Yatri Panji: The Database Mystery of Puri

Inspired by the news of celebrities finding mention in the records of the Pandas in Puri, I wanted to verify what these records document and how the database has been maintained.

The curiosity was after President Prativa Devi Singh Patil saw mention in the personal records called ‘Yatri Panji’ of the traditional Panda (People traditionally engaged in various services of Jagannath Temple), Damodar Mahasuara, whose family has been looking after the pilgrims from the state of Maharastra and Gujarat.

Not only the President Mrs. Patil, but her husband also did find mention of his ancestors in the records maintained by the Pandas of Puri. 

Former President Gyani Zail Singh and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also were amazed to see the names of their forefathers in the database managed by the Pandas of Puri since time immemorial. 

Called Yatri Panji or Yatri Bahi (visitors’ register), the records of devotees from across India and Nepal besides parts of Afghanistan and present Pakistan, form a huge database of Hindus living across the globe and, in most cases, tells the devotees their origin and ancestral history. These registers may not mean anything to us, but they are the most precious property of the Pandas of Puri who have stored these notebooks carefully in steel almirahs and boxes.

‘This process of recording the details about the devotees is still in practice. We are also following this. But neither we nor, even, the old priests have any idea of who started it and when. “Maybe the system of maintaining records started with the aim to keep the city of Puri secured and nuisance free,” says a young Panda Somanath Pratihari describing the system that regulated all the affairs of the devotees in the abode of Lord Jagannath.

Earlier Puri was not a ‘free-for-all-visitors’ city as it is today. There existed a full-proof system to regulate inflow of devotees into the city and keep a watch on their activities. “In the past, the Pandas used to go to different parts of the country to propagate the cult of Lord Jagannath which, they believed, was a part of their services. They used to prepare the document of devotees interested to visit Puri for a darshan of Lord Jagannath. Then the devotees were to come in due process,” said Somanath. 

The Panda had to hand over the document carrying the names and details of the devotees interested to visit Puri to a man designated as ‘Bata Gumasta’ who would bring the devotees to the outskirts of Puri. Then the devotees had to be looked after by the ‘Ghata Gumastas’ in charge of four Ghats – ‘Swargadwar’, ‘Atharanala’, ‘Mangala’ and ‘Balighat’. The visitors had to give details of their plans in Puri to the Ghata Gumasta who was supposed to manage their stay till darshan of Lord jagannath. As, during those times, a limited number of visitors were allowed for darshan a day, the Ghata Gumasta had to confirm the day of visit for the devotees and hand over an approved number of visitors to the ‘Dhulia Gumasta’ whose duty was to take the devotees till the temple. At the temple was ‘Deuli Gumasta’ who was in charge of taking the visitors inside the temple for the darshan. Each Panda had his own Gumastas to carry out the jobs at four stages. So, in the process, all the devotees who visited Puri for Jagannath Darshan were documented and finally the documents went to the Panda. The database kept being updated every year and went on expanding with records of devotees through generations. 

The expanse of the database with the communities engaged in Jagannath temple services can be well-imagined from the limits the Pandas went through to venture out and propagate the Jagannath Cult and make a list of people interested to see their Lord in Puri. The database included visitors from Kabul, Kandahar, Nepal to Kanyakumari. The vast expanse of the landscape was divided into a number of territories putting one Panda or one family in charge of each territory. For example, one Panda looked after Punjab, Kabul and Kandahar; Nepal remained under one Panda; from Orissa’s Berhampur in Ganjam District to Kanyakumari – the southern part of India remained under one Panda. “Members of the community, i.e. the Pandas, used to start their journey to the respective territories after the rainy season and come back by Akshaya Trutiya to attend the first ritual of theLord’s famous Rath Yatra – the Car Festival,” said Madan Mohan Pratihari adding that, “The flow of devotees used to increase after the harvest season only and touch the peak during Rath Yatra and the database of the community recorded each and every visitor’. 

Maintained since generations without any mechanized device, this unique database of the Pandas of Lord Jagannath Temple has not lost its relevance even today. “We have records since hundreds of years with data over ten to twelve generations of devotees. People from distant places come to us, meaning their respective Panda, to get the ancestral tree up to three or seven generations to perform the Shradh – a Hindu ritual meant to pay tribute to the souls of the predecessors,” said Batakrustna Pratihari – a member of the family that has been looking after devotees from Southern Indian states traditionally

There are many other stories based upon this database. To cite an interesting one dating back to the British days in India, Somanath Pratihari said, “The records of a Panda even helped one to get his share of parental property by proving his legitimacy as an heir. The man – a son of the second wife of his father was denied of any share on the grounds that his mother was not married to the father. The son, while visiting Puri, found the name of his mother mentioned as the wife of his father with his father’s signature below. The man went and placed the data in Patna High Court and got his share.” Somanath has heard of the story from old members and his forefathers who were alive when the incident occurred.

To Madhusudan Khuntia, it is disappointing that, “The huge database of Hindus living across the globe is now facing the danger of becoming stale as its updating scope is getting limited day by day. With facilities of communication and hotels, the city has become easily accessible to everyone and visitors stay in hotels and go back after the darshan. Many do not look for their Panda anymore.

For fun and to satisfy your devotional urge, Puri has many things in and around. But, still, if you want to prepare a family tree or are keen to know where you originated from, here in Puri is something that would make you believe that the cult surrounding the temple of Lord Jagannath has many more mysteries to be explored

This article was published in the May 2011 issue of the Eastern Panorama Magazine.

When Political Parties Question Media Neutrality

As the media fraternity in Odisha gets increasingly vocal about protecting freedom of speech and ensuring a free media, a few political parties in the state have decided to stage a confrontation.

While, in the most recent case, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the ruling party of Odisha, has openly declared a boycott of the OTV, alleging that the channel has been carrying news and views intentionally against the interests of the party, nearly a month back part of the media in the state also felt that the Odisha chapter of BJP was planning to boycott another channel, Kalinga TV, for similar reasons. But the BJP didn’t publicly claim a boycott, the way the BJD did on 21 March 2018 through a press conference.

Intolerance for Critical Voices

Being targeted by political parties, the state government, or individuals in power is not a new experience for Odisha’s media. Before this, during the Bijepur assembly by-elections, BJD had lodged a complaint with the State Election Commission against OTV, raising the issue of neutrality and alleging that the channel was broadcasting paid news.

But this is the first time that the ruling party, BJD, has come out openly against a news channel and announced counter-measures.

