Jai Wadia

Pathbreaking work by TISS is dramatically altering one area of
Maharashtra's rural landscape. Both faculty and students of the TISS
School of Rural Development have initiated a series of measures that could change life in the villages forever

In the arid interiors of Maharashtra, a quiet revolution is underway. Innovative farming methods, education and women’s empowerment is
driving change and progress in a cluster of villages in the Osmanabad district.

The School of Rural Development, formerly the Research Unit for Rural Studies, established a rural campus at Tuljapur in 1987, and pioneering the work was a small group of far sighted and persistent social workers and an agricultural scientist. Now, with an expanded staff impacting the economic life of the villagers, the school is also creating a pool of
committed social workers in the region.

With the first batch of students set to graduate this year, the school is an integral part of life in Tuljapur and in the surrounding villages. It has launched sustainable development programmes and initiatives that educate and socially empower the people in the region. It also works with local dalits, the nomadic tribes, women and children.

The wages of neglect
Tuljapur is just an overnight train journey from Mumbai, but such proximity to the financial capital gave it little help. A study by TISS in the 1980s found
that urban prosperity was not percolating into the rural areas.

In 1985-86 when TISS was celebrating its Golden Jubilee year, Dr Armaity S Desai, director of TISS at the time (and later the chairperson of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi), decided that it was time for TISS to have a rural presence. “I felt we needed to have social work in the rural context but we didn’t have any good role models. There were some attempts at rural work in some schools of social work but there was no adequate focus, or they used urban models of social work which were inappropriate,” Dr Desai says.

The TISS Rural Campus at Tuljapur was the direct result of her efforts, endorsed by the governing board. It was set up on a 100-acre property, gifted by the government of Maharashtra, in a region of high poverty and low rainfall as requested by the institute.

Over the years, many have benefited from the school’s programmes. Women have learnt, through livelihood and education initiatives, to fight for their rights. Local labour has been supported by the school in its battle against low wages. Water management and other developmental work have helped farmers in the area.

Breaking new ground
The first task was to demonstrate that the land around Tuljapur, although rocky and arid, had potential. A long-term afforestation programme aimed at soil improvement, while substantial help was given to farmers to increase the yield per hectare.

TISS director Dr S Parasuraman says, “Our watershed development and land conservation programme brought benefits to landless people and women. Water harvesting and conservation enabled people to source water during lean seasons and even landless households gained access
to grass and water.”

Proximity with the people in the region has helped develop unique solutions. Dr Parasuraman cites an example, “Our social workers, along with the people, took a morcha to the tahsildar’s office to demand proper wage payment through the employment guarantee scheme (EGS) and put pressure on the government to implement the EGS which is meant for the people.” During the 1993 earthquake in the Latur and Osmanabad districts, an impact assessment survey by the school was used by the Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank to develop and implement resettlement and rehabilitation of affected people. Besides work in the area of health and sanitation, the school faculty has also started HIV/AIDS counselling in both Tuljapur and Osmanabad general hospitals.

Research is another major component of the activities at the rural campus. The institute’s research on the causes of farmers’ suicides has been extremely valuable. Dr Parasuraman says, “We were the first to produce a
credible report on this at the request of the Bombay High Court. We used about Rs40,000, given to us by SDTT and our report will help develop policies as to how the crisis would be dealt with.” TISS is continuing
to work in the Vidarbha region along with academic institutions and NGOs to bring a lasting solution to the crisis faced by the farmers and agricultural workers.

Towards a sound future
Since its inception, the school has been building a base for sustainable rural development. A number of short-term training programmes for local functionaries, like the gram sevaks, the police and women representatives
in the Panchayati Raj system were undertaken for the first several years. Now, through teaching, training, research and extension, advocacy and networking, the school aims to create an equitable and gender sensitive
social order in rural India.

While the rural campus has been active with local programmes since 1987, the academic infrastructure came up in 2000. A bachelor’s degree in social work with specialisation in rural development was started and the first batch of students enrolled in August 2004. The school will have covered a major milestone in May 2007 when these 20 students graduate.

Conducting an undergraduate programme for students who speak different languages has been a challenge for TISS since the faculty expertise has largely been in post-graduate or doctoral courses, mainly taught in English. The second challenge was to develop the course curriculum in regional languages. Professor Denzil Saldanha, who has been involved in curriculum development for the bachelor’s degree programme, says, “We had structured the course into five key areas: natural resource management, non-farm sector including ancillary enterprises and self-help groups, health, basic education and local self-governance.” The relevant material has been created in Marathi, the local language.

Till date the TISS School of Rural Development has received a total of Rs1,330 lakh from SDTT and allied trusts. This includes a grant of Rs1,200 lakh from the Tata Social Welfare Trust, an allied trust of SDTT in March 2005, for a period of five years, which will be used for the construction of the rural campus and for strengthening the teaching, training, appropriate technology demonstration, research and extension programmes of the institute. TISS has also received support from the UGC for its varied activities.

The Ford Foundation grant was the first to help initiate the rural campus. The Government of Maharashtra, Castrol, and friends in the United States have also funded many of the development projects at the TISS rural campus. However, Dr Desai feels that the SDTT has played a crucial catalytic role by supporting projects such as the “women in distress cell in police stations, and the incorporation of social workers in the city civil
courts which culminated in the role of social workers in the family courts with the legal system and the police, the judiciary and the prisons.”

Dr Parasuraman adds, “The trust’s support to develop infrastructure, has helped us to increase our intake of students to 40 from the 2007-08 academic year.” Two new programmes are in the pipeline — one is a post-graduate diploma in human development and social accountability
for government officials and NGOs, which will be funded by the United Nations Development Fund. The second is a course on child rights, dealing with issues of child labour, protection, and children’s right to education.

While TISS acknowledges that it is the concerted effort of many players that makes for social development and progress, it is clear that none of this would have been possible without the generosity of one man — Sir Dorabji
Tata. In the past, the trust and its able keepers have helped TISS with urban social development. And its invaluable support and encouragement are proving a major motivation for the school’s rural initiatives.

Uploaded on July 4, 2007