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As climate change disrupts pollination, women’s collectives, migrant workers and farmers face growing uncertainty

Dindori, Madhya Pradesh: Anita Dhakad (34), from Dhurkuta village in the Chambal region, was barely managing to run her household three years ago by selling milk from a single cow. Troubled by financial hardship, she began beekeeping after forming the \"Bhagwan Shankar Self-Help Group\" (SHG) with two other women. The group now includes six members and is part of a larger network of 12 SHGs in her block, where 300 women, many from the Sahariya tribal community, rely on bees for survival.

Anita Dhakad with her bee boxes (Photo sourced from Anita)\n

\"Three years ago, we formed a group and took a loan of Rs 3 lakh, with which we bought 100 bee boxes,\" Dhakad said. Beekeeping brought good profits, they saved around Rs 2 lakh and repaid the loan on time. Encouraged, the group took a second loan of Rs 6 lakh to expand to 250 boxes.

However, the extreme heat became a death sentence for the colonies, bees in 100 boxes died, triggering heavy losses.

Dhakad explained that weather has always shaped their toil. In extreme cold and fog, bees produce less honey, in excessive heat, they die. \"My husband and I take the bee boxes to the plains of the Ganga,\" she said, \"but this time profits have declined, and transporting them elsewhere will be very expensive, especially since many bees have already died.\" She is now worried about the upcoming summer and how she will repay the loan.

Pollination-dependent economy

In the Morena district, beekeeping—centered on the European honeybee (Apis mellifera)—has grown into a significant rural livelihood. According to regional data, there are around 4,500-5,000 beekeepers managing 55,000-60,000 colonies. They produce about 5,124 tonnes of honey, making Morena the top honey-producing district in Madhya Pradesh.

But this economy rests entirely on pollination. Entomologist Naveen Jangid warned that if bees disappear, crops dependent on cross-pollination will collapse. \"Pollination will not happen properly. This will impact both the quantity and quality of crops,\" Jangid said, adding that the crisis will affect nutrition and the entire food chain. He noted that around 80% of flowering and fruit-bearing plants depend on pollination, and 30-35% of India's agricultural production is linked to it. Of the country's 15-20 major food crops, many depend on pollination by as much as 80-90%, while oilseeds like mustard depend on it by 60%.

\"The better the pollination, the higher the yield and the more nutritious the produce,\" Jangid said. \"Without it, both production and nutritional value are affected.\" He noted that both wild and domesticated bees are being impacted equally, and what we see today is \"not just a warning, but a preliminary stage of a larger crisis.\"

In extreme cold and fog, bees produce less honey, in excessive heat, they die (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)\n

The silent decline

The Chambal region is known for mustard-flower honey, but changing climate patterns are scrambling flowering cycles, pollen availability, and crop duration.

A study titled Impact of Climate Change on Honeybees and Crop Production notes that bees are highly sensitive to thermal stress. Their populations are declining sharply, by up to 30% annually in some cases. Furthermore, research suggests that climate change has already slashed overall honey production in India by 15-20%.

Benilal Kushwaha, a beekeeper from Mirghan village, recounted how the mustard season ended early this year due to excessive heat. Consequently, he had to move his 600 bee boxes 150 km away to coriander fields in Datia district. \"There was a shortage of food for bees, and they started dying,\" he said. Because of these shifts, beekeepers now have to migrate 5-6 times a year.

Transporting bee boxes costs around Rs 2 lakh annually, while maintenance requires two workers year-round, costing another Rs 2 lakh. Rent must also be paid for the fields where the boxes are placed. Irregular weather has also invited mite infestations, which caused heavy losses this year. Additionally, farmers are adopting new crop varieties and using more pesticides to increase yield and cope with climate impacts, which further affects bees.

Pramod Sharma, a beekeeper since 2002 with 250 boxes, observed a sharp turning point. \"From 2002 to 2010, we faced no issues. But after 2010, production started declining, and the last two years have been the worst. Bees are no longer healthy, they die quickly and are not growing properly.\" He attributed this to the dual blow of climate change and hybrid crops. Currently, he has moved his bee boxes up to 400 km away to the banks of the Yamuna River.

When food is scarce, artificial food is given, but it fails to support colony growth or reproduction (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)\n

Labor migration with bees

Amod Kushwaha (35), from Meena Pur village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, has spent 20 years following the bees. Currently working in a coriander field in Guna district, he manages 600 boxes belonging to Dhakad's SHG and other beekeepers. While the bees sting him repeatedly as he works, he laughs it off: \"Bees sting… it's natural.\"

Kushwaha noted that due to rising heat, colonies are collapsing faster and queen bees are not surviving long. When a queen dies early, the entire colony stops growing. He migrates with bees across states—from Assam to Punjab—for 8-9 months a year, and hundreds of people from his district Muzaffarpur are engaged in similar work. Due to weather changes, frequent migration is necessary, sometimes even within a month.

Swati Tomar, a researcher at Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Agricultural University, explained that due to climate change, bees are dying because they are unable to find sufficient food and water, their hives are getting damaged, and they are becoming more vulnerable to pests and diseases. When food is scarce, artificial food is given, but it fails to support colony growth or reproduction. This makes migration a desperate necessity rather than a choice. Increased disease and pest attacks are also weakening colonies and reducing honey production.

A global warning

The crisis in Chambal reflects a global trend. Research titled Impact of Climate Change on Honey Bees and other Pollinators indicates that global honey production currently stands at 1.72 million metric tonnes, with China being the largest producer. Despite having the highest number of bee colonies, India ranks eighth in honey production, producing about 133,200 metric tonnes. The same research notes that India has seen a decline of over 40% in bee populations in the past 25 years. Other nations are suffering even more: Germany, Poland, and Brazil have recorded declines of 57%, 35%, and 53% respectively.

Explaining the mechanics of this decline, Jangid pointed out that monsoon patterns have changed, either there is too little rain or too much in a short time. Temperatures are reaching 45-48°C, while bees function best at 34-35°C. \"As a result, bees spend extra energy cooling their hives, reducing their ability to collect pollen. Earlier, a queen bee laid 1,500-2,000 eggs, but now it is down to around 1,000 due to lack of proper nutrition,\" he said.

