CUSP OF CHANGE · journeys. Farmers make choices they shouldn’t have to for reasons they don’t...

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CUSP OF CHANGE Stories of lives, lessons, legends from Mewar August 2012 Manual cross pollination of Bt cotton

Transcript of CUSP OF CHANGE · journeys. Farmers make choices they shouldn’t have to for reasons they don’t...

Page 1: CUSP OF CHANGE · journeys. Farmers make choices they shouldn’t have to for reasons they don’t know themselves. Grassroots organisations fill in the gaping abyss left by a lax

CUSP OF CHANGEStories of lives, lessons, legends from Mewar

August 2012

Manual cross pollination of Bt cotton

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2 thread August 2012

ABOUT THE COURSE

Challenge of the Balance: a course on Policies, Politics & Practices of Environmental Managementin the Developing World

Objective This inter – disciplinary month long structured course on environment / developmentissues is for about 25 participants from various international institutions of learning.For this summer school, CSE has collaborated with Engineers Without Borders (EWB)United Kingdom, and EWB chapters in South Asia.

Programme designChallenge of the Balance is an orientation programme to giveinternational participants a first-hand experience of Southernperspectives concerning the environment-development debate.

It includes classroom lectures, seminars, local field excursions,together with challenging individual and/or group project work.Participants will be given an intense briefing on issues thatare of concern to India and other developing countries.Field trips will serve to illustrate innovations andeco-restoration efforts that communities make toenable them to face the challenges of managingtheir natural resources base.

TRAINING VENUEAnil Agarwal Green College38, Tughlakabad Institutional AreaNew Delhi–110062

COURSE CONTACTSAditya BatraProg Director, Education & Training & South Asia ProgrammeEmail:[email protected] Mobile: +91-9810825775

Sharmila Sinha Prog Officer, Education & TrainingEmail: [email protected];[email protected] Mobile: +91-9818482018 Office Tel: +91 (011) 29955124 +91(011) 29955124/125 Fax: +91 (011) 29955879

Centre for Science and Environment41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi – 110062

Challenge of the Balance August 2012: Participants from the UK, Scotland, Italy, Japan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and India

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EDITORIAL

from the editors’ desktop

Hello, please make yourselves at home.

This the thread where we post accounts of the state of the environmentas we see it. A network of complex, interconnected issues does not beginto describe it. Threading together stories of lives, livelihoods, water, wastemeant endless hours of brain racking and lots of coffee and conversations.This is our thread, where we post interactions with the people we met andhow we’re all just trying to wrap our minds around it all.

I don’t know how many of us were surprised by what we saw. Water bringscommunities together, while easy money tears them apart. The pollutersnever end up paying, while the people who live with the pollution are leftwithout options. Livelihoods, or the lack thereof, take people on surrealjourneys. Farmers make choices they shouldn’t have to for reasons theydon’t know themselves. Grassroots organisations fill in the gaping abyssleft by a lax administrative machinery. It’s inspirational to travel withgrassroots organisations and the enthusiasm of each member is palpableand contagious.

The environment, to us, does not mean just trees and hills and naturalresources, it’s also about how waste becomes a survival tactic for some,or about people in crowded city villages who cannot challenge the changearound them.

It’s not about man versus environment anymore. Built or natural,manmade or pre-made, forest or cityscape, they are all central to theexistence of the human race. When we say environment we mean thisworld as an indivisible whole.

Keep it conscious.Anjali Nambissan & Yash Maniar

threadEditors

Anjali NambissanYash Maniar

Copy-EditorsBenjamin McIntosh-Michaelis

Enrico PrunottoRory RichardsonPravnav Pokhrel

Yousof Khan

Design EditorsSarah Livingstone

Waiman Tsang

ReportersAnjali Nambissan

Alak SharmaBenjamin McIntosh-Michaelis

Deney Chu Istiak Ahmed

Khimananda SharmaMahjabeen

Pranav PokhrelRory Richardson

Radhika GoelSarah Livingstone

Sewa TripathiStephanie Davies

Waiman TsangYash ManiarYousof Khan

Yuki Noritake

IllustrationsPranav Pokhrel

Cover photoYash Maniar

Manual cross pollination of Bt cotton

PHOTOS: WAIMAN TSANG

Sincere thanks to Centre for Science and Environment for publishing thismagazine. Special thanks to Aditya Batra, Sharmila Sinha, Surender Singh, D S Bains, and the entire DTE Team.

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LETTERS TO EDITOR

Enrico Prunotto

We have lostour me -

mo ries; thep h i l o s o p h e rUmberto Ecodefines us as an alien gene -ration, arguingthat we are no

longer used to living in nature. Weonly know cities and we live inunreal spaces, trained by themedia, which tells us aboutproblems no longer seen in oureveryday life, such as chronicpoverty or lack of food and watersupply. However, we live in a worldwhere pressures and tensions ofchange require global awareness.

To drive this process, a lot ofinstitutes offer programs on eco-development issues based indeveloping countries for students tointeract with local communities.

The course Challenge of theBalance is a good example, as itsmain pillar is a one-week-long fieldtrip to rural India. The courseprogram officer Sharmila Sinhaconsiders this practical learningmodel extremely effective to “informthe students, who probably havenever been on a farm before, to tryand see what it is like.”

When we arrived in villageDhingavarikala, villagers stoppedtheir activities to look at this groupof “developed people” with goodclothes and white faces, an unusualsight for them. Soon however it wasour turn to to be surprised: anopen-air toilet, a Bt cotton plantand grazing goats. For many of usthis was a first-time experience. Itdidn’t take much time for us to startgrabbing farming tools andpretending to be farmers, at least

until a good Facebook photo wasacquired. We interacted with thevillagers and then we left withsmiling faces. All was over; we werein our safe and comfortable bus,back to our lives. Is that all? Is itjust a quick look that the studentswanted when they applied to theseeco-courses? We don’t believe so.

However, this will be the resultif the learning is not managedproperly after these visits. The first reaction could easily seemsuperficial when you don’t reallyknow how to behave. However, thisis just the surface of the experienceand only after connecting all thedots will we get true value.

From the knowledge obtainedby this course we can nowunderstand the backwards value-chain and what we are paying forwhen buying a cotton T-shirt. Noone can force us to change ourlifestyles; however, after theseexperiences, making a consciouschoice should become our duty. Weneed to remember it.

Our generation already lostmany memories and we are here tolearn back what was probably thebasis for most of our grand-parents.

Benjamin RuaridhMcIntosh-Michaelis

Newspapers,magazines

and televisionnews relaythese storiesevery day. Ifyou’re a reason -ably informed‘global’ citizen

you know that of the poorest inIndia 94 per cent do not have toilets and that, as agricultureincreasingly becomes less profi -

table, sowing cash crops becomesthe trend, often leading to debt,alcoholism and suicide amongfarmers.

But real life has to be seen to bebelieved. A month-long experienceat Challenge of the Balance inAugust 2012 reaffirms that. Notonly is the field trip a reality checklike no other; through the lecturesyou come to know and continue tobe inspired by people who havedevoted their lives and used theireducation towards making sense ofthis crazy world.

A field trip like this teaches younot only about the world aroundyou, but also about your ownlimitations. There’s you with yourair-conditioned tour of a tribalvillage, but there's also little Emiya you meet on that tour. Shehas to till the weeds to feed hergoats and doesn't get to go to schoollike the rest of the children of hervillage.

You have to get over the factthat that there are no black andwhite solutions in a world full ofgrey human beings. Complex,interconnected issues make up thisreality. It's not just the awarenessyou have but what you do with itthat counts. Virtue is nothing butwords till it is acted upon.

You face up to that challengeand realise that there's really notone thing you can change aboutthis world. There are many thingsand there is nothing. It is how youface up to this challenge and alteryour life. If you think makingconscious choices well within yourcomfort zone is enough, so be it.

For me, it’s about challenginglimitations to know what I’m madeof and alter my sense of virtue.■

The views expressed by the authors are their own

Point/CounterpointDid the field visit to rural India to ‘witness development’ allow us also to join thedots and construct an alternative worldview in this media saturated world?

