Adike Patrike and rainwater harvesting

When somebody speaks about the media’s role in propagating the theory of rainwater harvesting in Kannada, the name Adike Patrike and its editor Shree Padre pops in his mind for obvious reasons. It is of no doubt that Shree Padre is the man who initiated rainwater harvesting advocacy in Kannada journalism for the first time.

The editor of Adike Patrike Shree Padre writes about the reasons for taking up rainwater harvesting advocacy as a top priority in his magazine: “Since the mid-nineties, this magazine [Adike Patrike] has considered rainwater harvesting as a subject of top priority. The reason behind this decision is simple: then, as now, it was a very important issue for readers. The groundwater table was declining drastically every year, and in most districts, farmers’ hard work all year round was giving them only partial results. Every summer, the water crisis was taking a very heavy toll. The mainstream media, by and large, did not have a working knowledge of rainwater harvesting, and their coverage of the water crisis and drought was rather negative.” (Shree Padre, Documenting Success from People’s University, LEISA, March 2006)

In an interview with this writer Shree Padre has shared the ideas that worked behind the launching of Nela Jala Ulisuva Nooru Vidhi column in Adike Patrike.

“We have been running this unique farm magazine written by, written for and published by farmers since last 22 years and it was in the year 1995 that we decided to accord top priority for the subject rainwater harvesting”, says Mr. Padre about the beginning days of his campaign on harvesting the rainwater. “At that time” Mr. Padre continues, “there was information vacuum on rainwater harvesting – this vacuum was so serious that even the science graduates couldn’t understand the concept or methods of rainwater harvesting by reading the scientific texts. There was no focus on people-centred rainwater harvesting. We wanted to demystify it for the benefit of common men like us”.

To demystify the rainwater harvesting (RWH) techniques Adike Patrike has taken lots pains as it was revealed by Mr. Padre himself. “We contacted Soil and Water Conservation Research Centres and Universities with a request of asking them not to give us bulky books; instead we asked them to show us places where soil and water conservation had been very successful. We would like to learn from the success stories, we requested them. Persistent effort of one year in this line drew blank”.

“It was in 1996 that there was a breakthrough. We somehow came in contact with the RWH movements of the Kannur Water Conservation Society. It was, then, from them that we learnt about the pioneering roof water harvesting successes of Malnad Development Society, Kanhirapally.”

When the team Adike Patrike came to know about the above two success stories in RWH, they decided to make their readers educated about the techniques of RWH. They decided to carry the feature articles related to successful efforts in harvesting the rainwater.

“With just two stories in hand, we launched a series Nela Jala Ulisalu Nooru Vidhi(hundred methods to conserve rainwater) which rain successfully for eight years. We started collecting the success stories from all over the country. We published the success stories of the country like Tarun Bharat Sangh, Saurashtra (Shyamji Bhai Antala), Sarang, Ralegaon Siddi, Rajasthan ki rajath boondein, T J Mathew, Rishi Valley School, Rainwater Club of Bangalore etc. Apart from stories from the distant corners of the country we collected success stories from the local farmers as well. Some success stories were intentional, some were accidental, but both had useful messages. We stopped the series after publishing hundred success stories belonging to various corners of the country.”

While publishing the success stories the editorial board of the Adike Patrike always took great care to ensure that the success stories can be replicated by a common man. It highlighted different methods, stories from different region with a confidence that the regional emphasis will certainly help the readers, though there may be some overlapping ideas.

Shree Padre says about the challenges they faced while advocating RWH. “First challenge we faced was to convince our readers that this technique of RWH works well. We had to create a belief in this technique among the readers. And publishing only the ‘how to’ part i.e. only the details about the methods cannot achieve this. Since we catered our readers with real life stories from near and far, it made them to sit and rethink”.

“The second challenge was to convince them that the method is economically viable so that they can implement the idea.”

During the campaign to propagate RWH, Adike Patrike did not forget to seek suggestions from its well wishers to make the campaign more fruitful. To quote, in Mr. Padre’s own words, about the suggestions they got and the actions taken based on the suggestions: “Acting on suggestions from our well wishers, we adopted a three pronged approach to disseminate the information i.e. series of publications in Adike Patrike, slide shows and on the spot guidance and the third approach is the publication of books. Since 2002 I have travelled over thirty thousand kilometers in nine districts (eight in Karnataka and one in Kerala) and have held more than 275 slide shows to farmers, students and citizens. Almost at the rate of two slide shows per week”.

The strategy of the Adike Patrike was mainly concentrated on showing the people how to harvest the rainwater and subsequently when they implement it and get success, highlight the same through the magazine. One of the very important point to be noted inAdike Patrike’s saga is that the journalists of Adike Patrike, Shree Padre in particular, did not restrict them to be mere spectators of the farmers’ success. Instead, the entireAdike Patrike team worked like activists in advocating RWH.

While advocating the methods of rainwater harvesting, the Adike Patrike team always offered the people a bunch of models to harvest the rain. “We keep a bunch of choices of RWH before the public and leave the rest to them”, says Shree Padre about the way they disseminated the concept of RWH. “We provided only the necessary ignition knowing very well that the farmers and readers are pretty intelligent. While implementing the ideas we gave them, the farmers and readers have made some value addition to the original ideas”.

