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Tribal rehabilitation for livelihood enhancement:
Experience of DHRUVA
Vaibhav Bhamoriya
IWMI-Tata Water Policy Programme, Anand
For the Central India Initiative

Table of contents
Locale____________________________________________________________________2
Climate ___________________________________________________________________3
Infrastructure______________________________________________________________3
The Community ____________________________________________________________4
Koknas__________________________________________________________________4
Warlis __________________________________________________________________5
Kolchas _________________________________________________________________6
Exposure to Outside World __________________________________________________6
Social Structure ___________________________________________________________6
Sponsoring Organization: BAIF - DHRUVA_____________________________________9
DHRUVA (Dharampur Uththan Vahini)_______________________________________10
The Wadi Programme in Dharampur and Kaprada ______________________________12
The Ayojan Samiti –Empowering the people ____________________________________16
Cooperative _____________________________________________________________17
The Vasundhara Cooperative _______________________________________________18
Uniqueness of the BAIF Approach____________________________________________18
Involvement of women______________________________________________________22
What CInI can gain from the BAIF-DHRUVA experience_________________________23
References _______________________________________________________________26
Annexures________________________________________________________________27
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DHRUVA Experience of enhancing tribal livelihoods
Locale
The area covers two districts Navsari and Valsad. Vansda where the initiative began in 1982
is in Navsari district whereas Dharampur and Kaprada are a part of the Valsad district.
Dharampur, an erstwhile princely state is a taluka in the district of Valsad in the state of
Gujarat. Like all other districts of south Gujarat, Valsad and Navsari too are divided into two
zones – the Talat and the Dungar. Both the districts have similar topography. Prior to the
division of Dharampur into Dharampur and Kaprada talukas it used to be the largest taluka in
the whole of Gujarat covering 1650 sq. kms. of land expanse. Towards the east this taluka has
a region where the land bears much dissected and poorer appearance. Deeply furrowed
streams and river zigzagging through the low hills are a common sight. The hills and slopes
are covered with forest, once dense but a good deal depleted now due to indiscriminate
felling. The region is shaped like a plateau has quite a few high hills with lofty peaks. This
“Dungar” region is the home to Koknas and the Warlis – two schedule tribes inhabiting
majority of the taluka and also to the kolghas or kolchas or kolis who also inhabit the region.
However, the cultivable land per capita in both the regions is, however, the same: 0.77 acres.
Table: 1 Land Use and Per Capita Cultivable Land in Talat and Dungar Region (1971)
Particulars Talat * Dungar* Total Column 2 & 3 as a
percentage of Column 4
Land Use (acres):
Talat Dungar
1 Forest 7684 167217 174901 4.3 95.7
2 Cultivable Waste 2023 27636 29657 6.8 93.2
3 Area not available
for cultivation
6874 51864 58738 11.7 88.3
4 Cultivable Land ** 54252 86362 140614 36.8 61.4
Total 70833 333079 403912 17.5 82.5
Total Population 69634 112119 181753 38.3 61.7
Per Capita Cultivable
Land (acres)
0.77 0.77 0.77 - -
Source: Census 1971, District Census Handbook: Valsad District: Series 5, Parts X-A & B,
Director of Census Operations, Ahmedabad, pp – 98-112 (Part – A), 80 -91 (Part – B).
* ‘Talat’ includes 41 villages and ‘ Dungar’ 196 villages.
** Includes 556 irrigated acres: 550 acres in ‘Talat’ and 6 acres in ‘Dungar’ regions.
The taluka belongs to the Sahayadri hills stretching southwards making the landscape to be
dominated by a chain of flat topped hills. The “Dungar” terrain is further divided into two
parts (a) hill plateaus and escarpment slopes, and (b) foothill slopes. The former includes two
types of hill slopes – (i) piedmont plateaus with 3-7 % slope at hill tops and (ii) escarpment
slope of plateaus with hillslopes ranging from 15-50 % and even more. The foothill slopes are
gently sloping with the slope varying from 5-15 %.
Due to basaltic formation the soils are red loam and black soil, which are heterogamous in
colour, depth and other characteristics. On piedmont slopes the soils, red in colour, have
shallow sollum depth. Soil fertility in general is not a constraint, but soil erosion is.
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BAIF/DHRUVA has studied in depth the soil characteristics and soil problems by
physiographic position and the measures to tackle them in designing solutions to the problem.
The project region shown in maps schematically
Climate
The climate of the area is humid to sub-humid. Summer starts in March, rather early, and
continues till monsoon sets in during the second half of June. The highest temperature is
around 105 degrees Fahrenheit in May and minimum in January down to 40 degrees
Fahrenheit. The maximum and minimum temperatures between different years shows much
variation and also across months in a year indicating the uncertainty in agriculture regarding
production and productivity.
More important than temperature is rainfall. Though the monsoon breaks in second half of
June and continues till September, nearly one half of the annual rainfall falls in the month of
July. The local people say from the third week of June till the first week of august there is
some amount of rainfall everyday without fail. There have been no winter rains since 1960.
The decennial average annual rainfall during 1901-1950 increased continually from 1946 mm
to 3015 mm in 1941-1950. Since then it has again been declining but at a much smaller rate.
The rainfall trend in dharampur since 1951 certainly highlights the need for conserving the
available water resources and optimizing their use for agricultural development.
The major rivers and rivulets in the taluka are auranga, man, tan, par, kolak, damanganga.
Exploitation of groundwater, though available in substantial measures, is both difficult and
costly. Being formed of basaltic rocks with trap rocks generally occurring 30-40 feet below
ground level and hard, massive rocks further below, irrigation through tubewells is not viable.
Infrastructure
Communication
Communication in the dungar region is a problem despite roads and buses plying.
Maintenance of roads is a problem on the steep slopes with the high amount of concentrated
rainfall. Also many roads are submerged in overflowing water during the monsoon months
cutting all communication to certain areas during the monsoons. The tribal people often do
not have money to pay the bus fares and transporting produce up to 10-25 kilometers to
Dharampur town to sell it and earn money is a big problem at times limiting the economic
return from agriculture as a profession. Even in villages which are connected by road and
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where buses play the hutment might be on or beyond a slope so that the villager has to travel
for 2-3 kms beyond the bus stop or road on tough hilly terrain. Lack of roads in the area was
a major reason of isolation and backwardness of these areas till mid seventies
Hats
All hats are held in the morning, usually from 7-12 AM. Those which are held in the dungar
region remain closed during the monsoon. This is an added difficulty in the life of the
villagers. The number of villagers visiting these “hats” varies depending on their location and
size. A tribal “hat” is not just a market centre. It is the hub of tribal social life. Men women
and children visit it not just to buy or sell wares but to preserve and promote their social and
economic ties. Young boys and girls meet here to choose their marriage partners. It is also the
centre of exchange of views and ideas. It is difficult to find people in villages on the day of a
haat nearby.
Power supply
The situation has improved significantly in the past years but there are many houses of tribal
folks situated at such odd spots that reaching out electricity and power supply there is an
enormous task and often too costly. Thus actually there is availability restricted by location
rather than “full” electricity for all.
The Community
Koknas
They are also known as Kokni or Kukni or Kukna, they once inhabited the Konkan, the
western costal strip of Maharashtra. They speak Kokni, an indo-aryan language, which also
uses the written letter in the devanagri script. The ABO blood group gene frequencies also
show them to be markedly different from the other central Indian Gond population. They are
usually non-vegetarian but do not eat beef. Pork and goat meat are also rarely consumed.
Rice is the staple cereal supplemented with jowar (Sorghum) or Nagli (millet). The drinking
habit is more common in men while the women consume occasionally. The community is
divided into exogamous clans. They usually follow monogamy though polygyny is allowed
in their community. They are allowed to marry cross cousins. Vermillion and anklets are the
symbol of a married woman. A large number of kokna men who are unable to pay the hefty
bride price remain unmarried. The family is usually nuclear. They are patrilocal, patrilineal
and patripodestal people. The rule of inheritance follows the male line. The women however
participate along with men in social, ritual and economic activities. They also contribute to
family income by working as daily wage labourers or agricultural labourers. The kokna
people cremate the dead. They have a traditional patil community council headed by a
regional kokna council for the redressal of grievances.
The kokna profess the traditional form of religion. The community deities are Himaidev and
Kansaridev. More than 99% of the kokna population is returned as Hindus in the census
surveys. Their houses are usually adorned with the idols of gods and goddesses. They are
primarily cultivators and age labourers. Some have taken up other occupations as well. In the
1981 census 41.55% were returned as workers and of them 66.93% are cultivators, 20.76%
are agricultural labourers, 4.02 are in manufacturing, processing etc and remaining 8.29% are
engaged in other occupations. Of late, the inter-community linkages are increasing. They
have responded positively to formal education. The literacy rate is 19.94 % (29.05% for
males and 10.62% for females) as per the 1981 census. Intercommunity marriages are strictly
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prohibited among them but they share water resources, crematoria and public places with
other communities.
Warlis
North Konkan in Western India is the heartland of the Warlis. The term Warli has been
derived from the word Waral which means uplanders. Enthoven (1922) observed that the
Warli community was semi-nomadic and lived in small groups under their own headmen.
They speak the Warli language which is also an indo-aryan language with the devanagri
script. The Warli are generally of below medium height, with a round head shape, broad face
and more often short and broad nose. They show the presence of sickle cell trait in small
proportions. In the ABO blood group system they are closer to the central region tribes
though slightly different. They are predominantly non-vegetarian but avoid beef and pork.
Their staple food is rice, supplemented with Jowar (sorghum) and Nagli (finger millet). Milk
consumption is negligible in the community.
They have four endogamous and more than forty exogamous social divisions. Mates are
generally acquired through negotiation or by rendering service. They practice polygyny
occasionally. The first marriage is called lagan and the second and subsequent marriages are
called Nowli. Necklaces and toe-rings are the symbols of married women. Residence after
marriage is patrilocal. Bride price is paid both in cash and kind. Divorces also take place and
post divorce the father becomes the custodian of the children. Remarriage is permitted but
only to non-virgins. Age at marriage is 12-16 for girls and 17-20 for boys. The families are
vertically extended through male lineage. The women take part in economic activity.
Childhood rituals and 30 days of birth pollution are practiced by them. The dead are cremated
but infants are buried.
There is a council of Warli elders, which settles the disputes within the community. In case
the dispute remains unresolved, the police patil, again a Warli settles the dispute. The cases of
inter community disputes are settled by the Sarpanch of the statutory Panchayat. The
traditional council at the hamlet level is headed by kabhari and at the village level by Patil.
Their village deities are Gamdevi and Vaghdeo. The major festival is Shun. The community
has a medicine man called the Bhagat. Alike the Koknas more than 99% of the Warlis are
followers of Hinduism. Most of the Warli households display graphics on the walls drawn
with rice powder. They also make mats from date leaves. Both men and women are painters.
They make pictographs to celebrate festivals. They paint in white with touches of brilliant
gerua (saffron) red on the walls of their homes which are earthy brown in colour. They are
fond of music and dance and have traditional folk songs and folk tales. They practice Basketmaking.
The primary and traditional occupation of the Warlis is agriculture. The subsidiary
occupation is wage labour in agriculture or fruit orchards owned by the Parsis. They also
exchange labour among themselves. As per the 1981 census 43.20% of them are workers and
among them 67.02% are cultivators, 27.07% are agricultural labourers and the remaining
5.91% are engaged in other occupations. The Warlis have seen some political activity with
the movement to abolish serfdom. The literacy rate is however only 9.87% (1981 census) –
15.42% for males and only 4.30% for the females. They have taken positively to family
planning programmes and also to fair price shops.
5

