June 2021 - Volume 13 Issue 6 Rs 20

SARITA BRARA, Shimla

Standing by single women and empowering themThe Ekal Nari Shakti Sanghtan in Himachal Pradesh has been working doggedly to help widows, divorcees and other single women shouldering family responsibilities on their own to become aware of and pursue their rights

Geeta’s husband, a state government employee in Solan district of Him-

achal Pradesh, was grievously injured while on duty and ulti-mately lost his life. Shattered by her husband’s death and unaware of her rights, Geeta signed the power of attorney documents in the name of a close relative, authorising him to manage her financial affairs, including perusal of her entitle-ments as a widow of a govern-ment employee.

Geeta was misled and cheated by the relative. While her son got a job on compassionate grounds, she did not get any other entitle-ments. Left to fend for her-self, she raised the matter with the Ekal Nari Shakti Sanghtan (ENSS) which fights for the rights of single women in rural areas in Himachal Pradesh. She subsequently joined ENSS, and became aware of the rights and entitlements that were denied her.

ENSS is part of SUTRA or Social Uplift through Rural Action, and jan sunvai (public hearings) is one of its important initiatives. As the public hear-ings are attended by officials like sub-divisional magistrates and district collectors, on-the-spot directions are given for redressal of the grievances of these women.

Geeta says she was encour-aged by ENSS to fight for her rights and was determined not to give up. “I was a simple house-wife, but after joining ENSS, I

started moving out and acquired the confidence to pursue my case and access papers and files from the IPH (Irrigation and Public Health) Department where my husband worked,” she says. She won her battle for justice some months back. She got Rs 9 lakh as emoluments and Rs 9000 was fixed as her monthly pension. Empowered, Geeta is determined to help others get justice.

In another case from Urla Gram Panchayat in Drang Block of Mandi District, Sumitra’s husband, who was with the Pub-lic Works Department on a road construction project, fell from a hilltop while working. His body was discovered only about a fortnight later.

Sumitra ran from pillar to post to get pension, dues and other benefits she was entitled to. After struggling for three to four years, she gave up, but then, ENSS took up the issue. A public hearing was arranged where the sub-divisional magis-trate of the concerned block was present. Sumitra finally got her entitlements and dues.

Pushpa from a village in Dharamshala Block of Kangra District, who was a victim of domestic violence, wanted a divorce from her husband. She filed a petition in court in this regard. However, the matter was getting delayed as the hus-band would not attend the hear-ings on one pretext or the other. Ultimately, Pushpa got in touch with the field activists of ENSS,

who decided to support her case. Through persistent counselling and support from the organisa-tion, Pushpa not only got her divorce, but also got back all the marriage gifts her parents had given her, as well as a sum of Rs 80000.

Neelam, an active member of ENSS, working in Bhatiat in Chamba District, says most cases involve welfare pensions which are being either delayed or denied. There are also cases about getting land transferred from either parents or in-laws. “Getting land transferred to the names of single women is very difficult and I have not been able toget this done in half-a-dozen cases that fall under the 20 panchayats assigned to me,” she laments.

Meena, another field worker for the organisation, working in Drang Block of Mandi District, agrees with Neelam. She cited the case of a widow who wanted

to construct a house under the BPL (blow povert level) scheme but her in-laws refused to transfer the land in her name and so she could not avail of the scheme.

Radha echoed similar senti-ments. Citing the case of Asha Devi, a widow, she says that despite counselling and ENSS pressure, her brother-in-law refused to transfer the land to her name though she was will-ing to take much less than her rightful share.

Another set of problems faced by single women is related to harassment and mental and physical torture. Meena says in such cases, often the police tend to take the side of the men and even resort to threatening women for raising their voice.

While it has now become much easier to speed up pen-sions for widows, Radha says they still have to do a lot of legwork to make sure these single women get the benefit of schemes like the Mother Teresa Plan (financial assistance of Rs 6000 for the upbringing of children of widows, divorcees or women whose husbands are missing) and the Mukhiya Man-tri Kanya DaanYojana, under which Rs 50000 is given for the marriage of daughters.

Set up in 2005 with 105 mem-bers, ENSS is now active in 435 panchayats in 21 blocks of seven

A teleservice dedicated to helping, guiding and facilitating 2

Helping communities fight hunger, showing others the way 3

Harnessing local wisdom to save water, one drop at a time 4

Water sustainability leads to better income for farmers here 5

Ignored and invisible: the burden of mining on women 6

As threats increase, a community’s effort to save a lake continues 7

Nurturing nature and people to build a more secure future 8

A joy in helping those who ‘fall between the cracks’ 9

Empowering the small and marginal farmer, and how 10

I N S I D E

A public hearing or jan sunvai organised in Bilaspur, and (right) ENSS women demanding increase in the number of MNREGA days from 100 to 200.

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(Continued on page 3)

A batch of ENSS members displaying certificates after being trained in gender rights.

June 20212

FOCUS

A teleservice dedicated to helping, guiding and facilitating

Kuntala Majhi (47) of Kalyansinghpur Block in Odisha’s Rayagada

District was hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccination. She wanted to discuss it with some-one well-informed. She picked up her ordinary mobile phone and dialled a number. The person who answered her call patiently cleared all her doubts. She also connected Kuntala to a volun-teer in her block, who helped her register on the CoWIN App. Kuntala received the first dose of the vaccine, and is now await-ing the second one.

Who are the people who are helping Kuntala and others like her get answers to their many questions? They are volunteers at the Citizen Support Centre (CSC), a toll-free teleservice setup by a few like-minded CSOs (civil society organisa-tions) in Odisha to reach out to people in need during the pan-demic. “We play a pivotal role in connecting people with service providers, from whom they can immediately get help. People are fearful during this time, and they need help, but don’t know whom to ask for it. We support them,” said Niladri Bihari Sahoo, man-ager, CYSD (Centre for Youth and Social Development), the team leader of CSC.

Last year, in March, when a nation-wide lockdown was declared to contain the spread of the coronavirus, CYSD decided to reach out to the needy, espe-cially migrants. This year in February, other CSO experts in their respective fields in Odisha joined hands with CYSD. “We receive queries about the vac-cine, pandemic-related stress,

COVID symptoms, fear and anxiety, treatment and facilities for COVID, doctor consulta-tions, availability of medicines for other diseases, maternal and child health issues, public distri-bution system issues, and even domestic abuse and migrants’ issues, which increased during the lockdown,” said Swati Das, senior programme associate, CYSD, a member of the CSC team.

The teleservice helps the rural community, especially women, to be informed and get help just by dialling 8880592592. The volunteers receive 30-40 calls every day. The calls are divided into four categories – basic information, food and entitle-ments, psycho-social counsel-ling and telemedicine.

The volunteers receive calls from remote districts like Kora-put, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Nabaragpur, Mayurbhanj, Sone-pur and Boudhas well as from urban areas like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. “We get 80 per cent of calls from different parts of Odisha while 20 per cent calls are from outside the state, mostly from migrants who want to return or want to consult a doctor for their family in Odi-sha,” said Swati.

“We have a vast network of Internet sathis or digital leaders and CRPs (community resource persons) in 11-12 districts. And to reach out to others we take the help of friends and colleagues. We request them to amplify the message or toll-free number in their WhatsApp groups,” said Niladri. That’s how Kuntala and others came to avail of the facility.

