Tiger burning bright in the forests of Uttarakhand, but women cannot wait or shirk duty

Gendered tasks of collecting wood and bringing livestock fodder from the forest make women fall prey to tiger attacks, now exacerbated by climate changeNainital, Uttarakhand: Around 4 pm on December 19, the women cutting grass in the forest came down screaming. “A tiger dragged away Nikita,” they hollered. About half a km from his home, a village girl informed Vipinchand Sharma (52) that his daughter Nikita Sharma (22) had fallen prey. A stunned Sharma and his wife nervously ran towards the forest.“I grabbed her lifeless body from the bushes and carried her in my arms,” says a grief-stricken Vipinchand.The fields of Alchaunaa in Bhimtal block of Nainital district border the village forest. Like other rural women, Nikita used to bring wood and fodder for livestock from the forest to meet the needs of the house. Her death was the third such case of attack on a woman within 10 days. In all three cases, women had ventured into the forest to collect grass, leaves and wood.A woman plucking leaves in the forest of Nainital (Photo - Varsha Singh, 101Reporters)“Tiger attacks are more common than before and women are increasingly becoming their victims. Both the lives and livelihood of women depend on forests. Whether we want to get wood for cooking or fodder for animals, we have to go to the forest. We also add leaves collected from the forest to the cow dung to prepare a fertiliser. If women do not go to the forest, how will they raise their animals or do farming,” asks Hema Joshi, a social activist working on women's issues in Bhimtal block, who took part in the protests that rural women organised following Nikita's death.The women of Alchaunaa village say that it is not possible for their family to survive without going to the forest. Their lives and income are linked to the forest (Photo - Varsha Singh, 101Reporters)“Had there been good rainfall in winter, the trees would have been green at this point, and we would have got good grass for fodder. This year, there was no rain at all in winter. Both fields and forests are dry, so women have to venture deeper into the forests. There is always a fear of attack by wild animals there,” Joshi adds.According to local media reports, at least eight women were mauled to death last year in the forest or the fields adjacent to the forest. This January and February, at least four women became victims of tiger attacks. Last year, at least five women in Uttarakhand lost their lives to leopard attacks as well.  According to the Uttarakhand forest department, 71, 82 and 66 deaths due to wild animal attacks were recorded in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. Of these, two deaths in 2021, 16 in 2022 and 17 in 2023 were due to tiger attacks. However, the department has not released gender-specific figures. Asked about this, Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Samir Sinha tells 101Reporters that in future, they will analyse the deaths and injuries in human-wildlife conflict based on gender.Data from NCRB report, some other states like West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh also have a high women to men death ratio compared to the national averageClimate of conflictMapping of climate change hotspots in Indian forests report of the Forest Survey of India identifies Uttarakhand as a ‘high category’ climate hotspot, where serious effects of climate change can be noticed.  There has been very little rainfall and snowfall in the Himalayan states last December. Uttarakhand received 75% less rain than normal then, and faced drought conditions this January.Rain in February brought some relief, but according to the Indian Meteorological Department, between January 1 and February 29, Uttarakhand witnessed a record rainfall deficit of 52%. The temperatures in February were reminiscent of March, while the heat conditions in March felt like that in April.“Climate change is exacerbating an already disturbed system,” Suruchi Bhadwal, Earth Science and Climate Change Director at The Energy and Resources Institute, tells 101Reporters. “Forests, wildlife and rural areas are all under pressure. Due to the socio-economic conditions in Uttarakhand, only women go to the forests for wood and fodder, hence both the burden of labour and climate threat are more on them. That is why women are also victims of human-wildlife conflict,” says Bhadwal.Women crossing a river in the forest (Photo - Varsha Singh, 101Reporters)After Nikita was mauled to death, the forest department has prohibited Alchaunaa residents from venturing into the forest and has promised to arrange fodder. “The dairy to which we supply milk provided us fodder for just one month and deducted the price of the fodder from the money they owe us. We thought the forest department had sent the fodder as promised, but that was not the case. The fodder we got was provided by the dairy itself. We cannot raise animals by purchasing fodder,” says Vipinchand.While noting that work has to be done to improve the livelihood of the hill residents, PK Patro, Chief Forest Conservator, Kumaon, asks, “When you know such incidents are happening in the forest, why are you going inside.” “Caution in and around the forest is the only way out. Women go in groups from the village, but get separated inside the forest,” he adds.“Both our needs and employment are related to the forest,” says Leela Bhatt (54) of Alchaunaa. “I rear cows and calves, so I have to go to the forest for them. We also have to go to the forest for fuel. The weather here is cold and water has to be heated even for cows and calves.”“We do not earn enough to buy and use gas cylinders every month. We also have to go to the forest to make fertiliser for the fields. This is how our house runs,” says Leela, whose family earns up to Rs 10,000 a month by selling vegetables and milk.Patro says that the forest department is working to prepare an early warning system by installing Artificial Intelligence-based cameras, which will help send SMSes to people about the movement of wild animals. He suggests that the dependency on the forest should be reduced by making available the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and fodder schemes of the animal husbandry department. Amidst the increasing threat of tiger, now one or two men from the village also accompany the group of women entering the forest. But they are concerned as well. "If the men in the village do the work related to the forest, then who will work in the fields? Who will take the vegetables grown in the fields to the market," asks Vipinchand, whose work is to transport goods on a horse. He says men also go to the forest when needed, "but in everyday life, all these tasks have to be done by women only".Gopal Lodhiyal, a farmer and gardener from Lodhgalla village in Ramgarh development block of Nainital, says that while women traditionally take care of the house and the forest, men are busy with responsibilities of the fields and jobs to earn their livelihood. "Some work as labourers, some run shops. Men from many families have migrated to Haldwani, Delhi or other cities for jobs. In their absence, women handle most of the household responsibilities."The call of duty paramount, women are shirking away fear to bring wood and fodder home. “I myself saw a tiger up close. The forest department has caught the tiger that killed Nikita, but we still hear the growls. We are afraid of tigers even when we are in the fields or near the water sources,” says Hema Bhatt (34) of Alchaunaa.(Above) Indira Sharma, the mother of Nikita who was mauled to death in the forest (below) Nikita's sister Vineeta (Photo - Varsha Singh, 101Reporters)The fearful symmetryIn Uttarakhand, the forests adjacent to residential areas are a common space for both wildlife and humans. Around 85% of the state's land is mountainous. In 10 out of the 13 hill districts of the state, over 75% of the population lives in rural areas and depends on farming. According to a report from the State Migration Prevention Commission, the per capita income of the rural population is low due to a decline in production and farming area. Low income increases the rural community's dependence on natural resources.At the same time, due to conservation efforts in the country, the tiger population increased from 2,967 in 2018 to a minimum of 3,167 in 2022. Among the Himalayan states, the plains of Uttarakhand, especially the Corbett, are the richest habitats of tigers.Tiger population in Uttarakhand increased by 314% between 2006 and 2022. The state has two big tiger reserves —  Corbett and Rajaji. From 269 in 2018, the number of tigers in these reserves has increased to 314 in 2022. There were 173 tigers in locations outside the tiger reserves in the state in 2018. This has increased to 246 in 2022.“With the increase in their number, tigers are moving towards new areas and their presence is being recorded in the mountains as well. We can also call it the effect of rising temperatures and climate change. The conditions in the mountains are different from the plains... Villages, fields, forests are all mixed together in Uttarakhand,” informs Patro.Under the aegis of the Uttarakhand State Rural Livelihoods Mission, schemes are being run to  connect women with employment through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme and self-help groups. Promotion of organic farming and horticulture, homestay scheme and Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana have been introduced to improve rural incomes.“The work of mountain women is related to water, forest and land,” says Anil Prakash Joshi, an environmentalist and founder of Dehradun-based Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation. “Very less rainfall was recorded this winter, so the heat is likely to be intense. Water crisis has also affected the mountains. To fetch water or fodder, women will have to go to the forest. Be it wildlife or humans, both need water and forests. These conditions may increase man-animal conflict,” he adds. Despite the risk involved, Nikita’s family cannot stop venturing into the jungle. “We cannot leave the animals hungry,” says Indira Sharma (47), Nikita's mother, as she places a pile of leaves into the fodder cutter.  Edited by Rekha PulinnoliCover Photo - Alchaunaa village women Hema Bhatt and Prema Bhatt looking at the forest (Photo - Varsha Singh, 101Reporters)

