A. Background:

Water is an Enabler for equitable and sustainable socio-economic development. Improved access to agricultural water contributes to improved food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction. Unfortunately, several parts of Maharashtra have been facing water scarcity for the last few years. Many villages from the Marathwada region received much less rainfall than the average leading to further lowering of groundwater levels, much lower than a decade ago leading to severe drinking water scarcity. Coupled with the failure of the monsoon, the hydrogeological characteristics and widespread over-exploitation of groundwater resources without replenishing them have also contributed significantly to water scarcity. The water conservation structures especially on the streams have become defunct due to lack of maintenance while the majority of streams were full of silt.

The increase in the frequency of droughts in the recent decade has aggravated its impacts on agricultural production. The result is that many farmers relying on other forms of livelihood are migrating to cities for employment. The repeated crop failures and surmounting debts are making farming unsustainable. Unable to pay these debts, farmers, unfortunately, resort to committing extreme steps such as suicide. The small and marginal farmers, whose main source of livelihood was farming, were economically devastated. There was an immediate need to initiate a sustainable solution to address this problem of water shortages.

Therefore, to address these important socio-economic issues, in the year 2013, Praj initiated the ‘Sustainable Water Resources Development’ initiative in the severely drought-affected village Balamtakali, in Shevgaon taluka of Ahmednagar district. The project was implemented in partnership with an NGO and the participation of the villagers.

The outcome of the interventions was highly encouraging. The village which was getting drinking water every year by tankers from December onwards for the last 4-5 years has drinking water available throughout the year, today. In addition, the decentralized storage of water has enhanced groundwater levels and farmers have enough water for their crops and livestock. This has helped in enhancing the productivity of agricultural crops and earning additional off-farm income from livestock. Due to encouraging socio-economic outcomes of this project, Praj decided to undertake this initiative in more villages, and so far we have covered 63 villages spread across 13 talukas of Ahmednagar, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Dharashiv, Beed, Jalna, and Pune district in association with NGO’s namely Janakalyan Samiti, Ahmednagar, Savitribai Phule Mahila Ekatma Samaj Mandal, Aurangabad, officially known as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Vivekanand Youth Welfare Society, Beed, Deepastambha Charitable Trust, Pune and Gram Gourav Pratishthan, Pune.

B. Process of initiating project:

B 1. Alignment of stakeholders:

The project was initiated by conducting a series of meetings with all stakeholders including villagers, NGOs, local leaders, etc. to on-board their suggestions and bring consensus. A participatory approach to water resources development and building self-reliance instead of depending only on government assistance was the underlying principle of these projects. The opinion leaders from the village were taken to nearby villages where such interventions in water resources development had shown visible results. These interactions with the farmers from such villages were conducive to convincing the aspirants to arrive at a positive decision.

They all committed to contribute at least 20-25% of the project cost upfront in addition to providing help in planning, execution, and monitoring of project activity. The CSR officials of Praj and the NGO staff were involved right from conceptualizing the project till the targeted results were realized. Various aspects of the project across the life cycle were closely monitored by representatives of NGO, and Praj CSR team with the active participation of local youth. This ensured credibility and helped in effectively tracking project progress.

Mr. Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj Industries Ltd. during the ‘Bhumi Poojan’ Ceremony at Kharadgaon, District Ahmednagar.

B 2. Project Intervention

Based on the suggestions of Hydro-Geologists, the following activities were initiated with people’s participation (Physical as well as financial).

• The existing check dam (water-impounding structure) on the stream was repaired
• The stream was widened and deepened by removing the silt

The excavated topsoil (silt) was deposited on agricultural land to enhance soil fertility while the soft rock (Murum) was used to strengthen internal village roads.

Though the village identification and consensus of villagers was initiated in November, the actual execution started in March of the following year.

Depending on the type of intervention, it took about 2-3 months to complete the work.

C. Output

Use of silt to enhance productivity

The total silt and murum excavated from these projects in 63 villages was 27 lakh cubic meters or 6.50 lakh truckloads. The top silt excavated from the stream was transported by farmers to their fields which has certainly benefited them in enhancing the productivity of crops

Some farmers also used silt to spread it on marginal lands that had not been cultivated earlier. Due to the spreading of the silt additional area of 600 acres has come under cultivation.

They all committed to contribute at least 20-25% of the project cost upfront in addition to providing help in planning, execution, and monitoring of project activity. The CSR officials of Praj and the NGO staff were involved right from conceptualizing the project till the targeted results were realized. Various aspects of the project across the life cycle were closely monitored by representatives of NGO, and the Praj CSR team with active participation of local youth. This ensured credibility and helped in effectively tracking project progress.

The lower layer excavated from the stream was murum was used for creating 40 kilometres of internal village roads making it approachable during all seasons.