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Leaves of life

The multi-themed and multilayered programmes of the Himmotthan Pariyojana, a Tata Trusts initiative, have helped more than 50,000 rural households in 600 villages in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand

With water at her doorstep, this villager from Udarsu in Tehri district has much to smile about. She and her compatriots are part of Himmotthan's water and sanitation programme, under which every dwelling in a project village gets a piped water connection close to its doorstep and a sanitation unit. Working with the state government and partner organisations, the Himmotthan initiative is aimed at securing a 'blue bonus', the equivalent in water and sanitation of the ecological green bonus.
Prerana village in Bageshwar district is one of many places where Himmotthan's 'integrated fodder and livestock development project' works with the community to craft and sustain livelihoods. Livestock-rearing provides an alternative, or supplementary, source of income in a state where severe environmental degradation and the outflow of males seeking employment elsewhere have hit agricultural productivity.
Residents of Thapal village in Bageshwar district. Agriculture, which pulls in one-third of the state's revenues, is a key component of Himmotthan's rural livelihoods projects. The aim here is to increase productivity and to revitalise farming practises, the focus crops being cereals and millets, pulses, vegetables, spices, fruits and herbs.
A women self-help group meets in Chatiyani village in Bageshwar district. Microfinance is one the three main spheres in Himmotthan's social development spread and this is closely connected to livelihoods. Community institutions such as self-help groups and federations have proven to be an effective means of financial inclusion by providing poor households with an opportunity to save and to access credit easily.
Women from Wan village in Chamoli district are, thanks to a Himmotthan intervention, now able to make a living from processing, spinning and weaving nettle fibre. Economic empowerment of the rural poor, especially women, is a critical objective for Himmotthan as it strives to build self-sustaining mountain communities.