Ot 25019 Report

Jhabua Cluster Development Plan OAC Report
PART A: INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

I. Introduction
In accordance with CCF India’s planned strategy of working through a cluster-based

approach, the project assigned is titled “Cluster Development Plan (Jhabua Cluster)”. It
involves basically a study of the Jhabua Cluster to get a broad understanding of the area.
Based on this understanding, strategy for intervention by CCF for this region within the
framework of the Bright Futures Approach has to be suggested.
II. Objectives of the Study
The specific objectives of the study as suggested by CCF are as follows:

 To undertake a thorough study of one poverty cluster by:
• Identifying a contiguous patch of poor districts/blocks/talukas
• Understanding the demographic characteristics
• Observing the developmental challenges faced by the community including
understanding their livelihood patterns.
• Understanding available natural-physical-human-market resources of the area.
• Identifying various developmental agencies operating in the area.
• Analyzing issues facing children
 To recommend an intervention strategy for CCF India
 To recommend any potential risks of operating in the cluster.
III. Scope of the Study
The study goes beyond the geographical and administrative boundaries of the Jhabua district
and includes the whole region encompassing the tri-junction districts of Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan. The subject matter of interest while studying the region is also
diverse like understanding the demography, livelihood patterns, natural and human resources,
children issues etc. The time of the study in Jhabua is four weeks i.e. from 20th June to 15 th
July while the preparation of the report and making the presentation took the next two weeks.
Jatin Goyal (25019) 1 PRM - 25

IV. Methodology
Keeping in view the objective of developing a broad understanding of a vast geographical

region (Jhabua alone has more than 1000 villages) rather than working on a specific issue in a
specific area, the following methodology was adopted. The rationale for adopting the
methodology is also explained.
1) To begin with, a study of Bright Futures (BF) Approach was done to help build a
perspective to the whole project. Various issues like how CCF views it, its need as a
changing strategy, method of implementation etc. were studied. The methodology
here was reading literature regarding BF approach and discussions with the members
of the organization.
2) In Jhabua the initial step of understanding the region was begun with discussions with
employees of the host organization AST as they were able to provide a decent
overview of the region. An overview by AST was required as I, being new to the
region and this phase being exploratory in nature, needed some perspective into the
issues in order to dig deeper later.
3) After getting some idea about Jhabua, discussions and field visits with various NGOs
was done. The rationale for this is that Jhabua being a development hub of many
NGOs, the years of experience of these NGOs is seen as a valuable resource for the
project. A strategy for these discussions with NGOs has also been designed. It was
understood from the preliminary studies that the Jhabua region could be very broadly
classified into three parts on the basis of nature of developmental issues involved.
These parts are the forest area, submerged (by Sardar Sarovar Dam) area and the rest
of the area. So, a list of about 10 NGOs was drawn to include representatives from all
these areas, with whom discussions of the problems specific to those areas was done.
These NGOs have been chosen on the basis of their region of operation, time of
operating in the area, accessibility and level of cooperation expected. Apart from
giving insights into the various development issues involved (including those
involving children) in these specific regions, these discussions also yielded
information about the development work being done in the region, one of the
objectives of the study.

4) Visits to the field areas of these NGOs either along with them or alone was done
simultaneously to give actual field level understanding through discussions with the
community and CBOs. An attempt to assess the strength of various CBOs and NGOs
with the possibility of having linkages with CCF was made. A study of the studies
done by these NGOs was also done.
5) An in-depth subjective study of the region through discussions with the NGOs gave
an idea about the problems and the poverty patches, but the final decision about
identification of poverty patch was done after getting the corroborating objective data
about the region from various sources. These sources include data from Internet and
that from various government departments.
6) Visits to various Government departments like DRDA, Education Department,
Statistics department, planning department were done to get in-depth knowledge
about the government schemes.
7) Then the validation of the performance of these schemes was done by conducting one
to one interviews with the community.
The documentation was done partly during the study phase and was completed at the CCF
National Office after a review of the draft report.

PART B: IDENTIFICATION OF THE CLUSTER
I. State Level Comparison
The state of Madhya Pradesh has forty five districts and Jhabua happens to be one of the least
developed ones. Some Human Development Indicators for Jhabua district along with its rank
among all the districts of Madhya Pradesh are given below in the table. This comparison
clearly brings out that Jhabua is one of the least developed districts of Madhya Pradesh. In
terms of the Human Development Index, one of the most comprehensive development
indicators, Jhabua comes last in the state. In terms of other indicators presented below also, it
is among the lowest among the forty-five districts.
Table 1: Selected Human Development Indicators for Jhabua District

No. Indicator Value Rank Among 45
Districts
1. Human Development Index 0.372 45
2. Gender Development Index 0.450 43
3. Population Dependent on Agriculture (%) 90.6 2
4. Infant Mortality Rate 130 42
5. Life Expectancy (2001) 55.8 30
6. Total Fertility Rate 7.0 45
7. 268.22 21
Annual Per Capita Food Production (kgs)
Source: Third Human Development Report Madhya Pradesh 2002, GOMP.
Besides these indicators, overwhelming Tribal population (more than 85%), a difficult terrain,
degraded soil condition, extremely low levels of awareness and literacy (female literacy is the
lowest in the state) make Jhabua one of the least developed districts in India.

II. Block / Tehsil Wise Comparison
Jhabua comprises of 8 tehsils and 12 development blocks. A comparison was done to

identify the most vulnerable areas in order to define priority areas for work for CCF. To, start
with the most direct estimate of the extent of poverty i.e. percentage of rural households
below poverty line (BPL) was calculated from the number of total rural families and those
below poverty line obtained from DRDA. This is shown in the table below. This indicated
that the intensity of poverty is maximum in the blocks of Petlawad and Jhabua. But visiting
these blocks personally, the overall situation of these blocks looked much better than that of
the other blocks like Alirajpur and Bhabra. This was because Petlawad and Jhabua lie in the
northern part of the district and terrain is much more even and the soil cover much better.
Infact in some areas of Petlawad, cash crops like cotton and soyabean were grown in the
black soil present. The overall awareness in the farmers of these blocks was also more,
probably because of nearness to the main district centre, Jhabua. So, this created suspicion
about the validity of the official data about BPL families. Further since these lists go a long
way in deciding to whom the benefits of government programmes goes, the chances of these
lists being made to suit certain influential people are always more.
So, other indicators of development were studied to note the trends. The other
indicators directly reflected the better position of these blocks. Literacy rate, for example, is
the highest in Petlawad among all tehsils. On the other hand, in Alirajpur tehsil, which has
one of the blocks with least percentage of BPL families, it is the lowest. That the percentage
of non-tribal population is maximum in Petlawad, looked more than a co-incidence. The sex-
ratio is the least in Petlawad, probably a result of more contact with outside world. Further
the infrastructure in Petlawad also seemed better. This was confirmed by figures as in case of
Petlawad, there is a PHC for every 30 villages while in Alirajpur, it is for 86 villages. That
this figure is even higher for Jhabua can be explained to some extent by the presence of a
number of private hospitals in Jhabua town, which is much more accessible for villagers of
Jhabua block. The number of non-electrified villages (11) is also maximum in Alirajpur.
So, it is observed that the northern tehsils of the district like those of Petlawad,
Jhabua, Thandla and Meghnagar are the ones, which are better off (only relatively) than the
southern tehsils of Alirajpur, Jobat, Bhabra and Ranapur.

Table 2: District/ Block wise Comparison
District / tehsil / Inhabited Area as % %age of %age of ST Sex Ratio Literacy Electrified Villages
block villages age of Rural population 2001 Rate villages served per
Total Area Families (non-elec) PHC
BPL
District Jhabua 1313 100 86.84 986 36.87 1294 (19) 45
Tehsil Alirajpur 339 33 87.07 998 28.46 328(11) 57
Block-Alirajpur 86 9 49.26 86
Block - Sondwa 133 13 39.08 44
Block -
120 11 62.34 60
Katthiwada
Tehsil Jhabua 250 15 87.07 996 36.17 249 (1) 63
Block-Jhabua 128 6 63.79 128
Block - Rama 122 9 59.51 41
Tehsil Jobat 148 11 90.95 995 31.94 148 (0) 49
Block- Jobat 62 6 42.29 62
Block - Udaygarh 86 5 45.63 43
Tehsil Petlawad 209 14 75.96 982 49.96 207(2)
Block- Petlawad 209 14 63.63 30
Tehsil Thandla 113 8 88.64 972 38.08 111(2)
Block- Thandla 113 8 52.95 57
Tehsil
111 7 87.88 975 43.58 108 (3)
Meghnagar
Block-
111 7 58.04 56
Meghnagar
Tehsil Ranapur 93 6 88.15 981 43.33 93 (0)
Block-Ranapur 93 6 58.07 31
Tehsil Bhabra 50 5 92.32 983 39.61 50 (0)
Block- Bhabra 50 5 40.18 25
III. Identification of the Cluster
The Bright future Approach suggests that the cluster should correspond to the Administrative
division for coordination with government agencies. Jhabua with its uniform social structure
and similar economic structure perfectly fits the bill of a cluster. So, the Jhabua district is
identified as the cluster.

However, CCF India has identified the most backward pockets in India to be the Tri-junction
districts of India, which is true in this case as well. The districts lying on the tri-junction i.e.
Jhabua, Dahod and Banswara belonging to M.P., Gujarat and Rajasthan respectively are the
poorest in their respective states. So, CCF could start its work from Jhabua and expand it
further into all these districts. All these 3 districts are predominantly tribal and have poor
agro-climatic conditions.
In terms of entry point in Jhabua itself, it is suggested that the southern tehsil of Alirajpur be
selected on the basis of the analysis described earlier. This does not mean that the northern
tehsils donot require any intervention, but the southern tehsils should be a focus area for CCF
as it has the poorest of the poor, the target of the organization. Here it needs to be mentioned
that the variations in the level of poverty change very rapidly even from falia to falia,
primarily because of large differentiation in the quality of land within a single village also.
So, identification of the poorest of the poor needs a much more micro-level study, though the
broad trends have been indicated.
.
PART C: DESCRIPTION OF THE CLUSTER

I. BASIC INTRODUCTION TO JHABUA
1) Location
The Jhabua district is situated in the western part of Madhya Pradesh between the latitude
21.300 and 22.550 North and between longitudes 73.300 and 75.010 East. River Narmada
forms the southern boundary of the district. Its boundaries meet the borders of Gujarat,

