FAIL (the browser should render some flash content, not this). 5. Awareness Meetings /Camps : A. Organised awareness meetingsregarding water conservation at village Boparai Kalan in District of Amritsar and in several villages of Kharar block in district Ropar. B. Organised awareness meetings regarding environmental health and agricultural debt in six villages Harkishanpura, MandiKhurd, Ramanwas, Bangi Nihal Singh, Jajjhal, Mahi Nangal of Bathinda district and two villages of Amritsar. Farmers were motivated for organic farming in these meetings 3. Survey of Wetlands and ponds: With its little resources Kheti Virasat has done three sample /pilot survey regarding water bodies. The first covered village ponds in eight districts of Punjab (both for Kacha and Packaa). The second survey was on the wetlands of Punjab and the third one for natural streams and rivulets of Punjab 2. Jayanti Nadi Pad Yatra: Jayanti Nadi Pad Yatra was the first of its type of study yatra (foot march) on the bed of a river in Punjab. The soul aim of the yatra was to collect the data regarding the present condition of the river from the adjoining villages and to assess the loss of water table, ecology & change in the agricultural practices of the villages. Kheti Virasat organised several village level meetings in 21 villages on the 35 KM track of the river. It was a one to one meeting with the people. The meeting was also aim at to sensitize and aware people water & riverside bio-diversity . Shri Ranjan Samantary from UNDP and Shri Arvind Dass Country Chief , CCF,UK had also tracked about 5 Kms along with Kheti Virasat voluntaries Background Year 2003 1.National Level Workshop on Bt. Cotton : The meetings -" Implications of Bt. Cotton and its alternatives ", organised by Kheti Virasat on the 8th & 9th Febraury in Bathinda, considered the heartland of cotton growing in the north India, had over 80 persons participating in the workshops. These participants were drawn from various professions-agriculture scientists, senior bureaucrats, policy makers, practicing farmers, activists, political leaders, representative of seed industries and concerned citizens. Amongst the distinguished participants and resource persons were Dr. Sompal Shastri ( Member , Planning Commission, Government of India), Mr. Devinder Sharma( Agriculture Trade Policy Analyst, New Delhi ),Dr. Bharat Jhunjhunwala (noted economist and columnist) ,Mr. Koran Mathen ( Samvardhan-APIGR , Ahmedabad) , Mr. Kapil Shah(Director ,Jatan ,Vadodara) , Dr. Ashesh Tayal(Scientific Advisor, Greenpeace India),Mr. Naresh Sirohi (Board Member ,Directorate of Croping System Research ,ICAR New Delhi) , Mr. Krishna Bir Chowdhary ( Executive Chairman, Bharat Krishak Samaj, New Delhi) , Dr. Kunwarji Bhai Jadhav (National President , Bhartiya Kissan Sangh), Dr. Kulwant Singh Waradch, Join Director, Agriculture Punjab. Dr. Jasbir Singh Bains, Dy.Director, Agriculture Punjab. Additionally, the workshop was attended by farmers who have experienced of using Bt. Cotton varieties, either during field trials or through illegal cultivation. These were also organic cotton growers amongst the participants 4.Health Survey with Green Peace India : Kheti Virasat has initiated a nine month long study project in collaboration with GreenPeace India on the study of impact on agrochemicals on human health. Aphysiological survey covering about 300 children in six villages of two districts of Bathinda & Ropar was conducted. This was completed in January 2004. BACK KHETI VIRASAT

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6. Workshops during Gram Shri Mela Chandigarh : Gram Shri mela was organised at Chandigarh by Jindal Charitable Trust, Nabha. Kheti Virasat was associated for organising three workshops during the mela. These were : 1. Sustainable Agriculture 2. Marketing or Rural products 3. Youth and Employment Dr. D.P. Singh, Rural Employment Expert, Shanti Kunj, Haridwar, Dr. Sham Sunder Agarwal, President Laghu Udyog Bharti and Labh Singh, Regional director, Nehru Yuva Kendra-Punjab were present during these workshops.

7. Bhai Kahaniya Jal Sandesh Samagam : On the eve of Baisakhi 13 th April 2003 Kheti Virasat organised mass awareness campaign for water conservation at Shri Anandpur Sahib in which eminent personalities were present. The campaign concluded with a padyatra at the ancestral Bawari (stepwell)of Bhai Kahaniya in village Tarapur. Bhai Manjit Singh (former head of religious institutions of Sikhs-Takth Keshgarh) , Sant Baba Labh Singh were also present. Sh. Anupam Mishra and Sh. Sudhirnder Sharma were among the other dignitaries

 

9. Shri Suresh Desai's visit to Punjab : (Introducing water -Efficient and organic sugarcane farming to Punjab farmers) Shri Suresh Desai is one of far most internationally accolade organic sugarcane farmer hails from Belgaum district of Karnataka. He has developed a series of extremely intelligent modificationsto the conventional package of practices associated with sugarcane farming which have enormous implications for the raising of sugarcane. The modifications reduce the requirements of water.To make the best use of these innovative techniques of shri Suresh Desai for Punjab farmers, Kheti Virasat organised his state level tour of from Aug. 09, 2003 to Aug. 15, 2003. He took a series of meeting in 16 villages covering five districts. More than 700 farmers got benefitted from the tour of Shri Suresh Desai. 8. Introducing organic cotton to Punjab farmers : As ill effects of pesticides a very well known and it is also established fact that cotton consumes all most 60 % of pesticides. Several villages of Punjab's cotton belt are already facing severe adverse effects of pesticides and the pesticides are also creating worse to the ecology of this area the serious efforts to make this area free from pesticides is a urgent need of hour. For this purpose Kheti Virasat invited Dr. Shallesh Patel an organic cotton were organised in six villages of Mansa, Bathinda and Ferozepur districts. However, this effort is not succeeded as assumed, but some motivated farmers have started talking about organic cotton . Now a detailed planning is formulated for organic cotton in Punjab in collaboration with organic cotton experts from Nagpur and Gujarat.

