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VOL. 17 NO. 9 JULY 2020 www.civilsocietyonline.com /civilsocietyonline `80 FRUIT BOWL BEATS THE LOCKDOWN How Koppal farmers went to market against all odds How Koppal’s farmers went to market FRUIT BOWL BEATS THE LOCKDOWN CYCLING IN CHANDIGARH INTERVIEW THE POST-COVID WORLD Page 8 ‘cONNECT FARMERS Page 27 GO-TO MAN FOR MIGRANTS WITH MARKETs’ SPIRIT OF THE FOREST Page 12 Page 31 N. DAMODARAN ON BOOSTING CAN MGNREGA COPE? THE RURAL ECONOMY THAT SORE THROAT Page 13 Page 6 Page 34 VOICES CONTENTS management, pruning and soil IN THE LIGHT SAMITA RATHOR management. Jitender Chauhan Some apple farmers can be blamed for the present apple crisis. The fact is R E A D U S. W E R E A D Y O U. that we growers traditionally believed in quantity rather than quality, unlike European countries. We have a tendency to increase orchard acreage Beating the rather than maintain reasonable acreage with quality produce. We have shunned the practice of mixed lockdown cropping which is a sustainable method. The present trend of OCKDOWN stories around us are invariably of the hard-luck variety. monoculture has backfired on us. It has been a punishing time for everyone, especially so for those Shiv Negi whose cheap labour fuels economic growth. They have been trapped Lin inhospitable situations for a long time, but what they have now Dr Rajender Jobta’s suggestion, that experienced was unimaginable. big business houses directly source Yet, if the general picture is one of gloom and doom, of joblessness and apples from farmers, is a good one. COVER STORY broken dreams, there have also been instances of people beating back the My suggestion is that instead of lockdown with extraordinary resilience and inventiveness. packaging materials we should use FRUIT BOWL BEATS THE LOCKDOWN Our cover story this month is on farmers in a corner in Karnataka who succeeded in getting their fruits and vegetables to buyers despite the heavy plastic crates for plucking, carrying Farmers in the Koppal district of Karnataka were at risk of losing and transporting to various mandis of odds stacked against them. They were greatly helped, even inspired, by their fruit and vegetable crops during the lockdown. But helped by energetic district officials. It is an example of how an administration can India. local officials they found buyers and cut their losses. Kailash Manta 22 come to the assistance of people through creative collaborations. If local exodus at the time of Partition. We are students misusing mobiles. Our elders officials hadn’t been so accessible and supportive, the farmers almost cover photograph: SHREy gupta LETTERS being identified as Bihari, Jharkhandi say that bad spreads faster than good. Food blues certainly wouldn’t have been able to rise above their circumstances. They and Bengali instead of as Indians. If we use technology for good, it can You wrote about us in your story, needed both encouragement and advice to build beneficial linkages and Street children face tough times ........................................ 10 Ashit Paladhi spread knowledge to all of us. ‘Restaurants brace for change, seek extract at least some value from their produce. Fruits being perishable there K. Raju government help’. We feel our was a need to act quickly and decisively and set aside red tape. Recent policy changes pertaining to agriculture have been widely hailed Workers must be registered, get social problems are too small compared to Poverty and the elderly in India ........................................ 18 security benefits, timely wages, Who says classes can be replaced by what’s happening to others. But when as reforms which will give farmers scope to sell what they produce at a rations, housing, school admission, online study? An organic get-together a magazine covers us for their business better price. But policies without action in reaching out to farmers, understanding their needs and handholding them through new health facilities and subsidized travel. of students is absolutely necessary for section, we realize that at a systemic Helpline, masks, ration kits........................................................... 18 Currently, they are assured nothing. social interaction and building the level, restaurant owners are suffering. arrangements could well amount to little. Ritu qualities and faculties sought to be We were shut for two months. But we In our opening interview, Narendranath Damodaran of PRADAN makes the point that farmers need predictable linkages with markets. To engage in achieved by education. wanted to reopen because we can’t Cleaning up in the Nilgiris ............................................................ 