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A G E N D A F O R S U R V I V A L

UNSETTLED BY RAINA State on the edge.

THE BR!NKJ U N E 2 0 1 3

2 THE BR!NK • JUNE 2013

Agenda For Survival: a course on Policies, Politics & Practices of EnvironmentalManagement in the Developing World

Objective Interdisciplinary month-long summer certificate course on environment/development issues allows Indian participants to understand and critically evaluateissues that lie at the interface of environment & development; poverty; democracy,equity & justice.

Programme designClassroom lectures, seminars, several local field excursions, a week-long field visit torural India, together with innovative, challenging project individual and/or groupwork. Participants are given an intense briefing on issues that are of concern to Indiaand other developing countries. Field trips and meetings with communities serve toillustrate innovations and eco-restoration efforts that communities make to enablethem to face the challenges of managing their natural resources base.

TRAINING VENUEAnil Agarwal Environment TrainingInstitute38, Tughlakabad Institutional AreaNew Delhi–110062

COURSE CONTACTSAmit BaruahProg Director, Education & Training Email:[email protected] Mobile: +91-9810561069

Sharmila Sinha Prog Officer, Education & TrainingEmail: [email protected];[email protected] Mobile: +91-9818482018 Office Tel: +91 (011) 29955124 +91 (011)29955124/125 Fax: +91 (011) 29955879

Centre for Science and Environment41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi – 110062

EditorsSagar JounkaniAmirtharaj Stephen

Copy-EditorsJoseph Tharayil VargheseZaeen de Souza

ReportersAbhishek RatnamAltaf Ahmad SofiAnand SreekumarAristo MendisB HarikrishnanEvangelin MasihGargi BarkakatiJessica LuisJyotisha V JMukesh ChoudhariNafeel AhamedNishant SaxenaPravesh KumarSanjala HariSaylee SalviShubham Bohra

Design EditorsPooja Kulkarni

IllustrationsNikita PawarNetra Bhandari

Cover photoAmirtharaj Stephen

Other photosAltaf Ahmad SofiAbhishek RatnamAristo MendisB HarikrishnanJessica LuisNafeel AhamedNikita PawarPooja KulkarniSagar Jounkani

Agenda for Survival 2013 Participants

3THE BR!NK • JUNE 2013

E D I T O R I A L

On the brink...Agenda for Survival ’13 was adamant on making us realise the trueessence of survival. Being on the ground where the disaster is shapingup gives you a unique perspective. We encountered rain, landslides,long treks and a prolonged wait to be rescued on the week-long fieldtrip to Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh, bang in the middle of the heaviestrainfall event in Kinnaur’s memory. In this adventure, we also metpeople who encounter such situations routinely.

Many people made our journey memorable, be it Capt. J. M.Pathania (DC, Kinnaur), the folks at the Karcham army base, VidyaKaran, Ashok, Raju, the chai wala at Baspa II hydro electric project,Pyarelal and Narayanji, our fellow travellers, ferrying us uphill. Thelocals who gave us water, showed us the way when we were lost,chatted with us and made our uphill trudge easy. People distributingfruits and hope to trudging trekkers in Tapri and those serving sharbatto weary travellers and survivors all along the devastated Sutlej valley.

Sure, government will send help. Policy wonks will argue on newsTV. Soon well knitted communities of these young mountains will getback to its feet. Soon tourists too will trudge up and pitch their tentsunder the clear blue sky beneath the pristine deodars. Life will need tobe up and going.

For now at least, the rubble that surrounded us and the angry,swollen rivers has halted all ‘developmental’ activities. A few questionsstill haunt us. Is hydro really ‘green’ as some say? What is the cost ofthe green? Is this the development that we need for future India? Whatif this is a beginning to a chain of such debacles? What if the impendingdisasters get worse? What if they are aggravated by our attemptstowards mindlessly developing such fragile ecosystems? Do we reallyneed such development? Should those whose needs are few bear thebrunt of our needs – more electricity, more food, more land...

The stories in this magazine are based on our encounters inKinnaur. They reflect our collective determination to question the kindof development good for this fragile landscape and its people.

Sagar JounkaniAmirtharaj Stephen

THE BR!NK

C O N T E N T S

Invisible hands 4

The Offroaders 6

Dark knights of the ruins 8

Off the street 10

Unsettled by rain 12

Stranded 14

Delhi deluge 16

Sangla Downpour 17

Travelogue 18

At what cost? 20

The Nauni story 22

A sour undertaking 24

One village at a time 26

Voicing hope 27Sincere thanks to Centre for Science and Environment for publishing this magazine.

Special thanks to Aditya Batra, Sharmila Sinha, Anirban Bora, Kirpal Singh, D S Bains

and Vikas Sharma, and the entire DTE Team.

Flower valley at Kalpa

Although women are a rare sight in a labour chowk, Sumati, from Jhansi (left) and her friend wait for a day’s work

at the Okhla labour chowk in New Delhi. They typically get cleaning chores and earn Rs 200 to Rs 300 each day


� JYOTISHA VJ & SAGAR JOUNKANI

Gabbar Singh, from FarrukhabadDistrict in Uttar Pradesh, has beenliving in Delhi for the last eight years.Another Indian farmer to whomleaving his land fallow was far moreprofitable than cultivating it, he wasapproached by two land dealers,Abdul Salam and Kaushal whopromised him land worth Rs.60,000in Prahladpuri in Delhi in return forhis village farmland. He handed overhis land to them and came to Delhi.Once in Delhi he realized there wasno land for him in Prahladpuri. Uponreturning to his village he realizedhis farmland had also changedhands. He tried finding employmentwith NREGA but found that themuster rolls were manipulated andthe middlemen appropriated thenumber of working days. Having losthis land and exhausted alternativemeans of employment, Gabbar Singhcame to Delhi as a labourer. “We are

sometimes made to work for nine to10 hours in a day and beaten whenwe ask for our wages. Somelabourers are given no food, but mayget water if they are lucky,” he says.

Sonu, 22 years is a resident ofSangam Vihar. He came to Delhifrom Pailabar in UP. He has studiedtill the intermediate level and hasworked as a supervisor in theNREGA projects in his village. Sonucame to the city to look for someform of gainful employment. Sonucalled one of the umpteen phonenumbers that abound the walls ofDelhi’s public spaces advertising foremployees. These posters announceopportunities, lucrative salaries andalso other living amenities. Upongetting in touch with one of thosenumbers, he was asked to come toan office. There he was asked todeposit Rs.1000 as a security andanother Rs.50 as the form fees. Hewas then called for an interview atOkhla and was told he will have to

LABOUR ISSUES

Rajendar , a labour migrant, squats on a

dusty footpath near Tara Apartments in

South Delhi. He has a paint brush in one

hand and a cotton bag in the other. He

waits with a droopy expression for an

employer. People walk by him oblivious to

the journey he has taken from Bhagalpur

to Delhi. He sees us looking at him and

with a sparkle of hope in his eyes he

walks up to us and asks ‘Labour chaiye

kya?’ . This is one of the several labour

chowks in Delhi and the labourers sit

waiting for their employers, some

barehanded and some with their

equipment. They wait till afternoon,

sometimes till evening. In a day they may

earn upto Rs.500 which may otherwise be

as low as Rs.150 or nothing at all. Such

labour chowks are abundant in Delhi yet

inhabit the periphery of the urban vision.

There we met four men who told us

stories about their village and our city.

INVISIBLE HANDS

work as a medical representative.The terms of employment statedthat for the first three months hewouldn’t be paid any salary.Thereafter, he will be paid Rs.4,000every month and three-fourth of hisearnings would go to the company.After 10 months, he will startgetting paid Rs.14,000 per monthand may also get all the otherpromised amenities. Sonu had nomeans to survive till then and couldnot take a chance with the offer. Helost his security deposit. Sonu alsosaid, “There were 20 other peoplefor the interview. They had all comein a similar manner and weresimilarly exasperated”.Pankaj isanother young man who had cometo Delhi and faced similarexploitation. He went to theKapashera Border near Gurgaonand was asked to pay Rs.850 whichhe had to borrow. He doesn’t goback home anymore as he hadborrowed further to survive in the

city and cannot afford the luxury ofmissing work.

