India, US and the volunteer connection

Sangharsh, producer-consumer links and chaat

2008-05-18T09:29:00.000+05:30

23rd - 26th April 2008

The days after we returned to Sitapur was taken up by discussions about the vision of SKMS and in writing up project proposals for funding. Dwiji was heading to Delhi on the 26th to participate in Sangharsh 2008. This was an event organized by NAPM to highlight the issue of displacement, land rights and proposed changes to the Land Acquisition Act that would further water down the compensation that displacees are eligible for. A number of groups representing people whose land was under threat of acquisition were congregating in New Delhi to protest and mobilize. Dwiji would be there to lend a hand where necessary and to interact with the activists and organizers assembled there. I had a different plan.

Richa had been invited by Mahila Samakhya in Nainital to conduct a training on NREGA for their staff on April 28th, 29th and 30th. I planned to tag along. But this trip was thrown into uncertainty because of the investigation committee's work. Following the Pradhans' protest, extra efforts were being made to get them to testify before the committee. A notice was sent to all Pradhans in the Mishrikh and Pisawa block asking them to set a date for testifying before the committee. The deadline for this was April 30th and there were rumours that the Pradhans would turn up on that day itself.

On the 26th, Dwiji and I headed to Lucknow to spend a day shopping, visiting friends and satisfying my chaat cravings! Dwiji would head off to Delhi and I would return to Sitapur. We first met Madhavi Kuckreja, a veteran in women's groups and rights work in Uttar Pradesh. Her newest endeavour is setting up a shop – Sanatkada – that stocks products made by NGOs, people's movements etc. The shop is located in a residential area off the main road and is on the second floor of a house, so first off, the location was not ideal. But once inside, it was worth visiting. Clothes from the Northeast (the ant) and Rajasthan, material from Andhra (Dastkar), decorative pieces, jewellery, folders, stationery and more – the shop was a veritable treasure trove. Through mere word of mouth, Madhavi is managing to sell more than Rs. 1 lakh worth of items a month. However, the shop is still not yielding a profit and that is something she and her team need to figure out if they want to stay in business – all the best to them.

After the shop, we headed out for some 'pet puja', which Lucknow is well equipped to provide. While out on the streets, we got a call from Sitapur saying the Nainital trip was on – whew!

Living with the Loo

2008-05-17T06:56:00.001+05:30

18th - 21st April 2008

At the Pisawa meeting, plans had been made to visit 3 villages in that block. SKMS hasn't been active in Pisawa for long, and while the people there are highly motivated, more mobilization efforts are required. Dwiji and I left for Surbala's house on the 18^th itself in preparation. Harvesting activities were on in full swing throughout the region and given that full moon was just a few nights away, a lot of people were cutting wheat at night. Walking in the moonlit fields was an excellent experience. Unfortunately, Dwiji didn't get an opportunity to cut the wheat himself – the villagers were too nervous to let him!

The next morning, we left for Pisawa. Surbala and Reena weren't familiar with the village we were to go to, therefore we headed to Rambeti's house in Allipur. Allipur is close to the town of Pisawa, and 10-20 years earlier, very little was cultivated here due to sandy soil conditions. But apparently, about 10 years ago, Sikh farmers began moving here from Punjab and buying land. They irrigated the land, applied fertilizers etc. and started growing wheat and other crops. Looking at the crop yields they were getting, locals began growing wheat as well. Nowadays, even sugarcane is being cultivated here. But on the whole, Pisawa is less populated than Mishrikh and people are more dependent on daily labour.

On reaching Rambeti's house and after the usual hospitality, we realized that Manikapur, the village we were to go to, was quite far from Pisawa – about 8-10 km. It was more accessible from Maholi which is on the Sitapur-Delhi highway. Surbala and Reena, being unfamiliar with Pisawa geography, hadn't known that and Rambeti, being unfamiliar with the itinerary, hadn't communicated this information to them. Our meeting was about to be canceled due to lack of transportation! Finally, at 12:30 pm Jagannath, Rambeti's husband, managed to find a theliya driver who would take us on the 16-18 km round trip to Manikapur. Om Prakash, another resident of Allipur, lent his bicycle to Dwiji and we were off.

I haven't come across theliyas before coming to Sitapur so don't know how prevalent they are in other parts of the country. At first, I found them extremely uncomfortable and like most other things, they are not designed for people of my height, let alone Dwiji's. But they are beginning to grow on me. Having said that, travelling in an open theliya at 1 pm in 40 C conditions with a blowing loo was draining. I kept myself going thinking about the padyatra SKMS had organized in these parts last year. Not only had they walked from village to village, but they had visited 3 villages every day. After 3 days of this gruelling schedule, some people collapsed from exhaustion – naturally!

We reached Manikapur just before 2 pm and got the active SKMS members to assemble the other villagers together quickly. The proceedings started, as always, with a song. Almost a hundred people had congregated at the meeting venue and it would take a firm hand to keep them engaged. Surbala and Reena proved up to the task. With stories, exhortations and a bit of humour, they kept the crowd entertained and put their points across about the importance of a sangathan and the issues that needed to be addressed in the village. It seems that the women in the village were meeting regularly but the men weren't interested in joining. Extra effort was put to get them involved in SKMS activities.

The meeting ended early because the theliya owner wanted to leave. So we left at 4 pm. The ride back was under cooler conditions and I even rode the bicycle for part of the way back. Dwiji and I were staying at Rambeti's house, so we left with her while Reena and Surbala left for Pisawa. Later, we found out that they had an awfully hard time finding transportation and had to call a relative to pick them up on his motorcycle.

Rambeti's village is electrified, which means that they get power for a few hours in the middle of the night! Well, atleast that allows mobiles to be charged in the village itself. There are a lot of gushing accolades being written for the cellphone these days, about how they've revolutionalized the countryside and empowered people as never before. Let's not go overboard, folks! Sure, more information is available than ever before and coordination is easier, but the existing power structures haven't changed. Getting payments for sugarcane and foodgrains is as hard as ever as is transportation. Reading some op-eds recently, one may be fooled into thinking that this little piece of technology has solved all the problems that decades of intervention haven't been able to fix...

That night, we chatted with Rambeti and learnt how she got involved in activism. She told us how she started off as a village-level organizer with Mahila Samakhya and then began talking up more and more issues that affected people in her village. This lady is tough – she has taken on ration shop owners who were hoarding goods, her village Pradhan and even the Block Development Officers. Apparently the BDO of Pisawa (who also has the charge of Mahol block) is so deluged with applications and complaints in Pisawa that he no longer comes to his office there! Rambeti now sits on the investigation committee looking into the unemployment allowance issue. The sheer symbolism of a Dalit woman sitting on a committee with district officials and questioning BDOs and Pradhans is not lost on anyone.

The next morning, we spent some time with the children of the house. Rambeti's younger daughter Khushboo loves playing the dholak and singing, so we coaxed her into a performance. Other girls in the neighbourhood joined in and we were treated to a rousing impromptu concert. Later we talked to the girls about their studies and they weren't as enthusiastic! The boys seemed to be more interested and doing better in school. This was, of course, just a snapshot of the literacy scenario in the area. But among adults, there is a clear difference in literacy levels between the genders. This creates a lot of challenges for SKMS as it tries to establish women and men on an equal footing in all tasks related to the organization.

On the 20^th, we were set to go to Taalgaon which is more accessible from Pisawa. Rambeti had to go for a committee meeting, so she left for Sitapur, while Reena, Surbala, Dwiji and I set off for Taalgaon in a theliya. A few kilometres out of Taalgaon, we learnt that a fire had broken out in the village. The conditions were so hot, dry and windy that even a tinder could start a blaze.

The fire in Taalgaon had been put out, we found, but so much for a meeting that day. We decided to proceed to the village to see what we could do. In the village, we found some SKMS members and went to tour the burnt houses.

The tragedy of a fire is heightened in late April because the newly harvested wheat has just been brought into homes for storage. In the burnt houses, the wheat that hadn't been destroyed by the fire was damaged by the water used to put out the fire. So, in many cases, a family's stock of foodgrain for the entire year was wiped out in just a few minutes. Surbala and Reena asked questions, comforted villagers and later talked to the Pradhan and other officials about getting compensation for the affected families. Then we headed back to Pisawa and from there to Reena's house in Kunwarapur. Given the weather conditions and reports of fires throughout the region, the next day's meeting was cancelled and we decided to head back to Sitapur instead.

Back in Kunwarapur, Reena took hospitality to a whole new level. Though we reached her home at 6 pm, she cooked a full meal and dahi wada as well! The next morning, she let us help her with making khoya (condensed milk) with fresh milk from her cows and buffaloes. We were also treated to sugarcane juice and fruits galore. After all the gastronomical delights, it was time for some food for thought. We talked about the women's dairy in Kaunwarapur and the plans to improve its capacity and revenue etc. I had offered to put together a proposal for soliciting funding for the upcoming year and this discussion would flesh out the dairy component.

The loo raged on through the afternoon and Reena extinguished all fires in her house. Her family had lost everything they possessed in a fire in 2004 and there was no desire to repeat the experience. We left Kunwarapur and returned to Sitapur in the evening tired, a little dehydrated and with a profound respect for life in the heat and wind of a north Indian summer.

The Rights of Pradhans

2008-05-17T06:48:00.000+05:30

16th April 2008

For the past few days, Dwiji, Richa and Mukesh had been busy at work on the next edition of 'Humara Safar', the Sangtin newsletter. Earlier editions had been put together on Pagemaker by DTP folks – this had always proven to be a major headache given the lack of resources in Sitapur. Dwiji suggested designing the newsletter in OpenOffice and exporting it to PDF format. Since neither Richa nor Mukesh are tech-savvy, they suggested that Dwiji do this and set up a template for future editions.

On another front, the Pradhan rally that was supposed to have happened on the 9^th was rescheduled for the 16^th – apparently, they needed time to organize. Behind the scenes, there were efforts to set up a dialogue with the Pradhans. Labourers getting an unemployment allowance would not hurt the Pradhans in any way, but there are enough players behind the scenes trying to convince them otherwise. At any rate, their 1-day rally did go ahead as planned and Dwiji and I went to listen in for a while.

