Literature Review 27

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review for the thesis has been carried out on two major aspects: (i) water-

centric adaptation strategies mainly from livelihood point of view; (ii) a review of the

Saurashtra Recharging Movement from a conceptual framework of social movements and

examining the leadership styles, framing techniques in social mobilisation and

communication processes inter alia; and (iii) a review of concepts related to groundwater

recharge estimation methods. While the first named two aspects are dealt with in this

chapter, review of groundwater recharge estimation methods, socio technical approach

and its (proposed) application to groundwater along with rationale are dealt with in

Chapter 4 along with a description of groundwater recharge estimation methods.

This Chapter is divided into three sections. Section 1 gives conceptual foundation for the

adaptation strategies, mainly from agrarian livelihoods point of view. The predominant

livelihoods in the study villages comprise agriculture and livestock, which have (ground-)

water as a critical element, around which the adaptation concepts revolve. Section 2

describes the socio technical approach and the rationale for its application to groundwater

irrigation. While Uphoff (1991) has applied it to physical irrigation systems, limited to

channel, sprinkler or drip, Mollinga (1998) and Narain (2003) applied it to canal

irrigation systems. This thesis extends the socio technical framework to groundwater-

based irrigation systems. Section 3 describes evolution of groundwater as a driver of

development by examining the response by the government and the civil society actors to

water scarcity in Gujarat. Section 4 establishes a conceptual framework for social

movements necessary for the analysis of the Saurashtra Groundwater Recharging

Movement; this includes factors influencing social mobilization, and examining the type

Literature Review 28

and role of leadership, the framing techniques and the key drivers that shaped a

seemingly innocuous, disaggregated recharge activity into a movement.

SECTION 1

ADAPTATION THEORY-CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS

Adaptation often is a Hobson‟s choice, more so in the context of livelihoods, as it

involves uncertainties, and factors, over which one does not have control. People faced

with livelihood challenges are compelled to take certain actions which they hope would

improve their livelihood options. These actions are both immediate and long term, and

often are hard choices. Adaptation may therefore be seen as factors that enable

households to take courses of actions particularly during disaster situations (such as

droughts, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes); importantly, these actions are located in the

extant political, social, economic and systems theory (Moench et al. 2005). Further, the

actions also comment on the relevance and effectiveness of the government programmes

and policies that are expected to aid communities tide over and build capacities to tackle

the adverse livelihood situations.

In the case of the predominant livelihoods such as agriculture and animal husbandry, the

main concern of a majority of the agrarian households is to ensure availability of

irrigation water. In the arid and semi arid areas, groundwater is the most dependable

source. Securing water secures crop yields which comprise the major means of income to

the households. The other aspects that influence income comprise the market, choice of

migration and other systems that enable flows to occur (Moench et al. 2005, Rathore,

M.S., 1998). But more importantly, social capital and institutional arrangements are

critical to ensure not only use and management of resources but also sustain and

improvise adaptive actions. The term „social capital‟ here is inclusive of the ability of the

households to cooperate on mutual and communal basis, to share knowledge, skills and

experiences for individual and common benefit.

Literature Review 29

There is increasing recognition of the linkages between the ecological and social systems

as seen in the past two and a half decades or so. In particular, in Asia, as part of adaptive

strategies, communities have been managing natural resources such as forests, water

bodies, village wastelands, mangroves, and other commons over centuries. This

community management of natural resources has been subjected to fluctuations in

performance and efficiency due to a variety of internal and external factors. Internal

factors relate to the composition of humans in terms of caste, class and creed and power

relations; external factors comprise the governance, policies and hierarchies in

implementation. There are many „obstacles‟ or challenges to the adaptive livelihood

strategies by the communities which are in some sense „externalities‟:

[a] In many regions, hydrological systems have been fundamentally transformed by

regional overdraft of groundwater or by the construction of surface structures (such as

roads, railway lines and embankments) that fundamentally altered water availability and

drainage patterns. This transformation along with the inherently unpredictable weather

patterns, compounded by the increasing climatic change scenarios, limits the ability of

society to regulate regional hydrologic systems (Moench et al. 2005).

[b] Major sources of water supply systems such as rivers drying up result in groundwater

level declines which in turn causes snapping up of environmental flows. The

consequential impact on water security is both immediate and long term more so in arid

and semi arid regions. Areas with shallow overburden and saline zones underlying

productive aquifers limit both recharge and storage and thereby the yield. Such aquifers

are common in arid and semi arid regions (Roy et al. 2002).

[c] Adaptive strategies that address long term water management problems are those that

respond to variability, and work with change processes to reach socially desired goals;

however, these approaches do not provide much practical direction due to need for

greater specification (Moench and Dixit, 2004). Adaptive strategies generally represent

the cumulative experience of the people that includes their own innovations and

experimentation. A critical aspect is whether these strategies are able to draw upon the

Literature Review 30

scientific advancement that often tended to remain in a parallel, protected domain.

Adaptive strategies that possess characteristics of historical connectivity, traditional

knowledge and advances of modern science, coupled with robust civil society and

governance institutions would be ideally situated to address long term resource

management problems. Forest management in India is a classic example where

communities in certain States such as Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and the Northeastern

states have had been managing the local forests over many decades (Mudrakartha &

Kumar, 2001; Kumar and Mudrakartha, 2001); the experiential learning has been passed

on to generations. State intervention since nineties in the form of a policy resolution for

management of forests has triggered more criticism than benefits (Mudrakartha et al.

2001)

[d] In complex societies, social movements contributed effectively to prevention of

ecological degradation. They can successfully challenge the dominant political systems

as needed to not only accommodate marginal voices but also carry out ecological

functions in the interest of the community. However, Shah (1998) contends that many of

the diverse initiatives or responses by people tend to be peripheral and ineffective as they

depend upon a host of factors such as the leadership, vision and a whole set of alternative

approaches and technologies. Further, the „success‟ is also determined by the clarity of

purpose, organisation, scale, technical and social strengths. In matters of common

resources such as forests and water in particular, participation of the people evidenced in

the form of social capital at the command of the leadership is critical. Other factors such

as the degree of social cohesion in the community and enabling externalities (such as

policy environment) play a great role for the various sub groups or collectives to reflect,

identify options and act (Mudrakartha et al. 2005; Rathore, 2003c); COMMAN, 2005).

[e] Innovation is another important element that sustains collective action. When

innovation is encouraged, it tends to build in flexibility in resource management by

providing space for further innovations at various hierarchies. Accumulation of such

experiences on resource management combined with people‟s wisdom helps protect

systems against collapse; the physical and the human systems thus would possess

Literature Review 31

resilience for an effective adaptive management. In contrast, guidelines prescribed for

large-scale implementation of programmes under government funding tend to stifle

innovation.

[f] Not just innovation, but strategic implementation of the innovative approaches is

equally important. This can happen only when critical soft elements are integrated into a

programme along with scaling up arrangements10

. The critical soft elements include clear

messages through policy implementation guidelines on people‟s ownership of the

programme, transparency, co-partnership between government and non-governmental

actors, and display of genuine concerns bereft of political overtones.

SECTION 2

SOCIO TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK APPLIED TO GROUNDWATER

IRRIGATION

Groundwater problems are socially constructed, and so should be the solutions. However,

groundwater is not just a technical resource but also a social resource. Therefore, an

approach that combines both social and technical approaches is most appropriate.

Mollinga (1998) has described the conceptual framework of a socio technical

phenomenon while tracing its emergence to Uphoff (1986) and Huppert (1989). He states

that a comprehensive understanding that integrates technical and social science

10 An example here is in order. When the Sardar Patel Participatory Water Conservation Programme was

launched during the year 2000, the agrarian households of Saurashtra contributed more than the mandated

40% and built three check dams within the budget sanctioned for two check dams. This was possible due to

the maximum labour contribution that formed 40% of the check dam cost. The local leaders by then had

already built up social capital over several years as part of the well recharging activity and hence could

achieve very high contribution with quality. However, when this scheme was sought to be scaled up shortly

thereafter in the name of Sardar Patel Jal Sanchay Yojana (popularly known as the 60:40 or 80:20 scheme),

the Gujarat government only provided for „physical‟ scale up. The implementation guidelines did not

integrate the soft elements, and hence people saw it as government scheme. Therefore, even when much

needed, state sponsored schemes are found to collapse no sooner than the project duration is over, or when

the grant or subsidy comes to a halt. Sometimes, there would be lukewarm response, as in the case of

SPPWCP.

Literature Review 32

perspectives underlies the basic assumption that irrigation is inherently a socio-technical

phenomenon. He further argues that social shaping or social construction approach to

irrigation technology investigates the social dimensions of irrigation artefacts11

. The

social dimension comprises three aspects, namely, social requirements for use, social

construction and social effects or benefits. Put differently, social requirements are defined

as enabling conditions essential for irrigation technologies to operate.

The above framework has been evolved and applied to the irrigation technology

involving surface water. While Uphoff (1991) has applied it to physical irrigation

systems, limited to channel, sprinkler or drip, Mollinga (1998) and Narain (2003) applied

it to canal irrigation systems. This thesis would like to extend the framework to

groundwater-based irrigation systems.

Mollinga argues that irrigation technologies are socially constructed implying that the

designs and technical characteristics (such as use of type of material) not only evolve but

are shaped through social processes such as communication, negotiation, struggles and

decision-making. In the ground-water based irrigation systems, it is proposed that the

starting point is the groundwater, not the irrigation technology or the irrigation artefact.

Availability of groundwater triggers the imagination of the user for potential benefits.

Once the user is convinced about the availability of the resource, the irrigation

technology comes into play. The user now transforms into an active stakeholder from a

passive stakeholder.

In canal irrigation systems, when bereft of external technical inputs (government schemes

or externally funded projects or through NGOs) the shaping of the irrigation technology

is driven by ideas that emerge and improvise from within the community, based on their

experience, traditional wisdom and knowledge. A similar response happens in the context

of groundwater where the irrigation technology comprises the type of well structure, the

water extraction mechanism and the conveyance system; the official technical agencies

11 Mollinga reserves the term artefacts to mean technology for the hardware component of irrigation

(Mollinga, 1998:13).

Literature Review 33

predominantly provide the external technical inputs and or funding sometimes.

Historically, such inputs have been provided mostly for surface water supply projects and

very little for groundwater. It may be recalled that groundwater development in India has

been mainly due to private capital formation except for certain schemes that aimed at

promoting groundwater extraction through bore wells such as during the Green

Revolution period (Shah, 2009).

What makes households participate in the process of social construction of irrigation

technology? Is there a difference in participation response to surface water and

groundwater centric activities? Fundamentally, what drives communities to participate is

the social effects, that is, the benefits, that accrue to the households. In surface irrigation

systems, the process of benefits accrual is perceivable, given the ability of the farmers to

connect their irrigation demand with the water stored in the canals and reservoirs. In the

case of groundwater, uncertainties exist even as regards its availability in the first place,

and in quantities needed, assuming the quality is suitable. Therefore, to what extent a

household could readily participate in a groundwater based irrigation system depends not

so much on the household‟s ability to visualise-which is fraught with risk-than upon how

quickly the benefits are accrued in tangible terms. The tangible results here include

irrigation security for crops, crop yield increase, income rise, or fodder security. In short,

the key difference between surface water based irrigation technology and groundwater

based technology is that the resource (that is, water) in the former case is visible, and is

available, for design of a technology or artefact for use or supply. In the case of the latter,

the resource is not visible, and therefore, difficult to envision in terms of availability and

quantum. While this is so for the farmer, it is difficult for planners too as basic scientific

information on aquifer condition is often extremely limited (World Bank and Ministry of

Water Resources, Government of India, 1998). The macro figures such as the overall

level or stage of groundwater development12

in India as 58%, although indicative of a

comfortable situation at the aggregate level, mask the high degree of variability in

availability and development of groundwater (at village and at farm level) throughout the

12

The level or stage of groundwater development is assessed with respect to recharge on a year to year

basis, expressed in percentage.

Literature Review 34

country (Planning Commission, 2007). Data and information based on macro assessments

has serious limitations for use at the village level as it uses several assumptions and often

provides unrealistic information. Further, in the case of assessing groundwater status in

India, the geographic unit of reference adopted is taluka, which is agglomeration of a

village and hamlets-the smallest inhabited area. Since the taluka may contain anywhere

from a few tens of villages to more than a hundred, differing widely in geographic,

climatic and social aspects, the assessment figures such as the stage of groundwater

development are often misleading. It should be emphasised that one of the most critical

uncertainties relates to aquifer delimitation in addition to data inadequacy especially of

water and climatic parameters.

Another dimension relates to the availability of groundwater. Groundwater may not be

available at all places in a given village due to high variations in its occurrence, and

quantum; this is especially true in the current scenario where groundwater

overexploitation is rampant, unlike in earlier decades when groundwater was seen as a

dependable source as “it occurs where you want”. This situation is unlike the canal

irrigation systems, wherein water flows from one place to another, allowing farmers to

tap parts of the flow along the way. However, with groundwater availability in question,

and groundwater storage a limitation due to small aquifer thickness and low permeability,

in particular, in hard rock areas, the groundwater based irrigation technology has to

regress one step in terms of resource augmentation, rather than just design for use as the

starting point as in the case of surface water.

In the past two decades or so, neither groundwater has been capable of meeting all the

irrigation requirements in a given area, nor is the surface water; therefore, both surface

water and groundwater should be used conjunctively. In water harvesting activities, the

surface flows are regulated through checks across rivers, and through similar structures

(farm bunds, farm ponds) on the landed area, as in a watershed programme. In such

cases, the socio technical approaches are guided by the availability of both surface and

groundwater, and their conjunctive use. In the absence of technical information about the

groundwater resource, the community assesses the resource availability and adequacy

Literature Review 35

based on their traditional wisdom. Ultimately, the type and design of irrigation

technology in such situations has to cater to both surface water and groundwater

characteristics.

SECTION 3

EVOLUTION OF GROUNDWATER AS A DRIVER OF DEVELOPMENT

For many decades, groundwater has been playing a major role in agrarian livelihoods in

India. Even during 1930, well irrigation accounted for over 78% of the total irrigation

area as against 10% irrigated through canals (Prakash, 2005). More than half of the

irrigation requirements of agriculture are sourced from groundwater, which, in monetary

terms, contributed to 9% of India‟s GDP (the World Bank and Ministry of Water

Resources, GoI, 1998). Thus, groundwater contributes substantially to the agriculture

sector‟s major share of 28% of the total GDP. Agriculture as a sector is the largest

employer accounting for 60% of the employment and supporting 70% of the India‟s rural

population (Shah, 2009).

However, during the 1960s, large numbers of people in India were suffering from hunger

and poverty, primarily due to unavailability of food grains. The shortfall in food grains

was due to uncertainty in climatic conditions including rainfall, primitive agriculture

practices, low efficiency technologies and high demands from the burgeoning population.

Green Revolution was introduced during mid-sixties to enhance our food grain

production. The focus was on areas endowed with water, where highly subsidised

agricultural inputs were pumped in. For the following two decades, the food grain

production went up and India got transformed from a food deficit state into a food surplus

one.

The 60% of the households from the arid and semi arid regions, not covered under the

Green Revolution, continued to have problems with agriculture; low yields due to

inadequate irrigation and farmer inability to invest in agricultural inputs were the critical

ones. Nevertheless, households borrowed money from private sources against high rates

Literature Review 36

of interest to invest in water infrastructure in the form of wells, bore wells and water

extraction mechanisms hoping that water security would lead to higher returns. The result

was exponential increase in the quantum of groundwater extraction with time. In short,

groundwater extraction beyond aquifer capacity took place almost throughout India

including in the semi arid and arid regions. Many studies have brought out the impact in

the form of unprecedented decline in water levels, groundwater mining and deterioration

of livelihoods aided by the ever increasing horse power of the pump sets to cope with the

increasing hydraulic lifts (Mudrakartha, 2004; Mudrakartha et al. 2005; Kulkarni, 2005,

Moench & Dixit, 2004, Rathore, M.S. 1990, 2003a). The Central Ground Water

Authority which monitors groundwater levels through its own, as well as states‟ network

of well stations has been recording continuously increasing overexploited zones, thus

portending current and potential groundwater crisis (CGWB & GoG, 2005).

A major development in groundwater extraction has been the transformation of the well

structure (Mudrakartha et al. 2005). Until mid sixties, dug wells or open wells comprised

the popular medium of groundwater extraction. Increasing water crisis and depleting

water levels have resulted in households drilling vertical, small diameter boreholes from

the bottom of the wells, in particular in hard rock areas, as digging deeper wells was

either uneconomical or was physically risky. These vertical extension bores, and the

horizontal bores from well bottom especially in hard rock areas, have enhanced the yield

of the wells. However, sooner, these wells have also started drying up as deeper and

deeper zones were tapped through deepening. Deep vertical tube wells came into the

scene, during and post the severe drought of 1966-67, initially for meeting drinking water

requirements (Rathore, 1994). After the drought period, the high capacity, imported

drilling rigs were lying idle. In order to supplement uncertain or inadequate surface

irrigation supply, the Green Revolution farmers commissioned the rigs for drilling deep

tube wells and install submersible pump sets. This paved the way for more and more

private drilling rigs to enter the water sector resulting in ever increasing private capital

formation.

The following three decades saw hectic drilling activity all over the country, including in

Literature Review 37

remote villages. There was competition to catch up with the depleting water levels and

extract groundwater by deploying high horse power submersible pump sets. In the

process a water crisis was being created. A large number of wells were going dry year

after year due to depleting water levels. While the rate of well failure was as high as 70%

(in hard rock areas) in certain states like Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh, it was

50% (in alluvial) in western states such as Gujarat [Shah, 2005; Mudrakartha et al. 2005]

thus creating non-performing assets (Mudrakartha, 2004).

The failure did not elude the small and marginal farmers. In fact, many of these farmers

even from arid and semi arid regions have joined the bandwagon of drilling activity by

borrowing money at high rates of interest from private moneylenders to tap groundwater.

As the secular decline of groundwater levels set in, their wells were the first to dry up

adversely affecting their agrarian livelihood income. Dairy too was affected due to

dependence of fodder on agriculture. The communities under the patronage of non-

governmental agencies have responded by taking up water harvesting activities to

improve water levels. This effort was supplemented by the watershed programme

launched by the Government of India in 1995 implemented through district rural

development agencies (DRDA) and later by some state governments through some other

projects.

DEPLETING WATER LEVELS AND WATER SCARCITY: RESPONSES BY

GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Focused efforts on water harvesting or artificial recharging in India have begun in the

past three decades or so. This also includes research and experimentation by government

institutions. With increasing water scarcity, the debate on water harvesting has picked up

in particular in the past two decades. Three basic types of recharging are recognised: [a]

direct, [b] indirect and [c] induced (Sakthivadivel, 2001). In direct recharge, water

percolates down to the groundwater table and helps in enhancing the available volume of

groundwater in that area. For this purpose, the percolated water has to first saturate the

overburden as well as compensate for evapotranspiration losses before it reaches the

Literature Review 38

groundwater table. Indirect recharge is facilitated by structures such as ponds, tanks,

natural depressions and depressions in water bodies facilitating accumulation of water

even during non-flow conditions in the water courses. Artificially induced recharge

involves percolation of water through water harvesting structures constructed for the

purpose such as ponds, tanks, check dams, tube wells, canals and spreading channels.

Two key stakeholders are recognised in these efforts: one, the government agencies, and

two, the civil society (which includes individual households as entities).

Response by the government agencies

The major agencies in the government sector comprise the Central Ground Water Board

(CGWB), the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and to a certain extent,

state Groundwater departments. In terms of research and experimentation, by far, the

government and research agencies, barring a few NGOs and CSOs, have carried out

plans, designs and evaluation. Among other demonstrations, CGWB has utilised

percolation tanks, check dams, dug wells, surface spreading methods and recharge shafts

in select parts of the country. Athavale (2003) describes some of them:

i. CGWB carried out artificial recharge experimentation on percolation tanks and

check dams in the basaltic terrain of Maharashtra (CGWB, 2000). The

experiments have yielded important results: (i) The total capacity utilisation of the

percolation tanks was found to be as high as 150% as there were several fillings in

a given monsoon season, while that of the check dams was 400%. These

structures also had performed at an efficiency level of 91% and 94% respectively.

(ii) The additional water was part of the surplus flow computed for the subject

watershed13

. (iii) There was overall improvement in the groundwater levels in the

wells; even during the ensuing summer, contrary to earlier situation, wells had

some water. (iv) The experimentation has proved the techno-economic feasibility

of the artificial recharge techniques in basaltic terrain with no adverse

environmental impact.

13

Watershed no. WR-2, Amaravati district, categorized as an overexploited watershed.

