Four km stands between Naki villagers and a life of ease

Let down by administrative apathy, people cut a road on their own through the hilly terrain to link them to Jammu-Srinagar NH, but it got washed away in rains   Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir: When the administration let them down citing the topography, the residents of Naki village in Jammu's Udhampur district did what they thought was the best bet. They constructed a four-km road to Khairi on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH) on their own, but lack of funds and subsequent rains poured water on their efforts.Mostly cattle-rearers and labourers, the villagers pooled together Rs 14 lakh and took up the herculean task of carving the road through the hilly terrain. The more affluent Gujjar families contributed in cash to hire JCBs and other equipment, while the poor donated their labour. They also got help from engineers involved in the NH work.“Though we completed the Naki-Khairi road, it was uneven and bumpy as we could not clear some of the big boulders due to paucity of funds to hire equipment. And when it rained, the kutcha (unmetalled) road just got washed away,” said retired government employee Sardar Khan (62).Reham Ali still eagerly awaits the day when Naki would be connected to NH by a pucca (metalled) road. “I can definitely save around Rs 6,000 every month then. Right now, I have to pay labourers every alternate day to get fodder on horseback. Each trip costs anywhere between Rs 400 and Rs 600,” Ali, who has 30 milch animals, told 101Reporters.Reham Ali and some of his 30 milch animals in Naki, Udhampur (Photos sourced by Bivek Mathur; 101Reporters)Around 700 Gujjars reside in Naki and those into cattle-rearing arrange fodder from the plains of Jammu and neighbouring Punjab. According to Ali, they have to offer bribes at police checkpoints to transport hay and other items over and beyond the permitted quantities. Toll tax and labour costs are added burdens.“If the government had constructed even a levelled kutcha road for us, Naki would have been connected with the district headquarters and the rest of the country,” Ali lamented. Knocking on all doorsThe villagers had raised the issue of road construction with the panchayat officials and during the much-hyped Back to Village Programme of the Jammu and Kashmir government.On August 5, 2020, they discussed the problem with Sofia Bano, the then Narsoo Block Development Officer (BDO). Subsequently, the latter sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for an unmetalled road to Naki. “However, after assessing the ground situation, a junior engineer associated with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) concluded in his report that a road to Naki was not feasible due to its tough topography,” informed Khan, who cannot see any logic in the report.“If roads can be constructed in the remotest and hilliest Dachhan block of Kishtwar district, a four-km stretch is very well possible in Naki,” he remarked.(Left) A memorandum submitted to then DC Udhampur Indu Kanwal Chib by Naki residents; (Centre) A memorandum submitted to then BDO Narsoo Sofia Bano; (Right) Signatures of Naki residents for the panchayat resolution for a pucca road to their village (Photos sourced by Bivek Mathur; 101Reporters)Claiming that he was not aware of the report, Vishal Atri, the present BDO, told 101Reporters that his office has no power to sanction any road project that exceeded a km in length. “The villagers could have got the amount sanctioned from the public works department,” he added.On September 28, 2020, the villagers had raised the matter with Indu Kanwal Chib, the then Deputy Commissioner (DC) for Udhampur. Though the DC directed the assistant director (planning) to look into the matter urgently, nothing changed on the ground.Asked about the road, incumbent DC Krittika Jyotsna told 101Reporters that she was not aware of the status of the road.When villagers finally decided to stage a sit-in protest on November 8 last year, both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders promised help but in vain. “While AAP leader Harsh Dev Singh asked us to join him for a dharna outside the Divisional Commissioner’s Jammu office, BJP’s Balwant Singh Mankotia assured us that he will raise the issue with the Prime Minister’s Office and area MP Dr Jitendra Singh,” added Ali.Administrative roadblocks101Reporters contacted Udhampur’s Chief Planning Officer (CPO) Muddassir Yaqoob, who washed his hands of the fiasco. “A three-tier system of administration is functional in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. In such a scenario, why blame the DC office alone?”A 500 metre stretch constructed by Naki residents (Photo sourced by Bivek Mathur; 101Reporters)Listing out the options that the villagers could have utilised to get the road constructed, Yaqoob blamed the panchayat for not prioritising the matter. “The villagers should have got the project sanctioned either through the panchayat, block development council, district development council, or under the 14th Finance Commission or MGNREGA plans. Even Back to Village Programme was a good option,” he said.“Representations that reach the DC office are addressed through a set procedure. In this particular case, we have done the initial planning, but the issue of shooting stones and other environmental challenges failed the efforts,” he added.Bali Nallah panchayat sarpanch Rukhsana Kouser said the panchayat got the NABARD to fund a two-km road from NH to Shardha Mata last month, but the final approval is awaited. "We want to extend this road to Naki. But it would take some time as the file related to this road is still at the Secretariat,” she said.She also suggested that another road from NH to Malwari could help Khairi and Naki residents, but it needed clearing of forests.Arteev Sharma, a journalist based in Jammu, opined that the project should be included in the PMGSY phase-4, as the panchayat is not in a position to take it up due to fund crunch. “To get a four-km road sanctioned under the scheme, Naki villagers first need to get a resolution passed in the panchayat and then forward it to the chief engineer of either the PMGSY or PWD (roads and bridges),” he said.Cover image: Road construction in process by Naki residents (Photo sourced by Bivek Mathur)Edited by Tanya Shrivastava

‘Do you think these tents are worth living in?’

