Once an accused, always an accused: how past decides the fate of a denotified tribe in Madhya Pradesh

Despite the efforts of the younger generation of a community with criminal hangover to make amends through education, police continue to use them for personal gains by implicating them in fabricated cases   Dewas, Madhya Pradesh: “We have hundreds of stories of police atrocity to tell, but if you go to the victims, they will not speak due to fear. Around 20 days ago, a boy from our caste [Jhala] bought a second-hand electronics item. On learning this, the police nabbed him and falsely accused him of stealing it from a truck. He was tortured to such an extent that his family had to sell their two bighas of land and hand over Rs 10 lakh. Once they got the money, he was released. No case was registered, no action followed.” The words of Satyanarayan Jhala (67), a former sarpanch of Chidawad in Tonk Khurd block of Dewas district, point to the caste-based injustice meted out to the Jhalas, mostly addressed by derogatory word ‘Kanjar’, in Madhya Pradesh. Crimes ‘orchestrated’ by Kanjar gangs are always in the news, as are some ‘infamous’ villages where people of this caste reside. Chidawad, Pipalrawan and Dhani Ghati are among these villages. According to Satyanarayan, only 10% of the people in his community commit crimes now and police have their complete information with them. Still, the remaining peaceful residents are harassed. He alleged that police were implicating poor people by working hand in hand with these known 10% criminals. They are mostly charged with illegal liquor possession and petty theft to extort money from their families. If money is not paid, they are threatened with more serious charges.Innocent people of this caste are also trapped when the police are unable to catch the real culprit. Cases are not registered most of the time and people are kept in illegal detention. If a case is registered, especially under 34(2) of the Madhya Pradesh Excise Act, then bail from the court can be obtained only after more than a month. “We formed a reform committee to fight this injustice and to keep an eye on criminals, but we were unsuccessful because the media and administration did not support us. The criminals and corrupt policemen did not allow the committee to work,” added Satyanarayan.The illegal extortion game of the police is not new here. “In 2000, a station house officer [SHO] of Tonk Khurd Police Station arrived in our village and ordered me to arrange a monthly pay-off. I refused, because I was struggling to raise my children. But the officer did not budge. He told me, ‘You are poor; steal, defraud or do whatever you can, I want Rs 10,000 per month’, and threatened to implicate me in a false case if I did not obey. Finally, they did implicate me in a false theft case,” Satyanarayan rued.He said he complained to the then-inspector general, Surjeet Singh, who promised action if his complaint was true. When the probe proved that the SHO had erred, the police put pressure on the petitioner in the presence of an additional superintendent of police to get the complaint withdrawn. Satyanarayan claimed that, unlike the previous generations, who were not averse to committing crimes, the younger ones are getting educated. Nevertheless, they are labelled criminals. “When I approach the police to help them out, the officers remind me that even one fish can make the pond dirty.”  “Their [police] point of view is that if one of us is in front of them, they should throw that person in jail and impose whatever sections of the Indian Penal Code [IPC] they want,” Narendra Goden (50) of Bairwakhedi told 101Reporters.Goden could not complete his LLB because he was implicated in a fabricated theft case. “In 2002, while returning from college one day, Tonk Khurd SHO Dilip Singh and team arrested me under IPC Sections 41, 102 and 379.”In their report, the police wrote that they saw Goden running in the dark from behind. “Now you tell me, how can a person be identified from behind, that too in the dark? I was in jail for a month, and had to spend Rs 3 lakh for legal purposes. The torture went on for two years. I was wrongly implicated out of enmity, because I was working for the betterment of my community. Though the court acquitted me later, I could not complete my studies,” detailed Goden, a farmer and livestock rearer.According to him, police always kept an eye on their personal belongings. “We had a Mahindra jeep, which the police wanted to snatch away. When we remained adamant, they tried to target us in the name of caste and made false cases with the help of criminals in the community. Police continuously violated the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 and right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution,” he added.Describing the police raids, Goden said 200 to 300 police personnel would enter the houses in the village at midnight to take away any man or youth in whatever condition they were at that time. Cases will be registered against them, and police will present fake witnesses in the court. These witnesses are the same brokers, informers and habitual criminals who deal regularly with policemen. “There are other respectable people in the village, including the sarpanch and secretary. Why not make them witnesses?” Goden wondered.Referring to a recent raid, Goden said, “In one dramatic raid, police ‘recovered’ stolen goods worth crores of rupees from this village, including 10 four-wheelers, many motorcycles and several other things. This way, they also confiscated our four-wheeler.”“Based on court orders, police later had to return every item seized, including our four-wheeler. The receipt of purchase of our Mahindra Scorpio was presented in court to get it back. But we could not produce the purchase bill of the motor pump that the police had confiscated. How can we provide the bill of a pump purchased 10 years ago?" Goden said, while showing the court order.Narrating another illegal arrest that haunted him, Goden said Madhavnagar town inspector arrested him on January 28, 2020, without any reason and kept him in illegal custody for three days. “While in custody, I kept thinking that I should be free, even if it came at the cost of selling my house or land. However, I secured release after my family gave a bribe of Rs 30,000. I have filed a complaint in the court, but the hearing has not yet begun. I want to know the reason for the police action.”A neighbour of Goden, Sumitra Jhala (46), gave an account of how her husband, Nathu Singh, was taken into illegal custody by Ujjain Police, but was released after bribing officers of Rs 30,000. “Police threatened to impose a heavy fine if we did not pay up. I run the house by selling milk, so I know how I arranged the money. We have to suffer if someone else errs,” she lamented. In 2021, Akhil Bharatiya Gihara Samaj Jagriti Parishad filed a petition seeking direction to the authorities not to use the derogatory word ‘Kanjar’ in the caste certificate of the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The petition said the community is known as Gihara.