Struggles such as these deserve wider attention also because of the highly inspirational leaders who led some of these struggles but whose stories have not been adequately told. Apart from Govind Guru from Rajasthan, one of the most inspiring and courageous such leaders was Sridev Suman. A follower of Mahatma Gandhi, in normal times Suman attracted many people with his pleasing personality and soft manners. He was also a poet and a writer. However, when cruel repression was unleashed, he revealed the amazing strength of his commitments by refusing to compromise despite facing brutal torture and sacrificing his life in jail at a very young age (29 years).

Suman attained martyrdom in the very courageous struggles against exploitation and for freedom in the distant Himalayan kingdom of Tehri. There are several other highly courageous chapters of the freedom struggle of Tehri.

Soon after independence, Sunderlal Bahuguna had edited a small book on these various struggles of Tehri, which was published by Satya Prasad Raturi who as a teacher had played a role in mobilizing students during the freedom movement days. Most people know Sunderlal mainly for chipko and environment activism, but he was also a freedom fighter and follower (perhaps it is better to say worshipper) of Suman. After independence he was in a leadership role and with his strong inclination for writing about movements and struggles, planned this book titled Baagi Tehri (Rebel Tehri) on the struggles of the freedom movement in Tehri (including various struggles against exploitation). The essays and memoirs included in this book can be trusted for their authenticity as these were written soon after the events by those who were leading participants in these struggles or who were well informed on these issues.

This book was first published in 1948 but had not been available in recent years. After the passing away of Sunderlal Bahuguna, his daughter Madhu Pathak started searching for this book and finally found this with the help of two members of the family of the original publisher—Urmila and Prerna. Encouraged by her mother Vimla, Madhu started making efforts for the re-publication of this book with some additions. Thus in its new form, this book has been published by a leading publisher of Dehradun Samaya Sakshaya very recently in 2026 under the same title but by adding significant portions from the diary of Sunderlal Bahuguna written during those times. This has added further to the value of this book, as Sunderlal was a direct participant in some of the events of these struggles. For those interested in his early life also, these pages of his diary will be useful and interesting. Not many people know that following his participation in early struggles of Tehri and an early jail sentence at a very young age, to escape a second imprisonment he escaped to Lahore where he tried to study further by concealing his real identity. However, the police caught up with him and he had to flee again, finding safety in a village for some time. Some of these episodes I have also related in my biographies of Vimla and Sunderlal Bahuguna.

This book tells us about several important struggles such as Saklana’s struggle against exploitation and the farmers’ movement of Dang Chaura. These reports have tales of the greatest courage in very difficult and adverse circumstances. These should be more widely known and this book in its new form makes an important contribution to taking these stories to many more readers including young readers of a new generation.

The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Man over Machine, A Day in 2071 and Guardians of the Himalayas—Vimla and Sunderlal Bahuguna.

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The post Hidden Histories: A rare memory of the struggle for freedom in a Himalayan kingdom appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A teacher in a small village may not be exactly in a world-changing position, but who knows that the ideas given by her to her students may one day inspire one of them to contribute something great to peace or justice or protection of environment. So, no matter how small the contributions we can make to create a world based on peace, justice and protection of environment, we must continue to make our best efforts even in the middle of disappointments and obstructions.

There is a famous Hindi song sung by Manna Dey on the theme of the lamp and the storm—nirbal se larai balwan ki, ye kahani hai diye ki or toofan ki (translated as ‘the struggle of the weak against the strong, this is the story of the earthen lamp and the storm). In this song a lonely lamp struggles to keep lighting a dark night as a raging storm attacks to extinguish it, ultimately prevailing.

There are at least two specific ways in which, despite all the disturbing realities and difficulties, hope can still increase for a safer and more just world.

Firstly, in our daily life in immediate surroundings, if more and more people can start making efforts for increasing justice and peace and advancing the cause of protection of the environment, then millions of such small efforts can make a big difference. These can be very small efforts for ensuring that the poorest get justice in everyday life, that domestic violence in neighbouring areas is reduced, that bullying in the local school must stop, that any harassment of girls and women on the streets is opposed, that the proposed felling of trees near our locality can be stopped and instead more trees can be planted if possible.

In a hundred small ways the cause of peace, justice, protection of environment and all forms of life can be advanced in daily life, not the least by making lifestyle changes. However, an even bigger achievement is possible if these efforts are accompanied by educational, campaign and mobilisation efforts to advance the objectives of peace, justice and protection of environment in a wider context. If advancing these precepts in our own life and in the life just around us brings us happiness and satisfaction and helps to improve things, why should not these precepts to taken to wider levels? Why cannot governance of countries, regions and the world be based on these precepts?

Once more and more people start thinking along these lines, the task of most essential changes and reforms in the world is being advanced. Essential to this process is the very creative and involving work of re-imagining the world to be created on the precepts of justice, environment protection and peace. This must be the most exciting challenge, the most involving task ever taken up.

Such highly creative and useful work creates great hope, but this by itself would not be adequate, keeping in view the fact that the world-level threats to peace and environment protection have already acquired the dimensions of disrupting life-nurturing conditions. Therefore, while the efforts of people and their social and ecological movements are very important, it is also very important that persons who have held very senior positions and/or are recognised and respected for their expertise and learning in areas of crucial importance to world should come forward in a bigger or more effective way, on their own or by forming small or big groups, to clearly warn against the ‘business-as-usual’ ways and present various alternative paths for creating a world based on justice, peace and  environment protection and for saving the basic life- nurturing conditions of earth.

These two initiatives, at the grassroots involving most people and at the top level some of the most accomplished persons, should be supportive of each other in various ways and their combined strength and actions can succeed in giving much-needed hope to our deeply troubled and threatened world.

Everyday millions of people –placed in very difficult conditions –take courageous actions to protect themselves and their near and dear ones, sending a clear message that humanity is capable of a much better and protective role, and the potential for channelizing this energy and capability for creating a better and safer world for the people living today and for the generations to come needs to be taken up in much better ways to create hope.

