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Unsung Heroes
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Ayyappa Masagi
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Water scarcity has been a menace in the lives of many city
dwellers and for farmers it has been a torture to their daily livelihood. India
has been endowed naturally with many rivers but the irresponsible manner of
water consumption and wastage has deteriorated the condition. Compounding to
these practices has been the vagaries of the monsoon. Ayyappa Masagi a technologist,
a farmer, a social activist is harvesting every drop of water to replenish the
subsurface water level in villages as well as cities.
Education broadens the horizons of thoughts.
For Ayyappa education was a luxury. Born in the Gadag district of Northern
Karnataka to humble and poor farmer parents, his father was not in support of
him going to school. It is his mothers’ insistence and persistence that enabled
him to go to school. She even sold her only gold ear rings to fund him for
school. Ayyappa Masagi never broke the trust entrusted by her mother. He
excelled in all level of education and got himself admitted to an Industrial
Training Institute. Due to administrative lapses, he got into fitter course in
place of Electrician`s course. He joined BEML, and later while he was working
with L n T he completed his diploma in mechanical engineering and a course on
Quality control, where his managers were his classmates. By the virtue of
coming from a humble background he understood the virtue of saving and
conserving resources always and through his efforts he saved two crore rupees
at LnT by using scrap material.
An agrarian family is where he belonged from, and from childhood he
had seen his parents practice water conservation at home as well as in
agriculture. “As a farmer’s son, I had the dream of applying Science and
technology for rural development.” While
working in LnT, in the year 1994, he purchased six acres of land in Veerapur
village in Gadag district and started his innovative practices of agriculture.
“I wanted to prove to everyone
that Rain forest crops like coffee, rubber, etc. can be grown in the Deccan
Plateau, popularly known as Bayalu Seeme and also prove that more crops can be
grown with whatever rain happens in that particular rain despite of flood or
famine.” Ayyapa Masagi started off well, with good crops blessed due to regular
rains. Next year, there was severe drought and his crops failed. The following
year it was the other extreme and there was a severe flood. “The floods
engulfed my entire farm and I had to take shelter on a tree for an entire
night.” Ayyappa Masagi was not the one to give up. He had embarked on a journey
with the mission to make India water sufficient and he was determined to
achieve it. He was too strong willed a person to give up. He saw opportunity in
the floods!! He thought why not collect all these flood water and conserve it
for the subsequent years. Bizzare as it may sound he started working on it.
Ayyapa
Masagi reached to experts in this field like Rajendar singh and innovated
Borewell recharging technique. Till then he knew about rain water harvesting
technique only. Borewell recharging technique became an answer to harvesting
rain water and send rain water directly to ground water table. Traditional Rain
water harvesting techniques systems do not have an answer to surplus rain water
and follow percolation method; where rain water percolates into the layers of
the earth and takes significant time before reaching the ground water table.
He
had opened up a new dimension to conserving water and he turned his own piece
of land into a research lab. He implemented the innovative technique, and non
irrigational agricultural technique learnt from his father, into his land, he
got good crops in back to back years. He was not happy. The urge to help
farmers at large made him restless. He spread the message of his successful
innovation and how it helped in agriculture. Slowly he started practicing his techniques on
the lands of his neighbors’ and relatives and he received tremendous results.
This gave him confidence and he went on to conduct awareness campaigns,
sensitizing the people about the new technique. He started conducting workshops
and writing books to spread the knowledge.
Ayyappa
Masagi was doing great and more and more people recognized the benefits of his
work and approached him. Till then, he was also working with LnT. He could no longer strike a balance between
his job, social service and family, hence against popular wisdom and to the
criticism of his wife his relatives and especially his wife, he quit LnT. This
was indeed a hard and selfless decision to make considering the fact, that he
had three girls and one son whose education was not complete and he was not
financially strong at that point. Ayyappa Masagi continued his work
irrespective of the consequences of his actions on his family, and it is at
Ardeshanahalli village near Doddaballapur that he got his biggest success. The
water table in a 2 KM radius had been
contaminated by the effluents from one of the pharmaceuticals company who let the contaminated water into the dry
borewells thinking that dry borewells are dead. Ayyappa through borewell recharging
technique converted the contaminated water into potable water within a short
span and this attracted the attention of Rajendra Singh-the waterman of India.
