Annual Report 2017-18

ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018

Samaj Pragati Sahayog Village Jatashankar, Tehsil Bagli, District Dewas Madhya Pradesh-455227

Table of Contents 1. THEORY OF CHANGE ...... 6 1.1. Theory of Change ...... 7 2. WATER MANAGEMENT ...... 10 2.1. Watershed Development ...... 11 2.2. Participatory Irrigation Management...... 20 2.3. Participatory Groundwater Management (PGWM) ...... 26 3. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME ...... 31 3.1. Agriculture Program ...... 32 3.2. Demand-side Management ...... 35 3.3. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna 2017-18 ...... 36 3.4. Stories and Case-Studies ...... 37 4. CROP PRODUCE AGGREGATION ...... 41 4.1 Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company Limited (RRPPCL) ...... 42 4.2. Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana ...... 44 4.3. Post-Harvest Storage ...... 44 4.4. Policy Advocacy ...... 44 5. SELF-HELP GROUP (SHG) PROGRAMME ...... 47 5.1. SHG Programme ...... 48 5.2. Expansion ...... 50 5.3. Pragati Vistar ...... 50 5.4. SHG-Bank Linkage ...... 51 5.5. Cashless Meetings ...... 51 5.6. Beyond Financial Transactions ...... 51 5.7. Celebration of Women’s day ...... 53 5.8. Transformation through Livelihoods Interventions ...... 53 6. LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME ...... 56 6.1. Livestock Development and Support ...... 57 6.2. Capacity Building ...... 57 6.3. Infertility Treatment Camps ...... 59 6.4. Animal Feed ...... 59 6.5. Breed Selection ...... 60 6.6. Partnership with Indore Milk Co-Operative Society ...... 60

6.7. Habitation ...... 60 6.8. Result of the UNDP Project ...... 61 6.9. Vaccination Drive in Melghat ...... 61 6.10. Impact of Livestock Interventions ...... 62 7. HEALTH AND NUTRITION PROGRAMME ...... 66 7.1. Health and Nutrition ...... 67 7.2. Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) ...... 75 7.3. Integrated Child Development Services Scheme ...... 77 7.4. Targeted Public Distribution System & Antyodaya Anna Yojana...... 77 7.5. Pension scheme ...... 78 7.6. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) ...... 78 7.7. Malnutrition ...... 79 7.8. Survey on Health Facilities in Bagli Block ...... 80 7.9. Emergency health camps in Kandya, Gurarda, Nimanpur, Pandutalab and Pipri ...... 81 8. KUMBAYA ...... 83 8.1. New People ...... 84 8.4. New Orders ...... 87 8.5. New Retail Partnerships ...... 87 8.6. New Systems ...... 88 Documentation ...... 88 Assembly Line Production ...... 89 Quality Control ...... 90 8.7. New Materials ...... 91 8.8. New Trainings ...... 92 8.9. New Designs ...... 92 8.10. New Taxes – The Goods and Service Tax ...... 95 8.11. New SHGs ...... 96 8.12. Key Indicators ...... 97 9. COMMUNITY MEDIA ...... 100 9.1 Film Production ...... 101 9.2 SPS Films Division Fellowship ...... 105 9.3 Film Dissemination ...... 106 9.4 Campaigns and Out-Reach ...... 113

9.5 Film Festivals ...... 115 9.6 Capacity Building ...... 116 10. NETWORKS AND PARTNERSHIPS ...... 119 10.1. National Consortium of CSOs on MGNREGA ...... 120 10.2. Water Practitioners’ Network ...... 122 10.3. NPM Network ...... 123

1. THEORY OF CHANGE

1.1. Theory of Change

Over the last 3 decades, Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) has grown to be one of India’s largest grass-roots initiatives for water and livelihood security, working with its partners on a million acres of land across 72 of our most deprived districts, mainly in the central Indian Adivasi belt. We take inspiration from the life and work of Baba Amte (our Pramukh Sahayogi) who rejected charity and successfully empowered even the most challenged. SPS is headquartered in a drought-prone, tribal area in the Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh, which typifies the most difficult problems facing the country. We believe that to address India’s long-standing problems, we must graduate to an alternative development model based on the principles of equity, sustainability and people’s empowerment. Our focus has been on finding sustainable ways of ensuring water security, which provides the foundation for livelihoods and economic growth. We have tried to address the crisis of Indian agriculture by evolving an alternative low-risk and low-cost approach, reducing dependence on chemical inputs. We have also attempted to work out alternative livelihoods, which reduce the dependence of people on agriculture. We believe that all this work has to be based on strong institutions, led by women. In our view, persistence of poverty in India owes a great deal to the absence of powerful institutions of the poor. We also believe that these institutions have to be led by women. Experience of development programs all over the world, as also our own work over the last 3 decades, underscores the key role played by women’s leadership in their success. For it is only women who show a steadfast commitment to a sustainable path to development, with an abiding commitment of the well-being of communities, with a central focus on improving health and education outcomes. It is also women’s institutions that show the requisite courage to enforce the necessary accountability on public systems. These women-led institutions open up radically new possibilities of transformation, especially for those living in remote tribal regions, in at least 4 different ways: 1. To enable the poor to extricate themselves from the clutches of usurious moneylenders, without which it becomes impossible to free themselves of the debt trap, condemning them to a vicious cycle of poverty 2. To make it possible for the most vulnerable to take advantage of the possibilities opened up by the market. A solitary small and marginal farmer has no chance when confronted by powerful forces in the market, whether as consumer or producer 3. To ensure accountability of government systems, which are meant to serve them but instead become another source of exploitation, given their non-transparent character and functioning

4. To be able to adequately utilise the huge political potential opened up by democratic systems of representation and decision-making, especially through Panchayati Raj Institutions, which have remained dormant so far

Powerful people’s institutions, led by women, help overcome each of these constraints. And we believe that only a strong set of partnerships with communities, PRIs, people’s representatives, government, academic, corporates and other NGOs can make civil society action truly powerful in India. The problem has many dimensions and hence solutions have to be multi- pronged, layered on top of and complementing each other and scalable. They should have strong convergence with government programmes and should be able to leverage public investments. SPS has been working with theory of change for the last 3 decades. We concentrate all our direct interventions in about 574 villages and towns in 8 blocks of 3 districts (Dewas, Khargone and Amravati) in the States of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. This work is not so much a model as a living laboratory of learning for others to adapt to their own areas. To facilitate this mutual learning, in 1998 we set up the Baba Amte Centre for People’s Empowerment in tribal village Neemkheda, where our watershed work began in the early 1990s.

2. WATER MANAGEMENT

2.1. Watershed Development

Since 1993, SPS has taken up 160,765 acres for direct implementation of watershed programmes spread over 119 villages, leading to effective spending of 35.94 crores generating nearly 11.75 lakh person-days of employment. The total storage capacity of the water harvesting structures created by SPS is about 29.42 million cubic metres. This has had the primary impact of ensuring drinking water security to all households in these villages. A significant impact of the work has been drought-proofing of the kharif crop. As in any typical dryland region, rainfall in our area is low, highly erratic and characterized by long dry spells between rainy days. Water harvesting structures help farmers tide over this crisis by providing crucial “life-saving” protective irrigation. We see the watershed programme as a vital public investment to incentivise private investments by even the poorest farmers on their own lands. With significant expansion in irrigated area and crop productivity, high labour absorption in agriculture is visible even after the watershed programme closes. It is this “sedimented employment” which reduces external migration from the area in the long run. Hundreds of tribal farmers who have grown a single rain-fed crop all their lives are now cultivating 2-3 crops. Many have returned home after years to reclaim land they had virtually given up for good. Our work goes beyond the confines of the conventional wisdom by recognizing that watershed development is not just about harvesting rainwater; it is also about sharing it equitably and managing it collectively and sustainably. Whenever our dams are built, written agreements are forged about water sharing, hours of pumping, sequence of irrigation, cropping patterns and watering intensities. In the year 2017-18, SPS continued to carry out watershed interventions in Dewas and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh and Amravati in Maharashtra. While there is a significant demand for watershed interventions from the community, the government also continues to work on watershed management through the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). This year, along with treating newer areas, SPS also focused on renovating some of the old structures which, due to reduced capacity and siltation, had been functioning in sub-optimal conditions.

Table 2.1: Cumulative Details of Watershed Works from 1992 to 2018 From 1993-2018 S.No Parameter Data 1 No. of Villages-Direct Intervention of WSD 119 villages 2 Area under Watershed Intervention 160,765 acres 3 Total Person days Generated 11,75,951 person days 4 Total Funds Utilized for WSD work Rs. 35.94 Crores

Total Water Potential Harvested (Single 29.42 Million Cubic 5 Filling) Meters

2.1.1. Bagli

Under the aegis of the Bagli Pragati Samiti, watershed works initiated in 11 villages of the 4 panchayats- Sevanyakhurd, Ambapani, Dangrakheda and Jatashankar. These villages are situated in and around forests with high slopes. Due to deforestation, soil erosion has been on rise and water-tables are falling as people keep drilling dug-wells and tubewells. Despite this, only a fraction of the total landholdings, at 35%, remains irrigated. This indicates high levels of inequity in terms of access to water. Tribal groups like Bhilala, Bhils and Korku form a significant part of the population. Many of them are small and marginal farmers dependent on very small landholdings, agricultural labour and minor forest produce. Irrigation was still limited for many of these households.

The main objective of carrying out these activities in these villages was to secure the kharif crops of small and marginal farmers by creating access to protective irrigation along with generating employment and activating and supporting the panchayat to further take up watershed interventions in their annual work plan. The idea was to catalyse further water harvesting works in these villages so as to increase irrigation and arrest migration.

In the year 2017-18, 14.92 lakhs were utilized to create stop dams, naalabandhan or earthen dams, farm ponds generating 5389 person days. 5 job seekers committees of total 280 people were formed in these panchayats to create awareness and demand work through MGNREGA along with public hearing of previous works. As a result, Sewanykhurd panchayat opened up drainage line treatment work of 5.8 lakhs creating 3300 person days. SPS has been providing technical support to the panchayat in the implementation of this work.

One of the major challenges that the program faced in these villages was that the panchayat did not take up watershed activities in their annual work plan. Such a situation could be a consequence of several reasons - inadequate technical support, lack of exposure, weak processes, etc. This required SPS to conduct exposure visits to orient the panchayat and the community to the principles of watershed management. With funding from APPI, the team also implemented structures for others to emulate from. Since, the panchayat carried out most of its work through machines, activating labour groups to work manually turned out to be a challenge. This was overcome by forming job seeker committees which were motivated to register demand. SPS’s joint efforts with the panchayat in activating MGNREGA in Sevanyakhurd has set an significant

12 precedent for all other villages in the region. These efforts will be intensified in other villages in the time to come. 2.1.2. Bhikangaon

In the year 2013-14, we had initiated the IWMP-12 project in Bhikagaon block of Khargone district. The watershed, spread across 4530 hectares, is located in the catchment of Avar, a tributary of river Veda which forms the primary drainage of this field area. SPS was appointed as the implementing agency for the 5.43 crore worth project which was to be rolled out in 5 micro- watersheds, 6 gram panchayats and 12 villages. The region consists of steep, undulating land with 90% farmland covered with murram. A layer of hard Basalt rock lies under the soil, about 7-8 km deep, resulting in less soil depth and low soil fertility. In some places, the soil is only 2-3 feet deep. Basaltic rock system have very low porosity and permeability, thus making it difficult for water to percolate and collect in the underground aquifers. There is a visible lack of forest cover as large stretches of barren land result in soil erosion and high rates of run-off. The soil in the area also suffers from low moisture and nutrient content. The climate is harsh and very dry with very little rainfall, and the region has to endure a scorching sun with temperatures going up to even 47-48 degrees Celsius in the months of April, May, and June. While the average rainfall varies from 750 mm to 800 mm, the distribution of rainfall is very erratic. This region has a significant population of communities which belong to scheduled tribes and scheduled castes. A staggering majority of the agricultural landholdings belongs to tribal groups. Communities who belong to scheduled castes are mostly landless, as a result of which many of them work as agricultural labourers in Bhikangaon, Barwaha and Sanawad. The out- migration rate is high as families migrating to big cities like Indore in search of work is also a common phenomenon. The agriculture is mainly rainfed with the major crop during the Kharif season being chilly, maize and cotton. Very few farming households have access to irrigation and hence, only a few farmers are able to cultivate wheat and chana (chickpea). The rationale of the watershed project, therefore, is to secure the kharif crops by soil conservation and water harvesting works, generate employment to arrest migration, create limited irrigation potential to support rabi agriculture wherever possible, and regenerate forests and barren tracts of land. However, there were several challenges on the administrative and the community front that affected the progress of the work this year. The major demand from the community was for soil conservation works but a circular from the Rajiv Gandhi Mission, Bhopal declared that farm bunding activities would not be sanctioned henceforth. As a result, several new sites could not be treated and the completion of already sanctioned ones became very difficult. During this period, the payment portal of Public Financial Management System (PFMS) was shifted from the district level to the state level. The new payment system created a lot of problems for the local

13 teams in processing labour payments. It is to be noted that at the same time, there was tremendous pressure from the communities on the local teams to process payments. After several meetings and follow-up visits to the Block panchayat, the payments were finally made. Ensuring timely labour payment is highly important in sustaining the trust SPS has managed to build so far with the community. Vested interests in the area pose a significant threat to this relationship. SPS has had to implement a critical project in extremely adverse conditions. The Bhikangaon project, notwithstanding the tremendous challenges it has thrown at the team, also holds immense promise and potential to absorb investments in watershed, agriculture, livelihood interventions. It is for this purpose that both Axis Bank Foundation (ABF) and Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF) have supported SPS in building momentum and base in such a location. ABF supports 10 villages and HUF supports 21 villages in the Bhikangaon block. SPS believes that these supporting projects play a major role in catalyzing the IWMP project, gaining the community's trust and support and demonstrating how drought-proofing work combined with livelihood interventions can arrest migration, create durable assets and regenerate the environment. In the year, 2017-18, under the IMWP-12 project, 17.26 lakhs were utilized for soil conservation works generating 10,035 person-days while 25.23 lakhs were channeled towards building water harvesting structures generating 7122 person-days. A total investment of Rs. 142 lakhs made under the ABF, HUF and IWMP projects has generated 58,439 person-days of employment in Bhikangaon block. The total water harvesting potential thus created is 3.11 million cubic meters. SPS has thus far established its presence in many of the villages in the block. Yet, this region has immense potential for watershed work. Water User Groups have been formed around structures, some of which are also practicing fisheries. These groups conduct meetings in order to make key decisions regarding water allocation and maintenance. 70 of the famers in these groups have also adopted NPM agricultural practices.

2.1.3. Melghat

Melghat has seen tremendous amount of work being carried out under MGNREGA since 2011-12. The irrigation department has constructed over 80 earthen dams in 61 gram panchayats. Around 80% population of the community belongs to Scheduled Tribes with Korku Tribe forming a significant majority, followed by Bhilalas, and 3% of the population belong to Scheduled Caste. A staggering majority of them are small and marginal farmers who fall under the poverty line. Although, 88% of men and 86% of women have access to the banking system, the banking facilities are still very under-developed. The major occupation of the communities in Melghat is

14 agriculture along with agricultural labour. Livestock, although it contains a huge potential for development, is still in its primitive stages. The average annual rainfall the block receives is 1200 mm. However, the data collected by the rainfall monitoring station set up by SPS shows that the spread of rainfall is highly uneven. Prolonged bursts of rainfall are followed by long and frequent dry-spells which affect the productivity of the rainfed crops. The cropping intensity of Dharni is 133% which implies that the second crop is grown only on a third of the landholdings. While the major crops are cotton, tur, sorghum an chickpea (chana), some of the farmers also cultivate rice, maize, wheat and vegetables for home consumption. Communities access drinking water through public wells and hand-pumps. In fact, 40% of the households have access to drinking water through the government drinking water scheme (nal jal yojana). A high migration rate persists and even now it is possible to see trucks making as many as 20-25 trips out of one village. Most of them travel to other villages and nearby towns for agricultural labour and other employment opportunities. During the Rabi season, most of the labourers post their demand for work through MGNREGA. The primary objective of carrying out watershed works in Dharni block is to generate employment through NREGA. SPS established its presence in Melghat in 2011 with a partnership with the Government of Maharashtra under the Technical Support Programme (TSP). It had built the capacities of Panel Technical Officers (PTO) to improve the implementation of watershed development activities under MGNREGA. SPS continued its engagement under the Cluster Facilitation Team (CFT) Project (a project of the Ministry of Rural Development wherein CSO teams were selected to support gram panchayats in planning and implementation under MGNREGA across nearly 250 blocks of the country) bringing convergence between NRLM, and MGNREGA. SPS in partnership with the PTOs works towards soil and water conservation as well. Some of the villages at higher altitudes face the risk of soil erosion. The forest department also constructs water harvesting structures for animals in addition to building forest roads and trench-cum-mounts along the forests to create employment. However, the team faces several challenges both on the field and at the administrative level. Administrative sanctions were not given for structures like gabions as their requirement of skilled labour was higher than the sanctioned one. After constructing demonstration structures in the forest areas and imparting training to forest officials, the forest department is now much more receptive to such works. Further, potential sites for more structures have been identified and the teams are not waiting for administrative and technical sanctions. The forest department will implement them with the help of the SPS teams. The teams faced a lot of challenges in identifying sites for stop dams. The farmers have observed high rates of siltation in cement plugs. As these structures were not technically sound, embankments of some of them have been wiped out as well. Due to this, a few farmers were not confident about going ahead with stop dams with gates. However, they are

15 much more willing to work on such structures after having seen the success of similar structures in other areas. The team has to work in tandem with government officials at every step and ensure that quality is never compromised. Delay in payment of wages through MGNREGA continues to pose a significant threat to the success of the employment generation program. The block administration has tried to improve the processes by breaking down long muster sheets into smaller ones which can then be submitted for timely payments. The percentage of timely payments made has now gone from 35% to 60%. In this financial year, we have supported PTOs of Dharni Block in making estimates to carry out following works - Staggered Contour Trench (878,407 running meters), Deep Continuous Contour Trench (572,503 running meters), Farm Bunding (672,574 running meters), 20 Farm Ponds, soak pits, and diversion drain (6,100 running meters). One of the PTOs trained by SPS has generated 1 lakh person days through MGNREGA in the last one year. Many of the PTOs do not have access to computers and other accessories. Technical inputs of SPS has saved a lot of time for the PTOs and allowed them to focus more on the work. The Melghat area faces the risk of exhaustion of the shelf of projects owing to the immense potential for labour absorption. SPS believes that there is scope for expanding the shelf of projects. It is working towards including stop dams and gabion structures in the shelf both of which are water harvesting structures. They can make limited Rabi irrigation possible which could in turn enhance farm incomes. The team is working extensively with forest departments of Chaurakund and Dhulghat to construct gabion structures in the forest areas. In addition to this, the team is continuing to lay emphasis on soil conservation works. In the recent years, villages like Ranigaon, Kanjoli and Shivaziri have seen a fall in the soil depth due to soil erosion. Since farmers of these villages cultivate green gram by making use of soil moisture alone, it is critically important to preserve the soil in the agricultural lands. Farm bunding work was carried out in 50 hectares in each of these villages. It has enabled creation of 66,368 person days of employment and created water harvesting potential of 1.71 million cubic meters. In addition to this, SPS has also introduced the agriculture program in Melghat through which it seeks to promote soil fertility enhancement, use of bio-pest repellants, demand management of agriculture water. Government schemes like Jalyukt Shivar and MGNREGA will be leveraged to desilt earthen dams after which the farmers will be encouraged to apply the silt on their lands.

2.1.4. Kantaphod

Soil erosion, here, has been a persisting problem that significantly affects crop productivity. With an average erosion level of 7-9 tons/ha/year, different types of sheet, reel and gully soil erosion were observed in 6 villages under Kantaphod Federation. A detailed project report was made for these villages to improve agricultural productivity, water availability, and natural resource management and provide employment to reduce distress migration. Families with job-

16 cards formed mohalla and village level job seekers committees in order to demand and initiate public works in the village. Various farm bunding and earthen dam activities have been taken up in more than 100 Ha area due to which rainfed farmers of Dehri, one of the 6 villages, can now grow Rabi crops along with vegetables in the kitchen garden. Farmers now see that soil erosion has reduced, and the soil moisture and groundwater levels have improved. But with increasing demands of irrigation, management of these resources is going to be a huge challenge.

2.1.5. Stop Dam in Magradeh, Udainagar – A Case Study

Magradeh village located at N22º34'50.24" E76º11'26.89" on Udainagar to Indore road is a forest village. It is covered by thick forests in the ridge area and has an undulating topography with compact, weathered and columnar basalt rock structures. Water is struck in borewells only after depths of 300-400 feet which makes it an economically unviable option for many. The main source of drinking water and irrigation is therefore only dugwells which tap the shallow unconfined aquifers. The village has 94% Bhilala community owning less than 2 Ha per farmer growing maize, soybean, jowar, cotton in Kharif and wheat, gram in Rabi. Few farmers also grow Yam (Ratalu, Shakarkand) as a major crop. With increased access to irrigation, the base flows have reduced resulting in the main stream of the village drying up. Ever since 2016, when the panchayat approached SPS for technical help, the watershed team has had continuous dialogues with the community on improving and securing their water resources. The demand for a stop dam on the river flowing through the village came from the farmers who didn’t have a proper source of irrigation. Villagers, along with the Panchayat members, went to the forest department in Udainagar, Dewas and Bhopal for permission and clearance. They built 2 stop dams successively along the river at the cost of 33.92 lakhs benefitting 19 farmers directly. The major impact of this work has been the increase in water levels in shallow aquifers. This has also benefitted the dugwells in the downstream area benefitting almost half of the village. This work has generated 6,226 person days of work due to which 80-90% farmers who usually take loans from traders and moneylenders for inputs have not taken it this year. Jheena bai sells her crops every year to pay her son’s school fees who is studying in a private school in Harda. The employment generated due to the watershed works have enabled them to pay for his education seamlessly. Lakshman Jairam has also invested in goat-rearing with the money earned of the work. After putting gates on the stop dam, the community has also ventured into fisheries as a source of food and livelihood. A village level swimming competition was also organized in the village to sustain the community's enthusiasm and interest in preserving their water resources. Such innovative events go a long way in establishing collective ownership of the community over their water bodies.

2.1.6. IWMP

Integrated Watershed Management Programme is a flagship programme of the Government of India; the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) became operational from 26 February 2009. It is being implemented in all states across India by the Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, for development of rain fed/ degraded areas including wastelands following ridge to valley watershed approach.