This story was produced as a part of 101Reporters Climate Change Reporting Grant. Cover photo - A man taking care of bees, extreme heat has become a death sentence to bee colonies (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

","postTitleURL":"How_climate_change_has_hit_Chambals_beekeepers_and_food_systems","mainCat":["environment"]},{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/826*532/101RPT2890741/4.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/826*532/101RPT2890741/4.jpg"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/724*425/101RPT2890741/4.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/724*425/101RPT2890741/4.jpg"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/333*138/101RPT2890741/4.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/333*138/101RPT2890741/4.jpg"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/300*200/101RPT2890741/4.jpg","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/1200*630/101RPT2890741/4.jpg","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2025/11/4096*4096/101RPT2890741/4.jpg"}},"_id":"690c5cab006cb862cd0eb523","postId":"101RPT2890741","postTitle":"Gram Sabhas emerge as bulwark against displacement in Chhattisgarh’s Achanakmar Tiger Reserve","postDate":"2025-11-06T08:30:35+05:30","content":"

Villagers alleged that the Forest Department continues to pressurise them to leave even after securing community forest rights, but they now stand united under their Gram Sabhas.

Mungeli, Chhattisgarh: Every morning, Prabhu Singh Baiga (55) walks the narrow embankment between his paddy field and the forest edge in Ataria village, inside Chhattisgarh’s Achanakmar Tiger Reserve.

This forest, he told 101Reporters, is like a parent. “It feeds us, heals us, and teaches us to live.”

Unlike most farmers who worry about the coming harvest, Prabhu Singh fears something else entirely — being displaced without warning.

For years, the Forest Department has pressed families like his to leave the reserve in the name of conservation. But the Baigas of Ataria and 12 other villages have resisted.

Five of these 13 villages secured community forest rights in 2022, and three others have completed their application process, local activists said.

They have organised through their Gram Sabhas, asserting that under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), it is they and not the forest officials who are legally empowered to protect and manage the forests.

Enacted in 2006, the FRA recognises the traditional rights of forest-dwelling communities to inhabit, manage and protect forest lands.

A key provision under the law — community forest resource rights — empowers Gram Sabhas to govern forests within their customary boundaries and prevent displacement without their consent. In effect, it shifts forest governance from officials to local assemblies.

Their collective voice grew stronger this August, when representatives from all 19 Gram Sabhas gathered in Bamhani, a forest-fringed village at the heart of the reserve.

Representatives from all 19 Gram Sabhas in Achanakmar gathered in Bamhani in August after the Deputy Director’s office of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve issued a letter announcing the formation of a committee to implement relocation (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

The meeting followed a rare acknowledgement from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. In a letter dated June 24, the Ministry directed the Forest Department and district administration to support, not obstruct, the Gram Sabhas’ community forest management work.

Ataria is one of the 19 villages that remain inside the reserve since it was notified in 2009. On March 6 that year, when Achanakmar was declared a tiger reserve, six villages — Kumba, Sambardhasan, Bankal, Jalda, Bahour, and Bokrakachar — were uprooted overnight. The Forest Department claimed they had given “consent”, but residents say it was a forced relocation without notice. A total of 249 families were displaced.

Prabhu Singh, a member of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Baiga community, explained his fear.

“Displacement will bring us immense hardship,” he said. “Our forefathers lived and died here; how can we leave this place? No Baiga can imagine life without the forest.”

“But the Forest Department wants to throw us out as if the forest belongs to them. In truth, it is ours. We love it, and its animals, far more than they do. Earlier, we lived deep inside and practised bewar (shifting cultivation). Then they pushed us to the edge, and now they want to drive us away altogether. Can the government just throw us anywhere? Don’t we have any rights?”

Prabhu Singh Baiga is a member of a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

At the August meeting, members of the Achanakmar Sangharsh Samiti, a collective representing all 19 villages, discussed these very questions. They spoke of how their Community Forest Resource Management Committees (CFRMCs), formed under the Gram Sabhas, are legally responsible for conserving forests, maintaining biodiversity, managing forest produce, and preventing poaching and illegal logging.

By law, the Forest Department is required to support these community-led efforts. But villagers say the department continues to withhold cooperation and instead builds pressure for relocation.

Speaking the language of law

For the residents of Achanakmar, the resistance against the Forest Department has been a long education in rights and governance.

Dilharan Tekam, (28), a member of the Gram Sabha in Bamhni and part of the Achanakmar Sangharsh Samiti, said, “In 2009, when the Forest Department forcibly removed six villages that year, people didn’t know about the power of the Gram Sabha…that they cannot be evicted without its consent.”

“When Achanakmar was declared a tiger reserve, the Forest Department banned entry into the forests and began harassing our community in different ways,” he said. “That’s when the Achanakmar Sangharsh Samiti was formed. We also began to understand the strength of the Gram Sabha and studied the Forest Rights Act. They thought Baigas only knew the language of ‘yes’ and ‘no’, but now we speak to the administration in the language of law. We have started demanding our constitutional rights.”

The residents worry that displacement means not just losing land, but an entire way of life (Photos - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

For Tekam and others, displacement means not just losing land, but an entire way of life. “If we are displaced, we will lose our Baiga culture and our legacy of coexistence with the forest. Our festivals and rituals are all tied to it; the forest is our god. How can we worship if we are sent away?”

Today, Gram Sabhas in these villages meet at least once a month to plan their strategy against eviction. “The Forest Department keeps conspiring against us by alleging irregularities in our forest management committees or accusing us of violating forest laws,” Tekam alleged. Most of these exchanges take place with the local Director of the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, the Divisional Forest Officer and the District Collector, he said.

“In 2022, when we applied for community forest rights, the department branded us as Naxal supporters to weaken our demand,” he added. “That’s why all 19 villages are working together carefully and democratically, following laws and procedures.”

Despite five villages — Katami, Bamhani, Mahanmai, Babutola, and Manjoorha — having already secured community forest rights, all 19 continue to face eviction pressure, he claimed.

On August 20, the Deputy Director’s office of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve issued a letter announcing the formation of a committee to implement relocation.

The department claims that villagers of Chirhatta, Birarpani and Tilaidabra have “agreed” to be relocated, a claim fiercely disputed on the ground. “The so-called consent was taken by misleading illiterate and elderly villagers,” said Ashwani Baiga (26) from Chaparwa village.