Ayyappa was ot deterred by any criticism and he had helped change many lives,
seeing his good work, Ashoka:Innovators for the public approached him gave him
a fellowship. He was offered thirty thousand per month for three years. This
took care to a large extent his financial worries. Through the collaboration
and guidance of Ashoka organization, Ayyappa Masagi started the Water literacy
Foundation in 2005. Before this he was working alone to solve all the problems;
but now he had a team and this enabled him to reach people and industrial
organizations that were benefitting from his result oriented projects.
Starting
a noble cause is one thing but sustaining it financially is another. Financial
support for his cause had been a major challenge for him. To overcome this,
Ayyappa joined hands with funding agencies like Deshpande Foundation, Swiss
AID, NABARD, Nazeersab Institute of Rural Development Foundation, and others to
help farmer brethren. Realizing the need
to make Water Literacy Foundations’ work self sustaining he founded, Rain Water
Concepts private limited (RWC). RWC is a for profit organization and works for
the industries, apartments, villas, and
the profits earned from these works are transferred to Water Literacy
Foundation who work for helping the farmers.
Ayyapa
Masagi believes in the words of Mahatma Gandhi. “If the villages
perish India will perish too. India will be no more India”. Ayyappa Masagi believes that every Indian,
should be contributing to the society; either through hard work or grants.
Ayyappa believes in action rather than long drawn up plans. “If you have some good idea in your mind for the
betterment of the society then do not spend too much of time in implementing,
Just Do It! We will receive support from all corners because god helps those
who help themselves.” Ayyappa Masagi embarked on this journey riddled with
difficulties; but through sheer determination, ability to work hard and
selflessness he has achieved results. The task is not yet completed as he
intends to make India water efficient by 2020. For this mission he requires
more and more farmers to adopt his practices. His aim is to conduct more and
more workshops to train water warriors like him.
Ayyappa Masagi has shared his
innovation with others for a larger cause. He urges youth of today to spare
some thought for Mother Nature, to plant more trees, consume water prudently
and help in environmental development in any matter that is possible. “It is
youth who holds the key to development; they can make or break a country.”
Ayyappa Masagi has been one of the success
stories who have not been dithered in his pursuit to make the country water
efficient by obstacles. His has taken the criticism of his wife, relatives, and
others positively and it is this criticism that keeps him motivated. His strong
determination, selflessness and use of subject knowledge for societal
development is an epitome for someone who desires to make a change.
·
Words in apostrophe commas are of the
person himself.
Excerpts of the
interviews conducted by Debangshu Bhattacherjee with the person over the
internet
1.
What
has been your inspiration in making a difference to the lives of others? What
are the sources of inspiration? (If
you like you may mention any one or two instances that changed your life and made
you start something new or something different that laid the foundation for
your work).
Answer:
I was born on June’1st, 1957 to Sri.
Mahadevappa and Srimati Parvatevva Masagi, a humble and poor farmers’ of
Nagaral Village, Gadag District, North Karnataka as the eldest son.
Despite of poverty and against father’s will for my
studies, I continued studies with mother’s help who sold gold for my education,
and always stood among toppers throughout my educational career. I completed
Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and joined BEML, Bangalore as a Mechanical
Engineer before joining L & T Komatsu where I served for over 23 years.
During my tenure at L & T, my hard work earned me regular promotions.
From childhood I advocated and practiced water
conservation which I learnt from my parents who practiced techniques at home as
well as in agriculture. As a farmer’s son, I had the dream of applying Science
and Technology for rural development. Guided by this dream, while still working
with L & T, I purchased 6 Acres of land in Veerapur Village in Gadag
District which I transformed into an R & D site. I wanted to prove to everyone
that Rain forest crops like coffee, rubber, etc. can be grown in Deccan
Plateau, popularly known as Bayalu Seeme and also prove that more crops can be
grown with what ever rain happens in that particular rain despite of flood or
famine.
The first 2 years of farming were highly successful
due to regular rains. However, in the subsequent years, North Karnataka faced a
severe drought and my crops dried up. Un deterred by this minor setback and
mockery by neighbors and relatives and my wife (who called me Danda Pinda or
waste fellow), I continued farming. But to my dismay the following year it was
severe floods that not only destroyed my crops again but the flood engulfed my
entire farm and I had to take shelter on a tree for one entire night. If it was
any other human being, he would have stopped farming and continued his city
life. But my will power was too strong to give up for such setbacks. Seeing
positive in this negative situation, I thought that 2 years severe drought and
now flood; when needed water there was none and when not needed, water
everywhere. Why not conserve this rainwater to balance this difference and save
farmers lives and crops and in general make India a Water Efficient Nation?”
