 Seva
Mandir has been working with the rural poor of Udaipur district
in southern Rajasthan for 35 years. During this time, Seva
Mandir has deepened its understanding of the communities
with whom it works and the context within which it does
so. Besides having a rich, yet fragile cultural heritage,
the population with whom Seva Mandir works is characterised
by endemic deprivation in terms of access to quality food,
water, education, health services and responsive political
institutions. While Seva Mandir’s initial thrust in
the late 1960s was aimed at promoting literacy and an awareness
of civic rights, it is only the passage years that has revealed
the extent to which local communities are disempowered,
trapped in oppressive patron-client relationships for almost
every type of resource they need.
Natural Resource Development
 Local
rural livelihoods are closely tied to the fragile natural
resource base of the area, which suffers from an array of
adverse environmental conditions, including severe deforestation,
degraded land and recurrent droughts. These factors, coupling
with shrinking landholdings and increasing colonization
of the commons, constitute an urgent wake-up call for the
sustainable and equitable management and development of
the natural resource base for the benefit of local communities.
Seva Mandir works towards this goal through its Natural
Resource Management programme. The main areas of intervention
include wasteland treatment for soil moisture conservation,
afforestation and management of both private and common
lands, including degraded forests and the expansion of agricultural
productivity through increased irrigation capacity and the
provision of agricultural training extension programmes.
Dry Land Management
Seva Mandir has undertaken
pastureland development and plantation work under its dry
land management programme. The creation of private nurseries
plays an important role in Seva Mandir’s afforestation
strategy in addition to providing a stable source of income
to those farmers who have taken on the responsibility of
raising the saplings for their local afforestation scheme.
Watershed development is another critical dry land management
intervention. The primary objective of watershed activities
is to enhance soil-moisture conservation, thereby checking
erosion, increasing the productivity of the land for agriculture
or as a source of fodder for livestock and even providing
various non-timber forest produce (NTFP).
Forest Management
In addition to the plantation
work undertaken on common and private lands, Seva Mandir
engages specifically in the protection, regeneration and
management of the forest lands that account for some 42
per cent of the total land in the region. The absence of
norms for the use of forest resources has led to a severe
degradation of this important community source of fodder,
timber, fuelwood and NTFP. The regeneration, protection
and management of forest resources by Forest Protection
Committees (FPCs) helps to ensure that the benefits of forest
resources remain in the hands of the communities that depend
upon them.
In 1997, a network of FPCs called the Van Utthan Sangh (VUS)
was formed to offer support to FPCs by raising issues related
to forest land and discussing these with the Forest Department.
Other activities undertaken by the VUS include planning
systems for harvesting and distributing fodder from JFM
areas and developing appropriate institutional structures
for protecting and managing forest land.
Water Management
 According
to a recent study of the region, 96 per cent of households
are involved in self-employed agriculture. However, much
of the land is not being used to its full potential, being
cultivated only once in a year, thus leaving considerable
scope for increasing the profitability and reliability of
agriculture as a means of livelihood. The objective of water
management activities is to enhance agricultural productivity
by increasing the availability of, and access to, water
for irrigation. This is achieved through the construction
of rainwater harvesting structures (anicuts) and the initiation
of lift-irrigation systems. Irrigation potential is also
expanded indirectly through the recharging of wells as a
result of both anicut construction and watershed treatment
work.
Agriculture Programme
In order to ensure
that the benefits of agriculture are maximized, Seva Mandir
provides agricultural extension services in three broad
fields:
-
Horticulture –
The horticulture programme is oriented towards tapping
the potential benefits of reliable irrigation sources
made available through the water management programme,
particularly on marginal agricultural land. The key
work undertaken included the provision of training programmes,
capacity-building support, and the provision of the
improved Benarasi variety of aonla saplings.
-
Vegetable Cultivation
– Vegetables are of great importance to local
farmers, both as a source of income and as a source
of valuable nutrition for the household. Seva Mandir
assists farmers to take up the cultivation of various
vegetable crops.
-
Vermi-compost –
In an effort to encourage organic farming, Seva Mandir
has been promoting the use of vermin-compost among local
farmers through the provision of technical and material
assistance.
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