Bundelkhand in Crisis

OPED Thursday, October 1, 2009 Print Close

Don’t blame the rain god for drought

Development priorities in Bundelkhand are not based on the larger understanding of climatic cycles. More could have been done to prevent drought instead of blaming poor rainfall, writes Sachin Kumar JainThe situation in Bundelkhand is turning perilous. The indicators simply stare you in the face. Between 1999 and 2008, the average number of rainy days per year has reduced from 52 to 23 in this agro-climatic zone of Madhya Pradesh. No wonder then that in the current year this beleaguered land faces a 53 per cent deficit in average rainfall. So, is Bundelkhand totally rain-fed and dependent year after year on the quantum of water its parched grounds receive? The answer also stares one in the face. The previous year was comparatively better after five years of drought. Yet that counts for very little even a year on. A great pity, but more than that a neglect of this precious resource showing an abysmal lack of focus in developmental policies. Some pertinent questions arise here. Would the agriculture bunds be able to stop the run-off water? How would the ground water level rise then and the soil receive the much needed moisture? In such situation, even if the expected 950 mm of rain were received, would it really meet the needs of this land? While all these questions form aspects of development agenda, one thing is eminently clear. That the drought in Bundelkhand is not due to a failure of rains alone. As per the statistics of the Union Irrigation and Power Ministry, 1985, every year about 1,31,021 sqmt of rainwater is available in this region. Of this a mere 14,355 sqmt is used while 1,16,666 sqmt of water simply runs off. This amounts to only a negligible 10.95 per cent of water being utilised. The situation today remains the same more or less. Unfortunately, development priorities here are not based on the larger understanding of climatic cycles and the lay of the land but choose to instead address each crisis in a piecemeal way, going from year to year, drought to drought. Traditionally, the region, in spite of its rain woes, has managed to keep hunger at bay and that itself speaks volumes about its potential to fight drought; both these conditions normally are considered synonymous, one leading to the other. Following rain-fed principles, farmers here took to growing food crops which survived in drought conditions and used less water. Sadly the Government is impervious to this potential and has failed to explore such options. More specifically, it has failed to promote growing of pulses, which requires one-third water as compared to paddy crops. The effect of this neglect is widespread, with deficient rains marking Tikamgarh (56 per cent less) Chhatarpur (54 per cent), Panna (61 per cent), Sagar (52 per cent) and Damoh (61 per cent). Literally the entire belt. As expected, the land is getting ravaged, losing its fertility and needs urgent attention by the Government to restore it. Instead of addressing this core need, the Government compounds the felony by granting mining lease and allowing cement factories to be set up on the now fallow land. These not only occupy large areas of land which can be restored to become fertile but pollute environment through deadly gases. Cement factories emit methane and damage huge areas of land around the factory, causing health hazards also. Clearly the onus for creating such a situation lies squarely with the Government. But more important is the question, does Bundelkhand need this? Wouldn’t it be infinitely wiser to nourish its soil, water, forests, things which were once its strength giving sustenance to its people? Sadly the Government seems hell-bent on imposing a different of development. Blaming the rain gods solely for the ravaged land now seems like a hollow exercise when much more could have been done to prevent the damage. The list of follies is long. Fifteen big dams were constructed in the region, of which only 30 per cent capacity is being utilised, the rest are dysfunctional because of heavy silting. NREGA could have played a very important role in addressing drought conditions. Instead the State bureaucracy stuck to routine jobs displaying a lack of drought mitigation perspective. For instance, only four per cent of the old ponds can still be used. Under NREGA other ponds could have been revived and de-silted. But these opportunities were either missed or thrown away. Through this process, local communities’ stake and role played in water management over the centuries have also been undermined. It is no mean achievement that under their care, some of the big baawadies and taalabs like Sindoor Sagar Talab in Tikamgarh have survived for 1,000 years. It is not only in Bundelkhand that this lack of focus or political will is seen. What is disturbing is that water management policies adopted by various State Governments have led to either rivers drying up, like the Narmada and the Sone, or flooding, like the Kosi. Sea water is finding its way back into dried rivers, causing river waters like that of the Narmada to turn saline. Reversing all this requires a great deal of wisdom, clarity and a sense of purpose followed by action on the ground. Perhaps the starting point would be to view the current drought situation in Bundelkhand not as a vagary of nature but caused by wilful destruction of nature’s process by human beings. Can we expect our policy-makers to pay heed and meet this challenge?

