Mahesh Malgatti
Major Issues affecting Extension Management in India
Definition of Management :
The process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims.
According to book "Extension Management" by Indu Grover, Lali yadhav, Deepak Grover and Agricultural Extension (6th vol of state of the Indian farmer ) by P.M.Shingi, V.R.Gaikwad, Rashid Sulaiman, J.Vasanthakumar- Some of the major issues affecting extension management in India are,
- n Issue I: National agricultural Extension policy
The government of India is taking seriously the Development and Documentation of education and communication policies which are now being debated at various forums. The time has come when the nation must also evolve Agricultural research and extension policy, concurrently with other policies so that the Linking of all these policies may foster the process of development, especially in rural areas. Agricultural extension policy has been formulated by the Directorate of Extension, but it is not approved by the government
- n Issue II : Organizational Structure and Systems
The programmes are not implemented properly as they should be which makes unrealistic functioning. Hence, the major issue is to suggest needed modification and alterations in evolving composite and efficient organizational structure or suggest punitive measures to revive the system
- n Issue III : Extension programme planning and implementation
Most Community Development programmes have witnessed emphasis on "Family Farm-Production" plans (FFPP) duly oriented to deliver the inputs required for each farm families. Now Extension programmes e.g. Adult education, ICDS, etc are concentrating on helping the individuals financially and educationally without considering the overall family requirement for development. In some cases, various sect oral programmes approach the same individuals ignoring the fact that the family in a village is a unit of social life. Her one ignores that the cumulative resource management at individual and family level constitute a basic requirement for growth and management, sequel to raising the economic status and prosperity. Such non- integrated, individual oriented sectoral programme result in arbitrary pouring of scarce resources at an individual level at the cost of others, resulting in various conflicts, leakages and wastage in a given rural system. Issue is to check the individual oriented role and deliveries so as to utilize the scarce resources of family in a planned manner to the benefit of the family and village
- n Issue IV : Technology Delivery, Demonstrations and Trials
Overall system of Extension and transfer of technology depends on effective and integrated functioning of
- Research management system
- Extension management system
- supporting and sustenance management
- Target beneficiaries management system
The performance, effect and impact of any technology delivery have to be measured in terms of its Ultimate speedy communication, adoption and diffusion. Any technology which is developed follows a direction that the "Test of Technology" - its transferability from the sources of generation to the ultimate absorption by the target beneficiaries at the grass root level for the multiplier effect .if it is not done then the resources spent on the technology generation or transmission are usually lost. Withholding the technology at any stage is a national waste and amounts to national crime.
For example : in a concern to push the technology from experiment stations, the ICAR has launched National demonstrations , operational research programme ( ORP ) Lab-to land programme ( LLP ) together with mini-kit trials, adoption trials, challenge trials, challenge demonstrations , K . G. K. Programme and host of other conducted by the state department of agriculture
- n Issue V : Input Mobilization and resource management
Major researchers have that major programme of technology transmission/extension fails because of non-mobilization of inputs and mismanagement of human resources. Socially in case of small and marginal farmers which are covered under various rural and other development schemes and projects. Hence all the possibilities of substantial help or additional resources have also to be worked out. Then this package may be kept ready for delivery in an integrated manner.
Unfortunately the input supplying agencies are sharing maximum profit without sharing the cost of extension work at the grass root level. Thereby burdening themselves with heavy workload on one hand and providing market for such agencies on the at the government cost. The time as come when such agencies must share the cost of extension also.
- n Issue VI :Financial and credit Management
As stated earlier lots of subsidies, free gifts, loans or credit are poured in the rural areas so as to help the poorest of poor in building their economy developing permanent assets, naturally resulting in the economic gain to a single individual or maximum to a family. Unfortunately observations indicate that Loan melas and credit camps are used for political advantages and actual needy poor are ignored and share the earned credit to oblige those who have obliged them. When the Growing leakages and corruption need to be exposed then each agency blames the other and in spite of that it is increasing at a faster rate because observations indicate that there's a clear relation between credit and corruption. Therefore how to remove this corruption and wastage is not an important issue of debate but for harsh decision making.
- n Issue VII : Efficient and effective delivery system
The delivery system in agriculture and Home science Extension is a set of Complex activities conducted by various organizations and linked with provision and distribution of material input and services to the clients. From early fifties to date, under various programmes, thrust has been given for making the delivery system responsive to targets. Local agencies are strengthened and helped for delivery. Many agencies are making sincere efforts in this process but there is a limit for reaching the very large clientele at he of need, because the problem is of
Streamlining the whole system with proper decentralization and division of labour together with supportive technical know how at every step. As in case of Haryana and Punjab the delivery system have to be linked with markets and training institutions , for example : Krishi Vigyan Kendra and education going on concurrently at the nearest available point.
- n Issue VIII : Training and human resource development
Training and retraining conducted by national and international organizations are rarely linked with the training imparted at the middle and grass root levels. Generally the content and the syllabus of training is designed by those who fund or organize these programmes. Here there is Lack of system of assessment of training needs for different beneficiary and the fixing of training.
Researches revealed that the training should now be more technology specific, message specific, area specific, target beneficiary specific, time specific, package of practices and inputs specific, location specific, market and motivation specific and oriented to availability of communication and training facilities. Lack of specificity in any of the areas result in the loss of efforts and may lead to non adoption, reversion to the earlier practices and also tailoring the recommended inputs as per the resources availability with the users.