For a political party to boycott the media or part of it based on accusations that it promotes views against the government and the ruling party is surely an attempt to take the state into an age of limited democracy.

That’s because the primary objective of the media is to play the role of a watchdog and hold those in power accountable by bringing any wrongdoing in any nook or cranny of the state to public attention. The ruling party and its members should have a corrective instead of coercive approach when reacting to news carried by the media.

But political parties governed by their own political interests are in no position to certify media organisations on neutrality or partiality in their views and content.

Instead, they should trust the general public to make up their own minds regarding bias and neutrality of the content published. Failing that, they are also within their rights to approach relevant forums like the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) or the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to express their grievance and seek a fair deal.

The behaviour of BJD towards OTV, which was once the favourite of the party – with BJD leaders even waiting to speak to the media until a representative of the channel arrived – not only reflects its intolerance towards voices that are critical of the government it leads, but also the arrogance of its leaders and disrespect for a free media, which is central for the survival of democracy.

Time for Media to Confess

There is no doubt that a different public opinion about OTV is emerging, based on some particular news that were given too much importance, since Baijayant Panda, the Kendrapara MP and promoter of the channel, blamed V Karthikeyan Pandian, a bureaucrat serving as the private secretary to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, for all wrongdoings in the party and all the mishaps he had to face in his constituency while in BJD.

But the media shouldn’t sit quiet now after such an unprecedented incident by terming all allegations baseless and shifting the blame to the party.

Pandian is retained in the position he is by none other than the Chief Minister and we can presume that all his acts come with the approval of the Chief Minister.
But neither Panda nor the leaders who followed him in making similar allegations nor the channel has yet questioned the Chief Minister for retaining such a corrupt official if the allegations are to be believed, in his office.

Finally, on biased news, many of the newspapers, TV channels and portals seem to be naturally aligned to particular political parties and ideologies. There is nothing wrong with this in itself. But the media houses need to be upfront to confess to their readers and audience who they are aligned with.

Because when organisations project themselves in the public as neutral or impartial but carry biased news aligned to a particular party or ideology, that’s the biggest fraud by the media to its readers and viewers.

This piece was first published on March 23, 2018, at TheQuint.

Chronic Kidney Disease Plagues Rural Odisha, but Why?

At 47, G Dharma Rao of Badaputi village in Chhatrapur block of Odisha’s Ganjam district suddenly finds himself becoming a burden on his family. He was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) two years ago. Dharma is now unable to do any work and is undergoing dialysis in a Bhubaneswar hospital twice a week.

“We have already spent over 5 lakh rupees for his treatment by taking hand loans from relatives and others at an interest of 2 percent/month,” said G Aimma (42), Dharma’s wife.

The treatment is costly and people in the village have been succumbing to the disease despite medical help.

Epidemic-like Situation

With chronic kidney disease progressing like an epidemic in Badaputi and nearby villages, there are hundreds of women like Ghima, who are either taking care of those taken ill or have lost their family members to the disease, and are left with a crippling financial burden.

S Santamma (50) and P Savitri (45) lost their husbands to renal failure last year. Thirty-five-year-old G Kasturi is struggling to continue the treatment of her husband, G Krushna Rao, who suffers from multiple ailments like kidney stone, lever malfunctioning and tuberculosis in the brain.

"We have spent nearly seven lakh rupees on treatment of my husband by taking loans at a monthly interest of 3 percent." - G Kasturi

Kasturi sent her daughter to work in a medical company in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to help support the family with whatever meagre amount she earns.

"In Badaputi alone, around 100 people were detected with kidney disease and are undergoing treatment and, in three years, over 40 people have died of renal failure." - Gurudev Behera, Local Activist

Total population of Badaputi is somewhere around 3,000.

With the disease affecting people from at least seven villages of three gram panchayats of Kalipalli, Kanamona and Aryapalli, over 200 people from the area are undergoing treatment for chronic kidney disease, while nearly 70 people have died of it in the last three years, he says.

All six members of the family of Gaurang Sahu of the P Laxmipur village died in last four years. “G Apanna of the village committed suicide as he was diagnosed with CKD. With about 15 people already diagnosed with CKD, many are now afraid to go for medical tests fearing trace of CKD and the financial misery following the diagnosis.”

According to Prof Saroj Kumar Panda, consulting nephrologist at Brahmapur-based MKCG Medical College Hospital:

"The disease has been seen among people in this locality since the last 7-8 years. But the disease has progressed mush faster over the last 3-4 years. Most patients come for a diagnostic test at a later stage of kidney disorder, i.e. only when they see unusual symptoms in their body."

No Concrete Reason Why Kidney Disease is on the Rise

“Higher incidence of the disease could be due to the presence of toxic and heavy metal in water and food,” says Prof Panda

These villages are located close to India’s Department of Atomic Energy controlled Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL) and its monazite processing plant. Villagers blame IREL for their woes.

"Piles of waste dumped is polluting the surface as well as groundwater and causing the disease." - A Venkat, Local Activist

But IREL says their claims are not supported by and evidence or reports of tests done so far. An expert committee report based on the test of samples conducted at Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) Central Laboratory, Bhubaneswar, observed that “water quality of the (IREL) periphery area is within the norm and the cause of Kidney disease may not be due to water.”

The December 2017 report, however, recommends a detailed study by NEERI, Nagpur, or National Geo-Physical Research Institute, Hyderabad, to establish the cause of the kidney disease in the area.

A 2015 report based on tests by state public health laboratory also certified that the “water is bacteriologically satisfactory for portability as per the specifications of Indian standard of drinking water under IS 10500:91,” while recommending for high level investigation to delineate the causal relationship.

When approached for a response on the public health issue, Prem Chandra Chaudhary, the Ganjam District Collector, said that “the earlier tests were based on eight parameters. The district administration has planned for a detailed test of water samples on 108 parameters. This may happen sooner within a month.”

“We also plan to supply drinking water sourced from a safe distance to the affected villages,” he added.

Immediate Priorities

“Since it is a public health issue that has already taken over 70 lives and nearly 200 are still suffering, the government shouldn’t wait till the report of the planned expert study comes. It needs to act on an urgent basis and conduct specialised health camps regularly for early detection of kidney disease and provide facilities for treatment of the kidney patients including dialysis,” says the Citizen’s Inquiry Report presented by a team comprising social activists and scientists.

