Socio-Economic Survey of Gudwanwadi Checkdam Project By Satyajeet Somwanshi Priyadarshi Dash D. Parthasarathy Prashant Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 1
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Socio-Economic Survey
of
Gudwanwadi Checkdam Project
By
Satyajeet Somwanshi
Priyadarshi Dash
D. Parthasarathy
Prashant
Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
1
June 2006
Contents
Page
Nos.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Profile of Gudwanwadi
Chapter 3. Problems of Water Scarcity and CTARA Initiative.
Chapter 4. Community Mobilization
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Chapter 5. Baseline Survey: Data Analysis
Chapter 6. Summary and Conclusion
Appendix I Check dam Project Destination Map
Appendix II Village Survey Profile
Appendix III Household Interview schedule
Chapter 1
Introduction
Several districts in coastal Maharashtra face the perennial problem of water shortage
despite getting bountiful rains during the monsoons. Lack of water is a particularly acute
problem during the months after the monsoon season. Raigad is one such district, where a
number of villages and hamlets inhabited by adivasis or tribals face acute water shortage
leads to many health and socio-economic problems.
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IIT Bombay decided to intervene in this situation to set up a series of small checkdams to
prevent runoff of rainwater, store water for use after the monsoons, and recharge ground
water. The first project has been taken up in Gudwanwadi village of Karjat block of
Raigad district in Maharashtra. Gudwanwadi is the tribal hamlet of the village ‘Gudwan’
having a total population of 364 comprising 45 households. The total population of the
Raigad district is 18,24,816, of which the tribal population is 2,33,953 (12.82 % of the
total population of the district, which is higher than the state and national average)1.
Most of the households in Gudwanwadi hamlet live below the poverty line. Further,
51.11% households are landless. The main community in the village – the Thakars find a
place at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy. While the overall literacy rate is
44.67 %, the literacy rate among persons below the age of 25 is around 90%. However,
the extent of unemployment in the hamlet is very high. Basically the villagers depend on
agriculture for their livelihood. However, it is hard for them to survive on agriculture
alone. As a result, the working population of the hamlet migrates to nearby mainstream
towns and cities. Large-scale migration occurs in the lean season between November and
May, the extent ranging from 60-80 % in Karjat taluka. Families migrate to work on brick
kilns in the villages or towns nearby and also engage in agricultural or construction
labour. Agriculture in the village is of a subsistence type and is rainfed. Rice is the staple
crop in the hamlet. About 44.44 % farmers in the hamlet are marginal farm households
with the average landholding ranging from 0 to 1 acres. Only two households (4.44 %)
have cultivable land in the range of 1 to 5 acres. Livestock and poultry are conspicuous
by their absence since people cannot afford to maintain them. Although Gudwanwadi
receives copious rainfall during the monsoon (around 1200-1600 cm), water holding and
retaining structures or irrigation facilities are almost absent.
1Annual Tribal Sub-Plan 2000-2001, Tribal Development Department, Government of Maharashtra.
4
The staple diet consists of rice, dal and vegetables. In nutritional terms, this falls far short
of the requirements of a balanced diet. Poverty also contributes in placing a nutritionally
sound diet beyond the reach of the average household. Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM)
is widespread. This is manifested in the form of various diseases among the people,
women and children mostly.
Against this background, a technical team from CTARA- Centre for Technology
Alternatives for Rural Areas, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay visited the hamlet
and nearby villages for a preliminary understanding of the socio-economic problems of
the area in mid - 2005. It was observed that the drinking water problem was severe in most
villages in the area. After surveying several villages and assessing their suitability to start
a pilot project, Gudwanwadi hamlet was selected for the construction of a check dam in
consultation with a local NGO Academy of Development Sciences (ADS) in order to
address the drinking water problem on a priority basis.
The Check dam work was executed with the support of a construction firm Gangotree,
specializing in social infrastructure projects, and the NGO Academy of Development
Sciences. A village “Water Committee” (WC) was set up to carry out and implement the
work. The Water Committee consisted of four male and four female members who
participated in the entire decision-making as well as project implementation process.
