'No Transparency, Changing Goals'

Cauvery Calling Page 1_Layout 1 11/25/2019 10:37 AM Page 1 LAB JOURNAL OF THE ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM THE WORD WHY THIS ‘CAUVERY CALLING’ November 23, 2019 Interrogating ‘No transparency, changing goals’ ‘Cauvery Calling’: PANEL QUESTIONS CAUVERY CALLING Issues of Ecologies, Cultures and Livelihoods ABHINAV CHAKRABORTY & ASHREYA PATIAL Organised by Asian College of Journalism in asso - Describing the proposal in the Cauvery Calling project as scienti - ciation with Coalition for Environmental Justice fically unsound and lacking in dis - in India; Environment Support Group (Banga - cussion with stakeholders, former director of the Kerala Forest Re - lore); Citizen consumer and Civic Action Group search Institute P.N. Easa said a (Chennai); Poovalagin Nanbargal (Chennai); Peo - strategy should be based on con - ples Watch (Madurai); South Asian Network for sultation. “Any fundraising proposal is Dams, Rivers and People; Centre for Financial Ac - usually subjected to questions and countability (New Delhi), Chennai Youth Action peer reviews but there is nothing like that here. It has to be scrutini - on Climate Change; Fridays for the Future (Chen - sed properly as people are giving nai) and Extinction Rebellion (Chennai) money just because of Sadhguru,” he added, referring to Jaggi Vasu - dev, who heads the Isha Foundation driving the Cauvery Calling cam - paign. From left, Leo Saldanha, N Ram, P S Easa, Dhanya Rajendran , Viju B and Bhargavi S Rao discussing the ‘Ways For - Part of a panel discussing the ward’ at the seminar: Interrogating Cauvery Calling PHOTO: ASHREYA PATIAL way forward at a seminar on “In - Can planting terrogating Cauvery Calling: Is - sues, Cultures and Livelihoods”, of the United Nations Convention transgress and go ahead with Cau - jendran added that new ways were said that collective participation Easa called the campaign mere tree to Combat Desertification. very Calling, and said the govern - needed to engage the audience in was required. plantation and not ‘agroforestry’. “There is no transparency, no ve - ment being so subservient was the order to put one’s message through. “All committees on forests and trees solve N. Ram, veteran journalist and rifiable documents and no transpa - most troubling aspect. Viju B., journalist with The biodiversity must be made functio - chairman of The Hindu Group of rent management here,” he added, Dhanya Rajendran, editor of The Times of India in Kochi, stressed nal and people must be aware of its Publications, said Cauvery Calling expressing concern at collection of News Minute, pointed out the how ‘monocrop cultivation’ along provisions and how they work,” was not an ecological project but an funds so far of the targeted Rs mainstream media were generally the Cauvery basin was not desira - she said. economic project with ecological 11,000 crore. encouraging of Sadhguru. ble as every tributary of the river Leo Saldanha, coordinator of the river distress? consequences. Quoting Herodotus on Egypt “Sadhguru has gamed the system had a different micro habitat. Environmental Support Group, said “Sadhguru made it clear that being a “gift of the Nile”, Ram cal - correctly. Media moguls have reve - Talking about the Cauvery basin that livelihood needed to be looked ANJALY RAJ & ABHINAV CHAKRABORTY trees would be planted on farm - led the many achievements of rence for him and are under obliga - as a part of the Western Ghats, he at not in terms of just farmer liveli - land. They keep changing the goal - South India the “gift of the Cau - tion to show him in a good light,” added that any conservation efforts hood but basin livelihood as a Conversations like Interrogating Cauvery Calling must cover all river posts,” he said in reference to an very”. she said. in the region must also include re - whole.“Agro-ecological systems basins across India and not just the Cauvery, Environment Support Group interview between Sadhguru and He questioned the right and ju - Referring to the conclusions in claiming the tributaries. needs to be promoted and not agro - coordinator Leo Saldanha said on Saturday. Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary risdiction of the Isha Foundation to Interrogating Cauvery Calling, Ra - Environmentalist Bhargavi Rao forestry,” he said. “For us, this is a celebration of democracy. Democracy is not a space for didacticism,” he said. Saldanha was setting the context for the seminar “Interrogating Cau - very Calling: Issues of Ecologies, Cultures and Livelihoods” held at the Asian College of Journalism at Taramani. Organised by the Coalition for Environmental Justice in India, an um - Agroforestry at ‘Inadequate understanding brella organization that included ESG, the day-long seminar sought to ex - plore different issues relating to the Cauvery Calling campaign. Citing Cauvery Calling as an outcome of Rally for Rivers which pro - of river systems, dynamics’ moted interlinking of rivers across the country, Saldanha