LivelihoodsTwilight in Farmer’s Livelihoods 22

Practitioner’s DiaryRcompilation of descriptive tankmemoirs in Adilabad

18

Voices from grassrootsVillage Education ResourceCentre in Jevargi 10

MattersDevelopment May 2008

Nurturing Community LeadershipFeature

MattersDevelopment Vol. II Issue 5 May 2008

Centre for Development CommunicationDHAN Foundation18, Pillaiyar Koil Street, S.S. Colony

Madurai - 625 016. Tamil Nadu, INDIA

Tel.: +91-452-4353983, 2610794, 2610805

Email: dhanfoundation_tn@airtelmail.in

Website: http://www.dhan.org

From the Editors’ Desk

Contents

1. 1

2. Leadership Rotation in People’s Organisations 5

3. Retreat for leaders of community institutions 6

4. Village Education Resource Centres in Javergi 10

5. Need for Developing Micro Insurance in India 12

6. Micro Insurance with the Marine communities 15

7. Compilation of descriptive tank memoirs in Adilabad District 18

8. Twilight in Farmer’s Livelihoods 22

Nurturing Community Leadership

The success of any organisation depends on the leader and leadership, whether it is private, government, or people organisations.

Dear Readers!

We regret for the delayed publication of Development Matters and

thank for your continued support. This May issue of Development

matters features on Leadership at grassroots. Article on nurturing

community leadership is an inspiring article for younger colleagues to

groom leadership at grassroots. The need for leadership rotation and

the deliberation of leadership retreat are discussed. DHANites write

about their experience in preparing tank memoirs in Adilabad and

how the education programme was evolved by leaders based on the

members' need in Jevargi. Need for developing micro insurance in

India and in marine communities are detailed.

The field notes by Singampuneri team highlights the impact of a

public private partnership with ITC Rural Development Trust under

its corporate social responsibility which brought twilight in farmer's

livelihood. As usual, we look forward for your continued support by

contributing articles, comments, critiques, feedback and

encouragement to enrich the quality of subsequent issues of this

magazine.

Happy reading!

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Feature

*A. Umarani is the Director, Tata-Dhan Academy, Madurai.

Nurturing Community LeadershipFor sustaining people organisations for generations, it is essential to understand leadershipand nurture leaders with appropriate mechanisms and processes

A. Umarani*

Growth of thematic programmes is inevitable in DHAN

Foundation. If any organisation wantsto sustain, it has to grow and developwith quality. I could see the growth interms of reach, spread in geographicalcontexts, and depth in content withmore and more purpose clarity in theDHAN Collective. There are manyexperiments which bring a widerspectrum of knowledge and learningopportunities to work with otherstakeholders. The core of ourdevelopment is the community. Nodoubt, without communityinvolvement and interaction, therecould not have been this much growthand development. DHAN is knownfor its strong grassroots action,particularly building peopleorganisations with nested connections.DHANites carry their activities withthe mission of “Building people andinstitutions for developmentinnovations to enable poorcommunities for poverty reductionand self reliance”. In order to buildinstitutions for generations to build theability of and empower thecommunity to realise its goal ofpoverty reduction and self-reliance,one of the five important elements isleadership. The success of anyorganisation depends on the leaderand leadership, whether it is private,government, or people organisations.In this article I will try to explaincommunity leadership by revisiting

DHAN’s earlier experiences of theKalanjiam and Vayalagam themes.The deeper understanding ofleadership is essential - particularly forpeople who work closely withcommunities and are involved inpromotion and building of groups andfarmers associations, or clusters/cascade associations and federations.

Understanding CommunityLeadership

Leadership is a process of buildingleaders. Enabling the community andbuilding peoples’ organisations (POs)is a pre-condition for addressingpoverty and creating a strong demandsystem of poor. People-centredcommunity development andpromoting people movements arepossible only through nurturing andsustaining community leadership on

scale. Development Professionals(DPs), in order to facilitate andpromote the process of people-leddevelopment, need to not onlyunderstand the basic tenets andoperational aspects of communityleadership, but also internalise theguiding principles, philosophy, andvalues.

We need to understand‘leadership’ contextualised in theperspective of POs. Leadership, in apersonality perspective, is acombination of special traits orcharacteristics that an individualpossesses and that enables theseindividuals to induce others toaccomplish the group or organisationaltasks. It is an act or behaviour thatleaders employ to bring about changesin a group. It is a power relationshipthat exists between leaders and

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followers. The leaders who havepower use it to effect changes inothers. It is an instrument of goalachievement which helps groupmembers to achieve their goals andmeet their needs. Leaders direct theirenergies toward individuals who aretrying to achieve something together.

The concept of leadership hasgone through significant changesmaking leadership somewhat difficultto define. Leadership expressionhappens based on the situation andneeds of the people in a group or anorganisation. It is also due to the factorand needs of the personality who, inlater stages, becomes the leader andgets involved in promoting andbuilding the organisation. Hence,leadership can be viewed as a complexphenomenon in a group ororganisation’s life in which differenttypes of individuals carry out a varietyof leadership functions dependingupon both the qualities possessed bydifferent group or organisation’smembers and the specific needs of thegroup at a given time. Finally, we canconclude our understanding of a leaderas ‘any person who is more thanordinarily efficient in carrying psycho-social stimuli to others and thuseffective in conditioning collectiveresponses’.

Contextualising our understandingof leadership is very important; as itwould guide us in furtherunderstanding leadership principles,philosophy and values. As DHANenvisions building self-regulatedpeople organisations having greaterpractices of development andinstitutional values and ethics, it isessential to understand the existingleadership in our Kalanjiams and

Vayalagams and their federations.Similarly, in places whereDevelopment Professionals have aplan of promoting Kalanjiams andVayalagams, they need to spend timeto understand the leadership intraditional groups or associations. Thisexperience would help them toidentify good leadership for promotingand building groups. Here are a fewquestions for which should be askedto help understand leadership in thecontext of poverty reduction and self-reliance:

• Who is the leader as accepted bythe community?

• Why does the community accepta particular person as a leader?

• What is the family backgroundand upbringing of the leader?

• What are the value practices,traits, and behaviour being learntby the leader from their parents,their relatives, and others?

• What are the situations duringwhich the traits and behaviourwere observed?

• What is themotive which isb e i n gconsis tent lyexpressed bythe leaderthrough suchbehaviour andtraits?

• How often dopeople refer tothese leadersfor advice?

• What kind ofchanges dothese leadersbring amongt h e i r

dependents (followers) and dothese changes satisfy thedependents’ needs and interests?

• How long has this person beenperceived as a leader? Were thereany changes in behaviour ofrejecting the particular leader? Ifso, on what occasions?

• Was the leader able to spend timefor others and take active part inothers’ grievances and affairs forbetterment of them?

This list may certainly go on, but Iwould suggest that the DPs raise manyquestions in them related to theleadership abilities of our Kalanjiamand Vayalagam leaders and find outthe answers to them. It needs sincereefforts and demands a considerableamount of time to understand theexisting leadership. As theprogrammes are working in rural,urban, coastal, and tribal contexts, theDPs must try to determine whetherthese contexts require differences inleadership.

Important leadership traits and qualities forreference

• Faith and belief in their groups or organisations

• Practice high standards of conduct

• Entrepreneurial ability, personal sacrifice fortheir member benefits, and institutional priority

• Goal focus, achievement motivation, simple andplain speaking, transparent honesty

• Facilitate and practice supportive relationshipbased on trust

• Proactive, self and new initiative, frequent andclose interaction with their members

• Good track-record, ability to inspire others

• Concern for others and service mind, followingdiscipline and sincerity

• Determined and perseverant, consistent inperformance

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Identifying leadership

Can we get ready made leaders? Ican say both the answers ‘yes’ and‘no’. Why? Because there are twokinds of leaders: one is born withnatural leadership qualities the otherone is to be identified and nurturedfor the leadership. In such cases, howdoes one identify “born” leaders? I canshare a few situations where you canobserve the natural expression ofleadership having good or bad motivein them.

In the rural context, there arelabour contract systems operatingparticularly in the agriculture sector(for planting, harvesting, and so on),construction field (women/mencontractors), traditional savings andlending systems, local informalpolitical systems, traditional culturalor folk groups, and informalassociations for maintenance ofcommon village infrastructures. Ineach of these kinds of groups, there isa leader, a minimum of 15–20followers, the focus areas or tasks, andoperating systems for achieving thegroup task. The DPs have to spendtime to understand how these groupswork and observe and analyse theexpression of leadership.

In urban slum areas, the leadershipcould be observed in political groups,construction groups, and other similargroups. As the lifestyle is moreindividualistic, finding naturalleadership is a big challenge. Mostslum dwellers are engaged in tradingand vending, small businesses, andservice sector activities; there is noexistence of informal associations orgroups. But there are a few promotedassociations or groups functioningbased on the homogeneity of

occupations—both registered andunregistered—such as associations ofrickshaw pullers, auto drivers, andservice providers at railway stations.In urban areas, it is generally easier toobserve men in leadership positionsrather than women.

In coastal areas, there is a strongexistence of traditional fishermencommunity associations andleadership. The enforcement of rulesand regulations are so intense compareto formal Panchayat groups. One caneven observe the hereditary transferof leadership through multiplegenerations. It is very interesting toobserve the acceptance of leadership,the leaders’ ability to handle conflict,and community compliance to therules and norms established by theseleaders. It is worth spending time inunderstanding the leadership as onecan get greater insights about thestrength and weaknesses of it.

In tribal locations the traditionalleadership is strong, which is beingtransferred to generations. Patel orVillage head takes active role inbuilding solidarity and unity within thecommunities. There is an existence of

leadership in traditional health healingsystems, natural resource managementgroups and livestock herders groups.The emergence of leaders happenedduring various social movements toprotect the welfare of the tribalcommunities. In order to mould tribalreligious and social life, theenlightened individuals or a section oftribal communities providedleadership to them. Mostly menleaders could be observed, as womenare not given opportunities to beleaders. Tribal communities arerelatively static and it needsdetermined efforts from the leadershipto effect the change in them. Hence itis very interesting to understand triballeadership.

It is worth mentioning that in anyof the above-said leadership contexts,the role of literacy or education israrely a prerequisite. One has to findout answers for the questions howemergence of leadership happens,who nurtures and builds theleadership? And the functioning of itin satisfying the community desiresand needs. We cannot assume that allthe existing or emerged leadershipwill work well in Kalanjiams or

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Vayalagams. The above-saidleadership relates mostly to theindividuals rather than a collectiveleadership. In DHAN, the concept ofcollective community leadership isbeing promoted rather than singleleader governing the functions of theorganisation.

The dual challenge for us is (1)identifying natural leadership andshaping him or her as one of thecollective leaders of the organization,and (2) wherever there is no naturalleadership, finding them through setprocesses. How do we find it topromote and build the groups andassociations or federations? What isour experience? Do we haveappropriate tools, methods,mechanisms, and processes ofidentifying the right leadership andgrooming them to guide and sustainour people organisations?

Let us revisit our earlier practicesof identifying leadership. There is afive-step process, presented below:

Define the organisationalcontext (groups/associations/federations) and goals clearly whileforming the groups itself. (It is a self-help group/association, promoted,managed, controlled, and owned bymember themselves with mutual trust,relationships, and networksfunctioning as strong social capital ofthe poor)

Define the role of leadership inachieving the goal and objectives.(There is no single leader concept. Itis a collective, community leadershipof three at group/association level,five to seven at cluster/cascade level,and more than nine at federation level.Each one has a specific role to playand at the same time plays aninstitution-building role as acollective) It is otherwise calledgoverning body/board.

