The Sainik Foundation is a part of the All India ex-Soldiers League. The organization is a voluntary, non-profit, apolitical body working in the rural areas on issues of awareness generation, conservation and employment generation. The goal of the project is economic empowerment of marginalized rural communities through rejuvenation of environment in the Salaita river ravines of the Yamuna ? Chambal river basin in Uttar Pradesh, that have been receding at an alarming rate due to depletion of moisture in soil cover. Deforestation has visibly enlarged the advancing arid zones, thereby affecting the climate and dropping the sub-soil water levels to 100 meters with near drought like conditions in the summer.

The project seeks to reverse this process with focus on enhancing livelihood opportunities through restoration of the eco-system. The project will directly benefit five remote and isolated villages comprising of over 1000 farmers. The specific objectives of the project are:
? To increase agricultural returns through arresting and reversing land degradation through restoration of the environment
? To undertake measures for augmentation of water resources with focus on recharging sub-soil reserves by building water-harvesting structures along with optimizing utilization of water through community initiatives
? To arrest erosion of topsoil cover through greening of exposed areas
? Capacity building of the community, especially women, around issues of environment, livelihoods, conflict management and sharing of resources
? To build SHGs and train them on alternate income generation activities
The above objectives will be achieved through involvement of the community in all stages of planning, data collection and execution of the project.