A Miracle in a thirsty Tamilnadu village

It was Pongal with a difference for Ram Krishnan, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, who spent it in Vilathikulam, a village in Tamil Nadu.

Vilathikulam in Ramanathapuram district is one of the driest regions in the state. On an average, it receives only nine days of rainfall in a year.

But the parched village has seven million litres of water in three ponds today, thanks to Krishnan's efforts.

His involvement with Vilathikulam started four years ago. Today, the villagers are like his family. In fact, he had invited many of them to the Pan IIT conference in Chennai in December and also arranged rural visits for the alumni, hoping to motivate some of them into working for the betterment of poor Indian villages.

The villagers are like Krishnan's family

Krishnan, 62, migrated to the United States over 30 years ago and lives with his family in St Paul, Minnesota.
Like most IIT graduates, he opted for a well-paying job abroad after finishing his studies. But the severe water shortage in IIT-Madras forced him to realise the gravity of the problem. He was reminded of his childhood days when his mother had to wake up at 3 am everyday to collect the limited water supplied by the municipal corporation in Chennai.

Dr Sekhar Raghavan, a physics professor, started a door-to-door campaign in some residential areas in Chennai to popularise the concept of rainwater harvesting. He convinced over 500 homes, industries and charitable institutions to implement rainwater harvesting programmes.

The Gujarat earthquake changed his life

When Krishnan learnt of Dr Raghavan's efforts, he got in touch with the professor and the duo formed the Akash Ganga Trust, a citizens' action group comprising 10 persons who harvested rainwater in Chennai. Krishnan, the president of the North America IIT Alumni Association, became the overseas coordinator of the project.
He invested Rs 4 lakh (Rs 400,000) to set up a model house called the Akash Ganga Rain Centre to create awareness about rain water harvesting.

Krishnan admits that he didn't venture out to villages to spread awareness about rain water harvesting as there were no comfortable hotels for him to stay. But his attitude changed after he paid a visit to a village in Gujarat, which had been devastated by the January 26, 2001 earthquake. Krishnan and many of his friends raised money to rebuild the village.

'There is no Tamil Nadu in Chennai'

T"hat was my first visit to an Indian village," he recalls. "Those people had lost everything. There were 208 houses in the village, and 203 had collapsed. When we went there, we didn't know anything about what awaited us. I went there as a volunteer of Care International."
"As I was leaving the village, two old women told me, 'Till the earthquake happened, nobody came to help us. Nobody bothered about us'. That changed my attitude towards villages. I saw the terrible situation that villagers face in our country, and how we do nothing to improve their situation. I felt ashamed of myself," he added.

He then chose Vilathikulam in Tamil Nadu as his karmabhoomi.

Elaborating on his decision to work in a village instead of the state capital, Krishnan says, "There is no Tamil Nadu in Chennai. It's another big city. It has nothing to do with Tamil Nadu."

'Everybody warned me that nothing grows here'

Four years ago, Ram Krishnan, along with 17 of his friends from US, went on a five-day trip to the Tamil Nadu countryside. After travelling through many dry villages, they realised that Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi were the driest places in Tamil Nadu.
Ram Krishnan chose to start his work in Vilathikulam. "Everybody warned me that nothing grows in Vilathikulam. I was wasting my time there as it rains only nine days a year," he says.

Today, Vilathikulam has donned a new look. The villagers have collected 7 million litres of water in three ponds, which can be used for agricultural purposes, drinking as well as shared with three villages nearby.

Ram Krishnan plans to clean the water, collect in it 20 litre cans and ferry it to other villages in a bullock cart! Vilathikulam has sufficient water supply till the next monsoon.

'Villagers are not happy with plentiful harvest'

Ram Krishnan also plans to build a warehouse to store the grains produced by the farmers.
"On the day of the harvest, farmers don't get anything for themselves. The entire grain is under debt to the bank. So, a plentiful harvest is bad news for them because the price goes down. We city dwellers are happy with a plentiful harvest but they are not. They can store half of their harvest in the godowns, so that they can reap the benefits," he explained.

