Socio-Economic Survey

of

Gudwanwadi Checkdam Project

By

Satyajeet Somwanshi

Priyadarshi Dash

D. Parthasarathy

Prashant

Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

1

June 2006

Contents

Page

Nos.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Profile of Gudwanwadi

Chapter 3. Problems of Water Scarcity and CTARA Initiative.

Chapter 4. Community Mobilization

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Chapter 5. Baseline Survey: Data Analysis

Chapter 6. Summary and Conclusion

Appendix I Check dam Project Destination Map

Appendix II Village Survey Profile

Appendix III Household Interview schedule

Chapter 1

Introduction

Several districts in coastal Maharashtra face the perennial problem of water shortage

despite getting bountiful rains during the monsoons. Lack of water is a particularly acute

problem during the months after the monsoon season. Raigad is one such district, where a

number of villages and hamlets inhabited by adivasis or tribals face acute water shortage

leads to many health and socio-economic problems.

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IIT Bombay decided to intervene in this situation to set up a series of small checkdams to

prevent runoff of rainwater, store water for use after the monsoons, and recharge ground

water. The first project has been taken up in Gudwanwadi village of Karjat block of

Raigad district in Maharashtra. Gudwanwadi is the tribal hamlet of the village ‘Gudwan’

having a total population of 364 comprising 45 households. The total population of the

Raigad district is 18,24,816, of which the tribal population is 2,33,953 (12.82 % of the

total population of the district, which is higher than the state and national average)1.

Most of the households in Gudwanwadi hamlet live below the poverty line. Further,

51.11% households are landless. The main community in the village – the Thakars find a

place at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy. While the overall literacy rate is

44.67 %, the literacy rate among persons below the age of 25 is around 90%. However,

the extent of unemployment in the hamlet is very high. Basically the villagers depend on

agriculture for their livelihood. However, it is hard for them to survive on agriculture

alone. As a result, the working population of the hamlet migrates to nearby mainstream

towns and cities. Large-scale migration occurs in the lean season between November and

May, the extent ranging from 60-80 % in Karjat taluka. Families migrate to work on brick

kilns in the villages or towns nearby and also engage in agricultural or construction

labour. Agriculture in the village is of a subsistence type and is rainfed. Rice is the staple

crop in the hamlet. About 44.44 % farmers in the hamlet are marginal farm households

with the average landholding ranging from 0 to 1 acres. Only two households (4.44 %)

have cultivable land in the range of 1 to 5 acres. Livestock and poultry are conspicuous

by their absence since people cannot afford to maintain them. Although Gudwanwadi

receives copious rainfall during the monsoon (around 1200-1600 cm), water holding and

retaining structures or irrigation facilities are almost absent.

1Annual Tribal Sub-Plan 2000-2001, Tribal Development Department, Government of Maharashtra.

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The staple diet consists of rice, dal and vegetables. In nutritional terms, this falls far short

of the requirements of a balanced diet. Poverty also contributes in placing a nutritionally

sound diet beyond the reach of the average household. Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM)

is widespread. This is manifested in the form of various diseases among the people,

women and children mostly.

Against this background, a technical team from CTARA- Centre for Technology

Alternatives for Rural Areas, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay visited the hamlet

and nearby villages for a preliminary understanding of the socio-economic problems of

the area in mid - 2005. It was observed that the drinking water problem was severe in most

villages in the area. After surveying several villages and assessing their suitability to start

a pilot project, Gudwanwadi hamlet was selected for the construction of a check dam in

consultation with a local NGO Academy of Development Sciences (ADS) in order to

address the drinking water problem on a priority basis.

The Check dam work was executed with the support of a construction firm Gangotree,

specializing in social infrastructure projects, and the NGO Academy of Development

Sciences. A village “Water Committee” (WC) was set up to carry out and implement the

work. The Water Committee consisted of four male and four female members who

participated in the entire decision-making as well as project implementation process.

Moreover the role of labor enforcement and labour payment was also coordinated by the

Water Committee. The Water Committee regulated the work force according to the

demand of daily work on the construction site; they gave an opportunity to every

household on a rotating basis to get employment on the project site and get a wage

incomes. They also monitored the work to reduce the gender discrimination. The water

committee was actively involved in village meetings to solve the labour issues as well as

technical problems that aroseduring the construction. Each Member of water committee

also worked as a supervisor on the check dam site. Weekly meetings of IITB, Gangotree,

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ADS and Water Committee helped to resolve emerging problems and issues. The

allocation and plotting of the land for those willing to donate land for the check-dam site

which was a major task was resolved sincerely through a community consensus. Equal

wages for male and female were offered in the initial phase of work; however, the labor

charges slightly rose for male laborers for their ‘heavier’ work profile. The labour force

was equally divided between men and women.

The main objective for the building the check dam was to hold enough water so that the

drinking needs for the village population and their livestock are met for the entire year.

In order to assess the long-term impact of this check dam on the livelihood and life style

of Gudwanwadi community, as well as to enable better implementation of the project, it

was felt necessary to have a preliminary database of the hamlet. A socio-economic survey

of Gudwanwadi was conducted during the months of April-May 2006. A semi-structured

questionnaire was used, along with focused group discussions (FGDs) and informal

interviews. In addition, participatory rural appraisal (PRA) were also done to understand

the history, evolution and dynamics of the community. Since a professional social work

practitioner was involved in the research, it was not just of an academic nature, but

involved action research as well in the form of collective action, mobilization, and

Community Organization.

The rest of the chapters in this report are organized as follows. Chapter II provides a

socio-economic and demographic profile of Gudwanwadi village. Chapter III outlines and

assesses the consequences and problems related to water scarcity. The IV Chapter presents

an overview of the community mobilization and collective action efforts and initiatives as

part of the project. Chapter 5 presents and analyses the data from the baseline socio-

economic survey that was conducted in the village. Chapter 6 provides a summary and

conclusions.

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Chapter 2

Profile of Gudwanwadi

The Community: Raigad district is one of the most populated districts of the Adivasi

(Scheduled Tribe) community in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. The Adivasis who are

present in Gudwanwadi are the Thakars, while the Katkaris are also prominent in the

region. These tribes are concentrated in different parts of the district. There is a hierarchy

of tribes, but this hierarchy is ambiguous and may not be accepted by a particular tribe in

question.

