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Under the Pani Panchayat, water is treated as a common property resource that is allocated on the basis of the size of family rather than the size of the land holding.
There has been a reversal in migration trends in Mahur village, Purandar taluka, Maharashtra, thanks to the fact that the farmers in the village now earn more than those who migrated out to the cities in search of employment. Farmers who once earned Rs 2,500-Rs 4,000 annually now get Rs 10,000-Rs 1 lakh from the same land. In addition to the traditional cereals, they grow wheat, onions, vegetables and a variety of flowers and fruit. They practise organic farming and are also generating employment. All this courtesy certain water conservation activities and the adoption of a unique and equitable water management system. Disturbed by scenes he witnessed during the drought! of 1972, Pune engineer Vilasrao Salunkhe strongly believed that the conservation of water using time-tested techniques and its proper management was the answer. Salunkhe demonstrated his concepts to the sceptical villagers. He leased out land belonging to the Naigaon temple and worked out various treatments such as check dams, afforestation and earthern bunds to arrest the flow of water. Through the experiment Salunkhe was able to establish a clear link between water, land and employment, and he was soon able to convince the community of the credibility and effectiveness of his water conservation structures. The Pani Panchayat concept was born. Under the Pani Panchayat, water is not only conserved but strict rules are laid down to manage it properly. Several water conservation techniques were employed to replenish the groundwater which could be used for irrigation and domestic purposes. In Naigaon village, equitable distribution was a key step in t! he process. Water was treated as a common property resource with all the villagers enjoying equal rights and access. Five basic principles of the Pani Panchayat or Gram Gaurav Pratishtan were evolved. A family of five was given water rights for irrigation over one hectare of land. Cropping was restricted to seasonal crops with low water requirements. Water rights were not attached to land rights. If land was sold, the water rights reverted back to the farmers' collective. All members of the community, including the landless, had a right to water. And finally, it was the job of the beneficiaries to plan, administer, manage the scheme and distribute the water in an equitable manner. The farmers paid 20 per cent of the cost of lift irrigation; the government provided another 50 per cent. The remaining 30 per cent was provided by the Pani Panchayat as an interest-free loan. This system has resulted in even landless farmers! buying or leasing land for cultivation. The Pani Panchayat now operates in 25 villages and has a total of 52 lift irrigation schemes, covering 2,000 families. Apart from Purandar taluka, it also operates in the Ambegaon, Maval and Phaltan talukas of Pune district, and in Yeotmal district. Contact: Vilasrao Salunkhe
113, St' Ptricks Town
HDS Society, Hadapsar
46, Pune 411013
Maharashtra, India
Tel: 91-20-687 0285/687 0158
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