4 years of JalYukt Shivar Abhiyan

JalYukt Shivar Abhiyan (JYSA)

“We have taken the decision to complete one lakh “Jalyukt Shivar (JYS)” works in 8,418 villages by June 2019” stated Maharashtra Chief Minister, Shri Devendra Fadnavis on December 30 2018. This is indeed a big yet welcome target set by the CM.

But, What is the JYS scheme?

Maharashtra faced severe draughts in 2012-13 and year after. In order to counter this situation in current and future times, the CM launched Jalyukt Shivar on 26^th January 2015. It was to be completed in phases over a five-year period. It is an integrated water conservation and management initiative (Jalyukt Shivar) which aimed to make 5,000 villages scarcity-free in the first phase in 2015-16.

The ambitious programme, aimed at making the state scarcity-free in five years, would involve construction of a series of check dams, rejuvenation of old check dams and repair of Kolhapur Type (KT) weirs and storage tanks.

The Jalyukt Shivar initiative was also to involve repair of percolation tanks, desilting village percolation tanks and connecting stream/nullahs with water storage bodies. The scheme of things included water audit, and also integration of various water conservation projects, and ensure efficient water usage under the overall command of concerned district collectors, who would be the nodal authority.

The project, broadly based on Shirpur model, initially gained very encouraging support from villagers, support groups and media.  

Flagship Status

Water conservation has always been an issue in India. Given the tropical weather and inadequate river connectivity, there are times when some villages would witness flood and draughts in the same calendar year.

·       JYS was pitched as the state government's flagship programme and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also mentioned it at the World Economic Forum at Davos.  

·       The state government included Jalyukt Shivar work under MNREGA to help drought hit villagers to earn daily wages by working on these projects.

Dream Beginning

The government launched the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyaan (JYS) that involves deepening and widening of streams and nullahs, construction of cement and earthen stop dams, and digging of farm ponds to mitigate the annual drought situation in the state. The project gained momentum in the following summer, with the state witnessing one of the worst droughts in recent times. 

Following an appeal by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, many prominent personalities like film stars Nana Patekar, Makarand Anaspure (NAAM Foundation), Sayaji Shinde, and Aamir Khan (Paani Foundation), politicians, spiritual organisations such as Siddhivinayak and Shirdi Sai temple trusts, and even big corporate organisations likes Janakidevi Bajaj, KRIDAI, Bridgestone, KPAI, and Volkswagen came forward to lend support to the project. Several others also extended their support – materially or monetarily.

While the efforts of all these NGOs have been exemplary, however, I believe NAAM and Sayaji Shinde could mobilise the grassroot support much efficiently and effectively, and at very low cost without making any  "ho-halla " or TV shows or award ceremonies managed by some later entrants. One wonders how much "investment" did this particular NGO and its patrons had to do for VIP travels, promotions, videogrphay, and all practical activities including makeup. If this "investment" works out to be 15-25% of the total corpus collection then, why somebody like me will participate in their efforts?

On the other hand, everyone would know if NAAM has spent a penny on such things. in my view, They were better in terms of managing people's money. 

The results of their good works is quite visible in some districts of Marathwada and Vidarbha, and Satara district. The selfless dedication of Mr. Patekar, Makarand Anaspure and Sayaji Shinde drew many many urbane like me to join their team movement in whatever possible manner. They have been really "नामा निराळे (unsung)". Salutes.

Quick Results

In 2015-16 some 24 TMC water was claimed to have been saved through this apparatus. This could bring a six-lakh-acre area under irrigation. With the withdrawing monsoon rains, drought-hit Osmanabad and Solapur had accumulated water where JYS works were undertaken.

Within a year, by March 2017, a staggering 1.6 lakh-odd applications were received by local authorities under the ‘Magel Tyala Shet Tale (Farm Pond on Demand scheme)’ ever since Mr. Fadnavis launched it in February 2016.

