SHADOW OF WATER CRISIS LOOMS LARGE

Depleting groundwater and dry ponds in the country side indicate horrifying prospect. Yet, the politicians have no time to think of the thirsty poor. In my village and surrounding areas until a few decades ago, the surface water was effectively used for irrigation, fisheries and cattle use and underground water for drinking purposes. Now the entire pressure of water consumption is shifted to underground water. As a result there is alarming drop in the level of groundwater year after year. Some people believe that the third World War will be for water.

To understand the management of water, we need to have some idea of 'Water Cycle'. The sea water that evaporates to form clouds is condensed as rainwater that falls on the surface of earth. A small part of the rainwater goes under ground to form groundwater and is stored there for future need. The ground water is filtered through permeable rocks and is clean enough for human consumption. The other part of rainwater is stored as surface water in the ponds, lakes and reservoirs. The surface water is suitable for use in irrigation, horticulture, fisheries, industries and cattle consumption.

Recently I visited many villages in the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur and found that the village ponds are filled with wild grasses, hyacinth (jalkumbhi), humus and mud. Several of the old ponds are converted even to residential areas. Millions of rupees spent through NAREGA and MANREGA, have not increased water storage capacity of village ponds. Needless to say, the harvesting of rainwater in these ponds, not the drops of water from roof tops would solve our problem of water scarcity.

Natural storage of rainwater, among other things, has pre-requisite of optimum forest cover and thick vegetation If the ground is covered with thick vegetation, forests and soil cover, the flow of rain water will be slow and time allowed for down percolation of water will be more. Large quantities of water will be stored on the surface as well as under ground. However, if the ground is bald and barren, the run off will be fast leaving little time for rain water to go under ground or to be soaked in the soil.

We need to have 'Water Use Policy ' based on sustainable water supply. We used to have one or more ponds in every village with controlling bodies for management of surface water, something like ‘Pani Panchayats’ Successive Governments of Independent India have overlooked the traditional wisdom of our country.

. Greedy vote catchers provide subsidised and even free electricity to farmers to drive them towards tube wells for irrigation and fisheries. The ground water is pumped out to fill the ponds made by digging agricultural lands.. The Governments encourage such ventures of fisheries by providing financial assistance and grants to influential people.

Economy in consumption of water is an integral part of water management. Indeed, the proper management of surface water is key to the solutions of future challenges of depleting water resource.

FORGET THE MODI OF 2002

Those who have visited Gujrat recently would agree that the province has made tremendous progress in one decade in spite of natural calamities. I am no body to condone the administrative lapses of 2002 but to accuse Anna Hazare if he praises Modi and Nitish in the context of development is beyond comprehension. When the issues are development and governace, some people are not ready to give even a left handed applause to Modi.We must not forget that Gujrat of Modi, in the matter of development, has the certificate of Rajive Gandhi Foundation.

There are innumerable cases in history when errant people made valuable contribution to society and the Nation at large. We have read that Valmiki who was a dacoit for most of his life, gave shelter to Sita, groomed her two sons and gave the epic 'Ramayana' to the mankind. Would you go on harping on the past of Valmiki?

Objective assessment demands that a man be evaluated in the light of his lapses as well as good deeds. Nehru happened to be the Prime Minister when the worst masacre in the history of India took place in 1947 as a consequence of his partitioning the country and Rajive Gandhi witnessed the shaking of earth with the fall of a banyan tree --the masacre of the Sikh community after assassination of Indira Ji in 1984. It can be argued that the loss of life in 1947 could be minimized if the advise of Mahatma Gandhi against partition was accepted and massacre of the Sikh community could be reduced if the advise of the then president of India Gyani Zail Singh was saught. Be as it may, the performences of Nehru Ji and Rajive Gandhi are evaluated in totality.Why be selective in case of Narendra Modi?

GANDHI, JP AND HAZARE

In the recent past we have witnessed three movements of all India nature. The first and the foremost was the freedom movement of Mahatma Gandhi that culminated in the independence of our country on Friday, August 15, 1947. The movement was negative one to throw out the British rule from India. Frankly speaking, the alternative model was neither ready nor it would have been acceptable to all the elements. Gandhi Ji knew that he was heading desperate elements that will not remain together for long time. He wisely suggested to disband the Congress Party after achieving the goal of independence. No one in the party listened to him. What happened thereafter is history. A.B.Vajpayee had aptly described once that the Congress Party had died with the death of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru Ji carried its corpse for decades, even that has vanished now'. Then came the movement of Jai Prakash Narain against the rule of Indira Gandhi.

Jai Prakash Narain termed his movement "Total Revolution" and this again was negative in approach to overthrow the Indira Gandhi's regime. The movement had huge success but Jai Praksh Ji was not a visionary like Mahatma Gandhi . Contrary to Mahatma Gandhi, JP insisted on the conglomeration of his movement to form a political party the Janta Party. The party no doubt had huge success to the extent that the Congress Party was thrown out of power. In due course of time, the desperate elements of JP movement withered away and the movement turned out to be an exercise in futility.