The teleservice is based on the interactive voice response system (IVRS). “We interact in the local language and feed-back from callers helps us to improve our operation,” said Niladri. “The volunteers of Aide et Action counsel migrants, while maternal and child health issues are handled by volunteers of Mamata; Aaina volunteers handle domestic abuse- and psycho-social health-related calls. Human Context, Views and RCDC are other organ-isations which are part of the effort. Recently, various tribal languages – Desia, Kui and San-tali– were introduced for smooth communication.

Sharing an incident, Swati said, “In May we received a call from a woman in a remote vil-lage in Nabarangpur District, asking for help. Her husband

was suffering from fever, cold and cough, the basic symptoms of COVID. The neighbours were not helping to take him to a doctor. The volunteer connected her with a doctor who sent a pre-scription through a grassroots CSC member. For the next 10 days his health was regularly monitored by CSC volunteers and when he recovered, the woman told the team that it was as if her husband had got a new birth.”

In another incident, “a man working in Kerala called the helpline for a doctor’s consulta-tion for his mother in Odisha’s Malkangiri District who was suffering from age-related ail-ments. He was connected with a doctor and, later, volunteers dropped medicines at the wom-an’s house,” Swati said.

Last year, when a group of migrants working in a construc-tion site in Chennai contacted CSC for help to return to their village in Odisha, volunteers had a tough job. “It was during the lockdown and we had to take permission from local bodies at the destination site to bring them home. We helped the migrants register with the concerned por-tal, tracked their journey and counselled them to stay in quar-antine centres. After 14 days, when they were finally reunited with their families, they told us, ‘We were living in fear, but with the support of CSC we were able to get back home,” said Debas-nata Nayak, a team member.

RAKHI GHOSH, Bhubaneswar

Thanks to technology and the commitment of volunteers, people in remote parts of Odisha, particularly women, are able to get a whole range of support, from psycho-social counselling to home delivery of medicines, during these tough times

In the first wave, while most calls were regarding migrants wanting to return to their vil-lages, in the second wave the calls were more about avail-ability of hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, etc. Debasnata said identifying people in need of psycho-social help and counsel-ling them virtually was the most challenging task in the second wave.

Sixteen of the 30-odd team members are women. There are four frontline volunteers who first receive calls. If they are unable to handle them, they for-ward the calls to two or three experts who work as backline supporters. Besides, they con-duct zoom meetings.

“We have a WhatsApp group where we interact inter-nally about the progress of any call and store all materials on Google Drive so that everyone can access to information”, said Swati. “Though we have house-hold responsibilities, being women, we can extend our work timings if needed. We feel happy that we can reach out to people in need of help”.

Debasnata says last year, the virtual format of work was a little difficult for the volunteers. “But after consistent work, “we have improved our digital knowledge. The CSOs in Odi-sha are reaching out to the needy virtually, and trying to bring a smile to their faces.” Ph

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An Internet sathi holding a mobile phone in hand, helping others to interact with CSC volunteers. On right, a screenshot of a virtual orientation programme about CSC work.

Vaccine hesitancy with reference to the COVID-19 vaccination programme, especially in semi-urban and rural India, is one of the major challenges confronting the administration today. Even as more and more people are getting vaccinated, the fear element still persists.

June 2021 3

Helping communities fi ght hunger and showing others the wayThe pandemic has exposed deep cast-class divisions and inequality in society. This is a story about initiatives to bridge the divides and also throw up long-term models for crisis relief with the active participation of civil society in cooperation with local government infrastructure in Mumbai

“Hameeda cannot work from home, her work doesn’t give her that

privilege” says Sujata Sawant, an activist who has been work-ing with the residents of Buntar Bhavan, Qureshi Nagar, Kurla, Mumbai for the last six years. Hameeda, like several other women in the community, are essentially domestic employees working in the high-rise build-ings and ‘societies’ of Mumbai city. Due to the lockdown and restrictions on travel, they’ve been asked by their employers to stay away from work until the restrictions are lifted.

“Corona hoya naho mujhe toh parivar ke liye bahar nikalna hi padta hai, paarivar ko khilana jo hai” (I need to feed my family, and I have to step out irrespective of corona),” shared a helpless Amita, another Qureshi Nagar resident. She has two daughters and son to bring up.

In the past-one-and-a-half years, the pandemic has not only exposed the deep caste-class divisions and inequality that exists in society, but has further hindered access to resources, specially of people working in the informal sector. Their impaired accessibility to food is a major concern, as whatever lit-tle savings they had have begun to dry up.

Sujata is an on-ground mobil-iser for Noble Foundation and has been working relentlessly for the Qureshi Nagar com-munity. The organisation has been able to reduce the school dropout rate and has also been helping women establish liveli-hoods. Noble Foundation has adopted the self-help group (SHG) model implemented by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to mobilise and train women, ensuring their ability to join the workforce.

During last year’s nation-wide stay-at-home order, Sujata reached out to Khaana Chahiye, a relief organisation that was working to meet the immediate, lockdown-induced food demands of the homeless, migrant work-ers, daily wage laborers, and other vulnerable populations in Mumbai. She contacted Neeraj Shetye, programme manager, Relief Operation, to support the food needs of the communities in Kurla in May 2020.

Initially, Khaana Chahiye supported the Noble Foundation with 8000 cooked meals every day for the Buntar Bhavan Com-munity in Kurla and the Thak-kar Bappa Colony in Chem-bur, comprising mainly those engaged in shoe manufacturing. After thelockdown was lifted, the communities were given dry rations as they had the basic infrastructure for cooking.

As Khaana Chahiye continued its operations post lockdown, it launched the Hunger Map Project. The rationale was that Mumbai needed a functional crisis man-agement infrastructure to support the system during extreme situa-tions like an economic shutdown. This meant improving the exist-ing system by identifying critical pockets in the city which required urgent assistance and coming up with effective solutions.

The long-term intention – pro-pose a model of relief methods with active participation from civil society in coordination with the local government infra-structure. Sujata and her team at Noble Foundation supported the project by helping to map the hunger pockets across the city.

As the city started seeing a sudden increase in cases towards the end of March, the administra-tion again imposed a partial lock-down. The vulnerable were once again affected. Khaana Chahiye,

has brought our community together. This also helps us earn some income,” shared Amina, part of the workforce driving the kitchen. Khaana Chahiye, supported by CSR funds routed through a crowdfunded cam-paign, pays the women for the hours of work they put in.

“The community kitchen model is not unprecedented. There are examples of such initiatives taken by both gov-ernment and non-government organisations to serve the dual purpose of ensuring access to food while creating employ-ment opportunities locally. If we can implement a public-pri-vate partnership model in this area, we can effectively eradi-cate hunger from urban settings while encouraging local enter-prises,” said Neeraj.

(Courtesy: Charkha Features)

supported by its network, had been monitoring the lockdown-induced food demand.

Phase II of its food distribution drive started with 2000 meals served daily across micro-clus-ters and along Mumbai’s arte-rial roads. “Just like last year’s lockdown, the food demand is far higher than the supply,” said Parth Shukla, ground operations manager.

Khaana Chahiye is ramping up its kitchens across the city and expanding its operations to Thane and Navi Mumbai. Besides providing cooked meals and ration kits, one of the goals of the initiative is to support the beneficiaries in their efforts to build sustainable livelihoods. With this objective, the team decided to work with Sujata’s SHG led by women of the Bun-tar Bhavan Community.

Sujata’s understanding of complex community dynam-ics helped identify vulnerable

households in the Buntar Bha-van and streamline the process of immediate food demand and, subsequently, to set up a proper kitchen. “People are finding it difficult to make ends meet. From last years’ experience, we know that the adverse impact will largely be felt by the poor and less-privileged. Organisa-tions like Khaana Chahiye have supported these vulnerable com-munities by making them a part of the solution,” shared Sujata.