Kolchas
They are also called as Koli or Dhor in other parts inhabited by them. Enthoven (1922) stated
that they derived their name form the word Dhor meaning cattle. In Gujarat they are also
called naik koli and tokre koli. They speak the Kolchi dialect of Gujarati at home and use the
Gujarati script. They are non-vegetarians and also eat beef and carrion. It is because of this
that they are looked down upon by other neighbouring tribes like the Kokna and the Warlis.
Their staple diet includes Nagli (finger millet), warai (panicum milliaceum), jowar and rice.
They are divided into divisions based on their occupational pursuits and relationships with
the landlords. They are further divided into clans. They are generally monogamous but some
examples of polygyny exist. Spouses are generally acquired by mutual consent, service and
elopement. As per 1981 census 44.65% of them are workers (60.04% males and 29.04%
females) and among them 58.19% are cultivators, 36.89% are agricultural labourers and
remaining 4.92% are engaged in other occupations. The children work as cattle herds. The
chief deities are Gwal dev, Naran dev, Kersan Devi, Mani Mata. More than 99% are
followers of Hinduism. They accept food and water from other neighbouring communities
like the kokna, warli, Dhodia etc. Some of them have benefited from the rural development
projects. The family welfare programme is effective among them. Their literacy rate is
17.41% (27.65% males and 7.03% females).
Exposure to Outside World
The resources available with the tribal folks in the dharampur region are limited. They have
high amounts of rainfall but it is limited to a few days and that to in harmful spells of flash
rains and long seasons of shortage of water scarcity. This means that most of them are
unemployed for most of the year and have little sources of earning or subsistence during this
time in the dungar. Earlier they supplemented their kharif crops with forest produce. With the
gradual dwindling of forests and enforcement of laws by the forest department this support
has also weaned away. This coupled with severe drinking water crises during the summer
months led them to search for economic opportunities elsewhere.
This started a tradition of migration to the Talat in the fruit orchards (wadi) of the Parsees
and the other non-tribal people there. As more and more tribal people searched for such
opportunities, the distance of migration grew and some would go as far as navsari, vapi,
Valsad to work not only in the orchards of rich farmers in this region but also as masons,
construction workers etc.. Before the intervention of DHRUVA most of the tribal people had
seen wadi and also had little exposure of the work in the wadi. This gradually grew to
exposure to other crops like sugarcane, watermelon, vegetables etc. even in most economic
centres of the dungar the land and economy was controlled by the non-tribals e.g. in Kaprada
all the shops and economic establishments are on the land of a parsee besides the highway to
Nasik, he still charges rent from them and has himself shifted to Mumbai some thirty or forty
years ago.
Social Structure
The taluka has close to 90% tribal population. The non-tribal population is concentrated in
the Talat region. The dungar region is predominantly tribal. The tribal population consists of
a number of ethnic groups – Dhodias, Kokna, Warli, Nayaka, Dubla, Koli, Kolcha, and
Borpi. While the Dhodias are concentrated in the fertile plains of the talat, the Kokna, Warli
and Kolchas are concentrated in the dungar region. To an outsider especially during the first
few days they all seem to fit into a large and somewhat vague tribal ethnic group. There are
however distinguishing physical features and dress patterns (especially of the womenfolk).
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Many of the differences in physical characteristics are genetic coming about due to
differences in gene composition of these groups based on their original genetic stock.
The tribes vary widely in their degrees of cohesiveness. This difference in cohesiveness may
be associated with differential leadership patterns and inter-tribal interaction. The koknas are
reputed to be extremely hardworking, good agriculturists and equally responsive to the
development stimuli of education and agricultural innovations. The warlis are more
subsistence oriented and not so developed in agriculture. Though the various tribal groups
live peacefully with each other social interaction is some what restricted. To illustrate, intertribal
marriages are strictly prohibited with severe
Feudal history
The kingdom of dharampur was founded by a Rajput prince of Udaipur in 1262 and was
ruled by his successors for about seven hundred years until the accession of states to
independent India. The kingdom enjoyed more or less peaceful existence with very rare
occasions of war or other belligerence. Two incidents that stand out in the history are the
revolt of the koli chiefs during Laxmandev’s rule (1566-1600) freeing themselves from his
rule only to be brought under control after a few years. During Somdev’s rule (1777-1784) a
sever famine occurred in 1784 forcing the famished tribesmen to sack the capital making the
king flee to the jungles nearby for a few months. As the Rajput feudal king gained supremacy
of martial power the indigenous tribe exercised increasingly less control over their own lives.
They had little say in the state and also they received little benefit from the formation of the
state. The kings returned paternalistic benevolence to the tribesmen for their docile
subjugation as subjects to the feudal kings.
During the British rule a conscious policy of isolation was adopted for purposes of
administration. This led to two way deterioration in the condition of the tribal – they were
neglected by the state machinery in its overzealousness on isolation leaving them out and far
behind in the path of development and progress. Secondly the isolation led them to be freely
exploited by certain groups or individuals with vested interests. This led to a total loss of faith
over the “other” or “outsiders” in their hearts which is responsible for the remnants of
xenophobia within their hearts.
Settlement patterns
The tribal folks living in the flat plains live in more closely clustered houses that can be
loosely called a village whereas those in the dungar region reside in smaller and more widely
scattered hamlets. The villages in the hilly region are large but the number of dwellings
ranges from 50-200 separated by tracts of cultivable land wherever flat land is available
amidst slopes and forest lands. They construct houses scattered to minimize the damage
possible due to floods and epidemics and do not construct houses facing each other to avoid
the evil spirit in the opposite house, if any.
Normally the tribal houses are built on slopes or on uplands near tanks, rivulets and creaks to
minimize the damaging effect of the heavy rainfall and to ease in availability of water during
summer months of extreme scarcity. The tribal dwellings are simple and made of wooden
poles (usually teak/sal is used), leaf thatching, and bamboos. The walls of the huts are very
interesting and made of sheets knitted out of bamboo skins placed in between teak/ sal pillars.
This sheet is further covered with mixture of cow dung mud and water to fortify the walls and
also keep it warm during the winters and provide strength and increased firmness. These huts
need regular maintenance twice a year, before and after the monsoons. Constructing houses is
7

