Jothimony and his staff and volunteers at Vidiyel Trust had arranged this 2-day conference. About 20 Panchayat Leaders and almost 300+ SHG women attended this conference. The first day event started with ceremonial lighting of the lamp ("Kuthi Villakku"). Jothimony had invited a number of local members of the Govt Rural Administration, such as the DRDA officer, Rural development staff, Banker, Judge and others. It is important to connect with these officials and seek their 'blessings' because many of the projects may need their approvals and clearance. It is better to include them in this public-private partnership.
I will provide a scanned image of the 4-page official invitation that was prepared by Jothimony. (Note: Email notices are frowned upon by local people. They are comfortable with printed invitations and are likely to respond better.)
The event took place in a local 'kalyan manadapam' (marriage hall). The meetings took place on the lower level. The second floor was used for serving lunch and dinner. The 300+ SHG women had come from many nearby villages. They stayed overnight at different halls in this town.
In the afternoon, we conducted 2 parallel interacting sessions.
In the main hall, Senthil Kumar of Vavipalayam introduced various income generation opportunities being proposed. The SHG women asked many questions and we have mad a list of all such SHG groups.
In a nearby hall, Elango of Kuthambakkam village near Chennai conducted a group discussion with about 20 panchayat leaders. Elango urged the panchayat leaders to understand their proper role in the village community, what their rights are and how they can actively engage the village community. Many of the panchayat leaders admitted that they currently act a conduit for decisions made by the District Collector or the State Government.
A community procession carrying candle light started from the local bus stand, passed through 3 streets and ended in the same meeting hall. About 75 SHG women, about 20 young NCC boys (National Cadet Corps) and all the volunteers attending this conference, joined the peaceful procession. I was asked - why the procession. Senthil suggested this procession idea to convey to the other residents of this town that a meeting was a taking place and in a way to promote 'communal harmony'.
This was followed by dinner and screening of the movie 'Bharathi'. Composer-poet Bharathiyar is the son of this soil and hails from the village of 'Ettaiyapuram', about 20 km north of Vilathikulam.
Contact information:
Dr. Jothimony, Vidiyel trust
Vilathikulam, 1/38 Madurai Road, Tuticorin District
Tamil Nadu 628-907
Telephone:
Office: (463)-823-3674
Residence: (463)-823-3090
E-Mail
address
vidiyelrurdev_ngo@yahoo.co.in
The focus on the second day is on SHG and various projects.
After the opening remarks by the local Judge, BDO and DRDA officials, Senthil Kumar led another interacting session with the SHG women. We were informed that Prof Palanithurai was involved in a panchayat planning session and could not attend the event.
After lunch, Poonia of Sehgal Foundation spoke about why the SHG's must take their initiative. His talk included the concept of soak pit installed in over 120 sites in Haryana.
During the conference, the Vidiyel Trust had selected a water run-off next to a Temple as a site for construction of soak pit. Jay Sehgal and others after discussion, decided the offered site was not the right one. Later, in our exploration of this village, we have now identified many appropriate sites for soak pit installation.
Raj Varadarajan of IITM and Minvalai described the effort in the Thiruvallur district to install and connect all the villages. There are 539 villages in total. Of this, about 120 villages have installed the kiosks in about a year.
There was a short discussion between the volunteers about the event and recommendations for future events.
The 2 day meeting ended at 4:30 PM with many of the Chennai-based volunteers returning to Chennai by the night Pearl Express train.
DHAN Foundation regional volunteer Srinivasan of Vilathikulam took us to a "Maha Sabha" of some of the local "Kallanjium" groups. At this meeting, various groups presented a summary of their projects during the year.
After this, individual groups went to separate locations to continue their discussions. We followed one of them to a meeting under a tree. This lasted almost 2 hours.
Raghini of DHAN Foundation joined us and took us to the different water-shed projects - Velayuthapuram, Kulathur, Panaiyur.
Based on the timing and resources available, Raghini had suggested the 'Oorani' (a small tank) in Velayuthapuram for our review. There are 3 types of water tanks - 1. for drinking water 2. for cattle 3. for agriculture.
We met with the local Panchayat leader and the village elders to discuss this project. We wanted to ensure that this region receives reasonable rainfall. They assured us that during the 2002 monsoon season, this oorani was full and overflowing with water. They said they had pictures to prove it.
