Custodian of culture

DEVLAL NARETI

In the ongoing protracted battle between the state and the Naxals in the central part of India, the dominant tribal population of this region has become the most prominent victim. Against this background, 240 km away from Raipur — in Damkasa village near Durgkondal block in Kanker district — 70-year-old retired teacher Shiv Singh Anchla has dedicated his post-retirement life to the conservation and promotion of the Gondi language and culture.








The Gond community, to which Mr. Anchla belongs to, is one of the largest tribes in Chhattisgarh. In the forested hills of the Bastar region in south Chhattisgarh, the Gonds have been significantly known for their rich culture. In recent years though, the vibrant colours of this rich civilisation have been fading away.

The Gond community, like other adivasi communities, is woven into a symbiotic relationship with the environment. They worship nature that, in turn, helps these indigenous communities sustain their socio-economic and cultural lives. Their care and concern for their natural heritage is well reflected in their customs wherein every single community is entrusted with protecting one of the rare trees and animals and no one is allowed to harm them at any cost. This way, the balance between man and his environment is maintained. The advent of external factors, however, has weakened the sanctity of such practices.




“Adivasis have always been environment-friendly because they believe that trees, stones and forests are their God. Alarmingly, in the last few years, trees are being cut ruthlessly, indicating that adivasis are forgetting the importance of their life-giving forests,” says Mr. Anchla worriedly. To restore respect for Mother Nature, he has established Jango Raitaar Vidya Ketul after the name of a local deity Jango Raitaar, revered as the goddess of language of the Gond tribe. Set in five acres of land donated by Mr. Anchla himself, this nature park is home to rare herbs, plants and trees which otherwise are likely to become extinct with few even recognising the loss.

Mr. Anchla is also planning to establish an International Divya Gyan Research Institute and Gyan Mani Shiksha Dweep Vilakshan Vidyalaya. This institute will train people who share the common interest of exploring the history of local adivasi culture, their deities and their unique relationship with forests.

This visibly-determined old man sensed the looming threat during his teaching days and began to share with his students the intricacies of their natural as well as cultural heritage to ensure that the next generation takes responsibility for the cultural wealth they have inherited from their forefathers. Not an opposer of contemporary education system, he believes that every form of education that develops or increases the knowledge of mankind should be promoted. He maintains that this should not, however, be at the cost of sacrificing their traditional culture.

To save the traditional Ghotul practices, the Gondi language and the tribe’s festivals, he organised a Rath Yatra in November last year to make people aware of their culture and join hands for its preservation.

Leading a humble life, Mr. Anchla is also the religious head of the Gond tribe in Chhattisgarh. Besides, he is a skilled medical practitioner (vaid) and successfully treats many ailments using natural herbs.

(Charkha Features)

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Results - "Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship 2013 - Ladakh"

Charkha announces Results for the “Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship 2013” for highlighting development issues of women in Ladakh:

Azra Khatoon - Women as Flag-bearers of Change in Ladakh– individual women or groups of women, who fought structural, social norms in this tough geographical area to bring development and positive changes, be it in the field of education, economy, or saving their natural or cultural heritage.
and
Gizala Shabnam - “Contemporary Challenges of Women in Ladakh” – a view of the evolving nature of the socio-economic, geographic and cultural challenges faced by women in Ladakh. This can include how age old challenges reflect themselves differently in today's world.

Congratulations!

Story from Borderland

The Road to nowwhere


Ashutosh Sharma



The slight figure of a young woman, clutching an ailing child to her, moves steadily through the twisted paths and treacherous footholds carved in the sheer rock faces of the towering snow-covered mountains. She knows that the slightest mistake can cost a life, but Zahida Bi has embarked on this foot-journey from her village Murrah, located in the Peer Panjal range in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, to reach a government hospital at Bufliaz in Surankote Tehsil, about 16 km away, to get her child treated. It will be dusk by the time she reaches the base, so she will take refuge at a relative’s place for the night. After the visit to the hospital in the morning, she will have to undertake this arduous journey again.








“In the absence of a primary health center in our far-off village, we are completely dependent on the basic health care services available in Surankote or Poonch. Even to board a passenger vehicle, we have to walk continuously for over six hours as there are no roads, virtually disconnecting us from the rest of the world,” rues Zahida Bi.

The border district of Poonch in the Jammu region has only 120 health facilities catering to 189 panchayats. The numbers may seem adequate for the scanty population they cover collectively, but the poor quality of service at these centers is further marred by their distance from the people who reside in villages in the remote interiors.

