This voluntary organisation in Dhar-wad has shown that it is possible to achieve progress without seeking any support from the government. Kalghatagi is one of the most backward regions of Dharwad district. But its people don't seem to be distraught. They have taken up positive action to solve their problems. Take the case of Masalikatti, a village in the middle of a forest, and 20 kilometres from the taluk centre. With the help of the villagers here, Society for Community Participation and Empowerment (SCOPE), has successfully de-silted two tanks here. Initially, the villagers did not warm up to the idea, but the organisation set up a lake development trust to win over people. Later, by way of a series of programmes including sports meetings, and seminars, all aimed at creating awareness about the importance of water, SCOPE kickstarted the idea of de-silting the tanks in the village. Deshpande Foundation's aid Hubli's Deshpande Foundation came to the aid of the organisation by way of funding (Rs five lakh). Masalikatti has two tanks, Muduki kere spread across four acres and Raikara katte spread across two acres. They were developed only after the people of the village volunteered to help out, explains Banderao Patawari, the administrative board member. The villagers helped in taking out silt accumulated three-feet deep in the tank. It took 31 days for this work to be completed. Gradually, interest among people about the importance of lakes increased. A hand gate was installed for the lakes, in order to plug water leakage. The water accumulated in the tanks is now flown into the fields of fanners by a cooperative method. Once the lakes were developed, SCOPE helped farmers grow paddy in the 'Shri' method. Farmers soon learnt that higher yields could be reaped thanks to this method. Before the de-silting process was in place, the two tanks would go dry a mere two months after the rainy season. Last year, though rainfall amount fell short of expectations, water in the two tanks lasted till January (touching the three-feet mark). All the hard work has borne fruit, point out leaders of the two teams that worked on de-silting the tanks, Peesanagouda Patil, Mahadeva Nalkar, Gokul Patil and Arjun Patil. Kumar Bhat