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Professional Assistance

for Development

Action (PRADAN)

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   

,

among forest-fringe communities, elders

of the villages remember a time when

the land was not hard and red, the water

pooled just below the surface; when crabs

and earthworms were found in the fertile

soil energized by animal manure and not

harsh chemicals; when the earth gave freely

and farming was a prosperous occupation.

PRADAN, or Professional Assistance for

Development Action, works with such

populations to attempt revive the earth and

that utopian ideal.

‘PRADAN started working on

demonstrating integrated natural resources

management (INRM) especially for

preserving water and soil. e moot idea

was to increase the availability of water so

that it could be used further for bettering

agriculture and bringing more fallow land

under green coverage, which would ensure

economic return in foreseeable future,’

says Debasish De, Team Coordinator,

PRADAN. Once it had demonstrated the

success of its interventions, PRADAN

brought the government on board through

the state MGNREGS cell to scale up the

programme called sharmukti (‘salvation

Community planning with r

esource maps

ollowing pages (68–69):

Fallow upland converted into

a mango orchard intercropped with vegetables

F

ounded by Deep Joshi and Vijay Mahajan

in 1983

PRADAN, or Professional Assistance

for Development Action, was

founded in 1983 with the belief

that educated individuals can work

towards eradicating mass poverty

with empathy. It envisions a just and

equitable society where everyone

lives and works with dignity. It strives

to enable the most marginalized

sections, especially rural women,

to take charge of their lives and

earn a decent living. PRADAN has

formed 9,500 Self Help Groups

(SHGs) and associated institutions

in 1230 villages. Its integrated

Natural Resources Programme is

implemented in six districts and has

revived almost 90,000 hectares of

degradable land. PRADAN plans to

reach 10 million people across 12,500

villages in seven states by 2022.