1. Agricultural extension has faced criticism over costs and is transitioning to new models with privatized services. Public funding may focus on services benefiting the public good, while private services directly benefiting individuals could be charged for. Mixed public-private models are also suggested. 2. The Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) programme aims to raise incomes and participation in social development of women from poor households through group formation and provision of credit, skills training and basic services. 3. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme seeks to directly benefit children under six through an integrated package of early childhood education, health, nutrition, and referral services delivered at Anganwadi centers

1. Agricultural Extension
Unit -4
Women Development programmes
B.Sc Agriculture II

2. Extension has been, and still is, under attack from a wide
spectrum of politicians and economists over its cost and financing. As a
result, Extension Systems have had to make changes, by restating the
system’s mission, developing a new vision for the future, and formulating
plans for the necessary transition to achieve the desired change.
At least three scenarios have been suggested by government and
farm organizations with regard to privatization of extension:
1. Public financing by the taxpayer only for the kinds of services of direct
concern to the general public.
2. Direct charging for some individual services that produce direct return in
the form of improved income, with the possibility of differential rates for
specific situations or target groups.
3. Mixed funding shared between public and private professional
association contributions for services, with delayed return or collective
services, such as applied research, training of farmers and agents, and
improvement in Extension methods and tools.
New Trends In Extension –Privatization

3. The private extension system in India offers the following
services for farmers – terms of sharing, augmenting and supplementing the
public extension efforts besides offering unique and innovative initiatives,
which the public extension service can also emulate. Some of the Services
are:
1. Cost sharing by farmers’ groups
2. Cost recovery on selected services offered to farmers
3. Contracting services to small groups
4. Paid extension services for affordable farmers
5. Value addition by agro-processing firms
6. Consultancy services (both technical and managerial)
7. Privatised service centres for farmers
8. Self Help Groups of farmers
9. Information support through media organizations

4. The Development of Women and children in rural areas
(DWCRA) programme was launched as a sub-component of IRDP and a
centrally sponsored scheme of the Department of Rural Development
with UNICEF cooperation to strengthen the women’s component of
poverty alleviation programmes.
It is directed at raising the income levels of women of
poor households so as to enable their organized participation in social
development towards economic self reliance. The DWCRA’s primary
thrust is on the formation of groups of 15 to 20 women form poor
household at the village level for delivery of services like credit and skill
training, cash and infrastructural support for self employment.
Development of Women and Children
in Rural Areas (D W C R A)

5. Through the strategy of group formation, the programme aims to improve
women’s access to basic services of health, education, child care,
nutrition and sanitation. It is merged with S.G.S.Y.
SWARNAJAYANTI GRAMA SWAROJAGAR YOJANA since
01.04.1999.
1. The special scheme of Development of Women and Children in Rural
Areas (DWCRA) aims at strengthening the gender component of
IRDP.
2. It was started in the year 1982-83, on a pilot basis, in 50 districts and has
now been extended to all the districts of the country.
3. DWCRA is directed at improving the living conditions of women and,
thereby, of children through the provision of opportunities for self-
employment and access to basic social service.

6. Strategy:
1. The main strategy adopted under this programme is to facilitate access
for poor women to employment, skill up gradation, training, credit
and other support services so that the DWCRA women as a group can
take up income generating activities for supplementing their incomes.
2. It seeks to encourage collective action in the form of group activities
that are known to work better and are more sustainable than the individual
effort. It encourages the habit of thrift and credit among poor rural
women to make them self-reliant.
3. The programme also envisages that this target group would be the focus
for convergence of other services like family welfare, health care
nutrition, education, childcare, safe drinking water, sanitation and shelter
to improve the welfare and quality of life of the family and the community

7. Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
Launched on 2nd October 1975 in 33 Community
Development Blocks, ICDS today represents one of the world’s largest
programmes for early childhood development. ICDS is the foremost
symbol of India’s commitment to her children. India’s response to the
challenge of providing pre-school education on one hand and breaking the
vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and
mortality, ion the other.
It is an inter sectoral programme which seeks to directly
reach out to children, below six years, especially from vulnerable and
remote areas and give them a head-start by providing an integrated
programme of early childhood education, health and nutrition. No
programme on Early Childhood Care and Education can succeed unless
mothers are also brought within it ambit as it is in the lap of the mother that
human beings learn the first lessons in life.

8. Objectives
1. Lay the foundation for proper psychological department of the child
2. Improve nutritional and health status of children 0-6 years
3. Reduce incidence of mortality, malnutrition and school drop-outs
4. Enhance the capability of the mother and family to look after the
health, nutritional and development needs of the child
5. Achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation among
various departments to promote child development.

