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Madhya Pradesh,
inspite of having an abundance of natural resource, remains in
a state of developmental paradoxes. Despite abundant rainfall
only 37% agricultural land in the State has any kind of
assured irrigation. With most of the cropped area belonging to
the rainfed category, the incidence of drought has become
perpetual feature. Low irrigation potential and over
dependence on rainfed irrigation leads to the possibility of
wide and unpredictable variations in agricultural production.
To compound this, the relentless exploitation of the natural
resource base in the form of soil cover, vegetative cover and
ground water due to increased biotic pressure causes
imbalances in the fragile eco-system, rural poverty and
extensive unemployment. As water crisis and problem of
livelihood security for the poor are so interrelated that
their solution can only be found together. Based on this
philosophy Govt. of Madhya Pradesh launched the ‘Jal Abhishek
Campaign, where people have taken charge of the movement and
government is only present as a facilitator.
As
People's stake and their inclusion in planning and management
of the water conservation & harvesting activities was the key
agenda massive awareness generation campaigns were organized
for disseminating the information through Jal Abhishek
Sammelans & meeting right from village to district level.
Political leadership of MPs, MLAs & Panchayat representatives
guided the campaign and almost 45000 such campaigns were
organized at village level.
The campaign
could not have succeeded unless it addressed the local needs
and aspirations of the community. To address this agenda a
participatory model of collective action was created in the
village in the form of Jal Abhishek committees. This helped in
creating enabling conditions for local specific need based
planning and tapping the traditional wisdom and energies of
the people water conservation & harvesting. Almost 50000 Jal
Abhishek committees have been formed in the state which is
providing a common interest platform for people’s action. To
compliment the unprecedented devolution of powers to people
with sound technical base Sahyog Dal has been constituted at a
cluster of 10 villages. Almost 10000 Sahyog dals are currently
catering to the technical needs of the community.
There are
several developmental programmes operational at village
covering a host of issues right from construction of roads to
water conservation. These programmes function under the over
all superendence of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), which
is a democratically elected body at the village level. Plauged
with the traditional mind set the PRIs mainly focus on the
infrastructure development in the form of building roads &
buildings and do not take the local priority needs in to
consideration. As the economy of the village hinges around
agriculture therefore a considerable dent in the improvement
of their livelihood can only be ensured by improving land and
water resources. Understanding this need the Jal abhishek
Abhiyaan tried to consolidate all available financial
resources and expertise of various departments to ensure
focussed effort towards water conservation. The agencies
responsible of sanctioning the funds under various departments
were sensitised towards waters & land related issues and
motivated to prioritize their spending on them. As a result of
these efforts action plan worth Rs. 5000 crores have been
sanctioned so far.
The general
perception about water conservation & harvesting is only
limited to tank and stop dam construction. But the philosophy
of water conservation goes much beyond that wherein small,
simple and low cost water conservation & harvesting structures
can effectively address the purpose. Therefore simple
Do-it-yourself water conservation & harvesting structures were
promoted, which could be made by the villagers without being
dependent on external financial resources. These structures
also included on farm water conservation structures like farm
pond, well recharge, Kundi, Kuiyan. In the construction of the
structures considerable priority was given to innate wisdom of
the people.
In order to cash
on the previous investments made in the field of water
conservation and harvesting, all such structures were
identified & repaired so that they could be made reusable with
minimum investment. In order to target those area and sections
of the community which could not be covered under various
development programmes investment through credit linkages with
banks were promoted with active community contribution.
Jal Abbhishek
Abhiyaan has been able to achieve its entailed objectives of
improving livelihood conditions of the poor by prioritizing
the agenda of water through people’s own action. The active
interventions have resulted in large scale and perceptible
impacts. Almost 12.25 lakh structures have been created
through an investment of Rs.
2874.56 crore
in which people have contributed Rs. 31.08 crore |