From the speeches of various Pradhans, it was clear that they were unclear about the objectives of the rally! Some speakers talked about the need for a salary for Pradhans, since they had so many duties which were only increased with NREGA – fair enough. Others talked about how certain labourers did not do any work and yet demanded wages because of their collective strength. The Pradhans who talked about this were from areas that SKMS does not work in, so apparently they were projecting some other angst here! There was some talk about how the committee was unconstitutional and should be dissolved, and in the very next breath the speaker was asking for representation for Pradhans on this committee! Well, the Pradhan assocation has been set up just recently – they still need to get their act together...

However, there is also talk that the BDOs and Pradhans plan to go to court on this issue, so maybe they will create more hurdles and roadblocks in the future...

A Monthly round-up

2008-05-17T06:22:00.000+05:30

10th - 12th April 2008

On the 9th, Dwiji and I went to Vikas Bhavan and found not a Pradhan in sight. Later, we found out that the protest had been called off that morning itself. Why, we did not know. Most likely they felt that they were not prepared enough...

On the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th of every month, regional meetings are held by SKMS for clusters of ~15 villages। On Thursday, Dwiji and I headed to the first one, in the village of Aant. Richa could only stay for a short while as she had to attend the next meeting of the enquiry committee. She updated the group on the committee's work, the Pradhan Sangh's demands and the newspaper reports – Dainik Jagaran, which is more widely read in the villages, had also come out with an article on the issue.

The meeting was attended by about 30 people. More kept trickling in even though I thought we were late at noon – time is more flexible here! The first issue that was discussed was the BPL (Below Poverty Level) list. A survey of households had been carried out in the past few months where points were assigned based on income, land holdings and other assets, education of family members, appliances such as gas cylinders in the house etc. The list of those who had upto 52 points would be displayed in a public place in each Gram Sabha around the 16th. There was a lot of discussion about what needed to be done if the list was not available or if certain names were missing from the list etc. Most of the attendees in this meeting would qualify for BPL and yet were unaware of the benefits of the card.

Other topics of discussion included updates on NREGA and ensuring that job cards were in the hands of labourers themselves. As mentioned earlier, this is easier said than done and tactics for getting them back from the Pradhan or secretary were discussed. Payments on labour already done are also notoriously slow in arriving – usually the reason cited is that the funds haven't arrived in the village account yet. But the increasing awareness and mobilization of villagers is having an effect – work available this past year (2007-08) was much more than what was available the year before when NREGA was introduced.

An ongoing concern of the core members of SKMS is the mobilization and understanding at the village level. A lot of villagers join in SKMS activities when it is beneficial for them but step back during confrontations with the Pradhan or Block officials etc. This is a burden for the more loyal SKMS members. One member whose village is strongly mobilized, inspite of the challenges they face, stood up to share his experiences and motivate the rest.

As always, the meeting started and ended with a song. Reena's rendition of 'Bol ari oh dharti bol' is truly resounding!

We were to stay at Surbala's home overnight – she lives close to Qutubnagar, the site of the second meeting. To get to her house, we had to take a 'theliya' (a cart pulled by a cyclist) to the main road, then get a 'Ganesh' tempo (so named because of its long front – Dwiji says similar tempos are called 'Garuda' tempos in Karnataka) and then walk a kilometre through wheat fields. The fields stretched as far as the eye could see. This close to harvest, the stalks were long and the seeds had grown to full size. A few km. up the road, fields had greatly benefited from irrigation provided by the newly rejuvenated canal that SKMS had fought so hard for.

Surbala and her family can be considered well-off in their village's context – they have a 'pukka makaan' – a house with a cement roof as opposed to a thatched one, they have a gas cylinder and have actually managed to increase their land holdings (by just a few bighas, albeit). Yet, Surbala has had to fight hard for 'unnecessary' expenses such as her daughter's education. As she put it, she started working in order to have a stronger voice in directing her family finances.

As I've often experienced in villages, Surbala's hospitality was at the 'Athithi devobhava' – guest is god – level, to the extent of fanning us! We had to be quite firm and insist on helping her rather than have her wait upon us hand and foot.

One neat use of technology in Surbala's house – a solar panel she had purchased for a solar lantern is now being used to charge mobile phones. We had heard earlier that some villagers spend as much as half a day traveling to a nearby electrified town to charge their phone – this is a much more elegant solution. We started wondering if a laptop could be charged this way as well – will give it a shot.

The next day, we went to Qutubnagar for the second regional meeting. The group here seemed a lot more motivated and informed – SKMS had been working in this area longer and it shows. There were also a lot more arguments! As Richa had told us earlier, these meetings serve not only the purpose of sharing information but also allow disagreements to be aired out and resolved as much as possible.

The heat is beginning to build up in this part of the world – we had to move the meeting to a semi-closed space to escape the scorching loo outside.

After the meeting, we were besieged by invitations to stay overnight, have refreshments etc. etc. and had to employ the art of respectful declining. We headed back to Sitapur that night.

For the Pishawa meeting on the 12th, I was dreading the jeep-tempo-theliya travel of past days when an alternative idea struck. Richa wasn't using her scooter that day, so we borrowed it for the day. To think that I am now actually looking forward to traveling on a 2-wheeler! I had complained about it nonstop during my earlier stints in Bangalore, when Dwiji was taking me around the city on one. But priorities change, I guess – especially in the face of back-breaking travel in vehicles stuffed in defiance of space and structure!

In Pishawa, the dynamics are yet again different. This group had come together on the issue of NREGA and had approached SKMS for help. So, while they are highly motivated, there was a need felt for more mobilizing and perspective-building activities. Meetings in 3 villages in the Pishawa area were planned for 19th - 21st April an we planned to attend tham as well. For now, we decided we had earned some rest and headed back to Sitapur.

SKMS in action

2008-05-16T23:36:00.001+05:30

8th April 2008

The past couple of days had been a bit quiet after the hustle-bustle of Vikas Bhavan, especially given that Monday was a holiday (it also happened to be Ugadi/Gudi Padwa, celebrated here as the start of the summer Navratri). On Tuesday was 'Tehsil divas', a day when the DM meets block-level officials and staff and the public can file applications, complaints etc.

A lot of planning had gone on at the village level to get a number of applications filed on this day. When we got to Mishrikh with Richa and Sharmaji, we found a number of Sangathan members along with Surbala and Reena conferring over applications. We also met a number of core members such as Rambeti, Shammu and Tama. Richa and Sharmaji had to go on to Lucknow and soon left us. We stuck around, sometimes taking a peek into the block office to watch the proceedings. That might have been detrimental though – a lot of officials spent more time staring at us than looking at the applications in front of them.

After all the forms had been submitted and a receiving number and signature was registered on each copy, we adjourned to the Dak Bungalow. There were 20-30 Sangtin members and others kept joining in. The topic of discussion was the Pradhan demonstration the next day. The Pradhan association had threatened a demonstration if the DM wouldn't accede to their demands and dissolve the enquiry committee. It was quite possible that there would be a big turnout at this rally – the Pradhans were booking 'trolleys', trailers that could be hitched to a tractor, to go to Sitapur. If nothing else, villagers would get a chance to go to Sitapur free of cost! And of course, there were some who were in the Pradhans' camp to start with. This group of people were focused on making sure their supporters would not get onto the trolleys. They went over what arguments they could make and who to talk to. The meeting started and ended with songs – Tama has a powerful voice and it was a pleasure to listen to him. Dwiji recorded the song on our mobile – quite a decent recording it was too!

Doing the Math

2008-04-24T17:37:00.001+05:30

5th April 2008

Yesterday there had been a lot of speculation about who would get the charge of the CDO in his absence. Since the letter had already been sent to the CDO, we were not too worried about it, but word was that the DDO and Program Director (PD) were lobbying hard for it. We reached Vikas Bhavan at 11:30 am where the steno told Richa that the letter would be in our hands at 1:30 pm, guaranteed! We sat down outside the office to wait when a big group of villagers approached. They started speaking to the steno about getting an audience with someone or the other regarding their wages when Richa stepped in. Some of the villagers recognized her and began telling her their problem. They had done some work through NREGA some time ago and had yet not received their wages. Their job cards had been held by their Panchayat secretary and they had finally managed to get them back. In their cards a number of entries had been falsified – for example, a man who had worked for 6 days found 7 more entries of 6 days each in his card!

By now, Richa had found out that the PD had been given charge of NREGA. She took everyone upstairs to his office. On seeing her and the 20+ villagers in his office, the PD exclaimed, “Arre, Richaji, the NREGA file has not reached me yet and you are already here!” On hearing the circumstances, the PD called the BDO of Pisawa and began asking what was going on, with a lot of interjections along the lines of “If he is incompetent, remove him from his post.” After a lot of back and forth (and with a number of villagers trying to get their word in), he determined that the Pradhan of the village had recently passed away, some Panchayat members had been removed from their posts etc. with the result that there was only one office bearer in the village. This person was holding on to all the job cards.

The PD then started lecturing the villagers on why they need to hold on to their job cards. “How many times have we explained to you that you should not let them out of your hands?” Richa tried to explain to him that it was not easy to get them back – in one case, even when she was personally involved, it took a few days to get them back. If officials say that they will not pay the labourer unless they can keep their job cards, how long can the labourer resist?

Hearing the PD speak, I was reminded of all the instances when friends and family who have paid bribes have explained the circumstances: “If we didn't get a ration card, we wouldn't get a gas cylinder and how would we manage?”, “If I didn't bribe the official, my goods would rot in the godown”, “If I didn't pay the bribe, they'd keep me running around their offices for god-knows how long, and I had to leave in 3 days.” How easily we justify paying bribes. And how conveniently we dismiss villagers as ignorant when they do effectively the same, at greater costs to themselves.