We noticed a small amount of water remaining in the oorani that had collected from the Oct 2003 rains.
DHAN requested that the village and the villagers must invest in the range of 20% to 30% for the cost of desilting this tank. This can be in combination of cash, materials and labour.
Contact information:
DHAN Foundation
18 Pillaiyar Koil Street
S.S.Colony, Madurai 625 010
Tamil Nadu
Telephone:
(91)-452-261-0794
E-Mail address
dhan@md3.vsnl.net.in
Website: www.dhan.org
Today, Jothimony arranged for me to visit with 5 SHG groups. Two of them came to the Vidiyel Trust office. We drove to their respective villages for the last 3 SHG groups.
Almost every village in this region has 4 to 5 SHG groups. Many of them started 1.5 years ago. On the average, they have collected about Rs 12,500 so far. They use that primarily to lend small loans amongst themselves at an interest rate of 1.5% per month or 18% per month.
When we approached the SHG women and proposed certain income generation ideas, they initially resisted. They would rather work as a labourer for daily wages instead of being an investor and run the risk of a loss. In every instance, they first considered what the market dynamics are. Some wanted to come to a bigger town and run shops selling everyday items.
In one case, the SHG group suggested that they will buy 'jaggery' when it is plentiful, store it in a house for many months and sell it when the price of 'jaggery' rises again. [this group must have heard of the Futures marketing at the Chicago Board of Mercantile].
Common to all SHG - they work in agriculture for six months when there is rain. They stay at home the other six months. They take loans during the non-working 6 months to buy food and survive.
The most common activity when they are not working with agriculture, is to make match boxes. (striking match). For a full day of work to produce 1500 boxes, they receive RS 20 per day.
I will summarize the different options suggested by the SHG groups.
1.0 Raise goats (Sheep)
You get a full size goat for Rs 3,000. You feed and raise the goat. In a year
or so, this goat gives an offspring, sometimes twins. Once the
offspring matures, you can sell the offspring for Rs 2,000. I suppose,
the first goat can give offspring for a few years.
Note: Later, I learned from staff at Auroville and Elango that it is better to raise sheep than goats. Goats tend to eat all the green in the area. Sheep on the other hand follow the shepherd into specific areas for grazing. Anna Hazare in Maharashtra banned goat raising many years ago in the Ralegaon Siddhi area to allow for the growth of vegetation.
2.0 Raise chickens
You get chicks from a place. You raise them to full size chickens.
You take them to market and sell them.
3.0 Chilli powder
Take Red Chilli. Ground it to a powder. Pack it and sell it in the local
markets.
4.0 Surf powder
Get Surf washing powder in large quantities. Pack them in smaller
boxes and bags. Sell in the market
The proposed options provide income generation opportunities but make very little contribution to the growth of the village itself. However, we must consider the fact that these SHG women have no jobs for 6 months and they earn Rs 20 a day by making match sticks.
At 2 SHG group meetings, we have proposed the InfraSys set of projects. This is a set of projects that compliments each part. They may start this in different parts.
A. Street cleanup - similar to Exnora Srinivasan's model in Vellore.
B. Vermicomposting - to convert organic waste into manure
C. Nursery to raise seedlings using the manure
D. Another plot to grow vegetables using the manure
E. Use drip-irrigation in the nursery as well as the vegetable plot
F. Use Pot-in-a-pot concept to store the vegetables longer.
A special note on Charcoal briquettes making, suggested by InfraSys using Dr Karve's concept from ARTI.
This local region is almost infested with a bush called the "Vellikathan". The botanical name is - "Prosopis Juli Fioro". (almost like 'lantana' in Uttaranchal.) The villages cut the stems and roots of this bush, stack it up on the ground into a pyramid shape, cover the top with mud and start the fire. The mud on top soaked in water, provides for partial burning. They let the stack stand for a few days to cool off. You can find the charcoal produced by this method sold everywhere in this region. The same charcoal is also used a component in industrial paints.
If we can find a group of 3 or 4 SHG groups ( 20 women in 1 SHG group, total of 60-80 women), they themselves will be the starting market. Once this model is proven and replicated, outside markets can be explored.