Rajasthan and Maharashtra states. The different districts of these states adjoining Jhabua are
Banswara of Rajasthan in North West, Dhuliya of Maharashtra in the south and Panchamahal
and Baroda of Gujarat in the West. It’s northern and eastern boundaries touch the Ratlam and
Dhar districts of M. P., respectively.
2) History
The history of Jhabua can be traced back to the rule of the Bhils, Bhilalas and Labanas.
Jhabua is named after a Bhil ruler Jhabbu Nayak. The region was then mainly known for the
high robbery in the region, it being on the main track between north and south India. The
Mughal Sultans then took the help of some Rajput Nayaks to conquer the land and put an end
to this. Thus five states were formed then - Jhabua, Alirajpur, Jobat, Katthiwada and
Mathwad.
Jhabua state was formed in 1607 after the defeat of the Bhil ruler Jhabbu Nayak by
Keshavdas Rathore a Rajput Nayak from Jodhpur (Rajasthan) with the support of Janhangir,
after whom it is named as JHABUA. Since then up to 1948 Jhabua had seen 13 Kings, the
prominent being Gopalsingh, Udaisingh and Dilipsingh (the last King). The state capital
Jhabua was quite developed according to the times. In fact, it had electricity through
generator and water works even before independence.
3) Administrative Divisions
Jhabua has 12 blocks and 8 tehsils in the district covering a total area of 6782 Sq. Km. area.
Entire Jhabua district is declared as area under the 5 th Scheduled of the constitutions. All 12
blocks of the district are tribal development blocks. There are 1313 villages in 612 Gram
Panchayats. The district has no forest village.
Table 3: Administrative units of Jhabua (Source: Official website of GOMP (1991 Census)
Revenue Tehsils 8
Janpad Panchayat 12
Gram Panchayat 612
Total villages 1357
4) Total inhabited Village 1313
Topography Total habitations 9927
Forest village 0
Tribal Block 12
Towns
Jatin Goyal (25019) 8 08 PRM - 25
Most of Jhabua belongs to the Central Vindhyan uplands region of peninsular plateau. This is
a land of beautiful landscapes, with now barren hillocks interceding with lowlands and plains
that become the natural abode for numerous streams and small rivers. The terrain is hilly and
undulating consisting of small hillocks on the plateau, typical of Jhabua. The altitude varies
from 300 metres to more than 700 metres (in Bhabra block) with south being especially
higher. The average height above the sea level is 428 meters. In this Jhabua hill topography
the difference between the highest and the lowest points varies between 20 to 50 meters. But
this difference goes on increasing as we move towards south of Jhabua. Steep hill slopes or
ridges with abrupt slopes occupy 45% of the district area; piedmont and undulating uplands
occupy 30% while the valleys and the plateau occupy the rest. Jhabua, Thandla, Meghnagar
and Petlawad tehsils comprise the area that is comparatively plain and has only small
hillocks. Alirajpur, Jobat, Kathiwada and Bhabra tehsils constitute the more mountainous
region.
5) Climate
The area comes under Agroclimatic zone No. 12 namely Jhabua hills covering an area of
0.68m ha. (1.5 % of geographical area of MP). The district has three distinct sub zones
namely Petlawad (Malwa), Jhabua (Low rainfall) and Katthiwada (High rainfall) zones.
Climate is generally moderate and seasons are well defined. The climate varies from dry
sub-humid to moist sub-humid. Summers are hot, winters are short and the monsoon
season is generally pleasant. The highest temperature recorded in Jhabua in 2004 was
43.50 C in the month of may and the lowest was 60 C in December (Source: KVK,
Jhabua), thus showing the large variation in temperature. The average rainfall in the
district is about 800mm. Most of the rainfall occurs in monsoon season while there is
also a little of rainfall in winter season. Overall the rainfall is unimodal and monsoonal
and is variable, both temporally and spatially. The cropping seasons are quite recognized:
the kharif or monsoon season from June to Semptember, the Rabi season from October to
March and the summer or the zaid season from March to May. Around 90% of the annual
rainfall falls in the Kharif season.
I. DEMOGRAPHY
1) Population

More than 85% of population is tribal which is the highest in the state. The total
population is about 14 lakhs according to 2001census. However, there has been an
overall increase in the population and decadal growth rate being 23.37 is quite high. Of
the total population, is the rural population and the rest is urban while about 3%
population belongs to Schedule Castes. 47 % of the people live below the poverty line.
Thus, Jhabua is an overwhelmingly tribal and poor district. Comparison of the district
with the state is shown in the table below.
Table 4: Demographic Statistics
Indicator Unit M.P. Jhabua

Population Number 60385118 1396677
Density of Population Persons per km 196 206
Decadal Growth Rate of Percentage 24.3 23.56
Population
Percentage of Rural Percentage 74.7 91.33
Population (1991)
Percentage of Tribal Percentage 19.9 86.8
Population (1991)
Sex Ratio Per 1000 males 920 986
Source: Census 1991 and 2001
Jhabua forms less than 3% of the population of Madhya Pradesh. The density of population is
also higher, though is not centralized. However one fact that these figures do not show is how
the density of population has increased over the decade in Jhabua. Infact, the density has
increased from 166 to 205 persons per square km, thus increasing the pressure on land a great
deal. In Jhabua, the percentage of rural population is very high as compared to the state. In
absolute terms also it is more than 90%, qualifying it as a highly agrarian economy. The
percentage of tribal population is extremely high and it actually has the highest population of
tribal population in the state, if not in the country.
The distribution of the rural population in village is very distributed. The settlement pattern is
in falias (groups of a few families) which are located far – away from each other. Further, the
population in the villages is very low. According to 1991 census, only 73 out of 1313
inhabited villages have a population above 2000. The distribution of villages according to

population is shown in the table below. Low and distributed population makes the
accessibility of the villagers for government and NGO workers very difficult.
Table 5: Population wise distribution of villages
Uninhabited No. of villages with the population

Villages <200 200 - 499 500-999 1000-1999 2000-4999 5000-9999 >10000 Total
44 137 378 472 253 71 2 0 1357
Source: Census 1991
2) Educational Status
Literacy level in the district is very poor and among the lowest in the state. Literacy rate in
Jhabua (2001 Census) is 36.87 % as compared to 64.1% in the state. Things are worse off
when it comes to female literacy as only one in four woman is literate. Further the rural
female literacy is even worse, with only one in five being literate. And that too according to
the government records which are likely to be made to suit the needs, and even a person who
can sign can be included as literate even if he/she does not understand the script.
Table 6: Literacy rates for Jhabua

Rural Literacy Rate Urban Literacy Rate Total Literacy Rate
Year Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total
1991 20.49 6.83 13.74 80.68 58.36 69.99 26.29 11.52 19.01
2001 43.76 20.86 32.29 88.95 71.7 80.65 48.2 25.5 36.87
Source: Census 1991 and 2001
However the figures show that there has been a phenomenal jump in the level of literacy in
the last decade. Most of the figures have almost doubled while those for rural female literacy
have tripled. Though the complete validity of these figures is questionable; the ground reality
does show a significant level of demand for education being generated in the region.
2) Health Status

The health indicators also present a bleak picture of the district. Situation worsens when we
move from the country to the state and further as we move from the state to the district. And
the situation looked even worse than those presented in these official figures.
Table 7: Health Indicators for Jhabua
2002-03 figures
Indicator
India M.P. Jhabua
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) 70 94 97
Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) 540 600 650
Source: Annual Plan 2005-06, District Planning Department

A study done in 1997 on Infant and child mortality in Bhil tribe of Jhabua district reveals a
even pathetic situation. Out of the sample of 430 households of 67 villages, 38.2%
households reported the death of at least one child below the age of five years. The major
causes of death were preventable such as tetanus, diarrhea, measles, Acute Respiratory
Infections and fever. 51.3% deaths were of children who were third or more in birth order.
The study shows the need for an effective Dai (Midwife) Training Programme to upgrade the
skills and an urgent necessity to improve the outreach services in remote tribal areas to bring
down the infant mortality. Another study done on Nutritional Anthropometry of Bhil women
in Jhabua district revealed that nearly 95 per cent women were malnourished according to
required standards of body-mass index (BMI).
II. NATURAL RESOURCES
The destruction of the Bhils' agricultural base and their loss of control over the crucial natural
resources of land, water and forests, in fact, have a long history. The Bhils traditionally lived
by practising shifting agriculture and hunting and gathering but from the time of the Mughals
they have suffered discrimination and displacement. They had to give up the more fertile
lands of the Malwa plateau and Nimar plains bordering the lower Narmada river valley and
recede into the forested hills to cultivate sub-optimal lands. This process gained in
momentum with the increase in trade and settled agriculture as more and more forests were
cleared and brought under the plough. Thus the exploitation of tribals has a story dating back
even prior to independence (Banerjee, 2003).

1) Land and Soil
Metamorphic rocks derived from material varying from clay to sand textures dominate
most of the area. Jhabua to the west, north west and south-west of Jhabua town is
dominated by phyllites, slates and schists; while north, north-east and south west of
Jhabua town basically consists of basalt associated with Deccan Trap.
The area suffers from poor and skeletal soils with shallow to very shallow depth. The soil
texture is generally gravelly and sandy, with surfaces being generally stony. The soil colors
are lighter – often reddish or yellowish. In the comparatively plain region of northern Jhabua
consisting of blocks of Jhabua, Petlawad etc., soils are more clayey and have darker colors.
Here the local differences between the soils on the steeper hills and those on lowlands are
conspicuous to the naked eye. The soil is non-existent (more of pebbles than the dust that
covers them) on steeper hill slopes shallow on gentler ones, while the lowlands can have rich
black cotton soil. This difference points to excessive soil erosion that happens where soils
from higher reaches come down and deposit in the lower reaches.
The relation of soil to the physiographic units is very high. The slope, height of physiography
often defines the soil type and quality. This relation is shown in the table below.
Table 8: Land and Soil Characteristics

Physiographic Type Soil Type %age of Area
(approx.)
Steep hill slopes or Shallow, skeletal soils; reddish yellow 45%
ridges in colour
Piedmont and Shallow to medium depth, yellowish 30%
Undulating Upland brown to reddish brown; more sandier
Valleys Medium to deep; pale to dark grayish 10%
brown; almost clayey than sandy
Plateau Deep to very deep; dark, black cotton 15%

soil
Thus we see that most of the soils are of shallow nature and most of the better soil is present
only in the valleys and in the plateau (Malwa) region, which covers the north-east part of the
district.