Finally, the PD called in his assistant and handed the job cards and complaint letter over to him. Richa immediately asked the secretary to take copies and hand the job cards back to the villagers! We walked out and Richa told the villagers that they had been demanding their rights and the officials weren't doing them any favours – there was no need for them to be so deferential. She then strategized with them on what they would do next and we left them waiting for the secretary.

Downstairs the DDO called us into his office – he had received a copy of the letter and would hand us one. After the usual 'pleasantries', we got a copy of the letter. Just as it was handed to us, in walked the bureau chief of the Hindustan!

There was good and bad news to be found in the letter. The good news was that the committee had been ordered to complete the calculation work. The bad news was that the accusations of the Pradhan association had been mentioned in the letter and the committee was asked to give them a hearing. This incensed Sharmaji and he stormed out of the office. Richa and I followed with the editor who managed to get himself a copy as well.

Well, the task of getting an unemployment allowance from the government was not easy to start with and more and more roadblocks were appearing. More strategizing followed for the rest of the day.

By the way, the government's NREGA website is worth visiting here. Reports from all implementing districts in the form of statistics are uploaded. Speaking of which, earlier in the day we were sitting in the CDO's office and I was looking at all the graphs there. One bar graph was titled 'District schemes' and showed approved expenditure and actual expenditure for the past few years. Looking at the numbers, I realized that the 2007-2008 approved expenditure was pegged at ~Rs. 103 crore. This confused me – wasn't the NREGA allocation itself Rs. 110 crore?

I mentioned this to the 2 other people in the room, both men, who immediately started disputing my math – they said the number in the graph was Rs. 1030 crore (the figures were in thousands and there were no helpful commas). It took a few minutes of arguing and actual pencil-and-paper determination for them to accept (without actually accepting) that I was right. Then they told me that this was the State-approved expenditure and didn't include the funds from the Centre. Couldn't they have told me that in the first place?! At the back of the room was another chart which showed the money coming in from the centre under various schemes – Indira Awas Yojana, Afforestation, Rajiv Electrification Scheme etc. The total money from all of these schemes amounted to ~Rs. 1600 crores. With Sitapur's population estimated at ~40 lakhs, that works to about Rs. 4000/person. And, with luck, maybe Rs. 400 trickles down to some...

Getting nothing done

2008-04-24T11:00:00.001+05:30

4th April 2008

After the drama of yesterday, there had been a lot of speculation about what had motivated this shift in the DM's approach – after all, he had been the one to take the lead in setting up the enquiry committee in December. Some things became apparent after perusing Friday's Hindustan Hindi. The pradhans of Mishrikh and Pisawa had submitted a letter to the Sitapur City Magistrate alleging that the enquiry committee set up last December was unconstitutional and was completely under the control of 'dalali' organizations – basically groups that exploit both the government and the workers by taking a cut of wages. Now all the comments in the DDO's office began making sense...

Of course, this started a new round of phone calls and exchange of information. At the same time, the news reached Richa that the CDO had gone on leave! It was known that he would be going on leave for training (including a field trip to the US) later in the month. But it began to look like the CDO would not be appearing in Sitapur dt. for a while.

We reached Vikas Bhavan as planned at 11 am and found the DM in the CDO's office. His neck brace was off and he looked a lot more vigorous. A number of officials stood around busily taking notes. Richa started off about the letter and he immediately replied that it would be signed. When Richa asked when it would be done, he just repeated that it would be done. Then he mentioned that there had been opposition to the report from some officers and they had threatened to go on strike! Richa and Sharmaji talked about the fact that the committee was chaired by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), that it had given opportunities to the BDOs to make their statements etc. The DM sent us on our way promising to get the letter signed. Richa said that we would be back by evening.

We then went to the offices of Hindustan Hindi to lodge a protest about their article. Any person unfamiliar with the issue would get a very incomplete and biased picture from this article, especially considering the extensive and favourable coverage of the December dharna by the Hindustan. The bureau chief justified the coverage saying that the paper has to cover all news and that he had a high opinion of Hindustan's readers – they would be able to connect the dots. Well, they are his readers – I guess it's his prerogative to have such expectations from them. I wouldn't have such expectations from myself!

When we returned at 4 pm to Vikas Bhavan, we learnt that a special messenger had been sent to Lucknow to get the CDO's signature on the letter – wow! There were conflicting replies on when he had been sent – some said in the morning itself, others said at 3 pm. The DDO came by and threw out a few remarks – the letter has been sent, let's see if he will sign it etc. etc.

All in all, after 2 days and four rounds of Vikas Bhavan, we still didn't have the letter in hand. The bureaucrats have indeed mastered the art of never saying no and yet getting nothing done!

While returning home, Richa received a call from an SKMS member – this lady and others from her village had received daily wages of only Rs. 40 for a pond repair job. They had filed a complaint and protested and the DM had ordered an enquiry. A magistrate was supposed to visit their village the next day to take statements and that morning a constable from a nearby police station had come by and made threatening statements. This led to another round of phone calls, with Surbala planning to go to that village the next day. Richa also called the constable who visited the village and shouted at him. In such situations, only experience will tell you what to do and how much force to use, I guess. This also seems to be a big dilemma for activists and organizations – if the villagers, out of fear of the police, back down from the complaint, should their partners in cities or other villages pressure them to continue the fight, fight on in their absence or step back from this particular battle???

How to say No to NREGA - lessons from the district offices

2008-04-09T11:18:00.003+05:30

3rd April 2008

A little background to today's blog – as I had mentioned earlier, the December dharna had ended with the DM's order to set up an enquiry committee to look into the matter of unemployment allowance. The committee had submitted its initial report with a list of eligible receipients on March 14th. Unfortunately for the cause, the DM had not mentioned in his order that the final calculation of payments be done. According to NREGA rules, unemployment allowance is to be paid only to the head of household after calculating how many hours all members of that household have worked.

Without this accounting, the report is incomplete and therefore the committee was waiting for the DM to issue the order. When Richa went to visit him after submitting the initial report, the DM was making noises about setting up a separate committee to make the financial determinations and decide who was to blame for the earlier notice that said there were no eligible recipients. Richa was upset – while the latter issue is a department matter and could be decided by another committee, the former issue is very much under the purview of the enquiry committee. She protested and decided to bring along more SKMS members. The next day, almost 60 people turned up and entered the DM's office. The DM then promised to issue the order for the enquiry committee, but asked for a little time for the end-of-financial-year activities. So the matter was tabled till early April.

On Wednesday, Sharmaji visited the DM and was informed that the CDO would be signing the order. He let Richa know that evening. This news was highly upsetting – the earlier CDO was the one who had issued the notice that was challenged by SKMS. He had also been intractable in negotiations and stories of his corruption were rampant in Sitapur – apparently 2% was his cut for a signature! Only because of the DM were they able to achieve this much, so why was he shrugging off this last bit of responsibility?

This was the setting for Thursday's shenanigans...

10:45 am: We set off for Vikas Bhavan in Sharmaji's car. Sharmaji and Richa strategize on how to tackle this twist in events.

11 am: There aren't many people in the DM's office when we arrive – apparently it is early in the day yet. The DM is wearing a neck brace and looks quite beat down. We sit there for about 5 minutes and he presents one hell of a blank face – who knows what he is thinking! All Richa and Sharmaji manage to get out of him is 'CDO sign kar denge.' and 'Woh implementing officer hai' – the CDO will sign the order and he is the implementing officer. Conveniently, no mention of when he will sign the order!

11:10 am: After exchanging niceties with the CDO's stenographer (which includes cursing all corrupt officials to high hell), we enter the CDO's office. The current CDO was given his new posting on 5th March and arrived on 14th March. All his replies and body language reflect his guardedness in his new position. And of course he must have heard that SKMS was largely responsible for the removal of the previous CDO! He throws out a few sentences about how BDOs and Pradhans were unhappy with the report and how could he come out with an order that directly contradicts his predecessor. Richa and Sharmaji counter that the previous CDO did agree to the setting up of the enquiry committee and that the new order was just a minor one. At this point, he calls in the DDO and the atmosphere immediately changes.

Whether or not the DDO is villainous, he fits the role to a tee. Gutkha chewing and spitting is part of his repertoire as is, atleast in this situation, throwing out taunts and statements calculated to inflame. Among the many things he says: why did you submit an incomplete report, we have many demands on our time and haven't read your report, we have to take the side of justice. When Richa retorts that he was given the responsibility of this post because he was capable and the government provides him conveniences to help him do his work, he replies, “Aap ke paas bhi kam suvidhaayein nahin hain” - you don't have any less conveniences.

The volume of the people in the room has gone up while the CDO sits calmly watching the proceedings and occasionally mediating. Finally, he says and the DDO concurs that the letter will be available. We get up to leave after Richa promises to continue the discussion with the DDO in his office.

11:45 am: We step out of the CDO's office and into the main compound of Vikas Bhavan. Richa shows me the places of interest during the dharna – where they cooked, where they slept, where the people on a hunger strike sat etc. In the meantime, she has been fielding calls from a villager and we run into him. This man is from a Scheduled Caste and has come to collect some money he is eligible to receive for his daughter's wedding. The officials have been running him from pillar to post for the last 15 days – finally telling him his form was lost although there was a record of it in their register. He has come to ask if Richa or Sharmaji have the copy of the form that he remembered handing to them. They promise to look for it and also to talk to the officials upstairs.

12:30 pm: After a tea break and some discussion, we head back to Vikas Bhavan and to the DDO's office. A number of Block Development Officers (BDOs) are there and from the sound of things, they have been discussing ways to counter the enquiry committee's report. The backhanded compliments from the DDO continue - “You are quite capable, Richa-ji, you just need to go in the right direction.” The BDOs play the role of naysayers – 'explaining' that the committee formation was not mentioned in NREGA and is therefore unconstitutional, that there is no provision to cancel job cards so a lot of dud cards susceptible to misuse are floating around, that the Center and State are not allocating sufficient funds for NREGA – 'How are we supposed to pay all those labourers?', that there is no work left to do in the villages (ha ha ha!) etc. The chorus of excuses go on for quite a while – we try to counter whenever possible. I have joined the multiple discussions by this time – one can only keep quiet for so long! The DDO, on finding out that I have come to learn from SKMS says, “Arre, what will you learn from her – I will tell you. Go to a village, get 50 workers together and file an application for work. Then all of you disappear for 20 days and come back demanding an unemployment allowance!” I stare at him for a few seconds before delivering a weak reply – got to build on my rudimentary debating skills. Finally, Richa delivers her rebuke to the DDO and we leave the office while exchanging niceties as well.