“From the fourth year of publication of our Nela Jala Ulisuva Nooru Vidhi column we started getting feedback and reports of small success from our readers. This was exciting and encouraged us further. We started to document it and showcase it. The major lessons that we had learnt by that time through our RWH advocacy was that; create models locally, your jobs are half-done and allow the achiever to speak and spread the message”.

“We always suggest only decentralised, in-situ and low cost methods. Methods like using abandoned termite mounds to recharge water are non-textbook methods. Even if the people commit some mistakes, it is for them to understand the mistake and correct the methods because they are simpler and low cost”.

“In about five to six years the success stories surfaced here and there. By then the period of making fun about RWH was over. This is the reason why RWH has been so well reached in nine districts.”

Mr. Padre very emphatically tells about the motivation for the farmers to harvest the rainwater. “Once a neighbour gets success, the criticism suddenly melts. The drought has also been the biggest motivator for the farmers to harvest rainwater. Its teachings are far more effective than that of all of us”.

“We have learnt a great lesson” says Mr. Padre “that not to ignore any success story under the assumption that all these are similar ones. Nothing short of a spot visit would do justice. When you visit there may be one or two simple new ideas. We have learnt a lot of lessons from those who claim that they are our Shisyas (students)”.

One idea breeding another:

Mr. Padre says that one idea of RWH breeds another idea. To substantiate his statement he gives a classic example. “We published a story on horizontal, man-made bore-wells which is more sustainable than the vertical ones. That attracted another story to Adike Patrike which revealed that farmers are doing this sort of horizontal bores in Bijapur using diesel engines. Inspired by this, farmers of Raichur went to Coimbatore, hired some technicians and were succeeded in digging same types of horizontal bores in their place. This technique was earlier unknown in the Raichur area. In a couple of years sixty such kind of bore-wells were made”.

While propagating various models to harvest rainwater, Adike Patrike was ever cautious in local models. The Adike Patrike team gave equal importance to traditional water conservation systems. Local communities have a lot of sentiments attached to these traditional systems. They are built-in for community participation, are still relevant and one can rope-in elder and the younger generation as well by reviving traditional water conservation systems, is what Mr. Padre says.

“Our country has rich tradition of harvesting the rainwater”, opines Mr. Padre, “it was there before Christ was born. This is not an alien technique. We don’t have to go to Israel or any other countries to learn the spirit and methodology of harvesting the rainwater. If we have an open mind and zeal we can learn a lot from our own RWH methods”.

The media coverage:

It is of no doubt that Adike Patrike was the first among the Kannada media to bring the issue of harvesting the rainwater on to the forefront of the common men’s agenda. After the Adike Patrike took up this issue with a bold voice and started its advocacy, many other newspapers and magazines in the country/state took note of the seriousness of the issue and made RWH a publishable issue.

“Mainstream media is now slowly taking interest in RWH and water issues. Daily newspapers are showing interest in water conservation issues. I have written columns inJanavahini (now defunct) and I have been writing to Vijaya Karnataka which has got a very good response. As a result of all our efforts, in nine districts of Malnad region thousands of farmers are harvesting the rainwater with simple, low-cost ideas without looking for government support”.

The impact of RWH write-ups:

When any agenda takes the front-seat in any media for a certain period of time, it is very obvious to have some kind of impacts on the psyche of its readers/viewers. The reports appeared in Adike Patrike on RWH methods too have to be inspected for the kind of impacts they have had on its readers. Let’s again look into what Shree Padre has to say about the effects of RWH reports.

“More than thirty ambassadors of RWH are scaling up this work. They are the people inspired by Adike Patrike or by our RWH campaign. A retired principal of Barkur in Udupi district, Mr. Seetharama Shetty has had any types of RWH work done in his hometown Barkur and goes to meetings and high schools to spread the message. Another High School teacher in Nisarani in Shimoga district, Mr. Lakshminarayana Bhat, has, with the help of his friends, bought a slide projector and camera, built up good slide collection and has already held more than hundred shows. There are field results. Shivananda Kalave, a development journalist in Sirsi, also has a good collection of slides and is involved in guiding the people and institutions. He has been presenting slide shows in various parts of Uttara Kannada district. There are similar volunteers in Koppa, Shimoga, Puttur, Mangalore, Bhatkal, Kadaba, Hasan, Kumta and in many other places”.

“Inclusion of RWH harvesting lessons in school text books in Karnataka and Kasargod is a very important result of our campaign. For the 10^th standard students of Karnataka and Kasargod, a lesson on RWH has been included in their school syllabus”.

“There are hundreds of people who have started harvesting the rainwater just by the information they have got from the media – earlier from Adike Patrike and in the later days from Janavahini, Vijaya Karnataka and other media outlets”.

A word of suggestion:

Shree Padre, who has been rightly regarded as the rain-journalists in the journalists fraternity has a word of suggestion for the entire media.

“Sensitising the journalists about RWH is the need of the hour. Mainstream publication can groom RWH specialists on the lines of Sports Correspondent, Political Analysts etc”.

“Conventional reporting of drought is negative and monotonous. There are some positive threads too. This is by and large ignored by the press. Wherever drought occurs frequently, the communities have evolved ways and means to live with that. We have to try to understand this and find out some rays of hope amidst drought”.

Vijay Joshi is a student of journalism | joshi.viju@gmail.com