the SaiNa Nehwal Story homegrowN champioN coVer Story Saina Nehwal’s success is rooted in family values and aspirations homegrown champion F or inclusion to work there has to be

`50VOL. 9 NO. 10 AUGUST 2012 www.civilsocietyonline.com

the buzz about buzzaria

great park, rare goat

kiShwar on Surrogacy

Page 26

Pages 32-33

Pages 34-35

canalS vs water tankS

vizag Steel waS warned

inSide a green office

Pages 8-9

Pages 10-11

Pages 14-15

‘Shanghai iS a foot in the door’

Pages 6-7

Dibakar Banerjee onhis kind of cinema

the SaiNa Nehwal Story

homegrowNchampioN

Saina Nehwal’s success is rooted in family values and

aspirations Saina

CoNTENTS

coVer Story

Saina Nehwal’s success is rooted in family values andaspirations

homegrown champion

For inclusion to work there has to be prosperity. The Sri Lanka coverstory this month shows how the simplest of initiatives can be driv-ers of employment and put money in people’s pockets. Why can’t we

look at Sri Lanka and Southeast Asian nations and do similar things forour farm sector?

our cover is one of many stories we have done on the importance offresh thinking in the search for economic growth. Big investments areneeded, but can they ever be a substitute for enabling people to earn insmall robust ways with their immediate resources? The best growth wecan hope for should be broadbased. It should involve letting small enter-prises come up by linking them to markets and helping them withfinance and simple technologies.

The humble and unglamorous jackfruit is a solution only to those whosee its intrinsic merits. It is packed with nutrition. It also grows withouta fuss. Value addition comes when you make chips and flour and icecream from it.

But even easier is partial processing which makes the jackfruit ready-to-cook. And by identifying this opportunity, Sri Lanka has helped awhole agro-industry to come up. People can work out of their homes fora few hours in a day to increase their incomes.

In this issue we feature Dibakar Banerjee whose film Shanghai hasbeen making waves. We can proudly say that Civil Society began bringingyou stories on the new Mumbai cinema much before it got identified asa definite trend. These are new filmmakers with different backgroundsand mostly from small town India. Dibakar says Shanghai has given hiskind of filmmaking a foot in the door. Acceptance and demand have per-haps gone much further than that. There is a rapidly growing conscious-ness which expects greater relevance and authenticity of cinema, as itdoes of journalism. Simultaneously, there is a demand for sophistication.Tedious breast-beating won’t do. It is expected of new creative offeringsthat they be mainstream and engaging. The reason is that mainstreamconcerns have come to be redefined. Technology has allowed people toexplore their world in adventurous ways. They espouse values and expe-riences like they never dared do before. Additionally, problems relatingto land, water, housing, pollution now affect everyone.

You will also find in this issue a story on the Sehgal Foundation’s greenbuilding in Gurgaon and another story from Bangalore on how to makethe perfect road. We believe such initiatives, though small, matter. Theyraise the bar for what we should be doing.

18

R E A D U S. W E R E A D Y O U.

Jarawa buffer zone is in force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10For a perfect road

Learning the natural way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Elephants and 3,000 workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-17

. . . . . . . . 24-25‘No policy for inclusive ventures’

Ganga can be reborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-28

When love defies old age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31-32

Ayurveda: Tone up your liver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

. . . 38Products: Desi Spanish & Natural Art

The jackfruitsolution

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Advisory Board

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Cover piCture By shree paDre

5CIVIL SOCIETY, AUGUST 2012

VoICES

Baba adhav

Your cover story on the ‘PensionParishad’ by Baba Adhav is timely.As a retired person lucky enough tohave a pension I can say it is verydifficult to make ends meet. Theprices of daily necessities have sky-rocketed. Pension has to be linkedto inflation, especially for the poor.

D K Sinha

Apart from pension, I think it isimportant to revive the public distri-

bution system (PDS). The middleclass sometimes falls into povertyand depression for many reasons.Cases of severe malnourishmentamong women living in isolationare reported from time to time inthe media. In the old days, the mid-dle class used to access the PDS. Itshould be made functional andavailable for anybody.

Asha Choudhury

Pension is the right of the retiredpoor. They also need PDS and freehealthcare. A few entitlements willgive them dignity and respect with-in the family.

Sheila Mehta

civic bodies

Thanks for the interview with rKSrivastava, director of local bodies inthe Delhi government. I think thetrifurcation of the MunicipalCorporation of Delhi is a sincereeffort to provide better services.Srivastava and his team have donetheir best under the circumstances.Much will depend on how the newlaw on municipalities shapes up.The committee drafting it shouldinvite public comments.

Rajesh Nautiyal

Bottom-up business

Your story titled, ‘Bottom-upBusinesses’ had very inspiring,innovative and original ideas. Theseare all worth taking the risk. I espe-cially liked the solar light sectionvery much.

Pradeep Pratap

game changers

The Building as Learning Aid (BALA)project is a good idea for your GameChangers series. I have been follow-ing some of their innovative work inAlwar.

Rajesh Lawania

BALA should be implemented inschools across the country. Thetransformation that takes place inthe school’s environment is quitestunning. It creates a learningatmosphere that relaxes childrenand teachers and helps them learn.The sound of children’s laughter isheartwarming.

Kritika Desai

hill farms

Many thanks to rakesh Agrawal forhis story, ‘Hill farms begin to blos-

som.’ As a resident of Almora, I amvery impressed with the HimalayanAction and resource Centre’s (HArC)work. It just shows that small andmarginal farming should not be dis-missed as economically unviable.Agriculture along with agro-process-ing provide dignity and livelihood topeople unlike menial jobs. A winningcombination is lucrative farmingwith good education.

Bina Mishra

Books

Please could you make your booksand authors page a regular feature.We find this keeps changing. Thebook reviews are sometimes longand sometimes short. It is very dis-concerting for readers since we likefamiliarity. Linda Gonsalves

by SAMITA rATHor

letterS

IN THE LIGHT

ErrATAIn the story, ‘Fatehpura’s radicalNrEGA union’ it was wronglystated that the rashtriya rojgarKhatri Kamdaaronu KaydaUnion (rrKKKU) is a member ofthe New Trade Union Initiative(NTUI). The rrKKKU is an inde-pendent union and not affiliat-ed to the NTUI. Editor

Civil Society News

New Delhi

SAMADHAN, the mediation centre at the DelhiHigh Court, has seen a steadily rising numberof cases being referred to it. Last year it

received 2,565 cases. The year before that 1,489.And this year in six months 1,238 cases have beensent to it.

There is also a noticeable diversity in the cases.In recent times, the mediation centre has beenhandling labour disputes and wrangles over elec-tricity bills when earlier it mainly got divorcecases and property matters.

Significantly, the number of pre-litigation caseshas been going up. What this means is that aware-ness of mediation has been spreading and peoplefind it cheaper and quicker to come to agreementsthrough mediation.

Mediation is not a substitute for litigation. Butby bringing litigants face to face it helps them dis-cover solutions for themselves and saves the timeof the courts. Sometimes long-drawn court bat-tles end quickly in the atmosphere of a mediationroom.

Samadhan’s reputation as a mediation centrehas been built over six years through team workamong lawyers. It is the only mediation centre inIndia that is run by lawyers though it is attachedto the High Court and a supervising committeeincludes four sitting judges.

Civil Society spoke to Sudhanshu Batra, senioradvocate and organizing secretary of Samadhan.Excerpts from the interview.

It has been some years since Samadhan came upat the Delhi High Court. How far has mediationmoved?It has been over six years since this mediationcentre came up. There has been a lot of activity atthe centre over the past four or five years.Mediation as a movement has been going for-ward very rapidly. There is a mediation and con-ciliation project committee of the Supreme Courtthat has been organizing national conferences.Last weekend, the fourth conference was held atVigyan Bhavan. A number of the judges from thehigh courts and the district courts were presentat the conference. The clear message was thatmediation is not only here to stay but is goingforward.

You see, mediation is a system which is partycentred. Typical litigation on the other hand islawyer-controlled or judge-controlled. In media-tion the parties involved are the focal point. Butthere is growing acceptance of mediation (in thejudiciary and among lawyers).

So what happens at these conferences?There is deliberation on various issues.

Like which issues?There was discussion on the advantages of medi-ation over the adversarial process. on how thetwo can be complementary. So what we are tryingto say is that this is not an alternate redressalforum, but an appropriate redressal forum.

But your mediation centre in Delhi is already judi-ciary-led.In some ways, it is true in as much as it is courtannexed, but Samadhan is run by lawyers. In thepast couple of years we have started receiving pre-litigation matters as well. Either lawyers suggestthat the parties go in for mediation instead of lit-igation or the parties themselves, when they areaware of mediation, approach us. And when oneparty approaches us we issue a request letter to

the other party to join in the process. We can’tforce any of the parties, so a request letter goesout. In most cases, we get a positive response andthey come to participate in the mediation process. The pre-litigation option was available earlier aswell. To what extent has pre-litigation grown? We have had about 200 cases in the past year orso. It is also important to note that various typesof cases have been brought to us for pre-litigationmediation. For instance, labour matters, commer-cial transactions, property disputes –besides ofcourse matrimonial disputes.

Do more judges tend to refer cases for mediationthan they did earlier?Yes, yes, certainly. We get 30 to 40 matters per day.These are matters which are court annexed.

CIVIL SOCIETY, AUGUST 2012

INDIA

6

iNterView Sudhanshu Batra says mediation is fast becoming a movement

‘in mediation litigants get to talk and think’


INDIA

There is also a process of sensitisation which hasbeen taking place. The Delhi Judicial Academy inassociation with Samadhan has been conductingorientation courses for judicial officers. Thisweekend, one such course was held in Manesar.on a regular basis, judicial officers are being sen-sitised and exposed to what is happening at themediation centre. They are then better equippedto identify matters which have elements of settle-ment and can be referred to mediation.

How is mediation doing elsewhere in the coun-try?Bangalore is doing very well. But this centre inDelhi is the only mediation centre which is beingrun by lawyers. The others are being run byjudges. In Delhi, though the process is court

annexed, the lawyers have a free hand to makethe centre grow. We have received a very enthusi-astic response from lawyers.

So, this model in the Delhi High Court is unique?Yes it is unique. But of course this is also super-vised and controlled by the overseeing committeeof the mediation centre, which includes fourjudges.

You spoke of labour dsiputes coming for media-tion. What are the other kinds of cases coming formediation? What is the picture which is emerging?Initially, matrimonial disputes would mainly bereferred for mediation. But now the scope is beingenlarged. We are going into commercial disputes,service matters and labour matters. We are alsogoing into construction contracts. Public sectorunits are coming to us, which is a very healthysign because it means the mindset within PSUs ischanging. BSES matters (regarding billing com-plaints by consumers) are getting settled throughmediation. of course this kind of change will takeits time. It cannot happen overnight.

Do you have mediators with the required skills to

deal with this growing number of diverse cases?right now we have 266 mediators attached to theDelhi High Court Mediation Centre. There are 400applications that are pending. Lawyers qualify tobecome mediators only when they attend twocourses, which are conducted by the mediationcentre. one is the basic course and the other isthe advanced course. Both courses are for 40hours each.

Now, just by doing a course no one can becomea mediator. The techniques and skills which areneeded are acquired with exposure. Initially, inthe early days of the mediation centre, lawyerswho became mediators were doing so intuitively,based on gut feeling, so to speak. But now weteach the basic structure of the process. Naturally,the success rate is much higher. our message to

lawyers becoming mediators is to follow the struc-tured process. results are not the goal. Whateverthe results, if the process has been followed andthe parties have walked some steps forward youhave achieved a lot.Are you saying that mediation is not so muchabout resolving disputes as parties coming closerin legal terms?No, no (not in legal terms). Coming nearer inunderstanding their conflicts and the intereststhat underlie them. Ultimately what they have tosee is what is in their best interest and not thestand or position they have taken in court.

So to that extent it is best for mediation to workas an adjunct to the court process.Court annexed mediation is always far better.This is not a substitute for the litigation andadversarial process that we have. It is in fact com-plementary to it. You see, if the parties don’treach any settlement they go back to court wherea decision is taken.

Are you saying that having been through media-tion makes it easier to …Come to a consensus in the court.

So, they may be telling their lawyers to agree tothings they may not have earlier.Absolutely. They start thinking. The adversarialsystem is lawyer driven. Mediation is party cen-tred. once the parties start talking, they start real-izing that what they are actually fighting over isperhaps not in their interests. And what they getfrom court adjudication is very uncertain. Herethey have a win-win situation. They give up some-thing, accept something and then enter into amutual understanding, which is drawn up andsigned by them.

So, it would not be right to assess the work of themediation centre on the basis of results?We have a high success rate. But to my mind thatshould not be the measure for assessing the medi-ation centre.

A lawyer who also serves as a mediator wears twohats. What makes this possible?Nothing is easy. It is difficult to keep changinghats. But don’t we do that at home?

Well, let’s put that differently. How difficult is itto train practising lawyers to be mediators? Thisthing of 40-hour courses….Is not enough. We continue to have refreshercourses. After the basic and advanced courses wehave refresher courses and interactive sessionswithin our centre. The problems mediators faceare openly discussed.

Mediation is not particularly remunerative. You are right. Mediation is not remunerative atthis stage. We do feel that lawyers are putting ina lot of time. We give them an honourarium. Butas private mediation becomes popular, mediatorswill be well paid because mediation will always bequicker and cheaper than litigation. This is goingto take time. But I hope it happens and mediatorscan charge reasonable fees.

Are there instances of mediation being misused?

Sudhanshu Batra says mediation is fast becoming a movement

‘The sector as a whole got 18 per cent marks. ispat got

40 and the Vizag Steel plant 36. So when we say the

Vizag Steel plant got anaward, it is a little better

‘in mediation litigants get to talk and think’


INDIA

8

Tanushree Gangopadhyay

Ahmedabad

aN angry protest is gatheringmomentum in Mithi Virdi, apicturesque village in

Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district.Four villages have united forcesto oppose a nuclear plant com-ing up in their vicinity. MithiVirdi is likely to become asfamous as Jaitapur andKudankulam.

In 2008, Mithi Virdi wasplaced on India’s nuclear mapwhen the Indo-US Civil Nucleardeal was signed. The NuclearPower Corporation of IndiaLimited (NPCIL) endorsed anMoU with Westinghouse, anuclear major in Pennsylvania,to build a power plant on landacquired from four villages here.External Affairs SM Krishna andUS Secretary of State, HilaryClinton, cemented the MoU dur-ing a meeting in the US earlythis year.

Farmers here are fuming.They were never consulted, theysay. “We have resolved never topart with our land of gold. Thisregion is Gujarat’s Kashmir. Wegrow the best species of man-goes – langda, kesar, rajapuri –besides cashew, coconut, cotton,groundnut and our orchards offruits. We do fishing too,” saysArjunbhai Dabhi of Mithi Virdi.

“There seems to be a conspira-cy against people like us, livingalong the coast of Gujarat,” saythe angry farmers.

Since the past five years, farm-ers have been holding rallies,meeting ministers and attendingsimilar protests across the coun-try. They are organized and have good leadership.

Utthan, an NGo that has been working in thisarea for over two decades, has empowered them.“our women are very strong. They are leaders oftheir community,” says NafisaBarot, director.

Geetaben Dodia of SamarthanMahila Sangh is one such leader.She belongs to the Kshatriyacommunity of Mandva.Geetaben has been holding pub-lic meetings and talking to politi-cians. “We will lose our land andlivelihood if the nuclear projectcomes up. These companiesdon’t have any market in theWest, so they are planting them-selves on us. We have toiledhard to make our land produc-tive. As it is the Alang ship-breaking yard adjacent to our vil-lages has ruined the environ-ment. Women and girls arebeing violated. our next genera-

tion will lose their fertility because of pollution.Why should all this toxic waste be burnt on ourseashore? The companies don’t realize that theseaside is our pilgrimage,” she says, bristling with

anger. There is also Krishnakant Chauhan, another

active leader. He is a member of the ParyavaranSuraksha Samiti and has devoted all his energies

to the movement ever since itbegan incipiently, five years ago.

The recent leakage of tritiumin the rawatbhata Atomic PowerPlant in rajasthan, which affect-ed around 40 people, has createda flutter here. Nuclear scientistDr Surendra Gadekar and DrSanghamitra Gadekar, a medicalpractitioner went to rawatbhataand conducted radiation studieson the critically affected people.

They too are opposing theMithi Virdi nuclear plant. Theysay this part of the coast is proneto earthquakes. It falls in SeismicZone No 3. The town ofBhavnagar is only 34 km away.Mithi Virdi and its adjoining vil-lages have felt tremors periodical-

mithi Virdi on the nuclearwarpath

caption


INDIA

ly for over a decade. “The Kutch earthquake in 2001affected this place. Fukushima has not taught theIndian government any lessons,” say the Gadekars.