Even as the report was being written, on 22 January 2018, Laxmi Amma (35) of Baginipetta and T. Arjun (38) of Badaputi village succumbed to the chronic kidney disease.

“There is no time to spare as people keep dying. It’s the duty of the State to save lives of people first,” insisted Prafulla Samantara, the Goldman Environmental Prize winner activist who has started a campaign for health safety of the villagers suffering from chronic kidney disease.

This report first appeared on January 24, 2018, at The Quint. 

Traditional tribal farming shows way to climate-smart agriculture

The practice of planting a wide variety of crops by Odisha’s Dongria Kondh tribe could hold the key to strengthen climate-smart agriculture in a state that has been buffeted by recurrent droughts and erratic rainfall

Although crops failed in large parts of Odisha in 2017 due to pest attacks, prolonged periods of dryness and untimely rainfall, farmers among the Dongria Kondh tribe in the south-western parts of the state brought home a rich harvest, primarily due to their traditional practice of diverse cropping to safeguard against nature’s vagaries.

“We hear about the stories of farmers committing suicide in different parts of the state. But we have never faced such a situation when all our crops are lost and there is no hope for our survival,” Raina Saraka, 55, a Dongria Kondh farmer of Leling Padar village in Rayagada district, told indiaclimatedialogue.net.

Last year, the famed rice fields of Odisha were hit by drought, pest attacks and untimely rain at the time of harvest. As per government estimates, crop loss was reported in half a million hectares while drought resulted in crop loss of 33% and above in 70 administrative blocks of 15 districts. Over 10 farmers in the state have committed suicide because of the current agrarian crisis.

In the past decade, the state has suffered one natural calamity after the other almost every year. Thousands of disaster-affected farmers have committed suicide. Experts say that the increasing frequency of natural calamities is a result of global warming and climate change.

“Delayed monsoon has become regular phenomenon, resulting in dry spells and drought-like situations during early kharif (summer cropping) season. Again, untimely rain during October-November disturbs the humid and temperature conditions, making it conducive for spreading of diseases and pests like the brown plant hopper that attacked paddy crop in parts of Odisha this year,” Mayabini Jena, Head of Agricultural Entomology at National Rice Research Institute in Cuttack, told indiaclimatedialogue.net.

Reality of climate change

Suggesting that climate change is a reality and the impacts of it are going to be worse in future, Bidyadhar Maharana, an expert in agriculture as well as a consultant to the Odisha government, warned: “Severe warming, floods, and drought may reduce crop yields. The ranges and distribution of weeds and pests are likely to increase and cause new problems for the crops previously unexposed to these species.”

The current state of agrarian crisis in Odisha is, however, one side of the story. Indigenous farmers who still rely on their traditional farming practices seem to be free from such distress that motivates many of the plain land farmers to sacrifice their lives.

The Dongria Kondhs, an agrarian tribal community inhabiting the forest villages of Koraput, Rayagada, Kandhamal and Kalahandi districts, raise their farms on lower hill slopes where they grow variety of crops ranging from rice, millets, sorghum, leaves, pulses, legumes, vegetables and tubers throughout the season and harvest them crop by crop from October till the end of February every year.

Crop diversity

Growing over 50 varieties of crops is almost a standard with any single farm of a Kondh farmer. In her nearly five acre area farm, Sunamain Mambalaka, 50, a tribal woman farmer from Tada village of Rayagada, grows over 80 varieties of crops including one upland paddy, finger millet, foxtail millet, pearl millet, barnyard millet, little millet, sorghum, maize, edible leaves, black gram, hoarse gram, pigeon peas, cowpeas, varieties of beans and several types of vegetables. In tubers, she has grown arum, yam, sweet potato and tapioca.

“Our dongor (as the tribals name their farms) is influenced by the culture of the forest around us. As the forest is a diversity of plants, our dongor is diversity of crops. It gives us everything, including the seeds for the next year, which we would be using throughout the year. In case any single crop fail, we have many more to survive on,” Sunamain told indiaclimatedialogue.net. “But, so far, I haven’t seen any single year when any single crop grown in the dongor has failed completely.”

In order to grow so many crops in one dongor, the sowing period extends up to five months from April till the end of August, basing upon climatic suitability.

“We broadcast the millet seeds on hill slopes during summer months. Sowing of upland paddy seeds is usually done with arrival of monsoon. Simultaneously, we grow vegetables and other crops as well. While we get spinaches and vegetables from the dongor almost daily, paddy and millets are harvested over a period of five months (from October till February next year),” Kalia Mambalaka, 40, of Tada village told indiaclimatedialogue.net. “All the seeds we use are traditional seeds conserved by farmers of the community. The seeds are shared with farmers from the community.”

Resilient to natural calamities

Almost unaware of the scientific debate and discussion over climate change and its impact, the traditional agrarian practice of these tribal communities has evolved in sync with nature having climate resilience integrated with it naturally.

Genomic profiling of millets like finger millet, pearl millet and sorghum suggest that they are climate-smart grain crops ideal for environments prone to drought and extreme heat. Even the traditional upland paddy varieties they use are less water consuming, so are resilient to drought-like conditions, and are harvested between 60 and 90 days of sowing. As a result, the possibility of complete failure of a staple food crop like millets and upland paddy grown in a dongor is very low even in drought-like conditions.

The dongors can also survive extreme and untimely rain because of the traditional cropping pattern the indigenous farmers follow. “Rain water cannot flow in full speed to wash away the plants and damage the crop,” Gani Kumbaruka, 40, of Kandhaguda village in Rayagada district told indiaclimatedialogue.net. “The speed of the rain water flowing down the hill slope is broken by the thick shrubby black gram and groundnut plants to protect the millet and other crops.”

The tribal farmers don’t need to do anything for pest control but to raise the dongor as a food opportunity for 10 families (dus parivar) including that of the grower, pests, insects, ants, flies, spiders and birds.

“As we grow crops, pests and insects come,” Landi Sikoka of Khalpadar village told indiaclimatedialogue.net. “The ants, flies and spiders eat them. Birds, searching for food, also come to the dongors to eat the flies and insects.”

“This natural system works because they don’t use any kind of chemical fertiliser or pesticide. Rather, they allow pests and insects and their predators to visit the dongor freely,” said Debajeet Sarangi of Living Farms, a non-profit working in the KBK region (undivided Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi districts) on traditional and sustainable agriculture by indigenous communities.

