The story of Narsimha
In the largest district of Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, lies a small village called Chinna Jalapuram. This village is on its way to becoming a model for rural communities across the country.
The story of this village’s success dates back to four years ago when the Rural Integrated Development Society (RIDS) adopted this village. The first person to opt for natural farming was the leader of the villagers, Narsimha, who is now a vocal environmentalist. He and his son are practicing organic farming, and reap a good income, apart from its other benefits. These villagers are not aware of the fact that agriculture contributes to approximately 25 per cent of worldwide carbon emissions. They are also unaware of the fact that they are now a part of the solution for the same global crisis.
The story of Narsimha is not different to any farmer in India. With a loan of Rs. 50,000 on his head, he was living a hand to mouth existence. Then one night, four years ago, some RIDS members came to their village. They performed a play and facilitated an interaction between these farmers and those from other villages who were practicing sustainable farming. From that day, Narsimha became part of a true green revolution – an organic farmer – and a role model for the village. It was a tough job in the beginning but since then his income has increased five fold. In his own words, “I have become a rich man now.”
The organisation has brought sweeping change to the village. Narsimha and his friends now have access to a small seed bank and a micro-financing system to invest in farming practices has been started. They use only local materials such as Neem leaves, cow urine, jaggery, water and leaves of Ingua (local name of a tree with medicinal value) as pesticides and manure. Leftover food is also used to make compost. Drip irrigation, which reduces water consumption has also been implemented.
Speaking to his fellow farmers, Narsimha and his son Narayana said, “Providing food is a sacred profession, we should not spoil it by the mal-practices of chemical farming.”
This is just an overview of what’s happening in Andhra Pradesh. More than 15 lakh acres of the land of the state has been declared a pesticide- free zone. All of the credit goes to the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture which is paving the way by connecting organisations like RIDS with the farmers. India is truly in for a green revolution.
We, living in urban cities are lucky to get water which at most times is sufficient to fufill our daily water requirements. However, how many of us really thank God for this. I say so, because there are still so many people in our country including small kids who are dying just because they do not have access to clean drinking water. We, humans can still survive without food for a certain number of days, however if you are left with no water for 2-3hours in the hot weather conditions which exist today you would find it difficult to survive.
Let us look at various areas where water is used by people in urban centres:
1. Drinking
2. Bathing
3. Brushing
4. Shaving (for men)
5. Washing clothes
6. Cleaning floors
7. Cleaning Cars/vehicles
8. Cleaning Utensils
9. Flushing
10. Watering of plants
I am sure there must be other uses of water as well, please help me out in compiling an even comprehensive list. The point that I want to make is we are lucky to get and thereby use water for so many things which we feel are essential for our daily survival. Whereas on the other hand, there are people who do not even get enough water to satisfy their requirement of point no. 1 in the list above. Now, few of you might say, “Kya Farak Padta Hai” and some of you my dear friends may say, so what can we do sitting at our home.
Well, the least anyone can do is to save and recycle water. Use only that much water you feel will be sufficient for your bathing/shaving/cleaning purposes. Trust me, you do not need a bucketfull of water to clean your car, howsoever big it may be. All you need is one bottle of water (1 litre or even less). Next time you go out to clean your car, carry only one bottle of water and you would see it for yourself how almost magically your car will appear like new with that much water only. There are just some of the pointers which I am suggesting. I am sure most of you would be smart enough to know how you can save water at home/school/office.
Only thing we need is to get away from our conventional mindset which often tells us ” What would happen only through my actions”. We need to understand that there are millions of people out there who are also thinking the same and therefore so is the condition of our water bodies and we are facing acute water shortage. However, if all these millions of people start thinking “I can also make a change and my own individual actions do matter”, it would not take us even a week to solve the problem of water crisis.
World Water Day stands for nothing else but only calls out to everyone to change their mindset and Make their own Choices. The choices which can ensure that no one in any part of the world at any time dies because he/she could not get clean and healthy water to drink. AMEN!
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Here are the pictures of the Vitabhojdari village (Dist.:Ahmednagar,Maharashtra) before the rains and after the rains, the effect of the efforts being visible from the growth of vegetation.
CCT i.e. the Continuous Contour Trenching, is a method of making trenches along the hill slopes, on plain terrains as well as the mountain terrain; thus possibly covering every type of terrain in India except the cold deserts and the hot deserts. This particular method involves making trenches of a particular width and depth and then marked with a special instrument called the Contour Marker.