We then go upstairs to deal with the villager's issue – Sharmaji talks to a few people and gets the ball rolling. We have told the CDO that we'd be back at 4 pm to get the letter, so decide to head home in the interim. As we are leaving the compound at 1:30 pm, the CDO and DDO depart with their respective entourages for lunch. Richa talks about how during the dharna, the BDOs and Pradhans had been called to Vikas Bhavan - their jeeps along with 'gunners' waited outside and that added to the tension at the time. “There were numerous times when we felt that, yes, today there will be a lathi charge.”

3:45 pm: After lunch and a break (for me – Richa has been on the phone nonstop), we return to Vikas Bhavan to find out that the letter has been typed and is just awaiting the CDO's signature! In the interim, we go up to ascertain the progress on the villager's form. We learn that the form hadn't been lost but had been rejected because, in a couple of places, there was overwriting due to a pen running out of ink! Not due to illegibility or inaccurate information but because a few words had been overwritten! Richa and Sharmaji cannot move the process forward so they tell the villager to wait a few days before setting out again, in which time they would try to resolve the issue. Talking to him later, I learn that he takes a tempo for a few kilometres (as he put it – 8 'kos') and then has to walk 8 km to get to his village. I wonder if it is really worth it in economical terms to travel this distance twice every day. Further, as he puts it, he still wouldn't have been able to get this far in his work if not for Sharmaji or Richa speaking on his behalf. When we talk about services and funds available in the rural sector, how many of us think about the access issue? In cities, it is hard enough to get things done in government offices – add a hundred rupees or more and a few days spent traveling to the equation and then how many people would continue this minor struggle? This villager was able to manage because he has adult sons taking care of the harvest at home.

4 pm: We learn that the CDO has still not returned since leaving at 1:30 pm – quite a long lunch he is having! Richa sits down on the bench outside his office and states that we are not leaving here until a copy of the letter reaches us. We chat with whoever passes by – a lot of people come to pay their respects to Richa and tell her how wonderful the December dharna had been. Some of them seem to have just enjoyed the spectacle but others express genuine support.

5 pm: It seems that the CDO left his house 45 minutes ago. It takes just takes 5 minutes to get to Vikas Bhavan. Some are saying that he has left for Lucknow – others that he is at the DM's bungalow. Sharmaji comes back and says that there is no point waiting – the CDO has gone for a doctor's appointment to Lucknow and won't be back today. The good fortune of Sitapur is that it is close to Lucknow, the state capital, so has good access to the corridors of power. The bad fortune of Sitapur is that it is close to Lucknow – officials go there at a moment's notice and many commute from Lucknow as well. Hard to get access to your local official when he is 2 ½ hours away!

So that was the story of my Thursday. It might be a familiar tale to quite a few of you – I remember a story in our Hindi reader about a soul hiding in his pension file still trying to get it released after his death! But observing the games and tricks played by Vikas Bhavan was a novel experience for me and so I've written out this long entry. Hope you've experienced atleast a fraction of both the entertainment and frustration I derived in watching this drama.

Back to Mishrikh

2008-04-09T11:09:00.001+05:30

2nd April 2008

No discussion about what Dwiji and I are doing in Sitapur can be complete without the inputs of Surbala and Reena. So on Wednesday, we set out for Mishrikh to meet them. Mishrikh is closer for both of them – coming to Sitapur would add another 30 km to their journey. Speaking of journeys, the economics of travel itself are worth considering – for a lot of villagers whose income barely crosses into 4 figures, the Rs. 40-50 that it takes for a day trip to Sitapur is prohibitive indeed. Mobile phones have transformed the landscape though and the practice of 'missed calls' is widely followed.

We got to Mishrikh just before noon and met Surbala on the way to the Dak Bungalow, our meeting place. Reena reached there soon after and a lively discussion ensued. One reason for meeting in a 'neutral' place was that we would be less interrupted by people coming by to pay their respects or with requests for assistance. But word gets around and sure enough, within a few minutes of Reena's arrival, some villagers from Pisawa block came by to update her on their efforts to get their job cards – though all workers are supposed to have one copy with them, their Pradhan wasn't releasing them. The more vocal among them were very clear on what they were doing and why and Richa said half-jokingly that some of them were becoming leaders in their own right. And rightly so – as they talked about later, during the early days of the December dharna, media coverage usually focussed on Richa Singh as the 'leader' of SKMS. But as the days went by, more and more people were mentioned as leaders, and more often than not, articles would say 'Mazdooron ne kahan' – the workers said.

Surbala and Reena talked about how Sangtin had built its strength on issues. “In some organizations,” said Surbala, “initial meetings are attended by 50 people and then the number goes down to 5 in a few years. In our meetings, we started with 5 people and the numbers gradually increased.” Reena talked about the canal issue – workers who cleaned the canal were promised foodgrains but none were distributed, even though on paper 1200 quintals of wheat had been distributed in Sitapur dt. With mobilization, labourers were able to get 58 quintals distributed in Mishrikh block. Now the work is focussed on NREGA – getting the job cards, applying for work and pressurizing for payment of wages or unemployment allowance.

Regional meetings are organized every month in Mishrikh and Pisawa blocks – these have been running for the past three years. At these meetings, SKMS asks that each village send only 2-3 representatives. Various issues are discussed – even personal or village-level arguments and fights. Certain issues start cropping up in a village or two. If they start coming up in more villages, then SKMS takes them on at an organizational level. That is how the canal issue and others have come up. Surbala and Reena expect that the ration card issue might come up in the next few months – this is of course not a new issue and thus in some ways is harder to fight. Ration shop owners have been holding on to ration cards and tampering with records for a very long time...

We also talked a bit about what kind of work can be done with NREGA funds. So far, the funds have mainly been used to clean canals and ponds, repair roads etc. Though it seems that the BDO of Pisawa block did use NREGA funds to level the fields of Dalit farmers – a worthy deed indeed.

But as with every other program, a huge chunk of money ends up in beaurocrats' pockets – the word on the streets is that 36% of the Rs. 111 crore allotted under NREGA to Sitapur dt. was immediately diverted. And the way 'babudom' is resisting making any payments, looks like their eye is on the remaining 64% as well.

We finally asked Reena and Surbala how they thought we could contribute and they turned the question around, asking us what our strengths are. Dwiji said his are cooking and a little bit of drama – so I guess we know what he'll be doing if there is another dharna!

A movement in action

2008-04-04T15:25:00.001+05:30

1st April, 2008

I had visited Richa Singh and other members of Sangtin in Sitapur dt., UP back in 2005. Blog entries from that time can be found here. Back then Richa, Surbala, Reena and others were still exploring various issues affecting the region. They were clear on their approaches and philosophy but not on what exactly they would be doing. Through the rest of 2005, they had intense discussions in villages throughout Mishrikh block. The first issue they took up on a regional level was 'nahar ka mudda' – the canal issue. The main canal in Mishrikh block had plenty of water, but a wall blocked water from reaching a number of villages downstream. Through intense mobilization, pressure was put on local officials to repair the canal downstream and release water into it. Finally, in January 2006, water was released into the canal. This started the next campaign – enduring that wages and foodgrains were provided to the labourers as promised.

Ever since then, Sangtin has taken on a number of issues, mainly livelihood related and has evolved into Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (SKMS). Sitapur dt. was one of the pilot districts where NREGA was first implemented and SKMS has taken on the fight to get the promised employment for villagers. When employment is not provided for those who seek it, the Law has a provision for an unemployment allowance. But getting this from the State is no easy matter. Unable to make any progress on this issue, SKMS organized a massive dharna in December 2007. For 10 days during the peak winter season, 300-600 people occupied the compound of Vikas Bhavan (the District Headquarters) in Sitapur. They slept and ate there, chanted slogans and listened to speeches, walked the corridors, went on hunger strikes and organized a 'gheraao' of the Chief Development Officer (CDO) who is in charge of NREGA implementation at the district level.

The most amazing part, in my opinion, was the amount of local support they received. Food, tents and blankets were donated and a number of residents of Sitapur donated money to the cause. The protestors had two donation boxes - one was labeled 'Contribute to support our Sangathan' and another was labeled 'Contribute to bribe the CDO'. They collected some money in the latter box as well and this was duly handed over to the CDO!

After 10 days, the District Government finally agreed to set up a committee to investigate whether there are eligible recipients for the unemployment allowance in the blocks of Mishrikh and Pisawa. Six people were appointed to the committee, of which three were from SKMS and its supporters. The report was submitted on March 14^th. One component of the report is yet to be completed for which an order from the DM is necessary. This was where the situation stood when we arrived.

We reached Sitapur on the noon of April 1^st and were met at the bus stand by Richa and her son Sunny. We had planned on traveling light, but ended up with 5 bags of varying sizes (thankfully, nothing of transatlantic proportions). Luckily for us, Richa had arranged for a room for us with a neighbour – she lives with her son and mother and is constantly hosting family and friends.

We arrived here without much of a plan beyond learning from SKMS's work and contributing in whatever way we can. But if this is not to turn out into a continuation of our long vacation, we need to have something more concrete in place. The first evening, we sat with Richa and Mukesh, an associate from Lucknow, to get some ideas. Mukesh had earlier talked about his motivation for working with SKMS. He is interested in strengthening movements and building their understanding. As he put it, “When Richa, Surbala, Reena and the rest were in the DM's office arguing with him, I was outside with the rest of the protestors, keeping their energy up.”

Richa also talked about what she saw as the needs of the organization and where the current campaign was going. Then we talked about what Dwiji and I could do. There was talk about designing a website and identifying sources for specific funding needs. Of course, we also plan to spend plenty of time traveling to villages and learning how things work at that level.