For each of the suggested options, their's and our's, we hope to prepare a unit of project to make it easier to calculate the costs, resources, revenue potential. For example, in the case of Vermicomposting, we can define a unit as a rectangular unit of 3 feet by 8 feet and determine all the parameters. A SHG group can then select to implement 1 or more units of Vermicomposting based their needs and resources.
There was discussion concerning the interest rate charged on different loans. They were concerned about repaying the loan with interest that they were afraid of using the principal to invest in an economic activity.
Our group is considering the possibility of creating a 'revolving fund' with no interest. In each activity, the SHG group will invest a small portion of their savings, and/or seek a bank loan. The bank loan will certainly have an interest factor. The SHG group will have to return the full revolving fund over a certain period in installments. The same revolving fund will now be used to start similar projects with other SHG's or other villages. (This is in idea stage at this time).
We visited many nearby villages today - Ilantha kulam, Chidambara nagar, Kamalapuram, Ettaiyapuram. In each village, we met with 2 or 3 SHG groups in that village and interacted with the members.
Initially most of them were hesitant to come forward and accept our suggestions. This region of the Vilathikulam block is probably the poorest section. Illantha Kulam and Ettaiyapuram are some of the poorest villages. The river 'vaipar' runs close to these villages.
At Illantha Kulam, with no drinking water, the SHG group sought our help in constructing a borewell and a pipe to bring water. The combination of borewell, pumpset, pipeline and electric supply costs about Rs 1 lakh. We have asked the SHG and the local panchayat to share the cost of this project.
The posters describing different Income Generation ideas, prepared by Murthy Sudhakar came in handy. We used them in all the meetings.
Ettaiyapuram, is the birthplace of the Tamil poet Bharathiyar. I was fortunate to visit his original house as well as the grand memorial built in his honor in the same area.
Planning the projects.
Jothimony arranged a meeting of the Vidiyel Trust staff of 5 people. The staff is intimately aware of the local villages and interact often with the SHG groups.
A summary of the various suggestions and proposals requested by the various SHG groups was presented. Then, a preliminary estimate for each task was prepared. We made some changes to the individual budgets to maintain overall fairness, so that we did not spend too much on 1 SHG group and not enough on another.
Jothimony then assigned his staff to specific villages based on their past familiarity and interaction. We have requested that monthly Vidiyel Trust meeting dates to report progress be set up and communicated to everyone. Prior to these meeting dates, the Vidiyel Trust staff will visit the village project sites, report progress, report problems to be solved etc.
The Trust staff will visit the same SHG groups to further define the projects and responsibilities.
Learn about various Rural Development in Auroville. Auroville has made significant advances in alternate forms of energy, better agricultural practices and many others.
Hemanth Lamba, staff at Auroville walked me through the different places. I apologized for scheduling only part of day to see the large campus of Auroville that is spread over 3,000 acres. Being from IITM campus, if Auroville could have monkeys and deer in their vast campus, it would look like IITM campus.
The campus has a 'foreign' look. Every other member is a volunteer who came from outside India and has stayed on for years. I met one lady who had moved to Auroville in 1971 from Rochester NY and stayed here. She also speaks some Tamil. I met another gentleman from Belgium who has been here for 20 years.
Hemant arranged for me to see four items given the limited time I had.
1.0 The solar panel installation to drive pumps that get water from the underground.
2.0 Mud block technology - to create various shapes of bricks used in rural house construction. They make the machinery that creates these bricks.
3.0 Medicinal plants local to the area. They have collected many hundreds of plants that are grown in this area with medicinal value. They are informing the village people about these plants before they get destroyed.
4.0 Village Development group. Met with a group of 4 staff. We found many points of common interest and expressed our desire to work together.
Contact information:
Hemant Lamba
AURORE - Auroville Renewable Energy
CSR Office, Auroshilpam, Auroville 605 101 Tamil nadu, India
Telephone:
(91) 413- 2622749
E-Mail address
aurore@auroville.org
Website address
www.auroville.com/aurore
Visit Kuthambakkam, Minvalai project by Varadarajan, Alamadhi village by NT Nathan and group and Pandikavanur villge.
Elango has invited me to stay at the Panchayat Academy in Kuthambakkam. Sudhakar and myself, first visited Kuthambakkam in February 2003 and spent 3 nights at the 'samathuvapuram' quarters. Elango has been an inspiration for many of us.