Literature Review 39

ii. Another study in Jeur Sub-basin of Ahmednagar district in similar basaltic terrain

carried out on percolation tanks indicated that the recharge to groundwater or

effectiveness of percolation tanks varied from as low as one-third to three-fourths,

averaging half. This depended upon several factors such as the silt/sediment load

in the percolation tank, design, evaporation losses, and above all on the recipient

of the recharged water, that is the degree of porosity and permeability (CGWB

2000). The experiments also demonstrated that recharge on basaltic terrain is

effective due to the vesicular and fractured formation; the evaporation was found

to be within 15% of the total storage.

iii. Artificial recharge was carried out through an injection well using canal water in

the Ghaggar river basin of Haryana. The injection was done both by gravity and

under pressure. The study found that the recharge rate obtained with injection

under pressure is almost ten times the gravity method. During the recharge cycle,

the clogging of the injection well due to silt entry was a serious problem, and

periodical cleaning therefore was essential, in particular, when the injection

pressure exceeded 6 atmospheres. As regards injection under gravity was

concerned, the study found that the inducing zone from the river recharge to the

aquifer should be at least 100 metres away.

iv. CGWB and the Gujarat Water Resources Development Corporation Limited,

Government of Gujarat, have jointly carried out experimentation in Mehsana and

in coastal Saurashtra with UNDP. In Mehsana, known for 150% groundwater

development and severe depletion of water levels, a pilot artificial recharge

experiment was conducted through injection wells, connector wells and by

infiltration channels and ponds. Surplus water from plain aquifers of the major

rivers in Mehsana and tail-end releases from the Dharoi canal system (Sabarmati

river basin) were utilised for these feasibility studies. Similarly, in the coastal

Saurashtra, artificial recharge was injected through injection wells and recharge

basins in order to check the coastal salinity ingress, a serious concern here. Storm

water as well as tail-end releases from the canal system of Hiran river irrigation

Literature Review 40

project were used to inject water.

v. There are a large number of tanks in India existing since centuries. However, due

to lack of maintenance for several reasons, the tanks, in particular the percolation

tanks have stopped functioning. For example, in Yerravcheruvu tank in Andhra

Pradesh, it was noticed that although the tank was full after a thunderstorm, the

well nearest the command area still remained dry indicating that no percolation

was taking place (Athavale, 2003). Removing top layers of sediments/silt have

resulted in enhancing the rate of infiltration of water significantly (Mousavi and

Rezai, 1999).

vi. In order to experiment a siphon method of transferring tank water to an aquifer,

the National Geophysical Research Institute designed a simple method. The tank

water was transferred through siphon method into a well with an in-well borehole

at the bottom. The water was recharged at a rate of 30-40 litres per minute on an

average in an experiment that lasted 190 days (Athavale, 2003).

vii. Other methods researched include groundwater recharge from tanks through a

deep borehole along with adequate filter arrangements for trapping silt/sediments.

While the Andhra Pradesh State Groundwater Department has carried out

experiments in hard rock areas (Athavale, 2003), the author has carried it out in

alluvial areas (Mudrakartha, 2004).

As in some parts of the country, in Gujarat too, there were responses both by the State

and by the civil society to addressing water scarcity. The first type of response by the

Gujarat government was in the form of „grandiose‟ plans and schemes (Shah, 1998)

which has been the overarching policy in India. River water diversion schemes by the

government are a typical example. The rationale was that since there is a huge variation

in rainfall from 300 mm in the south to 1200 mm in the east (south Gujarat), the surface

water from the water surplus south Gujarat should be transported to water deficit north

Gujarat, Kachchh and Saurashtra to „correct the imbalance‟. Small rivers in south Gujarat

Literature Review 41

were linked with the Ukai dam from where the water is transported into Narmada through

a Tapi-Narmada High Level Canal. The Rs.540 billion Kalpasar14

project is another

grandiose scheme, yet to take off, aiming to create a huge fresh water reservoir by

damming the Gulf of Khambhat connecting the east and west banks of the Gulf. It is

estimated that more than 30,000 MCM of inland water flows off into the sea annually

from the basins of Sabarmati, Mahi, Dhadar and Narmada. The proposed Kalpasar dam is

expected to store this huge volume together with the waters from almost 100 (not

perennial) Saurashtra rivers discharging into the Gulf of Khambhat. The stored water will

be used for irrigation, water supply and industrial requirements of the Saurashtra region.

Through a 660-km canal system, 1.05 million hectares of land in coastal Saurashtra will

be irrigated. Power generation of 5880 MW is expected to be generated from the tidal

energy. Other aims of the Kalpasar project include land reclamation, transportation

improvements and fisheries development. A final decision is due in December 2009

based on recommendations of various committees on the extent of the dam from among

the five alignments, the largest being 64-km across will determine the extent of benefits

too15

.

The second type of response by the government of Gujarat is to take off or build up on

the gains of the Saurashtra recharging movement when the Sardar Patel Participatory

Water Conservation Project (also called Sardar Jal Sanchay Yojana-SJSY) was launched

on the 17th of January 2000. This is because the previous effort of promoting check dams

did not meet with success. The SPPWCP is a revamp of the previous experience with an

idea of capitalizing on the Saurashtra recharging movement leadership and participation.

The following reasons have compelled the government to launch the SPPWCP: [a] Till

1999, the construction of Check dams was carried out either through tendering or

departmentally. As per the government of Gujarat‟s own admission16

, the progress of

execution of works was so slow that only 2500 check dams could be constructed till 1999

in Gujarat State out of which 1341 were constructed during 1991-99 under the

14

http://www.gujaratindia.com/Initiatives/Initiative2(5).htm accessed 8 August 2009. 15 DNA, April 10, 2009.

16 http://guj-nwrws.gujarat.gov.in/english/checkdam.htm accessed 9 August 2009.

Literature Review 42

Government sponsored „Own your check dam Programme‟. Even the involvement of

NGOs was not effective. Looking at the tremendous participation in the recharging

movement in Saurashtra and having attended some of the biggest conventions organized

by the movement leaders, the then chief minister of Gujarat has decided to launch the

revamped Sardar Patel Participatory Water Conservation Programme (SPPWCP) all over

the state. [b] During 1998-2000, there was the 90:10 scheme for construction of check

dams with 90% of the cost as subsidy and 10% as local contribution from the

„beneficiaries‟. In spite of the high subsidy, there were not many takers, with less than

200 check dams constructed in two years of the scheme (Shah 1998, Nagar, 2002). In

contrast, people were happily contributing 10-20% or more in the privately supported

well recharging activities, for many years then. [c] The grand conventions organized by

NGOs (like the one on 19th December 1998 and in 1999 by the Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust

(described in section 4, Chapter 2) for which the chief minister of the state was invited as

chief guest encouraged the government to tie up with the well recharge promoters. [d]

There were clear political advantages that could be derived from collaborating with the

promoters of the movement which has stood the test of time for more than a decade by

that time (in 1999-2000). [e] During 199917

(the worst drought in ten years period), the

113 dams in Saurashtra region could store only 140 MCM out of a storage capacity of

2200 MCM (Shingi et al. 2002; Nagar 2002, Rathore, 2005). This storage, which

constitutes hardly 6% of the total storage capacity available, did not suffice even drinking

water requirements. In contrast, many villages that have participated in the well

recharging movement not only did not face drinking water problem, but had reasonable

crop yields and animal husbandry income, even during the low rainfall years. [f] Above

all, the Government had noticed that an intense awakening was taking place among the

people on the importance of water18

. They found that several social workers and service

oriented NGOs had successfully implemented several water conservation projects by

collecting voluntary contributions from the people for harvesting rainwater to recharge

groundwater which addressed can be utilized for drinking and agricultural purposes. With

this background, the GoG launched Sardar Patel Participatory Water Conservation

17

Saurashtra, among other areas in Gujarat, suffered drought a drought spell from 1999-2002). 18

http://guj-nwrws.gujarat.gov.in/english/checkdam.htm accessed 9 August 2009.

Literature Review 43

Project or the Sardar Patel Jal Sanchay Yojana (SJSY) and invested over Rs.1180 million

in the construction of 10,708 check dams distributed over Saurashtra, Kutch,

Ahmedabad, and Sabarkantha region. Saurashtra capitalised on this opportunity by

sourcing more than 95% of the check dams, that is, 10,205 check dams. As part of

making the check dam construction simpler, the government provided six prototype

designs with various costs, maximum being Rs. 1 million. However, small and medium

check dams were given priority. The deputy executive engineer, who is available at the

taluka level, was authorised to sanction check dams upto Rs. 100,000. In this revamped

SPPWCP, the participation of people was encouraging which could be seen from the

following. The scheme covered a total of 1469 villages out of the 4029 villages of

Saurashtra covering 36% of the total. In other words, there was one check dam in 25%

(389) of the villages under the 60:40 scheme, 32% (467) villages had 2 to 3 check dams,

and almost 75% villages had 5 or less check dams; 5% (75) had more than 25 check

dams. The storage capacity of the check dams varied from a minimum of .0001 MCM to

a maximum of 0.7500 MCM. The average storage capacity of constructed check dams

was considered as 0.015 MCM. Depending on the size, the check dam construction took

anywhere between two weeks to 3 months.

The SPPWCP or SJSY was perhaps a step in the right direction as can be seen from the

key guidelines given below which were simple and clear. [a]Any group of farmers/NGO

could apply to the concerned deputy executive engineer of their area, who would give his

approval. [b] Flexibility for own designs by the NGO/farmers group existed which were

however to be technically approved by the engineers. However, the government has

provided 6 prototypes to suit different sites. [c] On completion of the construction

activity, the deputy executive engineer would visit the site, carry out measurements,

verify bills and forward the same to the executive engineer for final approval and release

of payment. The entire procedure was to be completed within seven days of submission

of the bills by the beneficiary group. Strict instructions existed to avoid any delays at any

levels of approvals.

Literature Review 44

Although the independent evaluation by IIMA (Shingi et al. 2002) has considered the

project as overall achieving its objectives, it has also pointed out at the entry of private

contractors to the extent of about 19%, during the later stage (that is, during the second

year of the project itself) and recommended that it be curbed. From then and till now, the

programme has faced major problems for various reasons, and made some gains which

are given below19

:

[a] One of the basic issues with the programme is the lack of „preparedness‟ in terms of

orientation of the executives, namely the engineers at the taluka and district levels. The

government only made provision for „physical‟ scale up through funds disposal but not

for developing the skills of the engineers for dealing with the people and their problems.

Nor, were they trained to learn „tricks of participation‟ from the NGOs who have already

built up the social capital. Social capital too can become weak in the face of temptations

and can prove to be the undoing of the collectives. This has started happening when the

contractors constructed the check dams without any contribution in the form of

participation. The net result was that people saw it as government scheme and the check

dam as a government check dam in place of „our‟ check dam. [b] The payments were to

be made in three stages, that is, at the completion of foundation, super structure and

finish. However, at each of the stages, there was often delay due to the limited number of

engineers available on the staff role, and the large number of check dams under

construction simultaneously (Shingi et al. 2002). The engineers were supposed to visit the

check dam site, monitor, make verifications, and release payments. [c] At each stage, the

implementing person/agency had to invest money in advance and wait for releases which

were inordinately delayed, due to various reasons, including corruption. Guidelines

stipulated that ten per cent of the approved cost of check dam was to be released after the

check dam survived the overflow of rainwater during the succeeding monsoon. While

very few farmers or NGOs could afford these delays, or had capacity to invest and wait

for more than a year for complete payment to happen, the local contractors secured the

work orders in the names of local farmers and made profit. This was just like another

business activity for them. Thus, the whole spirit of participatory programme was

19

These include personal experience with the programme.

Literature Review 45

gradually eroded. [c] Many complaints were made regarding favoritism in allocation of

check dams; totally unconnected, inexperienced agencies such as a marriage bureau,

travel agency were also sanctioned projects. [d] Although monitoring mechanism was in

place, it was bureaucracy-driven and target-driven with no impactful functioning. [e] The

scheme was also open to farmers, either as individuals or as a group. Many individual

farmers have taken advantage of the 60% subsidy to construct check dams close to their

farmlands, which have benefitted them immensely (Mudrakartha, 2005, Reddy V.R, and

M.S. Rathore, 1993).

Wherever the committed agencies or individual promoters have leveraged these projects,

the work went on well with people‟s participation, ownership and work quality ensured.

However, the goings on from the areas in the neighborhood where contractors were

implementing, and no people‟s contribution was collected (it was „subsidized‟ by the

contractor) (Shingi et al. 2002), led to certain amount of „weakening‟ of the contributory

fabric of the people. To counter the undue influence from such areas, leaders of NGO

groups had to put their foot down to maintain their quality and level of work. The role of

diamond and textile business men in the take off of SPPWCP was commendable as they

convinced the unbelieving people to participate. People‟s suspicion mainly related to

government‟s release of instalments. The same people along with the NGOs have

countervailed the undue influence to a good extent. However, there has been a certain

dilution of participation that happened due to government way of approach, depending of

course upon the local leadership and their grip on the villagers.

In the ultimate analysis, the following key points have emerged: [a] Large number of

structures have come to be installed, with mixed „success‟. In any case, the amount of

recharge has increased considerably making a difference to the farmers in terms of

irrigation water availability through wells. [b] Where contractors were involved and

people were indifferent, such structures provided employment in the least. Where local

contractors from villages were involved; the quality of structures was reasonably good, as

the farmer-contractor had sense of belongingness to the area. [c] There was a significant

dilution of people‟s emotional and physical contributions, overall, in the whole process.

Literature Review 46

[d] As can be seen from the guidelines, a lot depended upon the attitude and commitment

level of the concerned engineers, which was highly varying, and who were the key to

effective implementation of the project.

Response by the civil society

As for the civil society response, many small localised efforts have been made. The

notable ones are the pani panchayats (water councils), and the recent Tarun Bharat Sangh

and the Saurashtra Recharging Movement which stand out as large experiments in

groundwater recharging (Rathore, 2003). A pani panchayat is a collective action of

farmers for water conservation and management. The experiment by Vasanthrao Salunke,

a Pune-based engineer-turned industrialist, was begun during the drought of 1970 on a

leased land of 16 acres in Naigon with funding support from local industrialists

(Keermane et al. 2006). The first pani panchayat that emerged in 1979 had clear rules

regarding water sharing, collective crop decisions, and equity principles. Farmers found

that the water was available in their wells for eight months; this encouraged 59 other

villages to adopt the pani panchayat. However, subsequently, Salunke lost interest in

development works after he lost his election to Maharashtra Assembly elections in mid-

eighties; the consequence was that the number of collectives reduced to 19, and gradually

become dormant.

The TBS focused on developing ponds and tanks as key water storage and recharge

structures initially, and later included check dams; Saurashtra recharging movement

concentrated on direct well recharging initially and later moved over to check dams, farm

ponds, gully plugs and tanks. TBS as a non-governmental institution has provided the

lead while for the Saurashtra movement, there has been no overarching institution. The

non-governmental agencies came onto the scene gradually. The following gives a

description of the efforts of TBS and the Saurashtra recharging movement in brief.

Tarun Bharat Sangh, Rajasthan

Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) is one of the very few success stories that could be termed as

a social movement. It has inspired many individuals and agencies across India and

Literature Review 47

abroad, and has reinforced the belief that with social mobilisation, rivers can be

regenerated and groundwater levels can be improved.

TBS was formed by a small group of youngsters interested in rural development in the

year 1985. Based on principles of gram Swavalamban (self reliance), TBS engaged in

working for soil conservation, improved seeds, collection of herbal medicine, forest

management and water conservation initially through voluntary labour. Rajendrasingh,

the Magsaysay Award winner for 2001, coordinated all these activities to integrate and

gel with a village‟s cycle of rituals and traditions so that people would accept and absorb

the same in a routine manner. TBS also successfully persuaded the government to close

down ecologically damaging mines and quarries in the Sariska National Park under the

orders of the Supreme Court of India. This was part of the effort to regenerate forests that

were felled leading to increases in run off; TBS also focused on regeneration of forests

from 1986 onwards. For this, Singh was awarded Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar

(1994), Tiger Conservation Award (1999) and Jamnalal Bajaj Award (2005) among

others.

In the field of water conservation, TBS has done pioneering work by facilitating

construction of 8600 johads (water harvesting structures) in 1058 villages spread over

6500 sq. km in the districts of Alwar, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, Karoli and Jaipur in

Rajasthan state. While TBS was instrumental in constructing 3500 johads, the rest 5100

johads were constructed by villages themselves as they had witnessed the benefits of the

structures. TBS also extended its work to Jaisalmer, Ajmer, Udaipur and Bharatpur

districts. Because of all these efforts, five seasonal rivers, namely, Ruparel, Arvari, Sarsa,

Bhagani and Jahajwali in northeastern Rajasthan have now become perennial20

(Rathore,

1998, 2003a; Shiva, 2002).

In terms of institutional arrangements, TBS initiated a (Arvari) River Parliament with

representation from 70 villages that the river flows through, much along the democratic

pattern of governance in India (Rathore, 2003). In the year 2001, TBS has started „jal

20

http://www.tarunbharatsangh.org accessed 6 August 2008.

Literature Review 48

biradari‟ (water community) to create awareness on National Water Policy throughout

India by networking with other NGOs in different states. Further, to create consciousness

and equip people with skills, TBS has started a Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth which offers a two-

year diploma course to any person with or without any formal educational background;

there are also some short duration courses catering to different needs21

.

TBS has carried out jal yatras, water campaigns, conventions and conferences in addition

to networking with other agencies to spread awareness on the need for water conservation

and for social mobilisation. Singh has also served as an advisor to some state

governments and member of committees in the water sector with both governments and

non-governmental agencies. TBS has also adopted a confrontationist approach as and

when necessary such as in the case of the mines and quarries22

and construction of check

dams.

In terms of watershed projects, TBS has worked in 850 villages out of which about 200

have been made drought-proof23

. This means, that even if these villages receive less than

3 inches of rain per annum they will face none of the hardships of drought. The only

awareness that they will need to have is not to take crops which consume too much water

and not to waste any water.

21

http://www.tarunbharatsangh.org accessed 6 August 2008. 22

TBS has filed a case against illegal mining activity in the area reserved as Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan

state. The petition alleged that there were notifications prohibiting all mining activity, and yet the State

Government had granted hundreds of licences for mining marble, dolomite and other materials and that

such section was contrary to law. This was damaging the ecology, environment and was against rule of law.

The Court appointed a committee to ensure due observance of the various Acts and Notifications that had

been issued in respect of the protected area. The committee stated that there were 215 mines completely

falling within the areas declared as protected forest while 47 mines fell partly inside and partly outside the

areas declared as protected forest. http://www.asianlii.org/in/cases/INSC/1993/209.html and

http://www.ecolex.org/ accessed 6 August 2009. 23

http://www.tarunbharatsangh.org accessed 6 August 2008.

Literature Review 49

SECTION 4

SAURASHTRA RECHARGING MOVEMENT: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

FOR REVIEW

This Section is divided into three Parts. Part one lays down the conceptual framework of

social movements for the purpose of studying the Saurashtra groundwater recharging

movement. This section describes social movements and factors that contribute to social

mobilization. Part two applies Oommen‟s criteria of leadership to the Saurashtra

recharging movement and examines the type and role of leadership, and some key

organizations that shaped an innocuous, disaggregated recharge activity into a movement.

Other aspects examined include the role of public events, involvement of political,

religious and spiritual personalities for public discourse, use of slogans, messages, audio-

visual communication and posters as persuasive communication and consciousness

material is discussed. The manuals on „how to do‟ recharging played a critical and useful

role in „demystifying‟ the recharge techniques. Finally, the advent of the watershed

programme during mid-nineties supported by the government of India has given a boost

by enabling systematic, areal implementation of water-biased activities. Part three

analyzes the Saurashtra recharging movement within the conceptual framework described

in Section one. Put differently, this section identifies and discusses the key determinants

of social mobilization in the run up to the social movement namely, the institutions, the

leadership styles, the principles and the approaches adopted by the leaders in contributing

to the recharge movement. Also, the conceptual framework of Oommen‟s alternatives for

a crisis situation, the process of framing employed by the recharge movement leaders,

and Klanderman‟s process of meaning construction and communication are also

analyzed.

Literature Review 50

PART 1: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR STUDY OF SOCIAL

MOVEMENTS

This sub-section lays down the conceptual framework of social movements briefly, to the

extent required for my analysis of Saurashtra recharging movement. The framework

looks at the role of individual actors for collective action accompanied by the role of

culture defined by people‟s behavior patterns; the role of identity, narratives, and the

process of meaning construction as part of framing strategies that drives social

mobilization and consequently social movements. The sub-section also briefly describes

the „new social movements‟ around resource mobilization and how it is relevant for the

current discussion.