In Raigad district particularly, the tribal community is often characterized by mutual

mistrust. Thakars believe themselves to be superior to Katkaris but Katkaris believe that

they are not dominated by any other community. This may happen because the community

is polarized along political lines in several villages, where the Kunbi upper strata land

owing community also one of the dominant social groups.

Life Style of women: A striking feature of the Adivasi community in Gudwanwadi

hamlet is the relatively high status of the women. Though ‘patriarchal’, the women are

quite mobile and work participation rates are quite high – they are engaged in work in the

field as also as migrant labour (something that upper strata of Indian society does not

allow). It is not uncommon to find married couples and the wife’s parents living together.

Women lead extremely busy lives and do most of the work. Adivasi culture permits

practices, which may be frowned upon in non-Adivasi societies.

Culture: Adivasis possesses a unique culture of their own. This ranges from their

pantheon of gods – Hirva, Vaghoba, Gaondevi to name a few – to rituals and the

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celebration of festivals. While traditional Hindu festivals such as Ganesh Mahotsav,

Dassehra and Holi are celebrated in a unique fashion. Ganesh Mahotsav is celebrated by

men, women and children dancing together in circular formulation and singing songs

relating to everyday life – the sun, the rain, the animals, the family members gone far

away, and so on, reflecting the survival of animism2 among this indigenous community. It

is interesting to note that there is little connection with the occasion per se which

celebrates Rama’s victory over Ravana in battle. This phenomenon seems to symbolize a

singular adaptation of tradition with modern religious influence.

A Thakar Family

Life Pattern: Gudwanwadi community suffers from a high degree of economic

deprivation. Single season subsistence agriculture is the norm, with the second season

being taken up by migration to brick-kilns and other sorts of daily wage work. This is

despite the fact that the region receives plentiful rainfall in the monsoon. Unfortunately,

the absence of rainwater harvesting methods means that rainwater goes waste and water

sources dry up by January-February.

Thakars are a landless community and depend upon laboring in the farms of land owner

tribal as well as those of non-tribals in nearby villages. This migration could be

categorized as daily migration as they have to go in search of employment in nearby

2 Animism is sociological term for indigenous people’s nature worshiping life style

9

villages to get work and the two square meals a day. Alcoholism is high in the community,

also the consumption of tobacco.

Political Situation: The hamlet is divided into two political party blocks but with the

concern of resolving the water issue both groups have worked together. The Congress

Party, Communist influenced Shetakari Kamagara Party and Shiv Sena are the major

influential parties in the area. However, social-political rivalry does not arise from

ideological commitment; party loyalty is dictated by personal gain more than anything

else.

Health: Health leve;s and attainment in the community is low. This is linked to the

poverty levels in the area. The diet typically comprises rice, yellow dal and vegetables like

bottle gourd or brinjal. There is a deficiency of proteins and carbohydrates, which is

manifested in the form of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). Thus, the incidence of

marasmus and kwashiorkor is common. Poor health is also reflected in low educational

attainment, something discernible among the older generation in the community. Water

scarcity also leads to skin diseases, with scabies as one of the most common problems,

apart from abdominal pains, and respiratory-track infections .

The village population places considerable faith in the traditional healer, the bhagat. The

bhagat’s knowledge is not to be belittled but it is to be accepted that he is unlikely to have

superhuman curative powers, or that illnesses are attributable to spirits that have crept into

one’s body. The trend of seeking Bhagat’s help has been declining but is still prevalent in

Gudwanwadi; people prefer to go to doctors in near by village and towns (Kashele or

Neral). The changing mindset of the community is a result of the Weekly baithak

(spiritual seatings) in the Gudwan village, where a spiritual Guru teaches some facts to

follow scientific methods in daily life and eliminate traditional superstitious practices.

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A third reason for poor health rests in the relative inaccessibility of health services. Private

medical services are generally clustered around towns. Primary Health Centers (PHCs)

and their sub-centers may be better accessed but only relatively. These tend to be poorly

equipped and bribes are charged for injections. Inaccessibility implies travel, which adds

on to the cost of health care. There was a case of a lady who was suffering from

tuberculosis for many months; her family delayed the treatment by almost two months due

to the inaccessibility of the Health Center.

Services: A striking feature about this area is the poor extent of material development

despite its proximity to Mumbai, India’s financial capital. Barely 130 kilometers away

from the metropolis and a mere 15-20 kilometers away from the National Highway No.4,

the village Gudwan was connected by road a mere five years ago from where

Gudwanwadi. Electricity supply came four years ago. The land line phone connections are

still non-existent, but the rivalry of mobile communication services helped to bring a

mobile phone in the tribal hamlet which is the only telecommunication means in

Gudwanwadi.

Electricity: Power connection in the area is a major problem. Most houses are not

electrified. Where electricity is available, it is usually illegal. Teenagers are adept at the art

of ‘hooking up’ from passing power cables. Electricity is too costly anyway. Where

meters were installed, massive unexplained bills landed up all of a sudden from the

Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). Power was officially disconnected due to

high number of defaults, but only officially since it is easy to pilfer. However from mid

March 2006 the MSEB had removed the transformer from the village resulted in the entire

Gudwanwadi facing a black-out.

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At the beginning of the project a sense of status quo pervaded the village community.

Poverty was widely accepted as a problem but there was little attempt to break through it.

There was a lack of self-belief and often a sense of inferiority at being a tribal.

The Gudwanwadi community is stricken with fatalism born out of a sense of inferiority.

This can be attributed to the conventional attitude toward indigenous cultures, which

regards tribal as being less than civilised and looks at tribal cultures with condescension.

This attitude is reinforced by the education system, which provides little exposure to

alternate cultures. Not recognised is the existence of relative egalitarianism and gender

equity that is often closely interwoven into the lives of tribal community. The younger

educated generation is alienated from its own customs and traditions. This is visible; for

instance, in the way film music is supplanting folk songs at marriages and local

celebrations. The influence of urban lifestyles beamed through the visual media is

heightened when youth migrate to nearby towns in the off-season and accentuates the

alienation process. In Gudwanwadi there are two VCD players, three T. V. sets which

work as the home theater for the youth of the community, where they screen latest Hindi

movies almost every night. Imitation of city culture is accompanied by fatalism: the

community believes it is destined to live the way it has lived thus far – through subsistence

agriculture and wage labour. This self-defeating attitude is mirrored in the lack of

enterprise, and especially among school going youth, to a lack of professional ambition.

