Poverty Alleviation in Damray: The impact of Special SGSY

Emerging as a source of inspiration for neighbouring villages, the farmers of Damray have found success and sustenance, thanks to PRADAN and Special SGSY, by utilizing the natural resources of the land, multi cropping and diversifying from growing paddy once a year to cultivating vegetables and flowers throughout the year, both on the uplands and lowlands

Introduction

L ast Diwali was special for the residents of Damray village. The buyers in the local Khunti market had queued up to buy fresh garlands of marigold from Damray. Within no time, the entire stock of flowers was sold out at a premium rate of Rs 15 per metre. This was unprecedented in a village known for its poverty, debt and distress migration.

Over the last three years, Damray, a tribal village in the interiors of Khunti District in Jharkhand, has emerged as a source of inspiration for the region. It is a small village under the Kewra panchayat of Murhu block, with a population of 30 households of the Munda tribe. It is situated 25 km south east of the district headquarters, and the nearby historic and beautiful Sarwada Church. There is no public transport system to the village, and the people usually rely on bicycles to reach the block headquarters at Murhu, around 15 km away.

With the support of Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), a civil society organization, and because of the opportunities created under the Special Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (Special SGSY), Damray village has not only changed its own fate but is showing the path of socio-economic development to the surrounding villages.

In 2009, when PRADAN intervened in Damray, the households had an average food sufficiency for six or seven months from their own land and relied on supplies from Public Distribution System for the rest of the year or were compelled to migrate to places such as Delhi, Goa, Assam and even to Andaman and Nicobar to earn some money.