GRA Summer Camp 2013 to Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh

[Avinash Aher]

Dear All, Group for Rural Activities(GRA) is pleased to announce GRA Summer Camp 2013 to ‘Shivganga Samagra Gramviaks Parishad’ in Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh. Shivganga Samagra Gramviaks Parishad is a group of social entrepreneurs working for development solutions for rural India. It is a cohesive group of rural and urban youth, successfully implementing a replicable model of “development movement” in tribal districts Jhabua and Aalirajpur of M.P. Dates: 3rd May to 7th May 2013 Background and a brief on the projects: --------------------------------------- The Jhabua district of M.P. is one of the most important districts of the tribal belt of Central India. More than 80% of the population of the area is made up of local tribes mostly Bhils & Bilalas. History of Bhils and Bhilals: ---------------------------- The Bhils and Bhilals were historically warriors under Maha Rana Pratap. They were forced to flee into the jungles after the defeat of Maha Rana Pratap. They continued to fight against the Mughals and later revolted against the Britishers (1809 – 1828) popularly known as the 'Bhil Revolt'. The British tried to curb their activities by notifying them as 'Criminal Tribe' under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871. According to this, any person belonging to this tribe is a criminal and can be arrested without any complaint. Due to this they were forced to hide in the jungles eventually getting segregated from the mainstream India. In the course of time their mindset turned violent and even the police feared entering their villages till as recently as 1994. Rainfall and Agriculture: ------------------------ The area receives no less than 900-1000 mm yearly rain fall but, because of hilly terrain and rocky soil most of the rain water is wasted leaving the area dry for 6-8 months of an year.The major hurdle in the development of that region is the non-availability of water for cultivation and other purposes for the aforesaid reasons. As there is no provision to retain this rain water, the villagers who are basically small cultivators can take only one crop a year that too the kharip crop only. Development work: ---------------- Shri Maheshji Sharma, a full time social worker along with other volunteers realized the problems and started their developmental activity in 1994. They worked to bring in a holistic development in the entire tribal area. Their dedicated and sincere efforts have brought up a transformation in their violent mindset, developing them into a cultured, self sustaining and integrated society. The developmental activities are now carried out in 1600 villages. About ShivGanga Prakalp ----------------------- The water scarcity was always a problem in this region. The workers embarked upon ShivGanga prakalp to transform this drought prone area into irrigated land. About 300 dams were built under this prakalp. Although water management is the main objective, the organization intends to take side by side other developmental projects for holistic upliftment of the district. The major role of Shivganga Samagra Gram Vikas Parishad in this context is organizing the training and motivational programmes for local tribal youths for which various activities are organized Students who wish to participate in the camp, please fill this form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dE94RTNOeTZ2ZXVHejdzazJqR1ZuYkE6MQ Or contact: Vishal Insan : 0879346174 H5/229 Bhanu Garg : 9820765813 H6/263 Kailash Jakhar : 9757339235 H2/174 Vishvendra Punia : 08097426535 H1/151 Participation to the camp is limited to 25 students only so please hurry up to register. Regards, GRA Team.