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- 28 years of Earth’s surface changes on Google
- India bans use of dolphins for commercial entertainment
- Activist lands in jail for protesting lack of health facilities in tribal district five years ago
- Chaos in the iron age 4
- Poison in disguise 2
- Pawar's daughter on panel that will examine biotechnology Bill 1
- Stage set for GM crops
- Gujarat pollution board gets a makeover in efficiency 33
- Mirage of a river 2
- Monsoon arrives over Andaman Sea
- Environment ministry wants to restore night traffic through Bandipur tiger reserve 52
- A green facade 44
- Diesel: when bad policy makes for toxic hell 38
- Gujarat pollution board gets a makeover in efficiency 33
- What’s good insulation? 30
- How vulnerable are India's nuclear power plants to disaster 28
- Grand distraction called river interlinking 28
- Eat at your own risk 27
- Green energy takes toll on green cover 26
- Temporary solution, permanent jam 25
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Issue Date: Jan 15, 2009
-- Hail those who bail themselves out
Move over, Dwalpment. Beyond boom-and-bust cycles, there exists the exponential effect of growing grass to bind the soil, planting trees once the soil is so held, catching every drop of water clouds supply, accounting for every drop of water demanded, and so prospering.
The US Treasury cannot fathom contour-trenching, gully- plugging, grass-cutting, milch livestock or a water audit. Finance capitalism cannot match the complexity of a watershed, where all profit arises out of consensus, where survival evolves to a political consciousness of a nurturing kind.
A trader in futures or derivatives, can't match a gram sabha--he is a mere individual; they function as decisive one. He can only speculate; they converse for a concrete outcome. His intelligence is portfolio-divergent; they converge to a shared plan. His focus is the moment; they prosper over time.
He can make millions; it's called making a killing. They make millions, too; its called regenerating.
 1989-90 Hardly 12 per cent of the cultivable land can be farmed at Hiware Bazar, in Maharashtra's Ahmadnagar district. Families shift out. Those left behind clear forests to survive 1989 Popat Rao Pawar is elected sarpanch. His slogan catch water 1993 With help from the district social forestry department, the village begins regenerating the completely degraded 70 hectares of village forest and the catchments of wells. Panchayat builds 40,000 contour trenches around the hills. After monsoon, irrigation area increases from 20 ha to 70 ha 1995-2000 Hiware Bazar prepares a five-year plan for ecological regeneration, through watershed works. The plan becomes the blueprint to integrate state government schemes, such as the Employment Guarantee Scheme, into what the village wants. Twelve state agencies and the village work in tandem 1995 Families begin to reverse-migrate to Hiware Bazar in increasing earnest
Today 54 of the village's 216 families are millionaires. The village's per capita income is twice the average of the top 10 in rural areas Indiawide (Rs 890 per month) |
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Sukhadh Geoffery J Matthews Samar Bagchi Shrikant D Limaye Dilnawaz Variava |
Tags: Features, Ahmadnagar (D), Development, Maharashtra, Panchayats, Public Participation, Sustainable Development, Water Harvesting, Water Management, Water Resources
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