Women and paralytic patients among the worst-hit as 36 families in Jammu’s Bassan accommodated in leaky tents for the last two months after landslides rendered them homeless Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir: The residents of Bassan in Dharmari block of Reasi district were visibly relieved when the skies cleared up after a week of continuous rains. Little did they know that what was about to come would render them homeless. For three consecutive days starting July 29, Bassan saw recurring landslides, something the village had never seen before.A structure damaged in landslides in Bassan village of Reasi district (Photo: Bivek Mathur)Mohammad Yaqoob (50) was busy helping workers at his under-construction house when he heard cries for help. Even as he scrambled over to see what was happening, two of his washrooms were gone. “The moment I stood atop a pillar, the washrooms located just beneath it began to cave in. I screamed out to the masons and labourers to run to safety,” he said.Two days later on the evening of July 31, when the landslides had finally stopped, Yaqoob and others came back to assess the damage done to their households. Though a major portion of his house was intact, Yaqoob was shocked to see the decomposed body of his late father Haji Bashir lying in the open. Bashir had passed away almost a decade ago.“The landslides had torn through all the graves and buildings in the village. I searched my place the next morning and found the decomposed body of my late mother Khateeja Begum, too,” he said.While Yaqoob was lucky enough to rebury his dead at a nearby location as per the Islamic rituals, eight small graveyards were irrecoverably lost under the debris from recurring landslips. A visibly shaken Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din (43) said he had no means to look after his paralysed wife and jobless children. “We have lost everything. Our home, land, over 15 fruit-laden trees of walnut and over a dozen trees of apricot, apple and plum — everything is gone. The standing crops of maize and paddy have also been damaged.” The deluge that marked the landslides washed away 43 houses belonging to 36 families, affecting around 220 people. It destroyed around 400 kanals of agricultural land. According to villagers, over 1,000 trees of apple, apricot and walnut were uprooted. The only solace was no life was lost. ‘Not a fair deal’Though the district administration acted quickly to provide Rs 5,000 per family, the villagers claimed it was not sufficient to rebuild their houses or manage food, travel and medical expenses.A day after the first landslide, Reasi District Development Commissioner Babila Rakwal visited Bassan along with Dharmari Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Tariq Aziz and other officials. She arranged for tents from the Indian Army’s 58 RR unit to house the affected people and stationed a tanker from the Public Health Engineering Department nearby to meet their water needs. Several NGOs, including Delhi-based Goonj, socio-political leaders and people from across the Union Territory provided them with clothes and food items.According to Red Cross volunteer Aijaz Ahmed, also the husband of village panch, Rs 15,000 to 20,000 will be paid from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for a partially damaged kutcha house, while Rs 1 lakh will be given for a fully damaged one. For pucca houses, it will be above Rs 1 lakh. However, Bassan residents said the amount was not sufficient as all families have lost material goods valued at Rs 10 to 15 lakh.A farmer laments the damage of his maize crops due to the landslides. (Photo: Bivek Mathur)Despite the initial flurry of activity, the full compensation of Rs 1 lakh per family is yet to be paid. “We have provided Rs 5,000. The rest will be paid soon,” said SDM Aziz. Asked if Rs 1 lakh was sufficient to rebuild houses, he said, “This is what the administration could pay under the SDRF norms.” On whether some alternative lands would be provided to the affected families, he said, “Most of the affected families have their own alternative lands in different parts of Dharmari.”However, Mohi-ud-Din said the administration was not telling the truth. “Only 10 of the 36 landslide-affected families have alternative lands. The rest have nowhere to go.”Patwari Sanjay Kumar said the department was yet to assess the land-related losses. Meanwhile, Reasi District Mineral Officer Shafiq Ahmed told 101Reporters that a team from Geology and Mining Department will visit Bassan to conduct a ground-level assessment and file a report to ascertain whether the area is safe for living. Life in disarrayNow living in tents, the landslide-hit residents of Bassan dread the downpour. Every time it rains heavily, water seeps in through the tents. People then have to rush to the houses of their relatives in nearby villages."Imagine how difficult it is for a person like me, who has been living with paralysis for many years now," said Sheikh Mohammad Iqbal, who is in his sixties. His daughter-in-law Sofia Bano (24), who was in labour, had to be shifted to the Government Shri Maharaja Gulab Singh Hospital in Jammu on August 1 itself as no doctor was available in Bassan.  "The block/district administration did not provide an ambulance to shift her to the hospital. I had to borrow money from people in my locality to arrange a private ambulance. Until the payment of compensation, the administration should have accommodated us in a government building," Iqbal said.The other two pregnant women have also moved out to the houses of their relatives in other villages of Reasi, where they have access to roads and hospitals.  Mohi-ud-Din’s wife Rahila Begum (45) has been shifted to a relative’s house in Bassan. “I was alone at home when the earth began to shake on July 29. I do not know what happened afterwards. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in the house of a relative," said Rahila, who has remained paralysed for the last six years. Asked why she opted to stay at a relative’s place, she retorted, "Do you think those tents are worth living in? The basic requirement for any woman is a toilet facility. A paralysed woman like me cannot go into the forest for daily ablutions.”      The temperature in hilly Bassan remains comparatively low even during summers. “In winters, the village experiences snowfall. The mere thought of living in a tent in frosty weather gives us goosebumps,” said Iqbal.Edited by Rekha PulinnoliCover image is of the tents provided by Army's 58 RR unit to Bassan residents for shelter due to the devastating landslides. Photo sourced by Bivek Mathur

In Udhampur, one woman's success story in mushroom cultivation inspires others to follow suit