a community activity among the folks; houses are built with the help of close relatives and
clan members in exchange of food and drink. The huts are divided in four to five
compartments – one outer one for cattle and animals, one for cooking , one for storing grains
and one or two for retiring or entertaining guests. Any huts with a different architecture are
meant for special other purposes like meeting places or some institution like ayojan samiti
etc.
Households
Households remain the most important kind of indigenous social grouping, socially and
economically; people sleeping together under the same roof also spend most of their working
hours together and pool most of their energies and goods for common consumption. The
households are predominantly nuclear though the bondings between older and younger
generation are strong. Living together with married sons and daughters creates many
problems under the same roof and also the land holding is generally not enough to support the
extended family members. As the land is scattered the younger generation goes to live near
the inherited land away from the parent dwelling in his newly constructed dwelling. In
practice a married son lives with his parents for a year or two till he establishes his own
separate household.
The society is generally patrilineal except in few cases of Khandari when married daughters
are found to live with their parents. This eventuates when either (A) the head of the family
has no sons, or (B) the parents do not like to separate from the daughters for emotional
reasons. In the first case the son in law cultivates the in-laws lands and tends to all their
needs and after their death he inherits their property by adopting their clan membership and
giving up his parental clan membership. In the second case the daughter gets an equal share
of the parental property.
Each tribe is divided into endogamous divisions and each endogamous division contains a
number of exogamous groupings called kul or clan. Houses belonging to members of the
same clan (atak) are clustered together in a village. These tribal clans have some important
social characteristics : (a) no member is permitted to marry a member of the same clan. (b)
Nearly all economically valuable land and traditional wealth are passed through patrilineal
ties form one generation to the other (c) each clan has a totem and myth concerning their
origin though the tribes are not totemic ( the totems are not worshipped or shown any special
regard).
The compact local clan group is important but loses its relevance if it is separated by a long
distance of 20-30 miles in between. Most decisions are taken by the senior male members
after carefully raising issues, discussions, arguments and the final decision is reached by
consensus.
Activity Pattern
The tribals of Dharampur were and generally continue to be subsistence farmers by tradition,
necessity and choice. In the olden days they obtained most of their foodstuffs from their land
and supplemented this by fishing, livestock rearing, collecting tree and forest products, and
hunting. To these subsistence activities a major economic activity – wage employment was
added.
Obtaining food is by far the most important time and energy consuming activity of most
tribals. It takes up more than half the working hours of an average adult. On average women
8

spend more hours at it daily then the men who spend about five-six hours daily on the task
depending on the seasonality and availability of wage employment. The agriculture season
starts with the first monsoon showers in June. The slack season starts after the harvest in
October / November and barring occasional breaks in between continues till June. It is during
this slack period that tribals usually seek alternative sources of income – as labourers in forest
cooperatives, road construction, and other developmental activities such as grass cutting.
Two important things need to be stressed to present the level of poverty in this region: (A) a
large number of tribal families do not posses sufficient cultivable land to provide a minimum
living all the year round and (B) opportunities for wage employment are extremely limited.
Hunting used to be another economic activity but is reducing with the pressure on land
increasing. Even earlier the booty derived from the activity was small only. The spoils are
equally distributed among the hunting group and cooked and consumed in the respective
homes.
Food generally means nagli, rice-corn and tur, all kharif crops. Rice cultivation was
introduced among the tribals long back. Very few tribal families are self-sufficient in their
requirement of the basic staple food; over and above this they have acquired the need for
clothes salts, other dried fish and food articles, material goods and alcoholic drinks.
Traditionally perhaps their need for staple food items was met by the non-monetary
reciprocal exchange system between clan members and tribal groups. This is almost
completely replaced by the monetary exchange system.
The major crops grown in this area are paddy, Nagli (finger millet), kharsani (Niger), and
varai (panicum millaecum). Paddy is grown in typical flat tracts in between forests and
hillocks where water may be allowed to stand for paddy cultivation. Nagli and kharsani are
grown on hill slopes and are at times grown even on steep hill slopes. Nagli is typically
germinated in a nursery and then transplanted to the hill slopes about eight days before the
advent of monsoon. Kharsani is grown in fields which cannot be really tended to like
encroached lands of the forest department or fields situated far away from the hutments.
The complete absence of any kind of socially meaningful leisure-time activity except toddy
drinking and occasional feasts and ceremonies was an eye-opening observation to tribal
researchers in the mid sixties and seventies. A group of tribal people gossiping or talking
about some issues in a village is a rare phenomenon. It should be noted here that there are
some important and relevant activities e.g. hut building, “mahuva” collection, sowing,
harvesting etc. where the tribal people help each other among its clan members and relatives.
Sponsoring Organization: BAIF - DHRUVA
Manibhai Desai started a nature cure centre at Uralikanchan near Pune with inspiration and
blessings from the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The success of this initiative and
the success of consequent experiments at income generation activities led to the
establishment of the Bharitya Agro Industries foundation (BAIF) at Uralikanchan in 1967.
This was later renamed as BAIF Development Research Foundation. With the continuous
success of the organization it has managed to establish self supported organizations in each
state where it has intervened. BAIF development research foundation (henceforth referred to
as BAIF) has also successfully intervened in many arenas of rural life.
BAIF’s mission is to create opportunities of gainful self employment for the rural families’
especially disadvantaged sections, ensuring sustainable livelihood, enriched environment,
9