Ram Krishnan has also started a community centre -- the Bharatiyar Community Centre -- for the villagers, where farmers are taught various things including organising health camps, Self Help Groups, improving agricultural production etc. IIT engineer-turned-farmer R Madhavan is helping him in this endeavour. At the centre, farmers also try out the methods adopted by Madhavan for first-hand knowledge of new agricultural methods.

'You don't need a Tata or Birla to help a village'

Ram Krishnan visits Vilathikulam four times in a year to check on the work done by villagers. "It is worth a million dollars to see a smile on the face of a child or an old woman. When they welcome you, a total stranger, like a part of their family, you feel so happy," he adds on an emotional note.
Recalls Ram Krishnan, "On December 22, after the PAN IIT conference, we took a group of people to many villages including Madhavan's village. Madhavan's efforts touched one IITian's heart so much that he wrote to me. He wanted to help a village."

He urges the youth to "reach out and understand Indian villages."

"It is simple. You don't need a Tata or Birla to help a village, even one person can do that. We need many, many people to change the face of Indian villages. Youngsters do not have to wait till their hair turns grey," he says.

Akash Ganga - RWH : Rain Centre

What is Akash Ganga Chennai?


Akash Ganga Chennai started in July 2001 with active participation by about ten citizen volunteers in Chennai. The group's objective is to promote Rain water harvesting in India. Since inception, the group has conducted several seminars, printed and distributed pamphlets, conducted training sessions for builders and masons. Today, there are over 100 people in the group and it is growing.

Early on, the group realized that their cause would be more effectively spread if they had a model installation that people can look at. We lacked a facility where we could take the citizen or homeowner and show the rain water harvesting system in action. This need was the birth of the rain centre. Today, after several months of effort, the rain centre is a reality. For information on what is available at the rain centre please browse this website. And please take a virtual tour of the rain centre.

The Rain Centre!
The rain centre is a model house with all forms of rain water harvesting (RWH) ideas relevant to Chennai. Chennai residents (and others) can take a tour of the facility to see the RWH systems in action. Seminars specific to builders, masons, companies, school children, and home owners alike will be offered.

The rain centre is located at No 4, Third Trust Link Street, Mandavelipakkam, Chennai 600 028. Work began on this centre in April 2001 and is expected to be ready by May 2002.

The rain centre is intended to be a museum and a laboratory rolled into one. As a museum, it is intended to showcase how an installed RWH system works. Interested people can take our tours, visit the various rooms in the house, see exhibitions on RWH, get pamphlets, and buy books on RWH. As a laboratory, it is intended, to demonstrate a working version of the RWH. We intend to collect and display statistics of how much rain water has been accumulated over time. We also intend to have a water testing facility on site wherein people can test the purity of water.

For a virtual tour of the house, start with Introduction to the rain centre.

Next time, as you are strolling along in the city, look for our telltale sign shown below.

What is Rain Water Harvesting (RWH)?

Rain water harvesting is simply the concept of collecting the rain water that falls over the roof over which you live to be reused for day-to-day water needs. For a more exhaustive description of rain water harvesting, please visit our sister site on the subject: Rain water harvesting - Akash Ganga Chennai

The concept is endorsed by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi. The CSE will provide exhibits and seminar materials to be displayed in the rain centre. The rain centre is Chennai will be the first Rain Centre in India. CSE has interest in duplicating this effort in other cities.

We are constantly seeking active volunteers in our quest to eradicate the water problem in India. There are several ways in which you could volunteer:

If you are in India...

If you are willing to donate your valuable time in providing tours to visitors of the rain centre, please Sekhar Raghavan (see below) with your availability. We can provide training for you to be a tour guide.
If you have installed a RWH system, are reaping the benefits of the lack of water scarcity, and are willing to talk to us about it, write to us and we will publish it on our website.
We are seeking donations for upgrade and maintenance of the rain centre.
We are also seeking donations to install RWH systems for orphanages and in villages. To make a tax-deductible donation in India, please write a check payable to - Akash Ganga Trust- and mail to D15 Bayview Apartments, Kalakshetra Colony, Besant Nagar - Chennai 600 090.
If you are an NRI outside India...

