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Jaldeep Yojna
M.P. Fisheries Fedaration,Bhopal
India

The Problem

Fishermen in general belong to one of the lowest rung of socio-economic ladder. They are also disadvantageously placed in spatial terms i.e. out the village or around the reservoir which is generally far-off from the main habitation.
It is the stated policy of the Government of Madhya Pradesh to rehabilitate people displaced due to construction of a reservoir by engaging them in fisheries activity in the same reservoir. M.P. Fisheries federation has been entrusted this work. For this purpose, the Government has allotted 12 reservoirs having a total area 1.70 lac ha.
One of these is Indira Sagar reservoir. It is the largest in the country (91348 ha. area) affecting three districts of Madhya Pradesh viz. Khandwa, Dewas and Harda. It has 500-600 km long periphery, 60 % of which runs through thick forests. The rest is also inapproachable. The reservoir is also unique as it has approximately 55 islands (numbers vary as their submergence or emergence depends on the water level), of these 8-10 islands are frequently inhibited by the fisher families.
In Madhya Pradesh fishing is banned in the reservoirs from 16th of June to 15th of August every year. By October the rains stop and, the water level begins to recede and islands start emerging. This is the time when fishermen migrate to these islands to stay there till June next year i.e. for about 8 months or more. The Fishermen move to the islands in search of better catch, but cannot return daily to their village as the distances are long. They have to stay on the islands. Usually they take their families along because the women help them actively in fishing and small children cannot be left behind. Being so separated from the main land, they and their families are deprived of all the facilities and benefits of the government schemes. No healthcare, supplementary nutrition, education facilities were being delivered.
Based on the study of their lifestyle, the M.P. Fisheries Federation felt an urgent need to plan delivery of the benefits to these fisher families. In these circumstances M.P.Fisheries Federation took the initiatives to catalyze and coordinate activities of various ongoing schemes of crucial line departments to cater to the need of these fishermen families.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The impact of the initiative is in 3 spheres, a) the benefit to its target group, b) the learning on the conceptual and planning framework and c) the potential to build on the experience and learning’s.
The benefit to the target group:
1. The beneficiary fisher families who lead a neglected life earlier are now extremely happy and expectant. The initiative has not only provided them essential services at their doorstep, but has also given them a sense of being a part of the development process. They don't have to approach different offices for services and lose precious man-days and wages in the process.
2. Earlier the fisher families could avail the facilities of healthcare, supplementary nutrition, education only while they resided in their village i.e. from 16th June to September / October (three and half months at the most) now they receive the benefits round the year, uninterrupted. Encouraged by positive beneficiary feedback, the scheme has been extended (with modifications) in 2 more reservoirs viz. Bargi & Bansagar.
3. Incidence of disease among fisher families has been considerably reduced. Children's education is continuing uninterrupted.
4. The nutritional level of pregnant and lactating mothers, young and adolescent children are being regularly monitored and addressed.
5. Essential services could be provided to 3248 fishermen, 2315 women and 2381 children, a total of 7940 beneficiaries living on the islands/banks of the reservoirs, Indirasagar, Bansagar and Bargi.
6. The most important outcome of Jaldeep is not only the benefits fisher families derive but that it has made them increasingly aware of their rights, making them vocal and more demanding for improved services, motivating the government machinery to be more vigilant, transparent and responsive.

The Learning on the conceptual and planning framework for the implementers

1. Stakeholder government departments, who have suitable schemes for the fisher families and were unable to provide the benefits due to the paucity of resources, have also appreciated the initiative. They can now provide the services on the spot and with regularity.
2. The initiative sets a successful example of inter-departmental synergy for a common cause i.e. meeting the requirements and expectations of poor people living in remote and unapproachable areas.
3. It also provides a model to further experiment and mainstream service delivery to migrant populations.
4. The benefits provided to the fisher families are absolutely free to them and cost nothing to the stakeholder departments.
5. It gives an immense sense of satisfaction to the M.P. Fisheries Federation to extended welfare activities to its target group.




The potential to build on the experience and learning’s:

The project has successfully experimented with the service delivery of development benefits (hitherto restricted to spatial identification) to migratory populations. However, there are a number of services such as PDS, which are in the pipeline. Conceptually, the measures like the Unique Identification No. to the migrant populations could help in overcoming this dichotomy and make the other schemes also amenable to implementation with these disadvantaged groups, a measure which MPFF would take up vigorously.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Based on the study of their lifestyle, the M.P. Fisheries Federation felt an urgent need to plan delivery of the benefits to these fisher families. In these circumstances M.P. Fisheries Federation took the initiatives to catalyze and coordinate activities of various ongoing schemes of crucial line departments to cater to the need of these fishermen families.
A strategy was evolved which was need based, suited to the fluid conditions, did not demand any extra budgetary support or extra staff to run it. It was also compatible to the conditions, changing with time and place. Therefore it was easy to replicate it in other reservoirs with certain modifications.
M.P. Fisheries Federation’s former Managing Director, along with their team of officers implemented the initiative.
Fishermen working in the reservoir were the primary stakeholders & following govt. departments were the stakeholders:

A Role of M.P.Fisheries Federation - (Major stakeholder)
1. Carry out survey of all the prospective beneficiaries of the reservoirs and to prepare & send proposals to the other stakeholder departments in order to link the fisher families with various ongoing schemes.
2. Provide boats at the fixed place & date so that other stakeholder department officials, doctors, medicines and supplementary nutrition etc. could be transported to the beneficiaries dwelling on the islands.
3. Form self help groups & link them to various employment generation schemes of Rural Development Department and Women and Child Development Department.
4. Function as nodal agency & to liaison between the beneficiaries (the primary stakeholders) and various stakeholder line departments (both at the state & and the local level).
B Role of Women and Child development Department

1 Verify the list of beneficiaries provided by M.P.Fisheries Federation and arrange for requisite medicines & nutrition supplements etc for them.
2 Establish mini Anganwadies if required.
3 Examine the children, expecting women & lactating mothers and extend to them benefits of its various ongoing schemes.
C. Role of Health Department

1. Conduct free health checkup of the fisher families and free distribution of medicines if required.
2. Make available the services of medical experts at least twice a month for the Jaldeep camps to be organized on the islands.
3. Create awareness about health and hygiene amongst the fisher families.

D. Role of Education Department and Tribal Development Department

1. Make special provisions to give admissions to the eligible students of fisher families in the nearest schools and or hostels to provide them with free boarding, food, books etc.
2. Also coordinate with social justice department for promoting adult education amongst fishermen & women.

E. Role of Rural Development Department & Panchayat and Social Justice Department

1. The Chief Educative Officer of the district Panchayat (equivalent to Chief Development Officer) will coordinate the activities / roles of various stakeholder departments. He will also head the district level coordination & monitoring committee for this purpose.
2. Issue necessary instructions for smooth functioning of the scheme and ensure its compliance.
3. Arrange for making Self Help Groups and link them to various ongoing schemes of the Government departments.
F. Role of Food & Civil Supply Department
1. Make such amendments in the public distribution system as the food reaches to the fisher families on the islands.
2. Make available consumable items of daily need such as kerosene, soap, oil etc.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Since the strategy was to optimize on existing resources the initiative was undertaken in three steps :
a) Conceptualization and situational analysis.
b) Creating the co-ordination mechanism & awareness.
c) Implementation and follow-up.

A strategy was evolved which was need based, suited to the fluid conditions, did not demand any extra budgetary support or extra staff to run it. It was also compatible to the conditions, changing with time and place. Therefore it was easy to replicate it in other reservoirs with certain modifications.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The steps involved were :-
Conceptualization
1. Intensive visit of the area i.e. islands in the reservoir and assessment of prevalent problems (September / October 2006).
2. A concept note was given to stakeholder government departments for consideration and support.
3. An extensive survey of all the islands exposed at the moment along with the fisher family members was carried out. Gender and age group were special concern (September / October 2006).
4. After holding a series of brainstorming sessions and based on the feedback from primary stakeholders i.e. the fisher families, a project proposal was prepared where the objectives and roles of various stakeholders was clearly laid down and sent to all the stakeholder line departments viz. health, women and child development, school education and tribal development department etc. and also to Fisheries department (in September 2006 itself).
5. Meetings in the Federation both at the state and the reservoir level continued and finally a state level meeting under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Fisheries Department was held in January 2007 in which Secretaries of all stakeholder line departments participated, highly appreciated the scheme and assured of all the cooperation from their department.
6. As new issues emerged and more information was required, the field officers i.e. Regional Manager Indiar Sagar was given additional instruction in January 2007
Co-ordination
7. In April 2007, a committee at district level was proposed by the M.P. Fish Federation to state Government which in turn issued instructions to the district Collectors involved, who then formed the committees as proposed. The committee was headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the District Panchayat and its convener was Regional Manager M.P. Fish Federation in charge of the reservoirs.
8. The committees at district level fixed 2 days in a month when the camp would be held in all the islands falling in the district’s jurisdiction and also nearby islands.
9. All the district level officers of all the stakeholder line departments were directed to make available their officials i.e. doctors, health workers, aaganwadi workers etc. along with medicines, vaccines, chlorine tabulates, health checkup kits, nutritional food supplement, child weighing machine etc. on those days.
implementation
10. M.P. Fish Federation offered to provide them logistic support and transported them to the islands on board its fish collection boats and surveillance boats.
11. As water level began to recede, the islands began emerging and fisher families started staying there, the innovative scheme called Mobile Aaganwadi or Jaldeep Yojna was launched on 18.09.2007 on the islands adjoining village Joga Kalan in district Harda.
12. To extend to the fisher families the benefit of health care and women & child care with nutritional supplement etc, a medical check-up camp was held on each of the island, in which all fishermen and family members were examined, distributed necessary preventive and curative medicines, chlorine tablets, ORS etc.
13. It was difficult to provide their children the facilities of education as the families used to shift from one island to another and the number of school going children was small. Therefore it was arranged to counsel the parents and send willing children to stay in the hostels of tribal development department situated on the main land and get free education there, free boarding, lodging, free books etc. and continue their school education while their parents remained on the islands.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
• Deprived condition of fisher families demanded attention and care.
• Continued displacement and lack of human development services is likely to create a cycle of chronic poverty, where poor stop looking for avenues of progress.
• Inability (due to inapproachability) of the government stakeholder departments to deliver services to the needy fisherman families i.e. primary stakeholders.