According to several Gram Sabha members, the Forest Department never held proper meetings in these villages. Instead, it collected signatures from a few villagers by deception. “These three Gram Sabhas have already applied for community forest rights, so it’s clear that the department obtained signatures without convening a proper meeting,” one member said.

In the first phase, 170 families from these three villages are slated for relocation. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has approved the proposal, and the department claims Gram Sabha consent. But the Achanakmar Sangharsh Samiti calls the claim “false and fabricated”. “How can a Gram Sabha that is demanding community forest rights agree to relocation?” the Samiti asked. It now plans to move to court to assert these rights.

A forest outpost inside the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Ambiguity in the Right to Return

Environmental scientist and FRA policy expert Dr Sharachchandra Lele said the 2006 Forest Rights Act recognises the rights of forest-dwelling communities and mandates their consent before any relocation. “But the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, and its 2006 amendment that created critical tiger habitats, are often used to override these rights,” he explained.

In several tiger reserves, including Achanakmar, core and buffer zones were declared without first settling community claims. “The state must recognise community forest rights before any relocation can even be discussed lawfully,” Lele said.

This legal ambiguity has left Achanakmar’s residents in limbo. For many Baiga families, “voluntary” relocation feels meaningless when the threat of eviction looms constantly.

“Officials tell us that staying here is illegal,” said Sundari Bai (32) from Tilaidabra. “But where will we go? The forest is our home. Our ancestors lived and died here. We can’t just leave because someone in the city decided it’s better for the tigers.”

The absence of clear guidelines for implementing Section 3(1)(m) of the Forest Rights Act — which guarantees the right to return — continues to frustrate displaced communities across India.

In Karnataka’s Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, for instance, 52 families of the Jenu Kuruba tribe, displaced over four decades ago, are still fighting to return to their ancestral land. “When we were evicted 40 years ago, our people faced terrible conditions,” said JC Shivu, a member of the tribe. “Many were forced into bonded labour on tea estates and were never paid for their work. Living conditions in the camps were miserable, and we were even denied land for our elders’ last rites.”

The Jenu Kuruba community began organising formally in 2010, invoking the same provision of the Forest Rights Act. “We now hold our Gram Sabha meetings at the same spot where our village once stood inside the reserve,” Shivu said. But without operational guidelines from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, their return remains stalled.

Experts say conflicting conservation laws have steadily weakened the intent of the Forest Rights Act. “Displacement in the name of conservation continues despite the FRA,” said a tribal rights activist in Madhya Pradesh. “Communities that once lived sustainably within forests are now treated as encroachers.”

In many states, relocation packages have failed to provide secure livelihoods. Families are often allotted rocky, infertile plots and inadequate compensation. Chain Singh Baiga and others, for instance, received five acres of barren land and Rs 50,000 each. “For us, returning home would mean regaining dignity and control over our lives,” he said.

Until the government defines how the right to return can be implemented, thousands of displaced families across India will remain where they are, far from the forests that once sustained them, yearning for a home that exists only in memory.

Cover image - A forest outpost inside the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve; Locals complain that the Forest Department bans their entry into the forests and harasses the community in various ways (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

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Solar spinning wheels gave women work, but weak markets and poor policies pushed them back to migration and daily wage labour.

Amravati, Maharashtra: In Maharashtra’s Melghat region, Sushila (34) from Dharakot village sits on the floor of her dimly lit mud house, next to a solar charkha that has not turned in years. Its panels are layered with dust, the spindle frozen mid-turn, a reminder of a time when she no longer had to leave her children behind and travel for work. “I was very happy then,” she said. “The charkha gave me income while staying at home.”

When the solar charkha first arrived in Melghat in 2015, it was framed as a quiet revolution. Dharni taluka, known nationally for malnutrition, farmer suicides, and migration, was chosen by the Maharashtra State Khadi & Village Industries Board (MKVIB) and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to pilot a new idea: use renewable energy to revive Gandhi’s spinning wheel and turn it into a viable livelihood.

Fourteen villages were identified, and about 150 tribal women trained. Each received a solar-powered charkha worth Rs 40,000, free of cost. “They said we could earn a livelihood without leaving home,” said Sushila, who went for training in nearby Mandu. “I agreed immediately.” Within months, women who had never spun yarn before were earning Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 a month, a substantial income in villages where landless households relied on migration and daily wage labour.

To handle raw cotton supply and yarn collection, the women set up the Kasturba Solar Khadi Mahila Samiti. Soon, with support from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the state khadi board, they went a step further, launching the GreenFab Common Facility Centre (CFC). It housed ginning, dyeing, warping, weaving, even block printing, all powered by solar energy. For the first time, women in Melghat were not just spinning, they were running an entire fibre-to-fabric chain.

To handle raw cotton supply and yarn collection, the women set up the Kasturba Solar Khadi Mahila Samiti (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Promise

At its peak, the Samiti employed over 500 people, almost all women. They opened retail stores in Amravati and Nagpur under the brand “Kuteer Charkha,” and launched their own label “GreenFab.” “We felt proud we had our own brand, our own designs,” said Mona Murli (28), who supervised the Mandu CFC which had a team of ten other women. “I thought this would go on forever.”

But the promise was short-lived. Orders slowed down, and when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, they stopped altogether. The CFC shut, the shops closed, and the Samiti slid into debt. Machines lay idle, unsold stock piled up, and households, pressed for cash, began dismantling and selling their solar charkhas, sometimes for scrap. Some women returned to farm and construction labour; others took up MGNREGS trench-digging.

In Dharakot, Sushila is back to migrating for casual labour, earning barely Rs 200 a day digging soil or carrying stones. “We don’t have farmland. At least with the charkha, I could spin while looking after my children. Now I must leave them behind and do whatever daily wage work comes,” she said. In the same village, Geeta Bai Jaanjwar (35) spends her days breaking the hard soil of a hillside trenching project. “We used to earn up to Rs 2,000 a week from the charkha,” she said, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Now we don’t even make that in a month.”

District KVIB officer Pradeep Chachere admitted the initiative struggled once external support receded. “Rising costs, reduced market share, and lack of marketing skills made it unsustainable,” he said. “But with proper backing, this could still create over 2,000 jobs in Amravati’s tribal belt.”

