Emergency Drought Response FORWARD
Indo-Global Social Service Society has been working with vulnerable communities on Disaster Risk Reduction and responding to Emergencies for quite a few years. In recent times, emergency responses have included Uttarakhand Landslides, Cyclone Phailin, Kashmir Floods, West Bengal Floods. Apart from this, Emergency response to flood is a regular feature of the interventions in the North East. In 2015-16, IGSSS responded to 5 emergencies in the North East alone.
In 2016, IGSSS expanded the scope of its work by responding to slow onset disaster. Several districts in the country were declared drought hit, with Marathwada and Bundelkhand prioritized as the worst hit. As a result, majority of the support was earmarked for these areas.
Odisha was also facing massive drought with vast communities in severe water crisis, devastating crop loss and ensuing loss of livelihood. IGSSS’s own areas of operation in Western Odisha specifically Kalahandi and Balangir were one of the worst hit in the state.
With Institutional support focussed elsewhere, IGSSS decided to respond to the Drought in Odisha and launched its online resource mobilisation campaign “Odisha Drought Aid”. This was again a first for IGSSS.
The entire IGSSS family pitched in and within the short span of 30 days, raised approximately Rs. 20 Lakhs from friends, relations and well wishers.
With erratic rains, it was a race against time to prioritise villages for support, site selection and construction of rain water harvesting structures.
In this, IGSSS, our esteemed partners and the community rose to the occasion. Old structures were renovated and a few new constructed in time for rains. Though there are several other villages still struggling with water crisis, we feel a measure of pride that together, we could impact the lives in 15 villages in Western Odisha.
We are very grateful to our Partners – RCDC, Seba Jagat & AJSA for who made this herculean task possible. We are also thankful to our other Partners in Odisha and other states who had sent in Situation Reports on the Drought which helped us finalise the Intervention. We are thankful to the many individual donors from all corners of the world and in India, for their timely support.
Above all, we are thankful to the community, who faced with a difficult choice of abandoning paddy plantation to pitch in and complete the renovation and reconstruction of the Water Harvesting Structures, gave the intervention their full support.
As part of IGSSS, all of us feel immense pride and a sense of achievement in the successful Emergency Drought Response. We in the East Zone are particularly thankful to each and every colleague in IGSSS who supported this campaign in the Zone and made it feasible.
This is a report on IGSSS’s Emergency Drought Response. It has tried to capture the many learnings that have been garnered from this response. It will be of immense help to us in the years to come as Drought is now a reality and deep water crisis, a global phenomena.
In Solidarity, Sukanya Chatterjee, Manager East & Basant Panigrahi, Officer in Charge, Odisha
Odisha Emergency Drought Response CONTENT
1. Introduction 2. Geographical situation 3. Weather conditions of the village 4. Drought situation and types 5. Drought mitigation in project villages (WHS and their situation) 6. Impact of drought 7. IGSSS’s Emergency Drought Response 8. Objective of EDR 9. General Details of Project Village 10. Partnerships 11. Duration 12. The Intervention 13. Expected impact 14. Activities undertaken • The Key findings & Lessons Learnt • Plan ahead 15. Challenges 16. Impact of Emergency Drought Response 17. Case Studies & Quotes
Odisha Emergency Drought Response 1. Introduction Drought is one of the major natural hazards which occur in almost every climatic region. It affects millions of people and causes significant economic and ecological damage. Drought ranks as the single most common cause of severe food shortages and is regularly listed as a cause in the majority of food emergencies. In recent years, impact of climate change has resulted in frequency as well as severity of droughts.
Odisha has been witnessing drought very frequently in the past decades. In Western Odisha where the small land holdings are primarily rain fed, erratic and scanty rainfall results in a drought like situation almost every alternate year. This slow onset disaster cumulatively built up and the rain deficit in 2015-16 created extensive crop loss and severe water crisis in 27 out of the 30 districts in the state. Highest temperatures in recent history were reported in the Western districts of the state as a result surface water sources dried up. Ground water levels fell rapidly making tube wells defunct. This hit the marginal farmers hardest many of whom had to migrate in search of work. 180 farmer deaths were reported in the past couple of years.
This was the year where drought had affected many parts of the country. With little institutional support forthcoming, IGSSS launched its own online campaign to mobilise resources. This enabled IGSSS in support with its partner to implement Emergency Drought Response in 15 worst hit villages of Balangir and Kalahandi Districts of Odisha.
