Rural Camp Report

Village Karheda, Block Nagina, Mewat Distt., Haryana

9th Jan. to 18th Jan. 2010

Introduction: The Social work Department of Jamia, makes serious efforts to make
the curriculum more skill based and practical. As part of field work, we are required
to experience a rural environment, from the closest possible quarters. To serve this
purpose the rural camp has been designed. We were a privileged batch to be placed
under such professors, who made great efforts and put their heart and soul into
making this experience fruitful for all of us. We were able to make the best of this
opportunity. This report is an attempt, to pen down all the memorable moments and
observations that were made. It is in no way sufficient to explain the real impact of
the experience.

Submitted to: Prof. Sukhramani and Prof. Ashwini Kumar

Submitted by: Aditi Srivastav
MSW (P)
Jamia Millia Islamia
Field work Supervisor: Ms. L.H.M. Gangte
 Detailed description:
After much planning, anticipation and waiting, the 9th of Jan had finally arrived.
Most of us were full charged with enthusiasm while many were apprehensive about
what to expect.
We arrived at ‘Karheda’ village, of Mewat district, Haryana, at 1pm. After settling
down at the camp site, we were introduced to members of the NDDB (National Dairy
Development Board). The NDDB members had helped tremendously in organising
the camp for us.
We were then split into 4 groups; each group was assigned a particular village.
The villages covered were, Karheda, Uleta, Ghagas and Notki.
When our group arrived at Karheda, we were taken around the village by Mr
Jitendra from NDDB. We were introduced to some important people and shown the
NDDB testing machine. The villagers seemed very friendly and welcoming. But at the
same time they were also very curious about who we were, where we had come from
and for what purpose. The children flocked around us and looked at us as if we were
straight out of the zoo.
On our return to the camp site, a feedback session was held. Each one of us gave
some very interesting observations about our villages. We decided the task for the
next day and broke for dinner.
It took us two days to get used to the cold, waking up early morning and washing
our own utensils. Some of us even volunteered to make chapattis. This too was
learning in its own capacity.
The next day in Karheda was spent in carrying out a ‘Transect Walk’. We covered
the entire village. At first we made a round of the main boundaries of the village. This
was not accurate, as we were not very familiar with the routes. We stopped at one
very large house, because we were curious to know, who it belonged to. We wanted to
find out how many members lived in that big house. We were invited in by Mr. Khalil
Ahmed, who it turned out was the Bus Driver for Saini School. He knew about us in
advance and introduced us to the family. This was his brother’s house alone and only
4 members lived in the house. When we entered the premises we realised that the
living space was actually much lesser. Most of the space was used for rearing cattle
and yet they did not sell the milk regularly. Mr. Khalil Ahmed also introduced us to
some other villagers and shoed us their houses. We realised that most houses were
built on a large area, but the living space was only about 1/4th of the area. Mr. Ahmed
then took us on long walk around the village, he told us of some of the past, the
legend and the culture of the people in Mewat.
We learnt that Karheda was the only village in that area that had not a drop of
tappable water. All the water it had, under the ground was salty. The women folk had
to carry water on foot from the nearby villages, not less than 4 km away. It was
strange that the men were boasting openly about how the women had to do all this
work and they only whiled away their tie at each other’s homes or at a common point.
They compared the women folk to us, and told us that we could never do as much
work as even the small girls could do. It was quite an irony. It hurt their male pride to
engage in chores but at the same time they were even proud of the hard working
women.
Mr. Khalil Ahmed and our group was soon accompanied by Mr. Usman. Usman
was a literate man and was eager to show us around. He told us a myth about why the
village had no drinking water. “In Karheda there was plenty of water, long time back.
During Tughlak‘s reign there were 52 wells made. One day a Fakir asked a lady at the
well for some water. The lady refused saying that her son was alone at home crying of
thirst. The fakir cursed her, that when she would go back, she would find her son
asleep and all the water gone. When the woman went back she found her son dead
and all the water from the wells and the rivers had turned salty.”
They said there was a line leading upto Sohna, which had only salty water,
because this is the path that the Fakir had walked across.