Last year an accident happened at the KakraparAtomic Power Plant (KAPP) near Surat. Contractlabourers were injured and affected by radiation.“ The outside world learnt about their plight onlyone month after the accident,” say the Gadekarswho have been blacklisted by the plant authori-ties. The workers had to appeal to the DistrictCollector who then prevailed upon the NPCIL toact, say the scientists.

The 220 MW reactors with heavy water as mod-erator leaked in 1998 five years after they wentcritical. The reactors were switched off for 66 daysdue to a leakage in the cooling loop. Accidents innuclear plants are not uncommon. A fire in theNarora plant was once contained thanks to theoperators’ presence of mind, according to theGadekars.

P.M. Shah, Chief Project Engineer, NPCIL, basedin Bhavnagar, dismisses these fears.

He says those reactors have old technology. TheMithi Virdi plant will have a light water reactorfuelled with enriched uranium. The plant will beearthquake proof. It will be very strong, he reas-sures.

But the Gadekars and other nuclear scientistscounter his assurances. “Are we here toweaponise? Enriched uranium is used for nuclearweapons. Are Indians not equipped to runnuclear plants? Why doesn’t Westinghouse set upplants on American soil?”

“The answer is clear. New nuclear plants arebanned in the US,” says Professor Falguni Sen ofFordham University in the US.

Shah, however, dismisses the issue of radiationfrom nuclear plants. Quoting an Atomic EnergyDepartment’s propaganda booklet, “Public per-ceptions about Atomic Energy: Myths vs reality,”

he says even cosmic rays produces 45 millirem(mrems) per annum, water and foods, 25 mremsper annum, a Mumbai-London flight gives offfour mrems and, of course, MrIs and X-rays alsoemit radiation.

“They forget that Hiroshima’s radioactivity isstill active after nearly six decades. People are stilldying there,” counter the scientists.

As if these fears were not enough, farmers havebeen left in the dark about their destiny. Thestate government is not parting with any informa-tion. The government has allotted 777 hectaresfrom the four villages of Mithi Virdi, Jaspara,Mandva and Khadadpar. Villagers have notallowed officials to enter their villages. TheDistrict Collector has “not issued any notice to thevillagers.” But it appears the sarpanchs of these

villages have been issued notices. Though the nuclear plant will be named Mithi

Virdi, it will actually be located in Jasapara, acrossthe river, where 757 hectares will be acquired.Mandva and Khadadpar will loose 10 hectareseach, according to Shah. It is unclear right nowhow much land Mithi Virdi will lose.

A Site Selection Committee conducted a surveyand selected the land. The Atomic EnergyCommission has approved the site, says Shah.The Westinghouse reactor will have six units of1,000 MWs each and is expected to generate 6,000mega watts initially, which will be enhanced to63,000 MW by 2032.The plant is expected tobecome operative in 2019. Half the power gener-ated will be retained by Gujarat and the rest willbe fed to the National Grid.

Farmers here don’t believe a word of what theNPCIL says. In fact, 55 of them hired a bus and wentto see the Kakrapar, Tarapur and Jaitapur sites.

“We didn’t see any fruit trees. No bird chirpedthere. residential colonies were far away from thenuclear factory. The labour, which is on contract,is changed frequently. We suspect that everythingis amiss in those areas,” said Arjandada.

“The displaced tribals of Kakrapur told us not tomove out of our lands. In Tarapur we were toldthat the government did not stick to its promises.It did not give affected farmers the `8,000 per acrethat it had promised,” rues Vasramdada, whosevillage will lose 757 hectares. The government willacquire 100 acres of his fertile productive land.

All four villages are prosperous. They haveschools and good infrastructure. The govern-ment’s promises don’t cut much ice with them.All these are false, they say. n

caption

‘hundreds of truckloads ofrations are being

clandestinely sold tohoarders by officials of thecapD,’ a reliable official ofthe capD said. ‘hundreds of

truckloads of rations are


INDIA

10

Bharat Dogra

Udaipur

DESPErATE for work Bholaram travelled fromhis village Chikla in Kotra block of Udaipurdistrict in rajasthan to North Gujarat leaving

his family behind. He found work as a farm handon a farmer’s field. He toiled day and night. Butafter all the crop work was done, the farmerthrew him out without paying his dues. Thisinjustice has happened to him twice. Yet he is pre-pared to migrate again since his chances of earn-ing anything in his village are dim.

Like Bholaram hundreds of farm workers fromrajasthan travel to North Gujarat – known for itsintensive modern farming practices – in search ofwork. Most of them are tribals.

The migrants are called ‘bhagyas’ since theywork under a system called ‘bhag’. According tothis arrangement the migrants are entitled to a‘bhag’ or ‘share’ of the crop after they do all theagricultural work on the field. The bhagya canagree to work for two crop seasons – kharif andrabi - or for just the rabi season. Generally if theworker decides to work for the entire year, he getsan advance which is then deducted when his finalaccounts are settled. The crop-share can rangefrom one-seventh to one-fifth of the crop.

Dharmchand, President of the Adivasi VikasManch (AVM), a voluntary organisation involvedin mobilisation of tribals in Kotra block says,“First, the share of one-sixth or one-seventh ofthe crop is too small for workers and their familymembers who do the entire crop work at variousstages. If additional workers are employed for har-vesting, then their wages are deducted from thebhagya’s accounts. often bhagyas do additionalwork like feeding cattle or clearing dung.Secondly, even within this unjust arrangement,the bhagya is further cheated in various ways.”

r.D. Vyas, a senior activist of Astha explains,“For their daily subsistence bhagyas need to buyfoodgrain and other goods. The employer pro-vides them access to a shop from where they canget these goods. However, all the accounts of theshop are controlled by the employer. So whenmoney is deducted at the time of the final settle-ment, a higher amount can be easily charged.Similarly, all details about the sale of cash cropsand actual produce, are known only by theemployer. He can easily fudge accounts anddeprive the workers of a fair share.”

As a result there are frequent complaints by

bhagyas that after toiling for months they are leftwith very meagre earnings, and sometimes, noth-ing at all.

Bholaram, who got a meagre advance of around`5,000, says during the first year he returned with16 sacks of wheat, the next year he got 20 sacks ofwheat and during the next two years he receivednothing at all.

raavji, another bhagya from Mahari village,migrated for work with his partner Surti withouttaking an advance so that he would be able toearn enough for his marriage. According to cus-toms in his community, he can live with the girl

he likes for a while, if she agrees, and they can getmarried later.

For three years raavji and Surti toiled on afarmer’s field. In return, the farmer met theirdaily subsistence needs. In their fourth year ofwork they were paid `5000 which they spent ontheir marriage. In the fifth year they got 16 sacksof wheat. But the next year, when they tookadvance of `4000, they got nothing at all. A dis-pute broke out with another bhagya couple and inthe ensuing uproar both the couple involved inthe dispute as well as raavji and Surti had to leavewithout receiving their dues.

“The behaviour of the employers is good in theinitial stage,” says Bholaram. “We get chaach andsometimes tea from them. But when the crop isready and the day of settling our final accounts

approaches, they can start getting really nasty.”People believe that this change in behaviour andinciting disputes is often a ploy to get bhagyas toleave in a hurry without proper settlement oftheir payments.

The bhagyas have to live in huts on fields oftennear a well and be at the beck and call of theiremployers. Their work involves spraying toxicpesticides and contact with genetically modifiedcrops. Bt cotton is widely grown in this area.There are other health hazards – snakebite andexposure to extreme weather conditions.Sometimes women workers face the threat of sex-ual exploitation. The education of children isbadly disrupted. Small children live in neglect.Elder children toil with their parents.

Apart from bhagya migrant workers, child work-ers have been regularly taken from rajasthan’stribal belt to Gujarat’s Bt cotton fields. This traf-ficking has reduced significantly thanks to effortsby activists and officials, but it has not stoppedentirely. Just a few days ago 11 children were res-cued. Last year, there was disturbing news reportsabout such tribal children being chained at nightby their employers.

But farmers in Gujarat deny the prevalence ofchild labour on their fields. They say thatexploitation of bhagya workers is also rare.Instead, they complain, sometimes bhagya work-ers run away after receiving an advance. Somefarmers said they have suffered due to theincreasing tendency of bhagya workers or theiragents to go to labour courts.

Sanjay Patel, a coordinator with Ajivika Bureaubased in Idar town of Gujarat said that exploita-tion certainly exists as is evident from the grow-ing number of complaints but his organisation istrying to bring both sides together for reconcilia-tion and settlement of disputes.

Sarfaraz Sheikh, a senior activist of AVM whohas closely monitored these trends says, “Theexamples of bhagyas running away after receivingan advance are rare. The overall reality is still ofgrim exploitation. We have to work on severalfronts to check this exploitation since for severalyears bhagyas will continue to migrate due to

Bhagyasslog fornothing




caption


INDIA

Lake drowns in tourismRakesh Agrawal

Bhimtal (Uttarakhand)

SHAPED like a saucer, Bhimtal, a 60 ha lakenear Nainital attracts hordes of tourists everyyear. But this tourist boom is its bane. Hotels,

resorts and restaurants have mushroomedaround the lake’s shores, threateningits very existence. Gated communitieshave sprung up in Bhimtal’s catch-ment area, throttling its flow of water.

This encirclement is killing the lake.Its minimum depth, which was 12meters, has reduced to a few inchesand most of its upper banks (Mallital)have become dry.

According to local legend, the lakeowes its origin to Bhima of the greatepic, the Mahabharata. It is said thathe visited this place when thePandavas were banished (vanvas) fromtheir kingdom. They were very thirsty.So Bhima, known for his strength, hitthe earth with his club (gada). Watersprouted and Bhimtal lake was born.An old Shiva temple, called theBhimeshwara Mahadev Temple hasbeen built near the lake commemorat-ing this event.

The shrinkage of Bhimtal is starklyvisible from the upper banks of thelake.

Here there is a small temple dedicat-ed to Kaichula Devi, a much-reveredgoddess of the town. The temple usedto touch the banks of the lake and hadan idol of Durga which was partly sub-merged in its waters. But now the tem-ple and its idol stand on dry land.

“Years ago, devotees would first takewater from the lake and then offer it tothe idol. Sadly, all that has become his-tory now,” laments JagmohanPokhariya, a long time resident.

The lower end of the lake, Tallital, iscrowded with hotels, restaurants, villasand an aquarium. Viewed from here itappears as if the lake has not shrunk. Instead, resi-dents and tourists have dumped debris and garbageinto the lake. It is an ugly sight.

This sad state of affairs is due to relentless con-struction. The administration looks the other way.PN Shivpuri, 80, an educationist settled inBhimtal for decades alleges the authorities arehand in glove with builders and businessmen andjust want to earn a lot of money.

“Construction around the lake must bestopped. Instead of the current road an alterna-tive route to Naukuchiya Tal, – another lakewhich attracts tourists – must be found. I sug-gested these measures to the Lake DevelopmentAuthority (LDA) way back in 2002, but they saidthey were helpless,” he says.

Indeed, the LDA, whose job it is to control con-struction and regulate all business activities nearlakes has turned a blind eye to the current con-struction boom. Builders are blithely defying allbuilding and construction norms. Debris isdumped on hill slopes and eventually slides downto the lake’s shoreline.

Citizens say the LDA makes a few ‘token’ ges-

tures now and then to calm down angry resi-dents. “The LDA has totally ignored Bhimtal astheir entire attention is on Nainital. We have sub-mitted several proposals to the LDA. For instance,we requested the LDA to inform the IrrigationDepartment to prevent silt from a 130-year- olddam from entering the lake. It would have costthe department around `8 crores. But the LDA didnot listen. It has cleaned the lake just once in1999 at a whopping cost of `84 lakhs,” alleges D.K.Dalakoti, Chairman, Nagar Congress Committee,Bhimtal.

The desilting of the lake was carried out by theLDA and the Irrigation Department. At that timethe lake had depleted by 1,415 cubic meters. Itsarea had shrunk from 60 ha to 46 ha and its depth

from 39 meters to 27 meters. residents say the desilting work was so badly

done it ended up destroying the lake’s catchmentarea. “The LDA dumped hundreds of truckloadsof silt excavated from the lake into nearby slopesthat are basically the principal catchment of thelake,” says Doris Shivpuri, 75, a Danish lady mar-ried to an Indian.

Kuatal, which lies northwest toBhimtal, was a key catchment.Through underground channels andits sloping surface it fed water into thelake. But today Kuatal is littered withmulti-storied apartment blocks andgated communities.

According to construction norms,nothing can be built within 250 metersfrom the shoreline. But almost everyhotel is located a stone’s throw fromthe lake, some even touching theshore.

Citizens including some shopkeep-ers, a few hoteliers and local politi-cians have started a Jheel BachaoAndolan (Save the Lake Campaign).“This lake is our identity. It sustainsour lives. We’ll not let it die,” saysDevendra Singh Pharatyal, a smallshop owner.

The campaigners are distributingpamphlets, going door-to-door andorganizing sit-ins.

“We are urging people not to dumptheir garbage, sewage or debris in thelake,” says Dalakoti who has assumeda leadership role. The activists areplanning a public awareness rally anda plantation drive along the shoreline.Housewives have also joined the cam-paign.

The civic authorities have not pro-vided a single dustbin along the lake’sthree-km shoreline. So tourists andresidents dump garbage wherever theylike. There is also a half km road herewhich is full of potholes.

residents say in 1999, a seven-kmsewer line was dug for `5 crore. “They

were digging it 22 feet deep. I forced then toreduce the depth to six feet by writing to theCommissioner of Kumaon,” says Shivpuri.

Finally, the sewer line was constructed. But,ironically, the sewage system hasn’t become func-tional even after nearly 13 years since the sewagetreatment plant’s huge pumping station con-structed close to the lake neither has a power con-nection nor staff to man it!

It’s hard to believe but residents say many yearsago thick oak forests carpeted hill slopes aroundthe lake attracting a variety of migratory birds.The lake too contained rich aquatic life. “Now wesee pine trees on hill slopes and crows cawingoutside,” rues Champa Upadhayay of MaitraSansthan, a citizens’ action group in Nainital. n

Bhimtal lake


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12

Civil Society News

New Delhi

iNDIAN sex workers who were not given visasto attend an AIDS conference in Washington inJuly, decided to host a parallel meeting in

Kolkata instead. The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee

(DMSC) is the largest collective of sex workers inthe world. Since its representatives could not goto the US, DMSC invited sex workers from 27 dif-ferent countries to Kolkata to attend Global Hub:Sex Workers’ Freedom Festival.

Global Hub bucks a global trend. It comes at atime when the US and Europe are cracking downon prostitution in the belief that this will reducetrafficking in young girls.

DMSC is based in Sonagachi, Kolkata’s red-lightdistrict and says that by reaching out to sex work-ers it has succeeded in bringing down the inci-dence of HIV/AIDS – in the areas where it is active.

“We have shown that focused interventionpays. The major transmission of HIV is throughsex workers,” says Dr Smarajit Jana, principal ofthe Sonagachi research and Training Institute. Forover 20 years Dr Jana has worked in Sonagachi. Hehelped organize the DMSC, the first recognizedunion of sex workers in India.

At a press conference in Delhi, Dr Jana andBharati Dey, secretary of DMSC, refuted chargesagainst the sex trade in India. They said the tradeneeded more transparency and its own rules andregulations. It should come under the category ofunorganized labour, they said.

“If you stigmatize the sex trade and put thepolice after sex workers, the trade will go under-ground. That will make it harder for us to reachout to sex workers and ensure they get access toservices. It could make HIV spiral out of control.Instead, we can develop collectives of sex workersto empower them, curb HIV, and increase theirbargaining power,” said Dr Jana.

“We need to discuss the sex trade, laws relatingto it, policies and legislative practices by serviceproviders,” he said.

DMSC is not short of critics who say any formalstatus accorded to prostitution only ends up inmore trafficking. But Dr Jana claims sex traffick-ing has been conflated.

“I too used to believe they were trafficked. After20 years I know the truth. It takes time andpatience,” he says.

In 1991, Dr Jana was working as an epidemolo-gist with the All-India Institute of Public Healthand Hygiene when he was asked by NACo to findout the prevalence of HIV among sex workers. Hebegan visiting Kolkata’s red-light areas.

“In the last 10 years more than 900 girls havebeen removed from the sex trade by us. Contrastthis to the police. They rescued only 100 girls. Theexisting system fails because the police are a

major beneficiary of trafficking,” says Dr Jana.In West Bengal, the DMSC has set up ‘self- regu-

latory committee boards’ in 33 red-light areas. Theboards are headed by government officials, theMLA, a representative from the social welfare boardand from the medical fraternity amongst others.

Dr Jan says any girl entering the trade is identi-fied and brought before the committee. Herhealth and mental condition are examined. She isput in a short stay home, or a hostel run by thesocial welfare board or sent back home. If shewants to stay in the trade she is counselled onhow to deal with her health, police, violence,

goons etc.“We need similar boards in other states,” says

Dr Jana. He says the sex trade in India is very dif-ferent from prostitution in the West. For instance,he says, most sex workers in the West are singleand take drugs.

