AGARIYA HEETRAKSHAK SANGH

Fences to protect wild asses.

2012-01-29T09:36:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Sunday, January 29, 2012.

AHMEDABAD: The shocking incident where five wild asses died on Friday after falling in the Narmada branch canal has raised serious issues over the safety of wild asses outside the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) sanctuary area. Alarmed, the forest department has decided to fence the canal in areas which have large population of wild asses. A study of the corridor movement of the wild asses will also be undertaken, officials said.

About 20 per cent of the 4,000-odd wild ass population are outside the sanctuary and have made these areas their permanent home. Forest department officials said that the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) has taken all precautions as suggested by the forest department. However, the department had failed to suggest measures that should be taken outside the protected boundaries of the sanctuaries.

A study of the corridor movement of animals and even the area where the population of wild ass is more is being carried out by the forest department. "Putting up fencing all along the canal was not possible as it involves huge funding. So we will study the pockets where fencing needs to be installed," said principal secretary of forest and environment S K Nanda. He said all safety precautions will be taken to protect wildlife in the area.

A senior official refusing to be quoted said several studies have shown that in the late 1990s, over 300 wild asses were found upto Bhal and Nalsarovar area in Ahmedabad, but once the construction of the Narmada canal began, the population got isolated.

The officials said since the department has taken care to have adequate passages for the animals to cross over along with proper fencing, the movement inside the LRK sanctuary would not be restricted.

Another senior officer said, "Adequate fencing and safe passages have to be given in the area where the wild asses are present in large number."

He said that at present one can find the wild asses right up to India-Pakistan border and some even cross over to Rajasthan. Officials said in Dhangadhara alone around 8-10 per cent of the wild asses have made the villages in the taluka their permanent home.

Wild ass conservationist Devji Dhamecha said, "The incident has to be taken up seriously. Had there been water, all the 17 wild asses would have drowned." He too said that there was an urgent need to fence the branch canal or else several such incidents will take place in future

Five wild asses drown in Narmada canal.

2012-01-28T10:03:00.000+05:30

The Times of India: Himanshu Kaushik: Saturday, January 28, 2012.

AHMEDABAD: The worst fears of conservationists over the under-construction Narmada branch canal meant to carry water to Kutch district came true on Friday when five wild asses drowned in the Little Rann of Kutch after getting stuck in water under a bridge being constructed across the canal. The incident happened near the famous wild ass sanctuary in Surendranagar district, which is the only location in India where wild asses are still found. A herd of 17 wild asses fell into a slushy cavity while trying to cross under the bridge and only a dozen of them struggled back to firm ground.
Officials said that the remaining 12 were rescued in an operation that continued till late in the evening. Earth moving machines were used to dump mud into the death trap to help pave a way for the animals which got stuck. The incident took place in Haripar village in Dhrangadhara taluka, just five kilometers off the sanctuary.
Forest officials were alerted early in the morning by villagers who saw the herd stuck under the bridge. District forest officer AM Chaudhari said the dead animals were still floating in the water.
The National Wildlife Board (NWB) had in 2008 given conditional approval to the canal which passes through 11 km area of the sanctuary. Officials said there were several doubts raised over the safety of the shy and sensitive animal. The Supreme Court had in 2009 upheld the decision of the NWB.
The canal construction was inaugurated by chief minister Narendra Modi in April last year after assurances by the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court that it would not pose any danger to the endangered species. Only around 4,000 wild asses survive in this desert habitat spread over 5,000 sq. km. The Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur), is known locally as the ghudkhar.
The only other two subspecies of wild asses live in the high arid plateaus of Tibet, making Gujarat the most accessible place to see wild asses in their natural environs.

NID designs ergonomically viable equipment for salt pan workers.

2011-12-14T08:44:00.000+05:30

DNA:Kinjal Desai Parth Shastri:Wednesday, December 14, 2011.

Imagine working in a salt pan under the scorching sun or suffering from terrible wrist and back pain after dragging piles of salt with ill-designed equipment. This is what the agarias or salt pan workers of Gujarat have been going through.

The National Institute of Design (NID) has come forward to lend a helping hand. Senior ergonomist and faculty of interdisciplinary design studies at NID, Prof Subir Das, has designed six pieces of equipment generally used by salt pan workers taking the ergonomic aspects into consideration.

The project is known as 'Redesign of Hand tools for Salt Production Centre'. The six pieces of equipment include pick-axe (used for breaking piles of salt), hoa (to collect salt), dhantola, scrapper, roller and a basket to carry salt.

Prof Das said interacting with the workers helped bring their health issues to the fore. "Because of the traditional design of the equipment, majority of the labourers had developed wrist and back ache. So, we have developed the equipment with curvy handles. The new design puts less stress on their wrist and back," he said.

He also added that handles of the equipment were rough, heavy and designed in such a way that they needed the workers to bend their hand while dragging the piles of salt. "We rectified all these problems so that it is easy for the workers to drag salt piles or prepare salt bed. In fact, in one of the pieces of equipment we have created a sitting space that will allow the worker to carry his child in the salt pan field," said Prof Das.

"Also, we have given better grip to the basket making it easy for workers to hold it," said Prof Das, adding that they have also suggested providing proper head and foot gear to them.

Little Rann no longer worth its salt ?

2011-12-14T08:40:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Parth ShastriParth Shastri:Wednesday, December 14, 2011.

SURENDRANAGAR: It is the area that produces more than 25% of India's total salt. Little Rann of Kutch is among the major areas where salt pans exist in the desert and not on sea shore, thanks to high salinity in water. The industry, however, is now experiencing a setback due to shortage of water that has led the salt pan owners to start digging deeper and farther in the Rann.

Vijay Patel, 43, a salt pan owner at Satapar village near the Rann, said that earlier the water was available around 10 kilometers in desert and they had to dig up 10 to 20 feet to get the water deposits that could be used for the salt production. "However today, we have to go as far as 40 kilometers in search of underground saline water and the dig as deep as 55 feet. Yet, there is no guarantee of finding water," he said.

Patel is not alone. Salt industry is the biggest employment generator for the area for the past 40 years. Around 13,000 workers get direct employment and other fringe industries such as transportation and packaging generate 15,000 more jobs. The areas around the Rann had more than 1,200 saltpans functioning five years ago. However, the number has gone down to 750 since.

Salt pan owners had formed an association last year for negotiation with the buyers and government. Dharamshi Thakor, president of the association, told TOI that one bore well used to be sufficient for a saltpan that produces 400 to 500 tons of salt. "Today, we require four bore wells to produce the same quantity. As we have to depend on generators to bring water to surface from such a depth, the cost works against the industry. Today we are selling a ton of salt at Rs 2,500. The price will soon shoot up if the problem persists," he said.

Ambubhai Patel, a community member from Kharaghoda village and expert on saltpan workers, said that the problem partially lies in the overuse of saline water. "I remember that saline water used to be found at four feet in 1972. A pair of bullocks was enough to get the water for business. Today, many have jumped in the fray and it has resulted in the decrease of water level," he said.

Patel said that simple measures can solve the issue. "We've been urging the state government for years to provide us with a canal from Malia Hati village, the starting point of Little Rann near gulf of Kutch that brings water in the desert. The canal will solve problem of the saline water in the area. However, the proposal has been gathering dust in the government files," he said.

According to industry sources, earlier Surendranagar ranked first in production of salt, thanks to Kharaghoda area. However, over the years, areas in Kutch and Saurashtra have raced ahead of the district.

Ignoring livelihood issues may go against wild ass conservation, local development along the Little Rann of Kutch.

2011-09-29T08:45:00.000+05:30

Counterview:Thursday,September 29, 2011.

An authoritative study, conducted close on the heels of the Gujarat government’s move to displace thousands of salt pan workers, or agariyas, in the name of “preserving the Wild Ass Sanctuary” in the Little Rann of Kutch, has said that ignoring livelihood values of the Rann will be “counterproductive to both local development and well as wild ass conservation.”

Arguing in favour of a community based approach towards the governance of the Rann, instead of the current command-based one, to achieve “a balance between biodiversity conservation and livelihoods”, the study says that the Little Rann of Kutch as dry land and as wetland provides livelihood to traditional salt workers as well as farming communities. However, the communities equally play key role in wild-life conservation. Thus, ignoring livelihoods will prove counter-productive to both local development as well as wild ass conservation.

The study has been conducted by the Hyderabad-based Research Unit for Livelihoods and Natural Resources at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) in collaboration with Agariya Heetrakshak Manch (AHRM) and Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad. The study is based on primary survey of both salt pan workers and farmers living in 108 villages Surendrangar, Patan, Kutch, Rakot districts of Gujarat in the periphery of the Rann.

No doubt, the farmers, as of today, suffer huge losses when the wild ass and other wild animals invade their fields along the Little Rann of Kutch. In fact, one of the major conclusions of the study is, an estimated crop loss to farmers along the periphery of Rann 48-50%. Even then, 75% of the farmers said there was a need to conserve the wild life. In fact, the farmers are willing to forego up to 12% of their production for the wild ass, blue bull and the wild boar.

In fact, as of today, 43.51% people say, they have to keep their agricultural land in a fallow state due to the danger of attacks from the wild life. However, this can be overcome, if the farmers, pastoralists, fishers and charcoal makers do not face livelihood threat “in terms of accessibility due to the present command and control method of wildlife conservation”, the study says.

As for the agariyas, who remain in the Rann for nearly six months in a year to produce salt on their small self-cultivating farms, the study admits that there may be a ”focussed interventions for betterment of salt workers through state and central government”. Yet, the fact is, a lot more needs to be done for over 12,000 families migrating to LRK every year for more than eight months. “The current interventions of water supply, health, education should be more community based and community monitored”, it underlines, pointing towards their inadequacy.

The study shows around 75.76 % of the traditional agariyas fall into deprived category when they are evaluated through 15 indicators such as food intake, health expenses, debt, land holding, fuel used, education status etc. “ Amongst 12,000 families 80.48% are landless and 79.46% of families have salt making is the only source of livelihood”, the study says.

Around 84.35% of the salt workers say that they have learnt salt making from their forefathers, which also supports the argument that it is traditional occupation of certain communities.

Only 3% of agariyas have passed higher secondary while 31% have reached primary, and 12% up to secondary.

During last season, an average price of salt given to agariya was 13.86 paisa per kg. Thus, any efforts for conservation of wild life with command and control approach, and ignoring the livelihood needs of the salt pan workers would be detrimental to them, the study underlines, adding, “Interdependency of wild life and community in Rann is unique. Uniqueness is the conservation cost born by community and their tolerance to forego up to 12% of their produce, which really needs appreciation. The statistics of the Gujarat Forest Department shows that the number of wild asses has been continuously increasing in last 30 years. It is co-existence model which needs formal recognition from the government.”

The study stresses that, “Ignoring livelihood value of the Little Rann of Kutch will be counter-productive to both development and wild ass conservation as it will harm relationship between the two.” Its authors quote Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), and head of Forest department, Gujarat government, Pradeep Khanna, admitting that ”communities have contributed a lot in conservation of wild life in the Rann. We hope that the study will prove as first step towards the process of evolvement of balanced and comprehensive approach towards conservation of wild life and augmentation of livelihood.”

New technology to boost earnings of saltpan workers.

2011-09-27T09:01:00.000+05:30

The Times of India:Tuesday,September 27,2011.

RAJKOT: In a bid to augment the livelihood of saltpan workers in Gujarat, Bhavnagar-based Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) has embarked on a project to provide them its patented technology to produce export quality salt and extract valuable chemicals from waste generated in the process.

The saltpan workers or 'agariyas', as they are called in Gujarat, is one of the most backward community, with over 70 per cent living below poverty line under harsh conditions in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK).

The CSMCRI project titled 'saltpan cluster development programme' has been funded by the state industries department to train the saltpan workers to produce better quality salt that an fetch them good income and is being implemented with support from Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM), a non-governmental organization (NGO), working for the saltpan workers.

This initiative of the institute is also aimed at arming the saltpan workers with technology to extract valuable chemicals from bittern (the liquid pumped off after the salt is harvested from the brine), which could be sold to industry adding to their income.

"Under this project we train saltpan workers to use our patented technology using which they can produce better quality salt and also utilize the waste or reject from the manufacturing process to extract valuable non-common salts for industrial use," said a senior scientist at CSMCRI Dr V P Mohandas, adding that they have already trained over 500 saltpan workers.

This would augment their livelihood as they would be able to get more income from the salt and the rejects also, he added.

"Most of the saltpan workers are exploited by middlemen who buy salt at low price saying it is poor in quality and then sell it at higher price to big companies," he said.

"The workers presently produce only salt. They throw away the waste bittern that is generated. We have given them technology to extract from bittern chemicals like low sodium salt for hypertension patients, potash which is used in fertilizers and magnisium chloride for industrial use," Mohandas said. pti

"For every one tonne of salt similar amount of bittern is generated. And if instead of throwing away the bittern if valuable chemical are extracted and sold to industries it would add to the income of saltpan workers," he added.

Mohandas said they have already demonstrated such extraction at small scale, now they would be doing it at a larger scale. The saltpans in Maliya (Rajkot) are rich in sulphate content from bittern. There sulphate of potash could be obtained which is a better fertilizer than murate of potash obtained from bittern of saltpans in LRK region.

Under the project, saltpan workers are linked directly to the industries through NGOs SEWA and Anandi in LRK and Rajkot districts respectively by forming small collectives or associations, he said.

Some of the companies now directly purchasing salt and chemicals from saltpan workers include Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd, Punjab Alkalies, Indian Rayon and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd.

