Poverty ________________________________________________________

Work and Employment Community

DDiissaasstteerr MMaannaaggeemmeenntt CCoommmmuunniittyy

SSoolluuttiioonn EExxcchhaannggee ffoorr tthhee WWoorrkk aanndd EEmmppllooyymmeenntt CCoommmmuunniittyy SSoolluuttiioonn EExxcchhaannggee ffoorr tthhee DDiissaasstteerr MMaannaaggeemmeenntt CCoommmmuunniittyy CCoonnssoolliiddaatteedd RReeppllyy Query: Land-based Works Undertaken in NREGS in Flood Affected Areas of Bihar - Examples; Advice Compiled by Radhika Desai and G Padmanabhan, Resource Persons and Warisha Yunus and Nupur Arora, Research Associate Issue Date: 31 December 2009 From Mihir Sahana, BASIX, Bihar Posted 6 November 2009

I work with BASIX, a new generation livelihood promotion Institution. We are working with the Rural Development Department of Government of Bihar to promote livelihoods of the rural poor. Bihar is included in the lowest quintile of poverty, with more than 42% of its population living Below the Poverty Line (BPL). Livelihoods of poor families are dependent mainly on forced migration with around 32% of the population migrating to various other cities. Government efforts to improve people’s lives suffer setbacks because of regular disasters (drought and floods) in the state. Sixteen districts are flood prone and an equal number are drought prone. Sometimes both drought and floods occur in the same region. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), meant to provide wage employment to one member of the family for 100 days and create durable assets has not been able to reach a large number of poor families and has provided less than the assured 100 days of work. There are two major problems in creating assets for sustainable livelihoods through NREGS: • Dearth of ideas on what land-based works to undertake. • Lack of knowhow to undertake works in the flood affected regions. To promote sustainable livelihoods in the highly populated flood affected areas like Kosi, and Baghmati where common lands are not available, I would like members of Work and Employment and Disaster Management Communities to give respond to the following:

• What are the possible land-based works that can be planned for rainy season and periods other than rainy season (to stem the huge flow of migrants)?

• Which of these land based works can be included as part of the NREGS, in post disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes and in other development programmes?

• How can we ensure that APL lands are included in land-based works either in NREGS or other disaster management schemes, for the specific flood affected areas such as those of the Kosi and Baghmati?

We especially look forward to hearing experiences about innovations made, land-based works that have been carried out, and other suggestions. Please keep in mind the context of regular flooding in these areas of high population density in Bihar while responding. Responses were received, with thanks, from 1. Veettal Kurian Baby, Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme, Government of Kerala,

Thrissur, Kerala 2. Mihir Sahana, BASIX, Bihar (Response 1, Response 2, Response 3) 3. Ravishwar Sinha, Independent Consultant, New Delhi 4. Ashok Kumar Sinha, Karma Consultants, New Delhi 5. Manish Mehta, Development Professional, Ashford, United Kingdom 6. K. S. Gopal, Centre for Environment Concerns (CEC), Hyderabad 7. Satish Kumar and Prabhjot Sodhi, Centre for Environment Education (CEE),

Lucknow 8. Abhishek Mendiratta, Jupiter Knowledge Management and Innovative Concepts

(JKMIC) Private Limited, New Delhi 9. Rajdev Chaturvedi, Grameen Punarnirman Sansthan, Azamgarh 10. Mukul Gogoi, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Tinsukia, Assam 11. Arup Kumar Patro, Focus Humanitarian Assistance, Mumbai 12. Srinivas Banda, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL & FS),

Hyderabad 13. Sebastian T. V., Concern Worldwide India, Bhubaneswar 14. Sarat Kumar Pattnaik, Koraput Farmers' Association (KFA), Koraput, Orissa 15. Purabi Phukan, Khaja Banda Nawaz Institute of Medical Sciences (KBNIMS),

Gulbarga, Karnataka 16. Kalika Mohapatra, Independent, Bhubaneswar 17. Aditi Umrao, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Uttar Pradesh 18. Ravindranath, Rural Volunteers Center, Assam 19. Shailja Kishore, Independent Consultant, Ahmedabad 20. Sarat Panda, Sphere India, New Delhi 21. Puthumai A. Nazarene, State Inter Agency Group, Kolkata 22. Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Barh Mukti Abhiyan, Jamshedpur 23. Sushil Kumar Jha, Gyan Sewa Bharathi Sansthan (GSBS), Kamalpur, Bihar 24. Chandrashekhar Jha, Gramyasheel, Supaul, Bihar 25. Jitendra Kumar, Nav Jagriti, Saran, Bihar 26. Sunil Kaul, The Ant, Assam 27. Binod Kumar, Samatamoolak Samaj Vikas Kendra, Madhubani, Bihar* 28. Sudipta Dubey, SPADE, Kolkata*

*Offline Contributions Further contributions are welcome!

Summary of Responses Comparative Experiences Related Resources Responses in Full Summary of Responses The topic of land based works in the flood prone regions of Bihar evoked a good response from the members. They gave special attention to harnessing the potential of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Although Gram Sabha has the right to develop village plans for NREGS works, very often in practice neither the Gram Sabha, nor the Gram Panchayat is involved in it. This needs to be remedied. Also, the Village Disaster Management Plan including the Disaster Risk Reduction measures ought to be part of the VDP. The first step is to do a Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (VCA) at the village level to identify the geographical areas, infrastructure, livelihood domains and social groups vulnerable to floods. The works in NREGS can be undertaken in the order of priorities identified in the list of activities approved by the Gram Sabha. Water management for human needs includes physical interventions in flood prone regions such as the development of weirs, dams and reservoirs, canals and river diversions, artificial recharge of reservoirs, reforestation and erosion control, irrigation structures and rainwater harvesting systems. River basin interventions itself include treatments, soil protection and anti erosion measures, afforestation, physical embankments and bio-fencing. In areas vulnerable to coastal erosion temporary bunding and protection of embankments also becomes necessary. In areas where forest lands are available forest regeneration, planting, nurseries, canopy cutting, watersheds and catchments treatments, and trenching to protect forests and tribal hamlets can be done. Flood control and flood protection works related to water bodies would include the following:

• Use grass such as Vetiver, Kolmuh and Bringa that have more than 90% soil binding capacity (as done in Assam) along the river bank in combination with the normal erosion protection technology

• Construct river channel in the village for discharge of rain water • Create and repair drainage system for water logged areas • Create and deepen water bodies such as tanks, ponds an wells • Renovate traditional water bodies community tanks, ponds, wells and kuinyas • Excavate water bodies • Desilt water bodies including community tanks and irrigation canals • Remove of weeds and water hyacinths fro better use of water bodies • Plant trees on banks of ponds that are deepened • Strengthen embankments • Dig trenches for protecting plantation areas • Construct rainwater harvesting structures

A successful example of efficient drainage from water logged areas is the drainage of land depressions or chaurs as they are called locally, in several districts of Bihar. Measures suggested to protect life and property were the following:

• Construct bridges, culverts and roads such that flood water can pass freely and they can be used as a lifeline during floods for ensuring connectivity to the outside and repair these regularly

