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Subhankar Chhandogi

Over the years it has been found that the impact on the various developmental issues have been generally not due to one or two schemes in particular but has been due to a combination of interventions from number of schemes / programmes. Thus evaluation taken up of these schemes has been fragmented, i.e. each scheme is evaluated separately, and that makes it very difficult to get an overall & compact picture of the development-taking place. It renders assessment of a specific scheme’s impact rather difficult. It is because of the fact that most of these schemes are inter linked, complimenting and supplementing each other. Thus it was found very difficult to attribute to a particular scheme / programme the reasons of success or failure in the developmental process. Hence in a workshop organized under the aegis of the Planning Commission in which the leading NGOs and other reputed institutions had also participated a view was taken to adopt an area-based approach for the evaluation of the impact of the various schemes of the Government of India. It is for this reason the present study has been carried out to document the Mahuatongri village of Angara block, Ranchi district, Jharkhand.

A long-term bottom-up approach is necessary for the implementation of any development scheme in a village for the sustainability and acceptability of the schemes. In order to get substantive understanding of the prevailing situation in the project area, the baseline information is of immense importance for the project implementation and the lessons for follow-up. In order to have a holistic documentation of the villages of the region, it was decided to conduct a baseline survey to create a database that can be utilized in the future for benefit of the inhabitants in the long-run. The data analysis of this survey delineates the social and economic background of Mahuatongri, and provides a careful examination of strengths and vulnerabilities associated with this particular village.

A purposive sampling was done to select the study area. Data have been collected from 56 families and some key informants selected among themselves by the help of a pre-designed schedule as well as the other known social research methods like case study, observation, isolational and group interview. The method of analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. The population characteristics has been explained on the basis of age-sex structure, Population by Caste, Child Women ratio, Family type, Family Size, Household Income, House Type, Water resources, Daily Activity Calendar, Marital status, Land holding etc. to assess the overall socio-economic condition of the villagers. The agricultural aspects, health and educational scenario, religious life in the village and its association with different livelihood aspects and life cycle have been comprehensively analysed. Different development activities carried out in the village has been summarized and its impact over the villagers is discussed. Some specific suggestions are also provided on the basis of the findings for the holistic development of the village.

Key word: Baseline, Household, Family, Population, Age-sex structure, Education, Health, Developmental issues, Schemes / Programmes.