Moreover the role of labor enforcement and labour payment was also coordinated by the
Water Committee. The Water Committee regulated the work force according to the
demand of daily work on the construction site; they gave an opportunity to every
household on a rotating basis to get employment on the project site and get a wage
incomes. They also monitored the work to reduce the gender discrimination. The water
committee was actively involved in village meetings to solve the labour issues as well as
technical problems that aroseduring the construction. Each Member of water committee
also worked as a supervisor on the check dam site. Weekly meetings of IITB, Gangotree,
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ADS and Water Committee helped to resolve emerging problems and issues. The
allocation and plotting of the land for those willing to donate land for the check-dam site
which was a major task was resolved sincerely through a community consensus. Equal
wages for male and female were offered in the initial phase of work; however, the labor
charges slightly rose for male laborers for their ‘heavier’ work profile. The labour force
was equally divided between men and women.
The main objective for the building the check dam was to hold enough water so that the
drinking needs for the village population and their livestock are met for the entire year.
In order to assess the long-term impact of this check dam on the livelihood and life style
of Gudwanwadi community, as well as to enable better implementation of the project, it
was felt necessary to have a preliminary database of the hamlet. A socio-economic survey
of Gudwanwadi was conducted during the months of April-May 2006. A semi-structured
questionnaire was used, along with focused group discussions (FGDs) and informal
interviews. In addition, participatory rural appraisal (PRA) were also done to understand
the history, evolution and dynamics of the community. Since a professional social work
practitioner was involved in the research, it was not just of an academic nature, but
involved action research as well in the form of collective action, mobilization, and
Community Organization.
The rest of the chapters in this report are organized as follows. Chapter II provides a
socio-economic and demographic profile of Gudwanwadi village. Chapter III outlines and
assesses the consequences and problems related to water scarcity. The IV Chapter presents
an overview of the community mobilization and collective action efforts and initiatives as
part of the project. Chapter 5 presents and analyses the data from the baseline socio-
economic survey that was conducted in the village. Chapter 6 provides a summary and
conclusions.
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Chapter 2
Profile of Gudwanwadi
The Community: Raigad district is one of the most populated districts of the Adivasi
(Scheduled Tribe) community in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. The Adivasis who are
present in Gudwanwadi are the Thakars, while the Katkaris are also prominent in the
region. These tribes are concentrated in different parts of the district. There is a hierarchy
of tribes, but this hierarchy is ambiguous and may not be accepted by a particular tribe in
question.
In Raigad district particularly, the tribal community is often characterized by mutual
mistrust. Thakars believe themselves to be superior to Katkaris but Katkaris believe that
they are not dominated by any other community. This may happen because the community
is polarized along political lines in several villages, where the Kunbi upper strata land
owing community also one of the dominant social groups.
Life Style of women: A striking feature of the Adivasi community in Gudwanwadi
hamlet is the relatively high status of the women. Though ‘patriarchal’, the women are
quite mobile and work participation rates are quite high – they are engaged in work in the
field as also as migrant labour (something that upper strata of Indian society does not
allow). It is not uncommon to find married couples and the wife’s parents living together.
Women lead extremely busy lives and do most of the work. Adivasi culture permits
practices, which may be frowned upon in non-Adivasi societies.
Culture: Adivasis possesses a unique culture of their own. This ranges from their
pantheon of gods – Hirva, Vaghoba, Gaondevi to name a few – to rituals and the
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celebration of festivals. While traditional Hindu festivals such as Ganesh Mahotsav,
Dassehra and Holi are celebrated in a unique fashion. Ganesh Mahotsav is celebrated by
men, women and children dancing together in circular formulation and singing songs
relating to everyday life – the sun, the rain, the animals, the family members gone far
away, and so on, reflecting the survival of animism2 among this indigenous community. It
is interesting to note that there is little connection with the occasion per se which
celebrates Rama’s victory over Ravana in battle. This phenomenon seems to symbolize a
singular adaptation of tradition with modern religious influence.
A Thakar Family
Life Pattern: Gudwanwadi community suffers from a high degree of economic
deprivation. Single season subsistence agriculture is the norm, with the second season
being taken up by migration to brick-kilns and other sorts of daily wage work. This is
despite the fact that the region receives plentiful rainfall in the monsoon. Unfortunately,
the absence of rainwater harvesting methods means that rainwater goes waste and water
sources dry up by January-February.
Thakars are a landless community and depend upon laboring in the farms of land owner
tribal as well as those of non-tribals in nearby villages. This migration could be
categorized as daily migration as they have to go in search of employment in nearby
2 Animism is sociological term for indigenous people’s nature worshiping life style
9
villages to get work and the two square meals a day. Alcoholism is high in the community,
also the consumption of tobacco.
