Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation - New Delhi

What does the preceding discussion mean for India’s poor? It is pertinent to remember that the poorest and the most vulnerable in India are located in the rainfed areas of the country. And it is here that the maximum impact of both crises is felt. The central Indian tribal belt is almost entirely rainfed and home to three-fourths of India’s Adivasi population. Consider the following – only 22% of tribal landholdings are irrigated, and the share of tribal landholdings in the Gross Irrigated Area of the country is just 6.2%. Across all social groups, the human development index is the worst for the tribals.

Is there a way out of this? BRLF’s work with its civil society partners grapples centrally with this question and attempts to put in place an approach in its geography of work. In this vision of change, the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is crucial. Through proper planning and execution of water-related works under MGNREGA, livelihoods of the poorest in the country can be put on a sustainable footing while at the same time leading to favorable environmental outcomes in the form of local and global ecological services such as groundwater recharge, soil moisture retention, water conservation, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration. In all our partnerships with the state governments of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, it is precisely this power of MGNREGA which BRLF and its partners seek to leverage to change lives of the poorest while simultaneously restoring environmental health. Civil society partners work together with Gram Panchayats to create and implement MGNREGA plans for water conservation, erosion control, and groundwater recharge in these projects.

At the same time, the understanding that mere supply-side approaches will not be sufficient and that we need to look at the demand side also guides our interventions. An alternative approach to agriculture that uses less water and energy merits consideration. Hence our emphasis is on No Pesticide Agriculture. We seek to consolidate this approach in our agriculture programs, particularly with the Government of Odisha in our Agriculture Production Clusters program. At the same time, in our project supported by the European Union, we try upscale alternatives that promote clean energy and drinking water.

These projects are relatively large in scale. The Usharmukti program in West Bengal, for example, is spread across 55 blocks and the Odisha APC project across 40 upland tribal blocks of the state. The interventions have benefitted thousands of poor Adivasi households, lifting them from poverty. While doing so, the environment is regenerated, denuding catchments of rivers treated and the ecosystem’s health restored. These programs also served as a lifeline for the poor when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the economy.

The above examples show that it is possible to solve the challenges we face at scale if communities, civil society, and governments come together. If we are to truly absorb the lesson of co-dependence which the pandemic is holding out for us, we need to embark upon a plan of co-action, and that too very soon.