At 9 am on a brisk February morning in a village called Dharad' people are already hard at work. They are building a 110-metre-long bund across a dry stream to trap rain. The cost of this project is Rs 1'10'000' of which the villagers have collected Rs 12'000 in cash and the gram panchayat has provided Rs 15'000. Much of the cost will be contributed by voluntary labour' while the state government will chip in with the rest. A prosperous farmer has loaned the villagers his forklift truck free of cost'he otherwise hires it out for Rs 800 per hour. The villagers have been digging this long pit for 10 days already' in anticipation of the relentless drought ahead. "We will find some way of completing it'" they answer stoically.
This is by no means a typical drought relief scheme but a unique people's initiative launched by the MP government this year. For the last four years' chief minister Digvijay Singh's government has been running a 'gram sampark abhiyan' or village contact campaign to acquaint his officials with the situation on the ground in this sprawling state. For seven days' teams visit every nook and corner and collect information on how official schemes are functioning. This year' because the rains have failed for the second successive season' the administration has converted the 'gram sampark abhiyan' into a 'pani roko abhiyan''trap the water campaign.
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Going Potatoes
Dharad is in Shajapur district' which lies east of Bhopal' towards the Rajasthan border' in the Malwa plateau. It is not by any means a poor region' but the looming drought has changed things drastically. S.S. Rajput' the chief executive officer of the Shajapur zilla panchayat' who accompanies me on a tour of the district' observes: "Last year's was the lowest rainfall recorded here since 1942. The rabi crop has only been sown on a tenth of the normal area and we expect to reap just 5 per cent of the usual crop. People have begun to store grass as fodder for their animals in summer." In a good year' Dharad's people would harvest wheat' soya' onions' channa and potato. Shajapur is renowned for the good quality of its potatoes and Rajput cites with pride how they are sold to the Uncle Chipps factory. A wizened villager' Mohanlal' who only owns one acre but has contributed Rs 200 to the pani roko scheme' says: "Everybody will benefit from this bund. The cattle will also get a source of water." By contrast' the sarpanch' Bherulal Patidar' owns 30 bighas (15 acres)' has a dug well on his land and grows a variety of crops. "I receive good cooperation from the people and I can take the people with me'" he says. "If the government money stops' people will take over. We will do as much as we can afford."
Last June' the villagers built their own road in four days flat' employing 25 of their tractors. They are also constructing their own school' with assistance from MP's education guarantee scheme.
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Mother of a Work
Our next stop is Majhania' where the women are bearing the brunt of the work. This is a more ambitious Rs 4-5 lakh scheme' partly funded by the local bank. As many as 150 villagers are contributing their labour' valued at Rs 1 lakh' to create a tank with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic feet. Three tractors are to be employed' though some have been temporarily diverted to carry villagers to a wedding. "We started work three days ago. There was no unity in the village before' which is why we could not conceive of such a project'" report the two most vocal women' Sushilabai and Maithribai. "A heavy load can't be lifted with one hand. We women fetch water from the next village' 2 km away. Men never do this work. Due to the acute shortage of water' the family often gets ill because it is stagnant."
Asked if they will abandon the scheme if the government assistance dries up' they retort angrily: "Do we ever leave a child once we've given birth to it? Don't we see that it grows to adulthood?"
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Spanner in the Vends
The women have also started their own self-help groups or shgs in administrative parlance' where they contribute Rs 50 a month' and the group now has a modest corpus of Rs 13'500. There are now 1'325 such groups in Shajapur with a total fund of Rs 27 lakh' the overwhelming majority'1'100'run by women. In Majhania' it was this women's group which mobilised against a local liquor vend. "We called a meeting because we had to face the indignity of facing abuse from men who drank there'" the two women recall.
"We made an application to the collector to close down the shop' which was done." Obviously' their newfound confidence stems from generating their own savings. At another village' Badgone' a two-hour drive further' the women have also forced the closure of a liquor shop and the community has put up a temple for Rs 10 lakh with their savings! Says a villager: "Social consciousness has changed after this prohibition: we have now painted the exteriors of most homes in the village pink." The former liquor vendor himself mumbles that this is part of "god's will"; there is a flourmill on the site of his shop. All through the district' there is a familiar refrain: "We were antagonistic towards each other before; now we have learned to cooperate."
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Bounties of the Soil
The Malwa region isn't lacking in human and material resources but has been badly affected by the drought. The Patidar community in particular is self-reliant. It conducts community marriages where the girl's family contributes Rs 7'000 and the boy's Rs 5'000 to a common fund. The couple receives a gift from the community. They ostracise anyone who doesn't conduct a community marriage. It has built a dharamshala for Rs 1 crore and a nursing home. The youthful Shajapur collector' K.C. Gupta' waxes eloquent about the multiplier effect of the administration's coordinated efforts to help people improve their roads' health and water resources. He recalls how centuries ago the Mughal armies could travel southwards through Malwa and sustain themselves through traditional water sources. The people of Malwa have a saying: "Malwa matti' grahan gambir; pag pag roti' dag dag nir" (The soil of Malwa sustains a resilient household' with food and water at every step).