Define the criteria for selectingthe leader from the group/association.It should be specific for president, vicepresident, secretary, vice secretary, and

treasurer, as each leadership positionhas a definite role to play and needs adifferent set of skills to perform. Itshould include minimum criticalleadership attributes, leadership skills(communication, visioning, people,processing, and managing theattainment of goal and objectives), andpracticing values (practice ofdemocracy, consulting and consensusin decision making, self-regulationand integrity, development valuessuch as equity, justice, and inclusion)

Establish the tasks to beperformed, tenure and output to beensured by the leaders. Theircontribution to the members’ benefitsas well as to the organisation in whichthey belong to needs to be broadlydefined; milestones at shorterintervals need to be specified andleadership tenure is to be realised.

Selection and acceptance ofleadership process should bedocumented thoroughly in theresolution book in which the approvalof all members have to be obtainedby their signatures. It would befollowed by oath taking by the leadersin the general body meeting.

Our development professionalshave to facilitate the process ofidentifying and selecting appropriateleadership for organisations atdifferent levels.

In the subsequent issues of“Development Matters”, I willdiscuss the role developmentprofessionals play in nurturingcommunity leadership with thesupport of a few tools and techniques.

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Practice

Leadership Rotation in People’s OrganisationsN. Shanthi Maduresan & T. Narendran*

Development is a gradual processwhich does not happen

overnight. It evolves spontaneouslywhen communities start looking in thesame direction. Convergence ofthinking with group consciousness isseen in leaders to serve their people’sorganisation without exploiting them.

A person who influences otherpeople is a leader. A leader is theindividual highest in the statusrelationship of the group. It results inthe execution of a particular kind ofrole within an organized group.Leadership is the frequency of anindividual in a group who influencesor directs the behaviour of otherswithin the group. Leadership qualitiesare seen in some people naturally.They have to be nurtured andgroomed in a systematic way tosustain the people’s organisation in along run. A few characteristics are seenas follows:

• Since the initial stage of groupformation some members arecurious to take voluntaryinitiatives. They are the potentialmembers to become leaders.

• A few people respondimmediately to situations wherethe progress of the group isblocked or when there ariseinsecurity to the group. Theyemerge as leaders.

• Some fulfil other members’ needand have emotional attachments

with the members. Hence givemore time for them.

• Practicing good values in thevillage and coming forward totake initiatives for thedevelopment of the societyexhibits leadership.

Importance of leadership in people’sorganisation:

The basic philosophy behind allpeople’s organisations is that they aremember-owned, member-managed,and member-controlled organisations.Leaders are the role models for othersto practice good values for thedevelopment of the society. In thisregard, all the development relatedprogrammes are to be led by theleaders with clear understanding of thegoals of the organisation. All theactivities/programmes of the people’sorganisation are to be implementedthrough leaders. Leaders are the onewho motivate other members to do theprogrammes for the benefit of themembers.

Rotation of leadership

• Philosophy of people’sorganisation

In a people’s organisation, theopportunities have to be given toall the members in all respectsespecially participation,contribution, and decisionmaking. Rotating leadership isrequired for achieving this

objective of people’sorganisation.

• Equal opportunities for all

One of the main purposes ofpeople’s organisations is to buildleadership skills among themembers for the empowermentof the members in the society.Rotation of leadership willprovide equal opportunities forall the members in the people’sorganisation to build theirleadership skills.

• Encouraging Service orientedleadership

The assumption is leaders shouldadopt servant leadership stylerather than being powerleadership. If there is no rotationof leadership, the leaders mighthave chance to practice powerleadership in people’sorganisation and this would leadto change in the philosophy ofpeople’s organisation.

• Space for second line leaders

The growth phase of the leadersin people’s organisation is verycrucial and it should have agradual increase. Leaders of onephase should be given higherresponsibilities after their goodperformance in their previousrole. This gives way for creationof second line leadership forsustaining people’s organisationsfor generations.

*N. Shanthi Maduresan, Chief Executive Officer & T. Narendran, Executive, INFOS

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Events

• Growth phases of peopleleaders

Development of more and moreleaders in people’s organisationwould lead committed leaders toplay an advisory role for thebetterment of the organisation byway of guiding, mentoring,inspiring, and grooming secondline leaders without anyhesitation.

• Democratic approach

In order to help in creatingdemocratic approach in people’sorganisations, leaders should berotated once in two or three years.This would lead members tohave a good relationship withevery leader who is chosen andto take decisions by consensus.

• Reducing dominance

If the leadership term for theparticular organisation is long,there may be a chance for theleaders to act as a dominant

person in the organisation andthis would affect the groupdynamics. This also would createconducive environment with lotof frustrations and aggression andto the rise of inter group tensionand conflict.

Points to remember:

• Identification of eligible leadersand second line leaders should bedone from the beginning.

• Facilitation to select the leadersshould be a simultaneous.Concern Executive should be asource of inspiration andmotivation to leaders.

• Perspective among all the leadersshould be built according to thevision of their organisation.

• There must be role clarity of theoffice bearers and other directorsof the people’s organisation.

• Appreciation of leaders bypositioning them in Mahasabha

and in other institutional eventsis found to have positive impact.

• Programme implementationthrough leaders or byconsultation with leadersespecially for evolving productsand programmes gives goodresults.

• Phase/age wise training forleaders by the executives forgood governance. This should betreated as first priority foreffective governance.

• Leaders among the membersbecome a role model forpracticing good values andadhering to norms of theorganisation.

• Team building should beencouraged among leaders andwithin organisation. Working inteams with staff and concernexecutive will result in goodclarity among leaders.

Retreat for leaders of community institutionsT. Narendran*

*T. Narendran is Executive, Indian Network of Federations of Microfinance Self Help Groups (INFOS)

Background

The Self-Help Group (SHG)movement which began in the mid1980s, has now gained tremendousmomentum across the country. Overthe years, the concept of SHGfederations has proved its success inmany ways. In India, there are manygovernmental and non-governmental

organisations implementing poverty-reduction programmes throughpromotion of SHG federations. Theremarkable growth of the SHGmovement in India has brought manyconcerns and challenges to the fore.Sustainability of the SHG federationsin the present scenario is a seriousconcern. Many factors contribute tothe issue of sustainability and the

factor which imparts more is thegovernance. Growth and sustainabilityof these people’s organisation isgreatly influenced by the peopleleaders, good governance process, andthe practices in place. Purposerealisation by leaders on governanceis very important but the opportunitiesfor leaders to come together forreflecting on their self and growth

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process are limited. Mechanisms suchas training programmes and othercapacity building programmes willonly help in building their skill,knowledge, and competency onparticular activities. To make leadersplay an anchoring role in setting theinstitutional agenda and directions forthe future growth, differentmechanisms need to be carried outperiodically for self renewal.

An introduction to leaders’ retreat

Keeping this in view, IndianNetwork of Federations ofMicrofinance Self Help Groups(INFOS), a network of SHGFederations at the national level whichstrives to strengthen the self-helpmovement across the country,believes that there should be a forumfor leaders of SHG federations tocome together to reflect on their self,their practices, and their belief andvalues system in order to facilitate co-learning among leaders and to buildsynergy for the leaders to go back withfresh energy for the future growth oftheir SHG federations. TheLeadership Retreat is a forum to share

experiences, reflections, lessons,achievements, challenges, andfrustrations. This platform helps toclarify the practices, derive inspirationfrom others, and offer an opportunityto build the organisation’s culture.

For leaders to play an effectiverole, SWOT analyses andenvironment and organisationalappraisals should be carried outperiodically. This continuous processof self-renewal is called a leadersretreat. Towards this pursuit, INFOShas committed to organise retreatsperiodically for women leaders of theSHG Federations. Organising theseretreats for leaders would help instrengthening their federations and toensure the growth with quality.

Leaders’ retreat for communityinstitutions

In this backdrop, INFOS took theinitiative to bring together the womenleaders of SHG Federations across thecountry in the “First Leaders’ Retreatfor Community Institutions”. Thisretreat was organised on September 28and 29, 2007 at Thamukkam Grounds,Madurai. The leaders retreat was

organised as a part of MaduraiSymposium, 2007 hosted by DHANFoundation, a founder of the INFOSNetwork.

Objectives of the leaders retreat

The first leaders’ retreat wasorganised with the objective toprovide a platform for the leaders toreflect on good governance processand practices, to share their growthprocess, and to evolve a code ofconduct for leaders.

• Experience Sharing: Sharing ofexperience and reflection byleaders on their values,achievements, contributions,motivation factors, constraints,challenges faced, and facilitationenvironment for the growth oftheir federations that they couldfeel and observe in their growthprocess.

• Evolving Code of Conduct forLeaders: The code of conductfor leaders is a set of guidelinesdrafted to govern the conduct ofleaders intended to sustain andadhere to the basic principles ofdemocracy, social justice,equality, human rights, and goodgovernance.

Women leaders who have madesignificant achievements andcontribution for the growth of theirSHG federations from across thecountry participated in the retreat.Leaders from more than 120 SHGFederations from nine statesparticipated in the retreat.

Retreat highlights

Community leaders from differentstates participated in the leaders’

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retreat. Experts in the field of SHGFederations and communityleadership development enriched theretreat process through their speechesand inputs for the growth ofcommunity leaders. They stressed thatproducing more leaders is moreimportant than taking a leadership rolefor many years. The session was livelybecause the participants from differentstates shared their views and ideas andenriched the discussion on leadershipthrough their contribution. There wascultural dance by school girls whichhighlighted all qualities that a leadershould posses to lead a groupefficiently. Thereafter, there was amime show by students of Tata-DhanAcademy, Madurai, whichdemonstrated the leaders’ role in agroup. The sub-group discussionfocused on the importance ofleadership and on different styles andapproaches in leadership. Leadersparticipated with full enthusiasm andexcitement. Finally the outcomes ofthese discussions were summarized,

and a code of conduct of communityleadership was declared in all theregional languages.

Code of Conduct ofCommunity Leaders

Community leaders shall meanthe women leaders of the SHGs andtheir federations. The Code ofConduct of community leaders is aset of guidelines laid down to governthe conduct of leaders intended tosustain and adhere to the basicprinciples of democracy, socialjustice, equality, human rights, andgood governance. It will enableleaders to respond and contribute tothe issue of sustainability of thepeople’s institutions and to makethem play an anchoring role in settinginstitutional agenda and directions forthe further growth of the peopleinstitution.

Selection:

• Real potential members shallonly be selected as leaders.

• Aptitude, personality, andmotivations of the leaders to bechecked.

• Leaders shall have good clarity onthe purpose of the federation.

• Screening process for selection ofleaders shall be practiced at alllevels.

• Selection of leaders shall be in ademocratic way.

Characters and competencies

• Sharing responsibilities

• Organizing community

• Role model for members in termsof honesty, sincerity, and self-regulation

• Good negotiation and networkingskill

• Ability to face challenges andovercoming the challenges

• Self-confidence

• Managing and working withpeople

• Enabling others

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• Encourage democratic practiceand values in the federation

• Effective governance practice

• Counselling skills

• Emotional maturity

• Social concern and confidence incollective action

Leadership Development:

• Space, freedom for leaders ateach level shall be utilizedeffectively.