“Kanjar is a slur used by the British against the nomadic people who harassed them. The denotified castes continued to be called Kanjars even after Independence, and were treated the same way as before,” a senior official of the Anthropological Survey of India told 101Reporters on condition of anonymity.“It is believed that the roots of crime are deep in the denotified castes. They get involved in crime, but not always… The mainstream society and the police, who have treated them as criminals for a long time, are responsible for keeping them criminals,” said the official who has worked with such castes in Dewas. Two years ago, Chidawad-based Vicky Jhala (23), Ravindra Jhala (24) and three others were arrested in Operation Prahar, which media publicised as action in a Kanjar crime. Satyanarayan said he managed to release three of them from the police station without bribery. One of them, Ravindra, has become a lawyer. However, Vicky spent a month in jail. He is now out on bail. (Above) Vicky's mother who is mentally challenged (below) Vicky's house and the neighbouring women (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)The toll the arrest had taken on Vicky was evident when he got scared by our presence and hid in the toilet of the house. Despite repeated attempts to speak to him, Vicky refused to come out even after waiting for a long time. Vicky's parents are mentally disturbed.“He is an educated boy who does not indulge in theft or illegal activities. Police trapped him in an illicit liquor case and ruined his life… We sold our goats and buffalo calves to secure his bail. The high court hearing is still on. Police and lawyers are looting us. So far, we have spent Rs 35,000,” deplored Vicky's grandmother, Sampat Kumar (65).  Retired Central Industrial Security Force personnel Kiran Singh Jhala (72) of Tonk Kalan recalled how police picked up his son, a government teacher, while going for a court hearing in a land case. He was accused of possessing illicit liquor and was kept in police lockup for eight days. His release came about only after the police department was paid a bribe of Rs 60,000.“The case is going on. The day he is sentenced, he will lose his job. We appealed to the Collector and SP, but to no avail,” Kiran Singh said.Pappi Bai (47) of Pipalrawan narrated how two constables entered her house on March 21 and demanded that she hand over Rs 2 lakh. “They used to seek money from us every six months. However, this time, their eyes were on the harvested garlic. So they coolly demanded Rs 2 lakh. When I flatly refused, they threatened to register such a case against my husband that he would languish in jail for the rest of his life. They also beat me unconscious and set our house on fire, in which household items were damaged,” Bai said. Her husband, Inder (49,) is handicapped.Inder Singh showing marks of vandalism in his house in Piplarawan (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Ajay* (22) of Dhani Ghati operated an online customer service centre. One day, he was arrested from nearby Nevri village and booked under Section 34(2) for possessing illicit intoxicants. According to Ajay’s mother, the police forcefully made him sign a confession statement and sought Rs 5 lakh for his release.According to a research paper by Bhopal-based Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project, 34(2) cases are generally not granted bail by the magistrate and sessions court. Ajay was in jail for over a month before getting bail from the high court.  The same report also highlights how women from this community are disproportionately criminalised under the Excise Act. A recent survey on NT-DNT communities (Nomadic and Denotified Tribes) in several states shows the percentage of arrest and detention is very high among the Kanjar as compared to other communities. Data shows that out of 314 persons (13.8%) detained from the total 2,274 households surveyed, Kanjars make up the maximum percentage of 43.9%. In the public eye too, their reputation suffers at the hands of the mainstream media, which routinely brands the entire community as criminals. All this while these communities remain extremely marginalised, struggling with rampant poverty, illiteracy and disenfranchisement.  Thus, despite legal reform efforts, communities like these remain caught in a vicious cycle of stigma and surveillance, where perception, and not fact, determines their fate.*Name changed to protect privacyThis story was originally published as a part of Crime and Punishment project in collaboration with Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.Cover Photo - Representative image/ AI-generated using Canva

Curse of the canal: Seepage and waterlogging lay waste to agriculture in Rajasthan's Luni delta

