Oasis in a parched land

MAHUR village (Purandhar block of Pune district) is an oasis in this parched, drought-prone district of Maharashtra. From the top of a hillock, green fields can be seen for miles around. At the base of the hillock is a small irrigation tank into which rainwater is harvested. This almost perennially full waterbody is the lifeline of the village and the principle of equity in water distribution its sustenance.

In a country where rural people - failing to get returns from their agricultural lands - are migrating to the big cities in search of jobs, in the 30-odd villages where Vilasrao Salunkhe's pani panchayats are in operation, reverse migration has begun. Farms that were barely yielding 50 kgs of bajra and jawar per acre and an annual income Rs. 2,500-4,000 now yield Rs. 10,000- 1,00,000. In addition to traditional cereals, farmers grow wheat, onions, vegetables, a variety of flowers like marigolds and lilies, fruits and a cash crop which is not a water guzzler. The villagers practise organic farming and employ people from adjoining villages.

The man who pioneered these radical technological and social innovations, that repair and restore degraded water sheds and guarantee each family within the community an equal share of the water harvested, is an engineer with his own factory. In 1972, after the terrible drought that affected some 4,00,000 people in Maharashtra, Salunkhe realised the need to intervene.

There was no water available for agriculture. Drinking water was scarce and tankers supplied water only for basic needs. Travelling extensively, he saw villagers breaking stones for road construction in a desperate bid to earn a subsistence allowance from the government.

He realised that environmental regeneration and watershed development with community participation was the only solution. Rainfall in this region fluctuated between 250 mm and 500 mm. At first, tried out his idea on a 16-hectare plot on the hillside of Naigaon village. The land belonged to the temple trust but was barren and uncultivable. Salunkhe took the land from the trust on a 50-year lease and built a hut where he and his family lived and worked with the community.

Conserving soil and harvesting water was given top priority. A series of contour bunds was raised to trap water and check soil erosion. At the base of the hill, which he saw as a micro watershed, a percolation tank that could hold a million cubic feet of water was constructed.

A well was dug below and water pumped from there up the hill slope to irrigate the fields. Trees were planted in rocky areas; fruit trees in the more fertile areas and grass and shrubs on lands not being cultivated. Slowly production increased. As against two to four bags of grain a year, 100 quintals was harvested and enough employment was generated forthe surival of five households and their cattle. Half an acre of irrigated land could provide a man's food needs for a year.

The Naigaon experiment was ready for duplication in other parts of the State. Water was a common property resource with all villagers having equal rights and access to it. So the five basic principles of the pani panchayats or Gram Gaurav Prathistan were evolved, and they are in operation till today.

* Irrigation schemes are undertaken for groups of farmers, rather than for individuals. Water is allocated on the basis of the number of family members rather than in proportion to land holding. A family of five is given water rights to irrigate one hectare.

* Cropping is restricted to seasonal crops with low water requirement. Crops that require perennial irrigation and large amounts of water, like sugarcane, banana and turmeric, cannot be cultivated in the pani panchayat areas.

* Water rights are not attached to land rights. If land is sold, water rights revert back to the farmers' collective.

* All members of community, including the landless, have right to water.

* The beneficiaries of the panchayat have to bear 20 per cent of the cost of scheme. They have to plan, administer and manage the scheme and distribute water in an equitable manner.

With farmers paying 20 per cent of the cost of lift irrigation, the Government provided another 50 per cent and the remaining 30 per cent was provided by the pani panchayat as an interest-free loan.

The half-a-dozen landless people of Mahur, who have joined the scheme, have taken land on lease from landholders and put their quota of water to good use. They have prospered and now some have bought land too.

In the early 1980s, when the cloth mill where the villagers worked closed down, they came together to form their water panchayat. Ten to 15 per cent of the villagers who already had irrigated land did not join the scheme. People living on the hilltop where water could not be reached also stayed away.

"Where the cost of development does not ensure returns, villagers have not joined in," says Lakshman Khedar, who works closely with Salunkhe to ensure that the scheme stays on line. Though the region receives close to 1100 mm of rain annually, there was no storage facility, villagers recall.

Today, it is wonderful to see the prosperity of Ramachandra Sripathi Chavan, one of Mahur's early beneficiaries of the pani panchayat scheme. The old mud hut in which he lived till the 1980s now serves as the godown for his crop of onions. A solid two-roomed cement house with galvanised iron sheets on the roof is his new abode. A television set has been given pride of place.

Of the four acres of land that he and his brother own, two acres are now irrigated through lift irrigation. Earlier he was dependent on the rains and grew just bajra and jawar. He was able to harvest just 5-6 quintals in a year and earned just Rs. 2,500. Today he grows a mix of crops and his income has soared.

Others from the village recount similar success stories. Niranjan Ganpat Rao Chavan and his brother have 12 acres of land. Now under the pani panchayat scheme 4.5 acres is irrigated. Earlier, he grew groundnuts in the rainy season and bajra, jawar and rice earning Rs. 5,000-6,000 a year. Now he grows mogra, marigold and lilies in addition to wheat and vegetables and earn Rs. 70,000 an acre of irrigated land. Niranjan who worked in Pune returned in 1987, as did Satyawan Gole.

Balasahib Chavan and his brother own 11 acres of land of which three acres are under the pani panchayat. Balasahib, who studied till Std. XII, is the village patkari, the man who operates the lift irrigation scheme, bills the villagers, collects payment and ensures that each member of the panchayat gets his due share of water. The pumps operate round the clock and Balasahib ensures that each acre gets water for three hours continuously. Though there is load shedding in the area, it is not as bad as in Uttar Pradesh, the villagers pointed out.

Balasahib was trained in motor repair at Sashwath before taking charge in Mahur. He gets a salary of Rs. 1,500 as patkari. Every member of the panchayat contributes Rs. 1,000 a year towards maintenance. Balasahib who earned Rs. 8,000-9,000 a year from his land now earns Rs. 2 lakhs a year. What is more, he has a special status in the village.

Bharat Gole has four acres of land of which one acre is irrigated. His was wasteland and, before he joined the panchayat, the returns was barely Rs. 1,000 a year. Now he earns Rs. 15,000 annually.

In Mahur, grazing is restricted to certain areas. Everyone in the village has one or two buffaloes or cows. Some milk is kept aside for the family's needs and the rest is sold to help supplement family income. With increased grass and water in the area, milk yields have increased.

While it is remarkable that the project has been sustained for a quarter of a century despite the strict terms of sharing and equity, it has not been replicated as extensively as it should have.

According to Salunkhe, the 50 per cent Government subsidy for water harvesting has stopped. This means the farmers have to pay more as their share for lift irrigation. Water harvesting was also possible only in those areas where the landscape provided the slopes required for contour bunding and water collection.

USHA RAI

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