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NATURAL RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABILITY

-TANUJ SHARMA (33118)

AREA OF STUDY

The village allotted to us by Seva Mandir was Sagwada which is located in Kherwada

block of Udaipur district in Rajasthan. The topography of the village as undulating and steep

slopes with scattered population. Sagwara comes in the southern part of Rajasthan and is in

the semi-arid zone. The temperature varies widely from 45 degree in summers down to 2

degrees in winters.

REFLECTIONS

The village is located in a very remote area and most of it was untouched by human

beings. There is an abundance of natural resources like water (both for irrigation and

drinking), forest (mainly consisting of Sagwan trees), soil, livestock, wildlife etc.

Rainfall pattern is very unpredictable in Sagwara. The area receives on an average

640mm rainfall in a year. There are around 25 hand pumps and 10 wells that cater to the

drinking water needs of the people. There is no priority basis in using the hand pumps andwells as the village consists of a single caste. Both of them are evenly distributed in the entire

village are people generally prefer that extraction point which is near their houses. People

living near the 2 streams that flow from within the boundaries of the village use their water

for irrigation whereas people away from the stream rely on rainfall.

Sagwara village is located amidst the Aravalli range; it has a forest cover of 581 hectares.

Almost 90% of the forests consist of Sagwan trees. In the recent years, the village has seen a

rise in encroachment of forests due to rise in population. Forest is generally used for grazing

of animals and firewood is collected by picking up some twigs and fallen branches. Trees are

not cut because it is a crime to cut Sagwan trees and is punishable by law.

Sagwara is a hilly area with black, red and balu soil. The major portion is of red soil

which is hard and rocky. Black soil is also there which is very fertile and allows some

farmers to grow cotton. There are lots of rocks in the soil making it very tough to plough and

agriculture becomes labour intensive as mechanisation is impossible due to hilly terrain.

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The village was abundant in natural resources but due to lack of awareness or literacy

those natural resources were either exploited or werent used optimally. The major problem

faced is soil erosion which is leading to continuous decrease in agricultural productivity and

pastures for grazing of cattle. A dangerous problem like this could easily be dealt with by

employing measures like imposing common property rules over the villagers where there is a

time limit for each household for grazing. This time limit should be based on the number of

adult and infant animals owned by the household. For vigilance, people for their own village

should be employed and fines should be imposed on the defaulters. Along with this, retaining

walls should be built on the slopes which would prevent soil erosion. Area above the wall

should be planted with grasses and labour allocation should be done from amongst the

villagers who will benefit from it. This also should be carried out keeping in mind the rules of

common property. The method of retaining walls has already been started in the village and

an area of 10 acre has been converted back to grassland from infertile wasteland.

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