not happy
with their Sarpanch, who hais from their tribe. They feel that the
person after becoming sarpanch is not addressing their problem. They
approach police these days even for small problems.

xi) Communication and Infrastructure facilities:

There is only one seven-seater auto that runs on the 10km
metal road that connects Adadakulapalle to Penukonda. It is the only
means of transport for the people of the village. There is no public
telephone facility in the village. However, the Sugali who is presently

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Sarpanch of the village Panchayat has a private telephone connection.
The village has a post office located in the middle of the village. There
is a primary school with four teachers in the main village. For upper
primary education the children have to go to Penukonda, the Mandal
headquarter. One of the reasons for the drop out of children after the
primary schooling is the difficulty of traveling the distance of 10 km
every day. More often, girls are badly affected. Primary health centre
(PHC) is located in Penukonda and they have to go to mandal
headquarters to avail the medical facilities.

Access to infrastructure often depends on location (Marzano,

2002: 820). Though there is pucca cement road facility within the
bazaars (market places) in the settlement, people have to access the
main road by Kutcha road. The distance from the settlement to the
main road is 1½ Km. Adadakulapalle is situated on the road that
connects Penukonda to Madakasira and is connected to the mandal
headquarters or nearby towns with pucca roads. Though there is bus
which runs two trips from Penukonda to the settlement once in the
morning and later in the evening, which is generally used by the
students to go to schools, people prefer to use auto to go to
Penukonda or any other town. Adadakulapalle settlement is electrified
for domestic and agricultural purposes. However, as most of Sugali
are marginal farmers and landless, and they do not have access due
to lack of resources.

As Quan points out, ‘Poor quality or availability of infrastructure

facilities affect the health, productivity and workload of the poor and
especially of women who assume the primary burden for the provision
of water and its many domestic uses’ (1998: 185). Protected drinking
water is available to all the people of Adadakulapalle under Rural

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Water Supply Scheme. Each lane has taps and there are hand pumps
within the village, which provide water through out the year.

Insufficient access to water has wider implications for the

sustainability of rural livelihoods, primarily dependent on rain-fed
agriculture. There are a number of agricultural wells built with
development aid but few are in use, as households cannot afford the
motor and equipment needed to pump the water.

Thompson pointed out that: ‘people without assets are

vulnerable to malnutrition and disease and are less likely to be able to
afford essential treatments and health services’ (Thompson 1998:
203). Health facilities are not easily accessible to the villagers. They
have to go to nearby towns or Mandal headquarters.

Settlements also have a ration shop under the public

distribution system (PDS) to supply the necessary commodities to the
residents at concession rates. The ration cards are issued to those
families who are below poverty line (BPL). There are 110 BPL families
in the Adadakulapalle settlement, where as in NC Thanda all the
families are covered under the BPL Category.

xii) Language:
Sugali speak their dialect known as ‘Banjara/lamani’, a
Mundarian language of South India. Besides their local dialect, they
are also conversant with Telugu for communication purpose with the
neighbouring non-tribal population in the settlements.

xiii) Changes in the Sugali Rituals:

There is much difference in the performance of marriages now
in these two settlements. Earlier, it used to be for a week and now due

92
to contacts with non-tribals and neighbours, they have restricted their
rituals/ceremonies for three days only. Now a day, they are
performing marriages in the marriage halls and big mandapams. Very
few families are celebrating their marriages at home these days. Some
people say that due to modern marriage system, people are spending
money on these ceremonies and they are falling into debt trap. This is
another reason for their marginalization in the settlements. They are
taking it as sentimentally and incurring huge money on festivals. If
they are not performing the marriage ritual in the wedding halls, they
may lose their face before their relatives. These kinds of attitudes are
driving them into poverty. Parents of the girl child are worried more
because of these latest trends and they feel that earlier they used to
give only dowry but now they have to bear wedding hall expenses also,
which is another burden for them. They are inviting a Brahmin pujari
(priest) to perform marriage rituals now and they are paying him in
cash where as earlier they used to pay him in kind.

Now a day, they are not practicing traditional type of marriages,

which used to be a ceremony for a couple of days. Almost all the
families of Sugali and their clan members used to be invited in
advance. But, today, majority of the families of Sugali is following
modern type of marriages, which are being celebrated for one or two
days with a short notice. Further, the venue of marriages is also
shifted from bride’s house to function hall. They now utilize the
services of a Brahmin priest to conduct marriage ceremony. According
to Santha Bai, President of the Village Organisation, for conducting
marriage rituals, Sugali now invite Brahmin priest like the other
communities do in the village. This is the new feature of their
marriages, according to Pome Naik, Sugali Community head. They
offer money and food grains to the priest after the function is over.

93
This change can be attributed to the education of their children and
also influence of other castes in the village as well as from outside.

xiv) Festivals in the settlements:

Festivals like Maremma (Family Goddess of Sugali) Jatara are

celebrated annually with lot of enthusiasm in the village. The animals
they sacrifice to Maremma are Goat and Chicken. Sugali invite all their
relatives for the festival. The main foods they offer to relatives are
Ragi- Balls (Ragi Mudda) with Goat meat and chicken curry.

Sugali pray to every tree, stone, animal and cattle in the forest.
They pray to protect themselves from inflecting diseases. No festival is
celebrated without meat and consumption of alcohol as observed in
the settlements.

One of the main festivals of the Sugali is "Sitalayadi pooja", also

known as Datudu festival. They make all their children and cattle to
perform the act of crossing near the idol of the deity. This festival
takes place after the rainy season. In Telugu it is known as "Datudu"
festival, they perform it in the Thanda. They pray to deities like
Sevabhaya and Maremma Bhavani to protect the Sugali from the
diseases like cholera, typhoid and small pox (Thattu). The Holi festival
is called “kamunipunnam" in their language. They perform this festival
in between the full moon and the no moon day and this goes on for 15
days in the month of March. As it costs them, they collect money in
the nearby villages by doing dances and singing songs. They burn the
image of Kama outside the village. They sing and dance the whole
night. They believe that during ancient times kama used to carry away
women in the night. So, it was a custom, on this night anyone can
take away the wife of anyone.

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 However, this has led to many quarrels in the past and they had
to stop this act, as this has led to lot of criticism. Diwali (festival of
lights) is called as "kaalimass", on the first day of Diwali, when
Narakasura was killed they eat meat and the next day they offer
prayers. All the Sugali in the Thanda meet at a certain place and
distribute the cooked meat among them equally. Some meat is
dropped with blood and is distributed in the Thanda as Prasadam.
This is known as ‘salori’ in their language. They sing and dance all the
night at a certain place. Dasara festival preparations start with having
discussions among them and they collect 5 to 10 sheep from the
people for sacrificing. If the animal makes a strange noise, and then
they think that it is a bad omen and this makes them to offer prayers
to trees. Sugali believe that in each tree there is a god and they offer
prayers to these trees during all the festivals in the settlements.

Teej festival:
The Teej festival (July-August) is one of the most celebrated
festivals of the Sugali. Youngsters who have attained the age of
marriage celebrate it by singing and dancing. Teej means seeds. Teej
festival is celebrated before the Batukamma festival. Once upon a time
there were two brothers named Abdu and Gabdu. They had 500 cows.
One day these animals fed themselves on a wheat field and shitted on
a big flat stone. The cow dung, which contained some wheat seeds,
fell on the stone and the roots of it went deep into the stone. Seeing
this Abdu and Gabdu, said that ‘Teej (which is Truth) has power’ and
Maremma has come to their home in the form of Teej. So they thought
of offering prayers to her and sacrifice animals. So, from that day all
the Thandas consider this day as an important one and celebrate the
'Teej' grandiosely.

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 The ritual is performed with utmost fervour spread over nine
days with vigorous ritual dance performed to the tune of melodious
songs. These days, due to the influence of movies and outside culture,
maidens are also using modern movie songs in their ritual dances.
This festival of fertility is exclusively the festival of maidens, who are
considered to be free from pollution of birth and other unclear sexual
activities. The married men, women and widows are tabooed from
performing rites during the celebration of Teej. Barren women are
even forbidden to approach Teej baskets.

The concept of Teej festival is originated from the Mythology of

Sugali, according to which they believe that on the day of Teej the
mountain Goddess Bhavani or Parvathi is believed to have been
reunited with her spouse Shiva, after a long and trying period of strict
austerity. They consider the day with honour as the Goddess declared
it holy and proclaimed that whosoever invoked her on that day they
would have their desires fulfilled. It is with this belief and confidence
that all the Sugali maidens invoke the Goddess Bhavani desiring for
themselves good and virtuous husbands.

Sugali girls perform a ritual on the seventh day of the Teej

festival which is called as “Dhamoli” by offering pan-cakes and
burning them in the sacred fire in front of the Teej baskets and Sugali
believe that the rising smoke reaching the Teej baskets is the sole rite
of the day. All the maidens in the settlements prepare sweet pan-
cakes in their houses and each of them brings five cakes and a
handful of jaggery and keeps the cakes in a leaf-plate in circular spot
smeared and purified with cow-dung. The leader of the maidens takes
five cakes from the pile, supposed to be the share of Shevabhaya and

96
throws them into the sacred fire burning in front of the Teej baskets.
This causes a shade of smoke from the fire and the emanating smoke
reaches the baskets.

The eight day ceremony of the Teej festival called as ‘Ganagore’,

Sugali believe that maiden women praise ‘ganagore’ and they welcome
him with traditional folk songs for the ritual duties of the girls. The
leader of the maiden group observes fast on the day. Two obscene clay
figures are made representing a male and female with all the parts of
human body, including the genital organs. They sing a beautiful song
which is similar to a lullaby in praise of ‘ganagore’ which is
represented by the male figure.

‘Seetala’ is another important animal festival of Sugali

performed in the month of Asada (September-October). This festival
provides for mass observance of rites. Seetala is a protective cattle
festival and this involves too many animal sacrifices. Sugali believe
that Seetala, the eldest of the malignant seven sister deities, is
believed to control epidemic diseases and she alone protects their
cattle. She is propitiated eventually lest her wrath may turn upon
their cattle and children.

Holy is the most attractive and colourful festival of all the Sugali
festivals and ceremonies. It is a unique occasion for both the sexes to
gather for fun and frolic generating a ‘we’ feeling and a sense of group
solidarity which is the hallmark of Sugali Thanda life. The interesting
feature of this festival is that no deity is propitiated on festival day.
Perhaps, it is the only occasion when they can completely forget all
past petty wrangles, problems and hardships of life and abandon
themselves to the joy and pleasures of the festival celebrations. This

97
happy atmosphere nurtures intra-community relations and
community solidarity. These three festivals are community festivals of
Sugali. The protection of fertility of the land and health of the cattle
are of paramount importance for eking out a successful livelihood. As
they believe in supernatural powers, they invoke their gods and
propitiate their deities for providing ample protection to their cattle
and land. Thus these festivals reflect the traditional cultural milieu of
Sugali in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh, who have a
communitarian way of life.

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 CHAPTER- III
LIVELIHOODS AND SOCIO-CULTURAL DYNAMICS IN THE SUGALI
SETTLEMENTS

There are three basic requirements for every human being, i.e.
food, cloth, and shelter to survive in the society. The whole system of
human organisms are dynamically associated with their socio-cultural
practices and social institutions such as family, kinship, marriage,
social behaviour, rituals, beliefs, and other life cycle crises like birth
and death. Livelihood is such a phenomenon which depends upon the
social manifestation of the family and community. We can find the
linkages of livelihood structure and function of a family and
community with their socio-cultural practices. The livelihood practices
of a people demonstrate their social status and further symbolises the
changes in their occupational categories which have a direct bearing
on their livelihoods. In general, this change indicates how Sugali
match themselves with the changing operation of the agricultural
practices. This chapter tries to bring out the dynamics involved in
Sugali socio-cultural practices and knowledge which have changed
due to the surge of outside culture in the two settlements, which are
explained through the social institutions. Further, it also emphasizes
on the changes that have come in the family and kinship network,
cultural components, rituals, changing marriage practices, festivals
and institutions and their bearing on livelihood processes.

Socio-Cultural Dimensions and Livelihood:

Society is an encyclopaedic process of the knowledge acquisition
as well as dissemination. Broadly, it encompasses the thick ideological
representations of the people which are mutually ingredient with the

99
socio-cultural dimensions of the society. If we look at the
constitutional parts of the society we may observe that the essential
elements of the societies are dynamically formulated by the people for
the people and of the people. Livelihood is a dynamic part of the social
structure. It also reflects an entire spectrum of a social system.
Primarily, it states the living conditions of the people and how they are
managing their social capitals using their socio-cultural practices. It is
very important to observe that the socio-cultural practices of the
people are reciprocally associated with their livelihood and culture in
the settlements. Livelihoods in a given culture, gets institutionalised
which portrays the internal and external relationship between the
social institutions such as family, kinship, marriage, community
council, etc. An attempt is made in this chapter to understand how
the livelihood practices of Sugali of the two settlements are being
maintained through their socio-cultural dynamics. It is observed in
our study that the whole socio-cultural practices of the people are
based on their livelihood structure. In this context, it is pertinent to
look at the linkages between livelihood pursued by the Sugali and
their family and kinship networks.

Family and Kinship Network:

Family is an important social institution among the Sugali. It
fashions the economic transactions and social relations. The
patriarchal power structure regulates the consumption and utilisation
of available resources within a family. The head of a family is the
decision maker with regard to the livelihood pursuits of family
members. The position of head of the family is inherited by the elder
son in a family. Head of the family is the custodian of the observances
of socio-cultural practices and rituals. He regulates the expenditure
incurred in a family. The kin members play an important role in the

100
livelihood pursuits of individuals. They act as a social resource and
kin networks help in regulating and pursuing livelihoods of its
members.

Cultural Components:
There is no much differentiation in occupational division at the
two settlements. But depending on his or her physical strength, Sugali
engage in different activities. There are some contract works like road
contract, and quarry work where involvement of women are lesser
than men. However, it has nothing to do with their cultural norms. It
is completely related to their skill and physical strength, which is not
the forte of women and other caste (OC) people to involve in such
activities. But in case of household activities, involvement of women is
more and they feel that household works are part of their social
responsibility. Sometimes, when women get tired in their work
activities, they request their husbands to help them in managing the
household activities. In such cases, the husbands come forward to
help them and cooperate in managing the activities in a family.

Traditional Institutions and Sugali Livelihoods:

Earlier they have had Kulachara system (Tribe or Community
Council) which was helpful in organizing their social functions. This
system was very powerful and used to regulate the social relations and
in solving conflicts among the community members. During the time
of conflicts between Sugali and outsiders, they have to come to the
Council to resolve the conflicts. There were instances where these
conflicts occurred in the past and were amicably solved with small fine
to outsiders. Kulachara System consists of three prominent persons
from their own community (settlement). They are Pujari (priest), Nayak
and Karwari. Hierarchically, Pujari is more important person than the

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other two, as he provides the ritual services to the community in the
settlement. For marriage or any other ceremonies, the hosts were
giving 21 rupees as dakshina (religious fee) to the Pujari. He used to
officiate the rituals related to agriculture and other functions, and
festivals in the settlements. The role of Nayak, who was the head of
the Village or settlement, was to regulate the social and political
activities such as divorce, social and political conflicts, petty thefts,
and land disputes among the community in the settlements. Some
times he also used to resolve the social conflicts involving other
settlements. The role of Karwari (messenger) was to assist the Nayak
and the Pujari to organize different duties, functions, and ceremonies,
etc, in the settlements. Another crucial duty of the Karwari was to
deliver the Community Council message to the neighbouring
settlements. For that he used to be paid some obligatory fees from the
Community Council. According to Champula Naik, though
Community Council is there now in the settlements, it is defunct
because of several reasons, which include the institution of adult
franchise, introduction of Pachayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), increasing
political participation, role of political parties, factions prevailing in
the settlements among the kin members, etc.

Inter-community relations:
Sugali of Adadakulapalle have formal relations with each other.
Though settlement is divided based on the party lines due to the
impact of political parties, they do maintain harmony among them.
They do attend each other’s ceremonies, rituals and also their
children’s marriages. They fight each other during elections time, as
was observed during the last local body elections. However, this
remains for few months and later they again come together. Where as
in case of NC Thanda, there is continuous feud between the two clans.

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Earlier, Rajavath Gothra people dominated and enjoyed all the benefits
in the settlement and now due to the change in the government, Mood
Gothra people are in power and try to enjoy the benefits. However, it is
observed that Rajavath still continue to maintain their control in the
settlement as they are numerically, politically as well as economically
powerful than the other Gothras in the settlement. In spite of these
political differences and feuds, they do maintain cordial relations with
each other and participate in their community as well as familial
ceremonies and rituals.

It is also observed that both modernization and industrialization

had its bearing on the livelihoods of Sugali, also impacted the
performance of marriage ceremonies/rituals in the settlements. One
informant has mentioned that these days they are not practicing
traditional type of marriages, which used to be a ceremony for a
couple of days. In the traditional type of marriage, the Sugali used to
invite their clan members in the very beginning of the ceremony and
also used to consult their Community Council. The role of Community
Council was very significant in the past in selecting bride and groom
as well as in arranging the alliances. But, now a day, most of them are
following marriage system as observable in other caste communities,
which are celebrated for one or two days with a short notice. Further,
the venue of marriages is also shifted from groom’s houses to function
halls. Earlier, all the marriages among Sugali used to be celebrated at
the bride groom’s residencies. Due to sanskritization process the
cultural practices of the Sugali are undergoing radical changes. For
example, the Sugali are taking services of Brahmin priest to conduct
their marriages and other ceremonies like naming ceremony of a new
born baby, betrothal, marriage, etc. These changes can be attributed

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to the education of their children and also influence of other castes in
the village as well as from outside.

According to Santha Bai, President of the Village Organisation,

Sugali are now inviting the Brahmin priest for conducting their rituals
like the other communities in the settlements. The traditional
institution of Pujari, as in the case of Nayak and Karwari, is now
almost abandoned. This has its impact on the institution as well as
the traditional livelihoods and access to resources. This new trend
may be a result of many factors including sanskritization and other
influences on the Sugali. Pome Naik, Sugali Community head in
Adadakulapalle Thanda, idiomatically said that the priest from the
Brahmin caste is taking money and food grains as the remuneration
for his labour in our rituals. All these demonstrate the changing
patterns of livelihood practices among the Sugali in the settlements.

Intra-community relations:
Sugali maintain cordial relations with other castes people
outside their settlement. These relations are mainly seen in terms of
their livelihood practices and their changing nature of the traditional
institutions. Sugali farmers engage with other castes for mutual
exchange of labour during the busy agricultural season and it is more
specifically restricted to OBCs and OCs, and not with the SCs. They
also barrow cattle and plough and exchange them with their bullock
cart. There is no Jajman system of relations working any more due to
the changes in the cropping pattern and also education and
employment, adult franchise, increasing voting, etc.

Sugali who involve in agriculture labour now get cash rather

than grains as in the past. This has altered their relations with other

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castes communities. Changes in the agricultural practices lead to
change in the cropping pattern and now farmers do not require
labour, because they have technology and machines to complete their
work in quick succession. They are using tractors for all the purposes.
This has severely affected the livelihoods of the Sugali agricultural
labour. These changes have increased the gap between other castes
with the Sugali in the settlement. Earlier they used to have mutual
understanding and collaboration with other castes and where as now
there is individuality that precedes the other relations.

It is observed that Sugali do not have any working relations with

SCs and they believe that SCs are inferior to Sugali in all respects.
One informant has mentioned that since SCs eat beef and pig we are
not touching their food and water. Another interesting observation
was made during the field study was that Sugali have joined with OCs
to oppose SCs entry into their newly constructed temple. There was
acrimonious situation prevailed for few months and later they have
agreed for the SCs to perform puja in the temple.

Influence of outside Culture on Sugali Livelihood:

Changing Food Habits:
Sugali informed that earlier their staple diet was sajjalu,
samalu, jonnalu, and ragulu. These traditional grains they were
considered as ‘Dhanyalu’, which are very nutritious and more
energetic as well. Occasionally, they preferred rice as one of their food
items. Vadlu (paddy) was also not the same as the one which they are
consuming now. Traditionally they were used to growing vattodlu
(paddy which grows in the slope areas during the rainy season). They
used to pound paddy with rokali (pestle) and it did not remove the
layer on the rice and it was very tasty. They make it ready and keep it

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for use occasionally. Though they are marginal farmers, they were
happy with their traditional crops.

Over a period of time, due to the influence of outside culture

Sugali also changed their food habits. Rice replaced their traditional
grains and it became their staple diet in both the settlements.
Somehow ragi still occupies a place in their food basket and it is the
main millet in their diet. Though Sugali in NC Thanda produce paddy
as one of their crop enterprise, Sugali of Adadakulapalle produce ragi
as their main crop followed by paddy. All the Sugali in Adadakulapalle
have BPL cards and they get subsidised rice under the PDS scheme.
Though Sugali of NC Thanda also have BPL cards, they are not much
dependent on this scheme, since they have good resources. Sugali of
Adadakulapalle are mostly dependent on PDS scheme, because of
which other crops did not get encouragement from the market. Sugali
expressed that since there is no support from the government for their
traditional crops, and green revolution encouraged paddy, these
changes made them to forgo their traditional crops. Siva Prasad and
Pandey (2007) in their study argued that PDS is disturbed the
traditional cropping pattern of the people and it made them more
dependent on others, specifically on government.

Technology and Livelihoods:

Green revolution brought enormous shift in the cropping pattern
of the people across the country and it is more visible in the study
settlements. In this case NC Thanda managed and adjusted to the
new cropping pattern due to their location and exclusive utilisation of
resources. It is not so in Adadakulapalle because they are dependent
on others and resource is scarce for them. In Adadakulapalle
settlement agriculture mainly depends on rainfall and whatever

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meagre resources they have are also not used properly due to lack of
knowledge of modern agricultural practices. Green revolution also
forced farmers to use more fertilizers and pesticides, which resulted in
an increase in agricultural investment and it became difficult for the
Sugali farmers to cope with the new trends. For those Sugali who have
agriculture as their prime source of survival, these new changes did
not favour them to adjust and they are not in a position to adopt the
new technology. They felt that not only it is expensive but is also not
suitable to their location.

