Status of tribal population in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is the state in central India and is the second largest state in the country by area. With over 75 million inhabitants, it is the sixth largest state in India by population. According to the 2011 figures, the recorded forest area of the state is 94,689 km² (36,560 sq mi) constituting 30.72% of the geographical area of the state. The state is home to a large tribal population, which has been largely cut-off from the mainstream development. This makes MP one of the least developed states in India, with an HDI value of 0.375 (2011), which is below the national average. The population of Madhya Pradesh is a medley of a number of ethnic groups and tribes, castes and communities, including the indigenous tribals and relatively more recent migrants from other states. The scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes constitute a significant portion of the population of the State. According to the 2001 census, the population of the tribals in Madhya Pradesh was 12.2.33 million, constituting 20.27% of the total population. There were 46 recognized Scheduled Tribes and three of them have been identified as "Special Primitive Tribal Groups" in the State. Dhar,  Jhabua  districts have more than 50 percent tribal population.

Source: Cencus 2011

Agriculture scenario and farmers suicide in Bundelkhand region[1]

Bundelkhand region is known for its abundance of natural resources but today this is one of the poorest regions of the country. The total amount of current outstanding rural bank debts in Bundelkhand is Rs 4,370.32 crore. This is 21% more than 2010 when the total bank debts stood at Rs 3,613.22 crore. As many as 519 suicides have been reported from the seven districts of the parched and extremely backward region in the five months of this year. In the year 2009, 568 farmers and in 2010, 583 farmers have committed suicide due to various reasons in Bundelkhand as per official records. Taking suo moto action on the reports of farmer's suicide and distress in Bundelkhand region, Allahabad High Court tasked Uttar Pradesh and Central Government to submit report. Since 2002, three years have been declared drought-affected: in 2002, 2004 and 2009. Bundelkhand region covers seven districts of Uttar Pradesh (Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalipur and Mahoba) and six districts of Madhya Pradesh (Chhatarpur, Damoh, Datia, Panna, Sagar and Tikamgarh). Rivers like Ken, Betwa, Yamuna, Mandakini and many other seasonal rivers flow through Bundelkhand but the area is yet rain fed.

A Study conducted by Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune reveal that rural indebtedness is acting only as a "trigger" for a complex range of socio-economic factors that lead to suicides. Analysis of 30 farmer suicide cases revealed that among small farmers while 36.37% committed suicide "due to loss of agricultural income and indebtedness.  40% of farmers would want to quit agriculture and take up some other career. The SAS data and its analysis indicated that the increased cost of cultivation and the sharp deceleration in the growth of prices of many agricultural commodities were among factors that had led to high indebtedness among farmers, 42% of the farmers borrowed from money-lenders.

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[1] www.bundelkhand.in

Still something important needs to be done…. (Challenging factor)

Now community is aware about the MGNREGA and almost 100% of target communities have job cards, 14% of target community have received 100 days of work, 36% of target community received full wages, but still the problem of delay in payment is there, which hinders the proper implementation of NREGA. Although along with the community HARIT PRAYAS team is working in close collaboration with the Panchayat and banks, but the basic problem stays at bank , where with one bank ( with 2 staff) the work load is about 6000-8000 account holders. Inspite of all this hurdles status of delay in payment has improved .Status of payment in NREGA (in target villages with target community) is as:

Places	Average payment days ( 2011)[1]	Average payment days (2012)[2]
Jhansi	4.5 months	30-45 days
Sagar	4-5 months	40 days
Satna-Chatarpur	4 months	30 days

Moving to the field and with interaction with the community we have find, various hurdles appear to contribute to the delays in Payment under NREGA. These include the following:

• delays in work measurement (themselves linked to the tyrannical behaviour of the engineering staff),
• bottlenecks in the flow of funds (sometimes bringing NREGA to a halt in entire blocks), irresponsible record-keeping (such as non-maintenance of muster rolls and job cards),

• Hurdles related to bank payments.

• HH working in NREGA are still not aware about where to complain about the delay in payment.

• More work load on bank with minimum staff

• Access of banks is quite far from the villages.

• Financial literacy about the bank procedure.

With bank payments making it much harder to embezzle NREGA funds, the whole programme is now seen as a headache by many government functionaries: the workload remains but the “inducements” do not. Aside from the possibility of foot-dragging, slowing down wage payments is a convenient way of sabotaging NREGA, because it makes workers themselves turn against the programme. We surmise, is the real reason why massive delays have emerged around the same time as the transition to bank payments. Seen in this light, the delays are not just mere operational hurdles.