As I am writing this, it is around 5 am in a city of Punjab (India) known for its high levels of pollution, I look out of a high-rise window to see that all nearby areas including a highway are engulfed in fog overlaid with pollution particles. Even the bright lights on the highway are not visible at all. The situation today appears to be much worse than a normal foggy morning. Yet soon enough sun will arise and will seek to bring light and cheer to people. Soon after, we will gather to welcome the New Year, 2026. And so, life will go on. However, it is best to realise that in coming years life will not be the same as before as the basic life-nurturing conditions are being threatened. If more and more of us can be united in checking these threats within a framework of peace, justice, equality, inter-faith harmony and democracy, then we can create a lot of hope. Let’s light a lamp with this hope.

(The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include A Day in 2071, Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders, Man over Machine and When the Two Streams Met.)

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The post Light a lamp of hope in 2026 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Another factor is that his struggles and the demands he raised were very innovative. When demands were raised in a way that at a practical level it was relatively less burdensome and hence more likely for the governments and various authorities to accept them then the   chances of struggles becoming successful increased considerably. His innovativeness was also seen in the low-cost community kitchen which served healthy food to workers.

Beyond this, Baba Adhav will always be remembered with great respect because of his very deep commitment at a wider level to creating a society based on equality, justice and dignity to all sections of society with special emphasis on those sections who have suffered injustice and inequality at historic level. He could be very firm ideologically on these and related issues, not making any compromises.

Yet at a personal level, he could be very gentle and friendly, as I realised when I went to interview him and write about his work, spending some days in Pune, resulting in the publication of two booklets and several articles. He was also committed deeply to his family, led by his wife Sheetaltai, a trained nurse who, on a lighter note, once listed him as ‘non-earning husband’.

In fact, for some years Baba Adhav continued his practice as an ayurvedic doctor (indigenous medical system) but then gave it up to devote himself to the cause of workers. It was perhaps his base in indigenous medical system that enabled him to keep continuing to contribute in important ways to causes of justice even in his ninety plus years, and he could go on prolonged fasts even at this stage to press for various issues dear to him.

Unorganised workers form the bulk of India’s workforce, yet the majority of these workers face several serious problems including difficulties in accessing social security. Neglected by both the government and the bigger, more established, trade unions, many of these workers suffer from exploitation, health hazards and highly insecure working and living conditions. This dismal and dark situation is lighted only here and there by a few encouraging initiatives in various parts of India to mobilise these workers.

Some of the brightest and most sustained of these efforts which brought genuine relief and bigger hope to workers were led and inspired by Dr. Baba Adhav. His efforts to organise head-loaders (hamals) started way back in 1952 when he was only 22. It has been a tremendous achievement to sustain such an effort for almost 70 years, linking it time and again with wider national efforts so that the experience gained and models developed in his main work area in and Pune (Maharashtra) can reach a much wider number of workers.

Baba Adhav received The Times of India’s first Social Impact Award for Lifetime Contribution in 2011. As the newspaper reported, he got this award for “decades of selfless work to secure labour rights and social security for lakhs of people in the unorganised sector.” Earlier the ‘Week’ magazine, which named Baba Adhav the ‘man of the year’ in 2007, called him, tongue-in-check, ‘Coolie No. 1’ for all his labours to help head-loaders get their rights and dignity.

If such awards have come quite late in the life of Baba Adhav, jail terms came too early. In fact, Baba Adhav served as many as 53 jail terms in his six to seven decades of struggles, the last one being in 2008. To sustain all this work and to keep expanding it for over 70 years in the middle of all these jail terms and other harassments was a monumental achievement, which becomes all the more inspiring when it is kept in mind that Baba Adhav neither sought nor received funds from the government or from foreign donors for his numerous activities.

Unlike several other initiatives for workers, this one has been marked less by rhetoric and more by innovative efforts. It was difficult to get enough funds for providing social security to head-loaders, so Baba Adhav and his colleagues thought up the idea of a levy on all payments made to head-loaders which could be used to provide provident fund, gratuity, bonus, insurance and other benefits to workers who lift heavy loads.

While organising head-loaders, who would have thought that women who clean the grain also need to be protected and organised? But this effort included them too and held talks with merchants to improve their conditions.

Who would have thought that the few scattered people who collect used lubricating oil for re-refining can also be organised and protected from needless harassment? But this effort tried to include even such completely marginalised and neglected groups of workers. As a result of the dedicated, continuing and sustained efforts of Baba Adhav and his associates, many such small and big unions (called panchayats) embracing the marginalised and unorganised workers have been organised in Pune. Some of the unions also reach other towns and villages of Pune district, while some other unions – like head-loaders – reach some of the most remote districts of Maharashtra as well (or more specifically the agricultural produce marketing committees of these districts).

These unions have brought improvements in working, living and social conditions of workers. This is most visible in the case of older unions like those of head-loaders or hamals (head-loaders). Earnings have increased, over 400 houses have been built and others are on way. A school provides good quality, free education to children of hamals and other workers. An information technology instruction unit is being started for senior students. Hamals now get provident fund, gratuity and health insurance benefits, and now demand for pension is also picking up. Their union has made substantially successful efforts to implement an ILO resolution which limits the weight to be lifted by a head-loader to a maximum of 50 kgs. This has helped to reduce health hazards for workers, although other hazards continue for more specific loads like those of chillies and cement. As a result of many-sided improvements, children of hamals are now able to access college education and some of them are getting engineering education.

Even in the case of unions formed much later such as those of rag-pickers, already substantial gains have been achieved. Rag pickers have been protected from police harassment and exploitation by scrap traders. Child labour has been greatly reduced and many of them can now access education. Group life insurance cover has been provided. In addition, medical insurance cover is provided by Pune Municipal Corporation. SWACH Coop project has helped to link improved livelihoods for rag pickers with environment protection. National and International linkages have helped to provide wide reach to innovative ideas and work. The union here (KKPKP) also provides the secretariat for a wider Alliance of Waste Pickers.