We then went to one end of the village, where we saw some remains of a half dug
up fort. Near the fort a small lake had been dug up. The water that had collected in
this pond was extremely salty. The pond was unique because of its ability to produce
natural salt in the summer months over rocks and twigs that came in touch with the
water. Mr. Usman also pointed out some oil spills on the water, he told us that it was
suspected that this lake ay have oil underneath if it was dug further inside. This was a
very interesting find and it fascinated all of us.
We continued our walk, on our way we met an old Hindu priest, referred to as the
maharaj. The maharaj appeared to be a respected personality of the village; he was
some kind of a religious leader. The strange thing was that he was looked upto by
both the Hindu and Muslim community.
Mr. Khalil Ahmed and Mr. Usman became our resource persons. They also
introduced us to Mr. Amar Singh, who was a Hindu neighbour, and was one of the
most educated men in the village. He had a B.ed degree and was also teaching in the
Middle school of the village. All of Amar Singh’s brothers were also educated.
In the evening the NDDB workers took us to see the Bulk Milk Container, which
could store upto 1000l of milk. People were coming with milk and getting the Fat and
Non fat content tested. The system was computerised and each person received a
receipt with a code. The rate chart was also displayed. Furkan, one of the workers also
showed us a demonstration of some of the testing tools for the milk.
The next day, we aimed at starting work with our Social Map, here we committed
an error, which we only came o know of much later in one of our feedback sessions.
We had made the map ourselves, and it became more of a geographical map. A social
map is one that reflects the society and the perspective of the people of the village. It
is to be made by the villagers. On this day we were also to meet the Sarpanch. We
arrived at his house and found an old man sitting by the fire, he asked us to wait for
his son who was the Sarpanch. When the Sarpanch arrived, the students introduced
themselves. After this a long discussion went on about various topics. Overall we felt
that the Sarpanch was very diplomatic in his responses.
Some of the Key topics of discussion were:
1. Lack of tappable water had made irrigation in the summer months impossible.
He remarked that if the problem of water was solved, Karheda could be as prosperous
as Punjab. He blamed the government officials for neglecting this problem and also
commented that the people did not have the motivation to come together.
2. He talked about the historical background of the Meo community. These were
originally Rajputs who were converted to Islam. Because of this their culture was a
very composite one. According to the convenience of people they give importance to
either religion or the folkways of the village. For instance, the Muslims do not prefer
to sell their milk, as it is against Islam. Here they give importance to religion.
On the other hand, unlike most Muslims, they do not marry within their Gotra or
village. Here more importance is given to old tradition.
3. Although people claim to be economically insufficient, they spend lacs on
weddings and dowry.
 4. The Sarpanch said that he could not do much since the funds for the village are
eaten up by the Junior Engineer and other officials. He claimed that only 25% reaches
the Panchayat level.
5. He explained the organisation structure of the Panchayat system in detail.
6. He was hesitant and distant while talking about the SHG’s. He said that it made
the women too independent and it was not admired that the womenfolk should have to
visit the bank.
7. Sehgal foundation was also not appreciated for its efforts. The rain water
harvesting tanks were considered a waste, since people had started using them as
dustbins instead.
8. He explained that the Mewatis were very peculiar because they never let
outsiders influence them. He gave examples from the British Raj, saying that the
Britishers were treated so brutally that they couldn’t control the area, the Mughals
were also not allowed to rule and nor did the people accept the new government.
Because of this reason they also did not accept Sehgal Foundation. Since the people
knew it had international funders. They relate the international funding agencies to the
16th century East India Company! His statements seemed very vague and
contradicting.
He invited us for lunch the next day. During our feedback session, there was some
confusion about who the Sarpanch was, since our teacher informed us that it was a
lady. The Sarpanch had told us in the later half that his father was the actual Sarpanch.
After some speculation we realised that the actual Sarpanch was the current
sarpanch’s elder brother, who had passed away. Since then his widow was to be the
Sarpanch, but the younger brother was acting as the Sarpanch presently.