But in India studies reveal that sex workershave families, even joint families. often theyhave fixed clients. “We found no case of drugabuse among prostitutes in North India. Poorwomen don’t have an education. What options dothey have? Their choices are limited to domesticwork, construction work or sex work. And sexwork provides better money.”

Sex work in India is sometimes seasonal. DrJana says their study found that women in theSouth who work on cashew nut fields or in thejasmine industry got work for only three or fourmonths in the year. During the remainingmonths, 90 per cent of them earned a living bydoing sex work. Most of them were single womenwho headed families.

Attempts by the government to ‘rehabilitate’sex workers have failed miserably. A commissionby the Supreme Court asked DMSC’s Usha cooper-ative, which provides loans, health services andlivelihood training to sex workers, to look into

Sonagachi becomesglobal hub for sexworkers

caption

Collective defends itself against critics





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three aspects of the sex trade – how traffickingcan be prevented, rehabilitation and the provisionof rights and dignity.

Dr Jana says four studies were done on rehabili-tation. In Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai they foundsex workers did not want to go back to their vil-lages. They wanted the government to provideaccommodation for all family members. But thegovernment sees sex workers as individuals and iswilling to provide housing only to the sex worker.

The women said they needed decent pensionsof around `10,000 to survive. But the governmentdoles out laughable sums of `200 and `300. Andeven those are hard to get.

Neither does the government have any facilityto shelter the women. Government-run homesare dreaded. No sex worker wants to live there.The general opinion is that they are like prisons.

For livelihood, women are taught skills like can-dle- making, pickle- making or sewing and stitch-ing which does not earn them an income that cansupport their families.

Dr Jana says 95 to 97 per cent of women are inthe sex trade out of choice. A survey of one mil-lion self-identified sex workers revealed that onlythree to five per cent had been trafficked.

The survey excluded rural sex workers, part

time sex workers, transgender sex workers andmale sex workers. “Eighty per cent of women sellsex if they don’t get jobs. We have 10 million sexworkers so you need to be sensitive and rationalbefore designing a development programme or

policy,” he points out.Doesn’t this indicate that sex work is just due

to poverty? Dr Jana says that’s for economists tojudge. “We do find there is an increase in thenumber of sex workers after a disaster. We saw asurge of sex workers in Sonagachi after CycloneAila. The cyclone destroyed everything. So thewomen came to earn.”

Though sex work does provide more moneythan other menial jobs, the life span of such workis brief. Former sex workers say the retirementage is at 45.

Dr Jana says the problem is that pimps and thepolice take away a substantial sum of what a sexworker earns. If women can keep 85 per cent oftheir earnings, they can lead a healthy life after45, he says. on an average, a sex worker can earnup to rs 15,000 a month.

The DMSC’s cooperative society, Usha, wasstarted with13 girls. “Now we have 20,000 mem-bers and a turnover of `15 crore. Women can takeloans to start small businesses after leaving thesex trade. We have a vocational unit too,” saysBharati. The DMSC is cited as a role model.

It is the children of sex workers who will final-ly transform Sonagachi. “Today some of our pro-gramme directors are children of sex workers.There are graduates among them. Some havebecome football players, representing Indiaabroad. In 1991 when I started this programmenot a single child had completed Class 10. Now 80per cent of them go to school. If this trend contin-ues Sonagachi will see a huge change,” says Dr




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INDIA

14

Vidya Viswanathan

New Delhi

oN 15 July, the IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT)Delhi hosted a group of pro-

fessionals working on ruralhousing in diverse geographiesof the country. The agenda forthe meeting, which was co-host-ed by several partners, was topresent a portal built for therural housing sector (www.rural-housingnetwork.com) and to getfeedback before the portal goeslive in a month.

“It will be www.ruralhous-ingnetwork.in when it goes live.We have been at it for a yearnow,” says ProfessorVijayaraghavan Chariar, coordi-nator at the Centre for ruralDevelopment and Technology atIIT Delhi.

The idea was incubated a yearand half ago by the Ministry ofrural Development (MorD). BKSinha, Secretary, was very pas-sionate about it. Governmentfunds several million housesunder the Indira Awas Yojana,but does not have any informa-tion on the relevant technolo-gies to adopt. The ministrywanted to deploy tested, eco-friendly, cost-effective and disas-ter-resilient technology. So theycontacted IIT Delhi and theHousing and UrbanDevelopment Corporation (Hudco) to create anaccessible repository of knowledge, resources,success stories, best practices etc.

Both the institutions have gone to great lengthsto ensure that the portal is owned by the commu-nity. They have pooled together all their contactsand invited architects, building technologists,civil engineers, companies, non-profits, panchay-at members and government professionals work-ing in the sector.

The interaction between participants in threedifferent parallel sessions was lively. Some of thesuggestions were practical. For instance, it wasfelt that if an end-user has to access the portal,the site has to offer a decisionmaking tool andthe supply chain has to be available too.

Some suggestions were philosophical. “We feelpoor people deserve poor solutions. We have toovercome that mindset,” said Joe Madiath ofGram Vikas who was chairing a session. “Webelieve three generations of them will live in oneroom. They deserve privacy not pigeon holes,” headded. “Houses should be an economic asset forthe poor much like it is for us,” said Kirtee Shah arespected architect from Ahmedabad.

“This is what we want,” said Chariar. “We wantthe community to own and generate content. Werecognize that the final user may not be ICTenabled. But a local organization whether it is abuilding centre, NGo or the panchayat can helphim,” he explained. State governments that want toimplement schemes currently have no idea aboutwhat other governments are doing. Alternativematerials have not become popular because theyare not on the list of the government’s approved

materials. Creating a database ofsuccess stories validated byexperts would make them moreacceptable.

The team’s first charter is todocument all good constructionpractices and case studies ofprojects across the country. Forexample, the Laurie BakerCentre has implemented proj-ects with some of its technologyand Auroville has worked exten-sively with compressed mudblocks. “We are looking at ver-nacular or traditional practices,innovations and also modernmaterials,” says Chariar. Thetechnology profile in the web-site for each of these methodswould have two levels — a sim-plified level for the end user anda detailed technology descrip-tion for an architect or an engi-neer. The site would have adirectory of practitioners inrural housing.

“Housing is not about technol-ogy alone. It is about aspirationsand social acceptability. Habitathas a strong bearing. It is alsolivelihood dependent,” explainsChariar. So coastal zone housingwould be different from a housein an arid zone. A fisherman’shouse needs to be differentlydesigned from that of a weaver.Also, it is never a single house. Itis always a settlement, whichmeans the process should have

the participation of people. The initial updates would come from a team

that is travelling across the country. Hudco is thetechnical consultant. Hudco’s building centres indistricts across the country have provided theirinputs even though several of them are now in astate of disuse. They also have partnerships withnon-profits in each region. The Laurie BakerCenter will serve as the secretariat in the South.other partners are: CoStForD in Kerala, Unnatiin Gujarat and Gram Vikas in orissa.

It is expected that partners will update the por-tal with their own innovations and what they seein their neighbourhoods. “We expect 25 to 30organizations to actively contribute content andshare their innovations in project methodologyand financial structure too,” adds Chariar.

The idea is also to build the portal into a solu-tions exchange where experts will answer specif-ic queries and also get their own queriesanswered. However all contributions to the sitewill be peer reviewed by a panel constituted bythe team. The panel includes researchers fromacademia and practitioners. “After all evenWikipedia is moderated,” says Madiath.

online advice for village home

Vijayaraghavan M Chariar




Jehangir Rashid

Srinagar

THE Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) chapter of theIndian National Trust for Art and CulturalHeritage (INTACH) has been entrusted with

the responsibility of preparing a blueprint of theDastigeer Sahib shrine that was gutted in a devas-tating fire on 25 June.

In recent years INTACH has been doing a lot ofvisible work in J&K which is being deeply appreci-ated. It has embarked on a mission to preservethe heritage and cultural ethos of the state.INTACH has been instrumental in exploring vil-lages in the Valley to bring them on the tourismmap. It hopes that people will throng to theseplaces of tourist interest and they will become apermanent feature in the itinerary of tourists.

Mohammad Saleem Beg, Convener of INTACH inJammu & Kashmir, said that the trust has movedbeyond Srinagar city. It has expanded its activitiesto other districts of the Valley. Beg said thatINTACH’s prime concern is restoration of the dis-tinctive character of heritage structures in the state.

“Kashmir across the world is known for itsfamed Mughal Gardens. We have been able to putthe Mughal Gardens on the tentative WorldHeritage list under the category of Global CulturalAssets. Hopefully more people will come to knowabout these gardens,” said Beg who retired asDirector-General of Tourism some years ago.

Beg said that INTACH has been able to changethe mindset of people who believed that thatreconstruction of dilapidated heritage structureswas the only way forward. He said they have been

able to inspire people to restructure dilapidatedstructures instead of dismantling them.

“We have been able to motivate lawmakers toframe legislation for the conservation of heritagestructures in the state. The bill has been namedthe Jammu and Kashmir Heritage ConservationBill, 2010. The rules are being framed. The billenvisages protection of all the tangible and intan-gible heritage monuments of the state,” said Beg.

He said people of the state were very interestedin knowing about the state’s glorious past. Somelandmark religious structures have been takenover by INTACH for restoration, he explained.

“The state is full of landmark religious struc-tures. We thought it is our duty to preserve them.Aali Masjid at Eidgah in downtown Srinagar hasbeen restored and people are happy with ourwork. The religious structures in Kashmir have arich heritage. It is the duty of all stakeholders toput in their best efforts to preserve the distinctivecharacter of our structures,” said Beg.

INTACH has also taken up restoration work ofthe Thag Baba Sahib Shrine in the Shah Kadal areaof Srinagar city. The shrine has now been thrownopen to the public. People in huge numbers arethronging to it. Public opinion is in favour ofINTACH’s work. The restoration work was doneunder the emergency funding programme. Moneywas provided by a Netherlands based organization.

“We took up the work of documenting coins atthe Sri Pratap Museum in Srinagar under thesupervision of the National Institute ofLuminastics, Nasik. This activity was unique sincealong with documentation, we were able to inter-pret and document 75,000 coins,” said Beg.

He says the work at the SriPratap Museum was done underthe National Monuments andAntiquities project. Visitors to theMuseum can now get details aboutancient coins along with monu-ments and antiquities.

“INTACH will be working onrestoration in 17 towns across thestate. Both historic and vernacularstructures in these towns will bedocumented. This would placethem on the heritage list map.People will get to know about suchplaces of heritage importance,”explained Beg.

INTACH is also convertingLalded Memorial Public School’sdilapidated building into a culturalcentre. It will be inauguratedshortly and will add a new dimen-sion to the heritage conservationprocess in Kashmir.

“The Lalded Memorial PublicSchool was dogged by many con-troversies. Finally, the buildingwas dismantled. We took up itsrestoration. It was decided tochristen the building as the LaldedMemorial Cultural Centre. Thecentre will showcase the culturallife of Srinagar city through arti-facts and visuals,” said Beg.

Beg says Lalded’s contribution topoetry in Kashmir has been enor-mous. The centre is in many ways

a tribute to Kashmir’s legacy of poets. Traditionalballads, locally known as Waakh, will be played atthe centre. “We have published a book in two vol-umes mapping the cultural resources of Srinagarcity including its architectural heritage andmedieval old world charm. The publication con-tains the geographic and socio-cultural history ofKashmir and the evolution of Srinagar city withits settlement patterns and life,” said Beg.

More than 800 listed properties and precinctswith photographs of religious, residential, civic,public, natural and manmade sites including theMughal Gardens have been included in the publi-cation. “The book includes tables on major socio-cultural events of the city, manmade and naturaldisasters, as well as residential neighborhoodsassociated with different arts and crafts ofKashmir. The listed properties in the book havebeen mapped on a heritage map for 130 sq. km ofthe historic city of Srinagar and its colonial exten-sions,” said the INTACH convener.

Beg says tourist villages like Vasaknag and Shar-i-Shalli villages in South Kashmir have been listedas tourist villages under the rural TourismProgramme of the Ministry of Tourism,Government of India.

“ The Naranag temple in the Ganderbal districtof Central Kashmir has been declared as a protect-ed site by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).INTACH has been designated as theDocumentation and research Centre of the ASI.The work on the reconstruction plan of theDastigeer Sahib Shrine has just begun and it willtake some time before the plan is finalized,” saidthe INTACH convener.


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heritage makeover in J&K cap


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16

Tanushree Gangopadhyay

Ahmedabad

iN 1411 Sultan Ahmad Shah built a modest citadelon the eastern bank of the Sabarmati river. Hewanted to be near his spiritual guru, Sufi saint

Sheikh Ahmed Khattu Ganj Baksh who was living inSarkhej, close to present day Ahmedabad.

Displaying amazing prescience, the Sultan shift-ed his capital from Patan in north Gujarat toAsawal which he conquered from the tribal king,Asha Bhil. He named it Ahmedabad after fourAhmeds, including himself.

Six centuries later the city Sultan Ahmed Shahfounded is applying to UNESCo for WorldHeritage City status. “We have moved UNESCofor consideration of Ahmedabad as a WorldHeritage City,” says Guru Prasad Mohapatra, theMunicipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad, withconsiderable pride.

“The city has a rich heritage. The AhmedabadMunicipal Corporation (AMC) has identified12,502 heritage structures mainly residentialhouses in the Walled City. We have 54 exquisitemonuments of national stature under theArcheological Survey of India’s (ASI) protection.”

The city has experienced tumultuous times.The Mughals, the Marathas and the British haveruled Ahmedabad. Diverse communities havealways lived and prospered here.

Ahmedabad’s artisans developed a unique secu-lar style of architecture.

Lattice work on stone in Sidi Saiyad’s mosque,ornate stone carved mosques, beautifully etchedJain temples, shaking minarets in five mosquesincluding Sidi Bashir and the exquisitely carvedwooden panels in Pol houses are some of thecity’s significant heritage structures.

The Walled City, fortified with a 10 km derelictwall, has 14 gates.

The residential houses here are organized inpols. Each pol was a sub-settlement, a sort of gatedcommunity where a specific guild, religious groupor caste group lived. There are now over 300 pols.The pols promoted cooperative living and security.

Each pol comprises a narrow road with homeson each side. Houses had beautifully woodencarved exteriors with gates. They also conservedrainwater by collecting rain from the roof andstoring it in tanks in the basement.

The powerful Mahajan culture of enterpriseflourished in the pols. It was this ‘can do’ spiritwhich created some of India’s greatest education-al institutions here like the National Institute ofDesign, the Physical research Laboratory and theIndian Institute of Management (IIM).

Under an ongoing conservation programmebeing carried out by the French government since2000 pol houses are being upgraded and toiletsbeing made.

”We are considering giving the pol homesincentives for maintenance as realty prices areskyrocketing,” says Mohapatra.

Famous poet Akha Bhagat’s house in DesainiPol has been restored and a chowk has been madeto commemorate him. Similarly, Kavi Dalpatram’shouse has also been restored. Their birthdays arecelebrated and poetry is read here. The pols, nodoubt, are steeped in history.

The 600-year-old Gujri Bajar or Flea Market isbeing given space in the Sabarmati river FrontDevelopment Project. Around 1,200 shops are being

ahmedabad sprucesup its old heritage


INDIA

constructed for vendors, but after a lengthy fight. Says Nafis Ahmed Allahwala, president of the

Gujri Bajar Vendors Association whose family hasbeen selling costume jewellery in the same place(where?) for three generations.

“It has been a long battle fought in variouscourts since 1975. Had it not been for ProfessorNavdeep Mathur of IIM, we would never have gotanywhere. The government does not realize thatGujri Bajar is a heritage market started by AhmedShah Badshah in 1411. Earlier,it was a Friday market when wesat in the Bhadra area. We wereshifted to the riverbed in thelast century. Following the jack-eting of the Sabarmati underthe river Front project, we wereasked to move out.”

The AMC has allocatedaround `º90 crores for revitaliz-ing several old monuments.This will displace thousands ofvendors for which the AMC hasno policy as yet. It appears theytoo will be resettled near theSabarmati.

The historic Dandi bridgefrom where Mahatma Gandhistarted his Dandi March in1931 was recently gutted. It willnow be salvaged by the AMC ata cost of `2 crores. The bridgeadjoins the Sabarmati Ashram.

Calico Dome, another archi-tectural marvel designed byDutch architect Mie van derrohe, was dismantled by a courtorder following the Calico milldispute. AMC had moved theHigh Court to install it since thedome is a heritage site. It willnow be reconstructed at a cost of`1.50 crores.

The AMC is also promoting aseries of heritage walks. Thewalk from Swaminarayan tem-ple to the Jama Masjid fuses sixcenturies of history in a coupleof hours. You can see the pols,

the Jain temples, chabutras (bird feeders), and theFernandes bridge under which the river Sabarmatiused to flow many centuries ago.