2) Water
The availability of under ground water is seasonal. It is available during the summer
months in very few places. Most of the underground water available is during the post
monsoon months. However many efforts by NGOs and government to increase seepage of
water into soils have resulted in ground water availability for longer periods. Besides
groundwater a number of rivers pass through the district.
The Narmada is the largest river of the district. It flows from east to west along the
southern boundary. It is one of the seven most sacred rivers referred in sacred books and
the Sutras of Panini. The Narmada touches the southern boundary of Jhabua a few
kilometers above Kakrona. Soon it is joined by the Hatni and the Jharkal on the opposite
bank. Below khanba village it turns to south-west, then west, south and again west in
succession. Before it leaves the district it turns to the north-west and finally to the south-
west. Only minor streams join the Narmada in this course. The water of the Orsang and its
tributaries rising in the western parts of Jhabua join the Narmada in gujrat. The width of
the Narmada spans to 3 km. near broach and that of its estuary to 21 km. At the Gulf of
Cambay. The course of the Narmada in Jhabua District is 38 k.m.
The Hatni is the major tributary of the Narmada in this District. The stream rises near
Sajawada and flows along the northern boundary of the Jobat Tahsil. The story of the
tributary being named “Hatni” is quite interesting as well. According to the popular
belief, a foot of a cow-elephant got stuck in the mud. When she pulled it off, a spring
came out of it, hence this name. It has a southeastern source through Bojhar and Khatali.
The north-eastern stream rises near Phurtalao and passes through Jobat.
It forms the north-eastern and east-northern boundaries of the District in Petlawad tahsil. The
pampawati of Petlawad, combined with the Ladki, joins it near Bhairongarh Railway Station.
The word "Mahi" may have been derived from Mahi the daughter of the Earth.
3) Forests
It can be said that two types of people live in Jhabua: one who have seen the forests and
others who have not, such has been the indiscriminate cutting of forests in the past 2-3
decades. Presently, whatever forest is left is mostly in the southern part of Jhabua district

comprising Alirajpur, Jobat and Bhabra tehsils. This area is almost entirely hilly and
intersected by narrow valleys and low Vindhayan ranges covered with jungles. The forest
cover has been decreasing progressively. According to Forest Survey of India, in 1993; 1054
sq. km of the total 6782 sq. km of the area is covered by forest; making a 15.54 % forest
cover in the region. This reduced to 15.39 in 1995 and then decreased significantly to become
12.1 in 1997. In 1999, it had increased to 12.53. But again, these figures might not represent
the true gravity of the situation, which is only felt by the community who were totally
dependent on the forests in the past.
The tribals and the forest officials blame each other for the extensive deforestation of the
district, and few even share the blame saying it was the both. Some of the reasons that come
out of discussions with the farmers are:
• During drought times in the last few years, trees were the only option available for
survival. The trees were cut to be sold in city markets for meeting basic survival needs.
The deforestation happened but was limited more for survival
• Then came the forest department with the methods of sub-contracting to commercial
cutters who practiced indiscriminate felling of trees.
• This indiscriminate felling by forest officials made everybody see the trees as a limited
resource, now being used by the forest department. So, tribals also started felling of trees
not only to meet survival needs but also future consumption. Even the roots of the trees
were not spared, either by the contractors or by the tribals. This attitude of: “loot the
booty till it is there” is what has resulted in large parts of forests being wiped out.
III. INFRASTRUCTURE
1) Transportation
Transportation facilities in Jhabua are comparatively better than other tribal regions and most
of the indicators are better than the state averages. Jhabua town, the district headquarters is
situated on the National Highway 59 connecting Bhopal-Indore-Dhar-Jhabua-Ahmedabad.
The situation of internal roads is also better compared to M.P. figures. The road density
(length of road per 100 sq. km. is higher for Jhabua for both kucha and pucca roads. For
kucha roads the figure is 14.49 km as compared to the state figure of 3.4 and for pucca roads,
the figure is 27.11 km as compared to 19 km for the state (source: Annual plan 2005-06,
District Planning Association ). Most villages of population above 1000 are connected by

buses. This can be attributed to the drought relief program where road construction was
undertaken to provide employment to people. The railways are however not very developed
and even the Jhabua town housing the district headquarters has no rail connection. The
nearest railway station is Meghnagar, which is 8 kilometers away from Jhabua town. For air
travel, Indore in M. P. and Baroda in Gujarat are the nearest.
2) Public Distribution System

Table 9: PDS system in Jhabua
Fair Price Shop primarily provides food grains only apart from kerosene. The requirement of
Urban Rural Total Mahila
pulses, other cereals like Maize and
shops Shops Upbhokta
Bhandar Jowar are fulfilled from local market.
Jhabua 24 278 302 0
The management and control of Fair
M.P. 3456 15538 18994 744
Price Shops in Madhya Pradesh is
through the state government. Devolving power to the Panchayats and decision to constitute
the Vigilance Committee at district and sub-district level have been two very important steps
towards ensuring community participation and transparency in Targeted Public Distribution
System. The Fair Price Shops are managed by societies. Various State-owned Societies are
involved in the running of FPS. On an average there are 21 Fair price shops per lakh
population. The total numbers of shops are given into the adjoining table.
A study done by the partner organizations of Action Aid India on the Targeted Public
Distribution System in the Life of Tribal Communities of Madhya Pradesh however revealed
that the standing committee of the Gram Sabha is not active and the members of committees
have no information about the role and responsibility of the committee. Complaints or the
problems related to FPS are not raised in the Gram Sabha and even if it is raised Gram Sabha
finds it difficult to take any action. In the survey conducted in 57 villages, lack of awareness
about availability of cheaper food grains was reported by 42% of the respondents in Jhabua,
which was by far the highest among the districts covered under the survey.
But the people are generally not satisfied by the FPS saying that they do not get ration every
month. They allege that the ration is sold to open market or to the influential people on
cheaper rate. Often the shopkeeper tells people that there is no stock hence he cannot
distribute the ration to the poor families. The people have to queue-up for whole day to get
the ration from the FPS, and might find it finished when the time comes. So, some People

feel that the amount of loss of wages is almost equal to the subsidy received through PDS.
So, the PDS system is presently unable to meet the requirements of the people especially in
the acute deficiency months of April – September. The study also revealed that the migrating
families do not access the FPS during the period of migration but the shopkeeper enters the
sale of ration of such periods and refuses to the grains later.
3) Educational Facilities
The educational facilities in the district are decent as compared to other government facilities.
In fact they seem to be the most visible face of the state intervention on entering the villages.
This can be attributed to opening up of a number of new institutions under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan.A number of EGS schools have been open. Many missionary and private schools also
operate. But most of this phenomenon is recent and needs to grow further to meet the
educational needs of the community as the need is quite high considering highly distributed
living pattern. For example, if one or two aanganwadis are required in other villages of same
population, in Jhabua the requirement may be more since parents might not be willing to send
their young children far.
Table 10: Educational Institutions in Jhabua District
Year Aanganwadi Primary Middle High School Higher Colleges

Schools Schools Secondary
2002-2003 1433 426 63 59 6
2003-2004 1997 1595 449 63 59 6
Mid-day meal scheme is operational in the villages, even if regular classes are missing.
Infact some people say that they send their children to schools only because of the
availability of meals. Some children come to the Aanganwadis only for getting the
nutrition provided and leave after getting it. The number of teachers is shown in the
table below and is decent enough considering that there are about 3-4 teachers for every
primary school. However, teacher absenteeism is a problem, especially in the interior
villages. Here the teachers also leave early depending on when the bus goes back to the
town; from where they commute daily. Number of teachers who belong to the same or

nearby villages is very low because of the non-availability of the educated people in the
villages. The quality of education imparted is also poor and even a teacher himself
mentioned that he did not want his child to study in the village school and had therefore
admitted him to the nearby private residential school.
Table 11: Teachers in Jhabua District
Year Primary Middle High Higher Colleges

Schools Schools School Secondary
2002-2003 4066 2186 491 457 26
2003-2004 4779 2506 554 618 35
4) Health Facilities
The condition of health infrastructure is much worse, if compared to the education
infrastructure. On an average each PHC in the district serves about 45 villages and each sub-
centre serves about 4 villages. This means that there is one ANM for about every 5000
people. That this population of 5000 is distributed across many villages and further into
falias; the access remains poor. The frequency of contact remains limited only to the weekly
visit by the ANM at a central place in the village. This also happens only where the ANM is
responsive and the villages under her are decently accessible. In absence of any stable
medical facilities in the village, people often depend on traditional bhopas or quacks, and the
treatment often being totally unscientific. There are very few referral facilities for emergency
cases and the ambulance facilities are also totally out of the reach of a common villager. So,
villagers often have to carry the passengers on the cot in case of emergencies when no other
means of transport is possible.
IV. SOCIAL SYSTEM

Tribals have been able to maintain close social ties despite remaining away from each other
for a significant portion of the year for migration. Everyone makes it a point to return for the
festival Bhagoria and it is celebrated with great gaiety. However these strong social ties have
come at a cost, bringing unwanted social expenditures. These wasteful expenditures to meet
social obligations has put excessive financial burden on the tribals.
1) Social Composition

More than 85% of the Population is tribal. Tribal villages are largely homogenous and often
of the same lineage, resulting in greater cohesiveness. Most of the disputes (which are
actually very high in number and erode away a considerable amount of money) are between
members of different villages where members of the whole village come to support the
villager.
The villages are largely tribal with the predominant tribes being Bhils, Bhilalas and Pateliyas.
The word Bhil comes from the local word meaning a bow. The Bhilalas, born out of
marriages between Bhils and Rajputs of adjoining state of Rajasthan, claim racial superiority
over Bhils. Patidars, Marwaris form the non-tribal population while the Balais and the
Chamars (harijans) form the lowest part of social ladder.
2) Social customs- marriage, birth and death
Marriage
Tribal villages are generally exogamous i.e. marriages within the village rarely happens. This
can be attributed to the belief that the members of the village are of same lineage. However,
overall tribal marriages are more contractual than sacramental where the male gets the rights
over labor and reproductive functions of the woman by paying the bride price to the family of
the bride. The bride price means a considerable drain of wealth on the part of the groom’s
family and most of it is wasted on the wedding celebrations. This process of reverse-dowry
however means that the women are seen more as a resource (as compared to dowry where
they become a liability for the parents right since the time of their birth), thus according them
a better social status. It also acts as a barrier against men leaving their wives for new women
as then they have to pay money again. In case the woman walks out of marriage for the new
man (which is not rare), this new man pays the bride price to the ex-husband.
Marriages happen both through elopement and as arranged marriages. Bride Price is higher
(even around 70000 rupees) in case of elopement, and is paid often after a conflict between
the families mediated by the Bhanjadia. Most, though not all marriages happen during
Bhagoriya (described in more detail under festivals). The consent of the couple is always
taken even if the parents fix the marriage. At times even such arranged marriages are
solemnized during Bhagoriya. The age of marriage is contingent more on sexual maturity
than on adulthood. As a result, many child marriages are also found in the region. Also, the
age of the bride is often more than the groom. Some people also ascribe this as one of the

reason for excessive conflicts involving women, as women develop extra-marital relations
due to immature grooms.
Death
The dead (forefathers) are worshipped by the tribals. So, they must be given a decent funeral
on death. This is called Nukta, which induces a lot of wasteful expenditure.
Birth
The birth is a matter of celebration. However not much expenditure is there in case of birth;
as in case of marriage and death.
3) Festivals
The main festivals celebrated in the Tribal communities of the Jhabua region are Raksha
bandhan, Deepawali, Bhagoriya, Holi, Aakha Teej and Navai. Out of these, Bhagoria is the
most famous and attracts tourists from distant places.
Bhagoria
In the life of the Bhils and Bhilalas, Bhagoria is not merely one festival but in fact a series of
fairs held one by one at various villages on their specific market days, commencing eight
days before Holi. People come back from their migratory places especially to celebrate it.
Most of the (love) marriages take place during this period. As the name of the festival
indicates, (bhag = to run), after choosing their partners, the young people elope and are
subsequently accepted as husband and wife by society through predetermined customs. It is
not always that boys and girls intending to marry each other meet in the festival for the first
time. In a large number of cases the alliance is already made between the two, the festival
providing the institutionalized framework for announcing the alliance publicly. The tradition
is that the boy applies gulal, red powder, on the face of the girl whom he selects as his wife.
The girl, if willing, also applies gulal on the boy's face. This may not happen immediately but
the boy may pursue her and succeed eventually.
The Bhagoria haat also coincides with the completion of harvesting, adding to it the
dimension of being an agricultural festival as well. If the crops have been good, the festival
assumes an additional air of gaiety. Bhagoria haat also brings along with it a number of
disputes. It is also considered the place for settling old disputes where open invitations were

