Brown dominates the colour palette: the grass, the rundown path, even the trees, which are leafless and lifeless. The harsh sun beats down on a group of journalists who make their way to a village in the middle of nowhere.
There is an acute water crisis in Patna village, located in the Birawar block of the Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh, about 80 km from Khajuraho. Chhatarpur, located in central Bundelkhand, has some of the lowest per capita income levels and human development indices in the country.
Haritika, a livelihood project that looks to improve the lives of people living in extreme poverty in Bundelkhand, tied up with the Coca Cola India Foundation’s Anandana project, an undertaking that supports social projects in water sustainability and renewable energy, with a focus on solar power. The foundation has completed 27 projects across India, the first being in Rajasthan.
In Patna, a village of about 500 people, the situation is grave. “The main source of income for the villagers is picking flowers from Mahua trees, which grow all over the region. The flowers, from which oil can be extracted, have medicinal properties, and can be used to make locally consumed alcohol too. But this wasn’t enough, so they took up agriculture.” Avani Mohan Singh, Chief Functionary at Haritika, says.
Farmers could grow just two crops a year and the women had to walk a minimum of four or five hours daily to get potable water. “The villagers used to grow crops in one season and seek work as labourers in the other seasons,” Singh says.
Water conservation
The Anandana project invested ₹67 lakh over two years to build a check-dam at Patna to conserve water. “If we get good rains in July and September, the water in the dam lasts us the whole year.” one villager says.
“We were approached by Avani Mohan Singh with a proposal. That then went through various committees and, after seeing the low social indices, we decided to take on this project,” says Himanshu Thapliyal, Programme Manager, Coca-Cola India Foundation. In all, Coca Cola has spent over ₹1 crore on the project at Patna village, he adds.
After the construction of the check-dam, the groundwater level has risen by 50 feet and ponds have been created near the village, which are used to irrigate crops.
“Earlier, a farmer used to earn ₹25,000 annually; now they earn ₹80,000 to ₹90,000 a year. Owing to the project, the villagers have also been able to cultivate an orchard where mangoes, gooseberries and guavas grow.” Singh says.
Ramadhin, a septuagenarian who owns about two-and-a-half acres of land in the village, says: “Previously, we couldn’t even grow corn on this land. Now I get a good crop every year. I grow almost four crops on my land, as compared to just two earlier.” he adds.
Another villager, Govind, says that the young people now stay back and work in the village instead of migrating to urban areas.
Self sufficient
“The main goal of the water conservation project was to make the village self-sufficient. To help it further in that direction, we installed solar-powered street lamps, laid a concrete road, helped set up solar-powered bore-wells and built toilets in the village to ensure better sanitation,” Thapliyal says.
Despite the state of affairs looking up, Patna has a long way to go before it catches up on all social indicators. The closest Primary Health Centre is at Kishangarh, 6 km away, which is also where the villagers go every week to buy supplies. “No one in the village has enough money to set up a shop,” Singh says.
The local school has classes only up till the Std 5. For the rest of their schooling, the children go to a school at Kishangarh. “There is a bus every three hours, and the bus stop is 3 km away. Instead of putting the children through the long walk everyday, there is a hostel in Kishangarh, where the girls stay and finish school,” a woman says.
Education
There is no graduate in the village, with most of the youth having finished just Std 10. 15-year-old Savitri Pal, who wrote the Class 10 Board Exams last month, says that her future, academic and otherwise, depends on what her parents want. “The girls in the village are not discouraged from studying, but most are married off young.”
At present, the check dam is almost dry, but the villagers aren’t worried. “It’s a miracle the water lasted us this long despite it not raining in September. We are looking forward to the monsoon in July.” Govind Singh, a farmer, says.
Boys play in the water as a woman fills her pot. She hoists it on her head and walks back toward the village. She’ll be home in a matter of minutes, something that wasn’t possible a few years ago.
(The writer was in Patna at the invitation of Coca-Cola India Foundation.)