Anupam Mishra
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Contents |
A profile
The Times of India, December 20, 2016
Avijit Ghosh
Born in Wardha, Maharashtra, Mishra started as a writer-activist with the Gandhi Peace Foundation in 1969.His first assignment was being part of a team negotiating the surrender of the dacoits of Chambal. “He was among the earliest chroniclers of the Chipko movement,“ the profile says. Mishra was a Gandhian by thought and action.
Contributions
Water conservation
The Times of India, December 20, 2016
Avijit Ghosh
Environmentalist Anupam Mishra's seminal work on water conservation, Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talab (roughly , the ponds are still good as gold), fired the imagination of common people and ecology warriors alike and gave wings to India's indigenous wisdom on the subject.
Mishra believed that India had been a water-literate society in the past and sought to harness traditional knowledge to improve the present.Born out of his involvement with the drought in Rajasthan in 1987, Aaj Bhi... demonstrated how ponds nourished people living in the hinterland and towns for centuries and explained why their preservation was imperative.
By any standards, Aaj Bhi... is an unusual book.There is no author's name on the cover and no copyright.Anybody could publish it for free. First published in 1993, the book, at a wiry 120 pages, has seen 40 editions in about 10 languages, including a Braille edition, says a long-time associate. It has also sold a staggering 200,000 odd copies. “ About 5,000 small and large ponds, tanks and lakes were revived by people inspired by the book,“ says a personal profile issued by an associate. Reports said that villages applying methods from Mishra's book had fecund waterbodies in drought-stricken Bundelkhand in 2014.
Mishra mentored a generation of activists, too. . Lapodia, a sun-kissed hamlet about 80 kms from Jaipur, has been feted for its innovative water harvesting techniques.
Laxman Singh, who steered that project, says Mishra visited Lapodia twice ev ery year for 30 years. “He was our guide and guru. Pehle woh insaan taiyyar karte thhey , phir dharti (First he readied people, then the land),“ Laxman told TOI.Adds water conservationist Rajendra Singh, “His efforts to preserve water and nature are incomparable. He showed all of us how to create bonds between people and nature.“
Achievements
19th December 2016, The Indian Express
Noted Gandhian, journalist, environmentalist, and water conservationist Anupam Mishra had been awarded the 1996 Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar (IGPP) award instituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
He travelled to villages across India describing the value of time-tested systems of water harvesting.
He advocated conservation of traditional water structures in India as well as abroad.
He wrote books, like, Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab (Lakes are still Standing, 1993) and Rajasthan Ki Rajat Boondein (Radiant Raindrops of Rajasthan, 1995), -- landmark works in the field of water conservation.
