Summary
Proposed four villages (Bhataguda, Melghara, Dalguma and Podapadar) in tribal dominated hilly pockets of Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi has been deprived of safe drinking water sources leaving 249 families under the threat of water borne diseases.
Background
The Proposed area (Villages & People)
The area proposed for the project is in Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district having 57.60% scheduled tribe population and 25.7% of the scheduled caste population and 87% among them living below the poverty line. The Below poverty line percentage is as per the record at the government, but in reality 97% of the population face food stress among whom 63% people are landless.
Thuamul Rampur block is surrounded by inaccessible terrain and forest and is mostly inhibited by Kondh tribes. Most of the tribals do not have lands and depend on shifting cultivation and forest produce for subsistence. The area is dreaded for malaria and basic health and education services are lacking. Tribals of this block face severe food shortage during lean agricultural season. Food insecurity and starvation deaths are the major problems of the area. This block is also ranked as No-312 block among 314 community development blocks of Odisha taking all the development indicators into consideration by the Planning & Coordination department of Orissa government.
The proposed 4 villages (Bhataguda, Dalguma, Podapadar & Melghara) are the four inaccessible villages in Karlapat GP surrounded by Hills from all sides and are situated near Sagada River which creates communication problem for the people depriving them from all amenities. In these four villages live 249 HHs (Tribals-179, Scheduled Caste-42 & Others 28). The total population of these villages comes to 945. Though there are 5 bore wells and two sanitary wells in these villages all the bore wells are defunct as they produce water with high iron content which has bad odour and not suitable for drinking purposes. The Sanitary well dug there by ANTODAYA at the Benipatang hamlet of Melghara village produces very less water during summer and the other one at Dalguma got damaged due to landslide in the well. Only the sanitary well ANTODAYA dug in the Melebasang hamlet of Podapadar village is serving the people of that hamlet only for the entire year.
During summer all the villages face the problem of scanty water and go for water from the river nearby and during the Rainy season the river flows with muddy water not fit for consumption. In the summer people dig water holes near the springs and /or on the sand in river bed to get water which is not possible in the rainy season. Due to this, people suffer from all types of water borne diseases among which Typhoid and Jaundice are the killers during summer and Diahorrea occurs as epidemic during Rainy season. The rainy season is more troublesome for the people as they can not move out of their village to get any medicine crossing full flowing Sagada River. In this situation the women and children suffer the most.
In all the villages there are natural springs coming out of the hills and water from those springs can be tapped and supplied to the villages through pipe after filtering it by slow sand filter media in the Intake well.
All the 249 HH / families in these four villages shall get benefits out of the project and are the main stake holders in this project. The target community shall be involved form the beginning of the project starting from the stage of planning of activities, material contribution, collection, to the stage of construction and after that the management/maintenance of the project.
These villages are selected on the basis of the gravity of the problem in the villages and its location. Following are some indicators of the villages for selection
• Having problem of drinking water in their villages
• Situated at far away and inaccessible place where government schemes are not reaching easily
• More concentration of tribal and Scheduled caste population
PROBLEMS
The proposed villages don’t have sources of drinking water, and depend upon the water from the river which causes diseases and epidemics. In this situation a project is needed to mitigate the problem of potable water in these villages and eliminate the threat of deaths due to water borne diseases in these villages.
- What are the causes of this water problem? (Why does it exist?)
The villages are situated at inaccessible locations surrounded by Hills and river. In the area the bore wells are not functioning properly and produce water with high iron content, which is not acceptable to the community. The sanitary wells / dug wells are very swallow (there are solid rock beds just 5-6 meter below the ground) and produce less water.
- What effects/impacts does the problem have?
The problem related to Drinking water has the impact directly on the community in its health aspects. In summer number of people suffers from Jaundice and typhoid and during Rains they suffer from Diahorrea. Skin diseases are the phenomenon during the entire year. Women are the most sufferers as they have to bring water from far away places and also take the burden of the ailing family members. The entire community suffers.
OBJECTIVES
Eliminating the threat of death due to Water borne diseases like jaundice, Typhoid and especially Diahorrea in the area
The project seeks to address the issue of “Lack of safe drinking water in Tribal & Hilly regions” causing water borne diseases / epidemics like diahorrea/ Cholera, gastro-entities, Typhoid & reducing the incidence of death due to the diseases.