This attitude is a big impediment to the development of the community.

The Government: Our experiences were also an education of the way in which the

government fails to take note of ground realities. For instance, while it has provided for

construction of new check-dams, the State Government has ruled against disbursement of

funds under the Tenth-five year Plan and Annual Sub Plan of Tribal Development (2000-

2001) for repairing existing check-dams. Thus, a few hundred check-dams in the district

lie in disuse owing to lack of repair. Funds amounting to some crores have been set aside

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for new construction whereas only a fraction is needed to repair existing ones. This rule

has affected the group’s plans for repairing a check-dam in the hamlet. In another

instance, the newly introduced Yashwant Gram Samriddhi Yojana, which entails a 10%

contribution from the Panchayat before the Government releases the rest of the money,

failed to take off in the villages we observed. The government bodies also fail to gain the

confidence of the community because of neglecting the most marginalized section and

providing the services on the basis of bribes. In Gudwanwadi, repairing the bore well

takes months because of the ignorance of the Panchayat Samiti. The Tanker water supply

promises remained in air, and women have to walk 2 to 3 kilometers to fetch water from a

river during the summer. The dismantling of the welfare state under the forces of

liberalization, privatization and globalization has lead to the withdrawal of the state from

areas where it was hitherto present and working even if in an inefficient way. With social

sector infrastructure in rural India inadequate and riddled with corruption, and the private

sector not interested in such projects, initiatives like this in the form of public – private

partnerships may have some promise.

Gudwanwadi

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Chapter 3

Problems of Water Scarcity and CTARA Initiative

Karjat taluka (block) of Raigad district in Maharashtra is known for tourist destinations as

well as natural beauty. The areas taken up by CTARA is close to hill stations such as

Matheran and Bhimashankar in the Sahyadri ranges. The region is populated by many

tribal groups. In spite of natural beauty and heavy rainfall in the area (more than 300 mm

per years), many of the tribal hamlets located in the area face the problem of shortage of

drinking water. Gudwanwadi is a small tribal hamlet suffering from this problem. The

water shortage in the village has led to various socio-economic problems related to their

daily life. In this section an attempt is made to recognize and understand these issues, and

the possible effects of the CTARA initiative, in the form of an alternative technology for

development. What are the consequences of water scarcity? Which groups suffers more

from this problem? How are the social, economic, health related problems likely to be

resolved with the check dam project? Interviews and focused group discussions helped us

to understand the following issues with reference to water scarcity in the village.

1. The lack of water availability in the region post –monsoon, has resulted in the shortage

of drinking water in the village.

2. The lack of drinking water has resulted in increased burden on women in the summer

seasons; they have to walk 2 to 6 Km daily to fetch drinking water. The parents

usually engage their daughter’s in the water fetching work, which has resulted in the

low education rate among the women because parents do not sent their daughters to

the school.

3. The lack of clean drinking water also resulted in the spread of various waterborne

diseases among the villagers like jaundice, dehydration etc.; due to non-availability of

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primary health care facilities in the village, the patients have to suffer a lot and have to

bear heavy medical expenses in treating themselves.

4. The lack of water availability also resulted in low agriculture production due to non-

availability of water for irrigation purposes.

5. Water scarcity in the village also resulted in the lack of fodder production and even the

common pasture land in the near by areas of village dried up in the summer season due

to low water level. This has severely affected the livestock in the village.

6. Shortage of water also resulted in various changes in the social condition of the

village. The people from outside villages are generally do not prefer to marry their

daughter in the village. They felt that if they give their daughter in marriage inthe

village then her entire life would be devoted to the task of fetching the water.

7. Water scarcity over a long period has led to an increase in migration of people to the

urban areas. The villagers generally migrate to urban areas in the summer season for

working on construction site or brick kilns etc.

8. The low agricultural production and rampant poverty in the village has forced the

villagers to take money on high interest rate from outside people and become indebted.

The increased indebtedness resulted in increased psychological and poor health status

of the villagers.

9. Overall the village has a low social status of the village in the region

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Women engaged in fetching water with three Ghadas on head

The CTARA Initiative to answer water problems: In view of the above problems, the

Center for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) of Indian Institute of

Technology, Bombay in collaboration with Academy of Development Sciences (ADS)

planed to construct small dams in some tribal hamlets in the region. The main objective of

the initiative is to create small check dams to hold enough water so that the drinking water

needs for the village and their livestock are met for the whole year. In addition the small

dams will also help recharge ground water levels, resulting in dug wells having water

throughout the year. For the purpose of the project initially CTARA and ADS have

selected Gudwanwadi, a small tribal hamlet of Gudwan village. The main objective of the

project was to construct a check dam for drinking water. CTARA was monitor the logistic,

funding and all technical aspects of the project including project design. ADS was to be

responsible for social mobilization and collective action, local support and execution, and

Gangotree would execute the project.

Looking for water

The prime objective of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay for initiating this project is

to create a model of learning while doing. For the purpose of meeting the objectives

17

various department of IIT are involved in the project namely Earth Sciences, Computer

Sciences and Engineering, Metallurgy, Civil Engioneering, and Humanities and Social

Sciences. The main objective of involving the HSS department was to conduct a socio-

economic survey of the area and to prepare a community profile of the area so as to

analyze the changes that have emerged in the area due to water scarcity and to inquire into

the potential benefits the project may create in the social life and livelihood pattern of

people residing in Gudwanwadi.

The work under the project was started on 8th January 2006. Gangotree, an agency that has

considerable experience in constructing watershed structures was appointed as a technical

consultant for the project. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 18 lakhs. The money

for the dam was raised through donation from corporations and individuals (IITB

Alumni). The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay also supported the project

financially and logistically.

The sociological analysis of the project was seen to be essential since the project is aimed

at bringing some improvement in the lives of the local people. From this point of view the

technology aimed at improving the livelihood of people should be suitable to the area and

should be accepted by the local people. The local groups should be able to manage the

project themselves once it is completed. The sociological analysis offers important

insights for the technical projects in terms of obtaining the necessary information

regarding the community background, livelihood patterns of the people, identification of

the target or the most affected group, developing community consensus and developing

leadership among the community for the initiation and management of problem solving

processes.

Apart from that the sociological analysis plays an important role in assessing the

engineering feasibility of the project through identifying the suitability of the project in

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accordance with the consensus of local people, which can contribute to the long term

sustainability of the project.