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EDITORS PAGE 3

LETTERS TO EDITOR 4

FEATURESmall Village in the Big City 6

PROFILEMan Behind the Bears 8

SPECIAL REPORTPublic trash, Private interests 10

REPORTER’S DIARYIn the Shadow of the Taj 12

REPORTConflict of interests 13

COVER STORIESSlippery Soap 15Development Conundrum 16Udaipur’s Lake and PIL 17A Cut Above 18A River Reborn 19Turning Waste into Want 20Cultivating Controversy 21Rural Resurgence 22Mautana – Then & Now 23The Invisible Workforce 24

PUZZLES 26

August 2012 thread 5

CONTENTS

PHOTOS: YOUSOF KHAN

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Small Villagein the Big CityPeculiar to Delhi, these urbanvillages are tiny bits of rurallife, seemingly exempt from bigcity influence

• ANJALI NAMBISSAN

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Crowded and narrow lanesthread together a cowshed,some haveli-style houses, a

Panchayat, a baraat ghar andmany multi-story apartmentbuildings leaning on one another.What’s increasingly becomingcommon in Delhi’s urban pinds,or villages, are high-fashiondesigner boutiques, multi-cuisinerestaurants and exotic patisseriesand curio stores by the dozen.

Strict land use rules in areascontrolled by municipal autho -rities, low rents for commercialproperties and practically nolicenses required to operatebusinesses explains theirpopularity. “There’s a certainurban osmosis. They absorb theactivities that would otherwise notbe allowed in urban areas,”explains KT Ravindran, professorand head of urban design at the School of Planning andArchitecture, New Delhi.Ravindran also served as chair ofthe Delhi Urban Art Commission.

Known variously as lal dora orshehrikrit gaon, there are 135villages within the national capitalregion of Delhi, with a populationof 2.9 million.

The Delhi Masterplan, 1961,declared these villages, about 20 atthe time, as Urbanised Villages. In1979-80, the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) was handed theresponsibility to improve civicservices in urban villages; the

Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) took over their admi -nistration in 1988. According tothe Economic Survey of Delhi2008-09, DDA and MCD wereallocated a total of Rs 366.09 crorefrom 1980 to 2009 as development

funds for Delhi’s urban villages.Zamrudpur in south Delhi, a

village of about 3000 families, hasa predominantly Jat population.Chatar Singh, the village pradhan,or chief, feigns ignorance aboutthese development funds. “Apartfrom the Aadhar (uniqueidentification card) people, no onefrom the administration has evercome here. Except, of course,during election campaigns,” hequips.

Legends and lineage are keptalive by village folk. In ShahpurJat, a 700-year-old village also insouth Delhi, villagers claimdescent from Indri in present-dayHaryana. “We were all farmers whogrew tobacco and cauliflower. Thetobacco grown here was exported

The board welcomes you to Zamrudpur village, but inside is a cosmopolitanworld within a world.

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to Arab countries.Some people hadcows and evenhorses,” remembers80-year-old BhimSingh, former patwari(keeper of records) ofShahpur Jat. Today,given its centrallocation, propertieshere command steeprents. By roughestimates, close to 80 per cent oflandowners live off the rentalincome alone.

Planning deficitThe Delhi Master Plan 2021,released in April this year, listsbold steps to develop urbanneighbourhoods. In the draft plan,urban villages are recognised for their mixed land use, forcommercial, residential andindustrial purposes. It recognisesthe reality of narrow lanes andhigh-density living areas, andstresses their important economicrole.

These ambitious plans areonly worth the paper they arewritten on, says Sanjay Singh, aresident of Shahpur Jat since1975. “I have been trying to get anoverbridge built on the Ring Roadnear Panchsheel Enclave for closeto eight years. It’s the only way to go to the closest market inMalviya Nagar. Through a Right ToInformation application, we foundthat between 2007-2011, therehave been 19 accidents and sevendeaths on that road alone. Thereare no street lights on the roads inthe village. We’ve brought all thesethings up many times with the

municipal councillorand the member oflegislative assembly(MLA), but little haschanged on theground.”

Delhi’s urbanvillages are vestigesof rurality envelopedby the growing city.“What the residentsof the Asiad GamesVillage use as aplayground used to

be our burial ground,” Sanjaypoints out.

“These villages were oncesurrounded by pastures or grazingland, agricultural land, ponds,streams and other naturalresources. These were acquired bythe state and the villages were leftto fend for themselves. The landwas then distributed to differentparties under various schemes.Some of the land was acquired byprivate developers through dealswith the villagers,” says Ravindran,pointing out the same transpiredin the case of the upscale coloniesof Munirka, and Gautam Nagarextension. “Posh ‘New Friend’sColony’ used to be a part ofKhizarabad. It was colonised whenthe numberdar (keeper of landrecords) sold the land to a privatebuilder. The plotted apartments inNizammudin came up on land soldfrom the basti (squatter settlement)around the time of India’s partitionin 1947”, he points out.

The 2021 masterplan calls forbig changes to these villages tobetter integrate them with the city.“Integration – physical, social,environmental and economic – issomething that they’ve been trying

to bring about since the 1960s. Idon’t know whether this hashappened anywhere so far,” saysRavindran.

Some are sceptical about theproposed plans, such as extendingvillage boundaries. “Where do theyplan to extend the village to? How?,”asks 56-year-old Dhan Singh, aretired postmaster and resident ofZamrudpur. “Thick green forestsused to surround this village, fromAmar Colony on one side to NehruPlace on the other. It’s all gone nowand there is no space around us.Some families have gone on toestablish another Zamrudpur alongthe Haryana border.”

The plan identifies villages ofhistoric and tourism significance,and emphasises environmentalconcerns for their development.

Likewise, the plan’s proposalto pool individual properties tomake space for common areasdoes not go down well with manyShahpur Jat residents. “How areyou supposed to reorganise yourproperty when you have very littlespace in the first place,” said BhimSingh.

World within a worldBoxed in on all sides by tonycolonies, clubs, and apartments,these semi-rural villages signifyDelhi’s strange balancing act,where the rich jostle for space withcowherds and farmers. Multi-crore, planned and systematicallydeveloped properties are juxt -aposed against haphazard,unplanned construction and tight,garbage strewn lanes. This strangemeeting of two opposite worlds isnot without friction.

Within this world there aresometimes integration problems as cheap rent attracts tenants who may not be conducive tocommunity living.

Plans and masterplans aside,the real challenge for Delhi’s admi -nistrators is how to achieve somesemblance of a balance betweenthese rural worlds nested within agrowing cosmopolitan city. ■

Chaudhary Chatar Singh

FEATURE

“We were all farmers who grew tobacco and cauliflower.

The tobacco grown here was exported to Arab countries.

Some people had cows and even horses”

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Man Behind the BearsThe dancing bears are almost entirely off the streets of north India, in large part due to the

efforts of KARTICK SATYANARAYAN, co-founder of Wildlife SOS. In a conversation with

MAHJABEEN, he points out the importance of roping in traditional hunting and poaching

communities in conservation efforts in India and Asia

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Was there anyone in your family whose love foranimals had an impact on your personality?Affection towards nature has always remained aninnate part of my character. I often emptied my schoolbags to rescue snakes or injured birds since I was akid. However, I credit my parent’s upbringing for whatI am today because they were always patient despitemy eccentricities.

Also, I am thankful to all myfriends, including Ravi Kumar, BhupenTalukdar and Geeta Seshamani, the co-founder of Wildlife SOS, for theinspirational roles they played to helpme achieve my goals.

Does being known as ‘The Bear Man’and getting critical acclaim for yourwork put extra pressure on you?When we started working on bearrescue with the Kalandar community, itwas censored heavily. However, weastutely pointed out that it was an

historic issue which was backed by environmental lawand wildlife protection.

Dealing with government and legal issues requiresstrategic thinking and immense pressure and it oftendisturbs the balance between my personal and sociallife, but over time you grow a thick skin.

Since people expect me to solve almost everyproblem thrown at me, I am always prepared for bigger

challenges and believe in going with theflow and moving forward optimistically.

Could you describe one particularexperience that has had a deepimpact on you while you wererescuing bears from the Kalandars?Once in a village called Eidgah, we werechased with axes and knives when wetried to point out possibilities to pursuealternative livelihoods. We literallyrushed out of the place in top gear!

However, we didn’t relent and cameback stronger after two months and

“I guess Iwould have

been an utterfailure or evena social reject

in our society”

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succeeded in convincing the villagers to an extent thatthey themselves drove away bear poachers bootleggingcubs from Nepal to Uttar Pradesh.

In another case in Karnataka, a Kalandar boy gotadmission to pursue an engineering degree in a statecollege. He was the first-ever engineer in the villageand the first in the entire Kalandar community. Andof course, there’s this one time when I was trying torescue a leopard in Delhi and it left me physicallyscarred.