Be(e) positive: Uttarakhand looks at tiny solution to tackle jumbo problem

Forest department runs a pilot project involving fencing of village limits using beehives to keep crops safe from wild elephants and to prevent human-animal conflict  Nainital, Uttarakhand: Last month has been tough on Hema Jalal (29). With the wheat crop on four bighas ready for harvest and the threat of marauding wild elephants at its peak, she could barely sleep.  “They come every second or third night, now that the crop has matured. Around eight elephants are present in this herd. The moment we hear them arriving, my husband and I beat vehemently on tin sheets or flash torchlights. They do run away, only to return soon,” says Jalal, who lives in Thapliya Ganja village in Bhimtal block of Nainital district.Located about 20 km from Corbett Tiger Reserve, the village falls under Kaladhungi forest range and abuts an elephant corridor. Rivers Baur and Tilaud flow nearby, which makes the village a conducive spot for elephants.According to Jalal, the herd that feasts on her crop settled near the village two-and-a-half years ago. Before that, only one or two elephants could be spotted. “They enter the field around 12.30 am, and will stick around till 4 am. Despite our best efforts, we have lost wheat in at least one bigha this time,” she says.   Three years ago, when elephant sightings were rare, Jalal harvested around 18 quintals of wheat. Five and three quintals were kept aside for personal consumption and the next cycle of sowing, respectively. The remaining 10 quintals were sold for around Rs 20,000 annually. Since then, the losses have increased considerably — they lose at least 3-4 quintal and their income has nearly halved. (Above) The effectiveness of the beehive fence installed in Thapliya Ganja in February will be put to test in the coming cropping season (Photo - Dhan Singh Bisht, 101Reporters); (Below) A camera trap image from Fatehpur range, taken last December, shows a elephant stopping at beehive fence (Photo sourced from trainer Sanjay Joshi, 101Reporters)Help comes buzzing Taking note of the farmers’ plight, Uttarakhand forest department decided to run a pilot project to fence the village using a string of bee boxes. “Kaladhungi range in Ramnagar forest division is extremely prone to human-elephant conflict. We started work on the beehive biofencing pilot last November,” Kundan Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ramnagar division, tells 101Reporters.This unique fence has so far covered a distance of one-and-a half km on the boundary of the reserve forest and revenue land. The boxes are installed in a pattern, with an alternating distance of 3m and 7m between them. Altogether, 60 boxes have been put in place.  In order to assess the outcome, camera traps were installed. “The bee boxes are linked to each other with wires for fencing. CCTV monitoring has established that jumbos are indeed scared of honey bees. They just back off the moment they hear the buzzing of bees,” says Kumar. An elephant's body is mostly covered with thick skin, but there are soft and sensitive areas like trunk, ears and feet, where bees could sting.  Though the bee boxes were set up in February, farmers could not take advantage of the pilot this rabi season. “Our village is surrounded by forest on all sides. Now, elephants are not entering from the side secured using the biofence. However, it covers only 40% of the village limits, so the jumbos come calling through the porous areas,” explains Dhan Singh Bisht (32), sarpanch, Thapliya Ganja van panchayat.He opines that the 7 m distance maintained between the boxes should come down. “We did not have enough boxes to keep the hives closer. We need more bee boxes and further steps to fence the entire border.” To this, Kumar says the project extension will be based on the result of the experiment.   The beehive fence installed in Chausala in Fatehpur range (Photo - Ranger KL Arya, 101Reporters)Van panchayat’s crucial roleOne of the first things that the forest department did to ensure success of the project was to involve the community. “The responsibility of fence maintenance was assigned to the van panchayat. With the help of Haldwani-based NGO Chaitanya Maunalaya Evam Krishi Sewa Samiti, we trained van panchayat members and women in beekeeping. Forty boxes with bees and 20 empty units that the new queen bees in search of hives could utilise were provided,” informs DFO Kumar. So far, 18 villagers have received training.Van panchayat has appointed a watchman for fence maintenance throughout the day for a monthly salary of Rs 6,000. Jamman Singh Bisht, the watchman, is assisted by the van sarpanch or villagers whenever needed. “Rosewood, sal and other trees in the forest are in bloom. Litchi plants, which strongly attract honey bees, also blossom now. Many times, bees leave the boxes in swarms and settle on trees. I have to then bring them back using a waxed frame. Once they settle, I place the frame in one of the empty boxes,” Jamman details. He adds that the bees have enough food around them now in spring, but have to be fed a solution of sugar or jaggery in the rainy season. Honey is produced in the hives every 45 days, depending on the season. Traditionally, van panchayats of Uttarakhand do works related to water conservation and land management to improve forest habitat. The department hires the villagers for wages for work inside the forest. However, for beekeeping in Thapliya Ganja, people are not paid.The villagers are still enthusiastic as the project would save their crops from rampaging jumbos, besides enhancing the van panchayat’s income through sale of honey, wax and pollen. “A box can provide 15 to 25 kg of honey. The bees might have eaten some of the produce in the recent rainy days. As the production is based on the types of flowers they feed on, we go by a modest estimate of 5 kg per box,” says van sarpanch Dhan.The van panchayat will sell the entire honey output to Chaitanya Samiti for Rs 400 to 500 per kg. Right now, they are awaiting the delivery of a honey extractor and a fumigation machine — it will distract the bees while removing the honeycomb — from the forest department. “The income from sales will be primarily used for paying the watchman’s salary. The rest will go into the installation of new boxes and arranging of food for bees.” Dhan says. He is happy that honey bees have made new homes in 15 of the 20 empty boxes.Training underway at Thapliya Ganja where 18 villagers were taught about beekeeping and harvesting honey (Photo - Dhan Singh Bisht, 101Reporters) Experimental phaseHuman-animal conflicts killed 533 people in 2021-22, according to a reply given in the Lok Sabha on July 25 last year. During the same period, 65 jumbos were electrocuted in 12 states. According to Uttarakhand forest department, four elephants were electrocuted in the last five years in Kaladhungi range, but there were no human casualties. At least 48 cases of crop damage were registered. Several measures have been adopted to stop jumbos in their natural habitats, including making water and fodder available inside forests, and managing pastures and wild bushes. In Uttarakhand, elephant proof trench, solar/electric fencing and stone wall have been tried, but none of them were cheap and fully effective. “Solar/electric fencing can kill jumbos, whereas soil fills up in the trenches during rains. Trenches also promote erosion. In contrast, bees are a natural solution,” explains DFO Kumar. Trenches were tried in Thapliya Ganja and Rishikesh, but were not very effective. Besides electric fencing, thorny bushes were used in Haridwar. The same method was adopted in parts of West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Chilli cultivation served as a biofence in rainfed areas of Karnataka. As for the beehive biofence, there is no definite claim on its functionality in India. However, taking inspiration from a Kenyan project, which was 80% successful, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant-Human Attacks using Bees) in Karnataka in 2021. It was replicated in nine states, including Uttarakhand.The forest department is satisfied with the results from such a fence in Chausala in Fatehpur range of Ramnagar division. The KVIC provided 330 bee boxes, after the villagers made a request in writing. Chaitanya Samiti served as nodal agency for the project launched last October. “The CCTV data suggest its effectiveness. One of the images captured showed an elephant near the fence, but it made no attempt to breach the bee boxes,” Fatehpur Range Officer KL Arya told 101Reporters. The KVIC employs two persons for fence maintenance. It has also trained 33 farmers in beekeeping. On project completion, 10 beehive boxes will be given to each of these farmers. “This is a yearlong research to understand how beehive fences can prevent man-elephant conflict,” says JS Malik, Assistant Director, KVIC, Dehradun. Meanwhile, Chausala village head Bhupal Singh claims that the beehive fence has been effective up to 90%. “Our village is like an island in the middle of a jungle and elephants can come anytime. Ever since the biofence was set up, elephant movement has reduced. We saw CCTV images of elephants breaking two bee boxes, but they never took that route again!” Haridwar had experimented with biofence in 2019 itself, when Akash Verma was the DFO there. “We used thorny bamboo and lemongrass in a stretch of about one km each. The bamboo idea was a success as jumbo movement in that route stopped. On the flip side, the plant took time to grow and mature. The scent of lemongrass, planted 15 to 20 m apart, did not deter the jumbos,” Verma, now Conservator of Forests, North Kumaon Circle, told 101Reporters. According to Malik, bees can boost agricultural production by 30 to 35% as they are excellent pollinators. If the fence works, elephants will spare the crops and bees will improve crop yields, thus killing two birds with one stone.   Cover photo - Beehive fences being installed at Thapliya Ganja (Photo - Dhan Singh Bisht, 101Reporters)Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Barahnaja: Uttarakhand farmers hold on to their roots and seeds as agriculture crisis rages around them