Raj Varadarajan (IITM 1966 alumnus) and working for Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala at the TENET lab in IITM has taken the task of installing Internet kiosks in the 539 villages of the Thiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu. This effort started about 6 to 9 months ago. At last count, more than 100 villages have now installed these kiosks. In many villages, SHG's or individual villagers have come forward to work in this effort. Each kiosk provides email as well as information relating to the village as well as the villagers. On many days of the week, specific subjects are focussed - like health, hygiene, water, food and others.
The 1976 batch of IITM has been working in the village of Alamadhi for some time now. N.T.Nathan of this group has been the key person in assisting a school in this village. This will be my first visit to this village.
A group of young NRI's in the Phoenix Arizona region, under the name of ROSHNI are focussing on a village named 'Pandikavanur'. Two volunteers from this village are visiting Vilathikulam for the July 17th conference to observe and learn.
Contact information:
N.T.Nathan
Envikal Web Services
A division of ENVIKAL IIT Madras 1970 Alumni Initiative
34/9 Sarojini Street, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017
Telephone:
(91)-44-2433-4593
E-Mail address
ews@envikal.org
Web site : www.envikal.org
Alamadhi school pictures
Pandikavanur village pictures
A group of alumni belonging to my batch of engineering graduates from IIT Madras, have started a Trust. We discussed current and proposed activities during this meeting. It was held in one of the alumni's house in Chennai.
One of my batch mates visited Vilathikulam and participated in the 2-day conference.
I spent this day with a NRI family from St.Paul MN that had returned to Bangalore.
Meeting with Prof Udipi Shrinivasa at IISc - BioDiesel
Prof Udipi Shrinivasa Rao works in the Mechanical Engineering unit of Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He graduated from IITM.
Rao has pioneered in the field of alternate fuels. He is now well known for his work and practice in the area of Biodiesel. Rao gave me a brief but interesting overview on how seeds of 'jetropha' can be mixed with diesel to be used in commercial applications. The Indian Railway engines almost entirely runs on diesel, excepting the electrified tracks closer to larger metropolitan cities.
He works in the SuTRA group in IISc.(Sustainable Transformation of Rural Areas)
I met Prof Udipi at his consulting unit outside IISc in the Malleshwaram area.
Contact information:
Prof.Udipi Shrinivasa
Chief Programme Executive
Indian Institute of Science
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Bangalore 560 012
Telephone:
(080) 2360-2435
E-Mail
address
udipi@mecheng.iisc.ernet.in
Navadarshanam ("New Vision") is an exploration of alternatives to the modern way of living and thinking. Its origin can be traced to a Study Circle that used to meet in Gandhi Peace Foundation and the Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi in the 70s and 80s.
A decade of study, introspection and discussion among these concerned individuals led them to the conviction that the urban-industrial way of life was leading to alienation of the individual from self, nature and the Creative Power, resulting in ecological destruction, increasing poverty, unemployment and unmanageable levels of social disintegration and violence.
To get away from this vicious cycle, they felt the need to explore alternatives to the modern way of living and thinking. In particular, they felt the need to explore the possibility of a new kind of science and technology: a science that would recognize the realities of the spiritual dimensions, and concomitant technologies that would enhance rather than destroy ecology. Central to this way of thinking is the recognition that there exist forces which are invisible to our physical senses, but are nevertheless the centres of power in shaping our universe and in taking care of its ecological balance.
To give these ideas practical shape, in 1990-91 they created a Trust and bought 115 acres of land next to a small hamlet about 50 km from Bangalore. This land was completely degraded and unproductive at that time.
Those who will welcome you at Navadarshanam are Partap Aggarwal and his wife Sudesh, Om Bagaria and his wife Pushpa, T.S.Ananthu and his wife Jyoti, Swami, his wife Lata and daughter Namrata, Manja, Yoga, Parvattama, Arbellamma, Gauramma and Puttiah. Partap Aggarwal has a Ph.D. from Cornell, taught Anthropology at Colgate Univ., before returning to India where he pioneered natural farming concepts at a Quaker center in central India. Om Bagaria has a degree in Mech. Engg. from IIT Kharagpur, and has had 35 years of experience in R&D. Ananthu has a B.Tech. in EE from IITM, an M.S. from Stanford Univ, several years' experience in systems engineering prior to switching to full-time work in the Gandhian field. His wife Jyoti has a Ph.D. in Sociology from TISS, followed by many years of teaching and research experience at St.Xaviers' in Bombay and IIT in Delhi. The other seven are villagers who have become part of the Navadarshanam team.