Green revolution also affected the chances of agricultural

labourers of Adadakulapalle settlement, where farmers are using
tractors for their cultivation practices. Sugali are marginal farmers
and majority are dependent on agricultural labour as their main
means of livelihoods, and technology altered their livelihoods badly.
There is no other way for them than to migrating to other areas in
search of their livelihood. This trend altered their social relations in
the settlement. Sugali who migrated have left their families behind in
the settlement. This has led to an imbalance in social relations of the
family which is directly affecting their lives and livelihoods. As
mentioned earlier, there are many separated women in
Adadakulapalle, it is due to their husbands’ migration to towns and
maintaining illicit relations with others there, created rift among their
familial relations. These incidents further have a bearing on their
children’s education and also their own society.

Few Sugali who are involved in agriculture as their prime source

are taking up new agricultural practices however face extension
problems. As they do not have cold storage facility, they sell their
produce to middlemen because he is the one who gives money for

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buying seeds and fertilizers before the cropping season starts.
Government storage facility is there in Penukonda but due to
transport and storage costs they sell their produce to middlemen at
prices lower than that of market. They have no nursery in the village.
Regarding Rythu Mitra Organisation, they had three groups but they
failed to function because of lack of active participation by members
and also lack of funds and encouragement from the government.

According to informants they are influenced more by the

development of new communication facilities. They mentioned that
there were only 5 TV sets in the year 2000 in the Adadakulapalle
settlement where as now there are 36 (Table 2.17). Few houses in the
settlement also use Radio to keep them informed about the things
happening around and also as a source of entertainment. In NC
Thanda there are 56 TV sets and a significant number of the Sugali
still use Radio as one of the main means of entertainment and
information. It is also observed from the study settlements that due to
migration of the people they are exposed to different lifestyles outside
of their settlements in their working places. They buy new household
articles for their use back home. The migrants have bought new
household articles like TV, Cooker, steel utensils, etc., from the city in
both the settlements. This has spurred the others in the colony to also
procure them from the nearby town or city. In this regard, they take
the advice of migrants in case of Adadakulapalle who visit their
settlements during festive occasions and employees in case of NC
Thanda.

Another place where Sugali interact with non-Sugali is in the

market place. The Sugali from both the settlements go for santha
(Weekly market), every Sunday (Adadakulapalle) and Thursday (NC

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Thanda), to get goods and other domestic items. Both men and women
go for santha on these days. Women get up early on that day and
complete all the household chores early in the morning and go to
santha for marketing. Those who do not have TV sets at their home,
go to movies on santha day, which is the only source of entertainment.
It was observed that they complete the marketing quickly and catch
the matinee show of the movies. After the show, if any shopping
remains, they finish it and return to their homes. Another reason for
going to movies on the market day is that on every Sunday, in
Penukonda, the movie gets changed. This is a regular feature for the
Sugali in both the settlements.

Another important feature among Sugali from both the

settlements is that quite a few Sugali have been working in the
Railways and other government offices outside and have settled down
in the towns. They visit the settlements during holidays and
participate in their ceremonies and festivals. They interact with all the
family members and encourage the parents to send their children’s to
schools. On the basis of their advice, the parents in the two
settlements have been sending their children to schools and colleges
these days.

Weekly markets:
Market is the place where people interact with each other and
share their joys and sorrows. Weekly market is very important for the
people of both the settlements to buy their domestic requirements.
Sugali from Adadakulapalle go to Penukonda for weekly market
(santha) which falls on Sunday. NC Thanda Sugali go to Somandepalle
weekly market place, which falls on Thursdays. However, few of them
prefer to go to Penukonda market on Sunday. People feel that market

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is the place where they meet their friends and relatives from the other
villages or settlements. It fosters their relationships and also helps
them in exchanging notes about different aspects, including their
livelihood pursuits and places of migration, etc.

Changes in the Sugali Marriage Rituals in the Settlements:

During the British rule Sugali were engaged in theft and
robbery. British government declared them as ‘criminal tribes’. They
used to involve in the criminal offences to lead their lives. After
Independence, Government of India declared Sugali as denotified
tribes and given them land and persuaded them settle down. Over a
period of time they became settled agriculturists. But due to lack of
resources and non-affordability of necessary technology and inputs,
Sugali became agricultural labourers and some have preferred
migration. In order to survive and compete with the other castes, they
have altered their livelihoods and also have resorted to raising cash
crops. Thus, they started getting affected by the vagaries of market.
This has a bearing on their livelihood pursuits.

In the past, Sugali boys, as mentioned earlier, had to arrange

money to pay bride price and get married. Bride price used to be even
more if a girl was hard working and responsible. A boy had to work for
sometime in the groom’s house or else he had to pay some token
money to groom’s parents. Over a period of time, as in the case of
agricultural practices, changes have also come about in the institution
of marriage. Bride price has given way to dowry and now girls pursue
boys to get married by paying dowry. There are various reasons for
this shift from bride price to dowry. It is due to an increase in cash
crops production, there was an increase in circulation of money. This
change has also come about due to the influence of education,

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employment, role of other castes, etc. It is observed even more among
the educated and employed Sugali in both the settlements. The dowry
became an evil and parents now feel that the girl children are a
burden. To earn more money for giving their daughters in marriage,
they involve in diversified livelihood practices which spins them more
income.

To get good crop yield, they go for high yield variety crops, which
require more investment in the form of inputs like improved seed
varieties, fertilizers and pesticides. This made them to depend on
others for loans and finally land up in debts. This has resulted in
migration in search of better livelihoods. They also have chosen it as
one of the major diversification strategy to earn better income.

Another significant feature observed in Adadakulapalle

settlement is that large numbers of women are separated from their
husbands and are now living with their parents. There are also
widowed women who also reside with their parents now. These are a
result of the practice of child marriage that is prevailing among them.
There were seven cases of suicides reported during the field study
from Adadakulapalle settlement. These changes in the social set up of
Sugali have a direct bearing on their livelihoods.

Looking at the changing trends in the institution of marriage,

and also prevailing social-cultural situation in the settlement, parents
of the Adadakulapalle are barrowing money from the middlemen for
arranging the marriages of their daughters. This is further abetting
their poverty and process of marginalization. On the other hand, we
can assume that a daughter’s marriage is one of the significant
examples which reflect the livelihood condition of the family.

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 Though NGO’s are working in the area, they are not working on
these issues and people are not aware of the rules and regulations of
the modern marriage system and anti-dowry acts. There is a need to
increase their awareness on these social problems. Some parents feel
that dowry deaths that are reported from other areas made them to
worry of having a girl child in the Adadakulapalle settlement. This is
another grave situation emerging in the settlement due to their
backwardness and continuous drought conditions prevailing in this
area. Hence, the livelihood practices of the people slowly deviating
from their past livelihood practices. This is the major reason for the
families who are accepting seasonal migration to the towns and also it
is observed in other areas of the State where Sugali parents are selling
their girl children in the name of adoption.

Role of the Festivals in Sugali Livelihoods:

Sugali eke their livelihoods through different means and try to
save money to utilise it during their festivals. In order to keep up their
social prestige they celebrate their community festivals ostentatiously.
According to them, though there is a change in their livelihoods, there
is not much difference in the celebration of festivals or ceremonies in
the settlements, except for the length of preparations. Sugali celebrate
their festivals today in a more refined way, however, with a small
gathering. They cook rice, chicken or mutton and some dessert on
such occasions. Earlier, they used to have a big gathering and one
family used to sacrifice a goat or sheep on the festivals like Maremma
Jatara. The change in the celebration of the festivals is clearly visible
and they claim that since people are scattered in search of their
livelihoods, whether in jobs or labour works, they are not celebrating
their traditional festivals in larger gatherings. Elders from both the

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settlements stated that the earlier livelihood practices were favourable
for them to celebrate their festivals together and also support each
other in times of a crisis, and also it was quite useful to maintain and
keep up their traditional culture.

Festivals of Sugali reflect their cultural tradition as felt by the

informants. The festivals of Sugali have three types of implications,
which are observed in both the settlements, that is productive
(fertility), protective and seasonal (ibid: 66). The Sugali rituals are
meant to propitiate and appease the various super natural powers
which are believed to mould the material, social and physical welfare
of the community and individual in the study settlements. The rituals,
as felt by Sugali, connected with the agricultural cult of teej provide
for display and honour blended with dance and song. Sugali from both
the settlements believe that these rituals are intended to perpetuate
the fertility of women and effectiveness of the soil on which they
depend for their livelihood.

The Sugali feel that festivals, rituals and the celebration of holy
days are part of the Sugali cultural inheritance and performances of
these ceremonies are transmitted from their forefathers. In fact, these
festivals are holy occasions and are the nerve centres of cultural
customs and hence they are being called as the ‘Paruva’. They are
essentially a way of living and thinking in the course of existence and
as such bring their whole power to bear on the individual and the
society. These festivals are closely connected with the change of
seasons.

In all the festive celebrations Sugali of both the settlements pray

for their family deities, Meramma and Shevabhaya. Meramma deity is

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believed to be the protector of their females, children, and also
preserver of the fertility of their soil. Shevabhaya is regarded as the
protector of their domestic animals such as cattle. Sugali celebrate the
fertility festival of teej in the beginning of the monsoon, i.e., in the
months of June and July according to the English calendar.

Traditional Festivals and their relation with Livelihood:

Traditional fairs and festivals have a bearing on their livelihoods
and still Sugali continue to perform them in a hope that their
children’s life will be good and god will help them in sustaining their
livelihoods. Another important feature in celebrating the traditional
festival is that Sugali believe that everyday they can not perform puja
to their god or family goddess and hence once in a year they perform
the rituals with gaiety. They also celebrate festivals like Sankranthi,
the crop harvesting festival celebrated in January.

The important fairs in which Sugali of Adadakulapalle

participate are Narasimha Swamy Teru and Maremma Jathara. Since
Adadakulapalle is a multi-caste or community village, people here
celebrate Narasimha Teru along with the Maremma Jathara. In NC
Thanda, Sugali celebrate Maremma Jathara but not Teru.

Fairs are the important occasions during which Rathotsavas

(car processions) are taken out in case of important deities. The Ratha
(car) used for the procession is compared to the human body and the
different functionaries of the car procession are supposed to represent
the analogies for the spiritual and philosophical understanding of
human existence. Elder people explain that human body is like a
Ratha and Paramatma (immortal soul or god) resides along with
Jeevatma (mortal soul) in the heart of a person. But they are

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separated by two layers or walls. Thus Jeevatma can not have the
Darshana (meeting) of Paramatma unless the doors are open. At the
appropriate time, the wall separating them dissolves, the car
procession acts as a catalyst in this process. When a person witnesses
the procession, then in his heart seeds of bhakti (devotion) germinate.
When devotion grows the partition between Paramatma and Jeevatma
gets dissolved. This mutual merging of soul with god results in “Mukti”
(salvation) - the eternal respite to escape from the cycle of births and
deaths.

In addition to the main religious function, fairs also have other

attractions like drama, wrestling, and sale of articles of importance for
the peasants. Thus, the congregation of a fair is both a social and
religious gathering.

The fair is celebrated on ‘Palguna Suddha Dasami’ around

March, 21st every year at Adadakulapalle. This Teru will be celebrated
for five to seven days in the name of Narasimha Swamy. The fair
starts with a Rath Yatra, on the first day. Adadakulapalle village
head/Sarpanch/ sometimes leaders from outside the settlement arrive
there, break coconut and declare Teru to have started. During
procession bhajans (devotional songs) are sung, mantras are chanted
and musical instruments are played. At some intervals, eulogizing
slogans about Narasimha Swamy are raised. A group of people from
the settlement also make devotional dances.

Rathotsava means carrying Swamy in a car pulled by devotees

on a plain road up to a traditionally fixed point and then bringing it
back to the starting place. People believe that the car should not meet
with an accident at the time of procession. A safe procession signifies

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the need for man to follow a virtuous life in order to reach the
destination of salvation. On this occasion, villagers surrounding
Adadakulapalle settlement, gather in a big number using bullock carts
as their transport. They decorate bullocks and bullock carts and it is
an occasion where every one of them wants to show that their
bullocks are the better ones.

For seven days, several villagers, by turn, visit the temple

located in the middle of the village in Adadakulapalle. There will be
many stalls opened specially on this occasion. Traders come from
distant places to sell goods and articles. This is a special attraction for
the people in the settlement. An added attraction on the occasion of
fairs and ceremonies is the practice of preparing special dishes in
their homes. It is an occasion for several people, their kith and kin to
meet. In a way, this occasion solidifies kin relations.

Maremma Jathara:
Sugali in both the settlements celebrate this Jathara which is
held in the name of ‘Maremma’ and is not celebrated on any one
particular day but any time of the year. But, they can offer prayers
and animal sacrifices only on Tuesday and Friday of every week and
not on other days. The local deity is revered not only by the people of
Adadakulapalle settlement but also by several people from the
neighbouring villages also regularly offer prayers and animal
sacrifices.

Maremma Gudi (Temple) is situated in the middle of the

settlements. People believe that the deity blesses people to keep doing
well and protects them from all evil forces. People have to propitiate
the goddess by offering animal sacrifices. The day on which the animal

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sacrifices are made is called ‘Maremma Jathara’. Usually, sheep, goats
and hens are offered for sacrifices.

Sugali believe that if an individual or family is in a trouble or

facing serious health problems or having unfulfilled desires, they offer
prayers to Maremma and take a vow. They also believe that Tuesday
and Friday are the auspicious days to offer betel leaves, a small
quantity of rice, jowar, bajra, and break coconuts to goddess
Maremma. Then, with folded hands, they convey their desires or
problems to the deity. This is called ‘Aakupooja’. As part of their
worship to Maremma, people express that if their problems are solved,
they would conduct ‘Jathara’ to propitiate her. This is called
‘Mokkubadi’ (vow).

The people, whose wishes are fulfilled, announce that Maremma

Jathara will be organised by them in one particular year to fulfil their
Mokkubadi. Generally, after Aakupooja prayers, Jathara is observed
either on third or fifth year. At the time of Jathara, it is obligatory for
them to call their respective kinsmen within and outside the
settlement and arrange a ‘Community Dinner’. Usually, a minimum of
three to five households celebrate Jathara at a time in one year in
order to reduce expenses, and also with the intention that everybody
in the settlement will be invited by one or the other organizing
households of Jathara.

The particular person in the family, whose desire is fulfilled, has

to carry a pot full of food specially prepared with rice, pulses, jaggery,
etc. Sometimes along with him, even one or two other members in the
household or kin group whose desires are also fulfilled carry ‘Pot’ on
their head. Throughout the procession, and till completion of Jathara,

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Melagallu and Thappadi Vallu continue their traditional music.
Persons who carry pot will be walking in the canopy which is carried
by four persons.

By the time they reach the temple, Chakali women put old saris
around the temple. The persons carrying pots and their kinsmen walk
on these clothes around the temple as two men go on pouring water
on it continuously. This process continues till they complete three
rounds of circumambulations of the temple. Then they go to inside the
temple, ring the bells and go near Garbhagriha (main altar’s place)
and give prepared food to pujari, who in turn places it before
Maremma deity. Pujari chants some hymns or devotional utterances,
apply vermilion and turmeric on the pot and breaks the coconuts.

Then all the people come out and make arrangements for
animal sacrifice ceremony. There will be a few professionals who can
cut the neck of sacrificial animal in one stroke. For some time, these
professional cutters argue among themselves about who can be a
better person for doing it and then one among them performs it.
Whenever Jathara is organised there will be tens of animals sacrificed.
On the Ugadi (Telugu New Year) festival occasion, this number goes
even higher. They pour water on the specially erected pillar on the
platform before the temple; apply blood of the sacrificed animal to it.
Organizers of the Jathara cut legs of animals and place them before
the temple. With this, people believe that Maremma gets satisfied.
Women of Jathara organizing household prepare food along with meat
of the sacrificed animal and have a community dinner.

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Beliefs and Taboos associated with Livelihoods:
Sugali start their agricultural operations by performing some
puja to their family goddess to protect their crops. They also perform
puja to their cattle and plough before starting of their agricultural
season. All these practices symbolise the socio-cultural dynamics and
livelihood pursuits of Sugali society.

They also have some taboos which they strictly implement

while in the process of their livelihood pursuits. For instance, people
associated with menstrual period, after birth and death pollution are
considered as potential to get the anger of deities. Hence, they observe
avoidance of them, as they are under pollution for a particular period
of time, in their ritual acts. During this period, they do not enter their
agricultural fields, kitchen gardens, temples and also they cannot
participate in any rituals in and outside their houses. Further, they
never touch the grain, fruits, vegetables and even implements. If any
one, even by accident breaks the taboo, strict observance of
rectification is observed during first eating ceremony by offering
sacrifice. Otherwise, they believe that the curse of the deities cause
danger to the entire settlement. Though this taboo is observed among
most of the households, the educated Sugali girls and women, who are
using care free napkins, now do not consider the menstrual period as
a taboo and polluting.

Even for construction of house, land owner has to perform

symbolic rite at the selected plot to avoid evil-eye of spirits. They dig
out some earth at centre of the plot and erect a centre post which is
like pillar to the entire structure. They tie one cloth ridden moota to its
end. It consists of all varieties of millets, turmeric, vermillion, etc.
Prior to that, the cloth used for this is dipped into turmeric water and

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vermilion is applied to it. After this tender leaves of mango are also
pierced to the post. One empty gunny bag is placed to cover the
ceremonial material of the pole to avoid exposing it to outside. They
practice it to avoid an evil eye (drusti). They believe that this may ward
off the entry of evil spirits and hence even after completion of the
house they don’t remove that sacred material. Sugali strictly observe
the teej festival taboo for the married men; women and widows are
tabooed from the performing rites during the celebration of Teej.
Barren women are even forbidden to approach Teej baskets.

Livelihood and Poverty:

As Oscar Lewis mentioned that ‘the culture of poverty can come
into being in a variety of historical context. However, it tends to grow
and flourish in societies with the following set of conditions: (1) cash
economy, wage labour, and productions for profit; (2) persistently high
rate of unemployment for unskilled labour; (3) low wages; (4) failure to
provide social, political, and economic organization, either on a
voluntary basis or by government imposition, for the low income
population; (5) existence of a bilateral kinship system rather than a
unilateral one; and finally (6) existence of a set of values in the
dominant class which stresses the accumulation of wealth and
poverty, the possibility of upward mobility, and thrift, and explains
low economic status as the result of personal inadequacy or inferiority’
( Lewis 1966: 68-69). Oscar Lewis laid down the above criteria of
poverty which construct the culture of poverty in the society.

Livelihood is a part of culture, and also reflects the poverty of

culture. Secondly, livelihoods also reflect how they are structurally
interrelated with the cultural practices and, more specifically, on how
the people are closely associated with social system as well as

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livelihood culture. In one sense, livelihood is a central and essential
focal point of the people which helps to document a socio-cultural
reality of the community and also it gets manifested in their social
institutions where a lay man can also observe the poverty and
richness of culture. In this way, we can observe that the culture of
livelihood or livelihood culture existing among the Sugali tribes in both
the settlements is related, in our view to Oscar Lewis’ conception of
‘Culture of Poverty’ as ‘Culture of Livelihoods’ of a given circumstances
in our study.

Occupations and Present Livelihoods in the settlements:

The livelihoods in the settlements are classified into three
categories (1) farm, (2) off-farm and (3) non-farm. Agriculture comes
under the farm category. Among the Sugali, of both the settlements,
agricultural works are being regulated by men and women along with
the aged people of the same community. Agriculture labour and fodder
collection are included in off-farm category. Men, women, and children
take part in agriculture labour and also they also are engaged in
fodder collection. Construction, contract and quarry works come
under non-farm category. While men and women from SC, ST, and BC
castes take up construction, contract and quarry work, men from SC
and BC castes only do labour work available in and outside the
settlements. The Sugali, of both the settlements, depend on wage
works available in and outside of the settlements. Men from OC caste
undertake contract work and recruit SC, ST, and BC men and women
as contract labour. Apart from that, many Sugali from Adadakulapalle
settlement who are migrating to towns in search of their livelihoods
are engaged in petty business like selling rice and vegetables in the
streets and involve in Beldar/Maestri (masonry) work in building
construction works.

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Women and Livelihoods:
The ownership of land usually vests in the name of the man.
Women work in the land and help men to manage it. Women have
control over livestock and its products. They now get credit facilities
from DWCRA and SEDS self-help groups. This money is ploughed into
family agriculture or in meeting other requirements of the family.
Because of the efforts of government, NGO and other developmental
initiatives many children now go to school more than earlier. Now
women also feel more empowered. This change has happened because
of their involvement in self-help groups, government and SEDS
programmes.

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 CHAPTER-IV
LIVELIHOODS AND RESOURCES

In the previous chapter an attempt was made to explain the

linkages between socio-cultural dimensions and the livelihoods in the
two settlements. The present chapter broadly discusses the available
resources, their access, utilisation, etc., in the pursuit of livelihoods in
the community. Further, it also tries to understand the coping
mechanisms adopted by the community members to face the risks.
The chapter is organized into three sections. The first section explains
the available resources in the settlements. The second section deals
with the existing land based livelihoods in the settlements and the
third section tries to discuss the diversification of livelihoods due to
changing resource base in the study settlements.

Resources in the Settlements:

The available resources, their potential in generating as well as
sustaining the livelihoods of the local communities are important to be
looked at. Also, the constraints as well as the normative structures of
access are also important to understand. The following discussion
makes an attempt to enlist the available resources in the two
settlements and the patterns of their utilisation and access.

i) Common Property Resources:

The common property resources available in the Adadakulapalle
settlement are:
a) Adadakulapalle Tank
b) Forest (reserved)

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 c) Temple land
d) Road side plantation/Avenue plantation

a) Adadakulapalle Tank:
Adadakulapalle tank covers Adadakulapalle, Kotha (New) Palle
(Village) Thanda Patha (old) Palle Thanda and Busaiahpalem village.
The tank is located on the southern side of Adadakulapalle settlement
and is half a kilometre from the settlement. Majority of the lands
under the tank belong to Reddy and OBC farmers and a few are
owned by Madiga and Sugali farmers. Fishing activity is carried by the
Sugali and the others occasionally when there is water in the tank.

Tank is important for the villagers because for cultivation of

crops like Paddy, Groundnut, PKM Chinta2 (Tamarind), and
sunflower. Because of tank the open or ground wells and tube or bore
wells get recharged and the ground water potential increases.

People who were not having lands under the tank use its water
for washing clothes (women), watering cattle, etc. Grass (Jammu),
which grows in the tank water is used for making of mats, covering of
roof of houses or huts, and construction of sheds to small ruminants.
It is also used for fencing the houses by few Sugali and Madiga
families.

Another important benefit from the tank is fishing. Fishing

activity is of two kinds, one is for domestic purpose where all the
people of the village do fishing activity individually and also as a
group. People, who do fishing activity in a group, share the outcome
equally, by giving extra share to the person who brings nets. Second
2 It is a high breed variety of tamarind introduced in the district by the previous
government to supplement some income to the farmers during the drought
situation.