A former teacher, Vimla Gupta and her son found success in mushroom farming and are now training other women in the field Udhampur: One fine day in 2007, when 43-year-old Vimla Gupta walked into a government exhibition in Udhampur town in Jammu and Kashmir, little did she know that an idea awaited her—one that would make her an entrepreneur with a multi-lakh business to her name, in the next 15 years.At the time, Gupta ran a private school and earned a meagre income. Since it was located outside the municipal limits, she couldn't convince the parents in the rural vicinity to get their wards admitted to her institute, which had a strength of around 50 students. "I had already decided that I would close down the school and start a new business," Gupta told 101Reporters, adding that the impetus came from an agriculture department employee, Hans Raj, whom she met at that exhibition.When Raj found out that Gupta, a member of a self-help group under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, was planning to shut her school, he advised her to start growing mushrooms in its premises. Mushroom production requires relatively smaller space and fewer resources. Hence, growing the produce at her school—spread over an area of 1 Kanal (or 0.125 acres) —sounded like a reasonable proposition.Gupta was interested yet cautious. Having no experience in the sector, she continued to run her school but also started growing button mushrooms on the premises by manually preparing 5 quintals of compost.After earning double from her first crop, Gupta gradually began to put in more resources, growing button mushrooms using 10 quintals of compost in 2008 and 20 quintals in 2009.A success story paved with challenges"When we took up mushroom cultivation, in the initial years, we didn't know whom to approach to sell our produce. But gradually, we developed market networks and started selling our produce in Udhampur and at sabzi mandis in Jammu," said Gupta, who now earns around Rs 50,000 per month from the business.In 2009, Gupta's son Ramit Gopal quit his job and joined her in this venture, growing 50 bags of oyster mushrooms and button mushrooms.Mother-son duo Vimla Gupta and Ramit Gopal harvest four crops of mushroom a year, yielding over 1,500 bags of oyster and button mushrooms (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur)Cultivating mushrooms from their 14-room school, the mother-son duo has a current output of more than 1,000 bags of oyster mushrooms and over 500 bags of button mushrooms annually, harvesting four crops over the course of the year.However, writing this success story has been anything but easy for Gupta, who admits it was a huge risk for her to get into this business."Starting a new unit is easy now, as the current government provides farmers with subsidies, training and other equipment-related support. But in 2007, we only got training and no other help," she told 101Reporters, adding, "Now, the agriculture department provides us with value addition like marketing and branding."A pickle business and plans to expandFollowing the roaring success of their business, Gupta and her son are now planning to increase the varieties of mushrooms they grow and their production in the years to come. In 2021, they started a mushroom pickle unit from their home, which helped them earn better dividends. "We've sold only 1.5 quintals of pickle [so far]. From next year onwards, we will increase the quantity of achaar we make," they said.The agriculture department has been helping the mother and son with the branding of their pickle. "We've established a brand under the name 'Jammu Kheti' to help the mother-son duo sell their products, both offline and online," said Sanjay Anand, Chief Agriculture Officer, Udhampur. "Our department has also established two farmers' facilitation centres in Jammu and Udhampur, and are also conducting departmental exhibitions and melas (fairs), where farmers showcase and sell their products directly to the customers."Moreover, the regional agriculture division plans to tie up with Amazon as well as government and private commercial stores across India that would help farmers like Gupta earn higher income from the sale of their products in the D2C (direct-to-consumer) segment.  Govt. subsidies in the hope of a 'Mushroom Village'Aside from training and other forms of support, the Jammu and Kashmir government has also been providing a 25% subsidy on the purchase of mushroom-growing racks and a 50% subsidy on a fixed number of ready-made bags for first-time mushroom cultivators.For instance, Gupta and Gopal received a subsidy in 2016-17, when they installed mushroom-growing shelves in their school. It was the same year they closed down their institute. Anand claimed that Udhampur has seen record growth in mushroom cultivation in the past few years, which had "increased the income of Udhampur farmers'' manifold."In 2021, we had grown 50,000 to 60,000 bags of mushroom in the town, compared to only 5,000 to 6,000 bags the previous year," the agriculture officer added. "We're now planning to name our Neeli Nallah village 'Mushroom Village' because most farmers here now grow mushrooms and earn a better income."The J&K government has also been providing a 25% subsidy on mushroom-growing racks and a 50% subsidy on ready-made bags for first-time mushroom cultivators (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur)An inspiration for others"There's always an opportunity around us. We just need to work with a positive approach to crack that opportunity and wait for the results," said an optimistic Gupta, the talk of the town who's now being approached by several aspiring entrepreneurs for help with establishing similar units.The Jammu and Kashmir government has also been approaching her to train and help others develop their businesses. "I'm leaving no stone unturned to help them," Gupta told 101Reporters.One of the many inspired by Gupta is Anju Samailiya (37) from Udhampur. In November 2021, Samailiya visited Gupta's mushroom unit through the Department of Agriculture. Following proper training through the department's field functionaries, she agreed to grow 40 bags of button mushrooms and 8 bags of oyster mushrooms on a trial basis. After successfully harvesting her first crop, graduate Samailiya is on track to grow 100 bags of oyster mushrooms and 40 bags of button mushroom this year. Similarly, Shambhi Devi (60) from Majori village in Udhampur's Ramnagar Tehsil is also planning to grow around 50 bags of button mushrooms on a trial basis this year."I watched a video on Vimla Gupta's story on a regional news portal in December last year and then decided to grow mushrooms in the Majori hills," she said. "So I applied for a 15-day capsule course on mushroom cultivation in January, and now I'm getting trained."

Unseasonal hailstorm, heavy rainfall cause widespread crop loss in Jammu

54-year-old Amir Mohammad from Makhanpur Gujjran has lost half of the paddy crop sown over 76 Kanals of his land (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur)Farmers protest petty relief amounts as crops on 1.9 lakh hectares damaged; rice mill owners suffer losses as Basmati procurement, exports hit. Jammu: Rohit Choudhary, a farmer in Jammu district’s Ranbir Singh Pura (RS Pura) area, had little idea what nature had in store for him when he sowed paddy on his four acres of land in July. He was devastated when an unseasonal hailstorm, that wreaked havoc across Jammu and Kashmir on October 23, ravaged around 70 percent of his crop. KK Sharma, the Director of Agriculture, Jammu district, told 101Reporters that following an assessment of losses, teams from the revenue and agriculture departments concluded that the hailstorm, coupled with an unprecedented rainfall of 80–100 mm, damaged 1.9 lakh hectares of paddy, vegetables, oilseeds and several other crops in 10 districts of Jammu division. “The standing paddy and paddy in the cut-and-spread stage were severely affected. Moreover, grain shattering due to hail-storm added to the crop loss,” said Sharma, adding that the physical loss to the paddy crop was 70–75 percent, whereas the economic loss was assessed as almost 100 percent. Sharma said that the most affected districts were Jammu (100 percent), Samba (100 percent in Vijaypur and Ramgarh areas) and Kathua (70–80 percent in plain areas). “The hilly areas of Kathua and a few other districts also witnessed huge losses. Rabi-sown vegetables, potato and oilseeds (Toria) also suffered 100 percent damage,” he said. Paddy crop on more than 100,000 hectares suffered 70–100 percent damage, vegetables grown on 5000 hectares suffered 100 percent damage and oilseeds (Toria) on around 100 hectares were damaged. Potato and fodder (Berseem) planted on an area of 50 hectares were also fully damaged, Sharma said. Heavy losses and scant relief in sight  Sharma told 101Reporters that 100 percent damages were reported by the agriculture department’s seed multiplication farms of paddy, oilseeds and potato, whereas the damages in their farms of pulses were pegged at 70–100 percent. “The natural calamity has reduced the availability of high-quality and certified seeds for the next season,” he said.(Above) A paddy field damaged by unseasonal hailstorm in RS Pura Tehsil in Jammu district (Photo courtesy of social media); (Below) Paddy in cut stage destroyed by hailstorm and rainfall in Makhanpur Gujjran village in RS Pura Tehsil (Picture Credit - Bivek Mathur) According to Sharma, only a total of 43,220 farmers — 20,452 paddy farmers and 22,768 maize farmers — had insured their crops under the government’s crop insurance scheme in Jammu, Samba and Udhampur districts. This covered crops on a total area of 19,529 hectares — 9,819 hectares of paddy and 9,710 hectares of maize. Claims of these farmers were being processed for disbursement of relief, he said, adding:  “The farmers who have neither insured nor notified their crops are being compensated according to NDRF/SDRF norms.” In Jammu district, where paddy and vegetable crops on around 2000 hectares of land were damaged by the hailstorm, the district administration has proposed a compensation of Rs 13,500 per hectare. Rakesh Dubey, the nodal officer for the assessment of the crop losses, said that Rs 52.78 crore has been tentatively earmarked as relief for the district under the SDRF norms, and the amount would be disbursed to 98,750 beneficiaries. “Affected farmers will receive Rs 13,500 per hectare,” he said. Amir Mohammad, 54, a farmer at Makhanpur Gujjran Village in Jammu district lost 50 percent of the Basmati rice he had sown on his 3.84 hectares of land because of the hailstorm. He, however, has refused to apply for compensation, saying that the compensation amount sanctioned by the government was a pittance considering the “actual damages”. “Rs 13,500 per hectare is not enough to compensate the losses because the total costs of cultivation of the crop on a hectare of land, including those of renting tractors, labour, fertilizers, weedicides and pesticides, come to around Rs 40,000 to 50,000. Hence, in my opinion, the government is making a mockery of the word compensation,” said Mohammad. The farmer also said that getting the compensation amount released was a herculean task in RS Pura Tehsil. He said the government had assigned Patwaris in the revenue department the task of assessing the crop losses and distribution of relief. “A Patwari is the busiest employee in the revenue department. Practically, a farmer will have to put on hold the sowing of his next crop if he has to arrange all required revenue documents and photographs and get the work done by a Patwari,” Mohammad said.Inspection of rain- and hailstorm-damaged paddy crops post-harvest in RS Pura (Photo courtesy of social media) Basmati procurement down by 70% Besides causing heavy losses to the farmers, the unexpected hailstorm and rainfall have also affected the procurement and the export of Basmati rice from the RS Pura belt. Rattan Singh, a local Basmati and wheat trader who procures the crops directly from the farmers of Darsopur, Roi Morh, Gadigarh, Tanda, Bagga Jana and several other villages and later sells the same to local rice mills, said his procurement figures dropped by 65–70 percent this season. He said that he had procured 1,800 quintals of Basmati rice in the previous year, whereas this season, he could procure only 550 quintals. Romi Jojra, a rice mill owner in RS Pura said he suffered a loss of Rs 60–65 lakh this season because of the decline in the procurement of rice owing to the crop damages in the recent hailstorm. He said he could procure only 500 tonnes of Basmati rice this year — only 20 percent of what he had procured in the last season. Mill owners lose advances Romi said that apart from the loss due to low procurement, he and other rice mill owners in RS Pura also suffered losses relating to loans extended to the farmers. “Rice mill owners in RS Pura maintain good relations with paddy farmers. They pay around 60 percent of them a fixed amount of money as loans prior to the sowing of paddy. Normally the farmers repay the amount after the harvest. But in case of a crop failure due to natural calamities, the farmers do not refund the amount. This causes losses to the rice mill owners,” he said, adding that the developments also impacted the export of high-quality Basmati rice from the state. Anil Sharma, the sole exporter of Basmati rice from Jammu and the owner of Sarveshwar brand Basmati rice, did not respond to queries by 101Reporters till the filing of this report. 

