Sampark Madhya Pradesh

Community involved in constructing Boulder Bunds, Contour Trenches, Drainage line Treatment, Plantation and Forest Protection. Through individual well digging and deepening, motor pumps and pipes water supply were done resulting in improved agricultural earnings for the beneficiaries. Construction of 292 dugouts, 13 check dams, 1449 gully plugs, 6315 meters of contour trenches, field bunding in 1785 hectares, recharging of 552 wells, deepening of 148 Wells and 10 tanks, sinking of 10 tube wells, construction of 25 water harvesting tanks of 50,000 litre capacity in residential schools and water quality testing in 65 villages are the main achievements of the water development programme.

Nadep organic manure, indigenous seeds, organic pesticides and research and marketing support for 500 households has achieved. Campaign for awareness generation regarding genetically modified seeds improved practices of organic seeds in farming help in sustainability of agriculture. Silt from tanks transported and deposited to make 5000 hectares of farmlands fertile. 12 varieties of traditional seeds that give good yields with less water and also provide nutrition have been conserved and promoted.

Improved breeds of cattle, buffaloes, goats and chicken provided to beneficiaries resulted in generating more income. Barefoot veterinarians have been trained and their knowledge of local medications has been enhanced. Backyard poultry farming of the local Kadaknath breed of chicken has been popularised and provided with scientific support to increase its productivity. 22000 livestock have been vaccinated and treated in organized 1000 health camps. 500 households have provided with goats, poultry and bullocks.

Auto parts and repair shop, provision store, restaurant, tailoring shop, flour mill, cycle repair shop, brick making, roof tile selling and Vegetable vending are some of the village level enterprises initiated for households resulted in an increase in income of about Rs 500 to 5000 per month for the beneficiaries.

The organisation has ensured that the Integrated Child Development Services, Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre and other Government programmes for prevention of malnutrition run properly and thus improved nutritional levels of the population in 22 villages.

The traditional labour pooling custom of the Adivasis, "Adji Padji" has revived wherein ten to fifteen families get together and do agricultural work on each other’s fields thus saving on paying wages leading to cumulative savings of Rs 2.57 crore. The revival of the village chaupal system for dispute resolution has led to avoidance of costly litigation resulting in a saving of Rs 70 lakh. Reduction in the costs of marriage and bride price, rites of passage and Rakshabandhan has led to savings of heavy ritualistic expenses of Rs 2 crore cumulatively. These substantial savings have led to the indebtedness of the Adivasis being greatly reduced.

A long drawn campaign was conducted against the unjust debt burden foisted on the Adivasis by the administration through the faulty community lift irrigation scheme. Farmers were foisted with dysfunctional pump and pipeline systems. SAMPARK organised the affected farmers on this issue on the basis of the provision that in Scheduled Tribe Areas, Adivasis cannot be held liable for schemes that have failed due to the fault of the administration and cheating by unscrupulous traders and bank officials. This campaign resulted in 1200 tribal households being freed of the burden of loans cumulatively amounting to Rs 60 crore.