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Drought Relief Activities
We have not been able to build this page well due to lack of resources, but we have provided details of the work we are carrying out along with our partners. Plus, we have provided a few links below of the grave situation faced by the farmers in the state of Maharashtra, India.
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Below are some measures that we are taking along with our partners to support the farmers in the drought affected areas:
Short Term Measures
1. We are running a Community Kitchen, as a pilot, to provide one meal a day to 1,000 people in lieu of community work geared towards soil and water conservation. Once the pilot is successful, our plan is to scale this to 25,000 people and run it for 6 months from January to June 2016; cost would be approximately Rs. 2,400 (about $40) per person for 6 months.
2. Extending support to the poorest farmers/farm laborers etc. who cannot afford to even purchase heavily subsidized ration under the public distribution scheme of the Govt. (wheat at Rs.2/ kg. and rice at Rs.3/kg.) We will also provide emergency ration kits to the extremely poor who do not qualify to get ration under the government scheme.
3. Providing emergency aid (maximum of Rs. 20,000/- [about $300] to one family) for medical care, education, daughter’s marriage, repayment of small loans taken at very high rates, etc. Many suicides take place because of the non availability of emergency help.
4. Creating drinking water facilities including Panpoi (free drinking water) and plastic water tank for humans as well as animals. We will also provide fodder for animals in places where no government help is available and situation is desperate.
5. Generating employment under Central and State Govt. Employment Schemes. Despite the availability of these schemes, distressed rural people are not able to make use of these as they are not able to comply with formalities on their own. Our associates will help them comply so they can benefit from the various govt. schemes. We are planning to work with various organizations to get employment for tens of thousands of farmers, under the supervision of Dilasa, one of our partners.
Long Term Measures
1. To enhance ground water table through small check dams including Doha Model, Farm Ponds, de-siltation of existing water reservoirs, soil conservation work, etc. Water Shed will give them a better chance for a second crop and increase the yield too.... this is the most important part.
2. We have identified a cluster of villages where Water Shed work would be done side by side the Community Kitchen, and Soil Conservation. This would cost roughly about Rs 15 lakhs (about $23,000) per village... we have done similar projects in Yavatmal with wonderful results.
These shall be the back bone of the local economy, first priority is to provide drinking water and second for irrigation. This may go on for a few years depending on future rainfall and government interventions.
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