For further details, contact: T.S.Ananthu, A-4 Whitefield Ville, Whitefield, Bangalore 560066. Ph: 845-3147 or 56996024.
My day at Navadarshanam
Ananthu and his friends have created a fully self contained campus, run entirely on solar energy. They grow as many different types of vegetables as they can. The houses are built using mud-block bricks, with high ceilings and plenty of windows. Surrounded by vast vegetation, the place is naturally cool. Om Bagaria is a practicing electrical engineer who takes care of all the energy ciruits in this campus.
When they first moved in, Ananthu says, the whole place was a barren land with zero vegetation. They stopped the gracing by local cattle by installing a fence. They planted just a few trees. But most of the trees and bushes grew on their own.
A few elephants, I am told, try to knock out the fence and come in to eat the fresh vegetation within Navadarshanam.
Navadarshanam is a dream land, just about 50 miles from the crowded, polluted and heavily populated Bangalore. I must clarify that Navadarshanam is a private secluded campus and not connected with any nearby village rural development. It does have a lot to offer in terms of alternate life ideas and they can be included in any village development ideas.
Contact information:
T.S.Ananthu and Jyothi
A-4 Whitefield Ville, Whitefield,
Bangalore 560066.
Telephone:
845-3147 or 56996024.
E-Mail address
Rain Centre in Chennai completes its forth year of providing valuable Rainwater Harvesting information to the residents of Chennai. We held a meeting of the Trustees (Sekar Raghavan, Raj Varadarajan, N.Sudarshan and myself) to discuss current and future activities of the rain centre.
Thanks to the mandatory ordinance passed by the Tamilnadu Government in July 2003, almost all buildings and houses have installed some form of RWH systems. Most of the current visitors to the Rain Centre today consist of various organizations, NGO's, visitors from other States. Rain Centre will be hosting the person who had started a Rain Centre in Tokyo.
We are helping Rain Centers to be created in Trichur in Kerala, Mumbai in Maharashtra and other places.
In the Chennai region, the Rain Centre will examine how the people in Chennai have installed RWH systems, how to improve their effectiveness. The Rain Centre will also promote better use of water, recycling water in domestic usage.
Contact information:
Rain Centre,
Director - Sekar Raghavan
4 Third Trust Link Road
Mandavallipakkam Chennai
Open : Hours: 11 AM to 6 PM - all days
Telephone:
(044)-2461-6134
E-Mail address
When I was in the campus, the annual convocation were held in the Open Air Theater (OAT). Now there is a SAC, Student Activity center, which is a large indoor auditorium that can seat almost 5,000 people, with full audio-visual facilities. I made use of my day at the campus to see the convocation. I did not receive any degree myself.
Earlier in the the same day, I met Sangeetha Sriram that many of you may know already. After her return to India from Baltimore, she is working on a number of rural projects. She is working with Vellore Srinivasan (see trip note for August 1) to document his project. She has recently joined IITM as a NSS Coordinator, working for Prof Subramaniam in the Humanities Department.
IITM through its IC& SR unit has started an initiative to engage some of its time and talents to help the rural cause. I met Prof Kalayanaraman who is the present Dean of this unit in this connection. I urged him to include the IITM Alumni to work with the Students and Faculty of the Institute in this effort.
As an example of this effort, Kalayanaraman, said that if a village was producing natural dye stuff and they wanted to improve and maintain its quality, they can work with a faculty to find ways to achieve that quality standard.
He arranged for me to meet with 3 faculty who are working on a project called RuTAG (I think it stands for Rural Technology Application Group). Professors Kumara swamy, Shankar Raman, Ravindran joined this discussion.
Lemelson Foundation from USA is focussing on Tamilnadu and funding upto 15 projects every year, conducted by students. They are also working with the Rural Innovation Network.
Will attend a normal weekly meeting of the Makkal - Sakthi - Eyakkam organization in their office in Thiruvanmiyur road in Chennai at 3PM. They have sent 2 Panchayat Leaders to the Vklm conference.
