WATER RESOURCES IN TIKAMGARH AND JHANSI DISTRICTS - A STATUS REPORT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 1.0

2.0

1

Background About Bundelkhand Region

7

Districts of Tikamgarh & Jhansi

9

Physical Profile Tikamgarh District • Topography

15

• Drainage and River System

15

• Land Usage

16

Jhansi District

3.0

• Topography

16

• Drainage and River System

17

• Land Usage

17

Tikamgarh & Jhansi District – Climate and Rainfall Status of Water Resources

18

Tikamgarh District • Water Demand

19

• W ater Availabilit y

21

• W ater Supply and Accessibility

23

Jhansi District • Water Demand

4.0

5.0

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• W ater Availabilit y

25

• W ater Supply and Accessibility

27

Measures for W ater Resource Availability Sanitation Practices

29

Toilets

33

Personal Hygiene

33

Solid W aste Management

34

Liquid W aste Disposal

34

Awareness and Mindset

35

Availabilit y of W ater for Sanitation Challenges in Water and Sanitation

35

Wide variations in seasonal availability

36

Deteriorating Quality of available water

37

Accessibility to Water

38

Coping Mechanisms during Water Crisis

40

6.0

Institutional Mechanisms and Constitutional Framework

7.0

Key Findings

47

8.0

Recommendations

50

Executive Summary Background Often called as the heartland of India, the Bundelkhand Region of central India has always commanded an eminent place all through the Indian history. All along its length and breadth, Bundelkhand is richly studded with religious centres, historical sites, monuments, forts etc. It boasts of a vividly dynamic, rich and colourful cultural fabric manifested by a spectacular diversity in folk dances, music, songs, art, architecture and, of course, the fairs and festivals. Administratively, the region comprises 13 contiguous districts, viz. Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Banda, Mahoba and Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh, and Sagar, Chattarpur, Tikamgarh, Panna, Damoh and Datia in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from its rich cultural heritage the region is also known for its socio-economic backwardness. Most of the districts of the region have been identified as poorest districts of the country by the Planning Commission of the Govt. of India. For most part of the year, the residents of Bundelkhand experience acute scarcity of water for agricultural industrial and domestic use. Water sources are varied and often seasonal, ranging from ponds, tanks, lakes and streams to open wells, bore wells and irrigation canals radiating out from large-scale dams. Most agriculture is single-crop and rain fed with supplementary water from open wells. Thus, large numbers of farmers are highly dependent on the monsoon rains to recharge these wells. To improve the water situation in the region, it is felt that an integrated approach to water and waste water management has to be undertaken. The water management approach has to be built around the issue of sustainability in terms of both source creation and its management (quality and quantity), and building of institutional systems at various levels (village, block, district levels) for community based management of water and sanitation challenges. Development Alternatives has undertaken an initiative to pilot this approach in 10 villages, to start with, spread across Niwari and Badagaon two blocks of Tikamgarh and Jhansi Districts respectively of this region. Prior to designing any interventions, it is important that the current status and it’s driving forces are well understood. This report is an effort to conduct a rapid assessment of the current status of water and waste water management in Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts and the potential for introducing integrated approaches with an aim to provide “Water For All, Always’. Method of Data Collection The current rapid assessment is a combination of primary and secondary level data collection. The method of primary level data collection has been

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Participatory Rural Appraisals conducted by DA in 5 villages each of both Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts. Besides this, several stakeholders have been directly interacted with the secondary data presented in the chapters has been collected from the available literature – Census Reports, District Statistical Reports, seminar proceedings etc. It has been compiled and analysed by Development Alternatives. Main Findings 1. Although both Tikamgarh & Jhansi are contiguous districts, Jhansi is much better-off in terms of social and development indicators and infrastructural facilities. 2. Both the districts have experienced a rapid and mass scale degradation of natural resources, resulting in a very high proportion of wastelands and acute scarcity of water 3. On an average, the districts have a decent amount of rainfall (1000 mm and 850 mm for Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts respectively). However intermittent but successive years of droughts have resulted in water scarcity in the last 2-3 decades. 4. In Tikamgarh district, the water demand (1773 mcm) is for domestic purposes, (122 mcm / years) livestock (11.2 mcm/year) & agriculture (1740 mcm/year) purpose. Wells being the main source of water for irrigation (78% of total irrigated area), almost 86% of net groundwater availability (630mcm /year) has been utilized, placing the district under the semi-critical category. 5. In Jhansi district, out of the total demands for humans & livelistock, 2% (35 mcm/year) is for domestic purposes, 97% is for irrigation (1507 mcm/year) and 1% is for livestock & industrial purposes. Recent years have witnessed a dramatic spurt of activity in the Jhansi district leading to a massive increase in water demand for construction purposes also. 6. Unlike Tikamgarh district, only 48% of irrigation in Jhansi district is groundwater dependent (wells & tubewells) while almost 45% of land is irrigated by canals. This has meant that only 37.29% of the ground water potential of the district has been exploited. 7. In both the districts, several water harvesting structures have been constructed in the past to ease the water situation. These water harvesting structures include the Bundela tanks, step wells, village ponds, haweli bundhies etc. Many of these structure, however, are currently in a state of neglect and are no longer able to harvest water for use during dry periods. 8. In the last few decades, several dams and reservoirs have been constructed over the Betwa and Jamni rivers and their tributaries. Canals have been taken out from most of these reservoirs for water supply to Tikamgarh and Jhansi towns and for irrigation purposes. The latest initiative is the

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proposed inter linking of Ken & Betwa rivers where surplus water of Ken basin is envisaged to be diverted to the water deficit Betwa basin. Although only 4.20% and 1% of Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts respectively fall in the command area of the link project, it is expected to provide relief in terms of meeting drinking water & irrigation needs. The project has, however caused serious concern among environmentalists and civil society organizations over potential adverse impacts related to economic viability, environmental costs, social costs, resettlement and rehabilitation issues, conflicts etc. 9. In both the districts, there are several challenges in both water availability and accessibility. These relate to A. Wide variations in seasonal availability of water, as a result of perennial water sources becoming seasonal due to high levels of run-off, reduced ground water recharging, over exploitation of groundwater and neglect of traditional water harvesting structures. Added to these is the wasteful use, even when the water is available. Water use in agriculture is highly inefficient with water intensive crops being grown using the wasteful flood irrigation method. Similarly, in both urban and rural areas, there is no practice of reuse of water used for domestic purposes. B. Deteriorating quality of available water (bacteria, nitrate, fluoride etc. present) in i. urban areas because of improper management of solid and liquid wastes ii. rural areas due to poor sanitation practices and run-off fertilizer use in agricultural fields

and

C. Decreasing accessibility of water in both urban and rural areas. In the urban areas, utilities are struggling to procure water and supply it. Consumers, faced with inadequate and irregular supplies, are therefore adopting costly strategies, such as tubewells, to offset the meagre supply. In the rural areas, since almost 90% of water is to be fetched by women & girls, they have to bear the brunt by carrying the water over longer distances. This is leading to both social costs (absence from schools, health impacts) and economic costs (loss of wages & payment for water) 10.

Sanitation in both urban and rural areas in the 2 districts is an issue of concern. While the urban households are better-off in terms of coverage and use of toilets, personal hygiene practices, management of solid and liquid waste etc., the urban slums and rural areas are in a woeful state. The common practice is defecation in the open, with its significant health and security hazards, especially for the women. The solid and liquid wastes are let off in the nearby areas, which percolates and contaminates the ground water. There is a need of extensive awareness generation activities in this regard.

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Past experience in management of water resources by Public Sector utilities is replete with low cost recovery, poor operation and maintenance of infrastructure, inequitable and inadequate distribution and overall unavailability of the system financed by large subsidies. Lately, under the Water Sector Restructuring Projects supported by the World Bank, greater participation of the water users and cost recovery principles are being promoted in the two states through their respective state policies and the M.P. Participatory Irrigation Management Act, 1999. Other institutions, such as the co-operative Fishing Societies have also emerged in recent years.

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With growing water scarcity, institutions such as the Water Users’ Associations are witnessing increasing incidences of conflicts. There are encroachments on private properties, Panchayat lands and even village ponds for tank-bed cultivation. Within WUAs, there is favouritism towards farmers with large land – holdings and those at the head reach of the command area.

13.

Although some coping mechanisms have emerged in the last few years (reduced cropping of water-intensive crops, creation of farm bunds, mixed cropping etc.), communities have still not started to make adaptations. They have some knowledge of the core issues leading to water shortages but are woefully short of any collective action to improve the situation.

Recommendations •

Promote integrated water resources management approach

– The water needs of the poor and underserved must be given the highest priority through the preparation of a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework aimed at integrated management systems that can ensure rational and equitable allocation of resources. – The water requirements for ecosystem services and security need to be scientifically assessed and incorporated into the analysis of all water resources management projects. – Industrial, agricultural and municipal water systems should be designed to take full advantage of innovative approaches designed to maximize delivery and minimize waste such as Zero Emission systems, controlled irrigation and 24/7 drinking water • Vigorously pursue decentralization and community water management initiatives In the Jhansi and Tikamgarh districts, where there is adequate rainfall in some years but drought in other areas large-scale conservation measures like

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integrated watershed development should be simplified and propagated widely to mobilize local ownership and promote food and livelihood security. At the same time, smaller projects, such as traditional water harvesting and conveyance structures and community based management systems like Bundela tanks village ponds checkdams etc which are more in tune with local culture and practices must be revived. • Foster local institutional development and capacity building Robust local institutions are an essential pre-requisite for decentralized management of water resources. Fortunately, the State Water Policies of both M.P. and U.P. seek to promote multi-stakeholder institutional bodies since no single type of institution can hope to manage the ever-growing complexities and challenges of water resources development and management. Within these districts also, innovative partnerships are required to be forged for this purpose. While some of these already exist in the form of Water Users’ Associations, Fishing Societies etc. within these two districts, their knowledge and skill base will have to be strengthened for

– Building of information and knowledge base – Internalizing cost recovery principles – Monitoring and conflict resolution mechanisms • Focus extensively on Awareness raising activities During the course of the current study, it has repeatedly been found that not just physical infrastructure, but behavioural issues also need to be addressed for solving the water crisis in the districts. These issues primarily relate to quality of drinking water, sanitation and water use and reuse practices. Extensive awareness activities need to be undertaken in this regard, with context-specific and situation specific awareness materials that can be used by field functionaries and which people can relate to. • Promote economic instruments for efficient and sustainable water resources management

– Evolve pricing mechanisms for irrigation, urban and rural water supply systems that include the full cost of providing it. The costs not only of the infrastructure, operations and capital servicing, and other financial costs, including economic, ecological and social costs. At the same time, these pricing mechanisms have to be adjusted to ensure universal service provision, and especially to cater to the special needs of the poor and underserved.

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– Demonstrate pilot projects in cooperative, enterprise and other institutional modes, with community participation, for providing water services to communities. – Provide time-bound subsidies for development, testing and scaling up of tools and techniques (e.g. drip irrigation) for efficient use of irrigation water with the aim of enabling such practices to become financially viable and widely adopted without continuing subsidies. – Promote establishment of water markets that encourage water trading among farmers themselves and also with urban or industrial users.

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CHAPTER - 1 ABOUT BUNDELKHAND REGION Often called as the heartland of India, the Bundelkhand Region of central India has always commanded an eminent place all through the Indian history. The contribution of the Patriotic Bundelas the courageous bravadoes, in India's freedom struggle does not starve for any elaboration. The fact that legendary personalities like Maharani Laxmi Bai, Sri Maithalisharan Gupt, Vrindavan Lal Verma, Mahakavi Keshav Dass and, Major Dhyan Chand were among precious gifts of this land to the nation speaks of its contribution to the polity, literature and culture of the country.

cultural fabric manifested by a spectacular diversity in folk dances, music, songs, art, architecture and, of course, the fairs and festivals. The bounties of nature too, are as rich, diverse and colourful. Talking in geographic terms, Bundelkhand is stretched between 23°35' 26'N and 78° 82' E bounded by the Yamuna in the North, the Chambal in the North West, the erupted ranges of the Vindhya plateau in the South and the Panna and Ajay Garh ranges in the South East. Vindhyachal ranges, form a major portion of the mountain ranges of this part of the country and has been

Map 1: Bundelkhand and Surrounding Regions

the protector and caretaker of the Bundelkhand Region. The river network of the region comprises various big and small rivers like Yamuna, Chambal, Betwa, Dhasan, Son, Sindh and Ken.