In just under two decades, the Narmada Canal has turned large swathes of formerly rain-fed land at its tail-end saline and uncultivableJalore/Barmer, Rajasthan: Jagdish Kadwasra’s (52) fields are a sight to behold, with pink flamingos speckled over the 2.25-hectare (ha) wetland. But Kadwasra had to pay a huge price for this view. It was imposed upon him. The land once produced cumin, before it was submerged. “I am learning to find joy in the birds now,” he said.A picture of Jagdish Kadwasra’s field, which has turned into a wetland due to waterlogging. People now come here to see flamingo birds (Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Kadwasra is a resident of Sesawa village in Rajasthan’s Jalore district. More than 2000 ha of land in and around his village are slowly turning into a salt marsh. The canal network from the Narmada River, once welcomed by these villages as a lifeline, is now their biggest pain. “The canal started in 2008. We started cultivating wheat and mustard after that. Earlier, it was only cumin as it is rainfed and can take some brackish water too. But seepage from the canal led to waterlogging in our fields,” said Kadwasra, who owns 25 ha of land in the region. Drone image showing waterlogging near Sesawa village (Photo sourced by Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)In the nearby Agarawa village, Ganga Ram Chaudhary (70) also lost half of his 100-ha land to waterlogging. “Whenever excess water is released from Panuariya Sub-minor (the canal near his village), it fills our fields. This has been going on since 2012,” said Chaudhary. “Before the canal, people migrated due to drought; now they are migrating due to waterlogging and salinity,” he lamented.At 458 km, the Narmada canal network is the second longest in India and the largest by water carrying capacity. Jalore and Barmer districts in South-Western Rajasthan lie at the tail end of this network that became fully operational in 2008. But a combination of geological factors and flawed implementation of the irrigation scheme swept the area of its fertility.“The Narmada canal was considered a blessing for this arid belt. Who would have thought the land would be rendered barren in a few years only?” said Naveen Kumar, secretary of Parivartan, a non-profit working on drinking water and agriculture in the region.Sarpanch showing the accumulation of canal water in the Luni River (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Geological realityJalore’s Chitalwana block is called the Nehad region. Formed by many paleo channels (dead rivers) that were once tributaries of the Luni, the main river of the Thar desert, the low-lying region was once a delta. Over its 21-km stretch in the region before draining into Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, the Luni changed course several times, rendering the area sandy and marshy. Both Jalore and Barmer have saline groundwater aquifers and sub-soil salinity due to their proximity to the Rann. A layer of gypsum runs below the ground at a depth varying from 0.75 to 5 metres. Traditionally, rainwater conserved in small percolation wells (Beri) made above this gypsum layer is used for drinking.Water spread across several kilometers in the Luni River near Ahmadkot and Sankriya villages, released from the main canal (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)While people only engaged in rainfed farming before the Narmada canal network, after 2008, both Rabi and Kharif cropping started. According to a 2021 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the irrigated area under cultivation went up from 50,000 lakh ha to 2.5 lakh ha. People grew wheat, cumin, castor, mustard and Isabgol (psyllium husk) in the Rabi season, where only cumin grew earlier.The abundance, however, was short-lived. Excess water from the main Narmada canals is released in the minor canals whose designed capacity does not allow for such overflow. “Seepage from the canals also fills up nearby fields, resulting in waterlogging,” said Chaudhary. Jagdish Kadwasra showing the waterlogging (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)The subsoil salinity in the region is expressed in the fields due to waterlogging. “Stagnant water is poison for us. Fresh water from the canals percolates into our Beris and becomes saline. Gradually, the saline water comes up in the fields, rendering them barren. If the water keeps flowing, however, it will not turn saline,” said Govardhan Mali of Padardi village as he showed 101Reporters a layer of white salt deposited on a field that had been irrigated recently. A study by the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur says the pH of the soil in this region is between 7.7 to 9.5, indicating high salinity.While big farmers like Kadwasra and Chaudhary are either selling their land or giving it out on lease, marginal farmers whose land has already turned saline have no option but to take up manual labour for livelihood. “We can’t grow wheat anymore. If the situation persists, we will have to look for salt-tolerant crops,” said Kadwasra.“About 10,000 ha of land in 37 villages of Chitalwana, nearly one-fourth of the entire block, is affected by waterlogging and salinity. About 50,000 ha is slightly affected, but it will also be rendered completely infertile in the next 5-6 years,” said an engineer of the Narmada Canal Project in the neighbouring Sanchore block on condition of anonymity. Over 70,000 farmers stay in Chitalwana.“In Government records, these 10,000 ha are still shown as fertile,” said Mohan Bishnoi, a local journalist who has been raising the salinity issue since 2020.Overflow of water being released from the main Narmada canal into the Luni River (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Irrigation doesn’t equal farming The Narmada main canal’s length in Rajasthan is 74 km. The total length, along with distributaries and secondary canals, is 1792.67 km. The 1998 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the canal project mentioned that flood irrigation may cause waterlogging in most of the command areas in a few years, “rendering fertile land unsuitable for agriculture.” As per the suggestion of the Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited (WAPCOS), which conducted the EIA, micro irrigation techniques like sprinklers and drip irrigation were made mandatory in the two districts.As per WAPCOS’ advice, water allowance for irrigation was reduced from 7.41 cusecs per thousand acres to 1.31-2.51 cusecs. The agency also suggested tree plantation along the canal banks to prevent waterlogging. Not much was put into practice, though. “The plan was to supply water from the Narmada main canal to the minor and then the sub-minor canal, from where water was to be supplied to the farmers’ fields through underground pipelines through the diggi system,” said Ishraram Bishnoi, farm leader and president of the Diggi Committee of Chitalwana block. A Diggi is a sub-minor canal connected to a tank. A pump set in the tank is used to lift water to individual farms via underground pipes. “Nearly 80% of diggis in Chitalwana are not working. The underground pipes are of bad quality, and many pumps are still not electrified,” said Bishnoi. A 2016 report by the CAG says that only 55% of diggis