The system of exchanging seeds in the hills (Photo: Varsha Singh)When crops of different varieties are continuously grown in the fields, food security and a nutritious diet are assured for the whole year, including for animals. Moreover, they nourish the soil.Read Part 1 of this story hereDehradun, Uttarakhand: While the farmers of Jardhar village in Tehri district of Uttarakhand are still sowing traditional 12-grain crops in their fields, hill agriculture is facing a crisis. “Agriculture here is hit by the changes in weather conditions and straying of wild animals into the fields due to deforestation. Farming only provides food for the family, but not enough as an income," said Tejpal Singh, who was visiting his native along with his family from his workplace in Pune.Youth from most of the farming families in Jardhar are working in metropolitan cities. While Saula Devi and her son Jagveer Singh still farm together, Agni Devi's two sons, whom she raised through farming, work in a hotel in Mumbai. Also, no well-developed markets for traditional crops are present in the region. The surplus produce is sold locally, sometimes through bartering.However, according to Anjani Kumar Upadhyay, Joint Agriculture Director (Organic), Uttarakhand Agriculture Department, farmers are being encouraged to produce traditional pulses, oil seeds and millets. They are also being trained and connected with buyers through Buyers Sellers Meet.He claimed that opening up of the market increased the demand for traditional grains, leading to a fixed minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 25 to 33 per kg for finger millet, against the Rs 10 to 12 some four years ago. "If our farmers take their produce to the fairs, it will get sold within the first day or two," he added.Ironically, the Uttarakhand Government is yet to fix the MSP of traditional crops other than finger millets. Millets of Uttarakhand (Photo: Varsha Singh) A return to traditional waysIn a bid to promote natural farming (traditional farming), the Indian Government has started the Indian Natural Farming System campaign under the Traditional Agriculture Development Scheme. Natural farming methods will also be included in the course curriculum of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Sunita Pandey, a member of the national committee preparing the syllabus, said, "We have to return to natural farming as it has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the agricultural sector."According to a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the agriculture sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions (24%) after energy production (25%). Changing agricultural practices alone can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 0.6 GtCO2e per year. NABARD Deputy Managing Director PVS Suryakumar emphasised the need for agroecology, which is "an ecological approach to agriculture," citing the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).According to the UNEP, agroecology allows farmers to adapt to climate change via sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity and by empowering them through changing social relations, adding value locally and privileging short value chains.Debal Deb, a farmer and ecologist, agreed that "zero emission is possible only with agroecology." “Its base principle is zero external input. It involves all plants and animals (including insects, spiders, worms and weeds) in enhancing ecosystem complexity so that soil fertility is maintained, if not revived. Besides, the population of natural enemies of crop pests also gets a boost.” According to him, "this emancipates the farmer from reliance on agrochemical industry and eliminates all costs of crop protection." Saving and exchanging seedsThe Barahnaja system will not be complete without the practice of saving seeds. Sharda Devi, an elderly farmer in Jardhar, has been using glass bottles to store seeds. Her forefathers taught her how to identify the best seeds from the harvested crop. "Passing this knowledge to my children and daughter-in-law is a gift from my side," Sharda Devi said. Sharda Devi with her grandson and her best seeds, the knowledge of choosing which she hopes to pass down to the new generation (Photo: Varsha Singh)Deb, who has preserved 1,420 traditional rice varieties in Odisha, said until 1970, as many as 1.1 lakh species of paddy were present in the country. Now, only 6,000 were left. He claimed farm organisations and even the Ministry of Agriculture have shied away from protecting the traditional varieties as they were inclined towards genetically modified crops.According to the UN-FAO, 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost since 1970 because farmers stopped growing their variegated local species and replaced them with high-yielding, genetically identical seed varieties.Vijay Jardhari, who has been running the Save Seeds campaign since 1986, explained: “During the Green Revolution, the government provided farmers with free monocrop seeds like wheat, rice and soybean, to be used with chemical fertilisers and pesticides."They gave a good yield in the first year, but did not produce good quality seeds. “So, new seeds had to be bought from the market every year.” The new farming system took away the freedom of farmers. "Our traditional seeds started getting extinct. That is when we started going around farms to collect seeds and secure copies of them for future exchange and use,” Vijay added.He asserted that when crops of different varieties were continuously grown in the fields, food security and a nutritious diet were assured for the whole year, including for animals. Moreover, they nourish the soil, as against the exploitative nature of a monocrop. "Our method is no less than scientific agriculture and can withstand the impacts of extreme weather," he claimed. As a 2021 article put it, "better utilisation of locally grown crop varieties in diversified cropping systems can be an important first step towards food security for uncertain conditions… but much more needs to be studied as a whole system than individual crops."The Barahnaja include growing crops with nitrogen-fixing abilities to return nutrients into the soil for other crops to use; grain roots holding the soil to prevent erosion; and cereal stems acting as a natural support for legumes."The selection of different crops, crop diversification and placement of crops in different terraces is the key to success,” the article said.This story was produced with the support of Solutions Journalism Network through the 2022 LEDE Fellowship and developed in collaboration with Climate Tracker.

Traditional climate-smart agriculture system ‘Barahnaja’ saves the day for Uttarakhand farmers