improved quality of life and good human values. This is being achieved through development
research, effective use of local resources, extension of appropriate technologies and
upgradation of skills and capabilities with community participation. BAIF is a non-political,
secular and professionally managed organization.
BAIF Approach
The BAIF approach is based on following principles:
family as a unit
Focus on Quality of Life
Assured livelihood
Women Empowerment
Environmental Protection
Blending Development with Research and Training
People’s Organizations
BAIF works through the following programmes
Livestock Development
Watershed development
Tree based farming system
Tribal rehabilitation through agro-horti-forestry
Women empowerment and environment cut across all programmes
Community health
BAIF has three establishments and eight associate organizations through which it operates in
eight different states (Mahrashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal,
Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh) and reaches out to over 12,000 villages. They have
helped over 0.5 million poor families to come out of poverty through introduction of
appropriate technologies for gainful self-employment and building up their capabilities.
DHRUVA (Dharampur Uththan Vahini)
DHRUVA an associate organization of BAIF Development and Research Foundation works
in 200 tribal villages spread over the districts of Valsad, Navsari and Dangs in South Gujarat.
After its establishment in 1995, DHRUVA has consistently strived to bring about a positive
transformation in the lives of the tribal poor. Adopting the axiom, people first in
development, DHRUVA is implementing various tribal development programmes, that
embrace health, women’s development, savings and credit, water and soil conservation, all
crucial components for ensuring a holistic growth. Backward and forward linkages with the
application of appropriate technological advances are the mainstays of all the development
programmes implemented by DHRUVA.
An organization called the Sadguru Sewa Sangh Trust used to work in the vansda and
dharampur areas. This organization worked more in the relief mode than in the development
or progress mode. It was founded on benevolence of the mafatlal group and was involved in
distributing food, blankets and other aid. It started work in vansda in 1968. In early eighties
Manibhai Desai on a visit accompanied by Mr. Arvind Mafatlal found that the lot of the tribal
people had only deteriorated despite all this inflow of aid. This prompted him to suggest a
change in the mode of working and the area was taken over by BAIF from its sister
organization, Sadguru Sangh.
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BAIF took over the activity ahead of the food for work programme being implemented by the
Sadguru Sewa Sangh Trust. While the food for work concentrated on the forest department
giving a parcel of degraded land to the tribals (2.5 acres) that they were supposed to develop
with family labour and then return 1.5 acres to the forest department and retain one acre of
land. BAIF concentrated on this acre of land and the wadi wonder came about.
A knowledge based approach was formulated and the comprehension of the area around
vansda was processed with this knowledge and the experience of Manibhai and he
incorporated the needs and desires of the tribal people and formulated the first Wadi
development programme. Manibhai’s task was to rehabilitate the tribal in his own land and
area but was faced with the problem that most of the tribals were busty with producing food
while they were in the villages and soon after migrated to supplement as their poor quality
lands did not yield enough for sustenance of life. It was thus difficult to work with the tribals
as they were not available. These posed an increased task – of making the tribal stay in the
village and yet earn gainfully to be able to sustain his life till the results of any program
brought back benefit to his household.
In 1982 the Wadi programme was launched with the funding support of NREP (National
Rural Employment Programme) for 3 years. The programme sought to avoid future conflicts
of land ownership and as such there was a pre requisite to have a clear land title before the
wadi could be established on the land parcel. Initially about 114 families had shown interest
in the programme but when a copy of the land registration form (7/12) was asked for most
retreated fearing that the intervening agency would usurp their meager lands leaving them
with nothing. Faced with such xenophobia, BAIF managed to start the programme with 44
families in the first year in village Lachchakadi in Vansda taluka of District Navsari. The
demand for establishing wadis on their fields with aid from BAIF came from the people’s
side in the second year and by the end of the third year there were about a 1000 wadis in
vansda taluka. The programme was conditional. Only those who agreed to (a) work according
to the guidelines provided by the project personnel. (b) Work by themselves on their own plot
with family members and not hire outside help, and (c) give up alcoholic drinks, were
identified as beneficiaries.
Table : coverage of villages by DHRUVA in South Gujarat
Particular Dist. Navsari
Tal. Vansda
Dist. Valsad
Tal. Dharampur
& Kaprada
Dist. Dang
Tal. Ahwa
Total no. of villages 95 238 311 614
Total no. of villages covered by DHRUVA 38 144 18 200
% of village covered by DHRUVA 40 % 64 % 6 %
Total
Continuity has been a major concern of the programme. With funding support limited to a
few years and often short of the maturity period of the fruit trees or the forestry trees it is
difficult to sustain the interest of the tribal family in the initiative. The constraint in resources
available with the tribal farmer limits his desire as well. Though the wadi programme had
begin as a grant programme there have been attempts to generate some contribution form the
beneficiaries keeping in mind the changing context. Now each farmer gives his contribution s
labour component. He receives wages for work done on his own wadi but this is at a reduced
rate after deducting his contribution to the wadi.
For the preparation of checkdams the families have to contribute 10% as money or material
and the remaining 90% is given as project support. For other projects through various credit
11

schemes they have to contribute from 20% to 100%. Like for establishing a lift irrigation
scheme 20% is to be contributed by the community as security deposit, 30% comes as grant
and the remaining 50% is under terms and conditions of soft loans to the user group. Oil
engines are provided on 50% subsidy and 50% soft loan. Yet the uptake has been only 214 oil
engine users out of which 36 are in group. This is either due to non-availability of source or
capital to finance the other 50% apart from subsidy.
DHRUVA has now moved ahead of the Wadi programme. Wadi was the entry point activity.
The organization is strengthening its comprehensive tribal rehabilitation programme centered
around the wadi. The health initiatives, education initiatives, gender in development themes
are being pushed to the forefront. At the same time the need to solve water crisis has become
critical with the development of wadis, more tribal farmers want to take to irrigation and the
periodic shortages are increasing also as the trees in the wadi grow and require more water.
The Wadi Programme in Dharampur and Kaprada
The transformation of barren wastelands into cashew and mango yielding wadis is a sight to
savor. This sight however is a small indication of the change in the lives of people who have
worked hard under the guidance of BAIF and DHRUVA to see them to this day. Typically
the wadi layout (refer annexure) includes 40 cashew and 20 mango plantations, bordered with
forest trees upto 1500 in number on an acre of wasteland. Anchored to this core activity are
other components, such as health programmes, women’s development, credit, soil and water
conservation and improved agriculture. Capacity building of the people is considered crucial
for the success and sustainability of the development process. Apart form technical, financial
and managerial assistance provided to the wadi farmers, a strong emphasis is laid on handson
training and knowledge building at the grass roots. Ayojan Samitis, the village level
peoples’ organizations, play a pivotal role in the implementation of the programme activities.
Today, apart from an active participation in the planning, organizing and implementation of
programme activities, the ayojan samities act as a two way information channel, between
DHRUVA and the programme participants, furnishing information that further helps in fine
tuning the programme to the needs of the people.
Table : Wadi Scheme Taluka wise
Area Dang Dharampur & Kaprada
No. of villages 18 144
WADI families 706 12122
Total area covered (acres) 604 11202
Cashew trees planted 24160 451620
Mango trees planted 12080 225840
Forest trees planted 302000 5646000
Steps of the WADI Programme in Dharampur
a) Techno-economic feasibility survey
b) Meeting with farmers and create awareness of importance of wadi
c) Farmer selection and block selection
d) Layout of wadi given by staff
e) Material Distribution e.g. planting material, fertilizers etc.
f) Wadi establishment
g) After care and Wadi Maintenance from 1 st to 7 th year.
h) Technical monitoring and problem solving by staff.
12

i) After seven years trained field guide / barefoot accountant and village health guide
monitor this wadi area and get their intensive payment as per decided by the ayojan
samiti
j) From Penultimate year of project support, i.e. 6 th year they start their own compost
production unit instead of purchasing from SHG.
k) Establish 2-3 agro-service centres for each co-operative. Each ASC covers nearly 4-5
villages, for purchasing inorganic fertilizer, pesticides and agricultural implements.
l) Production from cashew & mango sold to Ayojan Samiti which in turn sells to
Cooperative which in turn sells to the Apex cooperative (Vasundhara cooperative in
this case) which works for marketing
m) In each cooperative and processing centre, 4-5 DHRUVA staff shall continue working
even after the project is over. The payment system for this arrangement is yet to be
finalized.
Each farmer gives his contribution to the wadi programme as labour component. He also
receives some money for the labour but this is reduced rate to route in his contribution to the
wadi. The establishment and maintenance of each Wadi requires about Rs. 25,000 to Rs.
30,000. All this is provided by DHRUVA through the project funds. DHRUVA provides this
in kind except for wages for work in own wadi.
The highpoint of the wadi programme is the development of a system of breaking the wadi
programme into activities that can be easily carried out by the tribal and followed up by the
local institutions and monitored and guided by the professional staff of DHRUVA. The table
below gives a look at the precision of activity breakup that the programme has developed
over twenty years from Vansda to Dharampur to Dangs.
Table: Wadi development checklist of activities for monitoring
Item
A. Fruit
List of activities Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7
Preparation and Pit digging 1
Plantation Pit Filing 1
Plantation 1
Gap filing 1 1
Post Plantation Earthing up 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Staking 1 1 1 1 1
Basin Preparation I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Basin Preparation II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Basin preparation III
Shed preparation
1 1 1
Dry mulching 1 1
Plant Sanitation I 1 1 1 1 1
Plant Sanitation II 1 1 1 1 1
Weeding 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
IPM 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Fertilizer application in trench 1 1 1 1 1 1
Organic Manure Production and application 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Foliar fertilizer sprays 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
B. Forestry
Pruning 1 1 1 1
Pre plantation and Pit digging & plantation 1 1
aftercare
C fencing
Earthing up & pruning 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Livehedge & dry Dry fence Preparation 1
fence preparation Livehedge Plantation 1
& maintenance Dry Fence maintenance 1
13

