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Green cussedness, anyone?

  • 14/09/2000

Green cussedness, anyone? i want to share with you the triumph of cussedness. You can call it green cussedness if you will. There is no other word to describe what happened to a small plot of five acres in the little known village of Rewasan in Mewat lying just 60 kms from the country's capital.

The abject poverty in the village is largely due to the extreme salinity of its soil and water, combined with a three-month stint of water-logging, when water stands stagnant up to a height of 2-3 feet on the land. When it finally does get absorbed by the soil in late September or October, it becomes saline like sea water. Even then it does not penetrate more than four feet below ground level.

Naturally one can not grow trees in this soil. So say all the experts. The three worst attributes, which make land unfit for plantation, are present here in abundance. Soil salinity, high ground-level saline water and water-logging. All one can hope to grow here is