The community kitchen that functions in a narrow gullie (lane) of the slum is supported by women and children from the community. The kitchen cooks around 500 meals every day, with operations starting from 10 am. Every member assists in cleaning, cutting, cooking and finally packing the meals.

“It doesn’t feel right to sit at home, doing nothing about the situation, when I am fully capable of working. The kitchen

MITHILA NAIK-SATAM, Mumbai

Standing by single women...(Continued from page 1)districts of Himachal Pradesh, with over 16400 members on its rolls, says Nirmal Chandel, state coordinator of ENSS and president of the National Forum for Single Women’s Rights. The members include widows, divorcees, unmarried women and those whose husbands are either declared missing or in jail.

The main advantage of the jan sunvai public hearings, says Chandel, is that woman are now getting the courage to articu-late their problems and this is

the first step towards standing up against hostile neighbours or local babus. Over the years, such public hearings have become ‘problem solving clin-ics’, say SUTRA activists.

ENSS has helped nearly 35000 single women to avail of the benefits of government schemes, get trained in vari-ous skills including tailoring and nursing, and become finan-cially independent. It conducts one-day awareness camps to orient the single women in a given area about the sangathan

(organisation) and its activi-ties, as well as motivate them to become a part of the collective movement.

Leadership development training is provided to pan-chayat-level members who take an interest in the activities and have the potential for becoming leaders. ENSS also celebrates the festival of Behna Teej to send the message that single women may be marginalised by their own families and society, but the sangathan stands firm in their support. Women working together to help their community fight hunger during

second wave of COVID-19.

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The team ensures that a nutritious diet is offered to the community. Right: Women from the Buntar Bhavan community chat while getting food packets ready.

June 20214

Harnessing local wisdom to save water, one drop at a timeHere is a firsthand account of the success of the intense cooperation between a voluntary organisation and local people in Rajasthan’s drought-prone villages to find solutions for chronic water scarcity

BHARAT DOGRA, New Delhi

While the results of rainwater harvesting efforts have not been

very good in general, some organisations have achieved high levels of success. A look at their work reveals that these organisations have benefited from the traditional wisdom of communities with whom they work, and also from securing the close involvement of local people in their efforts.

In Rajasthan, where rain is scarce and drought is all too fre-quent, villagers have a rich tra-dition of rainwater harvesting. The Barefoot College (BC) has revived, improved and impro-vised on traditional technology to meet the specific need of many diverse areas.

BC and its famous direc-tor Bunker Roy have a well-deserved national and world-level reputation in rainwater harvesting and water conserva-tion. A visit to some of the vil-lages where BC has taken up this work revealed the extent of community involvement and the efforts made to ensure hon-esty and transparency.

Members are selected to form a committee for the work being taken up and they are responsible for much of the local work, with experienced staff providing technical guid-ance. In some villages, I met elderly persons with not much formal education, but rich in water-related wisdom, which was utilised by BC activists like Ram Karan, coordina-tor of its water-conservation programme.

BC’s rainwater harvesting work and other water conser-vation work starts at its own main campus in Tilonia Village of Ajmer District. Carefully-designed pipes carry the roof-top rainwater to an underground storage unit. Surface water from the nearby hills is guided by trenches and drains to stop for some time and then flow into an open well, the overflow being guided into another well. Roof-top rainwater is stored to pro-vide drinking water, while other rain water is used to recharge the groundwater sources.

In addition, the attempts to increase green cover in diffi-cult conditions has resulted in a collection of beautiful trees, here as in some other villages, which contributes to water con-servation. Studies have shown that several hundred thousand litres of water percolate into the ground within days.While hand-pumps in nearby areas often go dry in the summer, those on this campus continue to provide water throughout the year.

The conservation of moisture, careful drip irrigation using a thin pipe, and creation of soak pits to conserve waste water, all help the BC campus to wear a green look despite low rainfall and frequent drought-like situa-tions. Sewage water is recycled for irrigating some trees. The cover of the water tanka or underground storage unit forms the stage at an open-air theatre-cum-meeting place where over a 1000 people can gather.

Evidence of BC’s work can be seen in other buildings,

particularly in the schools of this area. Rainwater from the roofs of schools and some other build-ings is channelled into under-ground leak-proof tanks made of local, low-cost materials. From here, the water is taken to underground storage units. Most of the rainwater is harvested for drinking and sanitation while some of it recharges groundwa-ter supplies, including unused open wells. The water harvest-ing can contribute to increasing school attendance, particularly in areas with poor water quality.

Availability of stored water enables the school to provide sanitation as well, and this helps reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases. The sec-ondary school at TikawaraVil-lage has a tanka with a capacity of about 40000 litres – enough to meet the needs of the school for five to five months after the rains.

Ram Karan says water-con-servation works, such as naa-dis, anicuts, bunds, etc taken up in and around villages strug-gling with brackish water, has

improved the water quality to some extent. As we drove through a vast stretch of sandy wastes, we saw these anicuts, ponds and other structures. Sweet rain water that accu-mulates in ponds can be used by villagers for at least some weeks after the rains.

Such solutions work because of the very close relationship between the voluntary organ-isation and the people. There is intense involvement on both sides to find solutions in dif-ficult conditions, as it is clear that there is no other motive than a sincere desire to help the community.

Meanwhile, barefoot water engineers from countries like Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Sen-egal have been trained at the BC’s Tilonia campus and have achieved good results after returning to their villages.

This picture is a representative one of water conservation efforts of BC College in Ajmer District.

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No roti, kapda or makaanDomestic workers in urban India have been severely affected by the impact of the lockdown. In addition to the crises of income, employment and food, they are also facing a crisis of shelter

Domestic workers generally struggle for survival in Indian cities, subsisting on meagre wages. However, what they have been facing in recent times is unprecedented. Periodic lockdowns have led to widespread loss of work and income. This often extends much beyond the period of lockdown, and has led to increasing hunger and malnutrition.

Most of the workers are finding it increasingly difficult to retain a roof over their heads, as itʼs hard to find even the modest amounts needed to pay rents. Also, they have been forced into debt to keep their families just on a maintenance level, and have no means of paying back loans.

In Jaipur (Rajasthan), about 90 per cent ofwomen domestic workers are migrants. The largest number is from West Bengal, while others are from states like Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The men in many families are employed as construction workers, a sector which has also been badly hit in the pandemic. This means both breadwinners in families are affected, and their earnings have been nil for months. With little or no savings to fall back on, how are they to survive?

The Rajasthan Mahila Kamgar Union (RKMU) is a body of domestic workers functioning in Jaipur and, to a lesser extent, in some other parts of Rajasthan. When the crisis was at its worst, the union tried to make available some free rations and financial help, but of course this was not adequate to offset the distress.

According to a survey conducted by RKMU, none of the domestic workers polled owned the homes they were living in. While 96 per cent lived in rented houses, 4 per cent occupied servantsʼ quarters in their employersʼ homes. Though the domestic workers pleaded with house owners for deferment of rent, only 5 per cent were given two monthsʼ time, while 15 per cent got a monthʼs grace. The remaining were denied such relief, and many were made to vacate homes. As a result, a crisis of shelter has emerged, in addition to the crises of income, employment and food.

According to the survey, pending rent dues of individual workers range from Rs 15000 to Rs 35000 and there are other debts as well, pointing to the likelihood of long-term vulnerability, not only for the adults but also for the children in these families.

