eChapters

Soil mechanics as a distinct branch of soil science is comparatively of recent growth. Its need arose from the fact that the requirements of the engineer are very often quite different from those of the agriculturist. Whereas the former would as a rule require hard, compact, impervious soil, the latter would have no use for it for the growth of his plants which require soft, friable and porous soil. The agriculturist generally has to look up to nature to help him out of his difficulties, the engineer has to depend on his scientific skill to modify the soil to suit his requirements. In this chapter an attempt will be made to explain in a simple language the requirements of the building, road, and irrigation engineer for particular types of soils and how they are met by modifying the soil if the required properties already do not exist.

Moisture plays by far the most important role in soils as regards vegetation. It is through the medium of water that the plants obtain their quota of mineral food vital for their growth. If water is gradually withheld from the soil, at a certain stage, the plant will begin to wilt and soon dry up. The soil may still contain some moisture but the plant is unable to make use of it. The minimum moisture in the soil below which wilting will take place is called the Wilting Coefficient and at one time great importance was attached to it. The determination of this Coefficient, however, is tedius. One must grow a number of plants and slowly watch them wilt and determine the moisture content at that point. Moisture content of the soil is determined by heating a weighed quantity of the sample in an oven kept at 100-110 ^oC. The moisture is expressed as percentage on the oven-dry soil.

Soil texture and mechanical analysis: The chemistry of the mineral framework was explained in Chapter II. Its physical properties are quite as important- When all the extraneous matter is removed from the soil we are left with a collection of particles of various sizes. These particles are not spherical in shape, but most of them are nearly so. At any rate the discussion is very much simplified if we suppose that they are spherical and the arguments advanced are equally applicable if the shape deviates from the spherical.

Next to the mineral frame work the salts in the soil deserve consideration. In fact these salts constitute the main food material of plants besides what the root hairs can get out of the mineral framework in the form of basic materials already dealt with. We are, however, not concerned with the plant food materials, but salts that are in excess and which alter the properties of the soil to such an extent as to influence its behaviour profoundly.

If the reader has endeavoured to follow the basic chemistry in the first chapter, he would be in a positions to follow up the various reactions that take place in soils and which hitherto had baffled him. Soils contain particles of various sizes ; some so fine that they would remain suspended in water for a long time; others so coarse that they would be sieved out by even a coarse sieve. Soils contain some salts that can be washed out by leaching with water; they contain some water which can be readily evaporated away by exposing to hot sun or by heating slightly. They also con-tain a little organic matter which can be burnt away or dissolved in alkali. When all the extraneous substances have been completely removed we are left with what we might call soil framework. This framework gives mechanical support to the roots of the plants. Without this framework the plant would not stand up even if it could be supplied with all the food material.

Let us suppose a soil freed from all the extraneous matter by continuous leaching with water or a dilute acid. In the former case the removal of all the extraneous matter is extremely slow, whereas by leaching with dilute acid everything except the soil framework is removed in a short time.

When soils from different localities are subjected to leaching with dilute acid we find that the soil framework in every case, behaves in a similar manner. No matter from what part of the world the soil has been obtained, the properties of its mineral framework only differ in quantity but not in kind.

For the intelligent appreciation and understanding of various reactions and processes associated with soils a little basic knowledge of chemistry is helpful. If the reader follows this chapter carefully, the working knowledge of chemistry thus acquired will enable him to follow all the complicated chemical reactions taking place in the soil.

What is Chemistry? Chemistry is the science that deals with the chemical changes. What is a chemical change? When two or more substances combine to give a substance entirely different in properties to the individual components, the change is called a chemical action to distinguish it from the purely physical action in which the properties of the product are intermediate between the components. The latter naturally can be separated easily by mechanical means. For instance a mixture of sand and water can be separated by passing through a filter, and a mixture of salt and water can be separated by evaporating the water when the salt is left as residue. But water itself is a compound of two gases: oxygen and hydrogen. Its properties are totally different from its components. We can freeze it, evaporate it and perform a host of other operations on it without changing it in the least.

Atoms and molecules: The whole science of chemistry rests on atoms and molecules If these are understood clearly, basic chemistry is reduced to simplicity. Take a familiar object like gold or silver and go on subdividing it into smaller and smaller bits. You will reach a stage that further subdivision will become impossible. You will have reached the primary units, the elementary bricks of which the substance is made up, namely the “Atoms”. An atom in chemistry is the smallest brick from which all material substances in the world are made up. Not that you can see an atom. It is so small that even the most powerful microscope will nut reveal its presence. You could perhaps just see a collection of a million atoms as a tiny spot of light if it is illuminated with a powerful beam of light. Even then you could not say if it was round, square, or oblong. However, you need not look for any such tangible proof to believe in the existence of atoms. Even pure logic would compel you to stop somewhere if you started with an imaginary division and sub-division of a substance. You could not go on ad infinitum. Even the ancients, who knew no modern chemistry, believed in their existence purely from philosophical reasoning.