were electrified till then.Farmers in the Nehad area are small and marginal and couldn’t afford the cost of a sprinkler system. In the absence of functional Diggis and a sprinkler system, they initiated flood irrigation from canals directly. “People were only too happy to get canals in this dry belt. They didn’t understand the risks back then. Now, freshwater from the canal mixes with alkaline soil and the high rate of evaporation leaves salt on the surface,” said Bishnoi.As per rules, farmers can irrigate only 50% of their total land, Ishraram told 101Reporters. “But in the greed for higher yield, farmers divert maximum water from the canals into their fields. There is theft of water from the canal. People whose fields are closer to the canal sell water illegally, charging up to Rs 10,000 for watering the cumin crop in one season. The government tax, on the other hand, is only Rs 30/ha.Affected villagers informing the Tehsildar about their problems at the protest site (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Climate change adds to the soupThe canal network, combined with the underground gypsum belt, has increased the water table in the area. The Narmada project EIA said that in the Nehad area, “fresh groundwater flows as a narrow sheet of thickness over the saline groundwater below.”“In the last 10 years, the pattern of rain has also changed in Barmer and Jalore. The annual rainfall, which was earlier 256 mm, has now gone up to 350 mm. There were three flash floods in this period. Humidity has also gone up. This has resulted in pest attacks on crops,” said Dr. Pradeep Pagaria, scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Gudamalani in Barmer. Water theft using a tractor pump from the canal (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)“Uncontrolled irrigation will lead to many problems. As it is, the area under cultivation in the region has gone up six times, due to which grasslands have vanished and many indigenous grasses have become extinct,” said Dr. Pagaria. Residents informed that endangered wildlife in this region- black bucks, wild cat, desert fox, and spiny-tailed lizard are hardly seen anymore. “People set up electric fences to ward off wild animals who lived in the grass earlier,” informed Chaudhary.In 2008, CAZRI, while studying the adverse environmental impact of the Narmada canal project, knew that the canal system would worsen salinity in the region, but also said the area has good potential for controlled irrigation due to moderate drainage and deep soil. “Irrigation in the Luni Delta requires adequate control measures and close monitoring of water use at the farm level, especially to prevent the build-up of salinity in the root zone of the soil. Now that the Narmada Canal is there, there is no escaping its use (and possible over-use) by farmers,” said Amal Kar, former principal scientist at CAZRI.This story was covered as part of Veditum India’s Moving Upstream Fellowship.Cover Photo - A farmer showing salt accumulated in the field (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Nandurbar dumps clean solar energy, adopts costly grid power

Falling groundwater table, the resultant technical issues affecting solar pumps, lack of proper service network and a general distrust in solar efficiency aid the shift in the tribal belt of MaharashtraNandurbar, Maharashtra: The electric lights that illuminate the Sardar Sarovar Dam are faintly visible from Maniveli, a village with denuded hills on one side and deep waters of Narmada on the other. In Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district, life has never been easy in the villages affected by the hydroelectric project built in Gujarat.“Due to dam-induced flooding, we were moved to different places four times. We were settled in our present village 32 years ago, but electricity did not reach us. We could not go out at night; children could not even study,” said Natwar Bhai Tadvi (70), a tribal resident of Maniveli.Girls bringing water from Sardar Sarovar reservoir in Maniveli (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)“If not for the solar lights installed eight years ago, we would have remained in the dark. Solar gave us hope in this atmosphere of despair,” added Natwar, while getting his two acres crop-ready for the upcoming rainy season.The single solar panel installed in Natwar’s house powers two LED bulbs, thus reducing dependence on kerosene lamps. It was installed under a special action plan launched by the Tribal Development Department and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited in 2012 to power unelectrified villages.Even access to potable water is difficult at Maniveli, with most of its area (padas) located far away on the mountains. For Romila Tadvi (40) of Chapadipada, fetching water from the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir is a tedious morning task. Like her, all residents of Chapadipada have to climb up and down a steep hill every day to bring water.According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), 52.12% of the tribal population in Nandurbar was multidimensionally poor. In the 2023 NITI Aayog report, 33.17% of the 65% tribal population in the district was multidimensionally poor.  Mangesh, a resident standing next to a tap water connection that's not functioning (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Both Natwar and Romila want a solar pump for irrigation and potable water, but they do not know how to access it. They are unaware of the Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Pump Yojana, which provides 95% subsidised solar pumps for irrigation. Agriculture sector takes up 32% of the total electricity consumption in Maharashtra. According to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra, 2022-23, one lakh solar agricultural pumps have been commissioned under the Saur Krushi Pump Yojana from 2018-19 to June 2022. It said that 45.86 lakh agricultural pumps were energised in the state till March 31, 2022.As per the report, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM), two lakh solar pumps have been sanctioned for the state, out of which 36,381 (23,396 of 3HP, 10,188 of 5HP and 2,797 of 7.5HP) have been installed by December 2022.  