The ICAR managed KVKs trainers training centers (TTC) and regional research centers of the agricultural universities established under NARP, T & V system are now emerging as a very useful training forums for the farmers as well as village level workers. There is a duplication of much training. It seems to be necessary and no one denies this fact but who should co ordinate all such programmes at central, state, district and all levels. Hence the issue is as now to link up and design a blue print for training in a orderly form? Who should screen and identify the training target beneficiaries and develop a programme for organizing training for different interest groups. By making prior assessment of their training needs? When one can cover the all group in a specified period of time? How to make this training and useful resource development programme more need based, realistic and effective by identifying institutions for conducting particular specialized training programme so as to avoid duplication and multiplication etc? What are the policy implications of all these questions?
- n Issue IX : Communications network and skills in the use of audio visual aids
Government investment in the Ministry of information and Broadcasting has been ever increasing .the highest amount has been placed on expansion of television for example 8th plan provides for nation wide coverage. With the growth in absolute numbers of literate people. In rural areas for popular reading is also fast growing. Transistor explosion has already taken place. Still the remains the class media because women are generally not even able to see or listen women programmes due to the presence of male members in the room where these things are kept .
In organizational communication, horizontal and vertical, cross communication, upward and downward communication have been studied and found to be satisfactory in a very few cases only. There has been distortions, overlapping and short-circuiting of messages in many of the programmes of ICDS and other allied organizations. These symptoms are generally noted at middle and lower levels.
In an effort to develop aids in communication, lots of resources have been spent on teaching training and development of Audio-Visual aids. Both for academic purposes and for the field use. It has been fully established that the mass media communication programme cannot be effective without an excellent support from location-specific and messege oriented A-V aids. We don't have applicable and replicable modles to be used in the same vicinity where we get some kind of success stories.
The major concern is therefore, to evolve and extension policy at the national and state leval so that extension training package and communication skills may be developed together with manual and guidelines for the use of field beneficiaries on mass scale and in an integrated manner.
- n Issue X : Linkages and Co-ordination
The essence of linkages and coordination is team-spirit. As we know spirit is volatile substance and it evaporates. The best spirit was displayed during the community development after which it has been deteriorated from programme to programme and now in the field, teams are multiplying and the spirit has evaporated. This is happening due to the fact that Organization systems are suffering from the diseases of department isolation, personal Factionalism, Mutual recrimination, ego-centered role performance.
To overcome the linkages and problems of co-ordination the remedial measures suggested and is being used these days is constitution of co-ordination committees and other forums, the deliberation of such a committees and forums provide and optimism at a time but the translation of their recommendations, deliberations and decisions in extension Programmes. Every Extension Programme for introduction of new innovations / technology remains an ultimate responsibility of village level, as such who are neither motivated nor so much qualified to do all jobs effectively and efficiently. As such how to achieve an effective linkages and co-ordination? how can inbuilt mandatory mechanism be made and use in the field. This has been established that field extension workers are poorly supported by the poorly qualified subject matter specialist at different levels. Most of the time Anganwadi workers are promoted the rank and file of Department to supervisors or to CDPO at Block/District or even at the state level. In such a situations, how they can perform the role of specialists in these specialized situation prevailing as a result of introduction of highly sophisticated technologies which demand quite a high degree of specialization. In these cases, the resultant demoralizing effect has been observed among the functionaries, who also easily accept their failures in transmitting the sophisticated technology in to simple and understandable form.
Major issue is there to develop a commitment on the part of various agencies and organisation to merge their separate entities at certain level and work hand-in-glove in an integrated manner at block level or below ‘single professional' may be identified for leading the team of workers on commen interrelated sectoral programme. One may take stock of the situation rather than creating parallel positions in each an every development programme in each sector is an issue for debate and discussion.
- n Issue XI : Documentation and publication support
One of the serious drawbacks in the extension management is that the documentation and publication is extremely weak. Even the basic data required for the decision makers is not available. Unfortunately various research and extension organization are engaged in mass publication but these rarely are for the consumption of mass living in the rural areas. Generally documentation of personal observations, reports and evolutional studies conducted by various organizations either taken up for some corrective measures or as a academic exercises still remain show pieces only. It has been noticed in the Anganwadi centers their documents are old enough which don't seem valid after some period of time of observations reveal that in records of Anganwadi workers if a lady is pregnant, will remain pregnant on records for one or two more years, so validity is not there and records remain show pieces only. Such documentation rarely reaches in the hand of extension workers and in almost majority of the cases they are not being translated in to the language of action. Hence, the issue is, what resources are required in augmenting the documentation and publication support for management of agricultural extension including the training and development of communication skill along with provision of infrastructural facilities for the same.
- n Issue XII : Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring is the first causality in wealth perceived, conceived and planned programme of extension in monitoring a programme one has to identify the criterion factor or indicator that makes or make the programme. But except for few academic exercises they do not have a simple guidelines for fixing qualitative and /or quantitative indicators in rural development then what to talk of indicators in extension management. The field observations and studies have indicated that there is a great confusion about the concept and use of monitoring and evaluating development programme which usually overlaps with each other. Failure of programme is always attributed to non availability of programme and valuable documentation and database. the basic issue is not only to impart in-depth training , but also to create a climate and culture of using these tools for generating objective data with all-round appreciation and understanding and finally using them in taking both preventing and curative measures.
- n Issue XIII : People participation and users receptivity
Studies have clearly indicated that communication, adoption and diffusion, to a technology has positive and significant relationship with need, resources, education, income, economic, gain, previous experience, common exposure, motivation levels of aspirations, market orientation, credit availability, change proneness, training and technological back stop. The question is ‘then what? Generally, all such studies are not designed to answer these questions. There are mostly for the consumption of academician and scholars and ends at reporting levels. No one on the basis of outcome of such studies and researches can modify alter /change the programme for its components.
Agricultural universities, ICAR institutions and research and development units of various extension agencies could not work out and organizational structure along with appropriate and acceptable research based extension methodology. This requires new policy direction and reorientation of work of such extension units, so as to consume the drawing of scarce researches.