Prasar Bharati Archives presents “Living On The Edge”. It gives in-depth reporting on the state of India’s environment, analysis of wrongs, assessment of eco-friendly technologies and conservation efforts in India and abroad.
Episode – 56
1. Kudremukh – The largest Iron Ore Mines – Reckless mining without land regeneration has destroyed forest cover and polluted ground water reserves.
2. Bhaskar Save’s Farm, Gujarat – to learn the intricacies of nature lile never before.
3. Solution to the scarcity of water ?
#mining #farming #nature #savewater #conservative #environment #groundwater
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Archives of prasar bti presents the Timeless Treasure of Golden Era hello and welcome to living on the edge our rush for mineral or can be compared to the 19th century gold rush in California Conservation is considered mining one of the primary reasons for the destruction of forests whether it’s in Rajasthan
Orisa or Tamil Nadu Reckless mining without land regeneration has destroyed Forest cover and polluted groundwater Reser TS Santos writing in from Chi Karnataka says kuduk the largest IO mine boasts of itself as eco-friendly but we know very well that the mines pollute the westernart rivers and damage the
Entire ecosystem of the region do let the people know snaha Koshi didn’t visit the Western guts to catalog the dangers of uncontrolled mining instead she visited Goa which is as good an example as any other to show you just what uncontrolled mining can do a cloak of red dust descends on the
Earth smothering and choking the once green land clouds of red dust are belched out causing the air to mist making you cough and splutter wherever your eye roams it comes up against mountainous red Dunes the water flows like a river of Blood you are now in the heart of goa’s mining industry considered to be the backbone of goa’s economy and accounting for more than half of India’s iron or exports and yet it contributes only 10% to the state’s gross domestic product as against the 20% that agriculture does it
Employs about 10,000 most of whom succumb to one pollution related disease or the other but the mining Lobby is powerful which perhaps explains why it isn’t accountable open pit mining which is practiced in is not only harmful to the environment but wastefully inefficient too for example about 80 million tons of
Excavated matter gets you about 13 million tons of ore indiscriminate dumping of ore literally changes the color of the landscape and destroys the fertility of agricultural Fields especially during the monsoons you know when Sil like this deposits on a cultivable soil you know the microorganisms which are there in
The soil which are responsible for for productivity they get killed so to regenerate this soil is very difficult so even if this reject is removed every year you know the productivity of the soil goes down toally level the crop has reduced drastically as the farmers of this area are dependent on
Water from the lift irrigation scheme set up by the government the water has been diverted for mining purposes impoverishing over 5,000 Farmers absolving themselves of this responsibility the state government is using the mine and minerals act as a shield claiming that it being a central act they do not have any enforcing
Authority the mining owners like don’t don’t you feel that they should take some responsibility in protecting the environment so why what are you doing about that are you making some sort of law or what Isen what we agriculture Department there are there is no uh what
You call we are not having uh powers to control on mining which uh from mining problem there is a heavy loss from agriculture production so we have no power to control them this rule clearly states that the dumps have to be properly secured to prevent Escape of material
And harmful quantities which may cause degradation of the environment the rule also specifies that a fluence on the benefaction plants shall be disposed in a specially prepared disposal area so that they cannot flow away and cause land degradation or damage to agricultural fields or pollute the surface water bodies and ground
Water groundwater levels have recorded a marked drop from 55 m above mean sea level to 33 M between 1960 and 1980 besides the turbid water is pumped out from deep within these mining pits into rivers and streams in spite of the presence of pumps and drain pipes the
Mining department says it is helpless it’s a difficult to catch them in the night time because it water disappears in the night and nothing can be found during day time in addition to this problem o aen barges fly up and down day and night night on the rivers spewing
Large quantities of waste ore and grease and further aggravating the pollution of the river in South Goa alone the barges make over 18,000 trips a year from the loading points to the harbor and back washing and cleaning of the oill trucks is yet another Factor it pollutes
The water in the zuari mandovi Basin where there are 37 functioning mines mine water was gushing into the river kipar which incidentally is the main source of drinking water for paji the capital of Goa a lot of steps have been taken by building a wall arresters not one three four arresters so that the water the M reject it doesn’t go to the field or the river I will not say this only for mining mining reg though mining reject
Is there no doubt but I would suggest I will if you come with me I’ll take you to the m where the rejection has been sent to the river I’ll I’ll show you the places where the rejection is going to the river no this take this is the
Rejection that has flowed I have filmed it flowing into the river and for information many of the mining sites villagers are taking the water from the this one even we stop it even we stop it for a day Villers said please don’t stop it don’t please discharge the water
Because we need a water because large numbers of people are dependent on mining for their livelihood mine owners remain unhampered in their functioning land degradation air noise and water pollution is the price to to be paid to meet the cost of iron or exports it would seem even the continuous movement of ir