• Leaders shall participate in all themeetings and events like AnnualGeneral Body Meeting &Executive Committee (AGBM& EC) meetings and prompt inperforming their duties, roles andresponsibilities.

• Leaders shall support andencourage members in thefederations and be a workinggroup member of the federationto take the role of explaining thepurpose to their members.

• Leaders shall relate withgovernment officials, bankers,and others for the developmentof the members of the federation.

Rotation of leadership:

• Leaders shall be mentallyprepared to accept and practicethe rotation of leadership at alllevels once in two years.

• Leaders, after their two-yearperiod, shall become advisors tothe federation and guide the newleaders by spending time withthem.

• Federation’s role in leadershipdevelopment:

• Federation shall provide equalspace and opportunity forbuilding leadership qualitiesamong the members.

• Federation shall identify onlypotential leaders for theExecutive Committee.

• Federation shall actively involvein building the capacity of theleaders through trainingprogrammes and exposure visits

• Federation shall practice rotationof leadership.

• Federation shall collaborate withrelated institutions like banksand Government agencies forbuilding the competencies of theleaders.

• Federation shall organise retreatfor leaders for leaders for theirself-growth and development

• Federation shall seek help andsupport from networks likeINFOS for sharing andexchanging of knowledge andskills for their leaders.

Leaders’ should avoid:

• Leaders shall not discourageothers

• Leader shall not have biasness

• Leader shall not take decisionsindividually.

• Leader shall not expect a salary,honorarium, or fees for theirservices to their federation.

• Leaders shall not functionwithout ownership, involvement,and commitment.

• Leaders shall not participate inparty based politics.

• Leaders shall not dominateothers.

• Leaders shall not disobey thenorms of the federation.

• Leaders shall not hesitate toparticipate in training eventsorganised by the federation.

• Leaders shall not mishandle themoney.

• Leaders shall not induce negativeattitude among the member.

• Leaders shall not have acomplaining nature.

• Leaders shall not give preferenceto their relatives.

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Voice from grassroots

*Hanumanthappa M. Belagumbi is Regional Coordinator, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India.

Village Education Resource Centres in JevargiHanumanthappa M. Belagumbi*

Introduction:

Jevargi is located in Gulburgadistrict which lies in the northern partof Karnataka. Gulburga is the secondlargest district of the state. The officialrecord says Jevargi is the formar ChiefMinister (CM) Mr. Dharam Singh’sconstitution, where he was elected 9times. Even though it is a CM’sconstituency, it comes 174th place inKarnataka i.e. last and least developedtaluk in the state and country. The totalgeographical area of the district is16,224 sq. km. with 1,378 villages. Ofthis, only 1,295 are inhabited. Peopleleft those villages owing to severefloods and vagaries of monsoon. Thetotal population of the district is 12.66lakhs. The population density is 159people per sq. km. Jevargi lies towardssouth of the district head quarters and650 km. from its state capital. Thisblock has 33 Gram Panchayats with145 revenue villages with 33,834households and a total population of1,88,707. It consists of 26.6% ofScheduled Caste (37,840) andScheduled Tribe (12,370) population.

Education Scenario of Jevargi:

Jevargi’s male literacy rate is32.85% and female literacy rate is17.09%. It has only 78 Higher PrimarySchools (HPS), 111 Lower PrimarySchools (LPS), 12 Secondary schools,Two Junior Colleges, a degree college,a polytechnic college, and a ITIscattered in 146 villages. This clearlyindicates that not all villages have alower primary school. For pursuingeducation after school level in Jevargiis a Herculean task. The qualities ofthese educational institutions arequestionable. As Jevargi is one of themost backward taluks of the countryeducationally, Karnataka Governmentformed a High Power Committeefor Redressal of RegionalImbalance in 2002. This committeeranked Jevargi as 174st among 175taluks of the state.

Vishwa Jyothi Mahila KalanjiaOkkutta:

Vishwa Jyothi Mahila Okkutta isa women Self Help Group (SHG)federation, registered under trust act

in 2005. Thefederation has 4,025members organizedinto 250 groups whichin turn are formed as10 clusters.

The educationscenario is in a pitiablecondition. Childrenare not assured of goodeducation whichwould shape the future

society. Hence the federation thoughtof an education programme forKalanjiam (SHG) members and theirchildren. For this, the federationstarted collecting data of preschoolchildren. In that process, they receiveda message from the villagers that threechildren died due to road accidentwhen their parents (SHG members)went to work. This forced thefederation to think about opening aneducation resource centre at villagelevel. The centre would do Child careand provide preschool education.

In the subsequent meetingsfederation directors and clusterleaders discussed about the VillageEducation Resource Centre (VERC)with members and finalized theobjectives of the centre. The centrewould provide the following:

• Child care: Since theGovernment child care centresare not functioning well, childrenare found wandering here andthere. VERC should be achildren friendly child carecentres which also provide thepre-school education.

• Literacy: The centre would bea place to educate the villagersespecially Kalanjiam members.As a result they would be able toread and write, at least to maketheir signatures.

• Mobile library: The federationdecided to open library in thecentre to inculcate reading habits.The number of school studentsand elders who are making useof the library is increasing.

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Volunteers have startedcollecting old books and otherreading materials from donors.

• Camp for dropout schoolchildren: School dropout is themajor problem in these villages.Federation took a decision toreduce school dropouts byorganizing camp for suchchildren.

Members were very happy aboutthe plans of the centre. Mobilizing theteachers, training for teachers andcentre opening was a big challenge forthe federation. After brainstormingamong leaders and professionals ofDHAN, it was decided to join handswith likeminded NGO called AksharaFoundation.

Collaboration with AksharaFoundation:

Akshara Foundation is an NGOwhich is working on educationprogrammes in Karnataka. They arealso working in Gulburga district. Thefederation’s interest to improve theeducation led them to discuss theirdesire and goals with AksharaFoundation. The committeecomprising leaders and professionalsof DHAN Foundation met AksharaFoundation and finalized thecollaboration.

Akshara Foundation is aBangalore-based public charitabletrust with the mission to ensure thatevery child is in school and learningwell. It was established in the year2000 and has a range of programmesthat provide multiple solutions foruniversalizing elementary education.Preschool (Balwadi programme) aresetup in communities and aremanaged by local volunteers. Theyprovide an atmosphere of joyfullearning for 4 to 6 year olds and

socialize the role of education incommunities. Akshara Foundationhelps to establish libraries in schools.

Akshara Foundation came forwardto support the federation by trainingthe teachers and providing assets likegames, reading materials, andfurniture to a value of Rs. 3,500 percentre. Likewise the federationselected 30 centres and 30 teachers.Akshara Foundation gave a one-weektraining to the teachers about how torun the centres. Some centres arelocated in cluster offices, some inleased rooms, and a few in theteacher’s residence itself.

Village Education Resource Centres(VERCs):

In 2007, the federation identified30 villages for VERC to beestablished. The selected 30 teacherswere given a week-long residentialtraining. Motivation was given toteachers, federation staff, identifiedchildren, and their parents. Parentswere asked to pay a nominal fee ofRs. 15 – 20 per student, which is theremuneration for the teacher. Now,750 children are benefited from the

centres and the fee is increasing.Parents are happy to see their childrensinging, dancing, and reciting thealphabets. All 30 centres arefunctioning well and producingpositive changes among the enrolledchildren.

Mobile library:

The mobile libraries set with thehelp of Akshara Foundation in theVERCs encourage and sustain areading habit among children and ruralpeople. The libraries open upchildren’s minds to world beyond theirown and are a key factor in facilitatingthe learning process. The librarieshave a vibrant and enthusiasticmember base. Each library has a broadspectrum of topics to address children.Libraries expose children to resourcepeople who train them in elementaryscience and general knowledgethrough plays and stories. Theyregister their names by paying ajoining fee of Rs.5 and take book fora stipulated period of time. There is acollection of more than 1,000 booksin these centres. The reading habit hasincreased among children and elders.

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Camp for dropout school children:

The federation conducted a campfor the school dropouts in Jevargilocation in collaboration with AksharaFoundation and Sarva Siksha Abhyan(SSA). It was a ten-day camp wherechildren are drastically changed andthe camp created a platform to changethe attitude of the dropout and theyrejoined the respective schools.

Literacy:

The VERC in villages not onlyeducate the children but also teaches

the illiterate Kalanjiam (SHG)members from the basic like alphabetsand numbers. They are taught to readand write. This makes them moreindependent, self confident andvigilant in their day to day activities.

Outcome of the programme:

• Identified 30 VERCs and ateacher for each centre.

• Federation created a platform ofgrooming the selected teachers.

• The teachers are getting someremuneration

• Each community got a resourcecentre at village level.

• Children are safe in the centreand they are given with basiceducation.

• Parents (members) are veryhappy to see their childrenlearning many things in thecentre and have increasedreading habits by using thelibrary.

• It is a win-win proposition whichmakes both parents (members)and children happy; teachers getwork satisfaction andremuneration for their efforts.

Setback:

Teachers are working hard and itis reflected in the performance of theenrolled children and parents arehappy. In reality the teachers get anincome of Rs.300-500 per month.There is no assured salary to theteacher. In some months, a teachermight not be paid due to people’sattitude.

This paper presents an overviewof the present state of affairs in

the micro insurance sector from theperspectives of clients, providers, andsupporters. The growing demand formicro insurance can be explained interms of looking for new copingmechanisms to deal with stress riskevents.

People living with poverty,throughout the ages, have developedmechanisms to deal with the risksaffecting their lives. Poverty could beeradicated in a planned period ifmicrofinance activities are up scaledand micro insurance was allowed toplay a major role. This could bepossible only with the active

involvement of decision makers inGovernment, microfinanceinstitutions, non-governmentalorganizations, banking and commercialinsurance providers. Insuranceservices to the poor give a helping handand compliment the role of savings andcredit to address poverty and resultsin a synergistic effect.

Social Security

Need for Developing Micro Insurance in IndiaDr. R Jagannathan*

* Dr. R Jagannathan is Programme Officer, Tata–Dhan Academy, Madurai.

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The rural poor households becomevulnerable due to failure of steadyincome; failure in employability dueto various external and internalfactors; and heavy spending duringspecial occasions in the family due todeath, birth, marriage, ceremonies andfestivals. Poverty could also resultfrom transient phenomena and suddenshocks such as crop failure anduntimely death. The most importantand common shocks with the urbanpoor are concerned with floods. Cropsare often sensitive to weatherconditions and livestock to diseases,including endemics.

Risk transfer instruments such asinsurance and pension schemes can beblended with other preventive andloss reduction programmes to evolveholistic risk managementprogrammes. Though the principle ininsurance is the same, the risks workout quite differently.

In short, the growing demand formicro insurance can be explained interms of looking for new copingmechanisms to deal with high stressrisk events. The role micro insurancecan play in developing suchmechanisms conceptually also defineits role in development. But that roleactually extends further followingbasic economic logic. If people shieldoff risks, then they could borrow morefor investment purposes, andultimately create more jobs and wealthin their communities.

In that way, insurance has its owneconomic acceleration function aswell. The experience of the mutualinsurance sector indicates a sequencein financial needs. People generallystart with developing safe places to puttheir savings. After a while, they startborrowing, which increases theirliquidity and may lead to further

investments in income earningfacilities.

