The post independence years saw a population explosion resulting in greatly increased demands on forests.  Contractors, politicians, bureaucrats and others all contributed to the indiscriminate destruction of forests.  The green cover disappeared.  Topsoil got eroded.  The rainwater disappeared as run-offs.  The moisture regime got impoverished.

Against this backdrop the team at Development Alternatives in Jhansi, under the able guidance of AVM Sahni, undertook detailed studies to establish where they could make a contribution to rectify some of the ills affecting the area.  They chose an area which covered three districts – Jhansi in UP  and Datia and Tikamgarh  in MP.  Since the rainfall is restricted to the months between end June and mid-September the main objective was to find the means to collect as much rainwater as possible and store it for utilisation in the dry months.  A natural consequence of appropriate storage is the regeneration of wells and ground water charging which subsequently assists in the regeneration of root stocks.  The Development Alternatives team works in close contact both with the local  government as well as the local communities.

The second goal was to utilise biomass and waste through appropriate technologies to provide employment opportunities for the local population.

I accompanied a team of three Programme Officers from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to visit some of the projects in the Jhansi area on February  29^th and March 1^st 1996.  After our arrival we were briefed  by AVM Sahni, Manager of the Jhansi operations, and Dr. Arun Kumar, Manager Technology Systems Branch in Delhi and also incharge of setting up the Appropriate Technology Centre near Orchha.

Our tour started straight after lunch with  a visit to Bijoli to visit an enterprise for the production of Micro Concrete  Roofing tiles.  Around Jhansi there are 50  to 60 stone crushers and waste from these is freely available.  The location of this enterprise was a natural choice as it stands directly next to a stone crushing unit and the stone chips required to make the tiles need no transportation.  This enterprise is used as  a demonstration and training project by Development Alternatives.

Our next stop was the Rasoi checkdam built across a water body that divides UP and MP.  With the building of this checkdam there were two beneficial  fallouts.  With the raised ground water levels, neightbouring wells two hundred meters away which were completely dry when the project work started, are not only full now but give out enough water for irrigation purposes.  This has helped to change local cropping patterns.  From producing one crop a year, the local farmers cultivate two crops annually.

From Rasoi we drove to Maror village, where we were received by the village ‘Sarpanch’ in traditional style with garlands and ‘tilak’.  We visited the upgraded local well with its steps and raised platform.  Next to the well was the newly installed handpump with a circular water receptacle which could be used for washing purposes; a channel allowed water to flow into a trough for animals to drink from.

From Maror, we reached Buraru in the late afternoon.  Here the construction of a bigger checkdam across the Gurari river was going on in full swing.  This project – “Water for Life” project is funded by United Distillers and includes, besides the building of the dam, the repair and renovation of wells and handpumps.  A campaign for raising awareness of the importance of clean drinking water is underway, and with the help of Development Alternatives water testing kit- Jal Tara, water is tested for potability.  These simple interventions assist in ground water charging that provides water for irrigation and drinking purposes.

Our second day began with a tour of the wasteland development project in Datia.  This was Development Alternatives’ first project – the greening of two completely bare hillocks covering a total area of about 200 hectares.  They started by digging a cattle proof trench at the base of the hill to prevent cattle from entering.  ‘Staggered contour trenches’ were then dug in a pattern at regular intervals to hod the rain water during the monsoon.  This led to rise in moisture levels and a strengthening of the existing  root-stocks (grasses not seen for 30 years have begun to grow there again).  Limited new species have been planted and what was a bare hillside 8 years ago is now a virtual forest of over 60,000 trees.

Our next stop was the site of the Appropriate Technology Centre on the road to Orchha.  The site is a hub-bub of  activity and when the Centre is ready will be a demonstration cum training centre of appropriate technologies  with a twofold approach : firstly to demonstrate existing Development Alternatives  technologies which are biomass or building related and secondly to find other technologies, to make value added products such as vegetable dyes form local plant species such as ‘butea monosperma’ or flame of the forest.

There are plans to develop a third area as a craft centre creating value added products.

The potentials are enormous and the model being created by Development Alternatives will demonstrate to the world the viability of alleviation of poverty through  livelihood creations  at rural centres.  Orchha, now on the tourist map as a historical site, will be on the development map as a unique model – yet eminently replicable one.

Traditional Resource Rights The term Traditional Resource Rights (TRR) has emerged to define the many ‘bundles  of rights’ that can be used for protection, compensation, and conservation.  The change in terminology from Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to Traditional Resource Rights reflects an attempt to build on the concept of IPR protection and compensation, while recognising that traditional resources – both tangible and intangible – are also covered under a significant number of international agreements that can be used to form the basis for a sui generis system.  ‘Traditional resources’  include plants, animals, and other material objects that may have sacred, ceremonial, heritage, or aesthetic qualities.  ‘Property’ for indigenous peoples and local communities frequently has intangible, spiritual manifestations, and, although worthy of protection, can belong to no human being.  Indigenous and traditional communities are increasingly involved in market economies, and are seeing an ever-growing number of their resources traded in those markets.  Even so, for many, privatisation or commoditisation of their resources is not only foreign, but incomprehensible  or even unthinable.  TRR is an integrated rights concept  which recognises the inextricable link between cultural  and biological  diversity, and is guided by human rights principles.  TRR also encompasses  rights to protection of cultural property, folklore and cultural heritage; the  recognition  of cultural landscapes; recognition of customary law and practice, and; farmers’ rights.  These rights are mutually supportive and entirely consistent with the Convention on Biological Diversity since the density of traditional peoples largely determines, and is determined by, the state of the world’s biological diversity.  Significantly, they are consistent, too, with the requirements of GATT/WTO and FAO/ IUPGR. Asdapted from Bulletin of the working Group on Traditional Resource Rights ,Oxford,Spring 1996 No.2

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