All along its length and breadth, Bundelkhand is richly studded with religious centres, historical sites, monuments, forts and, boasts of a vividly dynamic, rich and colourful

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Administratively, The Bundelkhand region comprises 13 contiguous districts, viz. Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Banda, Mahoba and Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh and Sagar, Chattarpur, Tikamgarh, Panna, Damoh and Datia in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from its rich cultural heritage the region is also known for its socioeconomic backwardness. Most of the districts of the region have been identified as poorest districts of the country by the Planning Commission of the Govt. of India. It has been estimated that almost half of the population of this region suffers does not have food security1. It can primarily be attributed to:





Low agricultural productivity because of inappropriate agricultural practices that make it anunviable profession. Still monocropping is practiced by most of the farmers that causes adverse impact on the soil fertility. Due to increase in population, land holding per person has become very low that renders low yield and therefore poor income from the land. The production is largely concentrated into the hands of a few landlords.

Box 1: Death Wish Once a land where courage bloomed -- it was here that the British faced organised rebellion in 1857 -- today, it is a landscape that beckons adjectives like barren, infertile, rocky, a place where few have the strength to stay alive. The whole region comprises nine districts but it is in Lalitpur, Jhansi, Shivpuri and Tikamgarh that the effect is most stark. Every indicator is an advertisement for crisis. Water is scarce. Land unproductive. Industrial growth absent. Jobs an illusion. To the point where the rural migration rate is as high as 39.04 per cent against an average migration rate of 11 per cent. It is a land that is aching in despair.

Lack of alternate livelihood options: Livelihood from other sources, like forest and traditional crafts and occupation is also edging. With only 3-4 months of agricultural labour being available and no alternate livelihood of option. So a large number of labourers are forced to migrate to other regions of the country, the estimated migration rate being around 39% for the region.

animals. All this changed in the last 50 years when indiscriminate cutting of trees without any serious replanting, led to the disappearance of most of the forests. With rapid increase in the human and animal population during this period the pasturelands also disappeared and water bodies started drying up. Today, the lush bamboo and teak forests that covered large tracts of this terrain and nurtured some of the best biodiversity, wildlife (including tigers and leopards) and

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Household food security is defined as access to food of requisite quantity, of acceptable quantity, by means that it is reliable over a fairly long period.

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Degeneration of Natural Resources base: Being home to a succession of enlightened kingdoms through the millennia, the kings of the Bundela dynasty built and maintained innumerable rainwater harvesting structures, which ensured abundant supplies of water throughout the year. The water bodies were mostly tanks (small, medium and large) which got filled up during the rainy season and which in turn charged the ground water. Thus, the wells in the village had plenty of water throughout the year. Even in the years when the monsoon was below normal, there was no shortage of drinking water for humans and

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other forest wealth in the country are all gone. Depletion in ground water table and lack of avenues for storing the rain water has posed havoc on water availability both for drinking and irrigation. The recharging of ground water resources through collecting the rain water in traditional ponds is not taking place due to degradation of such ponds, encroachment of forest lands, cutting of forests and blocking the catchments areas of watershed regions. The result is that wells being used for drinking water and irrigation are not providing enough water to serve the purpose for the whole year.2 Most agriculture is single-crop and rain fed with supplementary water from open wells. Thus, large numbers of farmers are highly dependent on the monsoon rains to recharge these wells.

management approach has to be built around the issue of sustainability in terms of both source creation and its management (quality and quantity), and building of institutional systems at various levels (village, block, district levels) for community based management of water and sanitation challenges. An integrated approach to water and waste water management has to be undertaken. Development Alternatives has undertaken an initiative to pilot this approach in 10 villages, to start with, spread across two blocks of Tikamgarh and Jhansi Districts of this region. Prior to designing any interventions, it is important that the current status and it’s driving forces are well understood. This report is an effort to conduct a rapid assessment of the current status of water and waste water management in Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts and the potential for introducing integrated approaches with an aim to provide “Water For All, Always’.

Poverty is rampant in Bundelkhand region. Low productivity in agriculture and industrial backwardness, together with the dying traditional household/cottage industries have kept the region as one of the most poverty stricken. Employment and income generation programmes run by government, hardly reach the poor in the feudal set up of the society, widely prevalent in the area. Migration to other states doesn’t always solve the problem of everybody, when the population living below poverty line is very large.

THE DISTRICTS AND JHANSI

TIKAMGARH

Tikamgarh District Location: Tikamgarh District is located in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh. It is bounded by Chhatarpur district to east, Lalitpur district to west, Jhansi to North and Sagar to South. It lies on the Bundelkhand Plateau between the Jamni and Dhasan rivers. It extends between the 24°26' and 25°34' N and 78°26' and 79°21' E latitude. The shape of district is triangular. The northern margin is very irregular. The maximum length of the district is about 119 Km. from North to South and width is about 80 Km.

Given the background of Bundelkhand Region and the key concerns mentioned above, it is important that economic activities are revived in the region with a key focus on management of natural resources, especially water. The water 2

Study on Bundelkhand, by Samarthan for Planning Commission

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Benaras Hemkaran, also known as Pancham Bundela.

Map 2: Block Map of Tikamgarh District

The District takes its name from the headquarters town as Tihri, in Orchha State. In 1783 Raja Vikramajit shifted his capital from Orchha town to Tihri and renamed it Tikamgarh but it was officially recognised only in 1887. The name was adopted in the honour of Lord Krishna, Tikam being one of his appellations. Demographic Characterstics: The total geographical area of the district is 5048.00 sq. Km. It is administratively divided into six blocks, viz Niwari, Jatara, Tikamgarh, Prithvipur, Baldeogarh and Palera (Map-2). The total population in the district is 12, 002,998 (2001 Census) with 24.2% and 4.3% of the population comprising of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe respectively. Historical Background: The early history of this district is unfortunately not chronicled. However the numerous ruins of buildings and other old remains lying scattered at various places, viz Orchha, Garh Kudar, Prithvipur, Barana, Lidhoura, Digora, Mohangarg, Baldeogarh and Tikamgarh suggest of it’s glorious past. The district was the part of vast empires successively ruled by the Mauryas, the Sungas and the imperial Guptas. It was in the first quarter of ninth century A.D., that Mannuka founded a new dynasty known as the Chandela dynasty in this area. Tikamgarh along with Khajuraho and Mahoba formed part of the extensive Chandela Kingdom. The Khangras also held this region specially around Garh Kudar. The rising power of Bundelas in this region resulted into the downfall of the Khangras. The Orchha records trace the descent of the Bundela Kingdom of Orchha from Garh Kudar chiefs of

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As regards the geographical classification, the district has 13 towns in which nearly 17.68% of the population lives while the rest 82.32% lines in the 963 inhabited villages comprising the rural areas. Table 1: District Tikamgarh: Rural-Urban Population Classification S. No

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Tehsil Name

Niwari Jatara Tikamgarh Prithvipur Baldeogarh Palera District Total

Population Total 184682 240560 249199 158976 193170 176411 1202998

Source: Census of India, 2001

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Rural 149027 213799 164361 128143 173156 161779 990265

Urban 35655 26761 84838 30833 20014 14632 212733

The larger portion of SC and ST communities reside in rural areas of the district.

Jhansi District Location: Jhansi district lies in the extreme south-western corner of Uttar Pradesh. It has an irregular boundary, the northern being contiguous with that of the Jalaun district, the river Betwa flowing between the two districts for a considerable distance. On the east of the district lie the districts of Hamirpur and Mahoba. The Southern boundary of the district is formed by the Tikamgarh district. The district lies between 24°11' and 25°57' N and 78°10' and 79°23' E with the district, the northern portion comprises the subdivisions of Jhansi-Moth and MauGarautha and southern portion that of Lalitpur-Mehroni which is practically surrounded by Madhya Pradesh and is more or less pear shaped.

The district is quite low on the development and social indicators with the sex ratio being 886 (against state’s sex ratio of 920) and the Infant Mortality Ratio being 117 per 1000 births (IMR for MP state is 86/100 births). The district has repeated instances of female infanticide causing the skewed sex ratio. The sex ratio among SC and ST population is even worse. The medical facilities in the district are abysmal and most people in the district travel to Jhansi for better medical attention. As in most backward places, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for the district is as high as 3.743 against state TFR of 3.64 and the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) is 42.14 per 1000 population against state CBR of 31.9 per 1000 population. This results in a high rate of growth of population, the decadal growth between 1991 and 2001 being 27.86% for the district.

Historical Background: Local tradition ascribes the origin of the name Jhansi (by which the district and its headquarter town are designated) to the beginning of the seventeenth century when Bir Sing Deo, the famous Bundela King of Orchha, built a fort in 1613 in what is now the city of Jhansi. One day when he was sitting on the roof of his palace at Orchha with his friend, the raja of Jaitpur, he asked him whether he could discern this new fort that had been built on the Bangra hills. The raja of Jaitpur replied that he could see it 'Jhainsi' (meaning literally rather indistinct). At this Raja Bir Sing Deo decided to call the fort 'Jhansi' which in course of time, became corrupted to Jhansi.

Growing population, coupled with a low literacy rate (55.80%), low agricultural productivity and lack of other income generation opportunities has led to almost half (43.8%) of the population living below the poverty line, a very low per capita income (Rs. 2425 against the state’s per capita income of Rs. 14011) and a consequent high migration rate towards other more progressive areas in the country.

Demographic Characterstics: According to the Survey of India, the area of the present Jhansi district is 5024 sq km. It has 5 tehsils, 8 blocks (shown in map-3), 21 urban centers and 760 inhabited villages. The relief of the district varies roughly from 150m-450m

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http://education.vsnl.com/shyam/mptcst.html Study on Bundelkhand by Samarthan for Planning Commission

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Map 3: Tehsil Map of Jhansi District

above the mean sea level. The population of the district is 17,44,931 (2001 Census) with 28.06% and 0.06% of the population being of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe respectively. The sex ratio for Jhansi district as per 2001 Census is 871 (against state’s sex ratio of 898). Similar to Tikamgarh district, Jhansi also has witnessed incidences of female infanticide causing the skewed sex ratio. Jhansi being one of the major cities in the region, about 40.79% of total population of the district lives in urban areas and the rest 59.2% in rural areas. Jhansi district has 760 inhabited villages that support a population of 10,33,171. The Jhansi tehsil, in which the Jhansi town is located alone houses approximately 7.9 lakh people and has a population density of 262 persons per square kilometer (as against the district statistic of 217).

The percentage of population living below poverty line in Jhansi district is 18.3%. The per capita income of Jhansi district is not available, but that of the state of Uttar Pradesh is Rs. 10817 (2003 – 04). The Jhansi district has also lately been experiencing large migration of people to other areas.

The Jhansi district, although low on social indicators overall, is relatively better than other districts in Uttar Pradesh. As per 2001 census, the infant mortality rate for Jhansi district is 78 per 1000 births (IMR for UP state is 83/100 births). Major reason cited for this is availability of better health care facility in Jhansi district in comparison to most other districts. The lower Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for Jhansi district (i.e. 3.215 against the state TFR of 5.0) combined with a lower Crude Birth Rate (29.1 per 1000 population against the state CBR of 32.4 per 1000 population) has meant that the district has witnessed a lower (17.5 %) growth in population in the period 1991-2001. This is much lower than the state figure (28.43%) and even the national average (21.34%).

CONCLUSION As mentioned above, the districts of Jhansi and Tikamgarh are parts of two different states. Jhansi district is relatively better-off than Tikamgarh district on many development indicators. But they have several things in common. The commonality may be attributed to the presence of both the districts in contiguity and historical and cultural backgrounds. The districts are part of similar eco-zone and also have similar socio-economic base. Both the districts have fairly low literacy rates (65.5% for Jhansi and 55.80% for Tikamgarh) and very poor sources of income generation. Although the migration rates for the two districts are not available separately, but for Bundelkhand region it is as high as

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www.dgfwup.com/UTTAR%20PRADESH/JHANSI. pdf - Supplemental Result

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39.04% against an average migration rate of 11%. 6 The rural migration from districts of Jhansi and Tikamgarh has been observed to be towards northern part of the country, specially the states of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, as agriculture labourers, factory workers, rickshaw pullers etc. The major reason attributed to high rate of migration is continuous drought in the region and absence of any other alternate livelihood opportunity. Inspite of several anti-poverty programmes (e.g. District Poverty Initiatives Programme) in both the districts, improvement in the situation is not very rapid and may take long for efforts to bear fruit.

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http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/27041998/invest.html

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CHAPTER – 2 PHYSICAL PROFILE materials like stone-gravels, boulders and the slabs.