Micro insurance and microfinance

The success of microfinance isattributed in two ways.Institutionalized microfinance createsa more secure savings environment.It creates a financial leverage bybringing in outside capital to borrow.Poor already have access to credit butoften at high costs of capital. Theinstitutionalization of low-incomecredit delivery has created greateraccess to capital at lower cost. Mostmicrofinance institutions havebecome involved in various forms ofinsurance as well. The most wide-spread is loan insurance. If a borrowerdies, her family does not have to repaythe outstanding loan. The cost of thisinsurance is paid by a small fee at thetime of taking the loan.

The other major product is lifeinsurance. When a client dies, herfamily gets a small amount from themicrofinance institution. Premium ispaid with a special service charge orless demanding from anadministrative point of view, bypaying the claims out of the grossprofit of the microfinance operations.

Both the products can beintegrated with the loan administrationand the insurance is directly linkedwith loan provision. Insuranceprovides an added coping mechanismto better deal with risk events, to beserviced efficiently and effectively,insurance provision must beaffordable, simple, timely, andrelevant to their specific risks.

Life mutuals / crop mutuals

People Mutuals was established asa separate entity in 2003 with theprime objective of providing socialsecurity to the poor to protect them

from various social security schemesof Government and insurancecompanies.

There were no insurance companyproducts providing life cover after 60years of age. Whole life solutions wereevolved and implemented by Gangaiand Theni federations of Self HelpGroups (SHGs). Payment is made bythe contribution of people up to 60 or65 years, providing cover all alongtheir life time. Kadamalai KalanjiaVattara Sangam (Kadamalaigundufederation) and Vaigai VattaraKalanjiam are running similarprogrammes covering people withoutany age restrictions.

Health Mutuals

Kadamalaigundu Federation ispioneering with community healthinsurance providing health cover forthe entire family. The cover providedis primary health care to tertiary healthcare. The contribution collected fromthe people was Rs.7,56,500 andbenefits received by the peopleamount to Rs.67,000. Steps have beeninitiated to promote the HealthMutuals programme in the Kalanjiamfederations of Bodinayakkanur,Chiannamnur, Peiryakulam andVathalagundu and Theni TankFederations during 2007-08.

Crop mutuals

In the Thirumangalam location ofRainfed Farming DevelopmentTheme, the rainfall indexed cropinsurance product of ICICI-Lombardinsurance company was experimentedfor two years. The experience showedthat the farmers were unable to get theinsurance claims even though therewas deficit rainfall and crop loss dueto the reckoning of rainfall receivedat IMD station at Madurai airport forloss assessment. Since the IMDstation is about 30 km away form the

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project villages, the rainfall recordedat the station did not represent therainfall of the villages resulting in animproper basis for indemnificationaffecting the farmers. Moreover, thefarmers in the area were experiencinga major risk of incidence for red hairycaterpillar pest attack for the crops likecotton and black gram and theyexpected solutions for this problem.No insurance provider is prepared tocover this risk of pest attack. Toovercome these problems, theThirumangalam farmers evolvedmutual solutions by installing raingauges at the project villages to coverthe weather risk and designedprogramme forms covering the pestattack risk. During the year, 277farmers were covered under thesemutual solutions. The contributionpaid by the people was Rs.34,230 andthe benefit paid to the member isRs.33,505. The benefits were paidwithin 30 days of the end of the cropseason.

Mutual Health Insurance (KalanjiamProduct)

In respect of special features of theMutual Health Insurance (Kalanjiamproduct) it is worthy to mention thatthe product is available for people ofall ages; benefits include a lowpremium and full family coverage,both of which indicate and emphasizethe Kalanjiam’s goal of betterment ofthe whole family.

It is concluded from the analysisthat the agent-partnership model isappropriate to replicate the “Theni”model of “Universal HealthInsurance”, where the region can havepartnership with a National insurancecompany. This is the only productwhich has the coverage of primaryhealth treatments and it is available atvery low cost which is affordable tothe poor. The product covers the

health care primary expenses and isalso helpful for them with the familysize of five. The monitoring ofprimary care process at outsidehospitals is very different which islikely to increase the administrativecost. In that case, it is better to avoidreferral clinics for primary health care.The federation provides primaryhealth care treatment through theclinic at the federation office itself.

It is recommended that thefederation should form amemorandum of understanding withthe insurance provider and healthcareproviders for mutual understandingand timely support. Hence mutualunderstanding and trust with them isvery important. Further, exposurevisits and training programmes to thefederation staffs will be very usefulto implement the product successfully.Exposure should focus on accounting,processes of getting claim,reimbursement, monitoring and otheradministration processes, which areessential in implementing theprogramme smoothly. It is alsorequired that the federation shouldform a committee to administer theprocess of the insurance policy. Eachand every discussion related to thehealth insurance policy should betaken with the knowledge andapproval of that committee.

In this model, the federation notonly established a network ofhospitals, it also negotiated with themfor concessions on various treatmentsand even for cashless primary healthcare. The members would paypremiums directly to the federationand avail health care andreimbursement of claims fromnetwork hospitals. The networkhospitals may also extend theirservices in terms of cashless access tohealth care including disbursement of

medicines at network hospitals. Themajor advantage of this model is thatthere is independence to design theproduct in such a way that premiumand health insurance coverage can beminimized or limited to include themajor and common exclusionsascertained by formal insuranceproviders like maternity allowance,wage loss compensation and travelallowances.

A prominent partner agent modelis the second model which is an idealone at present. It is possible inpartnership with insurance providerslike National Insurance Company(NIC) or New India AssuranceCompany. These both publicinsurance entities offer a BPL productcalled “universal health insurance”.This product was introduced by thecentral government three years ago.Since NIC has been working as apartner with DHAN Foundation inTheni district of Tamil Nadu, it is easyto have a better understanding with it.This product best fits to the membersneeds as they demand family coveragerather than individual.

The capacity of Kalanjiams tohandle any kind of insuranceprogramme in addition to the othertwo elements of microfinance(savings and credit) has been provedbeyond doubt. Now the federation hasrealized the need of covering thehealth risks of members, as theexpenses in health issues is a majorsource of income drain andindebtedness.

The mighty members areenvisioned to launch a pensionproduct and a mutual health insuranceprogramme in the coming days, as thefeedback system and participatorydesign have allowed the people tomanage this on their own.

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Social Security

Micro Insurance with the Marine communities- Relevance and importance of micro insurance in disaster prone coastal areas

K.N. Raj Kumar*

*K.N. Raj Kumar is Senior Project Executive, DHAN Foundation, Madurai.

1.0 Background

The Indian subcontinent is highlyprone to disasters due to its geo-climatic conditions. About 60% of thelandmass is prone to earthquakes ofvarious intensities; over 40 millionhectares are prone to floods; about 8%of the total area is prone to cyclonesand 68% of the area is susceptible todrought. In the decade 1990-2000, anaverage of about 4300 people lost theirlives and about 30 million peoplewere affected by disasters every year.At the beginning of the 21st Centurythe life loss due to disaster hadincreased by six times. The massiveearthquake in Gujarat and the Tsunamidisaster in 2004 caused huge damage.The frequencies of such disasters arefound to be increasing in the last twodecades.

2.0 Coastal Areas and Vulnerability

Coastal areas are prone to naturalhazards such as storm surges, tidalwaves, cyclones, floods, epidemicsand tsunamis. The coastal communitybelonging to different sectors bore thebrunt of such hazards and aresubjected to loss of lives, livelihoodsand habitats. In addition, the hazardsalso destabilise the natural resourceswhich the coastal community dependupon for their livelihood. The 2004,tsunami devastated the life andlivelihoods of the coastal community.The disaster caused a huge loss to thefamilies involved in fishing andfarming livelihoods. The floods

followed by tsunami indicated theincreased number of vulnerabilities inthe coastal areas.

The impact of climate change willbe beyond visualisation in the coastalareas. The climate change might resultin increased accelerated erosion alongthe coasts and in river mouths;increased salinization; and changes inthe physical characteristics of tidalrivers. The impact on life andlivelihoods are certain.

3.0 Existing Coping Mechanism

In the present context, people havetheir own mechanism to managedisaster situations. Unfortunatelythese mechanisms are not planned,and are based on reactions tosituations. As a result, the loss to theindividual and family in the form ofassets and life is found to be increasingduring the past two decades. Toovercome these losses people dependon government and charityinstitutions. In most situations, theirlosses are only partially recovered.

4.0 Need for Micro Insurance

The situation is alarming and rightnow we need to think on two majorfocus areas: reducing the impact ofdisasters and ensuring social securityfor the poor and vulnerable section ofthe community. As coastal areas arehighly prone to natural disasters, thenecessity for diversified insuranceproducts becomes very essential. Theproducts can be life, health, assets, and

livelihood. But these insuranceproducts are to be well designed sothat it fits the poor and vulnerablesection of the community.

5.0 Poor and Insurance

Poor people can experience greatfinancial disruption when unexpectedevents happen to them. If abreadwinner of the family falls ill ordies, the other members in the familybecome vulnerable and financiallyweak. The financially unstablesituation would force them get moneyfrom the lenders at usurious interestrates to meet their day to dayexpenses. This would be a great blowto the economy of the family. Thesituation might divert the victimfamily to the vicious circle of poverty.Even to meet the funeral expense ofthe dead member, the family mightrequire money!

Insurance is the only source toavoid such risks to the affectedfamilies. By insuring the lives andlivelihood assets, poor and vulnerablefamilies will be able to overcome thechallenges before them.

6.0 Building Awareness on Insurance

Building awareness is an essentialprocess, only by which the concept ofmicro insurance would reach thecommunity effectively. But still theawareness on micro insurance is foundto be very poor in coastal areas. Thereal development comes through theexpansion of choices to the

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community. Only by buildingawareness people will gain knowledgeon various insurance products. All theadult groups, aged above 18, shouldbe trained on importance andavailability of various insuranceschemes. While focusing on adultgroups, importance can be given forthe local community leaders. Thecommunity should be oriented onconsequences of disaster and impactat the family level. Innovativemethods of training and orientationcan be adopted to introduce andestablish the concept of microinsurance among the community. Theawareness methods can be local likestreet plays, awareness during publicmeetings; and awareness through localcable channels.

7.0 Micro Insurance and sectoralrelevance

7.1 Fishing Community

The fishing livelihood is prone tonatural disasters. Among the fishingcommunity the most vulnerable arethe traditional fisherfolks. From thebird’s eye view, one can easilyunderstand the settlement pattern:poor families are settled in the lowlying areas where the probability ofdamage due to high tide and flood isvery high. The traditional fisherfolks,generally the poorest, live very closeto the seashore. These families livein huts and semipucca houses. In thecase of high tide and cyclone, thereare more chances of loss due todamage. Damage to their craft andother fishing equipment affects theircash flow and can even affect thechildren education and nutrition.

To overcome such situationsfisherfolks living in the coastalvillages require life and assetinsurance to prevent loss against thedisasters. These insurance productsare essential since the cost of

livelihood assets is very high. Theaffected family would getcompensated for the loss through theinsurance packages; the moneycompensated can serve as a tool forregulating the cash flow.

7.2 Agriculture Sector

The agriculture fields in thetsunami affected coastal areas areprone to poor productivity due to soilsalinity and sea water intrusion. Themost vulnerable are the poor andmarginal families having bits andpiece of lands in the coastal area. Afterthe tsunami there was a severe floodin 2005 which washed out the cropsat the harvesting stage. Many peoplelost their livestock, which is a vitalincome source. Any loss due todisaster and poor productivity wouldforce these families to a morevulnerable situation. The presentsituation is highly challenging tocontinue the livelihood activities.

