Central India Initiative
Lifting lives with Lift Irrigation
Bachuriben lives in Mahudi, yet another drought affected village in Dahod district of Gujarat. With three consecutive years of failed monsoons, the area is experiencing severe drought, and water is a scarce resource here. Amazingly, Bachuriben is a picture of happiness. She proudly shows off her field, cultivated with cabbage, tomato, brinjal, chillies, wheat, gram and maize. A check dam constructed on the nearby river Machan, along with an efficiently designed lift irrigation system, both initiated by Sadguru Foundation in 1993, have played an important role in Bachuriben's life. Like other seasonal cultivators in the village, she depended on the monsoons for her livelihood. She would be forced to migrate to bigger towns in search of odd jobs to eke out a meagre existence, when farming was not possible due to lack of water for irrigation. The check dam and the lift irrigation system in Mahudi now provide water through-out the year for irrigation, enabling Bachuriben cultivate different crops, besides venturing into horticulture and vegetable farming. Her income has increased dramatically, from which her son has purchased a jeep and earns upto Rs. 500 a day, plying it as a taxi.
The Trust's Central India Initiative (CInI) focuses on the hilly and undulating region of India, stretching from Gujarat in the west to West Bengal in the east, covering the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and home to over 50 million tribals. The region is endowed with reasonable forest cover and receives high rainfall. However, land and water productivity is below potential due to primitive agricultural practices and low use of modern agricultural techniques, resulting in widespread poverty. A combination of these factors, coupled with low literacy, has resulted in gross under-development of the region. Efforts by both, the government and non-profit organisations have fallen short of needs. However, sporadic cases of success highlight the importance of appropriate technologies and processes to bring about desired changes
Within this flagship initiative, involving key non-profit partners, the Trust has supported Sadguru Foundation towards improving the living conditions of the rural and tribal people, chiefly by developing environmentally sound, land and water resources programmes. The Trust's committed support of Rs. 12.5 crores, spread over five years, envisages benefits to around 38,000 households in 250 villages in four project districts in Gujarat and South Rajasthan. In the past three years, this support has enabled Sadguru Foundation implement 35 Lift Irrigation projects, construct 63 check dams, implement micro-watershed development covering 14,000 acres, carry out horticulture development of over 8,300 plots and build 131 bio-gas plants.
Sadguru Foundation believes that their model in Natural Resource Management is replicable all over India and has the potential for a second green revolution. It would be the Trust's endeavour to fulfil this vision.