• Increase elevation of roads and structures such as schools where people can take shelter and repair them

• Raise the elevation areas of areas within the village to afford shelter in times of flood • Build protective bunds or mud work to increase the elevation of the houses from the

ground • Raise the floor of the houses • Remove siltation around the houses to make the house/hut safe • Replace trees washed away earlier and plant additional trees • Use land terracing/shaping for reconstruction of houses in relatively safer areas • Level land for individual and community benefit • Raise the level of homestead lands • Raise lands/make mounds for temporary shelters during floods • Create small dug holes to manage the run off of water in floods • Repair houses (especially of dalits and poor)

To protect the livelihoods of farmers (large, medium, small and marginal) as well as landless laborers members suggested the following:

• Dig and repair of small farm ponds to hold water, irrigate vegetable gardens and rear fish and ducks

• Grow vegetable gardens and/or plants like banana, papaya, gourds on the raised banks (using excavated mud) of small farm ponds and other water bodies that are deepened, or with bucket irrigation facilities

• Provide outlets from ponds to water logged paddy fields so that fish can grow faster • Develop systems of community irrigation such as lift irrigation by harvesting of excess

water • Link technical support from agriculture experts to introduce improved techniques, and

change cropping patterns • Grow alternative crops such as alternate hardy variety of rice or short term rice • Promote of alternate cropping, mainly of vegetables • Develop aquatic crops • Plant fuel trees that can sustain prolonged water logging • Promote demonstration work in agriculture even in homestead like vegetable

farming/agro-horticulture/agro forestry • Raise the elevation of some areas for growing fruitbearing trees • Repair irrigation canals and other minor irrigation works • Provide agriculture insurance to farmers • Provide facilities for storage at elevated ground level • Create field ponds to promote fishery as was done in Uttar Pradesh

A large majority of the activities mentioned above could be done under NREGS and/or in convergence with the line departments. The suggestion to enable the inclusion of Above Poverty level (APL) families in the NREGS has to be made to representatives of the SREGC and requires policy advocacy. Wherever possible opportunities for convergence with the various programmes of the line departments such as agriculture, irrigation, public works, and funds from disaster management and livelihood promotion can be explored to minimize the limitations of the NREGs and leverage its potential. Comparative Experiences

Kerala Developing a Perspective Plan Helpful in Disaster Mitigation, Thrissur (from Veetal Kurien Baby, Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme, Government of Kerala, Thrissur, Kerala) As a disaster mitigation measure, an organization prepared a five-year perspective plan for works with a focus on watershed management, drainage system, river basin sustainability and food security. The plan was further divided into annual activity plans based on local priorities. They gave major thrust to de-siltation of irrigation canals through involvement of Gram Panchayats. The methodology and intervention has yielded good results. Bihar Assisting Poor by Providing Wages for House Repair Post-disaster, Khagaria District (from Ashok Kumar Sinha, Karma Consultants, New Delhi) It was found that even without flood, after every rain, the houses of the poor needed repair work. Considering this, an NGO found an innovative intervention under the flood rehabilitation programme. It offered wages to the poor to repair their houses. They found support from a donor agency for this work and is of great significance to the communities. Under NREGS, a similar intervention can be tried since it also provides for 40% material cost. NREGS Funds Can be Used to Revive Traditional Water Bodies, Supaul District (from Chandrashekhar Jha, Gramyasheel, Supaul, Bihar) To revive the traditional water bodies like wells that were very useful for irrigation of vegetables cultivated, an NGO took up the task. It mobilized the community to revive wells and kuinyas. So far 30 wells have been revived. The NREGS can provide funds for revival of such traditional water bodies which are getting neglected since the advent of hand pumps. Draining Out Land Depression a Useful Activity, Multiple Districts (from Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Barh Mukti Abhiyan, Jamshedpur) Draining out land depressions, locally called chaurs which are caused by a meandering river or drainage congestion has been found to be very successful. An organization worked o draining out the chaurs and was able to retrieve a large tract of land from water logging. This retrieved land can be cultivated in the summer season and the undrained water can be used for irrigation purpose. NREGS Funds Can be Utilized to Create a Drainage System, Kamalpur District (from Sushil Kumar Jha, Gyan Sewa Bharathi Sansthan (GSBS), Kamalpur, Bihar) Given that creating a good drainage system is a must for flood affected areas of Bihar, an organization is working to create good drainage system in 10-12 villages in Bihar. Creating a good drainage system has proven to be a very successful intervention for the water logged areas. The NREGS can provide funds for creating drainage systems in flood affected areas. Uttar Pradesh Fish Farming - Alternate Livelihood Option for Flood Affected Regions, Maharajganj District (from Aditi Umrao, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Uttar Pradesh) As an alternative livelihood in one of the most flood prone district Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh, farmers are doing fish farming . They make small ponds in their farms in which they do fish farming. This helps them as their crops don’t get affected negatively even if it floods and these ponds help in conservation of water which they can use for irrigation during dry season. Similar intervention can be done under NREGS. From Ravindranath, Rural Volunteers Center, Assam

Assam Grain/Seed Banks can be a Good Community-based Food and Livelihood Security Mechanism, Dhemaji and Lakhimpur District Flood-affected population suffered from acute shortage of food and lack of seed availability for sowing post-flood. So the NGO set up a community managed grain/seed bank system in six villages. This was done to help people rebuild their lives post-disaster. The annual collection of the Brahmaputra Bank was 15.40 quintals which was then sold and money deposited in the bank. Grain banks have proved to be very useful in helping people rebuild their lives post-disaster. Amar Bazar Helps Flood-affected Women Access Income Generation Opportunities, Dhemaji and Lakhimpur District In order to empower women economically, the NGO organizes women and trains them on market mechanisms, provides range of livelihood options to choose from, provides skills training and links them to the market. The weekly markets 'Amar Bazar' provide women the opportunity to sell their products and earn income for the family which is very critical especially in post-disaster situations. NREGS can fund such trainings for women. Plantation of Some Plants/Grass is Helpful in Preventing Soil Erosion, Tinkusia District (from Mukul Gogoi) In order to prevent soil erosion during floods in Assam, some organizations planted Vetiver grass which is very deep rooted. Because of its depth, it holds the soil very firmly and prevents erosion. This intervention as been very useful in many places in Assam and South Asian Countries. An organization is planting Vetiver grass under NREGS in Assam as a measure against soil erosion. West Bengal NREGS funds People to Raise the Floor of the Houses (from Puthumai A. Nazarene, State Inter Agency Group, Kolkata) As a post-cyclone rehabilitation measure, NREGS funds have been used to raise the floors of the houses in some villages in West Bengal. It has also been used for digging/deepening of ponds, repair of mud embankments on river beds and canals and plantation of tress and vegetable gardens. All the works have been helpful in reducing the vulnerability of the people to disasters and help them provide some alternative livelihood options. Related Resources

Recommended Organizations and Programmes National Rural Employment Guarantee Act-2005 (from Veettal Kurian Baby, Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme, Government of Kerala, Thrissur, Kerala) Act; by Ministry of Rural Development; Government of India, New Delhi; 2005; Available at http://nrega.nic.in/ The Act provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country. From Ashok Kumar Sinha, Karma Consultants, New Delhi Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi 110 114; Tel: 91-11-23388991-9, 91-11-23388958-60; anil.cpro@gmail.com

Coordinates, guides and manages research and education in agriculture in India; can be helpful for advising on Wage work support for agriculture work under NREGS.

Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), New Delhi Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi 110001; Tel: 91-11-23782373/27; Fax: 91-11-23385876; http://www.rural.nic.in

Anti-poverty alleviation programme that provides micro-credit and group insurance services to the poor through SHGs.

National Research Centre for Makhana, Bihar(from Satish Kumar and Prabhjot Sodhi, Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Lucknow) CPRS PO: Sahayanagar, Patna-801 506 Bihar; Tel: 0612-2204767; Fax: 0612-2550032

Supports research for cultivation of Makhana in Bihar; Under the scheme, NRCM can be partnered to strengthen the economic status of those involved in Makhana cultivation.

Grameen Punarnirman Sansthan, Uttar Pradesh (from Rajdev Chaturvedi) Villari P.O Badaiya (Atauraliya) Azamgarh ; Tel: 05465-227130;

Works with rural communities on health and rights. They work with women, men, youth, adolescents, and government in 98 villages of Azamgarh District.

\From K. Arup Kumar Patro, FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance, Mumbai Focus Humanitarian Assistance, Mumbai 305, Maker Bhavan No. 3, 21, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400020 Maharashtra; Tel: 91-22-22017175/ 32663549; http://www.akdn.org/india_rehabilitation.asp; http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res18090904.doc; Contact Mr. Siraz Hirani, Programme Office; shirani@focushumanitarian.org

Working on Andhra Pradesh Relief To Development (APR2D) project in the state; has taken land based activities based on Vulnerability Capacity Assessment at the village level

Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Switzerland P.O. Box 2049, 1-3 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland; Tel: +41 -22- 9097200; Fax: +41-22-9097292; http://www.akdn.org/india.asp

AKDN under its programme Andhra Pradesh Relief To Development (APR2D) has worked on issues of women and children.

Nandan Biomatrix Limited , Hyderabad(from Srinivas Banda, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL & FS), Hyderabad) Plot No. 46, Road No. 13, Banjara Hyderabad; Tel: 91 40 2332 0999; Fax: 91 40 2332 8109 info@nandan.bizz; http://www.nandan.biz/;

Can support research on Cultivation of Bio-Fuels in barren land as one of the ideas that can be explored for providing land based work under NREGS.

Rural Volunteers Centre , Assam (from Ravindranath) Village Akajan, Block Sissiborgaon, District Dhemaji, Assam Pin Code: 787 059 ; Tel: 09435089275, 03753-246306; mailto:ruralvolunteerscentre@yahoo.co.in;

Works on protecting the rights of the marginalized section within the community and ensure socio-economic justice through action.

Centre for World Solidarity (CWS), Bihar(from Sushil Kumar Jha, Gyan Sewa Bharathi Sansthan (GSBS), Kamalpur, Bihar)

Bihar Resource Centre, 1st Floor, E-30, Pataliputra Colony, PATNA - 800 013; Tel: 0612 - 3257532 / 2271404; brc@cwsy.org

Supports local organizations to create drainage system in 12 villages of the flood affected districts of Bihar; initiatives like this can be supported by NREGS

Responses in Full

Veettal Kurian Baby, Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme, Government of Kerala, Thrissur, Kerala Though I am not in a position to suggest location specific interventions in the area of our activity, I am sure that National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) can certainly be designed to stem at least to a significant extent the out-migration of labour on account of its direct and indirect impact on income and employment generation. As you know, we are also facing serious scarcity of common lands for works/treatment. Major part of our major workforce under NREGS is women, specifically from the Self Help Groups (SHGs) who want to supplement income to support their families. They may not be necessarily from the poorest quintile. We have designed the following methodology and implementation design, which has yielded good results. • Preparation of a Five Year perspective plan for works with special focus on watershed

management, drainage, river basin sustainability, food security, through a consultative process at the ward/GP level based on the land use pattern. The perspective plan was validated and further divided into annual activity plans based on local priorities.

• Major thrust was given to de-siltation of irrigation canals which was hitherto done by the department. We had taken up the maintenance of a single stretch of 46 km irrigation canal of Vazhani Dam and successfully completed involving Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Departments, in time.

• A great opportunity for you is the interventions in the river basin itself including treatments, soil protection and anti erosion measures, afforestation, and bio-fencing. The temporary bunding and protection of embankments require massive labor requirements. We have used this in areas vulnerable to coastal erosion.

• Wherever frost lands are available, activities like forest re-generation, planting, nurseries, canopy cutting, watersheds and catchments treatment, trenching and protection of tribal hamlets can be done. Also all activities in tribal lands including planting, soil conservation and watershed treatments, can be planned in alignment with the working circle plans of the Forest department and implemented through the Joint Forest Management (JFM) committees.

• Obviously some of the watershed and food security programmes are area treatments, genuine activities on a transparent basis irrespective of the nature of ownership can be taken up. The basic concern is that the implementation should not be lopsided, iniquitous and excluding the poor for which transparency and social audit will ensure natural safeguards. We have taken measures to ensure that the implementation should not lead to a procurement business and material component is kept very low almost discouraged.

• In order to incentivize participation, we have also covered the workers under comprehensive insurance programme at a premium of Rs. 100, which in addition to coverage of risk will provide scholarship of Rs. 100 per month to the school children of the workers.

• Efforts are also being made to handhold the workers families to cross the poverty line through thrift, institutional finance and linkages with market through micro-enterprises and cluster developments so that such households cross poverty line through NREGS.

Mihir Sahana, BASIX, Bihar (Response 1) Thank you for your thoughtful insights on a wide range of land based activities that are being undertaken under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Kerala. The situations mentioned are similar to that of North Bihar. You have also mentioned that various convergence strategy with the water resource department, department of horticulture, forestry, fisheries and other line departments have been tried out under the Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme and by various state governments in various parts of the country. Can you also highlight on the modalities of these convergence (if any)?. I request other members to add their experiences. Efforts have also been made to link SHG programmes with NREGS. Can you and other members please detail out the modalities of linking the SHG programme with NREGS. I request all members to come up with their rich experiences on working with flood affected areas and convergence. Ravishwar Sinha, Independent Consultant, New Delhi The topic is very appropriate and timely, especially for the chronically flood affected regions of North Bihar and similar areas across the country. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is mandated to create assets through ground level planning and execution. The work to be undertaken in the flood prone areas have to be initiated and completed before the next round of floods to alleviate the sufferings and ravages. Some situations that come to mind from field level experience of over two decades are as follows: 1) Due to silt and sand deposition in each flood cycle, houses that were once secure from the flood waters because of the elevation have become prone to them. This adversely affects the family’s health as well as does economic and psychological damage. Lack of resources, planning and foresight are the reasons for most of the damage that takes place. The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and NREGS can create synergies for effective community action. For instance, the protective bunds around the cluster of houses, or mud work to increase the elevation of houses from the ground level or to remove the siltation can make the house/hut safe. These are really specific situations and need ground level planning and implementation. NREG provides the opportunity through the mandate. It can also be synchronized with the other flood protection works.