2. Geographical situation IGSSS Emergency Drought Relief was been implemented in 15 different villages of Balangir and Kalahandi district of Odisha. The two adjacent districts are in Western Odisha and are predominantly tribal. Balangir is spread over a total geographical area of 6569 sq. km and has a population of 1,648,574 where as Kalahandi has a total geographical area of 7920 sq. Km and encompasses a population of 1,573,054 as per 2011 census data. Balangir district headquarter is situated 330 km far away from state capital Bhubaneswar whereas the district headquarter of Kalahandi is 415 km far away from state capital of Odisha.
3. Weather conditions of the village : Western part of Odisha is popularly known as Tatlagarh (hot zone) due to its high temperature and long dry season. There are three major seasons - summer (March-June), Rainy Season (July- September) and the winter (October-February). It is warm almost throughout the year with maximum temperature hovering between 40-46° C. In recent years, the duration of the hot months have been increasing whereas cold and rainy months decreasing. Temperature has been on the rise day by day with heat waves. The number of hot hours in a day has also been on the rise. Along with widespread deforestation, this has resulted in drying up of water sources in the long summers. The rainfall patterns have changed with too little or too much rains. Lack of proper systems of harvesting rain water, much of the rainfall simply flows away leaving little behind after the rainy season. All of these reasons have resulted in severe to extreme water distress to the population in these two districts.
4. Drought situation and types : Rain Fed Agriculture is the primary livelihood for most part in these villages supplemented by NTFP collection and wage labour. Erratic rainfalls in recent times have affected almost all households. Traditionally, this area has been prone to drought and the people had developed their own coping mechanisms. However in recent times, the frequencies of droughts have increased to almost every alternate year. The duration of drought too has increased and its impact felt upto 2 or even 3 years drying up river, pond, well, tube well, farm pond. Water shortage has resulted in extensive crop damage. The variations in temperature and rainfall have affected seed germination and harvest. As the rainfall was less than normal in July 2016 and erratic in the first fortnight of August 2016, operations like transplantation and other activities were stopped. Sporadic rainfall in the latter half of August raised hope among the farmers who started transplantation of saplings. The prolonged dry spell continued and resulted in drought.
Crop damage and loss, inability to preserve seeds, compensation inadequate and slow in coming has led to extreme distress in the area. High diurnal temperatures have also affected availability of NTFP. Substantial number of farmers have been induced to take up cash crops (mainly cotton) increasing their indebtedness. Loss of their crop has also sharply impacted their market dependency. The
Odisha Emergency Drought Response already Families have been forced to sell their livestock and migrate elsewhere in search of sustenance.
5. Drought mitigation in project villages (WHS and their situation): Every village has atleast one traditional water body. Since time immemorial, the traditional water bodies have conserved rainwater to meet the water needs of the people, to recharge the groundwater and to provide irrigation to the crops. The traditional water conservation mechanism has been declining rapidly over the years due to the compulsions of the developing society like the changing land usage and modern agricultural practices. However indiscriminate use of water, lack of maintenance has in most cases has caused the water to dry up and led to its disuse. Slowly over time, the community has even forgotten its existence. Community has on their own efforts tried to renovate defunct well and tube well for temporary use. The handful of families having resources tries to save their crops by irrigating their land from nearby water sources if water is available. But these are at best temporary coping mechanism. There is very low level of knowledge on drought mitigation in these villages. And recently these multiple issues including extreme weather have cumulatively resulted in extreme water distress in the area.
6. Impact of drought : The acute drought situation has affected all households but its impact on the landless, marginal and small farmers has been more acute. The agricultural sector had suffered a near complete collapse due to drought. In upland, crops have been damaged fully and partially in medium land. The women folk have to bear the burden of collecting water from a distant place for their domestic as well as drinking purpose. Able person especially the young migrate to other states in search of livelihood as opportunities for alternative employment is practically nil. Untimely rain increases disease and insects which is another cause of crop failure. Domestic and other animals face severe problem for drinking. Death and loss of livestock in drought situation causes economic shock to poor family as the livestock are used for agricultural purposes and have direct impact on crop production. As women mostly take the responsibility of carrying water so it has a direct impact on their health when they have to carry water from a long distance place.