Impact generated by the watershed project:

The ongoing construction of the check dam (at the time of the survey) in the village has

resulted in bringing some changes in the thinking pattern of people with respect to

understanding their socio-economic problems and doing something about them. Earlier,

the condition of abject poverty and lack of drinking water availability resulted in the poor

socio-economic condition of the people. Women had to travel several kilometers for

fetching water. The participation and status of women in social activities was much lower,

parents did not prefer to send their daughters to school. The outward migration level in the

village was very high. At this point of time, when the project has just been completed it

would be very difficult to analyze the positive benefits that the project has yielded.

However in the present section the changes that the project has yielded in this short span

of time are described. The outcomes are also a result of the institution of the project and

the social mobilization and collective action that were fostered by IIT Bombay, the social

work professional, and ADS.

1. The project has resulted in a positive impact in making people aware about their

problems; earlier there was no such effort made by any NGO or any local group to

make people realize the impact of water scarcity on their livelihood.

2. The project also helped the villagers in organizing themselves through the formation

of a water committee in the village. The formation of water committee also made the

village the stakeholder in the project.

3. The formation of the water committee helped the women in the village by directly

involving them in matters related to the implementation of the project. The project also

19

resulted in giving some empowerment and recognition to women’s role in society and

economy.

4. The water committee also gave women a chance to meet with each other to discuss

their daily life issues, as a result of which the number of women participants has

increased in the meetings. Thus the implementation of the project has resulted in

enhancing women’s participation and their decision making power.

5. The formation of the water committee and increase in the interaction of women

members with male members in the village resulted in change in their social roles and

status.

6. The project also benefited the villagers by providing alternate employment opportunity

in the village itself during the construction period.

7. The formation of the water committee not only resulted in increasing people

participation in the village but also provide them a platform for discussing other social

issues concerning their village.

8. As result of intervention made by the social work practitioner in motivating the

parents to send their children to school, many parents have started sending their son

and daughter to the nearby school.

9. The project also helped the village in making other individuals and NGOs aware

about the condition of village, as a result of which some initiatives have been taken for

improving the condition of village.

Technical Details of the Project (source: www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~ctara)

The Site of the Project: Gudwanwadi village comprises 40 households and a population

of roughly 250. It is a small Thakar hamlet on the Kashele-Murbad road. The dam site is

Gudwanwadi, which is about 2 km from Gudwan village.

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The structure of the Check-Dam: The planned structure of the dam is to build a masonry

dam of length 70 m and height 7 m. This will hold around 2000 cu.m of water. The

storage is expected to be 80 m in length and 60 m in breadth. Behind the dam, the stream

on which this dam is to be constructed has two small soil conservation dams. The first one

is 3 m in height and is of masonry type, and the second about 7 m in height and is of

earthen type. The total submergence of land for the construction is about 6000 sq.m i.e.

roughly 1.5 acres.

Activities of the Project: The project of constructing check dam in Gudwanwadi of

Karjat taluka of Raigad district was initiated by the CTARA of Indian Institute of

Technology, Bombay in collaboration with ADS and Gangotri. The main consideration of

the project is to develop a mechanism in Gudwanwadi for conservation of water and to

provide availability of water through out the year to the villagers for drinking purpose.

The major objectives of the project were:

1. To develop a teaching and learning model for the IIT Bombay students, to look at the

critical issues of the project from conception to delivery.

2. To make drinking water available in the village throughout the year.

3. To develop an institutional approach in the village for the implementation of and

providing sustainability to the project.

The main activities in the implementation of the project were:

1. Needs assessment and site selection: - This involved visiting the village and

assessing the nature and severity of the water problem.

2. Social survey: - This involved developing an understanding of the village population,

its livelihood, possible benefits from a dam and subsequent water distribution. A study

of the village in terms of construction skills, organizational skills and resources was

21

also necessary. This also assessed possible partial repayment models such as water

cess, shramdan and facilitating coordination and liaison of the entire project.

3. Topography survey: - This involved the detailed study of the physical site and its

topography.

4. Geological survey: - This included a detailed study of the geology of the dam-site, to

ascertain and establish conditions for water storage and percolation, and construction.

5. Watershed and storage analysis: - A study was carried out to establish storage

capacity of water at various dam-heights.

Implementation of the project: The actual work of the project site was started on 8th

January 2006. The selection of the village for the construction of the check dam was done

by ADS. The land for construction of the check dam was identified by IIT Bombay. As

much of the land under the project site belongs to the village Panchayat; they agreed to

donate the land for the project purpose. Approximately 20% of the project cost is borne by

the villagers through contributing their labour to the construction activities. The

construction of the check dam was completed in June 2006.

The check-dam site

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Chapter 4

Community Mobilization for the Watershed

“Letting the people decide no matter what they decide” -Alinsky

The social work practitioner from IIT Bombay initiated the work in Gudwanwadi with an

integrated method of community organization and community development. According to

the theories of involvement of organizers in the neighborhood, in order to gain entry into a

neighborhood or community, there is a need to gather support from the people of the

community. The social work practitioner started dealing with community people using

informal methods and tried to gain the confidence of the people in the community. This

helped gradually to understand the socio-economic conditions of the community; the

confidence building process helped to make the people open up with their problems and

realities.

The work in Gudwanwadi used the integrated approach of community organization.

Weekly meetings in the village created an atmosphere of basic understanding of the water

issues as the primary issue. Meanwhile the ADS formed a Water Committee with four

male members and four female members, which started involving actively in the

construction work of the check-dam.

The Strategy for Entry and People’s participation: The prime objective of conducting a

sociological analysis of the village was to generate people’s participation in the

implementation of the project and to make villagers aware about the problems that they

were facing with regard to drinking water scarcity. For the purpose of conducting the

sociological analysis, a household survey of the village was conducted to assist in

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generating people’s awareness and participation of the community in the implementation

of the project.

The social work practitioner when he first visited the village, observed that people are

facing the impact of water scarcity on their livelihood but they are not recognizing the

causes and nature of the problem and, due to their adherence to traditional norms and

values in the community, the participation of people was not adequate to mobilize them on

water related issues. Taking the traditional norms and practices of the villagers into

consideration, he tried to develop an entry point into the community by involving himself

with children’s activities in the village school. He tried to develop a facilitative

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CommunityParticipation.

