Harvesting Hope

Sharat Pradhan in Garhwal

What the Government of India, in 50 years of Independence, has not been able to accomplish, the World Bank now hopes to do -- provide drinking water for the inhabitants of some 700 remote villages in hilly Garhwal, in Uttar Pradesh and a further 800 villages in the Bundelkhand area of southern Uttar Pradesh.

The US $ 71 million project was launched on October 9 and is expected to be completed in six years. Based on a tripartite agreement between the World Bank-funded Programme Management Unit, local NGOs, and representative bodies of the beneficiary villages themselves under the banner of the Village Water and Sanitation Committee.

The most interesting aspect of the scheme is the direct participation of the beneficiaries, which has been ensured right from the pre-planning stage. As envisaged, the committee will in fact directly carry out both implementation and maintenance of the project, in the respective territories.

"Because the villagers themselves are participants of the project, we have termed it the Swajal (own water) project," says project director and state Rural Department secretary Parmeshwaran Aiyer.

Aiyer along with central government representative and joint secretary (rural development ministry) Palat Mohandas was present at the signing of the agreement, first at Palkot village in the Tehri Garhwal district, and Agar village in the remote Chamoli district.

"I have not seen more joy and hope in the eyes of people as I see now," Mohandas told Rediff On The NeT at the end of the 10 km trek to Agar. "These people walk one or two kilometres for each bucket of water they consume -- they would never have imagined that one day, water would be delivered to their doorstep."

Twentyfive-year-old Govindi Devi, member of the Agar Village Water and Sanitation Committee, echoed those sentiments when she said, "Every day we women spend two or three hours just to fetch water for our personal and household needs. Now we can use that time better."

Her friend Shabuli has even decided what she wants to do with the time she will gain by not having to trek for water. "I want to go for training in making handmade-paper greeting cards," she said, referring to a project promoted by the Uttranchal Youth and Rural Development Centre.

In fact, it was the UYRDC that, as Aiyer points out, "was solely responsible for motivating the villages to contribute their bit towards the project." According to the scheme, each villager will set aside one per cent of the project cost in cash and keep yet another 90 per cent reserved to be contributed in the form of labour. The overall cost, thus, will be shared between the World Bank, the state government and the beneficiaries at the rate of 84 per cent, 6 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

As set up, the NGOs -- the Uttranchal Youth and Rural Development Centre in Agar village and Bhuvaneshwari Mahila Ashram in Palkot village, to name the two areas where the project kicks off -- will oversee the project, while routine maintenance will be carried out, later, by members of the village level committee constituted for the purpose and trained by NGOs. Again, "It is the villagers who have themselves contributed funds for the annual maintenance," says Cyril Raphael, head of the Bhuvaneshwari Mahila Ashram.

NGO officials are optimistic that unlike previous government initiatives, this one will proceed smoothly -- mainly because this time round, it is the beneficiaries themselves who have taken on the responsibility for it.

Just how far the community is involved in the project was visible in Agar, where the villagers pooled their resources to purchase the small piece of land required for installation of the main pipes near the water source, and for erecting a storage tank, from an upper caste resident for Rs 5,000.

The 37 families of Agar have further contributed the Rs 6,000 which is their share of the Rs 600,000 project in their area, while in Palkot, the residents have collected the Rs 3,000 which contributes their one percent of the Rs 300,000 project.

"They live in abject poverty, and it is not easy for them to contribute these sums," Aiyer said. "It was done over several instalments -- but the important thing is that they did make the contribution, and underlined their commitment."

Perhaps by way of acknowledging this commitment, the planners of the project have left it to the individual villages to choose for themselves the type of technology and service level -- including options that range from piped water supply to captured springs with handpumps, rainwater harvesting, and such -- they desire in their respective areas.