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Wasteland regeneration and other forms of alternative
livelihood initiated by Adithi have changed lives in some of the poorest
districts of Bihar
What do economically
marginalised adivasi women, with no assets at all in an ecologically
degraded habitat, do? Perish, starve or migrate. The adivasi community of
the Santhal Parganas opted to exploit alternative sources of subsistence
in the very place that had degenerated into a no-man's
land. In 1988 Adithi, a Bihar-based NGO, took
up the cause of these underprivileged women. Their aim was to strengthen
resource regeneration and livelihoods. Adithi brought ten local NGOs
together under the banner of 'Ayudare'
('women's power' in the Santhali language). Ayudare was
a loose coalition of NGOs working with adivasi women in the Santhal
Parganas, Katihar and N!
awada districts. Adithi provided technical, managerial and financial
support. The initial afforestation drive
involved the formation of a Mahila Sabha in each village, which worked
with the Gram Sabha to procure, register and develop individual and
community wastelands. The community land was leased out to the women for
30-90 years. Ownership of individually-owned land was transferred to the
landowners' wives. Produce from the
plantation was divided into four equal parts, and shared between the
Mahila Sabha, the Gram Sabha, the landowners' wives and Adithi
(which gave it back to the Mahila Sabha). The Mahila Sabha initiated a
savings and credit scheme, and based on the savings, loans for subsistence
were extended. The initial wages paid to the
women as part of the afforestation programme was only a short-term income,
since the income from the yield took years to materialise. Thu!
s, alternative livelihood resources were explored. Traditional embroidery
(sujuni) was revived. Micro-industries like tussar silk
production, jute handicrafts, mulberry sericulture, brasswork,
pisciculture and poultry were begun. A
revolving fund for potato cultivation was started. Women from the Mahila
Sabhas bought high-quality potato seeds with finance from Adithi. The
potatoes were sold, after retaining the seeds for the next cultivation,
and the loan repaid to the revolving fund. The success of this fund led to
the formation of a similar revolving fund for paddy. Crop waste is used to feed animals, as roofing material
or sold when in excess. Approximately 80 per cent of the villagers get an
income from such sale. Meanwhile, under a
different initiative in Bhusura, a village of 400 families in Muzzaffarpur
district, Adithi formed a committee of 100 women and started diff!
erent projects. The women took a garbage-filled pond on lease from the
government and cleaned it up for pisciculture. Within three years the men
of Bhusura who had migrated to Punjab and other states for work returned.
The Bhusura committee now possesses 65 boats and several fishing nets. The
income earned is divided amongst members at a meeting held twice a year.
Migration from this region to West Bengal and Assam has been reduced by
almost 70 per cent. These income-generation
activities have not only meant availability of employment and livelihood,
but a change in the status of the Santhali women who now have greater
visibility and confidence. Contact:
Adithi
2/30 State Bank Colony - II
Bailey Road, Patna
Bihar 800 014, India
Tel & Fax: 91-612-283
018
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