Community Links withADS-IITB- GANGOTRI

Capacity

Building

of Hamlet

Sense of community unity Gender development and empowermentWater committeeVillage Development

Diagram of community participation, community connection, and community capacity:

Integration model: This model proposes that the people are the clients, while practitioners work as enablers, and they jointly decide

a plan for development.

relationship with the children through helping them in their studies, playing games and

making them aware about cleanliness and waterborne diseases etc.

The absence of strong community leaders or role models that can inspire and guide the

community added to the problems. Therefore one of the aims of the community

mobilization activities was to create role models in the community

Establishing Credibility:

The resistance of women to the process of forming groups and ensuring their presence in

meetings was difficult initially. Hence the Social Worker from IIT Bombay looked upon

children, and young girls and boys as the first target group. He mobilised youth (male \

female) and children with the help of recreational activities in the evenings. Some

informal groups were formed and various games and competitions were organised in

which parents of the group members were invited to see the progress of their sons and

daughters. These activities helped to get close to the community and especially women

realised that the person (Social Work Practitioner) was doing something good for their

children. The general discussions and regular intervention with women led to a better

understanding of the major problem of water in the community and created an awareness

that the most affected section due to water scarcity were women. They have to fetch water

from a long distance during the summer. To resolve this, men in the community had spent

a lot of time and effort with the Grampanchayat members, but failed to obtain a solution.

The social work practitioner mobilized the women for collective action so that they play

an important role in this initiative to resolve their water woes.

The Water Committee was established in the hamlet, which works as a central

autonomous body for this initiative. A group of women and a task group of youth were

given an orientation to understand and implement the concept of volunteerism and the

need to help individuals as well as the community to have harmony and smooth

25

functioning in the development of Gudwanwadi. Various activities and programs were

taken up through groups of women and youth (Women’s day and Republic day

celebration, celebration of festivals like Holi and Makar Sankranti as well as participating

in the village social functions such as marriages).

Why women and Youth:

The Adivasi community is known as more deprived compared to other groups in soceity.

This disadvantaged group rarely gets the chance to develop and implement their vision of

development. Adivasi women are doubly marginalized because of their being women in

the patriarchal Indian society. The development of women is more difficult and

challenging. There is a need to be more focused and continuous effort for the development

of the women in the interior tribal areas is required. In the development process it is

always assumed that “one educated woman brings education to whole family”. It has also

been considered that women should be a part of any decision making process not only in

the family but also in the governing process of the village.

The youth is also seen as a fresh generation that would work as a change unit for

alleviating existing social problems. They would carry forward the new vision of

development of the tribal society. With this aim in community organization programmes

youth are taught to understand the process of development and learn to come forward and

volunteer in the process of change.

Gender Development: Women constitute almost half the population, yet their

representation in decision-making process is far from fair. Women’s roles and

responsibilities in family and society are specific to caste, class and gender and

discrimination is maintained through the patriarchal framework. The journey towards an

egalitarian society needs to challenge and change this framework and inculcate values of

26

gender justice in every sphere of life. Recognizing this, the Water Committee was

constituted with equal representation from men and women.

Gaining Power for negotiation and management:

After the formation of the committee, regular meetings were conducted with the village

ommunity to discuss the implementation of the project. One issue that was raised by the

women was their engagement in water fetching work in the daytime. They can only work

in the construction site during the night. An important negotiation thus was around the

need to send two water tankers to the village for the construction work. They agreed to

give one tankers to the villagers for their drinking and household uses, so that wmen are

free to participate in check dam construction work.

The social worker also discussed with the members of water committee and villagers that

some participation should also come from the village side for the implementation of the

project. The villagers decided that they would contribute Rs. 10 per head from their

earnings from the construction work. It was also decided that as the project cannot employ

all people from the village in the construction work, the constructor of the project will

employ the people shift wise but the village committee will decide the labour, supervise

and will pay the village labour force on a weekly basis.

The formation of the water committee also resulted in providing some social recognition

to the role of women in the village, the male members in the village realized that women

are managing the matters related to the labour and financial issues efficiently. They also

started coming with their spouses in the meetings organized by water committee. As a

result of this, social consensus is generated among the villagers about their water-related

problem. The formation of water committee also resulted in increased interaction among

the villagers and specifically women; they share their daily life issues with each other,

which help them to build a social network among themselves.

27

Impact of social intervention on women’s participation:

The social intervention made by the social work practitioner through involving the women

in the implementation of the project, helped them not only in organizing themselves but

also led to changes in their social status in the village. Earlier their roles were confined to

fetching water from long distances and perform the regular household work. The

formation of the water committee provided them a platform, where the women as a group

can come together and discuss their problem and issues related to their daily life with each

other. The function allocated to water committee to maintain the financial and matters

related to wages rate etc also empowered the women to show their capability to the males

in the village that they are also capable of managing finances.

The changes that have emerged in the role of women in the village also influenced the

thinking pattern of males with regard to the role of women. It is now observed that males

give adequate recognition to the function and role of women, as reflected in the regular

meetings of the water committee with project implementing agencies. When the members

of the water committee and village people all sit together with members of IIT Bombay or

ADS the male members give recognition to women’s views in matters related to decision

making.

Changes have also emerged in the work roles of women; earlier women were engaged as

workers in the construction site but with the intervention made by IITB and ADS, they are

given new roles like supervision of labour work etc. These roles have brought changes in

the outlook of women and now they feel that they have a say in the village matters and a

better status in the community. These changes have also brought transformations in the

overall functioning of women in the village.

28

Community dialogues

The overall experience in Gudwanwadi tribal hamlet suggests that introducing an

alternative pro-people technology and people’s participation brings about development in

a true sense.

29

Chapter 5

Baseline Survey: Data Analysis

A long-term bottom-up approach is visualized for the check dam project at Gudwanwadi.

It is expected to generate the conditions and provide lessons for follow-up in the region in

other villages. In order to have a holistic documentation of the project implementation

process at Gudwanwadi, it was decided to conduct a baseline survey for evaluation of

project benefits to the inhabitants of Gudwanwadi in the long-run. For the same purpose,

semi-structured questionnaires have been administered among all the villagers along with

Focused Group Discussions and personal interviews with key informants. The data

analysis of this survey delineates the social and economic background of Gudwanwadi,

and provides a careful examination of strengths and vulnerabilities associated with this

particular intervention. The following sections describe the major findings of the survey in

relevant categories.