I went on to research various advanced water
conservation techniques, met water experts like Sri. Anna Hazareji and Sri.
Rajendrasingh and finally innovated borewell recharging technique (Before
borewell recharging technique, I knew only roof rain water harvesting).
Borewell recharging became an answer to harvesting
every possible drop of rain water and send rain water directly to Ground Water
Table unlike traditional RWH systems which do not have an answer to surplus
rain water and follow percolation method where rain water percolates into the
Earth layers and takes significant time before reaching the Ground water table.
Powered by borewell recharging and non-irrigational
agricultural techniques and with the blessings of my parents, I obtained
assured crops in back to back years by fighting flood and famine. This success
was just the beginning. I was a restless and tireless man as my vision and
mission were to make India a Water Efficient Nation and help farmers as they
are the worst affected in India.
I started spreading message about borewell recharging
and non-irrigational agricultural techniques and how they benefit the farmers.
My test on neighboring farmers and relatives’ farms too turned successful which
gave me the confidence to reach wider mass. With the success of every water and
agriculture related project, I never looked back. Conducting awareness
campaigns, sensitizing the common people, training programs, workshops, writing
news paper articles/books and implementing projects became my routine.
Until then, I was working as a One Man Army and called
myself as a Water Warrior, and helping farmers with non-irrigational
agricultural practice and urban residents with roof top rain water harvesting
and borewell recharging. All this service was being rendered by me during
weekends when I was still working with L & T. As more and more people
started approaching me, I could not balance between L & T job, family and
my social service. I was perplexed whether to continue with L & T enjoying
the city comforts or find profound happiness by serving the nation. When I
introspected, I chose the harder path of dedicating my life to making India a
Water Efficient Nation and dedicated all my time and energy on water
conservation for rural, urban and industrial India.
This decision was severely criticized by my relatives,
friends and particularly my wife who called me as Danda Pinda which means waste
fellow in Kannada. She had a reason to call me so because I had the
responsibility of giving good education to our 3 girls and a boy and marriage
of those 3 girls. I had left L & T when I was still not financial strong to
fulfill these responsibilities. I did not budge and continued my mission.
My biggest success came in the form of a project at
Ardeshanahalli Village near Doddaballapur. Prior to my intervention, the water
table in 2 KM radius had been contaminated as one of the pharmaceuticals
company and let the contaminated water into the dry borewells thinking that dry
borewells are dead. I through borewell recharging techniques miraculously
converted the contaminated water into potable in a very short span. This
project was so successful and famous that Sri. Rajendrasingh came down from
Rajasthan to witness the impact. During the seminar, I expressed my hardships
about choosing this path and owed the success to my parents for their love and
teachings and my wife whose criticizing words rather than demotivating me
motivated further.
Next day after the seminar, representatives of Ashoka
– Innovators for the Public came in search of me to congratulate me for such a
wonderful project and console me for the abuse I suffered and very importantly
uplift me financially. They expressed their interest to give Ashoka Fellowship
to continue this mission and not stop my selfless work at any cost. They
financially supported me by paying a fellowship of Rs. 30,000 / month for 3
years. This helped a lot in taking care of my kids education and family
commitments.
Over the period of time, Ashoka organization felt that
I can reach more and more people if I start an NGO. They gave all the necessary
training which enabled me to start Water Literacy Foundation in the year 2005.
I recruited like minded and able employees which
enabled me to reach far more farmers, urban residents and industries. Reputed
companies and organizations like Kennametal Widia, Ajax Fiori, SKF Engineering,
ISKCON Akshay Patre, Basel Mission School, etc. became my customers and
benefited from my result oriented projects.
Apart from customer funded projects, I joined hands with
funding agencies like Deshpande Foundation, Swiss AID, NABARD, Nazeersab
Institute of Rural Development Foundation, etc. to help farmer brethren.
With year on year, customers’ list increased which
included individual house customers to gated communities to educational
institutes to industries to farmers.