One of the earliest theories, proposed by Weber (1958, 1968), considered the individual

actor as the fundamental unit in the study of social behavior. He opined that the ideas

arise in and get implemented by the individual actors through a variety of actions. Weber

illustrated the role of an individual‟s motives for action through the famous railway

“switchman” analogy:

Not ideas, but material and ideal interests, directly govern men‟s conduct. Yet

very frequently, the „world images‟ that have been created by „ideas‟ have, like

switchmen, determined the tracks along which action has been pushed by the

dynamic of interest. „From what‟ and „for what‟, one wished to be redeemed, and,

let us not forget, „could be‟ redeemed, depended on one‟s image of the world

(Weber, 1946:280).

In Weberian theory, culture is an important means of understanding basis for action. If

the social actor is an influential individual (king or a ruler, religious leader,

philanthropist, business person, social reformer, caste leader) or an institution, or a

motivated leader, then there is the systematization of processes and procedures, leading to

certain amount of routinization in implementation of activities. There may also be

institutionalization of the activities leading to its being nominated as social movement.

Literature Review 51

Against Weberian theory, Durkheim viewed culture as comprising “collective

representations” reflecting existing cultural practices, moral beliefs and faith. He

considered these representations not just as ideas developed by individuals or groups

pursuing their interests but as vehicles of a fundamental process in which publicly shared

symbols constitute social groups while they constrain and give form to individual

consciousness (Durkheim, 1965; Bellah, 1973). To put differently, social groups evolve

their own shared beliefs and pursue them under their own group identity for commonly

held objects. At this point, we need to clarify the use of terms „culture‟ and „social

movements‟. Although both the terms have evolved over the past couple of centuries and

have been applied in different contexts with different meaning, this study would restrict

to basic operational definitions or understanding as demanded by the thesis. Detailed

discourse on both these topics is beyond the scope my thesis.

Culture

Culture24,25

as a term was first used by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B.

Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871, and has become a central concept

in anthropology. According to him, culture is "that complex whole which includes

knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits

acquired by man (or woman) as a member of society." In other words, „culture is the full

range of learned human behavior patterns‟. Culture can easily get lost because it exists

only in our minds: language, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are

merely products of culture; they are not culture in themselves. Culture as a complete

24

http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm 25

When the concept first emerged in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, it connoted a process of

cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the nineteenth century, it came to refer

first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the

fulfilment of national aspirations or ideals. In the mid-nineteenth century, some scientists used the

term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity. In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged as a

concept central to anthropology, encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of

human genetics. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the

evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and

creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and

represented their experiences, and acted creatively. Following World War II, the term became important,

albeit with different meanings, in other disciplines such as sociology, cultural studies,

organizational psychology and management studies.

Literature Review 52

whole is influenced by its subcultures. Subcultures are embedded domains with their own

culture, identity, practices, beliefs, symbols and religion, but tend to get mainstreamed

over a long period of time. However, it is seen that subcultures do tend to retain some

identity of their own in spite of blurred boundaries of their own domains.

Social Movements

What are social movements and how can they be defined26

? Social movements are

nothing but behavior of groups or society in a particular way in response to a situation.

They are forms of collective action with a high degree of popular participation, which use

primarily non-institutional channels (Shah, 2008), at least to begin with; they formulate

their demands while simultaneously finding forms of action to express them (Jelin, 1992).

Forms of action could include institutionalization and networking, and expanding to

include larger geographies or extended themes. Research has shown that movements are

neither mere accidents nor entirely the resultants of manipulations by leaders and

demagogues; but the consequence of conscious efforts of men to change systems in the

light of their past experiences, avoiding pitfalls (Oommen, 1990).

At the core of social movement lies social mobilization for which effective leadership is

critical. For social mobilization to happen and sustain, three factors are critical: identity,

communication and benefits. Often, the leadership shapes the movement based upon its

own experience and understanding of the needs of the individuals and the society. In

resource related movements, it is the economic benefits that bind the group(s) from

across areas. The potential economic benefits are used as a critical input into the process

of creating mental orientations, called framing, in stakeholders for visualization of future

scenarios. Slogans, messages and public events help strengthen the awareness raising and

participation through generating interactions and exchange of information, knowledge

and experience not only among the participants but also among the state actors and

26

Shah (2008) discusses difficulties in defining social movements simply because of the variety of actions

that are termed social movements by various authors. This categorization has also been a function of the

influence of the times (in India, it could be pre-British, during and post independence) and prevailing socio-

economic and cultural contexts. For example, the term „social movement‟ which gained currency during

early nineteenth century concerned with emancipation of exploited classes and creation of new society by

changing value systems as well as institutions and/or property relationships (Shah, 2008).

Literature Review 53

representatives, leading to a possibility of policy influencing. Social mobilization

depends on the ability of the leader and his framing skills. Framing implies mental

orientations that organize perception and interpretation for solutions to either social,

political, economic, physical, cultural or resource problems. From a cognitive

perspective, frames are problem-solving schemata, stored in memory of people, for the

interpretative task of making sense of presenting situations. They are based on past

experiences of what worked in given situations, and on cultural templates of appropriate

behavior (Johnston, 1995). This framing by the leader helps trigger action at individual or

at group level, simultaneously or jointly, providing a purposive orientation aided by the

strength of the prevailing social relationships. There is contribution by individuals in the

form of human labor, money, expertise or skills in addition to the group contribution of

kinship relationship and strengths of social networking. Regular group meetings serve as

forums for exchanging and developing narratives. These narratives encompass past and

present experiences, information and knowledge, and tend to reinforce the cognitive

frames. They help in not only strengthening but in proliferation of the movement by

inducing more members from the hitherto passive domain.

Studies have shown that a large number of social movements across the world has been

reactionary, revolutionary or reformist, and have been resisting change rather than

working towards change (Preston, 2000, Shah, 2008). Post modernization has seen the

emergence of social movements that aimed at working for or against change. This is

because post-modernists view current society as an aggregation of fragments, or

embedded domains. Western India has been a treasure house of social movements related

to environment, the Dalit movement, women and peasants (Omvedt, 2003). Study of

social movements has ranged from micro-level studies, which examine the motives and

aspirations of individuals within these movements, to organizational-level studies

(Preston, 2000; Shah, 2008). Oommen (1990) believes that social movements can be

studied by data collected through multiple techniques-participant observation, content

analysis, informant interviewing, and survey method.

Literature Review 54

While the focus of the movements of the west was on improving the quality of life

through equality and rights approach, many social movements in the Asian countries are

about a very wide range of livelihood issues such as related to quality of life, land

reforms, rights of women, human rights, tribal rights, privatisation of water,

marketisation and globalisation, and access to HIV antiretroviral treatment (Shah, 2008).

The actors involved generally comprise the underprivileged, the marginalised, workers

and poor farmers. Not only do they suffer from poverty due to the dependence for

primary source of income on, namely, agriculture and animal husbandry, but also are

increasingly becoming vulnerable due to the economic liberalization, globalization and

marketisation. These individual actors are generally at a great disadvantage in terms of

awareness, knowledge and understanding of the latest techniques of resource

management. Here resource implies water, improved seeds, agriculture and animal

husbandry practices, land development techniques and farm machinery, or post harvest

processing and marketing. Many of the social movements involving the poor, small and

marginal farmers or otherwise have often petered out before achieving their goals and

objectives as the staying capacity of such groups in terms of economic self-maintenance

is quite low. In terms of fighting the state such movements often achieved partial or little

success. However, literature indicates that collectives have done appreciative,

autonomous work, given appropriate motivational, technical and financial

backstopping27

. Chipko movement28

(hugging trees to prevent felling), water

27

The story of Amul from Gujarat, India, is an excellent, one-of-its-kind example of what cooperatives

could do even in most adverse conditions. The productivity of milk, availability of fodder, uncertain rains

and poverty of farmers, mostly illiterate, was all too common a situation when the Amul revolution began

in mid-forties. Registered in 1946, the Kaira District Milk Producers Union Limited, popularly known as

Amul, began with 250 litres of milk collection per day from two villages. As the number of participating

villages increased, excess milk collection led to setting up of a plant to process milk into products like

butter and milk powder. Subsequently, cheese was also produced for the first time from buffalo milk and

many other baby food products. Today Amul collects, processes and distributes over a million litres of milk

and milk products per day on behalf of more than a thousand village cooperatives owned by half a million

farmer members. The turnover of Amul is Rs.22 billion from the branded packaged products sold across

the country and exported to several countries. Each obstacle was converted into an opportunity and today

Amul represents all that is international quality with no let up even after six decades of cooperative

functioning that speaks volumes about commitment at all levels and institutional strength. Studies show

that about half the income of a participating rural household comes from dairy providing income security.

The Amul success has also inspired the „operation flood‟ and heralded „white revolution‟ in India thus

addressing poverty directly. For more details visit:

http://www.indiadairy.com/cont_highest_milkproducer_amulorigin.html;

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/sep/23spec.htm.

Literature Review 55

conservation (pani panchayat29

) and the recent Saurashtra groundwater recharging

movement are notable ones. The collectives are generally a homogeneous group and the

action is for a common purpose and common benefit. Therefore, the collective identity of

a group plays an important role in the social movements. To sum up, ssocial movements

therefore shape action by defining what people want and how they imagine they can get.

Collective identity

Every social movement that arises revolves around one or more issues and mobilizes

people affected presently or potentially. When individuals come together and act for

common cause, a collective identity is generated. This identity may be pre-existing such

as in caste, class or profession, or may be created such as in the case of earthquake or

flood affected victims who generally form groups to fight for compensation for loss of

property and life from the state. In social movements, the concept of collective identity is

of paramount importance. Collective identity is neither a „datum‟ nor a „thing‟ with a real

28

The Chipko movement was a spontaneous response of the forest-dependent community to the decades

old felling of Indian forests for commercial purposes. They saw that the forests that provided them with

direct livelihood support through food, fuel and fodder, and healthy soil and flowing water resources, were

getting being felled systematically. The first Chipko action happened spontaneously on March 26, 1974 in

the Garhwal Himalayas when a group of female peasants in Reni village, Hemwalghati, in Chamoli district,

Uttarakhand, India, hugged the trees to prevent their felling. This spurred hundreds of such grassroot level

actions, throughout the region. By the 80s, the movement spread throughout India, and led to formulation

of people sensitive forest policies and stopping of open felling of trees in regions as far reaching as

Vindhyas and the Western Ghats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Chipko_movement). The Chipko

protests in Uttar Pradesh, led majorly by women, achieved a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on

green felling in the Himalayan forests of that state by order of India's then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Since then the movement has spread to Himachal Pradesh in the North, Kamataka in the South, Rajasthan

in the West, Bihar in the East and to the Vindhyas in Central India. In addition to the 15-year ban in Uttar

Pradesh, the movement has stopped clear felling in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas and generated

pressure for a natural resource policy which is more sensitive to people's needs and ecological

requirements. A feature published by the United Nations Environment Programme reported the Chipko

Movement thus: 'In effect the Chipko people are working a socio-economic revolution by winning control

of their forest resources from the hands of a distant bureaucracy which is concerned with selling the forest

for making urban-oriented products.'

29 „Pani Panchayat‟ translates to „water council‟. Started by late Shri Vilasrao Salunkhe in 1973, this

institutional form comprising five village elders, has motivated the villagers of Naigon in the drought-prone

Purandhar taluka of Maharashtra State to harness their meagre water resources for both individual and

common good. The basic plank for development was guaranteed, equitable allocation of water through a set

of technological and social innovations. The village reaped good economic returns from agriculture and

animal husbandry, which was leveraged to bring about social transformation too. Social barriers and

economic inequalities were sought to be addressed through a string of social and economic actions and

sanctions. Many villages across Maharashtra and in some other states got motivated and joined the 'Pani

Panchayat' movement (http://panipanchayat.org/accessed 06 July 2009).

Literature Review 56

existence. It is a concept, an analytical tool or a lens through which we read reality; it

helps to analyze phenomena, or dimensions of them (Melucci 1995). Collective identity

is a shared definition of a group that derives from members‟ common interests,

experiences, and solidarity (Taylor, 1989). Melucci (1988) and other social movements

analysts differentiate collective identity from the social psychological concept of social

identity which is based on caste, for example. In contrast, collective identity is seen as

constructed, activated, and sustained only through interaction in social movement

communities (or submerged networks, Melucci‟s) and as shaped by factors such as

political opportunity structures, the availability of resources, and organizational strength-

in other words, matters of resources and power. Individuals who act as leaders and

promoters of social change often initiate the process of creating an ideology-based

collective identity.

Thus, collective identity is a process of „constructing‟ an action system that combines

ends, means and a field or fields of action (Melucci, 1995). Construction of an action

system draws upon the networks of active relationships between the actors, who interact,

communicate and influence each other, negotiate, and make decisions. Collective identity

also defines the capacity for autonomous action, produced and maintained by self-

identification, and rests on the ability of a movement to locate itself within a system of

relations (Melucci, 1995). When the ends, means and actions are well integrated, the

actors convert it into a strong, vibrant social movement that is capable of moving ahead

on its own. In short, in resource-centric social movements for livelihood enhancement,

the (natural) resources play a complementary but critical role in public performance of

the collectives or groups contributing to the social movement‟s achievement of goals and

objectives. The role of institutions and its structure, leadership patterns and other

institutional networks also become very crucial components.

Further, forms of organizations and models of leadership, communicative channels, and

technologies of communication are constitutive part of this network of relationships

(Melucci, 1995). The kinship relationship serves to bring in emotional ties that not only

strengthen the societal identity but convert it to action in terms of collective formation

Literature Review 57

and cooperation. Such a societal identity sees beyond the economics and the collective

domain; the environmental concerns and the larger geographical scales also become a

part of the thought process. Depending upon the strengths of the institutions and the

collectives, and the extant political environment, the concerns get integrated into the

planning process. Thus, the whole cultural production process contributes to the social

movement in gaining or developing additional resources for livelihood security.

Thus, the success of the movement depends upon (a) the degree to which the individuals

are „prepared‟ through cognitive frames not only in the identification of the problem, but

also in problem solving strategies and clarity on possible individual and collective

benefits, and (b) the combination of processes that are employed by the leaders and the

institutions for meaning construction.

Framing, culture and process of meaning construction

Framing implies mental orientations that organize perception and interpretation. From a

cognitive perspective, frames are problem-solving schemata, stored in (human) memory,

for the interpretative task of making sense of presenting situations. They are based on

past experiences of what worked in given situations, and on cultural templates of

appropriate behavior (Johnston, 1995). Regular group meetings, which serve as forums

for sharing and learning through narratives, tend to reinforce the cognitive frames, and

help in not only strengthening but in proliferation of the movement by inducing more

members who were hitherto passive audience.

Klandermans (1992) distinguishes between three different processes of meaning

construction in the context of social movements: public discourse, persuasive

communication, and consciousness-raising. In these processes, the set of actors are

different, and therefore not only the dynamics but also the strategies need to be different.

While public discourse is general in nature and addresses everyone in a society or a

particular set of actors within a given society, persuasive communication is employed to

address only those actors who need to be targeted. The third type of the process of

Literature Review 58

meaning construction, namely, consciousness raising, is aimed primarily at the

participants directly concerned with the objective of the social movement. Often, such a

process of meaning construction at an individual or group level tends to become

expansive as there is indirect audience, who may also get benefited either immediately or

with a delay. This phenomenon is commonly witnessed in social movements concerned

with natural resource conservation and livelihoods. Examples include joint forest

management and watershed programmes in India. Thus, the rate at which the expansion

of the domain of actors occurs (scaling up), and the active participation of actors

determines not just continuity of the movement but also its sustainability.

The production of culture in a social movement therefore is continuously fed by the

strengths of the embedded small groups (and cautions drawn from failures), that may

have their own identity. Some strengths include the groups‟ network of social relations,

cultural resources and its communication network. The broader social network facilitates

the origination of actions, cultural diffusion, and the framing and reframing of movement

ideology and demands (Haase, 1996; d‟Anjou, 1990:8; Snow et al. 1986).

Further, for a given social movement, networks among the concerned groups, both within

the “movement geography” or beyond contribute to the expansion of the consciousness

raising, provided similar concerns and issues exist. The expansion comes about through a

variety of actions such as rituals and story-telling, in addition to sharing, dissemination

and media due to the fast spreading telecommunications technology. Research has shown

that story telling in social movements is quite effective, given the conditions of literacy or

education, backwardness and other constraining conditions. Story telling essentially

comprises narratives, by individual members, in various forms, by word of mouth and

through media. Narratives create social spaces in which audiences are encouraged to

identify with the situations, problems, and concerns of others (Fine, 1995). It helps to

strengthen the beliefs of the other members through an image of positive change (through

framing techniques) thus leading to movement allegiance and enhanced commitment to

the objectives of the social movement. These stories, which are “bundles of narratives”

and usually told about oneself (Goffman, 1974), may be expanded to include episodes

Literature Review 59

and related, subsidiary forms as gossip or anecdotes. All these give rise to informal

history of the social movement that lives in the memory of individuals and passed onto

generations, sometimes captured in different format depending upon the access to and

development of communication channels at the given point of time. There might also be

constraining conditions of opposition by other forces opposed to change.

The expansion of the narratives is also generally found to be highly anecdotal to capture

the imagination of the audience, whose members immediately tend to visualize the

effects to address their own similar needs. One of the major advantages is that the

capacity of risk taking of social actors too gets enhanced due to the presence of

“experienced actors” who actually have got “benefited”. The Weberian perspective

indicates that the reasons of incentives, benefits and value addition, tend to keep

movement adherents together leading to internalization of the culture.

The culture production resulting from the above processes attains a symbolic legitimacy;

the role of movement leaders here becomes significant as they guide continuously to

improve the performative factor with their own knowledge and wisdom, employing

frames as necessary. While people look at leaders as repositories of knowledge and

wisdom, the leaders are themselves continuously engaged in updating their own

knowledge through observation, reading learning and creative actions. In the process, the

culture of knowledge building gets diffused to individual actors, who in turn, may also

contribute to the process of knowledge creation. By conceptualizing culture as a stock of

knowledge that allows a person to perform as a competent member of a society, the

performative approach allows for creative and adaptive processes with the movement

itself (Johnston and Klandermans 1999).

Oommen (1972a, 1990) argues that to cope with a crisis situation, one of the three

alternatives may emerge: [a] appearance of a charismatic leader who promises to lead the

people to a new utopia, [b] emergence of a new ideology which champions the cause of

the deprived, and [c] establishing a new organization to deal with the problem at hand.

Literature Review 60

Interestingly, the „new social movements‟ are capturing the imagination of the individual

actors due to the materialistic focus on resource mobilization in the backdrop of resource

dependency at individual and collective levels. These new social movements have been

occurring since seventies and eighties and have revolved around issues such as forest,

water, mines and rights. Since most of these movements are also concerned with issues of

democratic and human rights, equality, justice, environmental stability and development

they are also referred to as „movements for environmental socialism‟ (Sanghvi, 2003).

The experiences are also shared and learnt across regions of the world due to the

globalization process by which the world is becoming highly interconnected through

economic, social, political and cultural contacts (Jogdand & Michael, 2003).

Globalization also involves flows of goods, capital, people, information, ideas, images

and risks across national borders, combined with the emergence of social networks and

political institutions (ibid).

PART 2: PIONEERING INSTITUTIONS, LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL

MOBILIZATION

Tushaar Shah (1998) defines the Saurashtra groundwater recharging movement as

spontaneous, self sustaining and self-propagating that has become popular and adopted

by thousands of households over a two-decade period. The recharging movement was

ideated and experimented by a few individual farmers, promoted by leaders who brought

together groups of farmers to further experiment without any institutional support to

begin with (Shah, 2008). Since the movement‟s aim was to address water scarcity, a

problem faced by all the farmers, attention of farmers was drawn cutting across castes

and classes. Leadership was provided mostly by the patels who are often rich, influential

and enjoy close-knit network, both within and outside the country in order to draw funds

and political support. Thus, the response of human behaviour to addressing a basic need

called water scarcity generated increasing response over time from both patel and non-

patel farmers alike. The movement has also seen „patterns of learning and improvisation‟

occurring continuously over time that determined the culture of the movement to benefit

the agrarian community.

Literature Review 61

This section describes the pioneering farmers, key individual leaders and organizations

that kept the movement growing. In doing so, the leaders and promoters have used

narratives and techniques of meaning construction through public discourse, persuasive

communication and consciousness-raising as part of framing strategies. The personality

traits, principles and approaches of the leaders have contributed to the shaping of the

movement although the leaders differed between themselves. Significantly, there was no

conflict or working at cross-purposes. Although not working as one entity, or under one

umbrella, these organizations across Saurashtra have contributed to the movement

retaining their own identities.

The pioneering farmers

The origin of the Saurashtra recharging movement lay in the pioneering direct dug well

recharging by the Dhoraji-Upleta farmers during 1987-90 just after the drought spell of

1985-87. Babubhai Chanabhai Parmar of Bhayavadar village, Sukhabhai of Kodaki

village, Dhirubhai Sitapara of Navagam and Raghunathbhai village, Savdasbhai Patel of

Mandlikpur, Yogesh Kumar Dhirubhai Patel of Kathrota and Muljibhai of Rana Rajiwada

are among the pioneering farmers. The ideas that they adopted are as follows:

Babubhai Parmar simply inundated his farmland by raising the farm bunds so that

the rainwater gets accumulated and infiltrates. In addition, he also diverted water

into his well nearby through pipes from the farm bund at a lower elevation.