“Farmers from Kadta village ( Sagar)[1]  and Karondiya village (Chatarpur) shared that now we are able to get work in our village, but still the getting wages on time is the big problem, once we would start getting wages on time probably no one would migrate from the village, we love to be here, but we also need money for our survival”

Report recommendation (or future possible area of action):

The HARIT PRAYAS team recommends the following to strengthen the timely payment in NREGA:

• Availability of banks in the villages and provision of ATM cards for the NREGA job card holders. It would be good if the government could able to introduce ATM cards along with the job cards formation.

• Financial literacy through village secondary school/Panchyat/Banks for people working under NREGA

• More staff in the rural banking services and probably the local staff so that their availability would be there in the bank on regular basis and officials would able to understand the language of the local people and assist them in bank processing.

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[1] Source: baseline survey report

[2] Source: Monthly monitoring and FGD with the target families

HARIT PRAYAS …making community to believe change!

Ramchadra Adiwasi of Karondiaya village (HARIT PRAYAS village at Chatarpur) has submitted first time written application for demanding work under MGNREGA and get the work within 3 days  and surprised that its not only the Pnachayat, its he also  who can avail the work when he wants. He thanks HARIT PRAYAS for making him empower…. To changing his life…..its ubelivable thing for him that in the same Panchayt where he used to wait for work is now getting work when he wants…now he  facilitates other community members of Karondiya village to submit the written application and get the work!

Change factors…

With HARIT PRAYAS approach there has been considerable change in the thought process of community as:

Community thought on MGNREGA before HARIT PRAYAS	Community thought on MGNREGA after HARIT PRAYAS ( after 20 months)	Remarks (period of change)
On Work: No work in MGNREGA	On Work: We can get work under NREGA	Change happened in 1 year of HARIT PRAYAS implementation
Job cards: Just used as job cards and hardly any updated	Job cards: Used as an identity and cards are updated	Change happened in 1 year of HARIT PRAYAS implementation
Written Application for work: Is it possible, because Panchayat gives the work!	Written Application for work: Its possible and now we can get the work when we need!	Change happened in 1 year of HARIT PRAYAS implementation
Payment of wages: No idea when we will get?	Payment of wages:: we would get in a month.	Change happened in 18 months of HARIT PRAYAS implementation
Type of work: Road construction and well deepening	Type of work: Plantation and pond deepening	Change happened in 18 months of HARIT PRAYAS implementation
NREGA as entitlement: what is entitlement , no idea!	NREGA as entitlement: Yes I know this and its my right!	Change happened in 1 year of HARIT PRAYAS implementation

Source: Interaction with community and observation

How HARIT PRAYAS has led to impact MGNREGA on environment security?

With HARIT PRAYAS approach we have also focused on the activities under the MGNREGA must be largely linked to water, soil and land which are the key natural resources determining agricultural and livestock production rather than focusing on road construction and well deepening.  If we would see the status of work taken in last 18 months in compare to thework at the baseline survey the status is as:[1]

Type of work	% of work at the time of base line	% of work (till March 2012)
Road construction	45	30
Well deepening	20	20
Pont construction	35	40
Plantation	0	10

There is increase in type of work which supports for the environment security and conserve the nature as well as to create a sustainable resource (asset) for the local community. 

We could relate this asset building with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005)[2] which considers humans an integral component of the natural ecosystem unlike classical approaches, which differentiate human as non natural. The approach also addresses the sustainability of resources and livelihoods by considering human well being a parallel theme to the functioning of natural ecosystem. With HARIT PRAYAS  we are able to contribute for MEA approach where ecosystem based resources are created through MGNREGA and community is taking ownership in the form of CBOS for the same.

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[1] Source: Panchayat records, baseline rep[ort and interaction with PRI members of HARIT PRAYAS Panchayat.

[2] http://www.maweb.org/en/index.aspx

                              SOCIAL AUDIT OF HARIT PRAYAS

Now with HARIT PRAYAS we have crossed more than 18 months and we are able to come out with a model of project which is owned and now managed by the community also. After 18 months of the project it is good that community would do the social audit of the project impact  inrelation with the  process, result and estimated expenditure on the project. Let’s see the community observation and audit process of HARIT PRAYAS.

What is social audit of HARIT PRAYAS?

Social audit of HARIT PRAYAS refers to the steps that are taken to ensure that the work done under HARIT PRAYAS project is actually benefiting the people whom it is intended to benefit. It is based on the principle that the local target community should be carried out, as much as possible, with the consent and in complete understanding of the requirements of the people concerned. It is a process and not an event. Thus, Social Audit is nothing but understanding, measuring, reporting, and most importantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the local governance with effect from HARIT PRAYAS project.

