This article was originally published in 101 Reporter under Creative Common license. Read the original article.
By Laxmikanta Joshi
Chawda Khedi Bhilan, Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh: It is just past 9 pm in Chawda Khedi Bhilan, a tribal village in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district. Most households have finished dinner. Children are beginning to fall asleep and charpoys are being laid out for the night. But outside the gram panchayat building, around 50 villagers—women, men and children—are gathering in a circle under a tin-roofed community space.
The electricity flickers intermittently, so two torches have been placed beside a lone bulb to ensure the meeting can continue if the power fails. There is no dais, no microphone and none of the formalities associated with an official government programme.
The village, home to 739 people across 158 households, is located about 35 kilometres from Ratlam and 12 kilometres from Sailana. Every resident belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community, and agriculture and wage labour remain the primary sources of livelihood.
Before the discussion begins, volunteers from the non-profit organisation Vagdhara quietly take their places among the villagers. Also present are the sarpanch, ward members, members of the village water committee, farmers, women's self-help groups, young people and officials from the agriculture and animal husbandry departments.
The meeting opens without ceremony.
"Let's first talk about water," says Raichand Gamad, a ward member who also heads the village's water committee.
The first discussion focuses on the approaching monsoon. Farmers recall how rainfall stopped for nearly two weeks during the previous July, damaging crops across the village. This year, they want to prepare differently.
Some argue that expensive hybrid seeds are too risky if rainfall remains uncertain. Others advocate preserving and sharing indigenous seed varieties that require less water and are better adapted to local conditions. After nearly 20 minutes of discussion, the group agrees that farmers who have preserved traditional seeds will bring them to the next meeting so they can be shared with others.
The conversation then shifted from seeds to water conservation.
Using a stick, a local social worker sketches a rough map of the village on the ground, tracing the natural slope of the surrounding hills and showing how rainwater flows into a nearby stream instead of replenishing local groundwater. Villagers suggest constructing contour trenches to slow the runoff and retain more water within the village.
No one present is an engineer. Yet the discussion draws on generations of lived knowledge – of soil, slopes and seasonal water flows. By the end of the conversation, the villagers decide to inspect the proposed sites the following week. If the work can be completed through voluntary labour, they will undertake it themselves. If machinery is required, the gram panchayat will be asked to submit a proposal to the relevant department.
Officials from the agriculture and animal husbandry departments answer questions on soil health, crop management and livestock diseases. Farmers challenge recommendations, share their own experiences and debate whether reducing the use of chemical fertilisers would affect yields. Instead of settling the argument immediately, the group agrees to first conduct soil tests on five farms before deciding the way forward.
"There is little point in applying fertilisers without first understanding the condition of the soil," agriculture officer Dr Basantilal Rathore tells the gathering, urging farmers to rely on soil testing rather than habit.
The emphasis throughout the evening is not on reaching quick consensus, but on collective problem-solving.
If we only keep complaining about poor rainfall every year, nothing will change. The government will continue running its schemes, but the land is ours, the water is ours and the future is ours. The purpose of the chaupal is to prepare before a crisis arrives.Lal Singh, Social Worker
Unlike a gram sabha, which is a statutory meeting held on fixed dates to approve plans and take formal decisions, the night chaupal serves as an informal platform where villagers discuss problems, exchange ideas and build consensus. Suggestions emerging from these discussions are later placed before the gram sabha, where they are formally deliberated and approved.
According to the gram panchayat, these meetings also help it prepare the Gram Panchayat Development Plan, identify priorities for government schemes and decide how available funds should be allocated. "The discussions help us understand the village's actual needs," the panchayat says. "They make it easier to prioritise development works and send proposals to the concerned departments."
The initiative is relatively new. Vagdhara has been organising night chaupals in selected villages across Sailana block for the past year, with Chawda Khedi hosting one for the first time. Meetings are typically held before the monsoon, when communities begin preparing for the agricultural season. Discussions range from water conservation and indigenous seed banks to organic farming, education and public health.
Participation was modest when the initiative began. Volunteers and community members went door to door inviting residents, particularly women and young people, and scheduled meetings at times convenient for villagers. Today, attendance varies from 40 to 150 people depending on the village and the agenda.
Pinky Tailor, a Vagdhara programme coordinator, says the meetings have changed who speaks in village discussions.
Earlier, women mostly came to listen. Now they speak and participate in decisions. Women bear the greatest responsibility for fetching water, so their views on water conservation are essential. If children stop going to school, mothers are the first to notice. These discussions help ensure those concerns become community concerns, not just individual ones.Pinky Tailor, Vagdhara programme coordinator
By the time the conversation turns to children's education, the discussion is no longer confined to farming. Sarpanch Manisha Bai raises concerns about children dropping out of school during the agricultural season to work in the fields. After hearing from several villagers, the group decides that if a child is regularly absent from school, members of the village committee will first speak with the family before involving teachers or the panchayat, if necessary.
See also: Over one million displaced in Punjab as torrential monsoon rains hit Pakistan
As the meeting draws to a close, villagers gather around a collection of indigenous seeds spread out on the ground—maize, kodo, kutki, pigeon pea and several local varieties that many younger farmers are seeing for the first time.
Older farmers explain how these seeds were cultivated by earlier generations before hybrid varieties became widespread. The discussion soon turns to creating a community seed bank, where farmers can borrow seeds when needed and return the same quantity after harvest.
For many villagers, the proposal is about more than preserving crops.
We learnt a lot about modern farming in college, but very little about the traditional seeds of our own village. Here I realised that seeds are not just an agricultural input—they are part of our heritage. If we keep buying seeds from the market every year, one day our own varieties will disappear. A community seed bank will not only preserve them but also make us more self-reliant.Divya, member of a women's self-help group
Throughout the evening, disagreements surface but rarely become confrontations. During one discussion, some farmers argue that completely abandoning chemical fertilisers is unrealistic, while others advocate reducing their use. Rather than forcing a consensus, the group agrees to experiment with different approaches and compare the results.
It is the questions that make these meetings valuable. In many official meetings, farmers simply listen. Here, they challenge us with their own experiences. When scientific knowledge and local experience come together, better solutions emerge.Dr Basantilal Rathore, agriculture officer.
By the end of the meeting, the villagers have agreed on a list of tasks for the coming week: inspect sites for water-recharge structures, prepare an inventory for the proposed community seed bank, identify children who are not attending school regularly and encourage every household to plant at least one tree before the monsoon intensifies.
Shortly before the meeting concludes, Vagdhara volunteers screen a short film on water conservation using a laptop and projector. The discussion that follows is practical rather than symbolic. Villagers debate where water can be retained, which structures are most feasible and what work can be carried out collectively before seeking government support.
It is a little after 11 pm when the gathering finally disperses. There is no vote of thanks or formal closing remarks. Villagers switch on their torches and mobile phone flashlights before making their way home through the dark.
By then, the village has done more than discuss its problems. It has identified priorities, assigned responsibilities and mapped out the first steps towards preparing for the next monsoon. Many of those ideas will eventually find their way into the gram sabha and the village development plan. But they begin here—in an informal night chaupal where the community decides its future together.
[KS]
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