Waste, waste and waste???

Bahour is the rice bowl of Pondicherry. It is also a historical location where the Cholas used it as their Mandalam for the entire operations almost a millenium ago. Bahour has a good network of irrigation tanks and its associated channels which are the lifeline of the entire region.

But for the past couple of years, a lot undesirable things are happening here including sand mining in the Pennaiyar river, attempts to convert the water bodies into other uses, conversion of agricultural lands to real estate etc. There are also a couple of medical colleges, engineering colleges, B.Ed. colleges etc. which all have converted prime agricultural land into buildings and campuses cutting the drainage channels, polluting the whole area with their wastes and effluents etc.

Even more, even wastes from the neighbouring district of Cuddalore are also being dumped along the roads. These also include bio-medical waste and other toxics. The Mullodai road connecting the ECR to the Parikkalpet village, is also fully laden with huge heaps of waste which are also burnt sometimes creating huge pollution in the area.

What you see here is the huge waste heap dumped on the Kannikoil Bahour road adjacent to an Industrial unit. These huge heap would leach all the toxics inside and the leachate would get into the adjacent drainage channel which joins the Mullodai drainage channel and could have a very bad impact on the entire area.

Overflowing Irrigation Tank: Manapet, Bahour, Puducherry, INDIA

This is part of a system of Irrigation tanks  in the Bahour Commune of Puducherry, INDIA. This is the Manapet Tank..With a just a couple of days's of rainfall, the tank is full and overflowing... Most of the tanks in Bahour are full now. These tanks are of great value to the ground water  recharging as well as to the local agriculture.  Many of the tank systems are under threat from encroachments, pollution, neglect from the people as well as the state..but thanks to the active Tank Associations in Bahour, they are exist today...

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Quite, still and serene...

A new beginning...

The plant does not complaint
Below the cut off branch
Comes another new branch
In the hope of a new beginning.....

A rural vegetable shop near Soriankuppam, Bahour, Pondicherry

Gliricidia flowers...

Gliricidia is a common tree species which was introduced into India for green leaf manure I suppose. I dont see many cows have a liking for this though it is also considered as a fodder. 

From wikipedia.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliricidia_sepium) 

The tree is used in many tropical and sub-tropical countries for various purposes such as live fencing, fodder, coffee shade, firewood,^[4] green manure and rat poison.^[5] Live fences can be grown from 1.5 m to 2.0 m stakes of Gliricidia sepium in just a month. Gliricidia can be intercropped with maize. Its effect is that of a potent fertilizer.^[6][5]

Because it fixes nitrogen in the soil, it boosts crop yields significantly without the expense of chemical fertilizers. In addition, it tolerates being cut back to crop height year after year. The trees go into a dormant state when they are cut back, so the root system is not competing straight away for the nutrients, and the crop is free to become established. The trees only really start to come out of the dormant phase when the crop is already tall

G. sepium is also used for its medicinal and insect repellent properties. Farmers in Latin America often wash their livestock with a paste made of crushed G. sepium leaves to ward off torsalos. In the Philippines, the extract obtained from its leaves is used to remove external parasites.^[2]

G. sepium is a fast-growing ruderal species that takes advantage of slash and burn practices in its native range. Its swift propagation has caused it to be considered as a weed in Jamaica.^[3] Because it is easily propagated and grows quickly, it has also been suggested that this species may be planted to reduce topsoil erosion in the initial stages of reforesting denuded areas, an intermediate step to be taken before introducing species that take longer to grow.

I am pretty serious....

Cuddalore, Tamilnadu.

Traditional Tiled Roof

Traditional tiled roof of a village house in Cuddalore District, Tamilnadu.

Buildings, Construction, ...

Sand, a rare raw material these days ...

Winged beauties

Winged beauties at Chennai.

A rainy evening and the little birds....

Last week when I was in Kerala I spent a few hours in my in-laws' home in Vadakara. It was raining heavily, and the sound of the rain was a music to my ears, especially when I had gone from Pondicherry to Kerala, where Pondicherry was pretty hot, the cool, soothing showers was a pleasant site to watch.  While glancing through the dripping leaves and trees, I happen to see a bunch of these little birds, sitting safely at a corner of the verandah of the house... They also seem to enjoy the rain,.... It was a beautiful sight .... Here are a few shots...

Wordless Wild Beauty...

Seen everywhere...

Growing wild...

Such tiny flowers...

Wordless Wild Beauty...

(Lantana flower)...