The vulnerability of farmingfamilies can only be reduced throughthe introduction of life and cropinsurances. The first one wouldsupport the marginal families tostabilise financially and the secondone would support the family to meetthe livelihood loss. The livestockinsurance should be introducedintensively, and insurance should bethe first expense for the dairy farmingfamilies. Similarly, crop insurance canalso be introduced.

8.0 Need for Livelihood Focus

In most of the practitionersperception, organisation includingGovernment is focusing on lifeinsurance rather livelihood. The focuson asset insurance like housinginsurance and livestock insurance hasbeen very poor. As such there is astrong need for user friendly assetinsurance. These schemes can be

designed to fit for the poor andvulnerable section of the community.These products can be designed toimplement through the SHG or peopleinstitutions of all forms, so that itreaches the lowest strata of the societyeffectively.

9.0 Gender and Insurance

Women are the primebeneficiaries of the insuranceproducts. When a male bread winneris a male and if he dies, all theresponsibilities of the family mightfall on women. Women will be in aposition to feed the family membersand educate them. The compensationgained from the insurance companywill only be the major relief for her tomanage her family needs and establishthe livelihood activities. The amountgained would be short term cushionfor the affected families to stabilisethe family conditions. The affectedfamilies will be in a position to lead adignified life in the society.

10. DHAN’s Interventions

After the tsunami disaster in thecoastal area, DHAN introduced threemajor insurance products in coastalvillages: life, health and livestockinsurance. These products wereintroduced at various times afterinculcating the habit of insurance. Inthe first phase, DHAN introduced lifeinsurance among the coastalcommunity; in the second phase,DHAN introduced asset and healthinsurance. During the first phase, theconcept of micro insurance and itsimportance was seeded among thecommunity. As the life insuranceproduct is simple and affordable forthe poor and vulnerable section of thecommunity, it was introduced in thefirst phase. The time gap between thefirst phase and the second phase wasto enable the community to realise theimportance of insurance products.

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10.1 Life Insurance

DHAN introduced the lifeinsurance scheme in the coastal areato ensure the insurance benefits for thepoor families in disaster prone areas.Before introducing the product,DHAN organised intensive trainingand orientation events for the SHGmembers and community leaders onconsequences of disaster at familylevel and insurance products. Streetplays were also organised to buildawareness on insurance products.After sufficient orientation andtraining, the SHG members wereenrolled in the Janashree Bima Yojnaand Birla Sun Life insurance schemes.These life insurance schemes areavailable, accessible and affordable forthe poor families in coastal villages.As on March 2008, 34,482 familieswere covered through the groupinsurance scheme. So far more than70 insurance claims were madeagainst the death of members and theywere compensated. In addition tomembers, their spouses were alsoenrolled in the insurance scheme.

As a subsidiary benefit ofinsurance products, the SHG memberswere also supported for educatingtheir children through scholarships. Ason March 2008, 3800 students havereceived scholarships for continuingtheir education. A sum of Rs. 31.50lakhs has been distributed asscholarship.

10.2 Livestock Insurance

DHAN Foundation made a policydecision to insure all the animalspromoted through the SHGs as onMarch 2008 more than 2000 livestockintroduced in the coastal area wereinsured. DHAN negotiated with theinsurance companies through itssubsidiary development institution,

called People Mutuals, to affordlivestock insurance product for thetsunami affected people in the coastalareas. Decisions were made to reducethe paperwork and simplify the claimsprocess. DHAN organised intensiveorientation to the community onclaims procedures and importance ofinsurance. As on date more than 100claims were made and poor peoplewere compensated for the loss oflivestock.

10.3 Health Insurance

DHAN introduced healthinsurance among the coastalcommunity to facilitate cashlessmedical treatment for the poorfamilies. The coastal areas of TamilNadu are prone to water bornediseases and epidemics. The poorfamilies depend upon daily wages orincome to run their family. In theabsence of income due to sickness,these poor families will not be able toaccess quality health services. Cashrequirement at the time ofhospitalisation would be more critical.

To enable the community to accessquality and cashless health servicesDHAN enrolled 2,100 poor familiesin health insurance schemes. As theinsurance scheme is applicable for allthe members in the family a total of10,000 people were reached throughthe intervention. A sum of Rs. 30,000worth of hospitalisation expenses canbe covered through the insurancescheme. All these families enrolledwill be able to handle criticalsituations.

10.4 Insurance products atPanchayat level

DHAN has ensured theavailability of insurance products toall the SHG members organised intogroups. The immediate next levelfocus has been to ensure such productsall the poor and ultra poor families in

the coastal villages through Panchayatinstitutions. To implement theenvisaged plan DHAN has organisedorientation and training for the electedrepresentatives at the Panchayat level.In the near future all the localPanchayats will be serving as a nodalagency for insurance products and allthe poor families will be coveredunder the social security scheme.

10.5 Other Insurance Products

DHAN Foundation is planning tointroduce asset insurance products andcrop insurance products in the coastalareas with the major focus on smalland marginal families. The traditionalfisherfolks will be supported to insuretheir boats and houses to observe theshocks. The small farmers involved inrainfed farming will be supported andguided for the crop insurance. It isnotable that the crop insurance hasalready been introduced in otherlocations promoted by DHAN.

10.6 Conclusion

The concept of micro insuranceshould be implemented at the macrolevel for the benefit for poor familiesliving in disaster prone areas. Themicro insurance products should bedeveloped to support and strengthenthe livelihood activities. Diversifiedinsurance products should be madeavailable and it has to suit the context.The insurance products promotedmust have minimum paperwork andit should not be complicated. Theseproducts should be user friendly. Theawareness on availability of variousinsurance products should reach thecommunity effectively. Thegovernment has to play key role indeveloping and experimenting withinsurance products and shouldfacilitate a ground for a secured life.

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Memoirs: Descriptive memoiris a basic document which

contains the design data and technicalparticulars of irrigation tanks. Thisdocument is generally prepared by thePublic Works / Irrigation Department.It contains the hydrologic features ofthe tank, location and design detailsof the tank structures and their levelswith respect to Mean Sea Level or aStandard Bench Mark. It describeswhere-from the tank receives its watersupply and where-to the surplus waterflows. It depicts the catchment area,water spread area and command area(ayacut) of the tank. It also containsthe particulars like number and silllevels of sluice outlets and crest levelof the surplus weir of the tank.

There are two categories ofmemoirs.a. Approved Memoirs – These are

the memoirs of tanks containingthe basic data and design featurescollected from the field, verified,counter-checked and approvedby the competent authority. Theymay be in printed or inmanuscript form.

b. Draft Memoirs – These are thememoirs of tanks which areprepared and kept in therespective offices for scrutinyand approval by the respectivecompetent authority. Steps haveto be taken for their verificationand to get them approved.

Practitioner’s Diary

Compilation of descriptive tank memoirs inAdilabad District

Prof. C.R. Shunmugham and Er. A. Gurunathan*

Significance of Memoirs:Memoirs are very importantdocuments containing the technicalparticulars that were collected duringthe investigations, survey phases andused in the design and construction oftanks. Over a period of time, the tanksloose their original design capacitydue to various reasons such as weedinfestation, sedimentation andencroachments. Restoration of tanksto the design standards is the mostimportant factor while taking uprehabilitation activity. The memoirswill be the reference documentrequired during the rehabilitation oftanks. This document will provide thebasic data and specifications for anyfuture development or restoration ofthose tank systems. As majority ofthese tanks are situated in Godavaririver basin which is proposed to bedeveloped intensively, thecompilation of the detailed memoirsgains great importance.

Project Objectives: The projectobjective is to collect and compiledescriptive tank memoirs for all theminor irrigation tanks existing inAdilabad district. The memoirs arecompiled each mandal-wise andgrouped revenue division wise.

Methodology: Followingmethodology is adopted to completethe project within the specific timeframe.

a. Preparation of a comprehensiveformat for memoirs

b. Convening workshops withengineers & other officials ofconcerned departments.

c. Collection of memoir particularsfrom respective departments inthe format

d. Scrutiny of the memoirparticulars received andidentification of missing data.

e. Verification with Tank CascadeAtlas

f. Collection of missing data in thememoirs received, from detailedestimates of those tanks andother available records.

g. Cross verification of relevantparticulars with village recordsand reconciliation of differencesif any

h. Ground verification of 10 percentof tanks with reference tomemoir particulars

An inception workshop, a midterm review workshop and a finalreview workshop were convened withthe officials of concerned departmentslike Irrigation Branch (IB), SpecialMinor Irrigation (Spl. MI), PanchayatRaj (PR), Mandal Officers, Surveyand Land Records Officials, RevenueDivisional Officers and ForestOfficials.

* Prof. C.R. Shunmugham is Program Advisor, Vayalagam (Tank) Foundation, Madurai andEr. Gurunathan is Chief Executive, Vayalagam (Tank) Foundation, Madurai.

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These three workshops wereorganized at Utnoor as per thedirection of District Collector underthe Chairmanship of Sri Saurabh Gaur,Project Officer of ITDA. These werewell attended by the various officialsfrom Superintending Engineers,Revenue Divisional Officers,Executive Engineers (EE), DeputyEEs, AEEs, District Survey Officersand the others.

At the first introductory workshop,the importance and need for thedescriptive memoirs were explainedto the participants by the ProjectOfficer of ITDA & the ProgrammeOfficer of DHAN Foundation, assome of the younger generations ofengineers were not quite conversantwith this document. However thesenior engineers were aware of themand welcomed the efforts to compilethe memoirs. At this meeting, the 40column descriptive memoir formatprepared by the DHAN team wasshared with all the participants andtheir comments and concurrence toadopt it were invited. The format wasthen discussed in detail and thenfinalized with the consensus of all theparticipants. The officials were thenrequested to trace their old records,take copies of the available particularsof all irrigation tanks in theirjurisdiction and send them to DHANteam for compilation.

Collection of memoirs fromrespective departments: At thesecond workshop organized byDHAN Foundation and chaired by theProject Officer, ITDA, Utnoor, adetailed review was taken up on theprogress made in the collection andtransmission of the relevantparticulars for all tanks from theengineer’s in-charge of the IrrigationBranch (IB), Special MI and PR

departments. Some participantsreported that they could not trace outthe particulars required, while theothers were able to hand over thosevaluable particulars to DHAN staffwhen they visited their offices.

DHAN Foundation teams visitedthe offices of IB, Spl MI and PRdepartments for data collection. As perthe initial information, Adilabaddistrict had about 1,800 tanks. As pertank cascade atlas, the number of thetanks was 1,877. These were founddispersed in 52 Mandals of the district.As per the data collectedsubsequently, the number was foundto be 2,033. The differences betweenthe various records were found to bedue to some tanks becoming obsoleteor extinct and some having beenformed later and not entered in thetank atlas or in the records availablein either irrigation or revenuedepartments. Initially DHAN teamcollected the list of tanks division-wise from each department. Duringthis process, it was observed thatmemoirs were prepared severaldecades back for a very few tanks inthe district. The team collected suchold approved memoirs from theconcerned authorities and found someof them in a damaged condition and

some only in partly legible form. Withconsiderable patience, the teamthoroughly verified them andcompiled the particulars. Where nomemoirs were available, the teamstudied the available estimates forthose tanks, and prepared the memoirsto the extent possible from theparticulars available in the detailedestimates and the reportsaccompanying them.