We met Sunil on the banks ofthe Yamuna near Kashmere Gate,ISBT. He lives with nearly fivethousand others like him in thisarea extending to Majnu ka Tila.Sunil came to Delhi from Bengalfollowing a land dispute with hisbrother. He has received primary

education and can drive. He isrecovering from an accident and hasbeen in one of the shelters in thisarea for the last five months. He toocame to Delhi looking for a job,stayed on, got disheartened andtoday is an abandoned, homeless

human being with no relations withanyone from his village.

The public spaces in Delhiabound with these kind ofadvertisements and whilecontacted on the guise of amigrant one such advertiserresponded and introduced himselfas Hakim. He advised us to go toan office in the Badarpur area with

Rs.1050. He told us that the workinvolved sorting, packing andtransporting medicines for apharmaceutical company whichgoes by the name of G.M. Ltd.Interestingly, he also warned us ofpossible pitfalls in these kind ofjob offers.

Harsh Mander, an ex-bureaucrat and prominent labouractivist, said close to 200 labourlaws have been introduced in thecountry. But few, if any, pertain tothe protection of migrant labour."Labour reforms anywhere in theworld have always meant lesser andlesser protection for labour",he said.

People come to this city seekinga better life, some survive, somestruggle and some lose. The migrantpopulation and the exploitationthat they face in this city hasassumed alarming invisibility. Thepublic spaces in Delhi thrive on theinvisible walls of affluence andprivileges. Our cities have stopped

taking notice of the migrantpopulation that waits for employersin the discreet bylanes of this city oron the road dividers of the southextension market. The adver -tisements that place the lucrativebets for these labourers still aboundthe walls of Delhi. Neither ouraesthetics nor our regulatorymechanisms seem to be noticing. �


Labourers waiting at adivider in Okhla


CAREERS

The offroaders

ARTI GUPTAEnglish Scholar turned WildernessExplorer

I work in a venture calledMountain Cruize. For the lastsixteen years I’ve also been intoenvironmental education and wasa resource person for organizationslike TERI and WWF. I quit my jobwith UNDP in Delhi and returnedto Himachal Pradesh.

Initially after graduating inEnglish literature I was going to bea teacher, but my love foradventure and wilderness led meto do this and I never looked backever since.

What activities are included in yourcamps?We organize various types ofcamps. We also do somethingcalled ‘Leave No Trace’ activities inour camps, which run on theprinciple of leaving minimumimpact behind on the environment.We give teams rations of food andother camping essentials whichthey have to make do with till theytrek to the destination. Thesecamps give a firsthand kind oflearning experience, and teachteam-building over even simpleexercises like building a campfire.

What’s been the highest point ofyour career so far?I’ve been able to give my son andthe rest of the family time and alsofocus on my work. Gradually wedream of making this venture intoan adventure institute in thefuture. That, in my opinion will bea high point for sure.

What’s your advice to other buddingaspirants?Firstly, choose the specific area ofinterest and then learn moreabout it. Another thing that helpsis to explore the place where youfinally want to be based infuture. �

GAURAV SHOREYThe Sustainability Guru

I work with an NGO called 5waraj(Swaraj) whose aim is passing ontraditional knowledge andsustainable living in the Indiancontext. The five components thatwe absolutely need forsustainability that we work onare Bhasha (Dialect), Vesh(Dress), Bhajan (Dance & Music),Bhojan (Diet) and Bhavan(Dwellings).

What were you doing before youcame up with this project?I am by qualification, an architect.I was working as a green buildingsconsultant in an organizationcalled The Energy and ResourcesInstitute (TERI). The idea for5waraj came up when I was doingmy research in Delhi on nationallevel policies on how to makebuildings green in India. It lead meto realize that the answer is notonly in addressing only water, oronly buildings independently; theanswer lies in addressing all thesefive components simultaneously.We needed to look within insteadof outside, we want to blindly apedeveloped nations to catch up withthem, but is it logically possible?It’s important that we don’tdisconnect with our traditionalknowledge in the process.

What are the activities that youcarry out?For now, we do workshops inschools and colleges and even forworking professionals in cities likeMumbai, Delhi, Chennai andBangalore. Our aim is to makepeople realize that the languagethat they have been brought upspeaking, the clothes that theywear, and the food that they havebeen brought up eating is whatmakes them what they are. Onefun activity we do in ourworkshops for instance, is givingparticipants a three meter longcloth and telling them to designattire for another climate zone ofthe country without cutting thecloth but using knots and pleats.

In the long run, 5waraj can

� ARISTO MENDIS & JESSICA LUIS

If you ever thought that careers in environment were only about wearing lab coats, clockwork routines and ‘petri dish’jobs, then consider to reconsider. Meet three dynamic personalities, who have taken up seemingly usual fields andturned them on upside down to prove that green jobs can also be a fun-filled enthralling experience.

“The satisfaction you get from working

in smaller areas and seeing the change

is far more greater than working for

the sole reason of money.”

ARTI GUPTA

only thrive by us going into theheartland of rural India andcollecting information from them.Our long term aim is to reverse thetrend of people leaving theirvillages and coming to cities bymaking them realize that whatthey are sitting on is a goldmine.

How do you link these goldmines oftraditional knowledge to the urbancrowd?The key lies in languages. Forinstance, the Khasi dialect ofShillong has thirty words for rainalone, for different forms of rainlike sleet, hail, and drizzle, floodlevel rain and so on. The problemis that in most states in India,what’s being forwarded is eitherEnglish or Hindi, which is entirelykilling off dialects. Now what’sinteresting to note over here is thatif you look at any developedcountry, they are very proud ofspeaking their mother tongue. Andcountries like France and Germanywant us to learn their language.Why don’t we have a similarmindset? One of our intentions isto open a school on languages, soif instead of say, French, someonewants to learn Khasi, or evenRajasthani or Haryani bolvis, theycan just hop in and take a summerschool lesson. We’re looking atsomething that doesn’t requireheavy infrastructure or libraries. Ionly need one local person whospeaks that language and canteach it to others.

You advice to people who want tostrike out and do something like this?You should be in love with whatyou’re doing, not in love with whyyou’re doing it. A lot of people are

in love with the reason why they’redoing something, “I’ll get a lot ofmoney”, or “I’ll get to go abroad”,or “My parents will be impressed”,is what one usually hears.

So you can get that kind ofinsight when you fall in love withwhat you do. It allows you to give arat’s ass about what the worldthinks you’re doing. �

Dr. VANEET JISHTUAdrenaline Junkie Botanist

I am a scientist working with theHimalayan Forest ResearchInstitute, Shimla. I work as a fieldbotanist and taxonomist in thecold deserts and forests ofHimalayas. I am also currentlyworking on the viability of an

arboretum that’s to be based nearShimla which will include about150 native species from the regionwhich will help the public get alook at the rich biodiversity of theHimalayan landscape.

How did you get into this field?I had always loved the wilderness;trekking and photographing wildflowers. At a crucial point in mycareer came along Dr. G.S. Gorayawho observed my interest towards

plants and encouraged me to domore towards the taxonomy andidentification of plants. I startedgoing for field trips with him andother reputed botanists, whichincluded scribbling down notesabout plants and their descriptionsand coming back to study the florain depth. Now we can identifyalmost ninety-five percent of plantsjust by looking at them, all thanksto the extensive field visits.

What’s been the high point of yourcareer so far?The high point of my career camearound 15 years ago when I wasnominated as a member of the“Multidisciplinary Committee toMonitor EnvironmentalSafeguards” of the Baspa HEP – IIdam of JP Industries.