Contact information:
Telephone:
E-Mail
address
Sudhakar first met Srinivasan in Vellore and saw first hand what Srinivasan is doing to keep the streets of villages in the Vellore district clean. What he is doing is truly the most innovative way to collect street trash and convert into so many useful products.
The street garbage is taken directly from the homeowner to a tricyle with compartments to sort the garbage. It is brought to a central sortation building. Almost 95% of the garbage is used or recycled. His method is so good that now the Tamilnadu government is asking him to help install the same method in all districts.
The following excerpt is taken from Sudhakar's report..
At the invitation of the Vellore District Collector, whom I had contacted earlier, I went to Vellore- primarily to see an Integrated Waste Management Plan operating in 3 locations in that district- all executed with planning and expertise from Exnora Green Cross and the drive of a young man by name SRINIVASAN. Contact at velloresrini@hotmail.com
A remarkable young man, who (my good luck- he is very busy and travels all over for the same cause) was in town that day and was kind enough to make time to tour and educate me.
Srinivasan has established a semi urban, a semi rural and a rural (3) Zero Waste Management Programs. Simply amazing.
Simply stated the trash is collected, sorted. The organic waste is composted and the inorganic sorted and sold.
I will focus on the village model only in this report.
The Srinivasan model is simple. Agri waste and such are to be fed to cattle. Cattle in exchange deliver dung.
The dung is then fed to a bio gas plant and the plant delivers gas and rich slurry.
The slurry along with other organic wastes is fed to an army of worms which compost the waste and by adding their castings deliver high quality compost which can be returned to mother earth.
Friends, this is not theory... Srinivasan has put this into practice.
This whole process plays out in a simple, clean shed on this tiny village where the Panchayat leader has gathered the support of the whole village and SH Groups operate the composting.
Contact information:
C.Srinivasan, President, Exnora Green Cross-Vellore
#10, Kesavapillai IInd Cross Street
Sainathapuram, Vellore- 632-001
Vellore District, Tamilnadu, India
Telephone:
Office: (0416)2263 500, 3105524
Residence: (0416) 2264 500
E-Mail address
velloresrini@hotmail.com
Website
www.exnora.org/Vellore
We met Anshu Gupta, an Ashoka Fellow when he joined us in Jan 2004 for the Tamil Nadu Tour. Anshu collects used clothing for city dwellers and others and distributes to the poor in villages that could use them. He started this program 6 years ago and now operates in Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, West Bengal and Uttaranchal.
He joined us on July 17th for the Vilathikulam panchayat initiative conference in Tuticorin.
Since our first meeting in Jan 2004, Anshu has already arranged to send clothing to Kuthambakkam village near Chennai, Vavipalayam village near Coimbatore. We thank him.
Most recently, he was in Srinagar (J&K) and helped poor people in that area also.
Anshu is a young man in his late 20's, married to Meenakshi who works for BBC Radio and they have 1 child. Meenakshi was born in Kashmir and is one of the Pandits driven away from her birthplace.
Anshu mentioned that people are kind to offer used clothing to him. He attempts to manage the costs of distributing clothes by making each operation in a state to be decentralized. He tries to procure and distribute within a region or a state. He operates this program out of a office located in a flat in Delhi. He uses the garage donated by a friend to hold the clothes prior to distribution. This costs him about Rs 40,000 per month. He welcomes any monetary contribution to support this monthly cost.
You can read an article in the OUTLOOK magazine, the Jan 26th, 2004 issue at www.outlookindia.com (in the 'making a difference' section)
Contact information:
Anshu Gupta, Director, GOONJ
J-93, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi 110 044
Telephone:
(011) 2697-2351 or cell 98681-46978
E-Mail address
anshu_goonj@indiatimes.com
Website
www.goonj.org
There is an International Rainwater Conference set to take place in Delhi on Nov 15, 2005 (next year). I am a coordinator at this conference, representing the Akash Ganga Trust of Chennai. AFPRO stands for Action for Food Production. AFPRO is the lead sponsor for this conference. If you are interested in learning more about this conference, or just about Rainwater Harvesting, both Urban and Rural, please contact me.
In the evening, I met Professors Jaya and Indiresan in Vasant Vihar. I was able to catch up with what Indiresan is doing and also update him about the Vilathikulam project.
