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Initiating Social
Change in The Brick Sector Reena Tete, Aarti Zutshi & Rajesh Bajpai tara_gram@yahoo.com Brick Workers Meet, July 10th 2002, Datia, Madhya Pradesh The brickworkers’ meet was organised to serve a common platform among people working in the brick sector in different capacities; brick owners and workers. The organising committee comprised a mix of DA Social Action Team as well as members from the brick sector, mainly owners, fire masters as well as people working as moulders in this sector. This was with an aim to bring to light different angles to the same issue: different perceptions of the communities. The meet was an interactive process and the participants placed many viewpoints before the house. The positive point of this meet was that a consensus and common understanding on certain issues was reached. It was unanimously agreed upon that identification and introduction of new and upgraded technologies for reducing the production cost of bricks by minimizing breakage is of utmost importance. They agreed that this would provide high quality bricks and initiate a process for making co-operatives. On an individual basis, none of the participants have anything to lose, but on a community level this meet provided the participants with an opportunity to come together and identify and address certain issues.
S ocial Action component in India Brick Project (IBP) - an overviewThe DA / SDC -IBP project partnership primarily focuses at the recognition, selection and up-gradation of rural technologies, the focal point being the traditional brick making practices in the brick sector. The Social Action Component of the India Brick Project was initiated, keeping in mind the need to understand the different but interrelated aspects of the rural brick making practices. It envisages interactions with the different stakeholders involved with the brick sector. The Project Team started by entering into a dialogue with the concerned community so as to identify and prioritize the ‘felt-developmental needs’ of the community.The project component has looked beyond the conventional economic feasibility of the brick sector and has focused on energy efficiency and social change. The interactions brought to light the socio-economic, cultural and political aspects that existed within the community. The focus was on: family, ollution, health-care, security, education, knowledge and skill up-gradation. Socio-Cultural issues were also taken up in group interactions with different communities. The perception on the ‘role of women’ was given due importance. The villages that have a concentration of people involved with the brick sector were identified through secondary data from the National Information Center. Following this, a dialogue process with the communities involved in different capacities within the brick sector, was initiated to get a first hand feel and exposure to the existing problems. The result of this in-depth interaction was an understanding of the changing industrial scenario and emerging new possibilities. In November 2001, the first Joint Partner workshop on traditional knowledge was held at TARAgram. By this time, a Social Action team at DA had identified five core villages for future interactions. Confidence building measures and interactions with the community had been initiated and an attempt towards understanding of structure of ownership, production, and marketing, along with, owner–worker relationship was started. The general trend in this region has been that the majority of the clamp owners today, belong to the non-Prajapati community like the Yadavs, Bundelas, Pandits etc. Majority of the moulders and transporters belong to other Non-Prajapati communities like the Ahiwars, Kushwas, etc. whereas the majority of the fire-masters still belong to the Prajapati community. It is this community that has traditionally been involved with the brick and pottery sector. This is the only sector in Datia that provides an assured employment for 6 months in a year. The payments are prompt and in cash. In addition to this, advances are easily available in time of need. The major reason why people belonging to the Prajapati community have stopped setting up clamps are (i) unavailability of timely loans/capital (ii) most sales of bricks are on credit: large amounts of money remain blocked (iii) recovery of such a large amount usually takes a very long time. DA intervention so far, Datia The DA Social Action Component is currently poised as a major milestone in the project. The team has, over the last month, been engaged in prioritizing experimental action initiatives. Broadly speaking, this activity is second of the three parts in the project. These being: an "Understanding" phase, a "Prioritisation" phase and an "Initiation of Experimental Action" phase.A. Understanding Phase Methodology used: intensive dialogue with the brickworkers’ community.Result: obtained information on prevalent traditional knowledge, community dynamics and strengths of the community and gender issues.The team started interactions through a process of dialoguing and a series of repeated meetings with the people involved in the brick sector. It was through these meetings that we were able to identify key informants and people who helped us form a base for all further interactions with the community. We have tried to ensure that our thought processes and biases do not reflect in our interactions with the community. All outcomes that are drawn are a true representation of the actual needs and problems. Understanding the Occupational Divide: Over the years, the region has witnessed a shift in the occupational pattern; a shift from community and joint family based occupation to independent and household based occupation. This is primarily due to the profitability with low risk in the brick sector serving as the pull factor, on one hand and reduced profitability in the agricultural sector ( due to the gradual disappearance of the traditional joint family system and the fragmentation of the land holdings), serving as the push factor on the other hand.The majority of the target village population is primarily engaged in the brick sector, possessing either traditional skills or acquired skills. The villages in this area are divided on caste and occupational lines. Understanding the social and cultural set-up: Interactions with the community has shown us that the community is the best judge of its problems and its probable solution/s. What they need is information linkages and networking. They are able to find the best possible solution suited to the local conditions and social pattern. We were able to initiate processes which reflected their perception. A clear picture of the role played by women and children in both the production process and in the household work emerged.Attempts towards understanding the community dynamics and social networks were also highlighted. Capacity Building: The Sensitisation and Compression Workshops on Traditional Knowledge and Strengths and Initiatives were designed towards enhancing the skills of the Social Action Team for all partner organizations.This provided a platform whereby we have not only been able to share our experiences but also learnt from other’s experiences. It has helped us to visualize our approach, to process and modify it. Lectures by resource persons provided a clear vision and helped us to look at issues from the multi-dimensional aspects. B. Prioritisation The repeated meetings and dialogue with the communities in the target villages brought forth the basic issues as the immediate concern of and by the community. They were:
C. Initiation of Experimental Action Based on the priorities and perceptions of the community, Actions Plans would be initiated. The strategies for these would be through participatory and interactive processes. The implementation of each activity would be through networking and convergence with existing government schemes and other organizations. Ranking of Priorities by the local community: Interaction with the communities from the different target villages showed that a great deal of dissatisfaction prevailed. They felt that they had been ‘by passed’ by government policies. Increasing landlessness, job and food insecurity, rural migration, severe debt burdens and other difficulties have plagued them. The communities with whom we have interacted are closely knit and cohesive. They live in close proximity, in clusters. Not only do they belong to the same caste but are also involved in the same kind of work. This is the reason why there is very little difference in the economic status and the living standards of these people. Migration to clamp sites in groups is a common feature. The care of the respective families is entrusted to community members.