The districts of Tikamgarh and Jhansi are fairly representative of the Bundelkhand region in terms of the physical profile and the natural resources. The topography of the districts is homogenous dissected uplands, presenting an old eroded surface, carved out of granite, with northern uplands merging imperceptibly into the granitic uplands. Major drainage of the districts is through perennial rivers and their tributary rivulets and seasonal Nallahs.

The soils found in the district are primarily of four types, which are (i) Bundelkhand-coarse grained-reddish brown soils, (ii) Bundelkhand-coarse grained-grey to greyish brown soils, Bundelkhand-clay loam black soils, and (iv) Bundelkhand clayey black soils. Locally these soils are known as rakar, parua, kabar and mar respectively. The bulk of soil found in the district is the rakar.

Tikamgarh District Drainage and River System Topography Due to the difference in altitudes, all the rivers in the district flow from south to north. The damage can be primarily divided in three major river basins, which are:

The Tikamgarh district is geographically situated at the north of the State of Madhya Pradesh. The elevation of Tikamgarh is 426.7 m above mean sea level. The northern part of the district is at a height of 200 meters from the mean sea-level while the southern part is at a height of 300 meters. It lies in the level plane which forms the Betwa-Dhasan Doab. The geology is characterized by what is known as the Bundelkhand Gneiss in geological terms. It is a hard grayish pink grantiodal rock of simple composition traversed by conspicuous quartz fields, which form an integral part of this formation. These rocks are found in the forms of sheets and dykes across the district, thus defining the topography of the district. The area is gently sloping from south towards north. The

1. Betwa basin: Most of the region in this basin comprises of the Niwari Block which makes the north western part of the district. It comprises of sub basins of two rivers namely Betwa and Jamni. The Bundelkhand plateau starts from the northern part of this basin.

2. Jamni basin: This is a tributary of Betwa river, which flows across on the western boundary of the district, that forms the natural boundary of the district. The shape of this basin is in a form of strip which runs along the western boundary. The mean height of this region varies from 300 to 400 meters above mean sea level. At some places it is more than 400 meters. There are various

important minerals found in this region are the famous Bundelkhand granite, the sandstone and limestone. Main products of these are the building

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lakes or tanks in this basin due to the undulating topography.

Jhansi district is situated at an elevation of 150-450 m above the mean sea level. Geologically, it is comparatively level; a low lying and fertile tract. It has the general appearance of a plain dotted with isolated low and rocky hills. The district has two physically distinct portions:

3. Ur-Dhasan basin: The basin falls in Jatara and Palera blocks of the district. All the above rivers are not perennial rivers. Many of them get flooded in the Monsoon and are deficient of water in summers. The excess water in the Monsoon is drained off, due to the slope towards north.

1. North Eastern Plains: This plain covers the Mauranipur, Garutha and part of Moth tehsils. It comprises small hillocks spread out across the plain. It is drained by river Dhasan and its tributaries Lakheri and Chainch rivers. It has a slope towards the north-east.

Land Usage Of the total area of the district, 56% is what is termed as the Net Sown Area. Slightly more than half (52% in 2003-04) of the cultivated area was double cropped. The district has a high proportion of wastelands (21.99% of total geographical area7 with almost 52695 ha being classified as “land with or without scrubs” and the rest as “Barren/ stony sheet rock area” by National Remote Sensing Agency. The total area under forest is 6 % of which 70.5% is degraded forest.

2. The South Western Plateau: This plateau covers the southern portion of Jhansi tehsil and south western part of Mauranipur tehsil. This is a plateau in the South Western direction and is adorned with tall hills here and there. The land is undulating with several ravines. The general slope is towards the north Geologically, Jhansi has an assemblage of Granite rocks known as Bundelkhand Granitic Complex. The

Jhansi District–Topography Chart 1: Tikamgarh District – Land Usage

Chart 2: Tikamgarh District – Categories of Wastelands

Net Sown Area 56%

Underutilised/de graded notified forest land (Agri) 9%

Fallow Land

Barren Rocky

Mining Wasteland

/Stone

2%

w aste/Sheet Rock Area

8%

14%

Cult ivable Land 4% Ot her uncult ivable land 3%

Forest Area (Ha)

Underutilised/de

6%

graded notified

Land w ith Scrub

cult ivat ion

forest land

47%

23%

28%

Land not available f or

Source: Wastelands Atlas of India 2005, NRSA, Ministry of Rural Development, GoI

Source: District Statistical report, 2004

7

Source: Wastelands Atlas of India 2005, National Remote Sensing Agency, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India

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northern boundary of Jhansi is partially Gangetic alluvium. The entire

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district is dotted with granite and gneiss along with quartz reefs and igneous rocks.

3. Dhasan: Arising from Madhya Pradesh, this river enters the district through the Mauranipur tehsil and forms its boundary with Mahoba and Hamirpur districts. The river has a rocky bed and its course is flanked by ravines, which grow highly complex as it approaches Betwa. The river has been dammed at Lahchura and Pahari and is used to divert water to irrigation canals

The important minerals found in this region are building stone and road material, ceramic pegmatite and pyrophyllite and diaspore. The soils found in district are primarily of the following three types

4. Tributaries of Dhasan: Important tributaries of the Dhasan are the Ur, the Sukhnai, the Lakheri and the Chainch. These are primarily monsoon rivers that cause floods during the monsoons but are usually completely dried up after the winters.

1. Bundelkhand type I (Red soil in the north and Rakar soil in the south) 2. Bundelkhand type II (Brown fertile Domat, Parua somewhere mixed with kankars and clay, Matiyar) 3. Bundelkhand type III (Kabar-coarse grain; Domat mixed with Matiyar upto 25%; Mar (has greater moisure retention capacity).

5. Pahuj: This river enters Jhansi tehsil from Gwalior district and forms the boundary with the district of Datia. The Pahuj river, although flowing mostly through rugged country, does not have a deep bed. It has been dammed near village Simartha and is currently used to supply water to the Jhansi town.

Drainage and River System The slope of the district is towards the north and the north east. The district has almost 5 major basins, enunciated as follows: 1. Betwa basin: This river touches the boundary of the district at Badora village and flows along the boundary of the district for almost 14 kms before flowing into the Tikamgarh district and re-entering Jhansi tehsil at Banguan village. In the district, this river has been dammed at Dhukuwa and Parischa.

Land Usage Due to its rocks and undulating topology, Jhansi district has a lower proportion of its Total Geographical Area under agriculture with the Net Sown Area being around 70%. The district also has a lower proportion of wastelands (16.95% of total 8 geographical area) with almost 53762 ha being classified as “land with scrubs”. Approximately 7% of the area is under forest, a bulk of which is degraded forest.

2. Tributaries of Betwa: Besides Dhasan, some minor streams flowing from the hills of Moth, Jhansi and Maharanipur tehsils form the tributaries of the Betwa river. An important stream is the Barwa which has bee dammed to form Barwa Sagar lake in the district

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8

Source: Wastelands Atlas of India 2005, National Remote Sensing Agency, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India

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Chart 3: Jhansi District – Land Usage

Net Sow n Area 70%

Barren Forest cultivable 7% w asteland 3%

Land under misc. trees and groves 0% Pasture 0%

Chart 4: Jhansi District – Categories of Wastelands

Present fallow land 5%

Other fallow land 1% Barren & Land put to uncultivable non-agri use land 8% 6%

Underutilised/ degraded notified forest land Land affected15% by salinity 1%

Land w ith Scrub 63%

Mining Wasteland 1%

Gullied or ravinous land 14%

Underutilised/ degraded notified forest land (Agri) 2% Barren Rocky /Stone w aste/Sheet Rock Area 4%

Source: Wastelands Atlas of India 2005, NRSA, Ministry of Rural Development, GoI

Source: District Statistical report, 2004

Tikamgarh and Jhansi Districts Climate and Rainfall

progressively and peaks in May in which temperature goes upto 450 C,

The climate of both the districts may be characterised by a hot dry summer and cold winter and is marked for high variability of rainfall year to year. There are primarily four seasons:

which is accompanied by dusty storms. Thunderstorms occur during the premonsoon months while fog is common during winters. The district gets maximum part of its rains in the Monsoon season, during which the south westerly winds as well the winds from Bay of Bengal bring the rain clouds along with them. The average rainfall of the Jhansi district as reported in the District Gazetteer (1965) is 880 mm while for the Tikamgarh district is 1000 mm. Inspite of the fairly decent average rainfall of the districts, its uncertainty and erratic behaviour leads to dry spells causing droughts and also floods in the Monsoon. The uncertainty in the rainfall is the main reason of poor agriculture yield. Rain is also received in a very small amount during November to May, but this rain is very important for agriculture in this region. This rain is called “Mahawat” in the vernacular language.

– Dry Summer season – from March to May i.e. before advent of Monsoon

– Moist Summer season – from June to September, the Monsoon

– Transition period - in October and November, which Monsoon period

is

the

post

– Winter Season – from December to February The coldest months in the year are December and January in which the temperature goes as down as 100 C. This is due to the cold waves caused by the western disturbances moving across north India. From March onwards, the temperature begins to rise

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CHAPTER - 3 STATUS OF WATER RESOURCES

Water is so precious and important in the life of Bundelkhand that in certain regions there is a saying, “Gagari na phoote, Chahe Balam mar jaye”, (The waterpot should not be broken even if husband dies). The above statement sums up fairly accurately the value of water in the Bundelkhand region. Non-availability of water for various uses is a major concern in the region. Even with the annual rainfall of about 950 mm on an average, water in the region is scarce.

population in the district, the requirement of water for domestic use can be estimated. Utilising population records of 2001, the total domestic requirement for water in the Tikamgarh district is estimated to be 22 around million cubic meters (mcm) per year. Chart 5 – Tikamgarh District Domestic Water Requirement

This chapter seeks to understand the core issues related to water scarcity in the districts by systematically looking at the various sources of demand and availability of water resources in the two districts. The demand side focuses primarily on the domestic, agricultural, industrial and other uses, while the availability aspect looks at the natural as well as the management issues. Towards the end, the chapter also looks at some of the past and recent measures undertaken for reducing the water scarcity.

Prithivipur Niwari Palera Jatara Baldeogarh Tikamgarh 0.0 Urban

Water Demand Domestic

The Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission has estimated the per capita domestic water requirement to be 40 litres per day (lpcd) for rural areas, 70 lpcd for towns without sewerage and 140 lpcd for towns with sewerage facilities. Taking these into account and multiplying by the type of

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2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

MCM / Year

The main cause for worry, however, is that this demand has been continuously growing over the years due to a massive increase in population. Since 1961, Tikamgarh district has experienced a decadal population growth of more than 25% on an average. Increase in water demand is further contributed by an increase in the concentration of population in urban areas. In 1961, while 15% of the total population was in urban areas, this figure has increased to more than 17% in 2001.

TIKAMGARH DISTRICT




Rural

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Agricultural

No large industry of any significance lies in the Tikamgarh district. However, minor village industries of a rudimentary nature which are the inherent part of rural economy exist in this district too. These consist of wood work units, handlooms weaving, pottery, brick-making, utensil-making, and gold, silver and lac ornamentsmaking. They are mainly run by the village artisans class who inherited the skill of their craft. Most of these industries except brick-making, do not require much water.

It is a fairly well known fact that irrigation accounts for more than 80% of the total water use in India. In Tikamgarh district also, there is a large requirement for water for irrigation purpose. Wheat and rice are the main staple food of the population and although the district lies in the wheat growing belt, rice is an important crop here. Both crops are however extremely water intensive. The Kharif crops in the district are paddy, jowar, maize and pulses such as Tur, Moong, Urd etc. The main Rabi crops are wheat, gram, barley and mustard. In the areas within the district where water is available, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are also grown. Considering the irrigation water requirement for each crop in the region, the total irrigation water requirement for the district has been estimated to be 1740 mcm / year.




Requirement Prithivipur

Blocks

Niwari Palera Jatara Baldeogarh Tikam garh

100

200

300

400

500

MCM/Year

It is however worth mentioning that this requirement is estimated on the basis of present cropping pattern and the area sown. Increasing income generated in the agricultural sector is a key national objective and an important way through which this can be achieved is by crop diversification and bringing more area into double or even triple cropping system. This will further increase the agricultural demand for water in the district.

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Livestock

The entire Bundelkhand region is very rich in livestock. It has one of the highest livestock population per capita in the country. To estimate their water requirements, the assumptions used in this analysis follow: one cow makes one cattle unit, one buffalo is two cattle units, and two sheep/goat equal one cattle unit. On average, 30 liters per day is required per cattle unit to satisfy the animal’s water requirements. As per the District Statistical Handbook 2004, there are approximately 49000 cows, 182000 buffaloes, 44000 sheep, 282000 goat and 129000 poultry in the Tikamgarh district. Taking all these into account, the total annual water requirement for livestock in the district is around 11.2 mcm /year.

