Bundelkhand region in central India is widely regarded as one of the most impoverished regions of the country. Consecutive droughts have led - to loss of biodiversity (depletion of forests, livestock and cultivable land) and acute water scarcity, thereby, enhancing the vulnerabilities of the rural communities. The people are forced to either migrate or work in hazardous occupations. Subsequent loss of livelihoods has led to poor quality of life (economic, social and environmental), leading to social unrest.

Depletion in natural resources, coupled with industrial backwardness, has resulted in underdeveloped local economies and adverse impacts on diversification in livelihood opportunities. Even so, there is over-dependence on agriculture (about 80% of the population is involved in farm produce), largely for sustenance. In these circumstances of abject poverty, women and children are reported to be the most vulnerable.

This year, after a four-year-long dry spell, it has been raining. ‘It rained cats and dogs in 2003 to leave behind 4 years of drought; this outpour should not end with another spell of drought’, says Samadhiya from a village in Niwari block of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh. However, for many in the region, the rains have brought many reasons to smile. ‘I do not know about the future. All that I know and am happy about is. This year he (her husband) need not leave me all alone for Gurgaon. He is out there in fields’, says a woman from Tapariyan village near Niwari.

For Development Alternatives (DA), that operates through three Appropriate Technology Resources Centres, TARAgram at Orchha, Pahuj (near Ambabai in Jhansi) and Datia, covering a total of 150 villages, it’s a season of joy. For the last two decades, DA has been working towards holistic development in Bundelkhand. The institutional mission of creating sustainable livelihoods is carried forward through four major streams of activities:

• Strengthening institutional systems
• Management of natural resources in land and water
• Creating viable income-generation opportunities, both farm and non-farm
• Development of infrastructure and facilities – habitat and energy

The overall guiding principles of participation and social equity govern the implementation of these diverse activities.

DA envisages the formation of different community institutions, their inter-linkages and intra-linkages with other institutions at village, block, district, state and national / international levels as an important factor in developing a robust institutional mechanism at the grassroot level. In this direction, strong village-level institutions have been formed and their capacities have been built through rigorous training, information dissemination and then exposing them to successful models. As of now, DA is involved in nurturing 429 robust community institutions in three geographical spaces of Tikamgarh, Jhansi and Datia. These institutions are managing cumulative finances (in cash) of INR 1.25 Cr, which includes their saving and finances from formal financial institutions. These federations are operational in Niwari, Orchha and Datia. Over the years, these federations have matured and are now managing diverse operations. The one in Niwari manages production and marketing of processed food products, while the operation in Orchha manages a gaushala (cowshed) in a sprawling 20-acre campus that has emerged as a model of community owned and community operated livestock-based livelihood. Yet another federation in Datia manages the production and marketing of building material enterprises. All these federations are registered entities and are also playing significant roles as partner organisations for DA in taking forward the diverse developmental interventions in their respective geographical areas of operation.

As has been stated often, Bundelkhand is largely an agrarian economy. Agriculture in Bundelkhand is characterised by rudimentary farming practices, high input-driven processes, poor warehousing and value addition infrastructure, and middlemen-dominated markets. DA’s interventions largely take into account land and water management. While DA supports some 120 water harvesting structures in Bundelkhand, benefiting millions of people, more interventions continue with communities in the targeted villages. To bring down the input cost in agriculture, DA has introduced several techniques with the active participation of the farming community. One such endeavour is green manuring using Sesbania bispinosa (colloquially known as Dhaincha). This year, the technique was also transferred to Chitrakot district in UP part of Bundelkhand, in partnership with a local CSO. An energy efficient irrigation system has been introduced this year, apart from wide scale propagation of the agro-forestry model. The food-processing unit for fruits and vegetables continues to support value addition of local surpluses; yet another mini-processing plan has been set up and operationalised for spice processing. This mini processing unit is managed and operated by the federation at Orchha.

Issues regarding water scarcity, both for drinking and irrigation, are widely known and reported. However, issues of water quality are seldom talked about. In fact, communities are also mostly times unaware of the quality of the water that they are consuming. Water quality monitoring carried out by DA reveals high bacteriological contaminations in potable water. Safe drinking water systems have been established in 10 villages, benefiting 12,000 people in 2007, with about 60% of the resources coming from diverse stakeholders.

Over 600 individual toilets have been established in the last one year alone, with effective engagement with the Total Sanitation Campaign and high degrees of beneficiary contribution. Furthermore, 62 roof-top rainwater-harvesting structures have been established with the dual provision for storage as well as recharging. Three methane-based power plans have also been demonstrated at three sites – Mauranipur, Lalitpur and Orchha Gaushalas.

These endeavours would not have been possible without the proactive support of our local partners, Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute and the National Research Center on Agroforestry at Jhansi; Government line departments in Tikamgarh, Jhansi and Datia; financial institutions like NABARD, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank, and Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.

To continue with the diverse developmental interventions across different parts of Bundelkhand, DA has forged alliances with like-minded Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). A consortium of five such CSOs came into existence as the Bundelkhand Development Consortium (BDC) in the year 2005. As of now, this consortium is operational in the MP part of Bundelkhand, which implements collaborative projects and programmes. Dialogue has been initiated with CSOs from the UP part of Bundelkhand so as to expand the outreach of the BDC.

In the long run, DA aspires to reach out to millions of families, linking them to diverse developmental services. The strategic direction to achieve what we aspire for is intensification through convergence of diverse developmental services in a common space in our direct areas of operation and simultaneously replicating these efforts in other geographical spaces on a partnership mode. q

Raghwesh Ranjan
rranjan@devalt.org

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