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type of activity is of commercial nature where Fishermen Cooperative
Society auctions and who ever agree to pay more will be given lease
rights for one year term. It depends upon the water available in the
tank. If water is more and tank is full, then they go for auction. Other
wise, they will not go for auction. The auction is done by the
Cooperative Society, which is under the Village Panchayat.

During summer season, when tank becomes dry, people of

Adadakulapalle grow cucumber crop in the tank. Also, the villagers
take their cattle for grazing in the tank bed. Majority of the
beneficiaries were landless labourers, marginal and small farmers.
Because of the tank landless people get more number of wage days.
Tank has both direct and indirect benefits for the villagers. People also
feel that importance of tank has increased due to the watershed
programme3, which has increased the water level in the tank as well
as in the bore wells of the farmers. Under watershed development
programme, Adadakulapalle tank was repaired and plantation work
was carried out around the tank.

People distribute the tank place according to their land share

under the tank. Sugali who do not have land under the tank also
benefit from the tank in terms of wage works. These works are
available for two months according to the crop duration. Farmers pay
Rs.40/- per day to both men and women for cucumber crop. Sugali
also get bunches of cucumber which they distribute among their
relatives and neighbours.

3
Adadakulapalle settlement is one of the major watershed villages in the district.

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b. Unreserved/ Revenue forest:
People of the Settlement collect fuel wood, graze cattle, Bandaru
grass (which are used for roof and house fencing) and Bodha grass
(roof and sale purposes). People strongly believe that forest is very
useful for them. Those who do not have cattle feel that forest is useful
only for collecting fuel wood. It is observed that due to the threat from
the forest (wild) cows, people are hesitant to go to forest for collecting
fuel wood.

Sugali farmers mentioned that wild cows used to spoil their

crops and four years back one of the Sugali farmers has connected the
fence with electricity power connection to keep the wild cows away.
Unfortunately, two wild cows have died and from then onwards, wild
cows started attacking Sugali farmers and they also fear to go to forest
either to get fire wood or for other purposes. Sugali believe that wild
cows may attack anytime whoever they see in the forest. Hence, Sugali
people stopped going to forest then onwards.

c. Temple land:
There are 20 acres of temple land available in Adadakulapalle.
Earlier, land was given to any farmer for cultivation on the basis of
auction, which is of one-year duration. Auction is based on the
meeting attended by village elders who decide the modalities, terms
and conditions and money or amount on acreage basis. The amount
they get from the farmers was used for development activities of the
temple and celebration of temple festivals (Rathotsavam) and rituals in
that particular year.

After taking up the watershed programme in the village, the

situation has changed completely. Villagers conducted Gramsabha

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and decided to go for raising commercial crop (PKM Chinta) in temple
land. Now, it is called as ‘Chinta Topu’ (Tamarind grove). They are
using temple land now for village development activities. After raising
Chinta Topu the income has substantially gone up than before. They
also feel that there are benefits from Chinta Topu like they can use the
tender leaves – chiguru (used in curry and also mixed in Dal), dried
branches as fuel wood, etc. Generally, women collect the chiguru and
sun dry it for few days and use this during the non-availability of
vegetables or during vegetable scarce seasons. Majority of the villagers
believe that temple land has now become more useful than before and
it fetches reasonably more income and benefits than before.

Beneficiary Case Study:

Tirupal Naik, 40 years old, only BA graduate who preferred not
to go for government job, is one of the beneficiaries of the temple land
prior to 2001. Tirupal is the eldest in his family and he has two sons.
His wife also studied up to intermediate. Tirupal’s mother is an
illiterate and is staying with his family in Adadakulapalle Settlement.

During 1995-96, Tirupal completed his graduation from the SK

University, Anantapur, and later decided to enter into politics. He
returned to Adadakulapalle settlement and discussed with his mother
and settlement elders. They welcomed his decision and suggested him
to earn money. In the year 1998, when auction is held for the temple
land, he was the highest bidder among al the Sugali people. Tirupal
has paid Rs. 10, 000/- for one year lease of temple land. During that
time there was good rain and PKM Chinta crop has yielded best
income for Tirupal. He got Rs.30, 000/- from the crop. He incurred
some expenditure during the harvesting time and has incurred about
Rs.2000/- on labour and other charges.

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 From the year 2001 onwards, temple land is not given for
cultivation and instead this land is distributed to the people of the
settlement who did not have permanent house in the settlement. The
people who are cultivating the land earlier have no other choice than
to migrate to other areas in search of their livelihood. Though the land
is given to all the communities, majority of them have constructed
houses and few others are using them as cattle shed. The trees that
were there in the temple land earlier were sold by the Gram Sabha
Committee and the money was given to the new temple which was
constructed in the middle of the village in the year 2001. The name of
the temple is Narasimha Swamy temple and all people in the village,
including the settlement, offer their prayers for their betterment. Once
in two years they celebrate the Narasimha Swamy festival and take
the idol of the God into all the streets of the village and settlement in a
big procession.

d) Road side plantation/Avenue plantation:

Road side plantation is initiated in the district by the previous
Telugu Desam government to provide fuel wood for the people of the
settlement. SEDS (NGO) has taken up this activity in Adadakulapalle
settlement. Under this scheme, they have planted Kanuga (pongamia),
Vepaku (neem) and Seema Jali (Acacia julifloria) trees. Vepaku is one
of the nutrient feed of their goats in the settlement. Like wise Seema
Jali also, where its pods (kayalu) are very nutrient food to sheep and
goat, especially during the summer seasons. In addition to this,
farmers are also using leaves of kanuga, vepaku as rota (leafy manure)
for the paddy fields. Further, all the Kanuga, Vepaku and Seema Jali
are also useful as fuel wood and also using for fencing to keep their
small ruminants. Sugali also stated that initially they got some wage

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works from the NGO when they planted these trees across their roads
in the settlement.

ii) Common Property Resources in NC Thanda:

a) Samala Kunta (tank), and
b) Forest (reserved)

a) Samalakunta:
Samala Kunta covers NC Thanda settlement only. It is very close
to Thanda and it is at less than half a kilometre distance from the
Thanda. The land under Samala Kunta completely belongs to Sugali of
NC Thanda. Samala Kunta is the main source of irrigation to NC
Thanda Sugali. Since the location of the Thanda is favourable, located
between two hillocks – called Thanda Konda (hill) and Samala Konda –
Samala Kunta gets water from hillocks and slopes whenever there is a
rain. It gets recharged all the time and through this all the bore wells
of NC Thanda also get recharged. All of them raise irrigated paddy
most of the time.

There is a story behind the name of the Samala Kunta. Earlier

people used to call it as Kunta only. In the past, people used to
cultivate samalu, one kind of coarse millet and it used to be their
staple diet. Kunta was the only source of irrigation then. All the
Thanda people used to grow this grain variety and it was very popular
and nutritious also. Because of the prevalence of samalu crop, elders
used to call it as Samala Kunta and in course of time it became
Samala Kunta. Earlier it used to be the only source of drinking water
for the Sugali of this Thanda. Elders even now remember samalu
grain, which is not raised any more, but the tank is still referred to by
that name.

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 There are multiple uses of Samala kunta for the Sugali of NC
Thanda today. They are using its water for their cattle and some
times, when there is no electricity, they get their drinking water from
this kunta. During the time of ceremonies like marriage people use its
water. They bring water from this kunta by tractor for their drinking
purposes.

b) Forest (reserved):
Forest is called as Somandepalle forest under the Somandepalle
mandal which is reserved forest. Forest is 2 km away from the NC
Thanda. Earlier, Sugali used to get fuel wood for their daily use and
for some it was their main source of livelihood. They used to collect
fire wood and sell it in Somandepalle mandal. They also used to collect
grass for their cattle from the forest and, now a day, majority of Sugali
are not collecting either fire wood or fodder grass from this forest since
it is away from the Thanda and also they have their own lands now to
graze their cattle. They used to get Bodha grass earlier and they were
using it as thatch for roofs of their houses.

II

Land Based Livelihood pattern in the settlements:

Livelihood diversification is related to the certainty of stable
dependable resources or lack of it. This is clearly observed between
Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda. The latter has lesser diversification
and migration as compared to the former.

In Adadakulapalle majority of Sugali are small and marginal

farmers. The type of land available in the village is dry land and only
one Sugali farmer has a tube (bore) well in his land as against 90 bore

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wells owned by the other castes in the village. The Sugali by and large
depend upon monsoon. The major crops cultivated are groundnut,
maize, ragi, mulberry and paddy (Table 4.1). Ragi and Paddy are the
staple crops and they constitute the staple diet of the farmers and
agricultural labourers in the settlement.

Table 4.1: Cropping Pattern during 2003-04 and 2004-05 (in Acres)
Crops Adadakulapalle NC Thanda
2003-04 2004-05 2003-04 2004-05
Paddy 15 30 28 39
Ground-nut 200 350 225 300
Ragi 40 60 40 55
Maize 10 20 9 15
Jowar 25 30 7 12
Vegetables 5 8 6 10
Mulberry 20 32 8 10
Horticulture 10 15 0 0
Source: Mandal Revenue Office, Penukonda and Somandepalle

Table 4.2 (a): Available Livelihoods in the Settlements

Sl.No Type of Livelihoods ADP Thanda N.C. Thanda
1 Wage Labourers/Land less People 124 35
2 Agriculture 80 55
3 Govt. Employees 8 65
4 Petty Business/ Liquor shops 14 (9) 15 (2)
5 Migration 35 05
6 Others (Dependents) 10 15

Table 4.2 (b): Available Livelihoods in the ADP

Sl.No Type of Livelihoods Total HHs in the ADP
1 Wage Labourers/Land less People 237
2 Agriculture 225
3 Govt. Employees 35
4 Petty Business/ Liquor shops 25 (9)
5 Migration 35
6 Others (Dependents) 25

The livelihood activities of all the people are cultivation, followed

by daily wage works, petty business (running own autos and kirana –
provisions) shop and hotel (tea and Tiffin stall). Majority of them
depend on agricultural labour, construction or repair works in and
outside the village (Table 4.2 (a) and 4.2 (b)).

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 It is observed that the households depending on wage labour
are more among Sugali because they consist of more landless people
and wage labourers. Though majority of the wage labourers own small
plots of land, the land is unsuitable for cultivation. It is very pertinent
to note that significant number of Sugali of Adadakulapalle Thanda is
earning their livelihoods from migration to other areas like Bangalore
and Mumbai. There are 35 households who are depending on
migration through out the year. In contrast, in N.C. Thanda there are
five families who migrate to Mumbai for their livelihood. It is found
from the respondents that in Mumbai they are involved in the
activities such as petty business where they buy rice in whole sale and
sell it in the colonies by transporting it on bicycles. Liquor trade is
another means of livelihood for nine families of Adadakulapalle
Thanda and two families in N.C. Thanda settlements. In case of N.C.
Thanda in every household we find an employee either as a teacher or
Group I or II government employee. It is observed that agriculture
contributes more share of livelihood, followed by agricultural labour in
the two settlements.

To understand the existing livelihoods in the settlements it is

necessary to see the availability and accessibility of land, labour and
credit facilities, which are very crucial in the determination of
livelihoods, in the area. Hence, in the following section an attempt is
made to explain these institutions in order to have better
understanding of the livelihoods in the settlements.

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Land:
The type of available land in the study settlements constitutes
both dry and wet lands. Sugali from Adadakulapalle do not posses
records of rights (Patta), though they have been cultivating these lands
with the authorization of Mandal Revenue department. Lands in the
two settlements are assigned to the household head (preferably eldest
male). To disburse the crop loans to the farmers, government made
the title deeds compulsory to claim the loans. Hence, all the farmers
from both the settlement have made the patta passbooks available
with them. There are 100 farmers who have received the crop loan
from the banks in the preceding year, according to the Velugu
programme Secretary of Adadakulapalle. The process of granting the
land use certificates has been slow in the mandal office of Penukonda.
As a result, many farmers in Adadakulapalle had not received the
official title deed for their land.

In Adadakulapalle Thanda each household of Sugali got 5 acres

of land from the government way back in the year 1982 during the
time of Indira Gandhi’s rule. However, beneficiaries complain that it is
neither cultivable nor useful for grazing. The land is located near the
Penukonda hillock which is 3 km from the settlement. If they go for a
crop during favourable monsoon, there is the problem of forest pigs
and forest (wild) cows as complained by all the informants. There is no
electricity facility also if they want to go for bore well in that land.
Sugali Farmers have given many letters to the officials requesting
them to make the land suitable for cultivation. Till now, no one has
taken any initiative to help them, not even the local NGO. While the
land given to Sugali in Adadakulapalle Thanda is not cultivable, the
land given to N C Thanda Sugali is cultivable. Many of them have
bought extra land due to good harvests, apart from support from their

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children who are in government service. Farmers of NC Thanda have
title deeds with them and majority of them (75 farmers) have received
the crop loans in the preceding year.

Availability of grazing land is also difficult in the Adadakulapalle

Thanda as compared to the NC Thanda. NC Thanda is surrounded by
hillocks and there were plenty of grazing fields which belong to the
Thanda people. Where as in Adadakulapalle Thanda it is not the case
as their fields and land is far away from their habitation. Households
of Adadakulapalle Thanda had to spend more time to graze animals
on the common land than on their own land since these areas are 2–3
km away from their homes. Due to this, Sugali in Adadakulapalle have
cut down their livestock population. Elder people in both the
settlements take the cattle for grazing.

Table 4.3: Distribution of Land in the Settlements by Households

Land size Nuclear Family Joint Family
classes Adadakulapalle NC Thanda Adadakulapalle NC Thanda
<1 Wet 95 38 66 21
Dry 25 6 13 Nil
1-2.5 Wet 16 18 18 4
Dry 15 4 7 1
2.5-3.5 Wet 6 1 9 2
Dry 5 4 6 2
3.5 - 5 Wet Nil 1 1 2
Dry 56 30 47 16
5-8 Wet Nil Nil Nil Nil
Dry 11 14 19 9
8-12 Wet Nil Nil Nil Nil
Dry 1 1 4 4
> 12 Wet Nil Nil Nil 1
Dry Nil 2 3 1
Total Wet 117 58 94 29
Dry 113 61 99 33

Dry land constitutes more as compared to irrigated land in both

the settlements. This is due to the non-availability of rivers or canals
in the region and also due to the continuous drought situation

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prevailing in the areas. In case of NC Thanda, they have some support
of water due to the location of their settlement, wherein their
agricultural lands and their Thanda is situated around the hillocks.
Their lands and bore wells get charged once there is some rain.
Persistent drought conditions seriously hampered the availability of
wage labour activities which lead them to migrate to the near by towns
and cities.

Irrigation potential in the study areas is quite low as there are

no canals or rivers in the region. Added to this, due to continuous
drought the ground water levels also got depleted. This has adverse
affect on the cultivation in wet lands. Cultivation in dry land is
completely dependent on the vagaries of nature and because of
recurrent drought they could not raise any crops. Thus, long period of
drought has a direct bearing on their livelihoods. However, there
exists some contrast between Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda. In case
of latter, as their lands are located around the hillocks when there
were some rains the ground water gets recharged and their tube wells
become operative, thus facilitating cultivation.

Labour:
The three main types of labour arrangement observed in
Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda are household labour, exchange
labour, and daily wage labour. Household labour is the dominant type
for agricultural activities. Gender division is recognised in households
according to the type of tasks. Some heavy tasks such as ploughing
and spraying herbicide and insecticide are the works of men while
weeding, manure application, and caring for livestock are the activities
of women. However, there are some tasks where the division is less

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clear, such as harvesting, land clearing, and planting which are
shared by both men and women in the household.

Table 4.4: Distribution of Agricultural labour in the settlements

Name of the Caste Agriculture labour Total
Settlement Yes No
Adadakulapalle Sugali 85 25 110
Madiga 33 2 35
Kuruba 15 3 18
Kummari 1 2 3
Chakali 15 1 16
Valmiki Boya 5 0 5
Reddy/Kapu 2 18 20
Muslims 0 10 10
Vaisyas 0 1 1
NC Thanda Sugali 28 65 93

When we compare the Sugali of Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda,

in case of the former agricultural labour is the predominant means of
livelihood while in the latter more people are involved in government
service followed by agriculture and other activities (Table 4.2 (a)).

Table 4.5: Distribution of Agricultural Labour in the Settlements by

Gender
Name of the Caste Agriculture labour Total
Settlement Not
Applicable Male Female Both
Adadakulapalle Sugali 25 1 15 69 110
Madiga 2 0 3 30 35
Kuruba 3 0 0 15 18
Kummari 2 0 0 1 3
Chakali 1 0 0 15 16
Valmiki
0 0 0 5 5
Boya
Reddy/Kapu 18 0 0 2 20
Muslims 10 0 0 0 10
Vaisyas 1 0 0 0 1
NC Thanda Sugali 65 6 3 19 93
Total 127 7 21 156 311

Exchange labour was a reciprocal arrangement whereby if one

household had worked for another it could call on members of the
latter household to contribute the same number of work-days. Labour

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is exchanged for similar type of tasks and it is always between
families. The work could be contributed by male or female labour,
depending on the type of task. However, exchange labour is practiced
more in the NC Thanda than in Adadakulapalle Thanda.

Another means to supplement additional labour was to hire

labour. The daily wage rate for hired labour varies according to the
type of task and gender of the worker. It ranged from Rs. 50 to 100 for
such tasks as planting and sowing and Rs. 150/- for ploughing.

Credit:
Households could access credit either through formal credit
providers such as the agricultural credit and Regional Rural Banks or
informal networks such as private creditors. However, the procedures
for getting a loan from the regional banks are complicated. Farmers
had to have a letter from the Panchayat office or Sarpanch stating that
they were residents of the settlement. They have to some one standing
as collateral for the loan. Also they have to give a business plan
providing information such as what they would use the money for and
how they could repay the loan.

Although the loans from the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) were
long-term with a lower interest rate, because of the complicated
bureaucratic requirements Sugali preferred to get credit from informal
networks. Most of the loans from private providers were short-term.
Farmers repaid the capital in cash at one time after one or two years.
The interest rate was much higher than borrowing from the Bank and
ranged from 2% to 5% per month. Majority of the Sugali from both the
settlements have taken crop loans from the State Bank of India
recently after the Congress government came into office. These crop

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loans are given as a compensation package for the crop failure due to
frequent occurrence of the drought in the area.

Situation of Livelihoods during Drought in the Settlements:

Except last year, i.e. 2004-2005, remaining four years, their
yield has reduced drastically. Farmers, labourers and petty business
people are equally affected by the drought. People who were practicing
animal husbandry, i.e., dairying, have felt that milk yields have
reduced due to the droughts. However, due to the watershed
programme in this area, according to the Sugali, the losses are
minimized and they managed to survive with their livelihoods.

Impact of drought on marginal communities and landless:

Drought affected the livelihoods of most households in the study
settlements in various ways. The recurrent drought conditions
resulted in loss of crops, reduction of acreage under crops (Table 4.1),
reduction of incomes, severe shortage of fodder, distress sale of
livestock, reduction of employment opportunities and increase in
distress migration in the settlements. Continuous drought increased
their vulnerabilities in terms of basic household consumption
expenditure, availability of credit, food security and maintenance of
livestock. Most households were compelled to adopt various coping
strategies to tide over the crisis.

The various traditional coping mechanisms, like patron-client

relation/attached labour, more subsistence and food crops, depending
on land-based Common Property Resources (CPRs), credit from
moneylenders, etc., were found to be inadequate in mitigating the ill
effects of drought as agriculture and agriculture-related diversification
as also non-farm diversification was limited in these settlements. In

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addition, the short-term nature of the government interventions did
not really help people in coping with the severe drought. Migration,
therefore, became an important livelihood diversification and coping
strategy. In fact, migration and remittances through migration
overshadowed all other coping strategies for most households in the
study settlements. The following case study illustrates how a Sugali
woman coped up with drought:

Case Study: Coping with drought

Anasuya Bai (24) is an illiterate woman from Adadakulapalle.
Both she and her husband Shankar Naik (31) are agricultural
labourers. They have two daughters, Rajitha Bai aged 7 and Manjula
Bai aged 4. Rajitha is mentally retarded. They own two acres of dry
land. Of the two acres, only ninety-four cents land is patta (legally
registered) land. They do not have a well or a bore-well in their field.
They were compelled to sell their livestock because of the drought.
They used to go for agricultural labour work like weeding and sowing.
Her husband would migrate to the neighbouring villages like
Basavanapalle and CK Palle for work. The drought had nullified all
their investment in agriculture. Two years ago, they borrowed money
for cultivation. But the land produced no yield. Recurrent losses in
agriculture led them to migrate. They went to the neighbouring
villages. They also went for contract work and canal work. But even
this work was not available regularly. So her husband decided to
migrate to the city to earn money. Shankara Naik accompanied a
group which went to Kurnool since they had prior information about
work being available there. There, a contractor took them for work,
promising to pay them Rs. 50 per day. The work included
construction, cable laying and road laying work. Initially, they used to
sleep on the footpaths and at the bus shelter.

139
 Later they took a room, paying a monthly rent of Rs. 170. They
used the room to store their implements. Cooking and other chores
were done outside. During this period, his wife’s health suffered. The
children too fell ill. There was no money to attend to their health
problems. Shankar Naik borrowed Rs.500/- from the contractor and
took his wife and children to a doctor in Hindupur. After some time,
again he has gone back to Kurnool for the labour work. Due to his
sincerity and hard work nature, contractor made him a supervisor
and increased his wage work as Rs. 100/- per day. Shankar Naik has
taken two more people from his settlement and now they are also
working with him in Kurnool. Shankar Naik is sending Rs. 1000/-
every month to his wife and he has also cleared his debts in the
settlement.

His wife is now cured and she is taking care of children at

home. She is also going for wage works available in the settlements.
She has purchased a TV recently with the savings she has made from
the money which her husband has sent. Shankar Naik comes to the
settlement once in a month and stays for 4-5 days and again goes
back to the Kurnool to attend his works.

III

Diversification of Livelihoods/Migration in the Settlements:

With regards to migration, people have told that they were
migrating to other areas like Mumbai and Bangalore. Labourers, who
are very few, are going to Penukonda for wage work and return back
in the evening. People felt that in spite of severe droughts in other
nearby villages; we did not face such severity. They said that due to
watershed programme they use to get minimum wage works in the

140
village. They also felt that since the mandal headquarter is near to
them, they are used to get wage works without any long travelling.

