The post Left to rot in Marathwada’s drought hit villages appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
This was a Facebook post last month by Maharudra Mangnale, farmer, author and journalist from Shirur-Tajband village in Latur district in south-central Maharashtra. The irony was directed at the tightening of restrictions on cattle markets and what this would do to the farmer.
 
There is a ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter in Maharashtra, extended on March 4, 2015, to bulls, bullocks and calves. On May 23, 2017, the Centre notified new rules banning the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
 
Why is this increasing squeeze on the cattle market for slaughter making Marathwada’s farmers anxious? In this two-part series, IndiaSpend travels through the rural hinterland looking for answers. It looks at  why small landholders and landless farmers who own a major share of the state’s livestock need the freedom to sell unproductive animals to make cattle-rearing viable.
 
The next part will take a close look at the work cycle of two farmers in Marathwada to understand the place cattle occupy in it.
 
Marathwada is a marker of India’s current agricultural distress: 77% of farmers have no more than five acres of land, the region has experienced three years of drought over the last decade, its rural per capita income is Rs 90,460, or Rs 12,547 less than the national average.
 
Cattle rearing and trade form an integral source of farm livelihood in this region. Cattle are essential for agricultural work but there are also 1,614 village-level dairy cooperatives in Marathwada, third highest among the state’s six divisions. Annual milk procurement from these societies was around 20 million litres in 2016.
 
However, there is one important fact about the economic life cycle of cattle whether they are used for milk or agricultural work: It only lasts for about 15 years of their 25 to 30-year life span.
 

Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation; Sheep and goat breeds of India & Guidelines for slaughtering, meat cutting and further processing, United Nations, India Council of Agricultural Research & Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Agritech Portal
 
Farmers, thus, need to be able to sell unproductive cattle. This is especially the case with poor farmers who need to raise money to buy productive cattle and sustain milk procurement or farming. In times of distress, droughts for example, cattle sale helps small farmers raise money for sustenance.
 
To tend to old and unproductive bovines and arrange fodder and water for them is impractical for small and marginal farmers of dry Marathwada. Small landholders and landless farmers account for major share in ownership of livestock, according to the 2015-16 report of the union department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries.
 
So the new restrictions are making cattle rearing increasingly unviable. Slaughter traders are having to shut down businesses and farmers are giving up on dairy farming in Marathwada, IndiaSpend investigations found.
 
The new rules mandate a tangle of official procedures that threaten to cripple the thriving livestock markets which are intrinsic to rural Maharashtra’s agrarian culture.

 
New rules complicate cattle sale process
 
Maharashtra government’s Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) run 196 livestock sub-yards within the 300-odd markets that operate in the state. While some animal markets function within the premises on designated days where other agricultural produce is traded, others are located in more interior areas regulated by gram panchayat (village council) bodies.
 
The APMC grants licences to animal traders to purchase and transport animals–cow, buffalo, bull, bullock, calf, goat, sheep etc–that are brought to the market. At present, any person can bring an animal to the market for display and sale. A minimal market licence fee of Rs 10 is charged from the purchaser only if a transaction is made.
 
The only documentation required in a sale is an entry by an APMC or gram panchayat official in a register after the sale. A basic receipt stating the names and addresses of the buyer and seller, the sale price and the animal’s details is issued.
 
Under the latest rules, cattle sale will become a far more complicated process. It will involve the formation of two committees–one at the district level and another at the local body-level–to carry out a more stringent regulation of market activities.
 
Members of these committees, unlike the elected members of APMCs, will be appointed by the state government. They will hold discretionary powers to inspect every animal entering the market. They can stop the entry and sale of “unfit” animals as well as seize animals from their owners in cases of “cruel treatment”, according to sections 11, 12 and 13 of the recent Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017.
 
“We oppose every law that destroys this current free access to market, limited regulation and freedom of trade,” said Seema Narode, western Maharashtra president of the women’s front of the Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers’ organisation.
 
The rules are not only arbitrary and detrimental to farmers, but are also removed from ground realities of current trade practices, Narode said.
 
“In western Maharashtra where milk production is a flourishing occupation for farmers, many own jersey (cross-bred) cows which produce greater quantities of milk. But, male calves of these cows cannot be used for agricultural purposes,” she added. “There is no option for us but to sell them.”
 
Leather industry and butchers comprise a huge number of buyers of male calves of cross-bred dairy cows.
 
The story of a cattle market that had to shut shop
 
APMC’s weekly animal market in Udgir town of Latur district recorded a slight sag in sales in the year 2016-17 and first quarter of 2017-18. Sales had steadily soared in the period between 2010-11 and 2015-16 owing to the successive droughts. Farmers in distress often sell cattle to tide over a crunch.
 
Source: Data collected from APMC, Udgir
NOTE: *Figures available up to December 2013; **Up to June 15, 2017
 
Cattle rearing in the region has declined because of two reasons, according to officials: An increase in the use of machines for farming and a fall in the number of traders who purchase animals after the 2015 ban.
 
“Around 10-12 cattle traders who operated out of the market here don’t work here any longer because of the growing hassles they face in transporting cattle,” said BM Patil, APMC secretary, Udgir market.
 
The situation appears to be equally worrying for farmers in Vidarbha.
 
An animal market that gathered at Sawal Mendha village in Bhainsdehi taluka of Baitul district in Madhya Pradesh stopped operating nine months ago. Sawal Mendha borders Amravati district in Maharashtra and served as a market for cattle-rearers within a 30-km radius in Akola, Amravati and Buldhana districts of the state.
 
Those who went to the Sawal Mendha market to trade their animals are now forced to travel 50-90 km to a livestock market in Paratwada village in Amravati district, said Satish Deshmukh, a farmer from Panaj village in Akot taluka of Akola district.
 
“Around four months ago, a few Muslim traders were also threatened and beaten up when they were transporting cattle. No FIR (first information report) was lodged,” said Deshmukh, who is also a member of Shetkari Sanghatana. “The situation is becoming increasingly tense and difficult.”
 
On May 26, 2017, two men were thrashed for possessing beef by seven gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) in Malegaon taluka of Washim district.
 
The country witnessed 63 crimes of attacks by cow vigilantes, including 28 deaths, across the country in the past seven years, as IndiaSpend reported on June 28, 2017. And 97% of these attacks occurred after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government came to power in May 2014.
 
“People fear that they will be booked under false cases. I have decided to not nurture cattle until this law is in place,” said Mangnale.
 
In times of distress, as we said, small farmers usually sell their cattle to deal with the crunch. “When farmers are themselves in debt and committing suicides, they don’t have the financial capacity to tend to old cattle and bury them after they die. It is expensive to hire a JCB and dig a pit,” said Mangnale.
 
