This is the story of a land that was at one time lying ravaged, drought stricken and forsaken. It was a committed revolution led by a couple, Bablu Ganguly and Mary Vattamattam, which has now transformed this land into an agro forest habitat. The unproductive soil was rejuvenated, rain water was harvested, trees were planted, crops were cultivated and the entire land blossomed.

Timbaktu in 1990

Twenty years ago, Bablu and Mary set their foot on this barren land in the district of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. People had given up on this land, of which Bablu and Mary decided to buy 32 acres; probably the last thing one would expect from a young couple.

The spark that triggered this initiative was a book – ‘The One-Straw Revolution’, by a Japanese author Masanobu Fukuoka. The book carried a very special message on how humanity can live an enriching life hand in hand with the nature. Bablu and Mary carried this spirit and conceived their vision for this land that they called ‘Timbaktu’, meaning ‘Where the earth meets the sky’. Their aspiration was humble and they wanted to keep everything simple – get closer to the land and help it regenerate itself.

They knew there was potential in the land of Timbaktu which was once part of the rich and powerful Vijayanagara Kingdom. Its forests were considered to be the finest, its fruits were savored across the country and various armies fought to keep control of this once fertile land. But everything was destroyed by ruthless deforestation and use of environmentally damaging pesticides and fertilizers.

Over the years, villages in this region have been tormented by chronic drought, unproductive land, unemployment and poor infrastructural facilities. Bablu and Mary decided to build the Timbaktu land by engaging with the villages around and formed an NGO called The Timbaktu Collective. “Our vision is to stop the degradation of the land in Anantapur district and to find ways to reverse it. We want to green the hills and the land. We want to develop alternative lifestyles. Lifestyles that are sustainable and provide more liberty and happiness, than those based on exploitation. The farmers see their land degrade and the wells drying up, but they don’t know what to do, so they just continue their patterns of self-destruction. We want to find a path that leads out of this vicious circle, not without but together with them” – they say.

Timbaktu today

In 1991, the couple decided to put their first crop in the land of Timbaktu and as everyone around them said, the crop failed. That became even more instigating – Bablu went ahead and bought 7000 saplings. He and Mary brought farmers from the villages to build creative water harvesting structures ensuring that every drop of water was judiciously used. Seed dibbling and such traditional farming methods were practiced – and the colour of the land started changing. Timbaktu was transformed from a barren earth to a lush green forest. It’s heartening to see that birds, snakes and butterflies have come back to Timbaktu and a lost glory is reinstated. This is a true success story of eco-restoration and the experiment is being replicated with community support in a 10,000 acre waste land named as Kalpavalli.

The Timbaktu Collective grew to become a 105 member strong team who serve over 140 villages in Chennekothapalli, Roddam and Ramagiri mandals of Anantapur district. The organization runs two schools, one of which is a residential school for children from disadvantaged families. There is also a thrift credit system for the women which has now grown into a well established alternative banking system. Farmers in the villages are given training in organic farming methods and the Collective supports a Cooperative Society that assists the farmers in marketing their organic produce. With youth development, child rights activities, helping the disabled, cultural activities and many such programmes, the Timbaktu Collective has changed the face of humanity here.

Bablu and Mary stay in Timbaktu, in a house that is built with mud, built by them and built using things available in the land of Timbaktu. Their children studied in the school run by the NGO for the villagers. Their organization has made a difference to the lives of over 12,500 marginalized families. How much more purposeful can their lives get? How much bigger role models do we need to start doing our bit for the world around us?

Visit Timbaktu to know the true spirit of this land. Find information about them on their website www.timbaktu.org. Also, watch this video where Bablu and Mary take you through the 20 years of Timbaktu. You can also write to them at timbaktu.info@gmail.com. 

In this article we bring to you an interesting invention by Mr. Vivekanandan, who is now being mentored and assisted by the Villgro foundation. Going by the good old adage ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, the device was invented by Mr. Vivekandan because of a real-world problem that his fellow villagers faced.

