Rural enterprise

THE rural entrepreneur could be the key to making India a power in the global economy. The means to attain this dream already exist.

Here is a potential scenario. Picture an India dotted with an elaborate network of renewable energy power-plants of varying sizes. That energy lights up not only every house-hold in the land but also feeds industries that maximise local natural resources in a sustainable manner. Meanwhile, the biomass base is enriched by rigorous watershed management measures which revive otherwise denuded lands. This in turn boosts a variety of local enterprises and ensures better livelihood and enhanced quality of life for everyone.

Bits and pieces of this vast potential were recently on display at a Rural Enterprise Summit held by the Confederation of Indian Industries, in November at Mysore's Chamundi Vihar Indoor Stadium. Of course, the obstacles to realising this potential are never presented as exhibits but could be identified in the content and nuances of the discussions held there.

It is significant that a wide variety of innovative alternative technologies and their proponents were present at a forum of mainstream Indian industry. But the event showed that there is at best a piece-meal approach to the application of such innovations. We still seem to be far from a coherent vision to build a different political economy - one that draws on the diverse forms of creativity to ensure social and economic justice for all.

So far, many activists engaged in such endeavours have worked with large reserves of patience in the hope of long-term results. But this may now have to change. The removal of trade barriers under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime is triggering rapid and startling changes in the Indian economy. Some fear that the impact on the rural economy could be traumatic. Thus the theme of the Mysore Summit was Convergence of Rural Initiatives with Global Trends.

This event was the initiative of a handful of businessmen who head the Mysore zone unit of the CII. "Our attempt was to demystify the rural entrepreneur for the CII leadership, which is predominantly urban," says D. Sudhanva, a software engineer and head of the Mysore Zonal Council of CII. However, virtually no heavy-weight industrialists from outside the Mysore area attended this summit. Even senior CII officials from the headquarters in Delhi, were conspicuously absent.

So it was essentially a local-level gathering which succeeded in getting the help of non-industry people already engaged in the challenges of rural enterprise - mostly veterans of various non- governmental organisations (NGOs). This led to an elaborate exhibition section which showed the workings of micro-credit, renewable energy technologies, watershed management, organic farming, crafts-based livelihood-generation and even a computer company offering special software for the financial accounting in NGOs. There was also a large contingent of women delegates from rural self-help groups in that region.

For many of the 430 registered delegates the Summit probably offered an unprecedented opportunity for accessing a diverse range of information, ideas and people all under one roof. Women from the self-help groups got an opportunity to think beyond credit and consider the possibility of deploying their thrift resources for expanding the local production base.

What many delegates probably sought and did not find was practical help in short-term strategies for coping with global competition. Some see the emerging global trends as a doomsday scenario and others see the impending crisis as an opportunity. The Mysore gathering was a stark illustration of the confused scrambling among those who want to turn this crisis into an opportunity. There is no shortage of creative possibilities.

For example, Mumbai-based engineer, K. R. Datye urged that the energy and infrastructure sectors be made the engines of growth. Datye is campaigning for several ways of simultaneously enhancing the biomass base to ensure food security and simultaneously boost decentralised industrialisation using renewable energy resources.

Another engineer, L. Kannan, pointed out that there are lessons to be learnt from a traditional industry like handloom textiles which has many advantages which are important to success in the competitive global market. For example, it has a flexible manufacturing base, knowledge-based networking rather than a top heavy centralised structure, and it is amenable to innovation in both technology and design.

Anil Gupta, of the Indian Institute of Management, had a riveted audience when he made a case for tapping the skills and initiative of grassroots innovators all over India.

A farmer and organic food activist, Vivek Cariappa, argued that every rural person has to be an entrepreneur along with being a producer; it is not enough to just produce. Rural people must stop looking for government largesse and subsidy. The government is not for us, the government is for itself. In the new dispensation created by the WTO, Cariappa suggested We have to fight back by cooperating with each other and market our goods aggressively by ensuring good quality, low price and constant supply.

Yet, all these possibilities hinge on the existence of an infrastructure base and some semblance of a coordinated strategy which involves diverse sections of society. This means not merely a supportive policy framework from the government but a political and cultural climate of dynamic cooperation between otherwise competing vested interests.

The Rural Enterprise Summit closed with the creation of a CII council to focus on the needs of the rural non-farm sector. The Mysore zone office will also be preparing a white paper on this summit, which will be submitted to the CII national council. Theoretically this is a step towards working for policy change at the national level. But the kind of change that is needed will not come from seeking minor concessions for the small, rural entrepreneur.

Powerful forums like CII will have to undertake a thorough and self-critical examination of why various innovative, cost- effective solutions for meeting India's infrastructure needs are not being implemented on a large scale. More importantly, why is CII not even engaged in an active debate on these issues?

The Mysore summit had the merit of bringing together glimpses of the creative potential in various areas. But it clearly demonstrated that the transformative agenda is still struggling for space at the centre stage. The CII is now left with the task of fully waking up to the challenge of changing this. Four core areas need urgent attention: energy, water, land-regeneration and tele-communications. It is virtually meaningless to attempt to boost rural enterprise, without radical action in each of these areas.

RAJNI BAKSHI

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