Political Situation: The hamlet is divided into two political party blocks but with the
concern of resolving the water issue both groups have worked together. The Congress
Party, Communist influenced Shetakari Kamagara Party and Shiv Sena are the major
influential parties in the area. However, social-political rivalry does not arise from
ideological commitment; party loyalty is dictated by personal gain more than anything
else.
Health: Health leve;s and attainment in the community is low. This is linked to the
poverty levels in the area. The diet typically comprises rice, yellow dal and vegetables like
bottle gourd or brinjal. There is a deficiency of proteins and carbohydrates, which is
manifested in the form of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). Thus, the incidence of
marasmus and kwashiorkor is common. Poor health is also reflected in low educational
attainment, something discernible among the older generation in the community. Water
scarcity also leads to skin diseases, with scabies as one of the most common problems,
apart from abdominal pains, and respiratory-track infections .
The village population places considerable faith in the traditional healer, the bhagat. The
bhagat’s knowledge is not to be belittled but it is to be accepted that he is unlikely to have
superhuman curative powers, or that illnesses are attributable to spirits that have crept into
one’s body. The trend of seeking Bhagat’s help has been declining but is still prevalent in
Gudwanwadi; people prefer to go to doctors in near by village and towns (Kashele or
Neral). The changing mindset of the community is a result of the Weekly baithak
(spiritual seatings) in the Gudwan village, where a spiritual Guru teaches some facts to
follow scientific methods in daily life and eliminate traditional superstitious practices.
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A third reason for poor health rests in the relative inaccessibility of health services. Private
medical services are generally clustered around towns. Primary Health Centers (PHCs)
and their sub-centers may be better accessed but only relatively. These tend to be poorly
equipped and bribes are charged for injections. Inaccessibility implies travel, which adds
on to the cost of health care. There was a case of a lady who was suffering from
tuberculosis for many months; her family delayed the treatment by almost two months due
to the inaccessibility of the Health Center.
Services: A striking feature about this area is the poor extent of material development
despite its proximity to Mumbai, India’s financial capital. Barely 130 kilometers away
from the metropolis and a mere 15-20 kilometers away from the National Highway No.4,
the village Gudwan was connected by road a mere five years ago from where
Gudwanwadi. Electricity supply came four years ago. The land line phone connections are
still non-existent, but the rivalry of mobile communication services helped to bring a
mobile phone in the tribal hamlet which is the only telecommunication means in
Gudwanwadi.
Electricity: Power connection in the area is a major problem. Most houses are not
electrified. Where electricity is available, it is usually illegal. Teenagers are adept at the art
of ‘hooking up’ from passing power cables. Electricity is too costly anyway. Where
meters were installed, massive unexplained bills landed up all of a sudden from the
Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). Power was officially disconnected due to
high number of defaults, but only officially since it is easy to pilfer. However from mid
March 2006 the MSEB had removed the transformer from the village resulted in the entire
Gudwanwadi facing a black-out.
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At the beginning of the project a sense of status quo pervaded the village community.
Poverty was widely accepted as a problem but there was little attempt to break through it.
There was a lack of self-belief and often a sense of inferiority at being a tribal.
The Gudwanwadi community is stricken with fatalism born out of a sense of inferiority.
This can be attributed to the conventional attitude toward indigenous cultures, which
regards tribal as being less than civilised and looks at tribal cultures with condescension.
This attitude is reinforced by the education system, which provides little exposure to
alternate cultures. Not recognised is the existence of relative egalitarianism and gender
equity that is often closely interwoven into the lives of tribal community. The younger
educated generation is alienated from its own customs and traditions. This is visible; for
instance, in the way film music is supplanting folk songs at marriages and local
celebrations. The influence of urban lifestyles beamed through the visual media is
heightened when youth migrate to nearby towns in the off-season and accentuates the
alienation process. In Gudwanwadi there are two VCD players, three T. V. sets which
work as the home theater for the youth of the community, where they screen latest Hindi
movies almost every night. Imitation of city culture is accompanied by fatalism: the
community believes it is destined to live the way it has lived thus far – through subsistence
agriculture and wage labour. This self-defeating attitude is mirrored in the lack of
enterprise, and especially among school going youth, to a lack of professional ambition.
This attitude is a big impediment to the development of the community.
