Tag: Nagapattinam

Two Years After a Cyclone, Tamil Nadu’s Farmers Grapple With Aftermath of Destruction

Coastal farmers suffered a double whammy when Cyclone Gaja brought a storm surge in its wake. Two years later, they are yet to recover, but remain hopeful.

When Cyclone Gaja made landfall on November 16, 2018, between Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu, it left a trail of destruction, uprooting nearly 50 lakh coconut trees, more than a lakh electricity poles, besides other fruit trees.

Farmers in seven coastal districts bore the brunt, losing their crops. Nagapattinam district was the worst affected, as the cyclone made landfall there. A few coastal villages in Nagapattinam district suffered a double whammy of the cyclone and the storm surge that it caused.

Storm surge is an abnormal sea level rise caused by atmospheric weather systems such as tropical cyclones and hurricanes. In November 2018, Cyclone Gaja caused a rise in sea level, bringing the brine into the coastal villages.

Also read: Cyclone Gaja Was a National Disaster – Don’t Let State Apathy Suggest Otherwise

While seawater entered the villages of Vellapallam, Pushpavanam and Vettaikaraniruppu, Kovilpathu was the most affected. Kovilpathu village, where most of the residents are farmers, not only lost their standing crops and trees, the storm surge made the groundwater and soil saline.

As per Census 2011, Kovilpathu village in Vedaranyam taluk of Nagapattinam district had a population of 3,213. With the addition of a few colonies, the population has more than doubled. The villagers had reasonable commercial success growing coconut, paddy, groundnut, cashew and mango. But two years after Cyclone Gaja and the storm surge it caused, they are yet to recover from the impact.

Coastal vulnerability

Though the villagers knew about the cyclone warning, the storm surge caught them by surprise. The only other time that seawater entered the village was in December 2004, when the tsunami struck. However, two elderly villagers remembered a storm surge in the early 1950s.

coconut saplings

Farmers have found growing coconut saplings in a bag and then planting on the ground to be effective in countering beetle attack. Photo: Visu Ramaiyan/VillageSquare.

“When seawater came into the village in 1953 or 54, it did not cause this much of damage,” octogenarian Chandra Thangavel told VillageSquare.in. “Tsunami also wasn’t this bad, because only seawater came. We did not lose our trees.”

Indian National Centre for Ocean Services, places the Nagapattinam – Pamban stretch of the Bay of Bengal coast,  where the village is situated, in a high risk zone, with 3 to 5 m surge height. “When seawater came in during Cyclone Gaja, water was up to my neck and I swam to the next house,” said Uma Devi. The villagers took shelter in the houses that had an upper floor.

The village is about a kilometer from the shore. The storm surge resulted in loss of crops and livestock, besides prawn and fish farms that a few villagers owned. The youth of the village, who hold professional and science degrees, yet continue farming, are aware of the climate crisis and fear increasing vulnerability and its impact on their livelihood.

Damage to water and soil

Given the salinity of the seawater and the coastal sludge deposited by the storm surge, the crops wore a scorched look. Chandra Thangavel lost her entire groundnut crop. Radhakrishnan Sivagnanam lost his paddy crop. Every farmer recounted a total loss.

storm surge

The storm surge scorched the paddy crop of Radhakrishnan Sivagnanam, whose post-cyclone yields have come down because of salinity. Photo by Kevin Samuel/VillageSquare.

As the village lies about 2.5 km from the Nagapattinam – Vedaranyam Road, the villagers’ plight was immediately not known. For a few days, they had to survive on groundwater contaminated by seawater. During rehabilitation work, the panchayat was quick to address the issue, by arranging for piped drinking water supply.

However, the farm lands still bear the effect of the storm surge. Crop yields have been less than usual. “Water is the main problem. If we had received good rains, the salinity would have reduced, but the rains were less,” said Veeraramakrishnan. R (30).

Also read: Ground Report: In the Aftermath of Cyclone Gaja, the Anger

Veeraramakrishnan normally gets a profit of Rs 4 lakh from cultivating groundnut. “From one sack of groundnut seed sowed, we generally harvest 10 sacks. But last year we harvested only four sacks,”  he told VillageSquare.in.

Visu Ramaiyan (30) concurred that groundnut yield was very less last year. According to an agriculture department official who did not wish to be named, the farmers did not buy seed groundnut, but from wholesale traders, and that is the reason for the poor yield.

Notwithstanding the allegations and the limited rainfall, farmers remain hopeful. “In three weeks, we will start planting groundnut for this season,” said Visu Ramaiyan. The farmers believe that the few days of rain received this monsoon would have decreased the salinity a bit.

Beetle blight

Of the 120-odd coconut trees that Visu Ramaiyan had, only 25 survived the cyclone. “Even the remaining ones produced spathes after many months. The yield was so low that we couldn’t sell the nuts but use only for our own consumption,” he said. Veeraramakrishnan lost all the trees in his 2-acre coconut farm, except a handful. All the villagers related a similar loss.

Eega Trust, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working in Nagapattinam district, partnered with two other NGOs, took six months to clear the fallen coconut, mango and cashew trees, and level the land in Kovilpathu village.

Also read: 11 Dead in ‘Severe’ Cyclonic Storm Gaja in Tamil Nadu

Though Eega Trust carried out relief work for a considerable stretch along the coast, their agricultural development work was confined to Kovilpathu village. “We distributed coconut saplings as part of agri development work,” said Mohanarajasekaran. R, of the trust.

