LAND and LIVELIHOOD RELATIONSHIP for SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

I NQUI RI NGLANDANDLI VELI HOOD RELATI ONSHI PFOR SUSTAI NABLEECONOMI CDEVEL OPMENT

PGCAPSTONEPROJ ECT2019| EXEGESI S AKRI TISRI VASTAVA

1. PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

© CreativeCommons 2019 Student Capstone 2019 Exegesis Publication (for private circulation only) All Rights Reserved PG Capstone 2019 Exegesis (Postgraduate Program) Design Environment and Law Laboratory Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology Bangalore 560064 Karnataka

No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, scanning, photography and video recording without written permission from the publishers namely Akriti Srivastava and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore.

Project Initiative • This project is housed at the Design+Environment+Law Laboratory, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka (www. dellaboratory.wordpress.com).

Partners • Ground Partner: Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology, Kalpetta, Wayanad • Balagopal Gopalan, Independent Public Policy Professionals • Other local partners Project Team • Deepta Sateesh, Sustainable Development Expert, Advisor, FLEDGE, & Director, DEL Laboratory at Srishti • Falguni Gupta, Architect and Planner Project site • Pozhuthana Panchayat, Wayanad, Kerala

Written, edited and designed by Akriti Srivastava Printed at Marali Printers, Bangalore

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & PLAGIARISM STATEMENT I, AKRITI SRIVASTAVA, hereby declare that the content of this student PG Capstone Project 2019 Exegesis submission is my own original work and has not been plagiarised in full or part from previously published/ designed/manufactured material or does not even contain substantial propositions of content which have been accepted for an award of any other degree or diploma of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this thesis project. I also declare that the intellectual content of this PG Capstone Project 2019 Exegesis is my own original work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style and presentation is acknowledged and that this exegesis (or part of it) will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I, AKRITI SRIVASTAVA, hereby grant Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology the right to archive and to make available my PG Capstone Project Exegesis in whole or in part in the institute’s databank and website, and for non-commercial use in all forms of media, now and hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act.

1. Student Name AKRITI SRIVASTAVA 2. Student Signature 3. Date

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

02-05-2019

CONTENTS Acknowledgement 1) Introduction 2) Proposal • Goals & Objectives • Rationale of the Study • Methodology • Methods 3)

Field Visit

4)

Role of Economic Development

5)

Synthesis of Data

6) Conclusion 7) 8)

Way Forward Reflection

9) References

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1. PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Geetha Narayanan, Founder of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology. Her vision and perseverance had made the institution an open and liberating place of learning and exploration. It is the freedom to think and express ourselves that I as a student, has been able to complete a project like this. My unending gratitude to Deepta Sateesh from whom I’ve learnt a great deal of professionalism, design thinking and courage to think differently. She was also the driving force for this project, giving her valuable feedback and suggestions, from which I drew insights. Her liberating attitude really made me think of the project as something of my own. I extend my thanks to all my faculties: Ranjani, Shreyas, Ishita, Shweta and Mohan who have had such immense patience with me and guided me throughout my journey. Their critical viewpoints, appreciation and faith in me has made me evolve with the projects and strive for better.

My special thanks goes to Ar. Falguni Gupta, a dear friend and teammate. I could not have imagined a better team partner. She cooperated, held my spirit high and contributed in her own ways to the project. I would like to express great appreciation for my batchmates- Rahul, Ananta, Himani, Apeksha, Rohitash, Dhawny, Pranjal, Sonakshi, Srivalli for always sticking around and inspiring me to work hard like they do.

My vote of thanks will be totally incomplete without acknowledging the contribution of Team Unbind (Gaurav, Samaya, Vinay, Raksha and Shvetha) and Rangabhoomi fellows (Kruthika, Chandan, Yusuf, Chinmay and Kapil) in my personal growth. It is their vision of which I am fortunate to be a part of and hopefully continue to do so.

Last but not the least, my family, without them reaching this stage would not have possible at all. It is their love and trust in me which really kept me going. I am divinely blessed to have them by my side.

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1. PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

1) INTRODUCTION About 29.7% 1 of urban population constitutes of people migrated from rural areas. A small study2 conducted ten months back as a part of a workshop showed that seven out of ten people left their village and agriculture as an occupation because either the year before they faced a dry spell or floods, resulting in ruining of the crop. Often rural and urban are perceived as separate spaces because of the way they are shaped by services and infrastructure. But the line between urban and rural is not as sharp as it seems.

A lot of events and processes that happen in rural areas shape how urban cities function and vice-versa.

If the demand of a vegetable / pulses in cities goes down, the price goes up and the poor in the country suffer. Families practicing agriculture needs undivided attention to ensure sustainable development in cities and villages. Not because it leads to population increase in the city but because agriculture is necessary for human survival. One event leads to another. It may not seem like a disaster at a small scale but down the chain of events, it can lead to a disastrous situation. For example, water crisis in city may result in drawing water from freshwater sources in rural areas. This will result in water crisis in rural area affecting the agriculture adversely. Rapid change in rainfall pattern, moisture content in air, direction of wind are some the changes which have resulted as a consequence of many other events. Now it is disastrous for farmers’ community across the world because their livelihood is directly at the mercy of climate change.

