#watershed development program

Ralegaon Siddhi : a rags-to-riches story!

Ahmednagar, a district in central Maharashtra, contains a village housing a little under 2500 people. The village's name is Ralegaon Siddhi, also spelt as Ralegan Siddhi.

Before 1975, Ralegan Siddhi was one of the many villages of India plagued by acute poverty, over-population, drought, inadequate conservation of rain water due to soil erosion and run-off, low crop yields, low income, deprivation, neglect and hopelessness. Villagers needed to go the neighbouring village to get drinking water. Imagine that!

By 2000, 25% of its residents, i.e. about 1000 people earned over INR 5 lacs per year. Ralegan residents reportedly had private savings of INR 3 crores. Not a single villager depended on government drought relief measures. The village became so prosperous that a major bank opened its branch there. By Indian standards, Ralegan Siddhi had become a rich village.

A World Bank report endorsed that the village of Ralegaon Siddhi had transformed itself from a highly degraded village ecosystem, in a semi-arid region of extreme poverty, to one of the richest in the country. Today, this little village in West India, has become a case study of sustainable development for the entire world!

But how did this miracle happen? Therein lies a tale!

It all began, when a 38 year old, ex-army serviceman, returned to his ancestral village, Ralegaon Siddhi, in 1975, having taken voluntary retirement from the armed forces. His name is Kisan Baburao Hazare. You probably know him as Anna Hazare!

And, if the story of Anna Hazare and Ralegaon Siddhi doesn't convince you that one man can make a difference, nothing ever will.

Anna Hazare grew up in Mumbai, because his village didn't have a school. He dropped out after 7th grade, because he couldn't afford to continue. He then started selling flowers in the Dadar. In time, he owned two flower shops.

When he was 23, he joined the Indian army as a truck driver. In 1965, he was posted on the Punjab border during the Indo-Pak war. The experiences of wartime, coupled with his acute poverty affected him so much that he considered suicide at one point.

One day, while driving the truck, an enemy bomb/missile struck them and Anna Hazare was the sole survivor. This experience made him ponder the meaning of life and death. He felt that God wanted him to stay alive for some reason. He decided to dedicate his life to service of mankind.

In 1975, after 15 years in the armed forces, he took voluntary retirement and went back to Ralegoan Siddhi.

Anna Hazare returned to find Ralegoan Siddhi in a sorry state of affairs. Although most of the villagers owned some land, cultivation was extremely difficult due to the rocky ground, preventing retention of the monsoon rains. This situation was worsened by deforestation, soil-erosion and droughts. Crop yield and productivity was low, hence incomes were low and poverty was high.

One person from the village resorted to illicit liquor vending, as this seemed lucrative. His success attracted many others. Soon, the economy of the village had become reliant on the illegal manufacture and sale of alcohol, a product on which many of the villagers had become dependent. Many inhabitants borrowed from moneylenders to survive, paying monthly interest rates of as much as 10%. Crime and violence (including domestic violence) had become commonplace.

Education, health and hygiene were poor. There was only one school, upto 4th grade. Caste system and untouchability were rampant. Net-net, the scene was bad.

Anna Hazare had savings of INR 22000 from his provident fund and gratuity. The first task he undertook was to use INR 3000 of his funds to rebuild the decrepit Yadavbaba Temple, which was in a decrepit state. Seeing this selfless act, the village elderly felt inspired to support him and donated small amounts of money and generous amounts of free labour to construct the temple. Thus was born the concept of Shramdaan, or donating labour. Affection and respect for Anna increased.

Some youth also became involved in the work and so Anna organised a Youth Association called Tarun Mandal. 

Anna and Tarun Mandal then decided to take up the issue of alcoholism to drive a process of reform. At a meeting conducted in the temple, the villagers resolved to close down liquor dens and ban alcohol in the village. Since these resolutions were made in the temple, they became, in a sense, religious commitments. Over thirty liquor brewing units voluntarily closed their establishments. Those who did not succumb to social pressure were forced to close their businesses when the youth group smashed their premises. The owners could not complain as their businesses were illegal. Once three drunken villagers were tied to pillars and then flogged, personally by Anna Hazare, with his own army belt. Sale of tobacco, cigarettes and beedies were also banned. The youth group brought all the tobacco, cigarettes, and beedies from the shops in the village and burnt them in a Holi fire. Tobacco, cigarettes, or beedies are no longer sold in Ralegaon Siddhi.

In 1980, Anna Hazare started a Grain Bank at the temple. Farmers with surplus grain production would donate a quintal to the bank. In times of need, others could borrow the grain, but they had to return the amount of grain they borrowed, plus an additional quintal as an interest. This ensured that nobody in the village ever went hungry or had to borrow money to buy grain. This also prevented distress sales of grain at lower prices at harvest time.

Probably the highlight of Anna Hazare's work is the Watershed Development Programme, which has been studied and copied extensively.

Ralegan Siddhi is located in the foothills, so Anna persuaded villagers to construct watershed embankments to stop water and allow it to percolate into the ground. This increased the ground water level and improved irrigation in the area.

When Anna Hazare came to Ralegan Siddhi in 1975 only 70 acres of land was irrigated. Today, about 2,500 acres are irrigated.

Cultivation of water-intensive crops like sugarcane was banned. Crops such as pulses, oilseeds, and certain cash crops with low water requirements replaced them. This improved yield and income.

Under Anna Hazare's moral leadership, villagers gradually decided to shun untouchability and caste discrimination. The Dalits have become integrated into the social and economic life of the village. There are examples of upper caste villagers building houses for the lower caste Dalits as a part of Shramdaan.

Today, there is a drinking water tap every 100 meters in the village.

Look at how beautiful a transformed, prosperous village looks!

Here is a comprehensive list of all initiatives taken by Anna Hazare in Ralegaon Siddhi since he first arrived in 1975.

The Ralegan model owes its success to the strong value system that Anna was able to establish based on principles of sharing, compassion and equity. This value system is epitomised through the four bandis (bans) with which the villagers agreed to comply, namely – Nashabandi (ban on addiction), Nasbandi (sterilisation for population control), Kurhadbandi (ban on felling trees or deforestation) and Charaibandi (ban on grazing of cattle on green fields) and, additionally, Shramdaan.

The Government of India recognized his work by conferring the Padma Shri in 1990 and Padma Bhushan in 1992.

From 2000 onwards, Anna Hazare took his social activism to the national stage, with his movements against corruption and other forms of poor governance.