Objectives of Social Auditing of HARIT PRAYAS project

• Accurate identification of requirements of target community
• Prioritization of developmental activities as per requirements of target community
• Proper utilization of funds under HARIT PRAYAS in relation with the results set for the target community
• Conformity of the developmental activity with the stated goals
• Quality of service under HARIT PRAYAS project

                                 

How we can proceed for the social audit of HARIT PRAYAS?

Community Based and Managed Organisations (CBMOs) in the form of Farmers club along with Mahilla Mandals can lead this process of social audit and could submit a brief report of two pages (in Hindi) on their observation on the success/failure of HARIT PRAYAS project and would also state and estimated amount of expanse they think incurred in the HARIT PRAYAS project.  The probable format in Hindi is attached here. The format must be filled b the community (CBMOs) without any influence of the team. Also it must be filled for each and every village. Villagers can take 7-10 days to complete the process and would also submit one page report on the process part. HARIT PRAYAS team could facilitate the process of social audit of HARIT PRAYAS in terms of making community and CBMOs clear on the aspect of social audit of HARIT PRAYAS.

What at the end team has to do?

At the end  in each and every village the report must be shared with the community presence through presentation where PRI members could also be invited.

Also all the village reports submitted by the community could be compiled and we would have the social audit report of 64 villages of HARIT PRAYAS in the Bundelkhand region stating the process and progress of HARIT PRAYAS.

We have to complete the process by 30^th September 2012, HARIT PRAYAS Jhansi team has already started and going to complete the process by 19^th September. Once the process would complete team has to send me the scan copy of the social audit report submitted b the each village CBMOs and the report on the process part.

Plantation under HARIT PRAYAS project @Jhansi

                    HARIT PRAYAS!Giving freedom to women

‘Gender concerns’ are something which are always being the cross cutting issue in all thedevelopment project, but how it become the focal point in changing the entiresystem of village could be learn from HARIT PRAYAS….

In HARIT PRAYAS project village at Jhansicommunity and panchayat ban the ghunghat (veil) system!

 In one of the HARIT PRAYAS project village named Pathari (Jhansi), villagers (including members from Mahila Mandals & Farmers club) along with thePanchayat  have taken official decision on 7th/09/2012 to "ban the veil (Ghunghat) system" in the village (attached find the official letter signed by the village community and panchayat) , this could be probably taken as one of the biggest change in the Bundelkhandregion; because if we consider the situation of Bundelkhand region, veil (ghunghat) system is one of the highly dominated system by men and society on women to cover their face  and hide their identity in front of male members, outside the house, in from of old people…..and many women pass their life without opening their face…..what alife which has covered face through out the life!

Let’sknow what is ghunghat?

In very traditional and rural areas, women use their sari to completely cover theface and neck, concealing their identity to males. There is a small minority ofwomen that use the fabric to cover their whole face, bosom, arms, and stomach. Thistype of veiling is still popular with Hindu brides and is observed on thewedding day. Many women will use the ghungat as a new bride, until their father-in-lawadvises to unveil. This is to keep the modesty of the bride.

Traditionally, in some parts of India, women are supposed to wear a ghunghat in front of family elders and men guests, father-in-law, elder brothers of her husband, except when only in front of other women, husband and younger male family members. The ghunghat is used to show respect to elder males of the extended family.

Situation in Bundelkhand region

Onan estimated basis almost in 100% of the villages veil system is strongly followed and hardly any NGO, Government has taken initiative to make women to come out with this….people from the region consider it as the part of culture, respect….but  no one knows how this veil(ghunghat) gives strength to culture and respect rather it loses the identity of “women being as a human being”! 

How HARIT PRAYAS worked?

With the continuous effort of HARIT PRAYAS project team in Jhansi in the form of gender equity 8 ( 33%reservation for women in farmers club, and other activities) and continuous working with women through making them to participate in gram sabha meetings has made the things possible. Also its not that we only worked with the women of ghughat (veil) system, we worked with the men also and through counselling and making it clear that what a women can do without ghughat has made the work more easy….now women from the HARIT PRAYAS villages are leading the farmers club ( 10% of farmers club formed under HARIT PRAYAS project are lead by women),meeting with government officials, visiting KVK and NABARD offices and all this with their face identity. ..without any ghunghat (veil)!

HARITPRAYAS has made women capable to come out with their covered face and also made society to accept this!

 Also read the report on HARIT PRAYAS effort of empowering women through collectiveness!

Let’s celebrate this first freedom of women in Bundelkhand region!

Let’s congratulate people for their initiative of freedom in

Pathari village !

Let’s bring change possible!

