The ShivGanga NGO, independent from the usual
Missionary or Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (the Hindu nationalist tribal front)
networks, has come about as an answer to the Jhabua district's grave water
problems, which made life difficult for the local Bhil/Bilala tribals. Basing
material self-reliance on cultural self-respect, the movement makes use of the
tribals' own cultural resources to motivate them for village development. So,
for "harvesting" water, it lets the villagers take inspiration from
the myth of Shiva's blessings to Bhagirath bringing the Ganga down to earth,
applying each of its motifs to the various aspects of development, e.g.
labelling the required technology as Jata (Shiva's matted hair). It is one of
the more successful among tribal development schemes.
Jhabua is a tribal-dominated district in
westernmost Madhya Pradesh. Unlike some tribes who lived in isolation until
recently and were culturally quite distinct from Hindu society, the Bhil and
Bilala tribes (more than 87% of Jhabua's population), living near the Vedic
heartland, have been in touch with the Brahmanical culture since Mahabharata
times. As a consequence, their religion is partly specific to them, partly
generally Hindu. There is also a Christian minority, though the process of
conversions has largely stopped. The tribals have a profound cultural heritage,
including religious and social rituals, traditions, arts, crafts and human
values.
During the British Raj and after
Independence, there has been a systematic effort to culturally neglect and
economically exploit this innocent population. A tangible problem for the
population is the paucity of water, with lowering underground water levels and
the waste of otherwise opulent rain water (+900 mm/year) making life ever more
difficult. Most of the rain water is drained out because of the hilly terrain
and rocky soil, leaving the area dry for 6-8 months of a year. The major hurdle
in the development of that region is the non availability of water for
cultivation and other purposes, partly due to deforestation. As there is no
provision to retain this rain water, the villagers who are basically small
cultivators can take only one crop a year. As there is no other source of income,
hundreds of thousands of villagers have to displace themselves temporarily to
neighboring cities to work as labourers for their livelihood. This aggravates
the problem of the children's lack of education, poor
health care facilities and other social evils.
health care facilities and other social evils.
The Shivganga Samagra Gramvikas Parishad
(SSGP, Shivganga All-Round Village Development Council) makes use of the
tribals' own cultural resources to motivate them to develop. It seeks to establish social leadership of young trained development
workers from among the locals during cultural and traditional festivals.
Training is given in 3-day camps locally and 7-day camps in the nearby cities
of Indore and Bhopal (Vananchal Sashaktikaran Varga), making them Paramarthi-s
("spiritual leaders"). They learn village organization, setting up
cultural activities, and how to identify and solve problems; so far reaching
6000 youth from 700 villages. Advanced training consists of visits to the
Police Station, Court, various offices etc., to learn how to deal with officialdom.
Gifted youngsters are given further training at an engineering college in
Indore. Consequently, they, along with villagers decide their developmental
priorities and work together. Thus the motivated villagers join SSGP and
conduct developmental activities like constructing water bodies, organizing
training camps for skill development, organic farming etc. For mass awareness
and education, village libraries are established.
The result is that Gram (village)
engineers, in consultation with the villagers, make a plan of rainwater
conservation and rainwater harvesting. The villagers take an oath to work
voluntarily for water conservation. During the months of April and May,
thousands of villagers joins hands to work together for over two months continuously.
A Jalayatra ("foot march for water") is organized every year in
Jhabua to increase the awareness of the need for water conservation and
harvesting. Thousands of tribals march on foot around the city with geti
(pickaxe) and favda (shovel) to motivate other people to work for water
conservation. A yearly event of coming together and working together for rain
water harvesting called Halma is being organized since 2010 at Hatipawa hills,
Jhabua.In 2010 more than 1500 volunteers, in 2011 more than 8000 village
volunteers and in 2012 more than 12000 volunteers worked together, with the
inspiration of Parmartha Bhava ("spirituality”).
The SSGP is independent from the usual
Missionary or Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (the Hindu nationalist tribal front)
networks, and receives no money from abroad. It is exclusively rooted in
Western Madhya Pradesh, i.e. Jhabua itself and the nearby Indore area.
2 comments:
could you please share a contact number for ShivGanga NGO?
+91 9425319640
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