Conservation, conflict and creativity: Lessons from 27th Shodhyatra

Every time we walk through the villages, forests and the fields, we are struck by the culturally diverse institutions of conservation but also of conflict. While walking through the Ranchi region from Silly to Sundru early this month, we were impressed by a large number of old trees all through the way in the villages. But, in the forest, such old trees were rare to find. The only other Shodhyatra in which we found so many old trees along the way was in Anantnag, J&K. The forest in Arku valley and in Kangra did have old trees. If readers could send information about more than 100 year old trees in cities and villages, imagine what kind of database will emerge. And if children are made the custodian of these trees, we would have created a conservation ethic which indifferent bureaucracy would find difficult to uproot.

As we walked along, we met a group of labourers who asked us about the purpose of the Shodhyatra. We explained that we look for innovators and traditional knowledge holders and honour them at their doorstep. We also looked for creative children and women who have extraordinary imagination. While taking leave, we gave a copy of Soojhbhooj, a Hindi version of Honey Bee newsletter to each one of them. They returned all the copies except one saying that they would share one copy, we could give the rest to others. Such are the sanskars of frugality. Not often, people refuse gifts which are unasked for. Several times we were stopped by the villagers to share their knowledge, music and stories. It seemed that for long, an engagement of this kind was being missed.

We met a 99 year old mota dada whose voice and posture were extremely energetic. He had deep knowledge of climate change, older varieties of rice and the uncultivated vegetables. He also triggered a very interesting discussion on non-chemical pest control in paddy. In several villages, while farmers had taken to chemical pesticides, the knowledge about plants which could help in controlling pests was not completely lost, even if the practice was. We shared an insight we learnt in Kutchch Shodhyatra when a farmer had summed up our concern by saying, what you are saying is that all those plants which are not eaten by cattle because of toxicity are potential source of pesticide. Such a simple summary depicts the wisdom, which many communities still have, in abundance.

Dinanath Koeri is an extraordinary herbal bonesetter whose reputation in joining fractures was much respected in the region. His approach was quite different in many respects from the modern orthopedic and it would be useful to have a scientific investigation of his approach. Before parting, we prayed for his wellbeing and complimented his generous spirit of selfless service. He stopped us for a moment and said, if you want to pray, pray that I get to train at least one disciple before I die. He had four sons and we asked why didnt he train at least one of his sons. His reply was a lesson in institution building. He said that he could have taught his younger son but knowing his tendency to make money from everything, he would have used this knowledge for the same purpose. He did not want that. He would wish that those who can pay may be allowed but those who cannot should not be denied the benefit of such knowledge. Such are the knowledge traditions.

In Hazam village, we met Tuladevi, a midwife who was extremely angry over the practices of modern gynecologists for child delivery. She made three forceful points which have already triggered a discussion in the medical fraternity: [a] the umbilical cord should be cut after around ten minutes when it stops pulsating, [b] the child should be delivered in dark, dimly lit environment to prevent shock and [c] the squatting position should be preferred for delivery instead of lying position. She claimed that low eyesight of many children and fearful nature could be because of neglect of time tested practices. Some of the western scholars have already accepted the logic of these practices. May be Indian practitioners will pay attention when it comes as a western advice. There is a need for thorough scientific review of evidence from around the world to let the science underlying some of the traditional practices be recognized for common good. In the same region, we did find some of the retrograde practices of not feeding the mother for two days and thus not giving the colustrum milk to the children affecting the immunological profile of the children. Some midwifes did recognize the importance of giving colustrum milk within first few hours and the days. With 50 per cent children of India under five years of age malnourished, we cannot delay reforms in dysfunctional traditions just as the functional ones must be carried forward.

In one of the villages, we came across a very interesting innovation in water supply. Normally in schools, one hand pump can serve only one kid at a time. It becomes very difficult to all the children to drink water in the limited time they have for recess. Some teachers and perhaps public health engineers in Jharkhand came out with an interesting idea of attaching a pipe to the hand pump [see photo] having six taps for children to drink water simultaneously. These taps are small outlets and thus water wastage is also avoided which is inevitable in the conventional hand pump having a much

larger output. Earlier in Rajasthan, two innovators had attached a small tap to the hand pump for drinking purpose and the bigger one for filling the bucket. But the current innovation is ideal for school.

We walk in summer in the places which are hot and the winter, which are cold. Voluntary suffering helps in understanding the rural life much better and accordingly share our own knowledge and database with the local communities. The next Shodhyatra is planned to be pursued in Mizoram in January 2012 from 3 11. All participants share their costs and try to learn from within, each other, nature and of course the common people. The context of the social conflicts in many of these regions can be understood when one looks at persistent apathy of the state towards the genuine needs of local communities. There is practically no in-situ value addition in any of the forest regions through which we have walked so far. If one treats tribal people as the labourers of contractors for collecting forest produce, no amount of police action is going to bring about peace, no matter what the Home Minister may think. There is a need for serious reconsideration of the policies of engagement with tribal and other communities, neglected so long.