Chapter 1 Introduction

The Dalit movement in Maharashtra

The emergence of Dalit movement in India in general and in Maharashtra in particular, should be considered as a unique phenomenon for two reasons. First, it came up as an autonomous development thus offering the Dalits a kind of independent subjectivity from the Congress on the one hand, and centuries got forces on the other. The Dalit voice that was subjugated for centuries got expression that signified an independent identity for the Dalits; however, this phenomenon did not develop in a uniform manner. For example, the Dalit movement came up in the three regions, which can be called presidency of Bombay , Madras and Calcutta . The forerunner of the Dalit movement in Maharashtra was the Non-Brahmin bhakti tradition and the non-Brahmin education movement led by Jotirao Phule. One can easily see the impact of bhakti tradition on the thinkers and the leaders of the shudra and anti Shudra movement in Maharashtra . Prominent among this bhakti tradition was the definite impact of Tiaras and Chokha Mela and Chakradhar. Their anit-Brahminsim emphasis provided an important historical backdrop for the latter mobilization of Dalits. Phule and later on Ambedkar and in the much recent times Annabhu Sathe seem to have referred to this bhakti tradition in their writings and actual Mobilisation of the Dalit masses in the state. Bhakti tradition offered useful criti2que of the Brahminical tradition that sought to the Dalits who were pushed outside the normal life of civil society. They were condemned to remain outside the mainstream life of the village, virtually on the outskirts of the village. In the Bhakti mode they tried to question this social ostracism in front of the God.

Mahatma Phule later on tried to give material base to the Dalit assertion. He located adversary in the concrete from and named it as “Bhudeva” – who was above any scrutiny. It is interesting to note that Phule tried to restore historical agency to the Dalits. Phule launched scathing attacks against Brahmanism. He stressed the importance of education to the Dalits. He started the education initiative for the Dalits. He made the powerful use of non-Brahmin cultural tradition through the radical redefinition of certain cultural symbols like Bali raja.

This early emergence was not providential. In fact it was the result of the specific historical conditions that gave rise to this early emergence of Dalit movement in Maharashtra . Modernization and urbanization gave impetus to the new language of rights. The discourse on rights was important in terms of defining the Dalit being. In other words it was not possible to define the Dalit being without the discourse on rights, which came up along with the process of modernization and new ideology of liberalism. As compared to the two other regions (Madras and Calcutta) Maharashtra seem to have given definite historical lead to Dalit movement. This was because of the land structure and the rapid industrialization in Bombay. The cotton economy helped in spreading the Dalit movement in the Bombay presidency.

Bombay had raytwari land system, which proved as the negative push factor for the Dalit to achieve consciousness and consolidate it in the organized forms. In this land system, the land becomes a commodity to be bought and sold by a person of any caste. This led to the transfer of land ownership from the cultivating caste to the not-cultivating caste like the Marwaris (traders). This in turn brought undue pressure on the land because the non-Brahmin peasant caste became the labourers on the land. This in turn pushed the Dalits out from the land. However, interestingly no all the Dalits got pushed out from the self- sufficient village system. It is only the Mahars who got displaced more than the Chambers and the Maangs the others two prominent caste of the Dalit caste in Bombay presidency. The growing urbanization, modernization and industrialization worked as the pull factor that prompted migration of the Mahars to the urban centres of Bombay. Nagpur, Pune. Compared to Mahars the Chambars and the Maangs did not respond to this process of modernization and they remained back in the villages. Their traditional occupations were still required by the traditional agriculture. This should explain the relative lag in the political consciousness of these two castes. It is due to this reason the D Dalit movement remained confined to the Mahars during the pre-independence.

Second characteristic of the Dalit movement was that in the Bombay region where it remained confined to West Bombay and later it spread to Vidharbha. It spread along with the railway track to Nagpur and the cotton production. Cotton production and ginning factories created appropriate background for the Dalit movement remained weak in Maharashtra because of the Nizam rule in that region. It is interesting to note that Nizam never allowed Ambedkar to even enter the region let alone organize the Dalits there.

