Round and round we go
The concept of Chakriya Vikas Pranali (CVP) can roughly be translated into English as "Cyclical System of Development". As with all translations, it is a poor copy of the original meaning. The concept originated from the famous Sukhomajri experiment. (Sukhomajri is a village in the Ambala district where the first CVP experiment, based on government land, was conducted). But the Palamau way is remarkably different in its institutional characteristics, development goals and focus, and distribution mechanisms.
The main objective of the CVP is to promote sustainable development at the village level, starting with pooled, local national resources and community participation. The programme is currently on in 35 villages in Palamau district.
The CVP's salient features
• The village is a unit of natural resource management. Operationalising the development process involves bringing people together, introducing appropriate technologies, building institutions and imparting confidence in people about the benefits of self-reliance
• CVP activities need only a one-off grant, after which it is self-perpetuating. It facilities the pooling of degraded private lands belonging to marginal and small farmers to create a common land: forest and panchayat lands can also be roped in for pooling, on the same lines as private lands.
• Pooled land is used initially to create a village nursery and a 3-tier agroforestry programme. Poor rural households are enrolled as "students" of the CVP school.
• All activities such as land development, water harvesting, plantation, protection, harvesting and marketing of the produce, etc, are guided by consensual community decisions.
• The first principle of water management is arresting the water where it falls as the basic water harvesting technology.
• The water harvesting technology is traditional and well known to the local tribals: Tie-ridging, ring-ridge, strip trenches, check dams, small ponds, bounding nallas, deep wells, etc, are various alternatives they can use, depending on the terrain. These techniques also act as soil conservation measures.
• Technical support of farming and marketing will be made available through interaction between villages and existing governmental and NGO institutions.
• The plantation programme is broadly divided into 3 tiers: in the lower beds, short-duration crops, tubers and vegetables are to be planted; in the middle terrain, medium-duration fruit and medicinal plants are to be planted; in the upper ridges, long-duration energy and timber plants are to be grown.
• The plantation and agroforestry programme will ensure 3 type of returns: annual, once in 3-4 years, and once in 6-8 years. These returns can be suitably used by the households for short-run basic needs such as food and clothing, medium-term requirements such as schooling and festivals, and long-term needs like marriages, housebuilding, etc.
• The CVP's sharing system is unique: the income from the produce is to be shared between those who participated, some to be retained for future village development, and some for the needy.
• "Students" are paid regular stipends for their participation in village ecodevelopment; part of it is saved by them as a "student fund" for their own future use. Plus, they receive get a share of 30 per cent of the net income.
• The households that have pooled their lands will get a share of 30 per cent as returns.
• The concept of a cycle begins with another share of 30 per cent of income kept as a village development fund for further investments.
• Another small but important share of 10 is kept aside as welfare fund to meet the needs of the old, the destitute and the helpless, and to promote the spread of the CVP concept to other villages.
• After attaining some degree of sustained resource management, the village communities can undertake secondary activities that are linked to such resources: the processing of forest and agricultural produce, marketing, transportation linkage, livestock development, drinking water programmes and, most importantly, educating the village members about self-reliant, self-supporting and self-respecting livelihood through the CVP School.
Briefly stated, this programme is characterised by (a) pooling private degraded land; (b) establishing a well-defined sharing system; (c) the creation of a village development fund; and (d) community participation. The operational relevance of the CVP is due to its recognition of the village as a unit of development (rather than a cluster of 5-10 villages, as in the case of the Panchayati Raj, the government-sponsored system of local democracy).
Second, a balance is struck between environmental preservation and livelihood sustenance. Third, the community-based decision process can ensure long-run development (unlike the individual-based one in a typical market framework).
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