forming
strong rural communities
| harvesting hope | water
- the lifeforce
training - the pathway to empowerment
| the animal farm | making
money
women too | achievements
Sweep
your gaze in large parts of India's hinterland.
Farmer suicides, starvation deaths, absolutely undernourished
kids, anaemic women — the poorest
of the poor — most of these live in India’s
villages. A whopping 64 per cent of India’s
population is housed here. It is here that you find
India’s poverty and high points of distress.
Just imagine more than 44 million of India’s
90 million farmer families are neck-deep in debts.
The semi arid Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh where
Grasim’s Staple Fibre Division is housed, presents
a series of challenges. It has predominantly hard
rock geology. As such the recharging of ground water
is much below the mark. The crisis of groundwater
is so intense that the villages are always in the
throes of a severe drinking water shortage, more
so in summer time. The rain God seems to be perpetually
playing truant with the population here. Years of
consecutive drought has pushed farmers almost on
the brink of a precipice.
That
life in these villages for the farming community
is tough, is no secret. In such a milieu, that
literacy levels are abysmally low and educational
facilities poor, and most women — non-entities,
should come as no surprise. A very low awareness
of health and hygiene, and the absence of healthcare
facilities compound the issues. Money lenders
who control the economy, hang the sword of Damocles
over the poor.
Forming
strong rural communities
“When we looked at these farming families,
we would feel very low”, say Mr. Shailendra
Jain, (Director, pulp and fibre business) and Mr.
S.S. Maru
(Senior Executive President and Head of the Nagda
plant). “This calamity in the agricultural
sector was good enough a reason to pause, step back
and see how and what we could do to change the scenario.
We believed that the only way to alleviate their suffering and poverty was by
creating strong rural communities on a solid foundation
of sustainable farming systems that would ensure
on-going livelihood and accord this much marginalised
segment some dignity”, they aver.
“We
were exposed to these grim realities by our rural
development team led by Mr. Shiv Santra, which Mr.
S.S. Pipara and Mr. A.S. Dagonkar oversee. When
we decided to intervene, we gave a singlepoint agenda
to Shiv, and that is - lift these farmers from their
sub-human conditions and make a difference. They
have done a remarkable job.” Your editor spoke
with the team to capture the essence of their work
and the manner in which they spread sunshine in
the lives of the poor. Listen to Shiv, Mr. Mansukh
Sakariya, and Mr. B.L. Sharma, who are at the core
of these activities. “To address their problems
we began with a dialogue with the farming communities.
We wanted to understand everything in their context.
This was essential to texture our interventions
into their tapestry. Out of this, evolved our plank
for the progress of the farmers. The farm would
be the key unit of intervention. Naturally for any
farm-centered programme, water is its lifeforce.
So we recoursed to a people-driven watershed based
development programme and made it the focal point
of our developmental strategy in the zone of our
villages.
Harvesting hope
To conserve water through water harvesting structures
in both agriculture and nonagriculture land:
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to
generate a decent level of income through
appropriate farming methods and cropping pattern |
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to
teach farming communities life-stock rearing
and valuing |
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to
evolve alternate income generation sources. |
These became our key goals. They assumed primacy.
Through these goals we hoped to usher in sustainable
agricultural practices, better yields and more land
under irrigation. Our activities span 55 villages
in the Chambal river catchment area, reaching out
to 42,000 people. Every activity is focused and
is targeted primarily at farmers and their women-folk
along with the youngsters.
As
we said earlier, water is the lifeforce of existence.
For more than 40 years now we have been engaged
in providing drinking water on a continual basis
to thousands of villagers and their livestock. Traditional
wells have been replaced by bore wells dug 400 ft.
down the belly of the earth to tap the natural underground
water aquifers.
Wells providing pure drinking water have been dug
in villages such as Piploda, Rajgarh, Atlawada,
Nainawatkheda, Gidgarh, Kilodia, Parmarkhedi, Jhirmira,
Devel, Tarod, Chandoria, Juna Nagda and Sonchidi.
Likewise, to quench the thirst of cattle, water
troughs have been erected at Umarna, Mokdi, Ninavatkheda,
Atlawda, Nayan, Rajghar, Divel and Piploda villages.
We plan to fan out to more villages soon.
Water
— the lifeforce
Recharging underground water sources has become
critical to resolving the water issue. Consequently,
we have created roof-water harvesting structures
which provide the villages with one totally reliable
drinking water resource even in the driest conditions.
This is a time-tested technique for recharging tube
wells and open wells. It is quite a simple system.