The Problem

Chili and coriander powder are so central to South Indian cuisine, that village residents will travel 25 km by bus to get it ground. They are forced to do this because the existing machines to grind chili and coriander are usually very large, have high installation costs, and use too much power to be suitable for rural areas.

Mr. Vivekanandan’s Solution

Mr. Vivekanandan’s innovative solution was a pin pulverizer that was modified for small capacities, yet could still grind chili and coriander. The material is centrally fed into the pin pulverizer’s milling chamber, which consists of two discs with pins: one is stationary and the other is rotary. The material that passes through the space between the stationary and rotary pins gets scissored, and converted into a fine powder. The perforated screen at the bottom filters the powder, and it is discharged through it.

When Mr. Vivekanandan applied to Villgro, pin pulverizers that could grind spices were already being manufactured with a capacity of 150 to 4000 kg/hr. A pin pulverizer that had a capacity of 30 kg/hr was also available, but it was only able to grind cereals.

Mr. Vivekanandan’s journey with Villgro literally began with a journey. He came to know about Villgro and its activities when he accidentally met an employee of Villgro on a train. At this point Mr. Vivekanandan had already invested Rs. 8 lakhs (approximately US$ 18,700) of his own money, and had created a 3 HP pin pulverizer without any external help. He thought he had solved 90% of the problems in grinding chili and coriander, and had manufactured 100 machines. But of these only 20 were sold. Even worse, three quarters of these machines were returned because the chili and coriander did not pass through the screen, and because they created too much dust. The work came to a standstill, and did not resume until almost a year later, when he was introduced to Villgro.

Villgro tapped several different resources to work on this problem. These were the technical expertise of their own staff, the assistance of a consultant from TANSTIA-FNF, Mr. Ashok Iyengar, and InnoCentive, an “open innovation” company that opens up research and development problems for anyone to solve. The solution arrived at was to increase the speed of the rotor to 6600 rpm.

While increasing the speed of the rotor is a seemingly simple solution, for Mr. Vivekanandan the key realization was that the chili and coriander were getting stuck in the screen not because of their high fiber content, but because of the speed of the rotor. In addition, Mr. Vivekanandan was concerned that to run the rotor at higher speeds, he would need much more expensive bearings. Consequently, if the cost of the machine increased, then grinding chili and coriander could not become a viable income generating activity for rural women. Mr. Vivekanandan is quick to emphasize that the main assistance that Mr. Iyengar provided to him was in giving him greater confidence, and in allaying his fears.

Mr. Iyengar first assisted Mr. Vivekanandan in producing a 5 HP, 3-phase machine, because his machine could not initially be run at the increased speed on 3 HP. However as in rural areas the preference is for a 1 HP, single-phase machine, Mr. Vivekanandan subsequently reduced his machine’s weight, wall thickness, size and diameter of the stator and rotor so that it is suitable for rural areas. Mr. Vivekanandan has also attempted to bring the cost of the machine down to cater to rural needs by focusing on the types and amount of materials used. However he has maintained the quality of the essential components such as the bearings and blades.

Below is a picture of a villager using the pin pulverizer. Fantastic innovation which is sure to benefit hundreds of villagers!

Note about the Villgro Foundation: Villgro is a not-for-profit company empowering rural development by identifying and incubating innovations that could be translated to market based social enterprise models thus impacting thousands of lives. In efforts to impact rural life, VILLGRO actively promotes social entrepreneurship and works with different stakeholders to create and support an eco-system that empowers social entrepreneurship by means of seed funding, mentoring, networking and recognition. Villgro has impacted over 360,000 rural users with technology & solutions reaching the grassroots. Villgro has identified and activated more than 2000 social innovators.

Pravah, an organisation based in Delhi works with young people to impact issues of social justice through youth citizenship action . Pravah believes that sustainable change emanates from individuals. “Change them or their orientation and the system will change.”

Pravah works with both adolescents as well as young adults, through two broad interventions, the School Programs and Youth Action.
In Youth Action they basically have 5 programs:
1. SMILE – which stands for Students Mobilisation Initiative for Learning Through Exposure. The aim of this program is to involve the youth in activities which helps them belong to their background and take more responsibility in whatever they do.

