Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh lies in the heart of India. It covers an area of 3,08,245 sq. km, making it the biggest state in the country, bordering seven other states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh consists largely of a plateau streaked with the hill ranges of the Vindhyas and the Satpuras with the Chhattisgarh plains to the east. The hills give rise to the main river systems - the Narmada and the Tapti, running from east to west, and the Chambal, Sone, Betwa, Mahanadi, and the Indravati west to east.

Madhya Pradesh has the largest tribal population in India. The population of Scheduled Tribes in the State is 154.03 lakhs which works out to 23.27 % of the total population of 661.81 lakhs.

The Scheduled Areas cover an area of 25,652 square miles, which is, approximately, 15 % of the area of the State. One third of the tribal population of the State lives in Scheduled areas. Besides the Scheduled Areas, there are extensive areas in which the tribals form a predominant proportion of the total population.

It is said that the tribal people live in hills and forests. But the full implication of this statement are not generally understood. The coverage of forest varies from one area to the other, but it can be said that about half of the tribal area is covered with forests. In such a situation, any programme of economic development must rest on the use and exploitation of the forests. Again, half of the tribal area of the State has an altitude between 1,000 to 2,000 feet, one-fifth lies between 2,000 to 3,000 feet and only one-forth area is below 1000 feet. The terrain which the tribal cultivate is hilly and undulating. With the increasing pressure on land, undulating area and steep slopes have been brought under cultivation with consequent loss of fertility and soil erosion. In addition to this, no irrigation facilities are available. Under these conditions and circumstances, agriculture is carried out in tribal areas.

Sparseness of population is another special feature of tribal areas. Communications are scanty and difficult in tribal areas. Such situation raises a real problem as to how the benefits of the developments programmes should be extended to a majority of the tribals living in interior areas.

• Economic Activity: Manufacturing- 26%; Services- 28%; Agriculture - 46%

• Investor Profile: Govt. 42.2%; Foreign 13.1%; Indian 44.7%

• State priority areas: Electronics; Minerals, food and agriculture industries; telecom; Auto.

• Investment Strengths: Proactiveness in seeking investment; non-disruptive labour environment; connectivity to large northern and western markets

The central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has a population of slightly over 60 million, according to Census 2001.

Over the previous decade, the annual increase in population has been 13.3 lakh persons per annum. The Third Human Development Report of Madhya Pradesh (2002) estimates that 10 lakh jobs will have to be generated every year to productively absorb the growing workforce.

Livelihood challenge

Around the mid-1990s, 22 lakh workers in Madhya Pradesh (around 6% of the state’s total workforce) were in the organised sector. The majority of workers (94%), including agricultural labour, construction labour and workers in traditional industries like leather-tanning, forestry, fishing, bidi-rolling, household workers and village artisans are in the unorganised sector.

Evidence, both from field experience and from various studies, shows that employment opportunities created in the country have been inadequate, although Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has accelerated after liberalisation of the economy.

In Madhya Pradesh there has been a deceleration of employment growth over time, touching a low of 0.9% per annum in the late-1990s, which was the result of a slowdown in public sector employment. Higher growth rates in the private sector could not compensate for the loss of workforce in the public sector.

With a share of around 35% of the state’s GDP, agriculture and allied activities have to support 75% of rural workers.

Remuneration received from most livelihoods in Madhya Pradesh is low, and more and more people in households are required to work to sustain families. National Sample Survey (NSS) estimates indicate that an approximate 17% of rural children in the state, the fifth-highest in India, in the age-group 10-14 years, are working.

The development challenge therefore is not just creating new jobs, but generating new livelihoods in the rural areas and making existing livelihoods stronger and more sustainable.

Forests and livelihoods

Nearly 40% of the state’s villages are either forest villages or are situated close to forests that play a significant role in the livelihoods of the people. But it is difficult to estimate the exact number of people dependent on forests. According to the state Human Development Report, in the case of persons collecting Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP), the period of direct person-days of employment is not very significant, say 10-15 days to a month at the maximum, in a year.

People’s rights over forests are strictly regulated by laws, which, in the past, denied villagers easy access to forests in order to earn a living. A gradual change is being witnessed with the granting of ‘nistari’ rights, and the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme. However, conflict between villagers and the authorities still exists.

A more people-friendly forest management regime needs to be evolved between the local people, forest management and government regulations.

Gwalior-Chambal and Bundelkhand Region

Sambhav primararily functions within the span of Gwalior-Chambal and Bundelkhand Regions of Madhya Pradesh

Datia, Gwalior, Morena, Sheopur and Shivpuri are among the most vulnerable districts in MP. Certainly, there are several factors responsible for poverty in these areas like poor delivery of basic services, disparities in the distribution of productive resources and poor physical infrastructure. However, land is quite a critical issue. Rigid social structures, in fact, force most schedule castes and schedule tribes to live in underprivileged situations and rely on daily wages either because they are landless or their land is disputed.

The Bundelkhand Region of central India is a semi-arid plateau that encompasses 12 districts of northern Madhya Pradesh (MP) and 5 districts of southern Uttar Pradesh (UP). It is located in the central Hindi belt south of the Yamuna river, between the fertile Gangetic plain stretching across northern UP and the highlands of central MP.

The region is characterized by some of the lowest levels of per capita income and human development in the country. Literacy levels are poor, especially among women, and infant mortality is relatively high. Local inhabitants rely primarily on subsistence rainfed single crop agriculture and small-scale livestock production for their livelihood, with wheat, grams and oil seeds the predominant crops. Population density in the region largely correlates with such factors as soil types, natural vegetation, industrialization, and urbanization. In rural areas, rising population has led to fragmentation of family land holdings. Human pressures on the existing natural resource base are compounded by livestock pressures: the human to cattle (or livestock) ratio is relatively high, almost 1:1, compared with a national ratio of 1:.45.. In addition, the growth of private land ownership and past environmental mismanagement of lands have led to the rapid decline of forest cover, reducing traditional sources of fuel, fodder and food. These factors, combined with limited rainfall and fresh water resources, have resulted in low agricultural productivity. Many families are no longer able to meet their subsistence needs. Temporary and long-term out-migration of males from rural villages in search of alternative sources of livelihood has become increasingly common.

1. Agricultural related on farm livelihood sources like value addition work of agricultural product, molasses making, rope making work, etc., affected and not meeting the need of the poor community group

2. Villagers are facing inter and intra food security at families level due to low agricultural productivity

3. Due to fodder and water un-availability, villagers have left their animal, which has affected the livestock rearing activities in the region

4. Non-availability of wage work is further forcing villagers for migration

5. Triple marginalisation of women in the drought / famine condition

Geographical Spread

"Striving for sustainable development processes and improvement in the quality of life of vulnerable people like Tribal, women and children through their organization and capacity building efforts. "