What’s your advice to other buddingaspirants?These days, parents lead theirchildren in the well-towed line ofcivil services, doctors, engineersand so on. However, my advice tothe younger lot would be to

venture into unorthodox careers,which are more challenging andpersonally satisfying. If in any caseyou want to work in theenvironmental field, I personallyrecommend “Taxonomy”. This isone field where there is hardly anycompetition, and off late there is agreat demand for goodtaxonomists; because this subject is the basis of anyenvironmental activity, both faunal and floral. �


“What we are born with and brought

up with, we are not familiar with.”

GAURAV SHOREY

“The field is the best teacher. I

wouldn’t have learnt from books all

that I got from hands-on experience.”

Dr. VANEET JISHTU


■ JESSICA LUIS & ARISTO MENDIS

It was a typical sweltering Delhinoon and the class was walkingthrough the lanes of Mehrauli

on a field trip. We were being runthrough how the town looked onceupon a time, where lakes andorchards once stood, and weavingin and out of forts and ruins leftbehind from a bygone era. By thetime we came to Jahaz Mahal,everyone was looking up at thedomes and admiring thearchitecture of the now abandonedbuilding, and furiously scribblingnotes and diagrams of corbelledarches and true arches.

Suddenly, out of the blue wesaw a tiny bat hanging stealthilyon the darker side of a wall. TheLesser Mouse Tailed Bat, had beenthere, unnoticed, while we werelooking up at the ornatedecorations of the impressive

structure.This got us wondering. How

many of these elusive wingedmammals do we unknowinglyshare our space with in this city?

Where do we find them? Whatdo they actually do? Do they justhang around monuments, hiddenfrom sight during the day and thenfly around to hunt at night?

But most importantly, doesanyone give a damn about them?

So many questions and so fewanswers...

So we decided we’d do a littleresearch of our own, in andaround Delhi. Turned out JahazMahal was not the only monumentthese creatures inhabited.

Bats are nocturna,l so wehumans tend to interact minimallywith them since we share differentspaces and time frames, which iswhy we cloak them with a shroudof myth and mystery. They also live

in abandoned areas, places that wehumans tend to fear and neglect.There are many places in this citywhere these winged mammalscongregate, which may be knownor unknown to us. Apparently onhot summer days, bats prefer toroost in the cool darkness of fortsand ruins to escape the heat,before they go out to hunt at night.

The first was Khirki mosque inthe heart of bustling Saket, NewDelhi. It took us a while to find thenow abandoned building amidstthe winding lanes. When we finallygot there, we asked some kidswhere the “Chamkadar” were. Thepungent smell of guano and therustling of wings was a giveaway.As we entered the cave, we had toduck as a hundred Lesser MouseTailed Bats whooshed over ourheads.

For the next few hours wecovered other historical

WILDLIFE

Vigilantes, not vermin...

Jessica Luis and Aristo Mendis stumble upon the real life bat caves of an urban landscape...

Lesser Mouse-Tailed Bat(Rhinopomahardwickii)

Dark Knights of the RuinsDark Knights of the RuinsVigilantes, not vermin...

Jessica Luis and Aristo Mendis stumble upon the real life bat caves of an urban landscape...

monuments in Delhi that thesebats may call home, like Agrasenki Baoli and Humayun’s tomb.Armed with torches, we looked indamp dark places listening tohigh-pitched squeaking and therustling of wings, surrounded, bythe scent of guano. The number ofbats we found that day wasastounding. From hordes of lesserMouse Tailed bats, to tiny shyPipestrelles. They were hard toidentify, which made us realizehow little we know about theseimpressive creatures.

Bats happen to be the mostspecies rich order of mammals inIndia. For instance, the felid orderthat includes the tiger and leopardhas only fifteen species. Incomparison, the order of bats or‘Chiroptera’ in India sum up tomore than 114 representativespecies. But surprisingly, therehave been almost no studies doneon them in our country.

A daunting fact that we cameacross is that, all bats in Indiaexcept for Wroughton’s Free-tailed

Bat and Salim Ali’s Fruit Bat areconsidered ‘vermin’ underSchedule V of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972. This hasbeen criticised by a lot ofnaturalists.

We interviewed one of the veryfew people working on the batfauna of Delhi, Sumit Dookia whoteaches at the M.Sc. Biodiversity &Conservation course at GGSIndraprastha University, NewDelhi. He is at present working onthe status and taxonomy of bats inDelhi region.

He thinks public opinion is verymuch against bats. And many atimes, this is due to mythologicalgrounds. “Some feel that bats canattack people and suck blood, butthis too is not the apparent case.One of our motives is clear outthese myths among the generalpopulace”, he says.

When we asked him about hisopinion regarding the bats thatshare the urban landscape withhumans in Delhi, he quotes, “Sofar bat fauna of Delhi has not yet

been explored as such. I feel thatthe security of all majormonuments is with ASI(Archaeological Survey of India)and bats belong under the purviewof the forest department. One ofthe reasons no extensive studieshave been done as of yet maybedue to the over-interference of ASI(Archeological Survey of India) andForest Department in this matter.The coordination between thesetwo organizations also seems to becompletely lacking.”

While we may be far away fromadapting trends in other placeswhere people are exploring thelikes of cave tourism and tolerancetowards bats, we can probably tryto co-exist with these creaturesthat share our urban space.

So next time you look up at thenight sky, do try to notice thesenocturnal vigilantes who liveamongst you. �


Bats in general are divided into two

basic and generic groups - the first

being comparatively large fruit-eating

bats (Megachiroptera) and the second

ones include all small insectivorous bats

(Microchiroptera) with unique nose

features. The large ones inhabit trees

and open canopies. And these are the

ones that usually aid in seed dispersal.

The remaining bats are the ones that

inhabit caves and old monumental

structures. These ones are

predominantly the ones who aid in

pest control.

If the vermin status is considered to be a hardbound fact,then what about the ecological importance that bats serve?

Naked-Rumped Tomb Bat (Taphozous nudiventris)


FOOD

� SAYLEE SALVI

Ek Muttar Parantha please, Isaid to the vendor. Kitna timelagega? Madam, 15 minutes.

What? Why? Are you going to thefields to pluck muttar? The manlooked at me and smiled.

Yes, this is Nehru Place, animportant financial, trade, com -

mercial and business hub of SouthDelhi – large four storey buildingswith underground parking and anexpanse of free pedestrian plaza inthe centre. This pedestrian space isbusy and alive with hawking stallsselling all kinds of wares – clothes,cheap electronics, shoes, books andmost importantly, Food. Many stallsdot the pedestrian space, whichincludes the Chaat stalls, Chinese,Indian, Tibetan food, fruit juices and more.

My mutter parantha finallyarrives in a silver packet. Here

madam is your parantha says, LatoYadav the food stall wala where Ihave been waiting to grab a bite forthe last quarter of an hour. Butaren’t food hawkers supposed to beconjuring food at the stall hot, freshand sumptuous?

So why an aluminium foilwrapped parantha instead?“Madam, all food thela (hawking

stall) owners at Nehru Place, but no one cooks their food on the thela.We are not allowed to use gas orcook directly on our thelas. Theauthorities do not allow us.”

I think I know why. It’s theSupreme Court Order February2007, which prohibits cooking offood at the stalls, but has provisionfor the food to be pre-cooked at thehome of the food vendor and packedand sold at the stall. But isn’t thatridiculous? Thela food is suppose tobe fresh and hot so why thisstricture?

The neighbouring restaurants,and permanent food stalls attachedto the complex that have apermanent structure and kitchenattached to them are able to keepcooking fresh food through the dayas per the demands and orders bythe consumers.

“But how many can afford to eatat the restaurant everyday? This isan office area and in an office thereare people that earn 5000, 10000, or even 50000. Can everyone eat atthe restaurants,” wonders Om -prakash, who is a regular at one ofthe thelas.

When the Supreme Court hadordered a ban on cooking at the foodstalls, it had raised issues of theunhygienic conditions around foodstalls that could be harmful to thepeople eating at the stalls. But how can cleanliness be monitoredespecially, when food is cooked,packed, transported from far off and sold.