Expected results and outputs
The proposed project envisages to:
• Provide safe drinking water using available resources in a sustainable manner
• Reduce / Eliminate incidence of deaths due to epidemic like diahorrea / Cholera in the area, especially during rainy season
• Reduce drudgery of women and children
• Increase nutrition level of the community through vegetable cultivation using surplus water
Activities Proposed:
1. Promote and strengthen Village level organisation / community based organisation like Gram Sangha & Water user committee for management of the project
1-a) The existing Gram Sanghas (Village committees), at each village level shall be strengthened and mobilised around the issue and project through regular meetings of the committees at the village level, at least once in a month in each village.
1.b) The existing women Self Help Groups (formed by ANTODAYA) will be mobilised around the issue of drinking water and the planned activities to ensure their participation in the process and contribute. (Include the subject in their regular meetings twice in a month already in practice).
1.c) Water users committee (if required separate from the Village Committee) to be formed and strengthened / capacitated in implementing and managing the assets built through the project. Regular meetings and trainings would be organised for the committee
2. Preparation of Micro plan of the village for sustainability and also for other livelihood enhancement initiatives
The trained community members shall be organised for preparation of their village micro plan for holistic development of the village based on the information gathered by themselves using PRA method and prepare a roadmap for the development of the village in coming five years and the plan of funds mobilisation from different sources. The community would be mobilised to liaison with different government schemes and other resource agencies and link their village plan for the funds from government as well as from other sources including ANTODAYA and potential donor partners like NABARD, Frank water etc.
3. Strengthen existing CBOs like SHGs / women groups for taking up livelihood activities and also for sanitation measures
3.a) The women groups / Self help groups existing in the villages would be strengthened by organising trainings on Nursery raising, vegetable cultivation, vermin-composting for taking up such activities for enhancing their income level and also nutrition standard mobilising resources from WADI project and NABARD
3.b) The Women groups would also be mobilised through trainings and meetings for taking up sanitation / kitchen sanitation and to adopt Smokeless Chulla
4. Technical Survey and feasibility study of water sources and its potentiality
Technical survey and Feasibility study of the water sources in all the villages would be taken up with the help of Project Engineer and the consultant engineers at the beginning of the project in all the villages to asses the potentiality of the sources required for designing the structure and supply system.
5. Preparation of plan, design & Estimates for water supply system
Alongwith the Feasibility study Plan, design and estimates for the water supply structures would also be prepared based on the findings of the study with the help of the Consultant engineers in consultation with the Village Committee and water user committees for construction of the system and structure. The Engineers shall also prepare the plan and estimates for the soil and moisture conservation activities to be taken up on the Hill slopes / catchment above the water sources for the sustainability.
6. Organising exposure and Trainings for the village youths for maintenance of the project
To make the villagers / village leaders conversant with the system and its management the village leaders, volunteers, women members would be taken for exposures to those villages where there are gravity flow water supplies systems already exist (in our OTELP funded project area)
7. Soil & Moisture conservation activities like plantation and bunds to protect the source of water
To protect the water sources from drying up and / or damaged due to soil erosion, siltation and land sliding from the hill slopes soil and moisture conservation activities like Plantation on the slopes (if required), construction of Contour stone bunds, digging of contour trenches and Water absorption trenches would be taken up in the catchment area by the community. There shall be every effort from ANTODAYA to mobilise the financial support from Government of Odisha under MGNREGA, Watershed Mission, Forestry plantation etc.
8. Installation / construction of the system
The construction of the Intake well and laying the pipeline for water supply system would be taken up as per the plans, design and estimates prepared by the Project engineer and consultant engineers with active participation of the community of the village concerned. The target community has to contribute minimum 15-20% cost of the project in shape of raw materials available around them and in shape of labour.
9. Initiation of Kitchen garden / Nutrition garden through women groups using surplus water of the system
The women groups would be supported to take up Kitchen garden / Nutrition garden at each HH level using the surplus water of the system for supplementing their income as well as nutrition and for the purpose of seeds and implements they shall be linked with existing government schemes. The women members would also use their SHG savings as loan for the purpose.
10. Link the target HH with other government schemes for sanitation facilities at HH level
As the government of Odisha is having the scheme of Total Sanitation Mission and supports the tribal HH for construction of toilets at HH level, the project would encourage the community to access the benefits from government for construction of Toilets at each HH and ensure sanitation in the village.