I reached Sehgal Foundation's office in Gurgaon late at night.
Contact information:
Action For Food Production
25/1-A, Pankha Road, Block-D, Janakpuri, New Delhi 110 058
Telephone:
(011)-2555-5412
E-Mail address
afpro@vsnl.com
Check Dam construction and associated information
Soak pit construction
Lalith Mohan Sharma of the Sehgal Foundation took me to 3 villages and showed me check dams that were recently completed. It started raining in the Delhi area only on Sunday August 1. June and July are the 2 raining months of the year. There was no rain during those 2 months.
The 2 check dams that we visited today are constructed in the side of the mountain where the rainwater falls and flows. The check dams had collected enough water even with just 3 days of rain.
The dam at Ghaghas is a taller dam. There are 3 gully plugs - a stopping wall made up of large stones - to slow down the flow of the gushing water.
Lalith said..
We must maintain water tightness to prevent any leakage of water under or
around the dam. There must be enough strength on both sides of the dam to
maintain stability. The internal structure is made up of mud. It is covered
on the top with a wire mesh with a thin layer of concrete. Detailed strength
and water flow pressure calculations were done.
In the past, I have heard complaints that these check dams like the ones in Rajasthan and other places were never designed properly. I am happy to mention that Lalith is a full-degreed Engineer and he is also from IIT Delhi.
Lalith mentioned the design of the check dam must start with an estimate of rainfall and catchment area. Select the collection area wide enough, so that any nearby houses will not be submerged in the water.
Silt always collects on the input side of the dam. Provision to clear this silt must be done every few years during the dry period.
Where the water overflows the dam, a small depression is created to hold a small amount of water that acts to cushion the flow.
I have requested to put his design and actual check dam construction pictures into a document to share with everyone.
Contact information:
S.M.Sehgal Foundation
Dr Suri Sehgal, Founder
289, Sector 17A, Gurgaon, Haryana 122 001
Telephone:
(91) (124) 239 7621
E-Mail
address
Jay.Sehgal@smsfoundation.org
Website: www.smsfoundation.org
Ghagas check dam
Ghagas Community Center
Rajesh Sinha was kind enough to take me early this morning to attend a "Village Level Initiative" (VLI) at the Ghagas village. Rajesh and 1 more staff of Sehgal Foundation helped as a catalyst to steer the meeting. Actual suggestions and selections were made by the villagers assembled.
We then visited a nursery being grown by the villagers with support from the Sehgal Foundation. Besides normal varieties of vegetables, a few test samples of 'pongamia' and 'jatropha' bushes were being cultivated for their use in bio-diesel.
Lalit Mohan Sharma was kind enough to take me to Goela village to witness an actual soak pit being constructed.
The toilet is constructed by installing tilt-up concrete panels on three sides. The toilet flush-out is positioned at the center, matching with the 4" PVC pipe that takes the discharge.
Two soak pits - about 3 feet in diameter and about 6 feet in depth was constructed earlier. The mud structure is prevented from collapsing by installing concrete rings - 3 feet in diameter, 2 inch thick, 18" high. Three or Four of these rings are stacked one on top of another to cover the full depth.
The pipe from the flush out comes to a junction point where the discharge water can be diverted to one of the soak pits.
Each soak pit (of the 2) is capable of absorbing and drying the discharge for 2 years. Then a brick placed in the 'Y' junction is repositioned to divert the discharge to the second pit.
The soak pit took 2 or 3 days to complete (digging the pit is the biggest task). It costs about Rs 1,500.
I will get these figures verified by Lalit.
Ellora Mubhashir of SMSF and myself drove to Tansen Marg in New Delhi to the offices of FICCI and met with Vivek Bharathi.
In the afternoon, I met Anshu Gupta of GOONJ in Sarita Vihar.
Foundation for Research and Training on Environmental Management (FRTEM) is an NGO working with a vision to promote a safe and green environment with a focus on sustainable development for rural India.
FRTEM is working in the various areas of environmental management, rural development, sanitation and water.
Environmental Management: FRTEM in association with Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA is conducting PG diploma program, training, seminars and other short-term programs to promote the concept of environmental management in India.
Rural Development: FRTEM is working on environmental issues in addressing the detrimental effect of environment, cultural and social responsibility on the prevailing dismal personal hygiene and health issues affecting the rural India.