Wayanad is one such district. It forms a part of Western Ghats, which is declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site and is also one of the eight biodiversity hotspots in the world. Western Ghats is mostly rain fed. Monsoon season plays a crucial role in filling up the crevices of the Ghats which later form into rivers and rivulets. The primary economic activity is agriculture and farmers are experiencing extreme weather conditions. Very recently, August 2018, the state of Kerala was hit by a series of disasters. Most of the areas were affected by heavy floods, landslides and land subsidence. Wayanad experienced all three. People were sleeping when late in the night they saw things floating in the houses and as they opened the doors, water came gushing into their houses. It took more than a week for water to recede. Dams which were constructed to supply water would not release water in summers but they released it without warning in the midnight.

Landslides on the other hand, happened because of loosening of soil during heavy rains. Both the events became disastrous when it destroyed the fields and houses. At some places water stream changed its course and began to flow in the middle of a farm. These kind of geological changes call out for restructuring of development plans. The land use and commercial crops have to suit the ecology and soil. The actors such as Dam Authority, Planning Department, Panchayats, and Revenue Department etc. play a certain role in a crisis situation like this. As Escobar (Escobar, 1995)3 explains- “To understand development as a discourse, one must look not at the elements themselves but at the system of relations established among them. It is this system that allows the systematic creation of objects, concepts and strategies; it determines what can be thought and said. These relations established between institutions, socio-economic processes, forms of knowledge, technological factors, and so on - define the conditions under which objects, concepts, theories and strategies can be incorporated into the discourse”. Relations between actors need to foster a healthy ecosystem to cultivate positive and effective output. Since there is some amount of work done for about roughly six months in Wayanad, which is condensed in the form of a development report; this study shall add another layer to the existing piece of work.

Post disaster situations can be approached in two ways. First, that everything needs to be planned from scratch or second, that we continue with old pattern and continue to retrofit it onto the new geographical coordinates. Another way can be a middle road between the two. Along with the farmers and other actors, a long term plan or strategies can be formed so that it gives space for farmers to recover economically and production of crops (new and old) to get in the market. As the economics of this region depends largely on rain, the ecology has to be given its due importance in this changing climate. Some lessons from the traditional knowledge and some from the scientific knowledge can bridge the gap between plan on papers and practice on ground. There has been previously a study done on mapping the climate resilient practices from which the development strategies were extracted and assessing them against the ecological sensitivity of the landscape. This capstone project is the follow up study to understand the influence of land on livelihoods and vice-versa to strengthen the economy with respect to disaster situations.

1

http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/migrations.aspx

Workshop on Ethnography: Time: March’18, Duration: 2 Weeks, People Interviewed: Security Guards in Srishti campus, Study conducted by Akriti Srivastava 3 Escobar, Arturo. 1995. “THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OFTHE THIRD WORLD THROUGH DEVELOPMENT.” In Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third 2

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2) PROPOSAL ❏

Goal:-

The Goal is to reinforce the relationship between practices related to land and natural processes of the landscape to come up with various models of economic development for Wayanad in response to the loss occurred during floods and landslides.

The intent is to influence the Land Use Development Plan which currently is in progress. ❏

Objectives:-

●

To explore alternate models of livelihood for sustainable economic development.

●

To extract features of existing systems that can contribute to reducing environmental degradation.

●

To enable communities to become self-supporting and self-reliant through the economic models.

❏

Rationale of the Study:

Wayanad has unique topography. There are high and low points. The low lying regions are called Vayals.

The degree in slope determines the kind of crop it can support. The entire district is rain-fed and the major economic activity is agriculture. In a conversation with a 108 year old man[1], it was found that there used to be heavier rainfall than what was experienced in 2018 and according to his other family members (who are currently practicing farming) said that there has been less amount of rainfall since last twenty- thirty years than what it used to be earlier. So it was quite unexpected and crop suffered because water stayed in the field in excessive amount for longer period time than what is required.

In the time of distress, due to lack of livelihood options, people tend to migrate in search of work to sustain lives of family members and end up doing jobs that do not require any skill, such as laborers on construction site, preparing the rubble for filling earth, rubbing sandpaper on walls, etc. Even in rural areas, under NREGA scheme, people are employed to burn the forest line which also does not require any skill. In doing so, an entire generation loses the knowledge of their practice and connect with the land. Even the coolies who go to work on the plantations, need certain understanding of the plant or tree, moisture content or stage of ripening etc. but with non-skilled livelihood options, next generation gets to learn nothing.

Often the way agriculture is practiced is by growing one single crop on a large piece of land. In a situation where the farmer is always at the mercy of the changing climate; if the commercial crop doesn’t do well economically, the family is left to starve. If there is a way in which Land Use Development Plans can enable people in agriculture sector to be able to sustain their livelihoods then it has to look beyond focusing on industrial.

❏

Methodology

● Seepage as a Lens1: The lens for the study is taken to be seepage. When it rains, it rains everywhere. Never does it happen like it rained only in the wetlands and not on the high slopes. It is unpredictable to see where the water will end up getting deposited. There are different words which tell the degree of water present anywhere, like – moistness, mist, dryness, wetness etc. but seepage tells the state when water is in action. Since Wayanad is a rain- fed region, most of the activities align with the amount of rainfall received throughout the year. ●

Colours of Water: A set of experiments with different paint mediums were performed keeping lens

Cons, Jason. 2017. “Seepage.” Theorizing the Contemporary. Cultural Anthropology. Accessed january 2018. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/1244-seepage.