There’s one Kartick who passionately lovesanimals. What is the other side of him?The other side of me includes my love for music,dancing, video controlled cars, gadgets, driving and ofcourse, the outdoors. I guess I am a bit of a humanbeing!

Seeing the bears slowly returning to their naturalcondition, how does it feel?Nature is forgiving, adaptive and willing to change andmould. The minute you give them the freedom and givethem the option toreduce imprinting; ithas a deep impact onthem. Initially, wedidn’t even think thatit would be possible,that these bears could be rehabilitated,seeing that they weretoo deeply scarredand imprinted to have them reversetheir behaviour. Butthankfully all bearshave now beenrehabilitated to theirnatural wild beha -viour and it isincredibly encoura -ging and pleasant tosee them changing their biological clock, turning intoa nocturnal animal, returning to their natural ways.

If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doingtoday?Maybe an environmental terrorist, killing illegal loggersor even be a mafioso! I cannot actually think ofanything else other than doing what I am doing. Iguess, I would have been an utter failure or even asocial reject in our society.

What is your take on the environment vs.development debate?In developing countries, we need to respect theenvironment but often have this clash because of

greedy commercial businesses who want to maximiseprofits at the cost of the environment. However, if theymake a smaller profit, the overall environmentaldamages could be avoided and they could generate thebrand value from positive publicity. I am a firmbeliever that every obstacle can be converted into anopportunity. I believe the development sector shouldpartner with the environment sector and benefit fromincredible opportunities from such a coalition.Companies should partner with environmentaladvisors and think of how they can minimise thedamage and maximise profit.

What is your plan regarding the future of WildlifeSOS? My plan for the future of Wildlife SOS is that itshouldn’t end with an individual, and thus havealready sorted out a succession strategy within theemployees in the organisation to move forward in caseKartick is killed.

In the long term, Wildlife SOS will try and work inIndia as much as possible and also in South East Asia,

as we would like to setup an establishedconnection, a good net - work with neighbouringcoun tries and continueto work with like-minded people andorganisations.

Another project thatis very dear to my heartand which is veryvaluable for the futureof wildlife conservationin Asia is to rope in local huntingcommunities in conser -vation efforts. There aredozens of local huntingcommunities acrossAsian countries with

invaluable knowledge of wildlife behaviour andhunting.

If we could rehabilitate them and utilise theirservices in a way that will not be harmful to wildlife,but will assist conservation, then I think we would bedoing a great service both to wildlife conservation andto these communities.

They would be rehabilitated, their skillsharnessed and used in a good way. I’d say that I willcertainly continue fighting till my very last breath toprotect Indian wildlife and of course, work withcommunities because I think we can learn so muchfrom them.■

For more information, log on to www.wildlifesos.org

Under the watchful gaze of Jasmine, a rescued female sloth bear

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Every year, droves of peoplemigrate from far-flungstates of Uttar Pradesh,

Orissa, Bengal and Jharkhand toDelhi with a dream to eke out aliving by driving rickshaws, doingmanual labour or collectingrecyclable waste from the streets,landfills and households. Peoplesuch as Kazim, a 62-year old socialworker with Safai Sena residing inthe Ghazipur slums who camedown from West Bengal to Delhi insearch of work in 1976.

Commonly referred to as“ragpickers”, Kazim is one amongthe roughly half a million ‘cleaningagents’ in Delhi who make rubbishdisappear from the city streets. Theycollect waste from households,segregate the solid waste from therecyclable waste, and browsemounds of trash for recyclablewaste in toxin-laden landfills.

Kazim’s hut in Ghazipur lies atthe end of a narrow winding mudpath, lined on either side bytarpaulin and bamboo huts.Ghazipur, Delhi’s largest landfill, isspread over 80 acres, and issurrounded by a huge slum anddairies. Living less than 60 feetaway from the incineration plant,slum residents are worried abouttheir health and occupation. “It’s afight for survival,” said Kazim.

While India is known forrecycling almost everything, fromglass bottles, newspaper, plastic and rubber tyres to computer and electronic components, it has typically undervalued thecontribution of the people involvedin this important unorganised trade.

Delhi alone generates about2.5 million tonnes of solid waste

each year. Most of the city’s‘landfills’ – a misnomer, as mostare really dumping grounds forwaste – are struggling to cope withthe enormous amounts of waste.No government wants to grapplewith waste dumped on prime land,polluting the groundwater and the

air. However this threat isincreasing. The government seemsto have finally found a solution in2012 to this menace – burn thewaste using incinerators. Originallycalled the destructor, incineratorshave been known to spewdangerous dioxins. They may alsomake Delhi’s ragpickers obsolete.

Easing out ragpickersFor more than a decade now,

there has been a steady push bythe Delhi government to privatiseall aspects of the trash trade –from its door-to-door collectionfrom households to segregation,transportation and eventualdisposal, including incineration,placing the livelihoods of rag -pickers in jeopardy.

For instance, private com -panies such as IL&FS and Jindalhave cornered lucrative contractsto set up incineration plants inGhazipur and Okhla respectively.One direct result has been toenforce the ban that restricts theentry of waste pickers intolandfills, who have to resort tobribing security guards to accessthe waste. In Ghazipur alone, more

Public Trash,Private InterestsDelhi’s move to privatise waste management turns messy,putting the livelihoods of thousands of ragpickers and junkdealers at risk.

• YASH MANIAR

Child sitting on landfill, Ghazipur

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than 400 ragpickers stand to losetheir only source of income.

Likewise, more than 300,000ragpickers stand to lose their onlyincome source from the Delhigovernment’s move to privatise thedoor-to-door trash collection. Theirearnings have already beenreduced to as low as Rs 100 a dayfrom Rs 250-300 that they used toearn earlier.

“The young ragpickers ask mewhat will happen next? I keep givingthem hope that all will be good. Butthere are a few who are not ready tounderstand that we won’t beallowed on these landfills anymore,”says Kazim. They aggressivelymention “Hum ko ghusne nahindenge toh hum jabardasti ghusenge(if they don’t allow us, we will forceour way in). Bache paisa nahikamayenge, toh khane ke liye chorikarenge, daka dalenge, khunkarenge (The kids will rob, fight andkill others for money)”.

At repeated meetings with IL &FS, officials have promised jobs toragpickers as per their qualifi -cations. But most ragpickers areilliterate. At present, the segregationis done manually. Mechanisationwill make the manual efforts ofragpickers redundant. Also, incine -ration does not differentiate betweenwhat is recyclable and what is not.

Shashi Pandit, the secretary of All India Kabadi MazdoorMahasangh, says it is clear thegovernment’s policy for privatisationhas not taken account of thelivelihoods of ragpickers. “Are wecitizens responsible for executingthe laws”, he asks. He points out 78per cent people live with less thanRs 20 a day, and in Delhi alone,

close to 70 per cent of the city livesin illegal settlements. He said in thiscontext, the focus should instead be on empowering ragpickers tocontinue to recycle in this resource-crunched world.

Despite filing a number of ‘right to information’ applicationsregarding waste management in thecity, Pandit says he is yet to getlegitimate answers from govern -ment agencies. He points out thegaps in the system – for instancehow the 3 MW Okhla plant’s‘environment impact assessment’was conducted at Saket, some 16 km away from the site, which isclearly against the rules. “The plantwasn’t able to generate a single MWof electricity,” he adds. The wastecontains too high a value of wet todried waste, which makes the plantless efficient, resulting in low energygeneration.

The government has plannedthree plants – one each in Okhla,Ghazipur (construction phase) and Bawana (planning phase) topromote renewable energy. Compa -nies get subsidies, easy access toland and other tax policies. Reportssuggest subsidies of up to Rs 2 crore for each MW. Companies

have invested large amountsalready – Rs 200 crore for the Okhlaincineration facility, for instance.However, the 62.2 MW combinedcapacity of all three plants is only adrop in the ocean for Delhi’selectricity requirement of 4,800MW.

“The sole objective of thecompany is to earn carbon credits.Ragpickers deserve the carboncredits more than the companiesdo,” says Pandit. Analysts say thatthis is mostly fuelled by theincentives offered by the ministryof new and renewable energy,municipal corporations and the prospects to access CleanDevelopment Mechanism funds.

