Marathwada (India) - In Search of Development

Season at Stake.

2010-05-09T20:45:00.003+05:30

Wonderful video on the plight of small farmers in Maharashtra. By Vikrant Bachhav, Abhivyakti.

Too much money. Too much poverty.

2010-04-01T09:45:00.003+05:30

Just change in ways of consumption by the world's privileged few will do a lot more good to the many who are not so privileged than all the aid money or government support. Everyone makes a choice at almost every moment of life. Whether it is bath with hot or cold water, wheat bread or millet for breakfast, plastic bottles or glass bottles, coke or lemonade or coconut water, travel by car or bike or public transport, pay for a movie or donate for a granny, eat in a luxury hotel or at a roadside stall, ....etc. What if every choice is made with the less privileged in mind. The world will surely be a better place.

World Water Day - How many people know that, in 2002:

2010-03-25T09:44:00.000+05:30

■ 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved water sources (tap water in the house or yard from public distribution systems, protected wells and springs, public stand posts,
rain water collection), which represented 17% of the global population.
■ 2.6 billion (42% of the world population) lacked access to basic sanitation.
■ Of the 1.1 billion without access to improved water sources, nearly two thirds live in Asia.
■ 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera); 90% are children under 5, mostly in developing countries.
■ 80% of the population without access to drinking-water were rural dwellers, but future population growth will be mainly urban.

World Water Day - March 22nd 2010

2010-03-22T15:07:00.001+05:30

By 2030, one third of the global population, mainly concentrated in developing countries, will have only half the amount of naturally renewed water available they need.

If this trend is expected as the general scenario in developing countries, it will be even worse in Marathwada :-( It is time for consumers to change their lifestyle. For instance, by consuming the foods that require less water for cultivation and processing. Example - millets.

While the world is rightly moving to address the challenges presented by climate change and depleting supplies of fossil fuels, the same awareness and consensus does not exist when it comes to addressing our usage of water. ... Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8577326.stm

The World of Small Farmers.

2010-02-10T14:45:00.000+05:30

450 million small-scale farms worldwide
(IFAD, 2008 -- defined as farms of two hectares or less of land)
Support a population of roughly 2.2 billion people (Singh, 2009)
Represent roughly 85 percent of the world’s farms
¾ of world’s poor are rural (smallholders, wage labour)

Excerpts from the presentation of Bill Vorley, IIED

2010-01-24T18:15:00.000+05:30

Her name is Dhanabai. The name literally means a woman of wealth. Perhaps, the wealth she has cannot be measured by money. She certainly has some unseen wealth and she has the smiles to show that she is indeed happy with the wealth. She stands outside her hut having just gathered the wheat grains that she had kept out for drying in the sun. Most of the grains are insect infested and rotten but she may be able to find some of the grains suitable enough to eat for the week.

Cattle market in Solapur

2010-01-24T17:54:00.000+05:30

A busy cattle market in Solapur district of south Maharashtra in central India. Hope these indigenous cattle remain.

Copenhagen - everything but the small farmer.

2010-01-01T23:06:00.000+05:30

Quote from a friend's email about happenings in Copenhagen -

Two weeks ago, huddled in a warm room of a community complex as temperatures hovered around -3 degrees Celsius in the freezing Copenhagen, were a group of animated people from Africa, Asia and Latin America with a sprinkling of Europeans. Everyone was discussing what should be the text of a defiant draft to be sent to the negotiators inside the Bella Centre, the official conference venue where the big and the powerful of the world had congregated for the Climate Summit. Suddenly one of the indigenous persons from India burst out with a long statement. I was stunned into inaction for a while. But as I regained my composure, I started fighting back my tears and started clapping. The entire room burst into applause even though it had not understood what she had said in her native Madhya Pradeshi Hindi. I realized that I had to translate this and started doing so in a choked voice: Tell them that WE are making no demands. No demands at all. If THEY want to retrieve life on this plant, let THEM make a demand on us. Because only we have the Power to Help Life Survive On This Earth. This is what she had said.

Native bulls matter in India.

2009-12-20T18:02:00.002+05:30

Bulls hoeing the farm

Bulls decorated for Pola festival

Pooja at the Pola festival

Bulls at the race

Life in an Indian village will be boring to say the least if not for the native bulls. Bulls are traditionally used for manure, farm cultivation, and bull races. They play a significant part in festivals too.

Small organic farms Vs Large industrial farms.