According to AHRM, over 12,000 families of saltpan workers, including children, migrate from more than 100 village bordering LRK to produce salt.

The LRK is also home of the wild ass or the Godhkhar in local language and is declared as a protected area. The inland salt produced from LRK accounts for 40 per cent of salt produced in Gujarat, which in turn is also largest producer of salt in the country.

LRK characterizes a unique eco-system having saline desert and wetland with high biodiversity. It is also flood plain of eight rivers. The ecosystem supports various livelihoods of people living in and around LRK that consists of saltpan workers, marginal farmers, fishermen and charcoal makers.

Research sweetens deal for saltpan workers.

2011-07-26T09:06:00.001+05:30

Indian Express; KapilDave : Tuesday, July 26, 2011,

Gandhinagar : Quality checks jack up prices of salt produce by more than 400%

Research by Bhavnagar-based Central Salt & Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI) for salt quality improvement in Rajula taluka of Amreli district could change the economics for salt workers now.

Scientists and farmers who participated in an experiment shared the findings at the annual general meeting of the Gujarat Agariya Hit Rakshak Sangh on Sunday, detailing how quality checks could help them retain what they threw away as waste and also enable them to fetch a much higher price for their produce.

A group of 15 Agariyas and scientists of CSMCRI worked on creating model salt farms (Agar) with regular scientific quality checks and other inputs and they realised they could get five to six times of the prices they presently get for their salt produce.

Vasrambhai of Bherai village in Rajula taluka, while sharing his experience, said: “Generations of my family have been in this business, but we never knew that salt could fetch so much of money. We would sell common salt to traders for Rs 150-180 per tonne,” he said.

During the last season that ended in May this year, Vasrambhai sold his salt produce for Rs 650-875 per tonne.

In fact, Agariyas who have opted for CSMCRI’s model are being offered a Rs 1,250 per tonne of their produce from the next season.

Velabhai, another Agariya from Rajula, said the CSMCRI established a salt testing laboratory at a cost of Rs 2.83 lakh in his saltpan to remove impurities. And Velabhai has no regrets. “I have decided to do it now regularly,” he says.

Dr Ajay Bhatt, a senior scientist from CSMCRI who led the experiment with Rajula salt-pan workers, said it was aimed at quality improvement in mixed salt projects. “To date, they did not know the value of end waste, which has a high concentration of magnesium potash and other key chemicals like sulphate etc., which can easily fetch up to Rs 30,000 per tonne,” Bhatt said.

“We taught them how to produce A-grade mixed salt and separate common salt to be used for industrial purposes. By taking simple care, 15 Agariyas got four to six times more money in the very first season. Now, companies are offering more. We have decided to now experiment with 80 Agariyas in the upcoming season in different parts of the state since the different areas have different potential and require different processes for production,” said the scientist.

Agariyas dig in heels in Little Rann of Kutch;

Agariyas want recognition as farmers and an assurance that they have a right on Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) land.

In their Sunday meeting, they resolved to press for their right to work in LRK, which has been deemed a sanctuary area by the central government, barring making of salt.

Shantabhai Bhamamiya, an Agariya from the famous Kharaghoda saltpan area and a trustee in Agariya Hit Rakshak Manch, said, “If the government can waive debts of farmers, why can’t they help us in same way. If the government can fix minimum support prices for other farm produces, why not give us the same benefits and save us from exploitation.”

Narubhai Koli, an Agariya from Santalpur in Patan district, said: “Often, we face natural and man-made calamities in which our salt produce is washed off. Last year, heavy rains and sudden release of water from Narmada canals almost washed off our produce. We requested the state and central governments for giving us some package, but no one responded.”

Thakarsibhai Mahaliya from Kharaghoda said, “We have been producing salt in Little Rann of Kutch for generations. Suddenly, the government says it’s a sanctuary for wild ass and we cannot live here. Wild ass and we have lived together for generations without harming each other. The government cannot throw us out of Little Rann of Kutch.”

Pamkati Jog from Ahmedabad-based Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch, which has taken up the rights of salt-pan workers of Gujarat, said: “Even though state and central governments are now recognizing the unorganised traditional salt-pan workers and have started some welfare schemes, a lot still needs to be done for this community.”

Require Support for Higher Education

2011-06-15T17:09:00.000+05:30

This is an appeal for support higher education among children of traditional salt workers in Gujarat. Education ratio among traditional salt worker is very low. This is mainly because community migrates along with their families to little Rann of Kutch (mud desert popularly known as LRK) for making salt.

Children help their parents in salt making and gradually turn into a child labour. In order to prevent this situation, we support these children to study in residential schools.

This year we would support around 150 children. The average cost per child is Rs.4000. We appeal all to contribute to the cause. the contact details are as follows:

Organization name: Agariya Heetrakshak Manch

Account No:085710004894

Bank Details: Dena Bank, Nehrunagar Branch, Nr. Vasupujya Derasar, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad - 15; Gujarat

IFSC code : BKDN0110857

send cheque or demand draft in above name the name of Agariya Heetrakshak Manch.

For more details contact: Pankti Jog : 09909006791 (M)

Agarias file reply to govt order on salt pans.

2011-04-22T09:54:00.000+05:30

Charul Shah; DNA; Friday , April 22 , 2011,

The Agarias of Malia, Rajkot on Thursday filed their reply to the notices given by the mamlatdar to close down their salt manufacturing units which come within an area of 1 km around the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kutch. They have asked the government to drop the proceeding as it is illegal, otherwise they will move the Gujarat high court challenging such actions.

In the reply filed through Agaria Heet Rakshak Manch, they have stated that the government has not yet completed the procedure for survey settlement. Hence, the final boundary of the sanctuary is also not yet finalised. In such circumstances, the issuance of such notice is against the process of law. Hence, they have stated that if this proceeding is not dropped, they will move the high court.

In their reply, they have further stated that as per the notification of the Social Justice and Empowerment department of the state government, the Agarias are included in the de-notified and nomadic tribes. As they depend on salt manufacturing units for their livelihood, they have collective rights of livelihood in and around the areas of Little Rann of Kutch. Hence, the government cannot take away these rights and ask them to close down their activities under any other Act.

They further explained that they had been involved in salt manufacturing in this area for ages, and thousands of Agarias depend on this for their livelihood. These activities have not damaged or caused any danger to the wild life in the LRK nor have they caused any pollution. In fact, the Agarias have provided protection to the wild life around the Rann. The reply further states that as per the records, the population of the wild ass in the area has increased over the years. As per the records of January, 1993 their population was 720, which has increased to 5000 in 2010. Meanwhile, the government on Thursday provided a copy of the documents as demanded by the salt manufacturers who were served with the notice. The documents include the revenue map.

Salt pans: Closure notice shocks community.

2011-04-21T12:31:00.000+05:30

Charul Shah; DNA; Ahmedabad; April 21, 2011,

The notices issued to salt manufacturing units and Agarias has sent shock waves through the community. The people of the industry and social activists have condemned the step taken by the government stating that salt manufacturing is an eco-friendly industry. It does not affect wildlife of the sanctuary.

Objecting to the government's decision to close Agaria units, Harinesh Pandya from Agaria Hit Rakshak Manch (AHRM), an NGO working for the development of the Agaria community in Kutch, told DNA that the government has misinterpreted the order of Gujarat high court.

In a petition filed by Amit Jethwa, the state HC had directed the government to stop illegal mining near wildlife sanctuaries. The court had disposed off the petition when the government had given an undertaking that it would take steps to stop illegal mining.

Pandya added that the government's move of sending notices to the units for closure was illegal and it had failed to follow due process as noted under the Wildlife Protection Act.

"Salt-making processes are done on the surface and they can't be considered mining. Traditional Agaria workers have been in this profession much before independence. The state government has taken special steps to create infrastructure for the growth of the salt industry and now it is asking them to close their units. This is unjustified. The Agarias depend upon the salt farming and related activities for their livelihood. And if they are asked to close down salt manufacturing units, they will become unemployed. Their families would suffer too," Pandya stated.

Bachu Ahir, president of Indian Salt Manufacturer's Association (Isma) told DNA that there are over 25,000 Agarias working on the fields used for salt farming. These fields are around the boundary of the proposed sanctuary. If the units are closed the Agarias will lose their source of livelihood. Further, the salt industry will suffer huge losses.

The Marine Salt Manufacturer's Association has made a representation to the collector of Rajkot. In the letter, DU Jadeja, president of the organisation, has said that the government should cancel the notification issued in 1973 declaring its intention to declare the area around the Little Rann of Kutch as a wildlife sanctuary.

Jadeja has further stated in the letter that the activities of salt manufacturing do not harm the environment and as they are non-polluting. He added that the wild asses do not come near the salt farms because of the geographical location.

Heeralal Parekh, former president of Isma told DNA that currently Gujarat contributes as much as 75% to the nation's salt manufacturing industry. If the government starts closing down units around the proposed boundary of the wild ass sanctuary, it would give a serious jolt to the salt manufacturing industry.

Salt-making units in LRK face closure.

2011-04-20T18:29:00.001+05:30

Charul Shah: DNA: AHMEDABAD: 20,April 2011,

Agarias and salt industries near the Wild Ass Sanctuary issued show-cause notices by state govt.

Soon, all salt manufacturing units in the Little Rann of Kutch that come within 1 km of the wild ass sanctuary, may face closure by the forest department. The department has already begun proceedings by issuing notices through the revenue department to all salt manufacturing industries and to the local agarias (salt farmers) of Malia region, district Rajkot.

As per the show cause notice, dated April 8, the state government has asked nearby salt manufacturing companies why their units should not be closed or ordered to shift to another locality. Moreover, under the said notice, the government has asked the salt manufacturing units to put forth replies and reasoning against the notice on Tuesday, failing which the state would take appropriate steps in accordance with the law.

The notice further mandates stoppage of all mining and industrial activities around 1 km of the famous sanctuary. Notices by the state government have already been issued to this effect. Sanctuary status was assigned to the area in the Rann by wildlife protection notification, 1972.

In order to officially declare any area protected, which would be required for a sanctuary, a survey of the land as stipulated by the Wildlife Protection Act has to be conducted. Sources from the mamlatdar's office told DNA that the forest department and the state government have begun this survey. The officials have started it in Malia district and as they proceed, they will go on issuing notices to all units that they find to be in the proximity of the proposed wildlife sanctuary.

DU Jadeja, president, Marine Salt Manufacturers Association (MSMA) and vice-president of the Indian Salt Manufacturers Association (ISMA), told DNA that apart from the local agarias, as many as 25 small and big salt manufacturers have been issued notice and asked to file their reply on Tuesday.

"The manufacturers have, apart from registering their objections to the notices, sought the copies of the maps of the sanctuary and government notification copies based on which the government has issued the notices. The mamlatdar has, after receiving the copy of the application, adjourned the hearing to April 21," Jadeja added.

Support required for Desert Schools

2011-02-07T00:15:00.000+05:30

Support required for next one year
Educational material (400 children) (charts, colors, pencils, play material, colour books, story books, )	36000
Medicines	20000
Honorarium to teachers	24000
Nasta	54000
Clothes	30000
Honorarium to field workers	108000
Community meetings, field work	40000
Total	312000

DETAILS OF EXP OCCURRED SINCE APRIL 2010 TO JAN (10 months)

2011-02-07T00:13:00.000+05:30

DETAILS OF EXP OCCURRED SINCE APRIL 2010 TO JAN (10 months)
Exp details	Amount (Rs)
Honorarium to field workers. 3 field workers in 6 districts. Rs.4500*2 x 10 months	90000
Community trainings, and field work	40000
Admin, stationary	4000
School bags	25000
Medicines for Salt workers	32000
Total	191000

2011-02-07T00:11:00.002+05:30

DETAILS OF DONATIONS RECEIVED FROM 1ST APRIL 2010 TO 31ST JAN 2011
	Name of the donor	Amount (Rs)
	Sushilkant Parshottamdas	100,000.00
	Rajesh Shah	1,000.00
	Raginiben Parikh	5,000.00
	Rupa Maddala	5,000.00
	Rannaben Patwari	15,000.00
	Shaila kapoor	25,000.00
	Nivedita Shah	1,000.00
	Rina shah	500.00
	meenaben Shah	500.00
	Varsha Atgur	2,500.00
	Swati Desai	18,000.00
	Ghanashayam Zula	1,000.00
	Sadhanaben Pandya	8,000.00
	Cmndnt. Satish Yadav	14,882.00
	Total	197,382.00

SALT WORKERS START THEIR OWN SCHOOLS

2011-02-07T00:04:00.005+05:30

Rann Shala - A Ray of Hope

2011-02-07T00:01:00.000+05:30

Rann Shala (desert Schools) – A ray of hope

Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) is mud desert with over 5000 sq. km area. This piece of land remained un-surveyed for quite some period after independence. Finally it was given “ZERO” survey number.

Life is not very easy in the desert for salt workers who resides here for nearly 8 months. During day temperature goes near to 50 while during night it drops down suddenly to 4 degrees. Salt workers resides in make shift shelter made up of grass and bamboos, which are not enough to protect them from high velocity winds and extreme temperatures.

Till recently salt workers use to purchase drinking water a very high price from the private water suppliers. This use to cost them around 700 Rs per month per family. With consistent efforts by our organization, (Agariya Heetrakshak Manch), now government has started water supply through tankers. Health vans visit the desert once in 10 days. however to get female doctor in the health van is big challenge. Women salt workers hesitate to share their health issues with male doctor.

Education is still a distant dream for the community. Children migrate to desert along with their parents. They leave their house, village, their school too…

On returning in may to the village children find that their friends have already passed annual exams. These children remain in the same class.

