Project districts:	Ajmer, Jaipur and Bhilwara
Forest types:	Dry Deciduous, Tropical Thorn Forest, Scrub Forest
River basin:	Mej, Menali and Lilri
Village institutions:	231
Area under protection:	23,363 hectares
Total households:	30,410

Description

Bhilwara is located on a raised plateau in the south-eastern part of Rajasthan. Work was initiated in the region in 1995 and is spread over parts of six blocks, Mandalgarh, Mandal, Asind and Raipur blocks of Bhilwara district and Pisangan and Masuda blocks of Ajmer district.

During the past decade, in a region characterised by scrubland and dry deciduous forests, mixed rainfed farming and periodic droughts, over 25,000 hectares of land have been brought under protection by 231 village institutions. The intrinsic linkages, the vast tracts of common lands that are available in the region have with animal husbandry and subsistence agriculture in maintaining water and nutrient flows of the local production systems, are being strengthened by numerous measures aimed at improving the vegetation on commons and farmlands. The restoration of revenue wastelands, grazing lands and degraded forestlands which constitute 60 per cent of the area has yielded various benefits such as increased fodder availability, improved soil moisture regimes and increased availability of water. This in turn has lead to a marked increase in agricultural productivity, including vegetable cultivation and increased milk production.

As agricultural and land-use practices change and farmers resort to further exploitation of the nearly depleted groundwater sources of the region for their irrigation needs, village institutions have provided a forum for villagers to dialogue and take action on issues such as banning the sinking of new bore-wells. The informal assembly of village institutions have increasingly grown into a role where they have evolved into a platform for constituent members to collectively dialogue with government officials as well as with the political leadership making way for better integration and implementation of schemes and programmes for their region.

Several development agencies working in the area namely BAIF, CARE, CUTS, Bhilwara-Chittorgarh Milk Union and FES, with representatives from NDDB and NABARD set up the Sanjha Prayas, a collaborative effort to work on the development issues of the region. In order to surface issues of conservation of natural resources and their collective regulation for sustainable use, a collective of 40 villages with support from local government and other development agencies organized a Chetna Padyatra – a six-day long campaign on foot that covered 45 villages in the Mandalgarh area.

We are undertaking various actions ranging from mapping of soil fertility and analysis of soil sedimentation to comprehending the design principles that give robustness to village institutions so as to provide appropriate information that aid village conglomerates in articulating their concerns of conservation. Further building upon the work of the past decade, we are expanding our work, with collaboration of various agencies, to newer areas as well as in working towards strengthening the inter-linkages of commons, agriculture and animal husbandry production systems.

Area Description

The region is characterised by Dry Deciduous Forests, interspersed in places with Tropical Thorn Forests and Scrub Forests. The area falls under the Vindhyan Super Group, which is underlain by Delhi Super Group and Aravalli Super Group. The main rock types are sandstone, shale and some patches of limestone. The region has good soil cover with a depth of 100 centimetres in the upland to one meter in the plains. The soil in the uplands contains large amount of well-sorted finer silt, sand to coarse cobbles, while the lowlands/plains has soils with higher percentage of clay, silt and sand. Moderate to steep hydrological gradients occur in this area, sometimes upto more than 20 degree inclination. The average rainfall of the regions is 650 mm with nearly 43 rainy days starting from June to September. Agro-climatically the region comes under the Northern Plains and the Central Highlands.