A lesson for others

For these indigenous farmers, agriculture is not just about the yield or producing more, but growing food without harming nature, the soil and the ecosystem, while creating food opportunities for many other co-existing species.

When the world advocates for sustainable and organic farming to achieve global food and nutritional security in the wake of climate change, the traditional agrarian practice by these indigenous farmers make it a case of success to be studied and followed.

A lesson from these tribal farmers would also strengthen climate change adaptability among distressed farmers and help the state and policy makers overcome the agrarian crisis Odisha is facing today.

The report first appeared on January 8, 2018, at the India Climate Dialogue.

As climate change alters agriculture, forest food could be the answer. Odisha's indigenous Kondhs prove it

India's indigenous Kondh community has relied on forest food for millennia. As climate change reduces agricultural yields, this source of nutrition could be crucial for food security. 

As agriculture and climate change are victims and causes of each other, with effects such as drought affecting land productivity, reaching the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals which include achieving global food security and ending hunger by 2030 has become even more challenging.

In view of this, forests can play a crucial role as the basis of a sustainable food system – as has been the norm in the Kondh community, an indigenous group spread across the forests and hilly regions of the south of India’s Odisha state, for millennia. 

The forest in the Kondh community

The forest is central to the life, culture and food system of the Kondhs. “It’s our god, our mother who takes care of us and fulfils all our needs. Had there been no forest we wouldn’t have existed,” Nanda Mambalaka, a Kondh woman from Tada village in Rayagada district explains.

“For these people trees, food in the wild, flora and fauna make the forest an eco-socio-cultural universe that sustains life and meaning,” says Debjeet Sarangi of Living Farms, a non-profit engaged with tribal communities to promote ecological agriculture as the foundation of food security and sovereignty. 

Perennial food source

“Except for the staple crops like millets and rice, the rest of our food comes from the forest throughout the year,” Lachhna Paleka of Leling Padar village in Rayagada points out. In such forest dependent communities, “between 12 and 24 per cent of cooked food is comprised of food harvested in the wild. This doesn’t include fruits and berries that are eaten raw”: these are the findings of a study conducted by Living Farms in collaboration with a team of scientists from the Basudha Biotechnology Laboratory for Conservation.

“It’s an uninterrupted food supply because wild food species are more resilient to climatic vagaries than any cultivated crop,” says ecologist and lead scientist of the study, Dr Debal Deb. “During my 50-year lifetime, we’ve never experienced a situation of acute food scarcity. When a crop is damaged, the forest is there to feed us,” Landi Sikoka of Khalpadar village explains. 

Source of nutrition, forest products

So in the face of climate change, forests provide nutritional security to the Kondh people. Honey is a rich source of amino acids, minerals and enzymes, and some of the leaves, mushrooms and tubers harvested in the forest have high amounts of beta-Carotene, minerals like iron, manganese and zinc, soluble proteins and antioxidants, the study finds.

During the year long investigation, “we found that households consuming at least 20 per cent of their cooked food from the forest on average show no signs of malnutrition, prima facie, at all,” says Doctor Deb while urging for further quantification of data on this. “The households that consume a smaller amount of forest food, and are more dependent on the market and cultivated foods show more signs of malnutrition,” he adds.

Nutritional analysis, as shown in the table below, shows high mineral content in forest food consumed by the Kondhs of Odisha. 

Filling the nutritional deficit

Worldwide, malnutrition is on the rise with 815 million people going hungry every day, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017. Projections show that agricultural yields are set to drop up 20 per cent in some areas as a result of climate change and the world population is to reach nearly 10 billion people by 2050.

In a scenario such as this one, forest food is another crucial element to fill the nutritional deficit caused by the impact of climate change on agriculture. The relationship between the Kondh community and the forest testifies it.

This report first appeared on December 27, 2017, at the LifeGate. 

Forest food ensures nutritional security of Odisha’s tribes

Access to naturally grown forest produce would go a long way in protecting tribal communities in Odisha from the worst impacts of climate change and supply them with all that they need for sustenance

Sunamai Mambalaka, a Kondh tribal woman in her 50s, is not bothered about the vulnerability of cultivated crops to climate change. She believes that she and her community will never experience hunger as long as the forest, their perennial source of food, exists. “I was born in the forest, I grew with the forest. Forest is our life and soul,” she said.

To the Kondh community living in Tada village of Rayagada district in Odisha, the forest adjacent to their village has remained the source of food, nutrition and livelihood since generations. Recent studies confirm that forests not only meet the nutritional needs of the communities, but also would play an important role in helping them face vagaries of nature and achieve some of the sustainable development goals.

Perennial food source

“We are never short of food because the forest has plenty to offer us,” 40-year-old Kalia Mambalaka told VillageSquare.in. According to Padmavati Paleka of Leling Padar village, they get a variety of mushrooms, tender bamboo shoots, fruits like custard apple and several kinds of leaves and edible insects during the rainy season.

“Honey and many tubers are harvested throughout the year,” Paleka told VillageSquare.in. While some tubers are harvested during winter, the food items specific to summer include leaves and fruits of mango, kendu, jackfruit, amla, bel and tamarind among others. Except rice, the staple food of Odisha, as 35-year-old Biswanath Sarakka puts it, “Three fourth of the rest of our food comes from the forests.”

The average daily intake of uncultivated forest food ranges between 12% and 24.4% of the total cooked foods, according to a study by Living farms that promotes agro-ecology as the foundation of food security and sovereignty. The study was carried out in Rayagada and Balangir districts, with predominant forest-dependent tribal population.

Key source of nutrition

Conducted in collaboration with Basudha Biotechnology Laboratory for Conservation, the team of scientists led by ecologist and champion of traditional rice Debal Deb studied the link between the biodiversity and ecology of the forest to availability of food items. “This is the first time that we have studied the nutritional properties of available wild foods,” Deb told VillageSquare.in. “It’s not just about food security, but about nutrition as well.”

For example, edible leaves such as gandheri sag and ambgili sag available in the forest have very high content of pro-vitamin A (Beta Carotene), anti-oxidants and soluble protein. The research found that the leaves are rich in digestible iron, zinc and manganese as well.

Some of the tubers and mushrooms also have high iron, zinc, vitamins and anti-oxidant content that are vital for nutritional security. “We found that the households consuming about 20% of their cooked food from the forest have no signs of malnutrition,” Deb said, urging for further studies with quantification of data.

Critical for future food security

Being such storehouses of food with rich nutritional value makes forests critical for future food safety. According to Deb, the forest species are more resilient to climate change than any of the cultivated crops, thus assuring the villagers of nutritional security.

While mentioning that forests are fundamental for food security and improved livelihoods, State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) 2016 released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes, “The forests of the future will increase the resilience of communities by providing food, wood energy, shelter, fodder and fiber; generating income and employment to allow communities and societies to prosper; and harboring biodiversity.”

SOFO 2016 also highlights that, given their multi-functionality, forests can play significant roles in achieving about six of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets set by the UN. Such contributions are usually poorly reflected in national development and food security strategies. Coupled with poor coordination between stakeholder sectors, forests are mostly left out of policy decisions related to food security and nutrition, FAO observes.

Concerns

Forest foods are in high demand in haats or tribal community markets and nearby rural markets. Forest produce such as honey, amla and several fruits are in great demand in urban malls. Though this may appear as an opportunity for economic empowerment of the tribal communities, this may lead to degradation of the forests, hampering availability. “When there’s greater density, diversity of tree species and basal area (total base area of trees in the forests), the availability of food, not only plants but also animals, is much higher,” Deb told VillageSquare.in.

Though total forest cover in Odisha has increased from 48,903 sq. km in 2011 to 50,354 sq. km in 2015 as per the State of Forest Report, Odisha, very dense forest (VDF) and moderately dense forest (MDF) in the traditional forest boundaries have come down from 7,060 sq. km to 6,763 sq. km and 21,366 sq. km to 19,791 sq. km, respectively.

The other threat is from commercial monoculture plantation on forestland under afforestation and social forestry programs. According to FAO, monoculture plantation totally affects the organic productivity and reduces the natural stability of the soil. “The forest department wanted to plant eucalyptus in our forest land. We didn’t allow,” 52-year-old Landi Sikoka of Khalpadar village told VillageSquare.in. “We plant trees of our choice in the forest periodically.”

Way ahead

“For the tribal communities, forest is not just a source of food, but it’s also a part of their identity,” Debjeet Sarangi of the Living Farms told VillageSquare.in. “Tribes such as the Kondhs’ way of life is respectful of others including nature and recognizes diversity in its different manifestations.” The tribal community’s relationship with the forest is one of belonging rather than ownership.

Community forest management is good for the health of the forests. When local users have long-term rights to harvest from the forests, they are more likely to monitor and sanction those who break the rules, resulting in better forest conditions, according to Nobel laureate economist, the late Elinor Ostrom, who advocated for common rights over land and forest.

The study conducted by Living Farms corroborates the theory. According to the study, ecosystem of the forest is likely to be much improved in terms of number of tree species, density and food availability, when managed by the communities. “Forest gives us food, fodder, firewood and everything we require,” Sunamai Mambalaka told VillageSquare.in. “It’s our god, our mother.”

The report appeared first on December 11, 2017, at the VillageSquare.

Community radios in Odisha help improve gender parity

Broadcasting programs on gender inequality and against stigmas suffered by women in Odisha, community radio stations have effected a positive change in rural communities where girls are still the ignored population

As news of rampant female feticide in the Nayagarh district of Odisha broke in July 2017, it shocked Usha Patnaik, a social activist and president of Gania Unnayan Committee, a non-profit organization, as it did the rest of India.

Working for more than two decades on issues such as trafficking of girls and women, child marriage and gender-based discrimination, the news made her wonder about the very existence of females in society. “Being a female, I was scared,” she told VillageSquare.in. “How can a society imagine its future by eliminating a sex selectively at the fetal stage?”

However, 10 community radio stations are working in Odisha on changing the mindset of the people, to enable a better environment for the safety of girl children and women.

Endangered sex

Indicating decline in the sex ratio, female population in Nayagarh district has come down from 938 per 1,000 males in 2001 to 915 in 2011, as per the 2011 census report. More worrying is the sex ratio at birth during the last five years — the population of girl babies is 725 for every 1,000 male babies born, as per the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS4). As per the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the sex ratio of children below six years in Nayagarh dropped from 904 to 855.

Apart from declining sex ratio, Nayagarh district has remained the epicenter of trafficking of girls under the guise of marriage since the 1990s. According to NFHS4, it is the sixth district of Odisha with high prevalence of child marriage. In the district, 31.3 % of women between 20 and 24 years of age got married before the age of 18.

“Nayagarh has a conservative patriarchal society where girls are still the ignored population. The indications of it are that many are killed selectively at the fetal stage, many are given in marriage at an early age and many are being trafficked to other states in the name of marriage,” Patnaik told VillageSquare.in.

Change through official machinery

With statistics indicative of the status of the female population, Nayagarh is included in the list of 100 districts covered nationwide under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save a Girl Child, Educate a Girl Child) program. The Government of Odisha in association with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other agencies has taken steps to strengthen implementation of the PCPNDT (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Act, 1994 to check pre-natal sex determination and female feticide in the state.

In accordance with the state policy for girls and women and the state policy for youth, several other programs have been implemented to address gender-based issues and to create an enabling environment for girls.

As a result of the programs, administrative dynamism has improved. Sex ratio at birth in Nayagarh has increased to 883 by September 2016, as per the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) reports. Through various campaigns, girls are encouraged to enroll in schools.

“The situation is changing. But to address the issues related to gender inequality, what still remains a challenge is, changing the behavior of people, despite the proactiveness of the administration and government machinery,” Pritikant Panda, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) at Nayagarh, told VillageSquare.in.

Communicating achievements and awareness

Making its contribution to address the issues facing the female population of the district, the Daspalla-based Radio Surabhi, the only community radio station in Nayagarh, has started a program named Suna Jhia — the golden girl.

“The objective of the program is to tell positive stories highlighting small as well as big achievements of girls in the district through radio so that the parents feel proud of their daughter,” Sisir Kumar Das of Indian Institute of Education and Care, a non-profit organization that promotes Radio Surabhi, informed VillageSquare.in.

Prompted by the poor status of the girl child in the district, Suna Jhia program aims to bring awareness and build scientific temper in the communities while sensitizing the local administration on the ground realities, Das added.

“Now I realize that the two abortions I suffered and the several illnesses I suffer from are the results of my marriage at an early age. Now that I have learnt from the Suna Jhia program, I will advise girls not to marry early and have an ill fate like mine,” 55-year-old Kainta Gadatia of Adakata village in Daspalla administrative block told VillageSquare.in

Appreciating its objective and reach, though within a radius of about 15 km, “The DCPU is supporting the program from the beginning,” said Panda, the Nayagarh DCPO, adding that Suna Jhia has tremendous impact at the community level.