• The already existing mud bunds need repairs. This need not wait. The PRI and NREGS can deliver the needed repairs.

• The village roads, which in flood areas are more prone to damage, can be repaired through ground level work and planning.

• Erosion is another big annual occurrence in floods. Tree plantation is a proven solution. • Repair of structures like schools and other buildings where people can take shelter.

• Building and deepening of tanks to capture flood waters for future irrigation and fishery purposes.

• Raising the elevation level of some areas within the village to afford shelter in times of flood and for growing crops/fruit bearing trees.

These and many more local activities are part of the NREGS mandate which is flexible to innovations and suggestions as per the NREG charter. Such activities will directly or indirectly enhance cooperation and goodwill among the villagers and consolidate and encourage equitable growth. The Above Poverty Line (APL) families will benefit the most through this synergistic partnership. Community ownership will contribute to not only floods or disaster but a happier and more trusting community life Ashok Kumar Sinha, Karma Consultants, New Delhi Your query is really very useful in the larger interest of the flood affected community groups in Bihar. My suggestion is related to both software and hardware component on the basis of grassroots’ work in Bihar. First of all, I would like to emphasis again on salient features of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) which need to be demystified for the benefit of the community. I am highlighting some features regarding NREGS which are relevant to your query: • Employment through creation of permissible economic and social assets with top priority

to water conservation and water harvesting, drought proofing including afforestation, irrigation canal, land development, flood control/protection and rural connectivity

• This will be demand driven scheme and not supply driven as the earlier wage-employment schemes.

• Villagers themselves (not officials) will decide through Gram Sabha the priority of works amongst the permissible works to be taken up to develop their village

I am finding gaps in provisions in the flood-affected areas in above mentioned three provisions. So first we have to focus more on planning process with demand driven approach. There is an urgent need to create awareness among community members and associated stakeholders that NREGS does not only consist of doing earth work. Second, wage work could be also be demanded during the rainy season under NREGS. Only earthwork cannot be undertaken during rainy period i.e. 15th June – 15th October. But in this particular period other kind of work can be planned like: • Plantation work • Embankment work • Flood preparedness measure work – school repairing before rainy season, proper

arrangement for settlement at higher land etc. Other than this awareness and planning work, we can implement following work, which was successfully implemented in the flood-affected and water logged areas of Bihar with the support of donor agency. But we can try for following work under NREGS: • Repairing of houses – It was observed that after each rainy season irrespective of flood,

houses of the poorest community groups are being repaired – NREGS could provide wage work opportunities for repairing of the houses with focus on dalits and socially excluded community groups and there is also provision of 40% material cost, which need to be properly highlighted in this work. In Khagaria district of Bihar, NGOs group has undertaken this work under flood rehabilitation programme with the support of donor agency.

• Wage work support for agriculture work to potential beneficiary but again it should be

linked with technical support for introducing improved techniques under the direction of agriculture experts (representatives from Agriculture University, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) representatives, etc) – this will not only support in minimizing the losses but also provide wage work opportunities to small and marginal farmers. Small and marginal farmers can change the cropping pattern (high value crop) and get improved access to market. In this effort, NREGS could provide some days of wage work, so that risk is minimized for the community members. In Samastipur district of Bihar, Care India has implemented the flood rehabilitation project and mobilized the technical support from RAU, PUSA and provided wage support and some inputs cost to small and marginal farmers for demonstration work in agriculture by the project.

• Demonstration support work in Farming – NREGS could provide wage work

opportunities for promotion of demonstration work in agriculture even in their homestead land like vegetable farming / Agro-Horticulture / Agro Forestry. This will ensure improved productivity, income as well as reduce flood impact.

• Drainage work - Revival of Livelihood through drainage of Chaur in water logged areas

under NREGS programme – This will provide opportunities for agriculture work in the drained out areas, where as there is also possibility of doing fisheries work after drainage. Under NREGS, field pond can be created in which fisheries can be done.

• Convergence with SGSY and other employment generation programme - Skill

enhancement programme like bamboo craft designing, para-veterinary vocational training, motor pump repairing; two-wheeler repairing trade could be answer for local need market-based employability, which could stem the migration of youth to outside cities. Contrary to this, I will also suggest linking the skill enhancement training with 100% job employability, so that youth get job employment without any exploitation.

Lastly for land up gradation of the Above Poverty Line (APL) families, we have to work towards policy advocacy. We have to place this suggestion with representatives of SREGC. Simultaneously we have to also work for preparation of Disaster Risk Reduction Plan and Livelihood Security Plan (plan preparation could be integrated i.e. for the APL families also) and focus should be given first on legitimization of these plans in the respective gram sabhas. After planning exercise, it is the responsibility of the gram sabha that how they are advocating to ensure the implementation of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Livelihood Security plan. If the plan will be routed through appropriate channel than definitely it will be undertaken by relevant department it could be land development department, disaster management department, flood rehabilitation programme, agriculture extension department, etc. Hope my reflection is useful in your planning process. Lastly I will strongly advocate for working on the convergence approach, so that poorest and socially excluded community groups will get benefited in a way that their livelihoods is restored in a short span of time. And above all mobilization of community members with gender and inclusion perspective on NREGS agenda needs to be in focus. Solidarity and support of larger civil society groups is required for this purpose. Manish Mehta, Development Professional, Ashford, United Kingdom My reflections below are based on my limited experience:

I wish to draw attention to the fact that landless people are also affected by flooding. However, we often miss them in Food for Work (FFW) and Cash for Work (CFW) approaches. Or we help farmers; this is again channeling the benefits to relatively advantaged group rather than the most disadvantaged. Having said that I accept the point that in severe flooding even farmers / people who own land are equally vulnerable groups in terms of livelihood. I also recognize that especially in conditions of flooding when the crop is completely destroyed or there are no possibilities of short term cropping or alternative cropping, farm-based livelihoods can be a big challenge. Note though that even in this situation farm laborers are adversely affected as they do not have access to farm-labor.

With regards to livelihood strategy, they have to be developed for two broad categories of flooding: • The annual slow on-set flooding (in Bihar) and • Flash flooding (like 2008 / Kosi river flood) However in both the categories we should include various approaches covering all target groups like farmers, small/marginal farmers, and landless laborers. The severe flooding and consequent damage encourages "forced migration" and "debt"; sale of labour at cheaper rates leading to underpaid jobs; migration to town/cities and working in construction industry under conditions of greater exploitation. Once the cycle of migration starts it is very hard for the migrant to come back to the traditional livelihood. Further when relief work starts rarely is it planned; most of the activities are implemented in an uncoordinated and haphazard way. The coordination among / between various govt. department seems limited and creates gaps or overlaps during/after implementation. Given the above situation, my suggestions for land based/agriculture activities are as follows: • Grow alternative crops and start small vegetable gardens with bucket irrigation facilities • Initiate alternative livelihood activities like fishing as an option for certain groups • Provide small grant/loan to the farmer to revive irrigation channels, dig well, install modern

equipments. Investing in agriculture and fishing equipments will be helpful. • Support women-headed families for small alternative livelihood or agri-livelihood as this could

be the best way to reach to the most vulnerable • Provide loans to the farmers in kind, seeds, seedlings, vegetables, and

agricultural equipments rather than cash • Involve corporate sector or large agriculture federations for helping farmers during times of

floods. They could provide them support not only during the floods but later help in recovery by buying their produce at a good market price

• Tie up/provide linkage to the forward market and provide assurance to the farmers for next season

• Providing agriculture insurance to farmers to reduce the risk of future damage My suggestions for activities under NREGS: • The CFW should be carefully planned with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures in mind.