7. IGSSS’s Emergency Drought Response 2016-17 saw a nationwide drought in India. IGSSS collected information and situation reports from the drought affected areas under its operation. In Odisha too with support from Partners and staff, sitreps developed. With most attention and institutional support focused on Marthadwada and Bundelkhand IGSSS took a decision to raise resources through its own first ever on-line (ketto) campaign. Basis the Odisha reports, IGSSS prioritized its responses to Balangir and Kalahandi – the two worst affected districts of Odisha.
In a single month, the online campaign mobilised sufficient resources to initiate its relief response in 12 villages of 2 partners’ field area - RCDC (Regional Centre for Development and Cooperation) in Balangir and Sebajagat in Kalahandi district of Odisha. The focus of this response was to construct/renovate water harvesting structures, open well, soak pit in project operational villages to capture maximum rain water for agricultural as well as domestic use and develop community capacities to cope up from threats of future drought.
The first resource mobilisation attempt using an on-line crowd funding platform has been very successful. It has helped us reach out to more villages than initially planned. It is helped IGSSS to go replicate the same initiatives in a few other villages in nearby affected villages. Even though small in scale, it has provided much needed relief to villages and has at the same time supplemented government initiatives by supporting renovations of open wells and water harvesting structures. Seeing the budget availability IGSSS expand its Emergency Drought Response intervention to another three different villages of Bolangir district of Odisha with the help of AJSA ( Anchalika Jana Seva Anusthan).
8. Objective : To provide Emergency Drought relief through renovation and restoration of water harvesting structures
Odisha Emergency Drought Response Specific Objectives • To harvest and store rain water for summer use (for irrigation and livestock consumption) as well as to increase productivity in warm and dry season • To combat drought prevalence in the area by creating awareness among the communities and to develop preparedness in the community about drought • Improve capacities of communities to cope with threats from future droughts
9. General Details of Project Village
Sl. Village Gram Block District Total Total No Panchayat Households Population 1 Palam Palam Norla Kalahandi 462 2410 2 Madanpur Muskuti Norla Kalahandi 93 372 3 Khetupada Salebhata Norla Kalahandi 55 254 4 Rendabahali Takarla Norla Kalahandi 55 226 5 Kundeijharan Takarla Norla Kalahandi 27 110 6 Alim Takarla Norla Kalahandi 130 1035 7 Raidunipadar Takarla Norla Kalahandi 115 480 8 Kadalimunda Jurabandha Sanitala Bolangir 81 514 9 Belghati Jurabandha Sanitala Bolangir 28 73 10 Patnipita Jurabandha Sanitala Bolangir 83 278 11 Dangarmunda Sanitala Sanitala Bolangir 29 144 12 Karlabahali Sanitala Sanitala Bolangir 20 65 13 Batharla Gandharla Bongamunda Bolangir 285 758 14 Gandharla Gandharla Bongamunda Bolangir 673 1534 15 Sundhimunda Sundhimunda Bongamunda Bolangir 120 604
10. Partnerships: Emergency Drought Response was carried out in 15 villages of Bolangir and Kalahandi district of Oidsha through three partner organizations named Regional Centre for Development Cooperation, Seba Jagat and Anchalika Jana Seva Anusthan
11. Duration: As the response was totally need based so each partner organization took limited time period to complete the planned activities. RCDC: 18th June to 25th September 2016 Seba Jagat: 15th June 2016 to 15th August 2016 & 25th August 2016 to 31st January 2017 AJSA: 1st December 2016 to 31st March 2017
12. The Intervention The EDR was initiated with a mass meeting in each village to get the people’s consent over implementing emergency drought response project. The EDR was met with high levels of interest from the community.
Village wise meeting were conducted to identify suitable locations/ponds for construction/renovation. Once the probable sites where identified, a feasibility assessment was conducted with the help of a junior engineer, Panchayat representative, CBOs leader and IGSSS representative to know the feasibility of water sources in the selected sites/locations. Based on the feasibility assessment, a detailed plan and technical estimation was prepared and work executed following administrative procedures. In both the districts, machine was used to construct and renovate the WHS in a bid to get the work completed in time for the monsoons. This was critical as these structures once renovated would be able to store water for use post the monsoon. However, a few families got the opportunity to work as daily wage labour under this project and earned an income through Cash for Work.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response In Kalahandi, maximum individual families availed worked under this project as a daily wage labour as machinery work was limited to maximum 40% of total budget where as in Balangir district very few individual families have availed worked as maximum work had been completed through machinery.
