Cost Effective Solution to save Coconut trees during forth coming water scarcity months due to El Niño : Olla Irrigation - Ancient Wisdom for Modern Droughts. 🏺 Echoes of Ancient Clay pot Irrigation Long before the term olla entered agricultural vocabulary, ancient Tamil farmers practiced remarkably similar methods. In Sangam‑era Tamilakam, clay vessels called “ māṇ paṇai ” or “kulam paṇai” were used to store and seep water near tree roots - especially for coconut, banana, and areca palms. These pots were often placed in earthen basins (thottam) lined with coir, husk, and leaf mulch, creating a natural moisture‑retention system. Inscriptions and temple garden records from regions like Pollachi, Thanjavur, and Madurai mention such paṇai neer vaḻi (pot‑water channels) as part of sustainable irrigation networks. This continuity of wisdom - from ancient Tamil pot irrigation to modern olla systems - shows how indigenous knowledge can guide regenerative farming in the...
In my previous article, I had listed lots of negatives that are happening in Tamil Nadu.
Historically, there have been many positives such as
Second-largest State Economy in India
Excellent Natural Resources,
Wonderful Culture and History,
Wonderful Fauna and Flora
Excellent former Political Leaders,
Scientists including Dr. Kalam,
More than 80% Literacy Rate and for more info - Tamil Nadu Wiki
If I were the Environmental Minister, what I would do for more positives:
I will create an Environmental Team. Now instead of one man (The Minister), This team will work towards the benefit of Environment,
First let me go through more details and some numbers:
Tamil Nadu Total Square miles - 50,216 mi²
Forest Area - 8743 mi² (These have already been preserved and is under conservative area including UNESCO Biodiversity areas).
Agricultural Area - 23231.79 mi² - during 1960s and it may have been considerably reduced because of the Real Estate Boom.
Gross Domestic Product - ₹13,842 billion (US$210 billion)
Population - 72,147,030 approx. during last census taken living in 23,166,721 households.
Number of Urban and Rural Local Bodies - 12,524
There are 100s of Schools, Colleges under several Universities.
Now, The team's plan and action would be:
50216 (total sq.miles) - 8743 (Forest) = 41473 (remaining sq.miles) .
From the remaining sq. miles let us separate the agricultural land - 41473 - 18000 (reduced area due to real estate boom) = 23473 sq.miles.
Now we have 12524 government local bodies, if we divide the land 23473 by the local bodies - it is only 1.87 sq. miles (Let us even make it even - 2 sq. miles) that each local body has to take care.
We will form a team. In the team I would include students and teachers (who are willing to volunteer) from Schools, Colleges and Universities to assign simple environmental work along with the local bodies to make the work easier for local bodies.
Team will request retired people with experience to guide the youngsters.
Now, the top level team will assign the work to these local bodies, follow up with them at certain time. It would be similar to a Project Management of a project.
There are few Pollution Control Boards - Team will ask them to give them Air, Water, and other Environmental Quality Reports and discuss how we can improve.
As more and more climate changes are happening and we face both flooding and drought, the team will concentrate and save the water such as connecting water bodies and build better storm systems. The team will device proper Water Management Systems according to the area.
The team will tap into natural resources rather than non renewable resources, We already have sufficient Wind mills and Solar farms.
All industries will have Effluent Treatment Plants and will be asked to do Environmental favors such as planting trees and maintaining them.
The team will always see results of such activities and tweak them for more improvement,
In case of water scarcity we will tap into new methods. Water from sea (cost was a factor before - now we should have cost reduced because of solar and new techniques and technologies).
We will make sure 23,166,721 (there are so many rich house holds - so this number will be largely reduced) households have fundamental sanitation, water and other basic necessities.
We will work on sustainable technologies.
What about Funding:
When there is good GDP, there should be some percent going to welfare of the country. So we will request funding for the 2 Sq. miles per local body.
We will request (not mandatory) business institutions including banks to contribute towards welfare of the environment at least in their area,
We will request (not mandatory) rich movie actors and cricket players to contribute towards these projects.
We will also request NRIs who wish to contribute to these projects
We will write proposals and get funding from any contributing bodies towards these necessary projects.
These are some of the aspects. Basically it is your 2 square miles that you need to take care.
It is already seventy years of independence. If only these 2 square miles was taken care by corresponding local bodies, it would have already been the golden era that Dr. Kalam dreamed about. Anyway, let us leave out the negatives.
I think together we together can do it.
I am not just saying for the sake of it.
My Qualifications:
Bachelor in Biological Sciences, Masters in Environmental Sciences, Master of Philosophy in Environmental Sciences (India- Bharathiar University)
PhD in Environmental Science and Masters in Computer Sciences (USA - Univ. of Maryland).
Successfully completed several Projects.
My Motto: Make Something Happen.