One way in which diversity in livelihoods can be measured is by

counting the number of sources on which households depend (Uttam
Kumar Deb et al 2002). Jodha et al (1977) argued that small farm
households were more likely to have more than one source of income.
They suggested that, where landholdings were small, households were
more vulnerable to the exigencies of drought and unreliable yields.
Diversification of resource use, particularly family labour use, was one
of the ways in which the risky returns from land could be
supplemented.

The literature on migration in Andhra Pradesh largely revolves

around the semi-arid areas with low agricultural productivity. Quite a
few of the studies are devoted to the contract labour system (popularly
known as Palamur labour) of Mahaboobnagar district. According to
Ramana Murthy (1991), the worsening state of dry land agriculture
created by drought, recurring crop failures and lack of livelihood
diversification has lead to this kind of survival migration. Studies by D
Narasimha Reddy (1990) and Usha Rao (1994) observe that distress
migration is on the rise because of extreme drought conditions, which
have eroded traditional livelihoods as well as agricultural work in the
rural areas. Under these distress conditions, it is mostly the unskilled
and illiterate landless and small and marginal farmers who are forced
to migrate. The majority of migrant labourers (67.7%) migrate for mere
survival. Studies by Ravindra (1989), Bala Komaraiah (1993) and M
Krishnaiah (1997) echo these findings. They suggest that migration
takes place largely for survival; the triggers of migration being mainly
persistent drought conditions and consequent unemployment and low

141
wage rates. The dominant flow of migration is from rural to urban
areas, which constituted more than 70% (Ravindra 1989 and M
Krishnaiah 1997). Studying the impact of migration, Bala Komaraiah
(1993) finds that it has a negative impact on the children of migrant
households, pushing them out of school and into child labour.

According to the longitudinal study conducted by ICRISAT

(2002) in Mahaboobnagar district, agriculture has become more risky
and vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations. Rural populations have been
forced to look at other options and migration is one among them.
People migrate either for agricultural work to other villages or for wage
labour to urban areas such as Hyderabad.

Olsen and Ramana Murthy (1999) have focused their attention

on the exploitation of migrant labour by the labour contractors
(maistries). Recent studies by Purendra Prasad (1997), Rao et al
(2001) view migration as a coping strategy in times of drought. G B
Rao (2001) categorizes migration into three types: (1) migration for
coping and survival, (2) migration for additional income and work, and
(3) migration for better wage rates or a better work environment or
opportunity to use skills or acquire new skills. A study of the Bhil
tribal areas of Western India (Mosse et al 2002) identifies seasonal
migration as integral to the coping, survival and livelihood strategies
of tribal farming families. The study recognizes that along with the
ecological pressure, social relations of dependency and indebtedness
also influence migration decisions. It discovered that, for a less
number of Bhil households, migration provides positive opportunities
for saving, investment and meeting contingencies. However, for the
majority, migration is a defensive coping strategy covering existing
debts and extreme economic vulnerability. The latest study by Priya

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Deshingkar and Daniel Start (2003) examines the reasons for
accumulative migration, adopting a social exclusion and livelihoods
approach.

Table 4.6: Migration in Adadakulapalle Settlement by Gender

Details Male Female
Number of Days 160 Days (60) 120 Days (25)
Month/Season January- May/ Summer January-May/ Summer
Place of Migration Bangalore, Mumbai, Kurnool Bangalore, Mumbai,
and Madanapalle Madanapalle
Average Earnings Rs. 100/- per day 60/- per day
* Parenthesis indicates number of people

It is inferred from the table that Sugali of Adadakulapalle are

migrating to towns and cities in search of their livelihoods, especially
during the summer season. It also indicates that female migration is
also very significant. It clearly indicates the gender wise
discrimination in average wage earnings.

Case Study of Teenage Migrants in Adadakulapalle:

Migration of teenage persons is noticed in the Adadakulapalle
settlement who go to urban places in search of livelihoods. Ramanji
Naik, aged 16 years old, migrated to Mumbai in 2006 in search of
livelihood. He is the eldest of the four children in his family. He has
one brother and two sisters. Since he is the eldest in the family, he
has to share the responsibility of bearing family along with his
mother. His father is ill and cannot work continuously to earn the
livelihoods. They have 1.5 acre of dry land which is given by the
government. Their primary source of livelihood is wage labour.

Since he failed in 10th Class, his parents asked him to earn

some money to manage the house. Through his friends he came to
know that there are good opportunities available in Mumbai in
different companies and stores. He discussed with his parents and

143
they have given their consent to go to Mumbai along with his friends,
who were already engaged in the construction works in Mumbai.

Ramanji experienced difficulties while in the process of getting

engaged in the activities. Initially he worked in a tea stall, as tea boy,
for 3 months and he used to get Rs.1500/- per month. He used to eat
in the tea stall and used to sleep in the stall itself once completing all
the cleaning works in the stall. For him, it was sleepless nights in the
stall. He cried so much initially remembering his conditions in the
stall. Once he decided to leave the stall and go back home. His friends
stopped him to do so. After three months of service, he was shifted to
another hotel as cleaner cum-server. In this hotel they offered him Rs.
3000/- per month. He was happy to continue here. He has purchased
good dress with the first month salary and sent Rs. 1500/- to his
mother in Adadakulapalle. He was working in this hotel when he
returned to his native place for a festival.

As migration is a crucial component of livelihood diversification,

it was found that members have undertaken various farm and non-
farm diversification activities in the settlement. Thus, in
Adadakulapalle village, migration is a major form of non-farm
diversification. Migration has provided the much-needed resources for
food security during the continuous spell of drought and enabled
investment in agricultural production. Remittances through migration
provided incomes for household expenditure. Diversification through
migration in the study settlements mainly consists of non-agricultural
work in the construction sector in urban centres like Mumbai, and
Bangalore; cable and earthworks both within and outside the State;
and petty business (rice) activities in cities and towns.

144
Case Study of Livelihood diversification for additional income:
Rathna Bai (60) and Bhangya Naik (70) are Sugali couple from
Adadakulapalle. They have four sons, Hari Naik (38), Tippe Naik (35),
Surya Naik (30) and Bhima Naik (25). Theirs is a joint family. The
family owns five acres of dry land. They own a Pucca house. As
Bhangya Naik is more than 70 years old, he cannot work. But Rathna
Bai is able to do some work. Bhangya Naik's sons cultivate the land.
To improve the economic condition of the family, the sons seasonally
migrate to other places for labour work. They spend most of their time
on agriculture. But this is not their only source of income. Though all
the family members, except Bhangya Naik, work hard, it was
becoming difficult to run the household as wage rates are very low in
the village – Rs. 20 for women and Rs.30 for men per day. But they
have no other means for survival. So they just manage with the
meagre wages. Recently, Bhangya Naik borrowed Rs. 10, 000 from a
bank to invest in agriculture. Now they are not in a position to repay.
Bhangya naik also borrowed money from a local OC farmer at 2%
interest. In the present drought situation, there is no work. Bhangya
Naik's grandson, Tirumal Naik (son of Hari Naik), was sent to
Bangalore to be trained in weaving. He was sent as they had great
difficulty at home. He has got good training in weaving and is paid Rs.
1,200 per month. He is staying there in a room provided by the
employer along with his co-workers. He visits his home once in six
months and gives some money to the family.

Villagers received information about migration mainly from

migrants who visited the village for festivals and from relatives who
were staying in the urban areas. Up-to-date information about the
chances of employment opportunities, nature of work, terms and
conditions and wage rate for different work for male and female

145
workers at Hyderabad and other towns was important for successful
migration. Those educated up to 10th standard or more worked in
monthly salaried jobs (part- and full-time) and others worked as day
labourers. Beyond the broad findings that scheduled Tribes and Caste
and backwards castes were more likely to migrate than people of
forward caste and the importance of social networks within villages for
accessing migrant labour opportunities, there were some important
differences between the two villages. For this reason, the discussion of
migration is dealt with for each village in turn.

There are 35 households in Adadakulapalle who regularly

migrate and it is their prime source of livelihoods. Sugali of
Adadakulapalle settlement, including men, women and children,
migrated to cities and towns such as Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune to
seek employment opportunities. In NC Thanda there are 5 families
who depend on migration as their main source of livelihoods (Table
2.9). Few others from both the settlement though migrate their major
source of livelihood is not migration. They depend more on
agricultural labour and allied activities than migration. Around 235 of
all the migrants in both the settlements went to Mumbai because it
had relatively more employment opportunities and better transport
facilities than other nearby destinations. Seasonal out-migration from
Adadakulapalle began in the early 1990s and increased gradually over
time. The main reasons for migration reported by the migrants were:
(a) Not getting employment throughout the year within the area
of their settlements;
(b) Negligible alternative employment opportunities locally;
(c) High population pressure, and
(d) Low wage rates for farm and non-farm activities.

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 Some migrants also reported a lack of interest in working as
labourers within the settlements, a decline in the importance of
agricultural practices and a decline in the area under irrigated crops
which had provided employment opportunities, a lack of employment
opportunities for educated persons in the settlements, a surplus of
family labour compared to family land holdings, and the desire to lead
an enjoyable life in an urban area. A smaller number (10 or 15) of
households had left the village permanently to take advantage of
larger markets in towns.

Landless households and people participating in the

Adadakulapalle generally migrated for the whole year and visited the
village for festivals and family functions. Small and marginal farmers
migrated in the month of August after completion of the major farm
operations. Old people (parents) took over responsibility for
housekeeping, childcare and agricultural activities during migrants’
absence. Migrants received a monthly salary of around Rs 1,500 for
part-time work or Rs 3,000 for full-time work. Daily-wage work earned
them around Rs 60–80 per day. Migrants reported that they got an
average of 22–25 days employment in one calendar month. They
received no benefits such as bonuses, medical and educational
allowances and food, except in a few cases where the employment was
regular in nature. Migration helped to improve the conditions (both
economical and social) of households in terms of standard of living,
assets position, awareness of livelihood opportunities, education of
their children, and their ability to buy food and clothing. Seasonal
migrants’ families did not face any negative attitudes in the
settlements and the children of those who migrated were more eligible
for marriage than those who had never left their settlement for work.

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Changing lifestyles: social and cultural change in the
Settlements:
While migration was one way in which people diversified their
livelihoods, it also appeared to be one of the driving forces of
diversification, even amongst those who did not migrate. Labour
migration brought the villages closer in a cultural and social sense to
urban life and opened up a whole new range of products, fashions and
lifestyles. People migrating to urban areas brought a broader range of
food products, new styles of clothing and other consumer goods back
to the villages when they returned from contracts. This had the effect
of changing consumption patterns (both real and aspirational) in both
the settlements. Migrants also brought back information about
migrant labour opportunities and therefore encouraged other people to
migrate. Migrants helped their neighbours to find work and passed on
knowledge about conditions of work and pay.

Other information sources were from the television sets and

radios brought back from urban areas. Earlier, there was one
television set in Adadakulapalle and two in NC Thanda. The television
sets in the settlements was frequently used to show programmes
reviewing new agricultural techniques and the most efficient use of
inputs. By 2005-2006, there were 36 television sets and 15 radios in
Adadakulapalle Thanda and 56 television sets and 30 radios in NC
Thanda. In Adadakulapalle 5 households had a telephone while in NC
Thanda the figure was 15.

As a result of migration, and of government food distribution

policy (PDS), the perceived consumption needs of village households
changed. As rice became available more cheaply through public
distribution programmes, preference for ragi millet has declined.
Children who grew up eating government-subsidised rice became

148
reluctant to eat ragi millet. The shifts in lifestyle and consumption
that resulted from public distribution programmes and from migrant
labour had implications for achieving food security and ensuring the
livelihoods of the rural poor (Government of India, Planning
Commission 2001). The PDS programme was also responsible for the
disappearance of crop diversification and disappearance of market for
the traditional crops. Thus, mixed cropping or dependency on a
variety of crops as survival strategy has given way to complete
dependence on rice. This has also affected their livelihoods in
Adadakulapalle Settlement.

A final issue relating to social and cultural change is that of

caste. As is shown in Table above (4.2 (a) 4.2 (b)), households of all
caste groups adopted increasingly diverse livelihoods. For some
households this required a move away from their caste occupation.
Sugali and Backward caste households had diversified the most. The
options for diversification amongst forward caste households were
more limited, especially where women were not able to leave the house
to work. Scheduled caste (Madiga) households appeared to have found
it more difficult to move away from their caste occupation while
remaining in the village. In Adadakulapalle, Scheduled Caste
households still lived at the edge of the village, away from the centre of
the village. A combination of different types of exclusion limited their
participation in entrepreneurial activities and their access to the
resources that would be required in order for them to pursue new
non-farm livelihoods.

The capacity of different caste groups to migrate also influenced

the level and nature of diversification. Most of the migrant households
belonged to the Sugali of both the settlements. It is observed from the

149
settlements that more than 35 households in Adadakulapalle and 5
households in NC Thanda had at least one household member
involved in seasonal out-migration as a source of livelihood.

Sugali were better placed to migrate for a number of reasons.

First, it was socially acceptable for the women of Sugali households to
carry out various labour roles, whilst women of forward caste
households were expected to confine only to the household works.
Even if their activities in the settlements were limited, Sugali women
could seek out migrant labour opportunities for themselves, or take
over the agricultural and other works usually done by men in the
settlement when men migrated. Second, while for forward caste
households, involvement in many of the labour opportunities available
would be regarded as a step down the social ladder, for Scheduled
Tribe (Sugali) households labour opportunities were often in
commensurate with their current social status and represents a step
up in the social hierarchy. Finally, there were certain caste
occupations that were particularly valued and required special skills
(for example blacksmiths or teachers). These activities tended to be
those of forward or other backward castes and were precluded to other
castes. Thus, for some forward or other backward castes, there was an
advantage by focusing on a particular niche activity.

The agricultural situation in both the settlements paints a

rather depressing picture for agricultural livelihoods in the Anantapur
District of Andhra Pradesh. While agriculture remained the most
important source of income for the majority of households in
Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda, the proportion of income that was
derived from agricultural activity decreased and there was a growing
dependence on migration and non-farm livelihoods. Alongside a

150
decline in the relative proportion of income derived from agricultural
activity, real income from cultivation has also decreased. This is
largely due to disproportionately low price increases for agricultural
crops, especially coarse cereals such as ragi and sajjalu, compared to
the other goods and due to the lower yields resulting from drought.

In order to cope with the loss of real income from cultivation,

households have developed an increasingly broad repertoire of
livelihood activities. There has been both a change in cropping
patterns (increasingly towards commercial crops in the context of
liberalisation, infrastructure development and government food
distribution policies) that represents diversification within agriculture,
and diversification into non-farm activities, especially labour
migration in the non-farm sector. Opportunities to migrate for non-
farm work are mediated by caste rules that are more constraining for
some castes than others, and by social networks and kin relations.
Migration, however, is no ‘magic bullet’. For most households,
migration required some investment, for example, to pay for transport
costs or accommodation. This eroded the returns and remittances
from the activity. Furthermore, maintaining household relationships
and co-operation across long distances is difficult. Migration
sometimes raised the expectations of younger members of the
households and, in extreme cases, led to a breakdown in household
relations.

Diversification was a strategy taken up by landless households

and by small, medium and large farmers. Those with large land
holdings and productive assets were not immune to the risks faced in
agriculture. In fact, there was only limited evidence of diversification
enabling households in both the settlements to accumulate wealth

151
and assets in significant measures. Those who experienced an erosion
of income and assets were then forced into the non-farm sector
because there were no opportunities for them in agriculture, except
perhaps as very low-paid regular farm servants. The investments
made by others in irrigation and machinery, or the benefits accruing
to people who received land under distribution programmes offered a
life-line to many households in the context of drought and crop
failure. Whilst some of the diversification strategies within and outside
agriculture appear to have increased incomes in real terms in the
settlements, diversification strategies are not themselves free of risk
and, in the prevailing agro-economic climate, often offered little more
than an opportunity to cope and mitigate risk or to tread water and
hold on to productive assets for the future.

The findings beg an important question about the process of

diversification in both the settlements and in the semi-arid tropics of
India more generally. While both the settlements faced drought and a
subsequent dearth of water for irrigation, it was not clear whether
years of drought, and only average rainfall in intervening years, had
brought about short-term or intermediate coping strategies or a more
meaningful and long-term change in the livelihood strategies of
households. Given that very few households accumulated significant
wealth through diversification, it may well be that if in future rainfall
is both plentiful and timely, then there will be a return to an
overwhelming dependence on agriculture and agricultural labour, and
a parallel decline in migrant labour and other non-farm activities.
However, even if there is a will to return to agriculture when improved
rainfall conditions prevail, it also remains to be seen whether
households have, during the drought, disposed of too many of their
agricultural assets to make a serious return to farming.

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 The diversification process, coupled with uncertainty over
availability of agricultural assets in the future, also raises important
policy questions. Above all, there remains a challenge for the structure
in which government policy is made and State interventions are
carried out. While policy and interventions are implemented largely
along sectoral lines, household livelihoods are highly diverse. How the
linkages between farm and non-farm livelihoods could be exploited
within existing policy channels to help generate new sources of
livelihood? One appropriate strategy here might be to encourage
forward and backward linkages to agriculture by supporting
enterprises that either enable better agricultural production (for
example village repair services for agricultural machinery and
implements) or the process of adding value to agricultural production
before it leaves the village (for example milling, food processing,
packaging and transportation).

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 CHAPTER-V
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND LIVELIHOODS

In the previous chapter we have discussed about the access,

utilisation and availability of resources and their bearing on
livelihoods in the two settlements. Besides resource dynamics, the
developmental interventions of the government as well as the private
agencies also have their impact on the livelihood pursuits of the
marginal communities. Hence, the present chapter tries to analyse the
developmental interventions of different agencies.

The chapter is divided into four sections beginning with a

succinct explanation of the existing drought mitigation programmes,
its related literature and risk financing programmes in Andhra
Pradesh as the first part. An attempt is also made to discuss on the
prevailing drought proofing programmes in Anantapur district. Second
section discusses government interventions in both Adadakulapalle
and N.C. Thanda settlements. Focus of the third part is on the
interventions of the NGO, Social Education and Development Society
(SEDS), in Adadakulapalle settlement. This section also tried to
discuss the women’s empowerment in both the study settlements. The
final section touches upon the role of factions and politics in the
implementation of the developmental programmes in the two
settlements.

To address the consequences of drought, governments, both at

Central and State, have adopted different strategies. Here an attempt
is made to discuss the programmes taken up by Government of India
and Government of Andhra Pradesh to address the drought situation
and its consequences.

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 I

Drought 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
(i.e., 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
(ibid: 20-21).

Intensity is generally measured by the departure of some

climatic index from normal and is closely linked to the duration in the
determination of impact. Impacts are, in turn, related to the timing
(e.g., delays in the start of the rainy season, occurrence of rains in
relation to principal crop growth stage) and effectiveness of rainfall
(e.g. 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
above mentioned factors, the combination of which in many ratios can

155
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 evapo-transpiration, 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. Socio-economic drought occurs when the
demand for an economic good exceeds supply as a result of a water-
related shortfall in water supply (ibid: 22).

In order to address the problems of drought in Andhra Pradesh,

the government has evolved certain strategies to minimize the risk and
tried to support the affected people to certain extent. The following
section gives a succinct picture of the programmes which are
undertaken by the government in Andhra Pradesh.

156
a) Risk financing programs in Andhra Pradesh:
i) Crop Insurance:
The National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) has been
implemented in Andhra Pradesh since 1999-2000. These schemes are
a mix 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 may be at least equal to the crop loan advanced. All farmers
can insure to the value of the threshold yield of the insured crop.

Eighteen crops are currently insurable under NAIS during the

Kharif season (e.g., rice, maize, sunflower, groundnut, sugarcane, and
cotton) and ten crops during the Rabi season (e.g., 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.

ii) 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 should be used for meeting the expenditure
for providing immediate relief to the victims of cyclone, drought,

157
earthquake, fire, flood and hailstorm. The table below describes the
financial status of this fund over the last 5 years.

Table 5.1: Calamity Relief Fund for Andhra Pradesh, 2000 - 2005, (Rs.
lakhs)
Share of 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Total
Centre 14854 15597 16377 17196 18056 82080
State 4951 5199 5459 5732 6019 27360
Total 19806 20796 21836 22928 24074 109440
Source: World Bank, 2005

iii) National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF):

This fund came into effect in 2000-01 and continued to be in
operation till the end of financial year 2004-05. 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 calamity relief fund 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 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 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 2004-05
became a resource for the next Plan of Central government. The
following section attempted to explain the programmes that were
implemented at the district level in Anantapur. They are Drought
Prone Areas Programme, Joint Forest Management, Water Harvesting
Structures, Micro-irrigation Project, APRLP, Watershed Development
and etc.

158
b) Drought Proofing Programs in Andhra Pradesh and in
Anantapur District:

i) Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP):

DPAP, a centrally sponsored scheme, which is 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 expenditure.

DPAP is aimed at developing the drought prone area with an

objective of drought proofing by taking up of soil-land moisture
conservation, water harvesting structures, afforestation and
horticulture programmes on a comprehensive micro-watershed basis.
During 1994-95 the programme was implemented in 69 blocks of 8
districts. From 1995-96 the programme is extended further: 11
districts with 94 blocks under the scheme and Anantapur with 16
blocks under Desert Development Programs (DDP). So far, 3, 518
watersheds were taken up covering 110 blocks in 12 districts covering
an area of 17.6 lakh hectares. Almost 30 percent of the total
watersheds in country are located in Andhra Pradesh. Total Rs.507.57
crores are spent towards implementation of the programme from
1995-96 to 2002-03. The expenditure for this programme is shared by
the Centre and State governments in the ratio of 75:25.

ii) Joint Forest Management (JFM) / Community Forest

Management (CFM):
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

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involvement of local communities by forming them into Vana
Samrakshana Samithis (VSS).