2. Youth For Development – is a partnership between Pravah and Voluntary Service Overseas ( VSO) . In YfD , the individual gets to work in a rural area for six months . Also, there is a 2 week training schedule before the commencement and constant mentoring.

3. Global Xchange – is a 6 month long international volunteering exchange programme in collaboration with VSO and British Council.

4. Change Looms – is a leadership and Organisational development programme that supports , encourages young independent projects or organisations working for social change .

5. Campus Catalysts- is for campus based initiatives for the youth involved in social action on or outside their campuses. The aim of the program is to mobilise social action on campuses.

School Programs are :

1. From Me To We – is focussed on inspiring adolescents to take up active leadership in areas of social change. In this , learning and life skills programs are conducted in cooperation with schools under FMTW. Theatre, games, simulation exercises, stories, case studies are a core component of the curriculum. FMTW currently reaches out to 3500 students in over 30 schools mainly in and around Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka.

2. Fun Camps – for kids between 13 and 17 , these are 6 day trips to villages, for teachers and various theme based fun trips.

3. Teacher’s Training – Pravah trains teachers for one year to design and conduct life skills program. Educator’s Collective is a network of school teachers, educators working for social transformation.

4. CLAP- Citizen Learning and Action Program is for adolescents between 13 and 17 who feel strongly about a cause. CLAP helps you to take that forward, and develops leadership skills in making social change. CLAP partners with Sanskriti School and Ford Foundation.

Also, they have started the Pravah Jaipur Initiative supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust. The centre will create knowledge bank for various programmes by offering media fellowships for youth development, workshops, seminars and volunteering placements.

Films With Wings is a collaborative initiative of Pravah and Interactive Resource Centre, a non profit in Pakistan. Founded on the principle that films are a powerful medium in bridging various divides, FWW is an effort which provides a dynamic platform for young minds of both nations to engage, co- create , challenge and capture a variety of experiences and expressions through a serious of Intensive dialogues , workshops between youth of both nations followed by a Film festival.

Website : http://pravah.org

Situated in the lake city of Udaipur, since its foundation on 23rd October, 1985, Narayan Seva Sansthan has been working for the “service of suffering humanity”. Since its inception, Narayan Seva has been rendering its services to physically, economically and socially needy people. The organization helps the physically challenged, especially the polio afflicted and those born with disabilities. The help is not only medical, but goes beyond it to ensure that the people are made self-dependent via employment.

Since 1985, over 95000 polio afflicted people have been able to stand on their legs after getting successfully operated under Sansthan’s move towards self-dependence of the handicapped. Besides free distribution of clothes, medicines, food grains etc. to the tribal in remote areas, it also provides free vocational training to the physically disabled and economically weaker sections of the society. It has provided facilities for the training of these people in wood craft, carpentry, black-smith trade, leather work etc. supplying the necessary tools and raw materials to begin with.

The organization has also been running an orphanage taking care of children who become orphan due to ‘Nata-Pratha’ – a social evil prevailing in this region of the country in which after the death of the husband, the wife goes away to stay with some other man leaving the children behind . Over 600 children have been taken care of and sent back to the main social stream.

As a part of its endeavour to make medical care available to poor patients at their door steps, the Sansthan maintains a mobile medical care unit. Equipped with all necessary modern facilities, the mobile medical unit is always kept ready to rush to any spot when urgent medical care is required. Apart from all of this, the Sansthan is also involved in promoting values of Indian culture as enshrined in some of the epics and scriptures. The Sansthan has been organizing expositions on Ramayana, Puranas etc. with the purpose of spreading the message of humanity.

Narayan Seva Sansthan has been creating success stories and looking after a section of the society that most often gets overlooked.
To know more about the organization visit: http://www.narayanseva.org/

Over the past two years, we’ve been regularly featuring many inspirational individuals and organizations who are bringing about a positive change in our society. Their work ranges across sectors such as education, agriculture, working for the differently-abled, environment care, science, tourism – the list is endless.