Govt assistance doesn’t reach enough farmers
 
In 2016-17, Aurangabad district–one of the three districts in Marathwada with the highest bovine population–insured 15,891 cattle. The cattle population of the district stands at 676,180, according to the 2012 livestock census.
 
“Demand for insurance policy is huge. The target given to us was 5,000 cattle. We exceeded it,” said BD Chaudhari, assistant commissioner, animal husbandry department, Aurangabad division.
 
Insurance is given to the cattle owner if the cow, buffalo or bull dies within one to three years of registration for the policy. The amount is estimated by the veterinary doctor depending on the animal’s prevailing market rate and health at the time of registration.
 
Chaudhari admitted that availability of fodder remained a bigger challenge in the region. A state policy that allows distribution of fodder seeds to farmers had up to 2,000 beneficiaries in the year 2015-16 in Aurangabad district. But, this is clearly inadequate–of the 529,861 landholding farmers in the district, 83% have less than 2.5 acres of land and it is not enough to raise fodder.
 
“Because the seeds are provided on 100% subsidy , a limited number of beneficiaries are selected every year based on budget availability,” said a livestock development official from the Aurangabad zilla parishad (district council).
 
‘Cattle markets are a tradition that need to continue’
 
Livestock exhibitions and markets are a part of Maharashtra’s agrarian tradition. Hundreds of cattle of indigenous varieties are displayed and traded every month at these events.
 
A case in point is the 50-year-old bull market, one of the largest in Marathwada, in Hali-Handarguli village, 22 km from Udgir town in Latur district. It functions for eight months between the Dussehra festival (October) and the kharif sowing season (June) every year. The market is known for its Deoni and Lal Kandhari breeds of bulls which are known and prized for their strength and capacity to work in peak summer temperatures.
 
“Are these exhibits and markets also not a part of our tradition?” asked Shankar Anna Dhondge, former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator from Nanded, countering the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh’s (RSS) narrative of protecting “gauvansh” (cow dynasty) for its “sacredness”.
 
But, cattle commerce in the Hali-Handarguli market, which operates Saturday to Monday, has now fallen considerably. On May 29, 2017, just before the market closed for the sowing season, only three buffaloes were available for sale against at least 100 earlier, according to locals.
 
“The legal perspective (on cattle slaughter) itself is flawed. Farmers do not anyway trade productive cattle for slaughter,” said Mangnale.
 
Traders say that animal markets in Nalegaon, Deoni and Udgir in Latur district’s Udgir taluka bordering Karnataka might have to shut down completely if the Centre’s new notification is implemented.
 
Section 8 of the proposed law states that no animal market can be organised within 25 km of a state border.
 
“The law is made by those in cities, who know nothing about raising cattle,” added Dhondge. “What will those who cannot take care of their own elderly parents and leave them in old age homes tell us about taking care of our old cattle?”
 
Moreover, Section 14 of the new rules also prohibits traditional practices such as painting of horns and decking animals with ornaments for being “cruel and harmful”.
 
“The law is made with a sense of how animals are kept in a factory. What does the government know how much we care for our animals?” Mangnale added.
 
(Kulkarni is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist, who has worked with Haqdarshak–a social enterprise, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan–a non-party people’s political organisation and Hindustan Times–a newspaper.)
 
This is the first of a two-part series.

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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Image: P Sainath
 

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औरंगाबाद (जेएनएन)। मराठवाड़ा में जुलाई से अक्टूबर तक की अवधि के दौरान करीब 342 किसानों ने आत्महत्या की घटना ने सरकारी अधिकारियों को उलझन में डाल दिया है क्योंकि इस साल मानसून के दौरान क्षेत्र में काफी अच्छी बारिश हुई है।

इस साल के आरंभ से अक्टूबर के पहले हफ्ते तक करीब 838 मराठवाड़ा किसानों ने अपनी जिंदगी खत्म कर ली जो कि पिछले साल (778) की तुलना में काफी अधिक है। मराठवाड़ा के आठ जिलों में बीड में 93, नांदेड़ और ओस्मानाबाद में 58-58 किसानों ने आत्महत्या की है। सरकारी अधिकारियों ने बताया कि पहले आत्महत्या होने के पीछे खेती में संकट, खराब आर्थिक स्थिति और बैंक के कर्जे को चुकाने में असफलता मुख्य कारण थे। राजस्व विभाग अब इन मामलों की जांच कर रहा है ताकि यह निर्णय लिया जा सके कि इनके परिवार वालों को हर्जाना दिया जाए या नहीं। बीड निवासी डिप्टी कलेक्टर चंद्रकांत सूर्यवंशी ने यह स्वीकार किया कि अच्छे मानसून के बावजूद इस स्थिति को देख सरकार उलझन में है। उन्होंने बताया,’2014 की तुलना में 2015 में किसानों की आत्महत्या का आंकड़ा बढ़ गया है। इसके पीछे जलसंकट ही मुख्य कारण था। हालांकि हम उम्मीद कर रहे थे कि इस साल आत्महत्या की संख्या में कमी आएगी।‘

औरंगाबाद जिले को छोड़ मराठवाड़ा के बाकी सात जिले में काफी अच्छी बारिश हुई है। औरंगाबाद में चार महीने में 89.8फीसद बारिश हुई। लातूर (1,100mm) व नांदेड़ (1,094mm) में काफी अच्छी बारिश होने के बावजूद किसानों की आत्महत्या के आंकड़े में कोई कमी नहीं है। किसानों के लिए सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता जयाजी सूर्यवंशी ने बताया कि मराठवाड़ा के सोयाबीन बेल्ट में काफी अधिक आत्महत्या के मामले देखे गए हैं। उन्होंने बताया कि मराठवाड़ा के वे इलाके जहां बारिश की कमी के कारण स्थिति खराब हो गयी थी वहां इस बार बाढ़ जैसी स्थिति बन गयी थी जो सोयाबीन व खरीफ फसल के लिए हानिकर सिद्ध हुई।‘ शुरुआती विश्लेषण के अनुसार, मराठवाड़ा के 15 लाख हेक्टेयर की खेती बाढ़ के कारण खराब हो गयी।

Source: Dainik Jagran
 

The post मराठवाड़ा में नहीं थम रहा आत्‍महत्‍या का सिलसिला, उलझन में अधिकारी appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In 2016, India has been witnessing one of the severest droughts after independence. The phenomena has led to a ‘never before’ kind of water crisis across the country. As a result the surface water sources are under severe stress and aquifers beneath ground have been over drafted. An already depressed agrarian community is worst hit. Thousands of parched villages have been dotting the rural landscape. Many somewhat immune urban centers are also facing the wrath of heat.

