ROLE OF EXHIBITION AND FAIR TO PROMOTE AND GENERATE INCOME

What's the use of producing any product unless it is sold at a desired price? For a low income family their main target is to earn livelihood after learning a particular skill. ,Even learning a particular skill can not sustain their interest of learning unless their target of earning is solved to live a better life style .Marketing of any product is quite tough for an individual effort .Door to door campaign and survey of any product before launching any thing is time consuming and laborious.Under this circumstance exhibition and fair can play a very important role . 

In a well planned exhibition and fair products are shown to the public directly. The fair may be promoted and strengthened through TV and radio broadcasts, demonstrations, leaflets, handouts, manuals and sample products. It is such a place where the buyers directly meet producers . Fairs have a built-in potential for enhancing income generation in the longer term because if properly planned with social and market needs in mind, they can stimulate demand for products .An advantage for the learners is the concrete experience provided to undertake market analysis,  promote products ,consolidate  skills, improve quality of production, and raise funds for larger scale production .For the buyers fair is a place of wide variety of the same type of objects at the cheapest rate as there is no middle man in between the producer and the purchaser.It is a pleasure to watch the artisans to create new objects just in front of the eyes. Appreciation from the buyers inspire the creativity of the artisans to create even better art objects .Thereby the quality improves .So a frequent organisation of exhibition and fair will definitely play an important role to promote new income generation schemes . 

DOES MODERNIZATION COME SIMPLY THROUGH INDUSTRY AND MACHINES?

Now a days people give more importance to industry and machines .The thrust is on modernization. Here a point may be raised – Does modernization come simply through Industry and Machines? To my mind `Modernization‘ is an attitude. Up-gradation in the quality of life style may be achieved even along with industrialization. Without rural development with different poverty alleviation projects along with non-formal education practically no improvement is possible in the true sense in any country. So industrialization and integral rural development may go hand in hand. Even at the school level if proper curriculum is introduced it might result in good and self-sufficient human resources in the future.

TARGETING THE GROUP FOR PLANNING A SPECIFIC INCOME GENERATING PROGRAMME

Different people have different choice of vocations. When an agency plans to work for a community they must have a blue print of work which will include specific goal and the method of execution to implement and reach that goal .In this regard  Government must give support to the agency .When it is the question of earning, the planners must keep in mind that learning the basic skill is totally different from marketing the produced object. So the curriculum must include the marketing aspects of the product when framing the income generating programme .Every project must have a definite market in their aim in view while targeting a particular group. After execution of the project in practical life every project must be followed up properly to give the best of its result .

CAN WE STOP DROP OUT ?

In the third world countries the number of drop out of students is quite alarming .Naturally the question that comes to mind is why such a thing happens , when we all understand the value of education?

Rural people have not shown adequate interest to participate in literacy development programmes which focus on literacy alone. This is because literacy alone has not improved their standard of living or income raising capacity. Sometimes even it is found that occupational skill development programmes have been conducted on the assumption that the skills acquired would enable participants to engage in gainful employment but it did not have any effective result. It is  because most found it difficult to become involved in income generating activities without follow-up support services for placement either in wage or self-employment. Even functional literacy can be grown along with various skill development for income generating programmes if follow-up services particularly  earning is ensured by providing  money or funds through easy bank loans (with rural people as shareholders) and marketing the products. This integrated approach has two benefits. Firstly, it encourages rural people to participate in literacy and post-literacy development programmes on a wider scale, secondly, it ensures their absorption in appropriate income generating activities. 

THREE CATEGORIES OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE

In a society there are generally three categories of unemployed people according to their low, moderate and high achievement of literacy. In the low literacy group belong :-

·         People living in rural areas as small scale farmers  or landless labourers;

·         People having only seasonal employment with little or no work for more than half of the time

·         Slum dwellers without employment

·         People with low percentage of literacy, especially lower percentage among the rural people and still lower percentage among women due to low enrollment in primary and secondary schools and a high dropout rate.

·         A huge number of illiterate youth and adults with semi rather having simply functional literacy. 

The moderate literate group comprises of :-

·         People with high percentage of literacy, a higher percentage of enrollment and a low dropout rate

·         Increasing number of school leavers at primary, middle and secondary stages waiting to be absorbed in economic activities

The literate group comprises of:-

·         People having high percentage of literacy , having reached the stage of autonomous learning comprising of unemployed youth ,housewives and retired persons.

Whenever any public or private organisation is making any plan to empower the unemployed ,they have to keep in mind that percentage of population who are learners, leaving before the completion of secondary and higher secondary stages. The growing concentration of people in urban areas accompanied by thinning population in rural communities , rapid shift from an agrarian to an industrial society and rapidly decreasing engagement in agriculture related activities with corresponding increases in the service, manufacturing and high technology can only be balanced if employment is generated in rural areas.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE AS A COMMUNITY DEVELOPER

We all know the term BPL i.e. below poverty level. But we must admit that this level differs according to the economic condition of a particular country .It can also be said that it is a relative term .Likewise self-sufficiency and quality of life also differ .This poverty line is the indicator of those who depend upon the rest of the community for their livelihood. From this point of view we may say Income Generating Programmes work as a bridge to minimise the gap between the haves and the have nots .Human resource is the only driving force for the economic development of a nation .The negative aspect of the people at or below poverty line can be redressed by equipping  them with knowledge , skill, self-sufficiency and values to become the positive contributor of the society .Income generating plan might attract even other who do not belong to below poverty line as it covers various occupations ,industries and groups of the community not simply the poor. Vocational training and its execution by different co-operatives and self-help groups can play a major role in this regard.it may even become the source of main community developer in a developing country. Such trainings will open the avenues of empowering people of their exact needs by developing self-confidence through team spirit and thereby continuously upgrading a learning process of particular skills of a definite community.