Mar 10, 2004: Praise, praise all our countrymen and women by Arun Shourie
	There is a telling remark that R R Diwakar once attributed to Annie Besant. Annie Besant was immersed in and committed to India. She was a close friend of Diwakar’s father, the well-known philosopher, Dr Bhagwan Das, and used to stay in their house in Benaras. ‘‘What is the matter with us?’’ Diwakar recalled asking her often. ‘‘You love us. But you never answer this question. How is it that just a few Englishmen are able to rule over us? What is the deficiency in us?’’ She would always change the subject. But one day he persisted. After a long pause she remarked, ‘‘You are not a generous people.’’ ...... Praise, praise all our countrymen and women by Arun Shourie http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=42275&spf=true India Express, March 04, 2004 (The writer is Union Minister for Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology) Wherever we look, we will find a solution - True, wherever we look, we can spot a problem. But it is just as true — wherever we look, we will find a solution. And not just a solution in the abstract. We will find someone who has put that solution into effect. Ever so often the solution is lying in front of our eyes — unused, neglected. Kochi receives a lot of rain. Yet there is acute water shortage in the city. Indeed, readers will be astonished to learn, as I was when I was in the area, that even Cherrapunji — the place that, we used to be taught in our school-days, receives the maximum rainfall in the world — is short of water for eight months in the year! But there is the simplest solution, it is right in front of our eyes. The largest water-harvesting project in Kochi, Down to Earth reports, has been undertaken at the Maharaja’s College — it will harvest over 3 lakh litres. The project uses two tanks that were once upon a time used for a gas plant by the college’s Chemistry Department but had for long been lying abandoned. As part of the National Service Scheme, students cleaned the tanks, they strengthened the floor. In Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, water is being harvested by rehabilitating the traditional hand-hewn caves, the khatris. In Jharbeda, a tribal village in Sundergarh, Orissa, water has been harvested by rehabilitating the local ghagra, a pond-like structure lying at the base of the slope of a hill — the pond has been revived, and a wide drain dug from the top of the hill to carry rain water to this structure. In Chennai, a commendable programme has been initiated to revive temple tanks. In another excellent initiative, water which used to flow out to the sea via storm-water drains is being channelled into the aquifer — the drains have been repaired, muck and leaves etc. have been cleared out, the bottoms of the drains have been left unpaved, shallow trenches and percolation pits have been dug along the way. The simplest steps, nothing that requires space-science, using areas, structures that were lying abandoned, broken down in front of everyone’s eyes. And yet steps that spell the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity. ......... ............... ........................ ..............................