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PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

of seepage in mind to draw insights for a conceptual framework. Observations were taking down from all the experiments. One particular behaviour of water was noticed peculiarly- that it would find its way to level out across the surface and second is that its barriers are defined until the amount is exceeding the carrying capacity.

Paper Texture- Kept at an 0 ° with the base

Paper Texture- Kept at an 40-45° with the base

Canvas Texture- Kept at an 0° with the base Water accumulated and 15 mins later it travelled to next line in swatch as “it maintains its level” Canvas Texture- Kept at an 40-45° with the base Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology |

● Landscape Approach: This methodology seemed suitable for this study is because the ten principles mentioned in Sayer et.al (Jeffrey Sayer 2013)1 explains landscape as ever changing dynamic system and that there are always “unforeseen interactions” and “nonlinear relationships” which brings a lot of learning and calls for the strategies to be revised. In the previous study (conducted in Jan’18) as well, it was concluded that agricultural landscapes and seeing the potential of conserving natural elements. “Landscapes provide the setting over which wicked problems unfold, and the landscape approach provides the social- ecologicalsystems’ framework by which we can grapple with them”.

❏ i.

Methods Research

Both primary and secondary research is important in order to make the data rich and authentic. a. Primary research: It will be done through observation, collecting narratives and existing data. To see the degree of change, plans and sections shall be used to draw the comparison and also to see the scope of intervention. Different points, nodes, intersections and overlaps can be observed while having conversations with different actors. ● Observation: Using observation as a tool to begin the study stimulates the thought process and question the ongoing. Notes and pointers from secondary and primary study guides the direction in which the research goes. The initial observations can be taken without an agenda as an open mind absorbs all that comes, as it is. Data collected then shall be synthesized with the secondary research. The second set of observations can be taken to answer the questions which arose from the synthesis. The process of observation helps in understanding the site more closely. The points which are often missed during secondary research gets covered in the primary study through just the skill of mindful observation. ● Conversations: The idea is have conversations instead of interviewing people.

Conversations can lead to instantaneous rise of questions while interviews have a fixed structure which often does not help when the expected data is not coming out of the Q n A session. The data collected can then be synthesized and analysed with the existing data in the documents. Broadly the questions asked will give a sense of aspirations, issues, gaps, successful ideas, local knowledge etc. ● Audio & Visuals: These are used not just for recording and capturing physicality of the place but also to communicate with the audience. Still photographs and videos can give the sense of the place with great clarity. Audio shall be recorded to capture certain sounds unique to the place or conversations with people (with their due consent). ● Sketches & Drawings: These are great for mapping the observations along with its location or context. Hand drawn sketches have their own advantages over photographs. The person can use different notations and proportions to emphasis on different elements. ● Google Maps: This app is used to mark the different location or landmarks throughout the field trip and also to find the routes to the destination. b. Secondary Research: To back up the primary research with facts, legal documents, reports in order to make the research rich and dense; secondary research will be done, where case studies, different government instruments and other literature materials are used. ● Case studies: Different case studies with similar or different approach to understand how these kind of situations are dealt with across the world. This gives us a thorough study of an existing pattern which can be used as an inspiration to be worked on. The case studies used Jeffrey Sayer, Terry Sunderland, Jaboury Ghazoul, Jean-Laurent Pfund,. 2013. “Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other.” PNAS ( National Academy of Sciences) 110: 8531.

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PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

will be basically focusing on community participation, policy frameworks, role of NGOs, cause of disaster etc. ● Review of government instruments: Legal documents and instruments are looked for different development policies, guidelines, frameworks or toolkits in order to make the research rich and applicable. Formal schemes and documents by Ministry of Tribal Affairs shall also be referred to see if there are provisions for tribes to receive aid in disaster situations. This helps in terms of understanding the level of development or the vision already seen by the government bodies for the city or district and their approach towards it. Consulting different policy documents helps in identifying overlaps, gaps and successful schemes in different government programmes. ● Other literature: Information through news articles, research paper, live talks being held in the city on related topics, videos of different studies and ted talks, tales and stories are some other kind of literatures which shall be used in order to get diverse knowledge and view over the subject through different mediums. The approach is to search for materials which can be helpful at any stage and add meaning to the research. ii.

Synthesis & Analysis: The data collected, henceforth, shall be compiled to be synthesised and analysed to draw insights and conclusions from the study. ● Design Tools: Various design tools should be used to make the data comprehensive.

Synthesising tools are usually for the qualitative data and analysing tools for quantitative data.

Both the kinds are required to think about the context holistically. ● Artistic Expression: Some thinking processes shall be expressed through experiments with different media of paints. ● Software: To digitize the data and drawings, software like Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD, MS Office shall be used. iii. Design: This is the most important stage where the designer needs to take a position and justify it though his / her intervention or suggestions. The final output determines the impact of the project. Design stage itself has a process full of insights which are supposed to be translated into tangible outcome. It can be a combination of drawings, set of policy suggestions/ guidelines.

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3) FIELD VISIT The field visit was done with the conceptual framework of Seepage to determine the economic activities related to rain and Colours of Water to determine the flows and overflows in every economic system that I come across in the field.

Day-1 1.

Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology: Dr. Vishnudas had a huge role in facilitating our field visit. As our ground partners he made sure we are able to meet everyone who can contribute to our study. Some books like Malabar Ornithological Survey 2010-11 were useful in getting data about birds, their regions and seasons are well explained. His own knowledge about Wayanad and Pozhuthana was very useful. He shared his views on current political scenarios and human animal conflict.