Melghat’s experience was part of a larger experiment. India’s first solar charkha cluster was launched in 2016 at Khankwan in Nawada, Bihar, but it reportedly failed to take off.

In 2018-19, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) scaled up the idea into the Mission Solar Charkha, with a budget of Rs 550 crore for its first two years. The scheme aimed to create one lakh jobs across 50 clusters. But by 2021, RTI replies confirmed that the mission had been discontinued. Neither MSME nor KVIC explained why.

Of the total budget, Maharashtra’s two clusters received about Rs 13 crore. But several agencies selected to run clusters, including the Mukund Education Society in Maharashtra and the Wardha Kukkutpalan Va Krishi Udyog Sanshodhan Co-operative Society Limited, later claimed that the scheme had largely existed on paper.

One notable exception has been the Magan Khadi Sansthan in Wardha, which has been running solar charkhas for more than a decade. Today, it still employs around 60 women. Its survival highlights what Dharni lacked.

At its peak, the Samiti employed over 500 people, almost all women (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Why Magan Khadi survived

Magan Khadi had strong institutional roots. It grew out of an older khadi institution with an existing production and sales network. Its leadership also had professional training. Director Mukesh Lutade, who received two years of training at Gandhigram University in Tamil Nadu about 15 years ago, learned to produce high-quality khadi and scale it up in line with fashion trends. Under him and Vibha Gupta of the Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti, the centre invested in design and market linkages. This professionalisation allowed it to fulfil large orders from major fashion brands.

As an employee, Abhijit Magan, explained, the organisation was already known in the khadi sector through small clients, but its reputation grew after it began meeting industry demand for bulk fabric that matched modern standards.

By contrast, the Dharni cluster was run by a voluntary group with little experience in management or marketing. It remained heavily dependent on state support, and once that support ended, the cluster collapsed.

Magan Khadi had strong institutional roots (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

However, even for Magan Khadi, challenges remain. Lutade noted that solar charkha fabric struggles to compete with mill yarn because of higher labour costs. Maintenance is also expensive, up to three times more than a hand charkha, unless the technology is improved. More critically, KVIC does not recognise solar khadi as “khadi,” since its certification applies only to cloth made on traditional hand charkhas. Without certification, solar khadi cannot access the subsidies and marketing channels that sustain traditional khadi.

Lutade argued that despite these hurdles, solar charkha must be promoted for its employment potential. “From cotton to fabric, khadi production gives work to 16 people, while mill production employs only 2-3 people per shirt,” he says. Chachere, from the Dharni cluster, echoed this view that solar khadi cannot match mill cloth on price, but it generates far more jobs at a much lower investment per worker.

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has studied these challenges. One report, Solarvastra: Is Renewable Energy-powered Sustainable Fashion a Real Market Opportunity?, identified the lack of advanced market linkages as a major barrier to expanding solar charkha and loom production. It recommended integrating solar khadi into the khadi brand or ensuring it receives equal support in policy, procurement, and marketing.

Another study, Decentralised Renewable Energy Technologies for Sustainable Livelihoods, notes that long production cycles delay payments and make the business unviable without subsidies or long-term loans.

This story was covered with the support of the Earth Journalism Network.

Cover photo - An old woman working on the charkha (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

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Despite the efforts of\nthe younger generation of a community with criminal hangover to make amends through\neducation, police continue to use them for personal gains by implicating them\nin fabricated cases

Dewas, Madhya Pradesh: “We have hundreds of stories of police atrocity to tell, but if\nyou go to the victims, they will not speak due to fear. Around 20\ndays ago, a boy from our caste\n[Jhala]\nbought 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\nPradesh. Crimes ‘orchestrated’ by Kanjar gangs are always in the news, as are\nsome ‘infamous’ villages where people of this caste reside. Chidawad, Pipalrawan and Dhani\nGhati 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\npolicemen 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\n[SHO] of Tonk Khurd Police Station arrived in our village and ordered me\nto arrange a monthly pay-off. I refused, because I was struggling to raise my children. But\nthe officer did not budge. He told me, ‘You are poor; steal, defraud or do whatever\nyou can, I want Rs 10,000 per month’, and threatened to implicate me in a false\ncase if I did not obey. Finally, they did implicate me in a false theft case,” Satyanarayan\nrued.

He said he complained to the then-inspector general, Surjeet Singh,\nwho promised action if his complaint was true. When the probe proved\nthat 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\naverse to committing crimes, the younger ones are getting educated. Nevertheless,\nthey are labelled criminals. “When I approach the police to help them out, the\nofficers 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\nthem, 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\ntheft case. “In 2002, while returning from college one day, Tonk\nKhurd SHO Dilip Singh and team arrested me under IPC Sections 41, 102 and 379.”

In their report,\nthe police wrote that they saw Goden running in the dark from behind. “Now you\ntell me, how can a person be identified from behind, that too in the dark? I\nwas in jail for a month, and had to spend Rs 3 lakh for legal purposes. The\ntorture went on for two years. I was wrongly implicated out of enmity, because I\nwas working for the betterment of my community. Though the court acquitted\nme 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.\n“We had a Mahindra jeep, which the police wanted to snatch away. When\nwe remained adamant, they tried to target us in the name of caste and made false\ncases with the help of\ncriminals in the community. Police continuously violated the right to life guaranteed\nunder Article 21 and right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the\nConstitution,” he added.

Describing the police raids, Goden said 200 to 300 police\npersonnel would enter the houses in the village at midnight to take away any\nman or youth in whatever condition they were at that time. Cases will be registered\nagainst them, and police will present fake witnesses in the court. These\nwitnesses are the same brokers, informers and habitual criminals who deal regularly\nwith policemen.

“There are other respectable people in the village, including the sarpanch and secretary. Why not make\nthem witnesses?” Goden wondered.

Referring to a recent raid, Goden said, “In one dramatic raid, police\n‘recovered’ stolen goods worth crores of rupees from this village, including 10\nfour-wheelers, many motorcycles and several other things. This way, they also\nconfiscated our four-wheeler.”