5.1 Demography

The demographic features of Gudwanwadi show some interesting trends. For instance, the

number of children in the age group of 0 to 14 years is higher in comparison to adults in

Gudwanwadi. Children constitute 37.87 per cent of the total population of Gudwanwadi

followed by the working population in the age groups 31-45 (16.57 %) and 46-60 (15.98

%). It shows that roughly every household has 3 children on average, who are in the age

group of 0-14 years (See Chart 1 & Table 1). The older people above 61 years of age are

only 14 (4.14%) in number, which raised questions regarding the mortality rate and life

expectancy in the village. The working population (15-45 years) comprises 42 per cent of

30

the total village population, which potentially can meet the demands of the large number

of children and old people.

Age-Wise Distribution of Population

37.87

25.44

16.57

15.98

4.14

0-1415-3031-4546-6061 & above

Chart 1

31

Table 1

Age-Wise Distribution of Population

5.2 Education

The status of education in the village is still below the satisfactory level. Only 44.67 per

cent of the total population is educated, of which primary and secondary levels consist

almost 80 per cent of the total educated people contributing 40 per cent each. In absolute

numbers 151 persons out of a total of 338 persons are educated. Only one person is found

have been educated beyond matriculation. If drop-outs are controlled and specific

emphasis on education is under way, then the next generation youth in Gudwanwadi will

have better prospects for social mobility and enhanced quality of life. A comparative

picture of education in Gudwanwadi is given in Chart 2 & Table 2.

Age Group No. %

0-14 128 37.87

15-30 86 25.44

31-45 56 16.57

46-60 54 15.98

61 & above 14 4.14

Total 338 100

32

Education Level in Gudwanwadi

16.56

42.38

40.40

0.66

Pre-PrimaryPrimarySecondaryCollege

Chart 2

Table 2

Education Level in Gudwanwadi

33

Level No. %

Pre-Primary 25 16.56

Primary 64 42.38

Secondary 61 40.40

College 1 0.66

Total 151 100.00

5.3 Land Holding Pattern

Most of the households in Gudwanwadi do not own any piece of cultivable land. In other

words, 51.11 per cent of households in the village are landless which indicates the

existence of high level of poverty in the village (See Chart 3 & Table 3). The households

having land are basically owner-cultivators most being marginal peasants. The marginal

farmers constitute 44.44 per cent of the farming community having cultivable land less

than 1 acre per household. It cannot be said that the distribution of land in Gudwanwadi is

skewed, but the possession of less than 1 acre does not assure diversified agriculture in the

village to serve as a potential source of livelihood. In the absence of alternative

employment opportunities, especially non-farm activities, it shows the existence of

structural vulnerabilities in the social and economic system in Gudwanwadi.

Table 3

Distribution of Cultivable Land

Acres

No. of

Households %

0-1 20 44.44

1-5 2 4.44

Landless 23 51.11

Total 45 100.00

34

Distribution of Cultivable Land in Gudwanwadi

44.44

4.44

51.11

0-1 acre1-5 acresLandless

Chart 3

The livestock population in the village comprises goats, cows, buffalo, bullocks and

poultry. As per the survey, households have more goats as compared to the total number

of cows in the village. This may be due to the better marketability of goats and easier

maintenance than cows for a supplementary source of income. The graphical presentation

of livestock data is given in Fig. 1.

35

As far as housing is concerned, there are 28 kachha, 4 semi-pucca and 13 pucca houses in

Gudwanwadi. Pucca houses are basically built with bricks and clay with a few of those

having cement coatings.

Fig. 1

5.4 Sources of Livelihood

Like many villages in India, Gudwanwadi is also characterized by the greater dependence

of inhabitants on agriculture for their livelihood. The graphical representation of various

Total Livestock in Gudwanwadi

91

10

3631 32

010

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Goat Buffalow Cow Bullock Poultry

Type of Livestock

No

Total Livestock

36

sources of livelihood in Gudwanwadi is given in Fig. 2. The total income of most of the

households varies around Rs.15000 per annum with a few families having higher income

in the range of Rs.65000 to Rs.70000 per annum. Despite marginal land holdings

cultivation has been the primary source of livelihood for the people in Gudwanwadi. Even

though agriculture is rain-fed and subsistence in nature, it provides the staple diet to the

villagers. Mostly, people cultivate paddy and ragi as main crops. Besides cultivation, daily

labour is the only source of income for the villagers. Only two persons are found

employed in government service. The annual income of the households in Gudwanwadi

from different sources is given in Fig. 2. From Table 4 it is evident that almost 85 per

cent of the households have annual income in the range of Rs. 5000 to Rs. 25000 of which

12 (26.67 %) are in Rs. 5000- Rs.15000 category, and 26 (57.78 %) in Rs. 15000 to Rs.

25000 category] (See Fig. 3).

Annual Income of Sample Households from Different Sources

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43

No. of Households

Inco

me

in '0

00s

CultivationDaily WagesServicesTotal Income

Fig 2

37

Table 4

Distribution of Households in Different Income Groups

Income

Groups

No of

Households %

5000-15000 12 26.67

15000-25000 26 57.78

25000-35000 3 6.67

35000-45000 1 2.22

45000-55000 1 2.22

55000-65000 0 0.00

65000-75000 2 4.44

Total 45 100

Distribution of Households in Different Income Groups

26.67

57.78

6.672.22 2.22

0.004.44

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

5000-15000

15000-25000

25000-35000

35000-45000

45000-55000

55000-65000

65000-75000

Income Groups

Per

cen

tag

e

Annual Income

38

Fig. 3

As mentioned above agriculture is seasonal in Gudwanwadi basically during the months

of June to September. For a better understanding of the income disparities among

households in the village, the distribution of households according to their income from

cultivation is done. The details are given in Table 5 and Fig. 4. Around 72 per cent (39.29

% in Rs. 2000-Rs. 4000 category and 32.14 % in Rs. 4000-Rs. 6000 category) of the

households earn Rs. 2000 to Rs. 6000 from cultivation during the rainy season. The low

level of income from agriculture and absence of non-farm employment opportunities leads

to a high incidence of poverty in the village.

However, the villagers get daily employment throughout the year in the locality. As per

the survey, in agricultural season (June-September) 15 households (65.52 %) get income

from daily labour in the range of Rs. 2000 to Rs. 6000; while 5 households (21.74 %) earn

Rs. 6000 to Rs. 10000 during the same period. In lean seasons there is not much variation

in the income levels of the households (See Table 6 and Fig. 5). Both men and women

work during winter and summer seasons to supplement the income from agriculture. The

details related to gender-wise participation in daily labour are shown in Fig. 6.