However there is no dearth of inspiring tales in the field of water conservation pan nation presenting a ray of hope amid gloomy scenario. The exemplary works being done by several villages, people and organizations across the country offer some lasting solutions to growing water scarcity. So here is an attempt to present a State wise account of drought hit areas which have been wading through the water crisis sound and safe by reinventing the community driven and local water harvesting practices.

MAHARASHTRA

Ahmad Nagar The State is among worst drought hit particularly the Marthawada region. It is interesting to see that the most of remarkable water conservation work has also happened in this State. Hiware bazaar village in Ahmad Nagar district has become a byword for watershed management for which it was specially mentioned in PM Narendra Modi’s `Mann ki Baat’ programme.  During 1990s the village used to face a major water crisis due to scanty of rain. It was that time, when various watershed management programmes and water conservation initiatives were started by the villagers including refraining from sowing water-intensive crops and opting for crop diversification. Dairy development was also encouraged. The villagers meet on December 31 each year, during which a review of the rainfall and available water is taken. As a result of several such steps and community formed norms, underground water table in Hiware Bazar is now available at 20 to 40 feet below. Women in the village are glad that they don’t have to trek miles in search of water.

Aurangabad On the same line a tiny village Patoda, on the fringes of water-starved Aurangabad city, is offering valuable lesson in water conservation and harvesting. Villagers regard water as more precious than money. They follow strict rules about usage and strictly carry the water audits. Water meters are installed in every households and entire village recycles each drop of waste water it generates. Today no rain water flows out of the village. Percolation has recharged the aquifers and the water table has risen. So effective is its water conservation model that Patoda has now become a model for the rest of Marathwada and has won 22 state & national awards. But it did not happened over nights. In fact it is a result of over 10 year joint efforts done by villagers.

Water shed development work carried out to arrest rain water and regenerate ground water

Jalna Similarly the villages of Wadhona, Vizora, Sunderwadi, Padmavati, Bhorkheda & Vadod Tangda in Jalna district of Marathwada has been greatly benefited by using alternatives like water shed development, afforestation, farm bunding, organic farming, vermi-composting, agro-meteorology, farm pond, renewable energy, water budgeting, micro-irrigation, fodder cultivation steps initiated under a watershed development project by WOTR.  The project is built on a hill, with the first village, Jaydevwadi, on top followed by Wadhona, Vizora, Sunderwadi, Padmavati, Bhorkheda and Vadod Tangda. The most important aspect of the model is the work that the villages have undertaken to arrest and conserve rain water, regenerate ground water and plan water consumption. At each level, at each village, some amount of rain water should be held back or go into the ground. The mammoth task of developing a watershed, de-silting, bunding etc. has also led to massive employment opportunities for the farm workers giving them additional income.

Osmanabad Moving a step ahead, farmers of Horti village of Tuljapur Taluka in drought stricken Osmanabad district have resorted to online crowd funding to de-silt and renovate a canal. Around 700 farmers have come together to widening, deepen and de-silt an 8km long canal that runs across their farms to increase its water holding capacity ahead of the monsoon. The cost of the work is approximately Rs 6 lakh, of which the villagers have collected approximately Rs 3 lakh for the work and the rest of which will be raised through an online crowd funding campaign that has been put together to help them raise the remaining amount. The crowd funding campaign has collected over Rs 1.9 Lakh in less than a week. The work started on May 17 and is almost completed. Villagers now are hopeful that this attempt to revive a water source and the prediction of a good monsoon will wash away all their woes.

While under Participatory Ground Water Management Project, Arghyam organization has brought the villagers of Muthalane in Pune, Randullabad in Satara and Pondhe in Purandar taluka together and got them to understand the issue of ground water management. Accordingly groundwater management plans based on aquifer mapping were made in the villages. This experience showed that the use of groundwater and aquifer based knowledge by demystifying it for the villagers and combining it with local knowledge helped them become aware of the common nature of their water resources and the need for its better management to become water secure.

MADHAYA PRADESH

Dewas a district in parched Malwa the region has won five national awards for rain water harvesting. Curtsey to the unique idea of farm pond now named ‘Pani Bachao Dhan Kamao’ (save water, earn money) campaign introduced ten years back.  Under the campaign administration chipped in with technical inputs and farmers were urged to dig out one tenth area of their land and turn it into farm ponds. After knowing about the benefits of farm pond, farmers started digging ponds on their own land with the help of tractors. Today there are more than 1,000 irrigational ponds out of which 564 ones, which are known as Rewa Sagar, were made without any government fund.  The concept of farm ponds has made about 400 villages drought proof.  The United Nations also had selected Dewas district’s community water management works in the best three water management practices in the world under the category of ‘Best Water Management Practices’ for 2011-2012.

Over 3 lakh truckloads of soil had been excavated and works worth Rs 40 crore had been successfully completed by farmers. (HT photo)

Indore Inspired by the success of the campaign, the neighbouring Indore district administration has also worked out a smart plan. It has asked farmers to de-silt water bodies and transport the mineral rich soil to manure fields. The idea is working both ways as it is saving the district administration money in deepening water bodies and giving farmers mineral-rich manure for the fields at an affordable cost. All they have been asked to do is dig 3-5 feet deep and use 1/10th of the soil to strengthen the embankment. The plan has begun to pay rich dividends to both government and farmers in water crisis-hit areas.

Betul In another example of people’s initiative in water sector, the Korku tribals in Betul district planned, designed and constructed the check dam without any aid from the government. To construct a check dam over the Mandu Kheda stream s about 35 tribals worked tirelessly every day, for five months. The structure measuring 40 metres in length and 16 feet in height is almost ready.  Likewise 100 of villagers from Bastagua, Tori, Ratangua and Lidwara villages in Teekamgarh which is part of Bundelkhand got together and have built 150 ft long, 15 ft wide and  5 ft tall stop dam in Sanghani river to conserve water during the monsoon.

UTTAR PRADESH

Banda In water starved Bundelkhand region that has 113 farmers’ suicides since Jan. 2016, farmer Prem Singh is scripting a success story, and has set an example by practicing organic farming, horticulture and animal husbandry for past many years. On his farm in Banda district, one can see full water bodies, fruit-laden trees which have improved the risk-taking capacity of the farmer and healthy cattle, which in turn provide manure for organic farming. Locals and activists are now approaching Prem Singh to find out how his practices have transformed his farm into a lush area and 22% of the people in his village have grown an orchard on their farms. Indeed his model of diversification can be replicated by small farmers in the region.