There are 7, 090 VSS actively involved in protection and

development of forests. So far 8.71 lakh hectares has been treated out
of 17.40 lakh hectares 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.

iii) Water Harvesting Structures:

Forest Department has taken up large-scale water conservation
structures in forest areas under Neeru - Meeru (Water and You)
Programme. The structures such as continuous Contour Trenches,
Check-dams, Rock-fill dams, Percolation tanks and sunken gully pits
etc. 7 Phases of Neeru - Meeru have been completed. So far, water
storage capacity of 1, 566 lakh Cubic Meters has been created in
forest areas incurring an amount of Rs. 309.72 crores in execution of
the water conservation structures in forest areas.

iv) 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 has launched a massive Micro Irrigation Project
in 2003-04 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

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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. 1, 200
crores. The farmers would be given 50% State Government subsidy on
the unit cost.

v) 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 Government of Andhra Pradesh and it is
also established that 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 a
precondition of sustainable rural livelihoods. Therefore, the
Government of Andhra Pradesh has entered into an agreement with

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Department for International Development (DFID, UK), who share this
vision, for implementing AP Rural Livelihoods Project (APRLP) in
Anantapur, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda and Prakasam
districts. The APRLP will facilitate the objective of people centred
development input to the ongoing watershed Programme of
government, including 500 new innovative watersheds, sustainable
rural livelihood initiatives in 2, 000 ongoing watersheds, capacity
building of various stakeholders, research and lesson learning for
policy initiatives, and infrastructure support.

vi) 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 by 19 to 129 percent among all households. Total
employment has risen up by 11 to 29 percent. Yield rates have also
shot up for irrigated as well as un-irrigated crops. Only 50 percent 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 also have improved to a limited extent. Migration of labour
decreased during execution period. But in 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.

vii) Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP):

Rapid depletion of green cover and vast stretches of marginal
lands lying fallow, found to be causing enormous ecological imbalance

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that had 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 undertaken during
1991 with 100% Central assistance. The project is being implemented
in 17 districts, in Andhra Pradesh, with 38 projects covering an area
of 3, 62,985 ha with an outlay of Rs. 17, 784.28 lakhs.

viii) 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 and 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 who 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.

ix) Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY):

The primary objective of the 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 self-targeting in nature with special emphasis

to provide 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,

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leading to the creation of additional wage employment, durable assets
and infrastructure, particularly those which would assist in drought
proofing such as soil and moisture conservation works, watershed
development, afforestation, etc.

x) 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 for mini and micro enterprises. These programmes can be
considered as mitigation measures at the time of drought.

xi) Mission based approach to employment generation:

The Government of AP 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 would identify and prioritize key
sectors with employment potential and ensure successful
implementation.

xii) 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 Andhra Pradesh. 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

164
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 enhanced the
status of women in rural households.

xiii) Food for Work Programs (FFW):

India has launched an ambitious food-for-work programme
aimed at helping millions of the rural poor to 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
labour-intensive work and to pay the labourers in food grains or other
food items.

xiv) Chief Minister's Empowerment of Youth (CMEY) Programme:

CMEY Programme had the main objective of economic
development of youth by empowering them with sufficient skills and
infrastructure. This was 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 following section an attempt is made to explain the

different interventions, to provide the basic services, by the
government to address the problems of the people in the study
settlements.

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 II

Government interventions in the Study Settlements:

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

i) Deepam Scheme:
The government of Andhra Pradesh has 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 was intended to provide a
number of benefits to these families, which include reduced
dependence on forest firewood, saved 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
above, since June 1999.

Compared to Adadakulapalle Thanda (13 Households), many

households from N.C. Thanda (35 households) have benefited from
this scheme. Initially they appreciated it as it saved lot of their time,
but the initial euphoria lasted only for few days as cost of gas cylinder
was beyond their reach. Therefore, a majority of them have sold away
their cylinders to other caste people in the village while the rest are
just keeping the connection with them without any use. There was

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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.

ii) Housing Programme:

The Government of India is implementing Indira Aawas Yojana
(IAY) since 1985-86 with an 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 1993-94, 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 percent 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. Three percent 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 Sugali during the previous Congress government (1989-1994)
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 one and a half square feet (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 did not construct their houses so far.
Sugali are not aware of the much publicized schemes like the Member

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of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Member of Parliament (MP) housing
schemes where they may get grants for the programme.

In N.C. Thanda there are 75 houses which are constructed

under the IAY scheme. Every family has a house under this scheme.
Some of them got benefited from both IAY and MAL or MP housing
schemes also. For instance, former Sarpanch’s relatives have
benefited under these two schemes.

iii) Public Distribution System (PDS):

The Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced the subsidized
rice scheme in 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 per kg. Besides rice, they are entitled to sugar and
kerosene on subsidized rates.

As stated before, 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
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. However, in
N.C. Thanda, all the families/households have the ration cards. They
get the ration regularly. Ration shop is managed by the former
watershed committee chairman who is also belonging to Sugali.

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iv) 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 were taken up and every
one who is 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 at the same time developing infrastructure in
villages. This programme was discontinued since May 2004 due to
non-availability of funds as there were policy changes due to the
change in the government. As a result, the works initiated under this
programmes were discontinued, which adversely affected the Sugali of
the study settlements.

v) 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 one hundred days of employment in
every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing
to do unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.

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

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registers households after making enquiry and issues a job card. The
job card contains the details of 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, 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 has 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 2007-08.

In Adadakulapalle settlement NREGA is started during the last

summer (2006). The following procedure is to be followed while
allotting the works to the beneficiaries. Works that are sanctioned and
intimated to the village Panchayat, Para-worker 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 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

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Mandal Committee Coordinator (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
database. Based on the reported progress of work and the number of
person-days 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), into the PO savings account or Bank account
whichever is convenient to the wage seeker. If the work is completed,
the Para-worker 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, payment to the workers is
computed and a final Wage List is generated. The following picture
shows the work undertaken under NREGA in Penukonda mandal of
Anantapur District.

It promises Rs 60 per day for 100 days of employment a year to

one member of every rural unemployed family. The Central
government funds this scheme, with the State Government expected
to contribute 10 percent 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 Sugali.

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vi) Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA):
The issues of women’s empowerment were 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 remained very low. Keeping this in view the
government conceived of 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 above, the government has been keen to bring

development in the areas of education, health, economy, and 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
10km were established to bring the educational development among
the Sugali. Similarly, primary health centre (PHC) 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 said 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

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aware of any 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, aware of cleanliness of
surroundings and they are also contributing to school building
construction, etc. Women members also said that their husbands are
allowing them to attend the meetings. 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
with out any hesitation and demand benefits or programmes or
schemes, etc., from the officials.

Some women faced problems while receiving the benefits. They

had to run around the officials and offices for getting the sanction of
grants and other funds. Women have complained that the Sarpanch
delays sanctioning of funds by not signing the form.

vii) Watershed programme:

People felt that before watershed programme their lands were
not in good condition. Farmers felt that their yields also reduced
drastically. 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 felt 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

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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, ground water table has increased to 110 feet
from 80 feet. According to Venkatesh Naik, who is practicing dairying,
milk yield has improved drastically from 60 litres to 300 litres 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 the launching of watershed
programme. Some of the people have been maintaining autos and
plying them between Adadakulapalle and Penukonda. According to
them due to watershed programme, opportunities for self employment
have improved.

Many respondents felt that compared to the other areas wage

rates have increased. Due to the equal wage rates system followed in
the watershed programme, women labourers felt happy and
agricultural labour rates have also increased. Due to watershed
programme, women’s position has improved and savings has
increased drastically. Anasuya Bai, who is the chairman of the
watershed committee, has said that watershed programme has
brought changes in their livelihoods systems.

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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 B. Sc. and working as assistants with doctors, while her last
son is studying S.S.C. She is looking after all the works as Watershed
Chairman, and is also taking care of her household work and also
managing petty business shop in the village, simultaneously. She has
2 ½ 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 has said that out of three years (2001-2004) only
during 2003-2004 (Table 4.1) she got the crop, remaining two years
she could not get even input cost, so she faced severe financial crisis.
Another reason for the crisis is that of education of children. However,
she said that, ‘I could not study even 5th class. But let my children
study as much as they can’.

Anasuya Bai’s main occupation was petty business in the village

and all the general store items are available in the shop, including
wheat flour and Groundnut oil. She also said that since her marriage,
they are mainly dependent upon petty business. This is because of
their separation from her in-laws house, which was around 15 years
back. After their separation they could not get even one acre of land
from their (her) in-laws. So they started petty business.

Anasuya Bai has stated that, year after year, input costs of
agriculture are increasing enormously and farmers’ livelihoods have
not been improving as that of input costs of agriculture. Crop yields
are also very less, according to her.

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 She has said that seven years back she has good income from
both petty business as well as agriculture (which is her secondary
activity). From this time onwards, she also acted as DWACRA leader,
Secretary, Member and now as Chairman to the Watersheds
Committee (women’s). Though she is the Chairman of the Committee,
financial powers are with Sakru Naik, her Father-in-law, Chairman of
the completed watershed programme in the village.

She said that if there are good crops means farmers would have
spent much more on vegetables and buy new things. If there are no
crops means petty business in the settlement would also be very dull.
Because of the droughts, they have to go to moneylenders for credit,
which made them dependent and ultimately indebted.

Future Livelihood Strategy:

She said that she is ready to face the problems and should
manage the affairs to achieve the sustainable living. Anasuya Bai
stated that now she is participating in all the developmental activities
of the village and also attending all the Janmabhoomi and DWACRA
meetings and able to speak or talk with officials without any
hesitation or fear or shyness. Because of the DWCRA, now she is able
to improve her livelihoods and also aware about all the developmental
programmes.

Case Study-2:
Ramanji Naik is the present sarpanch of the Adadakulapalle
Gram Panchayat who is 33 years old and studied up to graduation
and dropped (Bachelor in law course). His family consists of 14 males
and 13 females, out of which men workers are 6 and female workers
are 5. Now, he is the member of Women’s Watershed Committee in

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Adadakulapalle settlement. He is also the President of the Penukonda
Mandal Sarpanch Association and also member of the Education
Committee of the Government Degree College, Penukonda.

The main occupation of Ramanji Naik is agriculture. Ramanji

Naik 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 was growing horticultural crops, through watershed
programme (Tamarind 6 acres and Mangoes 5 acres). His major
source of income is from own cultivation (50%), followed by tractor
hiring (15%), Dairying (15%) and Flourmill and Sarpanch (10% each).

Ramanji Naik has narrated that 10 years back there were 3

male workers and 2 female workers in the family and only source of
income was from cultivation. They have taken 15 acres of land on
lease from non-tribal farmer in the Adadakulapalle village.

Change:
Ramanji Naik has felt that the change is due to the cropping
pattern because of the rain-fed land and further he says that they
were partially shifted from agricultural crops to horticultural crops
and also to dairying activity. He felt that in future there would be
scope for horticulture crops and to save the water, it is better to adopt
the drip irrigation system, which is 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 or input cost.
To overcome these financial problems, they have taken loan from the
banks and also borrowed from relatives in Adadakulapalle Settlement.

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He also believed that, to overcome these debts, they have preferred the
change in the cropping pattern. They slowly shifted to Mulberry,
horticulture crops and to dairying activity. He also felt that, watershed
programme has changed their lives and their livelihoods have
improved enormously. He has also narrated that after facing severe
financial problems, he shifted to horticultural crops. He also felt that
frequent visits of officials to the settlement made them to realize the
importance of watershed programme and other programmes as well
which are beneficial to plan their livelihood strategies.

Development Empowerment:
Consequent of 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 longer 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 household decision-making process except to nod her
head to her mother- in-law and 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
bunding 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 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 policymaking
process.

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 III

NGO interventions in the Adadakulapalle Thanda:

As mentioned earlier, an NGO, Social Education Development
Society (SEDS), has been working in the area for the last twenty-five
years. It was established in the year 1980 and its headoffice is located
in Mekalapalle village, which is 15 km away from the Mandal
headquarters. SEDS facilitates government-sponsored programmes
and they also have their own programmes in the villages. Initially,
they were working in two Mandals and now their coverage has risen to
five Mandals (Penukonda, Somandepalle, Gorantla, Roddam, and
Chilamathur) covering 209 villages. According to the Manager of
SEDS, their main concentration is on Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled
Castes and other weaker sections in all the villages. In each village
they have a community level organizer who looks after their works.
Adadakulapalle is one of the SEDS focused villages. SEDS has
vocational training centre in Penukonda, the mandal headquarters.
They select young people and give them training on welding, motor
repairing, scooter repairing and television repairing. They provide
accommodation in their hostel for all the boarders in Penukonda.

The major activities of the NGO are Land Development

Programmes, School Development programmes (where they construct
toilets and plant trees in the school surroundings), Horticulture
programmes, Women Empowerment through the formation of Self
Help groups (SHGs), Water Harvesting schemes and to provide
Minimum Wage works to assist the marginal people and landless
agricultural labourers. They have initiated a Village Organisation with
all SHGs in Adadakulapalle. Village Organisation was started with two
people from each SHG and at present, the total strength of the Village

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Organisation is 36. Village Organisation acts as a nodal agency in the
village and undertakes all the developmental works. SEDS
concentration is more on wasteland plantation, horticulture, water
conservation and land development programmes.

Though SEDS’ initial work focused on community organization,

this soon evolved into efforts to deal with issues that were perceived to
lie at the heart of the area’s problems. Anantapur District of Andhra
Pradesh is the second most drought-prone region in the country
(Prasad 1998). When SEDS started its activities, intense population
pressure on the land and its natural resources had significantly
contributed to the widespread hunger and general poverty experienced
by the local population. In response, SEDS began an environmental
campaign in 1984 that was soon transformed into its principal
programme. The degradation of soil and depletion of water in the open
wells used by villagers made them feel that somebody has to come to
save their ecology and to provide reasonable means of livelihoods to
meet their minimum needs. SEDS’ initial efforts, therefore, included
homestead plantations, revival of tamarind orchards and community
wood lots. By increasing the overall number of trees, SEDS was able
to check soil erosion and began recharging the water table that had
fallen drastically. In conjunction with kitchen gardens and individual
plantations that provided means for subsistence and income
generation, community awareness slowly began to increase and the
first signs of acceptance by the local population emerged.

At the same time, when these efforts took root, their

interrelation with community on issues such as organization and
mobilization became increasingly apparent and SEDS began to
redirect and expand its efforts in this area. In 1988, the group began

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Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs), which consisted of direct
consultation with villagers before watershed work was initiated in
their community. Inputs were gathered from the people, as they knew
the land best and would be the beneficiaries of any improvements
made to it. In this manner, SEDS was able to assure maximum
results and, at the same time, it built a solid rapport with villagers.

Further reason behind this interaction came from SEDS’

continued focus on a pragmatic approach to its work that encouraged
participatory development. Acknowledging the failure of charity to
achieve long-term results, SEDS’ efforts relied on community
involvement and the standard principle of ‘helping people to help
themselves’. When trees were given free as part of the initial drought-
relief efforts, they were not cared for. It was soon discovered that such
handouts were not valued and, therefore, not looked after once SEDS
stopped supervising completed project areas. The group, therefore,
began emphasizing on sustainability through direct community
involvement in its efforts and this was evolved as the central focus of
nearly all its works, including watershed development. Apart from
watershed development, health, children education and awareness
received particular attention and were developed into extensive
programmes that helped define and orient the overall organizational
set-up.

By the mid 1980s, SEDS had initiated its action on the health
conditions of the people in the region. Rampant diseases, high infant
mortality and extremely poor sanitary conditions spurred the
organization. Toilets were constructed and proper sanitation habits
were explained. Traditional village midwives were given basic medical
training and using their skills formed a network of village health

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workers. Eventually, the NGO built its own clinic and, in addition to
its ongoing trainings, began holding health camps with licensed
doctors from a hospital in Bangalore. This has helped to improve the
health conditions of the people substantially in this area.

Another crucial aspect of the health programme observed was

its focus on children. Recognizing a high incidence of
malnourishment, SEDS began a nutritional or kindergarten
programme for children below 5 years. Soon afterwards a widespread
child sponsorship programme was incorporated with the cooperation
of Action Aid Australia, a group that had previously been involved with
watershed funding. Eventually this came to also include a hostel on
the SEDS farm in Anandapuram that cares for, especially, destitute
children.

Obviously with a stronger emphasis on children through its

sponsorship programme, it was imperative that SEDS involved itself in
local educational issues. It began subsidizing teachers’ salaries at
local schools and contributed to the construction of school buildings
and facilities. These efforts within the villages allowed the group to tie
together its community organization, watershed programme, and
children and educational programmes so that inter-reliance began to
form and each took on to influence the others.

As the web of its programmes and their interactions steadily

increased over the years, SEDS was able to cement its standing in the
region and expand its influence throughout the region. With its
achievements in each sphere, be it watershed development or
improved health conditions, the respect that it earned from the local

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population gave it renewed strength and confidence to branch out into
those areas it perceived to be needed.

In its initial phases, the organization lacked funding and

support, both from within and outside the communities. Despite
death threats, intense pressure from other unreceptive NGOs and
severe shortage of funds, it continued its challenge of trying to change
the ‘village mentality’. Thus, the organization was able to not only
survive but also prosper. As the first signs of success began to appear,
SEDS earned the respect and support of villagers and now draws one
of its principal strengths from this fact. Without the understanding
and acceptance by the local community it would never have been able
to remain operational for more than 20 years.

As this understanding and respect were steadily earned and its

various programmes continued to develop despite the numerous
challenges the organization faced, SEDS evolved into the organisation
it is today. Its health programme has helped to virtually eradicate
child malnourishment, significantly improved sanitation habits and
dramatically decreased the child mortality rate. Under the watershed
programme it has planted nearly 10 million trees. As part of children’s
programme it started a hostel with 27 residents, constructed a school
on the SEDS farm and also sponsors 67 local children (SEDS, 2002-
2004).

While most NGOs prove to be fly-by-night operations, SEDS has

remained steadfast and has been expanding for more than two
decades. Its consistency and pragmatic approach have built a good
rapport with both local communities and donor agencies that facilitate

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its current projects and programmes and assure the continuance and
expansion of SEDS to assist the local population and environment.

With a large expansion and continued focus on the Self-Help

Groups (SHGs) that have become the central aspect of its community
efforts, SEDS has begun focusing increasingly on the sustainability of
its efforts and the transfer of responsibility to villagers. Through
education and involvement it is attempting to create a situation
whereby its direct involvement in local affairs would no longer be
necessary and it would be able to serve merely in a consulting role to
communities that take the initiative to realize the necessary reforms
and improvements on their own accord.

However, the full accomplishment of this ideal is still far away,

though significant progress has been made. Overseeing and organizing
watershed developments, caring for desperate children, providing
education and community support, and tending to the various basic
health needs are still SEDS’ defining characteristics.

a) Land Development Programme (LDP):

Under this programme, wastelands have been converted into
agricultural fields through soil conservation. Soil conservation works
include Stone Bunding, Gully checks, Spill ways, Woodlots, fire
tracing, ploughing, and trenching activities (Table 5.1).

All these works are being undertaken in the summer season,

which provides some wage works to the people of the village. By
collecting some contribution from the beneficiaries SEDS had
undertaken some of the works like stone bunding, ploughing, fire

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 tracing, and trenching. Of the total cost, the beneficiary invests 25%,
and the NGO puts in 75%.

Table 5.2: Works Undertaken by SEDS during 1996-2007*

S.No Activities Undertaken in Parimanamu Expenditure Total Working
Adadakulapalle Settlement Days
1 Matti Gatlu (Mud Tanks) 71929 meters 7, 19, 290 17, 983
2 Rathi Gatlu (Rock Dams) 17216 meters 1.72, 160 4307
3 Rathi Maravalu 811 (No) 1.45, 980 3649
4 Gulli Checks 371 2.96, 800 7420
5 Water Storage Ponds 45 45, 000 1125
6 Kuntalu 5 2, 00, 000 2500
7 Check dams 11 11, 22, 550 18, 064
8 Tree Plantation 390701 24, 80, 8000 62020
9 Seeds Implantation 2500 Kgs 52,800 1320
10 Horticulture 80Acres 3, 87, 600 9690
11 Roads 20 Kms 1, 00, 000 2500
12 Social Protection of Forests 4000 Acres 6, 50, 000 16250
13 Wells Repairing 3 (No) 24, 000 6000
14 Pudika Thisinadi (Check 16 1, 65, 000 4125
Dams and Kuntalu)
15 Round Sheds and Committee 4 61, 000 1500
Hall
16 Bores 7 1, 40, 000 -
17 Supply Channels 8Kms 2, 32, 000 5800
18 Fish Rearing -- 50, 000
Total Expenditure 70, 44, 980
* Source: SEDS Office, Mekalapalle

The land development programme has benefited the Sugali in

the Thanda to a certain extent only. The implementation of the
programme was initiated in the year 2001 and some benefits were
derived in the following year. Subsequently, due to failure of
monsoons, the programme did not take off. Moreover, as mentioned
before, since majority of the Sugali are landless, this programme has
not been of much relevance to them.

Case Study of the Beneficiary from Adadakulapalle Settlement:

Ranga Naik, 55 years old, studied 5th class, has two sons, who
are separated after their marriage, has 16 acres of land in the village.
The type of land is dry land and do not have water facility before.

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SEDS have chosen him as beneficiary and started the land
development programme in the year 2000. Further, Soil conservation
works were initiated with the help and support from the NGO. NGO
also assisted him to go for digging bore well in his land. Later, SEDS
suggested him to 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. Watering to these
plants is provided through water tanker of NGO. Ranga Naik has
complained that there is 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 watcher, beneficiary only, by paying Rs 600/ per
month as a salary. Due to this problem he has to stay and sleep there
in the polam (Agricultural Field) leaving his wife at home, who stayed
alone in the house. His polam (land) is far off from the village, which is
nearly 3kms and electricity is not there for the land. They have
complained number of times to the officials but so far they 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.

b) Capacity Building:
The SEDS have trained around 20 youth from the village in the
last four years at their vocational training centre located in
Penukonda. As mentioned earlier, they have been training them in
different trades. Almost all of them found employment in the nearby
towns and settled there itself. Some of them have established their
own private enterprises competing with non-Sugali. Students who
have undergone training informed that it is very good and they will
definitely become self-employed after their training. It is also noticed

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from the youth who have undergone training, in the vocational centre,
that they are earning reasonably good amount to survive without
depending on their parents for their personal expenditure.

c) Efforts to improve Women’s Participation in Development:-

Women constitute 48.1 percent of the country’s population.
They are playing an important role in various fields such as
agriculture, dairy farming, handicraft, etc., but their contribution in
these fields has not been viewed as economic activity. A large number
of them work in the primary sector as unskilled workforce and get
wages lower than men. A large number of women are illiterate. Hence,
most of them suffer from economic subjugation, powerlessness,
isolation, vulnerability and poverty. The issues of economic uplift of
women and their empowerment have been the prime concern of the
government in various schemes. The government felt that NGOs
might be involved in this area for implementation of some of the
programmes such as DWCRA by organizing self-help groups (SHGs).