According to a survey conducted by the International Domestic Workers Federation in Maharashtra last year, while 62 per cent of the workers lost their jobs temporarily during lockdowns, 24 per cent lost jobs absolutely. Although they had had to struggle to put away some money, most of them entered COVID times with some savings. But they will emerge from it with debts and rent overdues.

Bharat Dogra

June 2021 5

Water sustainability leads to better income for farmers hereThe farmers in Gumla and Simdega Districts of Jharkhand were suffering from severe water crisis and soil erosion till a few years ago. The state government along with non-profit organisations chipped in and started watershed management by excavating trenches along the hill slopes in 2012. More than 25000 people in two districts have been benefitted from trenches that have led to multiple cropping due to adequate supply of water

Umesh Kumar is a young farmer at Pithra Village in Simdega District in

Jharkhand, a picturesque vil-lage surrounded by hills and green forest cover. The 26-year-old owns around 12 acres of land, where he grows various vegetables and wheat almost around the year. He beams with joy on seeing an earthen check dam near his lush green fields. “The multiple crops in the fields have been the gift of this earthen check dam that has been provid-ing water to my farmland. The rise in income has helped me to send my two children to English medium schools which seemed to be a distant dream even a year ago,” said Kumar.

Kumar claims that his income has almost doubled since trenches were excavated along the hill close to his field around six months ago, “Earlier, the vegetables grown were for home consumption but now an increase in production has helped me to sell them in the market. It has also become possible to do mul-tiple cropping because of the earthen check dam that keeps the soil perennial for cultivation,” he added in a telephonic conversa-tion. Over 90 per cent of the total 5000 population in Pithra Village is involved in farming. They are witnessing a rise in income since the trenches were dug in the hill slopes of the village around six months ago.

The excavation of trenches has been part of the watershed management project that was implemented in 30 villages across two districts, Simdega and Gumla, of Jharkhand by the state government in collabora-tion with Social Action for Rural

Development (SARDA), a non-profit working for community-based rural livelihoods as an executing agency. “It has been helping the farmers by ensuring less to no irrigation as the soil remains moist due to seepage of water and also preventing soil erosion that destroys the stand-ing crops in the fields,” said N.P. Singh, founder of SARDA.

He said that the project was implemented in the villages of Simdega and Gumla in 2012 and 2013, respectively, after realising the severe water crisis in the area and other issues, “The region suffers from severe water short-age and the situation becomes worse during extreme summers. It used to become difficult for farmers to continue farming. They had to remain content with the single crop which was not enough. It often resulted in hunger and starvation.”

Debasish De, a Bengal-based specialist in natural resource management said that the trenches are being excavated to tap the flowing rainwater, “The farmers nowadays are excavating staggered, contour and continu-ous trenches, water absorption trenches based on the geographi-cal configuration of that area. The dug up trenches along the hillside not only taps the rainwater that could have gone waste but also prevents soil erosion. The stored water in the trenches seeps in the earth making the soil perennial for cultivation while the per-colation of water recharges the groundwater level.”

De further pointed out, “Majority of the farmers depend on traditional farming and face losses if the rains are deficit. The excavation of trenches is a need

of an hour because the rain-falls are becoming erratic with each passing year due to global warming. The trenches also play a major part in preventing the loss of topsoil that could have been taken away by the flowing water.”

As per the data made avail-able by SARDA, around 200000 trenches have been excavated in two districts covering 30 villages in Jharkhand since the project kicked-off in 2012. Singh says that the water conservation done in these villages ensures a con-stant supply of water across the year, “We have treated around 1500 hectares of land and con-served around 800 crore litres of water in both the districts. Nearly 800 to 1000 hectares of land has been transformed from waste to cultivable land and around 700 hectares has been brought under cultivation.”

The concept of watershed management had started from Ralegaon in Maharashtra to cope up with the scarcity of water in 1975. In Jharkhand, it was started in 2012 and has been initiated in other states of the country as well.

Arjun Mahato, 35, a farmer who lives at Goja Village in Gumla District in Jharkhand says that water conservation has helped in increasing the water level of wells and other water bodies in the village, “Earlier, the rainwater used to runoff and there was a severe water crisis for farming during summers. We had to wait for the rains for farming. We had to depend on a single crop for livelihood which was not enough. But trenches have changed our lives. There is also ample water level in wells and ponds mostly across the year preventing women to take a long walk for water.”

Sujit Kumar, a farmer in Pithra Village is planning to start fish farming during rains, “The ponds near the trench have ade-quate water for fish farming. It can be an extra source of income for me. The state had deficit rains last year but fish farming could be an option if the rains are ample this year.”

Jharkhand suffers from a defi-cit of rains. The Central Govern-ment had declared 10 districts of Jharkhand as drought-affected last year, impacting 12 lakh

Water from the trenches stored in the pond at Pithra Village in Simdega, and (right) an excavation or trench at Gonmer Village of Gumla District.

farmers of the state. The cumu-lative rainfall in Jharkhand from June 1 to August 23 last year was 541.6 mm against the ideal amount of 754.3 mm causing a deficit of 28 percent over the entire state. The state is feared to face severe water shortage this year (2020). Out of 24 districts in Jharkhand, seven had received normal rainfall, 16 have received below normal rainfall whereas one district, Godda, had received scanty rainfall with 62 per cent deficit in 2019.

As part of the holistic devel-opment of the area under water-shed management, livestock has been distributed among farmers and self-help groups (SHGs) have been formed for creating livelihood opportuni-ties mostly for women. Sonal Guriya, a member of an SHG at Bindhartolli Village in Simdega district says that she was trained in making handicraft items in 2014, “We were trained around six years ago in making differ-ent kinds of item like table cov-ers, bamboo baskets and incense sticks among others. We earn our livelihood by selling them in local markets and even online.”

“The watershed management has created livelihood oppor-tunities in the areas that were infamous for Maoist activities. Several people were employed in the excavation of trenches and working as a labour in the fields due to multiple cropping,” said Junul Samad, technical expert (district), rural develop-ment. “The government has rep-licated the watershed manage-ment project in all the districts of Jharkhand.”

(Courtesy: Mongabay-India)

GURVINDER SINGH

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A rally being taken out to create awareness on watershed management in Simdega District. Right: Umesh Kumar standing in his field at Pithra Village in Simdega at Jharkhand.

June 20216

Ignored and invisible: the burden of mining on womenWhile loss of land and livelihood is a more commonly discussed impact of mining, an invisible impact is seen on local women who witness a disruption of social structures, burden of earning an extra income, long term mental health issues and a shift from independent cultivators to being dependent on others for survival. Wherever mining operations take place there is an uptick in cases of sexual violence against women and trafficking, note experts and organisations working across India. Until recently, there were employment restrictions for women in mining. Despite claims to the contrary, livelihood opportunities in the mining companies are not available for women.

MAYANK AGGARWAL

Kusum, 14, and Pushpa, 12 (both names changed), ran away from

their home in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh in 2019, as their family didn’t have enough food to sur-vive after losing land and live-lihood to a mining project. The two finally returned this week, on January 19, to their mater-nal grandparents after spending about 18 months in a shelter home in Mumbai.

“Their families had thought these girls were dead. After losing everything to mining, their parents frequently migrate between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for work and even right now are not in the district. Fortunately, in Mumbai, the girls were rescued by a social organ-isation who kept them safely in a girl’s home. They educated them and trained them. They now returned after they revealed their real identity to the rescuers who contacted us and we traced their family,” Manju Singh, a mem-ber of district’s child welfare committee in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, told Mongabay-India.