Saula Devi begins sowing with her preserved seeds (Photo: Varsha Singh)Unique to the Himalayan region, this traditional cultivation involves the sowing of 12 grains in rainfed fields. They can adapt to droughts and their residues serve as cattle fodder, but with an increased capacity to reduce nitrogen emission. Dehradun, Uttarakhand: After a long wait for rains, Saula Devi (73) was back in the fields by June. With relentless enthusiasm, she spread a variety of traditional seeds into the land ploughed with oxen by her son Jagveer Singh (56).Though rain never showed up in March and April, relief came in May, which helped Jagveer to ready the fields in the first week of June. With the onset of the southwest monsoon by the month-end, the seeds of mixed crops began to grow luxuriantly.   Saula and Jagveer are among the 375 farmers in Jardhar village of Uttarakhand, where Barahnaja system of traditional cultivation involving 12 grains is practised. In fact, Barahnaja is unique to the Himalayan region. Jardhar comes under Tehri district of Uttarakhand, where most of the fields are rainfed. According to Jagveer, he cultivated over an acre of land, if his small and fragmented landholdings were jointly taken into account. “Every year, half of these fields are used to grow staple crops such as paddy and wheat, while the rest is for traditional crops such as finger millet and amaranth plants.”This time, Saula has used 15 to 20 varieties of grain—finger millet as main crop, along with other cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, spices and fibre crops—which would be ready for harvest in September and  October. Every year, Saula and Jagveer manage to harvest two to three quintals (200-300 kg) of finger millet and up to 50 kg of pulses. "Our traditional crops will not disappoint even during heavy rains or drought, and always provide enough for us," Jagveer said, adding that "the cost is just our hard work." On the other hand, Jagveer could harvest up to three to four quintals of wheat “only if the weather is fine”. “Otherwise, I have to buy it from the market for consumption," he said. Climate-proofedOut of Uttarakhand's 13 districts, nine have hilly features. Moreover, only about 10% of the agricultural lands in Uttarakhand could be irrigated.  As most places were difficult to access, the Barahnaja system protected the farmers’ crops from erratic weather conditions and crop failure, and assured them of access to multiple food options and nutrition even during unprecedented conditions such as COVID-19.  Although climate conditions are usually stable across the Himalayan mountains, both temperature and rainfall have been increasing over the last 20 years. The Indian Meteorological Department’s data said the mountainous areas registered temperatures ranging from one to three degrees Celsius above normal this year, especially in the months of April and May.According to NABARD Deputy Managing Director PVS Suryakumar, rainfed areas were important for major production of millets, oilseeds and pulses, as well as for supporting cotton production and raising livestock. However, such areas remain ecologically fragile and were inhabited by poorer farmers. Agni Devi preparing her field (Photo: Varsha Singh)The Barahnaja cultivation has been mostly followed in the hills, not the plains. "These facts present our existing vulnerability to ensuing climate change, against which we have to stay prepared," he said.Barahnaja system not only helped in crop diversification, but also ensured maximal use of land, nutrients and water.  A 2021 study said it involved "a mixture of different groups of crops planted together on the same terraced fields in the rainy (kharif) season… and grow in harmony with each other”.  Geographical and climatic conditions, eating habits and culture of the area influenced the seed choices, but the goal was the same: to achieve year-round "self-sustainability without any commercial interest".  Near the fields where Saula worked, Agni Devi (50), her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had also prepared the fields using spades, and burnt the thorny bushes around the fields to control weeds and increase soil fertility.   "With our traditional grains, only one-third of the crop will be spoiled, while only one-third of our wheat and paddy crops will be left under the present heat conditions," Agni said, adding that the crop residues “serve as fodder for our animals”. Progressive farmer Vijay Jardhari said most of the 12-grain crops, including finger millets, have the capacity to tolerate drought. "These grains grow up once it rains. But when there is no rain, they can adapt to such a level that they shrink and become dormant. But they bloom again when it rains. We saw it happen during the 2009-10 drought," he informed. Curbing agri emissionsWith almost half of India’s 1.4-billion population dependent on farming, it has also contributed immensely to the emission of greenhouse gases and pollution, according to the World Economic Forum. Methane from livestock and cultivation accounts for 74% of its carbon emissions, and “another 17.5% is derived from rice cultivation", according to WeForum, citing a report. In its study that mapped agricultural emissions, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) emphasised that livestock should be given a special focus when studying India's agricultural contributions to climate change. The same study said that approximately 63% of its total agricultural emissions came from livestock — through nitrous oxide and methane from manure, nitrogen from urine and faeces, and methane as a by-product of feed digestion.The IFPRI recommended consuming more plant-based protein sources — because they required less nitrogen than animal-based protein — as one of the strategies for achieving climate-smart agriculture in India.Farmer Vijay Jardhari maintains a seed bank of the 12 grains; (below) His mixed grains collection (Photo: Varsha Singh) “For instance, protein-rich pulses are highly water efficient, have nitrogen-fixing properties, and can supplement finger millet to further improve their protein quality. Their residues as animal fodder are also of better quality than most commercial animal feeds.”Likewise, WeForum highlighted that soil carbon sequestration opened up new possibilities for climate-positive agriculture by reducing fertiliser use and restoring degraded and disused lands. Nitrous oxide can trap heat in the atmosphere 300 times more than carbon dioxide, and is mostly formed by the application of fertilisers, according to the IFPRI's study citing several sources, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Another study said finger millet, being organic by default, can "thrive on almost no nitrogen inputs, yet accumulates high-quality proteins enriched with essential amino acids in their grains".These hills of Uttarakhand are emerging as a laboratory for the concept of climate-smart agriculture and, serendipitously, it doesn't involve trying something new but rather going back to the old ways. Jardhari says that monoculture farming exploits the soil and the earth, but many species of traditional pulses included in the Barahnaja give nourishment back to the mother earth. This method, which strengthens the ecological balance of the earth, is no less than scientific agriculture, he says. "Our rich tradition has centuries-old roots." To read more about how climate-smart agriculture and indigenous seeds are saving hill farmers, please click here for Part 2 of this story

Second wave laid bare the woes of rural Uttarakhand’s health infrastructure

The Primary Health Centre at Harshil (Picture Credit - Varsha Singh)The deadly second wave of the pandemic brought to the fore glaring gaps in healthcare in remote regions of the state, exacerbated by the poor supply of vaccines.Dehradun: Situated at an altitude of 2,745 metres, Harshil Ghati in Uttarakhand draws people from all over India who admire the pristine beauty of remote mountain villages set amid the echo of the fast-flowing Bhagirathi river. But the very remoteness that makes up this paradise turned into a curse for the people of the hill state when covid came calling in April-May this year.Like elsewhere in India, the second wave of the pandemic took the hill folk of the district by surprise. Shilpa Negi (33) of Bagori village in the valley was staying in Dunda village near Uttarkashi when she developed a fever. Like most other people of Harshil Ghati, she had migrated to Dunda because of extreme cold in the region from October onwards. “When my body started breaking down due to high fever, I understood that I too had got Covid. Our entire village was sealed in the last week of April. First aid is available at a Community Health Center (CHC) in Dunda, but if seriously ill, one has to travel to Uttarkashi or Dehradun only,” she said. Uttarkashi, where Shilpa’s first child was born, is about 25 km from Dunda and about 170 km from Dehradun.Dearth of healthcareMany villages in Uttarakhand have been plagued with inadequate and inaccessible healthcare, shortage of doctors and auxiliary nursing midwife (ANM), and poor access to the precious Covid vaccine – which many hill folk see as the only way out of the pandemic.Till September 27, as many as 7,393 people lost their lives to Covid in the state.Uttarkashi, with a population of 3.30 lakh, has one district hospital, two community health centres (CHC) and three primary health centres (PHCs). Two pregnant women died in the district hospital on September 10 and 20 this year. For one, the search for a doctor started at 3 o’clock, and ended at 9 pm.Sarita Rawat, head of Bagori village, lamented the state of PHCs, saying that the one in Harshil, which has as many as eight villages under it, is a primary health centre just in name. The PHC got its first doctor in June this year, after waiting for almost a year since the administration complained of shortage of doctors in district hospitals during the second wave of Covid. Sarita, now waiting for her second dose of the Covid vaccine, added, “We are being given the Covishield vaccine. Its second dose is given after 84 days. We don't feel this is right because till we are fully vaccinated, the threat of corona will remain with us.”When this correspondent reached the Harshil PHC on the afternoon of September 15, it was lying vacant. The ward boy was found in a house nearby. On requesting to meet the doctor and the ANM, they were only available for a meeting the next day.(Left) Dr Astha Negi stands amidst the ICU set up in Harshil PHC. But there is no one to run it; (right) Susheela Semwal, the sole ASHA worker who handles four villages and 1,400 families, at Harshil PHC (Picture Credit - Varsha Singh)For Dr Aastha Negi, it is her first appointment as a physician in Harshil PHC. Staff nurses hired on contract during Covid have gone on study leave. There is one ward boy. There is no cleaning staff.To a question on improvement in Harshil PHC after the second wave of Covid, Dr Negi said, “We now have seven large and five small oxygen cylinders and two oxygen beds. This is our ICU, but we do not have trained staff to operate it. It is not possible for a doctor to provide 24-hour service. We often get emergency cases such as a head injury from a falling stone, and the facility of an X-Ray machine should have been here. We usually attend to patients by giving first aid.”ANM Susheela Semwal, who handles four villages — Harshil, Bagori, Dharali and Mukhba — which together house about 1,400 families, is equally hard-pressed. She is responsible for implementing government health programmes such as general immunisation, women-child healthcare, nutrition week, and National Rural Health Mission. For her, work related to Covid is an additional responsibility.She is also charged with implementing the vaccination drive for workers in apple orchards of Harshil, priest families of Gangotri, BRO camp of Bhairoghati and workers engaged in the snowy Nilang valley.To make matters worse, ASHA workers of the area have been on strike for almost 50 days over salary demands. But Susheela doesn't complain, though she admits that had there been some more ANMs, her work would have been easier.On September 17, a team of pharmacists and ward boys from Harshil PHC visited Gangotri, about 23 km away, for the vaccination drive. When asked whether they had been trained in Covid vaccination, the ANM’s reply was evasive. “We are already doing general vaccination,” Susheela said.(From left) Rekha Devi, Gram Pradhan at Sukhi Village; Roshni Devi, Kshetra Panchayat Sadasya; Kiran Devi, Mahila SHG Adhyaksh (Picture credit - Varsha Singh)The dearth of ANMs was flagged by Rekha Devi, head of Sukhi village, too. “There is only one ANM for 1,200 families of four villages in our area, namely Sukhi, Jaspur, Purali and Jhala. Being a mountainous area, one has to climb from village to village on foot. ANMs should be appointed according to the population of a village,” she said.Roshni Devi, a member of the kshetra panchayat of Sukhi village, got her first dose of vaccine on June 18, but it was not easy for her. “When vaccination started in March, one had to register on the COWIN portal. We couldn't do that. When vaccination started via Aadhaar cards, we got the jab but it was administered at Bhatwadi PHC, 19 km away,” she explained.In Pauri, about 165 km from Uttarkashi, the shortage of health workers is also stark. Kamlesh Devi, the ANM of Bironkhal block with a population of 30,000, said, “There are 18 sub-health centres with one ANM post in each centre. Only five ANMs are working as of now. The responsibility of 20-25 additional villages also falls on the five ANMs.” Gitanjali Bisht, the ANM at Dwara village, echoed her words about the staff shortage.According to information on the website of the Uttarakhand health department, the state has 2,270 ANM posts, of which 547 are vacant and 323 are contract workers. Similarly, of the 1,117 posts of staff nurses, 349 are vacant. Worse, many doctors and nurses have gone on leave after getting a difficult deployment in the mountainous region. Such staff is counted in the statistics but not in hospitals. Vaccination woesFrom April to June this year, Uttarakhand was in the grip of Covid with bodies lying alongside patients outside hospitals in Dehradun and Haldwani.Vaccination teams traverse unsteady mountain paths enroute to these remote villages (Picture Credit - District Information Officer, Chamoli)There was little vaccine hesitancy among the shocked populace at this time, but there was a severe shortage of vaccine in the state. By July, only 13 per cent of Uttarakhand’s adult population had been given both doses. However, inoculation numbers accelerated as supply increased from August.State immunisation officer and Uttarakhand in-charge of National Health Mission Dr Kuldeep Singh Martolia shared data related to vaccination. According to registration data recorded on the COWIN portal, 94.9 per cent people of the state have been given the first dose of the vaccine, whereas 39.5 per cent people have been given the second.Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, who took over as state health minister in July 2021, is sure of achieving 100 per cent vaccination in the state by December. “Our CHC-PHCs are fully prepared for the third wave of Covid. Ward boys, lab technicians and doctors are being recruited,” he said, further talking about recruitment of more than 200 ANMs by October. According to information received via RTI by SDC Foundation of Dehradun, 654 posts of specialist doctors were vacant till April 2021 in the state. Also, only 17 per cent public health specialists, 41 per cent paediatricians and 36 per cent gynecologists are on duty in the state when compared to the existing posts for each. (This story was produced with the support of Internews Vaccine Stories Production Grants)