It is difficult to do a cost benefit analysis of the Wadi programme this is because the
production from the trees does not stabilize until the wadi is about 10 years old. Apart form
this not all practices are followed in totum by the tribals. Thus the production varies highly
form wadi to wadi. However a reasonable estimate of the returns can be had from the
following table:
Table: Returns from a 10 year old stabilized wadi
Plants Yield (kgs.) Price obtained (Rs. /kg.) Total (Rs.)
Mango (20 plants) 800 10 8000.00
Cashew (40 plants) 250 30 7500.00
TOTAL 15,500.00
Other Crops and products 3000.00
GRAND TOTAL 18,500.00
Other activities in wadi programme
Season wise annual Wadi aftercare calendar followed
Awareness generation among farmers
o Arrangement of demonstration during wage payments, material distribution at
village level
o Arrangement of campaigning in monsoon
Capacity building
o Training to Ayojan Samiti members
o Encouraging Ayojan Samiti members to review the progress
o Identify constraints and resolve field level problems
o Responsibility to each AS members to look after activities of concerned
participants.
o Training to field guide to facilitate participants
o Encourage Paltha (working in groups) method
o Initial stage – focus on growth and survival
o Later stage – focus on yield
Four tier monitoring system
(AS members ---- Field guides ---- Jr. Agri. Staff ---- Sr. staff)
Monitoring system of Wadi programme- an essential component for the
success
Refinements
Information on
Annual Work Calendar
Activities
Activity Completion Report
Computer processing
ACR analysis
Activity monitoring 7 reporting
by FG
Cross checking & validation
by staff
Participant wage support
Four tier monitoring 14
system developed for
implementation from the

Table: Quantitative impact of the Wadi Programme
Parameters Unit Baseline Survey 1 st Evaluation Study
Area under cultivation per HH Acre 2.77 3.72 *
Value of Produce of crops per HH Rs. 3.393 5.072
Increase in assets of the HH Rs. 34,865 60,931**
Sale of food crops per HH Rs. 266 297
Sale of horti. Crops per HH Rs. 90 616
Sale of livestock products per HH Rs. 207 470
Income from Agri. & non-agri.
Labour in and around the village per
HH
Rs. 463 3691
Earnings through IG activities per HH Rs. 689 1412
Total Income per HH Rs. 6,312 10,470
Cash Expenditure per HH for
consumption purpose
Rs. 2,963 3,915
Cash Expenditure per HH for other
articles
Rs. 3,394 4,422
Earnings through migration per HH Rs. 4,627 3,986
Share of earnings from migration in
total income
% 73 38
Women migrating % 20 11.8
Men migrating % 60 55.4
Days of migration –Male Number 64 55
Days of migration – female number 40 37
Percentage of HH with expenditure in
excess of income
% 33 14
SHGs formed No. 0 255
VASs formed No. 0 145
Savings per HH per month Rs. 0 10 to 20
* On account of reclamation of wasteland.
** 38.4% owned land, 36.4% residential house, 18.4% livestock and 6.8 % others
15

Social Worker
(women &
Development)
Organization Structure of DHRUVA Operations
Cooperative in charge
Agricultural
development
Animator
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Chairman
Executive Vice- Chairman
Managing Committee
Programme Implementation Committee
Health
Officer
Project Officer
Health
Animator
Food
technologist
Professional group
Execuitve Officer
Engineers Commercial
Officer
The Ayojan Samiti –Empowering the people
There is an Ayojan Samiti for every five Wadis. It is a representative body of the Gram Vikas
Mandali, which constitutes all the wadi farmers in the village. Though in the initial years
after formation the samities functioned as only important information linkages between
DHRUVA and the wadi farmers, they have now managed to expand their role to become
facilitators of village level development. Not restricting their activities to only programme
related activities, many ayojan samities have initiated adult literacy drives, encouraged drop
out farmers to restart wadi activities. DHRUVA has continuously provided support through
various training programmes aimed at building a strong human resource base, capable of
leading the on going development process. The Ayojan Samiti identifies local youth to help
in its activities and support is provided by the field functionaries who are posted with each
co-operative for different functional areas.
All proposals of development are routed through the Ayojan Samiti to the cooperative. The
Ayojan Samiti remains in charge till the planning and commissioning phase and then hands
over the resource or structure to the users group. It therefore coordinates with the professional
group during the planning and establishment phase and it handles the social mobilisaton
process for new schemes, if and whenever they come. The traditional local leaders have
generally been found to fit in the shoes of ayojan samiti members well.
Agronomist
16

There are 171 ayojan samitis in 162 villages in dharampur area. There are total 2155 ayojan
samiti member out of which only 155 are women. This is an achievement considering the fact
that women traditionally exceptionally shy in this region. These then constitute 12
cooperatives out of which ten are registered cooperatives.
The Ayojan Samiti offers to buy the produce from the farmers to ensure just returns to the
toilers. The farmers have the option of selling at nearby markets but they are encouraged to
sell to the Samiti in an attempt to ingrain cooperative principles in them. Many farmers also
find it to make sense. One farmer from village gundia told that he had exchanged potatoes
with his cashew in the first year of fruit yield not realizing the true worth of them. He now
makes it a point to sell to the AS and also encourages the others to do the same. The rates are
fixed in consultation with the farmers (AS) and the cooperative and the apex marketing
cooperative as well.
Evolution of Peoples’ organization
Role restricted to Task
completion
Dependence on staff
Begin to take lead in
Planning / managing activities
Hold meetings in absence of staff
Review & progress through field
functionaries
Expanding role of AS
Build up a corpus
Developing initiatives taken to
benefit larger village community
Developing linkages with other
village level agencies
Ayojan Samitis are helped in their task of initiating, planning, implementing and monitoring
development projects by simple village youth who function as field guides, barefoot
accountants and village health guides. They earn about Rs. 400-600/month for their services.
75% of this is financed by the project for the first 5 years and the remaining 25% by the
ayojan samiti. The contribution of the project then tapers off leaving the ayojan samiti to pay
for the services. The same is given in table below
Table: financing of village level workers
Year Project Support Ayojan Samiti support
1 st to 5 th 75% 25 %
6 th year 50% 50 %
7 th year 25% 75 %
Separate from project 0 % 100 %
Cooperative
When Cashew and Mango plantations planted in 1995-96 reached the fruit yielding stage, it
was critical to develop marketing linkages. To ensure that the wadi farmers receive just
17

eturns for their hard labour, it was envisaged and first activities scaled towards formation of
co-operatives for the farmers. Registration of 10 cooperative societies has been completed
and village level processing units are set up to process raw cashew. 12-15 ayojan samities
come together to form a co-operative
The 162 villages are divided into 12 cooperatives. Each cooperative has a separate legal
standing and is an institution of the tribal people themselves and therefore is also an indicator
of the participation of the people in the programmes and also of the capacity of the local
people to successfully manage institutions themselves provided a few conditions are fulfilled.
From every Ayojan Samiti two members are nominated as Cooperative members – one is part
of the advisory committee and the other is the part of the management committee. In all the
cooperatives represent more than 11000 families.
The Vasundhara Cooperative
In 1985, DHRUVA (then BAIF) promoted the formation of a wadi farmer’s co-operative, to
enable the wadi farmers in the vansda area to collectively market their wadi produce. This ws
thus formed on 12 th December 1985. Subsequently value added products were developed and
intensified marketing has resulted in increased profits. Over the years vasundhara has
consistently scaled up its activities, carving a niche in the highly competitive processed foods
market. Using the brand name “Vrindavan” 167 tonnes of pickle and 18 tonnes of mango
pulp were sold in the year 2000-2001. It has 2290 wadi participants as members.
Over the years it successfully answered the challenge of processing capabilities in terms of
equipment and human resources to see the operation through to its present growing form. It
was able to innovate new products and at the same time search for new markets to sell the
produce and products most profitably. From simple brining to preparation of pulp to pickling
the cooperative has led the way in answering the challenges of a producer’s cooperative
performing the marketing function. Its surplus generation has been close to 15% since 1993-
94. it is completely managed by the tribal themselves apart form the support from DHRUVA.
It also forayed into providing credit to the members under the abhyuththan yojana for
following activities:
Increased production through improved orchard management
Preparing and selling mango grafts
Cultivation of cash crops
Improving paddy cultivation
Cultivation of new crops (onions/tubers, mushroom)
Dairy husbandry
Uniqueness of the BAIF Approach
BAIF / DHRUVA did not seek to enhance tribal livelihoods alone. Their target was
rehabilitation of the tribal. This meant they aimed at not only changing the wastelands of the
tribal people but the people themselves. The realization that to be able to work with these
tribal would necessitate the reduction of migration and that as the tribal folks were steeped in
poverty they could not pay for all this efforts. This led to the development of a “grant”
programme in order to ensure sustainability. Secondly the many decades of exploitation had
made the tribal people habitual alcoholics and indebtedness was very high amongst those
who indulged in monetary transactions. Land alienation was also a problem at places.
However all the tribals practiced agriculture in the kharif season and used to migrate to the
wadis in the Talat region. Thus they had learnt the agricultural skill but lacked the knowledge
18