Farmers Club meeting ( on 07th/09/2012) in Pathari village (Jhansi), where both men and women sit together and discuss the issues of agriculture!

Soochna Ka Adhika (RTI) through HARIT PRAYAS VIC

Capacity building of community members ( especially Dalits) on Grievance redressal mechanism (for getting their due entitlements) is one of the most important components of Project HARIT PRAYAS.The objective is to make the community members aware of existing grievance redressal mechanism of Government of India and the state Government, which is meant for people’s welfare.

With HARIT PRAYAS continuous approach for working for the betterment of SC community  in 18 months HARIT PRAYAS has not only empowered SC community to demand their rights but have also given an identity  with dignity to  SC community in the region like Bundelkhand.

The said change is seems to easy to read but it could be considered as the biggest change by HARIT PRAYAS because in the Bundelkhand region  and especially in 20 villages of HARIT PRAYAS in Jhansi baseline report said that before the implementation of the project hardly there were anyone from the community who used to demand for their right and in case of SC community it was complete zero! For SCs demanding right was quite far, they were even not aware about what are their rights? Its the HARIT PRAYAS intervention in the region ( (in 20 villages of  BABINA Block in Jhansi) where CBOs in the form of  farmers club & Mahila Mandals have formed ( with mixed community group-sitting together at common places), on n average daily workshops have been organized by the HARIT PRAYAS Jhansi team ( especially with SC community), interface has been promted with PRI and other institutions and confidence of the community has built with being the friend with them. This all has changed the environment and today SC community is not the apart from the society it’s the integral part of the society ( not only physically, but socially too)!

Follow up report: Grievance redressal mechanism

June 15, 2012

As per the baseline survey report of Project HARIT PRAYAS target community members of 20 villages of Babina block were hardly aware of ‘Jan Suvidha Kendra’ www.jhansi.nic.in/jjsk.htm

The urban population in Jhansi does use this grievance redressal system frequently but till now it has not been used by the rural community. In our project area people do complain about bureaucrats’ apathy, red-tapism of Bank officials, Block level officers etc.

The IEC material on Government schemes had been published last year under the project. The cluster coordinators and field coordinator ensured that people do read the IEC material and use it as per their need. In that IEC material the phone numbers of Jan Suvidha Kendra was also given by JCSS team of HARIT PRAYAS.

Ramlal, the 28 years old youth of Rajapur village, who belongs to SC community, went to Sarva U.P Grameen Bank, Raksha branch, for getting his bank account opened. But despite of submitting all the required documents the bank officials did not open his bank account. He tried to know the reason that why his account is not being opened, but in vain.

Later on he made a phone call to Jan Suvidha Kendra and lodged his complaint on 18^th January, 2012. The complain number was 45116. He followed all the instruction given to him by the Grievance Redressal Authorities and finally the bank officials requested him to come to the bank and to collect his passbook. On May 7, 2012 Ramlal received acknowledgement letter w.r.t to redressal of his complain.

During interaction with Ramlal, one can notice the confidence he has gained after this whole episode. Now he motivates other community members to lodge heir complains at Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra. He asks, “If we don’t fight for our right then who will?” Ramlal is also an active member of Adarsh Kisan Club, Rajapur. He will be source of inspiration for other community members also.

The way forward

Team JCSS will be spreading this story in all 20 villages, among the poor and marginalized section of society. The Xerox copy of the case study and letters will be shown to the community members and they will be motivated for using government’s grievance redressal mechanism.

Dear all,

With each and every day crossing the HARIT PRAYAS has becoming a strong movement not only in project area, but even in the entire Bundelkhand region. To make this movement more wider and at larger scale JCSS-Jhansi team has initiated the concept of newsletter of HARIT PRAYAS ( in support with the informal research & development wing of LIFE & HARIT PRAYAS) , accentuating the result and the work carried on to strengthen the status of Bundelkhand region. The news letter is in Hindi and is through the inputs of families with whom we are working with HARIT PRAYAS project in Jhansi. Please find attached 2nd issue of HARIT PRAYAS news letter (frequency is 6 months).

How this news letter is important?

Wider reach: Gives visibility to the project & the partner organisation and indeed the impact

• It reaches up to most of the government offices in Jhansi and the project block (Babina).
• It being read in the CBMO ( Community Based & Managed Organisations) meetings
• It reaches to the other development organisations in the region
• It reaches to the KVK, NABARD and Bundelkhand University offices.
• It reaches to various donor/supporting agencies supporting the project in the Bundelkhand region

Strengthening linkages through reach

Multiplying the effect through getting more support form the government

Generate a volunteer base for the HARIT PRAYAS project support

Creates a space of sustainability for the HARIT PRAYAS movement

Its in local Hindi language and highlights result

Enjoy reading change!