2009-11-17T09:25:00.000+05:30

Industrial type agriculture concentrates on one target crop for ease of operation using heavy machinery in land preparation and harvesting. The present form of agriculture based on energy-intensive inputs is no longer deemed viable. This could be seen from the evidence of massive agricultural subsidies given to farmers not only in the developing countries but more so in the developed countries. The solution to the agricultural sector is to combine production, consumption and disposal of waste into smaller units based on multiple crops so that large scale processing and transport is avoided. Further, this will cut down the off-farm energy requirements and labour-intensive small farms will hugely contribute to poverty reduction. This will create opportunities to supplement soil fertility by integrating waste and by-product management into farming activity. Since organic systems receive no chemical inputs for fertility, weed or pest control, the yields would be lower in the organic systems during the first few years. However, in subsequent years, organic systems will actually outperform conventional systems. Small farms are no less technically efficient than large farms and increasing their productivity will have a major impact on production. Read more at Low Carbon Industry and Agriculture - Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka.

"Poor Story" has some relevance to farmers in Marathwada too.

2009-10-28T14:50:00.000+05:30

Quote from "Poor Story" by Giles Bolton -

Are you European? You're paying to subsidise every cow in the European Union at Euro 2.50 a day (while 300 million Africans live on less than Euro 1 a day). Are you American? In 2005 you spent US$ 4.2 billion subsidising the US cotton industry, which may be more money than the entire value of the cotton it produced (while 10 million African cotton farmers would have seen fewer of their children die from preventable diseases if your taxes hadn't been spent on a few thousand farms in the Midwest). Are you Japanese? You recently spent more than 1 percent of your annual income - at least 600 US$ per household - on rice through a combination of high prices and farmer support (while farmers in countries like Ghana couldn't even sell their produce in local markets, let alone abroad, because of subsidised exports from rich 'competitors'). Something is wrong here.

Findings of the Organic Bazaar Impact in Aurangabad

2009-10-22T09:06:00.000+05:30

A Japanese team from Kobe University, Japan, independently evaluated the Organic Bazaar in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. The survey was done over a period of 3 months. The team consisted of two senior professors and one senior researcher. This expert team conducted an independent, unbiased, and detailed assessment. Now, here are the findings that I am excited to share with you -

Findings –
i) For the grain, farmers get 53% higher price in the organic bazaar and the organic link than to conventional markets.

ii) For the leafy vegetables farmers get 118% and the other vegetables 87% higher market price than conventional market .

... and 40% of farmers own less that 2.5 acres of land (considered really small)

Model Appropriate Houses for Small Farmers.

2009-10-12T08:54:00.000+05:30

Towards building a model low-cost house in 100,000 INR (US$2300). Two rooms + Kitchen + Toilet/bath, appropriate for the hot weather in central India. Many say it is impossible but some say "Yes, we can." Any comments/ suggestions welcome. Visit Housing Programme in Marathwada

Endosulfan - a Deadly Chemical

2009-10-08T06:14:00.001+05:30

Environmental Justice Foundation EJF: Endosulfan - a Deadly Chemical

Shared via AddThis

Water, how it matters, in Marathwada

2009-10-06T16:24:00.000+05:30

In the afternoon heat, women and children are running towards the only source of water located outside sarpanch Achyut Gangane's house. Mr. Gangane has sunk a borewell behind his house which caters to the entire village with a population of 1500. Hindu, Chennai Edition, Oct 5, 2009. Read more...

Drought forced the distress sale of cattle in Maharashtra

2009-10-02T22:06:00.001+05:30

Are the current rains sufficient to buy new cattle?

A day with a farmer in Marathwada

2009-09-29T10:46:00.000+05:30

Medical drugs only by prescription but...

2009-09-27T19:54:00.000+05:30

There is no prescription required if one has to buy the most potent of poisons for greatest disasters to life, health, and environment.

Maybe not really worth the queuing.

2009-09-27T19:47:00.000+05:30

Kudos to the "green revolution" for the fertilizer queues. It certainly did not exist before. This dependency benefits few but surely an inconvenience for many to say the least. The beginning of the debt cycle for the poor farmer.

And yet, the foods are sold and consumed freely.

2009-09-27T19:36:00.000+05:30

It is common sense. If the pesticides could kill pests, it has to harm the human beings at least to a certain degree. More so, for children.

I wish all mothers and fathers insist on organic foods at home, schools, and markets.

Story of one among many small farmers who commit suicide

2009-09-27T19:19:00.000+05:30

There surely is a way out but there needs to be a will from all stakeholders that include you and me - farmers, consumers, government, private sector players, and other development organizations.

Amazing hospitality

2009-09-23T13:36:00.001+05:30

She is truly great. All her material possessions put together may not be worth more than 1500 INR (US$ 40) but she has a great heart and remains an inspiration for me. I visited her place unannounced. Yet, she prepared tea for me with borrowed sugar and would have prepared lunch if I had stayed a bit longer.

From the horse's mouth - food security measures for the poor.