sent to enemies for a fight in the haat. For this reason, these days police and administration
do not allow people to go to the haat armed, leading to some control on fights.
4) Religious Life
Many external forces today influence religious lives of tribals, leaving the tribals with a
fragmented religious identity. On one hand, tribals have traditionally been nature worshippers
or have had their own family/clan Gods and Goddesses. Black magic and offering of animals
to please Gods has also been an important part of the religious culture. Worship of their own
dead i.e. their ascendants has also been practiced.
On the other hand, centuries of influence with Hindus have made them adopt many Hindu
practices including worship of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. A number of Hindu reform
movements have also taken place to ‘Hinduise’ the tribals, based on the belief that tribals also
belong to the Hindu religion and thus should be assimilated into it. Notable among these is
the Bhagat movement, operating through religious leaders called ‘bhagats’ and have
popularized new devotional (sankirtans) and dietary (vegetarianism and teetotalism)
practices.
Yet another dimension is added by the Christian Missionaries, working in these areas; under
whose influence many tribals have converted to Christianity. In Jhabua, the Christian Diocese
has been operating for many years, allegedly for religious conversion apart from its
development programmes. The Christian converts now go to the Church and follow the
Christian practices as much as the ‘Hinduised’ tribals follow the Hindu practices in social
life.
5) Status of women
Bhil women are socially better off when compared to Hindu women on the plains especially
when compared to those in adjoining state of Rajasthan. The institution of bride price (instead
of dowry) confers better status to the bride’s family and to the bride herself, as she is seen as a
resource for the groom’s family for her labour and reproductive role. It also acts as a deterrent
for the husband for abandoning the present wife for a new wife as then he would have to pay
the bride price again. Absence of dowry also reflects in a more favorable sex ratio as compared
to the state and the rest of the country, since now the girl is not that much a liability for the

natal family. But at the same time, the institution of bride price also makes the wife to be seen
as property than a person. Many a times, the age of the bride is often more than the groom thus
giving her a greater role in decision-making and more liberty in movement. The absence of
menstrual taboos also indicates fewer social restrictions. But social position of women is
degrading over time, arguably due to increasing contact with the Hindu practices. Bhils of
villages close to the town more often adopt purdah, ban widow remarriage, and replace bride
price with dowry.
But the better status is more or less restricted to the social sphere only, and when it comes to
economic or political spheres, things are as worse off as anywhere. Women rarely have
property rights despite them being key actors in the agriculture and their role in Panchayats is
minimal. Thus the decision-making powers of women are restricted to the domestic life only
and do not extend to the public life. The daily life of women includes the normal chores of
food preparation, water and fuel collection, cleaning of the house, and support in agriculture
activities. They generally accompany males during the migration period. The educational and
health status of women is also extremely low as explained earlier.
6) Village strongmen
The social and political life of tribals is dominated by a few traditional strongmen who play
an important role in marriages, dispute resolution and religious sacrifices etc.
Tadvi - He is the traditional social leader and is often more powerful than the panchayat
sarpanch. He takes all joint community decisions.
Bhanjadia – He is the local court especially in social issues. He is the one who mediates in
marriage. No marriage can be fixed without his intervention. He gets a handsome amount for
his work.
Bhopas - They are the traditional men for healing. Often quacks,they generally use methods
like mysterious prayers (Jhad Phuk); sacrifices of poultry, goatry, etc.
II. LIVELIHOOD PATTERN
Traditionally, the tribal used to depend on forest produce for their livelihood. Agriculture was
done mostly on low-lying areas, mainly for subsistence. But with increase in population,
pressure on land has increased leading to large-scale deforestation either by forest department

by sub-contracting or by tribals themselves for agriculture. So, support from forests has
vanished while the income from agriculture has not been substantial, due to unsuitability of
land for agriculture. Some other options of livelihoods support like animal husbandry,
handicrafts, poultry, fisheries etc. have coexisted but have not been promoted enough to make
substantial changes in livelihood patterns. With no new avenues for income like employment
in industries, mines etc.; a new pattern of livelihood support i.e. migration has developed. But
going back to the days when population was low and forests enough is not possible. So the
need of the hour is to search for alternative means of income while strengthening the existing
systems.
7) Agriculture
Subsistence type of agriculture is followed in most part of the region with growing of cash
crops like soyabean and cotton only in the north eastern part of Jhabua. The agriculture is
almost totally rainfed and irrigated land constitutes a measly 22% of the total cultivated land.
The dominant crop is maize. The other crops are jowar, bajra, groundnut, wheat, rice, gram
and many other dals (pulses) like urd, toor, moong etc. A brief summary of the agriculture
related statistics is presented below.
Table 12: Summary of Agricultural Statistics
S. Indicator Measurement unit M.P. Jhabua
No. State District
1 Total Sown Area per person Square kilometer .3 .34
2 Double cropped area as a Percentage 27.7 8.30

percentage of Net sown area
3 Irrigated land as percentage of Percentage 28.8 9.05
net sown area
5 Net sown area to total Percentage 53.6%
Geographical area
6 Yield of Food Grains (in) Kg. per hectare 927
7 Average size of landholding (Ha) Hectare 2.23
8 Gross Irrigated Area (000 Ha) 000 Hectare 82.2

9 Cropped area under food Grains Percentage 81.7%
Though the total sown area per person is comparable with the state average, the double –
cropped area is not even one third. This means that farmers have to depend only on one crop
(kharif) and have to look for other sources of income in the rest of the year. Percentage of
irrigated land in the total cultivated land is also very low, and is again one third to that in the
state. The closeness of the values of percentages of irrigated and double cropped land suggest
that probably it is the irrigated land that is double cropped, an assumption that is by and large
verified from field visits. The average land holding is only 2.33, which is very low
considering the quality of land. A study by ASA revealed that the agricultural production is
more dependent on availability of water than the land holding size. Irrigated area is also very
low that shows that if proper investment is made to improve the coverage of irrigation than
the food grain production shall increase. So, it can be said that provision of irrigation systems
by strengthening the water harvesting systems can lead to much improved productivity.
Further, Intercropping and mixed cropping are common while double cropping is negligible
Yearly Per capita foodgrain production is 268.22 kilograms which means on an average
monthly per capita foodgrain production is 22.35 kilograms. This monthly per capita
production is very less. Monthly Per capita production of pulses is 4.48 kilograms which is
good as compared to nearby regions. Oilseed production is also very less.A summary of these
data is presented in the table below.
Table 13: Foodgrain production in Jhabua
Per Capita Food grain Production (in Kilograms.) 268.22
Cereals per Capita (Kg.) 214.4

Pulses Per Capita (Kg.) 53.8
Oilseeds Per Capita (Kg.) 28.2
Source: MPHDR-2003
Land holding structure

The land distribution though small in terms of land per farmer is more equitable as
landlessness is low in the region. Average landholding size, in Jhabua is 2.23 hectare and is
decreasing continuously with further sub-divisions because of increasing popuklation. The
following table from the official records shows the distribution of land among various
categories of farmers. About two third of the total land holdings constitute marginal and small
farmers.
However official figures tend to over estimate the land holding size as at times the land is
Marginal Small farmers Semi medium Medium Large Farmers Total

farmers farmers farmers
Number Land Number Land Number Land Number Land Number Land Number Land
63011 36049 57369 84983 44667 124174 19541 111149 1497 19534 186085 375889
often held in the name of the elder brother after the death of the father; even though the de-
facto separation of the holdings has already taken place. However the quality of land is even
more important than the size of land. This is because with undulating terrain, there are huge
differences in the productivity of the land depending on whether it lies on the lowland or the
top and what is the slope. This makes even a land holding of 4 acres very uneconomical.
Table 14: Land distribution

Source: Land records department, Jhabua
where
Marginal farmers : (below 1 hectare of land)
Small farmers : (1-2 hectare of land)
Semi medium farmers : (2-4 hectares of land)
Medium farmers : (4-10 hectares of land)
Large Farmers : (above 10 hectares of land)
Source: Land records department
Manure, Fertilizers and Pesticides use

With low number of cattle, the availability of manure is also very low. Villagers, normally
keep the entire biodegradable material available near to the house for decomposition in the

pan shape pits to be used as manure, which hardly fulfills their needs. Fertilizer use in the
district is one of the lowest in India, limited to few kilograms of Urea applied as basal dose
with few exceptions of the second application only during exceptionally good monsoon.
The requirement of pesticides is very high especially in the Jhabua Tehsil because of the
presence of a deadly pest called Kamliya Keet. A large board explaining the need to protect
the crops from this pest hangs in the Collectorate compound bearing a testimony to the fact
that not only the farmers but even the officials have been disturbed by the deadly pest that
finishes off the crop in a single day. Villagers often borrow money to purchase Pesticides for
it and in case of non-availability of cash resort only to prayers to save their crops from the
pest.
Labor
Most families meet their own labor needs, more so now, with smaller land holdings. In the
past with bigger land holdings; traditional systems of labor exchange existed. These were
known as Halma and Adji-padji. Halma is a system of collective action where free labor was
provided by the community members for house construction/field ploughing of families who were
very poor and unable to do it themselves, like where there has been the death of main working male
member. Adji-padji is a system where labour was provided on credit i.e. one worked for other in
anticipation of getting the return labor from him when he needed it. These functions main the villages
self sufficient in labor requirements even when the land-holdings were large besides promoting
community togetherness. However, with passage of time and increasing modern influences; these
systems are getting eroded away.
Challenges before Agriculture
Undulating Terrain: Soils being shallow with limited supply of nutrients, moisture retention is
also extremely low. Lack of proper linkages between farmers and various research
organizations working in the area have led to non-delivery of whatever technological inputs
have been developed. The organisation can play a major role in developing efficient linkages
like making available better quality of seeds, demonstration camps for better practices related
to these new varieties, etc.