By Implementing of this initiative, these obstacles were overcome.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Boats & vehicles available with the M.P. Fisheries Federation were used for this initiative at the time of field camps. Available government machinery was used for implementation without any extra budget or additional men power. Synergy of different government departments helped in successful running of this initiative.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Yes this initiative is sustainable and it is running successfully since 2007. This is also transferable. This is successfully implemented in Federations two more reservoirs with slight modifications.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The quantifiable impact is summarized in tables below:
In Indira Sagar Reservoir

Table A
Sl. No. Parameters Before the initiative (pre 2007-08) After the initiative
1 No. of beneficiaries to whom medicines and supplementary nutrition distributed during the health checkup camps. Nil Year Men Women Children Total
2007-08 296 243 372 911
2008-09 340 348 339 1027
2009-10 388 262 384 1034
Grand Total 1024 853 1095 2972
2 No. of camps conducted on the islands Nil 19
3 Children who availed free hostels and free education Nil Four Girls:
1. Rukmani
2. Laxmi
3. Rajni
4. Shalu
4 Gap between two services being provided (example – healthcare, Anganwadi care and education etc.) a) 8-9 months (between October and June)
b) 15-30 days (from June to September) a) 15-20 days only (but October to June)
b) 15-30 days (from June to September)
5 Vaccination to the children & expecting women Negligible and irregular Regular and on time
6 Awareness about availing Government facilities Negligible Considerably high. Now they expect and demand more


In Bansagar & Bargi Reservoir *

Table B

Name of reservoir Parameters Before the initiative(pre 2008-09) After the initiative(in 2009-10)
Bansagar No. of beneficiaries to whom medicines and supplementary nutrition distributed during the health checkup camps. Nil Year Men Women Children Total
2008-09 384 454 577 1415
2009-10 520 31 230 1060
Grand total 904 764 807 2475
Bargi No. of beneficiaries to whom medicines and supplementary nutrition distributed during the health checkup camps. Nil Year Men Women Children Total
2008-09 898 346 138 1382
2009-10 422 352 337 1111
Grand total 1320 698 475 2493

• Improvement in other parameters was same as in table-A, except for the hostel facility for the children which was not required there.

Thus essential services could be provided to 3248 fishermen, 2315 women and 2381 children making a total of 7940 beneficiaries living on the islands/banks of the reservoirs Indira Sagar, Bansagar and Bargi.

Highlight / features of the initiative (Jaldeep Yojna)

1. This is the first time in the country that a scheme to reach the migrating needy population has been initiated.
2. The initiative which harnesses inter-departmental synergy at no extra cost, budget or staff requirement has been successfully implemented.
3. The model is replicable and has scope for adaptation according to changing circumstances. It has been replicated in 2 more reservoirs viz. Bargi and Bansagar in 2008-09.
4. It has been running successfully for the last three years. It is going to sustain itself in future as well, as it does not require any extra budgetary provision or extra staff. Ongoing regular schemes of the stakeholder departments are sufficient to sustain the initiative.
5. The initiative is demand responsive as, the fishermen beneficiaries with raised awareness will not allow the scheme to be discontinued.
6. The initiative has an inclusive approach, as opposed to begin an exclusivist standalone program. Jaldeep strives for more and more schemes and benefits to join the improved delivery mechanism such as : solar lighting for safety, supply of subsidized ration (PDS).

Contact Information

Institution Name:   M.P. Fisheries Fedaration,Bhopal
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Kanchan Jain
Title:   Former MD, M.P. Fisheries Fedaration,Bhopal  
Telephone/ Fax:   0755-2550084
Institution's / Project's Website:   0755-428283
E-mail:   kanchan.jain@mp.gov.in  
Address:   DN-2/15, Char Imli
Postal Code:   462016
City:   Bhopal
State/Province:   Madhyapradesh
Country:   India

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