Paani panchayat meeting in Kalothara village

Jalaun, Hamirpur, Lalitpur Meanwhile women groups in Jalaun, Hamirpur and Lalitpur districts also in Bundelkhand have joined hands to form pani-pnachayat. The focus of these paani panchayats, mostly led by dalit women, is to create more water resources, revive old ones and conserve natural water bodies with the help of traditional and modern technology. The first paani panchayat was formed in 2011 in Jalaun district. By September 2011, a total of 96 such water resource management councils were formed. Local organization Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan is supporting both the initiative in Bundelkhand.

Similarly, a group of villagers from Malakpur in Shamli district of western UP are trying to breathe new life into local stream Katha, a 150-km long river which is dead now. With help from a local scientist, farmers are leading the effort to turn a 1 KM of the barren riverbed into a lake. The plan is to put up check dams to harvest monsoon water along the 1 km stretch of the river bed which is 5-40 feet deep. At present, in the absence of check dams, it flows into the Yamuna. Over the last two weeks the villagers have launched a “one house, one pot” water donation movement.

KARNATAKA

Dharward Farm ponds have been proving effective against the drought in Karnataka also where majority  of farmers of 20 villages in Navalgund taluk of Dharward district are  unaffected by the drought. The farm ponds dug in low-lying areas  allow farmers to harvest occasion al   rainfall, store water and use it to provide timely  irrigation to  their crops.  As a result the farmers are able to irrigate and harvest 3-4 crops in  a year. Their income has more  than doubled and they are experimenting with  commercially viable crops  like papaya, beyond traditional ones such as  cotton, maize,  onion, chilly and pulses. The Deshpande Foundation with the support of the Tata Trust carrying out the work.

Mandya The farmers of Mandya district too which is  notorious for  farmers’  suicides is presently  experiencing an agricultural revolution of sorts as  farmers are now  selling organic  produce for a profit.  The man behind the initiative is Madhuchandan SC, who left a lucrative career in the US in August 2014   and started the Mandya Organic  Farmers Cooperative  Society with 270 farmers,  who produce  and sell their  own organic  farm  products.  

ANDHRA PRADESH

Anantapur district in the State has been facing a severe drought. After 2000, the area has seen rapid fall in ground water table mainly due to subsidized power connections and absence of formal legislation or social regulation to govern extraction. Despite water shortage the cultivation of water-intensive crops continued resulting in increasing water disputes among farmers. Now working towards a solution, 25 farmers of Kummaravandla Pally have formed a collective Kolagunti Ummadi Neeti Yajamanya Sangham to “share groundwater with each other” to sustain their crops with the help of government bodies and NGO WASSAN. The joint efforts of all three stakeholders have led to the concept of networking of bore wells to secure rain-fed crops of all farmers, irrespective of bore well ownership. By linking all bore wells with a network of pipelines and outlets, all farmers can now access groundwater. To ensure compliance, the farmers have also signed an agreement which aims at sustainable use of ground water resource encouraging farmers to switch to crop diversification, System Rice Intensification, horticulture, micro irrigation systems etc. the farmers’ committee has also put a ban on new bore well connection in critical area.

Farmers are also using government schemes such as water and soil conservation works under the MGNREGS and NADEP compost pits. The mutual agreement has led to a new way of agriculture in the 72 acres of land of 25 farmers. Since 2010, the cropping pattern has changed, leading to diversity of crops, reduction in costs of cultivation; improvement in value of produce and profit.

TELANGANA 

Learning from the Anantpur success story, several villages in six districts (Mahbubnagar, Ranga Reddy , Warangal, Medak, Karimnagar and Adilabad) of neighbouring Telangana are also piloting this participatory groundwater management programme.

The government of newly formed State has also been receiving a lot of appreciation for its flagship programme Mission Kakatiya aiming at de-silting, reviving and restoring the minor irrigation tanks ponds and lakes. The programme with the tagline “Mana Ooru, Mana Cheruvu’’ (our village, our pond) intends to create storage capacity of 265 TMC in the 10 districts. It has received kudos from the many governmental agencies and leading water experts has described it as historic decision to revive water sources. The tanks and ponds are important to Telangana because both rivers Godavari and Krishna flow at a lower level while the agricultural lands of Deccan plateau are at a higher level. Irrigation was possible only by using water from the tanks and ponds.

The weir of a pond on the outskirts of Karimnagar 

Village tanks and ponds are not just sources of water, they are also cultural centres for the communities where festivals like Batukamma, Katta Maisamma bonalu, Teez festivals of Banjara community, Ganga jataraas of fishermen community etc are celebrated on the banks of tanks in the villages. In first phase of the mission a total of 6,551 tanks, ponds has been de-silted by May 31 and work at 1,490 will be done by June-end. Under Mission Kakatiya phase-II, 10,184 tanks have identified of which 9,031 were approved for revival at a cost of Rs 3,071 crore. Work has begun at 8,272 tanks. According official estimates so far 10 crore cubic metre of silt has been removed creating 3.77 TMC of water storage in the revived tanks and ponds. Some 3 crore tractor-loads of silt has been removed and farmers have used their own tractors to take the silt to their fields.

RAJASTHAN

Jaipur Laporiya, a village 80 km from Jaipur, has been defying drought for the past 30 years with a collective effort of water harvesting by 350 families. While ground water has gone down to 500 feet in nearby areas, it is found at 15-40 feet in this village. Not only does lush Laporiya have enough water for its population of nearly 2,000, it even supplies water to some 10-15 surrounding villages. This journey from scarcity to self-sufficiency started in 1977 when an 18-year-old Laxman Singh realized that the only way to make the area agriculturally prosperous was making the area water rich through traditional method of water harvesting called Chowka. Under the chowka system, small, interconnected, sloping rectangular pits, nine inches deep, are made in pasture land. Over 15 years, the chowka system was developed on about 400 bighas of pasture land. The villagers came together and contributed money and labour to make the bunds. With the soil gaining moisture, villagers were able to harvest their rabi crop without irrigating their fields. There’s been some smart crop planning too. Villagers stay away from water-intensive crops.

Barmer & Jaisalmer In certain areas of Barmer and Jaisalmer districts in west Rajasthan, communities have taken it upon themselves to handle their water, food and fodder needs, and have come up with long-term sustainable solutions following Sambhaav Trust’s initiative. Just in the last two years, more than 100 beris (small community wells for drinking water), 10 lakes, 5 wells, 100 acres of agricultural land and 1,200 bighas of common pasture land have been revived. In more than 60 villages, people now have access to water, and are able to produce food and fodder for their livestock. This work has brought many changes with it. Villagers who had to walk 10 km to get water now have water in their village. Communities which never ever did agriculture now have their own lands to do so. People who would migrate to other states for work now live and work in their own villages. What is remarkable is how communities have pooled in their resources to work towards self-reliance. The youth are more attentive towards conserving natural resources and have become active in local governance.

