Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
This photograph was taken by me from inside the moving train ,from my mobile camera few days ago while returning to Balangir from Baragarh.
Dear all.
I enclose the news published in the English daily 'The Pioneer'(Bhubneshwar edition)for your perusal
Yours
SudhirMishra/Pioneer/Balangir
===============================
SUNDAY, 04 MARCH 2012
21:55
PNS | BALANGIR
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Climate change is a global issue and needs concerted efforts at
all level to create sustainable impact. Although people are facing the
repercussions of climate change, most often, they are not able to link it as a
direct impact of climate change, said participants in a workshop organised by
RCDC and Concern World Wide at Bhubneshwar on March 1, after visiting two
villages of Rangani and Talchua gram panchayat in Rajnagar block of
Kendrapara.
Decrease in agricultural
productivity and fish has disturbed the primary source of food of the people
living in the coastal districts. Migration in many areas has developed as a
coping mechanism of the community to solve their immediate issue of food
security. Women and vulnerable groups are the worst suffers of climate change
impacts. There is a direct relationship between extreme poverty, distress
migration and the environment.
There is a need to
identify and promote traditional knowledge and practices of people to address
climate change impacts and disasters, they suggested.
There is a need for a
strategy on climate change adaptation and disasters by the civil society
organisations through a collaborative effort of the Government departments and
other spheres. Research need to be undertaken by educational institutions to
authenticate facts on climate change, the participants opined.
Besides this, there is
need for a South Asian forum by involving universities and research
organisations which would authenticate the facts of climate change with
substantial data, besides generating awareness among schoolchildren, they said.
Among others, Saroj Dash from Concern World Wide (India), Dr Ambika Nanda of
UNDP, Suresh Bisoyi and Kailash Dash of RCDC, Bhubneshwar, GB Mukherjee, Meena
and Sushilan from Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh, shared their views and
addressed the gathering.
Blog of Sudhir Mishra, A Bolangir based Journalist: Inadequate water; the silent trauma of western Odi...
Blog of Sudhir Mishra, A Bolangir based Journalist: Inadequate water; the silent trauma of western Odi...:
Inadequate water; the silent trauma of western Odisha ===================================================== BHUBANESWAR | Saturday, Febru...
Inadequate water; the silent trauma of western Odisha =================================== Dear all I had covered this story on 5th May 2011.However the erratic and less monsoon rainfall in Odisha(in June-to September2011) is all set to aggravate the water crisis. The west Odisha region which has been badly affected due to lack of adequate rainfall, absence of irrigation facility and collapse of traditional water bodies present in this region to conserve water. In this silent and painful water crisis, it is the rural poor and the domestic animals are likely to be worst affected. I am posting this story, for your perusal. With best wishes Yours SudhirMishra/Pioneer.Balangir ================ BHUBANESWAR | Saturday, February 5, 2011 | Email | Print | | Back Acute water crisis looms large over western Odisha February 05, 2011 7:21:08 AM
Inadequate water; the silent trauma of western Odisha
=====================================================
BHUBANESWAR | Saturday, February 5, 2011 | Email | Print | | Back
Acute water crisis looms large over western Odisha ====================================================
Sudhir Mishra | Balangir
=====================================================
Besides being in a state of shock following the unseasonal rain-hit massive crop loss recently and currently reeling under an intense cold wave, another grim reality of acute water shortage and water insecurity is looming large over the western Odisha rural populace and farmers, thanks to the scanty and erratic monsoon and rapid decline in the traditional water bodies and conservation mechanism. This year, monsoon had reportedly been deficit in several parts of western Odisha. Balangir district recorded only 69.28 mm rainfall against the normal 202 mm in June, a 65 per cent deficit. However, it received excess rainfall in July. Against the normal rainfall of 360.50 mm, it received 370.70.mm, an excess of 2.8 per cent. Again in the crucial month of August, it received a deficient rainfall of 252.7 mm against the normal 333.60 mm, a deficit of 24.3 per cent. Similarly in September, it also received a little excess rainfall than its normal average, said an agriculture official. The monsoon arrived here late. Although widespread distribution of rainfall was received till the