Name: Abhilash Biswal Roll no: ur20001

Class: MBA (RM)

Assignment Type: Decision Case

Scant of water resources for the essential growth of paddy in Jangugaon,

Kandhamal

The village of Jangugaon is situated 75 kilometers away from the district headquarters of Phulbani
and 15 kilometers away from the Balliguda Block. It is located inside the Kandhamal district of
Odisha, under the K.Nuagaon tehsil. This is the tribal village that falls under the Gram Panchayat
Serthiguda, which comes under the Kandhamal district. The people who live here belong to a tribal
group known as the Kandha tribes. It consists of a geographical village with a total area of 28
hectares. The population of Jangugaon is 320, which consists of 157 males and 163 females (Data
as per the Anganwadi family survey conducted in April 2020). The village is surrounded by forest
species, on which the tribes rely for their subsistence and livelihood. Forest products are used for
a variety of reasons by people. This is a beautiful natural destination with appropriate agro-climatic
conditions for agriculture and related enterprises.

In Jangugaon village, every household used to have to travel more than 0.5 kilometers to get their
drinking water. For the last several years, the tribals of Jangugaon village were suffering from
severe drinking water shortages. The district government was well aware of the severe water
shortage that exists in the area. On the other hand, nothing was done to alleviate the villagers'
condition. Their desire to have pure drinking water had always been a dream for them until Gram
Vikas had carried out their development work in that village. Gram Vikas is a renowned non-
governmental organization in India and Africa that works with rural and tribal populations. Gram
Vikas collaborates with rural communities to solve critical needs such as education, health, clean
drinking water, sanitation, livelihoods, and alternative energy in a sustainable and equitable way.
Gram Vikas was founded with the goal of transforming a village into a model community. To
mitigate the drinking water issue, Gram Vikas came up with a proposal. It tried to develop a Village
Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC), which would make decisions at the community level
while taking into account the opinions of all village inhabitants. VWSC consists of President,
Secretary, Treasurer and other community members. Each household contributed a modest amount
in terms of resources and labour under this model. This enables the community to improve the
village as a whole. Finally, Gram Vikas had constructed a water tank in collaboration with the
villagers and the state government in order to alleviate the villagers' drinking water shortage issue.
According to the recommendation of Gram Vikas, the President has directed the caretaker of the
water tank to supply drinking water to the villages on alternate days for a certain number of hours.

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During this period, people store the required amount of drinking water that they will need for their
daily necessities. As a result, the problem of villages' access to safe drinking water was partially
alleviated to some extent.

Apart from the drinking water issue, villagers face a lot of challenges for water for their agricultural
needs. Thus, it is the need of the hour for the President of Village Water and Sanitation Committee
to propose a method for villages to get an adequate quantity of water for the agricultural needs of
the villagers. Here, agriculture and related sectors are the most common means of earning a living
for its residents. Various programmes are being implemented in the agricultural and allied sectors
by both the Central and State governments to encourage activities that contribute to the farmers'
livelihoods via the allocation of large amounts of money for subsidy and infrastructure
development, respectively. However, owing to a lack of effective coordination throughout the
implementation phase, they are unable to offer a sustainable source of income for the impoverished
farmers. The traditions and customs inherited by their ancestors which they were following for
agricultural practices are still followed by the people of Jangugaon. They rely solely on forest and
agricultural products for the majority of their basic resources, which are limited in nature. The
majority of the mountains are covered with dense forest cover. It is possible to grow paddy on this
soil since it is rich in red laterite and sandy loamy. The vast majority of the people are reliant on
rainfall for their subsistence. From June through August, there is a lot of rainfall. Because the
region is surrounded by mountains, there is a lot of water runoff, which results in water shortages
during the summer months there. A small distributary of the Khadga river flows near the
surroundings of the village which is 7 kilometers away from the village. All the villagers depend
on this river for their agricultural production. The majority of the crops grown by the villagers are
paddy and turmeric. Potato, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard, redgram, and chilli are among the other
crops that are produced here. Although turmeric does not need a lot of water, all other agricultural
products, with the exception of turmeric, do require a lot of water.
Drought has been regarded as one of the most terrible natural disasters in Kandhamal throughout
the years, with significant social, economic, and environmental consequences in the area. Droughts
have had a particularly negative impact on smallholder and marginal farmers, agricultural workers,
sharecroppers, and the poor, who are reliant on limited and unpredictable rainfall for agriculture.
The shortage of water has hampered their agricultural production, resulting in decreased yields of
rice, lentils, and vegetables in recent years. Farmers were experiencing severe financial difficulties
as a result of declining agricultural output. As a result of crop losses, several farmers claim they
have taken loans from official and informal sources but have been unable to repay the debts,
prompting banks to deny them further loans. The agricultural community became more susceptible
as a result of these circumstances. Accordingly, taking into account the above conditions, the
President of the Village Water and Sanitation Committee needs to provide a recommendation after
engaging in a comprehensive discussion with the villagers on how they might overcome the issue
of water for agricultural purposes in the village.

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As a result of the national lockdown enacted last year to tackle the new coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), people were forced to utilise restricted water supplies as a result of the restrictions.
The number of COVID – 19 cases started rising in that area, hence people couldn’t use the water
from the nearby distributary of the Khadga river. Several people are compelled to travel long
distances in order to obtain water from tube wells in other, more distant villages. Women and
children in many communities go on regular water searches under the blazing heat, and it is a part
of their daily ritual. As a result of the lockdown's enforced limits on movements, villagers,
particularly women from water-stressed communities, have been compelled to seek water in other
neighboring areas. Throughout the area, scenes of women
travelling in long queues with vessels are frequent. During the upcoming months, the shortage was
compounded several times. The villagers were not getting water from the water tank that had been
constructed by Gram Vikas on a regular basis. Despite the lockdown, authorities had made no
genuine attempts to solve the problem.

We have to address this water crisis issue of the villagers. The important dilemma here is how the
villagers will get access to drinking water on a regular basis as well as how they can get sufficient
water to meet their agricultural needs. The possible problems and opportunities in that area must
be identified and discussed, and various solutions must be proposed in order to resolve the
concerns.

References:
1. The survey data collected during our 40 days village survey of Jangugaon village, Odisha
in RLLE program from February- March, 2021.

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