In the 2008, Ashoka organization again approached me
and consulted me about starting a For-Profit organization to financially boost
WLF as depending on funding agencies is not so appropriate for the sustainable
growth of WLF and my goal of reaching more and more people. Realizing the
importance and need of a For-Profit company, Rain Water Concepts (I) Pvt. Ltd.
was launched in 2008.
Both RWC and WLF work on Cross-Subsidy Model. RWC
focuses mostly on gated communities like apartments, villas and layouts and
industries. The profit earned would be utilized to fund WLF activities.
2.
What
are the challenges that you faced while starting your initiative and what are
the current challenges that you are facing now?
Answer:
Challenge 1: As
mentioned in the 1st answer, nobody came forward to take my
innovative service that was the result of years and years of research and
development – either they had no belief in the working of the innovation or
they were not interested and thought it would be a waste of money.
Challenge
2: When
I decided to quit my high
paying corporate job for the full time water conservation and upliftment of
farmer brethren, I drew severe criticism from friends, relatives and
particularly my wife who called me ‘Danda Panda’ which means waste fellow in
English. She had the reason to say so because when I decided t quite the
corporate job, my financial status was not promising and I had the
responsibility of educating and marrying 3 daughters and a son.
Challenge
3: The current
challenge would be in reaching more and more needy people particularly farmers
because India is predominantly an agriculture based country and farmers are the
backbone of India. To achieve this, we
have been training more and more farmers, NGOs, and SHGs through awareness
programs, workshops and instructional farms.
3.
What
is your opinion on getting inspiration and using your talent for doing simple
things that eventually become great and make a difference in the lives of
others?
Answer:
All the great
things that have happened on Earth are the results of inspiration, idea,
talent, hardwork, persistence, determination and dedication.
Inspiration is
every where because world is full of champions and one needs to search for the
inspiration that matches his or her dream. So in my opinion once an individual
is inspired he/she should utilize all the talent, energy, time and resources in
realizing the dream that makes a difference in the lives of others. Since this
is Karma, eventually, he/she would become an inspiration to others.
4.
What
do you consider as your own strong points that helped you to accomplish
whatever you have been able to? When did you discover them? How? How did you
cultivate them?
Answer:
My strong points
would be my simplicity, humbleness, sharing, extreme hardwork, high level of
determination and risk taking which I inherited from my parents. I was the
topper in education throughout my career; my primary and high school teachers
found that my knowledge, service-before-self attitude and good oration skills
would certainly make me a successful person in any field I ventured into.
5.
What
in your opinion are some of the qualities that people need to cultivate to make
a difference to others?
Answer:
There are many lessons/qualities like,
(1) Mahatma Gandiji said “If the villages perish India will
perish too. India will be no more India”. I learnt and have been practicing
that every Indian should give back (either through grants or in-kind support or
physical work) to the betterment of the society particularly farmer brethren.
(2) When you want to do something good, there are
people who want to hold you back or worst destroy you; yet it is the sheer
determination, hardwork and believing in self that would overcome all the
obstacles.
(3) If you have some good idea in your mind for the
betterment of the society then do not spend too much of time in implementing,
Just Do It! We will receive support from all corners because god helps those
who help themselves.
(4) In order to gain something we should be ready to
loose something. And also when you loose something you will gain something.
6.
What
in your opinion prevents successful people from making a contribution to the
society?
Answer:
In my opinion
successful people in all walks of life have always been contributing to the
society.
7.
What
future scope do you have in mind for your work?
Answer:
I visualize of
making India a water efficient nation by 2020. This is a mammoth task and we
need to train more and more water warriors who would inspire others and the network
continues till whole India is covered under rain water harvesting.
8.
What
messages would you like to give for others to be or to become an effective
person?
Answer:
Youth, you are
very special because you are the PRESENT generation. You can make or break your
country. The motto of this era has been “Earn Money”; Earn money, I am not
against it. I wish all the best to you all to earn as much as you can, but at
the same time, spare some time for the Nature; conserve water, plant trees or
do whatever that will be positive to the environment. Our development should
not be at the cost of nature’s damage. Please inculcate Self-motivation,
Resourcefulness, Hard & Smart work attributes. Try to be innovative in
whatever, wherever and whenever you do.
References:
The following websites have been explored for the secondary research on Ayyapa
Masagi
Downloaded
as on: 03.05.2015
5.
Other
material provided by the person himself detailing his work.
6.
“
Unsung Beacons ” by CSIM Publications
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