Livestock Development Programmes/Schemes

Gausalas

Recognizing the potential of Gaushalas (about 10000) in the country which were engaged in rehabilitation of disowned cattle, the government of India in 1952 set up the Central Council of Govsamvardana (CCG). Some of these gaushalas were providing quality indigenous / crossbreds / heifers / bulls at many places like Nasik, UrliKanchan, Amirtsar, Indore and Ahmednagar. One gaushala at Bombay had completed a century of devoted work in 1986 and had established two institutes, one for research and another for fodder research and grassland development. The Sabarmathi Ashram gaushala founded in 1915 by Mahatma Gandhi near Ahmedabad is now being managed by NDDB and has a training center for AI service including embryo transfer.

ICAR Frontline Extension Programmes

It was recognized by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in the early sixties that agriculture development requires interdisciplinary and multi institutional approach. The integrated functioning of agricultural research, education and extension was for the first time recognized as the cardinal principle of agricultural development system, and accordingly agricultural research, education and extension function were integrated in the ICAR institutes and State Agricultural Universities (SAU). ICAR established a Section of Extension Education at its headquarter in 1971, which was later renamed as Division of Agricultural Extension to promote the transfer the agricultural technologies through the ICAR-SAU system. The present position, as on 31.03.2020, of ICAR institutes, Central Agriculture Universities and SAUs are as follows:

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is a modified programme of erstwhile Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Desert Development Programme (DDP) and Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP) of the Department of Land Resources. The scheme was launched during 2009-10. The programme is being implemented as per Common Guidelines for Watershed Development Projects 2008. The main objectives of the IWMP are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water. The outcomes are prevention of soil erosion, regeneration of natural vegetation, rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water table. This enables multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed areas.

National Agriculture Development Programme/Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

Economic reforms initiated since 1991 have put the Indian economy on a higher growth trajectory. Annual growth rate in the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has accelerated from below 6 per cent during the initial years of reforms to more than 8 per cent in recent years. The Planning Commission in its approach paper to the Eleventh Five-Year-plan has stated that 9 per cent growth rate in GDP would be feasible during the Eleventh Plan period. However, Agriculture that accounted for more than 30 per cent of total GDP at the beginning of reforms failed to maintain its pre-reform growth. On the contrary, it witnessed a sharp deceleration in growth after the mid-1990s. This happened despite the fact that agricultural productivity in most of the states was quite low as it were, and the potential for the growth of agriculture was high. The GDP of agriculture increased annually at more than 3 per cent during the 1980s.

Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996 to 2001-02), India has been targeting a growth rate of more than 4 per cent in agriculture, but the actual achievement has been much below the target. More than 50 per cent of the workforce of the country depends upon agriculture for it’s livelihood and slow growth in Agriculture and allied sectors can lead to acute stress in the economy because a large proportion of population depend on this sector. A major cause behind the slow growth in agriculture is the consistent decrease in investments in the sector by the state governments. While public and private investments are increasing manifold in sectors such as infrastructure, similar investments are not forthcoming in Agriculture and allied sectors, leading to distress in the community of farmers, especially that of the small and marginal segment. Hence, the need for incentivising states that increase their investments in the Agriculture and allied sectors has been felt.

Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA)

Extension Reforms were introduced during 2005-06 by the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India as a major intervention in addressing the constraints as observed in T & V and post T & V system by making the extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable through process and institutional reforms mechanism. The institutional mechanism in the form of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) at district level was pilot tested under Innovations in Technology Dissemination (ITD) component of National Agricultural

Technology Project (NATP) in seven states viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and Punjab covering 4 districts in each State from 1998 to 2004. The key features of reforms are:

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

Rationale of the Programme

A vast majority of the poor people in rural areas of the country depend mainly on the wages they earn through unskilled labour. They are often on threshold levels of subsistence and are vulnerable to the possibility of sinking from transient to chronic poverty, in the event of inadequate labour demand or in the face of unpredictable crises that may be general in nature like natural disaster or personal like ill-health, all of which adversely impact their employment opportunities. In a context of poverty & unemployment, wage employment programmes provide unskilled manual workers with short-term employment. The wage employment programmes provide income transfers to poor households during critical times and so also enable consumption smoothing specially during slack agricultural seasons or years. Durable assets created under these programmes have the potential to generate sustainable livelihood.

