49.
Land Restoration
In India’s Conflict Zones
India has a total of 671 districts and out of these, 82 districts are severely affected by Maoist insurgency. These insurgents practically control these vast swathes of territories and even security forces have a hard time accessing some of these areas.
Collapsed agriculture and soil erosion is responsible, in no small measure, for the rise of inurgency in these areas. The youth often have no means of livelihood other than joining the rebel ranks.
One such district in Central India’s Chhattisgarh state is Kanker. Most of the land here is degraded and agriculture is in shambles.
Collapsed agriculture and soil erosion is responsible, in no small measure, for the rise of inurgency in these areas. The youth often have no means of livelihood other than joining the rebel ranks.
One such district in Central India’s Chhattisgarh state is Kanker. Most of the land here is degraded and agriculture is in shambles.
Government Projects Facing Reistance
In 2010, the government launched an 820 crore rupee ($150 million) initiative to develop the district. This included building roads, supplying electricity and drinking water, building schools and community health centres and implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), a programme designed to end rural poverty by giving 100 days’ employment a year to the rural poor.
The plan faced stiff opposition from Maoist activists, who said it would only lead to displacement of local tribal people and fill up the pockets of corrupt government officials.
Kalavati Salam, a resident, recalls how Maoists disrupted a government project in 2010. “We brought in trucks full of stone chips, cement and sand to build a tar road. But when the bulldozers came, they set them afire. We had to stop the work and couldn’t spend the budget allocated for the project.”
A half-built archway at the village entrance, together with heaps of stone and concrete on the roadsides, back up her testimony.
Maya Kavde, head of Makdi Khuna, another village in the same district, says suspected Maoist activists recently vandalised a mobile phone tower in her village by cutting wires and pulling apart the antennas.
Four years after Kalavati Salam was elected to lead the Nangarbeda village council in Central India’s Chhattisgarh state, she has finally got her first development plan rolling.
The plan, focused on reversing land degradation and boosting crop yields, benefits from a generous budget and a dedicated work force. Equally important, it has the support of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned political organisation that has blocked many previous development efforts.
“Now we are taking up works like restoring village land. We are trying to change the definition of development,” she adds, visibly relieved.
The process includes levelling the land, clearing it of stones, and then covering it with cow dung.
“Most of the farm plots here are uneven, lifeless. We remove layers of soil from those plots that are higher, until the entire farm is at the same level,” says villager Sonkumari Bai, 42. “We also remove big and small stones. Sometimes we winnow the top soil before putting it back into the land. Finally, we till the land and cover it with dried cow dung and gypsum.”
The plan faced stiff opposition from Maoist activists, who said it would only lead to displacement of local tribal people and fill up the pockets of corrupt government officials.
Kalavati Salam, a resident, recalls how Maoists disrupted a government project in 2010. “We brought in trucks full of stone chips, cement and sand to build a tar road. But when the bulldozers came, they set them afire. We had to stop the work and couldn’t spend the budget allocated for the project.”
A half-built archway at the village entrance, together with heaps of stone and concrete on the roadsides, back up her testimony.
Maya Kavde, head of Makdi Khuna, another village in the same district, says suspected Maoist activists recently vandalised a mobile phone tower in her village by cutting wires and pulling apart the antennas.
Four years after Kalavati Salam was elected to lead the Nangarbeda village council in Central India’s Chhattisgarh state, she has finally got her first development plan rolling.
The plan, focused on reversing land degradation and boosting crop yields, benefits from a generous budget and a dedicated work force. Equally important, it has the support of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned political organisation that has blocked many previous development efforts.
“Now we are taking up works like restoring village land. We are trying to change the definition of development,” she adds, visibly relieved.
The process includes levelling the land, clearing it of stones, and then covering it with cow dung.
“Most of the farm plots here are uneven, lifeless. We remove layers of soil from those plots that are higher, until the entire farm is at the same level,” says villager Sonkumari Bai, 42. “We also remove big and small stones. Sometimes we winnow the top soil before putting it back into the land. Finally, we till the land and cover it with dried cow dung and gypsum.”
When we examine the facts, we must put the Northern Indian cultivator down as the most economical farmer in the world as far as the utilization of the potent element of fertility—nitrogen—goes. In this respect he is more skilful than his Canadian brother. He cannot take a heavy overdraft of nitrogen from the soil. He has only the small current account provided by the few pounds annually added by nature, yet he raises a crop of wheat on irrigated land in the United Provinces that is not far removed from the Canadian average. He does more with a little nitrogen than any farmer I ever heard of. We need not concern ourselves with soil deterioration in these provinces. The present standard of fertility can be maintained indefinitely.