first week of August, the subsequent erratic and deficient rainfall affected the agricultural operation in many parts of the district following which the crop production was affected, stated the agriculture official. Besides, the less quantity of rainfall is going to trigger acute water crisis in the forthcoming summer as the traditional water conservation mechanism of western Odisha, namely muda, kata, bandh, bandhali, sagar and others, has declined rapidly over the years. Earlier, the traditional water bodies used to conserve rainwater not only to meet the water needs of the people, but also to recharge the groundwater and provide the life-saving irrigation to the crop. In the undivided Balangir and Kalahandi districts, there used to be large number of traditional water harvesting structures (TWHS) like muda, kata, bandh, bandhali, jor, naal chhuan, chhala and sagar. Earlier, there were around 300 traditional TWHSs, while Patnagarh town alone had 100 water bodies of its own. In the erstwhile princely State of Patna, 1, 31,744 acres of land were irrigated by around 9,087 TWHS. “In each village, there were around five water bodies irrigating 75 acres of the village land. However, 60 years thenceforth, the total percentage of the land irrigated by the TWHS has declined from 33 per cent to a mere 5 per cent,” pointed out Sanjay Mishra. The Kuda tribe of Balangir possesses the unique ability of predicting the presence of water in an area just by viewing the soil as they are experts in digging wells and ponds, informed Sanjay and rued that they are now working as daily labourers. There had been a nomadic tribe called Bhunjia who used to dig a pond where ever they stayed for two to three years and departed. They had better water science knowledge and could locate the place to detect water. “They had dug a bandh, known as Bhulia bandh, near Juba in Belpada,” said Jatin Patra of Patnagarh. There used to be an area called Jalchhar, now being encroached and converted into bahal land (low cultivable land). “It had also been a general belief then that digging of a muda or kata was a punnya kama (pious work) following which the zamindars and gountias (village lords) used to dig numerous mudas and katas, especially beside the roads, to provide drinking water facilities to the travellers,” said Ghashiram Panda. Besides Balangir district, the age-old system was also practised in Nuapada district. The muda is a kind of checking small streams built across a slope to arrest the rain water having high embankments on the three sides and the fourth side is open. The structure basically harnesses the rain water flowing from the slope and it helps the lands below in the perennial passing of moisture. The kata is an ordinary water tank constructed by putting a soil/stone embankment across a land where the rain water is preserved and it is easily cut down to irrigate the cultivable land below at the time of dry spell. The bandh is a four sided water tank, usually excavated below a kata. “Such traditional system of rain water harvesting has been practised by the native peasants of Nuapada district for centuries which suits the local topography and the water tanks are also used for pisciculture and bathing,” said Abani Panigrahi of Lok Drusti in Nuapada district. Patnagrah town was famous for chhakodi bandh and naakodi tota. As per local parlance, one kodi means 20 and accordingly, chhakodi means 20 x 6 =120 and naakodi means 20 x 9 =180. Besides Patnagarh town of Balangir district, the same thing is also found in other parts of Kalahandi district. Chhakodi bandh aru naakodi tota was the symbol of Junagarh in Kalahandi district as there had been 120 bandhs and 180 mango orchards in Junagarh area out of which around 85 bandhs have now been converted to homestead plots while there are only four large mango orchards left out currently in the area. “Following the conversion of the TWHSs there into homestead plots for the housing purpose, the problem of flash floods in the habitations has now arisen as the rain water finds no place to be stored during the heavy downpour and creates floods,” said Dilip Das of Antodoya in Kalahandi. To boost pisciculture and earn revenue, the State Government has now decided to take up pisciculture in the water bodies and its ownership has been passed on to the Panchayats since 1955, but the Panchayats could not manage it properly due to the lack of resources, dishonest officials, loss of forest cover, population explosion and following of new techniques, sources revealed. The population explosion led to clearing up of the forests and loss of forests resulted in more soil erosion resulting in siltation of water bodies. Besides, the encroachment further aggravated the woes. In addition, more emphasis is being laid on large-scale irrigation projects following which the popularity of water harvesting structures has eventually declined. Irrigation projects, like the Lower Suktel, have been