GLOBAL PARLI (part 2) – Water storage, conservation and management

Parli gets on an average 700 mm of rains, but in the past six years, it has got around 50% deficits in four of these years. Therefore water levels have gone down tremendously. Water is never created inside the earth. It goes from the ground to the underground, filtered through various levels. This water goes and gets stored below the surface at different levels. Earth is the best underground water tank reservoir which is natural, does not evaporate and has huge unlimited capacity. And it belongs to everyone. Water below the surface has been in existence for thousands and thousands of years. Even before mankind.

But, we have stopped respecting nature, water has been taken for granted and now we are staring at scarcity of water. Water that comes from rains is allowed to flow away. 40% of the water flows away and is frittered, 30% is absorbed by plants without planning and balance goes into the ground. To reach to the water levels, farmers have been making deeper and deeper bore wells. Water store below the surface for thousands of years is now being withdrawn. Rivers, dams and canals are completely dry.

Multiple bore wells are drilled at competing depths for pulling the water from the earth’s storage without replenishing it. The richer the farmer, the deeper his bore well is drilled, so that he gets more water than his neighbors.

Now that monsoon is closing in, we need to start working at two levels

1.    Creating large storage capacity for rainwater that would last till the next monsoon.

2.    Creating conservation methods of utilizing rain water in a scientific manner so that there is never a need for tankers, ever.

For creating water storage and slowing down the water flow, the Government has an effective scheme called the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyaan. The project involves deepening and widening of streams, construction of cement and earthen stop dams, work on nullahs and digging of farm ponds. We also are considering constructing deep Continuous Contour Trenches to stop the water flow in slopes.

All 15 villages are making a proposal for creating this storage capacity in their areas, in rivers, nallahs and ponds and have submitted the same to the tehsildar. Work is about to begin in some of them. We are hopeful of creating adequate water storage to last till next monsoon.

For conservation, we have started working on recharging existing bore wells and wells. The public bore wells (7-10 bore wells per village) are being recharged by Fulora Foundation, while the private ones (100 bore wells per village) are being done with the help of the government. Each bore well recharge along with rain water harvesting will lead to replenishing the aquifer by 1,00,000 to 10,00,000 litres of water in this monsoon.

Water may cease to be a problem from this year in the 15 global parli villages.

GLOBAL PARLI (part 1) - Concept

Soon, the rains will arrive and the need for supplying water will cease. We will have to graduate from social work to real nation building.

IT IS TIME TO CREATE A PERMANENT SOLUTION. 
Time to evolve to the “GLOBAL PARLI” project.

Gandhiji used to say that every village should become self-sufficient. We think that villages are too small a unit to become self-sufficient, but if we were to take a group or cluster of villages, then we can make it almost complete.

Ralegaon Siddhi (population 2300) and Hiwre Bazaar (pop 1250) are “model villages” that used the local knowledge, involvement of villagers, funds from the government development scheme and techniques suitable to their geography and conditions. There is lot to learn from them. But are they replicable or can we copy their methods across India? I think there are limitations. For example, because of low rains, Hiwre Bazaar has decided that it will not grow any crops this year. They are reasonably prosperous and lot of its income comes from Dairy business, so they are in a position to take such a decision. But can the farmers of Marathawada do so? Also, are they not too small a size to become the model that rural India is looking for?

In Parli Tehsil, in the Beed district of Marathawada – we selected 15 of the worst-hit villages with total population of around 30,000 and have planned to create a cluster of villages called “GLOBAL PARLI”.

Our Goal: INCREASE PER CAPITA INCOME OF EACH FARMER BY 250% IN 3 YEARS.

Year 1 goal – Make these villages tanker-free and drought resistant forever.

Year 2 goal – Increase yield and ensure value addition to agriculture by putting up supply chain system, agro-plants, direct-to-customer sales, ayurvedic units etc

Year 3 goal – Create reverse migration models and focus on education, vocational training, health, sports, art and music.

Why to do "Social Work"?

In our religions, they say that we get lots of  “Punya” if we given even a glass of water to the thirsty. Having jointly given over 55 lakh litres in the past 26 days to the reallllly thirsty, we all have collected enough blessings to last a few lifetimesJ.

But seriously speaking, I would like to make a few observations on social work. I have seen many social workers become bitter because the recipients or society do not recognize or appreciate or honor their devotion to others.  Most people do social work because “they feel good” or because it “reduces their guilt of being in a better life situation than others less fortunate” or because as a friend said “I was so happy to see the beggar’s smile as I gave her some money.”

That is a trap. When your mind starts calculating the benefit it gives oneself, then the reaction of others determine your happiness and bitterness. You become happy/sad based on other people’s reactions.

My reading of what to do in a moral dilemma led me to study ethics and hence Mahabharata, Ramayana and Western ethical philosophies.

Immanuel Kant (18^th Century, Prussian philosopher) says that “Do the right thing because it is right”, for no reason except that it is the right thing to do.