Location
Bhataguda, Dalguma, Melghara and Podapadr villages under Thuamul Rampur Block, Kalahandi Orissa, IndiaAttachments
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Focus
Primary Focus: Drinking Water - Community
Secondary Focus: Water station for other use
People Getting Safe Drinking Water: 945
Total Villages 4
Total HH 249
Tribals HH 179
Scheduled Caste HH 42
Other Caste HH 28
Population 945
School Children Getting Water: 0
Total children158
Bhataguda Primary School 35
Dalguma Primary school 41
Melghara Primary school 30
Podapadar Upper Primary school 52
(primary data source ANTODAYA)
People Getting Sanitation: 500
125 families shall be linked to total sanitation mission programme of government of Odisha where they shall get financial support for construction of their toilets
People Getting Other Benefits: 450
All adult members from 249 families will get employment through construction work of the project, MGNREGA work for soil & moisture conservation work of government
221 women SHG members will be get additional employment through Kitchen garden, processing units
80 youths (20 from each village) get training on water sources and its maintenance
20 youths shall be trained on masonry work
221 women and 158 children get Hygiene education
Start Date: 2013-11-01
Completion Date: 2015-10-31
Technology Used:
Gravity fed pipe water supply from the source (natural spring) using slow sand filter technology. This technology has been proved very effective in tribal and Hilly areas and our experience in 39 villages where we have used this technology) so far is very good and encouraging.
Phases:
one phase
Community Organization:
Already there are Community Organisations (CBOs) like Gram Sangha (Village Committee), Women Self-help groups (SHGs) and Udyan Vikas Samiti (Horticulture farmer committees) in all the 4 target villages promoted by ANTODAYA.
The project plans to have Water user committees (if the village committee feels a separate one) in all the villages to manage the water resources and water supply system and also to look into the maintenance and sustainability of the sources/structure.
The land where the water intake well (at the mouth of the natural spring) planned to be constructed belongs to government of Odisha (Community land) and the community shall seek the No Objection Certificate from the concerned department prior to execution of the project.
For the capacity building of the target community the project plans to have-
1. Promote and strengthen Village level organisation / community based organisation like Gram Sangha & Water user committee for management of the project
1-a) The existing Gram Sanghas (Village committees), at each village level shall be strengthened and mobilised around the issue and project through regular meetings of the committees at the village level, atleast once in a month in each village.
1.b) The existing women Self Help Groups (formed by ANTODAYA) will be mobilised around the issue of drinking water and the planned activities to ensure their participation in the process and contribute. (Include the subject in their regular meetings twice in a month already in practice).
1.c) Water users committee (if required separate from the Village Committee) to be formed and strengthened / capacitated in implementing and managing the assets built through the project. Regular meetings and trainings would be organised for the committee
2. Preparation of Micro plan of the village for sustainability and also for other livelihood enhancement initiatives
The trained community members shall be organised for preparation of their village micro plan for holistic development of the village based on the information gathered by themselves using PRA method and prepare a roadmap for the development of the village in coming five years and the plan of funds mobilisation from different sources. The community would be mobilised to liaison with different government schemes and other resource agencies and link their village plan for the funds from government as well as from other sources including ANTODAYA and potential donor partners like NABARD, Frank water etc.
3. Strengthen existing CBOs like SHGs / women groups for taking up livelihood activities and also for sanitation measures
3.a) The women groups / Self help groups existing in the villages would be strengthened by organising trainings on Nursery raising, vegetable cultivation, vermin-composting for taking up such activities for enhancing their income level and also nutrition standard mobilising resources from WADI project and NABARD
3.b) The Women groups would also be mobilised through trainings and meetings for taking up sanitation / kitchen sanitation and to adopt Smokeless Chulla
4 Organising exposure and Trainings for the village youths for maintenance of the project
To make the villagers / village leaders conversant with the system and its management the village leaders, volunteers, women members would be taken for exposures to those villages where there are gravity flow water supplies systems already exist (in our OTELP funded project area)
Government Interaction:
The government of Odisha is very much cooperative in this type of initiatives for supply of water in the hilly region with tribal population concentration. The government through its Tribal development department is replicating this model.
National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) already supporting ANTODAYA for smokeless chulla and Horticulture farming
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) program of Government support shall be mobilised for soil & Moisture conservation activities
Support from Horticulture department for Kitchen Garden and Processing by women SHGs
Total Sanitation Mission program of Government of Odisha support for the Toilets at HH level
16773
All the community contribution shall be in terms of Labour and local materials available for the construction of the system.