Babubhai had a channel dug up all along the bund on the sloping side of the field

to collect the run-off from his 20 bigha land. He connected the channel to four

cement pipes of 6” diameter. By closing the pipes, the flow from the farm is

directed into the well. Before allowing water into the well, Babuhbhai constructed

a silt trap, mainly for reducing damage to insides of well due to high velocity run-

off water. However, he made further modifications later. When the well gets filled

up, he opens the caps of the pipes to allow draining into the stream adjacent to his

farm. Premjibhai Patel interacted with him and motivated him to construct a

check dam across the stream abutting his farm. He provided only cement from his

personal funds while rest of the labor and other expenses was borne by Babubhai

Literature Review 62

as agreed between them (Shingi, 2003). This is one of the earliest check dams that

further convinced farmers about the efficacy of water harvesting.

Mandlikpur in Jetpur taluka of Rajkot district was known as a „village with no

water‟30

in entire Saurashtra due to occurrence of hard rock at shallow depth. In

1987-88, Savdasbhai Patel, a farmer, took the initiative and facilitated recharge of

wells in the village with farmers‟ own contribution. To address the drinking water

crisis in the village 86% of the 220 wells were recharged, along with other

activities such as roof water harvesting and underground tankas31

with the support

of an NGO.

Yogesh Kumar Dhirubhai Patel was the first farmer to have attempted well

recharge successfully in Kathrota village, Upleta taluka of Rajkot district, during

1997-2000 under the guidance of Antala, when IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser

Cooperative Ltd.) came forward with a big programme. Earlier experiences in

Upleta taluka promoted by Premjibhai Patel were on a much larger scale and

dispersed across villages. People knew about the useful results. As part of the

programme, IFFCO provided material support to 84 wells out of 124. Similarly,

many agencies and individuals provided pipes and cement for construction of pit

for well recharging. Over a period of years, the well recharging concept spread to

other districts. People like Shyamjibhai Antala, Premjibhai Patel, Swadhyaya

Parivar and Swaminarayan Gurukul have played the role of mentor and provider

in the process.

Individual leaders and Institutions

(a) Hardevsinh Jadeja-Rajsamadhiyala Village

Rajsamadhyiyala, a village about 22 km from Rajkot along Rajkot-Bhavnagar highway,

has been one of the pioneering cases of social transformation and successful water

conservation. The development story began in the year 1978 when Hardevsinh Jadeja

was elected sarpanch. He was determined to put an end to the social „evils‟ and

30

Na pani gaon, a Hindi phrase to mean village without water. 31

Traditional storage structures.

Literature Review 63

superstitions such as witch practice and other blind faiths prevailing in the village that

amply indicated its backwardness at that time. He strengthened the existing village

development committee (VDC) comprising 11 members representing all existing castes

and communities. The committee drew its power and authority from the gram sabha and

was empowered to take decisions in all matters of village development. In that sense, it

was practically more empowered than the local bodies of village panchayat. Jadeja

exhorted and guided the VDC to devise norms and practices that checked the exploitation

and social evils. This met with stiff resistance initially but with VDC asserting its powers,

the dissent was controlled. The support to Jadeja and the VDC enhanced when families

started deriving benefits from the rainwater harvesting structures initiated from 1987

onwards. Around 46 structures were constructed over an area of 1090 hectares that

included check dams, causeways-cum-check dams, percolation tanks, and farm ponds

(Down To Earth, 2002). The financial support was sourced from projects and schemes of

District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Government of Gujarat drought

programme, Gujarat Water Supply and Sewage Board (GWSSB), Sampurna Gramin

Rojgar Yojana (SGRY)32

and some support from social welfare trusts like Rajkot

Lodhika Sahakar Sangh (Sreedevi et al., 2006). The watershed programme started

launched in 1996 yielded further benefits from the various land and water related

activities. Rajsamadhiyala has received awards such as “Jalkranti Mahaprerak Award33

”

for 1999-2000 by the Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust for excellent community participation in

resource management. Other awards include “Namami Devi Narmade Award” and “Jal

Bachavo Jivan Bachavo-Lokseva Award”.

Jadeja is aware of his tough, no nonsense approach but believes that it is essential for the

task at hand and given the social conditions. Mark Tully (2000) describes Jadeja as „a

formidable autocrat who has dragooned his village into harvesting water so successfully

that the taps are still running in every house, and he can irrigate his own crop of

bhindi‟(okhra vegetable). Jadeja believed in a holistic approach to development which

begins with social transformation. In addition to Village Development Committee, the

32

Employment Assurance Scheme in rural areas. 33

Translates as exceptional motivator for water conservation crusade.

Literature Review 64

Watershed Association and the watershed committee, Self-help and User groups, have all

been promoted to ensure effective participation of both men and women in the watershed

programme.

Although Jadeja is no more the sarpanch, his opinions continued to be valued by the

people. He has developed a charisma and a stature that people respect. Under his overall

leadership, the VDC continues to act without bias or favour in matters of village. Even

VDC members are not discriminated in matters of penalty when acts of omission take

place. There is no delay in taking decisions or in implementation. Government

programmes are leveraged so that employment is available as well as benefits derived.

There were two detailed studies made on Rajsamadhiyala water harvesting activity. One,

a PhD thesis34

by Hiren Tilala from Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh; two, a

study by ICRISAT. The first study found that water harvesting structures in

Rajsamadhiyala have resulted in clear advantages to the beneficiaries in terms of

increased yield and net income from various crops, reduction in unit cost of production,

efficient utilization of resources, higher labor productivity, decline in income inequality

and improvement in water use efficiency compared to control villages. The study by

ICRISAT (Sreedevi et al. 2006) has found substantial investment of 16.25 million rupees

(US$ 0.36 million) in rainwater harvesting in one village-Rajsamadhiyala- created

storage capacity to harvest 16% of the mean annual rainfall of 503 mm which is

equivalent to 100% of potential runoff during a normal year. The study believes that in

view of the percolation seepage and evaporation losses, 40% of annual mean rainfall

could be harvested and stored underground. Due to typical topography, there is surface

run-off at least 2 or 3 times during a season. This has been found to have benefited the

downstream villages, Anilaya and Katurba Dham benefited in terms of increased

groundwater availability, reduced siltation and flooding through the base flow seepage

water and excess runoff. The agricultural productivity also was found to have increased

in these villages by 25–30%, improved groundwater availability by 25%, and reduced

34

The title of the thesis is Water Harvesting Structures: A Sustainable Way for Equity and Income

generation under the guidance of Prof. RL Shiyani.

Literature Review 65

distressed migration. In the case of Rajsamadhiyala, the agricultural crop productivity has

increased by 119% in case of groundnut, 53% for cotton, 95%for wheat and 50% in case

of cumin seeds. The cropping intensity has risen by 32% in 8 years. Enhanced

groundwater availability has assisted diversification with high-value crops like cumin,

vegetables and fruits. Food, fodder, fuel sufficiency substantially improved along with

the increased incomes, literacy and social development. Increased income from

agriculture and other allied sectors such as livestock rearing, enabled farmers to maintain

a higher consumption status and enhanced standard of living, this provided the farmers

enough work opportunities in farming.

The study also points out that Rajsamadhiyala has recently doubled the number of

borewells as also the number of pumping hours; there may soon be a situation when

water levels start declining and the whole efforts are undone.

(b) Shri Pandurang Shastri Athavale-Swadhyaya Parivar

Shri Pandurang Shastri Athavale of Swadhyaya Parivar may be termed as the forerunner

among the visionary leaders because he talked about water conservation as early as in the

late seventies as part of his discourses on self-transformation and self-empowerment.

In the year 1942, India was in turmoil due to sense of insecurity and prolonged „battle‟

with the British government. Pandurang Shastri Athavale, at the age of 22, has started

discoursing upon social problems such as exploitation, indignity and deprivation suffered

by masses in particular of lower caste, tribal and dalit (ex-untouchable) populations. The

Swadhyaya, which means self transformation, run by his father eventually came onto his

shoulders. In addition to Bhagawad Gita, he also studied Indian history, religion and

philosophy, Karl Marx and Mahatma Gandhi, and came to believe that a universal human

religion across and above all religious barriers (Sheth, 2009) alone would address the

evils of society. He interpreted „Bhagawad Gita‟ in such a way that people found

solutions to their predicament of material and spiritual life, both at individual and social

Literature Review 66

levels35

. He proposed an alternative vision, based on self-less love, dignity accorded to

all, and co- sharing of community, well and weaving in to a unified approach to life.

Parivar means „family‟. Swadhyaya Parivar is strikingly different from any religious

congregation; religion and god are used only as a means of social mobilization for

community good. The spiritual organization has a large gathering among the elite, the

peasant community and the unorganized members-women and men alike.

For any activity, Athavale has imposed certain non-negotiables that were fundamental to

his philosophy of unique synthesis of the individual, society and God. He located his

philosophy in the wider social and historical perspective (Sheth, 2009). Athavale took

personal care in devising experiments and schemes that have an overwhelming approach

of combining individual needs with the environmental and spiritual tenets. Those who

aspired to become Swadhyayees had to adhere to certain strict principles laid out by the

„Dada‟ (meaning „elder brother‟). The overarching of these principles is the inculcation

of „bhaktibhav‟ (feeling of devotion as offered to God), and this feeling to permeate in

action (kruti bhakti) and shram bhakti (devotion through labor) as a worshipper of God

(pujari). Any wealth, material or money, or in any form generated by such collective

effort is treated as impersonal wealth (apaurusheya laxmi). This impersonal wealth is to

be used exclusively for the purpose of welfare of the society.

The evidence of effectiveness of Athavale‟s approach lay in the huge following of about

15 million touching 100,000 villages in India36

. He has received many awards for his

exemplary approach of self-transformation and self-empowerment which include Ramon

Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership' (1996), Templeton Prize37

for 'Progress

35 Dr. Rudolf Haubst (Institute for International Research on St. Nicholos of Cusa): „I have Studied

"Bhagvad Gita" in Germany but after listening to Pujya Dadaji's analysis of "Bhagavad Gita", I feel that

even Saint Nicholos, the great scholar of Chritianity would have been attracted towards "Bhagavad Gita".

Through the depth and width of his discourses Rev. Dada reaches the heart of the listeners‟

(http://www.dadaji.net/way). 36

http://www.dadaji.net/way. 37 Sir John Templeton (at the Award ceremony of Templeton Prize) remarked : „Today we rejoice that the

person that is selected by the nine judges who come from all the five major religions, is someone who has

done something new in the spiritual information that is different from anything done before. It is a new

concept which thrills me. I could not have imagined 100,000 villages would now be living by the principle

Literature Review 67

in Religion' for originality, effectiveness, creativity and progress in religion and

spirituality (1997), Indira Priyadarshini Award for 'Temple of Trees' (1987) and Padma

Vibhushan (1999).

Some of the innovative schemes formulated and implemented include:

Yogeshwar krushi (God‟s agricultural farm): The responsibility of farming on this

plot of land was given to the village community while all farming inputs

including labor are willingly contributed by the village. Groups took up this

responsibility in rotation.

Vruksha Mandir (tree-temple) is a large plot of land usually managed by a cluster

of twenty villages. This land under lease is generally wasteland on which orchards

and forestry plantation are cultivated.

Shridarshanam (The abode of God): A group of people come together comes

together to develop and cultivate a large plot of land. All the inputs for

development is contributed by a cluster of twenty villages.

Lokmath Amrutalayam (the immortal abode of people‟s Lord). This is a model

village temple built by total contribution of villages; further a couple is given

responsibility for daily worship on rotational basis. The couple belongs to any

community or religion.

Another unique scheme was the Matysagandha in which the local affluent were

convinced to donate a corpus which was used to purchase boats for fishing by the

Parivar. Managed by the local pujaris (priests), the boats were given to boatless

fishermen who were expected to part with a portion of the catch as offering to

god. The activity was laced with songs of devotion and gratitude, thus imparting

spiritual value to a simple economic activity. The offering was used to buy more

boats and cover more assetless fishermen families.

of Mr. Athavale. Perhaps this concept would be useful in America, Europe and many other areas. This is a

thrilling new invention in spiritual development information. It is a great joy to see what Mr. Atahvale has

achieved, accomplished in one lifetime and how it is rolling in future‟ (http://www.dadaji.net/way).

Literature Review 68

In all, there are above 3000 yogeshwar krushi farms, 20 vruksha mandir farms, 10

Shridarshanam plots and about 100 Amrutalayam shrines in operation established by

Athavale‟s Parivar; majority of them are located in Gujarat, while the rest are in

neighbouring states. It can be seen from the above that all the activities are for resource

enhancement through which the livelihoods of the people is addressed.

Another unique feature of Swadhyaya Parivar is that the Swadhyayees are always self

dependent for all their food and other requirements even when they go and participate in

schemes for the benefit of people of other villages. If a farm pond is to be deepened in a

farmer‟s land, the few leading swadhyayees not only organize their own food but also

mobilize equipment and volunteers from the same village and from neighbouring

villages. Similar approach is adopted in case of common activities too such as tank

deepening, new tank construction, channels and desilting of check dams. Swadhyayees

on a regular basis visit villages based on the requests received and organize work there.

The works are slated depending upon the swadhyayees‟ own farm schedule and other

engagements in consultation with Athavale. The swadhyayees offer selfless labor in the

name of God (shrambhakthi-devotion of labor); they do not display traits that might

indicate that they are helping someone low in economy or caste or any such.

Differentiation on any count is not acceptable in the Parivar principles. People also get

highly motivated with this exemplary behavior, become members and contribute their

best to any activity through Parivar. For example, a 100-metre long earthen bund was to

be constructed in a village; 1000 men and women worked for almost nine months in

shifts, while carrying out their own farm work and other activities. The bund which

otherwise would have cost Rs.0.40 million was completed with only expenditure made on

purchasing some explosives (Sheth, 2009)

From around mid seventies, Athavale started focusing on water related issues looking at

the recurring drought problems faced by farmers. However, his approach was not focused

on narrow water domain. He located the problem in the context of symbiotic living with

nature and therefore any imbalances that occur due to whatever reasons need to be

corrected. Thus, he talks about unison of physical and spiritual needs. In line with this, he

Literature Review 69

exhorted farmers to carry out water conservation activities through invoking the slogan

“If you quench the thirst of Mother Earth, she will quench yours” (Shah, 1998).

However, it was only after the 1985-87 drought spell that his preachings found greater

response, perhaps also aided by the ambience created by the pioneering farmers of the

Dhoraji-Upleta. A group of swadhyayees‟ got motivated by Dada‟s exhortation, got

trained from local agricultural scientists in Junagadh on inexpensive methods of

recharging wells and took off well recharging along with some volunteers. According to

one estimate (Shah, 1997), between 92-96 thousand wells were recharged through

Swadhyaya Parivar and Swaminarayana Sampraday.

Nirmal neer (pure water) is another activity that is aimed at enhancing the storage

capacity of community tanks and ponds so that there is increased recharge to the nearby

wells. The swadhyayees chalk out a labor contribution programme on a selected pond or

tank for a specific number of days; the excavated earth is often used to strengthen an

existing bund, or build a new barrier across a stream flow. All the required implements

for earth excavation such as tractors, trolleys, spade, and pick-axes are pooled from

parivar members from neighbouring villages and the work is executed in a relaxed

manner. The work load is also shared by women. The activity spreads an ambience of

love, goodwill and empathy while the activity remains a means of bringing people

together (Raju et al., 2000) for individual and common good. More than 400 such tanks

have been covered under this activity.

The organization has faced a serious setback after the death of Shri Athavale in late 2005

due to management issues.

(c) Swaminarayan Sampraday

The goal of Swaminarayan Sampraday is „inspiring a peaceful, progressive life, free from

crime, aggression and addictions.‟ The Sampraday has 3,300 centres worldwide and has

large number of followers in India and in many other countries across the world. They

Literature Review 70

undertake a wide variety of activities in the spiritual, medical, environmental, social,

relief and women‟s programmes. Over 12,600 weekly assemblies for children, teenagers,

youths and elders are held regularly. As part of the environmental activity, they have

undertaken waste management, paper recycling, afforestation, etc. In Gujarat, the

Sampraday has recharged 5,475 wells in 338 villages, distributed over 300,000 water

conservation awareness posters and leaflets. They have also established the first & largest

drip irrigation system in Gujarat in Sarangpur. Aslo de-silting of Veri Dam, Gondal

taluka was taken up creating a storage capacity of 170 million litres of water.

In 1994, for the purpose of well recharging, the Sampraday have donated 30,000 metres

of cement pipes and organized technical help to the farmers. Further, Sampraday has also

printed and distributed 20,000 information leaflets through teams of sadhus and

volunteers. A total of 4,593 wells were recharged in 240 villages, most of which are in

Saurashtra; this includes 1005 wells across 68 villages in Rajkot district alone. The

efforts for well recharging have been continuing. In addition, the Sampraday has

constructed 85 check dams, 21 percolation tanks, 118 farm ponds, 55 underground tanks

and carried out 218 gully plugging38

.

In addition to action at the BAPS level, the key role they have played is the participation

of the senior sadhus in the public meetings and camps held by organizations such as

SLMT, SSS and SJT.

(d) Premjibhai Patel-Vruksh Prem Seva Trust

Premjibhai Patel, an octogenarian today and founder of Vruksh Prem Seva Trust, started

off as on an individual basis trying to address water scarcity through self experimentation

on capturing rainwater. He is one of the earliest and well-known innovators of

Saurashtra. Tired of Mumbai (a metropolis) life, he abandoned his business and came

back to his native place in Upleta. He chose to be in social service as against joining

politics which he found too murky. Incidentally, at that time, he happened to see a play

38

http://www.swaminarayan.org/activities/environmental/index.htm

Literature Review 71

“Jher to pida jani jani”39

written by Manubhai Pancholi, a well known educationist in

Gujarat and got motivated into social service. His first activity however was promotion of

plantation which he began by himself planting seeds in wastelands, on the roadside and

on tank/pond bunds.

Patel zeroed in on Prosopis juliflora, for good reasons. He says Prosopis juliflora is one

plant that grows anywhere and fastest, hardy, needs no tending, fixes nitrogen, and serves

as fodder and fuelwood to the poor people. He says there are lots of benefits from this

plant, and therefore, wanted to spread all wastelands with this plant. To begin with,

during early eighties, he targeted temple premises, and later schools in his native village

Bhayavadar and neighbouring villages. In addition to hiring people to do this work, he

himself started planting the seeds during weekends and on holidays by going on his

motor bike; over time, he got obsessive. His contention was that Saurashtra is a dry place

with lot of dry land which does not facilitate recharge to groundwater. He believes that

the more the vegetation, the more the rains. To speed up tree planting activity, he

modified his motor bike to fit a pump through which he used to spray the prosopis

juliflora seeds collected by paying incentives to people, especially youth and children

from neighbouring villages. He also encouraged people to collect and sell him the seeds

which he distributed free of cost except for an undertaking and meeting transportation

costs. He even gave advertisements in newspapers notifying free availability of seeds. He

carried out all these activities out of his own funds which are estimated as roughly

Rupees 3.5 million (Chokkakula, 2001). This became his obsession which is recalled by

many people even today40

. The title of his organisation „Vruksh Prem‟ means „tree lover‟.

Patel first experimented with recharging his own well in his farm in the year 1968-69.

Subsequently, during 1973, he carried out roof top rainwater capture in the backyard of

39

Premjibhai Patel was inspired by a character called Gopal Bapa who regenerated a large forest that gave

employment through horticulture. 40

His obsession got a further boost when in 1987 his industrialist-son had presented him with a Gujarati

translation of a book, „The Man who Planted Trees‟ by the famous French novelist Jean Giono published in

a local magazine. The author desired that people should get motivated to plant trees; so, he presented it as a

true story of an old man, Elzeard Bouffiard, a shepherd, who spent his retired life dedicated to tree

plantation. In the process he created a very large forest all by himself. Premjibhai Patel got inspired by this

„true story‟ and took up retirement in consultation with his son, who encouraged him, and took up tree

plantation.

Literature Review 72

his residence in Rajkot city which continues to function till date (Field visit, 2003-4).

Thereafter, he recharged his own well in his farm. While simultaneously engaged in his

own business of supplying explosives for well blasting and deepening purposes, he took

up supply of PVC pipes for recharging purposes as the recharge activity was picking up

all over Saurashtra villages. After retirement from business, from 1987 onwards, Patel

got seriously into recharging activity. He encouraged well recharging and construction of

cement tanks, and supplied cement and pipes free of cost to those who requested for. He

supplied approximately 60 trucks (17,000 metres) of PVC pipes till 1994 from his own

funds. To his credit, he has provided cement to Babubhai Chanabhai Parmar of

Bhayavadar village, one of the pioneering farmers who took up dug well recharging, to

construct a check dam across a stream course by the side of his farm. Cement cost usually

works out to one third of the estimate for a check dam. He continued this „cement teko‟

(support with cement) programme from 1988-1995 from his own funds estimated at Rs.

