The Long Winding RoadOur steed from Ahmednagar was a black fur-seated motorbike, which WOTR staff, Santosh Chaudhari and I drove for more than an hour to Kaluchi Thakarwadi.

No government official had ever bothered to visit this remote settlement in Parner block of Ahmednagar. How could they? There was no road.

“Only trained people can reach there,” says Santosh. He tells me that barely 3 years ago, this was but a winding foot trail, trod only by 3 kinds of ‘trained’ travellers: One, people from far flung settlements like Kaluchi Thakarwadi walking all the way to medical help or other urgent work in the town; Two, shepherds and their cattle- sheep, goats and a few cows; and Three, WOTR- Wasundhara project staff like him, who had been driving to the Thakarwadi on their motorbikes regularly and precariously since 2006.

As we left the noisy town of Ahmednagar, I could see signs of a struggle going on. Sudden glimpses of brown and yellow flashed behind and between semi-urban buildings and clumps of forest department planted ‘forests’. As we turned off the highway at the village of Bhalawni, the Pathaarfinally won over human construction.

The Pathaar - Maharashtra’s semi-arid grassland triumphantly stretched on for the next 10 kilometres. Not a single house or farm, barely a tree, just exposed brown, black and grey rock and yellow grass, undulating into the horizon, on either side of the road. The Pathaar, beautiful and eerie in its apparent lifelessness, is in fact home to a variety of birds all the year round and to the Dhangar community in the monsoons. This vibrant, nomadic, shepherd community of Maharashtra, return from the plains with the monsoons to the Pathaar, when

the yellow grass turns green- perfect grazing grounds for their sheep and goats. At this time, in January, we could only see signs of their seasonal settlements- abandoned stone enclosures, awaiting animals and small stone temples, awaiting worship.

While driving, Santosh told me his story.

Dhavalpuri’s VWC (Village, Watershed Committee) formed under the IGWDP (Indo German Watershed Development Program) went on to become SHWVAS- Shree Hanuman Watershed Vikas Sanstha, an NGO working in Watershed Development. Santosh had been a member of the VWC right from his student days. Though a Masters in History, Santosh became a Watershed man and was part of the core team of SHWVAS. When they were contacted by the Gram Panchayat of Kaluchi Thakarwadi, SHWVAS teamed up with WOTR to implement the WOTR Wasundhara program there.

After passing Dhavalpuri and Santosh’s own jowar fields, we reached the black bed of the Kalu river, from which this settlement gets its name. Of course there would be no water in the river now, I assumed. But to my astonishment, the river flowed happily over a neat little check dam. This check dam is a low-cost one, costing only around Rs. 1.5 lakh. It has been made without a foundation; iron rods inserted into the concrete at intervals of 1 m in a zigzag fashion hold it together. Small pumps attached to pipelines wind their way across the rock directly to parched fields and provide irrigation that enables a 2nd, even a 3rd crop a year, where under 5 years back, barely 1 crop had been possible.

The new road brought connectivity and the check dam brought water, both crucial tothe current development of this Thakar adivasi settlement on the banks of the Kalu river.

History doesn’t have to repeat ItselfRambhau Pardhe has the happiest smile I have ever seen on a farmer. We sit cross legged in his home in Bhaledara settlement of Kaluchi Thakarwadi and he recalls how he and his family migrated to work as sugarcane cutters ever since he could remember. I don’t know how he does it, but Rambhau even chuckles from time to time while telling me this story of desperate poverty and constant hardship.

When a Mukadam (contractor) found a large enough number of people from a village ready to migrate for labour, he sent a truck for them as soon as the cutting season started. The people – men, women and children, left their dry, useless fi elds and got on the truck to somewhere, anywhere they could get 2 square meals, a thatch hut and some petty cash for salt and essentials. The Mukadam also gave loans to needy families in exchange for such labour. Families got cash in bulk from him and then worked without a daily wage for as many months as he told them they needed to. But at the end of this, they needed yet another loan and the cycle continued. Some people could never pay off their initial loan and continued to work for the Mukadam for the rest of their lives.

Rambhau Pardhe was one of the fi rst people from the community to put their faith in the project and worked with the WOTR-SHWVAS team in convincing and mobilising people to participate in

the project.“People thought they would be tricked out of their lands by the NGOs. I said, ‘Let them take the bloody land if they want to! What does it yield anyways? I don’t mind trying anything to bring water’,” grins Rambhau.