The newest one by Anna Hazare is not a negative movement to throw out a government. It is for creation of clean society and he insists on the instrument of change--the Jan Lokpal Bill. But, Anna has neither the organizational skills of Gandhi ji nor the political experience of JP. His movement like the other two comprises desperate elements and contradictions have started to surface. We wish hem well.

To my mind, what is needed is a movement like that of Chanakya . But where is Chandragupta?

WHO DERAILS OUR PRIMARY EDUCATION

Students are not to be failed in schools is understandable but they will be awarded certificates without making up for the deficiency is beyond comprehension. If they have to attend schools only to get certificates, why would they have respect for books, teachers and school campuses. The makers of Education Policy seem to be unaware that certificates without knowledge are mo more than pieces of paper.If knowledge is not the goal, there is no justification of reprimanding, scolding or punishing the errant pupils. Press and TV highlight {out of proportion } any instances of punishment in schools to the extent that guardians get upset and go even to the courts of law. Principals and teachers are scared even of scolding students.Governments provide buildings, uniform, food, books and scholarships but teaching positions remain vacant. Many schools are single teacher schools and some do not have even that. Kabir Das had aptly stated 'bina guru gyan mile kaho kaise' {how to gain knowledge without teacher}. But knowledge does not appear to be the aim of education these days. Teachers of rural schools belong to far of cities and seldom attend the schools that too for a short duration. The so called 'Shiksha Mitras' are there not because of their knowledge and aptitude but simply because they happened to be the relatives of the then village pradhans. It was a back door entry that is being regularized particularly in Uttar Pradesh. It is not difficult to see, who derail our primary education .

CHAR CHAWANNI

CHAR CHAWANNI

It was 1972. I had returned from Canada, got married to Nirmala and together we had started a school in a remote village Kunaura. There was problem of drinking water for school kids in that barren area and we did not have money to arrange for running water. There were more pressing things to attend to. So we decided to have a dug well like most others used to have in that area. There was a custom those days that people would contribute towards such an effort either in cash or kind . Day's work was over, people offering Shramdaan (donation of labour without taking wages) had gone and I was sitting with my wife thinking about the next days programme. Then came an elderly man --- Lachhman Bajpai and gave four small coins, quarters of a rupee (chaar chawanni). He was from my village and I knew he was passing through hard times, hands to mouth. Those Char Chawanni could buy him 3 kg of wheat, enough to feed his family for one day. He donated them towards the cause that he thought was worthy. .I was moved and accepted the coins with humility.
Over the period of four decades the school has grown big, made socio-economic impact in the area and many friends have made huge contributions. Neelesh, Karan, Sukanya and their friends are making loudable efforts to make the life of school kids as comfortable as possible. Through their efforts the school has electricity,running water, computer lab, a library, play ground, games material and boundary wall. The dug well is still there, just a reminder of early efforts.
I think the sacrifice of Lachhman Bajpai and his Char Chawanni have no less importance in the making of my school than large contributions by generous wealthy friends.

RURAL KIDS ARE EQUALLY TALENTED

On 7 February the kids of Bhartiya Gramin Vidyalaya and C.T.D.Foundation School Kunaura celebrated the function on the school annual day to mark the occasion of Vasant Panchami, the birth day of Saraswati, the Godess of Wisdom. Their performance kept the audience of more than 2000 villagers spell bound. I always knew the kids have talent but I was very impressed to see that they improve upon the previous performance every year. Their acting brought the memories of Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, Mother Teress and Swami Vivekanand alive. The folk dances and folk songs and individual dances were superb. Kids can do miracles if they get some professional guidance in acting and speaking. Last year we were privileged to have distinguished guests from Mumbai like Shishir Dala, his wife and sons. I congratulate the teachers of the school who prepared the students despite meagre resources and costumes.

On the previous day on 6 February there was a public feast (Bhandara) in my ancestral village Deora in the temple that we have built there. The villagers and kids served the guests with full dedication. Every year we arrange the feast to mark the foundation day of the temple. Last year my grandson Aditya also served the guests with admirable devotion. We were surprised to see that village kids have a deep sense of serving.

Village kids can serve with devotion and perform admirably on the stage if only they have opportunity to do so.

THEY GOT SWEATERS WHEN NEEDED MOST

This winter was really severe for weeks together and I used to watch the shivering village students, of my school in the remote rural area, with anguish. I could not possibly help them all and even when the government of Uttar Pradesh closed the schools for a few days, it was hardly the solution. Then my son Neelesh had come to visit us around that time. He felt the pain of the poor children himself and issued an appeal. Large number of well wishers and friends realized the need and donated promptly to the school. We could distribute sweaters to a 1000 students and watch the smiling faces. Neelesh has shared some of the pictures and I am sure you can imagine the degree of satisfaction that came to us through generosity of friends and well wisher. I wish to personally write and thank all those who helped the boys and girls of Kunaura and surrounding villages. But I do not have addresses of many of them. I request the donors to mail their addresses to me so that the receipts could be sent by post.MY VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED ME ENJOY THE SATISFACTION OF HELPING KIDS FIGHT SEVERE COLD.