Projects with 548 MW capacity have been commissioned under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana until 2022-23.Panels installed on the house to light solar lamps in the village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)The fading solar dreamIn the second week of April, the temperature in the bare Satpura hills of Nandurbar has touched 42 degree Celsius. At Genda, in the foothills of Satpura, Leela Pawara (38) and her sister-in-law Urmila Pawar (35) are picking mahua. In this season, mahua and mangoes are their main sources of income. Asked why she was not doing this work in the morning, Leela replied that the entire morning was spent fetching water from the river. A hand pump with a solar submersible motor is installed in front of Leela's house, but it does not fetch water. During a field trip to Genda last year, 101Reporters saw people using solar pumps for irrigation. However, that has changed now. “We got solar pumps around five years ago. When grid electricity came here two years ago, people stopped using solar,” said Romal Pawara (40) of Genda.According to Romal, the solar pumps had five years of warranty from the vendor company. Despite this, when farmers faced technical issues, it was not rectified. As repairs have to be done by users once the warranty expires, people gradually stopped using solar pumps. Digging of private borewells is not allowed in this forest area, so people have to depend on borewells provided by the government with solar pump schemes. However, most of them are dry due to groundwater depletion.In a study titled Socio-economic vulnerability to climate change — Index development and mapping for districts in Maharashtra, India, Nandurbar has been identified as vulnerable to drought and changing rainfall patterns, and most sensitive to extreme temperatures affecting crop production.  Mangesh Pawara (23) runs a small grocery shop at Adikodi Pada in Bilgaon of Dhadgaon block. The area has a solar dual pump for potable water and another solar pump for irrigation. “The panchayat installed them, but within a few days, both stopped working. The panchayat did not consider the need to repair them, while the residents could not afford the cost of repair,” Mangesh told 101Reporters.Mangesh Pawara near the closed agricultural solar pump in Adikodi Pada (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)The residents once again had to fetch drinking water from the river, while they cultivated only rain-fed crops. “Till the time the pump was running, we used to grow two crops. Now we even have to pay for animal fodder. There is a crisis… Two of my cows died due to lack of fodder,” he added.A person telling about the closed dual pump in Swarya Digar village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters) Troubled watersIn her local Pawari language, Sunita Ramesh Pawara (32) of Swarya Digar summed up the issue typical of all the households here. “The only problem is the problem of water. If the family is big, more water is required. Our domestic animals and the fields also need water, but there is no water.” Sunita had tried to extract water from the government hand pump by using the three solar panels installed for lighting purposes. She bought a submersible pump at her own expense to connect it to the hand pump, but the three panels were not enough to run the pump, at least seven were needed.  At Chikhali and Moongbari villages, where migration for work is high, only Sanjay Pawara (25) had a solar pump initially. Within two to three years, others got their solar pumps and the water level plummeted. Now Sanjay has got an electric motor installed. “Every day, there is a glitch in the solar system. Moreover, a solar pump cannot draw water from a depth of more than 200 ft, so I had to switch to grid power,” claimed Dinesh Pawara (28) of Moongbari, while harvesting peanuts with his family. For irrigating three acres, around Rs 15,000 has to be spent annually on electricity bill, which is a huge amount for small farmers like Dinesh.In case of motor failure in a dual pump, the cost of repair comes to Rs 30,000 to 35,000. If the panel is faulty, it costs Rs 8,000 to 10,000. Malfunctioning high mast lamps can be replaced at the panchayat's expense. However, in case of severe malfunction, the panchayat does not pay attention to the complaints.Solar panels and high mast lamps in the Satpura hills tell a lot about the perpetual energy’s penetration. However, unaware of the benefits of low-cost clean energy, the poor tribals are shifting to grid electricity. Falling groundwater table, technical issues and distrust in solar efficiency aid the shift. Not only in remote hilly areas, solar dual pumps are not working even in Dhadgaon town. Sanjay Gandhi tribal settlement of Dhadgaon faces severe water shortage. “The municipal council does not supply us with water. Three dual solar pumps for drinking water are present here, but no water comes out of them due to low water availability,” said Minish Pawara (23), a resident.At Pipalkhunta, Jal Jeevan Mission and Ground Water Survey and Development Agency have installed a 1HP solar dual pump with a 5,000 litre tank to supply potable water to around 20 families. This was the only functional solar pump that 101Reporters found in the areas visited in Dhadgaon block and Akkalkuwa block's Molgi region.Efforts to reach Nandurbar District Council and Maharashtra Energy Department seeking data on the total number of solar pumps installed in Nandurbar for drinking water and agriculture, the number of the functional pumps, and the reason for non-functioning were not successful.Leela Pawara looking at the closed solar pump (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)The technical sideThe place where a solar dual pump is installed under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Pump Yojana is surveyed by three agencies — the Ground Water Survey Department, vendor company and representatives of Mahaurja (discom) — keeping in mind whether groundwater will be available throughout the year. Yet, most of the pumps run dry.Over a dozen solar providers have launched services in Nandurbar to cater to the demand within the last three years. Maharashtra government plans to create 25,000 jobs in the solar sector by 2050.  