The maintenance will solely be the responsibility of the owners/users (Community) and they shall use their fund created out of user fees for procurement of required materials and contribute free labour to maintain the system. As per the experience in other projects very little amount less than 100 US dollar is required for a village which the community themselves can raise within them.
Ancillary activities:
Reforestation is planned in the project to sustain the source of water by mobilising funds from the government schemes.
Training of committee members, women and youths are planned in the project for capacity building on the aspects of planning, designing, implementing and managing the structures.
Other Issues:
The area proposed for the project is in Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district having 57.60% scheduled tribe population and 25.7% of the scheduled caste population and 87% among them living below the poverty line. The Below poverty line percentage is as per the record at the government, but in reality 97% of the population face food stress among whom 63% people are landless.
Thuamul Rampur block is surrounded by inaccessible terrain and forest and is mostly inhibited by Kondh tribes. Most of the tribals do not have lands and depend on shifting cultivation and forest produce for subsistence. The area is dreaded for malaria and basic health and education services are lacking. Tribals of this block face severe food shortage during lean agricultural season. Food insecurity and starvation deaths are the major problems of the area. This block is also ranked as No-312 block among 314 community development blocks of Odisha taking all the development indicators into consideration by the Planning & Coordination department of Orissa government.
The proposed 4 villages (Bhataguda, Dalguma, Podapadar & Melghara) are the four inaccessible villages in Karlapat GP surrounded by Hills from all sides and are situated near Sagada River which creates communication problem for the people depriving them from all amenities. In these four villages live 249 HHs (Tribals-179, Scheduled Caste-42 & Others 28). The total population of these villages comes to 945. Though there are 5 bore wells and two sanitary wells in these villages all the bore wells are defunct as they produce water with high iron content which has bad odour and not suitable for drinking purposes. The Sanitary well dug there by ANTODAYA at the Benipatang hamlet of Melghara village produces very less water during summer and the other one at Dalguma got damaged due to landslide in the well. Only the sanitary well ANTODAYA dug in the Melebasang hamlet of Podapadar village is serving the people of that hamlet only for the entire year.
During summer all the villages face the problem of scanty water and go for water from the river nearby and during the Rainy season the river flows with muddy water not fit for consumption. In the summer people dig water holes near the springs and /or on the sand in river bed to get water which is not possible in the rainy season. Due to this, people suffer from all types of water borne diseases among which Typhoid and Jaundice are the killers during summer and Diahorrea occurs as epidemic during Rainy season. The rainy season is more troublesome for the people as they can not move out of their village to get any medicine crossing full flowing Sagada River. In this situation the women and children suffer the most.
In all the villages there are natural springs coming out of the hills and water from those springs can be tapped and supplied to the villages through pipe after filtering it by slow sand filter media in the Intake well.
Maintenance Revenue:
National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) already supporting ANTODAYA for smokeless chulla and Horticulture farming
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) program of Government support shall be mobilised for soil & Moisture conservation activities
Support from Horticulture department for Kitchen Garden and Processing by women SHGs
Total Sanitation Mission program of Government of Odisha support for the Toilets at HH level
16773
All the community contribution shall be in terms of Labour and local materials available for the construction of the system.
The maintenance will solely be the responsibility of the owners/users (Community) and they shall use their fund created out of user fees for procurement of required materials and contribute free labour to maintain the system. As per the experience in other projects very little amount less than 100 US dollar is required for a village which the community themselves can raise within them.