One of the Project is
EA Farms - A Sustainable Organic Natural Agricultural Land Development.
Let us stop the negatives such as non renewable resources and Destructive Development and work towards these positives such as clean environment and Sustainable Developments.
Makesh Karuppiah, PhD
Environmental Scientist and Information Technologist.
Historically, there have been many positives such as
Second-largest State Economy in India
Excellent Natural Resources,
Wonderful Culture and History,
Wonderful Fauna and Flora
Excellent former Political Leaders,
Scientists including Dr. Kalam,
More than 80% Literacy Rate and for more info - Tamil Nadu Wiki
செந்தமிழ் நாடெனும் போதினிலே - இன்பத்
தேன் வந்து பாயுது காதினிலே - எங்கள்
தந்தையர் நாடென்ற பேச்சினிலே - ஒரு
சக்தி பிறக்குது மூச்சினிலே
தந்தையர் நாடென்ற பேச்சினிலே - ஒரு
சக்தி பிறக்குது மூச்சினிலே
If I were the Environmental Minister, what I would do for more positives:
I will create an Environmental Team. Now instead of one man (The Minister), This team will work towards the benefit of Environment,
First let me go through more details and some numbers:
Tamil Nadu Total Square miles - 50,216 mi²
Forest Area - 8743 mi² (These have already been preserved and is under conservative area including UNESCO Biodiversity areas).
Agricultural Area - 23231.79 mi² - during 1960s and it may have been considerably reduced because of the Real Estate Boom.
Gross Domestic Product - ₹13,842 billion (US$210 billion)
Population - 72,147,030 approx. during last census taken living in 23,166,721 households.
Number of Urban and Rural Local Bodies - 12,524
There are 100s of Schools, Colleges under several Universities.
Now, The team's plan and action would be:
50216 (total sq.miles) - 8743 (Forest) = 41473 (remaining sq.miles) .
From the remaining sq. miles let us separate the agricultural land - 41473 - 18000 (reduced area due to real estate boom) = 23473 sq.miles.
Now we have 12524 government local bodies, if we divide the land 23473 by the local bodies - it is only 1.87 sq. miles (Let us even make it even - 2 sq. miles) that each local body has to take care.
We will form a team. In the team I would include students and teachers (who are willing to volunteer) from Schools, Colleges and Universities to assign simple environmental work along with the local bodies to make the work easier for local bodies.
Team will request retired people with experience to guide the youngsters.
Now, the top level team will assign the work to these local bodies, follow up with them at certain time. It would be similar to a Project Management of a project.
There are few Pollution Control Boards - Team will ask them to give them Air, Water, and other Environmental Quality Reports and discuss how we can improve.
As more and more climate changes are happening and we face both flooding and drought, the team will concentrate and save the water such as connecting water bodies and build better storm systems. The team will device proper Water Management Systems according to the area.
The team will tap into natural resources rather than non renewable resources, We already have sufficient Wind mills and Solar farms.
All industries will have Effluent Treatment Plants and will be asked to do Environmental favors such as planting trees and maintaining them.
The team will always see results of such activities and tweak them for more improvement,
In case of water scarcity we will tap into new methods. Water from sea (cost was a factor before - now we should have cost reduced because of solar and new techniques and technologies).
We will make sure 23,166,721 (there are so many rich house holds - so this number will be largely reduced) households have fundamental sanitation, water and other basic necessities.
We will work on sustainable technologies.
What about Funding:
When there is good GDP, there should be some percent going to welfare of the country. So we will request funding for the 2 Sq. miles per local body.
We will request (not mandatory) business institutions including banks to contribute towards welfare of the environment at least in their area,
We will request (not mandatory) rich movie actors and cricket players to contribute towards these projects.
We will also request NRIs who wish to contribute to these projects
We will write proposals and get funding from any contributing bodies towards these necessary projects.
These are some of the aspects. Basically it is your 2 square miles that you need to take care.
It is already seventy years of independence. If only these 2 square miles was taken care by corresponding local bodies, it would have already been the golden era that Dr. Kalam dreamed about. Anyway, let us leave out the negatives.
I think together we together can do it.
I am not just saying for the sake of it.
My Qualifications:
Bachelor in Biological Sciences, Masters in Environmental Sciences, Master of Philosophy in Environmental Sciences (India- Bharathiar University)
PhD in Environmental Science and Masters in Computer Sciences (USA - Univ. of Maryland).
Successfully completed several Projects.
My Motto: Make Something Happen.
One of the Project is
EA Farms - A Sustainable Organic Natural Agricultural Land Development.
Let us stop the negatives such as non renewable resources and Destructive Development and work towards these positives such as clean environment and Sustainable Developments.
When you take care of the ENVIRONMENT,
everything else is taken care off automatically.
Makesh Karuppiah, PhD
Environmental Scientist and Information Technologist.
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