2.1.6.1. IWMP-08 Kamlapur

Integrated Water Management Project (08) Kamlapur was sanctioned in 2012 – 2013 in the Bagli development block of Dewas district. With a total project area of 6,035 Ha it includes 5 micro watersheds, 8 panchayats and 17 villages. For the last 5 years, SPS as a project implementing agency had taken up various soil and water conservation activities in the area to address soil erosion, access to irrigation, recharge areas for sustaining groundwater use, provide package of practices for sustainable agriculture and income generation through labour work creation. Activities like construction of contour trench, gabion structures, farm ponds, stop dam, tanks for drinking water for human and animals were carried out. As of March 2018, total fund utilization of IWMP 08 is Rs. 188.15 lakh and for year 2017-18 it is Rs. 23.61 lakh including project cost, convergence with other funding agencies, various government departments and community contribution.

2.1.6.2. Farm pond in Aagurli village- A Case Study

SPS works in areas where the community demands watershed assets based on their need and is willing to participate by contributing financially and through labour. Farm pond is one of the major activities the community demands in any watershed area. Along with providing critical irrigation during kharif season, it improves soil moisture for rabi crops and also facilitates fish rearing providing alternative livelihoods. Meharban Singh from village Aagurli wanted to build one such farm pond but refused to provide contribution, citing the government’s erstwhile Balram Talab Scheme, which gave Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 60,000 to every farm pond beneficiary. After several discussions and continuous engagement, the farmer began to see the value behind the contribution and agreed to construct the structure. He was also actively involved in the design and construction ensuring the quality of the construction. But after the completion of work, he declared that SPS should have made the estimate for a larger farm pond, which would be able to store more water. SPS Team elaborated on the principles of watershed management and explained to the farmer why a larger farm pond would not be technically feasible. After monsoons, Meharban Singh could see

18 that the farm pond had multiple benefits. As a recharge structure, the farm pond was able to augment recharge of the underlying aquifer. His well yields water till January which allows him to harvest good quality wheat in the Rabi season. Happy with his initiatives on water, he now discusses and inspires other farmers of the village to participate in watershed activities. This illustrates how watershed interventions are riddled with several challenges that arise from the community as well. However, building strong communication channels and trust among the community can play a crucial role in mitigating such challenges.

2.1.6.3. Community Management of Water Resource- Challenges and Opportunities

In 2016, a stop dam was constructed in Polay village near Shravandas Sitaram’s farm, which was followed up by forming a water user group to govern and manage the resource. This community institution then decided not to pump water directly from the dam, thus using it only for recharge. After the completion of work in 2016 members started to keep their motors on the dam directly pumping water from the stream. Even after several discussions with the water user group and interventions by team, the group did not reach a consensus around the collective ownership and governance of their resource. As a result the stream dried up as early as November and may farmers could not complete their Rabi irrigation due to this. But this year all farmers collectively decided not to keep any pumps and be vigilant about regulation violations. Even though rainfall this year has been lesser than that in 2016, the borwells are running till March securing their Rabi crops. Such is the power of the collective!

2.1.6.4. IWMP-02 Nanukheda

Integrated Water Management Project 02 Nanukheda was sanctioned in 2011 – 2012 in the Bagli development block of Dewas district. With a total project area of 5,491 ha it includes 4 micro watersheds, 8 panchayats, and 12 villages.

The land in the region is plain and undulating with slopes. Agriculture land has brown black, black, red soils but the hilly lands have more percentage of silt. Soil depth is around 2 to 3 feet deep with basalt underneath. Villages like Amlataj, Kopla and Nanukheda have brown black and red soils and are located at the bank of the Mhow river. Major crops grown during kharif are soybean, maize and wheat, onion, chana, pea, garlic during rabi Season. Community also cultivates tur, masur, vegetables for household consumption. People have access to drinking water through private wells and hand pumps. The primary objective to work in the area is to provide irrigation during rabi, recharge groundwater levels, increase cultivable area through sustainable agriculture and promote low water intensive crops.

As of March 2018, total funds utilization of IWMP 02 is Rs. 360 Lakhs and for year 2017- 18 it is Rs.75.41 Lakhs.

Problems due to delays in the PFMS payment procedure and liaison with Zila Panchayat Dewas and Janpad Panchayat Bagli has been a constant challenge during the implementation of all soil and water conservation work carried out under IWMP project. Despite these, continuous gap filling support from other funding agencies and the community’s relentless effort along with the team’s constant engagement with various stakeholders at different levels has enabled work to progress positively in all aspects. Water user committees created during watershed work have played a crucial role in facilitating community level engagements, monitoring quality of the work and building symbiotic relationship among farmers for better governance.

Table 2.2: Overall Results and Impact of Watershed Works in 2017-18 Indicator Achievement Area under Watershed Works 35,133 acres Increase in Command area 8840 acres 1.34 Million Cubic Water harvesting potential created - Single filling (MCM) Meters Cumulative Water harvesting potential created - Multiple filling 7.16 Million Cubic (MCM) Meters Person days generated due to project works 192,634 person days

2.2. Participatory Irrigation Management

It has been the experience of irrigation projects in India that the irrigation potential utilised (IPU) is much less than the potential created (IPC). The IPC-IPU gap indicates the extent of uneven utilisation of water within an irrigation command and the degree to which actual cropping patterns deviate from the projected cropping pattern at the time of dam construction. Through the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) program, SPS aims to make efforts to support local decision making for specific management functions. Typically these functions include tasks of cleaning and maintaining the canals or pipes that convey the water, the responsibility for allocating water among the users, settling the inevitable disputes that arise and representing the collective interest of the irrigation users to the higher government authority (usually Irrigation Department). In the year 2016, SPS initiated the work on PIM in the command area of Mahigaon Dam

2.2.1. PIM at Mahigaon- A Case Study Mahigaon Irrigation Project is located in the Udainagar Tehsil of Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh. This minor irrigation project was planned and executed by the state government to create

20 irrigation potential for a predominantly tribal community from a few villages that are located at the extreme end of Dewas. Geographically, it is located in the sub- basin of lower Narmada River in the West Nimar region. The area lies between latitude 22o31’5’’ N to 22o 28’ 6’’ and longitude 76 o 06’ 34’’ E to 76 o 07’ 45’’. Situated between the Vindhyachal mountain range and the Narmada valley, the area has a mixed topography of hills and plains. The underlying geology of the place varies from the catchment area to the command area. The major rock system that forms a part of the aquifer is basaltic while the aquifer system lower in the command area is made of hard sandstone. This area has an equal mixture of black cotton soils and sandy loam soils. The average annual rainfall that this area receives is 922 mm and it is spread over four months from June to September. The average potential evapotranspiration rate for the area is high at about 2100 mm. Consequently, the soil moisture zone remains completely dry for about 90 days in the summer period. Small and marginal tribal farmers form a vast majority of the population in the project area. Poor resource endowments and exploitative debt cycles have pushed them into deep poverty. A major source of income for such tribal farmers was rainfed agriculture. The completion of Mahigaon Irrigation Project, however, created an irrigation potential of 618 Hectares in the 4 villages of Mahigaon, Borkhedi, Kanad and Semlikheda. This access to irrigation made Rabi farming possible for most of the farmers leading to enhanced agricultural incomes. The dam also acts as a perennial water body for livestock and wildlife in the surrounding forests. The treatment of the catchment area prior to the construction of this dam has regenerated the forests in the upstream area of the dam on a massive scale. Thus, it plays a crucial role in sustaining the eco- system of this area. The Mahigaon Dam, also called Kothimata Dam and Jheerpaniya Dam, is of immense significance to the people of this area. However, this irrigation project is also riddled with many problems, related to distribution of water and a governance mechanism which adversely affects several people in the command area. e.g:  Canal construction  Seepage and Water-logging  Limited Access to Water in the Canal  'Defunct' Water User Groups

Piloting PIM in the Mahigaon Command SPS initiated this work with farmers in the Mahigaon Irrigation Project in September 2016. SPS spent a considerable amount of time in building an understanding of the situation in the initial phases of its work. Once SPS included creating awareness at village level of issues related to canal, WUA and mobilizing farmers of their rights and responsibilities through various interventions as follows: 1. Activating functioning of Water User Associations

As of June 2017, 7 meetings of WUA have been organized with an extensive discussion on following agendas: a. Creation of water course and field channels b. Repair work of canal c. Availability of water to tail end farmers of village Semlikheda and Kanad d. Formation of 6 sub-committees of WUA e. Formation of village level canal user group in all 4 villages f. Creation of crop water budgets 2. Displaying films through PICO 3. Mobilizing communities 4. Expert visits to the area 5. Training programs for farmers of command area 6. Exposure visit of farmers to develop motivation and understanding of PIM 1. Development of village level canal user group and water course committees

Water Course and Field Channel Construction The activities carried out over since September 2017 gave impetus to the subsequent coming together of 24 farmers with an area of 86 Bigha (21.5 Ha.) for constructing a water course channel. This coming together was not a smooth process as it took efforts in building trust with communities and clarifying their doubts. We then explained SPS’s approach of work which follows an integrated philosophy including NPM agriculture protocol, being part of SHGs, taking up livelihood activities etc. As farmers have seen leakages and water logging in the minor canal, the idea of having a water course in their field frightened them. They thought it would completely submerge their fields with excess water and also they would have to give up a portion of their land for the construction work. Visits to Indira Sagar and Dharoi project helped in sorting out this issue and helped them to see the costs and benefits along with return on their investment. They were also hesitant to provide Khasra maps (maps containing land details) for planning, thinking it might be taken for loans on their land. Navigating village level politics to build a trust among members of the community has been an enduring task. To bring in an ownership of canal and water distribution among the community, it has been proposed that every stakeholder involved will contribute to the project by a certain amount and labour required for the construction. While several discussions and meetings happened over months to sort questions and doubts raised by community, few farmers left the idea of being involved in building the first water course. After successfully taking various interventions for PIM mobilization, finally 12 command area farmers of Mahigaon village came forward in April 2017 to construct a water course for their total land of 39 Bigha (9.75Ha), which will provide distribution of water from the main canal. The group had been named “Zirpanya Jal Upyogkarta Pragati Samuh”. A proposal submitted by the group for construction activity has been approved by the Water User Association. A written

22 application by farmers has been given to SPS for technical and social support in the construction. Initial community contribution of Rs. 10,000 had been deposited in the common account of women self-help group farmer members. They also promised to provide their labor for the construction. A team from SPS went to the Executive Engineer, Dewas who has given oral approval for the construction. A detailed plan for the water course design has been made after a field survey conducted by SPS technical team. 3 types of design have been proposed based on the plan: a. Underground PVC pipe water course b. Half round RCC pipe water course c. Brick masonry water course

The strengths and weaknesses of each system have been duly explained and put forward to all farmers of the water course group. Based on visibility of repair and farmer’s preferences, the half round RCC pipe design was selected. A permission letter for the construction has also been approved by Gram Sabha and technical sanction was provided by SPS engineers. Farmers participated in purchasing required materials like cement, sand, pipes etc. as well as selecting professional mason for the work. This helped in bringing transparency, direct involvement of people and ownership among them which are main motivations of PIM work. When the actual construction work started in May 2017, the irrigation department intervened. Sub-divisional officer and sub-engineer had already visited the 1st water course area in which they promised to provide an estimated budget after the survey. The president of WUA had in between promised people that they will repair the canal and build water course under Sahastradhara scheme, which hasn’t seen the light of the day till now. After continuing several discussions with the department, we were told that we can’t work directly with main canal. As a result of this, farmers proposed that we build a water course without directly connecting it to main canal but lifting water through siphons as they were doing before and directing it through field channels. Discussions with a farmer near the main canal led to the building of a tank where water will be directed through a siphon and he readily agreed for the same. With a total budget of 3.40 Lakh the work started again in the month of October 2017 with an integrated plan for the whole group of 12 farmers. This included an agreement signed by all farmers for following NPM agriculture practices, vaccination for livestock, livelihood activity, land use planning, kitchen garden etc. It has also been agreed to follow participatory water management and distribution (Barabandi) while allocating water among 12 farmers where tail end farmer gets the 1st opportunity to irrigate land or based upon whoever’s field is first ready. For a sustained engagement and functioning of the water course the group decided to collect Rs. 30 per month per member and deposit the amount in the common account of group. Whenever future repair and maintenance work will be carried out, this sum would readily help them. As provisioned in the

PIM Act 1999, whoever does not pay irrigation fee on a yearly basis will not be allowed canal water. Being a collective of 12 farmers, the group decided that every year in the month of March, they will collect an irrigation fee based on individual’s landholding to be deposited in the account and sent directly to revenue department in the month of April.

Impact of the work done

It has been observed that the construction of water course has resulted in significant changes in terms of improving water usage efficiency, time, cost etc. We have assessed these impacts by comparing data collected before and after the construction, analysing baseline surveys and drawing inference from focused interviews, as given below: 1. Improvement in water use efficiency

For a group of 12 farmers with total landholding of 9.75 Ha involved in the 1st water course, the savings in total amount of water required for irrigating wheat crop in Rabi is 24375 cubic meter per second (cumec). That results in 2,500 cumec per hectare of landholding. Initially the water would flow continuously for days through LDPE pipes, but now farmers will have to follow the participatory water distribution (Barabandi method) by design. After irrigating the land with required amount of water, the siphon system is closed off making it easy to operate at the field level itself. If we take up this activity for the whole command area of 488 Ha., we could potentially save an estimated amount of 8,54,000 cumec water flowing through canal even after considering up to 30% losses due to transmission, evaporation and other factors. 2. Financial savings

Usage of PVC pipes to bring water from canal is a major financial burden farmer in the command area face. Baseline surveys of the 1st water course group show that the distances these pipes covered ranged between 300 feet to 3,000 feet, costing anywhere between Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 17,000 with an average cost of Rs. 8,911 per hectare for 2 years. The distribution of water directly through field channels has not only reduced their dependency on pipes, but has also resulted in a tangible gain. When this is projected for the whole command, this could result in a potential saving of Rs. 21,74,408 on a yearly basis. 3. Reduction in person days and labour cost

The group of 12 farmers required 48 hours to irrigate one hectare of land on an average in the absence of water course. But the setting up of a distribution network has reduced this to 24.5 hours for 1 hectare. This will enable each farmer to save the labour involved in irrigation and save 6 person days. This time can be effectively utilized for governance and carrying out other functions of the water user group.

4. Adoption of NPM agriculture practices

Non-pesticide agriculture management involves low cost, low input and sustainable practices like liquid manure (Sanjeevak pit), paanch patti kadha, NADEP, vermi compost etc. Along with availability of water, utilization of NPM practices in agriculture helps farmers in reducing their dependency on market for highly priced chemical fertilizers. NPM training was organized with 16 farmers including 9 male and 7 female members of the group in November after which 6 liquid manure pits have been constructed to be used in wheat crop. 5. Formation of micro level institutions for water course level governance

A separate body ‘Zirpanya Chak User Group’ was constituted of 12 farmers for governing the distribution of water. This group conducts monthly meeting to evaluate requirements of water, book-keeping, collecting monthly fees for repair and maintenance purpose which will be deposited in the common account of the group. This provides transparency in functioning as well as accountability of all stakeholders involved the process. It provides a platform for all farmers involved to raise concerns which can then be taken up in WUA which is a larger body governing the whole command. Challenges Resources required from Irrigation Department The farmers do not have access to the Detailed Project Report (DPR), designs of the canal, cut-off statement, command area map, all of which, hold essential information for the construction of water course and field channel. Without these important documents, the WUA cannot set up distribution networks, carry out repair work, budget and manage available water for irrigation. More importantly, the WUA will not be able to identify and verify if farmers who are drawing water from the canal are actually paying irrigation fee. Funds from MGNREGS As described earlier, there is a clear need for investment in setting up on-farm infrastructure in order to make the distribution and governance efficient. While there is provision for this under the Sahashtradhara Yojana of MGNREGS, there is a clause that the construction must follow a 60:40 ratio of labour to material costs. The observed ratio of labour to material costs for the constructed water course is approximately 30:70. This makes it impossible to make use of funds under MGNREGS for Command Area Development Activities (CADA). Role of Civil Society Organisation SPS has undertaken this work voluntarily in collaboration with the farmers of the Mahigaon Irrigation Project. The PIM Act of Madhya Pradesh, 1999 states that the implementing agency for Command Area Development Activities (CADA) will be the WUA of the command. However, it has been the experience of several Civil Society Organisations in Gujrat that this process involves establishing a long-term sustained engagement with the farmers of the command, providing

25 technical support and a larger institutional platform on which participatory processes can be embedded. It becomes clear that Civil Society Organisations (CSO) like SPS can play a crucial role of an implementing agency for building capacities of the WUA. A formal acknowledgement of this will make it easier for Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to carry out these functions.

Work on Main Canal Infrastructure Since the WUA and the CSO do not have the resources required for construction and maintenance of canal infrastructure, the irrigation department must direct its efforts to address some of the critical issues that plague the main canal. Without this, any attempt to set up distribution networks and efficient governance mechanisms will be incomplete.

2.3. Participatory Groundwater Management (PGWM)

Ground water is a common pool resource used by millions of farmers and remains a predominant source for irrigation and drinking water supply in rural area. The scarcity of water resources and ever increasing demand requires identification, quantification and management of ground water in a way that prevents overexploitation yet secures the lives and livelihoods of the many who depend on it. PGWM was therefore envisioned to adopt an integrated institution based approach that has following elements:  Groundwater is essentially a Common Pool Resource  Emphasis on qualitative and quantitative assessment for sustainability of aquifer  Facilitating farmers' understanding of groundwater through science and local knowledge  Planning and Management of groundwater use by community institutions

2.3.1. Piloting PGWM Work

Consolidation of Work in Existing Pilots With this approach, three pilot projects had been set up in the villages of Deonalya, Sivanpani and Kali Ratdi in 2016. In the subsequent year, the program focussed on facilitating the implementation of groundwater management plans and strengthening the functioning of the water user group. Finalising the crop plans for the agricultural season, ensuring agricultural extension services, implementing livelihood plans were some of the activities the program took up in these pilot sites. Toilets were constructed in almost all the households of the villages. Some of the farmers in these

26 groups adopted innovative agricultural practices like drip irrigation and SWI farming while some focussed intensively on non-pesticide farming. Mani Bai and Mangilal of Deonalya, with the help of SPS, set up a popular micro-enterprise which sold different kinds of bio-pest-repellents.

Expansion in Existing Pilots While Deonalya became hugely popular in the area because of the PGWM work undertaken by the farmers there, the success of the group was quite visible to others in the same village too. This inspired many others to take up similar work in the area. Families, who were earlier not convinced that such a system could be established, now came forward on their own. Some of the farmers from the community itself were majorly responsible for generating awareness and mobilising the larger community to come together for this project. While SPS provided technical support in planning the water distribution system, the rest of the work - identifying the appropriate vendors for pipelines and accessories, purchasing the accessories, excavating and laying out the pipeline network - was all carried out by the farmers. Despite this, there were several challenges that impeded this project. Availability of electricity was a huge constraint overcoming which pushed the farmers from pillar to post. Constantly and ceaselessly liaising with the Electricity Department, the farmers finally got the infrastructure installed just a few days before the Rabi season. This reflects tremendous amount of ownership and initiative on the part of these farmers. SPS supported them in purchasing pump and other accessories in order to operationalise this distribution network. SPS also helped in the formation of the water user group and the formulation of the water user agreement. The new system has a pipeline network from the Mahigaon Kothimata Dam to their fields. This consists of two lines - one of which is 8,000 feet long and the other is 7,000 feet long. The main objective of this lift irrigation project is to secure Kharif crops through protective irrigation and limited irrigation for Rabi. This new group of 27 members will be responsible for governance and maintenance of the whole network. With a total of 45 households as a part of the water user associations, almost the whole of the Jhadkapura mohalla of Deonalya is now covered under PGWM. The group now acts as a demonstration site of best practices for many other farmers in the ghat neeche area to emulate from. Some of the farmers have displayed immense leadership potential in the last few months as they continue to teach, guide, and help other farmers who wish to take charge and do something about their water situations.

2.3.2. Monitoring and Awareness

Rain gauge and Well-Water Level Monitoring One of the most salient features of the PGWM program is the data it is able to capture in a decentralised manner. Rainfall data and well-water levels are data points that are crucial in understanding the hydrogeological situation of any area. SPS obtains rainfall data from 16 rain-

27 gauges which are used and maintained by the members of the community themselves. Mitaans of the agriculture team monitor over 150 wells and borewells in the ghat neeche area. Both these data points are made available to the larger community by displaying it in public places. The objective of such an attempt is to then initiate a conversation with the community about rainfall patterns, quantum of rainfall, water levels, state of the aquifer etc. These data form a central part of the discussions on protective irrigation and crop planning that ensue in farmer group meetings and water user group meetings. The fact that the data is collected by the community itself lends credibility to this process. Several such displays were put up in different villages this year.

Crop Water Budgets One of the major objectives of the PGWM Program is to curb the agricultural demand for water. SPS believes that such an attempt to regulate the demand for water must be necessarily done at a village level or at a watershed level or at an aquifer level, for it to have any significant impact. The other rationale for this is to secure drinking water for all the communities and their livestock. With this in mind, SPS evolved a model for Crop Water Budget based on studies carried out by Bharati Integrated Rural Development Society (BIRDS). This exercise was carried out in 6 villages across 1,365 Hectares. One of the major features of this exercise was the role of the community in supplying data (crops, varieties, water consumption etc) to be fed into the model. This was combined with the data obtained through the rain-gauges and the aquifer maps that were made earlier in collaboration with ACWADAM to arrive at the final water budgets. These water-budgets were presented to the community in the farmer group meetings and at the gram sabha in order to inform farmers about the state of their aquifer, their consumption patterns, rainfall. Efforts were made to translate this awareness thus generated into concrete crop plans.

Groundwater Game SPS has used different kinds of tools and techniques to effect behavioural changes in different programs. A variety of such audio-visual initiatives have been produced by the Community Media Team for this purpose. The PGWM Team in collaboration with the Community Media Team, designed an interactive game that simulates real-life groundwater scenarios for the players. The game, through the many different situations it creates, seeks to illustrates the inter-connectivity of different sources tapping from the same aquifer and the advantages of collective crop planning based on available water. This game was launched in the village of Kaliratdi, where it was played by 7 farmers who are also a part of the PGWM water user group. While it certainly proved to be an entertaining experience for both the players and the audience, it also evoked important responses from the community on water availability, agricultural demand for water, water intensive crops etc. A few members in the audience acknowledged the need for a crop water budget before the Rabi season.

3. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME

3.1. Agriculture Program

The agriculture programme of SPS works with small and marginal farmers to promote low- cost, low-input, sustainable NPM (Non Pesticidal Management) agriculture. It further tries to reduce vulnerability of famers in the face of climate change. This is undertaken through multiple activities including:

 Complete stoppage of use of synthetic pesticides and use of bio-repellents instead.  Soil nutrient and organic matter conservation through various composting methods.  Land use planning and diversification of crop systems, with emphasis on certain focus crops like pulses and millets.  Combining new livelihoods like poultry, goat rearing etc., with agriculture.  Constant hand-holding of farmers through community extension system.  Introducing new initiatives like crop insurance to minimize farm level risks.  Working together with commodity aggregation team to ensure access to fair markets.

Table 3.1: Agriculture programme in 2017-18 at a glance:

Particulars Figures for 2017-18

States Madhya Pradesh & Maharashtra

Districts Dewas, Khargone & Amravati

Villages 121

Farmer Groups 414

Farmers 6,244

NPM Area (in Acre) 5,668

In the year 2017-18, agriculture programme added 2,212 new farmers to its NPM fold, and expanded itself in Hatpipliya and Dharni.

For Kharif 2017-18, the first step of the programme was towards composting. In this, 189 new Bhu-Nadeps, 50 pucca Nadeps, 15 vermicomposting units, and 463 weed composts were

32 constructed over the existing pool of physical infrastructure with the community. In July 2017, the agriculture programme continued its agenda of crop diversification as a risk mitigation mechanism for Kharif sowing. From risky mono-cropping of soybean, 900 farmers were encouraged to diversify their portfolio to include Maize, Red Gram and Millets (like sorghum and pearl millet). During the sowing for these farmers there was on 100% coverage of seed germination tests and use of biological seed treatment with Trichoderma. After sowing, the agriculture team worked on multiple dimensions to support NPM farming. Firstly, for enhancing soil health, biomass composting was done with 112 farmers, vermicomposting with 8 farmers and use of liquid biological manures done with 98 farmers. While offering a complete alternative to mainstream farming based on synthetic pesticides and synthetic fertilizer through NPM package of practices, the NPM agriculture programme worked with 1674 farmers in July-December 2017. The agriculture programme also worked on further risk mitigation for farmers by working to get non-loanee farmers covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). In this, SPS forged a new partnership with Ford Foundation and started working with non-loanee farmers. The efforts of the programme had started yielding results, and in the very first Kharif season of 2017, 291 non-loanee farmers were covered under PMFBY (apart from all loanee farmers who were by default covered). By Rabi, the scheme and the team’s understanding had become better, and 1983 non-loanee farmers were enrolled till 31st December, 2017 for the Rabi 2017-18 crop. In addition to directly working with farmers, SPS also got into partnerships with four NGOs: Gram Sudhaar Samiti (GSS) in MP, Surguja Grameen Vikas Sansthan (SGVS) in Chhattisgarh, Samuha in Karnataka and Bihar Sewa Samiti (BSS) in Bihar. Each of these partners have agreed to work with 2500 to 3000 farmers each on crop insurance. For engaging with various partners like government agencies, insurance companies and partner NGOs, SPS also organized a workshop on crop insurance on 15th November, 2017 at Indore. This resulted in valuable experience sharing between all stakeholders with charting of a way forward. In August-September 2017, the programme focused extensively on internal capacity building of farmers, staff and on spreading the message of sustainable agriculture to other partners. On this front, SPS designed and conducted a Basic Training Course on Sustainable Agriculture for members of 8 partner organizations on 10-16 August 2017. A similar event was a 7-day training programme organized on September 1- 7, 2017 with the theme of sustainable agriculture with partners across the country. Before the Kharif harvest, the agriculture programme coordinated with commodity aggregation programme to enroll 3,318 farmers for Mukhya Mantri Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana aimed at providing them MSP for their harvest. Further, the team reinforced pre-harvest and post- harvest crop management practices with the farmers to ensure quality of their produce leading to higher realization values for their harvest.

3.1.1. Varietal Trials Every year, the agriculture Programme conducts varietal trials of numerous crops in the region which includes new varieties of existing crops, as well as new crops. The objectives of these trials are multiple: 1) To test various crops’ / varieties’ suitability for the specific region; 2) To diversify the cropping pattern, in terms of number of varieties, and number of crops; 3) To enhance productivity or reduce input cost as per the context; and 4) To promote varieties well accepted in the market for assuring markets for NPM crops through the Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company Limited and Safe Harvest Private Limited. The successful trials which have been widely adopted in the region include:  Vishal and Kak2 Grams - The whole region of Ghat Neeche largely used Desi (Kaantewala) Gram which had relatively low productivity, low density and lower acceptability in market due to smaller dal size. To address these issues the agriculture programme experimented with various varieties of Gram like JG11, JG147, Kak2 (PKV Kabuli-2), Sweta (ICCV-2), and Vishal (Phule G87207) for last 3 years. Amongst these, Vishal and Kak2 Gram have been widely accepted in the region for their good productivity (20q/ha and 16q/ha respectively in the region), bold grain size, short duration and resistance to wilt (for Vishal). Though these varieties have been widely accepted and adopted, the programme is further continuing trials with other varieties like JAKI-9218, KRIPA, RV2 so that there is no widespread monoculture even with the accepted varieties.  Purna (HI 1544), Naveen Chandausi (HI 1418), Poshan (HI 8663) Wheats – For the last 2 years, the agriculture programme has overseen various varietal trials on wheat, with the objective of testing varieties which are low input, accepted by market or are higher in nutrition. This has led to widespread adoption of HI 1544 (Purna) in the region which has excellent bread making qualities and is a widely accepted Sharbati variety in market. Further, for completely rainfed conditions, HW 2004 (Amar) HI 1500 (Amrita) HI 1531 (Harshita) have been accepted by farmers. Amongst premium Sharbati varieties, the adoption of Naveen Chandausi (HI 1418) is ongoing, and is likely to pick up in the next two years. Further, taking into account widespread anaemia in the region, Poshan (HI 8663)) wheat, which is nutritionally superior, was promoted in the region.  Virat Moong – Mungbean’s yellow mosaic virus was a major problem in the ghat neeche region which would even result in 100% yield losses. This was primarily prevalent in Nirmal and Samrat brands on Green Gram that were used in the region. To counter this problem, the agriculture programme tried Virat brand of Green Gram seeds and that has been widely adopted in the region while minimizing crop losses.

3.1.2. Battle with Weedicide Farmers in the ghatneeche region had off late started extensive use of weedicides instead of removing weeds using bullocks or manually. This not only killed weeds as intended but also led to deterioration of soil health, harm to human health because of residues and loss in yields. The extensive campaign by pesticide companies coupled with shortage of labour and easy availability of weedicides had led to increased adoption of weedicide in Ghat Neeche. The agriculture programme decided to battle this malpractice by highlighting the ill-effects of weedicides. The ill effects were also gradually realized by farmers when they saw the detrimental effects of weedicides on soil health. After 3 years of continuous efforts, the programme has been able to drive away weedicide far away from NPM farmers.

3.2. Demand-side Management Scanty rainfall during the monsoon presented the programme with the challenge of low water availability for the Rabi crop. In this scenario, the team decided to promote low water use crops and varieties so that farmers could save water but at the same time not be hit with an income shock. In this, shift to Bengal Gram from Wheat was actively promoted. Further, for those who grew Wheat, already tested drought resistant varieties like Amar (HW 2004) and Harshita (HI 1531) were promoted. In irrigation practices, there was promotion of dry sowing and use of sprinklers. Moreover, for testing low-water new crops and varieties, new varieties were procured from IARI, Indore and GB Pant Agriculture University, Pantnagar and put on trial in local fields. The diversification and water saving agenda further continued in Rabi with trials for low water intensive crops like Flaxseeds, Mustard and Black Gram. For all sowing of NPM farmers, dry sowing was done to save water. 3.2.1. Demand-side interventions For calculating water saved through demand-side interventions, we conducted experimental trials with controlled and treatment plots in the fields of 42 farmers from Udainagar and Punjapura locations. We found that the water use per hectare in these trials in control plots has been 28,86,833 litres or 2.88 million cubic metres of irrigation water. We obtained information on water use efficiency and water saving due to activities under demand side from secondary sources for drip, sprinkler, dry sowing, crop varietal change, cropping pattern changes and SWI while experimental trial data has been used for water saving due to soil fertility enhancement measures. The calculation for water saving uses the water use efficiency for each activity multiplied with the total area under that activity. It is then converted to billion litres summing up over all activities. All the locations have used following data to capture the demand side.

Table 3.2: Based on Agriculture Practices Demand side calculation:

Practices Demand Data from secondary sources side calculation used Drip Irrigation 54% 40 to 80 % Sprinkler 35% 30 to 70 % Dry Sowing 30% Saving in 1st important irrigation i.e. 30 to 40 % Soil Fertility Interventions 24% Trial data Change in Crop Variety 55% 6-8 irrigation to 3-4 irrigation in wheat Change in Cropping Pattern 65% 5-6 irrigation to 2-3 irrigation SWI vs Line Sowing 15% 10 to 30 % owning to increase in production per quintal

3.3. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna 2017-18 To insure the farmers from risks, the central government introduced Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojnaon 13th January 2016 during the rabi season. It also insures the farmer against natural calamities like floods, unseasonal rains etc. that potentially damage the crops and compensated the farm financially. All the farmers of the country are eligible to be a part of this scheme. The kinds of crop covered under this scheme are:  Kharif (2%) paddy, maize, jowar and bajra  Rabi (1.5%) wheat, chick pea, jo, masur, mustard  Cash crops (5%) sugarcane, cotton On 15th November, 2017, a one day exposure session was organized in Indore on the PMFBY by Samaj Pragati Sahayog. The baseline survey results were presented in the session and it was decided that non-loanee farmers can also avail this scheme. In the kharif season of 2017, 4200 farmers were attempted to be registered and linked to banks for availing this scheme for their crops. 2,300 farmers could actualize this and were linked to this scheme. The reasons for not being able to link all 4,200 farmers to the scheme are as follows:  The bank did not accept farmers from forest villages.  One of the mandatory documents for availing crop insurance is a sowing certificate which is authorized by the Patwari who was not easily available.  The bank workers being overburdened with a lot of work did not always cooperate with the farmers who needed assistance in the filling out of forms.  The farmer who does the labour and is applying for insurance also needs to be the owner of the land on paper.  The notification was issued late.  Some of the crops eligible for insurance were not mentioned in the notification because of which a lot of farms could not apply.

 Crop Cutting Experiment (CCE) are not conducted systematically, as a result of which accurate estimates of crop loss are not reported to the insurance companies. Claims made on the data thus collected, sometimes, do not benefit the farmers who actually suffered crop losses. The strategies employed by the team while working on the scheme are as follows:  Include all the locations of SPS under the scheme because only a few locations were included in the past.  Recruit a professional to look after the activities relating only to crop insurance of the programme.  SHGs and clusters to be used to float the idea of crop insurance, its benefits and advantages to be able link more farmers to the scheme.  Screen movies explaining the benefits and the functioning of the scheme. At the same time, present the story of a farmer in the past who has benefitted from this scheme. Pico screenings on the scheme was also done to explain the scheme to the farmers in detail.  Inclusion of all farmers who are members of the SPS SHGs as well as farmers who are not members of the SHGs.  Perform street plays to create awareness about the scheme.  Identify farmers in the categories of loanee, non-loanee, defaulters, one who has land records document and the ones who are share croppers.  The first target group of framers will be the ones who are non-loanee and do not have any kind of crop loan from any available sources.  Verify bank records and ensure that the farmer is eligible for the scheme and has enough money in his account to be able to avail the scheme and not get rejected by the bank at the time of registration.  If a farmer wants to avail the scheme but doesn’t have sufficient money in her bank account and is associated with an SHG, the SHG his wife or any other member of the family is a part of, can loan the money and help her get registered for the scheme.  Negotiate with the bank and prepare a solution to getting defaulters registered under the scheme.  Organize camps in the village with the help of the Panchayat to issue sowing certificates to the farmers who do not have one in a faster and easier way.

3.4. Stories and Case-Studies

Women entrepreneurship within agriculture “Farmers linked to alternate livelihood by producing bio-repellants using local leaf extracts.”

To make it less time and labour intensive for the farmers, the agriculture programme provided the Kisan group materials and utensils for the preparation of the bio-repellants.They were also provided special training for making the bio repellents. This would also keep the cost of the bio-repellants low and make it easily purchasable for the other farmers around. Taking training, the farmers made biological pesticides keeping in mind the nature of pests in the field crops and they propagated these in the meetings of the SHG Group, the Kisan Group and sold them by marketing. With the extra income generated from them, they have fulfilled the essential needs of the house. Table 3.3: Farmers part of the decentralized biological pesticides preparation unit:

Sr. Name of Location No. of Quantity in Amount no Farmer litre 1 PPS 116 448 13,440 2 KPS 191 414 12,440 3 UPS 384 1,073 16,095 Total 691 1,935 58,050

Earning extra income by raising a Gliricidia nursery To protect the farm from being infected with chemical pesticides in NPM cultivation, it is very advisable to plant gliricidia on the farm bund. It enhances soil fertility, determines the limit of the farm boundaries, acts as fodder for animals, is also useful for firewood, etc. Given many such advantages of gliricidia, NPM cultivators stand to gain a lot by planting gliricidia plants at the threshold of the own farm. After planting the plants in the nursery, the farmer visits the SHG, the farmer's group and markets it and collects the demand from the members and makes it available to the local farmers by putting the plants on sale.

Table 3.4: Farmer list of decentralized nurseries raising:

Sr. Name of nursery raising Village No. of Total Amount no farmer farmer plantation purchasing 1 Biraj bai / Asharam Borkhalya 24 2,000 4,000 2 Amribai / Rameshwer Borpadav 9 1,300 2,600 3 Tara Bai / Sajan Laxminagar 44 1,800 3,600 4 Gendasagar dem Neemkheda 30 2,840 5,680 5 Pyaribai / Ramesh Nimanpur 12 1,900 3,800 6 Silabai Narayan Dangrakheda 44 1,500 3,000 Total 163 11,340 22,680

A better market price for high quality NPM produce Meerabai is the member of Manglasri Farmers’ Group and has been associated with the group since the last three years. In this year, she sowed sponge gourd in her agricultural land of 2 bighas. At the time of preparation of the field, she added 10 quintal vermi compost and 14 quintal Nadep compost manure. Along with this, she used liquid manure with every irrigation. She followed all the procedures and the practices which she got to know during NPM training. At harvest, she got fresh products which also attracted buyers. She also got an increased price for her products. While other sellers were being able to sell it at 25 rupees per kg, she was able to sell her produce at 32 rupees per kg. Customers were willing to buy her produce at a higher rate too because of the good quality of the crop. During the season, she harvested the produce 9 times from the field and earned a consolidated amount of 42,500 rupees. Substituting harmful chemical pesticides with home-made bio-repellents Farmer Rekhabai Nagraj from village Kardi is the member of the Astha farmers’ group. She sowed Gram and Wheat in two bighas each of her total land of 4 bighas. She was not aware of NPM farming until the time she attended a training session at the Gendasagar Livelihood School. That is where she learnt the art of preparing bio-repellents and got associated with the agriculture program. Rekhabai narrates how there was a pest attack last year and she had to purchase chemical pesticides worth 2,000 rupees from the Maa Chamunda Krishi Kendra. Not only did this pesticide not kill the pest, it also had a harmful effect on the crop. On the contrary, this year she made bio repellents at home for only 150 rupees and sprayed it on the crops.

Securing the right price through NPM and RRPPCL Farmer Manjubai Mangilal, a resident of the village of Laxminagar is associated with the Asha Kisan group for the last two years. She has planted lal tuar in her total of 2 bigha land in the kharif season. She sprayed 7.5 liters of bio-repellent for the first time followed by other bio- repellants at a later stage. After harvesting, the farmer showed the product sample to the seth who said that the produce is Rs. 3,500 per quintal and asked Manju bai to sell it to him. Meanwhile, Mitaan Mukesh Kirade suggested that she sells her goods to RRPPCL and when she showed the sample of the goods, RRPPCL offered to pay Rs. 3,800 per quintal. She decided to sell her produce to RRPPCL and all of it was aggregated by the company from her house. In retrospect, Manjubai says that she made more profit because this procedure completely cut down on the labour expenses and transport costs.

4. CROP PRODUCE AGGREGATION

4.1 Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company Limited (RRPPCL)

In the 2017-18, Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company Limited, the women farmer owned market face of SPS’ commodity aggregation programme, further stabilized its business operations. After demonstration of its ability to survive in largely uncertain agricultural commodity markets, the focus for this year was on scaling up its operations to ensure a combination of healthy top-line and bottom-line. For financial year 2016-17, the audited financial statements revealed profit after tax of Rs. 3,11,294. The challenge before the team was to steadily scale this up, and provisional financial statements for FY 2017-18 largely vindicate those efforts. Table 4.1: Financial Year 2016-17 & 2017-18 for Ram Rahim at a glance:

Particulars FY 16-17 FY 17-18* Total volume of grains / seeds procured 7,684 quintals 15,070 quintal Total volume of grains / seeds sold 6,575 quintals 9,321 quintal Revenues from operation (Rs. in lakh) 169.02 261.41 Net Profit (Rs. in lakh) 3.11 13.27 *provisional figures till 31/03/2018

Financial year 2017-18 started with completion of the forward contract with Safe Harvest for supply of NPM Wheat and NPM Chana. For Zaid, NPM Green Gram seeds were supplied to members, and all of the produce (156 qtls) was brought back and supplied to Safe Harvest in June 2017. The NPM farmers were assured for procurement of their produce through a forward contract and assurance of top quality was given along with the best price. There was a dedicated effort to implement the collection-centre-model for procurement to reduce operational costs incurred for central warehousing and local transport. While this worked well in case of pulses, which were of low-volume in nature, challenges were faced in case of high- volume cereal crops like maize where farmers preferred the convenience of doorstep procurement. In the months of October to December, RamRahim worked on procuring Maize, with ties with institutional players for better business terms. The strategy adopted for Maize was strict focus on quality control and day-to-day trading without any long term storage. Due to strong focus on quality control, partners agreed to deal with RamRahim in favourable terms, and offered a premium over existing market rates. RamRahim worked on finding institutional partners who can offer a good price for good quality and offer favourable payment terms. In this process, we found Kashyap Sweeteners and Badnawar with the help of Shri Shakambari Impex (Broker). These companies offer the best price in the market but attach stringent quality parameters for procurement. RamRahim and its members successfully met the expected quality parameters and were able to supply almost 100% of their maize. This was made possible through strong focus on

42 quality control. In all, RamRahim procured and sold 5,800 quintals of Maize. We are aiming to double the procurement targets in next kharif harvest so that an even larger number of small and marginal farmers can enjoy these benefits. A month later, Ram Rahim worked on procuring Red Gram and for the first time in the history of Ram Rahim’s aggregation process, it procured more than 150 metric tons of NPM Red Gram from almost 400 NPM Farmers. It also experimented with tapping the captive market of urban SHG members in order to create an alternate market place. Though the quantity of transaction was small at 30 quintals, Ram Rahim demonstrated that there exists a demand for good quality NPM commodities even among poor urban SHG consumers. In March 2018, the company continued with its strong partnership with Safe Harvest by entering into forward agreement to supply NPM Wheat and Bengal Gram. This time the quantities under the MOU were increased manifold and the scope of the agreement was widened to supply value added products like wheat flour, tur dal and chana dal instead of raw grain. The producer members were offered Indore mandi prices minus the transportation cost at their doorstep, and the focus was again on quality control. By end of March 2018, Ram Rahim had aggregated 2,397 quintals of NPM Bengal Gram and 3,745 quintals of NPM Wheat for supplying to Safe Harvest. For the said supply of value-added products, Ram Rahim has identified few reliable millers in nearby locations, this led to the Ram Rahim team learning invaluable lessons in the intricacies involved in the milling process for moving up on the value chain ladder. Further, the programme came up with a concrete 3-year business plan with clear financial projections, of which the projected profit target for the year 2017-18 was met. It also realized the importance of capacity building, be it of producers, leaders or own staff and came up with a capacity building plan as part of business plan for Ram Rahim, which is being gradually implemented. One of the biggest challenges for Ram Rahim has been to survive in a high-volume-low- margin agri-commodity aggregation with razor thin margins and high price risk. While steps like futures platform and forward contracts are being used to mitigate this risk, it still doesn’t cover all of the commodities traded. Further, to change the nature of the business to a high margin one, small but sure footed pilots for value addition are planned in the business plan, and have started to be rolled-out. The programme also realized the importance of raising member equity in helping Ram Rahim weather many of these challenges such as increasing net-worth and increasing member stake. For this Ram Rahim undertook rounds of equity raising with significant member contributions and some grant support. Consequently, the paid-up equity of RamRahim at the end of March 2017 had increased to Rs 58.80 lakh from 39.02 lakh at the end of March 2017.

4.2. Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana For the Kharif harvest, the agriculture and commodity aggregation programmes together tried to link farmers with newly launched Mukhya Mantri Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana. The scheme was launched by Government of Madhya Pradesh with aims to provide the MSP to farmers without physical procurement by the government. For this initiative, the efforts of the team on awareness and enrollment front led to enrolment of 3,318 farmers. This effort of RamRahim proved crucial as the prices of all commodities in MP crashed by 15-20% post the harvest, and enrolment in this scheme proved to be the only cushion against this price shock. These efforts on the backend also led to local APMC in Bagli becoming functional, with farmers bringing their produce to APMC (as was necessary to avail the scheme) instead of selling them at their doorstep to traders. RamRahim actively participated in open auctions in 2 APMCs (Bagli and Loharda), and helped in driving up the bid prices (even in cases when it was not the final winner of the bids). All of these measures had multiple benefits: 1) The farmers could avail prices close to MSP declared by the government; 2) The logistical costs of RamRahim could be optimized due to centralized procurement; 3) An invaluable experience in dynamics of open auctions was gained by the programme. During Kharif procurement season, RamRahim directly procured 5,804 quintals of Maize from 239 farmers apart from assuring MSP to 3,318 farmers, and indirectly helping many farmers in APMC auctions by bringing up the floor prices. For the 3,318 farmers enrolled, using the local landholding pattern, cropping pattern, and yields and modal prices declared by GoMP, approximately Rs 1,25,00,000 flowed from government to farmers as part of the scheme.

