Amidst the multidimensional problems and issues that dent the livelihoods of farmers in India, mixed cropping comes as a fresh breeze of hope. As the model plays as a risk reduction measure, farmers can rest assured that even in the face of an unforeseen event causing failure of a crop, they can still put a smile on their faces.
Sarvodaya Maha Sangha (SAMAS), a registered society is an apex of 81 Sanghas in 22 villages belonging to Surashettykoppa cluster, Dharwad district, Karnataka. The inception of SAMAS dates back to 1997 when BAIF Development Research Foundation started a project titled Transfer of Technologies for Sustainable Development (TTSD) in these villages, funded by the European Union.
One of the outcomes of the neo-liberal policy era is a high incidence of farmers suicides in different parts of the country. These suicides have been occurring not only in drought prone states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra but also in high rainfall states like Kerala or in well irrigated states like Punjab.
Driven by situational factors in the Malenad region, intellectuals at the Kavi-Kavya Trust in 1996, formed a new initiative called the "Charaka Gramodyog Unit", primarily to generate alternate reliable employment opportunities for rural women.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) extended its operations to all the districts in India by 1st April 2008, guarantees 100 days of wage employment to every household whose adult members volunteer to perform skilled manual work and NREGS also envisages the createion of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of rural poor.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, is a landmark legislation that recognizes and provides a framework for vesting forest use, protection and conservation rights, and occupation in forest land, to tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, residing in such forests for generations.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh established the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), in the year 2000, to bring light into the lives of the rural poor. It implements two poverty reduction projects with an amount of Rs. 2000 crores. SERP's current programmes reach year by 80 lakh households of Andhra Pradesh. It is the single largest rural development programme run by government.