The case of these two girls just scratches the surface of the transition that a mining project triggers. With socio-economic changes, a disrupted social struc-ture and the added burden of earning an extra income to make ends meet the transition to a mining area brings about a shift where women, who were for-merly independent cultivators, need to now depend on others for their and their family’s survival.

Researchers, civil soci-ety organisations and experts,

including those working with mining-affected communities, note that they have recorded that many women, including teenage girls, are pushed into sex work or trafficking due to the lack of livelihood or other changes con-nected to mining.

Bhanumathi Kalluri, who is the director of Dhaatri Resource Centre for Women and Child Rights, explains that women are usually like an invisible compo-nent in the mining sector even as the impact on them and their lives are enormous. “In India, most of the mining areas are either forests or areas that have a significant population of indige-nous people. When mining starts in these areas, these people lose their land and livelihoods which ultimately impacts their whole family system. This transition is unfair on women who from being the cultivators become dependent on men or are pushed to undertake unorganised labour work. The worst part is that the mining debate in the coun-try doesn’t even acknowledge women or their issues,” Kalluri told Mongabay-India.

Though under the Mines Act, 1952, employment of women in underground mines and in open-cast mines during the night time was restricted, women employ-ees groups, industry and students enrolled with various institu-tions doing mining engineer-ing courses had been represent-ing to the government to allow equal employment opportunity for women in mines. This was changed in February 2019 when the central government removed

the restrictions and also came out with guidelines for mine owners for framing standard operating procedures for the employment of women in mines.

However, even with the restriction on women from work-ing in mines, they were always impacted, directly or indirectly. Kalluri emphasises that min-ing has a domino effect on the lives of the locals as it impacts agricultural fields around mines, pollutes the water bodies and disturbs the groundwater levels while noting that “women bear the brunt”.

“Women (we have interacted with) often complain that it is not just the yield that goes down but also whatever they grow is laced with chemicals. As a result, their health is dis-turbed, the cattle fall ill and it is the women who are burdened to ensure clean water. Women who work in agricultural fields close to mining operations develop skin rashes and other health problems but there is absolutely no debate about the impact on them or requirement of con-sidering steps to address them even when they are the primary actors while men migrate for work,” she added.

Forty-nine-year-old tribal community leader Indu Netam, who has been associated with tribal community for mining, forest and livelihood related issues for the last 30 years in Chhattisgarh, said, “The impact of mining on women is not a simple straightforward one but it disturbs every aspect of their lives.”

“In the tribal-dominated areas where mining has now taken over, the tribal women used to go to the jungle to collect forest produce in groups with others – for them, the value of the forest produce doesn’t matter much but the time they spend together is important for them. Their social structure is disturbed. But after they lose their land and for-ests to mining, the mental pres-sure increases on them. They are forced to work in houses of other people for money and this marks their journey from being independent to being dependent on others for survival,” Netam told Mongabay-India.

Netam, who belongs to the Gond tribe and lives in the north Bastar Region of Chhattisgarh, said while women seek all kind of labour work or domestic work for survival, their “physi-cal exploitation has become a usual affair” and the “worst part is that they don’t even have a space to protest”. “Even if they try sometimes, such cases are suppressed. Moreover, there is this stigma of being the society not accepting them after sexual abuse,” said Netam, who is the convener of the Adivasi Jan Van Adhikar Manch, a network of indigenous people.

The story of sexual exploita-tion of women in mining-affected areas or them being trafficked is the same across the major mining areas across the country whether it is Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka or Madhya Pradesh. Manju Singh highlighted that

there are 650 sex workers, who are registered in the Singrauli area, and the majority of them are connected to the mining-affected families.

“For the mining-affected families, sending the girls out for work is not an option but a forced decision as their survival depends on them in absence of a proper livelihood strategy after losing their land. The influx of hundreds of trucks also increases the vulnerability of young girls and women. The social structure of the area completely trans-forms – we have documented so many cases of single unwed mothers who were left behind by men who were stationed in those mining areas for limited times,” said Kalluri while stressing that there is a vicious cycle of the

A community meeting of the District Mineral Foundation Trust in a village in Karnataka. Right: A picture of mining-affected women participating in a protest in Bellary District in Karnataka.

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Concerns of women are often ignored while mining issues are addressed.

impact of mining on livelihood and emotional health of women.

“Most of the girls in our area are educated till the eighth stan-dard because of lack of schools and in some cases, their schools are far away from the homes which become difficult – as crossing mining-affected regions and reaching the school becomes an impossible task,” said Manju Singh, who is originally from Bihar but has been in the region since 1994 after she got mar-ried. “In addition to the exploita-tion, the sad part is that no fund – corporate social responsibil-ity (CSR) or the district mineral foundation (DMF) – ever looks at women as an important stake-holder. They are never offered any job opportunities that are connected to the market.”

Bhagya Lakshmi of Sakhi Trust, who has been working for the last 20 years for women in the mining-affected areas of Karnataka, including Ballari, said what they have found is that the concerns of the communities are neither addressed while the mining is going on or even when they are closed. “There are less or negligible facilities for water, toi-let, health, education, livelihood – just no alternative. The com-munities are forced to migrate to fields for sugarcane cutting or coffee plantations and there are so many health issues,” Lakshmi told Mongabay-India.

(Courtesy: Mongabay-India)

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June 2021 7

As threats increase, a community’s effort to save a lake continuesFrom restoring mangroves to fighting off worm poachers, people living around Pulicat Lake in Tamil Nadu have been making efforts over years to save their wetlands and their livelihoods. Meerasa, who lives in Jameelabad near the lake, has been involved in conservation of the lake and raising awareness about the ecosystem for almost two decades now. The region faces a looming threat from the Kattupalli Mega Port expansion plan that could severely impact the wetland, its mangroves and marine life and result in displacement and loss of livelihood of many fishing families dependent on Pulicat Lake.

Meerasa’s story is one of displacement. The son of a boat maker and

a resident of Dhonirevu (Kari-manal Island), one of many vil-lages around the Pulicat Lake, Meerasa and his parents were evicted from their home in 1985 during ISRO’s Sriharikota expansion. Meerasa now lives in Jameelabad and has worked in conservation since he graduated from school. But with industrial expansion around Pulicat Lake threatening the land and the mangrove forests that surround them, Meerasa fears that history might be repeating itself.

About 50 km north of Chen-nai, Tamil Nadu, is Pulicat Lake, the second largest brackish water ecosystem in India. Known as Pazhaverkadu, meaning ‘forest of the rooted fruit’, Pulicat Lake was once covered by dense man-grove trees. But over the centu-ries — from mangroves being hacked for the construction of the Dutch fort in the 1600s, to the gradual clearing of forests owing to spreading urbanisa-tion and industrial expansion — the mangroves of Pulicat have now been reduced to sporadic patches along the coast. And the mangrove destruction for industrial expansions have both severely affected biodiversity and endangered the livelihood of the fisherfolk who depend on the mangrove ecosystem.

“Around 1200 families are completely dependent on the mangroves for their income. They make between 100 and 300 rupees a day during the summer season, and 1500 to 2000 rupees a day during the monsoon sea-son.” Meerasa says. “Fishing that involves tiger prawns and mud crabs are very lucrative,

with a kilo of mud crabs cost-ing as much as 1500 rupees and tiger prawns costing about 1200 rupees. Both the tiger prawns and mud crabs need the mangroves to thrive. They provide them with shade as well as feed in the form of falling leaves, and are critical to the livelihood of the fishing communities,” Meerasa says.