4.3. Post-Harvest Storage Construction work on centralized warehouse in Bagli also neared completion by December end of 2017. The warehouse is likely to be completed and put to use in February 2018. With a capacity of 500 MT, the facility is to be used for post-harvest storage of grains and seeds, and for cleaning and grading. Given the growing orders from Safe Harvest for value added products like Atta, the programme and RamRahim are also doing feasibility studies on installing flour mill.

4.4. Policy Advocacy On the policy advocacy front, SPS, citing the original conception of Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and various advisories of Government of India, argued for them to be recognized at par with cooperatives by Government of Madhya Pradesh. Multiple agencies, including government ones like NABARD had been arguing for the same for years without meeting any success. A crucial juncture in this advocacy effort was when SPS Secretary, Dr. Mihir Shah’s views on farmer issues were sought post farmer protests in Madhya Pradesh in 2017.

This advocacy effort met with success when Government of Madhya Pradesh became the first state in India to recognize FPCs and cooperatives at par (vide order B-1-1/2017/14-2 dated 18/09/2017 of Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Department, GoMP). This policy has potential to become a precedent in taking forward the FPO movement in the country.

5. SELF-HELP GROUP (SHG) PROGRAMME

5.1. SHG Programme

Working for more than two decades with the rural poor in Dewas and Khargone districts of Madhya Pradesh, SPS attributes a large part of its impact to the comprehensive platform provided by the Self Help Group (SHG)-Bank Linkage programme. Most members of these SHGs are the marginalised poor - Adivasis, Dalits, landless and displaced people. Our SHGs offer their members a range of financial assistance including interest on savings, fixed deposits, loans for emergencies (the veracity of each of which is carefully judged by the members themselves), collective purchase of basic needs of daily life, loans for cattle and construction of wells, etc. Majority of tribal households are in agriculture (either self-employed or working as labourers). The SHG members are also either working in their own fields or are working as agricultural labourers. We work with the community through the SHG model with a goal to empower and facilitate women in poverty, to promote and ensure long-term and sustainable livelihood security of the poor through watershed, agriculture and livestock programmes. The income generated through these livelihood initiatives need to be saved and women have stood the test of time and proved to be the best custodians of these savings.

The key performance indicators of SHGs as on 31st March 2018 are given in the table below:

S.No. Project Components Mar-18 1 Number of Districts 2 2 Total no. of Blocks 7 3 Total no. of Towns 15 4 Total no. of Villages 520 5 Total no. of SHGs 2,794 6 Total no. of Clusters 155 7 Total no. of Federations 7 8 Total no. of SHG members (families) 41,883 9 % of SHGs linked with Banks/Financial Institutions 95%

10 Total amount of Bank/FI loan disbursed (Rs. Crores) 293.13 11 Total Savings (Rs. Crores) 41.81 12 Average savings per member (Rs.) 6993 13 Corpus (Rs. Crores) 58.45 14 Total loan outstanding (Rs. Crores) 81.61 15 Average Size of loans per SHG (Rs.) 2,07,961 16 Loan Recovery Ratio 95% 17 Total o. of individual SB A/c opened 34,850 18 Total no. of Insurance (Members Insured) 5,598 19 Total no. of Bank linkages 2,087 20 Contribution of SHGs towards SHG Programme (Rs. Lakhs) 175

Table 5.2: Location-wise Data of SHG Programme as on March 2018 Bank Total SHG S. Name of Total Corpus Loan Villages Groups Savings Contribution No Location Members (lakhs) O/s (Lakhs) (lakhs) (lakhs)

1 Udainagar 57 172 2,698 246.6 395.1 65.3 12.6

2 Kantaphod 36 228 3,767 480.2 689.2 259.4 19.6

3 Bagli 48 275 4,230 399.1 645.5 300.9 22.5

4 Barwah 48 236 3,412 278.5 383.8 122.0 11.8

5 Dewas 0 238 3,907 530.1 772.7 252.9 17.0

6 Khategaon 42 260 4,084 487.9 763.1 330.1 24.4

7 Hatpipliya 52 206 3,009 379.1 541.3 226.8 19.0

8 Maheshwar 36 221 3,218 347.0 389.2 128.6 15.5

9 Kannod 43 207 3,150 306.4 410.5 160.6 13.3

10 Bhikangaon 37 167 2,055 102.9 103.6 59.8 10.2

11 Punjapura 26 142 2,084 177.2 245.6 39.9 4.2

12 Satwas 35 191 2,791 225.2 173.5 163.6 4.1 13 Sanawad 29 140 2,085 193.6 302.0 76.2 0.4 14 Lalkheda 31 111 1,393 28.3 29.8 8.5 0.0 Total 520 2,794 41,883 4181.8 5844.9 2,194.6 174.6

Spread across 2 districts, we are working in 520 villages with 2,794 SHGs with a membership of 41,883 women. They have a total combined savings of Rs. 4,181.8 lakhs. To run the livelihood initiatives, loans worth Rs. 4,223 lakhs were disbursed in the financial year of 2017- 18. To achieve the goal of strengthening and making the SHG functioning sustainable, voluntary contributions of Rs. 174.6 lakhs as “yogdan and sahyog” were done with the profit generated by SHGs.

5.2. Expansion In August, we registered our seventh federation, Hatpipliya Nari Pragati Samiti (HNPS) under the Madhya Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 1973 at the office of the Registrar of Societies, Ujjain. HNPS is the seventh SHG federation to be promoted by SPS. HNPS held its first General Body Meeting (GBM) on 15th December 2017. The federation at present consists of 206 groups with 3,200 members across 52 villages. The major programmes operational in the area are SHGs, agriculture, watershed management and livestock. Khategaon Pragati Samiti also held its Annual General Body meeting (AGBM) on 24th February, 2018. Around 3,500 from 42 villages actively participated in the meeting. The MLA of the Khategaon constituency, Mr. Ashish Sharma presided as the chief guest and motivated the women to stand against violence. The SHG program of SPS expanded its services to the Khargone district this year. Sanawad is an urban location in Khargone which have formed new SHGs this year and they plan to expand soon. 86 SHGs across 32 villages were formed in Lalkheda which is a rural location and faces high distress migration every year.

5.3. Pragati Vistar Pragati Mitra is the software made for the easy maintenance of SHG book of records for mitaans who are given a monthly target of 450-500. In the month of October, the SHG programme introduced Pragati Vistar in order to make SHG book keeping easier and reduce the time being spent on keeping a tab of the data. Pragati Vistar is installed in lapbooks (smaller version of laptops) and given to mitaans. Some of the mitaans have never operated a computer. Therefore, there was a two-month targeted training programme for the mitaans teaching them about basic operations in the lapbook that will be required for the SHG meetings. Every fifteen days, the data is loaded to Pragati Vistar from Pragati Mitra and the mitaans carry the lapbooks along with a portable thermal printer. Using Pragati Vistar software in the lapbook, the actual amount collected

50 from every member in SHGs is entered during the SHG meetings and members are given receipts generated from the thermal printer. This is a less time consuming process and the duration of the SHG meetings have come down from 150 minutes to 90 minutes. The lapbook can access SHG reports like Demand Sheet, Demand Collection and Balance (DCB) report, Balance Sheet, Member Ledger Summary and Trail Balance. This process has eliminated the use of receipt books and has curtailed the stationery cost by 70%.

To increase the frequency of meetings and make the financial condition of every SHG stronger, SHG programme has introduced two meetings per month. Along with this, to ensure faster repayment of loans, they have introduced a system of interest that needs to be paid daily by the members who loan money from the SHG. The interest will have to be paid from the day the account gets credited with the loan amount. The faster the loan is repaid, the lesser us the interest charged. SPS is the first organization in this region to have initiated a system of daily payment of interests after banks.

5.4. SHG-Bank Linkage The SHG – Bank linkage model fights and overthrows the age old belief about the poor being unbankable. To facilitate this model, Bank of India (BOI) organized a bank linkage campaign on its foundation day. The SHG program of SPS actively participated in this campaign and in the course of this 300 SHGs were linked with BOI last year. Every SHG was sanctioned an average cash credit limit of 2 lakhs and a total of 6 crores was sanctioned by BOI.

5.5. Cashless Meetings To digitize SHG meetings and to reduce the risk of depositing the cash collected in the meetings from villages, Kannod location has successfully launched a plan for cashless meeting. Location officials identified the members whose salary account is in the same bank as the SHGs’ account and convinced the members to transfer money directly in the bank. Now, Kannod has more than 500 members (1/5th of the total members in the location) participating in cashless transactions.

5.6. Beyond Financial Transactions

5.6.1 Distribution of profits for a cause The Dewas Mahila Pragati Samiti had organized an event to distribute the profits of SHGs amongst its’ members on 30th January 2018. 130 women from 8 SHGs attended the event and

51 received their profits ranging from Rs. 2,000 INR to Rs. 9,274 each. A total of Rs. 435,371 profit was distributed through cheques during the event. Amongst these 130 women, 17 women from Shivsakti Pragati Samuh donated Rs. 65,000 to a fellow member Saida Bai, whose daughter was suffering from respiratory issues and required immediate medical intervention.

5.6.2. Entrepreneurship through SHGs To encourage entrepreneurship, women are trained to start their own business. SPS promoted federation Dewas Mahila Pragati Samiti (DMPS) has been running a tailoring centre for its members since the past four years. This year, 60 women have been trained and DMPS contributes Rs. 10,000 every month for the smooth functioning of this centre. The Bhikangaon team had arranged two training programmes for women in entrepreneurship which could provide various livelihood options for them. 45 women were given 30 days of training in tailoring and 25 women were given 10 days of training in pickle and papad making. They were also trained on the marketing of these products.

5.6.3. Adult literacy In Dewas, Hatpipliya, Bagli, Sanawad, Maheswar and Bhikangaon,, SPS was running night schools for women. These night schools attempted to teach the women how to read, write and do basic calculations. Many women were interested and eventually benefitted a lot from these night schools. After 15 months of continuous and sustained efforts, the women who were unable to write their names were forming proper sentences and writing them down. This became extremely beneficial for them in the SHG meetings. They started calculating the interest amounts, started understanding the books of accounts and also began to write down the minutes of their meetings on their own. In the Devgarh village of Hatpipliya, approximately 80 members had given an examination equivalent to that of the 3rd standard. Those able to clear this examination also received certificates.

5.6.4. Goat rearing at Maheshwar The livestock programme expanded itself and began in Maheshwar. 70% of its SHGs are in the rural areas of Maheshwar. Goat rearing as an option was being considered since the past year. As per the plan, a loan of 4.5 lakh rupees was distributed to buy 60 goats with insurance. In six months 60 goats accounted to provide an earning for around 120 goats with the mortality rate of 1.7%.

5.6.5. Against Alcoholism In Ambapani Village of Bagli, two SHGs Dhan Laxmi Pragati Samuh and Saraswati Pragati Samuh showed great courage and set an example of community mobilization. There were instances

52 of alcoholism in the locality which rendered the roads unsafe for a lot of people. The SHG members showed great courage and complained against them to SDM, Bagli, and also lodged a complaint at the local police station. The police extended their support and the SHG vocally protested against these people unitedly. This act of women’s unity stopped the rampant alcoholism in the village and also inspired other SHGs to raise their voices. A similar action was taken by the women of Satguru Pragati Samuh at the Dehriya Sahu village, in Hatpipliya.

5.7. Celebration of Women’s day

Bagli, Sanawad, Maheswar and Kantaphod celebrated international women’s day on the following themes: 5.7.1. Women’s Health BPS created awareness about women’s health on in this women’s day. One of the founder members of SPS, Dr. Mridula Banerji presided over the occasion. She spoke on the importance of the care that needs to be rendered to pregnant women and adolescent girls to reduce the rate of malnutrition and explained about the importance of first 1,000 days (two years since the day of conception). One of the trustees from Chaitanya foundations, Dr. Sudha Kotari attended as a special guest and presented a talk on the importance of empowerment of rural women for better health conditions. Adolescent girls performed a drama on child marriage and women’s health. Around 350 women had actively participated in the event. 5.7.2. Women’s Safety KPS organized a program to celebrate the foundation day for the federation as well as to observe International women’s day. Mrs. Monica, police officer in Khataphod was invited as the special guest for this occasion. She gave a splendid speech on women’s safety and encouraged our women to be undaunted. The Chairperson of Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company Private Limited (RRPPCL) Chinta Bai spoke about the importance of practicing Non Pesticidal Management (NPM) and its market linkage. 300 women participated in this event. 5.7.3. Role of SHGs in Women Empowerment Sanawad location celebrated its very first International Women’s Day with 250 women leaders. The regional manager of Khargone zone for NJGB, Mr. Pradeep Upadhyay was present and facilitated the event by taking up a promise by all the women “That we will raise our voice against sexual harassment of women”. Many women shared their experiences about the role of SHGs to empower themselves and their families.

5.8. Transformation through Livelihoods Interventions The main objective of the SHG program is to provide strong, stable and sustainable livelihood to the community. The field throws a host of challenges to us every day the cooperative

53 milk society in Devnalya village in Udainagar saw a sudden reduction in the amount of milk being produced from 100-150 litres a day to 10-15 litres. This was because of the insufficient availability of groundwater due to which cattle rearing was becoming a very challenging activity. The Participatory Ground Water Management (PGWM) team of SPS met with the villagers and the SHG members and discussed the consequences of not having enough groundwater. It was decided by everyone that the water will be taken from the Mahigaon dam which is around 2.5 kms from Devnaliya through a pipeline. SHG loans were provided to the women to bear the cost of the new pipeline and men members got the permission from forest department and Mahigaon water user groups. Soon there was demand for cattle loan in SHGs. Seven lakh fifty thousand rupees was loaned to the women through the SHGs and 10 - 15 cattles were bought by the women. Now, the milk cooperative receives around 60-70 litres of milk everyday with an estimate of receiving around 150-200 litres in the peak periods.

6. LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

6.1. Livestock Development and Support Over the past year, the Livestock Program has performed a range of activities to ensure the achievement of its goal of raising healthy animals and ensuring maximum output from them. This allows the small and marginal farmers as well as the landless in the drylands of India to reduce their reliance on agriculture, wage labour and migration to meet their basic needs. Also, these activities allow the farmers to diversify their income stream which makes them less susceptible to weather shocks and other unforeseen circumstances. This year the program has not only strengthened its work with existing members but also added to our list of families engaging in rearing cattle, goats and poultry. Table 6.1: Overall Details of the Livestock Programme 2017-18

Overall Details of the Livestock Programme 2017-18 Deworming Large Animal 3,256 Deworming Buck/Goat 9,875 Castration Large Animal 80 Cow 134 Artificial Insemination Buffalo 30 Balanced Diet Mineral mixture /Bricks 1,789 No. of Napier Grass 62,878 Fodder security for Animal No. of Member of Napier grass 209 No. of Ajola 20 Goat Rearing Programme

Castration 210 Deworming Total no. of Buck/Goat 12,059 No. of bought Goat/Buck 194 Total of buying money 7,40,378 Selling and financial detail No. of sold Buck/Goat 845 Money From selling Rs. 35,35,526 Information related Housing Total no. of shed 110 Total no. of Bucks/Goat 14,752 Liver Tonic 214 Total no. of Plantation 275

6.2. Capacity Building We channelled our efforts towards two very crucial aspect of the program – capacity building and training of the para-veterinary workers (known as paravets) and supervisors. For this purpose, several trainings took place at different levels of the organisation and at the various locations where our program is being implemented. These trainings, carried out by our in-house

57 veterinary doctor Jagrati Bamne and other paravets, focussed on transitioning from primitive methods of rearing cattle to modern techniques. Members from five of the federations - Udainagar Pragati Samiti, Punjapura Pragati Samiti, Kataphod Pragati Samiti, Bagli Pragati Samiti, Hatpipliya Pragati Samiti and members from our Kannod location were a part of these trainings. The participants of the trainings were told about the necessity of vaccinations and deworming for reducing animal mortality. Furthermore, they were informed on how to maintain their livestock through proper nutrition of the animals, the drawbacks of inbreeding among goats, season-wise management practices for raising poultry, and the need to build appropriate structures for the animals. As a result of this capacity building exercise, we have trained several new members who now have taken up animal husbandry as a primary or secondary profession. While translating this into numbers we see that from goat rearing itself the members were able to get Rs. 35,35,526 by selling 845 goats. Amongst our new initiatives in capacity building is our association with The Goat Trust, a charitable trust that aims at demystifying production technology, building institutions, and ensure proper marketing and market linkage for small livestock. Dr. Ashish from The Goat Trust visited our organisation and trained the poultry supervisors in hatchery. This new association is a platform on which capacity building efforts can be furthered in the future. Table 6.2: Details of Capacity Building Activities

No. of Members Training No. of Days 7 Paravet training 17 10 Supervisor training 23 613 Goat members training 24 329 Poultry members training 17

Table 6.3: Vaccination Activities across Livestock

Animals/Poultry Dose Large Animals 35,614

Small Animals 15,334

Poultry 8,540

Total 59,488

6.3. Infertility Treatment Camps Over the past few years, an upward trend in infertility among large animals has been noticed. This manifests into a lower produce generated from the animals raised in the farms and a subsequent decrease in income. To tackle this problem, 21 camps were organised across 6 different locations using the surplus funds from the various federations formed under the SHG program. 1679 cattle were treated for infertility, upper fixation of patella and other diseases. Table 6.4: Details of Infertility Treatment Camps across Locations Infertility Treatment Camps

S. No. Location Village Name No. of camps Jamasindh, Dhupghatta, Patakhal, Anandnagar, Kandiya, 1 UPS Devnliya 6 2 PPS Laxminagar, Kevtiyapani, Borpdav 3 3 KPS Haydi, Mehndul, Eklera, Bairagada, Jinvani 5 4 Kannod Bairavad 1 Kailashnagar, Dangrakheda, Dhantalab, Matmor, 5 BPS Dhingarkheda 5 6 HPS Kulavad 1 Total 21

6.4. Animal Feed Plantation: To add to our work on animal nutrition, we started work on a new plantation program where the aim was to promote the harvesting of the varieties of plants that are preferred for grazing. Also continuing our older program, various fodder seeds were distributed to the beneficiaries to grow food for the cattle. Balanced Diet: The members of the program were informed about the various animal feeding techniques and their needs. For example, milking of the cattle causes the mineral content in their bodies reduces which could lead to the inability of animals to go into heat, decrease in strength of digestion, resultant decrease in milk production. Hence, appropriate fodder was recommended for the three categories of animals: 1. For large animals: “pashu aahar” and a mineral mixer were recommended. 2. For goats: goat feed, liver tonic and mineral bricks were recommended. 3. For poultry: pre-starter, starter and liver tonic were recommended.

Table 6.5: Details of Fodder and Feed Interventions across Locations

Feed No. of Bags (50kg) Location Cattle Feed 1030 Across all Locations

Goat Feed 150 Across all Locations

Poultry feed 326 UPS (266) KPS (60)

6.5. Breed Selection Understanding the importance of the indigenous species and the need for appropriate species for the climate, we are promoting the Kadaknath, Satpura, and Desi varieties of poultry. In the case of large animals, our efforts have gone into improving the breed through artificial insemination. 6.6. Partnership with Indore Milk Co-Operative Society As a part of work with Indore Dugdh Sangh (IDS) to ensure market linkage, our 16 dairies were being provided an amount of 40 paise for cooling and 72 paise for transportation per litre. This arrangement led to the milk cooperatives incurring heavy losses. This year, the existing arrangement was revised to the entire cost of transport being incurred by IDS and the amount provided for cooling remaining the same. The Bulk Milk Cooler at Bhikupura, monitored by SPS, collected 2,99,001 litres of milk worth Rs. 95,68,032 and the revenue was distributed among the 320 members of our 16 milk cooperatives. 6.7. Habitation As different animals have varied preferences for the place they inhabit, different structures and solutions need to be put in place. In the case of goat rearing, a stand is constructed of bamboo which allow the goats to rest at a dry higher platform. This also allows for the collection of the excrements from the goats which is a natural fertilizer ready to be used in the farms. For large animals, we construct a cattle floor which serves the purpose of collecting of cow urine and as a consequence reducing various respiratory diseases and fungal infections. The cattle floor also helps reduce the chance of the animals having ticks and mites. Table 6.6: Details of Habitation Interventions across Locations

Structure Location No. of Structures Total Cattle Floor Punjapura 16 29 Kantaphod 6 Bagli 3 Melghat 4

Goat Shed & Manger Bagli 32 99 Kantaphod 31 Punjapura 36

Poultry Shed Kantaphod 20 131 All 111

Free Range Melghat 1 10 Udainagar 1 Bagli 3 Kantaphod 3 Punjapura 2

Furthermore, for the prevention of wastage of fodder, water, and grains, a manger program was started for the cattle. Two cemented fodder pots, a water pot, and urine collection pots were constructed for the beneficiaries. For the poultry shed, medicines made from kerosene and lime were sprayed that allows prevention of certain infections. Table 6.7: Details of Mangers across Locations

Animals Members Manger (Feeding) Manger (Drinking) Large Animals 100 200 100

Small Animals 99 99 -

6.8. Result of the UNDP Project The Udainagar Pragati Samiti was recognised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its work and was funded for its initiatives. These funds were channelized in the construction of various structures for the livestock program. The members of the programs were able to construct 103 goat sheds, 30 cattle sheds, 23 poultry sheds, 18 biogas stands, and a free range for chickens. 6.9. Vaccination Drive in Melghat As the Civil Society Organisation Partner of the Village Social Transformation Mission, an initiative of the Government of Maharashtra, SPS has extended its Livestock Program to Dharni. SPS worked along with the Veterinary Department of Dharni Block to organise a vaccination camp for the prevention of foot and mouth disease in large ruminants. In the month of June, Dharmendra Gehlot, Prashant Karale, Akash Selukar and Budhesing Tanwar of SPS assisted the Chief Minister’s Rural Development Fellows to set up vaccination camps in 14 villages in the region. The outcome of these camps was that a total of 3,847 large ruminants were protected against the disease.

