Wave from rural India

I have always believed that the solutions to the climate crisis in India lie in its villages. Rural India, where around 750 million Indians live is visibly the most impacted by climate change and also the most important demographic to tackle it too. Leading a less carbon intensive lifestyle, rural India exemplifies the real solutions to the climate problem.

The following is a wave from Bundelkhand, a small town in the state of Madhya Pradesh. A community radio station called ‘Radio Bundelkhand’ recorded this program. The Bundelkhand Region has faced persistent droughts for the past 8 years. Even when the rains do come, it is late in the season and does not provide much relief as the kharif crops planted are already withered and lost and this results in rising debt for the farmers.

In the hope of increasing yield, the farmers of these regions mostly use petroleum derived fertilizers, unaware of the adverse effects they have on the soil and climate.

Radio Bundelkhand started airing a program aimed at stopping the usage of these chemical fertilizers. The programme motivated many of the villagers including Mr. Summer Ahirwar. Radio Bundelkhand team came to know about him and interviewed him where he discussed on how climate change is affecting Bundelkhand, what inspired him to work on different adaptation measures, how he motivated other villagers and the difficulties he faced.

The broadcast is in Hindi and the Bundeli dialect which might be difficult for some of the listeners to understand. But Mr. Ahirwar’s lessons are an inspiration to many who could transition towards organic farming and tackle climate change in their own small way.
Radio Bundelkhand Programme for the ‘RadioWave’ Project by chaitanyakumar
Credits: Radio Bundelkhand & Pragya Tiwari from Development Alternatives.