Leave for Ahmedabad in the evening.
Contact information:
Telephone:
E-Mail
address
[Times of India article]
NEW DELHI: All Meenakshi Nankani, 24, did in Washington DC was practice ballet,
hip-hop and jazz. Till she gave it all up, to educate children of migrant
sugarcane-cutting families in Theur, Maharashtra.
Gaurav Parnami, 28, studied molecular biology in Arizona. He quit his cushy job as an investment manager to live in the Ramapir No Tekro slums of Ahmedabad for a year. Meet an all-new generation of American-born Indians who are giving up comfortable lifestyles and dollar dreams to rough it out in tribal villages, travel in rickshaws and buses, and do their bit for their ''homeland''.
Why are they doing it? It's the I-love-my-India factor. ''In the US, I lived a selfish life, I had everything. But now I feel obligated to India. It hasn't been easy to disconnect from this country,'' says Shruti Patel
Contact information:
IndiCorps
15455 Empanada Drive
Houston Texas 77083
503 Neel Deep Tower
Navrang 6 Rasta
Ahmedabad, Gujrat 380 014 India
Telephone:
In USA: 1-202-468-7424
In India: (91)-(79)-749-5477
E-Mail
address
anand@indicorps.org
I must admit that I am recent admirer of what Gandhiji stood for and fought for. I am sure that many of you have read a lot about Gandhiji. My dear friend Mohan Jain in Chicago has been trying to inspire all of us, as we embark on the Rural development projects in India.
It was my last day of this 1-month trip to India and I am glad that I visited Gandhiji's ashram, first time for me.
My first reaction after stepping into the ashram was an emotional moment for me. Here I was, entering the ashram of the Mahathma who fought for our Independence and made India a free country. My guide was mentioning a long list of visitors both domestic and foreign that have come to this ashram, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nelson Mandella and others.
I entered the room where Gandhiji sat, meditated and spun the charka. My guide informed me that it was in this room that Nehru, Patel and others will come to meet Gandhiji while at the ashram and discuss the means to achieve freedom for the country.
Please see the two text posters that I have put up. You can click on those 2 pictures and see an enlargement to read the text easily.
The poster - "Mohan to Mahathma" describes Gandhiji's chronological life history. The poster - "Wheel of Life" compiled by Vinoba Bhave describes Gandiji's basic principles behind 'satyagraha'.
Gandhiji left this Ashram on the banks of Sabarmathi in 1930 to start the Dandi march for the salt sathyagraha. He took a wove not to return to the ashram till he won freedom for the country. He never returned to the ashram.
In another building, there is a library that houses all the books and writings of Gandhiji.
Starting in October - after the rainy season is over - they have daily 'sight and sound' program featuring Gandhiji's own voice. This takes place in the afternoons.
Here are a few of Gandhiji's quotes that I saw displayed at the Mumbai airport.
"Selfless action is a source of strength, for such action is the worship of God."
"There is not a single moment in life when man cannot serve."
"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."
Environmental Sanitation Institute
Bordering on oone side of Gandhiji's ashram is the Sanitation Institute, created by Ishwar Bhai Patel, a Padma Shree awardee, one who has dedicated his life to making rural India clean. Ishwar Bhai has served as an advisor to the Planning Commission of India, advisor to the Government of Gujrat and UNDP and UNICEF projects.
A true follower of Gandhiji, Ishwarbhai's work in the area of sanitation is an inspiration. He starts with getting clean water or purifying available water. He then follows the water usage in the house, how the discharge is treated and properly disposed of. He has created this institute to design and test various sanitation programs.
A new institute building is coming up, for President Kalam to open it sometime in Sept 2004.
I was impressed with significant Rainwater Harvesting techniques designed into this building. Rainwater collected from a large roof area is piped into a large concrete tank that forms the basement. It is designed to collect the monsoon rain and make it available for the whole year.
Contact information:
Ishwarbhai Patel
Principal and Director
SAFAI VIDYALAYA
Environmental Sanitation Institute
Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad - 380 027
Gujtrat, India
Telephone:
Office: (079)-755-7702 Residence: (079)-752-2515
E-Mail
address
safai@icenet.net
Ishwar Bhai Patel