Similarly, unions of domestic workers, vendors, rickshaw drivers and other unorganised sections have recorded important achievements. In the case of vendors, policy guidelines have been formulated by local authorities in addition to the 2007 national policy. These as well as the union’s support enable the vendors now to protect their livelihood rights more strongly than before, apart from resisting the illegal extortion made by the police and others. Even for those who are evicted, there is now a better chance for rehabilitation.

The Domestic Workers Union today wants reforms in the newly enacted legislation on the lines of the law for hamals. At the same time, it is trying to speed up registration (which is essential in order to benefit from the new law) and this could not have been speeded up without the union’s support. Auto rickshaw union wants recognition of this work as a public utility and social security by a Board for those who work for the utility. Various unions are supported mainly by membership fees. Angmehanti Kashtkari Sangarsh Samiti provides an over-arching platform for various unions and workers organisations.

Social Entrepreneurship

However, many of the economic gains could not have been sustained and protected but for the simultaneous setting up of several co-operative credit societies alongside the unions or panchayats, in order to enable head-loaders, rag-pickers, vendors and rickshaw-drivers to obtain credit at a low interest rate. It is this facility which enabled them to escape the clutches of moneylenders while at the same time also expanding their income-earning activities (such as by purchasing auto-rickshaws or expanding their retail vending business), constructing houses and educating their children.

Earlier most of the workers had to borrow from private moneylenders at a high interest rate of 5 to 10 percent per month. The high interest made it difficult to pay back the loan, or to invest profitably in any new entrepreneurial activity. Commercial banks did not encourage workers as customers or groups of customers with their small savings and needs.

On the other hand the setting up of their own cooperative credit societies with their own share capital enabled workers to obtain loans much more easily at a much lesser interest (compared to private moneylenders) while at the same time having a strong sense of ownership of the entire effort. This sense of ownership motivated them to contribute to the strength of the credit-ops by timely repayments of their loans.

At regular intervals new credit co-ops were started for head-loaders, vendors, auto-rickshaw drivers and rag-pickers. Keeping in view the high interest rates of moneylenders, the combined impact of these initiatives has been to save millions of rupees for weakest section families which could then be used for small-scale entrepreneurial activities as well as for housing and meeting education expenses. The fact that frustrating delays and bribes could be altogether avoided at the time of obtaining loans increased the possibility of using easily accessible money for entrepreneurial activities.

A visit to well-maintained co-operative credit societies revealed the pride union workers take in their own credit institutions. A huge, financially self-sustaining community kitchen has been another example of social entrepreneurship initiatives. Another successful initiative has been SWACH Coop., a wholly owned cooperative of self-employed waste-pickers and other urban poor. This has opened up new possibilities to some of the poorest people to obtain better livelihood opportunities which are linked to protection of environment in the form of more and better composting as well as greater opportunities for useful recycling of waste. As smartly dressed women drive waste-carrying vans and their pick-up vans are welcomed by citizens, this becomes an example of fighting poverty, providing dignity to the poorest while at the same protecting environment and creating a cleaner city.

Wider Role

As Baba Adhav used to say, “Our effort is to combine improvement of living conditions, working conditions and social conditions. Hamals have higher earnings, bonus, provident fund and insurance. They have houses, their own school and community centre. But in addition, we need social improvement, a sense of dignity and pride in their work, which is linked also to wider social change that can break the shackles of caste, hierarchy and narrow-minded discrimination in Indian society.”

Baba Adhav’s yearning for wider social change is inspired by the work of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Baba Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Chatrapati Shivaji and others greats of our history. Their teachings are spread among people with a special emphasis on contemporary needs and relevance. For example, the teachings of Chatrapati Shivaji here are linked to his concern for protection of environment and for communal harmony.

Nitin Pawar, who has been closely associated with Baba Adhav’s multi-faceted work says, “Although at the national level, it is Baba’s contributions to unorganised sector workers which have been most highlighted, it will be a great injustice to confine his work only to this aspect. He has striven for much wider mobilisations in many areas to end socio-economic injustice. Way back in 1972 at the time of a serious drought Baba worked tirelessly to end discrimination in access to water-sources in villages where-ever there was social discrimination. Then he fought a long battle for providing justice to nomadic and de-notified tribes, and another one on behalf of devadasis or women who were victims of social oppression., so that pension could be provided to them. When he stopped his private medical practice due to wider social involvement, he helped to create public-spirited hospitals. He was closely involved with Hamid Dalwai’s efforts for social reforms among Muslims as well as for reforms in the Bohra community. During emergency he valiantly resisted slum-demolition and he was promptly sent to jail for 14 months. Whether working as President of the PUCL or in other ways, Baba contributed to civil liberties in many ways. He helped to set up a National Integration Committee and fought and resisted sectarian forces at several fronts.”

In fact, Baba Adhav was much ahead of his times in taking up issues like displacement of farmers caused by dams and other projects. These efforts led to a rehabilitation policy in Maharashtra at an early stage.

Baba’s vision of social change has a special place for a wider role by women. Women dominate the membership of some of the unions like those of domestic workers, rag-pickers and, to a lesser extent, vendors.

A socialist, satyagrahi, and a satyashodhak (someone who yearns for truth to prevail) was how Baba Adhav liked to describe himself. He is all this and more, a symbol of hope for millions of workers and oppressed people. Even during his sunset years, he did not hesitate to join national level struggles and efforts for new laws for social security and universal pensions. His wife Sheela remained for long the biggest support for his many-sided activities and achievements. Baba Adhav will be remembered for long as one of the most respected social activists in India, with his great work combining mass mobilisation for justice with social entrepreneurship initiatives for many decades.

 (The author is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Man over Machine, When the Two Streams Met and Protecting Earth for Children.)