They make the mansions, living in the slums....

This photo was taken from a high tech medical facility which caters to the VIPs and those who can afford 5 star medical treatment only. Just happened to see these construction workers who were toiling in the hot summer of June.  

These toiling workers do not have any insurance, nor any social protection, nor any minimum wages fixed. They come as contractual labour from the slums of the city, or from Andhra Pradesh or even as far from West Bengal where huge contingents of youth (including large number of child labour). 

They make the mansions, living in the slums ...

The ever increasing chaos, tensions and greed for money ....

IT is not a new thing. The world over, the tensions are on the rise, chaos is the order of the day. Greed for money is the standard mode. News channels are full of death and killing of children and women and the youth and old alike. Governments are states across the world are busy increasing their command over the weak - for more power, more fuel, more resources and some just for the fun of killing. States too are promoting the same attitude, generating money by any mode they like, often ignoring the poor, the farmers, the women and the children.

I recently read an article about the state government opening a bar near a religious institution, that too very near to my work place, in Bahour, Puducherry. Bahour was once known to be the rice bowl of Pondicherry. Fertile agricultural lands, ample water resources, irrigation tanks and ponds, and above all, very hard working people - I mean, farmers.  Now Bahour is becoming more of a real estate ground for the greedy, rich eagles to invest, to plunder the beautiful resources, to damage the historic tanks and temples, where polluting industries are given licences left and right like steel industries, chemical industries and what not?  Aren't there any standards when licences are issued to bars/liquor shops that they should not be near educational institutions or religious institutions? Or is the motive of the government only to make money?? That too at what ever costs? This is even more ironical that the road where the bar has been opened does not even have a decent bus service. What are our real developmental agenda for a place like Bahour?? Is it only to convert our historical places into dumping yards or liquour shops or converting our historical irrigation tanks to house plots to satisfy the goons who help the political machinery to continue their jobs??

Interestingly, an officer of the department where such licences are given is known to be a famous environmentalist, winner of the national award for protecting the environment and is known to be an ambassador of peace, green and sustainable development. But even this officer is not able to do any thing, or rather one can not understand what the real motives of such persons  is ?

Recently a farmer from the same Bahour region along with his father consumed poison in front of the Revenue officials when the revenue authorities came to evict their only piece of lands measuring less than half an acre.  While the father survived, the son died. While government poromboke lands or temple lands are available in plenty, what was the need or urgency of the government to acquire the small piece of land of a marginal farmer making him a landless labour and distributing the land to political goons who already have three or four free house plots? One can not understand the mood of the government. We hope the government is sympathetic to the poor and the weaker sections and they would realize that a lot more needs to be done to the people rather than opening bars or giving free house pattas to their own followers.  A lot more can be done in this small and beautiful Union Territory. Let us hope the government wake up.  This government had done good things in the past, and can do it again. 

The Make Science Programme

For the last eight years, I have been involved in a unique programme on Science Education front. This is called the faites de la science (in French) which the French translate as "Make Science Programme", but which I think is more appropriate to be translated as "Let's do/celebrate science".

The Programme is unique in many means. First of all, it is limited to students of Government schools of Pondicherry district alone. Affluent private school children can not participate and thus can not out-smart the poor, rural children who study in the government schools. Secondly, it is about exploring science around the school and have lot of scope for the school children. Thirdly, it is run by the University of Paris, South 11, Orsay, France where the project are evaluated and certified by an Expert Jury of the University and where certificates are issued to them, which itself is a very prestigious educational institution with a number of Nobel laureates and Field Medalists to claim.  Fourth, every project done by the Indian student are video-documented in Puducherry and sent to France with sub-titles in English (for Tamil voice), and later the Jury members interact with the School kids through a live video conferencing before they announce the prizes.

We, from Pondicherry Science Forum started this programme eight years ago with help from Dr.Santhroubane who is a Pondicherrian settled in France and along with his friend Prof.Pierre Fontes who himself is an accomplished Science Communicator and who has the habit of conducting science experiments in street corners and shopping malls etc. A number of people have been involved in this programme.

This year's video editing was completed just now and the films have been despatched to France. Eight years - indeed a long time ... and a large number of children have been benefited already, a large number of school teachers have been trained in project research methodology... and for Pondicherry Science Forum, it has been a great programme. But the entire exercise of videography, editing, sub-titling, DVD authoring is becoming a huge task for me...and I wonder how long I can continue to do this ....Another year? Let us hope ...