Do you want to bring change?

Do you think you can bring the change?

&

Do you feel change is important?

If YES!

Apply now!

For one of the most innovative development project in Bundelkhand region (Jhansi) .We invite applications from the suitable candidates for the following positions:

Position: Project Coordinator

JCSS (Jhansi-Uttar Pradesh) is one of the leading non-profit organization working in the Bundelkhand region for the upliftment of the deprived community. It works in the area of community development, human trafficking, women empowerment, Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Livelihood.

At present JCSS-Jhansi needs a young dynamic and highly active Project Coordinator for the upcoming a new innovative & thematic project based on livelihood, rights and entitlement in the 20 villages of the Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh .

Brief about the thematic project

The project is being supported by the Caritas India and is based on the Result based Management (RBM) system. The core theme of the project is livelihood and entitlements. It’s an innovative project involve expertise on Project management, field work, research work, capacity building, blog writing and innovations.

To know more on project you can log on to www.haritprayas.blogspot.com

You can also watch videos of the project on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY5dS9YpI-o

Name of the Post: Project Coordinator

Location: jhansi

Functional Area: Programme Management

Qualification & Experience:

• Post Graduate in Rural Management, Rural Development, Social work, Development Management, agriculture, Horticulture, Sociology, forest management, enterprise development, sustainable development and other related subjects (social sciences) from a reputed institution with at least  60% of marks.
• Experience in the area of community development especially in sustainable agricultural and government schemes (NREGS) activities through CBOs.
• Experience in the area of government Liasioning
• Ability to undertake unaccompanied travel in interior rural areas.
• At least  1-3 years of experience in development sector. Fresher with passion and commitment to bring change are welcome.

Other skills required

• Effective verbal and written communications skills in English & Hindi.
• Excellent command over MS Office ( especially on word, excel & power point)
• Knowledge and experience of blog writing
• Action Research

Expertise required (negotiable)

• On Result Based Management ( RBM)
• MGNREGA
• FRA
• RTI
• Organic Cultivation

Responsibilities

§         Set overall directions/strategies of the project

§         Regular follow up on implementation and participatory monitoring of the project to attain desirable outputs.

§         Regular liaison with CARITAS INDIA for reporting and guidance. Implementation of overall plans within the district specific context and proper monitoring and reporting.

§         Extensive field visits to support direct actions field area.

§         Liaison with district administration for effective policy advocacy

§         Undertake capacity building initiatives at the grassroots for effective learning and support. Planning and conducting trainings.

§         Prepare best management of capacity building inputs through participatory monitoring and documentation.

§         Review the progress of activities at cluster of villages

§         Develop strategy for intervening with the marginalized sections of the village and provide handholding support to women/ dalit members as per needs.

§         Documentation of capacity building experiences for replication. Ensure timely completion of the activities and proper documentation

§         Providing access to information to Panchayat and Gram Sabha members

Salary and other benefits: 15700/- PM (depends on the individual qualities and experience) plus travel allowance, trainings and opportunity to be the part of an innovative project.

What we look for

While assessing a candidate, we look for job specific skills, comparable experience, ability to work well with others, initiative, analytical & problem solving ability, ability to organize, plan and execute and most importantly, potential. It goes without saying that one must be passionate about working for the development of the people.

Application procedure (For Project Coordinator)

How to apply:

Interested candidates (both male and female) can send their CV along with a cover letter by 25^th September 2012  to haritprayas@gmail.com . Feel free to write for any query .

Female candidates would be encouraged to apply.

CV: We ask that you send us your CV outlining your education, work & voluntary experience & any relevant training attended with dates of completion. We ask that you also include contact details of two referees. Ensure your CV is no more than 2 pages long (2sides of A4)

Cover letter: The cover letter is the most important part of your application. It should be used to tell us how your experience, achievements, skills, knowledge & training gained in past employment & other activities will enable you to perform the requirements of the job. Ensure your cover letter is no more than 1 page long (1 sides of A4).

What we look for

While assessing a candidate, we look for job specific skills, comparable experience, ability to work well with others, initiative, analytical & problem solving ability, ability to organize, plan and execute and most importantly, potential. It goes without saying that one must be passionate about working for the development of the people.

PLEASE DO NOT APPLY JUST TO GET THE JOB, IF YOU ARE JUST LOOKING FOR JOB HARIT PRAYAS IS NOT YOUR CHOICE, HARIT PRAYAS IS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO BRING CHANGE!

We are not searching for someone who is extra ordinary, but we are searching for some one ordinary with extraordinary qualities!