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The post Baba Adhav is no more; his Life and Work remain an inspiration for those working for Justice and Equality appeared first on SabrangIndia.

There was nothing artificial or made-up about his extraordinary gentleness and friendliness. I was one of the most regular contributors to the weekly journal he inherited and edited (Mainstream) and we often spoke to each other on the phone (apart from meeting sometimes). I cannot recall a single time when our conversation was not pleasant or constructive, although we generally discussed serious and rather worrying issues. I cannot at present remember a single occasion of any disagreement with him.   His deep concern for the most basic issues was as sincere as was the gentleness of his personality and his regard and care for his friends.

Once when some anniversary or special event relating to Mainstream was to be observed, Sumit Ji told me that he would be contacting as many of the old contributors and associates as he could. I thought this meant he would be writing letters or making phone calls to them for a meeting. However, I found later that he was personally visiting many of them, somehow locating their present addresses.

I cherish the fact that I have had the opportunity to meet all the editors of Mainstream and contribute writings to all of them, beginning about 1977 and continuing right up to now.

I met the founder of Mainstream, the legendary editor Nikhil Chakravartty, when I was 20 years old, and despite my lack of experience, Nikhil Ji was very welcoming and encouraging. This started my journey with Mainstream which has continued to this day. While I am grateful to all the editors of this journal for the freedom they provided to me in writing, the relationship that I had with Sumit ji was something very special, as in the course of our long relationship I do not remember a single time when we had any difference of opinion. Limited by his responsibilities as an editor, that constrained travel opportunities, he looked forward to hearing from me whenever I returned after covering some social movements.

We shared our admiration for some many among these, and I could be sure that there was at least one assured place for early publication when I was writing about social movements. At that time, I was also writing for many of the larger, more established newspapers. I however had the confidence that while the big newspapers may not publish my writings on these social movements, Mainstream surely would.

At a wider level, this also brings out the special importance of independent, alternated media. Sumit ji took this forward with great responsibility at a time when it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do so.

One reason why he could do so was because of the support he got from his family. His wife Gargi Chakravartty, a prominent academic and historian, has been active in left women’s movement yet also found the time to be very helpful for strengthening Mainstream.

Sumit will be remembered of course for his great contributions to Indian journalism in particular and to justice-based democracy more broadly, but in addition he’ll always be remembered by many, many people as a very gentle and caring human being and a friend for all seasons.

(The writer is an independent journalist and author who has been writing for over five decades with a strong perspective of peace, justice and protection of environment)

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The post Sumit Chakravartty: The gentle editor who was firm in his commitments and ideals appeared first on SabrangIndia.

One village I particularly remember is because of the great enthusiasm and happiness I saw among the people, particular women, due to the recently taken up water conservation efforts which had improved their life in a very significant ways. This is Markhera village of Tikamgarh district (Madhya Pradesh) in Central India. People of this village had been facing increasing difficulties due to water shortages. Water table was declining and water level in wells was going down too. Hand pumps were often reduced to just a trickle. As women here bear most water related responsibilities, their drudgery in fetching water from more distant places increased. Many of them had back ache from drawing water which was too low down in wells.

It is in this condition that a social activist named Mangal Singh contacted villagers. He told them that the organisation he belonged to (SRIJAN) had a program of digging saucer shaped structures in water courses or seasonal water flows so that some of the rain water would remain in them for a much longer time for the dry season. As this is exactly what the villagers needed, they agreed readily.

When this work was taken up, villagers could also take the silt that was use it for bund construction in their fields. The main benefit from the conservation of water in the newly constructed structures, called dohas, started being visible all too soon. Soon the demand for more dohas upstream and downstream came up. These benefited more and more farmers including those in neighbouring villages.

While this work was being taken up the activists developed a closer relationship with the community and together they reached an understanding that to get fuller benefits, several broken structures (like check dam gates) of previous water conservation work taken up by the government in the past also needed to be repaired. Here again the initial results were so encouraging, with substantial benefits of increased water availability resulting from an expenditure of just INR 20,000 (about 250 US dollars) at one repair site, that there were demands for repairing other structures upstream and downstream of this. When this work was also completed, the water scene of the village changed from one of acute scarcity to abundance.

As I learnt from several villagers, many more farmers are now able to irrigate their farms properly and crop yield has increased for several of them by about 50% or so. Some of them are able to plant take an additional crop as well. The water level in wells and hand-pumps has risen so that drinking water too can be obtained more easily. Women do not have to spend much time in getting essential supplies of water, nor do they have to take up very tiring work. It has even been possible to obtain the water needed for creating a beautiful forest, not far from the water course and the main repair work site, which in turn would also contribute to water conservation. As a young farmer Monu Yadav said, the benefits have been many-sided and far reaching. One of the less obvious but nevertheless important gains in fact relates to increased cooperation for tasks of common benefit. As the benefits of dohas would be lost after a few years if these are not cleaned and not maintained properly, groups of farmers have been formed with farmers closest to a doha being made collectively responsible for maintenance work.

Such small-scale water conservation work can be very cost effective. The entire work of repairs and pits at this place has cost just around INR 400,000 (about 5000 US dollars) or so while many-sided and durable benefits have spread to several villages. In fact in its entire planning for water conservation work SRIJAN has emphasised low-cost works such as doha pits as well as repair and renovation of already existing structures. In neighboring Niwari district, the experience of dohas dug in Gulenda village water-channel has been particularly encouraging.

Another benefit of such small scale water conservation works is that in such cases the prospects of involving the community in planning and implementation and benefitting from their tremendous knowledge of local conditions are immense and therefore such small water conservation schemes are invariably more creative and successful compared to big, costly, centralized ones.

Till just about five years ago, in Nadna village of Shivpuri district (Madhya Pradesh) the situation for most households was quite distressing. As several women of this village related recently in a group discussion, most of the rainwater rapidly flowed away from the village quite rapidly on sloped land, leaving hardly anything for the longer dry season ahead and contributing very little to water recharge. What is more, on the sloped land the rapid water torrents carried away a lot of the fertile topsoil as well.