The issue that was taken up by the Dalit movement related to the question of dignity and social respect. Equality and the question of justice played an important part in terms of self of definition of the Dalits. Importance of education was stressed as an important leverage for this self-definition. Similarly the issue of temple entry and the Chawdar tank Satygraha were landmark struggles in terms of definition of Dalits. The struggle for self-respect was advanced in terms of absolution of certain traditional rights like the vatan land that worked as the shackle for the self- respect of the Dalit in Bombay state. Apart from this the other issues that from the core agenda of Dalit mobilization during the pre-independence. Thus, political rights form the essential part of the Dalit movement.

After independence the site of Dalit struggle shifted from the Western Maharashtra to Vidarbha and Marathwada. This was evidence when the large number of Dalits embraced Buddhism along with Ambedkar in 1956. One of the important reason for this shifting site of Dalit movement was that the overall material and agricultural development. The development of sugar co-operative structure has resulted in reduction of Dalit militancy in Western Mahanrashra. The Dalits were absorbed in these structured at the lower rungs of this opportunity structure. Secondly, this also offered some cultural recognition to Dalit by the sugar lords who were called by the Dalit affectionately as Dada, Anna Tai and Bhau. One finds total cultural and political silence of Dalit as they got almost completely immersed in the hegemonic culture of the new lords. As against this the regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha experienced spectacular struggles of Dalit on the question of land in 1959 and 1964 and the prolonged struggle for renaming of Marathwada University after Ambedkar. The continuous battle that they still continue to fight related to encroachment on Gaira n land. They also are struggling to get the temple land. Gairan land has engaged the Dalits from Marathwada and Vidarbha against the state and those upper caste adversaries who are opposing these Dalit efforts at the local level. The Nagsen Van an educational complex established by Ambedkar at Aurangabad provided necessary leadership of those Dalit youth played a very active role at the local level in terms of radicalizing the Dalit on the above-mentioned level. Another important characteristic of Dalit movement of Marathwada was that the Mangs who were lagging behind the Mahars achieved advancement in terms of autonomy and solidarity of expression.

As is evident from the case study of CHR, the Mangs have achieved this autonomy both from the Mahar based Dalit movement and the Congress movement on the other. This was not automatic process but was influenced by the material displacement of the Mangs from their traditional occupations. The modernization of agriculture requiring the sophisticated implements meant that hopes made by Mangs were no longer needed, in a way industrial manufacture of ropes released the Mangs from the traditional occupation of making ropes. Education appeared to be a useless option for the Mangs who were to late to arrive at the modernization process. Hence they turned their attempt to land struggle is centred on the land struggle in marathwada. Both Mangs and the Mahars are involved jointly in this struggle for land. Those who are not involved in the land struggle opt to migrate to the other regions offering more employment activism. This activism was further promoted by the rigid social structure, which does not recognize new Dalit assertion. On the contrary, the feudal modes try to suppress the democratic assertion of the Dalits and this suppression gives new energy and tenacity to Dalit struggle. They have learned the use of democratic means to expand the social vase of their struggle for not merely existence but existence on meaningful terms.

Social and economic condition of Dalits : -

Informal interview with Eknath Awad

Marathwada is situated in South-east Maharasshtra has 21% (64 thousand Sq Kms) of the total area and 16 % (15.58 lakhs) of the total Population of the State. 75 % of this population is in rural areas, and 1/5 th of them (3.2 million) are Dalits. 1/3 rd of the population is Below the Poverty line. This one of the few areas where decadal increase in population density is the least (< 50). This reflects the livelihood status of the region.

The female sex ratio is worse than that of State Maharashtra. The infant mortality (>60), Maternal mortality, immunization couple protection rate (<35) all indicates an overall low status. The region has the least forest land (3.6%). 2/3 rd area is under cultivation. The ground water level, the rainfall and production per acre are decreasing every year.

Though Maharashtra is a highly developed state on all socio-economic parameters, Marathwada which covers eight districts namely Aurangabad, Beed, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani & Hingoli, is probably one of the least developed regions in the country. This situation has been caused by a confluence of historical and natural factors. For the last several centuries the region has been ruled over by “outsiders". Starting with the rulers from Bijapur a followed by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the region became a principality under the British rule. Marathwada was brought under the aegis of the Indian Republic in 1949; two years after the British left the country. The common factor running through these rules is the fact that none of them originated in Marathwada and none of them cared about the development of the region. Even after the region became an integral part of the Indian Republic, it remained backward due to the poorly planned developmental policies of the government, Attention of the government, state and central, was focused on the better developed Mumbai, Konkan and Western Maharashtra. As a result the region slid further into an abyss.