Ram Prasad, who owns a foodthela nearby says, “We do not cookwhat we sell at home. We have asmall house. At home we have ourwives and children. We pool intogether and have a place about akilometre away, behind the parking

This is an office area

where people earn

Rs. 5000, 10000 or

even 50000. Can

everyone eat in

restaurants

every day?

When the roadside thela can serve your meal hot but not fresh

OFF THE STREET

lot where we cook till about 11am,just before the office lunch hours,so that the food is warm when thecustomers arrive”. Every thelaowner begins his business aboutthe same time and wraps by lateevening, selling an average of 50-70plates per day. There is a regularstream of clients that are catered to.

The food vendors say theauthorities also point to risks ofcombustion and blast, if cooking ispermitted on food stalls. However,some like Karim khan, a book stallvendor on the street refutes, “Ibelieve that these food thelas arestill in the centre in the pedestrianplaza. The hotels and permanentstalls, fast food joints that arewithin the complex are more a riskto the complex and its offices.”

The Nehru Place commercialzone is a pilot project, incollaboration between DDA andManushi Sanghthan an NGO sincethe year 2006. As a model pilotproject, the Nehru Place could setan example in designed planning,by incorporating facilities for safe,hygienic, clean cooking for thestreet food vendors. The SupremeCourt which had issued a ban onthe street side cooking, itself laterhas stressed the need on the partof the MCD (Municipal Corporationof Delhi) to provide forinfrastructure for hygienic cookingconditions. The BIS (Bureau ofIndian Standards) has preparedand finalized norms that pertain tothe quality of street food. Thesenorms stipulate the practices forsafe cooking and the location offood stalls that can ensure foodquality standards.

In the recent years there havebeen a few policies and laws thathave been created around thehawking community. Almost all ofthese policies and laws make aneffort to regularise and facilitate thehawking community. The NationalPolicy on Urban Street Vendors,2009, prepared by the Ministry ofHousing and Urban PovertyAlleviation, states its overarchingobjective “...to promote a supportiveenvironment for the vast mass of

Urban street vendors to carry outtheir vocation while at the sametime ensuring that their vendingactivities do not lead toovercrowding and unsanitaryconditions in public spaces andstreets.” It also tries to create fororganisation and civic facilities forthe hawking community. The policythat covers all kinds of urban street

vendors, suggests facilities of coldstorage for meat, fish vendors,electricity, clean drinking water,public toilets, protective covers toprotect the hawkers and theirwares from dust, sunlight andrains. However, the list of civicamenities fails to cover facilities forfood stall owners to help them cooksafe and hygienically without toomuch hindrance to their dailybusiness. The different spatialplanning norms mentioned in thepolicy also have no provisions inthis regard. The Food Safety andStandards Act, 2006, that makesprovision for registration andlicensing of all food businesses,including food hawkers. Withinadequate facilities to supply freshfood, it seems unlikely that the Actwill meet its objectives, within thehawking community.

In the Nehru Place commercialcomplex alone, there are 70-80 oddfood hawkers. The number of foodstalls across Delhi are estimated by

some studies to be around 60,000-80,000. Considering the largepopulation that might bedependent on the street foodvendors for their daily meals, it isimperative, that policy makersformulate policies and providefacilities that would cater to thelarge street food dependent sectionof population. �


“Promote a

supportive

environment for

urban street vendors

and also ensure their

vending activities

do not lead to

overcrowding and

unsanitary conditions

in public spaces“

National policy on urban

street vendors (2009)


INCESSANT RAIN FOR 60 HOURS, SIX FEET OF THICK SNOW ON THE

MOUNTAINS WITHIN THREE DAYS, COUNTLESS LANDSLIDES, HOMES

WASHED AWAY AND PEOPLE STRANDED…KINNAUR, JUNE 2013.

THE KINNAURIS BORE THE BRUNT OF THE DISASTER, BELIEVING IT TO

BE THE FURY OF THEIR LOCAL DIETY, THE GODDESS OF RAKSHAM.

BUT THE SATLUJ AND BASPA VALLEYS ARE DAMMED AND PIPED,

THE MOUNTAINS ARE BLASTED AND DUG THROUGH, PUSHING THIS

REGION TO THE BRINK OF DISASTER.

COVER STORY

UNSETTLEDBY RAIN

� JYOTISHA VJ & ANANDSREEKUMAR

The rain had followed us all theway from Kalka to Sangla.Treacherous roads carved

into the mountains were flanked bythe Baspa. We were told, that thewaterfalls that once flowed into theriver had disappeared and damshad sprung all over. The tents atAzad Kashmir kept us cozy, till therain started seeping in. At the breakof dawn the next day, we trekked upto Wonderland in Sangla town, ourabode for the next few days. Therain was still sharp. The powerfailed the next day. Our batteriesand the solar torches died. Waterwas scarce and firewood wasover...we were stranded! Each timethe sky cleared, the mountainslooked whiter – six feet of snow fellwithin three days, we were told.After sixty hours, on the third day,the sky cleared and we ran off to thehelipad at the Baspa-II hydropowerplant. We had to trek, cross gushing

water, wade through puddles ofmuddy sludge…the roads were allgone. We waited for nine hoursbefore we were airlifted to an Armybase at Karcham from Sangla. Fromthe Army base, fifteen of us wereairlifted further to Shimla. Theremain ing 11 had to stay back fortwo nights at the army barracks.Here they waited a day for therescue helicopter that failed to turnup. Then after a 14 km trek and

twenty six hours of travel theyreached Delhi.

Himachal Pradesh has seenrains and cloudbursts before, butthe damage was never so invasive.“At least, not in the last fifty years has there been rain thisdevastating”, says Vidyakaran Negi, 65.

The unregulated blasting of themountains loosens the soil and thepiped rivers revolt when naturestrikes back. Perhaps the disasterwasn’t due to the incessant rain,but the mindless development.There are more than 18 dams that are in different stages ofconstruction in the 6401 sq. kms ofthe Kinnaur district alone. They aremostly small and micro run-of-the-river projects. The same rivers aredammed and piped at shortintervals reducing them to a meretrickle. The development debaterages on, but the disaster warns usto not take too many chances withnature. With great power comesgreat responsibility. �


Walking the 14 km

Vehicle buried at Tapri


EXPERIENCES


During this epic trip, many of us experienced things that we never faced before. From

staying in tents and high altitude army bases to trekking 15 km on a road completely

destroyed by multiple landslides and unrelenting rain. Here are some of the things we

experienced along the way: STRANDED! Rescue rush hour: The stress ofbeing stranded finally takes its toll,resulting in a mad rush of peopletrying to barge into the rescuehelicopters.

This was the first time I ever stayed in a tent and it wasan extremely memorable experience! As the rainentered our tents, all of our bags and sleeping bags,got drenched and we struggled to sleep. While this washappening, water was collecting on top of our tents,and we feared that they would collapse sooner or later.Because of this, I couldn’t manage to sleep. The nextmorning, we trekked 2km in the rain, to a local hotel,where we were stranded for three days.

Relief- Stops: Long tiring journeys can berelatively easy when the entire communitysupports you unconditionally! Food packets,fruits, vegetables and refreshments weregiven to all with love!

SHUBHAM BOHRA

ZAEEN DE SOUZA

SAYLEE SALVI

POOJA KULKARNI

NIKITA PAWAR

ARISTO MENDIS

During our trek to Wangtoo, we cameacross a section of the road that wascompletely destroyed by a recent landslide.Due to this, the Army base we werestaying at was completely cut off fromtheir supply convoy. The same landslidealso destroyed one of their water pipes,cutting off their fresh water supply.