“Based on court orders, police later had to return every item\nseized, 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\ntown 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\nselling my house or land. However, I secured release after my family gave a\nbribe 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\nher husband, Nathu Singh, was taken into illegal custody by Ujjain Police, but was released after\nbribing officers of Rs 30,000. “Police threatened to impose a heavy fine if we did\nnot pay up. I run the house by selling milk, so I know how I arranged the money. We\nhave to suffer if someone else errs,” she lamented.

In 2021, Akhil Bharatiya Gihara Samaj Jagriti Parishad filed a petition\nseeking direction to the authorities not to use the derogatory word ‘Kanjar’ in\nthe caste certificate of the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The petition\nsaid 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\nof 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\nthe police, who have treated them as criminals for a long time, are responsible for keeping them criminals,” said the official who has\nworked with such castes in Dewas.

Two years ago, Chidawad-based Vicky Jhala (23), Ravindra Jhala (24) and three others were arrested\nin Operation Prahar, which media publicised as action in a Kanjar crime. Satyanarayan said he managed to release three of them from the\npolice station without bribery. One of them, Ravindra, has become a lawyer. However,\nVicky 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\nscared by our presence and hid in the toilet of the house. Despite repeated attempts\nto speak to him, Vicky refused to come out even after waiting for a long time.\nVicky's parents are mentally disturbed.

“He is an educated boy who does not indulge in theft or illegal\nactivities. 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\ncourt 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\nJhala (72) of Tonk Kalan recalled how police picked up his son, a government\nteacher, while going for a court hearing in a land case. He was accused of\npossessing illicit liquor and was kept in police lockup for eight days. His release came about only\nafter 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\njob. We appealed to the Collector and SP, but to no avail,” Kiran Singh said.

Pappi\nBai (47) of Pipalrawan narrated how two constables entered her house on March\n21 and demanded that she hand over Rs 2 lakh. “They used to seek money from us every six months. However, this\ntime, their eyes were on the harvested garlic. So they coolly demanded Rs 2\nlakh. When I flatly refused, they threatened to register such a case against my\nhusband that he would languish in jail for the rest of his life. They also beat\nme unconscious and set our house on fire, in which household items were damaged,” Bai said. Her husband, Inder\n(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\ncentre. One day, he was arrested from nearby Nevri village and booked under Section 34(2) for possessing illicit intoxicants. According\nto 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\nAccountability Project, 34(2) cases are generally not granted bail by the magistrate\nand sessions court. Ajay was in jail for over a month before getting bail from\nthe 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 privacy

This 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

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In just under two decades, the Narmada Canal has turned large swathes of formerly rain-fed land at its tail-end saline and uncultivable

Jalore/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 reality

Jalore’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 soup

The 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)

","postTitleURL":"Curse_of_the_canal_Seepage_and_waterlogging_lay_waste_to_agriculture_in_Rajasthans_Luni_delta","mainCat":["environment"]},{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/826*532/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/826*532/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).jpg"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/724*425/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/724*425/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).jpg"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/333*138/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/333*138/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).jpg"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/300*200/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).jpg","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/1200*630/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).jpg","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/5/4096*4096/101RPT2110060/story_photos_(default).jpg"}},"_id":"664f33f7b1d40d5b009c3729","postId":"101RPT2110060","postTitle":"Nandurbar dumps clean solar energy, adopts costly grid power ","postDate":"2024-05-23T12:17:59+05:30","content":"

Falling groundwater\ntable, the resultant technical issues affecting solar pumps, lack of proper\nservice network and a general distrust in solar efficiency aid the shift in the\ntribal belt of Maharashtra

Nandurbar, Maharashtra: The electric lights that illuminate the Sardar Sarovar Dam are faintly visible from\nManiveli, a village with denuded hills on one side and deep waters of Narmada on the other. In\nMaharashtra’s Nandurbar district, life has never been easy in the villages affected\nby the hydroelectric project built in Gujarat.

“Due to dam-induced flooding, we were moved to different places four\ntimes. We were settled in our present village 32 years ago, but electricity did\nnot reach us. We could not go out at night; children could not even study,” said\nNatwar Bhai Tadvi (70), a tribal\nresident 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\nhave remained in the dark. Solar gave us hope in this atmosphere of despair,”\nadded 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\nbulbs, thus reducing dependence on kerosene lamps. It was installed under\na special action plan launched by the Tribal Development Department and\nMaharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited in 2012 to power unelectrified\nvillages.

Even access to potable water is difficult at Maniveli, with most of its area (padas) located far away on the mountains. For Romila\nTadvi (40) of Chapadipada, fetching water from the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir is\na tedious morning task. Like her, all residents of Chapadipada have to climb up and down a steep hill every\nday to bring water.

According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), 52.12%\nof 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\npoor.

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\nwater, but they do not know how to access it. They are unaware of the Mukhyamantri\nSaur Krushi Pump Yojana, which provides 95% subsidised\nsolar pumps for irrigation.

Agriculture sector takes up 32% of the total\nelectricity 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\npumps were energised in the state till March 31, 2022.

As per the report, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam\nUtthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM), two lakh solar pumps have been sanctioned for the state, out of\nwhich 36,381 (23,396 of 3HP, 10,188 of 5HP and 2,797 of 7.5HP) have been\ninstalled by December 2022. Projects\nwith 548 MW capacity have been commissioned under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi\nVahini Yojana until 2022-23.

Panels installed on the house to light solar lamps in the village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

The fading solar dream

In the second week of April, the temperature in the bare Satpura\nhills of Nandurbar has touched 42 degree Celsius. At Genda, in the foothills of\nSatpura, Leela Pawara (38)\nand her sister-in-law Urmila Pawar (35) are picking mahua. In this season, mahua and mangoes are\ntheir main sources of income.

Asked why she was not doing this work in the morning, Leela replied\nthat the entire morning was spent fetching water from the river. A hand pump with\na solar submersible motor is installed in front of Leela's house, but it does\nnot fetch water.

