Participatory Approach for Development of Rainfed Areas: The Gandhian Perspective

Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Nation dreamt in his autobiography to build a society with “active participation” of people. Gandhiji said “I shall work for India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which all communities will live in perfect harmony and women will enjoy the same rights as men”. Ghandhian idealism had nothing to do with the awakening class consciousness. The meaning of people’s participation is the meaning of development itself, since the definition of development goes beyond merely increasing income or building assets. People’s participation is necessary for successful implementation of any programme. In the process, a transition is needed from participation to ownership; from participation of the villagers in the first information meeting and subsequent counseling to empower action of self-help groups. Development of local ownership and responsibilities are the main benefits of people’s participation, as it is trusted by Government decision-makers and ensure the peoples self management capacity and collective entrepreneurship.

Integrated watershed development has emerged as an effective approach to augment water supply through conservation of rain water in dry and arid (rainfed) farming system, taking into the account various kinds of land-use. A large number of projects for productivity enhancement are being implemented in the country on watershed approach. The largest project in terms of scope and extent is the NWDPRA (National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas) being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India for development of rainfed areas in the country. The Participatory Approach is the main strategy under NWDPRA and has laid greater emphasis on community organizations. The Participatory Approach ensures the sustainability of the project and empowers the local communities to optimize advantage through the collective ownership by the stakeholders. The main community institutions that were developed at the village level for enhancing community participation such as Self Help Group (SHG); User Group (UG); Watershed Association (WA); and Watershed Committee (WC). A proper sequence is followed while organizing these groups. The achievements made through realistic, innovative and sustainable interventions for building capacity at project grassroots level and the involvement of people as propounded in Gram Swaraj, are in accordance to the vision of Mahatma Gandhi.