With such contributions, and with the compensation of Rs 1,100 per coconut tree given by the Tamil Nadu government, all the farmers replanted coconut saplings. They were in for a shock again, as rhinoceros beetle damaged the saplings.

According to Chandrasekar. K, agricultural entomologist, Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Fisheries University, Sikkal, the beetle proliferated since the fallen trees, which provide an ideal condition for breeding, were not removed immediately.

The scientist has been advocating a slew of measures to overcome the problem. “The beetles attack at all stages of the trees’ growth. Since there were no big trees, they attacked the saplings,” Chandrasekar told VillageSquare.in. “The beetles can be eradicated only if all the farmers follow the suggested measures, and not a handful in isolation.”

Farmers who have planted in a few acres admitted that it was not easy to look for the beetle in every sapling and destroy it. Some have found an alternative. “They are growing the saplings in big plastic bags for one year and then transferring to the pit, which is quite effective in controlling the beetle,” said Veeraramakrishnan. “So we are all planning to adopt the same method.”

Vegetable cultivation to rescue

Veeraramakrishnan and Visu Ramaiyan used to earn a minimum of Rs 15,000 per month from the coconut trees. All the farmers earned a considerable income from mango, casuarina and cashew trees. Cyclone Gaja has robbed them of this income.

“As it would take a few years for trees to grow and bear fruit, we suggested vegetable cultivation  to the farmers and distributed saplings and seeds,” Mohanarajasekaran of Eega Trust, told VillageSquare.in.

Veeraramakrishnan planted brinjal in half-an-acre. “The yield was good. Brinjal and cluster beans are doing reasonably well,” he said. “It is at least helping us manage our regular household expenses.”

Brinjal plants floods

Brinjal plants that brought daily income to farmer Ayyappan Rengaiyan were scorched when Cyclone Gaja caused a storm surge in 2018 Photo: Kevin Samuel/VillageSquare.

Prior to Cyclone Gaja, only a few farmers such as Ayyappan Rengaiyan (38) grew vegetables. He had been harvesting brinjals for a week, when the cyclone struck. The brinjal and jasmine plants were scorched beyond salvaging.

Though he had coconut trees, vegetables brought a daily income. Of the 120 coconut saplings he planted, only 40 survived the beetle attack. But he is quite satisfied with the yield and income from brinjal and jasmine. And so are the farmers, who cultivate vegetables for now, and hope their situation would improve in a few years.

Jency Samuel is a civil engineer and a journalist based at Chennai. 

This article was first published on Village Square. Read the original here.

Cyclone Nivar Likely to Cross Tamil Nadu-Puducherry Coasts on November 25

The NDRF has earmarked 30 teams to launch rescue and relief operations for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, as the weather system is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours.

Chennai: The depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a deep depression on Monday, with the weather system likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours and into a severe cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, besides the Union Territory of Puducherry, braced for rains, even as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) earmarked 30 teams to launch rescue and relief operations in the states concerned because of the cyclone ‘Nivar.’

According to the latest bulletin from the IMD, the depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a deep depression and lay centered at 5.30 pm on Monday over southwest Bay of Bengal, about 450 km east-southeast of Puducherry and 480 km southeast of Chennai.

“It is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours and into a severe cyclone storm during the subsequent 24 hours.”

“It is very likely to move northwestwards and cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram around Puducherry on November 25 evening as a severe cyclonic storm with a speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph,” the IMD said.

The governments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry prepared to face the impact of the weather system, as rains were forecast in the respective states and Union Territory between November 24 and 26.

Following the issuance of the yellow message, the Tamil Nadu government reviewed the situation, asking the respective district administrations to be on guard in the wake of the alert.

Under its influence, widespread rainfall/thunderstorm were “very likely” over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal during November 24 to 26, the IMD warned.

Isolated extremely heavy rainfall was very likely over Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Perambalur, Kallakurichi, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai and Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal and Puducherry in the neighbouring UT between Wednesday and Thursday.

A high alert has been sounded in Nagapattinam and fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea till November 26, 2020.

Also read: Fifty Years of the Cyclone That Triggered a Civil War and Created Bangladesh

Tidal waves of about one-metre height above the astronomical tide are very likely to inundate the low lying areas of north coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry near the place of landfall.

Tamil Nadu chief minister K. Palaniswami held a review meeting and asked his cabinet colleagues and officials to remain fully alert and take appropriate precautionary measures.

At the “NIVAR Cyclone” review meeting, several directions were issued, he later said in a statement.

Among others, he announced the suspension of inter and intra-district bus services in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Villupuram, Chengalpattu and Pudukottai districts from 1 pm on Tuesday till further orders and urged people to avoid travel by their own vehicles, except for essential requirements.

He directed the state machinery to be on standby from Monday, with adequate machinery and equipment to meet any eventuality.

In Puducherry, the administration has drawn up a multi-pronged plan to face the cyclone, chief minister V. Narayanasamy said.

With Puducherry and Karaikal regions set to receive rains, the government was working on setting up 80 relief centres, control rooms in all the departments and rehabilitation of people in low-lying areas.

The chief minister said fishermen have been asked not to set out to the sea.

All shops and other establishments have been asked to close business on Tuesday evening, he added.

In Andhra Pradesh, frontline departments were getting into a high alert mode as widespread rains were forecast in many districts in coastal and Rayalaseema regions in the next three days under the influence of cyclonic storm Nivar.

State disaster management commissioner K. Kanna Babu said the sea would be turbulent and fishermen should not venture in for three days.

Winds with speed ranging from 45 to 65 kmph are expected along the Bay of Bengal coast.

