BLENDING OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH INNOVATION IN PLANTATION

ACTIVITY

Joyjit Sanyal Dr. Sujit Sikidar

Assistant Professor, Professor,

Department of Commerce, Department of Commerce,

Assam University Diphu Campus, Gauhati University,

Diphu, Karbi Anglong, Assam- 782462. Jalukhbari, Guwahati.

Ph. No: +91-97063-80115.

e-mail: joyjit50@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Many local tribal people in Karbi Anglong district had undertaken plantation as an alternative

vocation for earning their livelihood. They are the first generation entrepreneurs without having

any past experiences and heritage in plantation activities. Considering the climatic condition,

topography and soil structure, the people of Karbi Anglong district found it to be an alternative

vocation to sustain their livelihood and this is how the first generation entrepreneurial activities

have emerged in the present study area.

This research paper is based on a the researchers’ firsthand information with regards to the

entrepreneurial venture of the local tribal people in the plantation activity, the reasons for

selecting the same and the motivational aspects in this regards.

Key words: Rubber, Sandal wood, Bamboo, Plantation, Entrepreneurs.

1. INTRODUCTION:

1.1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Entrepreneurship is a combination of psychological, sociological, economic and cultural

variables, which is called Entrepreneurship mix. These variables may be classified as dependent,

independent and interdependent which up to a certain limit can be manipulated. In the light of

constitutional provisions in India, education happens to be a decisive factor in shaping a person’s

future. Therefore, in entrepreneurship mix education play an important role as then only people

can move from other dependent and interdependent factor. Also, Education is the prime key

driver for economic development of a country. It helps in creating proper condition for the

growth or emergence of entrepreneurship activity. In a country like India education plays an

important role for inclusive development for the country as a whole.

Entrepreneurship activity in India has grown more out of necessity than an opportunity in India.

During the 9th

plan period, emphasis was given to vocational courses in which an element of

entrepreneurship was introduced at the graduate level. A paper on entrepreneurship and its

relevance in India was taught at the last leg of vocational stream. The whole idea was to enable

graduate taking entrepreneurship but it failed as it could not built the spirit of entrepreneurship in

the minds of young to motivate them to start new business.

1.2. PLANTATION:

The term ‘Plantation’ has been defined under the Plantation Labour Act 1951 to include any

plantation to which the Act, whether wholly or in parts applies and includes offices, hospital

dispensaries, school or other premises used for any other purpose connected with such

plantation. Section 1(14) of the Act applies to any land or intends to be used for growing tea,

coffee, rubber, cinchona and cardamom which measure 5hectare or more and in which fifteen or

more persons are employed or were employed on any draft of the proceeding 12 month.

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The present research enquiry is undertaken with the following objectives with the hope

that a new stock of knowledge may be created with the study undertaken:

To venture into the potentialities and scope of entrepreneurial development in the

region with regards to different activities.

To study the problems and prospects of entrepreneurship development in the region.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY :

3.1 PROFILE OF THE PLANTATION ACTIVITIES OF DIPHU, KARBI

ANGLONG DISTRICT OF ASSAM :

Plantation crops like rubbers and sandalwood are high value crops of great economic

importance and provide huge employment opportunity. Suitable land and also agro climatic

condition provide favorable environment for rubber and sandalwood plantation.

Expansion of cultivation, which is one of the reasons for stepping up rubber and sandalwood

production on a sustainable basis, is taking place mainly in non-traditional areas. Diphu is

one of such non-traditional areas identified by Rubber Board of India. There is a growing

popularity of rubber cultivation in the area. Rubber plantation offer ways for generating

additional revenue for the growers.

The beneficiaries under the various scheme of rubber board may also avail of long term

financial bank loans in order to supplement the financial and other assistance granted by the

Board as well as to acquire financial liquidity for undertaking the plantation operation. The

Board will in such instance provide the required technical support to the bank concerned

extending finance.

