Power to the people
A people's movement, like that in Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashtra and Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh (MP), is indispensable before ecological regeneration can be undertaken in Rajasthan. This was stated by Anil Agarwal, director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) in a presentation to Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, the state's agriculture minister and other senior officials in Jaipur recently. He was referring to how ecological regeneration could alleviate poverty in the Aravali hills in Rajasthan's Southern Plateau region. The area is home to several poor tribal communities.
Agarwal cited several instances of such regeneration in the villages of Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra. He also talked about the work of the Tarun Bharat Sangh in Rajasthan's Alwar district, and the work of the Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Development in MP.
During a recent visit to Jhabua in MP, the Congress party president Sonia Gandhi had echoed similar sentiments. She had also felt that the MP government's experiments should be replicated in similar areas in other states (Sonia in Jhabua, Down To Earth , Vol 7, No 15). Speaking on the occasion Gehlot said that drinking water resources must be protected at all cost.
Agarwal emphasised that in order to start a people's movement, it was important to bring about inter-department coordination and integrate land, water and forest management. He told the CM that a successful movement can only be possible when the government empowers the people to manage the resources. And this, he said, can only happen if the CM himself heads the government's schemes.
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