With all the rainwater being lost quickly and even carrying away fertile soil, the farm productivity in the village was very low, and in fact very little could be grown in the season devoid of monsoon rains. Some of the land even remained uncultivated. In this village located in Pichore block, water scarcity remained a constraint not just for farming but also for animal husbandry. Not just villagers and their animals, but wild life also suffered due to water scarcity.

Due to low development prospects in farm and animal husbandry based livelihoods, people of this village, particularly those from poorer households, were becoming heavily dependent on migrant labour. The work which most of the migrants from here could get was frequently exploitative and also uncertain, but due to lack of alternatives, villagers had to resort to this as a survival mechanism despite all the distress and difficulties they suffered.

However about four years back a number of water conservation steps were initiated in this village. These included the creation of bunds and digging of small ponds in fields and construction of a gavian structure to keep a good part of rainwater in the village. In the two nullahs which drain the rainwater, about 80 spots were selected in consultation with the local villagers for digging dohas.

All this helped to conserve rainwater at many places but in addition also increased the overall water level in the village and its wells so that it has become possible to get more water more easily from wells and hand-pumps. Now farm animals as well as wild animals can find more water to drink even in dry months. Moisture conservation has resulted in the sprouting of more grass and related greenery, resulting in better grazing for animals.

At the same time, farm productivity has gone up. Now there is more cultivation of non-monsoon crops like wheat and in addition some of the land left more or less uncultivated earlier has also been brought under cultivation now. With soil erosion being checked too, soil quality is getting better. As a result of all this the dependence of villagers on exploitative migrant labour has reduced considerably.

The situation in Umrikhurd village in this district has also changed in a somewhat similar way, thanks to the digging of farm ponds and dohas as well as the creation of bunds in farms. An additional livelihood of pond fisheries has also emerged. As women related happily in a recent group discussion, now you can find water at several places where earlier it used to be dry by now.

These initiatives in the two villages of Shivpuri district were taken up by SRIJAN voluntary organization with support from Axis Bank Foundation and IndusInd Bank. The trust and involvement of these communities is also evident from their willingness to contribute their share of voluntary work as well as some economic resources.

In many villages of Bundekhand region of Central India, SRIJAN implemented a special program called BIWAL (Bundelkhand Initiative for Water, Agriculture and Livelihoods), also involving other leading voluntary organizations of the region in its implementation. In this initiative water conservation has been well integrated to improvement of soil and increase of farm yield by mobilizing the village community for a simple program.

In Bundelkhand region, comprising 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states, a very important contribution to water conservation has been made historically by well-constructed water tanks some of which go back to about 1000 years or even more. The ABV Institute of Good Governance has identified nearly 1100 such tanks. However several of them have become heavily filled with silt due to cleaning and de-silting work having been neglected for years. In this situation SRIJAN offered to arrange the de-silting work while farmers volunteered to carry away the mounds of highly fertile silt taken out from the tanks to their fields. As silt was taken out, the capacity of tanks to retain more rainwater increased. As more fertile silt was deposited in farms, the chances of making a success of natural farming, without using chemical fertilizers, increased.  Hence both the tasks of water conservation and farm improvement were well integrated. While SRIJAN and Arunodaya organizations initiated this work in Baura village of Mahoba district (Uttar Pradesh), a community organization was formed to take this forward and later the community came forward to take to take up the de-silting work on its own.

This approach was particularly useful in the Karauli district (Rajasthan) where in the rocky land of Makanpurswami village, deposition of a lot of fertile silt led to many acres of unproductive land becoming cultivable, again providing a great example of linking water conservation and improvements in farming. Here the villagers had initiated water conservation work on their own but the arrival of SRIJAN helped and motivated them to take it up on a much bigger scale.

In Teen Pokhar village land and soil conditions are difficult and wild animals also disrupt farming, but several farmers are hopeful even in these difficult conditions as SRIJAN and other voluntary organizations have created several new pokhars or ponds in the village apart from repairing earlier ones. Several of these are linked to each other so that excess of one can flow to another. In Rawatpura village of this district, the once difficult situation is now looking even more hopeful as the creation of several new ponds has made it possible to take farming to more and more land that could not be cultivated earlier.

These are only some examples of villages where the optimum utilisation of relatively quite low budgets led to very significant improvements in water conservation, bringing many-sided benefits to villagers and in some cases changing the situation of villagers from despair to hope. These achievements of water conservation are also very useful in terms of contributing to climate change adaptation.

(The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Man over Machine, Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril and A Day in 2071)      

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While this has been well recognised for a long time, what is often not appreciated adequately is the extent to which the skills and wisdom of several traditional communities was advanced in matters relating to seeds conservation.

Dr. R.H.Richharia, former Director of the Central Rice Research Institute of India, was among those few senior scientists who understood this, lived closely and inter-acted with communities in very remote villages, Adivasi communities and it was this intimate engagement that enabled him to develop an understanding of seed conservation strengths of rural and tribal communities. It was this people-based and community-based work of this senior scientist and his colleagues which led him to prepare a great compilation of over 17,000 cultivars of rice grown in India.

As he once told me, he was particularly impressed by the ability of Adivasi (tribal, indigenous) communities to remember and pass from generation to generation knowledge concerning the characteristics of hundreds of rice varieties and cultivars, the suitability of different varieties for various kinds of land, their water requirements or drought resistance, their different cooking qualities, their different aromas and even medicinal properties etc. Most of this rich knowledge was gathered in the context of farmers of Chhattisgarh region including Bastar where the tendency of most other experts has been to dismiss tribal communities as being very backward. However Dr. Richharia on the basis of his own deeper understanding was able to better appreciate the richness of the knowledge of tribal communities and he also encouraged his co-workers to do so, as I could also understand when I met some members of his team later.