Seed Availability: Unavailability of appropriate varieties of having all the necessary features
like short duration, drought resistant, pest resistant and decent productivity; results in
problems for the farmers.
Animal Husbandry Linkages: In absence of a developed animal husbandry, the traditional
linkage between agriculture and animal husbandry is missing. Agriculture provides little
fodder and livestock provides little manure
Small and fragmented land: It offers low incentive to invest in land along with the reason of
migration for major part of the year.
Some parts of the region are extremely marginal in terms of their suitability for agriculture.
Undulating terrain and low soil quality makes the productivity extremely low; posing the
question that to what extent can the available land resource be able to provide livelihood
security of the people, especially when the degradation of environment continues with
increasing population.
8) Migration
With Agricultural income extremely low and no alternative means of employment, migration
is a widespread phenomenon in the region. In local terminology, it is referred as ‘Dadhaki pe
jana’. The migration starts after Diwali and at Holi, tribals come back to celebrate Bhagoria.
In general, the intensity of migration is dependent on the monsoon received during the
productive agricultural season. The relation is like - lower the amount of monsoon received,
strenuous will be the cultivation season and thereby it reflects in more intensity of migration.
A study was done by GVT, Jhabua on the migration phenomenon of Jhabua by a survey in 55
villages in Jhabua. The study throws light on various aspects of migration like intensity,
duration and destination of migration. It also explores the nature of work done during the
migration period. Following is the summary of the results thrown out by the study:
Intensity of migration: The migration is a wide spread phenomenon in the

district. 87% of the surveyed house holds observe migration. At working
adult level, the trend is shown by 60% of the surveyed individuals. Of the
male population, 62 % go on to migration, while in case of females, 57%
work as migrants.

Duration of migration: At household level, the migration period is

calculated to be 5.43 i.e. almost 6 months per house hold. In comparison,
per migrant period of migration is 1.78 i.e. about 2 months per migrant.
Number of migrants per household, an important indicator of intensity of
migration, is calculated as 3.
Migration Destination: Majority of the places belong to Gujarat state
followed by Rajasthan. The variation in preference of migration destination
is however quite interesting. Migrants go to as far places as Kolkata in
West Bengal and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. There are places in the district
itself like Meghnagar and Thandla that have also been mentioned by the
respondents as the destinations of migration.
Nature of work: Most of the migrants work as casual labor on daily wages.
During our field work in five villages we verified this fact. Labor contractor
or who ever needs the daily wagers, contact them at Majdur Adda, where
they gather every morning, and takes them to the work site. The work
types are like construction site labor, farm labor and brick making that
account for a major part of the work preference.
As seen by the study results, the migration phenomenon is extremely

widespread in rural Jhabua with 86% of the surveyed households reporting
migration i.e. where at least one member goes for migration. With the
increasing population and shrinking of land holdings, going on migration is
imperative for survival. The practice of Bride price, where the family of the
groom pays to the family of the bride, results in need for cash. With no
other source of cash income, migration is the only option available.
The conditions of the migrants in away lands are very bad. Most of the
migrants are unskilled and there by land up in daily wages at the place of
migration, earning little. Cheating by contractors as they have little
bargaining power in the new lands further complicates the situation.
Education of children suffers as school going children are taken along for
looking after younger siblings. Cases of child labour during migration can
be found as well. The living conditions during migration cause many

health hazards and often the income through migration is lost in

medication. Staying in the open in illegal slums invites harassment from
local policemen and mafias.
Inspite of this, migration cannot be regarded as a problem out rightly.

Earlier study by GVT on the same topic has shown that almost 80% of the
cash income in villages in the district comes through migration. Another
positive aspect of migration in Jhabua district is that it is a periodic and
cyclic phenomenon. This means that unlike the permanent migrants who
loose out on their social roots permanently, migrants from Jhabua stay at
the migration destination only for a certain period. They stay back at the
migration place until lean agricultural season gets over and return to their
native places at the time of onset of monsoon.
9) Livestock
Animal rearing forms an important component of the household economy, especially for the
poor. The animals are more important to those having less land as it could be seen that as the
farm size decreases number of animals increased, especially the number of goats. The goats
are the most widely reared animals, because they can be accompanied during migration and
can be sold in h\need for cash. Cattle are the preferred draught animals and buffaloes, though
rare are prized for their high quality of milk. Most farmers have their own draught animals,
understanding the criticality of availability of ploughing facilities. Ownership of bullocks is
also an important indicator of social status and makes the obtaining of loan much easier.. The
dominant breeds of cattle are Kankrey, Malvi and Nimare, which require less fodder.
However, the milk yield of local varieties is very low, about 1-2 liters per cow per day. The
number and breeds of livestock are constrained by the fodder as fodder availability is very
low. Rarely are crops grown specifically for fodder and very little systems of common
pasturelands have developed in the villages. This scarcity of fodder along with the benefits of
early maturity and short gestation period, low investment and easy liquidity during migration
makes goats the more preferred option. Jamanapuri, Sirohi, Marwari, Jhakhrana, Barbari and
Surati are the main breeds in the area. However, many diseases like Tymphany, Diarrhea and
foul foots often infect goats in the region. Lack of veterinary facilities relating to

immunization etc. further exaggerates the problem. So, a lot of inputs can be given in this
area, providing farmers with sustainable means of supplemental income.
10) Handicrafts
There are a number of handicraft items that are recognized nationally but lack of organized
marketing has limited their role as income generating activities. With proper professional
support, these items have the potential to play an important part in the livelihood systems of
the tribals. Some of the handicraft items are described below:
a) Bandi (Half Coat): It is a suit of tribals of Jhabua districts. It is made by cotton cloth &
designed by some short of silk colored thread, bead work, block printing etc. It looks very
beautiful. Now younger generation like much more. It needs improvement quality wise
besides good marketing.
b) Panja Durri (carpet): This is very special art of Bhil tribes of Jhabua district. It is prepared
by using iron Punja (hand) by local people. The carpet is very good quality wise as well
as rate wise. This is made on the
c) Pithora Art: This is the unique art of Jhabua district. It is acknowledged nationally and
internationally. This art has the mixture of pictures, images of elephants, horses, many pet
animals, tribal dances, rituals, living style and social milieu of tribes. This is the art
which got National award by honorable President of India.
d) Jhabua dolls: Jhabua dolls now has national identity. This are represent the tribal men &
women in colorful traditional attire. The doll shows different type of scene of tradition,
culture and life styles. The doll can be got in various shapes & sizes. This is used for
artifacts for drawing rooms & as gift.
e) Bamboo art: This is one of the best arts of Jhabua district. Under this art variety of item is
made. Item such as baskets, lamps holder, shades, pen stands and other items. By some
short of designing make these crafts more colorful & beautiful. These items are used for
decorative one as well as presents.
f) Bead work: Bead work is special art of Jhabua tribal women. It is designed on various
types of clothes – soft, thick. This bead work further stitched on purses, chunnis (scarf),
file cover, women garments etc. This bead work is liked by women very much.
g) Bows and Arrows: Haria-Kamathi (Bows and Arrows) is a mark of bravery of Bhil
communities. Who uses them for their safeguarding. Now this has been used for interior
decoration & gift purpose.

h) Galsan Mala (bead necklace): This is very common item in tribal women as well as in
other women communities. This is made in very colorfully and beautifully. This art is
taking very fast pace in market.
i) Block Printing: Block print are printed with many natural dyes & blocks in different
designs. This is the design which is more attractive durable and worth attractive. This is
natural & eco friendly in color. So people of high class like much more. The printed
clothes is used for table cover, curtains, clothes and different kind so wear.
j) Chomal (Cushion to carry earthen pot on head): This is one type of traditional item used
for specific purpose. It is very decorative so it is used in marriages and other special
ceremonies. Nowadays this item has become to beauty of drawing rooms in the well off
family.
k) Mud & Stone artifacts: The tribal people have a very creative carving in nature. By using
mud/clay they make horses, elephants, different types of decorative pots. Keeping in the
view of modern demand it is moving towards up-gradation level with lovely and
charming color. These item gives a new look to your drawing hall and lovely places.
Through stone they make variety of decorative item such as stone idol i.e. different types
god and goddess and some historical item that is now out of practice which reminds our
civilization and richness of history
11) Minor Forest Produce

Those who donot have land or animals have to depend on collection and sale of minor forest
produce besides occasional labour. Most of the energy needs of thye region are still met from
fuel wood, though most of it is illegal. IN villages close to forests, people engage in
collection of wild fruits, fuel wood, gum, honey, bamboo, timru(beedi) leaves etc.
Commercial minor forest produce consists of timru leaves (for beedi prearation), mohua (for
preparing alcoholic beverage), khakra leaves (for preparing cups and plates, gum and some
medicinal plants. Earnings are very small and are just able to supplement other income from
labour. With decreasing of forests and stricter controls by forest officials, this supplementary
source of livelihoods is also vanishing.
12) Poultry

Kadaknath is the famous indigenous poultry breed of Jhabua locally known as "Kalamasi"
meaning the fowl having black flesh. Characteristic feature of the bird is black Beak, Comb,
Legs, Dark, colour flesh that is very nutritious and tasty. The flesh of this breed though black
and repulsive to look at, is considered not only a delicacy but also of medicinal value. The
tribal uses Kadakanath blood in the treatment of chronic disease in human beings and its meat
as aphrodisiac. Meat & Eggs of this bird is rich in protein & hemoglobin. The meat and eggs
are reckoned to be a rich source of protein (25.47% in flesh) and iron. It is considered to be a
sacred bird and offered as sacrifice to Goddess after Diwali. In spite of its popularity,
Kadaknath has not been able to make significant contribution to the economy. One reason is
its low egg production (like other local breeds) leaving the flesh as the only major source of
income. So, poultry has not come up on am\n organized scale and is restricted to a few
chicken being reared by individual households.
13) Fisheries
There is some fishing from permanent or seasonal rivers but it has not come up in a very big
way. There have been efforts by the government to promote fisheries but results have been
too small to make any significant difference.
VII DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
As the various development challenges have been presented in the discussions on livelihood
systems, natural resources etc., here the attempt is to summarize them and put them into
perspective.
The biggest challenge for development comes in terms of ensuring decent livelihood options
for the people of Jhabua. Though predominantly an agricultural region, the problems of
undulating terrain, seed availability, etc., discussed before; have all plagued the agriculture in
Jhabua. Decreasing forests base and lack of other livelihood options like handicrafts and
poultry have left the tribal population deprived of any secured livelihood support base. To add
to these livelihood and natural resource management problems; are the social problems. The
expenditures on marriages and deaths are increasing while the age old social practices of
labour sharing are becoming extinct. These are translating into problems of indebtedness and
migration which further cause social isolation and economic misery. As a result, the crime
perpetrates, destroying the socio-politic fabric in the area. So, the problems are deep rooted
and inter-related and the challenge lies in coming out of this quagmire.

