Case8-August-2017
About Gulbarga Gulbarga was earlier known as 'Kalburgi', which means stony land in Kannada. Gulbarga district is situated in the northern part of Karnataka state. In the earlier days, Gulbarga was a district of Hyderabad province of Karnataka and became a part of Karnataka state after re-organisation of states. Gulbarga is 613 km north of Bangalore and well-connected by road to Bijapur, Hyderabad and Bidar. Train from the southern part of India to Mumbai and Delhi passes through Gulbarga. Shri Kshetra Gangapur, a well-known pilgrimage place of God Shri Sadguru Dattatreya is very close to Gulbarga. The climate of the district is generally dry with temperature ranging from 5oC to 45oC and an annual rainfall of about 750mm. The entire district is situated in Deccan Plateau and the general elevation ranges from 300 to 750 metres above mean sea level.
Krishna and Bhima, the two main rivers, flow in the district. The district predominantly consists of black soil and a large number of tanks. The rivers and the tanks were the major sources of irrigation. The Upper Krishna Project is a major irrigational venture in the district. Sorghum, groundnut, rice, and pulses are the main crops. Gulbarga is generally termed as a backward district due to its poor infrastructure and its backwardness in human development components.
DHAN’s regional boundary in Gulbarga has spread across two districts, i.e. Gulbarga and Yadgir districts of Karnataka. The project locations in the region are situated in six blocks with 1,200 groups reaching out to 29,300 members. DHAN is working in seven locations in the six blocks. DHAN’s Kalanjiam Community Banking programme and Vayalagam programme is being implemented in the region. In Yadgir and Gurumitkal blocks, DHAN is working with 56 tank associations.
Gulbarga and Yadgir districts have igh potential for tree plantation. Since, the districts come under drought circumstances in most all the years, initiating the tree plantation is one of the activities which could contribute to regional development. DHAN initially envisaged planting five trees per member so that they could protect them with less difficulty. This idea eas discussed in one of the annual general body meetings (AGBM) of Yadgir federation. All the members showed interest in growing the saplings and protecting and conserving the trees if it was supplied at their doorsteps. When DHAN explored the programme with the forest department, they sought permission from the Zilla Panchayat CEO to issue plants free of cost. They met Yadgir District, ZP CEO, Vikas Kishor, IAS. He immediately approved the proposal and ordered District Forest Officer (DFO) to issue 20,000 plants free of cost; this was distributed to the members. On the basis of members demand, additional 15,000 saplings were sanctioned and issued.
After the order from ZP CEO, Vikas Kishor, IAS, Yadgir, the supply mechanism was discussed with the forest department and transportation of these plants from the government nursery to the villages in Yadgir village was arranged. The Gulbarga Zilla panchayat CEO, Anerudha Shravan, IAS was also interested in the initiative. He not only agreed to give plants but also assured to provide Rs. 50 for raising each plant from MGNREGA if the members had job cards. So, a team at the regional level was constituted and to collect details of members who are willing to grow trees and possessed job cards. .
These details were shared with the CEO. He was happy with the survey and ordered Gulbarga DFO to give the required number of plants to the concerned blocks. Subsequently, the location integrators had a discussion with the concerned RFO in the block and arranged for distribution of plants to the villages.
Location is very crucial in ensuring the delivery of the plants in Aland, Sedam, Afzalpura , Yadgir and Jewargi. The interest of location integrators and their efforts to synchronise their team facilitated a smooth start from the planning of distribution to plantation in the field and monitoring the progress at regular intervals. This is very crucial for the success of the initiative.
Distribution of the plants from nursery to the concerned villages was planned. In the villages, DHAN leaders planned distribution of the plants to the members. The field staff monitored and ensured that distributed plants were planted in time. AA cost of two rupees per plant was incurred towards transportation. The transportation cost was met by the concerned federation. Photos and documents of the initiative were and shared with the officials.
Each member received trees mainly Neem, Badam, Teak, and Drumstick. These plants help them economically in the long run once they conserve these plants. Drumstick will be helpful for nutrient enrichment. Neem trees are useful in agriculture as a supplement and application of its seeds and leaves is helpful for disease protection in farms.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Anirudh Shravan IAS, Zilla Panchayat (ZP), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gulbarga District, and Vikas Kishor IAS, ZP, CEO, Yadgir district for their inspiration and support for the initiative. We also thank the forest department officials, the DFOs of Yadgir and Gulbarga District and RFOs of Yadgir, Aland, Jewargi and Sedam blocks for their full involvement and cooperation. We appreciate our regional team, location team, field staff and leaders Laksmi Police Patil, Hanumanthappa, Archna Bengeri, Swarnalatha, Siddappa, Gundurao, Ramesh, Baganna and Santosh Hajari for their team spirit and dedication. We also thank to all the members who came forward to have the trees planted and their interest to conserve nature by raising the trees.