Meanwhile, the NDRF has earmarked 30 teams to launch rescue and relief operations for the two states and the Union Territory, because of the cyclone ‘Nivar’.

A senior NDRF officer said in New Delhi that while 12 teams have been pre-deployed, 18 are on standby in these states and Puducherry.

A NDRF team has about 35 to 45 personnel, depending on the task at hand and are equipped with tree and pole cutters, basic medicines and other tools to help affected people.

The national crisis management committee, headed by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, met at the national capital and reviewed various measures because of the cyclone.

It also directed various stakeholders, including state governments concerned, to continue to work with an aim of zero loss of life and early restoration of normalcy in affected areas.

Gaja: When a Cyclone’s Wake Is Worse Than the Cyclone Itself

One structural barrier to improving disaster resilience is the fact that Tamil Nadu hasn’t held panchayat meetings for the last two years.

Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu: On the night of November 15, 2018, thousands of lives on the Tamil Nadu coast were uprooted by the Gaja cyclone. It laid waste to villages in Destroying villages of Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Pudukkottai, Vedaranyam and Cuddalore, among others, and claimed 45 lives.

Apart from damage to houses and the death of cattle, The destruction of crops and marine ecosystems, apart from damage to houses and cattle deaths, were particularly disruptive. In a belt where farmers predominantly grew coconut, mango and tamarind, which take about 5-10 years to mature, people knew getting back on their feet would take a long time after reports that 1 crore had been uprooted.

“At present, our agriculture work has stopped because open water ponds are all salty,” as are all the bore-wells. “Earlier, we would take the fresh water from the ponds to water our fields. Now, to even get one pot of drinking water, I walk two kilometres from my house,” said Selvi Chandra, 42-year-old a farmer who lives in Manalmedu.

Also read: Cyclone Gaja Was a National Disaster – Don’t Let State Apathy Suggest Otherwise

The salt producers at Vedaranyam claim sales have fallen by 50%. Women from the fishing community are travelling to distant villages to fetch pots of clean drinking water. The challenges the community faces now is testament to the fact that the wake of a disaster can be just as difficult as the disaster itself.

Bad news for fishing

Vedharajan Balaji, a marine biologist at Thanjavur’s OMCAR Palk Bay Centre, stood with the fishermen on the day of the cyclone, helping them evacuate. Now, Balaji is working closely with the fishing community to find ways to restore normalcy to marine life.

“In the cyclone, a very important part of the ecosystem, the sea grass, which is food for several marine animals, has been uprooted. And that will take at least two years to grow back to the way it was,” Balaji said. “Right now, there is an open sea bed. That’s why the fishermen are facing a hard time. Other sea animals like sea horses, sea bass, etc. have also gone far away.”

Women carrying pots of water from one village to another. Credit: Aparna Shukla

Women carrying pots of water from one village to another. Credit: Aparna Shukla

Kumar Arumainathan, a 38-year-old fisherman from Minavar Colony of Nagapattinam, lives 50 m away from the sea. Thanks to losses and the financial burden he has incurred, he is leaving his village in search of work in Oman.

“The biggest challenge right now for us is to get catch. It’s next to nothing, so we are sitting ducks,” he said. “There’s just too much pressure after Gaja. Since Oman provides work on a contract basis, I’ll be able to take care of a lot of my debts,” including to repair his house.

Malarkudi (58), who leaves at 4 am every day to the harbour to collect fish and sell them at the Nagapattinam city market, agreed the catch had fallen – but noted that demand had fallen as well. “People are spending cautiously. A place where I would easily make a profit of Rs 500 every day is not giving me more than Rs 200 today.”

Getting back on their feet as fishers is hard now because boats have become very expensive.

“I get why people resort to repairs” instead buying a new boat, Arumainathan said. “However, a patched-up boat will always be more prone to falling out when the waves are strong, and even a small leak will take everyone down. So every day, they are risking their lives because there’s no other option.”

D. Karthikeyan, a fisheries inspector, conducted one of the first surveys to estimate the number of damaged/lost boats. He said instead that the government has distributed relief to 90% of the affected fishermen and that the 10% haven’t been able to submit proof of ownership. But even if they come back with papers, “the Nagapattinam district doesn’t have any more funds.

“A lot of fishermen didn’t come when the verification was happening, and now they are suddenly appearing out of nowhere.”

Yakob in front of his house, which was badly damaged by Gaja. Credit: Aparna Shukla

Yakob in front of his house, which was badly damaged by Gaja. Credit: Aparna Shukla

T. Selvarasu, a scientist at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Nagapattinam, who has been working closely with the fishing community of the district’s Poompuhar region, said Gaja had done a fine job of highlighting why the community isn’t disaster-proof.

Balaji, for one, said fishermen and their practices have to be managed locally. “Mangroves that are protecting the ecosystems are being uprooted for personal benefit. That needs to stop. Fishermen need to be taught long-term sustainable ways of fishing. For example, the sea grass that mitigates and reduces wave energy, and even the force of a cyclone, should be heavily promoted.”

Apart from restoring long-term resources, the short-term also demands attention. Most farmers desperately seek alternative sources of income to pay for basic needs. R. Murugarajan, a 41-year-old farmer from Vilundamavadi, had over 30 coconut trees, 25 mango trees and five tamarind trees. The coconut and tamarind trees fetched Rs 15,000 a month on average. In mango season, he’d make an extra Rs 7,000.

But now, he makes a little over a tenth of  what he used to, which only covers his food. His son had to be shifted from a private engineering college to a public institute after Gaja.