As mountain springs dry up, Uttarkashi women revive traditional chal-khals

These percolation pits are saving women the time and effort it takes to find and carry water over long distances. Uttarkashi: Over the last decade, it had become increasingly hard for Sartama Devi (55) to source water around her home in Patara village of Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. “Our water sources had been drying up with the diminishing monsoons. It has affected our livestock. In our fields, the koda-jhangora (Indian barn millet) crop had been withering away,” she said.Water springs in small amounts in these mountain villages and exhausts quickly as the villagers use it for daily chores and to meet their livestock’s needs. These natural springs were not sufficient for the 300 families in Patara village that have about 275 animals. Pooja Rana (27), a farmer who is also Patara’s panchayat chief, said that the water taps drawn from the springs in their hamlet are functional for barely an hour or two in the morning. In summers, the taps run completely dry. It’s ironic that the Bhagirathi river runs down from its glacial origin at the foothills of Patara — just 2-3 km away. It later meets the Alaknanda river and forms the Ganga. Despite being so close to India’s most extensive river system, Patara has struggled. “People over the decades have migrated, leaving behind their farms. Many have settled on the Delhi-Dehradun road,” Devi said.Bringing chal-khals back to lifeIn 2019, Patara ushered in change when Devi formed the Him Patara Self Group to conserve water and revive water sources closer to the village. With the men mostly absent, having migrated in search of better opportunities, the women became largely responsible for running the village. In their interactions with the local administration, they would constantly bring up the problems they were having with water. It was then that the village development officer, Sunil Agnihotri, motivated them to set up a self-help group and establish contact with NGOs that were working on water conservation in the area. The women started learning more about chal-khals; these percolation pits used to be built and maintained by mountain communities but this traditional knowledge had been lost over the years. In Pauri, Garhwal, Kumaun and other regions of Uttarakhand, several NGOs have been working the past few decades toward reviving chal-khals. But the work often happens in isolation, with a few villages benefiting and some hearing about it through word-of-mouth while many others still removed the means to access and implement this traditional knowledge.A few years prior, there was some attempt to build chal-khals in Patara under MGNREGA but Devi said they were done without much thought (for example, they were built at non-ideal locations or even, once, cemented at the bottom rendering it useless) and the community didn’t know how to maintain them. This time, the 100 or so women who had joined the initiative relied on hereditary knowledge to locate and revive old chal-khals that had fallen into disuse as well as scientifically evaluate ideal locations for new ones. The members of SHG reviving an old, defunct chal-khal (Picture courtesy of Kamlesh Gururani)These percolation pits - usually measuring eight metres in diameter and one metre deep, though the size varies - are dug on sloping grounds. They collect water from the rain which seeps into the ground, improving the quality of the soil and recharging the groundwater. On the surface, it meets the villages’ everyday needs. A single waterbody can store up to 64,000 litres of water.“For three years, the women from Patara relentlessly worked towards water conservation. Initially, all of our five chal-khals turned barren since we didn’t know how to maintain them.” They need to be routinely rid of the silt, mud and rocks that accumulate in the pits but due to lack of collectivism people stopped doing these traditional tasks and were dependent on the administration, she rued. “But we revived them and added new ones to the lot,” Devi said.  At Patara, there are now 11 chal-khals that have collected and stored an estimated seven lakh litres of water over the past three years, helped along by the unseasonal rains.Between the monsoons in June to September, the pre-monsoon rains in March and the occasional winter rains, the chal-khals are able to ensure a steady supply of water for a large part of the year. “We have built a majority of the chal-khals near the cattle yards to quench the animals’ needs. One cannot survive rural life without the animals,” Devi said.The conservation effort has resonated among other villages in the district, in at least eight neighbouring villages people have started digging their own chal-khals. Devi received the Women’s Water Champion award from United Nations Development Programme India earlier this year. (Top left) Sartama Devi and (top right) members of the Him Patara Sangathan; (below) the community works routinely to maintain the chal-khals by clearing the accumulated silt, mud and rocks (Picture courtesy of Kamlesh Gururani)Relief from relentless toilRana reflected on how the chal-khals have brought about a dramatic change in the women’s routines. “It has saved the women from toiling all day,” she said.Earlier, the quest for water would consume the whole day.  The women would start their days by foraging in the forest for cattle fodder, while trying to find a source of water. Upon returning, they would take the animals to the water source. “Some even carried water back to their homes in their cans,” Rana said. Ram Pyari, a resident who worked with the women on the chal-khals, remembered carrying two containers of twenty litres back each day on her shoulders for her livestock. “Now, we do not have to toil unnecessarily. The water in the percolation pits will last us the next few months. It has also benefited the vegetables and herbs that several of us have planted in our fields,” she said. These ‘nutri-gardens’ were also part of the efforts to improve nutrition among the women, many of whom were anaemic and easily exhausted from their arduous water duties every day. The vegetable gardens were created to improve nutrition among the women, most of whom were found to be anaemic (Picture courtesy of Kamlesh Gururani)The chal-khals have also provided some measure relief to farmers like Vijay Rana (35), who is cultivating black lentils, toor dal and paddy. “The earth has been rendered soft due to moisture retention. However, that is all the help that the chal-khals can give us. We still have to rely on the rain for most of the water as our fields are in the lower reaches whereas the percolation pits are on higher ground,” he said. In Uttarakhand, 594 of the 16,793 villages depend entirely on natural sources, and about 90 percent of the population of the Himalayan region depends on springs for drinking water. A NITI Aayog report has highlighted the issue of drying water resources in the Himalayan region. In 2018, the state water board acknowledged that over the previous three years, every one of the 500 water supply projects had seen at least a 50% decrease in water discharge, with 93 of them seeing a decline of more than 90%. Gaurav Kumar, chief development officer of Uttarkashi, confirmed that many sources in the district have indeed dried up, while a few others have been encroached upon. “New constructions have obstructed the sources. Freezing or solidification of soil due to construction and displaced boulders due to landslides have altered the flow of the mountain streams,” he said.In light of this, the Uttarakhand government is working on reviving the water sources under their Swajal, a World Bank-supported initiative to promote the long term sustainability of the rural water supply. “We are working on restoring the water sources to their old forms,” Kumar said. And chal-khals can play a crucial role in this. According to Vishal Singh, executive director of the Center for Ecology Development and Research (CEDAR),  “We can improve the water system in the mountains by reviving springs. It can also improve the health of the forests as forests and water are both intertwined. For this, we have to map the recharge zones of these springs and carry out water conservation works here. Covering 2-3 hectares or more, these recharge areas can benefit from the construction of chal-khals and planting broad-leaf plants like oak. This is an effective solution to solve the problem of water in the Himalayan region.”This article is a part of a 101Reporters' series on The Promise Of Commons. In this series, we will explore how judicious management of shared public resources can help the ecosystem as well as the communities inhabiting it.

‘FeelGood’: A Whatsapp group inspiring farmers in Uttarakhand

Vikas Chandra was inspired by the WhatsApp group to start 'integrated farming' and is now glad that he doesn't have to migrate to the city like his peers in the village.  (Picture provided by Chandra)A Whatsapp group created in 2017 has become a space to connect hill farmers with new agricultural and horticultural ideas, techniques and solutions.Pauri: "I farmed my whole life but remained a simple farmer. My 30 nali land (a unit land measurement in the mountains area; 1 nali equals 0.05 acres) was lying barren for 50 years. There wasn't even a bird there. But now I have 421 trees of 19 species, including mango, guava, walnut, jamun, apple, orange, kinnow, apricot and amla. I have become a farmer as well as a gardener. Not just the common people, but even officials from the Agriculture and Horticulture Department have come to see my garden," said Harish Chand Mundepi.In the last two and a half years, a lot has changed for this 62-year-old farmer. Hailing from Khed village, situated in Pauri's Pokhra block in Uttarakhand, Mundepi has been running his household by farming in the challenging mountainous terrain. However, a Whatsapp group that Mundepi joined at the end of 2018 has shown him the true potential of his land and his experience. Formed in 2017, the 'Feelgood Whatsapp group' is a virtual space for discussions about farming, agriculture and horticulture in the mountains. Speaking about the inception of the group, admin Sudheer Sundriyal said, "After 18 years in Delhi, I returned to my village in Pauri in 2014. Even while I was away, my mind used to keep wandering these mountains. So when I came back, I started farming in the village. I constantly tried new experiments in gardening. During this time I also used to meet other successful farmers and gardeners. Then one of my friends suggested creating a Whatsapp group where we can help each other and share information related to agriculture and horticulture. In the year 2016, I created this group and named it Feelgood. In Garhwali language, it translates to Bhalu Lagad." Sundriyal said, "In this group, we refrain from politics, jokes, or viral posts. People talk only on topics related to science, agriculture, the environment and its education. The group's purpose is to promote and improve agricultural and horticultural activities, settle barren fields and encourage water conservation." 'FeelGood' about all things agricultureIndeed, the purpose seems to be met for Mundepi who appears to have been inspired by the WhatsApp group and benefited from it. "After joining the Feelgood WhatsApp group, I started getting information about new farming and gardening techniques. When people in the group shared pictures of their gardens, I also got inspired to do something in the fields. So I prepared my barren land for gardening by asking for a power tiller. In the spaces where the tiller couldn't be used, I prepared the land with a pickaxe," shared Mundepi. Harish Chand Mundepi said he discovered new 'wisdom' after joining the WhatsApp group (Picture provided by Mundepi)He added that, in this group, people help each other with several issues, such as ways to tackle infestations or obtain certain speciality plants. The Whatsapp group helped him find saplings of the Amrapali species of mango, for example. "I had got ten saplings from the Horticulture Department, but I was not satisfied with the quality. Then, I asked for information about Amrapali plants in the Feelgood Whatsapp group. With their help, I got 40 plants of good quality. This species starts bearing fruit within three years," Mundepi said. The discussions in the group have opened up opportunities in farming for both experienced farmers and the youth. Vikas Chandra (27) lives in Bhatti village of Kaljikhal block of Pauri. Many young people in this village have migrated to the cities for employment. He said, "I used to do traditional farming. My family members would ask me to move to a big city like Delhi for a job. When I joined Feelgood and saw people discussing agriculture, my understanding developed. I started ‘integrated farming’ that includes animal husbandry, beekeeping, poultry and mushroom production. Now I don't need to go to the city for a job."The e-magazine 'Whatsapp Vani' Over time, important messages and ideas would get lost in the virtual space. So the members of the group began producing a monthly e-magazine in 2019 that features selected highlights from the Whatsapp group along with positive/success stories. These stories have reached many people and inspired them. Nupur Navani, a group member who works in Dehradun, said, "There is a lot of scope for work in Uttarakhand. But I didn't know people have already been doing so much. I saw how people are rejuvenating barren lands that had no hope of nurturing anything. Now I too want to do something by staying in the mountains. I feel very inspired by the conversations happening in the Feelgood Whatsapp Group."It's not just those living in Delhi or Maharashtra, but even Pahadis from America are associated with this group and help each other when required, said Sundriyal.His words ring true in the Nandurbar district in Maharashtra, about 1500 km from Pauri, where Ravindra Kunwar farms on the banks of the Tapti river. He met Sundriyal in Delhi and joined the WhatsApp group to learn about farming techniques and improve his exports. Screenshots from the WhatsApp group (left) and the monthly e-magazine (right) produced by the group featuring some of the topics discussed in the group and success stories.Kunwar grows crops like papaya, banana, sugarcane, cotton, chilly, turmeric, and ginger. "The mountainous villages of Uttarakhand that are affected by migration cannot be inhabited unless the agriculture there is improved. Farmers need to be aware that agriculture has changed in several ways since the time of our fathers and grandfathers," said Kunwar. On this Whatsapp group, he shares information about various things such as the quality of seeds, the soil requirements for crops, the right time to fertilise plants etc. After joining the group Kumar claims to have made many friends in Uttarakhand and visited the Garhwal region. The group, which is already 250-members strong, is slowly nurturing conversations and rejuvenating not just barren lands but also employment opportunities — making everyone in the region truly 'feel good' about the future of farming. "While living in Delhi, I used to have many friends from here who also wished they could return to their villages. Now they feel they too can come back and take up farming. That feels good," said Sundriyal.