Rajput Solar provides solar panel installation and technical services. Its director Nandu Rajput said that solar has expanded widely in the district’s hilly areas in the last three years, with around 4,000 pumps installed under the government schemes. “A pump may malfunction due to depleting groundwater, motor blockage, or battery or starter problem, but tribals do not know how to register complaints online. The hilly area also makes it difficult to provide service. Small problems can be resolved at the panchayat level, but that does not happen,” Nandu detailed.Prasad Kulkarni, director, Gram Oorja, a Pune-based organisation that works on solar energy in tribal and rural areas, told 101Reporters that technical support should ideally be available at the local level, which will also provide local employment.Maharashtra has the potential to generate up to 1.5 million units per year through solar photovoltaic systems and up to 2.5 million units per year through solar thermal systems. There are 250 to 300 days of clear sunshine. An average of 4 to 6 kWh/ m2 of radiation is available per day. Dhulia, Jalgaon and Nandurbar districts receive more radiation, at about 6 kWh/m2 per day.Ashwin Gambhir, research fellow, Prayas Energy Institute, writes in an article that the Maharashtra government is working towards a 9,000 MW distributed solar capacity dedicated to supplying reliable daytime electricity to agriculture, which would be the largest in India.    As of now, damaged and unused solar panels dumped on rooftops or in a corner of the house is a recurring sight in Nandurbar district. A strong technical service network with a local focus should be the first line of action to bring back the solar shine. This story is produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism NetworkEdited by Rekha PulinnoliCover Photo - Sanjay Pawara in his field near the closed solar pump in the village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Operational issues up plastic pollution in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh

Lack of human resources, improper monitoring, poor financial condition of panchayats and lack of awareness contribute to the burgeoning waste problemVidisha, Madhya Pradesh: In Karimabad village of Vidisha district, Nitesh Yadav (25) is preparing his field to cultivate wheat in the rabi season. What worries him is the increasing amount of plastic in the soil, thanks to the unscientific dumping of garbage from Sironj town and surrounding villages near his farm. "It is very difficult to get rid of these small pieces of polythene from the soil. The generation of plastic and polythene waste, including multilayer and single-use, has been increasing with time due to the rise in consumption of fast-moving consumer goods," he remarks.Lack of proper plastic waste management also plays a villain by reducing soil fertility. However, panchayats often end up burning huge mounds of waste, thus upping air pollution. "Chemicals enter our fields when water from the waste heaps flows into our fields and the nearby River Kethan,” Nitish says.According to the Annual Report 2020-21 on Implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the total waste generation in Madhya Pradesh is approximately 8,022.5 TPD (tonnes per day), of which 7,235.5 TPD waste is collected, 6,472 TPD is treated and 763.5 TPD is landfilled. The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) dashboard says there are 16,515 waste collection and segregation centres in Madhya Pradesh. In all, 34,989 villages have solid waste management and 46,545 villages have liquid waste management facilities.  Segregation centres that separate solid, wet and dry waste are present in every village panchayat, but they do not work properly. On the other hand, material recovery facilities (MRFs) are present at the district panchayat level only. Here, along with segregation, the waste is recycled. The MRFs receive all types of waste, including domestic waste.Karan Yadav (21) of Karimabad tells 101Reporters that an MRF was set up near Karimabad under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SMB-G) around three years ago, but it is not yet functional. Established by Sironj Municipality, the MRF is located four km from Sironj town. When contacted by 101Reporters, Sironj Municipality President Manmohan Sahu refused to accept that the MRF was not functional.  MRF unit has remained closed near Karimabad (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)However, 101Reporters have learnt during a site visit that the MRF has remained shut. "We have been asking the administration to remove the waste, but we were not heard," says Karimabad sarpanch's representative Ejaz Khan.An MRF is set up on the recommendation of the municipality or district panchayat near urban or industrial areas, where waste is available in sufficient quantities for the unit to process. The population of the area is also a criterion for setting up the unit.Flourmill operator Dhanraj Sahu (36) says a similar facility was built under SBM-G in his native Vardha three years ago, but it has not been put to use to date. “All the waste is collected and dumped in the fields or on the village outskirts," he adds.The problem of management of plastic and polythene waste is evident in the historical pond of Barigarh in Chhatarpur, located around one km away. “This pond was constructed hundreds of years ago to conserve water. Barigarh Municipal Council is not managing the issue of plastic accumulation in it,” says Uttam Ahirwar (44), a resident and local journalist.  Asked about the roadblocks, SBM Deputy Commissioner for Madhya Pradesh Ajit Tiwari tells 101Reporters that the mission has provided for the infrastructural needs of panchayats, yet there were many operational problems at the panchayat level, including lack of human resources, improper monitoring, poor financial condition of panchayats and lack of awareness. "In the 15th Finance Commission, a provision has been made to spend 30% of the budget of the three-tier panchayat system only on cleanliness. Plastic waste management at rural level is in its initial phase under SBM 2.0. It will take time," he says.Garbage-filled plot located in Mandla village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Tourist village affectedMadla forest village in Panna Tiger Reserve of Panna district has made it to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s list of best tourist villages in the world. Despite its status of an important tourist destination, no special system for waste management is present here.Akash Shivhare, who runs a footwear shop in Madla, tells 101Reporters that plastic heaps have become an eyesore in the area frequented by hundreds of local and foreign tourists. “From village roads to the pond, plastic can be seen everywhere. An NGO collects garbage from houses twice a week, but it is simply not enough,” he says.A year ago, NGO Sahas launched the responsibility of making 30 villages in the Panna Tiger Reserve plastic-free by utilising a grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation and help from Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department. Madla is the largest among these 30 villages. Shailendra Rao, the local coordinator of Sahas, informs 101Reporters that their swachhata mitras collect plastic and dry waste from every house in the village on Monday and Tuesday.