O Laden trucks is unregulated by the authorities in spite of the tax collected there nobody is trying to improve the road we are demanding it for the last 50 years nothing absolutely not absolutely not and most of the places the the road which is okay the villages
Dug the road to get a conversation my very simple the reality isn’t that easy to digest owners know that the life of Mines is restricted to about 30 years they would have made a fortune by then given the fact that the human and environmental cost of their activities
Has never been calculated and never eats into their profits there is no policy that ensures that land Rejuvenation takes place after mining is over this is despite the fact that artificial revation and addition of nutrients can bring the land around in Britain for instance reclaimed mins have been put to a number of Users so far only half-hearted attempts have been made to rehabilitate the land the local people have no medium through which to address their environmental concerns all the local newspapers and dailies with the exception of the heral are the personal properties of the Mind owners and often suppress information regarding the problems faced petitions
And complaints often get squashed and remain unheard there are number of cases of M accidents M disasters all over the mining belt but they are systematically suppressed by the Press even by the police department so they are not leaked even some if one reporters dares to publish it then they threaten him the
Entire air mining operation is directed at Excavating the inona from the earth with obviously no effort made to reuse the degraded land what lies here is an indelible scar of a 700 Crow industry which ironically is robbing its own people of its Livelihood still to come how a real Green Revolution is possible without artificial inputs and why water everywhere and not a drop to drink could well sum up the state of our groundwater resources in the not too distant future if that picture of Goen mining was depressing here’s an inspiring
Initiative from rural India when lingraj dini of Bombay wrote to us about masan Abu fukoka a Japanese farmer who has authored one straw Revolution we decided to look closer home at our own green revolutionaries nandini rajwade visited bascar S farm in Gujarat where he has come to learn the intricacies of nature
Like never before it is called do nothing farming so it was only natural for the man who invented it to laugh at us when we asked him to work on his farm for the benefit of our [Laughter] camera located in Dei Village in gujarat’s bsar District is a 15 acre
Farm where nature runs everything human intervention is minimal and the reason for its success is the age-old equilibrium that exists between plants vests and the land something natural farmers are trying to ReDiscover in the Dying Years of the 20th century natural farming is different from organic or chemical farming because
The land and vegetation is left as it is the seeds are sewn and then nature takes its own course no tilling no chemical fertilizers no PES decides no heavy machinery and no humans are involved the needs of any form of Agriculture are the same it is how they are achieve that
Varies natural farming uses little water water held around the plant prevents irration by the roots and restricts breathing trenches are made in the land at intervals through which water is passed once in 6 to 7 days A cotton plant is perhaps the best moisture indicator if the stem is dry it means the soil is dry up to 9 to 10 in underground where the roots go till if the stem drips alls well land left untouched Sprouts weeds and wild grass this together with fallen leaves branches and organic waste
Decomposes to provide manure everything that grows and falls on the land is reused simply by letting it be natural decomposition on a 1acre plot supports about 4 lakh earthworms these creatures maintain the land and its vegetation far better than we could ever imagine earthworms are continuously
Eating and taking out mud for this as well as oxygen they come up to the surface and then burrow back in one day one earthworm comes up 10 times 10 into 2 for the number of times it goes back underground is equal to 20 holes in the
Ground 4 lakh earthworms into 20 is equal to 60 lakh holes in one acre of land earthworms move in and out about 60 lakh times they are natural tillers of the soil the soil as a result is rejuvenated and breathes freely and that’s not where the earthworm’s contribution ends a lack
Test of the soil revealed this calcium and magnesium levels were twice the normal level there was 7 times more nitrogen 11 times more phosphorus and 5 times more potassium without any chemical input lignin and lignite are also a byproduct these chemicals mix with the soil and increase the
Resistance of plant life also produced are bacteria called humus they absorb humidity and help provide moisture to the soil so we now have enriched soil where growth is free and happy Antiseptic antiseptic spider Spider only vegetarian pests can harm plants of 13 lakh insect species only about 1% are vegetarian the others too live on the farm but do not harm growth it is as nature had intended it to be before science developed pulling out weeds kills bacteria weeds grow only where sunlight
Falls they have a limited life after which they rot and form manure the idea is to learn how to leave nature alone for example multicrop plantations do not work for survey they require too much human interference he says he does basic flying before the first crop he grows rice in the rainy
Season wheat in Winter and nitrogen fixing PES like moong and uded in the third season of the year rice and wheat drain the soil of nitrogen content close on its heel 3 kgs of the Moon crop heals 200 k of nitrogen and the land is again