Another associate of SKMS, Sharmaji, came by in the evening - he is a journalist with Hindustan Times. During the conversation, he shared some news about Mishrikh block which shocked Richa before she realized what the date was! It appears that April Fool's Day is celebrated as well as any other festival in this part of the world...

Of Inventories and Itineraries

2008-04-03T20:31:00.002+05:30

27th March, 2008

It's been more than 2 years since I've updated this blog – not for lack of time, though. Maybe my blog writing bug is tied to Indian soil :)

We are finally back in India!! After a year of living out of suitcases and on the goodwill of friends, we are ready to do a year more of that, albeit in a more planned fashion. Most of our stuff is not with us but in boxes in my parents' basement or in suitcases in Dwiji's parents' attic. A comprehensive inventory of our worldly possessions was necessary, with constant updates required when we sent stuff ahead with my Dad and brother, when we had to prioritize and leave things behind etc. etc. Of course, some slips are inevitable – I forgot almost all my saris with mom in Canada. Well, I'll manage somehow!

All of our travel planning has required itineraries and more itineraries. These days I'm often mixing the words inventory and itinerary to Dwiji's great amusement (coming as it is from the self-proclaimed English whiz). But I guess they are closely connected in my head – where to go and what to take...

The first two weeks of our return has been devoted to catching up with family and friends. We have spent time in Bangalore and Rajahmundry so far. I've had to deal with a couple of digestive upsets – apparently, my stomach is not as tough as it used to be. Hopefully, it will resolve itself before we land in Sitapur, UP.

One thing I have sorely missed about India are the train rides. Yeah, they can be messy and long, but they're still more comfortable than traveling by plane or bus. And sometimes one gets to meet some real interesting people. In our journey from Bangalore to Rajahmundry, we met a lot of Indian Railways employees traveling home for Holi. There was a station master, a train guard and a locomotive driver. They regaled us with stories of coordinating passenger trains with goods trains, the latter being the bread and butter of the Railways; about iron ore mining in Kudremukh in coastal Karnataka where sometimes seven engines are pulling compartments up a 30% grade.

But the most poignant conversations were about 'suicides by train'. Each of them had experienced atleast a few people who ran in front of their train and died before they could brake to a halt. All of them have been affected by this to some extent or another, but have all learnt to cope with it. “If we can stop and save them, fine,” said one. “If not, we just have to shrug and go on.” Sometime, really determined persons wait till the train restarts and then jump on to the tracks. If the drivers are running late, they don't even try to stop. “It's not worth the bother of getting reprimanded for being late. Those people are going to kill themselves anyway.”

- Sudha

Walking and working for Clean Water

2006-03-02T22:34:00.000+05:30

Being an 'activist' is easy among friends and supporters. But where it really becomes challenging is out in the field - among the neutral, the faintly hostile and the confrontational. Perhaps this is what I wanted to experience when I signed on to be a field canvasser with Clean Water Action, an environmental advocacy group. Perhaps it was just the idea of making money while talking about something I believe. Well, all I can say after the first 4 weeks is – what an experience!

My work involves going to neighborhoods (based on predetermined turf maps), knocking on people's doors and asking them to sign on. They are asked to support our present campaign monetarily and/or by writing a letter to their representatives. The current campaign is to get more renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass) in Minnesota by passing a 'Renewable Electricity Standard'. This would set a goal of 20% of Minnesota's electricity needs to come from renewable sources by 2020 and, among other things, reduce mercury emissions from coal plants. At present, there are non-binding objectives with some electricity companies and a mandate for Excel Energy, which provides half of Minnesota's electricity, to get 10% from renewable sources by 2015.

The issue has been receiving coverage – it seems Minnesota is the biggest importer of power in the US (from other states as well as Canada) when there is enough wind potential to supply all the power needed. There are a number of projects and initiatives being launched in South-west Minnesota, including a wind turbine manufacturing facility in Pipestone set up by an Indian company. But of course, all this counts for nothing in the absence of legislation and citizen support. Hence, the need for advocacy and lobbying groups such as CWA.

The responses I receive at doors span the gamut. There are people who will sign up immediately and hand you a check almost before you can get a word in. There are others who will scold you for coming to the door so late at night (we work from 4.30 – 9 pm). Some gesture at you from inside without opening the door, almost setting their dogs on me. Since I have often had my privacy intruded upon, I can understand to an extent. But I must say my favorite naysayers are the ones who open the door, politely say that they are not interested and sometimes add, 'Thank you for doing this.' Bless their hearts! On one particularly cold evening, a sweet lady asked me to come in and warm my feet: 'Honey, it's freezing out there!' but politely declined to support CWA's work. I wished her a good evening, as I typically do, and moved on.

Then there are the undecided ones: the people who supposedly make up a sizable chunk of the population. 'What does it mean if I sign on?', 'Uhh, mercury? It's in our fish?', 'I don't know what difference it will make.' On Monday, a woman in her 20s said, 'Uh, I don't know. I don't think I could do this.' I told her, 'This is how democracy works.' And she wrote a letter. Yay!

The suspicious ones ask what we will do with this information. 'I don't want any calls at home – I get enough already.' I explain to them that to sell this list or misuse it in any way would be suicidal to us since we are a citizen-supported group. With the people who talk about how much I get as a cut from this, that I'm just another person making a paycheck, I trot out my old corporate job and salary for their inspection! That seems to get a contribution 80% of the time – I got to figure out how to use it more often!

The hardest part of the job is to make people contribute. Maybe it's because of my natural reticence on this front – I've never been too comfortable fundraising. But here I realize it's more than that – when people make a donation, they think about the issue. They get vested in it. Maybe they'll write letters and send e-mails – maybe they'll vote yes if it appears on their ballot. So it's important. Every reason in the world is offered for not contributing: 'I lost my job', 'I can't pay my mortgage' (and this is in a palatial house with a massive flat-screen TV), 'We're done with all our charitable giving for the year', 'I have health problems'. Some seem genuine, some not. Oh well – I'm not a mind reader! I tell them why it's important, re-negotiate the contribution...

The worst experience I've had so far was this gentleman who kept me at his door for almost half an hour, debating. Whenever I tried to disengage, he would tell me, 'Miss, you came to my door. You disturbed me. Now the least you can do is listen.' He talked about his investment in a windmill on his land in Southwest Minnesota - $300,000 - and how it is yielding little (the low-risk approach is to lease the land to a Utility company or join a consortium). He said that all this talk of mercury from coal was just talk, if we were really concerned, we should be moving towards nuclear energy etc. I tried to counter these arguments but could not match his debating skills. One valuable lesson from this experience: one cannot debate at doors, and the job of a canvasser is not to convert the skeptics – it is to move the mildly supportive and the undecided in our direction. And to harness more support from those who already agree with us.

Some of those folks are amazing – there are a lot of people who seem to be just waiting for us to come to their door. 'Oh, yes, you want money!' and out come their checkbooks. Some say they don't want to do more than contribute and I say, great, we'll do all the work for you! (After all the AID work, that seems weird – of course we want people to get involved!) Others have canvassed in the past or their children have and theirs' seems to be a sympathy contribution. Hey, we'll take what we can get. One man who really wanted to vent, I think, talked about how he and his wife had contributed a huge amount to one of the big charity organizations after the Indian Ocean tsunami. After that, almost once every 2 weeks, there is a mailing from them asking for more money. I told him we were a small group and would not do that. But he still wanted to make a statement. So he contributed one cent less than the newsletter subscription level! A little rehabilitative therapy, I hope!

Monday, Dec 5th: The Chennai Surprise

2005-12-23T18:00:00.000+05:30

Getting an auto rickshaw to the railway station after 9 PM is always a challenge in Bangalore. Fortunately, as we were searching for one, a BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) bus headed that way stopped for us even though we were in between bus stops. Somehow I wasnt really surprised that he stopped again between bus stops for another 3 (or was it 5) minutes to draw cash from an ATM !! But it was a pleasant surprise to see one of the passengers call up the BMTC complaint line and immediately lodge a complaint that more than 50 people in the bus were kept waiting for the driver to draw cash in an ATM. The incident highlighted the problems of modern banking in India - not enough ATMs ... but I guess thats true even in the US, there never is an ATM nearby when one wants it real bad !

We arrived in Chennai at 5 AM, and discovered that prepaid auto isnt really prepaid here, the prepaid window writes down the cost of the ride to the destination, but the cash is given to the driver - leaving open the chances for the autowalla to make some quick money. Waking up Dhanunjay and a few others who were sleeping in the office we were ready for a long wait before the AID Chennai folks came in at 10.

Initially, the plan had been for Sudha, Madhulika, Kamayani (formerly with AID Milwaukee), Chandrika (formerly with AID Austin), and myself to join the Chennai team on a survey on health indicators amongst some communities in Vembakkam near Chennai. But the recent spate of rain and cyclones in Chennai had once again thrust the Chennai team towards relief work, and that was going to be the main agenda of the day.

As the 'stock taking and planning for the day' meeting started, Sudha and I were on opposite sides of the circle ensuring that everyone was entertained by our dozing! The situation in the affected areas was pretty grim. Reports of efforts undertaken over the previous day and an assessment of requirements and plans for the day were discussed. The limited amount of food and material collected (and bought) was distributed to the various areas on the basis of this discussion. Different members of the group were being assigned to teams headed to different places, and an inexplicable feeling within kept me in the background, and not volunteering to join any. Sudha joined a group headed for Saidapet. After the teams started to disperse, my late attempt to join the team going to get more bread was botched by my weight – I was too heavy for the only two wheeler around !

I hung around the AID Chennai office, shadowing Balaji around. After a few hours, it was decided that after lunch I would join the team going to Kallukuttai, a slum near Velachery, located in a low lying area that has been flooded every time there has been heavy rains. Given my Tamil skills, I was only too glad when I was asked to be the photographer. I was accompanying Vanaja, Mangai and another volunteer, and the 45 minute ride to Kallukuttai was another round of dozing off! Once we reached Kallukuttai, sleep was far from my mind. The area was still under water.