To add to the political problems, the natural resources available in Marathwada are far from satisfactory. There is shortage of rain, which leads to a drought like situation every year. The soil is of a poor condition and does no lend itself very well to good agricultural output. The state government has declared many of the 59 talukas making up Marathwada as drought prone and earmarked several schemes for overcoming the problem. However, these plans and efforts are yet to bear any tangible fruit and the population continues to live in misery.

Most of the people from the region come from scheduled castes, nomadic tribes and other socially backward classes. Those classified as “Dalits”- Schedule Caste, represent the lowest rung of the social ladder as per the ancient Hindu law. As shown in the table below 11.10% of the population in the state is from this category. Moreover they are largely concentrated in the Marathwada region (i.e. 14.92) of the S.C. population of Maharashtra belongs to Marathwada. There is a very high degree of illiteracy in this region (only 33.04 of the population are literate).

The irrigation facilities in the region are practically close to being non-existing. As a result, agriculture the main occupation of the people is largely rain-fed. The repeated divisions of land amongst sons over generations have marginalized most framing household. The poor mansoon, lack of education makes the soil all countries to extremely poor agriculture yield also lack of education makes the small farming households liable to exploitation by middlemen who pay only a fraction of the price for the produce. It is therefore difficult for the families to survive for the entire year let alone develop themselves further. People in he region are forced to migrate to towns and cities looking for labour to make ends meet. Moneylensers are able to exploited the situation by lending money for survival for most part of the year and then forcing the borrows into bondage. Apart from this forced migration to the urban centres. Marathwada contributes a lobar force (Sugar cutters) of over 600,000 to the sugar factories in the well-developed region of Western Maharashtra.

While Maharashtra is highly industrialised with 38.7 % of the population residing in cities. There are no industries worth meeting in the Marathwada region. Unemplyment rates are very high and practically every family has at lest one member working in the industrialised cities like Pune and Mumabi.Due to the fact that these people have opportunity to, learn a trade, they work largely as manual labours.

Due to near draught like condition there is tremendous scarcity of drinking water in tehregion. Village depedend on wells for their water supply. In the summer months women whose duty id to provide for the families water requirement, have to truge many a mile to gather a pitiful of water that is more often than not contaminated. Disease and malnutrition is rampant in the region. Since girls are expected to contribute to the family chores, they are seldom able to attend school and are therefore forced to remain illiterate.

The main problems faced by the people living in Mararthwada can be summarized as

Strong caste based division of society and oppression of the lower castes.
Denial of legal and human right to women and Dalit.
Poor literacy and awareness of legal rights.
Lack of gainful employment opportunities in any industrial of agricultural sector.
Extreme poverty and economic bonded ness to moneylenders.
Poor agriculture facilities in terms of irrigation, soil quality etc.
Lack of good dirking water round the year.
Total absence of any form of family planning method that results in large 4-6 children
Poor health and malnutrition.

It was in these condition that laid the foundation of the establishment of the Rural Development Centre (RDC) in 1985.

Population of Schedule Caste and Schedule tribe in MARATHWADA – 2001

Sr.	District	S.C.	S.T.	% Of Population Total		% Of total Literacy Popl.
				SC	ST	SC	ST
1.	Aurangabad	3,05,246	83,502	13.79	3.77	39.52	25.41
2.	Jalna	1,76,452	28,300	12.93	2.07	27.80	24.69
3.	Parbhani	2,33,323	1,11,470	11.02	5.27	29.13	26.22
4.	Beed	2,44,942	20,515	13.41	1.13	32.55	29.47
5.	Nanded	4,22,942	2,75,972	18.15	11.84	31.38	28.31
6.	Osmanabad	2,08,609	22,463	16.34	1.76	34.15	30.82
7.	Latur	3,19,568	37,527	19.06	2.24	34.15	33.50
	Marathwada	1,910,421	5,79,749	14.92	4.53	33.04	27.79
	Maharashtra	8,757,842	73,18,281	11.10	9.27	45.93	29.42

There is a high prevalence of gender discrimination in this region. Gender Disparity in literacy rates is very evident. 67.46 % all males in Marathwada are literate in comparison only 33.9% of all females are literate. This figure would be even more skewed in terms of the Dalit population wherein literacy rates are already so low.