Rambhau laughs out merrily remembering how in the beginning, water runoff s fl owed freely and forcefully over exposed rock, entered fi elds and washed away farm bunds, stealing away even the meagre topsoil.

People migrated because there was no water for agriculture and because there was nothing other than agriculture that people could do to live. There was no water even to drink in the summer months. So tackling water scarcity was the key. So under WOTR Wasundhara, Soil and Water Conservation measures were undertaken fi rst. With Rambhau’s eff orts, 10 families including his were able to contribute a little bit of cash and a lot of labour in laying a 1400 m long pipeline from the check dam. Bringing such a scattered community come together and do Shramdaan (voluntary labour) was a more herculean task than the actual labour. But the eff orts of the people were rewarded when water levels rose in their wells and the pipeline brought water to their fi elds. Hand-pumps were installed for drinking water. WOTR also provided help with better agricultural techniques like drip and sprinkler irrigation and crop demonstrations.

Electric BluesIn our conversations, I tried to really understand why farmers like Jhumbarbai and Kisanbhau would say this. Often asking questions that must have made them have serious doubts about my intelligence, but left no doubt about my ignorance, I tried to see the multiple levels and facets of issues they face. And I felt like I was in some absurd, tragi-comic play.

Take for instance, their lands. During British and soon after independence, adivasi farmers in the area had been fined by the government for ‘encroaching’ forest lands. They paid a then princely sum of Rs.3 as a fine to the court. In the ‘70s and ‘80s this very same fine receipt (a scrap of paper preserved by families all these years) became proof of land ownership! It proved that these families were tilling that patch of land and now according to new legislation of ‘tiller is owner’, the adivasi ‘encroachers’ owned this land. These adivasi lands cannot be sold or bought, which is a blessing; there had been instances of drunken deals in which lands were sold off to get cash for a few more drinks.

When news of water reaching theirwadi reached them, Kaluchi Thakarwadi’s scattered families came back, incredulous and ecstatic that they could stay and work in their own homes. In the first year of the project, people ensured their food security by growing their own food on their rejuvenated fields. But now people have started cultivating cash crops too. “The best yield I remember from before was 3 sacks of Bajra; this time I got 12 sacks. Water and fertilisers have done magic,” he beams. This time Rambhau’s proud smile is not out of place.

But this story is not without a twist in the happy ending.

Rambhau’s son, just like many other youths from the area is strangely not farming with his parents. He has gone with his friends to work at a brick kiln. “It’s his friends, you see…” Do I see Rambhau’s smile drop just a little bit?“Besides I am here to do the farming. He wants the ready cash. He will work the farm after me… We did what we could for the future. But who can say about young people these days …?”

His laugh is back with a tinkle.

History doesn’t have to repeat itself, it seems. Well, at least not exactly.

“Do farmers ever sleep well?” laughs Jhumbarbai.

“Farming is a gamble.” Explains VDC

(Village Development Committee) head, Kisanbhau Madhe.

system and burning out transformers and pumps. A burnt out transformer is replaced only if bills are being paid regularly. But often connections are not strictly legal. All in all, irrigation and thereby agricultural production, is now the function of this erratic electric supply.

When it comes to the village, nothing is simple. Everything is complicated and interconnected. Kisanbhau does not mince words while pointing out that the government policy of providing 24 hours electricity to Industry and only 8 hours to Agriculture clearly shows its real intentions, though there is a lot of talk about improving agriculture and the plight of farmers in India. Even in the markets, seed and fertiliser companies and big merchants get all the benefi ts. Small farmers have absolutely no say in the prices of their own produce in the market. Government interventions in this sector are again dissatisfying. Basically, the input costs go up every year, with no guarantee of returns. This is indeed a big gamble our farmers play. No wonder they are losing sleep over it.

On a more positive note, farmers of Kaluchi Thakarwadi are valiantly looking for solutions. These settlements are at the end of the substation and hence get the last dregs of supply. The villagers now plan to request for another supply line to their village. Kaluchi Thakarwadi’s story shows that potential prosperity is the greatest mobilising and motivating force for the most disadvantaged people.

Kaluchi Thakarwadi has only one prayer: Let there be light!

Now the WOTR Wasundhara project brought water and Kisanbhau was thrilled that he could till all his land- the small patch near the river as well as these ‘fi ne’ lands. WOTR’s crop demos also trained people in cultivating a variety of crops. The road ensured accessibility. But happy endings are notoriously elusive.