In terms of solutions, development has to be based on strengths and not weaknesses. Every
area has certain resources and they need to be used for bringing in development. Jhabua
which boasted of huge resource base in terms of forest cover not very long ago has been
eroded of this resource base. Now, that resource base has been used up without much value
addition to bring economic prosperity, the native tribals are trying to find solutions to food
security through practicing agriculture in a area not conducive for agriculture. And millions
have been almost wasted by the state and the foreign funding agencies to support watershed
missions and land treatment measures instead of developing better models to use the existing
resource base of forests in terms of sustainability and better profits through value addition.
Not to suggest that such measures don’t help, but to do it at a scale that will go on to make
sizeable difference is highly improbable given the resource requirements. So, to change this
resource allocation pattern to bring in better rewards is the real challenge.
PART D - RECOMMENDATIONS
I. INSTITUTION BUILDING
A. ASSOCIATIVE STRUCTURES IN BRIGHTFUTURES APPROACH
This section describes the 3-tier institutional

FEDERATION structure envisaged by the Bright Futures
H
IGH
approach and based on this,
ASSOCIATIONS
recommendations are made about the level of
operation of each of the tier.
MIDDLE LEVEL NEIGHBORHOOD

GROUPS
Jatin Goyal (25019)

LOWEST LEVEL 33 PRM - 25
The Bright Futures Program approach envisages the promotion and development of three
principal levels of community structures, which are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. The
diagram on the left demonstrates generically the levels, which need to be developed in the
associative structures envisaged under the Bright Futures Approach. These include the
neighborhood groups forming the base, associations of such groups at the middle level and
area federations at the top. Whether or not the words “association” and “federation” are used
to differentiate the different levels of hierarchy in the associative structures which are
developed under the Bright Futures approach is not of critical importance, although the
principle of developing structures which bring together different community groups at
different levels should be common to all the structures.
Furthermore precisely how many levels of structure should be developed can also depend on
the local context, although the principle of simplicity should be remembered. The
development of too many levels of structure is likely to be inefficient, complicated and in the
final resort less effective. Three basic levels of structure can be identified, although in some
cases a further intermediary structure may be necessary.
1) Neighborhood Groups
The Concept
The “neighborhood groups” represent the fundamental foundations of the entire structure.
They should consist of the affiliated families, youth and children of the identified
communities where CCF has prioritized its work. Unless local legislation demands it, the
neighborhood groups are unlikely to be legally registered. In general, experience
demonstrates that for practical and organizational reasons, the development of associative
structures should start from the creation of neighborhood groups consisting of 10 – 20
families. Preferably, neighborhood groups should be developed to represent the different
interests of parents, youth and children. This may involve the development of separate
neighborhood groups for parents, youth and children with mutually reinforcing synergy or
one neighborhood group sub-divided in a way, which represents the interests of the respective
groups.
Recommendations

Throughout the region, the settlement pattern is highly dispersed and non-nucleated. People
in the region tend to live on their own farms, often on the top of the mound for protection
purposes by bringing the whole field within shooting distance. So the population gets
distributed throughout the village instead of them working in the farms and coming down to a
central place in the night. A group of families having adjoining farms may form one
settlement called a “falia”. These families are generally of same socio-economic background
and are often related, and voluntary exchanges of goods and labor takes place.
This distributed settlement pattern should be reflected in the membership and pattern of
meetings of the village level institutions.
So, the neighborhood associations should be at the falia level as groups having members from
same falias are likely to have more homogeneity and cohesiveness. Further geographical
closeness will lead to better interaction and presence at meetings.
2) Community Associations
The Concept
Community associations represent the next organizational level up from the neighborhood
groups. These may consist of one or a number of communities within a generally more
limited and defined geographical area. e.g. a village or a cluster of villages in a rural setting
and a suburb in an urban context. Thus community associations may consist of several
hundred families. Their direct sphere of influence is greater than a neighborhood group, but
less than the “federated level”.
Recommendations
The inter-falia cohesiveness extends to the villages as it is believed that the families of the
villages are of the same lineage. This is also reflected in the exogamous nature in village
marriages. However, the administrative boundaries of the village (revenue village) of have
little practical relevance in social life and inter-falia ties may cut across the administrative
boundaries. However in case of political life, they do have a strong relevance; especially now
with the passing of the 73rd amendment leading to regular Panchayat elections and

government schemes being run through Panchayats. And the Panchayats being state
institutions obviously have their sphere of operation defined according to administrative
boundaries. So, the community associations should be at village (or Panchayat level,
depending on the context) level to allow them to collaborate and negotiate with the
Panchayats.
3) AREA FEDERATIONS
The Concept
Community associations will be are aggregated into a broader “umbrella” structure called
Area Federations. This highest level of organization will be CCF’s only direct partner under
the “Bright Futures Program” and that CCF’s human and financial resources will be directed
through this level. The strength and credibility of an area federation is derived from the fact
that it consists of representatives of a number of community associations, representing
neighborhood groups and in the final analysis individual families, youth and children. It is
anticipated that an area federation will have a greater capacity to change the faces of poverty
at a “regional” or “district” level, draft proposals and establish partnerships to implement
such proposals. In future, the area federations supported by CCF may identify the need to
network with other similar “area federations” and build up higher levels of structures such as
national federations. These other area federations may or may not be CCF supported
structures.
Recommendations
It must be mentioned at the very outset that the high level of social unity existing at a falia
and village level does not necessarily translate into unity at regional level (inter-village
unity). It fact it can act to the contrary as personal conflicts can exaggerate into village level
conflicts pretty easily. So, federating the village level institutions into bigger area level
institutions will offer more challenges.
Since the Area federation’s role involves having a direct contact with CCF and creating
linkages with government officials, the area federations should be at a district level as most of
the government programmes are run at the district level. Most of the offices of the
Government departments are located in the vicinity of the Collectorate, Jhabua situated in the

Jhabua main town. Having the same level of working (i.e. district level) will be helpful in
better coordination of work with the Government departments as the area of working of these
departments is limited by the district boundaries.
CAVEAT
District Jhabua
32 In the above-proposed model, each Area federation will
11 have representatives from community associations, which
Tehsil Alirajpur
7 are at the village or Panchayat level. Now, as the project
Tehsil Jhabua
2 grows to include more number of villages, the number of
Tehsil Jobat
2
representatives at the level of federation will be quite high
Tehsil Petlawad
(Jhabua has 1313 inhabited villages and 665 gram
Tehsil Thandla 2
panchayats). So, coordinating meetings and reaching
Tehsil Meghnagar 3
decisions might become difficult. Moreover, the intensity
Tehsil Ranapur 2
of social interactions between the tribals wanes off beyond
Tehsil Bhabra 2
the radius of 15-20 km. So, to collaborate with so many
new people would be difficult especially in cases where they would lay claim to common
resources available for development. So in this case, the flexibility provided by the Bright
Futures Approach to experiment on the number of levels can be explored, by addition of
another level.
Table 15 : Weekly Haat

Baazars in Jhabua The geographical extent of socio-economic contact of the
villagers is generally defined by the catchment area of the
weekly markets and seasonal fairs. Villages being catered
by the same markets are likely to have better contacts with
each other. So, the intermediate level community
associations can be formed corresponding to the group of
villages being catered by the same weekly market. The
other option of deciding the scope of community
associations was at village level but is not considered very
suitable as villages in the region are very small but high in
number. So, in case village was chosen as the level for
community associations, the number of community

associations federated into the area federation level would

be too high
In all there are 32 such Haat Baazars in Jhabua district. The tehsil wise distribution can be
seen from the table. Weekly haats will serve as a common meeting place for members, as
congregation of members would be very difficult in any other case. The process of weekly
meetings can be institutionalized to provide a platform for exchange of ideas. A fixed place
and time can provide this institutionalization while the day of meeting would correspond to
the day on which the market operates.
B. EXISTING INSTITUTIONS
This section attempts to identify the existing institutions and gauge their suitability for
adoption as neighborhood groups under the Bright Future model.
There are a number of existing institutions in the area though their suitability to the CCF’s
model of Bright futures is questionable.
Existing local institutions include official institutions (Gram Panchayats and Cooperatives),
Traditional Institutions including the ‘tadvi’ and ‘bhanjadia’, and various modern institutions
like NGO promoted SHGs.
Government (Promoted) Institutions
Panchayats
3-tier Panchayati Raj system with village level Gram Panchayat, Block Level Panchayat and
a district level Zilla Panchayat exists in the region as in the rest of India. In general, each
Panchayat represents a population of about 5000. With each village of the region having less
population, 3-5 villages are often grouped together to form a Panchayat. Each Gram
Panchayat consists of a sarpanch, up sarpanch and a secretary (or talati/patwari) besides about
10 members. Most development programs are administered through the Panchayats and they
also have considerable resources. With 73rd constitutional amendment coming in, the powers
of Panchayats have increased manifold, though it is yet to reflect in practice. This is because
Panchayats have remained largely unaware of their power and have not actively demanded it.

Though the process of power-shift has been painfully slow, it is still on and presents village
level Panchayats as powerful local institutions to be considered by the project.
But the Panchayats have not been able to bring out the results as planned and face many
weaknesses. Firstly, the Panchayats are controlled by the elites of the village and do not
represent the interests of the poor. The decision-making is controlled by a few (or a single)
influential people and no traditions of democratic decision making exist. Secondly, grouping
of several villages into a single Panchayat makes the Sarpanch a remote and inaccessible
figure for most villagers. Generally, its the Sarpanch’s village that gets the most of the
benefits, leading to tension. Finally, the politicization of Panchayats has made them grounds
to assert political supremacy leading to factionalism. The short-term political interests of the
members often stand in the way of long term project objectives, rendering the projects
ineffective.
Though not all Panchayats have all these shortcomings and some might actually be effective
local level institutions. In fact, Gramin Vikas Trust, an NGO working in the area, identified a
few Panchayats and provided them funds to run their programmes. But such Panchayats are
very rare. So, choosing Panchayats as local level institutions throughout the area will expose
the CCF operations to unacceptable risk of entangling in the local politics. Nonetheless,
maintaining purposive working relationships with the Panchayats is a must, given their
growing relevance. The closeness of this relationship will be decided by the performance of
the individual Panchayat. Moreover the project through its capacity building should try to
increase the capacities of the Panchayats by making them aware of their power and increasing
the accountability of the Panchayats to the people.
Cooperatives
A network of Primary Cooperative Societies provides a number of services to farmers like

agricultural inputs. Known as Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and Large
Agricultural Multi-purpose Societies (LAMPS), they are mostly managed by managers
appointed by District Cooperative Banks. But they suffer from a number of shortcomings that
render them unsuitable as village levels institutions. Being managed by managers appointed
by DCBs, they are hardly people’s organizations in practice. They are seen as complex, alien

institutions unlikely to be suitable forums for community decision-making. The membership

is low and effective membership even lower, due to high level of defaults.
Government Promoted Women’s And Youth Groups
Government has promoted women’s and youth groups for implementation of its programs,
right since the DWCRA days. But most of such groups are promoted for one program and
become non-functional after receiving the benefits. Infact over a period of time, people have
started viewing groups as means of receiving government benefits, but no institutionalizing
of these groups making them into permanent institutions for development have been made.
Other groups like Parent Teacher Associations have functioned only on paper and have rarely
commanded any power in the villages.
NGO Promoted Groups
Though many NGOs have been working in the area since a long time, but still not much has
been done in terms of institution building in this region. Either SHGs have not been promoted
or they have died down just a few years after their inception. Most difficult has been the
functioning of those SHGs where community contribution has been required. For, example in
AST (one of CCF partners), the farmer groups promoted for distributing agricultural inputs
like seeds, implements are working fine. But when it comes to credit SHGs where members
need to pool in their own money and lend to each other, results have not been that
encouraging. In fact in one of the SHGs, once the primary collection through contribution
was done, members were not willing to lend the money to one of the members, either out of
distrust or fear of default. So, it indicates that members had formed the SHG to get additional
contribution from NGO/Government. and then just distribute that money within themselves,
much like what is done in most government run schemes.
So, more than the lack of institution building efforts, it is more what has been done in the
name of institution building which is more damaging. This doling out of benefits by
government and some NGOs through SHGs and other groups has created a wrong culture,
which will prove to be the most challenging to weed out.