of farm management. Also they supplemented their livelihoods with collections of various
products from the forests. However the dwindling forest cover was resulting in falling rainfall
and the barren slopes only leading to higher soil erosion and more of the slopes were turning
into wastelands.
The team realized that the problem in the area was not so much of under development as it
was of the low self esteem of the tribal man in the sense that they were unsure that they could
work for their own self benefit. As they have not had opportunities to relies their own
potential due to policies of isolation on one hand and private exploitation on the other. As a
result he was following a philosophy of subsistence and therefore easily took to migration
and his agricultural fields, his primary occupational resource, were left untended for in his
absence. Having to move about in search for food and work the tribal people had developed
an attitude of helpless resignation. Liquor was an escapist’s delight from the problems of
daily life. The real challenge for BAIF lay in designing and implementing a programme
which put the tribal involvement as an active participant and partner and not just a mere
receiver of benefits keeping in line with Gandhian ideology. Having to make the choice
between joining the program or living life as usual made the tribal think into their own life
and come above the helpless resignation. From the third year onwards with the sights of nice
wadis visible to all and this prompted a catapult reaction to the number of triabls willing to
develop wadis on their wastelands. Till date there are more than a thousand applications in
waiting for support to wadi development.
All these factors put together made Wadi a natural choice as the entry point activity. Mani
bhai desai put forward two conditions – every tribal would give an undertaking that they
would work in guidance of the DHRUVA (BAIF) team taking care of the wadi without
neglecting it and secondly they would not consume liquor. Thus the wadi programme started
with 44 wadis in 1982. It was realized this would give them work in their homes and stop
them from migrating and working on their own wadis would give them ownership and thus
they would be involved. But it was a task to fulfill the loss of migration income if they stayed
back to work in their wadis. Thus it was decided to pay the tribal farmers for the work in their
own wadis. This did not substitute the income from migration totally but it was taken up and
the tribals started to establish their wadis. They would still migrate to supplement income
which was essential for subsistence till the wadi was mature. This meant that women were
involved as well and solely took charge of the wadis once their husbands had migrated.
The number of participating families rose to 447 in the second year. The design is a
masterpiece in itself that it makes use of the resource that most tribal are unable to make use
of – wasteland and their own labour for productive purposes. It also promises high value
products in fruits like mangoes and cashew on one hand and also a low maturity time – 3 to 7
years (as per forestry and horticulture) while actually promoting forestry at the borders of the
Wadis. The maturity time of the forestry trees is also mixed and while some trees mature late
some early maturing varieties are also promoted to help the tribal people to sustain
economically in this transition period from agriculture –migration based livelihoods to
orchard and forestry based livelihoods.
The intervention also takes into account the following five guiding principles of BAIF and
appropriate technology making it an apt choice for the region and the people.
1) ability to utilize local resources
2) Ability to increase aggregate local employment potential.
3) Ability to utilize local knowledge and activities as the basis for development.
19

4) Ability to lead to production of item and items which are easily marketable and
preferably can satisfy some basic needs
5) Ability to utilize and develop local institutions preferably using the existing ones as
base, to perpetrate the development effort independently.
Though the initial funding from the NREP was only for three years any wadi would take
more than three years to mature. This was a threat to the wadi programme at the time of its
initiation. BAIF has another major contributor to its success – the ability to draw funds for
the same activity which makes most sense for an area and its inhabitants. This is not done
alone this is put into perspective as there is constant learning and modification in the activity
(programme) itself as it grows over time with the changing context and conditions of the area
and the inhabitants as well. These two factors coupled together have helped BAIF-DHRUVA
come to a near perfect programme design in the area. This has helped them achieve
phenomenal growth as well. Where Vansda has 5000 families Dharampur in almost half the
time has 12,000 families and even more in Dangs in almost three years. The organizational
learning curve has been steep.
The Vansda project aimed at integrated development of the exploited, poor tribal in fourteen
villages. The central strategy was to provide gainful self-employment through such
instruments as afforestation, horticulture, cattle development, and water resource
development. Four salient features of changes brought in the program sighted out by the chief
executive Mr. Girish Sohani are
1) Decentralization of field operations into blocks comprising two to four villages. Thus
each block is treated as a responsibility centre. This has now developed into cooperatives
which cover about twelve villages each in dharampur taluka.
2) Integration of development tasks within a block at the level of the field research
officer in charge of the block. Known as cooperative in-charge at dharampur.
3) Introduction of a comprehensive information system for review of progress and to
facilitate future planning. An effective reporting system and consistent follow-up
obviates the need for full time coordinator. The professionals at the co-operative level
not only support the farmers and the ayojan samities but also form important links of
this information system as they supervise the collection of all information and they
report it to the teams at the area level.
4) An uncompromising insistence on quality of the programme – not just the quality of
tasks carried out by FROs but also the quality of the participation by the beneficiaries.
It is therefore not sufficient for the beneficiaries to be only willing workers in the
programme.
Once the first fruits were harvested the programme took a different turn. As a veteran team
member put it and confirmed by the farmer, the ability to fulfill the desires of their children to
eat mangoes (the first harvest cannot be considered economic) gave them firm belief that the
wadi would see them fulfill a lot of their dreams. This prompted some of them to take a
different look at the wadis itself. This also prompted other in the villages to buy saplings
from the Haat in dharampur or other places where they went in search of work. These
saplings have been planted by people in their homesteads and fields and there are such
indigenous efforts to cultivate wadis on their own in every village.
The programme balances the area development approach and the philosophy of the household
as the basic unit of society by planning for development at the area level but working with
households and ensuring benefits at the household level. This has helped to sustain the
interest of people in the initiative and also to generate opportunities at the area level. These
20

two are therefore complementing each other and help to operate the ratchet of development
and progress and tribal society and economy.
At one end the program attacks the concept of rehabilitation of resources and various levels
and places in the social system and at the other end seeks to change the philosophy from the
past subsistence and ignorance philosophy to a philosophy of surplus, planning and building a
future for themselves. The result of the activities enforces the stimulus and after 20 years
now is the main stimulus itself.
The DHRUVA experience has also evolved with time. What started out as a grant
programme for 3 yrs duration with the uncertainty of what after three years of NREP support
has evolved to one of the best models of tribal livelihood generation in India.
The evolution can be traced on a timeline as follows:
1967: Sadguru Sewa Sangh trust starts to work in South Gujarat. Their work is mainly relief
mode distribution food stuff, blankets and other such consumables.
1980: SSS during visit by Arvind Mafatlal and Manibhai Desai relaises not much progress
has been made. In fact it many places the support has been counter-productive.
1981: BAIF takes over operation on a clean slate while SSS eases out of South Gujarat.
1982: The first Wadi programme is launched with funding from NREP. The NREP finding
did not have any soil conservation provision in the wadi work. BAIF identified this as a
major flaw and tried to convince all prospective funding agencies to include it as it was
essential to the success of the initiative. This gave Cash for wage labour and some wheat
coupons. it did not have provision for providing implements to the tribal poor who lacked the
implements as well as the money to buy them from the haats or other shops.
1985: NWDB funding comes in to launch second phase of the programme. The cash payment
was to be transferred directly in bank accounts of the beneficiaries. It also had a provision of
providing implements for agro-horti-forestry which gave a small but much required boon to
the programme.
1985: also in this year UNICEF sponsored the community heath programme which was aided
by the success of the wadi programme and the wadi programme was strengthened by the
health programme.
1985: establishment of the Vasundhara Vriksha Vanwadi Jalsinchan Vikas Sahkari Mandali
limited.
1988: CAPART funding comes in to start the third phase of the wadi programmes. CAPART
also initiated the women in development component. Also a strong integration of WID and
Health components took about in years to come.
1988: post harvest technology measures Introduced to the wadi programme. Mango
processing units established. Vrindavan Brand formed for selling products of vasundhara
cooperative.
1994-95: baseline study conducted by NABARD
1995: Dharampur project initiated with KfW funding from Germany. Soil conservation inputs
provided for 5 years.
1997: establishment of bazaar or haat in village Chonda in Navsari district. This enabled the
rural economy of neighbouring villages find a new growth pole. It also enhanced profits by
bringing market close to them and also generated opportunities for earning for the trading
families.
2001: initiative started in Dangs.
2001: formation of cooperatives started
21