Sustainability
While designing the project we always plan for the coming 20 years and formulate the estimation according to the projected population after 20 years. The operation and maintenance of Gravity based water supply project requires little cost and less skill. The community members preferably the youths of the village are encouraged to go for intensive training on operation and maintenance so that it will be maintained and managed by them in future. The training includes the skill of cleaning the intake well, repairing the pipe line, plumbing, masonry work etc. The community is also mobilised to maintain the source by constructing Contour stone bunds and retaining walls above the source (mouth of the spring) and also plant trees for sustainability of the source (spring) to produce water for a longer period. For maintenance of the pipe line and intake well as well as the stand posts and the storage structure a fund is being created in every village collecting user fees by the Water Users’ Committee. In this project also we shall have
Trained Human Resources at the community level to maintain the system
Water User committees shall be there to manage the system
Water user fees collected and a fund is created to manage the system
Adequate water conservation and environment protection measures taken at the community level to sustain the flow of water from the source
Maintenance Cost: $800
Metrics:
1
Project purpose or Output/Result
Provide safe drinking water using available resources in a sustainable manner
Indicator (s)
• Drinking water systems are in place in all the villages
• The water is acceptable for all the villagers
• Management of the system in the hands of the community
Means of Verification
• Reports,
• Village meeting registers,
• Management committee fund accounts,
• Village meetings , &
• Focus group meetings
• Field interaction
2
Project purpose or Output/Result
Reduce / Eliminate incidence of deaths due to epidemic like diahorrea / Cholera in the area, especially during rainy season
Indicator (s)
• No incidence of diahorrea and deaths due to it
• Less expenses on health grounds
Means of Verification
• Village registers
• Registers at nearby health centres and PHC / CHC
• Focus group discussion
• Project reports
3
Project purpose or Output/Result
Reduce drudgery of women and children
Indicator (s)
• Increase in number of meetings at SHG level
• More trading activities and IGP
• More houses with Smoke less chulla and sanitation
• Reduced number of mal nourished children
• Good health practices
Means of Verification
• SHG registers and documents, accounts
• SHG meeting
• Women group discussion
• Anganwadi register
• House visit
4
Project purpose or Output/Result
Increase nutrition level of the community through vegetable cultivation using surplus water
Indicator (s)
• Kitchen gardens and inter cropping increased
• Food consumption pattern changed / improved
• Reduced number of mal nourished children
• Reduced number of High risk mothers
• Good health practices
Means of Verification
• Village meeting register
• Procurement register
• SHG registers and documents, accounts
• SHG meeting
• Women group discussion
• Anganwadi register
• House visit
• Focus group discussion
For Monitoring and evaluation there shall be monthly quarterly and half yearly meetings at village level involving the committee and the community. Reports shall be prepared and shared with the resource agencies and donor partners. Independent evaluation may also be carried out after one year for assesing the impact of the intervention.
Cost: $120,916
see attachments
Co Funding Amount: $18,737
National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) already supporting ANTODAYA for smokeless chulla and Horticulture farming
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) program of Government support shall be mobilised for soil & Moisture conservation activities
Support from Horticulture department for Kitchen Garden and Processing by women SHGs
Total Sanitation Mission program of Government of Odisha support for the Toilets at HH level
Community Contribution Amount: $16,773
All the community contribution shall be in terms of Labour and local materials available for the construction of the system.
Fund Requested: $85,407
Implementing Organization: ANTODAYA
ABOUT ANTODAYA
1 Name of the organization: ANTODAYA
2. Address and telephone: ANTODAYA, AT/PO-Kaniguma, Via-Thuamul Rampur, Dist: Kalahandi
Contact Address: Dillip Kumar Das, Chairman, ANTODAYA,
Bahadur Bagicha Para
PO: BHAWANIPATNA – 766 001, Kalahandi, Orissa, India
Tel: 91+6670 – 232038, 234012
E Mail: chairman@antodaya.org.in
Web site: www.antodaya-kalahandi.org.in
3. Registration Number - Kld/409-17/1989-90, Under Societies Registration Act of 1860
(Registered in the year 1989) Date of Establishment: 9th June 1989
4. FCRA Registration Number - 104950020 under FCRA Regulation Act of 1976.
(Registered in the year 1991)
5. Aims and Objectives of ANTODAYA:
VISION: ANTODAYA’s vision is to realize a society where there is no hunger, fear, injustice (arising out of the culture of silence) and diseases.
MISSION: ANTODAYA believes that its vision can be realized through Group Action, which leads to:
Emergence of strong Village Level Organizations
Critical analysis of situation.
Having access to development opportunities where they exist and asserting for it where they don’t.
Encouraging the marginalized sections for their greater involvement in a development process, which is sustainable, socially acceptable, economically viable and technically feasible
Collaboration/building partnership with like-minded institutions, groups and individuals.
GOAL (AIM): To ensure people’s participation for sustainable development.