DISTRICTWISE PERCENTAGE OF LITERACY IN MARATHWADA 2001

Sr.	District	Males	Females	Total
1.	Aurangabad	72.93	39.64	56.98
2.	Jalna	64.43	27.30	46.25
3.	Parbhani	64.90	29.41	47.58
4.	Beed	66.34	32.34	49.82
5.	Nanded	64.38	30.96	48.17
6.	Osmanabad	68.39	39.16	54.27
7.	Latur	70.47	33.99	55.57
8	Marathwada	67.46	33.99	51.23
9	Maharashtra	69.65	41.81	55.83
10	India	64.13	39.29	52.21

The table 1 gives some comparative figures. For more figures, see annex 1.

Section 1: Table 1: comparative for Marathwada & Maharashtra

Demographic & other indicators	Maharashtra	Marathwada
1. Population (total)	9,97,52,245	1,55,89,223 (16 % of Maharashtra)
2.Population (rural)	5,5732,513	1,17,57,503 (21 % of Maharashtra)
3. % Rural population	58 %	75 %
4. Area (Sq Kms)	3,07,577	64,813 (21 % of Maharashtra)
5. Population	314	238
6.Increases in population density since 1991	57	42
7 Sex Ratio	922	937
8 Rural area sex ratio	922	937
9 Literacy	69 %	69 %
10 Infect Morality Rate	48
11 % BPL		27 %
12 Forest Land	17 %

* Source: - www.indiastat.com

Brief history of RDC : -

Rural Development Centre (RDC) has been working, since 1985.in the most underdeveloped region of Maharashtra state. It has consistently worked with impoverished community groups such as Dalits nomadic tribe, landless labourers, unprivileged child's women and attempt to secure there basic rights by participatory with them in various development activity. The leadership, which stems from the poorest social and economical strata, believes in collective development action to relive poverty and injustice. RDC's key strategies option are auctioning people and developing grassroots leadership to secure basic human right and building dynamics condition to develop suitable livelihood mechanism

The early days (1980-89)

Rural development center (RDC) was established in 1985 by Mr. Eknath Awad, an educated Dalit youth residing in a small village of 40 households. In the early 1980s, inspired by the legendary Dalit leader Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mr. Awad organized the youth in his village and motivated them to fight against the oppression of the upper-caste people and landlords in their village. Their early success made them realize the potential of a unified struggle against the common oppressors. As a result these youth came together and decided to formally institutionalize their struggle for equal status and RDC was born. The first few years were spent in developing a cadre of activists in all the seven districts Marathwada. During this period, the main purpose of the organization was to actively resist oppressors and all forms of subjugation imposed on them by the upper echelons of the society. In Marathwada even in the early 1980s, it was considered ‘normal' and infect necessary to deny a Dalit his/her right to

Draw drinking water from the village well / pond,
Village temple Entry.
Avail any from of education or training,
Follow any profession of his / her choice.
Access health systems that were used by the upper castes,
Cremation at the village cemetery where the upper castes were cremated.
Hold any land or property and

In fact enjoy many other right that are accepted as a matter of necessity for humans to survive in a civilized so no surprise to any one then that the first measures taken by RDC were in form of active resistance to the oppressors. Carders of educated youth were developed and fostered with the express intention of combating caste-based servitude. The novelty of the idea coupled with the Dalit aspiration of a position of respect in the society, saw the RDC is movement spread quickly to thousands of villages and touching the lives of lacs of Dalits in Marathwada.

However RDC soon realized that a militant approach alone couldn't solve problems that faced the Dalits. The organization needs to lack forward and adopt developmental strategies and plan their action in order to ensure that the future generations are to be permanently freed from the ills of the bygone era. Thus began the development-oriented phase in RDC .

Strategy deployed

RDC entered into its developmental phase with a well-defined strategy

That included increasing its area of activities. RDC has made efforts to reach out to all villages and towns in the seven districts of Marathwada. It has attempted to develop and place its cadres of activists and workers in almost all villages. An attempt is being made to convert the activists into a developmental movement.