The Government: Our experiences were also an education of the way in which the
government fails to take note of ground realities. For instance, while it has provided for
construction of new check-dams, the State Government has ruled against disbursement of
funds under the Tenth-five year Plan and Annual Sub Plan of Tribal Development (2000-
2001) for repairing existing check-dams. Thus, a few hundred check-dams in the district
lie in disuse owing to lack of repair. Funds amounting to some crores have been set aside
12
for new construction whereas only a fraction is needed to repair existing ones. This rule
has affected the group’s plans for repairing a check-dam in the hamlet. In another
instance, the newly introduced Yashwant Gram Samriddhi Yojana, which entails a 10%
contribution from the Panchayat before the Government releases the rest of the money,
failed to take off in the villages we observed. The government bodies also fail to gain the
confidence of the community because of neglecting the most marginalized section and
providing the services on the basis of bribes. In Gudwanwadi, repairing the bore well
takes months because of the ignorance of the Panchayat Samiti. The Tanker water supply
promises remained in air, and women have to walk 2 to 3 kilometers to fetch water from a
river during the summer. The dismantling of the welfare state under the forces of
liberalization, privatization and globalization has lead to the withdrawal of the state from
areas where it was hitherto present and working even if in an inefficient way. With social
sector infrastructure in rural India inadequate and riddled with corruption, and the private
sector not interested in such projects, initiatives like this in the form of public – private
partnerships may have some promise.
Gudwanwadi
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Chapter 3
Problems of Water Scarcity and CTARA Initiative
Karjat taluka (block) of Raigad district in Maharashtra is known for tourist destinations as
well as natural beauty. The areas taken up by CTARA is close to hill stations such as
Matheran and Bhimashankar in the Sahyadri ranges. The region is populated by many
tribal groups. In spite of natural beauty and heavy rainfall in the area (more than 300 mm
per years), many of the tribal hamlets located in the area face the problem of shortage of
drinking water. Gudwanwadi is a small tribal hamlet suffering from this problem. The
water shortage in the village has led to various socio-economic problems related to their
daily life. In this section an attempt is made to recognize and understand these issues, and
the possible effects of the CTARA initiative, in the form of an alternative technology for
development. What are the consequences of water scarcity? Which groups suffers more
from this problem? How are the social, economic, health related problems likely to be
resolved with the check dam project? Interviews and focused group discussions helped us
to understand the following issues with reference to water scarcity in the village.
1. The lack of water availability in the region post –monsoon, has resulted in the shortage
of drinking water in the village.
2. The lack of drinking water has resulted in increased burden on women in the summer
seasons; they have to walk 2 to 6 Km daily to fetch drinking water. The parents
usually engage their daughter’s in the water fetching work, which has resulted in the
low education rate among the women because parents do not sent their daughters to
the school.
3. The lack of clean drinking water also resulted in the spread of various waterborne
diseases among the villagers like jaundice, dehydration etc.; due to non-availability of
15
primary health care facilities in the village, the patients have to suffer a lot and have to
bear heavy medical expenses in treating themselves.
4. The lack of water availability also resulted in low agriculture production due to non-
availability of water for irrigation purposes.
5. Water scarcity in the village also resulted in the lack of fodder production and even the
common pasture land in the near by areas of village dried up in the summer season due
to low water level. This has severely affected the livestock in the village.
6. Shortage of water also resulted in various changes in the social condition of the
village. The people from outside villages are generally do not prefer to marry their
daughter in the village. They felt that if they give their daughter in marriage inthe
village then her entire life would be devoted to the task of fetching the water.
7. Water scarcity over a long period has led to an increase in migration of people to the
urban areas. The villagers generally migrate to urban areas in the summer season for
working on construction site or brick kilns etc.
8. The low agricultural production and rampant poverty in the village has forced the
villagers to take money on high interest rate from outside people and become indebted.
The increased indebtedness resulted in increased psychological and poor health status
of the villagers.
9. Overall the village has a low social status of the village in the region
16
Women engaged in fetching water with three Ghadas on head
The CTARA Initiative to answer water problems: In view of the above problems, the
Center for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) of Indian Institute of
Technology, Bombay in collaboration with Academy of Development Sciences (ADS)
planed to construct small dams in some tribal hamlets in the region. The main objective of
the initiative is to create small check dams to hold enough water so that the drinking water
needs for the village and their livestock are met for the whole year. In addition the small
dams will also help recharge ground water levels, resulting in dug wells having water
throughout the year. For the purpose of the project initially CTARA and ADS have
selected Gudwanwadi, a small tribal hamlet of Gudwan village. The main objective of the
project was to construct a check dam for drinking water. CTARA was monitor the logistic,
funding and all technical aspects of the project including project design. ADS was to be
responsible for social mobilization and collective action, local support and execution, and
Gangotree would execute the project.
