Feast of the ravines

What does the home ministry have to do with ravines? Well, the ravines were blamed for shielding the dreaded dacoits of Chambal. But when hundreds of them surrendered in 1972 at the initiative of Jayaprakash Narayan, the government didn’t feel the need to reclaim ravines any more. Thus, complains Arun Bhargav, Secretary of the Science Centre, the Central and the State Governments do not consider ravines as a burning environmental problem any more.

In 1980, the World Bank arrived on the scene. With its generous aid, the government started a project called ‘aerial seed spreading in the ravines in 1980. The aim was to make 12,000 hectares of ravines green every year by sprinkling seeds from aeroplanes. A multinational company supposedly supplied the seeds. They were of acacia, but of an alien quality. The project was doomed to fail. Only some patches of acacia plants are now visible, as the seeds dwindled away. Vishwanath Singh Parwar of Mrigpura village quips how like aerial projects, these too remain only in the air.

Aside from the ravines’ restoration programmes, there have been other developmental programmes in the region, which have created rather than solved problems for the ravine-affected villages. The Chambal canal irrigation promised a green revolution and increased agricultural production for the region. It did achieve some of its goals, but they remained limited mostly to the non-ravine regions.

Right on the banks of Chambal river is the Barwai village. It has been affected by ravines and at the same time, is now badly affected by water logging due to canal irrigation. Almost 100 acres of land have been lost. Goshpur is a village in Morena district, which has been equally affected by ravines and water logging in the recent past. The canal system had made the groundwater level so high that water flows out from the village wells and makes the land marshy. Some parts of the village are totally waterlogged.

Ravines kill land, agriculture, greenery, vegetation, all that symbolises civilisation, but what they can never kill is human effort to save themselves from decay and destruction. Villagers want to live, to farm, to marry, and amidst failures of various kinds, try different experiments, which might work. Some indeed have worked.

Amidst miles and miles of dry lifeless ravines stand out some patches of green cultivated land. Sirsani village in Morena District turned 15-20 feet deep ravines into plains and started cultivation. Since a lot of ravine area was under the government and villagers had no ownership rights over it, they faced the threat of legal action. The Government gave a reward of Rs 250 per bigha, but this was no incentive for doing such hard and risky work of ravine reclamation. Villages now have more or less stopped their efforts in this direction.

Rudawali has witnessed both success and failure. Villagers, on their own, made a basic, rough dam to put a halt to the expansion of ravines near the village. However, this was washed away in rains and flood. The villagers were successful in creating obstacles in several small nallahs and stopping water flow within the village. The villagers of Naya Baans did the same. Rajkumar claims how their efforts have not stopped the ravines completely, but have slowed down the process considerably. Moreover, they are at least able to survive here.

The ravines were to approach Mahuwa village. The worried villagers did not lose heart and collectively built a boundary wall around the village. It was saved. Palukapura village also reveals that villagers can control the upward move of ravines to some extent. Though ravines had spread around the village, villagers have been successful in saving their houses for many years, by making rough dams and stairs within the pits and nallahs.

Kadaura village of Bhind district has organised its efforts against the ravines in a sustained manner. The village and its border have been filled with massive plantation. Grasses of several local varieties, which tie up the soil, have been planted in and around the village. The villagers express with courage that they are ready to do whatever is possible to stop the ravines. If they get some support, they feel that they can even build a dam.

Ravines are not an invincible or insurmountable phenomenon. They can be challenged with the help of new policy perspectives and with the active support of villagers. The demand to lease out ravine land to farmers is echoed in many villages. In Amba block, some residents of Bilpur and Kuthiana village claim that some 20 years ago, they had got government lands in ravines on lease. They have made that land cultivable and since then possess it.

Bhai Mahavir, chairperson of the Chambal Valley Peace Mission, once said the success or failure of any ravine related programme depended on how far the villagers were involved in it. The only way to ensure their participation was to make the Government leave its ownership rights over the ravines and give it to the farmers on lease. In addition, farmers should get all the support needed for the purpose.

The Government had promised that once the problem of dacoits was resolved,
it would make all efforts for the development of the region. However, today
the ravines themselves have become a terror, and without any genuine developmental efforts, they face the terror of both dacoits and ravines in the future.

This report has been written under the National Foundation for India Media Fellowship Programme 2000-2001. The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist who writes in English and Hindi.