Ready for a rice crop chemical inputs to achieve this nitrogen balance would cost about 1600 rupees in a sense natural farming doesn’t increase production so much as it reduces the input costs for the same yield that conventional methods would come up with sa acknowledges that Farms with chemical inputs may be
Producing more inare quantity but the cost input varies to earn 100 rupees sa’s input is 7 rupees the key apparently is not to buy earthworms wholesale and drop them on your land rather it is to allow a natural process to develop where plant looks after plant and insects nurture growth natural
Farming requires up to 5 years to take off profits are low initially but perseverance helps within 10 years survey’s profits increased by 400% and he now has a farm which grows vegetables mangoes papayas bananas lemons coconuts and three crops a year natural farming is all about discovering Nature’s Secrets slowly if
You are wondering why a me tree should be planted near a coconut tree it is because bull bulls which build their nests at a height of 6 to 7 ft on the me tree feed on insects which attack coconut leaves if your Curiosity has been aroused right to Kix Dei Village po
Dei taluka um guat for more information no water no fertilizer Noing someone once said we have not inherited to the Earth we have merely borrowed it from our children J prakash Sharma a 10th standard student from bwan Bengal may not be familiar with this quotation but the question he raised is equally significant what will be the solution to
Our water problem 100 years from now after all this dirt will have its effect well I can answer that by saying I don’t know I won’t be around but suit kulati decided to answer J prakash’s question differently here’s what he came up with We often leave Taps running while bathing or brushing our teeth most of us don’t realize it but every day in almost every home liters of precious clean water flow down the drain rain it is estimated that only 30% of the domestic water supply is really used the remaining 70% is discharged as waste
When we have to wake up early to fill buckets because water will be supplied for only an hour or queue up in front of the tank for rationed water that we give this precious liquid the respected deserves and this is a situation urbanites are becoming increasingly familiar with most of the domestic
Supply comes from rivers and lakes but with Rivers becoming increasingly polluted and recycling expensive the dependence on groundwater is growing today it’s not uncommon to see B Wells being sunk even in POS residential areas because Municipal Water Supply is irratic slums and chanties usually have no cooperation water so their only
Source is underground considering that so many people depend on groundw one can’t help but wonder how safe it is Left To Nature water from aquifers is actually one of the cleanest forms because it filters through several layers of soil but that’s only in theory pollution has not spared even this
Precious Source today in many towns underground water has been found unfit for drinking in the capital for instance s lines have been known to leak and contaminate groundwater the fact that diarrhea afflicts about 500 million people each year shows what contamination can do and this is only a
Small part of the problem number of children they are dying due to this dial infection this is mainly caused due to the contaminated water what you get at from the shallow hand pumps most of the drinking water they contain hell a lot of stepo cocaine and EOL which causes the uh major
Damage and uh that takes a great toll of this uh children about 80% of all diseases in developing countries like India are water born a varing reminder of the extent of groundwater pollution in fact pollution is so widespread that it is often difficult to even establish its
Causes in a particular area in the capital for example Solid Waste plays a devastating role in worsening the problem in Delhi if we see then 4,600 tons per day Solid Waste are just being dumped and the unscientific UN scientific Mana dumping of all these V creates lots of ground pollution problem
The Leets basically which are the problem of surface runoffs and then the water gets contaminated which easily gets reflected also in the shallow hand bumps unclean water is often treated as a poor man’s problem but it won’t be for long water is a great leveler it doesn’t
Respect class or status the problem of pollution is particularly acute in in industrial townships the unscrupulous release of millions of liters of chemical affluent has rendered most of the underground water unfit for consumption in many areas you can actually see how contaminated this water Is people drinking this water are likely to develop cancer and neural disorders in the long run what makes this problem worse is the overe exploitation of a fast diminishing commodity millions of liters are drawn by Industries across the country and deeper balls are drilled each year when the water table dries up
Ironically in most cities laws don’t even exist to monitor usage and the fact that it is cheaper than Municipal Water has only increased its exploitation it is obvious that this Supply cannot be sustained pollution being a major problem it needs to be dealt with first who studies say India spends only 10 to
20% of what it ought to on sewage facilities better sewage measures would significantly reduce contamination of underground acers last but definitely not the least conservation has to become an individual and family effort there is going to be much more unplanned growth coming in the future or at least the trend is going
Towards that direction um we have to equip ourselves managerially there’s just no other option a tax on groundwater usage properly enforced would meet the cost Society pays for individual use and make extraction sustainable after all 70% of India’s surface water is already contaminated the least we can do is preserve the
Purity or whatever is left of it of hard winding groundwater Reserves In India there is one death a minute caused by Tuberculosis A
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