“In many cases, young boys are consulting officials and deferring their marriage when they find their bride-to-be younger than 18 years,” Sanjukta Dasgupta, a Daspalla-based social activist, informed VillageSquare.in.

Change through community radio

With 10 Community Radio Stations (CRS) operating in Odisha at present, issues related to social justice, gender equality and community development have got a stronger voice in their respective areas of coverage.

The Balianta-based Radio Kishan has successfully changed the mindset of betel leaf farmers who restricted women from working in the betel vine farms because of the women’s natural monthly menstruation. Women are now allowed to work in the betel leaf farms.

“Initially we faced resistance from the community. But things changed in favor of the women as our campaign was based on scientific facts and evidences,” Pradeepta Dutta of Radio Kishan told VillageSquare.in.

In Nuapada district, the Khariar-based Radio Swayamshakti has its focus on issues reflecting gender inequality and health problems in the community. Talking to VillageSquare.in, Biswajit Padhi, chief functionary of the CRS said, “We strive to make the radio an open forum, facilitating free convergence between communities and the Nuapada district administration.”

Way ahead

CRSs in Odisha have done tremendously well in keeping people as well as the administration informed during natural disasters, besides highlighting issues encountered by the grassroots communities. But there are several challenges to be overcome to keep the CRSs running and acting as an effective medium for community level convergence and development.

According to CRS managers, the primary issues include sustainability of the non-commercial radio serving the communities and its limited reach within a 10 km radius. Limited reach makes it difficult to achieve desired goals because geographically, communities do not live as a concentrated population. As the habitations are scattered even beyond the coverage area, community-focused radio programs do not reach all the intended audience.

Highlighting that government support is limited, Padhi in a note of dissent said, “UNICEF, which could support CRSs offers to broadcast content produced by it in association with BBC Media Action free of cost. If reputed global institutions start such practice, how can the CRSs sustain?” However, no comment on this could be obtained from UNICEF, despite attempts.

“Some international NGOs (iNGO) have started networking with local CRSs with their own agenda. If they push issues of their interest into the radio content, some of the issues concerning communities would be ignored by the local CRSs,” Sisir Das told VillageSquare.in, referring to a recently held national level consultation on community radios, organized by an Odisha-based CRS in partnership with an iNGO in Bhubaneswar.

“Such networking with iNGOs can help develop new models of sustainable community radio stations. This would be possible if the iNGOs support capacity building in the sector to identify and present issues that concern the community instead of interfering with the content,” according to him.

Padhi highlighted that minimum support for sustainability and capacity building would encourage more CRSs to be established in the state and energize them to be catalysts of change at the community level.

This report first appeared on October 18, 2017, at the VillageSquare.

Time’s Up, Age-Old Beliefs! Odisha Is Saying No to Child Marriage

Post-2008 riots in Odisha’s tribal populated Kandhamal district, when Rashmita Bagarti (now 27) started the Antarang (literally meaning intimate) Club in the Phiringia block to spearhead peacebuilding activities in the community, she had about 45 members. But to her worry, the number went down to 20 in about a year. As she looked for the reason behind such a drop in membership, she found that at least 12 young girls of the club had got married at an early age and left their villages.

"It was alarming! Because early marriage was the practice in tribal and Dalit communities and it was difficult to ensure long-term participation of young girls in the club. So, I decided to fight against child marriage alongside our peace-building activities," said Rashmita Bagarti, Social Activist.

According to Indian laws, marriage of a girl before the age of 18 and a boy before the age of 21 is child marriage.

Age-Old Beliefs

Home to 62 tribal communities, including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG), making 22.85 per cent of the state population, child marriage is still a norm in the tribal-dominated districts of Odisha, as in Kandhamal.

"This is an age-old practice. Again, having a girl for a longer time at home after puberty is a big risk. While it’s always difficult to get a groom for a girl who doesn’t fit the conventional concept of being young, there is also the risk of love relationships and elopement" - Sanmati Durua (65), Resident, Chanchraguda village, Koraput

"Poverty, deep-rooted gender discrimination and dowry system increase the vulnerability of girls to early marriage" - Puspashri Debi, Member, ActionAid India, Bhubaneswar

According to Jitendra Pattnaik, a Nuapada-based social activist, “Girls are married off early to rid the family from their burden. Parents believe, delay in marriage of a girl would cost more dowry and cause difficulties in getting a groom.”

"Parents in left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected areas are almost compelled to get their children married to save them (the children) from being picked up by extremist groups, who are on a look out for new cadres regularly, said a development activist of Kalahandi district on conditions of anonymity."

The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS4) indicates that the top five child marriage prevalent districts are all tribal dominated and affected by LWE. While the percentage of married women in the age group of 20-24, who got married before they turned 18, remains 39.3 percent in Malkangiri, it is 37.9 percent in Nabarangpur, 35 percent in Mayurbhanj, 34.7 percent in Koraput and 34.4 percent in Rayagada.

Statewide Prevalence

Of other districts, Nayagarh has 31.3 percent of married women in the age group of 20-24 who married before 18. In Khordha, of which the state capital of Bhubaneswar is a part, it is 18.1 per cent.

In Odisha, nearly 21.3 per cent of the currently married women in 20-24 age group married before 18. It was 37.2 percent during NFHS3 (2005-06). Similarly, 11 percent of married men within the age group of 25-29 got married before 21, as per NFHS4, which was 22.2 percent during the NFHS3.

Although child marriage is more prevalent in rural and tribal hinterlands, its presence in urban areas is equally concerning. The difference between urban and rural prevalence is only 2.2 percent for women and 3.6 percent for men of the aforesaid age group.

Health Issues

“Child marriage violates children’s basic rights to survival, development, protection and participation,” said Laxminarayan Nanda, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF, Odisha.

"It limits the freedom of girls and boys and narrows down the scope of dreaming a future of choice. Child marriage also results in the loss of lives and hampers any effort of reducing IMR (infant mortality rate) and MMR (maternal mortality rate) as it leads to malnutrition among mothers and children" - Ghasiram Panda, Activist, ActionAid India.

Another flip side of child marriage is the higher risk of contracting HIV, along with domestic violence and teenage pregnancy, which are among the leading causes of death in girls aged between 15-19.

A World Bank-ICRW joint report has warned earlier that child marriage will cost the developing world trillions of dollars by 2030 because of discontinuation of schooling, health issues, malnutrition, maternal and infant mortality etc.

Ray of Hope

Odisha, however, has been successful in scaling down the prevalence of child marriage in many districts between NFHS3 (2005-06) and NFHS4 (2014-15).

Due to the actions and interventions by both government and non-government agencies, young girls like Daimati Santa of Koraput, Phulmani Raita of Gajapati, Minakshi Guru of Jajpur have stood against child marriage. Many boys have also said no to marriage before turning 21.

"This has become possible due to the transformation of girls into change agents. Having their own space in the form of adolescent girl clubs so that they can discuss their issues freely, is enabling them to spread awareness across the community, thus ensuring an appropriate environment for a smooth transition to adulthood" - Sanjukta Tripathy, Activist, PREM (UNFPA-supported programme).

PREM is a non-profit organisation that manages the UNFPA supported programme under its Action for Adolescent Girls (AAG) initiative in Gajapati’s Gumma block.

“Communities that were hesitant to talk about this issue earlier are now discussing it. Many have even resolved to stop child marriage in their respective communities,” Ghasiram Panda observed.

Need to Spread Awareness

“Yet, the mindset of people who believe in it, promote it and encourage the practice. It has to be changed through reinvigorated action and intervention,” said Laxminarayan Nanda.

According to Dr Amrita Patel, State Project Coordinator of Odisha State Resource Centre for Women, “Community awareness, building on girls’ education and capacity building of families are necessary. Alongside, implementation of the law and awareness are also needed.”

Raising the issue of almost nil registration of cases under the Prevention of Child Marriage Act, Dr Patel urged, “Prosecution has to be strong.”

"On the other hand, prevention is also a critical strategy. However, in today’s world, skill building and making the girls economically independent will take more than curbing the problem of child marriage" - Dr Amrita Patel, State Project Coordinator, Odisha State Resource Centre for Women.

Bringing to fore the issues of dowry as exploitation leading to an unsafe atmosphere for girls in the society, Puspashri Debi sought proper implementation of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Anticipating growing incidents of elopement due to media exposure from childhood, she insisted that “priority should be on creating a safe space for the adolescent to discuss sexuality and personal issues in a free environment.”

The report first appeared on July 25, 2017, at The Quint. 

Tribal women of Sundargarh make organic farming a life-changing economic activity

Tribal communities in Sundargarh district of Odisha have revived the traditional practice of growing food without the help of chemical fertilizers and made it viable economically by making pragmatic changes.

Nirmala Barla (40), a passionate farmer of Sundargarh district’s Brahmanamara village, is a proud woman because she feeds her family with a variety of safely grown food, and not just cereals grown by using lots of chemical fertilizers that are available in the market. In her 14 acres of land, both upland and relatively plain, she grows rice, millet and vegetables without using any inorganic fertilizer. After meeting consumption needs of the family, she is also able to earn a bit by selling the surplus farm produce.

Though keeping account of income and expenditure has never been the practice in her community, she has recently bought a power tiller and managed to meet all expenses of her elder daughter’s marriage without seeking a loan. Her present family of six members, after the marriage of a daughter, makes a good living out of organic farming alone.

Nirmala is not alone in Brahmanamara. All other residents in the village are into organic farming and the soil covering nearly 100 acres of farmland around the village has never been fed with any fertilizer that is inorganic. “We use our own seeds and grow them without applying any fertilizer available in the market. We even don’t use inorganic pesticides to save our crop,” Jagannath Kaudi, a farmer, told VillageSquare.in.

Jagannath and his wife Mahargi had a bumper oil-rich white mustard crop last season. They have harvested 85 kg of the crop from 20 decimals of land by adopting the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method for mustard cultivation. During implementation, they maintained a 2ft gap between plants while planting saplings of 20 days.

Multi-cropping

Explaining how such production is possible, Jagannath says, “We planted onion saplings between the plants. Because we face water scarcity during summer, we used the method of mulching in case of onion. The moisture stored in the mulch also supported other plants in the farm. This apart, we planted maize in the farm to make opportunities for predatory birds who can feed on pests and insects that could damage the main crop of mustard.”

With more than 2,000 farmers from 30 villages engaged and 3,000 acres of land covered, organic farming has now become the popular and viable agricultural practice in Balisankara and Sadar blocks of Sundargarh district.

Big change

Although organic farming is the tradition in parts of this region, economic viability of it has increased in the past few years, after some modifications in practice. “Earlier, we used to add cow dung compost to the soil and sow the seeds in the fields,” 35-year-old woman farmer Soharmati Topno told VillageSquare.in. “The production was very low. In some years, it was not even sufficient for our own consumption.”

The local residents have knowledge of the best practices, which includes soil as well as climatic conditions. They only need to bring in some modifications to it for better production as well as viability, says Nata Kishore Mishra, chief functionary of Centre for Integrated Rural and Tribal Development (CIRTD), a local non-profit working to popularize organic farming and promoting indigenous seed banks by farmers.

“The role of CIRTD has been to popularize organic farming in the region by converting it into a viable economic activity,” Mishra told VillageSquare.in. “Realizing that the production has to increase to fetch the farmers more benefit, we have connected the farmers with experts like Subhash Palekar, the agriculture scientist famous for his idea of zero-budget natural farming.”

Zero-budget natural farming

Stressing upon his argument that all things required for the growth of the plant are available around the root zone of the plants, Palekar insists that there is no need to add anything from outside in the model of zero-budget natural farming because it means producing crops at zero or near-zero cost.

Palekar has visited the place and offered training to farmers on production of organic fertilizers named Jeevamruta (both in solid and liquid forms) using cow dung, cow urine, jaggery and besan (lentil powder) and organic pesticides using neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves, karanja (Pongamia pinnata) leaves, calotropis leaves and garlic in different compositions.

The farmers, mostly from the Munda and Oram tribal communities, further modified the composition for organic fertilizers and pesticides by using molasses rich mahua instead of jaggery as the former is available in plenty in their vicinity and in the nearby forest.

“As mono cropping was the traditional practice, we suggested the farmers to go for multi-cropping and adopt the SRI method in cultivation of millets and other crops like mustard,” says Ashok Das, who coordinates with the farmers on behalf of CIRTD.

