Seeking the right symbol

A few years ago, social activist PramilaDandavate had asked me at the end of a talkwhether the Indian environmental movementhad a symbol similar to Gandhiji's charkhaduring the freedom struggle. My answer was,of course, no, as indeed there is none. But Ihave since thought a lot about this and Iwould like to share my answer with the read-ers of Down To Earth.

My first response was to say that the bicycle is the best symbol. It is good from an environmental point of view, being a non-polluting vehicle. It is good from a social point ofview. Only a transport system built aroundthe bicycle would promote equity. The bicycleis also good from an individual's point ofview. It keeps the driver fit and healfty. Sofrom all points of view it is a great symbol tohave - except that the bicycle is not a productof Indian culture like the charkha.

After a lot of thought, I now believe'thAtgobar (cowdung) is the answer. The wide-spread and diverse use of gobar in Indian society stands up to every principle of good environmentalism. Cowdung is a waste product.Yet, instead of being looked down upon, it ishighly respected. There is almost a sacrednessattached to it. People touch it without hesitation. They even use this waste to plaster theirmud houses to keep away, of all things, house-flies. just sit on a newly cowdung-plasteredmud floor. It is so cool and clean-. I have oftenwondered about what prompted someone touse animal waste in so imaginative a manner,since the obvious reaction is to stay awayfrom it and not sit on i17 But someone musthave watched cowdung with great interest andnoticed that it had certain qualities whichwere worth experimenting with. This personwas probably a woman, given the fact thatwomen spend so much time taking care ofcattle. She was obviously a person inspiredinstinctively by the best principles of recycling. Cattle exist in plenty and so does cow-dung. Can I make some use of it?

Of course, the greatest use of cowdung isin our farming systems. Indian soils have beenexploited for millennia. Yet today they continue to be fecund. To a great extent this is because Indians have practised not just farming but a combination of farming and animal care which give them access to large quantitiesof animal manure.

The use of cowdung in the villages of theWestern Himalaya is absolutely remarkableeven today. The soils of the mountain terracesare inherently poor. But they have to be cultivated year after year. They remain fertile only because the villagers keep a lot of cattle, mrefor cowdung than or milk, spend hours goingto the forest to co ect leaves and grasses tofeed then , ten collect hundreds oftonnes of cowdung from cattlesheds and carryit to the fields to manure them. All those pictures of women carrying loads of Aewood have been described as symbolic of amenergy crisis:@But this is a total misunderstanding ofthe re@l situation, Every Himalayan womanhas tonnes of cQm4@hg at home which she canpotentially us'e as fuel. But she will never dos6. She Will instead spend hours going to theforest to' collect firewood but keep every dungdropping for her fields.

Unfortunately, women in many otherparts of India have no forest to turn to. Theycan only burn cowdung. As a result, millionsof tonnes get burnt every year as cooking fuel.For Bharat, cowdung is more important thanelectricity, coal or petroleum. Years ago, whileaddressing the Varliamentary ConsultativeCommittee of the@ Ministry of Energy, minister Sushila Rohatgi had asked me whatthought was wrong with India's energy policy.Its management, I had answered. The leastimportant energy source, atomic energy, is10'oked after, by the most important minister,namely, the prime minister-Next in order ofimportance are electricity, coal and petroleum. All have separate departments and ministers. But the most important energy sources,firewood, cowdung and agricultural residues,have none. So, I explained to Sushilaji, India'senergy system needs a Gobar Mantri (cow-dung minister).

I had had no hesitation in saying this especially after having shown the Members of Parliament slides of how people in Gujaratand Rajasthan put a stone or a stick on everycowpat lying on common lands to lay privateclaim on it. The very first issue of Down ToEarth had, in fact carried the findings of ournationwide survey on how Indian villagersclaim gobar droppings on common lands.

I, therefore, can't think of an examplewhich symbolises the spirit of environmentalism more than gobar. Do readers of Down To Earth agree with me that a cowdung mound, of the type that women in Haryana make so well, best symbolises India's environmentalism or have I got my head too much in dung?