2.

Pozhuthana Panchayat Office: Meeting with Panchayat Members went well in terms of we (I and Falguni) got acquainted with the staff and were provided with one panchayat profile document printed in Malayalam. We asked some information like property holding map, land use map, etc. could not be provided because it was difficult to extract them.

Day-2 3.

Mr. K.V. Divakaran: He is currently maintaining a farm, which is the ancestral property of his wife.

He is also the head of milk cooperation of his region. He actively talks about the changes in the farming practices and how it is not ideal for the profession. Land management was conducive to nature. He finds that cultural activities were part of farming but now it is not. For example, there used to be seed exchange in weekly markets but now all that has stopped and people buy it from market. MSSRF is organizing seed festival but that is an organized event. The scientific community does not acknowledge traditional practices, at the same time they fail to predict any disaster. Gram Sabha meetings would take place but only the stakeholders would come, people like contractors who can benefit in some way or the other. No discussions related to community development or farming would happen. Different departments do their own work and nobody would consult the farmer, whose welfare they claim to be doing.

4.

Kudumbashree CDS Office: Our conversation with the CDS members were helpful in getting a sense of all kinds of occupations in which Kudumbashree ladies are involved. The variety extends from selling chilies to cultivating mushrooms. Many ladies are involved in tailoring, pickle making and plantation workers. Majority of these occupations are seasonal, for the rest of time of the year they get work under NREGA. Day-3 5.

District Soil Conservation Office: The function of this department is to work with state geology department to document and suggest the soil conservation activities. Mr. Das informed that after landslides, angle of repose with the base surface has declined and topsoil has been completely washed away at the sites. He also saved people of a village by predicting the right direction of the potential landslide which occurred six hours later of the evacuation, washing down all the houses and farms.

Day-4 6.

District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC): Mr. Dinesh was waiting for us to arrive as Dr.Vishnu had already informed him that we will be coming. We were told that main function of DTPC was to list down all the homestays, hotels, resorts and classify them under Platinum, Gold and Silver categories depending upon the facilities provided by them. He connected us to Mr. Ravindran and Mr. Anand at District Tourism Office.

7.

White Mushroom Homestay: White Mushroom is run by Mr. Ravindran. He is also the chairperson of Wayanad Tourism Organisation (WTO). His homestay was one of the first few homestays in Wayanad.

His wife and her three other siblings own the property. He allows only foreigners to stay. As he explains,”domestic tourists don’t value our lifestyle. Foreigners appreciate the food, air and stay here. We have a tourist guide- Afsal, who gives a tour of the property to the tourists”. He shared his personal views about the disaster situation him saying that it’s the plantation workers who have suffered the most from the floods and landslides, but farmers create more noise about it so that they can avail benefits of several schemes.

8.

Kuruchanmalla Tea Factory: Mr. Sasidharan is manager at Pee Vee Tea factory. The plantation is ninety years old and the largest landslide in Wayanad has occurred in this plantation only, sweeping away 42Ha of land. The tea can’t be replanted in this area because the top soil is swept away and the surface is rocky now. No scheme from tea board account for disaster situations. They provide subsidies PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

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Forest Colony in Peringoda

Mr. Ravindran’s Property

Mr. Divakaran’ s Property

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

for replanting but that can’t be done now. Mr. Sasidharan recalled that when he joined this business in 1996 in Munnar, the rate of tea at auction used to be ₹80-90/kg. And now after more than two decades, the rate has increased to only ₹110/kg. The market rates of other commodities have raised exorbitantly

but Tea hasn’t made much progress. Also it’s cultivation in Kerala in more expensive than any other state because of labour. Since last ten years they have started cultivating coffee, arecanut and pepper to cover up the losses in tea.

Day-5 9.

District Forest Office: Mr. Ranjith, District Forest Officer(DFO) talked about certain conservation issues like mining in the area adjacent to protected area, it stopped for a while upon complaining by

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Day-6

Kudumbashree Group at Sugandhagiri Forest Colony with our translator Aswin Bhim Nath

10.

Dr. Suma: Since MSSRF was our Ground Partner for our last project, Dr. Suma had helped us conduct our field visit. It was necessary to speak to her to get a sense of the wellbeing of the families whom we met after disasters and ways in which they got affected. She informed us that Cheruvayal Raman had not been keeping well health wise after the floods. His property, though, is still same and cultivable. Forest colonies in Pulpally were not much affected and family living on the banks of the Karapuzha Dam reservoir shifted during the rains but now they’ve returned back to the same location. Dr. Suma connected us to an officer in agriculture department.

11.

Kudumbashree Group: Visit to this group of ladies in Sugandhagiri Forest Colony was quite intense.

Since the conceptual framework for the site visit was “flows and overflows”, the questions asked were focused on building an understanding of role of economics in their daily life and how it got affected during the floods and landslides. It came out of our conversations that this self help group is not only providing financial security to the women but also making their social status strong in the colony. The ladies overthrew the practice of consumption and manufacturing of local alcohol which involved almost all men. The ladies in this group had varied occupations like, asha worker, entrepreneurs (selling green chilis during festivals, coffee and pepper), NREGA work and two of them worked in hotels in Vythiri. Every month the women would pool in money to use it collectively for the welfare of community. If someone falls sick in the family or rebuilding / repairing the houses after landslides or to set up a kiosk during festivals, this money would used.