Success from modifications

Such modifications, added with application of organic fertilizers, have done wonders for these tribal woman farmers. “Earlier, I used to get only one quintal of ragi (finger millet) from the two acre land near my house. This year, with application of SRI method and organic fertilizer, my harvest has gone up to 12 quintals. To talk about expenditures, we gave our labor and spent less than Rs 200 on fertilizer,” says a happy and contented Nirmala. “Apart from ragi, we also grew several vegetables in the same field.”

The best part of the story is that the women folks prefer to grow food crops against cash crops because meeting food and nutritional requirements of their respective families are their priority.

Such stories are spread across the region. Anita Lakra (30) of Gidhpahadi village got 1130 kg of rice from her one acre of medium land by implementing the SRI method. In another one acre, she grew pulses like black gram and vegetables like tomato, brinjal and cowpea.

“With the modifications in place, even my small piece of agricultural land is sufficient to earn adequate livelihood for my family and to meet expenses for the education of my two children,” Golapi Sa, 40, of Patkijore village who pursues organic farming in nearly two acres of land, told VillageSquare.in.

From individual to collective farming

Now the women folk of these tribal communities do not keep themselves limited to individual farm activities in their own lands only. They have now formed groups comprising landholders and landless poor and take up patches of land on lease to grow variety of nutrition-rich food crops including millets, pulses and vegetables.

This model is developed in lines of the traditional tribal system of Panch, where a team of tribal males from the households work together for terracing, bounding and leveling the sloped land in the hilly terrain to make them farming ready and building small water-harvesting structures for limited irrigation.

One of the best features of these collective models of woman farmers is that even the landless poor member of the group has equal share of the harvest. So, this concept has got wide acceptance and, as of now, 48 woman farmers’ collectives operate in different villages.

The group of eight woman farmers from Oram tribal community of Budajharan village, named Oliva Women Farmers’ Collective, has received several accolades for growing about 12 crops including brinjal, chilly, onion, tomato, cow-pea, watermelon, beans, bitter-gourd, ladies finger, sunflower, pumpkin and leafy-vegetable, in one season by dedicating one row for each crop.

These groups are affiliated to the larger front of tribal communities called Athakoshia Adivasi Ekta Manch, which fights for their rights on forest land and the commons to expand the area under organic farming.

Need for market linkages

According to Nata Kishore Mishra, 1,500 acres of land to be farmed by 1,370 farmers from 30 clusters are to be added for organic farming under Paramparik Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) of the government of India.

But, despite growing demand for organic farm produces, farmers of Sundargarh are yet to fetch the benefit of it. “Even though buyers get interested in our vegetables and other farm produces, we sell our products at the same price the inorganic farm produces are sold at,” says Nirmala, who is not quite aware of the real value of her crops and vegetables grown through the organic method.

As a value-addition initiative, CITRD has started units to produce biscuits and cakes from ragi produced by these farmers as they are in demand for nutritional value. It also takes catering contracts to serve food made with everything organic. A separate space is also given to the organic farmers to sell their produces in the local market. But the benefits are still away from the farmers as prices are the same as normal farm produces.

“Reliable market linkages and procurement of the organic farm produces from these woman-farmers by government agencies at a genuine price would boost their income and mobilise more farmers to take up organic farming and become safe food suppliers,” says Rajendra Barla, Nirmala’s husband.

The report first appeared on July 12, 2017, at the VillageSquare. 

Air pollution in India, a threat to human lives bigger than terrorism

Air pollution in India kills more people than terrorism every year. Yet there is no international war against pollution as there is against terrorism

Terrorism has drawn global attention and most countries have joined the effort to contrast it. But the international community is yet to wage a war against air pollution despite the enormity of the hazard it poses for global health. In India, for example, terrorism has taken 65,900 human lives between 1994 and 2017, which is almost half of deaths caused by air pollution in a single year.

92 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas where fine particle levels exceed the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) air quality guidelines, according to the report State of Global Air 2017. Worldwide an estimated 6.5 million deaths (11.6 per cent of the total) were associated with indoor and outdoor air pollution in 2012, according to the WHO. 

Air pollution in India

China and India together accounted for 52 per cent of global deaths attributable to hazardous particulate matter (PM) in the air. Whilst the number of deaths in India has risen 24 per cent over the past decade, the situation has improved in China with a 3 per cent drop since 2005, a Greenpeace analysis estimates.

India has witnessed economic growth, the rapid expansion of cities, industrialisation and fast-paced development of infrastructure since liberalisation during the 1990s. With this the scale of air pollution has increased too making it a major health hazard and killer of people surpassing the number of casualties caused by terrorism.

An estimated 1.2 million people died from the effects of air pollution in 2015 in the country due to ambient particulate matter pollution, according to Global Burden of Diseases. Reports find that the country has recorded a nearly 50 per cent increase in early deaths linked to fine airborne particles between 1990 and 2015. Pollution levels in the country have been rising at an alarming rate. Coal consumption almost doubled and oil consumption increased by 60 per cent from 2005 to 2015. 

A national problem

“A poisonous mixture of smoke, fog, air and other chemicals form ‘smog’ and cause the havoc that we saw in Delhi post-Diwali festival last year,” says Doctor Viyatprajna Acharya, biochemistry professor at Bhubaneswar-based SUM Hospital, commenting on the consequences of the use of firecrackers during the festivities. Yet the problem of deadly air pollution isn’t restricted to the capital region or the country’s metropolitan cities. It has become national in entity, costing the economy an estimated 3 per cent of GDP says a recent report on air quality in Indian cities.

In addition, “young adults exposed to passive smoking for a minimum of two years showed signs of oxidative stress and subtle changes in their lipid profile, placing themselves at higher risk of cardiovascular disorders or even cancer due to mutagenesis at their genetic level,” says Doctor Acharya based on the findings of her research on the effects of passive smoking.

India’s response to the threat of air pollution

In order to address the issue of air pollution India constituted a Steering Committee in 2014 whose members include health sector workers and those in non-health sectors such as renewable energy, petroleum and natural gas, rural development, as well as development partners such as the WHO.

Though more than 200 cities and towns are included in the government-run air quality monitoring network, “measurements in most are only taken twice a week and aren’t available in realtime,” Greenpeace points out. “Lack of realtime monitoring means inhabitants can’t check current pollution levels to protect themselves, and the government is unable to issue public warnings”.

Given its gravity and the number of annual casualties tackling air pollution must be a priority for the government and the approach to deal with it needs to be focused as well as holistic.

The article was first published on May 31, 2017, at the LifeGate.