On the 4th day, on 12th Jan, we were introduced to workers of Sehgal Foundation.
They told us about the various programmes they were running and about their
organisation design. We learnt that they had a concept of the ‘Village Champion’. The
Village Champion is responsible for community mobilization and forms the main link
between the village and the agency.
Their key areas of work are Life Skill education, Gender sensitization, Water
Management, alternate energy, solar power and Rural Health.
After this we left for “physical work”, in this work we were taken to an ancient
bawadi, which had been recently excavated partially by the Sehgal Foundation. This
Bawadi was almost 200 years old. There were about 28 steps that had to be dug out
and then reach the underground well. Some of the digging was still left. All of us
formed two chains, a few volunteers dug the sand, and the rest passed on the dugout
mud and threw it outside the tank. We enjoyed this exercise a lot and were
overwhelmed by the team work and spirit of the young people.
After this exercise all of us felt at ease with one another, it acted like a final ice
breaker between the boys and the girls, and the bachelors and masters!
We visited the Sehgal Foundation office after this; here we saw their training rooms,
computer learning centre, mobile repair lab, electricity repair lab etc. We were also
shown the horticulture gardens, where vegetables such as tomatoes, cabbage, brinjal
were planted. There were pipes running in between the plants, with holes in them at
regular intervals. Since tomatoes needed a lot of water, these holes would slowly keep
watering the plant. This was an innovative way to save water and also human labour.
On day 5, we went to our villages with the plan to start working on the cultural
program to be held on the last day.
We also visited the Middle School, where we were told, the Anganwadi was
located. In the Anganwadi, we found no teachers. The classroom was very dingy and
empty. The worker informed as that the teachers were at the polio booth. While we
waited, we happened to meet the Head Master. He invited us to sit by the fire that
they had put up outside the classrooms. The students were inside, but the teachers
were all outside, sitting by the fire. We learnt that the school had a total of 300
students, and the anganwadi had about 60 children. Ms. Maya, the anganwadi teacher
also joined us later. She informed us that vaccines were being given to pregnant
women and babies. The school had recently extended classes upto 8th standard, but
there was a lack of teachers. When we asked about the ration depot, they said that it
was within the school compound and also served as the store for anganwadi meals. It
was surprising that not many people in the village actually knew the location of the
ration Depot. They were not aware that the store in the school was the Ration Depot.
The people assumed that it was only a godown for the anganwadi. This reflected on
the weak PDS system.
We visited the polio booth and met a doctor who had come from outside the
village. He was providing injections and medicines to the pregnant mothers.
After this we completed our map with the help of Mr. Khalil Ahmed. We covered
every area possible, and walked across every path in the village.
At 1 we arrived at the Sarpanch’s house for lunch. We observed that the women
did not sit with us for lunch. Later the girls in our group were invited inside by the
women. The women were surprised to know that we were not married (they had
assumed our classmates were our husbands!). They found it very inappropriate of our
parents to have sent us to such a camp. When they were told that we only had one or
two or no siblings, they were utterly shocked and pitied our parents for not being
blessed enough. They were casual about infant mortality, and even having upto 19
children, was just normal!
On our 6th day in Mewat, we decided to finally finish our tasks. We were yet to
complete a Social Map and Well being Analysis. By this time, we were well
acquainted with the village and the villagers. The villagers had also adjusted with us
and maybe, one could say, they had grown quite fond of our group. They would invite
us for tea, chat with us for hours, lite up a fire and gather around to talk at length. ON
one such occasion, when about 6 to 7 females and about 8 men had gathered around
us, we requested them to give us some idea about the entire village. We asked them
for a map that could help us clear our doubts and remember the village in a better
way. Usman Khan one of the first people we met, was also present. He took the
initiative and sat on the floor with a few men and started to make the map.
We made the following observations and put them in two categories:
(a) Things we did not know of:
1. Water Chamber
2. Electricity Transformer
3. Kohli Chaupal
4. Madarassa
5. Kabristan
6. Bungalow of Razaak- ex Sarpanch.