“We would earlier spend around 5,000 only on food, but now, we can’t afford to do that. We are only thinking about managing tomorrow’s meal, nothing more,” he said. The story is the same in the surrounding villages.

R. Murugarajan and his wife. Credit: Aparna Shukla

R. Murugarajan and his wife. Credit: Aparna Shukla

One structural barrier to improving disaster resilience is the fact that Tamil Nadu hasn’t held panchayat meetings for the last two years.

“We need small resource centres at each level, which can give technical support and archive data. At present, we have officers at district level, village level, but who goes to the villages?” R. Manivannan, a project manager from the AVVAI Village Welfare Association, asked. “Because there’s no panchayat system, a block development officer [BDO] has almost 30 villages under him. Will he go around and address the problems of each village? No.”

This in turn is expected to exacerbate recovery.  “The government talks about insurance, but how many will really get crop insurance when so many documents were lost? How will the most vulnerable people like the old, the bedridden, the physically and mentally challenged speak for themselves?”

“Earlier I would speak to the panchayat head and get issues like absence of street lights resolved, but now I don’t know who will get the job done,” said Suresh Kumar, the fishermen community’s head in South Vilundamavadi, Nagapattinam.

Priya Shankar’s toilet broke when the cyclone struck. Without street lights – which she has been complaining about for four months – she now has to walk to another facility half a kilometre away to relieve herself. And “without street lights, my entire area lives in the dark, and I don’t feel safe going out to the toilet at night.”

Salt-pan workers

Labourers at a salt pan in Vedaranyam. Credit: Aparna Shukla

Labourers at a salt pan in Vedaranyam. Credit: Aparna Shukla

Vedaranyam was a major exporter of salt to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. After the cyclone, its supply has been cut to half, according to producers in the area.

N.V. Kamaraj, a former MLA, owns over 50 acres of land and employs 200 labourers. “We were proud of our exports, which provided salt to so many other states. At present, since we are not able to provide enough salt to our own state, there are traders who are importing salt from Gujarat. Earlier, I used to take Rs 1,000 for each tonne but now it’s only Rs 500,” he said.

Poor business means worse prospects for those working directly on the pans. One of them, R. Marimuthu (51), said the state government gave Rs 10,000 to each worker after Gaja. “A mixer to make chutney, a grinder to make idli batter, utensils to eat and buckets and pots to get water from – just these cost that much. The cyclone has destroyed trees that were sown by our ancestors. To get our lives back, Rs 10,000 or even 4-5 years of hard work on the field is not going to be enough.” Marimuthu has five daughters and is the sole breadwinner.

Also read: The Lives of the Salt Harvesters of Thoothukudi in a Warming World

Another worker, N. Veeraiyan (35), from Motandithopu village, said, “Marriages in my house were cancelled, and we don’t have enough to arrange for that again.”

He also said he is yet to receive relief money from the government; according to Kamaraj, the ex-MLA, as many as “60% of the people in Vedaranyam” are yet to.

As a defence, Selvi Baby, assistant commissioner of the state’s Gaja Cyclone Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Rejuvenation Program, said, “If we just give the money to the community, they will spend it quickly. It’s not necessary that they will use it” to rebuild their houses. “Hence, we have taken the responsibility of construction.”

She also said many Gaja relief activities had to be pushed back by the Lok Sabha elections. “But we are positive that the long term programs that we have planned will have a positive effect.”

However, M. Patiyasheelam, a project manager at a local NGO called Bedrock, said there is no reason to help the state will do a good job. “Vedaranyam has over 40 villages; 70% of these were non-concrete houses, so a total washout was inevitable. But at present, out of a 1,000 houses, only 20 are being rehabilitated.”

This article is a part of the Climate Change Resilience initiative by the Earth Journalism Network.

Aparna Shukla is a freelance journalist.

Tamil Nadu Politician Arrested for Posting ‘Derogatory’ Modi Caricature

Sathiyaraj was produced before a judicial magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.

New Delhi: MDMK leader Sathiyaraj was arrested on Sunday night for an alleged derogatory Facebook post against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Police said the post showed the prime minister with a begging bowl.

Sathiyaraj alias Balu, an office-bearer of MDMK’s Sirkazhi town unit in Nagapattinam, was arrested Sunday night based on complaints from local BJP and Hindu Makkal Katchi leaders. The Facebook post was made ahead of Modi’s visit to the state.

According to police, Sathiyaraj posted a caricature of Modi which depicted him carrying “a begging bowl”.

On Monday, he was produced before Sirkazhi judicial magistrate G. Yuvaraj who remanded him to judicial custody, police said.

The MDMK worker posted the image on January 26 in connection with the ‘GoBackModi’ campaign on social media which opposed the PM’s visit to Madurai for laying the foundation stone of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Local BJP unit president N. Selvam and Hindu Makkal Katchi state president J. Swaminathan on Sunday lodged a complaint with the Sirkazhi police seeking action against Sathiyaraj.

Inspector Singaravel registered a case and arrested Sathiyaraj following investigations, police said.

On Sunday, prime minister Modi laid the foundation stone for the Rs 1,264 crore AIIMS in Thoppur near Madurai.

Also Read: What Does BJP Have Against Wearing Black?

The MDMK staged a black flag protest against Modi shortly before he arrived in Madurai, accusing him of “betraying” the interests of the state.

Over 100 MDMK workers, led by its chief Vaiko, were detained over the protest and later let off.