Tribal Gujjars pool in their own money to bring potable water to their hamlet

Despite several appeals, the small hamlet of Kota Top in Doda, Jammu remains disconnected from the block's piped water supply. When the residents decided to take matters into their own hands, they were repeatedly thwarted. Doda: It is quarter past seven in the morning and in the remote hamlet of Kota Top, some 15 kilometres uphill from the block headquarters of Gandoh and around 80 kilometres from the district headquarters of Doda, Saif Din (35) is waking up the children. In five minutes, around a dozen half-asleep kids and teenagers gather at a nearby hilltop and start trekking downhill through the forest. They walk for around 2.5 kilometres until they reach a swampy and muddy spring.It is from here that they fetch water for their daily use, each and every day. Most youngsters are able to carry back upto 12 litres of water in their containers while some others like Mohammad Asif (16) can manage to carry 30 litres of water on horseback. Asif said, “Hamare gaon ke bacche subah se leke shaam tak paani dhote hain. Isliye hum padh nahi paate.” (The children in our village fetch water from dawn to dusk . This is the reason we are not able to study)Schools are shut now due to COVID-19 restrictions but this daily routine of fetching water from the spring usually costs the children precious school days. “The children in our hamlet could barely attend 15-20 classes a month,” Asif said.Top: Children make their daily trek from Kota Top, down a steep hill, to fetch water from a small spring; Bottom: A girl fills her containers with unhygienic water from the spring (Picture credit - Alok Pathania) These days, while the children are engaged in fetching water and grazing cattle in the mornings, the elders have their breakfast and head to Koti Dhar, some 13 kilometres away, where they are attempting to lay a pipe to bring water to their village.“So far, we have laid pipes over an area of 2.5 kilometres,” Din said, pointing out that the pipes have been purchased by the Kota Top residents themselves, who pooled together a sum of around Rs 3 lakhs for the purpose. “Almost all the people in our village are manual labourers and farmers who have donated the income from either their daily wages or the sale of farm produce like Rajmah, apple, walnuts etc.,” Din added.Kota Top, a village in Kharangal Panchayat, is populated by barely 120 people, all of whom are Gujjars and Bakerwals, both marginalised schedule tribes. These communities usually move between the Jammu plains in the winter and the hills in the summer. But in Kota Top, this nomadic tradition is not the norm. Only 10-15 families still go to the plains in the winter.“So, our water requirement remains the same during the winter,” said Ahmed Nabi (30), a moulvi (religious teacher) from the area. During these months, the village is draped in snow and the people manage to get drinking water by boiling the snow. Thwarted over and over  The residents of Kota Top claimed that when the towns of Doda and Bhaderwah started getting tap water connections between 2004-06, they approached village heads, panchayat leaders and even MLAs, asking in vain that their hamlet too be connected to the piped water supply. Since most of them are uneducated labourers, they didn’t even know how to write an application in this regard or whom to approach in the District Development Commissioner office, they said. “Left with no other option, the elders in our community appealed to the residents to donate money towards the purchase of water pipes,” said Haji Abdul Ghani, a community leader, who’s in his sixties. After all, they already had a natural water source at Shahdal, from where they could direct the water 500 metres down to Kilroo. "But the water still couldn't reach our village because of its elevation,” Ghani added.  Kota Top residents stand next to the pipes purchased with their daily wages and sale of farm produce (Picture credit - Alok Pathania)After that, the residents tried once again to get PHE pipe connections but failed. In 2010, the new Koti Dhar-Kota Top water supply scheme was sanctioned for Kota Top residents.According to the villagers, the scheme envisioned providing tap water connectivity to Kota Top from a groundwater source at the Koti Dhar area. The construction of a reservoir at Eidgah near Kota Top was also proposed under this scheme, according to the villagers.But instead, divergent political interests led the reservoir to be constructed one kilometre downhill Padai Mohalla, the residents said, from where piped water connections were provided to Gujjar Mohalla and Magari Mohalla. Kota Top continued to be ignored, despite repeated attempts by the residents to bring attention to their plight. In 2018, after the long-delayed panchayat elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir, the villagers said that their panchayat forwarded a resolution to the Tehsildar, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) at the Jal Shakti department. “But it was all in vain.”Sarpanch of Kharangal, Mushtaq Ahmed, sympathised with their troubles. “Kota Top residents have no access to clean water. While one of their pipelines is facing suction related issues, the other has been diverted to another village.” But he claimed that another water supply scheme has been sanctioned for Kota Top and the tenders for the same would be floated very soon.When contacted, the Tehsildar of Gandoh, Irshad Ahmed Sheikh, admitted that the people of Kota Top are suffering due to the lack of piped water and assured that he would speak to the concerned AEE at the Jal Shakti department to look into the matter on an urgent basis. When prodded about the district administration’s failure to meet the settlement’s basic needs, he simply said that he would “look into the matter”.Jal Shakti department AEE, Mohan Singh, was not available for comment.   The long penance for waterThe small community of Kota Top is determined to not give up, despite their efforts having yielded no results so far. In January this year, they once again pooled around Rs 3 lakh to give the Kilroo pipeline another try. Kota Top residents carry pipes around their neck to the site of the water source in Koti Dhar (Picture credit - Alok Pathania) “But as we completed the process of laying the pipes, the then-AEE at the Public Health Engineering, Mohammad Shafi, reached the spot along with a Junior Engineer and the local police and dismantled the pipes without letting us know why,” said Din.After this, he and others from the locality gathered the broken pipes from the hills and met their panchayat head.A fresh resolution was passed in the panchayat to arrange water for the settlement from another water spring at Thanda Paani but several months have passed and nothing has come of it, rued Din. The government too has proposed a similar water supply scheme but even the tenders have not been floated yet, he said. “In the meantime, we have requested and convinced the Hindu population of Koti Dhar to allow us to pipe out water from a spring there. So far we’ve dug around 2.5 kilometres and laid pipes underneath. We’re pretty sure Kota Top residents will get drinking clean water within the next few months,” said a determined Din.