Table 6.8: Details of Vaccination Drive in Melghat

S. No. Date Village No. of Ruminants Vaccinated 1 8-6-2018 Ranamalur 200

2 9-6-2018 Bord 139

3 12-6-2018 Rehetya 300

4 13-6-2018 Zhapal 132

5 13-6-2018 Zootpani 215

6 14-6-2018 Hatnada 201

7 15-6-2018 Kharya 436

8 19-6-2018 Khari 450

9 12-6-2018 Temali 250

10 13-6-2018 Salai 200

11 20-6-2018 Bobdo 250

12 20-6-2018 Bhulori 430

13 14-6-2018 Chutiya 190

14 27-6-2018 Chourakund 394

Total 3,847

6.10. Impact of Livestock Interventions

6.10.1. The Story of Kala Bai and Bhuri Bai Kalabai was married to Sumer Singh and had a son a few years into the marriage. But life was grim as she was a victim of domestic violence – a consequence of her husband’s alcohol addiction. Standing up for herself, Kalabai left her husband and came back home to live with her parents and child. She took up work as a wage labourer to earn a living and repay a debt she had taken up due to the insufficiency of the income of the household which could barely meet its basic needs. The loan came from the local moneylender who are known for charging exorbitant interest rates. This led to Kalabai failing to make on-time repayments of her debt, placing her in a vicious debt trap. To escape these tough circumstances, Kalabai raised enough money to buy herself a goat. Her investment bore fruits when her goat gave birth to a total three little lambs after two deliveries. This allowed her to cover her household expenses and pay for her son’s education but her lack of knowledge about goat rearing caused her another set of problems. Improper

62 arrangements for the goat’s habitation, fodder, and no proper healthcare services for the goat would cause the goats to fall sick often. In the situations where she did try to avail of the services provided by the government, she was charged a hefty sum once and another time the delay in the doctor’s arrival caused the goat to die due to lack of treatment. Kalabai’s neighbour later told her about SPS’s animal husbandry services. This allowed her to avail of facilities like vaccinations, deworming, information about the goat shelter and fodder, and regular check-ups at a nominal charge. She now has 12 goats who she says are healthier and heavier than before. By selling some her goats, Kalabai was able to repay her debt of Rs. 25,000 and does not need to engage in wage labour any more. She takes pride in her work and is able to hold her head high.

On the other hand, after selling four of her goats for almost Rs. 9000 per goat, Bhuri Bai still has seven goats at home. She says that she makes such sales yearly which allows her to earn enough to support her five daughters and her husband. Bhuri Bai had joined the Ganga Maiya Pragati Samuh in the village of Godana and heard about the livestock services offered by SPS. By getting help from the livestock program, Bhuri Bai’s goats don’t die from cold and diarrhoea as they used to earlier. She says she feels confident as all her goats get their vaccinations and there is help available at her doorstep when she requires it. This allowed her to benefit from the extra income from goat rearing which boosted her savings. Now earning up to Rs. 40,000 from the profession in a year, Bhuri Bai is very happy to see both her economic and social status rise. To ensure this upward mobility is sustained, she spends whatever is needed on her daughters’ education. Her eldest daughter is now about to graduate from college. By setting an example for everyone about the success from goat rearing, Bhuri Bai has inspired others from her village to be a part of the livestock program.

6.10.2. Shumu Bai’s success with Poultry Shumubai, a 50 years old tribal woman living in Dangra Khera of Bagli block, has a 7- member family. Being landless, she and her husband would toil in the sun for 10 to 12 hours a day to earn a wage not higher than Rs. 60. This wage labour too wasn’t available throughout the year but only during the sowing and harvesting seasons amounting to just 60 to 70 days of work in a year. All this work would earn them close to Rs. 17,000 for the year which was not enough to meet their basic expenses. The circumstances also forced them to borrow from the local moneylender at an annual interest rate of 40%. Shumubai and her family were stuck in a debt trap which further forced them to repay their debt by supplying labour in the moneylender’s fields. Shumubai joined the Lakshmi Bachhat Samuh, an SHG, almost 12 years back where she started saving at the rate of Rs. 50 per month. Taken as a step to get out of this trap of debt and

63 poverty, Shumubai joined SPS’s poultry program three years ago. After undergoing training in the poultry farming, she started with 50 chicks of Satpura going on to earn a profit of close to Rs. 3000 after a period of three months. She continued the proper care of the chickens through deworming, vaccinations and the provision of a proper shelter as recommended by SPS and availed of regular treatment delivered at her doorstep. In the past year, after selling close to 300 chickens of the Satpura variety and 50 of the Kadaknath variety, she earned a total revenue of Rs. 75,000 of which almost one-third – Rs. 22,000 was her profit. The poultry farm has also allowed her to ensure proper nutrition for her family through the consumption of the eggs laid by the chickens. She says her children have stopped falling sick as often as they used to which further helps them in saving on their medical expenditure. Shumubai’s monthly savings have multiplied by a factor of 4, now saving Rs. 200 every month which adds to her existing saving of Rs. 16,000. Shumubai has not engaged in wage labour ever since.

7. HEALTH AND NUTRITION PROGRAMME

7.1. Health and Nutrition

The programme interventions under the Health and Nutrition are being carried out in 283 villages of 105 Gram Panchayats and 3 Nagar Panchayats in Bagli and Kannod blocks of Dewas district. Here, for the last many years, SPS has been trying to improve the quality of delivery mechanisms of government programmes, particularly the food-related schemes like Mid-Day Meals Scheme (MDMS) for providing free mid day meals for all children studying in government schools, Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) for providing free services for nutrition, health and informal education for pre-school children, nutrition and health services for pregnant and nursing mothers and adolescent girls, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) for providing subsidized food grains to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) for providing highly subsidized ration to the poorest of the poor families, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) for old persons above 65 years belonging to BPL families, National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS), Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to support institutionalized deliveries, National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) to support poor families on the death of a primary breadwinner, widow pension to support poor widows, disability pension to support challenged persons, Deen Dayal Antyodaya Upchar Yojana to provide medical relief for poor families, Ladli Laxmi Yojana (LLY) to support girl children, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for employment generation. We are also facilitating the rolling out of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 at the grassroots level (NFSA covers benefits under MDMS, ICDS, TPDS, AAY and maternity benefits). The team was required to build a rapport with service providers without making the SPS team appear as a threat to them while at the same time ensuring high standards of monitoring. The main focus of Health and Nutrition programme is to ensure that there is no malnourished child in its working area, if found so, the team guides the mother to consult the Anganwadi centre and Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), if needed. Also it creates awareness about the health facilities provided by the government to the public.

Table 7.1: Current Status and Outreach of H&N Programme

1 Total no. of blocks 2

2 Total no. of villages covered 283

3 Total no. of Nagar Panchayats covered 3

4 Total no. of Gram Panchayats covered 105

5 No. of SPS SHGs providing MDM 70

6 No. of SPS SHGs providing Supplementary Nutrition to Anganwadis 54 under Sanjha Chulha Scheme

7 No. of SPS supported SHGs included in H&N training and other 726 activities

Table 7.2: Major Work Achievements at a Glance

No Scheme Bagli Udai Kanta Pipri Punja Satwas Total Nagar phod Pura

1 No. of villages 56 52 41 43 45 46 283 surveyed for potential beneficiaries to be covered under food related schemes-

2 No. of Nagar 02 01 03 Panchayats surveyed for potential beneficiaries to be covered under food related schemes-

3 No. of schools 79 67 60 52 51 72 381 monitored for improvement in MDM quality

6 Improvement in 58 30 21 27 30 37 203 MDMS in Primary Schools (no. of schools)

7 Improvement in 21 12 08 10 09 15 75 MDMS in Middle Schools (no. of schools)

8 Social Audit of 05 11 06 22 MDMS (no. of schools covered)

9 Social Audit of 87 162 154 403 MDMS (no. of people present)

10 No. of schools where 25 08 33 09 08 12 95 meeting with the School Management Committees (SMC) have been done to strengthen SMCs.

11 No. of SHG 16 17 10 09 52 participants in MDM training

12 No. of SHG women 27 33 25 04 13 27 129 trained in running MDMS

14 No. of SHG Mitaans 06 04 11 02 03 26 trained in MDMS

15 No. of ICDS centres 65 55 50 37 37 59 303 (Anganwadis) monitored for improvement in the delivery of different services

16 No. of ICDS centres 62 33 14 18 23 47 197 (Anganwadis) where improvement in the delivery of different services achieved

18 No. of villages 56 52 41 43 45 46 283 surveyed to ascertain levels of malnutrition among children U-5 to generate baseline information

19 No. of towns 02 01 03 surveyed to ascertain levels of malnutrition among children U-5 to generate baseline information

20 No. of villages where 56 52 41 43 45 46 283 measurement of weight of children in the age group of 6 months to 5 years was done to identify malnourished children

21 No. of children 4726 3206 4837 1971 2043 7273 24056 weighed (in the age group of 6 months to 5 years) to identify malnourished children

22 No. of Severe Acute 279 332 184 270 280 355 1700 Malnutrition (SAM) children identified during weight measurement exercises in the villages whose performance is regularly being followed upon by the SPS team

23 No. of children with 34 27 44 07 16 47 175 SAM admitted to Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRC)

24 No. of villages 56 26 28 12 42 29 193 covered under promotion of Best Practices to reduce the levels of malnutrition among the children in the age group of 6 months to 5 years

25 No. of mothers and 732 373 400 161 568 393 2627 fathers involved for the promotion of Best Practices to reduce the levels of malnutrition among the children in the age group of 6 months to 5 years

26 No. of SAM children 41 66 62 38 82 49 338 whose levels of malnutrition were upgraded due to promotion of Best Practices

27 No. of Anganwadis 37 23 28 15 10 38 151 where meetings with Matri Sahayogini Samitis (MSS) have been done to strengthen MSS.

28 No. of MSS 82 36 52 30 12 48 260 meetings organized

29 Improvement in the 24 06 10 08 02 18 68 functioning of MSS (Nos)

30 No. of SHG Mitaans 06 04 11 02 03 26 trained in Sanjha Chulha scheme.

31 New ICDS centres 03 01 01 01 06 opened

32 New ICDS centres 03 01 06 02 12 proposed

33 No. of FPSs 12 11 14 07 11 08 63 Monitored

34 No. of families 02 02 02 06 benefited under NFBS

35 No. of eligible 01 03 02 02 02 10 families under NFBS whose applications are in the process of being sanctioned

36 No. of old people 30 08 18 12 07 29 104 benefited under IGNOAPS

37 No. of Bank 05 07 10 05 14 41 Accounts opened for IGNOAPS beneficiaries

40 No. of poor families 74 74 who have received DDAUY Cards

41 No. of villages/ward 49 37 41 21 45 32 225 where meetings with pregnant women have been done.

42 No. of pregnant 662 309 317 113 280 364 2045 women involved in the meetings

43 Women benefited 319 376 344 179 204 261 1683 under JSY

44 Follow up with 719 695 786 409 488 648 3745 eligible JSY beneficiaries

45 No. of Health Camps 09 01 10 20 organized

46 No. of pregnant 82 12 65 159 women who participated in the Health camps

47 No. of LLY 06 25 10 05 28 44 118 applications in the process of getting sanctioned

48 No.of LLY 03 03 10 03 08 20 47 applications sanctioned (sanction letter )

Abbreviation: MDM: Mid-Day Meal: MDMS: Mid-Day Meal Scheme; SMC: School Management Committee; SHG: Self Help Group; ICDS: Integrated Child Development Services; U-5: Under 5 years of age; SAM: Severe Acute Malnutrition; NRC: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre; MSS: Matri Sahayogini Samiti; FPS - Fair Price Shop; NFBS: National Family Benefit Scheme; IGNOAPS: Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme; DDAUY: Deen Dayal Antyodaya Upchar Yojana; JSY: Janani Suraksha Yojana; LLY: Ladli Laxmi Yojana; NSC: National Savings Certificate

7.2. Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) In the MDMS, monitoring involves assessing the status and initiating steps for improving a set of basic parameters including regularity of MDM, quality of MDM, quantity of MDM, flow of funds and grain, condition of school buildings, presence of kitchen sheds and their condition, functioning of the school and attendance of teachers, average attendance of students, hygiene in cooking and eating areas, availability of cooking and eating utensils, availability of safe drinking water and social and gender equality during meals

a. Problems related to gas connection:

i. In various locations such as Pipri, Kantaphod and Punjapura, 5, 14, and 8 number of schools respectively run the MDMS which are monitored and managed by the SHGs promoted by SPS. Under the Sajha Chulha Scheme (SCS), ₹.6000 was transferred to the headmaster’s bank account for provision of gas connection in the kitchens where the meals are prepared. Despite that the cooks, majorly women, have still been forced to use chulhas and collect wood by themselves by travelling long distances into the forest. This is due to either the misuse of funds by the teachers of the schools for personal uses or mere delay in implementing the objective. ii. Frequent dialogues were held with the School Management Committees (SMCs) and teachers, and the issue was discussed regularly in SHG meetings, which have given positive results. Either the SMC’s have taken responsibility for ensuring the gas connection as in Pipri or has pushed the women to resolve to buy the gas stoves by themselves as in Kantaphod. Now the cooks find it easy to cook large quantities of food, and have become more aware of the harmful effects of using chulhas on not just their health but also the environment, in general. Children too have benefitted, as they now get freshly cooked food without having to wait for long. iii. Challenges: Talking to all the stakeholders, such as the teachers, SMC members and SHG members and to make them think about their duties towards the proper functioning of MDM, was a challenge. b. Change of management: i. MDMS and SCS in Jatashankar village in Bagli location were managed by the SHG Lakshmi Maa Pragati Samuh since the past 2 years. Leela Bai used to represent the SHG whilst making decisions related to these schemes. As per the rules, 4 members are required to be involved in cooking. But there was only one cook and due to the inability to find new cooks, Leela Bai appointed 3 of her family members, including her husband at the kitchen. It was observed that the husband started interfering with the functioning of the SHG. After discussions with the SHG members, the members of Lakshmi Maa Pragati Samuh agreed to transfer the responsibility of providing the MDM to the other group as they had already been managing it for the past 2 years. Now, Neha Pragati Samuh has taken up the responsibility of providing the MDM. ii. Challenges: Leela Didi had been wielding too much power in terms of making decisions related to MDM, and her husband’s interference only worsened it. To talk to the members of Lakshmi Maa Pragati Samuh and to facilitate the transfer of responsibility, and to motivate the new group Neha Pragati Samuh to take up the responsibility was a challenge. c. Deviation from following the MDM menu:

i. In village Jhuladarh in Udainagar location, there is a primary school with 64 students, whose MDM is managed by Nirmala Bachat Samuh. It was observed that the menu was not followed there at all. The Health and Nutrition team of Udainagar went and held discussions with the President and Secretary of the SHG, who in turn spoke about this issue in the SHG meeting. The discussion in the SHG activated the monitoring system and the cooks began following the menu properly as children started getting freshly made nutritious food. ii. Challenges - Since, the village is situated in one of the farthest corners of Udainagar, no government official goes there for inspection, In the absence of a strong external monitoring system, the school officials tend to ignore the rules.

7.3. Integrated Child Development Services Scheme

Anganwadi centres are mandated to provide six types of health and nutrition related services to children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and adolescent girls. These services which fall under the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme are designed to ensure the complete and all-round development of the intended beneficiaries. The delivery of these services is being monitored by the Health and Nutrition team in 283 villages covering 303 anganwadi centres.

a. Inadequate anganwadi staff: Punjapura location is monitoring ICDS implementation in 37 anganwadis. Two among those were situated in village Borpadav and Bhikupura which had no helper for a long time. Anganwadi workers single handedly used to manage getting the children from their home, taking care of them and maintaining the hygiene in these two anganwadis. Also, the anganwadi would be closed whenever the worker would go for a meeting. Due to the lack of facilities and hygiene, children would not go these anganwadis regularly. The village was later mobilized to collectively make a resolution in the gram sabha to appoint a helper for the anganwadis in the two villages. This catalyzed appointment of anganwadi workers in other villages too. b. Baseline survey for Anganwadi Centres (AWC): Baseline survey was conducted for a total of 303 anganwadis under Bagli and Kannod blocks through Udainagar, Pipri, Bagli, Punjapura, Satwas and Kantaphod locations. The attempt was made to know the present status of the AWCs in the area and to ensure whether the facilities and services from the AWCs are actually benefiting the public or not.

7.4. Targeted Public Distribution System & Antyodaya Anna Yojana

SPS is engaged in the rolling out of National Food Security Act (NFSA) at the grassroots level. Under the Act, the Priority and Antyodaya households are eligible for subsidised grain from the Fair Price Shops (FPS) on a monthly basis. Under the Targeted PDS, each beneficiary family is entitled to receive food grains at Rs 1 per kg and the members must receive 5 kg each. The families benefiting from Antyodaya Anna Yojana are also stipulated to receive a minimum of 35 kg of food grains periodically. The H&N team, in league with the community members, is monitoring the operations of the TPDS scheme in 59 ration shops. Although this has resulted in better delivery of services to the beneficiaries, the ration shops in certain villages in Pipri, Punjapura, and Satwas are operating poorly due to various reasons such as non-linkage with aadhar card, not issuing priority slips for the beneficiary families, etc.

7.5. Pension scheme

Health and Nutrition team identifies beneficiaries for Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) for old persons above 65 years belonging to BPL families, National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) to support poor families on the death of a primary breadwinner, widow pension to support poor widows, disability pension to support challenged persons. H&N team makes people aware about these schemes and helps them avail the benefits.

Negligence from PRI officials

One such challenge was successfully tackled from our H&N team in Pipri location, Potla panchayat villages Biyandad, Kavadiyapura, Nimmanpura, Satbhaipura, Kandia, Kakadpura and Kandiyapalpura. There were many people in these villages who were eligible for different types of pension schemes. Despite several interventions from the H&N team, the panchayat officials did not take any action to provide pension benefits. H&N team collected all the necessary documents from all the beneficiaries and went to the panchayat office. The Panchayat officials organized a camp where 45 people participated, 29 of whom submitted their applications for the pension scheme. Among those 29 applicants, 17 of them have now started getting 300 INR as the pension amount every month under IGNOAPS. . 7.6. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)

The RBSK programme, under the National Health Mission, aims at early identification and intervention in the case of serious health conditions in children under 18 years of age. Many grave health conditions are identified due to the frequent health check-ups mandated for children under the threat of malnourishment. These children come under the radar of the RBSK government team, which then sets out to rehabilitate the identified children. H&N team identifies children with birth defects, deficiencies, development delays including disability. The parents of the identified

78 children are first counselled and are given more details on the condition, post which the children are taken for appropriate treatment. In the village Sobalyapura, a child had cleft lips right from the birth. H&N team counselled the child’s family which was initially reluctant to get a surgery. The team helped the family get a surgery at CHL Hospitals Indore, the treatment cost of which was completely covered under RBSK. Though many such schemes exist, very few are actually able to access primarily due to lack of awareness. The interventions that the H&N team makes in such cases is critical and ensures that schemes benefit those it is meant to benefit.

7.7. Malnutrition

SPS has identified following interventions to address issues of malnutrition and other nutritional deficiencies, the incidence of which is high in the local communities.

Kitchen garden: Kitchen Garden has been functioning with the help of health and nutrition program and agricultural development program through 4 committees under SPS. In which the beneficiaries were given seeds of type 5 (Sponge Gourd, Bottle Gourd, Pumpkin, Cucumber and Beans, etc.) varieties of vegetables. The purpose of which is to increase the intake of green vegetables in the food. 25 such families which had malnourished children or pregnant women were provided with seeds, and received help in making kitchen garden in their backyard.

Sorghum festival (Jowar Utsav): In Dewas district, jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), rala (foxtail millet), kodo millet have been grown traditionally but they now seem to have largely disappeared from the food basket. However, jowar is still groown in certain rainfed pockets as a major food crop. Given the nutritional importance of Jowar, H&N team organized an awareness program about the use of Jowar in 10 villages such as Siampura, Emilipura, Agrakhurd, Loharda, Pipri, Paras Pipali, in which the mothers of malnourished children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi helpers ,Village assistant and SHG women were present. They were taught tasty and easy to make recipes of Jowar like Laddu, Halwa and Tikki. Before starting the training, H&N team interacted with the women about the necessity of proper nutrition and history of Jowar and its significance. Apart from this, the film was also shown on Jowar festival using Pico projector and the problem of malnutrition was discussed. Also, the mothers were informed about the importance of feeding nutritious food to their children.

Providing Milk and Bananas to children with Severe Acute Malnutrition through SHGs: In order to involve the community in reduction of malnutrition, the H&N team and the SHG team encouraged the SHGs to spend a certain amount of their profit as community contribution.17 SHGs contributed a part of their profit to provide milk and bananas to 32 malnourished children from 6

79 villages for a period of 3 months. Growth of these children were constantly monitored by the H&N team.

Adolescent girls’ Health Program: Children are getting Mid-Day Meals till class 8. However, there is a rapid growth in them from ages 13 years to 19 years. In order to make them aware about nutrition and health during their teenage, especially girls, the Adolescent Girls’ Health Program was started. There are around 1,628 adolescent girls from 40 villages across 4 locations (Bagli, Udainagar, Punjapura and Kantaphod). Initially it was started with rapport building exercises with girls through games and now they are given trainings and counselling on personal hygiene, menstrual health management and nutrition.

7.8. Survey on Health Facilities in Bagli Block

Four of the federations, supported by SPS, namely, Udainagar Pragati Samiti, Punjapura Pragati Samiti, Bagli Pragati Samiti and Hatpipliya Nari Pragati Samiti conducted a major survey of the government health services in the entire Bagli block of Dewas district. The survey covered 1 Community Health Center (CHC), 6 Primary Health Centers (PHC) and 41 Sub Centers (SHC). More than 400 women participated in focused group discussions conducted in various villages and shared their experiences. Health and Nutrition team fully participated in the survey and facilitated the process. The findings which brought to light the alarming state of health services in the block were presented in the form of a petition signed by over 10495 SHG women to the Minister of State, Shri Deepak Joshi during the first General Body Meeting (GBM) of Hatpipliya Nari Pragati Samiti on 15th December 2017, where more than 3000 SHG women were present. Dr. Mihir Shah, Secretary SPS, stated that “even after 70 years of independence the state of health services in India is poor and it is not the problem of one particular government”. Mr. Joshi assured the women that he will personally monitor the situation in Bagli block. On 4th January 2018, presidents of the four federations met the Collector, Dewas and handed over the petition signed by 10,495 women. The Collector assured them that he would take this up very seriously and take appropriate action against the violators. On 23rd February 2018, the CHC at Bagli got a new X-ray machine after 2 years. The PHC at Ratanpur which was abandoned for 3 years got an MBBS doctor who now treats patients for around 3 hours every day except Sundays. After this survey some of the SHCs were white washed and have better infrastructure now. Corrupt practices and bribery for deliveries and treatment have also reduced comparatively.