Salt workers now have realized that education is the only hope for them. This year community started their own schools in the desert. Obviously it need support from all of us.

Salt workers do not get vegetable and milk in the desert. The ratio of malnutrition, night blindness is very high here. Thus it is essential that child gets some nutritional support in the school. Government is sponsoring partial expenses in Patan district. However we need around 1.44 lakhs to reach to cover 200 children.

Details of schools:

Area in the desert	Teacher’s Name	No. of Children
Banaskantha vistar Rann	Shri Jayubhai Chaudhary	38
Nav Number Rann	Shri Satish Raval	27
Mataji Nu Btku Rann	Shri Jigneshbhai Desai	39
Uparnu Rann	Shri Rajeshbhai Chaudhary	30
Garamadi rann	Shri Vishrambhai taliwad	32
Ramesh Salt	Shri Rakeshbhai Patel	29
Bandhpara – Kharaghoda Rann area	Dakshaben Oducha	35
Alok Salt kharaghoda Rann Area	Mavjibhai Manharbhai	36
Ganesh Mandali Kharaghoda Rann Area	Kalpeshbhai Bachubhai	35
Jogad Shakti Sahakri Mandali Rann Area	Dudhabhai	35
Satyanarayan Mandali rann area	Navganbhai Valjibhai	30
Kharaghoda Rann Area 2 schools		54
Total		400

Rains ruin salt pans in Little Rann of Kutch

2010-11-20T16:18:00.000+05:30

Vijaysinh Parmar, TNN, Nov 18, 2010,

RAJKOT: The recent unseasonal rains have not only hit the farmers hard but also made life miserable for the salt pan workers in the Little Rann of Kutch. On Wednesday evening, heavy rainfall was recorded in Patdi, Kharaghoda and the Little Rann. The unexpected rains washed away the salt pans prepared by the workers last month, making it difficult for them to move out of the area and return to their villages.

There are more than 5,000 salt pan workers in the Little Rann, who produce salts in the traditional way and some making salt pans as far as 45 km from their villages in the Surendranagar district.

According to Shanta Bambhaniya, a salt pan worker and resident of Kharaghoda, the heavy rains destroyed his salt pan and another spell of rain washed away his month-long labour. "After the rains destroyed my efforts, I along with my seven family members decided to leave for Kharaghoda on Thursday morning, but could not leave the place as no vehicle can run in the Little Rann because of rains. Rains have made our life miserable," he added.

He said the salt pan workers have lost their ration and the makeshift arrangements at the site. Bambhaniya's salt pan is about 35 km from Kharaghoda and inside the Little Rann. "A number of salt pan workers have lost Rs 25,000 each which they had invested in the beginning of the season. This amount is very big for us," he added.

The loss because of rains has added more pains to the lives of salt pan workers, many of whom are already in debt. "They will have to start from scratch, which means their efforts in making salt pan, charger, and crude have gone down the drain. Currently, we have no idea about the situation of workers in the Little Rann. All we know that they want to move out of the area, but are stuck there due to 'keechad'. For next two- three days, no vehicle can venture into the Little Rann," said Ambu Patel, a resident of Kharaghoda and a writer.

However, Surendranagar district administration said it had not received any emergency call from the area. When contacted, Kharaghoda talati-cum-mantri M B Solanki admitted that people who had gone to the Little Rann are finding it difficult to return. "It is true that they will suffer economic loss because of this year's unseasonal rain, but we have not been approached by anyone for any emergency help," Solanki added.

"The real damage will be known only when the route to the area is cleared and the salt pan workers are contacted,'' Patel said.

Double whammy for salt industry

2010-05-04T08:56:00.001+05:30

Express News Service: Rajkot: Tuesday , May 04, 2010

Two units shut shop, rest cut down production as export cost increases

Dwindling prices coupled with an increase in export costs has led to a piling up of a huge stock of salt in the Saurashta-Kutch region, which accounts for 70 per cent of the salt production in the country.

With the industry forced to cut down on production, a couple of units at Karoda village in Bhachau taluka have already shut shop.

Salt Manufacturing Association president Babu Ahir said: “Salt prices have gone down drastically, but salt manufactures can no longer afford transportation charges for export due to the hike in fuel prices.” He added: “At the same time, there are not enough railways wagons available to supply salt in the domestic market.”

As a result, 35 lakh tonnes salt have piled up, which is 10 lakh tonnes more than the annual export figure of 25 lakh tonnes.

According to Ahir, there are 14 factories, over 100 big pans (spread over 100 acres) and 6,000 small pans (with area less than 10 acres) in the four districts of Kutch, Patan, Surendranagar and Rajkot. The industry is a source of livelihood for nearly one lakh unskilled labourers.

In the last four months, the price has come down from Rs 600 to Rs 125 per tonne. Salt manufacturers said this was despite the fact that their current cost of production is Rs 225 per tonne.

After the increase in fuel prices, export on ship has become costlier by 10 dollars per tonne. Besides, the availability of only 60 rakes against the 150 required per month has drastically affected transportation in the domestic market, leading to an increase in the stock. Now, the factory owners are left with no option but to cut down on production.

Ahir said: “Instead of seven days a week, most factories are now functioning on four days and a few have reduced their working days to just two.”

Re-survey: Little Rann to be mapped for first time

2010-05-04T08:54:00.001+05:30

Express News Service; Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010
It will take place in Ahmedabad, Anand, Sabarkantha, Rajkot, Kutch and Gandhinagar
The re-survey of land parcels across rural areas of Gujarat will survey the Little Rann of Kutch for the first time. As of now, Little Rann has no survey number.
Earlier, the state government had accepted that it has no data regarding the survey of the 5,000-sq km area in Kutch district, which is known for the Asiatic Wild Ass.
This came as response to an RTI query filed by an Ahmedabad activist, who said that the public information officers (PIOs) of the Revenue Department, Office of the Settlement Commissioner & Director of Land Records, and the office of the District Inspector of Land Records (DILR) were unable to give the survey number of Little Rann.
“We brought the order to the notice of Settlement Commissioner in Gandhinagar. The survey will provide them a chance to find out the number,” said Harinesh Pandya of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel.
The state government has decided to re-survey almost every tiny land parcel in Gujarat, in order to determine encroachments, changes that have taken place over the years.
“We will survey each and every parcel in Kutch, including the Little Rann. Though it is up to the state government to take it on record, but it is our job to survey the area,” said an official from the Settlement Commissioner and Directorate of Land Revenue, on condition of anonymity.
The re-survey will take place in over 65,000-sq km area in Ahmedabad, Anand, Sabarkantha, Rajkot, Kutch and Gandhinagar, said an official in the department.
The project, which is being carried out under the National Land Records Modernisation Programme of the Government of India, was initially launched in 2008-09 in Jamnagar and Patan districts. Fifty per cent of funds for the project will come from the Centre.

Tech upgradation for saltpan workers CSMCRI To Equip Salt Workers With Technology To Improve Quality, Yield

2010-04-21T17:46:00.001+05:30

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN
Bhavnagar: Small and marginal saltpan workers in Rajula taluka of Amreli district, often known to be debt-ridden and poverty stricken, will now be armed with science and technology to help them earn more and break away these vicious debt traps. Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) here has been awarded Rs 1.80 crore grant by the state industries department for ‘saltpan cluster development programme’ to train these workers to produce better quality salt to earn better profits. CSMCRI scientists will improve quality and yield of salt produced from sea brines (sea water) by marginal agarias (salt pans) of Rajula through technology upgradation and improving their income through value addition of bittern (the liquid pumped off after the salt is harvested from the brine). This will be done in association with Agaria Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM) of Ahmedabad who are their project partners. CSMCRI director Dr PK Ghosh said, “In the first phase, we will train marginal salt pans of the region by imparting in-house as well as field training programmes to increase yield and improve quality of salt. “In the second phase, our aim is to ensure that the technology is translated to grassroot level for tangible benefits,” he added. This will be done by cluster development. “Along with AHRM, we have already started forming a cluster of 150 salt works of Rajula,” he said. Explaining the process, Dr VP Mohandas, scientist at CSMCRI, said, “At first, we will adopt certain pans for conversion to model units for demonstration. Then quality control laboratory equipped with basic requirements for the characterisation of salt and brine sample will be established.” With this training, a saltpan will be able to classify various brines in terms of their potential vis-à-vis yield and quality of salt. Workers will be able to get premium prices by selling global quality salt. “Our estimate is that with this project, workers will be able to earn about four times more and improve their living standards,” Mohandas added. In addition to salt, which is currently the only product sold, the project aims at training workers to add value to their bittern by processing and recovery of valuable marine chemicals like low sodium salt and potash. These will add to their income. ‘Earlier experiences have been encouraging’ The Rajula salt water cluster development project will be the third such project to be undertaken by scientists of Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar. “Our earlier experiences of the same cluster development projects with two organisations, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) and ANANDI, an NGO, in Maliya taluka of Rajkot district, have been encouraging,” said one of the members of the project team at CSMCRI AM Bhatt. The marginal salt producers of LRK region (1–2 acre area) were fully trained to produce high quality industrial grade salt from subsoil brines and market their salt directly to user industries at a premium price. “Today, these agarias are producing good quality salt on scientific lines. The programme that started with 30 marginal salt works went on to work with 110 by the second year. Now, SEWA has formed a co-operative of salt workers with 1,000 members,” said Bhatt. The co-operative runs 100 marginal salt works by providing revolving funds. “The agarias were shown the processing of bittern for recovery of potash rich carnallite. This same model will be replicated in Rajula,” he added.

RAAN-SHALA OF SALTPAN WORKER ; SANTALPUR BLOCK OF PATAN DISTRICT -(GUJARAT)

2009-11-20T14:26:00.000+05:30

THE HEALTH CAMP ORGANISED AT SANTALPUR

2009-08-12T20:33:00.000+05:30

Background:
‘Salt’, one of the vital ingredient of our daily meal, is produced by ‘Agariyas’ inside little Rann of Kutch, of Gujarat. ‘Agariya’- a term derived for community working in “Agar” meaning ‘salt-pan’ is a an occupation identity of more than 45000 people belonging to chunvaliya koli, Ahir, Miyana, and Sandhi community, majority falls in “De-notified Tribe Category”. ‘Agariya‘produce salt using sub-soil brine from little Rann of Kutch (LRK), live in adverse condition and work in extreme temperatures. They are left vulnerable due remoteness, adverse geographical conditions, poverty and very limited access to basic services like education, health, water, road, electricity etc, which are accessible to citizen living in a village.
‘Health’ is one among the crucial issues for Agariyas in Gujarat. There are severe health issues of which is related to occupation - ‘salt making’, like skin infection due non availability of enough water, cuts and infections in the legs due to crystals in the pan, eye diseases due to glare from the salt pan, urinary track infection due to less intake of water, gynecological problems due lack of sanitation facility, nutrition related problems due to lack of vitamins, proteins, calcium, minerals, iron in daily intake etc. Though in last few years, mobile health Vans have started reaching to their work areas, inside little Rann of Kutch, there are many other factors like distance, shortage of human resources, lack of adequate medicines and other facilities which leads to severe health issues for Agariyas, especially for women and children
AHRM in last four years of its active intervention in 7 major salt producing districts of the state, has focused on enhancing and the reach of government services to remote Rann areas and its accountability towards communities, its regularity, developing community monitoring- participation, awareness amongst communities etc.
AHRM is also involved in the programmes implemented by Salt Department, GOI for co-ordination and community mobilization. Based on the field experience and consultations with community and other stakeholders, it is required to have focused intervention in health for targeted groups like women & children. In forthcoming days, AHRM will try to address this need.
As part of this, a health camp was organized at Santalpur, community health center. Mrs. Urmiben Desai and Prof. Ashwin Karia, concerned citizen from Ahmedabad, have mobilized funds from their friends circle and showed their willingness to support this health camp.
Community health Center CHC and Salt Commissionerate regional office also joined the camp as co-organizer offering their infrastructure and also partial support for medicine. The other medicines were made available at very low cost by Dr. Rita Shah, pediatrician from Ahmedabad.
Dr. Virenbhai Doshi, one of most concerned person and AHRM associate requested his friends from Bhansali Trust, Dr. Jawahar(General Physician), Dr. Akashdip Parmar (Gynecologist) and Dr. Lalji Patel (skin specialist) for giving their expertise.
Dr. Kundan, Chief medical officer CHC Santalpur, also joined with us along with entire CHC staff.
Mrs Urmiben Desai, and AHRM team as well as community leaders including AHRS karobari Samiti members joined actively in logistic arrangement.
Around 135 patient attended the health camp around 30 percent of them were women.
50 patients of fever and complaints of body ache, while 20 women had Gynecological related complaints, more than 35 had skin infections and 25 had multiple complaints of skin, fever, cold-cough and body ache and skin infections.
Two severe cases, Jayashri Ahir (26 days) and daughter of Habib Raja (4 months) of Septicimea were identified, which were referred to secondary level treatment at Disa.
A baby girl was born during the health camp to Riyaben Ahir from Garamadi village of Santalpur. It was normal delivery and baby weighed 2.5 Kg.
Doctors View:
Amongst anti-natal cases, all were identified anemic. Skin diseases, scabies, viral infection and eye infection were most common complaints. Doctors suggested that focused health intervention such as awareness campaign, general check up camps then referred to specialists should be done to improve this condition.
AHRM :
AHRM in association with AV-CODE has planned to have health awareness programme for Agariya women. The first phase of the programme is to identify women, who will be trained as community health workers in coming days. TOT and general training and awareness programmes will also held. IREC material will be developed for the same. During second phase such trained community health workers will be linked with mobile health services for Agariyas.