12. Visit of Dr. Sultan Ismail : Eminent vermocologist and organic manure expert Dr. Sultan Ismail from Chennai paid a one day visit to Kheti Virasat head office at Nabha. He also addressed a farmer's awareness meeting at village Bourpur, near Patiala

10. Tour of water man of India Shri Rajinder Singh : ** A seminar was held in collaboration with Departmental of Envirinmental and Botanical Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Dr.S.P.Singh Vice Chancellor of the university also attended the seminar. ** Kheti Virasat has arranged a tour of Shri Rajinder Singh, Megasesy Awardee to focus the issue of water conservation and water policy in Punjab. First meeting was organised on the topic of " The Water Management In Punjab " in collaboration with Punjab State Council for Science & Technology at Chandigarh. Senior representatives from various departments of Punjab attended this meeting. ** Shri Rajinder Singh also visited Nirmal Kutia Ashram at Sultanpur Lodhi, where Sant Balbir Singh is doing Karsewa to regenerate and revive the river Kali- Bain. ** A meeting with concerned citizens of Patiala was held at Prem Dham School in association with Bharat Vikas Parishad, Patiala unit. NEXT

11. Medicinal plant conservation & cultivation programme : Medicinal plants and herbs are indispensable part of the nature and are also very much inseperable part of the nature and are also very much inseperable part of our village ecosystem. As Punjab had lost most of its medicinal plantsgrowing wild or in countryside it is essential that the natural habitats of native herbs of Punjab should be regenerated. Apart from this the commercial cultivation of medicinal plants can also give benefits to the farmers and moreover this can serve as an instrument for converting the farms into organic. For this purpose Kheti Virasat make up a tie with Jeevniya Society of Lucknow. Dr. Narinder Nath Mehrotra the director of society paid a visit to Punjab in June 2003. During his visit primary planning for setting up of medicinal plant's nursery was discussed with interested farmers in both districts and a detail plan was formulated for the training of Punjab farmers at Lucknow.

15. Capacity building workshops for NGO's at Bathinda : In association with CAPART, council for advancements of people's action and rural technology, an autonomous body under the ministry of 'Rural Development' Govt. of India, a workshop on 'Capacity building of NGO's was organised at Bathinda on 26 th & 27th of December 2003. The objective of these workshops were to enhance the capacity of the voluntary organisations working in the field of rural development. Various issues concerning rural development was discussed and the detail information was given to the participants on different schemes of capart. 13. People's dialogue on state water policy of Punjab : Kheti Virasat takes another initiative by arranging the people's dialogue on state water policy. It was the first time in Punjab that a Government document such as "State Water Policy" was debated upon by representatives from cross section of society. Kheti Virasat Punjab initiated this debate by organising " People's Dialogue on State Water Policy of Punjab ", on Sunday, August 9, 2003 at Chandigarh. At a well attended meet , in which accademicians, economists and experts from all the universities of Punjab, senior representatives of various departments of Punjab Government . NGO's farmers and environmentalists were present. Prominent among them were Dr. SS Grewal, DirectorKandi Research Station PAU, S.K.Mittal , Joint Director Agriculture,Dr. R.K. Kakkar Chairman, Geology Department ,Punjab University, Chandigarh, Dr. G.S. Gill, Dr. Naresh Kocchar and Dr. K.P.Singh, dept. of Geology, Punjab University , Dr. Ranjit Singh Ghuman Professor of Economics Punjabi University Patiala, Dr. Harbans singh Tuli Economists Water Resource and Environment Directorate Punjab Government, Dr. Renu Bhardwaj ,Head of department Botanical and Environmental studies , Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, Dr. Adarsh Pal Vig G.N.D.U., Dr. Satnam Singh Ladhar Principal Scientific Officer PSCS & T, Dr. S.K. Saxena Senior Scientific Officer PSCS&T, Dr. Partap Singh from center soil and water conservation Research organisation ,Mewa singh Chibar ,Dy. Chief Conservator of Forest Conservation, Punjab were present.

* Second meet in this regard was held on 17 August,2003 at institute of Engineering and Technology Bhaddal district Ropar * Third meeting on state water policy was held at Patiala on November 8. Among present were Dr.Sudhirendra Sharma, (Ecology Foundation , New Delhi ), Shri Ranjan Samantray (UNDP), Shri Rajinder Nijjar (Free Launce environment consultant ) , Shri J.S.Koonar (Regional Co-ordinator NYKS).

14. Farmer awareness camps & entrepreneurship development programme : Under rural employment generation programme of Government of India implemented by Kahadi & Village Industry commission, Govt. of India, two entrepreneurship development programmes at Nabha (Punjab) and eight awareness camps on bio-manure were organised by the organisation in the district of Patiala, Ropar, Muktsar , Ferozepur and Kapurthala