Thoughts from a fledgling town

Around 4,000 people in Rajasthan have decided that they don't want their village to mold into an ugly, dirty, parched township.

Around 4,000 people in Rajasthan have decided that they don't want their village to mold into an ugly, dirty, parched township.

They know this requires desilting their lake, cleaning their drains and getting a system in place for waste handling. If they do this, they reason, not only will their quality of life improve but their village will offer improved livelihoods, particularly for women.

Seva Mandir and the National Foundation for India — organizations working with communities and helping them identify solutions to priority problems — link the community with technical specialists happy to volunteer and help set up systems.

But this can't be done without harnessing the village's human resource and energies. It takes a year-and-a-half for a vibrant Nagrik Vikas Manch to get set and take on these renewal projects. Along with the panchayat and some help from the techies, the Manch hopes to propel change.

Does this sound more like a project proposal and less like reality? Well then, this is a true story — the story of Delwara near Udaipur.

Just a week ago, the Nagrik Vikas Manch took a giant leap forward. It accrued a small fund for its corpus. Now, it has the interest to work on small activities.

This isn't a feel-good capsule but points to two important issues: First, local environmental issues have to be revolved by those impacted by it, perhaps with some outside help. Second, as more areas veer towards becoming semi-urban, a new terrain of concerns will emerge.

Do away with incinerators

Do you remember the egg and incinerator story, the one where eggs in Lucknow near an incinerator were contaminated by dioxins released by the incinerator?

Now, reports from the same global study say eggs near incinerators in Egypt and Bulgaria are worse off. In fact, they are close to breaking records for toxicity. The lesson is significant: phase out incineration fast. It is poisoning us globally as it releases dioxins.

(If you feel for Planet Earth, write to earth watch1@rediffmail.com)