A tradition that got washed away

"ALTHOUGH India has built many dams that are engineering marvels, traditional water-harvesting methods are still the lifeline for most villages," says A V Chaturvedi, Jehanabad district development commissioner. He cites the example of Motepur dam, an earthen structure that is built every two years over the Punpun river.

Has lifting subsidies depressed fertiliser use?

DO PRICES determine increase in use of fertilisers, which are heavily subsidised by the government, in India? Fifty-six-year-old Madhusudan Reddy, who owns 50 ha in Chaganur village in Karnataka's Bellary district, disagrees.

Tubelights give more than light to labs

SCIENTISTS at the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamil Nadu have found that used tubelights can be recycled into inexpensive laboratory apparatus, which will cost just one-tenth of what such apparatus costs in the market.

A motley crew of forest protectors

No headlines, no rehabilitation

IT IS THE economics of a dam and not the plight of the people it displaces that makes a good news report for national and international media and earns a quick invitation from the government for a dialogue. Citing the Sardar Sarovar as an example, a senior Union government official made this observation recently about the 86 Kutku dam oustees, who are on dharna in Daltonganj, headquarters of Palamau district in Bihar.

From bonded labourers to green crusaders

"I WAS A labourer, but now, because of the project, I am free. I cannot explain what this means to me," says Dadabhau Jadhav, a frail, small-built Thakkar Adivasi of Mothewadi village in the foothills of Maharashtra's Sahyadri range. For generations, the Thakkar Adivasis have worked as contract and even as bonded labourers.

Starting off on the wrong foot

IN KEEPING with the global trend, India is trying to popularise the use of alternative energy. One attempt aims at setting up urjagrams (non-conventional energy complexes) during the Eighth Plan. However, efforts over the past decade have failed for various reasons, including the wrong selection of villages, faulty implementation, non-involvement of beneficiaries and erratic availability of funds.

Second-hand is better

WHERE do used aeroplane tyres go? Well, at least some of land up in the most unlikely place: the Rajasthan desert. Tyres that once helped giant flying machines to land and take off are being used on camel-carts to transport fodder and water in the desert.

Carving oases in drought-prone Kutch

IN THE treeless, barren and rocky district of Kutch in Gujarat, the Shree Vivakanand Research and Training Institute (VRTI), or the sanstha as it is known locally, has carved a name for itself in drought relief and ecological regeneration activity.

Official doublespeak stumps Udaipur villagers

IS THE left hand of government truly unaware of what the right hand does? Yes, indeed, villagers of Vasu in Udaipur district would respond. "Otherwise," noted a villager who didn't want to be named, "how else would you explain a junior official issuing a show-cause notice concerning work that was earlier hailed as a model of community participation by his senior?"