13. Expected impact: Through this project community members had expected to build and renovate at least one water harvesting structure in their village and planned to irrigate their cultivated land during lean period from October to December (before harvesting). The community also shared other expectations: ▪ Domestic and other animal would use this WHS for bathing as well as drinking purpose ▪ Community members also could use this WHS for bathing and other domestic use ▪ Winter vegetable cultivation in pond yard and land near to the pond for income purposes ▪ Community members would availed work under the WHS construction and got income for their livelihood for certain period of times ▪ Crop can be survived using pond water for irrigation purpose
14. Activities undertaken • Feasibility assessment for site selection • Construction of water harvesting structures • Renovation of open wells • Construction of soak pits (tube well yard) • Panchayat level disaster preparedness and drought management workshop • Training of water users group on post maintenance of community assets • Culmination / lesson learnt workshop
• Feasibility assessment for site selection Immediate feasibility assessment was conducted jointly by partner and IGSSS representatives. Local engineer was also contacted immediately for the field visit for feasibility. Basis the assessments, intervention villages were finalised, sites identified and estimates prepared with the help of engineer. Village communities were consulted with the findings for finalising sites and undertake constructions.
• Construction of water harvesting structures A total of 15 water harvesting structures were renovated and constructed in the 15 selected villages in Balangir and Kalahandi district of Odisha. The focus of the project was to build awareness and resilience among the affected community on the importance of water harvesting, conservation and judicious water usage. Therefore, the main focus was on renovation of existing water structures. 10 structures were renovated and only 5 new structures were constructed.
In 12 villages, the work was initiated in the transit period between summer and rainy season. Untimely rain caused challenges in completing the constructions work. These structures would bring effective relief to the community only if constructed prior to the monsoon and be able to store the rain water. To speed up work, machinery was used for digging. In Kalahandi district, community members availed worked under this project as a daily wage labour as machinery wrok was limited to maximum 40% of total budget.
In 3 villages, work was initiated only in January 2017. At that time, water sources in these villages had dried up and soil was too hard for manual digging. Hence, digging and removal of large sized rocks were done by machine.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response Visibility boards were installed and fixed at all the construction sites for proper communication and transparency.
Photographs of WHS construction
Odisha Emergency Drought Response Before and after photographs of WHS construction
Odisha Emergency Drought Response
Detail information of WHS constructed in project villages Size (In feet) Budget Sl. Name of the Plot HHs Village Unit Length x Width utilized No work number benefited x height x (INR) Depth Kalahandi 1 Palam WHS 1 173/1604 25 50’ x 40’ x 3’ x 5’ 52340/- Renovation 2 Madanpur Construction 1 478 25 60’ x 50’ x 2’ x 9’ 84200/- of WHS 3 Khetupada Construction 1 2335 15 60’ x 50’ x 2’ x 9’ 83700/- of WHS 4 Rendabahali WHS 1 412 50’ x 40’ x 2’ x 16 33520/- Renovation 10’ 5 Kundeijharan WHS 1 Community 12 50’ x 40’ x 2’ x peculation land 54840/- 10’ tank 6 Alim WHS 1 742 50’ x 40’ x 2’ x 18 30540/- renovation 10’ 7 Raidunipadar Construction 1 392 50’ x 40’ x 2’ x 15 79600/- of WHS 10’ Bolangir 8 Kadalimunda Pond 1 Community 60’ x 60’ x 60’ x 15 80000/- renovation land 10’ 9 Belghati Renovation of 1 Community 4 60’ x 60’ x 10' 80000/- pond land 10 Patnipita Construction 1 Community 6 60’ x 60’ x 10' 80000/- of pond land 11 Dangarmunda Construction 1 Community 4 120’ x 60’ x 7’ 80000/- of pond land 12 Karlabahali Renovation of 1 Community 20 60’ x 60’ x 10' 80000/- pond land 13 Batharla Renovation of 1 Community 72 150’X200’X10’ 238000/- WHS land 14 Gandharla Renovation of 1 Community 100’X150’X10’ 48 131000/- WHS land 15 Sundhimunda Renovation of 1 Community 100’X150’X10’ 43 135000/- WHS land
Odisha Emergency Drought Response • Renovation of open wells Drinking water resources in the villages had completely dried up at the time of drought response. Tube wells in the villages were defunct and water levels in open wells had drastically reduced. This caused severe drinking water distress in the villages. Seeing the emergency, 4 open wells were renovated and deepened in Raidunipadar and Rendabahali village.