The team also collectedGovernment of India topo-sheets withscale 1:50000 for the entire Adilabaddistrict. They also gathered theavailable cadastral maps to identify thetanks and survey numbers from therevenue records. In many of theestimate copies and memoirs, thesurvey numbers of the tank and theextent of water spread area were foundmissing. But these details are verymuch needed in memoirs. Hence, theteam visited Mandal offices, met theTahsildars and collected revenueparticulars of tanks within theirrespective jurisdiction. It was thennoticed that the particulars madeavailable by irrigation and revenuerecords were not matching. Hence, theteam could not get the accurate detailsfor all the tanks.

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During the data collection process,it was found that neither the memoirsnor any estimate copies were availablefor PR tanks in Adilabad district. Withintensive efforts at the differentoffices, the team could collect theminimum details like tank name,village, survey number; water spreadarea and the extent of land in theayacut.

It was expected that the districtadministration would make availablethe memoir copies / particulars toDHAN Foundation’s team inconsultation with the concerneddifferent divisions and departments inthe district. However, the teams wentto various offices, searched all the oldfiles and records for gathering therequired tank related technicalparticulars. The collected informationwas incorporated in the 40 columnformat with appropriate conversionsfrom FPS to MKS (metric) system.

Verification with Cascade Atlas:DHAN Foundation had on an earlieroccasion prepared a Tank CascadeAtlas during 2002-2003 for Adilabaddistrict with the financial support ofthe District Administration and ITDA,Utnoor. All the 1,877 tanks weredemarcated in the atlas. So the team

referred the particulars available in theatlas for compilation of memoirs. Thefinal list of tanks each department anddivision – wise was arrived aftercomparing the list provided byrespective departments and theparticulars available in the atlas. Theteam could then get details of tankswhich are not in the atlas from thedifferent irrigation branch offices. Theadministrative particulars like tankname, revenue village, longitude,latitude and mandal and cascadelinkage details (source of water flowto the tank, to which tank surpluses,cascade name and code) were takenfrom the atlas.

Collection of missing data:During the data collection process, itwas observed that the data receivedfrom some offices are scanty. Someof the memoir details provided bydepartmental officials containedadditional information than 40 columnformat. After entering the particularscollected in the prescribed 40 –column descriptive tank memoirformat, it was found that there werestill some data required to fill up theformat. Within the 40-column format,the number of columns filled variedbetween 6 and 35 for PR and irrigation

department tanks respectively. At thisstage the third workshop was heldwith all the concerned departmentalofficials wherein the progress madewas explained while reiterating theimportance of their greaterinvolvement to dig into the recordsavailable in their respective officesand provide the required data wasemphasised. It was clearly explainedto the officials concerned that thequality of the memoirs to be compiledwill depend entirely upon the accuracyof the particulars made available bythem.

The filled up memoirs were thenhanded over to the departmentsconcerned for their personalverification, additions and correctionsif any, and for filling up the gaps inthe memoir format by referring therecords mentioned above or throughtheir routine field inspections to thosetanks. The additional informationprovided and corrections made by thedepartments were then incorporatedin the draft.

Ground verification of tankswith reference to memoirparticulars: The compiled memoirsfrom the particulars obtained from thedifferent sources in the district werethen verified in the field. This gavethe team a clear picture whether thecompiled memoirs precisely reflectedthe ground particulars. Groundverification of particulars contained inthe memoirs was done on a samplebasis for 240 tanks selected at random.The team visited all the 52 Mandalsin the district, selected 10 percent oftotal number of tanks belonging to thethree departments existing in theMandal and physically verified themon the field. The team carried thecompiled memoir sheets for theselected tanks, survey instruments,

21

topo-sheets and cascade atlas to thefield for test verifying the accuracy ofthe data provided.

As a part of ground verification,the team scrutinized the details suchas tank name, location, measurementsof Full Tank Level (FTL) and TopBund Level (TBL), number and typesof sluices and their sill levels, lengthsof surplus weir and bund, and extentof ayacut and water spread areas. Fromlocal enquiry with villagers, datarelated to hydrological linkages, likewhere from the tank drew water andto where it surplused were obtainedand cross checked with memoirs. Theadditional information gatheredduring the ground verification processwas valuable and was included in thememoirs. Also the differences foundbetween the field and recorded datawere examined, reconciled andincorporated in the respective formats.

The team filled the missing datato the maximum extent possible fromthe particulars collected from differentsources such as Irrigation andRevenue Records, Cascade Atlas,topo-sheets and ground verification.

Cross verification of relevantparticulars: Manuscripts of memoirswere compared with typed copies.Double checking was done forminimizing errors, spelling mistakesand to bring uniformity in presentation

of relevant data.

Field Observations

1. Some of the tank names were notmatching with local names.

2. The level differences betweenFTL, TBL and Sill level ofsluices were tallying with thecompiled memoir particulars formany tanks. But, for some tanks– large variations were noticedfrom the general standards.

3. Variations were also noticed inthe ayacut areas of tanks as perrecords and field reality.

While the differences in the namesof tanks were reconciled by adding thelocal name to the recorded name, thevariations mentioned in theobservations 2 & 3 needs to beverified only by the departmentsconcerned.

Limitations:

1. The team visited all theconcerned offices for perusingold files and other records forcompilation of memoirs. It waspossible to do so, wherever thedepartments concernedcooperated and provided therequired data. The response fromthe departmental officials wasgood in some divisions while itleft much to be desired in few

others. The team had to visit thesame office four to five times tocollect the data. Thus, it took alot of time just to collect the datafrom the different offices.However ground verificationcould be done for 12 percent ofthe total number although theplan was to do so only for 10percent of the tanks.

2. The team could compile thememoirs based on the particularsmade available to it by therespective departments. Still,there is certain data missing andsome variations in the memoirscompiled. These could beresolved if only the concernedofficials spend some of theirvaluable time and work on thisissue, realizing its importanceand value.

3. There is a significant backlog inPR tanks as no memoirs wereavailable for them. The estimatecopies of PR tanks are also notavailable in the district. In suchcircumstances, even withpersistent efforts, the team couldcollect only the minimumparticulars for those tanks fromvarious sources. Thus the PRtank memoirs were compiledwith the limited data available.

4. There is a total 2033 tanks in thedistrict. Memoirs have beencompiled for 1306 tanks. Out ofthe remaining 727 tanks, 623belong to Asifabad PR divisionwhich has maximum shortfall.But, we have collected the entireadministrative particular for allthese 727 tanks. It will bepossible to compile the memoirsfor PR tanks only by employinga special Tank survey team.

22

Way forward:

1. Since two documents – CascadeAtlas and Memoir books areprepared; they would be mostuseful if one becomescomplementary to the other. Forthis to happen, a hyperlinkbetween the two documents hasto be established with relevantquery supportive software.

2. As memoirs are compiled, asystematic future action plan fortribal areas in Adilabad districtmay be prepared. The existingtraditional tanks can be restoredto their original design standardsby mobilizing funds. The

investment to be made for therehabilitation of the existingtanks will cost only a fraction ofthat required to develop newwater resources of equalmagnitude. Further, the favorablehydrology of the existing tanksis already proven and their ayacutareas are also already developed.A tank based watersheddevelopment programme whichwill improve the tank structuresas well as develop its catchmentarea simultaneously, will be idealto enhance the livelihood, foodsecurity and economy of thetribal community and thedevelopment of Godavari RiverBasin.

1. Introduction

Agricultural growth plays a vitalrole in reducing rural poverty. Thecontinuous reduction in size ofholdings, decline in area undercultivation due to non-agriculturalsectors and water scarcity, reducedinvestment in agriculture,overexploitation of ground water,deterioration of the irrigation tanks,agricultural labour scarcity, inadequatepost harvest and storage infrastructurecould largely affect agriculturalgrowth. Water use efficiency in mostof our surface irrigation projects isabysmally low as compared to thedeveloped countries. Therefore,methods which improve water useefficiency should be adopted.Singampuneri is a block of Sivagangai

district where the terrain is undulated.The block is occupied with numerousirrigation tanks. The block area comesunder Pambar basin and the groundwater level is very low (under watertable condition). The types ofabstracting structures are dug wellsand dug-cum bore wells and borewells. The depth of the water tablevaries from 3.60 to 7.52 m duringwinter and from 6.30 to 10.76m duringsummer.

2. Relevance of tank fed agriculture

Tanks are the lifelines for agrariancommunities. There are 4,800 tanksin Sivagangai district, tank intensifieddistricts in Tamil Nadu next to thePudukottai district. The major portionof the district is rainfed lands where

minor irrigation tanks are the majorsource of irrigation. The district hasthe highest number of tanks andagriculture is the major livelihood ofthe population which depends directlyon the water availability in the tanks.Hence it is imperative to give utmostimportance in conserving thesetraditional structures. The block has570 Minor irrigation rain fed tanks and24 PWD tanks present in 30Panchayat villages. Most of the tanksare minor irrigation rain fed tanks andtheir performance is poor due to lowrainfall and improper care on tankmanagement. It causes drasticreduction in cropping area and cropproduction. Total area under the cropin Singampuneri is 5,246 ha. The netsown area in the block is 5,246 ha

Twilight in Farmer’s Livelihoods(A Unique Development Interventions in Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu)

G. Kannan*

*G. Kannan is a Senior Project Executive, Singampuneri Tank Vayalagam Federation.

Livelihoods

Conclusion:

DHAN team scrutinized andverified the compiled memoirs to thebest of its ability before bringing outthe final draft. This intensive workwould not have been possible but forthe enthusiasm, inspiration andencouragement given by the ProjectOfficer, Sri Saurabh Gaur all along.Andhra Pradesh Government hastaken up the Andhra PradeshCommunity Based Tank ManagementProject (APCBTMP) on a massivescale in the State. It is envisaged thatthis Memoir document, would serveas a useful reference document for therestoration of the tanks in Adilabaddistrict in a systematic manner.

23

which accounts to 23 % of the totalgeographical area, which is below thenational, state and the districtstandards.

Though the block is having manytanks, nearly 96% of the tanks arerainfed and non system tanks (doesn’thave linkage with perennial riversystem). Those tanks’ performance isdirectly proportional to the monsoonrainfall of the block. Rainfall isirregular, it is very scarce and scantymany times and flooding few times.Farmers and their livelihoods areaffected in both the situations.Consequently, most of the farmers areat the verge of dropping theagriculture. Ironically, almost 40percent (25,797) of the population aretank fed who depend on tank as theonly base for the livelihood option. Itis much higher than the districtaverage. On a whole Singampuneriblock is being affected either by thedrought or the flood. Since drought iscommon, people decided not to relyon agriculture and moved for industrybased occupations. On the other handflood makes life miserable as it resultsin loss of assets and livelihoods.

3. ITC–DHAN partnered Tankbased Watershed and Livelihooddevelopment

The collaboration is first of its kindin Sivagangai district where acorporate and voluntary organisationhas come forward for conservation anddevelopment of small scale waterbodies like tanks, Ooranies, ponds,etc. M/s ITC Rural DevelopmentTrust under its corporate socialresponsibility approached DHANFoundation for partnership in itsVayalagam tank fed agriculturedevelopment programme. M/s ITCRural Development Trust (RDT)came forward to work with DHANFoundation in Singampuneri block ofSivagangai as DHAN is operatingsince the year 2000. The partnershipgot realised by undergoing thefollowing stages.