said it was ne - ANMOL AROwRA &h AAaTREtY EEc DHoAR st? cessary to see whether such interlinking was actually feasible. SAMEER KULKARNI & from these examples, and we very water goes to agriculture; pri - “It is one thing to think of it as a massive technocratic dream and an al - A step-by-step initiative should be taken instead of a big scheme like RITUPARNA PALIT should do too.” mary irrigation is focused on water together different thing to take it at an impact level,” he said. Isha Foundation’s agroforestry project as it cannot drastically change the Referring to the man-made crisis intensive crops, rice and sugarcane. The ESG coordinator questioned how agro-forestry was being pitched system, said Dr. Shrinivas Badiger, Fellow at the Centre for Environment The Isha Foundation’s exclusive of groundwater, Shah said that the The farmers grow these crops be - as the only way to rehabilitate the river. and Development. focus on riverside afforestation dis - most important factor for drying up cause there is an assured market. “Can we have a solution to our rivers’ problems by planting trees on a One remedy was to opt for less water intensive crops, he said, during a plays an inadequate understanding of rivers was the competitive ex - As a solution, he said, “The most third of a river basin?” he asked. panel discussion on ‘Is Agroforestry sufficient to save the Cauvery?’ of river systems and their dyna - traction of groundwater that had led important step to revive the Cau - Saldanha said it was important to understand the long term implications M. Siva, a farmer and an environmental activist, said that he would not mics, said Dr. Mihir Shah, in his to a decline in water tables. Rivers very and to end the conflict on both of Cauvery Calling on an ecological, social, economic and cultural level. accept these agroforestry plans as only natural growth should be allowed keynote address at seminar: ‘Inter - have now ended up losing their vo - sides of the border, is to introduce While welcoming the fact that someone as influential as ‘Sadhguru’ along the river basin. rogating ‘Cauvery Calling’: Issues lume to the over-extraction. low-water requiring millets, pulses Jaggi Vasudev had promoted it in a dramatic way by riding a motorbike Isha Foundation’s plan did not include local trees, Siva said. He argued of Ecologies, Cultures and Liveli - Applying these insights to the and oilseeds into public procure - from Tala Cauvery to Chennai, he said that such attention to a river in dis - that clearing naturally-growing grass and shrubs to plant trees would take hoods. Cauvery basin, Shah said that the ment” tress must empower everyone. away the grazing land from animals. The former member to erstwhile crystalline nature of 80 per cent of “This can only be done by in - “The river must be protected in a way that no one’s fundamental rights He also emphasized the fact that most people had small and mid-sized Planning Commission welcomed the Cauvery’s aquifers, the under - centivizing the farmers, not by gi - are affected.” he said. farms and planting trees would restrict farming. So, they would be forced Jaggi Vasudev’s initiative to pro - ground water reserves, made it dif - ving moral lectures or by coercing Saldanha also raised concerns on whether they could turn back and cor - to cut them down. mise a green cover across the banks ficult to recharge the ground water them that is not going to work. rect things if something went wrong. Contrasting between the 60 percent of landless farmers along the Cau - of the Cauvery, but questioned its once extracted. Creating an enduring demand for According to him, while it was important that private individuals, cor - very in Tamil Nadu and coffee cultivators in the upper catchment areas of economic viability for farmers. Talking about the diversity of the the less water intensive crops, will porates and governments come together and pitch solutions in a democra - Karnataka, Badiger said that the impact of agroforestry won’t be the same “Instead of understanding far - Cauvery basin he said, “You can’t provide farmers an incentive to tic space like India, there was a method to aggregate various responses to on everyone. mers’ practices in the first place, have a one-size-fits-all solution, move away from the water-guzz - a crisis that would capture all nuances and impact. Talking about the tank systems which were essential for agricultural the project is coercing the farmers that is a mistake water policy has ling crops that they grow today” Saldanha also stressed how paddy cultivation was part of the cultural communities living in peninsular India, he illustrated his experiences in into joining them,” he said. made, that is the mistake Cauvery Shah said there was a need to ethos of the Cauvery basin and a lot of songs and folklore had emerged out Mysore where planting trees in the catchment areas reduced water level in “Addressing these concerns is Calling is making.

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