Women in Jammu's Bhaga village realise true potential of SHGs during pandemic

Local self-help groups in rural Reasi helped members sustain their families during the pandemic, encouraging the women to go from staying indoors to becoming self-sufficient.  Reasi: In Bhaga village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, 17-year-old Shilpa Singh has taken it upon herself to earn for her family after the coronavirus pandemic washed out her father Mangal Singh’s job. “When the pandemic hit the country, several labourer families like ours were left in the lurch as our fathers, who until then were the lone breadwinners of our families, lost their jobs,” she said. To avoid a financial crisis at home, she decided to become a member of the local self-help group (SHG). “And I’m happy that the income from the products sold by the self-help groups sustained my family in the pandemic,” Singh said.These SHGs that have given hope to several women today, did not have many takers before 2019. Women from Bhaga village did not work outside their homes and instead depended on their husbands for almost all their requirements. The scenario changed in January 2019 when Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) officer, Indu Kanwal Chib, who was posted as the then deputy commissioner Reasi, intervened. She gently coaxed the women to join Jammu and Kashmir State Rural Livelihood Mission (JKSRLM) — a programme aimed at alleviating poverty in the Union Territory — to earn a guaranteed monthly income and afford a better life. When the Bhaga women joined the self-help groups under JKSRLM in 2019, they had no inkling of the mission. “Following a brief about the initiative and a recollection of success stories by then deputy commissioner, we dared to start by making lentil papads. And this continued for several months,” Jyoti Sharma, a self-help group member said. Initially, money was hard to come by. Sharma said that a woman earned about Rs 25 per day by making and selling papads to shopkeepers. That made for a monthly income of Rs 750. The coronavirus pandemic, however, changed their fortunes. ‘Pandemic brought in more work opportunities’Two months after the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, the women from Bhaga self-help group were approached by Chib with an offer — making face masks for the district administration.  “Since most of our village women were already adept in tailoring, we accepted the offer,” Sharma said, adding, “To meet our targets, hundreds of women self-help groups worked day in and day out to prepare and provide one lakh masks to the district administration.” The women in Bhaga sold a mask for Rs 20 and ended up earning Rs 2 crores within 2-3 months. “With this, the average monthly income of an SHG member rose to Rs 4,500-5,000 during those months,” claimed Sharma. Current Deputy Commissioner of Reasi, Charandeep Singh, said that the average income of some individuals from the SHG amounts to Rs 7,000-8,000 per month. Singh said that the traditional craft materials made by Reasi women SHGs have been listed as “success stories” under the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. “And this is a major achievement for our women self-help groups,” the officer said.     The Bhaga SHGs make jute bags, traditional ornaments like Kaleera (worn around the bride's wrist during weddings in this region), disposable leaf plates and bowls, teddy bears, spices, papads, pickles, embroidery items, masks, cheese and more (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur) A better lifeAccording to the director of the JKSRLM, Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar, there are 48,423 women self-help groups that provide livelihood opportunities for 4,16,037 women in the Union Territory currently. In Reasi town alone, 15,402 women are associated with 1,854 self-help groups. Arif Mohammad, the professional resource person of JKSRLM in Bhaga, said there are 125 women self-help groups only in his cluster — the Prerna Mahila Cluster Level Federation. Around 1,200 women work in these groups.   The SHGs in Bhaga village also make various products like jute bags, traditional ornaments, paper plates, disposable leaf plates and bowls, teddy bears, spices, pickles, embroidery items, masks, cheese, kaladi (traditional cheese) and sandals among others. The JKSRLM in collaboration with other government departments conduct exhibitions throughout the Union Territory and sell the products made by these SHGs. As far as other marketing avenues are concerned, the deputy commissioner of Reasi, Charandeep Singh, said that his administration has opened sales outlets for some units while commercial websites are also being designed to help the women sell their products online.  For instance, to benefit pickle manufacturing SHGs from Reasi, an outlet has been opened in Pouni area of the district. Around 500 hoteliers in Katra and other areas near the Katra-Shiv Khori shrine have been requested to purchase pickles exclusively from these outlets by women SHGs.   For other traditional items like Chabhari, Bina (made using wild grass), he said, “At our request, the Katra hoteliers have agreed to present these traditional crafts as souvenirs to the visiting tourists and guests.” The hoteliers, according to him, have been carrying a retail display of these products made by the women SHGs. “Meetings with e-commerce giants like Amazon are also underway to help the women SHGs market their products online,” Singh added. “My administration is also planning to sell the products made by women self-help groups through some websites that would be named after them.” @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Panchayat and rural department pass the buck as this Jammu village struggles to find clean water

