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River Revival Project
Rajiv Gandhi Mission For Watershed Management
India

The Problem

Madhya Pradesh is located in the heart of the country. The state has a very unique character that it is not connected with sea, not connection with the Himalayas and yet it has some hills and mountains and has some big rivers. 77% people occupation is agriculture and 68% cultivable area of the state is rainfed , the rivers or the streams providing water in the state were going dry by the month of November, due to which the farmer was not able to cultivate the land in the winter which led to low productivity in crops and finally low income, the farmers has to migrate to the urban areas in search for employment where they were exploited, by low wages and extra work. Some farmers fell in the debt trap of local moneylenders and committed suicide sometimes the whole family committed suicide. Due to lack of proper income there was malnutrition among the villagers, high infant mortality rate, health problems and high competition for water which led to disputes among local people. At present due to unsustainable exploitation of ground water, 24 blocks in the state have been declared over exploited 5 as critical and 18 as semi critical leading to low water level in the wells which were a major source of irrigation. There are about 1.26 lakh settlements in the state out of which 0.28 lakh settlements have less than 40 litres of average water availability per day. Earlier government programme like Pani Roko Abhiyan(Stop Water Campaign) also existed but a need for more comprehensive campaign that could address water problem was in need. Various government schemes were floated to help these people addressing food, health, cattle, livelihood, sanitation and education but none of them really addressed the real problem which was water, the government tried to develop mechanism for sharing of water resources among the people but water availability was a major question. It was found that majority of these rivers or streams were flowing through the year but now could not sustain beyond 2-3 months of the rainy season, even when there was also no substantial change in the average rainfall

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The solution to the problem already existed but went unnoticed which was to revive the rivers and streams of the state. These rivers had in past served the needs of the population but due to bad land management practices had lost their glory, water in these rivers dried after 3-4 months of the monsoon season. The solution was to treat the catchment areas of these rivers and imbibe proper land management practices among the people. This programme was not limited to desilting of the river or construction of stop dam. Treatment was to undertake intensive engineering and vegetative measures in the catchment and upstream area. This would increase the base flow in the river received from the ground water and due to seepage the river would start flowing again. For this process minimum one river was chosen in each district of the state for revival process.
The key benefits of this initiative was that in the first year of the program itself the base flow in these rivers have started to be visible and the rivers are flowing for a longer time duration of 2-3 months than the recent years which has been documented. The main beneficiaries of this programme are the people which are linked to the agriculture sector that is the people of the rural India. Since about 77% of the people sustain their living through agriculture and related activities. The amount of people benefited and the amount of value generated is immense. Other people have also been benefited from this initiative which may be called the spill over effect which include various industries like paper, liquor, power plants, etc are some of them to name a few.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Mr Umakant Umrao, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management (RGM) proposed the idea for River Revial. He is the main pioneer for the River Revial project and conceptualized this idea into policy and orders for the effective implementation of this project. This project is implemented by the District Panchayat team for watershed management and monitored by RGM at the State Level. RGM also provides policy inputs, orders, circulars related to effective implementation of this project.
The major stakeholders of this project are the people as this project is totally people centric with people participation and ownership of the assets created during the project as the main pillars of this project which make it different from the earlier projects. The other stakeholders include the Zila Panchayat officers who implement get the project implemented on the field, the gram Panchayat which help in mobilizing people for the project and the gram sabha which approves the work proposed for the river revial project. The stakeholders also include the politicians who mobilize the local community for taking steps for water conservation and help to convert this project into a mass movement