Tamil Nadu has seen repeated protests against Modi and the BJP by waving black flags or wearing black clothing items. In 2016, people wearing black clothes were not allowed to enter the venue of a meeting addressed by the prime minister. In 2018 too, DMK leaders protested against the Centre by wearing black clothes for its alleged failure to constitute the Cauvery Mangement Board.

Even in other states, rallies addressed by Modi and other senior BJP leaders reportedly have an unwritten n0-black protocol. Several instances where people wearing black clothing items and accessories not being allowed to enter meetings addressed by BJP leaders have been reported.

Cyclone Gaja Was a National Disaster – Don’t Let State Apathy Suggest Otherwise

If Gaja is treated – and dismissed – as a regional problem, we could witness more farmer suicides, agricultural land in the Cauvery delta turn into real estate and widespread labour migration.

A few days ago, a video showing a group of people running behind a moving vehicle asking for food went viral on the social media. It had been shot in Tamil Nadu, in a village devastated by Cyclone Gaja.

The impact of Gaja hasn’t been fully understood yet. The state government and regional media have only just started paying attention to the crises. Neither the Centre nor the national media seem to have noticed yet.

According to the state government, Gaja has run through eight districts of Tamil Nadu. Of them, Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur and Thanjavur are the worst hit (in that order). And these three along with parts of Tiruchirappalli, Pudukkottai, Chidambaram and Cuddalore districts are together known famously as the Cauvery delta.

This region was historically under Chola rule, and reputed for its paddy fields. Until the mid-20th century, the Cauvery used to be a perennial river in this area. That stopped being the case when a series of dams were constructed in its path from the 1960s.

In the 1990s,  farmers in Nagapattinam started moving away from paddy because the district was so far downstream and water had became hard to get. Many paddy farms were converted into coconut, mango and cashew groves.

Today, Tamil Nadu ranks fifth among paddy-producing states in India; its paddy fields make up 30.77% of the state’s total cropped area. In spite of the growth of other crops, Nagapattinam still has the largest area under paddy (154,040 ha) followed by Thiruvarur (151,629 ha) and Thanjavur (150,228 ha). They’ve all been hit by Gaja.

Also read: Ground Report: In the Aftermath of Cyclone Gaja, the Anger

The major rice-growing seasons in these districts are kuruvai (May-August) and samba (August-February). Kuruvai coincides with the slimmer southwest monsoon and samba, with the more generous northeast. As a result, kuruvai banks on river-water irrigation, and there are many farmers who don’t sow crops in this season at all. Samba is the busier time of year.

According to a 2017 study, Thanjavur farmers planted 109,799 ha of rice in the 2015-2016 samba season. And it was during samba – when almost every paddy field in the region was fully planted – that Gaja struck, flattening the crop.

Cyclone Gaja, Cauvery delta, paddy crop, rice cultivation, cottage industries, kuruvai, Cauvery river, Cauvery dispute, coconut groves, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Chennai, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Chola Empire, Harichandra river, farmer suicides, farmers march, Tamil Nadu

The aftermath of Cyclone Gaja. Credit: Kavin Malar

At least 100,000 ha of paddy crops is estimated to have been damaged in Thanjavur alone. The official data isn’t out yet. According to the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, the yield rate in Thanjavur is typically 2,017 kg/ha per annum. Assuming the half-year yield is 1,000 kg/ha, the amount of paddy lost due to Gaja in this district alone could be 1 lakh tonnes. If Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur districts are included, the joint paddy loss could be almost 4 lakh tonnes. The total loss in the Cauvery delta is likely to be much more. And this is just for paddy.

Tamil Nadu is the third-largest coconut-producing state in the country. According to an initial state government report, nearly a crore coconut trees have been damaged by Gaja. Each tree used to bear about 60 coconuts a year. That’s about 60 crore coconuts lost in the next five or so years.

It takes around five years and 88,000 rupees to create a coconut grove over one acre. The earliest income is in the sixth year. Now, those whose groves have been damaged by Gaja must spend more to clear the land, replant and manage an additional five years. It is unclear how many farmers have the money and resilience to do this.

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Some 90% of Tamil Nadu’s farmers fall in the small and marginal categories. Agriculture is their only livelihood. Most of these farmers are frequently, if not constantly, in debt to private lenders, especially before the sowing season.

Farmer suicides have become more common in the last 20 years, with the distribution of Cauvery water in dispute. In April 2017, Tamil Nadu recorded 30 farmers as having committed suicide in the state in 2016, in affidavit to the Supreme Court. Though this number is low compared to the scale of the tragedy in Maharashtra and Telangana, it represents a significant increase in the state’s history.

In Gaja’s aftermath, this situation is only going to worsen. A cyclone is not like a famine. Both damage crops, but a cyclone also damages houses, cattle, other trees on the farm, the wells, borewells, canals and electrical equipment and personal belongings such as vehicles and household goods.

Most of all, a cyclone damages the hope of better days. The farmers may have been able to cope with damaged crops alone but when ruin mars almost every aspect of their lives, government support is crucial to their survival. And that’s been missing.

Also read: When a Cyclone, and Taboo Around Menstruation, Took a Young Girl’s Life

Small and marginal farmers mostly live in houses with thatched or tiled roofs. A ‘house damage survey’ reportedly conducted by the government found 100,000 houses damaged across 157 villages in four taluks of Nagapattinam. The data-taking is yet to be completed.

The government plans to provide Rs 10,000 for fully damaged houses and Rs 4,000 for partly damaged houses. Obviously, this won’t be enough.

Nagapattinam and Pudukottai are also coastal districts. As Gaja dissipated, pieces of boats could be seen on the water all along the coast. That means lakhs of rupees in repairs. They’re not going to be seen sailing any time soon, and the fishing sector in the area will be turned off.

