“EVEN THE POOREST AMONG POOR AREREADY TO EDUCATE THEIR GIRL CHILDREN.”
climate-change, promotion of people’s intuitions in the region. He is a global leader advocating for ending child marriage and ensuring gender equality. He is chairing the Girls not Bride-Rajasthan Alliance. Arvind was pioneer in
initiating and promoting rural tourism with the focus of community development in the Thar Desert. His concern for desert issues and advocacy urged him to promote a research-based initiative-Desert Resource Center.
In an exclusive interview, Arvind Ojha shares with Marie Banu Urmul’s journey.
Can you share the changes you see over the last three decades?
It is almost three decades now and I can see a lot of changes. Earlier there were no roads and no water in the desert regions. Also, there were no health or education services in this area. URMUL decided not to wait for these services
to be provided, but started engaging in health care services for our project villages. We focused on safe childbirth, maternal and child health, and tuberculosis (as its prevalence was high in this region). Gradually, we extended
this program to different desert regions of Rajasthan.
In 1987-1988, Rajasthan faced its worst drought. We had to relook at our focus area, and recognized livelihood to be more important for these communities with their incomes becoming rare. So, we worked with the District Administration
and carried out famine relief works like pond construction. We understood that providing drought relief work alone was not sufficient and there was a need for drought proofing. For instance, ponds required cement lining so that the
water could be retained for longer periods.
Another change is in the area of girl child education. In 1988, I conducted a study and found the women literacy was only 7% . We were once asked to manage a GOI project, which was to run 30 non-formal centres. But, we did not have
teachers. It was a pity!
Hence, we focused on educating girls first. We initiated a project along with Lok Jumbish – an educational intervention of the Government of India started by Anil Bordia.
We started Balika Shivir in the border areas of Rajasthan in the police chowki premises. At first, it was a challenge to ask the villagers to send their children for residential training.
There are a lot of researches and evidences to show that parents do not want to educate their girl children as they have a lot of work they have to manage in the household – from care of siblings and parents, to managing the livestock
and doing household chores. We did not lose hope and tried.
We started with 140 girls and allowed parents to meet their daughters on Sundays. Confidence Building among the girls was a major area that we focused upon. We taught them communication skills besides academics. I am proud to say that
more than 40,000 girls have been educated up to 5th standard and many have joined college. Some have become nurses, teachers, and sarpanches as well. The girls who were once shy, are now leading confident lives.
Two things were important in Balika Shivir. Community living was an issue due to caste factors. In our culture, we have community eating which develops culture and relationships. Hence, we brought in this system although it was difficult
in the beginning. Now, we see a lot of change in the girls as they grow. They have made good friends with their peers irrespective of caste. Although they have to follow the caste system in their homes, I am certain that when they
become mothers they won’t. It is a long term social change process.
Secondly, it is a myth that the village community would not educate their daughters. After educating 40,000 girls we realized that even the poorest among poor are ready to educate their girl children provided they are assured safety.
What were the innovative programs launched by your Trust?
URMUL worked in Rajasthan canal areas and worked on settlements, displacement, water distribution, and channel constructions. We had two innovative programs. One was the Shiksha Karmi schools (200 in number), which was launched
with the support of the State and Central Government, and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
The people who were settling in the new canal areas were abandoning their villages and the schools were not put to use. Hence, there was a need for new schools in the regions where they were relocated. URMUL was also the agency for
training the teachers for these schools. We identified local people – boys who were educated up to 8th standard and girls who were educated up to 5th standard.
A question was raised in parliament if we were providing quality education, as the teachers were not qualified. Late Shri Narasimha Rao who was the Prime Minister at this time, formed a committee that was headed by Smt. Ananda Lakshmi
and a comparative study was comissioned. The report findings revealed that our schools were performing better when compared to other government schools in all aspects of education (IQ, aptitude, reasoning, etc) because our school
students were regular.
The other innovative program was remedial solutions for watercourse covering strategy in desert regions. The water channels in desert areas are constructed in contours or sand dunes and during summer the farmers on the tail end of
the channels are affected. We found a low cost remedial solution for these watercourses and it was fantastic. The government was appreciative and World Food Organisation offered us support to cover more such canals. Now, you
can see the change in these areas.
We organized canal yatra, which was not appreciative of the government though. But, when we submitted our report, some issues like water logging, and malaria were received well.
What are the crafts that are promoted by URMUL?
There are a lot of good crafts in desert regions and we realised that it would be fantastic if we could revive them, as it will provide livelihoods for artisans. The caste hierarchy is comparatively very high in this region and artisans
belong to backward castes.
The art of embroidery actually came from Pakistan during the Second World War in 1970s when around 20,000 refugees came to India. They lived in refugee camps for 17 years and on release were allocated lands in the Bikaner canal area
where there was no water. Hence, they engaged in cutting shrubs that were used to make coal, and also produced liquor. After URMUL’s intervention, these women were engaged in embroidery, as they are good at it. They are now earning
their livelihoods while at home.
There were a lot of charkhas (spinning wheel) lying in the rooftop of villager’s homes. This meant that these people knew spinning. Bikaner is one of the biggest wool markets in India and there were Khadi institutions that were not
functional. So, we bought sheep wool and engaged the villagers in spinning. There was a lot of wool remaining, and so we involved the weavers who were affected by drought and trained them in spinning. As the local market was
affected, we explored urban markets and involved NID in designing and young boys from IRMA as well.
Old women were skilled in this activity and could work from their own homes. They could earn an income in a dignified way instead of digging ponds or being engaged in road works.
About farm stays in Rajasthan coordinated by your Trust?
Urmul has partnered with Association for Fair Tourism and Solidarity and provide support for foreign tourists who wish to visit villages in Rajasthan. Local villagers in our project areas are identified to host the foreign guests,
who are mostly from France.
In the beginning it was difficult to gain the confidence of villagers but now they are open to accommodate them in their homes and are learning from each other.
We have trained the villagers to provide basic hygiene requirements for their guests and have created an additional livelihood opportunity for these villagers. We encouraged them to construct a simple toilet for the sake of tourists,
which they did. With the facility being available, the families have now started to use it.
During the farm stay period, the tourist visits the local artisans and some even engage in agricultural work. We believe that they should see the beauty of the desert and also understand the development happening at the village level.
