North Gujarat Sustainable Groundwater Initiative

The North Gujarat Sustainable Groundwater Initiative proposes steps to curtail groundwater deficit of the region, and over time, help raise groundwater tables, reduce costs and energy use in groundwater irrigation, thereby laying the foundation for a more vibrant, wealth-creating agriculture. An important spill-over benefit will be uniform reduction in the fluoride-related health costs through both supply side interventions as well as the awareness-building activities. If it succeeds, such an initiative may offer a ‘show-case’ for sustainable local land and water management in water-stressed regions elsewhere in India and the world.

On June 11-12, 2001, IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program organized, in collaboration with the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) a Policy Consultation on ‘Gujarat’s Water Future’. At the end of a focused discussion, this Consultation adopted an agenda of practical action and research with a clutch of practical ideas to be pursued further. The consultation received over-whelming response from participants especially the three Cooperative Milk Unions in Banaskantha, Mehsana and Sabarkantha. Since then, IWMI-Tata India Program has been steering the activities on this front aiming at giving the initiative a formal structure.

The IWMI-Tata Mission to Banaskantha headed by Dr. S. A. Prathapar (Professor, University of Technology, Sydney) recommended a four-point action program for the district. Following upon that, a fieldwork was undertaken to understand that ground situation in the three different hydro-geological zones of the district and recommend an actionable program. Several other field visits were undertaken to look at successful initiatives within and outside Gujarat and their applicability for the North Gujarat Initiative was studied. These included visits to the successful Maikaal Bio-re Project near Maheshwar, visit to Mehsana – Motibhai Foundation as well as Saurashtra – Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust.

Based on the inputs from the field, a concept note on the North Gujarat Sustainable Groundwater Initiative was prepared and the same was circulated among well-known academicians, researchers and decision makers within ad outside Gujarat. The note was very well received among the group and some very helpful suggestions were generated. A One-Day Consultation, in partnership with the Gujarat Ecological Commission, to discuss the issues and the future course of action was called at IRMA. The consultation was attended by senior representatives from Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation and the three district Milk Unions of Banaskantha, Mehsana and Sabarkantha. Many organizations working in the state including Sadguru Foundation, Anarde Foundation, NTGCF, Utthan, Appropriate Technologies International, MRCF, SAVE, VIKAS, Development Support Centre, AKRSP, Bhansali Trust, INREM Foundation, Jeevantirth and CSSRI sent their representatives for the consultation. Also present were senior officials from the Central Ground Water Board, New Delhi and Ahmedabad. The meeting was also attended by Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General, IWMI, and Dr. Sakthivadivel, Senior Scientist, IWMI who were on a visit to India and provided valuable inputs for the preparation and the discussion on the concept note. The consultation was chaired by Mr. Hasmukh Shah, Chairman, Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC).

The discussions in the day long consultation ranged from technical and scientific contributions from researchers and research institutions and the organization and operationalisation aspects from the leading managers and decision makers at the state as well as the national level. It was decided that the ‘North Gujarat Sustainable Groundwater Initiative’ (NGI) will be formally launched on 2nd October. An Ad-hoc committee comprising of Secretary (or representative), GEC, Prof. Tushaar Shah, IWMI-Tata Program, Chairmen of Banaskantha, Mehsana and Sabarkantha District Milk Unions and Mr. S S Patel, Anarde Foundation was set-up to steer the process upto 2nd October and to review and modify the organization structure recommended by the concept note for implementing the NGI.

The Ad-hoc Committee will undertake measures needed to raise resources to implement the NGI. Until then, key partners will contribute to a start-up fund. Dr. frank Rijsberman, Director General, IWMI offered a contribution of Rs. 5 lakh. It was recommended that the Dairy Unions too contribute Rs. 5 lakh each. The Gujarat Ecology Commission will contribute about Rs. 20 lakh but will need some time to process the proposal. SDC, New Delhi has shown preliminary interest in supporting the NGI’s organization costs once it takes a firm shape. This interest is however extremely tentative and subject to their financial planning.

One of the components in the NGI Proposal is the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Support. This is where IWMI-Tata India Program seeks to significantly contribute in the project. The ground level implementation of the program is proposed to be carried out by the NGOs involved in the project with the administrative support of the Milk Cooperative Unions. IWMI-Tata’s role in the project is seen as the Project Facilitator. With their extensive experience and knowledge in the field, IWMI can provide the technical backstopping to the project in order to ensure that the action components of the project are based on scientific facts and principles. IWMI-Tata can also play the role of evaluating and monitoring the progress of the project. It can provide valuable feedback to the project in order to ensure that the action items are in line with the objectives and goals of the proposed initiative.