given more importance to reap the multipurpose benefits of irrigation and pisciculture and also to boost allied activities. Even though the project was sanctioned way back in 1996-97 at an estimated cost of `217 crore, it is yet to be taken up even though the project cost has touched around `1043 crore after a decade. Even though the Government is promoting farm pond to save farmers and to provide assured irrigation, it has been found that many farmers, having less than one acre, are finding it difficult to dig such a pond. “The Government should give thrust on digging of chuans in the fields which can be dug in small areas and water will also be stored till February and March,” pointed out an NGO activist. With rainy days becoming less, rapid decline of TWHSs, deforestation and uncertain rainfall, acute water shortage is going to be one of the major problems for the rural poor in western Odisha. Our forefathers had great scientific knowledge of water management. They had also anticipated the climate change and ill-effects for which they had developed such a large network of traditional water bodies to save crop besides meeting their other basic needs. Moreover, their cropping pattern was also done accordingly. Ironically, we are blindly following other models which have brought a lot of unseen problems for the poor and farmers of this region, the locals here view. The local saying goes khet ke muda te, ghar ke bhudha te. It implies that there should be a water harvesting structure for the providential need of cultivable fields as it could save from the drought and the very presence of an elderly person in each house could guide the family in crisis. “It is high time we followed the popular adage to save our poor populace and farmers,” insisted the NGO activist.
BHUBANESWAR | Saturday, February 5, 2011 | Email | Print | | Back
Acute water crisis looms large over western Odisha ====================================================
Sudhir Mishra | Balangir
=====================================================
Besides being in a state of shock following the unseasonal rain-hit massive crop loss recently and currently reeling under an intense cold wave, another grim reality of acute water shortage and water insecurity is looming large over the western Odisha rural populace and farmers, thanks to the scanty and erratic monsoon and rapid decline in the traditional water bodies and conservation mechanism. This year, monsoon had reportedly been deficit in several parts of western Odisha. Balangir district recorded only 69.28 mm rainfall against the normal 202 mm in June, a 65 per cent deficit. However, it received excess rainfall in July. Against the normal rainfall of 360.50 mm, it received 370.70.mm, an excess of 2.8 per cent. Again in the crucial month of August, it received a deficient rainfall of 252.7 mm against the normal 333.60 mm, a deficit of 24.3 per cent. Similarly in September, it also received a little excess rainfall than its normal average, said an agriculture official. The monsoon arrived here late. Although widespread distribution of rainfall was received till the first week of August, the subsequent erratic and deficient rainfall affected the agricultural operation in many parts of the district following which the crop production was affected, stated the agriculture official. Besides, the less quantity of rainfall is going to trigger acute water crisis in the forthcoming summer as the traditional water conservation mechanism of western Odisha, namely muda, kata, bandh, bandhali, sagar and others, has declined rapidly over the years. Earlier, the traditional water bodies used to conserve rainwater not only to meet the water needs of the people, but also to recharge the groundwater and provide the life-saving irrigation to the crop. In the undivided Balangir and Kalahandi districts, there used to be large number of traditional water harvesting structures (TWHS) like muda, kata, bandh, bandhali, jor, naal chhuan, chhala and sagar. Earlier, there were around 300 traditional TWHSs, while Patnagarh town alone had 100 water bodies of its own. In the erstwhile princely State of Patna, 1, 31,744 acres of land were irrigated by around 9,087 TWHS. “In each village, there were around five water bodies irrigating 75 acres of the village land. However, 60 years thenceforth, the total percentage of the land irrigated by the TWHS has declined from 33 per cent to a mere 5 per cent,” pointed out Sanjay Mishra. The Kuda tribe of Balangir possesses the unique ability of predicting the presence of water in an area just by viewing the soil as they are experts in digging wells and ponds, informed Sanjay and rued that they are now working as daily labourers. There had been a nomadic tribe called Bhunjia who used to dig a pond where ever they stayed for two to three years and departed. They had better water science knowledge and could locate the place to detect water. “They had dug a bandh, known as