Chart 6: Tikamgarh District - Irrigation Water

0

Industrial

Table 2: Tikamgarh District Livestock Water Requirement Water Cattle requirement Block units (mcm/year) Tikamgarh 166983.5 1.83 Baldevgarh 169367.5 1.85 Jatara 204739 2.24 Palera 165862 1.82 Niwari 161219 1.77 Prithvipur 153599 1.68 Total 11.19

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Other uses (Environment, Instream Flow Requirements – average and drought conditions)

The entire precipitation is however not usable for the population habitating over the area. This is because a large part of the precipitated water is lost in the form of runoff or evaporation.

Even though the ecosystems requirement for water is recognized by the planners, at the district and state level, few estimates have been made till date.




The average annual rainfall of the Tikamgarh district is about 1000 mm which is certainly far below then national average but significantly higher then some of the other arid regions in the country.

Box 2: Ecosystem Water Requirements The water needs of ecosystems are not always recognized, since many people do not regard water for ecosystems as a social and economic use. Yet access to fresh water is an undisputable need for the maintenance and functioning of valuable ecosystems and landscapes in which human activities are an integral part. Ecosystems are also important in securing human health, because they provide services fundamental to our life support system – such as control of pests and detoxification and decomposition of waste. They contribute to the production of food (crops and fish), medicines, and other goods. They provide water treatment, recreation, and waterway transport. And terrestrial ecosystems help balance rainwater infiltration, ground water recharge, and river flow regimes.

Table 3 : Tikamgarh District : Average Annual Precipitation Area Sl No

Tehsil

1

Baldeogarh

2

Jatara

3 4 5 6

Niwari Palera Prithvipur Tikamgarh Total

Precipitation (mm)

Water volume MCM/ year

1000

858.96

1000

1008.60

1000 1000 1000 1000

606.00 748.22 958.62 867.60 5048.00

(sq. Km)

858.9 1008. 6 606.0 748.2 958.6 867.6 5048

The rainfall observation is taken only at one point in the district. The average annual rainfall can be considered equally distributed all over the district for practical purposes and considering constraints in the availability of data. The precipitated rainfall can be converted into the water volumes by considering the area over which it is occurring. Considering the average rainfall of 1000 mm, it may be seen that the district receives about 5084 mcm/year (shown in table 3). But, in the last 5 years, the average rainfall in the district has been much lower (almost 650 mm). This has considerable reduced the precipitation to about 3100 mcm/year.

Water Availability Being a landlocked area, water resource availability to the district is in form of river streams (seasonal availability), as surface storage (through different reservoirs and dams, which are being constantly degraded), as soil moisture and as groundwater (stored in aquifers). Whatever the mode of delivery at the user end, the only source is the precipitation occurring either over the area concerned or somewhere else in the watershed.

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Rainfall

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Groundwater Resources Map 4: Status of Ground Water in Tikamgarh District

As per the statistics provided by the Central Groundwater Board, Bhopal, the Tikamgarh district has a net Groundwater availability of 630 mcm / year. The average level of groundwater development in the district is almost 86%. With such a high level of groundwater development, the district falls under the Semi-critical category. In a large part of the district, the water table has gone to 50 metres below ground level.


Surface Reservoirs

Water precipitated over the area is either stored in reservoirs or dams are built on the drains for stopping the flowing water for the use in lean periods. Tikamgarh district is very rich in lakes and dams which form very important sources of irrigation as well as recharging the ground water reserve. In the district there are 24 main reservoirs whose total gross capacity of water holding is about 163047 mcm for the total catchment area of 565 sq km area. Obviously catchment area of these reservoirs extends outside of the district also. It may however, be noted that total gross capacity does not indicate the water available for storage and many of these reservoirs dry up substantially during the course of the year.

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Besides the large reservoirs and dams, there are approximately 995 tanks that have been reported. As per the available records, almost all of them were constructed during the Chandelas regime over this region. Most of the tanks were small and constructed at the favorite and frequently visited places and adjacent to temples or palaces, obviously for recreational/ religious reasons. At present about 421 tanks exists. Some of them are of considerable size and capacity including the tanks at Baldeogarh, Bamhauri, Barana, Lidhoura, Jatara, and Bir Sagar. Atleast 49 tanks, including the ones mentioned, have an area of more than 40 hectares each. In due course of time, needs prompted to use the existing tanks for irrigation purposes and about 121 tanks have been used for tank-bed cultivation. The ownership of these tanks rests with different departments, namely the Forest Department (9), Agriculture Department (10), Irrigation Department (88), Panchayats (211), Revenue Department (35). The rest are private or general use tanks spread over the villages.

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What is important to note here is that half of the tanks have become dysfunctional. In the past, these tanks used to be the lifelines of the people in the district. In the dry season, people would desilt them and use the sand to enrich soil in their agricultural fields. Due to decades of artificial fertilizer use, the traditional practice of de-silting the tanks in the dry season has gradually died-out and the thicker, impenetrable layer of clay has hindered the recharge of underground reservoirs. This, coupled with a rapid expansion of borehole wells and diesel pumps, has meant that underground water levels have dropped tens of metres, leaving both tanks and wells dry.

Tikamgarh. As far as the other towns in the district are concerned, piped water supply has been arranged for them also. However, there is no data available on actual coverage of the population through the formal water supply system. Even the habitations that are covered, low water availability, frequent pipeline breakages and an obsolete pipelines system ensure that the distribution is intermittent (number of hours is limited and pressure is low) and high standards of water quality are not ensured. Several parts of the town do not receive water everyday and duration between successive supply of water increases from one to three or four days as peak summers approach.

Water Supply and Accessibility


The Drinking Water Situation o o o o o o o o o

Tikamgarh has been an area where traditional sources such as the wells, tanks, and perennial streams formed the basic lifeline as far as water is concerned. After independence, when the drinking water became the responsibility of the State Government, several rural and urban projects were planned. We provide a brief description of these projects in the following sections. • •

Urban Drinking Water Supply

Rural Drinking Water Supply

In the Survey of Drinking Water Supply Status In Rural Habitations conducted in 2001, it was found that out of the total 865 inhabited villages in the district, 760 could be categorized as the Problem villages. As per the guidelines, the problem villages were defined as: – those which do not have an assured source of water within a distance of 1.6 kilometres or within an elevation of 100 metres in hilly areas. – those where the available water has an excessive salinity, iron, fluoride,

For supply to the Tikamgarh town, multiple sources are tapped to fulfill the demand. Water supply is mainly done from the river Jamni and its reservoir. In addition, several other sources, shown in Box 3 are used to keep the supply of the town going. Besides the piped water supply, several handpumps have also been installed in the town. These are installed and maintained by the Nagar Panchayat,

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Box 3 : Sources of drinking for Tikamgarh Town Tal Darwaja well Bajaj ki Bagiya well Mahendra Baag well Haridas Mandir well Old Tehri well Mau Nala Bavri Hospital – Tubewell Gol Quarter Tubewell Vinodkunj Tigela Tubewell

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–

Arsenic, nitrate or other toxic elements; or those where diseases like cholera, AGE etc. are endemic.

usual means of irrigation on wells have been the Moth (the leather-bucket / rope) and the Persian Wheels; both powered by a pair of bullocks. This has slowly been replaced by diesel/electrical pump sets.

Since then, all the villages have been provided at least one source of drinking water, mostly tubewells. The blockwise coverage of rural drinking water supply schemes is elaborated in Table 4 given below:

As already mentioned earlier, the district has several artificial lakes and tanks, from where canals have been taken out for irrigation. About ….% of the gross sown area in the district may be called ‘irrigated’ (Source: District Statistical Report, 2004) The latest major project that has significantly benefited the district is the Rajghat canal that passes through several districts of both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh It has recharged water levels in a large number of wells from where the canal passes.

Table 4: Tikamgarh District Rural Drinking Water Supply Coverage Block

Problem villages

Villages With tubewells Tikamgarh 137 155 Baldeogarh 136 151 Jatara 137 171 Palera 118 135 Niwari 123 123 Prithvipur 109 130 Source: District Statistical Report, 2004

Another major initiative, that may have significant ramification for the district, is the much debated interlinking of rivers. One of the first feasibility reports published is of the Ken-Betwa link. This project proposes to provide enroute irrigation in 74 villages in Niwari and Jatara blocks of Tikamgarh district, besides other areas. The project may, however, have significant environmental, social and political issues that are discussed later in this report.

Although the infrastructure has been provided, there are significant challenges in ensuring sustainability of the sources due to a variety of reasons, the most important among them being a significant drop in the groundwater table. In most of the villages it has been observed that sources start dry up from January onwards and the situation becomes worse in the peak summer months. Poor sanitation practices in the region add to the woes by spoiling the water quality also. •

JHANSI DISTRICT Water Demand

The Irrigation Water Situation

Like all other Bundelkhand districts, Tikamgarh has been dependent mostly on masonry wells for its essential irrigation. In 1902, there were 14,800 wells in Orchha State. The number of wells has now considerably increased. There are 49,555 wells in the district out of which 43,806 are irrigation wells and 2,356 are abandoned wells. The

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•

Domestic

The Jhansi district has a burgeoning population over the last 50 years. This has resulted in a huge increase in the domestic demand for water. Applying the same norms for water use for rural and urban population as applied earlier for Tikamgarh district, the domestic

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demand for water in Jhansi district is approximately 35 mcm / year. This demand has been increasing at a decadal growth rate of more than 20% as a result of the increase in population. •

total sown area in year 2004-05, the total requirement of water for irrigation in the district is approximately 1504 mcm / year. •

Livestock

Agricultural As per the Jhansi District Statistical Handbook 2005, there are approximately 279,000 cows, 153, 000 buffaloes, 50,000 sheep, 201000 goat and 155,310 poultry in the Jhansi district. Taking all these into account, the total annual water requirement for livestock in the district is around 7.88 mcm /year.

Jhansi has less than half of its area as agricultural, including both Kharif and Rabi crops. The hill topography of the district does not permit large-scale farming and cultivation of land under the so-called improved agricultural practices. The soil quality in the district has also been a major factor in the use of land for agriculture and the consequent demand for irrigation. In the regions of black soils in tehsil Moth, Garautha and Mauranipur, artificial irrigation has not been absolutely necessary because of the water retaining capacity of the soil. In the red soils, however, irrigation is necessary because the soils are incapable of retaining moisture. Similar to the Tikamgarh district, the main Kharif crops in the district are paddy, jowar, bajra, maize, pulses etc. while the main Rabi crops are wheat, gram, mustard, oilseeds etc. The maximum water requirement in the district is for irrigating the tilhan and the wheat crops mainly because they account for a bulk of the total sown area. As per the

•

In this case also, have been made requirements, it is this study to do scientific manner.

Requirement 164 222

Babina Mauranipur

179 173

Burera

220

Gursarai

while no estimates for the ecosystem beyond the scope of in a rigorous and

In the last few years, the Jhansi district has witnessed a dramatic spurt in its development due to the catalytic effect of the National Highways programme of the Government of India. The NorthSouth Corridor connecting Kashmir to Kanyakumari passes through Jhansi. The East-West corridor also goes through this city. So there is a sudden rush in infrastructure and real estate development in the city. A greenfield airport is also on the anvil. Although no estimates could be made, but all this also has significantly increased the demand for water in the district.

Chart 7: Jhansi District - Irrigation Water

Badagaon

Other uses (Environment, Instream Flow Requirements – average and drought conditions)

Water Availability

193

Bamaur Chirgaon

165 188

Moth

•

MCM/Year

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Rainfall

The average rainfall of the Jhansi district, as reported in the District

24

Gazetteer, is 880 mm. The rains are caused mainly by the south-west monsoon and July is the month for the heaviest rainfall. Between 1901 and 2001, on an average, there are approximately 41.6 rainy days per year in the district. Considering the total area of the district to be approximately 5024 square kilometers and 850 mm as the average rainfall, the total volume of water from the rainfall is approximately 4270 mcm/year.

90%. Depth water in any area is of great significance in deciding drilling depths, selection of pumping devices, crops to be grown and deciding areas for ground water storage / artificial recharge. The indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater in the district has led to depletion of storage and lowering of water levels in many parts on one hand and fall in water levels to critical limits on the other hand. In many parts of the district, the groundwater levels have gone down to more than 30 metres below ground level (mbgl). In 6 villages, the water levels is above 60 mbgl.