Sponsor the installation of an RWH system at your parent's house or any other orphanage or village of your choice.
In US, we have set up a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, approved by the IRS, called "Akash Ganga RWH" to accept fully tax deductible donations. We will accept your donations in any amount towards this Rain Centre project. Names of people contributing more than $100 will be displayed in the Rain Centre. Write the Check to: Akash Ganga RWH and mail to: 1653 20th Avenue NW, St. Paul, Minnesota 55112. We will send a proper receipt for your tax records with our sincere thanks.
Please forward the link to this site to other who may wish to contribute. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact one of the volunteers listed below.

If you wish to learn more...

If you wish to learn more about rain water harvesting, Akash Ganga Chennai,
or have questions about RWH installation at your place, contact one or more
of our volunteers below:

Name	Location	Phone	Email
K. R. Gopinath	Anna Nagar, Chennai	91 44 625-0697	krgrainwaterharvesting@rediffmail.com
Sekhar Raghavan	Besant Nagar, Chennai		sekar1479@yahoo.co.in
Goutam Ghosh	Chennai		gou@vsnl.net
Chitra Vishwanath	Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore	91 80 364-1690	chitravishwanath@vsnl.com
Ram Krishnan	St. Paul, U.S.A.	(612)867-9425	rkrishnan46@yahoo.com
Kalyan Vaidyanathan	Boston, U.S.A.	(781)641-4875	kalyan_v@hotmail.com

An engineer from IIT, now a farmer

Yesterday i came across one interesting article in Rediff, "An engineer from IIT, now a farmer". I went through the article and found such an interesting one that i wanted to publish the same in my blog, so that any one visiting my blog will be privileged to read this interesting story of a legendary person alive today......

So here we go.......


Off-beat is in. The often beaten track, not so. One of the most interesting themes at this year's Pan-IIT event was the session on rural transformation. IITians who have chosen an offbeat career hogged the limelight at the event. In this series, we feature some of the IITians who preferred to be different, rather than get into a corporate rat race.

The star at the event was R Madhavan, an alumnus of IIT-Madras. This is Madhavan's success story as a farmer. . .

Passion for agriculture

I had a passion for agriculture even when I was young. I don't know how my love for agriculture started. I only know that I have always been a nature lover.

I used to have a garden even when I was a teenager. So, from a home garden, a kitchen garden, I gradually became a farmer! My mother used to be very happy with the vegetables I grew.

Studying at IIT-Madras


My family was against my ambition of becoming an agriculturist. So, I had to find a livelihood for myself.

I wrote IIT-JEE and got selected to study at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. I enjoyed studying mechanical engineering.

My intention was to transform what I study into what I love; mechanisation of farming. I felt the drudgery in farming is much more than in any other industry, and no one had looked into it.

Working for ONGC after IIT

I started my career at the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). My father refused to give me any money to start farming. So I asked the officials to let me work at the offshore sites, on the rigs.

The advantage was that I could work on rigs for 14 days and then take 14 days off. I chose to work on the rigs for nine years, uninterrupted.


My first farm land


After 4 years, I saved enough money to buy six acres of land. I bought land at Chengelpet near Chennai.

I chose that land because the plot had access to road and water. Back in 1989, a man in a pair of trousers aroused curiosity among the farming community. That was not the image of a farmer!

Tough beginning as a farmer

I became a full fledged farmer in 1993. It was tough in the beginning. Nobody taught me how to farm. There was no guidance from the gram sevaks or the University of Agriculture.

I ran from pillar to post but couldn't find a single scientist who could help me. I burnt my fingers. My first crop was paddy and I produced 2 tonnes from the six acres of land, it was pathetic.

When I lost all my money, my father said I was stupid. I told him, it didn't matter as I was learning. It was trial and error for me for three years. Until 1997, I was only experimenting by mingling various systems.

Going to Israel to learn


In 1996, I visited Israel because I had heard that they are the best in water technology. Take the case of corn: they harvest 7 tonnes per acre whereas we produce less than a tonne.

They harvest up to 200 tonnes of tomatoes, whereas here it is 6 tonnes, in similar area of land. I stayed in one of the kibbutz, which is a co-operative farm for 15 days.

I understood what we do is quite primitive. It was an eye opener for me. They treat each plant as an industry. A plant producing one kilo of capsicum is an industry that has 1 kilo output.