As we entered the water logged road leading to the slum, a catamaran was leaving with supplies of bread and rice. We were asked to wait for another one that was coming back. It was a non - surfaced catamaran that we climbed into - the shaped logs of wood were held in place by cross beams, but didnt have a surface that would keep the water out. So by the time all of us had climbed in, the water had risen to our seat level ! The only relief was to know that the water was the run off from a nearby lake and didn't have any contributions from the city sewage system ... well, that doesn't by any means imply that the water was clean ! I was clicking away on the digital camera that Balaji had given me – the scene I was witnessing was something we see in TV reports and news flashes. The only difference here was that this scene had persisted ... and repeated itself every time Chennai is hit by above 10 mm (?) of rain during a single day.

The three or so sacks of rice brought in the catamaran carrying supplies was bought by a few community members from the marooned areas for setting up a community kitchen there. The mandate of the group I had accompanied was mainly to distribute the bread. But there were way too many recipients than the group of people distributing food could control. A few attempts were made to get the food supplies across the waiting crowd to a marooned high ground before starting distribution. As the restlessness and the entropy within the crowd increased, the team decided to distribute part of the bread here and carry the rest across. Before the catamaran with supplies was brought close to the crowd for distribution, a few sacks were filled with bread and carted away to be kept aside as a reserve. The distribution started quite peacefully – a human conveyor chain was formed to get loaves of bread that were handed out, rather than getting the catamaran close to the crowd. But the situation slowly deteriorated out of control – there were too many people seeking food and too few with an appreciation of the need for order and distribution. As about half of the loaves of bread were distributed, the agitation grew and the local volunteers distributing the material steered the catamaran further away. We were advised to get back to the road and not hang around, and after a little deliberation, we climbed into the other catamaran and headed back ...

One of the area coordinators started discussing how things went and what needed to be done. An earlier discussion on the need for sarees and bedsheets was re-iterated and it was a bit of a surprise that I was now being asked to talk to Balaji and try and convince him on the need for these ... I was actually thinking how futile such an effort would be, given that the entire community was living in at least knee deep water ! The need of the community might have been better clothing and warmer beds, but it would be a hard sell for anyone to project this as the need of the hour ...

We returned to the office by evening, tired field groups were trickling back into the office. I had a quick bath and had changed out of the soggy clothes before Sudha turned up. As planned we headed out for a quick bite before heading over to Chandra's house for the night.

A trickle in the flood

2005-12-23T17:50:00.000+05:30

December 5th, 2005 (contd.)

Once all the day's plans were made, Balaji began assigning us 'outsiders' to different teams. Other than Chandrika, none of us speak Tamil. In her case, she had accompanied some volunteers to Koturpuram the previous day where they had found many more people than they could possibly help. Chandrika had taken photographs but beyond that, could not do much. With a tiny bit of worry about what exactly I was getting into, I accompanied Gnanaprakasam, Sumati and Suresh to Saidapet. Sumati and I took about 150 packets of buns with us in an auto while Gnanam and Suresh were on a motorcycle.

In Saidapet, almost an hour of confusion followed. We waited at one gate without a mobile while the guys waited at another gate. We went through a teacher's training college where a temporary camp was set up, but could not find anyone from the group there. Finally, we met up with Suresh and Gnanam and went into a community near the relief camp. Here, people had moved back into their homes a day after the waters had receded. Recovery activities within each house were in full force – mats and household items were being laid out to dry, kerosene stoves and other appliances were being repaired and clothes were being washed. Almost all of the women were hard at work.

We met a few local people whom Gnanam had met earlier – from here on, I could only understand part of the discussion because of my limited knowledge of Tamil. But the upshot seemed to be that a few members of the community would take up the job of distributing buns and that one packet would be provided per household. A number of us had turned up, and there was no work for us at the present. Most of us chose to follow the people who were distributing the buns. It was interesting to see the reaction of families who were receiving the buns. Some were completely disinterested, mechanically receiving them. Others, with children, asked for more than one packet. One lady, on hearing the one packet-per-household rule, returned the packet and an argument ensued. Children eagerly came to the distributors and in some cases, the packets were opened and individual buns were handed out.

One of the group members went to get lunch and we sat down to eat on the street itself – later in the afternoon, a medical camp would be set up and we would have to help out with that. Meanwhile, I had been noticing a young woman washing her clothes a few yards away from where we sat. She ignored her toddler daughter who was making a fuss nearby (and who was eventually taken up by a neighbor) and methodically scrubbed and rinsed clothes, undergarments, bedsheets and more. She was representative of the women in this neighborhood – everywhere they were hard at work. I felt that our buns were of little use here. What would have really helped this woman was a full meal so that she would not have to cook or go hungry. And that was beyond our capacity...

After lunch, we moved to a parallel street where two tables had been lined up for the medical camp. Now started another long waiting period. The doctors were supposed to arrive at 2:30 pm, but that time passed without them in sight. Luckily for me, Smitha joined the group and talked to me about her work in Sulagiri and the activities in AID Bangalore. Finally, at 4:30 pm the doctors arrived. After a short discussion, it was decided that two doctors would stay here and one doctor would be escorted to Koturpuram to run a medical camp there. I chose to join them.

In Koturpuram, a government camp had been set up in a school – as before, this area was covered with drying clothes. Ravishankar met us at the entrance and escorted us to an area in the center of the school. Here, a table and chair was set up for the doctor and a couple of benches for dispensing medicines. The group got to work, opening boxes and setting out medicines while people lined up. As the doctor examined, Grace dressed wounds and some of the others handed out medicines based on the doctor's prescription. At first, just a few people were in line, but as word spread of the doctor's arrival, more began trickling in. A few had flood and water-related problems such as diarrhea, but there were other day-to-day problems. A few boys came in with play-related injuries.

Another doctor was being expected and finally arrived at about 6 pm. All this while, I hadn't been able to help in any way – expected, but frustrating. So when some full-timers left, I joined them. It seems that quite a few AID Tamilnadu full-timers live in Arakkonam, at least 2 hours away by bus and train. Thankfully, I did not have to travel all that far... after returning to the AID Chennai office, Dwiji and I headed to Chandra's house nearby for dosas and a good night's sleep.

A bird's eye view on a foggy morning

2005-12-11T11:56:00.000+05:30

Sunday Dec 4^th:

Our morning in Timbaktu started early. Much to the surprise of Shailesh, who had volunteered to be our guide for the early morning hike, Anitha and I woke up on the sound of the alarm and as we were stepping out, a sleepy Sudha surprised us at the door saying she would join us if we waited for a few minutes !! We hiked up to the saddle point to the north west of Timbaktu and Sudha decided to stay on there, while Shailesh, Anitha and I went ahead to climb up the tall peak further north of the saddle. Though the trek up to the peak was good fun, once there, it wasn't much fun. The fog was still quite thick and we couldn't see much of the view that we had heard comments about from the folks at the collective. Just as Sudha was about to give up on us and turn back we reached the saddle point and all of us headed back, all primed for a much needed breakfast !

After a relaxed breakfast and a hurried bath we headed out to meet with Dinesh, Subba, and Babloo in the remaining couple of hours at the collective. Sudha was able to join in a conversation between Uzramma and Subba in the mess hall while I sought out Babloo to talk to him about our ideas for the next few years. It was a short conversation, he felt that the conversation would be better held in a wider group, especially so because he himself didn't have to make the switch from a mainstream job to that of the collective. We joined the group in the mess hall and the next hour was spent discussing perspectives and approaches that one comes with when stepping into the alternative or developmental arena. More on this in a later post ...

We headed back to the collector's hut to pack up our bags and headed to the Chintavanam office with Dinesh. Overlooking a demo plot, the Chintavanam office is located just a kilometer out of C.K. Palli village and is a spacious and airy building constructed with the purpose of serving as the main office of the collective. We sat there to chat with Dinesh about the organic farming efforts the collective has undertaken. The collective works with farmers from the neighbouring villages moving them towards organic agriculture. Produce from organic farmer's of neighboring villages are collected and marketed by the collective, and Ashis is responsible for these marketing efforts.

We headed back to the collective had a quick lunch and started back for Bangalore. Madhu also came along – the three of us would be leaving for Chennai by the night train. We reached home base after 4 and a half hours, with the last 60 kms requiring 2 hours!

An education at Timbaktu

2005-12-11T11:19:00.000+05:30

Saturday, December 3rd:

We woke up early Saturday morning to head to the Timbaktu collective 165 km away. Travelling with Dwiji and me were his parents and sister Anitha. The collective is in Anantapur dt., AP very close to Chennekothapalli. We had heard of this group through various circles and incidentally Ashis, Madhulika's (formerly from AID Austin) husband is working there. Madhu herself is spending some time there after her return from the US and was to join us on our way back. We met up with her in Chennekothapalli and headed to Timbaktu, off the main road (National Highway-7).

One of the major efforts of the collective has been the preservation and regeneration of the local scrub forest. When they first bought the land, about 32 acres of it, it was completely bare. Now, 15 years later, it is covered with trees, shrubs and grasses. They have also protected surrounding areas from forest fires. Overgrazing is not allowed on Timbaktu land and the need to control grazing has been accepted by local communities managing their forests in the area. Of course, not everyone is happy with this – the next day, we overheard an altercation between a goatherd and a member of the collective over goats straying into areas they shouldn't be going into.

We were shown to our accomodations and found that the house we were staying in was built by a Collector who supported Timbaktu and had recently passed away. The neighboring house was built by Uzramma of Dastkar fame, who was also visiting this weekend with her son. Dastkar is a weavers' collective based in Andhra Pradesh which has done amazing work in regenerating incomes for weavers, introducing (or re-introducing) handloom textiles and natural dyeing techniques throughout the country and sensitizing the government and institutions about the problems faced by the weaving communities. Thousands of weavers have been mobilized and now have a powerful voice.