(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.
The main strategies which were used to implement this project which converted it into a campaign are that the common man in the village needed water for agriculture, cattle, etc therefore there was a need for a mass movement from the leaders of the society to convert this need into action by people participation where the government would only provide support and policy and the people will work themselves for water conversation and augmentation. This led the people to recognize the source to the end to their misery. Site specific water conversation and augmentation structures were designed and were approved through the gram sabha. A full fledged team was appointed for each river with specialists from different fields like civil engineers, agriculture, geology, veterinary etc at the project level in every district. Do It Yourself concept was imbibed in the local people through technical training and capacity building measures. Self initiation was promoted among the people. Individual responsibilities were assigned among the local people which made them feel a part of this project. Participation from various governmental, non governmental organizations, members of voluntary organizations, private organizations and students was mandated in the policy. To make available sufficient funds for this project convergence was assured from schemes like NREGS, SGSY, MPRLP, BRGF, etc. The people could contribute in the form of labour, material, machine or money.
All this was achieved through making it into a mass campaign through effective blending of the mindset and objectives in the political and administrative machinery of the state and thus making it a people driven initiative in the state. These strategies were established by learning from the past experience of the state, water being recognized as the main source of development, feedback from the local people and field survey of the major officials of RGM. The man behind conceptualizing and getting it in black and white, getting all administrative approvals is Mr Umakant Umrao, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The pressing need of water and the fact that all the water of the catchment flows out the area with the villagers having very low storage capacity and declining ground water level with the state facing a series of drought was the major incidence which made necessary for the state machinery to come out for an innovative solution to solve this issue.
In the year 2010 the order of converging river revival as a part of Jalabhishekh abhiyaan was released by the Department of Panchayat And Rural Development. It also included the policy guidelines and the general guideline as to how this programme would be moving ahead and how we can make this programme a success. The programme was started by the honorable Chief Minister at Ratlam on Jamad River. Since then it was made a point to include river revival as a part of the honorable Chief Minister’s visit to any district the state. The Zila Panchayat made the DPR of the project by consulting the villagers and their needs assigning their responsility and contribution. The DPR underwent the approval process after which the tasks mentioned in the DPR were started. The timeline for this project is three years and has to finish by March 2012. This programme was later on merged with Integrated Village Plan of the NREGS so that a continous flow of funds is maintained in the project. To get more expertise from outside some of the projects are offered to various Ngo’s which have started their work on the site.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacle were of labour as in majority of the districts there is very low labour availability, sometimes the rate offered to the labour’s is very low which becomes a roadblock in the progress of the development. Another obstacle was the incapability of the Zila panchayat staff to work in a project mode. These obstacles were overcome by getting work done through various associations in the district ex petroleum association, transport association, farmers association, traders association, etc. These people contributed in the form of cash, labour and machines which would help to gain progress to this project. The machines like JCB, tractors etc helped to get earth moved and create tanks and other water storage structures. Other works which were less labour intensive were undertaken till the harvesting season is over so that labour is available for other works of river revival project could be undertaken. The associations which offered help were honoured by the people , administration and the politicians.
Other problems were overcome by frequent monitoring by the Honorable Chief Minister, Principal Secretary(RD), Secretary(RD) and Director Watershed Mr Umakant Umrao. To streamline every process the District leader was made the Project leader of this project, who was present at the district to monitor effectively the progress of the project and also provide quick remedy to any bottleneck.

(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
The resources used for the project were achieved through convergence from various schemes like NREGS, SGSY, MPRLP, BRGF, etc. Till date approximately 70 crore Rs have been utilized for this project in the state. The technical inputs were received from various subject specialists of Rajiv Gandhi Mission for watershed Management, Water and land management institute, Central ground Water Board, Rural Engineering Service, NGO’s, etc. The Cost of the total project is not final as the Districts are still in the process of making the New DPR’s under Integrated Village Plan of NREGS.
The resources were mobilized through making the District Collector the head of this project. Since the District Collector is also the head of other schemes running in the district there was no hindrance in financial approval of this project. There was no upper financial limit in DPR’s and convergence was to be assured through various schemes available in the state. Technical experts prepared concept note and also training material to train the district officers. Trainings were given and exposure visit foe employees of other districts officers, legislators, sarpanch to place where good work has been done were organized.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The main element of this project is its sustainability and that it is owned by the people. The whole project has been conceptualized around people’s participation. The structures constructed under this project has user group with one leader ,the group will be responsible for maintaining the structure, devise benefit sharing mechanism and resolving disputes among the people. The interventions done are as desired by people and since they have contributed in some form or the other they value the intervention done. All the works done are done by the people and they are themselves the owner of this assets created and the water conserved.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The lessons learned are that people participation is the most effective mechanism to achieve sustainability in such interventions. People already know the solution to their problem all they need is a helping hand from the administration and a good leader to guide them through the process. People’s participation should be ensured at every stage especially the planning stage where you decide major interventions. Work should be done in a project mode with results quantifiable or visible in less period of time. Various other interventions could be added when sufficiency of water is established like microenterprises, agro-processing units, etc

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Rajiv Gandhi Mission For Watershed Management
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Vikas Brahmawat
Title:   Task Manager  
Telephone/ Fax:   07554082614
Institution's / Project's Website:   07554082614
E-mail:   vikasrgm@gmail.com  
Address:   2nd floor, Vindhyachal Bhavan
Postal Code:   462004
City:   Bhopal
State/Province:   Madhya Pradesh
Country:   India

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