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Bundelkhand crisis

http://www.dailypioneer.com/201528/Degradation-of-land-endangers-Bundelkhand.html
OPED Thursday, September 10, 2009 Print Close

Degradation of land endangers Bundelkhand

Faced with relentless march of ravines, many villages are on the verge of getting wiped out, writes Sachin Jain The recent focus on Bundelkhand is not without reason. In fact it is surprising that a long-neglected region which suffers from a harsh terrain and topography and is burdened by a crumbling feudal social system did not merit attention and action earlier. Straddling both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the region has borne countless harsh summers which has robbed its rich soil cover, leaving it arid and dotted with rocks. Of its total area of 30 lakh hectares, only 24 lakh hectares is arable. Within this only four lakh hectare is irrigated, and herein lies the core problem. Availability and approach to water, on which Bundelkhand’s fragile agricultural produce depends, are at the centre of the problem. Due to geological compositions, the terrain does not allow adequate retention of water. Which is why traditional societies in Bundelkhand evolved ways to mitigate its ill effects by constructing ponds and cultivating crops that require less water? Traditional wisdom factored in the undulating topography wherein ponds and water structures constructed at higher levels were connected through canals to those at lower levels, thus ensuring that once ponds at higher level fill up, water would naturally flow down to fill the lower level ones. This intricate network was really the lifeline of the region. Sadly, the administration does not seem to be in tune with this near-flawless system. All it really had to do was to just continue with this organic system of water-management devised and managed by the local communities. In fact it could have ensured that the community itself develops the capacity to manage the system at low cost, without the authorities having to provide routine support. Instead our policy-implementing bodies thought otherwise and what we have today is a beleaguered region in dire need of water. Starting on the wrong foot, as it were, seven medium level dams were constructed in the region ruining nearly 30,000 hectares of fertile land. The expenditure incurred on the construction was phenomenal, but the results were not. The dams are only able to utilise 38 per cent of the irrigation potential, a sorry ratio for a region that only had to develop its own intrinsic capacities of water conservation and management. The present scenario seems the anti-thesis of what would have been natural and in tune with Bundelkhand’s topography and the needs of its people. It’s a recipe for disaster with rampant use of tubewells, ground water being indiscriminately pumped up and the land getting denuded. One has to remember that Madhya Pradesh has a history of drought which comes once every five years. The situation in Bundlekhand region is much more acute. It has faced drought eight times in last nine years in this decade. Then why is it so hard for Governments to remember and factor into the action taken on the ground? One has to only look at Chambal to see a land ravaged and a cess-pool of violence and degradation. Is Bundelkhand also going or being allowed to go the Chambal way? With its lack of forest, rocky terrain, its woefully inadequate water management system, is it also gradually turning into ravines? The degradation seems evident and rapid. In Chhatarpur district around the Ken-Dhasan river, about 1.5 lakh acre land is turning into ravine. And this is endemic. In Panna 50,000 acre, Tikamgarh 12,000 acre, Datia 70,000 acre and in Damoh 62,000 acre land is under threat to be turned into a ravine zone. Is there more to this than meets the eye? Are measures being taken or not taken surreptitiously to ensure that Bundelkhand remains in the throes of a crisis? Once a land becomes fallow and is out of agricultural ambit, the Government can take steps to officially declare it to be infertile and divert it for non-agriculture and non-forest purposes. The process of diverting thousands of hectares of land in Chambal, especially in Morena district is already underway. Would this be the agenda in Bundelkhand too? Faced with relentless march of the ravines, today 471 villages in Bundelkhand are on the verge of getting wiped out. Rather than making efforts of increasing the forest cover, which is only eight per cent of total land area, the Government is hell-bent on promoting industries which would damage the existing remaining forest area and destroy the minimum water resources available. It is clear that drought is not caused simply because the rains fail one year. Rather it is a gross neglect of its environmental patterns and the absence of an enlightened response to the needs of this harsh terrain which nurtures a fragile ecosystem. By allowing degradation of land, policy-makers are fuelling not only agricultural distress, but also jeopardising people who will be impacted by the crises.