Jaisalmer Ramgarh area iwhere it rain scantly, has also become water sufficient due to harvesting every drop of rain water in ponds without any aid from Government or NGOs.  The Viprasar pond holds special significance for this region. Villagers still practice community farming to save water and all the people have equal right on water bodies as the collective assets of the entire society. As a result, the area in the heart of desert today has plenty of water, foodgrains, and fodder and gives employment to the people belonging to areas which receive good rainfall.  

WEST-BENGAL

In Purulia, farmers have formed clubs for rainwater harvesting and collective farming, which has resulted in increased yields  (Samir Jana/HT Photo)

Purulia gets ample rain but the district has a very undulating terrain due to this nearly 50% of this water is wasted in run off making the district prone to droughts. But things started changing in some portions of the district over the past 3 years. A Kolkata-based NGO SAFE with funds from NABARD has taken up rain water harvesting through farmers club. At present there are more than 70 such farmers clubs in 5 blocks of the district. Along with rain water harvesting other innovative measures such as ‘collective farming’, wherein farmers harvest a single crop over several acres of land instead of growing various crops in their fragmented individual farmlands and ‘water budgeting’ in which the members of the club decide on what crops to grow according to availability of rain leaving some water for daily use and growing fishes have also helped the farmers. With yields increasing more farmers are now showing interest to form farmers clubs.

JHARKHAND

Jharkhand’s ‘waterman,’ Simon Oraon, will now be working on motivating farmers to preserve rain water to sustain agricultural activities.

Ranchi Simon Oraon, popularly known as Baba in Bero block of Ranchi area has transformed the lives of thousands of villagers in Jharkhand with his massive tree-planting and water conservation efforts, The 84-year-old man, a Padma Shri awardee, has been working in 51 villages of Bero to protect natural flora for decades. The residents of these 51 villages owe him the agricultural prosperity he brought them through simple water conservation efforts. Today, his village is one of the state’s agri-produce hubs, supplying more than 25,000 metric tonnes of vegetables to various districts and nearby locations.

ODISHA

Farmers Sitaram Majhi and Dambru Majhi on their farm land 

Bargarh In Kharamal village under Jamseth gram panchayat of Paikmal block, which is often hit by drought but farmers Sitaram Majhi & Dambru Majhi, who have created water harvesting models in their agricultural land, using which the farmers have managed to irrigate vegetables and earn profit. In 2005, Water Initiatives Odisha, a group of people working on water issues, motivated villagers to develop an integrated ecological revival plan for the village. Locals then revived a community tank in the village but Sitaram and Dambru dug up small water bodies on their land, locally called Muda. During monsoon, the run-off rain water from the hill range would flow through their land and get collected in the Muda. A few years later, the soil moisture content improved with ground water being recharged due to the Mudas.

UTTARAKHAND

Pauri In Ufrenkhal village, Sacchidanand Bharti has created a lush, green mountain covered with deodar, banj and utees trees over few decades.  The forest has replaced a formerly barren land. The man along with villagers has also revived a local stream with the help of the Chal-Khal method. Under this system small percolation pits on every bit of available land on the slopes of stream were dug by villages. Grass and trees were planted around and in the pits to secure the edge and prevent the soil from being washed away.  Once grown, they helped in retaining soil and water. The pits and the trees developed a mutually beneficial relationship, which rejuvenated an entire system. Today, more than 40 villages have adopted chal-khal system. Earlier, this work was carried out by the villagers through shramadaan drives. Today, it is done in the monsoons, for wages of Rs. 50/- per pit. This is an on-going process, having continued for over 30 years now.

PUNJAB

Avtar Singh with his cotton and cucumber crop

Kapurthala, Moga, Fatehgarh Sahib Even as concern over declining water table and over exploitation of water in Punjab for paddy continues to grow, some farmers in the state are innovative techniques to save water. Avtar Singh, a farmer in Phagwara has inter-cropped cotton crop with cucumbers and is practicing capillary action irrigation which also helps in conserving water. He irrigates his fields after every 2 weeks, helping him save a lot of water which would otherwise have been used to flood the land. Paramjit Singh Gill of Moga cultivated red garlic, a crop that is not familiar to Punjab, and has reaped profit of Rs 1 lakh per acre. Another farmer, Sukhvir Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib has grown onions on 7 acres, muskmelon on 5 acres, tomatoes on 2 acres, chillies on 2 acres and pumpkin on 1 acre.

GUJARAT

Kutch As the state reels under water scarcity this summer staring at empty dams on minor rivers, several areas in Kutch are still satiating their drinking water needs from carefully managed groundwater. A total of 300 villages of four talukas on coastal area Abdasa, Mandvi, Mundra and Anjar  are involved in an aquifer management project for the past 4 years. This summer has showed a marked difference in several, if not all, villages that are part of the network. The mapping of aquifer took place five years ago along with Central Ground Water Board as three of the four talukas were declared ‘dark zones’ with high TDS and over 50% saline water. It is one of the few projects at aquifer level going on in India, with such a large population base.

Final Thoughts:- As a large part of country is facing water scarcity due to drought, there are villages and districts in several States which have revived their local water harvesting structures like Chowka, Muda and Kakatiya in Rajasthan, Odisha and Telangana and devised new methods like farmers club, farm ponds, pani-panchayat, check dams, bore well networking, aquifer management, participatory ground water management in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra which not only have provided the villagers and farmers security against water crisis but also ensured gradual increase in livelihoods.
The water conservation efforts taken up by Punjab farmers and Simon Oraon in Jharkhand are also encouraging. At the same time the organic farming initiative started by Prem Singh in Banda and Madhuchandan SC in Mandya shows alternative farming methods to stressed farmers. It is also worth mentioning that countless NGOs and many government departments with relevant schemes are helping the villagers in their uphill but successful initiatives. 

The compilation underlines that community driven and local water conservation methods even today, remain viable and cost-effective alternatives to rejuvenate depleted groundwater aquifers. With government support, these structures could be upgraded and productively combined with modern water harvesting & conserving techniques. This may be a far more sustainable approach to alleviating the water scarcity crisis across India.
No doubt this drought is exceptional but at the same time it offers a golden chance to draw lessons from local and community driven water conservation initiatives. In this defining moment, it depends on us how we convert this adversary into an opportunity by reinventing time-tested and local water harvesting structures with community participation and by incorporating innovative ideas to keep severe drought like this at bay.

Source: SANDRP, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People

The post Preserving a Precious Resource: Water Conservation Alternatives appeared first on SabrangIndia.

