Patha, the plateau area of Chitrakut district in Uttar Pradesh, is an area that has been often in news due to water scarcity. When I visited this area over four decades back at the time of a severe drought there was extreme distress in the widely scattered hamlets of weaker sections, and it was clear that an ambitious and expensive project with generous foreign aid had failed to provide much needed relief from thirst and water scarcity.
However in subsequent years the water conservation and minor irrigation work taken up by a voluntary organization ABSSS brought very significant relief to several villages at a much lower cost promoting sustainable farming and quenching the thirst of people, farm animals as well as wild life. In fact these projects won wide acclaim and received the prestigious FICCI Award for water conservation. These became widely known for their cost-effective ways of realizing significant results, achieving significant gains at low budgets. This was possible because of close participation of communities including weaker sections, and transparent functioning to ensure honest implementation of project work. It was a win-win situation for community members particularly weaker sections as most of the project expenditure was in the form of wage payments for works which would improve their livelihoods on sustainable basis.
However perhaps the most promising feature of this water conservation work was that it was accompanied or more often preceded by land distribution work among the landless households that was greatly facilitated by a strong and courageous campaign of the ABSSS. This enabled some of the poorest households to also benefit from the water conservation and minor irrigation work taken up by the voluntary organization.
This water conservation of the ABSSS started with some small projects of constructing check dams with support from leading development organizations like Action Aid and Oxfam. This was followed by three more broad-based watershed projects taken up in Mangavaan, Ittwa and Tikariya panchayats with the support of Dorabji Tata Trust, NABARD and District Rural Development Agency. Committees of villagers were constituted with representation of all sections to ensure that their advice based on understanding of local conditions would guide the projects and these committees ensured using the project funds in transparent and efficient ways, also ensuring that most of the funds actually reached the local workers from weaker sections in the form of wage payments. The then director of ABSSS Bhagwat Prasad contributed very significantly to these efforts with his exemplary planning and management skills.
The workers in these projects were employed in highly labor-intensive work of creating bunds and contour-bunds, contour trenches, digging new tanks and repairing or restoring old ones, digging farm ponds, constructing check dams, gully plugs, land-leveling and tree-planting with the aim of conserving and harvesting rainwater.
Broadly the aim of all this work is to slow down and check the rain water as it flows down plateau slopes, so that more and more of this can be retained for groundwater recharge as well as for helping villagers and local animals. As mostly manual methods were used, nearly 60% of the funds reached the villagers, particularly weaker sections, in the form of wage payments.
As a result of this work water-table in the wells in and around these villages increased bringing relief from water scarcity. Earlier the ABSSS had helped to improve the drinking water supply for several remote hamlets in another way. Some natural water sources of hills were providing reasonably clean drinking water but due to the surroundings being open there was the danger of contamination. By constructing small structures around them, the cleaner water supply could be ensured.
Thanks to the watershed development work, there was more water now in ponds and tanks for farm animals, stray animals, wild animals and birds to quench their thirst.
Prospects of sustainable livelihoods for villagers improved in terms of farming, animal husbandry and planting of trees.
In Tikariya panchayat, a tribal peasant Sitaram Mavaiya told me, “Earlier all the rain rushed down the slopes without giving us any benefit. Now most of this water is retained by a series of four check dams and related structures. The irrigation obtained in this way mostly benefits smaller farmers like me. The tanks which existed earlier were badly damaged so that most of the water was lost to seepage, Now these have also been repaired adding to irrigation as well as to quenching the thirst of farm animals.”
Kallu Prasad, another farmer told me, “Earlier the people here were reluctant about bund making and other water-conservation work. The reason is that they got few benefits but got loan notices for the work done. But the work done by the ABSSS has been so good that the farmers have much more confidence now. Now people can see clearly the benefits of water conservation and moisture retention and the resulting rise in productivity.”
In fact several farmers to whom I talked at that time said that uncultivated land has been brought under cultivation thanks to the availability of irrigation even to remotely located farms and at the same time, farms on which only one crop was being taken are able to grow two crops in a year. The per acre yield also increased.
Later ABSSS also worked with SRIJAN voluntary organization to remove the excessive silt from many tanks. While this helped to enhance the water retention and conservation capacity of several tanks, at the same time the removed silt could be used to enhance the fertility of many farms. A special government campaign also enabled these organizations to extend this work to more tanks.
In some places when weaker section farmers increase productivity with new access to irrigation, they face more risks of land grab from powerful persons. However due to the mobilization of weaker sections for their rights by the ABSSS the poorer sections of society here have been in a better position to protect their rights.
Clearly the water conservation efforts of ABSSS have provided an inspiring example of cost-effective ways of reducing water scarcity while at the same ensuring water access to smaller and more neglected farmers.
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include "Man over Machine", "Planet in Peril", "Navjeevan" and *India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food"
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