1. Field visit to understand theVayalagam model and tank basedwatersheds.

2. Open ended meeting to explorepossibilities of collaboration.

3. Mutual trust building and sharingthe feeling of each partners.

4. Invitation of proposal andsubmission of proposal

5. Sanctioning of proposal andsigning Memorandum ofUnderstanding

6. Kick of meeting at Singampuneriby the District Collector

7. Periodic field visit andobservations to strengthen thesystem

8. Flexibility to the need of peoplethan adopting strict procedures

Mission Sunekarakal (whichmeans “Bright Future) is the brandITC postulated for positioning itscorporate social responsibilities. Theproject partnership got materialisedwith the mutual understanding thatITC – RDT will be providing theproject financial assistance andDHAN will play key role in projectimplementation. Project duration isthree years starting from April 2005to March 2008. The ITC – DHANcollaborative tank based watershedand livelihood development project isa new model of sustainabledevelopment initiatives undertaken inSingampuneri block of Sivagangaidistrict with a total outlay of Rs.100lakhs. The project was launched onJune 14th 2005 by Mr. Anand RaoVishnu Patil, IAS, the SivagangaDistrict Collector and Mr. LigiGeorge, the CII Vice President ofMadurai Zone, who felicitated thefunction. The over all objectives of theproject is to enhance the economicdevelopment and improvement ofsocio economic condition of theresource poor rural peoples throughparticipatory rehabilitation andmanagement of natural small scalewater bodies i.e. tanks, Ooranies etc.and uplifting the agriculture.

24

4. Project Achievement status

4.1 Built Community BasedOrganisation

As a unique project model, eachand every project activity wasimplemented by the promoted peopleinstitutions. People institutions calledVayalagams were promoted byorganizing respective users ofparticular water body such as tanks,Oorani and channels / streams.Promoted tank / Oorani Vayalagamfalling within a hydrological boundaryare clubbed as tank cascadeVayalagam. The tank cascadeVayalagam manages all the waterbodies and plays key role in watersharing, conflict resolving, tankdevelopment and agriculturedevelopment in a holistic approach. Inorder to coordinate the projectactivities at block level, blockfederation (Singampuneri BlockVayalagam Federation) has beenpromoted. It is a registered trust andit takes the role of project planning,organising and monitors thedevelopment activities with theapproach of sustainability and selfmanagement. There are about 70water users associations (Vayalagam),five chain of tanks association(Cascade Vayalagam) and onefederation has been promoted throughthe project by covering 2444 farmingfamilies as its members. All thepromoted Vayalagams are widespreadthroughout the block in 34 villages.The federation provided criticalservices to its members for povertyreduction through participatoryconservation and developmentapproach. The major renderedservices are micro finance and farmcredit, drinking water security,conservation of water bodies,improved tank fed agriculture, microinsurance (life, crop and livestock)

and other livelihood developmentincluding income generation activitieson self help approaches. All thepromoted institutions have the routineregular meeting on monthly basis andgeneral body meeting half year basis.They consider it as core forum todeliberate and make decisions onholistic development. As it iscommunity based organisations, thepeople they themselves manage dayto day affairs as well as transactionswith the consultation of blockfederation and techno managerialteam of the project implementation.

Table No. 1: Community organisation

In order to sustain the projectactivity of conservation anddevelopment of water bodies,endowment based corpus has beencreated at people institutions.Endowment based corpus has beengiven from the project at 1:1 ratio(project and people) and the entireamount was deposited as fixeddeposits at nationalized banks. So that

the interest earnings from the depositscan be used for regular maintenancesand make people institutionssustainable. Restorations of naturalresources gave better results andfulfilled the expectation of the poorpeople. Therefore there was anoverwhelming response from thecommunity in terms of contributing tothe project. Here the peoplethemselves contributed minimum 25percent of the total cost either by cash,kind and labour. Assets were createdfor the community as well as for theindividuals. Tank, Oorani, communitywell, etc were community assets and

farm ponds were the individualassets.

4.2 Drinking water Oorani

Oorani is a drinking waterpond that is the major source ofdrinking and cooking in manyvillages of Singampuneri block.Creating and developingdrinking water Oorani is onesuch basic infrastructuralcommunity asset that ensureswater for human drinking. Ooranidepends on rainwater to get filledbut rainfall pattern is erratic.There is an urge of storing thewater whenever it is available.Due to poor performance of theexisting structures most of therain water go waste as surplus.On the other hand, people walkthrough several kilometers to

fetch water for minimum six months(water scarce period). We renovated10 Ooranis and 2813 families gotbenefited out of the venture. Severalrehabilitation measures were taken upby the project viz., creating newstructures, clearing supply channelsand inlet construction to regulatewater inflow, desilting Oorani bed toincrease storage capacity, construction

People Institutions Numbers

Tank users association(Kanmoi Vayalagam)

70

Drinking water Ooraniassociation (OoraniVayalagam)

9

Dry land farmersassociation (ManavariVayalagam)

3

Vayalagam micro financegroups (MFG)

55

Primary producers group(PPG)

3

Cascade association(Cascade Vayalagam)

5

Covered tank commandarea

2241.31ha.

Covered dry land area 735 ha.

25

of approach steps to easy water accessand provision of outer fencing tosecure quality with safe drinking.

4.3 Community well

As most of the irrigation tanks arein rainfed condition and the rain fallis erratic, the command area farmerscould not decide to go for anagricultural operation or not. Manytimes the tank water is insufficient toirrigate entire command area tillharvesting stage. The tail end farmersare the most affected during the waterscarce period. Due to the shortage ofone or two irrigation at the later stagethe crop gets affected and there arepossibilities of yield reduction andcrop failure. So community wells arebeing constructed in tank commandarea to tap up ground water as lifesaving irrigation source. Usuallycommunity wells are constructed withthe dimension of 7m dia. and 10mdepth to the estimated cost ofRs.2,00,000 per well. So far sevencommunity wells were constructednewly and two community wellsrevived. The groundwater table weobserved in the community wellsvaries from 5m to 8m from the aboveground level.

4.4 Farm pond

Farm ponds are the individualassets created at rainfed lands mainlyto harvest the rain water from thecatchment. Rainfed cultivationinvolves lot of risks and monsoonrainfall determines the production andproductivity. Water harvestingstructures like farm ponds arenecessary to safeguard the crop. Mostof the farm ponds are constructed atthe low line of particular rainfed landacross the slope and/or adjacent to thestream or the channel. The harvestedrainwater is being utilized to save life

of the raised crop when the crop needswater. Farm ponds were designedbased on the size of the landholdingsand water requirements of the crop atthe worst conditions. The farmers arealso using the farm ponds for fishculture as an additional activity to getsupplementary source of income.Depending upon the water holding orfilling capacity, farmers select thecrops such as paddy, groundnut,floriculture, vegetables andhorticulture plantations.

4.5 Environmental protection -Foreshore and avenueplantation

There were certain initiatives forprotecting the environment andsafeguarding the bio mass by takingup tree plantation. With the supportof revenue department, the tankforeshore area and the water courseboundaries were marked byundertaking a survey. Along theboundaries of water bodies such astank, pond, Oorani and otherwatercourses (supply and surpluschannels) plantations have been takenup under the project with intensifiedcommunity partnership. Postmanagement of planted saplings isbeing done by the respective waterusers association (Vayalagam).

Moreover, the village porambokelands were identified with thecollaboration of respective panchayatpresidents and taken up agro forestryand horticulture plantations. Thepanchayat presidents realized thenecessary of tree plantation and shownhigher level of interest for theinitiative and post management. Thetargeted individuals were also takenup horticulture plantation in their ownrainfed and garden land with the aimof promoting orchards. The plantswould give income to the villagersafter the gestation period.

5. Sub Sectoral contribution

As the project focus is tank basedwatershed and livelihooddevelopment it has contributed toalmost all the sub sectors that playsvital role in rural poor especially inSingampuneri block. The coveredmain sub sectors are agriculture,drinking water, animal husbandry,horticulture, inland fishing, wageemployment, micro enterprises, andso on.

5.1. Agricultural development

As agriculture is the prime sourceof livelihood in rural people ofSingampuneri, the project focusedmuch on the agricultural sub sectorwith respect to crop production. Hencetank fed agriculture shares largerportion, tank fed farming has beentaken as core intervention. The maininterventions are increasing irrigablearea under tank by increasingfunctional efficiency of the tanksystems, provision of supplementaryirrigation sources at the critical stageof crop production, bringing back theirrigable barren land into thecultivation by removal of Prospisjuliflora jungle, timely initiation ofagricultural operation by distributingof quality seeds at right time, organicfarming practices, reducing cost ofcultivation by producing and applyingorganic manures (vermicompost,green manures, enriched farm yardmanures and coir based manures) andmotivating farmers to stick on toagriculture by conducting cropproduction contest and best farmersaward.

5.2. Access to drinking water

Second most contribution is todrinking water. Many villages in

26

Singampuneri block of Sivagangaidistrict do not have sufficient sourceof water for human and cattle drinking.The quality of prevailing groundwateris not fit for drinking purpose. In manyplaces the groundwater is saline.There is no other alternative to meetthe requirements of the whole villagewhen they loose the surface water. Theproject aimed to cover water security.There are 10 nos. of drinking waterOoranis renovated to the originalstandards and two drinking Ooranieswere newly created. By value addingthe existing and created new Ooranies,around 37,000 m3 volume of drinkingwater has been additionally providedby the project to the 10 villages.Totally 2,813 families got assuredaccess to drinking water.

5.3. Micro finance

ITC – DHAN partnered tankbased watershed and livelihooddevelopment project also provided anample opportunity to promotemicrofinance groups among thedifferent segments of the poorcommunity especially the tankfarmers, rainfed farmers and landlesspeople. Irrespective of sex,homogeneous characterized 15 – 20members groups were promoted totake up saving and thrift activities.They availed credit for different

livelihood development activitiesfrom various financial institutions. Asmost of the micro finance groups’members belong to marginal farmingand landless category, they could meettheir consumption and other financialrequirements from the group withlesser rate of interest. Many of themhave come out from the clutches ofmoneylenders.

Right now all the eligible microfinance groups are availing creditsupport from the KDFS (KalanjiamDevelopment Financial Services),project revolving fund and block levelfederation as a major source. Thenationalized commercial banks are yetto be linked with the micro financegroups.

5.4. Livestock development

The project also paved a platformto the targeted communities bypromoting micro people institutionsand distributing revolving fund for thelivelihood development. As most ofthem are engaged in small scalefarming and agriculture based wageearning, almost all have the habit oflivestock rearing as subsidiaryoccupation. Here the members ofpromoted Vayalagam and theVayalagam micro finance groupsreceived loan assistance to purchase

livestock (goat, sheep, cow, buffaloand calf) as per their repaymentcapacity. Repaid loan amount is beingrotated among the group members.People have availed loan from themicro finance group and otherfinancial institutions along with theirown contribution and purchased cattle.Livestock were insured under ofGeneral Insurance Company.

5.5. Inland fish culture

When the desilted ponds andcreated farm ponds gets filled and thewater stagnated from 4 months to 10months, people have started inlandfish culture. Though tank water ismeant for irrigation, fish rearing wasinitiated in ponds. The investmentswere borne collectively by theassociation. Except two farm ponds(washed away by the heavy flood) allof them have realized the net returnfrom two to three times of theirinvestments.

5.6. Micro Insurance

Risk is obvious for the farmerswho are involved in agricultureoperations. In rural area, peopledepend on their land, health and cattlefor their livelihoods. All the threedepends heavily on monsoon andnature. Hence life, cattle and crops arebeing insured under the mainstreamschemes. Crop is being insured underthe scheme of Under NationalAgricultural Insurance Company, lifeinsured under the scheme of LIC’sJana Shree Bima Yojana.