हम सबको बारिश बहुत अच्छी लगती है न! सिनेमा के परदे पर जब नायक बारिश में भीगता हुआ नायिका के सामने प्रेम-प्रस्ताव रखता है, हम उसमें अपने-आप को ढूंढने लगते हैं. अगर आप उत्तर भारतीय हैं तो याद कीजिये कितनी दफ़ा बारिश में नहाये हैं, कितनी दफ़ा बारिश के जमा पानी में कागज़ के नाव बनाकर तैरा चुके हैं. मतलब कि आपने बारिश के बगैर जीवन की कल्पना नहीं की होगी. वहीं देश में ऐसे हिस्से भी हैं जहाँ के लोगों ने सालों से बारिश नहीं देखी. उनकी कल्पनाओं की ज़मीन भी गांवों की ज़मीनों की तरह बंजर हो चुकी है.बीड़ भी ऐसी ही जगहों में से एक है.

लातूर बसस्थानक-2 से रवाना हुआ बीड़ के लिए. हम जैसे हिंदी पट्टी के लोगों के लिए महाराष्ट्र के ठेठ ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में घुसते ही भाषा रोड़ा बनने लगती है और दुभाषिये की ज़रूरत पड़ने लगती है. जब किसी का दर्द महसूस करने में भाषा रोड़ा बनने लगे तो समझना चाहिए कि समाज के तौर पर हम हार रहे हैं.ऐसा मुझे लगता है, आप न मानने के लिए स्वतंत्र हैं.खैर, बीड़ के अष्टी तालुका(तहसील) में साबलखेड़ नाम का एक गाँव है. यह योगिता का गांव है. योगिता वह बच्ची जिसकी मौत कुछ रोज़ पहले पानी के लिए चक्कर लगाते वक़्त ‘सनस्ट्रोक’ से हो गई. लातूर से बस पकड़ हम पहुंचे मांजरसुंबा. बस बदलकर वहां से अष्टी बसस्थानक और फिर कड़ा. साबलखेड़ से 2.5-3 किमी पहले पड़ने वाले कड़ा बसस्थानक पर साइनाथ पान शॉप चलाने वाले शिवाजी मिले. शिवाजी के पास लगभग 3 एकड़ ज़मीन है. पर 5-6 साल से खेती छोड़ दी, कारण बताया कि कुछ हो ही नहीं रहा था खेत में और क़र्ज़ बढ़ता जा रहा था. अब दुकान डाल ली है और भविष्य में किसानी करने का कोई इरादा नहीं रखते. पानी का पूछने पर बताया कि अब रोज़ नहाना छोड़ दिया है उनके घरवालों ने. क्योंकि पीने के लिए ही बहुत मुश्किल से पानी का जुगाड़ हो पाता है. सप्लाई का पानी आता नहीं, टैंकर का पानी हफ्ते-दस दिन में आता है. कभी 150 लीटर तो कभी 200 लीटर पानी मिलता है. अक्सर खरीदकर पानी लाना पड़ता है. 350-400 रूपये में 1000 लीटर रेट से पानी खरीदना पड़ता है. अगर इस बार भी पानी नहीं बरसा तो क्या करेंगे के सवाल पर शिवाजी कहते हैं कि ‘खेती ख़त्म हो गई कबका, अब पीने का पानी तक नहीं है तो क्या करेंगे इधर रहकर? जान ही नहीं बचेगी तो घर-ज़मीन का क्या करेंगे?’कहाँ जायेंगे के सवाल पर कहते हैं कि ‘जहाँ पानी होगा उधर जायेंगे’.

साबलखेड़ गांव के दुआर पर ही दत्तू माणी मिले. बताया कि 4 साल से बारिश नहीं देखी. दत्तू मछुवारा समुदाय से आते हैं, मजदूरी करते हैं. बताते हैं कि काम नहीं मिलता आजकल. खोजने के लिए 50-60 किमी दूर तक भी जाना होता है. कई बार कोई ठेकेदार आता है और गाड़ी(ट्रैक्टर) बैठा कर ले जाता है. काम नहीं है बोल कर कम पैसे में काम करवाया जा रहा है. औसतन 200 रूपये दिहाड़ी दी जा रही है और काम मिलता है 8-10 दिन में एक बार. दत्तू भाऊ के पास घर के अतिरिक्त कोई ज़मीन नहीं.दत्तू भाऊ से बात करते-करते गांव के ही शेख़नूरुद्दीन रमज़ान मिल गए.शेख़नुरुद्दीन 80 किमी दूर अरंगांव के पास से मजदूरी करके आ रहे थे. शेख़नुरुद्दीन ने बताया कि गांव के लोग घर का सारा सामान मसलन सब्जी, अनाज सबकुछ 40 किमी दूर अहमदनगर से आता है. पूरा गांव मजदूरी पर निर्भर है. जिनके पास खेती हुआ करती थी अब 5 साल से साफ़ हो चुकी है. अब सभी मजदूर हैं. गांव में 2-4 रोज़ पर पानी का टैंकर आता है और गांव के बीचोबीच बनी टंकी (6500 लीटर) में पानी भर के चला जाता है. गांव के वह परिवार जो बाकियों की तुलना में मजबूत हैं उन्होंने मोटर लगवा रखा है; टंकी से पानी जल्दी खींच लेते हैं और बाकी बचे-खुचे पानी से काम चलाते हैं. 100-150 लीटर पानी मिल पाता है, कई बार नहीं भी मिलता. गांव के पास और कोई जलस्रोत नहीं बचा. सब सूख चुका है.

योगिता के घर की एक फोटू

योगिता के घर के दरवाज़े पर ही पिता अशोक मिल गए.द्वार पर ही कई महिलायें बैठी थीं जिनमें योगिता की माँ भी थी.माँ से बात करने की हिम्मत नहीं हुई मेरी.घर के दरवाजे पर ही छप्पर के नीचे एक बकरी बंधी हुई थी.छप्पर की बल्ली से एक प्लास्टिक का डिब्बा लटका हुआ था जो पक्षियों को पानी पिलाने के लिए था.डिब्बे को योगिता ने लटकाया था.पिता अशोक ने बताया कि 5 साल से इनकी खेती नष्ट हो चुकी है और इन्हें भी मजदूरी करनी पड़ती है. योगिता गांव की टपरी से ही घड़े में पानी भरकर ला रही थी और तीसरे चक्कर में गश खाकर गिरी और अस्पताल(धानूरा) में दम तोड़ गई. योगिता की उम्र 11 साल थी, पांचवीं में पढ़ती थी. योगिता का भाई योगेश 15 साल का है और नवीं कक्षा में पढ़ता है. पिता अशोक बता रहे थे कि दस दिनों से काम नहीं मिला है और मैं देख रहा था कि योगेश 15 साल का है और देखने में 8-9 साल का लगता है. पता किया तो बताया कि 11 साल की योगिता 5-6 साल की दिखती थी. दिमाग में तूफ़ान उठा तो नज़र फिराया, आस-पास मौजूद लोगों को ध्यान से देखने लगा. गांव के बारे में बता रहे अल्ताफ़ शेख़ जिन्हें मैं 17-18 साल का लड़का समझ रहा था, वह 28 साल के निकले. अल्ताफ़ की शादी हो चुकी है और एक बच्चा भी है. 12 वीं के बाद पढ़ाई छूटी और मजदूरी करने लगे. अल्ताफ़ ने बताया कि सारे गांव के बच्चे ऐसे ही कमजोर हैं. बच्चे देश का भविष्य होते हैं ये जुमला बहुत पुराना है, आपने भी सुना होगा.