But some of the NGOs have built some effective models of SHGs or other organizations,
which have been successful to some extent, if not fully. Development agencies like Jhabua
Diocese (JDSS), GVT and Sadguru foundation have had moderate success in institution
building. But it has been in small pockets and very limited than what is required by CCF. A
special mention here is required of GVT initiated SHGs. GVT has been receiving DFID
funding which expires within about nine months. It has developed a business plan to turn into
a consultancy organization in case it does not get enough funds. So, GVT initiated SHGs
might need support once GVT ends its support. The possibility of directly adopting these
SHGs can be explored.
Other Voluntary Groups

Some groups have also come up voluntarily or with some outside initiation. One type of such
groups was the bhajan mandalies (seen in Petlawad) formed primarily for devotional singing,
and diversified into other purposes like mutual lending, though informally. Such groups
indicate positively the possibility of forming institutions. There might be opportunities of
working with such institutions where they are seen to be credible and effective. But the
number of such groups is too low to hold out much promise, though they should be engaged,
wherever possible after detailed assessment.
CONCLUSION
On the whole, existing institutions are not credible enough to be adopted directly as village
level institutions in the Bright Futures approach. Though some of the successful institutions
can be adopted depending upon their performance and support among the people, most of the
institution building work has to be done by CCF itself. And it will not be very easy
considering that the culture of doling out of benefits through groups has taken strong roots
among the people. So, the unlearning of this culture will require substantial time and effort.
Nonetheless, experience of some of the NGOs having moderate success has shown that it is
socially possible to create promote alternative institutions for development at the village
level. Some other issues and recommendations for institution building based on seeing the
existing institutions are presented below:
o Groups are likely to emerge out and continue only around strongly felt needs. So,
different types of institutions may be required. For example, those depending totally on

migration and goatary may not be interested in groups related to farming, women might
not be that interested in farmer groups and men might not be interested in the group
promoting child and maternal health care. So, there would be need for different types of
groups at the falia level.
o Strong precedence of doling out benefits through groups will make the continuation of
institutions difficult once the initial expectations of getting direct benefits are not met.
These expectations will be there even if no such promises are made; given the
precedence. So, the concept of institutions as self supporting institutions will need to be
drilled into the minds of the members to avoid belying of any hopes later.
o Institution building should start from informal groups having limited functions (not
involving money) like providing training to farmers, awareness camps about pregnancy
care etc. Pumping in of money at the very beginning might lead to undue expectations
and even conflicts. Further, formalization of the groups will be required for handling of
money and doing this too soon will bring along with it the complex bureaucratic
procedures associated with registration etc.
o Level of education in the area is extremely low. It might be a challenge to find even a
single village level worker capable of performing roles like maintaining accounts, record
keeping etc. So, a lot of capacity building needs to be done by trainings etc. the younger
generation being comparatively more educated should be groomed to take on such
responsibilities once the groups reach a stage of maturity and start handling decent
amounts of money.
o Institution building should begin with villages where chances of success are more. This
will be where there are proven cases of cooperation, community is relatively homogenous
and the existing leaders more responsive to the needs of the people.
II. PARTNERSHIPS WITH OTHER AGENCIES
1) NGOs

A number of NGOs were visited during the course and the nature of their work was studied.
Discussions about the effects of their interventions were done as well. Discussions with the
NGO officials and the field staff about the performance of fellow NGOs were held. Some
secondary data was collected as well. On the basis of all these, a few NGOs have been
identified along with the core competency. The level of partnership with these NGOs can
vary from simple sharing of information to outsourcing some of the interventions, depending
on the need of the project. This identification was done on both relative and absolute terms.
i.e.if the NGO is the only one to take up a specific theme it makes it a natural choice for
recommending on a relative basis. Further these NGOs were also analyzed absolutely based
on the impact of their work on the lives of the community. So, in the fields mentioned, these
NGOs are among the best available for partnership.
1. Livelihood Support- GVT

2. Water and Soil Conservation – NM Sadguru Foundation
3. Education – JDSS (Jhabua diocese)
4. Social issues – SAMPARK
5. Rehabilitation of the Physical and Mentally Challenged– ASHAGRAM, Barwani
2) Resource Agencies
Some of the resource agencies providing trainings and other technical inputs were also
identified on the basis of discussions with NGO officials. These are mentioned below:
1. Education – EKLAVYA
2. Health – SEWA RURAL, CEHAT (Center for Enquiry Into Health and Allied Themes)
3. Water and Soil Conservation – NM Sadguru Research Center.
3) Research Stations
Some of the agriculture research institutes with whom possibilities of partnership for
providing technical inputs like seeds, pesticides and conducting on-field demonstration
camps for agriculture are:
1. National Research Center for Groundnut(NRCG), Junagarh, Gujarat
2. National Research Center for Soyabean (NRCS), Indore, M.P.
3. Indian Agricultural Research Institute

4. Krishi Vigyan Kendras

5. Zonal Agriculture Research Station, Teekamgarh
6. ARS, Khargone
III. OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

o The region identified is very poor and thus offers a considerable opportunity in terms of
poverty-focused development programs. At the same time, it should be realized that a lot
of efforts have been made both by the state and NGOs to develop the area, with the
results not being very encouraging. The government programs have been largely top-
down approaches ridden with corruption while the NGO interventions have also had
limited success due to their inability to build proper people’s institutions for program
delivery. The organization should guard against this to avoid ending up as just one more
among scores of NGOs whose efforts have not really been able to bring about results.
o The development in any village of the region is directly proportional to its accessibility.
The more interior and unconnected the village is, the worse the situation. So, CCF will do
a world of good if it reaches out to these interior villages as very little developmental
work is being done in these areas by government or NGOs. Moreover, strategically also it
makes a lot of sense as remote villages devoid of regular contact with outside world have
little differentiation through hierarchical social patterns which are have formed in low-
lying villages closer to market centers. So, a more undifferentiated and egalitarian
distribution will help the process of institution building.
o The rural population is overwhelmingly agricultural and poor. But they do have direct
access to means of production like land and cattle. Even though the landholdings are
small, landlessness is low. So, a lot of scope for providing agricultural support to
strengthen the livelihoods system is present.
o Though the tribals have started using some modern inputs, the corresponding knowledge
required is missing. For example, though some tribals do sow high yielding varieties, the
corresponding inputs like knowledge about depth of sowing, timing of watering and
spraying fertilizers etc. is missing. Since the modern inputs have not come as a package,
they are doing more harm than good. So, developing linkages between the area
federations and a number of agriculture research institutions existing in the area needs to
be done, so as to ensure proper technical inputs to the crops.

o The agricultural interventions planned should make fewer demands in terms of labor and
capital as the opportunity cost of foregoing migrational labor is already going to be quite
high, and given the low risk bearing capacity of the farmers, it could result into disastrous
consequences. Further the innovations should as far as possible combine well with the
existing patterns of farming to increase its chances of successful adoption by the farmers.
Farmers in some areas have already burnt their fingers with modern inputs (Bt cotton),
and some kind of apprehensiveness can be expected.
o Deficit-induced debt ties a large number of marginal farmers into relationships with the
money-lenders who take on multiple roles of credit and input supply and marketing of
crops (advance sale is done by farmers) in ways that rob the farmers their fair share in the
produce. Promotion of farmer controlled credit supply institutions could be an answer to
the situation but it would again require considerable capacity building of these institutions
as a lot of money-handling is needed.
o The requirement of credit for social obligations and emergencies is greater than for agri-
inputs. With rise in expenditures on occasions like marriage, death, rakhi etc., a lot of
credit is taken for unproductive use. The credit in this case is generally as cash and is
taken almost totally from moneylenders. The credit rates may go up to 5-7% per month
depending on the need and repaying capability of the debtor. Thus, expenditures on social
obligations actually cause more indebtedness than need of agri-inputs. So, the project
should have a component aimed at increasing social awareness about reducing social
expenditures, though it should be well understood that efforts to change social systems do
not produce quick results.
o Land ownership in the region is not well defined, with very few farmers having no title to
the land they cultivate. Joint holding of land by brothers, illegal encroachment of land and
debt induced informal and hidden tenancy further complicates the situation. This is likely
to be a challenge for any effort to develop land or water conservation as such efforts if
done by ensuring community stake, require considerable investments in land.
o Livestock (especially goats) play an important role in the economy especially by
providing security in case of exigencies and during migration. So, though the interest to
increase these assets by the community, fodder availability will impose major constraint
in such a venture. So, a comprehensive fodder regeneration program needs to be planned
in order to support the livestock. Development of community wastelands would fit well in
with the institution-based concept of Bright Futures, but community ownership is rare

presently. The complicated procedures for acquiring joint rights (to lands will be a
challenge. Further, such ventures would need mature village level institutions with
necessary management skills to establish and ensure following of equitable and just rules
and regulations for division of work, benefits etc.
o Low water retention and bad soil cover owing to undulating terrain also demand scientific
water and soil conservation measures. But most of the soil and water conservation
measures have been undertaken in small pockets leading to very limited effect. CCF with
a much more resources and reach can undertake these measures on a bigger scale though
it would be difficult to balance this kind of big scale intervention with CCF’s child focus.
o There exist/existed traditional systems of labor sharing like halma and adji padji, which
can be seen as assets contributing to developing a community feeling. But over a period
of time, such systems have declined and almost vanished from some areas, and not many
NGOs have tried to rejuvenate these systems. The project should incorporate a concerted
effort to rejuvenate and build upon such systems to increase the overall community
feeling in the project area.
o The power equations at village level are very different depending on the context and
should be understood in detail. For example, the traditional institutions of the tribals
(tadvi and bhanjadia) often wield more power than government panchayats, though this
equation is changing with more and more powers being conferred on panchayats.
o There are fewer social constraints to women participation in tribal society. Nonetheless,
they are discriminated against in their limited access to traditional and official institutions
of decision-making. So, concerted effort for the promotion of women’s institutions needs
to be made to change the oppressive gender roles.
o Though an attempt has been made to understand and describe the socio-economic life in
the region, more detailed and locality specific information needs to be collected and
understood, as the socio-economic life of the tribals is very different from the outside
world and also has great variations within. So, the capacity to further and deepen the
understanding of the socio-economic context should be built into the project.