According to the 2011 Census, Poonch has a population of about 476,820, over 90 per cent of which resides in villages. Villages like Murrah are tucked away in the higher reaches and remain cut off during the winters due to the absence of roads. On the other hand, there are at least 16 road projects, conceived under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), on which work has been abandoned half way for various reasons. In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj categorised Poonch as one of the country's 250 most backward districts. It is one of the three districts in Jammu and Kashmir currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.

The intense geographical challenges, coupled with the conspicuous absence of basic amenities, public infrastructure and administrative inertia, throw up tales of extreme hardship faced by villagers every day. Poverty is the primary issue in such villages where militants once ruled the roost and did not allow any development work. Though militancy has decreased considerably, the villagers are yet to taste the fruits of economic development.

Children are the worst-affected. Besides arranging for firewood and fodder from the nearby forests, they have to ferry eatables and dry rations to their homes as the area does not have an outlet of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department. Their problems are further compounded during the rains and flash floods.

Haji Mohammad Aslam, Sarpanch of Murrah, says, “We paid heavy human costs during the years of militancy. Though peace has been restored, the promises of development in this backward village are yet to be fulfilled. A large majority of village youth are doing menial jobs in big cities simply because there are no employment opportunities in Poonch. The government has even failed to provide us basic amenities like safe drinking water.”

“Without a road, the government cannot begin or accelerate developmental work here,” opines Ghulam Din, a local resident, adding that between Kalaali and Murrah, two concrete pillars meant for a bridge stand tall at Laadian. The construction work was reportedly suspended halfway due to unknown reasons. “In the absence of the bridge, many people, especially children, have lost their lives in flash floods,” he says and regrets, “We have made many representations to the Roads and Buildings Department but to no avail. The bridge needs to be spanned immediately. It will ensure supply of all essentials to our villages through mules round the year.”

According to villagers, agriculture and livestock are their mainstay but the concerned departments are doing precious little to help them in these sectors.

When these issues were brought to the notice of the then District Deputy Commissioner, Ajeet Kumar Sahu, he said, “The area remained out of development focus due to militancy and geographical challenges. I have recently sent a proposal to the government listing the issues of this particular village among the top ten development issues being faced by the district.”

Charkha Features

Going Backwards


Harvesting food security

BABA MAYARAM






Practising traditional utera methods has helped Dhadaw farmers keep away the harmful aspects of chemical farming

At the foothills of Datla mountain of Satpuda Valley in the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh is located the picturesque village of Dhadaw. Located on the banks of Dudhi River that also defines the boundary of the district, Dhadaw falls in the district’s forest belt. Within the periphery of this village lies a world that has efficiently maintained the essence of traditional agricultural practices — a remarkable feat at a time when farmers are increasingly quitting this occupation across the country.

Known as utera cropping, six to seven types of crops are sown simultaneously in this type of cultivation. For example, seeds of urad, jawar, paddy, tilli, tuar, sama and kodo are mixed and then sown collectively. Sown in June, the crop is harvested at different times; urad is harvested first, followed by paddy, jawar and tuar.

Sixty-year-old Ganpat, busy harvesting the crop with his hansiya (reaping hook), shares: “Almost nothing or very less money is required for utera farming. With the combination of our hard work, labour of the bullocks and some help from the monsoon, our crops get ready for harvesting. Every year, we save some seeds for the following season, saving the cost of buying seeds. The bullocks also give us fertilisers which, in turn, nourish our soil.”

As he scales the scaffold to keep parrots and other birds away from the chickpea crop, he explains the significance of utera cropping in their lives. “Utera gives us the complete meal — dal, rice, wheat and oil. It fulfils our yearly requirements of pulses, oil seeds, and cereals. It gives cereals for human beings, stem, straw and fodder for animals, bio-fertilisers for soil and bio pesticide for crops.”

According to the District Gazetteer, people of this region earlier followed Milwan (mixed) farming, in which legumes are sown to maintain the fertility of the soil. Mixed crops are sown in various ratios. Birra was sown by mixing wheat and chana; tiwda and chana were also mixed; cotton, sesame, kodo and jawar were sown together.

Another benefit of sowing legumes along with other crops is that it lowers the need for additional nitrogen-based inputs. Farmers believe that if one crop fails in utera, other crops compensate for it — a sharp contrast to cash crops, where farmers suffer intensely if the crop is destroyed by insects or pests, or even by natural forces. In 2011, soybean crops were completely destroyed and three farmers committed suicide in Hoshangabad.