Involvement of women
Women have been critical for the success of the wadi programme. They have been
consciously involved in the programme. They are involved in selection of species to be
planted in agro-forestry. They are also involved with separate women in development (now
gender in development) activities of the tribal rehabilitation programme. Their intimate
knowledge of the diverse uses of the trees makes them give more cooperation in
implementing the forestry part of the wadi. They also influence the males to include trees in
their farming system to generate cash income (from sale of poles and fruits etc.). Fuel and
fodder are merely byproducts of such agro-forestry systems but are important for the women
as collection of fuel and fodder takes up a major portion of the time of the women in such
areas. This enables them to spend more time around the house and fields they can take better
care of the crops and trees resulting in productive benefit. An additional effort at informing
them of more and better uses of the trees that they plant makes them to take utmost care of a
sapling rearing it like a child.
Once the wadis were successful, women were involved in other activities as well, partly for
need of ore income and partly to make productive use of the time freed by the wadis. They
now manage kissan nurseries, which are decentralized units for raising seedlings. The men of
the household assist them in land preparation activities and procuring inputs for the nursery.
The women also help their children to mange school nurseries ( raising seedlings within their
school premises). Women also help DHRUVA in collecting seeds of fat growing and other
trees and also in collecting other forest products as well.
Significant efforts of DHRUVA have been to involve women in the programmes in order to
get their voice heard in decision making processes. It has had a flip side as well. The wadis
have seen increase in the workload of women. Most of the tasks in the wadi post kharif are
carried out by the women. Thus they are the real owners of the wadi. The males do all the
tasks of land preparation and “heavy duties”. There are certain other tasks which are left to
the men to perform. These include anything related to disease or pest attack in the plant. This
also signifies the fear that nature still instills in the tribal poor and also the need for pulling
them out of isolation and ignorance due to it before we can think of sustaining any effort at
developing the tribal society. Such cultural barriers continue to hamper the adoption of
modern and more efficient technologies amongst them.
Women now also manage self help groups which are being seen as the latest critical step to
sustaining the DHRUVA model. The self help groups are a result of the income that the
women get from the wadi and the miscellaneous byproducts from it, apart from the various
ancillary activities started by women groups to support the wadi programme and generate
cash income for the households. These then generate credit which is ploughed back the tribal
farmers into the fields and wadis to generate higher income. This transforms the position of
women in the family. This also generates a lot of control with the women over the economic
activities of the household. However the tribal folks are conscious of the labour division
among the sexes and continue to follow their systems perfected over centuries. But it has also
led to emphasis on philosophy of surplus as it has propelled them to think about the future.
This major shift from the philosophy of subsistence to the philosophy of surplus is at the base
of the DHRUVA phenomena.
The strategy has been to involve women in the program to ensure its success which results in
increase in workload of women. This should not happen alone so there is a conscious effort to
accompany this with drudgery reduction measures for the women in wadi owning households
22

and other households as well. These are a wide range of measures from smokeless chulhas to
hand pump repair and sinking new hand pumps for easy availability of drinking water. a new
innovation called span pump is also getting popular where one woman pumps the hand pump
to deliver water at a distance of 250-400 metres closer to the hutments where the other
women can collect it. There are several training and exposure tours for women especially to
aid them in their income generating activities. There are efforts to popularize drip irrigation
in kitchen gardens to enable easier cultivation for the women and promote surplus production
which can then supplement their income.
Thus the integrated scheme of affairs is promising though it must be realized that the load of
women has increased due to the introduction of the wadis. The women however have no
hesitation in saying that the change is welcome with them as it has helped to ease the pressure
eon their lives. Though at times the earning from the wadi may be lesser than form migration
but the satisfaction of earning form your own land and resources is of high value. Also the
truth of not having to undergo strenuous work and impoverished conditions as migrant
labourers facing ill treatment and marginal existence is a welcome change for them. Some
women have even said by enabling them not to migrate they can now concentrate on certain
other tasks which help the households. Forestry trees enable them to find dry leaves and fuel
in the wadi itself for “ADAR” and this saves the effort of collecting cow dung and dry leaves
throughout the forests near to the village. They are also benefited by the self help groups and
the health and education initiatives of DHRUVA which are building upon the wadi
programme.
What CInI can gain from the BAIF-DHRUVA experience
There is significant learning for CInI from the BAIF experience. The most striking ones are
listed here
1. Start with the local area and resources available –the focus has always been the local
area and its resources including the people. A detailed research was carried out to
understand what the area offered to the inhabitants. This has helped DHRUVA in
reducing the cost of the programme. They have coupled this knowledge with cost
saving measures through high efficiency excellent monitoring systems. In Dharampur
though the funding agency had sanctioned only 10,000 wadis they have been able to
establish about 12,000 wadis in the same budget by saving on cost through
modifications using local resources.
2. Careful research should precede the initiative. It was the rare sight of a cashew tree in
the forest in dharampur and the knowledge that the climate seemed suitable for
cashew plantation but only after one and a half year of research to ensure that it did
not backfire.
3. Excellent monitoring systems: since the tribal people had seen wadi during their
migration but had never managed one, it was essential and that management be
monitored strictly to ensure proper growth and development of the tress planted. Thus
over time the four tier monitoring system was developed. Initially only the staff used
to monitor but then the task has slowly been shifted to the Ayojan Samiti and the field
guides and the staff supervise the monitoring operations.
4. The amount of handholding required by tribal people was never shunned. They have
undergone a massive isolation phase coupled with severe exploitation. This has led to
complete destruction of self confidence. Thus it is only after careful handholding and
realization that they can manage their own development that they come to their own
and start acting independently.
23

5. One of the major success causes in the Wadi experience has been the ability of
DHRUVA to convince different funding agency for the same programme in different
phases and they have gone on improving the programme in each phase. Keeping the
basic design constant they have made significant changes to enhance the success and
impact of the programme. Though originally it was configured as a grant programme,
now in Dangs some contribution is being generated from the community itself in the
form of labour.
6. In Dharampur it began with Wadi as an entry point activity for the tribal rehabilitation
programme. For the past two years the stress has been on water resources
development. The realization that the scope lies in building really small water sources
to help the households has been the key of massive water resources development
operations in the past two years. Lift irrigation schemes, temporary checkdams,
permanent checkdams, handpump, handpump repair, span pump, spring development,
gully plugging, field outlets, roof top water harvesting and Jal kund etc have been
picked up as possible solutions to the water woes. Now more water is needed for
proper plant growth once the wadis are maturing and for other ancillary operations
like grafting, nursery raising as well.
7. They did not try to make the farmers irrigators first and then seek to change the tribal
man. They sought to build up the confidence of the tribal man and then give him
productive asset so he can build on the same and seek and pursue permanent settled
agriculture as an option for work the whole year round. This would in turn lead to the
demand for irrigation hence the stress on water resources in the past two to three
years. They have managed to teach the use of irrigation first before giving it to the
tribal people. This has helped many tribal families to take up pedal pumps, bucket
drip kits and pot drip systems for using water effectively in their humble wadis and
kitchen gardens.
8. They have involved women in the activities firs tot ensure their success increasing
their workload but have then expanded to other activities like health and women in
development and self help groups which help to reduce the workload and also to
improve the quality of life of women. Thus a fair proposition for the women has been
built up.
9. Watershed measures have been taken up in few places and at other places the
approach is being scaled up from sectoral to holistic and intensive area development
approach. This is being done as Wadi can be an entry point but it has not reached out
o tech and every tribal in the village. Also significant natural resources are unutilized
in the tribal villages. These approaches focus on the utilization of these natural and
locally available resources like water for the purpose of development of tribal people.
10. The ability to establish and make functional peoples’ institutions like the Ayojan
Samitis and Cooperatives. This goes a long way in ensuring the sustainability. They
also do not carry any burden of withdrawal but have a tactical reduction in
involvement which sees a change in the work being done by the DHRUVA
professionals in the villages once the programme support to wadis is over after seven
years.
11. The whole set up has been proactive and moved ahead of time with careful
anticipation of times to come. The establishment of vasundhara cooperative for
marketing, development of campaigning for caring for the wadis before the monsoons
to disseminate the knowledge regarding the wadi management has all come in before
a significant crisis and have contributed to the rapid upscaling of the efforts.
12. The highlight of success however is the Vasundhara Cooperative which has
ensured proper market and price to the tribal farmers. Its excellent and uncanny
24

usiness sense has made it a profitable venture with significant returns to the
farmers. In initial years it reached out and generated a firm footing in the
market. For the past three years it is inching closer to the people through the
systems of cooperatives and ayojan samitis and the development of local
processing facilities.
13. Another big contribution to the social mobilization process has been the
realization that tribal farmers take up an activity only when 1) they have
themselves done it somewhere and are hence convinced that it is profitable. Or 2)
they have seen someone else do it and have seen the profits roll back. In a sense
they have perceived the direct benefits. They need to be made aware of benefits
in an experiential mode and not just narrate the benefits to them. Initially
DHRUVA staff carried packets of “goodday” cashew biscuits with them to the
villages that the cashew trees that they planted could be used for something and
hence they could earn out of it.
25

