Gerry Rodgers An eminent economist, he worked extensively on poverty & employment in Bihar, currenty working as director(training) ILO,Geneva.

In April we returned to Mazgama and Pokharia, two villages in Purnia District, for the first time since 1981. It was our third visit. In 1970 we had found these villages deep in poverty, with poor links to the outside world, and benefitting little from government programmes. Still, there was hope for the future. The Kosi canal irrigation system was under construction across village lands, and the increasing availability of high yielding seeds offered possibilities for agricultural development. But in 1981, we found the situation little changed. The Kosi canal system provided no irrigation water and increased vulnerability to flood. Agricultural development was limited. Some tubewell irrigation had begun, but the main pattern was one of stagnation. Incomes were if anything even lower than in 1970; certainly wages had declined. A few workers were seeking employment outside the village - earthwork in Assam, for instance - but most remained dependent on local agriculture. Levels of mortality among agricultural labourers were high. As we approached the villages in April 1999, signs of change were evident. At the village itself, the first stop was a cluster of shops on the road, including a small pharmacy, a cycle repair shop and some general stores. This was new, a sign that there was money to spend in an economy which was hardly monetized at all before. We talked to villagers, and returned to households we had visited before to find out how their lives had changed. The pattern soon became clear. Agriculture in the villages had improved a little - tubewell irrigation had spread, and more fertilizer-intensive crops were being grown. But the change was small, given that 18 years had passed, hardly sufficient to keep pace with population growth and certainly not enough to explain the apparently healthy local economy. Some non-agricultural activities had also emerged, mainly in commerce and transport, but they appeared to be a consequence of increased income rather than a cause. The main factor in the change was a massive increase in migration. Villagers were migrating, not permanently, but for 2, 4 or 6 months at a time, to work in Delhi, Punjab, Western UP or Haryana. Migration of this sort is nothing new in Bihar, but the scale had changed. Now ,in virtually every labour family with an able-bodied male member, there was at least one migrant, often 2 or 3. In Western India ,the migrants could earn double the local wages, and their remittances and savings were pouring thousands of rupees into the local economy. Local wages had risen sharply as well, responding to the competition from the national labour market. As a result, the incomes and consumption levels of the poorest groups - agricultural labour households - had risen markedly. So poverty in these villages had declined, and on the whole it was the poorest groups who benefitted most. It was a welcome surprise. But the improvements stemmed from economic growth which was occurring, not in Bihar, but elsewhere in India. Whether these changes will lead to sustainable development locally will depend on whether these monetary flows can find their way into productive investment. Janine Rodgers Gerry Rodgers