Ramkhyali Thakur, a farmer from Dhadaw, considers this cropping method to be better than chemical farming because of its low dependence on money and chemical fertilisers. Since every crop gets ready at different interval, family members usually suffice to carry out the harvest. This saves their limited financial resources that would otherwise go into hiring expensive farm labourers and harvester machines. In all, this traditional form of agricultural practice makes a multi-faceted contribution to food security, preservation of soil, live stock breeding, bio-diversity and environmental concerns.

A few years ago, every household had a kitchen garden in which utera crops were sown. Many green vegetables, seasonal fruits and cereals would be planted in the backyard of every house. Bhata, tomatoes, green chilli, ginger, ladies finger, semi (ballar), corn, jawar, among others, were planted. Munga, lemon, berries and guava from these kitchen gardens were a good source of nutrition for the children. Water from household chores would be recycled to feed these crops. Pity, this practice is limited to merely a handful of families.

The livelihood of the people of Dhadaw strongly depends on the traditional utera method and on the forest. The farm and forest duo gifts them everything they require for their daily lives. It also preserves biodiversity by preserving soil, water and the environment.

Utera and mixed cropping are not the only methods of traditional farming that have the potential to liberate us from the shackles of chemical farming. There are several other methods of traditional farming, depending on the climatic and environment conditions of a particular region; satgajra (seven grains), navdanya (nine pulses), and barah anaja (twelve cereals) are various forms of agricultural practices. Each has its own benefits: they resist pest invasion, help increase natural fertilisation of the soil and provides food security.

According to Chandrabhan, an ardent advocate of utera farming, “Chemical farming is burning the soil. It is killing the micro-organisms which help make the soil more fertile. Our fellow farmers need to get rid of their dependency on chemicals. It is up to us to turn the tide.”

(Charkha Features)

Cultivating Self Reliance

Sushila Murmu, a tribal woman in a nondescript hamlet called Paharpur located in the Kathikund block — 27 km from Dumka in Jharkhand, was struggling hard, till three years ago, to change the mindset of the villagers who had dashed her hopes of a better tomorrow. Today, when she looks back, she notes with satisfaction the entire village’s support for her. The journey, however, has been no cakewalk.






The only woman in the entire village to have completed her school education, Sushila was upset at seeing people of her community quit farming due to heavy losses and forced to migrate to other States in search of livelihood. She wanted to put a halt to the trend. With her husband Mahadev Tuddu, she started cultivating the infertile land to transform it into a lush green field and tried her best to inspire her fellow villagers, at first with no success.

She, however, did not give up. She restarted from the scratch; this time targeting the womenfolk. Day-long chats of motivation and encouragement helped her gain their confidence. Soon, she was associated with non-profit organisation Lahanti and started her own self help group ( SHG). She called the SHG Beli Lahanti.

In the last few years, Sushila has successfully shown the way to self-dependence through farming. The transformation received a boost with the assistance of the Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) programme, an initiative of the U.K. government’s Department for International Development (DFID) aimed at the welfare of socially excluded groups.

Under the PACS programme, Sushila brought together a group of women and gave them lessons in community farming. Her sustained endeavours not only empowered women but also encouraged the adivasi community to break the cycle of poverty through concerted and coordinated efforts. Sharing her experiences, Sushila says, “Tribal women are believed to be backbone of their community. It was because of such an ethos that we could infuse a sense of confidence and community among Santhals who were struggling to survive. The results are before everybody: how we turned rocky and dry land into cultivable land through our collective efforts.”

While there is a considerable decrease in the seasonal mass migration from the village now, its residents also enjoy a proportionate increase in their collective prosperity. Today, the village is food and financially secure like never before. Now, self-reliance in farming has earned them a livelihood, collectively farming the vast tracts of land which were earlier left barren. The children are now being able to study without interruptions through the year.

Sushila’s SHG spread awareness about MGNREGA and procured job cards for all those looking to enrol themselves. Soon the group of women launched a movement against the middlemen who had monopolised job cards and pass-books issued in the name of villagers under this scheme. Thereafter, the group started targeting exploitative private money lenders whose land- grabbing had devastated the lives of poor villagers.

“We motivated the villagers to reclaim their lands in Paharpur, Kodarchela, Lakhanpur, Kadma, Pakardeeh and Manjhdeeha. The moneylenders have been chased out of the agrarian business today,” says Sushila proudly.