Back to Timbaktu... we headed out to lunch in the collective's kitchen and then decided to visit their demo plot. The collective has started working on agricultural issues a few years ago. Prior to that, they were procuring traditional grains such as ragi, sama and korra and using them to make biscuits, laddoos and other products. These grains were traditionally grown in an organic manner and continue to be grown thus. As time passed, the value of promoting organic techniques for other crops and approaches such as mixed cropping led the collective to begin agricultural interventions. This part of Anantapur dt. is dominated by groundnut production. But though this crop is planted along with pulses (toor), its continuous cultivation has led to lower yields and quality. Like in the cotton growing belt, there have been suicides here and depression, migration etc.

Further, with its commitment to organic products, the collective was finding it harder and harder to procure enough grain for its products. So, gradually, discussions were organized with local farmers and information about sustainable agriculture shared. The demo plot, 'Itavanam' is a valuable tool in this intervention.

The plot was about a kilometer and a half away, so the 'younger lot' walked there with Shailesh, a volunteer at the collective involved in gardening. Shailesh also talked about his involvement in putting out forest fires – the land around Timbuktu is reserve forest, but no Forest Department officials are present in the area. So, when forest fires erupt, the collective members rush out to put it out by beating the fires with palm leaves. Shailesh's job has been to cart up water for the thirsty fire-beaters – a sweat-inducing one in itself! Temperatures in the summer can go up to 45°C and they have to be particularly vigilant at such times.

'Itavanam' is flanked on one side by neem trees and by a variety of fruit trees on the other. Different pulses have been sown alternatively with ragi, castor and varied beans. Groundnuts have also been planted in some rows. The approach of the agricultural group has been to work on pest management first and then on reducing fertilizer inputs. Neem is invaluable in the former and we also noticed some insect traps throughout the plot. As Madhu explained (she has been doing a survey in one village about this) the biggest attraction of organic farming has been the reduced cost of inputs. The yield has not necessarily improved, but as long as it remains the same, farmers will be receptive to the approach.

Dwiji's mother grew up in a village (in Kolar dt.) and used a lot of these plants in her childhood. So she talked a lot about how different types of leaves are edible and in what stage, how certain pea or bean pods could be used etc. We sampled all kinds of grains, fruits and groundnuts – after all, how can a farm trip be complete without grazing?!

Timbaktu operates a number of schools – one in Timbaktu itself (a residential school) and day schools in Chennekothapalli and 3 other villages. We had to decide which school to visit and picked the residential one. We reached the school just as it was closing and the children rushed to meet us. A lot of attention was focussed on Dwiji and his hair, with one kid making up a story about how he is Dhoni's annayya! (for those uninterested in cricket, Dhoni is one of the new stars on the team and sports long, gold-highlighted hair) We talked briefly with one of the teachers and were told that this was the kids' gardening time. They all tend to gardens which supply most of the school's vegetable needs. Also, these kids are all from agricultural families, so this is a useful life skill for them. They get used to mixed planting and organic farming, so get 'trained young'. The kids were extremely enthusiastic, especially dragging Dwiji's mother to see yet another plant or tree. They had beans, tomatoes, sitaphal, brinjal, papaya... the list goes on. With the onset of heavy rain, we finally were able to say our goodbyes!

The school in Chennekothapalli, Prakruti Badi was first started to serve dropouts. As they began getting good results with these 'problem children', more people showed interest in sending their children to these school. Thus, gradually, day schools were expanded to other villages. The residential school was started with the idea to serve disadvantaged children – those with a single parent, extremely poor background, disinterested parents etc. When parents come to the school seeking admission for their children, they are asked to leave their names in a register. Some children are recommended by the cooperatives, villagers etc. Teachers go and investigate the child's background to see if they are suitable candidates for the residential school. Initially the education was offered free of charge, but it was found that this did not encourage parent involvement in their child's welfare. So a nominal fee was instituted. Since the school is fully funded, this goes into an individual savings account for the child. All this was explained to us by Kalyani, one of the teachers in Prakruti Badi, over tasty gongura tea prepared by her. Kalyani is the originator of many of the recipes for Timbaktu products. She is married to Dinesh, who is in charge of the agricultural program. Dinesh was to return the next day from Hyderabad, where a fair was being organized by CSA (Center for Sustainable Agriculture).

After dinner, we went to drop off Madhu in Chennekothapalli. Ashis was working late into the night with the cooperative to pack biscuits and other products for the fair in Hyderabad – he was heading there on Sunday night. The collective had recently participated in an organic fair in Bangalore. This year, they had produced 10 tonnes of products and Ashis was confident they could sell those pretty quickly. To reach the next level of marketing and sales, in his opinion, they would need organic certification. Most such certification is very expensive, working out to atleast Rs. 1000/acre. For a farmer who makes about Rs. 1500 profit/acre, this would only make sense if (s)he can make atleast double that profit. Again, Ashis thinks it can be achieved, but the links need to be established. That is the focus of his work with the collective.

We went to sleep with plans to go trekking the next day.

Biomass and critical mass

2005-12-02T09:38:00.000+05:30

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005:

On this day, we visited the Magadi area, about 40 km north of Bangalore – in some villages here, Prasanna (AID Saathi + Full-timer with AID Bangalore) and others are involved in an agriculture intervention. Prasanna had sent out documents a couple of days ago and I was pleased to find a report about their trip last year to Mr. Renake's project in Solapur. Mr. Renake has been producing vegetables in arid Solapur (and neighboring areas) and it seems he has demonstrated the best yields in such conditions.

This particular intervention in Magadi is being supported and planned by Dr. Datye. The team working on this includes Prasanna, his sister Prafulla, Vatsala - an (early) retired IISc professor, Ravi and Mr. Ramamurthy. The goal of the intervention is to introduce sustainable approaches to growing vegetables, grains and pulses etc. while working with the local population, especially the landless poor, to generate (or regenerate!) agricultural livelihoods. One way in which this could be achieved, according to Dr. Datye, is to work with Panchayats and develop food-for-work programs initially when the land has not reached its full productive capacity. Further, once these techniques have been well understood by the villagers, the Panchayats or Zilla Parishads (district level administration) could allot government 'wastelands' to the landless so that they can develop it further. According to Mr. Renake, 10 guntas of land would provide work and partially meet the food requirements of 5 women and their families. According to this group, that is too hard to implement, especially in the early stages, so they are working with 20 guntas (half an acre) for a group of 5 women.

Our first stop was Thorepalya and Mr. Ramamurthy's land, which is one of the plots being used. Mr. Ramamurthy retired from a senior position at the National Aeronautic Labs and is a philanthropist/social worker. AHe has raised funds to build a school for children in the area. The school buildings are all in the shape of a pyramid – apparently this structure concentrates the senses and aids thinking!

At Mr. Ramamurthy's house, we also met Ravi, one of the key members driving the project. Ravi hails from Motaganahalli, one of the villages in the area where land has been leased at a nominal price for the project. His presence and relationship with the villagers has meant that they have been actively involved in this process. Such is not the case in Mr. Ramamurthy's land – he calls for laborers when required and manages the planning etc. himself. However organic techniques, including the Madagascar or SRI technique for rice, are being employed on his land. He has also had a composting pit built and the humus generated has been used in an experimental plot. The soil in this area is predominantly red soil which has a low water-holding capacity. Addition of humus improves water-holding capacity as well as nutrient availability. In one plot, Mr. Ramamurthy has planted banana trees and in others vegetables. One plot is being used as a control plot in order to record differences in yield.

We next went to Maralagondala where Prasanna and Prafulla have bought land and are experimenting on it. This land was all under banana and ragi cultivation earlier. A caretaker, Govindappa, has been in charge of the farm and apparently he is not convinced enough about these methods to follow Prasanna's instructions. Subsequently, only one plot, in which Prasanna personally planted horse grams, has been worked on as planned. In a few other plots, mixed cropping techniques were initiated. Alternate rows of tur, jowar, marigold and other seeds had been planted in one but were not well tended. Inspite of that, they have grown well and are close to harvest. Prafulla and Prasanna had faced a number of personal issues, including their mother's illness, this past year and so could not devote as much time and energy as is needed in such an intervention. Further, because of Govindappa's lack of enthusiasm, it has not been easy to get local support. Prasanna has begun going to the farm regularly (atleast once a week) in the past few months and has also met the women in a local savings group. Hopefully, over this coming year, he can build stronger links with the community.

The last farm we visited was in Motaganahalli, Ravi's village. This was the best example of the project, also of Renake's methods. Rectangular plots had been prepared in a raised-bed style (here humus and soil is heaped on top of the ground without digging and seeds/saplings are planted directly on it – it is less labor intensive) and planted with radish. Circular heaps have bottle gourd in them and in other plots ragi is being cultivated. Vatsala and Ravi had planned to measure the height of ragi in a control plot, but it had already been harvested! Apparently, out of fear that the next day may be rainy (a reasonable one considering how wet this year has been), the women working on this land had harvested the crop the previous day. The travails of data collection!

In Renake's approach, 1.2 tonnes of biomass is required per gunta, especially in the initial stages. Since the team started work late this year, they were not able to collect as much as required, so have set up one plot with less biomass. Next year, they plan to put more land under cultivation and work with other organizations in the area. They will continue to record and analyze their results in order to come up with a feasible approach for this area.

The social aspects will also have to be concentrated on – more local people will have to be convinced about or develop an interest in the project. Prasanna has had some interactions with youth groups and women's savings groups. As he puts it, the social, economical and political conditions in this area have to be looked at to achieve some measure of success in this intervention.

Sound bytes from Magadi

2005-12-01T22:58:00.000+05:30

Its almost been a week since we landed in Bangalore. The city has changed, but I found it more interesting that the people have changed so much more. Kannada has been on the wane for sometime now, but the ease with which auto drivers and bus conductors, vegetable and fruit stall vendors and many others start to speak in English took me by surprise. Or maybe the pony tail I sport these days is giving them the impression that I am not from these parts ...