Dr. Richharia, who was one of the earliest and youngest scientists from India to get a doctorate in Botany from Cambridge while studying in the middle of great resource constraints in Britain, told me that some farmers including women farmers were particularly well-skilled in this and took a very keen interest too. However as not all farmers could be expected to have equal skills and ability regarding this, some of the learnings were sought to be captured in the form of some rituals which could be more easily observed as a part of daily life by most community members and farmers.

While traditional skills of farming communities for seed conservation needed to be valued greatly and constantly strengthened and encouraged, unfortunately exactly the reverse has happened due to a number of adverse factors.

From the mid-1960s onwards the strategy of farm development based on new exotic green revolution varieties and seeds was based largely on uprooting the greater diversity of existing crop-varieties grown in time honoured systems of mixed farming and rotations on the basis of the accumulated wisdom and experience of many generations of farmers relating to local agro-ecological conditions.

While this sudden change was inherently wrong and harmful, the situation worsened further as powerful corporate interests, including multinational companies and the research institutes allied to them,   made seeds the main source of trying to forever increase their profits as well as their control over farming and food. Towards this end, it was these corporate interests that exerted pressure to realize the monster objective of patents and IPRs over life forms and plant varieties, as well as to promote highly harmful technologies that could facilitate this.

Hence what then started happening was that as crop and seed diversity began vanishing (or was made to vanish) from the fields of farmers, this traditional knowledge was being concentrated in the labs and gene banks controlled or accessed more readily by the big corporates who then used and stole the accumulated work of generations of farmers to release ‘their’ patented varieties, sometimes after manipulating them genetically to increase their control and monopoly over them. All this was sought to be promoted under the name of ‘science’ and ‘development’, with accolades and awards being distributed for this.

It took some time for communities to recover from this deception and shock. Once, Adivasi’s and indigenous peoples realized the extent of the harm being caused, they started assuming the responsibility of again strengthening their seed conservation efforts.

As the displacement of farm and seed diversity was far from complete particularly in the more remote villages, several communities could still take up the task of conserving seeds. These communities noted that some disruption and harm had been caused, and legal changes had also created problems, but if the farmers and their communities acted with increasing unity and wisdom to protect their seeds diversity and sovereignty, the diversity of seeds could be saved and protected on the fields of farmers.

Traditional knowledge re-applied, re-born

Hence, in recent years, we have seen several communities taking up the task of protecting seeds diversity and sovereignty with a renewed and increasing sense of urgency, in India and in many other countries. I was myself present at a recent such effort in the form of a seed festival organized by a voluntary organization Vaagdhara in parts of three states in Central India. The mostly young men and women members of this organisation mobilized themselves very enthusiastically to organise nearly 90 gatherings of tribal communities, in turn reaching out to people of about a thousand villages and hamlets. At these gatherings people of various villages assembled with their collections of various seeds which have become more difficult to find in recent times, so that these and/or the knowledge relating to these cold be shared with farmers of other villages. Visiting such gatherings, I could see that the villagers assembled here were so happy and enthused by this entire effort that they wanted such seed festivals to be organized very regularly. Women in particular were very enthusiastic participants.

This could not have been such a big success if earlier efforts had not been made to prepare a strong base for seed conservation as an integral and important part of the many-sided development efforts initiated in this region by Vaagdhara in recent years. This has helped to strengthen the earlier inclinations of these tribal communities for seed conservation, although some disruption had appeared earlier to disturb the continuity of this effort.

Earlier in the course of my work in the Himalayan region, particularly in villages of Garhwal, I could learn much from the efforts of Beej Bachao Aandolan (Save the Seeds Movement). The efforts of this movement led to much better appreciation of seed diversity saved on the farms on the basis of traditional mixed farming systems like ‘barahanaja’ ( growing 12 or more crops together on a small plot of land to ensure balanced nutrition and self-reliance in food).

Before this effort too root, some locally posted officials and even ‘scientists’ were speaking in terms of uprooting such excellent traditional systems declared to be backward by them, much in tune with the terrible trends of the ‘green revolution’. The Save the Seeds Movement helped to confront and change this highly distorted thinking. The movement organised several foot marches in which marchers went from one village to another, carrying with them those seeds which had been getting rare to find. They provided some of these seeds to those farmers in the visited villages who wanted them. At the same time they collected information on the seeds which had been preserved and saved in this village. In very joyful ways, a lot of information on diversity of traditional seeds was collected and in addition farmers could also exchange seeds. The valuable contributions made by women farmers were also highlighted in the course of these important initiatives.

Clearly there is need for many more such efforts as well as for protecting the seeds sovereignty of farmers, their rights to conserve, protect, grow and exchange their seeds without any obstructions being placed in this.

(The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Saving Earth for Children, Man over Machine and A Day in 2071)   

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These are questions which sometimes excite the passions of people on all sides. Politicians can inflame these feeling further. A statement that is very often made by many of them has been—I’ll not give even a drop of extra water to the other side.

Those who are asked to mediate and find workable solutions for settling the disputes are also often impacted by this rhetoric. They are more concerned with somehow finding a solution that will satisfy all sides or at least lead to a common meeting ground, even if this is at the cost of sacrificing significant aspects of protecting river ecology.

Politicians and pressure groups have shrill voices, however rivers and fish cannot speak in ways that would be heard by decision makers. Hence the side of protecting river ecology and river life often remains unrepresented at river talks. In the USA and some other countries sometimes indigenous communities have been coming forward to speak for protecting rivers and river-life including endangered species.

Technocrats who are often given important roles in taking decisions on river projects often do not have a great understanding of river ecology. They often take decisions in favor of excessive river water exploitation including diversion and long-distance transfer, regardless of adverse impacts on river ecology. They are supported in this by big business interests.