The renovation and deepening helped to increase the storage capacities of the open wells which would post monsoon would increase availability of clean drinking water for households in these villages. All the 4 open wells were renovated by the respective community members.
• Construction of soak pits (tube well yard) Both districts of Balangir and Kalahandi have high levels of water stress as they face drought like situation in every alternative year. There is an urgent need to develop the concept of water recharging among the community. Similar ides of waste water recharging pits were constructed in tube well yard. It has been seen that there is a high level of water wastage while fetching water from tube well. The water stagnates around the surface making the area very unhygienic conditions Construction of soak pits in the tube well yard would help conserve the water and recharge ground water. 12 soak pits at tube well yard were constructed by the community, 7 in Kalahandi and 5 in Bolangir. The soak pits have helped to recharge ground water levels. Families have started vegetable cultivation in the tube well yard as the moisture retention of the land has improved. Communities now have drinking water for their livestock.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response • Panchayat level disaster preparedness and drought management workshop In order to evolve a long-term strategy and develop a community based coping mechanism for the disasters, especially for slow-onset disasters like drought, a Community Based Disaster Preparedness and Drought Management workshop was organsied by AJSA in March 2017. The workshop was attended by more than 80 community leaders of 3 panchayats. During the workshop the emerging problems of Drought and migration was discussed and debated. Participants were made aware of the basic concepts, terminology and models of disaster risk management and also, guided the participants on planning and developing effective strategies and systems for disaster risk reduction especially for disasters like drought. Further to this the need and ways of developing effective processes for preparedness planning in order to improve disaster response and recovery program were discussed. The workshop also highlighted existing creative practices and coping mechanisms which is being used by the communities, during the time of drought. The second session workshop was devoted to open house discussions on drought management. The intent was also to spell out possible ways by which Community members could use the WHS and the local available resources, to address the problems of drought.
• Training of water users group on post maintenance of community assets To build community resilience against future droughts, awareness sessions were conducted in each partner area to facilitate formation of water and asset user groups. These group’s capacity has been built to understand the need for conservation and maintenance of the water structures and promotion of equitable and judicious water usage.
3 water user association and three disasters management Teams (DMTs) have been formed in three different villages by AJSA. Role and responsibilities of WUAs and DMTs were clearly discussed with them. The WUA members are mutually agreed to take-care of the newly constructed WHS and also agreed to leverage funds for its maintenance through MGNREGA work.
RCDC have organized five training program in five different villages for water user groups on group dynamic, equal representations, role and responsibilities in operating and managing community assets especially WHS constructed and renovated under the EDR. Farmers came together and planned for sharing the water resources in equitable manner. This would create a balance in use of the water resource, which would sustain the demand of the groups. The group has set an indicator of local capacity enhancement. The group members not only planned for sharing the resource but also the happiness and problems between them.
Seba Jagat have organized three different capacity building program of the VAT members in three different villages. VAT members become aware of managing the WHSs constructed under the EDR.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response Community themselves agreed and shared to leverage funds for its maintenance through MGNREGA work.
Post the training program, community members started managing the WHSs post the construction. Few of them started cultivating Arahar in pond yard, few did grass pitching and few planted drumstick in pond yard for making the pond yard strong. This will also generate income for land less families.
• Culmination / lesson learnt workshop The Emergency Drought Response was a first time experience for IGSSS, its implementing partners as well as the community. The entire process had several learnings.
Towards this end, IGSSS Odisha Unit, organized a culmination / lessons learnt workshop on 10th March 2016 at Seba Jagat Office, Kalahandi district. A total of 30 community leaders and representatives from 12 villages actively participated in the meeting
The objective of the workshop was to facilitate a proper learning sharing session. Prior to the workshop a detailed FGD questionnaire was developed on few key parameters to capture the impact, successes, lessons learnt and challenges faced while implementing the EDR project in the targeted communities. Developed FGD questionnaire was shared with partners (RCDC and Seba Jagat) staffs to collect the information from initial 12 intervened villages. Collected information, findings were compiled, analyzed and shared at the lesson learnt workshop among the participants.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response
The Key findings / Lessons Learnt were –
1. Even with the limited funds, communities were able to construct and renovate the WHSs in their village and successfully harvested the rain water. This helped community to use the water during the flowering time to irrigate their paddy field. Rain fed paddy field requires adequate water during the flowering time for good harvest and these small WHSs helped the farmers in irrigating the paddy field during the lean period.
