Abu Road block is one of the 18 blocks in Sirohi district in south Rajasthan. It has 21 panchayats and 85 villages. The villages are dispersed in small and scattered clusters with houses situated on the slopes of mountains and valleys.

Area: 88,404 hectares

Panchayats: 25

                     Revenue villages: 85

Population:1,14,819 (68 percent of the population is of the Garasia tribe, a scheduled tribe)

                   Males: 59,262

                   Females: 55,557

                   Sex ratio: 941/1,000

                   Literacy rate: 43.55 percent

Below poverty line: 51 percent

Seventy-two percent of the tribal (Garasia and Bhils) households live below the poverty line.

Approximately 40% of the Garasia families don’t have access to basic education. They live in the interiors of the forest, which is also their main source of livelihood. They engage in agriculture during the monsoon season.

Sixty-five percent of the area consists of forestland but a meager 6% of this is under cultivation.

The villages here are without basic amenities like safe drinking water, electricity, health services, roads and schools, etc. Among the tribals the literacy rate is as low as 13.17% among men and 0.85% among women.  

The infrastructure is poor here. More than 50% of the habitation is not connected by roads.

Agricultural production is low, land holdings are small and the use of agricultural input is very limited. Even if people have agricultural surplus, they have no access to the market.

These areas have no telecommunication connectivity.

NGOs active in this block: There are a number of NGOs working in this region. These include Azim Premji Foundation, Jan Chetna Sansthan, Doosra Dasak. While Azim Premji Foundation works exclusively on education, the other two work on a variety of issues including, health, livelihood, micro-finance, women empowerment.