AMC has allocated `67 lakhs for redesigningthis walk. other walks in the works are a nightwalk, an audio walk, children’s walk and a craftwalk in collaboration with SEWA. Street food is anintegral part of Amdavadi culture so a food walkhas been proposed and a Sarkhej roza walk.

What are the advantages of having the World

Heritage City tag? “The city gets an identity, her-itage structures are protected and the quality oflife is improved,” explains Nayak.

Socially conscious citizens point out facets ofthe city that are being ignored. Lost in the city isits founder, Ahmad Shah and his Sufi legacy.

“Sultan Ahmad Shah was a pious and great manwho detested all bigotry. He would not takemoney for his personal expenditure from thestate exchequer, so great was he,” says Dr Saroop

Dhruv, a poet and culturalactivist.

“The government has jacket-ed the Sabarmati river and itnow looks like the NarmadaCanal. Sultan Ahmad Shah hadplans to build a port so thattraders could negotiate theirway to the sea. Today, all theactivities on the river have beencurtailed. It is dead.”

Dr Dhruv asks where hasAhmedabad’s Sufi culturegone? “Even Vali Gujarati, thefamed Sufi poet’s tomb wasbroken during the 2002 Gujaratriots. The rathyatra was a sym-bol of secularism. Today it is adreaded festival with commu-nal forces ruling the roost.Where are the wonderful arti-sans of Kinkhab? I fear that theWorld Heritage tag will simplypush the poor out of the city.”

Ahmedabad has five Islamicseminaries where originalworks are being scripted, saysProfessor Bombaywala, whoretired from the GujaratVidyapith and has been work-ing in the 300-year-old PirMohammad Shah Library thathas 4,000 manuscripts.

“It is paradoxical that SultanAhmed Shah moved from Patanto found Ahmedabad becausehe wanted to be close to hisSufi mentor, Sheikh AhmedKhatu,” says Bombaywala. n

by SAMITA RATHORSamita’ S world

caption


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18

Civil Society News

New Delhi

anew alliance of groups fighting for the rightsof forest-based societies is taking shape. Theyconverged in Delhi from all over India to qui-

etly discuss the contours of this new network thismonth.

In 2006, when the Scheduled Tribes and otherTraditional Forest Dwellers(recognition of Forestrights) Act 2006 was passedin Parliament almost allpolitical parties supportedit. But implementation hasbeen tardy. Most state gov-ernments and forest depart-ments putting up everyroadblock they can find tofrustrate implementation.

Activist groups who spentyears convincing the Uniongovernment to pass the lawnow find the going tough.They are therefore thinkingof strategies to make theForest rights Act of 2006more effective.

The new network is likelyto be firmed up by the endof this year. Its tentativename will be the All IndiaForum of Forest Movements(AIFFM). Sanjay BasuMullick of the JharkhandJungle Bachao Andolan(Save the Forest Movement) has spent a decademobilizing forest communities for their rights. Hespoke to Civil Society about the new alliance inthe works.

What is the reasoning behind starting an allianceof forest groups?We would like to take a larger perspective. India isa union of several identities, economies and deci-sion- making processes. They don’t know eachother well. Those from feudal or corporate back-grounds have very little knowledge of the lives,aspirations, philosophy or decision-makingprocesses of forest- based societies.

As a result we make ill- informed commentslike those of former President of India APJ AbdulKalam. He asked why we want to keep tribalsinside forests. They should enjoy the modernworld, he said. Well, how little he knows of eightper cent of our population!

People live inside forests because it is theirhome. They love the forest. They find it peacefuland they hate towns and cities. India is a union ofdiversities with respect for each other’s way oflife.

The Scheduled Tribes and other TraditionalForest Dwellers (recognition of Forest rights) Act2006, in brief the (FrA), is creating ripples. It gives

rights to forest- based societies. They can usetheir knowledge to protect forests and ecology.That is why we want a convergence of civil socie-ty and forest dwellers on one platform.

This convergence started taking place beforethe Act was promulgated.

Alliances came together to persuade the govern-ment to bring into centre stage the debate on for-est issues. once the Act came into effect we

thought our job was over. Unfortunately, theentire administration especially the forest depart-ment was up in arms over the new law. They frus-trated implementation. That has forced us tomobilize civil society and forest dwellers to putpressure on the government to implement theAct and plug loopholes which are being used notto implement it.

What are these loopholes?First of all the FrA of 2006 does not penalizethose who try to frustrate implementation. Theyshould be penalized. Secondly the FrA shouldclearly state that it supersedes earlier laws onforests. The forest department all along says weare bound by the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, theIndian Forest rights Act of 1927, so which Actshould we follow?

Although the FrA is historical and progressive,there are serious drawbacks at the implementa-tion stage. When rules have been published, yougive one claim form for claiming agricultural land,another for non- timber forest produce (NTFP) orminor forest produce (MFP), but you have not pro-vided a form for community forest rights overnatural resources as enshrined in 31 A of the FrA.The forest department is not respecting people’srights to bamboo, sal, tendu etc.

So a major flaw of the Act is that it is silent onsome vital issues.

At what stage is the alliance?right now we are in the process of formingalliances. We hope to firm up our union by theend of this year. We are in touch with severalsmall groups. Three large groups -- the Adivasi JanJati Adikar Manch, National Adivasi Alliance and

the Adivasi Vanvasi AdhikarManch are joining us. Wealso have groups fromJharkhand, South Bihar,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh,rajasthan, Gujarat,Maharashtra, Karnataka andKerala.

What are your priorities?We will focus largely oncommunity forest rights.First we will get communityforest rights and then landrights. Forest managementwill happen if you have con-trol over village resources.

We want to increase thevolume of forest flows – notforest produce alone butwater. Forests are the moth-er of water. our perennialrivers are dry most of theyear. With water and anincrease in NTFP, the villageeconomy will be strength-

ened. So far, between the government and the forest

department, forests have been mismanaged. Theyhave been turned into a private regime instead ofa collective regime. The Madhya Pradesh govern-ment’s forest policy is to lease out forests to pri-vate parties for tourism, for commercial use. Wewill oppose such policies at an all India level. Todo so we need an all India organization.

There are other issues—rEDD, the Green IndiaMission, climate change and carbon credits, areaswhich the government is keen to enter….weneed to discuss these issues.

What is your strategy going to be? Will you bepressing for implementation of PESA as well?

In Jharkhand they have the JharkhandPanchayat Act where they have this provision ofdividing villages into wards and holding elections.Well, then, what remains of the gram sabha?Nothing.

When groups are strong, land rights to very smallpieces of land are provided. We can implement the FrA only through mobi-lization. But it is difficult. In forests, villages aresmall, scattered and poorly connected. People areso poor they cannot afford to come to town for a

‘our focus is on forest rights’

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hArVIr Singh, Saina Nehwal’s father, an agricultural scientist with theChoudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University in Hisar,moved to Hyderabad on 1 April 1998. It was not one bit a foolish deci-

sion. His new office was at the N.G. ranga University, that is a stone’sthrow from the new rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. Adistance of 25 km from the heart of the main city, this university has thereputation of having done some pioneering work in the field of agricul-ture. The Indian Science Congress has been held here, a matter of greatprestige for any university.

Taking six weeks to settle down in his new environs andset up home for his wife and two daughters, Harvir wentback to Hisar to move them to Hyderabad. A Tata Sumo inthe searing heat of May brought them from Hisar to Delhiwhere they boarded the Andhra Pradesh Express at 5 pmon 25 May. Little did eight-year-old Saina know that shewas set to log on to an exciting new world, that would vir-tually transform her from just another schoolgirl to awww.aworldwidewonder.com.

It is with a shine in his eyes and immense pride thatHarvir points to Usha rani and says Saina gets the DNA ofher game from her mother. And that DNA has its ownfunny way of working for the progeny. “Her mother wasan exceptionally talented badminton player. Even now,people who saw her play in Hisar remember her flicks, theway she would move her wrist. Saina has got her mother’sstamina but I would say Usha is still better in skill.”

Though the impression most people have is that Sainais her father’s pet, Saina draws much of her willpower and

a stubborn refusal to accept defeat from her mother. “Every day on our way back home from the stadium after training, my

mother would scold me,” says Saina. “She would tell me I did not do thisright today or that I committed this mistake. She was very involved inwhat I was doing.”

Saina’s introduction to professional badminton came by chance inDecember 1998. Harvir, as sports secretary of the Agricultural University,visited the Lal Bahadur Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad to enquire about hir-ing it for a tournament. The stadium was 25 km from the university, butSaina had gone along. Like all little kids, the precocious side of Saina tookover when she spotted the racquets kept by the courts. As she startedplaying with the racquets, Saina caught the eye of the badminton coach,

The Saina Nehwal kind of story is what

we like to publish. We have a bottom-up

orientation and celebrate the successes of

ordinary Indians. We see in their efforts

the larger picture of India.

Saina’s amazing rise goes much

beyond badminton. It is about

middle-class achievements and

aspirations in the face of

awesome odds.

Indian sport, as we know, is

plagued by power games and the

lack of equal opportunity.

Politicians enjoy the kind of control they

shouldn’t. But when a Saina succeeds

despite such circumstances we all have

reason to cheer loudly. It is possible, we tell

ourselves, for talent and integrity to

Saina Nehwal’s success is rooted infamily values and aspirations

homegrowNchampioN


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P.S.S. Nani Prasad rao. It is insignificant looking moments like these that become turning points

in a career. For Saina, Nani Prasad making a note of how she held the racquetwas one such moment.

“He apparently liked the way she held the racquet. Nani Sir asked me tobring Saina to the summer coaching camp in May 1999,” recalls Harvir. “I feltvery excited, searched for a court near home and Usha rani and I started ourlove affair with badminton all over again, this time with Saina in tow.”

The summer coaching camp was to begin from 1 May 1999. The doting par-ents travelled to Hyderabad’s old city area near the Charminar and bought forSaina a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and shoes from a Bata showroom. And aCarbonex badminton racquet for `1,700. She stood out because she was tallerthan most girls her age.

Saina’s memories of that age are fuzzy but she does point out that her fam-ily always has ensured she is insulated her from any of the family issues. “Mysister is also like my mother. She was aware that my parents would give pri-ority to my game. At home, no one says ‘no’ to me, as the effort is always tokeep me in a happy frame of mind. I think I am blessed that way. No familyproblems are ever discussed with me, only happiness is shared,” says Saina.

But there are regrets. Harvir says because the focus was always on bad-minton, the small joys of growing up were ignored: “I never bought a doll forSaina. Instead of a doll, we gave her a racquet to play with. Every time I thinkabout it, I feel very emotional.”

Goverdhan reddy, one of the badminton coaches with the Sports Authority

of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) who even today works with kids during the sum-mer, says Saina was among the 120-odd kids who had enrolled for the camp.Now, on the opening day of the summer camp in May every year, Goverdhanshows younger kids, with stars in their eyes, videos of Saina Nehwal winningthe gold at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

once the summer coaching camp in 1999 was over, Nani Prasad told HarvirSingh that he would like Saina to continue playing badminton. Not thatHarvir and Usha rani needed any prodding; they were as keen.

And within just days of the conclusion of the summer camp in 1999, Sainawas asked by Nani Prasad in June to travel to Chennai to take part in theUnder-10 category in the Krishna Khaitan Tournament. This tournament isconsidered one of the most prestigious badminton tournaments even today.Like any family that takes the first tournament very seriously, Saina’s parentsbought her an expensive Isometric racquet for `2,700. Most players thosedays used the Carbonex racquets that used to cost `1,700.

“I made the mistake of sending her without Usha or I accompanying her.We were very tense,” remembers Harvir. “But the little girl performed well,reaching the quarters where she lost to Shravani of the East Godavari districtin Andhra Pradesh. Saina received an award of `500 and a certificate for herefforts. But someone, either by mistake or deliberately, took away her expen-sive racquet. So, when I received her at the Secunderabad railway station,Saina was in tears, heartbroken at the loss. I hugged her and told her I wasproud of her for doing so well on debut.”

Goverdhan remembers Saina as a girl with a strong shoulder whose base-

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22

line hits were good but drops were slow. “But she was good for her age andshowed promise,” says Goverdhan.

Saina’s next outing was to a tournament in Thane in Maharashtra whereshe lost in the Under-10 semi-final. Goverdhan says he remembers her exit-ing the court after the match, as if it happened yesterday.

“There was a grill that she had to cross. Her mother Usha rani was stand-ing beside the grill. The moment Saina crossed, Usha rani slapped her. Irushed asking, Aunty why are you hitting her? Her reply was: ‘She didn’t playthe game the way she should have. She just did not concentrate’.”

Looking back, Saina says her mother was totally involved with her game.“During those growing up years, she made me eat a lot, made me more strongso that I could compete in five to six categories in the same tournament. Shereally pushed me a lot.”

Usha rani’s phenomenal motivation and dedication to keep Saina’s focuson badminton does not come as a surprise to those who have known abouther own unfulfilled dream of being a national level badminton player.Chandranshu moved towards volleyball instead of badminton. But Saina’sinterest in badminton was actively encouraged and supported by Usha rani.

Like Harvir, Goverdhan credits Saina’s badminton sense to her mother.“Till she was 13 or 14 years old, Usha rani’s efforts were outstanding. Shewould take care of her diet and ensure Saina was punctual and on time. Shealso influenced Saina’s mindset and guided her how to play. I would tellAunty that on their way to and back from the stadium, she should keep talk-ing about the game to Saina in the bus or the auto.”

Saina worried about upsetting her mother by not playing well. It was a com-bination of fear and respect for someone who understood the game and knewwhat was needed to excel in it. Today Saina credits her genes for her abilityto work hard.

“When I was 9, 10, 11 years old, I used to spend two to three hours just atthe gym,” she recalls.

But while Usha rani was strict when it came to badminton, Harvir’s fortewas to encourage Saina if her spirits drooped. This carrot-and-stick approachworked very well to make Saina a better badminton player.

MAKING ENDS MEET: What that summer camp did for Saina was to give hera second home at the Lal Bahadur Indoor Stadium till about mid-2004, whenshe moved to Gopichand’s camp. Every morning, she would be among thefirst to arrive with her father at 6 am and train till 10.30 am. She would beback on court at 2 pm, this time with her mother, and play till 7.30 pm. onceschool reopened, she trained from six till eight in the morning and then againfrom four till seven in the evening.

The same month, Saina became the cynosure of the badminton circuit in

‘hundreds of truckloads of rations are beingclandestinely sold to hoarders by officials of the

capD,’ a reliable official of the capD said.

Saina and her mother share a deep bond With her father, Harvir, at Disneyland in Hong Kong in 2010

Saina and Gopi


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Hyderabad, by winning the Under-10, Under-13 singles and the Under-13doubles titles. And by virtue of being the district champ, she got direct entryinto the Under-10 Andhra Pradesh State Championship in Tirupati, a templetown.

Interestingly, Saina won the Under-10 title by defeating Shravani, to whomshe had lost to earlier in Chennai. The `150 award was made much moresweet by the special VIP darshan that was organised for the little championand Harvir at the abode of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala.

While Saina Nehwal was fast becoming a known name in India’s juniorbadminton circuit, the everyday routine of taking her for practice was quitestrenuous for her parents. It was a 25 km ride on the scooter fromrajendranagar to the stadium and Saina had to be there very early. Thismeant the child had to be up at four in the morning. Many a time Sainawould doze off on the back seat of the scooter, which prompted Usha ranito accompany the father and daughter. In March 2000, the family purchaseda Maruti 800 car only for Saina. Maruti is another name for Hanuman, theMonkey God, who is a symbol of strength and positive energy.

Even as Saina was steadily climbing up in the game, Harvir’s bank balancewas diminishing. He rates the time between 1999-2004 as the toughest peri-od of his life.

“I drew money from my provident fund some six times, mostly citing mywife’s illness as the reason. Everyone in the office, of course, knew what thereal reason was. Sometimes `50,000, sometimes `1 lakh. of course, all of thathas thankfully now been put back by me.”

Young Saina had no clue about how every day was an expensive affair.Harvir ensured there was no discussion about these matters in the familyand got on with the job of ensuring Saina’s needs were taken care of. “Shewas too young to understand all this and I did not want to disturb her,” saysHarvir.

Saina admits now she never knew he was borrowing from his providentfund to spend on the tournaments. “I did not know where the money wascoming from. I did not know that he was taking loans to send me to tourna-ments. My Mom used to travel with me and sometimes we would spend`30,000 to `40,000 on one championship. And I would take part in at least10 in a year. But he never asked me before any tournament if I really want toplay it or skip it.”

As Saina started tasting success outside Hyderabad, especially abroad, tele-phone bills became another burden for the family. Saina admits she would betoo lazy to acquire a local SIM card in a foreign land and would keep callinghome to chat with her parents. There would also be calls from the media.Harvir says during the touring months in the Philippines open and theWorld Junior Championship in 2006, the mobile bills were almost `50,000.

