Orissa's efforts

The Orissa government finally appears to be serious about drought-proofing the state. In February 2001, the government called the first meeting of an advisory committee set up to discuss the strategy for watershed development in the state, as part of a process to finalise the 10 year watershed mission document prepared by the government. Advisory committee members included Anna Hazare, Shamjibhai Antala of Saurashtra Lok Manch, an organisation deeply involved in raising awareness about rainwater harvesting and recharging of wells and a representative from CSE’s water programme. This committee is chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Village community being motivated to encounter the water crisis in Orissa

The watershed mission was set up in June 2000 with the idea of bringing together under one roof, all the watershed activities being undertaken in the state under various government programmes like the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) and Integrated Water Development Programme (IWDP).The total projected cost of the programme is Rs 1,500 crores, spread over ten years. The objective of the mission is to drought-proof the state through a totally participatory people’s movement in watershed management. Urban water harvesting is also included.

The director of the misison, Saurabh Garg, presented the 10-year plan of the watershed mission, the objectives, about the government’s institutional framework and efforts being taken to build up institutions in the village level. Watershed programmes have been undertaken for the past two years or so and he gave examples where the self-help groups in Bolangir district had deposited Rs 42 lakh in the bank and how their contribtion to the programmes had been Rs 19 lakh.

These programmes will be for a period of four years and the impact assessed by looking at the following indicators: reduction in migration; increased agricultural yield; increased fodder availability; rise in water level in openwells, increase in crop area; effectiveness of social mobilisation (in terms of voluntary contribution); and, functioning of self help groups.

What was obvious from the discussion that followed was that government efforts towards social mobilisation were poor, a fact that the officials themselves acknowledged. Several suggestions for ensuring success of the mission were offered by the committee members.

Anna Hazare informed about the turnaround that was brought about in Ralegan Siddhi and the steps that had been adopted. He pointed out the need of political leadership. He suggested that work should be started in those areas where the community appeared more receptive.

Shamjibhai informed about the need to have sustained awareness examples . He cited the example of how the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh had asked his government to arrange for state transport buses to take farmers from the Malwa plateau where the water table has been rapidly declining, to Saurashtra, to look at well recharge. This had resulted in about 85,000 wells having been recharged by the farmers in the Malwa plateau without any government assistance.

The CSE representative stressed the need of including intensive awareness raising programmes in the form of  distributing literature in the local language, organising pani yatras, taking the people to look at successful community-managed water harvesting, both within the state and elsewhere and of genuinely involving the people.

The chief minister ensuring political support and that all the suggestions would be incorporated into the mission plan.

The first step towards raising awareness was taken in March. Between March 1-5, the government organised an awareness drive called Jal Sanchyan Abhiyan Saptha (Water Conservation Campaign Week) in the 2,000 watersheds where it is implementing watershed programmes. Under the campaign, mainly covering drought-affected districts, government officials involved in watershed activities undertook a different activity daily. The decoration in the venue for the programme stressed on the 5J’s — Jal, Jamin, Jantu, Jungle, and Jan sanghatan (water, land, animal, forest, and people’s participation). On day 1, the watershed association (gram sabha) met to review the work. Day 2 was farmers training camp to train farmers on crop cultivation to increase productivity. It was important to motivate the farmers to grow water less water-using crops. Day 3 was dedicated to women’s role in a village and health of the women and child while day 4 was for the animals’ veterinary check-up. Day 5 was for an exposure visit to the best watershed in the block. Everyone had to pledge on the last day to conserve every drop of water.

About 30 ministers of the state cabinet and government officials participated in the abhiyan. A DTE reporter who visited some of these villages came across varied experiences which indicated that the success of the programme depended on the motivation levels of the officials and in their ability to mobilise and motivate the people.