East Champaran District

Urmila Devi lives in Chaitabazaar village which is barely five kilometres from the eastern bank of the Burhi Gandak river. It is located in a particularly flood-prone area of East Champaran in north Bihar. The drinking water quality in this area is poor. The recurrent floods only make it worse.

Irrigation system in India is often about big dams and hundreds of kilometres of canals that incur huge capital expenditure. Hence, policies at the central and the state level are mostly tilted in favour of big projects and often neglect micro-level solutions.

The Integrated Child Development Sevices (ICDS) Programme aims at providing services to pre-school children in an integrated manner so as to ensure proper growth and development of children in rural, tribal and slum areas. ICDS is a centrally sponsored scheme.

Description:
ICDS directorate, Bihar plans to conduct audits in East Champaran District with the help of Jan Jagaran Shakti Sangathan (JSS) and other civil society organizations. JJSS also plans to conduct social audits and awareness campaigns in few other districts (subject to interest of the local administration).