Today Electricity; rather the lack and uncertainty of it, has replaced Water as Kaluchi Thakarwadi’s number one problem.

Even remote settlements like Manai are now fi nally on the grid. New transformers, electricity poles stand against the sky, conducting wires stretch across it, but there is no electric current pulsating through them; what there is, is of such poor voltage that even light bulbs glow dimly, let alone irrigation pumps or bore wells. WOTR installed solar lights installed 5-6 years back work much better for household illumination.

There is electricity in most places for only 8 hours a day and not all of it is adequate voltage either. These 8 hours can be any 8 hours in the day or night. So like Jhumbarbai was telling me, farmers have to wake up at odd hours of the night to switch on and monitor the irrigation of their fi elds.

Earlier the demand for electricity was low and governmental control ensured proper supply, though it was limited to a smaller area. Now the grid area has increased, but the Electricity Board has become a company with almost no governmental interference in its decisions. While the Electric Company has become stricter toward illegal siphoning of supply, there is no answer to how supply is going to meet the soaring demand.

Whenever the voltage is high enough, everyone in the village switches on their pumps at the same time, over loading the

Character Sketch – Kasam Mama Kasam Mama is a mobile market. No, he does not sell mobile phones. He really IS a moving shop!

For over 25 years now, this thin man with a wide-toothed grin provides a crucial service to remote settlements like Kaluchi Thakarwadi on the pathaar. Every Wednesday and Saturday, Kasam Mama bikes it all the way from his village –Vaavrat-Jambhali (about 15 km away) bringing with him essential goods and groceries for families here with no access to shops. Not only that, he takes back eggs and poultry from here to sell in the Rahuri market (another 15 km away) giving either money or goods in return. Every day of the week, Kasam Mama covers diff erent settlements in a radius of about 30 km. His daily pedal must be at least 50 km, if not more.

Everyone here, in every settlement knows him, waits for him, bargains and deals with him. When I met Kasam Mama, an old woman had just bought some sugar from him. He had saved her, the long hike to the weekly market. They chatted like childhood friends, which they were, for all I knew. She told me how he always remembers how much he owes others and people in turn, remember how much they owe him and return

it to him themselves. Kasam Mama has all his accounts in his head. He runs his business on his bicycle and on trust. The system harks back to a more real time perhaps – a time when fi nancial transactions were not the only means of exchange between people.

Times will change soon. Like the mountain to Mohammad, markets will come to Kaluchi Thakarwadi on its new road. Kasam Mama’s son will have to decide if the trek is worth it. But for now, Kasam Mama has no complaints. He is still part of the life and landscape here. Santosh tells me, Kasam Mama was a great help in the initial days of the project, as a messenger between the community and SHWVAS. Again, perhaps a more real time – a time when mobile phones and markets were not the only means of exchange between people.

Question AnswersI asked Rambhau Pardhe and Popat Bhale of Bhaledara settlement in Kaluchi Thakarwadi a lot of questions. How do they train their shepherd dogs? Where did Rambhau’s son learn to make that ingenious partridge trap? I also enriched my Marathi vocabulary here. What is this called? What is the name for that?

I got amused and enthusiastic answers for all these questions.

(In these parts, sheep and goats are called jaI~apo; yaoDka or baailaMgaa means a male goat; jaavaLI is a male sheep; laaAaor, kak$ are sheep/ goat kids; while qaaD - as the name sounds, is a grumpy, old Grandma sheep.)

But there are other things people were not very happy to talk about…

Like: How soon do they marry their daughters off ? At what age are their daughters-in-law already bearing children? What do girls who stop going to school after Class VII do all day? Why no one in the village- boy or girl- has studied more than Class X? Why is the food at the Adivasi ashram school nearby so bad that children drop out rather than stay there? How much money do people spend on private hospitals in Wankute? Why did onions fetch Rs. 20 this year, but only Rs. 6 last year?

These questions don’t have easy quiz question-answers. It is very unfair of me to expect even apart answer in one visit. Yet what one can sense in Kaluchi Thakarwadi is change. Like the Kalu river started fl owing again after the WOTR Wasundhara program, Kaluchi Thakarwadi has started talking after all these years of silence. We have to wait a bit to hear what it has to say.