5.7. Dry land horticulture

Dry land horticulture is one of thecoping mechanisms to mitigatecontiguous drought. As Singampuneriblock have good potential forhorticulture plantation in terms of soilfertility and groundwater table, ITC –

27

DHAN Tank based watershed andlivelihood development project havesupported the dry land farmers andmotivated to undertake dry landhorticulture and orchard development.Different saplings viz. Sapota, mango,lemon, guava, amla, jack,pomegranate, ber, jamun, tamarind,etc were distributed to the individualfarmers based on their preference andsoil topography. There are about 638families being benefited in tenvillages by raising 127 acres of dryland horticulture. Individual membershave contributed 25 percent cash and10 percent as labour mode. Moreoverall the post plantation maintenance isdone by the respective individuals.

5.8. Employment generation

Cumulative indebtedness is adefining characteristic of the landlessfamilies. The cycle begins with loantaken from landlords andmoneylenders to buy food grains inlean season. In order to repay theseloans, these families mortgage theirlabours. Since they have no bargainingpower, the contractors underpay them.Even if they own some land thesefamilies are forced to sell off theirproduce immediately after the harvestat meager price to repay the loan andhence they are forced to take anotherloan during lean season. Ultimatelythe landless men are forced to migratein search of wage employment andwomen from the marginal and smallfarming family remain tied to theirlandholdings. In that situation, thistank based watershed and livelihooddevelopment project created anopportunity to get wage laboring attheir village itself. All the segmentedlabours (skilled, semiskilled andunskilled) got equal opportunity andmobilized wage income based on theirskills.

5.9. Micro enterprises

As the scope was wide for vermicompost production the projectmotivated women groups, farmers’interest groups, etc. to establish atleast one unit in each village to meetthe demand. Demonstration andtraining were conducted to educate thefarmers on vermi compost productiontechnology and to empower them totake up their own production. Thisresulted with piloting in two villageswith 35 farmers and it expanded toanother two villages with 77 familiesbased on the earlier learning. Therequired inputs were supplied tolayout demonstrations at the rate ofRs.1,500/- each and Rs.1,000/- perfarmer were provided as loanassistance to meet the incidentalcharges. Though it was started with anintension to sell, people realized theimportance of organic farming andapplied in their crops. They endedwith profit at both fronts – betterharvest and increased income from thebusiness.

5.10. Farmers’ capacity building

To provide latest technologicaldevelopment on farming, marketingand to facilitate decision makingfarmers training programme wereconducted regularly on need basis(season wise). Some observationfarmers were selected in interveningvillages and proven low costtechnologies were transferred to thevillage through them. New approacheslike profitable cropping pattern, soilhealth care, integrated pestmanagement, quality input productionand management, precision modefarming, micro irrigation techniques,post harvest, storage, marketing,technologies disseminated to thefarmers. Apart from the agriculture

training, there were other trainingprogrammes for enhancing capacityand skill building.

5.11 Disaster management – floodand drought

Singampuneri block receivesrainfall of more than 115 mm per dayin some freak rainy days. Such rainsresults in breaching of tanks and rivercourses which results in damages tothe natural resources such as tanks,water courses, connective roads,agricultural lands, crops householdsand livelihoods. Those flood damageswere mitigated from the project alongwith the join hands of Novib,Neatherlands, Government andpeople on their own. Project seedmoney was given to the affectedcommunity to go for alternative crop.Flood damaged houses werereconstructed with the financialassistance of Novib. There are about20 houses were rebuilt with Rs.20,000each. Likewise, during the year 2005,the entire block was affected by severedrought. None of the tank got filledand entire command area was keptideal as wasteland. In that condition,the Novib assisted through DHANFoundation with grant of Rs.1,00,000to create farm ponds to cope up withthe drought.

6. Other initiatives

6.1. Crop production contest

Crop production competitionswere conducted at the block level tomotivate the farmers to achievehighest productivity by adopting theadvanced scientific techniques incrops like paddy, groundnut, cholam,cumbu, green gram and black gram.There were about 200 farmers whoenrolled under the context and theywere regularly monitored for the

28

entire cropping season by theagricultural experts. A five membertechnical committee was set up toevaluate the farmer’s performance and28 farmers were selected underdifferent categories to avail the award.To make the cash award mostpractically usable to the farmer’sdifferent agricultural implements weregiven as awards to the farmers.

6.2. Experience sharing

Experience sharing events wereorganised for the stockholders at twostreams among the community andamong agencies. Farmers and ruralcommunity, academicians,researchers, bankers, heads ofgovernment line departments, fundingagencies, corporate like ITC,voluntary organisation, civicinstitutions and local governmentelected people functionariesparticipated in the event. It gaveawareness to various developmentagencies and people in the othersectors about the project. Moreoverthese events provided space for thejoint deliberations on workingtogether on holistic development withrespect to land, water and livelihoods.The private sector’s (ITC) concerntowards social development wasappreciated by all the stockholders.On the other hand this joint gatheringof all the beneficiaries has builtsolidarity and strong confidence onpeople participatory development.

7. Project response

7.1. People participation andcontribution

The project right from itslaunching had an overhaulingresponse from the farmers ofSingampuneri which is evident fromtheir participation and contribution to

the project as cash and kind towardsthe various activities of the project.Since DHAN started its Vayalagamprogramme in Singampuneri block inthe year 2000, more emphasis wasgiven to people centered small scalewater resources conservation.Institutions promoted around eachsuch water body was concept seededhence the project was well receivedby the peoples and has beenimplemented as per the annual plan.The only set back was contiguousdrought and flood damaged the naturalresources with huge loss. Manypeople participatory developmentworks were executed prior to theproject had created awareness andimpact among the community due towhich the project was well received.People contributed around 21.0 lakhsfrom their part. Contribution ratiovaried from 25 percent to 50 percentof its total cost. The project had someimmediate benefits which werevisible and some are long termbenefits which will be seen over theyears. Majority of the impacts haddirect influence on the farmer’seconomy.

7.2. Taping up tank resources

Most of the water conservationactivities are undertaken tanks arecontrolled and managed by thePanchayat union and villagepanchayats. Generally the waterbodies and water courses are thesource for the village panchayat. Themajor usufructs from the tanks are tanksilt, wood, tree produces and fishes.All the listed usufruct sources arepermanent and it doesn’t require anykind of investment except protection.Though the tanks have huge potentialto yield income at regular intervals,almost all the financial resources aregoing to the local bodies especially the

Gram panchayat and the panchayatunion. It is surprised that, not evensingle rupees is being utilised for therehabilitation and management ofwater bodies. On the other hand, entiremoney is used for the other purposeslike, panchayat administration, streetlight, local roads, etc.

ITC – DHAN Tank basedwatershed and livelihooddevelopment project targeted to tap upthe tank resources along with thefarmers contributions. Intensiveefforts have been taken in certainpanchayat villages where the projectactivities are well rooted. There wereformal and informal agreementsbetween the Vayalagam institutionsand the panchayat in sharing theincome from the tanks. Income sharedbased on the size of the water body,farmers involved in farming activitiesand possible income sources. Thesharing ratio between the Vayalagaminstitutions and panchayat were variedfrom 1:1 to 1:0 respectively.Vayalagam institutions are using theshared usufructs income for tanksystem development and corpuscreation for future maintenances.

8. Way forward

ITC and DHAN partnered Tankbased watershed and livelihooddevelopment project paved strongbase shown clear model for the naturalresource management and livelihooddevelopment. Though it is valuableinitiatives of corporate socialresponsibility, still there are miles togo in terms of sustainability of theinitiatives. It may not be possible withthe one to two partners and requiremulti partners to run it. There are fewmechanism have listed to realize theincremental benefit of such wonderfulinitiatives.

29

• Poverty and development are thecomplex phenomenon. Povertyreduction and developmentinitiatives like water restoration,organic farming, surface andgroundwater management are thecontinuous and permanentfeatures; it needs to beapproached in longerperspective. Therefore thedevelopment projects related tothe watershed management needto be implemented withminimum 10 years perspective.

• As development is dynamicprocess and needs are changingfrom time to time, certainflexibility need to be allowedinstead of sticking on to the strictregulations and targets. We couldachieve much vibrancy under thepresent ITC-DHAN Tank basedwatershed and livelihooddevelopment project because ofneed based allocation from thepartners and quick response fromthe community.

• There are larger demand andpotential for the farm creditlinkages within the project areawhere the micro finance groupsare in function. But we aresurprised that none of thepromoted micro finance groupsavailed loan assistance from thenationalised banks. Therefore,those groups are getting supportfrom the KalanjiamDevelopmental FinancialServices (KDFS), non bankingcompany promoted by DHANFoundation. Still the banker hasto have wider perspective intaping the needs for the farmcredit from these groups.

• As ITC limited, a corporate madea better platform by supporting

initial support, the districtadministration can think ofholistic development through thepeople based organisation incollaborating with differentschemes and projects. Few suchschemes are NREGP (NationalRural Employment GuaranteeProgramme), NWDPRA(National WatershedDevelopment Programme forRainfed Areas) and SGRY(Sornajayanthi Gram RojkarYojana). Hence the tank userassociations are strong at grassroots training and social auditingfor the NREGP can be the viableone.

• Tamil Nadu water resourceorganisation and Government ofTamil Nadu can implementIrrigation AgricultureModernisation and Water-BodiesRestoration and Management(IAMWARM) project with thejoin hands of promoted wateruser associations (Vayalagam) incommunity management ofwater bodies in real time.

• Memorandum of understandingcan be signed between theSingampuneri Block VayalagamFederation and Farmers trainingcentre promoted by PunjabNational bank at Karaikundi withrespect to organising farmersneed based training programmes.

• As drinking water Oorani is themain source of human drinking,Rural InfrastructureDevelopment Fund ofNABARD and DWARD boardcan engage concern OoraniVayalagam or the federationhence DHAN Foundation is wellequipped developmentalorganisation provides technomanagerial assistance.

• In order to motivate thefederation in sustainable focus ofconservation and developmentactivities, grant mixed loan,philanthropic donations andcorpus fund can be madeavailable. NABARD’s VihasVoluntary Vahini (VVV - club)would be one such programmethat provides space forsustainable perspective.

Centre for Development CommunicationDHAN Foundation

18, Pillaiyar Koil Street, S.S. Colony, Madurai - 625 016. Tamil Nadu, INDIA

Tel.: +91 - 452 - 4353983, 2610794, 2610805 Fax: +91 - 452 - 2602247

Email: dhanfoundation_tn@airtelmail.in Website: http://www.dhan.org

Heritage Mutuality Building on

of

The rural communities express their sense of togetherness

towards their neighborhoods faced with bereavement in the

family, with emotional support and financial contribution in the

form of cash and kind, during and after the funeral rites.

ne of the unique characteristics of OI n d i a n s o c i e t i e s i s s o c i a l

interdependence. From birth to death, poeple

are deeply involved with others through a

closely knitted social fabric. Economic

activities, too, are intensely imbedded in a

social nexus. Various crucial horizontal

linkages connect each village with many others

and with urban areas both near and far.

With the principles drawn from such local

practices, which maintain these social fabrics

intact, the Peoples Organisations promoted by

DHAN Foundation are implementing

scientifically designed mutual insurance

solutions by themselves.

In daily life and at colourful festivals and

rituals, members of various groups provide

essential goods and services for one another.

Mutuality strengthens social security