“Every time, we collect 40 to 50 kg of plastic waste — both single use plastic and multilayer — bottles and tetra packs. Currently, we do not have an MRF in place; hence we sort and keep all the waste in our storeroom itself. After collecting sufficient quantities, we send it off to a cement factory at Amanganj. Neither panchayat nor people support us, due to which we have not been able to completely free this village from plastic waste," Rao reasons.A dry waste storage center in Mandla (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Asked why an MRF was not functional in Madla despite it being a tourist spot, Ajit Tiwari says an MRF has been proposed 17 km away from Madla. "At present, there is no facility for solid and plastic waste management at the village level. However, by the end of 2024, it will start functioning at the village level also." This proposed MRF will deal with the waste from 30 villages and Panna city. According to a report on solid waste management in rural areas, 0.3 to 0.4 million metric tonnes of solid waste is generated every day in rural areas of India. Citing the data from the CPCB annual report 2019-20, a scoping paper titled Reducing Plastics in Rural Areas from the Centre for Science and Environment says only 1.18% of the total 22, 814 village panchayats in Madhya Pradesh have plastic waste management system and collection and segregation sheds in place. Formed five years ago under the Supreme Court guideline, the 11-member Madhya Pradesh Plastic Waste Management Committee is headed by Imtiaz Ali, whose organisation Sarthak has created a plastic management model in the 222 village panchayats coming under Bhopal district panchayat. The village panchayats have been divided into 22 clusters, where dry and wet waste are collected by safai mitras regularly.  "Segregation and disposal happen at the MRF, and self-help groups make products from plastic and rubber. The remaining plastic items are sent to cement factories or used in road construction. Around 107 TPD collection happens in Bhopal rural on average," says Ali, the director of Sarthak, who has been instrumental in creating the model. In 2020- 2021, 405MT plastic waste was used for 938 km of road construction under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and MP Road Connectivity Project.  Hanumant S Malviya, senior scientist, Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB), tells 101Reporters that MPPCB’s role is only to ban the manufacturing of single-use plastic. “To date, we have sealed 29 single-use plastic manufacturing units. Ban, treatment and fines are the responsibilities of local administration,” he says. According to the PCB, plastic waste does not come under the definition of pollution because it can be recycled. But if someone burns it and pollutes the air, or it enters water bodies and pollutes water and soil, the board can take action.Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli Cover Photo - Animals at the garbage dump site near Karimabad village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

‘Had I been at work, this would not have happened’

With ASHAs striking work since March seeking better wages, newborns and pregnant women die in rural Madhya Pradesh due to lack of timely medical interventionVidisha, Madhya Pradesh: “Had I been at work, I would not have let this happen,” regrets Sharda Kushwaha (29), an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) from Neh Pipariya village in Vidisha district.On April 13, a village woman lost her newborn shortly after delivery as the child was in breech position (bottom down and head up) in the womb. The family could not figure out that something was amiss and couldn't seek timely medical intervention. All this, as Sharda and thousands of ASHAs have been on an indefinite strike in Madhya Pradesh since March 23, demanding that they be given a fair increase in their monthly stipend and assured of permanent employee status.ASHA supervisor Vinita Sharma claims three women and four newborns died in Vidisha district ever since the strike — a reminder of how rural health services rely heavily on the ASHAs in their role as providers of crucial outreach services under the Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health and Nutrition (RMNCHN) strategy of the National Health Mission.  “Ever since the strike began, non-institutional deliveries are on the rise. If we take the last one-month period, seven deliveries have taken place at homes in my block. I feel this number would have otherwise been zero as the pregnant women would have been shifted to a hospital or health centre,” says Preeti Raghuvanshi, an ASHA supervisor from Tyonda block of Vidisha.