INDIRA GANDHI NAHR, RAJASTHAN
10 years back when I was associated with Urmul we had gone there to see what the situation of the people was like……. we saw that most people had been given barren lands. Some have lands close to the canal and so there is waterlogging. When we began work, we saw that those who have land near the canal are not well off as we had thought. In 2-3 years, we realised that the former’s problems are more acute. We organised 22 days long Nahr yatra. In the desert areas the main problem was lack of water and land for poor farmers. Water has not reached them and land has been given to the rich. Local people who got land, if at all, got hilly areas where water never reaches. In addition, the land is laying fallow at a depth of 5 feet. This leads to waterlogging. The women find that they have lost all that they ever had. And the community has broken up because the lands received were at distances of 3-4 kms from each other. Isolation and the burden of work have increased for women. Because, earlier they used to grow one crop and now they have to grow two. It is the women and children who do most of the work. We had done a small survey and found that children living near the canal suffer from greater malnutrition. The work in the fields is being done by girls, while boys are sent to school. There are no dais (midwives) or ANMs, women have to go through pregnancies and deliveries on their own… There are emergencies, often leading to the death of women… Women say that violence has increased…