In the prevailing conditions of decision making two important aspects are likely to be neglected. Firstly, any river in the course of its natural flow and free flow also fulfils very important ecological functions. Secondly, while transfer of water over vast distances is often justified in the name of ending water scarcity of some areas, it is often forgotten that more ecologically protective, sustainable and less costly local solutions are also generally available.

Instead of constructing many big projects on a river and thereby impeding its free flow, causing several adverse social and ecological impacts, a much better alternative is to take up several small structures, bunds and afforestation projects to save as much rain water as possible at the local level, contributing to water security of various villages, helping to maintain water balance all around the year and reducing considerably the harm from floods as well as droughts. Time honored methods of water harvesting and conservation, based on specific conditions of various regions, are often available and highly creative efforts based on them have been giving very useful results at low cost in several places.

Technocrats supported by big construction companies sometimes tend to push back the scientifically established reality, well-recognized by common people, that free-flowing rivers provide many significant benefits and useful services to people and settlements all along their flow. Apart from supporting many species of fish and water life as well as river bank related biodiversity, free-flowing rivers provide irrigation water and water for many other uses to people and all forms of life. They contribute to maintaining proper groundwater levels over a vast stretch of land. They deposit fertile silt to support low-cost bountiful farming and animal husbandry. They support livelihoods related to growing several kinds of fruits and vegetables that grows best in river bank conditions, as well as livelihoods related to boats and fisheries. In the lower reaches while approaching the sea, they play a crucial role in stabilizing and supporting ecology and biodiversity of coastal areas, mangroves and deltas.

Once all this is recognised in much better ways it follows that river engineering in the form of dams, barrages and embankments by changing, depleting or restricting river flows in various ways can have adverse effects on all these beneficial roles of free-flowing rivers, apart from bringing several unintended new adverse impacts and risks.

While all these factors, whether recognized adequately or not, have always been significant, their importance has increased further in times of climate change which have introduced several more uncertainties and risks.

Hence long overdue changes relating to understanding of rivers and river-projects are needed, so that there can be much better planning for protecting rivers and utilizing their water for various beneficial purposes while minimizing adverse impacts and risks.

(The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Man over Machine and A Day in 2071)     

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These indigenous Adivasi communities have been known for long for their more self-reliant life patterns integrated closely with forests and their protection. However they suffered heavily during colonial rule in terms of introduction of new exploitative practices, assault on their life and livelihood patterns and the resource base which sustained it. Subsequently there were several revolts against colonial rule and its collaborators. Apart from some of the better-known struggles such as those led by the valiant BirsaMunda, there were several less known but also no less important struggles such as those led by Govind Guru among the Bhils and related tribal communities in Central India. The extent of repression by colonial forces and their close collaborators here was also very extreme, perhaps even more than some of the widely known events of extreme repression such as the Jalianwala Bagh massacre.

In the post-independence period it was a well-recognised aspect of government policy that Adivasi communities constitute a particularly vulnerable group and special efforts for ensuring a fair deal to them should be made. This led to several development initiatives aimed particularly at benefiting these communities, while of course there are other schemes and programs open to all sections which benefit these communities as well.

There are reservations for scheduled tribes in jobs as well as in other aspects. Above all, there is recognition of their more autonomous path of development in keeping with their traditions and life-patterns, and a special law PESA (Panchayati Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas) has been enacted in recognition of this, also protecting the rights of tribal communities over resource bases in several ways.

However at the implementation level, the admirable aims of protecting Adivasi communities and their rights and interests could not be achieved to any desirable extent. In several areas these indigenous communities have been displaced on a very large scale or their life has been significantly disrupted by ecologically destructive projects. It is clear by now that several such distortions and mistakes need to be corrected.

This is all the more important in view of several fast emerging new factors that are re-emphasising the importance of strengthening these tribal communities and preserving and promoting sustainable livelihoods of such communities by integrating this task more closely with protection of environment. In this emergent thinking based on relatively new understanding, the progress of tribal communities is seen not in terms of individual beneficiaries, but in terms of a more holistic strengthening of tribal communities and their sustainable livelihoods in ways that are at the same time very helpful in reducing very serious environmental problems.

In recent years there has been increasing evidence-based recognition that a number of environmental problems led by but not confined to climate change are becoming serious enough to emerge as a survival crisis. In fact in the context of several vulnerable communities this survival crisis can already be seen. Along with climate change, related local problems of deforestation, changing land-use and resource use patterns including emergence of highly destructive ones, increasing water scarcity and threatened water sources are seen as parts of this survival crisis.

As a part of the sincere efforts for mobilising an adequate, credible, hope-giving and sustainable response to this emerging crisis, among more enlightened sections there is a refreshing trend to question the dominant development paradigm which has resulted in this deeply worrying crisis. This enlightened viewpoint argues that there is increasing need to give more importance to the alternative patterns of thinking and living (on that basis) which can give much greater hope for protection of environment. In this context the commitment and capability of several tribal communities to have a life-pattern integrated closely with forests and protection of forests has attracted much attention. On a deeper inquiry, several of these communities are found to be making much more careful and sustainable use of resources to meet their needs in ways which minimise waste and are more self-reliant in terms of satisfying needs on the basis of well-informed utilisation of local resources, including sustainable , protection-based, careful use of forests and other bio-diversity.

Hence it is increasingly realised that these communities, their life-pattern, world-view and thinking can contribute a lot to protection of environment. Despite there being increasing evidence of this, the bigger conservation projects even in the areas inhabited by such communities are often based on the displacement of these communities or on disrupting their life-pattern based on close integration with forests.This comes on top of other kinds of displacements and disruptions caused by various ‘development’, mining and other projects supported by powerful interests.

There is thus a clear need to bring suitable changes in the existing policy framework togive the highest importance to strengthening tribal communities and their sustainable livelihoods and integrating this task with a wider vision of protecting environment. This would be a great way forward for taking forward the welfare of tribal communities and at the same time achieving significant success in environment protection on a firm base with community involvement, the kind of success that would be welcomed and admired all over the world.