To protect crops from wild animals, Uttarakhand’s villagers are 'seed bombing' forests

In a unique method to stop wild animals from attacking their farms in search of food, the villagers of Uttarakhand are ensuring more fruit trees are made available to the animals in the forest. Dehradun: The farms in the hilly villages of Uttarakhand, have been under regular attacks from wild animals over the last few years. These constant attacks have left people dead, cattle injured, crops and buildings damaged and farmlands barren. Recently, the plantation technique of seed bombing has been mooted as a solution to this problem. Seed bombs, or balls of seed covered in soil, are being thrown in the forests to ensure food for wild animals is available in the forest itself, thus negating the need for them to attack the farms. The campaign, which started in 2017, has now spread to the entire state, including Dehradun, Tehri and Nainital.Since 2017, when the seed bombing initiative began, the number of hectares of crops damaged has been dropping (though it rose again last year). Similarly, the number of injuries to humans, cattle and buildings have been fluctuating. So while the data suggests the results of the campaign are inconclusive still, it has continued to receive support from the community, civil society and government. NGOs like the Reliance Foundation have also embraced the campaign. Kamlesh Gururani, Project Head of the Foundation says, “For the last three years, we have been throwing seeds in the forests of Uttarkashi which appear to have grown. In the next few years, we will be able to come to a conclusion on whether this method is effective or not. This year we have decided to mark a specific place to scatter the seed bombs. Then we will also be able to monitor them. We will also assess whether there has been any marginal increase in the yield of the farmers as compared to earlier. But to restrict the wildlife to the forest, we have to make arrangements for water along with food. Chalkhals have also been made at some places for this,” he said. (Left) Dwarka Prasad Semwal, Secretary, Himalayan Paryavaran Jadi Booti Agro Sansthan (Picture credit; Varsha Singh); (top right) Seed bombs being left on the forest floor (Picture credit: Savitri Saklani); (bottom right) A few weeks later, a plantling emerges (Picture credit: Jagdish Chandra Jeetu)The seeds of the campaignThe seed bomb campaign was started in the state by Dwarka Prasad Semwal, Secretary, Himalayan Paryavaran Jadi Booti Agro Sansthan (JADDI), Uttarkashi, a non-governmental organisation focused on environmental conservation. Explaining the idea behind the campaign, Semwal said, “We planted bare seeds in the forest in 2017 but most of the seeds were lost, eaten by birds and trampled by animals. We did not even achieve one per cent success. To protect the seed, we made a ball of soil, manure and water and put two seeds in it. We named them beej (seed) bombs. We started this campaign on a small scale in a few villages and then took it to the entire state.”Today, the campaign is active in many villages of Uttarkashi, where women and youth together make seed bombs and scatter them in the forests. Seed bombs are prepared in the month of June-July just before the onset of rains as the seeds are most likely to germinate in wet soil. The clay balls are dried in the shade for three to four days until they are neither too hard nor too soft before being taken into the forest.The Beej Bombs are made from clay, cow dung, paper and water, and dried in shade for a few days before being scattered in the forest (Picture credit: Dwarka Prasad Semwal)Tulsi Devi, the former village head of Nathuakhan village of the Ramgarh block in Nainital is optimistic about these seed bombs. “We made seed bombs with seeds of pumpkin, gourd, zucchini, cucumber, corn and pulses. Just before the rains, some seed bombs were thrown towards the forest. If we grow these vegetables and fruits near the forest, then our agriculture will survive. This is our third year of making seed bombs,” she said.The seeds are chosen carefully, in accordance with altitude and soil, said Dwarika Prasad. His NGO consulted with several experts like the Vice-Chancellor of HNB Garhwal University, Dr Annapurna Nautiyal; NK Singh, Assistant Horticulture Officer at Uttarkashi; Dr Pankaj Nautiyal, Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Chinyalisaur, and few others to pick the seeds. This year, seed donations are also being sought from the community. Semwal explained, “There is a feeling of conservation attached to seed donation. Many people have donated seeds; some give two, some give 10. ” Akash Nautiyal, a member of the Mangal Youth Foundation of Uttarkashi, said that they have been asking for seed donations from every house they go to. “Farmers keep traditional seeds in their homes even today, which they sometimes give to us,” he said.In Nainital, Jagdish Chandra Jitu works closely with the local youth for the seed bombing campaign.  He returned to his village, Nathuakhan, last year after the pandemic struck. “Looking at what Dwarika Prasad Semwal ji was doing, I also made seed bombs and threw them in the forest during the lockdown last year. After 10-15 days many seed bombs were seen sprouting. The places where we had thrown the seed bombs are now green. It is our endeavour to take this campaign forward every year. Then we will see good results from it.”A zero-budget success storyDr Arvind Darmora, director, Parvatiya Vikas Shodh Kendra (Centre for Mountain Development), HNB Garhwal University in Srinagar tehsil, Uttarakhand, believes that the success rate of seed bomb campaigns is very high, especially relative to the costs involved when compared to large-scale government plantations. “Despite spending lakhs of rupees, plantation programmes are only successful to the tune of 20-30 per cent. But the seed bomb campaign is up to 80 per cent successful,” he explained. Beej bombing, meanwhile, is a zero budget campaign where seeds, soil and fertilizers are all sourced through enthusiastic community participation.Darmora recalled an example of the students of Kamad Intermediate College in Uttarkashi who left seed bombs in the forests of Buda Kedarnath from Anyar Khal in Uttarkashi. “A nursery of about three lakh plants has been prepared there. This campaign is strengthening people's bond with the forest,” he said.The seed bombs were distributed among the girls of the government school in Cheenakholi who took them to the forests and left them there while collecting grass for their homes (Picture credit: Savitri Saklani)Savitri Saklani, a teacher of Rajkiya Kanya Vidyalaya (Government Girls School) in Cheenakholi village of Dunda block of Uttarkashi, said she and her students were also inspired by the seed bombing campaign. “The students collected soil, manure and seeds. We made over a thousand seed bombs. There is a forest near our school. The girls threw the seed bombs in the forest. Only girls here go to the forest to get grass for their homes. So, when they went, they also took the seed bombs with them and left them in the forest,” said Saklani.Dr Rajnish Singh, the Chief Horticulture Officer of Uttarkashi, stated that despite the dangers that forest fires pose to these young plants, he has been suggesting seed bombing to villagers who come to him with complaints about wild animals destroying their crops. Sandeep Kumar, former Divisional Forest Officer of Uttarkashi has been promoting it as a solution to landslides. The seed bomb experiment was also tried in parts of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, where forest guards walk in the forest carrying seed bombs, according to SS Rasaily, Additional Chief Conservator of Forests in Uttarakhand Forest Department. In addition to enthusiastic support from the forest department, many important people like Governor Baby Rani Maurya and former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat have been endorsing the campaign, especially during the Harela festival (a folk festival in Uttarakhand). So while the jury is still out on whether seed bombs are enough to meet the stated objective of reducing man-animal conflict in Uttarakhand, the community is determined to keep trying.This article is a part of the 101Reporters' series on The Promise Of Commons. In this series, we explore how judicious management of shared public resources can help the ecosystem as well as the communities inhabiting it.