It is gathered from the concerned people that both rubber and sandalwood cultivation is

highly income generating if managed properly. The small scale cultivators or a grower of

rubber and sandalwood is emerging in the district. The implication of this development on

firm will be significant. There are of course, several inherent problems of small scale

cultivation of rubber and sandalwood like capital lock up due to long gestation period, capital

intensive, nature of production systems, processing and marketing problems.

In Diphu, both Rubber and sandalwood plantations are very popular and the growers are very

much interested in cultivating such crops. The land is climatic in nature which is suitable for

both types of plantation activities.

2.2. RESEACH DESIGN :

The research design for this study is descriptive in nature. Descriptive researches are those

studies which are concerned with describing the characteristic of a particular individual, or of

a group. A descriptive research design can be either quantitative or qualitative. Descriptive

research involves gathering data that describes events and then organizing, tabulation,

depiction and describing the data collection (Glass and Hopkin, 1984). It includes survey and

fact finding.

2.3. DATA COLLECTION :

For the purpose of the present study, primary data has been collected exclusively by the

Researchers from the field directly by visiting the areas concerned. The Researchers have

conducted Personal Interview with different local people to gather information of varying

nature relating to the subject matter.

2.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY :

In course of conducting the survey the researchers faced difficulty in establishing

communication linkage with the local entrepreneurs because most of them are not fluent in

any language other than their mother tongue. As a result, the researchers have taken the help

of university student belonging to Karbi Community.

3. THE PRESENT STUDY AND ITS RELEVANT FINDINGS:

The present researchers have ventured in to the region with the quest of finding out the

different opportunities’ underlying in the region for entrepreneurial development and have

been able to formulate the idea that mostly two types of plantation activities have been

flourishing in the last two decades in the Karbi Anglong District of Assam and both the

activities have huge potentialities for its growth as an entrepreneurial activity in the near

future due to a lot of favourable reasons. Apart from the above two types of plantation

activities, the bamboo plantation activity is also gradually speeding up with different types of

bamboos like the ‘Chinese Bamboo’ having the capability to grow up in the soil structure of

Karbi Anglong. Along with plantation activities, the region also has the potentialities of the

growth of rare medicinal plants and herbs.

However, following are the relevant findings with regards to the present study:

There was no force from the external agency. The people themselves volunteered to

take up the occupation when they realized that with these activities they can sustain

their livelihood and thus entrepreneurial activity emerged in the present study area.

Subsequently the tribal entrepreneurs in the area of rubber plantation were brought

under the support system of the Rubber Board of India.

Apart from Rubber Cultivation, the people also undertook Sandal Cultivation in their

domestic premises out of the encouragement offered by the State Forest Department

and the planters gradually started realizing the benefit of deriving commercial gain

out of plantation activity.

In course of our field survey, during the period 2014-15, as a close participant

observer over the plantation activities, we realized that the return or yield out of

plantation activity is comparatively much higher than the gain obtained from any

other activity.

We have gathered that a plantation worker can generate an income of Rs. 165 per

sheet of rubber dried up by keeping it in the open space for around 15 days. Such

rubber sheet is collected from their doorstep by the contractors engaged by the

Rubber Board to collect same from the growers.

In course of our field survey in the study area during the month of August and

September, 2015, we gathered that the entire area from Diphu town towards

Recreation Park, 5 mile is flooded with Rubber and Sandal wood plantation which are

planted by the local tribal people. This kind of plantation at the private initiative

without any government assistance is unique in the history of Sandalwood cultivation

in India other than the Karnataka State.

Sandal wood in open market couldn’t be found by the present researchers when they

undertook a field survey over the city of Bangalore in the month of February, 2014.

The two wildlife sanctuaries located on both sides of National Highway from Mysore

to Utkamond which are the store house of sandal wood plantation but felling of

sandalwood is prohibited as a preservative step.

The sandalwood plantation in Diphu is unique in the whole of India which are

undertaken in the Diphu area of Karbi Anglong district of Assam. One plantation of

sandalwood has been developed in the recreational park, 7 k.m from Diphu town

under the aegis of Forest Department, Govt. of Assam. The Recreational Park is

located at NH 33 from Diphu to Manja going upto Moreh Border in Burma. The park

being located in NH 33, Diphu- Manja which can be linked to the transnational

roadway upto Moreh border in Manipur and then entering to Burma.