There should be good collaboration with Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and for Roads and Buildings.

• The land based work shall be aligned with long term development plans The community infrastructure like community wells, ponds, percolation tanks, irrigation tanks, access to schools and clinics, rural roads (especially if they are linked to schools, health centers, markets) should be taken up for repairs/improvements/extension if necessary. In a recent proposal we wrote we proposed the following activities for the floodprone areas: • Farm based activities such as alternate variety of rice, and short term rice

• Alternate cropping mainly of vegetables • Encouragement of women to revive their small business/ shops • Encouragement for fishing and poultry • Injection of cash to existing community based micro-finance groups, especially women Self

Help Groups • Repairs to small infrastructures • Improving access to the markets K. S. Gopal, Centre for Environment Concerns (CEC), Hyderabad Suggestions are galore on how to utilize the big pot of money in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Most ideas on the potential areas of investment are good. Any investment will have objectives that have to be worthwhile and laudable. The uniqueness of NREGS is that it is explicit about the fact that choice/decision making is vested solely with the Gram Sabha (GS). This is because it recognized the value of community decision making and thus protected it. So the question is why what is explicit in the Act is totally ignored in practice? I want to highlight the significance of this issue in the present discussion. I suggest that ideas canvassed on this platform be placed and exposed to the Gram Sabhas. Unless we address the issue of capacity building of the GS functionaries and concurrently the decision making issue, we will not be able to implement the actual intent of the Act. In the absence of the ability of the GS to make informed choices; current misuse of scarce resources will continue. I would also like to get ideas from this forum to make Gram Sabhas capable of making good, meaningful investment choices under the NREGS. Satish Kumar and Prabhjot Sodhi, Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Lucknow We know that Bihar has high potential in Agriculture and Livestock sector which can provide livelihood options to the rural people, if managed strategically. Furthermore, the sector is directly linked with the Land based Works. Many options are helpful in contributing towards environmental benefits with a focus on Climate Change for which we need to utilise the available opportunities properly. We believe that most of us must be aware with Bihar’s potential in Makhana (Euryale ferox) cultivation, which can be a good sector to be considered. Bihar accounts for over 85 per cent of the Makhana production of the country, especially in the Districts of North Bihar i.e. Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Saharsha, Katihar, Purnia, Samastipur, Supaul, Kishanganj and Araria. It has a potential market in India and outside. China is already into commercialisation of Makhana Production. You may be aware that integrated Makhana - Fish Cultivation is a common practice here. It involves rearing of air-breathing fishes like Kavai, Mangur, Singhi etc. along with cultivation of Makhana in small ponds with moderate supplementary feed. However, in large ponds, the integrated Makhana-fish culture consisting of water breathing fishes like Rohu, Katala, Mrigal etc. can also be observed in the field. These practices need to be strengthened by adopting proper measures by providing technical expertise to the communities. But you may wonder that situation of skilled labour and Makahan cultivators are worst in spite of the best efforts of the National Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga. They are not as prosperous as the mango growers of Malihabad, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. There may be several reasons including this that these labourers are not getting sufficient wages/return as per the time

spent and work done. Hence they are migrating to Orissa and other areas where Makhana is cultivated. They prefer working over other places due to better returns there. These migrations are also due to deterioration of traditional ponds of the areas which can be renovated under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). We feel that small effort can be helpful in changing the situation of the area. Therefore some of the developmental steps could be tried through broadening the marketing linkages of Makhana and: • Its promotion as organic produce can provide it high value(in terms of money) • Mechanisation of these practices are crucial for accessing good return • Community need to be involved directly instead of middleman for exporting and trained for

the export related activities. • Institutional credit facility can be provided to them • Technical support needs to be provided in association with Makhana Research Institute. It will help in reducing the adverse flood impact to some level as well as strengthen the economic status of those involved in Makhana cultivation. However renovation of ponds would help in water recharging/harvesting along with solving irrigation purposes to some extent. Abhishek Mendiratta, Jupiter Knowledge Management and Innovative Concepts (JKMIC) Private Limited, New Delhi The guidelines of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) lay emphasis on ten main activities out of which the following are important for Bihar: • Water conservation and water harvesting • Drought proofing including afforestation and tree plantation • Renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks • Drainage in water logged areas If a town is built on a flood plain, the flood can create havoc. However, if the flood plain is covered with natural forest, then the hazard to people can be minimized. The risk of a hazardous flood may be very low and it may not be considered worth investing money in managing a flood that may or may not occur in the near future. However, we may not have much information to decide how hazardous a flood may be – or what the probability of it occurring may be – so the manager cannot be certain of the situation, and has to assess the situation, based on limited knowledge. In the study of rainfall and river flows, it is recognized that the rainfall and flow rate alters daily, seasonally and over the years. The risk or chance that a certain storm or flow rate will occur can be predicted statistically, based on past experience. Looking at the maximum flow that occurs in a year, a certain flow rate might only be exceeded on average once every hundred years. This annual peak flow rate will therefore have a probability of 0.01 (1% annual frequency). If a flow rate could be exceeded 10 times in 100 years, then the probability of exceeding that flow rate is 0.1 (10% frequency). A flow that is only expected to be exceeded once every hundred years is sometimes called the hundred year return period flow, but this can lead to people thinking it will occur only once in a hundred years, or one hundred years apart, which is not the case. A drainage system designed to cope with a storm with a probability of 0.005 (200 years) has a 22% chance of flooding at least once in 50 years. If the system was designed to cope with a 0.02 probability storm (50 years), then there is a 64% chance of the system flooding. The same data can also be used to estimate droughts.

Managing water resources for human needs can involve physical interventions at a variety of scales. These include (in no particular order): • weirs, dams and reservoirs; • canals and river diversions; • artificial recharge of aquifers; • rainwater harvesting systems; • irrigation structures; • reforestation and erosion control; • flood controls such as levees (raised bunds or banks alongside rivers); • water and wastewater treatment; • leakage control; • efficient water use techniques in industry and homes (e.g. low-flush toilets); • conjunctive use schemes (using water from two sources, e.g. meeting demand from river

water in the wet season and pumping groundwater in the dry season); • water recycling and re-use; These all have costs and benefits, which need to be evaluated before the intervention is carried out. Keeping in view the above mentioned points the planning and management for NREGS activities can be carried out. Rajdev Chaturvedi, Grameen Punarnirman Sansthan, Azamgarh For successful implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the following needs to be done: • Capacity building and empowerment of the Gram Sabha • Regular and transparent Panchayat meetings • Training and capacity building of Panchayat representatives, • Awareness building amongst the community based organizations of women and youth

regarding their rights in the NREGS • Sensitization of the community to the use of their Right to Information The ‘Grameen Punarnirman Sansthan’ has initiated steps on the above mentioned points in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Mihir Sahana, BASIX, Bihar I fully agree with Gopal’s point on the need to strengthen the Gram Sabhas (GS) and putting in place mechanisms to ensure that they are able to decide on the shelf of work and even prioritize it (as in given in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). We are not at all refuting the key role of the GS. What we are struggling with and seeking your expert knowledge is on the possible activities/works that can be undertaken in the NREGS, which can aid the GS to consider those works which are technically feasible and are a productive use of resources. I will appreciate if we can put forward suggestions/ideas on finding suitable technical and social solutions for flood effected areas which promotes or strengthens the livelihoods of the vulnerable in these areas.