3.5 million until the watershed programme began (Field notes, 2003-4).

It was not that he did not face discouragement, or got despaired. Often, in the initial

years, people used to make a mockery of his obsession with tree plantation and his

„madness‟ in spending personal money for buying and donating pipes; few people also

tried to cheat him on cement as he used to reimburse money against bills. They tried to

submit fake or inflated bills. He remarked, “We supplied pipes by trucks to as close to the

site (place of use) as possible. Sometimes, even when a farmer is non cooperative, we

unloaded the pipes ourselves, while the farmer commands us to arrange the unloaded

pipes properly, with hands in his pockets.” He also recalls his well wishers advising him

against going to villages such as Pipardi and Anchawa, the darbar dominated villages,

where alcoholism is quite high (Field notes, 2003-4).41

However, over the years, people

have begun to appreciate his honesty and sense of purpose, and have cooperated with him

including the above indifferent two villages.

In 1990, he formally registered his organization as Vruksh Prem Seva Trust and got full-

fledged into development work after handing over his business to his son. Even before he

formed his Trust, during 1987-2004, Patel has helped construct more than 500 check

41 Personal communication during field visit.

Literature Review 73

dams by providing cement against vouching of free labour by any farmer. Initially, 100

bags of cement were provided per check dam. As the check dams were constructed and

people started realising the benefits, there was lot of demand. Patel gradually reduced the

quantum of cement to 25-30 bags; rest was contributed by the people themselves. In

some villages, there was 100% contribution. The cement support was provided by Patel

mostly from his own funds and from those mobilised from his industrialist son (Field

notes, VPST occasional release dated 1.11.2005).

Since the launch of the watershed programme in 1996, Vruksh Prem Seva Trust has

constructed 1200 small/big check dams in 27 villages of Upleta taluka of Rajkot district.

For a couple of years, there was lukewarm response to his watershed efforts mainly

because the grant was released only in February 1998 (VPST Occasional release dated

1.11.2005).

In all these watershed programmes, majority of budget was spent on constructing check

dams (Progress Reports submitted to DRDA by VPST). The Trust also focused on post

construction maintenance of check dams by organising desilting activity every year; the

scooped up fertile soil was used in the farms.

Patel went about the watershed works systematically. His analytical ability and writing

skills in Gujarati have seen him address every issue incisively. The field data collection

included many such releases which he marked to all the concerned government agencies

including bureaucracy, NGOs, researches and politicians. For example, the occasional

release of 1.11.2005 is a 20-page foolscap note covering most of the issues related with

rainwater harvesting, watershed, public participation and budget. The note also reports on

the work done by the VPST, the approach adopted, details of expenditure, people‟s

contribution etc. He also raises questions about the technicalities such as the dimensions

of check dams related with the stream characteristics, siltation in check dams issue,

corrupt practices, quality of construction, people‟s participation related issues, lack of

engineers, delays in fund releases, and many more. He also advocates increases in

people‟s contribution in later years of watershed where people have already benefited

Literature Review 74

from earlier years, shows how his organisation has saved money on administration and

against SORs (Schedule of Rates).

One of the noteworthy contributions of Premjibhai Patel is reduction in costs of

construction. He has constructed check dams at one-third of the cost as per the standard

schedule of rates. In the place of one, he has constructed almost three. How was this

possible? He says that this is possible because of [a] higher local contribution-20% as

against 10%; [b] avoiding contractor‟s profit of 20%; and [c] at least 10% saving on

payment of corruption. He also makes known his logic to everyone by speaking up in

conferences and meetings, and through his occasional writings/releases (dated

1.11.2005:5). He has also demonstrated the cost reduction in the construction of storage

tanks. VPST has saved an amount of Rs.1.14 millions out of the first batch of watershed

projects (1995-2001). Using this amount, the Trust has constructed water storage tanks of

206 tanks of 15,000-litre capacity which according to Standard Schedule of Rates costs

Rs.20,000/-. The provision was actually Rs.15,000/- for a 10,000-litre capacity tank.

Thus, VPST demonstrated cost reduction in this also by mobilizing more beneficiary

contribution. captured his process-oriented approach for cost reduction as follows: one,

he convinced the farmer that by constructing the check dam, his returns from crop yields

would increase significantly, in addition to an assured crop. Two, he motivated them to

contribute as much labor as possible. Three, he also encouraged people to use stones

available locally as far as possible to reduce the cost. Four, he used the ingenuity of local

masons in the design and construction of check dams. Five, he did not employ any

supervisor for monitoring the construction, but made the concerned farmers themselves

responsible for the quality of construction, thus reducing the overhead costs. This way, he

could have tens of check dams constructed simultaneously. His charisma and stature

commanded honesty from the farmers with the result that the check dams built were of

good quality and of lowest cost.

Many watershed implementing agencies and government agencies were by and large

unhappy with VPST. From interviews with government officers and some NGOs, the

study has gathered that the extent of savings on administration, salary, training and other

Literature Review 75

aspects made by VPST and shown to DRDA is not possible by other agencies. VPST has

few volunteers and retired persons who are paid only honorarium. He has low overheads

on salaries as he does not generally employ engineers or other qualified staff. Watershed

guidelines insist on employing qualified personnel. His delegation style has worked

because of his stature and his own level of honesty. NGOs tend to employ qualified staff

with vehicles for travel and reasonable compensation and other overheads.

If we look at the cost reduction, overall cost reduction is possible in the cost of

construction. The fact remains that there has been cross-subsidization through enhanced

people‟s labor contribution, and minimal supervision/management costs. Although the

fact remains that the money paid out works out to almost one-third per unit of work, this

cannot become a standard across the table as the minimalist approach can be

representative of the optimal approach. The social capital obtaining prior to launch of any

project or programme dictates the costs and its efficiency.

The Trust also promoted silt traps to reduce silt into the wells during direct well

recharging. The Trust believes that check dam is an effective water conservation option

for addressing Saurashtra water scarcity problem because it captures the run-off water,

allows maximum percolation of rainwater and does not need a filter which reduces the

inflow to recharge, thus resulting in „loss‟ of water. Some excellent check dams have

been constructed such as the Phophal dam which ingeniously makes use of the outcrops

to cut down drastically on the total cost.

Other innovations include semi-circular small check dams underneath culverts. The flow

from one side of the road to the other side will happen only after the water gets stored up

to the height of the check dam. With the small cost of say Rs.2000-4000 per unit, a huge

storage using the natural depression is achieved. Another innovation is the construction

of single tier or double tier piped wall at the place where water from the farms overflows

into the other farm or onto the roadside drain. The small outlet pipes can be closed as per

storage need in the farm. This is a simple low cost technique, which can be done by

anyone. Similarly, VPST has enhanced recharge of rainwater into the root zone of plants

Literature Review 76

in wastelands and rocky lands, by replacing the soil adjacent to a plant with sand encased

in a PVC pipe. The germination and growth of plants is thus enhanced and ensured.

Patel‟s approach sometimes is unique. For example, in a watershed programme, the

component of labor should be 60%. Due to the diamond polishing industry, a lot of labor

goes to work in the cities. In the absence of labor availability and in time, Patel argued

with the DRDA for use of JCB and tractors to complete the earth work in the watershed

programme so that the season is not lost, and permanent employment is assured. The

DRDA agreed to his logic and he completed the work accordingly (VPST occasional

release, 1.11.2005). Premjibhai Patel has received awards for his selfless, tireless crusade

for water conservation including the highly valued „Munishree Santbal Award‟ in 2003.

(e) Mansukbhai Suvagiya-Jal Kranti Trust

Jal Kranti Trust has been one of the first in the recent decades to construct check dams

and ponds in Rajkot district for rainwater harvesting. The Trust began its work in 1996

when its leader Mansukhbhai Suvagiya, who was serving as a government engineer,

resigned and led the recharging activity. He won over the confidence of the people by

himself working as a voluntary labour in the field during construction of rainwater

harvesting structures. The impact of his direct involved demonstration is such that people

still recall his hard work during extreme summer heat for 40 days at a stretch. His

objective was to convince people that they should act themselves to solve their own water

problems and not wait for the government or any external support. He also believes that

this approach helps develop the spirit of ownership, and thereby ensures maintenance by

people by developing ownership. The principles of Suvagiya, his personal commitment,

hard work and sincerity of purpose won him the confidence of the people. With

credibility established, the Trust embarked on construction of check dam with local funds

and own designs. The Trust discouraged seeking or expecting funds either from the

Government or from any external donor. Rafala was the first village where Suvagiya built

13 check dams with just Rs.100,000 for material such as stone, heavily supplemented by

voluntary labour and use of local material.

Literature Review 77

Himself a water engineer, Mansukhbhai developed inexpensive designs for small check

dams at a cost of Rs.4000-6000. Jamka, Vichhavad, Chanaka, Mota Kotada and Rafala in

Junagadh district were one of the earliest villages of Gujarat that constructed the low

cost, locally designed check dams in 1996 wholly through collective inputs and locally

raised funds. During 1996-97, Jal Kranti Trust has also motivated villagers of Mota

Munjiyasar, Bagasara Taluka of Amreli district, to implement a new method of storing

diverted rainwater in abandoned stone mines.

The tremendous people‟s response, and the social capital created by Jal Kranti Trust

could be gauged by the fact that 51 check dams and two ponds were constructed, and ten

thousand trees grown, all at a cost of Rs.1.3 million, in less than three months. People‟s

labour contribution was more than 20,000 person-days; this means that 225 persons were

working for 90 days continuously! The impacts were quite encouraging: annual

increment in agricultural production was more than Rs.20 million with annual

agricultural labour creation of 30,000 person days; migration was completely checked

due to in-village availability of employment. With the groundwater reserves increasing,

the drinking and irrigation water crisis in the village was addressed to a great extent

(Summary report, Jal Kranti Trust, 2002).

In yet another effort, the Trust has promoted an Ideal Well Recharging Scheme as part of

which 40 wells were recharged in the village Khijadiya (Khari), Amreli, with locally

raised funds and shramdan (voluntary labour). No government support was sought. The

Trust has also designed and implemented an innovative filter, which trapped silt before

the rainwater was diverted into the well.

The recharging scheme caught the imagination of the people from the neighbouring

districts. The Trust has expanded its work to Amreli, Junagadh and Jamnagar. In fact, the

influential and rich patels have come forward to participate in the movement with

donations. Although no documentation was done until circa 2000, the Trust claims that

one check dam helps to raise the returns from agricultural productivity by Rs.200,000-

300,000 annually. There are differential benefits to the farmers; however, every farmer

was benefited with either full irrigation or partial irrigation support.

Literature Review 78

Interestingly, witnessing the impact of the Jamka scheme (one of the first five villages in

Gujarat to experiment with low cost check dams promoted by Mansukhbhai of Jal Kranti)

which was done only by people‟s efforts and locally raised funds, the state designed the

Sardar Patel Jal Sanchay Yojana, first of its kind in the country in the year 2000.

Popularly known as the 60:40 scheme, any farmer, village institution, cooperative or a

group could access the check dam scheme for which 60% of the estimated cost and

design were to be provided by the government and 40% was to be contributed by people.

This was later modified as 80: 20 for certain regions with tribal predominance, 20%

being the local contribution. The movement had picked up and in a matter of four years;

by 2003, under the SJSY scheme, 18,000 check dams were constructed, and 5000 check

dams desilted across Gujarat state.

According to Mansukhbhai, who has constructed more than 200 check dams in Gujarat,

the 60:40 scheme has worked in killing the voluntary spirit of the people who were

actively engaged till then in developing and managing their own water resources and

related structures. He feels that people have stopped acting pro-actively as they were

expecting sanction of the scheme and thereby the funds; the sense of ownership is lost as

the check dam is considered to belong to government and therefore no one bothered

about maintenance. He further states that the scheme has many loopholes as it is designed

to favour contractors who could invest the initial amount and wait until the instalments

are released over many months after the completion of work.

It spread to many villages and cities in Rajkot and Jamnagar districts. In many places,

villagers themselves constructed these low cost check dams and well recharging

structures. During mid-nineties, he also experimented with the new idea of diverting

rainwater into abandoned stone quarries in Mota Munjiyasar of Bagasara taluka in

Amreli district. He also instituted an organization called Jal Kranti Trust operating from

Rajkot. The board of trustees consists of at least 16 members from different parts of

Saurashtra. These people belong to industry (including diamond industry), academics,

social workers and local reputed leaders. Mr. Odhavjibhai Patel, the Chairman of Ajanta

Watches, and the chairman of ORPAT Trust (another leading agency of recharging

Literature Review 79

movement and a study area) is also a trustee42

. Mansukhbhai Suvagiya has been

appreciated for his contribution by the Minister of Irrigation, Government of Gujarat,

Shri Madhavpriyadasji of Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul, Rajkot, and Dr. K.L. Jadav,

National President, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh.

(f) Mathurbhai Savani-Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust

Among the later entrants into the recharging movement is Mathurbhai Savani, a diamond

businessman hailing from Bhavnagar. Savani, a standard V passed, began as a low-paid

worker in a diamond polishing industry in Surat. By the time he got interested in water

conservation after visiting the Rajsamadhiyala experiment in 1998 along with 150 of his

friends from Khopala, and the jal yatra idea of Tarun Bharat Sangh of Alwar district in

Rajasthan. He was the owner of a Rs.1bn diamond industry at the age of 38 (Kishwar,

2003).

Savani came to play a key role in raising the pitch of the recharging movement through

display of commendable skills of social mobilization, organization and fund raising

(DTE, 2008). Much more than this, he introduced a unique way of enhancing rainwater

capture through loan of earth excavation equipment (JCB43

) in combination with people‟s

voluntary contribution.

Initially, during 1997-98, although based in Surat, Savani focused on raising awareness in

his native village Khopala in Gharda taluka of Bhavnagar district. He analyzed the main

reasons for the acute water crisis in his village as (i) overexploitation of groundwater for

irrigation and (ii) heavy run-off of rainwater (CSE, 2000) which resulted in missed

opportunity for irrigation. He started interactions with villagers for awareness raising;

alongside, he mobilized his other industrialist-friends from Mumbai, Surat and

Bhavnagar to visit and also contribute to constructing check dams. For the purpose of

42

Sources: Field Visit and discussions with Mansukhbhai Suvagiya, Jal Kranti Trust brochures and other

literature, Article „Saurashtra Recharging Movement is not the task of one or two persons‟ in “Saurashtra

Bhoomi” daily from Junagadh dated 8.10.2002. 43

JCB is an earth excavation and moving equipment that was launched by Joseph Cyril Bamford in 1945

in a small garage of 12 x 15 ft and bears initials of his name-JCB. It has become popular by that name.

Literature Review 80

transparency, he formed a “Khopala Navnirman Vikas Samiti” (Khopala development

council). Within six months of laying of foundation stone by the then chief minister of

Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel in December 1998, Savani organized construction of 25 check

dams under „own your check dam‟ scheme offered to farmers. However, he realized that

there was need for 200 check dams (DTE, 2008), 25 farm ponds and 22 channels (Raval,

2001). For all this, he mobilized Rs.4.8 million at the rate of Rs.300 per bigha in addition

to labor contribution. The remaining amount was mobilized from businessmen from

Mumbai, Vadodara and Surat (CSE, 2000). The monsoon of 1999 saw water levels in

550 wells rise and farmers witnessing crop production higher by 60% and increased

fodder availability (Raval, 2001)44

.

Savani then thought of institutionalizing his efforts by forming „Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust

(SJT)‟ in October 1999 with registered office in Rajkot. He deftly drafted trustees, as

many as 37, belonging to all walks of life-diamond merchants, local politicians,

industrialists, social workers and others-based in Gujarat, in India or abroad. One

diamond businessman, Rajesh Mehta, based in Belgium, has been a big donor who was

impressed by the early work of Savani in Khopala. The Trust made it its mandate to serve

all the needy villages from Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat as these are it felt that

these are the most needy, dry areas of Gujarat.

Savani has adopted a strategy of motivation-action-motivation. The SJT has adopted a

unique method of reaching out to people in their efforts of water conservation.

Encouraged by Khopala experience, the SJT laid down a pre-condition for voluntary

service for extending its help in the construction of check dams or for tanks, or any earth

excavation related activity. While the villagers provided voluntary labor, the trust

provided cement for construction of check dams. Thousands of check dams have been

constructed in this manner (Raval, 2001). For one village, the Trust provides 2000

cement bags free of cost, which at the rate of Rs.135/-, per bag, works out to Rs,

275,000/-. If cement in excess of 2000 bags is required, then it is provided at a subsidized

44

„Marching towards Green Revolution through series of check dams by united villagers‟. Booklet (2001)

published „by Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust.

Literature Review 81

rate of Rs. 105/- per bag. More than 80,000 check dams have been supported in this

way45

. For construction of new ponds, tanks or deepening the old ones, or desilting the

check dams, the SJT provided JCB (earth excavator). The Trust bought 20 JCB machines

and gave them on loan to villages from Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat against

written request signed by the village. The machine was made available for 500 hours per

village free of cost. The machine came with an operator and all the required material

such as grease and oils; repairs, spare parts and servicing is taken care of by SJT . Only

running cost of diesel was to be borne by the village. The market rate of hiring a JCB in

the year 2000 was, say, Rs.550/hour. For 500 hours, the cost of hiring works out to

Rs.0.275 million while the diesel cost works out to only Rs.50,000/-. Put differently, the

SJT‟s assistance to each village works out to Rs. 0.225 million. The rates have now gone

up significantly, but the service is still available. Many villages got benefited from this

scheme of SJT which made villagers to cooperate to draw individual benefit.

SJT also has been promoting educational and awareness campaign for use of drip and

other efficient water use methods (CSE, 2000).

One of the first things Savani ensured was to involve every community in the water

campaign. For example, Khopala was 80% patels, and the rest comprised Brahmins,

harijans, rabaris and others. VPST enlisted representation of one (preferably young)

person from a cluster of 40 families of a particular community, including non-farming

families (Kishwar, 2003). All these representatives formed the village committee which

was the supreme decision making body. Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust has adopted the jal

yatras (water campaigns), sammelans (conferences), and village walks to generate

awareness and mobilize people for water conservation in their own village. This the Trust

has done very successfully. Beginning in December 1998 when VPST could manage to

involve the chief minister to lay the foundation stone for the 200 check dams and 25 farm

ponds, he organized several events involving ministers, religious leaders, diamond

industry owners and other industrialists. The following are some examples46,47,48

.

45

www.saujaldhara trust.com/advantagecheckdam.asp accessed 23 February 2008. 46

www.saujaldharatrust.com accessed 23 February 2008.

Literature Review 82

From 14-19 November 1999, a 250 km awareness walk was organized which

went from village to village for 6 days and nights, touch basing about 30,000

people. Launched by the then speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly

(Dhirubhai Shah), the event was joined by many well known diamond merchants

from Bhavnagar, Surat, Ahmedabad and Mumbai and other places.

A huge convention was organized in the year 2000 in Surat wherein 30 million

people from Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat were present and a vow

administered to conserve rainwater. Chief Minister of Gujarat was present.

This was followed by another convention in Gadhada in Bhavnagar district which

was attended by Shri Morari Bapu, the highly respected, eminent orator on

Ramayana (Hindu religious epic). The thousands present took vow to conserve

rainwater.

A mammoth 300 km long „jal sangrah abhiyan yatra‟ (water conservation

campaign‟ was held in October 2001 from Talgajarda in Bhavnagar district to

Probander through four districts. The yatra which was launched by Shri Morari

Bapu had 400 persons throughout as the core team. The yatra passed through,

Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Jamnagar districts to culminate in Porbander. All along

the 400 team and many others who joined motivated the villagers in their own

way using pamphlets, videos, posters, stories, data and other material.

Many other conventions throughout the dry areas of Gujarat were held and oaths

administered in the presence of eminent persons, ministers, politicians and social

reformers.

The Trust also has begun giving away awards to villages that did exemplary work

on water conservation. In the year 2001, 150 villages were given awards by the

Chief Minister of Gujarat and letters of appreciation by Shri Morari Bapu.

Newspapers, TV channels (both local and national) have covered the events of SJT. This

has brought about a big awakening in Gujarat in addition in the Saurashtra, Kutch and

north Gujarat areas. SJT has also used print media in a big way-such as pamphlets,

47

Times of India, 11 October 2001. 48

http://indiatogether.org/manushi/issue118/reclaiming.htm

Literature Review 83

posters, books and booklets in millions in Gujarati and to a certain extent in English.