7.9. Emergency health camps in Kandya, Gurarda, Nimanpur, Pandutalab and Pipri

In the month of October 2017, there was an outbreak of fever in 27 villages in Udainagar and Pipri area. The H&N team of Udainagar quickly carried out a survey in those 27 affected villages. Of the 685 affected families that were surveyed, 489 women, 668 children and 353 men were down with fever and chikunguniya like symptoms. The average period of illness in most areas was around 10-12 days. The affected families did not get access to the health centres and due to lack of facilities they could not receive the treatment on time. All the survey results and report were sent to the Collector, Dewas district on the same day. The next day morning the CMO and the BMO got in touch with H&N team, they were informed that two teams were being sent to Pipri area - one of which came from Bagli and the other was a local team from Pipri. The team from Bagli, which had one doctor, visited Kandya and Gurarda and treated close to 60-70 people while the team from Pipri treated around 40 people in Nimanpur. Later in the evening the BMO assured the H&N team that they would conduct a similar camp in Pandutalab the following day. As planned, a medical camp was held in Pandutalab panchayat office. Over 200 patients (most of them being women) from Pandutalab and surrounding villages attended the camp and were treated by the medical team that came from Bagli. Elaborate arrangements were made by our team for the camp - tent, drinking water, transportation facility for patients from remote villages. SPS community media team came up with an audio clip that conveyed the precautionary measures to be taken for these diseases and also their symptoms. The clip was played on loudspeaker so that the message could be conveyed to as many people as possible. Later in the afternoon, the SDM of Bagli visited the medical camp along with other officials to take stock of the situation and understand the gravity of the issue. Team SPS briefed the SDM about the findings of the survey and the situation on ground. After interacting with the doctor, she assured the team that she will talk to the Collector and conduct a similar medical camp in Pipri the next day. The camp at Pipri on the third day saw close to 450 patients coming from the remotest of villages in the Pipri sector. The number of patients treated in these medical camps in these continuous days were around 950.

Challenges - Creating awareness about the alarming issue to a larger crowd and making arrangements for the camps in such a notice was a huge challenge. Also the government officials were very hostile in the beginning. After seeing our efforts in getting people to the camp and our support to the health officials, the CHMO, personally, thanked team SPS for help and appreciated our role in organising the camp. They also requested us to directly inform them of such situations in the future.

8. KUMBAYA

New people, new machines, new orders, new opportunities. Everything changed in 2017 – 2018. It was a year like never before, a year of new beginnings and sweeping changes. At the end of the last year, March 2017, there were no orders, sales were bad, we had no money, a small team and very poor performance from all of us. It seemed as though the struggle to keep Kumbaya afloat would overwhelm us. Kumbaya was facing a crisis as a skill development - capacity building program, and as an enterprise for poor women and people of disability. We were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Then three amazing things happened in April, May and June, the first quarter of the financial year. Financial support from ABF for skill development and capacity building Expert in Apparel technology, Nighat Suhil joined SPS Orders from TRIFED began after a long, long gap So, all of a sudden, we swiveled around, powered up again and overcame major setbacks. Our most valued executive project co-ordinator unexpectedly resigned in June. Luckily a capable team member was able to step into this leadership role and take on the additional responsibilities successfully. We could also recruit new talent and find the right people for the right jobs this year. This was especially important when the inadequacy of long-time employees, whose work may have been acceptable before, could not adapt to the new requirements and goals. The financial support from ABF came just at the right time, making it possible to invest in the experienced people and the appropriate technology, to make a turnaround. Here are the different ways in which KUMBAYA has changed and grown. 8.1. New People

Nighat Suhil - Technical Consultant - The most transformative 9 months ever for Kumbaya began when Mr. Nighat Suhil joined as a Technical Consultant in June 2017 until he left in February 2018. From evaluating all our operations and systems, doing performance appraisals of each employee, discerning the potential of each producer, and implementing better operating procedures for patterns and samples, cutting, stitching, finishing, and quality control to find the right suppliers, printers, machines, tools, markets to personally training supervisors and other staff to take on more responsibility and become competent – he took on everything. Against all odds, he affected enduring changes that improved capability, capacity, quality, accountability and attitude and completely overhauled the way we work. Thanks to him, today Kumbaya is happily much better equipped to take on large orders, deliver high quality and meet export standards. Abhinesh Mishra - Accountant - For the first time Kumbaya was able to recruit a qualified accountant of its own. Until now, we have only survived so many years because the SPS accounts team has been bailing Kumbaya out each year. With the imposition of GST from July

2017 and the sudden transfer of all commercial activity to Kumbaya Producer Company Limited Abhinesh has been invaluable in taking on a new workload in new territory. Rizwan Khan - Embroidery Master Craftsman: Mr. Rizwan Khan has worked in export houses in Delhi and joined Kumbaya’s Satwas Bhawan where his role is to build on the traditional skills of women artisans in the area and also teach Aari embroidery and hand embroidery to new producers. With his expertise, we are able to continue work on embroidery design that we had started many years ago. Mohd Abuzar - Program Officer - A fresh graduate in social work and mass communication from Jamia Millia Islamia University, Mohd Abuzar joined us on 1st June 2017 in the capacity of Program Officer. His work was to build the capacities of our producers and strengthen their participation in KPCL while supporting the Kumbaya team in everyday operations and management workflows. Pavan Kumar - Quality Assurance - Mr. Pawan Kumar is in charge of all the innumerable responsibilities of quality control while training Kumbaya producers to understand, be accountable for quality, meet the highest standards at all four centers. He has more than ten years of experience in the export garment industry and for the first time, we have been able to recruit a professional for quality assurance. Viswanath Dhadse - Pattern and Sample Master - Mr. Vishwanath Dhadse has worked in the garment industry for over 15 years and his role is critical not only in Kumbaya’s own design lab but in sample development for client approval from all over the world. Again, for the first time we have a professional in place for this pivotal role. Nandkishore Rahangdale - Master Cutter - Our cutting master Mr. Nandkishore has helped improve the quality, capacity and productivity of the cutting team since he joined. Another first for Kumbaya, where we have never had the benefit of a professional with over fifteen years of experience working in the export garment industry. Nikita Patil - Merchandiser and Design Assistance - Ms. Nikita Patil prepares the required documents, reports and production schedules for ongoing work. She ensures that all the required trims and accessories go along with the cut fabric to the centers and is also in charge of making the tech packs, measurement charts, swatch cards for new designs, which are some of the most important tools for following specifications down the line in smooth production. Yet again a first for Kumbaya, where we have been managing without a dedicated person to do all this design specification and production documentation in real time – typically the production would start and finish, many times incorrectly, as the detailed documentation would follow months later. Priyanka Sharma - Inventory Incharge - Ms. Priyanka Sharma is from Bagli and joined us at the end of the previous financial year. She has been appointed as the stock and inventory in charge at the Jatashankar center. She has been a great help for us in tracking inventory of ready

85 stock and raw material and because of her, we have been able to streamline our inventory management systems and bring them up to date.

8.2. New Machines

Kumbaya introduced 18 new electronic high-speed sewing machines at two centers, 10 new sewing machines at Neemkheda and 6 at Bagli, while 2 sewing machines are being used at Jatashankar. Currently, our skilled producers are operating these machines after a special training given to them. We have our own Button Sewing and Buttonholing machines now, thanks to a donation from Young Volunteers’ Organization (YVO). Earlier we used to rely on independent units in Indore for this work. Since these units also work for many other garment manufacturers in Indore, maintaining quality standards was a major challenge. Often, our products are returned to us with the wrong buttons sewn on, buttonholes stained with irremovable ink, poor quality of sewing etc. Delays in completion of work on time were also very common. This severely affected our ability to maintain quality as well as deliver products on time. Very often, garments made in expensive fabrics such as khadi and natural dye block prints were rendered unsellable due to mistakes which could not be corrected. Having our own Button Sewing and Buttonholing machines not only helps us maintain quality but also help us cut delivery time and costs. Not having to transport the unfinished goods to Indore two hours away, wait for the job work to be completed (which could sometime take days), and bring back products for final checking, ironing and packaging before dispatch – drastically reduced time effort and thereby cost, while giving us complete control over quality and scheduling of work. Today women producers operate these machines. We have installed 3 new Vacuum Ironing Tables with Boilers and Irons for faster, better quality, less tedious ironing and finishing at all three centers of Neemkheda, Bagli and Satwas. Ultimately these will be extremely cost-effective as not only do they increase productivity with quality but also save the endless costs of having to buy expensive steam irons every few months or wait endlessly for them to be repaired. A 12 Kg Washing Machine has made the washing, softening, colour bleed and shrinkage of fabric much easier. All these years we have been washing either fabric or finished products manually which resulted in uneven washing, difficulty in drying and textural irregularities like patchiness of colours etc. A Five Thread Overlock Machine and a Four Thread Overlock Machine have been purchased for interlocking and stitching seams simultaneously on particular designs where French seams may not be applicable. Also, these machines will enable us to work very easily with knits like hosiery fabric very easily, adding yet another product line.

An Embroidery Machine will help us do small motifs, monograms and embellishment for our own brand as well as for custom orders, making our work distinctive. 8.4. New Orders

TRIFED The most significant development of this year has been getting orders worth Rs. 38 lakhs from TRIFED. After a long gap of four and half years, and tremendous luck, hard work and effort from the whole team under Nighat’s guidance, securing this order has been a big achievement, indeed, a lifeline for Kumbaya. Large orders from TRIFED not only assure the producers of continuous work for a major part of the year, but they also make the Kumbaya brand reach every corner of the country through Tribes India Stores. LabVisby At the end of January 2018, Kumbaya received a very special order from a store called LabVisby in the medieval island of Gotland in Sweden. Camilla is a ceramist and designer. Stefan is a photographer. They had heard of Kumbaya through our partner NGOs and well-wishers, Kala Swaraj and Women Weave. They stayed with us at our center for two weeks overseeing the pattern and sample making process for their collection. Nighat arranged for expert master pattern makers from Delhi to work on their designs. Fourteen styles were finalized with patterns and samples in this period, and we completed an initial production order of 400 pieces to be sent to Sweden last summer. This was an incredible experience for the team - learning to work with international buyers, understand their aesthetics, their requirements and standards of exactitude, work on new designs and build new relationships, and communicate well-overcoming language barriers. It also led to us applying for an import-export license. In addition, they had no objection to Kumbaya producing their styles for sale in India so we also gained fourteen new designs.

8.5. New Retail Partnerships

This year Kumbaya entered in partnerships with The ANT Store in Bangalore. There are three Ant Stores in Bangalore – at Indiranagar, Whitefield and New BEL Road. The Neemrana Store in Khan Market Delhi also started with a very strong high-end line of Kumbaya apparel in Malkha fabric for six months but had to shut down their shop because of New Delhi Municipal Council rulings. We made a small entry into the Kamala, the Crafts Council of India store at Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhavan, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi with our special Malkha and embroidered wallets but it is big and special because of the extraordinary craft and design mentorship we receive from the Director Purnima Rai of Delhi Crafts Council.

At the end of the year, we met the founders of a UK based brand called Nomads Fair Trade Fashion in New Delhi and showed them some of our styles. The meeting went well as the buyers were happy to learn about our work and liked our designs. They told us that they would like to keep some of our styles at the Nomads Fair Trade Fashion Outlets.

8.6. New Systems

This year, Kumbaya underwent several fundamental systemic changes under the expert technical guidance of Nighat. Unlike the rest of the garment industry, there are many challenges that a business like Kumbaya faces due to uncertainties that are specific to the remote area where it belongs. It is only now that we have been able to adopt processes, systems, tools, and technologies followed by the garment industry and make them work for us. The following are some of new ways in which we do things today.

Documentation

The first step was to bring back the Production Schedule which is a document that specifies all the details of a particular manufacturing order given to the production centers – how many pieces, when are they due, who has given the order, what are the requirements and so on. This is the most important document that ensures that everyone knows what to do. Instead of putting in the effort required to do this, more often than not, to save time and literally cut corners, bundles of cut fabric were sent to the bhawans without detailed instructions. For instance, hundreds of pieces of a cut garment style would reach a bhawan without any delivery date or matching threads or labels. This led to delays, inconsistency, and a compromise in the quality of products. It would also incur greater costs as different parts of the same product had to be sent multiple times by different people through different transport. The concept of Tech Packs or Specification Sheets widely used in the industry has been very helpful for Kumbaya. The tech pack essentially breaks down the garment into its several components - the cloth, the buttons, the fusing material, thread and so on. It includes a drawing with specifications about the pattern such as measurements of different parts, etc. This is the first measure in ensuring that there are fewer discrepancies between the conception of a product, its prototype and its execution. It provides clear instructions to the supervisors and enables them to make decisions. This has been of critical importance for Kumbaya’s designs. Although we managed somehow, with rough drawings and samples and trial and error, lack of time and resources, supervisors would often get confused with matching colors of thread with fabric, which size or material to use for buttons, how much to fold in the hem and so on.

Assembly Line Production

This has been an exciting revelation! We always thought that assembly line production, which inherently relies on multiple people to make a single product, was alienating and exploitative. From the beginning, we have emphasized a whole garment production system where each producer stitches an entire garment. Our initial attempts at an assembly line many years ago failed because different levels of skill in a line produced wildly different quality. Moreover, we gave very small quantities for production, and were unable to ensure accountability in quality control and so on. It turns out we just did not know how to do it! However, in the last year, Kumbaya went through a radical change and shifted to an assembly line system of production. The bhawans or the production centers saw a transformation with this new system. The impact of the assembly line system is palpable amongst producers and has changed the work ethic in Kumbaya. Listed below are some of the changes in the systems at the bhawans: Monitoring: is done continuously at different stages. Earlier, a piece would be checked only upon completion but now we have both in-line checking and end-line checking. In-line checking happens at the different stages of making a garment rather than at the end. Products are checked for quality all through the assembly line. New people have been assigned for reviewing these quality control details. Focus on Stitching: Focus on stitching has sharpened. Producers would often face distractions in the older system as they had to manage several things on their own like getting up from their machines to iron of cuffs and collars and so on. Now their entire concentration is on stitching which ensures more rigor and speed as well as better quality. The benefit of the assembly line is that people are allocated jobs based on their strengths – while some producers may be good at making a cuff or a collar, others may find it easier to stitch on a sleeve. Their specific jobs determine their seating position. The way women were seated has changed, now it is in order of the assembly of the garment which helps in concentration. Inclusivity: This system is far more inclusive of people with different abilities and skill levels. As the garment construction is broken down into different smaller operations each and every producer is included equally in the assembly line. Productivity: Due to better planning and scheduling, in the last year productivity has increased, raising labor payments and wages. In the earlier system, producers would often settle for producing a few pieces a day at their own speed where they resigned themselves to what they thought their capacity was. Now because they are linked together in a chain, they have to keep up with the speed of others, even as their attention remains on their part through the day. This generates greater energy and buoys everyone’s performance to work and earn more.

Teamwork: There is a greater team effort as compared to before when one person just worked on the whole product - now everyone is responsible for each garment as they are constructing different parts of the product. This has led to the great camaraderie between producers. All producers work towards the same standard in quality now which has also created a culture of learning from peers - those who are more accomplished at a particular job to help the ones that are lesser skilled. Equality in wages: Previously, there were wide gaps in the amount different individuals were earning. Now that has somewhat equalized – with most producers earning similar amounts each day. Reporting and Documentation: Lastly, our reporting and the documenting system has improved drastically since the assembly line has been implemented.

Quality Control

Quality begins with perfect patterns. Now our patterns are made professionally and graded into different sizes by computer grading systems. Our patterns earlier had too much allowance, they were not marked clearly, they would be mixed up, bundled and crumpled in trunks and cupboards, and many times because they were difficult to find a whole style had to be shelved for the season. Now patterns are catalogued with a date, labels, code, etc. and are hung neatly together. Our bulk cutting got better. Earlier, pieces were not perfectly cut because the layers were not weighed down before laying the patterns and cutting with a rotary blade cutter. Now we have a master cutter and a bigger jigsaw cutting machine. There used to be a person dedicated to checking each separate piece for measurements and sorting and trimming off the extra fabric. Now no one needs to do that because all the pieces are more consistent in size due to professional handling and better technology. A simple way to check quality here is to pick one piece on top, one at the bottom and one in the middle which are then laid on top of each other to see if they are equal in size. These pieces are the indicators for the entire batch of cut pieces- if they are equally sized, all the pieces are fine. Every bhawan has two quality checkers who do this check every morning. First, they check for measurements in cutting, then they match threads, buttons, and elastic. Later they check for marks. In-line checking ensures quality during assembly. After assembly, the products undergo end-line checking upon completion. This checking process is done by our Quality Assurance in-charge and is thorough. Mistakes are spotted and pieces removed promptly. This check is done in a certain ratio. Beyond this ratio, if there are mistakes then the whole lot is stalled and each piece has to be examined carefully. Without this quality check, a consignment cannot leave a bhawan.

To standardize folding across all three bhawans measurements for folds have been specified – in this way a particular style is folded uniformly, exactly in the same way. After ironing and folding, the product is completely packed at the bhawans and only comes to the central warehouse at Jatashankar for attaching the price tags. Earlier many responsibilities were shared by a small local team who were playing multiple roles in the production. Now, there are clearly defined responsibilities for all those working in Kumbaya. We have dedicated people at every bhawan checking for quality, be it cutting, materials used or the stitching itself. It is also much easier to do a performance appraisal for all employees and producers. Supervisors and leaders can now identify the strengths and weaknesses of all employees (including themselves) making the distribution of work much more effective.

8.7. New Materials

Some of the exciting new materials we work with now are: Magic Pens whose ink disappears upon steam ironing! We use these to precisely mark pocket placements, measurements and so on. The chalk, a tool used by most tailors to make markings on cloth, leaves stains and it was uneconomical to wash garments in bulk to remove these marks. Though the stains would go after the first wash, it always made customers skeptical enough to demand discounts. Magic pens are more expensive than chalk, but in the long term, they are proving to be more economical. This was one of the many industrial tools now incorporated in production at Kumbaya and each producer has one. Better Fusing Material for interlining. Another change was in the fusing material we were using. Fusing material is used to reinforce, strengthen or shape fabric in a garment, for instance the material used in a shirt collar. Earlier we would use only a particular type of canvas available in Indore, which was of good quality but didn’t work for all products and was too stiff at times. And it used to cost about Rs.90 per meter. Newer canvases were introduced specifically to the product they were being used for. The cost of these fusing materials is Rs.12 - 13 per meter. White Petrol to remove stains. We don’t have to reduce the prices of garments because of a stain anymore. Cardboard Hangers We now have wonderful cardboard hangers with the Kumbaya logo printed on them. Kumbaya Labels in Cotton Finally we have a selection of red and cream coloured cotton labels designed for different products with our brand name, size and logo printed on them. We were getting negative feedback on the earlier polyester labels from customers. Cotton labels on the product provide a more comfortable experience to customers.

These changes have led to several positive outcomes in the work and progress of Kumbaya- both in technical prowess as well as competence in the market. The new systems have also benefited the work environment. 8.8. New Trainings Kumbaya Primary Level Training started not only with new trainees but a new training module as well. We increased the training period from 60 days to 70 days. We also redesigned the training module so the work done by each trainee turns into a useful product that can be sold. In this way, nothing is wasted and it also brings down the cost of training. Photography Workshop: We invited an internationally known and celebrated photographer Mr. Sandeep Dhopate to Kumbaya. Mr. Dhopate has captured various aspects of the life of people living in the shadows. His photographs and commentary on the LGBTQ community in India, which showcased the apathy towards LGBTQ people are some of his most celebrated works. Mr. Dhopate’s interest in bringing the art of photography to marginalised people of India brought him to Kumbaya. By the end of February, a team of supervisors and producers together were immersed in a Photography cum Photo-shoot workshop where Mr. Dhopate taught the art, craft and basic nuances of photography. It was a rare opportunity for our producers to learn from a highly skilled photographer and teacher. This also helped us think differently about how to showcase and present our products in artistic ways. Training another organisation for the first time, we conducted an accelerated three-day stitching crash course for another organization in December 2017. Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan (BNGVN), based in Parula Taluka of Jalgaon District of Maharashtra, works on empowerment and livelihoods. Ten women producers of BNGVN were divided into five teams and each team was provided with a stitching instructor. For the next three days, they were trained at the bhawan in Neemkheda village on five different products. The training involved the whole process of garment stitching from the pattern making, fabric cutting, stitching, ironing, finishing to finally learning the nuances of packing a final product ready to dispatch. Pattern Making & Sampling: From 23rd January to 27th January 2018, Kumbaya organized a workshop on design development, pattern making & sampling procedures with the help of Mr. Rana who is a Pattern expert with more than 20 years’ work experience in the apparel industry, along with Mr. Mubarik an expert sample master from Delhi.

8.9. New Designs

One of the activities we do annually is to make beautiful things for the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, that too at full tilt! They were celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2017 and for that they wanted Kumbaya to make table toppers and photo frames for a formal sit-down dinner party at the Penn Museum’s Lower Egypt Gallery. We

92 designed some elegant table toppers with handwoven cream and zari fabric from Maheshwar, block printed with delicate motifs in gold khari work from Jaipur, along with a new design in brocade photo frames. Now we can work on a lot of new projects and ideas because we have a whole new team at the sample making unit or design lab. The first thing we have done is to radicalize each and every one of our women’s styles with pockets (we have always wanted to do that but could not because we just did not have skilled enough people to do it). Comfortable, big pockets, on both sides - to slip in a big phone, keys, money or just to stand or walk watching the world go by with your hands in your pocket! Our patterns for Kurtas, Half Kurtas and Shirts for men were corrected and graded in Delhi this year. In shirts, we now have mandarin collars in full sleeves and half sleeved shirts apart from shirts with regular collars. In men’s clothing, we try to work with bright jewel colours, soft pastels, interesting block prints and florals for shirts and kurtas. We also have a unisex drawstring trouser (works for men and women both). Working on unisex and androgynous clothing has always been of keen interest and a foundational design principle in Kumbaya, to be able to uphold gender fluidity, as also to articulate a need to design less - with less and make less. From the beginning, we have been constructing clothing that forms a fundamental core - around and over which we modify and adjust, alter and embellish but return to every year. Along with the new styles, we develop every year, the styles that we developed fifteen or twenty years ago are still relevant, popular and in production even today. New styles this year for women were more about comfort and ease – with relaxed fits. The list below captures the volume of new designs we have been successful in incorporating into Kumbaya’s range of products. Some of these came about through new clients and from updating training items.

