Creating a lifeline for the Bhils

Creating a lifeline for the Bhils
Yoginder K. Alagh

In the '70s Harnath Jagawat and his bride Sharmistha graduated from the Sayaji Rao University, at Baroda, and took up the challenge to bring about development amongst the adivasis of Panchmahal district. The Sadguru Sewa Trust, later the N.M. Sadguru Water and Development foundation, discovered that water was the main requirement in the different òf40ófalias -- habitations -- in the Bhil villages. In the areas he worked, Jagawat said that there was water, even during summer in the rivulets. It had, however, to be harnessed and lifted for the tribals, who lived up the slope.

The sceptics argued that since this was a drought prone area and the Bhils were nomadic, there was no one to manage the water bodies? Jagawat knew that the Bhils migrated in the absence of water. Those were years of terrible power shortages. When I heard him for the first time at Vidyanagar, I remember wondering where will all the electricity come to pump the water up the Aravallis to the Bhil hamlets. But Harnath Jagawat believed that if in the òf40óRamayana, Hanuman brought the mountain to Lakshman, with persistence and faith, than so could he.

Starting with renovating one village tank and a lift irrigation cooperative in village Shankerpura, today there are 181 check dams, to store and divert water. There are almost the same number of lift irrigation cooperatives. They have water storage, percolation and conservation schemes. The schemes I have seen can be as small as irrigating around 100 acres to more than 1,200 acres. This is in the Anas river basin which extends to three states: Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It is a hard rock area, difficult to work with, but around 21 inches of rainfall is available at the surface. Three quarters of the people are Bhils. Very handsome and very poor. Literacy rates are less than 30 per cent, poverty levels around 80 per cent, low yield agriculture, high unemployment and high infant and maternal mortality.

As they saturate the tributaries of the Anas, the Foundation has developedunparalleled skills in designing, constructing and advising on running these water systems. This is easier said than done. Estimating safe hydrological yield, designing a small structure and the distribution system are difficult. We are good at designing large dams, but terrible at the micro level.

When I was VC, JNU, we decided to harvest the rainfall in the campus, by building three check dams located after a satellite based survey. The official design was three times more expensive. Sadguru's structures are first, a pleasure to watch and learn from. They are effective as well as aesthetically beautiful. Second, they involve the Bhil farmers while maintaining and running the systems. Almost all 181 lift irrigation cooperatives work with the exception of one. Third, the cooperatives are financially self sufficient.

The financial self sufficiency of the system is at the heart of its sustainability, both from the perspective of endurance and that of carrying capacity. Water in such areas is scarce. In the areas I visited, three waterings were available in a crop season. Not more than 8 to 10 inches of water was available in each watering. In a typical irrigated area in the North, water available would be ten times as much. Such a scarce resource can only be managed by the people themselves. The price makes them value the scarce water. One has to charge and collect money to maintain the system. Again one needs some reserves to see through bad years. The societies don't save a lot, but by now they can ride through a drought.

The constraints at the local level lead to sustainable use of water. If it was free it would not be rationed. The usual irrigation system, with little control and no charges, would mean no irrigation for a large part of the work force. As it is, the Bhil farmer is self-reliant, although a large part of the capital cost is met by Sadguru. The check dams, the lift irrigation system, the distribution of water, all cost money. The projects have a high internal rate of return, particularly if the technical support of Sadguru is free. But the adivasis don't have the money. Sadguru and its resources see this through. If this funding stops, so will the work. We would then spend on drought relief, but not on the Bhil farmers.

Almost a hundred thousand persons are covered under various the programmes run by the Sadguru Foundation, which include almost 200 villages. Last week, the Sadguru advisory council discussed afforestation, diversification of income earning crops, how to form self help groups of women, and the vision for the 200 villages given global trade and the availability of information technology. The impending drought was on every one's mind. Jagawat has the vision of extending the work from the Western Aravallis to Kalahandi.

Starting with renovating one village tank, there are 181 check dams today