I learnt from them that we abuse water. Drip irrigation is not only for saving water but it enhances your plant productivity. We commonly practice flood irrigation where they just pump water. As per the 2005 statistics, instead of 1 litre, we use 750 litres of water.

Dr Lakshmanan, my guru


Imet Dr Lakshmanan, a California-based NRI, who has been farming for the last 35 years on 50-60,000 acres of land.

He taught me farming over the last one decade. Whatever little I have learnt, it is thanks to him.

I knew a farm would give me much better returns in terms of money as well as happiness. Working for money and working for happiness are different. I work and get happiness. What more do you need?

No guidance in India

I said at one platform that we have to change the curriculum of the agricultural universities. What they teach the students is not how to farm, but how to draw loans from a bank!

What they learn cannot be transformed to reality or to the villages. The problem in the villages is not mentioned in the university. There is a wide gap and it is getting worse.

Making profits


After burning my fingers for four years, from 1997 onwards, I started making profits.

Even though it took me four years, I did not lose hope. I knew this was my path ven though I didn't have any guidance from anyone.

In those days, communication was slow. Today, I can get guidance from Dr Lakshmanan on Skype or Google Talk, or through e-mail.

I send him the picture of my problem and ask his guidance. In those days, it took time to communicate. There was no Internet or connectivity.

That was why it took me four years to learn farming. Today, I would not have taken more than six months or even less to learn the trick!

The farming cycle


I started crop rotation after 1997. In August, I start with paddy and it is harvested in December.

I plant vegetables in December itself and get the crops in February. After that, it is oil seeds like sesame and groundnut, which are drought-resistant, till May.

During May, I go on trips to learn more about the craft. I come back in June-July and start preparations on the land to get ready for August. In 1999, I bought another four acres. My target is a net income of Rs 100,000 per annum per acre. I have achieved up to Rs 50,000.

Selling the products

I sell my produce on my own. I have a jeep and bring what I produce to my house and sell from there. People know that I sell at home. I don't go through any middle man.

I take paddy to the mill, hull it and sell it on my own. In the future, I have plans to have a mill too. These days, people tell me in advance that they need rice from me. I have no problem selling my produce.

Engineering helps in farming


More than any other education, engineering helps in farming because toiling in the soil is only 20 per cent of the work. About 80 per cent of farming needs engineering skills.

Science is a must for any farming. I have developed a number of simple, farmer-friendly tools for farming areas like seeding, weeding, etc. as we don't have any tools for small farmers.

If I have 200 acres of land, I can go for food processing, etc. My next project is to lease land from the small farmers for agriculture. The village will prosper with food processing industries coming there. My yield will also be more with more land.







Abdul Kalam visits the farm


Dr Abdul Kalam visited my farm when he was the President, after hearing about what I was doing. He spent around two hours on my farm.

During his visit, he said: "We need not one, but one million Madhavans!"

If I am able to inspire or create even one entrepreneur, I will be very happy, because that is what Dr Kalam wished me to do.

Experimental farming

Every acre of my land has ten cents of experimental farming. I have done this for the last 15 years.

This is a part of my research and development. Some of it may fail, but even if I succeed at one thing, that is enough for me.

Entrepreneurship in the village


I feel that the number of people engaged only in farming should come down. Instead of ten people, there should only be two people. I am not saying the eight should go jobless.

What we should do is, create employment in the villages based on other agro activities like value addition, processing, etc.

We can go for mechanisation in large areas so that the cost per acre goes down. In India, the cost per every meal is very high. So, my next concern is, how do you make it cheap.

In America, the unskilled working for one hour can earn three meals a day. Here, in the rural areas, even if they work for one day, they can't get one meal a day. How do you bring down the cost? By producing more food. So, my intention is to make more food.

Food insecurity in India


The United Nations says 65 per cent of the world population suffers from food deficiency, and India ranks first in the list.

About 49 per cent of our children are undernourished. This means our future generation will be affected.

If we are not going to give attention to this area, we are in for real trouble. Food insecurity is more threatening than an atom bomb!


Guys you can send an email to R Madhavan at madhur80@hotmail.com