Rainwater is collected on the roofs and is harvested
to recharge the wells through canals built around
the roof. They collect and divert the water to a
corner of the roof from where it moves forward to
the underground water-table of the bore wells. As
a matter of fact, water recharge plans have been
a priority area for us even before we began the
roof-water harvesting programme. We have constructed
check-dams in several villages. These also function
as recharging agents for the ground water and maintain
a sustainable flow of water in the wells.
Training — the pathway
to empowerment
In
the villages in Malwa, every family has a bit of
land. Everyone lives within the ambit of the joint
family structure. The family has hectares of land
that is held by generations in succession. To utilise
this land optimally, we organised a series of training
programmes. Among these the most notable have been
appropriate farming methods, cultivation of high
value crops, organic farming through vermi-compost
training and horticulture.
The animal farm
Animals are a valuable resource for villagers. They
are excellent multi-taskers. Apart from helping
plough the land, pull the bullock cart, they also
take the sick to the hospital. Livestock rearing
is critical to the livelihoods of farmers. Here
too, women play a major role in tending to the livestock.
Naturally then they are prized and tended to very
affectionately when they take ill. Our initiatives
in veterinary extension activities have been impressive.
Making money
To
address the issue of poverty alleviation effectively,
we have evolved a multipronged strategy. Its planks
are education, vocational training, formation of
Self-Help Groups among rural women. At our Vocational
Training Institute, we conduct skill oriented certified
programmes for both rural and urban youth. We have
linked up with Jan Shikshan Sanstha to provide vocational
training to persons between the ages of 15 and 42
years. Jan Shikshan is the arm of the Human Resource
Development Ministry which promotes functional literacy
and conducts vocational training in rural and semi-urban
areas to generate employment and alleviate poverty.
All participants have to pay a nominal fee because
even in our rural projects we believe there is no
free lunch. Once people pay, then they try and get
the most out of the course. Motor-winding, screen
printing, television repair and other electronic
items maintenance form part of the vocational training.
These courses offer a tremendous scope for self-employment.
Women too
Women are trained in tailoring, the art of applying
mehendi, arts and crafts and also in detergent
and neel (blue powder) making for use with
detergents. Practically all houses, whether in the
villages or towns, have a need for these. So the
village women are able to eke out a very encouraging
subsidiary income and for some of them it also provides
a source of subsistence.”
Our teams have made a difference
Take a look at their achievements
and the distance covered.
| Agriculture |
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Increased
crop productivity in 2150 hectares through
watershed management, and bettered the quality
of life of 3600 households. |
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Farmers
registered surplus crop production and earned
a stable income even in times of drought. |
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Optimum
use of water and resources through improvement
in irrigation methods (sprinkler and drip)
and horticultural plots impacted 400 hectares. |
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Organic
farming has been adopted by more than a dozen
villages. Organically produced agricultural
products have led to a rise in the income
of farmers. |
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Over
30,500 farmers have benefited. |
| Veterinary |
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Vaccination
of over 80 per cent of cattle population has
prevented the outbreak of foot and mouth disease
for the last five years in these 55 villages. |
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Dairy-based
activities have notched up the income from
the milch animals by 25 per cent |
| Education |
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Through
pre-school education, continuing education
and other processes, we have registered 10,220
learning enthusiasts. |
| Income
generation and empowerment of women |
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More
than 72 Self-Help Groups comprising of 1050
households are now humming with activity. |
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Through
our collaboration with the Ministry of Human
Resource Development every year more than
1600 trainees are trained in 30 different
trades and supported by a well established
Entrepreneurship Development Centre. Up until
now we have trained 14,808 people. |
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The
increased cash flow has spawned a number of
ancillary trades like food processing, livestock
feed, tailoring and brick manufacturing, etc. |
| Social |
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The
incidence of girl child labour has been considerably
reduced given the alternative income sources
for the family. |
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Better
health care for women is now assured. |
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Our
health and family welfare projects reach out
to 1,19,767 villagers |
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Being
self reliant has emboldened women to take
decisions relating to family planning and
the number of children they will raise. |
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Cleanliness
and hygiene are becoming a given in these
55 villages. |
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Development
institutions have been so impressed that they
have substantially upped the amount of Government
Development funds and programme flow to these
villages. This is a great thing to happen
and is a fine recognition of our work. |
So
folks, sweep your gaze in these 55 villages in central
Malwa, serviced by our dedicated team. And behold
an entirely altered scenario. Poverty no longer
stalks them. There is a smile on their faces, a
twinkle in their eyes and a song in their hearts.
Can there be a more fulfilling task?
To
read about the Aditya Birla Group's community initiatives,
click here.
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