It can be noted from the above that the SEDS working in this
area has been focusing mainly on the economic development schemes
by involving, particularly, youth, women and poor and marginal
farmers. As there are functionaries of SEDS at the grass-root level to
organize local communities in the village, there is a possibility of
effective implementation of the developmental schemes. SEDS deals
with the primary concerns of the people – food and clothing. To make
people self-reliant, the NGO plans to slowly withdraw so that
dependency of the people on external agencies may be minimized.

There are four SHGs functioning in the Adadakulapalle Thanda.

The women were attracted to the benefits such as savings, availability
of loans for purchase of sheep, buffalo and other cattle. After the

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formation of one group, people realized the importance of such groups
and slowly new groups emerged. The group members meet regularly
and decide the future course of action. In these meetings the SEDS
functionaries educated them about savings, health, etc. Due to
regular meetings and Gram sabhas conducted by SEDS their
awareness level has increased enormously about their health,
children’s education and, most importantly, savings. As savings
accumulated, women members are able to withdraw money during
emergency situations. According to 42 years old Radha Bai, before the
formation of the groups, if anybody was ill in the family, they had to
rush to the moneylender for help. But now, they have SHGs to help
them and they borrow money from the group in times of need.

d) Self-Help Groups and Women Empowerment:

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are the most integral aspect of SEDS'
community outreach programmes. It is through these organizations
that SEDS empowered 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 10-15 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 was
often proved difficult and hence, they are generally formed along caste
or community or family lines. The groups meet once a month to

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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
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 to break the villagers' previous dependence on
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 members'
burdens.

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
charged on the loans is two percent and 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

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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 then will be in a better
position 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 at the same time that the
society's position itself increases in power and prominence.

The Self-Help Groups, with their financial, governmental, social

and educational responsibilities are an ever-evolving and very
successful programme. Their continuing development gives hope that
within a short period the communities will gain the ability and
knowledge to uplift them without the need of outside assistance.

IV
Role of Factionalism in Development Interventions:
In spite of the efforts by both the Government as well as the
NGO, poverty in the Settlement has not been significantly eliminated.

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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
deliberately neglecting the other. This is due to the prevalence of
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 (Eswarappa 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 to the

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

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officials did not entertain their applications since they did not belong
to the Telugu Desam party.

The analysis above reveals the dynamics of the development

processes in both the study settlements. Even though there is no
significant socio-economic change of 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 above that non-economic 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 above, the NGO has successfully raised awareness of micro-
level 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 reforms, change of regulations and
massive expansion of the banking networks in the country. These new
forms of organised savings through informal transactions have better
met the needs of the poor. 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.

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 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 percent) for
developing their lands through a land development scheme for
strengthening economic capital. Unfortunately, there is 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 on paper, but due to weakness in delivery systems the end
result is pathetically inadequate in addressing the issue of poverty.
But, consistent efforts of the NGO and government toward economic

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change while consciously taking care of supportive cultural capital,
has yielded some positive results, however minimal. Needless to say,
the settlement is 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.

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 CHAPTER VI
VULNERABILITY AND COPING MECHANISMS

In the previous chapter we have discussed about the

development initiatives by different agencies and changing livelihoods
of the people in the two settlements. In the present chapter an attempt
is made to discuss the concept of vulnerability and coping
mechanisms in the study settlements. The present chapter is
organised into four sections. The first section discusses the concept of
vulnerability, its definition, and vulnerability analysis. The second
section broadly discusses vulnerability and shocks with the available
livelihood means in the settlements. Third section examines the
vulnerability and risk, perception of risks in the study settlements.
The last section explains the coping mechanisms in the settlements.

Vulnerability refers to a person’s state of being liable to

succumb, as to persuasion or temptation. In relation to hazards and
disasters, vulnerability is a concept that links the relationship that
people have with their environment to social forces and institutions
and the cultural values that sustain and contest them. ‘The concept of
vulnerability expresses the multi-dimensionality of disasters by
focusing attention on the totality of relationship in a given social
situation which constitutes a condition that, in combination with
environmental forces, produces a disaster’ (Bankoff et al 2004:11). It
states that how the vulnerability is containing the environmental
disorder through the social and ecological situation. On the other

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hand, Devyani Mani (2001:1) proposes that Vulnerability is the
opposite of security. A vulnerable human being is:

1. Capable of being physically, emotionally or spiritually wounded;

2. Open to attack or damage (physical, emotional, or spiritual);
and
3. Lacking in defence or support mechanisms (at the levels of
State/government; community; household; and individual).

Mani has pointed out that the characteristics of vulnerability

which can help to make a list of the people who are living under the
vulnerable social conditions in the rural or urban society. Also he has
illustrated some examples of vulnerable populations such as small-
scale farmers, fishermen, pastoral nomads, forest populations, slum
dwellers, women-headed households, traditionally marginalized
groups, landless, and refugees (ibid: 2001). In the same way, Moser
defines vulnerability as ‘insecurity and sensitivity in the well-being of
individuals, households, and communities in the face of a changing
environment, and implicit in this, their responsiveness and resilience
to risks that they face during such negative changes’ (1998:1-19). In
his argument he wants to say that the vulnerability as process of
insecurity and also an example of social disaster.

If we look at the root of the vulnerability it is simple to say that

the poverty is one of the major forms of the vulnerability. So the
current poverty analysis recognizes that, it needs to address
vulnerability. In this context, Pritchett et al. (2000) find that most
poverty measures consider shortfalls in current income or
consumption expenditures to determine the poverty line. They argue
that these measures do not indicate the vulnerable among the

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population and therefore propose a ‘vulnerability to poverty line (VPL)’
that is the level below which a household is vulnerable to poverty. A
household with a risk of experiencing at least one episode of poverty in
the near future or has a greater than 50 percent chance of falling into
poverty is considered vulnerable.

Moser (1998) further elaborates that vulnerability is inextricably

linked with asset ownership where the assets are as follows:

1. Labour, which is a valuable asset possessed by most poor

people;
2. Human capital, such as education, skills, and health that
determine the ability to emerge from poverty and make
enhanced use of the labour;
3. Productive assets such as land and housing, and tools for
production;
4. Household relations, which determine equitable distribution of
resources within a family, for example, ensuring that women
have equitable access to food and education; and
5. Social capital, the relationship between households and within
communities based on kinship, religion, and mutual
interdependence.

Vulnerability Analysis:
Integrating human security into local development strategies
ensures that vulnerabilities to economic risks, environmental
degradation, social breakdown, political conflicts, and cultural erosion
are addressed.

The World Food Programme (1999) views vulnerability as a

function of exposure to risk and inability to cope as follows:

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 VULNERABILITY = EXPOSURE TO RISK + INABILITY TO COPE

Exposure to risk is the probability of a shock or disaster

occurring and its impacts in terms of severity on different areas and
population groups. The ability of a population to cope is their capacity
to physically survive the shock with their livelihood more or less intact
by depending on their income and other assets such as labour,
physical assets, productive assets, social capital, and other support
systems and entitlements. Vulnerability is also affected by social or
organizational and motivational or attitudinal characteristics of a
community (Ibid: 1999).

It is pertinent to note from the study settlements that strengths

and weaknesses vary according to gender, age, wealth, class and
cultural identity. Development projects and programmes, which are in
progress in the study settlements, can make people more vulnerable
in the long-term by encouraging dependency, or strengthening some
groups at the expense of the others (for example, giving men more
responsibility over resources that were traditionally managed by
women). It is also noticed in our field work that one of the Sugali
respondents was saying that SEDS made them to depend more on
outside agencies for help during the time of risk and shocks. The
vulnerability analysis deals with material and physical factors as well
as social organization and motivation that make people stronger or
weaker during a crisis.

II

Vulnerability in the Study Settlements:

The concept of Vulnerability used in the Chronic Poverty
Research Centre (CPRC) literature is in the sense of being ‘vulnerable

198
to shocks’. For example, Tudawe states that in case of Sri Lanka ‘all
the given information basically shows the degree of financial asset
instability and high vulnerability to externalities, which contributes to
the poor remaining poor for long periods of time’ (2002: 30). In this
sense, ‘vulnerability to shocks’ is seen as being a cause of chronic
poverty. However, Okidi and Mugambe (2002: 7) state that
vulnerability to shocks is not just a cause of poverty but is also a
symptom of poverty. This is highlighted by Baulch and Hoddinot who
state that ‘households with greater endowments and greater returns
will tend to be less vulnerable to shocks. After all, Sen’s [1981]
influential Poverty and Famines was so entitled to remind us that
vulnerability to shocks is intimately linked to poverty’ (2000: 19).
Such an emphasis on vulnerability being an effect of poverty focuses
attention on the mutually-reinforcing nature of poverty and
vulnerability. The concept that vulnerability is both a cause and
symptom of poverty reinforces the need for a more nuanced
understanding of vulnerability than just being ‘vulnerable to poverty’.

‘Vulnerability’ in the CPRC literature is also described as being

part of the multiple dimensions of poverty which are not usually
captured by income- or consumption-based indicators of welfare.
Hulme et al. highlight how this wider conception of poverty has been
expanded to include ‘education, health, and credit, participation in the
political process, security and dignity’ (2001: 6). The increasing
acceptance of such a multi-dimensional conception of poverty is
shown by a World Bank definition of poverty which includes ‘material
deprivation, low levels of education and health, exposure to
vulnerability and risk, and voiceless-ness and powerlessness’ (cited in
Hulme et al. 2001: 7). Vulnerability is observed in the study
settlements through following means, such as available education

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opportunities, available benefit sharing, crop failure, health risks,
available employment opportunities and migration.

a) Educational Opportunities:
Lack of opportunities to go to school due to their absence in
their vicinity makes them vulnerable as their children cannot access
education. They have a primary school in their settlements and for
upper primary school they have to go to mandal headquarters, which
is 11 km from their settlements. There is no proper transport to the
school. Because of this, parents do not send the girls to school for
upper primary education. Gender discrimination is noticed in availing
the educational benefits in the Adadakulapalle settlement. To send the
male child to upper primary schools, parents are dropping girl child to
go to higher classes despite their passing the classes in
Adadakulapalle. In the case of NC Thanda, on the contrary, majority
of the parents send their children to school and college. Male children
of Adadakulapalle, who go to mandal headquarters to pursue high
school education, also discontinue their studies after 10th standard
(Table 6 (1) a & b) due to financial constraints. Parents feel that
because of the continuous failures of crops and lack of other wage
employment opportunities available in the Adadakulapalle settlement,
they are unable to afford their children’s higher school education
expenditure. Some of them have been migrating to nearby towns in
search of livelihoods, where as some others are becoming dependents
on their parents and elders.

The table describes the levels of education among the male and
female from the study settlements. It shows that access to education
till 5th class is comparatively same between the sexes, but we can see
the major difference after the 5th class. The difference could be

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attributed to the access to education in the settlements. Since, people
have to go to mandal headquarters for their upper primary school,
majority of the girls dropped from the school. Access to higher
education for females is a distant dream and it barely represents 6.7%
in the study settlements. The female illiteracy is also very high (62.2%)
in the settlements compared to male illiteracy (37.8%) in the study
settlements. Further, it shows that the total percentage of education
among all the classes amounts to 53.1% for males and 46.9% for
females in the study settlements.

Table 6.1(a): Distribution of Education by Gender

Education Sex Total
Male Female
Anganwadi 55 (52.4) 50 (47.6) 105 (7.3)
5th Class 200 (53.2) 176 (46.8) 376 (26.2)
10th Class 205 (66.3) 104 (33.7) 309 (21.6)
Intermediate 64 (75.3) 21 (24.7) 85 (5.93)
Degree 34 (79.1) 9 (20.1) 43 (2.99)
MA 14 (93.3) 1 (6.7) 15 (1.05)
Illiterate 189 (37.7) 312 (62.3) 501 (35.1)
Total 761 (53.1) 673 (46.9) 1434
Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

Table 6.1 (b): Distribution of Education by Gender

Gender Settlement Total
ADP Thanda NC Thanda
Male 62 (45.9) 73 (54.1) 135 (59.7)
Female 36 (39.6) 55 (60.4) 91 (40.3)
Total 98 (43.4) 128 (56.6) 226
Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

It is inferred from the table that there are 226 Sugali students
who are pursuing their education in both the settlements. It shows
that though Adadakulapalle Thanda has more Sugali households
(Table 2.6) than the NC Thanda, school or college going students are
more in NC Thanda (56.6%) than Adadakulapalle (43.4%). Further, it
also shows that gender disparity is more evident from the both Sugali
Thandas. One can infer from the table that education opportunities

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are one of the means of identifying the vulnerable people among the
two Thandas.

b) Politics of benefit sharing:

As stated earlier, there are two groups among the Sugali of
Adadakulapalle settlement and NC Thanda. One group goes with the
Congress party, which is in power now in the State, and another
group is aligning with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was in
power earlier. It is mentioned that these groups have emerged during
the TDP rule in the State. One of the important leaders of TDP
encouraged these groups in both the settlements. Any benefits that
reach the settlements, only the persons belonging to the ruling party
faction used to enjoy the benefits at the cost of the other members in
the settlements. This has created division among Sugali, who align
with the factions affiliated to two different political parties. This is also
true with regard to the functioning of officials.

In line with this, the NGO, working in Adadakulapalle

settlement also favours one group in the settlement and neglects the
other. The NGO manager states that they have no other option but
work according to the wishes of the ruling party and its leaders. It is
very significant to note that who ever dominates power in the State is
having upper hand in the benefit sharing in the study settlements. It
is established in the recent local body elections from the both
settlements. In NC Thanda, Sugali belong to Mood clan were holding
power in the local body elections for the past 50 years. But people are
not happy with them since they are helping their own clan people
leaving others in all the developmental interventions in the settlement.
Last elections gave them good chance to take revenge on them and
Rajavath mobilised remaining people from the Panchayat to defeat the

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Mood candidate and won with a thumping margin. This shows the
existing political scenario in the study areas which are having their
effect on the lives of the people.

Due to the apathy of the leaders, officials and NGO personnel,

the real beneficiaries are not being benefited from the government
schemes. It means officials are neglecting the real beneficiaries who
are lacking the agency of support to sustain their livelihoods in the
study settlements. In vulnerability studies, politics of benefit sharing
is also an important factor to identify the vulnerable groups.

c) Crop Failure:
Continuous drought in the area leads to crop failure since their
lands are dependent on the rainfall, which is directly affecting the
livelihoods of the people in Adadakulapalle settlement. Sugali of NC
Thanda have better resources than their counterparts in
Adadakulapalle settlement. NC Thanda people have water facility and
land to survive though drought has also affected their livelihoods.
Unlike Adadakulapalle, NC Thanda settlement is surrounded by the
hillocks and forests. Sugali of Adadakulapalle do not have cultivable
land and for the available land they do not have proper facilities and
they are far away from the settlements. Even if they raise crops, they
face the problem of wild pigs and cows that destroy their crop. As one
farmer explained that they have given many requisition letters to the
officials and leaders, but no one has taken any initiative to provide
them irrigation and electricity facilities. Hence, they feel that they
don’t have any option other than migrating to other areas for their
livelihoods.

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Failure to get returns on investments in agriculture
Case Study:
Kullaya naik, forty-two years of age, migrated to Bangalore for
almost 12 years and then returned to Adadakulapalle to stay with his
parents. They have 4 acres of land and one pair of bullocks. He
invested his remittances, around Rs. 15, 000, and a bank loan of Rs.
40,000 in digging four bore wells in his land. Of the four bore wells,
only one has any water in it. He again took a loan of Rs. 3, 000 for
fertilizers. He took this loan from a moneylender in Chalakur, a
nearby village, at an interest rate of 3%. He spent additional sum to
buy 2 kg of castor seeds for Rs. 175, and 5 kg of maize seeds for Rs.
240. But due to the failure of rains, there were no returns from the
land. He is burdened with the heavy loans which have to be paid back
to the bank and moneylenders with little means at his disposal to do
so. Now he decided to re-migrate.

d) Health risks:
Health risk is seen in terms of earning member of the family
falling ill, and how it affects the family, more importantly women. It is
observed from the settlements that once the earning member falls
sick, they face serious economic and social problems. They have to
depend on others for help to come out of these risks. For few people
who have livestock, they sell them to go to hospital. Some other people
who do not have anything to sell in their home go to moneylender for
help.

It is observed that there are no proper sanitation facilities in the

settlements, children and older people regularly face health hazards.
Though government constructed independent latrines for them, they
left them un-used. Majority of them go out for bahirbhumi (open field)

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for defecation. Even women are also not using these latrines in this
settlement. The NGO manager feels that this is another cause for their
ill-health. The respondents feel that the latrines constructed are very
small and for time immemorial they are used to going out for
defecation. They never had any complaints of health problems in
regard to this. However, they complain that they do not have garbage
disposal facilities as generally noticed in the cities. Their surroundings
are not maintained properly and they throw all the garbage and waste
materials in front of their houses. They have one ANM who visits their
settlement once in a fortnight and gives some medicines. People have
to go to Mandal headquarters to avail the health facilities.

There are 9 families which are completely depending upon

cheap liquor shops. These families earn Rs. 100-150 per day,
excluding their investment. They also felt that if there are no shops in
the settlement, people are going to nearby villages or mandal
headquarter to get cheap liquor. They feel that it is not their mistake
to start these shops in the settlement and they are not forcing any one
to consume liquor.

Women and children are the most affected persons of this bad
habit of the drunkenness. Most of the women felt that in spite of
meagre opportunities available, their husbands spend half of their
income on liquor and rest is not enough to the maintenance of their
family. Another problem of this bad habit, according to the Sugali
women, is that their health is affected as they do not eat well when
they drink since half of the money is going towards liquor, there is no
money left for food. The SHG women feel that there is no awareness as
regard to these kinds of vices leading to ill-health in the settlement.
Though NGO manager, who is a Muslim and who hails from the same

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settlement, also could not do anything about such practices prevailing
in the settlement.

In NC Thanda, we find the reverse trend as there are only two

cheap liquor shops and that too are not running successfully. It is
reasoned out that since majority of the people are educated, they do
not want to waste their money on liquor as they feel that this money
can be utilized for some other better purposes. Sanitation facilities in
NC Thanda are also comparatively better than in Adadakulapalle.
Majority of the people use latrines and in exceptional cases, people go
out for bahirbhumi for defecation.

e) Available Employment Opportunities in the Study Area:

Since there are no proper irrigation facilities available and also
there is no cultivable land in Adadakulapalle settlement, people are
expecting some agencies to support them from overcoming these
crises as they have been not getting any crops or wage labour in the
area continuously for the past 5 years. Other caste farmers feel that
Sugali farmers get support from all the quarters, as government
supports them and also NGO is also working for their betterment.
They also complain that Sugali demand more wages for the work they
do and hence they employ others or outsiders for the work available in
the settlements. Due to these kinds of situations existing in the area,
they are migrating to other areas to earn their livelihood.

f) Migration:
Though migration is considered as one of the available means of
livelihoods diversification, there is so much stress involved in it. Men
who are migrating to other areas leaving their families behind are
facing social problems in the places of migration. On the other hand

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women at home, who take care of their children and older people,
have multiple tasks to perform in the absence of their husbands.
Besides other tasks, they also have to take care of their cattle. This,
according to the women SHG members, leads to psychological
problems and health problems.

Some who migrate with their families leaving behind their

children with aged cannot concentrate on their work as they are
worried about their children. On the other hand, those who are unable
to cope up with the conditions prevailing in the place of migration
come back to their settlement. The works like house construction,
selling rice in the streets, road construction works are the activities
undertaken by men folk in the cities. Women are involved in the
activities like house keeping, taking care of children, construction
works, etc. Women and children of migrants become more vulnerable
to the loss of family life and uncertainty.

Case Study of a migrant depicting the changes over time

The following case study of 54 years old Bhangya Naik from NC
Thanda reveals the changes that have come about in the lives of
Sugali in the settlement over time.
‘I do not remember where my forefathers came from. I was born
and brought up in NC Thanda. My father was a labourer and owned
around 1 acre of land. I did not go to school due to our financial
condition. I have two brothers and three sisters. All of them are married
and stay separately. My wife and I stay in a Pucca house, built a few
years back.

I have seen the Thanda from a long time – ever since I was a
child. Then, there were very few people and not so many houses.
Slowly, the numbers increased as new people came and settled here
and their families grew. The Thanda was very isolated and had few

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links with the main village. There were many trees and plenty of water
in the village.

However, during 70’s, there was a severe drought for 2-3 years. I
did not have any means to earn my livelihood in the village and I could
not work on other's lands. I got married that year and, after two
months, my wife and I migrated to Karimnagar to work for an irrigation
project. There were very few bore wells at that time in the village and
almost every family migrated to different places in the State. We all
went with a contractor for six months initially. The contractor used to
pay Rs. 300 per person for six months. My wife and I together earned
Rs. 600. He used to provide us free food. We worked from 6 am to 5 pm
everyday. Every 15 days we were given one day off. The contractor used
to help us monetarily in case of health problems and accidents, but
deducted the expenses from our ages or sometimes we did extra work.
Then I did not have any children and I worked continuously for two
years. After that, the rains came and I never went again for labour work
to far off places.

Now, from the last few years, we are facing severe drought, and
its severity has affected me a lot. The 4 acres of land is bought from my
remittance is not producing anything. I am surviving on the money sent
by my son, who has migrated to Mumbai since the past 6 years. The
drought situation this time is more severe than the ones earlier.

Nevertheless, people have the option to go to Mumbai, which was

not the case earlier. Earlier we used to migrate with the contractor. Now
the people in the village have their networks established in Mumbai and
they do not go with the contractor. There is a supervisor in Mumbai
who arranges work for the labourers there.

But he is not like the usual contractor. The communication

system has developed so much now. Every Sunday the migrants to

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 Mumbai telephone their family members. The family members go to the
STD booth at Naginayani Cheruvu every Sunday at 10 o'clock in the
morning to receive their calls. In our time, the only way we could send
messages to our families in the villages was through the migrants
visiting the village.

Even in Mumbai, the villagers tell me that, life is difficult.

However, the government support is much more now than earlier. In
my Thanda and other places, there are lots of schemes for the poor. Of
course, the numbers also have increased. Earlier there was not much
livestock in the village; everybody depended on their land and labour.
Now in our Thanda most of them own livestock. They sell them and
cope with the drought. In my time, we did not have many clothes to
wear, but now they have enough.

In our time, mostly adults used to migrate from the Thanda. Now
people from all age groups migrate. Even 11 to 13 year-olds are
migrating. In our time, people used to take their young children along
with them to the worksite. But now so many children are left behind in
the village. Now the earnings from migration are more and some of the
migrants are investing their earnings in buying land, livestock and
digging bore wells. But in our time we did not earn enough to invest in
such assets.

