Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Online ISSN : 2424-1377
Print ISSN : 0563-8682
ISSN-L : 0563-8682
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Volume 49, Issue 1
Displaying 1-9 of 9 articles from this issue
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Soecial Focus
Socio-Economic Dynamics in a Tank-Irrigated Rural Area in Contemporary Tamil Nadu, India
  • Introduction
    Koichi Fujita
    2011 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 3-21
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20495/tak.49.1_3
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    After reviewing the major socio-economic changes occurring during the last 40 years or so in the study area of this special issue, namely, the Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, this introduction contextualizes the five papers that follow. The major socio-economic changes include 1) the high economic growth and the preceded rapid increase in food (rice and coarse cereals) production in the state and the district, 2) the technological changes in agriculture (mainly the development of well irrigation and the diffusion of agricultural machineries such as power tillers/tractors and combine-harvesters), 3) the development of major government policies and programs in the state such as the Public Distribution System, the Self-Help Group program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and others.
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  • Employment Structure and Rural-Urban Migration in a Tamil Nadu Village:
    Focusing on Differences by Economic Class
    Keiko Sato
    2011 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 22-51
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20495/tak.49.1_22
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    Since the mid-1990s, migration of workforces from rural to urban areas has accelerated in south India accompanied by remarkable urban-based economic development. To investigate the nature of such rural-urban migration in detail, especially any differences influenced by economic class, a study village was selected from the Madurai District. The detailed analysis found the existence of clear inter-class difference in terms of the shift to non-agricultural occupations; that is, the wealthier class tended to find more remunerable non-agricultural jobs, such as white-collar jobs. The most striking finding was that the traditional class structure in rural India based on ownership of farmland was basically unchanged even after non-agricultural jobs became much more important. This was because of the huge expenditure for education necessary to acquire remunerable jobs and the differential access to credit markets among the different classes.
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  • Goat-Rearing Practices and the Limited Effects of the SHG Program in India:
    Evidence from a Tamil Nadu Village
    Keiko Sato
    2011 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 52-73
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20495/tak.49.1_52
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    Livestock rearing has been promoted in India by government-sponsored micro-finance schemes such as the IRDP and the “SHG-Bank Linkage Program,” providing rural poor with small loans to augment their non-land assets and thereby alleviate poverty. However, even in the case of small livestock such as sheep and goats, although at a glance it seems easy for poor people to rear them by using their only asset, unskilled labor, the reality is contrary and thereby the effect of the micro-finance programs is questionable. Based on intensive field surveys in a village in Tamil Nadu, India, the author sheds light on goat rearing practices among different economic classes and finds that the poor face difficulties in rearing goats. The article tries to analyze why the rural poor cannot rear goats in the way that policy-makers expected and thereby questions the effectiveness of government-sponsored micro-finance schemes in India.
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  • Self-Help Groups and the Rural Financial Market in South India:
    A Case of a Tamil Nadu Village
    Koichi Fujita, Keiko Sato
    2011 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 74-92
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20495/tak.49.1_74
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    After analyzing the process of development of the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in a study village located in the Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, we evaluated the impacts of the SHGs and found that they had certain impacts on the alleviation of poverty in the village, although there was an apparent limitation. The major limitation was the small size of loans through the SHGs, either from savings and revolving fund or from the banks, but another major limitation lay in the fact that the poorest people were excluded from the SHGs, especially the poorest women from the female-headed households. On the other hand, there were increasing opportunities to save. Since the mid-1990s, the shift of occupation from agriculture to non-agricultural sectors has accelerated, and the income of rural households started to rise rapidly in rural Tamil Nadu, including in the study village. It was in this context that there emerged a rapid rise of surplus money in the hands of rural residents except for the poorest, which started to be saved in various forms, one of which was the savings in the SHGs.
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  • Deterioration of the Informal Tank Institution in Tamil Nadu:
    Caste-based Rural Society and Rapid Economic Development in India
    Muniandi Jegadeesan, Koichi Fujita
    2011 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 93-123
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20495/tak.49.1_93
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    The informal tank institution seems to have functioned relatively well in Tamil Nadu, India, at least until the early 1970s. The institution had been supported by three layers of irrigation functionaries at village level. Especially important was the role of the lower irrigation functionaries such as the water-turner (Neerkatti), who had been conducting important tasks such as sluice operation, field water management and others. Based on the authors' recent field survey in seven tank-benefitted villages in Madurai District of Tamil Nadu, especially interviews with 31 Neerkatti families, after discussing physical and socioeconomic factors which caused the deterioration of tank irrigation and the village-level informal tank institution, the paper focuses on the current status of institution, including how rules and regulations, and the sanction system on violators and related systems are functioning, and analyzes the current socioeconomic status and perceptions of the Neerkattis. It emphasizes the contradiction between the traditional caste-based society, which governs the informal tank institution, and the recent rapid economic development in India.
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  • The Effects of Expansion of Private Wells on Rural Livelihood in Tank Intensive Watersheds:
    A Case Study in Upper Gundar River Basin, Tamil Nadu
    Takahiro Sato, Periyar Ramasamy Duraiyappan
    2011 Volume 49 Issue 1 Pages 124-150
    Published: June 30, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: October 31, 2017
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20495/tak.49.1_124
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    This article aims to investigate the effects of the expansion of private wells on rural livelihood (income) in a tank-intensive watershed in the upper Gundar River Basin in southern Tamil Nadu, India, based on data obtained by recent field surveys, government statistics and meteorological records. For the entire upper river basin, we show spatial differences at the village (gram panchayat) level and track the changes over the last two decades. The major finding is that although traditional crop production, mainly composed of paddy, millets and pulses, was dominant at least until the mid-1990s, the expansion of private wells enabled farmers to introduce cash crops, especially in the upper part of the basin. By contrast, fallow land increased sharply in the lower part of the basin due mainly to the disappointing performance of the wells. The different performance of wells finally resulted in a significant income gap between the upper and the lower river basin.
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