Steady Progress
The project progressed steadily under the watchful eyes of the CM, whose project management capabilities are proven and praised. As per the government data, the scheme rejuvenated water bodies and created an additional storage potential, in a state where some parts perennially face a drought-like situation. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dedicated the success of the scheme to the huge public participation.

A quick look at the progress of the JYS implementation.

Year	Rainfall	Number of Villages under JYS	Food Production (lakh metric tonnes (MT))	Number of Tankers Used
2013-15	124%	NA	137.91	NA
2015-16	NA	6202	NA	6140
2016-17	NA	5288	NA	1379
2017-18	84.3%	5031	132.83	366

·       Out of 16,521 Villages, 100 per cent work has been completed in 11,712 villages and 80 per cent in 1,421 villages.

·       17,27,229 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) has been created across 16,521 villages in 34 districts of the state since 2015, irrigation potential of 22,74,744 hectares.

Contradictions Galore

It is a fact that rainfall is not always uniform across geographies. And mere claim of rainfall levels do not indicate the amount of water got equally distributed across regions. It is quite likely, that the rainfall could have been different (to some extent, not large though) to areas where JYS projects were taken visa-a-vis nearby areas where they were not implemented, yet witnessed heavy rainfall as compared to the ones where JYS implemented.

In addition, heavy/ higher rainfall does not indicate that the soil would retain the maximum water, in comparison to previous years. It could or it could not. It is not that simple. The amount of heat the soil has to withstand during summer season (mind you, temperatures are hitting new peak every summer) would have dried the water levels could negate the higher rainfall.

One can use the number of water tanker deployed as an indicator, but that alone might not a full-proof yardstick.

However, some opposition leaders seemed to have based their claims on this fact alone. Their claim is that in 2014, the total rainfall was over 70 per cent and the total tanker supply was 71, while in 2015, the total rainfall was 59.49%, the tankers number were 693 and in 2017, the rainfall is 74.03% and the tanker numbers have drastically increased to 715. Thus, in their mind, the scheme is not a success, as it is being projected.

Technical issues apart, I feel that an organised mission like this was much needed for water conservation, at least 30 years ago. This was quite possible for all erstwhile establishments, however, as we grew to see, the ground realities on water conservation remain unchanged, in fact worsened.

In the first year of this mission, if majority of media was singing praises for this project, its efficency and usefulness, then how suddenly the mission itself becomes failure now?

Some Issues

Given the varied nature of the works, social and educational profile of implementing farmers & workers, some technical issues would tend to emerge. While local authorities said they are aware of the concerns engendered by the indiscriminate digging of farm ponds, they find regulation impossible. However, attempts have been made to initiate dialogue with farmers in a bid to impress on them the judicious use of farm ponds

Current Status

There are 25,000 villages which face drought once in three years. As on December 2018 -

·       Jalyukt Shivar projects are completed in 16,522 villages

·       The total expenditure incurred on the project was Rs 7,692 crore

·       The projects helped to create water storage capacity of 24 TMC and brought 34 lakh hectare under irrigation

·       As per estimates the projects helped to increase the crop production by 45 per cent in the villages where they were completed

Benefits

Benefits of interventions of such scale and diversity are always subjective. However, one could take a more holistic view. First, look at the total addressable irrigation area in the drought prone areas, then out of that how much area is under general irrigation, and out of that irrigation area actually addressed with the help of this scheme.

This could give some ballpark penetration levels. As per data available, there is certainly an increase in the irrigation potential. In addition to this a large proportion of works was carried with the help of locals. Some were even financed under MNREGA. Thus, JYS created jobs in contractual and informal sector. This is a ground reality.

Cost Benefit Analysis

As of December 2018, Rs.7500 crore have been spent on the initiative, and a 17,27,229 TMC of water storage claimed to have been generated.

So, How big is this volume? Let us understand.

One TMC water is One Thousand Million Cubic Feet.

One Cubic Feet is approximately 28.33 Litres.

So, One TMC = 2830 crore Litres (imagine a PVC Water Tank of 10,000 Litres capacity. If you fill water in 28,30,000 number of such Tanks, then that will total to 1 TMC).

