QUALITY CIRCLES FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Arvind Kaul, Lucknow,
Dec 2018

To make a significant dent in India's socio-economic sphere, it is necessary for the Quality Circle (QC) movement to penetrate villages and the agricultural sphere, on which 70% of our population still survives. The relevance of QCs in the rural sphere of our country cannot be overemphasised.

My First Stint from 1993 – 2000

In Jan '93 I set my mind on the goal of taking the QC movement into the rural sphere. My objectives were: -

1. For my own learning; to see the practical applicability of the QC concept in the unorganised rural sphere and
2. A significant number of people in industry still have roots in villages. I wanted to strengthen and sustain their faith in the transformational powers of QC's by creating an example of successful transformation of a village through QC's.

I have attempted here to share my experiences.

INITIAL STEPS: -

Choose the village where I could launch QC's

The technique used for this was Force Field analysis. This technique requires one to figure out: -

1. the forces supporting the change so as to harness those forces fully and
2. the forces opposing the change. If the opposing forces are too strong it may just not be worth attempting the change. But, before one abandons the attempt to bring about change, one has to consider possible ways of converting the opposing forces into supporting forces or of at least neutralising their negative impact. In my analysis it was clear to me that: -

1. I would not be able to neutralise the -ve impact created by big time politicians / political parties.
2. It would be very difficult to neutralise the feeling of dependency created by the so called social service organisations / NGO's.
3. I needed a strong supporting force in the shape of someone who had strong roots in that village, was deeply committed to the QC philosophy and was willing to volunteer his time and effort for the project.

Shri Sant Saran Yadav, a QC volunteer from Uptron, came forward to work along with me in this project. He had strong roots in Imamganj, a village in the district of Bara Banki. A survey of Imamganj further revealed that it had remained relatively untouched by big time politicians / influence of political parties and was completely untouched by social welfare agencies / NGOs, partly because of its relative inapproachability by road.

ABOUT IMAMGANJ (as I found it in 1993)

GAINING ACCEPTANCE

I expected this to be crucial, and hence, had prepared thoroughly for it. I chose a neutral place i.e. the Govt. Primary school premises. The School building was dilapidated and crumbling with no doors, broken windows and shrubs jutting out of its walls. It was Republic Day (1993). The school teacher was sitting outside and basking in the Sun. There were no kids around. He was also carrying a double barreled gun. (No wonder the children were not around!)
The plan and agenda for the meeting were as follows: -

1. To collect a sizeable group of villagers.
2. To introduce myself and the others accompanying me.
3. To explain the purpose of our visit (my objective and its possible by-products / benefits for the village).
4. To solicit data from the villagers about their problems at three levels, i.e. the village level, the family level and the individual level and to seek the underlying reasons for these problems. I had expected that this would set the group thinking and raise their level of problem realisation as well as sensitise them to the underlying causes.

The meeting started with a group of about 25-30 persons. Their first reaction was that unavailability of water in the irrigation canal was the most important problem of the village. They had been having a recurring tussle (though peaceful) with the upstream village over diverting of canal water. A counter view expressed was that the other village was significantly bigger, so Imamganj folk did not dare to take up arms against them and that was good. Were this inter-village tussle to get resolved, yet if the total water supply is insufficient for all, things could get worse. The residents of Imamganj were likely to be breaking each others’ heads. He emphasized that the problem was not lack of water for irrigation but UNITY.

The next issue was brought up by the Govt. Primary School teacher, regarding the villagers' lack of interest in the education of their children. His grouse was that he didn’t feel welcome in Imamganj. He said only 2 children attend school, but that was of little consequence as govt. gave him full salary. He said that he comes daily on bicycle from a village about 8 km away. No one has ever wished him or acknowledged his presence. People would turn to look some other way when they saw him approaching. At this, I began suggesting to the folk that they ought to send their children to school. I tried explaining how in cities education was prized by parents to the extent that they would cut personal expenses (including food) in order to educate children. At this, one person defiantly opposed me. He contended that attending school meant less-hands for grazing cattle or working in fields, nor would it help them eventually as they were not in line to become masters or magistrates. Instead, it was likely to lead the children ultimately to move to Lucknow to become peons or watchmen, leaving their aged elders to fend for themseves.

This led the villagers to demand to know what vested interest I had in spending time and money to come to Imamganj - whether I was a Govt. employee, a political party worker seeking votes or a street play artist who would make them pay for tickets later on after putting up some kind of show. When I replied in the negative to all these questions, and said I was financing the trip myself, it brought forth a retort that I was either another Mahatma Gandhi or a big crook, and since Mahatma Gandhi was dead, I must be a crook.