Forest management by people, for people: A look at Van Panchayats of Uttarakhand

Dehradun, Uttarakhand: “The forests are very useful for the people living in the mountains. These forests cater to their basic needs such as clean water, pure air, cooking fuel, farming, fodder etc. Wherever the forests are meeting the basic needs of the people, the forests are healthy,” says Mallika Virdi. She is the sarpanch of the Van Panchayat of Sarmoli village in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district. And her Van Panchayat is counted among the finest in the mountain state.Van Panchayat refers to a locally-elected institution that plans and organises activities to manage community forests in a sustainable manner.In Virdi’s village, for instance, the community members clear bushes, remove weeds and prune dry branches to “get good-quality grass”. “If we leave the forest [unattended], then the shrubs will grow as tall as trees. The management of forests is, therefore, necessary,” she explains.Out of the total area of 51,125 sq km in Uttarakhand, about 71.05% of the land is covered in forests. Of this, 13.41% forest area comes under the management of the Van Panchayats and there are 12,167 of these all over the state, the 2020-21 Uttarakhand Economic Survey says.  Community knows bestThe Van Panchayats of Uttarakhand are known for managing community forests efficiently. Each Van Panchayat makes its own rules to use, manage and protect the local forest. These rules range from selecting forest guards to penalising defaulters. In Virdi’s village of Sarmoli, the penalty fee can go from Rs 50 to Rs 1,000."Van Panchayats do all the work related to environmental protection such as the revival of water sources, water conservation, protection of forests from fires, and plantation,” says Puran Singh Rawal, who is the sarpanch of Adauli Van Panchayat in Bageshwar district.Rawal gives an insight into how his people fight forest fires. One, they routinely collect the fallen leaves and dried bushes and keep them aside. This is to ensure that the fire doesn’t spread from the ground up. Two, they have identified the water sources they can rush to, in case there’s a fire.  Van Panchayat at work in Bageshwar (Picture credit: Pooran Singh Rawal)Van Panchayats mostly operate independently of each other, but instances of collaboration are not uncommon. Take the case of Sarmoli. Since the villagers don’t get enough grass from their own forest during the winter, they visit the forest in the adjacent village of Shankhadhura to meet their needs. On certain terms & conditions though. One, Shankhadhura Van Panchayat opens up its forest to outsiders only when it has a surplus of grass. Two, the outsiders have to buy a pass for Rs 150 from Shankhadhura Van Panchayat to enter their forest. Three, only one person per household is given entry.These Van Panchayats also ensure that the forest resources aren’t overused. All movement of villagers and their cattle in the monsoon -- from June to September -- is stopped. During this period, people arrange grass and fodder for their cattle from within the village itself.  Some villagers are also deployed to patrol the forest and to catch intruders.    Virdi explains why this is done, “[As a result of the ban on forest use] a good amount of grass grows in the forests by October and November. The Van Panchayat then distributes the grass to the villagers as per their requirement. This grass is used as fodder all through the winter season.”Fight to stay freeThe Van Panchayats won their right to manage traditionally-held forests after a sustained campaign against colonial rule. Tarun Joshi, president of the Van Panchayat Sangharsh Morcha, says that the British had declared these forests as the property of the state and banned the movement of people into the forest. The people of Uttarakhand (then a part of the United Provinces) opposed the move, the British authorities were forced to form the Forest Grievances Committee to address their concerns. It was on the advice of this committee that the institution of Van Panchayat was created under Section 28 (2) of the Indian Forest Act, in 1927.The working of Van Panchayats was disrupted in the year 1997 when the Indian government introduced the concept of Joint Forest Management or JFM. This model required both the forest departments and local communities to work together to manage and protect forests. It was met with protests by Van Panchayats across Uttarakhand, as they were opposed to the idea of the forest department ‘meddling’ in their affairs. The Forest department officials were given economic and administrative rights in the Van Panchayats, which the Panchayats did not approve of.As a result, the JFM system was discontinued from the state in 2003 and the Van Panchayat rules were reinstated, informs Joshi. However, the Van Panchayats are still not completely free of either the forest department or the revenue department. The sarpanches complain of increasing interference by the forest officials. Retired officials from the forest department are being inducted into the Van Panchayats against the wishes of the locals.(Above and Below) The work done by van panchayats in Ranikhet forest division (Picture credit: Lok Chetna Manch)The revenue department is responsible for conducting elections for a Van Panchayat every five years. They also step in to resolve disputes related to encroachments.On the part of the forest department, they assign a guard for every community forest managed by the Van Panchayat. They also sanction budgets for the Van Panchayats to execute various projects like the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning (CAMPA) scheme, or the Japan Interactive Corporation Agency (JICA) funded scheme. These may include afforestation, forest protection, water conservation and soil rejuvenation."We are working to increase the livelihood sources of these Van Panchayats through projects such as JICA. So far, 700 Van Panchayats are executing projects under JICA," says Neena Grewal, who is the chief conservator of forests under the forest panchayat and community forestry department.A budget of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 is issued to the Van Panchayats for a period of three to four months, informs Rawal. According to the Forest Department Rules 2012, the department is supposed to draft a ‘micro-plan’ for the Van Panchayats every five years and sanction the budget for the same. However, a majority of the Van Panchayats haven’t yet received the funds to execute these projects, which they wanted to take up to supplement their income.The Van Panchayats’ own sources of income stem from the money they make by auctioning the pine, grass or rhododendron gathered from the forests, or from the sale of juices, jams, pickles and other processed products made by self-help groups.However, they have to seek permission from the forest department to use this income, even if it is for smaller interventions such as making a pond. Such interference remains a sore point in the otherwise efficient model of the Van Panchayat in Uttarakhand, say these leaders.This article is a part of 101Reporters' series on The Promise Of Commons. In this series, we explore how judicious management of shared public resources can help the ecosystem as well as the communities inhabiting it.

Initiative to name homes after daughters brings cheer in Uttarakhand

Dehradun, Uttarakhand: What’s in a name? Shakespeare didn’t think much of names but for 15-year-old Himani Bisht, her name is a source of pride and power. “My younger brother always used to say that our house belongs to him. I will get married one day and go away. But now I tell him this house is mine,” the Class 11 student says while drawing our attention to the nameplate outside her home in Pauri. ‘Himani Niwas’, it reads in Hindi. At a little distance from Himani's house is ‘Tanishka Niwas’. The house is named after the youngest daughter of the family, Tanishka Rawat. “I like my nameplate very much,” the Class 6 student giggles.Since October last year, hundreds of homes in the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand have been displaying plaques named after their daughters. They are acting on an initiative taken by Pauri District Officer Dhiraj Garbyal to create awareness about property ownership among women, as granted by The Hindu Succession(Amendment) Act, 2005. It also aims to foster gender equality in Uttarakhand, a state whose sex ratio was less than 900 as per the 2016-18 data.The initiative is called ‘Ghaurki pachyan, Nauni ku Nau’ and translates to ‘Identity of the house in the name of the daughter’. It has now spread to the Kumaon region as well, thanks to Garbyal again. After he got posted to Nainital as its district magistrate last month, he launched a similar programme called ‘Gharai ki Pehchan Chelik Naam’. The Uttarakhand government has lent full support to the initiative and plans to distribute these nameplates to about 7,000 families in Nainital in the first phase of the scheme.'Small things, big change'Sociologists in the region have welcomed the move. Social change often begins with small attitudinal shifts, they say.Professor Vidya Singh, who is the convenor of Dhad Cultural Society in Dehradun, explains, “Naming the home after girls may not seem like a big deal to elders. But it can give a sense of security to girls. That’s because as soon as girls grow up, they are made to believe their home is not theirs, it belongs to their father. And the home they go to after marriage is their husband’s or father-in-law’s, they are told.”Singh has observed that though The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, gives equal rights to daughters to inherit family property, “it doesn’t seem to have made much impact.” Perhaps because of the lack of initiatives to sensitise women about the importance of this legislation, Supreme Court lawyer Arti Singh says in this report.“The nameplate will give girls the mental strength to claim their rights. When girls return from school, they will be excited to see their name on the door,” Singh feels.A young Sonakshi poses with the nameplate named after. Credit: Mahesh PalIn fact, owning even a small plot of land/immovable property can reduce a woman’s risk of domestic violence and poverty, Bina Agarwal, who’s authored the award-winning book A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia, has found in her research.For women, by womenThese nameplates are empowering women in more ways than one. Most of these nameplates are being made by women who are part of Minakriti — The Aipan Project, an initiative to promote the Kumaoni folk art of Aipan.For the uninitiated, Aipan is a free-style drawing done on the walls and floor of brick red colour. The rice flour paste (biswar) that is used to draw the patterns lends a white contrast. These Aipan-style nameplates are further decorated with beads and trinkets, 22-year-old Meenakshi Khati from Nainital, who has started this initiative, informs.Nameplates with red-and-white Aipan artwork. Credit: Meenakshi Khati "Earlier Aipan was mostly done during festivals and on special occasions but now Aipan can be found outside the homes [permanently, on nameplates]," Khati tells us proudly.Currently, 15 women from her hometown Ramnagar work on this Aipan project on a full-time basis. They are mostly homemakers and they make anywhere between Rs5,000 and Rs6,000 per month from this vocation. Sometimes, school-going girls chip in too and take home Rs2,000-Rs3,000.‘It brings respect to girls’As for Garbyal, he hopes that the nameplate scheme would inspire the society to treats girls at par with men and give them the agency to inherit the ancestral property.Himani Niwas is named after the youngest daughter of the house, Himani Bisht. Credit: Mahesh Pal "This will bring more respect to girls," feels Himani's mother, Hema Devi, who's happy to have the nameplate named after her daughter. "I want my daughter to become independent. I don't want her to be a burden on anyone," she goes on to add.While the initiative is intended to empower young girls, married women are waiting for their turn too. "I would have liked it if the nameplate of our house bore my name. But it's my husband's house," Tanishka's mother, Sadhna, tells us with a gentle smile. Indeed there is something powerful about the question: 'Is this your house?'