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

forest department but then again started. These activities are supported by Geology Department and Revenue Department. He mentioned that Wayanad has the largest number of forest colonies in Kerala for tribals. Forest department gets certain funds from central government through different schemes like Project Elephant, CAMPA, etc. For every human animal conflict, forest department has to pay the remuneration.

Day-7 12.

District Agriculture Department: Mr. Mamoothy explained the dynamics of irrigation and check dams with respect to the Kaveri Conflict. Also, he told about the Joint Liability Group loan which is given to only people who are associated in self help group only for agricultural activities by this department. He talked about certain schemes like insurance of crop to which farmers initially were hesitant but slowly they are taking it up.

13.

Responsible Tourism: Mr. Cijo from Responsible Tourism gave us information about, that initially it was mission then Kerala Government regularised it as a department with the objective of improving the tourism activities with respect to the social, economical and ecological aspects of the district. It is currently functional in five locations in Wayanad,namely; Cheruvayal, Nellarachal, Tikamtara, Ambalavayal and Chettiyatur. It has not been finalised for pozhuthana but resource mapping might start soon.

Day-8 14.

District Planning Office: I met with Ms. Subhadra, Asst. Planning Officer. She attended me for more than an hour and provided me with all the relevant information. Few of the things that I got to know from her is the role of Planning Office in budget allocation. It is this department which handles all the funds and plans budget accordingly for the next financial year.

15.

Town and Country Planning Department: Ms. Deepa V P, Town Planner, Wayanad provided us with one of the most important maps that we required- Land use map of Pozhuthana. A comprehensive report on floods and landslides and recommendations to rebuild it, called, Rebuild Malabar was also provided. As a suggestion she mentioned that it would be beneficial to look at tourism sector deeply.

16.

District Tourism Office: Mr. Anand at DTO told that their aim is to make tourism experiential, hence they are creating multiple kinds of activities for tourist to engage. En ooru is one such initiative taken in light of experiential tourism without compromising the privacy of tribal communities. It would include engaging in farming activities, sharing their local cuisine etc. They have also collaborated with HML plantations for conducting bicycling competitions for tourists in their tea plantations. With reference to floods and landslides, he highlighted that Tourism department was very active in rescue operations. When navy had not arrived, the department used their boats to rescue people.

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4) ROLE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:As per the Oxford dictionary, economics is defined as the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth. In case of production and consumption, many farmers have practices which are conducive to nature and their overall wellbeing. They limit the use chemicals on farms so that crabs and earthworms (biodiversity) can thrive on their farm. The practice of making kollam with rice flour is the way they have dialogue with nature in everyday life because the flour is ultimately getting consumed by the ants and other insects. So it’s the same rice that grows on their farm, “flows” into their kitchen, gets consumed and the “overflow” from it goes into making kollam which then is consumed by other creatures. The system changes when comes the “transfer of wealth” into the picture. To generate profit from a crop, its market price has to be high and it has to be produced in large quantities as the investment cost has to be covered completely and excess can be counted as profit.

But this changes the process of production of crops and turns the farm into a money making machine.

The capitalist way economy, then overshadow the nuances of the practice which were conducive to the wellbeing of the producer (farmer). One of the famous critique of capitalism in nineteenth century was Karl Marx. He argued that capitalist form of economy alienates people from who they really are. Physical work is the product of one’s creative ideas and inspiration but capitalism requires people to specialize in something so that it can be used on a larger scale. For example, corporate offices, factories etc. “Though it makes the modern economy very efficient but it also means that it is seldom possible for a worker to derive the sense of making a genuine contribution to the real needs of humanity”.1 He also makes an argument that capitalist form of economy is very unstable. It is characterized with a series of crisis. Many capitalists would say that it is a rare or the last one but Marx argues that crisis are endemic to capitalism.

It is the crisis caused by abundance of a commodity. Because the production systems become so efficient, the supply often crosses the bar of demand. It 2017, price of carrots dropped in Chennai because of the excess in production from neighboring states. (TNN 2017) 2

Generation of wealth is also important because family’s all needs like education, travel, clothing etcetera can’t be met just by producing crops or other goods. As a society, we have come past by the barter system and have started using currency to exchange for different services. Every system has their own limitations. If barter system can’t buy everything/ all services then capitalist system can’t provide security and satisfaction from every job. It is difficult to say that whether economics drive human interest or human interest drives the economy. But its role in shaping the landscape is undeniable. Farmlands which run on capitalist form of economy are cultivated with one single crop in vast expanse of land, irrespective of its effect on microclimate, soil quality and farmer’s financial security. Whereas subsistence farming ensures that farmer and his family does not starve even during the times of crisis / disasters.

That is where making a “livelihood” comes into play. Oxford dictionary defines it as: A means of securing the necessities of life. Making a livelihood can mean a spectrum of activities to bring in money, goods, wellbeing etc. Hence, understanding the relationship of land and livelihoods becomes a crucial agenda for economic development that can sustain families and communities in all times.

1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQgCy_iIcc

2

TNN. 2017. “Veggie prices dip after rise in production .” The Times of India 1.