THE Hindi news was being broadcast on All India radio when DrHarvir Singh’s second child arrived in this world. That is how thefather remembers that evening, on 17 March 1990, when Saina

Nehwal was born. And adds fondly that it was perhaps a sign to himthat the child was herself destined to make headlines in time to come.

No one from either side of the family was around when the babycame at 8:45 pm in what was a normal delivery at the hospital on thecampus of the Choudhary Charan Singh Haryana AgriculturalUniversity in Hisar, where Dr Harvir Singh, an agricultural scientist,worked.

Though the Nehwals are not an overly religious family, as in the kindwho frequent temples, they named their new arrival Saina, a short form

of Sainaam, which refers to Shirdi Sai Baba. It was a week or so after Saina arrived that Usha rani’s mother came

to see the baby and almost a month lapsed before her father’s side ofthe family visited Hisar from their village. Harvir says, “I had to listento sarcastic barbs. My mother said, “Tu to bulaata bhi nahi hai (Younever call us to your home).’’

Many years later, a news magazine quoted Saina as saying “her grand-mother was not too happy that Harvir and Usha rani had had a seconddaughter.” That one of India’s most famous and successful daughters,who is now most definitely a youth icon, had been a n unwanted girlchild, at least for some in the family, was too ironic a symbolism for themedia to let it pass. It was picked up widely, magnifying what is accept-ed in many parts of India as an everyday truth that may not make manyrealists raise even an eyebrow. But in the world of news, it became ascandalous revelation that underlined the existing gender bias in India.

The family was upset about the unnecessary public embarrassmentof an elder of the family. It created fissures in the family. Harvir wastold by his brother that it was not fair of Saina to have talked about herlate grandmother like this. Harvir agrees the controversy was avoidable.However, open and straightforward as he always is, he points out thatin Haryana if the first child is a girl, people are likely to congratulateyou, though there won’t be a big celebration. But if the second child isalso a girl, Harvir says with a laugh, the chances are that the attitudewill change to offering solace – “Chalo, koyi baat nahin (It doesn’t mat-ter, such things happen).”

Though that has been the social environment in Haryana, Harvirinsists that it is not the way his family reacted to Saina’s birth. “Two ofmy brothers already had two sons each by the time Saina was born. Soto have two daughters in the family was a blessing. My elder daughter,Abu Chandranshu, was in fact the first girl born in the family after myelder sister.”

It was perhaps in the fitness of things that Saina was made the

the wonder girl

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24

All this mercifully seems a long way back now that Saina paid `60 lakhs inincome-tax in 2010 and `1.5 crores in 2011. The chartered accountant’s feealone was `2.5 lakhs.

Harvir says, “Those years were difficult years but today Saina has madesure there is no shortage of money. I wish every parent a daughter like Saina.If she had decided to study further she wouldn’t have earned like this.”

‘I AM SAINA’: Dr Harvir Singh leaned forward and asked me to read the brandof the shirt he was wearing.

“BoSS,” I said.“Saina bought this shirt for me in Hong Kong,” he said. “This Swiss watch

is an 18 carat gold watch by Dubey& Schaldenbrand, worth 8,000francs. These shoes are by Yonex.From my head to my feet all that Ihave belongs to Saina. If you askme, I will say I am Saina.”

As he opened the almirah in hisoffice room at the Directorate ofoilseeds research to take out vari-ous things bought by Saina on herdifferent trips abroad, he got emo-tional. It was obvious the impor-tance of the purchases was not somuch in their material value, but inthem being symbols of Saina’s suc-cess. Each represented a rung onthe ladder she had climbed.

“This is a Longines watch worth`2 lakhs,” said Harvir, opening the

box in which the watch was kept. Lest it did not register, Harvir pointed outthat this is the brand that Aishwarya rai Bachchan endorses.

“But then she does not wear a watch at all so it is kept in the almirah. Thesame is the case with this Sony Vaio laptop that she bought for `50,000. Sheuses a Mac so this brand new piece is kept here. We struggled a lot in theearly years, but now the pains have become gains,” he continued.

Badminton is a cheaper sport when compared to say cricket or tennis, butif the player has to excel, the parents have to be prepared to keep asideenough funds to take care of every small need. Harvir says that by 2001,when he and Usha rani realized Saina’s future was in badminton, he wouldpurchase expensive shuttlecocks, the ones that she would get to play with in

tournaments, despite his modestmeans.

“The AS2 or AS3 shuttlecocksused to cost `55 a piece. Therewere other parents who said whyspend so much on shuttlecocks,but then I did not want to leaveanything to chance. I used to buy10 cartons at a time with each car-ton containing 10 shuttles, whichmeant shelling out `5,500. At bestthe carton would last four weeks.”

Families make systematic invest-ments in a youngster over yearsbefore a champion emerges. Arifsays more than the player and thecoach, the parents should get thecredit for the success of asportsperson. n

‘hundreds of truckloads ofrations are being clandestinelysold to hoarders by officials ofthe capD,’ a reliable official ofthe capD said. officials of thecapD,’ a reliable official of the

In action

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gggginsigh sopinion

analysis

research

ideas

angst

aLArM bells rang all over India, including inDelhi’s power circles this June-July whennumerous signs showed that the monsoon

may be delayed, scanty and large areas may facedrought. The monsoon season rainfall all overIndia showed a deficit of 30 per cent by 4 July. By11 July, the deficit had reduced to 23 per cent butconcern remained about large parts of India facingsome rather serious consequences of irregularrainfall.

These kind of deficits would be difficult to bewiped out by higher rainfall in the remainingperiod, particularly considering the loomingthreat of the El Nino phenomenon and the avail-able predictions from the Indian MetereologicalDepartment (IMD) and others. So it is certain thatparts of India will face drought this year.

Indeed, the Union Ministry of Agriculture by 10July already set up a Crisis Management Group totake care of the possible drought situation. Suchsituations are not new.

In fact, according to the Drought Manual pub-lished by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, about1.204 million sq km (out of a total area of 3.29 msq km) of India falls under active drought mitiga-tion areas. It’s a bit of a mystery how this areawent up from the figure of 1.07 m sq km asassessed in the early 1970s by the then IrrigationMinister, K L rao. Why should the drought pronearea go up after 65 years of water resources devel-opment in independent India? It’s possibly a mat-ter of defining drought proneness, as various def-initions are used by different programmes andcommissions like the National IrrigationCommission and the National AgricultureCommission.

All definitions, though, agree that areas withrainfall above 1125 mm cannot be called droughtprone. Around 68 per cent of India has rainfallbelow 1125 mm, comprising 35 per cent that haverainfall of 750 to 1125 mm, 21 per cent havingrainfall 400 to 750 mm and 12 per cent havingrainfall below 400 mm. The area receiving rainfallbelow 750 mm is considered chronically droughtprone. Blocks having irrigation for more than 30per cent of the net cultivated lands are also

excluded from drought prone consideration. TheUnion Ministry of Agriculture estimates thatabout 16 per cent of India, or 0.526 m sq km areafaces drought each year on an average.

The biggest sufferers are rainfed farmers. outof a Net Cultivable Area (NCA) of around 141Million Hectares (MH) in India about 81 MH israinfed, according to the Union Ministry ofAgriculture. out of around 60 MH of irrigatedNCA, about 37-38 MH is irrigated by groundwater.Another about 5-9 MH is irrigated by what isknown as minor surface water schemes, whichare essentially rainwater harvesting schemes.About 11 per cent of NCA is irrigated by Major andMedium irrigation projects.

India indeed seems to have rather elaboratedrought management institutions and govern-ment mechanisms. The Drought Manual broughtout in 2009 by the Union Agriculture Ministry

describes them at length. It recognises that effi-cient use of reservoirs and groundwater can helpreduce the impact of drought. But there is noeffective mechanism in place to ensure that reser-voir operations and groundwater use are regulat-ed in anticipation of drought. The latest instituteto have been set up in this context is the Nationalrainfed Area Authority. It was set up by the UnionGovernment in 2006 with the express purpose ofmitigating the miseries of drought prone rainfedareas. The evidence of its effectiveness is yet to beseen.

The Drought Manual also describes three typesof drought, namely meteorological drought, agri-cultural drought and hydrological drought. Largeparts of India are likely to face the first two typesof drought this year. Many of them will also facethe third kind.

Dammed by droughtHIMANSHU THAKKAr

Continued on page 28

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If irrigation is the chief weapon to reducedrought impact, it needs to be recognised whereour irrigation is coming from and how can we sus-tain that source. An analysis of irrigation datafrom the Union Agriculture ministry shows thatthe net area irrigated by Major and Medium irriga-tion projects reached a peak of 17.79 m ha in1991-92. In no year in two decades thereafter, hasthe area irrigated by M&M projects even crossedthat figure. In fact, the area has reduced by about1.5 m ha in 2009-10, the latest year for which datais available. In this period, the government claimsto have completed several hundred M&M proj-ects, spent over two lakh crores, but it seems atbest it has been a zero sum game. It’s like addingirrigation in some new areas, while reducing it inothers.

In the same period, there has been asignificant increase in total net irrigatedarea from all sources in these twodecades. This has been possible due toan increase in groundwater irrigation.About two-thirds of irrigation today ishappening from groundwater. But see-ing the depleting levels and quality ofgroundwater, there is no doubt that ourcurrent use of groundwater is not sus-tainable.

If groundwater is our water lifeline, asis apparent today, we need to work tosustain that lifeline. This is even morepertinent in the context of droughtwhen groundwater, if available, can helpus out through the deficit period. Butthat option has been exhausted in largenumber of areas and is going to happeneven more in future, considering theway our governments are neglecting theneed to increase recharge, protectgroundwater recharge systems and regulate use ofgroundwater in the interest of access to water andlivelihoods for millions in drought prone areas.

Under the circumstances, there is no wisdom ingoing for more M&M projects for irrigation.However, India already has over 5,100 large damsand over 95 per cent of them have been built forirrigation. These reservoirs, if operated prudently,can help significantly in reducing the impact ofdrought in some areas. However, due to the non-transparent, unaccountable, unresponsive waythat these projects are operated, that help is alsonot coming.

There are projects like the Sardar SarovarProject on the Narmada river in Gujarat that wasbasically proposed and justified in the name ofdrought prone areas of Kutch, Saurasthra andNorth Gujarat. However, since canals have not yetbeen built, the water is going to water rich centralGujarat and to cities and industries all over, forwhom the project had no allocation. To symbolisethe unjustified use, the Sabarmati river flowingthrough Ahmedabad now flows all round theyear, using Narmada water.

In the case of the Vidarbha region inMaharashtra, the region suffers from the highestirrigation investment backlog, white elephants likethe Gosikhurd Project and now massive diversionof irrigation water for thermal power plants andother industries, without any participatory processwith or consent from the people of Vidarbha.

In the case of the Bhakra system comprisingthe Bhakra dam on the Sutlej river, the Pong damon the Beas river and the Thein dam on the raviriver, these dams all on snow fed rivers, couldhave built up storage in the summer, when fore-casts from the IMD and others had shown thatNorthwest India is going to experience deficitmonsoon this year. But the officials of the BhakraBeas Management Board (BBMB) allowed exces-sive releases in the first three months of this cal-endar year, the highest outflows of the last 13years for which figures are available. To top it all,when there should have been minimal releases insummer, allowing the depleted levels to come up,the BBMB committed the second blunder of theyear, allowed the water to flow away, giving prior-ity to power generation rather than building upstorages for drought contingency.

Thus when in June and early July, NorthwestIndia needed water, BBMB said they needed totake emergency measures to reduce water supplyfor all purposes! The BBMB had been found guiltyof similar mismanagement in 2004 and 2009 too.But there is no accountability for reservoir man-agers of India.

What these instances teach, is that reservoiroperations needs to be sensitive to weather fore-casts and the possibility of deficits or surpluses.reservoir operations also need to be reworked toensure downstream releases all round the year assuch downstream river flows play a large numberof livelihood supporting roles and also helpgroundwater recharge. Transparency and account-ability in reservoir operations needs to beachieved through clearly defined, legally enforce-able norms.

Diversion of water from irrigation to non- irriga-tion uses is not happening in Vidarbha alone. It ishappening all over Maharashtra and other statestoo. I have just mentioned the example of SardarSarovar. The Hirakud dam in orissa is anotherexample, where in fact, farmers have been agitat-ing for years to counter such a move. In cases ofthe Bisalpur dam in rajasthan and the Pawanadam in Maharashtra, there was in fact, police fir-ing on farmers when they protested such diver-sions.

What all this means is that these reservoirs arenot available for mitigating drought- like situa-

tions for farmers. It may be noted here that every farmer of the

country would benefit from facilities for betterwater management. And every farmer has anequal right in the share of state resources for this.But governments have no policy or strategy to usethe annual bounty of rainfall for all farmers.There are clear issues of inequities and injusticethere.

But there are also serious issues of sustainabledevelopment here. For every investment that wemake to increase outputs from rainfed areas, thereturns are likely to be more than what we mayget from big irrigation projects even if they wereto be taken up in the best possible manner. Thishas been proved through hundreds of examplesall over India. And climate change imperativesalso indicate that increasing the moisture holding

capacity of soils, increasing localwater systems and taking upwater- saving cropping methodslike the System of riceIntensification are indeed themost climate friendly options.

It is high time we do a coursecorrection and focus our waterand agriculture policies on rain-fed farming. Such a strategy islikely to yield better economic,hydrologic, sustainable, equitableand climate friendly results andfoodgrains production as per ourfuture demands. It can also helpsustain our groundwater lifeline.

Are we learning any lessonsfrom these experiences? It doesnot seem we are. For example the12th Plan Working Group reporton M&M projects recommendsunprecedented, highest ever

investment of rs 331 000 crores for these proj-ects. The amount is about 75 to 80 per cent of thetotal water sector budget for the Fifth Year Plan.Even the Prime Ministers’ office is working like abig dam lobby these days, as does the UnionWater resources and Agriculture Ministries. Therecent Supreme Court order asking the govern-ment to implement the un-implementable –interlinking of rivers – was yet another indicationof this.

In this bleak scenario we can also count ourblessings: rainfall: “High average annual rainfall of 1150mm, no other country has such a high annualaverage” says the Manual for DroughtManagement (November 2009) Ministry ofAgriculture, Govt of India. rivers: India has one of the most bountiful vari-ety and length of rivers. over 45,000 km of peren-nial rivers existed in India in the 1950s. Aquifers: These provide groundwater. India is theworld’s biggest groundwater user country. Local water and management systems:“Traditional water harvesting systems have beenlargely abandoned,” points out the Manual forDrought Management as one of the reasons forrecurring droughts in India.

How can we leverage these blessings for peo-ple’s benefits? n

Himanshu Thakkar ([email protected])South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (www.sandrp.in)

Continued from page 27


INSIGHTS

acouple of years ago I was casually talking to afellow social activist during a meeting relatedto coal mining. A few minutes before the day's

proceedings ended, a suggestion was made for fol-low up actions – as is usually the case in many civilsociety meetings. The idea suggested was the needto put together a database on a website of social,environment and human rights activists acrossIndia so that it would be readily available for any-one who wanted to know about issues in a partic-ular region. While this was limited to resistancearound coal mining and thermal power genera-tions, it would have meant that a thorough one-stop place would have been created enabling any-one to track any activist on the ground.

We were to get back to the meeting soon. Whilewe sipped our chai the conversation between thefellow activist and me ended in a deep sigh.Together we had contemplated on the repercus-sions such a database could have in tracking downand hounding a range of activists – they would bejust one click away from being identified with aregion or a place.

While many had welcomed the idea in the meet-ing, sanity prevailed after the meeting and the ideawas dropped. The core concern was that such adatabase would increase the vulnerability ofactivists to corporate and state repression. Thosewho were leading struggles or were significant cat-alysts in local struggles and movements would beparticularly at risk.

Why do I recall this incident today? Why has thisreference point once again assumed significance?In the last two weeks there have been at least threereported incidents of direct violence against indi-viduals who have been championing social andenvironmental causes in different parts of India.The essence of their arguments have differed butthe core message they have attempted to commu-nicate has its roots in the debate around environ-ment and industrialisation in the country.

Bharat Jhunjunwala in Uttarkhand, rameshAgrawal in Chhattisgarh and Akhil Gogoi in Assamare the three people who have been in the news.All three have faced physical assault and seriousinjuries in late June and early July. What is ironic isthat all three are raising concerns in three differentcontexts with three different strategies but prima-rily targeting the human and ecological impacts ofindustrial and infrastructure development in thearea where they live and work.