आप विदर्भ की किसान आत्महत्याओं के बारे में जानते होंगे, जानते नहीं होंगे तो सुना तो ज़रूर होगा. बाद में भले ही अनसुना कर दिया हो. पूरे विदर्भ में आपको बच्चे इसी तरह कुपोषण का शिकार मिलेंगे. मैं कालाहांडी की बात नहीं कर रहा. विदर्भ महाराष्ट्र में आता है. हमारा प्रधानमंत्री सोमालिया की बात करता है पर साबलखेड़ जैसे गांव का पता नहीं रखता.हालाँकि मुझे सरकारों से अपेक्षा नहीं रहती पर मैं आपसे जानना चाहता हूँ कि क्या ‘मेक इन इंडिया’ में योगिता-योगेश जैसे बच्चों की जगह है?

हम देश का नाम लेते हैं और हमारी भुजाएँ फड़कती हैं, हमारा सीना गर्व से फूल जाता है.क्या हमारे सीने पर साबलखेड़ का कोई बच्चा सर रख सकता है? अगर नहीं तो देश के मायने क्या होते हैं फिर? मुझे याद आ रहा है जब मैंने फेसबुक पर साबलखेड़ से ही एक पोस्ट लिखा था तो किसी ने कमेंट किया था कि जब खाने को नहीं तो बच्चे क्यों पैदा करते हैं ये. मैंने इसका कोई जवाब नहीं दिया था क्योंकि यह कमेंट अच्छे दिनों का प्रतिनिधि कमेंट है.यह हुंकार है कि ऐसे हैं अच्छे दिन. गांवों में बिजली है, घर के सामने से सड़क गुज़रती है. यही तो है विकास. विकास का काम थोड़ी न है थाली में खाना परोसना, पानी पीने को देना. बच्चों का पोषण भी विकास की ज़िम्मेदारी नहीं है.दत्तू भाऊ के घर चाय पीते वक़्त उनके 5 साल के भतीजे नागेश ने मुझसे पूछ लिया था, बारिश क्या होती है? मैंने कोई जवाब नहीं दिया. यह मानकर चलना चाहता हूँ कि नागेश को हिंदी नहीं आती. इसलिए उसे बारिश का मतलब नहीं पता.

यह सब लिखते-लिखते मैं ख़ाली हो गया हूँ. मुझे नहीं पता मैं क्या लिख रहा हूँ. इतना शर्मिंदा हूँ कि डूब के मर जाना चाहता हूँ, पर यहाँ तो चुल्लू भर पानी भी नहीं मांग सकता किसी से. कड़ा बसस्थानक पर योगिता के चाचा ईश्वर और अल्ताफ़ छोड़ने आये हैं. बस आने में लेट है और मैं नज़र बचाने में व्यस्त हूँ. ईश्वर भाऊ कह रहे हैं चाय पीने को और मैं बीड़ी के धुंए के साथ खर्च हो रहा हूँ. अचानक बस आती दिख रही है और अल्ताफ़ गले लगकर भावुक हो गया है. कह रहा है बात करते रहियेगा फ़ोन पर. मैं सोच रहा हूँ उसने ये क्यों कहा मुझसे….

Images: Devesh Tripathi and Anupam Sinha

जल-संकट (लातूर-शहर) -1 : यह हमारी सभ्यता के अंत की शुरुआत है

The post जल-संकट-2 (साबलखेड़-योगिता के गांव): बारिश किस चिड़िया का नाम? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

During her tour of three districts of Marathwada which are reeling under a severe drought, former Rajya Sabha and CPI(M)’s politbureau member, Brinda Karat found the Maharashtra government’s relief schemes woefully inadequate and the local administration lethargic. The result: Agricultural labourers as well as kisans (famers) are in deep distress.

Highlights of her findings:

• The publicised relief measures are in reality either non-existent or highly adequate.
• The government’s promise of providing 150 days of work under MGNREGA is just that: an empty promise.
• In one of the villages Karat visited, labourers had not been paid for 6 weeks. This in effect is pushing them into a debt trap.
• The acute drought has made the soil hard and stony. Because of the unrealistic schedule of rates, though the daily wages are pegged at Rs. 191 per day, no labourer is able to earn more than Rs. 125.
• With successive drought years, farmers are heavily in debt. Already in the first 100 days of the current year, 320 farmers have committed suicide. A majority of the farmers have yet to receive compensation for crop loss for the previous year. Instead of relief from government, farmers are receiving notices from banks adding to their trauma and despair.
• With water and fodder in short supply, desperate farmers have to sell off their cattle at half the price.
• Despite the publicity of water being supplied to villages by the administration, most of the water requirement is being met through private parties who are reaping huge profits.

In a memorandum submitted to the commissioner, Aurangabad, Karat has pointed to some urgent remedial measures. Here is the full text of her memorandum:
 
The Commissioner,
Aurangabad Division
 
Dear Shri Dangat ji,

The Kisan Sabha is holding a campaign on the issues of acute agrarian distress in the Marathwada region. As part of the campaign I had been to a number of villages, cattle fairs, cattle shelters and met approximately 200 kisans and agricultural and MNREGA workers from around  15-20 villages from the districts of Aurangabad, Beed and Jalna.

The Kisan Sabha will undoubtedly give you a comprehensive charter of demands in the coming days. Meanwhile, I would like to draw your urgent attention to the following issues. These are only related to the immediate short term issues which obviously have to be within the framework of a long term plan to deal with water scarcity, water conservation, forestry, etc:

1. The declared government schemes are not seen on the ground in large parts of the area and where they are in operation they are inadequate. The depth of the distress requires administrative measures in a mission mode to bring relief. Unfortunately this is not the case as the following examples show:

2. MGNREGA: I was told by the collector of Beed district that the number of workers on MGNREGA sites has increased from 10,000 to 55,000. However, in all the villages I had reports from there was no work available, not even for the large number of cane cutting migrant workers who have returned to their villages and are desperately looking for work. The government promise of providing 150 days of work is a mockery in the face of this reality.