We spent an entire day on a dam, waiting to be evacuated fromSangla. We gave up all hope of getting out. At last, an IAFchopper started flying overhead after hours of waiting, but theydidn’t know our exact location. Frustrating! The guards didn’teven have a flag or a cloth with them to signal, so they borrowedmy dupatta. Finally, our turn came to board the chopper. Wethought our journey was over. Little did we know that, thischopper ride, would be the most interesting moment of our trip.

It was constantly pouring and the snowwas slowly descending into the valley. Thebonfire was our only shield against thefreezing cold. It helped us dry our wetclothes and it also brought everyonetogether.

Yamuna overflows its banks in New Delhi, leaving hundreds of homeless andslumdwellers out in the open

DELHI DELUGE


COVER STORY

� ABHISHEK RATNAM & NAFEELAHAMED

It happened in Delhi too, butearlier than usual. On the 19thof June, the roads near the Inter

State Bus Terminal at KashmereGate were inundated by water.Every year the Yamuna floods its

banks. This year too, the Yamunaravaged its banks, but much earlierthan expected. The water level inthe river rose to 207.12 metreswhich is 2.29 metres above thedanger mark of 204.83 metres. Inaddition to that, Haryana releasedover 81,000 cusecs of water into theYamuna from the Hathnikundbarrage on the 19th of June. Theneighbouring state had released 8lakhs and 1.5 lakhs cusecs of watereach on the 17th and 18th of June,respectively. The official sourcesclaim that 5000 people have beenevacuated and 900 tents have beenput all over the city.

The Yamuna Bank area, issurrounded by stagnant flood waternow. There, we spotted a largenumber of people in tents on thestretch extending from the YamunaBank Metro Station to the MetroOfficial Quarters. These people hadmoved to safer places near theYamuna Bank Metro Station on the

19th of June. The residents pitchedthe tents themselves. JagdeeshSaini, a senior citizen told us thatthey had been living in the YamunaBank area since 1999. Before the

Yamuna claimed her banks recently,these families earned upto Rs. 8000every month from their farms andnurseries. In the Yamuna Bank reliefcamp, in the absence of governmentassistance, an NGO, the JanhithKisaan Samiti, had been supplyingfood to the affected people everymorning and evening. The Delhi JalBoard provides water in tankers, butthe plastic cans, bottles and utensilsin which the people store their waterare filthy.

At Majnu Ka Tila, which is verynear to the Delhi Vidhan Sabha,Kishan Lal’s kabadi shop waswashed away in the flood. RajendraKumar, a farmer stays in a camp justoutside the DDA Park along with hisfamily. “We know this happens everyyear and so does the Government.Why can't they take actions on time?This will keep on happening everyyear with us” he said. Half of theDDA Park is still submerged in floodwaters.. Garbage floats around in thepark and people are cleaning itthemselves. The homes of theTibetan refugees are also filled withgarbage. Relief camps have comeup across GT road but can’t be usedsince crossing the roads can berisky. Mishaps are common andrecently a child got injured.

Inefficient management andunawareness about relief schemesadd to the flood misery of Delhi. Thewater released from the dams on theupper reaches of the river Yamunamakes life along the banks morevulnerable. Proactive disasterresponse mechanisms are non-existent in our country and so arethe post disaster relief measures. It’shigh time our response mechanismsbecome more centralised and changethe focus from post disaster reliefand rehabilitation to disastermitigation and management. �

Flood affected area on the Yamuna Bank

Temporary shelter

SANGLA DOWNPOUR

The sun blazed down at us as we made our way toSangla. Sangla is a town in the Baspa Valley, in theKinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh, India, close to

the Tibetan border.In Sangla, we were greeted by a drizzle which later

turned into a continuous, heavy downpour that went onfor nearly 70 hours.

Rain during this time of the year is unheard of and isleast expected. Sangla usually receives rainfall from mid-July to October. The rainfall is restricted to the lower partsof Kinnaur and the higher areas receive only small amountof rainfall.

The rain came as a surprise because none of us, localsincluded, were expecting it. The loose soil let the waterflow in, creating streams all around us and our tents wereinundated. Due to the fact that our campsite was flooded,we had to trek up to Sangla town, and stay in a hotel. The2 km trek seemed endless. Enter Wonderland (The placewe were stranded for next few days) – Alice’s hole forescape and comfort.

With the rain, came extremely low temperatures ofabout 4 degrees Celsius and the nights were even coolerthan usual. The average temperature observed in Sangla, inthe month of June is 8 degrees Celsius at night and 30degrees Celsius during the day.

Due to the heavy rainfall in the upper areas of Kinnaur,the country’s largest hydropower plants, the Nathpa JhakriProject and the Karcham Wangtoo Project, were closedsince the 16th of June due to the sudden rise in the level ofsilt in the Sutlej.

We could see a highly unusual amount of snow fallingon the mountains from our hotel. We were told that it wasaround 5-6 feet, which was unheard of at this time of theyear. Due to the landslides, most roads were shut.

What could possibly be the reason for such a suddenchange in the weather this year? �


VIDYA KARAN NEGI - Everester / Guide

“Rakcham mein devi ke mandir mein chori

hui hain, karodo ke zevraat chale gaye. Bas

yeh Devi ka prakop hain. Bemausam baarish

ho rahi hain. Sangla mein maine aisi baarish

kabhi nahi dekhi. Vinaash lekar aayi hain.”

A theft in the Rakcham temple, where the

face of the deity alongwith the jewels were stolen, could have

been the cause of the bad weather, Vidya Karan believes.

ANKIT DHINGRA - Participant, AFS 2012

“Mornings used to be bearable as far as

cold is concerned. From 9-10 in the morning

in the morning till 4-5 in the evening, we

could roam around in a single layer of

clothing. Very good and pleasant, light

breeze, sun out, all green. Nights would be

the colder. Another layer of clothes was

needed. The temperature difference between days and

nights I guess was about 10-12 degrees.”

He shared his experience with us as he went to same place

and date last year.

SHANTAKUMAR NEGI - Anti dam activist

“Man himself has led this devastation over

mankind. The building of so many dams

over the Sutlej has not even given 5 km of

range for it to flow. This leads to floods

even during less, but continuous rainfall.

Excessive dynamite blasts of mountains are

done in order to construct dams. This has

also increased the risk of Earthquake, since these are young

fold mountains.”

For 3 years he has been organising people to stop dam

construction in semi arid and arid zones of Himachal Pradesh

ASHOK JI - Everester / Guide

“Is saal snow bhi 12 feet gira. News mein

aya tha 140 saal ke baad ho rahi hai. Humne

toh apne jeevan mein June ke mahine mein

aisi baarish nahi dekhi. Sangla mein desh

bidesh se log aate hain tent mein rehene ke

liye. Sab khatam ho gaya.”

He is hired by The National Disaster Management Authority to

rescue those trapped in high altitudes.

M Y T H O R F A C T� EVANGELIN MASIH & POOJA KULKARNI


TRAVELOGUE

Survived the bumpy

roads to Azad Kashmir! Greeted

by constant drizzling..

Water leaked in our tents.

Night went sleeplessss!!!

Survived the

BUmpy!!!

Shelter relief at

Hotel WONDERLAND after

2 kms walk in freezing cold

weather, where we were

stranded for three days, no

water,no electricity!

Rescue program at

BASPA 2 dam. Long day wait

with empty stomach. The listed

were stranded and the

unlisted flew off!!


Boarded a bus to

Shimla and later

reached delhi!

The boys trekked for 15

kms,witnessed landslides and

the resulting destructions. They

risked their lives and walked on

mucky broken roads!

At karcham Army

base camp, the group was

separated. Some were lucky enough

to fly off to shimla and the rest

stayed back for 2 days awaiting

for the chopper.

They were promised development, but dams have extracted too high a price from thepeople of Kinnaur.

AT WHAT COST?


■ ZAEEN DE SOUZA

The recent catastrophicflashfloods in Uttarakhandand landslides in Himachal

Pradesh have brought centrestagethe debate on water managementand development in fragile zones.