While Jhunjunwala's arguments about theimpacts of dams in Uttarakhand have scientificrigour blended with legal action, Agrawal has con-sistently strived to use the process of environmentregulation, public hearings and judicial remedies toraise valid concerns about the spate of mines,power plants and industries coming up in theraigarh district of Chhattisgarh. Akhil Gogoi of theKrishak Mukti Sangram Samiti has raised issuesthat are socio-political in characterand highlightedhard hitting issues with respect to hydro power

generation in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.In March it was reported that 6,000 armed

policemen had reached Koodankulam, a small vil-lage in Tamil Nadu , to “tackle” and “control” thelocal protest against the setting up of the nuclearpower plant. The agitation was peaceful and hadgained significant strength with the state and cen-tral governments unable to respond to the coreconcerns being raised over the nuclear powerplant. The news had taken the country by stormand led to several individual organisations beingtargeted around issues of foreign funding andother allegations.

In November 2011, over 200 fishermen andwomen had gathered around the police station inthe Mundra taluka of Kutch district of Gujaratwhere arrest warrants had been issued againstthose who were considered to be ‘trouble makers’by a company which had initiated construction ofa 300 MW thermal power plant without requisiteapprovals in place. The group came together tohold their collective responsible and not the sevenindividuals who had been singled out.

The first point I am trying to address here is thenarrowing down and targeting of individuals who

would have played a catalytic role in the agitationagainst a particular industry or industrial activity. Itis an old sociological fact that individuals are morevulnerable and can be isolated easier than a groupor an entire community. They are then labeled the‘troublemakers’ who need to be dealt with.

The second, but an equally significant fact is thatthere is only an increase in individual and collec-tive efforts who are consistently highlightinginstances of regulatory lapses, unaddressedimpacts and complete lack of democratic decisionmaking. In this effort they have come together touse social, legal, scientific and political argumentsand tools to strengthen their case.

Even as such struggles remain volatile and unre-solved for the time being, national and state gov-ernment don't seem to be taking any visible stepsto recognise the deep discontent that is growingacross the country today. Alongside aggressiveattempts to suppress such struggles are increasing.A country with global dreams needs to pause andreconnect with its local rhythms. n

Kanchi Kohli works and writes on environment, forests, and biodiversity governance issues. In her writing, she seeks to

explore the interface between industrialisation and its impacts on both local communities and ecosystems.

The vulnerable activistKANCHI KoHLI

caption

kanChi kohli

‘hundreds of truckloads of rations are being clandestinely soldto hoarders by officials of the capD,’ a reliable official of the

capD said. ‘hundreds of truckloads of rations are beingclandestinely sold to hoarders by officials of the capD,’ a reliable


INSIGHTS

28

Ladakh’s feminist ShgsJIGMAT LHAMo

LADAKH breaks the pattern of shameful genderinequality that is spreading like a virus acrossIndia. This remote region continues to remain

fortunately immune to atrocities against womenand the unborn girl child. In contrast to the restof India, the status of women is akin to a rainbowbreaking the monotony of an arid landscape.

Your first step into this high altitude region willbe greeted by the wide and candid smiles ofLadakhi women. They don’t peep shyly fromwindows or from behind the veil. Insteadthey stand strong on their agricultural fields,with poise, self-respect and strength of char-acter reflecting on their enigmatic faces,flaunting the strong cultural position theyenjoy in their community.

Traditionally, the household was the focus ofthe economy in Ladakh, at the core of the infor-mal sector spearheaded by women. Since thisunit was always more important than theminiscule formal sector, it gave women respect-ed status.

The opening up of the Ladakh region to therest of India around 1974 disrupted the tradi-tional economic, cultural and political charac-teristics of Ladakh’s traditional culture. Thecommunity reacted by trying to protect its culture.And this need for conserving tradition was met bythe birth of the Self-Help Group (SHG) movement.Numerous SHGs, run by women, are today activein the far flung interior villages of the region.

In Ladakh, a group of local women varying fromsix to 15 come together with two aims – toempower women and to strengthen indigenousculture and agriculture. Most of the women beinghousewives, complete their daily chores and thencontribute to the group. They spin wool, knitwoollen clothes and dye the woollen clothes in atraditional manner.

The farming season is the most laborious.Following the trend set by the older generation,everybody helps everybody on their agriculturalfields. This community task becomes a priorityfor these hardworking women as the agricultural

produce generated forms the basis of many SHGproducts. Apricot jam and seabuckthorn juice arethe highest income- generating products. Besides,decorative home items and local winter clothesare also manufactured by the SHGs and sold inLeh market. The income thereby generated isused for the benefit of the SHG members andsociety at large.

The most inspiring role the SHGs play is that ofbenefitting the entire community as well as thewomen.

The ‘Shashi Self- Help Group’ started by sixwomen in Chashut village, is one inspiring exam-ple. Today, it has around 15 members activelyinvolved in the group’s activities. Its enthusiasticpresident, Amina Khatoon, says with great pride:“After working for five years in this village, we haveachieved a lot of improvement in the lifestyle of ourvillagers. We have started spreading awareness oncrucial issues like health and sanitation. We areworking with various government agencies toimprove the standards of the village.”

The communities, with support from NGos, areworking to revive the ethnicity of this cold desertregion. Efficiently working away in almost every vil-lage is the Women’s Alliance of Ladakh, locally

known as ‘Ama-Tsogspa’ that was started in 1991.Members of the alliance are involved in income-generating activities like weaving, knitting, garden-ing and sewing. Elderly women actively participatein various social activities, thereby imparting theircustomary knowledge to the newer generation.They maintain a healthy coordination with theirmale counterparts in such fields.

However, the SHGs face certain setbacks.These are the remoteness of their villages,the lack of resources and raw material.Wool, pashmina, apricot and seabuckthornare available locally but the products theSHGs produce are sold only in Ladakh andnot sent to national markets. The quantityproduced is therefore unable to createdemand at the national level.

“I learnt to make handicrafts from myfriend who lives in southern Ladakh.When I came back to my village after train-ing, I contributed to the group with myskills. Later, I became an instructor here.But we don’t get raw materials for makingthe handicraft items. We are always insearch of alternative sources to get our rawmaterials here in Leh,” said Zara Bano,

instructor at the Shashi Self- Help Group. In February and March, workshops were organ-

ized by the Handicraft Department and by theUnion Government’s Ministry of Textiles in Leh,Ladakh. These workshops witnessed huge partici-pation from the SHGs. They saw in them anopportunity to learn.

These SHGs have been agents of change in thelives of Ladakhis. If provided training and a plat-form to sell their products, they can bring aboutsocial reform in their society. Their history hasalways been like that of warriors – strong andcommitted. By improving their efficiency, theirpotential can be tapped. They have carved theirfaint footsteps in the snowy desert; a little sup-port from the administration will indeedstrengthen these footsteps for the betterment offuture generations. n Charkha Feature

Civil Society is going places...Delhi, Dhaka, Trivandrum,Tennerife, Nadia, Nagpur, Kolkata, Ghaziabad, Washington, Geneva,

Bhubaneshwar, Ladakh, Paris, Bangalore, Mumbai, Meerut, London, New York, Versailles,

Kokrajahar, Vaddo Verla Canca, Goa, Dehradun,

Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Kerala, Belgaum, Dibang

Valley, Shillong, Patna, Shimla, Ahmedabad, Panjim,

Hyderabad, Singapore, Porto Alegre, Gurgaon, Jaipur,

Jodhpur, Udaipur, Lucknow, Surrey, Srinagar, Manali, Pune, Wellington, Peechi, Pondicherry...

R E A D U S . W E R E A D Y O U .

Whereare Webeingread?


LivingggggBooks

eco-tourism

Film

theatre

ayurveda

Susheela Nair

Bangalore

wHEN rain soaks the earth, Karnataka springsto life. Myriad waterfalls burst into action,hurtling down hilly tracts, shattering the

silence of the forests. And the best time to viewthis torrent of sparkling waterfalls is the thunderymonsoon.

Brace yourself for a wet and wild holiday. The Cauvery river flowing across Karnataka

abounds in wondrous waterfalls, inspiring poetswith their magic. Not all falls are famous. There aremany hidden beauties that appear only during therainy season especially in hilly terrain. This boun-teous flow of water makes even small falls lookgreat.

The districts of Shimoga, Kodagu, Chikmagalurand Uttara Kannada have a rich mosaic of waterfallssince dozens of rivers originate from the WesternGhats.

Uttara Kannada district with 18 waterfalls is aptlynamed the land of waterfalls. West-flowing riversgush through dense forests in its coastal regionbreaking into streams that meander over hilly tractsto end in a series of dramatic, plunging waterfalls.

The Unchalli Falls or Lushington Falls amidst thedense jungles of Uttara Kannada district are formedwhen the river Aghanashini falls down a rugged val-ley from a height of 116 metres with a thunderousdeafening roar. The falls are popularly called ‘KeppaJoga’ in local language.

Tucked in the midst of thick forests close toYellapur, Sathodi Falls and Lalguli Falls are a stun-ning sight. Sathodi is known as the ‘mini NiagaraFalls’ of Uttara Kannada district. You have to climbover hillocks and hack through dense foliage toreach the edge of the falls. Don’t miss the mesmer-izing Magod Falls formed by the Bedthi river, 3 kmfrom Magod village near Yellapur. The Bedthi riverplunges 180 metres down a rocky valley in threeleaps before landing in a stony ravine.

Karnataka’s monsoon magic Myriad waterfalls burst into action

Jog Falls


LIVING

30

The picturesque hill station of Kemmangundi isblessed with silvery cascades like the Kalhatti Fallswhere water gushes down 122 metres fromChandra Drona Hill over the top of a temple builtinto a narrow gap between the rocks. The sprightlyHebbe Falls cascades from a height of 250 ft in twostages to form the Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and theChikka Hebbe (Small Falls). The pool formed by thefalls is said to be infused with herbs, making a dipinto these waters therapeutic. Deep inside theKudremukh forest are the Hanuman Gundi Falls,which are best visited after the monsoon.

The most renowned Karnataka waterfalls arethe Jog Falls of the Sharavathi river. Located on theborder of Shimoga and Uttara Kannada districts,the wild waters of the Sharavathi hurtle down adark precipice of 810 ft. in four distinct cascadesknown locally as raja, rani, roarer and rocket – tocreate the fifth highest cataract in Asia. The beau-ty of the Jog Falls is enhanced after the rains,when the environment around it is lush and the810 ft. drop is a raging torrent. Sometimes thickmists in the valley hinder visibility. When thesluice gates of the Linganmakki Dam upstream areclosed, it is possible to walk to the bottom of thegorge to experience the invigorating sting of itsspray. The peaceful and pristine environs of theJog Falls and the hamlet of Kargal close by are apopular destination for film locations.

South Karnataka abounds in innumerable water-falls along the river Cauvery and her tributaries.The Abbey Falls, (Abbi in Kannada means falls) setamidst a private coffee and spice plantation nearMadikeri is significant. A winding, cobbled pathand tall trees entwined with pepper vines lead tothe falls which gracefully cascade their way downsteps to join the Cauvery.

Nestling just outside the rajiv Gandhi NationalPark are the Iruppu Falls. originating in theBrahmagiri range, the falls plunge 170 ft. in twodistinct stages and flow as Lakshmana Theertha(sacred river of Lakshmana).The incessant music ofthe falls and the silence of the adjacent denselywooded forest are spell binding.

Around 65 km east of Mysore in Mandya districtis the island of Shivasamudram which abounds inscenic splendour. It is encircled by two branches of

the Cauvery which plummet from a height of 75metres into a deep, rocky gorge with a deafeningroar to form two picturesque falls, Barachukki andGaganachukki. When the Cauvery is in spate,watching the river crash into a cloud of foamingspray can be a thrilling experience.

An interesting feature is that the visitor cansavour the beauty of the waterfalls unhindered bythe presence of a power station since it is locateddownstream, away from the falls. A commendableexample of man’s co-existence with nature!Harnessing the natural falls and the speed of itswaters, Asia’s first hydro-electric project was estab-lished in 1902 at the behest of Sir M. Visvesvaraya,engineer-cum-statesman from Mysore to feedpower to the former Kolar Gold Fields.

These falls are worth a day trip during the mon-soon when they are at their impressive best. Youcan see the water cascade over a wide area in aseries of leaps. You can also trek to the bottom ofthe Barachukki Falls, take a dip in the deep poolformed by the falls or go on a coracle ride down theCauvery. Equally impressive are Balamuri Falls,shaped like a horseshoe, in Mandya district.

Located on the outskirts of Bangalore, the PearlValley is formed by thin jets of water hurtling downfrom a height of 90 meters. The sun reflects on thisspray making the water look like drops of pearls.Locally the streams are called Muthyala Madu(small, pearly water body). overlooking these fallsis a tiny shrine dedicated to Shiva, adding a reli-gious aura to the place.

Equally appealing are the Chunchi Falls located100 km south of Bangalore. Here the Arkavathyriver plunges down a yawning chasm before creat-ing a glorious spectacle of cascading water and fly-ing spray. Further down, the river joins the Cauveryat Sangama. The lush countryside, the roar of gush-ing water and a stunning view combine to makethis an ideal picnic spot.

Travel Tips: Since most of the falls are located inremote areas, accommodation and eateries are woe-fully lacking. Do ensure you carry snacks and water.The best time to visit these falls are during themonsoon or immediately after the monsoon (Julyto December). n

Vivek S. Ghatani.

Siliguri (West Bengal)

THE squat statue of the Great Indian oneHorned rhino greets you at the entrance tothe Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. This funny

looking creature is the mascot of the sanctuary. Itis an endangered species whose population hasincreased in recent years – a hugely successfuleffort. The sanctuary was established in 1941 toprotect the one Horned rhino who was then onthe verge of extinction.

The royal Bengal Tiger lives here too but does-n’t enjoy the fat rhino’s status. Also living inrhino land are wild elephants, deer, swamp deer,hog deer, wild pigs and bison. Some rare specieslike the hispid hare and the hog-badger are foundin the sanctuary. If you are lucky you can evenspot the elusive Bengal Floricon.

Stretching over 216 sq. km. the JaldaparaSanctuary in the Alipurduar region of NorthBengal is a mosaic of woods, grasslands, perennialstreams, sandy riverbanks and extensive belts oftall grass. The river Torsha and the river Malangiflow through this rainforest. The only way you canmove inside is on the swaying back of an elephant.

“Jaldapara is one of the best sanctuaries in Indiabecause of its rich flora and fauna. The elephantsare an added attraction,” remarks a tour operator.

An adventurous elephant ride early morningwill take you deep inside the grassland. The sightof rhinos in a muddy pond, a herd of elephantsor deer sprinting across are thrilling experiences.A jeep safari inside the forest is organised on aregular basis.

The birds you can see here apart from the rareBengal Florican are the Crested Eagle, Pallas’Fishing Eagle, Jungle fowl and lesser PiedHornbill. Pythons, monitor lizards, cobras, geckosand about eight species of fresh water turtleshave also been found here.

Totopara, a tribal village adjacent to theJaldapara sanctuary is a major tourist attraction.Totopara is the only settlement for the Totos, oneof the most endangered ethnic communities inthe world. Their numbers have shrunk to a merethousand. A lot of initiatives has been taken bythe governmental and NGos for them. To livewith them and observe their traditional culture isa precious experience.

Hidden deep inside the Chilapata Forests arethe ruins of the 1000- year-old Nal fort built inthe 5th Century during the Gupta Empire. It is of

The fatrhino’skingdom

Horseshoe shaped Balmuri Falls

LIVING


great archeological significance. Leopards, snakesand other animals now romp all over this dilapi-dated site.

Accommodation for tourists is available in theMadarihat tourist bungalow or the Holong touristlodge. Most visitors prefer the Holong lodge sinceit is inside the forest. The Madarihat bungalow ison the fringes of the forest. Since the number ofrooms in Holong is very limited, availability is abig question mark.

So you have to book months in advance. NatureBeyond (www.naturebeyond.co.in) provides book-ing here on a regular basis.

The West Bengal Forest Department maintainsthe sanctuary and organizes elephant rides andjeep safaris. “The best season to visit Jaldapara isfrom March to June as the weather during thistime is moderate. In winter, cold winds make itdifficult for the tourist,” said Chinmoy Das, a trav-el agent in Siliguri.

From Jaldapara you can travel to one of the teagardens to see how tea is manufactured. But don’t

stop there. Continue your journey and visit theBuxa Tiger reserve also in Alipurduar district.

The northern boundary of the Buxa Tigerreserve runs along the international borderwith Bhutan. The Sinchula hill range lies on itsnorthern side and Assam is on its eastern stretch.National Highway 31 C runs along the southernboundary of the reserve.

The reserve serves as an international corridorfor elephant migration between India andBhutan. To the southwest, the Chilapata forestsform an elephant corridor to the JaldaparaWildlife Sanctuary. The reserve encompasses asmany as eight forest types.

More than 300 species of trees, 250 species ofshrubs, 400 species of herbs, nine species of cane,10 species of bamboo, 150 species of orchids, 100species of grass and 130 species of aquatic florahave been identified here. There are tall trees andferns.

The West Bengal Forest DevelopmentCorporation has lodges at rajabhatkhawa, Nimati,

Barobisha, raidak, raimatang,Bhutanghat, Buxaduar and Jayantion the banks of the river Jayanthi.The lodges are in dense forests.