Growing pan of worries: Livelihood of over 45k 'agariyas' in jeopardy

2009-08-05T16:44:00.003+05:30

Maulik Pathak; Business Standard; August 05, 2009,
Mumbai-Ahmedabad; Fate of over 45,000 agariyas or self employed traditional salt pan workers in the proposed Wild Ass Sancutary area in Little Rann of Kutch hangs fire as the settlement officer (additional collector) has turned down their 'customary rights'.
As per the report by settlement officer, 2398 claims of salt pan-workers were verified by settlement officer, of which 397 have been approved.
The small and marginal salt pan workers in Little Rann produce over 30 per cent of the country's total production of salt and most of the inland salt production of the state. Gujarat produces close to 150 lakh tonnes of salt annually which is about 70 per cent of the country's production.
The Industries Commissioner has in its reply to an Right To Information (RTI) application filed by trade union Agariya Heetrakshak Sangh, said that there are around 48,000 salt-pan workers in Little Rann of Kutch. Gujarat has close to 1.04 salt pan workers.
Covering about 5000 sq km of area and spread in Patan, Surendranagar, Rajkot and Kutch district, Little Rann of Kutch had been notified by the state government under Wild Bird and Wild Animal Protection Act in 1973 and the Act was later repeled in 2004.
Bharat Devsinh Patadia, a salt pan worker from Ajitgadh said, "So far we have not been forced out of the sanctuary area, however the officials have told us to leave on our own."
Also, from last many years the lease of salt-pan workers has not been renewed.
"There are close to 10-12 thousand families or over 40,000 salt pan workers in the area. Each family can produce an average of 500-600 tonnes annually from one pan. The 'agariyas' have been into salt harvesting for over 300-400 years. This is the community's livelihood since ages. Where can we go now?" said Thakkersinh Dharamsinh Mahaliya, a salt pan worker from Himmatpura in Surendranagar district.
The season for salt harvesting is from September to June when over 10,000 agariya families wade three kilometers deep in the deserts in search of livelihood. A worker earns about Rs 140 per tonne of salt.
"The government has stopped renewing or issuing new leases to salt pan workers from last ten years. Since some companies cannot buy directly from the workers in Little Rann, they buy it through traders and contractors," said Jeetu Zala, member of Kuda Agar Kamdar Mahamandal.
The government had entered into long-term lease agreement with some big players hence their activity is not considered illegal, said another worker.
According to Bheemani Jaresa, an agariya community leader, "Although some measures like a mobile ration shop and potable water supply through tankers are being initiated, these are certainly not enough. Our demand is that the government must introduce a minimum support price for the salt produced by us on the same lines as given to farmers for agricultural produce."
Despite growing demand from chemical industry, the salt pan workers had to face a brunt of rising fuel prices and excessive rains in last two years.

Promises of politicians rub in salt on wounds of Kutch agariyas

2009-04-28T18:20:00.000+05:30

BRAVING A TOUGH DESERT LIFE FOR CENTURIES, SALT PAN WORKERS WAIT ENDLESSLY FOR A SAVIOUR

ELECTIONS come and go, but the precarious world they live in never changes. These are the 43,000-odd agariyas or salt pan workers engaged in salt farming for eight months, from September to April, in the Little Rann of Kutch.
Hopes were raised in 2007, when just before the state Assembly elections Chief Minister Narendra Modi had organised an Agariya Kalyan Sammelan (salt pan workers welfare conference) at Kharaghoda in Surendranagar district. But, as Navgham Surda, one of the local community leaders of agariyas puts it, ” Things have moved at a snail’s pace.” Earning just over 15 paise per kg of salt produced and inhabiting an area spread over 5,180 sq km (also known as India’s Survey Number Zero, as no survey has been conducted here since Independence), these agariyas have been experiencing the toughest desert life for centuries. But with a few votes, and that too which is hardly ever exercised as they are away for most of the year, they have become politically irrelevant.
Though politicians, on their part, are never short of promises, what remains to be seen is the real implementation on ground.
For example, during the conference in 2007, Modi had announced the government’s plan to develop the Navlakhi Port near the Little Rann, with a special jetty for salt export to give a big boost to its production. Other promises included a cycle per agariya family, mobile health vans, mobile schools, safety kits to help in salt farming as well as housing provisions in the 109 villages in the periphery of Little Rann.
Marut Bariya of Agariya Hit Rakshak Manch, an organisation trying to mobilise the community comprising the three de-notified tribes of Miyana, Sandhi and Chuvaliya-Koli, said: “Exploitation by big companies and rich traders leading to acute poverty among the agariyas, lack of basic amenities like drinking water and shelter, and safety tools like gumboots, sunglasses as well as healthcare, should be the issues, and not some grand development initiatives like a new port.” Now, with the proposed sanctuary for wild ass in the Little Rann and the government not renewing the leasing rights of agariyas, the salt pan workers are most likely to be deprived of their only source of livelihood.
Bheemani Jaresa, another agariya community leader, said: “Although some measures like a mobile ration shop and potable water supply through tankers are being initiated, these are certainly not enough. Our demand is that the government must introduce a Minimum Support Price for the salt produced by us on the same lines as given to farmers for agricultural produce.” The political parties must understand this is the only way to free agariyas from chronic poverty, he added.

Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch - UNESCO World Heritage ...

2009-04-22T14:38:00.000+05:30

Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch
Property names are listed in the language in which they have been submitted by the State Party.
India (Asia and the Pacific) Date of Submission:15/03/2006
Category: Natural
Submited by: Nature Conservation Foundation and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecologyand Environment
Coordinates: 220 55 N to 240 35 N 700 30 E to 710 45 E
Ref. : 2105
Description
The Wild Ass Sanctuary is located in the Little Rann of Kutch of the Gujarat State in India. It covers an area of 4954 km². The Sanctuary is named after a sub species of wild ass (Equus hemionus khur), the last population of which it harbours. The Rann is one of the most remarkable and unique landscapes of its kind in the entire world. It is a vast desiccated, unbroken bare surface of dark silt, encrusted with salts which transforms into a spectacular coastal wetland after the rains.The present saline desert of the Little Rann (saline desert-cum-seasonal wetland) of Kutch is believed to have been shallow sea. The variety of the geomorphic facets of Kutch such as the present surface configuration, its landforms, drainage characteristics and relief pattern clearly reveals a complex interplay of tectonics, sea-level changes and lithology as also erosion and deposition.The Rann can be considered a large ecotone, a transitional area between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. During monsoon, the Rann gets inundated for a period of about one month. It is dotted with about 74 elevated plateaus or islands, locally called 'bets'. The largest plateau called Pung Bet has an area of 30.5 km² and the highest island Mardak is 55 m.The vast cover of saline mudflats in the Sanctuary has no vegetation, except on the fringes and bets. Vegetation is largely xerophytic with the ground cover predominated by ephemerals. Their active growth is triggered by the advent of monsoon rains. Although the islands and fringes both have been colonized by Prosopis juliflora, the islands have a richer floral diversity than that of the fringes. 253 flowering plant species have been listed, out of which the number of species of trees was 18, shrubs-23, climbers/twiners-18, herbs-157 and grasses-37. Bets and fringe area of extensive marine saline flats of the Little Rann of Kutch mainly support a variety of indigenous plants like Suaeda spp., Salvadora persica, Capparis decidua, Capparis deciduas, Calotropis procera, Tamarix sp., Aeluropus lagopoides, Cressa cretica, Sporobolus spp., Prosopis Cineraria, etc. The dominant families representing more than 10 species are Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Cyperaceae and Poaceae. Herbaceous taxa are predominant over shrubs and trees. 107 species of algae are present in the water bodies of the area.The Sanctuary is habitat to about 93 species of invertebrates, including 25 species of zooplanktons, 1 species of annelid, 4 crustaceans, 24 insects, 12 molluscs and 27 spiders. Totally 4 species of amphibians (frogs and toads) and 29 species of reptiles (2 species of turtles, 14 species of lizards, 12 snakes and 1 crocodile) occur. The mixing of tidal water from the Gulf of Kutch with the freshwater discharged from the rivers takes place in the Little Rann of Kutch, making it an important spawning ground for prawns. Metapenaeus kutchensis is the most dominant and important prawn in the area. The sanctuary provides an important feeding, breeding and roosting habitat for a large number of birds due to its strategic location on bird migration route and its connection with the dynamic Gulf of Kutch. According to an estimate about 70,000-75,000 birds nests in an area spread over 250 acres. Nine mammalian orders with 33 species/subspecies have been reported from the Little Rann of Kutch, including the world’s last population of the khur sub-species of the wild ass.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2105/

Bounties of a bleak landscape

2009-04-22T14:28:00.000+05:30

LAND & PEOPLE
DIONNE BUNSHA
The Little Rann of Kutch is hot, dry and salty, but it has rich biodiversity.
SALT overpowers you in the Little Rann of Kutch. It burns the insides of your nose. You can taste it on your tongue and lips. It makes your eyes run. All it takes is an hour in the Rann for salt to saturate your senses.
Imagine living here. In a flat land, with cracked earth and a bare horizon broken only by the occasional salt pan or sometimes a Bet (plateau or elevated island). The only people who survive in this harsh terrain are salt-pan workers known as Agarias, belonging to the Chuwalia Kolis caste, which comes under Other Backward Classes. Local legend has it that even after an Agaria is dead and cremated, the soles of his feet remain. A lifetime of hard work in the salt pans hardens their skin so much that even fire cannot burn it.
For eight months, the Agarias camp in the Little Rann to make salt. They make huts over pits dug in the ground to protect themselves from the wind and the sun. There is no water, no groceries, no school, no doctor... nothing near by. It is just them and the salt pans. They dig wells and use diesel pumps to draw water from the saline aquifers. It is essential that water keeps flowing through the salt pan without interruption so that salt crystals are formed properly. That is why Agarias cannot leave salt pans unattended and go back to their villages at the edges of the Little Rann.
"We have to work like oxen every day, pulling the rake through the water. Look at these blisters on my hand. The salt is so blinding, I can't even see properly," said Bhavan Muladia, who had set up a salt pan with his brother. "There isn't even drinking water here. We buy water from a tanker that comes every five days. The water costs Rs.500 a month. We get to bathe every 15 days. That's why everyone keeps falling ill here."
Why do they continue to work in such severe conditions? "What else can we do? There's no other work. In the rains, we work in the villages on other people's farms. But after that there's nothing. Give us a choice and we'll leave."
Biodiversity
Who would believe that such inhospitable terrain supports so many people and very rich biodiversity? This region is home to the last surviving species of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus khur). It also has six threatened plant species, nine species of endangered mammals (wolf, caracal, desert cat, chinkara, blackbuck, blue bull), six threatened species of water birds (houbara bustard, lessor florican, spoon bill, peafowl, hawks, large falcons) and six vulnerable reptile species, according to a report prepared by the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research Foundation (GEER). Its waterbodies are home to many migratory water birds and are even the nesting grounds for lesser flamingos. Besides, there are 253 flowering plant species here.
In the past century, the Indian wild ass was found all over the dry regions of northwestern India and western Pakistan - Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Sind and Baluchistan. Today, it is found only in the Little Rann, and a few stray towards the Great Rann of Kutch. At the last count, in 1998, its population was estimated at 2,940.
The population has been growing since 1976. But as wild ass expert Nita Shah points out, long-term trends show intense fluctuations. Since the area is drought-prone, the wild ass population could decline suddenly. If there are no severe droughts, the species is likely to grow and disperse in the Great Rann and Rajasthan, habitats that the wild ass occupied in the past. The GEER report recommends that the Thar desert should be developed as an alternative site for the Indian wild ass.
While driving through the Rann, all you see is flat land and the sky and often mirages. When you see waterbodies teeming with birds, it is a surprise. The Rann's strategic location and connection to the Gulf of Kutch make it a rich habitat for 97 species of water birds and 81 species of terrestrial birds. Nine migratory bird species also visit the Rann. The Rann also has a unique saline grassland called Banni where endemic salt-tolerant grasses grow.
"Biodiversity in these areas has remained remarkably intact because of cultural values, social controls and indigenous knowledge, which are maintained and enforced by community institutions such as panchayats," says Prof. Anil K. Gupta from Sristi, an organisation that works to build local knowledge. "Community-managed areas also harbour a large part of Gujarat's domestic biodiversity and agro-biodiversity. The survival of indigenous varieties of cattle, sheep, horse and crops is linked with the continuation of these areas."
The Little Rann of Kutch was once part of the Gulf of Kutch. It is a unique seasonal wetland; it remains totally submerged during the monsoon, but transforms into a desert for the rest of the year. During the monsoon, tidal waters and water from rivers such as the Banas, the Rupen and the Saraswati flood the mudflats. This intermingling of waters makes the Rann a vast fishing ground during the monsoon, particularly for prawns. A narrow highland near Adesar connects the Little Rann to the Great Rann of Kutch.
Fossils from Jurassic times are found on some islands, so the region also has tremendous geological importance. The government plans to make it a biosphere reserve - where the needs of people and the environment are considered in conservation management.
Although the Little Rann was declared a sanctuary in 1973, the decision has not been implemented because the government still has not settled the claims of the 50,000 Agarias and 8,650 fishermen here. Until settlement is complete, the Forest Department cannot take measures to manage or protect the sanctuary.
As we drive through the Rann in an old, battered jeep, Devjibhai Dhamecha, a local naturalist, tells us: "Tourists want to see the lion in Gir, but no one is interested in wild asses. That's why Gir's protected area is 1,100 sq km but has 600 forest staff. That's two people for each lion. The Little Rann is spread across 5,000 sq km but we have only 35 persons posted here. And they can't do much to control growth here because the settlement of the sanctuary hasn't been completed in the last 30 years."