On Tuesday, Sudha and I accompanied Prasanna, Vatsala and Prafulla to a project undertaken by the AID Bangalore chapter. While Sudha is compiling a detailed note about the visit I am have taken up the simpler task of cataloging and uploading the images and audio from our trip :-)

There are three audio files describing the two different manures that they use - green manure and vermicompost. The lead voice being that of Ravi from Motaganahalli, a village activist, mobilizer, and the local resource person for the project. Prasanna and Vatsala also chip in in the green manure snippet.

Murphy had to be vindicated - by the time we reached the most picturesque part of the project the sun had set and we had to make do with so so snaps using the small flash from a digital camera. The couple of shots of Prasanna and the one with Werner, were taken in Prasanna's house, when we visited him on Saturday.

The entire collection can be found here ...

Class wars

2005-11-27T23:16:00.000+05:30

Living up to tradition, the night before leaving town was a non stop work-a-thon. The good thing is that I was able to (atlast) complete some book - keeping that has been pending since June !! The first journey of our tour began with an ominous sign - as we checked in our baggage and got our boarding passes at the MSP airport, we werent assigned seats for the Amsterdam to Mumbai flight - we would have to checkin (again) once we reached Schipol. As our flight approached Amsterdam, I realized that we would have just about an hour and a half in Schipol !! The ticket we originally bought for our international travel was for a Northwest Airlines flight from MSP to B'lore, via Amsterdam. NWA aborted its plans for starting flights in this segment and we were stuck at the raw end of the deal in early Nov. - either a full refund or fly in thru mumbai and out thru delhi. The decision was a no brainer, and ofcourse, this sets the context for our seatless check in. As we approached the transit desk in Schipol, the computer network went down. After a few minutes wait, we were asked to go directly to the gates and were told that the staff there should be able to assign seats as well.

One of the cool things I married into is access to the knowledge base of a seasoned traveller. In Schipol, on the level above the one in which the gates are (follow signs to Lounge 40 - 41 invitation only), there is a rest room which has a shower in it! Its just before the invitation only lounge, and yups it is free !! After a quick shower, we realized that we had less than 20 minutes left, and rushed to the gate. The chocolates I had promised my sister would have to wait for another time.

The network wasnt yet up and we were asked to wait till all the other passengers had boarded the flight. After holding off till 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time, the lady at the desk called us over and informed us that we were upgraded to First class and had seats 4J and 1 H !!! I think it was while we were checking in in MSP, in reply to Sudha's pondering on whether we would get a seat at all in the Amsterdam - Mumbai flight, I had reasoned that maybe we will be given an upgrade to first class. Well, for a change what I said had come true !

NWA cancelling flights to B'lore after we bought the tickets had brought my distaste for a floundering airline industry up close and personal. Now, stretching out on a first class seat, after a heavy meal, I am glad that the storm brewed the way it did ! We hadnt heeded to the advise of a more cautious travel agent, the Amsterdam - Bangalore flight had been cancelled just at the right time, we got our tickets for the Amsterdam Mumbai flight just at the nick of time, the network going down in Schipol, two vacant seats in the business class, quite a few factors that brought about the perfect storm ... Well, actually the other face of the storm will only be seen when my sister realizes that we did not get even a single bar of chocolate ! I hope the first class travel accessories can be the compromise goodies :-)

Even as we were settling in the lap of luxury, one thing kept striking me again and again, there's so much space here ! After a few moments of surprise at discovering the various luxuries of first class travel, invariably the contrast of the luxuries of the first class area with the cramped spaces in the economy class hit me. On our Mumbai to Bangalore flight, it was a pleasant confirmation to realize that I felt more at home in the economy class travel.

The last India trip?

2005-11-19T19:50:00.000+05:30

Sudha and I are about to start on another trip to India. Given that we are planning to move back once I am done with my PhD, this might very well end up being our last India trip.

Its going to be a 5 week essay, with the longest stay being the week in Bangalore soon after we land on Nov 25th. As expected we are travelling on a packed itinerary. But thinking about all the places we wont be able to go and people we wont be able to meet makes me sad :( ... but then the fact that we wont be in my home town for more than 11 days aggregate also makes me sad. With all the folks we wish to meet up with in B'lore, I would be really glad if we can call on atleast the first circle of family and friends.

As I look forward to it, the highlight of the trip is going to be the 2005 AID India Conference in Delhi. Other than that we will be meeting with quite a few interesting groups and individuals, more about all that in future posts. Drop back over the next few weeks to see whats happening. :-)

The North serves South crew on CBS

2005-09-07T20:30:00.000+05:30

Unfortunately, there is no video - we might have to pay for it if the reporter forgets to send the tape. But the text of the article (linked above) conveys the spirit, I think.

After the flood

2005-09-07T09:32:00.000+05:30

Sunday, September 4th, 2005

Early Sunday morning, the team reached Mt. Vernon and picked up relief materials collected by Brenda. The only item left to complete their load was gasoline cans – and as they found out, they would have been better off buying them earlier. Stores had run out of 5 gallon and larger cans in Memphis and even further north in Arkansas. The southernmost point for getting any was Missouri. So they got off the main road and, with the help of some locals, found a Mom-and-Pop store with cans and barrels in stock. Further down the road, another hitch: they found out that the barrels were not certified to carry diesel! Dr. Stacey, who was in Jackson to escort them further south, agreed to arrange for diesel, so they loaded the cans with gasoline and headed on.

In Jackson, they met Dr. Stacey and Jeffrey Stolworth, a parish minister from Gulfport, MS. Though gas was being rationed in Jackson, they were able to fill up as an emergency vehicle through Jeffrey's intervention. They reached the Biloxi-Gulfport area late Sunday night. Nighttime curfew is being imposed all along this stretch, so they stayed indoors (and hopefully got some sleep).

By Monday morning, they unloaded half their supplies at the Main Street Missionary Baptist Church. This church was serving as a distribution point for the neighboring areas. Most houses in the Gulfport-Biloxi area have lost their roofs, though the structures are still standing. Tarps brought in are being used as makeshift roofs.

The church has asked our team to purchase nails and 2x4s etc. as well as washtubs and other vessels for use in their kitchen. It was decided to go to Jackson for that. In the meantime, Diana and I separately had been making enquiries about Camp Sister Spirit:
http://www.campsisterspirit.com/
and the condition of it and its members. Since it was more remote, it was highly likely that relief had not reached. From Pat in Georgia and James in California, I found out that the founders and members were OK, but thery had suffered water damage and almost 200 trees had been downed by the storm.

Though it was pretty late by the time the team finished their work in Biloxi, they decided to head to the Sister Spirit camp. Maybe because they were exhausted or because the directions were bad or since it was so late, they lost their way and decided to go to sleep in their trucks somewhere close to Hattiesburg.

Caravan down the Mississippi

2005-09-07T09:07:00.001+05:30

Saturday, September 3rd, 2005

High on euphoria after Friday's successful material and monetary collection, Diana, Lynn, Aria and Dwiji set out on Saturday morning. The donated 24' truck was only about half filled and the Litahni and I, the support team back home, were to work on setting up collection points along the way in Madison, Bloomington IL and St. Louis.

The fertile belt of South-East Minnesota sparked the idea of approaching farms along the way for their excess produce – after all, this is the peak of the harvest season. Dwiji called me and I followed up with organic farms and farmers' markets in Southern Wisconsin. We hit pay dirt at Turkey Ridge Apple Orchard, about 30 miles Southeast of La Crosse, WI. The orchard had kept aside three bushels of apples (totalling 3000 lbs) with the idea of sending them to the hurricane-affected areas, but hadn't been able to arrange transportation. Our group was in the right place at the right time - whoopee! They found out the Turkey Ridge, in league with other farm groups in Wisconsin, was planning to set up a soup kitchen in Mississippi. Yet another grassroots effort we might be able to partner with...

Further east, I reached Heck's farm market and store outside Arena, WI. They offered corn and melons and got the truck close to its weight limit. Simultaneously, Litahni made contact with Brenda in Mt. Vernon IL (north of St. Louis) who offered to collect materials locally and bring them to a collection point near I-57.

In the meantime, Diana was in contact with a doctor from Southern Mississippi who was only too pleased to hear about the incoming produce. She offered to meet them in Jackson, MS and escort them to a community near Biloxi. When last I talked to them on Saturday, they sounded tired yet excited. They planned to meet Brenda at a Walmart in Mt. Vernon at 2 am and she offered to wait in her car till they got there - good for her!

No more long distance

2005-09-07T09:07:00.000+05:30

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

OK - for the next few blogs, instead of yakking about myself, I'll talk about my hubby Dwiji. This dude, also known as Dwija, Deepu and Guru does sometimes seem to be many different people at once. He has been been very effective in providing remote support during the tsunami and the recent floods in India. This time, in the aftermath of Katrina, he decided to take a different approach. Here it is in his own words:

Folks,

I am travelling down the Mississippi with supplies for hurricane survivors as part of a community organization that has come together here in Twin Cities, MN.

Over the day we have been able to collect ...

1. a huge 24' long truck
2. few thousand gallons of bottled water
and clothes, diapers, toiletries, dry food and lots of odds and ends
from the community either as donations.

Also raised about $3k in cash.

We are seeking donations in cash or kind. We still have space in the truck and will be stopping in different places on the way to hook up with groups that are collecting more relief materials. Please send an appeal / forward this mail to friends, relatives, contacts, etc. in Urbana Champaign IL, St Louis MO, Memphis TN and other places along I57 / I55. We are starting MN at 6 AM CDT on Sat. and plan to reach drop off locations near Jackson MS in 24 hours.

More info about the group can be found at
http://northservessouth.com

The latest of list of things that are needed is posted on the site.

The main point of contact will be Sudha Nagavarapu. she will be able to clarify any questions,
concerns and give you an update on how we are doing on time.

I plan to be back home by tuesday afternoon and will try to get as many audio snippets / photos as I can.

+ dwiji.

A great blog on PHA-2

2005-08-08T04:32:00.000+05:30

Jeff Conant is at the Hesperian foundation and is active in Right to Water campaigns among many other things. The Cuenca Declaration is noted on his blog - it isn't yet on the PHM website.