(b) Things we knew of, but were ignored by villagers:

1. Chamunda temple
2. Ration Depot
3. Rain Water Harvesting Plant
4. NDDB Testing booth
5. Isaab’s house- ex Sarpanch
6. Old well in Masjid
7. Polio Booth
8. Pvt. Doctors
9. Sehgal foundation’s VTC
10. The new anganwadi, inside the school.

We then proceeded to a local shop in the village. Here we met a few men from
different age groups, some were even small school going boys, and some were very
old. We asked them to give us a criteria according to them for defining the happy, not
so happy and sad people of the community. The opinions by and large remained the
same. We were able to make a well being analysis. A few people were also asked to
give us a detailed description of their daily time schedule. We observed all through,
that the women although present, sat aside and did not interfere when the men spoke.
The group was a mix of people from all castes and regions, there seemed to be no
differences. We also learnt about the vegetation patterns and the local terminology for
months and seasons. The discussion about other occupations also helped us to
formulate a livelihood chart.
Later in the day we visited Mr. Satyanarayan, who is the elder brother of Mr Chauhan,
the Saini school principal. He is a village priest and people often come to him for
ayurvedic treatments. He appeared very learned, his wife was bold and outspoken too.
Satyanarayan encouraged his wife to talk to us and also told us that his daughter was
studying in Gurgaon and planned to be an engineer. We visited the water chamber
that we had come to know of, during the mapping.
Back at the campsite, we had an interactive session with members of Mewat
Development Agency and Nayi Roshni Mahila Vikas Samiti. Mr. Rakesh Sharma,
explained to us elaborately the formation of an SHG and discussed a few examples.
On the following day, the morning session was organised by MDA officials. Ms.
Mohammadi gave us a speech on the work of SHG’s in Mewat district. We learnt that
MDA was established, because of all regions in Haryana, Mewat region was the most
backward. She was the first woman graduate of Mewat Dist. She had also done her
MA in History from Jamia. According to the 2001 consensus, female literacy in the
districts had gone up from 2% in 1980 to 24% in 2001. Of these the literate Muslim
women were only 0.001% in 1980. Currently the literacy rate is 44%.
MDA works on infrastructure, education and self-employment. Mewat Model School
and Aravalli Public School have been opened by MDA. We also met Mr. Asri, who
was an alumnus of Jamia. He answered many of the questions raised by students on,
the role of Sarpanch, power of panchayat, PDS, NREGA etc.
After this we went o Pinanguan village, here we met many families in their houses.
We saw that they were working in groups of women on sewing machines. They made
beautiful hand fans, pillow covers and bed covers. These were ordered by wholesalers
in bulk. The women were now earning almost Rs. 10,000 a month. This income was
in addition to the income that comes from the regular activities of agriculture or
animal rearing. We met ‘Akbari’ along with a large group of women. Akbari was one
of the first women to become a member of an SHG. She proudly exhibited her
handiwork and also showed us the awards and appreciation letters that she had
received. This interaction with the women, left us all very motivated to do something
more.
The last day brought mixed feelings for all of us. We were eager to get back home,
but also sad to leave behind the hospitable people of the villages who took care of us
like their personal guests. We practiced for the cultural programme and soon left for
the villages. Some of the villagers were already present at the chaupal to witness the
show. Soon a huge crowd gathered. We were happy to see that there were many
women and children. IN the other villages, our fellow students had faced some
friction and hostile attitude from the imam and other elders. IN Karheda everyone
seemed happy and willing to let us perform. The street play concentrated on various
issues in the village life but tried to link everything and bring the focus to community
participation. The aim was to tell people not to blame everything on the government
or the system, but to fight for their own rights and make themselves self dependent.
The villagers really appreciated our efforts and even requested us to stay back and
come again. We were all very encouraged and touched by their warmth and support.
After this we met all the people that we had developed bonds with. We bid farewell
and gave our thanks. At the camp we prepared a meal of biryani and gajar ka halwa,
to celebrate our last day. We invited the Sarpanch of every village for dinner. They sat
with us for a long time and told us how much they appreciated us. They expressed the
need for more young workers like us and the desire to move on towards development.
On the 10th day, after packing up we left for New Delhi, only 80km away from
karheda, yet a world apart.