Having had to deal with thenegative effects of this damconstruction spree – deforestation,increased siltation, landslides andincreased pollution – project affectedcommunities have benefitted littlefrom such ‘development’. Dissentingvoices have been termed ‘anti-development’.

The total hydel potential ofHimachal Pradesh is a just over20,000 MW. Many experts howeverpoint out that a majority of the powerplants only generate 20-30 per centof their potential power. While thesheer inefficiency of these powerplants is shocking, the even biggerproblem is the environmental cost ofthese projects and the risk involvedin building so many of these projectsin an ecologically fragile zone.

The worst hit by this construction

spree is Kinnaur district in the northof Himachal, with a total of 18 majordams, including those alreadyconstructed as well as severalproposed and under construction.Although touted as environmentallybenign, the construction of theserun-of-the-river dams involves ahuge amount of blasting in themountains to create tunnels,through which river water is divertedand carried to the turbines in thepower plants located downstream.The Himalayas, being some of theyoungest mountains in the world,are naturally fragile, and theconstant and unregulated blastingweakens the mountainsides,increases the chances of landslidesand fills the river with silt, furtherdamaging the already crippled riverand reducing its environmentalcarrying capacity.

In Kinnaur, dam builders haveroutinely ignored the conditions andpromises they made under environ -ment clearance mechanisms to localcommunities under which they havebeen permitted to build dams.According Shanta Kumar Negi, a

local activist, project affected com -mu nities are promised facilities likecolleges and hospitals by thebuilders, so that they don’t opposethe construction of the dams. Theproblem with this is that once theNOC is given, the builders don’t fulfiltheir promises. He says “They’re justbusinessmen. They’re here to makemoney. That’s it.” There is no one toensure that these promises arefulfilled, and that seems to betroubling the locals the most. Even ifthere is electricity in the district,where are the schools, hospitals andcolleges that were promised to them?The other important problem, is thathow can one compensate for theenvironmental loss? Once all of thedams are constructed, the entireriver will be diverted and channelledunderground, and will disappearcompletely. R S Negi, a formerbureaucrat, asks “Who will come toKinnaur to see a ditch? There’ll be noriver left.”

When it comes to powergeneration, one can’t help but noticethat the social and environmentalcost of these dams is too high.According to R S Negi, Kinnaur onlyrequires around 7 MW, although theregion has the potential to generatebetween 12,000-15,000 MW. Theactual amount of electricityproduced is only about 3,000 MW. Ofthis, Himachal retains only 13 percent, of which the monetary value of1 per cent of this electricity is routedto the Local Area Development Fund(LADF). This fund is used to developthe project affected area by buildingschools, colleges and hospitals, etc.The remaining 87 per cent is sold bythe developer to the national grid.

Despite these somewhat gene -rous terms of energy trade, saidShanta Kumar, some of the towns

DAMS

Diverting riverwater into apower-plant

Q 1. What do think about theinstalment of hydro power projectsin your state?I understand the concern of thegovernment towards the increase in theenergy requirement but I think weshould also focus on the cost at whichwe are installing these dams. Thenegative effect of hydro projects toenvironment, loss of people’s rights andlivelihoods, danger to national securityand gross violation of tribal, environ -ment and forest laws cannot becompensated. Moreover energy require -ment is a never ending greed; I don’tthink we should run after it blindly.

Q 2. What are the problems peopleface due to these projects? Whatkind of rehabilitation and compen -sation is missing according to you,because we are told that propercompensation is provided, in factone hospital was also built whichfunctions quite well?There is not a single problem, from

resettlement and rehabilitation toemployment and damage to theenvironment. There are a lot ofproblems. We go to the govt. and theconcerned company to ask for propercompensation but we don’t getanything. They don’t even reply properly.Yes they speak very confidently aboutthe hospital. Go to the site and you willknow the reality. The hospital workedquite well till the construction was goingon; as the construction got completedthe hospital’s condition became worsethan any government hospital.

Q 3. How are the villagers/ locali tesinvolved in the decision of building adam?People were totally unaware earlier. Theyhave been fooled all the time, butgradually things started changing. Withthe command of NOC coming to thegram Sabah a lot of flip in power playhas taken place. No project can start tillthe time the gram Sabah gives NoObjection Certificate.

Q 4. What do you have to sayabout the rumours that suggest thatGram Sabhas accepts undue favoursfor handing out NOCs?They are only rumours. These peoplehave been putting such accusations butthere hasn’t been any such case. It is alla game of NOCs now. They have triedto bribe people but it didn’t work out forthem. People in Kinnaur just don’t wantthese dams anymore, what they onlywant is to preserve their resources. Wealways give them Total ObjectionCertificate (TOC).

Q 5. According to official sources,skilled labour cannot be provided to the locals because they are not technically equipped. Most ofthem have just completed theirintermediate education. What doyou have to say about it?He is right to say that, but the questionthat arises is, in an isolated district likeKinnaur how do you think these poorpeople will get the required technicalknowledge. I think if the governmentis really keen to employ the locals, theyshould conduct a 6 month or a years’technical training programme.

Q 6. Looking at the presentsituation, what do you think aboutthe future of Kinnaur?The future is unpredictable but if wekeep in mind today’s pace of‘development’ then I don’t see anybright future. Although people ofKinnaur are more aware now and theywill surely find a way out of thismishappening but I think even the authority should alsoshow real concern towards thedeteriorating environment. Suchdevelopment is unsustainable.


near the north west of Kinnaur, stilldon’t have constant electricity. Hepoints out that that there are peoplestill waiting for the monetarycompensation, as well as thefacilities they were promised. As of2011, the power companies still owethe Himachal Government Rs.264 cr,as part of the LADF.

Deforestation remains a major

concern. A 2011 study on five projectaffected villages in Kinnaur byRenuka Thapliyal and Manoj Jreat,show that 35,046 trees weredamaged and felled, during theconstruction of dams in the district.Amongst these felled and damagedtrees are endangered Chilgoza pine,prized by local communities for theirpine nuts. A total of 7,89479 hectares

of forest land was ‘diverted’ to enablethe construction of these dams.

This is the cost that the people ofKinnaur are paying for theirelectricity. They give up their land,their forests and their water, and allthey get in return, are false promisesand in many cases, electricityproblems. Is this “development”really worth it? �

I N T E R V I E W

Shanta Kumar Negi

an engineer from

Punjab University and

an anti-dam activist in

Himachal Pradesh

interacted with

Nishant Saxena and

B Harikrishnan

Baldev Singh Verma was elected pradhan, unopposed, of Nauni gram panchayat in 2006 when this‘model village’ was carved out from the Ojghat panchayat.

THE NAUNI STORY


MODEL VILLAGE

� SHUBHAM BOHRA & SANJALAHARI

In a village of 300 households,150 have toilets in their homes.And they are all soak pit and

toilets with bio remediationmethods. 90 per cent of thehouseholds harvest their ownrainwater.

From a village where opendefecation was the norm, and waterborne diseases were rampant,Verma led this village’s trans -formation into one of India’s finest,self-sustaining model village. Thetransformation started withdiscussion, debate and finalacceptance by the Gram Sabha, orvillage council. To use governmentschemes for transformation ensuredspeedy, effective and long-termsolutions to the issues faced by all.

Community Led Total Sanitation(CLTS)The transformation started when theGram Pradhan was trained in aprogram called CLTS by Dr. KamalKar. Community Led Total Sani -tation is an innovative approach thatinvolves community participation toeliminate open defecation. MakingNauni an open defecation free (ODF)zone was the top priority, one thatwas shared by the state, which hadschemes to support community ledefforts to rid villages of thisdebilitating ‘habit’. Through theGram Panchayat, the villagers learntabout the problems caused by opendefecation and as a community,agreed to be a part of the program.It was important to include thesocially excluded. For instance,Budhram and Devi Lal, members ofthe Scheduled Caste community,innovatively used their ginger pits tomake a bio-friendly toilet, which was

essentially a pit where humanexcreta was decomposed by bacteriaand converted into bio gas andwater. Nauni soon was an opendefecation free village.