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

5) SYNTHESIS OF DATA Before going on field visit, from the readings a connected to result in a query- If economic development forms the basis of human development then how is Kerala, Particularly Wayanad is not doing well on economic development but high on human development index? Answer to this question I got when our conversation with Mr. Ranjith Padinjakkara, M.D. Miles to Go (Travel Agency) led to point where he started sharing his problem of not been able to find a carpenter for more than two months. He went to tell that in Kerala nobody wants to do this kind of job. Everybody wants to have formal education then either get a government job or migrate to a foreign country and work there. “It is a common mentality here that these kind of service providing jobs are not good livelihoods.” Agriculture is also one of them, which is why large plantations attract lots of migrated workers, especially in the times of harvesting coffee. Local people would not work on plantations. Education has definitely led to high human development index but it has failed to make children realize the importance of the practices which are essential to human existence.

The exercise shown below (Figure no.1,2,3,4) was initiated with the objective of deriving economic models that can sustain through times of disasters or crisis. All kind of information which was gathered through previous field visits and the latest one was put together, then layered up information corresponding to every relationship. The colour difference in the text does not mean anything and the information put together is not segregated into layers properly and that is where this attempt of mine at deriving economic models failed. As this was discussed this with mentor, taking her suggestion, this

Figure No. 1

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Figure No. 2

Figure No. 3

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

Figure No. 4

activity was extended to have a time factor. The kind of information put on this timeline was no different from the previous sheet The need to rework the sheet was felt because the information in the previous exercise was not segregated into layers and neither was colour coded. So I redid it with one objective, that is, I should do it in a way that I can through it. So I put all the livelihoods that I could think of.(Figure no. 5,6,7,8) There are more obviously but I chose to put the ones which I came across. The base sheet is then layered by the one showing cash flow through arrows and opposite to this direction is the dependency. For example, Forest department is getting funds from central government. As cash flows from central government to forest department, it is therefore, dependent on Central Government. The dashed arrows are either the future prospects of cash flow or ones which do not exist now.

Yellow chits are showing information about the relationship, green ones are put due to lack of space and pink ones are where I find any issue. Next is the layer of social and ecological relationships. One of the issue that I’ve highlighted on this sheet is that NREGA is more of a welfare scheme than a livelihood. The scheme specifically talks about providing unskilled work to be offered. There is no window for skilled work to be done through NREGA. This means that it is providing money to people to not do anything productive as such. Tasks like cleaning, grass cutting, terracing etc. are appointed. The next sheet is the expanse of these economic activities across a yearly timeline. It also shows which livelihood are dependent on rain and which are not. Then their connection with the current land use map gives a spatial context of the relationship.

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Figure No. 5

Figure No. 6 PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

Figure No. 7 Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology |

Figure No. 8

The design tool shown below is used to see the dependency of different actors within Pozhuthana Panchayat whom we met on the field visit. It is done to highlight the models of economy which can be more resilient in times of disasters. The suggested model of economy is prevalent in Pozhuthana but not the dominant one. It is the savings model of economy. The two examples which can demonstrate its resilience are:a) Farmers practicing subsistence agriculture are not dependent on agriculture department or seed companies for cultivating. The practice involves preservation of seeds which is usually performed by women in the family. If in case any kind of disaster strikes and part of the farmland gets subdued then cash crops may not be as beneficial as it used to be. The knowledge which comes with will get transferred to the generations to come. The farmers who have been successfully doing it have either selected the crop which they cultivate for personal consumption or left out a portion of land to cultivate multiple vegetables and pulses etc. This kind of practice creates diversity of vegetation in farmland. It helps the soil replenish its nutrients and reduce the dependency on chemicals which is another one of the big investments farmers make these days. b) Kudumbashree Women Self Help Group: As per the information got from the Kudumbashree CDS office, there is a wide range of occupation women engage in. For example, mushroom cultivation, vegetable cultivation, tailoring, pickle making, bamboo items making etc. The observations made at Sugandhagiri Forest Colony were that at one point minimum six women in the group of ten members were working. Since most of the occupations are seasonal, not all of them are able to work throughout the year.

The next sheet shows different activities which are rain dependent and which are not. Activities like harvesting tea is a daily activity. It does not depend on rain as such but it is difficult to walk the hills during PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

monsoons to harvest tea, hence the scale reduces but activity does not really stop. Another non-rain dependent activity is international market rates of coffee, tea and other spices. Although their cultivation depends on rain but market doesn’t really account for that. Then there are rain dependent activities like pickle making, tourism activities, mushroom cultivation, coffee, banana, paddy cultivation and many others.

Figure No. 9

From the dependency chart, the thread comes to this sheet and then connecting to the land use map.

The thread itself becomes a dialogue of who is practicing what then what time of the year and then their location. This activity made the connections clear generated useful insights which led to the development of an assessment tool.

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PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

Tailoring

Bamboo products like bags, sticks, basket, sieves etc.

Pickle Making

Farming : Coffee, Vegetables, Pepper, green chillis etc.

Goat and Cow Rearing

KUDUMBASHREE GROUP

Mushroom Cultivation

NREGA

Soap Making

NREGA

6. Final Output: Alternate Economic Models DISASTER

Bamboo products like bags, sticks, basket, sieves etc.

Beneficial Components: 1. Diversity in occupation 2. Savings Model

KUDUMBASHREE GROUP

Tailoring

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Transfer of knowledge

Soil Quality is retained

Traditional seed varieties

Community Seed Banks

Subsistence Farming + Organic Farming Techniques

Less dependency on market

No investment in fertilizers as soil will support growth naturally

No investment in fertilizers as soil will support growth naturally

Commodities can be exchanged if lacking

6. Final Output: Alternate Economic Models DISASTER

Seed varieties can be exchanged or offered to the disaster struck families

Subsistence Farming + Organic Farming Techniques

No loan/support required to start farming again

This sheet show a general section which is derived from the section of actual landscape. The section has been generalized so that the ideas can be interpreted or applied pan Wayanad. It shows two types of crops being cultivated: tea and coffee and different kinds of “flows and overflows” that are taking place.