Kumbaya Collection:

1. Tunic Mandarin V- Neck 2. Tunic Mandarin V- Neck Pintuck 3. Asymmetrical Layered Tunic 4. Shirt V Neck 5. Flared Full Sleeve Top 6. V-Neck Sleeveless Top with Gathers 7. Loose Fit Wrap Top 8. Dress Boat Neck with Bottom Flared

9. Patchwork Blouse 10. Rectangular Tote Bag made from waste 11. Embroidery on Malkha Kalamkari Wallet

Export Orders:

1. Table Toppers for CASI 2. Photo Frames for CASI 3. Kimono Wrap Around Top for Labvisby 4. Artisan Tunic Full Length for Labvisby 5. Artisan Tunic Knee Length for Labvisby 6. Strappy Top Cross Back for Labvisby 7. Fisherman Pant Wrap Around for Labvisby 8. Box Top with Pleats and Belt for Labvisby 9. Skirt Box Pleats Long for Labvisby 10. Skirt Balloon for Labvisby 11. Shirt Half Sleeve for Labvisby 12. Square Box Top for Labvisby 13. Trouser for Labvisby 14. Jacket for Labvisby 15. Two Sizes of Pouches for Labvisby

Training:

1. Kisan Bandi 2. Children’s Frock 3. Churidar Salwar 4. Godri Work Patches 5. Rectangular Tote Bag grappled with pockets, plackets, and necklines 6. Three Sizes of Pouches

Pattern Correction:

1. New Pattern of Shirt Full Sleeve 2. New Pattern of Shirt Half Sleeve 3. New Pattern of Men's Kurta 4. New Pattern for Boat Neck Dress Sleeveless with Pockets

8.10. New Taxes – The Goods and Service Tax

The Goods and Services Tax which was implemented on the 1st of July 2017 and has brought about major changes to the way Kumbaya functions, concerning both our accounts systems and our production process. 1) Where earlier there was only one sales tax on all the items now there are two percentages applied to Kumbaya's product range. Sales tax of 5% is applied on a selling price below Rs.1000/- and 12% is on all the products that have a selling price above Rs.1000/-.

2) Harmonized System Nomenclature code or HSN code is applied on all products according to their respective categories.

3) Before the tax system was reformed we had to submit our sales tax challan on monthly basis and VAT returns every quarter. Now the new tax framework to be followed requires mandatory submissions without any failure, such as:

a) GSTR-3B to be filed every month with all the sales and purchase details

b) GSTR-1 to be filed quarterly with all the bill details of sale in the respective quarter

c) GSTR-2 which is an auto-generated purchase bill has to be checked every quarter

Impact on Kumbaya:

1. Under this new tax reform, we had to shift all our billing systems, invoicing, delivery note, and all our account related systems from Kumbaya, Samaj Pragati Sahayog to Kumbaya Producer Company Limited in less than a month. 2. The sudden change impacted our sales for a period of time as we had to recall the stock on papers and issue new delivery notes to all our retail shops. 3. Sales tax percentages of 5% below and 12% above a Rs.1000 selling price have many implications on the price structure of our products. For products which are around or slightly above Rs. 1000, more often than not, we have to reduce the price to just below

Rs.1000 to keep our prices attractive and affordable. For selling prices significantly higher than Rs.1000/-like some dresses, jackets, patchwork bed covers etc, a 12% tax makes them much costlier and impacts the demand significantly. 4. In February 2017 Kumbaya hired Abhinesh as an accountant in the hope that he will strengthen our accounting, help us boost our sales and build capacities of our team and producers, but since the tax reforms in July 2017 he is been totally occupied in handling GST norms and regulations. 5. Due to this shift from Kumbaya as part of a charitable organisation Samaj Pragati Sahayog to Kumbaya Producer Company Limited, we cannot participate in some of our high impact exhibitions anymore. In the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Kumbaya, Samaj Pragati Sahayog participated as an NGO for the past three years at highly subsidised rates and had very high sales. Now as a Producer Company Kumbaya needs to apply as a private or commercial participant. Not only do we have to pay unaffordable stall charges we have to compete with elite design brands for selection. We were not selected this year. 6. According to the new tax reforms, we are required to register for a temporary GST number in every state that we attend an exhibition in, for which we are required to follow all the framework regulations such as GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3B.

8.11. New SHGs

Historically, Kumbaya was the first SHG of SPS in 1995-96. 12 women from Neemkheda village formed a group called Tara and began operations with a loan from NABARD for Rs. 50000 to buy sewing machines and raw material. The SHG failed within a couple of years for many reasons. We did not know how to run one, we were very few people struggling with too many complex issues so the empowerment of rural women and the adoption of the principles of SHG building took a backseat. But through all this Kumbaya emerged as a successful social enterprise. In the struggle to learn stitching, make products for an urban market, understand quality and build a successful business, our producers lost out on the empowering process of making a self-help group run and being part of large women’s federations. After more than twenty years, Kumbaya producers formed SHGs for their respective production centers. There are two groups at Neemkheda Bhawan, one group at Satwas Bhawan and one group at Bagli Bhawan. Involvement with running SHG’s will help them play a greater role in the producer company.

8.12. Key Indicators

Total Sales in 2017 – 2018 were Rs. 65.73 Lakhs. This includes the sale of Honey worth Rs. 5.37 Lakhs. The list of orders done and retail shops supplied are as follows: Table 8.1: Sales from Retail Stores in 2017-18

Sales from Retail Stores Organization Sales Amount Percentage of Total Sales TRIFED, Bhopal Rs. 22.22 Lakhs 40.58% Maya La Boutique (Kraftwork), Mysore Karnataka Rs. 7.94 Lakhs 14.50% SPS Neemkheda Campus, Madhya Pradesh Rs. 6.76 Lakhs 12.35% Safe Harvest Pvt. Ltd. Telangana Rs. 3.31 Lakhs 6.05% Kriti Eco Boutique, Pondicherry Rs. 2.29 Lakhs 4.18% M/S Believe India, Gram Bharat, New Delhi Rs. 1.45 Lakhs 2.65% Mesh, Local Shopping Centre, New Delhi Rs. 1.34 Lakhs 2.45% HABBA, Bengaluru Rs. 1.27 Lakhs 2.32% Sasha Association, Kolkata Rs. 1.21 Lakhs 2.21% Red Earth Good Living & Hospitality (P) Ltd., Kabini Rs. 1.11 Lakhs 2.03% Samuha, Karnataka Rs. 1.01 Lakhs 1.84% Serenity, Bangalore Rs. 0.82 Lakhs 1.50% Fawn Trade & Travels Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi Rs. 0.76 Lakhs 1.39% Urban Weave, New Delhi Rs. 0.74 Lakhs 1.35% The Ants Craft Pvt. Ltd. Bengaluru Rs. 0.72 Lakhs 1.32% Fabrics of India, Pune Rs. 0.35 Lakhs 0.64% Jaivik Setu, Indore Rs. 0.32 Lakhs 0.58% Center for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi Rs. 0.27 Lakhs 0.49% Friends of Women's World Banking, Gujrat Rs. 0.27 Lakhs 0.49% Remade in India, Bengaluru Rs. 0.26 Lakhs 0.47% ANCHO Motors, Mumbai Rs. 0.16 Lakhs 0.29% Kamala-Crafts Council of India, New Delhi Rs. 0.10 Lakhs 0.18% Gita Travels & Tours, New Delhi Rs. 0.08 Lakhs 0.15% Total Rs. 54.75 Lakhs 83.30%

Table 8.2: List of exhibitions that Kumbaya participated in

Sales from Exhibitions

Name and Location Dates Sales Amount Percentage of Total Sales Aadi Shilp Mela, Delhi Haat, 16th to 30th November New Delhi 2017 Rs. 4.72 Lakhs 42.99% Pause for a Cause, Bengaluru 28th to 30th June 2017 Rs. 1.68 Lakhs 15.30% Malkha Exhibition, New 9th to 11th September Delhi 2017 Rs. 1.43 Lakhs 13.02% Aadi Shilp Mela, Bhopal 19th to 31st December Haat, Bhopal 2017 Rs. 0.84 Lakhs 7.65% Pause for a Cause, Indore 2nd & 3rd February 2018 Rs. 0.70 Lakhs 6.38% Pause for a Cause, Pune 10th to 11th January 2018 Rs. 0.52 Lakhs 4.74% Pause for a Cause, Vadodara 4th & 5th August 2017 Rs. 0.46 Lakhs 4.19% NGO Expo, Mumbai 25th to 26th May 2017 Rs. 0.34 Lakhs 3.10% 8th to 9th September Pause for a Cause, Bengaluru 2017 Rs. 0.29 Lakhs 2.64% Total Rs. 10.98 Lakhs 16.70%

Training and Production:  Total Number of Producers Working at Jatashankar, Neemkheda, Bagli and Satwas Centers – 92  Number of New Producers Who Joined in this Financial Year at Neemkheda, Bagli and Satwas Centers - 34  Number of Trainees in this Financial Year at Neemkheda, Bagli and Satwas Centers – 70  Number of Pieces Produced at Neemkheda, Bagli and Satwas Centers – 14000  Number of Patches from fabric waste produced at Neemkheda, Bagli and Satwas Centers - 3000 Including Patches for 85 Bedcovers  Value of Patchwork Products Made Out of Waste – Rs.5.04 Lakhs  Value of Patchwork Products Sold this Financial Year - Rs.3.50 Lakhs  Value of Fabric Purchased this Financial Year – Rs.40.20 Lakhs  Value of Honey Purchased this Financial Year – Rs.0.59 Lakhs  Total Wages Paid to Producers this Financial Year - Rs.16.05 Lakhs

9. COMMUNITY MEDIA

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9.1 Film Production

SPS Community Media plays a crucial role in building understanding about this work among not only the people themselves, but also those SPS partners with. SPS believes that films provide platforms of unity for people on the margins. Because they do not have a voice and stay divided on the lines of caste, community, religion, and language, the poor continue to remain exploited in our country. Films can give them a common language and shared concerns. SPS has initiated local youth in filmmaking, empowering them in articulating concerns through the language of cinema. The films made by SPS Community Media feature the people themselves - people who have benefitted from and have participated in making big changes happen. SPS Community Media has produced nearly 200 films – social documentaries; community videos and training films on watershed managements, sustainable agriculture, nature-based livelihoods, women’s empowerment, environment, etc. 9.1.1 Completed Films SPS Community Media produced the following films this year:

Table 9.1: Details of Films Produced in 2017-18

Filmmaker & Title Month Brief Varieties of indigenous millets, luscious cuisine and many stories Laxminarayan around the crop are interwoven in Devda Jowar Gatha (The Jowar Ballad). The May film presents the collective memory of “Jowar Gatha” (The millet culture with the aim of reviving Jowar Ballad) the dying practices of farming varieties of millet in the drylands of Central India

This is part of a documentation project focusing on local cuisine as being an important source of nutrition. The films aim to raise awareness about locally Akash Basumatari available foods and to talk about their June “Ber” traditional value, health benefits, recipes, etc. Ber is a seasonal fruit, rich in vitamins and antioxidants. However, myths regarding side effects from its consumption surround it. This film attempts to eliminate these myths, and

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to reassure viewers about the benefits of this easily available fruit

The curious mind explores, discovers Suneet Singh Puri, and shares - witness the joy of learning Pradeep Lekhwar, of children of One Star Public School, Laxminarayan situated in a remote tribal village of Devda Central India in the film The Curious June Mind. Here the curiosity in the young minds is not only nurtured but the “Mann Mein Tha children are encouraged to draw their Ek Sawaal” (The inferences through observations and Curious Mind) discoveries of the world around them.

This is another film from the series of films focusing on promoting food sovereignty through awareness about local cuisine. This film was shot on the banks of the river Narmada. Bamboo shoot has been a food traditionally Akash Basumatari consumed by the inhabitants, both for August “Bamboo Shoot” taste and nutrition. Over the years, the consumption of this local cuisine has depleted among the newer generations. The movie shows the entire process – procurement, preparation, cooking, and eating. It highlights various discourses around locally available greens.

Aajad Singh Khichi September “Kumbaya”

Aajad Singh Khichi “Kantaphod Pragati November Samiti GBM”

Iqbal Hussain

“Seed Treatment and Bio Pesticide Pigeon Pea” January Iqbal Hussain “Natural Pest Management” Iqbal Hussain

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“Pigeon Pea Harvesting”

Iqbal Hussain

“Rice Planting”

Iqbal Hussain “Bio Pesticide for Rice”

Iqbal Hussain “Rice Harvesting and Drying”

Aajad Singh Khichi “Ghol Anmol” February Nature’s Fix

Aajad Singh Khichi “Sona Maati” February (Nature’s Bounty)

Laxminarayan Devda, Iqbal Hussain March “The Farmer’s Water Collective”

9.1.2 On-going film projects; Films under Production

ACWADAM Surfing the Subterranean: India has emerged as a hotspot of groundwater extraction and contamination, surrounded by an intricate conundrum of issues between demand, supply, and availability of groundwater resources. India is the largest user of groundwater in the world today. Surfing the Subterranean is a film that focuses on ACWADAM’s work related to groundwater management in various parts of India. ACWADAM through the years has been able to evolve a strategy that works on aquifer-based ground water management, a complex hydrogeological science that has been demystified to be effectively laid on the ground through its many NGO partners all over India. The film unfolds the need to lay emphasis on a participatory

103 approach, in applying the science of hydrogeology to understand the elusive nature of groundwater thereby facilitating community decisions and action on management of water.

Safe Harvest Private Limited Two films on the NPM practices adopted for the cultivation of Sona Masuri Rice in the Tungabadhra region of northern Karnataka and Red Gram (Tur) in Tandur region of Telangana are being made. These films document all the NPM package of practices that farmers adopt leading to the chain of custody that includes hermetic storage, processing in the hub, and packing the commodities till they reach the retail shelf. These films are being made with combined efforts of Janara Samuha Mutual Benefit Trust, WASAN and SafeHarvest. These are awareness videos for capacity building of organizations on NPM cultivation practices and for developing a market linkage for NPM produce.

On Malnutrition This film essays the role of the Health and Nutrition team of SPS and its effort to curb malnutrition in the region. The documentary follows the daily activities of mitaans - from identifying a malnourished child to counseling the guardians about malnourishment to documenting the journey to the nutritional rehabilitation centre (NRC).

Film on the Political Economy of Early Marriage This story is an insightful documentary about a tribal family and their struggle with poverty, deep in the dry land of Madhya Pradesh, Central India.The film looks into the life of an impoverished family caught in the cross roads of social transition – the society struggles with age old norms and customs, new aspirations, and grappling with tribal identity. The film is based in Jamasindh. a very backward village in a tribal belt of Dewas District of Madhya Pradesh. The filmmaker follows the trajectory of the family. The landscape reveals the story of neglect – acute malnutrition, dysfunctional schools, failing health amenities and agriculture distress.

Film on Forest Fire The Barjhai Forest Film project attempts to see the forests of Barjhai Ghat through the eyes of children from nearby villages, namely – Sobliyapura, Barjhai, and Panjaria. It explores the intricate daily relationship of the children with the forest across various seasons and tried to understand the ways in which it gets affected in the due course of a forest fire.

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Film on Malnutrition (APPI Project) This film tries to look at the problem of malnutrition in a remote tribal village situated in Dewas district. This village, namely Biyadad, is more than 120 km from the district headquarter Dewas. The village has a primary school and an anganwadi, but for all their practical needs people need to travel 5 to 10 km to Potla or Pipri, slightly bigger villages that have some shops and traders. Ninety-five percent of the population is tribal and rain-fed agriculture is the main source of livelihood, with many migrating for work during the Rabi season. The village faces a severe problem of water during the summer months. Biyadad is marked by a number of cases of malnourished children. SPS’s major intervention in the village is through the SHG and Health and Nutrition programmes. For our film, we chose two families that live near the surrounding forests, slightly away from the main settlements, not having access to the school or the anganwadi of the village. Both families have small plot of land that hardly suffices their needs and their livelihood is mainly dependent on minor forest produce and any agricultural labour work that is available. Both families have daughters who suffered from severe malnutrition. When we started filming, one girl was 11 months old and the other was 20 months old.

Film on Bonded Labour The second film is based on the life of a landless Gond tribal family, whose sole breadwinner is a bonded labourer. Santosh works as an agricultural labourer for a Gujjar family for mere thirty thousand rupees a year. The wages are for 365 days of work, and for every holiday taken by Santosh, the wage for that day gets deducted. Santosh has taken a loan of Rs. 50000 from the Gujjar landlord for his daughter’s marriage, and now has to work in his fields until he pays off the full debt. The other members of his family work as daily labourers as and when work is available. Santosh’s wife and mother have recently become members of an SPS run SHG group at Satwas location.

9.2 SPS Films Division Fellowship

In addition to in-house production, SPS Community Media has been working on the Film Fellowship project in collaboration with the prestigious Films Division (FD), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. The last year saw the completion of all the FD films that are now on their way to getting their censor board certificates. Meanwhile, the films have been making the rounds in various film festivals all over the world.

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“Fireflies” by Johnson Rajkumar  Best short documentary – Art House Asia Film Festival, Kolkata  Second best short documentary in 5th International Chennai Short Film Festival  Screened in Balkan Can Kino Film Festival, Athens  Golden Tree Film Festival, Germany  South Asian Short Film Festival, Kolkata  Davis Feminist Film Festival, California, USA

“An Uncertain Winter” by Munmun Dhalaria  Jury’s Special Prize - IMF Mountain Film Festival

At this juncture, directors are gearing up for more film screenings and film festivals, and aiming at giving SPS’s theory of change a wider platform

9.3 Film Dissemination

The films produced by SPS are screened throughout the year within the organization, in different locations and villages, through small portable projectors (Pico projectors) and mobile cinema screenings. Screenings are conducted to create awareness among people of different locations under SPS and to spread the work of the organization. They also help in connecting more and more people to the different programmes of SPS. Screenings are also a platform for locations to present their work to as many as 150-200 people. Discussions are always held afterwards, enabling constructive dialogue between people from the village, beneficiaries, and the SPS programme teams. Films about malnutrition and health during pregnancy are shown to women and girls. These films raise awareness and provide them with information and facts about things they might otherwise ignore. Films that touch upon environmental or social issues like the SPS film on ill-effects of plastic are also shown in schools so that it creates awareness among children who would further go and talk to their family about it.

Table 9.2: List of Films that were screened in 2017-18 S.no Film Name 1 Achhi Fasal Aur kit Roktham ke Prakratik Tarike 2 100 Days of Work 3 Apna Bajar

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4 Apno Doctor (Paravet System) 5 Arzoo 6 Bhu Nadep 7 Boulder Checks 8 Calf Mortality 9 Chara Maar Dawa Me Kisaan Ka Anubhav 10 Complementary Feeding_ After six months of age, infants need other nutritious foods 11 Desi Cow se Income 12 Dular Karykram 13 Early marriage means early pregnancy 14 Earthen dams 15 Farm Bunding 16 Full Immunization in first year Provides your child with lifelong protection 17 Gabion structure 18 Ghar Ki Murgi Sona Barabar 19 Gliricidia Green Manure 20 Growth Monitoring Monitor your child's growth by having them weighed every month 21 Hamari Apni Doodh Dairy 22 How Immunization protects Completing the immunization cycle protects children 23 How Polio Spreads Polio is spread through the oral-faecal route 24 Hygiene – The way of life Institutional Delivery All births should take place In a hospital skilled attendant or 25 Pregnancy 26 Iodine deficiency (Iodized salt ensures the proper mental and cognitive development) 27 Jowar Gatha 28 Jowar Utsav 29 Keetnashak Ya Vinashak 30 Kisano Ki Ram Rahim Producer Company

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31 Kitchen Garden 32 Kiyadhar Gaon Ki Safal Khani 33 Main aur Meri Bakri 34 Mix Crop 35 Nagar or Paani Fir Wahi Khani 36 Nari Sangh 37 Neemark 38 NREGA - Building Rural India 39 On farm Interventions (Khet Talab aur Palabandi ) 40 Paanch Pattiyo Ka Mantra 41 Pathshala 42 Planatation 43 Polio Immunization Children up to five years of age must be administered polio drops 44 Poshan Nutrition Series Introduction 45 Pucca Nadep 46 Ridge area treatment 47 Safe Earth 48 Sanjeevak 49 Sath Sath Saskat Hath 50 Satyamev Jayate Toxic Food 51 Satyamev jayate water conservation 52 Seed Garmination 53 Seed Treatment 54 SHG LPG Gas 55 Signs, Consequences and Prevention of Malnutrition 56 Sitaram Kaka Ka Gajab Andaj 57 Soil Fertility

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58 Subh Vivah 59 Sukhi Dukhi Animation Film 60 Surjana 61 Take a Pledge to Prevent Malnutrition 62 Tetanus (All pregnant women & infants need to be immunized against tetanus) 63 The Road Back Home 64 The Story Of Cholera 65 UPS & KPS GBM 66 Vaccination PPR 67 Vaccination FMD 68 Vaccination 69 Vermi Compost 70 Vindhyanchal 71 Wathershed intervantion Basic Principles 72 Weed Compost 73 Wheat Variety

9.3.1. Experiences and Stories

Jowar Gatha Jowar (sorghum) is a member of the millet family, native mainly to Africa, but with species extending to Asia, Australia, and a few more regions. Jowar is grown in many parts of India, with Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka being among the top cultivators. Jowar is cultivated in arid, semi-arid zones where other crops have trouble growing. It is a strong crop that offers high yield in dry regions that have high temperatures and low rainfall. In India, Jowar was a crop widely grown and consumed mainly by the farmers in rural India, usually in the form of rotis or porridge. Jowar has been known as the poor man’s crop because of its coarse grains, dependability, low input cost, and the energy that it gives that helps farmers work all day in their fields without feeling weak and famished. The nutritional value of jowar is unparalleled and it is known for providing strength and boosting immunity. Its high-fibre content helps in bowel movement and manages diabetes and

109 obesity, high magnesium level is good for lowering blood pressure, while the potassium content keeps hypertension at bay. It is also extremely good for pregnant women. Pregnant women who ate jowar rotis had easier pregnancies as compared to their daughters and daughters-in-law, as told by older women from different villages in the area who grew up on jowar dishes. With the coming of the Green Revolution, wheat and rice were popularised and subsidised in ration shops, and along with a cultural bias forming against millets, this led to reduced cultivation of these coarser grains. The traditionally rich diet of people shifted and today their children don’t even know what jowar is. The film Jowar Gatha explores this phenomenon in these drylands of Madhya Pradesh – where millets were once consumed in abundance, where conversations of jowar make the village elders nostalgic about the delicious jowar dishes they used to eat, making their mouths water. It illustrates the memories of jowar through the different characters in the film, accompanied with many scrumptious clips of jowar being cooked in a variety of ways – as porridge, as a sabzi, as popcorn, as something that can be mixed with jaggery and ghee, as rotis, etc.

