A Silent Movement of Change in Remote Hills

This case study revolves around village Dhaspad, a typical hill village in rural Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand. Dhaspad is amongst the 87 Gram Panchayats within the boundary of the 9 micro-watersheds of the district selected for treatment. Dhaspad is nestled atop the picturesque mountain slopes at an altitude 1847 m AMSL and Latitude N – 290034.43’ and Longitude E -790051.01.’ It is one of 110 GPs of the Dhauladevi block of the district and situated at a distance of almost 43 km from the district headquarters. It comprises of a closely-knit village community of 57 households and a population of merely 442. It has a spread of just 251.7 ha land area segregated into two revenue villages with predominantly rainfed conditions (over 92%) coupled with tough, inaccessible terrains; this village has been facing the vagaries of climate change and shifting rainfall cycles for over a few years now, which had rendered their main livelihood option i.e. agriculture extremely unprofi table. Their relentless toils in the fi elds could barely fetch them enough as their crops kept failing most of the time. Besides, their land holdings were very small and fragmented, scattered throughout the village on sloped terraces, with a limited scope for mechanisation.