If you interpolate it with Bhagwad Geeta’s shloka Ch 2: 47, which says “keep on doing your work without expecting any reward”, then we have a philosophy that is appealing

“Do the right thing without expecting any reward” 

Action Plan for Beed Drought - 1

Water is never created inside the earth. It goes from the ground to the underground, filtered through various levels. This water goes and gets stored below the surface at different levels. Earth is the best underground water tank reservoir which is natural, does not evaporate and has huge unlimited capacity. And it belongs to everyone. Water below the surface has been in existence for thousands and thousands of years. Even before mankind.

But, we have stopped respecting nature, water has been taken for granted and now we are staring at scarcity of water. Water that comes from rains is allowed to flow away. 40% of the water flows away and is frittered, 30% is absorbed by plants without planning and balance goes into the ground. Multiple bore wells are drilled at competing depths for pulling the water from the earth’s storage without replenishing it. The richer the farmer, the deeper his bore well is drilled, so that he gets more water than his neighbors.

But the access to the underground water storage by these bore wells must now be used to refill the underground water. Water from rooftops, water streams of the surface and other rainwater drains should be converged and use to recharge existing bore wells and wells.

All other ways of water conservation are costly and less effective than the recharging bore wells. Compared to creating a water pond of 50000 litres costing Rs75,000, recharging of bore well stores 1,00,000 to 10,00,000 litres for an approximate cost of Rs.12500 and if we charge sufficient borewells in every village, there will never be water drought ever.

Each village has around 5 to 8 public bore wells. From today, our team in Parli has begun surveying 5-10 public bore wells each in 15 villages.

Present state of villages and people

The fourth drought in last six years has reduced water table drastically. Water is available far away. People, especially women and girls have to walk long distances in the sun for water. And finally they can carry just two or three vessels per trip. Many villagers do not have footwear too. Also cattle become last priority in using water .

There is just one crop per year due to scarcity of water. Soyabean and cotton are main crops.

Due to water table going down, richer farmer make multiple borewells that go deeper and suck away the water. The poorer farmers and landless labour have access to mostly public water bodies.

There are just 2 solar electric poles in the village of 1200 people in Gopalpur and there is no activity after dark.

Most able bodied people are not satisfied with Rs.180 per day MNREGA scheme and they leave their parents, small children and village to go to other places to work in sugarcane factories at Rs.250 – 300 per day. They are taken by contractors in trucks and they come back after a few months.

Life is Grim. 

Middle-aged and Elder Villagers are resigned to fate and have lost the spirit to fight. Abject poverty, injustice and drought-after-droughts have brought them to their knees. Our volunteer was mentioning a graduate couple in Gopalpur Village, who lives in a kacha house with a tin roof that heats up during the day (Summers are upto 43 degrees) that breaks down often and gets filled with water during monsoon and cooks on smoke filling wood. They think that this is the only way to life and have resigned to their fate. That is the average life.

The young want a better life and one anecdote is of our volunteer Renu (a professor of Mass Media in Mumbai) meeting a group of sharp, intelligent youngsters in a small village called Mamdapur. One of the youngster interspersed his talk with English words and when asked by Renu, he said that he has an Oxford dictionary at home, where he learns 50 new words every day. He and others deserve a better life.

500 metres outside Gopalpur village is a “Tanda” where the most backward caste people live without any road, water or electricity. Discrimination is not based on economy but on caste. 

Caste dynamics play a very important role. But there is no physical conflicts in these villages due to caste or religion. The injustice is subtle.

Shameless Begging

Since I have begun supplying water tankers to villages in Beed, a few thoughts have come to my mind, which I thought of sharing.

I was taught that there are three key things in life - siksha, diksha and bhiksha.

Siksha was learning about existing knowledge. Our education system is made of learning subjects and theories that have been written or taught by others. Lectures, speeches, readings are all about siksha.

Diksha was about starting the creative spark within one's self. It may happen due to some personal meditation, intuition, reflection or energy transmission from someone.

I was comfortable with both these processes, but I used to shy away from asking for anything  - bhiksha or begging. My false ego prevented me from asking anyone for money or favours. I used to call that asking as "indecent". In earlier times, common people's children and even the king's prince used to go door to door asking for food. A king has the money to buy the best for his children, but the act of begging or bhiksha was an antidote to the ego.

So, this time when we started water supply in Beed, we had to ask donors for money. But I suddenly found that my diffidence for asking for money was gone. When people had doubts or questions regarding the integrity of the expense, my ego would have earlier raised its head and I would have felt hurt that people asked ME for justification. But, now I do not think that and I feel that it is our duty to be very transparent and accountable for every rupee that we get.

A few days back, someone invited me for his daughter's birthday (I have not attending social functions since over a decade) - I agreed, provided he gave money for the drought. When an old friend invited me for dinner, I agreed, provided he donated. Have become a shameless beggar. I was not asking for anything for myself but for others. Maybe the ego has taken a beating.

So, while serving others - maybe some personal growth has taken place within too.