Some in the administration aresympathetic to the plight of Delhi’sragpickers, says Pandit. Followinghis meeting with Delhi’s chiefminister Sheila Dikshit, somerecommendations were forwardedto the labour minister, the mostimportant being to issue identitycards to ragpickers to protecttheir rights. A simple act that hasthe potential to end constantharassment by the police andother officials, and lend somedignity to their efforts.■

SPECIAL REPORT

Segregated plastic bottles

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• YOUSOF KHAN

In the midst of the controversies surroundingGhazipur and with Kazim’s life still fresh in our

minds, our next stop was Kachpura, a regeneratedvillage-slum in Agra. Once a small village that facesthe Taj Mahal across the Yamuna River, Kachpuracomprises 437 homes housing close to 4,000 people.

As we walked through the monsoon-greenedfarmland towards the village led by Radha Mohan, aman working with CURE (Centre for Urban andRegional Excellence), we thought to ourselves: can aformer slum dwelling, clustered in an area with fiveother slums change so much six years since theinstallation of household toilets?

We entered the village in search of a womannamed Meera Devi, who heads a women’sorganisation working on water security for slumresidents. She was among the first people CUREcontacted, due to her extensive knowledge about thearea.

We walked the clean brick-laid streets of thevillage, passing excited kids and young men makingshoes. As we turned a corner, we saw a petite womanstanding in the courtyard of her house wearing a bluesari. It was Meera Devi.

Meera, being a woman of very few words, howeverof a precise and calm nature, started to talk to usabout the history of Kachpura as being not toodissimilar to other slums. Poor hygiene and sanitationdue to open-air defecation led to most healthproblems, mostly among pregnant women andchildren.

Since the intervention of CURE in 2006 with astudent-led design initiative to implement domestictoilets and a septic tank in the community, health andhygiene have steadily improved. Meera said there arenow 65 homes with toilets in the slum.

The village has a decentralised wastewatertreatment system, which was installed in 2010,something that the people are extremely proud of. Thetreated wastewater is used to irrigate the vegetableplots of carrots, onions, potatoes, greens andmangoes. The village uses groundwater to meet itsdrinking water needs. Today, Kachpura has becomea tourist attraction for visiting foreigners and Indians.

As we said our goodbyes, it struck us that thelives of Kazim in Ghazipur (see preceding story) andMeera were not too dissimilar.

But Kachpura had Meera and the determinedsupport of a development organisation to bring in change.

thread August 201212

In the Shadow of the TajAn urban renewal project in Kachpura, Agra

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August 2012 thread 13

• ANJALI NAMBISSAN • MAHJABEEN

The Soor Sarovar BirdSanctuary (SSBS) spanningan area of 7.97 square

metres is home to over 165 speciesof birds. The sarovar or lake withan area of 2.25 square metres andwith a depth ranging from 4 to 8metres is dotted with wader birdnests along the periphery. Ithouses thousands of bird nestsand roosting sites in the tinyislands within it. Located just offNational Highway No. 2, SSBS islisted as an ‘important bird area’.We meet Sujoy Banerjee, thedeputy conservator of forests. “Thearea was declared a sanctuary in1991,” he begins. “This is apeculiarly carved out sanctuary.There are some private areas that have been included in the sanctuary, including twoengineering colleges. Where there’sa natural resource, there areconflicts. He recalls the times whenvillagers cut trees for firewood.

A new conflict may well be

brewing, with the Mathura refineryof the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)drawing out about a foot of water amonth from this protected lake.Banerjee explains that there are associated impacts of thisoperation. “The refinery leavessuch a huge ecological footprint,yet they do not support themanagement of the sanctuary inany way.”

The 6 MMTPA refinery wascommissioned in 1982, and islocated 154 km from Delhi and lessthan 50 km away from the TajMahal. Banerjee says the lake wasoriginally created to supply waterto the refinery. However, as morewater birds took to their newhabitat, the area was declared aprotected area under the 1972Wildlife Protection Act.

Section 28 of the Actspecifically prohibits destroying,damaging or diverting the habitatof any wild animal; or diverting,stopping or enhancing the flow ofwater into or outside the sanctuaryexcept as per a permit by the chief

wildlife warden.The refinery’s water require -

ments from the lake are more thanwhat the lake can provide; therefinery authorities in collusionwith the irrigation departmenthave constructed an inlet whichpumps in water into the lake fromnearby sources.

“It doesn’t matter what kind ofwater it is, what time of year or daythey will pump it in – there’sabsolutely no predictability aboutthat,” says Banerjee. “It hasnothing to do with the amount ofwater in the lake.”

The drastic rise in the waterlevel is detrimental to the birds andother species dependant on thelake’s low lying islands. The waterlevel can rise up to 3 feet in 10 to12 hours, says Banerjee, whichdisturbs the habitat of the birdsand turtles. “The nests, eggs andyoung ones – everything getsaffected,” he says, adding that thewater is sometimes polluted orcarry invasive species, a problemcausing further damage.

Operating in the fringes of the notorious Chambal regioninfamous for its dacoits comes withits fair share of risks. Banerjee hassurvived two attacks and the forestguards and officials are sometimesrequired to carry weapons. “We’rea very small staff of seven peoplehere. They have to manage thetourists during day time and atnight, they have to patrol the lakeand the forest areas.”

Banerjee is realistic of thebattles that are still to be won.“There are a lot of issues here. Ifyou sit in the office from morningto evening trying to sort out issuesyou’d still run out of time.”■

For more information, log on towww.soorsarovarbirdsanctuary.in

REPORT

The Mathura IOC refinery pump house on Soor Sarovar Lake

Conflict of InterestsThe Mathura IOC refinery uses the lake at a bird sanctuary as a water sourcefor its activities

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14 thread August 2012

COVER STORY

THREAD went looking for, and found complex interconnected issues in the driest state of the country, Rajasthan.

Located in the south western part of Udaipur district, Kotra is one of the poorest blocks in the country, where 90% of the population are tribal. Agriculture serves as the primary source of income, though just a small

section of the total land is devoted to it due to recurring drought, limited irrigation capacities and lack of labour. Every patch of land has multiple issues – choice of crops,

absence of legal system, migration and exploitation.

Seva Mandir, a grass root organisation, has been working in Kotra since 1986, supporting ownership for self development at the community level.

Udaipur district is a classic example of the development versus conservation debate. Jheel Sanrakshan Samiti(Udaipur Lake Conservation Society) has been working on conservation of lakes in Udaipur suffering under the

onslaught of hotels constructed on the embankments, and dumping of industrial and domestic waste.

Read on to find out more about the concerns expressed by the resident

PHOTO: WAIMAN TSANG

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15August 2012 thread

PHOTO ESSAY

Pipad village is stuck in a conflict betweensoapstone miners and local people. Soapstone isvaluable to the miners as a carving material and sois the work it provides for some local people. Onthe other hand mining is ruining the pasture landwhich acts as the villages watershed.

Seva Mandir’s pastureland in the above photoshows how the landscape used to look on the left,whilst the miners land on the right seems to showutter devastation.

Mining soapstone: No safety equipment whilst drilling

the ledge they stand on.

Womencarrying

minedsoapstone to lorries.

Perched over the edge of the cliff; overseeingmining operation with next to no safety precautions.

Dry stone wall seperates mining area and protected pasture land. Still, mining waste is dumped over the otherside of the wall.

Slippery Slippery Soap• DENEY CHU • RORY RICHARDSON

PHOTO: ANJALI NAMBISSAN

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COVER STORY

thread August 201216

The cost of development is often high, but it is aninevitable process and since the Udaipureconomy blossoms under Hindustan Zinc

Limited (HZL) stewardship, extraditing HZL fromUdaipur is beyond speculation. The city of Udaipur nowflounders in a strange quandary where it benefits fromland and water tax, but pollution and violation of waterrights are damaging the lakes which the people ofUdaipur have relied on since the founding of the city.

Regarded as one of the largest zinc producers ofthe world, HZL employs 6,742 workers and has annualrevenue of Rs 10,891 crores, providing the governmentwith a significant amount of tax. Since the companystarted zinc mining in Dariba in 1982 it has alwaysbeen searching for cheap water source for zinc refiningand has found it in Udai Sagar Lake, one of the majorsources of water in Udaipur. Constructed between1559-1565, with a capacity of 23.4million m3 , this lake was built toensure adequate water supply to thepeople. However, HZL’s activity ofharnessing beyond their allocated180 million m3 is diminishing thelake and water availability of571,178 residents. HZL claims toproduce 8,79,000 tons of zinc peryear and one tonne of zinc requires60 tonnes of water. According to localsources who’ve been involved in conserving the lakefrom pollution, HZL has been illegally extracting 14million litres water every year. Also, HZL have beenpumping sulfuric acid rich effluents into the groundas part of their waste disposal program, which infuture will increase the pollution as the acid corrodesits way into the lake.