Audio, video cassettes, banners, hoardings were also used. Mobile vans with videos were

pressed into service to reach each village and show the documentaries and films on the

need and ways of water conservation49

.

In short, it could be said that VPST under the leadership of Savani has displayed vision in

trying to address the water scarcity systematically. A self-made hard working

entrepreneur who made a rags-to-riches story, Savani managed to mobilize the rich and

influential patel community together for a common cause of addressing water scarcity

through water conservation. He convinced them to donate liberally to a common

livelihoods cause. To ensure participation of all families irrespective of caste, and to

ensure equity, he established a village committee that was supreme in taking decisions

and actions. He mobilized people in many ways such as by appealing to their wisdom,

applying peer pressure by religious and political leaders, and by voluntary labor. People

obtained quick benefits too in the form of enhanced and stable crop yields; combined

with the multiple communication strategy, the messages reached people and set them to

thinking. A majority has responded positively.

(g) Jayantibhai Raval-Sarvodaya Seva Sangh

Sarvodaya Seva Sangh (SSS) believes in „for the people, by the people and to the

people‟. SSS has been working in one of the most backward areas called panchal area in

Wankaner taluka of Rajkot district for the past 20 years. It believes that natural resources

should be in balance; if the balance is disturbed, then the livelihoods get affected.

Therefore, in order that man does not destabilise nature, it is important to ensure the

quality and interdependency of jal, jameen and jangal (water, land and forests). Since the

watershed programme is designed on these lines, SSS has taken up watershed programme

in 5000 hectares covering villages, namely, Matel, Anandpar, Bhaktanpar, Oan, Virpar,

Varkusar, Palas, Lakadhar and Vithalpar. This was part of the first batch of watershed

programme was introduced from 1.1.1996. The Secretary Jayanthibhai Raval is the key

49

For more details, visit www.suarjaldharatrust.com/awarenessprog.asp accessed 23 Feb 2008.

Literature Review 84

person who organizes the entire work. He is a strict follower of Gandhian principles. For

the purpose of implementation of watershed programmes, he has encouraged people with

integrity to take up leadership in the watershed association and the committee, and other

groups. The leaders played a key role in enlisting cooperation of the entire village, and

ensuring that all communities including womenfolk participate in the decision-making.

Vithalpar is one of the study villages which has carried out watershed treatment

programme. SSS identified Vithalpar as a model village and put in efforts to develop it

so. There were just 3 hand pumps to cater to the drinking water needs of both men and

livestock. Due to the efforts of SSS under the leadership of Jayantibhai Raval, Vithalpar

has evolved as a „model‟ village and has been awarded the „Jal Sanchay Gaurav

Puraskar‟ – 2003 by the Gujarat finance minister Vajubhai Vala for „noteworthy water

conservation programme‟. The village has a population of 500 families; till date there is

no police station established in the village because there are no conflicts. Adopting

Gandhian principles also implies abstinence from liquor. Hence, there is no liquor shop

nor anyone consumes liquor. For implementing the watershed programme, SSS has

facilitated formation of the Sarvodaya Watershed Project; for each village/

microwatershed, a watershed association and watershed committee was formed.

All the ten villages covered under the watershed programme are more or less contiguous.

Most of these villages including Vithalpar were mostly rain dependent for irrigation

support. Very few wells were present; in Vithalpar there were only 7 shallow wells that

were providing critical irrigation support to (52 bighas). Kharif was the main crop while

land sown under rabi was around 20-30%. For the 500 families of Vithalpar, the poor

agriculture also meant fodder insecurity, and low milk yield. The income was at

subsistence level.

SSS organized a inter-village meeting and strategized to take up water harvesting

activities during the first year of watershed itself. This was because most people felt that

irrigation water security would really make a difference to their economic vulnerability.

As decided, within a year or two, by 2000-2001, five check dams were constructed across

Literature Review 85

Mahi river abutting the watershed villages. While constructing these check dams, the

presence of outcrops in some places, e.g., in Vithalpar, was made use of. With

enthusiastic participation of people, the overall saving per check dam worked out to 25-

30%50

. Further, impounded water from the check dams was transported to the farmlands

by laying almost 27,000 metres of pipeline. Thus, the irrigation support was extended to

850 bighas. Moreover, in addition to kharif, rabi crop area also has increased as discussed

in the chapter 6. A similar strategy was adopted for other villages too.

SSS has organized many awareness programmes in the villages, distributed pamphlets

and other information material about the watershed before, during and at the end of the

programme. They also invited politicians, social reformers and government officials to

visit the sites, meet people and give their opinions and suggestions. The

report/information on the various activities is distributed in printed form which indicates

the transparency and confidence. The entire work is done through the watershed

committees who take decision and are aware of the income and expenditure details. One

booklet (undated) printed and distributed by SSS gives complete details of the

programme including financial details. It also gives at least 80 half-page case studies

from various watershed villages along with a photograph, and data regarding before and

after scenario, in terms of crop yield increase, milk increase and overall income change.

Interestingly, all these case studies belong to farmers who have mostly 1-3 bighas and

very few up to 5 bighas.

(h) Oddhavji Raghavji Patel-ORPAT Trust

Odhavji Raghavji Patel (74), a teacher has turned entrepreneur at the age of 46 when he

began manufacturing wall clocks in the year 1971 in Morbi taluka51

of Rajkot district.

Beginning in rented premises and with 100,000 rupees as investment, his company now

50

Field notes (2003-4) and Information booklet/report, 2001 on Vithalpar by Sarvodaya Seva Sangh. 51

Morbi, where the trust has its office, and is one of the villages where water harvesting has taken place, is

a coastal town, close to the Rann of Kachchh. In addition to the water quality in the area being saline, there

is also the scarcity issue.

Literature Review 86

(2008) turns over Rs.50 million annually52

. The growth of his company is attributed not

only to his continued innovation in terms of improving quality of clocks but also

providing them at prices affordable, even by the poor. He is called “father of wall clocks”

for his pioneering range of product creation. Over the years, his company diversified into

manufacturing a range of consumer goods and appliances, in addition to clocks.

His clocks became very popular, not only within India but also outside the country. He

earned awards for his company‟s outstanding export performance. Among several

awards, he also received “Man of the Year” award by the Government of India in 1992.

Being a native of Saurashtra and coming from a poor background, Oddhavji Patel had

first- hand experience of its adverse climatological conditions especially on livelihood

occupations53

. He was also aware that Saurashtra has an inverted saucer topography

making rainwater retention difficult; agriculture and animal husbandry, the main

occupations of a majority of the population often faced challenges, leading to migration

of farmers. Women were often left behind at home along with children to take care of the

siblings, the old-aged, diseased and the infirm. He evolved a two-pronged strategy: one,

to provide employment to women, who, he believed, are more dependable and committed

to their work; two, to support direct implementation of water recharge activities. When he

offered employment to women in his factory in order to implement his first strategy, no

woman was forthcoming. After a long thought, and informal interactions with many

families, he realized this behavior as due to „cultural‟ reasons. He made up his mind to

somehow break this mindset. As a first step, he prevailed upon his own daughter-in-law

and his domestic help to work in the factory. His efforts paid off; today, more than 5,000

out of the 7,000 employees in his company are women belonging to nearby villages

(Raghu, 2007). The company also organizes buses to transport women from and to their

villages. This has been a win-win situation for both Oddhavji and the women. While

Patel recognized that women are honest and dependable, thus turning out their best, the

52

http://orpatgroup.com accessed 26 March 2008. 53 Personal discussions, 2003-04.

Literature Review 87

employment provides them with the much-needed stability of income source to support

their families.

Importantly, employment with the company provides the family the much-needed cash

flow, in particular, during the drought periods when agriculture and animal husbandry go

even below subsistence level. Further, access to money helps women to take and

implement certain decisions that have far-reaching significance to the family. For

instance, it is often found that women, who remained back at home, continued to send

their children to school, pay for their school expenses, and provide better food, while

their men-folk migrated in the initial years. As can be seen in the later sections of Section

4, the migration in many villages has come down significantly or halted completely, due

to increase in groundwater availability, thus further improving the school attendance and

children‟s health. Patel, thus, deftly combined his business requirements with the

employment needs of the people creating a win-win situation.

As regards his second strategy of helping people address water scarcity is concerned, he

could not find ways to act till he witnessed other villages take to recharging of wells

during late eighties and early nineties in other parts of Saurashtra. Oddhavji began

promoting and constructing check dams in many villages of the neighbouring Halvad,

Dhrol, Morbi, Wankaner and Jodiya talukas. As water levels in the wells increased,

farmers started having enough work on farm and the migration came down. Patel actually

has a traditional mindset and believes in all family members living together, even at the

cost of earning a little less compared to what one would earn through migration to other

places. Interestingly, his water harvesting programme has helped scores of families to

again begin living together with migration reduced significantly in many of the villages

he worked. It is witnessed that the employment of women in his factory had been a boon

to the family in terms of enhancing stability in income and vulnerability reduction in

agricultural income due to enhanced water storage in wells.

After relinquishing business to his son, around mid-nineties, Oddhavji began operating

his ORPAT Trust, the NGO, from his palatial home in Morbi. He got full time into the

Literature Review 88

social work and has developed very good rapport with the common people despite his

stature and advanced age. The trust employed one mechanical engineer and five social

workers. Thus, the overheads are quite low. When workload increases such as when

recharge activity is to be carried out, the trust appoints volunteers from the village itself.

It is a loosely run organization, where systems and procedures are followed to the extent

formally needed by the government or the donor agencies as the case may be, or for the

trust‟s own internal purposes. Due to limitations on personnel, monitoring is minimal.

Oddhavji Patel, already 74 years of age, desires to do many things, other than water

harvesting; however, limitations on staff, and their limited capacities come in the way.

So, he throws his weight with other agencies to help in other social causes. For example,

he has helped mobilize Rs.7.8 million from the people of Saurashtra during 2007-08 to

run hostels hosting 50,000 girls and boys meeting their food, boarding and study material

requirements. Similarly, he has mobilized significant support and funds for post

earthquake (2001) rehabilitation work especially for shelter construction. While photo

documentation is good, written documentation and other forms of communication are

prepared only to the extent that is required such as reports.

Established in 1993, the ORPAT Trust has taken up watershed programme in Haripar-

Kerala (and Bella which is a hamlet) since 1996-97 in the first batch of watershed

projects sanctioned by DRDA. It has constructed farm bunds, farm ponds, gully plugs,

check dams, afforestation and fodder plots which are standard activities. There was only

one dug well before the watershed project and the agriculture was predominantly rain-

dependent. The Trust has formed watershed association and user groups as per watershed

guidelines and submitted periodic reports to the DRDA.

(i) Shyamjibhai Antala-Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust

Shyamjibhai Antala (72) has been playing a unique role in the Saurashtra recharging

movement over the past two decades. His role could be described as something that has

successfully knit the various interventions by various actors on the movement canvas.

Literature Review 89

Antala himself was motivated by the dug well recharge experiment of the Dhoraji-Upleta

farmers during 1987-88. He began understanding and disseminating the results of the dug

well recharging activity rationally. It could be said that his contribution was more

towards (i) developing “frames” within the minds of the people about the benefits of

recharge activity (this point is discussed in next sub-section), and (ii) information and

“do-it-yourself” manuals. This has filled an important gap in the recharge activity.

Working as a journalist in “phoolchhab”, a popular daily published from Rajkot, he was

anyway covering the stories of recharge activities. Further, in spite of the 1985-87

drought spell, the degree of response and enthusiasm to water conservation from the

people during late eighties did not satisfy Antala. He desired that there should be a mass

awakening and action. His restlessness gave him a flash to try and involve the religious

gurus as Saurashtrians are closely-knit religious people. He contacted and managed to

convince Madhavpriyadasji of the Swaminarayan sect and Swami Kishorchandraji of the

Pushtimarg Vaishnavas to interweave water conservation in their exhortations. Being

highly respected gurus, people heeded to their advice and also to the various others in

different parts of Saurashtra. Small nuclei of recharge has started happening. Alongside,

Antala networked with NGOs, Swadhyaya Parivar and other groups, and embarked on

conducting jal yatras (water campaigns).

In the year 1989, Antala has registered an NGO called Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust. He

could mobilize some of the powerful and influential Saurashtra Patel Seva Samaj trustees

on to his board to expand reach of his activities. His approach to recharge activity was

scientific. In his articles, he explained in simple, layman‟s terms linking the amount of

water that can be harvested corresponding with the rainfall and the dimensions of the

well. He studied the various wells recharged, and developed manuals giving designs and

other necessary details (SLMT, 1996). He identified seven different methods of

recharging dug wells and four different methods of recharging hand pumps, which are

simple and inexpensive (SLMT, 1996; Antala, 2007). The manual was first published in

May 1996 later a revised, improved version along with some articles was published in

April 1997.

Literature Review 90

To expand reach of his crusade, he organized jal yatras networking with other actors

such as the Swaminarayans and the Swadhyaya Parivar. The yatras witnessed the theme

revolving around water scarcity in Saurashtra and how to address the same to improve the

economic status of the people. The unique geology and topography of Saurashtra was

also the focus and how these low storages could be beneficially utilized. The core idea

was to „satisfy the mother earth‟ which is also indicated by the title of the manual „Dhara

trupti‟. While the 1993 jal yatra witnessed farmers‟ participation from 700 villages of

Rajkot district, the 1996 event covered six districts and a walk for 3000 km punctuated by

meetings, discussions and functions during the 10 nights. In the latter yatra, SLMT has

published several posters, pamphlets and booklets of techniques of recharging dug wells,

borewells and hand pumps, both in rural and urban locations. It has organized 1500 gram

sabhas (village meetings), 150 taluka level sammelans (conventions) and 3 maha

sammelans (large conventions)-all in Saurashtra. Through these, it has reached out to

750,000 villagers and farmers. SLMT has also come out with a unique approach of

reaching out to people through group weddings. Called samooh vivahs, these group

weddings are quite common in Saurashtra where large number of people gather. SLMT

used 42 such wedding occasions to provide demonstrations, speeches and distribution of

manuals, thus covering 500,000-600,000 people (Antala, 2003).

Antala‟s writings have been one of the major source of fuel to the spread of the

movement. He has regularly written in “phoolchhap” daily where he was employed. In

addition, he also wrote in many other newspapers and other print media in all totaling 200

plus articles. In addition to focusing on the local areas and Gujarat state, his articles also

tried to give a broader picture of occurrence of water in nature and how the future

scenario would become challenging say in 2025 (Antala, 2001).

In view of his advanced age, Antala has stopped activities through SLMT few years ago

except for attending workshops, conferences and board meetings of which he is a

member. He has been advisor to Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa governments on

Literature Review 91

invitation and has helped them design water conservation programmes. In recognition of

his work, he has been awarded at least 25 state and national awards54

.

PART 3: KEY DETERMINANTS OF SOCIAL MOBILISATION AND THE

BUILD UP TO THE WATER-CENTRIC SOCIAL MOVEMENT

This sub-section will analyze the Saurashtra recharging movement within the conceptual

framework described in Part one. Part two has discussed the organizations, the

leadership styles, the principles and the approaches adopted by the leaders in contributing

to the recharge movement. This Part three applies the conceptual framework of

Oommen‟s alternatives for a crisis situation, the process of framing employed by the

recharge movement leaders, and Klanderman‟s process of meaning construction and

communication. Put differently, this sub-section identifies and discusses the key

determinants of social mobilization in the run up to the social movement.

Leadership and Work Philosophy

Oommen (1972a, 1990) argues that to cope with a crisis situation, one of the three

alternatives may emerge: [a] appearance of a charismatic leader who promises to lead the

people to a new utopia, [b] emergence of a new ideology which champions the cause of

the deprived, and [c] establishing a new organization to deal with the problem at hand.

Study indicates that it is not a straightforward case of application of one of these three

alternatives. The one that comes closer is alternative (a). Oommen‟s (1972) criteria at the

outset do not seem to be applicable here.

The study reveals that there has been no single charismatic, overarching leadership that

aimed at leading the recharging movement over whole of Saurashtra; nor is there an

overarching institution or an institutional arrangement. Further, such an institutional

structure or an arrangement has not evolved nor exists in any form today. The

54

Source: List of awards to Shyamjibhai Antala from 1996 to 2007 compiled by Prof. N.K.

Dokariya, 2007.

Literature Review 92

institutional structure or arrangement here implies „stake‟ of at least the major actors in

Saurashtra who are connected in a formal way, problems and solutions discussed,

implementation done, funding leveraged in part or full, documentation for knowledge

sharing and growth in place and policy advocacy carried out. There is at best some

informal interaction between various actors, that is, the leaders. A forged coordinated

effort does not exist. What existed surely was that the widespread water crisis situation in

Saurashtra and the frequent drought spells have witnessed pioneering efforts in direct dug

well recharging by Dhoraji-Upleta farmers‟ during 1987-90. This effort served as trigger

to almost all the actors reviewed in the previous section and also others not included

there. Many villages have witnessed local or cluster level leadership emerging and

leading people unto recharging activity. As discussed in the foregoing, many leaders were

also experimenting directly and indirectly, and feeding results and experiences into the

recharge activity. Overall, a scenario of dispersed „nuclei‟ of dug well recharging and its

varieties thereof was emerging during the period late eighties and early nineties. The

watershed programme that came onto the scene from the beginning of 1996 in Saurashtra

and had well defined guidelines for implementation with funding support from the

national government through the district rural development agencies gave a shot in the

arm to the recharge movement.

Interestingly, the watershed programme in Rajkot district had a heavy bias towards water

harvesting structures; especially, by those agencies which were already engaged in water

harvesting and were fully convinced about it. While the guidelines do not permit 70-80%

of the watershed budget to be spent on water harvesting structures as is done by the

Rajkot (and some other agencies in Saurashtra), the agencies did not mind „flouting‟

these guidelines, because of which at least one pioneering agency had to face audit

queries. The irony is that if one restricts oneself to these guidelines, innovation is not

possible, as innovation itself demands “thinking beyond the box” of guidelines or rules.

My visits to these agencies confounded my contention of need for flexibility in the

watershed programme. In the initial years of watershed programme, Mr. BN Yugandhar

(member, Planning Commission, Government of India), then Advisor to the PMO, and a

strong promoter of the common guidelines, agreed to my contention that the

Literature Review 93

implementation machinery actually considers guidelines as rules. He admitted by saying

“…..a guideline (when handed over from the ministry) becomes a regulation etched in

stone by the time it reaches down the rung leading not only to hindrances in successful

implementation but also eradicating any creativity that would have been possible”

(Mudrakartha, 1999). The factor to reckon here is the concern of the bureaucracy in the

lower rungs which does not want to take any chances of being caught in the wrong foot.

Thus, there is a need for thorough change in the “mind-set” of the bureaucracy along with

necessary accompanying instructions and re-orientation programmes.

Thus, we could distinguish two types of leaders: [a] Visionary leaders and [b] Action

leaders. Certain characteristics of these leaderships could be listed: Visionary leaders are

those who may have begun at an individual or a small scale, but have over a period

enlarged their vision to see the resource management holistically, and over larger

geography. They are flexible to ideas, learnings‟ and interactions not only with the grass

root level actors but also the researchers, academics, bureaucracy and the politicians, and

other actors. They are tireless workers who might have given their best over many years,

without prejudice to caste, class, creed and gender. They had demonstrated their honesty

of purpose either before entering the water conservation activity or in the initial years so

that people would accept them as leaders.

Action leaders are those who would be satisfied with promoting the known techniques

and technology, and facilitating their implementation at local or larger scales, directly or

through other groups. Some of these action leaders also would show innovation,

including when applying techniques and technology at larger level. Those leaders who go

beyond their village and aim and reach out many villages should be distinguished to

come in between action leaders and visionary leaders.

[a] Visionary leaders are the persons who visualized, prima facies, the potential of the

dug well recharging experiments done by the Dhoraji-Upleta farmers in addressing water

scarcity. These leaders over a period of time have also institutionalized their efforts as

they witnessed the efficacy of further innovative experiments done by themselves or by

others. Each leader had his way of contributing to the recharging movement. Shyamjibhai

Literature Review 94

Antala of Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust, Premjibhai Patel of Vruksh Prem Trust and Shri

Pandurang Athavale of Swadhyaya Parivar belong to this category. Over the years, they

have expanded their work by taking their experience in rainwater harvesting across

Saurashtra, and to other parts of Gujarat (Rathore, 2003a).

Shyamjibhai Antala has successfully reached out to play a key role in the planning of

water harvesting programme of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh invited

as an advisor in addition to his work in Gujarat. He also served as a strategic link for the

recharge movement by between action and rationale that he tried to provide through

explanations, documentation of success stories, publication of manuals and personal

interactions. Swaminarayan Sampraday and Pushtimarg Vaishnava Trust, two popular

religious organizations with a huge Gujarati following, both within India and abroad,

have been drafted into the movement by these visionary leaders to take benefit of their

presence and exhortations.