Decades of unregulated development have taken their toll on the ecosystem. Grazing cattle and sheep have eaten into space where wild animals forage. Wild ass expert Nita Shah, one of the authors of the GEER report, says that changes in land use patterns in the villages surrounding the Little Rann have resulted in more wildlife-animal conflict. Unregulated vehicle traffic within the Little Rann has also disturbed bird and animal life.
The GEER Foundation report says that "[unregulated growth of] salt works have resulted in the loss of habitat, hindered the movement of wildlife, increased disturbance levels and threatened the breeding site of flamingos". One-third of the salt produced in Gujarat (which is the country's largest salt producer) is made in the Little Rann. The rights of salt-makers cannot be ignored. The GEER report, funded by the Gujarat Forest Department, proposed that salt pans be restricted to seven zones on the outskirts of the sanctuary, leaving the interiors for wildlife. The government says it is planning to implement it once the settlement process is complete. However, Pradeep Khanna, Gujarat's Chief Conservator of Forests, was reluctant to talk about any details regarding the settlement process.
The land in the Little Rann does not belong to individuals. But the government has granted leases allowing people, societies and even companies to manufacture salt. While individuals have leases that extend from 10 to 20 years, companies have longer leases, one stretching up to 100 years. Only those salt workers holding leases issued before January 12, 1973, will be considered `legal' while settling claims. A large majority, considered `illegal', will lose their only source of livelihood. Moreover, the rights of those who have sub-leased salt pans from merchants may have no legal standing.
PRECARIOUS EXISTENCE
If given another option, they would gladly give up salt harvesting. Still exploited by traders and middlemen, they have no way out of the grind. "They live like slaves in a free country. They are totally tied to merchants for getting leases and loans, buying diesel for their pumps, and finally selling the salt," says Dhamecha, who also comes from an Agaria family. "Agarias sell their salt for 60 paise a kg, but the market price is Rs.6 a kg, so you can imagine the extent of exploitation." Earnings from the salt pans are diminishing, as the water table falls and the salt-makers have to spend more to pump water. Some have had to abandon salt pans half way through the salt-producing process because there was not enough water. Salt pans have become an even more risky venture.
For the first time, Premji Muladia has to dig a second well in his salt pan. The first one ran dry. He is expecting lower production this year. "The water this year isn't as saline, so I think I will get only 750 tonnes this year. Last year I got 950 tonnes. I won't have any money left at the end of the season," he says. "Expenses are increasing because there is less water. Even after putting in so much work, we may not get much salt."
As the government keeps delaying the settlement and the putting of a proper co-existence plan into practice, people like Premji Muladia and their endangered ecosystem are treading a thin line for survival. They need more than just salt to sustain them.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2308/stories/20060505000406600.htm

Salt of the earth

2009-03-07T20:18:00.000+05:30

By Anosh Malekar
Little has changed for the debt-ridden Agariyas since 1872, when salt production began in the Little Rann of Kutch. They labour in the harsh sun and briny waters with no protective gear, earning 12-15 paise for each kg of salt produced

Salt production in Little Rann dates back to 5000 years
An estimated 43,000 people – salt workers, their families and dependents – are engaged in salt farming during the September-March season in the Little Rann, many of them living for eight months in conditions comparable to medieval times. Salt production in the Little Rann dates back 5,000 years, but it was the British who came to regulate it and transformed Kharaghoda, a remote village then, and now located in Surendranagar district, into a salt hub. Local historian-writer Ambubhai Patel said: “Historical sources indicate that by the middle of the 19th century, British India derived 10% of its revenues from the monopoly of salt. The salt pan workers from Kharaghoda and other smaller villages on the periphery of the Little Rann have been the unsung beasts of burden of the salt industry since then.”
In British India, salt was a government monopoly. Indian salt was heavily taxed to enable the import of English salt. Despite the symbolic defiance by Mahatma Gandhi’s salt satyagraha at Dandi in 1930, followed by satyagrahas in different parts of the country against the salt tax, it was not repealed until Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of an interim government in 1946. In free India, salt is an “essential item” and a Central subject. All aspects of the salt industry are controlled by the Salt Commissioner from Jaipur in Rajasthan.
Soon after Independence domestic salt production was encouraged and the country became self-sufficient before long, in 1953. Today, India is the third largest producer of salt in the world and some 5 million tonnes of its annual production of 17 million tonnes are exported. The country owes this primarily to the centuries of hard slog by 150,000-odd salt pan workers in the coastal and desert regions of the country which often lack even basic amenities like drinking water, hospitals, schools and markets. Perhaps the pitiless landscape of the Little Rann typifies the situation of India’s salt workers.
The nature of the Agariyas’ existence can be gauged from the fact that even today they use broken pieces of mirror to flash messages during the day across long distances inside the Little Rann, much like the native Americans and Australian aboriginals used fire to send smoke signals. “The conditions of the Agariyas had changed little since Sir Charles Pritchard of the Bombay Salt Department started production of salt inside the Little Rann in1872. The method of making salt (solar evaporation of subsoil brine) is the same, the measure for salt (one cubic square inch) is the same, the piece-rate system of payment is the same, even the day of annual payment (Janmasthami festival) is the same,” Patel said.
The Agariyas migrate here every year from the 109 villages bordering the Kutch desert after the monsoon. It’s a vicious cycle that begins with an Agariya family seeking an advance or loan from a wholesale salt trader who pre-fixes the price at which he will buy the salt from them at the end of the season. The advance or loan money will meet the running costs of manufacturing salt and afford subsistence living for the family in a temporary shelter on a plot adjoining the pans.
The entire family, including children, first constructs a hut and then prepares the fields, hardening the land surface and raising embankments with their bare hands and feet to create about a dozen evaporation pans, measuring approximately 200 ft by 250 ft. Simultaneously, they dig a shallow well and with the help of Rajkot pumps, a locally manufactured contraption that operates on crude oil, start drawing saline groundwater into the first of the pans.
Salt is produced in series of chores that remain unchanged for centuries
In a series of chores that have remained unchanged for centuries, the briny water is then transferred from one pan to another through narrow channels to increase the salt content before it reaches the final pan where it starts producing salt. During the four months this process takes, they frequently scrape the surfaces of the salt pans with very heavy wooden rakes to even out the salt, which is slowly captured and dried by the heat, transforming the pans into hard fields of coarse salt ready for harvest.
The salt that the Agariyas produce is locally known as Badagara, simply meaning salt produced in the Bada (big) Agara (pan). This inland salt in large-grain crystal form is distinct from the marine salt produced in the coastal regions of nearby Saurashtra. Gujarat produces 70% of India’s salt and inland salt from the Little Rann accounts for almost 40% of this.
Inland salt sells for Rs 3-5 per kg, mainly in the markets of north India and Nepal, which does not produce any salt, but the Agariyas of Little Rann get just about 12-15 paise a kg, less than their production cost in most cases. A chain of middlemen—traders, transporters and retailers—grab most of the profits, leaving little or nothing for them. There is a popular saying in this part of Gujarat: “Debt is what an Agaria never fails to bring back home”, referring to his return from the Little Rann to the village at the end of the salt manufacturing season.
Halfway through the season, in January 2009, when I visited the Little Rann, it was no different. I could barely hear their querulous tones amidst the cantankerous clatter of the crude oil pumps. “Last Janmasthami we agreed to a price of Rs 15 per 100 kilograms. Right now our salt is selling at Rs 45 in the Patdi town market,” Labhubhai Bababhai said. Labhubhai hails from Kharaghoda, now a big village with 12,000 residents. It is barely 7 km from Patdi, the relatively prosperous town of local salt traders. Kharaghoda is sometimes referred to as the village of widows because some 500 local women have lost their husbands at a relatively young age. The death figure is unusually high, but hardly surprising considering the majority of the dead men are Agariyas.
Most of the salt pan workers come from the impoverished Koli and Chuvaliya Koli tribes. Working as bonded labourers in harsh conditions and exploited for decades, they generally die young. Throughout their working lives -- they start very young as children of sever or eight years -- the Agariyas are known to face serious physical and mental health hazards. Working in extreme temperatures without any protective gear against the high exposure to sun and salt, many Agariyas suffer blindness and skin damage. The exposed body parts get covered in an abrasive coating of salt, drastically reducing their life expectancy. “Even a small cut takes months to heal,” Labhubhai said.
Agariyas work in extreme temperatures without protective gear
According to the latest available report prepared by the Union Ministry of Labour and titled ‘Working and Living Conditions of Salt Workers in India’, “The Aghariyas, who depend exclusively on salt processing, live in very poor conditions. There is a lack of basic amenities like drinking water, shelter, education and facilities like gumboots, sunglasses, tools and healthcare….. Children are brought up on salty land with no activities for growth. The seasonal workers live on the pan itself….They face health hazards like blisters, burns, cuts, eye burning, falling hair, headaches and many other ailments. Lower legs and feet develop lesions like ulcers and wart. Skin problems occur like scaling, atrophic scars, keratodermia, callosities, and fissures. This facilitates enhanced absorption of salt into the body, which could be one of the causes of high blood pressure. They also have to drink saline water most of the time. The incidence of Vitamin A deficiency, night blindness, tuberculosis, infant mortality and gynaecological problems are common”.
The late Dilip Ranpara, a Gujarati writer who published a book on the exploitation and sufferings of salt pan workers in the early-1990s, has described how the Agariya’s hands and legs take more time to burn on the funeral pyre than his body because a lifetime spent working in salt causes them to harden and become nearly acid-proof. The book, titled Kali Majuri, Dholo Mithoo (Black Labour, White Salt), is often quoted by social activists in public and official forums. But still, not many people are aware of this darker side of common salt.
The Agariyas in Kharaghoda recalled the Agaria Kalyan Sammelan (Conference for the Welfare of Salt-Makers) organised by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at Patdi to announce his government’s grand plans to develop the Navlakhi Port in Kutch near the Little Rann of Kutch with a special jetty dedicated for salt export so as to fetch the best prices for salt workers. “The proposed port will cut down transportation costs and give a boost to the local economy, at a time when the Railways have failed to provide any concession in freight charges for salt. Also, the government wanted to develop a Rann-based tourism plan,” said a senior aide of the chief minister in Gandhinagar.
The salt workers, with little or no education, fail to comprehend such grand development initiatives. All they have known is a poverty-stricken existence along the coast. Their already difficult life has been made even tougher by the deadly triumvirate of natural disasters at the beginning of the past decade – the cyclone in 1998, droughts in 1999 and 2000, and a deadly earthquake in 2001, when the governments of the day failed to help them substantially. As one salt worker, unconsciously stating the problem as he looked across the bountiful hot fields of salt, said: "What good are these grand promises when the governments cannot provide us drinking water, hospitals and schools. If anything, the government of the day should protect us from outside companies coming here to destroy our livelihood".
Privately-owned medium to large companies account for more than two-thirds of the total 1 million tonnes of salt produced annually inside the Little Rann of Kutch. They use much the same methods as the salt workers to "harvest" their produce. But they machine-process the raw crystals of salt into consumer-friendly fine salt, and iodise it. In comparison the ordinary salt worker extracts and sells the salt at slightly lower prices in the form of unprocessed, roughly bagged, iodine-sprayed crystallized salt. This crude product tends to harden into a single lump if touched by damp.
The marginalisation of the small producer has been an issue in the Little Rann for over a decade now. But things came to a head at the end of 2008.
InfoChange News & Features, February 2009

http://infochangeindia.org/Livelihoods/Salt-pains/Salt-of-the-earth.html

Bleak future for traditional salt

2009-03-07T19:48:00.000+05:30

By Anosh Malekar
In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi turned salt into a powerful symbol of freedom for Indians. In Independent India, the traditional salt pan workers of Gujarat say they are living like slaves, thanks to the government’s negligence and privatisation policies
Agariyas are worried heavy vehicle movement will impact the salt quality
The stillness of the Little Rann of Kutch was interrupted in early-December 2008 by a fleet of heavy vehicles, earthmovers, tractors and trucks, their movement causing clouds of dust to rise in the air. Dust can wreak havoc with the salt pans, making the salt yellowish and reducing its price. “The salt workers were initially worried about the impact of the movement of heavy vehicles on the quality of salt, but soon realised the bigger threat,” Sukhdev Patel, founder-president of the Agariya Hit Rakshak Manch or Salt Workers' Welfare Forum, said. He was referring to a mud wall being constructed across several kilometers inside the Little Rann to demarcate a recent sub-lease of land by Hindustan Salts Limited (HSL) to a private firm.
HSL, a public sector company, had stopped manufacturing salt a few years ago, claiming financial losses. But it remains the biggest holder of lease land in the Little Rann. It continues to fulfill its quota of supply to various government entities including the army by buying salt from traders in the open market. In 2000, it approached the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) which decides the fate of sick public sector units in the country, and was sanctioned a revival scheme. A total of 994 salt workers employed with it were offered a golden handshake. Having no money, HSL offered them small pieces of land out of its reserve of 23,000 acres for making salt.
The British era water supply scheme inside Little Rann
The latest sub-leases – some 2,300 acres to Chennai-based Brahmani Mata Salts and another 500 acres to Sai Mata Salts, also from the south – caused serious apprehensions among the salt workers from Kharaghoda. And adding fuel to the fire, HSL declared a voluntary retirement scheme for the last 97 salt workers on its rolls – offering Rs 1.19 lakh each – within days of the sub-leases to private firms becoming public knowledge. Patel said the main issue was not employment for 97 salt workers, but the entry of more private salt manufacturers, which was a direct threat to the traditional rights and livelihoods of over 2,000 salt workers and their families from Kharaghoda.
Salt workers like Bacchubhai Gandabhai and Pralhadbhai Jayarambhai were concerned that the heavy equipment and deeper bores used by the private firms would dry out their wells. ‘We do not dig beyond 50-60 metres, but these companies go up to 150-200 metres. It can adversely impact the water table.” HSL top officials refuted the charge. “Some vested interests are trying to instigate the salt workers, telling them the private firms would make more and better quality salt and snatch away their livelihood. But they will not succeed,” a senior official said. “We are trying to revive a loss-making unit. HSL has switched to trading salt as this is less capital- and labour-intensive than manufacturing the commodity”.
The senior official, who did not want to be identified, further explained that HSL was sub-leasing to private salt manufacturing firms to prevent illegal encroachment on its land. Besides, the lease amounts also served as a vital source of revenue. The 500 or so protesting salt workers and activists, who caused temporary suspension of the mud wall construction in mid-January 2009, came around soon after a team of top HSL officials rushed to the Little Rann from its headquarters in Jaipur. Their much-touted satyagraha or Gandhian protest inspired by Gandhi’s salt march at Dandi and planned for Republic Day on January 26, 2009, also fizzled out. Kharaghoda was connected by a broad-gauge line