Table 5 : Jhansi District : Average Annual Precipitation

Block Moth Chirgaon Bamaur Gursarai Bangra Mauranipur Babina Badagaon

Average Rainfall (mm) 850.00 850.00 850.00 850.00 850.00 850.00 850.00 850.00

Area (SqK m) 644.24 507.42 805.46 715.48 524.53 592.69 551.47 422.26

District Total

Volume water (mcm) 547.60 431.31 684.64 608.16 445.85 503.79 468.75 358.92 4270

Chart 8: Jhansi District – % of villages at different ground water levels

5%

26%




Surface Reservoirs

Jhansi district is famous for its numerous huge water reservoirs built during the rule of Chandela and later Bundela kings. There are a large number of such structures which have utilized the slope of the land, the plateau and existing hillocks. In addition to these, there are also several dams built at various locations on the Betwa, the Dhasan, the Pahuj and the Saprar rivers.

Groundwater Resources

As per the Groundwater Board, Jhansi, the Net Annual water availability from groundwater in the Jhansi district is approximately 1093.1 mcm. Out of this, the groundwater draft for all uses in the district is approximately 407.29 mcm; 37.29% of the groundwater potential. There are however, other estimates also that show Annual Replenishable Groundwater to be 896 mcm and groundwater development to be around

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58%

25

Source: Data taken from Report on Census of Minor Iirigation Schemes 2000-01, Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India

However, between 2001 and 2006, the rainfall has ranged between 600 and 650 mm and this has resulted in a considerably reduced availability of water in the district.


4%

7%

25

Water Supply and Accessibility Table 6: Jhansi District – Major Lakes and Reservoirs Name Storage Current Status Capacity (mcm)

The Drinking Water Situation

Lakes Kachneo Lake

44.7

Old lake, in the past canals were taken out from this lake

Arjar Lake

17.4

Highly silted; canals taken out

Barwar Lake

33.4

Used for drinking water supply and irrigation

Barwasag ar Lake

10.3

Dammed by a 1.21 km long embankment; supplies water for irrigation through canals

Magarpur Lake

2.44

Supplies water for irrigation through canals

10

Opened for irrigation; receives water from Kamala Sagar that has increased its irrigation capacity

Siaori Lake

Magarwar a Lake

1.65

Used for irrigation

Pachwara Lake

5.88

Used for irrigation

Dams Pahuj

18.27

Used to supply drinking water to Jhansi town

Dongri

9.92

Supplements the Pahuj dam in drinking water supply to Jhansi town and for irrigation

Paricha

78.22

Used for irrigation to Jhansi, Jalaun and Hamirpur districts

Dhukuwa n

57.79

Used for irrigation through canals

Pahari

47.76

Used for irrigation in Hamirpur district

Saprar

76.20

Used for irrigation in Jhansi district through Ranipur canals and capacity enhancement of Siaori Lake

Lahchura

10.57

Used for irrigation

Khaprar

3.51

Used for irrigation

Total Capacity

428.01

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Like Tikamgarh, people in the Jhansi district have also been traditionally using the masonry wells for meeting its major drinking water needs. The villages near the rivers use the river water, which is largely potable. A major need for drinking water arrangements was required when Jhansi became a major railway and cantonment centre. Thus the huge reservoirs of Matatila and Pahuj dam were developed to supply water to Jhansi.


Urban Drinking Water Supply

In the Jhansi town, raw water is brought from Matatila dam to Babeena based settling and purification system from where it is distributed to the Jhansi city. This water supply is further supplemented by supply from the Pahunj dam and several handpumps, open wells and tubewells. The water supply scheme for the town is designed and implemented by the Jal Sansthan. Once it is complete, it is handed over to the municipal authority which is responsible for its operation and maintenance. Since full cost of the supply system is not recovered, it becomes difficult to take comprehensive and annual maintenance of the supply pipelines. As a result, maintenance is mostly undertaken only when there is a burst or a leakage. As per the information provided by the Jal Sansthan, Jhansi Division,

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currently the Jhansi town is being reconstituted into 16 zones by the U.P. Jal Nigam. At present, the town does not have adequate drinking water storage facilities and the pipelines system is also undersized. In addition, there are no pipelines in certain areas of the town where is supplied mainly

through handpumps and water tankers. As can be seen from Table 6, the total requirement in the town is 77.55 million litres per day (m.l.d) whereas the supply system only caters to 58 mlpd . There is therefore a shortage of 20 million litres per day in the town itself.

Table 7: Jhansi District Urban Water Supply Sources and Demand Urban Source Water Water Centre of water Require Available ment (M.L.D) (M.L.D) Jhansi Matatila 63.338 48.500 Dam, Pahunj Dam Tubewel l-12, HP2098 Mauranipur Saprar 3.562 1.820 Dam, HP-71 Samthar Tubewel 1.415 1.300 l-02, HP-64 Barwasagar Dam, 1.545 0.920 Tubewel ls, HP140 Erich Tubewel 0.596 0.380 l-02, HP-155 Moth Saprar 0.919 0.640 Dam, HP-222 Ranipur Tubewel 1.262 0.730 l-01, HP-75 Gursarai Barwar 1.609 0.730 Lake, HP-65 Chirgaon Tubewel 0.987 0.950 ls, HP59 Garautha Tubewel 0.611 0.430 ls, HP59 Badagaon Tubewel 0.562 0.410 ls, HP63 Katera Tubewel 0.447 0.410 l-04, HP-32 Todi Tubewel 0.706 0.680 Fatehpur l-04, HP-66 Total 77.559 57.90

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Rural Drinking Water Supply

As per the District Statistical Handbook, 2005 of the Jhansi district, all the 760 inhabited villages are covered under the water supply schemes, through one source or the other. As a result of the continuous efforts by the State Government, the supply situation in the villages is improving, but at a very slow pace. One of the reasons for this is that a lot of the villages at the tail-end of the supply system do not get water at all on account of inadequate electricity supply. There is therefore, still a very high dependence on handpumps, which form the bulk of the means by which water is accessed by the rural population.


The Irrigation Water Situation

The low water table and the hilly topograph of the district have always been an obstacle to the expansion of irrigation. The district was abundant in masonry wells which were employed for irrigating the fields before canals were introduced in the same areas for revenue benefits. As already mentioned, Jhansi has many lakes, ponds and reservoirs from where canals have been taken out for irrigation. Embankment (Bandhan-system) was also popular here, as in other districts of Bundelkhand. The Rajghat canal project, mentioned earlier, is now a major source of irrigation water for the district. Besides providing water

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directly, which is lifted using pumps and taken through unlined channels, it has also recharged most of the wells in the command areas.

practices in region. Since the terrain is undulated and rocky, surface run off has been high with little recharge and thus every drop of water was considered precious and stored in tanks and village ponds. Some of the common water harvesting practices in the districts of Jhansi and Tikamgarh are:

Chart 9: Jhansi District – Net Sown Area Irrigated by different sources (%)

Ponds Other 2% 7%

Wells 43%


Canal 45%

The era of Chandela and Bundela dynasties centuries ago saw a largescale construction of tanks in mainly Tikamgarh and some parts of Chhatarpur districts known by the names of the dynasties they were built under. Rulers, merchants, and other philanthropists constructed these around 1000 years ago. There are a few differences in technology of construction of these tanks. Chandeli tanks have huge embankments – often parts of cities/ towns are settled on top of these like around the tank in Jatara town. These tanks are interconnected through feeder canals in such a manner that a tank at lower level gets filled up with the overflowing water of another at a higher altitude. There is a stone pitching of the size 2’*2’ on both the sides of the upstream (the submergence area) and the downstream (command area). According to various sources, the number of these tanks is around 942 of which 453 still serve irrigation purposes. Bundela tanks are fewer in number, and not as large in size as the Chandeli tanks. Mahendrasagar and Sudhasagar lakes in Tikamgarh city are examples of these. One main technical difference is that Bundela tanks have wall pitching and only towards the upstream side. Exact number of tanks in Jhansi district is not known.

Tubew ells 3%

Source: Jhansi Districts Statistical Handbook - 2005

At present the conventional method of applying water through minor irrigation channels, distributaries and water courses is being followed in the district. However, sometimes electric/diesel pump sets are also used to lift water from the wells. The conditions of existing irrigation channels in the command are generally satisfactory except in some reaches where proper maintenance is required. Most of the channels are unlined, hence susceptible to loss of water through seepage. MEASURES FOR WATER RESOURCE AVAILABILITY Traditionally, Bundelkhand region had valued its water resources the availability of which is heavily dependent upon rains. Though in current times many water reservoirs of the region are under serious threat due to a high water crisis in the third consecutive drought year, it would be of importance to have an overview the different kinds of water harvesting

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Tanks

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Dams

Bundelkhand where stream flow is of ephemeral nature.9 There are several ponds constructed in the region, but most of them have lost their utility after getting silted up due to lack of maintenance and poor management of their catchments. Most of the runoff harvesting ponds are shallow with large surface area.

There are two minor dams on Jamni and Dhasan that serve the Tikamgarh district of M.P. Though some rivers flow through this district for long distances, most of the dams on these largely benefit Jhansi and other districts of U.P, which is mainly due to a slightly higher altitude of Tikamgarh and other districts of M.P. as well as the political will. In Tikamgarh, a positive aspect is availability of many natural dam sites because of its undulated, rocky terrain. Thus, check dams can be made in lesser resources. As per the Geography Professor Dr. Tewari from Tikamgarh Degree College who has done extensive research on the water resources of the region, Jamni and Dhasan rivers before merging with the Betwa have a potential of around 10 check-dams in these natural sites. There could also be channels created between these two rivers at the same altitudes.





There are around 1293 step wells in Tikamgarh (number of such wells in Jhansi is not known). Many of these still have water though at much lower depths now. These are, however, under serious need of conservation and management. Private wells are still maintained but not the public ones. Digora and Papora near Tikamgarh city have some famous step wells in the region.




Village Ponds

Haweli Bundhies

Haweli system of cultivation is also traditional way of water harvesting practices in Bundelkhand and is practiced in areas having black soils. In this system the rain water is impounded in bunded fields during monsoon and direct sowing of rabi crops is generally done after removing the impounded water. In this way, only a single crop in a year, either rice in kharif or any rabi crop is taken in Haweli system, which results in very

Many villages in the region have overtime constructed a number of ponds. There are mainly two kinds of ponds in the villages – those in the

farmlands meant for agriculture and those in the village common lands having the purpose of supporting all other water needs like for fishing, cattle, sanitation etc. Runoff harvesting in the form of embankment type ponds has been practiced for centuries in

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Step Wells

9 Water Harvesting Practices In India, Dr. Katiyar, 2001

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low yield and low cropping intensity of the region. Chaubey et al. (1984) suggested that wheat crop can be grown successfully on the residual moisture after the harvest of rice crops in Haweli fields10.

for providing irrigation in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, is 1020 mm3. This link canal is expected to provide irrigation to water short areas of upper Betwa basin of Madhya Pradesh by way of substitution and also to enroute areas of Madhya Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh. Apart from drinking water facility & enroute irrigation of 47000 ha in Chhatarpur & Tikamgarh districts of Madhya Pradesh and Hamirpur & Jhansi districts of Uttar Pradesh, provision for downstream commitments of 1375 mm3 for M.P and 850 mm3 of water for U.P. has also been kept.

Sometimes, haweli cultivation system is having the principle of graded terracing in stream beds. This involves construction of a series of low, small check dams or bund type structures across a certain wide bed of ephemeral streams to retain runoff and store it in the soil to raise crops. This traditional system has received less attention of scientific community, but even today these are socially acceptable and widely popular. This is not only common to Bundelkhand, but also in other semiarid and arid areas.


The link canal is expected to benefit Jatara and Tikamgarh blocks of the Tikamgarh district and Mauranipur block of the Jhansi district. Almost 4.20% of total geographical area of the Tikamgarh district and 1% of the Jhansi district falls in the command area of the canal.

Inter-linking of Ken and Betwa Rivers

The Ken-Betwa link project envisages diversion of surplus waters of Ken basin to water deficit Betwa basin. The

Several of the environmentalists and civil society organizations have, however, raised serious concerns over the potential adverse impacts of the interlinking of these rivers. Some of the important issues are those related to economic viability of the programme, the environmental costs, the social costs, resettlement and rehabilitation issues, operation and maintenance costs, and opportunities for conflicts such as those related to displacement, sharing of benefits and costs between states etc. Keeping these concerns in view, currently the National Civil Society Committee on Interlinking of Rivers (NCSCILR) is reviewing the Ken Betwa link.