Table 5: Distribution of Households According to Income from

Cultivation

(June- September) (In Rs.)

Income

Groups

No of

Households %

less than 2000 3 10.71

2000-4000 11 39.29

4000-6000 9 32.14

6000-8000 3 10.71

39

8000-10000 0 0.00

10000-12000 2 7.14

Total 28 100

Distribution of Households According to Income from Cultivation

10.71

39.29

32.14

10.71

0.00

7.14

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

40.00

45.00

lessthan2000

2000-4000

4000-6000

6000-8000

8000-10000

10000-12000

Income Groups

Per

cen

tag

e

Income from Cultivation

Fig. 4

40

Table 6: Distribution of Households According to Seasonal Income from

Daily Labour

Income

Groups

No. of Households

June-Sept Oct-Jan Feb-May

Less than 2000 3 (13.04) 3 (6.82) 3 (6.67)

2000-6000 15 (65.52) 16 (36.36) 24 (53.33)

6000-10000 5 (21.74) 22 (50.00) 16 (35.56)

10000-14000 0 (0.00) 3 (6.82) 1 (2.22)

14000-18000 0 (0.00) 0 (0.00) 1 (2.22)

18000-22000 0 (0.00) 0 (0.00) 0 (0.00)

Total 23 44 45 Note: Figures in the parentheses are percentages to the total in

different seasons.

Distribution of Households According to Seasonal Income from Daily labour

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

less than2000

2000-6000

6000-10000

10000-14000

14000-18000

18000-22000

Income Groups

Per

cen

tag

e

June-SeptOct-JanFeb-May

41

Fig. 5

Gender-Wise Participation of Villagers in Daily Labour

18.18

40.91 40.91

16.41

42.19 41.41

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

40.00

45.00

June-Sept Oct-Jan Feb-May

MaleFemale

Fig. 6

Women’s work participation in the village is better as compared to the rest of India. This

however does not seem to have resulted in better status for women until the onset of this

project.

42

5.5 Drinking Water

The water sources in the village are not perennial except for one tube well and two

concrete wells for drinking water. The daily water requirements in different seasons are

given in Table 7 & Fig. 7. As per the opinion of 32 households, less than 5 Ghadas (One

Ghada is approximately equivalent to 10-12 litres) of water are required in rainy season

(June-September) whereas in summer 10 to 15 Ghadas of water are necessary for daily

consumption. The village women and children travel half kilometer a day during June to

January for fetching water from nearby wells and tube well. The situation is worse in

winter and summer seasons (during February to May). On an average they cover 4 Kms to

and fro to fetch water for daily domestic requirements. Men do not participate in rainy

season for fetching water; however, a thin participation is there during the months of

February and May. It is obvious from Fig. 6 that the water requirement is very high during

February to May. It reveals that the cost of collecting water in terms of time and energy is

pretty high as compared to other villages. Therefore, necessary interventions from

government and other development agencies are necessary to minimize the drudgery

associated with the daily lives of the people in Gudwanwadi. Earlier, an attempt had been

made by the Soil Conservation Department, Maharashtra to construct an earthen dam

basically to address the soil loss in the highly sloped stream passing through the village.

However, it did not help the local people much because of its poor design and irregular

follow-up by the government. There are no such efforts from District Authorities to

maintain the available water structures in the village such as wells and tube wells which

significantly worsened the condition of the villagers during water scarcity.

43

Daily Water Requirements Per Household in Different Seasons

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45

Households

In G

had

as

June-SeptOct-JanFeb-May

Fig. 7

Table 7: Perceived Amount of Water Required Per Day for Different

Households (In Ghadas)

Ghadas No. of Households

June-Sept Oct-Jan Feb-May

44

Less than 5 32 17 3

5-10 13 24 21

10-15 1 2 13

15-20 - 2 4

20-25 - - 4

Total 45 45 45

5.6 Household Expenditure

The gross household expenditure in Gudwanwadi does not vary very much across

households. Most of the households (around 75 %) revealed that the annual total

expenditure varied between Rs. 10000 and Rs. 12000 whereas in the case of two

households it varies in the range of Rs. 30000 to Rs. 40000. There are two families in the

village, which can be called as rich compared to other households, who have an annual

expenditure in the range of Rs. 50000 to Rs 70000 and Rs. 80000 to Rs. 90000

respectively. The graphical presentation of the consumption pattern is shown in Chart 4,

which clearly suggests that the average annual consumption in the village stays roughly

around Rs. 10000 to Rs. 12000. Further, the subsistence consumption pattern in the village

may be attributed to the low levels of income of the households. Since, at present, the

villagers cannot afford to purchase the things beyond their abilities, the expectations are

limited and that reduces the appetite for consumption beyond necessities. The class-

interval distribution of households according to their consumption expenditure is given in

Table 8 and Fig. 8. The details related to the consumption patterns can also be analyzed

by taking into account the major heads of expenditure. From Fig. 9, it is clear that the

major items of family expenditure are food and marriage, which substantiates the

existence of subsistence consumption pattern in the village.

45

Annual Consumption Expenditure of Households

less than 1000010,000 - 20,00020,000 - 3000030000 - 4000040000 - 5000050000 - 6000060000 - 7000070000 - 8000080000 - 90000

Chart 4

Table 8: Annual Consumption Expenditure of Households

Amount

No. of

Households %

less than 10000 3 6.67

10,000 - 20,000 33 73.33

20,000 - 30000 5 11.11

30000 - 40000 2 4.44

40000 - 50000 0 0.00

46

50000 - 60000 1 2.22

60000 - 70000 0 0.00

70000 - 80000 0 0.00

80000 - 90000 1 2.22

Total 45 100

Annual Consumption Expenditure of Sample Households

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00

less t

han 10

000

10,00

0 - 20

,000

20,00

0 - 30

000

3000

0 - 40

000

4000

0 - 50

000

5000

0 - 60

000

6000

0 - 70

000

7000

0 - 80

000

8000

0 - 90

000

Income Groups

Per

cen

tag

e o

f H

ou

seh

old

s

Annual Expenditure

Fig. 8

47

Fig. 9

Chapter 6

Summary and Conclusion

Based on the above findings an important insight that has emerged is that technological

interventions must be supported by people’s participation to mainstream communities's

concerns in water management. People must be engaged as partners, whose roles are

located in larger social, economic and political structures3. It has long been understood

3 Sudhirendar Sharma - flowing upstream

Annual Expenditure Pattern of Households by Item

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43

Households

Am

ou

nt

in P

erce

nta

ge

ClothingFestivalMarriageFoodHealthEducationEntertainmentOthers

48

that most of community based water management system undermine the role of women;

drawing upon their labor and assuming that this will in itself advance the objectives of the

project and benefit women and the community at large. The Gudwanwadi Check dam

building process intended in the true sense for women’s participation in sustainable

development initiatives and worked towards a gendered development process through

resolving the water scarcity problem in a poor tribal hamlet.

