A committee set up to evaluate the progress of the scheme, modelled on the lines of social crusader Anna Hazare's Ralegan Siddhi, ironically points to abject insensitivity to the villagers' developmental needs. For instance, orientation programmes were not held for the villagers while the activists meant to participate were never trained.

The scheme, launched by the erstwhile Sudhakarrao Naik government in August 1992, aimed at overall development of one village in each of the state's 321 talukas with emphasis on watershed development. However, themid-term evaluation committee says the scheme has in fact, failed on all fronts.Moreover, Hazare, who chaired the Ideal Village Project Committee set up by the government, quit the panel last year, blaming the government machinery for the scheme's failure. He has since started his own parallel ideal village scheme.

The government's scheme was to be jointly implemented by the Ideal Village Project Committee, the villagers, NGOs and various departments of the State Govt.

The mid-term Evaluation Committee, which submitted its report on November 20, was headed by Dr M A Ghare, an expert in watershed and rural development and chairperson of Action For Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra (AFARM)-- a Pune-based apex organisation of NGOs operating statewide.

The committee's survey of 46 villages has thrown up some startling findings. It found that the basic criteria that less than 30 per cent land in the village should be irrigated, village population should not exceed 4,000 and the Gram Sabha has to passcertain resolutions with a two-third's majority that the village would abide by the scheme's rules -- were ignored.

Surprisingly, the selection process is still on, with 52 villages being dropped recently for failing to fulfill the criteria. Consequently, the scheme is underway in just 252 villages in 168 talukas.

Similarly, NGOs willing to participate had to be registered with the Charity Commissioner among other things like adequate experience in rural development, sufficient manpower and technical knowhow. However, most of the NGOs were set up after the villages were inducted into the project and failed to fulfill the criteria, the report says.

The committee also found that the five-point programme, the project's human welfare component, is in tatters. Called the `Panchsutri', it includes Shramdaan (community work), Nasbandi (family planning), Kurhadbandi (ban on tree cutting), Charinbandi (ban on grazing) and Nashabandi (prohibition). However, in more than 90 per cent of the villages, Shramdaan hasall but come to a grinding halt. Family planning, though, has been the most successful -- only women undergo sterlisation. The men are scared of the operations, the report adds. Allocation of funds and actual expenditure on the development projects indicates exactly how serious the government is about the scheme. Originally, though Rs 1 crore was proposed to be sanctioned per village, no funds were sanctioned in the first three years.

Till date, 178 villages have submitted their development plans and Rs 186 crore has been sanctioned for the same. However, merely Rs 55 crore has been spent, the report says. Since the scheme's thrust is integrated watershed development to meet the need for potable water and irrigation, a sizeable portion of the funds was meant to be allocated for the same. However, of the Rs 202 lakh sanctioned, only Rs 63 lakh was actually spent. Moreover, more than 75 per cent of the NGOs received less than Rs 3 lakh towards watershed development projects. Naturally, the villages are stillin the throes of acute water scarcity.

Also, orientation programmes for villagers and training of activists through audio-visual media, folk art, and so on, were never carried out. Worse, in 86 % of the villages, women activists were never appointed while in 91 %, regional technical officers (meant to oversee technical aspects of the projects) and regional coordinators (meant to coordinate between the villagers, NGOs and government officials), quit the scheme midway.