Since tea is practiced as monoculture, its micro environment is different from that of coffee. Tea can be harvested on a daily basis. A tea factory stays active for the entire year. A coffee plantation needs labor only during the coffee picking season. The contrast is shown not just for the differences in practices but to assess the consequences of those practices. This visual is a qualitative assessment tool which can be used to assess the implications of different interventions made across the landscape. While working on the same, I read a section of Nature’s Matrix1 wherein the author talks about a coffee plantation for which forest was cleared but since coffee needs shade, some trees were retained. There were birds which used to perch on those trees and after coffee was planted, they’d still come. The birds doesn’t know whether it is a forest tree or a plantation tree. They know the tree, so the author explains that the distinction between “natural” and “manmade” environment blurs away when there is a diversity of processes taking place together. The processes form a matrix among the patches of forest lands and farmlands. This is a rare thing to happen in a monoculture. It does not support humans with anything other than capital.

They lose biodiversity, soil quality and natural ways of tapping water. This piece of writing helped me to visualize the contents I would want to show in the assessment tool.

FEATURES •

Different kinds of activities can be assessed along with their impacts on the landscape.

•

It can incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data, for ex. Geological data, climatic data, narratives, social arrangements etc.

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It can be used for participatory ways of planning as well as just for the expert advic

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Changes can be made in the same visual with time.

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It can be used to strategize for both long and short term scenarios.

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It can be used to strategize in post disaster situations as well because the change can be seen.

•

It addresses the dynamic behaviour of land and people.

Perfecto, Ivette, John Vandermeer, and Angus. n.d. “Matrix Matters: An Overview.” In Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food, 1-10.

1

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

6. CONCLUSION This kind of study can be seen as an alternative approach towards economic development.

Conventionally, all the infrastructure and services are designed in order to upscale a particular economic activity. For example. Tea plantation is set up in large area. Since the market drives its production, it is produced even if it is generation loses for the manufacturer. People associated with the production of single crop tends to face the consequences led by the market. Whereas if tea from the beginning was produced with the sustenance model, everybody associated with the production of it will not face the consequences of market fluctuation adversely. Since the market rate is something which is in nobody’s control, things that we can control for our wellbeing, we must understand the implications of our actions first.

7) WAY FORWARD: It is rare that economic development is planned using Landscape Approach. The next step to this project would be to come up with a comprehensive report and include a global policy like Sustainable Developments Goals (SDG) and local field knowledge. This kind of report will help to strategize for economic development keeping SDGs as reference point.

8) REFLECTION: On my second visit to Wayanad in March’18, I can across a family which was living on the banks of a dam reservoir. Two huts with thatch made of coconut leaves and tarpaulin sheets, kitchen was under a shed and toilets resembled to those of stone age- one hole dug in the ground and four sides covered with translucent drapes. We documented the place and their narratives then came back. Of all the families I had visited, I felt that they were the most vulnerable. One heavy rain, the water level will rise in the reservoir and their entire community will have to vacate the area.

After the drastic Kerala Floods & Landslides in Aug’18, I inquired about the family. I was told that of all the people I met, they were the least affected because they had nothing to lose. They packed their stuff and moved to the next safest location. It would be unfair to say that they were most adaptable to the situation.

It was good food for thought to think about resilience as key principle while working on this project.

Disasters need to be combat by both short term and long term strategies.

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7. REFERENCES Research Papers/ Articles/ Journals •

Stein, Stanley J. The American Historical Review 101, no. 5 (1996): 1523-524. doi:10.2307/2170190.

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Ramakrishnan, P.S. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Plant Sci.) (1984) 93: 379. https://doi.org/10.1007/ BF03053090

•

Cons, Jason. “Seepage.” Theorizing the Contemporary, Cultural Anthropology website, October 24, 2017. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/1244-seepage

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Steinberg, Philip, and Kimberley Peters. 2015. “Wet Ontologies, Fluid Spaces: Giving Depth to Volume through Oceanic Thinking.” Environment and Planning D 33, no. 2: 247–64.

•

Zaitchik, Alexander. 2019. “How conservation became colonialism.” Ecologise.in 1-2.

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Scroll Staff. 2019. “Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and TN among states likely to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.” Scroll.in 1.

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Raj, Raj K. 2019. “India must focus on resilience and adaptation.” Hindustan Times 1.

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Raghuram*, Parvati. 2008. “Which Migration, What Development?” Wiley InterScience.

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Lawrence. n.d. “Environmental Impact Assessment and Nigerian Planners.” BusinessMeg.

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Kumar, Parveen. 2019. “The State must address migrants’ vulnerabilities.” Hindustan Times 1.

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Kulkarni, Vishwanath. 2019. “As millets turn food of choice in cities, traders reap a rich harvest.”

Business Line.

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Kothari, Ashish. 2019. “This is not the future we want.” The Hindu 1.

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Koshy, Jacob. 2018. “India faces worst water crisis: NITI Aayog.” The Hindu 1.