It was only after a series of such achievements that Sushila could win the confidence of the men folk of the village to come together and find socially sustainable solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing their people. “Soon after the first evaluation of the SHG, we took a loan of Rs. 25,000 from the bank. We used it to cultivate potato and had a good harvest of 20 quintals. After selling the surplus produce, we repaid the borrowed money. Today, we are self-reliant in farming and are growing almost every crop. Consequently, every woman in the village is earning a monthly income of Rs. 1500 through agriculture and allied activities. Some families were able to start their own small businesses,” says Sushila.

The group’s crusade has led to a drastic decline in the sale and purchase of liquor in the area, besides closure of illicit liquor manufacturing distilleries. The women also diligently attend meetings at the Panchayat Bhawan where, every Thursday, they curiously gather information related to government welfare schemes. In these meetings, they also table social development issues. “Our group members are now more aware of the Forest Rights Act, for instance. They not only participated in the panchayat elections but also stood for and won the seats for Panchayat Committee and Ward Member. Recognising the efforts of the group, the district administration has handed over the implementation of the Public Distribution System to them, thus bringing transparency to this beleaguered scheme,” says Sushila.

Charkha Announces

Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship 2013
For highlighting development issues of women in Ladakh

The Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship aims at providing a platform to writers who have the zeal to go beyond the usual and highlight invisible development issues of the women living in the rural borderlands.
The Fellowship shall provide an opportunity for writers to delve into the challenges faced by the women of rural disadvantaged communities and reflect the status of development as perceived by these women. The Fellowship will support in-depth research, travel and writing. The writings are expected to highlight little-known strengths and travails of the women of this remote but significant part of India with a view to bringing them into the mainstream development fold.







Theme
One Fellowship on Women as Flag-bearers of Change in Ladakh– individual women or groups of women, who fought structural, social norms in this tough geographical area to bring development and positive changes, be it in the field of education, economy, or saving their natural or cultural heritage.
One Fellowship on the “Contemporary Challenges of Women in Ladakh” – a view of the evolving nature of the socio-economic, geographic and cultural challenges faced by women in Ladakh. This can include how age old challenges reflect themselves differently in today's world.

Duration

Six months

Eligibility
The two Fellowships are open to writers with at least one year of professional experience in any field. Students pursuing graduation (final year) and post graduation can also apply.
Preference will be given to women writers from Ladakh region
Freelance writers and aspiring writers, as well as those interested in social issues of Ladakh, are encouraged to apply. Journalists associated with a publication or media house are eligible to apply. Previous Charkha Fellows and writers currently availing benefits of any other fellowship or a similar scheme of financial assistance are not eligible to apply

Application Guidelines

All potential applicants must submit the following as a part of their application; incomplete applications will not be submitted to the jury for consideration:

1. A detailed CV with information pertaining to educational qualifications, work experience and volunteer experiences
2. A Proposal of 800 words explaining the broad outline of the particular theme chosen by the applicant. This should include details like the relevance of theme in the context of Ladakh region today; key issue to be raised through writings, explaining how the writings can create any positive impact; and any experience of living or working in the area which has contributed to the choice of theme
3. Two articles published/unpublished over the past two years
4. Two letters of recommendation from persons in a related field who are known to the applicant professionally and not in any personal capacity
Applications may be sent by email to vermaachetna@gmail.com or chetna@charkha.org with the Subject: ‘Application for Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship (Ladakh) 2013’; or by post to:
Charkha Development Communication Network,
D – 1947, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon 122017, Haryana
All completed applications received shall be acknowledged by email

General

The selected Fellows will receive a fellowship of Rs 35,000/- each (subject to TDS
deductions) to support research, travel and writing in the given period.
The stipend will be released in two installments - the first as a travel grant at the start of the Fellowship Programme and the second after its successful completion
All Fellows will be required to attend sessions of a specially-designed ‘Mentoring Program’ as per schedule during the six months of the Fellowship that entails attending sessions in Delhi and elsewhere, with all expenses being covered by Charkha
The selected Fellows will be required to submit at least five well-researched articles in English, Hindi or Urdu with ten - fifteen high-resolution photographs on the chosen subject during the period of six months. At least two of these articles must be positive stories
Articles arising out of the Fellowship Programme must be submitted only to Charkha for publication through Charkha Features. Charkha has the right to get the articles published with due credit given to the writers without any additional payment
Copyright of all work will rest with the writers
Last date for receiving completed applications is 31 March 2013
For further queries contact –
Chetna Verma
09416202082