Gujarat is home to 604 lakh people of whom 89 lakh or 15% are Scheduled Tribes (Census of India, 2011). These tribal communities mainly reside in the eastern districts of the state bordering the tribal districts in southern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, and northern Maharashtra.
The tribal districts have a high sex ratio and are socially more egalitarian than the ‘mainstream’ societies. They are also endowed with many natural resources such as forests, high rainfall, and numerous rivers. Lack of sustainable livelihood, however, has led to high poverty levels in these districts.
Many irrigation policies such as those favouring large irrigation projects have not been able to give benefits to these areas. These areas are the location of dams, and cause displacement of people and livelihoods for the local tribal population, although the benefits of these dams are availed by populations living away, mostly in non-tribal areas (see table 3 and figure 1).
A state-level workshop was organised by AKRSP(I) in Gujarat to discuss issues, challenges, and solutions related to water management in the tribal areas of Gujarat. The workshop comprised group discussions & presentations, panel discussions, and field visits. The topics for group discussion were watershed, participatory irrigation management (PIM), lift irrigation including solar energy utilisation and drip irrigation, drinking water, and climate change. The discussions were followed by presentations by each group. In addition, there were panel discussions on 'water budgeting' and 'role of panchayat in water resource development in tribal areas'. The participants were also taken on an exposure field visit to Pingot Dam to understand the working of PIM.
Gujarat is one of the most developed states in the country. Yet, its tribal population lags behind. The four key tribal districts of Gujarat are Narmada, Tapi, Dahod, and Dangs. Among these, Dahod and Narmada are aspirational districts and Dangs is being planned to be developed as a 100% organic farming district of the state. Programmes subsidizing micro-irrigation and solar irrigation have also been implemented in these districts. As such the state has been devising strategies for the benefit of its tribal communities, what is required now is close monitoring of these programmes so that they reach their desired target.
This article is based on the State-level Workshop for Gujarat titled “Best Practices, Impact, Challenges and Opportunities in Water Resource Development & Management in Tribal Areas”. The Workshop was held on December 13 and 14, 2019 at Tribal Livelihood Resource Centre, AKRSP(I) Campus, Netrang, Bharuch. It was funded by the Axis Bank Foundation and organised by Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India).