Map 5:

quantity of water proposed to be diverted from Ken basin, after considering in basin demands and downstream commitments earmarked

Conclusion: It can be clearly seen from the figures provided above that on an average there is adequate rainfall in the districts and measures have also been taken to store rainwater for the dry

10

Water Harvesting Practices In India, Dr. Katiyar, 2001

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seasons. However, the region still faced with persistent water shortages. This is primarily because the average rainfall figure masks the reality that there are droughts in the region at very regular intervals. It is during these periods that the situation becomes worse. This situation is further compounded by human factors. These include growing water demand due on increasing population, neglect of traditional harvesting systems causing lesser groundwater recharge, deterioration in water quality due to poor sanitation practices and inefficiencies in the supply systems. It is in the context of these droughts that Ken-Betwa interlinking project has been designed. However, the general feeling is that no such long distance transfer is necessary and desirable due to potentially huge adverse impacts. Instead the primary answer to drought has to be local, through initiatives such as rainwater harvesting and watershed development

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CHAPTER 4 SANITATION PRACTICES A direct relationship exists between water, sanitation, health, nutrition, and human wellbeing. Every year over halfa-million children die in India because of diseases caused by lack of basic sanitation facilities in India. Consumption of contaminated drinking water, improper disposal of human excreta, lack of personal and food hygiene, and improper disposal of solid and liquid waste have been the major causes of many diseases in developing countries like India. Persisting high infant mortality rate (IMR. National average -- 69) and high levels of malnutrition (national average 41 percent) are also attributed to poor sanitation. Increasingly, sanitation is being seen as a major issue in environmental protection.

population of the slums. Most of the community toilets are non-functional due to lack of cleanliness and shortage of water. The households who do not have access to either private or community toilets resort to open defecation near the settlements. Depending on the space available, this could be on the nallah, railway line, open ground etc. In the rural areas, the coverage of households having toilets is extremely low. People often prefer to go for open defecation. This has been due to a multiplicity of factors including low awareness of the potential health benefits (and therefore, economic benefits) of better hygiene practices, perception of the costs of having a household toilet as being very high and in most cases unaffordable, the sheer convenience (at least for men) of open defecation (vis-à-vis an enclosed space), and inadequate promotion of awareness. People tend to give little value to the service and therefore are not interested to construct it. The toilets that have been constructed in the villages have been in two types of households-the houses that have been given assistance under the Indira Awas Yojana or the total Sanitation Campaign and houses that have constructed toilets on their own account.

In the Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts also, sanitation is an issue of concern in both the rural and the urban areas. However, data related to status of the sanitation is not available with the line departments in these two districts. In this chapter, we therefore look at the sanitation situation in these two districts, using primarily the observations made over the years.


Toilets

In the urban areas of the two districts, a majority of the households in the colonies have toilets in their homes. However, the situation is exactly the opposite in slum areas. In these areas, community toilets have been constructed by the Nagar Nigams, but these are not commensurate with the

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Personal Hygiene

In the rural areas there has not been any evidence found related to personal

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health and hygiene practices related to bathing, cleaning of teeth, cutting and cleaning of nails, and hand washing practices. In villages where sources are at a distance and the community has to go to these water sources for bathing and washing clothes, the frequency of bathing is once a week or even ten days during times of extreme water shortage. This would certainly imply that it is the water shortage which affects the hygiene practices of the community group and others who are dwelling nearby to these people. Hand washing by using soap or ash after defecation, before and after meals, during cutting the vegetables, etc is not the common practices in these two districts.

house in the village. The household would earmark a particular site, known as ‘ghoora’, not too far away from the house and deposit all the waste in that site. This used to be an open site and would include diposal of faecal matter of the children and the old persons. The waste material would decompose being in open and receiving direct sunlight. After regular intervals this matter is removed and disposed off by spreading the decomposed matter in the agriculture fields. This system still continues till the present day but due to increase in population and the number of households the number of ghooras in the village have increased. As a result the villages have ghooras on the main road of the village and the refuse spreads all over the village whenever the wind blows. Since the ghoora of a particular household is not in front of their house they are not concerned about its disposal, though the same household would be at the receiving end of the refuse flowing into their house from other house’s ghoora. With rainwater, the ghoora also percolates to the ground water and increase the nitrate concentration in it.


Liquid waste is comprised of waste water generated from the households and the disposal of rain water from the streets. In the Jhansi town, the main throughfares have masonry channels along the drainage lines and abound in surface drains but the drainage is

As regards brushing of teeth, the young generation mostly uses the common brush, while the elderly are more used to the traditional system of using neem or babul twigs. A good percentage of people’s teeth were found yellow in nature and quite poor in the quality. This may be due to chewing of tobacco or due to fluoride intake.


Solid Waste Management

Solid waste includes waste generated within the household. The traditional manner of waste disposal from the household is the responsibility of each

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Liquid Waste Disposal

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inadequate as it can not cope with the developing demand of the city. The total length of the pakka drains is 55 miles of which 14 miles are flushed daily. Most of the villages in both the districts are not facilitated with any kind of disposal mechanisms. They just let all the liquid wastes into nearby agriculture fields or on the streets. Besides causing an overall filthy atmosphere, it also contaminate the soil and groundwater.


Availability of Water for Sanitation

There is a critical link between availability of water for better Sanitation practices. In these two districts the availability of water is the main hindrance which really is inhibiting the promotion of better sanitation practices. Besides water availability awareness about both sanitation practices is also a critical factor in these two districts.

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CHAPTER 5 CHALLENGES IN WATER AND SANITATION The previous chapters have looked in detail at the sources and magnitude of demand and availability of water resources in the Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts. It has also looked at some of the infrastructural and institutional arrangements made to ensure water availability to the people in both the rural and the urban areas. This chapter looks at some of the challenges in water availability and accessibility for both the rural and the urban masses and the concerns and the gaps in the institutional approach.


Wide variations availability

in

rural drinking water situation is extremely fragile from May to August with less than 40% of the drinking water need being met and hardly any agriculture activity being pursued. Villagers normally avoid washing animals during drought and summer seasons during normal years. Several reasons can be ascribed to this situation. Like most parts of India, this region also receives almost 80-85% of this rainfall in the period July – September. Typical hard rock terrain of the region ensures that this water does not percolate into the soil and leads to high levels of runoff and soil erosion. Also, vegetation and forests have disappeared at an alarming rate causing increasing ingress of desertification and reduced ground water recharging. This is further worsened by overexploitation of water for livelihood purposes. All this has meant that while the historical water sources used by the communities were perennial, they have become seasonal at present. The seasonality factor is also visible in the new sources of water viz. handpumps and tubewells, due to the same reason as that of the traditional sources.

seasonal

From the average figures provided earlier, it may seem that the two districts have adequate water available for all purposes. However, the two districts, infact the entire Bundelkhand region, faces extreme water crises for almost four - five summer months of the year. The Participatory Rural Appraisal exercises conducted by Development Alternatives in 5 villages each in the two districts reveals that

v No

Se

p

l Ju

ay

Avalibility and need of w ater

M

ar M

Ja

n

Chart 10:

In recent years, the districts are also facing successive failures of monsoons over a large area. Thus, drying up of all natural water bodies, together with successive failures of monsoon, have been the root causes of the widespread drought witnessed currently.

Water Availability Need of w ater

Months Source: PRA Exercise by DA in village Bagan of Tikamgarh

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The current policy of the government of availability of safe drinking water is for humans only and does not include animals. As a result, when the PHE department designs for coverage of villages under water supply scheme, it does not adequately account for water for livestock. However, the villagers do not make this distinction.

In the rural areas, water quality testing by the concerned authorities is done only if there are complaints about particular sites or when new infrastructure such as handpumps etc. is installed. The primary survey conducted by Development Alternatives in 5 villages each of Tikamgarh and Jhansi revealed that: • In almost 59 out of 64 samples, the drinking water was contaminated with either coliform bacteria, nitrate, fluoride or iron which made the water unfit for drinking without treatment • Coliform Bacteria and nitrate presence in the drinking water sources is primarily due to poor sanitation practices (water sources were seen to be surrounded by domestic sewage and cow-dung heaps nearby water sources) and agricultural operations (run-off from agricultural fields, use of fertilizers) • Fluoride and Iron are mainly present naturally in the groundwater due to the rocks and minerals that form the geology of the region • Due to poor quality of drinking water, there is high prevalence of diseases such diarhhoeal infections, cholera, typhoid, Hepatitis A, Gastro-enteritis, skin diseases and dental problems.

For the agricultural sector, water and electricity for irrigation is subsidized for political reasons. This leads to wasteful flood irrigation rather than more optimal practices such as sprinkler and drip irrigation. Cropping patterns and farming practices also do not necessarily encourage the judicious use of water. Conservative estimates indicate that the same irrigation water used today can irrigate double the current area with optimized irrigation and farming practices.


Deteriorating Quality of available water

In recent years water quality has also emerged as a principal environmental concern in the region. In the two districts, the water supplied to habitations through the piped system is treated by respective Public Health Departments. Under the Community Led Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) programme of Development Alternatives, regular water quality monitoring in the Jhansi city has revealed that: •

•

As far as the livestock are concerned, studies have been conducted to find out the problems of quality of water. It has been found that households are equally concerned about the quality of water for animals as they are their family members. The households that run dairying provide water to the animals from the same source as for their households. Ponds are the most common source of drinking water for animals at the time of grazing. Ponds being open and surface water sources are mostly contaminated with bacteria

Water samples collected from municipal water supplies in several of the places had a lower amount of residual chlorine than the prescribed norm of 0.2 miligram / litre. Iron is present in a large number of samples of drinking water extracted from groundwater sources such as wells.

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that makes the water unfit for direct consumption. Interactions with villagers has revealed that maximum number of animals are affected by diseases during monsoon when the weather is hot and humid and the water is dirty. The main diseases that the animals suffer from are diarrhea, protozoa diseases, bacterial diseases, viral fungal, ghatrunda (Throat disease), Khurpaka & Muhpaka (Foot disease & Mouth diseases).

Mechanism for Water Quality Monitoring As regards the mechanism for water quality monitoring, as such there is no regular monitoring system. Consequently not all water sources are tested at regular intervals and neither a profile of water quality developed for the villages/Panchayats. The only source of information for the water quality is the laboratory at Babeena where records are maintained in a register and the team was asked to copy the test results from the registers. In their current form the reports are not comprehensible to an average reader as they do not specify the acceptable limits for each parameter.

Box 4: Notions of Quality Water Aid India conducted a study in six districts of Madhya Pradesh on rural water and sanitation issues. Among the many things, the discussions with the community were centered on ‘what are the qualities of good water.’ The parameters and expressions used are describe din the accompanying table Parameter Taste

Temperature Odour Effect on Cooking Colour of Rice Quenching of thirst Colour of water Physical

Washing of clothes Deposits in water container

A fortunate change in the whole system is now underway with the guidelines under the National Rural Drinking Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance Programme under Ministry of Rural Development. Under the plan, examination and quality control of water of all water bodies in rural areas would be done at Panchayat level with public participation. Every Panchayat is now being provided with field kits for water testing and a village level database has to be maintained. In addition to water quality testing, a sanitary and health survey is also to be conducted for each drinking water source in the village. For the same, public representatives of Village Panchayats would also given training so that they could do water testing of all water sources of their respective Panchayats.

Expression of quality Water should be sweet (Meetha hona chahiye) • Water not potable because it is bitter or salty (pani kaseila / khara feeka hai) • The water is so salty that a bird would die if it drinks water (chidi maar pani) Water should be cool (sheetal hona chahiye) Water has a smell (pani mein badboo aati hai) Rice and dal are not properly boiled (dal aur chawal theek se nahin galta hai) Rice when cooked becomes black (chawal pakne par kala ho jata hai) Water is not able to quench thirst (pyaas nahin bujh tee) •

Water is red or yellow in colour (paani lal / peela hai) Water has dirt / has presence of visible bacteria (pani matmaila hai / pani mein keede hain) Clothes do not get clean / clothes get torn (kapde saaf nahin hote / kapde phat jate hain) Water leaves white deposit in the container it is stored (paani ka bartan safed ho jata hai)

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Accessibility to Water

As a result of increasing scarcity and deteriorating quality of water, the accessibility to water resources for people in the two districts is reducing day by day. In the urban areas, the utilities in both the towns are

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struggling to procure water and supply it. Households and other consumers are therefore adopting alternate but costly strategies (digging tube wells, installing electric pumps and constructing reservoirs, drawing unauthorized connections, etc.) to offset the meagre supply whether they are connected or not. For slum dwellers, the inadequate supply results mostly in a time opportunity cost as they spend on an average 2-3 hours to fetch water. In addition, they have to rely on multiple sources to ensure a sufficient supply for their families. The number of sources itself is very low (one source for almost 75-100 households) and far from the standards defined by the Urban Basic Services to the Poor programme (one public tap for 30 households or one handpump for 20 households). Water markets have sprung up in the form of providing water through the tanker at rates such as Rs. 150-250 for 2500 litres and Rs. 350-400 for 3500 litres. The rates go up even further during the wedding or festival season and during the summer months.