During a field trip to Genda last year, 101Reporters saw people using solar pumps for irrigation. However,\nthat has changed now. “We got solar pumps around five years ago. When grid electricity\ncame 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\nborewells is not allowed in this forest area, so people have to depend on borewells\nprovided by the government with solar pump schemes. However, most of them are\ndry 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\nof Dhadgaon block. The area has a solar dual pump for potable water and another\nsolar pump for irrigation. “The panchayat installed them, but within a few\ndays, both stopped working. The panchayat did not consider the need to repair\nthem, 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\nriver, while they cultivated only rain-fed crops. “Till the time the pump was\nrunning, we used to grow two crops. Now we even have to pay for animal fodder.\nThere 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 waters

In her local Pawari language, Sunita Ramesh Pawara (32) of Swarya Digar summed\nup the issue typical of all the households here. “The only problem is the\nproblem of water. If the family is big, more water is required. Our domestic animals\nand 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\npanels installed for lighting purposes. She bought a submersible pump at her\nown expense to connect it to the hand pump, but the three panels were not\nenough to run the pump, at least seven were needed.

At Chikhali and Moongbari villages, where migration for work is\nhigh, only Sanjay Pawara (25)\nhad a solar pump initially. Within two to three years, others got their solar pumps\nand 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\npump cannot draw water from a depth of more than 200 ft, so I had to switch to grid power,” claimed Dinesh Pawara (28)\nof Moongbari, while harvesting peanuts with his family. For irrigating three\nacres, around Rs 15,000 has to be spent annually on electricity bill, which is\na 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\nenergy’s penetration. However, unaware of the benefits of\nlow-cost clean energy, the poor tribals are shifting to grid electricity. Falling\ngroundwater table, technical issues and distrust in solar efficiency aid the\nshift.

Not only in remote hilly areas, solar dual pumps are not working\neven in Dhadgaon town. Sanjay Gandhi tribal settlement of Dhadgaon faces severe\nwater shortage. “The municipal council does not supply us with water. Three\ndual solar pumps for drinking water are present here, but no water comes out of\nthem due to low water availability,” said Minish Pawara (23), a resident.

At Pipalkhunta, Jal Jeevan Mission\nand Ground Water Survey and Development Agency have installed a 1HP solar dual pump with\na 5,000 litre tank to supply potable water to around 20 families. This was the only functional solar\npump that 101Reporters found in the areas visited in Dhadgaon block and Akkalkuwa block's Molgi region.

Efforts to reach Nandurbar District Council and\nMaharashtra Energy Department seeking data on the total number of solar pumps installed in Nandurbar for drinking water and agriculture, the number of the\nfunctional pumps, and the reason for non-functioning were not successful.

Leela Pawara looking at the closed solar pump (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

The technical side

The place where a solar dual pump is installed under the Mukhyamantri\nSaur Krushi Pump Yojana is surveyed by three agencies — the Ground Water Survey\nDepartment, vendor company and representatives of Mahaurja (discom) — keeping in mind whether groundwater will be available throughout\nthe year. Yet, most of the pumps run dry.

Over a dozen solar providers have launched services in Nandurbar to\ncater to the demand within the last three years. Maharashtra government plans\nto create 25,000 jobs in the solar sector by 2050.

Rajput Solar provides solar panel installation and technical services.\nIts director Nandu Rajput said that solar has expanded widely in the district’s\nhilly areas in the last three years, with around 4,000 pumps installed under the\ngovernment schemes.\n“A pump may malfunction due to depleting groundwater, motor\nblockage, or battery or starter problem, but tribals do not know how to\nregister complaints online. The hilly area also makes it difficult to provide\nservice. Small problems can be resolved at the panchayat level, but that does\nnot happen,” Nandu detailed.

Prasad Kulkarni, director, Gram Oorja, a Pune-based organisation\nthat works on solar energy in tribal and rural areas, told 101Reporters that technical support\nshould ideally be available at the local level, which will also provide local\nemployment.

Maharashtra has the potential to generate up to 1.5 million units per\nyear through solar photovoltaic systems and up to 2.5 million units per year\nthrough solar thermal systems. There are 250 to 300 days of clear sunshine. An\naverage of 4 to 6 kWh/ m² of radiation is available per day. Dhulia, Jalgaon and Nandurbar\ndistricts receive more radiation, at about 6 kWh/m² per day.

Ashwin Gambhir, research fellow, Prayas Energy Institute, writes\nin an article that the Maharashtra government is working towards a 9,000\nMW distributed solar capacity dedicated to supplying reliable daytime\nelectricity 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\nthe house is a recurring sight in Nandurbar district. A strong technical\nservice network with a local focus should be the first line of action to bring\nback the solar shine.

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This story is produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Cover Photo - Sanjay Pawara in his field near the closed solar pump in the village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

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Lack of human resources, improper monitoring, poor financial condition\nof panchayats and lack of awareness contribute to the burgeoning waste problem

Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh: In\nKarimabad village of Vidisha district, Nitesh Yadav (25) is preparing\nhis field to cultivate wheat in the rabi season. What\nworries him is the increasing amount of plastic in the soil, thanks to the\nunscientific dumping of garbage from Sironj town and surrounding villages near\nhis farm.

\"It\nis very difficult to get rid of these small pieces of polythene from the\nsoil. The generation of plastic and polythene waste,\nincluding multilayer and single-use, has been increasing with\ntime due to the rise in consumption of fast-moving consumer goods,\"\nhe remarks.

Lack of\nproper plastic waste management also plays a villain by reducing soil\nfertility. However, panchayats often end up burning huge mounds of\nwaste, thus upping air pollution. \"Chemicals enter our fields when water\nfrom the waste heaps flows into our fields and the nearby River Kethan,” Nitish\nsays.

According\nto the Annual\nReport 2020-21 on Implementation of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016,\nfrom the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the total waste generation in Madhya Pradesh is approximately 8,022.5 TPD (tonnes\nper day), of which 7,235.5 TPD waste is collected, 6,472 TPD is treated\nand 763.5 TPD is landfilled.

The\nSwachh Bharat Mission (SBM) dashboard says there are 16,515 waste collection\nand segregation centres in Madhya Pradesh. In all, 34,989 villages have solid\nwaste management and 46,545 villages have liquid waste management facilities.

Segregation\ncentres that separate solid, wet and dry waste are present in every village panchayat,\nbut they do not work properly. On the other hand, material recovery facilities (MRFs)\nare present at the district panchayat level only. Here, along with segregation,\nthe waste is recycled. The MRFs receive all types of waste, including domestic\nwaste.