“Pregnant women go to the government hospital only because of the ASHAs. In fact, no one wants to go there without an ASHA’s escort. They think there is a lack of resources in government hospitals, and that people will not provide the required information or behave well. So women do not want to go to the hospital alone,” Lakshmi Korav, the president of Madhya Pradesh ASHA/ASHA Sahyogini Shramik Sangh, tells 101Reporters.Admitting that non-institutional deliveries have gone up ever since the strike, Korav says, “Even check-ups and monitoring of pregnant women have stopped. The ASHAs used to get them medicines from health centres or check their blood pressure during door-to-door surveys. After delivery, they are encouraged to breastfeed. The ASHAs take care of the newborn in the first 28 days and constantly monitor their weight. All of this has stopped.”Nargis Bi of Sirnota is pregnant, but she will have to go alone to the primary health centre (PHC) for check-up. "The ASHA always accompanied me for check-ups. Everything went well when she was around. Sometimes, she would take me to the district hospital for an ultrasound. She can better articulate my problems to the doctor, which makes treatment easier.” For now, the ASHAs have been instructed to verbally keep in touch with the women and explain what they should necessarily do. “These are the people of our community; we have no enmity towards them. We care about the people we look after. We have told them that right now we are on strike and cannot come to take care of your child. It bothers us that we cannot help them while we are fighting for our rights,” says Korav.The striking workers are demanding that the state honours the agreement reached during talks with a government delegation in 2021 which promised to raise wages from Rs 2,000 to 10,000 for ASHA workers and from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for ASHA Sahyoginis. They seek the immediate implementation of this agreement and payment of arrears from that date (Photos sourced by Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)Why strike work?There are three working cadres — ASHA, Urban Social Health Activist (USHA), and ASHA Sahyogini. Currently, the ASHAs and USHAs receive a monthly payment of Rs 2,000, while ASHA Sahyoginis, who perform supervisory duties, get Rs 10,000. They want the honorarium to be raised to a minimum of Rs 18,000 and Rs 26,000, respectively. “After working tirelessly for hours together, we are paid less than a daily wage worker. My family has seven members. Tell me how I will run the household with this meagre amount,” asks Sharda. Korav emphasises that they are only demanding a living wage. “We need at least Rs 18,000 per month, which is the minimum wage a trained worker in Madhya Pradesh should get as per the government mandate.”  However, the current focused demand relates to an agreement reached during talks with a government delegation headed by Chhavi Bhardwaj, the then NHM Mission Director, in 2021. “On June 24, 2021, when we were protesting in Bhopal, the government team engaged in talks with us, and it was agreed upon that the ASHAs would be given Rs 10,000 per month and Sahyoginis Rs 15,000. We seek the immediate implementation of this agreement and payment of arrears from that date," Korav explains.NHM State Director Priyanka Das did not respond to repeated attempts to contact her.Justifying the demand for a better honorarium, Sharda says they are on call 24x7. “We leave everything to tend to a woman in labour in the middle of the night, yet join routine work early morning the very next day.”  The ASHAs maintain a register of pregnant women, newborns and other target beneficiaries. Every day, they go through a checklist and mark the areas that need home visits — like pregnant women in the last trimester or breastfeeding mothers — and set out on foot for door-to-door visits as soon as they are done with the work at the PHC. These visits facilitate early detection of diseases, maternal and child healthcare, nutrition education and immunisation campaigns.The ASHAs are like an extended family, intimately involved in the lives of the villagers they serve. They not only provide essential healthcare but also act as sources of support. “Being part of the local culture and customs makes it easier to tackle sensitive health topics. We counsel the residents on numerous issues. We talk about family planning and encourage sterilisation… We know which house has what issue, and how it should be addressed,” says Usha Sharma, an ASHA from Sirnota.Pooja Kushwaha from Ahmedpur is forever thankful to the ASHA who supported her during pregnancy. “I was underweight, had low BP and suffered from bouts of nervousness… Arti Lodhi, our ASHA, checked upon me regularly, and sometimes accompanied me to the PHC for check-up. She gave me iron tablets. After her counselling session, I was no longer anxious about the delivery,” says Kushwaha, who also got maternity assistance under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) with her help.The JSY is a centrally sponsored scheme that integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care. The scheme has recognised ASHAs as an effective link between the government and pregnant women. It aims at promoting institutional deliveries and reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by providing cash incentives to those who give birth in healthcare institutions.“She (ASHA) has been with us from the beginning of pregnancy. She advised me about both maternal and child health. After the baby’s arrival, she only took care of the vaccination, weight, nutrition and everything else,” attests Sunaina Bairagi, a new mother from Ahmedpur.The ASHAs hold weekly sessions with the women and children at anganwadis to ensure holistic development and well-being of children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. “We are trained in providing assistance during childbirth in both home and institutional settings. No one knows exactly when a delivery will happen, so we are always prepared when a woman is expecting,” says Usha.They also maintain a record of the children’s growth and development. “Ever since the strike, the data on nourishment levels of children have not been shared with the government. No one is tracking nutritional intake. These children are walking a fine line between undernourishment and malnourishment,” cautions Korav.The ASHAs were to start the registration work for the newly-launched Madhya Pradesh Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Scheme, but they have not been part of it due to the strike. The referral system has been affected as the ASHAs play a critical role in facilitating timely and appropriate referrals for emergency obstetric care. Around March-April, they conduct a malaria survey to check the presence of mosquito larvae on household premises. Vaccination drive against Japanese Encephalitis is also carried out during this period. None of these activities have been taken up this time. No doubt, the ASHA strike has crippled rural health services in Madhya Pradesh. The only thing left to know is how long the government will take to intervene.Edited by Tanya ShrivastavaCover photo - The ASHA strike has crippled rural health services in Madhya Pradesh (Photo sourced by Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)