The meeting, which had started smoothly, was by now leading up to a demand to throw me out. My survival instinct came to the fore. I was able to dig into my memory for this story, which I related to them at the top of my voice to be audible in spite of the shouting -

The story goes back to prehistoric times, when women were considered property and men would acquire them using might. Hence, people needed to be always fully armed and lived in anxiety and fear. A certain individual proposed an institution similar to marriage, in order to bring peace and stability between people. In order to gain the concurrence of all the tribal chiefs, he called for a meeting. However, his "good" idea got rejected because someone cited an incident to assassinate his character and hell breaks loose in the meeting. The story ends with a poser - "for how many years do you think people continued to live in the same state of fear after that?"

-as the story goes, they continued in that state for a good 5,000 years.

I then asked them whether any outsider had come to them in the last 100-200 years and if not, whether there was any guarantee that it would not be generations before someone else would. Even assuming I was a crook, it may just be worthwhile for them to consider my idea if it benefited everyone (including me) and harmed no one.

The power of the story, coupled with the above reasoning provided the turning point; one which gave me initial acceptability in the eyes of the villagers.

THE INITIAL CHALLENGES & HOW THEY WERE MET

1. The villager's thought process is not digital. He is not caught in the web of opposites ---- (day - night, wrong - right or problem - solution). He sees a problem and its solution as a continuum. And that is the real world. On solving a problem it is not as if the matter gets over. The solution gives rise to a new level of problems. Far sight is in anticipating the problems likely to arise once the initial solution is implemented and install elements in the initial solution itself to take care of the problems that may arise after the initial solution is implemented.
For every seemingly straight-forward solution to a problem, the villagers could point out how the solution could lead them from the frying pan into the fire. It took me time to understand their approach. The guidance came from a book called `Breakthrough Thinking' which, amongst other concepts, explains the ‘The Solution After Next Principle’.
2. A Kisan's toil is regulated not by man made rules but by the laws of nature. Gautam Buddha believed that work is necessary not only for physical development but also for the blossoming of Man's personality. Nature has not laid down an 8 hour working day or a holiday on Saturdays and Sundays. An average farmer works for 12 - 14 hours every day. It was difficult to expect him to set aside time for QC training. Therefore, we mutually agreed to meet after 10 o'clock at night. Once they accepted the concept and philosophy of QC's they willingly attended even very late night classes.
3. To be able to discuss QC concepts with the villagers or to design the training programme for them, I needed to understand and compile illustrations / examples from village life. Apart from this, being illiterate, the villagers could receive training and the accompanying `reading material' only in the form of "discussions with pictures". I developed transparencies and pictorial notes for the initial training (and then later for their refresher training the following year).

THE GERMINATION OF CIRCLES

Volunteers enlisted themselves as QC members, and two circles were formed -- Nai Roshini and Nai Disha, with 15 members each. Two farmers took on the role of facilitators. A senior member of the village took the role of `Sanrakshak' (Protector / Coordinator). The Circles have now been having their regular weekly meetings since July '93 and in this period have successfully tackled several problems independently. This has improved the Quality of Life in Imamganj. The QC meetings are held in the village quadrangle, in the open. Besides members, other folk also generally sit through the meetings. In a way, this ensures that the whole village is a party to the decision making and its simultaneous approval, for, after all, the village being small, is fairly closely knit.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF QC PROJECTS AT IMAMGANJ

We are familiar with QC projects (of the manufacturing stream) where a one-time redesign of a process or tool / jig / fixture or attachment to the machine eliminates the root problem. The village QC project implementation is different in as much as it requires:

1. A significant change in the outlook and attitudes of the volunteers if they are to continue to hold the gains accruing out of the solution. Consequently, the QC movement in the village has now got interwoven in the social fabric of life in Imamganj.
2. Continuous effort to hold the gains accruing out of the solution as opposed to the familiar one-time redesign.

Some of the typical improvement projects in Imamganj are described below:

1. The Light of Knowledge

The village now has an evening school which the Imamganj residents have named Quality Circle School. Children from all households are currently enrolled in it (including 4 children from a neighbouring village for whom boarding & lodging facilities have been created). The school has over 90 children, who study for 3 hours every day, 6 days a week. Even the Govt. primary school now has over 50 students actually attending classes. The mother of one of the children of the QC School has this to say: -

Life feels good ever since Quality Circles have come to

IMAMGANJ

The evening school is being run by volunteers and is up to Class V. There is no school fee and the volunteers get no honorarium. Initially, the children used to study in the open with the help of kerosene lamps but now the school has solar lights and a thatched roof. Besides the regular curriculum, the school focuses on teaching agricultural techniques. Its annual holidays are during the planting and harvesting seasons. This school, which commenced on 28th September '93, is now about to complete 2 years of its existence.