Karan\nYadav (21) of Karimabad tells 101Reporters that an\nMRF was set up near Karimabad under the Swachh Bharat\nMission-Grameen (SMB-G) around\nthree years ago, but it is not yet functional. Established by Sironj\nMunicipality, the MRF is located four km from Sironj town. When contacted\nby 101Reporters, Sironj Municipality President Manmohan\nSahu refused to accept that the MRF was not\nfunctional.

MRF unit has remained closed near Karimabad (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

However, 101Reporters have\nlearnt during a site visit that the MRF has remained shut. \"We have been\nasking the administration to remove the waste, but we were not heard,\" says Karimabad sarpanch's representative\nEjaz Khan.

An MRF\nis set up on the recommendation of the municipality or district panchayat near\nurban or industrial areas, where waste is available in sufficient quantities\nfor the unit to process. The population of the area is also a criterion for\nsetting up the unit.

Flourmill\noperator Dhanraj Sahu (36) says a similar facility was built\nunder SBM-G in his native Vardha three years ago, but it has not been\nput to use to date. “All the waste is collected and dumped in the fields or on\nthe village outskirts,\" he adds.

The\nproblem of management of plastic and polythene waste is evident in the\nhistorical pond of Barigarh in Chhatarpur, located around one km\naway. “This pond was constructed hundreds of years ago to conserve water.\nBarigarh Municipal Council is not managing the issue of plastic accumulation in\nit,” says Uttam Ahirwar (44), a resident and local journalist.

Asked\nabout the roadblocks, SBM Deputy Commissioner for Madhya Pradesh Ajit\nTiwari tells 101Reporters that the\nmission has provided for the infrastructural needs of panchayats, yet\nthere were many operational problems at the panchayat level, including lack of\nhuman resources, improper monitoring, poor financial condition of panchayats\nand lack of awareness. \"In the 15th Finance Commission, a provision has\nbeen made to spend 30% of the budget of the three-tier panchayat system only on\ncleanliness. Plastic waste management at rural level is in its initial\nphase under SBM 2.0. It will take time,\" he says.

Garbage-filled plot located in Mandla village (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Tourist\nvillage affected

Madla\nforest village in Panna Tiger Reserve of Panna district has made it to\nthe United Nations World Tourism\nOrganisation’s list of best tourist villages in the world. Despite its status of an important tourist destination, no\nspecial system for waste management is present here.

Akash\nShivhare, who runs a footwear shop in Madla, tells 101Reporters that\nplastic heaps have become an eyesore in the area frequented by hundreds of\nlocal and foreign tourists. “From village roads to the pond, plastic can be\nseen everywhere. An NGO collects garbage from houses twice a week, but it is\nsimply not enough,” he says.

A year\nago, NGO Sahas launched the responsibility of making 30 villages in the Panna\nTiger Reserve plastic-free by utilising a grant from the Coca-Cola\nFoundation and help from Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department. Madla is the\nlargest among these 30 villages. Shailendra Rao, the local coordinator of\nSahas, informs 101Reporters that their swachhata\nmitras collect plastic and dry waste from every house in the village\non Monday and Tuesday.

“Every\ntime, we collect 40 to 50 kg of plastic waste — both single use plastic and multilayer — bottles and tetra packs. Currently, we\ndo not have an MRF in place; hence we sort and keep all the waste in our\nstoreroom itself. After collecting sufficient quantities, we send it off to a\ncement factory at Amanganj. Neither\npanchayat nor people support us, due to which we have not been able to\ncompletely free this village from plastic waste,\" Rao reasons.

A dry waste storage center in Mandla (Photo - Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

Asked\nwhy an MRF was not functional in Madla despite it being a tourist spot, Ajit\nTiwari says an MRF has been proposed 17 km away from Madla.\n\"At present, there is no facility for solid and plastic waste management\nat the village level. However, by the end of 2024, it will start functioning at\nthe village level also.\" This proposed MRF will deal with the waste from\n30 villages and Panna city.

According\nto a report on solid\nwaste management in rural areas, 0.3 to 0.4 million metric tonnes of\nsolid waste is generated every day in rural areas of India. Citing the data\nfrom the CPCB annual report 2019-20, a scoping paper titled Reducing\nPlastics in Rural Areas from the Centre for Science and\nEnvironment says only 1.18% of the total 22, 814 village panchayats\nin Madhya Pradesh have plastic waste management system and collection and\nsegregation sheds in place.

Formed five\nyears ago under the Supreme Court guideline, the 11-member Madhya Pradesh\nPlastic Waste Management Committee is headed by Imtiaz Ali, whose\norganisation Sarthak has created a plastic management model in the 222\nvillage panchayats coming under Bhopal district panchayat.\nThe village panchayats have been divided into 22 clusters, where dry\nand wet waste are collected by safai mitras regularly.

\"Segregation\nand disposal happen at the MRF, and self-help groups make products from plastic\nand rubber. The remaining plastic items are sent to cement factories or used in\nroad construction. Around 107 TPD collection happens in Bhopal rural on\naverage,\" says Ali, the director of Sarthak, who has been instrumental in\ncreating the model. In 2020- 2021, 405MT plastic waste was used for 938 km\nof road construction under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and MP Road Connectivity Project.

Hanumant\nS Malviya, senior scientist, Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB),\ntells 101Reporters that MPPCB’s role\nis only to ban the manufacturing of single-use plastic. “To date, we\nhave sealed 29 single-use plastic manufacturing units. Ban,\ntreatment and fines are the responsibilities of local administration,” he says.\n

According\nto the PCB, plastic waste does not come under the definition of pollution\nbecause it can be recycled. But if someone burns it and pollutes the air, or it\nenters 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)

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With ASHAs striking work since\nMarch seeking better wages, newborns and pregnant women die in rural Madhya\nPradesh due to lack of timely medical intervention

Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh: “Had I been at work, I would not have let this happen,” regrets Sharda\nKushwaha (29), an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) from Neh Pipariya\nvillage in Vidisha district.

On April 13, a village woman lost her newborn shortly after delivery as\nthe child was in breech position (bottom down and head up) in the womb. The\nfamily could not figure out that something was amiss and couldn't seek timely medical\nintervention. All this, as Sharda and thousands of ASHAs have been on an indefinite strike in Madhya Pradesh since March 23, demanding that they\nbe given a fair increase in their monthly stipend and assured of permanent\nemployee status.