~ Sir Albert Howard (The Waste Products Of Agriculture And Their Utilization As Humus)
The inhabitants of Nangarbeda, which has a population of 2,700, hope this will help improve their harvests.
“The temperature here is increasing day by day. Earlier in the summer, we would grow vegetables like cucumbers and cow beans. But now the land is so dry, we can grow nothing,” says Bhagobai Pradhan, who has a three-acre farm. “This treatment has made some difference. When the rain comes, the once-tilled land will get soaked easily and the cow dung will mix with it well.”
Nanak Baghel, a senior Maoist leader in Kanker, says his party fully supports the land restoration project.
“We are against the government-backed so called development projects that are just tools to systematically destroy the tribal people. But we never oppose people’s right to better land, water or forest,” says Baghel, an area commander.
Sukhanti Bai, head of Handitola village in another conflict-affected district, Rajnandgaon, describes how soil degradation and falling yields have pushed villagers to restore their land too.
“There are many companies here mining for iron ore and limestone. They have caused a lot of deforestation. Also security forces cut many trees to build their camps inside forests. Now, we have less rain and a lot of dust coming from the mines and damaging our fields,” she explains.
“Everyone in my village is experiencing a 10 to 20 percent drop in rice yield. Last year, we held a meeting to discuss what work we must make a priority, and everyone said it should be land restoration,” she adds.
The majority of the local people are landless, marginal farmers who own less than 2.5 acres of land.
According to Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), including land in development plans will help nations fight food insecurity. “Avoiding land degradation and restoring degraded land should be a centrepiece to every state’s development plans,” Gnacadja said in a recent interview.
For local people, the land restoration projects in these villages are not only a step towards ensuring food supplies. They also create a more secure working environment.
Ramulu Amma, a 32-year-old villager in Peda Bandirevu, says she feels safer now. We are working to improve our own fields and there are no feelings of fear or insecurity now.
(Source: Report by Stella Paul, Reuters, 7 May 2013. Stella Paul is a multimedia journalist based in Hyderabad, India.)
“The temperature here is increasing day by day. Earlier in the summer, we would grow vegetables like cucumbers and cow beans. But now the land is so dry, we can grow nothing,” says Bhagobai Pradhan, who has a three-acre farm. “This treatment has made some difference. When the rain comes, the once-tilled land will get soaked easily and the cow dung will mix with it well.”
Nanak Baghel, a senior Maoist leader in Kanker, says his party fully supports the land restoration project.
“We are against the government-backed so called development projects that are just tools to systematically destroy the tribal people. But we never oppose people’s right to better land, water or forest,” says Baghel, an area commander.
Sukhanti Bai, head of Handitola village in another conflict-affected district, Rajnandgaon, describes how soil degradation and falling yields have pushed villagers to restore their land too.
“There are many companies here mining for iron ore and limestone. They have caused a lot of deforestation. Also security forces cut many trees to build their camps inside forests. Now, we have less rain and a lot of dust coming from the mines and damaging our fields,” she explains.
“Everyone in my village is experiencing a 10 to 20 percent drop in rice yield. Last year, we held a meeting to discuss what work we must make a priority, and everyone said it should be land restoration,” she adds.
The majority of the local people are landless, marginal farmers who own less than 2.5 acres of land.
According to Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), including land in development plans will help nations fight food insecurity. “Avoiding land degradation and restoring degraded land should be a centrepiece to every state’s development plans,” Gnacadja said in a recent interview.
For local people, the land restoration projects in these villages are not only a step towards ensuring food supplies. They also create a more secure working environment.
Ramulu Amma, a 32-year-old villager in Peda Bandirevu, says she feels safer now. We are working to improve our own fields and there are no feelings of fear or insecurity now.
(Source: Report by Stella Paul, Reuters, 7 May 2013. Stella Paul is a multimedia journalist based in Hyderabad, India.)
“We have got experience. Sometimes we find in mango season profuse mango supply. People cannot end it by eating. And sometimes there is no mango. Why? The supply is in the hand of God through His agent, the material nature, this earth. The earth can produce profusely if people are honest, God conscious. There cannot be any scarcity. Therefore it is said that kamam vavarsa parjanyah [SB 1.10.4]. God gives. Eko yo bahunam vidadhati kaman. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13). So God, Krsna, fulfills all our desires.”
-Srila Prabhupada (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.4, Mayapur, June 19, 1973)
