Sudhirendar Sharma
The rain gods have not smiled much recently. Yet there are smiles on the faces of farmers in and around Laporiya, a village 85 kilometers from the tourist capital of Jaipur in India’s western state of Rajasthan. Over the past two decades, the community has worked to revive the water conservation measures and social institutions of former feudal times. As a result of these efforts, despite its location on the edge of the Thar Desert an average annual rainfall of only slightly more than one foot, water levels in Laporiya wells have risen 45 feet, while crop harvests have grown by between 3 and 12 times.
Driving this turnaround is Laxman Singh, 42, a descendant of the former feudal landlord family, who also holds a degree in social work from Rajasthan University. His integrated community mobilization and conservation efforts that began in Laporiya in the 1980s, have now spread to 98 other villages in the districts of Tonk, Jaipur and Pali. Best estimates indicate that 40,000 families have benefited from this strategy, implemented on 30,000 hectares of land.
Background
After the feudal system was abolished in 1950, a power vacuum emerged at the local level in this part of Rajasthan. The de jure village authority was a traditional and democratically elected council of 5 wise men called the panchayat. Unfortunately, the local panchayat, lacking fiscal and enforcement hammers, proved incapable of leading this community through these years of transition. Village common property (pasture lands and forests) began to deteriorate, the victim of uncontrolled access. At the same time, cultural forces, the feudal lord buttressed by traditions, that had ensured the maintenance of infrastructure like embankments, storage tanks, and percolation ponds, similarly eroded away. In this arid part of Rajasthan, average rainfall coupled with deteriorated irrigation systems, translates into a very difficult year on the range and little hope for a harvest from farmlands. A few years of drought, however, pushes the community to the brink of collapse. By the 1970s, each year 40% of the villagers would migrate in search of jobs, and about 75% of the village cattle would be driven away to greener pastures in the adjoining states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Getting off the ground
Banking on the unspent energy of the local youth, Laxman led a campaign during the drought year of 1977, to rebuild broken embankments, repair existing percolation tanks and de-silt community ponds. Within a few years, his work had mobilized 40 nearby villages. Laxman continued this organization and restoration work for nearly a decade, supporting this work with his own funds and volunteer labor. It was not until 1986, when his work was relatively mature, that he secured outside funding and established an institutional base called Gramin Vikas Navyuvak Mandal (“GVNM”)— roughly translated as the “New Village Youth Welfare Association.”
The launch of the community group coincided with the first major challenge for Laxman’s strategy. A small group of individuals, who had encroached on a 60-hectare patch of traditional village common lands, began to butt heads with the fledgling GVNM. While this was a relatively small piece of land, the battle was strategic in two ways. First, from a hydrologic standpoint, these 60 hectares were on a ridge and thus, if not treated, downstream lands would receive less and lower quality water. Second, from a community mobilization standpoint, this concentrated opposition undermined the sense of community cooperation and equitably distributed benefits that the group was attempting to instill.
The squatters argued that neither the village nor the GVNM had the authority to evict them. Instead of seeking relief through the court system, GVNM helped to establish a Gram Samiti (a traditional council of 11 village elders) drawn from the 189 households of the village to apply pressure on behalf of the community as a whole. As the land treatment realized demonstrable economic benefits to all, Gram Samiti’s legitimacy and bargaining power strengthened, adding credibility to eviction orders. With its authority established, the council devised principles for shramdaan (voluntary labor), for developing rules to govern the maintenance of the systems, and for inculcating a value system for holistic development of the village.
This people-centered system of governance slowly found its place. The council played a key role in treating the entire pastureland, in rehabilitating old irrigation tanks, and in de-silting percolation tanks—buttressing the work of GVNM. As a result, bumper harvests soon arrived. By 1996, assured irrigation to 300 hectares of land downstream of the tank had increased crop harvests by 12 times. The land that could support a meagre rain-fed crop in the past now supports two harvests per year – driving a jump in household income by as much as factor of 3. Though the levels of harvests are difficult to sustain during low-rainfall seasons, water conservation has had a lasting impact on farm incomes – a three-time increase in harvests was ensured even after third consecutive year of poor rainfall. With avenues for year-round on-farm and off-farm gainful employment available in the village now, out-migration has been brought under control.
For bringing prosperity to the farms, an upbeat village named the tank as Ana Sagar (“sea of foodgrains”). The two percolation tanks were named as Dev Sagar (“sea of the gods”) and Phool Sagar (“sea of flowers”) respectively. These tanks soon became hubs of community gathering and action. The development process is already getting integrated into the society and the culture. Digging from history books, villagers have recently discovered that their ancestors once practiced reverence for water bodies that sustain life on a designated day. The practice has been revived and is now an annual festive event. On this day, villagers offer prayers at Dev Sagar and organize rallies to spread the message to nearby communities.
Quantifying transformation
The guiding principles that led to the ecological revival and economic transformation in Laporiya has continued to drive its spread. 60 hectares of encroachments have thus far been freed for common use and over 900 hectares of community pastures have been irrigated using Laporiya Squares. As the squares system improves water flow levels and management beyond the squares themselves, the total land area impact is now well over 30,000 hectares at an average estimated cost of $40 per hectare.
The unfinished agenda
The GVNM’s Gram Samitis, thus far successful in mobilizing voluntary labor and evicting squatters, are now seeing their legitimacy challenged by the re-emergence of the panchayat. Following amendments to India’s constitution in 1994, panchayats now fill the official power vacuum at the local level with de jure jurisdiction over many of the Gram Samitis’s functions. Unfortunately, to a large extent, the democratically elected panchayats have become unduly influenced by outside political forces. The elected members of the state’s legislative assembly each control a fund for development projects within his or her district. This power struggle allows for these regional representatives to wield significant leverage over the panchayats resulting in a body that often lacks the apolitical good judgment of the village councils instituted by GVNM.
Deciding between developing a separate niche for the Gram Samitis, integrating these informal councils into the panchayat structure, or challenging the legitimacy of the directly will be a tremendous strategic decision for Laxman and his team. However, regardless of the outcome, generating resources from within the villages to support GVNM’s work will determine the long run sustainability of the project both socially and economically. As of now, village councils do not have resources at their disposal to manage and maintain the irrigation infrastructure and to minimize the impact of unforeseen events. Thus far, the Gram Samitis have been dependent upon support from GVNM and volunteer labor. Solution lies in reinvesting a portion of the improved harvest from individual farmlands with the village council, allowing the council to maintain systems and ward off unforeseen exigencies like a breach in the water tank. This, of course, suggests a new relationship between the villagers, the Gram Samitis, and GVNM replete with a whole new set of management challenges.
Banking on his 25 years of successful water management through social mobilization and his family’s enduring stature in this part of Rajasthan, Laxman appears well positioned to make this reinvestment scheme work. Should the rain gods smile after three years, the GVNM will work to convince farmers to part with a portion of their increased crop harvest. It will be a test for both the community and the protagonists.
Acknowledgement
The case study has been made possible by a grant from the Environment Innovation Initiative of the Ashoka Innovators for the Public, USA.
Dr Sudhirendar Sharma is a water expert and a development analyst attached to the Delhi-based the Ecological Foundation, 7 Triveni, A6 Paschim Vihar, New Delhi 110063, India.
Email: sudhirendar@vsnl.net.