Click to see a video of the overjoyed school children of decade of the 90’s. There was no electricity in the village then. A contact of mine had been able to prevail through another remote contact of his on the Nonconventional Energy Development Agency of the state Govt. to provide solar lights.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RbOYbtBtoBx8k52l78foqIeJdUTpy5AZ

2. Access to the village

Used to be on foot or bicycle, primarily because a major culvert had been washed away due to heavy rains many years ago. Work on rebuilding the culvert was commenced on 2nd October '93 using indigenous know-how and material. All the village folk came forward to help in rebuilding the culvert. Work used to be taken up after 10 pm, in the light of lanterns. The late hour ensured that everyone was available to help. The culvert has withstood tests including that of the monsoon as well as tractor trolleys and a couple of trucks.

3. Crop protection squads

Neelgai and wild pigs used to destroy crops year after year. After the advent of QCs, the villagers formed crop protection squads and made a duty roster i.e.duties by rotation. This way they had been able to save their crops over the last two years. According to the villagers, the overall financial gains are estimated to be a few lakh rupees.

4. Saving of livestock

An estimated 50 heads of cattle used to perish every year on account of "gala ghotu" (equivalent of diphtheria in humans), an affliction spread through grazing grass during the monsoons. Death comes rather suddenly on account of gala ghotu. The nearest Govt. veterinary hospital is far away and none of its doctors have cared to ever visit the village. With their new found strength through the QC groups, the villagers approached the Vet. hospital en masse, procured vaccines and learnt the skills of its administration. Now, for the third year running, not a single head of cattle has perished on account of this disease.

5. Water for irrigation

For the reasons described earlier, the village was not receiving canal water, but had been paying irrigation tax all along. Through the QC collectivity, the villagers took up the issue with the district authorities. Though the process lasted a year, eventually Imamganj got exemption from this tax (about Rs.7,000/- per year). Along with Imamganj, several other downstream villages have also received respite in this form (total exemption about Rs.25,000/- per year). The villagers as usual continue to use diesel pump sets and tube wells for irrigation.

6. Rice Culture

Some believe that the "samskara" of the Japanese lies in their "Rice Culture" - the tradition of cooperation in paddy cultivation prevalent for over 2,000 years.

Paddy transplantation requires to be completed in a stipulated period, because all said and done, we are still heavily dependent on the monsoons. Ironically, villages face an acute shortage of manpower during planting and harvesting seasons, so they have to hire outside labour to prevent delays. This is not only expensive, but often leads to bitter enmity when the neighbouring farmers try to win over the labour by offering higher payments. In July '94 it was decided that the situation could only be remedied through cooperative efforts for transplantation. Their attempt succeeded. Without hiring labour they were able to complete the work for the entire village in record time. They have been able to keep up the tradition through subsequent harvests as well.

7. Enabling Tractor Trolleys to transport produce direct to and from homes

The toughest project that got executed (and it got executed super smoothly) was making a passage through the village for a tractor trolley (carrying produce) to go through. There must have been a central passage decades back. But over time people had built sit-outs or extended their verandahs or put pegs or sheds for cattle. We call this as “encroachment”. Generally, demolishing encroachments in North India leads to a law and order problem. Even if it is done, it is done along with big contingents of police force on stand-by. Here, in Imamganj, people did it absolutely peacefully. They made a rope slightly bigger than the tractor trolley width. Then, two persons went through the main passage of the village holding the ends of the rope. When they encountered an encroachment they would stop and wait for the owner of the encroachment to react. The beauty was that each and every one demolished their own encroachments. Some did it on the spur of the moment and some later on after the rope holders had moved on and they could see the down-stream people doing the good deed.

From 2000 - 2015

Why did I drift away from work at Imamganj?

My Son is hearing and speech impaired. When he was in his teens he appealed that I need to provide for him as he may or may not be able to earn. This was in ’98–’99. One of the ways I could earn more was through allocating more time for consultancy. In the bargain the village work got left out.

Eventually, my Son graduated and found a job in a bank in 2011. He got married in 2013 and is now settled in the bank.

I was also able to make a reasonable provision for his future.

My stint from 2015 onwards

How / Why did I get back?

2015: Towards the latter part of 2015 at the behest of my IIM B Classmate Yadav Chandna, I took his sister and brother-in-law to show them life in a village. They were returning to India after a long stint abroad and had been toying with the idea of settling somewhere in rural India and serve the rural folk. Eventually, they decided to settle in Pune.

