Thursday, April 13, 2017

#AtoZChallenge Inspiring Indian Women : M for Mamta Rawat

#AtoZChallenge Inspiring Indian Women :  M for Mamta Rawat   #Unsungheroes


Saved thousands of lives in the Uttarakhand flood of 2013 

Mamta Rawat



Mamta Rawat saw her house getting washed away in the flash floods of 2013 in Uttarakhand. But this did not stop her from climbing extremely dangerous terrains to save thousands of stranded pilgrims and locals. 

Having been trained in mountaineering, Mamta led 30 school students to safety while also carrying the elderly on her back. 

All of 24 at the time, she had no official badge or government support for this rescue operation.  
 

Ms Rawat was at home in her village Bankholi, when she got a call on her mobile phone, saying that a group of school students trekking in the Himalayas were stranded amid torrential rains.
A professional mountain guide, Ms Rawat had grown up around the mountains and was familiar with the terrain.

While on the rescue mission, she carried an unconscious middle-aged woman pilgrim on her back -- like a mountaineer carries a rucksack -- and ran down the rocky terrain for over 3 km to help her get evacuated by a helicopter for further medical treatment.

She was on this mission even as her own house was washed away in the floods.
When asked, she refused help with regard to her house but sought aid for her village in the form of rope/cable bridges to cross over the rivers. All the old bridges had been washed away.

Sadly, today she still lives with her family of six members in a dungeon-like room and is the only earning member of her family.

A school dropout, all that Mamta knew was carrying load and walking up the hills. Therefore, she decided to do her mountaineering course so that as a mountain guide she could earn a living for herself and her family. After great struggle, she managed to gather Rs 5000 and do her basic mountaineering course.

Thereafter, she managed to do her advance Method of Instruction and Search and Rescue courses as well through sponsorships and some with her own earnings. Today, she works as a guest instructor with NIM and as a freelancer with INME, a Delhi-based adventure sport organisation that conducts training and adventure trips for children.

She barely earns about Rs 10,000-15,000 per month and sometimes even less depending on the assignments and the number of days they last.

What’s tragic is that Mamta’s was the only house in her village that was washed away and therefore went unnoticed by large NGOs as well as the government.

“I wrote to the district authorities once in 2012 when my house was partially damaged due to the floods, but no action was taken. This year again I wrote to the district DM’s office. When I did not get any response, I followed up with the DM’s office. An enquiry was conducted and I was told that some officials will come and assess the situation and thereafter compensation will be given. But nobody has come so far and I have got no compensation till date,” Mamta laments.

Summiting4Hope, a social initiative started by few mountaineers, came across Mamta and her plight during relief operations in Uttarkashi in July, 2013. They decided to rebuild her house and give her and her family a permanent shelter.

S4H was started in August 2013 with the intention to rehabilitate the people of Uttarakhand who lost their property and livelihood during the June 2013 floods.

The destruction caused by the floods, all too evident from the scores of media images that flashed on news channels, has left a trail of broken homes -- literally.

S4H has concentrated on its work in the Uttarkashi district and over the last couple of months, it has organised and executed a climb for a cause to Mt Rudugaira (5819 mts) to boost adventure sports in the region and the lives of all those directly or indirectly affected by adventure tourism. S4H has so far raised funds through donations from corporates, and also individual donations.

For re-building Mamta’s home S4H is supported by NIM and its principal, Col Ajay Kothiyal, Krishan Kuriyal, a local architect who has created a blue print of the house. According to him, traditional Garhwali housing material like stone and wood is being used to bring down the cost.

Based on the government rates, the cost of building one home is estimated to be exactly Rs 15 lakh. ‘But since we would be using local materials and also local labour we have been able to bring down the cost to approximately Rs 8 lakh,” says Kuriyal. NIM has deployed its porters to undertake the work at the construction site.

It has been over six months since flash floods destroyed many of these villages and rendered many homeless.

Government statistics estimate that 464 villages have been affected across 4 blocks in Uttarkashi district alone. These include 14,353 affected families that amount to population of close to 60,000.
As per information from sources in Uttarkashi, the government is yet to start work on constructing houses for the homeless across Uttarakhand.

In the current rehabilitation stage, civil society and the corporate sector have proposed a slew of projects with an estimated financial commitment of Rs 225 crore, with more organisations expected to join the cause pumping in another Rs 260 crore.

Presently, organizations such as Tata Relief, Reliance Foundation and Mata Amritanandamai Ashram have committed to the extent of Rs 25 crore, 30 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively towards rehabilitating villages.