Using multiple developmental interventions

RDC has used numbers interventions in the areas of health, education, employment opportunities, economic development, land and water development, legal awareness and agriculture. Thus ensures that all the Dalits in Marathwada are touched by some RDC activity or other and their involvement is total.

Actively involving women and youth

Thousands of years ago the Hindu lawgiver, Manu, established the four tiered caste system and decreed that the Dalits were the lowest in the social order. Women of any caste were rated lower than the Dalits and were considered to be of no consequence. One can then imagine the plight of the Dalit woman who finds no status even within her own community. RDC realized early on that once the woman in any household is empowered, the family unit develops at a faster rate and in a more permanent manner hence, RDC developed a policy of actively promoting women as making them the focal point of its activities. Educated youth were also actively involved in order to ensure that the movement became sustainable

Building peoples Structures

Right from its inception RDC has attempted to promote and develop peoples structures at the grassroots level. In this efforts several Mahila Mandals (women's groups), Youth groups, village groups ect, have been promoted. The attempt has been to involve the people in decision making in relation to matters that concern them there by achieving their wholehearted participation .

Targeting the children

Development of children in an all round manner, improving their health, providing them education, freeing them from bonded labour all formed part of a long-term developmental plan. Since the children represent the future of the community, their development always has a long lasting effect.

Advocating policy reform with government

Apart from developmental activities, RDC lobbies with the government on various issues related to the right of the Dalits, has not prevented it from working closely with the government machinery in a few project like plague eradication, drinking water supply, rehabilitation after the Latur earthquake etc. In fact RDC realizes that the strength and spread of the governmental machinery can and should be leveraged to achieve effective growth .

Projects undertaken

The projects undertaken by RDC can be broadly divided into two categories-developmental and disaster related and rehabilitative. A few of these are discussed in the following pages.

Developmental

The developmental projects undertaken by RDC span a large and diverse spectrum. The attempt has been to reach the maximum number of downtrodden and equip them physically and psychologically with the tools, teachniques and knowledge to develop themselves. Some of the activities undertaken are discussed below .

Legal and human rights

The struggle for restoration of human and legal rights to all the oppressed classes forms the cornerstone of RDC's work in Marathwada. RDC conducts programmes in Marathwada to improve the awareness of the oppressed Dalits population of their legal and human rights. RDC also lends support to the aggrieved Dalits in taking direct legal action in this RDC has worked with bonded agricultural laborers, sugarcane cutters and transporters, Dalits discriminated against on basis of their caste, Dalits whose property has been sized by landlords and money lenders, Dalits whose woes were ignored by the governmental machinery and in fact all the oppressed communities RDC was the first organization to identify and secure the release of bonded laborers in Marathwada.

Education

The literacy rates in Marathwada are very low was compared to the other parts of Maharashtra. This poor literacy affects the standard and quality of all people in a variety of ways and manifests itself in large family size leading to poverty. Lack of employment opportunities, child labour, superstition, oppression by the powerful social classes etc. RDC has undertaken a campaign to tackle this burning issue. RDC volunteers attempt to improve the state of literacy in every village that they work in through adult and non-formal education. They also attempt to make the governmental education system work better by motivating the teachers to be flexible in their approach and parents to send their children to school. Apart from formal literacy, RDC workers educate the people and make them aware of their legal and human rights and campaign for eradication of superstition

Childcare and development

RDC has conducted awareness camps, meetings and agitations against the system of child labour that is prevalent in major areas of Marathwada. Apart from attempting to eradicate the incidence of child labour, RDC has organized many personality development programmes targeted at children in small villages and hamlets. The children are provided with a forum to vent their creativity. In order to ensure that the children's education if not neglected, their parents are exhorted to take advantage of the governmental of NGO education services and enrol the children in school.

Advocacy

This activity from one of the most important interventions deployed by RDC. It is necessary to constantly interact with politicians, bureaucracy and media in order to take up issues emanating at the grassroots and give tem exposure. RDC considers this function of improving the knowledge and understanding of the decision makers and at the same time proposing policy measures to tackle the issues extremely important. RDC has lobbied with the government on various issues including renaming of the Marathwada University after Dr. Ambedkar, abolishment of bonded and child labor, providing facilities to the exploited sugarcane cutters and transporters, 30 % reservation to women in the state legislature and parliament etc. RDC has forged a strong alliance with a Mumbai based advocacy organization SAMPARK for this function .