The Contour Marker is a shaft-like instrument measuring 1 -1.5 meters in length with marking along its length and a tube filled with water, attached to it. This water helps in knowing the equal height areas for it to be marked on the ground. On the onset of monsoon the trenches are planted with indigenous variety of plants which hold up water and soil. Thus, the permanent structure like a tree crown is seen on the hills which harvest the rains every monsoon.
The CCT technique has been founded by Dr. Dhonde, a lecturer at Mahatma Phule Agricultural College, Pune who has executed a similar miracle in Nigeria over an area of 10,000 hectares.
The idea behind this noble and unique method is as simple as the person himself-
“Water that is running, make it to walk,
Water that is walking, make it stop,
Water that has stopped, allow it to be absorbed”
The once dry and arid regions that had no supply of drinking water for months together and had people migrating out in search of work, are now witness to people coming back due to the lush green and water field wells assuring them a secured future in their very own lands.
This change was possible due to the efforts of Mr.Vasant Takalkar, who in this 37 years of service as a professional forester has made this unbelievable change in Solapur, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Pune and some other rural areas of Maharashtra. The number of district is only increasing with his present work in Amravati and Akola districts of Maharashtra. The total area of his work ranges above 37,000 hectares and in excess of 46,000 km running length of CCT.
According to his calculations, for a family of three person and with three animals in a village, the average water requirement is around 1,30,000 liters of water per year, without agricultural use; i.e. approximately 13 tankers of water. Considering that Maharashtra receives 600-650 mm of rainfall on an average, with 35-40 rainy days on an average, it receives approximately 510 tankers of water. Of which, if we consider 275 tankers of water for direct use (considering the water losses through infiltration, run-off, etc.), we get ample amount of rainfall to last for a whole year.
In conditions where Maharashtra has 70-75% of agriculture dependent on rainfall, this CCT technique will certainly prove fruitful for Maharashtra as well as the whole of the India. Following is a picture of the Vard village of Chopda taluk, from the Jalgaon district of Maharshtra, where the tribal ladies are beaming with pride over their water filled wells and their crop filled lands even in mid-summers.
In spite of being faced with stiff opposition from his colleagues, workers and the local people, Mr Takalkar with a distant vision stood by his work to give the drought hit region a new hope to life. Mr Takalkar had a multifaceted experience spanning over 4 decades in forest management – covering all aspects such as management of natural forests, exploitation, depot management including grading of timber transport, sales etc. He was also responsible for forestation on a massive scale, soil and water conservation, nursery raising, maintenance of plantations, and developing support functions required for the same including training and administration of dedicated forest staff as well as casual labor.
He accomplished forestation, and soil and moisture conservation activities through his technique of CCT, generating an employment of 5 million man days for transient/casual labor, indirectly aiding the State Government achieve its targets. He was the first conservator to achieve an average plant survival rate of 95% by adopting innovative techniques, as against the observed average of 60 – 65% in the same climatic zone.
Undertaking forestation activities on inclinations (hill slopes) up to 80% as against recommended 33% inclinations; thereby establishing new benchmarks for forestation in a given terrain. He was also instrumental in the formation of Joint Forests Management Committees in 841 villages in and around forests in Dhule Forest circle for participatory management.
Although awarded with Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award for the year 2003, Shankarrao Kirloskar Shatabdi Smriti Samiti and many others, this man still remains down to earth and works with the students of Solapur university, Pune university and presently works as a full time consultant for Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited, by empowering the youth with this unique technique.
To honor the immense contributions by Mr Takalkar, the Government of Maharashtra has named his CCT technique as the “Takalkar Pattern”.
Mr Vasant Takalkar can be reached at:
E Mail: vasantt@mkcl.org; takalkarvasant@gmail.com
Address
1195/2-C, Mukund Apartments, Shivajinagar, Pune (Maharashtra) – 411005
Phone: 02025535719 ( R), 020-25661317 /18 ( O ), Cell: +91 98226 35411
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It has been over a couple of hundreds of years now that we have been listening to it. In primary classes, every kid reads in his science text book that our Blue Planet is considered as the only planet in the whole universe that can support life as it has just the appropriate amount and composition of gases, water, chemical compounds and temperature. It is the abundant water on earth that makes it possible for living organisms to survive here. Even I had read about these life supporting properties of the Earth; but considering the current scenario, I strongly feel that the text books for the next generation will quote, “Earth was once called Blue Planet. It was water, which was present then in copious amounts that played the role of the cradle of life.” I also have strong faith in my fellow friends who keep their taps open while brushing or allow their tanks to overflow, that we will inevitably experience this outrageous condition in a few years and that we will make our kids read this!
