N Panjampatti - Symptomatic

Our desire to visit the scene of action led us to N Panjampatti, which is one of the villages in Tamil Nadu where Gandhigram Trust has implemented several programs. Throughout the visit, our query on the reason for the N in the name of the village did not elicit any reply. The name is quite misleading as we could not see any signs of ‘panjam’ (famine) there. On the contrary, it looked almost like a large, busy township with a few NGOs and SHGs visible almost everywhere (Official population : 6530, No of households : 1554).

The kind gentleman from the Gandigram Trust took us to visit the SHG groups, but at the end of half a day, a sense of disappointment could not be avoided.

In the first center , there were about six women who were making papercups in a machine that operated on electric power. They stated that they could make about 250 cups a day which implies a revenue of Rs.100 per day @ 40 paise per cup. They were to be paid Rs.50 per day for their labour and even without adding other costs, it certainly did not look promising to sustain.

There was another group making school bags , but did not get the bulk order from the local schools, probably their main market. Here the ladies were paid Rs.25 as allowance and they said the surplus will go to federation which will again be ploughed back into the SHG to justify the lower wages. And not unlike their Dravidian parties, this group has already split twice and all of them are claiming the same original name of Mullai.

We were informed that the community took upon the sanitation (ofcourse through SHG) issue and they even got a President or Chief Minister award for the same. It was a public toilet complex with a tank for storing water and provisions for washing/drying clothes like the stone platform, clothesline etc. The group has made enough money @ One Rupee per person, to even extend the area with a new compound wall. Closer observation made us realize that the popularity of the place was more for the uninterrupted water supply and the comfort for washing the clothes of the entire family, rather than any particular interest in the sanitation. Adjacent to this complex at a distance of 300 m is another one which was lying closed and we were told that it was run by Panchayat and hence it was so!

The most interesting and enterprising example came when we were taken to a “Flower mill” operated by a group of four women(it also has the same dependency on electricity from the State). Among the items that were ground in that flour mill were the usual chilli powder, idli/dosa batter, but the hot seller was the One Rupee rice made available through PDS. The rice was mixed with millet and converted into cattle fodder which was then ‘exported’ to and other places at Rs.8 per kg. Long Live the PDS and the penchant for One Rupee items.

Here it is important to note the role played by the ecosystem of bankers, well intended NGOs like Gandhigram Trust (and may be some of the middlemen too) in ‘Facilitation’ of bank loans to all the above mentioned SHG groups. The scheme works neatly. One Lakh as grant and Two Lakh as Loan and everyone is happy. I guess the repayment days are far away in horizon ! One is not against the SHGs flourishing, but unfortunately the achievements of SHG are being measured in terms of loans disbursed and no of groups than the outcome or the impact.