Please advice on various innovative farm and even non farm activities or even other projects that can be undertaken (through convergence) within the framework of the NREGS. Looking forward to more discussion and suggestions on the same. Mukul Gogoi, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Tinsukia, Assam We are introducing Vetiver grass as a tool to prevent soil erosion during floods in Assam (Tinsukia district) under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Vetiver grass is very deep rooted (10 feet long) and it can hold the soil very firmly thereby preventing soil erosion. It has proved to be very useful in many places in Assam and South Asian countries. Besides preventing erosion, the grass is useful for other purposes too like it can be used as animal fodder, in aromatic oil, handicraft production from its root and leaves and cleaning and oxygenating dirty water ponds for purposeful use. As you are aware Assam has been suffering from flood and erosion problem for a very long time. In fact this has become a regular occurrence and creates very huge losses every year. Construction of big embankments has not helped because new areas still get flooded and eroded. Embankments breach almost regularly. Therefore this concept of planting Vetiver grass along the river bank mixed with normal erosion protection technology would provide an answer to the long standing problem. This will not only minimize the cost (of building large embankments) but it will make the banks of the rivers permanent and green. It will also provide employment to the people for some time. It has been proved that the Vetiver grass survive under water for a period of three to four months. This makes the plant more useful in preventing flood and soil erosion. At present we are working with an NGO that is supplying us with the plants and the technology. I would like to know from members more about Vetiver grass, its utility etc. In the meantime I would also like to request my Bihar friends to try planting Vetiver. K. Arup Kumar Patro, Focus Humanitarian Assistance, Mumbai Before planning or undertaking any land-based works under NREGS in flood affected areas of Bihar, we must first do a Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (VCA) at the village level. We must identify the vulnerability areas related to Flood. These identified activities should then be incorporated in the Village Development Plan (VDP). After approval from Gram Sabha, land based activities from the list of ‘identified activities’ can take undertaken in the NREGS programme. The Village Disaster Management Plan should be a part of the VDP. We must also ensure participation of local target group and provide them capacity building support. We must work to increase the awareness of Panchayat members also. One more important thing to do is to develop a community monitoring system for more transparency. The ‘FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance’ has initiated process on the above mentioned points in Andhra Pradesh Relief to Development Program (APR2D). Srinivas Banda, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL & FS), Hyderabad Cultivation of Bio-Fuels in barren land is one of the ideas that can be explored. This will create immediate employment for people on the one hand and on the other it will improve the green

cover. You can visit the website of Nandan Biomatrix Limited Hyderabad (www.nandan.biz/) for formulating few ideas. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat are planning programmes based on Bio-fuel cultivation. Sebastian T. V., Concern Worldwide India, Bhubaneswar As has been pointed out by many already, land is a scarce commodity in flood prone areas. Increasing population density, construction activities and soil erosion makes land really scarce. Some of the land based activities that have been tried out in flood prone areas under food for work/cash for work programmes, which are similar to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in many ways, are the following: • Digging of multi-purpose small farm ponds of the size ranging from 25’ x 25’ to 50’ x 50’ and

using the earth to raise some of the field areas to facilitate vegetable cultivation/kitchen gardening. Plants like banana, papaya etc. could be planted on the sides of the pond besides many varieties of gourds. An outlet in the pond could facilitate movement of fish from the pond to the water logged paddy fields. This way fish grow faster as they get a lot of feed from the field. Besides rearing fishes and ducks, the pond water could be used for vegetable cultivation in summer.

• Cash for work could be used for raising homestead land to reduce their vulnerability.

Considering that NREGS is an output based programme, there may be very little land based work that can be taken up during rainy season as measurement of work would be extremely difficult. Besides people seem to prefer agricultural activities during rains as compared to other land based activities.

• Strengthening of protection bunds, tree plantation, cleaning of silted canals and drains etc.

could be considered. Activities like land reclamation, pond renovation/digging of new ponds, rain water harvesting tanks, improving village roads and drainage systems, etc. could be considered during rehabilitation phase.

Gram Panchayats need to plan these activities well in advance on the basis of a village hazard, risk and vulnerability analysis with a view to reduce risk and enhance livelihood security. Sarat Kumar Pattnaik, Koraput Farmers' Association (KFA), Koraput, Orissa If we look at the history of the employment generation programmes implemented by the Government since 1960 to 2004, like the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) etc., we find that none of these had the three basic components for which the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is called a historical Act. These components are Social, Economic and Ecological. Under the Social component the act is clear on safeguarding the interest of the children of the people working under the programme. There is also a provision for the Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and suitable jobs for them. Under the Economic component, the act assures 100 days of work in one financial year. Under Ecological component, the act provides scope for Land Development, Plantation, Digging of Farm Ponds etc. One cannot find all three components in any of the earlier schemes.

I completely agree with Rajdev Chaturvedi on the need to build capacity of the Gram Sabhas and Palli Sabha for a perfect plan for each of the villages and one labour budget for smooth implementation of the NREGA in remote villages. Also, Social Audit of the activities must take place. Purabi Phukan, Khaja Banda Nawaz Institute of Medical Sciences (KBNIMS), Gulbarga, Karnataka The information provided by Mukul Gogoi is very useful though not directly related to my field of practice. It is certainly going to have a positive impact on the health, livelihoods and lives of the people along with having environmental benefits. Mihir Sahana, BASIX, Bihar (Response 2) Thank you for your insightful inputs Mukul. Yes, as suggested by you, the Vertiver grass seems to be a good solution. We will surely suggest and try the same in Bihar. Can you and other members give us similar good examples of work done in flood affected areas like Assam etc.? I will like Mr. Ravindranath from Rural Volunteers Center, Assam to please respond since they have done some good work in the flood affected region. Kalika Mohapatra, Independent, Bhubaneswar As per the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) guidelines, 50% of the work will be decided and carried out by the Gram Panchayats with approval from Gram Sabha. The following works can be taken up by the Community to create assets for flood or drought prevention or minimizing the effect. Most of the work would be natural resource based whether for individual or community benefit. They are:

• Strengthening embankments and plantation of trees • Constructing water/rain water harvesting structures • Land leveling for individual or community purpose • Raising of homestead lands or construction of mound/highland in low lying areas • Constructing river channel or a drainage system in the village for discharge of rain water • Developing pastureland for community cultivation and land development for agricultural

activities • Trench to protect forest or plantation areas • Creating ponds or wells for irrigation purpose The major problem in implementation of NREGS is identification of proper work and involvement of community and Gram Panchayat in programme implementation. Most of the stakeholders are not aware about the provisions. Technical expertise is also not available with local community and line department functionaries are not giving importance to NREGS work because it involves earth work.

