First published on 01/05/2013, and last updated on 03/05/2018
By: Isis Alvarez, Global Forest Coalition (Member)
On October 20th, a group of people part of the ICCA Consortium went on a field visit to Pastapur hosted by the Deccan Development Society (DDS). Having arrived on the night before, the next day people woke up very early to go to the village where some of the rural leaders lived.
As people gathered in one of the houses of the women of the project, they gave a very detailed description of their history, work and activities. The project, which started 25 years ago, was a women’s initiative and they had to try very hard to come to what it is today: a strong development society that strives for community empowerment, food sovereignty and trade of their products, managing their own media, and maintaining a complete seed bank.
Such an initiative is quite remarkable especially when considering the social organization system in India known because of its “castes” which people are born, marry and die; there are five different levels of the system: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra. The next group describes the people known as ‘untouchables’ who are outcasts—people considered too impure, too polluted, to rank as worthy beings, who usually carry out jobs that deal with animal skins, garbage or toilet cleaning.
But the DDS in Pastapur managed to overcome all obstacles, even the huge social gap imposed on them, and after receiving some small [degraded] land from the government they organized and started to work together building a better future. The result, millets and some other hundreds of hectares of diverse crops and a very rich agrobiodiversity, not to mention the different facilities where they carry out different activities, including the ‘guest house’ where the participants where lodged and the headquarter office in Hyderabad.
The next stop was the community radio station facilities they have built and that broadcasts in local language; the studio is very well equipped. It is a participatory and informative radio with a gender focus that reaches quite a few villages nearby. We then visited the seed bank where a wide variety of seeds are kept; they follow a careful process in order to preserve the good quality seeds and the others are utilized right after.
Nearby, is the school complex. In different buildings or classrooms, children are taught traditional knowledge, as well as general knowledge; they teach kids wood-work, and other practical know-how. A significant part of school graduates continue their way to technical education and some pursue University degrees.
In the evening, we arrived to the rural headquarters of DDS; the women welcomed us with a song they sing during the beginning of the harvesting season. They introduced themselves and the participants did as well. They later offered an amazing local dinner based in all the food they grow and using natural materials.
The visit concluded evidencing how community empowerment and community conserved areas provide better livelihood alternatives than current proposed approaches increasing the gap between rich and poor.