Looking for water
The prime objective of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay for initiating this project is
to create a model of learning while doing. For the purpose of meeting the objectives
17
various department of IIT are involved in the project namely Earth Sciences, Computer
Sciences and Engineering, Metallurgy, Civil Engioneering, and Humanities and Social
Sciences. The main objective of involving the HSS department was to conduct a socio-
economic survey of the area and to prepare a community profile of the area so as to
analyze the changes that have emerged in the area due to water scarcity and to inquire into
the potential benefits the project may create in the social life and livelihood pattern of
people residing in Gudwanwadi.
The work under the project was started on 8th January 2006. Gangotree, an agency that has
considerable experience in constructing watershed structures was appointed as a technical
consultant for the project. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 18 lakhs. The money
for the dam was raised through donation from corporations and individuals (IITB
Alumni). The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay also supported the project
financially and logistically.
The sociological analysis of the project was seen to be essential since the project is aimed
at bringing some improvement in the lives of the local people. From this point of view the
technology aimed at improving the livelihood of people should be suitable to the area and
should be accepted by the local people. The local groups should be able to manage the
project themselves once it is completed. The sociological analysis offers important
insights for the technical projects in terms of obtaining the necessary information
regarding the community background, livelihood patterns of the people, identification of
the target or the most affected group, developing community consensus and developing
leadership among the community for the initiation and management of problem solving
processes.
Apart from that the sociological analysis plays an important role in assessing the
engineering feasibility of the project through identifying the suitability of the project in
18
accordance with the consensus of local people, which can contribute to the long term
sustainability of the project.
Impact generated by the watershed project:
The ongoing construction of the check dam (at the time of the survey) in the village has
resulted in bringing some changes in the thinking pattern of people with respect to
understanding their socio-economic problems and doing something about them. Earlier,
the condition of abject poverty and lack of drinking water availability resulted in the poor
socio-economic condition of the people. Women had to travel several kilometers for
fetching water. The participation and status of women in social activities was much lower,
parents did not prefer to send their daughters to school. The outward migration level in the
village was very high. At this point of time, when the project has just been completed it
would be very difficult to analyze the positive benefits that the project has yielded.
However in the present section the changes that the project has yielded in this short span
of time are described. The outcomes are also a result of the institution of the project and
the social mobilization and collective action that were fostered by IIT Bombay, the social
work professional, and ADS.
1. The project has resulted in a positive impact in making people aware about their
problems; earlier there was no such effort made by any NGO or any local group to
make people realize the impact of water scarcity on their livelihood.
2. The project also helped the villagers in organizing themselves through the formation
of a water committee in the village. The formation of water committee also made the
village the stakeholder in the project.
3. The formation of the water committee helped the women in the village by directly
involving them in matters related to the implementation of the project. The project also
19
resulted in giving some empowerment and recognition to women’s role in society and
economy.
4. The water committee also gave women a chance to meet with each other to discuss
their daily life issues, as a result of which the number of women participants has
increased in the meetings. Thus the implementation of the project has resulted in
enhancing women’s participation and their decision making power.
5. The formation of the water committee and increase in the interaction of women
members with male members in the village resulted in change in their social roles and
status.
6. The project also benefited the villagers by providing alternate employment opportunity
in the village itself during the construction period.
7. The formation of the water committee not only resulted in increasing people
participation in the village but also provide them a platform for discussing other social
issues concerning their village.
8. As result of intervention made by the social work practitioner in motivating the
parents to send their children to school, many parents have started sending their son
and daughter to the nearby school.
9. The project also helped the village in making other individuals and NGOs aware
about the condition of village, as a result of which some initiatives have been taken for
improving the condition of village.
Technical Details of the Project (source: www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~ctara)
The Site of the Project: Gudwanwadi village comprises 40 households and a population
of roughly 250. It is a small Thakar hamlet on the Kashele-Murbad road. The dam site is
Gudwanwadi, which is about 2 km from Gudwan village.