9. Services:
The Scheme provides an integrated approach for converging basic services
through community-based workers and helpers. The services are provided
at a centre called the ‘Anganwadi’. The Anganwadi, literally a courtyard
play centre, is a childcare, located within the village itself.
A package of following six services is provided under the ICDS
Scheme:
•Supplementary nutrition
•Non-formal pre-school education
•Immunization
•Health Check-up
•Referral services
•Nutrition and Health Education.
The three services namely immunization, health check-up
and referral are delivered through public health infrastructure viz. Health
Sub Centers, Primary an Community health Centers under the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare.

10. Mahila Samridhi Yojana (M S Y)
The Mahila Samridhi Yojana (MSY) was launched on 2nd
October, 1993 with the objective of empowering the rural women through
building thrift habit, self-reliance and confidence.
During the first two years of its operation the
performance of scheme, as measured by achievement against the all India
target and the amount of the money deposited in MSY accounts was not
encouraging, and the cost of the scheme was also on the higher side,
Programme.
Evaluation Organisation was asked to evaluate the
performance, imple-mentation and impact of the scheme, to identify the
gaps, if any, and suggest measures that would improve the performance of
the scheme. The report was submitted in April, 1996.

11. Reorganized Extension System (T & V System)
This system was introduced in 1974 with the World Bank
assistance. It was presumed that transfer of technology trough the ‘contact
farmers’ shall benefit all farmers. This system was introduced in Rajastan
Canal area in Rajasthan and Chambal Command area in Madhya Pradesh.
The system has since been extended to 13 states and 4
more are in pipe-line. This system will be further extended in the
remaining states of the country by 1985. In two and a half decades, T & V
became the dominant method of restructuring the extension services in
over sixty countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The system tries to achieve changes in production
technologies used by the majority of farmers through assistance form well
trained extension agents who have close links with agricultural research
and supported by supply, service and marketing facilities.

12. Objectives:
The working objectives of the system as follows:
•Coordinating research, training and extension activities effectively.
•To make research more effective by catering to the local needs and
situation.
•To evolve an intensive training program on a systematic basic for
extension workers and farmers and to ensure effective supervision and
technical support.

13. T & V was regarded as an improved management system of
agricultural extension and had the following key features-
1. Professionalism:
Each extension agent is fully and continuously trained to handle one’s
particular responsibilities.
2. Single Line of Command:
The extension service must be under a single line of technical and
administrative command within the Ministry/ Department of agriculture.
3. Concentration of Effort:
All extension staff works only on agricultural extension. They are not
responsible for any other activity not directly related to extension. In
training session, attention is concentrated on important major points.

14. 4. Time-bound Work:
Messages and skills are taught to farmers in a regular and timely
fashion. The village Extension worker (VEW) must visit the farmers
regularly on a fixed day, usually once each fortnight. All other
extension staff must make timely and regular visit to the field.
Recommendations for a specific area and for particular farming
conditions for each two – fortnight periods are discussed and learned by
Subject Matter Specialists (SMSs) at regular monthly workshops, the
recommendations are then presented to VEWs and Agricultural
Extension Officers (AEOs) at the next two fortnightly training sessions.
5. Field and Farmer Orientation:
The contact with the farmers must be on a regular’s basis, on a
schedule known to farmers, and with a large number of farmers
representing all major farming and socio-economic types.

15. 6. Regular and Continuous Training:
Regular and continuous training of extension staff is require both
the teach, and discuss with them, and the prepare specific production
recommendations required by farmer for the coming fortnights and the
upgrade and update their professional skills.
7. Linkages with Research:
Problems faced by farmers that cannot be resolved by extension
agents are passed on to researchers of either an immediate solution of
investigation. Seasonal and monthly workshops, joint field visit, training
of extension are some of the means by which linkages with research and
maintained.

16. Broad Based Extension (BBE)
Economic growth is an essential component of
development; it is not the only as development is not a purely economic
phenomenon. The common man in India, as also in other developing
countries, expects a higher standard of living for himself, his family, his
community and his nation. The village peoples also expect such standard
of living. For that purpose farmers are not concerned with crop
production alone.
They undertake a number of land based
activities. Therefore, the focus of agricultural extension needs to be
shifted form commodity production or crop production oriented to
farmers’ income oriented. That means, for development of farmer it is
necessary to develop their economic status by improving other
production with crop production.

17. To improve their production capacity they have to
improve resources, technical knowledge and skills. On this basis this
broad based extension concept was emerge out.
The process of broadening scope of agricultural
extension on bringing a number of farm activities in addition to the
crop production under the umbrella of agricultural extension is known
as broad based agricultural extension.

18. Web References:
1. Agri info.in
2. ICAR e-courses