We received many queries from readers on how they too could do their bit in assisting these organizations. When we spoke to these organizations, we realized that there was a gap in connecting the right people to the right cause. This is when we thought of setting up a Jobs section on The Better India.

As some of you might have already noticed, the little “Jobs” link is now live on the menu bar and you can access the section directly from here: http://thebetterindia.com/jobs/

As we get started, we’ve featured job openings in organizations that we have written about so far. We hope to continue to increase this list – where you as a reader can contribute too. If you are aware of any job opening in any organization that is bringing about a social impact, feel free to mail us the details and we will gladly put it up.

And if you are looking to apply for a job, just view the jobs listings, click on the relevant Job Title, click on ‘Apply Now’, fill in the details (ensure that your CV is in a .txt format to prevent errors) and hit the Submit button. Your application will directly go to the organization which has posted the requirement.

We shall continue to fine-tune this jobs section to ensure it meets the requirements of organizations and candidates. Your feedback is welcome.

We have all read and heard about farmer suicides, pesticides in food and issues of child labour. Here is an organization that is working towards the eradication of all of these – Zameen.

Zameen is a unique farmer owned organic cotton trading company working to improve market access for marginalized farmers in India through certification, supply chain partnerships and organizational development.
Cotton farmers in India do not receive a fair price for their produce which leads them to usurious money lenders. Huge debt and inability to support their families leaves suicide as the only dignified option. In the Amravati district of Maharashtra, 5000 farmers commit suicide every year and that is an alarming statistic.

Zameen believes in the ‘trade, not aid’ approach to rural development. Farmers invest their own capital in Zameen and are completely engaged in the process. Zameen has a tie up with AOFG (Agriculture and Organic Farming Group), a non-profit organization, to facilitate the development of independent, legally registered farmer cluster associations that are self managed and are able to sell organic cotton as per strict international standards.

Infamously referred to as ‘dirty cotton’, the commodity accounts for 16% of global insecticide use which is far more than any other crop. Agro-chemicals contaminate local water supplies, degrade soil quality and harm wildlife. Farming communities also face an increased risk of various diseases like cancer. Zameen trains farmers in organic farming which has resulted in drastic improvement in soil fertility and farmers’ health.

As a Fairtrade certified organisation, Zameen farmers are no longer subjected to widespread speculation and fluctuation in market prices. Fairtrade guarantees a minimum price which covers sustainable farming and living conditions. Additionally, a social premium is earned by the farmer community and that premium is democratically invested in community development projects. So far, Zameen’s farmers have invested in wells, their children’s education and ofcourse into their own businesses.

Fairtrade prohibits child labour and encourages movement towards gender equality. Zameen farmers have access to international markets and being organized into an association gives them a stronger collection voice.

Know more about Zameen and their activities.
Website: http://www.zameen.org/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hyderabad-India/Zameen-Organic/130739011014/

Ever wondered what books would be great to read to your children? Especially the younger ones? While there are some wonderful books in the western publishing world, where are the Indian children’s books that could give your child the much desired multi-cultural flavor, especially if you are residing abroad? Enter Saffron Tree – an initiative that discovers and reviews gems in Indian children’s literature. Saffron Tree does the work of figuring out what books you should be reading to your child. All you need to do is read their site!

The Better India was privileged to have an e-mail exchange with Praba Ram, the founder of Saffron Tree. Here is what Praba Ram has to say about Saffron Tree and the thoughts behind it:

To check out the delightful world of children’s books, visit Saffron Tree’s website: www.saffrontree.org

And before we sign-off, here is letting you know that Praba is also an author of a recently published children’s book. It is titled “Dinaben and the Lions of Gir”. The book talks about the Asiatic lions of India and the community of cattle people called the Maldharis that live in the jungle with the lions. They have been co-existing peacefully for centuries. The book celebrates their lives and that of the lions of Gir. Sounds wonderful? It is! You can read more about it here and here.