The mangroves have many uses, for starters, many marine species use them as nurseries during the early stage of their lives. The mangrove tree shed-ding, along with the accumula-tion of bacteria, provides young marine life with plenty of food, as well as a thick refuge to hide from larger animals.

Meerasa remembers when his family was evicted from their village Dhonirevu in May 1985. “Before we were asked to vacate, there was at least a kilo-meter separating two villages, but once the relocation began, they started stuffing us in the free space between the villages. The overpopulation led to scar-city of water, the overfishing created a strain on the lake, and there were resentment and com-munal riots between the exist-ing and resettled communities.” Meerasa fears that the expansion plan of the Kattupalli Port would have similar consequences. In addition, it threatens around 500 hectares of mangroves, resulting in displacement and loss of live-lihood of hundreds of fishing families.

“I became active because this is our land and I know that no one else but us will fight for it,” Meerasa says, talking about his inspiration to protect the man-groves. Driven by a sense of duty to protect the ecosystem that has allowed him and his community

their livelihoods, Meerasa started working with CReNIEO (The Center for Research on New International Economic Order), a rural development nonprofit organisation, right after school. “As far as I can remember, all the efforts to protect the lake have been community-driven. On August 5, 2002, when the Enoor North Thermal power station (North Chennai Thermal Power Station near Ennore Port) released hot water into the lake, fishes, prawns and crabs died by the hundreds. I remember walk-ing into the lake when it was 43.5 degrees Celsius as opposed to the summer high of 35 degrees Cel-sius. It was the community that protested for five straight days and got the power station to cool the water and change the direc-tion of the flow before sending it back into the river. This moti-vated me and I’ve been involved in community-driven efforts ever since.”

Meerasa first partnered with CReNIEO in 1988, when he enrolled for a computer course sponsored by the organisation. As part of the organisation, he has been active with commu-nity outreach and has worked with over 30 schools these past 20 years. “We organise trips for school students to get familiar with the mangroves, and we’ve also published booklets and teaching material for students and teachers so that they’re informed about their surround-ings. It’s important that people develop a feeling of ownership. This is our land, this is our live-lihood and our future, and it’s our right to fight for it,” he says.

“All of this outreach has paid off because the community takes

action and mobilises all on its own today. The boatmen who take tourists to see the man-groves make it a point to never leave anything behind, the vil-lagers get together to clean the lake, and just last month we were approached by women who’d fought off worm poachers. It’s a problem we’ve been having for the past three years, and it’s one that’s caused great harm to the ecosystem,” says Meerasa.

Polychaete worms are found in large quantities on this side of the lake, with one kilo of worms fetching 1,200 rupees and as much as 4,000 rupees when resold in the market. These worms are sought after as feed by prawn farmers and aquar-ium dealers, who pay agents to acquire them from the lake. But the polychaete worms are impor-tant to aquatic life as well as the birds that visit the Pulicat Lake.

The main problem arose when hired workers dug two feet holes in the ground to acquire these worms. These holes caused sud-den drops in the ground. This resulted in falls and broken bones among the prawn picking women of Pulicat. The women banded together and fought off the poachers. They now pick the worms themselves, but in mea-sured quantities.

The biggest community-driven undertaking, however, was the mangrove reforestation effort started in 2012. Aided by the Global Nature Fund and partnering with CReNIEO, the project involved fishermen and boatmen, labourers and prawn pickers, and utilised the local community in the restoration process. Thereby empower-ing them to take charge of

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their environment and enabling them to regain the livelihoods lost when the mangroves were destroyed.

During the monsoon of 2015, Pulicat was hit by a historic flood, a flood that submerged the plants for 10 days and resulted in the loss of about 90 per cent of the restored mangroves. The community lost a lot of its plants during the floods, but haven’t given up yet. The people con-tinued with their reforestation efforts, and are now able to see its advantages materialise.

“I used to find two or three tiger prawns at most, but now after the mangrove growth, I pick 10 to 12 prawns on aver-age,” says Rajee, a prawn picker. Babu, a boatman who helped plant the mangroves, says that he makes detours during his tours of the lake to show tourists the mangroves. “I like to show off these plants, and people are always surprised to learn about a tree that can grow in saltwater,” he says.

Despite the looming threat of the Kattupalli Port expansion, and the possibility of history repeating itself again, Meerasa is optimistic about the future. He’s convinced that people are better informed this time around, and that they’re more willing to act. “No one knows what the future holds, but we know how to protect our surroundings. We will continue our work preserv-ing our land and our mangroves, and we will continue to fight for our land and our livelihood,” he says.

Courtesy: Mongabay-India)

The livelihoods of several communities around the Pulicat Lake depend on the health of the region’s mangroves and lake. Right: Restored mangroves in Pulicat. These habitats have now been reduced to sporadic patches along Pulicat’s coast.

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Meerasa at a mangrove nursery near the Pulicat Lake. On right is a local community member planting a mangrove sapling.

June 20218

Nurturing nature and people to build a more secure futureThis article is based on a study of the effectiveness of nearly two decades of nature-based and human-centered interventions exemplifying the Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) approach. In sharing the case study, the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) hopes to demonstrate the potential of EbA to create a much-needed change for the better in the lives of marginalised rural communities across India

DADA DADAS, SONAL ALVARES

Drought is the absence of water. A lack of precipita-tion precedes it. Soil loses

moisture. Surface water trickles to a stop and ground water tables drop. Farmers dread droughts. Unable to grow crops, feed their families or their livestock, they are left with one option. Migra-tion. They are forced to leave their village in search of water, food and a livelihood.

Bhojdari is a village in the San-gamner Block of Ahmednagar District in Maharashtra. San-gamner lies in the rain-shadow of the Western Ghats; it receives relatively less rainfall of around 550mm in a year. Unfortunately, Bhojdari is prone to drought. It consists of both an irrigated area and a plateau, locally referred to as pathar. Home to a large sec-tion of socio-economically mar-ginalised communities, Bho-jdari faces several challenges. And unpredictable climatic events have only worsened the situation.

WOTR conducted a commu-nity-driven vulnerability assess-ment in Bhojdari. The findings revealed a distressing trend of unseasonal and irregular rain-fall since early 2000s as well as a delayed onset of and decrease in rainfall. Many families used to migrate, often forced to take up work under hazardous con-ditions to survive. Extreme climate events with increasing frequency destroyed standing crops, causing an irrecoverable loss of food and income and making life all the more difficult for the people of Bhojdari.

WOTR implemented three major projects in Bhojdari; the Indo-German Watershed Devel-opment Programme (IGWDP),

1996-2002, followed by the Cli-mate Change Adaptation (CCA), 2009-2014, and the Water Stew-ardship Initiative (WSI), 2015-2017. Using a holistic design, a series of interventions were implemented to address the numerous challenges.

WOTR, India and TMG Research, Germany conducted case-studies to understand whether and to what extent these interventions achieved the desired outcomes. The stud-ies were a part of a project that seeks to understand the crite-ria and preconditions for Eco-system-based Adaptation and upscale EbA through partici-patory, multi-stakeholder dia-logues at local and state levels.

The objective of the Bhojdari case-study was to assess the social, ecological and institu-tional effectiveness of the CCA and WSI projects. The frame-work used in the assessments builds on three elements: EbA should improve i) communities’ adaptive capacities, ii) ecosys-tems and biodiversity, and iii) participatory governance.