Cyclone Gaja, Cauvery delta, paddy crop, rice cultivation, cottage industries, kuruvai, Cauvery river, Cauvery dispute, coconut groves, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Chennai, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Chola Empire, Harichandra river, farmer suicides, farmers march, Tamil Nadu

Boats thrown into thorny bushes, Aarukaattuthurai, Nagapattinam district. Credit: Kavin Malar

Alas, the flotsam also included dead cattle and poultry, particularly in the Harichandra river in Vedaranyam taluk. When we visited the place again after 23 days, the corpses of dead cows, buffaloes and goats still lay around. The people there said they didn’t dispose of the animals because they wanted to show them to government officials and claim some relief. The carcasses were the only proof that they owned cattle.

When Cyclone Vardah struck Chennai in late 2016, it was reported that 10,000 electric poles had fallen. It took a week or two to restore power in all areas in the city.

Gaja hit eight districts, felling an almost uncountable number of electric poles. But over a month later, most of these areas languish in darkness. No one has any clue when power will be restored. Until then, agricultural activities can’t resume – nor can the various cottage industries in these parts, including weaving, veena-making, sculpting, etc. And ultimately, no work means no pay.

Cyclone Gaja, Cauvery delta, paddy crop, rice cultivation, cottage industries, kuruvai, Cauvery river, Cauvery dispute, coconut groves, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Chennai, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Chola Empire, Harichandra river, farmer suicides, farmers march, Tamil Nadu

Electric wires turned into drying ropes. Credit: Kavin Malar

Many of the people in these districts are now left with the clothes on their back, and heaps of mud, debris and slush where their homes once stood.

These people are now refugees in their own land. With no shelter, many families can be seen living on the roadside or at bus-stations. Some have tarpaulin sheets for roofs, but when it rains, their living conditions are simply distressing. Government shelters were overcrowded (and have since been shut). In some places, the men have moved out to the streets so the women and children can stay indoors.

Two weeks after the storm passed, schools had to be reopened, and government officials had asked the people living there to leave. When the people requested that they be allowed to only stay nights, the officials refused.

Any house that survived has been turned into a camp and houses many families at once.

The Cilappatikāram, one of the five great epics of classical Tamil literature, described the people of the Cauvery basin as those who produced enough food for their kingdom. Now, their own livelihoods have simply vanished and many people have been left to fend for food on their own. And this is what the viral video also captured.

Like all crises, this one won’t end by simply reversing its latest consequence. It will end when their livelihoods are restored. For this to happen, the nation – the Centre and national media included – should understand that Gaja is not a regional problem but a national disaster. If this doesn’t happen, we may just witness more farmer suicides, agricultural land in the Cauvery delta turn into real estate and widespread labour migration. All of these will hurt India.

Ground Report: In the Aftermath of Cyclone Gaja, the Anger

Locals claim the interior villages on the Nagapattinam-Vedaranyam stretch have been neglected in the Gaja cyclone relief work.

Vedaranyam (Tamil Nadu): For the first time in her life, 62-year-old Selvarani* stepped out to protest on the morning of November 18, when hundreds of people from her village Sempodai near Vedaranyam occupied the main road to protest ‘government apathy to their plight’ after cyclone Gaja.

“I came to this place in 1977 after getting married,” said Selvarani. “We had a major cyclone that year too. But we were treated far better than this.”

It’s been four days since Selvarani and her villagers have had a decent meal. “We have not had drinking water for three days now,” a protestor said. “The government has given us rice in the camps. But without water, how can we even cook?”

Credit: Kavitha Muralidharan

Selvarani said there are about 3,000 families in the village. “Except for those who live in concrete houses, which are few, all of us have lost our homes. My husband is bed-ridden. I was running the family by selling lemons and tamarind in market. We have lost all the trees which were the source of our livelihood.”

But what upsets them most is the apathy on clear display by the government. The protestors allege that the government machinery is reaching out only to villages on the main road. “No effort has been taken to reach the interior villages,” Selvarani said, pointing to her dilapidated house. With the thatched roof giving in, Selvarani’s family has taken refuge at their neighbour’s place, which is made of concrete. “The women of our villages hardly come out for protests like this, but this is about our life,” she said.

Sempodai’s problem is not an isolated one.

On November 18, in the 50-kilometre stretch between Nagapattinam to Vedaranyam, several villagers blocked the roads at several spots to protest, alleging that the government was not taking proper post-disaster measures. Their demands included basic facilities like food and water, and a proper assessment of damages. With phone lines and power supply cut off, some of the villagers demanded generators.

Also read: Red Alert: Gaja Upgraded to a ‘Severe’ Cyclonic Storm, to Hit Tamil Nadu Tonight

The villagers are also infuriated by the alleged interview of local MLA and minister O.S. Maniyan in which he apparently sought to play down the damages caused by the cyclone. “The government told us that it was prepared and that we will be safe. It has been three days since cyclone hit us, but there has been no help. The minister has not even visited us, how will he know there has been no damage?” asked T. Selvakumaran, from Naaveluthapathi village where 4,000 families live. “We have lost our livelihoods, but for now what is more important is we need to save our lives” Selvakumaran said.

Unconfirmed local reports say that the anger has brimmed to such a point that the minister was gheraoed in one of the villages and his car was smashed.

“If they could visit each and every house of this village during an election, why couldn’t they do the same after a disaster?” Selvarani asked.