A closer look at the elements involved into thedamaging of Udai Sagar Lake reveals there are moreculprits involved: Udai Sagar’s grievance is not limitedto HZL but the lake is also being marred by pollutantsfrom marble processing and hotel businesses. Themarble processing industry deposits its waste slurryin a small artificial pond, part of Udai Sagar’scatchment area, which will then feed into to the lake.During the dry seasons, the slurry turns to dust and

is swept by wind to the residents below causingrespiratory problems. Likewise, pollutants from otherindustries in the industrial area in Udaipur city pollutethe lake. Recently, Varda Enterprise, a Mumbai basedhotel investor, was prevented from continuingconstruction of a luxurious hotel in the middle of thelake. The whole scheme was exposed after 2 years ofbuilding and later a petition was filed by the localsunder flagship of Jheel Sanrakshan Samiti (JSS), anorganisation working for conservation of lakes ofUdaipur to avert the damage. Despite the governmentpouring funds worth Rs 142 crores as an effort tobulwark the lake administration, the input seems todisappear in rat holes existing within the system,further aggravating the situation. A survey by ministryof water resources in 2010 revealed that 4 surfacewells, 83 bore wells, 38 dug wells and 1,716 handpumps were being used at the time and Udai Sagar

contributed a significant amount tothese water sources: suggesting thatany activity that threatens the lakewill not only affect the lake, but alsothe water system of Udaipur city.

Brutality of developmentcoupled with corrupt administrationhas lead to a perplexing situation. Astrange hypothesis could be suchthat the polluter themselves lead to asolution as hotel investors, marble

businessmen and HZL all require water, but aremismanaging it. HZL needs cheap water of certainquality and since marble processing units and hotelsare actually reducing the availability and polluting thewater, a mammoth organisation like HZL mightexpress some resentment against the minnowadversaries in the future. If groups, such as JSS couldcapitalise on such contentions, with support of HZL,they might be able to fend off the damages from marbleslurry and hotel businesses. In recent years, HZL hasalso made efforts to rectify its image and claims tohave influenced 500,000 lives with its Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) schemes. HZL is concerned overCloud Seeding in Udaipur apparently as a part of theirCSR scheme, but their ulterior motive could be toreplenish water in Udaipur for their own use.■

Development ConundrumHZL plays an important economic role, but at the cost of the health of

Udai Sagar Lake.

• PRANAV POKHREL

“HZL has beenillegally extracting14 million litres

water every year”

Development ConundrumHZL plays an important economic role, but at the cost of the health of

Udai Sagar Lake.

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COVER STORY

August 2012 thread 17

This is part of the catchment for Udai Sagar Lake. Meant to be a lake accordingto government plans, the area is covered in slurry from processing raw marble.

• ISTIAK AHMED • ALAK SHARMA

In order to protect the environment, particularlyprevent lake water pollution, concerned citizens and

organisations have taken a number of legal initiativesby way of PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in RajasthanHigh Court. In 1982, Balwant Singh Mehta filed a PILin the High Court of Rajasthan to seek measures tocontrol lake pollution. In 1997, Praveen Khandelwal,representing the Jheel Sanrakshan Samiti (JSS) fileda PIL in the Supreme Court, seeking urgent judicialintervention to clean up the lakes in Udaipur, and tocheck the flow of pollutants into these water bodies.JSS filed another Writ Petition in 1999 to speed upthe case. Two more petitions were filed in the HighCourt. Accordingly judgment came up, which did notsee the light of the day.

Abdul Rahaman vs State of Rajasthan, 2003, wasfiled in the Rajasthan High Court emphasising the needto protect tanks and ponds to enable the people toenjoy a quality life guaranteed under the Constitutionof India. Because of these legal efforts Rajasthan HighCourt pronounced a land mark judgment for theprevention of pollution of Udaipur’s water bodies.According to the court order, several measures havealso been taken, but the situation remains unchanged.

Above mentioned PILs have been filed for seekinggovernment intervention and appropriate measures. Itis notable that new hotels and private homes are builttoo close to, and in some cases inside, the lake. Theseconstructions were built on community land andgovernment owned land. The legality of theconstructions have not been challenged.

How and under what authorities did marbleprocessing unit owners get permission to processmarble in the rain water catchments area? Governmentand other respective authorities provide licenses to themarble processing and hotel owners apparently in aspace where such kinds of constructions and activitiesare supposed to be illegal as per national and state law.The legality of these licenses was not challenged.According to the law of the land, in case of a

government lease of land, neighbours priority comesfirst. In the case of Udaipur it is rare that a piece of landhas been leased out by the government to theneighbours. Therefore, dispute between locals andstrangers is a common scenario in Udaipur. However,this leasing procedure of the government has also notbeen challenged by way of PIL.

As per the PIL filed in 1982, Rajasthan High Courtordered the authority to implement a ‘no-constructionzone’, on Udai Sagar Lake. Court orders have notbeen fully implemented. Neither government norbusiness entrepreneurs are willing to fulfill the courtorder. "What is the solution if government doesn’tobey the court order?" asks Dr. Anil Mehta of JSS, “wehave filed a contempt petition before the court”. Butillegal construction and pollution analogouslycontinue in Udaipur’s lakes.

Enforcing decisions, arising out of PIL, should bethe responsibility of all stakeholders concerned. Only atransparent, accountable government, political partiesand civil society can solve this ambiguity. Accountabilityof the state and check and balance between theseorgans may be the best solution. Pro-people movementinvolvement of political parties and other stakeholders isof urgent need for a long term solution. Severalenvironmental groups have been working forenvironment protection in Udaipur but unfortunately itis not a concern of the local political parties yet. In ademocratic country, it is theoretically believed that,politics is the ultimate solution, because political partiesrepresent the people. Consequently, this issue ofenvironment and involvement of political parties shouldbe prioritised. It would become everybody’s concern andas such, success of PIL depends mostly on that.

Despite its utility, PIL is sometimes misused,abused or overused in some cases. Therefore,development process in some cases is disturbed. Inmany cases sustainable development process for theinterest of the public is also hampered by abuse ofPIL. In these circumstances, there must be a checkand balance which can prevent the use of PIL tooppose development projects.

Udaipur’s Lake and PIL Intervention

PHOTO: ANJALI NAMBISSAN

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• KHIMANANDA SHARMA

Historically, it has beenproved that the deve -lopment of the human

civilisation has inherent con -nections with water managementand harvesting techniques; ourancestors used trenches and dug out ponds, while todaydams have become the primaryway of managing lakes andwatershed. It’s possible to considerwater as one of the basic drivers for development. Unequal andunmanaged consumption of waterresources are becoming central in the environment-developmentdebate.

Kotra is situated in an areaprone to conflicts, socialimbalances between the highercastes and tribal communities. It is also marked by high povertylevels, poor health status,illiteracy, and in-fighting within thecommunity.

Villagers mainly sustainthemselves with maize cropcultivation; however due toenvironmental constraints this is

possible only during themonsoons, leading to food scarcityfor the rest of the year.

To improve the water supplythroughout the year, communtiesused to construct earthen dams onstreams, but ironically due toisolated extreme rainfall events,they were soon rendereddysfunctional. In 2000, NGOs suchas Seva Mandir got involved in thevillage to bring people together tohelp solve their common waterissue.

As discussions within thecommunity members progressed,people found a singular cause tounite behind, water scarcity, andalso discovered a unique solution –anicuts (small dams). A first stepwas to create a strong committee,which was followed by raisingfunds and interacting with relevantagencies.

Before 2000, there were a few water harvesting dams, butnone were directly managed bycommunities. Today, there aremore than 20 community-constructed anicuts there. Eventhe ones built by the government

are managed by local people.The anicuts heralded signi -

ficant changes: multiple cropscould now be cultivated; watercould be used for communityowned forest and pasture landcon servation; while the storedwater helped recharge ground -water aquifers.

Anicuts also brought in a levelof awareness and care for naturalresource management amongcommunities.