Appreciating an advertisement on water conservation by the Government of Delhi, I think we will soon witness days when water will be sold at high rates but in disproportionately scarce amounts in shops called “Water Drops”. Lead has already been taken in this direction. Expensive bottled water available in the market proves this. Studies have proved that though there is not much difference between water available in packed bottles and that distributed by DJB (Delhi Jal Board) through their pipelines, the cost difference between the two is significant. The increased cost is not only due to packaging but also due to the premium attached to the “supposition” of cleanliness of bottled water over the pipelines through which the government supplies drinking water.
Contrary to the common thought that purified water is required mostly for drinking purpose, I would say that water is required for every object that we use. Broadening the view about water used by us in daily life, I would say that we are thirsty because we are hungry! Every single object that we use, from a pen to the clothes we wear, require tremendous amounts of water; amounts which are way beyond our imagination but come out only as shocking statistics. Lets start with food intake of a human being. We need to realize that we not only use drinking water to quench our thirst but also indirectly use 1500 litres of water when we consume 1 kg (kilogram) of grains (wheat, rice, sorghum etc). Similarly, eating 1 kg of mutton means drinking 15,000 litres water while 1 egg requires 100 gallons of water for its production. Even a litre of milk is an output when 100 litres of water is provided as an input. Can you beat that?? Do we in our daily lives ever pay attention to such statistics while enjoying a standard breakfast where 1 pound of bread uses 500 gallons of water? Sacrificing 256 gallons of water results in 1 cotton T- shirt. Amazing! Isn’t it??
We all know that wise use of paper has always been promoted since the risk of deforestation is associated with its conservative use. Here I provide you with another reason that proves paper is important. A newspaper that is read in the morning but dumped by the evening can be neatly compared to 80 litres of water. This data gives us an idea about the complexity of the dynamics of water in our daily lives. Now do we stop eating food or wearing clothes? No! Only judicious use of all the resources can help in sustainable development. Every item that we use is directly or indirectly related to resources that are on the verge of getting exhausted in the near future.
Thus, we see how interdependent environmental issues are and all of them need to be dealt with simultaneously. Talking mainly of water, I have tried to create a perspective so that all of us can compare the gallons of water that might be at stake while we misuse the available resources and daily items. A slight effort and respect for nature today can help in securing a happy future and restore our “ Blue Planet”.
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The 22 km. stretch of river through Delhi is considered to be the most polluted. It is true that the stretch through Delhi is nothing but sewage - both domestic and industrial wastes are dumped into the river daily from all parts of the city. However, it is surprising to note that the problem in Yamuna might not be only the sewage dumped into the river. The problem lies in the flow of the river. The fact is that the water present in almost the entire stretch of the river in Delhi does not actually belong to the river. However, that also does not mean that there is no water in the river. The water is in plenty but the truth lies somewhere else.
The Yamuna River before entering into the capital city passes through Hathnikund Barrage. The amount of water in the river till this point is around 82 cumesec (cubic meter per second, representing the flow of the river). From this point onwards, the river is divided into three portions:
- Western Yamuna Canal (which takes away 67.5 cumesec water)
- Eastern Yamuna Canal (which takes away 12 cumesec water)
- The actual river flow which is left with only 2.5 cumesec water
The water taken away through the two canals is used to provide water and electricity to the states of Haryana, UP and Delhi. But in doing so, the river is left with absolutely no water of its own. In fact, several escapes have been built along the canals so as to allow some water to come back into the river but unfortunately none of the escapes are operational today. No river along the duration of its entire course would ever appear steady. The Yamuna in Delhi however is left to become a stagnant pond of sewage and waste coming from households and industries.
The Supreme Court in 1996 had ordered that a minimum of 10 cumesec of flow be maintained in the river at all times. However, it’s been 13 years and nothing has been done yet in this direction. All the money which is being allocated and used under Yamuna Action Plan will go down the drain unless the river gets back some if its original water. This is because even if through some miracle, authorities are able to clean the river, the sewage will anyways return into the river because no mechanism would have been made to either divert the sewage or treat it before being dumped into the river.
It is also not that we do not have Sewage Treatment Plants. We have them but their efficiencies have always been questionable. The ”kya farak padta hai“ attitude exhibited by all the officials sitting on the boards of numerous institutions and bodies constituted to preserve the river continues to bring about the downfall of our lifeline.
It is extremely difficult to change someone’s mindset but let us all at least make an effort to do that. There are several policy suggestions which can be made to improve the situation but on our front, all we need to do are two simple things - Save Water and Do Not Dump Waste into the river (whatever little of it exists in our city).
It is all about Making Your Own Choice.
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