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Bahirgaon - A Habitat in a Microcosm
B ahirgaon has been climbing the growth ladder ever since the first dev elopment
initiative taken 20 years ago. ‘Moneylenders and doctors are now jobless
because the people have become self-sufficient and stay healthy due to
clean and hygienic surroundings. Our village is 100% open defecation
free and the people fully use sanitation units. The village has been
following a "Flowing Development Process", wherein the development flow
is touching all the affected areas and improving the life of the people.
Now we have concrete roads, primary and secondary schools, health care centres, community washing areas and animal sheds, flourmill and
community toilets. We have our own check dam, waste management
facilities, piped water supply to individual houses, open wells,
community taps, solar street lights, etc. The main trigger for our
development was the unhindered involvement of people in the village
development programme led by a group of thinkers from the village.
Personal interests and selfishness exist everywhere, but when it comes
to village development, we are one. Our village was presented with the
award for the best village in Maharashtra as well as many other numerous
awards. This didn’t happen overnight, nor did it happen with your
efforts or my efforts. It happened because of our efforts.’ These
enlightening words were spoken by the Sarpanch of Bahirgaon. It wasn’t
his personal view or an attempt to show the village in a good light to
outsiders. These were the unanimous words spoken out aloud both by the
Panchayat members and the villagers alike. In the truest context, this
is a habitat.
This was the kind of transformation that happened in Bahirgaon and, as stated earlier, this journey hasn’t been a cakewalk for the villagers. The guidance and involvement of the Panchayat members and the unhindered support and devotion of the villagers towards development helped them in accomplishing this Herculean task. They have been successful in presenting Bahirgaon as a model village, and continue to do so with the same interest and devotion. As the saying goes, ‘The flutter of a butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world’. Every person should strive to be the butterfly. If one butterfly has such a great capacity to create a change then the amount of prosperity and development when many such butterflies put together is surely beyond measure and it will only lead us to a common goal - prosperity and well being. q
India Song Project I ndia Song Project at Kanhapur, Wardha Kanhapur village lies in the s outhern
part of the Wardha district in Maharashtra. As per the 2001 census, the
population of the village is 1248. The demonstrated village model has 25
houses of 120 sq feet each with a scope of future expansion. Each house
is made along the lines of the Wardha house model, and has alternate
technologies for sanitation, water management, and energy conservation.
The village has one bio-gas plant, a community centre, two sources of water, a government pipeline and a bore well. It is planned as a model village which demonstrates alternate technologies for building construction, water management, sanitation and waste to wealth for energy conversion and conservation. It has an integrated village development approach. Sustainable eco-friendly habitat options have been provided to the population, most of which lives below the poverty line. The Centre of Science for Villages (CSV), Dattapur, Wardha has conceptualised, designed and implemented the framework of the project with the technical support provided by a French architect. CSV was supported by Wardha Development Association (WDA) France as the primary funding partner. The Government of Maharashtra allowed the requisite change of land use from agricultural land to residential land for developing the village model. Identification of the 25 beneficiaries was done on a selection basis with the association of village Panchayat. The families living in rented or kuccha houses were given preference. The families were given freehold ownership of these houses and the registration (patta) is in the name of the woman of the household. CSV has collected Rs 3000 from each house for the welfare of the village which takes care of the electricity and water supply. CSV has used eco friendly technologies for the construction. Sun-dried mud blocks with burnt clay tile outer edge and interlocking conical terra-cotta tiles have been used as a walling and roofing system. China mosaic tile have been used as the top layer on the roof, which are useful in deflecting the sun rays and preventing heat gain through the ceiling. Formulating alternate technologies for building construction, which uses locally available material and conventional methods for product development, contributes to local livelihoods and sustainability of the technology. Each house has a roof rainwater harvesting system, with a storage tank integrated into the system. Waste conversion to useful products has a visible impact on the lives of the people. Each house has a twin pit toilet which makes the village an open defecation-free village and also helps in producing free manure for agricultural use. The village has a floating drum type bio gas plant connected to two gas collectors having a capacity of 10 cu m each. The produced gas is used to run an old Maruti car engine to generate electricity through an alternator. It generates 15KW electricity for 7-8 hours which is supplied to the village when electricity supplied by the government is cut off. q
Malumbra: A Village Rediscovers Itself M alumbra is a small village in the interiors of Ausa taluka of Latur district in Maharashtra. With a population of about 800 people, Malumbra was rehabilitated at a new location after the original village was completely destroyed during the earthquake of September 1993. The reconstruction process in Malumbra village aimed at building safe houses using locally available resources suitable to the needs of the people. A total of 85 houses were built through a highly participatory process that put people at the centre of all decision-making processes, procurement and monitoring practices.