Credit: Kavitha Muralidharan

Soon after, the government immediately went into a damage control mode with district sub collector Kamal Kishore visiting the villages where the protest had broken out to give out assurances.

But the cyclone, which had initially inspired memes on social media for its initial ‘inactivity’ , has wreaked havoc in coastal villages too. In villages like Aarugaatuthurai, a number of boats have been wrecked. “It will take lakhs to repair them, we can’t even begin to think about going back to normal lives now. Our first priority would be to set this right,” a fisherman from Aarugaatuthurai said.

Devanai, 45, in Kodiyakarai, was too shocked to coherently recount her Gaja experience. “We are from Chinnangudi (a village approximately 100 km away from Kodiyakarai). We come to Kodiyakarai in the November, December and January to fish because during those months, the tides are worse near home. We have just come to Kodiyakarai, set up our hut and this happened,” she said, pointing to their wrecked boat.

Her family, including her husband Munusamy and three sons, had come to Kodiyakarai with two boats and four engines. “We have not even made few thousands yet here, but we have incurred losses running into several lakhs,” said her son Aakash.

Also read: 11 Dead in ‘Severe’ Cyclonic Storm Gaja in Tamil Nadu

“The impact created by cyclone Gaja certainly is deeper than we could imagine. Livelihoods of thousands of villagers have been destroyed. The government is still not in control of the situation. It is not just enough if the government issues warning, there is more to what the government should be doing,” R. Sindhan, an activist with CPI(M) in Tamil Nadu, said. “We thought Gaja was not as bad as Ochki cyclone, but I am afraid we might lose to hunger and apathy, what have saved through sufficient warnings on the cyclone.”

Sindhan also points out that the absence of local body representatives has made things worse in terms of relief and rehabilitation work.  The local body elections due in October 2016 has not been held due to legal issues and later delimitation process. “The government was merely doing coordination work, but with no local body representatives even that could be difficult.”

Kavitha Muralidharan is an independent journalist.

Red Alert: Gaja Upgraded to a ‘Severe’ Cyclonic Storm, to Hit Tamil Nadu Tonight

Cyclone Gaja is expected to make landfall between Pamban and Cuddalore, around Nagapattinam district just before midnight on November 15.

New Delhi: Large swathes of South India are bracing for the impact of Cyclone Gaja, which is expected to make landfall on Thursday at around midnight. Tamil Nadu, parts of Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry are likely to be hit the hardest.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red warning – the highest category which denotes “take action”. The IMD has also been posting regular updates on Twitter about the movement of the storm. The cyclonic storm is forecasted to decrease in intensity and make landfall between the towns of Cuddalore and Pamban with wind speeds of 80-90 km/hr. Post the landfall, it will retain its cyclonic characteristics and will have wind speeds of up to 70 km/hr on land for six hours.

According to Eric Leister, senior meteorologist at the weather forecasting service AccuWeather, the impact will range from “flooding rainfall and mudslides to damaging winds”. All cyclones begin as low pressure areas over the ocean surface and then intensify into depressions, deep depressions, cyclones, severe cyclones and very severe cyclones based on their wind speeds.

At the time of publishing this report, Gaja lay about 240 kilometres from Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu. So far, 87,000 people have been evacuated from 34 villages in Nagapattinam district.

Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. Credit: Google Maps

Tamil Nadu electricity minister P. Thangamani has also announced that power supply will be cut off in the evening in the districts that fall in the path of the cyclonic storm.

S. Balachandran, regional director, IMD, said, “With increasing velocity of the wind speed, it will intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours and move west-south-westwards. The cyclone is likely to weaken on November 15 while making the landfall.”

Tamil Nadu revenue minister R.B. Udhayakumar has said that the state government has taken all precautionary measures.

A fisherman parks his boat at a harbour as a precautionary measure ahead of Cyclone Gaja, Chennai, November 14, 2018. Credit: PTI

“Eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and seven squads of the state disaster response force have been dispatched to Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin districts. Besides setting up a 24-hour control room in Chennai, we have directed the district collectors to form rescue teams. Cyclone management committees have been formed in all the 2,559 vulnerable places. 410 zonal teams are also in place. Further, 22,495 people are ready to engage in rescue works,” Udhayakumar said.

Fishermen have also been warned not to go out to sea, especially considering how hundreds went missing when Cyclone Okchi hit the country’s southern coast in November 2017 when they were caught completely off guard. The IMD was criticised for not providing enough advance warning, which led to many fishermen heading out on the day of the storm.

Also read: Fishermen’s Anger Boils Over Callous Attitude of Government in Issuing Alerts for Cyclone Ockhi

Frustrated fishermen took over the rescue operations themselves due to the lack of urgency and desperation on the part of the state and central government. In two such pursuits, residents of Vallavilai spent Rs 32 lakh on rescue operations and rescued 35 fishermen.

The areas that are likely to be most severely hit are no stranger to cyclonic adversity. In all, at least 365 people were killed in the wake of Cyclone Ockhi, which wreaked havoc in the southern coastal districts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

“Usually, such cyclones are formed when remnants of typhoons from the Pacific Ocean come into the Indian Ocean or the Bay of Bengal and re-intensify into cyclones when they find warm ocean waters in these regions. The track of the cyclone is also usually directed towards North Tamil Nadu in the initial stages”, P. Mukhopadhyay, a senior scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune told Down to Earth.

India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has also issued guidelines for the safety of locals, which range from ignoring rumours, finding shelter to keeping mobile phones charged in case of emergencies.