Soil and water conservation

Supply of water for agriculture as well as drinking has always been a cause for concern in Marathwada. The near non-existent irrigation facilities means that the most of the activities are necessarily rain fed. In the early years, RDC undertook a campaign of ensuring that the rainwater was no lost. On an experimental basis RDC workers created a reservoir that would easily service 100 acres of land by bunding a canal in village Dukdegaon of Beed district. The effect was miraculous. The agricultural yield doubled in the next year! Since than RDC has undertaken two significant water and soil development projects at Pimparwada and Chambhartal Tanda . These projects have changed dramatically the lives of the people in these villages.

Agriculture related

The state government has legalized the encroachment of grazing land by Dalits and has transferred ownership to the occupiers under the “land to the tiller” policy. Due to the extensive efforts put in by RDC, nearly over 85,000 Dalits have now legally occupied 100000 acres of land. The grazing land in itself did not lend itself favorably to agriculture. RDC therefore started series of programmes aimed at improving the agricultural output. Some of the measures deployed include soil and water conservation, establishment of giran and seen banks, digging common wells for irrigation, training in modern farming techniques, providing fertilizers, providing equipment and animals required to till the land etc. In most of the village where this project was undertaken, the agriculture output has increased manifold .

Woman's development

RDC has undertaken many development programmers at women. These involve women education and literacy, awareness of legal right, restoring equal economic opportunity, prevention of atrocities ect. RDC has started a “grievance cell” in its office premises at Dukedgaon. This cell deals with all grievances of women whether caused by their families or employers or any other. RDC provides counseling (and whenever required takes direct action to redress the complaint) to the women and tries to directly address the root of their grievance. This grievance cell has proven to be of great help to the women in Marthwada who consider it as a maternal home where succor will be available at all times.

Health

RDC has from the beginning given due importance to the aspect of health in all the villages it works. Health camps, ease testing amps, family planning awareness programmers are conducted regularly with assistance from the local private or government doctors. In many of the villages near 100 % family planning the populace has adopted techniques. RDC has been conducting regular eye surgery camps in two villages with assistance from the local primary Health care centers of the Government for the last seven years.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Apart from development functions, RDC volunteers have come up great numbers to tackle the disasters that have affected Maharashtra in the last few years. Some of the major cases where RDC workers were involved in relief operations are described below.

1. L atur Earthquake

In the early hours of sept.30-1993 a devastating earthquake rocked the districts of Latur and Osmnabad. Hundreds of people were killed and countless lost their homes and possessions. RDC volunteers and workers swung into action in seven of the worst affected villages. Starting with salvaging the peoples possessions they went on the build temporary and permanent shelters, enabled the affected to access relief material provided by government and private agencies counselled and comforted those braved and undertook all other relevant activities. In the second state, RDC worked in 18 villages by building roads, sanitation blocks and soak pits for wastewater. Crèches were also started in 10 villages for the children who were orphaned. These crèches were operated as amusement cum therapy centres for the children who had been with ness to a natural horror. RDC also undertook an environmental sanitation awareness campaign to combat the health problems that accompanied the earthquake due to destruction of sanitation systems. Nearly 450 marginal farmers in the area were provided free seed and fertilizers and the necessary training to till their land effectively. RDC also established youth and children's clubs where the entertainment programmes help relieve the agony and tension. RDC's approach to earthquake relief was thus holistic and comprehensive.

2.plague

In late 1994 the medieval scourge, plague, hit the districts of Latur and Beed. The onset resulted in widespread panic in the villages and people started leaving their homes in large numbers. RDC volunteers decided to halt this exodus by educating the people on the cause, identification and treatment of the disease. Dr. kurwade, who had been posted at the Primary Health Care at village Kuppa, was very helpful in training RDC volunteers who later visited as many villages as possible in Latur and Beed to educate the villagers about the disease and the precautions and cur.