A lot more however remains tobe accomplished. Of all anicuts inKotra block, four to five are in needof urgent repair and maintenanceto plug leakages and in need ofcatchment maintenance. Effortsare on to plant trees across thecatchment area and creatingprotected pastures on villagecommonlands. Growing biomassand construcing trenches to betterchannel water flow will only helpimprove the catchment. Futureplans include desilting the anicutreservoir and extending the waterchannels, a task that will demandthe joint efforts of the entirecommunity. ■

18 thread August 2012

COVER STORY

A Cut AboveAnicuts redefine water management for drought-hit Kotra

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• SEWA TRIPATHI

With the lack of effectivesewage treatment plan,enormous amounts of

sewage from the city of Udaipurfound its way into river Ahar. Theriver runs almost through thecentre of Udaipur. A total of 150million liters per day (MLD) sewagewater drains into Ahar river everyday and foam up to 14 feet highwould rise from the river due todomestic as well as industrialdischarge. The river had becomedead by 2010 with destructiveconsequences due to its ground -water and hydrological connec -tions with Udai Sagar Lake.

In 2009, the micro and macro-organisms present in the waterwere tested to underline the stateof the water system. The BiologicalOxygen Demand (BOD) was veryhigh and Dissolved Oxygen (DO)was very low. This evidenceprovides for the pressing need toconserve both Udai Sagar Lake andthe Ganges from the pollution.Jheel Sanrakshan Samiti, a localNGO in Udaipur headed by formerForeign Secretary Padam BhushanJagat Singh, took the initiative anddecided to restore Ahar. Jheel

Sanrakshan Samiti coordinatedwith government, urban localbodies, community based organi -sations like Maharana MewarCharitable Foundation, Dr MohanSinha Mehta Memorial Trust, andUdaipur Chamber of Commerceand Industry to restore the riverunder Public Private Partnership.

The team decides to followIntegrated Water ResourceManagement (IWRM) andIntegrated Lake Base Management(ILBM) systems using a technologyknown as Green Bridge Technology(GBT). GBT is a decentralisedtreatment system that acts as acatalyst in the natural process ofriver purification. It has proved tobe superior to conventional SewageTreatment Plants as it is based onlogic of nature, without requiringchemicals, machinery, electricityand hazardous waste generation.Other advantages are the limitedpayback period for the investmentand the low maintenance whichdoesn’t require specialised skills.

With the GBT system, the JSSteam tried to reactivate the naturalmechanism which was disableddue to excessive tampering with theecosystem. The locals or the realstakeholders were brought into thediscussion forum from August2009 and in 63 days the eco-technological Green Bridge systemwas developed. The restorationefforts started in January 2010,when the government helped tomake a road to approach theproject site. The local villagerscontributed to the initiative byremoving all the invasive waterhyacinth manually. The polytheneremoved from the river created aheap 7 feet tall. An iron sieve waslaid to trap floating waste, whileloose stone structures of 1 meterheight were made with consortia of

ecofert (coconut fiber), gravel, sand,rubbles, bacterial culture, plantsand shrubs.

In May 2010, river dwellingorganisms started to show up likemoina, nitzschia, oscillatoria andzooplanktons. Fishes, watersnakes and other aquatic liferegenerated from the river andbirds started to come around theriver. The gases trapped in the riverbottom were released and oxygentook their place. The DO level wentup to 8 ppm from 0.

The dead river finally came tolife. Carbon dioxide started comingup instead of methane andhydrogen sulphide gas which couldaggravate the climate changeprocess. The plantations of localterrestrial trees done around Aharriver also helps in carbonsequestration and take the metalsand other excess nutrients fromthe river. Now, there are organismspresent in the river regulating theriver ecosystem; there is no foulodor and the foam that used tocome from tube wells has lowered.

This successful restorationshows how an eco-friendlytechnology could be used totransform a polluted drain into ariver. The GBT can be imitated byother countries or other parts ofIndia who have similar problems ofriver pollution as it has no side-effects and imposes no harm onthe local ecosystem.■

19August 2012 thread

COVER STORY

River RebornEco-friendly technologies that brought back to life ahighly polluted river

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Green Bridges Technology in actionon Ahar river

Green bridge: Stones and consortiaof ecofert

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COVER STORY

Turning Waste into WantCompact, hygienic and eco-friendly toilets that generate compost andfertilizer from human waste

• DENEY CHU • RORY RICHARDSON

Toilets in Kotra, in one of the poorest blocks inRajasthan, are basic: a small hole dug in anearby field and no washing facilities. Open

defecation in the close vicinity of houses is vitiating andposes serious health risks. Then there are the risksfaced daily by villagers, with snake bites and scorpionstings reportedly common occurances.

To help end the scourge of unsafe, unhygenic opendefecation, Seva Mandir, a prominent area NGO, haslaunched initiatives to install eco-sanitation (eco-san) toilets in several households.

Villagers were initially sceptical of having toiletsclose to living areas. Villagers also had to be taught howto use and maintain eco-san toilets; for many, it wasthe first toilet they had used. A challenge was to helpchange behaviour through appropriate communicationtools, including posters. Villagers were also worriedabout the potential smell from having a toilet so closeto home and the cost of eco-san toilets.

An eco-san toilet installed in Patharpadi village (seephoto) is being shared by a family of 11. The toilet hasthree sections each with a specific use. The front trayis used for urine only, which is collected and divertedto a large container outside. The hole in the centre is forfecal matter, while the rear section is to collect thewastewater generated.

Solid and liquid waste is a good source of safefertiliser. Urine collected and stored for a month is agood source of urea, a fertiliser. The anti-bacterialproperties of urine-based fertiliser makes it a naturalpesticide. Although this toilet with 11 users will neverfulfil the nutritional needs of the farm, it will at leastreduce the amount of fertiliser that the family wouldotherwise need to be purchase.

Likewise, solid fecal waste is collected for use asmanure. Each time solid waste enters the chamber, itis covered with a thin layer of ash, which helps absorbany liquid, reduce odour and aerobically decomposethe solid waste. Once the chamber has been filled,charcoal is added, which further helps decomposefeces.

This decomposition process takes about sixmonths, which is why the eco-san toilet has twochambers; the other chamber is used when one is full.Although subsidised by Seva Mandir, these toilets arenot free for the villagers. Cost is clearly a mainconsideration when installing the toilet, given the low

incomes of villagers in Kotra. A basic eco-san toilet costs about Rs 17,500 to

install, of which Rs 5,800 must be paid for by thehousehold. Seva Mandir chips in with a contribution ofRs 5,500 for building materials such as aggregates,bricks and concrete, in addition to specialised labour,such as trained masons. Household members chip inwith unskilled labour to construct the toilets. Fundsare also sourced from the Gram Vikas Kosh (GVK), acontributory community village fund in whichhousehold contributes Rs 300 each year.

The cost of maintaining the eco-san toilet iscovered by the household in which it has beeninstalled, which can be a big cost for families. Also,eco-san toilets cannot be shared between multiplehouseholds, as they would have to share responsibilityto maintain the toilet, a potential source of disputesbetween households.

This has happened in Kotra over anothercommunity asset – the community water well. Whenthe well needed maintenance, no one came forward totake responsibility, and this vital community sourceremained unusable for a while.

Sharing toilets could create additional problemsamong households – unequal use of the toilet,maintainence and even fights over where the toilet is tobe located.

The introduction of eco-san toilets in Kotra hasbeen a moderate success, which could hopefullyspread to other rural villages. Families that install eco-san toilets benefit from cleaner surroundings, turningwaste into want and improve personal hygiene. Afamily who owns an eco-san toilet said that amongstthe villagers, they had gained some popularity byowning this strange device.■

Left - Eco-sanitation toilet shared by family of 11 Right - Inner chamber of an eco-sanitation toilet

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COVER STORY

• STEPHANIE DAVIES • YUKI NORITAKE

Farmers in Kotra routinelyface a dilemma: whether to choose genetically engi -

neered (GM) Bt cotton, a ‘wondercrop’ with high yields and highinput costs and high risks, or tosow the more reliable maize, whichguarantees food but little or noincome. Many have switched to Btcotton from subsistence varieties.

The differences – cost of seed, agrochemicals and labourbetween the two is startling. Btcotton seeds for instance cost 125times the price of corn – the goingrate for Bt cotton in Kotra is Rs4,500 per kg, while maize costs apalry Rs 20, and is locallyavailable.

Likewise, while aBt cotton farmer withone bigha of land(roughly a quarter ofa hectare) needs to spend about Rs 3,850 for agro -chemical inputs suchas DAP fertilizer, ureaand pesticides, afarmer cultivatingmaize on the sameamount of land is likely to spend amere Rs 360 on agrochemicalinputs.

At point of sale, the differenceof the proceeds between the two ismore marked. Maize farmersspend approximately Rs 2,500 to2,600 and earn Rs 5,000 in oneseason, netting a profit of Rs 2,400to 2,500.

