Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology, CAPART is an autonomous society under the Ministry of Rural Development established in 1986. CAPART is involved in catalyzing and co-coordinating the partnership between Voluntary Organizations and the Government of India for sustainable development of rural areas. It acts as a catalyst for development of technologies appropriate for the rural areas and implementation of projects for the enhancement of rural prosperity.

CAPART’s initiatives are not channelised through State Departments/District Administration. Monitoring, evaluation and selection of NGOs is done directly by CAPART Headquarters in New Delhi and its regional offices based at nine places all over India at Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Dharwad.

Regional Centre of CAPART at Dharwad was established in 1999.  Its area of operation consists of the states of Goa, Karnataka and Kerala as well as the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Over the years, the centre has assisted a large number of NGOs for implementation of variegated projects. Between 1999-2000 to 2003-04, about 400 Voluntary Organisations (VO) of Karnataka and 150 VOs of Kerala have been sanctioned projects worth approximately  Rs. 900 Lakhs and Rs. 700 Lakhs respectively. From 2004-05 to 2006-07, 249 projects worth approximately Rs.1020 lakhs have been sanctioned in Kerala and Karnataka.

 As the Mission of CAPART mandates it to listen to the voice of the people and strengthen their hands by harnessing the resources, the regional center of CAPART at Dharwad undertook a unique project to provide drinking water facility to a village with no source of water in Dharwad Taluk.

Lakhmapur is a village of 750 houses with a population of around 3000. There is no lake or a tank/pond near the village. Nor any river flows nearby Lakhmapur. The villagers had access to one borewell from the private farm land nearly 2 kms away from their cluster of houses. They depended on that borewell for all their needs. Since it was the only borewell which fulfilled the farming needs of the farmer owning the land and also provided water to the village, the water was rationed to each and every house.

Realising the scarcity and also the necessity of drinking water facility in Lakhmapur, CAPART along with Siddeshwara Grameeena Abhivridhi Sanga based in Yadhwad intiated a project to provide drinking water facility to the village. A bore well was dug just outside the village and a water pipe was linked to the borewell. A tank was constructed  with a tap and a common place for villagers to wash their clothes was  provided near  by. The tank was further connected with the Community taps inside the village, which to a large extent has helped to solve the problem of drinking water.

The project was completed  in 2 years. Inside the village there are now 22 community taps. Once the project was completed, it was handed over to the Yadhwad gram panchayat under which Lakhmapur village comes. The gram panchayat has the responsibility of maintenance of the borewells and the tanks. It is a classic example of Built Operate Transfer (BOT) happening at the grassroot level. 

New Initiatives of CAPART

CAPART has initiated many new schemes such as Nodal NGOs scheme, Yuva Jyoti,  Rain Water Harvesting etc., after extensive consultation with experts of voluntary sector.  In order to strengthen research and development, CAPART has entered into a MoU with Center for Sustainable Technologies (CST) of Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore for suitable rural technology transfer. The MoU, which is for 3 years with a budgetary support of Rs 84.70 lakhs envisages transfer of rural technology, promotion of research and providing technical assistance in the areas of water and sanitation, household energy efficiency and alternate energy technologies, sustainable building technologies, agro processing, et,. So far  CAPART has sanctioned the following innovative Pilot proposals of CST.

·           Small Biogas Plants for Biomass with a project cost of Rs. 17.15 lakhs.

·           Project Development & Dissemination of Bio Fuel Efficient Stoves & Agro Processing Driers with a project cost of Rs. 12.04 lakhs. 

·            Developing & Testing a Domestic (Household Level) Photovoltaic-integrated Hybrid Solar–Still for Reliable Safe-Water Supply in Coastal and Semi-Arid Regions with a Project cost of Rs. 8.89 lakhs.

·           Pilot De-fluoridization Study in fluoride-infested regions of Karnataka with a Project cost of Rs. 9.39 lakhs.

Gramin Vikas Andolan

Realising that lack of information and awareness are major obstacles for rural communities to reap the benefits of the many programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development such as SGSY, SGRY, NREGP, NFFWP, NSAP, Swajaldhara, TSC, DPAP, IWDP, DDP, Hariyali, etc, CAPART is launching a countrywide campaign through NGOs to spread awareness in rural India about various rural development schemes and also about the important aspects of water scarcity, water conservation and its management so as to improve the delivery mechanism. Various blocks in Bidar, Gulbaga, Raichur, Chitradurga, Davangere districts in Karnataka, Wayanad, Palakkad districts in Kerala have been chosen initially for the implementation of the scheme. All these districts are covered under NREG scheme.

Apart from these projects CAPART organizes Gram Shree Mela along with Buyer-Seller meets for promoting rural products / artisans in the capital cities and small towns with the help of NGOs. Further, it has initiated many more programmes in rural development directly through NGOs such as Popularisation Of Vermi Composting, Rain water Harvesting, Gram Shree Mela, Special Women Group, Carpentry Training -Cum-Production For Self Employment, Economic Empowerment Of Lambani Tribal Women, Desilting Of Tank, Diffusion Of Improved Design Of Animal Cart, Low Cost Sanitation, Rural Housing, Watershed Development etc. These projects and programmes have not only contributed for the over all improvement of Rural Infrastructure but has been successful in changing the face of rural India.

*Dy. Director ( M & C), PIB, Bangalore