[b] Action leaders are those local leaders who have primarily focused on their village or a

cluster of villages. This also includes institutionalization. ORPAT Trust, Sarvodaya Seva

Sangh, Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust, Jalkranti Trust etc. come under this category. SSS,

however, has been working on other development themes for a long time. Interestingly,

these agencies have forayed into watershed programme since 1996. In the watershed

programme too, most of these agencies have ended up spending 80% and above for land

development and water harvesting. Some of these organizations have begun working

from early nineties by financing construction of check dams through or leveraged private

funds.

Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust under the leadership of Mathurbhai Savani has contributed in a

unique way to the recharging movement as described in the previous sub-section. The

Trust has begun with „cement teko‟ programme and later providing JCBs for earth work

for various storage structures; people only had to pay for the fuel (diesel) expenses which

was amounting to about one-fourth of the total expense. Savani organized numerous

village-level meetings in which he used to analyze the problems of water not as scarcity,

Literature Review 95

but because of two reasons: (i) overexploitation of groundwater for irrigation without

commensurate recharge, and (ii) 90% of rainwater running off to the sea. Therefore, he

projected the issue as affected not just an individual, but the entire village (CSE, 2000).

So much so that he promoted not only recharge but also water efficient technologies such

as drip. People‟s maximum participation was another key element in his programmes.

Mansukhbhai Suvagiya of Jalkranti Trust first established his own credentials by working

equally along with other labor in the construction of the first storage structure. He was

ready to get into action too in order to encourage people towards self –reliance. Later he

innovated to build low cost check dams using his professional (engineering) skills. Till

the watershed programme was sanctioned, he and his Trust have worked only with

locally raised funds.

All these Trusts have a strong component of local fund raising using the kinship link

through the trustees. The links mostly were connected to successful business persons

residing in India and abroad.

Identity-Saurashtra farmer and entrepreneur

One of the tasks in framing involves identity. In typical challengers versus protagonists

situation that existed till around eighties, the activists defined who they are, usually as

"'we,' typically in opposition to some 'they' who have different interests and values"

(Pellow, 1999). The Saurashtra recharging movement falls under the new social

movement where collective framing too which involves „stakeholders‟ as well as state

actors is resorted to. The Saurashtra movement was triggered by peasants and led by

either peasants or by people with peasant background. The cross cutting issue of water

scarcity for agriculture has been the plank on which the actions were based and the

movement built upon. Historically, Saurashtra economy has been agriculture-centric; the

region has been the producer of export quality cotton55

, a distinction which is maintained

even today.

55 The climate and geography of Saurashtra is very much suitable for cotton. The black cotton soil

combined with hilly topography, and surrounded by sea, with a temperature range between 14°C to 44°C

Literature Review 96

Gujaratis in general and Saurashtrians in particular have been highly enterprising. For

example, the diamond industry in Gujarat accounts for 72% of the world‟s processed

diamonds and 80% of India‟s diamond exports through 6547 diamond processing units56

employing approximately 700,000 persons in the State (Task Force, 2009). The total

annual turnover is Rs.800 million. Most of the Trusts that emerged for well recharging

movement have a majority of trustees hailing from important revenue earning business

segments such as diamond industry, textiles, and gems and stones. As part of business,

either the trustee or one or more family members of these trustees resides abroad, and in

places like Mumbai and Surat (in Gujarat state) which are hubs of business. Himself a

diamond businessman, Mathurbhai Savani, for instance, has mobilized many diamond

industry owners to contribute funds directly to his Trust, SJT, out of which he bought 20

JCBs and extended the machinery free of cost to any farmer.

Interestingly, a majority of the trustees constitutes patels. However, the well recharging

movement leaders have leveraged their support not as patels but as farmers by projecting

the issue of water scarcity. Antala, for example, has leveraged the powerful and rich Shri

Saurashtra Patel Seva Samaj Trust for funding his manuals as far back as in early nineties

(„Dharatrupti‟-Manuals). He has drafted good number of them into his Saurashtra Lok

Manch Trust as trustees (SLMT brochures).

during the cotton season have helped produce excellent quality cotton fibre. The Shankar-6 variety which is

widely used by farmers has more maturity, good elongation and good dye affinity; the fibre surface has

extra wax so much so that Shankar-6 from Saurashtra has assumed a leading position in the world market.

Saurashtra has a total land area of 6.34 million hectares, of which 4.17 million are arable. In 2008/2009, the

area under cotton is put at more than 1.6 million hectares and production is forecast to reach between 7.0

and 7.5 million bales (of 168 kilos). This amount would represent approximately 65% of production in

Gujarat and 25% of total production in India. Cotton production in Saurashtra has increased by leaps and

bounds during the last ten years owing to the rise in cultivated area and also increases in yield. Bt cotton

seed varieties have contributed to the increase in production. Farmers in the region are hard working, aware

of technology and apply scientific methods of cotton farming. In Saurashtra, average lint yield is 900 kilos

per hectare but the maximum obtained some districts can be as high 1,500 kilos. Output has quadrupled

over the past four years and the possibility exists of further increases. Dynamics and New Developments of

the Ginning Industry in Saurashtra by Anand A, Popat, Secretary, Saurashtra Ginners Association,

Managing Director, Jalaram Cotton and Proteins Pvt. Ltd. in Cotton Outlook, December 2008, Cotlook

Limited, Merryside, U.K. http://www.cotlook.com/SpecialFeatures/India_08.pdf accessed 22 July 1009. 56

The diamonds, after cutting and polishing, are returned to the supplier and are ultimately exported by the

businessmen engaged in the activity. As the finished product is exported, the survival of the industry

depends on overseas markets, especially in view of the limited domestic demand (Task Force, 2009).

Literature Review 97

Thus, we see kinship relation has not only helped combine the ends, means and field of

action, bring in emotional ties, but has also gone beyond the economics to convert

individual actions into a strong social movement capable to move on its own. Further,

this factor was also used very effectively for attracting the generally indifferent political

leadership to take a closer look at the much talked about social movement around water.

Policy advocacy requires special skills and can happen only based on one‟s ability to rope

in the politicians and bureaucracy. The leaders sold the idea that the movement is across

Saurashtra by inviting them to jal yatras, conferences and other big event campaigns

described previously. Having seen the response among and the impact on agriculture

yields, the political leadership used the opportunity for consolidation of its own vote bank

across Saurashtra. The 60:40 scheme for instance was the result of this advocacy which

benefited farmers per se and not just patels, such as would happen if it were a business

where poor, marginal and small farmers would not be privy.

Although Saurashtra is dominated by (leuva) patels, the houses are not segregated by

castes. There are other castes such as Brahmins, kolis, rajputs, harijans, muslims and

scheduled tribes. In some villages such as Vithalpar (one of the study areas, kolis are in a

majority). The strength of kinship of Saurashtrians could be seen from their response to

the so-called Godhra riots that took place in response to the burning of Sabarmati Express

train on 26 February 2002 at Godhra railway station in Gujarat. The burning of the train

killed 58 pilgrims, including 26 women and 12 children, mostly from coach S-6; another

43 persons were with different degrees of burns. The communal violence was mainly

confined to Central and North Gujarat while Saurashtra and South Gujarat (tribal

dominated) remained relatively peaceful (Tewatia et al. 2002).

Framing for Mobilisation

Framing57

is defined as mental orientations built into the minds of the followers (that is,

the primary stakeholders). Till seventies, framing used to be dominated more as “we”

57

Triandafyllidou, Anna and Fotiou, Anastasios (1998) "Sustainability and Modernity in the European

Union: A Frame Theory Approach to Policy-Making," Sociological Research Online, vol. 3, no. 1, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/3/1/2.html; accessed Abstract on 23 July 2009. Frame analysis has been

often used by scholars studying New Social Movements to analyze their discourses and their ability to

Literature Review 98

challenging “they”, they usually being the state and similar actors in „authority‟.

However, a new form of collaborative framing is emerging in recent times adopted

mostly by the new social movements in which the challengers actually engage in

collaborative framing with their adversaries. Environmentalists actually draw up on a

mixture of confrontation and negotiation in this innovative form of collective action also

called as consensus-based-decision making (CBDM) (Pellow, 1999). In CBDM, both

conflictual (traditional) and collaborative (cutting edge) approaches come together,

identify the problem and find solutions to address it. However, it may not always be that

this type of an „ideal‟ situation might exist to begin with. It may happen later too.

In the case of Saurashtra recharging movement, there have been significant attempts at

collaborative framing involving politicians, religious, spiritual leaders, industry and

bureaucracy from village, taluka and zilla panchayats while working with the people. The

framing strategies utilized cognitive schemata and was a continuous exercise occurring

on a day to day basis as well as in conferences, water campaigns and jal yatras (discussed

later). Almost all the agencies coined slogans and messages to motivate and propagate

action. The slogans, messages, posters, films and other tools and symbols were of direct

and indirect type. The direct type asked people „to do‟ action while the indirect ones

appealed to their thought process in order to conjure up scenarios.

Further, the dynamic framing process in the two decade period of the Saurashtra

recharging movement is evident from the initial focus on direct dug well recharging in

late eighties to holistic recharging on watershed basis from mid-nineties. The structures

for recharging too underwent change-from simple on farm diversion to filters, check

dams, farm ponds, farm bunds, gully plugs and holistic treatment on watershed basis

although with a very heavy bias for water harvesting.

Pellow (1999) argues that frames consist not just of words and pronouncements, but also

can include collective action events and the implementation of strategies and tactics. As

mobilize people (Triandafyllidou et al. 1998). For a detailed discourse on advantages and limitations of

application of 'frame analysis' in the context of both social movements and institutional actors, please refer

to Triandafyllidou et al. (1998).

Literature Review 99

the old adage goes "actions speak louder than words," and social movements often use

forms of collective action as "signifying agents" (Snow & Benford, 1988).

Broad based involvement of stakeholders has also led to formulation of government

schemes such as the SPPWCP and the SJSY (80:20 or 60:40) based on learnings‟ from

the recharge movement (DTE, 2000 and Letter of Minister58

). There has not been much

of an anti-establishment approach except by Premjibhai Patel of VPST. His critical-speak

was mostly tolerated by the state representatives or at worst ignored by virtue of his own

proven track record as a pioneer, innovator and a missionary.

The following sub-sections describe how the movement was strengthened by action,

narratives and meaning construction for communication contributing to the framing and

re-framing from time to time.

Narratives as tools of meaning reinforcement

The social construct of meaning for the well recharging movement relied heavily upon

the narratives of individuals who actually carried out pioneering experiments. These

narratives tended to become biographies or autobiographies in a limited sense; and, a

sense of achievement was visible whenever these “pioneers,” “leaders,” or “local

representatives” narrated their experiences of the past and the present and confidence in

achieving irrigation and drinking water security in future through the movement. For

instance, Shyamjibhai Antala‟s tryst with water conservation was published in written

form (ToI, 2000; Navbharat Dainik, 2003) and also his own narrative (Antala, 2003). He

has also consistently written in the print media backed by data and information. These

articles included his own, and collected experiences from visits to villages. Similarly,

such narratives were also produced by SJT in the form of brochures including a hundred

brief case studies (SJT, 2001) and websites already referred to previously. Occasional

writings of Premjibhai Patel (VPST, 2005) and documentation of key experiences during

58

Lr. No.MoI/103/3711/2002 dated 20 August 2002 from Babhubhai Bokhiriya, Minister of Irrigation,

acknowledging the strengthening of the idea of SJSY scheme to his visit to Jamka village, Junagadh, for

studying check dams constructed by Jal Kranti Trust.

Literature Review 100

construction of check dam (VPST, 2007) and a compilation of experiences of farmers

from across VPST field villages (VPST, 2007a) are some.

While these were written narratives, several of these leaders were regular invitees to

many conferences and workshops where they were asked to narrate their experiences. For

instance, Hardevsinh Jadeja, Shyamjibhai Antala and Premjibhai Patel were regular

invitees to the International Water Management Institute‟s IWMI-Tata Annual Partners‟

meeting every year from 2002 onwards. Similarly, they have attended many workshops,

conferences and events organized by government, NGOs and donor agencies (VPST

occasional release, 2005). The author has attended many events where these leaders were

present and shared their experiences.

While narratives by leaders is one aspect, the social movement draws its sustainability

and strength from how a common man perceives benefits; how common is the topic and

what the churning of communication is doing to the same. In most of the cases, the

villagers were able to connect the need for water conservation with the water scarcity

history of the village arising due to a combination of factors such as the uncertain and

inadequate rainfall, topography and lack of surface water storage structures. The stories

were exchanged in the farm, on the bus, in informal groups, in the village meetings, and

everywhere. One effect of the story telling was that groups of farmers from within the

village and outside started visiting the sites of experimentation wanting to witness by

themselves the way the well recharging was done. The interactions provided an

opportunity for generating more ideas in terms of improvisation for both the visiting

farmers and the experimenter. There was ambience of action, innovation and expectation

to tackle the perennial problem of water scarcity.

The narratives by the leaders and promoters lent credence to the recharge activity and its

subsequent scaling up. Shyamjibhai Antala, who was a paid employee of a Gujarati daily

newspaper, has never received remuneration or compensation for his service to society

from either individuals, agencies or governments (Antala, 2003). Antala has been able to

provide more details in his narratives and writings and asked people to visit and check

Literature Review 101

out on what was happening. Premjibhai Patel, a man of action, has provided cement

support to many farmers for several years for well recharging as well as construction of

check dams. Further, there were many local village level representatives who were

pioneers and practitioners themselves across some districts, and who positively

contributed to the media consumption.

Over a period of time, there was a chain reaction in terms of increased number of news

stories being covered by the respective local media in different districts, especially the

print media. With time, stories were not just of news value but on the process of well

recharging and the innovations carried out, often with graphics and details (Navbharat

Dainik, 2003; Madhurkar, 1997; DTE, 2000; Kishwar, 2003). Importantly, how

vulnerability due to uncertain rainfall was checked by villages adopting groundwater

recharging in toto was observed by people, which also got covered in the media through

interviews (Madhurkar, 1997; CSE, 2000). There was clear distinction between crop

returns obtained between farmers adopting recharge and those not adopting; the same

distinction was visible at village level. For farmers, crop output is the most important,

tangible outcome. Hence, when informed of increases in crop yields and returns on

agriculture, groups of farmers visited such experimental villages, studied the methods and

came back inspired. Back home, with or without funding support, tens, if not hundreds,

of farmers were taking up well recharge and introduced further innovations described

elsewhere.

Do these narratives constitute a deliberate and conscious effort at build up of images of

prosperity in the minds of the farmers and their families? Was that a conscious „framing‟

strategy adopted by the leaders and promoters of the recharging movement?

There is no evidence to indicate that there has been a conscious, planned effort by the

leaders and promoters of the initial recharge activity, nor was there a whole-Saurashtra,

or even Rajkot district59

effort. There is even today no organization that has embarked

upon covering entire Saurashtra in action as against a wishful domain reflected in the

59

An important city in Gujarat state with recurring water scarcity problem.

Literature Review 102

organization‟s bye-laws. The efforts were promoted with innocuous intention of helping

willing farmers to capture and divert rainwater into their wells. However, in some

villages such as Bhayavadar in Upleta taluka of Rajkot district when significant number

of farmers were coming forward for well recharging and later for check dam

construction, hopes of addressing water scarcity at village and then Saurashtra level have

been raised. In particular, when the watershed programme began in 1996, the approach

was treating entire drainage line of the village. On an average, 10-45 check dams of

different sizes were constructed depending upon the size and extent of the village (Field

data, 2003-4). In addition, each watershed unit comprised 5000 hectares of 10 villages.

Although the leaders were aware of their own limitation in terms of their outreach, this

did not stop them from dreaming about the whole of Saurashtra. This is evidenced two

ways: one in the articles by some leaders, and two, in the naming of their organization. (i)

For instance, Antala estimates presence of 750,000 dug wells, about a million borewells

and numerous hand pumps in Saurashtra (Antala, 2003). Through recharging he estimates

1.8-2.0 million acre-feet of water storage and economic returns through agriculture to the

tune of Rs.2.5-3.0 billion per year. His ideas on mass well recharging started taking shape

from around the year 2000 which can be seen from his advice to the Madhya Pradesh

Government which under his guidance has recharged 140,035 wells, 50,968 borewells

and 765,403 hand pumps (Antala, 2003). While there could be debates about the exact

number of recharging structures whether in Saurashtra, Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh, what

is important to note is that there has been a regional level thinking which also guided

actions and ideas, such as working with the government as there was recognition that

Saurashtra‟s water problem cannot be solved by any one person or agency (Saurashtra

Bhoomi, 2002)60

. The article also throws light on challenges in scaling up due to

differential response from villages even within the same area. (ii) Most of the

organizations have „Saurashtra‟ in their title such as the Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust of

Shyamjibhai Antala, Jalkranti Trust of Mansukhbhai Suvagiya and Saurashtra Jaldhara

Trust of Mathurbhai Savani. Suvagiya of SJT has ambitious plan of converting

Saurashtra into a green and water crisis-free zone. SJT plans to treat the 78 rivers with

60

„Saurashtra Bhoomi‟, a local language newspaper published an article titled „Saurashtra‟s water

conservation activity is not the proprietary domain of one or two persons‟ dated 8 October 2002.

Literature Review 103

check dams that „empty‟ into the sea; in addition, advocacy for irrigation efficiency

through low water intensive technology is aimed to be promoted (CSE, 2000). This is in

addition to the use of their 20 JCBs for continuing with the recharge promotion activity.

Thus, one can see that as against a planned strategy, Saurashtra as a domain for recharge

activity has emerged with time that converted into a movement. The watershed

programme implemented since 1996 has given a boost to the efforts of individuals and

non government agencies that have done more systematic work village wise in batches of

10 villages per watershed unit. It may not be fair to assume that all the farmers are

involved in the movement. Like in any other movement, the participation has critical

mass and therefore the movement moves on.

The movement also employed communication methods such as brochures, guidance

manuals, leaflets that served not only as communication tools but also helped strengthen

community‟s future frames of prosperity at individual and village levels. Aided by

drawings and pictures, the materials focused on the simplicity of implementation of

various methods that could be adopted to harvest water as discussed below. Water has the

highest degree of value as an elixir of crop for not only the farming community but also

for those who indirectly depend on farming such as agricultural labor and dairy farmers.

The pictures that depicted rejuvenated rivers, overflowing wells and lush green crops,

supported by estimations of volumes of rainwater that could be captured through a

variety of recharge activities61

both at individual and village levels, fired the imagination

of the people (Dharatrupti, 1996; Shabdved, 2001; Antala, 2003). Among older

generation, the pictures could easily bring back memories when, forty years ago, during

the sixties and the seventies, the water situation was similar to that presented (Focus

group discussion, 2003-4). Rendering of success stories by individuals as well as village

representatives, informally, and often orally, as well as verbally during water campaigns

and jal yatras, both within and outside of the village, district and the state levels, were

61

Antala, (2003) estimates that dug wells of Saurashtra are of 30-50 metres depth with an average diameter

of 4-5 metres. Depending upon topography, seven methods of well recharging and four different methods

of recharging hand pumps could be carried out. One dug well can recharge nearly 900-1110 m3 of rain

water.

Literature Review 104

aiding the framing practices and the communication strategy. The following are some

slogans and messages given out by various agencies to promote rainwater conservation:

Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust (Dharatrupti, 1996):

Recharge farm rainwater into ground.

Recharge residence and street rain water.

Recharge water from ponds by strengthening bunds through voluntary labor.

Contribute to success of well recharging by recharging your well and hand

pumps.

Capture rainwater in farm ponds to facilitate recharge.

Green the earth by planting trees.

Adopt low cost and simple artificial recharge techniques.

Make well recharging a success by your active participation and experimentation.

Vruksh Prem Seva Trust (Occasional releases, and pamphlets):

Premjibhai Patel uses innovative methods of raising questions and coining slogans. The

following are some:

Gratis or support? Which one do you prefer?

Emphasizing on self reliance and self esteem as against gratis and dependence;

Roof water harvesting or ground-compound (premises) harvesting?

Farm pond or field pond?

Labor payment for attendance or payment per work done?

The Vaccine of drought is Check Dam; that too when it is built in series (VPST

Occasional series, 2005).

VPST has also been promoting the concept of an ideal village through occasional releases

from time to time by giving a check list of characteristics which included the following

(e.g. VPST occasional release dated 7.7.2007):

Every house has a toilet, soak pit, a bath room, a gobar gas (biogas) plant.

Literature Review 105

All streets are free of waste water.

Women have passed at least tenth standard.

No illiteracy.

Model clean village.

No police case during the past five years.

Tobacco and other injurious items have disappeared.

No expectations of government or donor agencies funds.

Sustainability after completion of watershed programme, whose funds are meant

for people.

No inclination for foreign goods.