Residents of Ghordi (West) depend entirely on natural springs, or bowlis, for their drinking water but these end up becoming contaminated during the monsoons.  Udhampur: For most part of the year, ‘bowlis’, as natural groundwater springs are known locally, remain the lone source of water in Jammu and Kashmir’s hilly and remote villages where the government has not yet brought in tap water connectivity. But between June and August, the monsoons render this water unpotable due to seepage and outflow of water from adjoining nallahs, paddy fields, drains, and footpaths.Bowlis, which in its various forms is known by different names like ‘Chashme’, ‘Domb’, ‘Chhappar’, ‘Talaiyaan’, are unique and traditional to Udhampur, developed out of natural springs during the Dogra rule. In many areas, these have fallen into disuse since the advent of piped water connections, but for others, they remain the only source of clean water. Except when it rains. “In these three months, our people consume unclean water and get gastrointestinal and other serious water-borne infections,” said Pritam Chand (70), from Mohalla Salaiyan in Udhampur’s Ghordi Khas (West) panchayat.There are three to four bowlis, dombs (a domb is a kuccha bowli i.e a spring without any concrete fortifications) and chappars (a small, temporary water source) in Mohalla Salaiyan that meet the drinking and bathing needs of around 200 people. In the larger Ghordi Khas (West) panchayat area, which has a population of over 3,500 people, there are dozens of such natural water sources. And almost all of them have been affected this monsoon season. Pritam Chand, from Mohalla Salaiyan in Udhampur’s Ghordi Khas (West) panchayat, said that every monsoon they have to suffer the contamination of their bowlis (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur)Chand said that the villagers get together and clean them whenever there is a break in the rain. “But when it rains incessantly for three to four days or say a week, we’ve to drink the unclean water,” he said. This is the case for all 60 households in the Mohalla Salaiyan locality, be it family members or milch and draft animals.“When we sow paddy, our animals need extra water because they work in the fields. But since our bowlis remain polluted in the rainy season, either our people have to fetch clean water for the animals and humans from other villages, or just drink the polluted water,” said 67-year-old Darshano Devi, wife of Belli Ram in Mohalla Salaiyan.Most people in the village, like Darshano Devi and Pritam Chand, have never been to a school and don’t understand whom to approach to get their bowlis cleaned or get piped water supply in their village. “All we can do to get our grievances addressed is to approach our panchayat representatives and we have left no stone unturned so far to highlight these issues with our successive panchayat heads,” said Darshano Devi.The current Sarpanch of Ghordi (West), Geeta Devi, who is a resident of Langa village, claimed she had never been approached by anyone regarding the matter since she took over the post in 2020. "But I'll visit the village soon to assess the condition of groundwater sources and do whatever possible," she assured.     (Left) A polluted domb in Mural village; (right) Beyond taking it up with their panchayat representatives, people like Darshano Devi don't know who else to approach to solve their drinking water problem (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur)Most of the Mohalla Salaiyan residents 101Reporters spoke to are disappointed with their panchayat leaders, especially their ex-Sarpanch, who is now holding the powerful post of Block Development Council (BDC) chairman. The BDC chairman, Block Ghordi, Arti Sharma, accepted that people are facing water problems during the monsoons but also claimed that she had never been told about the plight of bowlis in Mohalla Salaiyan; no person or deputation ever visited her, she said.“The specific people who have been blaming me for the deplorable condition of their bowlis have never attended even a single panchayat meeting so far. I’ve time and again requested them in vain to tell the panchayat about their grievances. They’re doing all this at the behest of a particular political party,” Sharma said.She, however, assured that irrespective of “people’s bias” towards her, she will continue to work for the betterment of her people.Not just Mohalla Salaiyan’s problemAt the neighbouring Mural village (also in Ghordi West panchayat), there is just one domb that caters to all the water needs of the residents. As such the people of this hamlet are forced to bathe in and drink from the same polluted groundwater source.Rajni Devi (21) from Mural claimed that her family members have taken ill so many times from consuming the water during the rainy season. When asked if she or her family members ever petitioned tehsil or district-level officers to get the water in their area tested or the bowlis repaired, she said, “We’re poor people. We don’t even know who should be approached for all this.”    The story repeats across the various villages of Ghordi Block like Larh, Bindla, Mani, Jandrore, Sulghar, Barmeen, Ambalairh, Satyalta etc. Activist Abhishek Sharma, who’s also a member of a team that is attempting to rejuvenate the groundwater springs in Udhampur town, said, “It’s not just Ghordi Block, bowlis in the entire Udhampur district, in general, get affected by seepage in the monsoon season.”Rajni Devi claimed that her family members routinely fall ill during the monsoons after drinking the dirty water from the bowlis (Picture credit - Bivek Mathur)This is the reason, he said, they started the Bowli Bachao Abhiyan (Save Bowli Mission). “We wanted to identify, rejuvenate, and then protect all the bowlis so that people can get clean drinking water without depending much on the tap water connections.” The permanent solution to the problem, they say, is to plug all the holes within the bowlis properly and then construct cement walls around the water bodies to prevent seepage. “But the Rural Development Department has failed in preserving and protecting our heritage,” he blamed.Assistant Commissioner of Development Udhampur, Mushtaq Choudhary, who is also the concerned Rural Development Department (RDD) officer put the onus on the panchayat leaders for not doing their job “sincerely”.He said, “Ever since powers have been devolved to the panchayats, they’re empowered enough to do these minor works on their own, utilising the grants released under the 14th Finance Commission. Our job is to construct the bowlis, but it’s the panchayat’s job to renovate them. What are they doing? Why look at the Rural Development Department always?”