Evidently, the economic activity and the accruing benefits bind the community together in a unified and cohesive unit. This is illustrated in the case of the ‘ common pottery kiln’, where exists a single kiln, which is shared by 4 to 5 families.A ‘transect walk’ through the villages revealed specific features and local practices. The issues that emerged after discussions, interviews and observations were further discussed in village meetings. ‘Mapping’ of the existing problems through a Problem Tree gave a clear representation of the same. This tool helped us in analyzing the existing situation by identifying the major problems, the main cause and the nature of relationship between the two.The output was a diagrammatic arrangement of problems differentiated according to ‘causes’ and ‘effects,’ joined by a core, or focal problem. This technique helped us understand the context and interrelationship of problems, and the potential impacts. This exercise was done in-groups of 8 to 10 people and the outcome represents the collective thinking of the target group. In Edgha and Choti Badoni, villagers were asked to rank the plaguing issues. The resultant discussions and interest shown by the community provide a ranking order and indicate the size of the problem as perceived by the local population. For example, solving the drinking water problem witnessed the greatest amount of discussion. In sharp contrast, discussion on education of children, especially the girl child did not last for more than 5 minutes. As in the case of Edgha, the ranking of issues clearly reflected slight differences between the villages. In Choti Badoni, water is available but its population is very dense. In Edgha, the converse holds true. While land access is the greatest problem in the former, water is a major concern in the latter. Since the ground water level is low and no water points are available, the villagers have to walk about three- four kilometers to fetch water. As an old man in Edgha said: " we have been isolated from all development activities simply because we have been denied water, the most basic amenity for life." However, one issue that was of prime importance to all the communities that we interacted with was the need for finance. To set up a clamp, one requires a minimum investment of Rs. 50,000/-. These people have the required skills and technical know-how for setting up clamps, but are still forced to work on others clamps at a wage rate. Each one of them believes that if they are able to manage finance and set up a clamp, they would be able to increase their income levels. Further, they would not have to go very far from their place of residence in search of work. This would address the local migration problem. Most of them are bound to work on the clamp sites for 7 to 8 months in a year on account of the advances they take from the clamp owners. These people have no savings and have little or no assets. They have no linkages with any formal financial institutions and are forced to borrow from local moneylenders at the time of need at rates of interest as high as 10% per month. Harparsad, from village Sinaval, (an Ahirwar by caste who has been molding bricks for the last 10 – 15 years) informed us that his neighbour had taken a loan amount of Rs. 2000/- two years back from the moneylender. Today the debt, owing to the high interest rate amounts to Rs. 8000/-. He has been molding bricks in order to re-pay this amount. He would continue doing so till his loan is repaid. The people realize that borrowing from the local money lender traps them in a vicious circle of debt from which they are rarely able to escape. Lack of information and awareness forces them to continue borrowing from this traditional informal institution. In addition to this, the bank needs a guarantee in the form of assets, land or investments. They have nothing, which the bank can hold as a guarantee. In a nutshell, the results from the ranking of plaguing issues in two of the village meetings were : (i) shortage of drinking water (ii) lack of savings (iii) need for networking and awareness (iv) need for better firing practices. Thus, problems at two distinct levels had been traced. First level: those that concern the production process, hence being economic in nature. Second level: those with social implications, hence being non-economic in nature. Notably, the non-economic problems rank higher than the economic ones on the Priority scale.Outcome of the Brickworkers’ Meet: Participative and representative discussion on (i) access to financial resources (ii) on how to reduce production costs in the process of making bricks (iii) issues related to women: with respect to education and health (iv) impact of migration on children: with respect to education and health.Follow-up Action (i) formation of small saving groups and initiation of regular savings (ii) introduction of education for women members and also their children (iii) the different stakeholders working with the brick sector would form united and homogeneous groups to address the different issues (iv) to arrive at a consensus and common thinking on collective purchase fuel (v) a model experimental clamp to be set up between the months of Oct and Nov 2002, which would help reduce the consumption of fuel and thus reduce production costs (vi) formation of a group with people from the community who have specialised skills as well as those from the project and partner team (vii) to liaison with government departments for the possibility of introduction of insurance schemes for the brick sector (viii) entire process and scope for improvement in the production process to be identified (ix) Gram Panchayat’s role in facilitation of different issues to be defined (x) potters’ community to be included in the entire process; and (xi) the scope for improvement in the production process to be identified. q
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