Greening the Desert

When Ramuram Bishnoi finally got an address of his own — 8 DOBB in Bikaner — it was this apparent oasis in the middle of the desert that fulfilled his dream. Bishnoi’s settlement,which houses 60 other families,is located on the eighth direct outlet from the Indira Gandhi canal. The water from this outlet has not only given Bishnoi his first postal address,but also regular drinking water,a permanent house,two vehicles and 150 bighas of well-watered farmland,making him a successful farmer.

The Indira Gandhi canal,work on which began in 1958,starts from the Harike Barrage at the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers in Punjab and runs through seven districts — Barmer,Bikaner,Churu,Hanumangarh,Jaisalmer,Jodhpur,and Sriganganagar — in Rajasthan. It’s here,in the heart of the Thar desert,around Bikaner and Jaisalmer,that the change it has wrought is most apparent. “This entire area was barren two decades ago,just sand,scrub and a few rocks. Nobody bothered naming anything around here. Then came the canal and suddenly people from all around began moving into areas adjoining the waterway,first for the drinking water and then for farming,” says 53-year-old Bishnoi. People who came in were allotted land by the government and given a numerical address number,based on the distance from the canal.

Located around 120 km from Bikaner city,Bishnoi’s house lies 10-odd km from the main canal. “A trip to Bikaner in the old days would take five days on a camel cart loaded with fodder. Now,in my jeep,I can make a round trip in around three hours,” he says. Only a jeep,preferably a four-wheel drive variant,is successful in 8 DOBB. While tarred roads were constructed along the main canal,the 10 km drive to Bishnoi’s house is through farmlands and low sand dunes on a barely noticeable path.

The bumpy ride takes the better part of an hour,and a few detours — there are obviously no signposts — but once there,the herder-turned-farmer proudly displays his stone house. “See,” he points to a four-room house that is under construction,“the stones come from Jaisalmer and the rest from around my land. I am the first member of my family to have built a pucca house.”

Bishnoi remembers the time when he was growing up,living with his family in a cluster of huts in the middle of the desert,their 150 cattle their primary source of livelihood. Food came from the few crops they could cultivate,and the little water they had,had to be carefully rationed. “It was saline water mostly. One could never rely on the rains. The only crops that we could cultivate were millets and barley,” Bishnoi says. But,millets and barley made for the best fodder for animals,so their existence was symbiotic.

 Over lunch,Bishnoi and his son talk about their harvest this season and about expanding their horizons:

“This time the methi,chana,sarson and genhu crops are coming along nicely,” Bishnoi tells his son.

“But I think the experiment with garlic is a success and we should concentrate on vegetables,” says his son Shivnarayan.

“That is a small crop,why deal with something alien to this land?”

“But I know three people who have started onions and other vegetables and they are earning huge returns,”

“Lets see what garlic gives us and deal with the remaining,later,” says Bishnoi,signalling an end to what he believes should have been a private conversation.

“During a good harvest season,with proper rains and good rates at the mandi,we usually earn about Rs 5-6 lakh after operational costs. Since we were deprived for so many years,we know the value of water and we use sprinklers and drip irrigation here to get the best results,” Bishnoi says.

 8 DOBB has at least 60 other families with land holdings ranging from 25 bighas to 250 bighas. There are at least 50 such settlements along this branch of the canal and each is as prosperous as the next. “In some parts of Sriganganagar district in north Rajasthan,where the canal enters the state,some farmers have even began cultivating rice and cotton,” says Bishnoi. Other lifestyle changes too have been necessary. “Twenty years ago,we had,at least,100 cows and goats each and about 25 camels. But now they are hard to maintain and they graze on the crops we grow. So I only have around 20 cattle and some goats,” Bishnoi says. It’s primarily because he loves his home produced milk,curd and ghee. “Even the Prime minister of the country does not get milk and curd as fresh as we do here,” he says.

In the village of Chinu in Jaisalmer,Bishnoi’s sense of satisfaction,however,is hard to come by. The village is located on land that is on higher ground than the canal,so even though,the drinking water supply comes from it,it’s difficult to use it for farming. Hameeda,45,moved out a decade ago to a settlement two kilometres from the main village. “We saw other villages getting water and bettering their lives,so we moved out. However,the government does not allow pumping out water and we are still in the same situation. The canal’s mostly gotten us malaria and a convenient spot for estranged lovers to commit suicide,” she says.

Many here complain that traditional methods of water harvesting and storage have failed and government help is hard to come by. Officials from the departments of water resources and agriculture are meant to travel across the settlements often,to not only survey the canal areas but help farmers with proper implementation. “A government official rarely visits a settlement or interacts with farmers. There are several vacant posts in this region,” says Arvind Ojha of the Urmul trust. Based in Bhajju town,some 100 km from Bikaner,he works in rural development in Bikaner. He adds that towards the tail-end of the canal,there are several sections which were inundated with sand and out of use,problems which will be addressed during the renovation.

Yet,undeniably,the canal has brought hope to this parched land,whetting the appetites of its residents for a greener future. Harbans Singh,once a surveyor for the canal construction project,is now the administration officer for Urmul. “When the canal was being constructed,the engineers were always thwarted by the shifting sand dunes and wind storms. A section of the canal would be completed,and suddenly,in summer,it would be filled with sand,” Singh says. The Rajasthan forest department helped plant trees along the length of the canal to keep the sand out.

The canal in the state covers around 450 km,with at least 5,000 km of distributaries. Learning how to utilise this enhanced source of water for farming has had its own dips and perks. Ojha says the creation of the canal was just the stepping stone. “People here are used to farming but few knew how to put the water to best use. The first few years of farming were disastrous for some,after they ended up with waterlogged lands and destroyed crops,” he says.

Sugami Phulasar’s village of Burasar lies on the India-Pakistan border at the far end of the canal. Disadvantageously placed at “the end of the canal,the block,the district,the state,everything,even the country”,Phulasar says it was a struggle initially to produce good crops. Traditionally herders,her family would travel up north towards Sriganganagar,where the canal was constructed earlier and learnt agriculture from farmers there. “The closer one is to the canal,the better the crop. But we still manage a good crop from the 12 bighas of land we own,” she says.

Other changes have been embraced along the way. The popular genhu and johar crops have been supplemented by sarson and methi,and animal husbandry has lost some of its importance. In Awai village,in Jaisalmer district,Himmat Singh,who retired from the Army in 2001,says,“We were used to genhu and johar,both use very little water and were perfect for our conditions. But after the canal came,we wanted to make some money with sarson and methi,but we knew little of their water needs,” she says. Her family tried flood irrigation initially,with disastrous results and later kept reducing the water till they managed a good harvest. “Farming’s complex,and sometimes risky,but the returns are better. Of the 250 houses in Awai,everyone is now a farmer,while 20 years ago,only a few rich families would dare to farm,” Singh says.

Prosperity has its own vices. If there’s anything that Bishnoi misses,it’s the simplicity of the past. “There was a sense of community. Abhi toh bhaichara kam aur badmashi zyada (rather than developing a sense of community,people look to cheat each other),” he says. “Every body wants to own a Scorpio or a Bolero or some SUV,and will go to any length to acquire it,” says Singh. But it’s a price they would rather pay,for the canal has given them so much. “Of course,there’s greed,but there are also roads,education and health infrastructure,” says Singh.