Did the interventions help?Through the study, the team

looked for evidence of the dif-ference made to livelihoods, incomes and investments, as also the wellbeing of the people, especially with food security, and whether there was a change in the migration patterns. It found that incomes had increased by 37 per cent due to the practice of climate-resilient agriculture, more focus on cash crops, and live-stock rearing. The number of types of crops increased from 3 to 10.

Farmers adopted the system of crop intensification (SCI) and the use of indigenous seeds, thereby reducing costs and increasing resilience. Increased moisture and support irrigation helped them plant a second crop during winter. The increase in the number of dug- and bore-wells meant improved access to groundwater for irrigation. However, there is concern that indiscriminate extraction might cause problems in future.

Overall, there was an improve-ment in the quantity and duration of food available. Food shortages were halved. The people now consumed a more diverse diet including more vegetables such as spinach, soya bean, potatoes and cauliflower. Kitchen gardens offer dietary diversity at their door-step and the earlier dependence on the forest for wild vegetables has diminished. During droughts, many families used to migrate to neighbouring villages. The study found that distress migration has stopped ever since there has been an increase in available water and a second crop became quite common.

The study found that the forest cover and plantations increased by 43 per cent due to farm forestry. With access to LPG through the government scheme, people did not need firewood, easing the pressure on forests.

Since 64 per cent of the micro-watershed was treated through soil and water conservation measures, such interventions at the landscape level helped to halt soil erosion and encour-aged cultivation on reclaimed gullies. Due to structures like percolation tanks, storage tanks,

etc built by the government’s Irrigation Department together with WOTR, the surface water storage capacity increased by 87 per cent.

Wells which used to dry up by December now have water till mid-May. Fodder crops, bore wells and dug wells increased due to renewed availability of groundwater. Unfortunately, the increase in ground water extrac-tion through a larger number of wells has meant that the natural spring water stops flowing by the end of rabi season and is something to be addressed in the future.

Pushpa Vikas Hande, a young woman resident of Bhojdari and an active member of the village water management team, said that her village has enough left over after using water for crops across two and at times even three seasons, for domestic use and for their animals. She says, thanks to water budgeting, their village no longer faces water scarcity like other villages in the state.

Biodiversity in Bhojdari has improved following the inter-ventions, given that the number of tree species increased in num-ber to 32. Land-owners planted different kinds of trees on farm boundaries. This has helped meet fodder needs to a large extent. Populations of peacocks, deer, monkeys, jackals, foxes, leopards and some species of birds too have risen.

However, since wild boars destroy crops, the increase in their numbers has become a cause for concern. The number of indigenous or local breed live-stock has reduced which meant that local vegetation is curtailed since seeds for regrowth were earlier dispersed through the local cows’ dung.

Was participatory governance strengthened?

More women in Bhojdari participated in governance and decision making during the implementation of the projects. Previously, there was only one civil society institution involved in natural resource management, the watershed development committee. Four more institu-tions were formed including the village development committee

(VDC), village water manage-ment team (VWMT), forest pro-tection committee (FPC) and the biodiversity management com-mittee (BMC).

Democratic decision-making and values such as transpar-ency in accounting as well as trust helped improved collective action among the people. The newer institutions improved the negotiating power with tradi-tional institutions like the For-est Department and Irrigation Department. BMC, for instance, provided information related to biodiversity and the People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR)

Dramatic change: The Bhojdari landscape before project interventions (left) and after (right).

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documentation to the district and state Biodiversity Organisa-tions/Board. It took responsibil-ity for documentation, dissemi-nation and conservation as well as maintenance, security and safety of the PBR.

By design, the VDC, VWMT and FPC were created as sub-committees of the gram pan-chayat, to ensure collabora-tion with the latter. In the pro-cess, participation in common tasks such as gram sabha also improved as meetings were held more regularly. Some of the committees have become dor-mant since the completion of the implementation of the projects; however, several of them such as the VDC, VWMTs and sev-eral SHGs are still quite active.

Today, people of Bhojdari like Pushpa are able to build a more secure and predictable future for themselves and their families despite climate change and because of measures like EbA. Their story is no better indicator of the fact that when we nurture Nature we also nur-ture people.

(Courtesy: WOTR)

Pushpa Vikas Hande, active member of the village water management team in Bhojdari.

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June 2021 9

A joy in helping those who ‘fall between the cracks’Mary, Shafi, Dipu and Gautam have nothing in common except for one thing – their vulnerability and distress due to the ongoing virus lockdowns

Mary used to escort four schoolchildren from a nearby colony, to

and from classes, morning and afternoon, to eke out a living. Her husband is a watchman, and her modest earnings help to add to the couple’s finances. Shafi, a retired clerk, works as a helper at a bookshop, to add to his meagre pension, and to pass the time.

Dipu, still a teenager and a dropout from school, delivers meals from a neighbourhood caterer, to a few families, for a living, while middle-aged Gau-tam hawks hand towels and handkerchiefs at south Benga-luru’s traffic signals, all day, to earn a few rupees with which to still his hunger. He too, is a ‘tenth failed’ dropout, and lost his job at a grocery store, when his right hand had to be amputated at the wrist, after a road accident.

In spite of their diverse rou-tines, what they have in com-mon is their vulnerability and distress due to the ongoing virus lockdowns. All four of them fall out of the ambit of the desultory ‘relief packages’ that the gov-ernment has rolled out to help those affected by the pandemic. They fall between the cracks.

They are not ‘orphans who have lost parents to the coronavi-rus. They do not qualify for unem-ployment benefits. Since schools are closed indefinitely, Mary’s earnings from escorting children to and from school have vanished too reducing her to destitution. The bookshop likewise, has no customers during the restricted hours of opening allowed by law, and has had to close down, so Shafi is in distress. Gautam’s earnings depended on traffic, and when that got reduced, thanks to the curfew, his sales too dropped to nothing.

All of them have been affected by the lockdown, but receive no handouts or other assistance. “Who do I blame for my plight?” moans Mary pathetically, while Gautam just sits and cries his heart out at the raw deal that Fate seems to hand out to him, first through his amputation and now by the virus threat.

“If the government can find money to pay to children orphaned by the virus, if they can find money to pay one lakh each as relief to families affected by death caused by the virus, why not something for people like

us, who are also affected by this wretched virus?” says Shafi, in anger. “Do I have to die before my children can qualify for one lakh?”

Shafi has a point. Traders and small businesses have, accord-ing to one estimate, lost a whop-ping Rs 75 thousand crore of earnings, since the pandemic overtook us. But that estimate does not even take note of the petty earnings that people like Mary and Shafi and Gautam have lost.

Every citizen has a right to life and livelihood, guaranteed under the Constitution, but who do these ‘self employed’ persons from the lower middle class, turn to, for succour, when their distress is also caused by the same virus?

The answer is: “to us, the rest of the citizenry”, avers Narayan Gowda, a well-known commu-nity worker who assists citizens in multiple ways (registering complaints, liaising with vari-ous authorities in solving citi-zens’ grievances and mobilizing signature campaigns for neigh-bourhood safety). Each one of us can, and must, reach out, in whatever way we can, he says, to lend a hand, without depend-ing solely on state initiatives for solutions.

Pavements in a north Ben-galuru suburb were being encroached fully by vendors who had nowhere else to go for plying their trade. Pedestrians were hav-ing a harrowing time, and acci-dents were happening frequently, due to congestion that spilled on to the busy road. Gowda organ-ised discussion sessions, sought police help, and found a solution, so now the vendors have space of their own while pedestrians have access to safe walking spaces too. He played a significant role in creating awareness about social distancing, to avoid the spread of infection. “Merely announc-ing guidelines and restrictions doesn’t help, if the people don’t cooperate,” he points out.