Jalkranti Trust (JT): Common overarching message of all the organizations to farmers is

that water is extremely valuable. The “rainwater in your farm belongs to you” and “the

rainwater in the village belongs to the village”. This approach was aimed at producing

individual as well as village level effects (Dharatrupti, 1996; VPST Occasional release,

2007). Interestingly, along with such supply augmentation methods, water efficient

methods such as drip irrigation and low cost sprinklers were introduced as part of the

watershed programme that began during the beginning of the second decade of the

movement in 1996. SJT, in particular, has popularized drip irrigation technology by

installing drip in phases in Khopala and covered one-fourth of the total agricultural land

(CSE, 2000). SJT has also pioneered in recharging wells through construction of farm

ponds; these and other methods such as gully plugs, farm bunds and check dams were

used to not only show but encouraging farmers to visualize benefits of such scenarios in

their own farms (Chokkakula, 2001; VPST occasional release, 2001).

Issues of downstream and upstream were also not so much in prominence because the

activities tended to be inclusive. Whether it is „cement teko‟ programme or dug well

recharging or construction of check dams, the support was equally available. Absence of

conflicts can itself be construed as the ability of the promoters to be able to reach out to

every farmer.

Literature Review 106

Thus, the movement made use of frames that provided clear images of achievable results,

fulfillment of desires and promise of prosperity. These have been reinforced by

experiential information and knowledge, credible social leaders and a supportive media.

Process of meaning construction

How did the leaders accord and construct meaning to their individual-centric activities so

as to convert into a social movement? The leadership of the recharge movement has

effectively made use of the three different processes of meaning construction, namely,

public discourse, persuasive communication and consciousness-raising as theorized by

Klandermans (1992). This process strengthens the narratives described above.

(a) Public discourse communication

The process of public discourse was used by organizations such as the Swadhyaya

Parivar, the Swaminarayan Sampraday and Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust. Shri Pandurang

Shastri Athavale used to address swadhyayees and the common folk which included large

number of farmers, as far back as in 1975 to adopt water conservation. He gave the

slogan, “If you quench Mother Earth‟s thirst, she will quench yours” thus weaving

emotion and culture for water resource management. However, the strategy was not very

effective until the drought spell of 1985-87 has occurred. His discourses as part of the

Swadhyaya continued which were invariably attended by thousands as he had been a

highly revered as a master guru (great spiritual teacher)62

. Saurashtra Lok Manch Trust

too failed initially to mobilize people in spite of the recurring water scarcity or drought.

He subsequently sought to involve religious gurus such as Madhavpriyadasji of the

Swaminarayans and Swami Kishorchandraji of the Pushtimarg Vaishavas whom people

revere to spread the message of self-reliance in well recharging (Madhurkar, 1997). The

religious leaders and their disciples pitched the need for well recharging saying, “if the

villagers do not act now, Saurashtra would be a desert in 30 years”. Vruksh Prem Seva

62

Dr. Helmet Pfeiffer (Translator of 'Vision of of God', a book dedicated to Rev. Dadaji from German to

Latin) on the crowd pulling power of Athavale said (www.dadaji.net/reflections.htm): I cannot but believe

the fact that half a million people assemble to listen to one man who talks about God. Where else it could

happen?

Literature Review 107

Trust has had a different style of operation; the founder Premjibhai Patel has always been

individual oriented supported by a few dedicated workers. Driven by commitment,

restlessness and passion, he likes to do things in the quickest time possible. He used to

motivate and respond to farmers on individual basis by personal interactions, provide

them cement support in the first decade, till mid nineties, and demand action and results.

He also exhorted groups of farmers by visiting villages far and near with missionary zeal;

he gave examples of others who have already carried out well recharging and benefited

from increased crop yields. In his cement support programme in the initial years, he was

cheated by a few farmers with fake bills but they were soon exposed. He had advantage

over others as his committed work in promoting afforestation, primarily through prosopis

juliflora, was known to many (Chokkakula, 2001). He believed that villagers themselves

are the best means of spreading the message, with authenticity; once they are convinced,

the message would spread because they have identified their problem as well as the

solution63

.

During mid nineties and later, there were newer entrants into the movement, notable

among them being Jalkranti Trust and Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust. Both these agencies

have continued with the idea of involving religious and spiritual personalities such as

Shri Morari Bapu, an eminent orator of Ramayana64

and the Swaminarayans in addition

to many noted ministers and politicians. They included He also involved the then Chief

Minister Keshubhai Patel and many industrialists to attend and address water campaigns

and jal yatras. There were a series of conventions, jal yatras and water campaigns which

were inaugurated by these religious, spiritual and political leaders where they draw

content from the already „successful‟ well recharging activities in various villages65

.

63

Personal communication in Field 2003-4. 64

Hindu religious epic. 65

Multiple sources include: Phoolchhab, 21.11.1999. „Water revolution will render Saurashtra green:

Sachchidanand‟; 21 September, 2002. “Mansukhbhai Suvagiya‟s water revolution produces miracles‟ (in

Gujarati), Sandesh, 6.9.2001.„Water Crusader Mansukhbhai deserves Magsaysay Award: Sachchidanand‟

Literature Review 108

(b) Persuasive and consciousness-raising communication

SJT has come across as a strong agency that put in efforts to reach out each and every

village using communication channels effectively. The following provide evidence of

their persuasive and consciousness-raising communication efforts66

:

One of the key members of the SJT, Rajeshbhai Mehta, who resides in Belgium

led a team of 200 dignitaries from Surat in 1998 and in 2000 that included

diamond industry stalwarts, textile industrialists and gems and stones

businessmen, in addition to politicians to tour villages in order to motivate them

through direct interaction of the team with the villagers. Mehta and team‟s tour of

over 600 villages encouraged the village committees whose enthusiasm was

boosted.

A 250-km pad yatra (walk) was organized in November 1999 in which 400

diamond businessmen from Bhavnagar, Surat, Ahmedabad and Mumbai

participated. Another pad yatra of 20 days organized from Talgajarad to

Porbander a distance of 325 km led by 1000 persons.

A huge convention was organized by SJT during 2003 in Surat which was

attended by the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel. Around 300,000

people from all walks of life attended. A vow was administered at the end of the

convention to conserve rain water. This is seen as the first time that such a huge

gathering assembled for the cause of rainwater conservation in the entire country.

In the year 2000, five grand conventions were organized on successive days in

different places. These conventions held from November 1-5 were attended by

many cabinet ministers such as the irrigation, water resources and the Narmada

Development. In addition, the speaker of the Assembly and the chief minister

Keshubhai Patel were also present. Social workers such as Anna Hazare, a

crusader against corruption and Rajendrasingh of Tarun Bharat Sangh, Rajasthan,

spiritual and religious leaders such as Shri Morari Bapu, Swami Sachchidanandji

66

Personal communication 2003-04, Field notes, SJT, (2001), Kishwar (2003), CSE, (2000);

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/misd-649037365,prtpage-1.cms;

http://www.saujaldharatrust.com/awarenessprog.asp; http://www.saujaldharatrust.com/sammelans.asp.

Literature Review 109

of Dantal Ashram and many others were present at these conventions. At the end

of each of these events, people took a „vow‟ to carry out groundwater recharging.

Five one-day shibirs (camps) held with gram panchayat members.

SJT has made special efforts to reach out to all villages of Saurashtra, Kutch and

north Gujarat, the water scarcity regions in Gujarat. The Trust has written a letter

addressed to sarpanch, talati, village leader and other respected elders of each

village exhorting them on the need for water conservation and extending required

support. They have distributed 100,000 posters, 500,000 pamphlets and 8,000

banners, in addition to 400,000 booklets, 100,000 audio cassettes and 300 video

cassettes. These materials contained all information on water conservation and the

techniques.

An audio-visual van provided with a large television set was continuously

showing videos, documentaries and exhibits to share and motivate.

SLMT has played a critical role in terms of persuading through rationale and logic.

Shyamjibhai Antala has published more than 200 articles in various Gujarati newspapers

including in Phoolchaab published from Rajkot where he worked for two decades. He

used to raise simple questions which a common man would ask in the context of water

conservation and make it the theme of the article. He also covered many success stories

by giving details of the farmers who adopted recharging and exhorted people to go and

see for themselves. He also gave details of increase in crop yields and the income raise

thereof. At a different level, he wrote about hydrologic cycle, the balance in nature, and

the perils of disturbance of the balance. These articles are published as a collection in

Gujarati language. In the initial years of well recharging during late eighties and nineties

he used to interact with farmers in various villages by himself whenever time permitted.

Simultaneously, he focused more on knowledge collection and generation, and

dissemination. He therefore attended many meetings, workshops and conferences within

Gujarat and in other states of India, shared Saurashtra experiences and brought back

issues for further experimentation.

Literature Review 110

SLMT has also organized numerous posters and booklets and distributed the same. The

trust has organized 1500 gram sabhas (village meetings), 150 taluka level sammelans

(conventions) and three maha sammelans (grand conventions) in Saurashtra to which

religious, spiritual and political leaders were invited similar to what SJT did in the later

years as described. SLMT has also organized jal yatras. One such event was supported

by the Information Bureau of Government of Gujarat, covered 3000 kms over ten days.

More than 100 group meetings were held with villagers and the youth (Antala, 2003).

VPST has not by and large organized any big rallies or conventions, and is generally

against it. However, in order to persuade people, Premjibhai Patel and his main workers

visit villages, interact with them and convince them to take up well recharging, also

providing incentives such as cement in the late eighties. Later, this incentive was given

for check dam construction. Patel used another approach to persuade people and raise

their awareness. This was through estimates of crop yield increases due to additional

water, stories of water level increases from those who adopted and through his occasional

releases. On the practice side, he has been a leading innovator in terms of low cost

designs of check dams, improved farm bunds, gully plugs, farm ponds, storm drain

treatment etc. These structures have made distinct difference in terms of water levels in

the surrounding wells, and the farmers reaping benefits of the same in terms of enhanced

crop yields. Water levels continued to sustain for rabi and then to summer crops. He has

constructed a check dam at the junction of three rivers, namely, Phophal, Rasnal and Moj

thus leading to not only huge storage but also at low cost; the Phophal river now flows

for most part of the year. All these have resulted in increasing number of farmers

participating in the recharging activity.

ORPAT Trust and SSS have adopted a standard institutional approach although the

founder-leaders Oddhavji Patel and Jayanthibhai Raval respectively have wielded

personal influence on people due to their commitment to ideals of helping the poor and

the women. The overall ambience of recharging has influenced the Morbi and Wankaner

talukas too. These talukas face additional challenges in the form of a top clay layer and

Literature Review 111

shallow overburden which reduces overall recharge67

. Both these agencies did not also

engage in any big size events of involving politicians or spiritual leaders; however, they

carried out village level meetings to motivate and persuade people not only to take up

water conservation but also overall social transformation for a happy life. A focused work

through watershed programme was taken up and implemented efficiently helping raise

the income and economy of the villages (SSS, 2003-4). Jayanthibhai Raval of SSS has

been awarded „Jalsanchay Gaurav Puraskar-2003‟ for the good work. While Oddhavji

Patel has first won over women members into taking up employment in his watch factory

as a way of helping them contribute to family income, he has subsequently involved all

the people from his field villages to take up water conservation activities as part of

watershed programmes (Raghu, 2007). Oddhavji has contributed his personal funds for

many social welfare activities and also threw his weight for raising funds for public

purposes. For example, his appeal has helped raise Rs.780 million for expenses towards

food, boarding and study material for 50,000 girls and boys living in hostels (Raghu,

2007).

Similarly, SSS has also helped improve water availability through provision of pipelines

to farmers combined with persuasion. In sum, the process of meaning construction in

case of both ORPAT Trust and SSS comprised the personal commitment of the leaders

and their organizations combined with their past credible work. However, limitations of

adopting a standard institutional approach also limited the spread and intensity of work.

The additional challenge of adverse hydrogeology added to the problems of the

organizational work.

The following Table 2.1 provides a brief summary of the key elements of each of the

three organizations studied for the purpose of a comparative understanding.

67

Field data-well inventory, 2003-4.

Literature Review 112

Table 2.1: A Comparative Table of the Study Organisations, and some salient

features/characteristics

Orgn Vriksh Prem Trust;

regd society/trust

Sarvodaya Seva

Sangh

regd society/trust

Orpat Trust

(Ajanta clocks, telephones,

torch, electric press, vacuum

cleaner etc.

regd society/trust

Year of

initiation68

2001-2 2001-2 2001-2

Taluka Jamkandorna Wankaner Morbi

Castes Patel Koli Patel, Vankar

Study

Villages

covered

Amaredi Jalsikka, Vithalpar Kerala-Bella and Haripar

Name of the

founder/key

person

Premjibhai Patel Jayantbhai Raval-

secretary

Odhavjibhai Patel – Owner,

ex-chairman

Occupation Ex-explosive

dealer,

businessman

Vidyapeeth

product; trained

social worker,

Gandhian

Teacher; entrepreneur;

multimillionaire, simple

Full time honorary Paid worker Full time honorary

Type of

organisation

NGO NGO NGO

Single-track

approach,

Emotional, instant

decisions on water

structures.

Reasonable

documentation

Traditional,

information

sharing, enlisting

participation, fixing

of responsibilities,

proper

documentation, O

& M aspects

Presence of a Committed

Chairman who gave up

business to work full time

with the Trust; leverages

govt. programmes, donates

as and when necessary.

Team not so efficient or

committed.

The founder of the

local NGO enjoys

people‟s support,

trust and goodwill;

fondly called

premji bapa

The Secretary of

this all-India

organisatin enjoy‟s

high reputation;

The Chairman of the local

NGO (and former chairman

of a corporate) has good

reputation and rapport;

spends time with people;

Change in

SoR

Promoted strongly

the cost reduction

to the extent of

30% in the SoR

Supported the cost

reduction

Initiated 30% reduction in

the cost of construction

68

Although this is the legally registered date, the organizations have been working for the past few years to this date.

Literature Review 113

Technical

manpower

BRS/MRS

qualified-3 nos.

total 1+3 + village

volunteers

6; accountant plus

qualified staff; 1

diploma engineer

(retd.)

1 Mechanical engineer; 5

social workers; plus

volunteers

Transport 1 jeep + 3

motorcycles

1 jeep +

motorcycles

3 motorcycles

Computers 1 computer 1 computer 3 computers

Salary to

staff per

month

Reasonable 9,000-

12,000

Low; max 8,000 Moderate-around 5-6000

Building Rented premises Rented premises Trust building (ex-show

room of Ajanta clocks)

Funding Initially own

funds, then raised

funds locally and

then drew Govt.

watershed program

funds

Sourced Govt.

watershed

programme funds

plus KVIC

Sourced Govt. watershed

programme funds

Mobility Most traveled,

exposed, also

encourages staff

Within Rajkot

district

Minimal both for self and

staff

Contributed

personal money in

the initial years

Nil, only project

funds

Donates liberally for

religious causes

Special

traits

Honest, dedicated;

desire for low cost,

innovative;

transparent

Honest, dedicated;

desire for low cost,

innovative;

transparent

Honest, dedicated; desire for

low cost, innovative;

transparent

Weakness Narrow focus -

believes in „give

water to farmer

and he will

manage the rest‟;

after WH structure,

nothing else;

Too slow in taking

decisions;

Jayantbhai-centred

decision-making;

People employed

are above 60 years.

Poor follow up ; unable to

take forward chairman‟s

promises on other non-water

development works except

water related activities; does

not believe in spending on

administration, vehicles etc.

adversely affecting

efficiency and follow up

Follow up,

monitoring

Informal approach,

no strict formal

monitoring

mechanism

Close monitoring,

although no formal

monitoring

mechanism exists

No fixed pattern; mostly

depends on workers report. It

is my backyard approach.

Photodocum

entation

Excellent Excellent Good

Only watershed,

that too on check

dams

Literature Review 114

Check dam

designs

Not strictly as per

engineering

parameters; belief

that people are

equivalent to

engineers;

Compromise on

cost by not having

engineering designs

(?) problems such

as siltation; no

upstream simple

checks done;

defects

Mostly Earthen bunds with

masonry spillovers; bunds

maintenance poor; slope

poorly designed.

Innovations

in check

dams/ water

harvesting

structures

Highly innovative;

attempts to arrest

every drop of

water; immediate

benefits seen by

people and hence

ideas get scaled up

Traditional Adopts newer tested

techniques.

Check dams Structures in tact

due to low slope/

gradient/ low

velocity

Structures in tact

due to low slope/

gradient/ low

velocity

Structures in tact due to low

slope/ gradient/ low velocity

Hard rock area -

Basalt

Hard rock area-

basalt/ sandstone

Clayey soil up to 60 m

(200ft.), 60 km from

seashore

Groundwate

r quality

Ok Ok Saline including top layers

Crops People grew by

themselves Bt.

cotton

Irrigation through

pipelines

Introduced Bt cotton,

improved seeds,

vermiculture, micro-

irrigation

Communica

tion

Open door policy;

available even

without notice;

documentation

available, photo

collection and

dissemination,

excellent

articulation

Easily available;

documentation

good; all PRA maps

and photos

available;

Available in certain slots;

reports/ records available;

Linkages Good with

Government,

NGO, development

groups

Proactive Proactive Active Active

Literature Review 115

To sum up, the Saurashtra recharging movement has emerged from direct dug well

recharging conducted by a few farmers late eighties and reached a watershed approach

with a heavy water harvesting bias. Till the watershed programme was launched in

Saurashtra in 1996, the recharging activity-cum-movement was funded by private

persons and trusts. The funding was leveraged using kinship from businessmen from

within India and abroad. The innocuous recharging activity was promoted, among others,

by leaders like Shyamjibhai Antala, Premjibhai Patel, Swadhyaya Parivar and the

Swaminarayan Sampraday by invoking Saurashtra farmer identity.

The social movement has witnessed adoption of framing strategies by the leaders who

employed narratives as a means of building future scenarios of prosperity through water

conservation activities. The leaders themselves played an important role in terms of not

only story telling by themselves, but also by those who benefited by the recharge

techniques. To expand the movement, the spiritual and religious leaders were cleverly

drafted in, who exhorted farmers by giving slogans such as “the water in your farm

belongs to you, and the water in your village belongs to our village”; and “if you quench

the thirst of Mother Earth, she will quench yours.” Innovative leaders such as Premjibhai

Patel of VPST and Shyamjibhai Patel of SLMT have carried out experiments, and

alongside produced manuals along with sketches, and how-to-do procedures. Thousands

of pamphlets, booklets, posters, videos and other audio visual material were produced

and disseminated in water campaigns, jal yatras and conferences. Politicians were

included by design along with spiritual, religious and local leaders to convey the message

of dire need to address water scarcity. The then Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues

were made part of the conferences to enable them witness the action and the euphoria;

clearly, this strategy worked and the powers that be formulated some farmer-friendly

schemes such as the SPPWCP, 80:20 and 60:40 schemes. Later entrants into the

movement have devised unique methods of contributing to water conservation activity;

for instance, SJT has purchased 20 JCBs (earth excavators) which were provided almost

free of cost against request by any village for earth work so that maximum rain water is

captured in storage structures created such as ponds, tanks and check dams. In almost all

the cases, the organizations have involved the diamond, textiles and gemstone industry

Literature Review 116

businessmen invoking not only the kinship factor but for developing the parched

Saurashtra. Since most of those businessmen from different parts of Saurashtra retained

their roots, they found a ready connection and vested interest.

Analysis shows that the Saurashtra recharging movement was not something that was

planned by any one organization or a group of organizations; the movement took shape

out of the pioneering efforts of a few farmers and was built up in local nodes, promoted

ably by a number of local leaders and organizations. Interestingly, even today, there is no

overarching organization that addresses entire Saurashtra although the domain of work is

chosen as Saurashtra by organizations such as SLMT, SJT, JKT and others.

What qualifies it as a recharge movement is that it has a critical mass in terms of

participation of villages and farmers; however, there are still many villages which are not

part of the movement as the study reveals. The watershed programme that started after

almost a decade of the recharge movement supported by private entrepreneurs has given

a shot in the arm as it has led to more systematic, area based efforts leading to visible and

tangible impacts. Although the watershed programme is launched all over the country,

what makes it unique in Rajkot district where the study villages are located is the heavy

bias towards water conservation related activities by the implementation support agencies

(ISA) constituting 80-90% of the expenditure ( Progress reports of VPST, JKT, SSS).

The Saurashtra recharging movement in conclusion can be termed as a unique social

movement which had been spontaneous, self supporting and self-propagating. There has

been a diversity of leadership not only in terms of geographic spread but in the character

and type of the leadership. The diversity in fact was energising by giving room to a

variety of experimentation aided by the bottom line clarity for addressing water scarcity

well entrenched in the minds of the leadership. It can also be viewed as a movement that

has successfully influenced the policy instruments of the government. Although the

government schemes have tried to build up on the social capital generated through hard

work by civil society actors, lacunae in implementation have ensured only partial success

of the schemes.