ASHA supervisor Vinita Sharma claims three women and four newborns died\nin Vidisha district ever since the strike — a reminder of how rural health services rely heavily on the ASHAs in\ntheir role as providers of crucial outreach services under the Reproductive,\nMaternal, Neonatal, and Child Health and Nutrition (RMNCHN) strategy of the\nNational Health Mission.

“Ever since the strike began, non-institutional deliveries are on the\nrise. If we take the last\none-month period, seven deliveries have taken place at homes\nin my block. I feel this number would have otherwise been zero as the pregnant\nwomen would have been shifted to a hospital or health centre,” says Preeti\nRaghuvanshi, an ASHA supervisor from Tyonda block of Vidisha.

“Pregnant women go to the government hospital only because of the ASHAs.\nIn fact, no one wants to go there without an ASHA’s escort. They think there is\na lack of resources in government hospitals, and that people will not provide\nthe required information or behave well. So women do not want to\ngo to the hospital alone,” Lakshmi Korav, the president of Madhya Pradesh ASHA/ASHA\nSahyogini Shramik Sangh, tells 101Reporters.

Admitting that non-institutional deliveries have gone up ever since the\nstrike, Korav says, “Even check-ups and monitoring of pregnant women have\nstopped. The ASHAs used to get them medicines from health centres or check their\nblood pressure during door-to-door surveys. After delivery, they are encouraged\nto breastfeed. The ASHAs take care of the newborn in the first 28 days and\nconstantly monitor their weight. All of this has stopped.”

Nargis Bi of Sirnota is pregnant, but she will have to go alone to the\nprimary health centre (PHC) for check-up. \"The ASHA always accompanied me\nfor check-ups. Everything went well when she was around. Sometimes, she would take\nme to the district hospital for an ultrasound. She can better articulate my\nproblems to the doctor, which makes treatment easier.”

For now, the ASHAs have been instructed to verbally keep in touch with\nthe women and explain what they should necessarily do. “These are the people of\nour community; we have no enmity towards them. We care about the people we look\nafter. We have told them that right now we are on strike and cannot come to\ntake care of your child. It bothers us that we cannot help them while we are\nfighting 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.\nCurrently, the ASHAs and USHAs receive a monthly payment of Rs 2,000, while ASHA\nSahyoginis, 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\ndaily wage worker. My family has seven members. Tell me how I will run the\nhousehold with this meagre amount,” asks Sharda. Korav emphasises that they are\nonly demanding a living wage. “We need at least Rs 18,000 per month,\nwhich is the minimum wage a trained worker in Madhya Pradesh should get as per\nthe government mandate.”

However, the current focused demand relates to an agreement reached\nduring talks with a government delegation headed by Chhavi Bhardwaj, the then\nNHM Mission Director, in 2021. “On June 24, 2021, when we were protesting in\nBhopal, the government team engaged in talks with us, and it was agreed upon\nthat the ASHAs would be given Rs 10,000 per month and Sahyoginis Rs 15,000. We seek\nthe immediate implementation of this agreement and payment of arrears from that\ndate,\" 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\ncall 24x7. “We leave everything to tend to a woman in labour in the middle of\nthe night, yet join routine work early morning the very next day.”

The ASHAs maintain a register of pregnant women, newborns and other\ntarget beneficiaries. Every day, they go through a checklist and mark the areas\nthat need home visits — like\npregnant women in the last trimester or breastfeeding mothers — and set out on foot for door-to-door visits\nas soon as they are done with the work at the PHC. These visits facilitate\nearly detection of diseases, maternal and child healthcare, nutrition education\nand immunisation campaigns.

The ASHAs are like an extended family, intimately involved in the lives\nof the villagers they serve. They not only provide essential healthcare but\nalso act as sources of support. “Being part of the local culture and customs makes\nit easier to tackle sensitive health topics. We counsel the residents on\nnumerous issues. We talk about family planning and encourage sterilisation… We\nknow which house has what issue, and how it should be addressed,” says Usha\nSharma, an ASHA from Sirnota.

Pooja Kushwaha from Ahmedpur is forever thankful to the ASHA who\nsupported her during pregnancy. “I was underweight, had low BP and suffered\nfrom bouts of nervousness… Arti Lodhi, our ASHA, checked upon me regularly, and\nsometimes accompanied me to the PHC for check-up. She gave me iron tablets.\nAfter her counselling session, I was no longer anxious about the delivery,”\nsays Kushwaha, who also\ngot maternity assistance under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) with her help.

The JSY is a centrally sponsored scheme that integrates cash assistance\nwith delivery and post-delivery care. The scheme has recognised ASHAs as an\neffective link between the government and pregnant women. It aims at promoting\ninstitutional deliveries and reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by\nproviding cash incentives to those who give birth in healthcare institutions.

“She (ASHA) has been with us from the beginning of pregnancy. She\nadvised me about both maternal and child health. After the baby’s arrival, she\nonly took care of the vaccination, weight, nutrition and everything else,”\nattests Sunaina Bairagi, a new mother from Ahmedpur.

The ASHAs hold weekly sessions with the women and children\nat anganwadis to ensure holistic\ndevelopment and well-being of children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. “We are trained in providing assistance during childbirth in both home\nand institutional settings. No one knows exactly when a delivery will happen,\nso we are always prepared when a woman is expecting,” says Usha.

They also maintain a record of the children’s growth and development.\n“Ever since the strike, the data on nourishment levels of children have not\nbeen shared with the government. No one is tracking nutritional intake. These\nchildren are walking a fine line between undernourishment and malnourishment,” cautions\nKorav.

The ASHAs were to start\nthe registration work for the\nnewly-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\nrole in facilitating timely and appropriate referrals for emergency obstetric\ncare.

Around March-April, they conduct a malaria survey to check the presence\nof mosquito larvae on household premises. Vaccination drive against Japanese\nEncephalitis is also carried out during this period. None of these activities have\nbeen taken up this time.

No doubt, the ASHA strike has crippled rural health services in Madhya\nPradesh. The only thing left to know is how long the government will take to intervene.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava

Cover photo - The ASHA strike has crippled rural health services in Madhya Pradesh (Photo sourced by Satish Malviya, 101Reporters)

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