Mr. Ranjan Baruah, the Ranger in the park has taken an initiative to preserve and

cultivate precious sandalwood plants and other 600 varieties of medicinal plants in

the park.

The park also contains a deer park and a tortoise park comprising around 8 numbers

of tortoises, some of whom are as old as 250 years or more. Besides the forest

department park, the local tribal people and taken up sandalwood plantation as an

entrepreneurial venture when they were supplied with free siblings for cultivating and

nurturing at the domestic premises of the tribal people.

In course of our field survey, we noticed that the plantation is not very old, a

sandalwood plant generally require 15 years to grow and to be able to produe yield. It

is reported to us when we contacted the forest officials engaged in the recreation park

on 18th

September, 2015 that once the plants are grown up each plant can contribute

roughly 1.5 crores of Rupees.

The local people are becoming financially well- off out of the plantation activities and

seeing the future prospect of such precious cultivation of decorative Chinese bamboo,

one is yellow in colour stationed in 12 locations by the eastern side of the boundary

wall, is worth eye- treating. Besides, there is also a cluster of decorative piece of

black coloured bamboo plantation in the park which is equally worth admiring.

The park is also a house of rare species of around 600 medicinal plants grown up and

nurtured in the park.

We admire the entrepreneurial work of the forest official and supporting staffs

working in the recreational park. They are trained by the official staff of higher

ranking. Training is an important element for cultivation and preservation relating to

plantation work.

It has been reported to us that the deer in the park has a natural sequence of an

interval of every 4-5 years, the horn shell of deer on attaining some maturity

automatically comes out of the body of the deer, and fresh horn shell again grows at

the forehead of the deer. The park official collects those horns from the park and

preserve it in the museum of the forest department located in the park itself.

Bamboo cultivation, bamboo made products and use of bamboo as a decorative piece

for art objective is an important milestone of the plantation activity in Diphu.

A tribal hut and the design of Karbi hamlet and housing pattern has been erected

within the park without any use of cement and steel. A big hut with around 25 feet

height was erected by using locally available bamboo only. The hut contains the

image and replica of a Karbi Tribal couple has been erected and placed in the western

part of the park made exclusively with local available bamboo.

The park has the potential to become an International tourist hub incase steps are

initiated by the concerned agencies.

4. CONCLUSION:

The plantation activities and its artistic design, is appreciable preservation for local art, culture,

heritage objects that have been created in the park will act as a monument for future generation

to know the artistic quality. Sense of preservation and usefulness and of the plantation products

to sustain human lives, would curb out a golden place in the conservation effort of bio- diversity

and flora-fauna plantation, commercial use of planted objects in fostering the human civilizations

and sustaining human life with co-existence and complimentarily of the life of man and nature in

the national landscape of India.

Photo: A glimpse of Bamboo plantation.

Photo: A Sandal wood tree in the plantation garden.

Photo: Tortoises ageing more than 250 years old.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The Researchers would like acknowledge their thanks to Mr. Bishnu Terang, Student of Assam

University Diphu Campus, M.Com 3rd

Semester for his kind help in interacting with the local

people of the region. The Authors would also take the special opportunity to convey their thanks

and gratitude to the ‘Forest Officials’ of the Recreational park for their valuable time and co-

operation in providing the much needed information for the purpose of the present research

enquiry.

REFERENCES:

Sanyal Joyjit, Sikidar Sujit, Timung Ajit: Socio-economic condition of Rubber

Plantation Workers- A Synoptic Study, Journal for Studies in Management and

Planning, October 2015 issue, ISSN- 2395-0463.

Sanyal Joyjit, Das Amrita: Enterpreneurship In Education Sector In North-East

Region With Special Reference to Assam: Academicia (South- Asian Academic

Journal), January 2015 issue, ISSN: 2249-7137.

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