When the authorities restricted opening of shops for business to just four hours in the mornings, there was a huge rush that led to a rise in pick-pocketing among shoppers. Gowda volunteered to help in organising better vigi-lance, among both shoppers and shop staff, resulting in a signifi-cant reduction in thefts. When he sees people clustering around

milk booths and ration shops, he gently persuades shoppers to maintain social distancing norms, turning the exercise into a game rather than admonish-ing the citizens. “We are all in it together, aren’t we?” he says with a smile that is infectious, and people readily fall in with his advice.

The best part is that this young man’s enthusiasm for volunteer-ing has been able to persuade a few other youngsters too, to get involved and spare a few minutes each day, for ‘community work’. “In a democracy,” he explains, “we have not only rights, but also responsibilities, because it is governance by the people, for the people, so none of us can lean back and leave it to the authori-ties to enforce discipline.”

There is no other way. Whether it is controlling the deadly virus or dealing with crowd manage-ment, we the people have to lend a hand. “And, more importantly,” his friend and colleague Vijaya says, “we each one of us can

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take charge of one other person affected by the pandemic, like Mary and Shafi, see how we can expend some succour, help them survive.”

The good news is that her sug-gestions have been taken up by her own circle of college friends, who find satisfaction and joy in reaching out. “It makes my day, when I am able to help in solv-ing some of the problems faced by these people who as you put it, ‘fall between the cracks’. I found some occasional odd jobs for Shafi, who can walk the dog without the use of his right arm,” says a neighbor living in an apartment next to Vijaya.

Ask not what the authorities can do for you and for those in distress, see what You can do, to reach out. There is a special kind of joy in mitigating someone’s distress, and spreading a bit of happiness. Especially among those who have no idea where to turn in these difficult times.

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Empowering the small and marginal farmer, and howFarmer producer companies are attempting to change the scenario for farmers. A set of small farmers or producers of agricultural products form a group and register themselves under the Indian Companies Act to harness the power of combined efforts. The entity brings together producers, especially small and marginal farmers, into producer organisations. This has emerged as one of the most effective ways to address the many challenges of agriculture but, most importantly, it provides improved access to investments, technology, inputs and markets

While agriculture is the main occupation of majority in India, and

employs more than 50 per cent of its population, contributing to approximately 18 per cent of its GDP, it is still plagued with many problems and challenges. Small and fragmented land holdings of marginal farmers, expensive nature and inadequate access to agri inputs like manures, fertilis-ers, seeds, lack of mechanisation, irrigation and other facilities along with natural problems such as drought, excess and unsea-sonal rain and climate change affect Indian agriculture.

Additionally, the small and marginal farmer faces prob-lems in getting the right price for his produce. Lack of proper marketing and storage facilities mean that he has to sell off his goods at whatever price he is

offered resulting in middlemen and others benefitting at his expense.

Farmer producer companies (FPCs) attempt to change the scenario for farmers. FPCs are set of small farmers or produc-ers of agricultural products that form a group and register them-selves under the Indian Compa-nies Act to harness the power of combined efforts. FPC brings together producers, especially small and marginal farmers, into producer organisations. This has emerged as one of the most effective ways to address the many challenges of agriculture but, most importantly, it pro-vides improved access to invest-ments, technology, inputs and markets.

The story of Khadeshwar FPC in Banegaon, Bhokardan Taluka, Jalna Watershed Organisation

Trust (WOTR) has been actively working in Jalna for over two decades, mainly doing water-shed development work in the rainfed regions. The focus has been sustainable agriculture that helps farmers in reducing costs and increasing their income.

WOTR helps villagers to form an FPC with the same focus in mind. The basic purpose of the FPC is to collectivise small farmers or producers for inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, credit, insurance, knowledge and extension services and provid-ing forward linkages such as collective marketing, process-ing, and market led agriculture production. Thus, they are an important instrument for secur-ing collective bargaining power for small farmers.

The Khadeshwar FPC in Banegaon, Taluka Bhokardan,

Jalna, was established on Sep-tember 1, 2017. The company was formed under Pro Soil Proj-ect funded by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and moni-tored by NABARD. It currently has 1243 members including 11 directors in eight villages.

Khadeshwar Farmer Producer Company is committed to pro-vide various facilities to the FPC members. The main purpose of the FPC is to provide all the farming needs of the farmers in one place, in good quality and at a low price compared to market rate. It also helps in procuring agriculture inputs required by the farmers at a good rate and ensures they get a good price for their produce while benefiting from government schemes like MSP.

One of the objectives of the FPC is to increase the farmer’s income by adding multiple income sources in the form of agri-allied business activities. Currently, the FPC has an agri input shop, through which they supply seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to farmers. They are also in the business of buying and selling maize. In addition, the FPC is setting up a cleaning, grading unit for maize, gram, and wheat. The project is sup-ported by Nabkisan & PoCRA, a state government scheme.

Last year, the Khadeshwar FPC got NAFED’s MSP pro-curement centre for gram and has done procurement of Bengal Gram of 1330 quintals on MSP for approximately Rs 65 lakhs. Around 125 farmers have ben-efited from it and have earned about Rs 600 to Rs 1000 more per quintal than the market rate.

Janardhan Uttamrao Dhavale is one such farmer from Jalna who has benefitted from the Khadeshwar Farmer Producer Company. In 2020, private ven-dors and middlemen were quot-ing a price of around Rs 3800 to Rs 4000 per quintal for pro-curement of chickpeas. Through the Khadeshwar FPC’s MSP procurement centre, the Central Government directly purchased chickpeas at Rs 4875 per quintal

reducing the transit costs of the farmers. The farmers got a fair and higher price for their pro-duce thus eliminating the mid-dlemen altogether. Janardhan earned a profit of Rs 14000 on his sale.

In 2021, with a view to empower women farmers and provide an alternate livelihood source to them, two all-women producer groups of 30 women each were formed in Kadasi and Tada Villages in Odisha. The Lurduma Producer Group in Kadasi Village sold 2550 kg of hill brooms at a profit of around Rs 5000 and the Mahima Pro-ducer Group from Tada Village sold 2450 kg of tamarind at a profit of around Rs 6000. Such initiatives help women farmers BHAKTI HARCHEKAR

reach out to a larger market and help them sell off their surplus produce at a fair price. In the future these groups may collab-orate to for a Farmer Producer Company which will benefit the women further.

WOTR has collaborated with Mission Shakti, a programme under the Women & Child Development (WCD) Depart-ment of the Government of Odisha, which aims at women empowerment, and the Odisha Rural Development and Market-ing society to support the women producer groups WPGs).

Most small farmers like Janardhan and the women farm-ers from the all-women WPG benefit from the collective influ-ence the FPC offers. It helps in eliminating the middlemen and agents who exploit the farm-ers while using their combined bargaining power to get bet-ter rates for agricultural inputs, easy access to financial options and technical know-how and fair prices in the market.

(Courtesy: WOTR)

A farmer beneficiary from Khadeshwar FPC.

An agro mall set up by the FPO in Dhawalpuri, Parner Taluka, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, and (right) an all-women farmer producer group in Odisha.

Farmers receive a fair price for their produce. On right, women carry hill brooms on their heads; they are part of the Ludurma Producer Group in Odisha.

Phot

os: W

OTR