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Jeffrey Sayer, Terry Sunderland, Jaboury Ghazoul, Jean-Laurent Pfund,Douglas Sheil, Erik Meijaard, Michelle Venter, Agni Klintuni Boedhihartono, Michael Day,Claude Garcia, Cora van Oosten and Louise E. Buck. 2013. “Ten principles for a landscape approachto reconciling agriculture, conservation,and other competing land uses.” PNAS 8349-8355.

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Janaiah, Aldas. 2002. “Hybrid Rice for Indian Farmers: Myths and Realities.” Economic and Political Weekly 4319-4327.

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Jamwal, Nidhi. 2019. “Northeast Monsoon Flops, Triggering Drought-Like Conditions Across South India.” The Wire 1-2.

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James, Gary Thomas and David. 2006. “Reinventing Grounded Theory: Some Questions about Theory, Ground and Discovery.” Wiley 767-795.

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Harper, Edward B. 1959. “Two Systems of Economic Exchange in Village India.” Wiley 760-777

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Achin Chakraborty. “Kerala’s Changing Development Narratives.” Economic and Political Weekly 40, no.

6 (2005): 541-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4416171.

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Lieten, G. K. “Human Development in Kerala: Structure and Agency in History.” Economic and Political Weekly 37, no. 16 (2002): 1539-544. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4412015.

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Gopalakrishnan, Chennat. “Culture, Economic Development, and Quality of Life: A Speculative Comment on the Case of Kerala, India.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 47, no. 4 (1988): 45557. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3486559.

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Ramakrishnan, P.S. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Plant Sci.) (1984) 93: 379. https://doi.org/10.1007/ BF03053090

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SHAH, ALPA, and BARBARA HARRISS-WHITE. “Resurrecting Scholarship on Agrarian Transformations.” Economic and Political Weekly 46, no. 39 (2011): 13-18. http://www.jstor.org/

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

stable/23047204.

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Kumar, Parveen. 2019. “The State must address migrants’ vulnerabilities.” Hindustan Times 1.

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Bhattacharya, Aritra. 2019. “Can Andhra Pradesh’s ambitious plan to stop the use of chemicals in farms succeed?” Scroll.in 1.

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Goled, Shraddha. 2019. “UP: Farmers Are Converting Farm Waste To Manure & Saving The Air From 45,000 Kg Of Carbon Dioxide.” The Logical Indian 1-4.

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Bose, Purabi. 2018. “Women are the guardians of the forest. So why does India ignore them in its policies?” Scroll.in 1-3.

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https://indikosh.com/vill/672181/pozhuthana

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http server://www.citi.io/2016/05/23/urban-density-an-oversimplified-concept-that-endanger-our-future/

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https://m.hindustantimes.com/editorials/the-state-must-address-migrants-vulnerabilities/storyZpuJM8kpRjqnhS30xQjAKJ.html

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https://scroll.in/a/906683

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https://thewire.in/environment/northeast-monsoon-flops-triggering-drought-like-conditions-across-india

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https://www.businessmeg.com/environmental-impact-assessment-nigerian-planners/

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https://unfccc.int/climate-action/momentum-for-change/financing-for-climate-friendly-investment/maisprogram-climate-smart-agriculture

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https://krishijagran.com/agripedia/important-government-schemes-programmes-in-agriculture/

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https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-we-need-is-a-commons-manifesto/article26656015.ece

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https://m.businesstoday.in/lite/story/budget-2019-modi-govt-new-scheme-offers-rs-6000-directly-intofarmers-bank-accounts/1/315900.html

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Vishwanath, S. 2019. “Cities need special agriculture zones.” The Hindu 1.

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Rajappa, Amoolya. 2017. “How humans can coexist with nature: a tribal group in Kerala shows the way.”

Social Story 1.

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HC Chetana, T Ganesh. 2019. “After tea, What?” Current Conservation 1.

Vedios •

https://www.facebook.com/Spoorthyorganic/videos/1487565328013899/

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https://www.facebook.com/indiatimes/videos/301884387352383/

• •

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=81&v=Fxcdzy5Wd7s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQgCy_iIc

Seminars/ Talks/ Webinar •

Panel Discussions- Book launch of India’s Water Futures: emergent Ideas and Pathways on 1st February 2019.

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Talk with Kiran Bir Sethi, Founder- Design for Change and Riverside School on 13th Jan 2019

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Talk with Ramya Krishnan- program manager at Central Square Foundation on 30th December 2018

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Talk with Pushpanath Krishnamurthy, Director Outreach- Fair Trade India on 27th January 2019

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Webinar with Dr. Pisupati Balakrishnan and Ar. Deepta Sateesh on 17th January19

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Talk with Reynaldo Morales on 14th March 2019

Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology |

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Lens Conference on 3rd, 4th and 5th April 2019

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Movie Screening: Neeli Raag by Swati Dandekar

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Session on Documentation by Samrudh Dixit on 31st March 2019

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

1. PG

CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

2. STUDENT 3. Akrit Srivastava 4. PROJECT 5. Inquiring Land an Livelihood Relationship for Sustainable Economic Development 6. PROGRAM 7. Master of Planning (Urban Design Sustainability and Conservation) 8. AWARD 9. Post Graduate Professional Program

Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology |

1. EXAMINER

1

2. Name 3. Signature

5. EXAMINER

4. Date

2

6. Name 7. Signature

9. EXAMINER

8. Date

3

10.

Name

11.

Signature

13.

FINAL COMMENTS

PG CAPSTONE PROJECT 2019 | EXEGESIS

12.

Date