On my visit I witnessed an Imamganj that had regressed in terms of its unity and culture of cooperation. It was worse than how I had found it in 1993. The village folk were split along all possible lines, like political divides, court cases, land disputes/chakbandi cases, caste divides, religious divides, economic status, ego clashes, fights between children and elders getting involved, petty jealousies etc.

Meanwhile on the family front, my son (who was hearing and speech impaired) had found employment in 2011 in a bank. He married in 2013. I had saved a reasonable sum (by my standards) for his future. I felt the call to return and reinitiate Quality Circles.

This prompted me to give a call for volunteers to get into action once again to reinitiate Quality Circles. I once again  wanted them to address their collective issues through weekly meetings using collective wisdom and team efforts. Around 50 persons volunteered, representing 50 households out of the 70 in the village. 50 was a very encouraging number for me.

2016: I began facilitating training in Organic farming methods through Shoorvir's visits. The volunteers needed to give their time and effort for the collective good but their rivalries came in the way. Volunteers started withdrawing gradually.

Organised a big street play on village unity through a well known theatre group in Lucknow. Men Women and children attended the play in large numbers. The theme of the play was Unity.

2017: The number of volunteers kept shrinking. By April only one volunteer was left. This was the moment of truth for me. Should I continue or give up? I decided to continue. Much to my happiness people started rejoining. Amongst themselves they decided to start an Evening school for children, where they would serve as teachers or assist in some way. One person, volunteered his premises for the School. They felt that through the school, they would bring the village folk together. Apart from this, they felt that lessons in unity that the children learn would stand in good stead for Imamganj and the children when they grow up.

The two main persons who happened to initiate the school in April 2017 were a teacher and a student of the earlier voluntary school which had existed from 1993 to 2001 (when there was no school worth the name in the village).
Gradually, 63 children have got registered in the School. Click to see a photograph of the overjoyed school children. Inverter and battery with adequate lights just installed. Refer Annexure AK 3A or click

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XVz4bgHWxVPv0il_tXQi0iQX6cg-6--S

An eye and dental medical camp was organised for the School children with the help of Rotary Club. It went down well with the children and the village folk.

In Oct (around Diwali) the sister of the person who had volunteered his premises for the school happened to be visiting her parental place. As a youngster she too had been a student in the QC School in 1993. Now that she was married she was living in another village about 30 km away. The Imamganj School served to inspire her to initiate a similar school in her village, Kandai. There are over 40 children attending her school. This school too is up to class 5.

The two schools together cater to over 100 children. As Kandai does not have electricity, they are using Solar lights for the school. Imamganj has electricity now, but to tide over power outages (common in the rural areas) they use a battery-inverter.

2018: The ladies in Kandai decided to form 3 teams. Collectively they decided to learn tailoring. They were facilitated with sewing machines and a trainer. Since June, six batches of 12 ladies have undergone rudimentary training of one month each. They have started to sew dresses for the family. Some of them have purchased sewing machines of their own. Some want to further hone their skills. So they have reinitiated a batch for 12 girls for 6 months of training. They want to sew stylish dresses, perhaps.

Around June/July the ladies campaigned with the tehsil officials for electricity in the village. In addition, they’ve petitioned the PM through a letter. Electricity is yet to reach Kandai as of Dec 18. For a beginning poles have got erected. Once they get electricity, they plan to initiate computer classes for the older children. One of the village girls has training in MS Office. She has volunteered to train others.

In Imamganj, more volunteers are rejoining the QC movement to give a boost to their common good through collective wisdom and efforts. The immediate trigger is protection of their crop of tomatoes from marauding wild/stray animals. They had tackled this problem very successfully years ago by making duty rosters. In addition, they are contemplating to buy their farm inputs collectively for the next season. I had invited the Sales Manager of Dayal Fertilisers to Imamganj where he interacted with some farmers. Dayal is the most popular brand name in micronutrients and bio growth promoters, bio pesticides etc. in these parts. The manager assured them that if 20 or 25 farmers consolidate their requirement, he would give them special consideration. That’s a tempting offer.

I have initiated discussions amongst them on a scheme floated by IFFCO & SAS Motors for micro entrepreneurship business based on farm implements like small thresher, hand power tiller, reaper, water pump, sprayer etc. on rent. As of Dec ’18, around 12 farmers were keen on the scheme.

www.samoohikprayas.org is the work of a friend who felt so enthused on visiting the School in Imamganj run by QC volunteers, that he built this website. It will help in sharing detailed periodic reports of the activities / projects / progress at Imamganj, Kandai and any other villages that join in as rural Quality Circles grow.