3.Drought and Famine

The people living in Marathwada are quite used to drought and famine like conditions due to the poor rainfall. RDC evolved a strategy to tackle the situation of perennial drought and implemented it in 1993 and 1995, in times of drought and famine, the agriculture dependent population is not able to sustain itself from labor. The state government then provides them means of earning their livelihood through the Employment Guarantee Sachems (EGS), in 1993 and 1995, RDC workers identified work related to water and land conservation in many villages and motivated the people to undertake these activities under the EGS. Under the scheme new wells were dug or existing ones deeadged and canals were dug and catchments areas created. The effort was targeted at ensuring that the rainwater was not lost but retained in the ground where it would be accessible to the people in other seasons. Over 7000 hectares of land was covered in this scheme.

4. Malnutrition in Melghat

Melghat is a region in Vidarbha, Marathwada. The area is most famous for the Project Tiger that has been launched to save the Indian tiger form extinction. In the last few years, Melghat a belt populated mainly by tribal, gained notoriety due to the number of children deaths due to malnutrition. These deaths peaked at around monsoon time when the danger of water-borne diseases was the highest. In 1997 a group of social activists came together and undertook a campaign of preventing malnutrition deaths in seven villages and hamlets of Melghat. Teams of volunteers were sent out to live with the tribal and provide them support on various fronts like observing the state of the children's health and providing them supplementary nutrition, testing and purifying, drinking water, securing medical aid from the government health system etc. The numbers of children death were significantly reduced as a result of the efforts of the volunteers. RDC workers made significant contributions to this project right from the conceptualization stage. The expenses incurred were borne by RDC from their own funds. While this project was taken up on a disaster management basis, efforts are on the design a long-term.

Development Partners

All of RDC's work would have been impossible if it had not been for the dynamic and symbiotic partnership that it has with several organizations. Some of the institutions that have and are supporting RDC are mentioned in brief below.

• NGO's promoted: In order to retain focus on specific issues, RDC has promoted several smaller NGO's and assisted them in finding their feet and working in the chosen sector exclusively. The sectors covered by these smaller NGO's headed by people with undoubted leadership qualities; include human rights, water, agricultural development, bonded labour, education and literacy etc.

• Dedicated cadres of youth and women : One of RDC's biggest strengths are its dedicated cadre of workers. Almost all youth and children who have been touched by RDC's developmental work contribute either voluntarily or as full time staff members. This has enabled RDC to reach out to numerous people in Marathwada in a relatively short time and at the same time mobilize volunteers to people and tackle emergency situations.

• Training Centre: RDC has developed its own training Centre where youth and women are trained and exposed to various fields like legal and human rights, police procedures, land related matters, managing people's structures, Employment Guarantee Scheme etc. Experienced faculty from all over the state is invited for these training workshops. The idea of the training programmers is to eradicate ignorance of the common people and there by put an end to their exploitation by other who posses knowledge and / or power. Over 25,000 people have been trained in the Centre to date.

• Development through Resource Organization and Planning (DROP): DROP is an NGO promoted by two young engineers trained in the science of water and soil management and participatory Rural Appraisal. DROP, over the past few years, has designed over 50 watershed development projects in India and Africa DROP along with RDC has alternative development mechanism through watershed around communities instead of geologically determined areas. DROP has also established a Disaster Response Unit (DRU) that for tacking natural disasters likes floods and earthquakes. The DRU has been involvement with resettlement and rehabilitation activities in the Latur earthquake (1993) Vidarbha floods (1994), Madhya Pradesh earthquake (1997), and floods (1997).

• GREENEARTH consults: - Greenearth consulting is a group of professional, social sector consultants that is closely associated with RDC. Greenearth acts as advisor and friends to RDC and helps it to design projects, obtain funding, develop project management systems, plan for the future and in fact in all aspects of managing and developing itself and its associates .

• SAMPARK: Sampark is a NGO formed by young social activists in Mumbai, the state capital. The main objective of Sampark is to advocate policy changes with government based on the feedback they receive from the grassroots NGO's like RDC. Sampark also borides RDC and other grassroots NGO's with information regarding governmental policies and developmental schemes.

Financial support: RDC has, over the past many years, received invaluable support from hounding agencies, government and the local community. Some of the bigger supporters have been CAPART, Government of India; Churches Auxiliary for Social a Action; CEBEMO and HIMOS – Holland; Holding India Foundation, USA Indo-German Social Service Society; INTERMON – spin; OXFAM – UK; Terre das homes, Germany, Swiss Aid, Swizarland.