The most popular activity here istrekking. A five km trek fromSantrabari to Buxaduar throughdense forest leads you to theBuxaduar Forest Bungalow. You canrest your tired feet here. This trek ismost favoured by tourists.

Another four km trek leads you torover’s Point or the ‘land ofunknown birds’ located at 4,500 ft. Itis difficult to resist the lure ofrupam Valley in Bhutan, another 12km from rover’s Point. You shouldtake the plunge.

This journey is full of unknownadventures and excitement. Thereare breathtaking views of the Jayantiriver Valley, the evergreen forestcanopy and glimpses of rare ani-mals, birds and colourful orchids.

Buxaduar to Jayanti is anotherpopular trek. This 13 km trek pass-es through the dense forests of theBuxa Tiger reserve. The music of thewilderness, the chirping of birds, thesong of wild streams and the fra-grance of nature will never allowyou to feel the stress of a long trek.

The journey ends with a warmreception by an old priest at a stalac-tite cave called the Mahakal cave. It isdifficult to enter this narrow, dark,damp cave but trying it might beanother exciting activity. The down-hill trek from here leads to JayantiForest Bungalow. Lying by the river-side surrounded by old Sal forests andhills, Jayanti is just the right place tostretch your weary legs. The coolbreeze brushes away all exhaustion.

“Buxa is one of the oldest settle-ments in North Bengal. It is 24 kmfrom Alipurduar and 180 km fromSiliguri, well connected by road andrail. Several trek routes originate

from Buxa,” say tour operators here. To get to the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and its

surrounding forests take a flight to Bagdogra Airportin Siliguri. There are direct flights from Delhi,Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. Taxis are availablefrom the airport and cost around `7 per km.

The nearest railway is at Madarihat. A betteroption is the Jalpaiguri railway station which isconnected to Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. You canalso travel by road or bus. From Siliguri toAlipurduar via Madarihat takes about four hours. n

caption

Fact File Nearest airport: BagdograNearest railway station: alipurduar junction / NewalipurduarNearest town: alipurduarBy road: Nh 31 is the main highway. one can hire acar from alipurduar.

(please note elephant rides in Jaldapara wildlifeSanctuary are booked only on the spot)

captioncaption


LIVING

32

THoMAS robert Malthus framed the hypothe-sis two centuries ago. He argued that a growinghuman population would, in a foreseeable

future, consume more than it could produce fromthe earth. The model proved flawed: productivitygrew faster than consumption since Malthus. Butthe idea was recycled after the oil price spike ofthe early 1970s. The Club of rome’s Limits toGrowth predicted that the earth’s resources (espe-cially fossil fuels) could not keep up with con-sumption (fueled by unchecked voracity of therich, exploding numbers of the poor). We wouldbegin to experience critical shortages by the endof the 20th century. This prediction, too, failedbecause resource consumption became more effi-cient, as did resource discovery, and populationgrowth belied the pessimism of the seventies.

But, directionally, Malthus and the doomsayers ofrome seem right. In recent years, we have been

forced to acknowledge ecological limits. All but afew diehards accept the finding of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (whichwon a Nobel) that the looming disaster is largelyman made and could strike within the life time of

many reading this magazine. Even the Economistnewspaper, which long propounded that marketforces (fairly regulated) would balance supply withdemand and produce technologies to solve crisesincluding environment and poverty, recently ran acover story on the melting polar caps. It pointed outthat a complex of interacting factors may be takingus to a tipping point — apocalypse could occur sud-denly, sooner than we might think.

So the big picture is well known. Technology,markets and an ideology of material consumptionor greed (in part, tempered by compassion andaltruism) has got humankind many gains over thelast two centuries. The majority of the world’s peo-ple have much longer life expectancy at birth, forexample, than in the 18th century; the knowledgeand cultural resources available on the internetwould be unimaginable to anyone living when theEconomist was founded mid 19th century; the lux-

ChuRNING ThE EARTh

ThE MAKING Of

GLOBAL INDIA

Aseem Shrivastava,

Ashish Kothari

Penguin/Viking

` 699

churning what we alreadyknowof our earth

Nandan Maluste takes a close look at someserious concerns


LIVING

uries afforded to upper middle class people (globaltravel, in home climate control, fresh food fromaround the world, etc) were probably beyond eventhe dreams of kings and emperors of bygone cen-turies. And yet, a seventh of the world’s seven bil-lion people have been left out. of which many,especially in India, parts of Africa and Amazonia,live as their forebears did centuries ago – or worse,because the modern world despoils the water, veg-etation, soil and air upon which their lives hang.

Endless growth, which might be succourfor the poor and feed the greed of the restis only possible if new technologies can befound, and quickly, to stretch (ideally, infi-nitely) the earth’s resources. otherwise,we need to redistribute wealth, incomeand prepare for low consumption future.This, or cataclysm, ecological as well associal. But history does not lend optimismfor redistribution.

If the big picture is so known, what tolook for in a new book is detail — present-ed well and credibly, perhaps with somenew insights. Also, if possible, a way out ofthe chakravyuh. Disappointingly, thePreface says Churning the Earth targets anuninitiated reader.

Shrivastava & Kothari who deliverinsights on the big picture and details inthe small are highly commended by suchrenowned scholars and activists as AshisNandy, Jean Dreze, Madhav Gadgil, Arunaroy and Mallika Sarabhai. They providedata on the panorama of issues thatimpact the environment and livelihoods inIndia. These include politics, policies,laws, administration, business, media,finance, inequality, global institutions,predatory global corporations. At root, ofcourse, is a dominant ideology sum-marised in Deng Xiaoping’s words, “To berich is glorious.”

Unfortunately, they also fail. Perhapsbecause they have chosen to cover such avast canvas that, as they admit, they cannothave expertise over it all. I would have preferredthey had stuck to what they know, produced amore reliable book.

Let’s touch aspects of Churning the Earth that Ido appreciate. To begin with, it well explains thateverything is about everything else. When I firstmet Ashish Kothari in the last 1980s, I thoughtthat the crucial environmental issue was defor-estation. Vegetation converted carbon dioxideinto oxygen, prevented run-off of water and soil,provided food and habitat for wildlife, and so on.So “all” that do-gooders like me needed to do wasprotect and plant trees. But planting treesrequires land and water: every bit of which isclaimed by some living thing; this results inissues of ethics (including between species), poli-tics, livelihoods, and so on… I wish Churning theEarth was available three decades ago.

Secondly, the book does provide data pointswhich may not be widely known. For example, thatforest-rich and tribally populated orissa has fourdozen memoranda of understanding for iron andsteel plants! (Perhaps they should be renamedmemoranda of misunderstanding since implemen-tation would devastate millions of already desper-ately poor people) And that Gujarat’s economic

progress, over hyped in the last decade, hasdestroyed mangroves and other habitats.

So what are my main complaints? Firstly, withdecades in business and finance, I find manyerrors in Shrivastava & Kothari’s exposition ofhow business and finance have, through govern-ment, driven the rape of the earth and many of itsdenizens. These have been run selfishly, enhanc-ing the power and wealth of the corporations,their managers, shareholders and sometimes cus-

tomers. Further, the people concerned have notuniformly displayed probity or competence –since the fall of Enron in 2011, this has shownthis too often. But details have to be right if weare to comprehend, then unmake an all pervasivesystem. In this the book is not too careful.

Here is just one example. The book again andagain says that governments in India acted againstdomestic interests because of conditionalitiesimposed by the International Monetary Fund andWorld Bank (IFIs), through the late 1990s andbeginning of the new millennium. In fact, on this

point, Churning the Earth reads like a politicalpamphlet, alleging without evidence or argument(both of which can be found) that the IFIs act at thebehest of Transnational Corporations. In fact, theIFIs could only have dictated terms when theywere the sole source of loans to India. For instance,around the crisis period of 1991, when the IMFbailed us out, or earlier when the World Bankgroup was the principal long term lender to proj-ects such as the Narmada dams.

However, starting about 1994, FIIspoured money into the Indian stock mar-kets and even foreign direct investmentdwarfed borrowing from the IFIs. Howthen could IFIs ”impose” policies on India?The short answer is, they could not. Insupport is that none of the financial regu-lators fully bought the “WashingtonConsensus”, not the reserve Bank (whichhas refused free float or full convertibilityof the rupee), nor the Stock ExchangeBoard of India (which still limits the free-dom of foreign investors, however effec-tively), nor the Insurance regulatory &Development Authority (which has notsupported higher foreign equity in Indianinsurance companies).

Why then did many officials bleat about“conditionalities”? Because, of their ownvolition, they took up projects (for exam-ple, dams which the authors and I mightprotest) with borrowing from the WorldBank group. Primarily because they boughtinto a development model which under-valued social and environmental costs. Butcorrupt motivations cannot always beruled out.

Does this matter? The conditionalitiesapplied any way… Yes, it matters. Becauseif one opposes such conditionalities,action depends how they came to be; if atthe point of a gun, war may be needed. IfIndian officials voluntarily had themimposed, the public needs to watch themmore carefully and try to re-educate them.

My second major complaint about this book isthat its blurb promises “ways out of the crisis…”But in the end, the authors admit the issue is toocomplex. They outline three possible scenarios:

Business as usualSlow transition to sanityrapid transition to sanityThey think the second alternative most likely.

Fair enough, it is a difficult and complex crisis.But there are two issues:

If the tipping point is reached sooner thanexpected, a slow transition could be useless

Concerned persons are given no agency. We justhave to watch and do what we can, withoutenlightenment from Shrivastava and Kothari

If so, I might just choose, as a tycoon on theTitanic reportedly did, to put on my best clothes, lis-ten to my favourite music, sip some delightful bev-erage, and enjoy the sinking of the ship.Alternatively, I might hope, as Fareed Zakaria did inan address to this year’s graduating class atHarvard, for technological breakthroughs that willprolong life as we know it. Shrivastava & Kotharibelieve the Third Law of Thermodynamics makesthe latter impossible. It certainly promises the uni-verse will dissolve into chaos – though not yet.

‘hundreds of truckloads ofrations are being

clandestinely sold tohoarders by officials of thecapD,’ a reliable official of

the capD said.

adeluded god, energy fields, a mind-createdcity, bubbles suspended in time and space,intuitive weapons and horses – Sangeeta

Bahadur uses all these and more to weave a com-pelling tale in her first book, Jaal. This is also thefirst in a trilogy called ‘Kaal’, and introduces cen-tral characters and the universe in which theirdestinies will play out in the books to come.

The story is, at its core, a morality tale of theconflict between good and evil – oft-repeated yetone that rarely fails to capture our imagination. Acosmic being – Lord of Maya – turns rogue and isimprisoned by his divine siblings in a world ofdreams to keep him from overturning the balanceof the created universe. Many millennia later, heis beginning to awaken, aided by his human fol-lowers. Simultaneously, a Taarak (saviour) hasbeen born and needs to be raised and groomed toface the epitome of evil in a future that will occurbeyond this book.

Epic confrontations between good and evil,whether it is in the Harry Potter books or inSpiderman and other superheroes’ tales, requiresa villain that is of a stature equal to the hero. or,preferably greater, adding an edge of suspense tohow the conflict eventually plays out. Bahadurachieves this feat by making the villain into anomnipresent and omniscient god, who might bedebilitated for the moment, but whose awakeningis heralded as the book closes.

The ‘hero’, on the other hand, is a mere boy of15 when the book opens, tall and gangly but pos-sessed of traits that point to unusual abilities.How he discovers his true identity asDevanampriya, ‘beloved of the gods’, and istaught the fine points of using time-space and theenergy of the Divine Feminine in war, along withthe more conventional skills, is the terrain cov-ered by this book.

Bahadur skilfully brings together elementsfrom mythology, Vedic history and folklore toimagine a world that will resonate with theIndian reader much more readily thanPotterverse or Twiverse. She relies on Sanskritterminology to power the magic and mystery ofher ‘Kaal-verse’, as also the metaphysics ofShakta Tantra and the philosophy of Vedanta.Her ability to weave insights about the nature ofreality and truth impart a depth of understand-ing to the book that saves it from becoming amaudlin reproduction of well-loved epics, or acountry cousin to other famous books in thegenre of fantasy fiction.

Jaal ends, like good makers of serialised fea-tures know, on a note of suspense. The malevo-lent deity has arisen, and the young challengerhas been groomed. What next? n

JAAL: BOOK I Of ThE

KAAL TRILOGy

Sangeeta Bahadur

Pan Macmillan

` 299

mISHI Saran is best known for her debutbook, Chasing the Monk’s Shadow. In it shehad memorably and skilfully written about

a journey she undertook in the footsteps ofXuanzang, a seventh-century Chinese monk whotravelled to Buddhist sites in India, painstakinglychronicling all that he saw. After the success ofthat unusual travelogue, it is surprising, then, tofind that Saran’s second book is a novel – Theother Side of Light, one which is as breathtakinga journey through interior landscapes as Chasingthe Monk’s Shadow was through exterior ones.

The novel maps the lives of a clutch of charac-ters through tumultuous times in India’s recenthistory. Asha, the central protagonist, grows up asan only child of revolution-loving parents in theDelhi of the 1970s and 1980s. Her life is punctu-ated by Indira Gandhi’s assassination and itsriotous aftermath, almost completely shattered byviolence in Assam, and strangely finds new mean-

ing while covering the Bombay bombings of 1993as a photojournalist.

Though the author confesses to never havinglived in Delhi, she manages to convey a sense ofwhat it was like to grow up in the city at a certaintime in its history, through Asha and her gang ofgirls from college, whose lives are peripherallylinked with hers and who appear at different stagesin Asha’s life. An almost heroic act, of going againsther parents’ wishes to study photography in a Swissvillage, proves to be a turning point for Asha, andhands her a creative tool with which she will hith-erto make sense of the world around her.

Her loss of the love of her life – the young andidealistic Kabir – to an anonymous bullet on a tea-estate in Assam, leads to some of the mostpoignantly written sections of the book. Grief isevoked so palpably that the reader cannot helpbut suffer through it with the protagonist. As sherecovers from the shock, Asha finds employmentwith a news magazine, and one imagines Saran’sown experience as a journalist helped her createthe atmospherics of a pre-television media world.

Also adroitly done are descriptions of Asha’shandling of her camera, her viewing the worldthrough its lens, and finding her own unique nar-rative through its enabling agency. It is this alche-my between woman and camera that gives rise tosome of the most interesting insights in the book.

Ultimately, Asha does find her redemption, andquite surprisingly, her bliss too. The inner growthand journey that makes it possible is described bythe author with a finesse and fineness of touchthat makes for meaningful, and not just entertain-ing, reading. n

www.swatichopra.com

THIS is a tender story of love between SauravSethi, the apple of his father’s eye and hiselder brother, raj, hearing impaired, awkward

and an embarrassment for his father.The father, a tough, blustering army man,

ignores raj and humiliates him in every way. Forsmart Saurav, the world is at his feet. His brotherdoesn’t occupy his mind space very much. Butraj sinks into depression. He nurses quiet ambi-tions of running a marathon at the olympics.

Saurav is a promising tennis star. But his girl-friend senses raj’s despair and shares her fearswith Saurav who decides to help raj fulfill hisambition. A feisty aunt who was blacklisted bythe family step in during troubled times.

Will they succeed?This is a gentle, touching story with a nice end-

ing. It has a good pace and doesn’t bore the read-er. n

Life’s twists and turns life’ s twists

and turns

ThE OThER SIDE Of

LIGhT

Mishi Saran

HarperCollins India

` 250

WINGS Of SILENCE

Shriram Iyer

Silverfish/Westland

` 199

epic morality tale

Swati Chopra

Swati Chopra

34

LIVING


Kavita Charanji

Shimla (HP)

aMLAN Datta first heard of Malana vil-lage in Himachal Pradesh’s Kulu Valleywhen he was a student at the Film and

Television Institute of India (FTII) in Punefrom 1994 to 1996.

This ancient village, he was told, wasworld famous for its cannabis, known asMalana crème, its distinctive democracy,beautiful women and reticent people.Datta got very curious. He wanted to knowmore.

Datta became an independent filmmakerin 1997. But it took him 10 long years tofinally get to Malana. An initial attempt in2006, while he was holidaying in Himachal with hiswife, failed. Locals warned him to keep off Malanaas people “disappeared there”. What’s more theroads were cut off by snow.

Finally, in 2007 while on a shooting assignmentwith the Election Commission (EC) in Himachal,he came to Malana with the EC team. And hestayed.

Datta’s fascination with Malana has culminat-ed in a two-hour documentary titled, “BoM/oneDay Ahead of Democracy”. The film was judgedthe Best Ethnographic Film at the 59th IndianNational Film Awards.

The controversial film was screened recently inShimla’s historic Gaiety Theatre. The viewerswere sparse and the film’s detractors many butDatta was unfazed. He is confident that his “wellresearched” film will slowly make waves in

Himachal and encourage debate and discussionin other parts of the country. True, films havebeen made on Malana before, but BoM, saysDatta confidently, is a cut above the rest.