20 E-learning Vishwanathan Menon just fade into oblivion. We still have this way to their advantage they also need help from NGOs, government Your story, ‘How can you run a school customers who crave our food. Every officials, banks and entrepreneurs. PRADAN has worked in some of the poorest districts in the country and has considerable learning on the on TV, internet?’, raises a pertinent Apple dilemma time you support a small business, The highs and lows of tech ............................................................. 28 point. I refer to your story, ‘Can Himachal actual people benefit and not a predicament of people in rural areas. Teaching through online classes can apples survive the big fall?’ The faceless organization. Nikhil Dey of the MKSS discusses the newfound status of MGNREGA in help children. But technology can also Progressive Growers' Association Anusha Pinto & Vijay Giri Democracy and the migrant crisis.............................. 29 the initiatives of the present government, which till very recently regarded it Workers’ exodus spoil children. They may use their (PGA) does a remarkable job through as an unwanted legacy of the UPA government. With people rushing back Letters should be sent to to their villages in large numbers, will MGNREGA be the solution that the I read your cover story, ‘Migrants in smartphones for other purposes and, social media and gives wonderful tips [email protected] the mirror’ with keen interest. The as a government teacher, I see many to apple farmers on nutrition New beginnings for NGOs................................................................ 30 government has cracked it up to be? Will there be enough jobs? Is the Union migrant crisis has shown that just government’s allocation of funds enough? having a mobile and an app isn’t To get an idea of how MGNREGA is doing in a village and what migrant Dying to get out? .................................................................................................... 32 workers who return are experiencing, we spoke to Sanjay Sahni, a enough for the country to progress. People are paid so little for their SUBSCRIBE NOW! campaigner for MGNREGA in Ratnauli village in the district of Muzaffarpur BECAUSE EVERYONE IS SOMEONE in Bihar. Civil Society featured Sahni on our cover in September 2011 and he services and now they are going back R E A D U S. W E R E A D Y O U. Products: Cool masks ................................................................................ 34 found a place in the Civil Society Hall of Fame. to their villages, which have nothing. One year Print + Digital One year Digital The government needs to wake up We have been profiling NGOs and their work during the lockdown. and focus on grassroots growth. Often they have been the only support for people in distress. In this issue we feature the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, an NGO we have come B. Chiramel Contact Civil Society at: ` ` $ to have high regard for. As could be expected, it has been making a 1200 1400 50 `700 $12 [email protected] significant contribution in these troubled times. If the government had enabled Individual Institutional International India International The magazine does not undertake to respond to unsolicited migrant workers to go back to their contributions sent to the editor for publication. Name:................................................................................................................................. villages before announcing the lockdown, they would have reached Address:....................................................................................................................................... their homes safely and the spread of the virus would not have touched this .......................................................State:.......................................Pincode: .................................. Publisher Photography Printed and published by Umesh Anand Umesh Anand Shrey Gupta on behalf of Rita Anand, owner of the Advisory Board Get your copy of Civil Society level. On May 15 the number of new Phone:...........................Mobile:.............................Email:............................................................... title, from A-53 D, First Floor, COVID-19 cases was less than 4,000 Editor Layout & Design Panchsheel Vihar, Malviya Nagar, Aruna Roy Cheque to: Rita Anand Virender Chauhan New Delhi -110017. Nasser Munjee Have Civil Society delivered per day. Content Services and Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Samrat Offset Pvt. Ltd., to you or your friends. Write News Network Arun Maira Narayanan Anayath Mail to: The Publisher, Civil Society, A-16, (West Side), 1st Floor, South Extension - 2, New Delhi - 110049. Cartoonist B-88, Okhla Phase II, New Delhi -110020 to us for current and back Shree Padre, Saibal Samita Rathor Darshan Shankar Phone: