Participatory Rural Appraisal

Historical Timeline and Trend Analysis

Kunda Village

By:

Praharsh Shah (P39212)

Pramod Patil (P39213)

Pranay Goel (P39214)

INTRODUCTION

Kunda is a village positioned in Santrampur Block of Mahisagar district in Gujarat. Positioned in

rural area of Mahisagar district of Gujarat, it is one of the 152 villages of Santrampur Block of
Mahisagar district. The number of households in the village is 326. The population of the village
is around 1500 with adult population of 900. Kunda is surrounded by Kadana Taluka towards
North, Fatepura Taluka towards East, Morvahad Taluka towards South, Jhalod Taluka towards
East. The local language of the village is Gujarati with all the population belonging to scheduled
tribe.

The main objective of the PRA was to improve the understanding of the local communities of
their own situation, living conditions and environment in general, and their local resources, land
use, farming systems, constraints and opportunities in particular, in order to set the stage for a
participatory planning of development activities that would fit into an integrated and
participatory plan of action. PRA activities undertaken consisted of various segments which
helped participants to understand, discuss, analyse the important issues and problems faced by
the village community. The historical timeline helped map the important events in the history of
the Kunda village and realize the impact of such events on them over the time. Trend analysis
helped the participants understand the utilization of resources over past five decades and its
association with current issues. The resource map helped the participants map the important
resources available within the village boundary which facilitated the discussion on optimal
utilization of available resources. The social map helped the participants to realize the spatial
relationship between social structures of the village. Seasonal Calendar helped the participants
understand the crop patterns followed during the year and their level occupancy during the year
which helped answer questions associated with alternative livelihoods options and migration.
These activities helped the participants to look at their own issues with a objective and focused
perspective. This lead to identification, analysis and proposing of possible solution of major
problems associated with the village through participatory planning.We came up with 5 major
issue that they face with priority ranking and matrix analysis. Thus the PRA conducted resulted
in identification of water scarcity as the major problem in Kunda village , which was discussed
in detail through root cause analysis and possible solutions were suggested by the villagers. PRA
also acts a data collection tool.

The historical timeline was the first of the activity which was undertaken in the PRA schedule.
The aim was to explore the temporal dimensions from historical perspectives with focus on the
important events that have taken place over the years and the impact of such key events on the
village community. The participants shared the known history of the village from the time of first
settlements and discussed the key milestone events in the history. The historical timeline helped
understand the pace, the extent of access of development initiatives over the years and also
provided a starting point to discuss the key issues of concerns for the villagers.

Trend Analysis was undertaken to analyse the changes in availability and utilization of the key
resources over the past five decades. The objective of this activity was to facilitate the
participants in analysing the interconnection between the availability/ scarcity of various
resources and to investigate underlying reasons for the same. The participants discussed the
trends of forest cover, rainfall, ground water table, agricultural production, livestock for the past
58 years and were able to draw some important observations.

OBJECTIVE OF HISTORICAL TIMELINE

- To understand the major events occured in village
- To understand how village progressed over the decades
- To understand the change in resource availability over the decades

GROUP OF VILLAGERS WHO PARTICIPATED ON HISTORICAL TIMELINE

ACTIVITY
1. Panabhai Moti Pargi
2. Jamnaben Kalji
3. Choma Punja Rajat
4. Rajat Laxman Veersingh
5. Bhinsingh Ratna Pargi
6. Kaljibhai Prajot

HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF KUNDA VILLAGE

Kunda, in Santrampur District, has a history which dates back to 1800. Motibhai Pargi of Bhil
community was the first person to come to the village in the search of livelihood. He travelled
quite a long distance where he travelled from Ujjain to Mevalgadh, then from ​Mevalgadh to
Khedapa, from Khedapa then they finally settled at Kunda. Over the generations, ​jatis (castes)
like Ninama, Damor, Ganasar, and Pargi settled in the village and, currently, the population is
around 1500 representing 326 households.

Over the years many significant events took place that shaped the village as we see it today.
Around 1988, ​First Anganwadi was created that planted the seeds for health care facilities and
created a vision for education in the village. So, after long 5 years, in 1993 ​First School till 4th
standard​ was established in the village to develop the children education.
In 1994, ​First Electricity Connection was provided by government to the village. That helped
them to access more facilities that were restricted earlier.

One major intervention conducted by the villagers with the support of government was to form
Van Mandli. ​Van Mandli was formed to prevent the deforestation in the year 2000. This Mandli
stopped the indiscriminate activity of wood cutting which depletes the forest cover and also
affects the rainfall. Over the period the forest cover was regenerated and today, i.e. 2018, rainfall
has risen to a satisfactory level.

In 2000, ​Drought affected several states in India. One of the severely affected states was
Gujarat. Kunda village also suffered drought conditions. The rainfall was negligible during this
time and the groundwater level reduced drastically.

After that, in 2003, ​another Anganwadi was created in village for more inclusion of children
due to population growth over the tenure.

Before 2008, there was no accessibility to the nearby town because of poor road infrastructure.
The people of Mevalgadh had to cross the mountains to reach the Santrampur district. But, in
2008, CM Narendra Modi, during his visit to a hill station nearby, approved a plan to ​build the
road connectivity with Santrampur and Mevalgadh​. This decision helped Kunda to have easy
access with the these village. People generally rely on their private vehicles for commuting.

In 2009, ​3 Phase Connection was provided, that helped them to connect the motors to their bore
wells. This helped to access the water easily for drinking and irrigation purpose. The electricity
for irrigation is provided at subsidized rate by the government.