Kashmiri villagers stage unique protest for pucca road

In a symbolic protest, the residents of this Budgam hamlet planted paddy on the muddy road leading up to their village. They were venting their frustrations against government inaction in getting the road macadamized.   Budgam: Around four decades ago, Ali Mohammad (75), from Check Mohalla in Chadoora Tehsil of Kashmir’s Budgam district, got together with a few people from his locality to build a short link road to their village. Some people volunteered their labour while others, expertise and finances, to complete the 1.5 km-long stretch between Chadoora and Check Mohalla Qazipora. “Within a month or so, the dirt road to Check Mohalla was completed and this is how our remote hamlet, which remained shut for the most part of the winters due to snowfall, was connected to the rest of the world,” said the septuagenarian.In 2004, the Jammu and Kashmir government laid gravel on the road. But it gradually got washed away due to rainfall and the overflow of water from the paddy fields above.For the next 17 years, the Check Mohalla residents claimed to have run from pillar to post to get their road macadamized but all in vain. As the road allegedly didn’t get any repair since 2004, the continuous waterlogging due to rainfall and snowfall resulted in potholes along the whole stretch of the road, they said.Ali Mohammad (left) is among those who constructed the dirt mud four decades ago but it's difficult to navigate during winters and monsoons (Picture sourced by Bivek Mathur)Khajur Mohammad Bhat, the Sarpanch of Qazipora Panchayat, said the dirt road to Check Mohalla was constructed in the 80s.“Just above this stretch of road, there are paddy fields. Every time it rains, the water overflowing from these fields cause damage to the road beneath. I wanted to prioritise the construction of drainage and the laying of a pipeline on either side of the road well before macadamization. And this is what I’ve already taken up with the Road & Building department.”“I had been trying to get this road blacktopped for the past one and half years, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, we couldn’t move out to discuss the problems with the administration,” he said.  Younis Ali (27) is a resident of Check Mohalla who has been petitioning for a new road for long. According to him, navigating the Chadoora-Check Mohalla Qazipora road is a nightmare for school-going children, elderly citizens, drivers and pedestrians. They go as far as to say that it poses a threat to the lives of commuters. Check Mohalla has a population of around 300 people but no secondary or higher secondary school. Around 80 students attend the lone middle school — the Government Middle School Check Mohalla. “When it rains, we avoid sending our teenagers to school,” Ali said. Ali himself parks his vehicle at Chadoora, the village from where the link road starts.Mohammad Shafi (38), a resident of Qazipora, described a strange ritual among the villagers to highlight the government apathy towards developing the kutcha road. According to him, when marriages or other functions are held in their village, people pool in money to buy the gravel and sand to fill up the potholes. Two or three days before the arrival of Baraat or the wedding party, the volunteers come together to get this stretch of the road ready, Shafi said.“Otherwise we’ve seen brides and grooms slipping on this road,” he said.   Upset over the administrative inertia in getting their road blacktopped, villagers gathered on June 13 at one swampy portion of the road stretch and planted paddy saplings as a “mark of protest”.Younis Ali is among those planting paddy saplings on the Chadoora-Check Mohalla Qazipora road in Budgam district on June 13 (Picture sourced by Bivek Mathur)Ali, the brainchild behind this creative protest, claimed he got the idea from the video-sharing app, TikTok. “While on TikTok one day, I came across a video of small children dancing on a muddy road. This prompted me to conceive the out-of-the-box idea of a ‘paddy protest’ on our village road to press the government into getting the stretch macadamized,” said the young Panch.Abdul Qayoom (29), another Check Mohalla resident, said their unique protest caught the attention of the Road and Building (R&B) officials and the local administrators. Soon after the protest, their area was visited by Mohammad Ilyas Suharwardi, the R&B executive engineer; SDM Chadoora, PN Hameed, and other officials.“Following the officers’ field visit, we have been assured that our road would be macadamized soon,” stated Qayoom. Ali is sure their road would now be taken up on priority for blacktopping. But other villagers like Mohammad Shafi believe “nothing will happen”Suharwardi said, “We’re preparing the project estimates for the construction of some culverts and drainage around the road and the laying of cemented pipes on either side of the stretch. The estimated cost of this project would be around Rs 1 crore. Once this project is approved and executed, we will gradually take up blacktopping on the road stretch.”PN Hameed, however, claimed that he had never been approached by any deputation from the village regarding the blacktopping of their road since he has assumed office. According to him, almost all the roads he is overseeing, except the one connecting Chack Mohalla, have been blacktopped. “We could have laid the bitumen on this stretch as well. But there are some issues regarding the construction of drainage and culverts on this patch. Very soon it will be done. In a phased manner, we will lay metal on this kutcha road and accordingly it will be macadamized,” the bureaucrat said.

Jammu’s farmers distraught as unseasonal hailstorms destroy crops

In these winter zones, farmers often cultivate only one crop a year in the autumn and this loss has left them anxious about surviving the cold months ahead. Udhampur:  “Every time we go out for hoeing the maize saplings, the rain and hailstorms start. Till now, our net sown area of around 5 kanals [1 kanal is equal to 0.125 acres] of land has been devastated by unseasonal hailstorms four times,” said an anxious-looking Guddo Devi (26), as she was preparing the firewood to make dinner for her three children. She lives in the remote Pounsa hamlet in the Chenani tehsil of Jammu's Udhampur district and like her, many farmers in the surrounding areas of Udhampur have lost their crops to hailstorms.Usually, it does not hail in Jammu in June, but this year unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms have wreaked havoc by damaging standing crop in over hundreds of kanals in the winter areas of Udhampur district.  Agriculture in Jammu’s hillsUnlike the plains of Jammu where maize crop is sown in May-June and harvested in mid-September, in Jammu’s winter zone areas, maize kernels are sown in the month of April, on Baisakhi festival, and harvested in the month of October. The winter zone areas include Udhampur’s Pounsa, Satyalta, Malaal, Patnitop, Panchairi, Dudu-Basantgarh, Kulwanta, Pattan, Latti and major parts of Doda, Ramban, Reasi, Kishtwar, and Kathua districts.During winters, most people in Jammu’s upper reaches either grow mustard, which can withstand negative temperatures, or do not grow anything at all, since these areas receive heavy snowfall in between December and March. So, most farmers in the hills of Jammu do farming for sustenance unlike in the plains where farmers grow commercial crops twice or thrice a year on vast and fertile lands. Since most people in Jammu’s higher reaches grow only one crop in a year, once the harvesting is done in October, they take up labour work in winter in Udhampur town, Jammu, Amritsar and Delhi.“But this year and the last, my five brothers and I couldn’t even earn from labour work due to the pandemic,” said Bittu Ram (53), son of Mani Ram of Malaal area in Satyalta village. His crops suffered massive damage due to the hailstorms. “I have around 15 kanals (1.875 acres) of agricultural land and I grow maize, rajma (kidney beans) and amaranthus seeds during Baisakh (April) month every year. Normally it rains in May-June in our hills but hail is not normal. The four to five recent hailstorms have completely uprooted the maize saplings that we had grown two months back.”Guddo Devi sits by her hearth at Pounsa village of Satyalta Panchayat. More than half an acre of her maize crops have been destroyed in the hailstorm (Picture courtesy: Bivek Mathur)There are 30 households in the remote Malaal village of Satyalta panchayat. Maize crop of all the Malaal residents got completely ravaged by the recent hailstorms.  Reasons for untimely hailstormsAccording to Sonam Lotus, director, Meteorological Department, Jammu and Kashmir, the hailstorms in Jammu and Kashmir are “not unseasonal”. “Rather their frequency has increased due to more local developments this year,” he said. Explaining the local developments, he said, “The months of April and May have been categorised as ‘hot weather months’ by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). In this period, India’s northern region, including J&K, experiences thunderstorms, hailstorms accompanied by gusty winds due to western disturbances and local developments, particularly convection.” “This year, the frequency of these western disturbances and local convection was very high, resulting in more hailstorms and hence more damage to the crops in the higher reaches of Jammu,” explained the weather scientist.  When asked if the frequency of windstorms and hailstorms will increase with the advent of monsoon in July in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “This phenomenon cannot be predicted.”  Massive lossesYash Pal, the sarpanch (village head) of Satyalta Panchayat, which has a population of around 3,000, said that the panchayat has 17,000 kanals of total agricultural land. Of this, he said that maize, rajma, amaranthus, pumpkin, beans and other hilly crops are grown on about 10,000 kanals of land.“Around 90 per cent of these 10,000 kanals of agricultural land has suffered damages due to the hailstorms and incessant rainfall this year,” claimed Pal.Partially damaged maize saplings in Guddo Devi's fields at Pounsa village of Udhampur district (Picture courtesy: Bivek Mathur)When asked if he had approached the administration to assess the losses so that farmers could be compensated, the Panchayat head replied, “Our area is not motorable. So government officials hardly visit our hilly villages. They assess the losses on mobile phones only. I’ve briefed our patwari (local revenue official) on the phone. Let’s see how much they pay the affected farmers.”Abdul Majid, the patwari of Patwar Halqa Satyalta, admitted that some of the hilly areas in Satyalta have suffered extensive damages due to hailstorms. “Our teams are on their toes to assess the losses. A detailed report shall be prepared and sent to higher-ups,” he said adding, “Most probably, by September, the farmers would be compensated.”Kewal Kumar, a farmer in Ramnagar Tehsil’s hilly Basantgarh block said crops have been badly damaged by the hailstorms in Basantgarh, Dudu, Pachond-I, Pachond-II, and Jakhed areas. “Maize, rajma, amaranthus, French beans, squash, apricot, walnut, and apple crops have been destroyed. While vast lands in Basantgarh hills have suffered crop damages, farmers in low-lying areas are not able to sow the maize and other crops due to recurring hailstorms,” he explained.Waiting for reliefWhile the farmers wait for compensation, many believe it may not be able to make up for their losses.Yash Pal believes that the compensation that would be paid to the farmers would be “insufficient” “and till that time (by September) most farmers would be in a state of financial crunch since they grow only one crop in 365 days and don’t have an option to earn from labour work as well.” “I am of the opinion that government should sensitize these farmers and advise them to shift to some alternative crops suitable to the climate of these hills,” he concluded.

