NREGS proves a boon to impoverished Anantapur
Source: The Sangai Express / Satyajit Usham

Imphal, November 17 2009: After years of suffering under the impact of recurring droughts, the flagship programme of the UPA Govern ment, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has brought smile on the faces of farmers in many villages of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.

Since the launch of the scheme, that guarantees a minimum of 100 days employment in a year in 2006, there has been a drastic reduction in the number of distress migration of farmers to cities in search of livelihood apart from regeneration of the forest cover.

The scheme has also provided an additional livelihood option to many landless farmers/labourers who for so long have lived at the mercy of big landowners.

Villagers of Anantapur find work under the NREGS

55-year old Perinaik, a farmer in Settipalli village under Penukonda Mandal of the district, who own 5 acres of Government assigned land, informed that the works allocated under NREGS have benefited the villagers doubly.

''Besides receiving the assigned land, we also get the NREGS wages for works performed on the same assigned land like removing boulders, etc to make it fit for cultivation'', Perinaik explained.

50-year old Budappa, another farmer, recalled that before the introduction of NREGS there used to be mass migration of the villagers not only from Settipalli, but also from other neighbouring villages to the cities in search of work as rain remained elusive and the crops failed repeatedly.

But this trend has been reversed.

'We can now send our children to school', Budappa said.

However, the landless labourers do still go to cities in search of work and come back when there is NREGS works, he added.

Construction of contour trenches around the once barren hillocks that dotted everywhere as a common feature of the district has also helped not only in harvesting the rain water for agricultural purpose on the assigned land which mostly located at the foothills of these hillocks but also in regeneration of forest cover.

Presenting a contrasting picture of the villages in Anantapur a decade ago and now, Gangi Reddy, one of the chief functionaries of Anantha Paryavarana Parirakshana Samithi (APPS), a collective of 13 NGOs, which is currently implementing the programme of Natural Forest Regeneration along side NREGS in 10 villages under Penukonda Mandal, observed that until a couple of decades back, the villagers used to depend on forest for all their needs and they were getting good yield from their agricultural land and leading comfortable life.

However, after the dense growth of vegetation was destroyed for various purposes like unorganised coal mining and lime/brick kilns and the green covers of the forest plundered by timber merchants, a slow but gradual change in the climatic condition characterised by erratic and ill-distributed rainfall and drying of water bodies was experienced by the people.

Drilling of more bore wells to tap the ground water for cultivation during times of scanty rainfall and market driven agricultural practice of mono-cropping with heavy reliant on chemical fertiliser which ultimately degraded the fertility of the soil had almost brought Anantapur to verge of desertification until the intervention of the NGOs and the support of the district administration in spreading public awareness on issues related to environment.

Today, nearly 5000 acres of revenue land have been protected the natural forest regeneration programme with the involvement of the people who organised Paryavarana Parirakshana Samithi (PPS) at the village level.

To rejuvenate the dying land, activities like seed dibbling, plantation and construction of water harvesting structures have also been taken up in the protected area, thereby ensuring sustainable development and livelihood of the people.

Securing of the usufruct rights of the people over the produce from revenue forest is another significant achievement that has resulted in inculcating a sense of responsibility among the villagers in contributing their mite towards regeneration of the depleting forest cover.

The level of ground water which was not available even at the dept of 200 ft during late 1990s, too has increased considerably after the protection of the forest area.

Today water is available even at the dept of 80 feet.