Navy on high alert

The Indian Navy was Wednesday put on high alert, officials said. Navy officials said the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) has assumed a high degree of readiness to render necessary humanitarian assistance as the cyclone is poised to cross the coast of the two states on Thursday evening.

“Two Indian Naval ships – Ranvir and Khanjar – are standing by to proceed to the most affected areas to undertake humanitarian aid and distress relief,” said a Navy official.

He said these ships will have additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats, integral helicopters and relief material on board.

The official said helicopters, Dornier aircraft and one P8I aircraft are on standby to undertake reconnaissance, rescue and casualty evacuation.

(With inputs from PTI)

How Drought Impacts the Women Farmers of Tamil Nadu

Despite playing a crucial role in food production, women are often not considered to be farmers because, in India, the legal recognition is derived from land ownership.

Despite playing a crucial role in food production, women are often not considered to be farmers because, in India, the legal recognition is derived from land ownership.

Farmers from Tamil Nadu disguised as women during protests in New Delhi. Credit: PTI

Farmers from Tamil Nadu in the garb of women during protests in New Delhi. Credit: PTI

Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu): One searing image that will perhaps never leave 40-year-old Rani is that of her husband hanging to death in front of their 11-year-old mentally challenged son. Rani otherwise stays at home to take care of the child but one morning in January, Murugaiyan, 48, sent her on an errand to buy betel leaves for him. When she returned, he was found hanging. Rani knew only too well why Murugaiyan decided to take his life.

In her little village of Pirinjimulai in Nagapattinam district, the farmers were facing a crisis: failure of crops due to an almost unprecedented drought. Rani and Murugaiyan had taken three acres of land for lease for which they had to pay Rs 80,000. They had also invested in cultivation. The crop failure devastated the family. They had a daughter studying in class 12 and a mentally challenged son. “I never go out because I have to take care of him. I still cannot. My father is disabled and nobody is supporting us,” Rani said.

Her case is not unique. Tamil Nadu is facing its worst ever drought in over a hundred years, pushing farmers across Tamil Nadu into desperation. Until recently, several farmers including – some women from the state – had camped in New Delhi demanding, among other things, a waiver of loans. Under pressure from mounting debts and then the drought, many farmers chose suicide if they hadn’t already succumbed to other ailments brought on by stress.

“We were told that at least 200 farmers would have died in distress, either committing suicide or having a heart attack in 2016 when we were in Nagapattinam. This affects the women more – but not much is being spoken about the plight of women farmers,” says Geetha Narayanan, a member of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Farmers’ Rights (TNFWFR). The federation had conducted a survey of women farmers in early January across six districts.

For many, the idea of being shamed for defaulting is worse than death. Perhaps one of the most heart rending suicide notes was Murugan’s. A farmer from Devanampettai in Villupuram district, he left a note that only had details of his loans: to the tune of Rs 35,000 for 3% interest and 6 grams of gold. The note is addressed to his father and apparently requests him to clear the debts. But he is too old to do that. “It has become a struggle to fetch drinking water for women in this part,” says Pavunu, Murugan’s wife, expressing fears about her own future. “My father-in-law his now too old and I have two children – one in college and another in class 10.”

Venkatachalam’s is another story of irony and distress wrung together. The 47-year-old farmer had cultivated paddy on four acres of land out of which two had been taken on a lease and two were owned. The field was just behind his house. “The crops failed and one day, when he was seeing the cattle grazing in his paddy field, he had a cardiac arrest and died at the field itself,” says his wife Amudha. With two daughters and no support from their relatives, she has been left staring at a bleak future. Her elder daughter is doing a diploma to be a medical lab technician in Thanjavur Medical College. Another child is in class 11.

“Most of them certainly don’t want their kids to be doing agriculture and be doomed just as they are,” Narayanan explains. “So they also get an educational loan apart from a loan for crops. This adds to their burden.” After their husbands’ deaths, the onus falls on the women of the households.

Rani with her son. Credit: Geetha Narayanan

Rani with her son. Credit: Geetha Narayanan

Despite playing a crucial role in food production, women are often not considered to be farmers because, in India, the legal recognition of farmers is derived from land ownership. “On an average, a woman spends 3,300 hours in the field in a crop season against 1,860 hours by a man. But only 12.69% of rural woman have operational land ownership,” according to Narayanan. And women farmers commit suicides, too. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 472 of the 5,650 farmers who committed suicide in 2014 were women. “But the administration neither counts this as farmer suicide nor compensates her family because she does not own the land.”

In the state’s peculiar political situation, it is also hard for activists like Narayanan to reach out to the government and have the farmers duly compensated. “There are suicides and cardiac arrest deaths which have been not recorded as farmer deaths just because there are no postmortems done. Sometimes the women of the households are against the idea of having the bodies of their husbands cut up for a post mortem. We wanted to convince the government to give compensation to them too but it is difficult to even understand whom to approach now,” she says.

Adding injury to an already profusely bleeding wound is the Tamil Nadu government’s communication to the Supreme Court stating that no farmer has died due to the drought in Tamil Nadu. Many farmers’ associations have called this a cruel joke.

The TNFWFR has put together a list of short- and long-term recommendations based on what they discovered during their survey. The list includes the right kind of compensation for all farmers’ deaths, the allocation of two acres of land with agricultural support for female heads of the family and the recognition of women farmers as farmers.

As Narayanan holds, one needs enormous political will and empathy to effect changes that will bring some hope for women farmers. During an interview with the survey team, a woman farmer said the rains plays spoilsport either way – by being excessive or by being absent. But for the women farmers of Tamil Nadu, the caprice of the state often proves more deadly.