2009-08-10T09:00:00.000+05:30

"The study finds that about 58 per cent of the subsidized food grains issued from the Central Pool do not reach the BPL families because of identification errors, non-transparent operation and unethical practices in the implementation of TPDS. The cost of handling of food grains by public agencies is also very high. According to the
study, for one rupee worth of income transfer to the poor, the Gol spends Rs.3.65, indicating that one rupee of budgetary consumer subsidy is worth only 27 paise to the poor. The results obtained deserve careful consideration. The study has also suggested some measures for improvement, which would help in finding better ways of ensuring food security for the poor." - Performance Evaluation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), Planning Commission, Government of India.

The system surely needs improvement or an alternative.

Great saying

2009-08-10T08:51:00.001+05:30

"There is enough for everybody's need, but not for everybody's greed."
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Food or substance or product or ....

2009-07-29T11:44:00.000+05:30

I hope I do not ever have to begin a story like, "Once upon a time, food was cultivated and not engineered." Reading about genetic modification technologies and nanotechnologies makes me fear that my hopes may be belied. Just read - Nanotechnology - Are we risking too much?

Pleated Trousers and Worn out Trousers

2009-07-09T05:55:00.000+05:30

Some in worn out trousers and bare feet,
some in pleated trousers and dress shoes,
all having a body and soul within,
with same needs, desires, and passions,
the pleated trousers and dress shoes gets it all,
the worn out trousers and bare feet get none,
it may be time for some to think or rethink,
the pleated trousers and dress shoes may not be,
if not for the worn out trousers and bare feet,
is the world fair enough?

- rambling thoughts as I watch worn out trousers and bare feet at work.

Savitribai knows the basics!

2009-01-14T08:45:00.000+05:30

Yes, and it takes a lot of beating to realize this!!

During the last year, we have seen the stock market index fall from 21000 to below 9000. Lately, the Satyam episode has opened the nation's eyes to corporate greed and insecurity that comes with it. Conversations in the airports have changed over time. I remember the times I have heard in Mumbai airport of few crores (1 crore = 10 million) of Ruppees being referred as small money. Now, people speak of money in hushed tones. It is not only the wealthy who have lost considerable wealth. The workers in Tirupur textile mills, waiters in the 5-star hotels, airline stewardesses, and Jaleel our fish supplier have been affected by the financial woes of our nation. Savitribai is undeterred. Her savings are mostly in seeds and compost.

When I was a young child studying in South India, the past time after school hours was to catch guppies in the rice fields and play with the butterflies. As I grew up to be a teenager, it was bicycles that enthralled me. This was followed by motorbikes and later by cars and gadgets. It seems as if education and so-called "sophistication" takes us far from nature. The further away from nature, the closer we are to the "sophisticated" crowd is what one feels. Such "sophistication" is highly contagious and has spread from the west to the east and now covers most parts of the world taking more people away from nature. Years of neglect and exploitation of nature and farms have led "experts" to agree that our planet may not be able to sustain future generations. They wonder what went wrong. They better ask Savitribai!!!

The other day when I met Savitribai with her friends, I asked her what she feels about terrorism and conflicts that happened in Mumbai and happening around the world. I expected her to say about strict measures to contain terrorism by force. However, what she told me was very different from what our Home Ministry was offering as a solution. Love begins in the family and then spreads. It doesn't matter what the beliefs of others are or what culture they belong to. Our duty is to treat everyone with love and respect. We cannot do anything by bringing in new laws to combat terrorism. Any law is based on our age old scriptures and it is important that people live by those scriptures. Then, laws may not be necessary. There hasn't ever been any communal tension in Savitribai's village.

Today, January 14, is Pongal in South India and Sri Lanka, Makar Sankranti in central India, and Lohri in North India. It is a celebration of harvest. This is the day when the sun, fire, earth, water, and the powers of nature are acknowledged. Let us on this day think about the basics for human well-being.

Politics of Aid and Poverty

2008-07-12T22:20:00.000+05:30

When I was a kid, I was told a story. It went on like this. There was once a man who lost a precious coin and he was searching for it in the garden on a bright sunny day. His friend came along and enquired about his frantic search. He told about the lost coin and said that it had fallen and got lost in one of the dark corners of his house. His puzzled friend asked him about his search for the coin in the garden while it is sure that the coin had fallen inside the house. The man's immediate response is that the house is dark and therefore difficult to search while it is bright outside and easier to see. Sounds whimsical but isn't this somewhat true of development activists around the world. Real poverty and needs are hidden somewhere but it is easier to work elsewhere as they are seen, glorified, and perhaps better rewarded!!