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)

The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), a programme for the self employment of rural poor was started from 01.04.1999 after restructuring the six erstwhile Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and its allied programmes, These were : IRDP, Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Toolkits in Rural Areas (SITRA) and Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY), and Million Wells Scheme (MWS). The basic objective of the SGSY was to bring the assisted poor families (Swarozgaris) above the Poverty Line by providing them income-generating assets through a mix of bank credit and governmental subsidy. The programme aimed at establishing a large number of micro enterprises in rural areas based on the ability of the poor and potential of each area.

The immediate objective of the programme was to achieve rapid increase in food grain production to meet the food grain requirement of the country. The programme was implemented in the district having potential irrigation facilities with less prone to natural hazards. Integrated and intensive approaches were adopted to solve the problems of agriculture production in the areas which were more responsive to such production effort. The programme sought to achieve rapid increase in the level of agricultural production through a concentration of financial technical, extension and administrative resources. In the long run it aimed at a self - generating break through in productivity and raising the production potential by stimulating the human and physical process of change.

IADP was a demonstrational programme which showed how to increase production more rapidly on one hand and a path finding experimental programme which facilitated the development of new innovations, new ideas and procedures for wider adoption in agriculture development.

One of the major drawbacks of IADP was its neglect of the equity aspect of the development. Even though this drawback, the spectacular results in improved production yield obtained in IADP, prompted Government to extending the benefit of the programme to other districts of the country with less cost and reduced staff strength. This resulted in launching of the Intensive Agriculture Area Programme (IAAP) in 1964.

Evolution of Panchayati Raj System in India

In January 1957, the Government of India appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Balwantray Mehta to examine the working of the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1953), and to suggest measures for their better implementation. The committee expressed concern about the lack of participation of people in these programmes and made a string plea for devolution of power. The committee submitted its report in November 1957 and recommended the establishment of the scheme of ‘democratic decentralization’ through a three-tier system of local government from village to district Level-Gram Panchayat at village level, Panchayat Samiti at block level and Zilla Parisad at district level -which ultimately came to be known as Panchayati Raj in India. The recommendations of the committee were accepted by the National Development Council (NDC) in January 1958. The NDC did not insist on a single rigid pattern of panchayat raj system throughout the country but left it to the states to evolve their own patterns suitable to local conditions. But the basic principles and broad fundamentals of democratic decentralization remained identical throughout the country. Thus, the Panchayati Raj system came into existence in 1959 with two basic objectives. These were (1) democratic decentralization and (2) local participation in planned programmes. The new system of Panchayat Raj Institutions was first adopted in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh in 1959, followed by Assam, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in 1960, Maharashtra in 1962, and Gujarat and West Bengal in 1963 and 1964 respectively. By the mid-sixties, the hype to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) gave way to a growing tendency of centralization and the PRIs descended to ground zero. To revive the working of PRIs, the Janata Government in 1977 appointed a committee headed by Ashok Mehta to study the functioning of PRIs and to suggest measures for improvement. The committee suggested a minor change in the Balwantray Mehta Scheme. Mehta (1978), in the Report of the Committee of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) identified three phases of Panchayati Raj in India

Planned Strategies for Rural Development in India

The Food and Agriculture Ministry appointed a Committee to examine the Grow More Food activities of the Government which were in implementation and to suggest measures for ensuring rapid expansion of agricultural production. The Grow More Food Campaign Inquiry Committee pointed out that there was imperative “Need of an organisation for intensive rural work which would reach every farmer and assist in the coordinated development of rural life as a whole similar in conception to the “extension” or “advisory’” services in the U.S.A., the U.K. and elsewhere.” One of the recommendations of the Committee was that an extension agency should be set up for rural work, which would reach every farmer and assist in the coordinated development of rural life. The Planning Commission set up the Government of India in 1950 to formulate the First Five Year Plan summarized the reasons for failure of the earlier efforts by the governmental and voluntary organisations as follows