during the British
The most surprising thing in the entire episode was the stony silence of Gujarat’s forest officials. It is not humans alone that stand to be affected by the increased human and industrial activities. The Little Rann is after all the last refuge of the endangered Asiatic wild ass. The forest officials acted only after Dhrangadhra Prakriti Mandal, a local NGO working for the protection of the wild ass sanctuary, filed a public interest litigation before the Gujarat High Court, raising many issues including HSL's right to sub-lease land and to build the wall in an area declared by the Gujarat government as Kutch Biosphere Reserve (KBR). The high court served a notice to the state's forest department and ordered a stay on the heavy machinery work in the area.
“The state forest department’s only concern appears to be to throw the impoverished Agariyas out of the Little Rann. Last year, it even blocked a government plan to lay a pipeline inside the Little Rann to provide potable water to the Agariyas. Now, when a mud wall is being constructed virtually dividing the wild ass’ grazing area into two, the forest authorities choose to be mute spectators,” social activist Ishwarbhai Desai said.
Salt workers like Kantibhai, who is among those offered VRS by HSL, felt his lot would have been better under British rule. “From what we have heard our elders say, they (the British) took good care of our people. Those were the glory days at Kharaghoda. The salt pan worker was a king then.” Historian-journalist Ambubhai Patel agreed: “Under the British some 900 families were employed permanently in salt-making. Kharaghoda was connected by a broad-gauge line, and the railway link extended into the Little Rann. Also, they built an excellent water supply scheme whose remnants exist inside the Little Rann to this day.”
I was taken to see another symbol of Kharaghoda’s past glory -- the Bulkley Market – by local activist and an expert guide to the Little Rann, Savshibhai. It is a Gothic structure built in 1905 by a British collector of salt taxes named Mr Bulkley, who, according to the cornerstone, “interested himself greatly in welfare of the village”. He also gave Kharaghoda an excellent hospital, equipped with isolation wards for patients with communicable diseases. “If you ask me, I would give the British 90 marks out of 100, and not even 10 to Indian governments for what they have reduced us to,” Ambubhai Patel said at the end of the tour.
Earlier, Savshibhai took me on a day-long tour of the Little Rann and a few surrounding villages to observe the conditions in which the salt workers survive today. There is no drinking water here anymore. The salt workers and their families buy water from a tanker that comes every week, if they are lucky. Otherwise, they either trek on foot or cycle 10-15 kilometers to fetch drinking water. “There is no water, no fuel, no school, and no hospital... nothing near by,” complained Leelaben Labhubhai. "We work like donkeys in the salt pans without a day off for eight months. We get to bathe every 15 days, that is the only luxury we can afford here.”
The Bulkley Market in Kharaghoda
If given an option, the salt workers say they would gladly give up salt harvesting. Leelaben’s husband, Labhubhai, said he cannot perceive a way out of the exploitation by traders and middlemen, and the inaction by governments. "We are living like slaves in a free country. Earnings from the salt pans are diminishing, as the expenditure on pumping brine is going up due to a gradual fall in the water table each season,” he said, explaining how some have had to abandon their salt pans halfway through the salt-producing season because there was not enough brine. “Lately, salt pans have become a risky venture,” Labhubhai concluded.
People like Labhubhai and Leelaben are treading a thin line for survival and will need more then just salt to sustain them in future. Once the government decides on settlement of land rights inside the Little Rann, and implements a proper habitat management plan aimed at protecting the wildlife, the salt pan workers will be an endangered species. The government at the moment is silent on this issue, but senior forest officials in Gandhinagar confirmed that only those salt workers holding leases issued before January 12, 1973, will be considered `authorised claimants’ during the settlement process. A large majority of salt workers, who hold salt pans as sub-leases from merchants or private companies, will have to lose their only source of livelihood once the wild ass sanctuary plans take off.
I could not miss the bitter irony in all this. In 1930, the Mahatma and his 78 followers marched 241 miles across the state of Gujarat to the salt pans on the Dandi coast – proclaiming resistance not just to Britain's ban on the private production of salt, but to its colonial reign. It was Mahatma Gandhi who elevated salt to a powerful symbol of purity, tradition and freedom for Indians. In Independent India, the indigenous harvesting and marketing of salt is exposed to the catastrophic consequences of government’s negligence and privatisation policy.
Sadly, the natural salt industry is dead and gone in Dandi too, being replaced by chikoo and mango farming over the decades and, of late, by shrimp culture. Aquaculture Farmers’ Association secretary Manoj Sharma said: ”The salt industry has died a natural death. People have found more lucrative alternatives than keeping land aside for vast salt pans. There are over 100 ponds for shrimp farming in and around Dandi, with an annual turnover of around 500 tonne, having an estimated value of about Rs 4 crore.”
Not surprisingly, the state government now wants to promote prawn culture inside the Little Rann to create new job opportunities for the next generations of salt workers. Modi has promised that the much touted Rs 11,000-crore scheme for the development of Gujarat’s coastal areas and fisheries will also percolate down to the salt workers. “This is sad. Instead of promoting our salt, which is both organic and highly edible, India wants to close down its biggest salt pan. If this salt was manufactured in the West, I am sure they would have sold it for the price of gold,” local historian Ambubhai Patel said.
Many like Patel, who have been associated with salt making since their birth, felt the entry of more private players -- at last count some seven companies had entered the salty desert -- would lead to overexploitation of the natural resource. And it won’t be long before traditional salt making becomes history in the Little Rann.
InfoChange News & Features, March 2009
http://infochangeindia.org/Livelihoods/Salt-pains/Bleak-future-for-traditional-salt.html

Inside India's Survey No Zero

2009-02-23T15:07:00.000+05:30

Inside India's Survey No Zero
By Anosh Malekar
Generations of Agariyas have made a living making salt in the barren wastes of the Little Rann of Kutch. In 2007, they were asked to make way for a wild ass sanctuary in the area. The Agariyas are staking their claim to this land which has never been surveyed, pointing to an edict from Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb which grants them rights to this land
Whenever I go back in memory to the Little Rann of Kutch, I realize that the landscape is clearly fixed for me in time and place. I can conjure up the image without difficulty because over the years this extraordinary place in Gujarat on India’s west coast has retained all its colours – the cracked brown vastness of the mudflats under a searing white sun, the bare horizon without a spot of green, the azure sky devoid of a single cloud, and men, women and children of the Agariya community engaged in neat square fields of steadily evaporating salt waters. The blaze of sunlight reflecting from the white salt deposits scalds the eye, but the jagged mural formed by the Agariya’s primitive salt-making activity accompanied by the rare sight of a wild species, a herd of wild ass or a lonely fox, completes the landscape.
Life is tough in the Little Rann (the Kutch desert is divided into the Little Rann and the Great Rann) with temperatures soaring above 50 degrees Celsius during peak summers and dropping to near zero on winter nights. In June, the monsoons herald the invasion by the Arabian Sea through the Gulf of Kutch causing the mudflats to disappear under knee-deep water for four months and, as a consequence, become saline. The salt-impregnated wilderness spreads over 5,180 sq kms and is also known as India’s ‘Survey Number Zero’ because no land survey has been conducted here since the British left.
The Office of the Settlement Commissioner & Director of Land Records at Dr Jeevraj Mehta Bhavan in Gandhinagar said the state government had no land data and no survey number to identify the Little Rann. This is surprising because for centuries the saline desert with extremely sparse vegetation cover has been a vital source of livelihood for a large number of people, mainly salt workers, and a rare habitat for a thriving population of one of the endangered sub-species of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus khur).
The Survey of India (SOI) topographical maps of 1960 vintage used to estimate the habitat, vegetation cover and salt fields, have proven inadequate in documenting changes in its land-use over the centuries. And the resulting absence of a proper habitat management plan has led to an increase in the conflict between man and the wild in recent decades. Environment and wildlife groups are concerned that salt cultivation and the accompanying human activity is threatening the sparse vegetation that is so vital to the existence of the wild asses, turning them into crop predators and thereby triggering the human-animal conflict.

Some say salt making is a threat to the wild ass
However, activists working for the welfare of the salt workers argue that the wild ass has thrived over the years inside the Little Rann. According to Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation, the population of the sub-species has been increasing since the 1990s, and may reach 4,000 by 2010 from 362 in 1969. “This proves there is no human-animal conflict. The salt workers, who have lived here for centuries, have co-existed peacefully with the wildlife,” Harinesh Pandya of the Agariya Hit Rakshak Manch or Salt Workers' Welfare Forum said.
Pandya had earlier filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the State Revenue Department, seeking details of surveys conducted in the Little Rann of Kutch since 1947. The application sought to know the number of land surveys, the survey number, exact demarcation of the desert according to the jurisdiction of the different districts it falls under, and rights of the traditional communities and other tribes in the area. The application was forwarded to the District Inspector of Land Records (DILR) Office in Kutch, which in turn informed him that no survey of the region had been conducted so far. "They told me that this was the reason why the region does not even have a survey number," Pandya said.
After nearly two years, on January 29, 2009, the state information commission issued orders, directing the Revenue Department, Office of the Settlement Commissioner & Director of Land Records, and the DILR office in Kutch, to submit complete and correct information to the RTI applicant within three weeks from the receipt of the order. “This type of ambiguity on the Little Rann puts a huge question mark on all that has been happening here. Not only is there no survey number, there seems to be no clarity about whose jurisdiction the area falls under,” Pandya said.
According to the DILR, the area known as Little Rann of Kutch fell under the jurisdiction of six districts of Gujarat – Kutch, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Patan, Jamnagar and Banaskantha. The DILR further mentioned that the area was notified as Ghudkhar or wild ass protected forest and an officer of the level of additional collector was in charge of work relating to this. But the State Forest Department’s public information officer (PIO) and the deputy conservator of forests had no details to offer on the issue. Similarly, the PIOs of Banaskantha and Rajkot district administrations refused to provide information saying that the RTI queries from Pandya did not pertain to their jurisdiction and that no such area was part of their districts.
After multiple transfers of the RTI application, with no desired information forthcoming, Pandya finally moved the Gujarat Information Commission. "I took this step, as the area is of strategic and ecological importance. Every inch of land in India has been surveyed. It is strange that there is no information about such a huge area. Land survey is also important because the traditional rights of salt pan workers and some nomadic tribes as well as other tribes staying in this area have been under official scrutiny.”

