The Sowing Season and the breach

The season of sowing the paddy crop is approaching .The paddy is the most important cash crop of the region I live in , hence has a pivotal character in the socio economic fabric of the area. This season comes in the time when the people of this agrarian society mostly are out of their savings. They exhaust their savings they earn from the previous / last year’s paddy crop up to this time and mostly they subsist on either loans the take from their landlords or the merchants they know usually from decades and in some cases, from generations. The traders / merchants also know the tradition and lend them food articles, clothes and even money in case of emergency as they get it back with interest, when these poor farmers market the fresh crop of paddy in the end of this year or in the start of New Year. The farmers used to transplant their crop nearly 60 days earlier in good days (nearly 15 years ago) but the acute and intensifying shortage of agricultural water has compelled them to change their sowing timings. This radical change in sowing schedule had profound effects on choices of the breeds of the seeds they use to sow. The local / traditional, and low yield breeds of Rice, which still remain un-surpassed in fragrance and taste could not compete the genetically engineered hybrid breeds of rice and nearly have gone extinct. My late grandfather often mentioned local breeds of rice called “ Kangro” and “Sugdasi” which are nowhere to be seen now. “Sugdasi” rice were phenomenal with regard to their taste and fragrance. Many of the old timers tell that if only one house had ever cooked “Sugdasi” Rice in their home, the fragrance was enough to tell entire village that they are going to have Sugdasi in their meal today. The qualities of proverbial/ legendry taste and fragrance were not enough to keeps “Sugdasi” in the list of alive, vibrant and thriving breeds in the teeth of cruel competition of survival . Their slow growth and low per acre yield average was overcome by new and genetically engineered breeds which possess the capability of rapid growth and high yield to feed the increasing number mouths of growing population and their fragrance lost the attraction of farmers before smell of fresh currency notes. Resultantly they are now found only in the memories of old and infirm people and the pages of history. Sugdasi rice were succeeded by famous “Basmati” rice , but those who ate “ Sugdasi” do not consider “Basmati” to even near to them in any aspect
The new Hybrid breeds of rice need less time in getting ready to be harvested, they also yield more and thus bring more money home but they cannot be used as seeds because they are genetically encoded not to germinate again. In this way, farmers have to look at the seed supplying agencies for growing new crop. By this way, the farmers are gradually loosing their autonomy on their livelihood. It is a very dangerous situation because there is no proper mechanism to ensure proper procurement and provision of the seeds to farmers if something should go wrong. I am one of very few landlords who make a less beneficial decision to allocate a considerable area to be sown by non-hybrid seeds just to retain some of the traditional breeds and my ability to seed my lands at my own will. But sometimes, the increasing pressure from the tenants, owning to their needs and increasing inflation, tumbles my stance for few moments too. Shall my son continue my legacy of preservation of local breeds after my eyes are closed?. Who knows?.
In this season, the non perennial canals flow to provide water to the fields. This is termed as the ideal season to take long due “Revenge” also. The flowing canals solve the problem of disposing off the dead body of slain enemy. The water also hastens the decomposition process and identification marks are quickly lost with the additional help of scavengers living in wet and dry atmosphere. Many featureless bodies found their eternal abodes under the status of un-identified bodies where no body comes to say prayers or shed tears ever. But some times to kill is not the only way to vent the enmity. Some more cunning persons choose the method of drying up the sources of earning of their opponents and cause breaches of canals to let the water flow in the fields, farms and houses of their adversaries to cause them damage they can’t recover at least till the next crop. Such a mischief is usually followed by an armed assault on financially broken enemy after few months on a suitable time. Since my present assignment I am serving on , also include the rescue and relief work, thus , last year I was phoned by the locals of my jurisdiction informing me about a breach in canal which they alleged to be caused by their opponents. They also complained about the non-responsive attitude from local irrigation authorities when they were requested to fill up the breach to avert further loss.
I immediately talked to higher irrigation authorities to reduce the discharge to drop the water level and then contacted local the irrigation authorities and they were reluctant to go to area being volatile and residents having a history of assaulting the authorities, yet I managed to get a contingent of Police to escort them to the scene but they only dared to venture only when I accompanied them to the site

The team of Irrigation used the traditional and time tested method to fill up the breach. They advanced in the breach while making up a structure of wood/ bamboos with ropes. This structure was subsequently supported by sand / earth bags and in last the tractors were used to fill-up the embankments.

The width of breach

The evacuation

The damage to the transplanted crop

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The Sowing Season and the breach