(The author is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril and A Day in 2071)  

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This means that South Asia has one of the highest population densities in the world, estimated as the number of people living in one square km.

While the entire world has a population density of about 60, South Asia has a population density of 303, over five times the world average.

In several cities of South Asia the population density can be many times more. In the most densely populated district of Karachi Central, the population density is 55,396. In Kolkata this is 24,252.

One of the implications of very high population density is that in any modern-day war which uses very destructive weapons, loss of life can potentially be much higher compared to most other countries. To mention two war and civil war-ravaged countries which have suffered high war-related mortality in recent times, Ukraine has population density of 67 while Sudan has population density of 29. This gives an indication of potentially how high war mortality can be in conditions of very high population density that prevail in South Asia.

These and several other facts regarding very high risks must be kept in consideration at a time when a lot of concern is being expressed regarding the increasing possibilities of escalation of war-risks involving India and Pakistan.

However the single most important factor is not regarding the risk escalation of recent days. The most important fact is that India and Pakistan have stepped back from such high risk situations in the past to avoid war. If they could do so in the past, they should be able to do so now too, thereby saving South Asia from massive distress and disaster.

Both sides are heavily armed and are in a position to procure more weapons from bigger powers. Both sides are nuclear weapon powers and there are estimates of the two countries having a total of about 340 nuclear weapons, more or less in equal numbers.

War involving any such two countries A and B may take this path—in the first few days there is high loss of life from conventional weapons on both sides but with the passage of time the bigger conventional power A gains a clear edge, and then faced with a serious crisis, the weaker power B resorts to using nuclear weapons and in reply immediately the stronger power A also uses nuclear weapons.

Of course this is not a very likely path as leaders of both countries being well aware of the unacceptably high dangers of nuclear weapons are likely to stop short of using these but at the same time the possibility of use of nuclear weapons cannot be ruled out entirely, and this is a very big risk indeed, an unacceptably high risk.

The risks have also increased at present because of other big wars occupying the attention of great powers. However even otherwise the will-power for playing non-partisan mediator role has reduced and instead there is much more arbitrariness in evidence at the international level. The role of the United Nations has been steadily becoming less significant.

At the same time the existence of bilateral security arrangements or risk-minimizing arrangements between India and Pakistan are extremely weak and inadequate just now.

Hence the best policy for both countries is to quickly move back from any risks of war. Leaders of both countries simply have to display greater maturity and commitment to peace and if they do so, history will still remember them for saving South Asia from disaster.

People of both countries have deep respect for several sacred sites and places of great cultural heritage located in the other country. People of both countries have much to benefit from having better relations with each other. Let us not forget all this in the heat of the present day intense hostilities. If good sense of quickly stopping further escalation prevails today, in the coming years this wisdom and good sense will be greatly appreciated by the people as well as the upcoming generation.

The world is already deeply troubled by war and conflict. Let us not add to this by igniting a new one between two nuclear weapon countries. No other kind of war can be more risky than a war between two nuclear weapon countries.

Both countries have important development challenges ahead of them. The path of development and meeting the needs and aspirations of all people will be seriously harmed if war breaks out.

If this war breaks out then everyone involved will suffer to some extent and in some way or the other, and in the worst case scenario there will be the kind of massive destruction that only nuclear weapons can cause. Neighbouring countries not involved in the war will also be very adversely affected.

So the leaders of both the countries should do their best to avoid the possibility of such a war.

(The author is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine—A Path to Peace)           

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It is imperative that what has happened should not be exaggerated, and the tendency of certain sections to exaggerate and hence further provoke conflict between two neighbouring countries of the global south should be checked.

In fact it is important to emphasise that this is a time for de-escalation, restraint and diplomacy to ensure that any further escalation can be avoided. It is important to emphasise that the two countries are not at war with each other, and it is certainly possible to avoid a war at this stage. Such situations have arisen in the past, even during the last decade, and therefore even now, things could be scaled back without causing a war. The situation at present is no worse than it was at that time. If good sense prevails, then two neighbours could gradually revert back towards more or less normal times. There is no reason why this cannot happen again. Exaggerated accounts will only worsen the prospects for peace.

India’s stand on the attack in the form of Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 has been conveyed in these words, “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

This is very far from being war-talk. From this point if de-escalation and restraint are exercised, as emphasised by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier on May 5, it is certainly possible to avoid war. The UN Chief had stated on May 5 that it is very important to avoid a military confrontation that could spin out of control. He also stated that the UN stands ready to support any initiative of de-escalation, diplomacy and a renewed commitment to peace. Now again on May 7 soon after the attack the UN Chief has again called for ‘maximum military restraint” adding that the world cannot afford a war between the two countries.

Exchange of fire has been reported since the Pahalgam attack from some border areas, and various kinds of hostile measures have been announced by both sides, including those relating to trade, economic ties, travel and water-sharing. One hopes that following de-escalation several of these decisions can be reconsidered by both sides. However the biggest urgency just now is to avoid the possibility of further escalation which, as the UN chief has warned, has the danger of spinning out of control. Such a high risk should be avoided in all circumstances as both sides are nuclear weapon countries and it is widely recognized that any war between such countries should always be avoided. There may be very low likelihood of actual use of nuclear weapons as leaders of both countries are after all well aware of the possibility that the nearly 340 nuclear weapons the two countries are estimated to possess can destroy the entire region and in fact a much wider area. Nevertheless even with the low likelihood of actual use, the well-established understanding and wisdom is that the potential of destruction being so high, two nuclear weapon countries should not come even close to the possibility of war.   An already deeply troubled world simply cannot afford such high risks and all arguments are strongly in favour of de-escalation and return to near normalcy in the relationship between India and Pakistan as early as possible.

(The author is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Saving Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine—A Path to Peace)        

Related:

Pahalgam: Voices of peace and reason in times of war

Poonch Victims: Civilians as targets of shelling

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