Even assuming that the official records are all of real workers and not substantially "ghost" workers, as is being alleged by many of the workers seeking work, it is clearly inadequate. With no agricultural work available, the importance of MGNREGA cannot be overemphasised. I believe this requires much greater attention and monitoring to provide work on demand as mandated by the law. 

3. I met MGNREGA workers at the worksite in village Takarwan. They were wearing black ribbons on their wrists as a sign of protest since they have not been paid a single paisa since the work on the project started one and a half months ago. When I checked with the collector, he said that the funds were slow in coming but that it would be done shortly.

It is extreme callousness that in times of such distress wages for work completed are not paid forcing the workers into debt. This is an example of government created and driven debt. I would request you to ensure immediate payment as per the law.

4. The other critical issue on MGNREGA is the current schedule of rates. The soil has turned hard and stony. Yet the work norms are so high as to be impossible for any worker to fulfill. I was informed by the women workers that they have to dig and lift approximately 5,000 kilos of mud a day to reach the work norm for a minimum wage. This is the extent of the cruelty of the government to deprive the workers of the minimum wage. 

It is no surprise therefore that according to the measurement of work done, not a single worker is eligible for the full wage of Rs 191 but the average works out to around Rs 125. It is urgently required to ensure payment of the full wage and reduction of the SORs.

5. As far as kisans are concerned the urgent issue is that of immediate debt relief. Instead, banks are sending notices leading to further trauma and distress. As it is in this region till mid-April, the suicides this year are as high as 320.

Fruit growing kisans such as orange farmers stated that they have had to cut and burn their dried up trees for lack of water. In Beed district it was said that the compensation for crop loss of last year has still not been received by the vast majority of kisans. This again shows the absence of sensitivity on behalf of the government. It is essential to ensure debt relief as well as crop compensation on a war footing.

6. Distress sale of animals is a critical issue driven by debt as well as by the huge expenditure required to maintain the animals with no water availability and no fodder. In the cattle fair at Pachod in Paitha tehsil, Aurangabad, kisans were selling a pair of bullocks priced at Rs 70,000 for just Rs. 30,000-35,000. This is linked to the failure to provide water and cheap fodder.

There are two issues which need to be dealt with urgently. Firstly, the scheme for cattle shelters if implemented properly can be of great help. But these are far too inadequate in number. Also the government must directly run these shelters instead of handing them over to societies which are not being paid in time leading to further problems. Secondly, the amount of assistance does not cover the actual cost of maintaining the animal.

It was shocking to hear that of the amount of Rs 70 rupees to be disbursed per animal pay day,  Rs 8 was being cut by government for the projected price of the manure from each animal per day. This is perhaps the most bizarre approach which depicts the callousness of the government and should be removed and adequate expenditure provided.

7. While the government has publicised its efforts to provide water, in the areas I had visited the main supplies were provided by private  water companies. There were reports of a nexus between government suppliers and private companies.  In any case, it is a fact that the private water companies are making windfall profits, exploiting the desperate need of the people for minimum supplies of water which the government has utterly failed to provide, leaving the field open for private suppliers. There is no regulation or control over the prices being charged. This is an urgent issue which needs to be addressed by the administration.

These are a few of the issues which I wanted to bring to your attention. The deep distress is the region demands a much more comprehensive and mission approach which is sadly lacking.

Yours sincerely,
Brinda Karat

(Along with  colleagues in the Kisan Sabha and CPI(M) including comrades PS Ghadge,  Bhausaheb Zhirpe, B Potbhare and B Bhumbe).

The post Government Insensitivity Amidst Acute Distress in Marathwada appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Latur’s 600-bed Civil Hospital Reels Under Water Cuts due to Drought, Private Clinics also Affected

Acute water cuts due to the crippling drought in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra have put  tremendous burden and pressure on Latur’s 600-bed Civil Hospital that is now catering to a one hundred per cent rise in normal and emergency cases with patients preferring government facilities to the more expensive private ones. With the situation at a crisis level already in April, there is a real worry that in the latter part of May health services may have to be shut down, or curtailed.

“The average normal demand for water in our hospital is 1 to 1.25 lakh litres,” Dr Shailendra Chauhan, resident Medical Officer told Sabrangindia, “ Due to the cuts the Mahanagarpalika can only give us 30-40,000 litres per day. This is when pressure on our facilities is increasing. We normally catered to 30-35 normal deliveries every day; this figure has shot up to 50-60. Caesarian operations that averaged 10 a day are now up to 20.”

This means greater pressure on the 600-bed hospital that remains the main source for the region. The district does not have a hospital leaving this the major hospital for patients to turn to.

“This cut on the normal quota of water supply due to the drought, made more acute by increasing pressure of patients has forced us to cut the water supply by tap. Only limited and control water is supplied in drums, to the patients, “added the doctor.

This inevitably has had an impact on the overall cleanliness and while things are currently in control with private trusts and others chipping in by supplying water from tankers, there is a deep apprehension as to how the month of May will turn out. “Emergency road accidents, regular deliveries these are constants; how we will cope with these towards the latter half of May causes great concern. We just hope that we will not be forced to close down,” he adds on a somber note.

The Latur Civil Hpsital has 600 beds and due to acute water shortage in the Marathwada region is facing pressure of medical cases, normal and emergencies all being diverted to it as patients –faced with a huge economic crunch due to crippling drought—cannot anymore access the fancier and more expensive private medical facilities. There are 12 to 15 such in Latur.

The Latur Civil Hospital has a Staff of 425 Post Graduate Medical Students and 125 full-fledged Lectures/Associate Professors. The Nursing Staff is also vast numbering at 400-450. This entire team is currently under tremendous pressure in regular touch with the government administration and private organizations to alleviate the crisis.

On April 7, the Economic Times had reported that the situation is so grim that private doctors in the region are finding it tough to treat patients and are putting off surgeries. Many of these are being diverted to the government civil hospital that is facing a crush and burden.

There is presently an acute shortage of water as the Manjra dam and Dhanegaon river that used to supply water to the district has gone dry doctors. Bore wells within a 20-30 kilometres radius of Latur have run completely dry.

While basic medical services and access to basic drinking water threatens many ares of the state, including urban centres, Maharashtra will still go ahead and use huge quantities (nearly 60 lakh litres) of water on 20 IPL matches at three venues in the state between April and May 2016.

The post 60 % Water Cuts in Hospitals, Fear of Shut Down in May: Marathwada appeared first on SabrangIndia.