Pre-Independence Rural Development Programmes

Rural development traces back its history to the seventeenth century when voluntary efforts to serve the mankind were initiated by a religious society of people known as ‘Friends’ or ‘Quakers’ in England, then the other parts of World including India. It aimed at providing services to mankind transcending bonds of religion, territory and culture. During the British period, the British government was never serious about the rural development. But, they acted under compelling situation like famines and economic distress. During 1800 to 1825, it was reported that there were five famines; during 1825 to 1850, two famines; during 1850 to 1875, six famines; and during 1875 to 1900, there were eighteen famines in different parts of the country. Famines forced the British government in to action. The Famine Commission of 1880, 1898, 1901, the Irrigation Committee of 1903, the Commission on Co-operation of 1915 and the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture were the efforts of the Government to improve the economic condition of the common man, but seldom were the reports of the commissions implemented in right spirit. However, during these periods, the most active role in the field of rural development was played by the Christian missionaries who aimed at the all-round development of their Christian converts. In the year 1987, British Government heeding to the representation made by Manchester Cotton Supply Association established the Department of Revenue, Agriculture and Commerce. But, this department did not do much related to agriculture development except the collection of agricultural statistics.

Rural Development : Concept and Meaning

Mahatma Gandhi said, “India lives in its villages. If the village perishes, India will perish too”. This saying about the social, economic and political development of rural areas justifies that India is predominantly an agrarian country with more than 70 percent of its population living in more than five lakh villages. Agriculture is the predominant livelihood occupation and the rural population largely consists of small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, artisans and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. A large part of this rural population is still living below the poverty line and is the focus of rural development programmes. Rural Development is not a new concept for India rather it is a very basic principle of our culture. The famous epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata teach us the dignity of humanity and benevolence and justice to people. In ancient days, our villages were self-sufficient and requiring very little assistance from outsiders. However, during British rule, the rural economy was destroyed and the rural mass was made dependent on goods and services provided by outsiders. There was no rural development policy as such to make the people self-reliant. Some of the rural development activities were taken up by the British Government in India during the Great Bengal Famine. These attempts were of very limited scale without having legal sanctions behind the move.

Data Collection and Report Writing

Many a times you may be asked questions like what is the average milk production of deshi cows of your area? What is the average lactation period of CB cows of your area? or maybe what is the impact of AI programme in your area? etc., by your higher officers. How to answer all these questions? All these questions may be answered scientifically if you possess elementary knowledge on statistics. We have to frame a research design and to collect data to answer these questions.

What is Data ?

Data is a collection of facts, such as numbers, words, measurements, observations or even just descriptions of things. Example: 5, Ram, Kilogram, Good, Male, etc. Independently they do not produce any meaning.

These are special types of information, generally obtained through observation, surveys, enquiries or are generated as a result of human activities.

Once you have decided what to study and how to study, you are faced with the task of systematically collecting reliable and valid evidence upon which you can base your findings. Data (singular datum) are facts which are observed and measurable phenomena. The purpose of gathering and summarizing data is to transform them into information. The data collected in the research study may be quantitative or qualitative in nature. Quantitative data can be counted and can be computed. Such as age of a boy, marks scored by a student, distance, etc. Quantitative data are easier for analysis. We also collect qualitative data like sex of a person as Male or Female or Transgender. The qualitative characteristics can be counted, but as such cannot be computed. For example, we may get “Yes’ or “No” to a question to farmers about vaccination of his animals. For this “Yes” or “No” , we may assign 0 to “Yes” and 1 to “No” in an artificial or nominal way to categorise these qualitative data, and go for computation. So, quantitative data are expressed in the form of numerals and are amenable to statistical analysis readily. Whereas, qualitative data are descriptive in nature and can be statistically analysed only after processing and after having them classified into some appropriate categories. Data is required to make a decision in any business situation. The researcher is faced with one of the most difficult problems of obtaining suitable, accurate and adequate data. Utmost care must be exercised while collecting data because the quality of the research results depends upon the reliability of the data. There are basically two sources from which we obtain data for our research works. They are known as primary data and secondary data.

Extension Programme: Planning and Evaluation

The first step to promote any extension programme is to prepare useful programme based on community need. Extension Programme planning is a blueprint or plan to an extension worker for effective execution. It is a procedure of working with people in an effort to identify and recognise the unsatisfactory situations or problems and to determine the possible solutions. To understand the extension programme planning process, certain basic concepts of an extension programme, planning and extension planning need to be understood.

Programme

The word ‘programme’ has several distinct meanings in the dictionary. It means a proclamation, a prospectus, a list of events, a plan of procedure, a course of action prepared or announced beforehand, a logical sequence of operations to be performed in solving a problem. This is a written statement which describes the extension activities proposed, the problems they address, the premises on which they are based, the objectives they seek to attain, the actions and the resources they require.