By Dr Indira Khurana*
Excerpted from the book Climate Resilient Socioeconomic Growth through Water Conservation: Evidence, Implications. Livelihood, Green GDP, Circular Economy: Villages in the Chambal region, by Indira Khurana, PhD. This book brings a message of hope from the Chambal villages of Rajasthan to the world – A message of climate-resilient green growth that is decentralised, equitable, regenerative and sustainable.
The ravines of Chambal were infamously known in India for being a region where dacoits, thieves, bandits, roamed and exploited: Many renowned dacoits had their hideouts in the ravines of Chambal.
Many reasons for the emergence of dacoity in the Chambal valley have been proposed. Most explanations suggest feudal exploitation as the cause that provoked many people of this region to take to arms. However, the fact that many gangs operating in this valley were composed of higher castes and wealthy people appears to suggest that feudalism may only be a partial explanation of dacoity in Chambal valley. The area was underdeveloped and poor. Since livelihood options were few, banditry offered economic gains. Furthermore, traditional honour codes and blood feuds drove some into criminality.
In Chandia, Madhya Pradesh, organized crime controlled much of the countryside from the time of the British Raj up to the early 2000s, with the police offering high rewards for the most notorious bandit chiefs. The criminals regularly targeted local businesses, though they preferred to kidnap wealthy people, and demand ransom from their relatives – cutting off fingers, noses, and ears to pressure them into paying high sums. Many dacoities were committed by social bandits that supported the local poor, paying medical bills and funding weddings. One of the ex-dacoits described his own criminal past by claiming that “I was a rebel. I fought injustice.” Following intense anti-banditry campaigns by the Indian Police, highway robbery was almost completely eradicated in the early 2000s.
Also read: The Chambal Civilisation-2: The Badlands
While the ravines of Chambal and the dacoits (rebels) that sought shelter in these ravines scared others, the people of Dang considered the rebels as their protectors, because these rebels never harassed the poor population living in the ravines. Whatever these ‘dacoits’ snatched was from the British treasury or an external capitalist, which they often used to help the people in their livelihood activities or meet the needs of their daughters’ marriages. The use of the term ‘dacoits’ for the rebels still offends the people here.
The Dang region, located along the boundaries of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, runs north-south and northeast with the Chambal river stretching from Dholpur in the North, covering the major part of Karauli district to Sawai Madhopur district in the South. It is one of the most resource-deprived, and arid regions of Rajasthan, marked with degraded ravines, barren land and severe water shortage.
If you raise your head in Dang and you can see inaccessible hills with their arms spread far and wide, so splendid yet inaccessible that any visitor, caught alone while looking at them, will sit down holding his head, thinking, ‘Oh God! How can a human being live here?’ Looking down on earth, less of soil and more of large rocks and stones are visible, as if these have established their own empire. One then starts thinking: ‘How is farming possible here? The hands that turn these stones into soil must be really made of stone.’ The courageous Dang settlers have learnt to live with these rocks.
There are signs of several waterfalls and small streams that emerged from the hills of the Dang, some of which still exist. Evidence can be found of the water conservation structures built on these streams in the upper reaches, called niwan (johads), and speak volumes about the natural richness and the labour of the people.
Residents here call small streams nallahs. Settlements are in the higher reaches of the hill slopes and the nallahs are deep below. By stopping the flow of rainwater in these nallahs through constructing tanks and small dams, cultivation was possible in the nearby fields. The depth of the drains gave livelihood to the people in the Dang, and the region its ravine character.
One kilometre long public ponds and smaller ones (shared between 4-5 families) are called pokhars. After the British rule, these fell into disuse. Many of these were revived by Tarun Bharat Sangh and some 20 new traditional water harvesting structures were created to revive this water heritage and provide livelihood opportunities.
Dangvasis rule (rule of the Dang residents) prevailed in the hills and village elders say that there was no injustice in the Dang. The jungles, rivers and hills of Dang taught them this. For a long time there was no such thing as a ‘government’ here. The word of the Panch was people’s just law. The Panch was not the one who was elected in the government Gram Panchayat, rather the Panch was the person whose word was acceptable to all the people of the village.
Elders recall: “Once the sons of two brothers in the village got into a fight over money, but they calmed down and went home. Sometime later, both mothers came face to face and instigated their respective sons to fight again, in which one of them was killed. The Panchayat sat with the Gujjars and Meenas of 12 villages who had gathered. The accused of the murder was presented. Meanwhile, the police arrived, but the accused was not handed over to the police until the Panchayat announced its decision. The verdict of the Panchayat was that the murderer be expelled from all 12 villages. The residents of these 12 villages were strictly instructed not to maintain any kind of interaction with him. While today the police may have some influence, disputes, conflicts and complaints in the Dang continue to be decided in the fair of Kalsedev. The fair of Kalsedev has become a symbol of justice for Dang and no one lies in front of Kalsedev.
To continue…
*Indira Khurana, PhD is Chief Advisor of Tarun Bharat Sangh, an NGO working since 1975 towards climate change mitigation and adaptation by promoting water conservation, sustainable agriculture and rural development in the arid and semi-arid regions of India.