As far as the caste and other barriers prevalent in other regions are concerned, these are not so strong in these districts. People from all castes can draw water from sources that have water available in them. Reduced accessibility is also having economic consequences for the rural communities. Walking longer distances to fetch water leads to loss of wages or to pay for water leading to higher cost of procuring water or to tap seasonal sources that have variable consistency in terms of potability of water. In some villages, it has also been observed that in days of acute scarcity, individuals having control over sources even sell water (a 15 litre can for Re.1 ) and people in need do buy it. For agricultural purposes also, there are water markets existing, where diesel pumps are rented out for drawing water at the rate of Rs. 45-60 per hour with diesel costs extra. The irrigation cost goes up in times when the water level is decreased and there is lesser discharge of water from the source. Chart 11: Responsibility of fetching water

In the rural areas it’s the consumers themselves who have to toil hard to fetch water. With water shortage becoming a regular phenomenon, communities have not been able to develop effective coping strategies to deal with them. While agriculture is hardly possible with the available water during the dry season, even water for household and livestock purposes is also highly reduced. Women being primarily responsible for fetching water for household purposes, they bear the brunt of reduced accessibility by carrying the water over longer distances. Children also share this responsibility, thus leading to absence from schools and ultimately high dropout rates.

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M a le s 10% G irls 30%

W om en 60%

Source: PRA exercise by DA in Hastinapur village of Jhansi district

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Coping Mechanisms during Water Crisis

According to one of the voluntary institutions working with rural communities in Tikamgarh district, Soya cropping has reduced by 60% since the past ten years and cultivation of Jowar is increasing which is a less water-intensive crop. Cropping of wheat, ginger (for sonth), peanuts, gram etc. has also come down considerable in the past 6-7 years. In some areas of the region, where there is black soil having a higher water retention capacity, farm bunds are created to retain water and Kharif crops like wheat, gram and lentil are grown even during the years with relatively low rainfall. In red-yellow sandy soil with, mixed cropping is done where in Urad is grown with til (sesame) and pea or wheat with mustard etc., the idea being that in case the rains fail at least one of the weather resistant crops would survive. The government has introduced the promotion of rearing different kinds of fish in a village pond at different levels even in less water depth, depending upon their feeding habits thus reducing the fishermen’s vulnerability to drought and conflicts with a bigger population of farmers, helping them sustain their livelihoods. Conclusion: All in all, it may be said that with increasing challenges in water accessibility, the communities have not yet started to make adaptations to their lifestyles. They have some knowledge of the core issues leading to the water shortages but are woefully short of any collective action to improve the situation. There is still a high degree of dependence on government for solutions that are more often than not temporary.

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CHAPTER 6 INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK and deteriorated infrastructure, and vague and inadequate operation and maintenance procedures. The situation is further complicated because of interference of large number of water users with varying extents of landholdings and having different socio economic interests. To remedy this situation, involvement of farmers and their participation in the management of the system along with Irrigation Department staff is now recognized as imperative.

It is a well recognized fact that strong institutional mechanisms are essential for effective management of resources, both natural and man-made. Apart from constitutionally created mechanisms, there are institutions that emerge out of communities’ needs, interests and innovations. In order to understand the functioning of such institutions and assess their effectiveness in water resource management, this chapter looks at the various kinds of existing institutions, both constitutionally created and those that have emerged on their own in Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts.


With this recognition, the Governments in the two districts have set-up Water Users’ Association - Water Resources Department of District Panchayat for tanks irrigating areas higher than 40 hectares and Block Panchayat managing those irrigating less than or equal to 40 hectares of land. Six to seven tanks make up one Water Users’ Association, which comprises of the elected president by the farmers. President and Secretary jointly hold the WUA account where the Secretary is the area engineer of the WRD. Water Tariffs are decided by the WRD and WUA, which usually depend upon the area irrigated and cropping pattern. WUA has a major role in distribution, maintenance of outside bunding and the sluice gate areas.

Irrigation Management

The tanks that were managed and maintained by the rulers and city administrators in the past have been orphaned and abandoned in the recent times. There is growing concern and realization among the primary stakeholder i.e. the farmers and the Government that the old organizational set up on the pattern of early British India is no longer appropriate and a paradigm shift in irrigation management is needed. In present situation, it is difficult to keep record of water distribution, number of water deliveries, revenue collection and conflict management of such a large group of farmers by irrigation department. Experience has shown that there are certain conditions which prevent the optimal development under these schemes e.g. it is impossible to provide satisfactory service to individual farmers, because of the poor

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From just distribution, the role of WUAs is increasingly being expanded to broader management, through what is known as Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). PIM refers to the involvement of irrigation users in all aspects and all levels of irrigation

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management. ‘All aspects’ includes the initial planning and design of new irrigation projects or modernization of existing ones, as well as the construction, supervision and financing, decision rules, operation, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation system.

several corrective measures still need to be taken up. It should not appear that involvement of farmer is to please the external agencies for seeking financial support or to support influential farmers for personal gains and political favours by development agencies. Therefore before implementation of PIM scheme certain important question and issues should be given due considerations11:

In the two states where Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts lie, i.e. U.P. and M.P respectively, thrust is being laid on PIM, with M.P. also having passed The Madhya Pradesh Farmers’ Participation in Irrigation Management (MPFPIM) Act in 1999. In both the cases, emphasis is being laid on formation of Water Users Associations, whose purpose is






1. Do farmers have the knowledge of negative environmental impacts like water logging, salinity, sodicity, soil erosion, losses of nutrients due to flooding irrigation, water borne diseases etc.? 2. Do farmers have the knowledge of latest technology to operate and maintain the system?

To promote and secure equitable water distribution among its users Adequate maintenance of irrigation systems Efficient and economic utilization of water to optimize agriculture production To promote appropriate environmental practices To gradually enable and empower its members to manage and sustain water resources in the area

3. Do they have the confidence and initiative to get involved in PIM? 4. Do they consider the system as their own? 5. Up to what level in the system, farmers are willing to assume responsibility for management and maintenance? 6. Up to what level in the system, the irrigation agency and its staff equipped to effectively manage their part of the system?

Although Participatory Irrigation Management is a noble approach and both the states have inculcated the approach in their major irrigation projects like UP and MP Water Sector Restructuring Projects respectively supported by World Bank, but in reality, several lacuna exist. The capacities of WUAs in terms of operating, managing and care taking of the project deliverables are found to be extremely low. MP in its MP Water Sector Restructuring Project lays emphasis on building their capacities and capabilities to understand the nitty-gritty’s of MPFPIM Act and their expected roles and responsibilities. But

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7. What kind of extension strategies would be most useful in developing the skills of farmers and staff?


Fishing Societies

Fisheries are seen as one of the major alternate employment generating 11

Participatory Approach For Socially And Environmentally Sustainable Modernisation Of Existing Irrigation And Drainage Schemes In India, Sanjay S Phadnis and Meenal Phadnis (symp2006.cu.edu.tr/Osman%20Tekinel/pdf/Sanjay _S_Phadnis.pdf)

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activities in this region which has low resources and a lacking sense of entrepreneurial skills. Registered Cooperative societies of a group of fishermen in Tikamgarh conduct their fishing activities on government ponds taken on lease. If the ponds are in an area of around 30 hectares, the activity is profitable for societies not more than 60 members extracting the fish whereas on larger tanks, there are more societies

carrying out fishery. If these societies are registered, the beneficiaries get subsidies in fish seed and feed. As per figures, there are around 95 registered societies within Tikamgarh. There are much larger numbers are if those unorganized were also included considering that there are still very few fishermen who choose to register themselves for a need of initial capital investment. Dhimar, Kevat are some important communities that earn their livelihoods from fishing and thus are adversely affected during the periods of water scarcity.

Box 5: Madhya Pradesh Farmers Participation in Irrigation Management Act The Madhya Pradesh Farmers’ Participation in Irrigation Management (MPFPIM), Act was passed in the year 1999. The act is applicable throughout the state of Madhya Pradesh. The act lays emphasis on participatory irrigation management through institutional mechanisms especially formation of Farmer’s Organization and their capacity building. Under this act the structure of participatory model includes: 1. The Water Users Association (WUAs) are constituted over a population of 100-1000 water users. WUA has a general body including farmer and wives of male farmers who are members of general body of the WUAs. 2. It is important to distinguish between the member of the WUA general body including in particular women members and a member of the Management Committee (MC) of the WUA. 3. The demographic area covered by a WUA will be a ‘hydrological boundary’ ranging from 100 Ha to 2000 Ha. 4. The number of WUA is notified by the District Collector in accordance with the President and Territorial Constituency members (ranging from 4 to 10) depending on the WUA. 5. The medium irrigation schemes have two tier system in which WUA are involved with Project Committees. 6. In the major irrigation schemes, WUAs are involved with a three tier committee consisting of Distributory Committees and Project Committees. 7. A state level apex committee headed by the Minister of WRD consists of representatives of Project Committees across the state. 8. All these committees and the WUA – MCs work in partnership and share different responsibilities. 9. The WUAs are expected to work in close partnership with other stakeholders like WRD, Agriculture and other relevant line departments with Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), for financial and other help.

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Sources of Conflict

A major portion of the water resources in the region caters to the agriculture and allied activities since there is an absence of any major industries in the district. The tank beneficiaries comprise of mainly the command area farmers, fishermen, tank-bed cultivators and the others. The storage in the tank is classified as per the water level, that passing through the spillway being called the live storage and is supposedly used for irrigation whereas the water left in the reservoir is known as dead storage and is expected to serve the fishermen and cattle-rearers. In the times of water scarcity and drought years, tank bed cultivation becomes rampant not only on private properties but also on the village or Panchayat lands giving arise to conflicts and hence, the break down of institutional mechanisms in managing the common property resources. Even the functioning of WUAs worsens during the water crisis in an already weak system where the election of a representative does not necessarily translate into fair distribution of water. WUAs are known to work in favour of farmers with large lands and those at the head-reach of the command area.

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The siltation of tanks and check-dams across the decades also reduces their capacity to hold water making them prone to exploitation and disputes apart from removing the chance for any recharge. The water supposed to be retained for irrigation in future runs off other than leaving the water levels inadequate for carrying out fishery activities or for the cattle. This only benefits the tank-bed farmers giving them a highly fertile soil. To some extent, this has hit the attempts at water conservation for the times of drought when some farmers pump out all the remaining water from the tanks for cultivation. This in turn adversely affects the livelihoods and survival of the fishing communities and the cattle.

Box 6 : Case Study When the WUAs started failing their purpose, looking at an urgent need of restoring and conserving the mighty Chandeli tanks, Srijan an NGO, legal institutions and the village communities came together to form the Tank Users’ Groups (TUG) in around 2003. Management of around five tanks was taken up ensuring repair and maintenance work so that whenever it rained, the tanks would come to their full potential. Desilting was one of the important tasks taken up by these Management Committees along with catchment area treatment and afforestration. 30% of the command area used to get water logged so canals and bunds were also worked upon. Each tank had its own TUG with four under the WRD and one under a Panchayat. Unfortunately the endeavor has not received a chance to be tested for its feasibility due to consecutive drought years leaving the tanks empty.

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Box 7: HIGHLIGHTS OF STATE WATER POLICY: MADHYA PRADESH Madhya Pradesh also has a State Water Policy but it is in draft form. In terms of allocation priorities identified are Drinking water supply, Irrigation and afforestation, Power generation/industrial and other uses and Tourism. The state water policy lays emphasis on:

1. Maintenance And Modernization A time bound upkeep of the dams and canal systems will be carried out and time-to-time programmes for their rehabilitation will be undertaken. It is an immediate need to reconstruct and rehabilitate the vast irrigation network of the state for future requirements.

2. Ground Water Development The policy says that the ground water should be utilised only to the extent, which can be recharged. For recharging the ground water methods of construction of minor irrigation tanks/percolation tanks should be adopted. Priority will be given to exploitation of ground water resources for drinking water purposes. Within the jurisdiction of municipal bodies ground water shall not be utilised without their permission for private use or any other purpose. If availability of ground is more than the requirement of drinking water of a municipal body then the ground water can be used for any other purpose with due permission of the body.