Community consultation is important for identification of work and side by side village Disaster Management Plan (DMP) may consider getting information related to various needs/works, which can be taken to minimize the effect of flood and drought. Gram Panchayat has to be a little proactive and identify work as per the need of the area based on the village DMP. They must also actively encourage community involvement in finalizing the plan so that all needy people get an opportunity to work in NREGS.

Aditi Umrao, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Uttar Pradesh You have written that "Livelihoods of poor families are dependent mainly on forced migration with around 32% of the population migrating to various other cities. Government efforts to improve people’s lives suffer setbacks because of regular disasters (drought and floods) in the state." You are very much right as disaster & poverty are due to consequence of each other and poverty leads to migration.

I have visited to Maharajganj which is one of the most flood prone districts of UP. there Fish farming is one of the alternative livelihood which is been tried in some of the most flood prone villages. There farmers have made ponds in their farms and are cultivating fish farming. It helps in two ways, one is despite being flood prone, their crop is not negatively affected by flooding and the other is that they conserve water in these ponds which helps in irrigation during summers.

Digging ponds under NREGS can be used as an initiative for rain water harvesting, source of irrigation during summers as well as an alternative livelihood source in the form of fish farming, which surely will decrease forced migration due to poverty.

Ravindranath, Rural Volunteers Center, Assam Please visit the following website to find 13 stories of our work in the flood affected region. The website is: http://www.nadrrindia.org/drr-standard.htm. Shailja Kishore, Independent Consultant, Ahmedabad I belong to Village Sripur Rauta of Kumarkhad Block in Madhepura district. Last year, we were affected by flood, this year we are affected by drought. The best that can be done is to improve rural connectivity. This will not only provide wages to the people but also improve the economy of the area. It will also provide easy exit for people during disasters. We can reach from Delhi to Patna within 24 hours, but from there to the village it takes more time than that. The agricultural production is good but the farmers cannot market their produce. Lack of connectivity and trading/storage facility etc. makes these farmers lose their profit to a cartel of businessmen. In urban area one can hire a vehicle at the rate of Rs. five-seven per km. In this area it comes down to more than 18-20 per km because of bad roads and connectivity. The input cost increases because of such high transportation cost. Reducing the cost can provide benefit to the farmers. Same applies to marketing of agricultural produce. Good quality Maldha mangoes and lichies grown in the area cannot reach the market because of poor connectivity. The best quality sugarcanes were supplied from the area for the best quality sugar in Asia from the Banmanki Sugar Mills. The roads should be constructed in such a way that they can be used as a life line during floods with plenty of small bridges for flood water to pass freely. Other things that can be done are:

• Activities such as building bridges, culverts and roads etc. under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) can be converged with other line departments of the Central and State government.

• Secondly, facilities for storage and marketing would be an added advantage. Public-Private-

Partnership can be explored for these activities. Building linkages with companies to train the farmers’ groups in Commodity Exchange can help the farmers to brand and market their produce.

• Thirdly, linking the area with Computer Network and making the farmers access the market

at the click of a mouse will build their capacity and save them from getting ripped off by the local businessmen and money lenders. This will also support the Right to Information (RTI) and facilitate a more transparent functioning.

The above mentioned steps will enable people to cope with both - Flood and Drought. It will also provide them with livelihood options at their native place which is much better than migrating to not so friendly places such as Maharashtra, Punjab etc. The cheap Bihari labor available to the rest of the country can be utilized at home for value addition and marketing of agricultural produce. Sarat Panda, Sphere India, New Delhi Every year millions of poor families migrate in search of work. They are forced to migrate due to dearth of livelihood opportunities in their villages post-flood. It is really a grim situation in Bihar. The situation is also bad in flood affected districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. As reported from Karnataka, these distress migrants often lock their homes, take a few belongings with them and travel across long distances. The children accompanying their parents are forced to drop out of school. Distressed migrants find themselves with hardly any skills, assets or education. Earnings from migration are barely enough for survival, leave alone any scope for building assets. On the contrary, medical or other personal emergencies and the unsteady nature of work often push them further into debt. Those who own a few animals have to arrange that they are cared for or just end up selling them off at low prices – thus depleting their assets. In this backdrop, getting adequate information on alternative livelihood opportunities and disseminating information to the community regarding various livelihood security schemes and provisions hold significant importance while promoting livelihood security as a part of disaster recovery and rehabilitation programme. Possible land based works during rainy season within the parameters of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) can be:

• Construction and repair of rural roads and culverts • Flood control and protection works including drainage in water-logged areas • Repair of agriculture and farm ponds • Repair of fishing and farm ponds and promoting aquaculture • Repair of irrigation canals and other minor irrigation works

Possible land works in dry season can be:

• Planting of trees, horticulture

• Promoting irrigation facilities on lands of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families • Renovation of traditional water bodies, including de-silting of community tanks Even the NREGS guidelines provide flexibility to the State Government in Section 1 (ix) of Schedule I, whereby new categories of work may be added to the list on the basis of consultation between the State and the Central Government.

Puthumai A. Nazarene, State Inter Agency Group, Kolkata There have been remarkable improvements seen in the land-based works undertaken under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) by the West Bengal government as part of reconstruction processes in the post-cyclone AILA response. For our discussion, I would like to place my reflections on three categories: Type of Work: • Raising the floor of houses for which the government is giving compensation. Although this is

not uniform in nature across the panchayats or blocks, in some panchayats innovative measures like, raising the floor of the houses have been done with the NREGS funds, while the repair or reconstruction is done with the money received as compensation and from the contribution by the affected family.

• Digging or deepening of ponds and other water-bodies has been undertaken both by the panchayats and by INGOs/NGOs in the Sundarban area affected by AILA.

• Repair of mud embankments on riverbeds and canals. Quality of Work: • All non-concrete houses that get the compensation for fully damaged houses could be

supported for raising the floor level, as the compensation paid is only rupees 10,000. This would benefit the affected poor families.

• The NGOs have ensured payment on time (within 7-10 days), whereas the delayed payment has been the key problematic area in West Bengal. Surveys conducted by some NGOs show increased migration from the affected villages to northern and southern states of India in search of jobs.

• Reconstruction or repair of mud embankment is though done with great alacrity; the pressure placed on the mud is only by use of the shovels and spades. This leaves the mud embankments equally vulnerable.

• Some INGOs/NGOs have helped to plant trees and vegetable gardens on the banks of the ponds that were deepened.

