Mainstream WeeklyFarmers of Makanpurswami village, located in Mandrayal block of Karauli district (Rajasthan) were experiencing a lot of difficulties about a decade back. This is a rocky area known for its stone mining, and cultivation had been adversely affected (although not to the same extent as seen in the context of very large-scale mining). Increasing water scarcity had combined with this to create conditions in which most farmers were unable to cultivate a significant part of their land, while the yield on the cultivated land was also not commensurate with the high and increasing expenses of farming.
In this increasingly difficult situation farmers of this and some neighboring villages took an important initiative based on self-help with unity. They collected small donations from within the community to conserve rainwater at a suitable location so that water availability for crops could improve. This helped to improve the situation to some extent, but keeping in view the resource constraints the one-time small effort was just not adequate to make a significant and lasting improvement.
In this situation a voluntary organization SRIJAN (Self-Reliant Initiatives for Joint Action) came in contact with this village and recognizing its potential for taking up development work with unity and cooperation, mobilized community members further for more achievements.
SRIJAN helped to improve and deepen water sources. With de-silting taken up properly, the depth of water sources improved and in addition highly fertile silt became available for farms. With its technical skills, SRIJAN facilitated creating bunds on farms in improved ways and helped in the levelling of uneven land.
In the course of this work it became clear that the farmers here certainly have the capability of taking up a lot of improvements on their farms and in the wider village environs, using their rich understanding of local conditions, but they lack the resource base to sustain such efforts. SRIJAN on the other hand had the ability not to just provide more resources and additional technical expertise, but in addition its activists had the ability to establish close bonding with and within the community so that inspirational conditions to take forward a lot of work in less time could be created. Even during the relatively short time of my visit to this village I could see the affection villagers have for SRIJAN members. As the team leader of SRIJAN here Bhavani Singh had to be away for some time for developing another such initiative in a different part of Rajasthan, they repeatedly told him