No abstract

Out of 66.00% of rural population in India, majority are landless labours depending on the mercy of employment providers for their livelihood. This population is the most vulnerable section to poverty, underemployment, access to development, etc. Therefore the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been implemented by the Government of India to improve the living standards of rural poor. This study conducted in Erode district of Tamil Nadu revealed that major impacts of MGNREGA activities on agriculture were in the aspects like soil ecology attributes, water attributes, crop attributes, society attributes, economics attributes, market attributes and labour availability attributes. Majority of the respondents expressed that soil moisture, water percolation, ground water table, area under irrigation, area under cultivation, adoption of crop management technologies, social participation and farm mechanization had increased with improvement in water holding capacity, soil texture, knowledge and skill on crop production due to the activities undertaken under MGNREGA programme.

The role of women in tribal communities is substantial and crucial. They constitute about half the total population but in tribal society women are more important than in other social groups, because they work harder and the family economy and management depends on them. Awais et al. (2009). This study was designed to investigate the role performance of tribal women of the Nilgiris district in farm management. A sample of 180 tribal women was taken as respondents for the study. The results suggest that the Irula tribal women performed roles like cultivating traditional crop varieties (4.30), preservation of forest produce (4.30), livestock maintenance (4.30) and cultivating medicinal plants (4.17) for example Coleus aromaticus, Spilanthus calva, Solanum nigrum, Eclipta prostrate, Withania somnifera. Their high level of role performance in activities like nutrient management for the crops (4.30), utilization of locally available resources (4.30), using farm yard manure (4.17) and watershed management (4.00) were found out.