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VOL. 14 NO. 4 FEBRUARY 2017 www.civilsocietyonline.com .com/civilsocietyonline `50 10 DOCUMENTARIES TO SEE IN 2017 OUR GRANDPARENTs’ Home AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN CECILIA INDIA IN A DAY THE IMMORTALS MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN WAR SAEED MIRZA GODS IN SHACKLES 18 FEET MOSTLY SUNNY Sunny Leone in Mostly Sunny FIGHT TO SAVE OLD GOA INTERVIEW ORAHI CRACKS POOLING Pages 8-9 ‘gurgAON CAN ONE Pages 22-23 chennai’s misSING TREES DAY BE A WALKABLE, IMPORTANCE OF PRETENCE Pages 10-11 CYCLABLE CITY’ Pages 25-26 KERALA GROWS TOMATOES MANAS FULORIA THEATRE IN THE JUNGLE Pages 14-16 Pages 6-7 Pages 29-30 CONTENTS R E A D U S. W E R E A D Y O U. Independent voices ITH information increasingly adrift in the choppy waters of the Internet on the one hand and dominated by strong corporate interests on the other, the need for independent and identifiableW voices keeps growing. A complex world deserves many stories and they should come from sources that aren’t enslaved by technologies and market forces. Documentary films, in this regard, can be very valuable because of the insights they provide into lives and developments. Small efforts, undertaken mostly with spirit and conviction and at a safe distance COVER STORY from box-office ambitions, tend to be honest offerings. You know where they are coming from and you are free to like, dislike and disagree as you 10 documentaries to see may choose. We cast our net to bring in an interesting catch of documentary Civil Society has been reporting on cinema for a long time now. We’ve also films that will be worth watching in 2017. Some are just out and looked at documentary films, but with this cover story we have attempted a others are ready to be released. listing. Remember it is by no means a rating and as lists go it is not 18 exhaustive. So take it for what it is — a bunch of documentaries we’ve come across and are happy to bring to your notice. What is interesting about the COVER PHOTOGRAPH: AJIT KRISHNA list is the range — the films go from Sunny Leone to the Aam Aadmi Party and Dalit concerns. It is the kind of diversity we like to present in this ‘A jazz fest in Agartala’ ..................................................................... 12-14 magazine. India’s future is linked to its cities. But urban governance is in a mess and The mushroom lady......................................................................................... 24 it should worry all of us a great deal. Those of us who live in Delhi and the rest of the National Capital Region are aware of its rapid decline. Much the same is the case with other cities, big and small, in the country. Multiple Listen to Bastar’s agony ............................................................................ 26 crises haunt them. Can things improve? Will civic administration get better? Or is this a downward spiral from which there will be no return? One reason Harvesting Rain for Profit we should have hope is that the world over cities have clawed their way back Name: Shri Muniraj, A govt teacher’s challenges .............................................................. 27 from a very poor quality of life. So, we have examples we can learn from. Village: Muthur, Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu But it is not easy and the urbanisation India is experiencing comes with its own complexities. Better systems will make a difference, but finally it is EIA needed for real estate ................................................................. 28 civic leadership and a responsible citizenry that will make the difference. Muniraj, a marginal farmer with seven acres of land from Muthur village of Krishnagiri district, had a Right now both are scarce in India. Councillors and mayors, who should be greenhouse where he practiced floriculture. However, a falling water table meant that irrigation became a providing the leadership, are way down the political pecking order. They The stunning city of Hampi .......................................................... 31 just don’t get listened to and they lack the capacity to have a modern and problem – especially during summer months even for drip irrigation. sustainable strategy for the huge territories they are supposed to govern. But there are also fireflies who provide hope and we are always happy to To overcome the problem of insufficient water, Srinivasan Services Trust (SST) encouraged Muniraj to The image of Ma ...................................................................................................... 32 bring you their stories in the belief that they point to the future. So it is that save every drop of rainwater falling on his green house. SST provided technical information and we have an interview with Manas Fuloria on Gurgaon. Manas runs a engineering support for creating a pond, next to the greenhouse, large enough to collect six lakh litres of software company, but it is with amazing dedication that he pursues the Why fewer women are working ............................... 32-33 mission of transforming Gurgaon and its hinterland. In this interview he rainwater. To prevent loss by seepage, the pond was lined with a polythene sheet and a shade net was used tells us how he thinks it can be done. We also have stories from Chennai and as cover to help arrest loss by evaporation. The pond gets filled up with 3 days of rain. The water saved in Goa where citizens are trying hard to improve urban spaces — bringing .......................... Dhokra redux & Frames and bowls 34 back indigenous species of trees and protecting heritage. It is not easy to this pond is sufficient for the crop needs for one season. undertake such efforts. IMPACT: Muniraj is now financially secure and earns more than `30,000 per month. He has built a Contact Civil Society at: pucca house and also bought a car. He has become an expert on rainwater harvesting and offers advice to [email protected] several villages in the area. The magazine does not undertake to respond to unsolicited contributions sent to the editor for publication. SRINIVASAN SERVICES TRUST Publisher Layout & Design First Floor, Panchsheel Vihar, Umesh Anand Virender Chauhan Malviya Nagar, New Delhi -110017. Advisory Board Get your copy of Civil Society Aruna Roy (CSR Arm of TVS Motor Company) Editor Cartoonist Printed at Samrat Offset Pvt. Ltd., Rita Anand Samita Rathor B-88, Okhla Phase II, New Delhi - 110020. Nasser Munjee Have Civil Society delivered Arun Maira to you or your friends. 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I wonder when things will be back to normal. Vivek Nice details about the MFI sector, the worst affected by the cash crunch. The government should consider the practical difficulties of microfinance borrowers, who are at the bottom of the pyramid, and relax bank withdrawals for them. Really sorry to lose such a remarkable Thank you for this tribute. It does justice Chetan LETTERS person of great integrity and deep to Anupam’s work and shows how vital insights into the issues facing rural he was to the world of water justice. Kumarakom India. Thank you also for highlighting the Nila Vora ethical manner in which he worked: Thanks for Susheela Nair’s article, such a rare quality today. He was a poet ‘Tourism makes Kumarakom smile.' Your article on Anupam was and a visionary, yet so practical and We visited Kumarakom three years beautifully written. I was lucky to down to earth. We will miss him. ago and stayed in city hotels. Only have known and interacted with him Amita Baviskar once did we travel to Kumarakom’s during my Narmada Bachao Andolan lakes and canals on our own. It was a (NBA) days in the early 1990s. What May his soul rest in peace. He was a truly memorable journey. a soft-spoken, immensely legend in our society and nation in Next time, we will certainly try to knowledgeable and kind person he the water sector. Bhagwat Prasad avail of the Kerala government and was! Thanks to him, GPF gave a lot of village panchayats’ rural tourism support to NBA, including use of I heard about the unique efforts in offer. their building for meetings, press the water sector by Anupam, the Gurmel Mouji conferences and as a place to just go great inspirer, at a Vidya Bharati and get some refuge on hot summer meeting and was really motivated. Let EMPOWERING DIFFERENTLY ABLED Letters should be sent to - days. India shall truly miss this man! all of us be committed.