The learning by the community as well as the partners was that WHS construction doesn’t require huge investment. With community participation in planning, proper site selection and execution, even minimal investments for small WHS can be constructed and existing structures renovated for harvesting rain water.
2. The Emergency Drought Response took place in the last phase of summer and beginning of monsoon season, which was the preparatory period for agricultural activities for farmers. Most of the community members were busy in preparing their land for upcoming season. At the same time, the water harvesting structures had to be constructed in time for monsoon.
Very few families undertook manual digging as a daily wage labourer as intervention was took place in the beginning of monsoon season so the project team used the machinery for digging the WHSs to speed up the work.
The Learnings were –
I. Community’s involvement is crucial. Being the primary stakeholder, their acceptance, their go-ahead is critical. Any intervention which by-passes this critical component is not going to be very sustainable. Ultimately, it was the community who took the decision and divided the precious time between planting and the constructions. This
Odisha Emergency Drought Response helped the project team in getting the construction and renovation of WHSs done in time so that adequate water captured in these WHSs. II. The self help approach of enabling the community, strengthening village institutions (VAT, VDC & DMT), building their capabilities is crucial to foster preparedness and address the needs of the community in face of disaster. The Community Institutions would be the best monitors to track the development of any emergency situation, undertake immediate and effective community drought assessment and its preparedness making interventions timely and hence more effective.
3. Although the original plan was for renovation and reconstruction of water bodies, mainly wells, partner’s analysis and revisiting the plan to include soak pit digging near tube well yard has yielded additional benefits. It has helped land less families in growing vegetable garden as land near to the soak pit as its presence improved the soil moisture content.
The learning was that flexibility of intervention in light of ground realities is important for maximizing impact. With small modifications, added benefits accrued to target population.
4. Pond yard management by planting Arhar and vegetables in newly constructed and renovated WHSs by the community is another important learning. It not only makes the pond yard strong but also helps producing nutritious vegetables. Good use of pond yard for the land less family.
The learning were- I. Local knowledge and experience add value to interventions. This small addition which was through own contributions (without project support) has improved the sustainability of the EDR.
II. Community assets maintenance and its effective use are important for sustainability. Formation of Water user groups and their strengthening is crucial not only for maintenance of the WHS but also for effective and judicious use of water. Plan ahead Following important plans were shared by the community representatives during the workshop;
o Effective management of constructed and renovated WHSs by the water user associations periodically o Community will prepare plan and submit it at Pallisabha and Gramsabha for more renovation of WHSs in the villages o Community will prepare farming calendar in their respective villages. It will help them in utilizing water resources appropriately and judiciously. o Effective use of pond water- importance will be given for pisciculture, duck rearing and vegetable cultivation in pond yard. o Coordination at different department like horticulture, agriculture and MGNREGS for more convergence and avail benefit.
15. Problems/challenges faced while doing the structure: The intervention was implemented in the transition period of summer and rainy season. Time was of essence as the constructions had to be completed before onset of monsoons.
• Identification of suitable sites – not only because of rains but also prioritizing a few structures from many. Consistent discussion among villagers and prioritization in a participatory helped in prioritising the 15 structures for most needy places. • Intermittent rains resulted in filling up of the identified structures; this necessitated drying up or draining before work could progress. • Use of machine instead of manual labour to complete the work in limited period of time • Due to heavy rain in this area earthen road got damaged and created difficulties in getting JCB machine to the locations
Odisha Emergency Drought Response • In certain sites, communities were already using the structure (example – a pond where fish cultivation was in process). It was challenging to convince the villagers to renovate the pond. • Community members were engaged in farming activity as rain started early. Being preoccupied with farming, it was difficult for them to leave farming aside for the renovation work. • Daily wage labourers were engaged in farming so it was challening to get labourer for manual work.
16. Impact of Emergency Drought Response I. Water Availability Constructed and renovated WHSs helped in capturing adequate amount of rain water and increased water availability for a long duration period in these structures. Earlier WHSs were dried up in the month of December but this year due to EDR response, in all the intervened WHSs had 4 feet water availability in the month of March. II. How did the harvested water help community? a. Impacted earnings (farm and non-farm) - With the increased water available in the WHSs farmers have cultivated double crop (kharif and winter). Farmers cultivated paddy in Kharif and vegetables in winter season. Few farmers also did the pisciculture and duck rearing in the WHSs. Increased water availability in WHSs helps farmers to irrigate more land for cultivation. These have augmented their earnings. b. Access of water for domestic and livestock use - and which has augmented their earnings. WHS renovation helped in storing rain water for a longer period of time and community members are using it for bathing and other domestic purposes for a longer period of time as compared to previous year. Constructed and renovated WHSs has been beneficial to the domestic animals. Open well renovation has helped community in accessing and availing drinking water. c. Impact on soil moisture - Due to construction and renovation of WHSs and soak pit in tube well yard in the project villages has increased the soil moisture. Ground water has been recharged due to project intervention. d. Benefitted landless families - Landless families able to cultivate pond yard farming such as arhar, mango, drumstick and other vegetables and has been getting good income out of it. Land near to the soak pit normally remain ideal throughout the year now have developed vegetable garden by few land less families as the land near to the soak pit becomes moisture and earning an income from it. III. Impact on community a. Although this was a onetime support with small allocations, the impact on the community was timely and effective. Apart from improving their access to water for an extended period, the community’s direct involvement and experience has impacted community’s awareness. The support has dispelled the myth that water access requires large funds and that it is the responsibility of the government. b. To an extent, the communities have internalized the need for more such renovations and have expressed commitments and interest in partner field areas to mobilize resources through convergence with schemes like NREGS. c. The communities own experience has raised their awareness on the need for judicious water usage which includes cropping and livestock planning.
17. Case study
Towards a systemic transformation: the water as a common good Kundeijharan is a small tribal village of 35 households in Takarla Panchayat of Norla Block in Kalahandi district. The village is 7 kms from Panchayat headquarters, 30 kms from Block head quarters, and 12 kms from the nearest bus stop. One Kucha road connects the village to outside but in rainy season, the village is cut off.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response Kundeijharan was badly hit by the drought. Extensive crop loss and drinking water crisis ensued. This adversely affected health, education, agriculture productivity and increased livestock mortality increasing mortality. As the village pond and wells dried the whole villagers depended upon a single hand pump for all the daily needs.
Even they dug a soak pit near the pump for the livestock to drink the water. Situation worsened when the hand pump stopped working due to heavy pressure. People had to walk through 4 kms of forest to reach a nearby village to collect water for all their needs. This included elderly persons, children, lactating mothers and pregnant women. Such was the water crisis that even small children were perforce engaged in carrying water with their parents. Livestock was let loose in the belief that they might go to some other village and get some water as there was none in Kundejharan for them. 11 youth left the village migrated to Rajkot in search of jobs as all work in the village had stopped.
In the Emergency Drought Response implemented by IGSSS and Seba Jagat, Kundeijharan village was taken as priority village.
There was a pond in the village which was selected for deepening. Although currently completely dry, in normal times, it would contain water for a longer period than other structures. The villagers planned to dig the pond 5 feet deeper which would give them water round the year. The site was visited by IGSSS and local JE to look at the technical feasibility.
By the time the renovation started monsoon had set in. This was the time for planting. Any delay would mean reduced harvest or crop loss. At the same time, the EDR was a boon to the village which would mean the structures had to be completed before rains made it impossible. They were caught between choosing two options, both equally important. The project team was finding it challenging to convince the villagers. This is when the villagers themselves came to the rescue. They conducted a meeting where with common consensus, they decided to finish the structure within a week (as early as possible) and then focus on agricultural work. They also decided that all able people would pitch in with the deepening work.
It was a matter of immense surprise to the villagers that they were able to complete the work within a week. While digging, they were able to locate the wter source. Additionally, the pond filled with rain water. Having finsied the work in time, they were also able to plant their paddy.
They are confident that if in the coming year they face a drought like situation they will be able to save their crop. In the months following the EDR, the villagers have been able to irrigate both their paddy land as well as grow vegetables using the pond water.
According to Baidehi Patra , a villager, “ Ours is a small remote village and till recently it seemed that there was no one to see our many problems. Thanks to the EDR, even if there is a drought next year, we will still have water from the pond for our crops. We will not have to go in search of water to another village”.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response A Small step leads to a large result
Balangir district is one of the most economically backward district of western part Odisha. It is frequently affected by severe drought conditions. In 2015, the prediction of the India Metrological Department for Odisha got failed. The IMD, however, did not say much about Western Odisha districts which have been witnessing drought over the years. Balangir has experienced drought more than 10 times in the last five decades with most acute crisis being reported in 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2015.
The past generations inhabiting this area had great scientific knowledge of water management. They had also anticipated the climate change and ill-effects for which they had developed a large network of traditional water bodies to save crop besides meeting their other basic needs and the traditional cropping pattern was done according to the water availability.
In recent time, the traditional wisdom has been lost.
The tribal village of Dangarmunda in Saintala is home to 34 families. Their primary occupation is agriculture, labour and NTFP collection. This village was one of the worst hit. The villagers had an assessment of drought setting own set of assessment indicators. In the community assessment process the villagers identified the reasons of drought, gaps in drought response programmes and suggested their proposals to address the issue. Defunct of water conservation system has come up as a problem of water problem for agriculture. While prioritizing the needs this was ranked on the top and they prepared the action plan to address the problem. The villagers, through the VDC requested RCDC to support the villagers for construction and renovation of the WHSs of the village.
This coincided with IGSSS’s Emegency Drought Response. “We prioritized a WHS at Jugijhula muda as top priority and constructed it with the support of IGSSS & RCDC”, says Karuna Puta, President, VDC. “By this WHS 20 acres of land of 15 farmers received life saving water during crisis situation. Wild animal can also use the water and will not enter to the village” added Jogindra Puta, an experienced farmer.
WHS in different location along with treatment at the upper ridge has had a beneficial effect on water conservation, water recharge and life saving irrigation. Relieved with this timely support, the community is committed to conserving and judicious use of water.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response 18. Quotes received from community
“Half of my life passed by this way, living in continuous fear that I will one day die of a water borne disease. And why will I not be such a skeptic? Since, time immemorial we have been using this one pond in our village. We use the same water for bathing, for washing our clothes and utensils. We were falling sick, having fights with each other for water shortage. Sebajagat heard our years of despair. They are now constructing another water structure in our village. Hopefully, in the coming years we and our children will have enough water as per our need. After all, water is life”. Kanti Dharua, a 58 year old SHG member, formed by Sebajagat, shared about her feelings on water stress “Hardships can never be expressed exactly in words. The drought hit days were filled with despair. Water is a basic necessity, but this summer we had to walk endless miles in search of water. But I see a ray of hope now. Sebajagat has renovated the dry water harvesting structure in our village. Though it is sounding a bit strange even to my ears, but I am happy to say that we have sufficient water now for domestic use, for our land and livestock. Every family in our village is very happy. We hope that drought will not be as dreadful in the coming years.” Gouri Bhoi from Alim village was elated about the water harvesting structure being repaired in her village. She believes it is a boon in times of water crisis. “Summer days are very difficult. All the water sources go dry. This year was specially harder, scorching sun rays were piercing the land. I struggled to get water even for domestic use. Hence, like others in my village, I had to travel miles and miles to fetch water. Days were getting harsh and sad. But when Seba Jagat renovated the unused dry well, it was a much needed help. It not only solved the water woes for domestic use but we also cultivated vegetables like Brinjal, Tomato, Jhudunga and Green Chilly by using water from this well.” Bisaya Patra shared about the impact of renovation of water structures in her village Rendabahali in Kalahandi district, Odisha.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response “The four months of summer are the hardest for us. We struggle for drops of water, even our livestock remains thirsty for days, sometimes they die in the want for water. Seedlings fail to emerge and crops wither. Our village witnesses massive migration as we struggle for survival. But thanks to the water harvesting structures in our village, we can now hope for not only for consumption, but also for saving our livestock and irrigating the land. The solution is not only for now but also for the coming many years.” Mukha Patra,Raidunipadar village,Kalahandi district, Odisha. We have perennially faced drinking water problems. The number of families in the village far outweighs the available water reserves. There is only one tube well in the village which bears the brunt of water scarcity. The entire village depends on it for daily consumptions, as it is our only source of clean water. In the rush litres of water get wasted and the road gets muddy making it unhygienic and difficult to walk. When we shared our sanitation woes with Seba Jagat team, they helped us resolve it. Through our joint efforts, the soak pit was constructed which helped to absorb the water wasted.
Odisha Emergency Drought Response
Thanks
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Odisha Emergency Drought Response