Multiply this by 17,27,229. Huge numbers indeed!!

Simple calculations though, not many would agree with this.

However, given the varied nature of water rates, it may be possible for one to attach a precise monetary value to these volumes of water.

Comparison

Although, there is no parallel implementation available to compare, one could broadly take at look at irrigation projects before 2014. It is said that a huge amount of monies was siphoned off in those 10 years under false or dummy claim, resulting in a scam of Rs.70,000 Crore. The results of these works were hardly visible.

As per published sources, The Maharashtra Irrigation Scam was an alleged government scam which involved financial irregularities of ₹35,000 crore (US$4.9 billion) in Maharashtra during 1999-2009. The allegations of corruption were made after a 2012 Economic Survey stated that the state's irrigation potential had increased by only 0.1% during the past decade, even after ₹70,000 crore (US$9.7 billion) had been spent on the various projects.

Whereas, the results of JYS are at least visible or were experienced once, in addition a large population benefitted under MNREGA and irrigation.

Criticism

As much the praise for its success from local and global leaders, the scheme came under heavy scrutiny from several environmental organizations for Ad-hock implementation, lack of education among farmer, lack of coordination between the agencies. In addition, some technical issues for example below also questioning the efficacy of the project. 

·       South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) carried out a study at Hiwargaon-Pawasa, a backwater village with a population of 1,500, in Ahmadnagar district’s Sangamner Taluk.

·       There are doubts on the usefulness of plastic-lined farm ponds, considered as “another layer of exploitative unsustainable infrastructure,” which would only help accelerate the process of groundwater depletion.

·       The SANDRP study also revealed that none of the farm ponds in Hiwargaon had inlets and outlets or any other arrangement for excess rainwater inflow that was envisioned in the scheme. Instead of digging the ponds in a low-lying area, many of them are dug on the highest points of the farms.

·       In the Jalyukt Shivar works, soil, fine sand and all the medium which hold the water and percolate it have been scrapped. If the rocks are exposed, then how is the recharge supposed to take place?

·       Farm ponds expose the groundwater to losses through evaporation, something that may not become immediately apparent.

Conclusions

JYS, indeed a “much needed” human intervention, and Fadnavis government rightly initiated it, albeit for the farmers of Maharashtra it came a bit too late (at least 15-20 years). Its intentions should be beyond doubts.

Although, its success is naturally linked to rainfall, but efficiency can be manifold.

In 1995, first mega project of Maharashtra, Mumbai-Pune Expressway was initiated and successfully completed by 2000. Several flyovers were also built in Mumbai around this time. This augmented efficient movement of large tracts of population. However, those were kind of one-time projects, hence implementation was timely and measured.

JYS is not a one-time project, nor can it be boxed within geographical boundaries. Thus, the “effectiveness” or “usefulness” of this “human-nature partnership” should not be built on a few years of experience.

Nor should it be limited to certain geographical regions of the state. In fact, in my view, a project of this deserves to be awarded a “regular yet critical activity” status, with strict measurable and accountable, standardized parameters, with improved coordination between farmers, government (implementing agencies) and soil & water experts.

The success of this initiative will be exponential,if we are able to maintain the existing ponds and nullaha silt free.

Let the current and future generations not blame us for not using our wisdom to restore and re-use water. Because, it is only when our farmer thrives, the whole business ecosystem of India will grow. Someone rightly said , “जल है असली सोना. इसे नहीं  है कभी खोना “. 

JalYukt Shivar” can become “JoyYukt Shivar” too. 

Let us nurture this baby , let it walk,and make it a permanent member of our agriculture ecosystem.

Someone has rightly said,

"निकल पड़े है हम औरो की ज़मीन को बागीचा बनाने.
क्योंकि बंजर ज़मीन का हाल तो हमने ख़ुद देखा है!"

- Dhananjay Madhukarrao Deshmukh, Mumbai, 9 December 2019

(Disclaimer - This write-up is based on secondary sources. This is not commissioned by any person, agency or group of people).