To start with there is its title, BoM. “In Indianphilosophy the universe is made up of five basicelements – Kshiti (earth), Aap (water), Tej (ener-gy), Marut (air) and Bom. Bom stands for thecelestial void where it all ends and also the uni-versal unity from where creation begins. Bom isalso the nad (sound) to address Lord Shiva whomwe see as the creator and the destroyer of the uni-verse. Bom for me represents a cycle from celes-tial void to eternal unity. Bom also relates tocannabis. Phonetically, it creates curiosity.Consider it to be an intuitive decision of a film-maker,” says the Datta who is based in Kolkataand has spent four years filming BoM.

The subject of the film too is unusual. “Thesoul of the film is democracy and its heart iscannabis,” explains Datta. The villages speak oftheir unique model of democracy that dates backthousands of years. Malana is considered to bethe oldest democracy in the world with a well-organised parliamentary system.

Villagers speak frankly to Datta about what theybelieve is an ideal system of governance. Mallanahas a village council or ‘God’s Court’ that takesdecisions unanimously. The film highlights theworking of the council, which has an UpperCourt and a Lower House akin to a bicameralParliament. The 12-member Upper Court has fourpermanent members – the head priest who pre-sides over the court, a second priest, a ‘god’s’ min-ister and his deputy. The other eight are chosenthrough consensus. The Lower House comprisesthe head of each family in the village.

“The council members are chosen by theMalana villagers through a process of unanimousselection not through an election,” says Datta. “Alldecisions are taken unanimously. Every individ-ual’s opinion is considered, unlike the presentform of democracy that leads to a dictatorship ofthe majority. And the secret of their civilisation istrust, the democracy of trust.”

The cornerstone of the film is the relationship ofmutual trust that Datta was able to build with thesimple villagers of Malana. Soon after he arrived heshot the first ever video in the village of a local wed-ding. That endeared him to the villagers. He waswarmly accepted into the community. Datta has

acquired a godmother and a godbrother,Hemraj. He has become part of a family offive brothers and four sisters with a room forhimself in their house. Hemraj and Shantawhose wedding video he filmed became theprotagonists for his film.

With acceptance came involvement. “Ishared their emotions. Their pain becamemine, my voice theirs. Now my film istheir story,” says Datta.

BoM is the story of an idyllic village nowin transition, an ancient civilisation threat-ened by modern day democracy. Thechanges are apparent all around – cannabis,an integral part of the villagers’ lives is nowillegal, goat pastures are being replaced by adam and the region’s beautiful mountainsare being gashed by roads.

Cannabis was traditionally used to pro-duce footwear and as a medicine. But it has nowbecome a lucrative business for the “foreign drugmafia” and subsequently for “the local mafia andpolitical strongmen”, says Datta.

The villagers tell him that experiments withalternative crops such as peas and kidney beanshave failed miserably. In his film through the voic-es of locals and political personalities likeVirbhadra Singh, Datta makes a strong case for thedecriminalisation of cannabis.

of course puritans would balk at scenes showingintoxicated Malana men blithely smokingcannabis or young children rubbing cannabis sothat it turns into the world famous ‘Malana crème’.

But ultimately, BoM is an anthropological filmand there lies its strength. National recognitionfor the film is a victory not just for Datta but forthe simple people of Malana. n

how malana rules itself caption

caption

BOM is a film about village democracy

LIVING

CIVIL SOCIETY, AUGUST 2012 35


LIVING

36

iT is our feet that bear most of our body weight. Yet they get theleast attention. Feet that are well protected promise you a long andhealthy life as the nerve endings, which make a U-turn at the feet

are responsible for your energy balance. In chronic diabetics thesenerve endings get inflamed and become so soft that the affected per-son is unable to keep his leg on the floor, leave alone stand on it.

Cracked feet is a common trait and predominantly seen in Vataprakruti people. Walking barefoot on rough surfaces or excessiveexposure of bare feet to the sun, wind or water causes heels and solesto crack, apart from aggravating the Pitta and Vata doshas that causedryness and roughness of the feet.

We begin taking care of our feet only when these cracks cut deepand start bleeding. And then we try to find quick-fix solutionsthrough soothing gels or creams. remedies: l Jeevanthyadi Yamakam l Madanadi Lepa: Available inAyurvedic shops, both are ideal applications for cracked feet.

Home remedies: l Mix one teaspoon of sesame oil in three tablespoons of beeswax. Warm the mix a lit-tle and apply on the affected areas.l Use warm sesame oil or ghee on cracked feet.l Apply a mixture of 1 teaspoon of mango tree sap and 1 tablespoon of water to the broken skin.l A daily routine of cleaning and moisturizing will help. Before going to bed, soak your feet in warmsoapy water for 15 minutes. Wash and dry. Then, take one teaspoon of Vaseline. Add the juice of onelemon to it. rub this mixture into the cracked heels and other areas of the feet till it is thoroughlyabsorbed. l A mixture of glycerine and rosewater too, if applied regularly, helps to soothe and cure cracked feet. l After washing feet thoroughly, coat the cracks with hydrogenated vegetable oil. Wear thick socks andkeep overnight. repeat the treatment for a few days. It fetches rewarding results.l Apply the pulp of ripe banana on the cracks. rinse after 10 minutes. l Blend glycerine and rose water and apply on cracked feet to soothe and heal the fis-sures.l Combine the juice of one slice or one quarter of a lemon, one-fourth cup of milk, one-fourth cup of water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of cinnamon. Pour the mixtureinto a basin and soak your feet in it. This alleviates dryness, softens feet and heals thecracks.l Add chopped parsley into a basin of water and soak your feet in it. This kills bacteria, improves bloodcirculation and cures cracked feet.l Boil 5 litres of water and let it cool. Add 2 or 3 drops of lavender oil and a cup of Epsom salt to thewater and soak your feet in it. This softens feet and helps to get rid of the cracks.l Blend melted paraffin and mustard oil and apply on feet.l Scrape feet with pumice stone. This removes scales and exfoliates the feet making them soft and supple.

The above home remedies are helpful if the problem is at the initial stages. But for severe cases, it isbetter to consult a physician who may prescribe the following treatments.

Snehapana: This is an unction (lubrication by oil massage etc,) treatment. The affected parts are anoint-ed with unctuous substance like beeswax and so on. Since Vata is predominant in cracks, it causes severeroughness. The cracked skin can be glued back to its normal contour with the application of unctuous(lubricants) substances which act as binders.

Svedana: Svedana is the final treatment. The feet are fomented – either by washing with warm, saltedwater for 20 minutes or by application of warm poultice/pastes) – for smooth binding, thereby aiding theabsorption of the applied medicine.

The feet are then immersed in warm, salted water for about 15 minutes and the dead skin and dirt areremoved by scrubbing. Then the feet are wiped with a soft towel and the unctuous substance or the med-icine is applied.

Daily regime: Daily Padabhyanga or oil massage of the feet with warm salted gingelly oil is a very goodmethod of preventing cracked feet.

Eat food that is easily digestible, unctuous and Vata alleviating like warm rice with ghee and plenty ofvegetables, fruits and nuts. Such foods help to balance Vata in the body.

We should take care of our feet as much as we take care of our head and eyes. Feet bear the weight ofour body. They tread on dirt to keep the rest of the body hygienic. The age-old Indian practice of washingyour feet before entering the house makes a lot of sense. Take good care of your feet – from heel to soleto the tip of your toes. n

iN many Indian homes, Vacha or the ‘SweetFlag’ plant is given with honey in minutequantities to infants on the 11th and 21st

day of their birth. It is believed that this prac-tice makes the child mentally agile and talka-tive.

Vacha is also extensively used in Ayurvedaand other traditional systems of medicine formother and child care due to its ability toenhance intellect. It acts as an anti-pyretic, asan immuno-modulator and has nervine tonicactions. It increases memory and controlshyperactivity in children.

Sweet flag has a rich history of medicinaluse in Indian and Chinese cultures. It was alsowidely traded for its aromatic properties andhas been used as a substitute for ginger, cinna-mon and nutmeg in several parts of the globe.This suggests the pleasantness of the plant’saromatic constituents and its positive medici-nal attributes.

Location: Vacha or Acorus Calamus is a semi-aquatic plant found in temperate and sub-tem-perate regions. It is a native of eastern coun-

tries and is indigenous to marshesin the mountains of India. It is cul-tivated throughout the country upto an altitude of about 2,200metres. Vacha is also found in themarshy tracts of Kashmir, Sirmaurin Himachal Pradesh and in parts

of Manipur and the Naga Hills. It is regularlycultivated in the Koratgere taluk of Karnataka.

Planting: Although Vacha looks like a grass itisn’t. The herb has its own family that is close-ly related to aroids. But gardeners can use it asan ornamental grass in a shady or partly sunnyarea with average to high soil moisture.

Vacha grows best near a pond or as part of anaquatic garden. It grows luxuriously in claysoil, under shady sunlight with adequate watersupply. Above the ground, its leaves arise fromunderground rhizomes which grow up to 45 to180 cm long. Its aromatic leaves, beautifulsmall, light brown flowers and their extensivemedicinal applications are value addition toyour garden.

Vacha was initially distributed from itsnative range through trade and commerce. Therhizome was subsequently cultivated and theplant spread by vegetative means. Vacha canbe grown in your garden by vegetative meansthrough rhizomes. The ideal months are fromFebruary to May. A sprouting percentage of 80to 100 per cent is easily attainable. Floweringoccurs from July to September.

Properties: Vacha has many uses apart frombeing an intellect enhancer and immuno-mod-

woNder plaNt

VersatileVacha

Healing cracked feet Dr G. G. GANGADHArAN

greeN cureS

[email protected]


LIVING

rICE AND GrEEN GrAM Ingredients:rice: 1 cupGreen gramWater: 6 cupsGinger chopped: ½ tspAsafetida and salt

Method: Wash rice and green gram thoroughly.Add ginger, asafetida and salt to it. Mix well. Nowadd water and cook over a moderate flame till riceand green gram become soft and the water evap-orates. Keep stirring in between.Benefits: It is tasty and enhances strength.Contra-indications: Not suitable for those withpoor appetite.

rICE-CUCUMBEr DoSA Ingredients:Cucumber: Medium size Type: Cucumis sativa, the large variety with yellow skinrice: 250 gmSalt: To taste

Method: Wash the rice properly. Peel the cucum-ber and then grate it. Put inside a grinder andmake a batter of rice and grated cucumber. Noneed to add water to grind since cucumber con-tains a lot of moisture. Add salt to taste. Leaveovernight. Now the batter is ready. You can makedosas for breakfast. n

Dr. Jayanthi S, Research Associate, I-AIM

ulator. In high doses, it induces vomiting. Italso stimulates the nervous system.

This herb works as a carminative. It helpsthose suffering from habitual constipation, diar-rhea, flatulence, dyspepsia, gastritis and colicpain. It is a good remedy for severe sore throat,earache, laryngitis, nasal congestion, sinusitis,cough and asthma. Vacha is also used for epilep-sy, inflammation, arthritis, neuralgia, rheuma-tism and nervous affectations, dysmenorrhea,shock, gum diseases, wounds and ulcers.

Some classic Ayurvedic formulation likeSarswatarishta and Sarswata churna, whereVacha is used as the chief ingredient, promotememory and help in the treatment of psychi-atric problems.

Self-help

For children: Dried rhizome powder withhoney is given to enhance intellect, memoryand speech and to prevent fever and pain dur-ing teething. Vacha powdered and Yastimadhu(licorice) with honey treats fever, cough andcongestion in the chest. An infusion of Vacharhizome and jeera (cumin seeds) is useful inalleviating colic pain in children.For stomach complaints: Vacha relives flatu-lence, colic pain and increasing appetite. Thedried rhizome is burnt and mixed with blandoil such as refined coconut oil or a poultice ofthe rhizome can be applied on the abdomenfor stomach complaints. For chronic dysentery,the rhizome infusion can help effectively.For common cold: A small piece of the rhi-zome is roasted and powdered. A pinch of thispowder is mixed with honey and consumed.If the same condition occurs in infants, thepaste of Vacha is mixed with breast milk andplaced on the child’s tongue.For fits or epilepsy: The rhizome is prepared asan amulet and tied to the body of the childpreferably the waist.Immunity enhancer: Grind a handful of Vachaleaves and mix 1 teaspoon of turmeric powderto the paste. Apply the paste on the child’sbody and bathe the child after half an hour toincrease immunity.For sore throat: Cover rhizomes with waterand boil for 10 minutes. Pour out the water,add fresh water and boil again. repeat thistwice with fresh water each time. Stir 4 cups ofsugar into 4 cups of water until dissolved. Addthe Vacha and simmer slowly for 10 minutes.

looK good

YoU can improve your memory through memo-ry exercises, healthy eating, physical fitness,stress reduction and brain tonics.

Memory is a process which includes the powerof acquisition, retention and recollection.Generally, it is the elderly who face problemsrelated to loss of memory. But children too want asharp memory to cope with the present educationsystem. Though there are various memory boost-ing drinks and medicines available in the market,how safe and effective they really are is question-able. Instead of consuming such medicines, ifmemory- boosting ingredients are included infoods prepared in the kitchen, they will serve thesame purpose in a much more effective and safemanner.

Boosters:l You can make Bacopa monnieri (brahmi) tea bysoaking brahmi in hot, boiling water. Steep forsome time, filter and drink when cold on anempty stomach daily.l You can also make a chutney of centella asiati-ca (Manduka parni) leaves. Taking two teaspoon-fuls of this leaf juice everyday will be beneficial. l Soak 4 or 5 Prunus amygdalus (badam) in

water overnight. In the morning remove theskin, grind and then boil the badams in 200 mlof milk. Add a teaspoonful of ghee (clarified but-ter) and sugar to taste and drink. Consume everyday for about a month.l one teaspoon of Asparagus recemosus(satavari) root powder taken with milk everydayworks as an effective memory enhancer.l Grind 3 or 4 pieces of Piper nigrum (black pep-per) and make a paste in a teaspoon of honey.Consume this daily to help improve memory.l About quarter teaspoon of CinnamomumZeylanicum (cinnamon) powder can be mixedwith honey and taken every day. Also, cinnamonpowder can be consumed in tea or sprinkledover fruitsl Halwa made with pumpkin pulp, ghee, sugarand dry fruits is good for memory.l A handful of pumpkin seeds consumed everyday will give you a daily dose of zinc that willenhance your memory and thinking skillsl The juice of the leaves of Tinospora cordifolia(Guduchi), crushed and extracted, if given regu-larly will boost memory. n

Dr. Shreelatha. S, Clinical Research Associate- IAIM

memory power

orgaNic cheF

porridge & dosa


LIVING

38

GOING on a trek to dark jungles? Camping? Worry not.Light up your life with Dlight’s solar light cum mobile charger.Always be in touch with friends and family. This neatproduct, called S250, illuminates any room as much as athree or five watt incandescent lamp. Since S250 gets itsenergy from the sun, it is up to five times more energyefficient. It provides 10 times more light than a kerosenelamp. The light can be set according to your needs – high,medium or low. At medium you get six full hours of light.

Moreover, S250 charges the most popular phones on themarket whether Nokia, Samsung or Motorola. Pinconnectors for popular mobiles are included. If your phone isa rare one, you can buy the connector seperately. Phonecharge time is just one hour.

S250 is reasonable priced. Light and easy to carry, itbridges the rural-urban divide – perfect for a village hut or anurban apartment stuck in the dark.

Contact: CL House, T-95 Fourth Floor, Gautam Nagar, New Delhi-110049Phone: 011-43156700Email: [email protected]

SunnY moBiLe

LOCATED amidst the anarchicmedley of fashionable shops inDelhi’s ethnic Hauz Khas Village isGreen the Gap. This little outlet sellsrecycled products made by Swechha,an NGO. You can browse at leisure.

Designs are smart, young andgrunge – perfect for college wear.Look out for sling bags made from oldrubber tyres and used fabrics. Thesturdy rexin straps add to thedurability of the product. These eyecatching bags will make your palsgreen with envy. The bags cost justbetween ̀ 600 to ̀ 800.

Since you have a smart bag, youwon’t want an awkward wallet to playspoilsport. There are attractivewallets here made from rice sackbags ornamented by old juice tetrapacks. Looks unique and young andprices are in the range of ̀ 350 to`450. Printed flower vases madefrom old wine bottles, floor mats fromold rubber tyres and funky T-shirts arealso great picks.

Contact: Green the Gap, 24/3 Hauz Khas Village, New DelhiEmail: [email protected]: www.swechha.in

p r o d u c t S

lakshman ananD

green STYLe

RNI No.: DELENG/2003/11607 Postal Registration No.: DL( S)-01/3255/2012-14. Registered to Post without Pre-payment U( SE)-10/2012-14 at New Delhi PSO.

Dates of Posting: 3 & 4 of every month. Date of Printing: 26-30th of every month.

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