References
IIM-Ahmedabad, “Rural Development for Rural Poor -Dharampur”, Center for Management
of Agriculture, 1981.
Status report of Comprehensive Tribal Development Programme, Dharampur, 30 th
September, 2001.
Singh, K.S., the Scheduled Tribes, Anthropological Survey Of India, Oxford University
Press, 1994. pgs 551-573, 1173-1178.
Joshi, Staykam, Tribals, Missionaries and Sadhus: Understanding Violence in the Dangs,
Economic and Political Weekly, September 11, 1999. pgs.2667-2675
Sharma, Subhash, Tribal Identity and the Modern World, United Nations Press,
Annual reports of BAIF Development Research Foundation
Annual reports of DHRUVA
Annual reports of Vasundhara Virksha Vanwadi Jalsinchan Vikas Sahakari Mandali ltd.
Progress report for Comprehensive tribal Development Programme: April 2003 to September
2003
Mahajan, Sharad, Newale, Madhuri and Pednekar, Pratap; Orchard development gives tribal
communities new chances, The BAIF Journal, Vo. 20, May-June 2000. Pgs.3-6
Chonda Bazaar: the one stop weekly market place, The BAIF Journal, Vo. 22, Jan-March,
2002. Pgs.16-17
Kelkar, Vinayak; Role of Women in Social Forestry, The BAIF Journal, Vo. 10 No. 4, July,
1990. Pgs.9
Sohani, Girish; Among Gujarath tribals, The BAIF Journal, Vo. 3 no. 1, Oct. 1982
http://www.baif.com
26

Annexure 1: WADI Layout
The typical wadi layout in vansda had 40 mango trees of the kesar and rajapuri varieties
initially. Also as there were no mango trees in the vicinity in–situ grafting was practiced.
This design was modified in dharampur where it was developed to 40 cashew and 20 mango
trees in one acre. The same has been adopted in Dangs. This has also helped hedge against
the alternate cycle of good production of the mangoes. The composition of the forestry trees
that are provided with a wadi to the farmers has also evolved with learning and needs of the
farmer. The farmer was given about 800-1200 forestry saplings with a wadi of one acre.
Typical layout of a wadi
# ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### #
# #
# * * * * * * * * * * * * * #
# * * #
# * * #
# * 0 0 0 x x x x x x x x * #
# * * #
# * 0 0 0 x x x x x x x x * #
# * * #
# * 0 0 0 x x x x x x x x * #
# * * #
# * 0 0 0 x x x x x x x x * #
# * * #
# * 0 0 0 x x x x x x x x * #
# * * #
# * * #
# * * #
# * * * * * * * * * * * * * #
# #
# ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### #
# Fencing * Forestry
0 Mango x Cashew
The activities of the wadi are laid out to be intensive in the first three years so that the farmer
spends a lot of time in the wadi which automatically ensures good care of the trees and also
serves as a natural barrier to problems cattle grazing. It is heartening to see the wadis so
successful despite the threat posed by institutions of free cattle grazing once the kharif season
is over. A big way of countering this has been the hedge of the forestry tress at the border of
the wadi. Not only did it help to keep the horticulture trees safe, it also serves to save the
intercropped crop during kharif and more so during Rabi (for the few farmers who have or
have developed water resources) with their wadi. Also later on many farmers built small
homes in the wadis to take care of the trees there. This also signifies the value that the
farmers attach with the wadis and is an important indicator of its success.
27

Annexure 2: Batch wise Wadi Development
Batch no. and year No. of No. of new No. of families Wadi acreage
of joining
villages villages
Batch I (1995-96) 40 40 1143 1073.00
Batch II (1996-97) 85 49 2841 2442.00
Batch III (1997-98) 72 25 2441 2373.50
Batch IV (1998-99) 52 19 1522 1449.00
Batch V (1999-
2000)
114 3 3532 3311.50
Batch VI (2000-01) 10 8 643 643.00
Batch VII(2001-02) 18 18 705 604.50
Batch VIII (2002-
03)
0 69 69.00
Batch IX (20003-
04)
21 0 767 767.00
TOTAL 162 13663 12732.5
Annexure 3: Programme Spin-offs
1. Spread effect
a. Wadi model plantations by other farmers
b. Use of improved horticultural practices
2. Environmental Impact
a. Satellite imagery data has indicated substantial increase in perennial ground
cover on both private and common lands over a decade spanning 1982-1991
3. New employment creation
a. Mango grafting – a household activity
b. Seasonal employment to more than 300 youth in processing units
c. Training of landless in vocational skills
d. Increase in demand for agricultural labour
4. Enterprise growth
a. Construction of 6 pucca roads- more locals engaged in providing passenger
transport services
b. Further boost to local transporters – distribution of programme inputs and
marketing of farm produce
c. Shops have mushroomed in interior villages
5. Village level Initiatives
a. In tutarkhed and bhanvad villages wadi farmers helped 18 other farmers to
establish wadis
b. Community halls constructed in 27 villages – wadi farmers contribute labour
and material inputs
c. Adult literacy programmes conducted by 20 ASs
d. Attendance at school by all children ensured by the AS of Madhuban
e. Grain Banks operating in 8 villages to tide over food scarcity periods.
f. AS managed agro service centers provide fertilizers, seeds, plastics sheets etc
to the village community.
g. Mass marriages organized by AS in 6 villages
h. Mahua oil extraction unit in Chondha – serving 5 surrounding villages,
providing seasonal employment to 30 men and women.
28

i. Milk cooperative – collection of 500 liters of milk per day in Chondha.
j. Chondha Bazaar Samiti – provides an outlet for farmers to sell surplus
produce and a trading venue for small businesses
k. Dr.Manibhai NAvchetan Madhyamik Shala , Chondha aims to provide an allround
education to the students.
Annexure 4: Activities under Water resources Development
Particulars Dharampur & Kaprada Vansda Total
Spring Development 199 08 207
Lift Irrigation 1 - 1
Temporary Checkdams 350 per year - 350 per year
Permanent Checkdams - 07 07
New Handpumps - 264 264
Handpump repair 810 137 947
Annexure 5: Income Generation Activities taken by SHGs
IG activities No. of SHGs No. of Members
Mango Nursery 30 113
Teak Nursery 21 100
Forest Nursery 132 868
Vermi-compost Production 69 499
Vegetable Cultivation 6 27
Banana Cultivation 5 14
VRF compost Production 91 461
Preparation of Hyderabadi mix 2 9
Papad making 3 31
Poultry 5 13
Small enterprises 2 4
Karamvada collection 13 40
Annexure 6: DHRUVA Team Resources of professionals from different
functional areas
Agricultural Engg. & tech. Health Finance Food
technologies
Others Total
Post
graduate
09 01 03 01 14
Graduate 17 04 09 02 32
Diploma 18 09 02 29
Others 08 08
Total 44 04 10 12 01 12
29

Annexure 7: Set up of Institutions to control the initiative
Barefoot Accountant
Field Guide
Village Health guide
SHG
Role of DHRUVA
Maintaining optimal contact with all
peoples bodies
Monitoring
Providing technical assistance
Providing managerial assistance
Conduct training programmes &
workshops
Cooperatives
(Representation by Ayojan Samiti
members)
AYOJAN SAMITI
(Representative body – participants)
GRAM VIKAS MANDALI
(All Wadi Participants)
P P P
SHG
Other Village
Institutions
30