Enhancing LivelihoodsIn Nauni, high value vegetables likebell peppers were always grown bythe villagers. But the yield was low.The villagers were afraid of theconcept and cost of polyhouses.Through training, the villagers weremade aware of the merits of apolyhouse and how, with the jointfinancial support of the community,

they could effectively purchase one.Verma explains, “The entire villageagreed to adopt a model wheregovernment intervention will be at aminimum and all the resources areultimately owned by the peoplecollectively”. Three hundred familiescontributed one lakh rupees each tobuy polyhouses that increased theyield of the vegetables. With thehelp of the Pradhan, the villagerswere informed of their cost-benefitratio. The soil was also tested toknow the nutrient content so thatthe right amount of manure couldbe added.

Women participation wasencouraged in all spheres. They wereempowered to share their views,feedback and even encouraged totake initiatives. Value addition in thedairy sector was women centric.‘Teach the people’, a supplementaryto CLTS was implemented toeducate the community (especiallyamong the vulnerable, the elderlyand children) about variousproblems faced and their solutions.This initiative has been successful inNauni.

Connecting the DotsFor a layman ‘government schemes’and ‘banks’ are intimidating. But thevillagers in Nauni were educated onthe various schemes available, andits effects. Verma explains, “Acompetitive spirit can act as thebiggest driver of action, but for it tobe really effective, the process has tobe transparent for all”. Therefore thevillagers were more confident whena particular scheme was imple -mented and were in full support ofthe changes that followed.

The Pradhan, with the help of thegram sabha, helped in constructionof roads within and beyond thevillage. The terrain being hilly, roads

SOCIALISM SE JAGRITINAHI AATI HAI,

DEVELOPMENT SE PAISEAUR PHIR AATI HAI

UNNATI AUR JAGRITI.

BALDEV SINGH VERMAPradhan of Nauni Village

within the village helped in the easycommute of the villagers as well aseasy transport of the produce. Thehighway built outside the villagemade connectivity easier to themain city. The government schemeused for this was the PradhanMantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

With the help of the State andcentral government schemes,renewable energy sources were

installed. Biogas plants and solarlanterns are set up across thevillage. Rain water harvesting ispracticed consciously and subs -tantially. Many water storagestructures are constructed all overthe village and there are many pipesconnecting these to the houses.

The biggest question one canask is ‘what is the future of thismodel village?’ The Pradhan and

his team seem to be answering thisconsequential question by theirwork and not words.

When you understand the waythis village is evolving and growing,one is reminded of Gandhiji’s dreamof Gram Swaraj or ex-presidentA.P.J Abdul Kalam’s PURA (Pro -viding Urban Amenities to RuralAreas) initiative and how finally it isbeing practiced. �


PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION

Transparency andAccountability

Financial and TechnicalSupport

Sustainable

Priority Management and Awareness

Community participation


ANIMAL WELFARE

■ JOSEPH THARAYIL VARGHESE

The dairy project in the KisanSEZ by Indian FarmersFertilizer Co-operative Limited

(IFFCO) in Nellore district in AndhraPradesh will allow internationaldairies to muscle into the country.The proposal, has hit a roadblock,given serious concerns over possibleviolation of rules of the AnimalWelfare Board of India (AWBI).

Opposition to such factory-like

dairy operations in many parts of theworld stems from the inhumaneconditions imposed by the dairyindustry on cattle. In India,undercover investigations by Peoplefor the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA) exposed the inhumanetreatment of cattle, e.g. Oxytocinabuse to induce unusually highquantities of milk, which caused

excessive stomach cramping in milchanimals.

Many fear that the government’srelaxed policies on Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) and the rush tosign Free Trade Agreements (FTA)will attract global companies seekinga ‘cash cow’ to invest in India, whichhas perhaps the world’s largestlivestock population.

IFFCO’s Kisan SEZ dairy projectwill be run like a corporate farm,with imported animals coming under

extreme stress at being kept at highstocking densities in close proximitywith minimal hygienic conditions,and regularly dosed with drugswhich might result in themcontracting diseases or developingdrug resistant variants of existingdiseases a.k.a. super bugs.

Animals kept within an intensivecramped system have a higher

likelihood of injuries, reducedproductivity and complicationsresulting from climatic shock. Megadairy projects have been banned inmany countries due to its potentialhazards. Lincolnshire in UK forexample recently refused permissionto a cattle farm similar to the oneproposed at IKSEZ

Federation of Indian AnimalProtection Organisations (FIAPO) is acollective of animal protectionorganisations in India that is

campaigning against this proposedproject in Nellore. “Industrial dairiesare extremely harmful for animals,local environment, as well as smallfarmers. The only party that benefitsis the industrialist”, says ArpanSharma, FIAPO CEO.

The genetically manipulatedJersey and Holstein Friesian cowsthat are to be imported at a high

A sour undertakingFactory-like dairy farms planned for India will challenge traditional dairy farms that arenot merely business ventures but a way of life across much of the country.

“IFFCO, a fertiliser company

with no experience in dairying,

is the main proponent of this

dairy and it proposes to

develop an intensive dairy

with 40,000 cows through a

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)

consisting of IFFCO Kisan

SEZ-Fonterra-Global Dairy

Health consortium.”

VARDA MEHROTRA

Director Programmes, FIAPO

price from New Zealand, haveshortened life span, reducedfertility, greater propensity fordiseases, physiological anddevelopment problems. Animalslaughter, management of wasteand transportation of animals resultin additional problems.

Moreover, they plan to feed thecattle corn as opposed to traditionalfodder. This would push up theirmilk production costs, but will notaffect their economic viability. Sowhile we struggle to feed peoplebelow the poverty line, a fertilizerco-operative with foreigncollaboration will be feeding theircows corn to produce more milk forthe markets at a higher cost ofproduction and higher price.

Indian dairy farmers already arein crisis with increased cost ofproduction and non-remunerativeprices. The scarcity of naturalresources and crop residue forfodder has defined the death oftraditional grazing practices. Theproductivity of cattle is based on itscare and management; howeverfarmers will be forced to switch overto efficient food, and care intensivebreeds to compete. This spells ableak future for the conservation ofendemic bovine with lower yield buthigher tolerance to environmentalstressors.

We are the largest producer andconsumer of milk, producingaround 130 million tons and thetotal world production estimates730 million tons, withapproximately 115 million bovine atpresent. Yet EU does not permitimport of dairy products from Indiain the name of SPS (Sanitary and

Phyto Sanitary) measures sayingthat Indian milch animals are notmaintained as per EU standard.Even the Food and SafetyStandards Authority of India(FSSAI) has announced 68% of thebulk milk supplies are found to beunsafe and substandard quality. Sowhy is this consortium interested inIndia?

The continued 3% approximategrowth of milk production, bundledwith a low production cost, the percapita consumption growing at

1.5% annually, and improvedincomes causing a surge inconsumption makes India attractiveto investments. Once the economicsand the production facilities are putinto place, and the ‘pilot’ project isfound ‘acceptable’, this consortiumplans at least 10 other such dairyfarms in other locations in India.

Towards bovine care standards,cattle require shelter for protectionfrom environmental and parasiticelements, as they perform betterunder favourable conditions. Thecomfortable temperature range fordairy breeds of cattle is 15 degreesC to 27 degrees C. Climatic stressoccurs when the temperature goes5 degrees C below or above thisrange. High humidity combinedwith high temperature could causegreater stress. So, the meagre spacerequirements of dairy animals asper Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) raise the question: Have theyconsidered the dimensions of allbreeds of cattle?

In the legal context, ThePrevention of Cruelty to AnimalsAct, 1960 is ineffective in controllingcases of animal abuse, and deathsresulting thereof due to the non-cognisable nature of offences, whichin legal terms endows minorpunishments. Our aged laws needamendment especially relating todairy. There are concerns ofviolation of provisions of AndhraPradesh Cow Protection Act.