Wasundhara: The ProcessWOTR’s Wasundhara Watershed Development Program is designed around the belief that the success of any project is dependent on the motivation of the community, its willingness to take ownership and participate in the program. Watershed Development is also a means for socio-economic unity and community development. But there are certain pre-conditions for this program to work in any village:

Voluntary shramdaan (labour contribution) from every family is the fi rst step for the village to show its commitment to the project. In a place of extreme fi nancial crises like Kaluchi Thakarwadi, shramdaan was often combined with paid labour in order to ensure that the people’s daily needs were fulfi lled.

Involvement of all sections of the community regardless of fi nancial/ family status, or gendermeant breaking years of socio-economic barriers in people’s minds.

Kurhad-bandi (ban on tree felling) and Charai-bandi (ban on open grazing in treated areas) is necessary to protect the ecosystem of the watershed treatment area.

Once the village agreed to these conditions, the Wasundhara program really belonged to the people of Kaluchi Thakarwadi.

Kaluchi Thakarwadi also went through a capacity building phase wherein people were taken on exposure visits and made aware of the basic concept of Watershed Development. Community based organizations (CBOs) like, Village Development Committee (VDC), Women›s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) as well as their apex body - SMS (Sanyukta Mahila Samiti), were formed and trained to handle all aspects of the project.

The VDC is now empowered enough to identify the current needs of the community and directly tap government and other agencies for assistance. This collective empowerment binds the community together in their own development.

The cumulative result of this work is also obvious economic prosperity. People can now invest in their homes, their children and their lifestyles. The fi rst television and telephone in Kaluchi Thakarwadi appeared after this project. Going even further, project components touch very important aspects of life in the village: Water Management, Food security, Health, Education, Livelihoods and Women’s empowerment.

The land of Kaluchi Thakarwadi has gone from desert to replenished watershed. It is no longer a tragedy of inhospitable climate and unfortunate circumstances. It is a story of how a community came together, challenged the elements and changed their destiny.

WOTR’s Wasundhara approach to water shed development

275.50 ha. Area treatment69 Drainage line treatments

16 Crop demos15 Improved irrigation systems

Employment throughout the year

70% to 20%

Livestock & Alternate

Livelihoods

Agricultural Productivity

Well being of entire community

Irrigation StructuresWater availability

for more than one crop/yr

Land under cultivation

+ land value

Income from Agriculture

Financial Security

Migration Drudgery of women

Better Health & Education

Soil and Water Conservation Groundwater level

Food Security

WOTR’s Wasundhara approach to water shed development

38 ha. perenially irrigated land30 ha. seasonally irrigated land207 ha. land in use

VDC of 15 members from 7 hamlets 3 SHGs and SMS

Well being of entire community

Improved Soil quality

Availability of Fodder

Capacity & Institution Building Participatory approach

SHGs and SMS VDCs

Financial independence of women

Representation of all sections in decision making

Village unity Stronger Democratic values

Women’s Empowerment & Involvement

in Decision making

Development of CBOs

Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR)2nd Floor The Forum S.No. 63/2B Padmawati Corner, Pune Satara road Parvati, Pune : 411009. (020) 24226211http://wotr.org

Content and photographs by: Radhika Murthy

Designed by: New Concept Information Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Published by: WOTR Communications

ABOUT WOTRWatershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) is one of the premier NGOs tackling water scarcity, rural poverty, climate change adaptation and food insecurity in the dry-lands of India today.

WOTR’s specifi c objectives are to regenerate the natural ecosystem with a strong participatory, people-centric approach that will simultaneously repair the torn social-fabric of community; address the challenge of water-scarcity, recurring drought and low-agricultural productivity that results in starvation, chronic hunger and severe malnutrition in rural communities and create alternative,

WOTR has specifi c competencies in Watershed Development and Natural Resource Management, Integrated Water Resources Management, Climate Change Adaptation, Rural Development, Community Mobilization, Gender and Women’s Empowerment, Systems Development and Training and Capacity Building.

In all, WOTR has carried out developmental work in over 2,500 villages in fi ve states - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. In its 20 years since inception, it has organized over 1 ,100 watershed development and climate change adaptation projects, covering nearly 700,000 hectares and impacting nearly 1,000,000 people. Its involvement in over 8,300 women’s SHGs, micro-fi nance, trainings and other initiatives have benefi tted over 100,000 women. Similarly, over 300,000 people from 27 states in India and 35 countries have participated in WOTR’s Training and Capacity Building programs.

WOTR has also published a number of Action Research Studies, fi lms and other communication materials.WOTR has assisted 184 NGOs/Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs)/ government agencies who are vital partners in WOTR’s extensive developmental outreach.