Brief history of ANTODAYA: (Organisation Profile)
ANTODAYA has been dwelling in one of the most vulnerable and drought prone Districts of Orissa, India namely Kalahandi since its inception in 1989. It had started its work among the tribals prior to its formation by associating itself with the most sensitive issue of land alienation prevailing in tribal dominated block of Thuamul Rampur. At the outset, the late founder of the organization, Mr. B Salem Farook and the present Chairman Mr. Dillip Kumar Das along with some committed group of people, had started bringing forth the issue of land alienation by mobilizing tribals in the remote area and subsequently filing cases for them at the district level. The issue taken up by the group caught the attention of the media as well as the district administration and one public interest litigation case was filed at the high court of Orissa. All the persons of the social workers group involved in this struggle had to go through the wrath of the powerful group who used to exploit the tribals and acquire the lands of the tribals through fraudulent means. However, the district administration supported the issue-based fight of the group and suggested initiating work in an organized manner. The result of this bitter struggle yielded in restoration of around 175 acres of agricultural land to poor Paraja Kandha tribals of Thuamul Rampur block. Thus arose the need of giving shape and direction to the endeavors of some committed groups of people and a solid foundation of ANTODAYA was laid with the help of tribal people of the area in 1989.
Subsequently, ANTODAYA facilitated the campaign and initiatives of the local tribal and other marginalised people of the area on the issues like
Rights of the primary collectors over Non-timber forest produces (NTFPs) to collect, process and sale in open market making those free from the clutches of the government agencies and to bring them under the control of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, resulted in bringing changes in the government Policy in favour of the Primary Collectors
Ownership of women over landed property of their husbands brought changes in the policy of Odisha government and the name of the women are now included in the land records as joint owner of the landed properties
Asserting rights over Forest land under FRA-2006 resulted in more than 2400 tribals getting FRA Land. The process still continues.
Asserting land rights of the landless and Homesteadless people through massive application campaign resulted in issuance of land patta to more than 700 HH in the area and also bringing changes in the Government Policy to identify the landless and homestead less families in the state by enhancing the income slab for identification of those families (in the year 2011). The process still continues.
In addition to these initiatives ANTODAYA also tries to bring changes in the governance system through filing PIL cases and complaint petitions by involving the judiciary and quasi judiciary bodies. In the process
The PIL filed by one of the organisers of ANTODAYA at Orissa High court, Government of Odisha had to comply with the provisions under section 4 (1) B of the RTI Act-2005 immediately
644 HHs who got the lease land (land to land less) under OPLE & OGLS Act of Odisha since 1999 in Thuamul Rampur and Junagarh blocks of Kalahandi district got their land demarcated in the year 2012 due to directions of the Orissa High Court responding the PIL filed by ANTODAYA.
A PIL on sub-standard Mid-day meal served at schools filed by ANTODAYA in the High Court of Orissa is sub-judice. The court has served show cause notice to the Government of Odisha.
A letter from ANTODAYA on low hanging high voltage electric wire causing loss of life and properties of innocent people got accepted as a PIL at the Odisha High Court and the matter is sub-judice. The court has served show cause notice to the Government of Odisha.
A number of complaints and petitions are being filed at the NHRC, Odisha Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, State Commission for protection of Child Rights, State Commission for women in Odisha by ANTODAYA concerning the violation of marginalised people.
ANTODAYA also works for ensuring food and livelihood security of the target community through number of livelihood activities with innovative approaches.
Focus of the organization:
Main focus of the organization is to ensure food & livelihood security for the most vulnerable tribal and marginalised groups by consolidating their livelihood options in the area through organized actions as well as through asserting their rights over resources around them.
Some of the results of organized actions of the organization in this direction are mentioned below
Food stress caused by regular failure of crops and dwindling resource base of tribals was reduced by nearly two months.
Acquisition of agricultural and homestead land for landless tribals from Government through legal procedure.
Restoration of agricultural land of tribals from the clutches of non-tribals and exploitative groups.
Focused intervention for improvement of livelihood systems of tribals resulted in expansion of arable lands, improved method of agricultural practices, promotion of micro enterprises and better natural resources management by people.
Focused and innovative intervention for establishing safe drinking water sources (Gravity fed pipe water supply) in hilly area which runs without consuming any power.
Mobilization of tribal women through self helps groups and subsequent formation of independent people's organization for assertion of their rights over natural resources.
Facilitating the women's organization to acquire rights over NTFP and helping them to process and market hill brooms with distinct brand value in the state.
Facilitating access to Government social welfare programs through right to food campaign, and Right to information campaign and by establishing RTI clinics-cum – land Rights resource centres at remotest parts of the district.
Experience & Achievements in the field of Safe drinking water
At the initial years of working with people ANTODAYA came across the issue of Lack of safe drinking water in the villages. With very limited resources available ANTODAYA tried to renovate the BALI CHUANS (traditional water holes dug near the spring from where the community use the water for drinking). As the road communication was very much difficult at that time during early years of 1990s ANTODAYA could not think any other alternatives to mitigate the problem of drinking water.
But in the year 1996, Diahorrea occurred in the area in Epidemic form claiming 73 lives (including new born babies) within a span of 10 days in the month of August. As contaminated water is the main cause of diahorrea (Cholera), we started thinking around the issue of providing / ensuring safe drinking water in the target villages. We took Taragaon (the worst affected village during the epidemic) of Kaniguma Panchayat as our pilot village and invited the engineers from Rural water supply and Sanitation department of Government of Orissa to assess the situation and also to plan for the alternatives. Earlier the department had dug six bore wells and one open well in the village and all were not yielding water. The engineers and the officials from the department expressed their inability for the work. When we suggested the filteration of spring water coming from the hills, the officials denied working on it as they didn’t have the freedom to alter the policy of the government.
Then we contacted the Kalahandi water & Development Project of Save the Children with the proposal of having a filteration unit at the mouth of the spring called SUNAR PEDI and they agreed to assess the feasibility. Their Engineers visited the village and the work of Gravity flow pipe water system got innovated. With the support of this Kalahandi water and development project ANTODAYA also renovated dug-wells and bore wells (producing good water only) in other 41 villages at that time.
But with this small effort we could eliminate the threat of Cholera / diahorrea in limited number of villages, where there are so many villages in the block lacking safe drinking water. The government was only providing bore wells, from which stinking water with heavy iron content coming out and people are not using the water. In 2007 and 2008 again the epidemic occurred in other parts of the block claiming more than 100 lives. On the issue we again motivated the Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme of Government of Orissa, with which ANTODAYA works in 11 Micro watersheds of most deprived area in Nakrundi and Kerpai GPs, to divert their Development Initiative fund (DIF) and Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF) available at the village level with the Watershed Development Committees for providing safe drinking water tapping the water from the springs coming from the Hills near the villages. The programme officials got motivated and work started in the year 2009 in the most deprived village called TIJMALI (situated at a height of 1136 meter above MSL) where 18 tribal HH were not having any source of drinking water. The work was on the basis of our experience in Taragaon village. Tijmali project became a success in June 2009 which encouraged the people of the area, OTELP officials and ANTODAYA functionaries to take up such projects in all target villages under OTELP project where there is feasibility. Accordingly plans were prepared and water projects are now in 39 villages.
Outcome of the water initiatives by ANTODAYA
In the absence of drinking water sources in the villages’ people were taking water from the streams flow near their village and fell pray to water borne diseases frequently. During 1996 in the month of August 73 people in the area died due to Cholera epidemic in the area among them 9 are from Taragaon village of Kaniguma GP in our target area. Government was failed to install any drinking water source in the village successfully. ANTODAYA innovated the idea of tapping the water from the spring called SUNARPEDI and installed the gravity fed pipe water system in that village in the year 1998-99. It is the first ever such project in the entire state of Orissa and got replicated in other villages afterwards. From that year onwards there has been no death in the village due to the Cholera (Gastro Entitis / Diahorrea). In the year 2007 again Cholera epidemic out broken in the nearby areas claiming 11 lives, but no incidence of the disease in Taragaon. ANTODAYA again mobilised the Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods programme funds for the development of such water supply system in 39 villages of the area including that of Tijmali village which is 1146 meters above the MSL and become successful. (A story about the Village Tijmali is attached separately) and also can be viewed at these links
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2010/World-Water-Day-2010/
http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20100423085705
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/sets/72157623649929978/detail/
http://www.antodaya-kalahandi.org.in/projects/water-reducing-drudgery-tijmali.shtml
http://voiceofcommunities.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/scripting-history-at-3600-feet/#more-293
By this initiative, now there is no threat of deaths due to Cholera / diahorrea epidemic. In addition the women of these villages where the water supply projects are being installed do not spend much time to fetch water for their domestic use which was a painful work of the day for every woman in those villages.
With support from NABARD also we have installed a project in Kukurbhursi village which provides water to villagers of Kukurbhursi and Bariguda in Karlapat GP. With all our water projects (starting from 1996) around 1246 HH with around 5700 population get drinking water round the clock using the gravity flow and among them 7 villages where there are schools have provided pipe line supply to the schools. The surplus water from the system is used for growing vegetables in the backyard adding to the nutrition of the villagers and reducing drudgery as well as expenses on the health front.
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