Gudwanwadi represents the socio-economic and education deprivation of the schedule

tribe groups of India. Water is the lifeline for human life. While most people in the urban

areas take clean and pure drinking water for granted, there are many villages in the

country, where availability of drinking water is a luxury. Gudwanwadi at the foothills of

Matheran is one such place. This area has abundant rainfall but due to poor conservation

techniques faceed severe shortage of water post-monsoon and the women have to walk

almost 3-4 km for fetching drinking water daily.

The study shows that most of the families are landless and work as laborers for a major

portion of the year. The Government has been neglecting to address the basic issue of the

illiterate marginalized section. CTARA, IIT Bombay and ADS realizing the consequences

of neglecting these problems evolved a strategy to jointly establish an autonomous Water

Committee in the village for resolving the water problem by providing an appropriate

technology.

Building Check dams, though a technical work, but the community involvement made the

work as an entry point strategy for community sensitization and community building.

People from the community came forward to work for the project. However since they did

not have the necessary technical and financial expertise, IIT Bombay and ADAS in

association with Gangotree came forward to provide the necessary assistance.

49

Overall, the project has to be successful in bringing water and sanitation to Gudwanwadi,

and the community is looking forward to making full use of the system once the

construction work is completed. No longer subject to the vagaries of the monsoon, the

future finally looks bright for this one small hamlet. A post project evaluation a year from

the completion will help us better assess the impacts and benefits.

By helping to harvest rainwater for domestic and irrigation purposes, check dams can also

help to improve livelihoods, particularly by providing a source of water for livestock.

Women too benefit from access to more water. The time saved in fetching water from

distant sources is now spent pursuing other income-generating and household welfare

enhancing activities. A more stable income means better nutrition and education

opportunities for the children and an overall improvement in the daily life of the entire

family.

Establishing the Water Committee helped to make key leaders from within the community

with maximum active participation of women. The involvement of the Water Committee

in the entire check dam construction led to people realizing the value of credibility and

that’s how the trust building process developed unity in the village.

The simple regular dialogues with women made them realize their inherent potential to to

contribute economically, socially and politically; an important result was that women

formed a self help group and also floated a proposal to provide nutritional for the ICDS

AGANWADI4 in the hamlet. Women in the hamlet also gradually realized that the need of

water and women’s role and status in society are related to each other.

4 Integrated Child Development Program of Government of India

50

The intervention through Check dam in the community, helped children to understand the

effects of bad habits (chewing tobacco habits) and abandon them. Even dropping out from

school was quite common in the hamlet but parents now started to think for the future of

their school going children. Enrolment and attendance increased after the intervention.

Improvement of social infrastructure is a priority need for the village. We found that as far

as health and education sector were concerned, insufficient allocation, poor quality of

services and lack of accountability emerged as major problems. Expansion of public

services for the poor at low cost, effective public regulation of private sector health care

and accountability to the local community must be ensured.

Based on an assessment of resources and livelihood options the following on farm and off-

farm livelihood opportunities are suggested:

1. To train the community youth in Bamboo art; to provide training for bamboo

harvesting as well as understanding market linkages.

2. To explore options for selling forest material including grass; also introduce

innovative techniques to package bundles of grass.

3. To promote women SHG group to run Fair Price shop or Kirana shop as a women’s

cooperative.

4. Introduce Bio-gas as a source of alternative fuel.

5. Forest products such as Jamun, (Indian blackberry), karvand and Mango can be

processed and linked to markets.

6. Exploring opprtinuties for home based income generation activities like making

papad from Ragi.

7. DRDA (District Rural Development Agency) can be a crucial organization in case of

training and market linkage. DRDA is running a huge outlet store in the market of

51

Thane to link the rural products in mainstream market under the banner of Jijai of

Yashodhani Foundation.

8. The Gudwanwadi people every year make bricks for their own utilization. Energy

efficient Bricks can be introduce with appropriate intervention from technology

institutes like IIT; this could help prevent environmental damage as well as promote

community based cooperative entrepreneurship.

9. After project check dam there is a need for a second phase to improve the livelihood of

the community e.g. introducing Wadi (Farm initiatives of BAIF organization to sustain

livelihood of tribal) initiatives. This could prevent the people from migrating or being

exploited by local landlords.

10. In Gudwanwadi since more people are landless, schemes such as Swabhimaan Yojana

(Land For LandLess for their dignity) should be implemented.

Water management:

According to L.C. Jain, a former member of India's Planning Commission, India has over

the last 50 years spent $50 billion on developing water resources and another $7.5 billion

on drinking water with little to show for the money -- much of which was siphoned out

through a corrupt contractor system. Apart from big dams and irrigation systems, the

government has encouraged the digging of millions of tube-wells and bore wells energized

by electric and diesel-driven pumps that now provide half of the country's irrigation.

(Source: http://www.indiatogether.org/environment/water.htm).

Despite the long term adverse impact of drought, increasing numbers of marginalized

farmer’s suicides in Maharashtra and nearby states, there is no proper management of

water in rural areas. At one end the landlords or big farmers (and urban middle classes)

are able to access water sources on a large scale. On the other hand small and marginal

farmers do not have access to minimum water resources. The new National Water Policy

does not take into account the local needs and participation.

52

In conclusion, what is needed to enhance better access to water for the poor in water

scarce areas is a four-folded approach:

1. Equitable distribution of water.

2. Appropriate management of water (including alternate technological interventions)

3. Efforts to improve agriculture practices with special focus on land rights of indigenous

people; and

4. Community management of water resources.

Appendix I

The Check dam Project destination Map:

(Courtesy: www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~ctara )

53

54

55

56