By contrast, Bt cotton farmersearn handsomely, by someestimates up to Rs 100,000, whilethey spend about Rs 35,000 inone season (6 months), leaving

them with a profit of Rs 65,000.Simple math shows the Bt cottonfarmer earns about 14 times morethan the traditional subsistencefarmer.

Simple input-output calcula -tions however are misleading. Btcotton tends to be much morelabour-intensive than maizecultivation. Many farmers hirelabour from outside the state. Also,in dry Rajasthan, irrigation foragricultre is overwhelminglydependant on groundwater – up to70 per cent, as compared to theIndia average of 55 per cent. Btcotton farmers pay up to Rs 1,000in electricty charges alone toirrigate their land. These costs areset to rise with the plunginggroundwater table that willincrease energy costs for

pumping groundaterfrom greater

depths. Maize cultivation on theother hand is mainly rain-fed,which is also put at risk if theannual monsoon fails.

Before Nandlal, a farmer inKotra, began cultivating Bt cotton,he grew only maize. Maize alsoensured food at the table for hisfamily. Now, as Bt cotton giveshigher returns, he is able tocultivate some small plots of wheatand lentils at the end of the six-month cotton season, and haveenough left over to purchase avariety of other foodstuffs.

Previously, he, along with hisfamily, was forced to migrateacross the nearby border intoGujarat to work as unskilledlabour, usually for a month or twoat a time. Payment of wages wasnever guaranteed.

There was some chucklingamongst the farmers when theyspoke of working on Bt cottonplantations in Gujarat, andbringing the seeds and knowledgeback with them to Rajasthan. Inmany ways, Bt cotton hasempowered them, saving themfrom having to migrate in search ofunskilled manual labour.

The switch to Bt cotton hasgiven Nandlal and several otherarea farmers more income. Few

however seem to beaware of long-termimplications of Btcotton cultivation.Apart from pote -ntial healthhazards from pro -

longed exposure tocopious amounts ofagrochemicals, farmersare oblivious to how thecrop leeches nutrientsfrom the soil. It was

only after a year’s cultivation ofcotton that they attempted to growmaize on the same land, only for itto fail.

Nandlal is unfazed by thecrop’s high demand for water. Heplans to dig more wells in thesurrounding area, but admits thatin the stifling summer months theexisting wells usually dry up.Somewhat aware of the risks,Nandlal is willing to take theplunge. Cash from cotton trumpssubsistence farming, at least for now. ■

Cultivating ControversyEasy money moves farmers away from subsistence to cash crops such asgenetically modified Bt cotton

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• RADHIKA GOEL

Like any other typical Indianvillage, people in Kotrasurvive on agricultural land

and livestock. But the geographicalsetting of this region aggravatesthe abject condition of people here.

By ensuring 100 days ofemployment ‘on demand’ to everyrural household, the MahatmaGandhi National Rural Emp -loyment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA), 2005, has anambitious ambit – increase ruralwages, reduce distress migration,make tired lands productive, and empower marginalisedcommunities in the bargain. Thescheme accounts for 46 per cent ofthe total budget of the ministry ofrural development.

MGNREGA aims to improverural livelihoods on a sustainedbasis creating durable assets,improving water security, soilconservation and increase overallland productivity. It tends to bemore socially inclusive by involvingwomen, Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes.

However, it also faces seriouschallenges. Newspaper reportschronicle the uneven imple -mentation of the scheme. In 2010,the national daily Indian Expressreported MGNREGA workers werepaid Rs 1 a day in Gudlia villagein Tonk district in Rajasthan.Following such shocking mal -practices, Suchna Evum Rozgar KaAdhikar Abhiyan was launched bysocial activists Aruna Roy andNikhil Dey against this grossviolation of the Minimum WagesAct. With the support of severalRajasthan villages, includingKhaiwara, Kotra and Jhadole inUdaipur district, the activistspressured the government to look into the scheme’s mis -management.

“MGNREGA sites run bygovernment are very unorganised.At government sites, a GramRojgar Sahayak has to monitorand manage a group of 5 to 6villages, which breeds inefficiency,while the structures built by themare unsound and there is no timemanagement so wages earned werearound Rs 60 per day,” said

Himanshu Shekhar of SevaMandir, a prominent Udaipur-based NGO that is regeneratingfive pasture land sites as part of the scheme in Kotra block. Tenother sites are being directlydeveloped by the government.

The Seva Mandir sites inDhingawarikala and Thep villagesare spread over 33 hectares of village commonlands; eachemploys 45 villagers who are paidwages ranging from Rs 100-140daily. Women comprise 66 per centof the workforce.

“We first build boundary walls.As this is rocky land and soil isloosely packed so we build smallwalls and check-dams to hold thewater. Then we dig pits andtrenches to grow grass and plants.After a few months this land turnsgreen and becomes ready aspastureland,” explains SinghaRam, a 48-year-old villagecommittee head and an MGNREGAworker. “We have now dug 5,500pits for growing different plantslike jamun, neem, kanji andshravan which we get from theforest department, using the

Rural ResurgenceA scheme employs unskilled labour to create community assets

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Rural ResurgenceA scheme employs unskilled labour to create community assets

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budget approved by panchayatsamiti (council of villages).Payments are disbursed throughthe post office, and Seva Mandirhelps if we are not paid on time”,he said. Villagers also deposit 10per cent of their wages in a Gram

Vikas Kosh (village developmentfund), which is used to build acommunity assets.

“We usually go to othervillages like Palanpur, Khed -burma, Shivganj, or Sirohi thatare 50-70 km away from our

home, leaving our children andwives behind. Being employed inunorganised sector we have no say– we are often exploited and madeto do dangerous work with nosecurity of life, against which we couldn’t even protest. As workat MGNREGA sites has becomemore organised and pays morethan what we got in Gujarat, weare able to take better care of ourfamilies, animals and fields here,”says Keshav, worker at aMGNREGA site. “Skilled artistsstill migrate to other villages andare paid Rs 250-300 per day, butunskilled labours prefer workingat home under NREGA”.

Laxmi, in-charge of ferryingdrinking water to the workers atthe Thep site, is paid Rs 119 perday. She told us that she used toonly do household work, but nowhas additional income.

Women who used to remain athome or work on their family landnow have additional employment -around 66 per cent of workers atThep site are women. ■

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COVER STORY

The scheme has helped rural women, such as Laxmi in Thep, increase incomes

Once a community-imposed penalty to protectwomen from abuse and violence, mautana, a

customary form of ‘compensation’ prevalent in thetribal Kotra block in Udaipur district in Rajasthan,has transformed into a tool to extract easy money.

Some cases are truly phantasmagorical: A thiefis caught and jailed for three years while attemptingto burgle the home of a villager that was hosting apolice inspector. Upon his release, he demandsmautana from his intended victim. The argument?That he was caught by the police inspector beinghosted by the villager.

In some cases, the entire village is held liable. In2001, two men – one from the groom’s side fromvillage Verakatra and the other from the bride’s sidefrom village Saandhmaria – killed each other in adrunken brawl. It was decided that the host village,in this case the bride’s village, was liable, and hadto pay a whopping Rs. 900,000. When they refusedto pay, their livestock was slaughtered and homesraided. Villagers fled Saandhmaria, and returnedafter a decade, and only when they had earned

enough to pay the mautana.Mautana is mandated, indeed driven by the jati

panchayat, or caste council that is locally morepowerful than the gram sabha (village council) or theofficially elected panchayat.

The jati panchayat’s customary rules of fairplayand liability have dissolved, and today even two orthree people together can appoint themselves as jatipanchayats to decide on the amount and severity ofthe terms under which mautana is to be paid to the‘victim’ in any situation.

The practice is so widespread, and insti -tutionalised, that it has many worried. Of themautana payouts, 10 per cent is reserved for jatipanchayat members, up to 15 per cent finds its wayto the local police. Jati panchayat membersreportedly sit around all day scouting for mautanacases to earn an easy buck. Local police want localsto settle cases by themselves. Sewa Mandir, aprominent NGO active in the region, has intervened,even if gingerly, and was able to negotiate and reachsettlement in few cases without mautana.

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Mautana – Then & NowMeant for protecting women against exploitation, it’s now reduced to a farce

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• WAIMAN TSANG

Rajasthan, the largest stateof India and the driest, ofwhich the Thar Desert

makes up 40% of land area, mainlythrives on forest produce, animalhusbandry and agriculture. Withthe arrival of piped water directlyto homes, people have almostforgotten the traditional art ofwater harvesting. Suffering over 40droughts in the past 60 years hasincreased dependency ongroundwater. As the groundwaterdepletes to a critical level,agricultural workers are forced tomigrate.