Salt workers can claim only traditional rights to land
The seeds of the present conflict were sown when the first set of notifications for the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kutch was issued on January 12, 1973 under the Gujarat Wild Animals and Wild Birds Protection Act, 1963. The sanctuary was proposed on a total area of 4840.899 sq km across four districts of Surendranagar, Rajkot, Patan and Kutch. The second notification came in 1978, under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, covering some more peripheral area and taking the total area of the sanctuary to 4953.7 sq km.
In early-1997, an office was set up by the state government for the survey and settlement of the claims of traditional dwellers of the sanctuary in Surendranagar. Predictably, they have been up in arms ever since. An assemblage of NGOs led by Harinesh Pandya of Janpath, which works for the welfare of salt pan workers, and Sukhdev Patel of Ganatar, which runs mobile schools for their kids, are lobbying the state government to end the uncertainty over their existence inside the Little Rann. Interestingly, while the State Forest Department has issued eviction notices to the salt workers, the state government has provided identity cards to nearly 41,000 of them, certifying them as traditional salt pan workers.
Land rights issues involving salt workers in Gujarat are much more complicated than say farmers affected by government attempts to acquire their privately owned farmland for special economic zones (SEZs) or other industrial purposes elsewhere in the country. The majority of the salt workers do not own land. They are holders of traditional lease of arid and fallow land for `salt farming', issued by the government to individual salt workers and their cooperatives as well as some 20-odd private firms. Until 1963-64, this renewable lease for a plot of five to ten acres was for 10 years and thereafter for five years.
When the Centre decided to reserve the land for a sanctuary to protect the wild ass, the State Forest Department, as the official implementing agency, started attempts to acquire land inside the Little Rann. Interestingly, while the companies' leases continued to be renewed as usual, the individuals' leases were not renewed from 1997 onwards. The salt workers were finally issued eviction notices in 2007. But sensing popular protest in an assembly election year, the state government led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi promised to try and persuade the Centre to reconsider dislodging the salt workers. The government is presently seeking documented evidence from the Agariyas to establish their right to produce salt inside the Wild Ass Sanctuary.
With no official surveys or documents to help establish their traditional rights over land inside the Wild Ass Sanctuary, the threat of eviction and subsequent loss of livelihood has been a constant for salt pan workers for some time now. In a bid to help dispel the eviction cloud, representatives of NGOs working for them claim to have gone to the extent of digging out a historic 'farmaan' (ordinance) issued by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1669, where the salt pan workers of Halvad in Surendranagar district find a mention.
Harinesh Pandya stumbled upon the book Salt Industry in India, a pre-Independence era British publication to which the farmaan has been appended, during a visit to the Salt Commissioner's office in Jaipur in 2007. He has presented the farmaan issued by Aurangzeb as documentary evidence of the traditional claims of Agariyas over their land before the Surendranagar Additional Collector, who is in-charge of settling the land claims.
"The farmaan clearly indicates that proper land records and distribution systems were in place for the Little Rann of Kutch even during the Mughal period,” Pandya said. Assigning the Mahal or district of Halud – a part of Ahmedabad Subah – as a jagir to Nazar Ali Khan, the farmaan describes the Subahs comprising of 112 villages and salt pans, as generating revenues of 25. 8 lakh dams (dam was the currency in circulation during the period).
Pandya hopes the Mughal-era farmaan will help set the records straight. "It is impossible for the Agariyas to produce any recent documentary evidence of their customary rights," Pandya said arguing that the onus lies with the government to seek and find the evidence.
InfoChange News & Features, February 2009

http://infochangeindia.org/200902217622/Livelihoods/Features/Inside-India-s-Survey-No-Zero.html

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON ISSUES OF SALT PAN WORKERS IN INDIA

2008-12-05T11:54:00.001+05:30

Background

Salt making activity has the history of more than 700 years in India. After independence this activity has shown significant growth with 9 fold increase in its annual production. Today, India constitutes 7% of world’s total salt production. In 2005-2006, country produced 18 million tones and ranked 3rd in the world.

Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu share major portion of the total salt production in India. While Gujarat produces both marine as well as inland salt, Rajasthan produces only inland salt and the rest two only have the marine one. The total workers engaged in salt making and allied activities are estimated to be more than Salt workers are largely un-organized.

Working conditions:

Salt workers work in extreme weather conditions. They are exposed to hot sun, high velocity wind and extreme cold conditions in areas like Little Rann of Kutch. The reflections from the heaps of salt affects the sight, where as saline water affects the skin and also increase blood pressure. Salt production areas are usually very far from that of the revenue village/settlements, there by creating severe issues in regards with basic facilities like water, electricity, road, health and education.

The most important issues, is of low return to the workers. The payments are mostly done on piece rate or daily basis. However the returns are very low compared to minimum wages of the state. In Gujarat, the condition is so worst that the workers are getting payment as low as Rs.30 per day. Salt pan workers do not have access to market or value addition, thus fall pray in the hands of brochures & traders.

Intervention of Government and Civil Society:

Central and state governments do have specific welfare schemes for the salt pan workers. In state like, Gujarat there is special committee called “Empowered committee” which looks after development of salt industry and welfare of workers. However, there is no separate policy or framework for operation. Thus many a times such measures seem to be adhoc.

Voluntary organizations do have played important role in awareness generation and capacity building of workers, and coordinating for effective implementation of the various schemes. In state like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, government has recognized their role and included them in policy making committees.

Need for greater collaboration:Looking at the present industrial growth in coastal states, especially in soda ash chemical industries, the market for salt is going to increase. This will also increase the possibility that the issues related to working condition and violation of basic workers rights become more severe. Thus there is need to understand the challenges, build common understanding and advocate for uniform policy framework to regulate working conditions of salt pan workers.

Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (A forum of organizations and individuals committed to work in issues of salt pan workers) has taken initiative in this context by proposing to organize a national consultation. AHRM is being actively working on 7 districts of Gujarat with support from CARE India, as part of SNEHAL programme. The event will be jointly supported by CARE, Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute (MGLI), and Industries Commissionerate, GOG. The organizers of the consultation are Central Salt Commissioner’s Office, Industries Commissionerate, Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation Limited, Indian Salt Manufacturers Association, Pathey (Gujarat), along with AHRM, CARE India and MGLI.

The consultation will invite representatives of all important stakeholders like Industries department of all salt producing states, Representatives of cooperative societies, workers, unions, federations and small scale slat manufacturers along with voluntary groups and community organizations concern towards issues of salt workers.

We are sure that this initiative will find very good response from the state governments of various salt producing states as well as other stakeholders in the process and will result into a policy framework ensuring better working conditions of salt workers in India.

ORGANISERS:

· Central Salt Commissioner’s Office – GOI

· Industries Commissionerate – GOG

· CARE India (Gujarat)

· Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM)

· Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation Ltd (TNSC)

· Indian Salt Manufacturers Associations (ISMA)

· Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute (MGLI)

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON SALT WORKERS IN INDIA

2008-12-05T11:52:00.001+05:30

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON SALT WORKERS aims bringing all important stakeholders on single platform with concern towards un-organized salt workers across the country. Salt making is a traditional activity and skills that were passed through generations. It is the activity giving livelihood to lakhs of families. Today, when Indian is ranking third in the world for salt, it is to be appreciated that various stakeholders share common concern towards issues of un-organized salt workers. The initiative depict commitment of the state and central government, corporate sector, as well voluntary sector for having collective efforts for having policy ensuring dignified life to salt worker in the country.
Consultation is jointly organized by Central Salt Commissioner’s Office (GOI), Industries Commissionerate (GOG), CARE India (Gujarat), Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation Ltd (TNSC), Indian Salt Manufacture’s Association (ISMA), Pathey, Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM) and Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute (MGLI)
The consultation will invite representatives of all important stakeholders like Industries, Labour and salt departments of all salt producing states, Representatives of cooperative societies, workers, unions, federations and small scale slat manufacturers along with voluntary groups and community organizations concern towards issues of salt workers from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Maharashtra.
We are sure that this initiative will find very good response from the state governments of various salt producing states as well as other stakeholders in the process and will result into a policy framework ensuring better working conditions of salt workers in India.

2008-12-05T11:45:00.000+05:30

Yet to be Freed

Agariyas’ Lives and Struggle for Survival in the Little Rann of Kutch

- Charul Bharwada
- Vinay Mahajan

ABSTRACT

Every map of Gujarat has a dotted area labeled the Rann of Kutch – the Greater and the little. For those who have not seen the Rann, it is often an image of a desert - a landscape with sand and dunes. For those who have, it is a vast flat land with salt crust in the winters and summers and a big lake in the monsoon. Most people imagine it to be an area devoid of life and activity. But, the reality beyond these dotted lines has an interesting history and a complex present with many rulers, communities, animals and birds having diverse uses and strong relations with this landmass.
Agariyas, the traditional salt producers living on the edge of the Little Rann of Kutch is one such community having a unique livelihood relation with the Rann. Despite age old ingenious skills in making salt in the Rann and their significant contribution their lives remain socio-economically poor due to shrinking markets; perpetually exploited; ecologically threatened due to the proposed Wild Ass Sanctuary and administratively unattended and uncared. This paper is an exploration in agariyas’ livelihood system and their constant struggle for survival beyond the dotted lines of map.
The paper briefly describes history and ecology of the Little Rann of Kutch and diverse livelihoods practiced around it. It brings out through various historical documents how salt making in the Rann has been centuries old occupation. It further goes on to explore the economics of salt making from the Agariyas’ perspective and various threats faced by them.
(Charul Bharwada is an Architect and Planner from CEPT, Ahmedabad. Vinay Mahajan is an Agricultural Engineer and a management post graduate from IIM, Ahmedabad. After some years work in the corporate sector, they have been trying to study and understand the issues of natural resource dependent marginalised communities. They both are founders and principal researchers of SANDARBH Studies, Ahmedabad. through their small set up SANDARBH Studies. In order to share the findings of their studies with people, they also write and compose songs.)

2008-12-05T11:39:00.000+05:30

Deliberation on working condition of salt workers

Express news service

Posted online: Sunday, April 06, 2008 at 0324 hrs IST

Ahmedabad

To discuss the working conditions of salt workers and to evolve ways to better their socio-economic status, a day-long national consultation will be organised at the Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute on April 11.
The consultation will see salt workers, private corporations and government representatives from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Maharashtra taking part in the discussions.
Gujarat has more than 65,000 salt workers or agariya as they are called here. Close to 42,000 of them belong to the Little Rann of Kutch, an area of inland salt production, which also happens to be one of the most backward areas of the state.
The 5,400 sq km area has no electricity, no potable water supply, no schools and no police station.
According to Harinesh Pandya of the Agariya Heet Rakshhak Manch (AHRM), the plight of the agariyas of the Little Rann will be one of the major issues discussed at the forum. “This area bears the revenue survey no. 0. There has been no survey here and saltpan workers have nothing to prove their customary rights over the land. On the other hand, the government is granting licenses to private parties here,” said Pandya.
Other issues up for discussion would be the impact of corporate salt-farming on the traditional agariyas and finding ways to develop direct connection between the buyers and salt workers and eliminating middlemen.
The national consultation is being jointly organised by the Central Salt Commissioner’s Office, Industries Commissioner and CARE India (Gujarat), Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation Ltd, Indian Salt Manufacturer's Association (ISMA), Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute (MGLI) and AHRM.

2008-12-05T11:33:00.000+05:30

UNITED NATIONS TEAM FOR RECOVERY SUPPORT
PROJECT TO IMPROVE THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF SALT WORKERS IN TAMILNADU

Background

Salt workers are one of the most marginalized and vulnerable sections of the society in Tamil Nadu and other salt producing states of India. As per Central Salt Commissioner’s Office (CSO) supported BOBP-IGO (could you explain abbriviation?) study on India’s salt workers, there are about 150,000 salt workers and their families living for eight months in a year in a harsh environment without basic socio-economic amenities like drinking water, schools, hospitals and knowledge of their statutory rights. It is a labour intensive industry involving risks of blindness, blood pressure, skin lesions, knee injury, back pain and exhaustion, tuberculosis and chronic cough and epidemics such as malaria. Coupled with these issues is the fact that most of the workers are from the backward castes, unorganized, are paid low wages (on a no-work-no-pay basis), and suffer exploitation in the hands of intermediaries in the salt business, including money lenders.[1]

About 20 percent of the workers at the national level are seasonal migrants, which occurs at three levels; inter-village, inter-district and inter-state. Over 90 percent of migrants belong to the first two types where the workers migrate from neighboring districts of salt production zones to salt production centres during the season.

Under the British the growth of the salt sector was affected in India due to the heavy taxes imposed, forcing import of salt from Britain. The situation is markedly better now. India’s salt industry, with 17 million tones produced, is the third highest in the word. Tamil Nadu accounts for 14% of the above figure. The salt industry is governed by the Salt Cess Act of 1953, which is implemented through the Salt Commissioner’s Office, headquartered in Jaipur.
Impact on the Salt workers lives
The salt industry was hard hit by the 26 December 2004 Tsunami. The loss was mainly to the infrastructure, delay in production following intrusion of sea water in the condensors and reservoirs and loss of salt in stock.
In Vedaranyam, the salt production season is December to September. However up to April 2005 enough brine was not available. Due to tsunami waves, protective bunds, roads, bittern channels, brine pits were damaged extensively. The vedaranyam salt producers association has estimated loss of Rs. 25,000 per acre. Most of the workers remained unemployed after the tsunami damaged the saltpans. The SCO had sanctioned INR 57 lakhs for rehabilitation and planting mangrove trees along 500 metres area from the seashore.
The economic impact was in three forms:
1. Loss of prepared salt
2. Loans taken from moneylenders that remain outstanding
3. Sustaining oneself until the reclamation of brine pits is done and a new lot of produced salt is in place.
The Salt workers were one of most impacted communities after the tsunami though there was no extensive damage to life. Ever since then, there has been a need to run cross-sectoral programmes, habitat development and equity issues benefiting the salt workers.

National consultation

In pursuance of the above need the UNTRS organized a National level consultative meeting on 11th April, 2007, along with the Salt Commissioner’s office, at Jaipur. Participants and agencies represented at this consultation were the salt commissioner and his deputy, UNICEF, WFP, Industries department, UNDP, American India foundation, labour department, NGOS (Basix, Manthan). An overview of the needs of the salt workers, areas of priority and the schemes to be announced under the 11th Central Plan were discussed. The recommendations of the BOBP-IGO report on salt workers were also appreciated in this meeting:

- Create a data base on salt workers. Undertake a full census. Register all salt workers.
- Guarantee employment, fix minimum wages.
- Improve workplace amenities, such as access to potable drinking water, mobile clinics, protective gear, sanitation, rest sheds.
- Strengthen awareness on family planning. Recruit health workers from salt workers’ community.
- Set up a group insurance scheme. Improve and widen the credit access.
- Set up child crèches and schools. Mobilize NGOs for the same purpose.
- Modernize the industry without marginalizing small-scale salt units. Standardize production techniques. Improve power supply. Set up salt parks in select locations.
- Strengthen infrastructure for storage and transport of salt, jetties and efficient rail rakes.

It was also discussed in this meeting to start work in Tamil Nadu by forming an advisory group and initiating a baseline which could guide the intervention.