As per statistics from Uttarkahnd government’s revenue department presently, 74 organisations have expressed intent or are working towards recovery and rehabilitation in the state.

But, unfortunately, not much work on relocation or rehabilitation has started as they still await clarity and clearance of land from the state government.
  
References:

http://www.thebetterindia.com/10520/uttarakhand-floods-young-girl-saves-lives-brave/
https://yourstory.com/2016/04/mamta-rawat-uttarakhand/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36089385

 

#NAPOWRIMO- Day 13 - Uravugal Thodargadhai - English Translation

#Kannadasan #TamilEnglishtranslations

#UravugalThodargadhai
 
Uravugal thodarkadhai
Unarvugal sirukadhai
Orukadhai endrum mudiyalam
Mudivilum ondru thodaralam
Ini ellam sugame

Relationships are never ending stories
Emotions are short stories
One story might end any day
Another emerges from the end of the one
From now on it’s only happiness
Un nenjile baaram
Unakkagave naanum
Sumai thaangiyayi thaanguven
Un kangalin oram
Edharkagavo eeram
Kannerai naan maatruven
Vedhanai theeralam
Verumbani vilagalam
Venmegame pudhu azhangile naamum ninayalam

The  burden in your heart
I am there just for you
I’ll bear the burden just for you
The corner of your eyes
Why are they wet?
I’ll change the tears
Sorrow may end
The mist may clear
Oh pure white cloud, let us be drenched in the renewed beauty

Shame on the State Government for Silence on the TamilNadu Farmers plight :-( Wake up People...

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It is utmost disheartening to see our brothers and sisters of the agricultural sector agitating like people who lost their souls....imagine who on earth would do an agitation by running nirvana for others to understand.    Why should our farmers strip themselves to make the government understand that they are not only suffering but the entire State will suffer with loss of food grains and agriculture. 


We have been experiencing erratic natural issues last few years.   No rains or too much of floods, dry crops,  hottest summers,  cyclones that damaged our crops and farming land sliced up for plots.  The greed of the common man and those ruling the nation have put mud in the face of the farmers who feed us.   Are we going to eat shit instead of food going forward?   We will only end up in plastic rice, factory made vegetables, chemicals filled non-organic fruits and medicines to kill our hunger.

'Anna Dattha sukibhava'....the one who gives us food be blessed.   It is not longer the case.   We are ashamed and put our heads down the day our farmer brothers stood naked on the Delhi roads seeking attention of the media and government help.   We are ashamed to the silence of the state government not giving an ear to the woes of the farmers and their agitations across the state and in Delhi. 

When our dear Prime Minister had the time to meet actresses like Gowtami, what is stopping him from stepping out of his comfort zone and meeting our farmers.   Why this step-motherly treatment?

Those who feed us commit suicide every other day.  We are constantly troubled and pained to see the kind of suicidal deaths of farmers in the South India...and families orphaned and on streets losing their only source of income.   The never ending plight of loans and failed crops...dampened our agriculture sector.   The very backbone of the Nation is broken and forgotten. 

Today's road roko agitation of the youth in Chennai, India, is just not one of the voices we want to hear.   We want the whole nation to pay attention to agriculture.   Stop importing plastic rice. 


Where is the technology helping in the agriculture sector?   Why are we not taking ahead the rivers integration project.   Why is the supreme court order to share Kaveri water not adhered to?   Why is the technology not helping in desalination of the ocean waters in a larger extent.

Only when our wells dry up, and our kitchen fires stop, the fire in our bellies will make us think.   Till such time, it is some body else's problem and not ours.   As an urban citizen I am ashamed.   As an Indian, I am feeling pathetic that our farmers have to eat on roads, sleep on side walks for months and stay stark nude on the pavements of the Nation's Capital to seek the attention. 

We are not asking for a multi-crore urbanization project....What they are asking for is to let them continue feeding the mouths of our Nation.  

We unite and raise our voices against corruption in a small extent,  we stand for our language and heritage pride to a medium extent,  we shout and run and wither in pain and fight for our tradition and why is the farmers pain not heard?   Why is that we are so insensitive to their fight. 

It is time to think!  ACT !   Do Something to save them to save ourselves in the long run.

Jai Jawan! Jai Kisan !  -  Both are ignored and forgotten in this unfortunate Nation!
Image result for Tamil Nadu farmers in Delhi













A Pain of an Indian Citizen!

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