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Introduction: Johranpur dumps untouchability, finds prosperity in rainwater harvesting
India is shining—at least here. A unique rainwater harvesting programme in this non-descript village launched three summers ago has achieved what seemed impossible: weeding out the casteism and untouchability that had been plaguing the village for years.
Not only has Johranpur in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh become a model as far as social integration of the Rajput and Dalit families is concerned, it has also taken the lead in integrating women from both communities into the mainstream.
‘‘We are like an extended family and there is absolutely no question of discrimination. We drink the same water and work together, hand- in-hand for uplift of the economic status of the village. Before the project, our village was just another piece of parched land. Today we boast of plantations producing different crops —mangoes, amla, brinjal, papaya, chillies, gourds and tomatoes. There has also been a quantum jump in the amount of wheat and maize we could manage to produce here,’’ says 70-year-old Balwant Singh.
Separated by a generation in between, 28- year-old Balbir Singh, who stays in the Harijan basti, agrees. ‘‘We are one and have no problems with the Rajputs. They are like our own chachas and mamas and we participate in all their functions just as they do in ours. We even share drinks,’’ he says.
Bhagwan Das, 73, who fought in the 1971 war, chips in. ‘‘Others should learn from us,’’ he says. ‘‘We are probably the first village in the region to do away with untouchability.’’
The project that has brought about this silent revolution here, housing about 15 Rajput and 10 Dalit families, was conceived and implemented by Chandigarh- based Centre for Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWCRTI) and funded by World Bank.
‘‘Before the project, social evils like casteism, untouchability and gender biases divided the whole village. Things have undergone a complete change now,’’ says project coordinator Dr R P Yadav.
Explaining the genesis of the project, CSWCRTI Director Dr R K Aggarwal says: ‘‘Johranpur literally means a settlement with a pair of ponds. However, ponds in the village had become redundant due to heavy silting. The entire run-off was carried through agricultural fields leading to heavy soil erosion. Our intervention on rainwater management has doubled the net returns.’’
Prior to the inception of the project, rain-fed maize-wheat was the sole cropping system. ‘‘Wheat crop was failing two years out of every five and the average yield was very less—11.5 quintals per hectare for maize and 12.5 quintals per hectare for wheat. But the implementation of the project has given a meaning to the village name as ponds have become the source of changing the agricultural scenario,’’ Yadav adds.
Aggarwal attributes the phenomenal success to people’s participation. A watershed society—Krishi Vikas Sangh—has been constituted and registered with the Himachal government. ‘‘Harvested rainwater is distributed by the society on equitable basis among all the farmers at a charge of Rs 30 per hour. The society has earned Rs 16,907 from water charges, membership and fish production. This has had a tremendous social impact in bringing the entire village together,’’ he says.
Further, to integrate village women with the world outside the four walls of their homes, CSWCRTI has been imparting vocational training. Satya, the lone woman representative from the Harijan community in the Sangh, observes: ‘‘We have been taught stitching and tailoring and also attend classes on picklemaking. It has been a wonderful experience.’’
Kamaljeet Kaur, who has studied till Class VIII, and her neighbour Kulwant Kaur are elated at the prospect of attending training sessions on mushroom cultivation. ‘‘Many hotels have come up on the road to Nalagarh and Baddi and we can easily sell mushrooms there,’’ says Kamaljeet.
The change, even in the economic
sphere, surpasses all expectations. ‘‘Harvested rainwater was recycled
back for sustainable crop production and area receiving supplemental irrigation
grew from 4.81 hectares during 2000-01 to 8.13 during 2002-03. The availability
of supplemental irrigation made it possible for the farmers to adopt remunerative
crops like tomato, ginger, brinjal and horticultural crops, and two (rounds
of) supplemental irrigation provided gross returns worth Rs 5.25, Rs 2.90
and Rs 0.49 lakh per hectare from ginger, tomato and brinjal respectively,’’
notes Yadav. Buoyed by the success of the project, villagers from neighbouring
areas have approached CSWCRTI requesting them to start similar programmes.
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