A state level stakeholders meeting was held in Chennai on 31st May, 2007, to analyze the key issues that need to be focused for intervention from the perspective of all participants which comprised representatives from salt workers, the Deputy Salt Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation, American India Foundation, Faces (NGO), Women’s Collective (NGO), Anasuya Foundation, Tata Chemicals, Orchid Pharma, and Hindustan Lever Limited. The meeting gave very useful insights on the salt workers issues, it mainly:

1. articulated the need and role of such an advisory group at the state level for the benefit of salt workers programmes,
2. key issues that need to be focused in Tamil Nadu
3. the terms of reference for a situation analysis was finalized

The situation analysis being conducted by the Vrutti - Livelihood Resource, Centre Catalyst Development Initiatives, has been initiated in September 2007 for a two month period, is expected to provide a clear design to implement a project to improve the socio-economic conditions of the salt workers. Clarity needs to emerge on the number of salt pan workers we are addressing, the specific issues in the tsunami and non tsunami context, and mainly a clear baseline to take this forward. This situation analysis will further result in designing a project design to improve the lives of salt workers.

Partnership strategy:

The project will be implemented in partnership with the Salt commissioner’s office (Government of India) and civil society organizations. Where required linkages will be established with Corporate Houses and other UN agencies to facilitate the implementation of the project.

[1] BOBP-IGO Condensed Report ‘Socio Economic Status of Workers in the Salt Industry’, 37, Bay of Bengal News March 2006

2008-12-05T11:23:00.000+05:30

Scorching salt

RAVLEEN KAUR

The earth is cracked and the horizon bare. The deathly silence is broken by the occasional whirring of crude-oil pumps. Women, going about their daily life in bright mirror-work lehangas, add a dash of colour to an otherwise arid background. This tough terrain has dominated 50-year-old Shantabhai Maganbhai Bamania's life since he was 10.Shantabhai is an Agaria, a salt worker. The Rann of Kutch in Gujarat is his home to him and his family for eight months a year, from September to April. The remaining four months they spend in Kharagoda. Not just Shantabhai, the Rann of Kutch is home to more than 100,000 workers like him for eight months a year, who come from villages 30 to 40 kms away.Their livelihood has been under threat ever since the Little Rann of Kutch (the Rann is divided into the Little Rann and the Great Rann) was notified as a wildlife sanctuary in 1973 to protect the wild ass. In 2006, the salt workers were served eviction notices.The saltmaking Agarias do not understand why they are being asked to go, leaving behind an occupation they have been involved in for centuries. Where is the conflict, they ask. According to a Gujarat forest department sponsored study conducted by the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research Foundation (GEER), Ecological Study of the Wild Ass Sanctuary, the total area leased out for salt pans in 1995 was 13,357 ha, about three per cent of the sanctuary. The report notes that the area under salt production went up from 6,948 hectares (ha) in 1982-84 to 13,357 ha in 1995. At the same time, the wild ass population also went up from 720 in a 1976 census to 3863 in 2004. The report says "a minimum population of about 2,500 wild asses in the area would be a safe level to achieve the objective of conservation." "So where then is the conflict?" asks Harinesh Pandya, secretary of Agaria Heetrakshak Manch (AHRM), a forum that fights for the rights of Agarias. "The animals can often be found drinking water from the Agaria tanks. Never has a salt worker harmed a wild ass," says he. The forest department agrees there has been a healthy increase in the wild ass population of the area. It ascribes the rise in the number of wild asses to good rainfall in the past six years. "Wild ass mating gets disturbed by movement of salt trucks," says M A Chawda, Divisional Forest Officer of Dhrangadra. This is a classic case of speaking through the hat. Mating and breeding of wild asses begin in April and extends up to October. Trucks move into the area only in March and April when the salt harvest is ready. "The GEER report also suggests that there is no threat to wildlife from salt making. It only recommends the administration designate paths for trucks. It is a management problem, not an ecological one. Why punish Agarias if the government has not acted on this recommendation?" asks Vinay Mahajan of the Ahmedabad-based independent research institute, Sandarbh Development Studies. The government clearly follows a dual policy: act tough with the poor and be soft towards the powerful. It wants the Agarias to vacate the three per cent sanctuary area used for salt production. On the other hand, proposals for an oil and gas pipeline, from Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Cairn Energy, are now with the government for consideration. This pipeline, if approved, will pass through the Little Rann. The Narmada canal, which too will pass through the sanctuary, has already been given the go-ahead. The Agarias' vulnerability stems from the fact that they have no land deeds. No survey has ever taken place in the Little Rann of Kutch since independence; it does not figure in government revenue records. Revenue department records in fact refer to the area as Survey Number Zero.The forest department often asserts that Agarias have no document to prove their claim over the Rann. But Pandya contends, "There is mention in documents of the colonial state of salt extraction in the Rann of Kutch." His organisation has recently ferreted evidence from Mughal times that shows that salt-making in the Rann dates back to more than five centuries. The government started making some moves to settle Agarias' land claims in 1997. Surendranagar's district collector issued a notice to Agarias to claim their entitlements in the sanctuary within two months. But the notice was sent in September when Agarias had left for the Rann, so they could not file claims. "The additional collector's office told us that it has received only 1,776 claims so far. But according to the Gujarat industries department report of 2006, more than 45,000 families are engaged in salt making in the sanctuary. How come only 1,776 claims were filed?" asks Pandya. In December 2006, AHRM organised a meeting following which 4,800 Agarias filed their claims till June 2007. During monsoon, water from the Arabian Sea floods the Rann converting it into a lake. In September, when the waters recede, it's time for Agarias from the 107 villages around the Little Rann to move in. Mud huts come up in Survey Number Zero, where Agarias stay till spring, making the Vadagara variety of salt - it has big crystals and is considered inferior to the powdered marine salt sold in most of urban India. Vadagara is made from sub-soil brine. Agarias dig a six to nine metre-deep well from where the brine is pumped out. This is then taken through channels to large flat pans. Getting these pans ready to receive the brine is tough work. Agarias stamp hard and level the earth with their bare feet. The pressure tightly packs the loose soil and ensures the brine does not seep back. "The initial layer of salt that is formed, once the brine evaporates, is scraped with heavy wooden rakes, locally known as gantaras. Some dry branches are thrown in, around which salt crystals form," says Shantabhai. Once the salt has been harvested it is sent to collection points.Here traders take over. These collection points are by the nearest railway station; in Shantabhai's case the salt harvest is despatched to Kharagoda railway station. "The trader usually gives us a monthly advance of Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000. This includes expenses for crude oil and spare parts, which go up to Rs 12,000. The rest of the money goes in buying food," says Mahesh Godhabhai Gohil, an Agaria. "We come to the Rann with an advance and leave the place in debt," says he. Not just debts, Agarias also leave with scars and blisters on their hands. Uninterrupted exposure to the sun causes eye and skin problems. Stamping hard on the salt pans with bare feet leaves Agarias with blisters - it is only recently that some NGOs have started providing them with gumboots. Wounds take a long time to heal because they are constantly rubbed with salt. About 1 million tonnes of salt is produced in a year in the region. It is sent to UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Nepal. For every 100 kg of salt, the trader gives Rs 15 to the Agaria - seven paise per kg. Traders sell the salt at Rs 45 to Rs 60 per 100 kg - they spend about Rs 35 on cartage and iodination. Not just poor payment, declining groundwater has become a problem for the Agarias as well. "Salt pans were active upped April 2007. But this year, they had to be wound up in March because of very little groundwater. The average production from each pan was 1,000 tonnes about 10 year's back. It is no more than 700 to 800 tonnes now," says Devibhai Dhamecha, naturalist and photographer, who also runs a tourist resort near the Little Rann. Despite a hard life, Agarias do not want to give up salt making. "Here we have our freedom. There is no crime and not many wordly troubles. We are on our own unlike a construction labourer and at the end of a hot day, we at least get our meals. When there will be no more brine we will have no option but move out. But why should we leave right now?" asks Mangabhai.
(More to follow)[CSE/Down To Earth Features]

2008-12-05T11:20:00.000+05:30

JAAGO GUJARAT

No more Satyagraha:
Salt makers use RTI to save livelihood
RAHUL MANGAONKAR

When Mahatma Gandhi broke the salt law at Dandi in 1930, it was a momentous chapter in India’s freedom movement. In the 60th year of Independence though, the original salt makers of Gujarat have been given marching orders. These inhabitants of ‘Survey Number Zero’ now face eviction, with the forest department serving notices to them.

The Agariyas, who are the traditional salt makers, are nobody’s people. How else can one explain their absence from the survey carried out by the revenue department of the Gujarat government, years ago? Ironically, the area inhabited by these people was numbered not for its human inhabitants, but due to the wildlife there.
The Agariyas as a community have been traditionally making salt in pockets of the 5,000 sq km spread of Little Rann of Kutch, for centuries. Little Rann is also home to the wild ass. For years, both man and animal have peacefully co-existed in this area, with hardly any conflict.

Only when foresters wanted to declare the area as a wild ass sanctuary that it dawned upon babus that this area had never been accounted for. For all these years, nobody cared for the condition of people living here. It required the presence of wild asses to draw attention to the Agariyas. When the need to name this stretch arose, so as to notify it as a sanctuary, the powers-that-be declared the area as ‘Survey Number Zero’!
The Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM) has been championing the cause of the community by making them aware about their fundamental rights. AHRM has been relentlessly lobbying with the government at various levels. AHRM, supported by Janpath, also created awareness amongst Agariyas about their Right to Information (RTI).

Several members of the community have now used the RTI Act to ensure effective deployment of mobile health vans and setting up schools for the community’s benefit.
Now faced with eviction notices, residents of Survey Number Zero are using the RTI Act to demand accountability on the question of their very existence and basic fundamental right to pursue their livelihood, employment and sustenance.

Additional collector, settlement, appointed to rehabilitate those who stand to be displaced, was supposed to give an opportunity to the affected people to argue why they shouldn’t be displaced. In this case, the Agariyas had to prove that traditionally, they have been dependent upon the Little Rann of Kutch for making salt, which was their sustenance. They would not be able to sustain themselves anywhere else, bereft of their salt pans.

How many Agariyas make salt on Survey Number Zero? Responding to a RTI query, the salt department stated that approximately 15,000 Agariyas depend on their traditional occupation of salt making. Whereas another RTI query revealed that 1,776 applications were received for verification of rights. Moreover, the Agariyas had no idea for long that they had been served eviction notices.

Now they have filed RTI applications demanding to know how and when eviction notices were sent and how awareness, if at all, was created about the verification of rights process.

jaago.gujarat@indiatimes.com

Why kids won’t follow parents into salt pans

2008-12-05T11:15:00.002+05:30

Pratibha Misra; Ahmedabad, October 18: The Indian Express

State Govt, NGO initiative to focus on providing basic education and vocational training

When salt workers of Kharaghoda in the Little Rann of Kutch wanted to apply for government identity cards, it was their children who read out the registration while they simply gave thumb imprints.
Mahesh Singhal, son of a salt-pan worker, trained as a health worker at the Karamsad Medical college and now works at Adesan village in the Little Rann of Kutch. Singhal has taken steps against malaria and other diseases, the bane of salt-pan workers.
It’s perhaps a sign that times may be changing for children of salt-pan workers in the State. Saddled with a hazardous life, these children faced a bleak future. But now the State Government has taken the initiative of providing these children basic education along with NGOs working for the workers.
In a State which produces 70 per cent of the country’s salt, the salt-pan workers weren’t given their due share. With a lack of basic education and an alternative livelihood scheme, children of these salt-pan workers most often follow the salt-laden path of their parents.
But efforts by NGOs like Ganatar, a core member of Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch (AHRM) working for the upliftment of salt-pan workers, may bring a whiff of change with State Government planning to adopt the education model provided by Ganatar as a supplementary model for salt-pan workers’ children.
The State Government has also allocated Rs 4.7 crore from the central educational budget for providing better educational facilities like schools and hostels for children of salt workers.
Ganatar, working at providing basic primary education to the children of salt-pan workers for a decade now, has sucessfully come up with two models of basic education. The two models — schools at workplace for children studing till Std IV and seasonal hostels for children studying in Std V-VII — help check the rising illiteracy rate among salt-pan workers.
The children of the workers, who migrate to the salt pans across the State every year around October, leave school midway to accompany their parents. This leads to them dropping out of school and having to enroll in the same class once they return home after the salt pans close for the season.
Says Sukhdev Patel of Ganatar, “Over time, this leads to the children losing interest in studies and giving it up altogether. With no other source of earning, they also turn to the one livelihood source they are aware of — the salt-pans.”
He futhers adds, “We have come up with two models of providing these children with basic education upto Std VII. The State Government’s budget of of Rs 4.7 crore is for this scheme.”
“It has been decided that 50 seasonal hostels for children who should stay at their native villages even when their parents migrate will be made and 50 schools at workplaces for children who migrate to the salt-pans will be constructed out of the grant,” he adds.
In another effort to provide definite skills and vocational training to these kids, Ganatar has come up with a programme under which children who have completed their Std VII are put up at the Gijubhai Bal Academy till they complete SSC free of cost. At present around 80 students are undergoing the programme in which for the first two years, the children are taught vocational skills like carpentary, weaving, automobile repairing, fabrication, making baked food items.
Says Ghanshyam Jhula, a member of AHRM, “Schooling and education help bring about a change in the attitude of these children. They become more aware of various facilities available for them.”
The efforts by the various organisations and Government have borne fruit with Keshubhai Surani, a disabled salt-pan worker, getting admission into the U N Mehta College of Morbi, with help from the industries department. Keshubhai, whose parents work at a salt-pan in the Little Rann of Kutch, wants to study further.