Under the guidance of Sahyog Nirmitee, a local NGO and with funding support from PLAN International, the disaster-affected families were directly involved in rebuilding their houses. The reconstruction committee led the community through the various steps of decision making and implementation of the reconstruction programme. A six-acre land was made available through the efforts of villagers who not only paid for the land but also took full responsibility of settlement planning and management of the construction process. A model house was built within the Sahyog Nirmitee Campus to demonstrate earthquake-resistant features to be incorporated in the new houses. This helped the community to accept the use of stone up to the cill level in combination with burnt bricks up to 6 feet. The structural system comprised of steel pipes in the walls with a steel frame for the GI sheet roofing. An important feature of the owner-driven construction process was the financial contribution by families for the customisation of the model house plan. In addition to the sum of Rs 40.000 that the villagers received as reconstruction assistance, the families contributed Rs 1500 to 10,000 to customise their houses. People also used stones and timber from their old houses in the new construction. The village committee purchased the additional building material required. They hired a labour contractor and monitored his work, which led to better construction quality. Shramdaan (voluntary service) was also undertaken by the villagers and they contributed manual labour for excavation, for foundation work, sieving and cleaning of sand, curing of the newly constructed building and also worked as labourers in their houses. In one and a half year, 80 houses were completed. Malumbra highlights an interesting learning for habitat development. Prospective home owners can effectively be made in charge of habitat development. This is useful not only for addressing the real needs of the people in a sustainable manner, but also in leveraging the community’s own resources to enhance the quality of assets created through external / state assistance. q
Khaparkheda Fly Ash Brick Centre M ost of India’s residents live in abject poverty, lacking basic needs such as food, clean water and shelter. Despite economic gains in recent years, India still suffers from overpopulation and is facing the challenge of providing adequate shelter to more than 15 million households and employment for its citizens. The construction sector represents the most pressing need, viz., shelter. This sector has a great potential of generating employment. Researchers have indicated that construction activity contributes 17% to the carbon dioxide emission in India. The brick industry in the construction sector provides employment to 4 million people in India in which 7% are women. Majority of the technologies used to manufacture building material products fail to pass environmental standards, as they produce a high degree of carbon dioxide.Recognising the potential of fly ash, Development Alternatives (DA) and NABARD have come up with the proposal and set up a brick enterprise known as Panchatantrika in Khaparkheda village, Nagpur District, Maharashtra. Being a social enterprise, DA’s mission is to generate livelihood for the most deprived people by creating enterprises on a large scale. The fly ash brick centre named Panchatantrika is driven by the members of five self help groups (SHGs) of Khaparkheda village. The Khaparkheda fly ash centre in Nagpur is an example where industrial waste (fly ash) from the power plant is being utilised to make fly ash bricks. It employs 25-30 women and produces 7000-8000 bricks a day while working in two shifts on a salary of Rs 3000 a month. The brick centre gets the raw material for brick production from the nearby Khaparkheda thermal power plant where the fly ash is generated in a huge quantity. The brick centre has to bear only transportations charges to get the fly ash. To sustain the enterprise Development Alternatives, with the support of local NGO named Vansampada, have brought together the members of five women SHGs. Capital cost for setting up the enterprise was partially availed through loan from DENA Bank and rest was granted as subsidy from DRDA Nagpur. Development Alternatives assisted the employees to develop their capacities to undertake the enterprise. They trained them to run the machines, to carry out maintenance and to perform quality check of the product so as to meet the market standards. DA also assists them to market their product in a competitive manner. q
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