Another situation noticed in the Adadakulapalle settlement is

that there are 9 Sugali households where their husbands left their
homes and went some where but there is no information from them.
Women of those households were very unhappy with those incidents
and are living in the settlement with their children. They have
informed us that all the 10 people were migrants earlier to other
places in search of their livelihoods. The following case study gives us

209
the succinct view of how a woman, neither a widow nor old, have
managed the risk and cope up with the shocks in the settlement.

Case Study:
Laxmi Bai, an illiterate, is 38 years old, who is primarily
dependent on wage labour as a means of her sustenance for the past
15 years. She has three children, two daughters and a son. She was
from Yelaka Mekala Palle, 15 kms away from the Adadakulapalle
settlement. She explained that her husband, Venkatrama Naik who is
also illiterate, left her 13 years ago. Until now she was not having any
information or communication from him. She was praying god that he
will comeback to home soon.

She said that he was doing seasonal business in Adadakulapalle

and nearby villages by collecting groundnut, paddy, maize and
tamarind from the farmers. They were happy family with reasonable
good income from the business. As Venkatrama Naik keeps moving
from village to village to collect the crops, he had illicit relations with
women, he slowly turned to drinking sarai (local liquor) and also got
into pekata (gambling). These habits made him lose all his money and
became indebted to the farmers who have given him their produce.
These incidents resulted in regular family strife in his house. One day
early morning he had informed Laxmi Bai that he was going to near by
town in search of wage works, so that he will return the farmers
money. Laxmi Bai believed him and sent him to town giving some
money. That was the last day she has seen her husband so far she
does not know where he is.

She informed that her children were very young at that time.
With the help of her elder daughter, she managed to go for wage works

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since then. Agricultural crops were very good those days and they
used to get wage works regularly. She used to get Rs 20/- per day for
the daily agricultural labour. She also attends to SEDS activities,
plantation and bunding, which were more those days. SEDS labour
charges are little more (Rs. 30/- per day) than the regular agricultural
wages given by the farmers.

Later when her elder daughter reached 8 years old, both of them
are involved in wage works leaving other daughter with her young son.
She also happened to get little support from her parents. During the
time of agricultural seasons, she was assisting her parents for their
agricultural works. In return they were giving her paddy, ragi, red
gram and also groundnuts along with vegetables.

Laxmi Bai informed that last 5 years was very tough to live and
manage her life. She explained that there was continuous drought and
they were not having any agricultural works available in the
settlement. These crunch years, SEDS supported her with the
minimum wage works available with them. She was involved in the
activities like watering to trees, cutting grass, fire tracing,
afforestation, etc. For these activities she was paid Rs.35/- per day
from the SEDS office. During this time Laxmi Bai left her second
daughter with her uncle, mother’s brother, who is Electrical Engineer
in Madanapalle. Her uncle promised Laxmi Bai to pay Rs. 600/- per
month which is deposited in her daughters account every month and
also to take care of her daughter’s marriage. Girl was involved in
household activities such as cleaning (house and utensils), washing,
arranging fire wood, cooking (sometimes), etc., and later attends her
school.

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 Laxmi Bai, now, is involving in agricultural wage works like
weeding for which farmers pay her Rs. 30/- per day providing lunch in
the settlements. She left her son in the government hostel situated in
Penukonda mandal. He is pursuing his 7th class now. Though
government has given them land, in 1975, it is in the name of her
father-in-law, who is presently living with his second son, who is a
Railway employee in Arsikere, Karnataka. She has given application to
officials for widow pension, but since she does not have widow
certificate, she is denied pension. She still feels that her husband is
alive and will come to her some day.

Laxmi Bai joined Raghavendra DWCRA group in 2004 and she

got Rs.2, 500/- as a loan six months ago. She has bought two sheep
with the loan. She has left the sheep with her neighbours sheep and
she is paying Rs.25/- per month to each sheep for rearing and taking
care of them. This is an interesting feature observed in the village that
some of the families who have 2-5 sheep are leaving them with the
sheep rearers by paying some fixed amount monthly. She is also
paying the Rs.250/- as instalment for the loan with interest to the
group.

Laxmi Bai has ration card on her name and gets 16kgs of rice
and 2 litres of kerosene every month. The rice is generally enough for
her and if it is over due to any visitors to her home in a particular
month, she will purchase rice from the shop in Penukonda. Like the
other Sugali, Laxmi Bai collects firewood from the fields during her
free time from the wage work. Majority of the Sugali use Nalla Tumma
and Seema Jali Katlu, available in the roadside in the settlements, as
their prime source of firewood.

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 Another important event for Laxmi Bai is her elder daughter’s
wedding. Last year she has arranged her daughter’s marriage. Entire
settlement helped her to complete the wedding. Some people have
given grains, dress, and her farmers, where she regularly goes for
work, donated her money. Some people who are working in the
government jobs have contributed some money. SEDS manager has
given Rs.2, 500/- for her daughter’s marriage. She also borrowed
money from the land owners and she will repay them by attending
their agricultural works. The people in the settlement feel that she was
grown up amongst them, she is their child and she has worked in
their fields. Hence, they assisted her. People also explained that this is
the first time in the history of their settlement where all people,
cutting across all the castes or creed, have come up and contributed
something or the other to help a hapless woman to perform the
marriage ceremony.

She goes to work in the field of farmers and during agricultural

season, in summer seasons she attends to SEDS works. She sums up
saying that, ‘This is my poor life, this is my daily activity, this is my
livelihood, and in the end this is my fate which I can not escape’.
There are many more Laxmi Bais who encounter such problems in
their own way. This case clearly depicts the vulnerability of women
who are destitute and fend themselves. It is also important to note
that the existence of strong social capital that helps people to
overcome their vulnerability.

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 III

Vulnerability and Risk in the Settlements:

Vulnerability in dry land agriculture in the semi-arid tropics is
distinguished by the high incidence of rainfall related production risk.
Its consequences range from slower diffusion of more profitable but
riskier technologies, to spatially diversified but more fragmented
landholdings, and even to higher population growth rates to
compensate for the absence of an income safety net outside the
family. It can exact a heavy toll on human welfare, where rural
financial markets are fragmented and do not allow households to save
and borrow to smooth income variability, insurance markets are
incomplete, and in future, market prices are nonexistent or
rudimentary (Bantilan and Anupama 2001). For the majority of
cultivator households in the study settlements, the main source of
vulnerability is conditioned by crop revenue risk. Production risk can
occur due to uncertainty in rainfall, measured in terms of its
quantum, fluctuations, and outliers. Rainfall uncertainty manifests
itself in yield variability that significantly conditions uncertainty in
crop revenue. Rainfall uncertainty also manifests itself in seasonal
crop labour demand patterns that can change markedly from one year
to the next.

Patterns of risk:
Risks faced by the households are broadly grouped into two
categories, viz., idiosyncratic and covariant. The idiosyncratic risks
include loss of an earning member, accident, and falling sick. The
covariant risks include drought and flood. Among the risks, health-
related – falling sick, and nature related – drought are reported in the
study settlements. However, the production of households reporting

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nature related risk is relatively larger in Adadakulapalle settlement.
This reinforces the fact that nature-related risks are higher in
extremely drought-prone areas.

The health related risks (sickness) followed by nature-related

risks (drought/flood) constitute the major risk events among all the
social groups and more so among the Sugali of Adadakulapalle
settlement. A comparison between male and female-headed
households (see table below) shows that the proportion of risk event
related to loss of earning member is highly pronounced among female
headed households. Risk due to loss of earning member is very high
among Sugali over the other social groups in Adadakulapalle
settlement. Interestingly, the health-related risks are not strongly
related to economic stance of households. This indicates that
incidence of health risks are weakly related to the level and
consumption of consumption basket. The poor environment in terms
of lack of adequate and quality infrastructure facilities, viz., safe
drinking water, drainage and sanitary facilities, is contributing to the
occurrence of more health related risk events.

Risk Management Responses:

Borrowing is the predominant response reported by the
households cutting across all socio-economic groups, except
Reddy/Kapu, in Adadakulapalle settlement. Next to borrowing, selling
and mortgaging of assets are the dominant responses. Utilizing
human labour in terms of mortgaging future labour or sending
children to work for responding to risk events is the last preference of
the households among all the socio-economic groups.

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Impact of risk management responses:
The response pattern to risk events indicates that there is
depletion in the asset base (See the table 6.3). The management
response to food insecurity reveals that intra-household consumption
adjustments are one of the responses, especially by poor, apart from
selling/mortgaging assets. The intra-household consumption
adjustments affect the health status of poor.

Table 6.2: Distribution of Male and Female Headed Households

Social Group Head Total
Male Female
Sugali 177 (87.2) 26 (12.8) 203 (73.9)
Madiga 27 (77.1) 8 (22.9) 35 (11.3)
Kuruba 18 0 18
Kummari 3 0 3
Chakali 16 0 16
Valmiki Boya 5 0 5
Reddy/Kapu 20 0 20
Muslims 10 0 10
Vaisyas 1 0 1
Total 277 (89.1) 34(10.9) 311
Note: Parentheses indicate percentages.

Table 6.3: Distribution of Assets by different Social Groups

Social Group Particulars of Assets Total
(Caste/Tribe) Plough House All the Above4
Sugali 1 130 72 203
Madiga 0 24 11 35
Kuruba 0 2 16 18
Kummari 0 1 2 3
Chakali 0 9 7 16
Valmiki Boya 0 1 4 5
Reddy/Kapu 0 4 16 20
Muslims 0 0 10 10
Vaisyas 0 1 0 1
1 172 138 311

Perception of risk:
A traditional understanding of the perception of risk would
contrast the everyday ‘inaccurate’ and ‘irrational’ perceptions of people
4
Plough, Gorru, axe, sickle, Gaddapara, house are included under all the above category.

216
against the ‘real’ scientific probability of risk (Oliver-Smith, 1996:
319). People, therefore, have a variety of modes of understanding risks
and such perceptions will change considering the experience of the
individual and the social and cultural setting in which these
understandings are formed. In this sense, it should be recognised that
‘risk perception and assessment are grounded in the cultural norms
and values that govern and are embedded in the relationship that
human communities have with their physical and social environment’
(Oliver-Smith 1996: 320). Moreover, there is a need to move away from
just viewing the perception of risks as being constrained solely by
imperfect information but to recognise the relationship between
structure and agency which can determine an understanding of, and
response to, risk (for example see Wisner 1993; and Kothari 2002).

Sources of risk:
Henninger (1998:12) outlines five sources of risk which
influence vulnerability of which we have noticed four in the study
settlements.

a) Environmental risk:
Environmental risks include droughts, floods, pests, etc. In the
study settlements environmental risks are observed in terms of
persistence of drought for the last five years. It further lead to the loss
of livelihoods. Continuous environmental risk will further leads to loss
of resources, which are noticed in Adadakulapalle Settlement.

b) Market risk:
Market risks are risks which directly affects the consumption
levels of the people. They are as follows: price fluctuations, wage

217
variability, and unemployment. Fluctuations in prices are another
area where people are facing difficulty in selling their produce. As
there is no proper controlling mechanism of prices, Sugali farmers,
with their meagre crop, are depending on the middlemen to sell their
produce. Since they are not educated, middlemen exploit them both in
the measurement (weights) and prices to be paid to their produce.
Though Sugali farmers know that they are exploited by middlemen,
they find no other dependable alternative. Seasonal variations in
prices are making them to depend on middlemen more. Some from the
settlements collude with middlemen in exploiting the Sugali farmers.

Wage variability is also seen in the study settlements where

male members get higher wages than the female workers. It is evident
in all the seasons and also varies according to the type of works they
do. In spite of the guidelines given by the governments for equal
wages, contractors and farmers are not following those guidelines,
since there is no monitoring institution in place in the study
settlements.

c) Political risk (changes in subsidies or prices, income transfers, and

civil strife):
Political risks in the settlements are observed in terms of
changes in subsidies or prices which also affects the Sugali of the
study settlements. Informants felt that earlier during the time of N.T.
Rama Rao, the first non-Congress chief minister from TDP, they used
to get subsidised rice at the rate of Rs. 2/- per kg, which was very
good and hiking the price of subsidised rice scheme by the later
Telugu Desam and Congress governments have drastically affected
one of the important livelihood means of the Sugali in the study
settlements.

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d) Social risk:
Social Risks are explained in terms of reduction in community
support and entitlements in the study settlements. It is also observed
that Sugali are losing their social support from their own community
due to large scale corruption among the leaders and also nepotism.
They feel that their own people are cheating them bypassing all the
developmental benefits to others.

Opportunity and Insecurity:

As previously stated, risk is not necessarily negative as the
outcome of risks depends on how individuals, households, interest
groups or communities respond to risk, as an increase in risk can also
differentially increase opportunities. As Giddens pointed out that,
‘Risk is not just a negative phenomenon – something to be avoided or
minimized. It is at the same time the energizing principle of a society
that has broken away from tradition and nature… Opportunity and
innovation are the positive sides of risk. No one can escape risk, of
course, but there is a basic difference between the passive experience
of risk and the active exploration… Risk isn’t exactly the same as
danger’ (Giddens cited in Yaqub 2000: 2).

Yaqub (2000) highlights how the relationship between insecurity

and opportunity appears frequently in debates of various scales
including globalisation, the collapse of socialism, and relief
interventions, and notes how such discussions fail to engage fully with
the distinction between permanent and transitory elements of
inequality or welfare. For example, Yaqub suggests that ‘fiscal belt-
tightening is inescapable for macro-economic stabilisation in some
countries, but the case of its detractors ultimately lies in whether

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such belt-tightening is so savage as to impair the permanent
component of welfare (i.e. stabilised chronic poverty)’ (2000: 3). The
trade-off between insecurity and opportunity and its effect on the
transitory and permanent components of welfare and inequality
reminds us not only that economic growth brings differential
opportunities and costs across individuals, households, social groups,
and countries, but also that national and global economies are prone
to periodic moments of crisis which generate large amounts of
insecurity. Therefore, the need for appropriate social protection
policies, whether providing a social assistance function (reducing the
frequency or severity of poverty) or a social insurance function
(ensuring consumption smoothing and prevention of catastrophe), is
essential (Devereux, 2001: 514).

On a broader note, insecurity and risk are very much central to

current discourses about globalisation. Beck, in his discussions about
a ‘world risk society’, highlights how as a defining feature of modernity
‘risk inherently contains the concept of control’ (2002: 40). Beck
suggests, however, how currently the world faces ‘uncontrollable risk’,
not in the sense of an increase in the frequency or severity of risks,
but in the de-bounding of ‘unnatural, human-made, manufactured
uncertainties’ in spatial, temporal and social dimensions (ibid: 41). By
this, Beck suggests that hazards such as climate change do not
recognise borders, that nuclear waste or genetically modified foods
have unknown future consequences, and, in social sense, that it is
impossible to isolate who is responsible and accountable for such
risks or financial crises. Beck categorizes such de-bounded risks into
ecological risks, global financial risks, and, after September 11th,
global terror risks. Such risks are seen as exogenous to ‘peripheral’
countries that have little capacity for control and much greater

220
potentiality for catastrophe (ibid: 42). Moreover, Beck asserts that the
key issue within the ‘world risk society’ is ‘how to feign control over the
uncontrollable’ (ibid: 41). This digression into social theory does not
relate directly to chronic poverty and vulnerability but shows how
risk, uncertainty, and vulnerability are key contested concepts which
appear to be at the core of many current debates and discourses
within the social sciences, and therefore merit detailed attention and
analysis. Risks take us to see the coping mechanisms which Sugali
have adopted in their way to control risks and maintain their
livelihoods in the study settlements. The next section is vividly
explains the coping mechanisms of Sugali.

IV

Coping mechanisms:
Income compensation and informal self insurance:
How well households manage risks in study settlements may be
discerned from the effectiveness of informal and private means of self-
insurance and coping mechanisms that have been observed in the two
settlements. These were observed for two situations: (1) severe and
prolonged drought, and (2) the more normal course of events where
scanty or excess rainfall can lead to shortfalls in income but does not
threaten subsistence.

During severe drought, effectiveness is measured by the ability

of the household to protect consumption and sharp declines in
income. Households in the settlements have six ways to compensate
for shortfalls in income. They are
• borrow for consumption,
• sell stored produce,

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 • liquidate assets,
• receive transfer income from relatives,
• change jobs and/or increase their labour market participation,
and
• migrate in search of work.

Some of these forms of income compensation are important in

the study settlements. Storage of food grains or fodder between
cropping years does not presently loom that large in the settlements.
Only appreciable amounts of paddy are carried over from year to year
by few farmers in the NC Thanda. Other coping mechanisms like asset
liquidation and migration are used only as a last resort. Several
empirical studies of household response to drought have shown that
food consumption can decline substantially before the household
parts with its assets or moves (Dreze 1988). Transfer of income also
plays minor role in dampening income volatility.

By far, the most heavily relied on means to compensate for

shortfalls in income are borrowing for consumption in the informal
credit market. Households in the settlements, mainly in
Adadakulapalle, partially compensated for steep shortfalls in income
by relying on consumption credit. Borrowing to maintain consumption
is effective when risk is non-covariate, as many people do not borrow
at the same time. Even during a drought year the moneylenders are
capable of financing a surprising amount of consumption credit
without an appreciable change in interest. But the money lending is
necessarily personal and spatially restricted; severe droughts over
consecutive years eventually lead to rising interest rates.

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 Several studies have amply demonstrated how ineffective private
means are in maintaining household food consumption in the face of a
large covariate risk like severe interregional drought. A detailed study
of famine and famine policies in Rajasthan by Jodha (1975) examines
the validity of the criticism that the administrators’ lack of
understanding of the true nature of the distress caused by drought or
famine is responsible for too liberal, wasteful and devoid of economic
rationality of government policies. Traditional risk management
methods did little to protect crop and livestock income, which
contributed negligibly to household sustenance income during the
drought year. Most households, particularly small farm households,
relied heavily on wages from public relief works. NREGS to certain
extent benefited small farm households of the study settlements.
Large farm households compensated for the shortfall in agricultural
income by selling assets, which led to gyrating prices. The drought
also affected human capital formation, where households drop their
children from school as clearly evident in the case of Adadakulapalle
settlement. Many households from Adadakulapalle eventually
responded to drought by migrating. Those that stayed behind lost
more of their livestock than those that migrated as observed in the
Adadakulapalle settlement.

Crop management strategies:

In the face of severe covariate risk, like consecutive drought
years, farm management methods are usually ineffective in preserving
crop income. But in the more normal course of events, farmers have
access to a number of measures that can partially iron out
fluctuations in crop income (Walker and Jodha 1986). Perhaps the
two that have received the most commentary, if not scrutiny, in the

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literature are crop diversification and intercropping which are
analysed in the study settlements.

a) Crop diversification:
Crop diversification is usually regarded as the most important
weapon in the farmer’s management arsenal to combat crop income
risk in developing countries, where futures and insurance markets are
not well developed. The determinants of crop diversification varied
substantially across the settlements. In the study settlements crop
diversification appeared to be a response to differences in resource
endowments. Draft power availability was an important explanation of
variation in crop diversification across households in Adadakulapalle
settlement. Larger farms with more gross cropped area were more
diversified than their smaller counterparts. These differences may be
attributed to a more pronounced need to reduce peak season labour
requirements, more potential to exploit location specific production
opportunities associated with holding more fields, and greater access
to credit to sow land to more input intensive cropping activities.

Most farmers are risk averse and they diversify their portfolio of
cropping activities. But differences in risk preferences are filled by
inter household variation in resource endowments in conditioning the
level of crop diversification, which is also heavily influenced by
rainfall, at planting in drought-prone villages exemplified by
Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda. The level of crop diversification
depended much more on the farm size than on the degree of risk
aversion within a farm-size group. Greater diversification of larger
farmers stemmed primarily from their greater resource availability.

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 Based on Village Level Survey data analysis of Bantilan and
Anupama (2001), crop diversification did appear to be effective in
imparting stability to household crop income in both Akola and
Sholapur villages. At the margin, crop diversification was about three
times more effective in stabilizing net returns in rainfall-assured Akola
than in drought-prone Solapur. That there is less scope for crop
diversification to emerge as a successful self-insurance measure in
Mahbubnagar and Solapur villages is not surprising. Most crops in
those two regions are vulnerable to the same sort of risk – drought.
This diversity in potential yield reducers in turn enhances the
attractiveness of crop diversification as an effective means for Akola to
self-insure against risk.

In the study settlements too, Sugali are trying with the crop
diversification strategy. Instead of groundnuts and paddy, Sugali
farmers prefer to go for short term crops like tomato and ragi and
jowar. These traditional crops do not require much water as felt by the
respondents from NC Thanda. In Adadakulapalle Thanda, Sugali
farmers are still following the same groundnut crop and they are not
turning to any other crops. This is due to their traditional beliefs and
attitudes towards the groundnut. Hence, it is observed that NC
Thanda Sugali are prone for changes due to their education and
awareness, which is lacking in case of Sugali of Adadakulapalle.

b) Intercropping:
Row intercropping and, to a lesser extent, mixed cropping are
commonly observed in traditional farming systems in many regions of
India’s Semi Arid Tropics (Jodha 1981b). Research shows that
through more efficient use of nutrients, moisture and light, yields
from intercropping alternatives are often relatively higher than

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proportional areas of the same species planted in pure stands (Willey,
Reddy and Natarajan 1987). This finding applies particularly well to
regions of the dry semi-arid tropics where there is seldom sufficient
soil moisture to harvest heavy yields from two sequential crops but
where sole cropping often fails to exploit effectively available
resources. In contrast, the evidence supporting the popular view in
the agronomic and economic literatures (Papendick, Sanchez, and
Triplett 1976; and Bliss 1976) that intercropping (in and of itself net of
crop diversification effects) markedly reduces yield risk is less
persuasive. Two reasons are often given for yields being less variable
in intercropping systems:

1. Lower disease and insect or pest incidence and

2. Greater potential yield compensation (Willey 1981).

Although the generalization that intercropping generally reduces

pest abundance usually holds (Risch, Andow, and Altieri 1983),
counter-factuals are easy to find in the biological science literature.
Those studies emphasize the extent to which pest and disease
infestations are conditioned in complex cropping systems by location
interactions. Yield compensation effects in intercropping systems are
also location and system specific. Like diversification, intercropping
appears to be a response to physical resource endowments,
particularly to the quality of those endowments (Singh and Jodha
1986).