PART E: POTENTIAL RISKS
Jhabua has been the communal hotbed with the organizations like the RSS, Shivsena and the
V.H.P. protesting against the work of Christian Missionaries led by the Jhabua Diocese. These
organizations claim that the Christian missionaries are working for their hidden agenda of
conversions in the garb of developmental work. The presence of a considerable population of
converted Christians adds weight to their claim though it is never questioned as to whether
the conversions were voluntary or through giving of financial doles. The distrust about the
missionaries extends beyond these organizations and is deep rooted in parts of community
itself. I came across a number of people accusing the missionary activities of conversion
agenda. Infact, one of the villagers also mentioned that they no longer like the members of
the adjoining falia for allowing the missionaries to work in their area and would themselves
never do the same for their own falia.

The gang rape of three Catholic nuns and an attack on a Christian missionary center in Jhabua
sparked nation wide allegations of a communal mobilization to target minorities. President of
the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India led a delegation to submit a memorandum to the
then Union Home Minister seeking action against those involved in the gang rape and
protection for Christian institutions. The tragic event received even international attention and
was decried world wide. In 1994, terror returned to Jhabua. From January 14 to 17, the
minorities were systematically targeted - their homes were burnt, their property was looted
and vandalised and their religious effects desecrated. The immediate provocation was the
alleged rape and murder of a young girl in the premises of the Catholic church. The body was
discovered in a bathroom, adjacent to the Catholic Mission School, which is within the
church campus. This sparked off rumours that the main priest was responsible for the deed.
As the violence continued, administration alledgedly took no measures to control the violence
directed to “teach the Christians a lesson”. With the BJP in power, even this issue became a
political one and received emense coverage in the media.
This kind of communal unrest can be a very serious risk for CCF, which is seen to be a
Christian organization because of its name. Though the risk can be lessened by working
under a different name (Child Fund India might be in place till in implementation of Bright
Futures starts in Jhabua region), but the risk still remains. The reason for this is that because
the visibility of Jhabua communal violence is very high on the national and even international
level, roots of Child Fund India can be traced back to CCF Inc., and the general public can
always be expected to believe the worst.
The other risk factor of operating in the area could be the prevalence of general crime in the
region. Travel by an outsider in the interior remote villages in the night is almost suicidal.
CCFI, which has eschewed working in dangerous regions due to its child sponsorship
strategy where some sponsors could come to meet the children, can land up in trouble as
foreigners are more likely targets for looting etc.
The other potential risk comes from the fact is that the level of education being low and not a
very good culture of people’s based institutions being in place; progress is likely to be very
slow. Working in the project mode with time bound targets in relation to institution building
may lead to frustration in case of non-achievement of targets; putting the whole project in
jeopardy.

REFERENCES
1) Banerjee, R, 2003, Status of Informal Rural Financial Markets in Adivasi Dominated

Regions of Western Madhya Pradesh, Working Paper, Department of Economic Analysis
and Research, NABARD, Mumbai.
2) Taneja, Priti V. & Saxena, Manisha : Nutritional Anthropometry of Bhil Women in
Jhabua District of Madhya Pradesh. The Indian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics. Apr.
1998. 35(4). p.98-102. Location: SNDT Churchgage.
3) Priti V. Taneja and Manisha Saxena (Baba Saheb Ambedkar National Institute of Social
Sciences, MHOW (MP) (Received 27th February, 1998)
4) Zilla Sankhiaki Pustika, 2004
5) Raghunandan Velankar, Rural Migration in Jhabua – A Report Bhopal, April 2004.

6) The Game of Targeted Public Distribution System in the Life of Tribal Communities of
Madhya Pradesh, SAMPARK
CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN (JHABUA)
By
JATIN GOYAL (25019)

Organisational Traineeship Segment
PRM 2004-06

Submitted to
Christian Children’s Fund India
August, 2005
Institute of Rural Management Anand

2005
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and our OTS Co-
ordinator, Prof. Jayant Negi, for providing me with the opportunity to conduct this study. I
would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my faculty guide, Prof. Debi Prasad Misra,
for guidance and valuable suggestions throughout the study.
I thank my host organisation Christian Children’s Fund India for hosting me for my
study. My sincere thanks are due to Mr. Dola Mahapatra, National Director, CCFI for his
support and encouragement. I express my gratitude to Mr. Guru Naik, program director CCFI
and my reporting officer for his valuable inputs and logistics support.

I wish to thank Mr. Tapan Bhattacharya, Chairman of Adivasi Sewashram Trust and
the rest of the staff of AST for providingme the logistical support during my study period.
Thanks are also due to other NGOs and various government officials for sharing their insights
with me. Most importantly, I thank the people of Jhabua who helped me in this study by
sharing their experiences with me.
Jatin Goyal
PRM - 25
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Project Title : Cluster Development Plan - Jhabua Cluster

Organization : Christian Children’s Fund India
Reporting Officer : Mr.Guru Naik, Program Director, CCF India
Faculty Guide : Prof. Debi Prasad Misra
Student’s name : Jatin Goyal (25019)
Objective: CCF India is in the process of redefining its operational philosophy as working
through NGOs for more than 50 years has not led to desired results. For this, Bright Futures
Approach is suggested, at the heart of which is working directly with 3-tier people’s
institutions. The objective of the study is to recommend an intervention strategy for CCF-
India under the broad framework of Bright Futures after a thorough study of a poverty cluster
including its demographic characteristics, natural resource base, livelihood patterns and the
developmental challenges faced by the community, especially children. Exploring partnership
avenues with organisations working in the region and identifying potential risks are also the
objectives.
Scope: The scope of the study is limited to tri-junction area of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and
Rajasthan around the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.

Methodology: The wide geographical and thematic scope ruled out using any structured,
questionnaire based survey for primary data collection. So, most of the data collection was
through unstructured and semi-structured interviews with the community, NGO workers and
government officials. Secondary sources of data include thematic studies done by NGOs, data
from government records and internet.
Major Findings: Jhabua region is predominantly tribal and poor lagging in almost all
development indicators. The level of development in the villages is directly proportional to its
accessibility from the town. The settlement pattern within the villages is distributed into
falias. Agriculture, migration, animal rearing and forestry are the existing major livelihood
options while others like handicrafts and poultry need to be promoted. Undulating terrain and
poor soil are main challenges for agriculture. Though the performance of Jhabua on all
indicators is poor, the felt need for health facilities is especially high. High social
expenditures during marriages, deaths and festivals cause undue financial burden and often
force the villagers into migration. Various governmental and non-governmental organizations
are operational in the area. A number of local institutions exist including official institutions
(Gram Panchayats and Cooperatives), traditional institutions (tadvi and bhanjadia) and
various modern institutions like NGO promoted SHGs. However, there exists a strong
precedence of doling out benefits through groups.
Recommendations: The falia level groups, village level community associations and district
level area federations should form the 3 tier institutions, though the option of another tier at
the level of catchment area of weekly haat should be left open. The interventions should
ideally start from the remote interior villages as they are the most vulnerable ones. Most of
the existing institutions are not credible enough to be adopted directly as village level
institutions in the Bright Futures approach and only a few can be adopted depending upon
their performance and local support. Meaningful partnerships with NGOs and government
departments can be built with level of cooperation ranging from sharing of understanding to
collaboration in projects. Concept of institutions as self supporting institutions (instead of
those doling out benefits) will need to be drilled into the minds of the people and hence
institution building should start from informal groups having limited financial functions.
Violence, especially communal, is the biggest risk of operating in the cluster.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………..1
II. Objectives of the Study…………………………………………………………………...1
III. Scope of the Study……………………………………………………………………….1
IV. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………...2
PART B: IDENTIFICATION OF THE CLUSTER

I. State Level Comparison…………………………………………………………...……....4

II. Block / Tehsil Wise Comparison……………………………………………...……….…5

III. Identification of the Cluster……………………………………………………………..7
PART C: DESCRIPTION OF THE CLUSTER

I. Basic Introduction to Jhabua…………………………………………………………
….8
II. Demography……………………………………………………………………………
10
III. Natural Resources……………………………………………………………….…….13
IV. Infrastructure ……………………………………………………………………..…...16
V. Social System……………………………………………………………………………19
VI. Livelihood Pattern………………………………………………………………
…..…23
PART D – RECOMMENDATIONS
I. Institution Building………………………………………………………………………33
II. Partnerships with Other Agencies……………………………………………….…….42
III. Other Recommendations………………………………………………………………43
PART E: POTENTIAL RISKS
Table of Tables

Table 1: Selected Human Development Indicators for Jhabua District

Table 2: District/ Block wise Comparison
Table 3: Administrative units of Jhabua
Table 4: Demographic Statistics
Table 5: Population wise distribution of villages
Table 6: Literacy rates for Jhabua
Table 7: Health Indicators for Jhabua
Table 8: Land and Soil Characteristics
Table 9: PDS system in Jhabua
Table 10: Educational Institutions in Jhabua District
Table 11: Teachers in Jhabua District
Table 12: Summary of Agricultural Statistics
Table 13: Foodgrain production in Jhabua
Table 14: Land distribution
Table 15: Weekly Haat Baazars in Jhabua

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Jhabua Cluster Development Plan OAC Report

PART A: INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

In accordance with CCF India’s planned strategy of working through a cluster-based

II. Objectives of the Study

The specific objectives of the study as suggested by CCF are as follows:

III. Scope of the Study

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Keeping in view the objective of developing a broad understanding of a vast geographical

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PART B: IDENTIFICATION OF THE CLUSTER

I. State Level Comparison

Table 1: Selected Human Development Indicators for Jhabua District

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II. Block / Tehsil Wise Comparison

Jhabua comprises of 8 tehsils and 12 development blocks. A comparison was done to

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Table 2: District/ Block wise Comparison

III. Identification of the Cluster

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PART C: DESCRIPTION OF THE CLUSTER

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Table 4: Demographic Statistics

Indicator Unit M.P. Jhabua

Source: Census 1991 and 2001

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Uninhabited No. of villages with the population

Table 6: Literacy rates for Jhabua

Source: Census 1991 and 2001

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Table 7: Health Indicators for Jhabua

Source: Annual Plan 2005-06, District Planning Department

II. NATURAL RESOURCES

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1) Land and Soil

Table 8: Land and Soil Characteristics

Plateau Deep to very deep; dark, black cotton 15%

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2) Public Distribution System

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Table 10: Educational Institutions in Jhabua District

Year Aanganwadi Primary Middle High School Higher Colleges

2002-2003 1433 426 63 59 6

2003-2004 1997 1595 449 63 59 6

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Table 11: Teachers in Jhabua District

Year Primary Middle High Higher Colleges

IV. SOCIAL SYSTEM

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II. LIVELIHOOD PATTERN

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2 Double cropped area as a Percentage 27.7 8.30

7 Average size of landholding (Ha) Hectare 2.23

8 Gross Irrigated Area (000 Ha) 000 Hectare 82.2

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9 Cropped area under food Grains Percentage 81.7%