The Many Colours of Water

2008-07-06T23:40:00.000+05:30

There is a spotlessly clean room with white floors, glossy walls, and pictures on the walls. In the centre of this room is a pure white tub filled with crystal clear water and the tap still open. A lady draped in a white towel enters and spreads rose petals on the water and adds a “solution” that makes bubbles in the water. For Savitribai, the advertisement that appeared on the colour TV of her neighbour happens in the fantasy world of bollywood. It does not matter if the white floors are of marble, the glossy walls have granite tiles, and the solution is actually bath foam – these are only in the land of “Gods” and “Godesses” and merely fill the blanks in Savitribai’s dreams.

Now, here is the picture of reality.

It is early July and no sign of rains whereas it should have started in early June. Savitribai sits in waiting beside the only hand pump in the village that caters to about 400 households. After 30 minutes of waiting, the hand pump can fill two pots of water - enough for drinking and cooking for a single household. Savitribai’s pots are not the only ones in waiting. She is in the queue and has to wait at least an hour and a half to get to her turn of filling her two pots. Hard to believe but true that she spends four hours each day just to fetch drinking water for the family. Sometimes, she would have to get up at midnight to be in the queue. One may think that after such hardship, it would be clean drinkable water. I wish that this was at least true. However, many a times the water is yellow in colour and sometimes brown. Savitribai does not dream about running water in her house. All that Savitribai wishes is that the hand pump has enough water till the rain arrives. I wish too.

It was quite a touching scene when I took this picture. Since then, I have second thoughts every time I open a tap for water.

Carbon Footprint and Savitribai with a Navvari Sari

2008-06-04T16:49:00.000+05:30

Savitribai - a sari is only as familiar to this woman as an iPod to an average viewer of this Website. It goes to say that those who know iPods may not know what a sari is. Now, a navvari sari is a sari of nine yards worn in central India and Savitribai wears one like this. Now, what has this to do with carbon footprint? Exactly.

The theme for the World Environment Day (June 5) is "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy". I will not attempt to explain this to Savitribai whom I will meet tomorrow. She owns a 2 acre farm in a very dry area where she grows mainly millets and lentils with no chemicals as pesticides or fertilizers. Her idea of air conditioning at home is to spray water mixed with cow dung around the thatched house and spread crop residues on the roof while the doors and windows are kept open. Warm water for a bath means a bucket of water to be left in the sunlight. Now, I would be damn stupid if I were to tell her about low carbon lifestyles and eco-friendly consumption. So, what do I tell her? I am baffled.

Like Savitribai, there are many women (and men) who toil in dry lands to conserve what is left for them more due to the havoc by mankind than by the vagaries of nature. Terms like “carbon footprint” may be alien to them but they are convinced of what they are doing for a better tomorrow. They know that a neem tree is nature’s drug store, cows are sacred, tulsi (holy basil) has lot more values beyond culinary purposes, and so on for every plant and animal that surrounds them. This is why they protect and preserve them. Tomorrow, at least 200 farmers will gather at each of the six Community Learning Centres (CLCs) – a centre for learning and sharing that caters to between 6-8 villages in close proximity - in Aurangabad district. All of them will discuss on local actions to conserve the environment for the future generation. As is usual during such gatherings, the youth and women with all their vigour will enact plays and sing songs that praise nature’s blessings and urge the farmers to take care of the nature. After the meeting, they will "walk the talk" by planting some saplings in the village as a token of more actions to follow.

I know I don't stand any ground to preach to these farmers. However, I will do my best in appreciating their efforts and encourage them. Jai Kisan (long live, farmers).

A Rush or a Silent March....

2007-07-22T16:12:00.000+05:30

India rising, they say
In the countryside, they pay
Soil, land, and seeds die
While some at the helm lie.

It is not a gold rush for many
Rather a silent march of masses
Who will win with time
Let not the time be too late.

Alas, if wishes were true
Silent march will turn to a rush
And those at the helm will baffle
Who knows and who knows not!!

The other side of Marathwada.....

2007-07-19T22:27:00.000+05:30

Marathwada ranks among the least developed regions of India with very low Human Development Index (HDI). Yet, the contrasts are evident...

The other day I went to a pet shop and was a little taken aback to know about the rich in a small city like Aurangabad. There are people in the city who spend 500 Rs (12.50 US$) a day or 15000 Rs (375 US$) per month on pet foods imported from far countries. It is an irony that this happens in one of the poorest regions of India where the annual per capita income is less than 16000 Rs (400 US$).

Yet another day, I met a travel agent who told me that about 60 people travel every month on organized 20-day tours to Europe from Aurangabad city!!! This is only the statistics from one such travel agent! Most of them opt for star hotels and all of them spend at least 250,000 Rs (6000 US$) on the tour.

Yes, I see hope but I count on you....

2007-05-02T23:09:00.000+05:30

Yes, she sees hope for the future but counts on you for what you leave behind for her.