Seeds of Hope: Can bamboo turn this former firing range green again?

An NGO and several student volunteers have teamed up with J&K's forest department to grow bamboo on Bhanderwah's hills with a view to check landslides.Jammu: A special pilot project is underway in Bhanderwah valley in Jammu's Doda district. It is often celebrated as ‘mini Kashmir’ for its lush-green meadows, snow-bound peaks and clear waters. But for 15 years, the Army and CRPF had been using Malsoo and Rainda hills in the valley as a shooting range, turning the hills barren. Worse still, it has exacerbated the problem of landslides during winter and monsoons. A landslide had flattened more than three dozen shops here in March 2019. Two people were killed in a landslide just 10 days later. A month after this, another incident of landslide damaged a dozen houses in the region. Now, with the firing stopped, citizens have come forth to help the government find a solution to these landslides. The government has started to plant bamboo on the region’s hills because of bamboo roots’ famed potential in arresting soil erosion. Many research reports recommend growing bamboo in regions ravaged by landslides. One such report — titled ‘Rainfall-Induced Slope Failures and Use of Bamboo as a Remedial Measure’, published in Indian Geotechnical Journal in October 2020 — notes how bamboo roots strongly hold the soil. The report says that growing bamboo is a sustainable option to prevent landslides, preferable over other options such as making retaining walls, crib walls etc.So when the district forest department of Bhanderwah decided to experiment with bamboo cultivation, a local NGO Awaaz stepped up to help it execute the project. The first phase of the plantation drive was executed on April 9 with the help of about 130 students of the Government Post Graduate College (Bhaderwah) and the residents of Rainda hills of the Neeru Range. The NGO and the student volunteers dispersed about 10,000 seed balls into the hills.Seed balls are balls of soil and clay containing one or more seeds. Tossing seed balls onto the land is a quick and convenient way of plantation.The second phase of the project, on April 14, saw 18 members of the NGO and about 30 employees of the Territorial Forest Department and Forest Protection Force release about 5,000 seed balls of bamboo, cedar and kail trees on the hills.Bhaderwah Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Chander Shekhar told 101Reporters that since the theme for this World Environment Day is ‘Ecosystem Restoration’, the administration chose two barren hillocks for afforestation. It was lucky that Awaaz had prior experience with this sort of thing; it had led the efforts in rejuvenating a barren hillock in Saroj Bagh area in Bhanderwah Forest Division. Today the entire hill is a dense forest, said Tahir Nadeem Khan Yusafzai, the General Secretary of Awaaz who is also a senior environment journalist with Greater Kashmir and a Doordarshan anchor. The time from April to August is ideal for bamboo seeds to start taking roots. DFO Chander Shekhar told 101Reporters that his team recently visited the sites and noticed that some saplings have already begun sprouting. These are likely cedar and kail, since bamboo shoots take much longer to grow as bamboo plants initially grow strong and deep roots. “These hills are sandy and get adequate sunlight both in summer and winter. The Dendrocalamus Strictus variety of bamboo can also grow in minus temperatures. So, I think there is no reason to lose hope,” Yusafzai added. The Forest Protection Force along with employees of the NGO AWAAZ and student volunteers sow seed balls on Rainda Hill (Picture courtesy: Bivek Mathur)Earning opportunitiesConcurrently, the J&K administration had been making big moves to develop bamboo cultivation and allied activities with the aim of generating employment. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Jammu & Kashmir government and the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region in January 2021, a five-year project was mooted to establish three bamboo clusters in Kathua, Jammu, Samba, Reasi and parts of Udhampur to provide direct employment to about 25,000 people. This would involve bamboo production, undertaken with expertise from the North East Cane & Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC), and the establishment of clusters for making bamboo basketry, agarbattis and bamboo charcoal, according to Vikas Gupta, Director of Handicrafts and Handloom, JammuThese developments gave extra impetus to the team greening Bhanderwah hills. Chairperson of NGO Awaaz, Rashid Choudhary, said bamboo’s potential to provide work is one of the reasons they stepped up to help the government with this project. If the bamboo cultivation picked up, they could persuade the administration to extend the project to Bhanderwah and perhaps even set up a cluster here. The project originally envisioned that experts from the NECBDC would reach J&K to impart training to the local community to start bamboo-related businesses. While travel restrictions owing to Covid-19 have put a brake on these plans, Awaaz and the government are hoping that this engagement between experts and the community can be initiated once the restrictions are lifted.The government’s plan is to keep the local community highly involved in the growth and cultivation of bamboo. The fact that bamboo forests stand to serve the local dwellers later—by providing them with raw materials for making a host of items—is another incentive for the community to be involved in growing bamboo forests.Social forestry, which refers to the practice of managing forests with the participation of local communities, is touted for a high probability of success in afforestation drives. Several studies have pointed out that the involvement of locals in growing a forest instils a feeling of ownership in them and they actively take part in forests’ safety and upkeep.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.