Areas for Improvement: • Improving regularity in payment to persons working under NREGS to minimize the migration

of persons to other parts of India. • The quality of mud embankments can be improved by using rollers to press the mud. • The land-based works can be used to plant hundreds of thousands of trees in place of those

that were washed away or died due to the flood, after the cyclone. • Long term solution in terms of embankment can be stronger permanent embankments on

the coastal region. • Since landslides have peculiar problem of the soil taken away from the ground, NREGS could

be used for land-terracing/shaping for reconstruction of houses in relatively safer areas. Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Barh Mukti Abhiyan, Jamshedpur

I have encouraged some groups in North Bihar to drain out land depressions, chaurs as they are called locally. These are shallow ditches formed mostly because of meandering of rivers or drainage congestion created by developmental works. I have experimented on it in the districts of Saran, Siwas, Gopalgunj, Saharsa and Supaul and they have yielded good results as a sizable chunk of land is recovered from water logging. A part of this land is cultivated in the hot weather season (Rabi) and the left over water that cannot be drained is used for irrigation. There is enough scope of partly draining these chaurs and enhancing crop production. This will curtail the migration time and frequency of the labor and the small and marginal farmers whose land gets submerged. This requires a small technical input of determining the land slopes so that the drains could be done along that alignment. In most cases, the villagers know the route and in some cases this will have to be determined. Needless to remind that nearly 16 per cent of North Bihar land is water logged and if we put that in population terms, nearly eight million population is without job only because of water logging. Development of aquatic crops can do a lot in that direction. Fuel trees that can sustain prolonged water logging or sand casting are to be explored and so on. Then there is a case of village artisans who often loose their tools and equipments during floods who can be rehabilitated in their respective professions starting from butchers and barbers to petty traders. I am not sure, how far The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) will be helpful in that. Sushil Kumar Jha, Gyan Sewa Bharathi Sansthan (GSBS), Kamalpur, Bihar The most important work that is required to be done in the flood affected areas of Bihar is to create a drainage system. We are working on the same in 10-12 villages with funding support from Centre for World Solidarity (CWS). Creating a good drainage system has proven to be a very successful intervention for the water logged areas. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) can provide funds for it. Once we are able to develop a good drainage system, we plan to form a Kisan Club and provide farmers with good quality seeds that they can cultivate their land with once the water has been drained out. Chandrashekhar Jha, Gramyasheel, Supaul, Bihar There are a few activities that we can do in a water logged area using the NREGS funds. They are: • Create a drainage system in water logged areas • Develop systems for Community Irrigation because once the water is drained out, the land

become dry and needs irrigation. Harvesting of excess water and creating an irrigation system such as lift irrigation so that water is available for all during irrigation time can be done through Panchayats using the NREGS funds.

• Promote tree plantation and horticulture • Promote traditional water bodies and water management system Since the installation of the first hand pump in our village in 1962, peoples’ interest in taking care of wells and kuinya (small dug holes about 15 feet deep) has gone down. Kuinyas were very effective and useful for irrigation of vegetables cultivated. In a study we did, we have found that in our area 40% of the diseases are water-borne. The study also showed that water from hand pump is contaminated with ammonia, phosphorus, arsenic, fluoride and iron. The well water is

comparatively better. So we think that revival of traditional water bodies like wells is very important. We have revived 30 wells so far. This kind of work can be done under NREGS Jitendra Kumar, Nav Jagriti, Saran, Bihar Creating a good drainage system is critical for water logged areas. This can be done using NREGS funds. Another thing that I think is important is the capacity building of the panchayat functionaries to use NREGS funds effectively. Sunil Kaul, The Ant, Assam Yes Mukul, in Majuli we had used Vetiver, Kolmuh and Biringa grass, which are supposed to have more than 90% soil binding capacity. Except the portion that gave way in an early flood within a month of planting, I am told the rest of the embankment has still held on. We did this work through shramdaan, but NREGS can definitely provide funds for such work. Binod Kumar, Samatamoolak Samaj Vikas Kendra, Madhubani, Bihar* Our organization, Samatamoolak Samaj Vikas Kendra, organizes people and trains them on ways to prevent and minimize damages during flood. We are on high alert from 15 June till October every year. We also do work on health and water harvesting. Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the following works can be undertaken: • There are thousands of water tanks in the area which are full of silt as of now. The NREGS

can provide funds for desiltation of these tanks. It will help in water storage. The silt can be applied to the fields.

• Turn the kutcha roads into pucca ones and increase their elevation. A proper drainage system must be created to drain out water from water logged areas (chaurs) into the rivers.

• Promote afforestation. The above mentioned land-based activities can be done under NREGS. Sudipta Dubey, SPADE, Kolkata* Not only in Bihar, every year thousands of marginal families are forced to migrate in search of their livelihood from the disaster prone districts like Murshidabad, Malda, Nadia and North Dinajpur of West Bengal. The forced migration of the unskilled people leads to so many harsh consequences of their life and livelihood.

In this situation, NREGS can be the most instrumental tool to ensure the social security of the marginal people.

There are so many interventions can be done in the flood prone areas. These are:

• Construction and repair of roads, culverts, small bridges (please keep in mind that, NREGS is certainly a wage based programme, but 40% of fund can be used as cost of material)

• Strengthening embankments • Leveling of land for individual or/and community benefits • Excavation and re-excavation of water bodies • Create and repair of drainage system • Raising of homestead lands

• Raising of lands (mound) for temporary shelter making in flood situation • Tree Plantation, horticulture, floriculture • Vermi composting • Removing of weeds and water hyacinth for better use of water bodies • Roof top rain water harvesting • Creation and renovation of community’s water tanks • Development of agricultural land irrigation, particularly for the marginal and small farmers

I think, creation or revival of land based water bodies can be very effective. Because just after the flood situation, within 2/3 months the land turn into dry and needs external support of irrigation. Here the creation of small dug holes can harvest/ manage the run of water.

For example:

To create a hole of 3 ft radius and 10 ft deep = 282.6 c.ft. soil to be dug

One unskilled labour gets Rs. 81 for digging of 88 c.ft. soil

So, for 282.6 cubic feet soil digging the labour will pay = Rs. 260

If one Gram Panchayat can manage only 6000 ft (3ft radius X 1000 nos of plot) areas, it can

• Manage 2, 82, 600 c.ft. areas of run of water (HOW MANY CUSES??? HOW MANY GALLON??) • Create 3,489 work days more • Reduce the cost of fuel for irrigation and dependency on pumps • Preserve and maintain the level of ground water to avoid the future disaster

This type of work can be done easily in NREGS. It can be converge with other schemes for the optimum benefits.

So far my experience, the NREGS implementing agencies (GP/Block/Dist) are unnecessarily afraid in many cases to think NREGS is the most rigid scheme. But it should keep in mind that, the NREGS guidelines provide so much flexibility to the State Government.

This is the high time; we’ve to encourage all the stakeholder, so that all marginal people can access the government resources.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this query! If you have further information to share on this topic, please send it to Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management Community in India at se-drm@solutionexchange-un.net.in with the subject heading “Re: [se-drm] Query: Land-based Works Undertaken in NREGS in Flood Affected Areas of Bihar - Examples; Advice - Additional Reply.” Disclaimer: In posting messages or incorporating these messages into synthesized responses, the UN accepts no responsibility for their veracity or authenticity. Members intending to use or transmit the information contained in these messages should be aware that they are relying on their own judgment.

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