Stats say that…

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 11

The village got her glory back and this time it’s more charming. I think statistics can speak in a better way:

Green Comes Back!!!

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 10

The new water management system made the water table level to rise immensely and made the farmers feel the life of land. The little rainfall it receives is trapped and stored into the soil. Once they need to dig 80-125 feet for water in wells and now it’s available within the range of 15-40 feet. The changes done as a result of the team effort of villagers brought back the green with a smile.

The villagers take pride in keeping their home and surroundings clean. The widespread disease has become a thing of the past. Babool trees that were earlier cut for fuel are now cared for, harvesting its gum that sells for Rs. 2,000 per kg. The fields are lush with maize, jowar, bajra, onions and potatoes.

New Plans…

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 09

New Plans!!!

Jeet began by asking the villagers to become proactive towards creating their paradigms for development. The first step was to treasure the water resources that were neither measured nor managed well. For that Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) was implemented.

In 1994, the gram sabha approached 12 agencies to implement watershed works under EGS. The village prepared its own five-year plan for 1995-2000 for ecological regeneration. The plan was the basis on which EGS was implemented. It ensured that all departments implementing projects in the village had an integrated plan. The District Social Forestry Department also helped Devgiri with EGS for building contour trenches across the village hillocks and planting trees on forestland; villagers were persuaded to stop grazing there. The village built around 40,000 contour trenches around the hills to conserve rainwater and recharge groundwater. Villagers took up plantation and forest regeneration activities. They avoided crops like sugarcane and bananas, which require a high use of water.

Election!!!

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 08

Jeet got elected as the new sarpanch of Devgiri and that too unopposed. That’s all about election.

Ever since he became the head of the village, he decided to know the village more. He decided to travel and see the unseen pictures of his village. He wandered through the village, visiting every house on his way and making friends with every villager he saw. He asked them about their problems and needs. He always tried to make the villagers solve their own problems instead of seeking someone else’s help.

Green Signal…

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 07

Jeet couldn’t sleep that night. He thought about it many times. He analyzed the situation of Devgiri. He also thought about the consequences of telling “yes” to his friends.

“Once I become the village head my days will never be the same again and I’ve to leave my dream cricket career forever. Also it’s gonna be like a man in true love, who don’t see others in his dreams, who have no time to think about others. I’ve to be busy with my village. The efforts to make others’ lives comfortable and making their dreams come true may become a blessing to my family and blood.”

The day was dawning and decision is pending. Finally he decided to go ahead. The very next day he told his father about it.

Option No: 3!!

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 06

The man turned around.

“Yes?”
“Do you belong here?”
“I belonged here and no more! I’m leaving this village…”

“May I know who you are? Your face seems very familiar to me!”
“You saw me this morning. May be you can think of a face similar to mine with a beard!”. smiles!

“Rishi? Rishi Desai??”
“Sshh! Not so loud! Not so loud Mr.Jeet Lal!”

“How do you know my name?”. Surprised.
Smiles..“How do you know My Name?”

Options please…

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 05

As said in the previous chapter it’s election time in India (1989-90). The State Government declared elections for Village Panchayats. So it’s time to introduce the hero of the story. He is Mr.Jeeth Lal, the only post graduate (M.Com. – Master of Commerce) in Devgiri. His parents wanted him to leave the village and seek a white collar job in the City. Such a job was very much within his reach for his qualifications. That is his first career option suggested by his parents.

One evening a drawn test cricket match between India and England inspired him. The way a 16 year old boy saved the game for India fascinated him. He thought of concentrating more on the game and to choose cricket as a career. He is a good player and his family also thought he had great talent and would play in the Ranji Trophy someday (while he dreamed of playing for India with that 16 year old boy). That’s his second career option suggested by him to himself.

Back to present!!

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 04

It’s election time in India. As you know election is one of the undeclared festivals in India. Everybody will be eagerly waiting for their chance to express their views about the ruling party. Here most often the ruling party and opposition party get switched. Only if the leader is extremely good at his job, he can survive. Lots of hopes, tension, fights etc. will be there during this time. This time also the story is not different except in Devgiri…

Good Bye Devgiri…

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 03

Good Bye Devgiri…

It became more critical when the communal issues burst out. As like in every communal issue, the incident behind the riot was nowhere related to communal/Religious emotions. The incident happened like this: – “Due to deforestation, rainfall in the village decreased considerably. This aroused a big demand for water for irrigation and other purposes. Once there happened a quarrel between two families for the usage of water from a channel which is in the limit of the property of both the families. Unfortunately one family belongs to Hindu community and the other in Muslim community (which was the one and only Muslim family in that village). The peoples in the Muslim community from the neighboring villages came to support the Muslim family and tried to settle the issue with muscle power. The Hindu community took this as a slap towards their dignity”. This led to the burst of communal riot. Due to the lack of enough police security in the village, the riot resulted in many casualties. One thing was clear, it was not the religious emotions of the villagers that caused the riot, but the frustration of the people due to the previous issues caused the riot. And altogether Devgiri got stamped as a notorious village – Dev’il’giri.

Spirit!!

A village wizard who solved the nature’s puzzles! – 02

There is a saying – “If some incident happens wrong, then the incidents following that also will happen to be wrong…” Another popular one is – “Failure is the stepping stone to success! “. Oops 😳 – they contradicts !!!

Save Water… Save Life!!

The eco-system got seriously degraded. Severe poverty made people lend their lands to money lenders for daily needs. The shortage water changed the color texture of the village. Wells got dried up and they need to dig 80-125 feet for water. 10-12 water tanks visited the village daily. There was hardly anything in favour of agriculture. It wasn’t over yet; fate has got more waiting for Devgiri!!