Bhulia bandh, near Juba in Belpada,” said Jatin Patra of Patnagarh. There used to be an area called Jalchhar, now being encroached and converted into bahal land (low cultivable land). “It had also been a general belief then that digging of a muda or kata was a punnya kama (pious work) following which the zamindars and gountias (village lords) used to dig numerous mudas and katas, especially beside the roads, to provide drinking water facilities to the travellers,” said Ghashiram Panda. Besides Balangir district, the age-old system was also practised in Nuapada district. The muda is a kind of checking small streams built across a slope to arrest the rain water having high embankments on the three sides and the fourth side is open. The structure basically harnesses the rain water flowing from the slope and it helps the lands below in the perennial passing of moisture. The kata is an ordinary water tank constructed by putting a soil/stone embankment across a land where the rain water is preserved and it is easily cut down to irrigate the cultivable land below at the time of dry spell. The bandh is a four sided water tank, usually excavated below a kata. “Such traditional system of rain water harvesting has been practised by the native peasants of Nuapada district for centuries which suits the local topography and the water tanks are also used for pisciculture and bathing,” said Abani Panigrahi of Lok Drusti in Nuapada district. Patnagrah town was famous for chhakodi bandh and naakodi tota. As per local parlance, one kodi means 20 and accordingly, chhakodi means 20 x 6 =120 and naakodi means 20 x 9 =180. Besides Patnagarh town of Balangir district, the same thing is also found in other parts of Kalahandi district. Chhakodi bandh aru naakodi tota was the symbol of Junagarh in Kalahandi district as there had been 120 bandhs and 180 mango orchards in Junagarh area out of which around 85 bandhs have now been converted to homestead plots while there are only four large mango orchards left out currently in the area. “Following the conversion of the TWHSs there into homestead plots for the housing purpose, the problem of flash floods in the habitations has now arisen as the rain water finds no place to be stored during the heavy downpour and creates floods,” said Dilip Das of Antodoya in Kalahandi. To boost pisciculture and earn revenue, the State Government has now decided to take up pisciculture in the water bodies and its ownership has been passed on to the Panchayats since 1955, but the Panchayats could not manage it properly due to the lack of resources, dishonest officials, loss of forest cover, population explosion and following of new techniques, sources revealed. The population explosion led to clearing up of the forests and loss of forests resulted in more soil erosion resulting in siltation of water bodies. Besides, the encroachment further aggravated the woes. In addition, more emphasis is being laid on large-scale irrigation projects following which the popularity of water harvesting structures has eventually declined. Irrigation projects, like the Lower Suktel, have been given more importance to reap the multipurpose benefits of irrigation and pisciculture and also to boost allied activities. Even though the project was sanctioned way back in 1996-97 at an estimated cost of `217 crore, it is yet to be taken up even though the project cost has touched around `1043 crore after a decade. Even though the Government is promoting farm pond to save farmers and to provide assured irrigation, it has been found that many farmers, having less than one acre, are finding it difficult to dig such a pond. “The Government should give thrust on digging of chuans in the fields which can be dug in small areas and water will also be stored till February and March,” pointed out an NGO activist. With rainy days becoming less, rapid decline of TWHSs, deforestation and uncertain rainfall, acute water shortage is going to be one of the major problems for the rural poor in western Odisha. Our forefathers had great scientific knowledge of water management. They had also anticipated the climate change and ill-effects for which they had developed such a large network of traditional water bodies to save crop besides meeting their other basic needs. Moreover, their cropping pattern was also done accordingly. Ironically, we are blindly following other models which have brought a lot of unseen problems for the poor and farmers of this region, the locals here view. The local saying goes khet ke muda te, ghar ke bhudha te. It implies that there should be a water harvesting structure for the providential need of cultivable fields as it could save from the drought and the very presence of an elderly person in each house could guide the family in crisis. “It is high time we followed the popular adage to save our poor populace and farmers,” insisted the NGO activist.
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