The film talks about the hardiness of the crop, how it can survive even heavy rainfall, how it provides them with strength and along with this, also illustrates the various rituals that are linked to jowar. For adivasis, jowar is equivalent to a Goddess, and is used in numerous rituals and traditions from birth to death. Many songs and prayers are written around it and sung by women farmers even in the film. The film also explores the one major threat that these crops face – the threat from hungry birds. The jowar crop is a popular target for birds and one of the factors that prevents people from planting it. If more people planted jowar, the birds would be distributed across multiple fields of crop, and not collect in one field. The community media team, along with the agriculture and health and nutrition teams, organized screenings of the film Jowar Gatha in 3 villages – Sitapuri, Jamasindh, and Shyampura. One of the major reasons behind this screening was to further efforts to promote and revive the forgotten jowar crop. The people in the audience, especially the village elders, loved the film, the songs, the dishes, the story, and most of all, the nostalgia and emotion that the film evoked. Women would sing along with the song in the movie and even afterwards (the song-sessions would sometimes even go on for an hour), children would get excited with the food and the bird-sequence, and elders would reminisce. The one thing common to everyone in the audience was that everyone’s mouths were watering uncontrollably. Many people shared their experiences after watching the movie. The elders spoke about how they were stronger than the next generation because of jowar – how they could walk longer and do more physical labour. Many children didn’t know the story of Jowar being regarded a Goddess and some people even recited it for everyone.

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Some elders thought the popcorn cooked in the movie was real and asked the children to get bowls to eat in! One person said “nakli zamaana, nakli log, paani hoye toh gehu pake, nahi hoye toh jowar pake”. This means that this is a fake era with fake people – if there’s water, they’ll plant wheat, if not then they’ll resort to planting jowar. People in the audience even spoke about how earlier agriculture entailed no to low input costs and with the advent of soyabean and cotton, input costs rose in the form of medicines, pesticides, seeds, etc. 9.3.2. Screening in Bhikangaon

Bhikangaon and Lalkheda are locations a little cut off from other locations that SPS works with. To bridge this gap and evoke a feeling of belonging to the organisation, along with showing to the people the long-term benefits of joining the SHG programme, many screenings were conducted in these two locations. The movie “Saath Saath Sashakt Haath” and “Arzoo” were selected to introduce the organisation to the people and highlight the processes and work that the SHGs entail. Stories of women linked with SHGs and the positive change in their lives after joining were illustrated through these films. Seeing others like them benefitting from the programme gave the audience more confidence. The difference between SHGs and MFIs were shown through these movies so as to avoid any confusion and to show the sustainable SHG model compared with the more often than not corrupt MFI model. Through discussions between people who had been a part of the SHG programme and benefited largely from it, and people who were hesitant and wary about it, a clearer understanding of the SHGs was formed, and people became more receptive towards joining. After the screenings in Bhikangaon, 5 SHG groups were formed.

Table 9.3: Overall Details of Film Screenings

S.no Particulars Total 01 No of Pico Screenings 41

02 Village 365

03 Screening 1819

04 Group 500

05 Cluster 33

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06 Anganwadi 107 07 Average viewers 18000-20000 08 No Of Film Pico, Mobile 73 Cinema, Training.

09 Mobile Cinema Screening 49

Table 9.4: 10 Training Film 71 Location- wise Details 11 Video Production 15 of Film Screenings

Approx Mobile Pi Pico . S.No District Location Village Cinema Groups Clusters Anganwadi co Screening viewer Screening s 01 Dewas 01 05 20 - 16 03 - 200-250

1200- 02 03 24 189 06 46 04 - Hatpipliya 1500

1500- 03 03 39 123 13 27 08 07 Bagli 1700

1000- 04 02 22 132 02 29 02 17 Punjapura 1200

3000- 05 Dewas 05 34 264 08 72 01 34 Kantaphod 3200 06 1000- 02 23 103 02 36 02 23 Satwas 1200 1800- 07 02 27 187 02 77 05 - Kannod 2000 08 Khategaon 02 18 60 03 47 02 - 800-900

2000- 09 05 49 195 04 24 01 26 Udainagar 2200 2200- 10 05 22 178 - 63 - - Barwah 2500 11 Sanawad 02 08 17 04 05 02 - 700-800

12 Khargone Lalkheda 03 25 86 03 16 01 - 800-1000

13 Bhikangaon 02 25 71 02 13 - - 500-700 14 Maheshwar 01 13 60 - 29 02 - 600-800 15 Amravati Melghat 03 31 134 - - - - 800-1000

18000- 41 365 1819 49 500 33 107 Total 20000

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9.4 Campaigns and Out-Reach

9.4.1 Save Vidhyachal Campaign The Vindhyachal Campaign has had three successful runs, proving that through the power of media and art, one can help connect and work with multiple communities and together find a more sustainable way of life. The beautiful and pristine Barjhai Ghat, the Vindhyan range that separates the Narmada Valley and the Malwa plateau, is home to a variety of birds, wild animals, streams and waterfalls, and vegetation. In recent times, however, the beauty of the ghat has been tainted by passers-by littering and polluting the soil and water of the region. The litter is mostly in the form of plastic that is not only non-biodegradable, but also toxic – a hazard to the natural elements that come in contact with it, and the animals and birds that unknowingly consume it.

The Kavad Yatra, an annual pilgrimage in the month of Shravan (July-August), where thousands of devotees walk across the Barjhai Ghaat on their pilgrimage from the Narmada river to Ujjain, used to witness the use of immense amount of plastic in the form of non-disposable plates and glasses. Through short films and constructive dialogue, SPS Community Media has been running a campaign to connect with the Kavad Yatra Samitis for three years now. The dialogue and screenings are done well in advance to the pilgrimage. In the first year of the campaign, 20 kgs of plastic waste was retrieved from a stretch of 60 km, which was then sent to a recycling plant in Indore. In the second year, only 2 kgs of plastic waste was found in a 100 km stretch. This third time, the roughly 100 km stretch from Dharaji to Barotha witnessed no plastic waste. The determination and unending efforts of the SPS team along with the series of constructive dialogue with the parties involved led to the success of this campaign and the restoration of the ghaat to its natural and pure state. 9.4.2 Campaign against Excessive Use of Plastic The festival of Shivratri is celebrated in a big way in the village of Jatashankar, owing to the beautiful and serene Jatashankar temple and the four-day fair, attracting thousands of people to come worship and enjoy the festivities. With plastic having become an indispensible part of our daily lives, the amount of plastic waste that collects all around the fair and temple is unimaginable. During and after the celebrations, one’s view of the otherwise beautiful village is contaminated by scores of flying plastic packets, wrappers, disposable plates and glasses, and other plastic litter, heavily polluting all the elements of the environment with its toxic and poisonous nature. This plastic even flies into homes of people living there, into their food and water, proving to be very harmful for the inhabitants. This year, SPS Community Media, along with help from different programmes, organised a campaign to initiate dialogue and action regarding the perils of plastic waste, and to promote

113 efficient and environment-friendly alternatives to plastic.The issue was initially taken to the temple priest. The team had prepared a presentation that was shown in the temple to the Priest and the temple samiti (group). The Priest and the samiti agreed to cooperate. Subsequently, a screening was held for the children in Jatashankar village. The screening witnessed a lot of villagers who were eager to connect with the issue. The film Vindhyachal was shown. During the discussion after the screening, a lot of stories came out from the people themselves where they spoke about how dirty everything becomes after the celebrations, how so much plastic collects near their homes, and how they would all like to contribute. The children were then asked to write their names down if they wanted to volunteer. A volunteer group called “Jatashankar Swacchata Samiti” was thus formed with the children in Jatashankar village, and they were even given sashes and caps to set them apart in the crowd. Through multimedia presentations, they were given information about why plastic is harmful, and what alternatives can be used to reduce the waste. Many measures were taken to make this campaign a success. Prior to the festival, a short minute-long film was prepared highlighting the objective of the campaign, and the perils of plastic, asking people to cooperate. This was circulated far and wide through whatsapp.

During the festival, the Jatashankar Swacchata Samiti was assisted by a lot of SPS employees who also volunteered. Dustbins were placed all over the fair, and the SDM even donated dustbins to help promote the cause. The garbage pick-up vehicle made regular rounds to empty the dustbins, reverberating with a song that would alert everyone that it was approaching. In the temple, worshippers who would once carry their fruits and other offerings in plastic polythene packets, were now given tokris (bamboo baskets). The tokris were arranged from self-help group members; women who used this as a good livelihood opportunity. The job of the volunteers was to make sure that the dustbins were being emptied, the garbage pick-up vehicle was making its rounds, the bamboo baskets were being circulated properly in rotation, people weren’t throwing garbage just about anywhere, etc. The final outcome of this endeavour was that where once plastic used to fly and lie around, poisoning the soil and water bodies around, waiting for unsuspecting animals to eat it, now saw a major dip in the use of plastic, and an efficient and systematic way of disposing the garbage that did get collected. The campaign was a huge success and interviews with various people who were regulars at these festivities showed us that they too were stunned by this miraculous transformation and pledged to ensure this kind of cleanliness every year.

9.4.3 Forests and Forest Fire – Connecting with Children On 31st May 2017, SPS Community Media team organised a one-day workshop for children from villages around the Barjhai Ghat. It was attended by around 40 children from

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Barjhai, Panjaria, and Sobliyapura villages. The aim was to understand their relationship with the forests in their immediate surroundings. Why do they go to the forest? How often do they go to the forest? What do they do there in different seasons? What fruits, plants, and animals can one find there? By what names do they identify their forests? And lastly, what do they know about forest fires, and what do they do about them? A mix of activities were planned to bring out the answers to these questions. The entire workshop was devised by the media team. The session began with a quick ice-breaking session with the children, followed by some theatre activities where the children were asked to enact all the different things they do in the forest across various seasons. There was a fun and interactive session with the children where they were quizzed about various plants and trees found in the forest. Amidst this, SPS Films – Vande Mataram and Chitrakatha were also screened for the participants. Each child was then asked to contribute with a drawing of one thing they see in the forests. By the end of the workshop, there was a beautiful collage that included waterfalls, seeds from different trees, peacocks, a mouse, mountains, and even rainbows. Soon after the group photo, their creation was set on fire intentionally as a planned surprise. The children were shocked and silent throughout, as they watched their artwork being reduced to ashes.

This initiated a conversation about forest fires, which they were all familiar with as a yearly occurrence, but which they were equally helpless about. The forest cover of Barjhai Ghat has been reducing each year, one of the main reasons being man-made forest fires during the summer months. The children were explained that the artwork that they had created took them just 2 hours to make, but forests develop over hundreds of years and a fire can destroy that in hardly a matter of time. This led to our last question – whether they would help us make a film on forests in an effort to save it from further destruction? The answer was yes, and many of them volunteered to take us around their forests in order to film all the little experiences that were discussed during the day.

9.5 Film Festivals

The films produced by SPS are extensively used as exposure as well as tools for learning across the world. SPS films have also been appreciated in both national and international film festivals. The media team has had the opportunity of representing their films in various film festivals across India. This enables the team to gain exposure – watch a variety of films, interact with filmmakers from all over, and get feedback for their work. It’s a huge motivating factor for the team. Participating in film festivals is also a way of spreading the message of SPS to the world, and expanding the audience for the transformational work that SPS is doing.

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This year, SPS films have been screened, awarded, acknowledged in the following festivals:  Teri Film Festival, Mumbai Best Film award - “Paanch Pattiyon ka Mantra”  Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai Film screening – “Jowar Gatha”  Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai Film screening – “Nagar aur Paani, Phir Wahi Kahaani”  Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival (KVIFF) Film screening – “Nagar aur Paani, Phir Wahi Kahaani”  CMS Vatavaran, New Delhi Special jury mention award - “Nagar aur Paani, Phir Wahi Kahaani” Film screening – “Keetnashak ya Vinashak”  XXII International Environmental Film Festival, Russia “Paanch Pattiyon ka Mantra”  Delhi International Film Festival, New Delhi “Nagar aur Paani, Phir Wahi Kahaani” “Malipura Dam”  2nd Weaver’s Nest Nature and Wildlife Film Festival, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal Screening - “Nagar aur Paani, Phir Wahi Kahaani”  Sona Pani Film Festival  Yes Bank Workshop Film – “Sona Maati”, “Ghol Anmol”

9.6 Capacity Building

The SPS Community Media conducted a two day training for three location clusters – Barwaha, Satwas, Neemkheda. The training workshop covered the following topics:  How to Use Audio-Visual Media for Promotion of SPS Programs  Technical Aspects of Handling and Maintenance of Media Equipment  Ethnographic Documentation of SPS Area and Work  How to Improve Presentation Skills

The training was meant to help people understand the role and importance of media – how to use it to its full potential and the impact it is capable of having on an audience. A special focus was given to presentation skills – how to present a story, how to connect with the audience, how to weave the message with facts to produce something that can be understood easily, and how to make an effective power-point presentation (PPT) – what fonts to use, how to resize images, colour theory, and so on. A PPT had been prepared by the team to demonstrate how to present a topic in an interactive and interesting manner. The topic of onion

116 farming was picked for this, as it was something that had to be spoken about anyway, considering it is a water-intensive crop and uses copious amounts of water – not a sustainable choice in these drylands where there are many problems around water availability. One of the sections also focused on dissemination – why films are shown, what one hopes to achieve through screenings, and how one can enhance the screening experience.The workshops went off successfully, with a stronger understanding of the role of the community media programme developing in the minds of the people.

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10. NETWORKS AND PARTNERSHIPS

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10.1. National Consortium of CSOs on MGNREGA

The National Consortium on MGNREGA is a loosely federated collective of civil society organizations that have come together to try and make MGNREGA a success. The consortium that came into existence in the year 2008 with the initiative of Samaj Pragati Sahayog, is now operational in 11 states of central part of India working with 64 partners stretching over 78 backward districts. The consortium is committed to ensuring that rural livelihoods, particularly for the poorest and disadvantaged segments i.e. women, adivasis, dalits, landless, small and marginal farmers must focus on creating durable livelihood assets like land and water through leveraging NREGA funds. It is built on participatory principles, where an effort is made to involve the people in planning and management in partnership with PRIs and other line departments. The Consortium’s interventions on the ground are centered on three core areas that are fundamental and lie at the base of all the challenges that the rural poor is faced with. Broadly its activities can be said to focus on drought, poverty and distress migration. The consortium seeks to address these issues through: - Drought mitigation through effective management of land and water. - Poverty alleviation through livelihoods skill building - Stemming of distress migration by facilitating livelihood options.

10.1.1. Work Done and its Impact

Organising and mobilizing Wage seekers It was felt by the consortium partners that the first step would have to be organization and mobilization of MGNREGA wage seekers so that they can act as an aware group pressing for entitlements under the Act. Continuous awareness campaign and follow up ensured that the job demand can be created on the ground. Together 1890 wage seekers committees have been formed as on date with a membership of approximately 68,000 wage seekers. Awareness campaign and follow up turned the situation around. Wage seekers are now applying for work to the NREGA functionaries. In case the panchayat functionaries do not accept their work application, the wage seekers are now able to approach the Block for work. People’s participation is an essential component of watershed development. Villagers need to contribute their stake/share (voluntary labour etc.) and feel the ownership of the project. Creating a people’s organisation for planning, implementing, and maintenance is a must for success and sustainability. The job-seekers committee at each village level could create a common forum for a continuous dialogue on MGNREGA and its implementation in the village. Due to this, the grievance redressal cell became active and fake job-cards could be identified. This reduced fake

120 enrolment and corruption to a great extent. At the same time, our cadre of volunteers along with jobseekers federation identified migrants families which had left job cards at the panchayat office at the time of their migration. They scrutinized the attendance in the muster role and checked for the duplicate enrolments. The village federation used social map as a tool to identify left-out households, migrant households to put pressure on respective panchayat functionaries for work under MGNREGA. In this process, the job seeker committee could arrest the distress migration to a great extent. The community also felt that it must participate in planning and implementation process in an organized manner, both at village level and panchayat level.

The jobseekers federation at panchayat level took all steps to ensure that the gram sabha meetings were organised regularly. The participation of people has increased tremendously and its improvement could be seen in the conduction of meetings. The jobseekers committee has taken the MGNREGA programme well towards creating its own identity, building relationship with local administration, building rapport with other functionaries in the panchayat and creating a wide range of awareness among the common mass.

National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) Focussed Micro Plan preparation The consortium partners focused on installation of effective systems at different levels from hamlet/village to gram panchayat and panchayat samiti (block) for proper planning, execution, monitoring and smooth flow of funds. A major thrust of the consortium’s efforts has been to help the gram panchayats to develop treatment plan (land and water) which can be implemented by leveraging MGNREGA funds. NRLM focused micro level planning for all 1890 operational villages with active participation of community and PRI functionaries was carried out. Overall, detailed micro plans worth Rs. 74.68 crores have been prepared by the partners in the concerned panchayats. Of these, projects worth 5.44 crores are in the implementation stage. Rs.3.8 crores have been budgeted for soil and moisture conservation and erosion control measures such as contour bunds, trenches and farm bunds. Rs. 64 crores have been budgeted for water harvesting structures such as percolation and irrigation tanks. Interface with Government and PRI The partners adopted an approach of systematic and routine meetings between Block functionaries and wage seekers. This interface served as an effective platform for wage seekers for bringing the problems and issues in implementation to the notice of block and district administration. This helped in speeding up the process.

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Through block level interface meetings between wage seekers and department officials along with PRI functionaries, following issues were raised and most of them are now solved:  Delay in wage payment for more than one month.  Worksite facilities  Tools not provided on worksite  Field assistant not taking proper measurement.  Job cards not updated  Accident compensation not paid  Works not being started though there is a demand

10.1.2. Research, Documentation, Advocacy and Policy Reforms Consortium’s continuous research and analysis of different aspects of MGNREGA provides feedback to the Rural Development Department, Government of India in particular and other civil society organization as well. As on date, the consortium has conducted 4 major studies on operationalization of NREGA and its impact on sustainable rural livelihoods, distress migration and climate change. It also drafted two annual reports of MGNREGA in the year 2009 and 2011, showing how MGNREGA implementation could be improved if GPs were provided the requisite support. The reports also made several recommendations for policy level changes. Further, it made two documentary films titled ‘The Road Back Home” and “Nari Sangha”. The first film explained how MGNREGA was instrumental in reducing distress migration in Western Odisha where the second one highlighted how women come together to take over the leadership in the implementation of MGNREGA. Along with this, the Consortium has developed around 120 successful case studies with an intention to inform policy and the general public that MGNREGA is the only flagship program of Government of India which directly helps to build sustainable rural livelihoods by creating durable assets both at individual and community level. As an outcome, the operational guideline of MGNREGA implementation has been modified in the year 2013 and the provision of Cluster Facilitation Team CFT has been introduced and implemented at the block level to make MGNREGA effective and a success.

10.2. Water Practitioners’ Network Supported by Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF), Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) conceptualised a network of water practitioners, actively engaged with the agenda of democratisation of water both at the grassroots as well as at the policy levels. The first partners’ meeting held in Indore in July 2017 set the ball rolling for the network. An enriching round of discussions on the best practices in water sector was made by the HUF partners with a collective understanding of water as a common good.

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We have, thus far, visited 14 NGO partners across the country, working on water for the past several years. A few more visits are planned. Some of these learnings, covering water practices at the ground level, are the subject matter of the first WPN Newsletter. We are currently preparing a Member Charter, which can be seen as a guide to action for all partners of the WPN. The WPN Team is currently working on developing a website which will serve as a unique platform for the water practitioners and users where they can get useful information on the best water conservation practices of their interest linking them to the relevant organizations and persons. The five themes related to water management that the network will work on are as follows: 1. Participatory Irrigation management (PIM). 2. Participatory Groundwater Management (PGWM). 3. Demand Management of Water in Agriculture. 4. Water and Building Climate Change Resilience 5. Water Quality

10.3. NPM Network

SPS is also working towards strengthening the network of civil society oganisations engaged in Non-Pesticide Management (NPM) agriculture. This network aims to facilitate cross- learning between different organisations that promote NPM practices and lend transparency and legitimacy to the NPM movement. The NPM network includes 25 partners working with 25,000 farmers in 15 States, covering 48 products, including cereals, millets, pulses and spices. 10.3.1. Expansion of NPM Network The objective is to work towards strengthening the network of civil society organisations engaged in Non- Pesticide Management (NPM) Agriculture. A meeting held on the 15th and 16th of February, 2018 organized by Samaj Pragati Sahayog and Save Harvest Private Limited at Henry Martyn Institue, Hyderabad focused on the overall approach, protocol and the specific agenda that the network could address. They are as follows:  Fine-tuning the NPM protocol and standards  Setting standards for residue testing  Expanding NPM - Widening the reach of FPOs  Facilitating market and credit linkages to smallholder Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).  Undertaking the role of an independent certification body that will certify FPOs to make them market-ready  Policy advocacy

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Prior to this, there was a training session at the BALSK at Neemkheda on 10th August-16th August, 2017. This was the first batch that was attended by 28 representatives from 9 organizations from the following organizations:  Parhit Samaj Seva Sanstha, Madhya Pradesh  Development Support Centre, Gujarat  Gram Sudhar Samiti, Madhya Pradesh  Niswarth Sarthak Prayas Parivar Kalyan Samiti, Madhya Pradesh  Srijan, Chhatisgarh  Dharti Sanstha, Madhya Pradesh  Kalpataru Vikas Samiti, Madhya Pradesh  Bagli Pragati Samiti, Madhya Pradesh  Samaj Pragati Sahayog, Madhya Pradesh

The second batch of training happened on the 1st September-7th September, 2017 at BALSK, Neemkheda which was attended by 32 participants. Following are the 11 organizations that participated in this session:  People’s Rural Education Movement, Odisha  Paras Swayam Sevi Sanstha, Chhatisgarh  AJSA Sanstha, Odisha  Shramik Sokai Sangha, Odisha  Vikalp, Odisha  Balamgir Gram Udyog Samiti, Odisha  Lokshakti Samiti, Chhatisgarh  Janmukti Anushthan, Odisha  Sarguja Gramin Vikas Sansthan, Chhatisgarh  Samaj Pragati Sahayog, Madhya Pradesh  Agrocrat Society for Rural Development, Chhatisgarh Following these trainings, the agriculture team of SPS extended hand holding support to some of these organisations and visited some of these partners.

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