It is observed from both the Sugali settlements that farmers are

following intercropping mechanism as one of their tool to control risks.
They felt that it will generate more income with less space or land. In
NC Thanda, intercropping is observed in the crops like groundnut and

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mirchi (chillies). Sugali of NC Thanda, grow alasandulu, vulavalu,
kandi, anapa, onions, and jowar as their main intercrops with
groundnut. All these crops generate multi-purpose activities. They not
only are helpful for the people, their grasses are also useful for their
cattle. In Adadakulapalle Sugali follow only single crop intercropping
strategy, groundnut. Since their location is unsuitable for cultivation
and resources are minimal, they grow only jowar and kandi as their
intercropping with groundnut.

Public Policy Responses:

Public sector assistance is obviously needed to help households
adjust to drought of that magnitude. Thus the effectiveness of
household risk adjustment depends on both private and public sector
response and their interaction.

One crude but relevant measure of the effectiveness of the

private and public sectors’ performance in assisting households to
manage risk of famine centres on the extent that regionally covariate
risks, comprising both natural and man-made disasters, compel farm
households to sell land to meet current consumption expenses. Such
transactions are usually labelled distress sales, are often viewed as a
means to economic polarization (benefiting large holders at the
expense of small farm households in rural South Asia), where land is
the dominant form of wealth, source of collateral, means of
production, and determinant of status (Cain 1981).

Reasons for and the frequency and timing of land sales and
purchases in Aurepalle, Kanzara, and Shirapur have been thoroughly
analyzed by Cain, who compared risk adjustment between these three
villages and a Bangladesh village. His research conclusively shows

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that the environment for managing risk is much harsher in the
Bangladeshi village, where the bulk of land sale transactions engaged
in by household heads from inheritance to 1980 were made by
presently landless, small, and medium farm households. Distress
sales to satisfy immediate biological needs accounted for 67 percent of
transactions. Cain attributes these differences in risk management
performance to more efficient rural financial markets and to greater
government investment in public works projects in the Indian study
villages.

SHGs are regarded as a tool to address the public-private

responses to the drought, which is also the case with the study
settlements. As mentioned earlier, SHGs have increased enormously
in Andhra Pradesh during the past 5-10 years, which is also evident
in the case of Adadakulapalle and NC Thanda settlements. Velugu
programme created awareness among people in the area to initiate
Self Help Groups in the study settlements. SEDS also played a crucial
role in establishing DWCRA groups and forming them into Village
Organisation in Adadakulapalle settlement.

The government’s response to the 1974 flood consisted primarily

of food aid, which was not as readily accessible and which did not
appreciably deepen rural infrastructure as much as the employment
opportunities generated by the crash relief works during the 1971 to
1973 Maharashtra drought. The handling of the ‘never in a hundred
years’ drought in Maharashtra in the early 1970s is clearly one of the
success stories in famine prevention in recent history (Dreze 1988).

Crop Insurance:
Crop insurance is a contingency contract where participant
farmers pay premiums and collect indemnities when yields fall below

228
an insured level. In India, as in most developing countries, crop
insurance is commonly administered as crop credit insurance, where
the insurer covers a percentage of the loan for annual cultivation
expenses of the participant farmer. Repeated findings show that
relatively few farmers demand crop insurance unless voluntary
programmes are heavily subsidized, are probably best indication that
benefits as perceived by farmers are small (Nieuwoldt and Bullock
1985; and Gardner and Kramer 1986). Crop insurance is the most
direct policy response to address the problem of yield risk. Different
risk perceptions are usually more influential in conditioning decision
choices than divergent risk attitudes. Investments in activities that
generate and diffuse more reliable technological information are
probably more productive than alternative stabilization policies.

In the study settlements crop insurance is vehemently used by

the Sugali farmers for the past three years. Crop insurance covers the
farmer’s crop and they will get insurance from the government. Forty
Sugali from the Adadakulapalle have registered, by paying initial
instalment of Rs. 1, 000/- as registration fee, their names with the
insurance agents to avail the crop insurance. Last year all the
registered farmers from Adadakulapalle got the insurance checks from
the insurance agents. A Sugali person from Adadakulapalle is working
as an agent with the agricultural cooperative Bank, who operates all
the dealings with the Sugali farmers. In NC Thanda settlement, all the
Sugali people have registered their names with the insurance agents
and all of them availed the benefits.

Consumption credit:
Bidinger et al (1991) studied how the households maintain their
consumption levels in the face of sharp shortfalls in income. This can

229
be studied by documenting the incidence of income shortfalls and how
consumption was financed for the shortfall households. In
Adadakulapalle settlement, people who do not have lands and other
livestock (small ruminants) prefer to migrate to towns and cities. Some
other Sugali have borrowed food grains from the neighbours and
mitigate their shortfalls. Few others are taking money from the SHG
and DWCRA groups in order to sustain their livelihoods. In the case of
NC Thanda, consumption credit is seen in terms of mortgaging their
crops or land. But, NC Thanda Sugali explained that, except for few,
others have not faced these shortfalls since they have multiple sources
of income from their lands through intercropping and also crop
diversification strategies. Shop owners and households with many
labour market participants were also successful in maintaining
income exceeding or approaching their levels of consumption
expenditure. Consumption credit was observed to be the primary
means of risk adjustment for shortfall households. It is clearly evident
that the consumption credit is partially managed by the SHGs and
DWCRA groups in the study settlements.

Food price stability and subsidized rice:

Successive governments in Andhra Pradesh have kept on
raising the prices of subsidised rice which is being distributed to the
vulnerable people who are under BPL category. This is more evident in
the case of ADP Thanda. Though, store is reserved for Sugali people,
they are not able to manage themselves and instead have given it to a
Reddy who is not distributing the subsidised rice to the needy in
Adadakulapalle settlement. Though NC Thanda, is not much
vulnerable than the Adadakulapalle, its distribution and coverage is
completely monitored by their own people, hence, it is properly
functioning in the settlement.

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 CHAPTER - VII
CONCLUSION

In the foregoing chapters an attempt was made to look at the

interrelationship of livelihoods of marginal communities with
resources, socio-cultural and economic factors, poverty, development
programmes and a host of other aspects. Traditionally, anthropology
has been engaged in studying marginalized communities. The primary
means of understanding their situation has been through the rubric of
deprivation-social, economic, political, cultural and institutional.
Livelihoods approach was considered as an important means to
ameliorate the conditions of marginal communities by focussing upon
their assets and resources. It analyses how people utilize these assets
and negotiate their problems. The central objective of the livelihoods
approach is ‘to search for more effective methods to support people
and communities in ways that are more meaningful to their daily lives
and needs, as opposed to ready-made, interventionist instruments’
(Appendini 2001: 24).

Leach et al (1999) usefully extend the original understanding of

endowments and entitlements by making it more dynamic. Besides
stressing that livelihood also covers ways of gaining access beyond the
market, such as through kinship, they also make it clear that: ‘there
is nothing inherent in a particular… good or service that makes it a
priori either an endowment or an entitlement’ (Ibid: 233)

The Sustainable livelihoods approach is useful to analyze the

tribal livelihoods, vulnerability contexts and the direction of change. It
adopts a holistic approach and analyses livelihoods in the culture of a

231
people, emphasises on people oriented development, and
abandonment of top down approach. Thus it emphasises on a need for
evolving people friendly/culture specific policies.

Majority of the Tribal communities in India are ‘marginal’ and

Andhra Pradesh is no exception. It is all the more true in case of
Sugali Tribe in Anantapur District. Many development programmes
have been directed towards their uplift. The Government of Andhra
Pradesh has implemented the Integrated Rural Development
Programme (IRDP) in order to change the livelihoods of the people
through agricultural development. Besides these efforts of the
Government, non-governmental organisations have also been involved
in the development of tribal livelihoods. Given these efforts of both the
Government and NGOs, it was felt that it would be interesting to study
the impact of these efforts on both the livelihoods as well as the
cultures of the tribals. Most of the studies on livelihoods have not
reflected on the cultural and social dynamics in relation to the other
aspects of resource endowments and entitlements. Our study,
therefore, made an attempt to fill this void.

In order to understand the linkages of livelihoods to different

aspects two Sugali settlements, Adadakulapalle of Penukonda Mandal
and NC Thanda of Somandepalle Mandal, in Anantapur district of
Andhra Pradesh which have divergent natural resource endowments
and social compositions were chosen. Our study adopted the following
objectives to reflect on different aspects in relation to the livelihoods of
the Sugali.

Objectives of the study:

• To look at livelihood systems in the context of social cultural

aspects;

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 • to examine the availability and accessibility of assets, services,
etc., and their relationship to livelihoods;

• to study the development measures taken up by the government

and non- government agencies to augment livelihood
opportunities and to reduce marginality, and

• to understand the shocks and seasonality that are particular to

livelihoods in the region

Our study adopted qualitative anthropological tools and

techniques for gathering primary data. Secondary data was also
collected from different sources and were analysed along with primary
data.

It is pertinent to note the difference between the two

settlements. In case of Sugali of Adadakulapalli, resources are shared
by many groups, while in case of NC Thanda they are utilised
exclusively by the Sugali only. This variation in resource base, their
access and utilisation is clearly reflected in the livelihoods adopted in
the two settlements. Given this, the following theoretical perspective is
tested for its validity in our study.

Theoretical Framework:
Marginality and vulnerability are linked to access, utilisation
and control over resources. When a marginal community is located in
a multi-ethnic village the resources of the village are shared by many
communities and the dominant among them wields a greater control
over the resources. In this kind of situation, a marginal community
becomes more vulnerable, especially in times of crisis, as their access
to resources becomes minimal. This forces them to migrate and also
diversify their livelihood. On the contrary, if a marginal community
lives exclusively in an area and have control over the resources, its

233
chances of migration to other areas as well as diversification of
livelihoods are minimal.

Major Findings of the Study:

In chapter 2, an attempt was made to describe the socio-
economic and cultural aspects of the Sugali living in two different
settlements in two different natural resources endowments.
Adadakulapalle is a multi-ethnic settlement and the Sugali, who live
in a separate enclosure in the village known as Thanda, share the
resources with the others in the village. On the contrary, Sugali of NC
Thanda have exclusive access to resources available in their vicinity.
This variation in resource base, their access and utilisation is clearly
reflected in the livelihoods adopted in the two settlements.

This difference in access to resources broadly is reflected in

their educational, occupational and economic attainments. The Sugali
of Adadakulapalle have more illiterates, and are relatively more
marginalised than their counterparts in NC Thanda. The former has
more people who migrate to different cities to pursue their livelihoods
due to the prevailing hard environmental conditions and a crunch in
resources and their availability. On the contrary, the Sugali of NC
Thanda have better control over their resource endowments.

This variation in access to the resources and the response of the

Sugali to persistent drought is reflected in the changing crop patterns,
livelihood diversification and adoption of other coping mechanisms.
The contrast between the two Sugali settlements in this regard is
clearly visible. It is also observed that marginalisation of the Sugali of
Adadakulapalle is more as compared to their counterparts in N.C.

234
Thanda. This can be attributed to the access, or lack of it, of the
Sugali in the two settlements to the available natural resources.

In the third chapter an analysis was made to look into the

relationship of livelihoods to the social and cultural aspects of the
Sugali in the two settlements. Livelihoods depend upon the social
manifestation of the family and community. We can find the linkages
of livelihood structure and function of a family and community with
their socio-cultural practices.

The livelihood practices of a people demonstrate their social

status and further symbolises the changes in their occupational
categories which have a direct bearing on their livelihoods. In general
this change indicates how Sugali match themselves with the changing
operation of the agricultural practices. This chapter brought out the
dynamics involved in Sugali socio-cultural practices and knowledge
practices which have changed due to the influence of various changes
in the two settlements that are explained through the changes in the
social institutions. It was observed that the changes that have come in
family and kinship network, cultural components, rituals, changing
marriage systems, festivals and institutions have their bearing on the
livelihoods being pursued and the changes that have about in them.
They also have their repercussion on their livelihood culture.

The changes in the structure and function of the social

institutions of Sugali can be attributed to the impact of environmental
disasters, economic changes, developmental initiatives, etc. These, in
turn, have their bearing on their livelihoods. We can now notice
weakening of institutions at the level of community. Their traditional
Community Council which was vibrant and was involved in resolving

235
conflicts among them has virtually become defunct5. Many factors
were responsible for this. The non-functioning of the Community
Council is due to many factors that include the introduction of adult
franchise, Pachayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), increasing political
participation, role of political parties, factions prevailing in the
settlements among the kin members, etc. This to some extent has
affected their social capital and community cohesion.

It is observed that the process of sanskritization, urbanisation

and modernization had its bearing on the lives and livelihoods of
Sugali. This, in turn, has its impact on the performance of marriage
ceremonies/ rituals in the settlements and other cultural
arrangements of the communities. The role of Community council was
very significant in the past in selecting bride and groom as well as in
arranging the alliances. But, now a day, there is a change in the
functioning of marriage institutions and its ceremonial aspects. The
Community Council no longer has much say in the marital aspects.
Dowry has replaced bride price and this has a bearing on the girl
children and sex ratio. The process of sanskritization has its bearing
on the food habits, celebration of lifecycle rituals, including
performing marriages by Brahmin priest, and shifting of the venue of
marriage from groom’s house to function halls.

The changes in the diet of the Sugali can be attributed to the

introduction of Public Distribution System and supplying of rice and
other provisions at subsidised prices has affected the traditional food
habits of the Sugali, which also the case with the other rural peasants.
5
Earlier they had Kulachara system (Tribe or community council) which was helpful
in organizing their social functions. This was very powerful and used to regulate the
social relations and in solving conflicts among the community members.

236
Earlier their staple diet included millets like sajjalu, samalu, jonnalu,
and ragulu. These traditional grains were considered as ‘Dhanyalu’,
which are regarded as nutritious. These have now given way to rice
and other commercial crops. Thus, many of the traditional food grains
consumed by Sugali have now become the things of the past. Along
with this, many other cultural practices have also gone into oblivion.

Green revolution brought enormous shift in the cropping

pattern of the people across the country. It has introduced new
technology, cultivation practices, etc., leading to linking of small and
marginal farmers to various outside players like moneylenders,
financial institutions, middlemen, and others. Many have become cogs
in the wheels of their development and it has further marginalised
them leading to the poverty trap. Many, who have no natural resource
endowments, have taken to migration, agriculture labour and other
non-farm activities to escape from these vicissitudes.

Green revolution forced farmers to use more fertilizers and

pesticides, which resulted in an increase in agricultural investment
and it became difficult for the Sugali farmers to cope with the new
trends. For those Sugali who have agriculture as their prime source of
survival, these new changes did not favour them to adjust and they
are not in a position to adopt the new technology. Green revolution
also affected the chances of agricultural labourers of Adadakulapalle
settlement, where farmers are using tractors for their cultivation
practices. Sugali are marginal farmers and majority are dependent on
agricultural labour as their main means of livelihoods, and technology
altered their livelihoods badly.

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 Weekly markets continue to occupy an important part in the
cultural life of Sugali. This is the place where they interact with their
relatives and friends from other villages and exchange information
pertaining to many aspects, including places to migrate. They renew
their networks during these weekly meetings. Weekly marketing is
very important for the people of both the settlements to sell their
produce as well as to buy their domestic requirements. They also use
this occasion to go for viewing films, which is a passion with most of
them. It helps them to keep in touch with the enigmatic ‘modern’
world outside their settlements.

Sugali continue to observe performance of puja to their family

goddess to protect their crops and bless them in their agricultural
operations. They continue to strictly observe taboos associated with
menstruation, birth and death pollution in their livelihood pursuits.
They believe that if they do not observe them they will face the wrath
and of the deities. Though they continue to observe the performance of
their rituals and festivals, the social vigour of them has got reduced
affecting their social capital.

Fourth chapter broadly discussed the livelihoods and available

resources or assets of Sugali in both the settlements. There is no
much change in the cropping pattern in both the settlements. In case
of multi-ethnic settlement Adadakulapalle there is a diversification
into non-farm activities like Petty business, Kirana shops, cheap
liquor shops, Auto services, etc., as the Sugali of this settlement are
largely marginal farmers and landless. Gender-wise wage
differentiation still prevails in this settlement. The migration of youth
and earning male members increase the burden of women who have
to look after their children, aged people and cattle. The situation is

238
relatively better in case of N.C. Thanda. This only confirms the
theoretical position held in the thesis that people having control and
complete access over the natural resources will be less vulnerable and
marginalised.

The settlements, especially Adadakulapalle, have no assured

water sources like rivulets, streams, etc., and due to the recurrent
drought conditions prevailing in the area, the ground water levels have
also got depleted in both the settlements. This has resulted in the
failure of crops. Sugali farmers, therefore, were unwilling to risk
changes in their cropping pattern.

In order to cope with recurrent drought and also due to a

crunch in the available natural resources, few persons in both the
settlements have resorted to non-farm activities like running Autos,
arrack shops and petty business. Earlier they used to cultivate their
lands but now these have become their main source of livelihood.

In case of the N.C. Thanda which has better natural resource

endowments there is less migration of people to cities, better adoption
of agricultural practices, adoption of new cropping patterns, increased
levels of education and also less livelihood diversification. Exchange
labour is practiced more in the N.C. Thanda than in Adadakulapalle
Thanda, as they have more cultivable land and better irrigation
potential.

The various traditional coping mechanisms, like patron-client

relation/attached labour, more subsistence and food crops, land-
based Common Property Resources (CPRs), credit from moneylenders,
were found to be inadequate in mitigating the ill effects of drought as
agriculture and agriculture-related diversification as also non-farm

239
diversification was limited in these settlements. In addition, the short-
term nature of the government interventions did not really help people
in coping with the recurrent drought. Migration, therefore, became an
important livelihood diversification and coping strategy for those who
lacked access to natural resource endowments.

Migration in a way helped the vulnerable to not only cope with

the challenges posed by the lack of resources but also emboldened
them to face the challenges frontally. People migrating to urban areas
brought a broader range of food products, new styles of clothing and
other consumer goods back to the villages when they returned from
contracts. This had the effect of changing consumption patterns (both
real and aspirational) in both the settlements. Migrants also brought
back information about migrant labour opportunities and therefore
encouraged other people to migrate. Their remittances were very
useful in their reinvestments in improving their cultivable lands or in
acquiring cultivable land or other assets and household goods. Thus,
migration is looked upon as an opportunity.

The PDS programme was, in a way, responsible for the

disappearance of crop diversification and disappearance of market for
the traditional crops. Thus, mixed cropping or dependency on a
variety of crops as survival strategy has given way to complete
dependence on rice. This has also affected their livelihoods.

Households of all caste groups adopted increasingly diverse

livelihoods in the multi-ethnic study settlement. For some households
this required a move away from their caste occupation. When
compared to the others, Sugali and Backward caste households had
diversified the most. The capacity of different caste groups to migrate

240
also influenced the level and nature of diversification. Diversification
was a strategy adopted by landless, small and medium farmers. Those
with large land holdings and productive assets were relatively less
immune to the risks faced in agriculture.

The fifth chapter analysed the developmental interventions of

different agencies. Poverty in the area is closely associated with land
and rainfall, but as agriculture is only a part of livelihood, the
dynamics of poverty consists of a complex mix of processes, including
migration. To control the drought and also migration, governments,
both at the Centre and the State, have initiated different interventions
in the study settlements.

The development programmes and schemes at macro level are

broad, encompassing various issues, integrative and are 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. There is a complex
relationship between these elements. For success of any programme,
proper configuration, manipulation and exploitation of these elements
for advantage become necessary. Whoever, whether an individual or
agency, is able to handle these judiciously will be a successful player.
To some extent in this case the NGO, SEDS, was more successful
than the government.

241
 The initiation of watershed programmes, soil conservation and
land improvement programmes by the NGO has helped the Sugali and
other marginal communities to cope with the persistent drought and
contained their out migration to some extent. Also, organisation of
women into SHGs played an important role in empowering them and
also helped them to enhance their incomes by taking up other income
generating enterprises. However, factionalism and party politics have
disturbed their harmony and social capital. It has led to cornering the
development benefits by a section of Sugali in the settlements.

The sixth chapter discussed the concept of vulnerability and

coping mechanisms in the study settlements. Vulnerability is observed
in the study settlements in terms of available education opportunities,
available benefit sharing, crop failures, health risks, available
employment opportunities and migration. Lack of opportunities to go
to school due to their absence in their vicinity makes them vulnerable
as their children cannot access education. Due to the apathy of the
leaders, officials and NGO personnel, the real beneficiaries are not
being benefited from the government schemes. It means officials are
neglecting the real beneficiaries who are lacking the agency of support
to sustain their livelihoods in the study settlements. In vulnerability
studies, politics of benefit sharing is also important factor to identify
the vulnerable groups.

Continuous drought in the area leads to crop failure since their

lands are dependent on the rainfall, which is directly affecting the
livelihoods of the people in the area, including those in
Adadakulapalle. Health risks were analysed in terms of earning
member of the family falling ill, and how it affects the family, more
importantly women. It is observed from the settlements that once the

242
earning member falls sick, they face serious economic and social
problems. They have to depend on others for help to come out of these
risks. Some who have livestock sold them to pay for their hospital
bills.

Community based infrastructure like safe drinking water,

drainage, sanitation facilities, and solid waste management facilities
should be accorded high priority to reduce health risks. This
highlights the need for convergence of different development
programmes and line departments of the government.

Households opting for risk coping mechanism, instead of risk

mitigation and reduction mechanism are a pointer to the fact that
households do not have awareness regarding the existing crop and
other insurance programmes to manage risks. Awareness building
campaign on risk and risk management should become one of the
components of the government line departments.

Health fund at community level for poor and poorest of the poor
can be initiated to avoid the depletion in the asset base, whatever little
they have. Female-headed families should be accorded high priority in
providing protection against vulnerability.

Government programmes should focus not only on improving

economic gains to poor to reduce poverty through sustained economic
growth in the settlements but also on vulnerability of poor, since the
economic gains accrued to poor can be subsumed to manage
vulnerability.

243
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PLATES

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 Figure 1: Sugali women in the Weekly Market

Figure 2: Weekly Market in Penukonda

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Figure 3: Goddess Maremma Temple in ADP

Figure 4: Procession during Jathara in ADP

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 Figure 5: Sugalis involving in the Procession with Traditional Melalu

Figure 6: Sugali women and her Child involving in weeding work in NC Thanda

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Figure 7: Sugalis Gathering in Jathara

Figure 8: Seva Bhaya Photo from NC Thanda Settlement

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Figure 9: Sugalis Sacrificing Sheep during Jathara in ADP

Figure 10: Sugali Women wearing Traditional

Dress during the festival

261