Dub Dubi-A Boon turned into curse at Bogenagarakoppa Village

Dub Dubi-A Boon turned into curse at Bogenagarakoppa Village
Bogenagarkoppa village of Kalaghatgi Taluk is famous for Dub Dubi, name given by the villagers because of this natural water falls created by natural stone formation. Shalmala River is the source of this water fall. Villagers enjoy this natural beauty and take pride of it. In the past ,it was a source of relief from their monotonous work. But due the increasing waste generated by the cities of Hubli- Dharwad, the water fall is turned into a polluted place. The place around the water fall generates bad smell and creates foam in the air.
The irony is that the villagers would continue to be victims, if the life style of the people living in cities does not change.

Let everybody have a thought on this!!!

Village Stay - Kamdhenu, Kalghatgi, Dharwad

Village Stay
Location and Topography:
Kamdhenu comes in Kalghatgi Taluk of Dharwad District. It is situated in between Hubli Karwar road, 11 km from Kalghatagi to the east side. The villages which are situated near by Kamdhenu are Bhugenagarkoppa (South), Mishrikotti (East), Ramanhalli and Harogeri gram (west).
To the south there is a river called Shalmalla also known as Dub Dubi which is used for agricultural purpose in nearby villages. To the north of the village a 48 acre pond is situated which is used for water harvesting, fishing etc.
Topography – The total area of the village is 3 sq km approximately. The land is flat as well as elevated. Soil – black soil, red and black soil and clay soil.
There are around 350 tiled roof houses in the village. The total population is 1781, where Male population is 991 and female population is 870.
Resources:
The total cultivated land is 1200 acres approximately. Out of which 10% is irrigated land and around 90% is rain based agriculture.
Water:
Grampanchyat supplies water, no forest area however some of the farmers have grown trees in the field.
2 bore wells are there but not working because it is least or not used by the villagers. There are few well but no water.
Livestock:
Almost every house has cows, some of the houses have buffalo, hen and goats also.
Livelihood:
Main occupation is agriculture. However since they have to depend on water the rains are dependable. Majority go for labor work to the nearby agricultural field. There are 300 agriculturists out of which 69 have adopted organic agricultural methods.10% of the villagers are large farmers, 20% are middle farmers and 70% are small or labor class farmers. The men farmers are getting daily wages of Rs 50/- per day where as women farmers are getting only Rs 40/- per day. The youth after schools go to nearby factories (Anhegeri pickles factory, Jain book factory, Pharmaceutical co and Manganese Factory).
There are 3 brick units in which few people are employed. There is one arrack shop in the village who makes business legally and illegally and also there are unlicensed liquor business. Weekly the villagers are earning 10000/- Rs out of this business.
Many of the village women are against this shop but they are helpless. Villagers said that they approached government officials many times but they did not take any action against the shop.
There are 18 women and 2 men SHGs in the village. In which few SHGs are not function properly because of poor management.
People lead a very simple life. Not all the families have adequate food to eat.
Major food is jowar roti and rice.
Living condition is not hygienic, sanitary facilities are poor, poor drainage system, no proper road, power supply is poor and not dependable.
And also there are 4 buses per day one in the morning at 9:00 am, in the afternoon at 1:30 pm and two buses in the evening at 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm.
For any small purchases or medical consultation they have to go to Mishrikotti.
Social Relation/ Structure:
Overall relationship seems to be good except Muslim population lives separately. Rest all groups including SCST lived together. But still there is one SC colony. There is not much differentiation.
There are 6 temples and one mosque. Once in a year they celebrate car festival in Shri Kallmeshwar Temple. During this festival all the villagers meet.
We dint find much vulnerability in the group.
There are 18 women and 2 men SHGs however they are not furnishing properly. As fund management is not proper. In addition there is no income generating activity by any of the group.
Health:
Health facilities are very poor. The nearest government dispensary available is in Mishrikoti.
A doctor visits every day and spends 2 to 3 hours every day. He operates from any house known to him. We are not very sure whether he is a qualified doctor or not.
2 nurses visits twice in a week from Mishrikotti. There is no medical shop in the village. So even to get a Crocin tablet they have to go all the way to Mishrikotti or Hubli.
As the facility is not available many don’t approach doctors and hence deaths do occur because of their negligence. During my 2 days stay there were 2 deaths. When asked the villages very casual and said they were not well.
Education:
There is only one school available in the village which has facility up to 8th standard. It is a pity that even though this school has started in 1914. It has not yet been able to educate the students of this village up to 10th standard. However teachers and others say this is the best school in the region. Strength of the students is 270 (Boys-145, Girls-120).One good news is there is no school dropout. Even if students doesn’t turn up the teachers are kind enough to contact their parents and bring the student back to the school. There are 6 teachers in the school including Headmaster. Three of them are undergoing training.
As there are no facilities in the village after 8th standard these students who pass out think of going for jobs or for labor work in the fields or nearby factories. Hence in the village today we have found only 6 to 7 graduates that to only Arts and BEd. Also there is one night school in the village. But unfortunately the villagers just come and sign for the name sake.
There are 2 anganwadis. Altogether a minimum of 30 students must be there in the anganwadi.
Discussed with the villagers I found that if there was facility of education up to SSLC definitely many youth would have thought of educating themselves in the different discipline and probably could get better jobs and their by improve their living conditions.
The more one gets education better will be his thinking pattern and which will lead to improved conditions in the village as well as living standards. The villagers are deprived of better education and hence they don’t get more feasible ideas about income generating and job opportunities. Thus I find that lack of education is one of the major problems in this village.
There is one success story in this village where in education has helped one to be self sufficient.
A boy named Manjunath Shettennavar lost his voice when he was in 4th standard. The Teachers of the school where kind enough to help him complete his 10th standard. Even with this little education this person with the help of BAIF was able to think of a viable income generating opportunity and established a mango farm with 50 mango trees. Presently he is doing very well with this mango farming.
With this success story proper education will definitely motivate many more youth to be self sufficient.