Even countries like NewZealand, from where we plan toimport impregnated cattle, embryosand semen, have Animal Welfarecodes for Dairy Cattle, CommercialSlaughter and Painful HusbandryProcedures. Lack of stringentIndian standards would encourageforeign and local adventurismbecause India is outside the legaljurisdiction of internationalstandards and therefore open tocowboy tactics.

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. R.M.Kharb, AVSM AWBI Chairmanadded, “I do hope good senseprevails and Andhra Pradesh Govt.does not approve the mega dairyproject.” �


“Animal Welfare Board of

India (AWBI) has since

conveyed its protest to Govt.

of Andhra Pradesh

expressing its concern

highlighting the adverse

effects suffered by s. This is a

western concept of intensive

animal production system

where serious animal

welfare concerns exist”

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. R.M. Kharb

AVSM AWBI Chairman

POSSIBLE SAFEGUARDS – PRIOR TO PROJECTS

• Micro chips on animals kept for commercial purposes can be made mandatory

• BIS specifications for livestock enclosures be reviewed

• Paddocks and open land must be made mandatory for corporate projects

• Cattle nutrition and health must be closely monitored

• Quarterly assessments along with the assessors knowledge should be evaluated

regularly

• Animal protection laws should be revised.

The list is endless and thinking about it is the first step, what do you think?


ENTREPRENEURS

� MUKESH CHOUDHARI & GARGIBARKAKATI

Born and brought up in theremote village Dhora, locatedin Kullu district. Begma Devi

comes from a socio-economicallybackward family, consisting of 15members. She finished herschooling at a local governmentschool in Gadsa village.

Begma Devi is a very passionatewoman and works towards thesocial and economic empowermentof women. According to her, womenare still much more likely to be poorand illiterate than men. When wespoke to Begma Devi, she told us

about her life, her father and therole she first played at Jagriti,without any hesitation.

When we asked her how shecame to know about Jagriti shesaid, “Ek Jagriti ki field worker ai thiaur unhone Jagriti ke bare mainbataya aur mujhe bahaut acha lagaaur maine socha ki apni kausaltaka istemal karu aur mahilao kimadad karu” (A field workerbelonging to Jagriti came to our

village and spoke to us about theorganization and I thought ofjoining the organization so that Ican also help the women in thevillage).

She now works as a grouporganizer with Jagriti, one of theNGOs in Kullu. Jagriti is a non-profit organization working towardsthe empowerment of poor, rural hillwomen. Her work basically consistsof educating, forming self-helpgroups and enhancing livelihoodactivities. The women in her villagesearn about 12-25 thousand rupeesa year, by selling locally made foodproducts and organic manure. Sheis involved with the procurement,

packing, marketing and sale oforganic produce. Through her work,she has made it possible for thewomen in the villages of Kullu tosmash the societal barriers andbecome entrepreneurs. Thesewomen are selling their productsthrough their shop, MountainBounties, which is located in Kullu.Some of their products are:� Bitter apricot oil, wild peach oil.� Oregano and Mint.

� Herbal Tea.� Mountain honey, buckwheat

and hazel nuts

Her initial stint with Jagriti wastough because she belongs to theDalit community and just like Dalitsin other parts of the country, shewas neglected and marginalized bypeople. Since she belongs to a KoliDalit family, she was hesitant tocome out and utilize her skills.Initially, she was not allowed tointeract with the people belonging tothe upper castes and faced troublewhile interacting with women in thevillages.

Now, she sees herself as a changed, confident andindependent woman who isempowering women and trying tocreate a green economy. In Jagriti,she has worked on the followingprojects:� Energy conservation.� Conserving threatened

medicinal plants and trees.� Livelihood enhancement.� Education and nutrition.

She now leads the womenbelonging to 25 villages in Gadsaand has sensitized them about theirrights. When we asked her how thecommunity perceives her, she said,“Mujhe par mahilaye bahaut garvkarti hain aur meri ek hi call parmeeting main aa jaati hai” (Thevillage women are proud of me andcome for meeting as soon as I callthem).

Begma Devi was given the award for Best Community Work bythe United Nations DevelopmentProgramme and was also awardedfor Facilitating Green Economy bythe Earth Day Network. She endedthe interview by saying that “Povertycan be sustainably conquered byempowering women.” �

ONE VILLAGE AT A TIME“Poverty can be sustainably conquered by empowering women.”

Women entrepreneurs at Jagriti


80 percent of the total oral cancer cases of the world

happen in India.

VOICING HOPE

� ALTAF A SOFI & PRAVESH

With a soaring number of oral cancercases in India, the country is fightinghard against this menace, makingthe masses conscious about thehazardous effects of smoking andchewing tobacco. It is believed thatIndia accounts for 80% of all oralcancer cases in the world.

“There are around twenty eightlakh cancer patients in India. Thehighest number of cases in India isthat of oral cancer. It accounts fornearly one third of all cancers in the country,” says Dr. TapaswiniPradhan Sharma, ConsultantSurgical Oncology, Rajiv GandhiCancer Institute and ResearchCenter.

“The main problem is thatyoungsters and adolescents becauseof peer pressure and fascination withmacho advertisements of theseproducts start using tobacco. Itbecomes a habit because of thenicotine content in tobacco which

later, is hard to give it up. Most of thevictims of oral cancer are aged 35years and above because of thecontinuous use of tobacco for longperiod” says, Dr. Aggarwal.

As per a medical study, it is saidthat there are more than 300carcinogens (cancer inducing agents)that have been identified in tobaccosmoke.

Dr. Sharma says that there is direneed for an increase in awarenessabout cancer amongst the generalpopulation. “People should be madeto realize the potential carcinogeniceffect of smoking, tobacco chewingand alcohol. There should be strictlaws to ban the companies frompromoting products which arepotentially hazardous,” she said.

Even though the government hasordered manufacturers to put apictorial warning on every tobaccoproduct, this plan has not providedthe desired result, as there is anincrease in tobacco users, ratherthan a decline. �

RAN SINGH DABBASAge – 66

Occupation- Retired Government

Employee

Lives in Rohini, Delhi

Suffering from throat cancer

He has lost his voice

and not a single

sound made by

him, can be heard.

He has a full time

assistant with him,

who understands

his lip movements and helps people to

understand what he is trying to

convey.

SATISH SAHNI Laryngectomy Speech Therapist Age- 54

He was diagnosed with throat cancer12 years ago and was then operatedon. He had his vocal cords removedand subsequently, lost his voice. But,his desire to live and speak again,made him try everything possible toget his voice back. He traveled toJapan to get speech therapy. SatishSahni is now able to communicate byspeaking softly to people. He takesspeech therapy classes for those whohave lost their voice due to oralcancer.

“There are thousands of peoplelike me in India who have lost theirvoice due to oral cancer. Most ofthem are poor and cannot go abroadfor therapies. That is why I decidedto dedicate my life to help oralcancer patients in India”, says Satish Sahni.

“85 percent of oral cancer inIndia happens due to consumption oftobacco in any form. Most of the oralcancer patients come from the statesof Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Thereason for this is lack of knowledge,low literacy rate and poverty.

I request people to help thegovernment to eradicate this evilfrom our society. Our teachers,parents and doctors can play a vitalrole in eradicating this lifethreatening disease. I requestyoungsters that you will one daygrow old, so you need to start takingcare of your health and wealth andstop taking tobacco and alcohol,” hefurther added.

NARESH PRASAD SINGHAge – 67

Occupation – Retired Government

Employee

Lives in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Suffering from mouth cancer

“He has undergone

three operations till

date. Our whole

family is suffering

because of the

cancer. It’s not only

my father’s cancer,

but it has left an impact on everybody’s

life in the family,” says his son Amar

Kumar Singh (18).

A CANCER SURVIVOR – A SAVIOR

ORAL CANCER PATIENTS

HEALTH & WELL BEING

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