Jaipur Revelations: Conservation Working in India

OUR PROJECT was to help restore a filthy lake, which has a derelict palace in the middle of it, into a place of beauty for people and to encourage wildlife. Currently the main sewers from Jaipur drain into the lake but a multi-agency project, with funding from such illustrious bodies as the World Bank, is building sewers that will bypass the lake, hopefully by the end of this year. There are plans to de-silt the lake prior to the monsoons in July/August to reduce the likelihood of the lake drying out every year.

We worked with several other volunteers on an island in the lake cutting down very thorny invasive trees and digging up their roots. Very hard work in high temperatures. We dug 40 holes for planting indigenous trees and, after endless delays in obtaining the trees and the treeguards (needed, we thought, to prevent the water buffalo trampling and browsing them) we planted 10 trees.

Whist the men had been wielding pickaxes I collected trash. There were layers of it. We thought that would probably be the end of the planting as we suddenly seemed to be in the middle of a political storm with various factions undecided about the benefit of planting trees on the island.

After a week we returned to the lakeside to see whether anymore treeguards had been taken to the island, as had been arranged, only to see, with binoculars, that all 10 treeguards had been uplifted. Water buffalo were also on the island, so we thought the chance of any trees remaining was slim. After all we had done we just had to laugh! We simply could not believe it.

Several days later, William managed to persuade a couple of the fishermen to row him out to the island to see the extent of the damage. He was amazed to see that, despite the removal of the treeguards, 7 of the 10 trees were still standing. They had not been trampled or browsed by the 50 or 60 water buffalo that were regularly grazing the island now that they could walk over to it rather than have to swim. We had placed large stones around the base of the treeguards and we reinforced these. If these trees do manage to survive until the July monsoon they will grow & in a few years time be decent trees. All my 20 bags of litter had been emptied, as the bags and some of the contents were saleable for a few rupees. That was a great shame and a real mess.

Cash Syphoning

This multi-agency nature of the project led to endless frustrations, with each agency very protective of their element of the project and unwilling to share research findings or planning information. The bureaucratic system is ponderous and Victorian and is possibly a sort of job creation. Form-filling was repetitive and time consuming for every activity. William had to supply his passport number and father’s name in addition to DOB, address and length of stay in India simply to obtain tickets to national wildlife reserves! It is widely accepted that backhanders are paid to all administrators.

I have long felt that to give money to publicised appeals to help victims of catastrophic disasters was usually not an efficient use of money. This was reinforced 100% as we heard repeatedly how so much money for all projects, whether for humanitarian or environmental concerns, is creamed off by those responsible for enabling and facilitating the aid, and by contractors actually doing the work.

Systemic Barriers

The guesthouse was owned by our volunteer project coordinator. He, his wife and father are all very well educated and fluent in English. Our prolonged visit enabled us also to meet other Indians and have lengthy discussions on India’s current situation and future. What struck us so frequently was that many city dwelling, educated Indians were talking enthusiastically about India’s increasing prosperity and emergence as a world power with reference to the growing percentage of the working population now able to afford a car and mobile phone and the increasing numbers of university entrants. What they seemed unable to appreciate was that this percentage is but a tiny proportion of the total population, a population that is still rapidly increasing, mainly amongst the poorer classes.

The caste system and the crippling dowry system have been outlawed but are not policed and still have a huge impact. Amongst many of the poorer people the birth of a girl is a time for commiseration. Many are left to die because of the horrendous financial burden she will place on the family, either because of the dowry needed or her upkeep. Alternatively, the birth of a boy is a time for great celebration as he will bring riches to the family when he marries.

As a Brigadier said to us “India is totally ungovernable. It has all the laws it needs but they are not policed.” Despite a few women reaching the top the vast majority of women are second class citizens, often treated badly, with few if any rights. Hindus are in a huge majority in India. Sadly, a growing number of Hindus are becoming less tolerant of non-Hindus, and they are losing sight of Gandhi’s dream of a secular government and a tolerant India. At the highest political levels there is much good intent. Sadly, there is not much that trickles very far down.

In my view India is just not yet ready for such a conservation project which is clearly so accessible to all and sundry for plunder. Plunder usually by those whose priority is their next meal. There has been much in the news recently about the continuing poaching of tigers from within National Game reserves. That only adds strength to my feeling.

Can we recommend volunteering to others? Definitely, yes.