In 2010, ​Self Help Group was formed (SHG) by women of the villages. The objective of this
SHG was to save the money that they can use for the occasion if marriage and other functions.
Around 14 SHG work in village today, having minimum 10 and maximum 21 members. They
have their saving accounts in Bank of Baroda Branch at Santrampur and Ukreli. They provide
the money to the needy at 2-3% interest rate.

In 2016, the ​School was further developed till 8th standard.

In 2017, during monsoon season, village was struck by a cyclone, the roof of the houses were
blown away and the farms got damaged to great extent. There was no major support from
government agencies for the recovery.
RESOURCE TREND ANALYSIS OF KUNDA VILLAGE

To understand the transition of resources in the village from 1960 to 2018, we conducted an
​ here we asked people to put different items
activity ​(as can be seen in the photo attached) w
against the resource it was representing. We took four years in the interval of 20 years
approximately, i..e. 1960, 1980, 2000 and 2018. Alongside years, we took seven resources which
were as follows -

1) Forest
2) Rainfall
3) Wells & Ground Water Level in Summers
4) Agriculture Crops
5) Cattle
6) Goat
7) Migration
Talking about the Forest, in 1960 the forest cover was very dense as the population was less; this
was mainly attributed to the fact that it was an unexplored region during that time. In 1980, as
the contract-based activities like cutting wood from forest started, it lead to depletion of the
forest cover and that, in turn, affected the overall vegetation. ​As a result, over the time in 2000,
the forest cover was at its minimum. The forest cover of the village reduced to an alarming
extent. To save the forest, the villagers with the support of the government did an intervention
and formed Van Mandli, that stopped the cutting of wood. This changed the situation of the
forest. Now the forest cover has increased to a considerable amount and the Van Madli is still
active today.

Rainfall is one of the most important resources for the farmers in a nation like India where whole
agriculture is based on rain based irrigation. In Kunda village, the rainfall was extremely good in
1960 as during those years the climatic changes were negligible and the forest cover was
extremely dense. Over the years the rainfall decreased because of reduction in forest cover. In
2000, the rainfall reduced drastically, as the forest cover reduced to minimum and the climate
started changing and the monsoon became uncertain.This was the time Kunda got struck by
drought. Now, in 2018, due to the Van mandli intervention that was formed in 2000, the forest
cover was regained and this raised rainfall level though the climate change effect is still
pertaining.

Coming to the well level and the groundwater level in summer season, in 1960, there were just
two wells in the village and the groundwater level was too high. While over the period, as the
area under agricultural and the population increased, they dug more wells for more water, that
affected the water level in summer season. In 2000, around 15 wells were there in the village to
fulfill the water requirements of the village but that depleted the water level to a much lower
level than it was earlier.The ground water became dry and level got reduced because in this year
Kunda village suffered severe drought condition. In 2018, the situation became much worse that,
in summer, the village find it difficult to get water. Also the water level fell to 200-300 feet and
the number of wells increased to around 60. The village’s dependence on groundwater to meet its
water requirements has increased over the years.

The crops that they used to grow in 1960 were for local consumption. They used to grow ​maize,
grams, Kodra, Tuvar, Emli, Bunti, Kuri, Jalar, Black dangar, Madai danger​, etc. In 1980, along
with the previous crops they started planting Wheat and ​Jav.​ In 2000, they started growing more
quantity of wheat and Jav to sell, additional to the crops they required for consumption. In 2018,
the local crops like Emli, Bunti, Kondra consumption was reduced and they shifted towards
wheat and rice for increasing income. There has been shift in the choice of crops cultivated over
the years. Farmers, in past, were more inclined towards crops used for consumption whereas now
they are more inclined towards commercial crops.

When we look at the cattles, we realise that the people of Kunda are more involved in goatery.
Apart from goats, they keep cows, buffalo, camel, etc. Over the period, the number of cattle and
goats decreased to great extent. In 1960, the number of cattles and goats were very high, but now
it has reduced drastically. There are two major reasons as stated by the villagers for this change -
1) the ban on grazing the forest land by Joint Forest Management 2) Cattles are attacked and
eaten by wild animals frequently. Other factors like reduction in the fodder and lack of drinking
water facility in village impacted this as there were less crop production. Also the awareness
related to dairy products that can be obtained from the cow and buffalo is less among villagers,
so they are not much encouraged to go for the cattle rearing. Goatery is one major source of
income apart from agriculture as they sell the goats to nearby places. The complementary
occupation of animal husbandry has been on a continuous decline over the past 30 years.

Migration in villages is one of the major reasons why the cultivation is decreasing drastically.
The agriculture is seasonal based in Kunda. Majority of farmers grow the crops in rabi season
only. In other seasons, they go for other occupation in different places to keep their income alive.
In Kunda village, in 1960, as per the villagers, migration of people was negligible as they were
able to satisfy their needs with whatever income they generated. But today, that seems a bit
difficult. So, over the period, for more income to fulfil the basic necessities people started
looking for non agriculture activities like labour work in factories. In 1980, around 20% people
become either factory labourers or agriculture labours . In 2000, this increased to 35%, in which
around 20% people were labours and 15% people worked as employees. In 2018 , this has
increased to 65%, out of which 40% are involved in some or other government or private job and
other 25% became agriculture labours. So, inclination towards the industries either as the salaries
employee or wage labour has increased. They generally travel to Ahmedabad and Mehsana for
this type of jobs. (% here is with respect to the population of village at that time). So there has
been a gradual shift from traditional agriculture and animal husbandry to wage labour through
migration over the years.