Migration is reported as highas 64% in south Rajasthan. As oneof the least developed states wheretribes dominate, low literacy levelsand economic development ratepersists, migration is anestablished coping mechanism forthe rural poor to survive. A wellknown saying in Rajasthan is“pass kare toh zindabad, pass nahitoh Ahmedabad” (if you passexams, its hurray, if you fail youcan always migrate to Ahmedabad– largest city in Gujarat – to work).

The Inter State Workmen Act

passed in 1979 aimed to regulateand register employment of inter-state workers, however a datarequest done by Ajeevika Bureau,an organisation that supportsstruggling migrants, showed thatno one in Rajasthan was registeredas a migrant.

Why migrate?It is common practice foragriculture workers to migrateseasonally during lean periods(April–June and January–March),moving to urban areas either inter-or intra-state in search of labourwork.

Kotra, is notorious for being adangerous area. In an interviewwith Himanshu Sekhar (member ofthe Natural Resources Deve -lopment team at Seva Mandir), hehighlighted that better jobopportunities and wages as well astribal conflicts and the Mautanasystem contribute to migration.(See story on page 23)

Child labour migration is alsoon the increase; main reasonsbeing poverty, lack of agriculturefacilities and uninteresting schoolatmosphere with arduous exams.According to a Seva Mandir study,

over 11 million children under theage of 14 are working in India.

Problems faced by migrantsProspects faced by migrantslooking for work are grim withconstant competition for unskilledlabour. When there is no immediatework, migrants often live in openfields or near rail tracks and waitfor job opportunities. With little tono education the main jobs open tothem are usually in agriculture,mining, construction, brick kilns oras loaders and porters – all withassociated health risks. As thephysical labour takes its toll,migrants involuntarily retire at anearly age.

Seen as outsiders, migrantsare taken advantage of byemployers who pay less thanpromised or late wages. Unlike thelocals, migrants are usually paidfor the actual work done, therebyworking harder and much longer.

Once they cross state bordersmigrants and their families losemany entitlements. For Rajasthan,migration is male dominated andthe family left behind faces social,cultural and economic problems.In a 2006 study by Ajeevika,women reported loneliness andlack of emotional and psycho -logical support. Women also facedincreasing household and farmwork, taking care of the childrenand face difficulties in securingloans, which in turn cause childmorbidity as families lack funds todeal with emer gencies, such as

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COVER STORY

The Invisible WorkforceMany of us walk or drive pass them every

day, but the general population are blind to the mass migrants sleeping on the rails tracks

and roadside. This ‘invisible workforce’ contributes to10% of India’s GDP, yet they are poorly treated and theirwelfare ignored. Why is there such an influx of migrant

workers and what is being done to support them?

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illnesses.Identity loss is another issue

for children that choose to work, or are brought along duringmigration. ID cards are not issued to those under 18 andconsequently face more scrutinyand penalisation. During theMumbai terrorist attacks in 2009,countless innocent migrants weredetained – without ID cards andnot registered as workers, they justcouldn’t prove what they weredoing there.

What is being done?In 2001, 30% of India’s populationwere internal migrants – 37%increase from 1991 figures.Internal migration in India is nowrecognised as part of the socialeconomic reality which has longbeen practised in different formsby different classes, but little hasbeen done by the government toimprove their livelihoods.

The Indian government is stillstruggling to provide adequatesocial protection schemes to itscitizens, least of all to the‘undesirable’ migrant population.The Building and OtherConstruction Act 1996 was passedto help one of the most vulnerablesegments of the unorganised

sector to improve workingconditions and general welfare.However, a recent article by theIndian Express reported thatGujarat spent only 0.21% of thefunds collected and is laggingbehind other states in registeringworkers.

In light of all these distressfactors forcing involuntarymigration, the National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act, 2005(NREGA) was passed with the aimto arrest the out-migration. It

guarantees 100 days of paidemployment each year for ruralhouseholds, which has bothpositives and negatives. (See storyon page 22)

An evaluation of the scheme in2009 found that in almost allregions migration still took place toa large extent. There were alsoissues in its implementation suchas late payment of wages, workwas not allocated within the 15days stipulated timeframe nor paid unemployment allowance. A significant proportion alsoexpressed that the “the GramPanchayat did not take anymeasures to create sustainableassets to generate wageemployment within the village”.

To what endWhilst India has focused on itssocial and economic development,pouring money and resources for investment into cities, ruralregions where 80% of thepopulation resides has beenneglected. Distress migration has accelerated the rate ofurbanisation, along with the jumpin squatters and slums.

Potential for improving landand livestock-based economicactivities in rural areas such asRajasthan remains limited. Whenagricultural activity is only possiblefor half the year, the logical optionwould be development of the ruralinfrastructure to promote economicprospects.

Whilst organisations such asAjeevika advocate an easier andbetter migration journey viavarious initiatives, the root ofeconomic under-development ofpoor areas needs to be addressed.Policies and regulations startedwith good intention need betterplanning and management, as wellas proper implementation andenforcement. At a time when Indiais seen as the next superpower, thegovernment should begin seriouslyattacking the issues of poverty ofvillages and create sustainableemployment.■

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COVER STORY

Migrants on the streets of Delhi

Figures in thousands, Source: Ajeevika Bureau

Major migration routesin India, 1991-2001

More than 300200 – 300100 – 200

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26 thread August 2012

PUZZLES

crosswordacross1 Reserve of crop varieties (4, 4)5 local elected governance system

(9)10 International climate change

agreement adopted in 1997 (5)11 Replenishing ground water in

the context of RWH (10)

down2 Environmentally sustainable poo

treatment and disposal (3-10)3 Catchment area of rivers and

lakes (9)4 Genetically modified cash crop

grown throughout India (2, 6)6 ____water: term used to describe

water carrying urine (6)7 Activity with highest water usage

in the countryside (10)8 ____water: Term used to describe

water carrying solid waste (5)9 Marble waste product being

dumped by processors inUdaipur (6)

Solutions:Problem:1. 295.65 m32. 812 m2, 3. Roof = 406 m2, lawn = 325 m2, paved = 8 m2, 4. 284118 litres, 5. They are 589 m2over the limit.Anagrams: Inequality, Incinerator, climate change, sustainable development, challenge of the balanceCrosswordAcross: 1 Seed bank, 5 Panchayat, 10 Kyoto, 11 Recharging Down: 2 Eco-sanitation, 3 Watershed, 4 Bt Cotton, 6 Yellow, 7 Irrigation, 8 Black, 9 Slurry

problemA family of six live in a house in New Delhi.Each member of the family requires at least 135 L of water perday.The house is not connected to the mains water supply so thefamily rely on rain water harvesting.The whole year’s supply is stored in the tank

1. What is the required capacity of this tank in m3?

The average annual rainfall in New Delhi is 714 ml. 50% ofthe catchment area is rooftop which absorbs 20% of wateron it, 40% is grass which absorbs 80% and the remaining10% is paved which absorbs 30%,

2. What is the required total area of the property to providesufficient water to the family ?

3. What are the areas of each respective catchment area in theproperty?

4. How much rainfall is absorbed and therefore not collectedin the tank?

In New Delhi properties over 223 m2 must harvest rainwater,

5. Are this family legally obliged to do so?

anagrams

quiet inlay (10)

nicer ration (11)

each camel ting (7,6)

a bad elements vile unstop (11,11)

a faecal belch length one (9,2,3,7)

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Says Who / Say What

“The unfortunate effect of globalisation is that you surrender your

identity and adopt an identity that is one. It kills diversity.”

— Richard Mahapatra, Senior Editor, Down To Earth

“We imagine forests to be without governments. There are hardly any

forest areas in the world without governments.”

— Shankar Gopalakrishnan,Secretary, Campaign for Survival and Dignity

“Somehow the word variability falls out of use in climate change debates.

It’s climate variability that affects people’s food security.”

— Rajeswari Raina, National Institute of Science & Technology

“Obama came, Obama saw, Obama ****ed off.”

— Pratap Pandey, journalist and writer

“If you start to discuss the methodology of how the poverty line came

about, you’ll be talking for 3 or 4 days.”

— Dr Sidhartha Agarwal, Executive Director, Urban Health Resource Centre

27August 2012 thread

QUOTES

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