3. Drinking Water and Quality Control The facility of sufficient drinking water shall be extended to the entire urban and rural population. The quality of the surface water and ground water shall be tested on regular basis by concerned departments. It will be made mandatory to treat the industrial and urban waste to the required standards before these are allowed to flow in a stream.

4. Rationalization of Water Rates Water rates should be such which conveys the beneficiary the scarce value of water, its importance and motivates them for the economical use of water. Water rates necessarily shall be such that the project shall be self-supported. For the use of water for private purposes, rates shall be determined in such a manner so that the water can be used strictly in accordance to the prescribed priorities laid down in the policy. Due to the importance of the forest for protection of environment, concessional rates of water shall be fixed for afforestation.

5. Participation In Water Management To improve water planning, avoid disparity in water distribution and status of available services rendered to farmers, participation of beneficiary groups in operation and maintenance will be ensured.

6. Participation of NGOs In water sector, the non-governmental agencies and commercial organizations will have financial and management participation. This type of participation shall be at all levels in project planning, construction and maintenance.

7. Research in Science and Technology For effective and economic usage of available water resources, the state water policy advocates research in related areas like hydrometeorology, water quality, water harvesting, crops and cropping systems, river morphology and hydraulics, soil research, risk analysis and disaster management etc

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Box 8: STATE WATER POLICY: UTTAR PRADESH Based on National Water Policy and its recommendations, the state of Uttar Pradesh has already prepared its State Water Policy. In terms of allocation, the priorities of the state are Drinking water, Irrigation, Hydro & Thermal Power, Agro- industries and non agricultural industries and Navigation & other uses. However, these priorities might be modified if necessary in particular region with reference to area specific considerations. Water for drinking and domestic use has the highest priority while allocating the water resource of the state. The state is responsible to provide adequate drinking water facilities (both for people and livestock) to the entire population in both urban and rural areas by the year 2025. Sanitation facilities for entire population in urban areas and most of the rural areas is also one of the aspects of State Water Policy The policy also lays emphasis on following areas:

1. Ecological, Health, Recreational And Other Needs •

All the water resources projects will give due regard to the ecological health and other needs for which adequate provision will be made on priority basis.

•

While planning water resources, due consideration to development of navigation, whenever feasible shall be given. Even though there is no significant consumptive use for this purpose, yet certain flow restrictions in water ways shall have to enforce.

2. Participatory Approach To Water Resources Management This includes involvement of diverse stakeholders in effective and decisive way in various aspects of planning, design, development and management of the water resources scheme. The actors also include Water Users Associations and the local bodies such as Municipalities and Gram Panchayats who will be involved in the operation, maintenance and the management of water infrastructures/facilities at appropriate levels progressively with a view to eventually transfer the management of such facilities to the User groups/Local bodies

3. Institutional Arrangements Presently the water resource planning for various uses is being done by the respective departments. Realising the scarcity value of this resource as also the need for co-ordinate planned development, the state government has constituted a "State Water Board" under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary.

4. Legislation This aspect looks as legislation in following areas: 1. Regulation of exploitation of surface and ground water for diverse uses. 2. Regulation of discharges made into surface and ground water sources by various agencies. 3. Regulation in respect to bulk supply of water for irrigation and other purposes to associations. 4. Creation of water rights in favour of users. 5. Transfer of irrigation systems to users specially in respect of small and marginal farmers.

5. Private Sector Participation The state water policy also lays impetus on involving private sector in the process of planning, development and management of the water resources projects for diverse uses.

6. Research in Science and Technology For effective and economic usage of available water resources, the state water policy advocates research in related areas like hydrometeorology, water quality, water harvesting, crops and cropping systems, river morphology and hydraulics, soil research, risk analysis and disaster management etc.

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CHAPTER 7 KEY FINDINGS 1. Although both Tikamgarh & Jhansi are contiguous districts, Jhansi is much better-off in terms of social and development indicators and infrastructural facilities.

groundwater dependent (wells & tubewells) while almost 45% of land is irrigated by canals. This has meant that only 37.29% of the ground water potential of the district has been exploited.

2. Both the districts have experienced a rapid and mass scale degradation of natural resources, resulting in a very high proportion of wastelands and acute scarcity of water

7. In both the districts, several water harvesting structures have been constructed in the past to ease the water situation. These water harvesting structures include the Bundela tanks, step wells, village ponds, haweli bundhies etc. Many of these structures, however, are currently in a state of neglect and are no longer able to harvest water for use during dry periods.

3. On an average, the districts have a decent amount of rainfall (1000 mm and 850 mm for Tikangarh and Jhansi districts respectively). However intermittent but successive years of droughts have resulted in water scarcity in the last 2-3 decades.

8. In the last few decades, several dams and reservoirs have been constructed over the Betwa and Jamni rivers and their tributaries. Canals have been taken out from most of these reservoirs for water supply to Tikamgarh and Jhansi towns and for irrigation purposes. The latest initiative is the proposed inter linking of Ken & Betwa rivers where surplus water of Ken basin is envisaged to be diverted to the water deficit Betwa basin. Although only 4.20% and 1% of Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts respectively fall in the command area of the link project, it is expected to provide relief in terms of meeting drinking water & irrigation needs. The project has, however caused serious concern among environmentalists and civil society organizations over potential adverse impacts related to economic viability, environmental

4. In Tikamgarh district, bulk of water demand is (1773 mcm) for domestic purposes, including livestock (33 mcm/year) & agriculture (1740 mcm/year). Wells being the main source of water for irrigation (78% of total irrigated area), almost 86% of net groundwater availability (630mcm /year) has been utilized, placing the district under the semicritical category. 5. In Jhansi district, out of the total demands for humans & livelistock, 2% (35 mcm/year) is for domestic purposes, 97% is for irrigation (1507 mcm/year) and 1% is for livestock & industrial purposes. Recent years have witnessed a dramatic spurt of activity in the Jhansi leading to a massive increase in water demand for construction purposes also. 6. Unlike Tikamgarh district, only 48% of irrigation in Jhansi district is

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costs, social costs, resettlement and rehabilitation issues, conflicts etc.

distances. This is leading to both social costs (absence from schools, health impacts) and economic costs (loss of wages & payment for water)

9. In both the districts, there are several challenges in both water availability and accessibility. These relate to

10. Sanitation in both urban and rural areas in both the districts is an issue of concern. While the urban households are better-off in terms of coverage and use of toilets, personal hygiene practices, management of solid and liquid waste etc., the urban slums and rural areas are in a woeful state. The common practice is defecation in the open, with tis significant health and security hazards, especially for the women. The solid and liquid wastes are let off in the nearby areas, which percolates and contaminates the ground water. There is a need of extensive awareness generation activities in this regard.

A. wide

variations in seasonal availability of water, as a result of perennial water sources becoming seasonal due to high levels of run-off, reduced ground water recharging, over exploitation of groundwater and neglect of traditional water harvesting structures. Added to these is the wasteful use, even when the water is available. Water use in agriculture is highly inefficient with water intensive crops being grown using the wasteful flood irrigation method. Similarly, in both urban and rural areas, there is no practice of reuse of water used for domestic purposes.

11. Past experience in management of water resources by Public Sector utilities is replete with low cost recovery, poor operation and maintenance of infrastructure, inequitable and inadequate distribution and overall unviability of the system financed by large subsidies. Lately, under the Water Sector Restructuring Projects supported by the World Bank, greater participation of the water users and cost recovery principles are being promoted in the two states through their respective state policies and the M.P. Participatory Irrigation Management Act, 1999. Other institutions, such as the cooperative Fishing Societies have also emerged in recent years.

B. deteriorating quality of available water (bacteria, nitrate, fluoride etc. present) in i. urban areas because of ii. rural areas due to poor sanitation practices and runoff and fertilizer use in agricultural fields

C. Decreasing accessibility of water in both urban and rural areas. In the urban areas, utilities are struggling to procure water and supply it. Consumers, faced with inadequate and irregular supplies, are therefore adopting costly strategies, such as tubewells, to offset the meagre supply. In the rural areas, since almost 90% of water is to be fetched by women & girls, they have to bear the brunt by carrying the water over longer

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12. With growing water scarcity, institutions such as the Water Users’ Associations are witnessing increasing incidences of conflicts. There are encroachments on private

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properties, Panchayat lands and even village ponds for tank-bed cultivation. Within WUAs, there is favouritism towards farmers with large land – holdings and those at the head reach of the command area. 13. Although some coping mechanisms have emerged in the last few years (reduced cropping of water-intensive crops, creation of farm bunds, mixed cropping etc.), communities have still not started to make adaptations. They have some knowledge of the core issues leading to water shortages but are woefully short of any collective action to improve the situation.

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CHAPTER 8

RECOMMENDATIONS systems, controlled irrigation and 24/7 drinking water.

The recommendations by the current study bring out the key actions that need to be taken urgently by the various stakeholders viz. the water users, the policy makers, the NGOs and the planners. The prime recommendations are: •

•

Over a long period of India’s history, water had been managed, very successfully, as a local resource. Unfortunately, the logic of the socalled economies of scale has led to a quest for large projects, massive transfers of the resource over long distances and centralized management systems, which have suffered from inequitable distribution of the resource.

Promote integrated water resources management approach

The need for integrated water resources management is widely and frequently called for but rarely implemented. Despite the complexity of the issues, existing conceptual frameworks are good enough to be the basis for much better results than are commonly produced today. To do so, certain things have to be borne in mind, such as: •

•

•

In this context, it is therefore important that in the Jhansi and Tikamgarh districts, where there is adequate rainfall, large-scale conservation measures like integrated watershed development are simplified and propagated widely to mobilize local ownership and promote food and livelihood security. Especially in this area, the watershed interventions need to emphasise more on soil and land management, promoting less water intensive crops, regenerating degraded forests, utilizing wastelands for pasture/fodder development and livestock management. At the same time, smaller projects, such as traditional water harvesting and conveyance structures and community based management systems like Bundela tanks, village ponds etc which are

The water needs of the poor and underserved must be given the highest priority through the preparation of a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework aimed at integrated management systems that can ensure rational and equitable allocation of resources. The water requirements for ecosystem services and security need to be scientifically assessed and incorporated into the analysis of all water resources management projects. Industrial, agricultural and municipal water systems should be designed to take full advantage of innovative approaches designed to maximize delivery and minimise waste such as Zero Emission

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Vigorously pursue decentralization and community water management initiatives

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more in tune with local culture and practices must be revived.

•

Foster local institutional development and capacity building

•

Robust local institutions are an essential pre-requisite for decentralized management of water resources. Fortunately, the State Water Policies of both M.P. and U.P. seek to promote multi-stakeholder institutional bodies since no single type of institution can hope to manage the ever-growing complexities and challenges of water resources development and management. Within these districts also, innovative partnerships are required to be forged for this purpose. While some of these already exist in the form of Water Users’ Associations (WUAs), Fishing Societies etc. within these two districts, their knowledge and skill base will have to be strengthened for

•

•

Building of information knowledge base

•

Internalizing principles

•

Monitoring and resolution mechanisms

cost

As already seen in the previous chapters, the way water is currently used in the region for agriculture, industry and the human habitat is not sustainable. Already, the scarcity of water in most part of the districts has become a major constraint on the economy, not to mention highly negative impact on the health and well-being of people. Economic instruments being recognized as one essential component for efficient and sustainable management of the resource, it may be good idea to promote appropriate economic instruments for the various components of water resource management in the region to:

and •

recovery conflict

Focus extensively on Awareness raising activities During the course of the current study, it has repeatedly been found that not just physical infrastructure, but behavioural issues also need to be addressed for solving the water crisis in the districts. These issues primarily relate to quality of drinking water, sanitation and water use and reuse practices. Extensive awareness activities need to be

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undertaken in this regard, with context-specific and situation specific awareness materials that can be used by field functionaries and which people can relate to. Promote economic instruments for efficient and sustainable water resources management

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Evolve pricing mechanisms for irrigation, urban and rural water supply systems that include the full cost of providing it. These should include the costs not only of the infrastructure, operations and maintenance, capital servicing, and other financial costs, but also the broader economic, ecological and social costs incurred in the process of acquiring, transporting and delivering it. At the same time, these pricing mechanisms have to be adjusted to ensure universal service provision, and especially to cater to the special needs of the poor and underserved.

•

Demonstrate pilot projects in cooperative, enterprise and other institutional modes, with community participation, for providing water services to communities.

•

Provide time-bound subsidies for development, testing and scaling up of tools and techniques (e.g. drip irrigation) for efficient use of irrigation water with the aim of enabling such practices to become financially viable and widely adopted without continuing subsidies. Promote establishment of water markets that encourage water trading among farmers themselves and also with urban or industrial users.

•

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